A young man hidden deep within an alley way dials a rarely used number on a rarely used phone. It rings twice before being answered.
"Yes?"
"How is he?"
"Well," the young woman on the other end begins. "Delic's brace was removed around an hour ago. He's quite happy about that."
Izaya allows himself a small smile. One injury gone and an estimated two weeks still to go. The most worrying injury is gone, but the ones that create mental stress for the little boy still remain. "And with the rest?"
Mari hesitates before the next topic, sighing quietly away from the phone to keep it from being picked up over the speaker. "He hasn't had much time to lament over them. His daily visitor has kept him quite preoccupied."
Daily? Delic's gotten himself such a loyal friend? Or- "Why am I only hearing about this now?" Izaya's eyes narrow in annoyance at the brick in front of him. Prospective danger has been lurking near his child and he's only been notified about it days later?
"It's not someone you needed to check the background of." Mari states matter-of-factually.
Izaya's lip twitches, fingers gripping the cell tighter. He opens his mouth to speak with a sneer when her voice cuts through.
"It's Shizuo Heiwajima."
The brunet's breathing stills and his heart stutters with shock. His phone slips in his grip, almost dropping to the cement from the cold sweat of disbelief. His chest is squeezed and, despite this, his brain quickly supplies the how and why. The Dollars; he hadn't been quick enough to pull everything down and someone had passed the information on to Shizuo. Then Shizuo, of course he'd… A fear that had itched the back of Izaya's mind all of these years finally broke out. He had been so careful and one slip was all it took.
When he finds his voice, it comes out as a sharp whisper. "You've let that monster near my child?" Quelled anger lifts it up. "Did you forget that I pay you to keep him safe?"
"Heiwajima has no history of hurting children and is no threat to Delic. His appearance has already begun lifting Delic's spirits. Having someone around with a similar abnormality will benefit him." Mari snaps back, "Did you forget that you pay me to prioritize his health and happiness as well?"
"You think that idiot will make him happy?"
"Do you think that he was happy before?"
Izaya's mouth snaps closed and his lips press. Of course he's no fool, but there was nothing he could have done. He loathed seeing loneliness in the little boy's eyes, but he had no cure for it. Perhaps it stung him more knowing that the blond brute had been the one to alleviate Delic's sorrows instead of himself.
After a beat of silence, Mari evenly says, "Heiwajima has taken a DNA test and has asked for joint custody, Delic desires to change his surname and join Heiwajima's koseki. I've no reason to refuse their requests."
Izaya slumps his back against a brick wall for support. His stomach is sick and his heart is throbbing, he doesn't know what to do now. His nightmares are materializing before his eyes and he has no strategies or options at the ready. He had always anticipated Shizuo finding out eventually, but this was too soon and far, far too much all at once. He slips down the wall to sit on the cement, his fingers tremble with distress as he snaps the cellphone shut without another word.
How dare that stupid bastard, Izaya thinks. Shizuo's too much of a simple-minded imbecile to fully realize what he's done. He rakes his hands through his hair as he crumbles more into himself in the alleyway. Out of the view of the entire world, no one knows what Izaya Orihara does alone.
It's a little past noon when Izaya makes it out of the alleyway he had tucked himself into. He wanders around the city and neighborhood surrounding the hospital seemingly aimlessly, circling the same streets and paths and zigzagging through the connecting alleys, even hopping over fences and climbing up and over rooftops.. After an hour of walking to nowhere, he changes direction and goes exactly where he wants to be.
The hospital staff are certain not to look at him, as if he were a ghost wandering the halls rather than a man, and none of them dare to speak to him in fear of consequences from the tales amongst themselves. Izaya had long assured his reputation for any possible emergency visits. When witnesses to your visit all fear losing their medical licenses and being blacklisted from their field entirely or, worse, their personal lives being disrupted, suddenly you're invisible to everyone who could claim you were there.
The brunet doesn't spare the young woman by the door a glance before strutting right into the hospital room.
At the sound of the door clicking open, Delic turns his head away from the program playing on his laptop. His eyes light up with surprise and he exclaims, "Izaya!"
"Hey there, Deli-chin," he greets with a chipper wiggle of fingers.
"What's wrong?" Izaya freezes as Delic's words cut through the pleasant facade. The happiness present in the boy's expression from the sudden visit replaced by seriousness.
"Eh?"
Delic quickly supplies, "You never visit twice when I'm hurt."
Izaya stuffs his hands into the pockets of his coat, curling his fingers tightly. He doesn't wish to curse his child's perceptiveness, but being slapped in the face with the knowledge that Delic picked up on that causes him to ache and loathe his own cowardice nonetheless.
The brunet had practically raised his two siblings while young, but the talk of some mothers were absolutely right; seeing your own suffering can't compare to witnessing others. The first time with tears and cries of pain still lurked in his nightmares. It was a minor fracture with a few cuts, but he had frozen in place like a statue. Knowing you couldn't help and had to sit idly by as others helped instead was magnitudes worse than running away. Only, at least, until the person that needs you around through their pain throws it back at you.
"You've never been admitted to a hospital before."
"That's true." Delic shrugs it off, no more concerned with the topic.
"Does… Deli-chin not want me to visit him?" Delic squints at the older man's soft question. Something's wrong and it's making him uncomfortable. It feels like he's being asked something else entirely and he can't figure out what and hates it. Izaya's defensive posture and neutral face doesn't assist him any.
"No," he says with almost too much enthusiasm. "I like it when we hang out."
He's approached with a gentle smile, fingers leaving their pocket to comb through his hair. That warmth bubbles inside of Delic again and he blushes lightly.
Izaya sits beside him on the bed, ignoring the chair kept at the side. "Miss Mari says you've had a frequent visitor."
"My dad," the little boy says quietly, as if the word itself is fragile. Something inside of Izaya stings sharply.
"I know Shizuo from high school," he starts.
"Does he always tell the truth?" Delic blurts out without waiting for anymore information. The urgency causes Izaya to stall momentarily. He gazes back into the eager eyes on him filled with worry and wonders what sort of things Shizuo's been saying to Delic. He's always had an idea of what type of parent Shizuo will be – is. Izaya sorts through all of the words he can respond with as he keeps looking back into those desperate eyes and he opens his mouth to lie.
"...Yeah. Shizuo means what he says. As long as it's for someone he cares for, he'll hurt himself to make sure he keeps his promises."
Izaya's fingers twitch and Delic seems to relax at the answer. He's eased so many of the little brunet's troubles with his words and there's absolutely no doubt in his mind that Shizuo won't follow up on whatever he's said that's struck Delic so hard. Momentarily, Izaya considers bugging the room to watch the two, but the thought itself is painful.
"Delic." Cutesy nickname gone, his attention is instantly brought back with the solemn tone. "Shizuo Heiwajima hates me."
"...Why?"
"He's hated me ever since we first met in high school." Delic presses his lips together. That's not really an answer and something tells him he won't get a full one anyway.
"Do you hate him too?"
"He's your dad." Izaya says apathetically and Delic feels his anger rising.
The wooden splints on his fingers grind against one another. "You're not answering me!"
Izaya stays quiet while Delic calms down from his outburst. He has nothing that he can say, his lies die before getting through his vocal chords and the whole truth would be equally disastrous. Izaya Orihara is at a loss for words.
"Just say what you wanna say..."
Izaya exhales. "If you want me to keep coming around, you can't tell Shizuo about me."
Delic's mouth opens slightly as the sentence processes in his mind.
"Shizuo gets very angry when I'm mentioned, he'll say very negative things about me. If he knew that I've been around you all of this time…" Izaya trails off. He can't straightforwardly say that Shizuo would attempt to hurt him. "It's very important that he doesn't know about us at all. Okay, Delic?"
The little brunet openly frowns. They're both equally aware of what a terrible position he's been put in. Aside from Mari, Izaya's been the only other stable presence in his life. His visits and their short hangouts were things the boy looked forward to. Calling an adult your friend was awkward and unusual for someone his age, but he had no one else he could call so and mean it. No one else made him feel understood and normal like Izaya did until Shizuo came and made the second. Delic doesn't want to discard the old for the new, even in this horrible predicament where he feels split in two directions.
"Okay. I understand."
Izaya runs his fingers through Delic's hair again. The appreciation is openly visible in his expression, his smile small and delicate, though Delic cannot read the other emotion displayed in his eyes.
Izaya figures he only has another few hours that he can stay before he risks Shizuo showing up and needing to be long gone. He's done what he's had to and could realistically leave after another half hour to go back to work, but there's jealousy in the pit of his stomach. The imbecilic beast gets to come here every day after work and waste his days without grief or worry for the child he's putting in danger by lackadaisically walking in. He refuses to envy Shizu-chan's stupidity.
"Hey, guess what, Deli-chin." Izaya brings back his earlier cheery disposition instantaneously. Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out a familiar pink candy. "There was something special in the candy bowl again!"
Delic wants to wrinkle his nose. Izaya always seems to have one when he's hurt and his theory is that the older man just buys them before his visits. The brand being a bit too expensive to reasonably buy to stock a free-for-all bowl in a hospital. Delic chalks it up to Izaya's general oddness and keeps the theory to himself. There's not much difference in stopping by a convenience store to buy his favorite candy instead of seeing it in a free bowl and taking it to him. I was thinking about you and your comfort, they both equally read.
"Thank you, Izaya." Said man hums with a smile as he unwraps the candy for the boy. "Any time, Deli-chin."
