Fanning the Flames (Dabi X Reader) (Hero!Dabi AU)

Chapter Two

Y/N was taking a walk through the streets of Kamino, casually sipping her coffee and texting back and forth with her friends. She tugged at her jacket as a particularly cold breeze blew past. It was still nice to walk around, though.

She had almost forgotten how nice it felt to be able to walk around the streets freely, without hoards of fans recognizing her and trying to trample her. Of course, she still was recognized by the occasional passerby, but it was much calmer than the streets of Paris. Shelved her home, yes, but it could sometimes be a little overwhelming when you were one of the most well-known actresses in France.

She continued to walk around, enjoying the fresh morning breeze that was hitting her face, and stopping once to pet a stray cat. She was getting near the clothing store she wanted to stop by when she was stopped by a crying child clinging to her leg.

"M-Miss?" he said, tears streaming down his face. "Miss, I can't- I can't find my m-mommy," he told her.

"Okay," she said, not even bothering to wonder why the child had picked her of all people. To be fair, the streets were pretty empty, and she probably looked the most approachable. "Where were you when you were last with her?"

"I-in the park," he sobbed. "I was p-playing with some other kids, a-a-and when I went back to f-find her, she wasn't there. I l-looked all over for her! S-she left me!"

"Oh, sweetheart, I'm sure she didn't leave you," Y/N told him. He burrowed deeper into her shirt. "She's probably looking for you right now. Let's go back to the park, she's probably still there waiting for you."

She cradled the small child in her arms, carrying him without a sweat even though he was a healthy weight for a five year old. She began walking to the park, occasionally having to ask strangers for directions as she still didn't know the city very well. When the finally reached the park, Y/N realized how the child would be so quick to lose his mother.

The park was packed full of children of all ages, with adults trying their best to stay on the sidelines so that children wouldn't mow them down.

"Is something wrong?" someone behind her asked. She turned around, coming face-to-face with a man with bright red hair and turquoise eyes.

"I'm just looking for this kid's mother," Y/N told him, looking down at the blonde kid who was still clutching tightly to her chest. "He said he got lost while looking for her, and now he can't find her. I found him over by the clothing store."

"That's quite a ways away from here..." the man said, scratching the back of his neck. "How'd you manage to get so lost, kid?" he asked jokingly. The kid glanced over at him for a minute before burying himself back in Y/N's jacket. "Well, it's no big deal. We're gonna find her. I'm pretty sure I saw a mother looking frantically for her kid somewhere around here."

The man began scanning the crowd, trying to search for the panicked mother. He motioned for Y/N to give him the kid, which she did, and he put the kid on his shoulders. The kid seemed to get a little calmer, and began looking around for his mom, too.

"There's so many people here," Y/N said, mostly to herself.

"Well yeah," the man chuckled. "It's summer vacation. A lot of people are here trying to get their kids to burn energy instead of staying inside all summer. Have you never been literally anywhere in summer?"

"No, actually," Y/N said. "I was homeschooled my entire life, and would spend all of summer at my aunts' private island."

"Private island?" the man asked. "How rich do you have to be to have a private island? How extra do you have to be to have a private island?"

"Lesbian billionaires," was all Y/N said. The man seemed to understand.

"And what about when you became an adult?" he asked.

"Too busy," she said. "You do a lot of acting throughout the summer. When you only have three months to get an entire movie done, you don't really get much of a break."

"An actress, huh? Why acting?"

"That was always my second choice of career," she sighed. "Unfortunately, it's a lot more... everything than I thought it would be."

"Oh? How so?"

"Well, I have basically no personal life, I have no time for friends, I have to do a lot of working to keep myself looking how people want me to look, and my dating life has always been pretty much non-existant. And when I do have somewhat of a dating life, it gets turned into a scandal by the media."

"So you're single?" the guy asked. She laughed.

"Is that all you got out of that conversation?" she asked jokingly.

"No." He was quick to defend himself. "It's just what I'm most interested in." He winked, and she rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "So if acting was your second choice, what was your first choice in career?"

"Becoming a Pro," she said, shrugging. "But what child's dream isn't?" She looked up at the kid, noticing that he was startling to slump over, the exhaustion of having been so panicked starting to kick in.

"So why'd you give up on becoming a hero? Your Quirk not strong enough or something? You not have a Quirk?" he asked, not reacting outwardly as the child rested on his head.

"Ah, my Quirk just... isn't very well suited to hero work," she said, smiling at him even though she knew he could tell it was forced. "It's fine, though. I enjoy acting, probably more than I would have enjoyed hero work, anyways. I may not get a lot of time off, but it's more than heroes get."

The redhead laughed lightly. "Yeah, I guess that's true," he said. He looked around, searching the thinning crowd again, and sighed. "I dunno if we're gonna be able to find this kid's mother before it gets dark," he told Y/N. Carefully he got the child down from his shoulders, handing him to Y/N. "I'm gonna call around a bit, see if anyone has heard of someone with a lost child. I'm also gonna head over to the station to see of anyone's filed a report, so do me a favor and stick around so I can find you again easily if anything does come up."

Y/N nodded, and the guy was quick to head off in the direction of the police station, pulling out his phone as he did so. She decided to make herself busy by asking others still at the park if they had seen anyone looking for their son. As the last few people who weren't helping the search began to leave, she walked over to a bench, sitting down and deciding to contact her aunts after having pretty much ignored them since she had found the child.

'Y/N, sweetie, how are you enjoying your vacation so far? Did you get to go to check out some of the clothing stores I recommended you stop by while you were out there?'

'Y/N, darling, why aren't you replying? Has something happened? Do I need to get a private jet to fly out there?'

'Y/N please reply as soon as you can. Your absence is starting to worry your aunt. I don't mean to sound pushy, but you know how Lydia gets when you don't reply XX'

The last one was from her aunt Safia. Y/N sighed, feeling bad for having worried Lydia so badly. She was Lydia's only remaining family aside from Safia, so of course she'd be worried.

'I'm fine! Just been trying to deal with a lost child for a bit now. Still trying to find his parents. I didn't mean to worry you, I'm sorry!'

'Oh no, dear, don't worry! I'm just a little overprotective of you. I really need to work on that!! Love you, it's good to know you're okay!'

'Don't worry about it, love. Do tell us when you find the kid's parents, though! XX'

Her aunts were both quick to respond, which was a relief to Y/N, and she placed her phone down next to her, huffing in boredom.