Redemption

Cats and Jell-O

The rest of the interviews went... okay. Shouto couldn't say that they went well because of Shigaraki, whom had gotten pissed about having to join a reform program and being forced into knitting with the others. As expected. The first thing Shouto did when he entered the dorms was grab some Jell-O and a spoon and plop down in a chair.

As he ate said Jell-O, he contemplated some things. Why was his mind taking so long to comprehend Dabi's death? Why did he have to sleep with a hobo the night before? Why are all of those nightmares coming in so hard and hurting him so much all of a sudden?

The last one, Shouto guessed, was because Dabi wasn't there to help him. Dabi wasn't there to help protect him anymore. Which leads to the first question. Maybe he couldn't accept it because Dabi had always been there for him. Dabi had always helped him, cared for him, talked to him, did everything with him.

But Dabi wasn't there anymore.

Dabi was six feet under. Shouto's brother was dead. He was literally resting in pieces. Did no one care that they had hurt Shouto so much? Maybe they did, maybe they didn't and the 'heroes' that had killed his brother were getting punished for show.

"What are you thinking about, kid?"

Shouto looked over to Aizawa. "Touya. Dabi, I mean."

Aizawa hummed. "Talk to me."

"Why?"

"I know what it feels like to lose someone. It hurts like hell to deal with alone. If you don't wanna talk right now, I'll find time when you want to but you need to talk to someone while we're waiting to find someone that can help you cope the way you need to."

"I usually cope through humor. Dabi said that was okay as long as it didn't get too self deprecating."

"That's true. That doesn't mean you don't need other ways to do that." Shouto nodded. That kind of made sense. He couldn't turn to cutting or smoking or drinking as alternative now. He needed something else. He should really find a hobby.

"I like to cuddle cats. And help them. Speaking of which, I had a cat but I don't think she'll be allowed in the dorms."

"You mentioned her in an interview. Tsukauchi was right though, if we can get her registered as an ESA then we can allow you to have her in the dorms. We'd also have to know who here is allergic to cats and make sure she stays away from them. Do you know where she'd be?"

"Before we left, I left her with my friend Vanessa. She doesn't actually live far from here, maybe five minutes. I wanna see my baby... AND HER BABIES SHIT! I forgot she was pregnant and I wanna see if she's had the babies yettttt."

"We might still have time after the orientation, if that works." Aizawa stood and grabbed some Jell-O as well, mumbling that the 'gremlin kids' could deal with it.

"I completely forgot about that. Do I need to wear the uniform?" Aizawa shook his head and waved his hand.

"You'll be fine in what you're wearing for the orientation. You'll need to wear it for school though. Speaking of, I have your schedule." The man handed Shouto a piece of paper. "It had a list of classes per hour. Your schedule is different from the rest of the class. We put you in more advanced classes, ones meant for third years. If they're too hard then we'll knock you down a bit. Nedzu also decided to put you in some of the support classes, making gadgets and things. You'll need to design a hero costume so that you have something to help you with your quirk and so that you don't have to wear only the gym uniform."

Shouto nodded. He could do that tonight, after dinner. "When is the orientation?"

"We can go right now if you'd like." Aizawa stood and threw away the Jell-O container, Shouto following suit, and then headed to the doors of the dorms. The two began to walk to UA. Shouto took a look at his schedule and looked at his classes.