Control

Chapter 8

"Thank you for dropping him off, Bakugou-san," Hitoshi's adoptive mother says with her fakest smile. It's a shame that Mitsuki doesn't notice how fake the smile is, if she had, maybe she wouldn't leave the boy with that woman. As soon as she sees the car leave, the woman turns on her son. "What is this that I've heard that you've been seen at UA this past month?"

Hitoshi sees Tenko smirking from the doorway. Did he find out that Hitoshi has been training his quirk? "Izuku and Katsuki are training to be heroes. Sometimes, they ask me to be the damsel in distress that they need to save." He hopes that sounds like a plausible enough excuse. "I don't use my quirk, they don't even know I have one, and I often carry Izuku's stuff for him because he has extra supplies to work around his quirklessness." The explanation sounds plausible enough to Hitoshi since his own gear is the same as Izuku's.

His mother glares at him as if she's trying to gauge whether or not to believe him. "I think you still need punishment for not telling us. We'll start with the muzzle."

Hitoshi starts to shake as his mother walks to the cabinet that they keep the muzzle in. Why did Tenko have to somehow see him entering UA with his friends? He knows it was Tenko, Sora doesn't outright do everything in his power to make Hitoshi's life miserable, he just follows Tenko's example whenever the older boy is harassing Hitoshi.

When the woman Hitoshi is meant to call mom returns with the muzzle, Hitoshi has his back against the wall in attempt to stay upright. If he lets himself fall to the ground, it'll be even worse. The woman roughly straps the torture device to Hitoshi's head before holding him to the wall by his neck, cutting off the very necessary oxygen supply to the boy. "You are to tell us any time you are involved in those hero simulations with those boys. I don't care if your only role is to just watch and carry their things, you are to never get any ideas of using that villainous quirk of yours."

Hitoshi nods, the muzzle preventing him from being able to speak.

The older woman releases him, causing Hitoshi to drop to the floor. She starts kicking him in the sides. "You know that if you fall, it only gets worse."

Hitoshi can only whimper through the muzzle. How much more of this is he going to have to endure as she goes on to kicking his stomach? The whole time, he hears Tenko laughing. Of course that boy is laughing, he enjoys watching Hitoshi's torture.

"Get up, you worthless brat," his adoptive mother says. "Once you're standing, take off your shirt."

Hitoshi doesn't hesitate. This isn't the first time this has happened, and he does his best to make sure that his friends never see him shirtless because of the torture. His entire torso is littered with scars from the abuse.

The woman sticks out her pointer finger and it turns into a knife. "I think I'll take care of your front and leave the back for your father." The knife that her finger became grows steadily until it's bigger than a kitchen knife. She uses that finger to start carving out words like villain and useless across Hitoshi's chest and stomach.

When she's finally done, Hitoshi is instructed to clean himself up, and then wait in his room, shirtless, until his father gets home. She didn't say it, but Hitoshi already knows that he won't be eating tonight.

It's another two hours before the elder Shinsou male arrives home. No words are exchanged between the two until water is dumped on Hitoshi's back.

"How many lashes do you think you deserve?" the man asks knowing that Hitoshi can't answer.

Hitoshi feels the water gradually pool together to meet at the point where his adoptive father's hand touches his back. The liquid begins to harden into the form of a whip, his father's usual favorite, and it's all Hitoshi can do to surpress his fearful shivering.

"I think one for every day of that sleepover. I'm sure you went to those little training sessions every single day."

Once the whip has been fully formed from the water, Hitoshi's adoptive father tells him to kneel on the floor at the foot of the bed because it's easier to clean blood off of the laminate flooring than to clean it off the bed coverings.

Each whiplash is followed by the older male counting off the number, and kicking one spot or another on Hitoshi's body. Once he reaches twenty lashes, the man pauses to call in Sora. The younger boy gives Hitoshi the slightest of sympathetic glance before reaching his father. He us instructed to add the element of burns to Hitoshi's punishment by breathing fire on Hitoshi's back after every lash. By the time all thirty lashes have been completed, Hitoshi is barely conscious.

"Clean yourself up, boy, and head downstairs for dinner. You won't be eating, but we expect you to sit with us as a family until everyone is finished eating."

Hitoshi struggles to stand, and, somehow, manages to succeed. He does his best to treat his own wounds and wrap himself up with bandages before slowly inching his way down the stairs. It's been a while since the abuse got this bad, the last time being when he accidentally used his quirk while he was having a nightmare over a year ago. He hopes that he can hide this from his friends, they almost figured it out the last time. Maybe if he stays home and pretends to be sick. Denki isn't at his school anymore to tell them if he was there or not, so he can just get through the school day and go straight home, tell Izuku that he came down with the flu or something and that he can't come see them for a week or so. Just long enough that the wounds won't reopen during their training.

Sitting through dinner is rough because Hitoshi had become accustomed to eating three full meals a day during the past month. Compared to how things are at home, he feels like the past month was like living a life of luxury, but now he's back to the reality that is his life. He has to remember that he deserves it because he's worthless. He's just a stupid little boy with a villain's quirk.