Chapter 6
The day after the eventful patrol, the boys are working on their home. Cleaning away any unneeded trash into piles for reinforcement, things that can be recycled, things that can be sold for money, and things to upgrade their gear. They do this once a month as people still leave their invaluable things here. The burning sun warms the sand beneath their feet as they work. They find drift wood and make a pile to dry. Their fire sits in the middle of the compound, a small ditch rests in the middle with gravel and ashes. A pre-dried wood rest nearby with repaired lawn chairs.
An old blue tarp rests near the entrance of the shipping container, the corners held down with heavy pieces of old appliances. A series of tunnels leave the center that weaves through piles, some lead to dead ends, some lead to exits. All are layered with traps and alarms made of bounded bottles and old chimes.
The sun is high, Katsuki and Izuku are wandering the paths, checking the traps and setting more, or disabling them. Eijirou stays within the compound, doing stock of what they have and making a list of what they need. He sets aside their clothes that need to be washed and any items he sees that need to be fixed.
“Eichan!”
“Shitty Hair!” Eijirou hears from outside. A smile breaks his face and he rushes out, seeing Katsuki and Izuku returning from a path. Katsuki’s shit is off and is bundled, holding something that seems to be… squirming?
“What’s that?” Eijirou asks, walking over, the list he was making tucked under his arm. Izuku is bouncing on the balls of his feet, hands held behind his bag. Eijirou eyes the buddle of moving cloth.
“We found this in a box near one of the entrances!” Izuku exclaimed, a wide beaming smile on his face, eyes shining with excitement.
“Well, show me bro!” Eijirou says, looking at Katsuki, whose face is his ever present scowl, but his eyes portray his excitement. The cloth squirms and a small ‘merrow’ is heard. Ejirous eyes widen, looking at Katsuki and the cloth. “Did you…” he stutters. Katsuki just smirks and adjusts the cloth before pulling it away revealing a small kitten.
The animal is a solid charcoal grey with darker grey tiger stripes and a white tummy leading up to under their chin. Their eyes are a bright blue, with one eye glossed over. The kitten meows once more, looking around and ears twitching. “They’re so small…” Eijirou says, leading a hand to the kitten, letting them smell. The kittens’ nose bumps and twitches against Eijirou knuckle.
“They were in a soaked box near the stairs leading down to the sand. If they hadn’t made a noise we wouldn’t have found them. They were shakin' pretty badly and trying to leave.” Izuku explains, gently petting the top of the kittens head with their finger. The kitten meows and softly purrs, leaning into the touch.
“I warmed my hands, not quite making explosions but enough to head my hands, and put them in my shirt. Seems pretty content.” Katsuki says, looking down at the kitten. “Seems pretty hungry too, I can feel their ribs.”
“They look about 12 weeks.” Eijirou says. “We’ll need to get some kibble and a set of dishes. A bed too… do we have enough money?” He asks, looking towards Izuku.
“I think we do. We should leave and get that before dark. And maybe get anything else too, hit the laundry mat too.” Eijirou and Katsuki nod.
“I’ll keep warming them while you and Ei get stuff ready. We need to be back before dark, then someone should stay with them while the others patrol.” Katsuki hands the bundled kitten to Eijirou. “I’m gonna put on a shirt and then we can leave.” Eijirou handles the kitten softly and then both he and Izuku put on some shoes. Eijirou holds the kitten in his hands as Izuku goes into the shipping container and grabs an old black storage container filled with their dirty laundry. Katsuki soon follows in a new shirt and shoes on.
“Let’s get going… it’s just noon. We don’t have a ton of time.” He says, grabbing the kitten and shirt, subtly warming his hands. Izuku adjusts his grip on the storage container and smiles.
“I’ve got money in my pocket. Let’s spoil the kitten!” Izuku calls, smiling and looking between Katsuki and Eijirou. They both smile and leave down a path stepping over trip wires and false tarps along the bottom. They leave the beach and enters the neighborhood nearby.
They walk the busy sidewalks, Izuku in front holding the bin. Katsuki's cradling the kitten in the middle, and Eijirou following the back watching. They get into a lull of the foot traffic and Izuku turns around to look at the two. “Let’s split. You two get stuff for the kitten and anything else we need. I’ll do laundry. We’ll meet there.”
“Are you sure that’s safe Zu?” Eijirou asks, face softly contorted in concern. Katsuki’s face isn’t far off.
“Zuzu…” Katsuki’s voice is soft, eyebrows drawn together, “What if you finish before us?”
“I’ll stay there. I won’t leave without you guys. Promise!” Izuku holds the bun on his hip and then holds out a pinkie. Eijirou locks it first, giving it a slight shake. Katsuki doesn’t even grab the pinkie, he adjusts his hold on the kitten and hugs Izuku one-sided.
“Be safe. Come back home.”
“I’ll come back.” The duo holds a gaze and Katsuki kisses his temple. Izuku hands Eijirou ¥10500. With one last glance between them all before they part ways. Katsuki and Eijirou both continue walking forward, whereas Izuku backtracks. He goes back a few stores to the laundromat.
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Walking in, Izuku notes it's almost empty, one woman stands near the back putting items in a dryer. She stands tall with dark blue hair held back in by a deep red headband. She wears a long flowy dress patterned with flowers at the bottom that fade away as they grow upwards and closed-toed wedge sandals that have twine on the wedge. She hums a soft tune and sways as she puts the clothes in the dryer. Izuku can’t tell who she is with her back turned.
He’s weary, going to a washer a few stations away from her, keeping her in her peripheral. He goes to a bubblegum machine with detergent pods and inserts a yen coin. Grabbing it, he loads the washer and starts it up, before sitting on a chair directly across from it. He eyes the woman slightly and sees a pair of red glasses atop her nose.
She finishes loading her dryer and sits on a chair in front of it. She looks to her left and then her right, sees Izuku and startles slightly. Izuku waves slightly before his eyes widen slightly, recognizing the woman.
The 18+ heroine, Midnight.
She waves back, a soft smile, but her eyes say it all. She recognizes him. Probably from Present Mic and Eraserhead. She looks around once more before looking back to Izuku. “Where are your parents hon? Seems a little young to be by yourself.”
“My parents are just down the road Kyaku-sama. They’re getting groceries. I offered to go alone!” Izuku says, voice laced with fake cheer. Acting proud to be able to go alone.
“How old are you?” Her voice and face hold concern.
“I’m nine years old, Kyaku-sama!”
“When are they going to come back? I don’t want to leave you here alone if they aren’t gonna be back in a while.”
“I don’t know ma’am. But I do know my friends will be here when they get back! We found a kitten and they went with their parents to get stuff for them!” Izuku adds, bouncing in his seat to display his excitement. He hopes to draw away attention from him being alone. Her face lightens a smidge.
“Really now? Where?”
“In a box in an alley, they were all alone, so we took them in!” He smiles, sitting on his hands to hide their shakes. He hopes he’s being convincing, knowing how Present Mic thought Katsuki, Eijirou and him were being abused, he figured they had told her. Especially since they’re friends.
“That’s very thoughtful of you! I have a friend who loves cats, and he and his husband have two cats. Stickers the both of them” Midnight reaches inter dress and grabs her phone, unlocking it and opening her camera app. She stands and walks over, sitting again with a seat in-between them.
“Really? That’s cool! What’re their names, Kyaku-sama?”
“Oh please, call me Kayama. And their names are Espresso and Bean. Espresso is a girl and loves to be pet, where Bean is a boy and really likes to sleep.” Midnight, or Kayama, says and pulls up a picture of Present Mic and Eraserhead with a cat in each of their laps. “Espresso is in my friend's lap, his name is Aizawa, while Bean is in his husband's lap, whose name is Yamada.” She points to each respectively.
Espresso is a deep brown with fluffy, shaggy hair. Her eyes are a deep brown as well and is asleep on Eraserhead’s, or Aizawa's, lap. Bean is also brown but with a white spot around his left eye and a white belly. His eyes are a bright green and they are standing on Present Mic’s lap, pawing at his nose.
“Cute!” Izuku exclaims. Kayama swipes through a few pictures, all with either her and Aizawa, Yamada, or both of them. “How long have you known them Kayama-san?”
“I’ve known those two since we were in high school. I’ve known Yamada a little longer than Sho-Aizawa, but we are as thick as thieves.” Kayama says, a soft fond smile on her face as she looks at the pictures. “Aizawa hates having his pictures taken, so these took some bribes.” She giggles before putting her phone away, back into her pocket.
“That’s cool! I’ve known my friend Kacchan for as long as I can remember, our momma’s are friends. We met Eichan at the beach and became friends with him! That was… I think about two years ago!” He smiles, looking at Kayama. Her red box glasses frame her face well, he notes. His mind is also running a mile a minute. He now knows the names of three pro-heroes, who doesn’t know that he knows their pro-heroes. Katsuki and Eijirou are gonna be thrilled.
“Wow that’s a long time! Where do you boys go to school?”
“We go to Aldrea Elementary! We’re in 4th grade.”
“Woah, that’s fun. Any bullies?” Her eyes flash to a bruise on his arm before going back to his eyes, concern swirls in her eyes.
“Not really. Some kids are kinda mean… but the teacher’s handle it!” Izuku is surprised by how much he is flubbing his way through this. He can only hope it’s believable.
“That’s good! What kinda games do you and your friends play?” She head tilts to the right, her silky hair falls over her shoulder.
“We like to play Heroes and Villains! We all wanna be heroes when we grow up!”
“That’s cool! Who’s your favorite hero?” This causes Izuku to stutter. Does he say her, Eraserhead, or Present Mic and see her reaction; does he let her know he knows she’s a hero; does he be truthful and say All Might? He decides quickly though, and he decided to have fun.
“I like All Might! But my momma likes Midnight!” He looks her in the eye and winks, a subtle smirk across his face. His eyes are shining with knowing. He watches her face go from excitement to shock in two seconds flat. Her eyes are wide and she startles back, a hand raises to her mouth that has dropped.
“Y-You know who I am..?” She stutters, still in shock. All Izuku does is nod big, a large beaming smile on his face. Her shock doesn’t lesson and that makes Izuku giggle.
“My momma is gonna flip when i tell her!” His giggles worsen as she makes an unintelligible sentence, filled with stutters and incomplete words.
“H-How can you tell? I’ve had very few people know me outside of uniform.” She finally forms, pure confused laced over her face like a veil. She tucks hair behind her ear and looks at him. He goes to answer before he’s interrupted by the beeping of each other's washes. Izuku avoids the question and grabs his storage bin and loads the wet clothes inside. Kayama loads her clothes in a drawstring bag, eyeing Izuku with an analytical gaze.
Izuku loads the wet clothes into a dryer then adds a couple more yen coins to start it. He knows she is watching, trying to tell if he’s a villain, a spy, or something that can hurt her. He finishes loading the dryer and sits back down, looking ahead. Kayama crouches in front of him, blocking his view of the dryers.
“Young man, I need to know how you know who I am. I told you my name and that’s really dangerous since you know who I am.” Her voice is stern and holds a clear warning. Her hands are holding his in his lap, maintaining strong eye contact.
“I know because you’ve saved me and Kacchan a long time ago. You had just gotten off a patrol when Kacchan and I were stuck in the end of a villain attack.”
“How long ago was this?”
“About 3 years ago Kayama-san. I promise I won’t tell anyone. I knew it was you because you have the same eyes and body language as your two personas.”
“Do you understand how important it is that you not share my name to anyone. Not even your friends. It could get you, or them in some trouble.”
“Yes Kayama-san.”
“How much longer till your parents get here?”
“I don’t know. I’m meeting them at the café a few stores down when I’m done here, if they aren’t here by then. I’ll be okay Kayama-san.” Midnight slowly nods, and she squeezes his hands.
“Okay. I trust you. No-” She’s interrupted by the laundromat door opening and two sets of feet.
“Izu! We got th-” Eijirou starts, but stops at the sight. Katsuki’s eyes are wide, the kitten his right hand while in his left a bag of items is clutched. Izuku recovers quick.
“Eichan! Kacchan! You beat my momma! We’re gonna meet her at the café when the laundry is done. Where’s your parents Kacchan?” Izuku stresses the ‘me’ slightly and his eyes jolt to Midnight before back to them. They catch quickly.
“The hag and Dad ran into Auntie when we were at the store. Auntie said you were here and we got permission to run ahead and meet up with you. Whose that?” Katsuki is eyeing Midnight, but both Eijirou and Katsuki know who she is.
“Her name is Kayama! She was telling me some stories about a kitten her friend has when I mentioned the fluffball!” Izuku covers for her, but Katsuki can tell the lie but understands. Kayama relaxes slightly and waves a hello.
“Well, I’ll be off. I feel better now that you’ve got friends with you. Behave you three!” Kayama says as she stands. With a ruffle of Izuku’s hair, she grabs her bag and waves to the other two as she leaves. Once she’s away from eyesight, all three boys relax greatly.
“Was that Midnight?!” Eijirou whispers, walking over to Izuku who nods.
“She was in here when I got here, putting stuff in a dryer. She was asking why I was alone and had to cover. She knows that I know she’s a hero and when you walked in, she was making sure i knew not to tell anyone. That’s why she relaxed when I lied to you.”
“Fuck… okay. We’ll talk about this when we get home.” Katsuki sighs, walking over and handing the small kitten to Izuku. “We found out some stuff about this fluff. They’re a girl and a grey bengle. A boy whose quirk let’s him fuckin’ talk to animals saw her and freaked.”
“He was cool! He knew sign language and didn’t like to talk much, but did to her. He offered to take her if we couldn’t, but we said no. Apparently,” Eijirou looks at Katsuki teasingly, “she likes ‘the yellow humans hands.’” She quotes before spiraling into giggles at Katsuki’s faint blush. Izuku follows after.
“Oh shush…” Katsuki scowls. “We got a collar, a small bag of kibble, a water dish, and a bed.”
“Oh, and some toys.” Eijirou adds, grabbing the bag from Katsuki and sitting down onto the floor.
“That’ll be fine. I just put the clothes in the dryer. We’ve got a while before they’re done. So let’s play with this little fluff ball and wait!” Izuku says sliding to the floor and grabbing the bag. Eijirou and Katsuki follow. The trio spread their legs and made a triangle before Katsuki sets the kitten down between them, blocking her in. “What should we name you?” Izuku ponders, grabbing a feather on a stick and bouncing in front of the kittens face, who immediately attacks it.
“We should have asked the boy to ask her what she wants to be named!” Eijirou says, reaching forward and scratching the kitten's ear. Katsuki watches fondly.”
“The guy would have combusted. He was shaking with so much anxiety that it looked like he would fuckin pass out! Probably worked up a shit ton of courage to even approach us.” Katsuki snorts, taking the feather from Izuku.
The kitten is running and bouncing between their legs, attacking either the feather and their legs. She tried to escape the triangle confines, climbing the cloth of their pants, only to be grabbed and put back. She meows and keeps playing.
“Maybe we’ll run into him again. But we should still call her someone until we do.” Izuku says, tapping the floor with his fingers, causing the kitten to leap forward and attack, a loud mewl and paws attack his fingers.
“We’ll figure something out.” Eijirou says as the dryer beeps.