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Bakugou HATED his spirit animal.
He’d hated her from the moment she first manifested when he was five, mere months after his quirk had manifested.
Spirit animals were supposed to be representations of your soul , reflecting at least part of your true nature, permanent perfect companions. He’d grown up with his Mom’s tiger walking around the house, strong and feisty like she was. His dad’s owl was always keeping a watchful eye from a perch high up on the cupboards, protective and wise.
They were COOL. They FIT his parents.
Bakugou didn’t know if spirit animals could be broken, but his was definitely WRONG.
His spirit animal was a kitten. Not a CAT. He would have accepted a sleek, predatory house cat. But no, what he had was a KITTEN. A tiny ball of orange and cream tabby that was more fluff than cat, with ears too big for it’s teensy body and perfect white little paws. She had crimson eyes to match him, but that was as FAR as their similarities went.
She wasn’t cool. She wasn’t badass. She was NOTHING like Bakugou and sure as hell wasn’t a representation of anything inside him.
So he kept her hidden.
Most of the time, people’s spirit animals lived inside them. A comfortable weight in the back of your mind. They only took their physical forms when they were alone, or with people they trusted and were extremely comfortable with. Even then, with a little concentration you could FORCE your spirit animal to stay inside. It took a bit of energy and tended to leave Bakugou exhausted at the end of the day, but that’s what he did. He only let her out when he was absolutely alone.
Only one person in Bakugou’s entire life had seen his spirit animal other than his parents and that wasn’t for lack of trying. Even as a kid, Bakugou had tried to keep her hidden. But for some reason… he couldn’t control her around Midoriya.
Midoriya would show up and Bakugou could feel his kitten ripping itself out of Bakugou’s soul to manifest at his legs. She would bound over to Midoriya and rub herself on the nerd’s legs until she drew out Midoriya’s spirit animal, a huge white Tundra wolf with piercing green eyes.
Midoriya would giggle and squat down to scratch behind her ears and Bakugou HATED how fucking GOOD it felt through their bond to have Midoriya affectionately touch him like that.
It was humiliating.
Humiliating and infuriating .
He’d grab his spirit animal and run until he was far enough away to force her back into his soul. It was part of why he distanced himself from his former best friend. He thought he could make his spirit animal hate the nerd by hating him himself. The meaner he was to Midoriya, the easier it was to keep her inside.
It still didn’t alway work.
During lunch at middle school he frequently could feel her slip away from out of his mind, she’d disappear for hours and Bakugou only knew who she was with by the overwhelming warmth that would flood his system, the ghost of fingers rubbing behind his ears and up and down his spine.
There was only one person the little shit would trust enough to let touch her.
Sure enough, Deku would show up at his locker after school, blushing and stammering as he handed her back.
“S-she showed up in my math class. I couldn’t get her to leave. Sorry Kacchan-”
“Shut up!” Bakugou would yank her away and glare at Deku until he started crying and ran away. He’d wait until he was gone to hold her up to his face, turning his glare onto her.
“I fucking hate you.” He’d hiss and snarl, but for as much as he insisted he DID hate her… he would melt when she’d tap a tiny paw to his nose.
“I hate you so much.” He would whisper, nuzzling against her tiny face
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He thought the worst was behind him… and then UA happened.
Not only had Deku been accepted as well, but Bakugou suddenly, miraculously , had friends.
Not friends like the boys that used to follow him around middle school. No, his new friends actually cared about him for some reason. They liked him and wanted to be around him and just like his kitten, Bakugou could say he hated them all he wanted...but couldn’t deny the growing affection he had for them all.
He knew he was fucked when his friend’s animals started showing themselves around him.
He’d nearly shat himself when he went to eat breakfast one morning and a fucking lizard fell out of his cereal box.
He squawked and lifted a hand to blast it when Kirishima noticed and burst out laughing.
“There you are!” Kirishima pushed Bakugou’s hand down and went to pick up the lizard. “I wondered where you went!”
“What the FUCK is that!?” Bakugou asked, reeling back.
“Oh this? This is Spikes!” Kirishima lifted the lizard so he could perch on his shoulder.
“It’s your… your animal?” Bakugou asked, still staring at the spiked lizard.
“Uh huh. I’m pretty sure he’s an armadillo girdled lizard.” Kirishima reached out to grab a handful of cereal, eating it dry. “He must like you, usually he’s asleep until at least noon. It’s a bitch during english. I can’t tell if he’s tired or if I’m tired.”
Kirishima kept ranting, but Bakugou couldn’t take his eyes off the lizard. It was just...sitting there. Other than his parent’s animals and Deku’s wolf… he’d never been around someone who trusted him enough to catch more than a glimpse of their animal spirits.
It didn’t end with Kirishima.
Mina’s snake decided to assault him in the shower. Kaminari’s squirrel frequently appeared to steal his lunch. And he was losing track of the number of times he’d forced Sero’s tarantula back into Sero’s soul by squashing it when it showed up and tried to give him a heart attack.
But it wasn’t until their second year that Bakugou had to add another person to the list of people he couldn’t stop his kitten from appearing to.
He’d been studying with Kirishima after school. Kirishima was sitting on the floor. Bakugou was sprawled out on his bed, going over their new English vocabulary in his head when he felt the tell-tale shift of his kitten slipping out of his mind.
Followed almost immediately by:
“Oh my GOD.” Kirishima gasped.
No. Fucking NO!
Bakugou launched himself into a sitting position just in time to see his kitten flop onto her back in front of Kirishima, reaching her tiny paws to bat at his finger when he reached to rub her tummy.
Bakugou felt unbidden warmth explode in his own stomach.
“Oh my god.” Kirishima repeated himself. “Katsuki is this your-”
“Yes. Could you stop fucking touching my stomach!” Bakugou hissed through gritted teeth.
“Shit. Sorry.” Kirishima retracted his hand, much to the kitten’s disappointment. She let out a mewly protest and clambered into his lab. Spikes materialized on Kirishima’s thigh and pretty soon the two were playing a game of ‘catch the lizard tail.’
“Oh my god.” Kirishima repeated himself for a third time and looked up at Bakugou in disbelief. “How!? She’s so fucking cute!”
“Shut up. SHUT UP.” Bakugou felt his face heat up and his palms were already starting to pop.
“What’s her name!?”
“It’s none of you BUSINESS!” Bakugou’s voice went weirdly high at the end.
“I don’t understand. I thought you’d have like a lion or maybe like a big fucking crocodile. Oh my god, Kaminari is NOT going to believe-”
“YOU TELL NO ONE!” Bakugou roared, diving onto the floor. He grabbed the kitten by the scruff of her neck and pushed her against his chest. “Go back inside you little shit!”
“You can’t force them!” Kirishima cackled. “Why are you so worried?”
“It’s fucking embarrassing .”
“Aw no it’s not! Everyone knows you can’t pick your animal!”
“If you tell anyone about her I’ll fucking kill you. Got it?”
“Baku-”
“GOT IT!?”
“Fine.” Kirishima huffed. “What’s her name?”
“None of your business.”
“Katsuki!”
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Swearing Kirishima to silence didn’t keep the kitten a secret for very long. She only completely revealed herself to Kirishima and Deku. But Kaminari and Sero had caught glimpses of her, Mina swore she almost let her pet her once before flickering out of existence.
And when he and Midoriya started dating at the end of their second year… Bakugou gave up on trying to conceal her.
He couldn’t count the number of times he woke up warm and content and unbelievably happy for no reason, only to walk down the hall to Midoriya’s room to find his kitten curled up into a ball, nestled against his boyfriend’s neck.
It was like sleeping together without risking getting caught in each others rooms.
On the flip side, he’d also woken up more than a few times to a heavy weight trembling against his side, trying to burrow under his covers.
“Hey Mighty.” Bakugou greeted the wolf, lifting the covers so he could wiggle underneath. The animal was shaking, and since spirit animals felt, to some degree, what their humans felt, he knew somewhere, Midoriya was scared or anxious.
Bakugou threw his arm over the wolf and rubbed at the base of his ears.
“It’s ok…” He soothed sleepily. “Tell him it’s ok.”
His kitten, who had been asleep in the nest she made nightly in Bakugou’s hair, crawled over. She gave Mighty a few little kitten licks before curling up under one of his legs. She began to purr right against his chest.
Together the two of them comforted Mighty until the shaking stopped and Bakugou knew that somewhere, Midoriya had been able to drift off to sleep.
It was Midoriya that helped Bakugou grow… accepting of his little companion, even proud in a way.
“I think it makes sense.” Midoriya had said one night, after the two had gotten into some delightful mischief wayyyyy past curfew up on top of one of the UA buildings. Bakugou was sprawled out on a blanket he’d hauled up here for their picnic date, Mighty curled up one side of him, Midoriya propped up on the other. Midoriya was propped up on one elbow, running his fingers over the kitten’s back where she was in full tiny loaf-mode in the center of Bakugou’s chest.
“What makes sense.”
“That you have a permanent kitten.”
“How does she make any sense.” Bakugou craned his neck to look at her. With all the height and muscle he’d put on, she looked even tinier. He could fit all of her in the palm of one hand now.
“She’s supposed to be a reflection of your true nature right? So I think… inside… you’re a bit vulnerable, needy but full of super soft gooey love, and you’re definitely an attention whore.”
“Oh shut up.” Bakugou reached up and flicked him.
“She’s completely fearless, pissy as all hell sometimes.” Midoriya continued. “AND she’s how I knew you still cared about me all those years you pretended you didn’t.”
Midoriya smiled and leaned down to kiss him, slow and sweet.
“Fine.” Bakugou mumbled against his lips. “She makes a LITTLE sense.”
“Plus she’s so cute.” Midoriya chuckled, kissing him again, this time a little less sweet. And when Bakugou’s hands drifted down to his boyfriend’s ass, both the wolf and kitten made disgruntled sounds and blinked back into their owner’s souls.
Bakugou almost laughed at the conflicting feeling of disgusted approval she was giving off in the back of his mind.
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Despite all their class had been through together, no matter how close they’d all gotten in their three years at UA, their spirit animals rarely showed up in class. When they did, it was usually only flickers, as if the animal wanted to just pop in and check.
None of them stayed out for very long and they were all quiet .
So when an orange kitten blinked into existence on their teacher’s desk, everyone noticed.
It was hard… not to notice. The little thing was crying at a volume pretty surprising for its size. Crying and limping as it paced around the desk in a panic, looking for something.
Or someone.
“Hey isn’t that Bakugou’s cat?” Uraraka asked.
Midoriya bolted out of his desk, shoving his way through his classmates to the front.
“Booboo!?” He gasped.
“His cat’s name is Booboo!?!?” Kirishima cried from somewhere behind him.
“It’s short for Boomboom.” Midoriya waved him off. “Shush!”
When the kitten caught sight of Midoriya, it yowled and stumbled to the edge of the desk. It tipped over the edge and Midoriya barely caught it’s tiny form. It was shaking as Midoriya cradled it protectively against his chest. But what sent terror racing through Midoriya’s veins was the fact Booboo was flickering , as if she was having difficulty maintaining her form.
“Where’s Bakugou?” He spun to the rest of the class.
“Miruko took him out this morning.” Iida stood up. “She checked him out of classes for the day to patrol. I check the list every morning. Mineta and Shoji are out too.”
“Patrol where?”
“I texted him when I woke up to see if he would give me the answers for today’s quiz.” Kaminari shot a guilty look toward their teacher. “He told me to ‘fuck off Im on customs.’”
“So he’s doing customs patrol. Either at the airport or the harbor.” Sero offered.
“Katsuki would be useless at the harbor. Has to be the airport.” Midoriya mumbled before looking up. “Iida, take Tsuyu and Tokoyami and check out the harbor just in case. Ochako and Hagakure, check the dorms. Ojirou, go tell the principal. See if he can get a hold of Miruko’s agency. Everyone else, come with me.”
“Got it!” a dozen voices chimed in at once and before their teacher could even protest, the 3rd years were all out the door. Midoriya tucked Booboo into the inside pocket of his uniform jacket and ran .
His group hauled ass to the train station and used Todoroki’s ice to skate along the tunnel toward the downtown airport. It was still the longest ten minutes of Midoriya’s life thus far.
It was… a big airport.
“Kaminari, check with security. See if they know their last loca-”
“Deku look!” Mina interrupted him, pointing.
Across the sprawling runways, smoke was starting to float upward from the area with private hangers filled with private jets and the like. They’d all worked with each other enough to work in tandem. Mina melted the high airport fence and they all spring into action.
“I’ll find on site fire control!” Jirou yelled, dashing toward the main buildings.
“I’ll still coordinate with security!” Kaminari dashed after her.
As they neared the area, they could clearly see one of the hangars was completely engulfed in flames with only a piddly airport fire truck trying to douse them.
“Todoroki!” Midoriya yelled.
“ON IT!” Todoroki flew past him, arms up and ready to freeze what he could. Sero and Momo were right behind him, moving to help a group of people that were covered in soot and had obviously come from the building.
Midoriya skidded to a stop next to the building. He dug Booboo out of his pocket and gently placed her on the ground.
“Where is he Boo? Can you take me to him?” His voice was strained with panic. The kitten bumped her head against his hand and made a little crying sound before she turned and took off, limping over the tarmac.
He followed her through a side entrance to the hangar, Mina and Kirishima hot on his tail. Once inside they could clearly see the gaping hole in the ceiling and the smoldering remains of a small, single engine aircraft.
“It must have been trying to land.” Mina said, breathless as they ran.
Midoriya barely heard her, focusing on the orange fluff ball moving through the rubble.
They found Miruko first, unconscious and bleeding from a head wound, her earpiece smashed to bits.
“Take care of her!” Midoriya shouted to the other two, not even slowing. When he was out of sight from the others, Mighty appeared at his side, sprinting after Booboo.
Midoriya briefly lost sight of them both when they squeezed under a roof beam, but when Mighty began to howl, he knew they’d found his boyfriend. He activated his quirk, vaulting himself OVER the beam, and followed the sounds of howling to where the two animals had stopped.
“Kacchan!” Midoriya cried, falling to his knees next to Bakugou’s prone form. He was trapped, his legs pinned under a circular… fuel tank .
Booboo climbed up on top of his chest and seemed to melt away into him. When she was gone, Bakugou’s eyes fluttered open.
“She found you.” He croaked.
“Yeah. She found me.” Midoriya forced a smile, cupping the blonde’s cheek.
“You found me.”
“I did. I gotta get this off your legs.”
“Couldn’t blow it up.” Bakugou’s voice was weak, frail. “S’jet fuel… coulda… blown up everybody.”
“Yeah, yeah I know.”
“Miruko…”
“Mina and Eijirou are helping her.” Midoriya stood, gripping the edge of the fuel tank. He looked over to Mighty and sent a silent plea. The wolf seemed to understand what Midoriya was asking for and moved to Bakugou’s head. He lowered his head and bit the fabric around Bakugou’s shoulder, careful not to hurt the blonde.
“This is going to hurt babe.” That was all the warning Midoriya gave before he summoned all his strength to lift the tank up. When was free, Mighty used his grip on Bakugou’s suit to pull him clear. Midoriya let the tank down with a thud, and gathered Bakugou up into his arms.
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Bakugou woke up to the feeling of little paws on his face.
He opened his eyes to stare into little crimson ones.
“Fucking good morning.” Bakugou said, muffled since one of her paws was smooshing his upper lip. He felt a spark of her joy go through himself when she began licking the tip of his nose.
“Yeah yeah.” He reached up and pulled her off. “It’s good to see you too.”
He winced as he sat up, taking in his surroundings. He was back at UA, in the infirmary. It was super early in the morning if the light coming through the curtains was anything to go by. He’d also been here all night if the sleeping boyfriend hunched over in a plastic chair by his bed was anything to go by, Mighty was curled up on the floor next to him.
He took quick stock of his body, the only sign of his injuries was a bandage around his right thigh and a persistent ache in both his legs. Other than that, he seemed to be hale and whole. He was tempted to wake Midoriya up to ask about Miruko...maybe invite him up on the bed…
But he was still too tired to deal with a sobbing Deku right now and he did remember him saying Eij and Mina were helping his hero mentor.
So he slid back down under the sheet and rolled onto his good side, placing the kitten on the pillow next to him. She started purring as he ran his thumb over the darker orange stripes in the fluff just between her ears.
He smiled, shifting forward to press a kiss to the top of her head.
“I love you Booboo.” He whispered.
And he did.
As much as he hated her, he really fucking loved the furball.
Booboo and Mighty:
