ᵗʰᵉ ᵈᵃʸ ʷⁱˡˡ ᶜᵒᵐᵉ ᵇᵃᶜᵏ ᵃʳᵒᵘⁿᵈ ⁽ᵃˢ ⁱᶠ ⁿᵒᵗʰⁱⁿᵍ ʰᵃᵖᵖᵉⁿᵉᵈ⁾ | ᵇⁿʰᵃ

three

It's truly been awhile since Izuku has even thought about stepping foot into a mall, the bustling crowds had never been his favorite thing. Luckily, Eraserhead seemed to know what he was doing, and led Izuku into the nearest store.

"I've been told that my fashion sense is horrendous, so go ahead and pick out a few outfits for yourself. We'll try them on later. Then we'll get some shoes, sound good?"

Izuku nods, then looks down at his run down red shoes that he remembers finding in a trash bag a few weeks ago. (He won't admit it but he's only ever looked for red ones, much like his childhood shoes that his mom would consistently buy for him.)

With hands clasped nervously in front of him, Izuku starts to look around, Aizawa trailing a few paces behind. Immediately, his eyes go towards the neutral colors in the clearance section. Flipping through the clothes, Izuku manages to pick out a total of four shirts, and three pants. (Aizawa raised his eyebrows at the shirt that literally said t-shirt , but ultimately said nothing.) 

They managed to shuffle over to the dressing rooms, and within a few minutes, Izuku had proudly exclaimed they all fit. (Again, he wouldn't admit that he didn't know his own size in clothing.) Aizawa paid for them and Izuku couldn't help but feel a little bad. Ultimately, he knew it was the pro-heroes job . So he said nothing about his complaints.

Now sporting a muted gray bag full of clothes, they leave the small department store and wander around until they manage to come across a shoe store, (Aizawa refused to tell the boy that he never comes here of his own volition. [Izuku could tell]).

Aizawa let's Izuku try on a few pairs before saying, "You have an affinity for red?" with a quirked brow. Izuku looks down sheepishly, "Yeah... it's the color of shoes I was wearing when, well when everything sorta happened."

Tilting his head a bit, Aizawa looks sadly at the boy, "Wouldn't it be better to let go of that color? Associating a color to a bad memory, it's not the best idea to keep wearing it."

Izuku looks thoughtfully down at the shoes in his hands, "Sure, maybe. But, it also has good memories too." Aizawa shrugs, "Go ham kid. Red looks good on you... I guess." He averts his eyes. (Aizawa doesn't know how compliments work, sue him.) Izuku looks brightly up to the hero, "Then I'll get these shoes, they're comfortable!"

Finally having bought everything they've come to the mall for, Aizawa is all but eager to get out of there. But Izuku stops him by grabbing his shirt, "Eraserhead, there's a pet store." Letting his eyes drift off the kid, Aizawa sees the bright colors of the nearby pet store. "Yeah?" Letting go of his shirt, Izuku fiddles with his fingers. "Can I get your cats some toys? Or snacks? I want them to like me."

Aizawa lets out a small chuckle, "Sure kid, let's go."

20 minutes later, they leave the mall with more than Aizawa bargained for, but he gets the feeling he won't be able to say no that easily when it comes to the freckled kid. (Who can blame him?) Ushered into the car, Izuku can't help but smile a little at the bags in his hands.

"Eraserhead?"

"Call me Aizawa, what's up kid?"

"What are your cats' names?" Izuku watches in the mirror as Aizawa's eyebrow raises slightly. "Their names?" He chuckles, "I wasn't allowed to name most of them. We've got, Bastard, Shiro. I named those two." He looks in the rearview mirror and smiles at Izuku's grin. "Then we've got Hatsune Meowku, Chubs, and Pig. The last two are pretty fat, that's why they're named as such."

"Why Bastard?"

"Cause he's a bastard. Originally he was named Kuro, but he only responds to Bastard now."

Izuku's giggles made Aizawa smile wider as they pulled into the parking lot of his apartment building. "Alright kid, I'm sure my partner is panic cleaning the house right now, so make sure to compliment his cleaning, and don't be too surprised when you see him. Also, watch your feet, Bastard likes to trip newcomers." Aizawa finishes grabbing the bads from the trunk of his car, and leads Izuku up a flight of stairs.

Aizawa fishes around in his pockets (why are they so big? He's not Mary Poppins.) and pulls out his keys. He makes sure to mess with the lock a bit before actually opening the door, when Izuku gives him a weird look, he explains, "Gotta let him know that we're here."

And Izuku hears frantic scrambling, before it goes eerily silent inside. Putting on a shy smile, Izuku peeks his head in first with the door finally open. He goes slack jawed and he's sputterting out nonsense, and looking between the man in the hallway and Aizawa right next to him.

"Present Mic is your partner? Why didn't you say something? Oh my god, this is crazy." Izuku's head's a mess right now, all in all, he wondered how he never came across this information!

Before Izuku could go on a mumbling tangent, Aizawa ushered him inside the apartment, and placed down the new house slippers he had gotten him. (They were black, with a thin yellow stripe going around the bottom, Izuku fell in love with them, and Aizawa couldn't say no.) Quickly taking off his shoes, and putting on the slippers, Izuku rushes up the the new pro hero.

"Could you sign my notebook? I'd have to get it out of my bag, but oh my god, it'd be such an honor! I've always wanted to meet you, I love your radio show!" Izuku makes a show of looking around the apartment, "It's so clean! I figured Aizawa was one to leave his things around, but it looks so nice!" At this point, Izuku's bouncing on the balls of his feet, nervous energy palpable in the air around him.

Hizashi's eyes go wide, and a bright smile is on his face. "Sure thing kiddo! It'd be an honor to sign your book! Only if you give me your autograph in return! Thanks, and thanks! I try to keep this place clean, but I can only do so much when Shouta's such a slob!" That earns a pointed glare from said man, but Hizashi ignores it. (Aizawa wasn't really a slob, it's mostly the cat's fault.)

Izuku glances down, right as a black cat shoots from underneath a small table, and Izuku stumbles, before being able to jump elusively away from the 'danger'. "This is Bastard? Can I pick him up?" Before the two men can answer, the nimble black cat is in Izuku's clutches, and cradled in his arms. "He's so nice!"

Bastard looks up at Izuku with wide pupils, and starts purring and leaning into the hug. Aizawa grumbles, "Damn cat, never let me hold him like that."

Izuku lets out a small laugh, and holds the cat closer, and the two heroes can't help but look at him fondly.