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Hitoshi is enjoying one of his rare days off. He hasn’t made it out of bed yet, even though it’s well into the afternoon and he honestly would like to keep it that way.
Except it seems that life has other plans for him because his phone starts to ring.
There are only three numbers who would go through like that: work, Aizawa and Bakugo and Hitoshi honestly doesn’t want to deal with anyone today, but there’s no way he’s blowing either of those three off.
He stretches with a groan, almost fumbling his phone as he reaches for it but when he sees that it’s Aizawa, he sits a bit straighter.
Aizawa never calls him unless it’s important—really important—and so he accepts the call.
“What is it?” Hitoshi greets him with because Aizawa doesn’t care for niceties on the phone, he usually just wants to get the call behind him as fast as possible and Hitoshi is inclined to indulge him.
He, too, hates phone calls.
“I sent you a location and you need to come in immediately. Bakugo has been hit with a quirk, we need you here.”
Hitoshi takes a moment to digest that.
“Explain,” he then simply says and he can almost imagine the annoyed face Aizawa makes, but Hitoshi thinks he deserves a few more words.
Bakugo has been hit with a quirk? They need him specifically? None of this makes any sense, because Bakugo does not get hit by quirks and there is very little Hitoshi can actually do.
“He can’t control his quirk anymore. We need you to come in and take over for a moment,” Aizawa says and Hitoshi frowns.
“Can’t you just erase his quirk and the one he was hit with?”
There’s a moment of silence on the other end that lets Hitoshi know that Aizawa is pinching the bridge of his nose at the moment but he couldn’t care less.
“I tried that and while it does erase Bakugo’s quirk it does nothing for the one that has him out of control. We think some switch in his brain was flipped.”
“Put him to sleep then, Midnight is on call tonight, isn’t she?”
“How do you think we got him into a secure location, kid? It doesn’t work. We need you to come in and try. Besides, Bakugo asked for you, so get going.”
“Bakugo asked for me?” Hitoshi breathes out because that is—surprising.
Sure, they are—friends, almost, Hitoshi would dare to say, but Bakugo has always been very clear on where he stands with Hitoshi’s quirk. Meaning, he thinks it’s incredibly well suited for the work Hitoshi does but he doesn’t want to have it used on him, ever. He even underlined that with a death threat or five and since Hitoshi is not going around brainwashing people randomly, it hasn’t been that hard to adhere to Bakugo’s rules.
So this takes him by surprise now.
“He did, now get going, Hitoshi. I expect you here in twenty.”
Twenty minutes is exactly the time it would take Hitoshi to get to the location Aizawa had indeed sent him already and Hitoshi feels kind of annoyed by the assumption that he’s at home.
“I could be out, you know,” he mutters and Aizawa huffs out a laugh.
“You could be but I know you, kid. It’s your day off, you’re still in bed and haven’t moved all day. Twenty minutes,” Aizawa reminds him and then simply hangs up and Hitoshi is taken aback by how well Aizawa still knows him.
Still, Hitoshi doesn’t like assumptions being made about him, so just out of spite, he takes three extra minutes to get dressed before he goes down and gets his bike. By the time he arrives at the location, exactly twenty-three minutes have passed and Aizawa lets him know just how displeased he is by that when he greets him with his eyes red and his hair flying.
“Yeah, yeah, traffic, you know,” Hitoshi waves him off and then follows him when Aizawa leads him deeper into what seems to be an agency.
Bakugo’s maybe? It would explain why they have a room that’s apparently explosion proof but Hitoshi never paid that much attention to agencies. His own is moving locations constantly and not even he knows where they are at all times, so he hardly has time to keep track of anyone else’s.
“In there,” Aizawa says when he comes to a stop in front of a door.
The room must be soundproof because Hitoshi can only barely make out the sound of explosions and he looks at Aizawa with wide eyes.
“You want me to just go in there? He’s going to explode me.”
“He’s not going to explode you,” Aizawa sighs out and he sounds weary like Hitoshi hasn’t heard him in a long time. “He has enough awareness to not aim his quirk at people but he can’t stop the explosions. And his body is not made to withstand that many in such a short amount of time. It’s starting to hurt him. Go in there and get him to stop.”
"Your quirk didn't work. What makes you think mine will? What if I take control and as soon as I let him go he goes off again?" Hitoshi asks because he's been thinking about this the entire way.
"That's where your new trick comes in," Aizawa carelessly says and Hitoshi's eyebrows shoot up.
It's only been recently that he found out that he is able to give something like a sleeper command, meaning if he plants it deep enough, with specific triggers, he can make people do what he wants even when they are no longer under his control.
That tidbit had been on a strict need-to-know basis so far and there are currently only two people who know about it: Aizawa because he was the one Hitoshi tested that one on, and his boss.
Who made him sign almost a dozen NDA's which is ridiculous, considering this is Hitoshi's own quirk.
"I'm supposed to keep that under wrap."
"He's one of the top three. We need him. You do what you have to to make him stop," is Aizawa's almost heartless answer and Hitoshi rolls his eyes at him.
“Wow, you make it sound real easy,” Hitoshi grumbles but he does reach for the door and one moment later it feels as if his eardrums are being blown out because Bakugo’s explosions are loud, especially in a small room.
“What’s wrong with you?” Hitoshi yells over the cacophony, praying to every god he knows that Bakugo even hears him, and he was not prepared for the way Bakugo’s head whips around, his face lighting up with something akin to hope.
“Fucking finally,” Bakugo spits out and Hitoshi doesn’t hesitate to take control of him.
Who knows when he’ll get another chance and this is what he’s here for, after all.
The effect is immediate. Bakugo’s eyes cloud over, his posture relaxes and his quirk falls away, leaving only blessed silence behind.
That is not what makes Hitoshi stumble in surprise though.
He has experience with his quirk, he has put all manners of people under in his line of work and he knows how it feels to have someone under his control. Most are really fucking furious, fighting his control as hard as they can; some are scared or downright terrified. A few notable exceptions have been mildly curious (Midoriya and Denki) which was fair considering they had asked to be put under and during training with Aizawa there was only indifference.
With Bakugo it’s not the sense of relief he’s met with that throws him off, because honestly, that was to be expected, but it’s the way Bakugo’s mind is completely relaxed, almost throwing himself into Hitoshi’s control and the only other thing he gets from Bakugo is complete and utter comfort.
It’s unheard of, and Hitoshi completely blames that on his graceless stumble.
“Everything okay?” Aizawa asks, having come in as soon as the explosions stopped and Hitoshi forces himself to straighten up again.
“Yeah. I got him,” he needlessly says as he points at an unmoving Bakugo.
“Clearly,” Aizawa drily says and if his eyes wouldn’t hurt him so much all the damn time, Hitoshi knows he’d be rolling them right about now. “Can you feel what the quirk is doing to him?”
Hitoshi remembers that there’s actually a mission for him to complete and he focuses. He accesses the part of the brain where the quirk sits and yeah, something is definitely there. Hitoshi closes his eyes to better concentrates as he prods and pokes something that feels like a lever having been switched but he can’t get it to move again.
“Something is blocking his ability to shut his quirk off but I can’t undo it,” Hitoshi admits and Aizawa hums.
“Tell him to not use his quirk and then release him. Let’s see if that helps.”
“Do not use your quirk,” Hitoshi tells Bakugo right before he lets go of him and it takes Bakugo two blinks to fully come back to himself.
He doesn’t seem as confused as most of Hitoshi’s victims do and he doesn’t even glare at Hitoshi. In fact, he’s not looking at him at all.
“Fuck,” Bakugo whispers out, clenching and unclenching his hands and now that no more explosions are going off Hitoshi can see how red and irritated they already are.
Bakugo would have probably burned off his own hands if he kept going like this.
“Can you access your quirk at all?” Aizawa asks and Bakugo opens his hands, a look of concentration on his face but nothing happens. “I’ll take that as a no.”
“It’s like the exact opposite feeling from before,” Bakugo admits. “I couldn’t stop before and now I can’t even start.”
“Okay, so this doesn’t work long-term. Did the block feel like something that would dissipate over time?” Aizawa directs his question at Hitoshi who shakes his head.
“Didn’t seem like it. Can’t the person who did this to you undo it?”
“I was just about to grab him when he hit me with his quirk,” Bakugo says and Hitoshi winces, because that means the guy most likely exploded himself, so to speak.
“Dead?”
“In an artificial coma for now,” Aizawa states and then sighs. “He’s not an option.”
“Great, so I am either useless now because I can’t use my quirk, or I’m a danger to everyone because I can’t control it. Fucking perfect,” Bakugo hisses and Hitoshi rolls his eyes at his antics.
“Thanks for remembering that I’m still right here,” he mockingly says and for the first time since Hitoshi released him, Bakugo’s eyes snap to him.
“And what are you going to do?”
“Aren’t you curious to find out?” Hitoshi taunts him and of course Bakugo bites like Hitoshi knew he would.
“You fucking—” Hitoshi takes control of him again, not even letting him finish his sentence and Aizawa eyes him curiously.
“Only use your quirk when you want to,” Hitoshi says, ignoring the feeling of Bakugo’s mind almost snuggling up in Hitoshi’s quirk, instead concentrating on planting that command as deep as he can and he releases him just as quickly as he had taken control of him.
“What the fuck,” Bakugo hisses but Hitoshi only motions towards his hands.
“Can you use your quirk?” he asks and pretends it doesn’t hurt when Bakugo glares at him, but doesn’t verbally reply.
Instead he raises his hands and just like that a small explosion goes off.
“Does it feel different?” Aizawa asks and Bakugo shakes his head.
“No, it’s like it’s always felt. What the fuck did you order me to do?”
“To only use your quirk when you want to. You’re welcome, asshole.”
“Kids,” Aizawa breathes out, and then turns on his heel and simply walks out of the room, leaving Hitoshi and Bakugo behind in an awkward silence.
“Right,” Hitoshi mutters after a very long minute. “If that is all, then I’ll—” he points over his shoulder, with every intention of simply walking away, but to his surprise Bakugo stops him.
“You’re not going to ask?”
“Do you—want me to ask?” Hitoshi carefully gives back, because Bakugo seems distinctly uncomfortable and for all that Hitoshi is an asshole who likes to antagonise people, he doesn’t like to make them look like that.
“Not particularly,” Bakugo presses out and Hitoshi shrugs.
“Then I’ll just leave, if it’s all the same to you.”
“If you dare to make fun of me—” Bakugo hisses at him and his palm sparks in that threatening way he likes to use.
“For what? Feeling comfortable in my quirk? Yeah, that really is something to make fun of,” Hitoshi sarcastically says and then sighs. “Listen, I—can’t claim to know why you’d feel that way when you made it abundantly clear that you do not want to be brainwashed by me ever, but I’m not going to make fun of you for it. In fact, I’m not even going to mention it ever again. We can just pretend this never happened.”
Hitoshi is prepared to do that, because Bakugo’s shoulders are still tense and he still has that horribly uncomfortable look on his face, but he also has to admit that he’s going to mind. Very much. He would love to find out why Bakugo feels like that when he uses his quirk on him and there is no way in hell Hitoshi is going to stop thinking about this, but he will not bring it up again.
“I trust you,” Bakugo says even though it sounds more like someone pulled the words straight out of his mouth. “There’s all this anger and frustration in me but if you’re also in there I don’t have to worry about that. I just have to—lean in, and it’ll be fine.”
There’s a lot Hitoshi wants to say to that but what he blurts out is “How do you even know that when I’m never allowed to brainwash you?”
Hitoshi thinks it must be the lightning in the room, because there’s no way that Bakugo is blushing at that question.
“You brainwashed me once in our second year. I—haven’t stopped thinking about it since,” he admits, burying his face in his hands and it’s only when he hisses in pain that Hitoshi remembers the states of his palms.
“Stop that, you idiot,” he immediately says and steps close enough to wrap his hands around Bakugo’s wrists so he can pull his hands away and inspect them. “You need some first aid for this,” he decides, because there are a few blisters already and they need to get this looked at.
“If you dare to make fun of me, I’ll kill you,” Bakugo says, but there’s no heat behind it and so Hitoshi snorts, which only makes Bakugo bristle in outrage.
“Bakugo, do you even have any idea what it feels like to have someone trust me like that in my quirk? The best I usually get is indifference and that’s only when it’s like a training exercise. This, this was—” Hitoshi doesn’t actually know how to describe the feeling and so he helplessly trails off.
“I could feel it,” Bakugo admits, his voice barely audible even in the scant space between them and it takes Hitoshi by surprise.
“What?” That’s not usually how this goes, no one has ever mentioned that before and he’s reasonably sure that Aizawa would have if he had been able to feel Hitoshi like that.
But maybe it’s all in the way Bakugo leaned into Hitoshi’s quirk, because that is certainly something no one has ever done before.
“You were surprised, but—you didn’t hate it, or whatever,” Bakugo grumbles out and it’s so ridiculous and so far off the mark that it makes Hitoshi laugh.
“Or whatever,” he agrees. “Just like you don’t mind being mind-controlled by me, or whatever.”
It seems like Bakugo wants to argue with him about this some more, but in all honesty, Hitoshi is still a little stuck on the way Bakugo trusts him and when he realises that he wouldn’t mind doing it again—no matter if Bakugo can feel his own emotions or not—he realises that he trusts Bakugo just as much.
“Here’s the plan,” Hitoshi decides and squeezes Bakugo’s wrists once before he lets go of him. “We get your hands looked at and then I take you out for whatever food is appropriate at this hour.” Hitoshi has actually no clue what time it is anymore. “Or we forget all about it and never talk about it once we step outside this room. Your choice.”
It’s a big risk and Hitoshi is not usually into emotionally charged moments, but he feels as if one of them has to take this step. Yeah, they are friendly, friends even, but Hitoshi had always been under the impression that their flirting was unserious enough on both their sides, but maybe Hitoshi had that all wrong.
He wouldn’t mind it if he did but it’s on Bakugo now.
Hitoshi thinks that Bakugo is going to blow him off when he stays quiet for too long but then Bakugo’s red eyes meet his and Hitoshi knows his answer.
“Better get fucking going then,” he decides and pushes Hitoshi towards the door. “We’re going to eat super spicy, because today has sucked ass for me, so I get to have this.”
Hitoshi bites his tongue just in time to swallow his response back, because telling Bakugo that he gets to have whatever the hell he wants today might open up doors Hitoshi is not quite ready for, so he simply nods, even as he mentally waves his taste buds goodbye.
“Alright, hands first, and then lead the way,” Hitoshi simply says as he allows Bakugo to push him around and he can’t quite deny the way his stomach swoops when Bakugo grins sharply at him.
“Oh, I will,” Bakugo promises him and Hitoshi swallows heavily.
He has no idea what the hell he just got himself into, but he is kind of thankful that Aizawa made him leave his bed today.