Denki sighed, rubbing at his temples to try to ease his stress headache. By that point, it had been three days since everything went down at Kamino Ward and neither Dabi nor Shigaraki had logged into their accounts. The dumb 'three days ago' under their usernames taunted Denki, telling him that he didn't do enough.

No one would tell him what had happened after he was whisked away by his classmates. Everyone said that it was nothing he needed to worry about, and he wondered if some of them got away, and that is why they wouldn't tell him, but maybe that was just wishful thinking on his end. Denki figured that from their perspective, he might have become more anxious and paranoid if he knew that some of the villains had escaped. Denki couldn't tell them otherwise; Force Majeure's quirk wouldn't let him.

They had tried plopping Denki down in a therapist's office, but Force Majeure's quirk wasn't cancelled out by the calm and caring voice of the psychiatrist enlisted to talk to the students affected by Denki's kidnapping, including Denki himself.

Denki was slightly impressed by the way that the therapist didn't become frustrated or annoyed at Denki's lack of response, even before everyone had figured out that there was something stopping him from talking that wasn't just himself or his perceived trauma.

"Hey, kid," Aizawa had greeted, tired and dusty from the events at Kamino Ward.

He had sought out Denki right after he was released by the Hero Commission after debriefing, not surprised to find Denki surrounded by his peers. Of course, they would be reprimanded later for taking matters into their own hands. What did surprise him was Denki's fatigue and quiet sadness. Aizawa had honestly been expecting jokes and high energy from being rescued by his peers. He expected laughter all around and not the silent, concerned glances that Denki's peers were shooting at each other when Denki would look away. He had never seen Denki so despondent, and it seemed more to him than just the trauma that Denki had gone through. Likewise, Denki had never heard Aizawa's voice so gentle. It was more unsettling than calming.

"Your parents are on their way," he informed, noticing that Denki tensed further instead of relaxing.

"He won't talk to us," Neito whispered, a quiet desperation in his tone.

"I don't think he can," Hitoshi added, directed toward Aizawa but not looking away from Denki.

Denki had quickly looked up to meet Hitoshi's eyes, and Hitoshi was almost relieved to see some emotion coming from the normally hyperactive, excitable boy, even if that emotion was simply a blunted surprise.

"Oh, Denki," his mother had wailed, collapsing into him.

He pet her hair to comfort her as she sobbed with relief at having her baby boy back after two days of being held hostage by an infamous group of villains. When she noticed the burns on his arms, she wailed even louder. The burns weren't bothering Denki at all; Dabi had done well with his first aid care. His father had put a shaky hand on his shoulder, and when Denki dared to look at him, he saw that he was tearing up, too. While his mother was more upset with Denki physically being injured, even though he had had much worse before from his own quirk, his father was more concerned about Denki's change in demeanor.

When Aizawa introduced the idea of moving Denki, along with all of the other students, into on-campus housing, Denki's parents immediately objected and threatened to pull their son from the program entirely. Aizawa calmly pointed out the benefits and safety measures that keeping Denki on campus full-time would give them, but Denki's parents argued back that he was kidnapped under their care in the first place.

Denki spoke for the first time since being rescued, and said firmly, "I want to stay."

His parents tried to argue with him, but he was determined. When they asked him what the villains had done to him, he couldn't answer, which didn't help his case in convincing his parents that he was actually fine.

Dabi had put his faith in him that he would be a good hero, and he passed that faith onto the other League members. Denki would be damned if he allowed himself to let them all down right after being returned to UA.

No.

Denki was going to be a hero.

For once in his life, he didn't back down when his parents tried to reason with him. They defended their position, argued the logistics, and even tried to guilt trip him with how much they would worry if they didn't get to see him every day. He shot each attempt down like a cold-hearted, sharp-shooter assassin.

"I've never asked for anything," he stated coldly, not allowing his mother's tears to manipulate his decision. "I've done everything I could to make you proud and even made it into UA's hero course. Now that I'm here, you really want to take that all away from me? You really want the lesson to be that no matter how hard I work, the actions of others will matter more than my own actions and reactions?"

It was Denki's turn to guilt trip. He didn't even feel bad about it, like he might have before. He had a pure reason in his heart for doing so, and he had been guilt-tripped enough that he felt it was time to repay the favor. His feelings from every scolding session from when he let his quirk get out of control and disappointed, worried look every time he failed a math test piled onto Denki's determination, and his delivery was cold and concise, and it worked.

Denki's parents shakily signed the consent form, and he hugged them back extra hard when they embraced him before leaving him in the care of UA when they had fully intended on taking him home and never letting him out of their sight ever again. Their little boy was growing up, and even if they tried to smother him, Denki made it clear that he would no longer tolerate it.

The first step of becoming a hero endorsed by the League of Villains? Taking charge of his future and not allowing anyone to come in the way of his goals.

He thought he might feel bad about it later, but he never did, and his parents never brought it up that he argued against them like that. It seemed they took his returned guilt-tripping to heart and learned how bad it felt, committing that feeling to memory, and vowing to themselves to never make Denki feel that way again. Now that he was growing up, treating him like that would only push him away instead of getting him to let them control him. From that point on, they had to trust that Denki would be able to control himself, because they were damned sure that he wasn't going to let anyone else do it anymore. And isn't that the ultimate goal of parenthood? Raising your child to become their own, independent person with their own ambitions, dreams, and goals? It still hurt to let go, though, but they always knew that it would.

He was taken to see Recovery Girl after the school had gotten signed consent to continue to care for Denki. Recovery Girl was quiet and moved slowly and carefully as she completed a full examination. Later, she would report to Nezu, All Might, and Aizawa that Denki was surprisingly clean for being a hostage for two days. Besides the burns on his arms, he was physically no worse for wear, and the burns weren't even that bad, already having been taken care of with basic first aid. None of his teeth were broken, and it actually seemed like the villains allowed him to keep good dental hygiene while under their control. His hair and skin were still healthy as ever, so it seemed like they even let him take a shower while there. He weighed the same and his muscle tone versus body fat percentage had stayed the same as well. It was only two days, but Recovery Girl had seen noticeable changes in similar cases before, especially when it came to heroes in training whose bodies were strictly attuned to a certain diet and exercise regimen that any deviation would result in quick changes. It was almost like Denki had been eating well and even still exercising during his time with the League of Villains.

That might have worried her about his alliances if it weren't for the fact that he was Denki and that he seemed downright depressed. He moved slowly without his usually jittery energy and fun humor. He answered questions in as few words as possible and didn't even try to answer any questions about his time spent with the League of Villains. Recovery Girl wondered if their torture methods were more mental than physical, though she never would have expected that from the League of Villains before seeing Denki's condition.

She hesitated in healing Denki, seeing as how lethargic and fatigued he already was and considering the fact that the burns were healing nicely on their own and well taken care of.

"Do you want me to heal you, dear?" she asked gently, a comforting hand on Denki's shoulder.

"I get to choose?" Denki asked, making an effort to look up at her with his sad, tired eyes for the first time since he arrived at her office door.

"Yes, dear. Everything looks good, so it's up to you. Are you in any pain?" she asked, just glad that she finally seemed to be getting some interaction and participation from him.

"I'm not in pain," he answered. "I don't want to be healed. I'll heal fine on my own… if that's okay?" he ended in a question, looking back up to her again.

With a nod, she dismissed him back into the care of Aizawa, who had been waiting in the hallway on the other side of the closed door. He didn't seem even the slightest bit phased that Denki still sported the burns on his arms. He didn't comment on the fact that Denki seemed just the slightest bit brighter.

Neito's parents had been concerned when they learned about his antics during the training camp and how he took on the villains directly. They were even more concerned when they learned that he was part of the rescue operation that went to save Denki out from under the noses of the villains and pro heroes who were surrounding them and did so successfully.

They were proud of him, but also reminded him to keep his ultimate goals in mind and to not push boundaries too much.

"I'll push whatever I need as far as I need to make sure that my friends are safe," Neito had muttered under his breath, though he was grateful when his parents easily gave permission for him to move into the dorms.

They could tell by his endless motivation and his increasingly good mood that he was right where he needed to be, and who were they to stop their son from achieving the dreams he worked so hard on?

Neito had acted downright offended when his parents offered to get him into UA on recommendation with their connections to the hero school. He wanted to prove that he could get in on his own due to his own talents and hard work. His parents tried warning him against it, telling him the very real possibility that something could go wrong, and he might not make it in. They explained that the testing is always different and what could be easy to someone one year would be the hardest thing the next year, even if that person had a great quirk and could make a great hero. But Neito had never used his family name to his benefit before, and he wasn't about to start when it mattered most. Neito wasn't worried, but he found out exactly what they were talking about when he realized the struggle that Hitoshi had going through the training, unable to use his quirk on the massive robots.

Hitoshi's foster parents had pulled him into a combined hug that was a mishmash of limbs. Hitoshi might have felt trapped and suffocated if it was anyone else, but with them, he felt warm and secure. They had laughed watery laughs until they cried with pure relief that their foster son was okay. They joked around over dinner, once the initial shock had worn off, about Hitoshi getting up to "no good," even though they thought it was brave (reckless, but still brave all the same) of Hitoshi to risk facing villains to save a valued friend of his. Hitoshi reassured them that his friends would have done the same for him if he had been in Denki's place. Then they made Hitoshi promise to never be kidnapped by villains, and instead of arguing that he couldn't exactly control that, he promised with a definitive nod and a smile.

UA had made quick work of building the dorm rooms and within a week, they were ready to be moved into.

Hitoshi had wondered what would happen since he was a foster kid, but no one had brought it up to him, so he figured he was in the clear.

He should have known better.

On Friday, after classes had finished, he made his way home. The dorm buildings were getting their final touches that evening and would be able to be moved into the next day for the students to settle in before classes resumed on Monday.

When he came in through the door and announced his return, he heard a sob coming from the living room. Immediately, he had dropped his bags and rushed in, only to find his foster parents and foster care caseworker, surrounded by his already-packed bags.

It was a familiar scene, but that didn't make it hurt any less. He had been with these people since he had been twelve. It had been an amazing three years, and he thought he might be with them for the rest of his time in foster care. They never showed any sign of wanting to get rid of him, so he was blindsided. Usually there were signs when he was about to be moved, though he was never actually warned ahead of time.

"What is all this?" he asked, looking around at his bags, and trying not to make any assumptions.

He loved his foster parents and would allow them to explain. Either way, he didn't get a say, so there was nothing he could do to change anyone's mind. There never was. No matter how much of a tantrum he threw or how many threats he made or how long and hard he held onto the door frame as he was pulled away, he never got to stay.

"Oh, Hitoshi," Hanisu whimpered, holding out her arms in invitation for him.

He noticed the caseworker wincing when Hanisu had answered the question, and he didn't relax, even when it was clear that Hitoshi didn't take the opportunity to brainwash his foster mother into attacking him or anything else his scared mind had come up with. Out of his whole caseload, Hitoshi was his least favorite foster child. An absolutely terrifying monster of a child who just got scarier and scarier as he grew and learned. Then they went and had him enrolled in a hero school where he could not only use his quirk but was encouraged to do so! Absolutely insane!

He was glad that Hitoshi was being removed from the care of these people who gave him too much freedom, but he was dreading that he was the one who had to do the removing. Ever since he learned about the placement change, he contemplated quitting his job. His hair had started to fall out, he was so stressed!

"Where's the muzzle?" the caseworker had asked, looking around. He was not pleased when he was ignored.

Hitoshi was quickly becoming emotionally exhausted. First, Denki was kidnapped by a bunch of dangerous villains. Then he was rescued, and Hitoshi got to be a part of that rescue operation. Then Denki wouldn't talk about what happened, or couldn't talk about what happened, more likely. Even so, he wasn't his normal, happy self, and Hitoshi didn't know what to do to fix that. Now, he was facing being moved to a new placement. It might be a new family, a group home, or even a detention center. Even if he hadn't done anything wrong, just his status of having a dangerous quirk allowed the foster care system a lot of leeway when it came to placing preventative restrictions on him.

"It's good news," Hanisu assured Hitoshi, though the tears still leaked from her eyes and trailed down her cheeks.

Hitoshi reached up to wipe her tears away, and she offered him a smile that wasn't strained, but was sad. Hitoshi had never seen anything like it before, and he had no idea what it meant. He had no idea to brace himself for what information might come next because he believed that she wasn't lying. What good news would cause her to cry, though?

Hitoshi looked over at Genori, who was rubbing his wife's back. Genori took his turn to pull Hitoshi into a tight hug, and sniffed, not allowing himself to cry, not when he had to be the strong one for his wife as their first ever foster child moved on to new opportunities.

"I'm leaving," Hitoshi stated the obvious, hoping that someone would add details on that he didn't know, yet. He intentionally didn't phrase it as a question, hoping that if his foster parents hesitated, the caseworker might chime in with missing information.

And he hated it. He hated having to walk on eggshells once again. He hated having to watch his wording so he wouldn't unintentionally scare someone. He used to be so ashamed of himself and his quirk, but after making so many friends and having teachers answer his questions instead of staring at him in fear, he was tired of the old song and dance, and he was terrified that he would have to start all over again with someone new.

But there was nothing he could do. So, he plastered a reassuring smile on his face as he looked between his foster parents.

"You're being adopted, son," Genori informed, clearing his throat of the potential tears that clogged it. "We applied, and we were going to break the news to you, but we were denied in favor of a better match for you."

"What? No… I want to stay here," Hitoshi whispered, his own tears starting to gather in his eyes, astounded at the fact that they had wanted to adopt him. They wanted him around, they wanted him as their own permanently, and his caseworker had to come along to break the news that they wouldn't be permitted to give Hitoshi his forever family, his happily ever after that he so desperately desired.

"You can visit all the time," Hanisu reassured, hiccupping on her held-back sobs, knowing that she would be crying for hours once Hitoshi left, but at least they would be bittersweet tears instead of just bitter. "You aren't going far."

Hitoshi had a million questions, but he couldn't ask questions if he wanted any answers. He wanted to know what was going to happen to his schooling. He wanted to know if his pre-adoptive parents would allow him to continue to go to UA. He wondered what his pre-adoptive parents were like that they were chosen over the already established relationship with his current foster parents. By what he knew of the foster care system and what they thought of him, he figured that his pre-adoptive parents would be strict. Maybe they had quirks that made them more immune to his own and that was why his placement was being changed and they were the ones approved for Hitoshi's adoption over his current foster parents. Maybe they were villains in disguise who saw him during the sports festival and intend to use him to suit their needs. Sadly, it would not have been the first time something like that would have been attempted.

Hitoshi's caseworker was just relieved that Hitoshi would be under the care of someone properly equipped to handle the monster child. He, along with everyone else, had heard rumors about how strict, harsh, and unforgiving his pre-adoptive father tended to be, and the caseworker thought that was exactly what Hitoshi needed. All he had to do was survive the transfer, and then he would be able to pass off Hitoshi onto the adoption department and wipe his hands of him for good. Hitoshi would become a problem for someone else to have to dread until the adoption went through, then the adoptive family would be on their own. If the adoption happened to fail and Hitoshi returned to foster care, his caseworker would be searching for job opportunities elsewhere before he would accept Hitoshi under his caseload again.