Chapter Text
Izuku follows the black cat he has gotten so familiar with. His steps are unsure as he is being led to a part of the city he has never been to before. Still, the cat has never done anything to earn Izuku's mistrust, so the boy follows obediently, watching as the feline walks through the city with its tail held high.
They arrive in a nicer neighborhood and Izuku lets his tense shoulders loosen just a bit, no one here should know who he is. About his condition. Still, just to be safe he keeps his hood up.
Gravel crunches under his shoes, they are painted black, but it has started peeling, revealing that very specific shade of red. Izuku needs to make sure he paints them again soon. Quirkless people’s feet are differently shaped because of the extra toe joint and thus need special shoes. Only one kind is made and they are always bright red, a specific shade you only saw in the shoes, made to catch attention. For safety, Izuku had spray painted them black years ago.
A meow calls his attention and Izuku looks up from his shoes to see the cat by a one story townhouse, standing at the driveway of the house on the left edge. Izuku hesitates, this is someone's private property, he has no right to intrude. Anyone here shouldn't know about his quirklessness so he should be able to just get away with apologies if he intrudes, but if they found out, well, he was as good as dead.
“I-I’m sorry, I c-can’t go there”, Izuku stutters, his voice soft as he looks at the cat staring at him, trying to figure out what it wants from him. Izuku had been excited to just spend another day in peace, but the cat had insisted that he follows it, continuously yowling and pawing at him when he didn't follow.
The cat meows, before going to the wooden door, standing up against it and yowling loudly. Izuku flinches, is this its house? Is its owner there? Why does it want Izuku to go there? What if this is just a random house? Izuku shakes with anxiety as the cat continues scratching the door and yowling.
Another flinch shakes Izuku as the door suddenly opens. Out steps a person with blond hair, tied up in a messy bun. They're wearing black rimmed glasses and an exasperated smile as they stare at the cat.
“Hey Shou! You're here early”, the person greets with a happy voice, crouching down to pet the cat, but before they can, the cat starts strutting back to Izuku. The boy feels electric panic running through his body, the urge to run is strong. Tears gather in his eyes as the feline comes to him, meowing loudly before turning to look at the person by the door, seemingly expecting something.
The person turns to look at Izuku, clearly surprised as they stand back up, taking a few steps outside.
“Hello there!” the person greets happily, waving to him with a bright smile. They seem very charming and Izuku is instantly at peace with their presence, but he forces himself to still keep his guard up, he is very well aware charismatic people can be very dangerous.
Izuku gives a timid nod in reply, staring at the feline pawing his legs with wide eyes. Why did you do this to me, Izuku thinks, feeling slightly betrayed. The cat must know how uncomfortable he is. Still, the feline persists, even going as far as taking Izuku’s jeans in its mouth, trying to pull him forward.
“I think Shou might want you to meet me”, the stranger says, leaning against the doorframe, seemingly at ease with what is happening. They're the complete opposite of Izuku who just wants to run away and break down crying. He is so panicked with the unfamiliar situation it feels like his heart is going to give out.
“You can come inside, if you want to. We could figure out what Shou wants?” Izuku tenses at the suggestion, his blood running cold with the possibilities of what could happen to him. There is no way Izuku would put himself in risk of awful things happening to him just like that. But then Izuku looks down after noticing the pulling on his legs has stopped. The feline sits there with large pleading eyes, meowing softly. Izuku stares right back. Why is his life like this?
A soft laughter makes Izuku turn his head back to the stranger.
“Shou does that only when he wants something really badly, usually his pride can’t take being like that”, they inform with a fond voice, earning a hiss from the feline. Izuku flinches slightly at the sudden sound, but relaxes when the cat rubs its- his, the person had referred to the cat, face against his ankles.
“You don't have to come inside if you don't want to. I understand. We can go hang out somewhere if you want”, the stranger offers. Izuku stares at the feline by his legs. Fine.
“S-sure”, Izuku mumbles in reply.
“Of course! I’ll be right back, I’ll just get something more fashionable on. I’ll be right back, listener!” the stranger seems happy with Izuku's acceptance, bouncing back inside after Izuku nods in confirmation. The boy looks down at himself, he’s far from fashionable himself, wearing jeans that are worn and ripped at the knees and a black oversized hoodie, his hood up, covering his messy hair he hadn't had the energy to take care of in years. Izuku lets out a small sigh as the cat sits by his feet, looking completely proud of himself.
It takes only a few minutes before the stranger is stepping out of the house, closing the door behind themselves. They're wearing jeans, white button up and a leather jacket, Izuku also notices their hair is now half up, half down, instead of in a bun.
“Shall we go?” they suggest with a smile. Izuku nods shyly and soon he's following the person somewhere. Izuku makes sure to keep aware of his surroundings, ready to run if they go somewhere suspicious.
“Is there anywhere you'd prefer we go?” the person asks. Izuku shakes his head, hands clenched in fists inside his pockets, nails digging into his skin, keeping some of the nervousness away.
“No, not re-really. I- I don't really spend time around- around here”, the boy replies quietly.
“I hope Shou didn’t drag you too far?” they ask, weirdly seeming almost genuinely worried, looking down at the cat walking between them. The feline just meows at the stranger, making them chuckle.
“N-no”, Izuku replies simply, still too nervous to hold a conversation properly. Not that he thinks he is good at communicating anyway, who knows how long it’s been since he had a normal conversation with anyone.
“Oh yeah! I forgot to ask your name”, the stranger suddenly says, his louder tone making Izuku flinch, but weirdly they seem to notice it and quiet their voice to a softer tone. The boy flushes at his own jumpiness, he really can't keep it together for two seconds.
“My- my name is- is Izuku”, he mumbles in a very quiet voice, deciding not to reveal his last name. The stranger doesn't seem too put off by his carefulness and Izuku is glad they don’t press.
“Nice name, kiddo. I’m Yamada Hizashi and I use he/him pronouns”, the person- Yamada- announces.
“I- I use he/him t-too”, Izuku informs quietly, shoulders rising to his ears as they arrive to a more populated area, the crowd making his anxiety rise quickly.
“There's a cafe a few blocks from here, they welcome cats and me and Shou hang out there all the time”, Yamada says, turning to flash a smile at the nervous boy. Izuku nods, a cafe is okay.
They keep walking, Yamada rambling about mindless subjects, Izuku easily letting the man do all the talking. His skin crawls with nerves, mind buzzing with anxiety, not letting him think properly as he tries to keep an eye on everything at the same time. The people around him, Yamada, the cat, where they are heading, it's overwhelming and Izuku feels like crying, but he forces himself to keep going, curiosity peeking from somewhere deep inside him where he had buried it years ago. He wants to know why the cat led him to Yamada. He hasn't wanted anything in a while.
“Here we are”, Yamada announces, gesturing to a small, comfortable looking cafe. “You wanna get in?” the man continues and Izuku appreciates that he asked. The boy looks at the inside of the cafe from what he can see from the window. It seems clean and cozy, four customers sitting around and a cashier behind the counter.
Izuku nods silently in response to the man. He smiles brightly at the boy before opening the door, letting Izuku and the cat through first. The boy's shoulders rise in defense as he passes the man, feeling nervous of leaving his back open and being so close to a person he barely knows.
The cat wanders inside confidently, jumping to a booth at the corner of the cafe.
“You mind sitting there?” Yamada asks with a chuckle, looking fondly at the cat. Izuku shrugs before walking to the booth, sliding to the corner of the couch. The feline instantly climbs to his lap, butting his head against Izuku's stomach before starting to purr, Izuku gives him a small smile.
“If I go to order, do you want anything? It’s my treat”, Yamada offers, seemingly genuine but Izuku's mind screams with danger. Food offers are always bad.
“No- no thank y-you”, Izuku stammers out and much to his relief, Yamada accepts it with a simple nod.
“Okay. Mind if I go get myself a tea?” the man asks. Izuku shakes his head, feeling confused. Why did he care about what Izuku thinks?
Yamada leaves with a smile and “I’ll be back soon, listener”. Izuku is left to stare at the cat purring on his lap, seemingly half asleep. Now the traitor just sleeps, leaving Izuku suffering in a situation where he put the boy.
Something about Yamada is oddly familiar, especially on the way he calls him “listener”. It’s right at the edge of his mind, just outside his reach. It makes him nervous, not remembering where he had seen or met Yamada before. It could be something awfully traumatic. Still, Yamada does seem nice and genuine, it could all be an act, but Izuku has never seen one as convincing. But at the moment he chooses to believe Yamada doesn't have any ill intent. If he did, the cat wouldn't have brought him to the man, right?
After a moment, Yamada comes back, sliding to the couch opposite of Izuku. He has a mug of what Izuku presumes is tea in his hand and a packet of something in his other.
“I got some treats for Shou, would you like to give them to him?” the man offers, placing the packet on the table, pulling his hand away. It seems Yamada has caught on to Izuku's nervousness.
A loud meow makes Izuku blink, looking down on his lap. There the cat is looking at him, clearly waiting for the treats. Izuku gives him a small smile, before taking the packet of treats with shaking hands, struggling with opening it. He feels a blush burn on his cheeks as he finally gets the packet open, giving one to the cat. He takes it before snuggling on his lap with a happy purr.
“Usually Shou hates everyone and everything so it's nice to see him open up to someone other than me”, Yamada says softly, Izuku's head whipping to look at the man.
“O-okay. He um- he was really n-nice with- with me from the- the start”, Izuku stutters out with a shaky voice, nails digging into his thighs until a furry head comes to push between his hands. Izuku just sighs down at the cat, busying his hands with scratching the cat's head.
“Yeah, something you need to actually know about Shou, is that he’s not a cat”, what? Izuku stares at the man with wide eyes.
“I mean he is a cat, but actually he is a human under a quirk”, Yamada continues explaining. Izuku feels his heart drop as he turns to look at the cat on his lap, staring at him intensely, blinking slowly. The cat is actually a person? He isn’t just a cat with an intelligence quirk, but a human in a cat form. Izuku feels awful. A human had seen all- all that happened in the past months. The boy's hands tremble and the feline seems to notice his discomfort, rising from Izuku's lap and jumping to the table, walking to Yamada who instantly starts petting him.
Izuku stares at the cat, his breathing picking up as his brain buzzes with panic and his skin crawls with anxiety. Panic starts choking him, wrapping vines around his throat until he can't breathe properly. He feels horrible. What all he had put a person through? He felt like crushing with guilt when it was a cat, but now it's a human who understands everything that happened. Izuku had almost bled to death with a person there, completely helpless in a cat's body. Izuku feels sick.
“Hey listener, you need to breathe, ‘kay?” a gentle voice pierces the thoughts screaming in Izuku's head. A gasping breath, too close to a sob, leaves his lips as air rushes out, then in again. But he can’t let the air out again, it feels like his chest will collapse if he does. A low whine pushes from somewhere deep inside his chest and Izuku curls around himself, covering his mouth with his hand to keep any noises back. His other hand digs its nails to his thigh, the pain too dull to help. Izuku would pull on his hair but he's too aware of the two sets of eyes looking at him with worry.
Suddenly there is a weight on his lap and a rough tongue licking at his hand. The weird sensation grounds Izuku slightly, vines around his chest loosening just slightly, enough for him to let the air out and pull it back in.
“Come on listener, good job, take another breath, okay?” the voice is so very gentle and Izuku wants to obey it, so he forces another breath out, not letting himself gasp the air back in, instead taking it in slowly and carefully.
“Good job, you're doing great”, Izuku feels tears gather in his eyes at the gentleness. Izuku hasn't heard such kind words in years. A tongue keeps licking at his hand clenched on his thigh, meowing quietly.
Bit by bit Izuku's breath starts coming easier, his violent trembling lessening as his back straightens from the curled up position. Slowly he lets the hand covering his mouth fall down, wiping away the few tears that fell with his sleeve. Izuku's cheeks burn with embarrassment. He is so useless he can't keep it together for one conversation. Deku, his mind hisses. Izuku squeezes his eyes shut, forcing his thoughts to quiet before he starts crying or panicking again.
“Sorry”, he whispers, his voice rough. Izuku keeps his head down, staring at the shapes on the wooden table, hand absentmindedly petting the cat on his lap. It's still so weird to think he's a person.
“Nothing to apologize for, don't worry. It must be shocking, from what I've gathered you and Shou have spent a lot of time together in the last months”, Yamada says, his voice soft and gentle. Izuku can't fathom why the man doesn't hate him. He is so stupid and so bothersome. Izuku certainly hates himself for both of them.
“Y-yeah”, the boy confirms. He keeps his eyes tracing the table, too nervous to meet Yamada’s eyes.
“Would it be easier if I do the talking, tell you what I know and we can go on from there?” Yamada suggests and Izuku doesn't hesitate to nod. He needs more time to calm down and Yamada saying everything first made the probability that Izuku says something wrong smaller.
“Okay. So the cat is actually a man named Aizawa Shouta, he got hit by a quirk almost a year ago during work and that turned him into a cat. It had been an accident, a kid in the middle of a quirk manifestation, but we aren't sure how to un-cat him. Right now we're just waiting for the kid to get better with her quirk so she can hopefully turn Shouta back. She has made a lot of progress, but it's a complicated quirk”, Yamada starts. Somewhere deep inside his brain, a younger Izuku’s hands itch to make notes and analyze the quirk, but Izuku pushes it back. He can't afford to be like that anymore. The boy glances at the cat already staring at him. Aizawa Shouta huh?
“N-nice to- to meet y-you”, Izuku whispers, earning a happy meow in reply.
“Shou honestly isn't that much different when he's a human, grumpy, quiet, likes to sleep a lot, hates people, but he does miss his coffee”, the teasing earns a hiss, but Yamada just chuckles. Izuku smiles slightly at the interaction, still keeping his eyes down.
“Anyway, I think you'll get used to him easily when he turns back into a human”, Izuku nods, acknowledging what the man is saying. It feels so weird to think the cat would one day be human. Would he still want to be around Izuku then? The boy doesn’t want to think about that.
“Few months after his transformation, he started spending a lot of time outside, I’m guessing that's when he met you. It was around May?” Yamada asks and Izuku nods in confirmation. His memory is fuzzy, but he is pretty sure it was May.
“I was just happy he spent time outside, so I didn't think of it too much. He did seem to be a bit stressed, but also in a better mood. But then, around a month later, he comes home all bloody. Gave me a heart attack, that one. But it was not his blood. Shou was all stressed for months after that, he seemed so sad, but I couldn't figure out what was going on”, Izuku's shoulders rose with every word as guilt built on top of his chest, crushing his ribcage until it cracks painfully. Izuku feels horrible, he is a monster. Izuku can't even begin to imagine what it was like to Aizawa.
“Y-yeah, uh- some-something happened then”, Izuku stammers out in a weak voice. A meow takes his attention and Izuku can basically see the tell him in the cat's eyes. Izuku averts his gaze, back to the shapes on the table.
“I hope everything’s okay now, though?” Yamada questions, leaning his arms on the table. Izuku nods quickly. The lie is obvious, but thankfully Yamada doesn't press. An irritated yowl leaves the feline on his lap, but he doesn't do anything. Izuku clenches his eyes shut for a moment, forcing the memories of his blood pooling everywhere away.
“Okay. Thankfully months later Shou comes home and he's not as stressed anymore, maybe a bit sad. That's pretty much everything, the next thing is just you ending up on my doorstep”, Yamada says, taking a sip of his tea, eyes looking over Izuku.
The boy hunches over himself, considering what to say. Slowly he rewrites his story in his mind, twisting it into something less bad.
“The- the c-cat found me around- around May, as- as you know. I was having a- a bad day and he s-seemed to no-notice it, instantly getting uh- close to- to me and I- I guess trying to c-comfort me”, Izuku starts with a shaky voice. He can feel Aizawa's eyes staring at him, but Izuku focuses on a line on the wood, starting out thin before widening and then thinning again.
“When I- I got h-home, I t-thought it was good- goodbye, but some time later he- he found m-me again. I was having another b-b-bad day and he- he comforted me. After that we- we met almost every d-day, just hanging out. I had- had guessed he has a ho-home and wondered if his- his family minded him being away all the- the time, but when he kept- kept coming back, I just l-let it go”, Izuku continues, following another line on the table with his eyes, this one thick through the whole way, but it has shapes inside it.
Yamada takes another sip of his tea, eyes searching Izuku. The feline squirms on his lap, pawing at his middle, but Izuku refuses to look.
“It’s good to know he was in safe hands”, Yamada starts when he notices the boy is done talking. Izuku doesn't reply, just stares at the wood, don't think, don't think, Izuku reminds himself. If he starts thinking too much, he will break down. He hates lying so much, but Yamada doesn't need to be bothered with his life. Izuku ignores the fact that when Aizawa becomes a human again, his lies will be revealed. He cannot think about that now.
“What about the blood, if you don't mind me asking?” Ice runs down Izuku's spine at the question. He forces himself to calm down and take a deep breath, ignoring how the lies taste like acid on his tongue.
“Yeah, it was- it was just an- an a-accident. I had fallen down and- and h-hit my head. Um- h-head wounds b-bleed a lot and- and it freaked out us both. I was f-fine, but I had to- to stay h-home for a w-while. I really gave my- my m-mom a s-scare”, his voice shakes so bad by the end that it is barely understandable. Izuku feels two sets of eyes burning into him and Izuku knows Yamada doesn't believe him. Izuku prepares himself for the man calling him out, yelling at him and telling him to leave the cat alone.
“Okay”, Yamada simply says and Izuku can't believe his ears. It can't be that easy right? The man had to know he’s lying. Izuku's heart bumps in his chest too loudly and he feels his panic rising. He needs to leave.
“Uh- It was n-nice meeting you, but- but I uh- need to- to go”, Izuku stammers out, picking the cat up from his lap and placing him on the table, sliding out of his seat in the same movement.
“Oh, okay. It was nice meeting you Izuku”, Yamada says, he's clearly surprised and can probably tell that Izuku is lying again, but the boy doesn't care. He needs to get out.
The boy doesn’t turn to look back as he walks out of the cafe, hunching over himself as his nails dig into his palms inside his pockets. He is barely able to hold it together until he gets home. By the time he is inside his apartment, vines are squeezed around his chest and he can't breathe. Tears blur his vision as he walks straight into the bathroom, locking the door behind himself. The boy doesn't hesitate to rip his suddenly too tight clothes off and set the shower on as hot as it goes.
With gasping, panicked breaths Izuku steps under the stream, clenching his teeth to bite back the pained whimpers.