On the bus the next morning, Izuku stared at his phone in shock as the media went crazy.
For once, the fact that the Hero Killer had killed someone wasn't the headline. It was all about Captain Celebrity, tearing him apart, analyzing his past, and, for some, blaming America for creating shitty heroes. Izuku could live without that last part, but he had to admit, seeing the worst hero ever getting what was coming to him was kind of satisfying. The guy was paralyzed from the neck down, he was facing serious legal repercussions from both Japan and America, and his wife had filed for a divorce already. He was definitely not loving life right now.
It took Izuku almost the whole bus ride to find the original story, the first one to have been run. He looked at the picture curiously to see that Stain had decided to leave his note using Captain Celebrity's blood on the wall, which was typical of him. Izuku should have guessed that Stain would take his words and make them super dramatic. Again, though, the article was less about Stain's involvement and more about how terrible Captain Celebrity was, and how he never should have become a hero in the first place.
It seemed that the whole world was questioning hero society and justice in general. They were asking the right questions, like what exactly makes a hero and is there a better way for us to determine the worth of a person .
Izuku felt a little twinge of pride as he kept reading. Then he realized what he was doing and he completely shut off his phone, feeling guilt sweep over him as the bus pulled into his school's station.
He'd paralyzed someone.
He'd ruined someone's life.
Indirectly, but still.
What on earth was he thinking?
Was Captain Celebrity a shitbag? Yes. Did that mean that he deserved the havoc Izuku had just wrecked on his life?
…
Izuku honestly couldn't bring himself to say no, as much as his brain was scolding him. He just… he couldn't find it in himself to pity a guy who had done so much evil.
So did he regret it?
Not really.
But shouldn't he? Shouldn't he feel sorry for being the reason Captain Celebrity's quality of life had just plummeted? The guy was paralyzed and absolutely no one wanted to help him at this point. He'd be lucky if he lived through the next year.
Sighing, Izuku stepped out of the bus station. Sometimes he wished there was someone he could talk to about this stuff. Someone that wasn't Stain, who was probably crowing triumphantly on the rooftops right now as people finally started to get his point. Someone who wasn't his mom, who didn't have any idea what was going on.
Someone who wasn't Kacchan, who'd just caught sight of Izuku outside of school and was making a beeline for him, face screwed up angrily.
I really need a normal friend , Izuku decided as he ducked under Kacchan's right swing and stepped lightly past him, heading for the school building. He entered the gates with another sigh, hearing Kacchan's angry footsteps stomping up behind him.
The air shifted behind him, sending a little tingle down his neck, and he ducked at the last second, hair ruffling slightly as Kacchan's fist passed just over his head.
"Hey, Kacchan!" he said brightly, turning around and baring his teeth in a false smile.
Kacchan had been making increasingly desperate attempts to punch Izuku lately, and had been failing miserably. It was clearly very frustrating for him, and he hadn't seemed to have figured out yet that there were better ways to hurt people than hitting.
"I have a question for you," Izuku said lightly, easily deflecting Kacchan's next punch to the side with his wrist.
After training with Stain, this wasn't hard at all. Kacchan always broadcasted his moves, making him exceptionally easy to predict. At least, easy to predict compared to a seasoned serial killer.
"Do you think it's better to let bad people do bad things, or take it into your own hands by breaking some laws, tearing apart their bodies, and destroying their public image?"
Kacchan just growled, leaping forward with his hands outstretched to try to tackle Izuku to the ground.
That was okay. Izuku didn't need him to answer, because he already knew his answer. He would choose the second one, no questions asked. That was just the kind of person he was, someone who wouldn't just stand by and watch a villain hiding in plain sight.
Izuku used to admire Kacchan for hating villains so much. He used to think it was the coolest thing, how Kacchan wanted to be a hero so he could beat up the bad guys. He used to think Kacchan had his life all figured out, and he was going to be the greatest hero ever. Now he wasn't so sure. Someone who acted like Kacchan did around Izuku couldn't possibly be a great hero. If Izuku saw a hero today, acting the way Kacchan did, he'd probably set Stain on them next. People didn't deserve to be treated like dirt, even if they had weak quirks. Even if they were villains. Everyone deserved another chance.
Even Captain Celebrity.
Izuku side-stepped Kacchan's tackle attempt, allowing him to faceplant on the ground where a pair of red shoes had been a moment ago. Then, brushing his spotless uniform off, he continued to class.
Maybe that was what he should have given Captain Celebrity. A chance to restart. Stain probably wouldn't have jumped on that idea, though, so maybe it would have been pointless to try.
Anyway, he had said he'd stop messing around with Stain's work now. That meant he could start trying to fix things himself, in his own way. It was too late for Captain Celebrity, but he could figure out how to give other immoral heroes the chance to restart. He'd have to be delicate with it though. He'd have to have a plan.
"Hey worthless Deku, mutter much?"
He really needed a friend to shoot ideas at, because muttering about destroying people's reputations in class wasn't going to cut it.
School went by quickly, and homework even more quickly. Izuku was distracted all day, trying to figure out how to force heroes to rethink their lives and motivations. He kept finding himself continually hitting dead ends. It was really annoying. The only thing he could think of consistently was blackmail, but he didn't want to blackmail heroes into changing their lives. He wanted them to find motivation themselves. He wanted to teach them what was wrong and inspire them to fix it, not force them to do stuff for unknown reasons.
The problem was Izuku wasn't powerful enough to do that. If he was someone like Nezu, maybe he could do it. But he wasn't Nezu, he was just a quirkless highschooler, who got bullied and tried too hard on his homework. He was just some kid, with not-half-bad analysis skills. No one wanted him around and no one was going to listen to anything he had to say. Quirkless meant useless in this world, and he wasn't ever going to get people to listen to him and take his thoughts seriously. He was all alone, and he would never be able to be a truly great hero.
Needless to say, he was in a bit of a bad mood when he got to Stain's temporary apartment that night.
Stain was not in a bad mood.
In fact, Stain was, predictably, in a very good mood.
"I'm never doubting you again, kid," he announced, taking a swig from an unlabeled bottle that Izuku thought was probably some form of alcohol. Stain didn't look drunk, so Izuku wasn't particularly worried, but it was definitely different, seeing him drinking. He'd sort of started picturing Stain as someone super uptight about staying sober, but maybe even idealistic serial killers splurged sometimes.
"I'm glad it worked out for you," Izuku said flatly, expanding and collapsing his bo staff several times.
Stain seemed to notice Izuku was not having a good night. His expression softened, and he set his unlabeled bottle down on the table, leaning in. "What's going on?"
Izuku made a frustrated noise in the back of his throat and violently started swinging his bo staff around, going through his practice strikes while ignoring the way the staff occasionally hit the ceiling. Stain was kind enough not to comment on his sloppy form, but he wasn't nice enough to change the subject.
"Why do you even keep me around?" Izuku yelled finally, giving up with his unproductive attempts at deflecting the conversation and chucking his staff across the room. "What's even the point? I'm just a stupid quirkless Deku kid, and I can't help anyone with anything. This whole thing is just stupid! Why on earth did I think I could be a hero ? No one's going to want me to be a hero, they're all going to hate me for my entire life, and they'll be right to, because I--"
"Okay, I'm gonna just stop you right there," Stain interrupted, holding up a hand. "First of all, don't throw the bo around like that, because it's not meant to be used like that and, need I remind you, this isn't actually my house. Second, yeah, everyone's going to hate you, so what?"
Izuku stared at him. "What do you mean so what ?" he shrieked, flinging his hands up in the air in exasperation. "How am I supposed to be a hero if everyone hates me?"
Stain blinked at him a few times, frowning. "Remind me why you want to be a hero?"
Wilting a little, he answered, "So I can save people."
"Okay. So what does that have to do with people liking you?" Stain shrugged, leaning back in his chair. "As far as I'm concerned, you don't even have to be a legitimate hero to save people. Vigilantes save people. Also, people notoriously don't like underground heroes, and they save people all the time. Being a flashy hero is overrated."
"You don't ever attack underground heroes," Izuku realized suddenly.
"Yeah, because they're not usually immoral asshats. They're in this business because they legitimately want to help people. It's admirable."
"Okay, but… other heroes won't like me either. A lot of hero work is about team-ups, and no one's going to want to work with the quirkless loser."
Stain looked unimpressed. "Why wouldn't they like you?"
"Because I'm quirkless," he answered, getting frustrated. It wasn't that difficult to understand.
"What does that have to do with anything?"
Izuku wished he still had his staff in his hand so he could throw it at the wall or at Stain's head. "That has everything to do with everything! People don't like me when they know I'm quirkless, it's just a fact of--"
"I like you," Stain said simply.
Effectively cut off, Izuku stared at him. "W-what?"
"I like you. And I know you're quirkless, so…" He raised his eyebrows, clearly trying to prove a point.
"But…" Izuku couldn't understand it. People who knew he was quirkless didn't ever like him, except maybe his mom. They tolerated him, sure, but like him? Even the suggestion that Stain could possibly want him around was strange. "Why?" he asked, completely flabbergasted.
Stain shrugged, like it wasn't a big deal, like he wasn't completely blowing Izuku's mind right now. "You're smart. You're determined to do what you set out to do, and you have a good heart. Why wouldn't I like you?"
"Because I'm quirkless!"
"My quirk requires me to drink someone's blood for it to activate," Stain said dryly. "That doesn't seem to bother you."
"But you have a quirk."
"And you don't. Big deal."
Izuku's eyes started to burn with coming tears. "It is a big deal," he choked out. "All I've ever wanted is a quirk so people would want me around, and I could be actually useful."
"And I'm telling you you can be useful without one."
Izuku held Stain's eyes until his tears spilled over and he had to wipe them away. Never, never in his entire life had someone told him he didn't need a quirk to be helpful. He'd always tried to believe it himself, of course, trying to force it to be a reality through sheer force of will, but no one had ever told him it was actually possible. Or if they had, it was in a pitying sort of way, like they were only saying it to make him happy.
Everyone always looked at him with sad eyes when they figured out that this kid, glowing with intelligence and potential, didn't have a quirk. It had always been that the moment people realized he didn't have a quirk, they knew he would never amount to anything. His mother had done it the day he got his diagnosis, his bullies had done it the day after, his teachers had done it from the day he started school, that therapist he tried once had done it during their first session. All Might had done it on that rooftop. No one had ever believed in him before.
So why was it that the only person in the entire world who was looking at Izuku like he could actually accomplish something was a serial killer?
"Okay, we're taking a break today, kid," Stain said, standing up and stretching out his back. "You're too worked up to do staff drills right now, and I don't want to fight you while you're all unstable and teenager-y. Want to go get ice cream or… I don't know what you like to do for fun… TP your least favorite teacher's house?"
Izuku didn't respond, still staring at Stain in shock.
"Kid?" he asked, looking concerned.
Shaking himself out of his trance, Izuku said quietly, "Deku. You can call me Deku." He crossed the room in search of his bo staff.
"Deku…?" Stain repeated, sounding bewildered. "Like… like Dekiru? You can do it?"
Staff in hand, Izuku turned around, meeting Stain's confused eyes."Like Dekunobou. Useless."
An angry expression set in on Stain's eyebrows. "Your parents named you after the word useless?"
"No, my bullies did," Izuku said, absentmindedly spinning the staff over his elbow and catching it on the other side. "But I kind of like it." He gave Stain the smallest of smiles. "It's going to help me remember that I can still make a difference, even though everyone else thinks I'm useless. I want it to remind me of the stereotype I'm working to defeat."
A smile started across Stain's face too. "Okay, then, Deku. Really, though," he continued, expression going serious. "Ice cream? What do teenagers do for fun?"
Izuku shook his head apologetically. "You're asking the wrong person. I don't have any friends."
Stain gave him a stern look. "We're going to have to fix that, then."
Friend
Chapter Notes
DID IZUKU ASK FOR A NORMAL FRIEND? DID I HEAR THAT?
Well, I can't do normal, but I can do friend.
CACKLE CACKLE CA-- cough-- CACKLE
Oh my god I'm excited. Okay.
Tw for scars, implied past abuse, alcohol consumption, suicidal-ish thoughts and briefly mentioned bullying
Izuku really wasn't sure what was going on anymore.
One minute, he'd been crying to Stain about how much everyone hated him-- not for the first time, of course-- and the next, Stain was pulling his hood over his eyes and doing his best to make Izuku look inconspicuous. When he was satisfied with Izuku's appearance, and after Izuku had quickly grabbed his throwing knives and first aid kit just in case, Stain commenced to drag him down back alleys, muttering about some guy he really wanted him to meet.
"Don't comment on his scars-- he has a lot of them. Actually, just try not to give him any weird looks at all, just talk to him like you would anyone else. I wouldn't recommend asking about his quirk, at least not until he brings it up. And whatever you do, do not bring up Endeavor," Stain warned him, "unless it's to piss on his name."
Izuku nodded, not that Stain was paying any attention.
Releasing his arm, Stain jumped for a fire escape, grabbing the bottom of it and swinging his legs up to land gracefully on the first platform. Izuku followed him up a second later, using a nearby dumpster to give him some height so he could scramble onto the platform. It was much less graceful than Stain's method, but Izuku didn't have the arm strength to do a muscle up, so he had to find a different way up. And anyway, it worked.
Stain climbed up two more levels and then pushed open a window, dropping inside. Frowning curiously, Izuku poked his head through the window.
It looked like a bar, which was a weird place to bring a teenager in the middle of the night. It wasn't completely full of people, but the people that were there seemed to take up a lot of space with the amount of power and malice radiating off of them. Almost everyone was wearing hoods or masks, and they were all eyeing each other suspiciously, even while they were talking, like they were trying to size up everyone else in the room. Izuku got the idea that maybe this wasn't a place where nice people came to hang out. Which meant he was about to walk straight into a hellhole.
Good thing he'd thought to bring his knives.
He slipped in the window after Stain, purposefully making his landing as soft as possible so no one noticed him. Some people did, but they seemed to be looking at him more for the purpose of analyzing the level of threat he posed than anything else.
Stain crossed confidently over to the bar, eyes darting around carefully. Izuku tailed along behind him, doing his best to go unseen. He wasn't really sure it worked, but he was suddenly really grateful Stain was here with him, because no one was paying attention to the short kid in the hoodie. All eyes were on Stain. People seemed to recognize him, and were either watching him with trepidation or excitement.
"Something to drink, sugar?" the bartender asked as they approached, leaning against the counter and looking at Izuku with some interest.
"Uh-- I-I'm underage," Izuku stuttered.
The bartender raised his eyebrows in disbelief and looked over at Stain. "Did he really just say that?"
Stain shrugged.
The bartender returned his gaze to Izuku, tipping his head to the side thoughtfully. "A bit uptight about laws, are we?"
Izuku suddenly felt like he was getting tested for his ability to make snippy comments, so he gathered himself together and shot back, "Some of them."
"Only some?"
"It's not a bad thing to be picky."
"But if you break one law, why not break them all?"
"If you can get away with breaking one, why risk breaking another?"
The bartender laughed, tipping his head back and pushing away from the counter. "I like you," he said, grinning. "Feel free to come back whenever you want." He wiggled his eyebrows. "You don't even have to get a drink." Laughing again, he turned to Stain. "Something for you, then, Stendhal?"
"No. You make weird concoctions, and I'm not in the mood for an experiment."
"Some people like them."
"Mm." Stain didn't seem to believe that was possible, but he just changed the subject. "See Dabi today?"
He jerked his thumb to the back of the bar. "Back."
"Thanks."
Stain seized Izuku's arm and started dragging him to the back. "Just reminding you one last time-- do not bring up Endeavor."
Breathless, Izuku nodded. He felt like he'd been being dragged around all night, and he honestly had no idea what was happening. They were here to make friends? With a heavily scarred guy who hated Endeavor? But why?
They got to the back and Izuku instantly saw what Stain had meant about the scars because holy hell, the guy had a lot of them. Or, really, just one big one, a burn scar which spread from the lower half of his face down under his shirt and became visible again on his arms, making him look a little bit like a patchwork quilt. His skin was literally stapled together, and while Izuku was making a concerted effort not to stare, it was difficult when he wanted to ask why on earth he hadn't gotten stitches instead. When Izuku managed to look away from the scars, he was met with piercing blue eyes, and a lot of tufty black hair, dyed from the looks of it.
"Dabi," Stain said, slapping the scarred man across the back excitedly and pulling a chair up next to him. Dabi didn't look at him, keeping his eyes fixed on Izuku's, but Stain didn't seem to notice. Come to think of it, Izuku hadn't seen him this excited in a while, if ever. "It's been a long time."
"Two months," Dabi said shortly, still not moving his gaze from Izuku's eyes.
"A long time," Stain agreed.
Izuku's eyes were starting to water now, because he wasn't blinking. Breaking eye contact with this guy, even for a second, suddenly seemed like the scariest thing in the world.
"Who's your friend?" Dabi asked tonelessly, head tipping to the side slightly. A shiver went down Izuku's spine.
"That's Deku."
Surprised, Izuku blinked.
Smirking, Dabi looked away, like he'd just won something, but Izuku didn't care. Stain had called him Deku! Deku as in… as in Deku! He hadn't been expecting the name to sound so different in the mouth of someone he trusted, but now that Stain had called him Deku for the first time, he never wanted to go back to being "kid" again.
"H-hi!" he squeaked, bowing a little bit.
Dabi raised an eyebrow and looked at Stain again.
Stain just sighed. "Yeah, I know. We're working on it."
"Politeness is for prigs and heroes," Dabi told Izuku, leaning back in his chair. "Drop the bow and the greeting and just claim your territory, or you're going to get killed."
"Who cares?" Izuku asked honestly. Because, seriously, who would care if he was killed? His mom, maybe, but he always felt more like a burden to her than anything else. She'd probably be relieved she didn't have to deal with him being around anymore. Kacchan would care, but only because he'd have lost his favorite punching bag.
Stain sighed again, a lot more heavily this time. "Kid, how many times do I have to say this? I care. Don't die on me."
"I wouldn't die on you," Izuku protested, taking Dabi's advice and grabbing a chair without asking. "I'd die in a nearby alley and you'd have to come find my cold, dead body."
Dabi snorted as Stain gave Izuku an annoyed look. "Where did you find this kid?" Dabi snickered, leaning forward again and resting his elbows on the table.
"He found me," Stain answered, matching Dabi's smirk.
"Impressive," Dabi said, looking Izuku up and down again, eyebrows quirked up with interest.
"Um… not really?" Izuku said, feeling his shyness coming up again. "I just hacked into some security cameras near his recent kills and went through the backlogs and followed him through the cameras until I lost track of him. Then I went through nearby buildings and looked for places he might be staying. I narrowed it down to six, I think?"
Dabi and Stain were both looking at him strangely, and his shoulders started to hunch up as he curled in on himself in embarrassment. Were they mad that he'd traced Stain like that?
"That your quirk?" Dabi asked finally.
He shook his head, pursing his lips together. This was it. This was when all of Stain's plans of Izuku getting 'friends' got chucked out the window. Everyone always left when they found out he was quirkless. So Dabi was going to ask what his quirk was, and he'd have to tell him the truth, and then Dabi would leave.
To his surprise, all Dabi said was, "Even more impressive." He took a long drink out of his glass, which was filled with something bright blue. Izuku didn't think it looked very good, but it must have done something, because Dabi's eyes were brighter when he set it down again. "Think you could do that with Endeavor?"
Izuku felt his body start to tense up, Stain's warning screaming repeatedly in his head. "Um. I mean, Endeavor's not really that hard to track? He kind of… goes everywhere with a big… um… boom."
Dabi waved that away with one hand. "Yeah, but, do you think you could predict when he'd be the most vulnerable? Do you think you could go digging into his personal life? Could you find incriminating information on him?"
Carefully, ever so carefully, Izuku responded, "I think I could find a lot of incriminating information on him, but I'm not comfortable with sharing that information."
To his relief, Dabi's expression stayed the same, interested and slightly amused. He didn't look disappointed or upset at Izuku's unwillingness to share information on heroes.
"Even if I did," Izuku continued, taking confidence in Dabi's reaction, or lack thereof, "I don't think it would do much. The public is on his side right now, and taking him out would shatter hero society… as… we… hold on." He pressed his hands into the side of his head. Endeavor was really bad. Not like Captain Celebrity bad, to Izuku's knowledge, but still, not a good hero. How much would it take to knock him out of the top? And how much chaos would that create?
If he could slowly start to turn the public's eye against Endeavor-- if he could slowly manipulate society into looking at Endeavor and seeing a bad hero in a top spot, instead of a powerful quirk doing a hero's job, then… then he could change the way the entire world viewed quirks! He could revolutionize hero society, he could make people want a change, he could use the chaos it created to--
Oh yeah. All that would come at a cost.
There was a distinct possibility that all of that planning and manipulating would cause the dominoes to fall in the wrong direction, or cause half of them to fall but not the rest, pinning Japan in a sort of in-between state where no one knew who to trust anymore. That possibility was too big to ignore, and the results of the chaos made by destroying Endeavor would be severe.
And anyway, Endeavor needed a chance to change too, Izuku tried to remind himself forcefully. Everyone needed a chance to be better. Second chances. Important.
He shook his head and returned his gaze to Dabi, who was smirking at him again. "Sorry, that's a no."
"Ah, it's fine," Dabi said, placing both hands casually behind his head and leaning back in his chair again. "It was fun listening to you mutter to yourself, anyway." Izuku blushed, but Dabi honestly didn't seem to mind that he'd been thinking out loud. "Let me know if you find anything super interesting though, yeah? I'll be here."
Izuku nodded, pretty sure he would not be doing that. But he kind of liked Dabi, and he didn't want to make him angry or disappointed, so he'd definitely consider it. And he could maybe do some digging into Endeavor for him, just in case.
"Friends," Stain said, nodding.
When Dabi rolled his eyes, Izuku choked out a laugh, hiding it behind one hand. Dabi's eyes widened in surprise, and then he grinned, staples stretching oddly.
"When did you get so sappy?" Dabi asked Stain, getting cocky as he took his disgusting-looking blue drink in his hand again and took another drink.
"The day I met you," Stain answered without a second's hesitation. He stood up. "Now give each other your phone numbers like good teenagers and then Deku, come outside and throw a knife at my face."
Izuku nodded eagerly, searching around for something to write his phone number really quickly on so he could go throw knives. Instead, Dabi stood up, towering over the table as Izuku gawked. He hadn't realized how tall Dabi was. He was probably only about ten centimeters taller than Izuku, but still! That was a lot of centimeters! Too many!
"Nah, it's fine. If you don't mind, I'd like to watch you throw knives at each other." He jabbed a finger at his blue drink. "I'm not sure exactly what's in this, but it's weird and I don't like the idea of blacking out before I get home."
"Does it taste good?" Izuku asked curiously.
Clearly making a concerted effort to not smile, Dabi shook his head. "Kid, people don't drink because it tastes good, they drink because of how it makes them feel . And I don't particularly like the feeling of being passed out in the street, so…" He raised his eyebrows like he'd just proved a point.
Izuku hopped to his feet. He didn't really get the appeal of drinking, but maybe that's because he'd never tried it. And no, he wasn't going to try it today. Following Stain back through the building, he glanced back at Dabi, who was tailing them at a relaxed pace, hands in his pocket.
Izuku wasn't sure that he'd consider Dabi a friend , but he was definitely an enigma. And Izuku liked puzzles. He especially liked solving them.
Maybe he would look into Endeavor after all.
Sunflower
Chapter Notes
TW// implied abuse, implied bullying, blood, minor violence
Dabi didn't know what to think about this new "friend."
Any protege of Stain he probably would have taken an immediate liking to, but this kid was so bright eyed and innocent. It was cute, in a sort of sad way, like he was a little flower all by himself on top of a dirty pile of trash. It made him stand out like a sore thumb in that bar though, so Dabi was glad Stain had the foresight to drag him out of there before people could start getting ideas on what they could do to such a naive little green rabbit.
But then there was another side to the kid that Dabi hadn't immediately recognized at first glance, and probably would have missed if he hadn't been paying attention. The way the kid switched between shy stuttering words and witty, truly intelligent remarks. The way the kid's eyes shifted around the room, like he was taking in all available information and thinking of ways to counteract anything that could go wrong. How he stopped to think before he answered questions, clearly analyzing the question itself, possible answers, the correct answer, and then the answer that his audience would want to hear. How he held his body like he was expecting he was going to need to take a hit. All of that made Dabi think that he did not want to be on the wrong side of this kid in a fight.
And he didn't even know his quirk. Or how old the kid was, although he looked like a twelve-year-old. But he didn't need to know those things to know that the kid wasn't someone he wanted against him.
That's how dangerous the piece of broccoli was.
Deku, he'd said his name was. Funny name, Dabi thought, but then again, who was he to judge?
But the strangest thing about the kid, even after all of that, was his laugh. Dabi hadn't realized how little Deku was laughing, or even smiling, until all the sudden he'd laughed at something Stain had said, and Dabi finally saw what he was missing. Because damn the kid had a nice laugh. It was just like sunshine. But he'd hidden it behind his hand and immediately after, he'd looked around, as though worried someone would be angry. Dabi knew that feeling. He'd felt it every day, when he was still living with the biggest zit on the ass of all humanity.
Luckily, Deku didn't seem to be an Endeavor fan, so Dabi felt relatively sure he wasn't going to need to punch him anytime soon.
Dabi followed him and Stain out of the bar, once again getting the feeling that the kid's eyes were sweeping over everyone in the room, picking them apart. Stain led them a few alleys down, slipping through the shadows, and if Dabi hadn't been tracking Deku, who was slightly less subtle, he probably would have gotten lost by now. They stopped, and Dabi leaned against the wall, trying to look casual as Deku pulled out a bunch of throwing knives, looking them over carefully.
"Did you really mean you want me to throw it at your face?" he asked Stain, sounding anxious. "Because I'm getting better and I really don't want to hit you."
There was that innocent side again. Incredible, how he turned it on and off like a lightswitch. Amazing and terrifying at the same time. Seemed to be a theme with the kid.
"I'll deflect it," Stain said confidently.
Deku didn't look so sure about that. "Um. I don't mean to tell you what to do, but… I don't think you're going to be able to--"