Chapter Text
Hitoshi is seriously starting to regret his choices.
Standing in front of the entrance of UA, wearing this uncomfortable tie and blazer, he starts to wonder how anyone managed to convince him that this would be a good idea.
Surprisingly, it was Izuku who was the biggest advocate for Hitoshi choosing UA .
He told Hitoshi that he shouldn’t let his personal issues with All Might impact Hitoshi and that while Izuku doesn’t think he could ever step foot into a hero school, UA would benefit Hitoshi greatly.
Hitoshi fought him for a bit. He knew Izuku’s own issues with hero schools and thought it was hypocritical of him to try and convince him that he should attend a hero school.
Izuku has to remind him that the issues surrounding his Quirkless status were more complex than Hitoshi’s past experience being disappointed by heroes. Hitoshi had a real chance of making a change, especially with the support of his parents.
He also, obviously, encouraged Hitoshi to go to therapy once he started school.
Hitoshi took the night to sleep on it, but eventually relented that he was right.
And now, he is walking into the front doors of UA for his first day with a therapy appointment scheduled during his free period.
To be completely honest, he is scared out of his mind.
His dads—yes, dads. The paperwork hasn’t been finalized yet but Hitoshi has long since accepted that he wasn’t going anywhere and he appreciated a place to call home— had left earlier to get to the school before the students arrived in order to get some planning done.
He sits in the back of his homeroom class. He doesn’t have any plans to make friends. He won’t go out of his way to be rude, but he isn’t going to exude any kind of welcoming energy.
He watched in silence as people funneled into the classroom. Some students began to have idle conversations with each other, presumably having known each other from middle school. Hitoshi didn’t recognize anyone in the room, but to be fair he didn’t pay much attention to his middle school classmates either.
He sends a text to Izuku letting him know that he arrived and wished him luck on his first day. Izuku had asked him to send him updates on all the ‘exclusive hero tea’ that Hitoshi gathers while here.
Apparently, his homeroom teacher was Cementoss. Hitoshi did find it interesting that they have a hero teaching the general studies course. It would make more sense to have an actual certified teacher or just someone who knows a little bit more about non-hero career paths.
Despite that, he supposes that Cementoss isn’t a bad choice. He specializes more in support and is a serious guy without any controversies.
So, at the very least, he won’t be miserable in his homeroom with an insufferable teacher.
Hitoshi wants to zone out during his classmates introductions, but he knows Izuku would be upset if Hitoshi didn’t give him the complete run down, so he pays just enough attention to satisfy Izuku.
This is always his least favorite part of a new school year. Having a bunch of people he doesn’t know judge him based on his Quirk. He hates that it is people's first impression of him.
So, he decides to do something a little different this year. When his turn rolls around he decides to use his free will.
He stands up from his seat. “My name is Hitoshi Shinsou and I don’t think my Quirk is pertinent to our class.”
With that, he sits back down, ignoring the chaos that erupted from the class.
He leaves Cementoss to deal with them. “Alright class, let’s settle down please. No one is required to share their Quirk with the class. There are many reasons why someone may want to keep that private. Please be respectful to your classmates and their choices. You are not entitled to any information from anyone.”
The class calms down after that, but they clearly are still curious about his Quirk. Still, it went over better than he expected.
After introductions, his class is escorted to the opening ceremony. He already knows that his dad’s class won’t be there. He tried to convince him that the students deserve to see the ceremony that most of them have been waiting their lives to see but Shouta would not budge. Hitoshi thinks it’s just because he doesn’t want to sit through another opening ceremony and would rather scare his students into performing well.
They still had a long way to go before they reached common ground in that regard.
Though, now that he is sitting here, he also wishes that he didn’t have to sit through this.
This could probably be used as a form of torture.
Ironically enough, it’s Hizashi leading this whole charade. His already loud voice being magnified by the microphone in front of him. He is in full Present Mic ensemble, a whole different person then who he is at home.
He much prefers Shouta and Hizashi to Present Mic and Eraserhead.
He hates the performance of it all. The atrociously fake energy it all exudes.
But he sits through it with the rest of his class and doesn’t complain (well, he complains to Izuku but that doesn’t really count).
He has to hold his breath when All Might enters the stage.
He breaks through a stage wall, acting like he he Detroit Smashed the wall in. Hitoshi knows it is fake, that All Might can’t keep his quirk active very long and wouldn’t use it superfluously in front of the students. He couldn’t risk deflating in front of this many people.
The entire crowd erupts in cheers.
Hitoshi stays silent.
He zones out during All Might's speech, he is sure that it is nothing of value. It is almost sickening to see how many people blindly worship the ground that he walks on.
He wishes that Shouta’s words to Nedzu would have been enough to get him fired, but apparently the HPSC was adamant that All Might needed to remain a teacher and that UA would lose valuable resources if he didn’t. So, they let him stay on staff.
Thankfully, his speech doesn’t last long. Once All Might is off the stage, Nedzu gives his own short speech about inspiring young heroes or some other crap Hitoshi really doesn’t care about.
The whole ceremony is done by the time their homeroom is scheduled to be completed and they are all escorted back to their respective classrooms.
His first couple classes are a blur, Ectoplasm comes in to teach them some basic math that he doesn’t pay much attention to. He has no problems with Ectoplasm either, he appreciates the disability representation (though he finds it pretty telling that he lost both of his legs to a villain, continues to do the job that disabled him with some new support, and still manages to get hate for it. Sometimes it feels like the public hates disabled people more than they worship heroes).
Midnight comes in to teach Art History. His feelings about her are… complicated. She’s been one of his dads’ closest friends for years, insisting that Hitoshi call her 'Auntie Nem' from the moment she met him. They're close enough at this point that calling her Midnight during class will feel slightly wrong.
That doesn’t stop him from having opinions. He has thoughts about her making sex appeal her brand. He hates even more that UA encouraged it when she was still a student here. Seeing pictures of her early costume makes him irrationally angry.
Despite all of that, she’s a good teacher. So he listens silently as she explains the history behind some old statue he’s never heard of.
Eventually, it’s time for English. He is both nervous and excited for this class. He talked to both of them, and decided that he didn’t want people to know that Zashi and Shouta were his parents. He didn’t want anyone's behavior or opinion of him to change based on that fact, so it's time for him to put on an act.
He knows that he’ll have no issues with pretending, but he wonders how Zashi will fare.
He certainly has the most energy out of all of the teachers thus far, he practically bursts through the door with an excited shout. “Who is ready to learn some English?!?!”
No one responds.
Mostly because they don’t understand him. Hitoshi has to stop himself from laughing.
Hizashi doesn’t falter. “Oh come on guys lets get some excitement in this room! English is a blast and we are going to have a great time this year!”
Still, he is met with silence.
“Tough crowd. Alright well let’s get started. Everyone please pull out your textbooks and we’ll start at the beginning.”
Despite the lack of enthusiasm, everyone in the class pulls out their English textbook and opens it to the first page.
“Alrighty! Who wants to read the first page for us?”
Obviously, no one volunteers. No one is planning on embarrassing themselves on the first day.
Hizashi’s smile widens. “Guess I’ll just have to pick someone random from the class roster,” he dramatically holds up the class roster and scans the list of names. “Hooooow about… Hitoshi Shinsou. Can you read the first page for us?”
Oh fuck this guy.
Hitoshi has a brief staring competition with his dad. Trying to convey to him how much he didn’t want to do this and how evil it was of him to make him.
Hitoshi has spent the entire day trying to keep his head down and not be called out in class. He doesn’t want the attention that comes with it.
He also doesn’t want the attention that comes with refusing his English teacher on the first day so he is kind of out of options.
Well, he does have one option.
The option of reading at his actual proficiency level and the option of reading it as if he only knows the basic amount of English they would have learned in middle school.
Hitoshi sighs. “Currently, in Japan, most natives will never learn English at a native level. In fact-”
He is absolutely butchering the pronunciation, and is cut off by Hizashi because of it.
“Come on, I know you can do better than that.”
Hitoshi glances up from his textbook and quirks an eyebrow. “How would you know that?”
Okay, probably a little too much attitude but he needs to remind his dad that he has to act like they don’t know each other in class.
Hizashi freezes for a moment before clearing his throat and returning to his normal cheery self. “Well, you scored the highest out of anyone in the English portion of the entrance exam, so I expect highly of you.”
If he keeps acting like this he is going to lose his favorite parent title.
Unfortunately for him, there is no way out of it. Now that Hizashi has exposed that he scored the highest on the English portion of the exam, there were expectations surrounding his performance and people were looking at him much more harshly.
Hitoshi rubs his hand across his face before starting the page over. “Currently, in Japan, most natives will never learn English at a native level. In fact, less than 5% are considered fluent and only around 10-20% are even conversational. This textbook aims to go beyond the standard English textbook and employ alternative methods that will be more effective at getting the students to a conversational level of proficiency.”
His pronunciation is almost perfect this time. There are a few stumbles in the middle, but it is far beyond that of the average student.
Embarrassingly enough, a couple students clap. He really wishes that was a joke, but there are at least three students who are staring at him with wide eyes and are actually clapping.
God he hates this.
The student next to him (who he doesn’t remember the name of) even starts talking to him. “Dude, are you part American or something?”
Hitoshi shakes his head. “No. Just… I have a friend who knows English and he taught me.”
“That is so sick dude. I wish I could speak another language but I think I’m just way more math brained.”
He doesn’t really know what to say to that, so he just shrugs. “Some people would consider math a language.”
The other boy leans back in his chair. “Huh, never knew that. Guess I’m bilingual.”
Maybe that’s supposed to be a joke, but Hitoshi doesn’t have time to consider laughing before Hizashi cuts them off and calls on someone else to read the next page.
The student he calls on turns red in the face. “I really don’t want to go after that.”
“Hey now, let's not compare ourselves to others. You won’t learn if you never try. Active speaking and reading are essential parts to learning a language. You’ll be talking in English in this class far more than you have in any of your other English classes. We’re all here to learn.”
The student is still hesitant, but eventually caves under Hizashi’s encouraging smile and reads the next page. It’s not great, but it’s clear she made an honest attempt.
The rest of the class goes the same, Hizashi calling on different students to read part of the textbook and then giving them feedback.
Thankfully, the class comes to an end and the students are dismissed for lunch.
Unlike all of the other schools that Hitoshi has been to, UA doesn’t have a set menu. Lunch Rush is able to serve up anything the students want at a lightning pace.
If he’s being fully honest, he has always wondered how Lunch Rush was able to get a heroes license. He can’t imagine any way that he would be able to use food as an effective weapon. At most it could be used as a way to poison people, but that is only good in very specific circumstances. There has got to be more to it than what Hitoshi knows.
It doesn’t take Hitoshi very long to get through the lunch line, considering the pace at which Lunch Rush is able to make each student's lunch.
Hitoshi hadn’t thought much about what he wanted to order, and he kind of hates being forced to choose what he wants to eat for lunch every day, but he figures he should be a little more positive about it.
He ends up ordering karē raisu, the curry is a pretty average school lunch that he would often eat in high school, but he liked it enough and it saved him the effort from having to think too hard.
Saying his thanks to Lunch Rush, he ventures deeper into the lunch room and looks around.
The room is very loud. All of the different classes ate lunch together, the only chance they got to socialize with the other classes. Something that Hitoshi did not have much interest in. Based on the details of their uniforms, the business and support students have already gotten their food and have sat down. Class 1-A has just started to funnel in and Hitoshi decides that's his cue to find his own seat.
He sees an empty table near the back and makes his way over there.
As soon as he sits down, he hears someone shouting from behind him. “Hey! Mindfuck!”
Hitoshi turns in his seat to locate who the voice is coming from.
He locks eyes with a pair of fiery red eyes, and realizes exactly who is shouting.
Bakugou Katsuki.
He’s never met him in person, but he would know that face anywhere.
This could be fun.
Hitoshi points to himself with a questioning look on his face. “Are you talking to me?”
Bakugou clearly knows this is an act, stalking over with a scowl on his face. “You know damn well I’m talking to you,” is what he says as he practically slams his lunch tray on the table, sitting down across from where Hitoshi is seated.
“I don’t remember saying you could sit there.”
Bakugou scoffs at him, “I don’t need your permission to sit in a public lunchroom. Izuku told me you’d be here and that you would probably sit in the back alone like a loser.”
Hitoshi has to stop himself from laughing. “What? Did Izuku send you because he’s scared I’m not going to make any friends?”
He’s met with a stare. “Can we drop the fucking act please?”
A smirk works its way onto Hitoshi's face. “Can’t let people know I associate with a hero student.”
Hitoshi avoids the word ‘friend’ like the plague. He would not consider Bakugou to be his friend, just a guy he knows way too much about because Izuku loves to talk.
Bakugou is Izuku’s childhood best friend. They used to be inseparable until Izuku didn’t get his Quirk. Bakugou ignored him after that, sometimes making fun of him with his classmates. Under most scenarios, Hitoshi would not associate with someone like that.
But if there is one thing Hitoshi can appreciate, it’s genuine change for the better. There are very few people who actually make the effort to better themselves in that way, and Bakugou Katsuki is one of the few.
At least according to Izuku, Bakugou has done a complete 180 and changed himself for the better. They are back to being friends and Bakugou has been very supportive in Izuku going to Tokyo. Since Hitoshi has never actually met him, it’s time for him to actually form an opinion on him.
“Please, both of your parents are heroes, stop acting like you never interact with them.”
Hitoshi points his spoon at him. “Keep your voice down. I don’t need people knowing that either.”
Mimicking Hitoshi, Bakugou picks up his chopsticks and points them at Hitoshi. “What are you so ashamed of?”
“I’m not ashamed of them,” Hitoshi grumbles. “I just don’t want people to think I’m a nepo baby or something. It’s just more explaining I don’t want to do.”
Bakugou starts eating. “If you were only here because of nepotism, why wouldn’t you be in the hero class? No one uses nepotism to be in general studies,” He sticks a piece of pork in his mouth before continuing, “no offense.”
Hitoshi rolls his eyes. “Whatever, you see how people act around Todoroki, I don’t need that kind of attention.”
In the few minutes that they have been in the lunchroom, Hitoshi has seen at least five people in different classes approach Todoroki because they know who his father is. Most of them probably pestering him with questions or failing at flirting with him.
“Again, no offense, but Endeavor is on a different level than Present Mic and Eraserhead.”
For some reason, Hitoshi does take slight offense to that. “Present Mic is a top 40 hero and both of them are teachers at this school, which makes things way more awkward if people find out and are interacting with them on the daily.”
“I’m not going to argue with you about how cool your parents are.”
Hitoshi doesn’t like how Bakugou manages to fluster him already. “That’s- ugh that’s not what I was trying to do. Just- Whatever dude. How was my dad’s class anyways?”
“Eraserhead’s? He’s an asshole,” he takes another bite of food. “I like him.”
Hitoshi hums in response. “He being a hardass?”
Bakugou chuckles. “Yeah, made us skip the opening ceremony and tested our quirks. Told us that the lowest scoring student would be expelled. It was awesome.”
“You would think that.”
Bakugou glares. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“I just mean,” Hitoshi starts, trying to find the right words. “Obviously you would think something like that is awesome because you have no doubts in your ability to score well. You have a physical quirk that has been praised your whole life and was perfectly suited for a test like that.”
Before continuing, Hitoshi looks over to the tables where the rest of the hero students are sitting. Besides Todoroki, he knows nothing about any of them. Well, there's a kid that he is almost positive is related to Ingenium, but he’s not certain. He can’t tell much about most of them just based on appearance, but there are some educated guesses he can make.
“Like that invisible girl,” Hitoshi continues. “She has a quirk that will make her a great hero, but isn’t well suited for physical tests like that. Do you think that the fear of being expelled before she even got to show her strengths, losing the chance to become a hero just because she isn’t combat focused, do you think that helped or hindered her performance?”
Bakugou actually seems to consider this. “Her? Definitely hindered. She was a nervous shaking mess the whole time, but I think there are students who it would have helped. The motivation to stay in the class may have been enough to improve their performance. Not that it really matters since it was all a ‘logical ruse’ or whatever.”
“Right but my point is, knowing that the system is set up for you to fail is demoralizing. Being a hero isn’t just about being physically strong. UA should focus on students' strengths and cater to areas they want to specialize in instead of forcing them to fight all the time.”
“You have to be able to at least hold your own in a physical fight if you want to be a hero, it’s just part of the job.”
Hitoshi sighs. “I’m not saying they shouldn’t get any combat training at all, but I am saying that the notion that they will be expelled if they don’t have a quirk that amplifies your physical strength in some regard is harmful. Sometimes, holding your own in a fight is your ability to hide or get away. Many heroes specialize in rescue, surveillance, and undercover work. UA is only shaping one type of hero, and I think that is a flaw.”
“Ugh, you sound way too much like Izuku. What are you guys in some kind of anti-UA circle jerk?”
“Nah, we’re in a much broader anti-hero circle jerk,” Hitoshi responds with a laugh.
“Don’t you think you're wasting your abilities by not even considering hero work?”
Hitoshi is surprised that Bakugou is holding this long of a conversation with him. “No. I suppose, more than anything, that it is a waste of most people’s ability that heroes are the only people who get to use their Quirks. I don’t think I should have to do hero work just because I have a Quirk that could potentially be beneficial.”
“But letting anyone use their Quirk is a slippery slope,” Bakugou argues. “Plus, don’t you think there's a moral obligation to help people if you can.”
“Do you think the only way to help people is by being a hero?”
That actually seems to make Bakugou pause. “Listen. I’m not saying that we should just let people loose to use their Quirks in any way they want, there should be some regulations. But I am saying that we shouldn’t live in a world in which the only people who can use their Quirks are heroes and villains. There are a lot of other professions that help others, and some of the people in those professions would be much more capable of helping people if they were allowed to use their Quirk.”
“Then how do you plan on helping people if not through hero work?” Bakugou asks, seemingly actually curious.
Hitoshi has finished his food now, he pushes away his food and leans on the table. “Well, first of all, I don’t think I have any obligation to help people. If I wanted to live my life sitting at a desk behind a cubicle that would be well within my rights.”
Bakugou goes to interrupt him, but Hitoshi puts his hand up to stop him. “However, I want to go into social work. I think that is where my skills will be best utilized.”
“How will brainwashing help with social work?”
Hitoshi narrows his eyes. “Keep your voice down. I don’t need people knowing what my Quirk is until absolutely necessary.”
Bakugou also pushes his tray out of the way and mimics Hitoshi’s pose, leaning on the table. They are now eye-to-eye. “You’re planning on going the whole year without telling your classmates what your Quirk is?”
“Yes. It isn’t relevant to general studies and there is no reason they need to know.”
When Bakugou doesn't respond, Hitoshi returns to the initial question. “Anyways. I’m training my Quirk to be able to elicit a truthful response from people. If there's one thing I know about a lot of foster parents and case workers, it's that they are a bunch of prejudiced liars. So, my goal is to counteract that.”
They sit there in a staring contest until the bell rings to dismiss them from lunch.
“Is that the longest conversation you’ve ever had?” Hitoshi teases.
Bakugou huffs. “Fuck you, asshole.”
They both stand up to walk back to their respective classes and as Hitoshi turns his back he hears Bakugou call out once more.
“Come sit with us next time.”
Hitoshi doesn’t turn around. He can’t really say he understands why Bakugou is inviting him to sit at the hero table after he had just made it abundantly clear that he has no interest in heroics and has a negative opinion of most of them.
Maybe he is trying to convince Hitoshi that heroes aren’t that bad and that he should join their side and suddenly change his mind and steer him towards heroics. He should realize that if his parents couldn’t even convince him of that, he didn’t stand a chance.
“Why would I do that?”
“Someone has got to report back to Izuku about these extras, and it isn’t going to be me.”
It’s a pathetic excuse that Hitoshi doesn’t believe for even a second. He knows that Bakugou is putting up a front of not caring about his classmates or learning anything about that. The best hero has to know what he is fighting against, and he highly doubts that Bakugou would just go in blind because he didn’t care enough to learn his classmates’ Quirks.
So, that leaves three options: Bakugou is really set on making him a hero, he is taking the role of ‘babysitter’ very seriously, or (and this is the least likely) that he actually enjoyed talking to Hitoshi.
Either way, Hitoshi smirks and begins to walk away. “I’ll think about it blasty. I wouldn't want to disappoint Izuku.”
Hitoshi is surprised at how much he enjoyed that conversation, especially considering their widely different viewpoints.
Maybe Izuku was right about him.
Hitoshi ventures back to his classroom and just as he sits down in his assigned seat, he hears one of his classmates speak up.
“Sitting with the hero students instead of your own class? Trying to suck up to them in hopes you’ll somehow make your way into heroics?”
If he’s being totally honest, Hitoshi has put no effort into learning their names. He had made general notes about the students and their quirks to relay to Izuku, but he had pretty much already forgotten which name belonged to each face.
He wonders if he should humor her with a response or if he should just ignore her.
“He sat with me,” He eventually settles on. “If it was up to me I would have sat alone.”
The girl stares at him for a moment. “So, what? You never plan on making any friends?”
Hitoshi considers slamming his head into the desk in front of him.
Before Hitoshi can respond to that, the boy who sits next to him speaks up. “You can’t get pissy with him just because a hero student sat with him at lunch. If you’re jealous you can just say so. It’s not like we are chained to only talk to the people in our class.”
The girl scoffs. “I’m just saying we are going to be spending the next three years together. He should at least be friendly to us.”
They are arguing over Hitoshi’s head at this point. “And do you think bombarding him in class after one lunch period and calling him a suck up is going to make him want to be friendly with you?”
Cementoss enters the room after that and the girl practically stomps back to her seat. Hitoshi turns to the boy next to him and gives him a small smile and a nod. He didn’t particularly want the people in his class fighting about him but he appreciates having someone stand up for him.
The boy returns the gesture and they both turn their attention back to their teacher who has started his lesson on modern literature. He passes out a book that Hitoshi has heard of from Izuku but never read himself. It’s on the origin of quirks and what life was like before they existed.
Cementoss explains the origins and history behind the book and why it is significant enough for him to be teaching in class. He assigns them the first three chapters to read at home for them to discuss in class the next day.
After that, they are sent off for their free period. Apparently, the hero students don’t get a free period and this is when they would be going to their heroics class with All Might. Instead of hiring another teacher to instruct the General Studies student in a different subject, they allow them a free period to work on some homework or socialize.
In Hitoshi’s case, he’ll be spending this period in Hound Dogs office.
This is the first time he will be meeting with him, and he would be lying if he said that he wasn’t nervous.
He knows very little about Hound Dog as a hero. He looks pretty big and intimidating and wears a muzzle as part of his costume to help with his image. People aren’t big fans of the idea of a hero acting like a feral dog.
He knocks on his office door hesitantly. Waiting for permission to come inside.
It’s only a few seconds before he hears a voice telling him to come on in.
When Hitoshi opens the door he sees a typical office space, nothing remarkable about it in any sense. Hound Dog has his back turned and is rearranging the chairs to be facing each other on either side of the small table in the middle of the office.
Hitoshi stands by the door, unspeaking and unmoving. Waiting for instructions on how to act in this very foreign environment.
When Hound Dog turns around Hitoshi sees that he is wearing his full hero costume, muzzle and all. It’s large enough that he can talk but it is certainly restricting his jaw from fully opening.
Hitoshi stares. Frozen in place.
He didn’t think that seeing the muzzle would trigger him this much, but now all that he is imagining is his own muzzle being placed on his face. Forcing him to remain quiet because people are that scared of his Quirk.
Hound Dog speaks and Hitoshi can’t tell if his panic is evident or not. “You must be Shinsou. It’s good to meet you, I’ve heard a bit about you from your parents but I’m glad we’re getting a chance to talk. Feel free to take a seat.”
Hitoshi moves, but not towards the chair. He backs up until his back hits the door. His eyes flicker between the chair and Hound Dog’s muzzle.
His hand goes up to touch his face, to remind him that he isn’t the one wearing the muzzle.
His other hand reaches for the doorknob, desperate to reassure himself that he can leave.
At this point, Hound Dog has clearly recognized his panic. “Shinsou, are you okay? If you’re uncomfortable we can always wait until next week to talk, but if there’s anything I can do to make you more comfortable today please do let me know.”
Hitoshi stares at him, eyes wide in both fear and shock. God he hates this.
He tries to speak but no words come out. It really feels like there is a muzzle on his face stopping him from speaking.
He considers leaving, running straight out of the room and finding a place to disappear.
But he promised his parents that he would try, so try he does.
He raises his hands up and tries to sign instead. “Do you know JSL?”
Hound Dog looks slightly shocked to see him signing instead of speaking, but goes along with it. “I’m sorry to say that I don’t know it very well. Certainly not at a conversational level. I do have an AAC device you could use if that would be more comfortable for you.”
Hitoshi considers this. He’s never used an AAC device before but he figured that it will be better than speaking right now so he nods his head.
He watches as Hound Dog retreats behind his desk to pull out a tablet looking device and powers it on.
“Can I give this to you or would you prefer if I leave it on the table to grab and I stay over here?”
Hitoshi doesn’t know if he can handle someone being that close to him right now, so he nods towards the table to indicate that he wants Hound Dog to leave it on the table.
Thankfully, he doesn’t look offended at that request and places the device on the table before retreating back to behind his desk.
As quickly as possible, Hitoshi grabs the device off the table and starts typing.
“Can you take the muzzle off?” the robotic voice of the device reads out after Hitoshi has finished typing. “Please,” he adds at the end for good measure.
Hound Dog looks slightly shocked before nodding and reaching behind his head to unstrap it. “I’m sorry if that upset you. Most people feel more comfortable when I have it on, so I typically wear it during sessions, but I’m more than happy to remove it.”
He relaxes slightly once he sees him fully remove the muzzle, but his eyes remain tracked on it in his hands.
Seeing this, Hound Dog opens up the storage closet and places the muzzle at the very top before closing the door and locking it.
Out of sight and out of mind.
“Thank you.” Hitoshi types out, quite liking that this device is doing the talking for him. “Sorry.”
Hound Dog gives him a small smile. “No need to apologize. This is your time and I want you to feel as comfortable as possible. Never feel like you can’t ask for something here.”
Hitoshi nods his head, not sure exactly what to say. “Would you feel comfortable with us sitting down and starting now, or is there anything else you need?”
Taking a deep breath, Hitoshi shakes his head and makes his way to one of the chairs that have been set up.
Slowly, Hound Dog makes his way over to the chair across from him. He gives Hitoshi enough time to tell him to back away but eventually sits down when Hitoshi doesn’t react.
“I’m sorry we got off to a bit of a rough start there, but I hope that the rest of this session can be a bit calmer. Feel free to continue to use the AAC device. It will always be an option for you during this time.”
Hitoshi types out a quick ‘thank you’ before Hound Dog starts again. “So, why don’t you tell me a little about yourself to start.”
After a few moments of typing, the robotic voice reads out Hitoshi’s response. “My name is Hitoshi Shinsou, I’ve been in foster care my whole life. I hate heroes and I’m getting adopted by two of them in a few months.”
“Alright,” Hound Dog says with a few slow nods. “Let’s work on unpacking that.”
For once, Hitoshi actually feels like talking.