Work Text:
Izuku wishes he would have packed lighter, because this is getting really annoying. Though, to be fair, the chasing is a recent development. Usually they would just use him as a passing entertainment while at school; going out of their way to beat him up in their free time seems a bit excessive to him. Even Kacchan had seemed to agree with him on that, so Izuku doesn’t think he’s the weird one in this situation.
Izuku had started putting almost everything in his backpack before leaving each class after one too many incidents with Kacchan’s explosions. Surprisingly, it has helped for most part. Apparently messing with someone's entire backpack is too difficult for most of his bullies. They prefer the more minor property damage. Stuffing his backpack usually has its perks, but Izuku is not feeling them at the moment. His back aches . He probably shouldn’t have packed so many notebooks, but his day is always worse when he mutters too much and writing helps him break the habit.
Izuku has been trying to lose his classmates for the past 6 blocks. He’s about to just give and take the beating instead because his legs are screaming at him when he notices a dark alley. Now, Izuku isn’t an idiot. He knows the crime rates in this city, he knows who could be hiding in there, he knows that if he gets jumped in an alley instead of an open area then it’s more likely to make it 100x worse for him. But the thing is, Izuku is tired . This is the third time this week he’s been chased after school, and while the physical activity helps him get to sleep early enough, he’s never able to stay asleep. Maybe a nice post-ass whooping nap in a (hopefully) quiet alley will do him some good.
So, Izuku makes an impulsive decision and slides into the alley as quickly as he can without making a ruckus. He gives himself a half second to catch his breath before hastily making his way behind the alley’s dumpster.
Izuku’s heart pounds as he leans against the wall, listening to the rapidly approaching footsteps of his classmates. His breath catches as hears them stutter to a stop. Beads of sweat pool along his hairline before sliding down his face. Izuku tenses, clenching his fists.
.
.
“...”
A moment comes and goes, and Izuku slowly realizes that they must not have seen him come in here. Izuku lets out the breath he was holding and slumps down against the alley wall. His heart beat crawls down to its normal pace as he listens to the rapidly receding footsteps outside the alley.
Izuku is about to relax his head back when a loud sound causes him to flinch, scrambling up to his feet as he tries to figure out where it came from. He panics at first, thinking it could be his classmates coming back for him or maybe even a villain, but then he sees it: a cat, limping at the end of the alley. The low light is obscuring the feline’s features, but its gait is shaky and unsure. Izuku is sure to keep his movements slow and quiet as he takes his backpack off and reaches inside.
Izuku has always found it easiest to distract himself with a challenging task in stressful situations, so he eagerly jumps on the first issue he finds.
Izuku carefully takes out a bag of cat treats and lightly shakes them in the cat's direction. The cat startles at the action, jumping about a foot in the air before narrowing its gaze at Izuku, arching its back and hissing. Izuku deliberately looks away from the cat, showing that he isn't a threat, and opens the bag. Izuku tosses a few treats in the cat's direction before laying the bag on its side and grabbing a notebook from his bag. Izuku flips through the notebook, pretending to be fully engaged in the empty pages as he listens to the cat step closer to him.
The cat practically nuzzles against him as it eats from the small bag. Slowly, as to not startle the animal, Izuku places a hand on its back. The cat tenses, growling lowly, but continues to eat without much fuss. Izuku takes that as his chance to actually take a good look at the feline. The animal has light blue fur (odd, but not too odd in the age of quirks) and seems to be on the younger side. Definitely not a kitten, but not quite an adult either. Izuku thinks there's a name for that, but he doesn’t care to remember it right now. If Izuku had to guess, he’d say it was probably a werewolf cat.
The cat’s piercing red eyes glance up at Izuku as it takes a step closer in order to reach further into the nearly empty bag. Izuku gives the cat a few scritches, and the cat leans into his hand hesitantly. Izuku uses the opportunity to examine the cat more closely. It seemed a bit banged up, but its fur was shiny and clearly taken care of, so Izuku assumes that it's probably just a house cat that got into a bit of a scuffle.
Satisfied with his assessment, Izuku continues to pet the cat as he takes stock of himself. Izuku’s back is still killing him, but he’s no longer so out of breath. He takes a second to thank his decision to wear a sports bra today for that. Izuku knows from experience that it would’ve been hellish trying to get home if he had worn his binder instead. There's a dull ache in his legs, but nothing too unbearable. He has definitely had worse. It wasn’t even that bad today! Kacchan has been leaving him alone lately! In fact, almost everybody at school ignored him! It was just this one group that was still picking on him. Sure he got lonely, but that was better than having to restock his first aid kit every week.
Izuku startles out of his head as he feels the cat pawing at his face. Izuku slowly registers the tears rolling down his cheeks and realizes the cat had migrated onto his lap. The cat looks at him with a hint of suspicion in its dry glare, and Izuku can’t help but giggle lightly. The cat narrows its eyes further at his reaction and begins meowing loudly in his face, standing on his chest. Izuku giggles again at the cat's weirdness and boops it on the nose. The cat immediately stops its meowing and blinks before bristling and backing away from Izuku in disgust.
“Wait!” Izuku exclaims. Surprisingly, the cat does stop. It turns around and creeps back up to Izuku, meowing incessantly again. Izuku almost feels like it’s trying to tell him something, but that can’t be… can it? Izuku almost slaps himself for his stupidity. Animals can have quirks! Maybe this cat had an intelligence quirk?
“Wait, stop,” Izuku asks, and the cat shuts up, looking at him expectantly, “Can you understand me?”
The cat’s eyes widen, and as if that wasn’t already answer enough, it nods once, sharply. Izuku sucks in a breath at that. He suddenly feels like an idiot, hiding in an alley, in his tattered uniform, crying, while this being was trying to communicate with him.
“O-oh! I’m so sorry! Is there… something you need from me?”
The cat’s face breaks out into something that he’d akin to a grin if it were on a human, and it nods again. It paws at his pants insistently and glances up at him. Izuku furrows his brow as he looks down and pats at his pants before he gasps in realization, feeling like an idiot again. Izuku pulls his phone out and raises an eyebrow at the cat. The cat immediately pounces on the phone, obviously trying to unlock it. Izuku gently takes the phone from the cat and opens the phone for it. Izuku shows the screen to the cat and the cat bats at the call app.
“You want me to call somebody? Do you know their phone number?”
The cat nods quickly, that weird not-grin still on its face.
“Um, o-okay. You can tell me the numbers and I’ll type them in. Can you do that?”
The cat scowls a bit, but nods again.
A long, grueling process of them figuring out how best to communicate numbers occurs before Izuku finally starts typing them in. After the last number, the cat bares its teeth and nudges the phone toward Izuku. Izuku takes the hint and calls the number. It rings a few times before a deep voice finally answers the phone.
“Hello…?”
The man(?)’s voice was low, and it sounded… empty? Sort of robotic, maybe. Izuku shook his head at the thought as he responded.
“H-hello! Um, I think I might have your, uh, cat? He, uh, kinda gave me this number…”
The stranger’s voice sounded suspicious when he spoke next.
“Cat? I don’t have a cat. Who is this? How did you get this number?”
Izuku hears shuffling, and Izuku panics, thinking the man might hang up.
“The cat gave it to me! Um, he’s blue with red eyes? Kinda scraggly? Maybe he could be one of your friends’ cats?”
There’s silence on the other line for so long that Izuku almost checks if the man is still there, but then he speaks again, sounding suddenly hopeful.
“...Can you give me your coordinates?”
Izuku hastily looks up the coordinates and rattles them off to the man. Not a second later, there’s some sort of dark mist gently wisping in the air. The cat immediately perks up and dashes into the mist excitedly. Izuku just blinks as the mist disappears along with the cat, quickly thinking about the implications of such a quirk. The man interrupts him before he gets the chance to analyze it.
“...I must thank you. This is indeed my… cat. I appreciate your assistance in this matter.”
And with that, the call clicks off. Izuku is left alone in the dark alleyway.
What the hell was that??