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Chapter - 20

The universe seemed to be giving Izuku some reprieve as the exam desks were separated quite far away. It also helped that Kaminari had been assigned a seat in another row altogether. For some reason he's unable to focus when he's around the overly energetic blonde.

The clock started its countdown of the standard two hours for the written exam. Reading the first question, Izuku's nerves finally settled fully for the first time today. He's taken tests far harder than this for practice with Nedzu. In fact, the further he got into the test, the more he suspected that the chimera had taught him more than was needed. He actually found himself smiling and feeling silly for worrying so much about this.

Izuku had finished in record time, so he went over the entire test twice just to be sure, hoping to eat up some time. It only passed about ten minutes, and he was starting to become bored. His eyes wandered and found Kaminari again.

He was busy writing furiously and then erasing with equal vigor. He was most likely doubting himself, and Izuku could only hope it wouldn't hurt his chances too much.

He soon found himself turning red again as he remembered the interaction they had earlier. Or rather his embarrassing behavior. Why he did that still seems a bit strange to him. Never before in his life had he ever been interested in finding a mate. That might have to do with his only options for most of his life were cats... As it turned out, he himself isn't an actual cat, so he's actually glad nothing ever happened now.

Before his life changed, Izuku simply thought he might just not have any interest in such things. Since living as a human though he's only been confused by the whole thing. He sees how happy his dads are and he finds himself wanting that kind of love. It doesn't help that there are apparent rules or rather categories for finding a mate as a human. They seem to be obsessed with putting things in nice square boxes precisely labeled.

Liking the opposite gender is the supposed 'normal' in human society. Liking your own gender is also a category, and his dads fall into that. Izuku isn't sure he really belongs in either of those boxes, and he gave up trying to understand how humans do things. Even inanimate objects seem to be subject to this weird phenomenon. Certain clothes belong to certain genders, apparently.

Dad and Pop told him that's nonsense, but that day, he wore a skirt instead of pants. Everyone on the train kept staring with disgust. If there's one thing Izuku knows all too well, it is the face humans make when your mere existence annoys them. It even extends to his hair for some reason, and he's constantly back and forth on whether he should just cut it and avoid the looks.

Maybe that's why he's so interested in Kaminari. He assumed Izuku was a girl but told him his hair was pretty even after he realized Izuku was a boy. It probably also doesn't hurt that his hair is so shiny and his eyes are such a pretty shade of gold.

Izuku was sitting there in a stupor staring at the back of Kaminari's head when Ectoplasm came up behind him and started speaking. What he said, though, was lost as Izuku literally jumped into the air and mid landing shifted and hissed at the man. Everyone turned around at the commotion, seeing the cat shifted Izuku on his desk hunched back and puffed up fur.

Izuku took in everyone's expressions. Most were amused and confused at where the cat came from. Izuku noted two particular people's reactions, though. Tenya looked conflicted, wanting to scold Izuku for quirk use but not wanting to break the rule about talking during an exam.

The other being Kaminari, who had that familiar expression humans get when they see something overly cute that they want to grab. Izuku wouldn't be surprised if he started making grabby hands and / or squealed.

Ectoplasm, however, just sighed, having grown far too used to Izuku's dramatics when he would eat lunch in the teacher's lounge. Izuku felt slighted though, Ectoplasm had no right to sneak up on a guy trying to figure out his emotional turmoil. Instead of apologizing like Izuku felt he should, he simply said "If you're certain about all your answers, you can give your test to me and wait outside."