"Will you stop fidgeting already, I said you look fine and I meant it." Bakugo noticed Nico fixing her skirt for the thousandth time. "Why is you can go off and be all tough in front of just about anyone else but one housewife has you freaking out."
"I want her to like me." she patted some imaginary dust from her clothes, "I think right now I would take that diamond guy in a fight again than not have you mother dislike me." she adjusted her hat, making sure her ears were still hidden.
"Babe, if she doesn't like you then that's her problem. That won't keep me from spending time with you." he tried to comfort Nico, but nothing seemed to be helping. "How about this, before we go back to the dorms we'll stop by that chocolate shop you love and grab something if things don't go well."
"You must be confident that your mother will like me, you're bribing me with sweets." Nico smiled weaving her fingers through his, "You got yourself a deal, so you better hope that she likes me."
"Well we'll find out soon enough," Bakugo pulled them to a stop in front of his parents' home. "You still get a chance to turn back, I can always make up some kind of excuse." he offered, but Nico shook her head.
"I can't let something this normal scare me, what kind of hero would I be if I ran now?" she rolled her shoulders and held her head high. "I think I might be going to the chocolate shop anyways, I'm going to need one hell of a reward for surviving this."
Nico felt her ears flicked around under the hat as she heard someone coming up behind them, "I thought that was you Katsuki, you're earlier than you said you would be." they turned to see a woman with ash blonde hair coming up to them.
"You must be Katsuki's sister, I'm happy to meet you." Nico fumbled with her words. "But he didn't tell me that he had any siblings." she couldn't figure out why Bakugo wouldn't tell her something like that.
"Awe, you're too sweet. I wouldn't have thought my idiot son could possibly find anyone like you, he's not threatening you is he?" the woman laughed as Bakugo glared at her.
"Oi old hag what's that supposed to mean? You make it sound like she's too good for me." he snapped as Nico watched them in disbelief.
"That is no way to talk to me you brat," she snapped back, "I know I raised you better than that."
Oh my whoa, alright so now I see where his temper comes from. Nico thought as she watched their argument. It's almost like their the same person. "It seems my son has neglected his manners. I'm Mitsuki, Katsuki's mother."
"I'm Nicole Gatta." She offered Mitsuki her hand, "Thank you for having me today." she tried to keep her tail from puffing out as she panicked.
"You are too precious, it's my pleasure. It's not often that Katsuki bring friends home, much less pretty girls." Mitsuki was having fun tormenting her son. "You must really be something special."
"No ma'am, nothing special about me. I'm just a regular old house cat." Nico realized what she had said when Bakugo choked back a laugh, "Girl, I mean girl. Clearly I'm not a cat." Not right now, but I'm getting really close to shifting and running home. She felt her face burning from embarrassment.
"That's a new one, never heard someone call themselves a cat before." Mitsuki laughed a little more, "If you screw this up, I'm going to adopt her myself."
Bakugo and Nico followed Mitsuki in, "I blame you for that, always call me a house cat." Nico hissed at him, "Now she has to think I'm some kind of loon."
"You do have you moments, but it's not my fault you think of yourself more as a cat." he tipped her hat back, almost knocking it off. "But I don't really mind, I think that side of you is pretty cute."
"You're never going to let me live this down." she groaned, pulling her hat down farther. "The only thing that could possibly make this any worse is if I actually shift."
"I just wish I had gotten that fumble on video, that way the guys would believe me when we get back." Bakugo smiled as he closed the door, "You know the hat has to come off now."
Nico gripped the fabric tighter and shook her head. "Not going to happen, it's bad enough I just called myself a cat but I can't let her see my ears."
"It's clear that she likes you, so there's no need to be freaked out." he held out his for the hat as she reluctantly gave it to him. "There you go, see the world isn't ending."
"I knew I should have worn a bow instead of the hat." Nico flattened her ears down, trying to blend them into her hair. "Is it too late to turn and run?"
"You're stuck with us now, come on sounds like ma is making up lunch, let's see if she needs any help." Bakugo took her hand and led her to the kitchen.
"Katsuki get over here and give me a hand," Mitsuki waved him over, "Nicole dear, why don't you tell me more about yourself and just how my son managed to catch your eye." she patted a stool near the counter for Nico. "There has to be a good story behind it given how much of a brat he can be."
"There's not much to tell, we've been on the same team for our class competition since april so we've been spending a lot of time together." Nico said, fidgeting under Mitsuki's watch. "But I think he's been taken with me since I beat him on the first day." She wanted to get him back for teasing her so much.
"You did, now that's a story I'd like to hear." Mitsuki pulled up a seat, "Please indulge me."
Nico started telling her what had happened to lead up to their fight and how she had won, excluding a few details here and there. What she hadn't realized was that as she relaxed while telling the story her ears lifted and her tail slipped out from under her shirt.
"I guess that tail of yours helps with your balance." Mitsuki noted as the tip of Nico's tail peeked over her shoulder.
"A little bit, but it mostly gets in the way when I'm not paying attention." she answered, "Wait how'd you know about my tail?"
Mitsuki pointed as Nico's tail dropped onto her shoulder. "Just a wild guess, now the house cat comment makes a little more sense now. And your ears are so cute, why did you hide them?"
"I guess I've gotten used to hiding them around new people. It took forever for me to show them to everyone in the dorm but that wasn't really my idea." Nico's ear shifted toward Bakugo when he muttered something.
"Why doesn't that surprise me. But you should be proud of them, they are a part of you." Mitsuki looked over to her son, "And you, picking a fight on the first day of school with a new classmate too. What are we going to do with you?"
"Back off, she started it." Bakugo snapped. "And I plan on winning the next round, just you wait and see."
Nico laughed, "Please maybe you should work on you comedy routine, never in a hundred years could you ever take me." she noticed Mitsuki grinning at her.
"You just got lucky because I was distracted, next time you won't get the drop on me." Bakugo said, realizing his mother had left him to do all the cooking. "Hey how'd I get suckered into cooking?"
"Because you love your mother and I was getting to know Nicole." Mitsuki wave Bakugo off, "I mean you do plan on spending more time together so I figured that I should know as much as I can."
Before he could say anything their phones went off, "It's Kiri, they've made the final selections for the team competition." Nico said as they both looked at the message, "Two teams from each class, so it's going to be us and Todoroki with Momo from our class." she scanned the rest of the message.
"We've got one week to get together everything we're going to need, think you and support class chick can pull it off?" he asked, knowing the answer already.
"Do you doubt my awesome skills that much? Working with Mei, we'll have everything ready in two days." Nico was more than confident that was more than enough time. "I'm more worried about our tactics, Momo and Todoroki will be able to take our plans apart if we're not careful."
"Between you and Deku, I think we'll be fine. It doesn't seem to say much about what we'll be doing other that well be in Ground Beta for the final round." Bakugo could see her running through everything they've used up until now. "We have a week, just relax for now. We got this."
They spent the rest of the time telling Mitsuki all about their battles with the teachers and Nick. It helped Nico come up with better battle plans and improved gadgets they could use, she and Mei were going to be pulling a lot of hours in the workshop to everything finished in time.