Chapter Text
The faculty gathered in the staff room to go over the incident and its purpose. Izuku joined them, sat between Aizawa and All Might, holding himself tight to avoid fidgeting. If anyone had seen him leave campus to follow the flames....
“Alright, straight to the facts,” Nezu stood on the table before everyone, hands clasped. “Most of you have heard that the gate to UA was completely disintegrated. Deku is convinced that Shigaraki was the one to do it using his quirk, Decay.”
Izuku nodded tightly.
“The question, then, is why,” Nezu continued. “From surveillance, Shigaraki never went beyond the main gates. He used the commotion to slip not into the school, but away while the reporters entered the grounds.”
Izuku raised his hand, then spoke, “Tomura doesn’t do anything he thinks my dad would dislike, so he wouldn’t be after me, at least not to kill. He also wouldn’t be anywhere without Kurogiri.”
Aizawa shifted in his seat. “Did security spot the warper?”
“No,” Nezu said with a sigh, “but that does not mean he was nowhere. He could potentially warp to any number of areas that have no cameras: bathrooms, closets, staff rooms, to name a few. Nobody noticed anything missing in their searches?”
Non-committal denials came from everyone, and Izuku’s heart sank.
The meeting ended unsatisfactorily, but while most of the staff started to leave the room, Izuku reached out and tugged at All Might’s sleeve to stop him.
All Might saw his pleading look and shared a glance with the other staff. Everyone shuffled out of the room besides Aizawa, Nezu, and All Might. They rejoined him at the table as the door clicked shut.
“Midoriya, what is the matter?”
“Principal Nezu,” he hesitated as the beady eyes followed his every facial movment, “Can I go find out?”
“How?”
With a bitten lip, Izuku put forth, “If I say I can’t tell you, would you understand? I...I don’t want him to get in trouble.”
Because, well, if Shigaraki was moving, chances are that Dabi---back in town, free from his father, and seeking an outlet---was involved, especially given the timing of the message. Izuku had to meet with him soon to deter him.
Nezu smiled. “Oooh, you found some information in your search around the grounds?”
It was subtle, but Nezu was letting him know that he’d seen Izuku. It left him with few words, only a small nod.
“What did you find?” Aizawa was straight to the point.
Izuku bit his lip and avoided their eyes. “It was a note from an old... friend, of sorts. He wants to meet with me.”
“Is he dangerous?”
Izuku’s lip threatened to bleed with the pressure on it.
“That’s a yes,” Aizawa noted, face tense. “Deku, is he dangerous to you?”
“He, umm, he REALLY hates heroes,” Izuku allowed quietly, trying to sound as inoffensive as possible, “but I don’t think he’s too angry at me if he’s asking this nicely. I’ll be fine either way, but I want to know if he came here with Tomura or if the timing is a coincidence. He hasn’t met Tomura before, at least that I know of, but I worry what dad asked him to do.”
All Might hummed thoughtfully. “Coincidences like that are rarer than many believe, Midoriya. I would not feel comfortable sending you somewhere when you may be the target.”
Izuku’s head snapped up, insistent. He fixed All Might with his widest eyes. “I’m not the target! If he’s working with Tomura, it’s because my father wants him to, or he thinks it will help him. It’s not because he hates me! Dad would never have let him come back to hurt me. And if he’s involved, I want to try to reason with him and give him another option. Please, please, can I meet him?”
From the head of the table, Nezu considered the appeal of the boy. Eraserhead was connecting eyes with him, warning him away from allowing it without more information, but he wasn’t sure about the consequences of such a refusal. Midoriya had already shown that he felt stifled by the restrictions of the HPSC and the wall of UA, and he had also shown that his instincts were to run, hide, or undermine when things weren’t happening to his satisfaction. If he felt like they were being unreasonable in their restrictions, Nezu thought it was likely that the boy would do something more dramatic when he felt it necessary.
Even now, Nezu was concerned about the way he was leveraging his influence over Toshinori; wide eyes, pleading voice, emotional appeal... these were weak points for Toshinori that the child was exploiting. It was telling that he was not trying such things on himself or Aizawa; the child was either a wholly reactive being who matched energies with those he spoke to or trained by All for One’s manipulation to show no hint of ulterior motives while negotiating with others. He was nearly certain it was the second.
“Deku,” Nezu used his chosen hero name deliberately as the child turned to him, pleading expression shifting automatically with a new audience, “believe me when I say that I want to allow you this moment. I want more information on the breach in my security. I want to give you this opportunity to use your connections to feel useful here. I, truly, want to say, ‘yes’.”
He folded his hands under his chin, showing Midoriya with his body language that he was open to being convinced. The child responded in kind, leaning forward with his own hands folded on the table. Negotiations have begun.
“Technically, involving you in a criminal investigation is illegal,” Nezu began pointedly.
Deku cocked an eyebrow. “What if I’m just checking in with a friend?”
Point 1: Deku. Nezu grinned.
“Then, I must ensure we’re doing our due diligence as your guardians to keep you safe,” Nezu reframed the conversation seamlessly. Izuku didn’t need to convince them to include him; he simply had to make sure they were following the rules. “First, I would like to know something of the person you’re going to see. Their name, occupation, and threat level would be sufficient.”
Izuku knew that Nezu was trying to hold his permission over Izuku’s head. Still, he didn’t want to disappoint his new guardians. He could offer....something.
“Not his real name,” Izuku countered in return. “I can give you his villain name instead.”
The rodent gave him a nod. “That would suffice.”
They nodded in mutual agreement. “His name is Dabi. He is a freelancer. He is about as dangerous as....” Izuku’s thoughts ran through the staff in search of a comparison, “Thirteen, probably.”
The adults around him stiffened, but it was the best comparison he could make. Fire, especially Dabi’s extremely hot fire, is about as deadly as a black hole; they both consume everything they touch, they’re both emitters, and they both get weaker the further you are from the heat source. Izuku turned back to Nezu. “Second?”
“Second,” Nezu continued, “I would like to know where you are going. As your guardians, we are responsible for keeping you safe. I would ask for permission to track you, but you would not agree to that, I believe.”
“I wouldn’t.” Izuku tilted his head, thinking of a way around this one. He didn’t want to give the street address, he didn’t know whether the heroes would follow him there or would go after D once the meeting was over. “I can give you an approximate location, a grid, but I won’t tell you the exact building number.”
“Agreed.”
Izuku kept himself from grinning. The grid he’d give was in the slums of Tokyo; there were thousands of rogue, thugs, and criminals in that section of town. Nezu—for all his connections—wouldn’t know which person he was visiting even if he tried. “I’ll be in the district of Sanya.”
“Midoriya, no!” All Might interjected now. “Sanya is dangerous!”
“I’m landing right in his apartment. I’ll be fine.”
“If you’re allowing this, Nezu, and I discourage it entirely,” Aizawa interjected gravely, “it would be safest if I tailed him.”
“I’m not letting you see where he’s staying.”
Izuku held Eraserhead’s gaze, staring the hero down. Eraserhead seemed unhappy, but Izuku would not back down.
“Now, now,” Nezu interjected finally after a tense moment, “there’s no need for all this drama with a friendly visit, hmm? I would think the only thing a guardian needs after knowing who and where is when their charge will return home. So, Deku, how long is this visit going to take?”
“Thirty minutes.”
Dabi wasn’t one for long, drawn-out conversations or visits, and Izuku would probably grate on his nerves if he stayed for very long at all. He could already hear his sigh at the idea of Izuku offering to spend time together. Just the thought of inviting the dour man to sit with him and watch a movie made Izuku fight a grin.
“What a quick visit that can in no way be termed as us leaving you to your own devices for a lengthy period,” Nezu said cheerily.
“Midoriya,” All Might reached for him, but Izuku saw in his eyes the reluctance. “You shouldn’t--”
Izuku flinched back. For a moment, the room froze.
“I can do this,” Izuku stated firmly, ignoring the flinch completely and staring All Might in the face. “I want to. He’s my friend, All Might. Please?”
All Might wavered.
At that, Izuku looked to Aizawa, whose expression was pinched in frustration. “You know this is the best chance at figuring out what’s going on. I’m not lying about there being no danger to myself. If we can just keep the HPSC from knowing.....”
Aizawa sighed and dragged a hand down his face. “We’ll stay in this room for thirty minutes. Come straight back here once you’re finished and do not go near any uncovered windows. I expect you to be unharmed when I next see you, or I will confine you to the staff quarters for the foreseeable future. Understood?”
Izuku nodded quickly to his deathly glare.
“Well, I’m glad we’ve come to an agreement!” Nezu proclaimed with a clap. “Do you need anything before you go, Midoriya?”
“No, no, I’m fine.” He waved his hands in front of his face. “I’ll see you soon!”
Izuku opened the portal and jumped.
The advantage to not giving heroes the location of your family home when your villain dad is arrested is that everything is exactly as you left it. His money is hiding in the wall and dad’s money is in his office. He avoided the living room with his father’s chair and just jumped straight into the office. He counted out 2,300,000 JPY and left the rest locked up safely in his father’s office. He’d come back for it later when he had somewhere to stash it at UA, but for now it was safer here.
He jumped from his home. He was on the floor with stapled fingers heating up around his neck and Dabi glaring down at him within seconds of landing.
“Looks like I’ve caught a little hero, hmm? What’s a baby like you doing in a villain’s lair?”
He grabbed the bills from his pocket and waved them in Dabi’s face, drawing the villain’s eyes.
“You are the stupidest genius I’ve ever me,” Dabi hissed. “You think this makes up for you going hero? Your daddy is in prison because of you.”
Izuku gave him an incredulous look and scoffed openly. “Are you lecturing me on dads? You want to kill yours; I locked up mine. You have no room to judge.”
That broke Dabi’s glare and even had his lips twitch into a smile. “So that’s it, huh? I didn’t know you looked up to me that much, you pain in the ass.”
The stapled hand moved away before the metal clips started to properly sear his skin, and the money was snatched from his hands. Dabi walked off to his rickety kitchen and shoved the money into a drawer without ceremony.
With nonchalance—or a very well-practiced casualness—Dabi picked up a neglected tumbler of whiskey and leaned himself against the counter, staring at him. “So, you came.”
“I did.”
Dabi’s head lolled to the side, a smarmy grin on his features. “Thanks for the money, brat. You know, if that money is a bribe or a commission, I’d be up for some work—give me a target and I’ll do whatever dirty work you need doing. I’ll even throw in some free homicide.”
Dabi’s eyes narrowed then, though his smirk remained. “But that’s not what the hero boy wants, is it?”
Izuku shook his head. “I figured you would need money soon. I didn’t know if dad warned you about what was happening.”
“He did.” Dabi looked at him with roving eyes. “He gave me an advance on my allowance like a good little boss and told me to wait for instructions from the warp gate.”
Izuku reached out tentatively to the villain. Reluctantly, so reluctantly he actually sighed and rolled his eyes, Dabi snatched his wrist from the air and dragged him over to the sagging but comfy couch that was the only furniture in that room.
Dabi set his drink down for a half-second to rip his shirt off and then gave him the sourest eyes he could beneath his dead expression. “Go on, do your check.”
Izuku was in his space in a second, running his hands over the salvaged tissues and the new ones, the staples and the unblemished skin looking for anything that showed Dabi had been living in pain from his quirk again.
It was something he always had done. Dabi always overused his quirk with no thought to how much he would be hurt, so Izuku checked him over every time they met. Even when Dabi was a teenager and Izuku had just met him, he’d been taking care of Dabi like this. He’d healed him when he’d first come in, helped him with the plastic surgery to hide his resemblance to Endeavor. The staple-like sutures were Dabi’s idea—he'd demanded to look half-dead so that when his father saw him again, he’d look like he’d risen from the grave to haunt him. At dad’s instruction, he’d obeyed.
But Izuku still always checked those flexible staples for irritation or infection, always checked the unmarred skin for burns and the salvaged parts for charring, and he always, always, always checked with his quirk to make sure the fire quirk was still stable with the enhancements Dabi’d let Dr. Garaki give him.
Dabi rolled his eyes at his exuberance but let him have his way until he poked the new nose-piercings, which is when he shoved him into the couch cushions.
“Sorry,” Izuku apologized, righting himself so he was still close to him, but not too close. “You don’t look hurt, but I just…want to be sure.”
“Maybe this is why I don’t care to see you, babyface,” Dabi drawled, swirling his drink. “You’re always looking at me like a patient dying in a hospital.”
Izuku chuckled a little, but it was half-hearted at best. They were both quiet for a moment, contemplative.
“I should roast you alive for turning to the heroes.”
Izuku knew that Dabi meant it. “You might even be able to. I’m not really...prepared to fight back right now.”
One amused look said it all.
“I’ve never been good at bluffing,” Izuku defended. “There’s no reason to hide it from you, anyway.”
Dabi’s dead eyes glowed a little, although whether it was with a sort of happiness that Izuku trusted him or laughing that he would. Still, he didn’t comment on it.
“I wondered why you took so long to see that message,” he said instead, smirking. “So, you actually were hurt. Did daddy dearest cut you off? Take your quirks and take a hike to prison?”
Izuku managed to give a small smile, but his heart wasn’t into it. “Nope, the opposite. Dad gave me too much; I’m stuffed so full of new quirks that I can’t even use the old ones really well. It’s going to take a while to adjust. Right now, none of the new ones are cooperating because they don’t have enough room. They’re pushing the other ones out of place to get more space.”
Alcohol slipped past his scarred lips. “It’s always weird how you describe that stuff, li’l doc. ‘My old man stuffed me full’ is a really nasty way of putting things, at least in this neighbourhood. So, if he didn’t cut you off, why did you rat him out?”
Why would you get rid of a man so powerful that he owned all of us here?
Izuku considered his words carefully. This wasn’t someone who had in any way hated All for One. Disliked because of his age, his condescending attitude towards him, sure, but his dad was as anti-hero as they come, and Dabi was more than happy with anyone who hated heroes as much as he did. Homicide wasn’t a deal-breaker for him either, more of an extra dessert added to the full course before him. Dabi relished in causing pain, even if on some level Izuku knew he wanted something else.
“I couldn’t take it anymore,” Izuku said finally, swallowing heavily. “We’re very different, Dabi. He couldn’t give me what I needed.”
“So you finally took what you wanted, depriving me of my benefactor in the process,” Dabi crooned, not even upset like his words implied. He reached over and ruffled his hair. “Look at you, growing up. Where’s the baby who cried over every staple, hmm?”
Izuku was grabbed by the young adult and held against his side a little too tightly. Those trademark staples pressed grooves into his arms and Dabi was unashamedly trying to put Izuku in his armpit, but since he knew that Dabi had burnt any sweat glands from that place years ago, he didn’t fight it. Even though Dabi was kidding, Izuku felt more comfortable with the fire-user than any of his guardians. This, this was safe for some reason.
Dabi chuckled as Izuku slumped against him. “Still such a kitten. You sure you didn’t come here to start something? Because, sorry, you’re too innocent for that, and I’m not looking to die if your daddy finds out I popped your cherry, babyface.”
“Ewwww!” Izuku gave him a mocking shove. “You’re like twenty-three, you creep.”
“You say that like I’m not a criminal,” Dabi said with a smirk. “Are you still applying society’s rules here in the underbelly? True, little boys aren’t my thing, I could make an exception to help you, babyface. I’m always up to rebel against parentals.”
“Yeah, not interested.”
“It’s not the staples, is it?” He teased again. “I could complain to my little doctor.”
“Come on, I did a great job with those,” Izuku whined. “I was seven! You’re the one who didn’t want me to regrow your skin! You told me you looked better without it! You thought the staples looked cool!”
“Never said they didn’t, babyface,” he grinned salaciously. “And they’re great for—"
“Nope!” Izuku slammed his hands over his ears. “Nope, nope, not listening!”
Dabi chuckled. “Fine, fine, I’ll keep it PG-13 for you. So, is that the straw that broke the back, li’l doc? You got a playdate and your pop wouldn’t let you keep them?”
Izuku sighed, slumping back against Dabi and landing in a sprawl on his lap. He hated this kind of talk. “You know I’m not…like that. I’m not an idiot.”
The banal amusement that Dabi expressed by snort was enough to cast doubt on that. Dabi tilted up Izuku’s face, moving forward with lascivious intent.
“We could test it,” he teased, but his voice went too low to doubt his true intent. “You’ve never been kissed before, right? I think you’d like it no matter what voodoo has been done to you. No one would ever have to know if we....”
Izuku slapped two hands over his mouth, his heart racing but not in the way Dabi would take it. Just the thought of anyone breaking dad’s strict NO ROMANCE rule had his stomach clenching in his throat. “You can’t do that! He’ll find out, he’ll know!”
Dabi raised his eyebrows in disbelief.
“You can’t even joke about that,” Izuku insisted. “Please, Dabi, He’ll kill you!”
Dabi rolled his eyes but nodded against Izuku’s palms. When he finally got released, Dabi picked up his tumbler again and side-eyed him.
“You’re really not bothered by the thought of a twenty-three-year-old man kissing you, are you? You’re more freaked out at the thought your dad finding out?” he clarified. At Izuku’s nod, Dabi shook his head in disbelief. “That’s unbelievable. You’re more paranoid than I am, squirt.”
“It’s only paranoia if I’m wrong,” he shot back, “and it’s still gross to offer, perv.”
Dabi raised his hands with a chuckle, giving up, and Izuku slumped onto the seat beside him again. They sat there, shoulder to shoulder, for a long and silent moment while Dabi sipped his drink and Izuku calmed down enough to remember why he came here.
“Don’t stay here.”
Dabi’s paused, lips at the edge of the cup, and poignantly stared at him. “Why?”
“Dad’s not coming out of prison for a while, I don’t think,” Izuku explained lowly. “If Kurogiri is supposed to contact you, then it means he wants you to work with Tomura. Against me.”
That made the flame-user narrow his eyes. “Against you? The gate got in contact, yeah, but it’s to stick it to some heroes, not you, doc. I saw your little parting moment on TV; I thought All for One didn’t want his precious prince to harm a single hair on his head.”
Izuku closed his eyes as if to shut those words away, but he couldn’t stop them from hurting.
“Why did they break into UA today?” he probed lightly. “If it wasn’t about me, like you said, then why would they?”
Dabi took a sip of his drink. “You know the leper-maker is only obsessed with one hero.”
All Might. Izuku mulled it over. So, Tomura’s plan to kill All Might was still going on. Which meant they’d infiltrated the school in order to find out where he was living or teaching. But since that was at UA now....
Dabi interrupted his musing. “So? Going to tell me why your daddy wants Shigaraki to target you? He knows the guy has a screw loose, right?”
“He told me that…Tomura is supposed to tear everything down,” Izuku murmured, “so that when I stop him, I can build everything up the way we want it to be. Not that Tomura knows the second part. Tomura’s supposed to be my enemy so that I can gain power from fighting him. Dad wants to throw Japan into chaos and set me as the hero to fix it by making us fight each other.”
“Sounds like a party,” Dabi grinned, but it wasn’t lighthearted anymore as the bitterness he had festering in him came through. “I’ll happily burn down Japan. Hell, I’ll burn down every hero society in the world.”
“Dabi, please don’t say that,” Izuku said, looking up at him now with pleading eyes. “I can’t see this the way you and dad do, I can’t look at people and see stumbling blocks in the big picture. They, on their own, are just people. They...they may do bad things or not understand why something is the wrong choice, but I can’t just let them die for that.”
Dabi looked down at him with almost a bitter look in his eyes, although he did keep his face light as before. “So, you really are just that innocent, then. ‘Everyone has some good in them,’ right? There’s nothing good about people, babyface. They’re all selfish. There’s always something poisonous about a good deed that will weaken you and kill you if given the time. Nobody deserves a single thing. Kill them, don’t, they don’t even matter to anything or anyone. Even you, I’ve seen you kill. You’re not good propoganda, doc.”
“Dabi,” Izuku whispered, “I want to change things too. You hate heroes—I know why and I understand. Still, don’t you think that things could be better? What if I could use their own system against the bad ones? Against him?”
Dabi’s jaw clenched rightly, pulling on his staples. “The system started all of this! You think politics and playing nice will get you anywhere?! The whole building’s on a bad foundation, and I’m going to burn it to the ground with my old man in it!”
“What if we exposed him?” Izuku countered, sitting up now and looking at him ferociously. “I’m in the public eye now! I could get everyone to turn on your sperm donor, the program, everything you hate!”
“I hate the whole country!” Dabi roared, flames licking the side of his mouth in fury, eye burning like a crematorium. He looked barely able to hold himself back. “You don’t understand, you spoiled brat! All their useless, worthless concern, all their hero-loving sycophancy, it’s all rotten! Maybe if All for One had beat you to a pulp once and a while you would understand. I won’t be satisfied until Endeavor looks me in the eyes and begs for mercy while the world looks at that pathetic, hollow husk of a man like the disgusting maggot he is! Japan watched this happen and they’ll keep watching while I rip their hero-worship from them! They watched him rise and I will make them watch as he licks the dirt off of my boots! I don’t want to make him a scandal—HE WILL BE AN EXAMPLE!”
“We can do that!”
Dabi grabbed him by the shirt and hauled him closer, smoke still creeping from his mouth and flames licking at his staples. “You don’t want to kill, baby boy. There’s nothing a weak little kid like you could ever do. He needs to pay.”
Izuku nodded judiciously. “We can still make him an example. You know he loves nothing more than he loves his reputation, and with All Might visibly weakened to the whole world, Endeavor’s set to take number one spot by default the second he retires or by the next ranking.”
The fist in his shirt clenched tighter.
“It would take less than year to mess with him and make that dream impossible,” Izuku stated plainly. “Send him little villains that he can’t seem to catch. Make his fire go out mid-fight in front of the press. Send him notes from his supposedly dead son with information that only you would know. Drive him insane.”
Slowly, a small smile crept up Dabi’s face and a manic look entered his eyes. “Make him confess.”
A shudder ran through Izuku’s body as the idea made him beam. “Yes! That’s perfect! We don’t have to play nice to get things to change, Dabi, but we don’t have to kill him either. If he’s the one to point fingers at the HPSC for what they did then everyone will have to take notice. People will say the guilt ate him up, that I only just told him what had happened. I’ll make the accusation first, give people that seed of doubt, but no one’s going to believe a villain more than Number Two.”
“But,” Dabi hushed him, gently running finger over his chin, “you have to give me what I want, babyface. Your dad used the HPSC to get his way, and while he was in charge there was no chance to do what I wanted. I want them to burn, baby. The old man will get what’s coming to him, fine, without bloody murder, but I want to burn the HPSC’s secret base to the ground and kill every last admin in there.”
Izuku thought about it carefully. “I can get onboard with destroying everything, but....No killing.”
Dabi’s jaw ticked and he pulled back his hand enough to spark it alight, a reminder of just who he was dealing with. “You really want to tell me that when no one knows where you are?”
They both stayed there for a second, staring at each other and assessing their intent. Who knew what Dabi saw in him, but Izuku looked at the young adult and saw an angry inferno that was only barely being suppressed by his words and licking out of Dabi’s mouth in a bid to be free. Izuku didn’t want to hurt Endeavour or drive him insane, but the man had done that to Dabi. To his eldest son.
He had been seven when his dad had taken him hiking in the treacherous side of Mt. Tateyama. He didn’t know what dad had discovered from the HPSC, but he had led them directly to the oldest Todoroki boy. Touya had been sent there to train and see if the cold could help him control his wild, destructive fire. It hadn’t. The cold hadn’t frozen him, but the fire still burned. But it hadn’t been them forcing his fire—the eldest Todoroki had been hysterical with his own failures, so desperate to have some kind of value, that he’d still used his fire as ferociously as Endeavour himself.
He had been nearly dead when they found him.
The oldest Todoroki had been reported dead by the press, the result of his own quirk, and Endeavor had received sympathy from everyone while Touya watched him from his bed. Dad had taken his quirk for Izuku’s safety, and Izuku had sat with him—healed him—even when he hadn’t understood just what was happening before his eyes. He had been solely responsible for his care. Dad hadn’t let Dr. Garaki near the unstable boy , so Izuku had done what he could. And when he’d asked to keep the scars, get them cut evenly into his face so he didn’t have to look like his “bastard of a father,” Izuku had reluctantly done as he asked. It was better than working on Nomu, so he had few problems operating on someone who wanted the changes he wrought.
No matter what he did, though, he felt like a failure because he never did manage to heal him—Touya had broken in his care. It didn’t matter that he was too young for that responsibility, it was his job to heal him and he had failed so spectacularly. He’d let Touya watch the coverage of his death, and watched it putter to nothing just as quickly. He’d let him watch the news of his death appear for a moment before being replaced by stories of All Might and Endeavor saving the day, and he’d watched the Todoroki descend further into a depression. He’d tried—Izuku had used a quirk to change his hair colour when he nearly ripped some out in hatred, but he should have changed the eyes before Dabi looked in the mirror.
Touya took one look at his own eyes and had such a grand fit of temper that Izuku had fled in fear, and while he was gone his father had swooped in to gather the fallen hero child for his own. He’d given him a new identity, a new life, and new purpose. The promise of vengeance and of justice. By the time Izuku had recovered from his scare, it had been too late; Dabi was his father’s from that moment on.
There was no way that Endeavour’s destructive treatment didn’t contribute to the mental break Dabi had gone through. There was no way that Endeavor wasn’t responsible for driving his son into his father’s arms.
And the HSPC was doing the same thing to others. They were also to blame. They were still to blame. And they would be to blame for many, many more children if they weren’t stopped.
Would it be justified to kill them? Who was them even? Which members of the HPSC would he even kill? It was too fine of a line to walk just trusting in his own judgement, let alone Dabi’s hatred-hazed gaze.
“I’m…not going to lie,” Izuku finally said. Still lifted by Dabi’s angry fist, he could only cast his pleading eyes to the young adult. “I can’t say I don’t wish it was gone completely or that the people in charge were no longer around to do harm, but I need—ergh, you have to understand, Dabi, I don’t want anyone to die. And even if I did and went through with what you wanted, it would mean betraying the heroes who helped me...betraying myself. I can’t kill people again Dabi, I can’t.”
Dabi’s face smoldered dangerously, but Izuku just couldn’t agree with him. As much as he wished he could save those children, he had decided to trust Nezu and the other heroes—trust that All Might would use his influence for the best—even if it might take a couple of months. But those couple of months…he felt guilty for not doing anything. But without his quirks it would be near-suicidal to try breaking into the facility, even with all of his training. He could do a few things to make it possible, but even touching that basket of vipers would put all of UA at risk of reproach and poaching from the HPSC. Even Eri.
“But...” Izuku sighed, “I don’t blame you for wanting them dead either. I wouldn’t even blame you for killing them. It's just that, well, it would hurt a lot of people the same way they’ve hurt you. It wouldn’t be right.”
Dabi snorted and dropped him suddenly, landing him on his bum. “Innocent. The most proficient burglar and corporate infiltrator in Japan, killer, desecrator of corpses, and still so innocent. A baby. There’s something wrong with you.”
“You too, Dabi,” he huffed. “If I’m messed up, so are you.”
Something momentarily soft entered Dabi’s gaze before bitterness returned to his scowl. “Yeah, I guess so.”
The silence was filled with nostalgia and heavy contemplation.
“Alright!” Dabi clapped his hands and stretched them wide as his newfound smile. “Here’s what I’m going to do, just for you! I’ll wait as long as you need to come around. When you decide to let the HPSC burn, you know where to find me. Until then, well, I think ol’ Eczema Face needs a helping hand.”
“Dabi, no!”
“Dabi, yes,” he chuckled without mirth. He dropped to one knee and levelled his cerulean eyes at his. His scarred finger ran down the side of Izuku’s face. “I will burn the world until you give me what I want. Does that make your decision any easier, babycheeks?”
There was nothing he could say. If he agreed then he was volunteering to murder the Director and possible many, many more people working from him. If he refused, then he would be responsible for every death that Dabi caused moving forward until he agreed. It was an impossible choice, and Dabi’s cheeky grin told him that he knew that. The young adult rose to his feet again and plucked his whiskey glass from the coffee table.
“Wait!” Izuku moved to a kneel but didn’t dare get up yet. Dabi looked over his shoulder and saw him kneeling, and his eyes narrowed into slits as they looked at him. “Please, Dabi. You—it’s obvious that I love you, right? You’re the closest thing I’ve had to a brother.”
Dabi turned away, but as the whiskey glass clunked down on the counter Izuku could see the lines of tension through his coat.
“I know that you, you don’t see it that way, that’s fine,” Izuku stuttered out, looking away as he teared up a little. “But when dad sent you away… I’ve missed you so much. Why do we have to be hero and villain?”
Dabi didn’t turn around, but his voice was low and angry. “I’m not the one who changed the rules, ‘Zuku.”
His heart broke. “I know! I’m the one who locked dad up, I’m the one who went to the heroes, I’m the one who got you sent away because I became too attached. I want to meet you halfway, Dabi, I’m trying. I won’t turn you in. I won’t do it. So can you please, please try not to kill? That’s all I’m asking. Fight, win, commit crimes, but no murder; it’s the one thing that I can’t, can’t change.”
“Exactly,” Dabi hissed, back scrunching up the same way Izuku imagined his face was. “It’s the only thing that the old man can’t buy his way out of, can’t deny, can’t do anything about. Heroes can fix everything by keeping it quiet, but they can’t resurrect the dead.”
“Dabi...”
But there was nothing he could say, and he knew it. The words couldn’t come out because they either were lies or weren’t the ones Dabi wanted.
Izuku dropped his reaching hand to his side.
Dabi huffed, finally turning to lean against the counter to stare down at him with a look of disdain painting his features. “Look, li’l doc, I’m helping Handsy for now. He’s giving me what I want. If you were ready to do the same, well, yeah, I’d go with you, but you won’t. There’s nothing else to it.”
“I do want to help you!” Izuku blurted out the words without a moment’s thought. “You don’t have to use Tomura.”
Dabi tilted his head, assessing him. His eyes went hard for a moment, then he sneered.
“Are you saying that you might use those quirks of yours for a criminal like me?”
Izuku worried his lips. “I know sometimes it’s better to do things quickly than legally.”
“And if I kill them?”
Izuku’s response was silence.
“That’s what I thought.” The glass clunked down hard on the countertop as Dabi’s face spasmed in anger. “I hate that pitiful face of yours, doc. Always looking at other people like the sun shines out their ass. Looking like you don’t have any power, acting like you don’t have to make any choices... You never act on your own; you just look at people. Even with your pops locked up, you’re still looking at other people, always thinking about them and working around them. Can’t have you making anyone unhappy, right?”
Dabi pinned him with those burning azure eyes, frustration in every motion. “Get off your knees and do what you want; don’t wait for permission or help ‘cause you’re not getting it. I’m not some hero and I’m not some victim: stop looking at me like a patient, doc, because I’m a threat instead. Deal with me or don’t, but I don’t feel sorry for an overpowered brat who doesn’t do crap to change things.”
Izuku was shaking his head before Dabi even finished, which made the villain’s jaw clench before he turned his back to him once again. “Get out, babyface. I don’t feel like playing nice anymore.”
Izuku stood shakily, a few tears escaping as he looked to Dabi for something, anything to say. Dabi’s back was shaking in what he thought had to be fury, and Izuku worried. If I leave now, what will Dabi do while he’s THAT angry?
“Dabi?” Izuku probed gently. “Maybe you’re right...about me. I’m too scared to do anything, but....I don’t know how to fix it. I just don’t.”
Dabi turned around, sneering down at him. For a second, neither of them moved. The angry shaking had stopped though, to Izuku’s relief. Then, with a hefty sigh, Dabi’s anger left his shoulders, and he crossed the space between them in two wide steps to pull Izuku into a blistering kiss. Literally, a little, because his staples had heated up with his anger, but Dabi knew Izuku was safe to have so close no matter how hot he got. Even Izuku’s pain receptors didn’t notice the heated staples as much since his system healed the burns as quickly.
Even in the privacy of an apartment that Izuku knew had no bugs, even with Dabi being strong enough and smart enough to hide away if anything happened, even with Izuku feeling nothing from the kiss but the closeness of Dabi, the action had him jumping from the villain’s arms and tears prickling his eyes. Something bad’s going to happen, Izuku’s brain screamed. He’s going to die!
A rejection like that would normally hurt someone’s pride, but not a Todoroki. Dabi rubbed his thumb salaciously across his lips. “You really felt nothing, huh, kid? Damn, I thought I was hot stuff, too.”
Izuku’s body was shaking, and so was his voice. “Y-you shouldn’t have done that. I told you, I can’t! I CAN’T! It’s not worth it! He’ll kill you!”
Dabi leaned back, a mocking expression on his face and his arms open wide. “Let the great All for One strike me down for touching his precious child. Come on! Do it, All for One! DO IT!”
“Dabi! Don't!” Izuku tackled the teen down to the ground, further from the windows and behind the couch in case they needed a sudden barrier to block incoming projectiles. Izuku looked around, heart pounding. He half-expected a lightning bolt to strike from nowhere and disintegrate the young adult. “Don’t move! Don’t say another word!”
Silence then. Izuku held Dabi against the ground while he shoved a surveillance quirk into place and used it to extend the reach of All for One. He surveyed the immediate area for active quirks, but nothing was picked up. He held his breath as Dabi pulled him in, thumbing his back as if his soft movement were both an apology for scaring him and a way to still Izuku’s shaking body. Both were waiting for something – or nothing, in Dabi’s case—to happen. After a few minutes of nothing on his radar, Izuku sank into Dabi’s arms.
“You, you’re insane,” Izuku choked out, pressing his cheeks painfully to Dabi’s staples. It was just like when he was in front of dad's chair; he felt so, so powerless in front of the threat his father presented. If dad had seen that.... “You could have died. Died.”
Dabi sighed into his hair. “You’re way too scared, li’l doc. All-powerful as hell, but you’re still shaking like a soaked kitten. Seriously, all of this for barely a peck?”
Izuku could barely manage a, “Why? Why?”
Dabi continued his comforting thumbing, although he seemed more terse than kind. “You don’t get past that kind of thing without a fight, babyface. You said you didn’t know how to stop being scared, so I gave you a shove. Your old man didn’t want you to do something? You have to do it. Kiss a pretty girl once and a while. Give up the quirks he gave you. Leave the country, become a monk in Tibet, whatever it is. And then when nothing happens, when the feelings you get are worth it, you’ll realize he was only holding you back.”
Dabi pushed him back then, kneeling on one knee in front of him, serious and calm as he took Izuku by the shoulders. “Your old man isn’t going to do anything to me ‘cause of you, so when you get back to UA and nothing goes wrong—if he hasn’t broken out of prison and put my body on your bunk—then I want you to stop coming back, ‘Zuku.”
“What?!” Izuku started shaking his head and Dabi stopped his face with a firm grip that forced his emerald eyes to meet the azure flames of his own.
“Do what you want to do and don’t give your old man a single thought anymore,” Dabi commanded. “Be a hero and leave us behind. Including me.”
Izuku’s eyes blew open at Dabi’s suggestion. “But, but if I do that, I’d be betraying you! I already did that to dad; I can’t do that to you too!”
“You’d do it to Shigaraki, though.”
Both stared at each other, understanding. Dabi titled his head mockingly. “Is it because I’m better looking?”
Izuku choked on his laugh, while Dabi huffed.
“Dabi....” he whined.
With a ruffle of his hair, Dabi finally let him go again. “Look, you’ll be seeing me again. SOON. Hands has this idea that he’s going to kill All Might, but we’ll be lucky if you don’t knock him into eternity. So when you see me there...fight me. Fight me with everything you’ve got, because I’m not going to pull punches just because it’s you.”
Izuku dreaded what he had to say next. “But if I wasn’t a hero?”
“Then,” Dabi drawled, teasing, “we’d take down the HPSC, rob the richest corporations, and retire to the Bahamas where I’d tan with a gorgeous babe while you’d run an orphanage of quirkless brats that you’d train with new quirks before sending them out to be chaos gremlins across the world. Interested, li’l doc?”
Looking down at his shoes, he squashed the yearning in his chest. “I can’t.”
“I figured.” Dabi poked his shoulder with one stapled finger. “Don’t make choices then regret them, babyface. So get going and get ready, ‘cause Handsy is popping by to say, “Hi,” real soon, capische?”
Izuku nodded with tears splashing left and right at the motion. “Thank you, Dabi. And...please, please don’t make me fight you.”
Dabi’s eyes shadowed at that, but he didn’t promise him anything. He and Izuku knew that they’d fight each other. Soon. Neither of them particularly wanted to, but they both would anyway. It was the way their cards had been played.