Running on Empty

Secrets and space heroes

Hitoshi felt surprising okay walking out of Hound Dog's office. He had thought that bringing up such memories would leave him caught in his head for the next few days, but instead he felt almost lighter. Having someone just listen and give guidance without being mad at him or getting emotional was so unfamiliar, but it was nice. It's not that he wasn't comfortable talking to either of his guardians, it's just that he had a tendency to hold back on details, partially because he wasn't ready to tell them, but also because he knew some things would upset them, even if he didn't really understand why.

Getting to talk to Hound Dog was... refreshing, but that didn't mean he didn't fall into Hizashi's awaiting embrace the second he was out of there and cling on for dear life. Breathing in the faint scent of honey to reassure himself that 'Zashi was actually there.

"You okay kiddo?"

He stepped back and smiled at the hero. "Yeah, I am. Did you wait out here the whole time?"

"I wanted to be around just in case you needed something."

And oh, if that didn't fill Hitoshi with warmth. The fact that his guardian was sitting outside, waiting for him, worrying about him, whilst he was in there talking about his parents walking away.

They chatted on the way back to the lounge, 'Zashi didn't ask about therapy, about what he talked about, and Hitoshi was immensely grateful for that. He may be feeling slightly more at ease about verbalising his past, but he wasn't ready to do it again quite so soon.

They settled on one of the sofas and Hizashi looked around making sure no one was nearby before leaning towards Hitoshi conspiratorially.

"Hey 'Toshi, can you keep a secret?"

He narrowed his eyes at him in suspicious amusement. "That depends on the secret."

'Zashi giggled before pointing at the table across the room. There was a cloth over it, but it didn't quite reach the floor and peering under it Hitoshi could see a pair of orange eyes blinking at him.

He looked up at Hizashi, "Is that who I think it is?"

"Go and find out."

Hitoshi walked over the table, glancing around like the hero did a second ago, the only other person in the room was a teacher he hadn't met yet who was sat in the corner reading. They were wearing some sort of astronaut suit and Hitoshi wanted to ask, but he decided not to draw their attention just yet, he needed to focus on the task at hand.

He crouched down in front of the table and slowly lifted the cloth.

Sure enough, there was Jellybeans, looking up at him innocently with a cat toy in her mouth.

He huffed a laugh and grabbed the stick the toy was attached to, leading her back to the sofa and sitting on the floor in front of Hizashi.

He continued to play with the kitten as he made eye contact with the hero over his shoulder, "You brought Jellybeans to school?"

"Yep."

"Has she been in here all day?"

"Nah, Sho took her to his classroom for a bit cuz he's got his students trained well enough to keep their mouths shut."

Hitoshi snorted at that, smiling as the kitten crawled into his lap and rubbed her little head against him. He felt 'Zashi's hands start to run through his hair and hummed contentedly. Far too soon their moment of peace was broken by a somewhat robotic voice speaking up.

"Is that a cat?"

Both of them jumped and turned to look beside them, where the hero who Hitoshi had spotted before was standing.

"Uh, yeah." Hizashi spoke eloquently.

There was an awkward pause.

"Would you like to pet her?" Hitoshi offered, glancing at his guardian nervously.

The mystery teacher walked closer and squatted down, their costume making it a look quite uncomfortable. They reached a gloved hand out and Jellybeans sniffed at it curiously before pawing at it.

The hero chuckled and then stood back up. "Thank you...?"

"Hitoshi."

"Hitoshi. Animals are usually more intimidated by me in my hero costume, you have a very friendly kitten."

He nodded and stroked her fondly.

"Well, I'd best be off, I've got a lesson. I'm Thirteen by the way, it was nice to meet you Hitoshi-kun, I'll see you around Yamada-san."

"You too."

"See ya!"

The door closed behind the seemingly space-themed hero and Hitoshi turned to 'Zashi curiously.

"They're a heroics teacher, focussed on rescue. Oooh I think you'd really like them! Even though their quirk is 'Black Hole' which could be really dangerous, they just use it to save people!"

Hitoshi smiled at that and nodded in acknowledgement before giving his attention back to Jellybeans who was now crawling up his arm.

"Here," Hizashi said, placing his freshly braided hair over his shoulder. "It's a little messy cuz Thirteen made me jump."

Hitoshi leant his head against the hero's knees and grinned up at him, "It's stylishly messy."

They both laughed as Jellybeans started attacking the plait.

"Very stylish indeed." 'Zashi agreed.