Many Flavors of Tea

A Simple Date With a Timid Girl

 Tiicha hesitantly grabbed Izuku's hand as they rode the elevator up from Melissa's sub-laboratory to the surface of the man-made Island. Izuku knew that it was best for her to open up more to him, starting conversations and forcing her to think on the spot wasn't something she liked to do. So he remained silent as they rode in the elevator back to the surface. Gently rubbing his thumb against the back of Tiicha's hand, he felt her grip start to tighten around his hand as the elevator came to a stop at the surface.

"D-do y-you want t-to get some c-coffee?" Tiicha whispers to Izuku, barely audible but he manages to hear her, even over the multitude of researchers and heroes walking about the floating research complex. "I-I saw one t-that looked n-nice before w-we went to do th-the experiment with m-melissa."

"I could use a coffee, sure, and don't worry about paying for it Tiicha, I'll buy." Izuku responds, allowing Tiicha to start walking before he does so as to not drag the petite version of Ochako. The way she held herself around others bothered Izuku, he felt as if she wasn't comfortable in her own skin, at least when others were around. While with him she seemed more relaxed when it was just the two of them. He made it a mental note to get her to feel more confident in herself around other people aside from the other Chakos and himself.

Tiicha made it apparent to avoid the other people walking about I-island, not that she didn't like them but more that she felt like she would inconvenience them if she got in their path. Despite this, Izuku thought the reason why she was doing this was mainly to not have to deal with other people interrupting their date. Before long, the pair made their way to a tucked away coffee shop near a small strip mall half a kilometer from the main laboratories. Izuku smirked seeing what the coffee shop really was as the logo on the outside was a ball of yarn and a neon cat playing with it. In big bold letters above the sign it read; Neko Kissaten, or The Cat's Coffee House. The atmosphere around Tiicha's mood instantly lightened when she saw a young fat faced fluffy kitten in the window, sprawled out on his back laying in the sun. She crouches down in front of the window and bobs her index finger up and down causing a couple of the kittens inside to come bounding over and start pawing at the glass. Tiicha giggles seeing the little kittens play with her finger before she stands back up and makes her way to the door.

Izuku grabs the pawprint shaped door handle and opens the door, having to immediately put his shoe in the way of a particularly adventurous kitten that tried to make an escape through the open door. Izuku crouches down and picks up the precocious feline before handing it to Tiicha. Instantly he sees her demeanor change as she starts to baby and scold the tuxedo sporting kitten for her escape attempt. Once inside a hostess greets the pair and shows them to a table in a dimly lit portion of the shop towards the back where the baristas were. The setup of the cat coffee shop was split, with half of the shop dedicated to the play area with the cats and kittens and the other a more traditional layout with booths and tables for customers to sit and relax. Cookies and sweets sat in displays with the menu names beneath them, as well as fake coffees that show exactly what is on the menu and what it will look like. Izuku notices how the only people within the coffee shop, aside from the baristas and other workers, were him and Tiicha whose attention is solely focused on the cats. Heading to the counter, Izuku places an order for a caramel coffee confection for Tiicha, a coffee cake for her to enjoy and a simple green tea for himself. Out of all the Chakos, Tiicha enjoyed sweets the most; he would normally wake up to see her in the kitchen adding a ludicrous amount of chocolate syrup to her waffles or coffee. Even with her lunch and dinner she often got desserts as well. Her favorite flavor was Caramel out of everything and Sato often complained about her taking all of his homemade caramel but he was never too fussed about making more as he personally thought the fresher the caramel, the better it tasted.

After a few moments he brought her drink and cake over to one of the tables near the cat area and motioned for her to come get her coffee. She picked up five different cats and arranged them around herself as she carefully walked over to the edge of the cat play area and took a sip from her caramel confection. She accidentally got some whipped cream on her nose and laughed as one of the juvenile felines leaned up from her cradling it in her arms and starts licking the whipped cream from her nose. Izuku laughs seeing this before sipping his tea and walking over to join her in the cat area. The moment he sits down, several kittens come bounding over to come see their new playmate. Tiicha sits next to him, allowing the cat in her lap to roll over and begin purring loudly as Izuku reaches over and pets the cat's face. The turtle coated feline closing it's amber eyes and purring louder from the affection. Tiicha grabs a laser pointer and starts playing with a few of the kittens, getting them to chase the red laser around the small playpen.