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"No," Hitoshi says through the ringing in his ears as soon as the doctor falls silent.
"No?" Aizawa asks, clearly caught off guard by his refusal and Hitoshi refuses to meet his eyes.
"I'm not—no. Local anaesthesia or I'm not doing it."
"Are you allergic?" the doctor wants to know and flips through Hitoshi's file.
"He's not. What's going on, Hitoshi?" Aizawa wants to know but Hitoshi can't look at him.
"Can you do it like that?" Hitoshi asks the doctor, completely ignoring Aizawa even though he knows he won't get out of this one, not anymore, but he's not going to explain this here.
He would really rather not explain at all, and he didn't ever think he would have to, but clearly life loves to fuck with him.
"No," the doctor says, almost regretfully. "See this?" He points at one of Hitoshi's wisdom teeth and Hitoshi nods as if he understands what he's seeing. "The roots of this tooth are either very close to your jaw bone or are already fused with it. It's not going to be a quick procedure, and a single movement from you could have unforeseen consequences. This is something that needs to be done under full anaesthesia. We could do the other ones with a local one, but since you already have to go under at least once, it's more efficient to do them all at once."
Hitoshi's eyes burn, because he knows what Aizawa will demand and he fixes his gaze on his hands, so Aizawa can't see him cry like a baby.
"We'll talk it over and get back to you," Aizawa says after a lengthy pause and Hitoshi's head snaps up so fast, he almost sprains something.
He expected Aizawa to make the decision immediately so this catches Hitoshi off guard.
"Sure thing," the doctor says. "Don't give it too much time though, if it already started to hurt, it will only get worse," he warns them and then, just like that, they are out of the office without a fixed date for whatever kind of procedure is going to happen.
Aizawa is quiet during their walk to the car and Hitoshi is not really in the mood to say anything either, but of course his luck can only hold for so long because as soon as they are both seated, Aizawa turns towards Hitoshi.
"You can either explain here or at home," Aizawa says and Hitoshi allows himself one moment to be bitter that it's not even a question that he has to explain, because with his outright refusal of a medical treatment, it's no wonder that he'll have to.
He always feared that it would come to this but he thought he would have more time.
"Doesn't matter," he stubbornly says because it's going to suck either way and Aizawa lets out a measured breath.
"Here, then. Hitoshi, what is going on?"
Hitoshi works his jaw but doesn't say anything and Aizawa huffs.
"We're going to be here for a very long time, if you decide to play it like this. Is it the procedure itself or the anaesthesia?" he asks, always so fucking perceptive and sometimes, Hitoshi wishes Aizawa would miss more things.
Except not really, because Aizawa not missing things is what got him placed with him and Yamada in the first place and so Hitoshi forces himself to talk.
"Anaesthesia," he shortly says and Aizawa nods.
"Did you have a bad experience with it before?"
That makes Hitoshi snort out a laugh because he only had his worst experience with it before and immediately Aizawa softens, clearly picking up on something yet again.
"It's okay, kid, remember you're safe now and I'm here."
"Yeah, right until I wake up," Hitoshi mutters under his breath, but of course Aizawa heard it.
He's a teacher—he's a goddamn pro at picking up whispered conversations after all.
"Why do you think I'd leave then?"
"I don't—you'll just be gone, I know how this goes, you'll just—" Hitoshi cuts himself off, the memory he hates so much threatening to drown him and then Aizawa's hand is in his hair and he's guiding Hitoshi's head towards his shoulder.
"You're okay," Aizawa softly says and Hitoshi laughs, because he is anything but, but he also doesn't push Aizawa away and he most certainly doesn't move away.
"You have to let me pack before," he finally whispers and he feels how Aizawa briefly tenses.
"Why would you need to pack anything? It's a same-day surgery. We'll be taking you home just hours later."
Hitoshi's mouth twists again and he finally pushes himself away, though he can’t quite bring himself to shake off Aizawa’s hand completely.
"You won't. You'll just—fucking leave me there and I can't—"
Aizawa's hand moves to his neck and he squeezes Hitoshi briefly, effortlessly getting his attention, making him focus on something other than his memories for a moment.
"What happened before?" Aizawa asks and his voice is even and soft like it usually is, but his eyes hold murder and it soothes Hitoshi a tiny bit even though he can't hold Aizawa's gaze.
"I had to get surgery for my appendix," he says, trying to detach himself from the story because he lived it once, he doesn't need to live through it twice. "My mom took me. She was there when they wheeled me away."
"I'm guessing she wasn't there when you came back," Aizawa softly guesses and Hitoshi presses his lips together as he shakes his head.
"When I woke up my case worker introduced himself to me. Said my mom had relinquished custody of me to the state. I—never saw her again."
It still fucks with him; he knows going to sleep is different than what happened there, knows Aizawa and Yamada are different, but the fear is ever-present. Some days he doesn't sleep because he fears that when he wakes up, he'll be all alone, Aizawa and Yamada gone with the wind, leaving him to his own devices in an apartment that's no longer home then.
"Some nights you don't sleep and instead sit with either me or Hizashi without saying anything, just watching us," Aizawa says as if he can read Hitoshi's mind and he doesn't even have the grace to make it a question.
To him it's already a foregone conclusion that he’s right, that he pieced it together, and Hitoshi hates how right he is. Loves it, too, because Aizawa understands him on a level Hitoshi feared no one ever would and it soothes something in him.
"What if you leave me, too?" Hitoshi gives back with a shrug and he doesn't miss the way Aizawa's mouth unhappily twists at his words.
"I wouldn't. Hizashi wouldn't. I think leaving you would be grounds for divorce at this point," Aizawa almost casually says, as if that is normal, as if anyone ever wanted Hitoshi around badly enough to inconvenience themselves even the slightest bit.
"That's a nice sentiment," Hitoshi mutters and can't quite believe it.
He never can. People go back on their word all the time; it means nothing to most people to lie to a stupid, desperate, needy kid and that's why Hitoshi can never trust the words of adults.
It's a bit better with Aizawa and Yamada, cause they have shown him nothing but consistent care and love in the past few months, but Hitoshi's trauma sits deep.
"This is not something that can be solved by simple words," Aizawa says, yet again clearly reading Hitoshi's mind. "But—there's this detective who can detect verbal lies. Would it help you to hear him confirm that we have no intention of letting you go ever again?"
"It's not—you don't have to bother anyone with this," Hitoshi defensively says, because he damn well knows he's needy and insecure and Aizawa doesn't have to broadcast it to the entire world.
Even though it probably would help a little bit to hear it.
"Would it help or not?" Aizawa asks, not buying Hitoshi's bullshit evasion even for a moment and he sighs.
"Maybe," he finally admits and then, when Aizawa continues to stare at him, "Probably."
"Alright. I'll let Hizashi know," he says and sends off a quick text on his phone, before he buckles in. "And after, we'll talk about the procedure again."
It's almost threatening to be reminded of the fact that there's still something to talk about, but for now Hitoshi pushes it out of his mind.
Maybe this detective will reveal that Aizawa and Yamada don't care for him at all and then Hitoshi will have very different problems, anyway.
The ride to the police station is silent but when they get out of the car, Hizashi is already there, urgently pacing in front of the entrance. He perks up when he spots them, and then his face immediately darkens.
"Meet me at the station, family emergency? Is that really all you had to say? What the fuck, Shou?"
"Language," Aizawa mildly reprimands him and Yamada's face goes even darker, his glare more murderous.
"The kiddo is used to much worse language, he's been hanging around Bakugo after all. Now explain."
"We have unlocked more of Hitoshi's past trauma and we're here to make sure he understands that we have no intention of leaving him," Aizawa explains and Hitoshi goes red in the face.
He makes it sound like a mile-stone, being allowed access to all of Hitoshi's fucked up-ness but Hitoshi's embarrassment is nothing to the indignation on Yamada's face.
"Leaving him? Leaving him? What the fuck?" He turns towards Hitoshi. "We're not leaving you. If Shou, for whatever convoluted reason, wants to do that, I'll divorce him and take you with me. He can keep the cats—I'll get the kid."
Yamada tugs Hitoshi into his side as if he's making a point and Aizawa looks as smug as anything and Hitoshi remember what he said in the car.
It seems these two are really on the same wavelength here.
"Not a chance in hell, I saw him first. You get the cats, I'll keep the kid."
It's ridiculous, completely and utterly insane even, and still—something in Hitoshi's chest settles.
"How about there's no divorce and you both keep me?" he dares to say and Aizawa grins at him.
"That's the plan. And to show you just how much we're not lying about that, we're going to see Tsukauchi now."
"Ah, I see," Yamada hums out. "Smart play. On we go, then!"
He doesn't waste any more time and steers them right into the police station, where everyone greets them more or less enthusiastically. They clearly know their way around, because soon enough they are marching into an office where a plain looking guy is reading through some documents.
He sighs when he spots them, but doesn't protest when Aizawa closes the door behind them.
"To what do I owe this questionable pleasure?" the guy, Tsukauchi presumably, sighs out and Yamada pushes Hitoshi down into a seat.
"You owe me for last Saturday and I'm here to cash in," Aizawa says and it's almost comical how quickly Yamada's head whips around.
"Last Saturday?"
"He called me in on my day off; had me working on a non-catastrophic case even though I said I wouldn't," Aizawa pointedly says and Tsukauchi looks apologetic enough.
"We needed Erasure."
"It could have waited a day and you owe me big time."
"You really did take the day off?" Yamada asks, clearly not over that fact and Hitoshi remembers how hurt he had sounded when Aizawa had told him that he hadn't watched Yamada's big award show.
"Of course I did. I always do. Tsukauchi here broke my seven year streak and he owes me for it," Aizawa says as he crosses his arms and he doesn't even seem phased when Yamada tears up.
"You would have watched," he breathes out and Aizawa rolls his eyes.
"Yes, like I said. I always watch your show. I might not like attending, but I damn well make sure to watch it."
Hitoshi has been with them for long enough to understand that this is like the biggest declaration of love Aizawa could make except from actually saying the words and Tsukauchi must know that, too because he sighs.
"Okay, can you keep your lovey-dovey feelings out of my office and just tell me why you're here?"
Yamada and Aizawa stare at each other for a moment longer, before Aizawa finally points at Hitoshi.
"Our son is in need of a bit of reassurance, so I decided to make good use of your quirk."
"Of course," Tsukauchi sighs out and Hitoshi bites back on the urge to apologise.
It's not as if he decided to come here after all.
"My quirk is called Lie Detector," Tsukauchi says, speaking to Hitoshi directly. "I can detect verbal lies with it. Would you like to test it?"
"Sure," Hitoshi says with a shrug and then wrecks his brain to come up with something suitable before he remembers that this guy knows nothing about him. "I hate cats."
"Lie."
"I hate dogs."
"Lie."
"This is my natural hair colour."
"True."
"Huh. Neat," he says, because it is and Aizawa snorts out a laugh.
"Don't go all crazy over it, kid," he says and ruffles Hitoshi's hair. "We have no intention of ever leaving you," he then says and looks at Tsukauchi.
"True," the man dutifully says and Hitoshi ducks his head to hide how his cheeks must flash a bright red.
"You're our son and that's not going to change," Yamada chimes in, even though he still has no clue what this is about, really, but he's matching Aizawa without missing a beat.
"True."
"If you do get sedated for the procedure, Hizashi and I will be there when you wake up," Aizawa says and Yamada's eyes go big before he reaches out for Hitoshi seemingly on instinct.
"He thinks we won't?" he breathes out and Aizawa rolls his eyes, before he repeats himself, clearly willing Tsukauchi to answer before he answers Yamada.
"True," Tsukauchi dutifully says and it's only then that Aizawa addresses the question by Yamada.
"Yes. He's refusing the operation because of it."
"Oh, baby," Yamada cries out and hugs Hitoshi close, who can do nothing but lean into the contact. "We're not going to leave you, not ever, not for as long as we live," he promises and even though it clearly wasn't said as a statement that needs verifying, Tsukauchi speaks up anyway.
"True."
Hitoshi is still trying to wrap his head around that when Aizawa speaks again.
"You truly are stuck with us now, Hitoshi. There is nothing I can think of that would make me want to leave you. You could turn into the worst villain known to mankind and I'd still visit you in Tartarus."
"True."
"Me, too," Yamada says and there's a notable pause before Tsukauchi says "Lie."
Hitoshi tenses up, ready to move away from Yamada, but he tightens his grip on him.
"That's because I'd be helping you break out," he rushes out and Tsukauchi lets out a deep sigh.
"True. Shinsou, please never turn into a villain, I do not want to have to arrest Yamada for aiding you."
That startles a laugh out of Hitoshi, one that's a little bit wetter than he'd like, but Aizawa and Yamada really want to stay by his side.
"I know it's not going to magically make everything better, but do you believe us when we say we'll stay with you now?" Aizawa asks, catching Hitoshi's gaze and he nods.
"It's—yeah. It's better, like this," he admits and Aizawa gives him a small smile.
"Good. We'll work on the rest by being there for you for as long as we're alive," he states, makes it a promise more like and for a moment Hitoshi is so happy he doesn't even know what to do with all of that.
Thankfully, Tsukauchi interjects before Hitoshi can do something dumb like burst into tears.
"Now, if that is all settled, can I get back to my work then?"
"You can. Just remember this the next time you call me in on my day off," Aizawa reminds him and then, just like that, they are back in the car.
Hitoshi knows that they'll have to talk about the procedure again, that he has to go through with it, too, but he thinks that maybe like this, he might be able to do it. As long as he remembers Tsukauchi's steady affirmation of their words, he can get through it.
Hitoshi just has to trust them.
(He does have the procedure. Aizawa and Yamada both take time off for three days and they are there before the doctor wheels him away. Despite the reassurances before, Hitoshi can't help but to be terrified of what he'll find when he wakes up and he can't help muttering out a desperate "Stay with me."
Aizawa squeezes his hand and Yamada kisses his head and both say "Always," like they mean it and Hitoshi forces himself to trust it.
He clings to that during preparation and he clings to it when they administer the anaesthesia and then, when he wakes up, he doesn't have to cling to it because Aizawa and Yamada are right there, just like they promised him they'd be.)