Stop That Flame, Hide That Power

1. Backfire

Midoriya Izuku had been different from the age of four. Until he was four years, three months, two weeks and one day old, he had been a perfectly normal child, perhaps a little smarter than the rest, but pretty average.

He had a best friend, Bakugo Katsuki, who he affectionately named Kacchan, but no other friends, and he was okay with that.

It first happened while at home, thank god. Midoriya Inko was cooking in the small apartment's kitchen while her husband and son watched TV in the living room. Hisashi had just lit a cigarette, and Izuku compulsively reached out and grabbed the small flame from the lighter, and balled up his hand.

Hisashi had yelled out in fright, thinking his son would be burnt, but the boy just smiled and opened his fist, the small flame still present over his palm.

When Hisashi yelled out again, this time in shock, Inko had rushed in and paled slightly at the site of her son holding the fire and her husband desperately trying to distance himself from the boy.

"Wow... Er, Izuku, honey, where'd you get that?" She asked, cautiously edging towards him.

"Daddy's lighter!"

In Hisashi's haste to get away, the cigarette dropped from his mouth, setting the couch on fire. Inko yelped and rushed back to the kitchen to get a bowl of water to stop the fire from spreading and setting the whole block of apartments ablaze.

When she returned, she doused the flaming couch with the water, as well as putting out the small flame in Izuku's hand. Hisashi turned to him, a fierce look in his eyes as he glared down the child.

"You.. You almost killed us!" He raised his hand as if to slap the boy, but Inko shrieked and ran in between her husband and Izuku.

"Don't hit him Hisashi! He is a child. You were the one who dropped the cigarette!" She steeled herself for a hit of her own, but it never came. Hisashi dropped his hand and muttered a few profanities to his wife before turning and leaving, slamming the door behind him.

He didn't come back for a long time.

Izuku started crying as soon as the door shut. Inko turned to him, a few tears shining in her eyes as well.

"Oh, Izuku, are you hurt? Did the fire burn you?" She checked his hands, stunned slightly when she saw no burn marks. "Honey, I know daddy can be a bit scary sometimes, but he's not here right now, can you tell me what just happened?"

Through his sniffles and tears, Izuku explained how he'd grabbed the fire, and how it hadn't hurt, that he was only crying because it was his fault. Inko immediately rushed to banish all thoughts from his head.

"Izuku, it is not your fault daddy got mad, he just gets angry easily. You're so special, even more so now. But you need to understand, you can't do that out in public. People get scared when other people are different to them - not that being different is bad - but for your safety, please don't do that again..?"

Izuku, being a simple four year old, didn't understand to begin with, but nodded his head as to not worry his mother.

Midoriya Hisashi returned the next day, explaining curtly that he had been invited on a business trip overseas out of the blue and wouldn't be back for "a while."

So there were only limited things Midoriya could learn about his power without getting caught. He could only control fire, and could move it with or without touching it if there was smoke, he could feel its heat to a subdued amount, and it didn't burnt his hands (although he hadn't attempted using it on any other parts of the body, his mom was too worried). When he let the fire out of his control, he couldn't slow its spread. He could bring it back into his control, but couldn't extinguish it. The more fire he had, the more tiring it got to control it.