Izuku's shoulder ached as he started his trek home, bruises already forming from being slammed against the side of a locker. The sleeve of his uniform jacket was torn and there were specks of blood on the white button up shirt he wore. He still clutched a blood stained tissue in his hand from when he had mopped up his bloody nose.

It'd been weeks since Izuku's encounter with the League of Villains, and it was like nothing had changed. He went to school, got bullied, and then went home. He kept waiting for his mom to notice the missing notebook, or how quiet he was, or the fact that he hadn't come home until late the night he had tried to kill himself. Yet she never said anything, same as how she never said anything about the bruises, cuts, and burns that had covered his body for years, nor did she comment on his damaged school uniforms. She had simply taught him a few basic stitches so he could mend them. The blood on his clothes had been common enough for him growing up that he had long since learned how to get the stains out.

A part of Izuku wondered why he was still so scared of his bullies. After all, he had a run in with the League of Villains and they were a million times scarier than the kids at school. Yet, the League was also somehow kinder than his bullies. They hadn't hurt him. They hadn't cared about the fact he didn't have a quirk. They had even been impressed with his hero analysis!

He'd been checking the news too and none of the heroes from the notebook he gave them had been hurt, at least not badly. The only thing he had seen on any of the heroes was from when Mount Lady had tried to apprehend the League. Izuku had written that due to her being unable to be any other size between her largest or her normal size, meaning that the best way to counteract her was to lead her into a smaller space where she wouldn't be able to use her quirk. With her high ambitions and desire to reach the top, she would be mindful to minimize the destruction of public property so that her ratings wouldn't take a hit. When she had gone after the League, they had dodged into some back alleys. She wasn't able to follow them without deactivating her quirk and they were far too dangerous to go after without a quirk. The League had managed to escape, avoiding her easily.

Izuku kept walking, mulling this over, and not particularly paying attention to what was going on around him.

"Deku! Hey, Deku!" someone called just as a hand came down on his injured shoulder, squeezing it painfully tight.

Izuku yelped, trying to twist out of the bully's grip. The bully gave him a shove, sending him into the wall of a nearby building.

"What are you mumbling about now, huh, Deku?"

"N-N-Nothing! Can you please just… just let me go home? Please?"

The bully laughed. "Aw, listen to you beg! You sound like you're about to cry! Hold still, I'll give you something to actually cry about."

He pulled his fist back, preparing to punch Izuku square in the face when a shadow fell over them. Someone grabbed the boy's arm and yanked him away, freeing Izuku. The bully started to protest, but his words died in his throat when he saw who was looming over him.

"Can't believe they call me a villain when scum like you are walking around," Dabi drawled, tightening his grip on the boy's wrist, his skin slowly starting to heat. The bully looked panicked as he desperately tried to twist his arm away. "At least I attack people who deserve it. What the hell did this kid ever do to you?"

"He's… He's just a quirkless loser we all mess with. It's not a big deal!"

"Yeah? What's your quirk, tough guy? Got something real fancy and flashy? Gonna be a big strong hero someday? Come on, I'm curious," Dabi said with a sneer.

The boy stared up at him, his eyes blown wide with fear. "It's a… um… I can tell the exact components of foods by looking at it, along with the calories. I'm going to work as a dietitian at my mom's practice."

Dabi scoffed. "That's a lame fucking quirk. With enough research, anyone could do that. Now, lucky for you, I'm not a fan of killing kids, so I'll let you go for now. But if I see you causing trouble again…" Dabi paused and raised his other hand, a small blue flame flickering to life. "Well, let's just say I have no problem hurting kids."

As soon as Dabi let go of the boy's arm, the bully took off running.

Izuku was left behind, staring at the villain and trying to hide his shaking hands.

"Were you… Were you following me?" Izuku asked quietly.

"Yeah, today was the first time though, so don't freak out. I wanted to ask you a question about your notebook. Then I saw that little shit messing with you so I figured I'd scare him off. You're welcome, by the way." Dabi looked Izuku over, pointedly looking at the blood stains and damaged clothes. "This shit happens a lot?"

"It's not a big deal," said Deku, looking away.

"You need to learn to stand up for yourself, kid. If you fight back, they'll leave you alone."

Izuku's eyes went wide as he hurriedly shook his head. "Oh! No! I can't do that! I tried that once and Kacchan got really angry and he burned me really badly! If I fight back it makes it worse! And without a quirk to defend myself with I can't just -"

"Wow, slow it down. Do you know how many heroes and villains fight without using a quirk? Plenty. What's a kid with a calorie quirk going to do against a knife? Jack shit. You just need to learn to fight. But that's not why I'm here. Your notebook was labeled as Volume 13. Do you really have 12 others?"

Izuku tentatively nodded.

"Nice. Let me know if you ever want to sell those. Especially if you have any more thoughts on Endeavor; I'll pay."

And with that, the tall, scarred man slipped back into the alley beside them and disappeared into the shadows.

--

After his run-in with Dabi, Izuku took to checking over his shoulder wherever he went. He wasn't particularly scared that Dabi would show up to hurt him, but he didn't love the idea of being followed without his knowledge. It wasn't until two weeks later that he noticed some movement: someone tailing him.

He made a few turns, leading them to a more deserted area, before ducking onto a quiet side street. Once he was sure no one else was around, he cleared his throat.

"Um… Dabi, is that you? Are you following me again?"

The slight scuff of shoes against brick caught Izuku's attention. He glanced up and saw the blonde girl, Toga, scrambling off the edge of a roof and onto a fire escape. From there, she clambered down to the ground. With a skip in her step, she approached Izuku. Her smile seemed sharp and looked dangerous, especially with her fangs flashing in the low light of the setting sun.

"How'd you know I was there, Izu-kun?"

That caught Izuku off guard. Where did the nickname come from?

"Ever since Dabi talked to me the other day, I've been keeping an eye out. I thought you were him. Can… can I ask why you're following me?" Izuku asked nervously.

"Dabi told me he saw you get bullied and some of us didn't like it. I fight without using a quirk so I'm the best one to teach you!"

"Wait what?"

"Here!" Toga excitedly shoved the handle of a knife into his hand. "You can keep this one! It's really sharp and will work super well! There's a park up the street that usually doesn't have too many people in it so we can go there! By the way, I really like your shoes. Red is such a good color on you."

--

At least three times a week for a month straight, Toga would find Izuku on his way home and work with him for hours on how to fight. After she realized how little he knew, she started him on basic self defense and movements. From there, she started teaching him how to use the knife she gave him. Slowly, she became a normal part of his life and he found himself looking forward to working out with her.

Sure, sometimes she slipped up and would give him a little cut, but she couldn't help it. It was in her quirk's nature for her to have an interest in blood. It was like if someone had a strength enhancing quirk: they would naturally be prone to building muscle. Her desire to see (and consume) blood was just another part of her quirk. Izuku just had to be careful to quickly clean up his blood so that she didn't get too distracted by it.

One day, when Toga showed up to train him, she had Magne with her. Immediately, Izuku got nervous. He had gotten used to Toga's presence, but anyone else from the League put him on edge, which he frankly thought was fair.

"Hey there, kid. I didn't properly introduce myself before. I'm Big Sis Magne," the woman said, smiling at Izuku. "I heard Toga talking about your training and I wanted to come check on you."

"I told her you were fine but she didn't believe me," Toga pouted.

"Your definition of fine is very different from everyone else's, Toga. Now, are you eating enough, Midoriya? You're working out a lot so you really need to be eating more."

Izuku stared up at her with his round, green eyes, feeling utterly confused.

Was this villain… worried about his health?

"I-I-I try to eat extra when I can. Mostly at school instead of at home. My mom would notice if I started to eat a bunch more and then she'd start asking questions and I don't want to worry her."

Magne nodded. "Has she said anything about you coming home covered in dirt? What about the bruises and cuts from working out? Or does she just think it's from the bullies?"

"I do my own laundry so I don't think she notices my clothes," Izuku said, looking down at the ground and kicking at a rock. "And she's so used to me having bruises that she probably just assumes they all come from the same place. Which makes sense, really. I don't blame her for thinking that. She stopped asking about them a long time ago. She helps me with the bad injuries though."

That had both Magne and Toga frowning.

"Izu-kun, is your mom not nice to you?" Toga asked defensively. "My mom wasn't very nice to me, so I totally understand what it's like!"

"Oh no, she's plenty nice! She's just really busy. She's a single mom and she has to work a lot to make ends meet. She worries a lot though, especially since I'm quirkless. I try to hide as much stuff as I can so she doesn't worry. And since she is at work so much, she taught me to do stuff by myself, like how to do a little bit of sewing. Now if my school uniforms get damaged, I can fix them."

"You shouldn't have to though. I know your mom is busy and doing her best, but she should have put her foot down about the bullying," Magne said. She looked rather upset, though it was hard to tell with the sunglasses.

"She tried once to stop the bullying but the school didn't listen to her. And I'm plenty old enough to take care of myself now. She's probably just giving me the chance to solve my own problems and learn how to stand on my own two feet, you know?" Izuku said, his nearly becoming desperate trying to brush off their concerns.

"Don't care," Magne said, crossing her arms. "Next time your uniform is damaged, give it Toga. She'll bring it to me and I'll fix it. Also, I'm sending snacks with Toga from now on. You're going to eat them, got that? And I'll be coming with her sometimes to check on you. Have I made myself clear?"

Izuku found that he was trembling, tears burning in his eyes. When the two villains noticed, they both looked slightly panicked. Before either could say anything, Izuku gave a broken sob and spoke.

"Why are you guys being so nice to me? I don't get it! I'm just a useless, quirkless Deku! The only person who has ever been nice to me was my mom and that's because she has to! I just… I just… I don't get it!"

Within a heartbeat, Magne had him bundled up in her arms, giving the boy a tight hug.

"Listen, kid, we may be villains, but we're still human. For the most part, we still care about other people. Dabi is hit or miss on that and Shigaraki definitely doesn't, but the rest of us do have hearts. That means when I see a scrawny boy in dirty clothes covered in bruises and scars, I'm going to worry about him. So just let us help when we can, okay? We'll do what we can to help and we'll keep you out of the stuff we get into."

"Yeah, exactly!" Toga said excitedly. "Just avoid Shiggy and you'll be fine!"

--

Izuku and Toga continued training together. She had even taken to bringing him to rooftops to learn some basic parkour. There were a few scares, where he nearly didn't make the jumps, but Toga was surprisingly fast and would always manage to grab his arm, keeping him from falling. Every time that she would pull him back onto the roof, they'd collapse in a heap, giggling and laughing together. The pair ducked and weaved through the streets, passing unseen. And slowly, as they grew closer as friends, Izuku's confidence slowly grew as well.

On days where Toga didn't train him, Izuku would go out by himself. He'd travel the city, finding new ways to get from location to location. Eventually, he'd settle himself somewhere quiet to finish off any homework he didn't get done at school. Most of the time, he'd get the work done during class. It was easy work; there was nothing to challenge him. Izuku had started supplementing so he wouldn't go crazy from boredom. He kept up with his hero analysis, since it was what he was best at. He also started researching how to do some coding, which led him to reading up on hacking. Izuku knew better than to try hacking anything. Izuku figured he hadn't done anything illegal yet, besides maybe spending time with wanted criminals and some light trespassing while parkouring, and he wanted to keep it that way. Afterall, even if he had given up on his dream of becoming a hero, he didn't want to go to jail. That didn't mean he couldn't study the theory behind how to hack. He was positive that should the need arise, he would be able to hack a number of things fairly well.

Izuku had perched himself on a roof to work on some homework and had turned on the Hero Watch station he typically listened to. He'd mostly tuned it out when something caught his attention.

" The fight has passed Shiba River Park and is heading towards a populated area. Mount Lady and Kamui Woods are trying to redirect the villain but he seems to have slipped past them. Oh! What's this! All Might has appeared on the scene! "

Izuku's stomach did a flip. All Might? So close by? If the villain was running in the direction Izuku thought he was, then the fighting was getting dangerously close to where Izuku lived.

Without thinking, Izuku threw all his things into his backpack and jammed his earbuds into his ear, pocketing his phone as he stood up. He took off running, jumping to the next rooftop and hurrying towards his apartment building.

" It appears the villain has a seismic quirk of some kind. He just rattled All Might! All Might is swooping in for an attack. He's sent a burst of air at the villain! The villain has been thrown backwards into a building. Let's see if he gets back up…"

Izuku ran faster, desperately praying that his mom wasn't home. He hoped that she had gone out with friends, or stayed late at work, or anything, as long as she wasn't home.

" The villain has activated his quirk! The building is taking heavy damage! Kamui Woods is attempting to stabilize the building while also trying to pull civilians to safety. Mount Lady is currently setting up a perimeter to keep everyone back. All Might and the villain are continuing their fight. "

"None of their quirks are suited for stabilization or recovery, though. Where are the rescue heroes?" Izuku whispered to himself as he ran.

" The building has collapsed! Kamui Woods has moved away from it and is attempting to aid Mount Lady in creating a perimeter. Oh! It looks like All Might has knocked out the villain! He's picked up the villain and is heading to the nearest police department. Kamui Woods and Mount Lady are holding the perimeter until search and rescue can arrive. "

Izuku found himself sliding down a fire escape and landing on a side street only a block from his building. His lungs felt like they were on fire as he kept running, making a mad dash for his building. When he finally turned the corner onto his street, it was like the air had been knocked from him. His knees shook and he thought he was going to puke.

It was his building. It was destroyed. There was no more than a pile of rubble and smoke. Izuku fished his phone out of his pocket and dialed his mom's number.

It went straight to voicemail.

He tried calling her work. It took two tries, but the person to finally pick up said that Izuku's mom had gone home, stating that she was planning to have a quiet night in.

Looking around, Izuku couldn't see his mom anywhere.

Stifling a broken sob, he made to run again, this time towards the decimated remains of his building in a mad attempt to find his mom. As he went to take a step, a hand came down on his arm, tightly squeezing his bicep. With a harsh pull, Izuku was thrown backwards into the stranger's narrow chest. The grip on his arm was released only for a thin arm to wrap around him, holding him against their body. Izuku tried to struggle but it didn't seem to do much good. He was forcibly yanked into an alley and thrown against the wall beside a dumpster.

"Let me go! I need to find my mom!" Izuku sobbed, continuing his struggles.

"Shut it, Genius Boy!" a raspy voice hissed.

Finally getting his eyes to focus, Izuku saw that the man to grab him was none other than Shigaraki: the leader of the League of Villains. Shigaraki wore a black sweatshirt, the hood pulled up to shield his face. He was careful to keep his pinkies raised as he gripped Izuku's shoulders, steadying him.

"She's gone, Midoriya. She's gone. There's nothing you can do."

"She might still be alive, you don't know! What are you even doing here?"

"I was in the area scoping out heroes. That doesn't matter right now. She is not alive. We both know that. It wasn't your fault. Hell, it isn't even that weak NPC villain's fault. The heroes are to blame; they drove him this direction. They threw him into your building. They were the ones who let the whole building crumble. There is nothing you can do, not with your current skill set. If you want to do something, you'll need to level up."

Izuku frowned, rubbing at his eyes. "Level up?"

"As of right now, your options are either you go stay with your dad, wherever he is, or you go into foster care. But, you have a third option, if you're willing to take a chance. You can come with me. Join the League."

"I can't do that!"

"Why not? You already spend most of your time with League members. We've been nicer to you than anyone else in your life." Shigaraki paused and let his eyes skim over Izuku, taking him in. "I'm not saying I'd be sending you out to fight heroes. At least not right off the bat: not until you were ready. I'm saying you come back with me now, you have a safe place to stay, and we help teach you: help you level up. What do you say kid? Ready for people to actually give a shit about you?"

Izuku sniffled. "I won't have to go fight? You guys would keep me safe?"

"Yes. We'll take care of you. Protect you. We'll be better to you than anyone else ever will be. Think about it, Midoriya, if you were moved away, you'd never see Toga or Magne again. You'd be alone. Completely and truly alone. Who knows where you would end up, or who you'd end up living with."

Slowly, Izuku found himself nodding along with Shigaraki's words.

"I don't know exactly where my dad is and if no one can contact him, I'd end up in foster care. Things could end up really bad for me there, right? Since I'm quirkless?"

Shigaraki's lips twitched, though it was hard to tell if he was suppressing a frown or a smile. "Exactly."

"Then… Then… Okay. Yeah, I'll go with you. At least for now, until I figure things out."

--

"You've returned, Tomura," All For One said, smiling at Shigaraki as the younger man entered the room.

"The plan worked, Sensei. I dropped little hints to Dabi to get him to seek out the boy. Then he let slip to Toga, just as I thought he would. Toga took to Midoriya immediately and even got Magne to grow attached to him. Then all I had to do was give a low level villain some direction to attack in the area that Midoriya lived in. Told him which building, which floor, to crash into. He collapsed the whole thing though! It was perfect! And now we have Midoriya. It's only a matter of time before his stats are boosted enough that he can be of use."

"You did well, my boy. Keep cultivating these relationships. The stronger and more loyal your followers, the stronger you are."