Izaya Orihara gets a call on the disposable phone he keeps in the deepest depths of his desk's bottom drawer. It hasn't rang it what feels like years, and it surely must be. The specially assigned ringtone triggers an automatic churning in his gut. The work on his computer is instantly forgotten to get to the cell in time to pick-up.

"Yes," he answers smoothly despite the race his heart thinks it's suddenly involved in.

"He's in the hospital." A woman's voice says evenly, unconcerned. Izaya's inhale of breath is picked up over the speaker.

"Elaborate," he demands after a beat of silence. He quickly saves the documents on screen in a rush to shut down the computer and get out the door.

"Shizuo, hey!" Said blond looks away from his late lunch at the call.

"Kadota! Come! Have sushi!"

"Not right now, Simon, thanks." Kyohei waves him off as he enters, heading straight to his friend and his coworker at the bar.

"What's up?" Shizuo asks as Kadota nods greetings at Tom, who returns the gesture as he continues eating.

"There's been this… interesting story on the Dollars forums today. I think it might involve you, man. If it doesn't, you might wanna be involved."

Shizuo stares at the remainder of his meal with a hard gaze as he thinks. He trusts Kadota, he was clearly searching for him to tell him about whatever is or might be going on, he could at least hear him out even if he's not part of Dollars anymore. "Alright."

"There's a kid in the hospital." He starts, Shizuo glares down at his food. "Ripped an entire metal support pole off of a jungle gym and threw it across the playground."

The blond's eyes widen, head turning to watch his friend speak just to be sure he's hearing him correctly. Tom turns slightly, interested himself.

"There were pictures of the aftermath on the thread, I even had Togusa drive me to the location to see for myself. It's legit, or at least looks it."

"You think there's a kid out there with the same problem as me?" Shizuo's voice is quiet.

"Actually… More than that. There were pictures of the kid up as well. I managed to save a copy before the Mods took it all down to respect his privacy." Kadota goes through his phone for the image. "I mean, just look at this kid."

It's a school photo. Elementary, based on the uniform. Their face still has the roundness of baby-fat, probably around age eight or nine if Shizuo had to guess. The kid's not glaring and doesn't look bored, like Shizuo remembers himself in his, they look happy. Bright smile and shining eyes. His heart clenches for the kid. He wonders if their home is as normal or as well-adjusted as his was, if their family will understand what they're going through or if… Shit, Kadota was right, he does want to get involved. He's no role-model, but if he had had an adult in his life that understood what he was going through at the time, things might've been easier for him. Or if he had just any other human being he wouldn't've been scared to touch so he hadn't felt so alone.

Next to him, Tom chokes on his tea. "Shizuo, that kid's the spitting image of you."

"What?" Shizuo looks harder, somehow missing it on his first scan of the picture. The brown mop of hair, the honey brown eyes. Maybe already seeing himself in the kid from sharing the same experience blinded him a bit.

"I've never seen Shizuo without his hair dyed, or really any younger photos at all, but I thought so too."

Shizuo takes the phone from his friend's hand, almost cradling it as he continues to stare at the image. He's slept with a couple women, it's possible in theory that the kid's his. He's been smart, used protection and all that, but with the long list of things he can break, he wouldn't be too shocked to add condoms to it.

"Did they say which hospital? Or give their name?"

Kadota nods.