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It felt like he was choking. Not like when Aizawa would lightly yank on the ends of Hitoshi’s scarf whenever he did something stupid, no, that was a teasing thing, and rather than hurt Hitoshi it just yanked him forward a bit. This was tighter and rougher. It wasn’t his scarf being pulled on but rather actual hands wrapped around Hitoshi’s throat, squeezing tighter and tighter, and someones full body weight on top of him to keep him down. The figure had no face, looked more like a black mist that had taken the vague shape of a person, looming over Hitoshi and grunting as he strangled the child. Of course Hitoshi struggled, tried to fight back, but it did nothing to help.
“You little brat,” The figure on top of him hissed, in a voice Hitoshi recognized but refused to acknowledge, “Maybe now you’ll know better than to use your quirk on us.”
Hitoshi wanted to explain, explain he hadn’t used his quirk, he hadn’t made anyone do anything, he tried to even call out for Aizawa, but he was left just gasping for air and clawing at the hands around his throat. The figure laughed, loud and booming and made Hitoshi cry out in fear.
“Kids like you, with quirks like that, need to be taught how to behave,” The figure brought back one hand balled into a fist, “And this is the only way you’ll learn.”
Hitoshi woke up gasping underneath sheets just as the punch met his face. Yanking the sheet off his head and bolting upright, he gripped the blanket in his hands, so tight his knuckles turned white. Panting softly, Hitoshi looked around at where he was; He was in his room, at his teacher Aizawa’s house. He wasn’t at his old foster home anymore. He wouldn’t have to be there ever again. Hitoshi let out a small sigh of relief, and his panting quickly switched to slow, heavy breathing. You’re safe here Hitoshi told himself, Aizawa and Yamada wouldn’t hurt you. They wouldn’t let anyone else hurt you either.
It was a strange thing to tell himself, that he was safe. 16 years he had been kicking and it had only been for the past four months he felt like he was welcomed somewhere, like he was wanted and cared for. The room he was in now had only been his for four months too, but already it felt more like his than any other room he had while living in foster homes. Maybe because here, he didn’t have to share it with any other kids. Hitoshi looked towards his bedroom door and felt a bit more relief when he saw it was open just a crack, and the light that had been left on in the kitchen was shining through.
“Can you leave the kitchen light on tonight?” Hitoshi remembered asking over dinner, two weeks after he had moved in. He was embarrassed about it, not wanting to admit that he was scared of the dark. It was a childish fear, something someone his age should’ve grown out of quite some time ago. But Hitoshi never did.
“What? Why?” Yamada had asked, glancing back at Hitoshi as he finished making dinner. He hadn’t meant it in some judgemental way, Hitoshi could tell from the tone of Yamada’s voice that it was a genuine question, but still Hitoshi frowned slightly, opening his mouth to try and come up with some excuse, but Aizawa spoke before he could.
“That’s fine.” Aizawa said without even looking up from the paperwork he was doing. Hitoshi glanced at him and then back to Yamada, who just shrugged and nodded in agreement before turning back to the stove. Hitoshi leaned back in his chair, happy that he didn’t need to answer any questions about it, and got even happier when the subject was changed when Yamada started getting after Aizawa for bringing his work to the table.
With a sigh he fell back into his bed, and closed his eyes in hopes that sleep would come again quickly.
It didn’t. Instead, Hitoshi layed in bed (now with his eyes open because everytime he closed them he saw the figure once again), staring at the clock on his nightstand and trying to ignore the terrible feeling inside him. His relief was gone and even though he had now been awake for roughly an hour the fear of his nightmare had come back, hunkering down in his stomach and clinging to him. His breathing reflected this, now short and fast. Hitoshi didn’t understand- He had had nightmares before, they were pretty common for him actually, and he had easily dealt with them alone, since he had no other choice. But now it felt different, painful almost to lay in bed and try to sleep. Soon Hitoshi realized he was crying. Hot tears felt like they were almost burning his skin. He wrapped his comforter tighter around him, rolled onto his side and curled up slightly to see if that would help. Instead it just seemed to make things worse as another tear fell from his eye and hit his pillow.
Finally Hitoshi let out a choked sob, sitting up once again and wrapping his arms around himself. He didn’t understand- couldn’t understand- why he was feeling this way. He wiped his eyes, tried to will himself to stop crying, but of course it didn’t work. So Hitoshi sat up in his bed for awhile, letting himself cry silently, hoping he would eventually stop. He didn’t.
He wondered momentarily if maybe he should go wake up Aizawa. His and Yamada’s room was just down the hall and Aizawa had said to come get him if anything happened-
No. no, that was dumb. Nothing had happened. Hitoshi had a nightmare and that was all. Aizawa might roll his eyes and just tell Hitoshi to go back to bed, he might mumble something about how nightmares are illogical and just to ignore it. Not to mention how embarrassing it would be- first the dark, and now nightmares? Just how old was Hitoshi? A hiccuping sob escaped his mouth at the thought, and he quickly clamped a hand over his mouth, hoping his adoptive fathers hadn’t heard him. Hitoshi was shaking now, fingers digging into his arms as he tried to steady himself, but to no avail. Another 15 minutes of this and finally Hitoshi had enough.
He swung his legs over the side of his bed and stood before grabbing a thinner, smaller blanket off the end of his bed and pulling it over his shoulders. Silently he slipped from his room and down the hall to Aizawa and Yamada’s room, and as he placed his hand on the doorknob, Hitoshi hesitated. This was embarrassing, it was annoying, it was unnecessary, Hitoshi knew it. He didn’t even know what he was going to say, how he was going to explain himself for coming in and waking them up, or even what he was expecting them to do. He didn’t know anything other than he couldn’t be alone anymore tonight. Hitoshi swallowed hard and turned the doorknob, stepping into the bedroom before quickly closing the door behind him.
It was dark, no light other than the glowing numbers on the bedside alarm clock, but Hitoshi could still make out the outline of the two sleeping figures. Hitoshi moved forward to the right side of the bed, reaching out the gently nudging Aizawa, who was sleeping on his stomach, the lower part of his face concealed by a pillow.
“Sensei?” Hitoshi asked softly, barely above a whisper. “Aizawa-Sensei-?”
Aizawa opened his eyes, and though he looked tired and slightly confused, there wasn’t any annoyance behind them. The older man turned his head fully towards Hitoshi and raised a brow, a silent What is it?
Hitoshi drew his hand back, awkwardly fidgeting with the edges of his blanket “I’m, uh... I-I just-” he tried to think of something to say, but the fear swelled up and another uncontrolled and choked up sob left Hitoshi’s mouth. Aizawa sat up immediately, leaning over to turn on the lamp. Hitoshi flinched at the sudden light, and it woke up Yamada too.
“Wha-? What’s happening..?” Yamada asked groggily, sitting up alongside Aizawa now. Aizawa didn’t pay any attention to Yamada though, and just looked at Hitoshi with so more concern on his face than Hitoshi had ever seen.
“Whats wrong?” Aizawa asked gently, “Hitoshi, what happened?” Hitoshi tried to respond coherently, but as soon as he tired to form any sort of word it was too late. The cries he had held back earlier while alone were let lose, and he sobbed loudly and frantically. His whole body shook as he tried to hide his face from the two. Hitoshi couldn’t move, couldn’t think, and didn’t protest when Aizawa grabbed him and pulled him onto the bed. Yamada was just as awake now too, scooting himself next to Aizawa.
“Hey, hey, little listener…” Yamada mumbled as Hitoshi sobbed. He glanced at Aizawa, who’s lip was pursed into a thin frown. “What happened?”
Aizawa shrugged faintly, holding onto Hitoshi’s arms to try and calm him down. “He’s shaking.” A pang of worry settled in both men as they watched Hitoshi cry, and finally Aizawa readjusted himself so he could easily pull the boy closer, wrap him in his arms. Hitoshi just continued to sob, burying his face into Aizawa’s chest and clinging to his shirt tightly. Yamada adjusted with them so he could sling one arm around Aizawa’s back so his hand would rest on his shoulder and the other over Hitoshi, running his fingers through his hair.
The three of them sat like that for awhile as Hitoshi cried. Yamada humming and singing softly to Hitoshi while Aizawa silently rocked him. Finally, his sobs died down to just small hiccups and Hitoshi pushed himself out of Aizawa’s arms. The two stared at Hitoshi worriedly, and he felt his face burn with embarrassment. “...I’m sorry.” Hitoshi said finally, to which Aizawa just shook his head and Yamada let out a small ‘no…’ noise.
“What happened, Hitoshi?” hearing Aizawa speak and look so concerned made Hitoshi sick with guilt.
“I had a nightmare.” He answered truthfully.
“Do you want to tell us what happened?” Aizawa asked.
“No. Not right now, at least.” Hitoshi said, trying to make his voice sound flat but instead it just came out strained from all the crying. Aizawa nodded slowly.
Yamada spoke next, “Is there anything you want us to do? Want one of us to stay up with you?”
Hitoshi immediately shook his head. “No, no! I just- I just-” he pauses for a moment, looking away from the other two. It was an embarrassing question, but Hitoshi was so desperate not to be alone right now, alone with his nightmares.
“...Can I sleep with you guys?” It was astonishing how pathetic Hitoshi thought he sounded. He was 15 years old. He had been in fostercare all his life. He had had nightmares all his life. How pitiful was it that now was when he had reached such a breaking point that he was asking to sleep to sleep with the two men. “Just for tonight, I promise, but I...I don’t want to be alone.” he half expects them to shoo him away back to his own room.
They don’t.
“Of course you can, little listener.” Yamada says warmly, a smile forming on his face to replace the worried look. Aizawa nodded along. Another session of readjusting ensued, until finally Aizawa and Yamada on their respective sides with Hitoshi between them.
“All good?” Aizawa yawned, rubbing his eyes. Hitoshi nodded and Aizawa leaned to the side to turn off the lamp before laying down, Yamada doing the same. The room was plunged in darkness and for a moment as he lay there, Hitoshi felt awkward and out of place. But then Aizawa shifted to be closer to Hitoshi, putting an arm around him, and not long after Yamada did the same. So now Hitoshi was tucked between them, both holding him close.
“Go to sleep now,” Yamada mumbled, , “You need your rest, little listener.”
Now Hitoshi could actually feel how tired he was from his outburst, and nodded weakly in response to Yamada. He brought the blanket up closer to his face and closed his eyes with a heavy sigh. Sleep overcame him and for the rest of the night, Hitoshi slept deeply and dreamlessly.
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The next morning when Hitoshi woke up, he sat up wondering why he suddenly had much more room, (Hitoshi was only an inch or two shorter than Aizawa, so even though there had been room in the bed, it wasn’t a lot.) before realizing Aizawa was on the floor.
“That’s not your fault,” Yamada said, causing Hitoshi to jump and look back at his other dad. Yamada was already dressed and now just seemed to be doing work on his laptop while sitting in bed. “Shouta just sleeps like the dead and forgets how small our bed is. The fucking dumbass.” Hitoshi snorts at the last remark and Yamada grins at him before shutting his computer and getting up from the bed. “Anyway, I’m gonna go make breakfast.”
“Breakfast? Is it still early enough for that?”
“Well, no, not technically cause it’s noon. But in my eyes anytime is breakfast time! You wanna wake him up for me?”
“Sure.” Hitoshi responded simply, to which Yamada nodded and left the room, leaving the door open. Hitoshi leaned over the side of the bed to look down at Aizawa, who was still asleep facedown and somehow had managed to bring the bed sheet down with him. He reached his hand down and nudged him. “Sensei, Yamada-Sensei is making breakfast.”
There was a short moment of silence before Aizawa groaned loudly and pushed himself up to look at Hitoshi, who couldn’t help but laugh.
“Your hair looks terrible.” Hitoshi teased. Aizawa rolled his eyes and shook his head.
“You’re one to talk,” he said, which just made Hitoshi laugh again, and Aizawa’s lips twitched into something reminiscent of a smile.
Hitoshi gets out of the bed and follows Aizawa to the door, but Aizawa stops suddenly, glancing back at the younger boy. “You feel alright?” there wasn’t concern in his voice now, and was its usual flat and stoic tone. But Hitoshi knew better than to think Aizawa’s tone of voice reflected how he actually felt.
“Yeah,” Hitoshi says with a small nod. “Yeah I do.”he almost says thank you, but holds it back because of how embarrassing it’d be.
“Good,” Aizawa nods. “Now lets go before Hizashi starts yelling at us to-”
“ARE YOU TWO COMING OR WHAT?!” Yamada’s shouted loudly, making Aizawa scowl and make a beeline to the kitchen, Hitoshi close behind.
He couldn't help but burst into laughter as he watched Aizawa curse at Yamada to shut the hell up.