Hitoshi thought he was more mature and level-headed now. Maybe he was, but the terrible feelings that surrounded him when he was forced to wear that damn muzzle again showed him that he hadn't changed as much as he hoped he would.
Did it help that it was the muzzle that Momo had made for him specifically? The one that Bakugou had returned in mint condition after the school demonstration with a grunted 'thanks' before stomping away? Yeah, it helped. The panic was no longer clawing at him, darkening the outer edges of his vision, but the humiliation was still there in full force.
It was different wearing it of his own will when demonstrating and protesting. It was another thing entirely for it to be forced upon him unwillingly with no say on his end. Putting his forehead against the cool glass of the car's window, Hitoshi closed his eyes and took some deep breaths, trying to regulate his own inner emotional turmoil and get himself readjusted to his new reality. For all he knew, he was going to be expected to wear this thing almost constantly when he was placed with his pre-adoptive family. His heart fluttered at the thought that someone wanted to adopt him. Not only that, but also the Hamabis were wanting to adopt him as well. He tried to not allow himself to get his hopes up, but it was hard.
He had learned from a young age to expect the worst and treasure every little circumstance that wasn't as bad as it could have been. After being with people as kind and considerate as the Hamabis, his old mantras and self-trainings had gone out the window. He stupidly believed he might not need his old mantras anymore after feeling more and more secure in his placement with the Hamabis as the months went on without them requesting his removal.
Then they fought for him to be able to attend UA, even when his foster care caseworker was against it. They went to bat for him, and they won.
As far as Hitoshi knew, up until that point, his foster care caseworker's words were as good as law. For the Hamabis to not only go against him, but win, was unimaginable to Hitoshi and he hardly believed it when they broke the news to him that he would be allowed to attend. He had already been resigned to the fact that all of his hard work to actually get accepted into UA was going to go down the drain. He had learned long ago that life wasn't fair, and no one cared when you pointed out things that could help make it fairer.
To Hitoshi, the Hamabis were heroes in their own right, just by what they had done to show him that he was truly and genuinely cared for. He had been especially surprised because the Hamabis had never shown an interest in heroics until Hitoshi had voiced his desire to apply to UA. Suddenly, heroic literature was scattered around the house and the news stations that played in the background were changed to the hero-heavy reporting networks. What used to be discussions about grades and friends and his school day over dinner turned into discussions and debates about current hero policies and politics and the old and newly discovered dangers of becoming a hero, including both physical and emotional dangers. The Hamabis went from asking about Hitoshi's homework to asking about his training regimen. They went from kid-friendly movie night to hero documentary movie night.
Hitoshi had never felt so welcomed and wanted. Hitoshi had never had someone so interested in him as a person, and not in the way of how they could mold him into the person they wanted him to be instead of helping him grow into the person he himself strived to become.
And now all of that was over. Hitoshi was starting all over again.
When the caseworker's GPS directed them to stop in from of UA, Hitoshi's heart dropped further. He had the tiniest bit of hope that he would at least be able to continue to go to UA, but it looked like they were making a pit stop to officially unenroll him from his classes.
He dared a glance over to his caseworker, expecting to see a smug smirk sent in his direction. He swore the man got off on his despair. So, he was taken aback by the poorly hidden confusion on his caseworker's face, even as his caseworker refused to even look in Hitoshi's direction. His caseworker double checked the address typed into his GPS with the paperwork with the information for Hitoshi's pre-adoptive family, and his confusion just seemed to deepen.
Hitoshi looked out of his window to see a woman he had never seen before, along with Aizawa standing there. Hitoshi felt his face burn in shame at Aizawa seeing him with his stupid muzzle on. Hitoshi felt weird feeling embarrassed when he had proudly worn the muzzle in demonstration in Bakugou's honor a few weeks prior, but consent made a huge difference. Again, it was a different thing entirely to use the muzzle during a demonstration of his own free will, and something else completely to be forced into it because everyone saw him as a dangerous creature not worth any respect or dignity.
He wondered if the woman might have been his pre-adoptive mother. She looked kind. She had warm eyes. But Hitoshi had learned that looks can be deceiving. Hitoshi would gladly take any opportunity to get away from his caseworker, though, so he figured it would only be a good thing if he got to transfer cars and ride with her.
She confidently rushed over to Hitoshi's side of the door and flung his door open.
"Welcome—what the fuck." Her voice went from friendly and upbeat to deadpan and annoyed so quickly that Hitoshi recoiled.
She offered a hand to Hitoshi, and he took it, knowing that disobeying, or even hesitating, would make things worse on his end. Internally, he swore. He had regressed so quickly it seemed like he had made no progress at all.
"Seriously? This is what the foster care system has been up to?" she snarled, but not at Hitoshi. Her anger was directed past him, directly at his foster care caseworker.
"It's for safety," his caseworker had argued, indignant.
Before the woman could retort, Hitoshi had interjected, "it's fine, really."
All eyes were on him. That's what he gets for trying to be a damn peacekeeper instead of allowing the adults to have it out on their own. He should have remained silent and in the background. UA had made him too brazen.
"How can you talk with that on?" his caseworker had whispered, the color leaving his face as he realized that Hitoshi could have potentially brainwashed him at any point while they were alone, and he would have been helpless to stop it.
Hitoshi froze, face paling at the magnitude of the mistake he had just made. He gave away his safety net so easily. He had gotten too used to having a voice and being able to speak that he messed everything up. The precious gift from Momo didn't even last an hour for him before he gave the secret away. At that moment, he just wanted a chance to talk to Neito before he started downward spiral of self-loathing.
"Is that how Bakugou was able to join in the demonstration?" Aizawa asked.
Hitoshi had never been so thankful for Aizawa, even as he offered to train him in the art of capture weaponry and hand-to-hand combat. He knew, of course, that Aizawa was just trying to ease the tension, but he was so good at it that it immediately put Hitoshi at ease.
"Yeah," Hitoshi answered verbally as he reached back to unclasp the straps affixing the muzzle firmly against his face.
Hitoshi smiled softly as he thought back to Bakugou actually calling him by his name, and it was then that he knew that his prized possession would be in safe hands, and any risk he was still taking was completely worth it.
Hitoshi's smile grew lopsided into a smirk when he saw his foster care caseworker try to object to him removing his muzzle only to be stopped by the woman. He was liking her more and more as the minutes passed by. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad living with her.
"That was really kind of you to trust him with that," the woman offered, her smile kind and genuine.
"I bet he didn't even hesitate," Aizawa directed toward the woman, but didn't take his eyes off of Hitoshi.
The pure warmth coming from the duo was something that Hitoshi had never felt from people he had seen as ultimate authorities over himself and his life. It reminded him a lot of the way the Hamabis made him feel.
"Are you ready to move into the dorms?" Aizawa asked.
"I'm going to be allowed to stay at UA?" Hitoshi asked, his voice heavy with breathy disbelief.
"You didn't tell him?" the woman asked his foster care caseworker, a disproving frown gracing her pretty face.
Instead of waiting for the two social workers to get their shit together, Aizawa took it upon himself to break the news.
"Kid, I'm the one adopting you."
Aizawa saw the tears rush to Hitoshi's eyes and fall down his face as he was unable to hold back the flood of emotion. Aizawa saw Hitoshi freeze in place, too scared to move to break this perfect moment to reveal it all to be a fantastic lie. Aizawa saw Hitoshi's knees buckle, and he was there to catch him before his knees could hit the ground. Aizawa held Hitoshi firmly as he sobbed into his shirt, hands clenched tightly into fists around the fabric.
As Hitoshi and Aizawa had their first moments as a pre-adoptive family, the foster care caseworker was officially dismissed and told to go back to the office, where an official complaint would be waiting for him from the adoption agency.
The woman turned out to be Hitoshi's adoption caseworker, and there was no more need for a foster care caseworker. Hitoshi was just glad that he didn't embarrass himself by voicing his first thought that she might be his pre-adoptive mother.
"Why me?" Hitoshi had asked quietly.
His adoption caseworker had left after having Aizawa sign some paperwork to officially accept the custody and take over care of Hitoshi. Aizawa and Hitoshi had moved him in a day early into the Class 1-C building, carrying his bags to his room and starting to unpack to make it feel more like home.
Good things never last, however; Hitoshi was already worried that he was a burden. He questioned what made Aizawa want someone like him, who couldn't even make it into the hero course. He thought back to training and wondered if he ever accidentally guilt tripped Aizawa into adopting him, but he didn't remember ever really talking about his situation.
"I'm going to be honest with you, because you deserve it," Aizawa started quietly, taking a seat at Hitoshi's desk while Hitoshi sat on his bed across the room, heart in his throat as he awaited what was sure to break his heart. "Your foster care caseworker was going to forbid you from attending UA. There are policies in place that state that foster kids cannot live away from their foster parents, and your caseworker was going to enforce it."
"You did all of this so I wouldn't have to leave UA?" Hitoshi asked, absolutely amazed that Aizawa had seen his potential and trusted that potential enough to make such an outrageous decision.
"No," Aizawa stated, making Hitoshi lean in, giving him his full attention. "The Hamabis were my friends growing up, and we have always kept in contact. They told me that they had become foster parents and their foster kid was interested in becoming a hero. I told them it was dangerous and difficult to get into the schools for regular kids, let alone the kids who have the added stress and restriction of foster care. They told me that you were special, and that you would definitely make it. They asked me for recommendations for documentaries, shows, and literature for current politics. They were scared for you, but they wanted to give you all of the information to make your own choice anyway."
"Is that why you started training me?" Hitoshi interjected to ask, not bothering to wipe the tears away, too absorbed in the intense feeling of finally being cared about for once to even notice.
Aizawa continued, "when I started training you, it was because I saw that determination and drive that I had myself when I was an aspiring hero. Truthfully, Hitoshi, I didn't even know you were the kid that the Hamabis had taken in. They called me about a week after we had started, mostly to rub it in that they saw the potential you had before I did. You're a good kid who got a tough break."
Hitoshi sniffed and smiled through his tears at Aizawa. "I know you care about all your students. Do you have any other kids? Have you ever fostered before?"
"No. I am not a good candidate to be a parent," Aizawa stated bluntly and shaking his head, looking at the wall and refusing to meet Hitoshi's eyes. "A hero rarely is because sometimes we have to choose the job over our families, and even once is too many times. A lot of kids wouldn't be in foster care in the first place if their parents had chosen safer jobs. But you're going to be a hero, too." Hitoshi's eyes watered at the absolute confidence with which Aizawa stated that, like it was already a fact. "So, what do you say? Do you think that you can join a family of heroes?"
"Do I actually have a choice in the matter?" Hitoshi asked, though not cruelly.
"A lot of people owe me a lot of favors," Aizawa answered vaguely, but it was answer enough for Hitoshi. "But you need to know that I'm not doing this for anyone else but myself," he continued, catching Hitoshi's full attention once again. "I'm not doing it for you. I'm not doing it for the Hamabis. I'm doing this for purely selfish reasons. Hizashi and I have always talked about fostering or adopting, but it was never in the cards for us because of our profession. So, when the chance came to adopt you, and the Hamabis agreed that you would flourish under our care, I applied for your adoption and cashed in some favors to expedite the process. You're here, right now, in this situation because we want you. You aren't a burden. No one's doing you a favor. Do you understand?"
Hitoshi nodded, overwhelmed with being told the opposite of what he had always believed.
"Do you want to give this a try? Do you want us to move forward with the adoption?"
"Yes. Yes, please," Hitoshi whispered hoarsely.
That night, as Hitoshi stared at the ceiling of his new dorm room and wrapped himself up in his blankets, he thought about how crazy excited Denki would be once he realized that Todoroki (A.K.A. "The Conspiracy King") had correctly guessed that Aizawa and Yamada were a couple. He hoped that would be enough to break Denki out of the depressive funk he had been under since being rescued.
Likewise, Aizawa knew that his relationship with Yamada would be common news among the students after Hitoshi told his soulmate and best friend who he happened to also be in love with about the good news. He wasn't even mad about it, smiling as he fell asleep against his own loud blonde's shoulder.