"My name is Izuku Midoriya...And I'm scared of my Quirk."
Scarred and scared, yet still wanting to help others even with a crippling fear of flames. Will Izuku succeed?
Pyrophobic Hero is a My Hero Academia fanfic written by Mrotrax that details the story of Izuku Midoriya, who is born with a Quirk that allows him to absorb and release flames. The problem is that he has a fear of his power due to an accident with its first awakening that left him horrifically burned.
It can be found here
A spin-off that takes place between the USJ and Sports Festival Arcs has also been published. It contains various plot points that are hinted at in the main story. It can be read here.
Pyrophobic Hero contains examples of:
- Adaptation Expansion: Class 1-C was mentioned in canon but not outright shown. Here they're the leads and are also a Hero Course instead of a General Ed Course.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Several instances:
- In canon, Kirishima is the closest thing to a best friend Bakugo has. In this story, they met once and it did not end well.
- Hisashi Midoriya is a no-show in the canon series. Here, he is actively and passionately involved with his son's life.
- Hitoshi Shinsou initially treated anyone in Class 1-A with disdain. Here, due to knowing Izuku, Momo, and Setsuna for four years, this is not the case. He's not friends with them but respects them at least.
- Midnight and Inko Midoriya had no connections in canon. Here, the 18+ Hero describes Inko as her big sister figure when she was at UA.
- Izuku and Mina have had little interaction in the canon story. Here, they went to the same Junior High and Izuku has a well-known crush on Mina.
- Adaptational Badass:
- Due to being born with a Quirk, Izuku is this, even if it left him scarred.
- The League of Villains is shaping up to be this, with additional and more competent original members, rather than just Tomura and Kurogiri like in canon.
- Adaptational Early Appearance:
- Yaoyorozu, Tokage, Mirio, Twice, and Ippan Josei/Ordinary Girl all appear in the very first chapter, which takes place three years before the start of the story in canon.
- It is stated that Izuku met Kirishima and Mina earlier during the three-year time skip.
- Eri and Overhaul appear during the first week of UA, months before they did in canon.
- Adaptational Heroism: Himiko Toga, Niles, and Monika are heroes in training in this story.
- Adaptational Jerkass: Katsuki Bakugo. In canon, he eventually realized how cruel he had been to Izuku and learned that he was not the center of the universe. Here, due to his ego being fed so much and never slighted, he instead bullies Izuku for being 'too weak' to handle his Quirk.
- Adaptational Karma: Katsuki and Aldera Middle School get hit by this hard.
- All There in the Manual: Chapter 9 lists all the character's Quirks, including some who have yet to appear.
- Asshole Victim: Coach Shimura relentlessly bullied Izuku when he went to Aldera Junior High, not caring a whit about his condition. Naturally, his superiors at the MLA see fit to have him disposed of, but not before instilling the fear of god into him.
- Badass Family: The Midoriya Family is shaping up to be this; Inko's father Daiki pretty much CREATED the Support Industry and fought against All For One. Hisashi is heavily implied to have some sort of connection to All Might/a checkered past of sorts and Izuku and Himiko are promising future Hero students. The shining moment for the whole family comes when they protect Eri from Chronostasis.
- Best Friend: Izuku explicitly calls Eijiro Kirishima this during their reunion in Chapter 3.
- Big Bad Friend: Rikiya Yotsubashi (AKA Re-Destro) is good friends with Izuku's father Hisashi and considers him one of his most valued employees.
- Big Beautiful Woman: Momo ends up bulking up to get the most out of her Quirk in time for the Sports Festival. However, her plan to do so accidentally ends up fattening Mina, Kyouka, Midnight, Mount Lady, and Miruko. Fortunately, they all wear the weight well and don't mind their new blubber all that much.
- Big Brother Instinct/Big Sister Instinct: The QA kids all feel this way about each other, panicking when Izuku is lit aflame and fighting to keep Eri safe without a second thought.
- Broken Pedestal: Hisashi and Inko lose ANY care for Katsuki when they learn what he did to Izuku. It remains to be seen if this stands true with Mitsuki and Masaru.
- Combat Pragmatist: Class 1-C cut off Kurogiri when he tries to introduce the League of Villains during the USJ Attack, explaining that Midnight taught them to always cut off the villains when they're monologuing.
- Cool Teacher: Midnight, who is friendly and open-minded with her students in Class 1-C; encouraging them to explore UA but also respect the rules of the school.
- Even Evil Has Standards: The League of Villains hate Overhaul's guts for what he did to Eri, especially since one of their members is Eri's Mom, who was horrified about what her adopted brother had done to her daughter. Naturally, none of them bat an eye at emotionally destroying him, taking away his Quirk, and leaving him to be raped by a Nomu.
- Facial Horror: While not yet fully described, Izuku suffers from this by virtue of having second and third-degree burns on his face; one-half of his lips are missing and the lower half of his face is blackened flesh.
- Foster Kid: Hisashi Midoriya was one growing up after his parents were killed in a Villain Attack.
- Handicapped Badass: Izuku, due to his burns.
- Happily Adopted: Himiko Toga was adopted into the Midoriya family during the time skip.
- Karmic Rape: After being disowned by the Oyabun, the one person he cared about, and having the Shie Hassaikai usurped from him by Eri's Mom, Overhaul is then stripped of his clothes and forced to become a sexual plaything for one of the League of Villains' Nomus. The same fate soon befalls Chronostasis.
- Massive Multiplayer Crossover: The majority of Class 1-C and Class 1-D are based on characters from other series. The only canon characters are Izuku and Hitoshi.
- Monika, Sayori, Yuri, and Natsuki from Doki Doki Literature Club!.
- Meggy, Saiko, Tari, Axol, Melony, Niles, and Kaizo from Supermarioglitchy4's Super Mario 64 Bloopers.
- Strawberry from Berrywitched!.
- Soleil and Esmeray from From the Sun to the Moon.
- Penny Polendina from RWBY.
- Hinata Hyuuga and Sasuke Uchiha from Naruto.
- Seryu Ubiquitous from Akame ga Kill!.
- Ellie from Borderlands.
- Tang Yun from Dislyte.
- Bernadetta von Varley, Dorothea Arnault, Petra Macneary, Mercedes von Martritz, and Marianne von Edmund from Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
- Misako and Kyoko from River City Girls.
- Ingrid Grimwall and Eloise Taulner from Project: Eden's Garden.
- Lilique Kadoka Lipati from Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury.
- Mysterious Past: The Jester has some kind of connection to both Izuku and Katsuki; enough to loathe Katsuki and want Izuku to live a happy life.
- Noodle Incident: Izuku's time at Musutafu Private seems to be filled with these, although they are treated as positive experiences. Downplayed in that one is clearly a reference to Gigantomachia's appearance. A straighter example and one not played as positive is whatever happened between Kastuki and Eijiro the one time they met.
- Papa Wolf: In every appearance so far, Hisashi Midoriya has proven to focus on his children's safety first and foremost, as well as being perfectly willing to get violent for them.
- Parents as People: Inko and Hisashi are portrayed as loving parents to Izuku, doing everything they can to help him deal with his disfigurement and crippling. Hisashi even sees his son as a Hero already due to his kind and brilliant mind and even managed to change his career to be closer to his family. They are, however, shown to trust their son and those around him too much and do not investigate their son's school until they are called to the principal's office.
- Practically Joker: Jester, Tomura's partner and co-leader of the League of Villains is a Monster Clown-themed Villain dressed like a masked harlequin assassin who plans to destroy society.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: The therapist of Quirks Anonymous is one. He is kind and patient with the session goers, gently reminding Twice how the sessions go and pacing Izuku through telling his story. He also does keep his word about only reporting what he hears if he has reason to believe his patient is in danger.
- Science Hero: For all intents and purposes, Daiki Midoriya (Inko's father and Izuku's grandfather) was this; an unrivaled scientific mind who is credited for borderline creating the Support Industry, created the Autoscorers (which make the Nomu look pitiable) and taught Penny's own father everything he knows. And then there's the fact it's outright stated he FOUGHT All for One alongside Nana Shimura and Gran Torino.
- Shipper on Deck:
- All of Izuku's friends at Musutafu Private encourage him to ask Mina out.
- Hitoshi likes the idea of his father actually marrying Ms. Joke, who he sees as a mother figure.
- Ship Tease: Ippan and Twice are dating as of Chapter 2.
- Time Skip: Midway through the second chapter, the story leaps from Izuku's first year in Junior High to his first day at UA.
- Wham Line: Chapter 19 ends with this line when Hisashi runs into Endeavor:Hisashi: "He's…WAS…my big brother."
- Wham Shot: Chapter 18 ends with the reveal of a secret weapon the League of Villains plan to unleash on the Sports Festival: STARRO.
