Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Falling.

Perpetual falling.

Well, perhaps it stopped at some point, but that was not known.

The falling and pain.

Both physical and emotional.

Horrid, horrid pain.

So it was quite a relief when warmth engulfed the pain.

Now nothing was felt nor seen.

Smells were prominent, though.

A dog had peed over there, a delicious burger was eaten here, and the intoxicating smell of human was everywhere. 

Not a single nook or cranny escaped its clutches.

A small whimper.

A nose nuzzling.

The motherly smell of milk.

The need to come to the belly and drink was engulfing all other senses.

Nothing else except for the primal urge to feed .

So that’s what happened.

And it was safe, and warm.

Until it wasn’t.

___

The cat hissed, how did the other worst things always happen to him?

He had been grooming on top of a dumpster, finally managing to clean himself, when they had attacked.

He had been taken by surprise, so enthralled with his self cleaning he had failed to notice.

He almost felt like wallowing in self pity, but that would get him nowhere.

So instead he fought.

There were three cats, each looked half starved to death, probably rabid with even just the slightest possibility of food.

He didn’t care. Afterall, why should he? He too was hungry.

So claws slashed and cats yowled.

The fight only lasted for a minute or two, but it felt like eternity.

He had risen victorious, he was less starved, stronger, faster, smarter .

He, unlike the other felines he occasionally encountered, could actually form well thought out, coherent strategies.

That did not mean he was invincible.

He could get hurt, would get hurt.

And that’s what happened here.

Blood was pooling on the ground from where one of the more reckless of the cats had lunged at him. He also nicked his ear again, but that wasn’t too bad.

His normally fluffy tail was matted with red liquid.

Not all the blood happened to be his, he had been able to get many a good hit in.

He bared his teeth in almost a grin, he normally wasn’t the type to battle. Tried to be more of a pacifist himself. Willing to share extra things he found while dumpster diving, sometimes even helping injured cats.

That did not mean he wasn’t willing to fight when the time called for it, so he knew he would never be a true pacifist.

Not really.

A cat can dream, can’t he?

Well he at least could.

His siblings would look at him weirdly whenever he talked about being a green haired human while sleeping.

‘I was a big human!’ He would mew ‘And this bigger human that looked like a pomeranian would throw fire at me!’

They thought he was strange, yet he had to admit to himself it felt so real.

Like a memory that just escapes your claws, or the smoke he would smell when the fire was shot at him in the dreams. Just out of his paws, so close, yet so far.

He felt the ground shaking.

Or maybe it was his legs.

The latter made more sense.

He could tell he was going to fall soon, and that’s when he saw the man.

___

The man was not in a good mood, one of his new games accidentally got destroyed. Dusted. It was so annoying.

He didn’t feel like staying inside with his anger for a second longer, so he had put on his red shoes, a black hoodie, and went for a walk.

Luckily he wasn’t a well known villain, but he would be soon.

He knew that eventually the time would be right and he’d strike. All the NPCs wouldn’t know what hit them,

He gave a chilling grin and stopped looking where he was walking.

He would infiltrate UA and kill All Might. The stupid boss. He loathed him. He hated him.

Hated him with every fiber in his being.

In fact, he hated everything and everyone.

Except, Sensei. 

And his caretaker wasn’t the worst . But he mainly only kept them around for their quirk.

He kicked a can and heard a small hiss.

Looking up, he saw a green and red cat. It looked like Christmas had barfed all over it.

Huh, upon closer look, it seemed the red was blood.

He glared at the Christmas cat.

The cat glared at the crusty man.

.

.

.

“You’re a really cutie pie aren't cha?” He cooed, he wasn’t sure why, he just felt an overwhelming instinct to cuddle the cat.

The cat lowered its torn ears, a matted tail swished slowly. It wasn’t running away, so he took that as a win.

He held a hand out, “You look like you need a doctor. You can come with me.”

The cat looked at him, at least it wasn’t glaring anymore. It tentatively took a step forward.

He was going crazy.

He hated everything, so why wasn’t he sneering and walking away from the bloodied feline?

He had no answer.

A soft head nudged his hand and he heard thoughts.

Hungry hungry. Hurt. Human. Safe? Food. Crusty. Injured. Help?

It wasn’t his own thoughts and he almost pulled his hand away, but he didn’t.

He carefully picked up the cat and put it in the crook of his arm.

He grabbed a phone from his hoodie’s pocket and quickly texted some numbers to one of the only contacts.

As an afterthought, he added.

'Pick up some cat food.'

He sighed and asked the cat, “I’m gonna have to keep you, won’t I?”

Chapter Text

Kurogiri had to admit that they might have squealed a little bit when they saw the text about cat food.

Was young master Tomura finally getting a kitty?

They hoped so, because they absolutely loved, loved, loved felines!

Kurogiri opened a portal at the coordinates Tomura had sent them, smiling as much as they could with just their eyes. They felt the familiar feeling of someone going through their portal, and felt elated.

Faster then what should be humanly possible, they found coordinates for all the best pet stores in the world. (This included warehouses that stored high quality cat stuff)

A high quality bed there, a few box houses here, toys and treats everywhere, the list of things they got was practically endless!

Once they had finished their job, (although it wasn’t really a job, more like a giant shopping trip with portals and you don’t have to pay for anything) they found Tomura.

“I got what you requested.” He said solemnly, forgetting to mention he had gotten a few other things.

Tomura looked over his shoulder, he had been in his room and was hunched over his bed.
“Do we have anything to heal a hurt animal?”

The misty entity nodded and warped Dr. Garaki into the room.
“Heal. Now.” They glared and the doctor looked around in confusion.

“How did you warp me here without knowing my coordinates?” As he looked around he saw the hurt cat, and finally understood.
“Oh, of course. Cat.” He nodded, like that explained everything.

Kurogiri watched patiently as Tomura cautiously showed them the cat he had been hiding.

And oh. My. GOSH. It was the cutest thing they had ever seen. It had a fluffy tail, well, it looked like it would be fluffy if it weren’t for the fact that it was drenched in blood, but who cared about that? Certainly not them! It had pink eyes, which was weird, but who was Kurogiri to complain?
Around the cat’s neck was a mane of pure fluff. And it was green. EEEEEE.

All in all, 100/10 kitty cat, and Kurogiri would protect it with their life.

“I found this weird cat in some random alley while I was walking around. Turns out he got in a fight with a few other cats.” Tomura shrugged, but they could see them eyeing the cat with a hint of love. “Can you heal him, Garaki?”

The doctor nodded and made a movement to touch the cat. When his hand touched the feline, he looked shocked. “Shigaraki…” He paused, contemplating his next words, “Do you hear thoughts that are not your own when you touch this cat?”

“Yes…Why?” Tomura squinted, confused, but Kurogiri understood what Dr. Garaki meant.

“Young master Tomura, I believe that the doctor is implying that this cat may have a quirk.”

___

He purred, his fluffy tail curled around his head, his warm fur counteracting the cold metal.

Wait, metal? Where was he? He certainly wasn’t in the alley.

His head bobbed up and down. The last thing he remembered was fighting against these three cats.

He got pretty injured, and some human found him.

And now he was here. Oh no. The human must have brought him to his home! And to think he thought the human might have been nice.

He stretched his legs, and saw a galaxy human. They looked like the sky on clear nights in the forest, but had the clothes of a human. “Mrow?” He inquired.

“Hello. I am glad you have woken, I’m sure Tomura will be elated to hear the news. Of course he won’t show it.” He had a feeling the night being would wink if he had eyes.

Well, maybe those yellow things are his eyes. The green cat had seen weirder things in his short lifetime.

The galaxy reached a hand(?) out to him and he backed away with a small hiss. Why would he trust some random thing that talked the language of humans?

The other winced but gave a quick apology. “I must transport you somehow. Would you please let me touch you.”

His siblings always gave him a hard time when he said he understood the language of humans, ‘First the dreams, now this!’ They’d hiss disdainfully, but he had always found it useful.

He looked them in the eyes, and gave a very humanlike sigh. Fine. He stepped forward, trying to show the human-that-was-also-a-galaxy they could touch him. They seemed to get the memo and he felt coldness envelope him.

It was a weird sensation, and he wondered what it was.

It’s my quirk. It’s like a portal, but I must know the coordinates.

What was this? It sounded like the human-galaxy-entity-mist-person’s voice, but not quite like he was saying it out loud.

The voice laughed, Yes, I’m the same person as before. You can call me Kurogiri. It turns out you have a quirk that lets you converse with others in their minds with just a touch. A rare case of an animal with a quirk. They paused, Also, may I add that you are the cutest thing I’ve ever seen in my life?

The fluffy cat was confused. Him, having a quirk? He had some vague knowledge about what they were from old stories his mother used to tell him. He also knew some things from observing humans and his dreams.

Drea- Kurogiri’s voice was cut off, and he felt like he had been cut.

He was in a room, one that was vaguely familiar.

Hm.

Yes, he had been here before getting healed, which was pretty nice of the humans.

Speaking of them, the one he had first met was on a bed, absentmindedly clicking some buttons and watching a tv that was glowing.

“Since you’re back, Christmas cat,” The blue haired human clicked another button and the tv paused. The cat cocked his head, eyes boring into the human’s. “We have some stuff to talk about.”

And the so-called ‘Christmas cat’ actually kind of looked forward to it.

Chapter Text

 You look like that.

I do not , thank you very much.

He looked at Tomu, and purred despite himself. The human was holding a screen that had red and blue ends, doing some sort of glowy game. Video game, that’s what Tomu called it. He seemed to like them very much, using lingo from them in everyday conversation. 

Right now, he was playing a game called “Pocka-mone” or something of the sort. His character was following around three of the Pocka-mone, and playing with them. There was a red lizard, a duck that looked a bit weird, and a green cat that admittedly did look a bit like him.

Whatever you say, but I’ll still pick it for you. I can even name it after you.

Name? He squinted, thinking hard, did he have one? Cats normally didn’t have names unless they lived in groups. And even then, it was simple things like ‘Claw’, ‘Grey’, or ‘Bird’.

Huh, I suppose no one ever nicknamed you. What about Neko? Kokoro? Midori? Fukafuka? Tomu listed off a few names, Neko meant cat, Kokoro was mind, Midori-

Midori. I want to be dubbed as Midori. He didn’t know why, but he knew that was the name he wanted. It tugged on his brain, and he thought of his dreams. Flexing his claws he sighed, which looked very weird coming from a cat.

   Alright, we have your name. You’ll be Midori, yeah? Midori yeah, Midoriyeah, Midoriya. Midoriya. Wh-who was this person? He didn’t like the thoughts that were rushing into his head, it was like a dam had been broken and a river that had been building up was finally able to run. The thoughts didn't make much sense, as they were just raw fear. Fear of everything. How he wasn't good enough, how nobody could ever like a quirkless bastard such as he. This Kacchan kid (The Pomeranian from his dreams?) and how he loved him and revered him and was oh-so scared of him. The immense sadness and anger, but only at himself, before the warm embrace of darkness. He didn't know who Midoriya was, but somehow he was hearing his thoughts from here. Probably best to ignore.

You ok, Midori? The name was weird to his ears, he was used to being called ‘kitty’ or ‘mangy cat’. Neither was very respectable, so he never minded them.

Yep. Can I help you pick the best Pocka-mone? I’m sure I would be quite purrfect.

One, it’s Pokemon, you fluff head. Two, did you have to do that pun? It’s so cringey. He-Midori could hear the eye roll in the voice without even having to look at his eyes.

You’ve got to be kitten me, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Also cat out the cattitude. Or else I’ll continue calling the ‘Pokemon’ Pocka-mone and you’ll have to deal with it. H-Midori was very manipulative and cunning, he was a cat after all. All cats are very smart and amazing. Not that he was biased or anything, he’s just stating facts.

Fine, fine. Do you want Fidough? Midori was glad to hear that Tomu could listen to reason when it smacked him upside the head.

Maybe, what type of Pocka- Pokemon is it? He had heard Tomu go on about the types the Pokemon liked, pushing an giant olive around and doing other silly and trivial things to get a ‘gym badge’, making sandwiches (which was super important for some reason), and defeating this villain team that Tomu said were a disgrace to villainy and he was glad he could beat the kids up. Yeah, it sounded like a weird game. But who was he to judge? He didn’t know games like Tomu did.

A fairy type, it looks like a mix between a loaf of bread and a dog. It evolves into…

Midori’s lids grew heavy as the video gamer ranted about Pokemon, his raspy voice soothed him. He was going to stay awake though! Listen to aaallll…all the things…the things Tomuuuuu…zZzZz

___

Tomura shifted, staying careful so as not to bother the now sleeping cat. They had been talking for hours about some more serious discussions, like what quirks are, to lighter topics such as why humans don’t lick themselves to clean themselves.

He sighed happily, he had never thought himself to be a cat person, yet he was. He noticed how Kurogiri seemed to have more of a bounce in his step, always sneaking glances at the green cat happily communicating with Tomura. Perhaps he too liked cats?

He put down the Nintendo switch and closed his own eyes, letting darkness envelop him. His sleepy mind wondered if they could share dreams via Midori’s quirk since they still were making contact. He supposed he would see if his theory was correct soon, so no need to worry about it. 

Roughly an hour later Kurogiri walked past what looked to be a green fluffy blanket and Tomura. Upon closer inspection, they found that Tomura and the new found cat had been sleeping together. Oh so cute (of course Kurogiri would never tell him that, they respected their life a tad too much).

The green cat shifted, and yawned. Shining white teeth glistened before being hidden by his maw. He flexed his claws and an ear flicked every now and then. Kurogiri could have stayed and watched the minor movements for hours on end, they were so transfixed. But they had a job they needed to do.

They called it ‘Project: TATAEN’

Chapter Text

Katsuki was definitely not a touchy-feely type guy, not even by a longshot. Just thinking about having to hug and kiss and hold hands with a girl made him cringe, so he decided long ago he would never marry. He would much rather focus on becoming a hero and blowing stuff up. Of course, marrying and blowing things up don’t tie in to what he’s thinking right now, he was just distracting himself momentarily from the thing he had seen. 

Katsuki had been walking away from getting captured by the slime villain, his footsteps were a tad wobbly as the heroes had deemed him well enough to get to his house on his own. (He didn’t really want to as he didn’t quite feel fine, but that would be a problem for another day.) His feet thudded against the pavement, making a cacophonous thud with each step.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

It was hard to focus on anything but, what with how it seemed to envelop him. If sounds were physical, he would definitely blow it up. Alas, sadly, they are not, so poor Katsuki was left with a hyperfixation on the thuds. As he thought more about it, he came to the conclusion it sounded a lot like his own explosions, if they were toned down by quite a lot.

That was when he heard the scream.

It was so desperate, so angry and raw. Like it had nothing left to lose. It was the scariest thing Katsuki would ever hear.

It shook him to the core.

And that’s when he saw it. The mangled body of someone who jumped. Who killed themselves. He was going to throw up. The head tilted at an unnatural angle, looking at Katsuki.

Sharp red eyes met a glazed green. Red covered the hair, but he could still undoubtedly see the bright green peeking through. Blood was splattered on the face, which when combined with the freckles created a strawberry-like illusion. A small smile was spread on their face, so soft, so happy. Like they were finally free. 

Katsuki knew, knew, who this was.

He actually threw up.

D-did he actually take his advice?

Did worthless, useless, quirkless, scaredy-cat Deku really jump off a building?

He threw up again.

— 

Inko sat, hands clenched, at a police station. How could her darling boy jump? How could he seem so happy about it? She couldn’t stop thinking about the note he left.

Hey Mom, I want you to know this isn’t your fault. I love you more than life itself! (Ha, see the joke there?) This was just the best course of action for me to take. I wish you the best of life and can only hope.

Hi Auntie and Uncle. Thank you for babysitting me when Mom was gone. I really appreciate it. You were very sweet and nice to me. One of very few people who were.

Inko had smiled bitterly at these words. Izuku really was one to compliment people right before his willing demise. Yet it left her mind to wonder why he would take such a drastic action. Why didn't he believe anyone cared for him? Why, why why?

That was, until she continued.

Dear (a word was scribbled out) Bakugou, I decided to finally take your advice.

No.

No.

She refused to believe this, but the fact stared at her right in the face.

Did the son of her best friend really suicide bait Izuku?

—

Sansa Tamakawai stood in front of a distraught mother, sobbing about her poor, poor 

child.

It turned out to be a case of  suicide, the bloody body had been found by a friend of the victim. ( Were they really a victim if they did it to themselves? A voice questioned in the back of his head. Yes, the answer was always yes.) The kid was named Bakugou- Wait. He knew that name. Wasn’t it that one boy who was caught by the slime villain? And some green kid had to save him because the heroes at the scene weren’t doing anything?

The dots connected, even if it was just by a line or two. The heroic kid must be the one who jumped. Sansa shivered involuntarily, no matter the horrors he saw on the job it would never compare to that of a young child so far into their depression and hurt that they thought the only release was death. Midoriya was only, what, thirteen, fourteen years old?

He must remain professional, especially when put in front of a grieving mother. He gave a small smile that he hoped wasn’t off putting because of his cat headed stature. “I am very sorry for your loss, Mrs. Midoriya.” He placated.

“Ms.” She corrected through sniffles, “My husband and I are divorced in all but paper. He hasn’t been around since my little Izu was diagnosed quirkless. Do you think that might have been a reason?”

Sansa contemplated, “Possibly. Is there anything else? You mentioned he was quirkless, did anyone bully him because of it?” He knew the things bullying could do, as he was bullied often as a little kit-child. Sometimes his cat instincts took over and he would act aloof one second and playful the next. That did not help his scenario.

Ms. Midoriya clenched her hands, clearly thinking. Her face went through a variety of emotions, sad, bittersweet, confused, aghast, bewildered, before finally landing on anger in a matter of seconds. “I believe my son’s old friend did, as Izuku’s note said he took ‘Baugou’s’ advice. He normally calls him Kacchan, so something bad must have happened. And I’m sure others have also participated in the bullying.” Her voice quivered, however it was filled with a steely resolve.

Suicide baiting? That was illegal and morally wrong on every account. Sansa hissed, unable to hold it back. For the very person whose life was saved by Midoriya to say he should kill himself was bewildering, what reason did this Bakugou kid have to do this? Because Midoriya was quirkless? That was certainly no reason! Sansa glared at an imaginary Bakugou, trying to stay professional but failing abysmally.

“Don’t worry, ma’am,” He said, managing to collect himself. “I promise on the behalf of the entire police department we will bring your child to justice. Could I please have the note and where Midoriya went to school to further our investigation?”

Sobs racked Ms. Midoriya’s body as she sobbed happily, “Thank you so much. I-I didn’t think anyone would help on account of his status. Of course I’ll give you any information you need. He went to Aldera.” She shakily handed a neatly folded piece of notebook paper to Sansa, whispering “Please help my little boy.”

He nodded, repressing the impulse to look at it right away. “Thank you for your willingness to help, ma’am. I will certainly contact you if we make any progress on your case.” Ms. Midoriya nodded and left via his escort. He watched sadly as she exited the station, hoping that her melancholy could one day disappear, no matter how outrageous it sounded.

He hummed, thinking to himself. All that was left was to see if he could get Naomasa to interview the Bakugou’s.

—

Izuku had had a horrible, no good, very bad day.  

First, Kacchan, no, he did deserve the title of ‘Kacchan’ anymore. Bakugou had mocked him for wanting to apply for UA, and in turn burnt his notebook he had been working ages on! That was before telling him to go kill himself, which actually sounded kind of nice. Then, as he was trying to silently walk home a slimy villain started drowning him in sewage water. Just, so disgusting. He contemplated doing nothing and just letting himself get killed. Luckily for him, All Might showed up. This was a dream come true! Until he learned that All Might was a no good, dirty liar. Then Kac-Bakugou started dying and none of the heroes did anything to help him. Honestly, he was starting to think that he didn't really care for heroes anymore. He had to go save his bully, and nobody should have to do that. And he was the one who got lectured, not them.

So now here he was, on the precipice of a tall, familiar building. A building so tall that no one could survive a fall from the top unless they had a certain quirk. Good thing Izuku didn’t have one. He pulled out his notebook that was burned and signed by his ex-idol all in the same day. He ripped out a piece of paper and scribbled his goodbye note to the world.

As Izuku peed over the relatively empty sidewalk below him, his heart dropped. Did he really want to do this? Was this truly the only way out?

The answer was most certainly yes. He had tried and failed everything else he could think of. Plus, the weight of the world was pushing him down. Every single day he wanted to cry, to stop eating, to just sleep forever. He never had tried to follow through with the more dangerous thoughts before, but there was a first time for everything!

He took a stop off of the edge, feeling like he finally had a quirk the way he was flying (even if hurtling was a better word) through the air. He screamed, not because he was scared but to show the world his anger and sadness. After keeping all his feelings bottled up inside, it was freeing. He only worried for his mother, the only one who he truly and fully trusted with all of his heart. He knew she would be heartbroken, but she was a soldier. Besides, he was only a burden who took up a bunch of money and space.

Izuku’’s final thoughts were wondering if he truly would get a quirk in his next life. Karma and the world owed him as much.