Yagi Dabi: Secret Son of All Might

A Chance Encounter

It was late when Toshinori saw him—much too late for him to be out by himself in such a place. He was huddled up against the wall in the alleyway with his head down and his legs drawn up to his chest.

The alley smelt like burnt flesh.

Toshinori approached him slowly and quietly in his powered down form, not wanting to startle him. But as he got closer, he found the child was much smaller than he previously assumed.

He stopped only a few feet away, not wanting the kid to feel cornered or trapped, and knelt down in an attempt to make himself appear smaller.

"Excuse me," Toshinori asked gently, "are you alright, my boy?"

The child flinched and drew his limbs closer, but didn't respond.

Toshinori continued, "do you need me to call someone? Your parents, perhaps?"

When the child still didn't respond, Toshinori frowned worriedly. This close, the burnt smell was that much stronger, along with the smell of blood. It was very dark in the alleyway, but from where the kid's hands peeked out from his sleeves Toshinori could see that his wrists were significantly darker than the rest of his hands. His ankles were much the same, and his feet were filthy, covered in dirt, as well as something that appeared dark and wet. Blood, most likely.

Cautiously, Toshinori inched a bit closer. But when he placed a careful hand on the child's shoulder he flinched even harder than before, crying out, "Don't touch me!"

Quickly backing away, Toshinori tried to apologise, but the kid wasn't finished.

"Stay away from me! Don't touch me! Get away! Just go away already!"

"Calm down, son—"

"I am not your son," the kid screamed, "I'm not anyone's son!"

And Toshinori stopped at that, processing what that could mean. Cautiously, he asked, "are they... no longer with us? Your father and—"

The kid cut him off, scoffing loudly. "I wish!"

That...was a-whole-other can of worms to open. It was one thing if the child was orphaned, but from the sound of things he was probably coming from an abusive household, and Toshinori couldn't help but wonder if that was where the injuries had come from.

"It's alright," he tried to reassure, speaking as softly as could, "I know some heroes who can help—"

If he thought the kid had responded badly before, it was nothing compared to now. The child jerked back so hard and so quickly that his head slammed into the wall. He stared at Toshinori with wide, wet eyes, his arms wrapping tighter around himself.

"No," he stressed frantically, voice cracking, "no heroes!"

Toshinori got a cold and horrible feeling in his gut at what those words implied—there's only one reason he can think of as to why an abused child would be so afraid of heroes.

And as his eyes adjusted to the darkness in the alley, with the kid's face finally revealed he could see the same dark marks on his face, along his jaw and under his eyes. This close, only about a foot or two away now, he could see far clearer than before—enough to see that the dark coloring wasn't bruises, but rather burns—severe, third degree burns dark enough to turn his skin nearly black.

Toshinori had to swallow hard to avoid vomiting. He had seen injuries like this before, but never on someone so young—and to imagine it was their parent that did this, a supposed hero—Toshinori felt sick.

And responsible.

Heroes have let this child down, but now it was All Might's chance to save him.

Even if it meant being a better father than his ever was.

Now he just needed the boy to say yes.

"Son—kid," he corrected quickly, "would you... like to come home with me?"

The fear momentarily faded to be replaced with utter bemusement, "W-what?"

All Might coughed, "Perhaps, I could have phrased that better... I'm asking, would you like to come live with me?"

The kid stared.

"There would of course be paperwork we would need to fill out... but I live alone and I'm out a lot so you'll often have the place to yourself... you don't have to, of course, but... I'm getting old and it gets lonely living all by myself, and—and I've always wanted a so—a, ah, uhm—and you don't have agree to, to—if you don't want to, I would—it would—it would be fine, just being roommates... not that I would expect you to pay, or anything! I'll provide for everything, food and clothes, and, and, and medical care, and—of course, you would have to agree to me being your legal guardian, but you don't have to sign any adoption papers or anything, not if you don't want to—ah, that is to say—"

Awkwardly, Toshinori cut himself off, realizing that he had been ranting and frantically waving his arms around, and the kid now looked sufficiently freaked out.

"You—you want to... adopt me?"

The poor child seemed hopelessly confused—which was understandable considering that a stranger he had just met in a dark alley was now asking to live with him, but it was too late to turn back now. Instead of backing off, All Might doubled down.

"What's been done to you is nothing short of unacceptable, and the fact that it was a hero that did it makes it even worse—"

The kid startles at that, probably not having expected him to figure out that much.

"—there's nothing I can do to reverse what has already been done to you, but I can make sure that it never happens again—and I will. I promise you that I will do everything in my power to protect you—"

At that, the kid scoffed bitterly. "Like you could protect me..." Then, quieter, "like anyone could... "

All Might heaved a heavy sigh in response to that. "That's the other thing you need to know... "

He paused, holding eye-contact with the kid while he flexed into his powered-up form. "... I am All Might."

The kid's eyes stretched so wide the skin attached to his burns tore and started bleeding, but he was so shocked that he didn't even notice.

"And it's all right now..."

All Might smiled warmly, slowly moving to place a hand on the child's shoulder and being careful to project his movements. This time, the kid didn't flinch or shake him off.

"Why? Because I am here."