As the World Caves In

by FourLeaf (GumWrapper)

Summary:

What do you do when you've got two feet into the zombie apocalypse and your Mom has moved to America of all places?

Make new friends apparently.

 

aka. Midoriya Izuku is Quirkless, living alone, his own legal guardian, and a proud owner of two fuzzy idiots. And while that's not great, he can make a cup of tea and look out the window at the end of the world and know that he's honestly, not doing too bad. Most importantly, Izuku is content.

And then, like in any good teenage romance, there's a girl.
Except she's convinced he's suicidal and going to jump of a roof at the drop of a hat.

So now, Midoriya Izuku is Quirkless, halfway to living with a class of hero students he doesn't belong to or in, has a weird, tired pro-hero trying to become his legal guardian, and is a confused owner of two fuzzy idiots and twenty new not-fuzzy friends?

Chapter 1

The unfamiliar girl wriggles through the hole in the chain link next to him.  "Looks like the world really is ending."  She laughs awkwardly and the noise is muffled through her respirator as she sits down next to him.  Pressing her back to the fence and curling her fingers around it; she's almost a perfect foil to how Izuku sits now.  With legs dangling in open air over the two story drop onto the concrete courtyard and his arms folded in his lap.

He nods slightly, ducking his head to avoid her heavy stare.

"You aren't--  You aren't gonna-- jump, right?"  She clears her throat nervously.

"No.  I'm fine," he mutters, hoping that will be enough to get her to leave.  He isn't lying.  He doesn't really know why he came up here, but it wasn't to kill himself.  Admittedly, the roof of the place that he went through hell on earth for three years probably isn't most peoples hangout spot of choice.

"No offense, but, that does kinda sound like what a person that was gonna jump would say."  The girl giggles nervously and kicks her feet once or twice before going still again.  She has yet to stop staring at him.

Izuku swallows an uncomfortable groan and turns his face farther away from her.  "I swear.  I'm really not gonna jump.  I just wanted to watch the sunset."  He jerks the top of his head towards the skyline he had been looking at before the door behind him opened and footsteps hurried across the roof.

"Oh."  Finally, the stare goes away.  "Well, it is pretty!"

 

He dares to look at the mystery girl through his bangs.

She looks his age.  With short brown hair and big brown eyes, and under her respirator he recognizes the same undying baby fat that is on his face as on hers.

She whips her head over to look back at him and he snaps his eyes to look back at his shoes.

"What's your name?"

He winces.  "Midoriya."

"I'm Uraraka Ochako, I was in my first year of UA when this all started happening.  I guess I would be finishing it up soon if the schools hadn't closed."  She's surprisingly chipper about the topic and releases the fence to stick out a hand to him.

"Oh, that's cool--?"  He shakes her hand awkwardly and notes she keeps her pinky up and it has a little pink pad on the fingertip like a cat or dog.

"Thanks!" she says, admittedly not the answer he was expecting.  The second she lets go of his hand she smacks it back to the chain link, making it rattle and clatter.

He jumps at the noise and peeks at her again, she's staring at where her knees hang over the edge and tries to scoot impossibly farther back against the fence.  "It's, uhm--  You--" 'won't die from the fall, probably.'  Wow, great conversation skills, Izuku.  "You don't have to sit out here with me.  I'm really not gonna jump," he settles on saying, and he scoots back from the edge a bit to prove his point.

Again, not a lie.  He stopped listening to those thoughts a while ago.  When a friend he made online stopped responding one day.  And then a week went by with unanswered messages before a member of her family responded, saying she had committed suicide and they were sorry Izuku had to had to hear it like this.

It had been a long time coming, thinking back on it.  They had both spoken about the thoughts that sometimes popped up or crept in, about jumping off roofs and taking kitchen knives to throats or razors to wrists.  But, when she and Izuku had talked until late at night, giving eachother reasons to keep living, making up futures to survive for, when they would run away to somewhere with a low crime rate and a big quirkless population, get their dream jobs and share an apartment.  When they decided on a maximum of three cats and that they would have to live within walking distance of a park, she had always sounded wistful; always ended with if, not when.

Izuku cried so hard that day--- when he finally got a reply but not from her--- that he woke up sick the next day and got to stay home from school.

He didn't text her again, not wanting to trouble her family.  But, sometimes he opened their old messages and talked to his empty room.  He told her he was sorry that dreams weren't enough, that he missed her, that he would see her again one day but he couldn't do that to his Mom.  He promised her he would keep living for both of them.

The thoughts still came, when he snuck up to his apartment buildings roof late at night.  When he cooked alone in the dark kitchen during Mom's longer shifts.  But he would set down the knife and turn his eyes up from the concrete to the sky and talk to her again.  About the new dreams he had accrued, about the ones he was working towards fulfilling.

 

He rubs at the dead skin near his thumbnail and looks up to the blazing sun, sinking below the skyline.

"I have lots of reasons not to jump.  And even if I didn't I wouldn't do it."  He waves his hand and drags his eyes across the streaky clouds in the multicolored sky.  "You can go."

"Well-- I mean--   Actually, I was thinking maybe I could walk you home?  Since I'm a hero student and its pretty dangerous out here."

Izuku digs his fingers into each other until he can press them bone to bone.  A hero student; right, she mentioned that.  The jealousy comes like a wave at the shore, and then it recedes, taken away by a dull familiar grim sort of resignation.

"If it'll make you feel better.  I've lived here since I was born; it'd take a pretty smart zombie to catch me in my own neighborhood."  He gets to his feet and jerks one hand towards the hole in the chain link fence, motioning for her to go first.  When she's got her shoulders through he tosses himself up and swings over the top.  Dropping on the other side of the fence to offer a hand to the girl on her hands and knees.

"That was cool!  Do you do sports or something?" She takes his hand, again pinky up.

Izuku thinks about running for what had felt like his life through filthy alleys.  When faced with jumping fences or being beaten to a pulp he had picked jumping fences.  When faced with getting his wrist broken again or learning how to turn on a dime and duck any punch anyone's ever thrown at him he had leaned towards learning.

"Yeah, I guess."

 

"You guess?" she asks and he knows she doesn’t have any reason not to mean well but he can't remember the last time anyone asked him so many questions and meant well.  So naturally, it puts him on edge.

Izuku shrugs and pulls her up.  She's heavier than she looks and he can see the muscles on her bare arms.

"You don't talk much, huh?"  She laughs awkwardly again, fiddling with the respirator on her face.

Izuku shrugs again before realizing and clearing his throat to speak again, "Yeah, I-- don't."  Smooth.

"Uhm-- Midoriya, was it?"

He nods.

"Right, Midoriya-kun, did you go to this school?"

"Yeah.  I graduated-- two years ago?"  He tries to do the math in his head.  "No, one.  One year."  He shakes his head, God one year of highschool felt way longer than it was.

"Oh!  Are you-- are you a graduated first-year too??"

Again Izuku nods.

"Huh, I actually thought you still went here.  Sorry!"  She giggles and Izuku ignores that she really didn't have to say that part.

"It's okay."  They go down the cracked stairwell and he leads her to the faculty-only door that someone had forgotten to lock.  She seems surprised when it opens without issue.

"Oh...  I guess I didn't have to break in after all."

"Wait.  You--?"  He points in the vague direction of the front entrance and hears her giggle again.

 

They walk off campus slipping through a gap in the gate and starting down the street.

"So...  What school do-- did you go to for highschool?"

"Musutafu High.  The one down near the mall."  The one with the highest dropout rate in the whole prefecture.

"Oh-- That one has a lot of rumours right?  Are they true?"  She leans closer and he steps away, keeping as much of the sidewalk as he can between them.

"Yeah."

She pauses before falling into step with him again  "Y--yeah?  Are there-- bullies?"

Again, Izuku nods.

"Oh--  Do they--  I mean-- are you..?"

He scratches the back of his head where his hair grows out long and tangled.  "Mhmm."

"Are you sure?  That you weren't gonna jump?"

He can't help but snort and he has to turn away when she flinches in his peripheral.  Staring at the fences they walk by he considers his answer carefully before responding.  "I have reasons not to.  I told you already."

"Like what?"

Izuku tries not to frown.  She's just trying to be friendly he reminds himself.  She doesn't have any reason to suspect him of anything except maybe being suicidal.  "My Mom.  Graduating.  And, I made a promise to someone."

"Oh.  That's good..."

"Seriously."  He sighs and runs his fingers through his bangs, pulling more curls infront of his eyes.  "I'm not trying to kill myself."

She winces at his blunt words and he tries to get a step ahead of her so at least she'll stop trying to meet his eyes.  But she keeps up easily.

He there's the noise of garbage cans rattling ahead and he pauses.  They wait in tense silence.

He hears the tip tap of paws and starts moving again.

"W--wait!  Do you know what that was?"

"Cat.  The homeless people feed them sometimes."

"Oh!  Oh..."

Izuku swallows what has to be the tenth sigh of the day and steps around a pile of broken glass.

"So.  You grew up here?" 

Izuku winces at yet another question as they pass a pair of dumpsters.

"Yeah.  My Mom grew up downtown and when she realized she was gonna have me she moved back."  He points in the vague direction of his grandmothers house.  He hasn't visited her in years.

"Oh!  That's nice.  Did you-- or, do you like it?  Here, I mean?"

"Sure."

They walk in silence for a while.

 

"So...  Zombies?"

"Uh... yeah?"  Izuku wonders if this girl has any friends.  Not that he's one to talk.

"Do you-- I mean like, feelings on them?  On the pandemic?"

"Long time coming.  I mean the worlds been ending for a while now.  It was only a matter of time before an actual zombie apocalypse came next."

"You think?" She wonders and Izuku shrugs. That doesn’t seem good enough and she presses on, "How so?"

"I mean- it was the 2020 plague, all the fires and then the earthquakes and tsunami's in the forties, add that to the hurricanes the whole time.  Rising sea levels, extreme temperatures, the worst air quality in history minus like, nuclear warfare.  After this I hope the sun just burns out suddenly or a black hole opens next to us, something to really put an end to it."

"You sure you're--"

"Not suicidal?  Yeah, I'm sure."  Izuku cuts her off with a short sigh.

"Well, you're not wrong per say.  I'm just glad our government is giving out rations and such instead of leaving us to fend for ourselves."  Not pointed stare at the United States of America.

Izuku nods and the alley they went down spits them out in the parking lot for his apartment complex.  "This is it.  Do you need directions back, or--?"

"Hey, why don't we swap phone numbers??"  She sounds awfully excited by the idea and again Izuku questions her social circle.

 

The thought of just straight up lying and saying he doesn’t have a phone does cross his mind, but he doubts that would put a stop to Uraraka or her wishes to keep talking to him.

"Phone numbers?" he stalls, glancing longingly towards his apartment building.  If only something nearby could blow up and give him a socially appropriate reason to run away and hide from the disproportionately friendly high-schooler talking to him.

"Yeah!  Sorry, I don’t have LINEx or anything."  She pulls out the oldest looking flip phone he has ever seen.

He wracks his brain for excuses and comes up empty handed, it doesn’t help that he can feel her staring holes into the side of his head from here.  "Yeah, okay."

"Awesome!" He can practically hear her smiling at him as he hands her his phone and gingerly takes her ancient device, pressing in the buttons as slowly as he can, considering just getting it wrong on purpose.

"Okay, there.  You can talk to me if you ever need someone to just- y'know, talk to."  He nods pliantly as they trade back phones before freezing.

"Wait."  She put 'Uraraka Ochako-chan!!' as her contact name.  He whips his head up and meets her eyes for what's probably the first time this whole interaction. "Is this abou--  I'm not suicidal!!"

 

---

 

"I'm home," he grumbles and a pair of bright orange eyes peer back at him from atop his shoe rack.

"Hi, Kitsune."

The cat blinks at him and waves her fluffy tail around.

"Hungry?"

She leaps to the floor and trots away into the dark apartment.

"Cool."  He sighs and toes off his shoes, nudging them aside and trudging through the dark until he can turn on the kitchen lights.  The air con hums in the background but the apartment still feels stuffy.  He tugs open the window curtains near the TV in the living room.  Walking over Kitsune where she's standing expectantly infront of her empty food bowl.  He finds Peanut laying on the cool tile of the kitchen floor under the table, the orange tomcat opens one yellow-green eye before meowing and waking all the way up, getting to his feet.

"Are you hungry too?  What time is it?"  The green lights on the oven say '4:23' he adds the two hours it's behind in his head and winces alone in his dim kitchen.  "Sorry, guys.  I didn’t realize it was past dinnertime."

He starts pulling the bag of cat food off the counter and Peanut meows again.  "Yes, yes, I told you: I'm sorry."  He manages to get the bag open and the cup halfway in before Peanut is stepping all over his feet.

"Hey!  Get your face out of there!"  He gently pushes the ginger cat's wet, little nose aside and scoops out a cup full of food.  With the full cup on the counter he closes the bag again even as Peanut whines at him.  "Fuzzy fiend," he grumbles to himself as he hauls the bag back onto the countertop and takes the cup back to where Kitsune is still staring at him expectantly. 

Sat nicely infront of her bowl, he looks from one cat down to where his other cat is crying like a starved man and running near laps around his ankles.  "Why can't you be like Kitsune?" 

Peanut skitters across his feet and nearly ends up with both of his front paws in his food bowl.  Kitsune waves her tail.

"Yes, I know, he's a moron.  At least someone in this house has some manners."  He scratches the top of her head and she tolerates him for it, staring at the cup in his hand.  With a snort, he portions it out into their bowls and leaves them be.

 

After warming up some leftover soup on the stove he sits down next to them on the floor.  It makes his backside hurt, but, he feels less crazy talking to his cats than to the empty living room, believe it or not.

"So you know how I said I was going for a walk?  Well I was."  He chews on a mouthful of soup and tofu.  "I ended up at Aldera for some ungodly reason, and the faculty entrance was unlocked."  Peanut meows into his bowl and Izuku barely stops himself from spewing soup everywhere.  "Right?"  He chuckles and sucks up the broth that starts dribbling down his chin and Kitsune gives him an unimpressed look out of the corner of her eye.

"Anyways.  I was sitting on the roof watching the sunset, you can just barely see a bit of Dagobah from there, but anyways.  This girl shows up.  She's super chatty and keeps asking me if I'm gonna jump.  Which I wasn't."  Kitsune licks her lips.  "She was a hero student, too, because of course, since when would God pass up an opportunity to piss in my still empty grave?  But she-- Oh, hi---"  Kitsune crawls into the space between his legs and stomach and starts trying to look into his bowl.  Izuku raises it above her head and snorts--- "No, you can't have my soup.  But anyways-- she walked me all the way to the parking lot for no reason; there wasn't anybody else out,  literally empty streets.  And, she wanted to swap numbers."  Again Peanut meows into his bowl around a mouthful of kibble.  Kitsune paws gently at the bottom of his bowl as he eats over her head.

"You would think, right?  But, no.  My dumb ass had to absolutely blank, and now she has my number.  Because she still thinks I'm suicidal!"  He drinks the last of his soup so he can put the bowl down without Kitsune sticking a foot in it and pulls his phone out of his shorts pocket.  Newest contact, 'Uraraka Ochako-chan!!', he grimaces and deletes the name; 'DO NOT CONTACT' he types in before closing out the contacts page and setting his phone down on the floor.  Petting Kitsune's head as he stops her from licking the inside of his bowl.

"Don't, it's too salty."  As if summoned by the word 'don't' Peanut trots over and also tries to stick his face in the empty bowl.

"Alright, you're done."  He snatches the bowl and spoon away making Peanut meow at him.  Izuku meows back and gets to his feet, holding Kitsune to his chest as he goes and puts his dishes in the sink and his cat on the counter.  Turning to get his phone off the floor as she follows after him.

They end up on the couch as he scrolls through the latest news stories before shutting off his phone and setting it on his stomach.  Closing his eyes and letting Peanut knead his shoulder.

 

He wakes up at nine.

The kitchen lights are still on and he swears softly.  He hadn't meant to fall all the way asleep and he shuffles his legs out from Kitsune making her glare at him.  He yawns and climbs over the back of the couch to do the dishes and turn off the lights.

He's setting the bowl on the drying rack when there's a knock on the door.  Izuku pauses and dries his hands on the kitchen towel before inching towards the door.  He meets Kitsune's eyes as she looks at him over the arm of the couch.

"Point taken." He mutters and shuffles down the entrance way and up to the peephole.  He's met by the side of his neighbor Takeyashi-san's head.  The man chews the inside of his cheek and surveys the empty street nervously.

He opens the door slowly and does his best to smile at the old man who wipes the worry of his face in a hurry and scowls down at Izuku.  "You shouldn't have your lights on this late.  It's bad for them."

Izuku doesn't point out it the factual inaccuracies in his neighbors statement just nodding obediently, "Yes, sir.  I feel asleep earlier and I just woke up, I was going to turn them off now.  Sorry, Takeyashi-san."

The man hums and grumbles and holds out a large flask wrapped in a tea cloth.  "Some warm food for you.  Kids these days don't even know how to feed themselves much less cook their own meals."

Izuku has been doing just fine on food actually,  but he smiles gratefully and takes the flask with a bow.  "Thank you so much, Takeyashi-san.  I'll make sure to eat all of it."  He smiles and starts planning how to return the flask.

"Yes, yes.  Forget it, just clean the dish and give it back soon."

"Of course, Takeyashi-san, I'll make sure to do so."

The man nods and his pale green eyes flick back out into the dark where the dim streetlights glare down at the empty street.

"Then, goodnight, Izuku-kun."

"Goodnight, Takeyashi-san." He bows one last time as he closes the door and the old man waves him in with a huff.

The door closes with a click and Izuku opens the flask as Peanut comes trotting down the hall and meows at the sight of him on his feet.  The flowery smells of tea rice and the sharp, sweet, burn of curry finds his nose.  He grins and puts it in the fridge.

"Alright, let's go to bed."  He smiles down at Peanut who wraps himself around Izuku's ankle like a furry orange sweatband.  "Kitsune, bed time!"  He calls towards the couch, the cat hops off the couch and heads towards his bedroom as he goes to the bathroom, Peanut at his heels.

After brushing his teeth and washing his hair, he sits on the floor with the blow dryer.  Shaking out his curls he occasionally hitting Peanut with the warm air making the cat lean into the breeze and almost wobble over.  Once it's dry enough he wraps up his hair and heads to bed with Peanut in his arms.

The three of them curl up in bed as he puts a movie on his computer and leans back into his pillows.  Outside police sirens go off.  Izuku sighs and pulls his pillow over his head.

Notes:

No prize to anyone who guesses the cats' real names
maybe ill write something for u tho

Chapter 2

Summary:

"Peanut." He places a hand on his cat's narrow shoulders as he continues, "A girl just asked me out.  My first ever, possible date; and I don't want to go."

His cat meows cheerily.

Izuku sits straight up and sends the cat on his face rolling into the blankets.  Kitsune glares at him and jumps onto the floor. 

Snorting fur out of his nose and rubbing at his eyes he looks over at his desk, his All Might alarm clock says its four in the morning.  With a sigh he kicks away the blankets. 

Izuku stands up slowly and turns to pull the covers back into place, he laughs at the feeling of Peanut grabbing around his ankle.  He spins around, swinging the cat across the floor before the cat lets go and goes sliding over the hardwood.  Izuku sold his All Might carpet just to play this game every morning.  From there, Izuku rushes down the hall into the kitchen with Peanut on his heels, Kitsune glowers at them as they run down the hall past her.

 

The cats chew on their kibble quietly while Izuku reheats the food Takeyashi-san delivered last night.  The air is cool and the kitchen is dark and Izuku considers turning off the air con before deciding against it.  It's been a few days though, he should check the filters.  He takes the pot off the stove and puts it on a towel on the counter dropping a spoon in it and going to search for his phone as it cools down.

He finds it buried between the couch cushions and goes back into the kitchen.  Leaning next to his early breakfast he squints when the glow of his phone screen illuminates the whole kitchen.

His Mom texted him what would have been ten in the morning for her but was two in the morning for him.

'Hi baby. Love and miss you lots, how are you lately?  The news says there are riots in Tokyo and Kanagawa now and the police forces are getting thin.  Stay safe ❤️'

Izuku stands alone in his cold kitchen, re-reading his Mother's text.  He wonders if she knew he was sleeping when she sent it or if it slipped her mind.  His thumb hovers over his keyboard for a long time.  Moving to tap and flick only to hesitate. 

Eventually, Izuku just sets it down on the counter without touching the keyboard.  He says a quiet thank you to Takeyashi-san before he starts eating.

Peanut does another one of his goofy meows into his food and Izuku laughs around a spoonful of curry and rice.

 

The dishes are done and Izuku is starting his morning routine in earnest.  A hot flask of tea nearby as he stretches and pulls himself limber and loose after being still for so long.  The music soundtrack of one of his favorite games plays as he stretches, taking breaks and stopping to play with the cats.

Slowly, he moves from stretching to strength building.  He's in the middle of trying to beat his record for a plank when Peanut crawls up his leg and tickles the back of his knee making him jolt and collapse.  He lays there laughing for a while while both of his cats stare at him like he has officially lost his mind.

When he feels energized and ready to fight God, yet again, every step of the way, he gets to his feet and finishes the last of his tea that'd long gone cold.  Now pale blue light is streaming through the one pair of open curtains.  He looks out the window in time to see a pair of stray dogs run down the street after a pigeon with what had to be at least half a sandwich weighing it down in it's beak.  He stands there and smiles at the empty road for a while.  The apocalypse isn't so bad.

 

A notification interrupts the fun mysterious music playing---its from one of the puzzle levels--- and Peanut decides that's a signal to loose his mind.  Laughing at his cat as he goes zooming under the kitchen table and through the kitchen and down the hall he moves to pick up his phone from the floor.  Pausing the music he pulls open the notification and is hit with multiple questions at once.

Questions like, who is 'DO NOT CONTACT'?  Why on a Friday at- what time even is it?  Is this supposed to be threatening or not?  Or even, what on Earth did Izuku ever do to deserve this?

He recalls, with a sigh loud enough to make one of his cats look over their shoulder at him, that 'DO NOT CONTACT' is exactly what he typed into his phone last night as the contact info for Uraraka Ochako.  He also recalls it to be seven in the morning and now knowing the sender, he realizes that this message is not a threat.  Which is, arguably, worse.  Izuku cannot, however, for the life of him, recall what he ever did to deserve this.

'Goodmorning! :)' it reads, in what he now knows to be cheery and innocent and-- probably to check on him and make sure he hasn't jumped of any roofs while she was asleep.  How sweet.

Izuku lays back down on the hardwood floor and screams into his hands.

 

He's already ignored one text from one well-meaning person today.  If he did it twice he'd just feel like the douche that never answers anybody's nice, innocent, heartfelt texts.

But(!), his Mom will understand if he doesn't respond right away and this girl...  Well for one, she practically harassed him into giving her his number.  For two, she thinks he's going to try to kill himself.  For three, she talks too much.  And finally, for four, she's a hero student!

Izuku stops, his thumb hovered over the 'notifications off' button.  Peanut comes back from his zoomies now and trots over to stare at Izuku, who has finally sat up off the floor.

"Hey.  If you wanted to be a criminal forensics analyst--- I know you don't but pretend--- and you specifically wanted to work along side pro-heros in the future..."  He meets Peanut's innocent green eyes.  "Hypothetically speaking, if a hero student, were to suddenly reach out, wanting to be friendly with you.  Would that be considered a job opportunity?  Or a way to make connections in the field??"

Peanut blinks at him once, twice, and then a third time.

"Is your head empty?  You got all the runs out and it's empty now?  You shook all your thoughts loose and now they're all over the floor?  Dummy."  He pets Peanuts head, smiling when the cat tucks himself against Izuku's chest so he can rub Peanut's little furry, orange head.  The cat purrs happily and Izuku decides he'll think about career plans and morals later.

 

Not even two seconds later he gets another text.  And then a third one.

Izuku considers crying but decides to pick up his phone and open the messages.

'Oh!youre already awake!!'

'How are u?'

Izuku groans into his open living room making Peanut give him a curious look and paw at him for more cuddles.  Should he reply?  Should he tell her to delete his number?  Should he delete her number?

Izuku lays back on the floor again, hoping it will help him think.  Peanut steps onto his stomach to stare at him.

"Its not fair, y'know?"  He says to his cat.  "I was born with this stupid handicap, where I have to work twice as hard just to get people to believe I'm worth being called human.  I'll always get passed up by the people with quirks; for jobs, for grades, for equity."  Izuku sighs and puts a hand over his eyes, grinning when Peanut walks up his chest to press his little face into Izuku's knuckles.

"And now what am I supposed to do?  If I want to get the job I need to outweigh my own quirklessness.  Which means I need to take everything I can get.  Beggars can't be choosers and all that."  He moves his hand away from his eyes to scratch Peanut's jaw. 

"I hate not having any choice.  I hate being forced to be an opportunist."  

Peanut closes his eyes and leans into Izuku's hand, mewling.

"But I don't.  I don't have another choice."  Izuku sighs.  "Whatever.  I'll do what I have to."

He pets Peanut with his other hand and picks his phone up off the floor.  Typing out an answer and hesitating before finally sending it.

'I'm good Hru?'

 

"She's taking a long time to respond.  Do you think she's dead?  Zombies got her, maybe?"

Peanut blinks at him.

"You're right, that's not funny.  Sorry."  He sighs and Peanut lays down on his chest and places a fuzzy paw on his chin.

"What?  Do I need to shave?"

His phone finally dings.  Izuku groans in weird cocktail of relief and anxiety.  Grabbing his phone, he tries to look at his messages over Peanut's head.

'I'm great!! hare u free today?'

Izuku stares at his phone screen for a while.

 

"Peanut."  He places a hand on his cat's narrow shoulders as he continues, "A girl just asked me out.  My first ever, possible date; and I don't want to go."

Peanut meows cheerily.

"Yeah, that's why I said it with sarcasm.  'Cause it's funny."  He grumbles at his cat as he stares at his screen and tries to figure out what he even wants to say in response to Uraraka. 

'Hi.  No, I do not'?  Or 'I'd love to, but I can't'?  Which is more polite by a large margin.  He could also just not respond at all which would be rude, but, he can make up an excuse later, like, 'Sorry, my battery died!' or 'My bad, I went out on a run' or something along those lines.

'There's a little rstrnt near me that does takeout.  its super yummy!! p:'

Izuku frowns and glances to Peanut who is now staring at the ceiling fan like he's never seen it before--- he definitely has, considering he almost broke his skull open on it once--- and offers exactly no useful counsel. 

As if she could sense his apprehension she sends a second message, 'Their katsudon and gyoza are amazing!!'

Izuku feels his mouth start watering and he checks the wall clock.  It's about half past seven and he last ate at four.  Three hours since breakfast then. 

'When would we go?'  He types in quickly.  He pauses before hitting send, considering for a moment that his food driven nature could eventually get him in trouble.  Izuku hits send and waits for a response.

Peanut chirps at the ceiling fan.

 

---

 

Izuku checks himself over one last time.  The sun is fully up now and the skies are a clear blue.  He jams his feet in his shoes and pats over his pockets.  He has his phone in his shorts pockets and his wallet in his hoodie's pocket.  He picked the bright yellow one with an All Might silhouette on the back in hopes it could convince his not-date that he's not gonna kill himself.

He tightens his respirator around the back of his head and reaches down to pet Kitsunes head, "Wish me luck, princess?"

She turns around and walks into the kitchen.

"Thanks," he laughs to himself before leaving out the door.

 

The sun is bright and warm and a cool breeze whispers at his bare calves.  He bikes past the train station; they've been closed since the outbreak started.  The wheels whizz as he goes past Aldera and turns deeper downtown.  He passes abandoned cars on the side of the road with tickets on tickets stacked on the windshields.  Someone hoisted their motorcycle up and hung it above their front door and a stray dog barks at him as he rides by and Izuku wishes he had brought some snacks or treats with him to hand over.

He slows down as he gets to the street she sent him.  The alley with the graffiti of birds, she had said.  Izuku pedals slowly and slows to a stop when he sees an arrangement of crows swarming down the wall towards the street.  Hopping off the seat he starts walking into the alley, over head someone's sheets hang out to dry and a potted plant teeters dangerously on a windowsill.

"Hey!  You came!"  He looks over and sees Uraraka getting up from leaning on the wall.  She trots over and smiles at him like he'll break if she speaks too loud.  Izuku tries not to scowl at her as he avoids her eyes.

"Yeah.  So, where's the place?"  He looks around the narrow shady alley and shifts from one foot to another.

Uraraka smiles a little giddily at him from behind her respirator and motions to the door she had been leaning next to.  It just looks like a normal back door like any building has.  Izuku tilts his head and winces when she giggles at him.

"Go ahead and knock."  She urges him forward.

Izuku makes a face at her and shuffles towards the door, knocking gently.  Nothing happens.

"Harder." She urges and comes up to his side he shuffles back and avoids her eyes when she gives him an odd look before knocking firmly on the door.

There is a rattle from inside and the door cracks open. "You have an order?"  The voice of an old woman with a thick Sendai accent asks hurriedly.

"No, not yet, Auntie.  Can we get a menu?"

There's a soft grumble and the door closes again.  He can feel Uraraka smiling at him.

 

"So..."

Izuku regrets so much.

"How are you?"

"Fine.  Good."  He bites out the words and quickly turns to stare upwards at the dangerous potted plant.  Uraraka huffs and he wants so badly for the ground to swallow him up, he'd even take a zombie right now.

"Who do you live with?  Siblings?  Pets?"  She stares harder at him.

"Two cats."

"Aww!  What are their names?"

"Peanut and Kitsune.  Peanut's an orange tabby, Kitsune is a blue siberian."

"Oh!" Izuku should not have opened his big mouth he realizes swiftly.  Uraraka just keeps going, "What are they like?  When'd you get them?"  

"Uh.  Kitsune came from a cat cafe that had to close down because of the virus.  Peanut just kinda showed up."

"Showed up?" 

Izuku jumps back.  She snuck up on him, why wouldn't she, she's a hero student of course she's stealthy.  Oh, this was all a really bad idea...

"Oh, sorry!  I didn't mean to scare you!"  She lifts her fingers to her mouth, or would if not for her respirator and he turns away before she can catch his eye.  Izuku shrugs.

The door opens again and the old woman's hand pushes out a printed piece of paper.  Uraraka grabs it from her with a 'thank you' and offers it to him.  Izuku takes it hesitantly.

 

The menu was clearly typed up with minimal effort, just the dishes and their prices all in the same default font.  He had ordered pork katsudon and soy sauce pickles but Uraraka insisted they got a plate of gyoza to share and ordered it herself before he could say anything.

"I promise, the gyoza is really good!" She had said.  She had also paid for the entirety of the gyoza, ignoring his protests.

Now, they sit on the curb of the street next to his bike and eat their food.

"I'm just saying if we're sharing it it's only right to split the bill for it too," he mumbles into his pork cutlet and chews grumpily, his face feels weirdly naked with his respirator hanging around his neck.

"It's okay!  You can just pay me back later.  Today it can be my treat!"  She looks proud of herself and the gyoza is very good, so Izuku gives up arguing.

 

Izuku grinds the heel of his shoe into the dirt and grit gathered beside the curb and munches on his pickles.  Uraraka stares into the side of his head and he hears her take a breath and winces.

"So, how did you get your other cat?"

"Like I said, he just showed up."  Izuku casts Uraraka a glance out of the corner of his eye.  She's still staring, waiting for more.  Seriously, where are this girl's friends?

Izuku relents, "He was a stray that lived in my neighborhood and I fed him sometimes.  He liked me.  One day he got into the apartment and just--  I never kicked him out."  He shrugs again and shoves more pork and rice into his mouth, praying Uraraka will take the hint.

"Aww!  And your parents were okay with that?  Mine would never let me keep a stray cat."

Izuku doesn't respond.  Pushing more food into his mouth the second he swallows.  She waits in building suspense.

"They don't live with me; it couldn't bother them anyways," he whispers and licks a grain of rice off his top lip.

Uraraka stares harder.

"Oh- Oh my God, I'm so sorry-!"

 

"What?!  Oh-!!!  N-no, no, no!  They're fine!  They're fine!  They just live in America!  It's fine, relax!"  Uraraka looks ready to cry and Izuku is not emotionally prepared or equipped to console a weeping teenage girl.

Uraraka looks up at him relieved, though it quickly morphs into confusion as she rubs her eyes and her brows furrow.  Izuku ducks his head to avoid eye-contact and mumbles a couple more assurances.

"They left you here?"  Shes definitely frowning at him right now.

"It's not like that."  He pulls at his bangs and sees Uraraka lean closer out of the corner of his eye.  "Mom wanted me to go with her-- them, to go to America.  I decided to stay and since the government is funding anyone unemployed or handicapped by the outbreak I wouldn't have to worry too much about money.  It worked out in the end."  Izuku nibbles on a piece of pork and prays she stops asking.  He only just got over it anyway.

"Man, my parents say I can't move out until I've bought my own house."  She laughs softly and Izuku is relieved to feel her gaze shift away.

"I'm sure they mean well," he mumbles into his rice.

"Oh, of course they do!  They're just worried, and they have every right to be.  But, I wish they'd trust me a little more."

Izuku glances at Uraraka out of the corner of his eye, a throbbing ache he had tried to ice over years ago comes back.  "Yeah."  He gets it.

"Can I have one of your pickles?"

Izuku blinks.

 

---

 

Their sneakers slap on the sidewalk under the sound of Uraraka's voice.  She's telling him stories about going to UA and despite himself Izuku finds himself listening intently.

She tells him about the crazy entrance exam and her clinical-paranoia inducing first day.  Izuku snorts and then coughs to cover it up when she mentions her crazy, explosive, constantly angry classmate named Bakugo.  He ignores it when she stares curiously at him.

She tells him about the disaster at USJ; he had heard the reports on the news of course but hearing it from a student's perspective it's like a whole new horror story.  Izuku frowns as she tries to describe the "nomu" that had attacked her homeroom teacher to him.  Immediately his head starts working, that had to be the work of a quirk, right?  Was it one of those rare ones that allowed the user to create or puppet semi-sentient beings?  One of that size wouldn't--

"Whoa."

Izuku shuts his mouth fast and hard, his teeth clashing together painfully as he ducks his head.  "Sorry...  Happens, sometimes.  I try not to."  He hates it, the helpless feeling that burns up under his skin as she stares at the top of his head, silent, creeped out.

 

"Is that your quirk?"

Izuku hits his foot on his bike pedal and nearly eats concrete.  Rather he opens his eyes to blue sky as Uraraka apologizes suddenly.  He hears his bike hit the sidewalk with a crash and she yelps again and he looks down(?) at her through his weirdly floaty hair to see a very upside down sight.

"You have an anti-gravity quirk."  Izuku says.  Finally, he is just now remembering her fight at the sports festival, she had nearly outmaneuvered Kacchan of all people. 

Of course, he runs into not only a hero student, but a hero student that knows Kacchan, and it doesn't stop there, no, of course not!  She has one of the strongest, most flexible quirks in all of UA right now.  Izuku hates God so much.  At least it's mutual.

 

"Uh... yeah?"  She's got a hold on him by the hood of his pullover and he's floating upside down above her head like some sort of deformed balloon.  Izuku blinks again.

"Five-point contact, right?  So that's what those are for."  He's thinking of her finger-pads and she blinks back at him, open mouthed.

"Sorry."  He grimaces and tries futiley to flip around in the air and get closer to solid ground.  "I know it's weird, it's a really bad habit.  Not a quirk."  He mumbles the last part to himself, still a little shocked by that conclusion of hers. 

He flinches as she gently tugs him down, her hands on his shoulders as she pulls him back towards Earth.  He has to wriggle a bit to get his feet back under him and she has to move fast to cancel her quirk back out before he bounces off the pavement again.  He sees her fix all her fingers together and wonders how it works.  If it's possibly actually magnetic in some way or if she manipulates gravitational pulls themselves instead of actually canceling them.  He keeps his tongue firmly pressed to the backs of his teeth as he thinks to 'keep all the thoughts in' as his mother often put it.

"I mean--  it's kinda cool!  It makes you sound smart!"  She taps her thumbs together where her hands are still steepled infront of her.

Izuku ignores the fact that that sounds a little like an insult so he can pick his bike back off the ground.  He shrugs.  "Maybe.  It gets creepy though, especially if I do it too much.  It gets faster and quieter and people can't understand what I'm saying anymore.  Kinda sounds like ghosts."  He quotes one of his unkinder junior high classmates and tries to brush off the shame crawling around the backs of his ears.

"Well-- creepy, smart, same thing kinda."  She shrugs too and Izuku could not disagree more.  His face must have shown it cause she starts elaborating.  "Like--  I told you about my friend Iida, right?  He's super smart--- like, the smartest, besides Momo--- and he scares me all the time!  He'll jump out from nowhere--- seriously thin air--- just to tell me my shoe is untied or my tie is sideways or something silly like that!  'Scares the bejeesus out of me almost everytime."  She puffs out one cheek under her respirator and rolls her eyes but Izuku doesn't think she's really very annoyed.

Izuku makes a noncommittal noise and starts rolling his bike again, she bounces into step with him and he feels her do her expectant "keep talking" stare into the side of his head.

 

"So what was that about the Nomu?  Do you really think they were made by a quirk?"

Izuku flinches and tries to get a good look at her through his peripheral without strictly making eye contact, ---considering she literally couldn't stare harder if she was one of those goldfish with eyes bigger than all of their other internal organs combined--- it's not easy.  "You--  are you joking, or..?"

"No!  I'm not, it sounds interesting!  And I'm running out of stuff to tell you anyways."  She scratches at the bridge of her nose over the lip of her respirator and then turns back to stare at him some more.  It's actually a kind of funny mental image and he is considering renaming her contact from an all-caps warning to simply "Goldfish".

"I was just wondering what it was-- like, technically speaking.  The way you describe it it didn't sound like a person with an extreme mutation quirk, right?  Or maybe some kind of transformation quirk?  There have been dangerous ones so it's plausible--"  He clenches his jaw shut again.  'Ask for a question, wait for an answer, Izuku.  Come on, we know this.'

"No way!  I don't think so anyways.  It-  if I couldn't literally see it's brain and meat and grossness I would have thought it was a robot."

"Why?  Did it move like one?"  Robot, that brings an entirely separate factor into this.  Manmade.  Not quirkmade.  Engineering like that could sell for tens of millions of yen; honestly, supervillains were so stupid sometimes.

"No.  It definitely moved like an animal."  She grimaces.  "But--  Oh!  You know those experiments where they ran electricity through peoples face muscles so they make silly faces?"

"No.  I didn't, but I can see how it would work.  Why?"

"It moved like that.  Like every single part of it was hooked up to a car battery."  She shakes her head and what might have been a dry laugh comes out as a weak wheeze, "There was something so wrong with that thing."

"Hooked up to--"  Izuku gives that some pause.  The picture his mind creates reminds him of one thing in specific.  "Like a marionette?"

Uraraka pauses too.  "Yeah kinda.  If marionette were the size of All Might and--- again--- operated by a race car engine."

"Exposed brain...  Which would be a fatal flaw normally, if I was a bioengineer that had ever looked at anything's anatomy or physiology I would most definitely try to put the brain not in direct reach of enemies."  Izuku runs his teeth over the dry skin on his lower lip.  "So either the bioengineer was a madman with a thing for aesthetics over actualization...  Or, they left it readily available for a reason, to have direct and routine access to the brain for maybe a reason like-- testing.  My money would be on the latter, but I'm also not far enough gone to really play devils advocate for the madman."  Izuku wheels his bike over an uneven piece of concrete and takes a deep breath trying to keep from talking too fast. 

"I wonder..."  Izuku tilts his head, "If what they sent to the USJ was another type of test.  A shakedown for a new prototype.  Something good enough to be put on the field but not something that would have to come back to the lab in one piece."  He rubs his thumb at the worn, sticky rubber of his handle bar grips.  "Did they ever find the 'nomu' corpse, body, whatever?"

"Yeah.  Aizawa told us it died in a cell.  But no one could really figure out the cause."  Izuku misses the quiet tone of Uraraka's voice.  Too enamored by this new mystery to hear anything besides the facts of what she says and the possible clues they could lead to.

"Self detonation probably.  They must have had more than one, that's the only reason I can think of they would sic something so unpolished on someone like All Might.  He was their test, less of a training dummy, more of an obstacle course; a climbing wall.  A way to see where improvement was needed so the next one could do the job even better."  Izuku falls silent.  It's a solid conclusion in his book.  But, it leaves more questions.  Who made the "nomu"?  And out of what?

It only takes him a second to realize Uraraka is silent too.  In his head he kicks himself, he must have sounded insane.

 

"You are smart."  Izuku chokes on his spit.  "I forgot to even tell you about the other ones and you figured it out by yourself."

He makes one of those ugly, sputtering snort noises from when you try to hold in a cough and it works positively awfully.  Still coughing softly, he gives Uraraka and incredulous look, just grateful he didn't trip again.  "You're--  Are you making fun of me?"  He asks which--- in hindsight--- is a really dumb response to being made fun of.

"What?!  No, I'm serious!  That's super cool!  I bet you got the best grades in school!!!"

'Worst, actually.'  Izuku's horrible, little, smart-ass brain corrects her silently. 

In his defense, that was just the teachers exercising their ability to do whatever they wanted to his report card, because what was he going to do?  Stand up for himself???  Unlikely. 

In their defense, they were right.

 

They spend the next five minutes arguing back and forth, because no, his creepy ramblings do not make Izuku intelligent.  But, every time he gets close to proving his point Uraraka rebukes him with, "...well then I must be an idiot--" or "dumb", or "stupid", or something along those lines.  And then they have to argue about why she's obviously not an idiot or she wouldn't have gotten into UA.  The argument see-saws back and forth as they both refuse to agree and it eventually settles on being pointless and a waste of breath.

"You're smart!  I'm not even saying super genius--- even though I probably could--- I'm just saying above-average."  And yes, that's what his standardized tests say, but, at this point it's about stubbornness more than factual correctness.

"And I'm saying that's not what this means.  My going on a weird long-winded rant about a supervillain's pet science-project is not, and should not, be on the list of reasons why I'm 'smart'." Izuku grumbles back and she stomps her foot indignantly.  He realizes with a jolt that he hadn't even jumped at that; which is ridiculous, because out of every person he's ever met--- much less talked to--- she is probably the most dangerous, second only to Kacchan and even that is a close thing.

"I can't believe I said you don't talk much the other day!  This is the longest I've argued with someone about one thing.  My throat literally hurts."  She jabs a finger at him and pulls a bottle of water out of her backpack with great dramatic flourish.

Izuku snorts and elects not to respond to her whining.

She chugs half of it and offers it to him with a soft pant.  He eyes the peace offering and turns up his nose, "I'm fine actually.  Guess it's just you."

Uraraka gasps and crushes the water bottle in one hand so hard the bottom of the bottle ruptures and spews water everywhere.  It would have been severely threatening if she hadn't been the one that shrieked in surprise and started apologizing frantically.

Izuku can't help but laugh.

Notes:

Unimportant but originally the goodmorning message was gonna have one of these: °7°/
But then I remembered she has a flipphone kijgkoukjh

Chapter 3

Summary:

Ochako didn't know what to think of Midoriya when he was on the edge of the roof

And when Midoriya laughs into the neck of his hoodie and it bunches up his face in all the right ways Ochako does think she might be getting more than she bargained for with the boy from the roof.

Uraraka walks down the sidewalk grinning like an idiot.  She still has her flip phone in one hand when she pumps her fists lightly.  She can't help it, she feels like a hero.  Like she did something good.  Like she saved a life.

Sure, the boy had been adamant his life wasn't in any danger but the way he flinched away from her and avoided her eyes had to mean something.  And not something good.  Besides, who decides the best place to watch the sunset from is your old school roof.  It's just all too off, and Ochako thinks she's cultivated a pretty good feeling for when things are off in her first year at UA.

She takes another left and then a right as she walks across town back towards her house.  Her respirator doesn't fit quite right and she keeps having to push it back up the bridge of her nose.  Thankfully the air is cooling off so at least she isn't sweating under it anymore.

Honestly, the zombie apocalypse would be a lot better if it really only transferred through blood or saliva or whatever.  But nope, there's an airborne variant and they all have to wear gas masks all the time.

Ignoring all of that, in her excitement she decides to call up Tsuyu--- since her phone is still in her hand--- to talk to her.  It feels too quiet now that she's lost her other green haired companion.

 

"--Chako?  Kero,"  her friend hiccups on the other end of the line.

"Hey, Tsu!  How are you?"

"Good.  Satsuki and Samidare are driving me-- kero--  up a wall."

"Woof, that's too bad.  Maybe it's okay I'm an only child!"  Ochako giggles and hears her friend chuckle on the other end of the line.

"You have no idea, 'Chako-chan. Kero-- How are you?"

"I'm great!  I just met someone and I think I'm gonna be friends with him too!"

"Oh, yeah?  Kero-- kero--"

Ochako smiles sympathetically as Tsuyu grumbles about hiccups and being annoying before she continues, "Yeah, I saw him on the edge of a roof, which: yikes!  So I went to talk to him but he said he was only up there to watch the sunset.  Anyways, I walked him home and we traded numbers too!"

"How nice."  Tsuyu's deadpan voice could easily be read as sarcastic but Ochako has known her long enough now to know she is being genuine.  "Where was this?"

"Oh, downtown Musutafu, near Takoba Trash Park."

"Oh no.  They have a pretty high crime rate, right?"

"Do they?  I guess it looked a little sketchy..."  Ochako hums and thinks about Midoriya's mentioning of stray cats and homeless people even though that's pretty normal in her neighborhood too.  Plus the mismatched garbage cans everywhere, she's pretty sure at least one of them was stolen all the way from Tokyo.  "It's kinda weird though isn't it?  Since UA is in Musutafu too...  You'd think criminals would avoid the place," she continues thoughtfully and hears Tsuyu hiccup on the other end of the line.

"Yes, but I think most heros go towards the bigger cities, since--  Kero-- since there's more press and recognition there," Tsuyu croaks and Ochako thinks she hears a microwave go off.

"Guys!!  Popcorn's done!" Samidare screams in the background and Tsuyu sighs noisily.

 

Tsuyu sounds tired and annoyed as she asks, "Can I call you back later, Ochako-chan?  They want to watch a scary movie but it's only allowed if I watch it with them."

"Aww, that's cute.  Yeah it's fine!  I'm not even home yet anyways."  Ochako grins into her phone as she crosses the street quickly, it's not like there's much traffic these days but it's better safe than sorry.

"Well, stay safe th-- kero-- stay safe then.  I'll call you later."  Tsuyu must have moved the phone away from her mouth because she sounds far away when Ochako here's her grumble, "I can't believe they closed the daycares..."

Ochako just laughs good-naturedly and nods even though Tsu can't see her, "Okay, bye-bye!  Talk soon!"

"Good bye, 'Chako-chan."

The phone beeps in her ear and she folds it up and slips it into her pocket.  She's in a roaring good mood and decides to jog the rest of the way.

 

Ochako gets home a little sweaty but mostly delighted.  She can smell Dad's cooking from outside.

"Daddy, I'm home!!" 

"There's my girl!  How was your walk?"

"Good!  I met someone neat, I think we could be friends!"  She shimmies out of her sneakers and slides over the floorboards into her kitchen, careful to avoid the one that sticks up on the right side of the genkan--- she's tripped on it more times than she would like to recall--- as she sneaks up on her dad.

He's wearing the gag apron her and Mom got him for New Year's and he's completely focused on he stove when she body checks him from behind.  Giggling when she sticks to him like glue but neither of them are jostled by the would be impact.  Her father's quirk--- Force Stop--- was always a ton of fun to play around with.  When she was little he would throw her as high as he could and catch her with ease because the second she touched him all the speed and weight from her fall would disappear.

"What're you making?" She asks, hanging off of him and still weightless as he pushes browned rice and peppers around a pan.

"Pork-belly wraps!  I saw the recipe on Mixi!"  He grins and Ochako sniffs the air.

"Yum!" She sets her feet back on the ground and finally lets go of him, "Is Mom still working?"

Her father sighs and nods yes, "This whole epidemic is such a disaster.  We can't get anything done, if it weren't for government rations we'd be in a real rut."  He clicks his tongue and Ochako tries not to show how anxious that makes her.

"Well, if Mom can't figure it out no one can; we'll be fine!"  She gives him one more weightless hug for good measure and wanders off towards her parents bedroom.

 

"Mom?" Ochako whispers as she pokes her head in, sometimes her Mom is on the phone or on meetings this time of day, but today she's at her desk, still in her work clothes, tapping away in silence.  She looks up at Ochako's entry and grins.

"Hey!"  She smiles that warm smile and gets up to give Ochako a hug.  She hugs her Mom back, pinkies up while her Mom presses all five fingertips into her back, assisted by the bandaids wrapped around the tops of her middle fingers.  "Sorry I missed you.  It's been hectic at work."  She murmurs and kisses the top of Ochako's head.

"I know, Dad told me.  Don't hurt yourself okay?"  She smiles even though she's frightened by how much older her parents look now than just earlier this year.

"Oh, honey.  Thank you, but don't worry about me.  What's your father making by the way?  It smells amazing."  She lifts her nose into her air and sniffs like Ochako had just a minute ago.

"Pork-belly wraps, he said!" Ochako grins up at her mother.  She has a pen sticking out of her bun and what looks like dirt smudged near the base of her neck where she has unbuttoned her work shirt.  If Ochako looks past her she can see her high-vis vest tossed into the king-sized bed.

"Ooh, never had those before.  Is he wearing the apron?"

"Yep."  They share a giggle and then Mom's laptop dings and she groans and starts shuffling back towards her desk to look at the email.

"D'you think you can eat with us tonight?"  Ochako taps her fingertips together and immediately feels bad for asking when her Mom casts her a sad, guilty look.

"I hope so, sweet tea."

Ochako smiles a little at the nickname and nods softly, "Okay, I'll leave you to it."

 

She's lying it bed in the dark staring at the dim glow of her phone screen.  On it, she views her contact list. 

She has a handful of her classmates and all her friends from UA.  A few conversations with kids from junior high that she only sees occasionally now.  And at the top of the list, under "New", is Midoriya.  He hadn't typed in anything but his number, leaving it to Ochako to name his contact, unfortunately she's not as creative with naming as Bakugo is, so it's still just "Midoriya".

Selecting his number she opens up texts.  Nothing yet.  And she lays there, staring at her blank white screen and her worn gray keypad.

'Would it be weird to next him goodnight?  Or would it be weirder to say something else?  What else could she say; 'hey you're still alive, right?' or something about getting him home safe?  Was that too presumptuous though?

In the midst of her turmoil her door opens a bit, letting a stripe of yellow light falls over her floor and wall.

"Ochako, honey?  Are you asleep?"

"No, Mom." She snaps her phone closed and rolls over to turn on her bedside lamp.

 

"I'm sorry, baby."  Her mother opens the door some more, leaning against the side of it as she apologizes softly.

"What for?"  Ochako sits up, frowning already.

Her mother smiles sadly and steps into the room, pushing the door closed behind her as she comes to sit next to Ochako on her bed.

"For not having dinner with you, like a family should.  I'm sorry I can't be there for you, Ochako."  Her mother's tucks her bangs behind her ear and Ochako wants to argue, to scold her mother for apologizing when all she's doing is keeping their family afloat.  But the words get stuck in her throat and her Mom's eyes glitter in the lamplight and Ochako slumps into her side where it's warm and smells a little like dirt and sweat and mostly like home.

"I don't care about that."  She grits out, and it's barely even a lie.  "You said you wanted me to grow up happy, to live carefree."  She wraps her arms around her mother's middle and swallows down tears.  "What makes you think I don't want the same for you?"

Ochako tried not to cry.  She really did.

 

---

 

When her alarm wakes her up she immediately feels like punching something upon opening her eyes.

It's going to be one of those days then.

 

She's chewing on toaster waffles and going through her backpack in the early morning twilight to make sure she hasn't forgotten anything.  She has to make it back to UA before curfew today since yesterday was her visitation leave.

Her flip phone beeps from the table and after she's sure she has everything she brought with her she goes to check what it was.  The notification screen says "1 message from Tsu-youuuuu".  Smiling at the contact name she flips her phone open and pulls up the new text message.

'Sorry I forgot to call you back las night.  Hru?'

Ochako blinks, she had forgotten about that second call too, what with her Mom and things.

'Im okay! hru? wasthe movie good?'

'No.  Not scary at all.  Satsuki cried tho'

Ochako laughs at her friends unapologetic bluntness and types out a reply, 'Oh no well i guess we can watch a better movie some other ttme!'

'Tonight @ the dorms??'

'Sure!  I can bring chips!'

'Ill bring chocolate.  Can we watch Scream?'

'Which one?'

'Not 3'

Ochako snorts loudly and replies with an affirmative.  She's ready to put her phone back down when Tsuyu sends her another message.

'Have you heard anything from the roof boy?'

Ochako laughs so loud she nearly scares herself and she scrambles to rename Midoriya's contact.

'Goodmorning :)' she sends him before replying to Tsuyu,

'Not yet.'

 

She has her bag ready to go and is counting out some spare change to spend on a party size bag of chips when her impatience gets the best of her.  Picking up phone again she opens the boys contact.  Surprised but delighted to see a 'Read' note next to the message she sent Ochako can't help but start typing again,

'Oh!youre already awake!!'  She hits send and hesitates for a moment before putting her finger back to the key pad.

'How are u?'

Ochako waits in broiling impatience as her texts are read but no response is sent back.

"Is this thing finally broken?  Is he a slow typer?  Come on, give me something!!" She shakes her phone violently before holding it above her head like she's going to pray to it.  It doesn't work.

"Damn," Ochako mutters, setting her phone back on the table and going back to counting her spare change.

It beeps.

"Yes!!!"

 

"Tsuyu!  Tsuyu!!!"

"Yes, Chako--?"

"He replied!  He texted me!  He texted me back!!"  Ochako squeals and dances in a little circle.

"Kero-- who?"

"Roof boy!"  She laughs.

"Oh-- kero.  I assumed it was your crush or someth-- kero-- something.  I was a bit offended I didn't know who."  Tsuyu hums and Ochako feels her face redden,

"Is that how I sounded??"

Telling silence comes over the line.

"A little."

 

Ochako had pouted and argued her defense until Tsuyu asked what she sent him in response and she flipped her lid.  Hurriedly wishing her friend a goodbye and hanging up all while Tsuyu chuckled at her wasn't ideal.  But, neither is getting so excited about a simple text that you forget to answer it.

'I'm great!! hare u free today?' she types frantically and hits send before her typo even registers, so she ignores it and waits with bated breath for a response.

'Keep me updated.' A text from Tsuyu comes in and Uraraka hurries to reply that yes, she will do just that.

Ochako waits in great suspense for a response before realizing she should probably propose something for them to even do.  To be honest she wasn't thinking much when she sent him that, but, socializing can be really good for a persons mental health so she pats herself on the back for what she hopes was a good choice.

'There's a little rstrnt near me that does takeout.  its super yummy!! p:'  She sends the message and taps her fingernails against the back of the phone nervously.  Okay, so maybe it wasn't super near her.  But, it was in between her house and her old elementary and she used to get lunch there all the time.  Plus, it's one of the few small restaurants still open around here.

He still hasn't replied and her nerves make her start typing for the third time, 'Their katsudon and gyoza are amazing!!'

Finally, a message from the other number pops up on screen, 'When would we go?'

Ochako nearly shrieks with joy as she frantically texts Tsuyu that she convinced him to get lunch with her.  Her friend responds in her usual patient way but Tsuyu seems happy about the news, that or she thinks Ochako is funny.  Either way, a success on multiple levels!

'We can go whenever you want, I just ate so maybe around noon?'

No response.

'Or anything else!  I'm free today!'  

"Is noon a bad time?  Tell me what you want, mysterious roof boy!"  Ochako shouts at her phone and is very grateful both her parents went into work today so they don't have to see her like this.

'Is nine or ten, okay?'

Ochako grins at her phone, 'For sure,  I'll see you at nine!'  Now all that's left to do is work up a hunger.

Trading her three-year old fluffy house slippers for running sneaker and grabbing her earbuds out of her already packed bag she sets out for a morning run.

And then she doubles back into the house to grab her respirator.

 

---

 

To be entirely honest, Ochako didn't even know what to think of the boy on the roof when she first saw him.  At first, all she saw was bright red shoes, and a dark pullover jacket, a hunched over form on the edge of a roof, past the safety fence.  Call it heroic instinct or just being a good person, all Ochako knew was that the person up there was in danger and she wanted to help.

She and shimmied through the rolling gate that blocked over the school grounds from the street and made a beeline for the entrance.  It was locked, unsurprising in hindsight but at the time, a major problem.  So she kicked it as hard as she could just beside the door handles and huffed in satisfaction when they slammed open.

She had to run around a bit to find the stairwell but once she did it was all cardio all day.  She blew past the second story and right up to the door presumably leading out onto the roof, this one wasn't locked thankfully and she could make tracks for the person at the edge of the roof.  From closer up she could see the Musutafu Hospital logo on the back of the navy hoodie, and see the color of their hair, and just how long it actually was.  It curled around the back of their neck and puddled in the hood of their sweater a dark green color where the fading light hit it.

She had practically scrambled through the hole in the chain-link fence that the person had presumably crawled through to get onto the other side and tried to situate herself as far from the edge as possible.  Yes, she has an anti-gravity quirk, that doesn't mean Ochako has grown to lack a healthy fear of falling from a two story buildings roof.  

She had run her mouth, trying to get rid of some of the awkward tension, the person never looked at her, she could see freckles on his face behind the curly hair that fell over it.  And he answered her in short sentences with a quiet, raspy, voice.

 

Ochako didn't know what to think of Midoriya when he was on the edge of the roof.  Or what to ask when he walked them through dirty back alleys to get to his apartment.  Or what to say when he mentioned he lived alone at fifteen.

And Ochako still doesn't know what to think, now that Midoriya is staring at her through dark curls with wide emerald eyes.  Now that he's looking at her like that.

And it feels like her heart wrapped in cellophane that squeaks but never stretches, as her heart tries to beat but can't.  Aching periodically in it's tight confines.  And she stares, she stares as Midoriya reads her quirk back to her, his eyes shining with something she can't put words to.  And he lets her take him by the shoulders and pull him back to Earth.

Ochako doesn't know what to think when he speaks to her, and he talks soft and quiet, with his raspy voice full of thought.  Or what to do when they get into an argument complimenting each other and she can tell he means every word.  She doesn't know what to say when he pokes fun at her like they're close, like he trusts her to laugh with him, she doesn't know what to say so she acts. 

And when Midoriya laughs into the neck of his hoodie and it bunches up his face in all the right ways Ochako thinks she might be getting more than she bargained for with the boy from the roof.

 

"Where are we going anyways?"  Midoriya asks and looks around them and Ochako has to violently shake herself out of her own head to give her new friend a good answer.

"Well, I was going to UA.  My visitation ended this morning and I have to be back on campus before curfew."  She scratches at her collarbone before taking the risk, "Do you want to come with?"

Midoriya looks so downright horrified at the thought for a second she thought the campus of UA had done something to him personally.

"Only if you want!"  She clips on hurriedly as his wide eyes flick around them likes looking either for an excuse or an escape.

He winces and Ochako panics internally.

"It's-- I mean..." Midoriya seems once again determined to look anywhere but at her and Ochako wants to grab him by the face and make serious eye contact for the next half hour to tide her over.  "Thank you, for inviting me.  But, uh, Peanut gets separation anxiety and uhh--  And I have to call my Mom."

Ochako genuinely can't tell if he's lying or not.

"Oh.  That's okay!  We can hangout more some other time!"  She smiles awkwardly and Midoriya mumbles the quietest apology she may have ever heard.

"This was nice, so...  Thank you."  He murmurs and ducks his head and Ochako hates how cute she thinks it is.  Not cute!  Traumatized!  Harassed and bullied!  Not cute!!!

"If you want to, uhm, you can come meet them some time.  Peanut and Kitsune, I mean."  And when she catches his eye through his bangs she can see something adjacent to a smile and her heart implodes in her chest.  She stands there, on the sidewalk, staring after him as he hops into his bike and rides off.  This is not good.

 

---

 

"Guyyyyys?!?!"  She slams into the dorm's commons nearly frantic and several students already back from their visitations look up at her.

Iida and Kirishima are standing in the kitchen talking and Tsuyu was in her favorite armchair when Ochako came in but now she's on her feet.

Todoroki---who she was told crashed at Momo's place last night--- is here, which means Momo is probably around somewhere too.  And besides that, Satou and Koda are on the couch watching TV with Shinso lounging on the coffee table playing solitaire.

 

"Uraraka-san please do not slam the doors, as it is not only disruptive but could cause serious damage!"  Iida chops at her but she waves him off and makes a beeline for Tsu.

"Oh? Kero-- did something happen with the roof boy?"

"Hey so--  this has never happened to me before, but uhm--  what do you do when you've only known someone for like-- a day, but they're smart, and pretty, and cool and you probably have a crush on them??" Ochako word vomits all over her best friend who gently takes Ochako's shoulders and rattles her hard, forcing her to shut her mouth so she doesn't bite her tongue.

"Well spend more time with them first, you've only seen a smidge of w-- kero-- who-- kero-- oh for--!  Who they are as a person--kero!"  Tsuyu frowns at herself and taps her diaphragm with her fist a few times.

"Okay, yes, good plan.  What to do if they invite you over to their place to meet their cats?"

Shinso looks up suddenly.

 

"Depends I suppose, you don't think he'll hurt you right?"

Ochako blinks and reels back, offended.  Curling up one arm she points at her own bicep, "Hurt me?  Tsu I'm worried I'll hurt him, he's so-- so--"  Ochako lets out a frustrated scream and down the hall she thinks she hears Jiro scream back at her to shut up.

"Then yes-- kero.  That's a good opportunity to get to know him." Tsuyu nods.

"How many cats does he have?" Shinso pipes in suddenly.

"Two?"  It's not a question because Ochako is unsure of the number, it's a question because she's unsure of Shinso's question.

"Hm.  Good start."  Is all he offers in response before turning back to his solitaire.

Chapter 4

Summary:

"Yeah." Izuku's chest aches and he takes a deep breath in an attempt to remedy the meaningless pain.  "Yeah, it's fine."

Izuku is boiling pork ribs for his dinner and to give to Takeyashi-san.  While they're cooking and he is scrolling through his phone he hears a scream.  The bad kind of scream, the worst kind, the desperate kind.

Notes:

I honestly don't have enough excuses as to why this took me so long to post
Mostly I just forgot about it for a while, but it also annoyed the shit out of me(see end notes)
Sorry bout that y'all I swear I heard you in the comments 🙇🙇🙇

Izuku gets back to his apartment building quickly and sits in the parking lot for a minute.  Staring up at the same gray building he's always lived in.

For some reason, what would normally be comforting makes him melancholy.  But sometimes his mind likes to play these cruel tricks on him, turning the familiar into the unwelcome.  So, he lifts his front tire and redirects his bike before he starts pedaling again.

 

Familiar scenery flies by as he dodges potholes and broken asphalt, biking down empty roads.  Overgrown gardens and familiar doorsteps rush by his peripheral as he sits back on his seat and listens to his chain whizzing.

His preschool goes by on his left soon before his childhood playground, the graffiti has gotten bad in recent years and there's talk of remodeling.  Izuku faces forwards and starts actively pedaling again.  He speeds up when a familiar chain link fence comes into view.

 

The steel wire was peeled up and twisted out of the ground and above the grass giving a smaller person just enough room to slide under it and get into the woods without having to go all the way to the entrance park.  Izuku has been using this entrance since he was a kid, and so have most of the children in his neighborhood.

Holding the front tire in between his knees and twisting the handle bars ninety degrees he can lay the bike flat to the ground and wrestle it under the fence.  Bikes and skateboards and such things aren't technically allowed in the park, but he feels like biking through the forest today.

 

He goes slow, bouncing over roots and stones.  Twisting his front tire through the mulch of fallen leaves as autumn brings the canopy to the forest floor.  It smells like earth and dew and Izuku basks in the innocent quiet of it, somewhere deeper in the woods a blackbird trills.

 

Izuku sits in on the bank of a river they used to play around as kids and pulls his phone out of his pocket.  The dandelions are in bloom and the water weeds sway and drag in the mild current of the running water.  The fallen tree they once used as a bridge has sunk, the erosion of the riverbank leaves it half in the water, growing moss and ferns.  He takes a picture and stares for a minute.  Maybe there's some symbolism to be found here, time eroding his childhood memories or something like that.  Maybe it's natural.

Izuku reopens his mothers text message from earlier this morning and reads it again.  He sends the picture first and then takes a moment to decide what to say.

'Hi Mom, I'm doing well.  How are things with you, the news doesn't paint America in a good light lately...

I went on a bike ride today and I promise I'm staying safe, don't worry about me.  Love you too ❤️.'

 

Izuku sets his phone in the grass and lays back, pulling his hoodie out of the way so it doesn't bunch uncomfortably under his neck.  The trees rustle and more birds sing from somewhere far away.  He would close his eyes but the warm grass and cool air make him worry he may fall asleep.  So he stares up into the bright blue sky and just lets himself be for a while, his mind wandering where it pleases.

Uraraka is nice.  Nicer than he expected for some reason.

Maybe he's finally gotten into the habit of expecting the worst.  He supposes this is better than being disappointed, though he still feels a little guilty for thinking so poorly if her.  She's kind, and funny, and genuinely thoughtful--- if awkward,--- truly a good and kind person.  Meant to be a hero.

 

Izuku drags his fingers over his face and sighs, the self pity gets exhausting eventually but right now he feels pretty pathetic.  There's a notification from his phone.  He picks it up expecting it to be from his Mother, it's not.

'Btw! if you were serious abt the cats i wold love to come over!!!'

Slowly, after rereading the text a few times Izuku smiles to himself and opens Uraraka's contact.  He's in no rush, the sounds of the woods easing his nerves as he types.

'Contact name: Bubble-Eye Goldfish'

He types out a response second.

 

Izuku bikes home at a brisk pace.  A man wearing a gasmask waters his lawn and waves as he goes by.  Izuku raises a hand in return, still grinning to himself under his respirator.

He locks up his bike out front and does his best to hide it behind the other bikes on the rack before entering the building and bee lining for the elevator.  He's able to blissfully ride up the three stories alone without anyone else entering and gets out on his floor. 

The air is finally warming up now that it's midday and the wind has died down as he paces down the walkway towards his door.  He freezes infront of Takeyashi-san's door, he still hasn't returned the flask.

Izuku groans and hits the heel of his palm against his forehead a few times.  'Stupid, stupid, stupid!'

 

He tumbles into his apartment and wiggles off his shoes, sitting down on the genkan and staring into the dim apartment.  He needs to check his air filter too.  Izuku knocks his head against his knees and whines.  Peanut meows from the kitchen.

 

---

 

He swaps the stale kibble in the cats bowls for fresh stuff and shambles into his kitchen.

Standing over the sink for a moment he tries to collect himself.  He washed his hands and face and changed his clothes, so he should be virus free right now.  He invited Uraraka to come over on Sunday, so he should probably tidy up.  Before that he needs to change his air filter.  And he needs to return that flask to Takeyashi-san.  And maybe check his bike's tire pressure, or oil the chain a little.

Kitsune digs her claws into his crew sock and yanks it down to his ankle.

"Hi, princess.  What is it?  Happy to see me?"  He squats down to scratch her chin the ears while she purrs loudly at him.  He winces when she places one fluffy paw on his socked foot.

"Watch it missy, put the knives away."  He grumbles as she kneads his foot, claws and all.  She clearly can't hear him so he gently hooks a finger under her foreleg and lifts it off his foot.  She swats at his hand and puts her paw on the floor, looking up at him indignantly.

"I said knives away."

 

Kitsune turns tail and disappears around the kitchen island.

"Bye!" He calls after her and stands back up to stare into the sink again.  First he'll prep what he can to return the flask.  He's out of any sort of nice, easy to pack snacks so he'll have to make something to return.

Izuku turns to his most food driven companion for advice, "What do you think, Peanut?  What would Takeyashi-san like?  Soup?  Porridge?  He likes onion pork I think..."

Peanut meows and loops around his ankles.

Izuku laughs and opens up the fridge.  "We do have pork.  No yellow onions though, only green.  There's leftover red-bean soup, and way more garlic than I need.  Garlic pork?  With what though..."

With a groan he closes the fridge again, "I don't want to go grocery shopping yet..."

Peanut meows and runs off.  Izuku watches him go in confusion only to hear Kitsune hiss and Peanut come dashing back in the kitchen with his favorite toy in his mouth.  Clinging to Izuku's sock Peanut whacks him multiple times in the shin with the small stuffed rabbit.

"Aww, thank you.  That doesn't help me though."  He takes the bunny toy from Peanut and hold it to his chest as he goes back and checks the cabinets for the second time. "Oh, Peanut!  I figured it out!!!"

The cat meows back at him and Izuku kneels down to give the orange tabby his toy back, "Here, thanks for letting me borrow it buddy.  I know what to make for Takeyashi-san now!"

Peanut meows and goes to sit in his favorite spot under the kitchen table.  Izuku lets him go and starts wiggling his Mom's cookbook of the top shelf of the cabinet over the sink.

It takes him a few minutes to find the recipe and get all the ingredients out of the cabinets and the refrigerator.

 

The dough is sticky so Izuku continues to brush flour over his palms so too much of it doesn't cling to his hands.  When it's even and soft he rubs the remaining dough off his hands into the bowl.

Izuku moves the bowl and into the fridge to chill only after reorganizing the leftovers to make room and starts washing off his hands.  When he's done he dries them off and heads for the bathroom.

 

He's in the middle of dragging their old and janky toolbox out from under the sink when Kitsune enters and jumps onto the toilet seat and then onto the bathroom counter.

"Hi, again.  What can I do for you?"

Kitsune places her front paws in the sink bowl and rubs her head against the faucet.

"Ah.  Yeah, no, not happening.  If I turn the water on for you right now you'll make a mess, and the water bill will be a pain."  Izuku turns back to the toolbox and wrestles off the broken lid, he grabs the smaller of their two screwdrivers and the dirty toothbrush they use to clean little things.

Kitsune mewls and curls up in the sink bowl, staring at him over the rim.

"No.  Bath time can be later, tomorrow maybe."

He packs up the toolbox, excluding the things he fetched from it and tucks it back under the sink.  Standing and moving to leave the bathroom with his bounty in hand Kitsune meows indignantly from the sink.

"Answer is still no," Izuku chuckles.

 

Izuku lowers himself to the floor, criss-crossing his legs with a huff.  Beside him he has a glass of water, paper towels, a can of cleaning spray, a bottle of medical grade alcohol, an old sponge, the toothbrush, an old spong and screwdriver, a towel which he sits on top of.

He begins by fastening his respirator and pulling the cosmetic vent cover off.  The next one comes off with the help of a screwdriver and the local air filter comes with it.

He'd have to a hire a professional to clean the system filters but that's the apartment complex's job.

Still, he sits quietly and cleans the filter and the attached parts.  Washing them in alcohol to kill any bacteria and definitely any viruses.  He rubs them clean with damp paper towels and scrubs the vent covers with the toothbrush.

He cleans out the vent with the paper towels to the best of his ability; wiping out accumulated dust and dirt‐‐‐ as far as Izuku can reach his arm in anyways‐‐‐ before beginning to reassemble everything.

 

He goes through the apartment.  Cleaning the vents and AC units, running each one hard after he's done to circulate out any bad air that could have gotten in.

His room comes last and the second he opens the door--- supplies under arm--  his cats are already clawing at his ankles.

"Yes, yes, you're free now so shoo.  I want to finish this so I can get back to baking."  Peanut yowls like an opera singer and falls against Izuku's leg dramatically while Kitsune disappears behind them.

"Hi bub, missed you too."  He steps over the cat as it wails at him in betrayal.  "I know, I'm awful, now shoo."  Peanut follows him into his room and Izuku groans.

 

Peanut wails outside his door as Izuku fixes his respirator onto his face again.  His vent is one of the few in the apartment that goes directly outside, it also means he gets his own AC unit above his window.

Izuku double checks his windows latches and starts the process again.

Disassemble, clean, check for damage, reassemble.

He latches the vent cover back onto the AC unit over his head.  Stepping back he changes clothes and moves quickly through the house to turn up his vents to the maximum setting. He cleans his hands and tools fervently before finally petting Peanut to his tiny, cat heart's content.

With this chore done and out of the way and his dough definitely chilled Izuku can back to aforementioned dough.

 

Spreading butter all over the baking sheet Izuku re-flours his hands and begins rolling the dough into small balls.  Placing them down and pressing them flat against the baking sheet Izuku uses a pair of chopsticks to cross hatch the cookies.  When the baking sheet is full he takes the sheet and pops them in the oven at one hundred and eighty degrees Celsius.

Now it's a waiting game.

Or he could tidy up.  Since there's cat hair everywhere and cleaning supplies in his kitchen sink.

Peanut yowls at Izuku's feet for treats.

 

Izuku stops Kitsune from jumping into the sink multiple while he cleans baking supplies and the old toothbrush before putting everything away.  She meows angrily at him and he mumbles quiet apologies to her and gives her a little jerky treat.  

At some point his Mom texts him back.

'I'm happy to hear that, but don't go outside for no reason, okay?  It's not safe.  Dad and I miss you lots!!'

Izuku was in the middle of wiping down his countertops, cookies fresh out of the oven on the stovetop to cool off.  He stares at the message, re-reading it again and again, but it doesn't really get better.  

But his Mom is just worried about him.  This is her way of showing love, and he's lucky, really, lots of kids wish they had a Mom like her.  Izuku shouldn't be ungrateful.  He shouldn't be a brat about this.  He should be mature, for God's sake he's living on his own now.

His Mom loves him.  It's unfair of him to resent her for it.  She's doing her best, who is he to ask for anything more than that?

His Mom will never, ever trust him. And she will never put her faith in him, because he is far too fragile a vessel to hold any trust, any faith or belief.  Surely he would shatter under the weight of just a little bit of encouragement or confidence, surely, surely.

Though he never shattered under the weight of the disappointments or shame or loneliness, not the hopelessness or the betrayal and resentment.  Izuku is too fragile.  His mother's precious fine china, the only kind she can afford, sitting high on a shelf.  Just collecting dust hoping desperately a day will come when he can serve his purpose, and for it every day is a disappointment.

 

Izuku sits on his bathroom floor.  His phone playing YouTube videos he's seen before beside him, and Peanut is in his lap eating little pieces of freeze dried fish out of his fingers.  Izuku watches the washing machine spin.

"How much longer do you think things will be like this?" He asks his cat as the spinning stops and soapy water drains out.

"I'm not sure if I'm more scared of things changing or staying the same." He looks down at his happy cat and smiles a little.  "See, I'm not happy like you.  In fact I'm pretty sure I'm miserable, but it could be a lot worse.  So maybe this is fine?"

He turns Peanut over in his lap and smiles down at the tabby.  "Yeah, everything is just dandy, isn't it, huh?"

Peanut meows and bites more treat out of Izuku's fingertips.

"Yeah." Izuku's chest aches and he takes a deep breath in an attempt to remedy the meaningless pain.  "Yeah, it's fine."  He sniffles a little and looks back towards the laundry machine.

 

---

 

Izuku is boiling pork ribs for his dinner and to give to Takeyashi-san.  While they're cooking and he is scrolling through his phone he hears a scream.  The bad kind of scream, the worst kind, the desperate kind.

He shoves his phone in his jeans pocket and runs for the door.  He grab his respirator and jams it on his face, trying to pull on the straps while unlocking and opening the door to his apartment.

The first thing he hears are footsteps in the stairwell.

"This way!!!" He yells and what sounds like a woman sobs.

Sure enough a lady he's seen on the lower floors comes running his way, and there's something else in hot pursuit.

 

Izuku's mother always taught him not to curse.  She said those words only had meaning if used sparingly, and she also said they were the most dishonest.  Still, it seems like at least one of them is warranted right now.

"GET INSIDE AND LOCK THE DOOR!!!" He screams and pushes her behind him when she reaches out.  He doesn't have time to see if she does what he says, or even if he accidentally pushed her too hard.  Whatever, he'll apologize afterwards if they make it out of this situation alive.

It's obvious the only reason she was able to outrun this thing is because one of their legs is incredibly broken.  Her shin is split open just beneath the knee and white bone is peeking out.  She's slobbering, her eyes are foggy, she's rotting.  She's just a corpse now, it's not a person anymore, Izuku tries to remind himself as he lunges at it.

Though it can't really be called lucky, one of the better things about this virus, and the walking dead it created, was that this bacteria or whatever was piloting these corpses, has the reaction time of a fungi.

Izuku kicks it's good leg out from under it and catches it's full weight when it falls into of his crouched form all with his right leg. It smells like hell and feels gross but he wrap his arms around it and pushes up hard.

It flips over the railing and there's a second of searing silence before the crack and the splat.  Izuku peers over the railing, down at where the corpse squirms, trying to get it's remaining limbs some sort of traction.  It begins dragging itself towards the building, skull split wide open and spine bent at every wrong angle.  For a terrifying second Izuku feels the impact in his own spine, and there's the answer to one of the questions he ignores, that's what would happen to him if he jumped.

He turns around to realize the door to his apartment is shut and the woman, presumably his neighbor, is gone.

He walks back, wincing when he puts his weight back on his right leg, that was his bad ankle that he just curb stomped.  Fantastic.  He knocks softly on his own door.

"Are you okay?  Can you let me back in? Uh, please."  He mumbles awkwardly and after a second the lock clicks and the woman peeks out at him.

"It's gone.  I threw it over the railing." He jabs his thumb behind him and the woman stares some more.

"Are you fine?  Did it get you?"

"Huh?  No, no.  I'm all good, well.." he looks down at the shoulder he drove into the corpses abdomen, wet, a little bloody, smells awful.  "I'd like to change clothes actually."

"Thank you, thank you so much.  I'm so sorry."  She's crying as she stumbles backwards to sit on his genkan while Izuku pulls the door open and steps inside.  He's still wearing house shoes he realizes a little too late.

"It's okay, it's okay," he whispers, yanking off his hoodie and balling it up inside out to contain the biohazard.  He closes the door right before kneeling down in front of her as she cries.  "I-- I'm sorry too.  Uh-- are you okay?  You aren't hurt or anything?"

She sobs into her hands, her respirator digging into her face.  Izuku winces, he should probably be better at comforting people for all the crying he did as a child, and all the crying he saw his Mom do.

"Shit!  Pot!  Sorry, excuse me!!" He half jumps over to poor lady to scramble into his kitchen and make sure the pot of water on the stove hasn't boiled over.  It hasn't but was about to.  He takes the lid off for a second to let it settle and then turns back to his new guest.  "Uhm--  do you want a seat on the couch?"

The woman is staring at him, tears running down the tops of her cheeks and rivuleting off her mask.  She's silent as she gets up and wobbles to the couch, sitting down with a thud and a shaky breath.

"Cool, uh, let me get you a glass of water..."  Izuku washes his hands thoroughly and then gets down a glass for her.  He puts a small pile of cookies on a plate too and takes them both to her, he sets them down beside her and excuses himself for a moment to change.

 

"I literally just finished laundry..." He whines quietly to himself as he looks down at the ruined hoodie in his hand.  "Is this thing even safe to wash?  Or do I just have to toss it..." Izuku remembers his phone in his pocket and starts Googling.

 

"Okay!  Uhm, I called the emergency line, they said they would send some people over to collect and dispatch it." Izuku mutters, itching to jump in the shower and scrub a least a portion of his skin clean off.  

"Thank you.  Thank you so much."  The woman looks up at him with big teary eyes.

"Oh--  Well-- It's-- It-- It isn't really-- I mean, it's nothing, really.  It's-- uh, just the right thing, y'know?" He shrugs slightly, fiddling with dry skin on his thumb.  Izuku winces at the silence that follows.

'Great job, idiot, really confident and calm sounding there.' Izuku might be his own worst critic, but he's still a fair critic.  He'd also like to hit himself over the head with a metal chair.

"No, you-- you were incredible.  I-- if you hadn't--" she starting to cry again and Izuku panics and starts approaching carefully.

"But I did, right?  I did-- because-- because of course I did." 'That sounds stupid.' "I mean-- ugh..." Izuku stands infront of the couch, unwilling to sit down just yet. "Just hold on a little longer, okay?  The officials will be here soon.  I'm going to step into the shower for safety's sake, you can help yourself to stuff in the kitchen." He says and moves to turn off the stove before he gets in the shower.

 

Izuku follows the internets instructions and washes his clothes with bleach as a disinfectant before he turns on the shower and closes his eyes against the initial cold spray.

The shock helps him put his mind back together after all that chaos and adrenaline shock him out of his rhythm.  He needs to get his neighbor back to her apartment safe, and he needs to finish making dinner.  First though, he's going to have to disinfect everything either of them touched in his apartment.  After significant amounts of antibacterial soap and miserably cold water, Izuku stands soaking wet and shivering in his bathroom for a moment, listening to his washing machine rumble and his dryer purr.  Eventually he shakes some water out of his hair, before reaching for a towel.

When he has a clean change of clothes and a rough plan in his head he approaches the poor woman again.  She's obviously shaken but trying to keep it together.  Izuku tightens the straps on his respirator before heading for he front door, "I'm going to check if the authorities are here yet."

"I'll come with you." Her voice is shaking but she's insistent, and it isn't Izuku's place to stop her anyways.

He pushes open the door and walks to the railing he through the body over.  In the parking lot there's a big white van and a small team of people in hazmat suits working to immobilize the wriggling corpse and get it inside the van.  She takes several shaky breaths but keeps watching the scene play out, her eyes glued to the officials like her life depends on seeing this through.  Eventually one of the workers down there looks up at sees them.  Izuku raises a hand in a sort of wave and after a moment they do the same.

"Do you want me to walk you down to your apartment?" He asks her as they drag the corpse into the back of the van.

"I--"

"I don't mind." Izuku mumbles and the woman sighs and clenches her fists but nods.

"Yeah, just-- Just down the elevator." She whispers and Izuku nods and motions for her to lead the way.

 

Kitsune, who had jumped into the table when he first burst into action and stayed up there while their guest was here has finally come down to sniff at Izuku as he scrubs the floor on his hands and knees.

"Shoo, shoo, it's dirty.  Where's Peanut hiding?  Go join him." He nudges her slightly and keeps wiping down the floor with alcohol and antibacterial soap.  He'll do the countertops next, and then the couch, his tap, the cupboard and glasses, the plate too, and the pot he touched.  And then the bathroom.  Izuku grimaces and then shakes his head at himself.

"Thank God it ended so well," he mutters and keeps cleaning.

 

The skin on Izuku's hands is dry and a little raw from all the chemicals, so he rests his forehead on his wrist instead of in his palm and takes another deep breath.  He found Peanut while he was cleaning the bathroom from top to bottom, he heard scratching from his Mom's room and opened the door to find the little idiot staring up at him pitifully.

"How'd you get yourself locked in here, huh?  You can't eat properly most mornings but you can use doors?"

Now Peanut is curled up in his lap kneading his thighs and Kitsune is crunching on some kibble from her bowl now that it's been refilled.  A look at his phone tells him two things, it's already gotten late and he didn't respond to his Mom's text.

Izuku squeezes his eyes closed and groans softly.  He still has to finish making food.

 

It's almost midnight when Izuku falls into bed.  He refilled the flask with rice, and sweet and sour pork ribs but had to put it in the fridge, it's too late to go knocking on Takeyashi-san's door.  Peanut jumps up onto the bed with him to curl up by his armpit.

"Can you look out for me while I'm sleeping?" He whispers to the cat, with sleep weighing heavy on his eyelids.

Peanut purrs and Izuku rolls over and buries most of his face in his pillow.  He yawns as Peanut crawls closer to his chest, "Tired..." Izuku mumbles and then presses his eyes closed and tries to get his mind to stop working for long enough for him to fall asleep.

Notes:

This chapter is cursed.
This chapter fucked my mom and killed my dog.
This chapter and me have beef like you wouldn't believe.
Fuck this chapter.
This chapter didn't save so many times and deleted so much work.
This chapter is the plight of all evil in the world.
Fuck this chapter
This chapters mom suck me good and hard thru my jorts
Fucking fuck this chapter

Chapter 5: Chapter 5

Summary:

Peanut is playing with his favorite stuffy and Kitsune has perched herself on top of the couch near his head, they're both ignoring him.
"You guys are the worst..." He mumbles into microwaved pork and day old rice.

'Yeah. you can come over whenever is most convenient for you since I'll be home all day'
He almost sends it, but something possesses him to add something else before he hits send.

':]'

Izuku's alarm goes off at seven a.m. sharp.  It takes him a second to untangle himself from his bedding to reach out and get All Might to stop screaming at him.  He really wants to throw this stupid thing away and get a new one, but it's not broken yet.  Izuku blinks blearily at the flashing red numbers for a moment, and then he rolls back over and squeezes his eyes shut.

Kitsune, who curled up by his feet at some point gets up, stretches, yawns and walks up the bed and all over Izuku to stare at his face.  He peeks an eye open to meet her bright orange gaze and then he shuts his eyes again.

She taps his cheek with his paw for a moment before fully stepping on is face and starting to knead.

"Ow, ow, stop it," he grumbles and lifts her off his face.  In all her furry, regal glory she stares down at him expectantly from where she dangles above him in the air.  "Can't I sleep in?  It's a Saturday..."

Kitsune stares and under his bed Izuku hears Peanut crawling around.  He'll just feed them and go back to bed, Izuku decides.

 

And he does exactly that.  But that's not good enough for Trouble and Double, no, they insist he get up and pay attention to them.

"Guys, please." Izuku groans as Kitsune tries again to lay down on his face while Peanut meows longingly from the floor.  He can get up on the bed, he's just choosing not to for dramatic effect.  "Why are you both like this??  Peanut I get, but you too?" He pulls Kitsune off his face again and she shakes herself out indignantly and stares back at him.

"You would both be living in the streets if it wasn't for me, give your dad a damn break; I wanna sleep in today."

Peanut wails and Kitsune jumps onto his shoulder-- which is round (shocker)--- and almost falls off the whole bed, instead latching into his sleep shirt and skin with her claws to regain balance.

"Ow!!  Why?!" 

 

Izuku is sitting on his couch with his breakfast, which is just cold leftovers from last night, and staring at his blank eyes in the reflection of the black TV screen.  Peanut is playing with his favorite stuffy and Kitsune has perched herself on top of the couch near his head, they're both ignoring him.

"You guys are the worst..." He mumbles into cold pork and day old rice.

 

Resentfully, Izuku slides off the couch onto the floor to do his work out routine.  Kitsune has disappeared and Peanut is rolling back and forth on the couch, purring like a mad man.

"I don't know what you're so happy about," Izuku grumbles as he leans over to stretch out his hamstrings.  "You haven't even done anything..."

Peanut almost falls off the couch as Izuku sits down to work on his hip flexors.

 

Izuku combs his hair and brushes his teeth and washes his face before changing clothes and jamming his feet into his old, soft, pair of shoes.  He shuffles out of his apartment, maybe a little zombie like, to knock on Takeyashi-san's door.

"Who is it?!" The man barks from inside and Izuku smiles a little despite everything.

"It's me, Izuku!  I wanted to return the flask you lent me, Takeyashi-san!"

There's the squeak of a chair and a shuffle of feet before the door clicks and a chain lock rattles and Izuku finally gets to see the old man's face.

"Good morning, Takeyashi-san, here you go.  I made pork for dinner last night and I thought you might like them.  Oh, and some cookies as a thank you."  He holds out a little Ziploc bag and the old man grumbles a little under his breath and raises his eyebrows.

"I'm sorry I couldn't bring it to you warm last night, I ended up having dinner pretty late."

Takeyashi-san huffs and gives Izuku a stern look, "So that's why you look so tired.  Honestly, kids these days can't even take care of themselves."  Takeyashi-san turns as if to disappear again and then pauses.

"Yesterday, that screaming, was that you?"

"Yes.  Moshida-san downstairs needed some help so I stepped up, I'm sorry if we alarmed you at all, everything turned out all right."  Izuku bows a little as the man inspects the flask again.

"Right, well.  Don't do anything stupid and get yourself killed, Izuku-kun.  Thank you, I'll see you later."

"See you, Takeyashi-san, please stay safe as well!" Izuku calls as the door closes in his face.

Rubbing his eyes a little Izuku retreats to his apartment and flops onto his couch with a big thud.  Peanut meows at him from the top of Mom's old armchair and jumps over to sit on his back.

"Return dishes to Takeyashi-san complete."  Izuku mumbles into the couch, "Now I just have to make sure the apartment is ready for a guest, and...". Normally Izuku tries to use his free time productively, doing school courses online or taking freelance coding work or reading the news, stuff like that.  Today he doesn't want to do any of it.

"Y'know what?" He looks over his shoulder at his cat, "I think that's it.  Just those two things." Izuku closes his eyes, mashes his face into the couch cushions and tries to figure out the quickest and most efficient way to make his apartment presentable.

 

"Peanut, please, get out of the way!!" He tries to vacuum around his stupid cat, but whatever survival instincts that kept him alive so long when he was a stray simply do not apply to vacuums.  For whatever reason, the tomcat thinks they're simply delightful and he will not stop trying to either put himself directly infront of or on top of them.  Kitsune is laying on the kitchen counter watching the boys' back and forth.

"Stop!"

Peanut meows happily and tries to stick his paw under the vacuum as Izuku tries to avoid vacuuming his idiot cat.

"You little orange idiot, stop it!  You're gonna get yourself hurt, you dummy!" Izuku spins around to put himself in-between his cat and his vacuum, all while still trying to clean his floors of copious amounts of cat hair.

Peanut bounds around him to bat at the vacuum bag and then pounce on the foot of the vacuum, he slides off immediately, directly into Izuku's line of motion and he has to gasp and jolt backwards so he doesn't run his damn cat over.

"You're an idiot!!"

 

Izuku kneels down to vacuum under the kitchen table.  Under the noise of the machine he can just barely hear Peanut wailing morosely from Izuku's bedroom where he was locked away for his own safety.

Kitsune is standing on the edge of the kitchen table so she can peer over it at the top of his head.  "I'm so glad you haven't picked up any bad habits from that dummy," he mumbles, mostly to himself, as he tries to vacuum around one of the chair's legs.

Kitsune mewls a little and he looks up at her.  She stares at him for a second before turning tail and disappearing from Izuku's line of sight.

"Okay."

 

After he's done with all the floors he puts the vacuum away and drags out a pet hair roller to use on the furniture.  He also releases Peanut, who, in some kind of rebellion, lays half in the vacuum closet doorway so Izuku can't close the door.

"Fine, suit yourself."  Izuku rolls his eyes and leaves the door open to go pull about a kilogram of cat hair off his couch.

 

Izuku is laying on his couch with earbuds in and his eyes closed, petting one of his cats when a notification sound cuts through his music.

Izuku grimaces a little and considers not even looking but eventually he does pick his phone up and look at the notification.  It isn't from his Mom, it's from a bubble-eyed goldfish.

'hey!! r we still on for tmrw?'

Izuku is opening his messaging app when another text comes through.

'i hope you're doing well btw :D'

He smiles a bit and types out a response for her.  'Yeah. you can come over whenever is most convenient for you since I'll be home all day' he almost sends it, but something possesses him to add something else before he hits send.

':]'

 

"What do you guys think we should watch?"  Izuku yawns as he snuggles deeper into his bed, scrolling through his YouTube recommended page on his laptop.

Peanut, who's tucked under Izuku's chin on his chest, purrs like a poorly oiled engine, already half asleep.  Izuku smiles into his soft fur, his warmth surprisingly comfortable in the cool night.  Kitsune is by Izuku's feet, licking at her paws and seems not to have any strong opinions.

"Hm, video game playthrough or video essay?  Or just music?"

The apartment hums quietly beneath Peanuts loud purring, and Izuku huffs.

"Video games, then. How about a VOD?"

 

---

 

Izuku is still warming up the next morning when he gets a text from a goldfish.

'i finish my wrkout @ 8 cn I come over @ 10ish?'

Izuku blinks at the text a few times before giving the apartment a look over and yawning a little.

'Sure!'

 

Izuku has but his phone face down on the table and is busying himself playing with his cats so he doesn't keep looking at the clock.  It's ten o' clock in the morning now, he should be making food, or doing work on his computer.  Instead he tosses Peanut's stuffy across the room and watches the cat run after it like a mad man.

He has one ear bud in at a dangerous volume--- a familiar attempt to drown out his own thoughts--- and Kitsune has finally realized he vacuumed all of the carpet so she's been rolling across it for the past fifteen minutes undoing all of his work.

"You guys both better be on your best behavior!  If either of you are mean to her for no reason I'll be mad."  He grumbles and let's Peanut leap into his lap and smack him with the rabbit stuffy a couple times before running off.  "Peanut, no, don't--!"

Kitsune yowls and Izuku winces when she kicks Peanut in the face hard enough to send him somersaulting.

Peanut responds with a jump, a muffled meow and acts like he's about to pounce on her again before turning to look at Izuku, all wide eyed and pathetic.

"What do you want me to do?  That was your own fault."  Izuku sighs and gets up to go inspect his dumb cat's face to make sure he's not badly hurt.  Peanut meows around his toy again as Izuku leans over awkwardly to look up his cat's nose.  "I know, I saw.  You did something dumb again, I'm sorry it hurts, but..." Izuku sighs and rubs the top of Peanuts head once he's pretty sure the little dummy is mostly fine.  He manages to distract Peanut from Kitsune by trying to take his toy to throw, his sister on the other hand, is not looking so forgiving.

 

Izuku is holding his respirator to his face as he peeks out of the peephole before unlocking the door and pushing it open.

"Hi." He mutters as Uraraka smiles at him from behind her mask.

"Hi!!  How are you?!"

"Oh-- I'm good, uh, come in, come in..." He mumbles and pushes the door the rest of the way open, motioning her into the genkan.

"Thank you!  Don't mind if I do!!"  Uraraka sidles in and Izuku follows her after a moment.  Locking the door and setting his respirator down to go get her a glass of water.

"Do you want anything to eat?  Chips or fruit? Or-- uhm, sandwiches?"  Izuku mutters and flinches hard when she gasps suddenly.

"Oh my gosh, they're so pretty!!" Kitsune is staring Uraraka down from her favorite spot on the top of he couch and Uraraka is staring right back, smiling wide and pressing her hands-- pinkies aside--- up to her face.

"Ah, that's Kitsune Udon.  I call her Kitsune."

"Kitsune Udon?" Uraraka giggles and Izuku shrugs as the back of his neck burns.

"Peanut is probably hiding right now since he's scared of guests, I'll find him in a minute."

Uraraka 'aw's softly before perking right back up,  "I like your apartment by the way!  Can I sit down?"  She asks and points at the couch.  Izuku nods.

"Yeah go ahead."

"Will I scare her?" Uraraka is staring in awe at Kitsune who flicks her fluffy tail in an attempt to prove her regality.

"Probably not, she's pretty used to people."  Izuku slips his phone in his pocket and shuffles over to his Mom's old armchair.

Uraraka inches around the side table to sit in the middle of the couch, a safe distance away from Kitsune, who follows her with her eyes and glances momentarily to Izuku as if to make sure he's watching.  Izuku tucks his feet up with him into his chair and rests his chin on his knees, he's watching.  Kitsune stands up and turns around, strolling along the top of the couch to rest on the right side of Uraraka's head.

"Oh my gosh, hi!" Uraraka whispers excitedly and lifts a hand towards the cat.  "Can I pet her?"  She looks at Izuku who just smiles a little, hiking up his shoulders under her wide eyed gaze.

"I think she wants you to, honestly."

Uraraka gasps and runs his fingers through Kitsune's fur.  "She's so soft, oh my gosh, hi!  I would do anything for you, you're so pretty!"  Uraraka gushes as she strokes Kitsune's back.  Izuku watches, Uraraka is really a very considerate person, if a bit oblivious at times.  Kitsune likes her as well, which is a good sign in Izuku's book.  If she gets Peanut to warm up to her too Izuku will be forced to put his life in her hands.

"You said you got her from a cat cafe that closed, right?  How old is she, do you know?"

"She's probably three or four now." Izuku nods and Uraraka coos.

"Oh, a baby!  Hi, baby girl!"

Izuku laughs and tucked his face into his knees and watches the girl faun over his cat.

"Oh, uhm, do you want anything to eat?"  Izuku double checks and Uraraka perks up.

"Uh, I'm fine with a snack!  As long as you don't mind of course!"

Izuku shakes his head and slips out of his chair towards the kitchen, "No, no, I'm happy to."  He pulls a bag of chips down from the pantry and raids his fridge for something appropriate to serve to a guest.  "Do you want tea or coffee?  Or just water?"

"Water is fine!"  Uraraka chirps and he can feel her staring at him again, it's not as uncomfortable now that he knows she probably doesn't have any ill intentions.  He fills up a glass for each of them and checks the cats' bowls while he's at it.  There are leftovers and some ingredients.  Maybe he should have gone grocery shopping early since all he has to serve is some fruit.

Izuku sets down a bowl of chips and a separate bowl of oranges and a plate for the peeled slices.  Uraraka assures him he doesn't have to peel them for her, holding her glass of water in two hands with her pinkies up.  Izuku does it anyway for something to focus on other than the awkward quiet between them.

"Thanks for having me by the way," Uraraka murmurs, smiling almost hopefully at him, encouraging Izuku to scrape his brain for a satisfying response.

"Thanks for coming."  Izuku scrapes sinew off an orange slice with his fingernail, "I'd figure you're probably pretty busy at UA."  He places down a slice of fruit for her.

"Normally I would be but our classes and schedules have gotten a lot laxer lately, probably because our teachers are missing half the time."  Uraraka sighs, still smiling.  She's pretty cute, though Izuku got that feeling even before she took her respirator off.  Embarrassed by his own train of thought he nods mutely for her to continue.

"Since, you know, the HPSC has been calling in Pro Heroes to deal with infected victims as well as villains."  She reaches out to take a piece of fruit, munching on it quietly for a moment.

"I do know.  It's-- well, it's none of my business I guess.  I just can't help but think the way they're doing things is really inefficient."  He mumbles, eating a slice of fruit before placing down a few more for Uraraka.

"How would you make it more efficient?"  When Izuku glances over at her reluctantly she's leaning forwards with her chin in her hands and her elbows propped up on her knees.  "Really!  I'm curious!!"  She insists and Izuku nods,

"I never-- I never said you weren't, I'm just surprised, I guess.  My opinion is probably pretty invalid considering I don't know much, and I'm sort of biased anyways."

"Oh come on!  I don't care, I just want to hear your thoughts!" Uraraka whines and eggs him on until Izuku gives in.

"Okay, okay!  I---" Izuku licks his lips in thought, starting to separate the second half of the clementine as an excuse to give himself a moment to put his thoughts into anything resembling a concise order--- "I guess I've just always thought the HPSC could be more effective if they focused a little more on consistency over quality.  I mean--  there's plenty o Pro-Heros already so it's not an issue of quality over quantity--  that is--  I just mean--  you know, everyone wants to be a hero nowadays, so--" Izuku feels frighteningly out of breath even though he knows how long he can talk for without taking a break.  "I just mean, because there are so many Pro-Heros it wouldn't hurt to even out the distribution into the areas that are considered to be low priority!  I mean--  I don't think any area should be considered low priority, especially not the high population areas that are often skipped over--  oh, but--! I don't mean to-- Well--" Izuku winces at his own babbling and sets down the orange to bury his face in his hands.  "I-- I'm trying to say that the Hero Public Safety Commission could create a well rounded, well equipped, and fully funded task force without really straining any of their current projects.  And besides, even if it did cause some stress it might be beneficial, it would be motivation to re-examine their workforce population distribution."  Izuku takes a breath and flinches hard as his words catch up to him like a semi-truck without any brake lines.  He panicked so much about how stupid he sounded his brain to mouth filter was fully dropped in hopes he would at least make some sense.  It sort of worked, in a way.  Izuku doesn't dare looking at Uraraka to check her reaction, that last part was absolutely an inside thought.  Not made for sharing.

It's not like speaking bad about the HPSC was illegal or anything.  It was pretty popular in some, very small, populations, but mostly it was frowned upon.  They're heroes, everyone likes heroes, except for villains.  Izuku feels a phantom pain from where his wrist fractured when he was nine and tried to explain to another kid that heroes couldn't actually break whatever laws they wanted.  He hadn't even been arguing against heroes in any way at the time, he was still a stand up fanboy for All Might and the like, and, by proxy, the HPSC.  The kid, Gomito if he remembers right, hadn't wanted to hear it, said something about it being illegal to arrest heroes and when Izuku, stubborn and stupid as most nine year olds are, continued to argue the facts.  He was swiftly informed how it felt to be pushed down several concrete steps.

Izuku pretends his hands aren't shaking as he picks the half an orange back up.  He pretends the silence in the apartment isn't making it impossible to breath to the point that he feels like he might pass out from asphyxiation.  Uraraka is staring hard at the side of his head and Izuku kind of misses his respirator.

Kitsune meows suddenly, it sounds like a scream in the thick silence.  Izuku looks up at her immediately, having flinched so hard he almost dropped the slices in his hands.  She's standing, and stares back at him for a minute before looking at the oranges and flicking her tail in annoyance.  She was going to come over and check on him.  Izuku almost laughs, she's so sweet.

"Do you want to get down, honey?" Uraraka breaks the silence, cooing at Kitsune as she continues to stare at Izuku.

"It's okay," he says, more to Kitsune than his human guest.  Uraraka looks at him anyways.  "Forget what I said, it was stupid," he says quickly, turning back to preparing fruit, hoping she'll oblige for the sake of comfort.  Some ugly things are best left ignored, Izuku has learned.

"No it wasn't!" Uraraka denies vehemently, as if offended by the notion.

Izuku opens his mouth to apologize for offending her but his brain stalls when the words connect and he just glances at her sideways, unsure and silent.

"It wasn't!" She insists again, looking a little pinker in the cheeks.  "None of what you said was wrong!" There are way more Pro-Heros in the nicer areas than out here or in my neighborhood!"  She clenches her fists in her lap and nods her head vigorously as if to emphasize as much as possible that she agrees with him.  To be fair, it might be necessary, Izuku is struggling to figure out what to do with this response, he never imagined this would be her response to his stupid babbling.

"Not-- well, yes, but--!"  Izuku groans through his teeth and tries to focus on the oranges, "That's not--  That's just the obvious, surface level stuff, there's probably lots of reasons for the HPSC's methods.  I don't know anything." He drops down another orange slice, his fingers shaking as he tries to rationalize as fast as he can.

"Maybe...  But I think you definitely know some stuff!" Uraraka argues only to gasp in dismay as Kitsune turns to leave and wanders down the hall, probably to get away from the citrus smell.

"Ah, sorry about her.  Uhm, I can go find Peanut if you want," he mutters already standing up to go wash his hands.  He realizes as he crosses the main room how much he prefers having at least another living animal in the room with him when he's talking to another person.  Kitsune was kind of like a mediator or a therapist that just sits silently until someone--- namely Izuku--- starts breaking down.

"Oh, you don't have to!  I mean, if he's scared then--"

"I think he'll like you," Izuku admits to Uraraka quietly, as he turns on the tap to wash at least some of the sticky fruit residue off his hands.

"You do?" She sounds a little giddy and Izuku has to admit it's cute how much she likes a cat she hasn't met yet.

"Yeah.  Hold on, let me get him and I'll be right back," Izuku mumbles, toweling off his hands quickly and slipping down the hall.  Peanut is in Izuku's room, behind his laundry hamper, he only finds him half as quickly as he does because Kitsune is sitting on his dresser, staring directly down at her pseudo brother.

He pulls his laundry basket away to look at the cat stuck in the corner of his room like a determined, cheddar-orange dust bunny.  "Hi buddy.  You feeling ready to come out?  It's okay, she won't hurt you.  I think you'll like her actually, she really wants to meet you." Izuku coaxes as Peanut stares at him as if unconvinced.

Izuku sighs and reaches down to scoop him out of the corner.  He mewls in defiance but let's Izuku carry him out of the room in his arms, scratching him just behind his fuzzy cheek.

Uraraka squeals quietly when she see them and Izuku ducks his head to avoid the gleaming look in her eyes.

"This is Peanut Mochi."  He adjust the tabby in his arms to kiss his head softly, a silent reassurance.  He sits back down in his armchair and Peanut sniffs the air and smells the oranges on the coffee table before meowing and shoving his face in the folds of Izuku's hoodie where his armpit is.

"He's so cute!" Uraraka whispers, cupping her hands to her cheeks and leaning over to look closer at the cat.  Izuku smiles despite himself and turns the cat around to face Uraraka.

"Yeah, he's a handful."  Izuku tilts his head to look at Peanuts face as he wiggles in his arms.  "Do you want to go sit with Uraraka-san?"

Peanut manages to flip over and wiggle under Izuku's right forearm to hide himself between Izuku's leg and the armchair.

Izuku sighs.  "Really?  She's a good person, I promise." He reaches over to pet the top of the cats head but Peanut just continues to flick his tail.

"It's okay, I'm a stranger." Uraraka giggles and tries to reassure Izuku.

He simply shakes his head.  "Give him a couple minutes.  He'll get curious soon enough."  Izuku scratches the base of his ears as Uraraka hums and gives the apartment another deliberate look over.

 

"What's it like living alone?"

"Not that difficult.  My parents send me an allowance still, but I can mostly use the governments relief funds for covering bills, rent, and groceries.". He explains quietly, wondering if it would be appropriate or not to mention he and his mother basically lived like diametrically opposed roommates for years before she left.

"That sounds stressful though..."

Izuku chuckles despite himself, "It's really not, everything's automated anyways, well, besides groceries.  I'm just hoping none of us get sick cause that might break the bank."

Uraraka sighs and nods, "I get that." She peeks over the back of the couch sort of subtly, like he won't notice she's hoping Kitsune will come back.  

"Umm--" he takes a deep breath and musters up non-existent confidence, "Do-- Is there anything you want to do?  I have boardgames, and some videogames too if that's more...  I don't know," he admits with a shrug, petting Peanut for his own comfort more than anything.  He hasn't had a friend over since he was in Pre-K and that's a far flung memory.

He almost wants to squint when Uraraka visibly lights up, "Yeah!!!"

Chapter 6

Summary:

Ochako rises after Midoriya on legs that feel like Jell-O, a still crying cat dangling from her hands.  The TV seems so loud all of the sudden, it had been almost silent a second ago.

"No.  No, you didn't so anything wrong.  I should've listened to you, huh?"  She squeaks, chuckling awkwardly and looking down at the cat in her hands for a distraction.

This is seduction!!!  Foul play!  Foul play!!!

Ochako didn't quite know what she expected Midoriya's apartment to look like.  But for some reason she's actually a little surprised by how tidy and simultaneously cozy it is.

There are stuffed full bookcases and framed photos on the walls in the living room.  The kitchen, which is obviously well organized even with mismatched wares, looks clean and tidy.  Still, Midoriya keeps his head down like he's ashamed of it.  She's about to compliment his housekeeping when she notices the cat.

Ochako might have startled Midoriya on accident by gasping suddenly, but she couldn't help it!  There, is a beautiful cat, and it's staring right at her.  "Oh my gosh, they're so pretty!"

The cat is perched on the back of the pale couch and sitting atop their paws and belly, basking in the light coming through the large window behind them.  They have beautiful long pale fur that's a warm creamy brown around the edges, and their eyes are the most captivating shade of pumpkin orange and staring right back at her.  

"Ah." Ochako remembers who she came here for again, glancing at Midoriya who is gazing at the fluffy feline with a ghost of a smile.  He's not wearing his his respirator, this is probably the first time she's ever seen his smile, it makes her feel short of breath.  Midoriya's smile is so soft, it's almost dangerous.  It's the opposite of his sharper edges, it rounds his already cute baby cheeks and adds a give to his dark glassy eyes that warms them over.  He looks so sweet like that, it almost makes her knees weak.

"That's Kitsune Udon, I call her Kitsune."

Ochako is in way deeper than she though when she realizes that despite how dumb a name that is for a cat she can't help but find it and its creator very cute.  She's in for a ride, isn't she?

 

"NO!"  She shrieks as the race finishes after Midoriya uses a mushroom of all things to skate by her and cross the finish line first.  She takes a deep breath to calm down and collapses backwards onto the living room floor.

"Sorry," Midoriya says eventually, and he sounds so genuine that Ochako immediately feels stupid for throwing a fit.

"It's fine, it's fine!  I'm just, a little competitive."  She feels like he immediately sees through whatever lame attempt that was to downplay her issues.  God, what if he didn't like competitive people?  Or over-energetic people?  It's not like Ochako would be able to blame him.  She knows she can be a little much sometimes, because Shinso has definitely said so.

"Yeah, me too, sorry.  Good game?"  He holds out a hand to her sheepishly and Ochako thinks she hears a choir somewhere.  Nope, he's in fact, the sweetest boy to ever live and is being nice to her, even though she's probably being super annoying.

"GG!" Ochako agrees immediately and grabs his hand like a lifeline as she sits back up.  "Let's play again; I'll win this time, I swear!"  He's warm, surprisingly so somehow, and his fingers feel good against hers and she feels her face get hot almost immediately.

"Okay, I'll hold you to it."  He gives her a shake and half a smile before turning back to the TV and starting the next Mario Kart race.

"Wait, don't do Rainbow Road, that's unfair!"

"Unfair how?"  He snorts a little.  Ochako suddenly feels short of breath: how can one boy be so cute?  Is she even going to make it?

 

Ochako tries not to scream with pure joy as the orange cat, Peanut Mochi(god damnit she has a hell of a crush now doesn't she?), happily licks a squeeze-up treat out of her fingers.

"He really likes those, which sucks, they're kind of expensive.  I've been looking for a job so I can buy better food and stuff for them, but barely anybody is hiring," Izuku mumbles, his voice is still soft, a little hoarse, but a little sweeter now, less sharp edges.

"I know."  Ochako groans, her part time job had been cut out when the virus started, after all the trouble she went through to keep it while going to school.  "Are they really expensive?  Having cats, I mean?"

Midoriya tilts his head slightly like he's thinking and she sees him mouth calculations to himself, mumbling a little under his breath. "With my budget, yeah, sort of.  Food and litter can get pricey, those treats are like, 3500 yen for a whole box."

Ochako winces at that price a little.  "How many in a box?"

"Forty of those little tubes, but these guys would finish that box in a week easy if I gave in every time they whined for treats.  Normally I can make it last a couple months."  He watches Peanut eat, his cheek rested on his chuckles, squinting one of his eyes and hiding some of those cute freckles that speckle his cheeks, nose, hands and neck.  Ochako almost has to excuse herself for a mini-freakout after she pictured brushing his bangs aside to see if he has freckles on his forehead too with such a vividness that for a second, she almost thought she actually did it.

"I see," she mumbles dumbly.  He's pretty, she realizes with a little bit of horror.  He's not just nice and cute, but pretty, really pretty.  His nose is cute like a button and his lips, while chapped, are a rosy pink and bow shaped, his freckles are like sprinkles on his round cheeks, and those eyes, so round and wide and dark.  He glances up at her through his eyelashes, his dark glossy lashes, like they're wet with tears, and his dark eyes glow softly from within, a green that shifts from forest to emerald to sea green in the right light.  

"Uraraka-san?"  He whispers, voice a little raspy in the quiet.  The cat bats her hand with his palm and she fumbles to squeeze out more treat.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about something, uhm-- so how long-- uh, you said Peanut was a stray you fed, right?  So how long have you known him?"  Ochako stumbles over her words and feels her face burn with embarrassment, but Midoriya just smiles a little, sweet and soft and near lethal.

"Yeah, I met him in my last year of Junior High."  He shifts his legs under him and the pulls his knees up to his chest and rests her chin atop them.  "I was a hungry scrawny kid, and he was a hungry scrawny cat.  It was sympathy as much as it was pity, we started eating together after school, it was routine by the end of that year and we were already pretty friendly by the time Mom moved out after the virus kicked off, so I let him follow me home.  I got Kitsune after that so I wasn't leaving him home alone."  Ochako wants to hug him so bad, he looks so lonely sitting like that with his eyes on the little animals back.  "We go on boys walks sometimes.  In places the infected don't normally go."

"That's cute."  Ochako squeezes more fishy paste out of the little plastic pouch when Peanut meows at her hand.  "Kitsune was from a cat cafe you said?"

He hums in agreement, Ochako can't explain in words why it makes her heart flutter, but she really loves how he gets talkative when it's about his cats.  "Non-essential businesses closed down and they couldn't make enough money to keep the animals.  It was a cafe I followed on social media so I saw their post when they called for help looking for people to adopt the cats.  Kitsune used to be named Lala, but she never looked at me when I called her so I gave up on that.  She looks like toasted tofu, so..."  He shrugs and his cheeks flush a little and Ochako almost screams.  So damn cute.

"She's so pretty!"

"Yeah, her eyes are gorgeous." Izuku smiles a little, glancing over his shoulder towards the kitchen where she wandered off.  "And sometimes it feels like she's smarter than me.  Or at least more rational."  

Ochako giggles, but the look on his face makes her chest hurt.  He looks solitary but longing, loving, adoring, but also frightened and guilty, tired, exhausted, softened, but unshaken and firm.  He looks like he'd be beloved by artists and authors, with those haunting eyes and heavy shoulders.  "Maybe she gets her brains from you?"

Izuku laughs and shakes his head, rubbing his feet together on the floor in front of him, "No.  I'm not that smart.  I just have a lot of free time."

"We are not having this argument again," Ochako groans out loud as the treat runs out.

 

She is sitting at the kitchen table so she can pet Kitsune again as Midoriya fiddles with the remote until the TV turns on.  The local news channel flickers to life but the TV stays silent.  Ochako watches him roll his eyes, walk up to the television and smack it lightly until the audio cuts back in.

"Sorry, it's really old, came with the apartment according to Mom."  Midoriya mumbles, walking into the kitchen with a half-smile, half-grimace.  "you aren't allergic to anything, right?"

"Nope!  Can I help you cook?"  Ochako half gets out of her chair as he starts washing his hands.

"No, no, you're a guest!  Are sandwiches fine?"  He asks, pulling his fridge open and glancing at her over his shoulder.

"Yeah, but can't I do something to help?"

"You can keep the cats away from the food.  If Peanut realizes there's food on the counter he will try to eat it," Midoriya shoots back.  Ochako sighs but relents, sitting back down and sinking her hand into Kitsune's soft fur.

 

He works fluidly, every once in a while turning to the TV and narrowing his eyes at something the reporter says.

"How are cases still rising?"  Ochako mumbles and hears Midoriya sigh.

"Well, it's getting colder, there might even be a winter wave in cases.  It might get better, but the issue is people are getting less careful, they're giving up."  Midoriya shakes his head and turns back to sandwich making.  "And the detainment numbers compared to others are bleak, nothing is cutting down the numbers, the dead don't die off."

Ochako stares at him half slack-jawed for a moment before remembering she really shouldn't be surprised.  "You keep track of all this stuff pretty closely, right?"

"Well," he laughs self-deprecatingly, a miserable, dry, and hoarse sound, "there's not much else I can do.  Information is all I've got.  I'm just glad the media is still working, censored as most of it is."  He mumbles the last part bitterly and then jumps, looking down to see Peanut dancing on the tops of his feet.

Ochako can't help but squeal a little at how cute both of them are, trying to disregard Midoriya's immediate deflection of conversation.

"Hello there, troublemaker."  Midoriya says to the cat, leaning back slightly to look down at his pet without moving his feet.  Peanut meows loudly in response and paws at Midoriya's ankles like a plea.  "You aren't hungry, you're very well fed, and you're making me look bad in front of our guest."  

Ochako giggles, petting Kitsune's head and watching the boys' antics.  "He's so cute though?"

"Yup, lucky for him."  Midoriya goes back to making their lunch and Peanut mewls loudly and throws himself against the cabinets, rubbing his shoulder and face along them before quickly turning around to cling to Midoriya's ankle again.  He still doesn't move his feet or the slippers they reside in. 

"Kitsune is so well behaved though!  Isn't she?  What a good girl!"  Ochako coos at the cat on the kitchen table and sneaks a little kiss.

"That's the upside of adopting her from a cafe, she's used to being around food that isn't for her.  Peanut thinks he'll starve if he ignores even a scrap of food."

Ochako hums softly, feeling bad for the poor kitty even as Peanut meows and jumps at Midoriya's legs.  Clinging to his sweatpants and swishing his tail back and forth excitedly.

"You don't get to have tofu or pork, maybe pork once you stop throwing a fit, but no begging."  He scolds half-heartedly, glancing at the news again as heroes' faces flash on the screen.

"Aw, c'mere Peanut, let's not bother Midoriya-kun."  Ochako gets up to go and try to peel the cat off the boy making her lunch.  

"Ah-- it's okay, he's--" 

Ochako tugs slightly, the cat having essentially Velcro-ed onto Midoriya's pant leg and sunk in his claw.  She tries to stop from laughing as she continues tugging gently as Peanut mewls and refuses to let go.  She does try, but she ends up squatted on the kitchen floor holding a cat just above the ground as she shakes with giggles and muffled laughter.

Midoriya snorts and it just makes Ochako laugh harder and longer.  Finally, Midoriya crouches down too and uses a pinky to unhook the cat from his sweatpants.  He's grinning, like really grinning, with teeth and gums, bunching up his cheeks and squinting his eyes a little.  "He's a stubborn moron."  Midoriya says, quieter in consideration of the very narrow space between them.  Ochako freezes, unable to move as he smiles at the cat and then he seems to catch himself as well, pursing his lips over his smile and glancing at her through his lashes.  "S-- sorry."  He mutters suddenly, shuffling back and standing up straight. 

Ochako rises after him on legs that feel like Jell-O, a still crying cat dangling from her hands.  The TV seems so loud all of the sudden, it had been almost silent a second ago.  

"No.  No, you didn't so anything wrong.  I should've listened to you, huh?"  She squeaks, chuckling awkwardly and looking down at the cat in her hands for a distraction.  

This is seduction!!!  Foul play!  Foul play!!!

 

Midoriya ties his shoes with swift well placed tugs.  Ochako feels a little disappointed for a moment as the better part of his face disappears behind his respirator.  "Okay, I'll walk you out.  Oh, uh, if you're fine with that?"  He glances at her through his bangs again and Ochako wants to shake him, isn't the answer obvious?

"I'd love that!"  Okay, maybe a little too honest there.  She's trying not to come on too strong and remember that he's still skittish of her.

He nods slightly, and it's much harder to read him with his face and expression covered like this.  How did Ochako even survive before?  "Alright, let's go then."  His keys jingle in his hand as he picks them up off their hook and squeezes past her to unlock the door and open it up, he steps out into the hall and holds it open for her, like a gentleman.  Ochako scoots out, glancing one last time into the cozy apartment and the cats watching them go.  "Bye babies!"  She waves to Kitsune and Peanut.

Midoriya locks the door behind them before walking with her down the hall to the stairwell. 

 

"You can visit again, just send me a heads up so I can make sure the apartment is clean," he says eventually, his muffled voice echoing back onto them in the stairwell.

"Can I really?  That would be so great!" Ochako cheers, hopping down the stairs and trying to match his gait.  "Your apartment is already so neat though, it's cozy too, I like it.  I'd really like to come back,"  she rambles, both desperate to keep him talking and make sure he knows she thinks his apartment is as great as it really is.

"Okay, I'll try to keep the cat hair off the couch then."  He jokes, fiddling with the hem of his hoodie.  Ochako giggles happily, watching his curls bounce with every step.  He's joking with her!  She's welcome back, too!  Success!!!

 

---

 

"Guess what?!" Ochako sings as she prances into the dorms, ripping off her respirator to grin at her classmates.

"What?" Kaminari asks.  He's such a team player (though he's currently trying to beat Mina, Hagakure, and Kirishima in a game of Uno).

"I got invited back!!!"

"For a second date?!" Mina squeals.  Uraraka really shouldn't be surprised the other girl already caught wind of the news of her stupid crush, Mina is a gossip mogul.

"No!"  She snaps back, her face feeling hot.  "It was not a date!  It was a casual visit between friends, idiot!!"

"Right, right." Mina grins to herself, glancing casually at her hand of cards.  "Just friends, for now."

"Mina-chan!!" Ochako cries only to get a look and a sly giggle from her classmates.

 

"So," the raspy voice of Ochako's best friend pipes up from the comfiest chair in the common room, "you got invited back, kero, that's good.  Otherwise, how'd it go?"

"Tsuyu!!" Ochako squeaks happily, shuffling over to sit on the arm of the other girls chair.  She fumbles to pull out her phone as fast as possible.

"It went great!  He was so sweet and his cats are so cute, he made us lunch too!  After he peeled oranges for me!!!" She squeals to her best friend, unable to stop herself from blushing.  "Look, look!" She finally gets her crappy old phone to show the lastest pictures she took.

The first one is of Peanut, licking the squeeze-up treat out of her hands, one fluffy orange paw resting on her knuckles to keep her there.

"Aww, kero.  Were they well behaved?"

"Super well behaved!  Well, this one is a little dramatic but he didn't bite or scratch me if that's what you're asking."

"Wait, if it's cute animal pics you have to show everyone!" Kaminari calls, fumbling with his next card.

"Yeah, it's only manly to share, Uraraka!" Kirishima joins and Ochako realizes a second too late that Hagakure is missing.

"Oh, they are super cute!  What's it's name?"

Ochako barely bites back a startled scream at the voice right behind her a whisper of breath on her shoulder.  "Hagakure-chan, I told you not to sneak up on me like that!"

"And I told you to call me Tooru, so I guess we're both in trouble!" The girls crosses her invisible arms in her cute fuzzy sweater.

"Well, fine."  Ochako relents, too excited to hold a grudge.  "This one is named Peanut Mochi, isn't that so cute?!  He's called Peanut for short."

"Aww, that is cute!" Hagakure rests the invisible weight of a hand on Ochako's shoulder and leans closer.  Not that Ochako can blame the girl, her phone's screen isn't exactly high definition.

"It's a little silly," Tsuyu hums, peering at the photo, "but Peanut is cute."

"I know!  And guess what his other cat is named?"

"Sakura Mochi?" Tsuyu asks.

"Carl!" Hagakure giggles.

"Both good guesses, but no." Ochako waits for her phone to load the next picture, one of Kitsune staring into the camera with her gorgeous eyes, loafed atop the kitchen table near a small vase of wildflowers.  "This is Kitsune Udon."

Hagakure breaks into laughter and Ochako thinks she hears someone from the Uno ring snort.

"Okay, now I have to see this," Kaminari groans and gets up to come look too.  Mina follows right after, insisting he wait for her and Kirishima.

She lets her phone be passed around as her classmates take turn admiring Kitsune Udon.  "She's Kitsune for short, she was so polite the whole time, and her fur is super soft."

"It looks soft!  Aw man, I'm kinda jelly now."  Mina pouts and lets Kirishima take the phone.

"Are you guys talking about cats?"  All six of them jump and turn to look at Shinso, who, as per usual, looks like he just woke up from a nap and is annoyed the world is still turning, where he stands in the doorway squinting at them.

"Nice bed head, man." Kaminari giggles and Kirishima rolls his eyes.

"Yeah, Uraraka's new friend has cute cats!"

"Oh.  The guy with two."  Shinso drifts across the room, blinking sleepily, his hands still shoved in his pockets.  "Can I see?"

"Of course!  I can even send them to you!"  Ochako chimes in and Kirishima offers Shinso her phone.

"Cute." He mumbles almost immediately, squinting at the low definition photo.  "What's their name?"

"Her name--"

"Kitsune Udon!" Hagakure laughs, "The other cat has a food name too, it's really cute actually!"

Ochako smiles and nods when Shinso glances at her for confirmation.

"She's pretty, those eyes are rare."  He hands the phone back to her but doesn't leave.  He's waiting for the next cat photo Ochako realizes.

"Yeah, they're even more beautiful in person!  Here, this is Peanut Mochi, Peanut for short." She hands the phone back, and Kirishima and Kaminari both lean over to look, making Shinso grimace at them.

"Boy?"

"Yeah, how could you tell?" Ochako wonders, Shinso's eyes have yet to leave her phone screen.

"Face mostly.  He's cute."  He hands the phone to Kirishima and removes himself from their little circle quickly, scowling at Kaminari when he scoots over to keep looking at the phone.  "I'd like it if you sent me those pictures, and any others."

"Will do!" She salutes the boy and he just nods lazily before shuffling back into the boys dorms.

"Did he come out here just for the cat pictures, kero?" Tsuyu asks aloud as Ochako wonders the exact same thing.

"Are there more?  Pictures, I mean."  Hagakure leans closer again and Ochako nods and reaches to get her phone back from Mina.

"There's one more."  The only one she was able to get with more than a corner of Midoriya's leg in it.  Peanut is in his arms, cozy in the folds of his faded blue hoodie, two of Midoriya's freckled fingers are curled lovingly just behind the cat's cheek.  He's looking down at Peanut, the only way she managed to sneak his face into the photo frame without him turning away or scooting back.  And really the photo doesn't do him any justice, it doesn't capture the green of his eyes, barely any of his freckles, and just a shadow of his smile.  Still, it's him, with his curly green hair and round freckled cheeks and hunched shoulders.

"Aw, he is kinda cute." Hagakure chirps and it makes Ochako want to sob because no, he's so stupidly, unbelievably cute, her crappy phone just has a piece of shit camera with garbage resolution.

She will be back to that apartment to see his stupid cute face, this Ochako vows.

Chapter 7

Summary:

"You aren't going to die, help is on the way, you're going to be okay."
Izuku wants to scream, how long has he been telling himself that?  At what point did even he stop believing it?  Why can't he die?
Because, he is living for more people than just himself, he can't be selfish and give up on everything.

He is alone, a living ghost with nothing to haunt but a half empty refrigerator and a water-stained bathroom.
The apartment is quiet, so very quiet, Izuku wonders how many of the stories of crying ghosts are based off of shadows like him.

Izuku is an idiot.  A massive fucking fool, possibly one of the stupidest people alive on earth.

He barely stops himself from screaming in frustration.

 

One walk in the park.  Just one, for the sake of Peanut more than anything.

"Why the fuck is someone here?!"  He whisper screams out of frustration more than anything, clutching his poor confused cat to his chest as he books it through the woods.

 

He should have known, really.  He should have known nothing would ever end well if he involved himself, any risk he took would always end in disaster.  Peanut meows loudly, his little voice shaking with every jolt of Izuku's steps.

Izuku knows better than to look behind him, he can hear the footsteps, the snaps, rustles, and thuds.  

"Son of a bitch!"  Izuku swears under his breath, booking it down narrow footpaths and cursing vehemently in his head.  "God damnit."  He can't slow down, the dead won't hesitate to catch up to him if he pauses for a second, if his momentum is wasted even for a fraction of a moment.  Izuku lunges off the path, thrashing through shrubbery and ferns, the river is shallow here, just a stream.  Izuku can't stop, he just has to keep moving, he can't slow down.  Peanut yowls and squirms in his hold as his knees hit the opposite bank, sandy dirt giving under his shoes.  Izuku runs, his eyes burning, the fear clogging his throat.  He hits the next footpath and keeps running, the branches of saplings having left stinging lashes against his face and arms.  He tried to protect Peanut from it all, keeping the cat safe in his arms as he sprints for the fence.

What'll be slower?  Through the dog hole, or over the top?  What is more likely to get him killed?  The footsteps are still behind him, somehow even louder than his heart in his ears.

"Fuck," he pants and pushes harder.  He struggles to keep a hold on his cat, on his friend, but he launches himself forwards head first, the wire slams against his shoulder and scrapes his scalp, Peanut yelps in his arms.  He fights through the dog hole, his elbows and knees scraping against the ground and the fence scraping against his back and thighs.  The only thing stopping him from sobbing is that he knows he can't waste the oxygen.  He runs, he keeps running.  

There's a thud, the jangle of the fence behind him far too soon, way too close.  Izuku runs and doesn't stop.  He won't be able to keep up this speed all the way back to his apartment.  He turns Peanut in his arms and looks for something, anything, that could stop the unkillable.  

Parked cars, a dumpster, more fences, walls.

"Shit, shit, shit."  He breathes a curse, unable to pray even as he faces death, knowing God will never hear him.

Trash bins, boxes of things left outside of abandoned houses.  He runs towards a minivan with his breath burning like acid in his lungs.  He lets Peanut down at the last second, praying the cat knows to run he grabs the car door handle and almost sobs in relief when it clicks open for him.  The man, the dead man, bloody and cloudy eyed, lunges for him, he flings the door open, lets the body hit the metal and glass full force, he jumps back, watches the thing stumble around the sudden obstruction and then he kicks it hard, right into the passenger seat.  He slams the door closed, holding it with one foot and taking a step back.  He drags his phone out of a pocket with a shaky sob and dials the emergency service numbers.

"Hello, this is--"
"I'm sorry, but I'm on Wakashiro Street.  I just trapped an infected person in a car, but I don't know how long until he breaks the windows and gets out."  The man is already pounding on the window between them with his fists and head as blood splatters the glass and he hears it start to crack.  "I need you to send someone, fast.  He's going to get out, and I don't have a way to stop him."  Izuku begs into the phone as Peanut stands a meter or so away, staring at him in concern.

"I understand, you said Wakashiro Street, sir?"

"Yes, Wakashiro in downtown Musutafu, near the nature park."  The cracks in the glass spread fast, spider-webbing out farther with every thud.

With a grunt he jumps onto the cars hood and knocks on it until the dead man shifts his focus, he starts again with the bashing and banging on the windshield.

"How long will it take a truck to get here?"  He gasps into the phone.

"I've dispatched responders to your location, sir, please stay calm.  They should arrive within seven minutes, please stay on the phone with me, sir."

"Yes ma'am."  Izuku stifles a sigh, the windshield cracks loudly.  He scrambles off the hood to the driver's side and starts knocking on that window too, repeating the process.  He watches the window crack.  "Seven minutes is too long."  Izuku grits his teeth, watching the cracks branch out more and more with each repetitive thud.

"Can you get to a safe place, sir?"

Izuku glances behind him at the house where the van's owner probably lives.  "Yes," he admits, whipping around and stares as the glass shatters and a bloody fist tears through the glass shards.

"Pleases get to a--"  Izuku tunes her out, throwing himself over the hood of the car, Peanut is hiding behind the back tires of the van.

"C'mere, Peanut, we have to get home, now."  He squeezes the phone to his ear, and pulls his cat back into his arms.  Peanut meows loudly.  "I'm going to run now," he tells the phone starting to run again, hoping the broken window with all it's sharp edges with tear the man up enough to slow him down.

"How far are you from the nearest secure and safe building?"  The operator asks him and Izuku holds the phone away so he doesn't pant in her ear.

"I'm not sure, my apartment is about a ten minute walk from here, maybe six if I run all the way."

"There is nowhere closer?  Any safe establishments?"

"No.  Just a post office, and a laundromat."  He huffs, struggling to keep a safe hold on both Peanut and his phone.  "They both have glass doors, not safe."  His weight jolts through his legs to the soles of his feet, the unmoving asphalt of the street beneath him does not budge the way the delicate meat of his body does.

Peanut is still crying in his arms, clinging to his jacket.  Izuku doesn't want to look behind him, he doesn't hear footsteps yet, but he has barely one ear clear.  Besides, Izuku knows glass shards are not enough to stop an infected person.

"I'm just going to try to make it back to my apartment, but if it follows me-- my door won't stand up forever either."

"Where is your apartment building?"  The operator asks hurriedly.

"It's the second building in the Hashimai Complexes on--" he reads off his address to her, trying to take deep breaths between words as he runs.  He goes against his better judgement and glances over his shoulder.  The man is running again, hunched over, tracking Izuku's scent, leaving behind a trail of dark blood.

"Fuck,"  Izuku gasps and keeps running, promising himself not to look back again.

"Sir!?"

"He's free.  Chasing me now."  Izuku bites into the phone, biting his lip when Peanut starts slipping through his fingers.  He fumbles for a second, trying to keep his phone and his cat.

"--sir, what was that sound?!  Are you okay, sir?!"

"Fine!  Trying not to drop my phone!"  He gasps, clutching Peanut close to his chest as the cat wails.  Izuku keeps running down the road, taking a familiar left turn.  "On Miokosa street now!"

"Miokosa."  The operator parrots him as an affirmative. 

"The responders are only five minutes out, please do your best to stay calm and level headed, I know you're frightened."

 

Only five minutes.  It would take seconds for the man chasing him to kill him, probably less than ten to catch up if he stopped running right now.  He has to run for five more minutes, and his legs already feel like jelly.

He's already been running for probably over five, and five more is just too much for a dead sprint for his life.

 

"I know.  I'm not going to let him kill me," Izuku rasps into the phone, his mouth feels bons dry but saliva doesn't stop pooling in his jaws.  His sneakers thump against the pavement.  Every part of him feels hot, his lungs and throat are burning like he swallowed hot coals, and tries to blink tears out of his eyes as he runs.  Swallowing around his tongue that feels like sandpaper in his mouth Izuku wishes he was smart enough to lay down and die like a sane man.

"You aren't going to die, help is on the way, you're going to be okay."

Izuku wants to scream, how long has he been telling himself that?  At what point did even he stop believing it?  Why can't he die?

A voice he hasn't heard in over two years echoes in his head.  He bites his lip and refuses to sob and waste his breath as he runs for his life.  He is living for more people than just himself, he can't be selfish and give up on everything.

"I know."  He pants bitterly as he runs.  God will never forgive him for being born, his life is a curse worse than damnation.

 

He's slowing down again, the operator keeps telling him how far out the responders are, Peanut is still crying, all his joints hurt, his lungs are burning and there are tears on his cheeks.  He can hear the scuffling footsteps behind him now.  He runs for his life, but it isn't going to be enough.  He's still a good but away from his apartment, and even if he got there alive the chances he makes it up the stairs without being caught up to are slim to none.  He needs to do something, break his legs, trap him, stop him, slow him down, something.  There are a few trash cans knocked over, he dashes towards them, tossing Peanut as far as he can do so safely and drops his phone as low as he can.  He grabs a bin, trash scattering across his feet and the sidewalk and street, he swings it around as hard as he can.  It hits his pursuer in the legs, not preferrable but salvageable.

He grabs the second bin, flipping it upside down to dumps out the bags, Peanut meows loudly nearby and Izuku almost wishes he would just run on his own, back to the apartment, or at least to the alley they used to sit in together.  The infected man starts to get it's feet back under him while crawling towards Izuku.  Milky drool and blood dribble from his mouth, his foggy eyes locked onto Izuku, unblinking.

"Man, fuck you."  Izuku pants, slamming the second bin down on the mans head, pushing it down over his rotting torso.  He turns around looking, for some sort of weapon, Peanut is standing on the sidewalk, yowling at him, puffed up and frantic.  He's such an idiot, if he's so scared he should just run.  Izuku looks at the mans cut up legs, trying to keep the trash bin on top of him even as he bucks and flails with unrestrained strength that makes Izuku lurch with every move the infected man makes.  It's gross, it's unsanitary, he won't be able to touch Peanut to carry him home, he also doesn't have a lot of other options.  In the midst of their insane scramble Izuku straddles the bin, and reaches for the mans right leg.  "Sorry, I'm sorry."  He mumbles through snot and tears as he slides off the bin, lifting the mans leg by the ankle and stomping on his knee hard, it snaps backwards with a crunch.  Izuku panics to pull the bin down over the man again, fighting against his strength while trying to get to his other leg.

"I'm so sorry."  A second wet crunch.  There's blood and pus all over his hands and sneakers, gunk from old, unhealed wounds, and fresh blood from that van window.

Izuku stumbles around the bin, scrambling to get away as the infected man squirms and flails, the worst part is that he never screamed.  Izuku looks at Peanut, and his cat stares back, they're both standing in a pile of garbage, completely undone.

Izuku wipes off his hands on his jacket to the best of his ability, undoing the zipper and shrugging it off to wrap around his hands, inside out so it's clean outside and filthy and disgusting wrapped around his hands.  He finds his phone again in the garbage pile, luckily his screen doesn't seem to have any new cracks.  He leans down, the operator hasn't hung up yet.  "I'm alive," he pants, trying not to sob aloud.  "I'm alive, but so is he.  How far are they?"

"Sir!  Sir, are you hurt?!"

"No.  Where is the dispatch vehicle right now?"

"They're very close, just another minute."

They must be speeding, he reasons to himself, lookin up at Peanut and then back at the man who has slowly wriggled backwards out of the bin, his broken legs awkward and useless beneath him.  With a good bit of struggling he manages to pick up his phone with his wrapped up hands and slip it between his ear and shoulder so he can stumble towards Peanut and coax the cat back to him, he's crying, he can't hide it now, it's not worth bothering.

"C'mere, we're going home.  We're almost home."  He whispers to his cat, Peanut still has his hackles raised and his tail looks like a bottlebrush, he sniffs at Izuku a little, staring up at him in concern.  "Follow me, we're going home."  He stumbles to his feet looking around as the operator tries to ask him questions, his neck is cramping already from holding the phone like this.  "He's not going to be able to move as fast, we're outside a group home, it's brick.  There's a garage across the street with orange graffiti on the doors.  I can't stay out here."  He mutters to her, turning and starting the remaining hike home feeling numb.

"Sir--"

"I'm okay.  Just like you said, he can't kill me anymore, not unless I let him."  The man is dragging himself after Izuku with his hands, his legs squirming behind him against the asphalt.  He walks a little quicker, Peanut races ahead and then turns around to look at him, his coat still puffy.  "I'm just going to walk home from here, I'm not hurt or in immediate danger anymore."  He can hear sirens in the distance.  He stumbles after Peanut, his legs outright refusing to move beyond a slow trudge.

Skin and cloth drag on asphalt behind him, fingers scraping away.  Izuku doesn't look behind him.

"Please stay safe, sir.  Are you certain you are not in immediate danger anymore?"

The sound of flesh on the street, the dragging noise of useless feet in filthy shoes across the ground behind him.  "Yes, ma'am."  He rasps, continuing his plodding hike as tears pool into the divot where his respirator digs into his cheeks. 

"Alright sir,"  she doesn't sound like she believes him.

Eventually he gets her to end the call so he can try to get his phone into his pocket without dropping it onto the street, his hands still caught inside of his jacket where it binds his hands together in the muck of a dying man's flesh.  The scrabbling and dragging noises continue behind him, Peanut meows for his attention and he looks up at the cat, finally getting his phone into his jeans pocket.

He doesn't say anything as he follows the cat down the street.  He's still alive.  He can probably make it home if his legs don't give out.  The sirens are getting closer.

 

Izuku doesn't turn around even when the sirens blare in his ears, not when tires squeak to a stop, not when people in hazmat suits that rustle like trash bags rush out shouting orders.  Not even when someone yells, "Hey, you, kid!  Stop!  Are you hurt?!"

Izuku keeps following Peanut.  He's almost home.  He needs to shower, disinfect himself, and probably Peanut.  Figure out what to do about his jacket, if it's even salvageable.  After that, he decided earlier he would work on some of his coding projects today, he can probably finish that website before dinner, that'll give him some extra money for cat treats and maybe a new jacket.

"Kid!"  A police officer grabs him and spins him around.  Izuku jolts back from the searing hand on his arm and hits the street elbow first, pain jolts through his whole skeleton and he hisses, trying to get his feet back under him as the officer stares.

"Are you okay?"  The man mutters, unsure if he should offer a hand of not.

"Fine."  Izuku answers, his elbow is bleeding, he adds that to his mental to-do list for once he gets home.  "I just want to go home."

"We could drive you--"

"You shouldn't.  I'm dirty, need to be disinfected."  He tries to get to his feet but his legs give out immediately and he end up sitting on his knees in the middle of the road, staring at his own thighs in blank stupidity.

"Are you sure you aren't injured--"

"Fine," he repeats it like a mantra, like a slogan to live by, "I'm just tired, ran for a while."  He leans forwards and tries again, his legs quaking under him as he slowly rises until he's upright again and his legs are just trembling a little bit.

"Kid, I think we should get you checked out--"

"No thanks.  I'm okay."  He turns and starts trying to catch up to Peanut again.  "We're going home."

"We?"

Izuku motions with his wrapped hands, exhausted of this conversation already, "Me and my cat, we're going home."  He starts walking again on his aching legs, breathing with his burnt lungs and blinking his sore eyes.

Eventually, the officer realizes there's nothing he can do and returns to his patrol car.  The sirens are loud on this little street, but it's somehow better than the noise of flesh dragging across asphalt.

 

---

 

The silence in the apartment is killing him.  The shower is off, so is the hair dryer, all he can hear is the hum of the AC.  Izuku used to hate the sound of his mother coming home late, and leaving early, cooking and showering, and going to bed.  He resented the way she seemed to pretend she was alone in the apartment, but at the same time, he knew she was being careful of him, quiet in hopes not to wake him up.  She never reached out either though, she didn't try to save him.  He was a presence, a ghost in her home, something she had to be wary of, lest he shatter at her touch, half the time she couldn't even look him in the eyes.  And now she is gone, the apartment is silent.  He is alone, a ghost with nothing to haunt but a half empty refrigerator and a water-stained bathroom.

Peanut meows, still a little damp from his bath.  Izuku looks up from his knees, staring at his tabby where the cat sits at his feet, standing up on his back paws to touch at the couch cushions.  "Hi," he whispers, his voice is hoarse and weak to his own ears.

Peanut backs down, wiggling his backside before jumping up onto the couch.  The cat curls up besides him, where he's tucked his feet under him, his knees hiked up to his chest.  It's familiar.  They sat like this sometimes in the alleyway, both hungry and bruised, Izuku normally in tears.  "Thanks, buddy."  He pets Peanut, running his fingers over the bumps of his skeleton and his soft orange fur.  "I love you," he whispers, "thanks for being here."

Izuku rests his temple on his knee, petting his cat, trying not to let the silence eat at him.  Peanut purrs softly, and it feels like a lifeline.

His phone pings, sitting face down on the coffee table.  He doesn't want to look at it, there are only two people who text him, and he doesn't want to face either of them right now.

"Let's go.  I have work to do."  Izuku says, scooping up Peanut who meows in response as they leave the couch to go to his room.  He refuses to look behind him, not at his phone, not at anything.

 

Peanut sits in his lap, purring, as Izuku puts in his old earbuds and powers up the family computer he migrated into his room after Mom moved out.  He started learning how to code in his last year of elementary school, perhaps he wanted a skill to claim in junior high, or maybe he just wanted to learn how the internet and digital and online world he had become such close friends with works.  He offered to make a friend online a website for his school club a few years ago, it turned out to be a really fun little pet project and by the time it was finished, up, and running his friend insisted he could absolutely get money for doing this.

He didn't actually do it until someone on a discussion forum for coding asked him for his prices for commission work.  Izuku had to rush to do market research before offering a tentative base price, somehow it worked and he got an online job at the age of thirteen.

Izuku types out code, taking breaks to pet his cat with one hand.  Kitsune wanders into the room and jumps onto his bed to lay in a sunbeam.  He dares to turn his chair around to glance at her and she looks back, he's not alone, he's not the only ghost haunting this apartment, and the creatures he haunts are thankfully known for looking ghosts in the eyes.  He turns back to his computer, the old keyboard with keys that either stick or don't work the first time you press them, and the mouse that skips sometimes even on the mousepad.

 

Izuku sends the code to the client now that he's run tests and checked for any obvious bugs.  He stands up, his chair squeaking as he rolls it out of the way, Peanut comes running into the room to hold onto his ankles.  Izuku chuckles and swings the cat across the floor.  "Dinner time!"

Kitsune is waiting nearby her bowl, looking up at him judgingly.  He moves to get them their fresh kibble, planning out something to cook for dinner in his head.  There are new groceries in the fridge so he could make fried chicken, or chicken noodle soup.  Izuku watches the cats eat for a second, Kitsune politely, Peanut with gusto.

He shuffles to his fridge and stares into the white lights for a second.  He wants katsudon, not takeout katsudon, his mothers katsudon, the one she made when he cried himself hoarse after hard days.  Izuku misses his mother so much, but the thought of seeing her face ever again is terrifying.  He decides to make chicken katsudon instead, pork cutlets are too expensive these days.  He opens the freezer, pulling out the plastic baggie of chicken breasts, the rest of the chicken he bought is butchered into appropriate pieces in separate bags.

He sets it out on the counter to thaw as he fills a pot with rice and water and sets it on the stove.  While the chicken is still cold and a little frosty he prepare a dish of egg wash and plates of flour and panko.  Peanut tries to jump up on the counter to cause problems with either the eggs, panko crumbs, or the thawing chicken.  "Nope!"  He scoops up the cat, and puts him back on the floor.  "None for you!"  Peanut meows in his own defense but it falls on deaf ears.  

He runs the bag of chicken under the kitchen tap in an attempt to thaw it a bit more and puts a pot of oil on the stove to heat up.  He checks the rice and gets out a knife to butterfly the chicken breast, he's eating for one so he puts the other half back in the bag and returns it to the freezer.  Izuku uses the side of the knife and his fist to flatten out the other half of the breast, when it's evenly thin he dips it in the flour, shaking off excess and then dipping it in the egg bath and then the panko.  After checking the oil temperature, Izuku drops the cutlet into the oil and reaches for paper towels preemptively.  Peanut is at his feet sniffing and mewling again.

"It's hot.  Don't even try it, mister."

Izuku waits by the stove, checking the clock and the rice periodically before reaching into the pot to flip the cutlet over as the crumbs brown nicely.  It's noisy thanks to the sizzling oil, steaming rice, and his crying cat, and the kitchen is starting to smell good.  He isn't just a ghost, surely a ghost could not feed itself or it's friends, even if those friends are just cats.  He taps his foot to a tune that isn't playing outside of his head and waits to remove the cutlet from the oil and set it on the paper towels.  Finally, he can pat away the excess oil and wipe down his knife to cut the cutlet into bite sized pieces before fumbling through his cabinets to find a sieve so he can pour the oil back into the jar once it cools off a little.  After pulling out the other pot, the one with the burnt, scraped up bottom, Izuku can start making dashi stock to cook the onions in.  He hears Kitsune run away when he starts chopping onions and peppers to add to the stock when it's finished.  He removes the dashi packet before adding the vegetables and covering the pot to let them cook.  When a couple more eggs are beaten together he checks the rice again and starts putting away vegetables and washes down his cutting board.

"That's probably good enough." He stirs the onions and peppers around a little before adding mirin, soy sauce, and spices and stirs.  He lets them sit for a second, squatting down to pet Peanut's head.  When Izuku opens the pot again he grins at the smell of spices and sweet onions, he gingerly transports the sliced cutlet onto the bed of vegetables without dropping anything and pouring the egg bath over the whole dish.  He covers the pot again and takes the rice off the heat so he can scoop out a bowl and sprinkle it with scallions and a little kombu.  While he waits for the eggs to set a little more, he wipes down the countertops, moves the oil back into it's jar, and drops extra dishes into his sink.  

"Peanut, hush!"  Izuku giggles as the cat meows and jumps at his leg as he slides the food out of the pot onto the rice in his bowl and starts turning the oven off and wandering to the kitchen table to have his dinner.  He pauses halfway and glances at his coffee table where his phone is still sitting, Izuku sighs and takes a short detour before he has his meal.

 

'Checking in again!  Your Father and I miss you a lot over here.  Are you well?'

If Izuku closes his eyes he can eat his dinner and pretend things are normal.  He can pretend none of him is sore, that he isn't so tired, that his Mom made him dinner and she's sitting across from him, that she is looking at him with a smile that reaches her eyes and doesn't furrow her brows with worry, that things are good again.

Peanut jumps into the other chair.  Izuku blinks his eyes open, squinting in the sudden light of his apartment and sitting up a little to see his cat over the tabletop.  He sits back down, scooping more chicken and rice into his face.  He needs to clean up the dishes, tidy the apartment a little, and then brush his teeth and go to bed.  Izuku closes his eyes again and tries to focus on the warm food in his mouth and not the fact that he wants to cry into his pillow and not wake up until the world has ended completely.  He opens his eyes again when Peanut meows, peering over the edge of the table at him with his pale green eyes.

"I'm fine, bud.  We're okay," he whispers, and then glances at his phone, the screen black from inactivity, and finally sets his chopsticks back down.  He picks up the phone, turning it back on, frowning when his screen immediately glows with his Mom's latest text.  "What should I say?"  He wonders, pulling his phone closer to type out a quick

'I'm okay!'  He stares at the message, it looks lacking, borderline dismissive.

He deletes it and tries again, 

'I miss you too. I made a chicken katsudon for dinner today, but it's not the same as yours. I'm doing good, thankfully!' 

Izuku stares at the message for a few more seconds, finding it almost impossible to untangle the lies from the truths in those three short sentences.  Eventually, he just hits send and puts his phone back down, so he can turn back to his dinner.

He's almost finished when his phone dings again.  Izuku tries not to flinch at the noise, instead he gets up to get a glass of water.  When he turns around, cup in hand, Peanut is already on the table.  "Hey!"  He laughs, rushing back to remove his cat from the kitchen table and get him away from Izuku's dinner.  By the time he's sitting back down Kitsune has arrived to investigate the ruckus.  She surveys the room before jumping up to reach her favorite spot on the couch.  He takes a sip of water between bites of food and pretends his phone isn't there, glowing menacingly.

 

Izuku glances at Kitsune, who is staring at him through a crack in the bathroom door and pauses, his toothbrush still tucked in his mouth.

"Hi?"  He mumbles but she seems to have no intention to move so he turns back to the mirror and returns to brushing his teeth.

 

Izuku grunts softly as he stoops down to pick up Peanut as Kitsune leaps up onto his bed.  He carries the tabby with him into bed, tucking himself into bed as the cats trot around to pick spots to rest in.  Izuku shoves himself under the covers, pulling his pillow over head he takes deep breaths and wills himself not to cry.  The apartment is quiet, so very quiet, and Izuku wonders how many of the stories of crying ghosts are based off of shadows like him.

Chapter 8

Summary:

Izuku squeezes his phone, trying not to cry at the realization that he really is an opportunist and the second he got a chance to fool somebody into thinking he was normal he took it.  Izuku is a liar and a scumbag, he only talked to Uraraka in the first place to use her position to his advantage.

'I never told you I was Quirkless, did I?' 

"--Heroes Backdraft and Eel-Boy were successful in detaining several hostiles infected by the Theta virus at the Manachi Mall in Musutafu yesterday, but the entire mall is still currently under a quarantine lockdown for biohazardous material."

Izuku glances up at the TV, his arms trembling slightly under his body weight as he holds a plank.  The news cycle relays a list of incidents from last night as well as any aftermath that's since been reported.  The numbers are grim.  He sighs heavily, turning his head back down to stare at his hands.  Peanut is still crunching on kibble in the kitchen, a noise just barely audible over the news anchors.

When his arms give out under him his chest hits the floor with a thud and he hears himself grunt.  "Okay, not a bad time," he sighs, rolling onto his side and staring at his TV.

"--Hero Con has been confirmed to be cancelled again this year, sparking outrage across the internet!  Fans all over the country are grieving the loss of the annual convention, and--" Izuku chuckles to himself.  He had dreamed about going to Hero Con when it came back to Hamamatsu when he was younger.  He closes his eyes and lets the words wash over him in the dark behind his eyelids. 

 

The man that runs the pawnshop nearby didn't ask any questions when he dropped a full trash bag of All Might merch, everything besides the few things he just couldn't let go of without fearing who he would be without them.  And for some reason, the signature he got on that horrible day.  That stays, torn out of his ruined notebook and folded up, at the bottom of his bottom drawer, just a reminder.  It's worth enough money to get him a new computer, but somehow the reminder it serves is more valuable than the money.

 

He rolls over and sits up again, continuing his workout as the news anchors chatter on, reporting hundreds of deaths with a somberness that is thinner than paper.

Izuku gets up with a sigh and a yawn, stretching his arms high above his head and checks his flask before draining the last bit of lukewarm tea from the bottom.  He perches on the arm of the couch for a second and pets Kitsune's furry back and scratches her cheeks.  "Thoughts on today?  A Thursday, with no plans besides schoolwork."  Kitsune closes her eyes slightly as he leans over to kiss her on the head, Izuku smiles into her fur and closes his eyes in turn.

"Alright, times a' ticking."  The TV shuts off with a flicker, Izuku sets the remote back down on the table and goes to change before school.

 

His phone lights up in his hand.  His mothers responding text from last night is full of sweet words, but Izuku has been worn smooth by the harsh waves of the world and they roll off of him like water off a duck's back.  Izuku opens his only other recent chat in his text messaging app, and he tries to smile at the name at the top of the screen, 'Bubble-Eyed Goldfish.'  Their most recent exchange is from Monday, a small exchange of greetings in the wake of Uraraka's visit to his apartment to meet his cats.

He sets his phone down on his desk within arms reach and opens up TUJ's online course interface.  Peanut meows from behind him, he turns around in his chair to stare back at the tabby cat, Peanut takes the opportunity to jump into his lap.  "Aww, well aren't you sweet."  Izuku laughs and spins back around to his computer.  Criminal justice courses are interesting, but Izuku prefers the psychology class he has been taking on the side.  He needs to find something to listen to in the background too.

Izuku glances periodically at the clock in the corner of the screen as hours tick by.  The cats come and go and he hears sirens outside over the music playing in a different tab.  At one o'clock he gets up to make himself a snack and take a stretch break, he's been sitting for four hours straight after all.  Peanut chirps when he walks into the kitchen, running over to trot loops around Izuku's ankles as he shuffles towards the pantry.  "Eggs, salad, or natto, do you think?"  He glances at Peanut who stares up with big, green, hungry eyes.  "Eggs, then."

 

Izuku taps his fingers against the desktop, staring down his black phone screen with a sense of apprehensiveness and borderline reproach.  He glances to his computer screen, a messaging platform open, some popular servers actively piling up notification pop ups.  Finally, Izuku clicks on a private chat with 'Reaping_Peas' and scrolls through their past messages.  Some casual stuff, pictures of Izuku's cats and Reaper's old lady dog, and a lot of underground hero articles, news clips, and anything else they can find.

'Hey, how are you?'  He types and sends the message with almost no issue at all.  He glances at his phone again, and finally picks it up and opens his texts.  

Izuku pulls his knees up to his chest, curling his toes over the edge of his chair seat and stares blankly at the old good morning texts.  His thumb hovers over his open keyboard for several seconds too long.  There's a thud that makes Kitsune sit up as his forehead hits his desk, his phone slips from his fingers and clatters against the desktop.  He groans out loud and buries his hands in his hair, his forehead throbbing slightly.

"What is wrong with me..?"

His chair squeaks whinily as he spins in a circle, leaning back to stare at the ceiling, listening to a familiar song.  Is it because he's never seen Reaper face to face?  Or because he never will again?  Or maybe because they don't talk about personal lives, and the other person doesn't even know that Izuku is Quirkless. 

Air feels like lead in his lungs, as Izuku stares at his ceiling wide-eyed and realizes that Uraraka doesn't know that he's Quirkless either, he never told her.  It's been so long since he interacted with someone long term, someone who didn't know he was Quirkless from the start.  That's why she's being so nice, she doesn't know he's been lying to her.  He feels cold, not just autumn cold, really cold, and his palms feel clammy.  Kitsune jumps off his bed and walks off, likely annoyed with his erratic behavior.  Somehow, his cat's silent scorn of his emotional turmoil makes him come back to his senses a bit.  He turns and picks his phone back up and scrolls through his messages with Uraraka again, just to double check.  There's no mention of either of their Quirks, but he knows hers, anyone with access to the internet could know hers.  Izuku squeezes his phone, trying not to cry at the realization that he really is an opportunist and the second he got a chance to fool somebody into thinking he was normal he took it.  Izuku is a liar and a scumbag, he only talked to Uraraka in the first place to use her position to his advantage.

It's not worth it, he realizes miserably.  He doesn't want that future enough to be this kind of person.  The message he types out feels like a finale out of nowhere, a completely unsatisfying ending.

'I never told you I was Quirkless, did I?'  It reads conversationally, casual and somehow friendly.  It feels like another lie.  Izuku hits the send button in absolute resignation, he always knew he was a liar, but he wanted to at least lie for the right reasons.

He closes the messages and opens up his coursework again.  It was nice while it lasted, Uraraka was nice, and Izuku was a liar.

 

Izuku doesn't want to look at his screen when the notification comes in, but he reaches over and looks at the messages. 

'Oh!  no I didnt know that!'

Izuku stares at the screen, cursing digital messages that carry none of the readable nuances and implications he needs.  This is so much harder to process.

'btw what brought this up?'

Uraraka's messages are stark black against the white screen and their meanings are completely lost on him.  He feels a little like he's floating in a dark bottomless pool, nothing to hold on to, and nothing in sight.

'I just thought you should know.'  He types, and finds himself clueless as to what she'll say in response.  It's a horribly frightening and foreign feeling.

Izuku stands up suddenly, his chair squeaking in complaint behind him so he can pace a lap around the room with his phone in hand.  He sighs loudly and walks out of his room, sitting down on the couch and burying his head in his hands, his phone cradled in his lap like a bomb he can't risk leaving alone.  Peanut meows and jumps onto the couch with him and walks over to sit beside him, pawing at his hands.  "Peanut, I don't know what to do.  I don't think there's anything I can do," he hisses into his palms.  The cat meows in response and licks his thumb, Izuku sighs weakly, trying not to cry as he reaches out to rub Peanut's head.  "Thanks, buddy.  I love you too."

The phone in his lap buzzes and dings.  The stones in his stomach get heavier, but he picks up his phone again and forces himself to look at the screen through his watering eyes.  'R you okay?  did smthn happen?'

His hands are shaking.  The message reads casually, a little worried, and he has no clue if it's genuine or a lie.  Uraraka is a nice person, so maybe it's true, maybe she's choosing to be a hero to the poor Quirkless kid.  

He moves to respond.  'Are you okay?'  'Are you well?'  'Stay safe.'  'It's not safe.'  Peanut nuzzles his head against Izuku's hand, he can't find the energy to move, he just sits there, staring blankly at the screen wondering.  What the hell does okay mean?

"I'm okay."  He says it out loud, but the words taste and feel like iron shavings and gravel in his mouth.  "I'm okay," he repeats, and leans back against the couch cushions, the white ceiling burns his eyes and the silence is deafening.  "I'm fine," he says, but it doesn't sound convincing, in fact, it sounds like he's about to cry.  Peanut meows, rubbing against his wrist and forearm.  Izuku drops the phone and pulls Peanut into his lap to pet and hold him.  "I love you.  I don't know why I'm like this.  I'm not okay."

Peanut purrs, rolling over a little in his arms.  He can hear the music from his computer in his room.  He curls over, resting his nose in the soft ticklish fur of the tabby cat's shoulder listening to his purr, happy and alive.  "I'm so glad you're okay," he whispers.  Peanut purrs in response.  

The phone rings.  Izuku gasps, staring at the screen in horror.  'Bubble-Eyed Goldfish' is deeply unthreatening, but the scream of his ringtone is deafening.  He picks up the phone with shaking hands as Peanut sits up, his ears twitching.  He taps on the screen, and tries to catch his breath as he lifts it to his ear.

"Midoriya-kun?!  Are you okay?  Do you want me to come over?!"

Oh, right.  Uraraka thinks he's suicidal.

 

"No, you don't have to.  It's a school day after all," he murmurs into the phone, trying to keep his clammy hands from shaking.  "I was just--  I didn't want you to think I was trying to hide it from you."

"What, that you're Quirkless?"  She asks, the concern latent in her voice.  The words sting, not because they're rude or offensive, but because hearing her say it seems to cement the fact that she didn't know before, that he lied to her even as she was kind to him.

"Yeah," he whispers, petting Peanut in an attempt to calm his nerves.  He's scared of what she'll say next he realizes, he's scared of Uraraka who is perfectly nice.

"Well, it's fine.  It's not like I would have been mad or anything."  She sounds terrifyingly honest.  "That's private information, you aren't obligated to tell me something like that."

Izuku's fingers twitch on Peanut's fur and licks his lips nervously.  Isn't he though?  Did she not assume he had a Quirk?  Would she have treated him as kindly as she had if she had the information he kept from her?

"I'm sorry," he mumbles, half out of reflex.

"What?  What for?  Why?"  Uraraka's sudden urgency makes him wince, he's worrying her again.

"Just-- It feels like I wasn't being honest with you, and I'm sorry."  His voice sounds bland and unconvincing to his own ears.  But this is easier than texting, he can hear the emotions in Uraraka's voice and play off of them.

"You don't-- It's fine, Midoriya-kun, I forgive you."  Uraraka sighs, the noise makes Izuku shrink.  Disappointment is such a familiar emotion, and it still stings just as much every time.

"Thanks," he mumbles, scratching Peanut's head.  "Sorry for bugging you then."  

"No, it's fine!  I wanted to talk to you anyways!"  Uraraka chirrups.  "Would you want to meet up again?  I have a free day tomorrow!"

"Oh, uhm--"  Izuku glances around his apartment like there are any answers to that question here.  He doesn't have anything else to do tomorrow, no assignment deadlines, nothing.  "Yeah, okay.  Where do you want to meet?"

Uraraka is quiet for a second on the other line.  "Well, we could do my place, if I ask my parents, or go somewhere, I don't know where though."  The thought of stepping outside and risking his life again isn't very appealing.

"My place is fine too, we won't be in your parents' ways then, and it's safer than outside."  Izuku hums, ruffling Peanut's fur under his fingers, straining to hear the music from down the hall.  "I'll clean the apartment, I could bake something too." 

"I'd love that, as long as I'm not intruding!"  She giggles, it's a sweet sound, but Izuku just feels a little sick.  There's something so wrong about this, about how she treats him.

"Do-- uhm, do you like chocolate?"  He wonders and Uraraka confirms enthusiastically.   "I'll make cookies," he nods though she can't see him.

"I'll bring snacks too!"

The weight in his gut is growing and starting to crush his lungs, "Okay, I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yes!  Tomorrow it is!"

 

When goodbyes are said and the call finally drops Izuku gasps for breath, dropping his phone and hunching over in a shaking pile.  He's a filthy liar and he wishes Uraraka had just treated him like one, it would be less scary.  

"School.  Schoolwork."  Izuku mutters to himself, lifting Peanut to his chest, where his heart stutters and thuds in his ribcage as he stumbles to his room.  Peanut meows, jumping out of his lap and onto the desk when he flops into his chair.  He plugs in his earbuds and jams them in his ears, cranking up the music in hopes it'll drown everything else out.  The coursework software is familiar, he can answer the questions and take the notes just like always, this is easy, he knows it, and it can't scare him.

 

- - -

 

Kitsune watches him from the top of the couch as he vacuums the apartment almost frantically.  Peanut is locked in Izuku's room for his safety as Izuku shoves dining chairs and table out of the way with clatters and screeches.  He runs the vacuum through the kitchen and over the living room floor repeatedly, the roar of the old machine is barely enough to drown out the anxious drawl of his own mind. 

When he's vacuumed everything within reach, Izuku puts the machine back away and frees Peanut from his captivity.  The moment of silence makes him want to scream, so he turns the TV back on and cranks up the news channel until he can hear it throughout the apartment.  Peanut follows him as he drags the cleaning supplies out from the under-the-sink cabinet, the cat sniffs at the dusty cabinet and Izuku hurries to shoo him away so he can close the cabinet door.  The cat does not stop following him as he shuffles towards the bathroom, glancing over his shoulder at the TV periodically.  He picks up the bucket from their bathroom and after filling it up with water from the faucet he ferries it back to the kitchen all with Peanut at his heels.

"What's up, baby?"  Izuku murmurs, setting down the bucket and crouches down to give the tomcat his full attention.

Peanut mewls, rubbing against his pant leg and staring at him wide-eyed.

"Hey there, bud.  I love you too, what's up?"  He scratches the cat's fuzzy chin and Peanut purrs in response.

"--rising popularity of Pro Hero Mucilager: The Sticky Hero is apparently largely in part to a video taken by a bystander during a villain attack in Hamamatsu!  In this video, which has recently gone viral--"  Izuku looks to the TV as Peanut rubs his cheeks and whiskers against Izuku's knuckles.  Mucilager is signed to an agency is Musutafu, why Hamamatsu?

Peanut meows again, licking Izuku's fingertips.  "You just want pets, huh?"  Izuku sits down, scratching at Peanut's fur coat and rubbing the top of his soft head.  Peanut purrs and leans into his hands, closing his eyes and rubbing his cheeks against Izuku's knuckles.  It's really cute and Izuku finds himself giggling without thinking.

Eventually Peanut meows loudly and walks off, cuddle session over.  Izuku stands up with a grunt and splashes his surface cleaning soap into the bucket before dunking a rag in the bucket and starting to wipe down the kitchen counters.

"--Mucilager is seen catching a villain that was about to escape the scene, but what gained the most attention is the way the Hero hands the villain back to Pro Hero Takeshita!  They quickly step out of the limelight and run to help a woman out of the rubble with no hesitation, very heroic, wouldn't you say?"

Izuku wipes down the cabinet fronts and starts on the floors.  Peanut puts both his front paws onto the rag Izuku is trying to use, a toy dangling from his mouth.  "Hi again, bud.  Do you want to play?"  He reaches for the toy and Peanut immediately runs.  Izuku chuckles and continues his work wiping down the kitchen floors, dunking the rag in the bucket again and again.

 

His knees ache gently as Izuku stands up with a grunt, the bathroom tiles are clean now, he glances at Kitsune where the cat is curled up in the sink bowl.  "All done, hm?  You were very good, thank you!"  He scoops her out of the sink carrying her out onto the couch and noting the bathroom counter and sink for cleaning later.  "Time to get ready for dinner!"
Kitsune meows in indignation from the couch and Izuku just sighs.  "You took a bath yesterday, remember?  After Peanut got one and you were jealous?"

He reaches to finally turn off the news.  The apartment is silent for a second, and then the hum of the AC becomes audible alongside the sound of someone's plumbing upstairs.  Izuku rolls his shoulders and moves into the kitchen, letting Kitsune follow him from the couch.

"Thoughts on food for tonight?"  He glances to the cat who stares back with bright orange eyes and a twitch of her tail.  "Because I want chicken noodle soup."

 

Izuku is crouched on a kitchen chair he dragged away from the table and his phone is telling him it's already six in the evening. The cat's have had their dinner, there's cookie dough chilling in the fridge, he needs to buy more flour, and the soup simmering next to him has probably been going long enough, probably.  

'wht kind chips should I bring??'

Izuku lets himself smile a little against his knees.  'Anything is fine, I like spicy flavors'

'rlly???  I didnt expect that'

Izuku snorts and Kitsune glances at him curiously from a chair under the dining table.  He does what he can to ignore his jumping nerves as anxiety sinks it's claws into him unabashedly.  'Just bring what you like'

'ill do what I can! promise ;D'

Izuku sends a smiley emoticon back and reaches to his pot, venting the lid for a second.  He stands up and shuffles to his fridge.  Chicken noodle soup is best with celery and cabbage according to his mother's favorite recipe but he doesn't have those.  He does have fresh spinach, carrots, and daikon though.

Izuku pauses, knife halfway through a carrot when Peanut jumps up onto the counter and starts walking over.

"No," Izuku says, setting down his knife and picking up the cat before he can try to touch the hot pot with his nose or steal a piece of carrot.  "Not for you." He sets the fussy tomcat back on the floor.  "You can have some chicken later if you behave."

Peanut wails like he's been robbed.

 

Izuku pulls the chicken drumsticks and the rest of the bones out of the broth.  Peanut sits on his foot and meows hopefully. 

"It's hot," he argues, peeling all the meat off the bones with chopsticks, his fingers jumping from the bones, trying not to get burned too badly.  "Very hot," he grumbles, blowing on his reddened fingertips.

He tries to move despite Peanut being on his feet to add salt, extra spices, and the spinach to the soup and then the sauteed vegetables and the chicken meat.

He keeps two small dishes of boiled chicken for the cats.  He hands them over promptly when Peanut starts clinging to his ankles.  Kitsune runs over the second the dishes clatter to the ground.

"Don't burn your tongues, and Peanut don't you dare choke."  Peanut meows and shoves chicken strips into his mouth with gusto in response.  Kitsune laps up chicken meat with a judgemental stare aimed at her brother.

 

Izuku sits on the floor with his cats.  He's keeping his bowl of re-heated rice on the seat of his chair and his soup in his lap, emanating a warmth that sinks into his aching fingers like a medicine.

"I'm worried about tomorrow."  He tells them in a whisper between sips of warm soup.  "I'm worried she'll treat me differently."

Izuku sighs, his head thudding against the cabinet door he is resting against.

"But she hasn't yet, she hasn't treated me differently at all, and that's way scarier." He switches bowls, chewing on day old rice.  "Why is she being nice?  I don't get it at all.  No one is like that for no reason, right?"

And if they are.  What kind of person does that make Izuku?  Midoriya Izuku, the liar, the user, the opportunist.

 

"Peanut, no!  You can't have that!"