Work Text:
Izuku was happily walking down the hall, his fluffy tail swishing back and forth. His ears moved in different directions, taking in all the sounds of the hallway.
That’s when he heard them. The voices were telling someone that their quirk was really weak, that he shouldn’t be in the hero course.
Izuku ran towards the voices. He was not going to stand for any bullying. When he arrived, he found his classmate, Kirishima, staring down at the ground as two bullies taunted him.
Izuku jumped in front of his friend, growling at the tormenters. His tail flicked menacingly.
(A/N: Did you know cats could growl? Because I sure didn’t before owning them)
“Aw, it’s a kitty. You really think you’re scaring us?” One of the bullies scoffed.
“You’re not very threatening, you know,” The second one added.
“You sure?” Izuku asked, slashing his claws at them. Both jumped back. “Then why do you cower away from my claws?”
Izuku kept slashing his claws in their direction, but focusing on not actually scratching them. He did this until the bullies ran out of sight.
He turned back to Kirishima. “Are you okay? I heard some of the things they were saying.”
“It’s fine. Nothing I haven’t heard before,” Kirishima replied, not looking Izuku in the eye.
Izuku’s ears drooped at the statement. Kirishima was amazing; how could people tell him otherwise? He was now very tempted to actually scratch all who were saying these things.
Izuku and Kirishima walked back to the dorms in silence, the former trying to figure out a way to comfort his friend. The redhead was clearly bothered by the words of the bullies.
The two ended up on the common room couch, neither talking for a while.
“They’re wrong, you know,” Izuku said finally. “You’re amazing. Your quirk is powerful and perfect for hero work! Those bullies don’t know what they’re talking about.”
“All they really did was repeat what I’ve always thought,” Kirishima mumbled.
Izuku’s ears drooped once again. He’d had no idea that Kirishima’s self-esteem was so low. That wasn’t exactly something he could help with overnight.
“You know, people used to tell me my quirk was weak, too.” Izuku decided on a different tactic. “Many heroes have been told their quirks are weak, or unfit for hero work. But that just makes them so much stronger.”
Kirishima hummed in reply.
“You’re really strong, Kirishima! Watching you always makes me want to work harder too!”
Kirishima hummed again.
Okay, different tactic for Operation: Cheer Kirishima Up.
“Do you want to pet my ears?”
Kirishima lifted his head, not sure if he’d heard that right. “What?”
“Do you want to pet my ears? It cheers my mom up whenever she’s sad, so I wondered if you wanna try.”
Kirishima looked a little skeptical, but reached his hand over to Izuku’s head. His fingers found Izuku’s ears, his eyes lighting up a little upon feeling how soft they were.
“Whoa! I’ve never felt something so soft!” Kirishima was more surely petting the ears now.
A low rumble sound erupted from Izuku as he continued petting and scratching his ears and head.
“Bro- You can purr?!”
“Yep! I really like having my ears pet.”
“So… could I just pet them whenever I want?”
“Sure!”