Shouta hadn't slept that night, the dark bags under his eyes even darker than usual. He'd been out with Tsukauchi looking for any form of clue imaginable that could lead them to the League.
Villains had walked straight into their camp and taken his foster child and his little brother, the guilt was eating him alive. He tied his hair up reasonably tidy before the door of the staff room clicked open.
"That you, Zashi?"
The reply was small but there.
Shouta closed the distance between himself and his husband as he pulled him in for a hug.
"We're gonna' find them, okay? They're tough kids, they can hold their own."
"You couldn't see the picture they sent, Shou, they've got Hitoshi muzzled, and Katsuki…"
Hizashi's voice broke off as he buried himself against Shouta's chest.
Hitoshi was five seconds away from a panic attack as he winced and jumped at every moment and sound. The muzzle attached to his face was heavy and cutting deep into his skin. The disassociation was all encompassing as he found himself falling back into the memories of his captivity, staring nowhere in particular.
Kacchan noticed this.
"Hey…"
He reached out and gently placed a hand on Hitoshi's arm who immediately flinched, reeling away in panic as his breathing became heavier.
"Woah, woah, it's okay. Look at me."
Hitoshi didn't.
"Look at me."
Kacchan offered a small squeeze to the arm he was holding and slowly but surely terrified purple eyes came to rest upon his.
"You need to breathe, dude, can't have you passing out on me. It looks like it sucks to breathe through those things but you have to try."
Hitoshi nodded.
"By the way… what were you thinking?" Kacchan's tone rose slightly. "You shouldn't have gotten yourself hurt like that over me."
'COULD SAY SAME THING ABOUT YOU'
Kacchan took a breath.
"I don't know who's going to be freaking out more about this, Mom and Auntie Inko, Hajime and Mihoko, or Shouza and Hizashi. There's no way those Dads of yours aren't already out looking for you."
He noticed Hitoshi's hands move and furrowed an eyebrow.
"What?"
'FOSTER PARENTS NOT DADS'
Kacchan scoffed.
"Sure." He replied sarcastically before noticing his cousin's expression.
'WHAT?'
"You really are an idiot aren't you? Is this why you were in General Studies?"
Hitoshi shot him a look.
"Shouza and Present Headache talk about you ALL the fucking time; it's annoying. You're their kid and they care about you." Kacchan explained. "You obviously like them too or you'd have gone with your birth parents, right?"
Hitoshi shrugged.
'TRUST THEM'
Kacchan nodded.
"When your parents came on the scene Shouza and Hizashi were really upset because they didn't want to let you go."
Hitoshi looked a little taken aback.
"They made us promise not to say anything because they didn't want you to feel like you were in a position where you had to consider their feelings. If you had decided that you wanted to go with your parents then they would have let you, despite how much it would have broken them."
'WHY?'
"Because you're their kid and they love you." He paused. "They love you so fucking much that they were willing to make themselves miserable as long as you were happy."
A tear trickled down Hitoshi's cheek.
'I LOVE THEM TOO'
Kacchan smiled.
"You would make them the happiest people alive if you told them that."
'AFTER GET OUT OF HERE.'
He nodded.
"Right." Kacchan took a breath. "These pricks aren't going to lay a finger on you, okay?"
One of the League members laughed as they looked up at the TV mounted on the wall upon which the news was playing.
"I'll make sure of it." Kacchan muttered under his breath.
"And now we cut live to the press conference at UA High where Principal Nezu and teachers Eraserhead and Present Mic will release a statement regarding the incident which saw two of their students kidnapped by the League of Villains."
Hitoshi's eyes widened.
Aizawa looked… dead. And was that a suit? Mic didn't look much better beside him as the camera panned down the table the three staff members were sat behind.
"Mr. Aizawa, is it true that your own history is intertwined with both the student who was kidnapped and one of those injured at the training camp? From your file it states that you were legally fostered by the Bakugou family but shared residence with the Midoriya family as well."
"Where did you-."
"Additionally you are also the son of serial killer and death row inmate Shūgo Inagaki, are you not?"
Shouta's breathing was heavy in anger as he tried desperately to keep his composure.
"I fail to see how that is relevant to anything that has happened." He replied simply and to the point.
"So you are his son?"
"By blood, yes; but I struggle to remember a time when I would ever consider that man to be my father."
"Could we return to the matter at hand, if you don't mind?" Nezu assisted.
"Of course." The reporter responded. "So tell me, if you can't even protect those inside your own family how can we expect you to be able to protect the children of this nation?"
"I have never treated either of those boys differently inside the classroom, and the case was the same at the training camp. My priorities were to protect all of my students the best I could in the situation we were in with the number of staff and pros we had on hand. No one could have expected or predicted what happened but we avoided worst case scenarios from taking place and managed to regain control."
"What do you mean 'worst case scenarios'? You don't consider twenty-six victims and two abducted students the worst possible outcome; one of them is your own foster child and the other is your younger brother?"
"No one died. Bakugou and Shinsou may have been taken from us but they are both strong, I have no doubt in my mind that they'll hold out until we infiltrate."
"And what about you Present Mic, where were you during this attack? You are here at this press conference but you contributed nothing when the students needed you most."
Aizawa's gaze shot up as he glared furiously at the reporter.
"The League caught us off guard and used that to their advantage. We had a large number of pro heroes on hand to make sure the students were safe but the League arrived without any prior warning. Present Mic was never scheduled to accompany the students to the camp and therefore is not responsible in any way for what happened. 1-A is my class. They are my students. I was the one who let them down. I let my son and my brother down; so leave Present Mic out of your questioning and have some respect."
Hitoshi's eyes widened.
Kacchan turned to him.
"What?"
'SON'
Kacchan looked confused.
'CALL ME HIS SON'
"Ohhh." He smiled. "Told you they love you."
Hitoshi smiled beneath the muzzle.
Kacchan was right. Aizawa saw him as a son. Did that mean Hizashi did too? Probably.
He took a breath to compose himself. He could do this. He knew how to survive here, Shigaraki would never want them dead so it was just a case of playing ball until help arrived.
Easy.
Difference was he had Kacchan this time. Hitoshi could take hits; he'd been taking them his entire life. Name calling, food insecurity, sleep deprivation he could handle it. But Kacchan had never experienced anything like that of which he couldn't be more thankful.
He had to step up to save his cousin.
"Shut the fuck up over there!" The voice of one of the League members interrupted his thoughts.
"Oh fuck you!" Kacchan retorted. "And while you're feeling chatty, when the fuck are you going to take this shit off him?!" He motioned to the muzzle.
"If I had my way, never; I don't fancy being brainwashed by the little shit."
His cousin growled.
"You bastards, take it off him!"
"Fucking…" The League member walked over and sucker punched Kacchan hard in the stomach. "…learn some respect."
He doubled over in pain, coughing harshly with a groan.
Hitoshi growled as he threw a punch which landed across the jaw of the member sending him to the ground before he grabbed him by the neck, hand tight around his throat.
"It's good to see you so lively, pet."
Hitoshi's eyes tracked to the familiar voice.
Shigaraki.
He turned to Hitoshi. "Let go of him or your friend here loses a limb."
Hitoshi retreated immediately.
"Good boy."
He winced at the pet name; the familiar words making him feel sick to the pit of his stomach.
Kacchan growled.
"You fucker…"
"So protective of your…" Shigaraki seemed to pause in thought. "…what is he to you now, cousin? How sweet, you're all just one little makeshift family aren't you?"
"You're messing with the wrong people." Kacchan stated.
"And why is that?"
"Because one of his Dads took on fifty of your goons without batting an eyelid then looked you in the eye and didn't give a fuck. We're not scared of you." He grinned.
"Oh, he is." Shigaraki smiled as he turned to Hitoshi. "This one knows his place in the dirt at least; muzzled and obedient."
Hitoshi growled.
"You shut the fuck up!" Kacchan bellowed. "You dickless fuckers might have treated him like a possession before but that shits over now. I don't care who you are, if you touch one hair on his head I will burn you!"
'STOP' Hitoshi signed.
He scowled.
'DON'T ANTAGONISE'
"Why the hell not?"
'PUNISHMENT'
"I'm not scared of these morons..."
'LET ME HANDLE'
"No way in hell!"
'TRUST ME' He paused before he added. 'PLEASE'
Shigaraki walked.
"Are you two finished being rude, it's not nice to exclude people from your conversations?" He crouched in front of Hitoshi. "I suppose there's not much you can do with this thing on. But if I hear a peep out of you when I haven't asked for a response then I'll think of something fun to do with my quirk on your cousin, okay, pet?"
Hitoshi nodded.
Shigaraki clicked open the muzzle before removing it.
Kacchan couldn't stop the low growl as he saw how red Hitoshi's jaw and cheeks were from wearing the device.
Shigaraki leant forward and pulled Hitoshi into a hug. "Oh we've missed you, pet, it feels like so long."
Hitoshi closed his eyes and tried to keep his breathing steady as Tomura's arms wrapped around him.
"Now, let's have a little fun, shall we? Why don't we play the needle game?"
"No!" Hitoshi cried out, bucking in Tomura's hold but finding himself held tight seconds before his arm began to burn in pain as the leader's quirk began to affect him.
"HITOSHI!" Kacchan screamed.
Tomura laughed menacingly as he removed his thumb leaving the skin on Hitoshi's arm broken but not disintegrated.
Hitoshi's breathing was wild as he tried to block out the pain. He looked across to Kacchan.
"Do you trust me?"
'I NOT ANSWERING YOU, NOT IF YOU GET HURT'
"I don't want you involved with this… please" He stated desperately before pausing and taking a breath. "Do you trust me?"
"I trust you." Kacchan answered.
"I'm sorry." He apologised. "But you need to stay there and don't move, no matter what happens."
His cousin's eyes blanked as he took control.
"How very admirable of you, pet protecting your little friend like that." Tomura smiled before dragging him out of the room. "You know where to take the other one."
Kacchan took control of himself once again as he was unceremoniously shoved into one of the room's in the facility.
He looked around the small expanse of the room.
"This is where they kept you."
The room was badly lit and damn near falling apart with just a bedroll on the ground and a pillow so old it was barely holding on.
"You better fucking come back to me, man, or I'll kill you myself."
He sighed.
"Fuck…"