Thoughtless stars // MHA // BNHA

||▪︎ The first step▪︎ ||

https://open.spotify.com/track/4Rsv5fRmgTH88RLp7xN5sz?si=pMMa_qpNTBGtvGEFoT8MWw

☆☆☆☆

Stars.

Izuku had always liked the stars. He wasn't an expert on astrology or anything, but he'd always managed to find himself some form of serene comfort from staring into them as he zoned out - which is something he found himself doing a lot recently.

So as he lay flat against the damp roof, feeling the rain from a few hours prior soak the back of his jacket, he focused his attention on the stars. He peeled the now sweaty mask off of his face, catching his breath as he felt the cold air hit his cheeks. He had just stopped a mugging. Sure, regular heroes probably deal with hundreds of those a day, so he's not exactly special, but he  had done it. Deku had done it. That was a first small step towards his new goal.
His old goal - becoming a top hero and attending UA - was an ambition that flew out the window pretty much the second he was told by none other than the #1 hero, his idol, all might, that it was impossible to attain. Izuku isn't exactly a misanthrope or anything, but it's safe to see he hasn't exactly been dealt a fair hand when it comes to the whole living vs. surviving thing.

He ran away from home when he was 11. Ever since then, he's been surviving. Not living.

His gaze wandered back up to the illuminated sky, a clear canvas - well, clear if you ignored the stars. To anyone else, it was just a calm and regular tuesday night, but to Izuku, it was so much more. He took in a deep breath of the cool night air, feeling his heart fill with an unfamiliar sense of pride.

▪︎

A short while later, he began trudging back home - his abandoned apartment, that is. The place wasn't the most run down. However, you could definitely tell he wasn't paying to live there. It would be some form of abuse if he was.

The streets were barren and empty, considering the fact it was 2AM, and Izuku preferred it that way. People are scary. People who wander around at 2AM are even scarier. He listened to the sound of his new boots clicking against the cracked pavement as he neared the sketchier side of town - the boots he had to save up for months to buy. And spend weeks learning how to tie. He earned most of his money from the odd pickpocket or summer job he could pick up, but now that he was a vigilante, he could make a name for himself and get hired to do missions for a lot more.

A name.

He needs a name.

Izukus is obviously not gonna cut it, but he's not going for anything that he'll look back at in 2 weeks and regret it when it's too late. Something short will do. Like just a singular word or something. Oh well, he'll figure something out - eventually.

He had to use his entire bodyweight to push open the front door to what he assumed used to be the apartment lobby, hopping up the stairs and doing his best to avoid any of the cracks or gaps in the concrete blocks. It's bad luck, you know.

The thin, wooden door to his actual apartment practically flies open from how nimble it is, revealing the rest of his, uh...house. yeah. House. It was actually only 2 rooms. The bigger room consisted of his mattress that he used as both a couch and a bed, a small fridge, a counter, and a toaster. For poptarts. The smaller room was just his bathroom.

You know, pop tarts do sound pretty good right now. Izuku thought to himself, struggling to take his boots off without toppling over and falling through the floor. When he lay his eyes on the mattress bed couch in the corner of the room, though, his exhaustion decided to make its presence aware, and he decided the pop tarts could wait. Its not like he lived with anyone else who could steal them.

▪︎▪︎

Izuku woke up feeling like shit. He always felt like shit, but it doesn't make it any more fun when that feeling of uncleanness washes over him the second he sits up. Maybe he should just stop waking up.

He pulled himself off of the mattress, yawning and rubbing his eyes a few times before lifting his heavy gaze to the toaster next to his fridge. Pop tarts. After dropping the packet a good 4 times, then finally actually putting it in the toaster, he sat against the cold and suspiciously damp wall to think about what he had to do that day. The supermarket was one thing. Izuku could never afford a whole lot of stuff, but pop tarts and some other basic essentials we're never that expensive. Only the chocolate pop tarts, though. Whoever likes the strawberry ones needs to see a psychiatrist.

The pop of the toaster is what snapped him back to reality, reminding him to take his (chocolate) poptart out of the slot to actually make sure he had some breakfast. Once the poptart had been inhaled, Izuku was out the door and racing to the supermarket. He didn't change his clothes from last night, so the familiar stench of sweat was already surrounding him like a bubble. He didn't really care though, it was something he'd learned to get used to a while ago - it's just kind of the price you have to pay when your only source of a 'shower' is the bathroom sink. There's probably a green cloud constantly surrounding him if he thinks about it.

The automatic doors slided open as he stepped inside, linoleum aisles greeting him like usual. All he had to do was pick up the essentials, and he'd be free for the rest of the day. Once he'd run away and was filed as a missing person, izuku had to get rid of pretty much any legal documents regarding him. His case was eventually dropped, so after a year and a good few bottles of black hair-dye, he's been in the clear.

Izuku strolled through the store for a while, examining the different shelves for anything that was cheap or at least somewhat affordable. Now, he's not one to eavesdrop (he is), but the conversation happening just a few metres ahead of him managed to grab his very short attention span.

It wasn't an interesting conversation or anything. Just some idle chit-chat between two random guys. The first guy was a tall, slender man with his golden hair loosely tied back into a messy bun. The aura surrounding him felt comforting and soft to Izuku, as if this was someone he had met before. He wasn't, though. The second person just looked kinda homeless.

"We don't need to spend so much money on cat food. He can't tell the difference anyway. Just get the cheaper one." Muttered the homeless guy, who had his hands slid comfortably in his pockets.

"That guy definitely has back problems." Izuku muttered to himself, judging the posture of homeless guy before turning back to his grocery list. His favourite type of cheese was right infront of him, so he reached up to grab it.

What else could he do with the rest of his day? Oh yeah, his costume. As of right now, his vigilante persona was currently rocking the very cool and very professional attire of a verdant green hoodie and whatever sweatpants he could find - also a face mask to hide his identity. The only problem was finding the right materials and actually designing the costume itself.

What Izuku lacked in a quirk and physical strength, he made up for in analysis and technology. He knew the materials and processes for the costumes belong to heroes such as Endeavor and all the other pros. Would any normal shops sell them? Obviously not. The only places you could get things to make a decent quality costume would be the support item agencies, or some of the hero schools like UA. Breaking into the #1 hero school in Japan can't be that hard, right? Yeah. He'll figure something out.

His arm was starting to ache from how long he'd been stood with his arm raised towards the block of cheese infront of him. Jesus, he probably looks like a lunatic right now.
The block of cheese was dropped into his basket as he made his way to the counter. Izuku wasn't too sure why, but for some reason, he was looking forward to whatever path laid ahead of him.

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End notes:

Hii! Thank you so much for reading this chapter. I apologise for how short it is, I do intend on making these a lot longer than this one lol. The original version was around 2,000 words long, but since wattpad glitched as a was writing it it ended up deleting my progress and I just wanted to publish something. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed!