Chapter Text
Things didn’t get better as the days went on. If anything, Hitoshi thought they got worse. Everyone treated him like he was lesser–a villain.
Without an extra bed in their room, the older boys forced him to sleep on the floor between the two bunk beds. It was hard and uncomfortable–no one even tried to give him a pillow or a blanket.
They would constantly tease him about it, joking that he was practically a dog–sleeping on the ground and wearing his muzzle. They never brought up the fact that he didn’t have a choice in the matter, nor did they care.
Hitoshi was only allowed to take the muzzle off when he needed to eat or when the other boys he shared a room with wanted to “play” with him, as they put it. Hitoshi was starting to get painful blisters on his cheeks from how it rubbed awkwardly against his skin.
And his roommates were really mean to him. There were two more boys other than Hinata and Touki, and those two were almost worse than them. Instead of simply playing around with his quirk, they would make him use it on others at the orphanage. They used Hitoshi as a way to control the kids they didn’t like and would hurt him if he didn’t. It only served as a reminder for the other kids to avoid him. He basically lost his chance to make friends before he even got one.
Hitoshi would wake up almost every day with new bruises painting his skin. One time, after a particularly bad beating, he’d asked them why they were so mean to him and they’d just scoffed, hitting him again. Hinata told him later that he wasn’t allowed to be sad or upset about anything that was happening, because he was a villain with an evil quirk, and villains didn’t have feelings. That’s why they needed to be put in their place.
That seemed to be what everyone thought. They all avoided Hitoshi like he had some horrible disease, and looked at him like he would attack them at any minute. Whenever he did have the chance to talk to someone, they would say something similar to Hinata–that he was a villain with no emotions, and that they didn’t make friends with villains.
He was starting to think they might be right. He did take control of the other kids with his quirk, after all–even if he didn’t want to. And that’s something bad people did.
The only thing that kept him going was the hope that his parents would come back for him. Because they had to, they were his parents and there was no other way that Hitoshi could think of to fix this. But each day that they didn’t come back, his resolve weakened. So, he did the only thing he could think of. He ran away.
He snuck out right after roll call one night and didn’t look back. As soon as he was down the steps of the orphanage, Hitoshi ran as fast as he could away from the orphanage, away from the bullies, and away from everyone who yelled at him and called him a villain.
He managed to make it a few blocks before he had to stop and breathe–he was still wearing the uncomfortable muzzle and it didn’t let him breathe through his mouth.
After Hitoshi was sure he was safe, he started thinking of ways to find his parents. The only reason he could come up with for why they didn’t come back get him was that they couldn’t.
Which meant that he would just need to go to them. He didn’t know where he was, but he did know the address to his house. His mom made him memorize it when he started going to school.
Taking another breath, Hitoshi carefully reached behind him and felt for the buckle on his muzzle. It felt wrong to take it off by himself after wearing it for so long, but he couldn’t do what he needed to while wearing it.
He struggled with the buckle for a long time. He didn’t realize how complicated it was until he had to do it himself–it took even longer because he couldn’t see what he was doing. But eventually–finally–he was able to get the muzzle off and he sighed in relief, taking a full breath of fresh air and smiling.
This was going to work. He was going to find his parents and they would be so happy to see him again. Then they could all be happy together, just like they were before he got his quirk.
The first thing Hitoshi did was find a bus station. He’d never been on one by himself, but he didn’t think it would be too hard to figure out. He’d seen his mom do it.
So he waited. And waited. Hitoshi sat at the station for hours, searching for a bus that wasn’t coming. He looked around, a bit confused.
Weren’t buses supposed to come every few minutes? He knew he was supposed to wait, but he didn’t think they would take this long. Slowly, Hitoshi laid down on the bench. He was exhausted, both from running away and from the stress that living at the orphanage gave him. It wouldn’t hurt to close his eyes while he waited, would it? He could just open again them when the bus came.
•••••
“Hey, kid. You okay?” Hitoshi jumped when a hand shook his shoulder and he sat up quickly, nearly toppling over in the process.
“Woah, hey. Didn’t mean to scare you.” A voice said.
Hitoshi rubbed his eyes, confused. Did he fall asleep? Had the bus come yet?
“Are you okay?” The voice asked again. Finally, Hitoshi looked up to see someone kneeling in front of him. They looked like they were dressed in a hero costume.
Relief flooded through him. If there was anyone who could help him find his parents, it was a hero.
“I-I’m okay.” He answered them and the hero sighed in relief.
“Thank goodness, I was starting to get a little scared there. What are you doing here so early in the morning?”
“I was-“ looking for his parents. But what if the hero just sent him back to the orphanage? He didn’t want that at all.
“I got lost.” He said finally.
“Oh, you poor thing.” The man sympathized. “Well, lucky for you, you ran into a hero! Pro hero Atlas at your service!” He made a show of bowing to Hitoshi.
Despite the situation, Hitoshi could feel excitement bubbling up in him. He was still a huge fan of heroes, first and foremost, and he was sitting here talking to a real life hero. This kind of thing didn’t happen every day.
He clapped his hands, starstruck. “So cool!”
Atlas smiled back at him, “I’m glad you think so. And what would your name be?”
“I-My name is Shinsou.”
“Shinsou? That’s a very nice name you have. Now, do you know anything that might help me get you home?”
His excitement dimmed a little, remembering how he met this hero in the first place. “Yeah, I-I know my address, but I don’t know how to get there.”
“Well, that’s okay! I can help you find it. Why don’t you tell me where it is and I’ll get you there?”
So Hitoshi did. He rambled off the street name and number of his house, just like his mom taught him to.
The hero hummed, “That’s quite a long ways from here. How’d you get so far from home?” Hitoshi didn’t want to answer that, worried the hero would send him back to the orphanage. Or maybe he would find out Hitoshi was lying and send him to jail like a villain. The thought filled him with fear.
So he just looked away, fiddling with his shirt.
“No matter!” The hero waved him off, “The only thing that’s important is that we can get you back!”
Hitoshi sagged in relief. The hero was still going to help him.
“Now, it’s too early for the buses to be running, so how about we go to my headquarters? I have a cool car I can show you there.”
“Yes!” Hitoshi beamed, already forgetting his fears. He was going to get to see actual hero gear!
Atlas laughed at his reaction, easily picking him up and walking down the street. “I’m glad you’re excited!”
The hero occupied Hitoshi’s time with stories of his adventures and villain fights. Hitoshi enjoyed hearing about the fights and had trouble forcing himself not to ask the man any questions about them–he didn’t want Atlas learning about his quirk and turning on him like everyone else. Luckily, it didn’t take long to get to Atlas’s headquarters, and from there he was brought to a cool garage filled with so many different cars.
It was the best time Hitoshi had ever had, especially in the last month since he’d gotten his quirk. The hero was so nice and never asked about what his quirk was. And he didn’t treat him like a villain–that was probably the best part. He just played with Hitoshi like he was a normal person and showed him so many cool things that he used as a hero.
By the time Atlas parked in front of Hitoshi’s family home, he was beaming from ear to ear and bouncing in excitement.
“Well, looks like we’re here.” The hero announced. “I’ll come with you to make sure they’re home.”
“Okay!” He climbed out of the car and stood next to the hero. They walked up the steps to his house and Hitoshi bounced with nervous energy while he knocked on the door.
This was it. The door would open and his parents would be inside. Then everything would go back to normal, he was sure of it.
“Hmm…doesn’t look like they’re home.” He looked down at Hitoshi, “You sure we got the right place?”
He nodded, deflating a little. Where were they?
“Okay…” Atlas hummed, “You stay right here, I’ll go check with the neighbors.”
Hitoshi nodded again, watching as the hero walked to his neighbors door. They answered right after he knocked and he strained to hear their conversation.
“Hello, sorry to bother you. I was wondering if the Shinsou’s lived in that house over there?”
“Oh, yes.” She said, “They used to. But they moved out last week. It was so sudden that I didn’t have the chance to ask them where they were moving to.”
“…I see. Well! Thank you for your time!” Atlas waved and turned back toward Hitoshi.
He watched blankly at the hero walked over to him. This wasn’t right. Why would his parents leave?
“I’m sorry, bud. It looks like they’re gone.” He sighed, “I’ll take you down to the police station so we can figure this out, that sound good?”
He didn’t acknowledge him, simply following the hero back to his car.
His parents were gone. They weren’t coming back, and now he would be sent back to that awful place forever. There was nothing else he could do.
His eyes watered and he sniffed, wiping at his nose. It didn’t do anything to stop the tears spilling over and he fell apart. He’d been keeping it together for so long, but he couldn’t do it anymore.
“Oh, bud. I’m sorry.” A hand patted him on the back. “But don’t worry, it’ll turn out okay.”
The hero didn’t say anything else the rest of the car ride, simply patting Hitoshi’s back as he cried. His face was a mess by the time they made it to the police station, but he still couldn’t stop crying.
“Hi there.” Atlas greeted the woman at the desk quietly, still holding his hand. “I have a missing child here. I brought him to his house, but the family moved out for some reason. I was hoping you could look them up, see what’s going on?”
“Oh, of course. What was the name?”
“His family name is Shinsou, but I didn’t catch his first name.”
There was some typing before Hitoshi heard the lady at the desk sigh, “Yeah, I found him. Shinsou Hitoshi, that look right?”
“Yeah, that’s him.”
“His parents dropped him off at an orphanage a couple weeks ago. He’s labeled here as a risk. Looks like he can control people with his quirk.”
Hitoshi filled with dread when the hero let go of his hand. Did Atlas think the same as his parents? Now that he knew his quirk, did he think Hitoshi was a villain too? The thought made him cry harder.
“So that’s why his parents left, I understand.” He shifted further away from Hitoshi, “And to think, I was with him this whole time.” Atlas shuddered, and Hitoshi’s heart broke.
“It’s quite a dangerous quirk.” The lady agreed, “If you don’t mind leaving him here, we can deal with the rest. I wouldn’t want to risk him brainwashing you, of all people. You have a reputation to uphold, after all.”
He nodded, “Yes, thank you. I’ll leave you to it then, hopefully you can find a way to deal with this safely. Thank you for your time.” The hero turned to leave.
Hitoshi frantically grabbed his pant leg, not willing to let him leave yet. “Wait!”
“Let go of me.” Atlas yanked his leg away, “I’m sorry, but I won’t tolerate you wasting my time anymore.” He turned to leave. He caught the hero muttering something about a villain as he walked out the door.
Hitoshi leaned against the wall after he was gone, defeated. Was that really all he was? Ever since he got his quirk, everyone said he was a villain, and treated him like he was one. Even a pro hero thought he was a villain because of his quirk, so they must be right.
Hitoshi didn’t feel like a villain, but maybe that didn’t matter. Villains were bad people, no matter what they thought about themselves, and it was probably the same for him.
Tears started streaming down his face again and he wiped at his eyes, trying to prevent himself from crying even more. Villains didn’t deserve to cry, he told himself.
But he stopped suddenly when he saw the wet streak on his hand, eyes widening.
Touki said that villains didn’t feel emotions, and that’s why they were evil. But-But Hitoshi could feel things. He felt lonely, he felt sad, he felt scared.
And that must mean he wasn’t a villain like everyone said.
He grasped onto that realization desperately, still sitting on the dirty floor of the police station.
He wasn’t a villain. He couldn’t be, it just didn’t make sense. Villains were people who did evil things and didn’t feel bad about it. Hitoshi had an evil quirk, that much was true, but he didn’t do bad stuff like that. Except for he’d been forced to back at the orphanage, but he’d always felt bad about it afterwards. So he couldn’t be a villain.
Bad quirks didn’t make villains–bad people made villains. He understood that now. And if people didn’t believe him, he would have to prove it to them.