'Were it not for the development of Quirks, Humanity would be enjoying interstellar travel by now.'
There wasn't any real denying this quote's accuracy, given the world that they lived in: Filled up to the brink with Heroes, and not spacecraft and flying cars. Humanity was still firmly trapped within its own solar system, and the introduction of Quirks to their society had put enormous bumps into the species' plans to take its steps to leave its mother system, and venture out into the great unknown.
The social unrest that came with the appearance of Quirks had taken priority. Prejudice and discrimination, activism and the fight for equality, and the building of their superhero society had taken priority in the midst of all the chaos. And while the world was now more stable than it had been in the last few centuries, there wasn't all that much change since the early 2000's because of it, aside from socially.
It resulted in Earth remaining tiny on the cosmic scale. The Milky Way still remained unaware of the presence of Humanity, and their small blue dot, orbiting a main-sequence star in the Orion arm.
Of course, since society had been able to re-adjust itself thanks to the appearance of Quirks, the space race had returned to its former self. Asgardia, the world's first space nation, had been joined by three others in the last few centuries, and missions towards the red planet, and to the largest body of mass surrounding the world of Saturn, had all gone underway. Odd missions, from throwing a submarine at the Icy moon of Titan – Which hadn't worked well the first time, but the fifth time was indeed the charm – And trying to set up a colony on the red planet, which failed, because Quirks hadn't been considered when designing up the facilities. There had been a lot of attempts, but nothing had exactly gone as planned.
When one learned about these failed adventures into the cosmos, many people felt a twang of disappointment. Of sadness that the many sci-fi promises of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries hadn't come to pass, and that they still hadn't answered the biggest, most looming question of them all – If they were alone within the universe, and if they weren't, where were their brothers and sisters from beyond the stars?
Many people were just reminded of their cosmic insignificance.
But if there was one thing that could be definitively stated about Humanity's ignorance to the rest of the universe?
It meant that space and astronomy as still invigoratingly fascination to the many people of the Earth.
How's the telescope coming?" Mina poked her head over Izuku's shoulder, watching him as he fiddled with a screw twist that held two separate pieces of the observation device in place.
"I… I think I've almost got it." Izuku said uncertainly, although he couldn't be sure as to the progress that he may or may not have been making. He hadn't ever used something like this before. Nor had he ever gone stargazing before, for that matter. He was excited. Even as he fumbled with setting up the telescope, he still had a smile on his face.
If Heroism was the thing that drove him, astronomy was a casual hobby of his. Not something he devoted a huge amount of time to, but he kept tabs on new discoveries, signed up to newsletters every so often, and would read about whatever new things happened. His focus was always squarely on becoming a Hero. That was where his main interest lay, where his passion, and where everything that he wanted in life was.
Looking to the night sky though, he couldn't help but be filled with wonder. Were it not for Quirks, would that be where he was? In space, on some faraway planet? Would he be flying through the infinite vacuum with a set of jet boots, like in old superhero comics? Were it not for Quirks, maybe.
Perhaps that was where his casual interest in the wider universe had come from. The wonder of what his life would be like if the world changing mutation had never come to be. Growing up without a Quirk, it had always been a thought in his head. What would it be like if the rest of the world was as Quirkless as he was? How would his life be different? What would the wider world look like if it never lost centuries adapting to the change?
Still, this stargazing escapade wasn't his idea though.
"So… Out of curiosity…" He spoke softly and quietly, the majority of his focus on putting the device together, and not on his words, making him trip over them slightly. "What… Made you want to come… Come out here tonight?"
They were far away from Yuuei, and quite a ways out from the city too. Less light pollution to obscure the night sky, which made stargazing far easier. The pair were set up on the top of a nearby hill, with a single tree residing at the top, and bushes scattered around the hillside. There was the ever so slightest breeze hitting them, surprisingly light considering that they were actually fairly high up. It was like a romanticized spot where couples would go to admire the stars in cheesy romance movies.
"Seemed kinda romantic." Mina gave her answer quickly and honestly.
"Romantic as in the affection sense… Or as in the romanticized movie cliché sense?"
"Kinda both. Mostly B." She joked lightly, and slide over to the side of him, getting a better view of Izuku's hands whilst he worked. "Just to mess with you a bit."
She was going to have to try harder than that. He'd grown used to her antics in the time that the two of them had begun dating, and how she would use words to try to fluster him. While still prone to it on occasion, he had developed much more of an immunity to it since they had begun to date. Mina no longer could just reduce him to a blushing mess just from wordplay anymore. At least, not lightly.
Coming out here tonight had been her idea, because this was the day that she had learned about Izuku's passing interest in Astronomy. It was something that he and the pink girl shared, only Mina's interest in it was a lot more active than his. Once he had mentioned his passing interest, she had suddenly exploded with excitement, jumping up and down in her seat and insisting that the pair of them went stargazing as soon as possible.
Izuku hadn't been able to turn her down after that – Not that he had planned to anyway. But it was the single most adorable thing he'd seen out of Mina in ages that he agreed without even thinking about it.
Excited Mina was adorable.
She already possessed a telescope. She didn't have it set up in her room, or particularly use it for much, but it was more of a reminder of home. Her father and brother used to go into the country with it and stargaze, so it was more a sentimental thing than something she actively took part in since they arrived at Yuuei. Pure energy had radiated off of her when she realized that she was going to get the chance to use it again.
It was only slightly awkward and amusing when she realized she hadn't ever learned how to actually set one up, though. And since she couldn't make heads or tails of the manual, Izuku had decided to give it a go.
"Y'know, it just kinda hit me." Mina said suddenly, blinking as she did so. "What if the other planets aren't in orbit?"
"What d'you mean?"
"Like, they're on the other side of the sun or something, and we're facing away from them. We wouldn't be able to see 'em."
"I don't know, that seems… Sort of unlikely." Izuku observed. He looked up to the sky, and smiled gently. "We're pretty far out. You don't even need any equipment to see the nebulas."
"Still. I wanna see Mars."
"Can't you see the planet from here? The stuff I read said that we should be able to spot the planets without a telescope when it's this dark out."
"Have you seen my eyes? They're like black holes!" She joked as she rapidly began to flutter her eyelids in a playful manner. She let out a small exhale before looking up at the sky again. "I mean, I know I should be able to, but I've never really been able to. Hell, I can't even find the North Star. Just looks like every other star in the sky to me."
"We should be okay. If not I… Kind of brought a book that marks out the constellations for us."
Mina blinked, and then smiled. "You've been looking forward to this too, huh?"
"Um… Kinda." The green haired boy admitted sheepishly, scratching at one of his cheeks as he spoke. "I've… Never really done anything like this before. Never really had anyone to go with."
"Well, glad to be your first!"
"Please don't phrase it like that." Izuku sighed, though he couldn't help but let out a small laugh. As he chuckled, he then extended the tripod stand, and took a step back, in case it fell down. Even with the gentle wind, it didn't even wobble. He returned to the telescope, and fiddled with some of the dials and caps that the thing possessed, before he looked towards his girlfriend with a soft smile. "Okay, I… I think we're good to go."
Jumping onto her feet, Mina's hands were balled up into fists, shaking up and down rapidly as her toothy grin broadened wider and wider than ever before. Even with her black eyes, one could have sworn that they were sparkling and glowing.
Izuku opted to let her have the first look. She was the one who had gotten so excited and worked up about going on this little adventure of theirs, it only seemed right that she got the first look. He opened up his phone, looking through several of the reference pages he had pulled up in preparation for tonight, looking to see if he could find out where the red planet was going to be located. Sure, he knew he'd be able to see Mars without anything like the expensive apparatus they had brought – But that didn't mean he could identify it. He was worse at this sort of thing than Mina was.
"Okay… The moon is kind of low… So, you'll want to move your view to… About… Thirty degrees to the right."
Mina moved as instructed. "…Nope, that's just the void."
"Y-You're a bit too high up. I think you overshot it."
"…Nope, that's still more void. And a star."
"Try zooming out?"
"It's not already zoomed all the way out?" Mina adjusted the device again, realizing suddenly that it has been left zoomed in since the last time that she and her family had gone and used this thing. "Huh, guess not." She adjusted it without much difficulty, and then put her eye back over the viewing glass. A few seconds passed as the girl scanned the night skies, looking for the red planet that she had so much interest in.
And then suddenly, she jumped.
"There it is! I got it, Izu!"
Her sudden burst of charring made Izuku jump momentarily, but he quickly calmed himself down and followed the general direction that the telescope was pointed in. When he looked closely, there was at least one star that was slightly brighter than the others around it – Was that Mars? "You did?"
"Yeah!... Maaaaan, this is cool!" Her voice now was full of awe and wonder, curiosity and amazement at the sigh at the world of iron oxidised rocks. "Here Izu, have a look."
Izuku placed his eye over the lens once Mina moved away, and was greeted by the sight of the fourth planet in the solar system. Technology, though it had dramatically slowed down, still had improved since the dawn of Quirks, and this extended to viewing technology.
He found himself greeted by a full, clear view of Mars, the planet taking up the majority of what the lenses were able to see. He could see everything, almost absolutely crystal clear, even from this insane distance. The darker parts of the surface which indicated the canyons on the planet, the canals, where water was thought to once flow though, and the ice caps, both north and south, frozen solid. It was an utterly fascinating sight, and wasn't anything less than that.
This was the planet Humanity had tried to reach before, and now, was going to have to work towards reaching again someday. Technology simply had to find a way to take Quirks into consideration, which almost seemed impossible, due to the sheer number of Quirks that existed on Earth, and how carefully finite the conditions had to be on any sort of craft. As it was right now, the smallest spark on a spacecraft from anyone with a fire or electric type Quirk could instantly blow up the ship they were on and kill everyone. Agencies around the world were trying to figure it out. How long away were they?
Who knew?
To observers though, just watching the planets move around was fascinating in its entirety. Izuku couldn't fully figure out how to react. He was looking at another world, one entirely separate from the one he was on. He knew that it was Mars, but just seeing it, an entire other planet to the one that he was on…
It was weird to think about when he stopped to actually consider it. But seeing it with his own two eyes, and not from a satellite photograph, truly was a different experience altogether.
"Wow…" Was all he had to say.
The next hour or two was spent of the pair of them just looking up where some of the planets would be located, and trying to find them. Venus and Mercury had been crossed off, since as inner planets, they couldn't be seen due to being so close to the sun.
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus - He could hear Mina chuckle inside his own head once he went over that planet's name - and Neptune though, each one of them had been spotted by the two of them, each one of the gas clouds with rings spied by the two teenagers, lucky enough to be in a time in which all the outer planets were all within viewing range. Of the four of them, they had spent the most time viewing Saturn, trying to observe its many, many moons. They caught glimpses of Dione, Mimas, and Rhea, but unfortunately for them, they weren't able to get a glimpse of Titan, one of the most famous of the moons of Saturn.
After using the telescope for an extended amount of time, both of them decided that they were going to see as much of the solar system as they were going to be able to, and instead had opted to just lay on their backs, and observe the stars in the sky.
Izuku, meanwhile, was busy trying to figure out where all the constellations were. And was failing.
"Uh… If that's the… No.. No, that can't be it…" He seemed to trace the shape of what he was looking at into the sky, only realizing after he made the shape that it wasn't even close to what he was looking for. "Maybe if they were… No… No, no, that's not it either…"
"So... How's that constellation book helping?" Mina sat up to look over her boyfriend's shoulder, seeing him trying to make heads or tails of what the book was telling him. He was a smart guy, but that didn't mean he understood terminology he was unfamiliar with.
"I… I think you might've had a point earlier." He sighed, closing the book shut with both hands. "I can't figure out the difference between any of these stars."
"I told you they all looked the same." Mina smirked. As she spoke though, she rested her head on her boyfriend's shoulder, and looked up towards the night sky with him. "Screw the constellations that all those… Smart, ancient… People made up. I'm making my own up!"
A gently laugh escaped Izuku's mouth. "I – I don't know if it's just something that you can just – "
"Got one."
Izuku blinked. "Huh?"
"Look there." Mina pointed directly towards one particularly bright star. Following her finger, it didn't take Izuku long to find it. "Now, you see those two just above it?" She moved her finger, pointing to two others that looked like they were a straight line above the star of reference. "You see 'em?"
"Yeah…"
"I call it 'The pencil'." A smirk made itself home on her lips.
Somehow, Izuku wasn't too surprised. "I... I guess so." He let out a small sigh, followed by a smaller laugh of his own. "You're an astronaut in the making."
"The Alien Queen shall lead her people across the galaxy." Mina took her head from Izuku's shoulder, and suddenly let out a loud yawn, stretching her arms upward until she heard them click. "I'm'a grab the blankets from your bag, alright?"
"Sure."
The pink girl rose, while the Hero enthusiast stayed. A couple of amusing thoughts did enter his head. If Humanity took to the stars, would Heroes have to become Space faring too, like in the comics? Or would each world have to have its own Hero association? What would the rules of the usage of Quirks be on those worlds?
If they met aliens, would they also have Quirks? Or were they one of the Human races own unique evolutionary traits?
As he looked up though, he couldn't help but feel a small pang of disappointment hit him. It hadn't mattered so much to Mina, but he did feel a little upset that he hadn't been able to find any of the constellations to show her. He'd been reading the book all day, and yet, when he put it into practice he just couldn't figure it out. Maybe it was because it was based for another region of the country? Or maybe it was outdated and something had changed to the orbit, or something else along those lines? He didn't know.
Maybe he was just blind.
Mina claimed to have never been able to spot the constellations. Izuku had wanted to help her find some, and couldn't help but feel that he'd let her down, just a bit, with his inability to do so.
She wouldn't care. But it bothered him.
"I bring gifts of warmth and fluff."
He tilted his head back slightly to see his girlfriend re-approaching him with a series of blankets – His own, All Might themed, and hers, blue and purple cameo, like the pattern of her Hero costume was. Before she said anything else, she quickly wrapped up the pair of them into one big blanket ball, her vastly fluffier blanket on the inside. She snuggled herself up to Izuku, wrapping her arms around his torso, and resting one leg over his lap, while the other rested behind him.
"Aaaah… You're so warm." Mina sighed happily as she buried her head into the nape of his neck, almost purring as she allowed herself to indulge in his body heat. "You're like a warm stuffed animal…"
"Don't get too comfortable. We set up that tent, remember?"
"Sssshh… I'm getting cosy." She let out a content sigh. "Mm… You reckon everyone's wondering where we are yet?"
"I don't think so. I told Uraraka where we were headed before we left. She'd probably tell anyone if they got curious."
"Nice." A pause. "Hey, Izu?"
"Yeah?"
"How come you didn't tell me you liked star stuff sooner?"
"Uh… I just… It just never seemed to come up. I didn't really think that it was all that important."
"Boo."
"H-Huh?"
"Boo."
"Wh-What're you doing?"
"You didn't think it was important. Boo." Izuku felt his girlfriend's fingers grip onto hi, tighter, and her voice got a bit softer. "Everything about you is important. I wanna know about all your interests and that kinda stuff."
A small blush made its way onto Izuku's cheeks. He was a humble, of often times awkward sort of guy, and he was acutely aware of this fact more so than most people. He knew that Mina was genuinely interested in the sorts of things that he liked, and wanted to know whatever there was to know about him. He appreciated it a lot. It meant a lot to him to know that Mina's interest in him wasn't superficial.
But he just wasn't used to talking about himself like that. "Right… Sorry."
"S'cool." Mina hugged him tighter, and smiled against his neck. "So, anything else I oughta know?"
"Nothing that comes to mind…"
"And you'll let me know if you do remember something?"
"Yeah."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
"Pinkie promise?" Mina gently laughed and help up her little finger on one of her hands, wiggling it around in a hook shape, awaiting her boyfriend's own pinkie to 'shake' it.
Izuku rolled his eyes at her play on her Hero name and the aforementioned symbol of promise. Still, he held up his hand, and hooked his small finger around hers. "Pinkie promise."
Swinging the leg that was wrapped around his back around, Mina suddenly pushed Izuku onto the ground and hugged him as tight as she could, using him like a pillow while on top of him. "You're the best."
Normally, Izuku would have reacted with blushing, stammering, and awkwardness that Mina could have used to tease him. His girlfriend was now laying on top of him – He should be a stammering, awkward mess. But he wasn't. Instead, his eyes were hyper focused.
"Izu?"
"Mina, I… I think I just found a constellation."
"You did?" Mina's eyes suddenly lit up, and she quickly rolled onto her back – While still on top of Izuku – Scanning the skies for one. "Where? Where is it?"
"See 'The pencil'?" Izuku pointed out the three stars that Mina had joked about earlier, with a smile on his face. Frankly, he couldn't believe what he'd found.
"Uh huh."
"Follow my finger." From the top star, Izuku pointed to a star to his right. Then above, and then to his left, only it went down about forty-five degrees, ending just a bit to the left of the starting star.
It took Mina a second to realize.
"Now look – The exact same pattern is in reverse!" Izuku pointed again, this time showing Mina the same sequence, nearly symmetrical in every single way.
The constellations that he had found were in the shape of Mina's horns.
Lilac seemed to hit Mina's cheeks, though she wasn't rendered as awkward by it as Izuku was. She smiled at the sequence for a short while, before she rolled back onto her stomach, and looked at Izuku. To him, her horns covered up the sequence perfectly. "You seriously saw my horns in the stars?"
"I mean…" Izuku's hand gently stroked Mina's cheek as he smiled at her. "You are the Alien Queen, aren't you?"
"Dork." Mina teased, before she planted a kiss on his lips.
They ended up spending the night underneath the stars, their tent remaining untouched the entire time.
This was a really fun oneshot.
The discord learned that I have a vested interest in Astronomy, and 12AngryMen suggested that I make something about these two dorks stargazing – and I jumped right on it. Writing has been really tricky lately, but this helped me get a bit of a groove back – This was fun!
A lot of the reference I threw into missions, like throwing a submarine at Titan – those are actually true missions NASA plans on trying, and Asgardia is a planned space Nation – which has its own flag at the moment and is trying to be recognized as a state, which I think is really freaking cool. Since MHA is in the future, I decided to play around with these ideas.
Quirks in space is also an idea – I once remembered having an idea for a future AU in which Humanity has space colonies, and was one of the few space faring races that had Quirks. Kind of like future First Generation. Which I may do someday? I dunno. Could be fun. A lot of it was inspired by the Guardians of the Galaxy, to the surprise of no one, like this fic. (Dear fucking God I hope space travel becomes a thing before I die)
Either way – I loved making this one. This was a lot of fun. Glad I made this.
A special thanks to my Pat Reon supporters, who make me being able to take the time to make this oneshot possible – If you want to donate and support my work, you can find the link in my profile page, or search up QuirkQuartz on the site, but by absolutely no means feel compelled to – Thank you, above everything else, just for reading this oneshot.
And I will see you all next time – See ya!