Barking up the wrong tree [Part Four]

When Izuku woke up, Dog Might was gone from beside him, the room full of warm sunlight but the bed still hopelessly empty...

[Previous]

When Izuku woke up, Dog Might was gone from beside him, the room full of warm sunlight but the bed still hopelessly empty. With a yawn, Izuku sat up, glancing over at the dog bed – empty as well, of course – then scanning the rest of the room.

“Dog Might?” he called

Little footsteps shuffled his way, and he smiled when the fluffy head popped through the doorway, looking up at him expectantly.

“Hey, buddy. There you are. What are you up to?”

Dog Might hurried over, hopping back up on the bed, and Izuku frowned when a familiar black device landed on the blankets beside him.

“Dog Might, no, that’s not a toy!” he huffed, reaching for a tissue to wipe the slobber off his phone. “It didn’t even ring, I would have heard it!”

He lit up the screen, sure enough finding no notifications waiting for him, only the notes app with a bunch of garbled letters typed in where Dog Might had obviously stepped on it or licked at it. Grumbling a little, he erased Iyt/s md dumnazs and gave Dog Might a stern look.

“I need this in case Kacchan tries to call,” he said, getting a little whine in return. “If he manages to get to a phone, this is the first number he’ll call, even before he calls the police or his agency, because he’s a big, dumb, sap like that. It needs to be safe, you hear me? How did you even get it off the counter? And the charger, for that matter?”

Dejected, Dog Might sat down and curled into a little ball, and Izuku felt his heart tear in two.

“Hey, it’s okay, I know you didn’t mean to do something wrong,” Izuku assured him. “Hey, how about we go for a hike today? Would you like that? It might make me feel closer to Kacchan, and we both need the exercise. You wanna go climb a mountain?”

Dog Might looked up a little, and when Izuku gave him a big smile, he wagged his tail tentatively.

“Yeah? Okay, I’m thinking bacon sandwiches for breakfast, pack some lunch to take with us, then I just need to call my agency for a check-in, and we can head out in a few hours. Sound good?”

Dog Might wagged his tail a little harder, and Izuku squished his fluffy face in his hands, crawling out of bed to get started. For the first few days he hadn’t even bothered to get out of bed, so at least Dog Might was giving him a reason to exist. Izuku was lucky the little guy had shown up at just the right time to keep him kicking.

“Oh, you probably need the bathroom by now,” Izuku said, when he’d put a pan on to heat for the bacon. “Gimme a sec and I’ll come let you out.”

Dog Might trotted off to wait, but after a second Izuku heard a little click, peeking around the corner to see the door hanging open.

“How did you do that?” he asked, when Dog Might looked back at him from the yard. “You really are clever. Were you a service dog or something? I hope there’s not some blind person waiting for you to come home and help them! You’d take me there, right? If someone needed help?”

Dog Might stared him dead in the eye and squatted, and Izuku turned away in a hurry to avoid watching him poop.

“Okay, just close the door behind you!” he joked, heading back into the kitchen. “I’ll come pick it up later!”

Soon the bacon was sizzling away, and Dog Might was hurrying back to watch, tongue hanging out as he panted excitedly by the stove. Izuku set a piece aside to cool a little, as he started the next batch, and as soon as it was ready, he tossed it down to Dog Might. With a happy little arf and his tail just a blur of fluff, he caught the bacon in his mouth, and Izuku laughed, reaching over to ruffle his ears again.

“You’ve got good aim!” he praised. “Maybe we should try some tricks later.”

The tail wagging ceased, and Izuku raised an eyebrow.

“You don’t like tricks?”

Dog Might growled faintly.

“What, too dignified for tricks?” Izuku grinned. “Okay, no tricks, message received.”

Dog Might wagged his tail again, turning his nose pointedly toward the stove, and Izuku laughed as he tossed another piece of bacon – this time up in the air, for Dog Might to catch happily.

“Great job, little guy.”

When the batch was finished, and a couple of eggs scrambled to go with it, Izuku assembled himself a couple of thick sandwiches. He took them to the couch, to check out the news as he ate, and as usual Dog Might was right by his side, plopping down in Izuku’s lap and resting his head on Izuku’s abdomen to watch him eat, just in case he spilled anything.

The news was sparse, as usual – without even mention of Katsuki, this time. Izuku hoped they weren’t giving up, weren’t already moving on. Maybe he could send a message to Uraraka or Kirishima and see how they were going – they probably weren’t allowed to tell him much, but he was sure they’d slip him a hint if they had one for him.

“Do you think I can convince Kacchan to wear a tracker after this?” Izuku asked, rubbing at Dog Might’s face absentmindedly. “I guess we wouldn’t want it to show people were we live, but he could leave it at his agency and wear it on patrols or something. Maybe I could get Mei to put one in his costume, or his gauntlets. Can they be hacked if you have to turn them on? We could make it only activate if he goes missing again, or something, so that people can’t track him all the time.”

One ear lifted, and Izuku smiled sheepishly, stroking it obediently and feeding him another piece of bacon.

“Sorry, I mumble sometimes when I’m thinking. Kacchan always calls me out on it, to make sure I’m aware and don’t freak people out!”

Dog Might barely glanced up at him, too focussed on his bacon, and Izuku took the opportunity to take his last few bites of sandwich.

“I’m gonna text Uraraka,” he said finally, reaching for his phone. “Todoroki too, to thank him for covering us. Then we can get ready for our hike!”

When they headed for the bedroom together, Izuku paused in the hallway, glancing at the back door.

“Must be windy today,” he reasoned, when he found it shut tight. “I’d better bring a jacket!”

If he hadn’t known any better, Izuku would have sworn Dog Might rolled his eyes.

───

As they hiked up one of Katsuki’s favourite mountains, Dog Might seemed oddly quiet. He didn’t run off like he did on the trails, didn’t try to hurry Izuku along or play silly games, he just walked right by Izuku’s side, occasionally stopping to rest at one of the little viewing platforms, or watch a stretch of creek flow by. It was shallow, and despite going downhill it never seemed to move very fast, like it had all the time in the world to make its way down. Sometimes, on the hottest days, Izuku and Katsuki had taken off their boots and dipped their feet in the water to cool down, but Izuku couldn’t seem to find the energy for it without Katsuki there at his side.

Before he knew it, they were breaking through the last of the trees, making the last climb up to the highest part of the peak, where they could look out over the city, and admire the other huge mountains nearby. He sat down, shivering a little in the cool breeze, but after the heat of the last few days, it made a nice change, too. It made him feel a little more awake, a little more alive, as he opened up his backpack and retrieved their lunch. He hadn’t bothered to bring dog food, knowing it wouldn’t have worked anyway, he’d just packed up a container of his favourite potato salad and some smoked salmon that he was sure Dog Might would happily share with him.

Izuku’s phone dinged, and he dug into his pocket to retrieve it, surprised they even had reception at the top. Dog Might had draped himself across Izuku’s thighs, looking out at the view contentedly, but he lifted his head a little when Izuku sighed.

“No news,” he explained. “She says they’re still working hard and following every lead, but there are no updates currently.”

Dog Might whined quietly, and Izuku stroked slowly along his big, fluffy back.

“On the bright side,” he said softly. “That means there’s no sign of him being hurt, either. If they just wanted to harm him, we’d have found his...”

Dog Might rolled over a little, pressing into Izuku’s torso, and Izuku rubbed his tummy obediently.

“Oh, and Todoroki replied, too. He says he’s happy to cover for as long as I need it. He’s such a good friend. I’ll have to go back to work eventually, though. Kacchan would kill me if he came back and found out I’d taken a year off because of him.”

The words came out before Izuku could really think about them, and he froze. Was he really expecting Katsuki to be gone for a year? Or more? What if... No, he refused to think about that possibility. He’d be back in just a few days, surely, and would laugh at Izuku for worrying about him, even though he’d hug him tight and kiss him a thousand times and assure him that he was okay, too.

A little whine broke Izuku out of his thoughts, a soft face lifting to rub at his cheeks, and Izuku just wrapped his arms around Dog Might’s body, hugging him close.

“Thank you,” he whispered. “I couldn’t do this without you.”