Chapter Text
Izuku Midoriya has never seen a bunny smile before.
It almost looks human, in a way—with its twitching nose and upturned lips. It looks at him with bright, blue eyes that seem to blaze with an energy that's hard to associate with an image of a rabbit. For such an energetic rabbit, it sure is sickly-looking.
It's the largest rabbit he's ever seen, so big in fact—that it looked as big as a cat. Its fur was golden, with droopy ears that perked up upon licking eyes with him. It had raised its head up, puffed out its chest, then smiled.
It was a ragged bunny—and despite its fluffed up fur, one would tell that it was quite thin with its jutting cheeks.
"Who's this?" He asked Nezu, the owner of UA Animal Rescue.
"That's All Might," the short man replied, "he's a rather recent addition to the center— a few months ago."
"I've never seen a rabbit smile before."
Nezu looked at rabbit in his cage.
"Interesting..." he murmured, "I don't think I've ever seen a rabbit smile either—but All Might has always been a strange bunny since we rescued him."
Izuku knelt down and stuck his fingers through the bars, where All Might hopped over to give them a sniff, "strange?"
"We found him on the street, so we can assume that he was abandoned by his previous owner." Nezu replied, "and he has a bald patch on his side. He was in critical condition when we brought him in but Dr. Shuzenji fixed him up as best as she could. This is the first week he’s out of quarantine.”
All Might nuzzles against Izuku’s fingers and the green-haired boy smiled.
“He’s quite friendly with the others,” Nezu mused, “feel free to let him out for a bit.”
“Wait really?” The teen gasped, looking at the owner with surprise.
“Of course,” the white-haired man assured with a smile, “you’ve visited here so many times, I trust you enough to handle them.”
Izuku had been visiting the rescue center for months, usually just to visit and see the animals. School was not kind to him, especially his peers. They liked to tease him for his obsession with his favorite show.
But what hurt the most was his childhood friend, Katsuki Bakugou, turning against him. He wondered what happened. What changed. Why Katsuki decided to abandon him when the teasing started.
Because of the bullying the betrayal of his former friend, Izuku had no one he was friends with. He’s hoping maybe high school would change that and maybe he could have a brand new start.
Then UA Rescue Center became his safe haven. He was running from Katsuki and his friends, when he turned the corner and rushed straight inside. He was greeted by the friendly receptionist, who asked him what brought him in. Nervous and afraid he would be found quick, Izuku blurted out that he wanted to see the animals.
Sure, it was a way to get into the back and not be seen by the windows, but he ended up loving the animals here. The rescue center also worked as an adoption center—so anyone could come in an adopt an animal when they saw one. UA Rescue Center housed all sorts of animals, and their volunteers and workers have always left with adopting an animal from there.
Case in point, the part-time receptionist, Mirio Togata, who always brings his pet owl—Sir Nighteye, to work. Sir Nighteye was one of the many animals of UA Rescue Center that were adopted. The owl had an intimidating stare that could scare practically anyone he made eye contact with on his perch. Yet it was Togata that bonded with the bird of prey, and Izuku often saw the owl preening with a good scratch on the head.
The green-haired boy opened the gate to All Might’s cage and the bunny hopped out of its containment. Ears perked and chest puffing up, the large bunny stood on his hind legs as he looked around the large room. Izuku smiled as he held out a hand again, letting the rabbit sniff it before petting his head.
Then, a dark shape shot out to bat at the rabbit. All Might hopped out of the way, thumping a leg as he did so. Izuku panicked as the cat seemed to decide it was a good idea to chase All Might after giving the large rabbit a tentative sniff. Chaos erupted as All Might practically kicked a wall and bumped into the stand of the cage that held Present Mic, a cockatoo, who started screeching. The black cat, Eraserhead darts around the wobbling stand and nearly knocks it over in his chase. The golden rabbit then rushes right into Izuku’s arms, where the black cat merely circles them with a loud meow of contempt. All Might wheezes in the boy’s arms, ears dropping and seemingly deflating.
Izuku holds the bunny close as Eraserhead darts back to leap onto the counter and harass a poor, squawking Present Mic.
Eraserhead has been in the UA Rescue Center for a long time, known for being a prickly black cat that took a while to warm up to strangers. Sometimes, he was seen lounging about. Sometimes, he was seen messing with some of the animals. Despite this, most didn’t seem afraid of the mischievous cat. In fact, Present Mic sometimes rested on Eraserhead when the bird was let out.
All Might seemed to easily calm back down in Izuku’s arms, despite the concerning wheezing breaths. The boy hoped that the rabbit was okay. Looking down at the rabbit again, All Might looked up and smiled once more.
Izuku had decided. He was going to adopt All Might.
(That is, if he could get his mother’s permission first.)
The next day was perhaps the happiest he’s been in a long time. After school, he went to the rescue center to adopt All Might. Signing a few papers, giving them the money that his mother gave him to pay for the fee—the large bunny was given to him in a carrier. Izuku carries him out with the brightest of grins, taking All Might to his new home.
It was an ordinary day, but the start of a life changing event.