Control

Chapter 5

"What the hell happened to him, Hitoshi?" Akira yells at him.

"I saw Katsuki giving herself an injection," Hitoshi isn't sure if he should even be explaining this to Akira, but on the off chance that she knows already, he needs to. Akira understands what Katsuki is going through better than he does. "And, I saw her chest, so I asked if she was a girl. Katsuki got overly defensive, so I kept trying to explain that it's okay to be herself. Then she ended up like this."

Akira wants to knock Hitoshi out. He completely misunderstood Katsuki's situation, and now the boy likely thinks that Hitoshi is just like Masaru. "It wasn't estrogen, you fucking idiot! He deals with being misgendered enough by his own damn father, Hitoshi! I know you meant well, but you went about it entirely the wrong way."

Realization dawns on the boy. It wasn't estrogen, it was testosterone. How could he be so fucking stupid? Of course Katsuki got defensive. Hitoshi isn't sure if he should leave the room or stay. He doesn't have to think long because Akira points to a spot on the floor in the corner of the room while she tries to calm down the upset boy.

"How could I have been so stupid?" Hitoshi says quietly to himself. "I made him completely uncomfortable."

Across the room, Hitoshi sees that Akira has successfully calmed Katsuki down and is now explaining the misunderstanding that happened. He gets nervous once the conversation is over, and Katsuki starts walking towards him.

Katsuki groans and looks back towards Akira who gives him a glare before he turns back to Hitoshi.

"Hitoshi," he sounds so awkward saying the boy's actual name. "Akira said you weren't trying to upset me..." Katsuki trails off not sure what exactly Akira expects him to say.

"I'm sorry," Hitoshi mumbles. "I didn't mean to misgender you. I was stupid to assume."

Katsuki sighs, rubbing his hand down his face. "Look, Eyebags, I appreciate that you were trying, but next time you fucking see someone giving theirself a hormone shot, maybe, ask their pronouns instead of assuming. You know nonbinary people sometimes use hormones too."

Hitoshi wants to ask more about what nonbinary means, but at that exact moment, Shouta opens the door. The man walks in, grabs Katsuki by the arm, and practically drags the boy out if the room with some sort of explanation that has to do with having heard the conversation and something about measuring, leaving Akira and Hitoshi alone.

Akira finally approaches her pseudo-brother. "He'll get over it," she tries to make Hitoshi feel better. "Katsuki's just used to having someone who's supposed to love him calling him a girl, so it shocked him more than anything that you figured it out."

Hitoshi nods, not really sure what to say to that. He knows that he fucked up calling Katsuki a girl, and that the boy will likely avoid him as much as possible for a while. He's not sure which is better, Katsuki ignoring him, or Katsuki nagging at him to actually socialize with everyone.

After her words of encouragement, Akira disposes of Katsuki's injection needle, and leaves Hitoshi to think in peace. What does that word Katsuki said mean? The question won't stop bugging him, so Hitoshi looks it up.

Katsuki doesn't return to the room that night, and Hitoshi doesn't leave, so he doesn't know where the other boy slept. All Hitoshi knows is that it was weird not having Katsuki between him and Izuku, not that Hitoshi slept that night. He spent the entire night thinking over his research, trying to figure out which term, under the nonbinary umbrella, fits him best. No matter how much he mulls over it, though, he still isn't sure by morning, and he won't be able to continue his musings until after training. Shouta may have agreed to leave early yesterday, but he's not gonna let the kids slack off if they plan to be pro heroes one day.

Since Hizashi has the day off from patrol, he joins his husband in working with the future heroes, the pair of pros playing villain while all four kids got to work together in pairs against them. Hitoshi thinks Shouta must have some sick sense of humor, since he pairs Hitoshi with the explosive blonde. To make matters worse, the pair is to go up against Shouta. Hizashi is easier to beat than Shouta, so long as they can get into Hizashi's blind spots since his hearing impairment makes it harder for him to hear someone approach him.

The match against Shouta doesn't last long as he, once again, gets sick in the middle of the exercise. Hizashi forces everyone to stop while he tends to his husband before having all four kids come after him at the same time. The four almost lose the match, almost, but Izuku comes up with a genius plan to capture him. While Akira acts as bait, the other three sneak around to Hizashi's blind spot, where he can't direct any sound waves. It's easier said than done, having to crawl on the ground in hopes of avoiding any attacks, but they eventually make it, and Hitoshi and Izuku both wrap Hizashi in capture weapons similar to Shouta's. Shouta's been teaching both of them how to use the capture weapon since Izuku doesn't have a quirk and Hitoshi's quirk isn't exactly one suited for battle against multiple opponents.

When everyone gets back to the house, Hizashi forces his husband to lay down while he makes some miso for everyone. The kids all worry about Shouta because, while he does get sick, Izuku and Akira have witnessed it before, it's a very rare occurrence.

By the end of the night, everyone is exhausted, but that doesn’t stop Hitoshi's mind from wandering back to his earlier thoughts about himself. Part of him wants to try asking Katsuki for advice on figuring everything out, but at the same time, he fears that the older boy is still upset about last night, so he just spends another sleepless night wondering who he is.

I'm sorry for how long it's been since I last updated. I was preparing for Youmacon, and then at Youmacon, but now I'm back and ready to crank out as many chapters as I can. I hope you enjoyed this new chapter.