When the examiner was released from the quirk, he was heaving. He couldn't get enough oxygen. Honestly, the experience was terrifying, and he was uncertain about the ethics behind allowing underage mental health patients to undergo the same treatment under Hitoshi's quirk. He just wanted to get a feel for Hitoshi's quirk for himself so that he would be an accurate observer, but for how young Hitoshi was, he had the examiner under his complete control with no way for him to break free. The examiner had been under many different types of quirks before, but Hitoshi's was on another level completely. There was usually a mind-over-matter element to mental quirks that you could fight back if you were calm and fought hard enough, but there was absolutely no way for Hitoshi's quirk, and that was terrifying all on its own.
The examiner tried to quickly compose himself, but the terrified awe must have been obvious in his expression because Hitoshi looked quickly away from him and tensed, bracing himself for whatever was to come next.
"Ah! Me next! Please!" Denki pleaded, jumping up and down and waving his hands erratically like his request might be considered more carefully if he is as visible as possible. "Do you want me to break out or not fight it?" Denki asked, facing Hitoshi in thought.
Hitoshi looked over at the examiner who was still in too much shock to speak. Getting no guidance from the examiner, Hitoshi shrugged, stating, "let's just get into it and we'll let you know if you should try to break out after."
Denki nodded enthusiastically, waiting in excited anticipation to answer the trigger question that was sure to come soon. Neito leaned back in his chair, coldly observing, displeased about the examiner's reaction to Hitoshi's quirk, but mentally deciding to not jump down his throat about it until he says something negative about Hitoshi. Neito tried to cut the guy some slack; reactions cannot always be controlled, after all, especially after experiencing the power that is Hitoshi's quirk. But Neito would be damned before the examiner did any more damage to Hitoshi's self-esteem. Neito stared coldly at the examiner, not even bothering to watch his soulmate and roommate for the moment, ready to spring into action to cut off any potentially damaging statement that might try to burst free from the man's lips.
The examiner looked hesitant, eyes switching between Denki and Hitoshi, but he was also aware enough to look intrigued and a little confused as well. He was smart enough to keep his mouth shut, at least, and observe, as it was his job to do so.
"Are you ready?" Hitoshi asked, for once feeling a little peace while slinging his quirk through the words that left his lips.
Ordinarily, he would be anxious about the end results and would not look so relaxed. The words had a lazy drawl as they exited his mouth, primed with quirk, and Neito saw a new confidence in his soulmate that he had never seen before. Hitoshi was relaxed, even while he was starting off this experiment to see if it was his quirk that was messing with his and his soulmate's heads. Maybe it was because he was putting Denki under, and he had already learned that Denki wouldn't let him down. Maybe it was because he was surrounded by friends, and he had never felt that kind of support before. Hitoshi didn't even give much thought to the scared look in the examiner's eyes as he dropped his quirk from his mind, knowing that right on cue, as always, Denki would burst into the conversation like All Might bursting in on a villainous plot in action and relieve any negative attention by redirecting it to himself.
"You know it!" Denki chirped, shooting a comically dramatic wink and finger guns in Hitoshi's direction.
Neito knew that Hitoshi was feeling good when Denki's reply wasn't cut off. Hitoshi was not feeling rushed. He did not feel the need to hurry and get it over with. He allowed the full answer, chuckled at Denki's antics, and calmly reached over Denki's mind, enveloping him and taking over control. Denki relaxed into it immediately. Hitoshi knew he would, but it still made him feel amazing each time, just like it was the first time. He didn't know why he was so awestruck, but Denki's reaction to his quirk, how he just relaxed into it and enjoyed the experience would never cease to amaze him.
Hitoshi spared a glance to the examiner, who seemed to have shaken off the initial shock of being under Hitoshi's quirk and was diligently writing notes on his clipboard.
"Is he fighting back?" the examiner asked, pausing the movements of his pen and looking between the two boys who were currently connected through Hitoshi's quirk.
"He would have gotten out by now if he was," Neito exclaimed, flopping down into a chair, eyes switching lazily between his soulmate and roommate.
Touya stood off to the side, not moving from his position against the wall. When Hitoshi dared a glance in his direction, he was pleased that Touya seemed unaffected. He was just distantly observing, no emotions being shown, but that seemed typical of Touya, so it didn't freak Hitoshi out. Hitoshi was surprised about his lack of surprise about Touya's reaction, or lack of reaction.
Touya was impressed, though he was not quite certain what exactly was happening in front of him. He had never had the honor of seeing Hitoshi's quirk in action before, but if the dazed, blank look in Denki's normally bright, observant eyes was anything to go by, he could deduce that Denki no longer had control. It seemed quick, efficient, and painless. Touya couldn't wait until he got a chance to go under, wondering if it really was painless or if Denki was trapped in his mind, silently screaming. Touya heavily doubted that, but it was interesting to imagine, and he wondered if it would be possible for Hitoshi to induce some kind of mental or even physical pain through his quirk. With how confident Neito had been about Denki breaking free if he had fought against it, though, Touya was pretty certain that Hitoshi was not causing Denki any pain. Denki was a firecracker, but he would not be able to withstand something distressing while he had the option to stop it. At least, not yet. When Touya was through with his training, that would be a different story.
"Neito, what do you mean by that?" the examiner inquired.
Neito sat up straighter, eyes hardening to force himself to continue to look at the test subjects instead of the examiner. The examiner wasn't stupid, though. He was good at his job, and to be good at his job, he had to be really observant.
"You won't get in trouble. I need full disclosure here. Nothing learned here will be passed onto the mental health side of the facility," he promised.
"He's telling the truth," Touya offered from his position against the wall, making everyone, except Denki who was still in a dazed haze, look over at him. "It's in the paperwork of the facility. I underwent some test here for my quirk a few years ago, and it was clearly outlined. He wouldn't risk his job by reporting you for some harmless quirk usage to get you guys in trouble on the unit."
Touya's word was basically law to the boys. Touya was going to let the examiner flounder for a bit, but he figured that if they felt more comfortable with the examiner, they would get more out of the experiments. Plus, Touya would admit that he was curious to hear about it as well.
"Hitoshi had already…" Neito hesitated, looking over at his soulmate, who nodded his permission for Neito to admit what had happened. "Hitoshi had already had Denki under his quirk before. I did, too. That is, uh… I copied Hitoshi's quirk and used it on Denki," Neito clarified.
Neito was used to getting in trouble himself, but he was adamantly against bringing others down with him. Denki faltered under Hitoshi's quirk as he heard his normally confident roommate stumble over the explanation, the urge to intervene and draw attention to himself flowing though and tugging slightly on Hitoshi's quirk.
"Spin in a circle," Hitoshi commanded, trying to reestablish the baseline control over Denki.
Hitoshi knew what Denki was trying to do. He was also aware that "trying" wasn't the right word, because it was an automatic reaction to help his friend. They were already all aware of Denki's social genius, but Hitoshi realized then that Denki was heroic in that way as well. He didn't actively think about rushing in to help someone out of an awkward situation. No. Denki rushed in without thinking about it, which was one of the reasons so many people thought he was stupid, because sometimes he would have to jump in with something outlandish to get the attention off of whoever was suffering under social scrutiny. But Neito was among friends, and Hitoshi knew that in the long run, Neito would have to be more open to being more vulnerable with the people he trusted. That short list was exactly the same for both of them, and included only the others in the room, minus the examiner. Neito could handle it, and Hitoshi was not going to let go of the chance to have Neito face a challenge and come out victorious on the other end. He knew that Denki meant well, and he knew that Denki immediately thought similarly because he relaxed back under the quirk again immediately after the command instead of trying to fight it, consciously or not.
The examiner looked at the pair in question.
"Denki can break out of my quirk. It's actually pretty easy for him. Giving him a command resets him back to baseline and he has to start all over again if he wants to break free," Hitoshi offered.
"Reset him back to baseline…" the examiner muttered under his breath as he wrote on his clipboard before pausing and looking up toward Denki with concern in his eyes. "He was trying to break out of your quirk? Is he okay?"
"He's fine," Hitoshi reassured, but felt the doubt creeping into his mind. He was certain that Denki could break out quickly and easily if he wanted, but he did not want to seem like some kind of monster to the examiner.
"Then why was he trying to break out?" the examiner questioned, still looking at Denki with concern.
Hitoshi sighed, dropping the quirk from Denki's mind, and giving him control back. Hitoshi flopped into a chair along the edge of the room, trying not to look as discouraged as he felt.
"I'm fine! I just got distracted, is all," Denki reassured, shaking his head and blinking to clear the remaining haze that lingered in his eyes.
Before the examiner had a chance to question him further, Touya chimed in, "how are they supposed to get anything done if you're going to interrupt every five seconds? Denki can take care of himself. We're all friends, here, and if Hitoshi felt that any of us were fighting back, I know he would drop his quirk. We all trust each other, but you're getting in your own way of your own experiments."
Touya's statement was delivered in a calm, cold, matter-of-fact manner. He wasn't angry or yelling, just stating a fact that needed to be heard. And the examiner quickly realized that he was right, apologized to all of them, and asked that Hitoshi start over after checking with Denki one more time that he was still happy to keep participating.
Hitoshi was awestruck. Touya had stood up for him, and to an adult, no less! And that adult had listened to what Touya had to say, accepted that he was wrong, and then apologized to them! Hitoshi had never been apologized to by an adult before, and when he looked over to put Denki back under, he could see the same awe and shock in his eyes as well. Touya was unphased as always. Neito did not look phased by the apology, but rather interested and almost suspicious of the way Hitoshi and Denki were reacting to the examiner's apology.
Once Denki was back under, Touya finally stepped away from the wall, and exclaimed, "might as well use this opportunity to push some limits, yeah?" with a maniacal smile on his face.
The statement along with the crazy-eyed smile was enough to put the examiner on edge, but Hitoshi and Neito beamed at him, bouncing up to stand at attention with a competitive gleam in their eyes, wondering what Touya had in store for them. Denki stood there, still gazing blankly in Hitoshi's direction, but was paying attention and sharing the same sentiments as the other two 12-year-olds who still had control over their bodies.
A/N: Happy New Year, everyone! Tell me about what you did for New Year's! I dyed my hair blue, to honor the best villain in MHA universe. "New year, new me?" More like "new year, now I'm Shigaraki!"
Also, shout-out to my Wattpad readers because they are absolutely KILLING it with the interaction! The votes and comments are so great, and they go a long way in motivating me to keep writing, so thanks so much! That means that Quotev, AO3, Fanfiction.n3t, and Booksie readers need to step it up if they don't want to fall behind the high interaction standards set by Wattpad readers!
Also, also! I'll be posting another update shortly after this one to make up for missing an update! So, be on the lookout! I love you guys and I wish you all the best year ever! Let's do this!