Chapter Text
“FUCK!”
Was the first thing Izuku woke up to that day. Not the lovely sunshine starting to overpower his blackout curtains, not the cute little birdies that kid downstairs had managed to train to be an alarm system, but the sound of Katsuki screaming.
Normally, he’d just roll over and ignore Kacchan’s morning yells. Years of bolting upstairs after his childhood best friend taught him that typically it was just Katsuki going for a run with Kirishima and Shinsou, and the distress would be from Kaminari who was reluctantly being dragged along. But not today. Something about the yelling seemed off to Izuku, and judging by the sudden quiet following it, he should probably investigate.
Sighing deeply as he dragged his pillow out from under his head, he smooshed it to his face and groaned into the morning air as he kicked off his blankets and made his way out of bed to get dressed.
Throwing off his pajamas, Izuku frowned as he dug through his drawers for clean clothes. Why was everything he owned green or red? Geez, Uraraka really was right when she said he looked like a Christmas tree. Maybe he should go shopping with Todoroki or Kacchan to expand his wardrobe. Yeah, Mitsuki would actually be the better fit of the Bakugous to shop with, the more he thought about it, but it probably wasn’t quite the time to ask for such an errand.
As soon as he was dressed in ‘acceptable’ clothes - an All Might t-shirt and athletic shorts - Izuku stepped outside in his slippers to see what the disturbance had been about. While hiked up the stairs he made a mental note to get some coffee in his system, because this really was too early for him to be awake, and to never do this again.
Turning the corner he paused, expecting to find the four seniors in a huddle, aggressively whispering as Kaminari was dragged and redressed by Shinsou and Kirishima. Usually the shorter blond would be kicking up a fuss, groaning about how early it was until Shinsou reminded him of his “goal to get swol” and threatened to trance him into running in his pajamas if he didn’t follow through.
Instead of the normal grouping, Izuku saw the three less… Aggressive… Members of the group, gawking wide-eyed at something while holding a sleepy looking freshman girl by the wrist. She didn’t seem too bothered, but the wide eyes and horrified expressions Izuku was met with signalled maybe she should have been. Stepping forward and muttering, “Guys?” Izuku felt the ground shake as Kaminari jumped, wide-awake for once, at the intrusion.
“Izuku? What’s going on? Haha…” Kirishima asked, normal sharky-grin looking strained across his features. Something wasn’t right.
Trying to pop his head around, Izuku barely got on tiptoe before he heard it.
A soft mewling sound came from behind the students, and with growing concern, Izuku asked, “Where’s Kacchan?” as his eyes darkened.
Stepping backwards, Shinsou looked at Kirishima as if he knew the answer Izuku needed to hear. But before the two could explain anything away, Kaminari blurted out, “He’s behind us but he’s different and we don’t know what to do and she’s barely conscious she’s a new quirk user and we can’t call Aizaw-” before Shinsou’s hand covered his mouth.
Eyebrows starting to lower in frustration, Izuku tilted his head slightly before asking, “What do you mean, he’s different?”
It was no secret that Midoriya had a bizarre connection with Katsuki, considering their childhood friendship and persisting obsession with one another - and after Katsuki’s kidnapping by the League of Villains, all of their class learned a valuable lesson: Never separate Midoriyas from Bakugou. Ever.
As Izuku was met with no answer, he could only assume something dangerous must have happened to Kacchan. With the flickering lightning of his quirk sparking up, the three boys stepped aside, taking the girl with them as they cleared the hallway for Izuku.
Stepping forward, Izuku was confused.
In the middle of the floor was a pile of clothes.
“Kacchan’s running gear?” Izuku muttered, thinking out loud as always. Suddenly, a terrifying thought occurred to him. Looking up, his eyes flickered between the four as he tried to word what was coming to mind.
“Kacchan’s not naked is he?” He whisper-shouted, trying not to imagine the hard lines of muscle and instead focus on what kind of disaster must have occurred to have Katsuki running around the halls undressed.
This time the girl answered, yawning as she said, “No, he’s just-”
“ Mew!”
This time, Izuku’s eyes looked down, finding a very small lump in the laundry pile. Eyes widening as he knelt down to see the wriggling bump, Izuku lifted a layer of cloth to find…
A tiny, golden-furred kitten, eyes closed and whining.
Izuku couldn’t handle it, the tears were pouring out of his eyes as he scooped up the little furball in his hands. Was this…
“Kacchan?”
As if in response, the kitten meowed again and butted into his hands, appearing to appreciate the warmth. The fur was soft, and still pretty flat to his little body, and was that a teeny paw reaching out to Izuku?
As he leaned down to reach kitty Kacchan, Izuku was met with a paw to the face. He almost laughed, of course Kacchan would still be fussy as a cat.
He’d gotten so enraptured in petting the small animal that when Kirishima spoke behind him he jumped, startling Katsuki into swiping at him clumsily with a little paw. Eyes opening to their normal carmine red, kitty Kacchan stomped demandingly. Squealing at the adorable sight in front of him, Izuku started to do his "victory dance", kicking up his legs as he cradled the darling animal closer to his chest.
“Dude, are you okay?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Sure, Kirishima…”
The claws hardly caught on his skin, but he feigned injury for the sake of Katsuki’s pride. After all, he didn’t know if Kacchan was still thinking like Kacchan in there! With that thought crossing his mind, he felt his brain reactivate beyond “omg kitty is so cute I want to hold it forever” and turned, still clutching little Katsuki to his chest as he squeaked in protest.
“What do we know about this quirk?” He asked, looking at the slowly awakening girl as the other boys just kept staring at the kitten in his hands. He was now making grabby paws at Izuku’s fingers, and gnawing on whichever one he could wrap his paws around.
“Ummmm,” Kaminari started as Shinsou urged him on.
“Excuse me?” Izuku looked intently at the exhausted girl, her purple curls falling haphazardly across her shoulders as she struggled to stay awake.
“Huh? Oh, me.” She started, speaking for the first time since meeting the group.
“I was just trying to get a snack and I must have bumped into this guy and freaked out, sorry.”
Frowning, Izuku could at least appreciate that there wasn't any malicious intent. “Okay, that sounds reasonable, but why is Kacchan a cat ?” The small bundle of fur jumped up a little in his palms, insisting on an answer.
“My quirk transforms one thing that's frightening me. I usually think of cute animals to try and keep myself calm, so when he bumped into me and shouted it activated my quirk and now he’s what I was thinking of. Sorry."
“Mrowr!” Sounded a wail from the small creature. Izuku felt tiny claws prick into his calloused hands, and looked to the girl in concern. Kacchan was getting antsy, and seemed ready to fight. Sure, he was still small - but what if? Oh no, no no no no no that would be so bad!
Sensing the growing frustration in the animal, Izuku yelled “Duck! He might still have his quirk!” and everyone dove to the other end of the hallway, leaving Izuku holding “Cat”suki like the idiot he was, squeezing his eyes tight until there was a “chomp!”
Huh?
Opening his eyes a sliver, Izuku saw the blonde fluffball from hell digging its tiny fangs into his hand. Why didn’t it hurt? Wait-
“Ow!”
Katsuki had bitten him harder, seemingly trying to growl with his limited vocal range. Now that there was no sign he was still able to explode anything, everyone trickled back to see what made Izuku cry out in pain.
“He bit me!”
Sure enough, blood was trickling out of the tiny bite marks left by the ferocious beast, and Kirishima rushed off to get first aid.
“Midoriya?” Shinsou stepped forward, brushing his messy purple hair back as he stared at the menacing furball in front of them. He had a lot of experience with fussy animals before - specifically cats, given his relationship he and his dad had.
Green curls swished back as a nervous head snapped up. “Yes?” Izuku responded, tone betraying his anxiety.
“I know what he wants.”
“What he wants?”
“Yeah, he’s hungry. You need to feed him.”
“B-but, how? I can’t breastfeed a cat! I can’t breastfeed at all-OOF!” Izuku was cut off as Shinsou elbowed him in the ribs.
“There's little plastic syringes you can get from Koda. Just find some kitten formula and you'll be okay."
Lowering down to meet the transformed boy eye-to-eye, Shinsou smirked.
"Not so big and cool now, huh?" He taunted, before petting Katsuki on the head. Katsuki still lunged at him, so maybe he had more capacity than a normal kitten… hmmmm.
"Can Kacchan still think? And… how long will he be like this?" Izuku blurted out, stroking Katsuki's back to calm him down. It didn't really work.
Turning back around from her brilliantly executed fade into the shadows, the girl replied bluntly, "Yes, he just can't talk to you like a human. Three days, max, that's the longest it happened to my little brother. And he was a squirrel . Ugh." She grimaced at the memory, and Izuku felt a wave of gratitude come over him.
At least Kacchan was a domesticated animal.
"I'll text Aizawa later, he'll probably be able to handle this. Ooh! And maybe Recovery Girl can speed up Kacchan's return!" Mumbling to himself, Izuku almost missed the hand on his shoulder until Shinsou cleared his throat.
"Already done, now go feed him. And give Koda a candy bar for helping you so early. It'll speed up his process."
A Bickers bar was shoved into Izuku's hands, where a grumpy Katsuki started to attack it. Izuku fumbled with the food and kitten like it was a bad game of hot potato for the rest of the walk over.
Koda, bless his sweet little heart, was very exhausted when Izuku knocked on his door. But thankfully the boy had his wits around him and tried to talk to Katsuki.
"It's not working." He muttered, leaving the kitten on his bed with a flustered Izuku, whose eyes never left the fussy cat.
"Maybe it's because Kacchan's not really a cat? Well, I mean, he is a cat right now - a kitten, more specifically, I guess - but he wasn't born as one so maybe that's why? Oooh! Maybe his vocal chords are differently formed because of that! Can Kacchan even meow properly?"
Koda sleepily gave his answers of, "probably, maybe, and yes, but it's weird." Before handing Izuku a small plastic syringe and some formula.
Yawning, he picked up Katsuki (wearing heavy gloves) and informed izuku that "Starting this is the hard part."
He carefully maneuvered the kitten into a more comfortable position before squeezing the first few droplets into Katsuki's mouth.
After realizing there was food coming from him, Katsuki's demeanor changed dramatically. No longer was he whining and clawing at things, now he was pawing at the syringe as he fed, trying to get more.
"Don't let air bubbles in his stomach, he'll be sore and start crying."
A quiet huff resounded in the small dorm, the bratty kitten seemed to disagree with Koda's advice.
Delicately, Izuku took the syringe and formula from Koda before dropping the snack on his bed, thanking him for his help. Now that he had a little food in his belly, Kacchan seemed a bit less cranky.
Okay.
Now all he had to do was take care of Kacchan!
Cuddling the blonde furball in his hands, a pang hit Izuku's chest. Was Kacchan really going to be happy with him? Was he going to have to deal with an angry, embarrassed Kacchan once this was all over?
Sighing, he put the supplies down on his desk and let Katsuki wander around on his unmade bed.
The sleepy kitten really wasn't too different from Katsuki, was he? Izuku watched as his childhood-friend-turned-kitty evaluated his bed, stepping on pillows and crawling under the duvet folds until he stomped his front paws and whined. Loudly .
Whisper-shouting, Izuku gently crawled his way into the bed, trying to soothe the feisty kitten. "Ahhh! Kacchan, it's the weekend you have to be quiet!"
Katsuki scampered up his pillows again, before raising a paw and lowering it. He repeated the motion at Izuku several times, looking more and more irritated.
"Huh?"
Izuku mimicked the motion slowly, lifting his hand and forearm as he tried to figure it out. Did Kacchan want a high-five?
"Mrowr!"
Apparently not.
Starting to feel defeated, Izuku began to lay back in his bed, trying to give Kacchan all the space he needed. He may have been small, but given his… Diva tendencies, he would probably want the entire pillow he was on to be his bed.
Sliding down, Izuku was met with stumbling sounds above his head. Oh no, did Kacchan fall?
Turning around he felt the small weight brush up against his arm, leaning into it.
Oh .
Carefully laying back down, this time Izuku put his pillow under his head like normal and feigned sleep. Was this going to work?
A minute or two later, the fluff began to move, awkwardly climbing over his arm, painfully gripping his T-shirt, and finally standing on his chest.
Trying desperately to keep from smiling, Izuku tried to think of everything that made him frown.
Then those four little paws stopped moving, and Kacchan settled down.
Holy crap.
This was happening.
Kacchan was sleeping on him!
If that fact wasn't enough to get his heart racing, the kneading and head nuzzling was what did him in.
Izuku was officially dead. Deceased. Lifen't. He must have been in another universe, because Katsuki was never this affectionate or trusting, especially not to him.
Was he?
While the telltale signs of sleep began to overtake him, he tried to let himself enjoy the moment. Because honestly, this was a once in a lifetime experience and he would need to embrace it.
Out like a light, he didn't notice Kacchan growing.