Spoiler Warning: A character's identity and quirk challenges that have not appeared in the anime, yet
Touya hated Neito, but it was better than dealing with the pricks on Unit Echo.
And, well… Touya didn't so much hate Neito as he was envious. It wasn't fair that Neito could copy his quirk and wield it even better than the original user, but when was life ever fair for Touya?
It was a small blessing that he wasn't roomed with the overdramatic nuisance, but he would have much rather kept Denki as his roommate instead of being placed with someone new. Denki had only been his roommate for one day, but he was easy to get along with, and switching so quickly gave him emotional whiplash. Looking at the purple-haired kid, though, Touya didn't think that he'd be too much trouble.
Touya did like the attention Neito always gave him, though, not that he'd ever admit that to the small, obnoxious, blonde boy. It was a similar set-up to his own home; Neito grabbed everyone's attention just like Shouto did. But, instead of someone always whisking Neito away, like Enji did with Shouto, Neito was allowed to stick around. It was incessant, but Neito gave Touya the attention that he missed out on everywhere else.
At home, Shouto was the prodigy, so he got all of the attention. His siblings would stop mid-sentence when Shouto did come through, trying to soak every little second of interaction that they were allowed to get before Enji would come barging through and drag little Shouto along behind him on the way to the dojo to train.
Out with his friends, they would ask him about his father and his father's pride and joy instead of asking him about himself. What 17-year-old wanted to spend time with his friends to only talk about his father and his little brother? Not that he knew much to tell them, anyway. He hadn't spent more than five minutes with either of them since Shouto had developed his quirk. Enji always had high hopes for him, though, even when he was a baby. His coloring gave him away that he would be powerful, but Touya still made the wish for Shouto to be quirkless when he blew out his candles on his birthday cake, despite the x-rays showing that Shouto did not have an extra joint in his foot. Still, every year, he would make his wish over the birthday cake that his mother would bake, and his siblings would sing to him around as the candles burned. Touya felt pretty stupid when Shouto's quirk had developed. He could feel his hope slipping away as a new prodigy took his place, but Shouto didn't have the drive that he did. He knew that if the technology existed, Enji would have taken Touya's drive and determination and implanted it into Shouto's powerful quirk and body strong enough to handle said quirk.
But, now here he was, locked away like his mother was after she had burned Shouto's face, though his stay would be significantly shorter. Neito was like another Shouto in regard to all of the attention going to him, but Neito stuck around long enough to throw some of that attention back to Touya.
Touya was surprised, though, when Neito started spreading his attention between the three patients, taunting one second and then soothing with a quick, but genuine compliment before going for the throat once again. Touya didn't even really mind because it was obvious that Neito still saw him as his number one competitor, and truth be told, he did like Hitoshi and Denki.
They had quickly formed their own little group of four while the others still split among themselves to play card games or board games because they found something better to occupy their time with.
It started during group therapy that afternoon. Everyone was spread out among the tables, having another go at trying to outdo Momo's expertise at drawing when the therapist walked in. Before he even said anything, everyone else already started heading toward the open space in the center of the room, sitting down on the floor in a circle as the therapist got situated. Hitoshi and Denki were not left out because Neito had quickly explained to them who the therapist was and that they all sat on the floor in a circle for group therapy.
That had surprised Touya, too. Neito wasn't one to spare someone of confusion or leave them out. Even if not always intentionally done maliciously, Neito would be so self-centered that he wouldn't think of informing the newbies what was going to happen next. Touya could see that Momo was surprised, too. She had been on her way to tell the newbies what was coming next and Neito had quietly slipped in her self-imposed job to guide them to the next scheduled activity. No one thought that Neito would last long on the outside. Everyone figured he would be back soon. He was basically discharged to keep him from being pummeled once again and had no other units to be passed around to after the technicians got nervous about how adamant he was about toying with Touya nonstop. But to actually see a change from the four days he had been gone… what had happened to him?
"I see a few new faces!" the therapist started as he took out his clipboard and a pen, sitting on the floor with the rest of the patients. "And one returning…" he joked, shooting a glance at Neito who preened under the attention, rolling his eyes even as he smiled.
"Let's get this started! We'll go around and introduce ourselves! First names only, please! State your name, your age, your quirk, why you were admitted, and a fun fact about yourself," the therapist directed.
"I'm Neito, obviously," Neito started without waiting to be called on to go first. He wasn't even next to the therapist in the circle, so he messed the whole process up, which is something he took great pride in. "I'm 12. I can copy other people's quirks through physical touch, so I'm basically the best ever. I was admitted because of Hitoshi here," he stated, nudging the purple-haired boy next to him.
Touya snorted at that, and to his delight, Neito didn't ignore that slight.
"I'm serious," he insisted, turning toward Touya. "It's not my fault this time." And, before anyone could argue, he rebutted, "I know I always say it's not my fault, but it really isn't this time. A fun fact about me is that I found my soulmate," Neito finished, looking toward Hitoshi to go next like he didn't just drop a bomb on the others.
"Wait! What?" Momo asked.
"Yeah, I found my soulmate. Big deal," Neito murmured, but enjoyed the attention on him that he didn't have to fight tooth and nail for. "Hitoshi, your turn."
Before anyone could object, Hitoshi started speaking. "I'm Hitoshi and I'm 12. My quirk…" he paused, eyes flicking to Neito and Denki before continuing, "is called brainwashing. I was admitted because my quirk is acting up not only for me, but affecting my soulmate, too. My 'fun' fact is that I'm Neito's soulmate."
The whole room took in a deep, surprised breath, but before anyone could dive into the new information, Denki took his turn. Was he oblivious to the absolutely nuts situation his unit mates had just disclosed, or was he trying to get the attention off of them? Denki had been with them while everyone else was at lunch, so maybe he already knew what was going on with them. Hitoshi did look a little uncomfortable with the admission and attention, so Touya figured that maybe Denki was protecting his new friends by moving the attention on to himself. That was fine, though. Touya would get the truth out of them later.
"Hi! I'm Denki! I'm 12, too, and my quirk is electrification! If you noticed the lights flickering last night… no you didn't! I'm here because… well… I started hearing voices in my head," he said, shrugging, looking uneasy for the first time. "A fun fact about me is that I'm going to be a hero when I grow up!"
You know what? Touya could be a team player, too, when he wanted to be. Before anyone could ask him about the voices when it was obvious that he was trying to quickly move through the fun fact to distract everyone with something else, Touya decided to introduce himself. That was a change, too. Usually he went last, especially when Neito goes first and messes up any chance of order to the introductions.
"I'm Touya, 17. I have a fire quirk and I'm here because of self-harm. I've been training to be a hero for 12 years," he said, glancing toward Denki whose eyes lit up. Hook, line, and sinker. If Neito and Hitoshi tagged along with Denki later when he went to ask him about his training, then he would be able to get the truth about what the hell is going on. Take that, Momo! I'm going to get the information before you for once!
"Since we have no organization to this madness, I guess I'll go next," Momo said, brushing her ponytail over her shoulder.
Momo, Kyoka, and Ochako went next, zigzagging through the circle until they had all introduced themselves. Touya always felt a little left out during these when they had to say how old they were. He was good with younger kids because of his younger siblings, but the age difference seemed vast when said aloud. Even then, he would take Unit Beta over Unit Echo any day.
Honestly, Touya had hated Neito so much from the beginning because he worried that Neito was going to be the reason that he was eventually moved to Unit Echo. Thankfully, keeping his cool around the little menace was enough for the hospital to decide to just discharge Neito when he continued picking on the older teenager rather than moving Touya to Unit Echo in fear of him retaliating against Neito. Touya understood: He was a big, angry teenager who came from a very well-off and privileged family. If Touya had decided that enough was enough and pummeled Neito into a fine mush into the ground, dear old dad would be able to bail him out of any trouble, wouldn't he? The technicians knew this, but Touya wasn't heartless. Sure, he'd throw insults right back at Neito and wouldn't back down when he got into his face, escalating rather than deescalating, or even staying neutral, but it was all their own kind of fucked-up communication. Touya liked the attention from Neito, and Neito liked that Touya didn't brush him off as an unintimidating bother not worth the trouble of engagement.
Touya still smiled when he thought about how the week prior, Neito was raising his shirt to show off the bruises that he had gotten as a souvenir from the children's unit. He would growl at Touya when he noticed him smirking in satisfaction to himself whenever Neito would flinch and wince when he thought no one would notice.
That's the thing about being center of attention, though, isn't it? Someone is always watching you, and someone is bound to notice. You don't get the courtesy of privacy when you're an attention hog. Maybe Neito did understand that, because after a sneer in Touya's direction, he would turn and stomp off instead of trying to pick a fight.
After group, Touya cornered the three boys who stuck together like glue. He figured he wasn't going to get either of the soulmates alone, but also did not mind having his former roommate stick around, either. If he already knew, then the boys wouldn't need to hesitate to tell him because of the extra set of ears. Also, Denki might be an asset in that he seemed to like Touya. Denki might have told Hitoshi that Touya was a nice guy while Neito might have filled his head with awful things about Touya just to stir the pot. Having a neutral Denki there was a good idea if he didn't want to scare the purple-haired newcomer into clamming up.
Momo had been on her way to invite Denki to play a card game but turned on her heel back to her own table where Kyoka sat when she saw Touya approaching the group. She didn't want anything to do with whatever was coming between Touya and Neito, and she hoped that Hitoshi and Denki would be able to read the situation well enough to get the hell away if it turned ugly.
"Neito, Denki," Touya greeted with a nod to each as he plopped down in a chair at their table in the corner of the group room without waiting to be invited. "Hitoshi, right? I'm Touya."
"Yeah," Hitoshi said, eyes on Touya as he wondered what he wanted. "Denki and Neito mentioned you."
"Conflicting opinions, I suppose," Touya teased, smirking with a playful glint in his eyes. "Tell me about why you're here," he demanded, not being one for beating around the bush.
Hitoshi had opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Where to start?
"High five first!" Neito demanded, lurching across the table with his hand outstretched in Touya's direction.
Touya rolled his eyes but wanted to know enough that he did not put up a fight, reaching out and hitting Neito's hand with sarcastic enthusiasm. That was enough for Neito, though, as he flopped back down into his seat and lit a flame of blue fire in his palm before quickly putting it out before a technician could see. Touya hated it with a passion, but there was little he could do about the fact that Neito could use his own quirk with fewer repercussions than he himself could. It was a fact of life that Touya would have to learn to accept. Denki's reaction might make it easier, though.
"Blue fire?!" Denki whisper yelled. "You guys are so cool!" Denki paused, wide-eyed. "But how do you do that with the drugs they give us?"
"They call them quirk-cancelling drugs, but those are against the law for psych patients. Safety concerns or something. They're actually quirk-dampening drugs, and they don't work on me," Neito explained, rubbing his palms together to disperse the heat from the one he had just alit. "I can't get the full effects of quirks of people who have them, though, but I can get a limited version, just like you can still use a limited version of your own quirk," Neito explained.
Denki hummed in understanding. "Well, that's a relief. The first time I used my quirk, I knocked myself out. I was kind of jealous that you used my quirk so easily for your first try," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.
That also explained why he could use his quirk, still. He had been wondering about it but kept forgetting to ask Neito or Momo. He wasn't about to ask a technician just in case that would mean that something else besides the voices was wrong with him. He figured that if they called them quirk-cancelling drugs, that might be enough for most patients to not even know that they could still use a watered-down version of their quirks and save the technicians a lot of headaches.
"Tell me about it," Touya grunted, eyes darting to Neito before glaring back down at his own hands that rested on the table. He didn't elaborate and no one was brave enough to ask him to.
Instead, Neito decided to take it as him demanding to know what he came over there for instead of empathizing with Denki, giving Touya a break. It seemed that having a soulmate had him wanting to start acting more heroic or something, giving all of these small mercies out like candy instead of zeroing in on weaknesses and pointing them out to anyone within earshot.
"Well, since you're all dying to know, I guess I'll tell you how I met my soulmate. Do you care if I do the honors?" Neito asked Hitoshi before diving in.
Hitoshi shook his head. Neito knew Hitoshi would not want to take the attention for himself, happy to sit back and allow Neito to do what he does best. Hitoshi knew that Neito asking him first was a sign of high respect that he did not think he would get, at least not so early on, but he hid his surprise well.
"We were in music class," Neito started dramatically, setting the stage.