Chapter Text
Izuku’s hair was on fire.
Not the most surprising thing to happen to him, but still very high on the list of worries. Mostly because his mom would freak out and he wouldn’t want that. He wants her to have at least one peaceful morning this month.
He sits on the edge of his bed yawning and rubbing his eyes. His eyes shift towards the singed pillow. Slowly, Izuku flips the pillow over on its other side. He smiles and nods to himself before getting up.
It’s 5 in the morning and Izuku isn’t sure if his mom is awake yet. So, he tiptoes to the bathroom and closes the door. Yawning again, Izuku feels like he should be doing something. He looks in the mirror and remembers his hair is kinda on fire.
This makes his brain jolt into action. Izuku yelps quietly and pats down his hair. The fire doesn’t lessen, but it’s not burning his hand. He turns on the shower, dips his head in, and the fire is still burning. He sighs and makes his way in the shower to start his day.
The shampoo burns once it touches his hair, and Izuku stares at the wall for a moment. A tear slides down his cheek mixing in with the water from the shower.
After exiting the bathroom, Izuku tries patting down the fire, but it doesn’t budge. He frowns and makes his way to the table for breakfast.
“Good morning Izu — oh my goodness what happened to your hair?!” Inko drops her rag and rushes over to Izuku. “Are you ok? Does it hurt? Have you tried putting water on it? Do you need me to call the school?” Her hands fly around his burning hair.
Izuku smiles and grabs her hands. “I’m fine mom. It doesn’t really burn me, but it’s probably best not to touch it.” The fire on his head slowly goes down and he looks up at it curiously. Inko slowly puts her hands down and nods.
“O-okay. Breakfast is on the table,” she smiles but Izuku can still see the worry in her eyes. He nods and walks to the table, the fire on his head lessening as he eats.
Izuku catches his mom’s eyes glancing every now and then at his hair. Izuku tries putting on a hat, but it burns just like his hopes of hiding his hair from everyone at school.
Izuku walks down the street to school. There was a hero fight on the way, but it ended quickly and Izuku was gonna be late to school.
“Oi Deku.”
Izuku jumps a little. “O-oh hi Kacchan.” Bakugou stares at his hair and Izuku does so as well. The flame seems to be a little bigger than earlier, but not as big as it was when he was watching that hero fight.
“The fuck is it today?” he asks. He glares at the flame and Izuku wonders if he’s trying to intimidate it. Wouldn’t be the first time Bakugou did it though.
Izuku clears his throat, “It’s uh, a fire on my head?” Bakugou glares at Izuku now. Izuku swallows and stares at the trees behind Bakugou’s head. “I-it might have to do with my emotions? It grows then shrinks randomly, but I’ve noticed it’s always when I’m feeling something different? I still haven’t really figured it out…” Izuku’s words dissolve into muttering.
Bakugou rolls his eyes and walks ahead, “Whatever. Pretty lame.”
Izuku stops muttering and sighs quietly. The fire on his head shrinks and Izuku narrows his eyes at it. “Don’t get me into any trouble today. Please.”
Izuku has always loved heroes. They inspired him with their smiles and work they do to protect everyone. His favorite used to be All Might, but he’s recently taken a liken to underground heroes more.
With his very inconvenient quirk, it’s hard to look up to those who rely on their super flashy and useful quirk. It’s a good source for imagination though. Sometimes Izuku dreams he’s this super cool hero with this super cool quirk living this super cool life.
Sadly, that isn’t the reality of Izuku’s life.
“I hear Midoriya wants to go to UA as well?” the teacher says. All eyes turn to him and the fire on Izuku’s head is extinguished.
“Really? I mean with his quirk, I don’t see it happening.”
“Kinda far fetched to be honest.”
The kid next to him pats his shoulder, “Good luck I guess. But, you should really consider something else.”
Izuku only smiles and nods. The teacher gets the lesson back on track and Izuku’s fire doesn’t grow.
The reality is his quirk is inconvenient and even though he wants to be a hero, no one believes in him. Well, maybe Bakugou does, but Izuku isn’t too sure. His mom tries her best, but it’s mostly empty support.
He’s trying, he really is. He has a diet his mom helps him with, he’s taking some gymnastics classes, and he’s planning on taking some sort of self defense class. He’s determined to become a hero. He just needs to prepare a bit.
Once the final bell rings, Izuku scrolls through the hero news on his phone. The new hero Mt. Lady has already gathered quite the fanbase. Her quirk is really cool, though maybe work on the property damage a bit.
A hand slams down on his desk. Izuku startles and shouts. Bakugou stares at his head and mutters, “It went up.” He leaves with his group leaving Izuku to observe his fire.
He was right. It flared up and is now at the height it was at when he woke up.
Interesting.
Izuku is trapped in this slime villain and he’s sorta dying. He tries to claw at the slime, but it’s only getting in his fingernails. He gags and once his vision starts blurring, that’s when the realization that he might actually die hits him full force.
His eyes fill with tears. He doesn’t wanna die! He still has so much to do! Become a hero! Make friends! Make his mom not worry for a day! He can’t do any of that if he’s dead!
His eyes shut tight and he yells as much as he can. It’s his one last attempt of getting help. The fire on his head flares up until it engulfs the upper half of the villain. Mostly around his eyes.
“AH WHAT THE HELL?!” The villain screams. He flings Izuku to a wall and tries to extinguish the flames surrounding his eyes. Izuku coughs before passing out. He thought he saw some huge figure running towards the villain, but he’s doubting it.
When Izuku wakes up, the slime villain is gone and his notebook is on the ground. He rubs his eyes and picks up his notebook to make sure it didn’t get destroyed. He coughs up a little slime but ignores it.
Nothing seems to be damaged and Izuku sighs in relief. He flips to a crumpled up page and drops his notebook on the ground.
All Might signed it. The number one hero signed it.
Izuku throws up on the empty space next to him.
Izuku goes straight home and passes out on his bed. The fire on his head is mostly gone, but Izuku is too tired to care about it. He wrote down his analysis on it in his notebook already, so he can sleep peacefully now.
He didn’t tell his mom about the villain attack since he’s fine now. There’s not really a point in worrying her about something that happened a couple hours ago.
The next morning Izuku wakes up with both his arms being blue.
He sighs and gets ready for the day.