One thing that Izuku hadn't exactly taken into consideration when he had come up with the idea of Heroism was one that, in retrospect, he really should have. How he had missed it was honestly ridiculous, but it was going to be something that was going to mess with each and every single person that got involved with their group. Everyone would be affected, no matter who they were, and what their Quirk was, or how hard they worked.
They barely got enough sleep.
Waking up in a morning was infinitely more difficult. He was absolutely exhausted beyond all measure. Why exactly he hadn't expected this was actually beyond him, now that he thought about it. His eyelids felt like weights, and light stung his actual eyes. He'd barely gotten about what amounted to four hours of rest after running like hell from the scene of Todoroki's one man display of pure power. Even though no one else had really had the opportunity to do much, the outing itself served as a good way to cut their teeth on the idea of going out at night, to patrol, and to figure out what sorts of things were ahead of them. It was a gentle way to indoctrinate themselves into acting like Heroes from the comic books. Or as gentle an induction as it could possibly be.
Still, he had to let out a groan as he forced himself to sit up in his bed. He might not have had much to do last night, but that still didn't stop him from being exhausted. Totally against any real choice of his own, he now woke up at eight in the morning no matter how little sleep he'd had the previous night. Having to wake up for classes around this time had conditioned him into this schedule with his body, even when he knew he had more time to sleep, to relax and to recover.
He just found himself unable to do so. He was used to being active, to doing things, to being in places and doing various tasks. Having lived to help improve the state of the world for those who were born with Quirks, he was used to waking up early, but he was always on a decent sleeping pattern. Heroism had torn that particular pattern to pieces. That was something he knew that he was going to have to get used to. Being tired all the time. Getting naps in during the afternoon, or wherever he could.
Of all the things that he had expected to come into contact with as a Hero, a messed up sleeping schedule certainly hadn't been one of them.
Still, it was part of what he had to do... And besides, he wasn't going to hide it. He was a little bit excited to hear what the news had to say about The First Generation.
Quickly, he dressed himself in his uniform, in accordance with the rules that stated students needed to be in uniform, no matter what day it was. He went over to the mini-fridge that he kept in his room, grabbed a can of soda, cracked it open, and took several long, deep gulps of the cold liquid inside. The sudden intake of caffeine helped him feel a bit more alert and awake, even if it was unhealthy a thing to do first thing in the morning. He made a mental note to stock up on those sorts of drinks – He had a feeling that he was going to be needing to rely on them in the foreseeable future.
Feeling slightly more alert than he was about a minute ago, Izuku made his way out of his room and towards the main kitchen. He thought about knocking on Mina's door, since, knowing her, she was probably still fast asleep, but he decided against it. Mina wasn't a morning person at the very best of times, and he remembered that she was one of the more anxious people about starting up the Hero idea. Combine that with the nerves of what had actually gone down yesterday, and yeah, she'd be out like a light. Letting her sleep seemed like the kinder thing to do.
Besides. She might be one of his best friends these days... But he still held some awkwardness about her.
Especially due to that near kiss not long after meeting her. He hadn't forgotten about that in any real way, but he'd pushed it aside. They both seemed to have put it aside, in favour of dealing with what had been far more important at the time. Settling into Yuuei, training, and sorting out becoming Heroes. Those things had taken precedent over any awkward feelings or misconceptions that they felt towards one another. Eventually, both seemed to have, at least on the surface, forgotten about the incident.
Izuku certainly hadn't though. The fact did remain that he barely even knew Mina when compared to everyone else, yet she was one of the people that he felt the absolute closest to in the recent couple of months. While he knew Katsuki for years, and he was undoubtedly the best friend that he had ever had, he was abrasive at times, which did make him difficult to talk to sometimes. He was used to it, of course, and he understood why his friend was this way, but he still found it hard sometimes. What with Katsuki's overall general self-loathing and his distaste towards the general Quirkless population, which did bring him into conflict with Izuku's own ideals a bit. Again, he understood. But that didn't make it necessarily easier.
When it came to him and Mina though, the pair had spent a lot of time together, and she had quickly shown her support and willingness to adapt and change her ideals when presented with something better, a rarity in this confused and violent society. Even when faced with the brutality of the world, she was able to be the better person, and change her ways. It was one of the reasons Izuku respected her as much as he did. It made her easy to talk to. And now he knew about her past, the scars she held, and that her brother was literally patrolling the place they lived every day... Her commitment to continuing to stand with the idea of Heroism made him appreciate and respect her even more.
And it was developing into something else.
He knew that it was. He hadn't ever been in a position like this, when he just knew that he was starting to not just hold someone close as a dear friend, but actually start to like them. That could mostly be attributed to the fact he barely had any female friends, outside of Uraraka, and a couple of Quirked individuals that he had managed to help, but who left to make their own way later down the line. While he was on good terms with Uraraka, she always had a closer connection to Katsuki, thanks to how all three of them met one another. So it was that Izuku had barely had a single friend, who happened to be a girl, who he had gotten close to. But he just knew that these feelings were turning into romantic ones. Like a switch, they were just there now.
Uraraka mentioned a couple of times to him that that way that it was for her. With very few people to talk to outside of Todoroki, who wasn't exactly the easiest person in the world to talk to unless you were already friends with the guy, she had spoken to the black haired boy about her affection for his best friend. She had spent a lot of time with Katsuki whenever they saw one another, and had been quite honest about the fact that, even though she knew it wasn't good for comfort reasons or psychological ones, particularly not in Katsuki's case, she was sort of looking forward to the day that he and Izuku came to live at Yuuei. When talking about it, she described it just as a snap of the fingers, and then realizing that you actually liked this person. That you had come to care about them to a degree that you just were never sure you honestly could. That the idea of them going away hurt. That you wanted to help protect them, even if they were the most capable person on the planet. Even if they got angry at you for doing so. This sorts of feelings just happened, according to her. Or they developed over a long period of time, so slowly that no one noticed until they compared themselves to the day they first met this person, and themselves right now.
That was basically what had happened to Izuku, only in a much shorter space of time. Just a few months, and he was already feeling this way. About Mina.
Memories of that near kiss that had been interrupted by Katsuki ran through his head nearly every night. They hadn't the previous night, since he was practically knocked out the second that he hit his mattress, so his brain made up for it this morning. The butterfly effect idea had entered his mind, making him wonder, how would the world be different if Mina had actually managed to kiss him that day? What would have happened between the two of them? How would things be different? Would he still have conceptualized the idea of Heroism? Would he know about the marks on Mina's horns, about her past, and the terrible things her family had done to her since her birth? What would have changed? What differences would there be between this world and this different world that he had made up in his head.