To say that Hitoshi felt guilty for leaving Izuku behind would be to misunderstand what guilt was. Guilt came once the disaster had already been processed, once the negative outcomes were understood and accepted. Guilt was turning your focus inwards, even while staring at the wreckage your decisions had made. Guilt was the sense that the worst part of all the bad things happening was that the bad things were all your fault.
Hitoshi didn't have room in him for anything as petty as guilt at that moment.
As he stood outside the mall, shivering in the sunbaked air, struggling for breath while standing still, Hitoshi felt only a deep and all-consuming worry. He was afraid for Izuku, terrified that in that moment when he'd been left alone some villain who had been stalking him, waiting for their opening, had slipped in and attacked. Almost as bad was the possibility that something unrelated had happened and Izuku was being blamed for it, damaging or perhaps obliterating the public reputation that was so central to his goals as a hero. The worst part was not knowing, being unable to get anywhere near what was going on, and being powerless to do anything about it.
He called Izuku several times in a row, but each time it rang out and went to voicemail. Text messages went unread and unanswered. Then he called Shouto in a panic, desperately reaching out for someone who might know what to do, and was given the idea to call Aizawa. His teacher told him to stay where he was, which wasn't much of a plan, but knowing that Mic was going to the police station to see what information he could get had soothed Hitoshi's frantic worry somewhat. Mic knew that Izuku would never do anything bad. If the issue was that Izuku was in trouble, Mic would be able to sort it out.
"Shinsou," said Aizawa's voice, after what felt like no time at all, and Hitoshi turned to find his teacher behind him, dressed casually but with a look of concern on his tired face.
Something in Hitoshi's chest seemed to break at the sight of his teacher, and tears immediately began streaming from his stinging eyes.
"I'm sorry," he said, wiping at them ineffectually. "I just-"
"It's fine," Aizawa said gruffly, then reached out and pulled Hitoshi against him. "You're fine, it's all fine."
"I don't know what's happening," Hitoshi murmured, burying his face in his teacher's shirt. It was black, and thick like a sweatshirt, despite the warm weather. "I'm scared for Izuku."
There was a moment of hesitation, then Aizawa threaded his fingers into Hitoshi's wild hair. "Mic
will find out," he said carefully. "He'll text me when he has more information."
"I don't know what to do," Hitoshi admitted.
"Nothing," Aizawa said firmly. "There's nothing you can do. Let's get you home." "But what about Izuku?!" Hitoshi demanded in horror, looking up.
Aizawa looked down at him, frowning. "There's nothing you can do for him now. You did the right thing to call me, and I will make sure this is handled, but right now I need to get you somewhere safe."
Hitoshi took a shaky breath. His own safety was the farthest thing from his mind. It felt wrong to leave Izuku, especially when it was for the second time today, but he knew he couldn't help any better than Mic could. Finally he nodded, and let Aizawa lead him through the crowd with a steadying hand on his back.
The train station was a mess of people trying to get home from the now-closed shopping mall, and Hitoshi had cause to be grateful he had someone with him. He didn't think he could have navigated it on his own. While they were on the train he checked the class group chat, to find it blowing up with people wanting to know what had happened and if any of them had been involved. Hitoshi texted them what he knew, which wasn't much but was more than they had, and told them Aizawa said to go home. Kirishima refused, insisting that he would stay and wait for Izuku, but Ashido promised to find him and drag him to her place.
He also texted Shouto, who had asked their smaller group chat with Izuku to let him know when more information was to be had. He kept his messages to where all three of them could see, not wanting to feel like he was leaving Izuku out again. Something a little more personal than worry was starting to creep in.
Aizawa walked him the four blocks home, and once they were at his door the teacher pulled out his phone.
"Mic says Midoriya ran into a villain at the mall," he said tonelessly. "No one was hurt, and Midoriya is fine, but he's being taken to the police station to give a statement. Mic will see him home from there."
"Did they catch the villain?" Hitoshi asked.
"No word on that yet," Aizawa said. "Go inside and lock the door. I'll update you when I have more information. What about the rest of the class? Do I need to go get anyone else?"
"They're all headed home," Hitoshi shook his head. "You might wanna check in with Kirishima and Ashido though. She said she'd get him home, but he didn't want to go."
"I'll make sure they're safe," Aizawa told him. "Go inside."
Hitoshi obeyed, then leaned against the locked door to try and get himself together. His mother wasn't in, she'd taken advantage of the time he was supposed to be out to get some of her own shopping done, so the house was quiet. The only sounds were his deep, shuddering breaths. Eventually he stood straight, away from the door, and toed off his shoes. He didn't want to lay down in bed and risk falling asleep, so he curled up on the couch with his phone and waited.
He told himself he wouldn't text obsessively, but he couldn't help himself. He left a few messages for Izuku to read later, and texted back and forth with Shouto, which turned into a longer
conversation than he had intended. Shouto was worried about Izuku too, but he also seemed worried about Hitoshi for some reason, and Hitoshi couldn't figure out why. He wasn't the one who had run into a villain.
He was just the one who had left Izuku alone.
It was then that guilt started to settle in, mingling with the dread in his stomach like carbon with iron to make an unbreakable steel band around his chest. How could he have been so careless? He'd known that people could recognize them from TV, Yaoyorozu had needed to rescue him from a fan who wanted a picture! He'd known that Izuku was the highest profile student there, he had noticed Izuku was hiding his hair under a hat! He'd known that villains could turn up anywhere, so how could he have let himself forget that being out in the open, alone, was a risk?
And all because he hadn't wanted Izuku to see him blush!
It was too much to contemplate. He buried his face in the back of the couch and cried.
Hours went by. His mom came home and found him crying on the couch, and demanded the full explanation. She insisted on reassuring him, and wouldn't stop until she began to sense calm from him, but to him it seemed more like numbness. She made dinner, which he ate mechanically, one eye on his phone. He crawled into bed, unsure if he could sleep or if he wanted to, still waiting.
Eventually, a text came.
Sorry for the scare. I ran into the guy with hands all over him from the USJ attack. Seems to have been a coincidence. I'm not hurt, but I really wanna sleep.
Hitoshi took a deep, steadying breath, shoving his face into his pillow for a moment. Finally, for the first time since the announcement over the loudspeaker at the mall, the knot of worry in his chest relaxed. The guilt did not relax, but Izuku had said he wanted to sleep, so he decided to put off his apology until tomorrow. He made the best flippant remark that he could, then told Izuku to go to bed.
The next morning Hitoshi woke up late, having fallen into an exhausted sleep from all his fear and worry, to find Shouto had sent a good morning text but Izuku had not responded. Hitoshi sent a text of his own to show he was up, then waited for Izuku. He found himself waiting a long time, and in the end it wasn't until early afternoon that Izuku finally texted them back.
Sorry again, he said, like he was the one who was at fault. I had to go to the Nighteye Agency early this morning and I just got away.
Don't worry about it, said Shouto before Hitoshi could finish typing his response. As long as you're alright it's fine.
Are you safe at home? Hitoshi asked. It's probably not good for you to be on the train alone. I'm on the train, but Toogata's with me, Izuku replied, immediately sending a pang of unease
through Hitoshi. I'll be home soon.
Hitoshi considered voicing his disapproval of Toogata as a protective entity, but hesitated. Before yesterday he would have considered himself a much better person to walk Izuku home, but he didn't feel that way any more. He hardly had any room to talk when it came to watching Izuku's back, so who was he to question Toogata?
Izuku was typing again. I should probably text the class group chat and apologize for ruining our shopping trip.
You have nothing to apologize for! Hitoshi sent that immediately, on its own, then kept typing. You didn't ask to be attacked! Send. You didn't even ask to be left alone!
Just text the chat that you're fine, Shouto said more sedately. They just want to know that you're safe.
There was a pause while Izuku did that, and Hitoshi watched the class group chat explode with messages while he thought of how to phrase what he wanted to say. Finally, when the class chat started to die down, he went back to their chat with Shouto.
I'm sorry, he said formally. I shouldn't have left you alone, Izuku. What happened was my fault. Was not! Izuku texted back immediately.
No one is at fault but the villain, Shouto added soon after.
I shouldn't have left you, Hitoshi protested.
You didn't know there was any danger, Izuku insisted. It's fine.
It's not fine! Hitoshi replied, wanting to impress upon Izuku how not fine it was. He knew this was Izuku's natural tendency to minimize his own wellbeing, but Hitoshi wouldn't let him this time. You had to face a villain alone! How is that fine?
I didn't get hurt, Izuku said. No harm no foul.
You'd still have been safer if I was with you, Hitoshi pressed.
We'll all stick together the next time we're out in public, Shouto offered placatingly.
I don't think we'll be going out again soon, Izuku told him. Check the group chat, Iida and Yaoyorozu canceled all the class plans.
Then how would you two like to come with me to visit my mother?
Hitoshi stared at the screen of his phone. Shouto had told them about his mother obviously, more than just her quirk marriage to Endeavor and what had happened the day Shouto got his scar. She was in the hospital, having been there much longer than was normal or reasonable, unable to be discharged without her husband's permission. Shouto went to visit her weekly, and frequently talked about how she seemed to be doing better since he had started coming to visit her.
He had never mentioned the possibility of all three of them going to see her though. Is she OK with that? Izuku asked before Hitoshi could gather his thoughts.
I asked about it, Shouto replied. She said it was alright.
Alright? Hitoshi wondered. Or something she wants?
She wants to meet you, Shouto told them. I know now may not be the best time, and I understand
if you don't want to Izuku, but it would mean a lot to me if you would come at some point. Of course! Izuku replied almost immediately.
After that, no other answer was possible. I'd love to.
They made plans for partway through the week off, and in a few days time Hitoshi found himself at the train station nearest Izuku's apartment, waiting for Shouto to arrive. They had decided that Shouto and Hitoshi would pick Izuku up from home, then take the train to the hospital together, as this would mean that Izuku would never be alone out of doors. Izuku tried to say that it was no worse for him to be alone than either of them, to which Hitoshi and Shouto regaled Izuku with the long list of reasons why it was worse, beginning with the news coverage of the mall incident which had somehow gotten Izuku's school picture and ending with how badly the two of them would feel if something happened to him because he left the house to go see them.
Shouto's train arrived, and the two of them took off toward Izuku's apartment. At first they walked in companionable silence, but as they got farther from the train station Hitoshi began to feel awkward. He had only talked to Shouto in the group chat since the incident at the mall, and he hadn't been alone with Shouto in a while. The three of them were so often together that the mall had been his first time with just one of his friends in what felt like ages. Without Izuku's incessant chatter to smooth the way, talking was suddenly difficult.
"Hitoshi," Shouto's voice interrupted him just as he was getting lost in his own thoughts. "Yeah?" Hitoshi said reflexively, glancing to the side to see Shouto looking stoically forward.
"I wanted to apologize to you," he said, voice subdued even for him. "I wasn't there with you at the mall. I'm sorry."
"You were busy," Hitoshi assured him before he brain had caught up with what was being said. "Wait, why are you apologizing to me?"
"Izuku won't hear it," Shouto explained. "He'll forgive me without thinking about it, and it will probably make him feel bad that I even said it. You understand though. You feel bad for leaving him, even if nothing that happened was your fault. I figured you would understand why I had to say it."
Hitoshi considered this for a moment, turning to face front again. He could, in a way, understand where Shouto was coming from. The terror they had both gone through when they didn't know what had happened to Izuku, the guilt they had felt afterward for not being there, that was something that they shared. Izuku would be distressed to know that they blamed themselves for what had happened, but Shouto and Hitoshi both knew that their guilt was natural, unavoidable even.
"You shouldn't feel bad," he said at last. "We'll do better next time." "Yes," Shouto agreed, "we will."
They reached Izuku's apartment and walked up the many stairs to his door. When they knocked it came open immediately, like he'd been standing in front of it waiting for them.
"You could have told me you were here from the ground," he complained as he tugged his hat down over his hair.
"No loopholes in the security," Hitoshi said firmly.
"We're your bodyguards today," Shouto insisted.
"Guuuuuys!" Izuku whined, but his lips were upturned at the corners.
They had picked a time when the train wouldn't be packed, but they still all ended up standing as there were no three adjacent seats. Hitoshi and Shouto positioned themselves on either side of Izuku, keeping to their bodyguard imitation, and Izuku only protested once with what looked like a light blush to his cheeks. As they rode Izuku chattered about how his break was going, how his mother had barely let him out of her sight all week but today was out to lunch with 'Yagi-sensei'. Hitoshi wasn't entirely sure how they were managing that without it being front page news, but Izuku seemed to be under the impression they could keep it low-key.
"Is your mother weirded out that she knows All Might by name?" Hitoshi asked conversationally once Izuku had revealed this piece of information.
"I mean, she really only knows him as my teacher," Izuku admitted, rubbing the back of his neck with the hand not wrapped around the handhold.
"How can she-" Shouto began, but before he could finish his question a female voice interrupted him.
"Your teacher is All Might?" the voice demanded, and Hitoshi turned to see a young woman, maybe college-aged, looking at Izuku with shining eyes. "You must be UA students!"
"I knew I recognized you!" cried another passenger, a man in a suit that had looked a bit green around the gills, like he had been sent home early because of illness. He didn't look ill anymore. "You with the purple hair, you won the UA sports festival!"
"Yeah," Hitoshi said uncertainly, edging a little bit away from him. "I sure did."
"Hey wait, are you . . ." began a boy a bit younger than them, maybe middle school aged, standing up from his seat near the door. He walked up to Izuku, staring at him intently, and though Izuku tried to shrink away suddenly he lunged forward and yanked the hat off Izuku's head.
"You're Present Mic's intern!" the boy crowed. "You helped take down the Hero Killer!"
"Yep!" said Izuku brightly, and Hitoshi was surprised to see him slipping almost seamlessly into his hero persona, his stance relaxing into something more confident and his voice louder and more chipper, a friendly smile spreading across his face. "You've got a good eye, but maybe don't grab people's stuff OK?"
"Yeah," the kid handed his hat back to him sheepishly, but the damage had been done, and now the whole train car was looking at Izuku.
"Weren't you on the news again recently?" asked a woman whose hair was just starting to go gray.
"He was at the Kiyashi Mall Incident, mom," said the younger, heavily pregnant woman next to her. "He saw a member of the League of Villains."
"Not just saw!" the handsy kid spoke up again. "He attacked you, didn't he?"
"Well it wasn't much of an attack," Izuku said dismissively, still smiling beatifically. "He grabbed me, but I shook him off."
"You certainly are getting into a lot of scrapes young man," the soon-to-be grandmother waggled a
finger at him.
"It wasn't his fault he ran into a villain at the mall," Shouto retorted waspishly.
"You gotta be ready for trouble when you're in my line of work," Izuku smoothed over Shouto's response like a seasoned Pro. "If villains are gonna keep finding me, I'll just have to keep dealing with them!"
"Shameful," said a sharp, bitter voice from behind Hitoshi.
He turned, to find an old man with cane in a seat near the far end of the car, the end nearest to Hitoshi in their line. The cane stood upright between his legs, his hands resting on the handle, and he was glaring at Izuku with beady gray eyes.
"Pretending to be a hero," the old man continued, his tone one of open disdain. "Playing at it, just playing at it."
Immediately Hitoshi felt full of ill-will for the man in a way he rarely felt for old people. Most old people he could empathize with, as the world wasn't kind to them either. This man, however, seemed determined to pay unkindness with unkindness. Hitoshi turned his back on him, looking toward his friends instead, to see Shouto watching the man with a hard expression.
"Well sir, I am in school to be a hero," Izuku pointed out, with much more patience than Hitoshi would have used. "I was on an official internship when I ran into the Hero Killer, and at the mall I'd rather the villain have grabbed me than someone-"
"Shouldn't be getting famous for being a fake!" the old man spat. "Shouldn't be taking up time meant for real heroes!"
"I do hope to be a real hero someday," Izuku said, but his facade was cracking under the strain of such an obvious attack.
Hitoshi shifted to put himself between the nay-sayer and Izuku more fully, blocking their view of each other, but he couldn't stop the old man's voice.
"You ought to be locked up, playing at being a hero with no quirk!" he yelled, louder and more angry now. "You ought to have died in that alley!"
Hitoshi was looking at Izuku when the man spoke, so he registered the change in Izuku's expression almost before he registered the words. Izuku's smile faltered, his eyes going wide and disbelieving. His cheeks flushed a dark red as though in embarrassment. He looked startled, then shocked, then mortified.
"I-" he began soft.
"What the hell!?" Hitoshi shouted, rounding on the old man before he'd even realized what he was doing. "That's how you talk to a kid? What's the matter with you!?"
"How dare you say that about my friend!" Shouto added his voice to Hitoshi's outrage almost at once. "He's never done anything to you!"
"He's-" the old man tried, but he didn't get another word out before Hitoshi was speaking again, fighting to keep his voice below a scream.
"What kind of twisted old man says children should die!?" Hitoshi demanded. "How evil do you
have to be!?"
"Izuku is more of a hero than most Pros I've met!" Shouto insisted. "He's way more of a hero than you'll ever be! You wouldn't even know!"
"Seriously, what kind of a thing is that to say?" piped up another voice, and Hitoshi glanced over his shoulder to see the pregnant woman glowering at the old man, one hand placed protectively over her swollen belly. "He's, like, fifteen!"
"He's trying to do some good," her mother chimed in, also glaring. "Have you no shame?" "I'll have you know-" the old man started, but was cut off again.
"Hey now old timer," said the sick business man, "I think you ought to listen to the lady. You've said enough."
Suddenly they all were nudged sideways as the train rolled to a stop, and as soon as the door opened Izuku was off like a shot.
"Excuse me!" he said, pushing past the college girl, and darted out the door onto the platform. "Izuku!" said Hitoshi and Shouto as one, both of them taking off after him.
Once he was out on the platform it took Hitoshi a minute to locate Izuku. He had run to a nearby kiosk, a sheltered structure displaying a map of the train system and a few brochures, and was crouching on the ground with his head down. Hitoshi and Shouto ran to him and knelt down on either side.
"Are you alright?" Shouto asked urgently.
Izuku shook his head. His eyes were shut tight, his hands were clenched in the fabric of his jeans, and his breathing was shaky and labored through his nose. He was having a panic attack.
"Can you respond to me?" Hitoshi asked, casting out his mind without even thinking to ask permission.
Izuku's mouth was clamped shut, but he managed a little whimpering sound and that was enough. Hitoshi felt his control click into place, and immediately he took hold of Izuku's wrist. His pulse beat quick against Hitoshi's fingers, the skin clammy and damp with sweat. He was in a bad state.
"Open your eyes," Hitoshi instructed, and Izuku obeyed, revealing a blank white stare. "Unclench your jaw and take deep, slow breaths. Calm your heart rate. Feel the beats becoming slower, with more time between them. Relax your muscles."
Izuku began to breathe more evenly, and the violent pounding of his pulse began to die back down.
"Tell him we're here," Shouto said, and Hitoshi glanced to the side to see that Shouto had stood up and was blocking them from view, sheltering the two of them with his body. "Tell him you'll stay with him. That helped me."
Hitoshi turned back to Izuku. "Listen to me and understand that I'm here. Believe me when I say that I won't leave you. Ever."
Izuku didn't respond. Finally, after what felt like too many minutes, Izuku's pulse and breathing returned to something approximating normal. Cautiously Hitoshi released his grip, and Izuku fell
sideways against him. Hitoshi caught him, and together the two of them simply breathed.
"Thank you," Izuku said in a small voice.
"I'm sorry I didn't ask," Hitoshi replied.
"I said you could do it whenever," Izuku reminded him. "I can't really complain. I feel a lot better now."
"Do you still want to go on to the hospital?" Shouto asked, and Izuku and Hitoshi turned their heads up to him. "We can take you home if you want."
"No," Izuku said. "I want to keep going. I don't want to let people like him make me run and hide."
"Today was supposed to be nice," Hitoshi grumbled. "If it's a chore we should just do it another day."
"I want to," Izuku insisted. "I don't want every time I leave my room this summer to be a bust." "Fair enough," said Shouto, and reached down to help Izuku up. "Let's go."
Most of the time Izuku was fine with how protective his friends could get. He was just as protective of them, after all; not for nothing was he trying to take down the Number Two Hero, and gaming the UA sports festival was no joke either. Still as they came directly to his door to pick him up and placed themselves to either side of him like bodyguards on the train, he couldn't help but feel a bit coddled. He knew his friends didn't see him as weak, but they did see him as vulnerable, and that brought back painful memories of being told that Pro Heroics was a pipe dream for someone like him. The reminder some people still believed that, despite what he had accomplished, didn't improve matters.
The aftermath of that reminder had been . . . dramatic, but Izuku was determined not to let it ruin the whole day. Instead he kept his hat on and asked Shouto polite questions about his mother, what kind of things she'd want to talk about and what was better left out of the conversation. Shouto said that she probably wouldn't want to hear about his plans for taking down Endeavor, as she had previously seemed uncomfortable talking about that, but anything else would probably be fine.
"Is her room big enough for so many people?" Izuku asked. "Are we going to meet out in, like, a day room or something?"
"She said she wanted it to be in her room," Shouto told him. "I warned the staff we'd need some extra chairs."
The staff seemed a little surprised to see Izuku and Hitoshi trailing through the door behind Shouto, but they were all checked in as visitors and then Shouto led the way to his mother's room. A man in scrubs was just going in when the reached the correct hallway, carrying two simple wooden chairs, and he gave a polite smile as he came back out and saw them. Izuku thought his smile looked a bit forced, but he supposed that working in a hospital might do that to a person.
Shouto's mother was seated on the bed. She'd been looking at a simple vase of purple gladiolus on the desk -- Izuku wondered if Shouto had brought them on a previous visit -- but she turned when they entered. She had long hair as white as Shouto's right side, and her face was creased in permanent lines of worry. Her smile was small and soft, but she was clearly pleased to see Shouto, and beckoned the three of them inside.
"Mom," Shouto said as Izuku and Hitoshi filed in behind him and took up position to either side, "these are my friends, Izuku Midoriya and Hitoshi Shinsou."
He indicated each of them as he spoke, and Izuku and Hitoshi both gave little bows as they were introduced. Izuku fidgeted nervously, but Hitoshi looked perfectly calm, if a bit subdued.
"It's nice to meet you both," she said, then gestured to the chairs. "Please, have a seat. I know this isn't much of a place for first meetings, but make yourselves comfortable."
Shouto took the desk chair by the window and Hitoshi took the chair nearest the door, so Izuku was left with the one in the middle. He was almost directly across from Shouto's mother, and this close he could see that her eyes were melancholy, even though she was smiling. It seemed like she wanted her smile to reach her eyes, but couldn't quite manage it.
"Thank you for having us ma'am," Izuku nodded shyly.
"Please call me Rei," she said, shaking her head at the honorific. "Shouto's told me so much about you I feel as though I know you both already."
That was a little weird, and Izuku and Hitoshi exchanged hesitant glances. Shouto's mother -- Rei -- didn't seem to think there was anything odd about her request, so Izuku decided it was best to just do it.
"We've heard a lot about you too, uh, Rei," said Hitoshi, apparently coming to the same decision.
"I wanted to thank you both so much for being Shouto's friends," Rei went on. "You've both helped him come out of his shell so much."
"Shouto's been a good friend to us too," Izuku assured her. "If we've helped him, I'm glad."
"Of course you've helped me," Shouto said, smiling a gentle smile not unlike his mother's. "Your plans alone have gotten half the class through the semester."
Izuku felt his face heating up a bit, and opened his mouth to argue, but before he could Rei was speaking again.
"Speaking of your plans Izuku, I wanted to confirm something that Shouto told me last time he was here," Rei said cautiously. "Sometimes I imagine things, but . . . I think Shouto told me that you plan to . . . oppose my husband, in some way?"
Izuku glanced at Shouto, wondering how he was supposed to respond. Shouto was looking at his mother with open concern. He had told them that his mother didn't want to talk about that, but here she was, the first to bring it up.
"I want to be a hero," Izuku said honestly. "I want to set myself up in opposition to anyone who make a habit of hurting others. If that's Endeavor, then that's his problem."
"Please don't do that," Rei pleaded, her pale eyebrows knit together in worry. "That's not the type of thing you should be wasting your time and energy on. It's dangerous for you, and there's really no point."
"There is a point-" Hitoshi began earnestly, but Izuku held up a hand and he stopped.
"Rei," Izuku said, choosing his words carefully, "has someone been to see you? Someone besides Shouto?"
Rei looked confused, but nodded. "A man came," she recounted. "He asked me questions. Mostly about my marriage, but also my children."
"What did you tell him?" Hitoshi wondered. "The truth," Rei said, uninformatively.
Izuku glanced at Hitoshi, and then at Shouto. Both of them looked as troubled as Izuku felt. Rei had clearly been through a lot, and she seemed to have given in to her fear of her husband. As far as Izuku knew though, Endeavor hadn't been here in years. How could he have hurt her in an environment like this, without anyone seeing or hearing?
"Please," Rei said, smiling bigger and brighter than before, and clearly putting a lot of effort into it, "tell me more about the dorms. Shouto tells me it's nice, but he can never seem to pin down why. What do you like about it?"
"Shouto likes being around our class," Hitoshi said immediately, also trying very hard to smile. "Especially when we're all relaxing. He denies it, but he's a cuddle bug."
"You're the cuddle bug," Shouto accused, but his tone was playful.
Some of the oppressive tension in the room eased, and the conversation turned to UA and the goings on there. Izuku found himself talking about the teachers and what great heroes they were, how Present Mic's radio show had affected the public consciousness and how skillfully Eraserhead had avoided almost all media attention. Hitoshi supplied class gossip, things Shouto wouldn't have picked up on, and some things even Izuku didn't know. Rei admitted to not knowing much about strategy, but was intrigued by their accounts of their fights with Shouto in the sports festival, which she regrettably hadn't been able to watch.
"You must have said something shocking to get him to talk to you," Rei pressed, when Hitoshi shied away from telling her how his fight had ended. "He's always so quiet unless he really wants to speak."
"I only won because Izuku laid the groundwork," Hitoshi insisted. They had decided not to tell her outright that they'd fixed the match. "I wouldn't have won without him."
Eventually the conversation turned to their home lives, and Rei was sympathetic to hear that both Izuku and Hitoshi had grown up in single parent homes. They both promised it had made them very close with their mothers, but she still insisted it had to have been hard. When they admitted that yes, having only one caregiver who was also the breadwinner was a bit of challenge, Rei turned to Shouto with sad eyes.
"I'm glad you had your siblings Shouto," she said wistfully. "I know it can't have been easy for you, after I went away. But you had Fuyumi and Natsuo, and Touya for a time."
"Touya?" Hitoshi asked. "I thought it was just Fuyumi and Natsuo."
"My oldest brother," Shouto said, looking down at his lap. "Fuyumi's twin. He died not long after mom was put in the hospital."
Hitoshi blanched, and Izuku immediately put a hand over his. Their fingers tangled tightly, and Izuku turned back to Shouto and Rei.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "What happened to him?"
"Accident with his quirk," said Shouto bitterly, and Izuku could tell what that meant, what Shouto wasn't saying to spare his mother pain. Endeavor had pushed him too hard.
"I took a turn for the worse afterward," Rei admitted, looking away. "I might have been able to come home, but . . . that probably wouldn't have been a good idea anyway."
"Why not?" Hitoshi asked.
"I think after everything, I would just cause my children pain if I were to come home," Rei said sadly.
"You want to see them though, don't you?" Izuku pressed.
"I know they want to see you," Shouto told her. "Natsuo's moved out of Father's house. I think he would like it if you went to stay with him."
"No," Rei shook her head, looking down. "I'm afraid I would just hurt them. It's better if I stay here."
Izuku felt Hitoshi squeeze his hand, and looked over at him to find an look of deep concern. Hitoshi pulled their joined hands into his lap, a question in his eyes. Are you OK? he mouthed. Izuku nodded. He wasn't entirely sure what to make of Rei's view of things, how she didn't want Endeavor brought to justice but was determined to punish herself. Izuku felt like he'd missed something important, but he couldn't figure out what.
"I'm glad Shouto has the two of you as well though," Rei said, pulling their attention back onto her. "He's been through a lot, and I think the two of you have helped him heal. He cherishes his relationship with both of you, and as his mother I couldn't be more grateful for that."
"You make it sound so serious," Shouto protested, a light blush dusting his cheeks.
"Are you saying it's not serious?" Rei asked, an uncharacteristic note of teasing in her voice as her eyes swept the three of them.
"I feel like I want to know your opinions on dating in high school before I answer," Hitoshi muttered.
"Oh Hitoshi," Rei sounded amused, "I was already married by your age." Izuku froze. "Uh," he said, trying to make his stunned brain work. "What?"
"Well, I suppose I was a bit older," Rei tapped her chin with one finger. "I was married on my sixteenth birthday."
In an instant Izuku ran through everything he knew of Shouto's parents' marriage. It was a quirk marriage, meant to create the strongest possible child to be Endeavor's heir. Money had changed hands, enough that Rei's entire family had kept quiet about the nature of it. It had happened early in Endeavor's career, shortly after he had settled immovably into the Number Two spot. Rei had been young, younger than Endeavor, but . . . that young?
"You would have been in high school," Izuku realized.
"I didn't go to high school," Rei waved a hand. "It was part of Enji's agreement with my parents. I wasn't allowed to apply to any schools."
"Allowed?" Hitoshi repeated.
"Mhm," Rei hummed. "He wanted me at home. I wouldn't have had time for school anyway, I wasn't even seventeen yet when I had the twins. I was too busy with them."
"What exactly were the terms of the agreement?" Izuku asked. His brain was clawing at a possibility that might lift him out of the black hole threatening to consume his heart, but he didn't know if he would get that lucky.
"He paid a dowry," Rei recounted. "A lot of money. My family were in debt, you see, and we . . . they, needed it. I was to marry him as soon as it was legal, and not go to school, and have his children. If I tried to leave or take the children away, my family would owe all the money back. That's why I stayed."
The room was silent for a moment. Hitoshi's hand was clutching Izuku's tight. Izuku cleared his throat.
"This agreement," he said hoarsely. "Was it in writing?"
"Yes," Rei said confidently. "I signed a prenuptial agreement."
There.
"Can you do me a favor, Rei?" Izuku asked, with all the innocence he could muster. "If that man who came to talk to you comes back, could you tell him that stuff? What you just told us?"
Rei blinked at him, confused. "Why?"
"Humor me," Izuku forced a smile.
Rei looked no less confused, but nodded her agreement.
They exchanged a few more pleasantries as Izuku tried to keep his breathing under control. His heart ached with the need to act, pounding urgently in his chest like he was preparing to run for his life. Rei seemed to know that he was unsettled, but she didn't know why, and that more than anything told Izuku that he was right.
Sometimes I imagine things, she had said, referencing something that had definitely occurred. There's really no point, she had said of a plan to get her abuser brought to justice.
I would just cause my children pain if I were to come home, she had said, with a certainty that suggested this wasn't an idea she had come up with on her own.
This was something she'd been told.
Eventually Shouto suggested they go, and Izuku checked his phone to realize they'd been there nearly three hours. He and Hitoshi agreed immediately, and they all stood up to leave. Rei thanked them again, clasping each of their hands in hers, but it only made Izuku feel like a complete fraud for not having realized sooner. Once they were out in the hall Izuku hustled the three of them outside, and didn't stop dragging his friends until they were out of sight of the outdoor security cameras.
"Izuku," Shouto said when Izuku finally stopped for breath. "What happened in there?"
"I'm going to email Nezu," Izuku said, pulling out his phone, then remembered that Nighteye was
monitoring his email. "Actually Hitoshi you do it, my fingers are shaking."
Hitoshi pulled out his phone and began tapping at the screen, bringing up his email, and Izuku turned to Shouto. The look of mild confusion on Shouto's face had Izuku throwing himself at his friend, wrapping his arms around Shouto's waist and pressing his face into his shirt. Shouto's arms came around him in turn, and Izuku tried not to give in to the prickling behind his eyes.
"What's the matter?" Shouto asked, sounding distressed and alarmed. "Why do you need to email Nezu? What's happening?"
"Well he needs to send another interviewer, that's for sure," Hitoshi said, now typing energetically on his phone.
"Shouto," Izuku said, pulling back to look Shouto in the eye. "What Endeavor did to your mother was wrong. Not just wrong, illegal."
"Like five kinds of illegal," Hitoshi added. "I mean, yikes."
"He hit her," Shouto said simply. "I know that was wrong. Does the other stuff really matter?" "Yes!" Izuku insisted. "If that prenup still exists then we have documentation! We have proof!" "No one thought anything of it at the time," Shouto pointed out.
"Yeah, because no one wanted to go against Endeavor," Izuku said firmly. "What he did to your mom was horrific, and he hasn't stopped. The staff at that hospital are not treating her correctly, they're not trying to help her get better. I bet they're not willing to tell her that her husband is in the wrong, so they're making it feel like what happened is her fault. We need to get her out of there!"
Izuku paused as a thought struck him. Shouto looked shocked, but not hopeful. Was he OK with this plan?
"Do you want your mother to come home?" Izuku asked.
Shouto's hands moved to grip Izuku's arms. "Yes," he said emphatically, "I want that. I don't want her to stay in that place forever. I want to rescue her."
Izuku nodded decisively. "We will," he said firmly.
"Email sent to Nezu," Hitoshi reported. "I mentioned the prenup and the wedding from hell. If he doesn't have enough proof to move forward after this I'll eat my scarf."
"I bet he'll let me leak some of it online," Izuku said, mind already spinning off in five directions. "Even just some record of her age, that'll get people talking. I'll ask after we get back from camp."
"You guys," Shouto said, and Hitoshi and Izuku both looked at him anxiously. His eyes were wet.
"Thank you," he said, in a choked voice, and immediately Izuku went to hug him again. Hitoshi went around behind him and wrapped his arms around them both, trapping Shouto between them. One of Shouto's hands came up to hold Izuku back, and he could hazard a guess that the other had gone to clutch back at Hitoshi.
"We're here for you," Izuku said into the fabric of Shouto's shirt.
"We're not going anywhere," Hitoshi added from above. "Ever." Izuku declared finally.