Izuku had a relatively calmer winter this year despite his traveling... though it wasn't that high of a bar considering the SSI that happened last year, there were some hero fights and other incidents but nothing of that scale if only because Endeavour hadn't come near any of the districts.
His shops had been doing surprisingly well because Izuku's alias had left most people believing his places were the safest place to get what they needed without leaving the South Side, or without paying what would be a ton of money for them to get the bare minimum. He wasn't making that much money but his mom and Auntie Mitsuchan helped him to balance his finances.
Auntie and Uncle had also greatly helped with getting his business license which felt way easier to get than Izuku thought it should be. However, if people were going to leave such big loopholes for others to abuse... Well, what was just one more thing in his favor?
Izuku tried his best to keep up to date with the owners of his little businesses just in case he needed to step in, his employees also kept him in the loop about what was happening in the district the rest of the week which is how he knew Dabi was settling into his new position with little difficultly.
Well... Dabi still needed to work on taking care of himself but Izuku had already started working on a training program for his quirk so Dabi wouldn't hurt himself as much, but until Dabi was willing to come to him or forced Izuku's hand he would reluctantly give the guy his space.
But according to a message from the 100-Yen store owner the Miyakes' had taken in a new lizard boy, one he was looking forward to meeting today as he sat on the bullet train to Niigata. He had heard bits and pieces of this new guy from various people including Mezo-Kun as he and Masao-San did know each other.
Iguchi-San sounded like a good kid and was doing a bunch of odd jobs for some of his businesses so he'd like to thank him in person. Izuku was looking forward to seeing Mezo-Kun's quirk progress as well since the boy had told him he had a breakthrough with his quirk, Mezo-Kun had insisted on showing Izuku in person so he didn't know what Mezo-Kun was going to show him.
So he excitedly approached the South Side with more energy than normal though his attention was quickly grabbed by some commotion in an alleyway, such things were more like background noise to him now but he recognized one of the voices in the squabble. Dabi was fighting someone and Izuku decided to just check what was going on and make sure Dabi hadn't gotten in over his head.
He stealthily made his way over to the mouth of the alley and peeked inside and his heart skipped a beat. Dabi stood across from some threatening man with long black claws instead of fingers, Dabi had bright blue flames covering his forearms and was likely using this to keep the clawed man away from not only him but the two people cowering behind him.
A scaly green guy he figured was Iguchi-San and Iguchi-San was shielding a terrified young boy with similar-looking claws " This is your last chance to fuck off before I fry your bony ass, you bastard!" Dabi hissed venom dripping from his voice and Izuku knew Dabi was being serious as there were already scorch marks in the alley around the three.
The clawed man scoffed something back at Dabi but it went through one ear and out the other for Izuku as he swiftly crept behind the man. With his taser in hand, Izuku quickly brought it up and, for the very first time, fired the weapon, the man jolted for a few seconds before he fell to the ground unconscious at Izuku's feet.
The four stared at each other for a second then at the unconscious man then back at each other, Izuku was as equally shocked at his own actions because he had moved without thinking... but he couldn't say he regretted it if only because Dabi wouldn't kill someone in front of the boy.
Izuku took a deep breath " Is everyone alright?" Izuku asked moving closer to the three, Dabi huffed letting his flames go out " We're fine, brat. Zilla and I stepped in before he could hurt the kid." Dabi answered jabbing a thumb back at Iguchi-San and the crying child. Iguchi-San gave Dabi a look at that comment and Izuku strongly suspected he knew why.
The blood and ripped-up clothes on Dabi's left side weren't subtle in any context and his scars were irritated " We'll talk about this later Scar." Izuku tersely informed Dabi before switching his attention to Iguchi-San and the young boy he was shielding. The boy looked considerably less scared now that the man was unconscious but he was still pressed against Iguchi-San.
Izuku crouched down to the boy " Hello little one, my name is Deku-Sensei. Can you tell me what your name is?" He softly asked watching as the boy's eyes briefly lit up upon hearing his alias " T-toby." The boy answered struggling with his Japanese which was painfully obvious and Izuku wondered if the boy was English " Toby's a lovely name. Do you think you can tell me what happened, Toby-Chan?" Izuku asked switching over to English flawlessly.
Toby-Chan looked so relieved once he changed to the other language but the boy's mood soured and he looked utterly gutted " I-it was my fault... I s-shouldn't have s-snuck out... " Toby-Chan told him tearing up and hiccuping " Oh Toby-Chan, I seriously doubt that. Just tell me everything that happened, okay kiddo." Izuku implored offering his hand to Toby-Chan, the boy hesitantly placed his clawed hand in Izuku's.
" I- I wanted t-to speak Japanese better, so I w-was going to c-come to t-the lessons I h-heard people next door talk about... But P-papa said I couldn't l-leave so I snuck out and he caught me." Toby-Chan explained through sniffles and finally burst into tears " Papa was s-so mad and his yelling g-got their a-attention t-then the s-scarred man started f-f-fighting with papa a-and- and... " Toby-Chan had to stop speaking as he got fully choked up.
Izuku smiled patiently at the boy and slowly placed a hand on Toby-Chan's head " It's okay Toby-Chan, you shouldn't have left like you did but your Papa shouldn't have yelled at you either. He did something wrong and that's why Dabi and Iguchi-San stepped in to stop him from doing something bad." Izuku assured the boy " Why don't we go to see some of my friends. I'm sure they wouldn't mind watching you for a while Toby-Chan." Izuku redirected, purposely shifting the boy's attention.
" B-but papa's s-so mad at me. H-he'd never l-let me s-s-stay." Toby-Chan whimpered into Izuku's chest not fighting Izuku in any fashion when he picked Toby-Chan up " Don't worry about that Toby-Chan, I'll... talk with Papa about everything." Izuku responded with a pat on the boy's head, his ominous meaning only lost on the young boy.
Izuku took a few seconds to motion for Dabi and Iguchi-San to follow him before he started to leave the alley, spinning small stories to the young boy to keep his attention on himself rather than on Dabi's injury.
Toby-Chan had been nervous when Izuku left him at the Community center but Izuku was sure that the other kids would help ease his fear. With the child safe, Izuku's focus reoriented onto the brunette stubbornly pretending he wasn't hurt. Yeah... No, Izuku wasn't going to let that slide and grabbed Dabi by the arm and then dragged him towards one of the backrooms nearby.
Dabi, of course, tried to fight it but his injury made him too weak to struggle and Izuku had a very firm grip on Dabi's arm, Iguchi-San nervously trailed behind both of them. The guy's worry about Dabi overruling his apparent anxiety over Izuku... Something Izuku was very reluctant to admit was maybe, not an irrational fear to have.
Backrooms were common enough in the worst districts and Izuku had frequented them to the point he could easily work in one completely blind. Once he forced Dabi to sit down on the old cot Izuku hadn't needed to look to find the scissors " Hey! What do you think you're doing, twink!" Dabi exclaimed trying to scoot away from Izuku, this reaction didn't help Iguchi-San's nerves.
Izuku held back a sigh " I'm not an idiot Scar. Your shirt and jacket are trashed and need to come off." He calmly explained as he moved closer to the scarred boy. Dabi was about to argue but grimaced and his hand went to his injured side " Scar, just let me help." Izuku flatly told Dabi, blue eyes immediately darted away from Izuku and he stopped moving.
" Thank you, Dabi." Izuku softly said as he gently took Dabi's shirt and began to cut it so it could be removed along with the jacket. Without the clothes Izuku could see three cuts and two gashes, the cuts would just need to be cleaned and bandaged but the two gashes would need stitches " Iguchi-San, could you get me the white box under the sink over there." Izuku requested pointing toward where the items should be.
Izuku pulled the leftover cloth from Dabi's wounds while he waited for Iguchi-San to bring what he needed. Iguchi-San fumbled for a couple of minutes before giving the box over to Izuku " Thanks, Iguchi-San. Could you also bring the trash can over?" Izuku requested as he pulled out a rag and the antiseptic from the box " Y-yeah... Of course." Iguchi-San timidly replied, Izuku dosed the rag then began to clean Dabi's cuts " Motherfucker!" Dabi hissed jolting away from Izuku.
" I know it burns Scar but this is necessary to prevent you from getting sepsis." Izuku apologetic told him as he continued to wipe the area clean, the antiseptic was much stronger than most over-the-counter antiseptics and he knew it hurt much worst too " This next part is going to hurt but you need to stay as still as possible." Izuku warned putting aside the rag and grabbing the threaded needle then dipping it into the antiseptic.
Dabi tensed and turned his head away and had a white-knuckled grip on the cot, Izuku put on some gloves and moved so he'd be at a better angle to stitch up the two gashes. Izuku carefully started the first row of stitches and Dabi jumped spitting curses under his breath as he tried desperately not to move. Izuku bit his lip but focused solely on making sure he didn't hurt Dabi anymore than necessary as he continued to stitch Dabi up " I'm almost done Scar. Just a couple more and we're done." Izuku assured having already stitched up the first gash and nearly finished with the second in seconds.
Dabi grit his teeth and nodded showing he understood, Izuku finished with practiced efficiency and gave the area another cleaning before placing bandages on the area " There, all done. Pain meds are in the cabinet over there Iguchi-San." Izuku told the two as he removed his bloody gloves purposely giving Iguchi-San something to do since the guy had been standing off to the side stewing in his anxiety.
The scaled man had jumped at the opportunity and was rifling through the cabinet " I don't need no damned pills." Dabi protested though he wasn't particularly convincing with his hand clenching his side " Red bottle labeled with a black hair tye." Izuku commented pointedly ignoring Dabi's glare as he cleaned up the box and the used medical supplies.
Iguchi-San found the bottle not long after Izuku described it and timidly offered it to Izuku who smiled at him in turn " Thank you Iguchi-San. Now if you'd please?" Izuku asked taking two pills and offering them to Dabi. The brunette stubbornly held out in hesitation for a few seconds before he downed both pills.
" I doubt I need to ask you for the details of what happened Scar, it seems pretty cut and Dry." Izuku commented crossing his arms, Dabi's face twisted into something rather... dark " The kid ain't going back." Dabi hissed practicality seething from the idea and Izuku couldn't help feeling insulted that Dabi would ever think that he'd let Toby-Chan go back " And I'll make sure he won't." Izuku flatly replied and Dabi did look partially pacified by that.
Izuku grabbed a new shirt and jacket for Dabi and handed them over to the brunette before turning to Iguchi-San " I'm sorry Iguchi-San. This isn't quite how I wanted us to meet." Izuku apologized and offered his hand " My name's Midoriya Izuku." He introduced himself and Iguchi-San timidly shook his hand " I-it's uh, nice to meet you, M-midoriya-San." Iguchi-San said about as nervous as a cat on a tin roof.
Izuku smiled back at him " I've heard many good things about you, Iguchi-San. Quinn-San in particular praised you for fixing his register." Izuku mentioned and Iguchi-San nervously rubbed his neck and looked away " T-that wasn't anything b-big... I j-just pressed a couple of buttons." Iguchi-San brushed it off but Izuku had to disagree, he knew how difficult the register was to operate as he had to help Quinn-San with the machine in the past.
" Maybe, but you're good with technology right, Iguchi-San?" Izuku questioned and the guy shifted from one foot to another " I-I wouldn't say that. I just know a t-thing or two... " Iguchi-San mumbled, Izuku hummed back " Would you like to know more, Iguchi-San?" Izuku inquired with his head tilted and Iguchi-San stared back at him " W-what?" Iguchi-San responded in shock " I could help you get enrolled in college for technology. Or help you find a vocational school, Iguchi-San." Izuku answered simply.
" You... Would do that?" Iguchi-San hesitantly asked and Izuku nodded " Of course. We can talk more about this later when you've thought about it some." Izuku replied, he wrote his number down for the guy and handed it over to Iguchi-San " Here's my number so you can give me your answer later. Until then though, could you give me a hand forcing Dabi to Minty Delights? I've already texted Magne-San about this and she's going to watch him." Izuku requested at which point Dabi protested.
" I ain't a dumbass you green twink! And I don't need a fucking babysitter! I'm twenty-one!" Dabi spat but he was being ignored by both of the them " U-um, sure?" Iguchi-San answered uncertainly " Thanks Iguchi-San!" Izuku replied with a soft clap and Dabi's eye twitched " Hey! Don't you ignore me you twinkie!" Dabi shouted swiping at Izuku who easily dodged.