Sun & Moon

The Concept of Therapy

Third POV

The day after telling the neko's about their pasts and agreeing with Hizashi that they should be signed up for therapy, Aizawa called Nezu and got in contact with Hound Dog to schedule a day that the nekos could go in to see the pro hero. After Hound Dog was informed about the nekos and what they had gone through, he insisted that they should meet sooner rather than later. Hizashi thought Hound Dog was a safe choice because while he had a lot of experience with discussing traumatic experiences, he also had animalistic features which may incline the nekos to trust him more than some who didn't look like them. Aizawa, ever logical, couldn't argue with that.

When the heroes told the nekos about the upcoming appointment, they had a justifiable reaction. Both became nervous, Izuku hiding behind Shoto and Shoto looking up at the heroes suspiciously. Hizashi reassured the nekos that the appointment wasn't going to hurt and that it was just going to be someone asking them about their experiences and what they are thinking about. The nekos looked conflicted as they didn't know what to think at that moment. So far their heroes hadn't hurt or lied to them but they still had a lot of caution with other people and anything that had to happen outside of the safe confine of the apartment. 

They didn't necessarily distrust their heroes but they were skeptical. Eventually, they agreed to go with the promise that the heroes would be them and that they didn't need to talk if they didn't want to. When the day of the appointment came, the nekos were still quite nervous about what was to come and it didn't help that they had to drive to UA for the appointment. The two were not used to the movement of the car so Hizashi had to sit in the back with them to keep the calm. When they all got to UA Nezu meet them at the gate to lead them to Hound dog's office. When the nekos saw Nezu they had a spark of recognition and purred when Nezu pet their heads. 

"It seems they warmed up to you Nezu" Hizashi commented. "It was only a matter of time. Their instincts recognize me as someone who went through something similar. They also tend to be more comfortable around animals in general and since I am an animal hybrid, it was undoubtedly a matter of a couple more interactions for them to get comfortable with me." The two other heroes looked curious, but understanding, of Nezu's logic. It was reasonable and probably true. The rest of the walk was quiet, with the nekos hiding either behind each other or one of the heroes whenever some other hero or students walked by.

Arriving at a door, Nezu knocked on the door for Hound Dog, with his large stature and dog-like features, to open it and let them in. The nekos looked up at the tall figure in awe. They still followed the heroes to sit on the provided couches, but they never took their amazed and curious gazes off the hound hero. "Good Morning Sun, Moon. I'm Hound Dog but you can refer to me as Ryo. I'm glad I could finally meet you. I understand we have some things to talk about and asses." The nekos eyes got even wider when Ryo spoke. "You're like us?!" Shoto asked amazed. Ryo chuckled and shook his head, "Not quite. My animal characteristics came from my quirk rather than experimentation." The nekos looked slightly disappointed but they figured they could ignore the disappointment because they found another talking animal-person like them!

"Anyway, through our session I'll mostly just be getting a sense of who you are and how you have been doing since your rescue." The nekos nodded, relieved that it was just as their heroes had told them. "So first I want to do individual questioning. So Sun, do you and Hizashi mind stepping out for a few minutes?" And there goes the peace. At the notion that they'd get separated, both nekos went into a panic and while Izuku started whimpering, Shoto grabbed Izuku protectively and started growling at Ryo. 

Ryo hesitated for a second before taking a deep breath and nodding with understanding. "I'm sorry. I should have assumed you two didn't want to be separated. You don't have to leave if you don't want to. I will still as individual questions pertaining to each of you but in terms of separation, I see that it will not be productive." Ryo noted something on his clipboard and while Shoto was still growling he had relaxed slightly at the apology. 

The rest of the session went much smoother. The boys had a bit of a hard time, emotionally speaking when recounting what happened while being captured. Izuku recounted how Shouto had almost always been there and very little of his memory was spent without the other neko. Izuku had a small panic attack when he was asked to explain how he felt about Shoto going to his sessions with the scientists. Izuku talked about his panic and before the heroes could stop him from explaining the traumatic event, he was overcome with flashbacks. He was alone and in pain in those flashbacks, he never knew if Shoto would come back or if he would break his promise of safety and protection like many others before him. 

Shoto was able to bring him back to the present and stop his panic attack but the adults decided it was good to stop Izuku's questioning for that session. Once, Izuku was in a better mindset, maybe they could revisit the trauma. Shoto was another story. While a few of his recollections cause some panic it wasn't to the extent of Izuku. Instead, when Shoto got too deep into his recollection he began to disassociate and get quiet. Aizawa would have to jostle the neko's shoulder a few times to knock him back into focus. 

By the end of the session, both nekos were exhausted, emotionally and physically. When they were carried to the car, they fell asleep right when they were strapped in. Before Hizashi and Aizawa got in the car they waited in front for Ryo to speak his mind. The two heroes were worried for their little charges and just hoped that the extent of the trauma was fixable with a lot of TLC. 

"Well, I won't say I've seen worse but I also won't say it's impossible to help them. Right from the start, it's obvious that the two of them have extreme separation anxiety. It's possible in the future that they'll be able to stray away from each other if they find other people that they can trust fully and feel comfortable enough with. I'm you can recount times when they were without each other but with one of you. I know they seem like they don't trust you, but that action just demonstrates that they trust you two a lot more than they are letting on. They both obviously have PTSD as any other kidnapping victim, as well as anxiety; but, Izuku's anxiety seems more extreme than Shoto's. Independently, Shoto has mild depression either from guilt or trauma, it should be watched and handled carefully so it doesn't get worse as he gets older. Izuku is showing signs of having some sort of learning disability, from what you told me about how he speaks and has tackled learning sign and talking from you" Ryo said pointedly to Hizashi.

"I can't say for sure what kind of learning disability but watch out for any struggles as you teach him more and eventually enroll the two of them in school." The voice and eraser heroes were grateful for the information but they were still worried for the boys. It could be parental instincts or feelings that they were developing, the longer they took care of the nekos, but either way, they were going to be protective and handle the boys' recovery professionally and carefully. They got into the car and while driving home decided that the nekos, and themselves, deserved a relaxing day after this stressful and emotional week. Just a day or two for the four of them to sit back and not worry about the past or the future.

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