Swan Dive

Chapter 10: Pain

Izuku bit his tongue. He almost snapped at him not to call him by his given name, but he felt Shouta tighten his grip in warning. He knew that would be a bad call.

"What about it?" Izuku answered carefully, after he realized the man was waiting for an answer.

"What is it? Because according to your medical files, you don't have one. But no son of mine could possibly be born Quirkless." He grinned, leaning forward. "That means you're hiding it." Izuku felt Shouta tense, as if to strike, but he quickly pinched his arm, dissuading him of the action. He had a feeling it would be another bad move.

Izuku opened his mouth to say something, to lie and say he had an analysis Quirk or something, but found the usual endless stream of verbal vomit that he spouted every day to be nonexistent. He closed his mouth; unable to think of anything to say that would be deemed safe enough in this situation.

"Well... I suppose I'll just have to... force it out of you, then."

"You will leave him be." Shouta's voice was hard and cold, and Izuku felt a shiver run down his spine hearing him speak that way.

"Don't worry, dad of the year." Hisashi snarled. "I won't leave you out of the fun. Why not join us?" His lips twisted into a sickening mockery of a smirk.

Hisashi—how Izuku loathed that this monster's name was so close to the only other man he'd ever think of as a father—pulled at the base Shouta's chains, causing the hero to grunt in pain as he hit the ground.

Hisashi dragged him out of Izuku's reach. The moment Shouta's warm hand was torn from his own cold clammy one, he nearly found himself blind with panic. He couldn't lose Shouta, too. He would rather die.

"DAD!" He called out, reaching a hand out desperately as Hisashi pulled Shouta up the stairs by his hair, just like he had his mother yesterday... the day she died.

For several minutes—hours?—his harsh, ragged, panicked breathing was the only sound in the suddenly too-big room. He was alone. Shouta was gone. He was gone and Izuku was alone and nobody was there and—

The door opened again, and Izuku nearly recoiled as the man returned alone. "Your turn."

Izuku didn't fight the man's tight painful grasp on his hair as much as he probably should have, but if he took him to Shouta, then that would be okay. As long as he was with Shouta, everything would be okay.

He roughly dragged him up the stairs, and Izuku was blinded by the sudden flood of light. Hisashi didn't stop though, and they turned left, walked for a ways and then stopped at another door.

Izuku felt his vision adjusting as they came into what looked like a straight-up torture chamber. Maces, swords, whips and chains adorned the walls of the room, with a small twin-sized bed shoved into the corner. One metal chair was bolted to the floor, cuffs bolted into the armrests.

On the other side of the room was a set of traditional chains and cuffs (the kind that you hung someone from, so they were forced to stand), and Izuku let out a breath of relief when he saw a very alive Shouta chained up, gagged with a dirty cloth.

He made eye contact, and Shouta couldn't hide his fear. He was terrified, for Izuku.

"I'm going to give you a choice, boy." Hisashi snarled, bringing Izuku's petrified face mere inches from his own. "And you'd better damn well appreciate it. At your word, I will put that so-called dad of yours in my torture chair instead of you." He grinned and Izuku felt his insides turn to ice. This didn't feel real.