What Makes a Hero

12

Warning:
Animal abuse/ death

Izuku stared in awe as he entered the hero's house. It wasn't as big as he thought it would be, and emptier than expected, but it was still cleaner and better than the hideout.

"wow," he gasped and walked around the house messing with everything he could touch.

Aizawa watched cautiously as Izuku opened up the kitchen drawers and dug through them pulling out different utensils.

"you're not home often huh?" Izuku questioned as he looked through another drawer.

"I'm a hero and a teacher, I don't have much free time" Shouta shrugged.

Izuku gasped, completely ignoring him, and pulled out a small tool with a sharp circular object at the end. He looked over at Aizawa with a grin "I didn't expect you to be the torturing kind. Do the heroes know?"

"that's a pizza cutter, to cut pizza" Aizawa sighed and grabbed the cutter from a now disappointed Izuku.

"your house is pretty empty," Izuku told him as he walked down the hallway.

Aizawa shrugged "No use in having a lot of things I won't- "

Meow

Izuku stiffened and slowly turned around following the noise. A medium-sized gray and white cat sat across from Izuku. The two stared at each other in silence before the cat let out another meow licking his lips.

Izuku stared at the cat with an unreadable expression and fell to his knees.

Aizawa mentally cursed himself, he hadn't thought about asking is Izuku was comfortable around animals or even seen one before. He wasn't sure how the kid would react and that wasn't a good thing. Izuku could kill the cat in seconds if Aizawa doesn't react fast enough and that would be the end of any chances of getting him help.

Midoriya stared at the cat tears filling his eyes. He slowly moved his hand sideways and tapped it on the wooden floor next to him.

Aizawa curiously watched trying to figure out what the kid was doing.

TThe soft noise caught the attention of the cat, and stared at Izuku's hand, its eyes dilating.

In one swift movement, Midoriya moved his hand to the other side of him and back to its original spot.

The cat was more concentrated now and lowered itself onto the ground.

Midoriya repeated the movement and watched as the cat sprung forward towards his hand. Midoriya let out a victorious laugh and grabbed the cat with his other hand and picking it up.

Aizawa moved to grab his scarf and was ready to activate his quirk if needed.

Midoriya raised his free hand and gently started petting the cat as he placed it on his shoulder with a soft smile.

"I had a kitten once" Midoriya sighed feeing how tense the hero was. "during my second year in the league, on one of my missions, I came across a baby kitten who would've died in days with her owner...no longer around to care for her" Midoriya sat down placing the now purring cat on his lap.

"she was a pretty orange and white baby only a few months old. I grabbed her when the others weren't looking and hid her in my hoodie pocket" Izuku motioned him putting something in the middle of his shirt. "luckily she stayed quiet during our trip back and I was able to hide her in my room. I managed to keep her hidden and snag food, toys, and a small litter box for her without the others noticing" Midoriya warily listened for Aizawa hoping he didn't ask where he got the stuff.

Taking the hint. Aizawa stayed quiet and let him continue.

"a few years go by and she's bigger and more independent, I can go on missions and not worry about her. Then Kurogiri found her. He was almost like a mother. He scolded me for hiding a pet in the league, but never made me get rid of her" Izuku smiled at the memories. "he helped me keep her well-fed and happy" suddenly, Izuku's mood changed, his smile dropped into a frown and he glared at the floor. "another year goes by and I got careless. I didn't close the door all the way and when I found out it was too late" Izuku growled out those words

"Shigaraki found her roaming around the base. He was pissed. He yelled, cursed, hit, punched, he even gave me the big scar my stomach" Izuku lifted up his shirt to reveal a slash across the middle of his stomach.

"I took it if it meant saving the cat, but he didn't like how quiet I was. He grabbed her and threw her on the ground in front of me. I tried to help her, she was scared and I could see it. But he activated his stupid collar" Izuku got louder clenched one of his hands into a fist "he grabbed her again and made me watched as- ow!"

Izuku reeled back his hand that was petting the cat and watched it climb out of his lap and trot down the hall. He looked at his hand and watched as dots of blood formed on the back.

"his name is Bandit and he's a jerk sometimes"Aizawa finally spoke up and Izuku wiped away the blood.

"her name was Kyu and she reminded me of someone important" he smiled.

There was a short silence before Aizawa noticed how late it was and spoke up

"your room is at the end of the hall," he told him.

Izuku nodded at the sudden change, not feeling like going back on the previous topic, and opened the black wooden door leading to a decent sized room. A small grey futon laid in the middle with a blanket neatly folded on top, and black bookshelves partially filled with books stood off to the side. It was simple and Midoriya liked that.

"now that you've had your tour of the house, its time for bed"

Izuku pouted as he laid down on the futon, "but I don't want to sle-" he whined wrapping himself up in the surprisingly soft blankets. He paused for a second and stared at the fabric around him. "are all blankets this soft?" he asked rubbing the blanket between his fingers.

Aizawa nodded and turned off the room light "they're softer when you're asleep in them" he said before closing the door and walking to his own room.

Midoriya stood up wrapped up in the incredibly soft blanket and paced around his room. It looked nice, but with the lights off, it was hard to tell the difference from the hideout. Midoriya whined and walked to the room door. He slowly put a hand on the handle and carefully turned it. To his surprise, the door slowly creaked open letting him out.

"Oh..?"

_____

I didn't have enough time to check this chapter as thoroughly so I hope there aren't too many mistakes or I'll perish.

But anyways, how was yall's day? I helped out in a haunted house and now I have bruises on my legs, back and shoulder so there's that 👊🤧