Stars (Dead Deku AU)

Chapter Six - Questions

"Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers." -Voltaire

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Izuku stared at the pencil on the floor with such intensity that anyone watching would have thought he was trying to make it explode.

Currently, he was lying flat on his stomach on the cold, wooden panels of his old apartment. There was a pencil that he had asked Shota to place in front of him before he left for work staring back at him.

Slowly, very slowly, Izuku moved his hand towards the pencil. His hand hovered just above the pencil before Izuku narrowed his eyes even further and gingerly reached forward.

His hand went right through. Again. After 8 hours of trying.

''What are you doing, Problem Child?'' Shota's voice came from above causing Izuku to shriek and jump up.

''W-Well usually in films, ghosts can interact with something, you know, moving paintings, the chairs on the table thing-''

''Don't try that''

''-and I was just seeing if I could do it.'' Izuku explained as if Shota hadn't interrupted at all, sticking his hands in his pockets, ''turns out, I can't.''

''So you can't feel anything?''

''Nada.''

There was silence for a moment as Shota moved to the cupboards and began to take out the ingredients for coffee.

''Do you think that there could be other ghosts? People that have died just blending in with society? Getting swept up in big crowds so you couldn't see them?'' Shota asked, his own question surprising him.

Things were quiet for a few minutes as Shota watched the back of Izuku's green hair float in the soft breeze that came in from the open windows. Shota may be a teacher, but he wasn't trained in the art of teaching children how to navigate the afterlife. Or... wherever Izuku was.

''Perhaps...'' Izuku finally spoke softly, returning his attention to the pencil. ''Or perhaps they just don't realise that they're dead yet.''

Things were silent before Shota asked one of the questions that had been nagging at him. ''Were you... scared of death?''

Izuku paused, contemplating it. ''I think... I think I was. But not anymore.''

''No?''

''No. Now... now it's dying that truly scares me.''

Shota mulled it over, even though Izuku gave no reason as to why he thought that and was pulled out of his thoughts by the greenette speaking, ''What about you? Are you scared of death?''

''Well... I brush with it every time I go out as a hero, comes with the job description. But... how I'll die, that unknown factor always scared me.''

They both thought over the answer the other had given before Izuku stood up and made his way to the door. ''I'll be away for a bit. Don't wait up for me.''

And with that he was gone. Not even giving Shota enough time to say goodbye.

''Goodbye... problem child.''

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To be honest, Izuku had no idea where he was going.

The questions Shota had asked him had scared him. So he left. Like he always does. He left his mum. Twice. He left Kacchan. And now here he was, leaving Shota.

Why did he always leave?

The answer, even if Izuku didn't want to admit it, was simple. He didn't want to get hurt again.