hero's shadow // mha

63) esoteric

Things can always get worse. Izuku should've known that.

He cursed himself back inside the mall. He really does deserve this, now that he's thinking about it. He was having such a great time doing funky little things with his teachers, for once actually enjoying himself despite spending money, so it's only right that the universe reminded him of his place.

It's always two steps forward and one step back. But, mathematically, that's still going somewhere, albeit slowly, so Izuku is trying hard to keep his composure.

This is just another fork in the road. This is fine. This is just fine. We can fix this. Izuku repeats these reassurances to himself even as he doesn't quite believe them. His thumb shakes and slides over the pristine glass of his phone as he reads through the messages Dragon Lady left him. The first one was early this morning, actually around ten minutes after Izuku entered the mall and left his phone behind.

Go figure, right?

The first text reads: hawks got to the doctor.

Now, Izuku appreciates bluntness, usually. But this singular message, these five words, almost make him descend into another one of his meltdowns. Hell, the first word alone is enough to have his breath leaving him! Could she have been at least a little more specific? Maybe added in a reassurance there so Izuku wouldn't be on the verge of absolutely losing his shit?

The rest of Dragon Lady's messages tell Izuku the basic details of the attack, what happened, and when. They're interspersed between then and now, with the texts growing more and more concerned and frequent as time passed. Izuku's silence greatly worried her, it seems.

Izuku would be touched if not for the circumstances. He knew she had a heart somewhere deep down. She just always hid it.

His clients texted him, too, though most of them were far more clinical. They were doing nothing but giving their reports of the situation to their Champion.

And as that Champion, Izuku doesn't think he's ever felt like more of a failure than right now.

He has four missed calls from Dragon Lady. The number glares at him through the fast growing fog hanging heavy in the air. Izuku steps back, away from the open trunk of the car.

"I need a minute," he says breathlessly, and he's not really asking so much as he is warning Aizawa. "Just a minute."

He turns and leaves his teacher, who's still organizing and putting the rest of the bags away, now without Izuku's help. "Kid, wait a second. I know—"

"I won't go far."

With that, Izuku stalks to the other end of the line of cars in the parking lot, trying to put as much distance between himself and Aizawa as possible without starting a fight. He doesn't want the man to hear any of this.

When he calls, Dragon Lady picks up immediately. He's barely managed to get her name out of his mouth by the time she's speaking over him. "Did you take Faux for a walk?"

Izuku paces in a circle, eyes darting around. The code words are enough to have his heart rate spiking even more. What she's really doing is trying to test if this is really him. When swapping important information or talking about personal identifiers, they always do this with each other. Due to their high profiles, it's a need.

"Yesterday at noon," Izuku answers, reciting the words they agreed upon. "Right after lunch. He really does need to lose some weight, you know. I've never seen a corgi so big—"

"Shit, kid." There's shuffling over the phone, and Izuku waits for her to leave whatever room she's in. "Where have you been?"

Izuku swipes a hand down his face. He's shaking so hard and sweating so badly that the phone nearly slips from his grasp. "Look, I'm—I'm really sorry, Kaida. I left my phone behind while I was away. It's so stupid, and I'm sorry I missed everything. Is—Is everyone okay? How are you? And Doc?"