Chapter Text
Shouta POV
“Shou, do you–? You have feelings for him, don't you?”
He didn't look up to see the look on his friend's face; no doubt he would be repulsed at the confirmation. “I can't stop it, I've tried, you have to know I've tried not to, I swear, Zashi. No matter how much I ignore it, how much I shove my thoughts down, it's no use. He- I, god, please don't hate me.” he feels so vulnerable, so small. Like a child waiting to be scolded by their parent for something they know they did wrong, or worse, waiting for his friend to throw a punch.
The longer he waits, the more he worries about Hizashi's reaction. He knows it's a lot to take in; his friend is probably still trying to sort out how he feels about the revelation. He can only imagine how poorly his image of Shouta has become.
He hears the other man let out a long sigh, running his hands over his face. “While I'm not thrilled about you having feelings for our student, I also know the kind of person you are. I can see how much this has been weighing on you.” he looks up at the feeling of Hizashi laying a hand on his shoulder, seeing the serious but not unkind expression on his friend's face. “You might have one of the strongest moral codes out of most of the heroes I've met, and while it is pretty uncomfortable that he's practically half our age AND our student, if he ends up reciprocating your feelings and makes the first move? If you make each other happy? I can't exactly bring myself to say I disapprove.”
“I don't hate you, Shouta. I know what kind of person you are. You are a good man and an amazing hero. This has clearly been eating away at you. We would be having a very different conversation right now if you weren't worried about hurting him. I trust you."
“Okay, screw the cat's internal schedule or whatever. You, my dear friend, are in desperate need of some fur therapy! Come on, up you get.”
Shouta really didn't want to get up. He wanted to wallow in his pity and despair for a little longer, which, yeah, that doesn’t sound too healthy. Despite not wanting to move, he lets his friend drag him off the couch and towards the door. He has to admit that the thought of curling up with Problem Child and burying his face in the cat's ridiculously soft fur does sound appealing.
He was honestly shocked at how quickly Hizashi seemed to recover from finding out about his feelings. He was back to his annoying, cheerful self in no time. And he had that look on his face that Shouta knew meant he was gearing up to tease him.
As he's grabbing his keys to his apartment and turning the lock, he hears Zashi chuckle, bracing himself because he knows whatever is about to come out of his friend's mouth is going to be extremely embarrassing for him. He smiles a bit at the familiarity of their dynamic. He has a feeling Zashi’s doing it to help cheer him up. He opens the door, and as soon as it closes behind them, that's when Hizashi chooses to strike.
"So Midoriya, huh? You really had to fall for the guy most likely to give you gray hair! At this rate, his quirk should just be 'anxiety attacks' for everyone around him!"
And yeah, ok. Despite his distressed state, Shouta can admit that his friend can be mildly funny, only slightly. He definitely isn't desperately trying to keep a straight face right now. If he lets Zashi see that his jokes actually make him laugh, he will be insufferable.
“Hah! I knew I could make you smile! Let’s find where that cat of yours is hiding and get our cuddle on!”
Izuku POV
Did he just hear that right? Did Yamada-sensei just imply that Aizawa… fell for him? He thinks back to the incident this morning when he woke up. He had thought it might have just been a random one-off type of thing, but if he adds this context… Holy crap, his teacher likes him back! Wait, and he told Present Mic? He feels embarrassed that his other teacher knows, but does he disapprove? He hopes he wasn’t the cause of Aizawa's friend judging him. However, the teasing would suggest that Yamada sensei is at least a little accepting of it. Maybe things will work out for them. If only Izuku could figure out how to stop being a cat.
True to Yamada sensei’s earlier suggestion, both his teachers came looking for him and found him on the couch. He didn't have much to do all day, so he had been taking a nap. His body wasnt used to being so inactive, but it also wasnt used to being so feline either, so he was giving himself a pass for now. When the two men come into view, Izuku is immediately on alert. Aizawa looks like a mess. He looks upset, with red, slightly puffy eyes, like he's been crying. Izuku wonders what could have happened to leave the strong, composed hero in this sort of state; it must be bad. “Hey there, little cutie. Sho’s had a rough day, so I've prescribed him some kittie cuddles to make him feel better. That ok with you?”
Izuku knows it's a rhetorical question and that his teacher wouldn't actually expect him to respond, but he does make his way over to Aizawa sensei, who’s now sitting on the couch and curls up in the man's lap. He feels large, strong hands gently card through his fur as soon as he's settled in his spot. He doesn't try to suppress his purring this time, knowing that it would probably calm Aizawa down.
As he suspected, the man seemed to calm down slowly. He never stopped petting Izuku, and he is infinitely grateful for it because he has never felt so contented. He lazed there, in his crush's lap, barely paying attention to the soft conversation going on around him. He had almost fallen asleep when he was rudely startled awake by a loud PING! The notification sounded like it was coming from Aizawa's pocket, which, unfortunately, happened to be right next to Izuku's sensitive ears. He scrambled away to the other end of the couch, trying to settle his racing heart.
Shouta POV
Shouts feels terrible that his phone scared the kitten, but it seemed to be calming down now. He was a grown adult and definitely did not have to remind himself not to pout at losing the warm comfort of the adorable cat in his lap. He glanced down at his phone and saw that the alert was from Nedzu; he had sent him an email. He scrambled to unlock the device. This had to have something to do with finding Midoriya, Right?
‘Dear Aizawa-kun,
I have managed to find a camera angle that shows what has happened to our young Midoriya-kun. It seems he has found himself in another interesting predicament once again. I trust that he is in capable hands for the time being, and I can call off the search party, correct?’
Shouta’s brain is scrambling, trying to piece together what his boss is getting at. Why would he so casually call off the search party without Midoriya being back yet, and what's this about capable hands? Midoriya needs to be here, needs to be where Shouta can protect him, make sure he’s okay.
He's almost too distracted to notice that there's a video file attached to the email. He takes a steadying breath. This must be the surveillance video Nedzu managed to find, the video that will show him what happened. He clicks the file, and it loads and starts playing footage from what appears to be the front of a shop. He doesn't see much; only a small section of the street is visible, along with the alleyway across the street. Something about the sight looks vaguely familiar; he must have passed by that street while he was out searching. And that frustrates him to know that he was so close to where whatever happened happened, but he didn't notice anything.
He stares at the video for a few more seconds when he sees someone run past, clutching a purse. Midoriya then enters the frame, clearly in pursuit of the purse thief, when he bumps right into a civilian. He makes sure that the woman is alright, which is something he's proud of his student for checking. Once Midoriya finishes checking on the woman, he turns around and appears to be looking for the thief. He takes a few steps before faltering. He looks like he's fighting off some dizziness or disorientation. He watches in concern while Midoriya stumbles into the alley and promptly collapses.
His chest constricts in panic. What just happened to Midoriya? It has to have been that woman's quirk, right? He studies the video carefully, hating to see him harmed, but needing to see what happens. Suddenly, on the screen, he sees a puff of smoke surrounding his student, and in its place is a tiny Black cat.
A familiar tiny black cat.
Fuck.
No. No, no, no, this can not be real.
He glances warily at the cat on the other side of the couch. It looks like a real cat, although, who is he kidding? This is a quirk they're talking about, so just because it looks like a regular cat doesn't mean anything. He looks back at the video, then at the cat, which tilts its head at him, curious about his sudden behaviour. That still doesn't prove anything. Cats are curious, right? It does not mean that his student and crush is currently a cat and sitting on his couch. Nope, because that would mean he practically kidnapped him and gushed about him to his face. And yeah, that can't be true, so nope, he’s gone insane, it's totally just a regular cat.
Looking back at the screen a final time, he sees the cat walking out of the alley and getting attacked by a store owner, and he makes a mental note to have Nedzu go after the man for animal abuse, not that his boss isn't probably already doing so. He can see the cat limp back into the alley and huddle under the dumpster. He notices the video’s timestamp skips ahead a few hours; he assumes it’s edited to save time, and suddenly, his breath catches. There's him, in his hero gear, a sick feeling of deja vu settling in. he watches his actions from the other night from an outside perspective as he picks up the cat and walks off.
Crap.
He stares in horror at the cat sitting on his couch. Zashi must have noticed because he lets out a concerned noise. “What's wrong, Shou?” he ignores his friend, barely registers his question. His sole focus is on the cat– no, on “Midoriya?” his voice is so small, wavering in uncertainty. Uncertainty that is immediately squashed as the cat perks up and excitedly crawls over to him, making an adorably awkward attempt at nodding his head.
“Fuck.”
Izuku POV
He figured it out! What a relief. Izuku had no idea how long it would take him to find a way to communicate with Aizawa. His excitement quickly turns to worry when the older man abruptly stands up, “I-i can't, umm- shit, fuck i-i need a m-oment” and rushes to his room, slamming the door. He looked terrified. Izuku wished he could do something, anything, to comfort the panicking man. He looked up to the other man still in the room, hoping he could help somehow.
“Wait, Shouta! What do you mean, Midoriya?” the man calls out to his friend with no response, so he turns to look down at Izuku. His gaze calculating. “No… Midoriya? Is that you, little listener?”
Midoriya tries for another nod and is rewarded by being brought up into his teacher's arms for an unexpected hug. “I'm so glad you're safe! We were all so worried about you, and here you are being pampered by Shouta!” his joking smile drops suddenly as a slightly pained expression replaces it. “Shoot, you've probably heard and seen a lot more than what Shou’s comfortable with, huh?”
Izuku tries to hide his face in shame. He feels really guilty for invading his teacher's privacy, despite not really having a say in the matter; he still feels bad for the man. His hiding is in vain, considering his teacher is still cradling him. “Oh, don’t feel too bad, little listener, Shouta knows you didn't do it on purpose; he won't blame you. Trust me, he's probably in his room right now panicking and putting all the blame on himself.” Was that supposed to make him feel better? What was meant to reassure him only made him feel worse. He didn't want Aizawa to blame himself for anything; this was Izuku's mess. “Aaand I can see I did not help calm you down. Let me guess, you're blaming yourself, right? Let's try this instead. I'm assuming you heard us talking earlier and know how Shouta feels about you?”
The man waits to see Izuku’s shy nod before continuing. “And I have a hunch, now please correct me if I'm wrong, but you like him too, don't you?” he says softly. Izuku can't detect any judgment from him, so he nods back again. Yamada’s lips quirk up in a warm smile. “I'll let you in on a little secret: Shou and I met in our first year at UA, and in all the years we’ve known each other, he's always really struggled with showing affection, even for his friends. What I'm trying to say is that he really cares about you; that's why he's freaking out so much. The idiot’s probably convinced himself that you hate him for anything you may have overheard about him, especially how he feels about you. He'll get over it, though, you'll see.”
And yeah, hell give him that. His second attempt at calming Izuku down worked much better the second time around. Yamada sensei rearranges himself to get more comfortable on the couch and places Izuku in his lap, before hesitating. “Is this alright? I don't want to make you uncomfortable, I just figured I could keep you company while Shouta calms down?” Izuku purrs and cuddles up further in the man's lap as an answer, freely accepting the offered cuddle. He doesn't know if it's the quirk that's making his cat instincts rub off on him, or if he just really likes the physical contact, but he's having the time of his life, being able to shut off his brain for a bit and just relax.