A family
Hitoshi knows that his time with Aizawa and Yamada is over the moment they step aside to introduce him to the girl.
"This is Eri," Aizawa says, with a voice softer than anything Hitoshi has ever heard and he rests a careful hand on her head, more protective than forceful and Yamada practically beams, though he's trying his best to hide it.
Why, Hitoshi doesn't know, because he knows how this goes.
He has experience.
"She's going to stay with us," Yamada tacks on, clearly smitten with the girl who hides herself practically away behind Aizawa's legs and Hitoshi doesn't trust his voice, doesn't trust anything anymore, so he simply nods.
"I'm going to show her the apartment and introduce her to the cats," Aizawa says, his eyes barely flicking up to Hitoshi, his gaze captured by the tiny girl now in their care. "Why don't you prepare dinner with Hizashi?"
Hitoshi nods, again, because he knows how this goes. Yamada will explain the circumstances to him, he will lay down the rules that are now in place for him and then he'll leave him with nothing, once again.
Hitoshi knows how this goes.
And the first part plays out exactly like he knew it would; Yamada explains how they came to care for Eri, where she comes from and what happened to her, though Hitoshi is smart enough to realise that he leaves out a lot of details.
So many in fact, that Hitoshi knows without a doubt that she's been abused, just like he has, maybe even worse.
She deserves a nice home with nice people, that much is clear but—once upon a time, Hitoshi did, too, and it's unfair that she gets what he so desperately wishes for.
"Listen, kiddo, I know this is not ideal and it's not going to be for forever but—do you think she could sleep in your room for now? We have a bed for her that we could cram in there, and I promise it's not for very long, but—we couldn't leave her at the hospital for any longer, either. She needs a home and we thought—"
Hitoshi clenches his jaw shut so hard that his teeth hurts but he doubts blurting out that he needs one too is going to go over very well right now.
He knows his place.
"Sure," he forces out when Yamada looks at him with a little furrow between his brows and Hitoshi already knows that he's not going to sleep in that room anymore.
She needs to get used to her new space and it's best if she does that with as little distractions as possible. Plus he won't be allowed to speak to her anyway and if they break out a muzzle to make sure of that she might get frightened and Hitoshi still has nightmares sometimes so—no.
He can't sleep in her room but he knows from experience that the couch is comfy enough and Yamada said it wouldn't be for too long.
They must have already contacted CPS to dissolve whatever kind of fostering contract they have for him and it will only be until that's done.
Hitoshi can spend a few nights on the couch, he slept way rougher for way longer after all.
"Shouta will tell you a bit more about her circumstances later, and what actions to avoid with her, seeing as she's had it—rough for most of her life."
He winces when he says it and it only helps a tiny little bit to know that he's not being replaced for nothing. At least she really does need nice people in her life.
It's a hollow comfort.
"'s fine," he mutters, getting back to cutting up the vegetables just like Yamada wants them and a distant part of him wonders why he's even still trying.
It's already a done deal after all.
~*~*~
Hitoshi manages to avoid detection for two nights. He sets his alarm super early to erase every trace of sleeping on the couch and by the time Yamada comes out of the bedroom he's already pouring over what will be on the next exam even though he won't be there to take it.
He knows that he won't be allowed to stay in the hero course or at UA at all—the fact that he got in and his previous family allowed him to was a fluke and there's no way in hell Hitoshi gets that lucky again.
He'll probably be moved too far out to attend this school again, possibly even by design so that Aizawa and Yamada don't have to look at him any more and that's—Hitoshi will live.
It was a pipe dream to begin with and he always knew that.
He doesn't get so lucky on the third night though, because Aizawa stumbles out of the bedroom half an hour before Hitoshi's alarm goes off and Hitoshi is a light enough sleeper that he wakes up to find Aizawa staring at him in apparent shock.
"Why are you not in your room?" he asks, clearly confused and Hitoshi bites back the instinctual correction.
It's her room now; he doesn't know why Aizawa pretends otherwise.
Hitoshi doesn't have a good answer other than that though so he simply shrugs and Aizawa shakes his head as if he needs to clear it.
"Hitoshi, if you don't want to share with her for the time being you could have said," Aizawa goes on as he shuffles towards the kitchen. "We could have cleared out the office in that case, we just figured it would be too much work to do that now and then pack everything up again when we move. But if you're not comfortable with her in your room, then you can say that."
Aizawa isn't looking at him as he speaks, so Hitoshi has no chance to look for the tiny tells Aizawa has when he's lying but—
He knows he is anyway.
"It's fine," Hitoshi says, fiddling with the blanket in his lap because he hadn't even considered that they would move.
Maybe he isn't being transferred too far away and they want to make sure that he doesn't know where they live anymore because they wouldn't want to see him again after they got rid of him.
"Doesn't seem fine to me," Aizawa says, leaning against the counter, his arms crossed in front of his chest and even though the apartment is still the same comforting home, it's no longer home.
Not even the by now so familiar gurgle of the coffee machine can change that.
"I should start packing soon," Hitoshi says, doesn't quite dare to make it a question anymore because rules change with tiny children in the house.
Aizawa and Yamada might have been lax before when it came to that but with her in the picture now—he's nothing more than a threat.
"You can but it might still take a while," Aizawa says with a sigh and Hitoshi notices the displeased line around his mouth.
CPS is not working fast enough to dissolve this placement or maybe they can't find another home that would take him. Hitoshi probably should tell him that they need to contact a group home because otherwise they'll never be rid of him, but he can't find his voice to do that.
If they don't know that, he gets a few more nights here and Hitoshi is selfish enough to take them.
"Okay," he nods and resolves to start packing as soon as she's out of her room.
He should have done it the first day she arrived, but Hitoshi has been hurting and it's made him stupid.
He didn't know that a reprieve as short as this would make his pain tolerance that low and he already fears what it's going to take to build it up again.
Hitoshi used to be better than this, he used to be indifferent to new placements but then again—no one has been as nice to him as Aizawa and Yamada have so maybe it's just normal that he forgot all about how to not get attached.
But it's undeniable that he is and it's only biting him in the ass now.
He should have known better. He was stupid to trust, to believe, to hope.
But his new family will make sure he remembers, Hitoshi is certain of that. Aizawa and Yamada have been the first outlier in ten years and Hitoshi doesn't have another ten years in the system to find another.
~*~*~
He finds them studying house listings one evening and it's stupid, it's so fucking stupid but it just blurts out of him because he's a dumb kid who never learns.
"Please don't make me go," Hitoshi says, begs them almost, and he knows it's stupid, it's so goddamn stupid because CPS is already informed and there's nothing that can be done about that anymore but—
He doesn't want to go, he likes this apartment, these men who were kind to him and he hoped he could have—well.
A family has never been in his life, he knew that since he was six and it's so incredibly foolish of him to not have learned his lesson but that's just him.
Stupid, till the end of times, and it's no wonder that everyone is so eager to get rid of him.
"Go? Hitoshi, kiddo, you're not going anywhere," Yamada says and for a moment, for a split second, Hitoshi dares to feel reassured and then reality hits him.
They are going to leave him here, like an unwanted piece of furniture you don't want to bring into your nice, new home and really, Hitoshi should have expected nothing less.
CPS is working too slowly after all and the girl needs a stable home, so it's just logical to go and leave Hitoshi behind.
It's—almost nice, in a way, because at least like that he still has some familiar walls but then he realises how stupid he's being yet again because—
"I can't afford this apartment," Hitoshi mutters and he's pretty sure that no one is going to employ a stupid sixteen-year-old with no experience and this apartment can't be cheap.
There's no way he's going to be able to get enough money to pay for it, even for a month.
"Afford this—kid, what are you talking about?" Aizawa asks and Hitoshi keeps his gaze on the floor because it's safer than to look at them.
"You just said it, I'm not going anywhere, and it's nice of you, really, that you don't want to drop me on the streets but—I don't have the money to pay for this."
He doesn't even need to look, he can practically hear the long look Aizawa and Yamada are exchanging and he wonders what they could possibly be trying to communicate.
They all know what's going to happen, and soon, and there's no need to beat around the bush anymore.
Yamada already said that Hitoshi is not going to go with them, after all.
"Kid, sit," Aizawa says and it's not an order at all.
In fact, his voice is just as soft as when he speaks to the girl and instantly Hitoshi's eyes burn.
He would really rather have them yell at him, because this last act of kindness might just break him once he gets to his new family.
Still, he does what Aizawa told him to do because what else is there for him to do but obey and for a moment, there's a terrible silence in the room.
"Why don't you tell us what you think is going on, and then we tell you what we think is going on and then we can all be on the same page again, huh?" Yamada says, and he too is kinder than Hitoshi probably deserves, so the least he can do is answer his question.
"You're taking in a new kid and that means I have to go. You're looking for a new apartment so I won't be able to find you again and you're just waiting for CPS to dissolve this foster agreement. They are working too slow though, so you're going to move without me so you can start your family as soon as possible," Hitoshi dutifully rattles off and he doesn't let himself be deterred by the pained gasp he hears.
"That is not at all what's happening," Aizawa says, his voice as steady and reassuring as it usually is but it's not reassuring to Hitoshi at all right now because what he says makes no sense.
"You brought home a girl," Hitoshi mutters. "A girl with a quirk that isn't—mine. I know how this goes."
It's the third time it happens after all and Hitoshi might be stupid, but he's not stupid enough to not see the pattern.
"Hitoshi, has this happened before? That a family found another kid they thought was better than you?" Aizawa wants to know and Hitoshi shrugs.
"Well, found is—not quite right. My parents just waited until my sister's quirk came in to decide who to keep."
There's a deafening silence in the room after that and Hitoshi rushes to go on.
"But the second time—yeah. That foster family wasn't quite so bad and I thought it could—well, they found a sweet little girl who was nothing like me and gave me back."
"Gave you back?" Yamada repeats as if Hitoshi hadn't been clear but he feels the need to explain anyway.
"To CPS. They dropped me off at their doorstep, but it was a weekend and there wasn't anyone to deal with me. And I'm grateful you're not going to do the same, I really am, but like I said, I can't pay for this apartment," he brings them back to their original point though he knows it's useless when Aizawa lets out a long, measured breath.
"Hitoshi, will you look at me?" Aizawa then asks and Hitoshi blinks a few times to make sure that he's not going to burst into tears the moment he does but eventually, he raises his head.
Aizawa looks almost crestfallen and Hitoshi doesn't even dare to look over to Yamada because he can hear him sniffle and this is not right, this is all not right but he doesn't know what to do to fix it.
"Hitoshi, we're not going to give you back," Aizawa says and his voice is strong and firm and he's keeping eye contact and there is none of the tells he usually has and Hitoshi is confused.
"But you brought a girl with you," he mumbles because her presence in this apartment is undeniable even if he did his best to stay out of her way, so she wouldn't notice a difference once he's gone.
Kids with trauma need a stable environment, he heard that somewhere before or maybe someone said that to him, and he wanted to give her that despite everything.
"And we should have discussed that more with you but we were pressed for time and then we simply fucked up," Aizawa sighs out and Hitoshi blinks because Aizawa never swears. "You're both going to stay with us. We're going to be your parents and we're going to be Eri's parents. We're not going to choose between you two, you're both going to be our kids."
Hitoshi knows that adoption was a consideration for them because they asked him if he would want that but that was before the girl and Hitoshi hadn't dared to think about it again, but this—this sounds as if they still want to do that.
"But that's not—how that goes," Hitoshi weakly argues even though he desperately wants that to be how it goes and Yamada leans forward, into Hitoshi's line of sight.
Just like he feared, there are tears in his eyes and Hitoshi doesn't know how to fix it.
"Kiddo, we love you and we're not going to simply drop you. I'm sorry that happened to you before, I'm sorry you had to go through that two more times than any kid really should, but we're not going to do the same. You're our son and Eri is going to be our daughter and neither of you is going to be more important than the other."
"Right now, Eri needs a bit more of our time because everything is so new to her, but that doesn't change the fact that we love you, too. We love you the same amount and nothing is going to change that."
"But—I'm not like her," Hitoshi tries to argue, though he's not sure why.
"No, you're not," Aizawa agrees. "And she is not like you. And both of these things are okay, kid."
"I don't—understand," Hitoshi admits because this is not how this goes and Aizawa leans around the table to pull him into a loose hug.
"I know, kid, and we're sorry. We really should have talked this over with you more, that's on us, and we apologise. But you're going to stay with us. We're not choosing between you and we're definitely not giving you away or back or simply leaving you here. None of that is going to happen."
"The new apartment—"
"Look," Yamada says and pushes the laptop more towards Hitoshi. "We're looking for four bedroom apartments or houses. One bedroom for us, one for you and one for Eri and one we can use as an office. You both deserve to have your own space after all and we will need to work from home more."
"You planned for me?" Hitoshi's voice comes out shaky and weak and Aizawa tightens his arm around him.
"Of course we planned for you. We're always planning for you because you're our son and you're a part of this family."
It's enough to make the tears spill over because it's everything Hitoshi has ever wanted and was sure he wouldn't get once Eri showed up but Aizawa sounds so certain and there was zero hesitation to his answer and maybe, just maybe for once in his life Hitoshi can be lucky.
Lucky enough to keep this family and maybe even get to know what it's like to have a sister.
(And he does. He understands Eri better than the grown-ups sometimes because even though their experiences were different, a fucked-up childhood is a fucked-up childhood and it helps, that he can relate to her.
He gets to be an older brother to a little sister he comes to adore, with parents who love them both equally and really, that's all Hitoshi ever wanted.)
