Chapter Text
Inko had a day off for the first time in a while. She had initially intended to stay home and catch up on some sleep, but then she'd gotten a text from Izuku. It was a picture of a group of the cats at his cafe surrounding a small bowl of food. Following the picture was a text. 'They can't wait to meet you! Every time I bring up your name, one of them starts meowing and looking for you.'
Upon reading that text, she decided that plans be damned, she was going to meet the cats she had heard so much about from her son. She set out for the cafe, umbrella in hand as she walked down the street. It was a quiet and rainy day, so there were not many people on the streets. She reached the cafe pretty quickly and close her umbrella before opening the door. The bell let out a soft ding as she stepped inside, taking a deep breath as the scent of coffee filled her nose.
"Deku, someone came in." A gruff voice called from behind the counter. Inko paused, immediately recognizing the voice.
"Katsuki?" She asked, taking a step towards the counter to see if the voice was in fact Izuku's best friend.
"Auntie Inko? Is that- fuck!" Katsuki stood too fast and hit his head on the counter. He mumbled a long string of curses under his breath before looking towards the door. "Oh my god... Deku! Your mom is here!"
"What do you mean 'my mom is here' Kacchan? It's her... Mom!" Izuku walked out from the back, looking around curiously. When he spotted Inko, he almost ran over to her and gave her a hug. "What are you doing here? I thought you were gonna get some sleep today?"
"I changed my mind once you sent me the cats earlier. I decided it was time for me to meet them." She explained. "That's okay with you, right?"
"Yeah! Absolutely! Do you want a drink?" Izuku offered. "We have just about any hot drink you can think of. And fountain soda as well, because I know some people don't like hot drinks."
"Just water is fine, sweetie." Inko replied, looking down as she felt something rubbing against her ankle. There stood a white cat that seemed to have a permanent smile etched on its face. It let out a loud meow and following Inko over to her seat, hopping up on the table and standing in front of her as if it were demanding to be pet. She reached out a hand and stroked the cats fur. The cat let out a contented purr at the attention it was receiving.
"I see you've met Yowl Might." Katsuki said as he walked over to the table, two mostly orange cats at his heels. They jumped up on the table as the blond sat down across from Inko. The orange and white cat hissed at the cat that was apparently named Yowl Might, causing Katsuki to laugh.
"Yowl Might? As in..." Inko's voice trailed off at the thought of her son's former mentor.
"Yeah, the one and only. I'll let Izuku explain the meaning behind his name." A few moment later, Izuku walked over with a water, as well as two coffees. He passed one of them to Katsuki, who mumbled a thank you before taking a sip. "She wants to know about the names."
"I named him Yowl Might because he's a little shit and he's annoying. He's also very loud. And obnoxious. Plus, he always looks way too happy. There is nothing behind his eyes." Izuku said without hesitation. The speed at which he supplied the information made Inko laugh.
"Izuku!"
"What? It's the truth, Mom!" Her son shot back. It wasn't as if Inko didn't agree. The three of them in the room knew that All Might only had the best intentions, but sometimes he had made decisions that weren't in the best interests of the students. It had taken a while to realize that, but slowly everyone began to accept that the former Symbol of Peace wasn't infallible. He was still human, which a lot of people seemed to forget. And he made a lot of mistakes.
"He's right, it is the truth." Katsuki spoke up. The orange and white cat from before had sat down on the blond's shoulder while the pure orange one sat in front of him almost protectively.
"Kacchan, do you wanna tell her about these two?" Izuku piped up.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I guess. This one," He gestured to the orange cat (upon closer inspection, Inko noticed the poor dear was missing an eye) sitting in front of him, "is Diamond. She's sorta named after Ei. Izuku said something about diamond being the toughest mineral and how that relates to his Quirk, and the missing eye relates to the scar.... but Ei almost cried when he found out."
Inko couldn't help but smile. She'd never seen Katsuki so calm. It was nice to see that the cats kept him from yelling. "What about the one on your shoulder?"
"That's Katchan." He replied, then rolled his eyes. "Sorta like my nickname."
"I named her that because she's loud and is always yelling, just like Kacchan is." Izuku replied, poking his friend in the shoulder. "Sometimes I call her Nyamight, just to make fun of his hero name."
"And I told you, if you're gonna make fun of my hero name, at least come up with something creative to do so. Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight is creative as fuck. Nyamight is stupid. Get better insults, nerd."
"But it pisses you off, doesn't it? That's the whole point of her nickname."
"I hate you so much, shitty nerd."
"That's as close as I'm gonna get to you admitting that you consider me a friend today, isn't it?"
"As entertaining as this is, boys," Inko spoke up before the two could start an insult war, "Are there any other cats whose names are meaningful?"
"Yeah." The two spoke in unison, before Izuku continued. "There's one in particular that I think you'd like." Her son stood and walked away for a moment, returning with a toast colored cat. "This is BeeBee. I named her after you."
Inko was speechless. "You named her... for me?" She felt like she was about to cry.
"Yeah. The BeeBee means 'baddest bitch' and that's what all my friends called you when we were in school. You always stood up for yourself and for others and didn't let anyone boss you around. BeeBee is the sweetest cat ever, but she'll fight if someone looks at the other cats the wrong way. Just like how you're really nice, but you'll destroy anyone who tries to hurt people you care about."
"Izuku... that's the sweetest thing I've ever heard." She wiped tears away from her eyes as she went to hug her son. "Thank you."
Despite how much of a little shit he could be at times, Inko knew one thing. She'd raised an incredible young man who was the sweetest person in the entire universe. And no title that her son had once held could ever compare to the pride she felt knowing how much of an impact that he'd had on his friends- no, his family in the ten years since they'd met at U.A. Inko was incredibly proud of everything Izuku had ever done.
Inko Midoriya - "BeeBee" ("Baddest Bitch")