Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Izuku stared out over the darkened city streets, a cigarette in hand, leaning on the rooftop railing. It was a breezy Friday evening and Izuku was excited for the weekend. He was taking this weekend off to visit his old neighborhood and see how his mother was holding up, and likely to say goodbye. Izuku hadn’t visited her in over a year, though they did talk on the phone every few months, when she was lucid enough to speak for more than a few minutes. She didn't support his activities at night, even if she barely remembered them. He'd moved out at 18 anyway, and with the state she was in, Izuku didn't bother to remind her on the few calls he got a year.

Vigilantism really wasn’t that lucrative, money wise. So, he’d had to find a job. That was more difficult than it sounded, since he was still registered quirkless and that fact was seared on his public ID as a ‘medical condition’ for the world to see, anytime he had to show it. His fingers gripped the cigarette so hard it crumpled in his fingers. What a waste. Izuku sighed, flicking the stubbed out cig over the roof’s edge.

“Litterbug.” A raspy voice called from the darkness behind him. Of course, Izuku knew Dabi was there, he had for a while, but he chose to let the villain think he got a drop on the younger man.

“What do you want, Dabi?” Izuku asked, taking out another cigarette and offering it to the scarred villain. Izuku didn’t really smoke that much, but he liked the smell. It reminded him vaguely of Dabi himself, that smoky campfire smell that lingered on his clothes like cologne.

Dabi walked out of the darkness casually with his hands tucked into his pockets and a scowl on his face. Well, at least he was in a good mood. Izuku held out the cigarette and lighter, which Dabi took and quickly used before handing back the lighter. Izuku took his time putting it away before looking Dabi up and down as if inspecting him.

He was, of course, checking his health status. It was as natural as breathing for Izuku, his mind’s eye putting tags on the man’s injuries and illnesses like an overlay before his eyes. Dabi was 85% covered in third or fourth degree burns. Most of his nerves were dead or dying. His sweat glands and tear ducts were burnt shut. He also had stage four lung cancer, which no one - not even Dabi - knew about. No one knew because Dabi had no symptoms. Or rather, he didn’t experience them often. Of course the fire villain coughed and sometimes even coughed up blood. But he inhaled smoke so much, it was to be expected, right?

Izuku sighed and turned back to the cityscape past the railing. He knew he was being cruel, keeping Dabi alive with his quirk. But he couldn’t seem to let himself release the quirk. When he’d first used it on Dabi, the man had been seriously wounded in a fight and Izuku had done it because he really didn’t want the guy to die. Not after he leaned why he became a villain in the first place. Then, then he’d seen the man’s health status and well - it was all over. He couldn’t release the quirk or Dabi would die a painful and suffocating death by lung cancer, and quickly.

“Shigaraki has a job for you - good pay, too. Doesn’t break any of your little rules, either.” Dabi took a long drag on the cigarette and Izuku felt like crushing that damn thing against the villain’s face. It was his own stupid fault. He’d smoked for years, and then on top of that, he didn’t even wear a respirator when he used his quirk. Fucking idiot. It pissed Izuku off. But he refused to tell anyone about his quirk. He couldn’t.

“What’s the job?”

Izuku was a vigilante, though sometimes he often leaned more towards villain if only because of the information he traded on a regular basis. He knew far more then he should about everyone in the underground, and everyone knew it. It’s the only way he got away with as much as he did, no one fucked with the guy who could A get them arrested in a heartbeat, and B destroy their whole career and image, and C beat their ass while doing it.

“A drop off.”

“Dabi - explain. What kind of drop off? You know I don’t deal in vague answers.”

“You remember that Overbitch asshole that killed Magne and took Compress’s arm?”

“You think I would forget something like that? But that was years ago, I thought Shigaraki took Chisaki’s arms as payback? Isn’t that problem handled?”

“Yeah, Overjerk was dealt with but Shgaraki has been trying to take down his whole empire ever since. We finally found the last lab and while we were destroying it - we found something… or well, someone.”

“Jesus, what now? You find another science experiment gone wrong from Chisaki’s reign?”

Dabi tapped a finger on his nose. Oh Gods, Izuku did not need another experience with cages and dog bites. That last experiment he’d delivered to the police was beyond fucked up and he still got nightmares once in a while.

“Explain. This better not be another-”

“It’s a girl.” Dabi cut him off. “A 13 year old girl. Says her name is Eri. She’s not… not like his over experiments. You remember those quirk erasing bullets that used to run the streets?”

“’Course.”

“Apparently Overbitch was making them out of her. He’d overhaul her and take parts of her to make them with her blood, flesh, and her quirk.”

Izuku blinked. “What the fuck?” That was all he could think to say. That was so beyond worse than any of his other experiments. He should know, he’d been overhauled by that asshole more than once. He couldn’t die, of course, thanks to his quirk. Overhaul had never figured it out, thank the Gods, but yeah - it was not fun. He couldn’t even begin to imagine having that done over and over endlessly just so Chisaki could take parts of her and use them to hurt other people. Fuck. "Okay, explain what the drop is, then.”

“Simple. We can’t keep the girl. We rescued her but clearly none of us psychopaths are prepared to be parents.”

“No shit.”

“So, we want her dropped off to the heroes.”

Izuku snorted. “I’m sorry, say that again?” Did Dabi just admit he wanted to HELP the heroes? Or rather, help a little girl to get TO the heroes? That made zero sense.

“Look, you’ve been dealing with Eraserhead for years, right?”

“Yeah, he’s been trying to capture me since I was fourteen. I just keep … slipping from his grasp.” More accurately, he yeets his own ass off roofs with his quirk active and doesn’t die when he falls. Eraserhead and the rest of the police think he has an immortality quirk, and he… kind of does? But it’s not like they think.

“Okay, so you know he’s a good hero, then? The girl deserves the best.”

“Wait, wait. Are you suggesting that I turn this girl over to Eraserhead - for what - adoption?”

“Yes. That’s the requirement. Shigaraki has been an Eraserhead fanboy since he was a kid, and refuses to let the girl be given to anyone else.”

“Jesus Christ. Fine. Fine. Bring the girl up. I’ll make the drop tonight. I have a schedule meet up with Eraserhead in an hour anyway. Just so you know, you ruined my damn break, and my weekend.”

Dabi snorted, “I’ll make it up to you later,” He reached over to ruffle Izuku’s teal curls. They used to be deep forest green but Izuku had started to dye his hair when he became a vigilante. They’d been deep sea teal ever since. He loved the color. It suited his persona. 

Izuku’s vigilante suit was simple, dark gray cargo pants with dozens of pockets, a long sleeved black shirt with a kevlar vest over top and deep teal metal arm bracers. He had matching shin guards. He wore a teal fabric face mask which was pulled down right now. He also had a small teal gas mask that hung from his neck for use around certain quirks. It came in handy a few times when they’d tried to get Midnight to take him out. Eraserhead was persistent, Izuku would give him that. Lastly, he had armor knuckled gloves which functioned like brass knuckles, and steel toed boots - both of course in a deep teal color to match his gear and his hair.

He went by Rancor when in Vigilante mode. It meant long standing bitterness or resentfulness, which was exactly how his quirk worked. He’d called it ‘In Spite of It All’ or just ‘Spite’ for short. It was never registered because Izuku had never actually discovered it until he was in late middle school when a kid in their class fell from a broken fence on the roof while playing. The kid hadn’t tried to kill themselves, they just fell on accident. They didn’t want to die. Izuku didn’t want them to die. The kid didn’t die. They had a grievous head wound and multiple broken bones but no matter how much blood they lost, the kid never died. 

No one figured out why but they were able to get the kid to the hospital safely and get him help. He did end up with some brain damage and a lot of rehab, but he’d lived - and Izuku knew he’d saved him. The moment that kid fell, the overlay of his quirk had kicked into his eyes and he’d seen it all. Every wound, every bit of damage, and he willed it to all stop. Izuku knew that his quirk would be abused if he ever told anyone, especially back when All for One was still kicking around. He could stop people from dying, simply if they had enough will to live - or alternatively - enough spite to keep living. The stronger the emotion, the more effective it was. 

In Dabi’s case, it was incredibly effective. This man had spite for centuries. He had violent emotions that could fill whole stadiums, and Izuku could feel it wafting off him in droves, feeding his quirk easily. Izuku had only ever been able to hold a long term active effect on two people, and he knew it was specifically because of Dabi’s deep seated hatred and desire to live, to see an end to his father’s hero career that it worked on him. Izuku had been secretly working against Dabi here and there, if only to prevent him from actually achieving his dream, because then he’d die without any purpose left in life. Izuku feared that day.

Dabi had been texting while Izuku had been considering all this, smoking away at those damn cancer sticks. Granted, Izuku smoked them, too, but he was aware of his own health status and could actively track it. Dabi, the fucking moron, was dying for it. Izuku sighed. Dabi looked up.

“Jeesh, kid, calm down, they’ll be up in a minute. Also, why were you taking your break on our roof?”

Izuku snorted, leaning a touch harder on the railing as he turned back to the night sky.

“You have one of the best views in the whole prefecture.”

“So does the building next door.”

“Shut up, you like when I’m here.”

The rooftop door opened, saving Dabi from having to either deny or admit he liked the vigilante’s company. Shigaraki walked out with a young teenage girl holding his hand. He was wearing his artist gloves, which covered his pinky and ring finger. He’d taken up wearing them after he’d accidentally used his quirk on Kurogiri once when he was much younger. There was still a gap in the misty man’s clouds right around his hand. 

The girl herself looked scared - no - she looked petrified. She was wearing a simple purple dress that looked pretty new, and matching shoes and a black jacket way too big for her. It was likely one of Dabi’s. She had pale blue, almost white hair - kind matching Tomura’s, actually - and a little horn on the right side of her forehead. She was adorable as all hell, and Izuku wanted to pinch her cheeks and make her laugh instead of being so scared.

Izuku turned to face them and crouched down as the girl hid slightly behind Tomura’s side. He did have his mask pulled back up the instant the door had opened. Dabi was the only person alive outside of his mother now who had seen his face and lived to tell the tale. Well, there were people from his childhood but those didn’t matter anymore.

“Hey there. Eri, right? I’m Rancor. These guys have asked me to take you to a friend, a hero, who’s gonna help you.”

She was peeking around Tomura’s side, looking up to him with questioning eyes.

“Why can’t I stay with you Tomu-chan?” Oh dear Gods, she was so cute. Izuku was going to die. Not literally - he couldn’t, but he felt his heart skip a beat.

Tomura knelt down beside her and put both his hands on her shoulders carefully, sighing deeply as he did.

“Eri-chan. We’re villains. We’re bad people. We do bad things. We hurt people, too. Not like the man who hurt you. We don’t hurt children. But you can’t stay with us, you need to live a good life with people who take care of you and protect you.”

Izuku knew these villains would protect her with their life, viciously. But that was the problem. They were villains. They could only teach her violence mixed with their love. It wasn’t what a child needed. All of them had come from broken lives, from broken homes. Izuku was only partially an exception and that’s the only thing keeping him on the good side of villainy for now. Despite how much Tomura clearly didn’t want to let Eri go, he was doing it for her own good.

“Rancor here is a vigilante. He walks the line between heroes and villains. He’s sort of like a bridge. He can help you find your way to the right people, the right person. Eraserhead is the best hero, and he’s going to make sure you’re safe, and loved, and you grow up happy and safe. Okay?”

Izuku had never seen this much genuine emotion from the disintegration user. It was honestly chilling, but heartwarming in some weird way, too. Dabi had a bored look on his face, but Izuku could see there was sadness in his eyes, too. He didn’t want Eri to leave either.

“How long ago did you rescue her?” He asked Dabi quietly.

“Two weeks ago. At first, the League wanted to keep her, thought we could be real parents. But then she started picking up our habits and quirks. One day, she picked up one of Toga’s knives and hit the dart board dead center. That was the moment we all decided she had to leave. You started being a vigilante about her age, right?”

“Yeah, she’s a year younger than I was. I had already been training for a few years before I hit the streets at fourteen.”

“What’s your opinion, then? Should she stay or go?”

Izuku scrunched up his eyebrows while tucking his hands in his pockets. He knew Dabi wanted a real answer, not something blasé and bullshit. He wasn’t looking for the sassy Rancor answer. He was looking for the truth. One hand came up to rub at his chin atop his mask. He sighed.

“Taking her to Eraserhead is the best option. Honestly, I might love the life I have now but I wasn’t given much choice in life. None of us were. But Eri, she has a real chance to make a choice in her life. If she chooses to come back? That’s up to her when she’s old enough to make the decision. But we all would have preferred being given the chance to have options in life, right?”

“Yeah, you said it, kid.” Dabi took another toke of his cigarette and sighed the smoke towards the sky with a violent cough. Izuku internally winced. One of these days he was going to crush the guy’s fingers so he couldn’t smoke anymore, and then tell him he had cancer.

Izuku turned back to Tomura and the teen who were silently arguing over Eri leaving. It seemed Tomura was wining and Eri was softly crying. Tomura stood up after a moment and led Eri over to where Dabi and Rancor stood.

“Ready?” Izuku asked, with no enthusiasm. Eri nodded. Tomura frowned.

“Just take care of her. Don’t let anyone but Eraserhead take her, and make sure he agrees to adopt her. If she ends up with anyone else, we’re taking her back - by any means necessary. Do tell him that.”

“Sure. Though you should know, he doesn’t take well to threats. I doubt you’ll get visitation rights, either. Just… so we’re upfront about this.”

“I’ve told Eri that if she can wait until she’s 18, then she can choose if she wants to see us again. But she has to wait till she’s legally an adult.”

Izuku nodded. “Sounds fair. I’ll tell Eraserhead that, too. Not like he could stop her at that point - anyway. Hop on Eri.”

“What?” the girl asked through her tears.

Izuku crouched down with his back to Eri, pointing a thumb at his back.

“Hop on. It will be easier if I carry you. I run really fast.”

“Oh… okay.” She mumbled. It took her a moment to figure out what she was supposed to do, but once her arms were around his neck, he grabbed her legs and wrapped them around his waist.

“Cross your legs… there you go, perfect. Hold on really tight.” Izuku turned back to Shiggy and Dabi with a tilted head. “I’ll be back in a few hours.” For his payment. He didn’t need to say it. He wasn’t going to say it in front of Eri. She was a job to Izuku, sure, but she also didn’t need to know they had hired him to do this. She was more important than money - but in the end, it was just a job.

_________________________________________________________________

The run across the city was quiet. Eri didn’t speak, and it would be hard to speak over the wind rushing in their ears anyway. She held on tight and Izuku kept one hand on her right hip while he used his other one for parkour across the roofs. Every so often she’d whimper or squeak if he made a large or scary leap, and hold him tighter, but she never complained.

The roof where he regularly met Eraserhead came into view. Eraserhead was sitting on the railing, casually texting on his phone, when Izuku landed with a much louder thud than usual. It caused the erasure hero to jump in surprise. 

It was hard to be silent and stealthy with a teenager on your back, after all.

“Sorry to scare ya, Eraser - I might have picked up some cargo tonight.”

“Problem Child, why is there a kid on your back?”

Eri ducked her head behind Izuku’s, hiding into the fluff of his teal colored curls. Izuku chuckled, lowering himself to the ground and gently extracting Eri from his waist and neck. She was refusing at first, but eventually gave in when Izuku made soft cooing noises and reassured her it was safe.

“This, is Eri. I was asked to deliver her to you.”

“Rancor, you know we don’t deal in abstracts. Details. Now.”

Izuku sighed. That’s where he’d picked up his habit of refusing jobs without enough details. He knew it was, but he refused to admit he was picking up habits from his kind of sort of enemy or rival.

“Eri was found at the last hidden Shie Hissaikai lab two weeks ago - by the League of Villains. They’ve been hunting down all of Chisaki’s empire ever since Overhaul killed Magne and injured Compress some years ago. They took Eri in originally but quickly realized they were unfit parents. They asked me to deliver her to you - their only stipulation being that you have to adopt her. If you don’t, they will take her back - by any means necessary. Their words, not mine.”

Eraserhead narrowed his eyes at Izuku and marched across the roof to grab him by the collar and yank him to the side, away from Eri. She squeaked but Izuku held up a hand to say it was fine. This was fine, and normal between them. Izuku was yanked to a quiet corner of the roof. Both of them kept stealing glances at Eri to make sure she was safe in the center of the roof while they talked.

“What do you think this is? A daycare? I’m not just going to adopt some random child the League drops on my head - and since when are you their messenger. I thought you weren’t a villain.” Eraserhead crossed his arms, annoyed.

“I’m not a villain and I’m certainly not anyone’s messenger. This is a job, Eraser. They hired me to deliver her. Ruined my damn weekend. But damnit, she needs help. This kid, Eraser. Overhaul used her. She’s the base of those quirk erasing bullets. Her quirk, her blood. She’s the core. Do you have any idea what the League has just handed you? I mean - what they’ve just given UP, to you. For some reason, Shigaraki is your biggest fanboy, and only agreed if you take her. I can’t make this shit up, Eraser. I can’t.”

Eraserhead sighed at Izuku’s exasperated tone. He wasn’t lying, and Eraserhead knew it, read it on his face. The League had just given up, to the heroes no less, one of the most powerful playing pieces on the damn chess board. Because they cared about her well being. Because they saw her as their family, and wanted her to have a better life than they could provide.

“Why?” Eraser whisper shouted. “Why give her up?”

“Dabi said when she grabbed one of Toga’s knives and hit a target dead center, they’d all decided she couldn’t stay. You know most villains and vigilantes weren’t given choices in life. We got the shit ends of the stick, Eraser. But this kid - she deserves better. She deserves to have a choice, a chance. She’d been in a lab for the first thirteen years of her life being experimented on. She deserves to be happy.”

He watched Eraserhead’s eyes flit between multiple emotions. It was all rage and confusion at first, because why the hell would the League just hand over someone so valuable. But as Izuku spoke, it shifted to shock, then understanding, and finally, compassion. Izuku knew the moment Dabi mentioned Eraserhead that it was the right choice. 

“Okay. Fine. I’ll… fuck. I need to call my husband. Apparently we’re dad’s now.” Izuku snorted.

He walked back over to Eri while Eraserhead made the call to Present Mic. Izuku still found it amazing those two were married. He’d figured it out on accident by dropping into Eraserhead’s home on a weekend when he’d taken a really nasty stomach wound. The underground hero had always told Izuku he could come to him for help, no matter what or when. 

Well, he’d picked a right pitiful moment to crash through their living room window bloody and barely conscious. The two had been getting down to business and Present Mic ran out in only his boxers with a fucking baseball bat. Eraserhead had to capture scarf him to stop him from attacking the poor wounded vigilante. Izuku still picked on Present Mic about it. The man could blush for days.

“Alright.” Eraserhead walked back over after a long few minutes. “We agree to the deal. Tsukauchi is already starting the papers with Nedzu.”

“Of course they are. Thank you, Eraser. Oh, and here’s the drop for today.” Izuku took a small thumb drive from his pocket and tossed it over. That was the main reason for this encounter tonight, or it had been, before the League asked him to make a delivery. “Oh, and one last thing. The League said if when she’s 18, Eri wants to see them again, then she can. I would… not suggest preventing that from happening. I did warn them visitation until then would likely be impossible, though.”

Eraserhead growled while rubbing a thumb into the dimple of his temple, clearly annoyed and likely having a headache starting already.

“Fine. Whatever. If when she’s 18, she wants to see them again, that’s her own adult-ass decision. I won’t stop it. But not until she’s 18.”

“I would suggest expecting them to show up on her 18th birthday, then.” Izuku offered a thumbs up and hopped to the railing.

Eri had been dumbfounded the whole time, unable to speak from shock most likely. The poor kid needed to have some real kindness in her life, maybe she’d open up and stop being so scared. Izuku knew the League, hell even Izuku, couldn’t provide that.

“Hey Problem child?” Eraser called.

“Yeah?” Izuku was on his toes on the railing, about to jump across the gap on his way back to the League for payment.

“When am I gonna convince you to come in?”

Izuku sighed, looking off at the large panel screens lighting up the city intersection their rooftop was hovering over.

“Eraser, we both know the answer to that.”

“Do we?” He asked, a brow arching and a smirk crossing his lips.

No. He wouldn’t. Not tonight of all nights! His weekend was already ruined, why did Eraserhead have to make it worse??

Izuku bolted off the roof, jumping quickly to the next one. Eraserhead hadn’t tried to capture him in months. Months! He really thought this stupid idea of capturing Rancor was over and done with, that he’d crushed Eraserhead’s hope of turning him into some mutated hero that Izuku could never be. He refused to be put through that hell once they found out the truth. It would only hurt Eraserhead and Izuku even more.

Sirens wailed in the distance and he knew they were closing in. Eraserhead had planned it to be a set up. That fucking call to Mic was likely also a set up. Well, okay, only half a set up. He knew eraser wouldn’t fuck around when it came to a kid’s safety and would genuinely take Eri - but still, he’d likely called in the reinforcements right after talking to his husband, damnit. Izuku should have paid closer attention.

Izuku got comfortable with Eraserhead and that was going to be his downfall, sooner than he’d like.

Chapter Text

Izuku got comfortable with Eraserhead and that was going to be his downfall, sooner than he’d like.

He bolted across each rooftop, running like a bat out of Hell to try and escape the pursuing heroes on his tail. He was sure Eraserhead would have been front and center had Izuku not changed the plan by adding Eri into the mix. Still, there were at least five underground heroes following him now and he could see more way off in the distance. When did they get this many new undergrounds? Was the newest graduating class all underground heroes? Damn, Eraserhead was really making waves these days. Or maybe they’d just called in backup from the twilights.

Izuku cursed loudly but his voice was whipped away by the wind. He needed an escape. An out. He could always make a dive they couldn’t follow, presuming him dead - except that the police already thought he had an immortality quirk so they had likely been preparing for months to make this take down, and anticipated he would do something stupid to get away from them.

So that meant Izuku had to do something they couldn’t predict.

Izuku skid to a stop on a large roof, sinking into a fighting stance. He was a runner, never a fighter. At least, not with heroes. It was one of the weird things no one could pin down about Rancor. He fought villains and criminals all the time, but he never once put up a fight with heroes unless they were caught in a criminal act. He always ran. 

That made Izuku think they had decided to put long range heroes on his tail instead of close range fighters, assuming that Rancor would turn tail and run for his life instead of fighting like always.

He was proved right when all the underground heroes chasing him stopped a rooftop away, and refused to get any closer. Interesting.

“Rancor, we ask that you surrender yourself to hero custody peacefully and stop running.” That voice, why did he know it? It had the faintest hints of something mechanical in it. Izuku’s eyes flashed wide. Ahhh, Mindjack. That was Eraserhead’s personal student. A first year at Yuuei University Hero School. His quirk - Brainwashing. He could control anyone who responded to his questions. But he hadn’t asked a question yet. Izuku knew it was a set up.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a roll of duct tape and wrapped a long strip around his head, over top of his mask, effectively sealing his mouth shut. He wouldn’t let himself get caught out like that. Mindjack across the roof put a hand to his comm, likely to relay what Izuku had just done.

Another hero called across the rooftops.

“Come on, Rancor, we just want to take you in for questioning. You’ve been on the streets for over eight years, it’s time to come in, kid!” That was Midnight. That was actually their best bet to capture him, to knock him out. But he refused to allow that to happen. He didn’t know how the effects of being unconscious by quirk would affect his. If his quirk deactivated, Dabi would die. Actually, a few people would die right now. So, he put his gas mask on.

The shitty part about all of this was he couldn’t actually fight five heroes by himself. He knew that. He knew that logically they would beat him to a pulp if he pushed them to it. They would knock him out somehow and strap him in quirk canceling cuffs and then again, people would die.

Fine. Fucking fine, he would have to get them to play his game instead.

Izuku unstrapped his gas mask and the tape and sighed loudly. He didn’t put his hands up, still keeping himself in a fighting stance. What he did instead, was flip the comm in his ear over to the police frequency. It beeped and buzzed. All the heroes across from him winced or looked around in surprise.

“Eraserhead, are you there?”

“Yeah, Problem Child. What is it?”

“If I come in, it has to be under a few conditions.”

“You’re… going to surrender?” Eraserhead sounded shocked, as if he never expected this outcome. Well, he’d planned well, and he cornered Izuku. He’d won this round. But that didn’t mean Izuku was giving up, not at all.

“I’ve done the math. Even I can’t take on five well trained heroes - plus the seven I can see laying in wait on the back lines, doing a piss poor job at being stealthy.” He saw some movement back there, anxious shifting. “Will you hear me out?” Izuku waited for a few tense silent minutes, likely where Eraserhead was talking to the police.

“No one move on Rancor. We’re hearing him out.” Eraserhead’s voice was an order to every other hero, then he spoke to Izuku, “Go on kid, what’s your conditions?”

Izuku sighed, “One, you cannot cuff me. Hear me out before you argue it. I won’t try to escape… at least, not until I’m in the police station. Promise. But you can’t cuff me. If you do, and my quirk deactivates, multiple people will die within minutes or hours, I don’t have exact numbers.”

“What the hell does that mean? Are you threatening-”

Izuku interrupted Tsukauchi before he could get into a spiral. A few of the heroes across from him were getting jittery and impatient.

“No. My quirk. It’s not what you think. It’s not an immortality quirk in the usual sense. But I can, in effect, prevent people from dying. Right now, I have four people under the effects of my quirk. One has been under my quirk for over six years. He has stage four lung cancer. If you cancel my quirk, he dies.”

“Rancor, I’ve used my quirk on you before.” Eraserhead argued.

“Yes, and I had to run to that person and immediately reapply my quirk before they realized their stupid ass had cancer and died from it!”

“They… don’t know they have cancer?!” Tsukauchi shouted over the comms. Everyone winced, including Izuku.

“Would you tell a villain who’s half fucking dead from his own flame quirk that he’s given himself fucking lung cancer because he’s too stupid to wear a respirator and stop smoking?”

“Are you… are you saying Dabi is dying?” Izuku couldn’t blame Eraserhead for the hesitation in his voice.

“Eraserhead, he’s technically been dead for six years. The only think keeping him alive is my quirk - and fucking spite.” Literally. Izuku didn’t elaborate. “But besides that, there’s also three civilians under my quirk. Two of which I should be able to deactivate soon. I rescued them in the last few days, they are in the hospital. Once they are out of the woods and not on death’s door, I release them. The last one… is personal.”

Izuku refused to tell them his mother was the last one under his quirk. She was the hardest one to speak about. His relationship with his mother was complicated. She’d resented him when he was diagnosed quirkless. That harsh truth had led her to lose job after job the moment someone found out. It was like they thought she was tainted by him. Maybe someday she had started to believe it. Izuku wasn’t sure. But around the age of eight, she changed. She was mostly neglectful, not necessarily outright abusive. She didn’t support his desires to be a hero and when that dream was crushed - she’d been adamantly against him being a vigilante.

In the end, when he’d turned thirteen, she’d gotten sick. The arguing stopped, the fighting stopped, the neglect stopped. Inko Midoriya was in a home hospice bed, comatose, since Izuku was fourteen. She had full time health care nurses who took care of her. Every few weeks or months, she’d wake up and call Izuku, forgetting all about their past and everything she’d done. Izuku indulged it because it was all he got. It was all he had left of her, a husk of her former self.

Izuku knew he shouldn’t keep her alive, not anymore. She was a wisp, nothing but bones and a quirk forcing her heart to beat. She’d never leave the bed again. She’d never walk again. She was only able to wake up and speak every once in a while when Izuku’s quirk flared up if he got a good night’s rest that refueled it. He knew that logically. It didn’t stop how deep the vein ran with his desire for her to live.

“Is that your only condition? No cuffs?” Eraserhead finally asked.

“You won’t find me, the real me. I buried it a long time ago. But my second condition is you don’t ask. I know Tsukauchi’s quirk is lie detector. He can’t ask me who I am.”

“You could just choose not to answer, Rancor.”

“We both know giving a false answer is almost as good as being honest if you’re trying to get information, don’t play that card with me Eraserhead, you’ll lose every time.” He heard the underground hero cluck his tongue under his breath. Good try, though.

“What else?” He asked, annoyed.

“If you find nothing on me within … two hours, you release me.”

“That’s entirely unrealistic!” Tsukauchi was usually such a calm man. But Izuku supposed after 8 years of chasing him, the man was just tired.

“Is it, Tsuki? Because the way I see it - I’ve never used my quirk for criminal activities. I’ve only ever used it to save people from dying.” Himself included, but he didn’t say that. “Even civilians have a right to do that in emergencies. You also have no record of who I am, and you have no formal charges to bring against me. What can you hold me for? Please, enlighten me.”

The line was dead silent for five whole minutes. The fucking clock was ticking on his damn money. He wanted to get back to the League and just crash at their stupid shitty bar for the night. He’d have to duct tape his fucking mask on but what else was new? He’d done it before. He just wanted his money and to go home to his mother tomorrow so he could visit her for once in a long time. Maybe this time he’d be able to release the quirk. Maybe.

Finally, the line clicked back to life with Eraserhead’s voice.

“We agree to all your terms. Surrender yourself for questioning.”

Izuku put his hands up and watched the heroes jump across the rooftops and surround him. He imagined this might make some big news tomorrow if the police told anyone. But he also thought Eraserhead and Tsukauchi might keep this quiet for a while. They’d want to find something on Izuku first, then reveal they caught him. He was one of the longest active vigilantes of his generation, after all. It would be pretty big news if he was brought in.

_________________________________________________________________

Izuku inspected the room around him. It was a simple interrogation room. Standard large metal table with regular metal chairs. No decorations aside from a camera in the corner which was blinking red, recording, and a clock on the wall. There was a giant mirror in front of him, and he knew it was a two way - Eraserhead and Tsukauchi were likely back there debating how to do this. Their time was ticking though. He’d told them when he walked in, they had two hours from the moment he walked in the door. They were down to one hour and forty-five minutes now.

“Your time is ticking.” Izuku muttered, knowing they would hear him through the mirror and the camera. He had no idea what was taking so long, but they’d been talking for a solid fifteen minutes - or at least he assumed they were.

Finally, after another two minutes, the door opened and in walked Eraserhead and Tsukauchi. Weird, Izuku could still get faint readings from his quirk behind the mirror. It was hard to use through walls but he could get like glitchy flickering readings if something was thin enough. Drywall was thin enough, and apparently so were two way mirrors. Interesting.

“Good evening!” He cheerily called, setting his hands on the table folded neatly. They’d been following his conditions thus far, so Izuku was going to have faith that they would honor the agreement for the next hour and forty minutes. It was the best he could hope for. That would give him an hour to get back to the League without them suspecting anything. Not that they cared if he was arrested, but Izuku didn’t want to deal with the questions.

Eraserhead plopped ungracefully in his chair across from Izuku. The poor underground hero was likely trying hard not to feel sour over this arrest. Eight years in the making and they were still under Izuku’s thumb. Tsuki was far less annoyed, though he just looked exhausted. Chasing a vigilante for this long would do that to a person. He dropped a file open on the table, and Izuku finally got a glimpse at exactly how little they had on him. That ‘file’ was one printed page with only an image of him in his full gear, his vigilante name, and a presumed quirk status. There were a few handwritten notes at the bottom, but Izuku couldn’t read them upside down.

“Good evening, Rancor. I have to divulge for legal reasons that my quirk is lie detector. Under conditions, you have agreed to an interview with the police, is that correct?”

“Yep!” Izuku replied. “What do you want to know?”

Eraserhead leaned forward with his hands folded on the table, looking just as exhausted as Tsuki must have felt in that moment.

“What exactly is your quirk, Rancor?”

“Hmm. That’s kind of hard to explain. I’ve never had it defined. But I call it ‘In Spite of It all’ or just ‘Spite’ for short. That’s where my vigilante name comes from.”

“Explain it as best you can, please.” Tsuki closed the file and leaned back in his chair. Both of his interviewers were trying to get comfortable. Good, they were in for a rough night.

“Hmm, well, I can project my quirk onto other people when they are actively dying, and prevent them from dying, so long as there’s fuel.”

“Fuel?” Eraser asked.

“Well, my quirk works best when there’s a will to live or a reason not to die. Spite’s the best fuel.”

Something clicked in the back of his mind and Izuku’s head snapped towards the far wall. What was that? Something was changing in his quirk. He could always feel the presence of those under his quirk. Always. He could feel if their mind’s changed, if something altered in their thinking. Dabi’s mind was resolute and firm. He never changed. His mother was just gone, and it was only Izuku’s will that kept her alive. She was the faintest signal. The other two he had active currently were different. One was a girl he rescued from an alley when he’d found a villain raping her.

Izuku had beaten the villain almost to death before the police arrived. She was brutally stabbed and violated. Izuku had kept her alive, but she was disfigured and scarred, physically and emotionally. The second person was a young man he’d saved from a mugging. He took a bullet to the chest. He was still in a coma recovering. If something was going to change, it would be the woman. For now, he kept that in the back of his head and turned back to the two other men in the room.

“That doesn’t explain how you have continually escaped chase all these years in impossible ways.”

“I can use my quirk on myself. I believe as a result of my quirk, I have probably the strongest will to live in existence.”

“What are you saying?” Tsuki asked.

“I activated my quirk, and just did whatever had to be done. Jumped off a roof, in front of a car, hell once I even dove under a train to get away from Eraserhead.”

“You WHAT?!” Eraserhead slammed his palms on the table as he stood up, heaving in his rage.

Izuku rolled up his sleeves and yanked his shirt up in one hand. He was covered in scars. Ironically, a large portion of those were from a childhood bully, but the big ones, those were from his escapes. Eraserhead stared at him, horrified. Tsuki just looked pained.

“I have no desire to die, I don’t think that’s even possible for me given my quirk. But I never wanted to fight heroes. I respect what you do. So I run. Sometimes, running is the more dangerous option.” Izuku shrugged and rolled his shirt and sleeves back down.

Eraserhead collapsed back into his chair, looking on the verge of tears. He hadn’t wanted to share that with Eraserhead of all people. Eight years, eight years he’d been chasing Izuku and now the poor hero was likely going over every single time Izuku escaped him, wondering just how many times the vigilante should have died.

“Have you ever committed a crime?” Tsuki’s voice cracked.

“Hmm, that’s a loaded question. Vigilantism doesn’t count given my quirk. I never start fights - but have I beat people up in self defense? Yes. Have I done jobs for villains and criminals? Yes. However, I have rules and they have to obey them.”

“Why would villains listen to the rules of some vigilante?” Eraserhead actually cracked a grin at Tsuki’s question, already knowing the answer. It was a momentary distraction from the man’s pain over Izuku’s antics.

“Because they know what I know, and it scares them.” That was the easy and short answer. He didn’t think Tsuki deserved the long answer, and he wasn’t willing to reveal that anyway.

“So what are your rules?” Another question Eraserhead pretty much knew, so Izuku was surprised when he asked.

“I don’t take jobs with illegal activities. I don’t take jobs that involve kids, or civilians. I won’t join any villain organization, or pick any side in a fight. And I absolutely, never, will not, speak about my quirk.”

“You just broke your last rule, Problem Child.”

“You think two sentences is all my quirk can do?” Izuku snorted. “I’ve told you nothing. Granted, no one has ever heard the name before so you got a one up on everyone else - but it’s not in the registry so it won’t help you anyway, and it won’t hurt me.”

Eraserhead sighed, putting his forehead in his hands and he tried to think what to ask next. Izuku looked at the clock. They had an hour left. 

“You were serious about Eri, right, Eraserhead?”

“What?”

“You were serious, about agreeing to take her in?”

“Of course.”

“Okay, good. I’m not really in the mood to give the League bad news that would lead to them going ape shit. They’ve been quietly taking down the worst parts of the underworld and I have zero desire for them to get distracted from that goal.”

“They’re what?” Tsuki looked up.

“Oh, yeah. They’ve been hunting down all the Shie Hissaikai labs ever since Chisaki killed Magne and injured Compress - weren’t you listening when I explained this to Eraserhead earlier?”

“Well, yes, but I didn’t think… that’s why they’ve been so quiet all these yeas? We thought they were disbanded.”

“Well, yeah. I mean, after Tomura was released from PotatoMan’s grubby clutches, well, he kind of went all in on taking down the baddest of the bad, in a way heroes couldn’t.” Izuku shrugged.

“Who’s… PotatoMan?” Tsuki and Eraserhead exchanged a confused look.

“All for One.” Izuku leaned back in his chair, waiting to see their reactions. This could be good, or very very bad. Tsukauchi was the first to make the connection, and snapped up out of his chair like Eraserhead had earlier with his palms flat on the table. Eraserhead himself looked stunned. He probably had heard the name once or twice in the underground, but not much more then myths.

“How the HELL do you know that name?” Tsuki demanded. Izuku barked a laugh.

“Met the asshole a few times, before we killed him. Thorn in my fucking side, that one.”

That chilled the room by about ten degrees. Izuku put a finger to his lips, realizing something. 

“Oh, I guess that does count as murder, doesn’t it? Well, shame, didn’t mean to admit to my only crime.” He shrugged.

“What… what do you mean you killed him?”

“Tomura and I - we killed him. It’s a long complicated story that I won’t go into because it involves multiple convoluted plans, dozens of quirks, a toilet plunger, and a fire hydrant. Please don’t ask me to explain myself on this one. Tomura and I have both agreed we will never speak of it again.”

Both men looked at him like his hair was on fire, but no one asked him to explain, so Izuku took the win.

The story wasn’t that complicated. It was just long and horrible and bloody. Tomura had only been released from All for One’s influence by a fluke in the clashing of Izuku’s quirk and all for one itself. When Tomura had been badly injured, Izuku used his quirk so they could get him to a healer. Tomura’s will to live was so strong it had almost thrown Izuku for a loop inside his head. It was stronger than Dabi’s - but it didn’t draw on spite. It drew on a desire to be saved, to be loved and wanted. Somehow, that flare of will that fueled Izuku’s quirk, had snapped All for One’s control over Tomura’s mind, which was making him continually feel unloved and hated and un-salvageable. It shattered and he’d gone through a horrible wake up call. 

The whole League had. But then, oh then, they had decided to free themselves. They’d hired Izuku and he’d been more than happy to help them destroy the bastard who had always been a thorn in his side. Just once, he’d break his rules and benefit he whole of society.

Combining Izuku’s offensive quirk abilities with Tomura’s had worked marvelously and in the end - All for One was dust, along with his doctor and most of the Nomu they’d created. Tomura only kept a few around because they were good protection.

“Alright. Can you tell us when you became a vigilante?”

All shifting back to Izuku himself, hmm?

“Eight years ago.” It was honest, but vague enough they wouldn’t get his age necessarily since they didn’t know how old he was now.

“How old are you?”

“Pass.”

“Where do you live?”

“At home.”

“Rancor.”

“You asked. I answered. Next question.”

“Could you please try to answer without your usual level of sarcasm?”

“Could you please try and ask questions without your usual level of invasiveness?” Izuku bit back a growl.

“Kid, we’re just trying to help you.” Tsuki sighed, resigned.

Izuku understood their reasoning. They thought he was still a child. He wasn’t exactly tall or buff. He was lean and quick. It’s what kept him safe. He was very short for his age and honestly, he could pass as a sixteen year old. Still, the way they kept trying to ‘save’ him was insulting. Where had anyone been to save him when he was a child? When his mother left home for days on end and Izuku had no money and little food to survive on? Where was any hero to save him when his classmates beat scars into his body? No, he didn’t need their help.

“I never asked for-!” His head snapped around so fast, both men winced. Izuku’s eyes scanned the wall in the direction of the bond from his quirk, “Shit. I need to go. Now.” Izuku rushed for the door, only to find it locked. “Open the fucking door!” He rounded on the detective and hero, who were both still trying to process what had changed. Only Izuku could feel it. He could feel her - she was giving up.

“Rancor, we will have thirty minutes.”

“You can have it later. I promise. I need to leave, right now. One of the people under my quirk is about to die.”

“You just told us that wasn’t possible.”

“It is if they give up their will too live! Damnit, open the fucking door!”

Eraserhead and Tsukauchi both stared at each other for a minute and Izuku had had enough. He plunged his fist through the glass window on the door and reached through, unlocking it from the outside. This was a mistake, however, he sliced his arm up pretty bad, which left a trail of blood on the door. Great, now they really could figure out who he was. He’d have to go in and scrub his damn files on his way to the hospital.

Both men were out of their seats in seconds, chasing after Izuku without even thinking. Izuku grabbed his gear off the table it had been set on to wait for him during his questioning, and strapped everything on as he bolted out the door. Eraserhead was on his heels, never losing sight of him as they both dashed for the roofs and headed towards Musutafu General.

“Kid! Stop! You need to explain!”

“I can’t right now! You can follow me if you want, but I don’t feel like losing a patient today, Eraserhead. I don’t have time to chit chat.”

He did, however, have time to pull out his mini tablet and run a hacking program on the quirk registry while he ran. Once it unlocked, he quickly changed his blood type on file along with his mother’s for good measure so they matched, then put his tablet away. That would have to do for now, it would keep them off the trail at least for a few days until they discovered the change log. He’d have time to fix the quick edit later. Right now, he had someone to save.

Eraserhead didn’t ask what he’d been doing on his tablet and they weren’t close enough for him to see it anyway. Thankfully, the hospital was only a few blocks from the police station and they got there in record time. Izuku burst through the doors and past the nurses station without comment. Honestly, they knew him here. He was a regular visitor even in his vigilante gear. None of the nurses questioned his rush. Eraserhead looked confused as hell as he ran up beside Izuku.

“What’s going on? Why didn’t they react to you busting up the place?”

“I’m here a lot. They know I have a … healing type quirk and that I bring in a lot of civilians that should be dead, but aren’t. It’s a… mutual respect. That’s all. If I’m here, they know something’s happening.”

“Fuck.” Eraserhead picked up his pace as they sped up the stairs to the seventh floor, down the hall to room 712.

Izuku smacked the door open to find the woman staring out her open window. She’d pulled out all her lines and shut off the machines so they wouldn’t alert the nurses. Her long blonde hair was whipping in the wind. When she turned to find Izuku and Eraserhead in the doorway, he could see the emptiness in her eyes. She was broken. That villain had sliced her face to ribbons. It was bandaged still, but Izuku could see the way it pained her.

Izuku knew this was always a likely option for this patient. She’d been brutalized and she was one of the ones he shouldn’t have saved. But she had will, Izuku could feel it. She had the will to live deep inside of her. It was just… very very buried under pain right now. That pain was swallowing her, devouring her will to continue on. Depression and trauma were very powerful, they felt like physical entities to Izuku’s quirk. Gaping voids that swallowed the very reasons people had for living and pushing forward. Right now, Izuku wasn’t sure there was any way to save this woman.

She’d only keep trying. If nothing changed in her core, in the very center of her being where the desire to live or die could be found, she’d never heal. Izuku’s breath hitched in his throat. He had one option, but was he willing to risk that in front of Eraserhead? It might not work, hell, it might work too well.

Izuku grit his teeth. The woman - Ishiyaki - put one foot on the window. Eraserhead readied his capture scarf.

“Ishiyaki, please step away from the window.” Izuku’s voice was soft, pleading.

“I… I can’t do this, Rancor. I can’t. I’m sorry.”

“Ishiyaki, please, you can do this. It’s going to be okay. Remember, I promised I would always be here for you. Don’t give up - I haven’t. I would never give up on you. Please don’t give up on yourself.”

He could feel it spark inside her. It was there, the will to keep going. It was so faint. If he could just reach a little deeper. But the darkness was so great and daunting. Izuku had to fight the teeth that threatened to snap the bond of his quirk. If it snapped, she’d fall. She’d jump. He knew that. He couldn’t let that happen.

“B-but I don’t.. I have nothing. My family won’t look at me. My husband left me. Even my best friend won’t answer her phone. I’m… alone.”

Izuku sucked in a breath, taking a few steps forward. Ishiyaki put her other foot up on the windowsill, leaving her hovering literally between life and death. Izuku reached out a hand. He’d talked so many people off ledges. His quirk could sense these things, the loss of will. It was strong in the people he was bound to, but he could still sense it when he read someone’s health status. He’d talked dozens of people off ledges, but right now, it hurt so much more. The bond tied their emotions together in a nasty knot that was normally not an issue if people had a strong will like Izuku’s. But right now, Ishiyaki was on the verge of snapping that bond, and it hurt Izuku desperately.

“You’re not alone. You have me, Ishiyaki - Neita - you have me. I’m here. I won’t leave you. Please, step back inside so we can talk?”

Eraserhead was calmly letting Izuku handle this situation, but he looked ready to jump into action and Izuku would let him if it came to it. After all, his capture scarf would likely be the best option to save her if she fell… if she jumped.

Chapter Text

It took a moment, one electrified and gutting moment, but Ishiyaki did step back into the room. A few nurses had come to see what the commotion was about but they stayed back and said nothing.

Izuku dove forwards and wrapped his arms around the woman’s shoulders. She was sobbing into his chest the moment their knees hit the floor.

“I got you. I got you. Just let it out. It’s okay.” Izuku made sure to breathe calmly so she could follow him if she needed to. Right now, though, he let her sob into his chest. He let her release every pent up emotion. Her fists beat his shoulders, her feet kicked, she screamed, she cried out. Izuku let her. Izuku held her. That’s what she needed, a grounding rod, something to hold firm in the storm she was drowning in. A lifeboat. 

That’s all Izuku ever was, a lifeboat in a violent sea. He knew it was all he could offer most days, but it was enough. He was enough just like that, and he’d continue to be that lifeboat in the storm for every person who needed him. In spite of it all, he would be there, he would save them all if he could.

Eraserhead had left at some point to speak with the nurses and doctors, likely to arrange for the woman to be moved to the psyche ward once her injuries were up to it. She was going to need serious help that Izuku wasn’t qualified to provide. He knew that. He’d talked her off the edge, and that was all he could offer. He had to pass her off his lifeboat to the coast guard so they could bring her to shore.

When Ishiyaki finally calmed down, she passed out from exhaustion. Izuku helped her back into bed and carefully shut the window. It never got any easier, having to do that. But at least he’d managed it without the use of his quirk. Now that she was safe in bed, he snapped the bond and decided to let the doctors handle this properly; he wasn’t a psychiatrist, after all.

“Problem Child.” Eraserhead’s voice was soft so as not to wake the sleeping patient.

“Hmm?”

“Was that you, or your quirk?”

Izuku snorted. Of course he’d want to know. Izuku felt like he owed the hero at least some honesty after he’d witnessed all that. So, he turned and leaned on the windowsill, nodding his head for Eraserhead to come over. When the hero settled beside him with his arms crossed, Izuku spoke.

“A bit of both? It’s hard to explain. When I use my quirk, it forms a bond between me and the other person. I can always feel them so long as it’s active. I was going to deactivate my quirk on this woman tomorrow. She’d been deemed safe from her injuries yesterday, but I knew after what that villain did to her - he disfigured her and raped her - that I needed to keep an eye on her. I felt it, in the station, the moment her will to live shattered. It hurts, like an angry dog is gnawing at my arm. Depression is like a monster that lashes out and devours the will of others.”

“You talk like it’s physical.”

“It is for me, in a way. I knew the moment it snapped, she’d made the decision. The moment that rabid dog started to rip at my bond. It wasn’t my quirk affecting her that stopped her from jumping. It was just… human connection. She just needed someone to reach out, to save her. To be a lifeboat in her storm. That’s all I have ever tried to be for people. That’s why I do what I do. I just wanted to save people - like I was never saved.”

Eraserhead looked thoughtful, his fingers tapping on his arms in their pretzel over his chest. He nodded after a moment and looked back across the room towards the sleeping woman.

“You did good, kid.”

Izuku sighed. He reached up and took his mask off, revealing his face to the hero for the first time since they’d met.

“I’m not a kid. I’m twenty-one.” Eraserhead’s eyes widened with shock. He likely hadn’t expected Izuku to give him so much. A face, an age. But Izuku was tired. He hadn’t realized how tired he was until that woman was gasping and screaming in his arms.

In all reality, he knew he’d been ready to retire for a while. Maybe that’s why he was going to see his mother this weekend. To tell her. To say he was sorry, and to finally let her go. It’s what she needed, but it’s not what Izuku wanted.

Izuku looked at Eraserhead; really looked at him. He was in his late thirties, and he looked just as tired as Izuku felt. How could this man have been a hero all his life? Izuku had only been a vigilante for 8 years and he was already crushed by the weight of it, all alone.

“Do you have time for one more stop, Eraserhead?”

“Where’s that, kid?”

“Home.”

Eraserhead turned back to Izuku with his eyebrows scrunched up in an unreadable expression. The woman stirred in her bed, but didn’t wake. Izuku only offered Eraser a sad smile, strapped his mask back on, and headed for the door. Eraserhead followed wordlessly.

_________________________________________________________________

This time, Izuku didn’t take the roofs. He walked. He wanted to savor this last walk. He wanted to remember the walk to his childhood home, seeing memories flash through his mind as he trailed down the street with a hand tapping each street lamp as he passed them. Eraserhead was walking beside him with his hands in his pockets, watching Izuku.

“My name’s Izuku, by the way.”

“Shouta.” Eraser answered without missing a beat.

They didn’t say anything else until they reached his mother’s apartment. He could see the nurse’s car parked out front of the building. The door was unlocked. Izuku knocked and walked in with Eraserhead in tow.

A woman’s head poked out of his mother’s bedroom door as he took off his mask and shoes. Eraserhead bowed politely.

“Izu-kun!” She greeted happily, coming over to offer him a hug. He was sure, for a moment, Eraserhead probably thought this was his mother. She looked like it. Tall, thin, and bouncy dark curls. She could be related. “It’s so good to see you. It’s been ages. Don’t tell me you got into more trouble, hmm?”

Izuku chuckled dryly, “Always, Auntie Daichi. This is Shouta. He’s come with me to see mom.” Izuku gave the woman a soft pat on the hand and an even sadder smile, “It’s time, Auntie.”

“Oh. Well, then. I’ll go make the arrangements. You take all the time you need, dear. I’ll just be in the kitchen.”

“Thank you, Auntie. For everything, all these years.”

“Of course, Izuku.”

She disappeared into the kitchen. Eraser - Shouta - gave him a weird look but still refused to speak. He followed Izuku silently through the apartment till they got to Izuku’s mom’s room. When Izuku opened the door, the sterile smell of a hospital hit their noses and the telltale beeping of a heart monitor echoed in the dimly lit bedroom.

“Hey mom. I’m home.” He called, walking over to the bed. Eraserhead stayed in the doorway and took the sight in. His mother was hooked up to a million machines. She was thin, terribly thin, and frail. She was presently comatose, and breathing shallow. She looked like a hollow doll in the bed, engulfed by its size around her. Her deep green hair was thin and wispy, leaving a frightful halo around her head.

“What happened?” Shouta finally spoke for the first time since their walk over here.

“At first? Aplastic Anemia. She contracted it as a result of a villain attack on the mall years ago. Nine years ago. It got really bad and by the time I was fourteen, she was bedridden. Then, when she was on death’s door, I used my quirk on her. I’ve been keeping her alive ever since then.”

“You… she’s… you’ve been keeping her alive that long?”

“I haven’t been able to let go, despite everything she did to me. She’s the last remnant of my childhood. Like Ishiyaki, I also lost everything. I was diagnosed quirkless at four. My father left because of it. All my friends turned on me. Most of those scars you saw were from bullies and peers - and teachers. Even my own mother resented and hated me because everyone saw her as tainted because of me. But even now, I have no desire to let her go. The bond between us in my quirk is so strong, it’s keeping her from death - even though her body isn’t producing any blood cells. She fades in and out of a coma every few weeks or months with little memory of everything that happened.”

“Izuku…” Shouta took a few steps into the room. He knew that tone. It was pain, it was fear. He didn’t understand. No one understood. No one could. Izuku felt wetness dribble down his face and knew he was crying, but no sobs came. Someone had turned on the faucet but forgot to tell his mind.

“I know. It’s horrible. Keeping someone on the brink of death for nine years. It’s torture. I know that. I’ve hated myself for it every day, and hated her even more for how much she hurt me. But I can’t seem to let her go. But it’s time. I have to break the bond. I have to. I’m so tired, Eraser. My quirk has limits. Because I have two people on my quirk long term, I have less control over my short term patients. I was lucky today that Ishiyaki was so loud in my head, or I’d not have been able to save her.”

“So you’re sacrificing your mother for the rest of the world? Izuku, it’s not wrong to hold onto something you love. It’s also not wrong to love someone who hurt you. She was still your mother, even if she did cause you pain. You’d be a good son for loving her, and for hating her, all the same.”

Izuku hiccuped a sob and nodded to Eraserhead. The man had come up behind him, putting one hand on his shoulder and squeezing.

“Let her go, Problem Child. Let her rest. It’s time you let someone else be the lifeboat for you.”

That truth was painful, and he hated to hear it, but Shouta was right. He was right, he needed a lifeboat, too.

Izuku delicately reached over to the bed, taking his mother’s hand. He preferred to break the bond when holding their hand, every time. It made the break in connection less painful, and less jarring, if he was hanging on. Izuku closed his eyes and reached for the bond between him and his mother. It was a thick rope between them, taught and steady. His will to keep her alive was overpowering, even if her own wasn’t there. His quirk could be a one way street or a two way street. If he had a stronger will, that took over, or vice versa. If he had a two way path, where both of them had a strong will, he could even reverse the lethal damage that was trying to kill his target, his patient.

This bond with his mother was only his will. She lacked any, she was effectively already dead when he’d used his quirk. Her mind was gone, so the bond was only his powerful will to live keeping her from fading away. Izuku imagined a pair of scissors in his mind and carefully clipped the umbilical cord between them, the lifeline that kept her going.

The reaction was immediate. She released a single breath, the monitor flat lined, and some ghostly sensation ran across his skin as his mother’s soul escaped his grip. Her hand fell from his, back to the bed, lifeless. At the release of his bond, something had changed inside his quirk, too. He couldn’t really figure out what, but that clipped tether was waving like a red flag in his mind and he couldn’t figure out why.

Shouta tugged him into a tight hug and Izuku sobbed into the man’s chest. At that moment, he became Ishiyaki. He screamed, he threw punches, tugged at clothes and at that capture scarf. He was a wreck. He was shattered, but he was somehow still whole, too. It stung, the burn of breaking such a long standing and powerful bond. But he wasn’t broken by losing his mother. That emotion was long gone. He’d accepted her death years ago. It was only his quirk that was making him so pained right now. Perhaps that realization is what made him stop crying. 

Shouta looked down as he stopped freaking out, a silent calm washing over the vigilante.

“You okay?” He asked.

Izuku nodded. “I am. I feel fine. I think I realized it was just the bond keeping me sentimental.” He looked towards his mother’s body, “I feel nothing for her anymore. Perhaps I haven’t for a while outside of my quirk.” He wiped the tears and snot from his face and sighed. Tonight had been long and it still wasn’t over. He needed to get to the League’s hideout and collect his pay and just… pass the fuck out.

“What will you do now?”

“I need to get back to my place and pass out. I am exhausted.”

“Isn’t this your home?”

Izuku scoffed.

“This was only ever a house, not a home. No. Auntie will handle mother’s remains. She’d had things planned out for a few years now. For when I was ready.”

“She knew the truth?” Izuku nodded. Shouta frowned, “You know, you could… I mean, I have a guest room.”

“That’s kind of you, Eraser. But I do have a pretty nice apartment that I like. Plus, I have a few things to take of before the weekend’s up.”

“Before the weekend’s up?”

“I have been thinking of retiring and Ishiyaki made me realize how tired I was. But after this, after breaking this bond - I don’t know. There’s so much more that I can do. But - I need to be more honest with myself, and with those around me. All for One isn’t a danger anymore, and hasn’t been for a while. I don’t need to hide my quirk as much as I have been.”

“Kid. You might be 21, but you’re still young. You could come to college, hell, you could become a hero if that’s what you wanted. There’s so much you could do.”

“I already graduated from college. I have a medical degree and a license.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, fun fact, I’m actually not an illegal vigilante. I’m just a doctor without borders, kind of.”

“Why didn’t you lead with that eight years ago?!”

“Well, I only got my degree and licenses like last year, Eraser.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh. Besides, that was part of my retirement plan. Now, I don’t know, maybe I need a new plan.”

“Izuku. Can you do me a favor? Just… think about all this. Being a vigilante will wear you down faster than hero work. You’re one of the longest running vigilantes of this generation, most are either captured or killed in under three or five years. The offer of my guest room stands open.”

_________________________________________________________________

Izuku had agreed, in the end, to think about it. After the way letting go of his mother had invigorated him, he didn’t think he was ready to quit being a vigilante, but maybe he should sleep on it - or fuck on it. Izuku did his best thinking right before bed, and right after sex.

The League’s hideout wasn’t too far into the shady side of Musutafu and Izuku ran there with his mask off, feeling the breeze on his bare face in a new light. He was so fucking exhausted. They’d given him a key a couple years back when he kept breaking in through the roof. Don’t ask how many times they had to replace the damn lock because Izuku would just snap it to get in. He took more than a few half hearted beatings for doing it, too.

So he walked through the front door, with his key, and collapsed exactly five feet from the door when his body finally gave out from quirk exhaustion after how hard he’d been reading and pushing the bonds today. Well, this sucked. He was still awake, too. He was just zapped. Damnit.

Kurogiri walked out of the kitchen and stopped mid stride when he saw Izuku on the ground. He must have heard the loud thud Izuku’s body made when he collapsed and came to check out the sound.

“TOMURA!” He called. It was like… four in the fucking morning, there was no way Shiggy was awake, right? Unless he was having a gaming marathon. The whole fucking house must have been, because they all came stampeding into the bar.

“Why are you shouting, Giri? Where’s the fire?” Twice’s voice was the first Izuku heard.

“The hell did you do to the pipsqueak?” Dabi asked, first to reach Izuku’s side. Izuku groaned, rolling his eyes half heartedly.

“I did nothing. I heard a thud and came out to find him like this. I’ll get the first aid kit.” Kurogiri vanished into the kitchen again. Toga was at his other side poking his back with the tip of a knife. That hurt, Izuku wanted to shout at her.

He groaned again, and forced out the words, “Quirk essaution.”

Dabi had to lean in close to hear him gasping the words out, then laughed. “It’s fine, Giri, the brat just used his quirk too much. He’ll be fine with some rest. Alright, all of you scram, back to your games before Tomura has a fit.”

Shiggy was the first to bolt out of the room once they realized it wasn’t an emergency. Twice was quick to follow, likely wanting to beat him at something. Spinner was nowhere to be seen, which means he likely never left the gaming station. Compress was probably asleep, bless him.

“Come on, brat.” Dabi hooked Izuku’s arm over his shoulder and hauled Izuku up, dead weight in his arms. Izuku grumbled some cursing offensive, but Dabi just laughed, likely not even understanding him.

“Aww, Dabi, are you gonna steal him again? I want him to stay with me!”

“No one wants to sleep in your bed, Toga, you’d just stab him in his sleep.”

“That’s not true! I’d want him awake first.”

Izuku huffed an annoyed snort and Toga seemed to get the message. She whined but bounced out of the bar back towards the game room where everyone else had gone. Dabi led Izuku, or well drug him, off down the other hall towards the apartments. It was actually in the building next door, the two connected. They all had their own apartments here. There were eight in total in the building, which left one free. They’d been trying to convince Izuku to move in for over a year. But, Izuku always said that was against his rules. It would count as joining a villain organization.

“You really did a number on yourself this time, brat. What happened?”

Izuku was slowly regaining his ability to speak.

“Handed Eri over. Caught by police. Questioned. Saved lady from suicide. Pulled plug on mom. Walked here.”

Dabi paused when Izuku spoke, his door kicked open as the villain looked down at the half dead man in his arms.

“That’s… a lot, for one evening. I’m not going to unpack that tonight. We’re going  to bed. It’s fucking four thirty am, I am exhausted, and clearly so are you.” Izuku snorted again, but didn’t argue Dabi’s statement.

Dabi led him over to the living room. These were one room apartments, a small homey space. The bed wasn’t too far from the door. These apartments had a tiny kitchenette, a private bathroom, a shower/tub and a washing machine, other than that, they had an open square space that fit maybe a few futons and a TV and a table. The floor was tatami. The building was pretty old, but it wasn’t in bad shape.

Dabi’s futon was already set up in the corner, which was where he dropped Izuku rather unceremoniously. Izuku’s eyes were half lidded as he wriggled himself into a more comfortable position and tried, but failed, to take off his shirt. Dabi clicked his tongue and helped Izuku, getting all his vigilante gear off first, then his shirt and pants. Once he was done, Dabi tucked Izuku in and started to walk away.

Izuku whined, grabbing his wrist.

“Oy, give me a minute. I’m gonna put your shit away and get ready for bed. Crybaby.” Izuku released him but whined again. That just made Dabi click his tongue as he left the futon.

Izuku was too tired to follow Dabi with his eyes. Instead, he stared at the ceiling and counted the little dots in the darkness he could see that splotched his vision. It didn’t take long until Dabi returned and curled up under the covers, grabbing Izuku close to his side and curling around him. Izuku sunk his face into Dabi’s shoulder and sighed deeply, inhaling that rich scent of smoke and campfire. He didn’t want to shower tomorrow, he wanted the smell to linger on his skin for days.

“Go to sleep, brat.” Dabi’s gruff voice sounded off in the dark after a few minutes.

Izuku was too wired mentally. Today had been a lot, and there was more that he had to face. He’d decided in that room that he knew these long term bonds were bad for him, unhealthy. But he couldn’t let Dabi go. Hell, Dabi likely couldn’t let go either. But he deserved to know the truth, didn’t he?

“Dabi.” He mumbled, reaching a hand up to caress the scars on the man’s cheek. His eyes were closed but after a couple strokes, bright blue eyes seared into Izuku’s green ones.

“What?” He asked, no heat behind his words. He was wide awake, too.

“I have to tell you something. You’re gonna hate me.”

“Like you don’t already annoy the shit out of me, brat.”

“I’m serious, Touya.”

He only ever used Dabi’s real name if it was dead serious. Dabi knew this. The scarred villain stilled, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

“Spit it out, brat.”

Izuku’s voice choked in his throat. How could he do this? How could he have been doing this for so long? It wasn’t fair to Dabi. It was selfish. It was so selfish of Izuku to keep his quirk going so long, just because he couldn’t bear to lose someone. He’d seen his mother’s tortured body. He didn’t want to know what was going on inside Dabi’s body. It couldn’t be pretty. He had stage four lung cancer. It had to be painful. It had to be suffocating.

“Your lungs….”

Dabi’s breath exhaled in a short burst across his face.

“Shit, that’s what this is about? Someone told you, eh? I know, I got cancer. That’s old news, kiddo. The whole League knows I’m dying. It’s why we sped up finding that last lab. I knew you were sentimental, but shit, don’t break down over this. I knew it would happen with my quirk and smoking habits.”

Izuku didn’t respond verbally. His hand lifted and smacked Dabi across the cheek. The sound was crackling and loud in the silent room. Dabi stared at him, enraged. The look died in his eyes when he saw the expression on Izuku’s face. Izuku knew he must look devastated right now. He felt hollow.

“You didn’t just ‘get cancer’, Touya. You’ve had stage four lung cancer for over six years.”

This time, Dabi pulled back, looking startled, as if Izuku had zapped him with static electricity.

“The fuck are you talking about, Izuku?” He hadn’t heard that name from Dabi’s lips in months, maybe a year. Dabi was the only member of the League who knew it, and he only used it when he was pissed off or when shit was really really bad. Izuku tried to push himself up on his elbow, but failed and flopped back on the futon. He was resigned to his fate.

“My quirk’s been keeping you alive for the last six years, even now.”

“What the fuck?!” He shouted, pushing off Izuku who flopped back on the futon out of Dabi’s arms with a thud. Dabi got up and paced the room angrily, “What the fuck does that even mean? Your quirk is offensive, not healing. You told us about it when we killed All for One. You kept him from realizing we were hitting him or whatever.”

“Not exactly.”

“Fucking explain. NOW.” Dabi’s fingers were smoldering. Izuku knew he was treading on thin ice, so he opted to be honest. His eyes never left the ceiling. At least he was slowly regaining his energy by resting here. He felt slightly better every few minutes. He hadn’t pushed too far today, thankfully.

“My quirk is called ‘In Spite Of It All’ or just ‘Spite’ for short. It’s where my vigilante name comes from. Basically, I can form a bond with someone, and prevent them from dying if they have a strong will to live, or well, a whole hell of a lot of spite to fuel the quirk. It can work if my will for that person to live is also large. There’s… ways to make it offensive, but it’s complicated and-”

“Which is it?” Dabi cut him off.

“Which is what?”

“Which is it? Me. Is it my own will to live, or yours. What’s keeping me alive?”

Izuku huffed a laugh, bringing a hand up to his face to wipe away a few stray tears. Was he going to lose Dabi and the League today, too? Maybe. But he had to be honest. He had to get this out.

“Neither. It’s your hatred for your father. Your spite. You’re living only off your raw desire to destroy him. So, for the last six years, I have worked behind the scenes to stop you from destroying him in small ways, just knocking you back slightly every so often. So you’d keep living. Keep having a reason to live. It was selfish. So fucking selfish. I’m sorry, Dabi. I can’t hold it in anymore.”

“You… you’re the reason I kept getting cockblocked taking down Endeavor?”

Izuku nodded.

“All to keep me from losing my purpose for living?”

Again, he nodded.

Dabi fell to his knees next to the futon with a thud. The next second, heated hands were grabbing for Izuku. He didn’t resist. If Dabi wanted to burn him, he’d allow it. But he had to know if Izuku died, then so did Dabi. His will hadn’t changed, Izuku would know. The hands didn’t burn him. They… they pulled him into a hug? Dabi was crushing his face against Izuku’s chest with his arms wrapped with bruising force around his chest. Izuku hesitated before sinking a hand into that box dye black hair, incredibly confused.

“You idiot.” Dabi grunted into his chest. “You fucking moron.”

Izuku was so lost. Why was Dabi not pissed? Why was he not throwing shit and screaming and burning everything in sight?

“I want to, believe me. I want to. I am so fucking unbelievably angry with you right now.” Oh, Izuku had said that out loud. “But you’re such a fucking idiot sometimes, Izuku. Why didn’t you just tell me six years ago?”

“You would have said no.” Izuku croaked out, trying to hold back tears.

“Mhm.”

Dabi tilted his head up from Izuku’s chest. Izuku smiled down at him. God, he was so tired. But that face, that beautiful patchwork face. Izuku wanted to kiss it. He wanted to kiss every staple and trace his tongue along every line where his skin met scar, the most sensitive parts. Dabi could probably see the needy look in his eyes, but he could also see the exhaustion in them, too.

“Go to sleep, you damn idiot. You’re exhausted. You can jump on me when you wake up.”

“I’m holding you to that.”

“Whatever, just sleep. I am going to beat your ass into the floor for what you did, just so you know.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

_________________________________________________________________

NOTES:

Here's a quit edit of how Izuku sees health statuses that pop up on his quirk. (It's not fancy, just useful)

I do not own nor take credit for making this photo! I only added the text for the purpose of an example!

Artist watermark in the corner for credit <3

Chapter Text

Izuku woke up screaming, his heart racing. A nightmare had gripped him most of the night and he hadn’t been able to escape it. He really should have expected that after he pulled the plug on his mother. Childhood memories haunted him every so often, but right now he was raw and cut open like a live wire, and it ached in his chest still. That snapped bond. It would heal, they always did. But this one would probably take longer. Izuku gripped his chest.

Dabi’s apartment door burst open, Twice was holding a frying pan like a baseball bat. Shiggy had a knife, Kurogiri had his arms crossed.

Izuku was still sitting upright, panting. Dabi was fast asleep at his side, clutching around his waist. He grumbled in his sleep, a few flames licking at his cheek at the disturbance. Izuku looked over to the door and blinked at the sight.

“Nightmare.” Izuku gasped. Twice’s frying pan fell and Tomura grumbled as he wandered off. Kurogiri only nodded, or what Izuku had learned was a nod from the misty man. The door shut and Izuku was alone with the sleeping form of Dabi again. Or well, he’d assumed the man was sleeping, until he grumbled.

“They gone?”

Izuku snickered, rolling back down onto the bed so he could curl up with Dabi. Despite the nightmare lingering on his skin, he felt refreshed. Curling up against his partner, he wrapped his hands tightly around Dabi’s chest.

“Mhm.” He mumbled, pressing his lips to Dabi’s chest, right along one of the seams where his skin met scar tissue. Dabi gasped quietly, his eyes fluttering open to search for Izuku’s. When their eyes did meet, Izuku could see the hunger in them. There was also a lingering anger, bone deep. He was mad at Izuku for what he’d done, and Izuku knew why. Dabi was horribly independent, he refused to rely on others for help, or even ask for it when he was bleeding out. He couldn’t accept that he was now reliant on Izuku’s quirk. He was pissed off that Izuku had done this without Dabi’s permission, and that rage was burning inside of him so explosively he could see it in the back of Dabi’s eyes.

But in the end, there was nothing to be done about it. Dabi refused to die. He refused to give up until his plans succeeded, and he ruined his father. Izuku could feel it, the bond growing stronger with every passing second they stared into each other’s eyes. So despite his anger, he’d forgive Izuku, eventually. It didn’t make Izuku feel any better, though.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered. It broke the spell between them. Dabi leaned down and kissed his forehead.

“I know.” ‘I want to forgive you’ is what Izuku chose to hear.

Dabi’s fingers snaked their way up into Izuku’s hair, tugging just enough to tip his head back. He leaned forward, hovering just outside of Izuku’s reach, their lips ghosting over each other until those scarred lips sunk down against his neck. Izuku gasped. 

‘Can you do me a favor? Just… think about all this.’

Eraserhead’s voice popped into the back of his mind. Later, he’d think about it later.

Dabi's lips grazed along his neck, hands caressing his sides. Izuku’s breath was coming in short little gasps each time he felt little bites to his skin. Dabi wasn’t gentle, he was all claws and venom like a beast. But that was okay, because not all love is gentle. Sometimes it’s gritty and dirty and possessive, sometimes it’s not supposed to be careful or soft. Sometimes it feels like teeth.

Dabi’s fingers tugged his head back even farther, and sideways. He fell over, letting Dabi’s body smother him in heat. The more aroused he got, the higher his body temperature rose. It was climbing fast and Izuku wanted to burn under him. Just this once, he wanted to burn, and feel the pain of how hot this scarred villain could truly get.

A leg slipped up between Izuku’s, spreading him and shoving itself against his already straining boxers. He groaned, his back arching up into his partner’s. Dabi took the opportunity to wrap his hand around Izuku’s back and crush their bodies together. Izuku’s eyes rolled back in his head, his hips humping against Dabi’s with reckless abandon. He was so hungry for that heat, the burning rage inside that threatened to devour Izuku whole.

“I’m sorry.” He gasped again, his fingers tangling in Dabi’s hair. He’d never say it enough. He’d taken away the man’s choice, he’d done exactly what his father did to him all those years ago. He’d ripped away the chance for life to take another course, and now he was forcing Dabi to live a life he might not have lived otherwise.

“I know.” Dabi growled in the back of his throat, his hands heating up once more and gripping Izuku painfully, until little specks of blood appeared at each nail dig. Izuku moaned, grinding himself even harder against his partner. Dabi took it in stride, returning the gesture with his own aggressive thrusts that shoved Izuku back into the floor through the futon. Oh he hadn’t been joking about that last night.

No warning came before Izuku’s body was flipped on it’s front, crushing his painful erection between his stomach and the thin futon on the floor. He whimpered, trying to lift himself but Dabi’s heated palm slammed into his back.

“No.” His voice was a whispered rasp at Izuku’s ears; an order. Izuku shivered. Dabi was angry, possessively angry. Izuku had ripped away something Dabi had worked his whole life to rebuild, and the scarred villain was trying very hard not to let his anger overflow right now. His whole body was practically steaming, some of his seams were already smoking. Izuku was in trouble. The good kind, but also, very much in trouble.

Izuku spread his hands out and grabbed for a pillow, knowing he would need something to bite shortly, to dull his screams. It was ripped from his grip and tossed across the room, so were the rest of the pillows. Izuku whined and again that raspy voice came to his ear, this time with teeth that tugged his lobe.

“I want them to hear your pain this time. You deserve it.”

He did. By the Gods, he did. But that didn’t make it any easier to accept his embarrassment and humiliation! His whole body flushed red and Dabi leaned down to kiss along his spine. Izuku moaned, trying so hard to arch into the feeling, but his upper body was being held down firmly by Dabi’s free hand. Izuku’s eyes slit open, catching a glimpse of Dabi’s other hand that braced himself against the tatami floor. The tatami under it was already warping and blackening from the heat alone. Izuku swallowed hard.

A yelp tore through him as his partner flipped him back over, yanking his waist till their pelvises were slotted together. Dabi was up on his knees with Izuku’s crotch pressed against his and lifted off the ground. Izuku panted for air, the room felt stifling from the heat pouring from Dabi’s skin. He stared down at Izuku with a burning hunger he was used to, but it barely masked the boiling rage just under his skin. Again, he was held down by a hand, painfully digging its nails into his chest.

Flicking a finger, Dabi lit the very tip and lowered it to Izuku’s boxers. He drew a line down one leg, basically cutting it off with heat. The line continued down his own shorts till both pairs were left half charred and discarded on the floor. Izuku’s arm tossed itself over his eyes, covering the lusty haze that glazed them over. He knew how angry Dabi was, it wasn’t fair that he was enjoying this so much when all Dabi wanted was to hate fuck him. He didn’t get much relief, Dabi yanked his arm back over his head while bucking his hips against Izuku.

Izuku let out a long moan, his eyes rolling back in his head. Damnit, this man knew exactly how to twist Izuku’s guts into a knot and make him cry out. Half opening his eyes again, he watched the look on Dabi’s face change from half hunger and half rage to nothing but frustration. He was fighting with himself. He wanted to love Izuku, and the younger vigilante knew that. He wanted it, but he couldn’t. Izuku knew that his drive to end his father’s career took first priority over everything, even to his love life. On top of that, Izuku had betrayed him, perhaps a deeper betrayal than even his father had done. 

But even in that betrayal, Dabi still cared about Izuku, and Izuku could see it. He had to get this out. He had to work through it, till he found whatever answer satisfied him, no matter how it left Izuku in the end. 

Hands once more moved him, yanking him upwards till his backside was leaning into Dabi’s chest with his knees tucked over the man’s shoulders. Izuku’s eyes went wide and he was about to say stop just when that incredibly hot tongue shoved itself right into Izuku’s ass. He let out the lowest moan his throat could produce, unwillingly arching into the tongue that probed him open. Electricity sparked into the base of his spine, his arms both danging over his head listless and boneless. Izuku’s head was spinning with sorrow, and lust. It was a heavy combination and he wanted more, so, so much more.

“Da-” He tried to speak, but his voice cut out into another cry of pleasure as that tongue finally loosened him enough to push itself inside and start thrusting. His toes curled, fingers desperately gripping at the bed sheets behind his head to try and ground him to something, anything. The tongue curled inside him and Izuku keened to the side as if that might pull him away from it. He didn’t want to pull away, but fuck it was so much. His dick was leaking down his stomach, already tight and painful from the need to orgasm. But he knew Dabi wouldn’t let him, not yet.

Dabi’s tongue slipped back out and in its place he put two fingers, thrusting them with spreading motions to expand Izuku’s hole, stretch it for what was to come. He wasn’t gentle about it, and he didn’t bother to stretch Izuku much at all. Izuku knew this was supposed to hurt. Dabi wanted it to hurt. He wanted to make an example of Izuku’s pain. Izuku didn’t fight him. He thrashed against the pleasure and gasped through each moan and each drooling pump of his cock that dangled over his stomach as Dabi toyed with and prepped him. But, he didn’t fight.

Dabi stood up, not even bothering to put Izuku down. He dropped the vigilante sideways, letting Izuku’s hip bounce off the floor painfully, making Izuku hiss. There would only be a bruise there tomorrow, if he was lucky. Dabi left just long enough to grab the low table from across the room and place it right beside the futon.

“Up.” He ordered. Izuku didn’t hesitate. He crawled up onto the table, kneeling on it like a dog waiting for another order at his master’s feet. Izuku and Dabi didn’t have that kind of relationship, but sometimes Dabi just commanded attention, and obedience. Izuku was pliant and easy to control in this state, half dizzy with pleasure. Dabi knew that, and he was abusing it right now, when he usually wouldn’t.

The scarred man stood in front of him, dick in one hand. He gripped Izuku’s throat with his free hand for just long enough to growl out, “Choke on it and I’ll kill you.” It wasn’t an empty threat, Izuku knew that. Not today. Before he could even think of a response or even nod, Dabi had grabbed his hair and shoved that engorged cock into his mouth. The scarred villain groaned with the feeling of Izuku’s soft mouth wrapping tightly around him. Izuku’s eyes rolled back in his head as he swallowed down droplets of pre-cum that spilled into his mouth. It was salty and the taste of smoke lingered on his tongue like a long drawn out cigarette. It was heaven.

After a second, Dabi started to move. His hands were both tight and tangled in Izuku’s hair, using the back of his head as leverage so he could fuck Izuku’s face with little regard for his partner. Izuku’s hands found Dabi’s knees to stabilize himself. The hard, unfinished wood of the table dug into Izuku’s knees and shins. He’d be bloody and scraped up tomorrow, but that was a concern for future Izuku. Right now, he groaned happily around the dick in his throat, thrusting into him roughly. He wanted everything, all the rage and pain and sorrow, he wanted to take all of it with every single thrust of Dabi’s body. It sank into his muscles and tore at his skin, leaving bruises and scrapes from each encounter. 

“Ngh- suck, hard… harder!” Dabi shouted at him. Izuku obeyed, keeping pace with his partner by gripping his knees so tightly he clawed them to shreds so his face would move fast and rough against Dabi’s dick. He sucked until his lips were numb, and finally, oh blissfully, it exploded in his mouth with force. Izuku swallowed every drop, his tongue lapping up around the wet head to clean it off.

Dabi yanked his head off, fingers dragging him up by his hair till the taller man could violate his mouth with his tongue, tasting himself inside of Izuku’s lips and teeth. Izuku groaned, attempting to cup Dabi’s face. His hand was smacked away angrily and Dabi threw him to the side as if he were nothing but a doll. Izuku collapsed onto the futon, gasping for air, drool and cum dribbling down his chin. 

Dabi shoved the table aside so roughly it clattered against the wall. He grabbed Izuku by the ankle and yanked the man closer. Izuku cried out as his dick was scraped haphazardly across the tatami mats without the futon to protect him. His cry was cut short when Dabi’s hand grabbed his hair and shoved his face into the mess of blankets he was only partially tangled in around his upper body. He must have grabbed them in the process of being dragged across the ground.

“Ass up.” Dabi commanded yet again, giving Izuku no words of praise like he normally did. No careful affirmations. Nothing but fury in his voice. Izuku obeyed and slid his knees across the ancient mats, scraping them even more than before till his ass was in the air was requested.

Dabi’s hand shoved it higher up as he positioned himself to Izuku’s entrance. Tears were already streaming down Izuku’s face from all the little places his body ached and burned, but this was just the beginning, wasn’t it?

Izuku let out a mixed cry of pain and pleasure as his partner thrust into him without anymore preparation. It hurt, it burned. Not just from the stretch, but from the core temperature of Dabi’s skin. He hadn’t been that hot a moment ago when he’d been face fucking Izuku. Now the game really began. Izuku’s eyes refused to stay open, his right cheek plastered to the floor as he started to sob. Dabi didn’t stop, or even slow down, he just bucked his hips into Izuku’s ass while keeping one hand on the back of Izuku’s neck to keep him in place.

Izuku drifted into a sort of half disassociated state, the pain of betraying his lover, his friend, taking a toll on his mind. He didn’t care if Dabi hurt him, hell, if he was being honest - he liked this kind of pain. It made him feel alive. It made every nerve ending stand at attention and cry out with the pleasure of being lit on fire. No, it was the agony of knowing that Dabi was taking his anger this way, instead of burning down the house. He had grown so much since they met years ago, but he was still so broken. Izuku didn’t want to fix him, he just wanted to be accepted by the scarred villain.

Dabi growled, biting teeth into his shoulder so hard a splatter of blood hit the sheets by Izuku’s head. He screamed, not for the first time today, he actually screamed. It wasn’t loud, and it was quick and cut off by a gasp. Dabi bucked against him harder, bruising the back of Izuku’s hips with the force of it.

“You have taken my choice from me, so I’m taking yours from you.”

Izuku didn’t know what Dabi meant, what choice was he taking? But he didn’t have the ability to speak to ask. His tongue was hanging out of his mouth, drooling on the futon under his head as tears mixed into the disgusting pile that Izuku had become on the floor. Dabi leaned down and licked his tears from his face.

“You are mine, and only mine. Forever.”

Oh. Oh.

Then pain, blinding, searing, and breathless, ripped through his hips. Were he any more conscious, he’d realize Dabi’s hands had gripped his pelvis. Blue flames flickered to life in the corners of his eyes as Izuku screamed. This time, he screamed freely, and loudly - as if the devil himself were burning Izuku’s soul in the pits of hell. He came just like that, his ass in the air while Dabi burned two hand prints onto his hips and buried himself in his ass repeatedly until he, too, felt his orgasm grip him and tip him over the cliff. They fell, together, against the tatami mats, gasping and smoldering from the flames of whatever this was that somehow could be called love.

They didn’t get the chance to even relax in the afterglow when for the second time that morning, Dabi’s door burst open with the whole fucking League ready to fight, minus Kurogiri. He’d clearly gotten enough of Izuku’s antics lately.

Izuku was fucked out and unable to open his eyes more than halfway. He was covered in a variety of substances, most of which were his own. His skin was also still smoking from the fresh burns on his hips - one of which was now being pressed into the mats beneath him and screaming in the back of Izuku’s head from it. He was naked on the tatami mats, his bitten shoulder bleeding all over himself and the floor.

“What the FUCK!?” Shigaraki shouted. Izuku’s eyes flitted to him, but he didn’t even have enough brain to be embarrassed. “You scream like you’re fucking DYING, and we come running, not to find some fucktard villain or idiot police pig breaking into our house but to find you two FUCKED OUT and burnt up. What the hell?!”

Dabi stood up, threw a blanket over Izuku, and walked towards Shigaraki - butt ass naked and unremorseful. Izuku would have laughed his ass off, if his ass wasn’t already numb.

Toga hand covered Twice’s eyes. Spinner was blushing something pitiful. Compress was hidden behind his mask though it was clear he was blushing from the way he stepped back from the doorway. All five of them were trying to make heads or tails of whether or not Izuku was actually hurt or not. In reality, it was complicated.

“What I do in my room, is none of your DAMN BUSINESS!” Dabi shouted back.

“It is when you BURN my best damn informant!” Shigaraki pointed a finger at Dabi, and that was the wrong choice this morning. Dabi grabbed his finger and twisted it backwards, almost breaking it - almost. Tomura screeched in pain, glaring at Dabi with murder in his eyes.

“The brat betrayed me. I taught him a lesson. This was forgiveness. Are we done here? Got your pretty fucking explanation? Now fuck off, and stay away from the brat, he’s mine and mine alone.”

That was the most confusing slew of words Izuku had ever heard. He’d just been called a traitor in one sentence, forgiven in the next, and then called Dabi’s boyfriend in the last. What the fuck? Izuku tried to lift his head from the ground, only to find he was too light headed and he thumped back to the ground, entirely jell-o.

“What the fuck?” Shigaraki whispered. Dabi slammed the door and the lock in their faces. It wasn't common for the League members to lock their doors. The scarred man was adding insult to injury by loudly throwing the latch in their faces.

Izuku finally managed to get his eyes to open all the way.

“I’m sorry.”

“I forgive you.”

Izuku sighed in relief, his whole body just releasing all its tension and sorrow. Dabi carefully cradled him against his chest, kissing his forehead as he rocked the smaller vigilante in his arms. Izuku wanted to go back to sleep, he was so exhausted. But something snapped his mind to clarity. Dabi’s bond changed. It wasn’t much, but it changed. No, no no no no NO! 

Izuku’s hands grabbed Dabi’s face with both hands, his eyes searching those piercing blue irises as if they could hold all the answers.

“Izu - what the hell? What’s wrong?”

“You changed.”

“What?”

“The bond. You changed. Your spite, your purpose, it’s shifting. I can’t… I can’t tell how, but it’s changing and it scares me. If you… if you lose your will, you’ll die.”

“Izu, I’m not losing my will to live, and believe me, there is plenty of fucking spite for dear old dad to go around. I’m not going anywhere. Besides, I have to look out for you, now, too. Since I just claimed you as my boyfriend, ya know?”

“I… that’s… hmmm.” Izuku sighed again, letting his body sink back into Dabi’s arms and cuddle.

“Come on, you need a bath, and some aftercare. You’re a wreck. I need to treat those burns, too.”

“Your fault.” Izuku pouted.

“Mmm actually - your fault.”

“Fuck.” Dabi laughed, picked him up, and carried him to the bathtub for some cuddles, washing up, and also burn treatment.

‘Can you do me a favor? Just… think about all this.’

Again, Eraserhead’s voice in the back of his head. Oh right, he was supposed to think about that.

Izuku looked up to Dabi, still cradled in his arms in the warm water as the scarred villain ran a soothing hand over each burn mark. Izuku winced, but it felt good overall, so he didn’t ask Dabi to stop. Instead, he changed the subject.

“Hey, Tou-chan? Uhm… what would you say if I told you I might retire from vigilante work?”

He didn’t even look up from his work when he snorted and replied, “I’d say you were either high, fucked out of your mind, or going crazy. I know you're one of the three right now so...”

“I’m serious.”

“You’re… you’re serious? You.. You want to retire? Brat, why the fuck would you want to retire, and what the fuck would you do anyway?”

“I don’t know, maybe go back to school, get another degree. Maybe actually go into medicine like I planned when I got my medical license a year ago?”

“Okay, that’s a valid point. I’ll give you that. I guess I just.. I don’t know. I guess I’ve never thought outside of - this.” Dabi gestured around. “But after Eri’s been gone, I think we’re all just listless and adrift. No one really has the desire to do anything… villainous anymore, now that we got rid of All for One, and the last of his labs and the Hissaikai labs, too. Trigger and the quirk erasers are almost eradicated and we have the last major supply of them that we’re guarding and destroying as fast as we can. I guess I just worry that you might drift away, too?”

Izuku frowned. Dabi was never this forward with his emotions. The League must really be falling apart if he’s being so upfront. But also, maybe it was because they’d both just wrecked each other emotionally and now they had to rebuild that bond. Honesty was a good start.

“I’m not going to drift away from you, stupid, you just claimed me. But you know, you could come with me - retire.”

Dabi snorted, “Yeah? End up in jail? I don’t think they do conjugal visits in the state penitentiary, Izu.” Izuku smacked his chest with an annoyed huff.

“You’re not a wanted villain anymore anyway, you know that. The League was pronounced disbanded years ago. Hell, Tsukauchi didn’t even know you guys were going after Chisaki’s labs - or hell, that we’d killed All for One. I think that nets you guys some major bonus points.”

“Bonus points in murder maybe! Not in heroics!” Dabi threw his hands up, then splashed them down into the water. Izuku giggled at the splashing. Down scowled.

“Look, I can talk to Eraserhead maybe? If you guys came in, and retired officially, you’d likely be able to see Eri again. I know eraser knows you guys are still kind of active in the background but he knows you aren’t bad guys anymore. Not really. He could figure something out, probably.”

“Izu, if you could get us like… I don’t know, probation or whatever, then sure, maybe we’ll come in. But you gotta remember, if we try and live normal lives - we’ll have to rely on what we stole from PotatoForBrains. Granted, it’s a fortune, but we wouldn’t be functioning members of society. No one would take any of us for hire. We could hardly go out without people calling the cops on us. It’d be… like living in a cage.”

Izuku frowned because he was right. Dabi was right. It would be a cage. It would be gilded and decorated pretty, but it would still be a cage and nothing else. It made Izuku realize he wasn’t like them at all. He always thought he was, since they’d come from such similar backgrounds and had been tortured by society and thrown away just as easily. But the life Izuku made for himself had an out. It had a way to return to society built in, by his own hand, by his own blood, sweat, and tears. But villainy was the end of the line for them. Everything else would be a death sentence, or a prison sentence, no matter how ‘free’ they appeared.

“So, what, then? You gonna be a villain for the rest of your life?”

“Considering there isn’t much left of it, sure.”

“Are you fucking serious? You’re talking like that, to me, of all people?”

“Izu. You said it yourself. Once I fulfill my purpose, and lose my spiteful will to defy death - I’ll probably die.”

Izuku was fuming. He spun around in the tub and punched Dabi on the chest hard enough to make the villain cough. Izuku didn't even care about his stupid lungs right now.

“Then you find another purpose, you fucking idiot!” He shouted. “You don’t. Ever. Fucking. Give up.” Each cry was punctuated by another punch. Dabi eventually grabbed both his wrists to stop him. At this point, water had been sloshing all over the floor. Neither of them seemed to care.

“Izuku!” Dabi shouted. Izuku panted for air.

“What?!” He shouted back.

“No, you idiot. Izuku. You. That’s… that’s my purpose when my father dies or goes to jail.”

And fuck, didn’t that just stop his breath in his lungs? He exhaled a choked breath and settled back down in Dabi’s lap, still facing him. It wasn’t healthy, Izuku knew that. To let one person be your whole purpose for existing. It was horribly and wholly unhealthy. But Izuku would let him do it. He’d let Dabi hinge his entire existence on Izuku. He would, because it meant he’d get to keep Dabi until they both decided to die.

Chapter Text

Izuku startled awake to the sound of his phone going off across the room. He had a special ring for the hospital if they called. Dabi growled beside him, arms trapping him tightly and refusing to let him get up.

“Dabi, it’s the hospital, I have to get this.” Another growl, but the arms released and Izuku scurried forward to untangle his phone from the pockets of his vigilante gear.

“This is Rancor.” He snapped once he got the phone finally released from the stupid mess of fabric. Dabi really needed a lesson in properly folding pants, damnit.

“Rancor. It’s Dr. Tsukumo. The GSW patient you dropped off the other day is out of the woods now, and should be waking up today.”

“Thank you Dr. Tsukumo, I’m glad to hear it. Please let me know if anything comes up.”

“Will do.”

Izuku clicked his phone off and sat back on his legs with a sigh. That was a relief.

Focusing on his quirk, Izuku snipped the bond for the mugging victim he’d saved the other day. The minute it snapped, Izuku’s eyes rolled back in his head and his whole body started to seize. Every muscle jerked violently as his body collapsed in a heap on the floor. He felt swallowed by his quirk, trapped in a sea of un-tethered bonds and mental anguish. His vision filled with barking dogs, raging beasts, and feral cats that all gnashed their teeth at his ankles. He screamed, or thought he was screaming, but he couldn’t hear anything except all the rabid animals trying to rip him apart for what felt like hours.

“-uku!” A familiar voice screamed, “IZUKU!” Dabi. It was Dabi’s voice. Izuku reached for it, desperately dragging himself out of the void of monsters that only wanted one thing - death.

“Izuku wake up!”

He gasped, choking on oxygen as his lungs forced themselves full over and over, as if he hadn’t been breathing for the last hour.

“Fuck.” Dabi cradled him to his chest. Izuku was confused. Why was Dabi so upset? What happened? Where were the dogs? Everything was so silent. “You got off the phone and like fell into a fucking seizure. What the fuck, Izuku? What the fuck…” Dabi rocked himself back and forth, holding the still shaking vigilante in his arms. Izuku blinked a few times and tried to remember what happened.

He’d snapped the bond with that gunshot victim. That’s what happened. Dabi was the only bond he had left. It had been a very very long time since he’d only held one bond. But something had changed last night, hadn’t it? When he snapped the bond with his mother. He felt it. So what was different? A sharp pain flared at the back of his skull. Izuku hissed, wincing against Dabi’s chest.

‘I can’t do this anymore!’ ‘Make it stop!’ ‘Please, just one more…’ ‘I’m so alone…’ ‘Why won’t they come save me?’ ‘I just want to sleep.’ ‘I’ll never live up to their expectations.’

Voices filled his head in a million different tones. It was too much, too much! He covered his ears with his hands, curling into a tight little ball, waiting for the noise and panic to pass. Dabi held him through it, he could feel those strong scarred arms cradling him but he couldn’t hear the soft cooing noises and worried whispers the man was making.

After about five minutes of agony, the noises cut off abruptly when Izuku tried a few different things to get them to stop. The only thing that worked was shutting down his quirk. Normally he kept it open so he could read health information on everyone around him. But now it was like the information he was getting was overwhelming and his range was far too wide. Is that what was happening? Did his range expand? That didn’t explain the voices.

Izuku cracked open an eye, realizing he’d finally stopped shaking and sobbing, only to find Dabi’s terrified face staring down at him.

“Izu?” He asked, “Come back to me, please?”

Izuku swallowed the pain in his throat. Had he been screaming again? No one had come running this time, so maybe not - or the League had just decided he was crying wolf this time.

“Here…” He croaked. “Mmm’ere.” His eyes half closed again, his cheek resting on the villain’s shoulder. He was so exhausted. Why did the universe hate him? He just wanted to retire and do some work in the medical field. But no, instead, he got a fucking radio boost to his damn quirk antennae. What the fuck?

“Where’d you go? What happened?”

“Dunno… quirk.. Went crazy. Think… got a signal boost… when I… clipped all the bonds but yours.”

“A signal boost? What the fuck does that mean, Izu?”

“Mmm, hearing voices… people losing their will to live. So loud. Too many. Why so many?”

Dabi just stared down at him, confusion clear on his face. Izuku had never fully explained how his quirk worked to anyone outside of his mother - and she’d been in a coma when he’d explained it. So no one knew. He could normally only hear the monsters in the minds of those under the influence of his quirk. He could feel the bond, the pain, the darkness that swallowed their will to live. But now? Now it was like everyone in a five fucking mile radius was screaming inside his skull when his quirk was active.

“Okay. Signal boost. So - what? You like, just know when people are gonna jump off roofs or swallow a bottle of pills by activating your quirk?”

“Not specific. Just… I can hear them sinking, falling. When their will snaps, it’s like.. It’s like a rabid dog has gripped their throat. I can see it, feel it. Normally only when I’m bonded to them.”

“So like, if my will started to break, you’d see it in your head or feel it?”

“Yeah. But now, even just turning it on, it’s like they’re all screaming for help in my head.”

“That’s so fucked up.”

“Mmm yeah, it’s painful. Too many voices.”

“So, what do we do?”

“I don’t know. Think I’m gonna have to accept Eraserhead’s help now. No choice. If I don’t… get help… I think my head might explode from the pain.”

Dabi sucked in a breath. He knew Izuku was being overdramatic, but living with a thousand voices in your head was also extremely bad news. No matter how impressive Izuku’s will to live was as a result of his quirk - that kind of torment could drive anyone mad without help. Izuku needed help. He needed quirk counseling, which he’d never had, and he needed it fast.

“Okay, new plan.”

“Hmm?”

“Where’s your phone? I’m calling Eraserhead. You’re in no state to move. You just had a massive seizure. I’m taking you to the heroes.”

“Dabi no… they’ll… they’ll capture you.”

“I don’t care. Or, or I’ll make a deal or something. But you need help, and we can’t help you here. This is worse than Eri. She wasn’t at risk of dying from quirk fuckery by just being here. You need to be like… I don’t know, on quirk suppressants or something.”

“NO.” Izuku barked. Dabi startled at his sudden aggression.

“Izuku..”

“No. You don’t… understand. If they suppress me, it will snap your bond. It’s happened before when Eraser used his quirk on me once. You remember the day I burst in here looking rabid a year ago?”

“Uhh, vaguely.”

“You almost died. I felt it. I was so scared. You can’t let them suppress me.”

“Okay, okay. But I’m calling him.” Izuku watched through half lidded eyes, still curled in Dabi’s lap, as the villain grabbed his phone off the floor and searched his contacts for Eraserhead’s number. Izuku caught the screen, seeing it was 11am on Saturday. Hopefully he won't be busy. Dabi clicked the call button, and set the phone on the floor after turning it on speaker phone. It rang four times before a tired voice came over the line.

“This better be good, kid. Did you think about what I said?”

“Eraserhead.” Dabi barked.

“Who the fuck is this? Where is Rancor?”

“Mmm’ere, ‘raser.” He groaned.

“What did you get into this time?” Eraserhead sounded exhausted, and Izuku heard him sigh. He imagined the underground hero rubbing at his temples and cursing to himself quietly. Izuku looked to Dabi for help. He was too tired to speak much anymore.

“Look, I have no idea what happened. Brat said he disconnected a few bonds recently? He just did one a few minutes ago and then he just had a huge fucking seizure and now he’s saying his head’s exploding or something. I have no idea what’s going on, I don’t know jack about his quirk.”

“Who is this?”

“The fucking milk man, who do you think? It’s Dabi.”

Eraserhead sighed deeply, “Bring him to my place. He should have it saved in his contacts.” Then he hung up.

Izuku and Dabi stared at each other for a while. Izuku had no energy to move and that was obvious. Dabi didn’t seem very excited to take Izuku to Eraserhead’s house.

“It’s-kay, house is.. neutral ground. Promise.”

“Fine. Whatever. Sit still, I’ll get you dressed.”

The villain snapped out of whatever fears he might have been stewing over and grabbed Izuku's vigilante gear. He put on Izuku’s shirt and pants, but tossed the rest into a backpack which was set by the door as Dabi went to get himself dressed. Izuku felt some small delight that they’d avoided showers this morning, which meant he’d be smelling campfire all day on his skin. 

“What are you grinning at, idiot?” Dabi asked as he came back to Izuku’s side.

“Noffin.” Izuku mumbled, leaning against his partner’s chest again. Dabi snorted and quickly picked him up bridal style.

“Hey, brat, don’t pass out on me yet. I need you to pull out his address. Can you do that for me?”

“Mmm yeah.” He took out his phone, which Dabi had plopped on his lap when he was picked up, and pulled up the address as he held up the phone for Dabi to see.

“Okay, hold onto that. We’re taking the Kurogiri taxi.”

“Shiggy’s gonna be mad.”

“He’ll be even angrier if your head explodes.”

“Mmmm true.”

Izuku closed his eyes, clinging to his phone as best he could as Dabi carried him through the apartment complex and back into the bar he’d come through last night. Izuku had to wonder if this would be the last time he’d be here, with the League. It made him incredibly sad, but he tried to stifle the pain of that fear.

“Are you fucking serious?” Tomura’s voice startled Izuku back to reality. “Did you seriously break him? I swear to God, Dabi-”

“It wasn’t me. His fucking quirk is going haywire, he had a seizure. I’m taking him to Eraserhead. Kurogiri, I need a portal. Now. Address is in Izuku’s hand.”

“You’re not using Giri for this, you broke my informant!”

“Shiggy, did you even listen? I didn’t fucking do this. His fucking quirk is trying to kill him, so either back the fuck off, or I will make you. I don’t have time for this! Giri, portal, now!”

Izuku’s eyes cracked open just enough for him to watch the interaction. Dabi was seething with his teeth bared. Tomura was glaring at him with narrowed eyes. Kurogiri looked bored with one floating eye arched up in question at Tomura. Dabi won the staring contest though, and Tomura waved a hand to Giri, who reached over and took the phone from Izuku. Once he had the coordinates he needed, the phone was placed back in Izuku’s lap and a portal appeared.

“You better bring him back - alive, Dabi. If Eraser captures you, we’re not visiting you in jail.”

“I’d expect nothing less, boss. Love you too, you bastard.”

“Pfft, whatever.”

Then darkness swallowed them up and Izuku felt the usual static of Giri’s portal wrap around him like a blanket. It always felt weirdly wet to Izuku, but he never came out soaked, so he wasn’t really sure why it felt like that. It’s how Izuku imagined walking through a rain cloud might feel. Izuku was prepared to see Eraserhead’s front door when they walked through the portal, but nope, instead they were plumb inside the man’s living room. Kurogiri was damn spot on with his coordinate estimations, so Izuku knew this was where he’d meant to send them - but it was sort of rude not to knock first.

“Eraser’s gonna be mad you didn’t knock.” Izuku mumbled, slowly regaining his speech faculties.

“I didn’t give Giri the address, you did.”

That’s when Present Mic rounded the corner in nothing but sweatpants with his hair tied up and a toothbrush in his mouth. The look on his face told Izuku that Eraserhead clearly didn’t tell the man they were expecting company. Izuku was just about to ask Mic not to grab the baseball bat when Eraserhead rounded the corner as well.

“How the fuck - you know what, I’m not asking. Quit using my damn windows, Problem Child.”

“Actually, it was Kurogiri’s fault.” Dabi shrugged. Izuku grunted at the way his shrug jostled him. Dabi offered an apologetic look. Eraserhead sighed, already totally done with their shit.

“I’ll make us all lunch.” Mic shook his head and wandered off to the kitchen, not even bothering to ask what was going on. He was getting used to the madness that surrounded Izuku’s life. Izuku was worried he’d traumatized the poor voice hero.

“Alright, can you explain what happened, Problem Child? Here, put him on the couch.”

Izuku wiggled himself upright as Dabi placed him down on the couch, feeling much better now that he was sitting up instead of being carried. His muscles were still not responding right, though. He was sure as hell not going to try and walk right now. Izuku looked up to find Eraserhead and Dabi staring at him expectantly. Oh, right. He was supposed to be explaining what happened.

“Uhhm.” Izuku shook the last dregs of confusion from his mind and cleared his throat, “The hospital called. The mugging victim I brought in the other day was cleared from danger. I released my quirk. It was the last… uhm, the last bond - besides Dabi’s. But, my quirk’s been weird since last night, since I released mom from the bond, since she died. It’s like… that broken tether of hers won’t heal.”

“What do you mean?” Eraserhead prompted.

“Well, when I form a long term bond, it’s like… a cable, an umbilical cord. Short term bonds are more like wires. I’ve only ever had two long term bonds. Mom, and Dabi. When I snapped mom’s, it was like I’d short circuited something. The bond’s always hurt to cut, but this one… this one ached in my chest - it’s why I was upset. It wasn’t her death that upset me, it was losing the bond, snapping the connection.” Izuku took a breath. Holy shit, he was tired.

“So why do you think that changed something?”

“Well,” Izuku rubbed at the side of his head. He was starting to get a worse headache than had already been duly aching in his head since he woke up, “I don’t know. I've never cut a long term bond before. Then, when I snapped the last short term bond I had - everything just… went black. I was inside my head, in my quirk. I was surrounded by the beasts, the manifestations of the darkness that destroys willpower. I was trapped and then I heard Dabi’s voice and I woke up. He told me I had a seizure. Then I heard the voices.”

“Voices?”

“Uhh, yeah. Like, people crying out for help, desperate. I had to shut off my quirk.”

“Wait a second. If you shut off your quirk, then how is Dabi alive?”

“Hey!” Dabi barked. “Wait… he has a point.”

“It’s… not like that. When my quirk is active, I can passively see the health status of someone, usually only if it’s tied to their will to live. Like with Dabi. I can see his burns and his lung cancer because it’s tied to the reason he’s so spiteful to live. If I shut down my quirk, it doesn’t affect the bonds, it just means I can’t see those stats on people. When it was active earlier, I kept hearing all the voices, like I was being tugged in every direction all at once.”

“Okay. Well, it’s good you can shut that out for now. When was the last time you had quirk counseling, kid?”

“Never.” Dabi knew some of the story, that he’d been diagnosed quirkless at four, but then his hidden quirk revealed itself when he was a young teen in middle school. He’d kept it a secret since.

“Mmm you did mention being diagnosed quirkless. I was curious about that. So you’ve just been discovering your quirk on your own all this time?” Eraserhead asked.

“Yeah.”

“Well, shit. I need to call Nedzu. This is way above my pay grade.”

Dabi settled down on the couch next to him and took his hand. Izuku offered a tired smile. They waited silently for Eraserhead to come back. The smell from the kitchen was amazing. Whatever Mic was making for lunch was making Izuku’s stomach growl.

Mic walked into the living room a few minutes later with a tray holding four bowls of homemade ramen filled to the brim with meat and veggies. Izuku’s mouth watered. Dabi looked scared. He likely hadn’t had a real home cooked meal in over a decade. Izuku only got meals like this when he dropped in unannounced to the EraserMic household and Mic went into dad-mode as Izuku liked to call it.

“Hey,” Izuku nudged Dabi with his elbow, “It’s just ramen. It won’t bite. Promise. Zashi likes to cook for people, and he kinda goes into dad-mode when I’m around.”

“I heard that!” Mic grumbled from behind his own bowl of ramen. Izuku smiled softly and leaned back into the couch. His arms still felt like jell-o. Dabi took his bowl tentatively and loudly moaned when the food hit his tongue. Izuku chuckled. He turned to Dabi and opened his mouth, making soft ‘ah, ah’ noises. The scarred villain rolled his eyes and stuffed some ramen and beef chunks in his mouth. His eyes rolled back in his head, the food was amazing. A few more bites and Izuku lay his head on Dabi’s shoulder, letting his eyes droop. He was still so tired.

“So, little listener, Shou told me you were thinking about retiring from Vigilante work. I know he said this but… our guest room is always open to you.” Izuku titled his head up towards Dabi again. The poor villain was glaring into his bowl of soup at the change in conversation.

“Thanks, Zashi - but I promised someone I wouldn’t fade out of their life. Even if I do retire - I don’t think I’ll leave the underground. It’s home, ya know? It’s where my family is, where my home is. Besides, this stupid group of friends has been trying to convince me to move into their apartment for over a year now, and I think it’s time I accept the offer.” He watched Dabi’s eyes widen slowly the more he talked. By the end, they snapped to Izuku, searching the vigilante’s eyes as if to verify he wasn’t lying or bluffing. All he’d find there was honest excitement. Dabi leaned over and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

“Oh.” Hizashi said around his chopsticks. “I didn’t realize you had a boyfriend.”

“A what?!” Eraserhead had just returned to the living room.

“Shoouuuu - they’re so cute! Come on, be nice!”

“Be nice? When he’s dating a villain?!”

“Hey! This villain takes offense to that statement.”

“Well then I guess it’s good you don’t get an opinion in this house.”

“Shouta! Come on, Izuku’s old enough to make his own decision on who he dates.”

“Stupid decisions, sure.”

“What is your problem with me? My scars? My past offenses? You know I haven’t killed anyone in years. Izuku doesn’t need you to be his parent, he’s a grown ass adult. Who he loves isn’t your say.”

“Oh really? And who are you to make that call anyway? How would you know what he needs? Clearly you haven’t been dating him long if you think-”

Izuku growled deep in his throat and shoved himself up, annoyed with them arguing like he wasn’t even here.

“None of you!” He shouted, “Make decisions for me. I value everyone in this room in different ways, and your opinions are welcome. But you don’t get to argue over me like I’m not here, or like I’m some idiot who can’t decide what bastard gets to love me. I picked this one, and that’s the end of it. Now please - stop yelling at each other, my head is still on the verge of exploding.”

Everyone looked guilty. Good. Izuku slid down sideways on the couch and put his head in Dabi’s lap after yanking down a blanket from the back of the couch. Dabi had finished his lunch and was casually brushing his fingers through Izuku’s teal hair. Izuku wasn’t asleep and he wasn’t going to sleep with the nasty headache that was stewing in his head, so he just closed his eyes and tried to rest a little while listening to the quiet conversation around him.

“Nedzu should be here in twenty minutes.”

“You think he can figure out Izu’s quirk?" Dabi asked.

“If anyone can, it’d be the Rat. But I don’t know what to make of the change in his quirk, unless he just wasn’t accessing it’s full potential till he broke his first large bond? I don’t know. That’s the only logical thing I can think of.

“It’s possible he hadn’t yet accessed all of his quirk since he’s been trying to figure it out on his own.” Zashi added.

Izuku must have faded in and out of consciousness because the conversation diverged into bits and pieces from there. A few laughs, some whispered shouts, and then silence. He jerked upright at the sound of the doorbell going off, which made Dabi yelp. Some villain he was, getting jump scared like that. Izuku actually felt much better, or rather, much better than he had this morning. Progress was progress and he’d take any he could get at this point.

Eraserhead- Shouta - walked back into the living room with a little chimera on his shoulder. Izuku had always wanted to meet the infamous principle of UA University. He smacked Dabi on the arm when he caught the villain staring daggers at the creature though; Dabi put his hands up defensively in surrender.

“It’s such a pleasure to meet you Rancor!” Nedzu offered as he jumped from Shouta’s shoulders down to the couch and across the coffee table to hold out a paw for Izuku to shake.

“Uhm, it’s just Izuku. It’s a pleasure to meet you too, sir.” Izuku shook the offered paw.

“Nonsense, call me Nedzu. Now, Izuku, I hear you have quite the interesting little quirk. Tell me about it?”

Izuku looked between the two heroes across from him and Dabi beside him. They all had varying degrees of ‘go on, tell him’ written on their faces. Even his villain partner seemed fine with him explaining himself. Izuku rubbed his palm over the back of his head and dove in.

“Well, I call it ‘In Spite Of It All’ or ‘Spite’ for short. Basically, I can make bonds with people through my quirk that prevents them from dying. If they have a really strong will to live or a whole hell of a lot of spite, or other strong reason for living, they won’t die no matter what happens. Well, okay, I haven’t tested every theory - I don't know if someone can survive a beheading, for example - but generally speaking, they can’t die. I can also passively see health statuses tied to a person’s will to live.”

Dabi raised a hand, “He can see mine since it’s part of why I’m still here.”

“He’s bonded to you?” Nedzu asked.

“Yeah, apparently he saw I had stage four lung cancer and formed a bond to keep me alive. Apparently my… incredible hatred and spite for my sperm donor is the reason for that powerful bond lasting this long or whatever.”

“Wait - who’s your ‘sperm donor’?”

“Endeavor.” Both Izuku and Dabi said at the same time.

The room went silent.

“Wait, did they not know?” Dabi asked Izuku.

“Probably not. I mean, you’ve been out in the underground for a few years as Touya but no one ever uses your name except me. It’s no surprise the flaming trash bag is still trying to cover up your incident, even all these years later.”

“Okay, so we’re going to address that later - but right now, back to Izuku’s quirk.” Nedzu was trying to keep them on track. The two non-heroes in the room looked back to the chimera on the coffee table. Elf on the Shelf, eat your heart out, Nedzu did it better.

“Right, sorry. So, if a person is bonded with my quirk, I can feel their will like a living organism. When it breaks, or changes, I can see and feel it. There’s… more I can do but I don’t usually go that far.”

“Explain?” Nedzu wanted everything, Izuku knew that. He sighed, he hated this part. This - no one knew. He hadn’t told a soul about the more powerful things he could do.

“So, my quirk can also reverse the lethal damage it’s freezing. But that takes a two way bond, as I call it. What I have with Dabi is a one way bond. His spite is more than sufficient to keep him from dying. However, if I wanted to reverse that fatal damage, it would require me to make a two way bond that would take both his own powerful spite or will to live, plus my own.”

“So you can heal, then?” Nedzu was pacing as he talked.

“I wouldn’t call it healing. It’s more like reversing the damage, as I said. But it’s nearly impossible to find someone who’s will to live is as strong as mine is - which I’ve mentioned to Eraserhead I believe is a result of my quirk.”

“Hang on.” Dabi leaned forward, “I’ve seen you fight with your quirk. I always thought you had some kind of pain manipulation or something. That’s what everyone in the underground thinks. Hell, when you passed out in the bar last night, we thought you got into a fight again.”

“I can, sort of, use it offensive? It’s hard to explain. Basically I form a one way bond based on my own will instead of the targets, and I switch it off and on. While doing that repeatedly, it prevents them from actually registering the damage because I’m preventing them from dying. I don’t really understand it. I just… know how to do it.”

“Is there any upper limit to your quirk in regards to how many people you can bond with or how strong the bond can be?” Nedzu had somehow gained a notepad that was chimera sized and was taking notes as he paced.

“Uhm… well, not that I’ve found. I’ve never bonded with more than like… 10 people at once? That was in a building collapse about… three years ago? Though… there is an upper limit on.. Uhm, well, how far I can push a bond.”

“What do you mean, Problem Child? You sound scared.” EraserShouta always could see right through him. 

Izuku never talked about this side of his quirk either. Mostly because it felt … dirty, or unholy in some weird way - not that Izuku was religious or anything, it just made his skin crawl. Izuku stood up from the couch, sighed, and started to pace like Nedzu. The chimera, though, stopped to watch him along with everyone else.

“I’ve only done it once. I-” Izuku twitched, his head looking off to the right against this will. Something was tugging him that way. Something, no, someone. What was it? Izuku gingerly opened his quirk. Everything in the room lit up like a Christmas tree as he registered data from the four people in the room, and then… all around him, through the walls.

'I'm sorry.' 'I want to go home!' 'I have nothing...' 'Just a little more... just one more day...'

The voices returned with force, dragging him back under for a moment, but he reigned it in quickly and looked around instead. H e’d had his eyes squeezed shut back at the bar, but now, he could see people in the apartments next door, and out on the street. There was so much data, his eyes watered from all the various lights. He couldn’t focus, his eyes kept flitting between each data point while simultaneously trying to filter out the voices.

“Izuku?” Nedzu called, worried.

“Hmm?” Izuku snapped to the chimera and immediately he winced. Holy shit, what had humans done to that little creature? His data points were everywhere. “Nedzu…” Izuku’s eyes kept getting wider and wider as the points kept lighting up everywhere, overlapping themselves. He’d never received this much information before on any one target. His head was screaming from trying to process it all.

“What’s wrong, Izu?” Dabi stood up, reaching for him but Izuku avoided his touch.

“I… there’s too much information. Nedzu has so many data points, they’re overlapping and giving me a migraine.”

Izuku had to shut off his quirk, the endless stream of information and voices finally cut out and Izuku sighed in relief.

“You okay?” Izuku looked up through squinted eyes to his partner, relaxing when he saw only a scarred face and nothing else.

“Yeah. I’m okay. I just… I felt something pulling on my quirk and when I activated it, I just, it was too much.”

“What did you see, Izuku?” Nedzu peeked around Dabi’s arm from the coffee table.

“Uhm, well, my quirk tells me data about a person, like I said. In relation to their will to live. You, Nedzu - what happened to you? There’s… there’s so many things. I… I’m so sorry, I can’t even imagine what kind of pain you must have gone through.”

“Oh it’s quite alright, Izuku! It’s in the past!” He clapped his hands together and smiled.

Izuku knew it was a fake smile.

Chapter Text

When he’d finished explaining most of his quirk, Nedzu said he’d need a while to make some calculations and theorizing. The chimera went off to spread his work across the kitchen table. Hizashi had to head off to work at his radio station, which left Izuku and Dabi in the capable hands of Shouta. Izuku had inadvertently gotten out of having to explain the darkest part of his quirk, which was a blessing of some small kind, for now.

Eraserhead had wandered off to do some casework while they waited on Nedzu, and then there was just Dabi and Izuku in the living room, curled up on the couch together. For a while, neither of them spoke. Dabi had an arm draped over Izuku’s shoulders as they both stared out the windows and watched the sun slowly arc over the house and into the midday sky. When the scarred villain finally broke the silence some fifteen minutes later, Izuku didn’t move his eyes from the window.

“Did you mean it?”

“Hmm?”

“Moving in, with us.” ‘The League’ was implied.

“Yeah, of course. Wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t.”

Dabi was about to say something else when the front door unlocked and Mindjack walked in, he was in civilian clothes, wearing a capture scarf just like Shouta.

The two non-heroes stared down the hero, who was doing his absolute best not to laugh at the hilarity of this situation. Izuku honestly wasn’t that far behind him. The staring contest continued till Mindjack squinted his eyes and clicked his tongue.

“Not my circus, not my monkeys.” He quipped as he walked right past them towards Shouta’s office where the older hero had vanished off to earlier.

“Should we be worried about that?” Dabi asked.

“Probably. But I don’t currently have enough brain power or fucks to give.”

Dabi lightly smacked him upside the head.

“Oh! Hey. You already got your anger management today.”

“Oh did I? I don’t know, Izuku. I’ve got six years of betrayal to make up for.”

“Uh uh, you got plenty of payback this morning.”

His partner snorted, then pressed a kiss to the top of Izuku’s curls.

“Whatever you say, little brat.”

Izuku pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. He already had the burn scars to prove he’d put up with Dabi’s payback. Next time, it was his turn to torment the scarred villain. He knew exactly how he’d do it, too. A devious little grin spread across Izuku’s lips. Without raising any alarm, he slipped his hands around Dabi’s waist and leaned himself forward till he was all but tucked under the villain’s form. Dabi sighed into it. After a moment, Izuku shifted his head right at Dabi’s shoulder inside his jacket, nuzzling kindly as if just wanted cuddles. Of course, that’s all he wanted, just cuddles, right?

Wrong.

Izuku’s tongue flicked out between his lips, pressing right into the seam between scar and flesh on Dabi’s shoulder, sliding along his collarbone seductively.

The sound that pulled out of Dabi could only be described as downright hedonistic. Sadly, the sound was cut off halfway when Dabi’s brain seemed to remind him where he was and the man let out a loud choked cough, shoving Izuku away roughly.

“Seriously?!”

Izuku fell off the couch from a mix of Dabi pushing him and the fit of giggles that bubbled out of him, unrestrained. Shouta came running back into the room to find Izuku rolling around the floor with Dabi looking positively humiliated. There was no way everyone in the house didn’t hear that moan Dabi let out.

“Payback’s… a.. Bitch.” He mumbled between laughs.

“You don’t get to have payback on payback, you moron.” Dabi kicked him half heartedly and Izuku just laughed harder. He couldn’t breathe, this was so beautiful.

“What the hell are you two doing?” Shouta asked, sounding more than annoyed. Mindjack - Shinso, Izuku’s mind supplied - peeked out of the office door with one eyebrow arched up.

“Izuku’s being a brat.”

“ Now we’re even for this morning.” Through his giggles, Izuku stuck out his tongue and kicked Dabi right back, a smidge harder than he’d done to Izuku. Dabi took that as permission to initiate a fucking tickle war because the villain was on him in seconds, with heated fingers hitting all Izuku’s most ticklish spots. Izuku squealed.

“Oh, are we? Are we?”

“Ah! Stop, stop, I yield! You win!” Dabi didn’t stop for another few minutes of laughing as they rolled around the ground together, eventually coming to a stop at Shouta’s feet across the living room, both of them panting from effort. Shouta didn’t look impressed at all. “Heeeeey, Eraser.” Izuku greeted, wiggling a few fingers and sporting a sheepish grin.

“Problem Child…” Shouta was clearly about to launch into a long winded lecture, but Nedzu came bolting back into the room holding papers above his head.

“I’ve got it!”

Everyone turned to the chimera. Shinso came out of the office with his arms crossed, seeming interested for the first time since he walked in the door.

“Izuku. Your quirk, it technically falls under the healing type, right?”

“Yes?”

“I see. Now then. I want you to break your bond with Dabi.”

“WHAT?!” “Fuck no!” Dabi was up on his feet in an instant while Izuku was glaring at Nedzu from where he sat at Shouta’s feet. Dabi tried to storm over to the little creature, but Izuku held him by the ankle.

“If you think I’ll let you kill me just for some sick little experiment, you’ve got another thing coming, you rat.” Izuku gripped the villain’s ankle as hard as he could but he was still pretty weak. Thankfully, Shouta came in with the save and wrapped him up in that ever present capture scarf.

“Now now, Dabi, just hear me out first - before you … immolate me.”

Dabi seethed, smoke escaping his lips almost like one might imagine a raging dragon would. Izuku didn’t release the grip he had on his partner’s ankle until he noticed that Shinso was also using his capture weapon on Dabi. Eraserhead’s feet were sliding across the wooden floor in his socks as Dabi tried to inch himself forward in his rage.

“Tou-chan.” Izuku called quietly. The villain stopped, his body going statuesque and his head slowly tilting to Izuku still on the floor. He didn’t speak but he was acknowledging the vigilante. “Plese, hear him out? We’re here to get answers about my quirk, right?”

The villain sighed, smoke leaving him in a puff. He lifted a hand to waft it away so it wouldn’t set off any smoke detectors, which only sent Dabi into a coughing fit. Either way, he’d calmed down, so the two underground heroes released their capture weapons. Izuku stood up shakily with Dabi’s help once his coughing fit slowed down.

“Right then!” Nedzu nudged them all to the sitting area and climbed himself up onto the coffee table. “So - if we operate under the assumption that Izuku’s quirk is not, in fact, a healing type - we can get a better idea of what it really is. There are various types of bond quirks out there, yes? I do believe this one is actually a soul bond quirk in a sense. You can bond with someone through your sheer willpower, yes? But also through their own willpower. But, think about it - why when you broke your mother’s bond did your power increase? Why did breaking that one start a chain reaction? It was your most powerful bond, a bond with the very woman who gave birth to you. Did that bond appear differently to you?”

Izuku scrunched up his eyebrows as he fought to remember what each bond looked like in his mind. There were a variety of types and colors and even some that glowed. They were all different. But his mother’s-

“It looked like a bright, almost golden, umbilical cord. Her’s was taught and short, inflexible. I always thought it represented our relationship as mother and son.”

“What about Dabi’s?”

“Uhm. It’s like.. Dark gray and … well, it reminds me of those oversize steel cable ropes they use on industrial ships? It’s super strong, and durable, with some pliability to it.”

“Hmm.” Nedzu put a paw to his chin in thought. “Yes, I still want you to break it. I want to see if the same thing happens again like with your mother. If so, we can assume your quirk gains information through these bonds. It’s not that you see health statuses, it’s that you’re reading the connections in the world around you, and seeing it visualized. Everyone has connections, and bonds, with everyone around them. You’ve known Shouta for years - Shouta knows a lot about my past. If you are seeing bonds more clearly, you could also be seeing through those bonds to other people.”

“You’re saying… that I am seeing you through Shouta?” Izuku asked, confused.

“Quite possibly!”

“Ugh, I’m getting a headache.” Shouta mumbled.

Speaking of migraines, Izuku’s headache had come back with a vengeance. He winced, squeezing his eyes shut as all the lights in the room started to buzz in his eye sockets. What a weird fucking feeling. It kept getting louder, buzzing in the back of his skull, until it drowned out the conversation around him and all he could hear was the constant whine of the lights. But it wasn’t the lights, was it? The sound morphed again, this time into the growling of a dog. Izuku’s head snapped around. Standing at the front door was an angry beast, gnashing its teeth and growling at Izuku with eyes blown wide and drool spilling all over the entryway floor. But despite the vicious beast snarling at him, Izuku felt no fear - no danger. This beast was not here to hurt him. . so, why was it here?

Izuku didn’t hear the people calling his name, he didn't see Dabi waving his hand in front of Izuku’s face. The room had faded and all Izuku could see in the void of his quirk was the canine-like monster staring him down. The snarling stopped as Izuku slowly gained confidence. He stepped forward, around the couch, and approached the beast. Its jaws snapped a few times, threatening Izuku’s ankles but he didn’t stop until he was crouched right in front of the beast. Down here, Izuku could see it was wearing a collar, with a tag that read ‘Malignitas’. What a weird name for a pet. Though Izuku didn’t really believe something like this could actually be a pet. Izuku didn’t speak, the beast didn’t move. It growled at him, drooling on Izuku’s house slippers. Their eyes finally locked. Glowing red meeting bright green. These eyes reminded Izuku of someone from a long time ago. That anger, that rage and passion. 

“Kacchan…” He whispered with a sad fondness. His hand reached out before he thought better of it and caressed the dog’s head. He knew very well this beast wasn’t at all related to Katsuki. But those eyes just brought him a moment's reprieve from the splitting headache in his skull, a single good memory of the young boys traipsing through the forest. Ahhhhh. Malignitas. It meant ‘Spite’ in Latin, Izuku’s mind provided. In spite of all that happened, Izuku still loved his old friend. In spite of it all, Izuku smiled. He understood.

The canine monster’s head had easily accepted the scratches that Izuku was more than willing to give, but after a moment it snapped towards the door, then back to Izuku. In that moment, the world faded back around him again. Dabi was at his side, trying to shake him back to reality. Shouta had Nedzu on his shoulder, standing nearby with a concerned look on his tired face. Shinso was in the background on the couch, scrolling through his phone. Izuku’s attention returned to the dog.

“Show me.” He ordered. The dog obeyed, jerking into action and running right through the apartment door. Izuku brushed Dabi off and chased after the dog, wrenching the door open and dashing up the stairs to the roof where he found Malignitas waiting for him. The canine huffed, clearly annoyed he’d taken so long, then jumped across the rooftops. Izuku followed without question. He didn’t see the two heroes and his boyfriend behind him, following right on his heels and screaming for him to stop.

The run didn’t take him very far from Shouta’s apartment. Maybe four blocks west and three north. Izuku found Malignitas sitting patiently on the rooftop, looking at the apartment next to the roof where he was sitting. Izuku’s eyes followed the dog’s and found a man pacing the room with a gun in his hand. Inside the room was a beast even larger than Malignitas. It looked more feline, perhaps like a lion might, but it was blurry around the edges and trickled off into smoke at the very ends of its shape. The beast had its jaws on a tangle of bonds that protruded from the pacing man. Izuku had never seen that before. He’d never seen all the bonds a person had. There were so many, it formed a giant cord tangled and twisted around itself, like an umbilical cord. Izuku’s eyes widened in surprise.

That’s what he’d seen from his mother. It wasn’t his bond, it was all of her bonds. He'd willed her to live so strongly, it was the first time he'd actually affected all of someone's bonds, not just one. That's why it devastated him to so much to cut. His quirk wasn't making bonds, it was strengthening them.

Izuku’s body moved on its own, throwing him across the small gap between the roof he was on and the building next to him. His entourage arrived just in time to watch him crash through a window into a random apartment. Nitas (Izuku decided to nickname his new companion) followed him, taking up a stance at his side and growling at the lion beast that was chewing violently at this man’s tangle of bonds.

Snapping back to the real world, Izuku inspected the stranger. He was surprised to see some random guy bust through his window, clearly. After a moment, he pointed the gun at Izuku.

“What are you doing here?!” He shouted.

“I don’t know.” Izuku answered honestly. “I was following Nitas.”

“Who the fuck is that?”

“My new companion, I think?”

“Get out of my house!”

“You were going to shoot yourself in the head just now, weren’t you?”

The gun dropped a few inches. The stranger’s face fell from surprise to confusion. Izuku turned back to his quirk, to the lion. Nitas was nipping at the lion’s neck, trying to scare it off the bonds. Izuku barked another order to the dog.

“Heel.” Nitas obeyed, returning to stand by his right side. He was still growling and barking every so often. Izuku ignored it.

Instead, he lifted his hand to the lion. He had to figure out how this worked now. Izuku took a deep breath and let his quirk take over. Inside the void, he watched his own will start to form what looked like a steel or iron barrier around the bonds in the lion’s mouth, hardening them.  A grin played over his face. He switched back to reality.

The stranger had fallen to his knees, crying. The gun had been tossed to the side. Good.

“I’m sorry I didn’t find you sooner.” Izuku knelt down beside him, reaching out to take the man’s hands.

“What… did you do? I don’t… I don’t feel like... I feel lighter.”

“I gave you a little of my strength. It won’t be forever. You’ll have to learn how to strengthen yourself, but we’ll get you the help you need. I promise.”

“Izuku.” A voice called, hesitant and worried. It was Shouta’s voice.

“What the hell, Izu?” Dabi came over to him, cupping his face and flicking his piercing blue gaze between Izuku’s eyes. Shouta had grabbed the gun and unloaded it, tossing it on the bed nearby. Nedzu was furiously taking notes on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry. Malignitas was quite insistent I follow him.” 

“Okay, we’re taking you back, right fucking now. You sound crazier than Toga on pot.” Izuku knew he’d have to explain himself soon, but for the moment, he just felt… whole. He felt like he’d finally figured out his quirk, and Nitas was right by his side, agreeing with him by nuzzling his arm and shoulder.

_________________________________________________________________

Dabi had carried Izuku back to Shouta’s apartment. He’d used what little energy he’d gained back from resting earlier to sprint across the city and save that random guy. They’d called for an emergency mental health evaluation to get him the help he needed before they left. A few flashes of hero licenses and they were good to go. Dabi, of course, had been ushered off with Izuku long before any police or EMTs arrived.

When the heroes returned to the apartment, Shouta half slammed the door behind them and marched right up to Izuku and Dabi, kicking a boot against Izuku’s leg to wake him up. He wasn’t asleep, of course, but Shouta didn’t know that.

“Do you know how wreckless that was, Izuku? You could have been shot! You could have missed a jump on those roofs in your state. You just had a seizure this morning and how you’re hallucinating. Why didn’t you answer us?”

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you. My quirk was being too loud.”

Shouta sighed and flopped himself on the couch unceremoniously. Nedzu jumped back down and sat next to him. Shinso must have gone home, he was nowhere to be found. Mic would still be at the radio station for another few hours yet.

“Izuku,” Nedzu titled his head, “can you please explain what happened?”

Izuku nodded, leaning his head on Dabi’s chest. The villain had been unusually quiet, but he wrapped himself protectively around Izuku regardless.

“I got another headache and then the buzzing got really loud but the buzzing was actually growling. There was a canine beast at the door, growling at me, wanting my attention. When I went to him, I saw his nametag: Malignitas. It means Spite in Latin. I knew he was mine, in a way. Or perhaps a version of me in my quirk. But, Nitas reminded me of my quirk name. ‘In spite of it all’. It’s dead on. My quirk isn’t a healing type at all, you were right, Nedzu.”

“I often am. Go on.” Izuku rolled his eyes.

“I can see all the bonds people have. The bond I thought I was forming wasn’t a bond at all. I strengthen the bonds that people already have. That’s what my quirk is. When I told Shouta at the hospital how I can see the traumas and monsters that haunt people, I meant it literally. They’re beasts that bite and claw at the bonds of others. That’s what depression is - it’s a monster that tries to suffocate you alone, unconnected. When you lose all that human connection, you lose your will to live. But when I strengthen those bonds, and form a hardened shell around them, people can breathe and their will is strengthened, too. It’s what keeps them alive.”

Izuku paused, a grin forming on his lips.

“It’s what keeps them alive - in spite of it all. Against all odds. In spite of the wounds, in spite of the trauma, in spite of the pain. They live. Because I made their bonds so strong they refused to die. Their connection to this world is forged in steel under my quirk.”

“Fuck.” Shouta groaned. “That’s…”

“Astounding…” Nedzu gasped, still taking quick notes in his little chimera sized book.

Dabi finally huffed a breath, leaning over so he could kiss Izuku’s forehead.

“Please don’t do that to me again. I thought you flew the coop. Your eyes were glazed over and you didn’t even acknowledge me.” His words had a faint bite to them that told Izuku he wasn’t going to hear the end of this. Dabi was possessive in a way that made him scared to lose anything he considered his, or part of him. Izuku was his, and he refused to lose the little vigilante, Izuku knew that. He wrapped his arms around Dabi, burying his face in the man’s chest and that beautiful campfire scent.

“I won’t fly the coop on you again, promise, Tou-chan.”

Shouta spread his legs and placed his elbows on his knees, leaning forward on the couch to face them with a dead serious look on his face.

“Izuku, you must realize how powerful your quirk is. I mean, it was before - but this… this is a weapon.”

Izuku sighed. He’d always known he had to keep his quirk a secret. It was part of why he’d agreed to help the League kill All for One. That man, if he got a hold of Izuku’s quirk, he could have ended all of Japan, and taken over with an army of undying faithful - strong willed - soldiers. That didn’t even broach the horror of it, not when Izuku knew there was still one more power he hadn’t explained to them.

“I do realize it. Especially since… there’s one other thing I can do that you should all be aware of.”

“Izu.. seriously?” Dabi threw up one free hand in exasperation.

“We’re listening.” Nedzu waved a hand, trying to shush Dabi. The villain flipped Nedzu the bird.

“I can force my will on others.”

“What?” “Huh?” “Excuse me?” They all burst out at once. Izuku put a hand up and the room quieted down.

“I could do this before, though in practice I’ve only done it once. If a person has completely lost their will to live, I can force my own will to live into them. It leaves me effectively quirkless until I release the bond. Also, it puts my will to live in the target like they’re hosting it. I slip into a partially catatonic state with no will of my own. However, as the target gets my own will to live, they become incredibly unkillable and invigorated. In a sense, the perfect soldier, if you know what I mean?”

“I’m just gonna say it now, you’re not allowed to become a hero. The Commission... I can't imagine what they'd do to get a hold of a quirk like this.” Shouta stared at the ground between his feet, genuine fear in the corners of his eyes.

“Why do you think I never went down that route? I mean, my dreams of being a hero were crushed as a quirkless child, but that’s beyond the point. The moment I got my quirk, I knew how dangerous it could be in the hands of the wrong people, or the Hero Commission if they forced me to disclose it.”

“Izu?” Izuku turned to Dabi, about to ask him what was wrong, but the look on his face trapped Izuku’s words in his throat. He’d pieced it together, he remembered that night. Izuku frowned, unable to keep his eyes on his partner much longer, so he stared at the floor instead. His partner didn’t allow him to escape this, a rough scarred hand grabbed his chin and forced him to look at Dabi. Those raging blue eyes, like stormy oceans that threatened to drown Izuku. God, did Izuku want to drown in him someday.

“It was your quirk that night, wasn’t it? When Twice finally snapped?”

It was one of their monthly game nights a few years ago. The League and a few close vigilantes had all gathered up for a round of DnD, with Izuku as dungeon master, of course. Everyone was having a blast, but Izuku couldn’t stop looking at Twice, the whole night. Dabi noticed, of course, the insanely jealous villain that he is. But it wasn’t that Izuku was checking Twice out. He was worried. Something was screaming at Izuku in his quirk, but it was just too faint to hear. So that night, he’d made a bond with Twice just to try and quiet the nagging feeling in the back of his head. That’s when he’d seen it. The ravenous beast that had its vice like maw around Twice’s throat. It was one of the very few times he'd seen a trauma beast so vividly back then.

They’d got through the game night alright but when Izuku had curled up with Dabi to sleep that night, he couldn’t. He kept getting pulled away by that bond, by Twice. Eventually, he felt it - the snap, the break of the bond. Twice had lost his will to live - or more accurately - he’d finally been unable to figure out if he was the real double and decided to test the theory by any means possible.

Izuku had scrambled out of bed suddenly, startling his partner awake who followed without question, and ran for Twice’s room. When they found him, he had a knife to his throat. Izuku and Dabi had both screamed for him to stop, but it was too late. In an instant, Izuku’s quirk snapped out and forced his own will into Twice, solidifying the man’s bonds and reconnecting any of the broken bonds. The beast around his neck vanished in a flurry of black flames and smoke. Izuku collapsed, his eyes glassy and emotionless.

But Twice was alive, still bleeding out, but alive and strong. The League had treated him and got him help. Thankfully, the incident had actually been enough for Twice to realize he was the real double, so he was much better off afterwards. It took three days for Izuku to come back, after both Tomura and Dabi repeatedly reassured his half catatonic mind that Twice was safe and healed.

When he’d come back, no one asked what happened. No one asked what he’d done. They knew just enough about his weird quirk to know he’d done something , but they respected his privacy enough at the time to not ask.

Izuku gasped, tears pouring down his face, “Yes. It was.” Dabi closed his eyes and sighed, cradling Izuku’s head to his chest.

“Thank you.”

“I couldn’t let him do it, Dabi. I saw that monster with its muzzle around Twice’s neck and I had to stop it. It was so painful to watch him be devoured.”

“Shhh, I know. I know, Izu. But he’s okay now. You know - every once in a while he brings it up to us?”

“He does?” 

“Yeah, he asks if it was you, but none of us have ever had an answer. He’s wanted to thank you for years, but we all wanted to respect the privacy of your quirk. Just know that he’s thankful.”

Izuku sniffled, nodding his head a few times. Izuku was unfortunately ripped out of the quiet moment by Nedzu peeking his head to the side, right in between Dabi and Izuku’s personal bubble. Izuku yelped a little, Dabi growled at the chimera.

“Sorry to break up this adorable moment! But, I need to ask, now that you’ve had these revelations - do we think your quirk is safe to use? I believe you should come to me for quirk counseling for a few months so we can assess the progress you make. I believe there was mention of retirement from vigilantism?”

“Oh, yeah, I uhh, I want to work in the medical field.”

“Excellent! Well, we do have a medical path at UA - that would be perfect for…”

“Nedzu - the kid already has a medical license.” Shouta cut in.

“Oh! Well then.” The chimera sounded oddly offended, and Izuku wasn’t sure what to make of that. “What are your plans for the future, little Rancor?”

Izuku chuckled, sitting up a bit straighter. “I want to open a clinic, a crisis center for people who are struggling. I want to help people with my quirk. I’ll need to hire licensed psychiatrists and all that, but I can help them with my quirk. I might even go back and get my psychiatric degree anyway.”

“Excellent! I can fully support that path in life. I’ll start a non-profit organization and set up an opening fund.”

Izuku stared at Nedzu for a moment, dumbfounded. Did the dean of UA University just offer to support him and PAY for his clinic? His mouth fell half open, his eyes squinted, as he stared down the little creature standing with a grin on the coffee table.

“You’re serious?”

“Deadly!”

“Wrong choice of wording...” Shouta actually wiped a hand down his face in annoyance. Izuku burst out laughing as Dabi groaned. After a moment, the whole room also burst into laughter as they all realized exactly how Nedzu had phrased that.

Izuku had to wonder if he really could find some simple form of peace. He only wanted to help others heal, to help them grow and fight their demons. Leaning in against his partner, he flicked on his quirk to observe the beast attached to Dabi. It was nightmarish and gruesome. All fangs and claws. It wasn’t just a simple dog or a lion. It was monstrous, taking up half the room around them. Its large left paw was resting on Dabi’s shoulder, the tips of its claws digging into his shoulder and chest. How had Izuku never noticed that before? How could he have misunderstood his quirk so deeply? He did see the usual monsters like with Twice, and Ishiyaki in the hospital, but this monster was something else entirely.

The creature turned to look at Izuku, acknowledging him. Izuku’s eyes went wide. Sure that lion had known he was there, and Malignitas had tried to fight it. But this beast. This monster would devour him in an instant. It would destroy Nitas if given the chance. Izuku wasn’t sure he could take on a beast like that just yet. But as he looked down to the large umbilical cord of bonds that were tangled together coming from Dabi, he could see they were steeled and strengthened by Dabi’s indomitable will of spite, mixed with Izuku’s quirk. Despite the other large paw that clutched the cords and tested their tensile strength every few seconds, they didn’t give. They didn’t break.

Izuku took a long breath and mostly shut down his quirk, turning back to reality and the conversation going on around him. The beast was still there, but so was Nitas, growling at the beast from his position at Izuku's feet.

“Where’d you go?” Dabi asked.

“Hmm?”

“You just promised you wouldn’t fly the coop not five minutes ago and you just did it again.”

“No, I didn’t. Promise. I was just checking something.”

“You gonna explain, brat?”

“It’s fine. I promise.”