All Might and Izuku quickly finished up their somewhat awkward discussion thanks to Dante's presence as he leaned against a nearby wall with his arms arms crossed. Izuku looked completely overwhelmed. His brain was clearly still trying to process this crazy day.
Dante pushed himself off the wall and clapped a hand on Izuku's shoulder. "Okay! Let's go eat."
Izuku flinched. "Huh? Wait, what?"
"Come on, you heard me. We're getting food." Dante started walking without giving him a choice.
"But… but I need to—" Izuku stammered, looking back at All Might, who just squinted at Dante's figure.
"I think it would be best if you went with him, young Midoriya." All might said with a small sigh.
Izuku still looked confused, but before he could protest further, Dante's arm turned into a tendril and wrapped around Izuku's wrist and dragged him along.
"D-Dante! I'm still in my school uniform! At least let me change, I can't just—"
"Yeah, yeah. You're fine," Dante said dismissively. "Food is way more important, it's yummy."
Izuku sighed, realising there wasn't any chance at escaping this.
A few minutes later, they ended up at a fairly large ramen shop. Dante sat down and instantly ordered a ridiculous amount of food, while Izuku just sat there awkwardly.
"So… why did you drag me here?" Izuku finally asked after the food arrived.
Dante ignored the question and just slurped up his noodles with no care for table manners, while Izuku ate at a much more slower pace and with a bit more dignity, still trying to process everything that had happened.
Dante leaned back, patting his stomach. "Huh? What'd you say?"
Izuku repeated his question, looking at him hesitantly. "Why did you drag me here?"
Dante just waved his chopsticks at Izuku, "Y'know… to eat? And well we haven't seen eachother in ages, so to catch up a bit too I guess. Oh! And also I needed to ask you something, but that can wait."
Izuku, still halfway through the bowl, looked up at him. "To catch up? Well… I never really got to ask, but what happened to you?"
Dante grabbed his glass of water and took a sip before responding. "Huh? What do you mean?"
Izuku tilted his head and frowned. "You disappeared. One day we were in school together, then you were just gone. I don't think you went to middle school either right? Nothing. No one knew where you went, Kacchan said something to do with you robbing him a while back and no one heard anything since."
Dante shrugged, stirring his leftover broth with his chopsticks. "Well, my focus was to survive. I didn't have time for school, it was too easy anyway."
Izuku stared at him with wide eyes. "So that must mean…" he trailed off, not knowing how to word it.
Dante clicked his tongue. "Yup, dude. I was homeless! Not anymore though, I bought a place to stay a couple years back. Happy?"
Izuku's grip on his chopsticks tightened. "Dante… that's awful. How did—"
Dante waved his hand dismissively. "Hey, hey. Relax. I'm alive, aren't I?" He smirked. "Besides, I'd say I turned out just fine."
Izuku just sighed and out his chopsticks down. "So… other than trying to survive, what have you been doing? Since you weren't in school?"
Dante stretched his arms before crossing them. "Hmm… okay. Well, after I left school, I had nowhere to go. My mother had died and my father had ran away to pursue a life of villainy. No money either, I had nothing. So I figured things out. I stole food for the first night, then I stole money from street thugs by fighting them, I slept just about wherever I could find. Basic stuff."
Izuku's expression twisted in concern. "That's…"
Dante once again waved him off. "Relax, it all ended well in the end. Then I met Kazuya, and he brought me to his gym. Then I started properly fighting."
Izuku blinked. "Fighting?"
Dante nodded. "Yup. At first, I did it just to get food or defend myself. But then I found that it was actually very fun, and a great way to get stronger. Sooo, I started picking fights. Street fights, gang fights, underground fights, cage fights, whatever. This and a crazy training plan made by the owner of my gym, Kaijin. I learnt how to fight properly, I even made a ton of money from it too, which is how I bought my apartment."
Izuku's eyes widened. "Wait… you were in illegal fights?!"
Dante smirked. "Shhh… but yeah, that's one way to put it. I fought a hell of a lot of people, and I got damn good at it."
Izuku was both impressed and horrified. "That's really dangerous Dante! You could've—"
"Died?" Dante finished his sentence. "Yup. But I didn't."
Izuku shook his head in disbelief. "Soo what, you just kept that up all this time?"
Dante sighed. "Well kinda, I met a lot of people along the way and I even made a name for myself."
Izuku chuckled while shaking his head. "That's crazy."
Dante laughed too. "Yeah, well. What about you? Still aiming to be the number one hero? Well I mean you could now, get that crazy quirk and go for it!"
Izuku just smiled nervously.
…
Dante stopped just as he was about to get up and leave, turning back. "Oh yeah! I nearly forgot, I wanted to ask."
Izuku looked up at Dante. "Huh?"
Date pulled out a chair and sat back down. "Why exactly did you run in there?"
Izuku blinked in confusion. "Uhh… run in where?"
Dante gave him a strange look. "Uhm, the sludge… villain? I don't know what to call him. (Trying to avoid telling Izuku that was his dad) But yeah anyway, you don't have a quirk, probably didn't have a plan, but you still ran into save that Bakugo guy. Why?"
Izuku hesitated, gripping his chopsticks. "…Because I had to."
Dante coughed awkwardly. "Well, that's not an answer."
Izuku took a deep breath, staring at the table as he gathered his thoughts. "I've always wanted to be a hero, you know this. Ever since I was a kid. But no matter how hard I wished, how hard I prayed, no quirk ever came. Everyone told me to give up, I was tested every day, everyone told me it was impossible."
Dante listened silently, nodding his head with arms crossed.
"But when I saw Kacchan struggling… trapped… I didn't even think, my body just moved. It moved by itself." Izuku clenched his fists. "Even if I am weak, even if I couldn't save him… I just couldn't stand there. I needed to try."
Dante just watched carefully.
"I know what it is like to feel helpless," Izuku continued. "I know what it's like to be told you're not good enough. But either way, even if I don't have power, even if I'm the weakest person there… I still just wanted to help. Because that's what a hero does."
Dante just stared for a moment, before he leaned back and looked up at the ceiling.
"…That's stupid," he muttered.
Izuku flinched. "H-Huh? Was I just rambling? My bad…"
Dante exhaled, rubbing his face. "Running into danger like that with nothing but good intentions? That's how people like you die, Izuku."
Izuku frowned. "But—"
Dante just held up a hand and sighed. "But… I actually get it."
Izuku leaned back and blinked in surprise. "Wow. You do?"
Dante looked off to the side, his expression was hard but also unreadable. "Yeah. Much more than you think."
Izuku wasn't sure what that even meant, but Dante's usual smirk was gone. He seemed… thoughtful.
After a brief silence, Dante looked back at him. "Hey, Izuku."
"Huh? …Yeah?"
"How do I sign up for U.A.?"
Izuku nearly choked on his imaginary drink. "W-WHAT?!"