It's been so long since Izuku had felt the kindness of another person. Someone other than his mother. Just admitting that he was quirkless to anyone on the street was enough for Izuku to get the cold shoulder between him and the perpetrator. He could sometimes see it in their eyes. The hatred and disgust. The judgemental look in their eyes would haunt him for as long as he lived.

But how did he feel about it? Was it depression, anxiety? Was he just lonely? Upset at the world for how unfair it's been to him? Because of his 'unachievable dream?' That was a lie, one that was fabricated to his therapist, and to his mother.

He was pissed. Pissed at the world, pissed at life, pissed at Kacchan and the others to the point that he himself wouldn't mind playing bully, just to give them a taste of their medicine. And yes, he was pissed at his mother. For not noticing the signs. His frustration. How negative his outlook on life was.

But he couldn't admit any of this publicly. No, that would ruin the image of Izuku Midoriya. The polite, sometimes quiet, and docile kid who had the absolutely hilarious dream of becoming a hero. A quirkless kid trying to rub shoulders with the big leagues, knowing full well he wouldn't last a second amongst their ranks.

His slippers met the first-floor hallway rather nicely, even considering that they were several sizes too small. The grey light that illuminated the hallway was rather comforting, considering that was the only warmth he'd be getting for the rest of the day. Excluding the affection from his mother of course. (She loved him to bits).

Even now, he could hear the mutters about him. Rumors. They spread like wildfire, and even if the school faculty actually opted to give a shit about him, they wouldn't stop. It'd be impossible to silence them.

He unconsciously applied more pressure to the straps of his backpack, as he felt the prying eyes of several people on him. Kacchan. His feet stopped on their own.

It was as if the entire hallway went silent, with all of the people erased or dispersed. As if there wasn't a single soul within the building. Or at least, that's what it felt like for Izuku. Cold. He felt a chill run down his spine. It was like the world had stopped spinning around him.

Greet him first. Otherwise, he'll think I'm ignoring him. "H-Hello Kacchan. I-Is there something you want?" Izuku knew that as soon as Katsuki made eye contact with him, formal greetings were useless. But part of him, the kind and caring side of him, still wished to greet him formally. To not get on his bad side.

"Don't know when I gave you permission to start conversations with me out of the blue, Deku." Katsuki sneered as he walked past him. Part of Izuku was ecstatic that Katsuki paid him no mind. At least he wouldn't have to deal with his antics-

"Yeah, maybe the guiltlessness is going to his brain. He's too mentally deficient to remember anything more than one or two sentences, so he struggles with shit like this." His lackeys laughed at him. And even from afar, Izuku could see the hostility in their eyes.

"I-I was just trying to be friendly..." The small back steps that Izuku took did not go unnoticed by Katsuki's eye, as he eyed him viciously.

"I don't need your friendliness, Deku." Izuku froze as soon as Katsuki's words reached his ears. "The last thing I need is some quirkless loser thinking he can rub shoulders with an elite like me!" His expression darkened. "But I know what you need." He smiled savagely.

"A-And what is it, Kacchan?" Izuku gulped as he gripped his notebook. He wanted to get out of there. To sprint down the hallway. To get out of the school grounds even, but Katsuki's glare kept him unmoving.

"All you need is a jump, right off the roof! That'll fix your problems. Maybe you'll have a quirk in your next life."

Izuku was rendered breathless, as Katsuki's laughter hollered throughout the hallways. He looked around him. Katsuki's voice seemed to only register to him, as all the students present in the hallway ignored their scuffle.

There were maybe one or two people who took a glance in his direction, before looking away. Not bothering to interfere once they realized who was. Good ol' quirkless Deku. Am I the only one who heard that just now? Izuku covered his mouth, in fear of throwing up. No one cares…

Katsuki's laughter kept ringing in his ears, even after Katsuki had long since left the school grounds. He stood there, motionless. The blonde's words echoed through his mind.

Home, he needed to head home; to his apartment. It was more of an unconscious thought than an actual decision, but it didn't stop his feet from hitting the ground with as much force as he could muster as he bolted out of the school grounds.

One kilometer. Two kilometers. Three kilometers. How long has it been since he started running? He forgot once he passed the train station. By the time he took a second and breathed, he was in an area he had never seen before.

Everything was overgrown. Buildings, streets, shops. It wasn't a large space, it couldn't have encompassed more than a single square kilometer worth of area. But to Izuku? It would do for now.

He hissed in pain as the soreness in his feet reached his legs. He had been running for so long that he could barely feel his feet. He could barely take a breath as he sat down.

It's quiet. He closed his eyes and relaxed against a tree. It didn't sink in just how quiet everything was until Izuku listened in on his own breathing and relaxed. Everything's quiet. Good. It was just him. Him and the sound of the trees bustling against the wind. Him and the cherry blossoms gliding through the air. Him and his thoughts.

This honestly wasn't his first experience dealing with situations such as this. One could say he went through events such as this once every week at least. It did well to remind him that he was trapped in his own personal hell created by Katsuki. One that he would seemingly never escape.

He had been staring at the cherry blossoms blowing in the wind for God knows how long. Several thoughts raced through his mind. What time was it? How long would it take for him to jog back home? Was mom going to know? And yet part of him didn't care. Consequences are damned.

Izuku wasn't stupid. He knew he couldn't keep running away from his problems. God forbid he run away from home. He'd break his poor mother's already fragile heart. It's just that… He couldn't deal with any of this anymore. Now that he sat down and thought about it? Katsuki's advice to jump off a roof looked like a great solution.

Meow. That interrupted his thoughts. "Hm?" He looked around the area. And didn't find anybody. It must've been his imagination.

Meow. There it was again! Except it was louder this time. Was there a cat nearby? After standing up and making sure nobody was in the vicinity, he began to wander around for a bit. For a while, he couldn't hear anything but his feet stepping on the cracked asphalt of the streets, but after a little walking, he found himself standing in front of an abandoned shed.

And there it was again. That same meow from earlier. This is probably the source of the noise. After a little bit of prying, he slid the shed's door open as his pupils dilated in shock.

Izuku had no idea that the term "don't judge a book by its cover" could be applied to architecture as well. The inside of the shed was the complete opposite of its outward appearance. Journals littered the floor. Old fashioned computers were stacked onto shelves of various sizes. Izuku felt like he was in a science exhibit.

Taking a finger and swiping it across the computer's screen revealed that there was little dust gathered upon it. So someone's been here recently? Part of him wanted to sprint out of the shed the second he realized that the abandoned shed technically wasn't 'abandoned,' but he suppressed the urge.

Ignoring the fact that there could very well be another human being present here… That 'meow' from earlier had to have come from this shed. Slowly but surely, he found himself walking through the not so abandoned shed until he stood before a box with pillows within it.

He flipped over the cardboard flaps and stared intently into the box. Sure enough, something began to stir in the middle of it. He couldn't help himself from growing excited as what seemed to be a giant ball of fur popped out of the box.

Felis Catus. He let its whiskers brush up against his fingers as the cat peered into his irises. He stared back as well. Its golden orbs were beautiful to Izuku.

"Don't worry, I don't bite. Or at least, I don't think I do!" He grinned innocently as he patted the feline's head. The cat didn't seem to mind. "You like me, don't you?" The moment he said those words, he felt the cat purr against his wrist. Almost as if it could understand him.

Come to think of it, the feline did seem to react whenever Izuku opened his mouth. It left Izuku feeling nervous. Does it? Izuku wondered. Izuku stared into those golden-colored orbs once again. Only one way to find out. He prepared himself in case his plan backfired. "Do you understand me? Pet my hand if you do."

And it did.

"What the fuck." Izuku nearly felt his soul leave his body. "W-Woah- Okay." He backed away as he finally gave himself room to process everything. The cat understood what he was saying. It could technically speak. Holy shit. Was the room spinning or was it just him?

His brain hadn't even realized that he had just sworn out loud until he forcefully clamped his mouth shut with both of his hands. "Sorry." He whispered. He and the cat sat in silence for a while as Izuku inspected the feline's features.

Its soft fur was nice to the touch. Its whiskers were long and well-kept. Its body shone in the sunlight pouring through one of the shed's windows. Still, none of that mattered as his mind darted back to the moment before. "You actually understand… Japanese?" Why was he so shocked when he suspected this in the first place?

In the past century or so, it wasn't unusual to find animals with mutations, not unlike that of quirks. But it was incredibly rare to find such a specimen out in the wild like this. No less in an abandoned shed- Wait.

But it's not abandoned. Technically speaking, with the journals and various computers lying around on the shelves, it looked more like a mad scientist's lab than a shed. Which didn't help mitigate the alarms going off in Izuku's head. He needed to get out of here, and fast.

But would he though? There wasn't any sign of human interaction. Everything was just well-kept. The computers were turned off and judging from the dates of the journals, this place must've been out of use for at least a decade. Which means you don't have anyone to feed you…

He bit his lip as he cursed his luck. He picked up the cat and put it in his backpack. It was still purring at his touch. Plus, if you can really understand me… He looked back at his backpack, and sure enough, the cat's head was sticking out. Then you're one of a kind! He picked up his pace as he sprinted through the streets.

He just had to remind himself. "Mom loves cats right? Kacchan had one when we were little and mom always liked petting it. Surely she wouldn't mind, right?"

The cat tilted its head as Izuku neared his neighborhood. Ah, I forgot you understand Japanese… That'll take some getting used to. Still, he hurried through the streets. The streetlights and any of the passersby were only an afterthought to Izuku as he rushed across several city blocks. He hated running so fast, especially with how much his feet ached, but unless he'd want to get involved in 'unwanted business and or trouble.

Normally, it'd be borderline suicide to walk home so late. Living in a superpowered society came with its pros and cons after all. Petty thefts and robbings. Murders. Drug dealers who sold quirk-enhancing drugs... These were all rumors to Izuku, but to him, rumors are all that's needed to be cautious around something. Especially if you don't have any means to defend yourself. Other than a backpack and a pencil.

But who was he to talk? Stealing a highly sentient cat from an abandoned shed that looked to be frequently used... A part of that seemed shady to Izuku as well. If men in black suits came knocking at his door in the middle of the night, or worse if he attracted the attention of a villain... He wouldn't know what to do. His life would've been forfeit at that point.

But a part of him also wanted to keep the cat. As illogical as his thinking was, he was lonely. He needed a companion. Even if it was a pat. Short and simple. Eventually, he himself stood before his apartment. It was like any other apartment out there in Tokyo except that it was extremely affordable, was located in a relatively rural area with little to no crime, and last but not least, was home to Izuku.

"Home sweet home." Both he and the cat looked at the multi-story apartment complex before them. For Izuku, it was the place that he had known since he was a child. But for the calico cat, it might as well have been on a different planet.

It took a while for the elevator to reach Izuku's floor. Strangely, enough? He didn't mind it. There was All Might music playing in the background and the calico cat seemed to enjoy it. "Hm? You like All Might?"

It meowed as it stretched its paws. So cute! With a ring and the music stops, Izuku stepped out of the elevator and onto his floor. The door to his apartment was just a few meters away. He was expected to be showered in tears the moment he stepped foot in the doorway, but strangely enough, everything was quiet. That seemed to be a recurring theme today.

The TV was on though, and through the darkness, Izuku could recognize the silhouette of his mother. She was lying there on the couch, fast asleep. Checking his phone revealed that it had already passed curfew. Truth be told, Izuku wanted to wake his mother up. But a part of him knew that she must've had a long day at work, with how they had spoken little since he went to school. So he made a beeline towards his room.

Opening the door and setting the backpack which contained the cat onto the bed, Izuku collapsed onto his computer chair. It was only then that his mind processed today's events.

Overall, he was tired, not just physically, but mentally as well. His muscles ache after running god knows how many kilometers. He could barely lift his legs after collapsing onto his computer chair, let alone think properly, but his mind knew that it'd be stupid to not utilize the time given to him.

Booting up his computer and checking his email revealed nothing special. In the past several houses in which he was gone from home, there had only been two major villain attacks across the nation. Looks like they finally caught that villain. What was his name again? Masculine? Muscles? Ah, who cares.

And so he took the hero forums. A lot of people dedicated to quirk and hero analysis frequented them. One of them was Izuku, who was actually hailed as one of the most knowledgeable of the users. Of course, he would never let anyone who knew him personally be aware of that. It'd be far too embarrassing.

There had also been several occasions of actual heroes or government workers taking to the forums for information, leads on cases, or for knowledge surrounding a suspect's quirk altogether. Which would've made Izuku blush had he been credited. Not that he was bothered. He was used to remaining anonymous, especially on the internet.

He was always aware of the fact that he was Gifted. Perhaps not in raw intelligence like other geniuses throughout history, but in memorization and analysis. He was quick-witted and learned to pick up on things quickly at a young age. But all of that was void. Primarily due to the fact that he was quirkless. That wouldn't change. Not in a million years. The discrimination wouldn't stop. People wouldn't start paying attention to him simply because he was far beyond most of the material in the curriculum.

It just wasn't how the world worked. Or so Izuku thought.

But he had a goal in mind. Amidst all of his searches, forum-checking, and most of all; quirk analysis, he had one goal. One that was focused around a certain feline, who perhaps was responsible for tickly feeling on his ankle.

"Oh yeah, I kind of forgot that you were here. Sorry about that." He reached to pet the cat that did nothing but stare at him. The cat purred as one of his fingers reached under its chin to scratch its fur.

Izuku had several questions as to why there was a cat abandoned in a shed. With research papers and old computers everywhere. Being able to understand any word he said. Which was the main reason he was even staying up so late on the forums.

"Don't look at me like this," the cat meowed as Izuku went back to his research. "I need to get this done. I need answers... ones about you." He stifled a yawn with a wave of his hand as a series of clicks echoed throughout his room. "Nice! I found something."

It was an old paper that seemed to be an old paper done by a scientist. Nothing special, but it could prove fruitful. It was just what he needed.

The cat meowed again, this time jumping onto Izuku's lap. "No, wait! Why didn't I think of that? Perhaps you could help me with this since this is focused around you."

The cat purred the moment his mouse clicked on the link. By all means, Izuku was freaked out about this. A sentient cat sitting comfortably on his lap. It made him feel… Appreciated it for some reason.

But why? He thought as he scrolled down the article. Sure, Izuku was desperate to find someone he could depend on without them turning their backs on him, but he wouldn't go so far as to fill that void with a pet, an animal of all things.

But a sentient cat? Sure, it couldn't talk, but it could understand him just fine. The perfect companion for someone like him. A quirkless nobody.

He wasn't going crazy, was he?

As soon as the thought raced across his mind, the cat nudged its head into his side, as if it could understand exactly what he was thinking. Wait a second. God damn it, he was starting to hate how intelligent he was.

Of course! Why did he never consider the possibility of the cat having more than one quirk?! It was weird just how in-sync the feline was with his thoughts and manner of thinking to start with, so if it was actually responding to his thoughts-

"ESP, huh? Along with you being sentient- No wait!" He immediately took out a spare notebook he had lying around. "What if the ESP gives you the ability to be sentient?! Like the quirk is bleeding over into your intelligence!"

Of course, it went silent, with its ears perched up the moment that the gears started to turn in Izuku's head. Only further backs up my theory!

And so he worked late into the night. The cat gave up trying to convince him to sleep as he glued his eyes to his computer screen. Was it unhealthy? Sure, but he had to get to the bottom of this.

Even if it would fuck up his sleeping schedule. It was totally worth it.

Authors Notes

And we're finally at chapter three! Sorry for the long wait. I didn't start working on the third chapter of this story until around late October, I think. This is partly due to the fact that I had to rewrite my entire vision for the story going on onward. Originally, when I first wrote the first chapter, I did not account for the fact that might writing skills might grow immensely, which would prohibit me from publishing many of the chapters that I had planned months ago simply because they weren't up to par with my current standards.

Of course, this means that from now on, the quality of my writing will improve, therefore pleasing you all, which is sort of my main goal going forward. So yeah, sorry about that. A fanfiction writer's upload schedule being terrible is something that comes with doing this for free and primarily to express creativity. If you don't like that? That's perfectly fine! But for those of you who stook around waiting for chapter three of this... I thank all of you, from the bottom of my heart. And of course, any sort of criticism is welcomed. I want my writing skills to improve so I can make it with the big leagues, so don't be afraid to point out an error or two. Doesn't hurt me in the bit (Okay, maybe it does...).

Ooh, and I forgot to mention. I might start answering the reviews at the end of each 'authors notes' tidbit if it has any useful advice for me to follow. Starting with this chapter!

Number 7: Rather than a slow buildup to Izuku and Melissa's relationship, I'd rather have the both of them be together sooner so you can better explore their dynamics. I find that in fics where the main couple takes a long time to start dating as soon as they do there is almost no progress to their relationship. Getting into a relationship is easy, especially if you're a hormonal teenager with underdeveloped impulse control, staying in one while both of you are trying to understand each other and dealing with the real whorl is the hard part.

I see where you're coming from here, Number 7. I mean, I've read a lot of fics of where the main characters don't start dating until after like, 30 or so chapters pass, maybe even 50! Sometimes it gets a tad bit annoying reading through hundreds of thousands of words worth of text just to see two characters lock lips and start going out. So I understand why you're concerned about the romance in this fic.

However, and this is a VERY big 'however.' It'd be unrealistic to make them start dating after like, the 15th chapter. Yes, it is easy for teens to fall in love with someone. Teenagers primarily act on their hormones (I would know since I am one). Bu this does mean that they immediately profess their love towards their crush, after a week of crushing on them. The only way that would be possible is if their only attracted to the other person because of their looks, in which case, that can't really be classified as 'true love.'

But ultimately, I feel like your advice is inciteful. Useful even. But ultimately, if I want to make this realistic it's gonna take at least several dozens of chapters before Izuku and Melissa start dating and getting funky like the teenagers they are. As much as I hate the idea of stretching their developing relationship over the course of several dozen chapters, it needs to happen in order for this to remain realistic, to a certain extent. That's the only way I'll be truly satisfied with this story. And who knows? Maybe you'll like this slow burn. I have a lot of content planned excluding the romance here, that'll keep you entertained. Or at least, I hope so.

SpectacularSpidey: there's an inconsistency, is Izuku 9 or 7 at the start of the chapter?

Ah, sorry for the misunderstanding. I don't remember my original vision regarding how old he'd be at the start of chapter two. In terms of preference though... I'd probably make him around nine or so. This could fluctuate if I decide to rewrite the first two chapters, so just keep on the lookout for that.

AtomicGod666:Interesting so far can't wait to see where it goes!

Glad you're invested so deeply in this story! I honestly planned on holding this chapter off because of my dislike for how the first two chapters were originally written (read above if you don't understand why). But I can promise you this; you'll ABSOLUTELY love what I have planned for the future chapters and events in this fic. I have hundreds of ideas floating around in my mind.

(I don't really know how to end this so I'm just going to end this with a goodbye. Stay safe guys!)