Chapter Text
Bakugou Katsuki had a bedtime. Hitoshi knew that because Kaminari often complained about how the blonde always ended up bailing on their late night group hang outs. It also made sense that he had the sleep schedule of an old many given how he always looked like he should be waving a cane around and telling happy kids to 'get off his lawn!'
Yet there Bakugou was, doing pull ups in the U.A . weight room at 2 am.
This wasn't the first time either. Hitoshi has seen Bakugou in the gym this late a couple times this past month.
Now, Hitoshi knew it was none of his business what Bakugou did. After having practically declared war on their class and it blowing up in his face, he tried to avoid class 1-A, Bakugou included, when he could. Some people like Kaminari and Monama, however, shoved their way into his contact list.
He even still harbored some small sense of resentment towards Bakugou for being born with such a 'heroic' quirk and being able to be in the hero course effortlessly.
Despite these facts, Hitoshi didn't immediately turn to leave the gym.
He'd come here to work through his own insomnia through his newfound method of dosing on sleeping pills and then working himself to physical exhaustion to try and squeeze in a couple hours of rest before class started. Truth be told, it wasn't very effective but at least he was asleep by the end of the night.
Bakugou's pull up pace wasn't slowing down, which was slightly impressive. Thinking about it, he must need good upper body strength to be able to harness his explosions so well in a fight.
Deciding to stick around for some reason, Hitoshi made his way towards Bakugou.
"It's a little late to be working out, don't you think?" Hitoshi taunted, like the hypocrite who had planned on doing the same thing. Bakugou's head spun dangerously from where he was suspended from the bar to squint at him and he seemed to lose his grip for a second before continuing his reps seamlessly.
"Shut up, eye bags, what the hell are you even doing here?" Bakugou huffed out. Hitoshi found a place to prop his back against an empty machine and sat down.
"Couldn't sleep so I thought I might walk around campus, what about you?" Hitoshi smirked as Bakugou finally dropped down from the bar and faced him with a accusatory look.
"The hell you mean what about me?"
"What're you doing up this late? Thought you had a bedtime," Bakugou broke the eye contact they had under the guise of getting some water. Hitoshi saw through his act but let him go out of curiosity.
"None of your business, mind fuck," Bakugou said. Hitoshi raised his hands in mock surrender.
"Fine, suit yourself. Hope you do know tonight's a school night, though. 'Sleep is vital to a young student's health'," He quoted a poster he remembered seeing once in his doctors office once.
"Says you. When's the last time you slept, huh?" When Hitoshi was about to respond, Bakugou interjected "A full nights sleep,"
Silence.
A triumphant smirk spread across Bakugou's face. "That's what I thought,"
"Hey, since when was this about me? I'm not the one who has needs to go to sleep for my hero course exam soon " The words were born out of spite but they lacked the venom they might have had if it weren't so late. Aizawa mentioned it to him earlier this week while they were training: class 1-A's upcoming practical hero exam.
"I wouldn't be in the hero course if I couldn't manage my own schedule so piss off already," Bakugou grunted. It was said defensively. The conversation was starting to annoy Hitoshi at this turn of topic anyways, even if it was his fault. He felt a yawn coming and checked his phone.
Shit, it was already 3:44. It was far too late for him to think about escalating this conversation in case a teacher gets notified for noise (or explosion) complaints or unauthorized use of the gym. They might even start locking the weight room up at night which would be awful.
"Whatever, not like I give a fuck anyways,"
Lies. Hitoshi kinda gave a fuck. Bakugou didn't respond so Hitoshi raised himself from the floor and started planning what else he could do to tire himself out before 5 am to get a nap in between then and 2nd period. Maybe he could get out to the lake without the cameras catching him and walk that until he tires out.
"Where the hell are you going, eye bags?" Hitoshi glanced back to where Bakugou was wiping the sweat from his head with the towel he brought whilst staring at him. Hitoshi quirked an eyebrow at the interruption from his thoughts. Bakugou looked angry but that was his default face. Also, why was Bakugou even asking? Hitoshi crossed his arms to seem a little more defensive more out of general suspicion than intimidation.
"The lake," He said simply. Bakugou studied him silently until he made a face Hitoshi couldn't decipher and then grunted, returning to his work out.
Well. That was weird. Hitoshi didn't waste a second of the social reprieve, though, and practically ran from that awkward conversation. If it could even be called a conversation. Maybe midnight meeting. No, that wouldn't work at all. Firstly, it sounded like they were doing something they shouldn't be. Secondly, it was way past midnight.
When Hitoshi finally made it to the lake, he realized he forgot how hot it was out. He put up with it, at least to get his mind cleared up a little.
Yeah, Hitoshi didn't sleep much that night.
-
Mosquitos. They were the next thing humanity needed to make extinct. Who cares if they are 'vital to the ecosystem' or whatever, Hitoshi hates them.
Who could have guessed mosquitos would have been around the hot smelly wet lake the same time Hitoshi was. Really, it was a mystery. He could barely make it through ten minutes without the urge to scratch an itch.
Like usual, his gen ed courses seemed to fly by and huddle together listlessly. He found himself literally itching for his last period to end so that he could meet with Mr. Aizawa sooner. The bell rang and Hitoshi let some of his classmates pile out of the classroom before he joined the crowd to blend in with it silently.
Trying and failing not to rush too quickly, Hitoshi spun a corner too eagerly and bumped into a solid body, both of them falling backwards.
"My bad," He muttered quickly, picking himself up quickly and offering his hand to the person.
"Fuck off, stay outta my way, eye bags," Wow. What are the chances, truly, that he run into Bakugou.
"Wow, somebody must be cranky this morning. Miss your beauty rest?" Hitoshi smirked and desperately ignored the bug bites burning on his arms to let his remark land properly.
Bakugou's eyes widened and suddenly he surged at Hitoshi and had him backed against a wall. Hitoshi glanced around the room to find that it was miraculously empty somehow. HOW, there was literally his entire class right next to him and they vanished.
"Listen, nerd, you won't tell anybody where I was last night, got it?" Bakugou's hand was pressing itself deeply into Shinsous shoulder and it was starting to ache. Still, Shinsou grinned at him as if this was the funniest part of his day. It probably was, too.
"What, you got a reputation to uphold or something?" He let some of his quirk spin into his words already knowing how to defuse this situation.
"Fuc-" Bakugou started and then he fell under Hitoshi's control. Figures he'd go out cussing.
"Alright, now let go of me already," Bakugou did as Hitoshi said and was silent as Hitoshi brushed himself off. "Damn, you have a strong ass grip. Okay, so I'm going to need you to hurry up and go to wherever it was you were going before you ran into me. I don't have time for this," Hitoshi started to walk away and then, as an afterthought, "Oh, and once you get there pinch yourself," just as an assurance he can get out of the control lest he somehow stay in range of his quirk.
Then Bakugou and Hitoshi were heading their separate ways: Hitoshi to his additional training and Bakugou who knows where. Hopefully to get some sleep.
Aizawa gave him a deadpan look when he arrived and sarcastically glanced at his wrist as if referring to a watch he didn't have on him.
"Sorry, sir, I ran into a situation. I'm ready to begin when you are," Aizawa didn't waste any more time analyzing Hitoshi, thankfully, and had him start the session with sprinting and the promise of more work with the scarf.
Hitoshi was out of breath and drowning himself with water on his break when Aizawa descended upon him like a bat.
"Why we're you delayed today?" Hitoshi shrugged in what he seemed a casual way.
"Nothing to worry about. Ran into Bakugou on the way here and everybody knows how he is," Aizawa looks torn as if he isn't sure how to feel about that response but denies either of them the pleasure of elaboration by telling him to practice his kicking form.
—
"Shinsou!! Shinsou!"
Maybe id Hitoshi walked fast enough he could avoid this.
"Shinsou Hitoshi I know you can hear me!" Kaminari's voice rung across campus.
End him now.
Hitoshi reluctantly stopped speed walking away and turned to face Kaminari. Since the joint training session, Hitoshi can admit him and Kaminari had formed a friendship after exchanging numbers and cat videos. That friendship, however, might prove to be too much for Hitoshi right now as he is running off of maybe 3 or 4 hours of sleep and caffeine to run himself after Aizawa working him dry yesterday.
"Kaminari," Hitoshi greeted the blonde as he caught his breath trying to catch Hitoshi's long pace.
"Wanted- uh, well we wanted to know if you wanted to eat lunch with us today since I noticed you don't usually eat in the cafeteria," Kaminari grinned and his happiness was almost blinding.
As much as Hitoshi would enjoy eating a meal with a bunch of loud, lucky, and entitled hero course students that he verbally attacked in front of everyone because he was and still is jealous of them-
Oh that's right, he wouldn't really enjoy it.
"Thanks man but I can't today," He rubbed the back of his neck to try and look sheepish abd guilty about it. His guilt became a little real when he saw Kaminari's disappointment but he pushed through.
"Oh, alright. Tomorrow for sure though, don't go making plans for lunch," He quickly perked up and winked before scurrying away from the brain washer that was stunned into silence.
How the hell did that end up in plans anyways? No big deal, Shinsou will just hide out in the gen ed building until lunch ends and act like he forgot about it until the hint was caught.
Rather than going to the cafeteria, Hitoshi found himself on the roof of the gamma building to eat his lunch in peace and solitude.
Yes, this was what he needed. His sandwich was perfect and not much could ruin his mood today. He might even get some sleep tonight. Yeah, some sleep sounds great right about now.
Closing his eyes for a little wouldn't hurt anybody.
—
Groggily, Hitoshi muddled through his 7th period (having slept through his 6th) and slept walkhis way past Aizawa watchful eyes during training. He felt as though he was still dreaming and was fighting the air to move.
Somehow, he was able to find his way back to Heights Alliance dorms and ignored the rest of his class in favor of showering quickly.
This was it. The hardest part of his day was not falling asleep in this very shower. Hitoshi pulled his sweat pants on haphazardlously, already half asleep. The towel on his shoulders was drying his hair when he heard loud footsteps outside his door.
Fully prepared to ignore the obvious pacing outside of his door and pass out, the stalker worked up the guts to finally bang on his door.
"Fuck mee," Hitoshi was too tired today to feel more than annoyance. It was too early for Hitoshi to pretend to be asleep so, being the future hero he was, he opened the door with a glare fixed in place, hoping to intimidate whoever it was the fuck away while he still wanted to sleep.
"Who the fuck are you glaring at, dick bag?" The loud voice egged him on.
...This had to be some kind of joke. Hitoshi wiped his eyes and looked again and... yep, that was Bakugou standing in front of his general ed dorm at 9:30 pm.
"Clearly you. You're in the wrong dorm building, last I checked, 1-A is two buildings left," Hitoshi motioned with his head the vague direction of the other's dorms and set about closing his door again but was stopped by Bakugou's foot wedging between the door and the hinge.
"Don't be a smart ass with me, I needed to talk to you," Bakugou genuinely looked uncomfortable to be standing there right now and Hitoshi was running off of pure fumes. To top it all off, Bakugou was loud enough he might annoy Hitoshi's entire class which would spur questions and conversations-
"Fine, whatever. Tell me what's up." Hitoshi didn't make any motion to move from the door or invite Bakugou inside as an attempt to make this as short as possible. Bakugou sneered at him.
"And don't tell me what to do! Move already," Bakugou ordered and glanced around the empty hallway as if waiting for somebody to pop out. Ugh, Hitoshi was going to regret this. He reluctantly opened his door to let Bakugou in dramatically while muttering an 'after you' under his breath. Bakugou wasted no time in entering the room and Hitoshi went directly to sit on his bed because he deserved it.
Propping his back against the wall while drying his hair some more, Hitoshi refocused on the unwanted guest in his room. Bakugou was avoiding looking at Hitoshi by scanning his room instead. Hitoshi looked around to see what Bakugou was seeing but was just glad he had taken the time to clean his floor up a a little few days ago.
Okay, now Hitoshi's eyes were starting to shut so he had to hurry and finish this up before he lost his rare sleepiness.
"Alright, get on with it," Hitoshi waved his hand in a get it over with motion and Bakugou's attention (and glare) fixated back on Hitoshi.
"Your room looks like shit and I'm tired," He said as if that was a truth of the world. Shinsou couldn't help the sardonic, annoyed grin that grew on his face.
"Wow. You come into my room this late to insult me and complain. I'm almost impressed, you can leave now," Hitoshi leaned back and faced the ceiling with his eyes shut, signaling that he was done with this conversation. He might fall asleep right here, wet hair and Bakugou still in the room and all. Shinsou was feeling at peace for a moment until he heard Bakugou's voice:
"Don't you dare fall asleep in front of me, you ass!" and a pillow hit his face. "I need you to fix this!"
"Fix what? What are you even talking about??" Bakugou almost didn't answer, hesitating slightly. Was it because Hitoshi had asked a question? Figures, just because he didn't care about it that night in the weight room didn't mean it would be a forever thing. It was a given that once somebody was brainwashed once they would be wary about it happening again.
Even so, that hesitation still pissed Hitoshi off and he felt less inclined to help with whatever it was Bakugou thought he could help with.
"Hurry up and tell me before I get bored." Hitoshi added, to see if the lack of question would spur Bakugou on.
"You brainwashed me." Bakugou said
"I did," Hitoshi responded
"Do it again."
Hitoshi's brain stopped working momentarily. It wasn't often that people asked to be brainwashed, for one. Actually, it sided more on the side of never.
"You want me to what?" Hitoshi didn't even try to rephrase the question into a nonquestion, he was too shocked. Clearly Bakugou was going crazy. "Do you need me to call Mr. Aizawa?"
"Don't be a dumbass. I want you to brainwash me. And hurry up about it, I'm tired as fuck!"
"How do those two things even correlate? You gotta give me more details, man, and an explanation," Hitoshi said. Bakugou sighed as if Hitoshi not being able to read his thoughts was the reason for his long suffering life.
"I thought you were smarter than this, gen-ed," Ouch "When you... used your quirk on me yesterday I felt like I was in a trance. Like, like I was sleepwalking or whatever,"
Hitoshi nodded slowly, as if he knew, but really his quirk seemed to work on people differently. How it felt to those while they were under was something Hitoshi needed to test if he had more people who were willing to be brainwashed.
"Now I want to go to sleep and you need to brainwash me so that I stay asleep."
"What, Mr. King Lord Explosion Murderer can't sleep either?" Hitoshi quirked his eyebrow but was interested, despite himself. Bakugou didn't respond but his non-answer said enough. It was Hitoshi's turn to do a long-suffering sigh. "Fine, I'll do it if only to get you out of my way,"
Bakugou tensed as if he almost wasn't expecting this outcome but puffed his chest out like it was a challenge.
"Finally, just don't make me do any weird shit," Bakugou said, not looking very nervous for somebody wanted to be brainwashed for an entire night. Hitoshi rolled his eyes. Not wanting to miss a chance to fuck with Bakugou, Hitoshi asked his question.
"No promises, alright?" Hitoshi smirked.
"I'm serious. mind fu-" And Bakugou's eyes went blank and his posture laxed. Finally, Hitoshi felt at peace in his own room again.
"Okay, let's get this over with. Bakugou, you are going to go to your dorm and sleep through the night and wake up at your usual time," Hitoshi stared at Bakugou for a minute, before he let his commands sink in. His face was relaxed and now angry looking for once. Maybe his control was relaxing to a guy who always had something on his mind. A brilliant thought came to him just in time. "Turn off my lights and lock my door on your way out,"
Hitoshi let his commands sink into Bakugou's mind and watched as the blonde shut his lights and lock his door and then immediately leave his room. He was grateful that he had worked on stacking and more complicated commands with Aizawa last month if not only for the fact that he didn't have to get up to turn his lights off again.
Shinsou lazily tossed the towel somewhere on his floor.
That entire thing really random. Whatever, Hitoshi was used to weird stuff happening around him.
As Hitoshi finally drifted off to sleep, all he could think was that he really hoped that was a one time thing.