The Grey Area

In Which Dabi Spends Hours in The Library

That brat. He couldn't believe he agreed to this. Never in a million years. He wasn't ready to be a teacher. He couldn't even keep himself in good shape for long. He didn't know how. His father had drilled how to win into his head, taught him how to ignore pain in favor of doing everything in his power to beat his opponent. He had learned how to take someone else out quickly, and with his quirk, but this? This was entirely different. This required research.

Despite his appearance, and gruff behavior, Dabi liked books. He liked reading about whatever someone's crazy imagination had cooked up, and, despite his rough childhood, he liked to learn. So really, the only thing that the librarians had to be shocked by when he walked through the library he tended to frequent was the scarf he had wrapped tightly around his neck and lower face, and the long-sleeved shirt that he wore with it.

He didn't move the scarf from his face when he walked up to the desk and asked her where the books on nutrition and wellness were. Her face lit up as she recognized his request, and began typing away on her computer. She handed him a slip of paper with the book numbers on them and sent him into the non-fiction section with a wave, asking the person behind him to step forward.

They were shelved next to the books on gardening and landscaping, and across from the cookbooks. He plucked a few of the books on eating well, and a book that was supposedly about nutrition for athletes. He also grabbed a book about how different quirk types have different nutritional requirements. He made a note to memorize as much of that one as he could, because he still didn't know what the kid's quirk was. Maybe something like his mom?

He read through all of the books he grabbed, skimming some of the ones that only had a bit of the information he needed. He took notes on some papers he stole from one of the printers in the print room and wrote down from what book and chapter the information came from. He set aside the two books he decided were necessary to keep, and carried the rest to the cart on his way to get books on exercises and fighting. Not that he didn't know what he was doing, but he wanted to do it right. He had a brief thought to get a book on teaching, but quickly shook it off. He wasn't going to go that far for this kid.

He bookmarked pages he wanted copies of, tearing one of his scrap papers into pieces to jam between pages as he went along. Books he didn't need once again were taken to the cart, and the ones he did need were taken with him into the printer room. The scanner had a coin collecter on it. Dabi scrambled in his pockets for a minute before saying, no, fuck that, and melting the lock off the coin drawer. With access to unlimited copies, he set to scanning all the pages, which took about as much time as reading through them did, and he was genuinely surprised that no one came in and found him digging through the coin drawer with a handful of papers in his other hand.

40 minutes later, he walked out the door with five books checked out under his sister's name, and a stack of papers an inch and a half thick. He didn't take any of the money from the drawer and left a note saying, 'sorry for busting the lock im poor' featuring a poorly drawn stick figure with out-turned pockets under the coin. He made two copies of everything, despite his better judgment, and knew, no matter what that kid had under his sleeves, he probably had it covered.

<.>

He didn't have it covered. The kid loved the information he set out, and answered all the questions he asked without asking why he happened to need everything he asked. Dabi wasn't prepared though. He never expected the kid to be quirkless. Never. The thought never crossed his mind. Though, it explained why his mom winced when he'd ask Dabi about his quirk, and why he never ran around to show the two of them what he had learned to do with his own at school. Dabi sighed, and resigned himself for another day spent entirely at the library.

The section with books on the quirkless population was less populated than the others, shelves lined with books on why they were broken, or why they are lesser, the typical prejudice nonsense most of society believed in. He scanned the titles, hoping for something he could use, anything that was- Perfect.

The History of Quirks was an odd topic to think about because, really, no one could say when the first, actual, quirk was. Physical manifestations of quirks were first accounted for around a century ago, give or take a few years, though quirks likely were around before then. Minor enhancement quirks that made someone smarter or gave them higher endurance or even just enhanced senses. Because there was no need to be looking for a cause for these events before the first physical Quirk manifested, the true beginning of quirks likely won't be determined for years yet.

Dabi was completely taken by the stories of some of the oldest quirks, some that were hailed as powerful and heroic that would be looked upon as weak now. The book briefly covered the rise of the Hero System and the split of law enforcement for its creation, but Dabi skipped it, focusing on the chapter after it. Quirklessness. According to the book, it was the lack of a genetic mutation. Simply, quirklessness, which was once a vital part of the human race that had evolved to survive, became a less and less desirable trait to have. It was proof that those born without a quirk were meant to be at the bottom of the food chain. Or, he kept reading, it was because the people born Quirkless had no need for enhancements to survive, and, because they lacked an odd mutation, they would be stronger than their peers that did.

Of course, it was an old book, and half of the things it had written in it were likely so out of date that they didn't matter, but information was information, so he gathered up his things and checked this one out under his sister's name too. If anything, Izuku would probably want to read it.

(He did. He practically took down Dabi with a tackle hug, grinning madly as he rushed to add it to the stack of reading Dabi had given him. Dabi didn't smile at his antics, not at all, no way.)