Chapter Text
Izuku wanted to sigh. There was one last spot that he had to wash, but it was too far away for his short arms. He set his cleaning tools aside and starting using the pulley to raise the lift.
The sun was beating down on him, and there was nothing that he wanted more than a cold shower. He raised the wiper and started scrubbing at the stain, determined to finish quickly and then head home for the day.
He paused.
And then scrubbed in a different spot.
He squinted at the window, trying to figure out what was going on.
Izuku picked up his spray bottle and sprayed the window.
The cat stared at him.
His eyes narrowed at the small creature in front of him and grabbed his wiper again. The cat’s eyes tracked his movement sharply and he scrubbed the window at a terribly slow pace, as if he was taunting it.
The cat pawed at the spot that he was cleaning, and Izuku smiled. He led the cat around on a small chase, snickering as it tried to follow his wiper. He paused, and turned his tool the other direction. The cat’s head tried to follow and ended up on it’s back.
It’s tail waved back and forth as it returned to its feet. As if offended that Izuku made it lay down, it refused to follow his brush and sat there staring at him. Izuku shrugged and returned to cleaning properly.
He spotted a spot that he had missed and lifted himself a little higher. He pulled out his cleaning sleeve and started scrubbing at the stain.
The cat suddenly screeched and pounced when he started scrubbing vicariously, and he quickly moved to a different spot. He stuck his tongue out when the cat failed to follow his tool as he started cleaning in a large circle. As if sensing his triumph, the cat hissed, its fur standing up.
“One for me, zero for you,” Izuku muttered under his breath as the stain finally disappeared. He gave a mocking salute to the cat before using the pulley to lower himself back down. “See you tomorrow,” he called at the angry feline.
It was time for his nice cool shower.
Shouto stretched his arms out and yawned. “Time to go home,” he called over his shoulder. He tilted his head to the side in confusion when he was ignored.
Glancing back over his shoulder, he spotted his cat staring angrily at the window. “Hey, Pudding,” he called again. Instead of his usual purr, he received a cranky hiss. “Someone’s had a bad day,” he muttered under his breath.
“Come on, I’m going to leave you here if you don’t come now,” he warned. Pudding reluctantly glanced back at him before slinking back to his side. Shouto picked him up and set him on his shoulder, where he settled with a huff.
“Sometimes I think your drama is enough to make up for a lack of mine,” he told Pudding seriously. He received no response from him, and Shouto packed up all of his things before heading out of the building.
“Done for the evening?” Shouto glanced at Iida, who was drinking a cup of coffee. Shouto shouldered his bag and nodded.
“Take a day off tomorrow,” Iida said, setting his cup down. “You’ve been working hard enough as it is.” His glasses glinted in the light and Shouto wanted to protest, but the look in Iida’s eyes convinced him otherwise.
“You know I’m the one in charge here right?” Shouto asked, already knowing it was a lost battle. Iida huffed in amusement.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I know you would never abuse your power like that. You need a break from all that work you do.”
“I guess,” he conceded. Iida nodded, looking satisfied.
“I’ll see you next Monday then,” Iida said before refilling his cup and returning to his desk. Shouto watched him leave before heading out of the building to his car. He had tomorrow and the weekend off, so he wasn’t sure what to do.
Pudding huffed again at him, and Shouto sighed. “I don’t know what to do with you,” he told him seriously, and he received a nip on the neck for his comment.
On the way back home, Pudding refused to do anything but sulk on his neck, and Shouto wondered what had brought this on. Even during dinner, he ate his dinner with more aggression than usual. When Shouto tried to wash him a few hours later, he ended up having to chase Pudding all over the house.
Clearly, Pudding was not happy.
“It seems like a you problem,” Shouto told Pudding very seriously before going to bed. He was too tired to deal with Pudding’s problems.
When he woke up the next morning, Pudding was sitting by the door, ready to leave, but Shouto gave him a half hearted glare. “You know I don’t have work today, right? I don’t have work for the next three days.” Pudding only swished his tail and paced in front of the door. Shouto promptly ignored him and proceeded to eat his breakfast.
Unfortunately, Pudding was as stubborn as he was, so he yowled at Shouto for the next three days.
“You’re back,” Izuku deadpanned. The cat glared down at him, as if saying he was superior for being higher. Izuku ignored him and started scrubbing the window clean again. The cat started pawing at the window, and Izuku stuck his tongue out at him.
The cat leaped for his cleaning stick again, so Izuku started swiping his stick in random patterns around the window. Much to his surprise, the cat was able to keep up for the most part and was vigilantly jumping around.
He stopped moving the stick and the cat froze as well, prepared to pounce. He slowly inched it upwards, and the cat’s eyes followed it closely. The cat screeched when the stick suddenly shot down to where it was standing and the little feline leapt away from the window.
Izuku tried not to laugh outwardly, but the disgruntled look on the cats face was far too amusing for him to hold back his laughter. As if sensing his mood, the cat slunk away and Izuku resumed cleaning.
A loud thump caught his attention and he looked over to the left.
“Hey!”
There was a stain on the window.
Inside of the building.
The cat preened itself, looking smug. Izuku wanted to strangle the cat and throw him down the building trash. He took out his spray bottle and started spraying right where the cat was sitting.
“I wish that the window wasn’t here,” he said aloud. The cat continued licking it’s paw, ignoring Izuku’s attempts to spray him away. “I’d give you a nice shower with this cleaning spray, then scrub you down with this grimy brush, then rinse you off with this mopping water.”
The cat eventually walked away with its tail flicking around in the air, and Izuku sighed. His job was finished for today, so it was probably time to go home. He moved to return himself to the ground when he spotted someone inside the office.
Picking up the demon.
Petting the demon.
Said someone was also very cute.
Izuku turned bright red and quickly lowered himself before the person could see him. Unfortunately, they glanced down and they made eye contact for a single moment. Izuku pulled his gaze away quickly and tried to keep his red cheeks hidden.
“Is that why you were grumpy all weekend?” Shouto asked with amusement. Pudding merely curled up in his arms and purred contently, and Shouto could’ve sworn that there was a smirk on his face. “You just wanted to get your revenge,” he sighed before returning to his desk.
“I swear, you’re a menace,” he muttered before returning to his paperwork. Pudding remained quiet in his lap for the rest of the day much to his relief, and he worked diligently.
As the sun began to set, Shouto set Pudding on the desk before standing up and stretching his arms out. After cleaning the mess that Pudding had made, he would call it a day and go home.
“You actually made a mess inside the building just to get back at the cleaner,” he shook his head fondly, glancing at his dozing cat. “And I have to deal with the repercussions.” He managed to wipe up most of the mess before deeming it clean enough and throwing away the used towels.
“Time to head home,” he said out loud before grabbing his bag and picking up Pudding.
Izuku sighed as he strolled down the sidewalk. He was so tired, since he had to finish a group assignment last night. The other members had slacked, so he had to pick up after them. Perhaps a coffee wouldn’t hurt, although he tried to avoid coffee when he could.
“Can I have an americano?” Izuku mumbled, not really paying attention to what was around him. He handed over some bills and stumbled over to a booth to wait for his drink to come out.
He rested his head in his arms, ready for a small nap when he felt something nip at his ankles. His eyes cracked open and he was greeted with a familiar sight.
“What are you doing here?” He asked in disbelief, all traces of sleep gone. The cat merely sat at his feet, glaring up at him. Honestly, he was surprised the cat wasn’t chasing him outright.
“Sorry, he’s mine.” Izuku looked up and saw the person he had seen before escaping yesterday. “I hope he wasn’t bothering you.”
“Not at all,” Izuku hurriedly said, waving his hands dismissively. “We just know each other from…work…” Izuku realized how ridiculous it sounded to know a cat from work, and he wanted to mentally groan. Instead, the mystery person cracked a tiny smile.
Score!
“Pudding tends to make all sorts of weird relationships,” the mystery stranger said, his lips twitching upwards in a smile. “I won’t judge.”
Izuku wanted to die from embarrassment.
“I’m Todoroki Shouto,” the stranger offered. Izuku shook himself out of his stupor and offered a tired smile.
“I’m Midoriya Izuku.” The cat leaped onto the seat across from him, and Izuku squinted at the little demon. What game was this cat trying to play?
Todoroki stifled a laugh and sat down across from him, and Izuku rubbed his eyes in disbelief. Was this some kind of a miracle?
“I think Pudding is trying to tell me something here,” Todoroki said, and Izuku eyeballed the little cat. Said cat was licking his paw innocently, and Izuku decided that Pudding deserved a prize later.
“Who knows?” Izuku shrugged nonchalantly, trying to play it cool. “Did you order already?”
Todoroki nodded, and they fell into an awkward silence. Izuku wasn’t really sure what to say, so his fingers fidgeted nervously.
Until he noticed that a certain cat was chewing up his shoelaces.
“Hey!” He reached down to swat at Pudding. “Stop that!” Pudding stopped and gave him a baleful look, as if telling him off for wasting this opportunity. Izuku mentally groaned because Pudding was absolutely right. This was no time to be goofing around.
“So...how did you get Pudding?” Todoroki blinked at him before glancing down at his cat.
“I accidentally poured water all over him, and he followed me home to get revenge.” Pudding leaped up next to Todoroki and rubbed his head against his left side.
“One americano coming right up.” A voice suddenly spoke out, and a young lady delivered his drink to the table. “Enjoy!” She left to deliver other drinks, and Izuku gratefully took a large gulp.
“You seem to have an interesting relationship with Pudding,” Izuku commented after setting his cup down. “And Pudding is one of a kind.” Todoroki stifled his laughter as he ran his hand over Pudding’s back.
“He really is,” he agreed amiably. Izuku glanced at his watch and almost cursed.
“I have to go,” he said hurriedly, standing up and grabbing all of his things. “I’m about to be late for class. It was nice meeting you!”
In his hurry, he almost ran into one of the servers. He managed to swivel to the side but ended up brushing Todoroki with his arm. A spark ran up his spine and he whirled around. Just as he was, Todoroki was staring at him in shock.
Except he had green hair.
“U-Uh,” Izuku stuttered. He quickly grabbed a pen out of his bag and wrote his number on a napkin. “I have to go to class but text me, okay? We can meet up after my classes finish or something.” Todoroki nods dumbly and Izuku sprints out of there like a madman.