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Izuku was going to die, or at least he felt like he was going to. He had just taken another beating from his best friend, Kacchan Izuku knew he had to stop calling the blonde boy that name, all it ever did was get him beat harder.
Izuku shuffled to his feet blood staining the concrete below him, memories of how that blood got there flashed through Izuku's mind, images of Bakugo laughing, the sounds of his own weak voice pleading for him to just stop already, his words didn't work, they never did.
He took a moment to assess his injuries, a mild concussion, probably a few broken ribs and a sprained wrist. He didn't even bother to count all the other bruises and cuts on his body. He already knew it would be a waste of time, he took a moment to stabilize himself on the wall before attempting to walk.
His head felt like it was going to explode and his vision blurred, he quickly moved back to the wall leaning against it for support. Ok, so walking was a no go, he can deal with this, its not like there was much else he could do anyway.
He decides it's a better idea to try and fix his injuries first before trying to walk again, he glances around the alley for his familiar yellow bag finding it off to the side, probably thrown there some time when the bullies were taunting him.
Slowly he shuffled over keeping his hand on the wall for support, finally he reached his bag sitting down. He looked for some bandages he put in that morning. He pulled off his blood soaked jacket putting it to the side mentally noting that he would have to wash it off before his mother saw the blood, he knew she wouldn't say anything either way but it was nice to pretend she would care.
As he's bandaging up his wrist he hears someone walking into the alleyway, he doesn't look up, praying that whoever it was wouldn't notice him, he didn't pray hard enough apparently because he hears a rough voice call out to him.
"Hey kid, those are some pretty nasty burns you've got there" The person says walking closer, their black boots entering Izuku's vision.
Slowly looking up Izuku's green eyes meets the man's blue ones, Izuku quickly scans over the man noticing dark purple scars that covered most of his body, all of it stapled to the healthy skin.
"I-I'm fine s-sir, but um T-Thank you f-for your c-concern" Izuku's voice trembled no matter how hard he was trying to keep it steady, it didn't help that he was in pain due to his injuries.
"Don't lie to me kid, you look like shit" The man spoke bluntly sitting down next to him carefully taking the bandages from his hand. "You need to wrap these tighter so they won't get infected." The man said as he started re-wrapping Izuku's injuries causing the boy to wince.
"R-Really, i-its fine" Izuku tries to argue but it only seems to make the man more determined to help him. They don't speak much after that, Izuku just sits quietly while the man carefully wraps his injuries being surprisingly gentle with the boy.
"So wanna talk about where you got these from?" The man asks, breaking the silence, Izuku thought for a moment before shaking his head. He really didn't want to talk about it at the moment, not when he could still smell the nitroglycerin in the air.
The man just nods and lets it be, Izuku was surprised he didn't press him for the story, but then again he didn't expect the man to talk to him at all so he really shouldn't have made any more assumptions about the man.
"There, let me know if anything is too tight." The man finally meets Izuku's gaze, now finished with the boy's injuries, Izuku looked down at his arms that were now covered in clean white bandages.
"It's fine, thank you" Izuku continued to look at his arms they looked different from when he took care of his own injuries, there was less blood on the bandages and everything was carefully put in place unlike how Izuku did it, favoring getting the act done rather than doing it carefully.
The man stood up brushing the dirt off his jeans holding a scared hand out to the boy, who flinched in return before he realized the man was just helping him up. Izuku got up on shaky legs quickly, letting the man's hand go once he was up.
"I-i um never got your name" Izuku was suddenly nervous now that the man stood in front of him towering over the smaller boy.
"You can call me Dabi, what about you kid?" The man spoke with a smirk pulling at his scared lips. Anyone else would cringe at the sight but Izuku was no stranger to scars so he easily brushed it off.
"I-Izuku, Izuku Midorya" Izuku was glad the man hadn't been there earlier, glad he didn't hear Bakugo and his lackeys calling him Deku, among other names.
"Izuku, nice name now come on it's already getting late and I'm pretty sure you won't be able to walk on your own for a bit" the man- Dabi's words earned a wince from Izuku, he was right after all the kid would probably crumble the second he tried to take a step
Dabi seems to notice this though since he wraps his arm around the boy's shoulders helping steady the boy, Izuku reluctantly lets Dabi help him to walk. It was silent for a moment before Izuku realized he didn't know where they were going, and now that he thought about it the man had no way of knowing where he lived but even with this realization Izuku knew he had no reason to speak up.
Dabi was nice to him, sure he was a bit sketchy and probably would turn on Izuku, the boy couldn't bother himself to care, it was rare anyone treated him with this kindness and well fuck he was desperate for someone like Dabi. Izuku knew it was too good to be true. He knew the kindness was only to get him close but he didn't care.
So he stayed silent, he would enjoy the kindness while it lasted, even if he's being led to his death he didn't mind it, it wasn't like he was very opposed to dying Dabi was just saving him the guilt of if he did it himself, it was fine. He knew it was a lie but with Dabi's arm wrapped around him providing a bit of warmth and comfort Izuku never normally gets, the boy couldn't help but find himself relaxed.
To Izuku's surprise Dabi didn't lead him to his death, instead he brought him to a run down looking bar and once inside he was brought to a couch where a very excited looking girl sat, she seemed to be about his age with blond hair that was put in two messy buns.
"Hey crazy, I found a kid when I was out, don't kill him" Dabi helped him sit on the couch making sure he wasn't in any pain before walking out of the room, the girl turned her attention to Izuku, curious eyes roaming over his figure.
"I'm Toga! It's nice to meet you greenie" Toga spoke, taking his hand and shaking it with a grin on her face showing off sharp fangs that make Izuku freeze, Toga noticing his reaction seemed to dim slightly in her excitement.
"Ah- sorry! I didn't mean to stare at your fangs, they're just so... Interesting" Izuku quickly clarified, mind still working quickly as he tried to figure out if they were related to her quirk or just natural.
Toga relaxed at this, she smiled as she heard his words, she could tell he meant them, that he really was just interested and not... disturbed like most people were.
"You think they're interesting?!" She was excited that there was someone -that wasn't a villain- that thought her fangs were interesting.
Before Izuku could respond Dabi walked back into the room, a blue haired man trailing behind him, they seemed to be talking about something as they walked in.
"...This is the kid I was talking about" Dabi gestured to Izuku as he spoke, the blue haired man turned his gaze to the boy causing him to tense up, red eyes trailed over the boy as if deciding whether he was worth the trouble or not.
"He's just a baby" The man's gruff voice noted his eyes narrowing in what seemed to be confusion.
"I said he was just a kid," Dabi offered, seeming amused by the other man's reaction.
The blue haired man walked over to Izuku putting a hand to his chin keeping one finger not touching, forcing the boy to move his head so the man could get a better look at the bruise forming on his cheek.
"The baby's hurt, Dabi, why is the baby hurt?" The man gave Dabi a glare as he questioned him, his other hand that was not holding Izuku scratching at his neck.
"I didn't do it, he came like this still hasn't told me how he got like this" Dabi waved off the other man's anger as he leaned on the wall gaze falling back to Izuku.
"So little one, how did this-" the man tapped the bruise on his cheek lightly "-happen?" The man asked, and Izuku could tell he was mad but for the first time it wasn't towards Izuku.
"I-It was j-just some kids from school" Izuku's stutter returned at the intense look on the man's face even if the anger wasn't for him it still made him scared.
"Bullshit" the man spat out his words laced with venom clearly not in the mood to listen to lies. "Who really did this?"
"B-bullies" Izuku admitted reluctantly, he wasn't sure if the man would take that answer or not but by the way his expression softened and his grip loosened on Izuku's chin he could assume his answer was good enough.
"Dabi, find whoever hurt the baby, I want to talk to them" the man spoke ominously, his words threatening, despite this he reached up to Izuku's hair ruffling it gently keeping one finger raised.
"Sure thing Shigi" Dabi made no move to follow the orders at the moment deciding he'd do it later, for the moment he just walked over to Izuku sitting down in the spot next to him on the couch. "I'll do that later right now we have to figure out what to do with the kid"
"We're keeping him," the man said without hesitation, gaze shifting from Izuku to Dabi as if daring him to argue.
"What, y-you can't j-just keep me!" Izuku was surprised the man would even want him in the first place but still he had a mom he couldn't abandon his whole life -as bad as it was- for some people he just met.
The man turned his gaze to Izuku, clearly displeased with his answer.
"And why not?" The man asked, his hand scratching his neck hard enough for Izuku to think he would draw blood.
"I-I still have a mom, a-and I don't even know you people" Izuku argued, he might not see his mom much more these days, and these people he just meet have shown him more kindness than anyone else has since he was four, but they still don't know how useless he is.
"Do you now, and where is your mother? You can't be older than twelve and yet no calls or even a text from your so-called mother" the man was clearly displeased with this even though it is more reason he could keep the kid.
"I'm not twelve! I-I'm thirteen, a-and mom is just at work, she'll call eventually" Izuku couldn't believe the words he knew she would call, just knowing when was the mystery, eventually could be a few minutes or a few hours.
As if on que Izuku's phone buzzed, he was surprised it was still intact after the beating he took earlier, quickly he took it out of his pocket the caller ID thankfully reading that it was his mother, the man gave him a doubting look as if daring him to answer it.
"Put it on speaker so we can all hear how 'worried' your mother is" the man said sarcastically.
And Izuku did, he put it on speaker letting his mothers tired voice ring throughout the room.
"Izuku I won't be home till late so you'll have to find something for dinner, I'm sorry I can't be home earlier but you know how hard I work, so just be a good boy for mommy ok?" Her voice sounded caring but if you really listened you could hear the hint of annoyance like calling her son was some chore, before Izuku could respond with anything more than a ok she hung up.
Silence hung in the air for a moment. The call ended still in Izuku's phone like a cold reminder of how the one person who was supposed to care was yet again absent.
"So concerned huh, really sounded like it" The man or Shigi Izuku heard Dabi call him, remarked sarcastically.
"S-shes just busy with work, it's fine she's a nurse so it makes sense" Izuku tried to reason, he tried to defend her, but it was getting hard to convince even himself, he's heard this kind of call a lot, sometimes there never was a call, or if there was one it was clear she was drunk and he knew because it was the only time she still called him her sweetheart.
"Nurses don't work all day, any good mother would plan their shifts so they can see their kid" Shigi spoke coldly, his eyes holding nothing but hate for this woman that dared to call herself Izuku's mother.
"We're keeping him, end of discussion" the man left no room for argument as he turned his gaze away from Izuku.
"W-wait, I still don't even know you!" Izuku had to come up with some reason, anything for himself to reason that he shouldn't stay in this place where he was cared for, where he was wanted.
"I'm Shigraki Tomura, this is Toga Himiko and that is Dabi, now you know us" the man, Shigaraki said, turning away from Izuku and walking over to Dabi.
Izuku tried uselessly to stop him, but he knew it was pointless. Shigraki made it obvious he was not going to argue about this further, they were keeping him, whatever that meant.
"We can't keep the kid Shigi, as much as I want to we have to give him back before someone notices he's gone" Dabi's words only served to make Shigraki scratch at his neck more.
Shigaraki turned to face Izuku contemplating something, "I'll let him go, but he has to come back so we know he's ok, and if any of you find him like you did tonight then I'm keeping him." His words were final. This was Izuku's only option if he wanted to go home.
"Ok I'll come back I just um I want to go home, please" Izuku didn't know why but being wanted felt nice, even if it was in the form of wanting to kidnap him.
"I'll take you home kid, I don't trust Shigi to actually take you home." Dabi gave an annoyed look to Shigaraki, the man scoffed in return but didn't deny the claim.
Dabi walked over to Izuku gesturing for him to get up, the boy quickly moved to follow him and soon enough they were out the door.
It was a quiet night, only the sounds of cars to fill their silence, it was a comfortable silence for Izuku, for him this kind of silence was rare. He was so used to the loud yelling of Bakugo at school or worse the defending silence at home an ever present reminder that he was completely alone.
But this was different, even though neither of them spoke Izuku didn't feel alone, for the first time his footsteps weren't the only ones he heard interrupting his thoughts, and despite the cool night air making him shiver in his burnt clothes he felt warm inside.
Eventually they get to Izuku's house and he was disappointed the walk didn't last longer, but that disappointment soon cleared as he felt a warm hand ruffle his hair.
"Alright kid I guess this is good bye, just make sure to come down to the base some time next week, preferably before Shigraki loses his shit" Dabi's gruff words earn a laugh from Izuku and he feels a little better about having to go into his empty house.
With one last wave to Dabi and a promise to meet with them next week Izuku enters his house, as expected the silence stung, he hated that a part of him wanted to stay with Dabi and the others. He hated that he didn't mind the thought of leaving his mother, but reluctantly he went to his room and went to bed, knowing it was only a few days till he'd be able to see them again, and maybe that time he'll get to stay.