hero's shadow // mha

4) rivals

(warnings: bullying; suicide baiting)

Aizawa Shouta is done with life right about now.

His day started out pretty well. He woke up at a fairly good time, had his favorite coffee, ate breakfast with his obnoxiously loud husband, and then proceeded off to work.

He may have expelled his entire homeroom class a few months earlier, but he still has other lessons to teach the rest of the students at UA. Besides, Nezu doesn't allow his teachers to just slack off, even when they technically don't have a class.

But back to the point—everything started out okay. He felt relaxed. Content. So content that it made him suspicious, because something has to go wrong.

Good days like this one don't come by very often, especially on a weekday when he has to work. It just doesn't happen.

It's around lunchtime when he gets the call, and Shouta can tell just by looking at the caller ID that his instincts were correct, as always.

The underground hero sighs and puts down his chopsticks, wondering balefully if he'll ever get the chance to finish his teriyaki. "What is it, Tsukauchi?"

The detective laughs a little over the line. "Don't sound too upset, I think you'll enjoy your visit this time."

Oh god, here we go.

Shouta picks at his food, aware of Hizashi and Nemuri staring at him as he speaks. "You want me to come to the station again?"

"If you can. I only need a few minutes, at the very least."

"I'll see if Nezu will let me leave early after my last lesson. What do you need?"

"I'm sure you saw the news last night."

The hero snorts. "Of course I did. It's all everyone's talking about right now."

Fucking Rabbit. The vigilante has done it yet again, embarrassing all of the pro heroes in the city yesterday by taking down a drug ring that local authorities hadn't even been able to locate, much less initiate a full takedown on. Shouta didn't actually watch the coverage of it live, as he was getting ready for his patrol, but Hizashi had recorded it for him.

Not that he needed to, though. Every news station within a fifty-mile radius of the attack has been replaying the scene of Rabbit jumping out of the helicopter like some sort of maniac every five minutes. It's like they truly have nothing else to report on.

It's getting to be kind of annoying.

"Well, I feel like it's time to start the process, Aizawa."

Shouta doesn't have to ask what that means. They've been planning it for a while. Shouta has been keeping an eye on Rabbit for a few weeks now—nothing too special. Just some tracking to figure out where the vigilante tends to patrol, and also of the area and perimeter he covers.

So far, he hasn't been able to gather much. The kid is slippery. He seems to know that he's being followed, and after only a few minutes of Shouta trailing him, Rabbit just disappears into thin air. As if he'd never been there in the first place.

Shouta hates to admit that he's a little impressed.

"Aizawa?" The detective's inquiring voice brings him out of his thoughts. "Can you be at the station in, say, a few hours?"

Right. This is his case after all.

Shouta makes an affirmative noise. "I'll see to it. Give me a little bit."