Running on Empty

With blurred eyes and aching limbs

Hitoshi was shaking. His entire body was trembling but he couldn't bring himself to move. Every inch of his body was aching as the bruises from earlier decided to make themselves known.

He was in pain, and he was afraid, and to top it all off - now he couldn't breathe.

Well he could, sort of, but he was having difficulty convincing himself of that as he struggled desperately to pull air through his nose.

His nose that was bleeding profusely.

Yeah, it wasn't going well.

More than anything he just wanted to open his mouth and take a huge gulp of air, but his lips had been sealed the second he'd walked through the door.

The headteacher had grabbed his head and harshly stuck a long strip of duct tape over his mouth before proceeding to shove him into a chair so that he could tower over the teen as he yelled.

The tape was long enough that he could feel it sticking to his hair, and he tried to focus on his irritation at how hard that would be to get out later instead of the sensation of drowning in liquid copper he got every time he tried to take a breath.

It didn't work.

His body was at war with his mind, every instinct it possessed screamed at him to rip the tape off, take a huge gulp of air and just breathe, and he was beginning to think that was half the cause of his shaking. Because the other half of him, his mind, was desperately trying to keep him as still as possible. Don't move, don't aggravate him further. Do not under any circumstances remove the tape.

Hitoshi was well aware that the guy had a muzzle in one of his drawers just in case. He'd never needed it because half the time his foster parents would either refuse or forget to take their's off in the morning, and Hitoshi had never actually tried to remove the tape, he liked to threaten him with it though, and that was enough.

Hitoshi felt rather than heard the door slam open. He was having trouble focussing because of the pain and lack of oxygen, but he registered the sudden gust of wind against his skin.

A second later there was a hand in his hair and worried green eyes locked onto his own.

"He... ...iddo, ...n you... ear... me?"

Hitoshi nodded, and then regretted it as pain shot through his neck. His vision blurred with tears. Something about those eyes was striking a chord within him, allowing him to express his emotions in a way he would normally avoid.

"Come on, let's get this off of you."

The voice was clearer now, the stab of pain had brought him some clarity and he felt a little more connected to his surroundings. He knew who it was now — Hizashi. He wasn't surprised when a couple of tears fell then, the man always had a way of making him feel safe.

'Zashi reached up and gently took the end of the tape between his fingers prompting Hitoshi to look over at the headteacher. Shouta had him wrapped up in his capture tape but he wasn't paying the guy any notice as he struggled, all his attention was fixed on Hitoshi.

He looked furious, and Hitoshi had the sudden thought that maybe he was mad at him for not telling them, or maybe he thought he did get in a fight, or maybe it's because you're weak.

He cut that thought off hurriedly. Shouta had said he wasn't weak, he'd even gone so far as to say he was strong.

He tore his eyes away from Eraserhead's intense stare when Hizashi spoke up again.

"Don't worry about him right now kiddo, we're gonna deal with that in a sec alright? But first, we gotta make sure you're okay."

Hitoshi nodded again, smaller this time but it still hurt, and braced himself as the hero gripped the tape.

He pulled it off quickly, but it didn't hurt anywhere near as much as it normally did, and 'Zashi's soft hands on his cheeks easily soothed any pain he'd had.

"Where are you hurt 'Toshi?"

"Everywhere," he mumbled. "Hurts."

"I know it does sweetheart, but it's gonna be okay, just stay with us, can you do that?"

"Yeah," he didn't know if he could or not, but he looked so concerned that Hitoshi was determined to try.

Hizashi took his shaking hands into one of his own and wrapped the other around the back of his head, gently pulling the trembling Hitoshi to his chest.

He stroked his hair and whispered about how he was safe now, and how they'd never let them hurt him again, and how sorry they were.

Hitoshi couldn't think of a single reason the heroes could possibly have to be sorry for but he also didn't have the energy to ask. All he wanted was to go home and cuddle with his new parents and their cats, with a trillion blankets and some random movie in the background.

But to do that, they had to deal with this.

This being the man glaring daggers at Shouta as he wriggled like a fish on land, trying to escape the capture weapon.

And of course, unbeknownst to Hitoshi, the entire rest of the school as well.