A/N: What's this?! I'm back? In BNHA??? Kinda, yeah. I haven't written much for anything lately due to a heavy depressive episode, but I've made a few changes to my life and things are looking better again! :) I've had a good number of requests for this story, and it was much less intimidating to return to than Viridian (which will still be updated, don't panic! I actually just finished making a timeline for that story, so rest assured it isn't dead!!)

Anyways, big thanks and shoutout to Phoenix for inspiring me to write this chapter! This update is for you!!

Feel free to join my Discord page to chat with me, hear me occasionally ramble about stories and plots, and participate in the random surveys I sometimes take that may or may not impact a story's outcome. ;) Sorry that there isn't much that happens in this chapter, but it is about 4k words long so I hope you enjoy!

~~~

Izuku wasn't sure what it was, but this cat was special. Maybe it was his own loneliness, or perhaps that gleam of intelligence in the cat's black eyes, but he felt oddly protective of the feline.

He knew he'd catch hell from Kacchan for skipping the last bit of school, but that was a problem for tomorrow's Izuku to handle. Today, he was going to make sure the cat was okay. He was so skinny. Izuku could feel all his bones. But he couldn't assess the cat's injuries until he was clean, so the first thing he did was fill up the sink with lukewarm water.

The cat eyed him with distrust as he glared at the water, ears flat against his skull. "Don't scratch me, please?" He begged, hoping the cat would understand him. His tail drooped but he allowed Izuku to set him in the water with no complaint. He gave a sigh of relief. "You really are a smart cat, aren't you?"

The cat seemed to roll his eyes. Izuku hummed lightly to himself as he worked some baby soap into the cat's fur. Why he had baby soap in the house, he had no idea, but he figured it'd be less irritating to the cat's cuts than normal shampoo.

He had to drain the sink three times before the water finally ran clear. The cat shivered a bit before he very gently towel dried him. It was the first time Izuku got a good look at the now clean feline. His fur was medium length and black as tar with a splash of cream wrapping around his neck like a scarf.

"Do you have a name?" He asked idly as he turned on a small space heater to help keep the cat warm. The feline gave a meow that sounded distinctly sarcastic. How that was possible, Izuku wasn't entirely sure.

"Well, maybe a nickname then?" He suggested as he turned on the coffee pot. He was starting to feel drowsy, but he still had a ton of homework to do. He'd catch enough hell for skipping classes. He didn't need to give his teachers any added ammunition. "After all, I can't just keep calling you kitty."

The cat huffed, but ultimately seemed agreeable. He seemed awfully interested in the coffee that Izuku was pouring into his mug, so he grabbed a bowl and filled it with tap water. Maybe the cat was thirsty too.

"You don't seem too hurt, but I don't have a way to check internal injuries. That kick might've broken something, so try to take it easy. I'm not an expert on cats, but I don't like the look of those cuts. I've got some antibiotics for that. Lemme just go grab it." Izuku wasn't sure why he was talking to a cat like a person, but it somehow felt wrong to treat him any other way.

He dipped into his bedroom and fished out an old soft blanket from his closet as well as a box that'd been holding some clothes for donation. He carefully made a little nest with the blanket in the box so the cat would have somewhere soft to rest.

Izuku then gathered the necessary supplies to treat both the cat's wounds and his own from the bathroom. When he returned to the kitchen, he couldn't help but blink. The cat was drinking out of his coffee cup with what Izuku could only describe as a contented smile.

"My coffee..."

The cat's head whipped up, ears flicking in something like recognition. Izuku blinked. The cat blinked back.

"Coffee?" He repeated, and the cat meowed, putting one paw on the cup with a look in his eye that all but dared Izuku to try to take the mug away from him. "What do you think of that for your nickname?"

The feline tilted his head, seemingly mulling it over for a moment before nodding, accepting the nickname. Izuku found a smile passing over his own lips. This cat had to be Quirked. He was just too smart to be a normal cat.

"All right then, Coffee. Let's get you fixed up." He set the box down, taking the supplies out of it and fixing the blanket. "I thought you might still be cold, and I know when I get hurt badly it's always best to curl up in something soft. So I made you a bed."

Coffee carefully left the mug—was it half gone?! Wasn't coffee bad for cats?!—in favor of investigating the makeshift bed. After several tense moments of investigation, he seemed to deem it acceptable enough, though something told Izuku that it was only just.

He quickly dabbed some cream over the newly nicknamed Coffee's cuts and, after pushing the irritated cat away from his mug three times, gave up and poured the rest of the coffee into a shallow bowl for the cat. "You know, I'm pretty sure you shouldn't drink that." He shot the feline a look, but the cat glared.

"Fine, fine." Izuku shook his head as he refilled his own cup. "But this cup's mine."

Coffee meowed sharply, carefully picking up the burn cream and limping over towards him with an expression that all but demanded Izuku treat his own wounds. The two held a staring contest for a moment, and he swore the cat's eyes flashed red for a split second. With a heavy sigh, Izuku took the cream from the cat and started to treat his own injuries.

It took him a moment to work off his shirt, and Coffee's tail drooped when he caught sight of all of Izuku's scars. For one irrational moment, he was embarrassed. But that was silly! This was just a cat. He may have been a very smart and likely Quirked cat, but he was still a cat. There was nothing to be embarrassed by.

He made quick work of his own injuries. He was more than used to treating burns and bruises, after all. "Happy now?" He shot Coffee a dry look, only to receive an affirmative meow back. That settled, Coffee carefully climbed into his new bed.

Izuku smiled softly. "I've got a bunch of homework to do, but I'll leave my door open if you need anything." He stretched, sighing as a few satisfying pops filled the air. "I'm not sure I've got anything for a cat to eat, but I'll find you something until I can get to a pet store."

A sharp hiss had him eyeing Coffee warily. His ears were back and if Izuku was a cat himself, he was sure he'd be hearing some Kacchan-worthy language. "What, you don't want cat food?"

Coffee's glare all but dared him to feed him kibble or canned cat food.

"Well I can't just give you people food." Izuku reasoned. Why he was arguing with a cat, he had no idea. Maybe he'd finally lost whatever sanity he'd had left. It was bound to happen some day. "It's bad for you."

Coffee gave a low growl-like meow.

"Are you really arguing with me on this?" Izuku raised an eyebrow, and somehow the cat managed to mimic his expression—but better.

"Fine. Fine, whatever. You win. I'll give you people food." He threw his hands in the air, determinedly not looking at the smug feline whose tail was languidly swaying behind him in victory. "But if you get sick, you'd better do it outside and not blame me." He warned.

Coffee chuffed in amusement, but Izuku couldn't help but smile. The empty apartment suddenly didn't feel so cold anymore.

~~~

Shouta yawned as an incessant beeping woke him from his well-deserved rest. His entire body was one giant bruise, and his ribs hurt when he inhaled too deeply, but he'd had worse. This was survivable. He stretched carefully, nuzzling the soft fluffy blanket he was curled up with as much of a soft smile as his feline features could form. A deep rumbling in his chest startled him more than he'd like to admit.

He was purring. If he'd been in his human form, he'd be blushing in mortification. He, the most feared teacher of UA's Heroics, was purring. He huffed, but ultimately decided that no one of consequence was around to hear it and went back to observing his environment.

The apartment was fair-sized. Three bedrooms and two bathrooms with a kitchen and living room. The guest bedroom seemed to be nothing more than a storage room, and the kid's room was next to the master bedroom. There were pictures up on the walls and books on the shelves. Everything looked normal.

But something felt off. Shouta couldn't put his paw on it, but there was a distinct frigidity to the apartment. It reminded him vaguely of Tsukauchi's place the one time he'd crashed with the Detective while working on a case. The guy had confessed that he rarely even slept in his apartment, usually crashing at the station unless his team bullied him into going home.

Midoriya's apartment felt like that—cold and distant. Like nobody really lived here. Which was stupid because the kid obviously did. Perhaps he was just overthinking things.

He startled a bit when Midoriya swept past him, offering him an apologetic smile. "Morning Coffee."

Shouta sighed. Coffee wasn't the worst nickname he could be saddled with. "Morning kid." He eyed the coffee machine expectantly and the boy gave a defeated sigh.

"I swear if I get PETA called on me, I won't give you another drop of caffeine no matter how much you beg." The kid grumbled as he poured some of the liquid gold into a shallow dish. Shouta quickly leapt up onto the kitchen table before he could set the bowl on the floor. He may have been stuck in the body of a cat, but he had some dignity.

The kid looked at him oddly, but set the bowl before him. "You've... lived with people before, haven't you?"

"Very astute of you." Shouta nodded as he carefully lapped up the steaming coffee. He appreciated the way the kid had worded it—he didn't imply that Shouta had ever been owned.

"Well... I've gotta get to school here shortly." Midoriya winced a little at that as he dished out breakfast to them both, setting Shouta's on a plate and carefully setting that plate next to the bowl of coffee. "Will you be okay here by yourself?"

Shouta made a show of rolling his eyes. "I'm an adult. I'll be fine." He assured him. The kid seemed to get the message and laughed quietly.

"If you need anything... Well, I'll leave my bedroom window open. There's a tree outside you can jump to if you need to go outside, but you're still hurt. You should take a few days to rest at least."

"You're hurt too." Shouta leveled him with a stare. "I'd normally be the last person to say this, but you'd be better off skipping school today and resting. Especially since your bullies attend school with you."

"Don't glare at me." Midoriya pouted. "Are you worried because I'm hurt?"

Shouta gave a very deliberate meow.

"I'll be fine. I've had worse." He carefully reached out and ran a hand down Shouta's back. The sensation was... odd. His human mind rejected the contact vehemently, but his feline anatomy decided that it felt very relaxing and a purr escaped him without his permission. His ear tried to twitch backwards as he sent another look towards the kid.

"I'm not a pet." Shouta growled.

The kid held his hands up in surrender. "Sorry. You're just so soft."

A foreign wave of pride passed through him. "Of course I am." He huffed. "But I'm still not a pet. I'm a person." he sighed, looking at his empty coffee bowl and breakfast dish. The kid had only eaten half his food. "And you need to eat more." He sent the half eaten breakfast a pointed look before turning his head towards the boy.

"I'm..." There was a scent in the air, Shouta realized. Something bitter and not at all pleasant, but not exactly bad either. It was in the air the other day too, but thicker.

It was when he saw the slight tremor in Midoriya's hands—the way his eyes darted between his half eaten food, his bright yellow backpack, and the door—that he realized what the scent was. Fear. He was smelling Midoriya's fear.

The kid was afraid of going to school. Was it the bullies? Surely things couldn't escalate like yesterday often. Even the most negligent of teachers would notice something like an explosion going off in a classroom.

Unless Midoriya had a 'Villain's Quirk' like Shouta himself. People could be awfully cruel to those who inspired discomfort or fear. Something unpleasant pooled in his gut as the kid finally pushed the plate away and stood, gathering his pack and heading for the door.

"I'll be home in a few hours, Coffee. I..." He hesitated a moment. "I'll see you when I get home?" There was a hesitant question hovering in the air.

A question for Shouta. His tail flicked as he thought. He was still quite nicely injured. He'd likely broken a rib—or cracked one at least—and his left foreleg was very stiff. He wouldn't be able to fend off feral cats like this, let alone make an escape should he run into trouble. And he still had no idea where the closest station was to him.

After a moment, Shouta carefully hopped down from his chair, hiding a wince when it jostled his injuries. He deliberately walked to stand before the child and sat, giving a firm meow that he hoped sounded affirmative.

The kid smiled brightly, an intense relief washing over his features as moisture gathered in his eyes. Was the kid really that attached to some random stray cat he'd just met? There was something very wrong with this picture.

"Thank you." Midoriya whispered softly as he slipped out the door.

Shouta sat there for a long moment, listening as the kid's footsteps faded and the apartment fell into silence. He needed a gameplan. By pure luck, he'd stumbled into a place with food, water and relative safety. He had no idea how long he could stay here, but he needed to get back to UA as quickly as his situation would allow.

But he also couldn't just abandon the kid. He'd literally saved Shouta's life, and there was obviously something very wrong with the child's living situation—both in school and at home. He'd seen neither hide nor hair of either parent.

His tail twitched in irritation as a growl escaped his throat. He would stay a few days to ensure that his own injuries were healed enough to travel, and to lay to rest his doubts about the kid's parents. Besides, there were several bookshelves in the apartment—surely there was some kind of map in the place.

With nothing to do until the kid came home, Shouta set to exploring the apartment. He eyed the pictures on the shelves and walls. Most of them featured the kid as a toddler—no older than five, he'd guess. After that the pictures became noticeably less frequent. There were no recent pictures at all. His eyes narrowed. There were no pictures of the father, either. All the photos featured either the boy and the spiky blonde that could only be the explosive bully he'd seen the other day, or a rather pretty woman who could only be the child's mother.

One picture on the wall showed her in a firefighter's uniform, standing before a bright red fire truck with her team. She was grinning brightly, and Shouta tilted his head. Firefighters worked long hours—twenty-four hour shifts, to be precise—but they usually had a day or two off between shifts. It was an honorable profession. A competitive one as well—though not as competitive as Heroics, but Shouta privately thought the firefighters' profession a bit more honorable than a Hero's. Heroics had become nothing but a popularity contest over the last few generations. It was one of the reasons Shouta had gone Underground.

All that aside, he likely hadn't seen the kid's mother because she was on shift. At least, he hoped that's what it was. Perhaps she'd be home today or later tonight. If that was the case, he'd be able to leave knowing the kid was in capable hands and work on getting two feet under him so he could repay the boy for his protection.

That thought in mind, he continued his exploration of the apartment. The guest bedroom wasn't anything special. It had some boxes and unused junk. There didn't seem to be a bed in there, so he assumed it was used as a storage room. The master bedroom was closed, and Shouta didn't feel up to attempting a doorknob without thumbs, so he turned his attention towards Midoriya's bedroom.

He slipped in through the half open door and blinked. The kid was a hero nerd. The shelves were covered with figurines of nearly every hero under the sun—most notably All Might—and the posters covered more of the wall than the paint did. The All Might bedspread grinned lopsidedly at him from where it hung half off the mattress, and Shouta felt his fur fluff up at all the grins in the room.

"Kid, you've got a bit of an obsession problem." He muttered softly as he flicked his tail in distaste. He carefully hopped up on the bed, purposefully planting a foot right smack in the middle of that stupid grin. He felt somewhat satisfied when it crumpled beneath him.

Something dark in the midst of the sea of yellow, red and blue drew his attention. There, sitting almost hidden at the corner of a shelf—but carefully placed so it wasn't behind anything—was a figurine of himself. Shouta froze. He didn't have merch. He knew he didn't have merch. Which meant that this kid either made it himself (somehow), or found a private business and paid them extra for a custom figurine.

Despite himself, Shouta wandered over to inspect it closer. It was surprisingly detailed. They'd gotten almost everything right. His red eyes, floating hair, Capture Weapon and yellow goggles were all accurate. The only thing he could really find fault with was that they'd gotten his utility belt wrong. But it was a minor thing, really. A small piece of paper was sticking out from beneath his statue-self, and Shouta felt—since it was under a figure of himself—that he should at least see what it was.

He carefully nudged the figurine so it leaned against the wall and pawed the paper out from beneath it. It was written in what appeared to be childish handwriting. 'If Eraserhead can do it, so can you!' That was it.

A frown tugged at his muzzle as he put everything back the way he'd found it. The note was bothering him. Perhaps the kid had a villainous Quirk after all. It would make sense why he'd see Shouta as an inspiration if that was the case. But how did he even know about Eraserhead? It wasn't like he was ever mentioned on the news.

He was about to make his way down from the bed and find a place to take a nap when something caught his eye. There was a notebook sitting on the desk in front of the computer. He flicked his tail as he thought.

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to look." He mused. Besides, if the computer was unlocked he might be able to search up a route to UA.

He carefully eyed the distance from the bed to the desk. The chair would've been an option, if it wasn't the stupid spinning type. Knowing his luck he'd get flung halfway across the room and break more bones.

With a deep breath, he bunched his muscles and jumped, landing with a slight stumble atop the hard surface of Midoriya's desk. He gave a satisfied flick of his tail and padded over towards the notebook.

Hero Analysis for the Future No. 13

Shouta blinked. Analysis? What was the kid analyzing that required thirteen notebooks? With a curious paw, he flicked the cover open. He felt the blood rush from his face as he took in the information before him. Fear gripped his heart as he flicked from one page to the next almost faster than he could read it.

This child was terrifying. His legs suddenly felt very weak, and he curled up on the desk with a pitiful mewl, tail curling around himself protectively as he stared wide-eyed at the notebook.

Quirks. This boy could analyze and break down someone's Quirk with basic information. And not just Quirks either! He had everything from observed personality traits and fighting styles to a comprehensive—or at least as comprehensive as the kid could get—psychiatric breakdown of heroes.

And yet, if he understood the rambles that went down the sides of the pages properly, the kid was a massive Hero fanboy. The kid wanted to be a Hero, not a villain. Shouta took a deep breath and thanked every star in the sky that this kid was on their side.

He must have some kind of analysis Quirk. Maybe something that gave him an innate understanding of Quirks he saw in action... Well, either way, if the kid wanted to be a hero this badly, he was bound to apply to UA. Shouta would make sure to nurture this talent when he made it in.

Feeling a little better now that he'd assured himself that the boy wasn't looking to start a new criminal uprising, he sat back up, idly smoothing his fur down with his tongue. The kid had thirteen of these notebooks...

His eyes wandered the shelves of Midoriya's bookcase until he saw them. He counted the spines, each one marked with little numbers in pen. Only... there were two of each.

Curious—and wasn't there some saying about cats and curiosity?—he leapt down from the desk, cursing when his left foreleg gave out under him and he took a rather jarring and painful tumble to the carpet. It took him about a minute of breathing before he could stagger back to his paws, and he made a mental note to be more careful until Recovery Girl had healed him up.

He limped over towards Notebook 8 and... Notebook 8, carefully tugging them both down. Thankfully they were on the second shelf, so he could reach them from ground level just fine. He flipped the first one open and was once again blown away by the analysis within. Though it wasn't nearly on the same level as the thirteenth notebook he'd seen, it was still no less terrifying. Even if this one only seemed to concentrate on the hero's Quirk and how to improve—or disable—it.

Shouta nudged the second one open and blinked. It was... boring. Random words and half-finished sketches were scrawled across the pages with seemingly little care for organization. He set the two side-by-side as something clicked.

Hero: Subzero

Quirk: Subzero

School:

Age:

Notes: Cools area around. Radius? Freeze. Ice, how cool!! Limelight hero. Smiles. Crowd: 8/10. Rescue: 7.5/10—temp and experience. Cameras: 8.5/10 (care 4).

He then found the hero in the other notebook.

Hero: Subzero (Fugiwara Fuyu)

Quirk: Subzero

School: Judai Heroics Academy

Age: 25

Notes: Friendly and warm, the people love him. He has good crowd control, but doesn't seem to be in it for the cameras like a lot of younger heroes these days, though he knows better than to ignore them. His rescue work is all right, but he has trouble controlling his Quirk's effects after utilization making rescue work really risky. He once gave a kid mild hypothermia because he held them too long. He's also not very experienced with rescue work.

Breakdown: His Quirk is called Subzero and it allows him to rapidly cool the area in a roughly six foot radius around him to well below freezing (does it extend underground too? Could he freeze pipes in the area by accident??). His Hero Costume includes several insulated tubes that shoot out water that he rapidly freezes to create clubs and spears, or to wet the ground and freeze into a slippery surface. His Costume also includes retractable blades that he often uses as ice skates—something his fans absolutely go crazy for. Like most ice-Quirk users, his body can handle extremely low temperatures easily. However he's at a great disadvantage when working with or against a fire-Quirk user (as seen when he worked with Endeavor on a bank robbery and passed out due to overheating).

Biggest weaknesses would be to fire or overwhelming heat that his Quirk cannot compensate for. Also to put civilians in danger after making him utilize his Quirk—he can't warm up himself or the area around him quickly enough to rescue someone without harm to the civilian. He's even caught several heroes—such as Backdraft—in this before as well. To cover this, I'd recommend adding a warming feature to his Costume to counteract the effects of his Quirk...

Shouta pulled himself away from the entry. It would seem that one was a Field Journal—a place to jot down notes and observations in the midst of a fight or video—and the other was for the real analysis. He felt a shiver run down his spine as he put the two notebooks back as best he could.

But if the kid's Quirk was analysis... then why did people seem to treat him like someone with a supposed Villain's Quirk? It didn't make sense. Intelligence Quirks were highly valued, and several heroics schools—UA included—offered specialized entrance exams for those who had them. Nezu himself insisted on it, eager to encourage more heroes like himself.

Something wasn't adding up here. There was definitely something Shouta was missing or misinterpreting. He was just about to start rifling through more of Midoriya's things in an attempt to figure it out when he heard someone approach the front door.

Shouta startled lightly, padding out to the living room just in time to see Midoriya trudge inside, feet dragging and... were those singe marks on his uniform? He looked hurt. Again.

"Kid, did you get beat up?" His sharp meow had the boy's head whipping up. Abruptly, all the fatigue drained from his shoulders, leaving the child smiling happily at him.

"Coffee! Tadaima." He looked far too relieved that Shouta had stayed. The kid slipped off his shoes and limped further inside, making Shouta's eyes narrow.

"You're hurt." He accused.

"Oh, sorry. You must be hungry by now. Sorry I'm a little late—I got locked in the closet again." He shrugged like it was normal.

"One, that is not okay. Two, you. Are. Injured." He let a frustrated growl escape him when Midoriya sent him a smile and started setting stuff out for dinner.

Shouta huffed and flicked his ear in irritation. How could he get the message across...? An idea suddenly struck him and he trotted out of the living room and into the bathroom, pawing open the cabinet and grabbing the first-aid kit with his teeth. It was a bit heavy, but he managed to return to the kid with the kit. He set it down and sat beside it, giving a sharp (and what he hoped was reprimanding) meow.

The kid stopped, staring between Shouta and the kit with wide eyes. After a long moment he set the bowl of ingredients down and turned to fully face him. "You're... telling me that I need to treat myself?"

Shouta gave a deliberate nod, pleased that the boy had understood.

"I..." The kid gave a breathy, somewhat teary laugh. "Thanks, Coffee... I don't think anyone's told me to take care of myself in..." He swiped at his eyes and grabbed the kit, opting to leave his frankly worrying statement unfinished.

"What have I gotten myself into with you?" Shouta groaned.