Chapter Text
Izuku was a curious child. Always has been.
He splashed in puddles, lost his shoes in the storm drain, almost drowned in the ocean. Izuku squealed happily when storms hit, his eyes lit up with wonder at the lightning. He leaned towards the smoldering desks that Kacchan would leave behind, wondering if just one more gust of air would be enough for the embers to flame.
Izuku didn't have a quirk yet, nearly two years after Kacchan got his, but Mommy said that he was just a late bloomer. He would get his quirk soon, some mix of fire and object attraction or neither. If he didn't have a quirk after all? Mommy would love him anyways.
"If you're quirkless, then I can use the quirk accident property distruction funds I've been saving for something else." Mommy had shrugged. "You're my little Izuku, my lovely light. I know you'll do great things."
Izuku's memory went fuzzy around the edges, then.
There had been something tugging at his fingers one day as he glanced over to one of Mommy's candles on the dinner table, like he could touch the fire from so far away.
It was exciting.
He put aside his first grade level Japanese work book. The tugging grew stronger, as if curling around his fingers and begging him to respond. Izuku giggled, pulling his hand back in a motion that he had seen Mommy make with her quirk.
The fire came with it.
It twisted and turned and it was like collecting string once he got over the shock of being able to move it. The fire rested on his open palms, the candle unlit.
He smiled, playing with it. It didn't even hurt like Mommy had warned him about! She had nothing to worry for, she could carry on with cooking in the kitchen. He would be fine.
Izuku spread his hands and the fire grew, turning slightly warmer. It was so interesting! Mommy would be proud. He just had to wait for her to finish the food, then he could show her.
"I wonder if I can make it change color?" He had muttered, moving his hands so that he could condense it back down from tennis ball size.
The fire didn't want to shrink, though. It was stubborn.
He had just huffed, trying harder. The fire grew bigger instead of smaller. Orange flames licked the edge of the table, setting the wood alight.
No! No, no, no! He didn't want to destroy things! He was supposed to become a hero! What kind of hero would he be if all he did was burn?
His eyes widened. His hands flew back away from the flames as he was startled by how loud it was. The fire grew bigger, bigger than the ball it was before.
The firey mass exploded outwards and Izuku screamed.
It all happened so quick. One second he was at the table and the next, flames were rising around him and he didn't know where Mommy was.
Izuku cried, scrambling back and falling out of his burning chair. The flames sticked to his hands, flickering between his fingers. His nose was filled with the stench of burnt wood and plastic.
"Mommy!" He sobbed, curling up on the floor. "Mommy, I'm scared!"
The apartment burned around him. A figure stumbled towards where he was, bursting through the smoke.
"Izuku!" Mommy called out. He heard her cough before she spoke again. "Izuku!"
She spotted him, right then, and made to move closer.
"Mommy!" Izuku's hands made dark marks on the floor when he tried to stand.
He reached out towards her.
Mommy lit on fire. Her clothes, her hair, her skin–
She shrieked and fell to the floor, louder than he had ever heard her. Izuku shook with his cries, watching as she burned into a dark husk before turning ashy.
"Mommy." He gasped, moving closer to her.
He wiped at his face, at his steaming tears. The fire just wouldn't leave!
He tried to extinguish his hands, pleading to smoke and to the ash in front of him.
"Make– Make it stop!" He hiccuped. "I hurt Mommy. I hurt y-you bad."
There were sirens, Izuku thought distantly, at least– At least beyond the crackling and flames.
Mommy didn't answer. Mommy always answered.
"...Mommy?"
He didn't know when he got pulled away from Mommy's side. He didn't get it. She always replied. She always talked. Why hadn't she talked?
The fire left his hands. It fizzled out into nothing.
Izuku was on the curb, near where Kacchan had broken the concrete and no one had been able to get it fixed yet.
Someone was in front of him, blocking his view of anything else. Someone who could stop the fire.
He looked up.
A Pro Hero with dark hair, red eyes, and a grey scarf was staring at him. The man was crouched down in front of him, on the street.
"You..." Izuku coughed as he registered the snot down his throat. "You made it stop." He said dumbly.
The hero nodded, his gaze never wavering.
"I did. My name is Eraserhead. My quirk erases other quirks."
Izuku flinched, looking back down at his hands.
His quirk.
He choked on another sob.
"I hurt Mommy with my quirk." He curled in on himself. "Where is Mommy? I need her. She– She needs to make it all better."
The hero shook his head.
"I don't know where your Mommy is." He replied softly. "What's your name?"
Izuku wrapped his arms around himself in a bad imitation of Mommy's hugs.
Name and quirk, like school. He could do that.
"My name's Izuku Midoriya. My quirk is– fire. I–I hold fire." He whispered. "The candle was... Source. I can take fire. Mommy can take things. She's really good at getting me my pencils back when I drop them."
Mommy was gone, wasn't she? Mommy didn't get up. She was ash. She turned to ash.
Eraserhead blinked and his eyes turned as dark as his hair. The fire didn't reappear.
"I need to take you to some of the nice people over there," The hero gestured down the street. "so they can have a look at you. Can I?"
When Izuku reached out a hand, covered in ash and burnt polyester, Eraserhead took it with gentle fingers. His hand wasn't covered in a glove like other heroes preferred. Izuku ran his fingers over the callouses, humming. He smeared soot and ash on Eraserhead's palm but the man didn't stop him.
He stood up, looked towards where Eraserhead had gestured, and led the way towards the EMTs.
Izuku didn't know much, after that.