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It is 11:15 AM on a busy sidewalk when Denki’s life changes forever.
It’s his lucky day, he thinks, as a pretty girl all dolled up in a frilly maid outfit and faux cat ears skips up to him. His heart pitter-patters pathetically at the sight of her approaching figure, has him jelly-kneed and cotton-mouthed, but he wills his heart to settle down lest he'll soon find himself frozen in her gaze like some unfortunate victim to Medusa’s eerie glower.
He’d rather croak where he’s standing than embarrass himself in front of a cute girl.
She’s squealing something about ¥5 off any order at a cafe she’s promoting for and waves a coupon in his face, attempting to draw his attention to it. Unfortunately, she’s talking to Denki of all people, so her advertising falls on deaf ears if his flirtatious smile is anything to go by. He swats the coupon away, mentally goes through all the pick-up lines he’s ever learned in his entire career of professional flirting, and chooses the one that he thinks would work best on this cutie.
How you doin’ girl? I hope you’re feline fine. Get it? Feline? She’s a catgirl? Oh yeah, this one’s in the bag.
As he opens his mouth to use the pick-up line to end all pick-up lines on her, she grabs him by the wrist (holy whoa her hands are soft - and are those cherries on her bubblegum-pink nails?), tells him to open his hand - sweetly with just a dollop of attitude - and plops the coupon into his waiting palm. Before Denki can say a word to her, she’s off prancing to the next passerby, a businessman who falls victim to her charm the same way he did. Her faux tail swishes underneath the tulle of her skirt and Denki can do nothing but stare after her, replaying the lightning-fast exchange over and over in his head like a movie on repeat.
A man barking into a cellphone bumps into his shoulder as he stomps past and, all of a sudden, Denki is acutely aware of the fact that he’s right in the middle of a busy sidewalk while pitifully gripping onto a coupon decorated with cartoon cats and not the girl’s number.
Almost as if she’s an angel viewing his plight from above like someone watching a hilariously bad movie, Kyouka, his best friend, other half, platonic soulmate, and enabler of his cheeseburger addiction, texts him and asks if he’ll be over soon. If he doesn’t come soon, the convenience store snacks she bought for the both of them will end up in her belly only.
Denki texts her back, shoots her a short and simple omw , and glances around himself, looking around for the catgirl of his dreams so he can potentially get a do-over. Unfortunately for him (and fortunately for her), she’s skipped away somewhere and he’s left to board the train to Kyouka’s home all alone, numberless.
A dramatic tear pricks Denki’s eye. Another one bites the dust.
“I’m telling you dude, she was totally into me.”
Kyouka looks up from the coupon Denki had slipped into her hand as he told her the sequence of events from that morning. She raises a doubtful brown as she sets it down onto the floor between them.
“It sounds like she didn’t want to deal with any of your bullshit and got the hell out of dodge as soon as she could,” Kyouka says.
Denki waves his hand in a shooing motion. “She just didn’t want to be burned by the bright light that I emit,” he replies, totally ignoring the roll of eyes he gets in response to his interpretation of the interaction. “But it’s cool, ‘cause by the time we meet again, I’ll be” - he rips a long string of complicated chords on his guitar and ends with a flashy pose - “a rockstar.”
He can picture it so vividly: the colorful, flashing lights, the whir of the fog machine, the roar of the crowd, and the intense, nearly earth-shattering feeling of playing side-by-side with his bandmates, live. They play together all the time, sure, but in front of an audience that’s screaming their names, clapping to the beat, stomping in rhythm? Kyouka’s basement is nothing compared to the heavenly arena that is a rock stage on opening night.
And all of this is just within reach.
Just a few more gigs, a couple more contracts signed, and a bunch more social media posts to increase their presence in the music world and bada-bing-bada-bam … Their name will be synonymous with every other great band that’s ever picked up their guitars and drumsticks and decided to pursue their pop-punk dreams.
Denki opens his eyes and comes out of his reverie. He looks down at Kyouka’s unimpressed face.
“And?” she asks.
He stares at her as if she’s grown another head. “Umm, and she’ll be begging for my autograph, uh-duh. Get with the program.”
Kyouka kicks him in the shin and watches him fall over like a stack of cards. “Goofus, we aren’t in it just for fame.”
Denki sits up with a little pout. He’s nursing his shin with tears sitting on his waterline. “Yeah, yeah, I get ya. But you gotta admit, being in a band has upped our chances with the ladies, hasn’t it?”
Kyouka picks up her neglected guitar. “Not saying you’re wrong, but it makes no difference to me. I’m not interested in dating at the moment.”
“Not even in dating Yaomomo?”
Denki lets out a girlish shriek as Kyouka swings her guitar like it’s an ax and not an instrument toward him. “Dang girl!” he exclaims as he ducks and scurries to the open bedroom door like a fearful insect, ready to bolt in case she attempts murder again. Deciding to test his luck, he turns and pokes his tongue out at her, ‘cause man, the furious blush that’s risen to her cheeks is just so satisfying to see.
“You can’t keep denying your crush forever!” he yells and runs for his life when Kyouka lets out something akin to a war cry. She charges for him and the two are running around her house like a hunter and her prey, like Artemis and her pathetic, out-matched game.
Denki rubs the sore spot on his arm and winces. Kyouka got him, and boy did she get him good.
Like a fearsome goddess striking hellfire onto the Earth, she swung her guitar right into his bicep and laughed at the way he toppled over. She’d reveled in his pain before walking off, leaving him crumpled on the hardwood floor while crying crocodile tears. A few minutes later, she came back with ice for his bruise and something cold to sip on. Internally, Denki had been planning her destruction for when next she came to check on him, but the nice gesture made him forget about his revenge.
Even while she mumbled half-hearted apologies between snickers, she smiled at him softly and brushed away his bangs. The gesture had made Denki’s heart burst, and thus he decided that Kyouka was too cute to hold a grudge against, damn it!
Still, this doesn’t mean he’ll stop teasing her over her ridiculous crush.
Momo Yaoyorozu, while insanely beautiful and so smart she could make Einstein fall to his knees at the sheer ocean of knowledge that swirls around in her pretty little head, was a little clueless. Well, more than just a little. While she could calculate some of the most complicated equations known to man and discuss the metaphysics and ethical morality of gel electrophoresis without stuttering, she absolutely could not for the life of her realize when someone is head-over-heels in love with her.
It was kind of funny actually, the way Kyouka will stumble her way to Yaoyorozu’s side to speak to her, be within her warm gaze and rose-scented space, only to trip over her words while sweating buckets. Yaoyorozu, none the wiser to Kyouka’s puppy love, will simply give her a sweet smile and talk to her normally. She’d be going on a rant about the molecular makeup of watermelons while excitedly grabbing Kyouka’s hands when coming to stirring conclusions and still would wonder why her cheeks are flushed pink like a cherub’s.
Damn that Kyouka. Even though her crush is completely oblivious to her becoming an ushy-gushy pile of mush at the mere sight of Yaoyorozu, she can at least put a name and face to her potential partner. With a heavy heart, Denki has to admit he has no one’s warm gaze to roll over him, no one’s sweet-smelling space to share with him, no one to get goo-goo-eyed with, or text obnoxious Good Mornings and Good Nights with.
The thought used to send him into a depressive spiral, because what is the point of living if it’s not with anyone else to share his frequencies with? He simply was not created to vibe alone.
Now though, as he stands before the cafe that’ll probably (most likely? hopefully?? he’s not on the verge of becoming desperate or anything, definitely not) end his singleness for at least the next three weeks, he feelings newly reinvigorated, like he can take on the world twice.
Denki looks up at the white and cream sign waving down at him in bright neon and feels a smile tugging at his lips. No doubt about it, his darling is waiting inside of the Cuddles ‘N Cream cafe.
It’s only been about a week, and yet he still vividly remembers everything about her… Her frilly black maid dress with a cut-out on the chest area in the shape of a cat’s head, the faux ears and tail, the cherry decal nails… Little does she know that she handed him a one-way coupon to the new love of her life. He just knows she’s inside waiting on him to use it on a strawberry milkshake for the two of them to share while petting the cats. The thought makes him sigh like a lovestruck schoolgirl.
The depressing life and harrowing times of a single boy end now!
With a steadying breath, Denki opens the doors to the cafe. The sweet scent of caramel cappuccino and vanilla cream puffs swirls around him as soon as he enters, transporting him to a saccharine wonderland of kittens and king cakes. He’s a little embarrassed to admit that he thought it’d smell like a giant litter box and not like a cleanly kept food establishment. That’s on him, he supposes.
Denki’s eyes roam about the cafe. The place isn’t empty, but it isn’t full to bursting either. Cute girls mull over notes together and other students are click-clacking away on their laptops, coffees going lukewarm near them.
The inside looks like an average restaurant, with its white, beige, and brown color scheme, glossy tables, and booths that smell of lemon disinfectant. Decorative paw-prints lead up to the register, which is being staffed by a cashier wearing a maid dress. Hm… Doesn’t look like the one Denki encountered on the street though. He approaches a wall far from the entrance that features a corkboard. It has a big collage of pictures and, upon closer inspection, Denki realizes with a small smile that they’re pictures of guests who had adopted cats from the cafe.
Speaking of the little animals, Denki doesn’t see any around. He half expected them to be roaming about the space, getting pet by customers, and tip-toeing on countertops while slinking around steaming cups of coffee. But nay, there was nary a kitten nor stray hairs to be seen.
He goes up to the register and orders something simple - an iced coffee with a strawberry cream cheese danish - and sort of balks when he is asked if he wants to go to the “Cat Room.” It’s an area at the back of the cafe that’s solely used for interacting with the little felines and Denki realizes that, yeah, it would be smart to keep the cats in a separate room and give customers a choice to interact with them if they want. Great business strategy, Denki approves!
He removes his shoes, slides on a pair of Cuddles ‘N Cream slippers, and makes his way to a door with frosted glass. Behind it, he sees small blobs moving about, some darting across his vision and others slowly padding from one napping spot to the other. Ah, so this is the door to the kitty-cat paradise. He got the cream, now he’s here for the cuddles. And, his dream girl of course.
He steps into the space and immediately notes that there are cats everywhere. There are gray ones, beige ones, orange, and black. While some either sit and laze around or playfully make chase, others are snuggling up to chatting patrons, or being pet by businessmen who have loosened their ties. He’s a dog person through and through, but Denki can’t help the way his heart seizes at the sight.
He decides to settle down near a cat that’s resting in a patch of sunlight, and smiles in greeting when it slowly turns its head toward him.
The cat is fairly cute, with its fluffy, blond coat that sticks this way and that. Its whiskers are also long and impressive; the appearance of this cat makes it look important and almost regal.
“Hey there buddy,” Denki croons and lifts his fingers toward the pink snout. He is sniffed at curiously and, for a fleeting moment, he thinks he’s already made friends with the first cat he’s encountered at the cafe. For one, singular, fleeting moment, he considers that since he’s so amazing at making friends with the tiny furballs, he could ditch his band and work at the cafe, which would make it all the easier to chat up the cute maids here. For one, singular, divine, fleeting moment, the cat stares at his hand silently, before sinking its sharp teeth into all his overconfident daydreams.
Denki lets out a high-pitched yelp, sending all the other cats in the area to scurry off. The pale-blond cat is the only one that doesn’t seem to care though, seeing as how it goes back to the position Denki found it in after releasing its fangs from his skin. This time, instead of slowly blinking at nothing, it glares at Denki with its piercing red eyes. Denki isn’t so weak that something as small as a little cat can strike fear into him, but he does find himself having to swallow down a whimper.
He looks down at the quickly reddening spot on his hand. Blood begins to pool inside two small, adjacent holes and comes leaking out when Denki puts pressure on his palm.
Is this what he gets for having a dream…? Is this what he gets for trying to kickstart a perfect future?!
He sends an affronted look to the mean-looking cat. “Thanks a lot, you little asshole; you injured my playing hand!”
Denki gets nothing in return but a long, silent stare. Suddenly, it jumps up to paw at his face.
“MROWWW!” the cat screeches from the depths of its demonic little belly as it viciously swipes at Denki.
“AGHHH! Leave me alone!”
“Sir? Sir!” Two scarred hands reach out to grab the blond hellspawn and manage to pull it away before it can injure Denki anymore. “Are you all right?”
What kind of question is that?! “I most definitely am not! I mean I - gulk .”
What kind of sound was that? Don’t ask Denki, ‘cause he doesn’t know. All he does know is that he’s stopped himself in the nick of time from going full Karen and loading an emotional dump on this poor service worker who is just here to do his job. He swallows down the pathetic rant about how he’s somehow received two different injuries on the same arm, how such a mean, aggressive cat like the one that’s scratching at the waiter currently shouldn’t be in the Cat Room, how he still somehow hasn’t run into the catgirl maid from before and therefore his whole day (no, WEEK!) has been ruined, and takes in the sight of the boy before him.
Worryingly looking Denki up and down with soft green eyes is a Cuddles ‘N Cream employee. He’s got wild hair and freckles that dot his face the way stars dot a galaxy. He has no idea where he appeared from, but he’s thankful for his presence. The cat now seems to be trying to claw at him instead of Denki, but his firm grip on the animal’s middle keeps it from doing too much damage.
“Sorry about him - he’s got a little bit of a temper. Don’t you, Katchan?” the boy coos and narrowly avoids his eye getting scratched out of its socket.
A little bit? Denki stares wordlessly as the boy sets the cat back where it was before it began attacking him. This so-called Katchan swipes at the both of them a few more times - a warning telling them that if they don’t step off his turf, it’ll cause more affliction than it already has. They smartly back off, and Katchan goes back to resting in its patch of sunlight it so loves. Bastard.
“Hey, lemme see that,” the employee says and gently takes Denki’s hand to investigate the wound. He sees the bite marks and sucks his breath in through his teeth. “This doesn’t look terrible, but we should get it patched up as soon as possible, yeah?”
“Uh, yeah,” Denki says. “Totally.”
The worker smiles at him sweetly and takes his hand. Denki raises a brow as he’s led through the wide space, all the while dodging cats and maid girls who balance plates full of pastries and coffees. Denki didn’t notice it before since he’d been ogling the boy in the face after being rescued from that demon cat, but he manages to make out two fluffy black ears poking through his verdant, unruly locks and a black tail swishing as he walks.
Cute, he thinks.
“Aren’t they?” the boy says, turning to him with a grin. Aw hell, did he just “cute” out loud? More importantly, does he know that he was referring to his ears and tail or…? “Katchan’s the only real problem kitty; the rest are all very sweet!”
Ah, he was talking about the cats. Right, of course!
They go into a small room lit by harsh fluorescent lighting. On the inside, it’s bigger than a utility closet, yet not large enough to be its own space dedicated to eating and chatting. There’s a fridge, sink, cleaning supplies, and bags of cat litter. A small table sits opposite the fridge with its own matching stool tucked underneath it.
Denki is led to the sink and asked to place his hand underneath the water, which he does without complaint. While the employee gently thumbs at the two holes and cleans the blood away, Denki uses this time to unabashedly stare the boy in the face. He studies the way his freckles dot his apple-round cheeks and the way his black hair looks verdant at all the right angles. He’s like a little green cherub.
“Huh?” he suddenly says, surprising Denki.
“Um, I didn’t say anything,” he replies with a raise of one brow. As his wound continues getting cleaned, Denki becomes abruptly aware of just how quiet it is with the two of them alone in this small room, nothing but the echo of meowing cats and ecstatic patrons filling the space, along with the rush of sink water. He thinks of things he can say to break the silence, a joke or asking what he thinks of the late spring weather, before lamely settling on, “So, what’s your name stranger?”
“Huh?” he says again.
“What’s your-”
“Midoriya. Uh, Izuku. Midoriya Izuku.”
“Oh, cool, cool.” A beat of silence. “Kaminari.” Another beat of silence. “Denki.”
Izuku smiles. “It’s nice to meet you Kaminari.” He pauses. “Denki.”
“Buzz off,” Denki says, grinning at the way Izuku’s body shakes with chuckles. After the water is turned off, he is given a worn towel to dry his hand off with. The stool is pulled out for him to sit in, so he plops down and waits patiently. He stares at Izuku’s back as he rifles through medical supplies.
“So, I’m not gonna get cat-poisoned am I…?” Denki blurts.
Izuku turns to him, dumbfounded. “Cat-poisoned?”
“I’m not gonna, like, turn into a cat-themed crime-fighting hero named Cat-Man a la Spider-Man, am I?”
One moment, Izuku is staring at him, speechless. The next, he is ducking his head and laughing into his chest. When he brings his head back up, he’s using his hand to cover his mouth as he wheezes at Denki’s absolutely terrible joke.
“No, you won’t gain any superpowers from this,” he says between laughs, “but maybe you can wear it like a badge of honor for surviving one of Katchan’s deadly attacks.”
“Pretty cute name for such a murderous little bugger, don’t you think?”
Izuku’s mouth gets all wrinkly, and he looks down at the band-aid in his hands. “Yeah. He can be kind of… aggressive, that much is for certain. It’ll definitely take some time for him to warm up to you.” His face softens a little. “But once he does, he’ll be a lifelong friend. I mean, that is, if you take the time to check up on him every now and then. Usually, he likes to ride solo.”
Denki tilts his head. A lop-sided grin stretches across his lips as he says, “Sounds like you’re talking about a person instead of just a cat. Someone you got a crush on?”
“Huh?!” Izuku balks. He shakes his head so wildly his cat ears are close to falling off of his head. “No, no - that… He’s more like a brother to me than anything else!”
“Right, I getcha.”
Izuku pouts. “It doesn’t seem like you do.” He comes closer to Denki and picks up his hand. “Anyway, we’ve been thinking of removing him from the Cat Room permanently but, surprisingly, he’s really popular.”
“Popular?! With who?!” Denki can’t possibly be hearing things. Were they even still talking about the same cat? Anyone who willingly stays around an animal with that sort of attitude is a masochist for sure.
Izuku shrugs. “Beats me. But even though he seems to be a hit with the customers, no one is brave enough to adopt him.”
Denki looks up at that. He remembers seeing a collage of photos out in the seated area of the cafe. Then, his mind goes back to just a few minutes before, when Izuku had held Katchan with all the confidence of a god while the little demon scratched pathetically at him. “Not even you?”
“I can handle him while I’m here but I’m not sure if I have enough patience to live with him,” he says with a meek shrug. “I’d prefer to take home a calmer cat but if push comes to shove, and if anything like this happens again and the higher-ups threaten to get rid of him for being a nuisance, I wouldn’t hesitate to become his new home.”
Denki can’t help but aww out loud. Izuku looks down at him with soft, green eyes that crinkle at the corners, and he smiles. Working in a cat cafe sounds - and looks - like hard work. You have to bake pastries and making coffees while simultaneously taking care of over two dozen cats as well as wait tables. Obviously, these tasks are broken up and taken by different people, but even with amazing teamwork, it still seems like such a taxing job. Denki finds himself having a newfound respect for all the workers here and rethinks his dream of working here to find the catgirl from earlier in the week. Is a girlfriend worth all of this? Well...
Izuku smoothes a bandage over the bites and gives it a little pat. “All done.”
“Whoa, already?” Denki looks down at the bandage decorated with paw prints.
“Katchan’s been vaccinated so the bites should close up in a couple of weeks. If not, and the pain starts to worsen, you should see a doctor.”
Denki’s mouth slants mischievously. “And what do I get if the bite worsens and I transform into a superhero?”
Izuku hums, deep in thought. “Would a coupon suffice?”
“I already got a coupon! Anything else?”
“A… free mocha latte on the house made by me?” he shrugs.
Denki crosses his arms and feigns mild disappointment. “Actually, I was thinking of a number but that’ll do.”
Izuku flushes and his lips wobble. “A number?” he stutters.
“Oh!” Denki shakes his head, immediately aware of the misinterpretation of what he meant. “Oh! I didn’t mean you! Y’see, there’s this girl who’s been on my mind for like the past week. She was handing out coupons on the street near the intersection…?”
“Near the intersection?”
“Yeah and, she had, like, a maid outfit on? And little cherry thingies on her pink nails?”
“Cherry thingies?”
Denki nods. “Ring any bells?”
Izuku thinks for a minute before shrugging. “I’m sorry, I’m not really able to see the girl’s nails because they usually wear gloves when inside. Do you remember what her face looked like?”
“...Her face?”
And - good god - Denki feels ill. He realizes with sudden anguish that he most definitely cannot remember what the maid girl looked like in the face. When he thinks back to when they had their encounter, he can very vaguely remember blond hair and pink, puckered lips. Maybe long eyelashes, too? ...That’s it. He looks up at Izuku and sees an unimpressed expression looking down at him.
“Okay, okay, I know that me forgetting what she looks like kinda sounds like an asshole-ish thing to do, especially since I’ve been thinking about her all week and am… just now figuring out I don’t really remember what she looks… like…”
Izuku’s judgemental eyes feel molten lava on Denki’s skin.
“What?! I just can’t quite describe her features that’s all!” He’s under the impression that Izuku is beginning to hate his guts, but in the blink of an eye, a smile replaces his frown, and Denki feels the tension that was beginning to coil in his stomach immediately disappear.
“It’s all right, I’ll ask around.”
Denki hops up, excited. “Thanks so much, man! You’re the best!”
“No problem,” Izuku beams. “So, did you want to keep playing around with the cats? I know Katchan might’ve ruined your first experience, but the others aren’t nearly as hostile as him.”
“Promise?”
Izuku holds up a pinky. Denki interlocks their pinkies together. “If any of the other cats attack you, I’ll buy you anything on the menu that you want.”
“Deal! I will now proceed to agitate all the cats so that I can get all the free breakfast sandwiches I can get.”
“Please don’t.”
They go back to the table Denki was previously seated at and find his coffee lukewarm and half of his crescent roll gone. They both look over to Katchan, who has jelly stains around his mouth and a smug look on his face.
I hate you, he mouths while Izuku picks his things up. “I’ll go get you new coffee and another roll,” he tells him. “Why don’t you find another seat? Far, far away from Katchan.”
“Good idea,” Denki grumbles and does as told.
Golden afternoon light pools inside the train car like honey, and washes over Denki it zooms through the city and toward the stop nearest to his home. It’d been a long day of playing with kitties and fighting a losing battle with his lactose intolerance, but nevertheless, he was happy. He’s scrolling through the photos, smiling down at pictures of cats accepting his head-pats, approaching him warily, sitting in his lap, and rubbing up against his leg.
His personal favorite from today was a chubby tabi-fold named Tofu, who would nibble at Denki’s shoelaces, crescent roll, and fingertips. He took a lot of photos with that one, he realizes, as he surfs through selfies of him and the slightly cock-eyed cat.
He swipes through the pictures until he finds the candid ones of him taking Izuku off-guard. There was one of him smiling brightly while serving an old woman some watermelon juice, one of him mid-blink, and one of him playing with another cat, Miruku. Denki stares hard, studies the way the soft cafe lights halo his wild hair and pretty face, studies the way his muscles nearly fill out the rolled-up sleeves of his uniform shirt, studies the way his hands, callused and marked with scars, gently hold two small paws.
Denki thinks back on earlier in the day when Izuku had been so tender with him while nursing his wound. He didn’t think much of it in the moment, but now that he has time to ponder over the day’s events, he feels a blush rising up to his face.
Damn it.
God damn it.
God damn it all!
It wasn’t supposed to go this way! He was supposed to find the catgirl maid, get her number, and get the hell out of there! Honestly, Denki blames his ADHD for not focusing on why he’d originally gone to Cuddles ‘N Cream in the first place. He was supposed to find the girl! With nails! And maybe even adopt a cat to show just how much he cares! But then that little asshole from the fifth layer of hell went and sunk his teeth into everything he’d been planning to do that day. Now he’s got a cute boy taking up all his brain space instead, pushing any last remnants of memory he had of the girl out of his mind.
Now, instead of long blond hair, pink puckered lips, and bubblegum pink nails with cherry decals stamped onto them, all he can think of is scarred hands, a fond smile, and wild, verdant hair that smelled like green apple shampoo.
He gets home when violet begins swirling with the radiant oranges of the sky and falls onto his bed with a tired sigh. Before he inevitably passes out and wakes up so late he’d be foolish to wait for a reply from her, he decides to text Kyouka.
denkichu : jirouuuu
goth adjacent: i knew she was gonna reject you
denkichu: STOP i didn’t even see her today
goth adjacent: was she not working today?
denkichu: that’s the thing….i don’t even know
goth adjacent: huh? Did you not ask the other maids?
denkichu: idk what she looks like so i couldn’t ask for her
denkichu: i couldn’t remember what she looked like :/
goth adjacent: are you dumb or stupid?
denkichu: LEAVE ME ALONE
goth adjacent: so what did you do all day? sit around and play with cats all alone like a loser?
denkichu: no i fucked your mo
denkichu: no seriously i bought some coffee, got bit by a cat, got my hand fixed by this cute guy who works there, got free coffee for getting bitten, and played with cats
goth adjacent: 1. i will hunt you down and roast you over a spit
goth adjacent: 2. back up...cute guy?
For the remainder of the evening, Denki relays his cat cafe visit to Kyouka. He croons over the well-trained cats, groans about the one that attacked him (while ignoring Kyouka’s laughter), and sighs at the freckled dream that patched him up and gave him smiles as sweet as shortcake.
When he hangs up the phone and finds himself staring down at the bandage covered in paw prints, he bites his lip. Maybe, just maybe, he can go back tomorrow? And instead of trying to find a girl who most likely has already forgotten that he exists, can lay all of his best pick-up lines on Izuku and woo him within a day! Or, maybe he should talk to Izuku like a normal person. That’s a pretty good plan.
Now, finally, for once, it feels like everything is coming up Denki. Or starting to.
He goes to sleep dreaming of freckles, cats, and delicious iced coffees.