Denki's arms were steady as he stared straight ahead, this time into Hitoshi's deep purple eyes instead of Touya's icy blue ones. Instead of swimming in the ocean, Denki imagined himself frolicking through a thick field of violets on a lazy, warm afternoon.
The examiner watched closely, monitoring the others just as much as he monitored Denki to make sure that Denki would not be pushed past his limit by force. When he voiced his concerns, however, Neito reminded him that Denki can break the hold of the quirk on him easily, and Hitoshi can feel if he were to start fighting back and can drop it even faster. The examiner had never been put in a position like that before, and he was hoping that he would not get fired if anyone were to question the safety and motives behind the experiments that quickly took on a life of their own. He had to admit, though, that these were good ideas and would get results much faster than the traditional experiment procedures.
Denki focused his eyes on Hitoshi's, cutting through the haze just enough to gauge how his friend was holding up. Denki felt the examiner's eyes on him but questioned if anyone was thinking about how this might be harder on Hitoshi than anyone else. Hitoshi amazed Denki. Who else had the physical and mental fortitude to hold the plank position while also keeping someone under his quirk?
Except for maybe Neito, who happened to be giving off strong hints that he wanted to see if he could keep Denki under the brainwashing quirk while being under physical pressure as well. Okay, they were less like hints and more like loud, obnoxious, unending taunting that he would be able to do that, too, and wiggling his eyebrows at Touya as he suggested that he copy Hitoshi's quirk and put Touya under right then and there. Touya rolled his eyes good-naturedly, threatening to give tougher commands if Neito still had the energy to whine even while the sweat was pouring off of all of them as they maintained the steady plank position, too stubborn to even waver or sway, staying as still as statues… if statues could sweat and swear and whine, that was.
When Denki sliced through the haze just enough to visually check in on Hitoshi, who seemed to be multitasking without much effort, Hitoshi's eyes darted to meet Denki's, feeling his control starting to slip just a little bit. After he determined that the change came from Denki and it wasn't because he was losing control due to the multitasking, Hitoshi tried to gauge Denki's intentions. Denki didn't back off and allow the quirk full control again right away, but he didn't thin the quirk out even more until it burst either.
Neito noticed that Hitoshi was looking intently at Denki and was not really surprised to see Denki's eyes focused on Hitoshi instead of staring off into space, dazed and unfocused even as the sweat poured off of his body from the physical effort.
At first, Hitoshi was worried that Denki was in pain from the exercise, but maybe it just wasn't enough pain to snap him out of the quirk. Hitoshi quickly disregarded that possibility and realized that Denki was just checking in on him. Hitoshi couldn't help the smile that spread across his face, even as he grimaced from the effort of holding the position Touya had commanded them into, using nothing but the friendly authority of his unofficial title as their trainer.
Hitoshi managed to give a small nod toward Denki, and rasped out, "I'm doing okay. Are you?"
Denki's eyes lost their focus and Hitoshi's quirk was no longer stretched as thinly, coming back in full force over Denki's mind.
"I'll take that as a yes," Hitoshi rasped out, managing to bark out a short laugh before his arms finally gave in and he fell to the floor, groaning at being the first one out.
Neito followed soon after, rolling onto his back to stare at the ceiling while Touya and quirked-out Denki were still in the running.
"Hey! On second thought," Touya gasped out, looking at the three boys, "maybe this isn't so fair after all. Denki only has to rely on his physical strength and not mental."
Neito burst out laughing, not bothering to move from his spot on the floor as he turned his head to look at Touya.
"Being a sore loser before you even lose, Touya?" Neito taunted, the gleam in his eye coming back quickly even after collapsing in exhaustion.
"I see where you're coming from," Hitoshi offered, a small smile gracing his face as he watched the two still in plank position, Touya rapidly declining in stability. "But I don't think it would help you either way, Touya. I'm pretty sure Denki could do anything he set his mind to, and it's easy for him to set his mind to something, don't you think?"
Instead of responding, Touya groaned, dropping to the ground, and pressing his face against the blissful, cool tiles.
With a confirming glance at the examiner, Hitoshi dropped the quirk from Denki who immediately smiled widely at all of them but did not drop from his plank position.
"Looks like I win!" Denki sang, not showing any signs of tiredness except the sweat still pouring off of him.
"Yeah, yeah," Neito grumbled. "No one likes a sore winner."
"You're one to talk," Touya snorted.
"Sore winner?" Denki teased, eyes squinting in delight at the thought that popped up in his head. "I'm already the winner, but I'll need to stay like this for another five minutes if you want me to be sore."
Neito stared at Denki in shock but could not contain the burst of laughter that bubbled out of his throat. Soon, all four boys were on the floor, heaving and laughing so hard that tears were pooling in their eyes. Denki had immediately dropped to the floor after the statement, the laughter wracking through his body too much to maintain the position for a second longer.
"That confidence is well-earned," Touya complimented when they had all calmed down, giving Denki a slap on the back.
Denki preened under the praise, turning to give Touya a bright-eyed smile.
After cooling off and rehydrating, the boys broke off into pairs, as directed by the examiner. Neito was going to put Denki under the quirk and Hitoshi was going to put Touya under.
Neito shot a cheeky grin in Touya's direction before singing, "looks like you've escaped me this time, Touya! You won't be so lucky next time!"
Touya cursed under his breath and responded before turning away and giving his attention to Hitoshi, "I'd hate to see what you make me do under your control."
That was a lie, though. Neito was abrasive and obnoxious on the worst days, but he didn't have a villainous bone in his body. Neito could tease and taunt all he wanted, but Touya trusted him, actually. Touya would answer a quirk-loaded question in a heartbeat if Neito asked it, just as willingly as he was about to answer Hitoshi's. These boys looked up to him. He was the role model for once. And the whole little group just kind of clicked together perfectly and seamlessly. Touya wasn't much of a dreamer. No, Touya preferred to live solely in the present and think realistically about the future, but even he could imagine the four of them teaming up one day and doing a hell of a job based on the team chemistry alone.
Touya wasn't nervous at all about Hitoshi's quirk. If Denki could handle it effortlessly, then he was sure that the examiner's reaction was over the top. Touya would never admit it to anyone, but he kind of freaked out a little bit when he answered the question and then suddenly had no control over his own body.
Touya's life had gone from one end of the spectrum to the other. At first, he was Endeavor's pride and joy. The best hope at overcoming All Might. Touya had no control over his life at that time. His days were scheduled down to the minute to account for all of the training he had to go through. His meals were planned down to the last calorie and carb to get the most out of his food and start building muscle as quickly and efficiently as possible. His school days were filled with intense study; not a minute was spared because he did not want to waste any potential training time to finish any leftover homework, so while other kids talked before class started and after class ended, Touya was nose deep in his books, absorbing the information as quickly and thoroughly as possible to complete assignments as they were given instead of waiting last minute like a lot of his peers tended to do.
After his quirk examination turned out with bad news and little Shouto came along, Touya's life switched to the other end of the spectrum. He went from having no control over his life to having total control because suddenly no one else cared what he did. The first time he came home from school five minutes late, he was rushing through the door, an apology already on his lips, but stopped dead in his tracks when he realized that no one was there to greet him. Endeavor was already off with Shouto, preparing him for greatness. His mother had been whisked away to a long-term mental hospital earlier that year for hurting Shouto. His siblings were busy doing their own things. His sister was at an after-school dance club and his brother had gone out with friends. Shouto was obviously occupied by Touya's old schedule that suddenly became his when he showed how much potential he really had, and Touya was left out with nothing to fall back on.
Touya had nothing. He didn't have a schedule to follow. He never joined any clubs. He never even had time to make any friends. Touya decided that he could wallow in self-pity, or he could take control over his own situation and prove everyone wrong. Since then, Touya had had almost complete control over himself, though his schedule did not change very much. Touya still trained like it was going out of style, but he squeezed in some time to make friends, taking the time before and after class to start socializing instead of cramming every second with schoolwork since he suddenly had more free time after school that he could use to finish up any homework.
Touya had nothing, so he gave himself everything.
Having that careful control stripped away and no longer having any control over his body sent Touya in a brief spiral, but he quickly got ahold of himself.
I'm fine. This is fine. I trust Hitoshi. This is fine.
Touya never had any trouble giving up control to his father when they were training to become the best, so he did not know why he reacted so strongly like that. On the other hand, it really had been quite a while since he wasn't in complete control of himself. Maybe the complete control over his own future became a coping mechanism for him and before that, he didn't realize how much he relied on it. Hitoshi had just pulled that rug out from under his feet, only for Touya to realize that instead of sturdy floors under that rug, there was fragile glass, and one wrong step would send him hurtling toward ruin.
Touya quickly regained his sense before he could try to struggle against Hitoshi's quirk, and he was grateful for that. Hitoshi had enough on his plate without someone he trusts showing him that his quirk was something to fear when it really wasn't.
Denki felt the familiar haze wash over him, and this time it was smooth and natural, like Neito had been born with the quirk. Denki was amazed at his friend's quick learning and easy control over a complicated quirk, and he was not going to hesitate to tell Neito just how awesome he thought he was, even if Touya would roll his eyes and tell him not to stroke his ego because it was already too big already.
Neito had glanced over at Hitoshi and Touya and felt a lot more relaxed after he realized Touya was under, and Hitoshi was smiling and calmly talking with the examiner. Neito was relieved that it went well. He knew Touya could handle it, but he still worried a little.
The week went on like that, with Hitoshi and Neito putting Denki and Touya under the brainwashing quirk and doing different stress tests and other experiments, but Hitoshi and Neito didn't report hearing any extra feedback or anything else weird between their soulmate bond and Hitoshi's brainwashing quirk.
Touya also continued with the training, getting each boy set up with a great plan that they could take and use outside of the mental hospital, threatening to hunt them down if they strayed from the plans at all.
Denki verbalized his wishful future plans, where all of them would be Pro Heroes together and kick some serious villain butt. Denki was thrilled when he suggested code names and they all agreed. Even the technicians played along, walking past them like they didn't see them crouched in the bright, open hallway as they practiced having quiet footsteps and rolling past doorways.
Momo, Ochako, and Kyoka were discharged in the middle of that week, quickly replaced by a timid green-haired boy, a wound-up boy with navy blue hair and glasses, and a short boy with purple balls on his head. Denki tried instigating a "boys club" now that there were only boys on the unit, but the groups didn't mix well with how established the QQQ (the Quick, Quiet Quad) was.
As for the quirk experiments, Touya only panicked the first time under Hitoshi's quirk, and even when he was put under by Neito, he was calm and collected. Touya figured that the first time must have just been a shock to his system about how he could not have predicted what having literally zero control over himself would feel like.
Denki and Touya were discharged on the same day. Denki cried, hugging his friends, and promising to keep up with the workout plans so that one day they could all be pro heroes together.
Two days later, Neito was discharged back to his family, and Hitoshi was discharged back to the children and youth agency who then took him to his new foster home in his new school district.
The next day was Hitoshi's first day at the new school, and just by bad luck, it happened to be a field trip day. Hitoshi was dreading spending the day alone with no time to even try to make friends, let alone have a plan on how to succeed with keeping said friends once they discovered his quirk. He missed the mental hospital already.
A/N: When I made the outline for this story, there wasn't a mental hospital at all. Now, here we are, 13 chapters later, and just now leaving the mental hospital. Let's get back into school life and see how the outside world affects the boys' relationships. Will they meet up again soon? Will peer pressure make them stick together harder or threaten to pull them apart? I'd love to hear any theories, thoughts, etc. that you guys have!