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This mission is a bust. This mission is well and truly a bust and Hitoshi would marvel at the way it all came crashing down so fucking fast around them if he and Bakugou weren't fucking busy running for their lives.
Sometimes you can argue that missions go sideways, that there were some hurdles but ultimately turned out nice and well and everything was tied up neatly, but this—this mission went FUBAR.
As the hoard of villains currently chasing after them is a testament to and Hitoshi doesn't know how much longer he can do this.
Sure, he's fit and he has the stamina to match his job, but this is a fucking obstacle course and they've been sprinting along for what feels like hours at this point and even Bakugou is breathing hard and sweating buckets.
Which is probably good for them, should he need to explode this whole fucking building but Hitoshi hopes it doesn't come to that.
"Left," Bakugou snaps, because clearly he, too, needs his breath for something else and Hitoshi follows along, the outlay of the building only barely present in his mind but he thinks Bakugou got it right.
There should be an exit somewhere in this wing of the building.
They continue to sprint down the hallway, shoulders brushing occasionally and one moment Bakugou is there and in the next he isn't.
There's a horrifying crash to Hitoshi's side and then a bull-headed man is next to him right where Bakugou used to be and the wall across from them isn't there anymore.
And that can only mean that this mission just went from bad to worse.
"The fuck was that for?" Hitoshi pants out, the abrupt stop making his knees ache and the bull grins at him.
"That was—"
Hitoshi doesn't waste any time to snatch control of the villain because he doesn't have any time to spare and he also doesn't think twice about his next command.
"Die," he orders and the man drops where he stands and it's not even something Hitoshi thinks twice about; it's not the first time he killed, it won't be the last, there are at least a dozen villains left and this guy just smashed Bakugou clean through a wall.
There's no way they can physically overpower him now—if Bakugou survived at all—and therefore Hitoshi needed to take him out of the playing field.
"Bakugou!" he shouts as soon as the villain is down and rushes towards the still crumbling brick wall and he only locates Bakugou because there's a foot sticking out of the debris and Hitoshi follows it until he can find spiky hair. "Shit, Bakugou, can you hear me?" Hitoshi rambles out as he moves bricks off him and the relief when Bakugou groans almost makes him sway on his feet.
At least he's not dead.
""Can you get up?" Hitoshi asks, tugging on him urgently, because there are people coming, he can hear them, but instead of Bakugou, another voice answers him.
"How about you lay down as well instead?" the voice asks and before Hitoshi can whip his head around there's a blinding pain and then there's nothing.
~*~*~
Hitoshi wakes up to a throbbing head and he immediately remembers that he had been knocked out, so at least that pain is no wonder.
What he also remembers, though, is Bakugou smashing face first through a goddamn wall and that thought jerks him right up, because shit, he needs to get him out of here.
It takes Hitoshi's eyes a moment to focus on his surroundings but he almost immediately clocks the body laying next to him and he allows himself a tiny, tentative sigh of relief because surely they wouldn't lock him up together with a corpse.
Or maybe it's supposed to break his morale, you never know with villains these days, he despondently thinks as he shuffles himself over to Bakugou.
Hitoshi takes note of the way neither his hands nor his feet are bound together and he spares a brief thought to wonder if these villains are incompetent or if they have something more sinister in store for them, but by then he has reached Bakugou and carefully checks him over.
He's not deathly pale and there's only a little bit of blood on his face and Hitoshi isn't sure if that's good or not.
Surely, Bakugou isn't so pig-headed that he took that face-dive into the wall and simply shrugged it off.
"Bakugou," Hitoshi whispers and pokes him in the side, taking note of the strange handcuffs covering Bakugou's hands completely. "Hey, can you hear me? Are you dead?"
He pokes him again and again, carefully taking his pulse while he's doing it and at least that seems to be stable.
A moment later, Bakugou groans and flops himself around but when he opens his eyes he immediately blinks them close again and that, surely can't mean anything good, because there isn't much light in this cell to begin with.
"Bakugou?" Hitoshi asks again and moves a little bit away, to give Bakugou space to sit up if he wants to.
Bakugou blinks again, but it's clear by his reaction that he's not seeing much and he lets out such a pained groan that Hitoshi fears that something is broken.
It just has to be. There's no way Bakugou came out of that incident unscathed, no matter how much Hitoshi wishes for it.
"Can you sit up?" Hitoshi asks and moves closer again once he realises that Bakugou doesn't have the strength to do it himself and Bakugou weakly nods and then curls up on his side and throws up.
Wonderful.
Hitoshi swallows down his own bile, as he watches Bakugou wretch and heave and cry and when he finally sits up and leans against a wall Hitoshi's stomach drops out.
Bakugou's pupils are uneven. They are very fucking uneven and shit, that must mean whatever is wrong is serious.
"Where am I?" Bakugou mutters out and his voice comes out slurred and weak and shit shit shit, they are probably looking at brain damage.
Swelling for sure. Internal bleeding at worst and Hitoshi needs to get him out of here.
"We're still locked up in that villain hideout," Hitoshi shortly says and wrecks his brain for a way out of here.
"Hideout," Bakugou repeats as if he doesn't quite remember and going by the way he's blinking Hitoshi has to assume that he is no longer able to properly see.
"Shit, Bakugou, just close your eyes, okay, no need to see, I'm here."
"And—who're you?" comes the whispered reply and Hitoshi goes cold all over even as Bakugou lists to the side and drops his head to Hitoshi's shoulder.
If he's been hit so fucking hard that he has amnesia then surely the damage is more than severe.
"Shinsou. Troll doll. You're most annoying co-worker," Hitoshi gives back, hopes to spark at least some kind of recognition in Bakugou, but he only hums and rubs his cheek against Hitoshi's shoulder like an affectionate cat.
"Mh, safe," Bakugou slurs out and great, how can he even think they are safe if they are locked up and possibly about to die?
"Not yet, firecracker," Hitoshi mutters and that at least gets Bakugou to flutter his eyes open.
The sight of the uneven pupils is really freaking Hitoshi out though, so he wishes he would keep them closed.
"No, you," he says and it seems to be important to him. "You. Safe."
He doesn't seem quite able to form full sentences and that, too, must be a big fucking problem, but Hitoshi pushes it all to the side for now.
The amount of brain damage doesn't matter if they don't get out of here relatively soon and for that to work, Hitoshi kind of needs Bakugou's quirk.
"Can you use your quirk?" he asks and allows himself a brief moment to worry if the sound of the explosion and the recoil will exaggerate the already existing damage but it's not as if they have another option.
"Quirk," Bakugou repeats as if it's an entirely new word for him, but then he tenses in that way he has right before he uses his quirk and then he convulses, the crackling of electricity filling the air.
"Stop," Hitoshi yells as Bakugou lets out a bitten off scream before everything goes quiet again.
Bakugou slumped to the side and his breathing is deep and rattling and he must have fallen unconscious again, which might be for the best actually.
Hitoshi quickly checks the handcuffs over, and while he understands how they must work—electroshock when heated up—he can't find a way to unlatch them.
So he can't help Bakugou and Bakugou's quirk is not going to get them out of here. Wonderful. That's just really fucking great and just as Hitoshi is about to drop his head in his hands, Bakugou groans again.
"Where am I?" he slurs out and Hitoshi lets out a desperate laugh, prompting Bakugou to look over at him, before something like relief passes over his face and he scoots closer, as if he's seeking contact.
"You good?" Hitoshi asks and Bakugou hums, which could mean a lot of things.
"Can blast us out," he shakily says and just before Hitoshi can yell out a "No!" Bakugou already starts convulsing again.
Great. This is gonna be a fucking Groundhog Day situation and Hitoshi wants to cry.
How are they ever going to get out of here if Bakugou continues to fry his own brain and Hitoshi is practically useless if no one comes to talk to them?
~*~*~
It takes seven more of these cycles before Hitoshi comes to a conclusion.
It's stupid and desperate and probably suicidal but it's the only way he sees out, because no one has come for them, no one attempted to talk to them and Bakugou is getting worse.
His reactions are getting slower, his disorientation is starting to worsen and he's barely verbal anymore.
He needs medical attention and he needs it fast.
And Hitoshi has been on the cusp of a quirk awakening for a while now. He can feel the people in the building, faintly, like little wisps at the very edge of his consciousness and he's pretty sure that if he could force that quirk awakening, he could take control of all of them.
Rigorous training hasn't gotten him far with his awakening, and he's rightfully shied away from the trauma option so far, but with how things are looking it's not as if he has another option.
And there's a very convenient electro-shocker right next to him.
So far Hitoshi has made sure to never be in contact with Bakugou when he was awake, the guy even as a confused mess too quick to rely on his quirk for Hitoshi to be safe in his presence but maybe—
Maybe that's what he needs.
Maybe he needs to concentrate on his fucking quirk and wish for a miracle and get fucking electrocuted to all hell and back and maybe that can save them both.
It's his only plan, his only option and so when Bakugou wakes up the next time, Hitoshi scoots close enough to touch him.
The time between wakefulness for Bakugou have gotten longer and longer over their stay here and Hitoshi honestly isn't sure how many more chances he'll get, so he prods Bakugou as soon as he groans.
"Use your quirk," he orders, immediately and without hesitation and Bakugou turns his head towards his voice, like a trusting kid and then gets electrocuted almost immediately.
The current travels through Hitoshi, too, and it's horrible, it's painful, it's the worst thing he has ever experience but he grits his teeth and he concentrates on his quirk and the faint energies he can feel and he pushes and pushes and pushes until something snaps.
And suddenly everything is in the palm of his hand.
Every villain, every person in a radius so much bigger than Hitoshi expected is at his beck and call and he has enough presence of mind left to snuff out only the lights of those in this building before he lets out a desperate call for help, hoping someone outside of this building understands what he needs.
There's something trickling down his face, from his eyes and his nose and Hitoshi is pretty sure from his ears, too but then the electric current stops because Bakugou passed out again and Hitoshi is not far behind.
He just hopes someone finds them in time.
~*~*~
Hitoshi wakes up to a body that feels like lead.
Everything is heavy and slow and distantly painful and blinking his eyes open takes forever. Once he manages it and finds a white ceiling above himself he can't be bothered to go for a movement of the head, too so he simply melts into the bed and stares and stares and stares until his eyes water and he remembers to bring up the strength to blink.
And then his vision is filled with a painfully familiar face.
"Hitoshi?" Aizawa asks and Hitoshi blinks again, has no clue where his mouth is currently situated and how to access it but the relief passing across Aizawa's face is still more than obvious.
"Thank fucking god," he breathes out. "Welcome back, kid."
Hitoshi blinks again, trying to piece together what the fuck could have landed him here and when it all comes crashing back into him some obnoxious peeping picks up and it's as if all of a sudden Hitoshi is assaulted by noise.
There's the beeping and Aizawa's breathing and the hustle and bustle of a hospital, the voice of a hundred people in the vicinity, all attacking Hitoshi without a care of his wellbeing.
He would scream, he thinks, if he could find his mouth, but instead he finds a mind that feels familiar, for the lack of a better word. Familiar and safe and calm and like a rock in the turbulent see and Hitoshi latches on to it even as his own eyes close again.
~*~*~
The next time he wakes, things feel easier and things feel distinctly wrong.
Something is missing. Something he needs, something that's his and that's safe and he needs it to come back and—
"Hitoshi, relax, you need to breathe," Aizawa's voice says through the darkness, but Hitoshi can't, he can't because it's missing, it's gone and he needs it back.
He tries to convey that, but his mouth can't form words and he tries to take control of Aizawa, tries to reach out with his quirk, but that's not working either, and he can't feel his safe haven anymore and when his mind slips away, Hitoshi doesn't fight it.
Everything is better than being awake without that soothing mind close.
~*~*~
Hitoshi opens his eyes and he feels fine. He feels rested and centered and he knows where his body is, where his mouth is and the feeling of his quirk is muted in a way that makes him suspect medical interference but that one painfully familiar mind is still there and so it's fine.
It's all good.
He pushes himself up, his body barely cooperating and instead of saying something Aizawa—who seems to be living next to his bed—moves to make the bed sit up for him.
It’s way easier than holding it himself, Hitoshi has to admit that and Aizawa sighs.
"You with me this time?" he wants to know and Hitoshi nods.
"I'm good," he croaks out and immediately gets some water for his efforts which he thankfully takes. "What's the damage?"
"The bad news is that you're an idiot and it's not curable," Aizawa jokes and Hitoshi grimaces.
If he feels the need to start like this then it must be worse than Hitoshi feared it to be.
"Sorry?"
"Don't be," Aizawa sighs out and rubs a hand over his face. "You both made it out alive and that kind of justifies the insane stunt you pulled but dear Christ, kid."
Hitoshi clicks his tongue, because the mission comes back to him in bits and pieces and he jolts when he remembers Bakugou.
"What about—"
"Alive," Aizawa shortly says and Hitoshi knows that this means it must be bad, which Aizawa confirms shortly after.
"He sustained severe brain damaged, from blunt head trauma and the electroshocks. He's—the doctors are confident he will make a full recovery but he's experiencing neurological problems."
"Problems how?"
"He is unable to use his quirk. He can't speak right. His vision is spotty and he's not really able to move his limbs like he wants to. The left side is worse than the right. Rigorous training will apparently get him his range of motion back."
Hitoshi instinctively reaches out for that calm place in his mind, brushes up against that painfully familiar mind and it all slots together.
"I'm connected to him somehow," Hitoshi mutters and Aizawa lets out a deep, deep sigh.
"You forced your quirk awakening and killed fifteen people with merely a thought before you sent out a cry for help so strong an entire block ran down a police station, the closest agency and a hospital. The violent nature of your quirk awakening means you don't have control over it yet and we had to mute it."
"You took it away once," Hitoshi mumbles because he remembers waking up without that feeling and Aizawa nods.
"You didn't take well to it so we dulled it down. You still feel him?"
"He’s the only familiar thing I know," Hitoshi admits and even Aizawa's mind, so close, so much more familiar, feels nothing like Bakugou's mind.
"We're not sure what kind of effects it has on him and on his recovery or what it does to you that you latched on to him, but it's not as if we can break the connection either. You'll have to live with it. For now."
"I need to be with Bakugou. Why isn't he here?"
"He needed different things for his recovery than you. It’s been several weeks, kid." He doesn't soften that blow at all and Hitoshi feels it like a sucker punch to the gut. "Now that you're awake we can figure out what the best course of action is going to be for you two."
"Together," Hitoshi breathes out, almost painfully gripping onto that mind in his quirk and he gets an annoyed push back for it, which almost makes him smile especially when it's followed up by a wave of relief. "We need to be together."
"Of fucking course," Aizawa mutters and reaches for the button at Hitoshi’s bed. "Go figure the problem child was right."
He doesn't seem very happy about it and Hitoshi doesn't know what he feels about all of this either, but someone is coming, someone is going to get him to Bakugou, to Katsuki, and that is all that matters.
That is all Hitoshi needs right now and everything else they can figure out together.
Like they should be.