So, a quick note: Shinsou is officially a part of the dorms! Shadow The Mighty takes place partly after the start of "Bringing in Brainwave" and after my "Amaurosis Fugax" fic; and unlike the last chapters, Shinsou will be a permanent addition to the dorm, not just visiting!
I am not confident writing Eri, I have not seen a lot of her character, so hopefully I did okay with her, but let me know!
Enjoy!
Chapter 5: Expansion
Shadow watched the class as they left for the day. Half of them were waving at her, saying good-byes, and Kouda made sure to sign "be good" before he shut the door. Shadow waited only a few minutes before she jumped down from the couch and slipped out the cat door. The teachers had installed it not that long ago. It had taken some getting used to. The class took her collar off at night, meaning when she first tried to leave after dark, she had ended up knocking into the cat door when it didn't open.
She only got her collar back in the morning. With it, the cat door unlatched, and she could slip through. She shook herself out when she got on the other side, grooming for a moment, before walking off the front step.
"Do you think he's going to make the exam too hard?" Uraraka asks, unlocking the door.
"You know he will," Bakugou says. He kicked his shoes off first when he walked through, tossing his bag onto the couch to claim his spot. As everyone filed in, Ashido abandoned her bag by Bakugou's and started skipping through the dorm with Aoyama.
"Shadow~!"
"Come out, mi amor!"
"Here, kitty, kitty!"
"Oh, shut up!" Bakugou snapped.
"She's either upstairs or she's outside," Shinsou called after them.
Ashido groaned, trudging back to the couch. "No fair…"
"She'll show up, don't worry," Iida assured them.
Dinner came and went, and Shadow hadn't come back yet. Hagakure and Ashido had taken up camping at the front door to wait for her until Aizawa had broken them up and sent them to bed. The cat door didn't shut off, ever, so she could slip back inside any time, he'd reasoned.
Come morning, she still hadn't come back. After classes she was still gone. Another day and she was still gone. By the second morning without her Aizawa checked the cameras to make sure she hadn't returned. She hadn't come anywhere within sight of the dorm's cameras, or the school hallways. By the third day, he was certain the class was going to go on a manhunt.
"She's probably fine," Aizawa says one night. They'd finished dinner and Shadow had still not returned.
"Kouda, can't you ask the animals to find her?" Asui asked. She'd started to pace the dorm when they'd gotten back and still hadn't seen their local feline. Kouda fidgeted with his hands a moment.
I've asked, but the rodents and other small animals steer clear of any cats.
"And the other cats?"
Mixed responses.
"The fuck does that even mean," Bakugou grumbled.
He'd steadily grown more irritable as the days had gone by. Whereas everyone else was constantly questioning Shadow's whereabouts, Bakugou had been suspiciously quiet. The single time Shinsou had questioned if he'd cared, jokingly, Bakugou had sent him a glare harsh enough to send a shiver down his spine. Bakugou threw the stress ball Inui had given him ages ago against the wall again. The resounding 'thump' was loud in the relative quiet of the dorm.
"Do you think she got lost?" Uraraka asks.
"Don't even think it!" Ashido wailed.
"Mon petit chaton can't have!" Aoyama wailed beside her. "She has to be fine!"
"I would say we shouldn't have given her the collar," Todoroki began, "But we couldn't have stopped her anyway. I think she was breaking the lock on the door."
"She did," Aizawa confirmed flatly.
It had been somewhat of an embarrassing security risk when he'd found the broken lock days after discovering how Shadow had been getting out in the first place. He'd been optimistic about thinking that it had only happened when the kids had forgotten to lock the door. They never forgot to lock the door.
Midoriya was pouring over maps of the school, each print of it with lines of where he was guessing Shadow could have gone. Mapping out the patterns of travel for a cat was, unsurprisingly, difficult when the campus was so large. He'd gone through eight possibilities already and it looked like he was going to be printing more. Iida and Yaoyorozu were assisting. Aizawa sighed, glancing at the door. Shadow hadn't been gone this long before. But, Bakugou had found her outside.
Her familiarity with the outdoors may explain her long absence, but he severely doubted that she would remember any part of the grounds from how old she'd been at the time. That she found the school was possibly explained away by her tracking the class on their route to the building. If she'd gone into the tree line, there wasn't much to help tell how long she'd be gone.
Then, the flap on the door unlatched. Shadow climbed through, shaking herself off, and prancing in, straight for her food bowl. Bakugou had to leap up to tackle Ashido before she tackled Shadow.
"HOW CAN YOU BE SO CRUEL?!"
"LET HER EAT FIRST! FUCK!"
Shadow ignored them, barely sparing them a glance. She hunkered down at her food bowl, scarfing down what she could until she was full. Meanwhile, Midoriya and Kouda crouched not far behind.
"She looks fine," Midoriya says lowly, looking her over as best as he could from his position.
I don't see any injuries.
"She wasn't limping."
"Are you seriously doing a check up on her?" Bakugou asks.
"Oh, shut up, you're ecstatic right now," Jirou teased. Bakugou flipped her off. Whether he was or wasn't was irrelevant. But he was breathing a sigh of relief. Once Shadow had finished eating, she looked around the room, her tail flicking uncertainly.
"Does she remember us?" Satou asks.
Shadow observed them all for a moment longer before she trotted right past Midoriya and Kouda to Ashido and Bakugou, both of them tangled on the floor. Kirishima sat beside them, smiling wide. Shadow set her front paws on Ashido's head, using her to lean up and press snout to nose with Bakugou. Ashido snorted, planting her face into the floor.
"Oh my god, she's so cute," she mumbled.
"She's saying hi to her dad first! That's so manly!" Kirishima says, scratching her behind the ears.
"Shut the fuck up—"
"You're blushing, I can see it!" Uraraka accused. Bakugou shoved himself off the floor, diving for her next. Uraraka squealed, activating her Quirk to escape towards the ceiling. "I WON'T BE SILENCED!"
"Get down here, Pink Cheeks, we're throwing down!"
"Embarrassed she called you out like that, huh?" Shinsou teased.
"Shut the fuck up," Bakugou snapped.
"Asui," Aizawa drawled.
"On it, sensei," Asui says, hopping over to snag Uraraka in her tongue, already preparing for when she let go of her Quirk.
Aizawa sighed, turning to Shadow, who was curling up next to Ashido's neck. The girl looked utterly blessed. As more students filed closer to pamper the cat, he got up and sauntered over. Shadow turned to look up at him, mewling. He reached down, unclasping the collar. Shadow meowed, pawing up for it.
"Not at night," Aizawa reminded her. He patted her head, leaving her to the greetings of the class.
They wouldn't give her the collar for a few weeks after that. Though, by the time they gave it back, she seemed less interested in going outside and more interested in sleeping and eating. She wasn't lethargic, per se, but everyone noticed she'd gotten more snuggly, and vocal, and tired. She was almost always meowing when she wasn't given attention or affection if they weren't asleep or at class. They took turns to give her the attention she demanded. Occasionally, she still wanted to play.
One of these nights in particular, Bakugou was taking a nap on the couch, his back pressed all the way to the back of the couch and his arm hanging over the edge. Kirishima was sat at the other end, his lap cradling one of Bakugou's legs, and the blanket, and his arms rested on top of Bakugou's shin.
The class were scattered across the dorms, with most in their rooms or spread between the dining room and the living room. Shadow was scampering along down the stairs, spotting Bakugou on the couch. She came up to the couch, hopping up onto the cushions. Kirishima reached out and scratched her on the head as greeting. Shadow purred at him and then turned her attention to Bakugou. She crept along the cushions and nestled herself in the crook of his arm and chest. After settling, she readjusted, so as to be up against his arm.
Ashido already had her phone up. Shadow laid her head down on Bakugou's arm, purring loudly, and closing her eyes. Ashido clapped her hand lightly over her mouth. Hagakure turned to her sharply.
"Don't make a sound!" she whispered. "She'll move! Don't make a sound, or she'll move, Mina!"
Mina made a strangled noise.
"That is her boyfriend and her fur baby," Jirou whispered, snickering. "This is killing her."
"In the best way," Ashido whispered. Shadow gave a tiny meow, resting her chin on Bakugou's forearm. Ashido squealed as silently as she could.
"Make this cat move and we're over," Bakugou grumbled.
"Oh, you're awake?" Kirishima asks.
"You're awake?!" Ashido whisper-screamed.
"And you're on thin ice."
"I respect the immediate clapback, you never fail," Kaminari says.
Bakugou grunted at him. Shadow turned her head, twisting her body around, to rest her cheek on his arm with her face towards him. Bakugou cracked an eye open. He was not prepared for the sight. He waved his other hand, getting Kirishima's attention. Kirishima looked up and snorted, covering his mouth.
"Good kami," he laughed. "Are you broken, dude?"
If Bakugou had deigned to answer, he'd have probably been honest and admitted that yes, he was utterly broken.
Shadow wriggled her hind legs, watching the box with a lax lid very intently. Satou had gotten a care package from his parents and Shadow had sat on the box the second he'd set it on the table, unattended. Once he'd opened it and emptied the contents, she was playing with it and had been for upwards of several minutes now. Hagakure was recording it, giggling behind her phone. Shadow's wriggling paused for a split second before she pounced and slipped right through the lid and into the box.
"They really are liquids!" Hagakure says. She gingerly lifted the lid, laughing when Shadow's paw darted out to pat at her hand.
Bakugou glanced over at the two. Shinsou was on the other side, tapping the edge of the box to get Shadow to dart a paw out at him as well. She'd been great at not snagging her claws on anyone as of late. After Shinsou had officially joined the dorms, it had taken some time to get used to his sleeping pattern. Or lack thereof. The kid really did take after Aizawa far too much to quell Todoroki's "theories" about his parental lineage. He was either passed out on the couch or in his room or a consistent member of the No Sleep Gang, Club, whatever that group called themselves. Bakugou hadn't bothered to really keep track of the name, given half the class didn't seem to know it anyway.
Shadow trills at Shinsou, popping her head out to more accurately reach for his hand. Shinsou snorted, letting her grab it.
"She's gotten kind of big," he notes. Bakugou wasn't sure how he'd noticed, given he barely saw the guy outside of class half the week.
"No one is feeding her!" Hagakure screams instantly, whipping around to Bakugou (he assumes).
He shot her an unimpressed glance from his spot in the common room. Regardless of that fact, and he knew it was a fact because none of them were that dumb, she had gotten larger. But, he'd been pretty sure that she'd been done growing. He probably should take her back to the vet. She'd been getting hungrier, too, begging for more food. And while the class hadn't been feeding her human food, they were weak in refilling her bowl once or twice more when she demanded it.
She abandoned her game with the two and trotted up the stairs. Bakugou watched her go with a quiet hum. After the entire fiasco with Overhaul, Shadow had been doing rounds on all of them. Since most of the time not all of them were downstairs, she'd be disappearing upstairs to check each room for a student. Even on days that she was more lethargic. Kirishima had made the… he'd say generous… observation that she was taking shifts with Bakugou when it came to knowing where anyone was.
As he watched her climb the stairs, he couldn't help but agree that she had gotten larger. Almost notably. He'd check it later. As it soon turned out, though, he wouldn't have to. Kodua came rushing down the stairs, Shadow in his arms. He was frantically trying to sign with one hand. It was… absolutely useless.
"Kouda, are you alright?" Asui asks. "You look sick."
"Is something wrong?" Midoriya asks.
Kouda set Shadow down, signing too fast for most of them to read it. Midoriya and Bakugou were both paying close attention to him, however. Even as Shadow trotted over to Bakugou, jumped up onto his seat, and started to curl into his lap.
Pregnant! She's pregnant!
Bakugou stared at him. His brain went utterly blank. He couldn't be serious. He wasn't. He couldn't be. No. No. No? Surely, not. NO.
"What." Bakugou croaks. Shadow finished getting comfortable and sighed, melting into his lap. He paused the game he'd been obliterating Kaminari in. The other blonde wasn't paying attention, anyway.
"Pregnant?!" Midoriya asks. More heads turned to the common room at the word.
"Who?" Ashido called from the kitchen.
She's pregnant! She's really pregnant!
Bakugou turned slowly to where Todoroki and Yaoyorozu were studying, both gaping at Kouda. "…You two."
Both whipped their heads towards him.
"YOU DIDN'T GET HER FUCKING FIXED?!" Bakugou screams. Shadow shot her head up, meowing loudly and indignantly up at him, even patting his shirt with her paw.
"You were with us, you didn't do anything about it, either!" Yaoyorozu says quickly.
"I forgot," Todoroki admitted.
"You were the idiots who were paying!" Bakugou screamed. "You schedule the appointments!"
"I forgot!" Yaoyorozu admitted, letting her notebook fall. "I've never had a pet before!"
"Have many of us?" Asui asks.
"That doesn't fucking matter!" Bakugou shouts. He clasped Shadow's head in his hands, turning her head to look up at him. "Who did you bed, you—"
"Kacchan!"
"I'll kill it," Bakugou snaps.
"It's a cat," Midoriya stresses.
"Fine. I'll cut its balls off."
"Oh my god," Ashido started to slap the table, laughing. "You're such a DAD!"
"Shut up!"
"You can't figure out who the dad is," Midoriya says. "It could have been any of the strays."
"Is that a challenge?"
"Kacchan."
"I'll snip them all if I have to."
"No, you're not," Aizawa said loudly. He turned to look at Shadow, who'd wriggled her head free, and was back to trying to nap. "We'll get her fixed after she has her litter."
"We're getting kittens!" Hagakure cheered.
"We're not keeping them," Aizawa says. Hagakure turned to him, probably with tears welling up in her eyes.
"B-but—"
"Be grateful that Nedzu agreed to let us keep one cat," Aizawa says. "He's not going to approve we have more."
"Either way, we're having them for a little while," Iida says. "She has to nurse them before we can put them up for adoption."
Hagakure bounded over, leaning down to coo at Shadow. "You're a mom!"
Bakugou sighed, pinching his brow. Troublesome cat.
Shadow, over the next month, grew increasingly needy and uncomfortable and hungry. Bakugou had agreed with Kouda, given he was the resident expert on animals, that he'd follow any course of action that he decided on. The first thing he'd demanded was that Shadow not be restricted on food. An obvious choice, frankly. The second was that they prepare a nest for her when the inevitable day comes. Just in case they were in class at the time, Shadow would still have somewhere warm and comfortable to have her kittens.
And, just because they're terrible at timing, a few Class B kids had knocked on their dorm door one night during this. Shadow was, by Kouda's estimate, about two weeks from having her new kittens. Midoriya had opened the door, a pocky stick hanging from his mouth, to Shoda, Shiozaki, and Tetsutetsu. The four kids held each other's gazes for a long, awkward moment, before Midoriya pulled the pocky from his mouth to speak.
"Um… hello—?"
"Hey, bro!" Tetsutetsu shouted past him.
Midoriya could hear Kirishima running from the table to the door. He smartly side stepped out of the way before he could be barreled into. Shoda and Shiozaki did the same, side-stepping away as Kirishima tackled Tetsutetsu with a jovial shout. Shiozaki stepped in first, shuffling past Midoriya with a meek 'excuse me'. Shoda slipped in after her with an equally quiet 'thank you'. Midoriya looked outside to where Kirishima and Tetsutetsu were already wrestling on the lawn and shut the door.
"No." Bakugou said from the couch. Shoda jumped, turning to him.
"Huh?"
"Get the fuck out," Bakugou said flatly. "Steelface can come over because Kiri demands it, but the rest of you extras aren't welcome."
"That's not solely your decision to make, Katsuki," Yaoyorozu says coolly from beside him. Shiozaki blinked at the name usage. She blinked again when Bakugou didn't immediately try to blast Yaoyorozu's face off. Bakugou turned to her sharply. "It's the collective decision of the dorm."
"I don't care," Jirou says immediately, not even looking up from her game. Kaminari hummed in agreement, hyper focused on the level he was trying to beat.
"What can we assist you with?" Iida asks, coming up to greet them.
"We heard you had a therapy cat?" Shiozaki begins.
"W-we wanted to see it…" Shoda admitted sheepishly. The room was silent from any commentary, save for Jirou snorting. She paused her game, pointing right at Bakugou.
"Well, say hi, then," she says, smirking. Bakugou turned back to glare at them. Shoda paled.
"I-it's..?"
"Snuggling up to him in his lap, yes," Yaoyorozu confirmed, flipping the page of her book. She looked down at Bakugou's lap. "And seems quite warm and happy."
"You're both dead to me," Bakugou says flatly. Jirou laughed, turning into her seat cushions. Yaoyorozu looked up at him blankly. "…Mostly dead to me."
Yaoyorozu smiled fondly, turning to look at the two others. "Again, you're welcome to look. But don't wake her."
"I'm pretty sure Kirishima probably already did that," Midoriya says with a chuckle. Right on cue there was victorious hollering outside and demands of a rematch. From the couch, right from Bakugou's lap, was a disgruntled 'murp' of a meow.
Shiozaki was first to take the chance to round the couch and see the large white cat curled up in Bakugou's crisscross of legs. Almost like she was settled in a nest. Yaoyorozu reached over to scratch Shadow behind the ears, earning a purr in response. Shadow stretched, letting her paws hang over Bakugou's shins. Shadow looked up at Shiozaki, feeling her gaze on her, and flicked an ear. Bakugou sighed heavily, openly annoyed, and shot a glare Shiozaki's way.
"Don't hold eye contact, idiot, it looks like you're sizing her up," he says.
"Oh." Shiozaki averted her gaze quickly. Shoda shuffled around the couch, peering around Yaoyorozu to Shadow.
"That's the one that tackled Monoma?" he asks. Bakugou barked out a laugh, setting a hand on Shadow's back when she wriggled from the sudden noise spike.
"Dumbass got taken down by a cat."
"He's convinced she's got a Quirk," Shiozaki says. From the dining room table Todoroki's head shot up. Midoriya caught his gaze, slowly shaking his head. Silently praying he didn't pull out his theory board.
"That idiot would," Bakugou grumbled. He flicked his gaze up at the two. "You extras really came all the way here to take a look?"
"Well, he made her sound more fearsome than she looks," Shiozaki admitted. "Like a demon."
"Of-fucking-course you'd come because of that," Bakugou groaned. Shiozaki ignored him, looking back at Shadow. She knelt in front of them, tentatively reaching out a hand. Shadow sniffed her fingers for a moment before stretching a paw and settling it on the back of her hand. Bakugou could literally see the adoration starting in Shiozaki's eyes.
"Oh," she whispered.
For fucks sake.
"Another one bites the dust," Jirou whisper-sings from her seat.
Shiozaki was far from the last Class B student to come to see Shadow after they'd left that night. Bakugou had made it clear of his distaste that they be coming over at all, but he was swiftly out-voted when the girls of both classes made a lobby that they had 'tea times' with Shadow. "Girl's Night" with cat included, according to Asui. And occasionally Aoyama. It had taken just a moment of convincing before the other girls had agreed he could join them, especially after he'd started doing nail crafts.
Bakugou stopped questioning it when he came down to study one night to find a Girls Night in full swing, and Shinsou was on the couch. Pinned down by Shadow, who was laying across his chest with her face pressed up under his chin. Hagakure was painting the nails on the only free arm he had. His other arm was pinned between him and the back of the couch, his hand resting on Shadow's back. Bakugou sauntered up, peering down over the back of the couch.
"Disturb her and I will tear out your spine," Shinsou says. Bakugou almost choked—and very nearly let it show—and instead huffed out a laugh and gave a single nod.
"You're really not wanting to move, huh?" Hagakure asks.
"I have never been more complete."
Bakugou sat at the table, sidling up next to Midoriya. Midoriya was staring at his phone. Bakugou glanced over to it and froze.
"Bakubabe, you didn't even swear, I'm impressed!" Ashido says, shooting him a wink. Bakugou managed to tear his eyes away from the phone screen and stared up at her flatly.
"That cat uses psychological manipulation and touch-starved tactics to squeeze as much pampering out of you as possible. I get to wake to up to that every morning."
Ashido bolted from her chair to dash over to him. The sheer, sudden jostle of the chair moving had Shadow shift and raise her head briefly, before settling back down. Shinsou still looked over at Ashido as best as he could from where his head was on the armrest.
"Your spine is mine," he called after her.
"Shove it!" Ashido shouted. She slammed her hands on the table. "Do you really wake up to her cuddling you like that every morning?!"
"You sounded almost like a really pissed Dad," Jirou laughed.
"More so now that she's knocked up," Bakugou says.
Kaminari was giggling, stopping the video and sending it off in the chat. Midoriya's phone dinged. He read the message and made a choked sound—that Bakugou chose to ignore for now, with Ashido right in his personal bubble. She made it hard to ignore her. Ashido was beaming and then slowly her face changed into one of curiosity. Bakugou narrowed his eyes. Ashido leaned down.
"Has she made you late for your runs?" she asks. Bakugou was silent. Ashido started to laugh. "No!"
"At least I won't cry when it happens," Bakugou says.
"THAT IS A LOW BLOW!"
"NO!" Kaminari wailed. Several heads turned to him. He was desperately looking at his phone, sweating. He laughed and looked up towards Bakugou. "Aha… uh….I-I sent the video I took to the chat with Dad…"
The room was silent. Shadow readjusted and sighed, laying out across Shinsou.
"I'll die happy, at least," Shinsou says. Jirou ran over to Kaminari, gripping his shoulders.
"Tell me he didn't watch it!" she shouted. "I called him 'Dad', Kami!"
"U-um… well… he did…" Kaminari says, melting into the cushions of the chair.
"He liked it…" Midoriya says quietly.
Bakugou stood. Midoriya lazily grabbed at Bakugou's sleeve, staring at his phone with empty eyes.
"I'm too young," Kaminari whispered. Their phones dinged.
Aizawa: LetMeSleep points for the threat, but deductions for not backing it up
Jirou stared at the message. She stood straight, shoving Kaminari's phone away.
"J-Jirou?" Kaminari asks. The phone dinged again.
"He definitely heard me call him dad…"
"He might think you meant your actual dad?"
"That is not better."
"Um…"
"The vague concept of a father?" Hagakure offered weakly.
"How is that comment better for how I view fathers?" Jirou asks flatly.
"Um, well, okay, when you put it that way—"
Another ding.
Aizawa: Nem says to wait until she's there, she has popcorn.
LetMeSleep: She has only as long as Shadow remains on me.
Kaminari looked up. Shinsou had his phone in the hand that Hagakure had been painting. She was, at the moment, on the floor, face in a pillow, groaning loudly. Shinsou locked eyes with Kaminari. He shot him as good of a peace sign as he could while holding his phone.
"Yo."
"You responded."
"Oh, I'm doing more than that, give me a second," Shinsou says, smirking. Kaminari felt his stomach drop, and then his phone dinged again. He hesitated to look down.
LetMeSleep changed Aizawa 's name to CatDad
CatDad: …
CatDad: I approve. For now.
"You hold no fear," Kaminari says.
"Not with this cat on me, I don't," Shinsou says, smiling.
Bakugou was first through the door to find Shadow looking over the edge of her kitten nest they'd crafted. Bakugou was first to go over to her. He knelt by the box, not saying a word, or reaching his hand up. Once everyone had filed in and the noise started to quell, Midoriya joined him and squeaked. Uraraka was next, peering past the two into the box.
"OH!" She turned to the rest of the class. "KITTENS!"
Ashido and Hagakure scrambled over each other to peer into the box. Ashido gasped, seeing multiple little balls of fur squirming under Shadow, constantly digging themselves deeper for the warmth and falling back asleep instantly. Ashido threw Hagakure off her back to whip around to Todoroki.
"SHOUTO, GET OVER HERE!" she called cheerfully. Todoroki came up to them, looking down into the box. Shadow meowed up at him, her tail swishing. Ashido was bouncing on her heels. "You're a walking heater, right? Want kittens in your lap?"
"I want nothing more than that," Todoroki admits, taking a seat immediately. Kouda came over, signing with a sigh.
Wait a week at least until they're stronger before handling them.
"Aaaw…" Ashido slumped back down, looking into the box. "But they're so cute and tiny…"
Bakugou seemed to snap out of his daze, ruffling Ashido's hair until she was giggling and smacking his hand away. "They'll still be puny in a week, just wait."
"What about you, huh? You're a walking heater, too," Ashido says.
Bakugou stared down at the kittens, and then at Shadow. She was regarding him the same as she always did, her tail slowly swishing in the confines of the box. He doubted she didn't trust him with the babies. She already trusted him far more than she reasonably should, given his Quirk, in his opinion. He would deny it day and night, but he was more than a little apprehensive to handle the small kittens. He'd been wary of handling Shadow at all when she was still a kitten, which, now that he thought of it, might have contributed to her habit of climbing him for attention instead of just meowing up at him.
"We're not keeping them," he says. Ashido and Hagakure whip their heads around at him.
"What?!"
"Aizawa-sensei already said no," Bakugou says flatly. "But, besides that, we ain't keeping more cats here."
"…Just one?" Hagakure asks pleadingly.
"No."
"You're so cruel!"
"Bitch, I'm practical!"
We can adopt them out to the other classes and departments, then? Kouda suggested. Midoriya stood straighter, humming.
"Maybe," he mused. "Class B already wants one. And, it'd keep them out of the dorm more often than if we didn't give them a therapy cat," Midoriya adds on, spotting Bakugou's rising shoulders lessening at the logic.
"One for Class B, one for the General Education department, and one for the Support Department, and one for the Management Department?" Tokoyami counts out on his hand.
"Those last three have three classes each," Uraraka points out. "Can they share a cat?"
"They have multiple dorms," Yaoyorozu confirms with a huff. "So only one building would get the kitten. They'd probably fight over it."
"I can take 'em," Shinsou offered, smirking from where he was draped over Shoji's shoulder to see the kittens.
"We can't keep them in the dorm, asshole!"
"Fine, then one can go to Class B, one to the Support kids to be a mouser in their storage room, one can be the mouser for the school, and one can go to Aizawa-sensei," Shinsou says, counting off on his fingers much like Tokoyami had.
"That's not going to work, either, the cats can't live at the school," Iida rationalizes. He pinched the bridge of his nose before sighing. He clapped his hands together with a sense of finality. "Right! We'll give one to Class B as a therapy cat. That's decided. But the others we'll have to discuss with Aizawa-sensei."
"He's not adopting them," Shinsou says.
"He doesn't have to," Uraraka says. "He can help us figure out where they go, though…"
"But can't we just keep them and not tell Sensei?" Ashido asks. Bakugou shoots her a glare.
"Look me in the eyes and tell me how well you really think that'll go," he says. Ashido deflated, sighing until she was on the floor.
"No fair…"
Later, when Aizawa entered the dorm, it was to the sounds of cooing kids and mewling kittens. He dumped his paperwork on the counter and sauntered over to where the majority of them were still surrounding the kitten nest. He leaned over to see the four kittens all scrambling over one another, still blind, and with hardly any actual motor skills to speak of. Ashido turned to him, her eyes wide and hopeful, she took a breath.
"No."
"Gh—! I DIDN'T EVEN GET TO ASK!" Ashido wails.
"We can't keep them. I'll take them to a no kill shelter if you can't find anyone to adopt them out to."
"We were thinking one could go to Class B?" Midoriya offered. Aizawa hummed. Kan would probably agree to it. No doubt a 'therapy cat' would be useful for his students, as well. Aizawa raised an inquisitive brow at him to continue. "One to the Support class as a mouser for their shop, and one to the main building as a general mouser. …And mascot."
"And the last one?" Aizawa asks.
"Well…" Midoriya glanced at who was present. Uraraka shook her head very slightly. Ashido pretended not to feel his gaze on her. As did most of the others. Asui turned to Aizawa.
"We were hoping you'd like one," she says. "For your apartment."
Aizawa would have bet her on that. He would have challenged it. Except he could see that she was one hundred percent serious. Had Shinsou blabbed to some degree about the strays? Aizawa couldn't read the boy's face to determine that, however, because the aforementioned little shit was nowhere in sight. Aizawa simply closed his eyes and sighed.
"Fine—"
"THANK YOU, SENSEI!"
"YAY!"
"Alright, alright, calm down," Aizawa patted Ashido's head—if only to get her to calm down, even if that was through forcing a mental blue screen—and looked over the kittens.
They all looked markedly similar, with just a few splotches of differing color pattern to be seen. Of course, he couldn't really determine what the end result pattern would be until they were older. He'd learned that with at least one of his cats. He shrugged, ruffling Ashido's hair before retrieving his hand.
"Just pick me one. I'll take it with me. Majima might take one for the Support Class as a mouser, but he'd have to run it by Nedzu first. Nedzu also has to agree to have a second cat in the school building for mousing."
"Alright!"
"Wait, sensei," Midoriya waved to gain Aizawa's attention again. "How will you care for a cat? You're here most of the time when you're not teaching or on patrol. Doesn't it take a lot of time at the start?"
"I'm not taking it until it's able to eat food itself," Aizawa says. "And I have neighbors."
"I kinda forgot he doesn't actually live here…" Hagakure whispered. Kaminari looked up from the main table.
"I'm not alone," he whispered.
Over the course of several weeks, the kittens learned to walk, opened their eyes, and were certified menaces. Much like Shadow had been. Todoroki had a theory, as always, brewing for why Bakugou seemed to be enjoying this the most. Primarily that he'd been teaching the kittens how to climb shoulders, and everyone else had the misfortune of being practice to the fluff balls.
Aizawa was the best prepared for this, aside from Bakugou and Kirishima. He'd come down one morning for coffee, and some extra minutes to grade papers. Before the coffee had finished brewing, two of the kittens had flanked him on either side to jump up his legs. After the initial jolt, Aizawa stared down at the two, who had frozen at his thighs. He could feel their tiny claws digging through his pants. It wasn't how he'd thought his morning would start. Aizawa lifted one off, plucking its claws from his pants fabric, and cradled it at his shoulder. He bent his back oddly to grab the second. The first kitten pawed at his scarf, eventually burrowing under his hair and into the Capture Weapon. Aizawa stood straighter, or as straight as he could with the weight shifting at the back of his neck. He grabbed his mug, filled it with the freshly hot coffee, and made his way straight to the couch.
Once he'd settled, he set the second kitten down on his shoulder. It took some time, but it eventually crawled its way under the folds of his scarf as well. Shadow was watching from her nest, tail flicking. She picked up one of the two remaining kittens in her jaws. Aizawa's eyes flicked her way as he caught the movement in his peripheral. Shadow held his gaze for less than three seconds before jumping up the couch cushions to drop a kitten at the crook of his elbow. Aizawa stared at her for the sheer audacity.
Shadow didn't waste much time bringing over the final kitten once Aizawa had resigned to his fate and set the third onto his opposite shoulder. The fourth kitten settled under his chin, as it were. And Shadow took up residence at his lap, laying herself over his stomach to monitor the kittens wriggling in his scarf.
"Feeling proud of yourself?" Aizawa asks. Shadow purred.
Footsteps, and then students, came and went as the minutes ticked by. First the early risers, with Bakugou spying Shadow, sans kittens. Aizawa merely pointed to his scarf. Bakugou snorted and was on his way. Todoroki and Iida were blissfully ignorant. As was Yaoyorozu. Yaoyorozu had cooed at the image of Shadow on Aizawa's lap. Ashido was within the middle ground of those who were coming down for breakfast. She paused at the staircase entrance, Hagakure moving on to the kitchen.
"Aizawa-sensei?" Ashido asks, pulling out her phone already.
"Ashido," he says with a nod. Two kitten heads popped from the folds of the scarf, mewling. Ashido's knees promptly hit the floor.
"SENSEI!" Ashido cried, fumbling with her phone. Hagakure turned, spotting the kittens and almost choked on her rice bowl.
Hagakure was waving her spoon erratically. "MMM!?"
"M-my heart!" Ashido cried. "Oh my god."
"Explosion from the cute?" Hagakure asks.
"WHAT ELSE?!" Ashido asks.
"You're being overly dramatic," Aizawa says.
"It's my brand! How are you just sitting there?!" Ashido asks. Frankly, if Aizawa were to be truly honest, most animals rather enjoyed the warmth his scarf easily built up. Especially when it's coiled around his shoulders.
"I won't be in a few minutes," he says. Ashido crawled onto the couch, cooing at the kittens and scratching one's cheek lightly. "Ashido you should eat breakfast, we have training today."
"Five minutes."
It was lunch when Hagakure jumped up from her seat and ran to Bakugou's table. She slapped the table, rattling their trays, and shoved her phone into their faces.
"Shadow is a Queen!" she declared.
Bakugou stared at her, dumbfounded for once. Jirou was first to look at the phone and then back at Hagakure. "What?" she asked.
"She's a Queen!" Hagakure says, shaking the phone. "That's what you call a cat that had a litter!"
"She was already a Queen," Ashido says with a snicker.
"Damn straight," Hagakure says with a wink.
"Kami, fuck off," Bakugou sighed. Kirishima snorted, patting his shoulder. Hagakure bounced off, announcing it again to Midoriya's table, garnering a reaction much closer to what she'd been hoping for from Bakugou's group.
"Is that—?"
"How'd that get in here?"
Bakugou looked up, seeing Shadow waltzing down the cafeteria towards his table. He almost dropped his fork onto his tray. Ashido turned, chocking on her food. Shadow dodged a few curious students, bee lining straight for their table. A few tables around them grew tenser the closer she got, especially once it was clear where she was headed. She leapt into Bakugou's lap, purring up a storm before she'd even hit him.
"Bitch," Bakugou spat. Shadow meowed, rubbing her head against his chin. "Fucking asshole."
"Let her love you," Ashido whispered.
"Fuck off. What the fuck are you even doing here?" Bakugou asks, leaning away to look Shadow in the eyes. Shadow meowed sadly, standing on his lap to rub her head into his chin again, resting her paws on his shoulders. Ashido squealed, pulling out her phone. "Do it and you die."
"Make me, bitch, you're trapped," Ashido says.
Bakugou immediately launched up, snatching her phone. Ashido squealed, jumping hard enough to jostle the entire table. Shadow clung onto Bakugou's uniform, tail swishing back and forth in agitation before he sat down, Ashido's phone in his hand. She gaped at him.
"Bet," he said. Shadow bent her head to look at her and meowed.
It wasn't long, with Shadow literally clinging to Bakugou, before Kouda was brought up to their table by Aizawa and Shadow was convinced to finally let go. Though she did protest rather loudly. Whomever had been politely ignoring the daily bullshit of Class 1-A and 1-B started to turn heads as she meowed, insulted, and whining.
"Shut the fuck up, you're in the wrong here," Bakugou snapped at her. Shadow had sat on his thigh, tail curled around his leg. She turned to him and gave a small meow. Ashido cooed at her, reaching over the table. Shadow bopped her nose on Ashido's finger.
"Does she have—"
"YES," Aizawa stressed. He reached his arm out and Shadow latched on, jumping up his arm until she could curl into his Capture Weapon. "Alright, back to lunch."
In the silence of the cafeteria, somewhere in the crowd of students, was a very quiet "what the fuck?".
The next sighting of Shadow was in the halls of the school. Between classes, as students passed a hall, a student from Class 1-B could be seen trying to lure Shadow closer. A few who tried cooing noises. Some who bribed her with treats. Some who simply opted for the waiting game. Fukidashi had tried to use his own Quirk to lure the cat, only to be met with a steady stare. Kuroiro had simply initiated a staring contest.
"First to blink loses," he said, staring Shadow down. She tilted her head at him. "And if you lose, I get one pet," he says, holding up one finger.
Shadow chirped. She sat down, her tail swishing. Kuroiro sat on the ground in front of her, steadily holding her gaze. He was still there, minutes later, but looking far more ruffled than before.
"Kuroiro?" Tsunotori asks, coming up behind him.
"What?"
"What are you doing…?"
"I can't—shit! Damn it!"
"What is it?" Tsunotori asks.
"I blinked again!"
"…What."
Sometimes, a student would get the coveted chance to pet the cat. Regardless if they knew it was Class 1-A's cat or not, it was still a cat with a possibly concerning level of intelligence allowing them to pet it. The experience became something of a challenge for students. Occasionally, Shadow would allow someone to pamper her, if they happened upon her in the hallway.
But usually, they came to the dorm.
"This is the second time this week," Shoji says.
He was watching as Kaibara and Shishida both sat with Shadow between them. She was biting and playing at one of the string toys Yaoyorozu had made. No one could prove it, but Shadow seemed to prefer Yaoyorozu's creations more than the store-bought toys. How she knew which were which they weren't sure. Regardless, every student in Class 1-B, save Monoma because he had refused to visit the dorm, had been given a crash course in how not to end up as Shadow's scratching post.
Almost every Class 1-B student had made their trek over to the Class 1-A dorm at least once by now. Shadow was far more lenient with her kittens by now, leaving them to roam the bottom floor of the dorm more and more each day. At present, they were all cuddled on top of Todoroki for his body heat. He had never looked more content.
The front door opened and Aizawa walked in, making sure to watch for any sneaky kittens. Hagakure looked up at him and stood to greet him.
"Hello, sensei! Eri!" Hagakure squealed. The small figure behind Aizawa shuffled past his leg just enough to peer around at Hagakure. She gave a tiny wave. Pounding steps came from the common room and Midoriya slid into view, smiling wide.
"Eri!"
"Deku!"
Eri ran up, jumping up and letting Midoriya catch her in his arms. Uraraka came up next, waving at Eri and taking her hand in hers.
"Hello, Eri," Uraraka says.
"Hi. Where's Tsu?" Eri asks, peering around Uraraka's shoulders.
"She's here, just in the common room," Uraraka says. "Want to say hi?"
"Yes, please."
Uraraka kept hold of Eri's hand, guiding her towards the common room. Midoriya stayed behind with Aizawa, waiting for him to answer Midoriya's unsaid question.
"It's been a while since she was here, and…" Aizawa pointed to the common room.
Midoriya turned to see Shishida and Kaibara staring at Eri as Eri stared not at them, but Shadow. Shadow had rolled over enough to be laying on her side. She was still purring, and her ear flicked. She tilted her head when Eri tilted hers. Uraraka was fighting off her giggles. Shishida and Kaibara didn't seem to know how to react to Aizawa bringing a child to the dorm.
"When did you all get a kitty?" Eri asks, turning slightly to Uraraka, but not completely, eyes still transfixed on Shadow.
"Um… a while ago," Uraraka admitted. "She's really gotten used to the dorms. And, um… well, if you look at Todoroki right now…"
Eri finally tore her eyes away from Shadow, honing onto Todoroki in a second. She gasped, spying the kittens just as fast. Most were asleep, their tiny paws kicking occasionally as they dreamed. Eri was gaping, in awe, and pointed at them, shaking in anticipation.
"C-can I?" she asks. Uraraka wasted no time in bringing her to the kittens. Aizawa hid his fond smile under his Capture Weapon. He nodded, turning to enter the kitchen.
"We haven't really named them yet," Asui says, hopping over. She gave Eri a quick hug before they turned their attention back to the kittens. Bakugou would have loved to see the confusion on Todoroki's face if he'd been present.
"Wow…" Eri breathed. She turned towards Aizawa, who had already started a pot of coffee. "Dad, can I name one?"
Shishida and Kaibara whipped their heads around to Aizawa fast enough one their necks popped. Aizawa didn't miss a beat before he was nodding.
"Take your time picking a name," he says. Eri jumped a little, smiling wide. She gave a tiny squeak when she felt something brush on her legs. She looked down to spy Shadow at her waist, pressed against her legs, and looking up at her.
"What about the mom?" Eri asks.
"Her name is Shadow," Asui says. Eri looked down at Shadow again. She looked back up at Asui, questioningly. "We'll explain it later."
"That's the kid Monoma was talking about?" Shishida whispers. Kaibara nodded, humming.
"I guess so."
Eri glanced at them curiously. Uraraka sat down on the floor, leaning against the arm of the chair Todoroki had taken up. "This is Shishida and Kaibara, they're from the same class as Monoma."
"Oh. … Hello."
"Hi."
"Hello."
"This is awkward," Tokoyami mumbled from the dining area. Jirou snorted, looking up from the blog they'd been touring for the last hour.
"They wanted to stop by for "cat therapy"," she says, replacing her headphones. "An extra dosage of cuteness isn't a loss."
"Eri has Shadow," Tokoyami says.
Jirou looked up, spotting Eri holding Shadow… entirely wrong. Perhaps not too wrong, though, as Shadow wasn't protesting or making any moves to escape. Eri wasn't holding her like any other person would. Instead, she had wrapped her arms under Shadow's, leaving Shadow's entire lower body hanging. Jirou snorted at the sight. Eri was smiling, at least. And Midoriya couldn't look prouder.
It wasn't long before Eri was on the floor, with Shadow lounging on top of her, as she ran her palms down Shadow's back. Shishida and Kaibara had both obtained a kitten each, somehow, and so had Uraraka and Asui. Aizawa came up to them, leaning down to check on them.
"How are you holding up?" he asks. Eri looked into his eyes and smiled contently. She nodded with a hum. Aizawa ruffled her hair a little. "Okay. Dinner is in ten, though, so you'll have to move eventually."
"Nooo," Eri whined with a small giggle. Shadow had lifted her head and let out a rather whiny meow alongside Eri.
"No arguing, you need to eat. You can resume afterward, deal?"
"Hmm. Deal." Eri nods, sighing as Shadow stretched out on top of her.
I should bring her over more often if Shadow's taking her title of Therapist Cat this seriously, Aizawa thought.
He hadn't thought to get Shadow legitimately trained in any therapy cat courses, but regardless of that, the feline had a knack for knowing exactly how to ease someone's anxiety. Apparently. He'd have to bring her to Nedzu and see what he made of it. She was… uncannily clever for her species. But, then again, he'd thrown out the notion that animals lacked further intelligence even before he met Nedzu.