A Bolt of Hope

Chapter 44 - Wake Up Call -

"So, you ended up hurting a friend. You screwed up. You know what you did was wrong, the question is... how are you going to make things right?"

"..."

The following day, Leizcio asked Blink for help fixing some personal issues. Now the two were there in Blink's office where Leizcio sat in a couch and Blink sat on a chair backward, resting his arm on the top of it.

"Okay okay, my bad. Just always wanted to try saying that. Anyways, what's eating away at you kid?" Blink asked, now ditching his small act and giving Leizcio his attention.

"Thanks... Well, uhm, you remember the brown-haired girl? The round-faced one?" Leizcio described, even moving his hands to try and symbolize the roundness of Ochaco's face.

"Yeah, Uraraka was her name right? Blink responded, making Leizcio nod.

"Well you probably know since she was there, but she was the one who knew about who I was ever since the beginning."

Blink was still focused and let Leizcio continue which he did.

"She told me... well more so scolded me not to go out and be blur so much. It was around UA when she was telling me that. I even started to get sleepy during classes sometimes because I would spend most nights restless."

"But there was something more to it wasn't there?" Blink asked, referring to what caused the near breaking point between the two.

"... I was going through some things a week before internships and I was using 'Blur' as a means of escape. Even my healing wasn't able to cover up the bruises and damage. She tried confronting me about it but I just left her. Last time we saw each other was... yeah..."

Leizcio summarized his feelings to Blink without giving the exact reason as to what caused him to use 'Blur' as an escape mechanism.

"I know it had to have been rough, but you really need to listen to people Esperanza. Especially the ones that care about you." Blink advised Leizcio. He's gotten this advice before but it fell on deaf ears as Leizcio was too focused on being a vigilante. But now he didn't have much of a choice but to hear out Blink. However, noticing his sudden bit of silence, Blink asked Leizcio a question.

"Have you tried talking to her about this by chance?"

There was a small silence but Blink still paid attention to Leizcio. He started to dash his eyes around, most likely trying to think of something else to change the topic. Blink read him like an open book and just sighed in slight disappointment.

"Esperanza, if you don't try to actually fix things, then they're not going to get fixed." Blink told Leizcio, his voice now becoming a bit stern.

"It's not exactly as easy as just going up to her to talk about it!"

"How come?"

"She hadn't even given me the time of day when I came back! Isn't it pretty clear that she wouldn't want to talk to me?"

Leizcio was starting to slip out the truth little by little. Hoping that he can make a breakthrough with Leizcio, Blink continues to try and press the right buttons.

"We aren't always going to be the ones that get initiated first, sometimes we have to do it ourselves. So why not try and talk to her?"

Surprisingly enough, that question was just enough to get the answer that Leizcio had been hiding.

"I just can't! How can I talk to her if she was the one who destroyed my suit?! She knew how much that meant to me!"

And there it was.

Leizcio already had an idea of what needed to happen, but something kept pushing it out of his mind. Despite what happened, getting rid of that suit ripped at a personal chord for him. What was months of work felt like it was thrown down the drain.