The Grey Area

Izuku Finds a Body, or, How Dabi Was Accidentally Adopted by Midoriya Inko

"Wh-" His voice was raspy, and he coughed before trying again. "Who- who are you?"

The woman crouched down beside him, and he could see a boy in the hallway behind her.

"Inko Midoriya. My son, Izuku, brought you here. Who are you?"

"To-Dabi."

"Well, To-Dabi," she grinned, "welcome to our home."

She didn't kick him out once he was well enough to move, by some miracle. Instead, she guided him to a stool and a sink full of dishes and had him sit down and do chores. Once the woman stopped fussing over him constantly, her son came close to bother him. First, it was questions about what had happened and why he was stabbed, then, it moved to being questions about his quirk, or if he knew how to fight, and if he could 'please please please' teach him how to fight too.

<.>

He never actually planned on helping the kid fight. Didn't think it was right, because this kid was Shoto's age and Shoto shouldn't be fighting. And then he saw the burns, and dammit, he had to help the kid. They were bandaged better than an amateur could do, but nowhere professional. When Izuku walked back from the bathroom after his shower in a muscle shirt instead of a t-shirt, he saw the scars. The ugly, ugly scars. They expanded from his shoulders onto his back, sneaking under the shirt and out of view.

"What happened to you?" Dabi asked, looking away as if disinterested.

"It's uh, it's nothing. There was just an accident in class." Izuku's eyes were wide. Honestly, Dabi didn't blame him.

"And it went that badly? The teachers didn't stop it?" He pressed.

"It's fine, it's not serious. Just an accident."

"Mm huh," Dabi said, ignoring all the lies this kid was sprouting, "If you say so, kid."

"I do say so."

"Okay."

<.>

Dabi left the Midoriya's home a few days after Inko officially declared him well enough to take care of himself. She had threatened to kill him if he was ever found bleeding out behind a dumpster or even so much as skipping a meal when he was gone. He almost didn't think she'd let him leave, with the number of things she made him do around the apartment before letting him go. He waved and promised to take better care of himself and walked out the door, expecting that that would be the last he ever saw of the Midoriya family.

Of course, he has always had really shitty luck, and just because he was saved from bleeding out one time was not going to change that.

<.>

He wasn't looking where he was going, not in the sense of knowing where he was anyway. Kacchan and his goons were gaining on him, and he knew it was only a matter of time before they caught up if he kept to the main path. It was only because he knew the alleys so well that he managed to gain such a distance, that, and well, you get faster the more you run. He heard a whoop from behind him, quieted by distance but still distinguishable. Kacchan had seen him, and he needed to hide.

His shoes crunched down rock and he passed dumpsters and the occasional homeless person crouching over a spilled bag of what was likely fresh food. He slowed as he neared a somewhat familiar spot in the alley. He dropped, shifting into the space between the wall and the dumpster. Broken glass bit against his knees but he stayed quiet.

Only seconds later, the panting forms of Bakugou Katsuki and his two goons made their appearance in the alley. Izuku could only see up to their knees, but what other kids would be there, panting as if they ran a marathon? Hopefully, they'd leave soon, or the smell of garbage may never come out of his shirt.

"What are you kids doing here?" Dabi? Why was he here? He suddenly became painfully aware of the blood-stained pavement surrounding the dumpster. This was where-

"What's it to you, crispy?"

Dabi laughed. It was a cold, harsh thing. "That's fair, I suppose, I don't exactly have the prettiest of faces. Scars tend to do that."

Scars? Izuku thought, ignoring whatever insult Kacchan came up with next.

"Want to say that again," Izuku heard a couple of pops. Dabi was cracking something. "Brat?"

Kacchan's stance shifted, becoming more defiant. "I ain't scared of you! You're just some extra, you probably don't even have a strong quirk."

Dabi sighed. "Don't say you didn't ask for it." The alley lit up blue.

When the light faded, Izuku crawled out from behind the dumpster.

"Kid?" Green eyes met blue, and Izuku jumped forward.

"Dabi! Thank you!" He was stopped by a bleeding hand and immediately switched his focus. "What happened to you?"

"Some stupid quirk sh- stuff."

"You have to come back to my place and get fixed up! C'mon."

"I can't."

"Why."

"Because-" I'm really bad at drug dealing and I don't want to drag your family into that. Because I have just over a few people who want me dead. Because- "I have things to do still."

"But-"

"Kid, keep bothering me, and you'll never learn how to fight."

Green eyes shimmered. "You mean you'll teach me? Really?"

Shit. "Maybe." He turned to leave, before muttering back at the kid. "Come here in a week and we'll figure something out."

Dabi left that alleyway with one more thing to stress over. Izuku left that alley with more hope than he had felt in a long time.