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Izuku sucked in the information from the books, coming up with ideas and connections he saw and writing them down in a new notebook. He took the concept that quirklessness could be an advantage and tried to mold his mindset around it, tried to become more confident in himself and his actions. He knew Dabi noticed the change, given the amount of confused but happy glances that he got when they met up for training, but he didn’t feel much different.
Katsuki hadn’t tried to chase Izuku again since the whole alleyway incident, which was great news, especially since he kept the other kids from doing the same, but that didn’t mean the bullying stopped. Izuku still faced the wrath of his peers and the unwarranted treatment from his teachers. The training with Dabi helped, allowing Izuku to dodge the more dangerous blows, and the confidence boost that Izuku helped bite back the thoughts that chased him after he was insulted, but he made it a point to not dodge everything. That would just make it worse in the long run. Besides, It was good practice.
Not that getting injured was good , but he wanted to be a hero. And heroes got banged around. A lot. So it was better to learn to get used to the pain while he was young and things could be explained in the simple ways of ‘boys will be boys’ and clumsiness.
Besides, he had started to learn some first aid, so it wasn’t like he was letting himself get beat up for nothing. Every scrape, every burn, it was all practice, all a great learning experience. Dabi, apparently, didn’t know a lot about first aid, or how to care for injuries in general, which made sense considering they met when he was bleeding out behind a dumpster but-
“How can you know about burns but not cuts?!”
“I have a fire quirk. Burns happen.” He shrugged. “A lot.”
Izuku blinked at him in shocked confusion before turning back to the book in his lap and slamming it shut.
“Okay new plan. We’re gonna learn some first aid after lessons.”
“Whoa. Okay. Bossy.” Dabi threw his hand up in mock surrender. “And how are we supposed to do that?”
“Well-”
His mom had a collection of textbooks on the shelf in her room at home, along with some of the notebooks from when she was in school, so it wasn’t hard to get information, but figuring out what information was important for first aid specifically? That was a challenge.
Dabi, as clueless as anyone to what first aid needed, decided they needed a list. What to research, and what to avoid for now. Izuku took his ideas and made a list of all the injuries and topics he could think of, and added any others that Dabi managed to come up with during training, and that's where they started.
It was pretty easy, learning how to do most of the stuff listed. The tricky part was getting the materials that they needed to do said stuff, but Dabi, the loving teacher that he was, had an idea. Stealing. Never from family businesses, mind you, but if it's a chain, it's fair game.
Izuku wasn’t too keen on the idea at first, because, hey! What if someone else really needed what he took, but, with all the injuries he got from school, and training, he was the someone who really needed them, so the weight of his actions lessened. For the greater good and all that. That didn’t stop him for paying for what he could though, even if it meant less spending money on whatever he really really wanted but didn’t need. Like the new All-Might poster that came out yesterday.
The only thing that haunted him was when he’d steal from his mom’s first aid kit. Of course she always had extra, and she’d get it for free from her work, and really, fixing someone up after they got hurt was what it was for, but still. It was his mom’s . It felt like he was crossing a line whenever he unzipped the large bag and dug around for the few gauze packets he couldn’t buy because they were hospital grade, quirk enhanced, and made quick work of whatever injury they were used on.
Dabi had commented on his collection of things when he brought them to training, eying the backpack full of first aid necessities with a smirk.
“You don’t think you’ll need all of that, do you?”
“I don’t know!” He had whined back. “Things happen. I might.”
“This is a tourniquet.” He had reached into the bag and shuffled things around. “I don’t think you’d ever need this.” He stretched it between his hands, staring at it. “Do you even know how to use this? Because I don’t think I know how to use this.”
Izuku snatched it out of his hands and put it back into the bag, zipping it shut. “Maybe I will. Maybe I do. Leave me alone.”
Dabi laughed, placing his hand on Izuku’s head to ruffle his hair as he got up, joints popping as they realigned themselves into a standing position. “I’m joking!” His hands clapped together, making Izuku jump. “So. Training?”
“Yknow, I kinda feel selfish, taking all this stuff when there’s other people who could need it more.”
“Izuku. You are the people who need it more.” Dabi said, finishing the messy line of stitches on his forearm, repairing the burned skin Izuku had torn with a lucky kick.
“Consider, I still feel bad.”
“If you really feel bad about it, we can use it to help the people around here too.”
“What?”
“Y’know,” Dabi waved his hand, “Get people food, get the medicine they need, patch them up, help people.”
“That uh, no offense but that sounds dangerous. Really dangerous. Like what about the villains and criminals?”
Dabi stared at Izuku. “Kid.” Green eyes met his. “I wouldn’t let you do this alone. I’d go with you, keep an eye on things, give you a hand if you needed one.”
“Oh!” Izuku smiled, and Dabi mirrored it back, though Izuku’s seemed to be more shit-eating than sweet and- “Like a babysitter.”
Nevermind. Not sweet. He dove towards Izuku with a war cry, ignoring the returned cries of terror. “You gremlin!”