Chapter Text
Hitoshi woke, it was hard to say he ever fell asleep though, and didn’t bother trying to move around, being strapped to a chair didn’t help.
He didn’t know how long he’d been here; it was underground, and the only sense of time was clocks on the wall and the rotation of guards.
He remembers life from before he was snatched from his home and locked away here to rot in Tartarus. The sun was warm and blinding, the wind drifting across the world. He wanted to feel the sun on his face and wind in his hair again so badly.
He didn’t know what he did to end up here at first, but he’s heard snippets by now, ‘his quirk could be very dangerous in the future!’, ‘if All for one got his hands on his quirk…’, ‘it’s safer for him here anyway, no chance of you know who capturing him’.
Hitoshi began to wonder if there would be a difference between living life quirkless but free or quirked and locked away. Both sounded bleak.
All for one was obviously a dangerous villain who could probably use other people’s quirks, if he had to guess from what he’s heard, so he could understand how dangerous a villain of that calibre would be, but bringing innocent children into this? He was being treated like a monster for nothing but his quirk and a random villain.
He spend the first of many, many weeks (months?) locked away in his own room, free of human contact, not that he could speak through the muzzle anyway, they knew his quirk and wouldn’t risk his tongue being free.
It was hard to adjust to at first, it was cruel and outdated. Tartarus didn’t need to worry about human rights in a place where all the prisoners were top tier villains.
It was almost as if after paying his time, being obedient and subdued, his effort finally reaped something. He wasn’t sure if it was good or not yet.
As he was dragged along, free of the strait jacket at last, he heard the guards talk as if he weren’t even there.
“you’re sure this is a good idea? I know the general agreed but still…” the one on his right asked.
“That kid is in there alone, with a mind akin to All for one, he’ll be plotting our deaths if he doesn’t get something else to focus on, hell, he’s probably already imagining how he’ll disfigure each of us!” the other replied like they’ve been over this before, and that left Hitoshi to fill in the pieces.
There was a good chance he’d die by the end of the week in his opinion.
He wasn’t brought through layers upon layers of security, where he had to get blood taken and test after test, the guards had to as well, as verification of identity. This ‘son of All for one’ must be super dangerous to warrant all this protection.
“Why do we have to use this kid? there are plenty of better choices, taking his muzzle off every five seconds is getting annoying…” one guard muttered, the one on his right again.
“Because no one will miss him, his background check is clearer than almost every other kid, and his quirk will be interesting for All for one’s child. Plus, if the kid accidentally kills him, we’ll be down a threat,” everyone knew the threat was Hitoshi’s quirk getting into Afo’s hands.
The arguments were justified, and Hitoshi didn’t even know if it was a good idea, call it bias but he believed he shouldn’t get put with this guy.
After around ten different layers of security (not including all the padlock and DNA testing doors to enter each), he finally came to a room with one-way glass, on the other side a small person sat in a strait jacket with all manners of chains, contraptions and quirk supressing items locked around him. the room seemed massive even with the chains and such scattered everywhere, there was still a good 30 metres distance from him to us.
It was startling to see someone so small so heavily guarded, the room had cameras looking from every direction and in this room, there was all kinds of buttons waiting to be pressed.
He assumed his presence wasn’t planned as there was no other rooms or equipment around, and he was just muzzled and handcuffed before thrown in there like trash. He guessed to them he was.
He pulled himself upright, the guards were probably watching to see what would happen, like they were circus animals or some documentary on wild animals. It was dehumanising and Hitoshi felt his skin crawl just thinking about it.
He looked at the boy, he hadn’t moved at all since his arrival, and it didn’t seem as if he would. Hitoshi didn’t want to start conversation, especially since he knew nothing of his temperament, as according to what he’s heard, it’s probably not good.
He couldn’t see much through the restraints, but he saw the curly green hair that had grown to his shoulders, it covered his face almost completely, and he couldn’t see his facial expression.
After a while he assumed the guards got bored of watching and left, he heard the faint click of a door open and shut again, but there was still no movement from the boy.
Then after he heard another click, he realised someone had stayed, or maybe it was a trick to see if something would happen. But now they were truly gone, he wasn’t sure though.
Then the boy looked up. His sharp eyes shocked Hitoshi to his core, they were a startling forest green, brighter than his hair yet they looked so dull. He saw years of pent-up emotion in those eyes, locked away and left to fester.
Neither spoke for a moment, they just studied each other’s eyes, searching for something.
He must have found his and his eyes softened and dropped to the muzzle on his face. He understood.
Hitoshi blinked and he looked like he was going to say something but hesitated. Hitoshi waited; he had all the time in the world.
“Hello,” he said, his voice was hoarse, and it cracked as he spoke, he hadn’t spoken in a long time, that much was clear.
Hitoshi waved his tied-up hands, and felt kind of nervous, or embarrassed. Either way he felt he was awkward, he hadn’t spoken to anyone his age in a long time, though he was sure his cellmate hadn’t for even longer.
There was more hesitation before he spoke his next sentence, he must be thinking about what he says so he doesn’t reveal anything to the guards who watch through the cameras.
“My name is Izuku, it’s nice to meet you, stranger,” Izuku says, and he tilts his head comfortingly.
Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad, he decided and nodded his head in greeting.