Because I'm weak for Dad Mic and angsty backstories, I can't stop thinking about Shouta thinking Shinsou's more like Hizashi than himself.

Mostly because Shouta never dealt with being told to shut up. He didn't speak much to begin with, and people often hadn't cared much

about what he had to say when he did - he was 'that weird kid who just sleeps and doesn't like anyone.' But he'd never had to deal with people being put on edge by the simple act of him opening his mouth.

Shouta had heard a few comments about his quirk being difficult to deal

with, if he were a villain, but he'd never been told his quirk was better suited for villainy than heroism. Erasure had never gotten him bullied or shunned. His teachers had never made gestures of objectivity while doing nothing to help him.

He'd never been muzzled. Repeatedly.

People look at him and Shinsou and see weariness, wild hair, and withering expressions.

Shouta looks at Shinsou and Hizashi and sees sheer determination to make something good out of a life that's tried so hard to beat their dreams away.

Hizashi doesn't really see it the same way, but he doesn't really need to. He sees another kid with a voice-related quirk who has scars from a too-small muzzle and that's all he needs; he stops teasing Shouta about having a secret son.

Hizashi's been muzzled five times in his

life. He was too young to remember the first, and his memories of the last are hazy, skewed by drugs and repression.

But the trauma built and settled, and the seething rage he'd had to suppress at the sports festival paled in comparison to how shaken he was when Shinsou

first tentatively showed him the plans for his mask.

"This is really what you want?"

But Hitoshi sees things differently, too.

"Kinda got the idea from you, actually."

Because he doesn't know everything, the whole story, but he knows enough. He knows Mic was like him,

always being told or made to shut up, and now he makes a living talking. Everyone he knows is familiar with Mic's show. It's a huge 'fuck you' to everyone who rolled their eyes when he talked about his big dreams, always ready to remind him of the last time he lost control

of his quirk.

From 'don't speak, you'll only hurt someone' to 'thanks for the autograph.'

But Hitoshi can't do that, not with the road he plans to take. And he doesn't want to be famous anyway.

He can't reclaim his voice on the radio for everyone to hear, but he can take his

power back by covering his own mouth so nobody else could.

Not a device to silence him, but one that lets him have a million voices.

They wanted him to shut up, so he's going to talk his way to his dream.