Black Cat and Sunflower (MHA/BNHA)

"Hello Mr. Black Cat!"

Oldish fic I'm still a bit proud of. Probably needs a bit of editing.

It was his little secret when it started.

It wasn't that Shouta was ashamed of it or anything; there just wasn't much to tell. Besides, keeping it secret made it feel more...intimate, he supposed. More meaningful. Everyone had secrets. Hizashi didn't like people to know that he once needed speech therapy. Nemuri, despite her shameless hero persona, didn't like people to know who she was dating mostly because she didn't want people to hassle them. Everyone had secrets and it was no big deal. So he didn't see any problem with keeping those nights to himself, not even when nights turned to days. Nor when he found himself foolishly, hopelessly in love.

It was a Sunday night with heavy rain, the roads and sidewalks wet and slick; not an ideal situation for a stake out or a fight. Shouta could barely see in front of him. He faintly remembered his own teachers telling him to run when the odds were so highly stacked against him, remembered telling his own students to use any tactic or escape in situations like this not even a month ago, but he ignored it all.

All the signs showed this villian, a serial killer targeting single young men, leaving town in the next few days. After a confrontation with a hero, known or underground, this woman was surely going to skip town as soon as possible.

She got in a few nicks and cuts but not much more before Shouta could finally capture her, wrapped up in his scarf. For someone committing such a serious crime, she didn't put up much of a fight. Then again, she caught all her victims by surprise, and Shouta, having tailed her all day, was anything but surprised. Well, not anything. Just exhausted and sore. Even though she hadn't gotten any good hits in, he still had aches all over his body from losing his balance and crouching in a dumpster all day. Not to mention the fact that he hadn't slept a wink in about twenty four hours.

He unceremoniously dumped his capture of the night at the police station, filled out the paperwork, and dragged himself back outside. The rain was so heavy, he couldn't see ahead of him, but he'd walked this route enough times in his life that he didn't need to see. Or so he thought, anyhow.

Looking around didn't help him figure out where he'd gotten turned around at. Not only could he not see, this whole road was unfamiliar territory. Where was his apartment, and where the heck did all these nice houses come from? Shouta glared at the house in front of him, the light blue paint bright and the flowerbeds well tended, like it was the source of all his problems. He held onto the house's front gate to steady himself as his legs buckled slightly from exhaustion, scowling. They were going to do this now? In front of a stranger's house? He didn't notice blue eyes peeking through the house's yellow curtains, and he didn't turn his head to look in curiosity when the door opened. They were just going to chase him away anyhow, weren't they?

"Sir?! Are you alright?!" Oh, that was a surprise; he expected then to yell or something but this guy sounded concerned, genuinely concerned. "What are you doing out here without an umbrella? Come inside and get warmed up!"

Shouta didn't want to; it was a bad idea no matter how he looked at it. But the desire for a warm place to rest overrode his logic and usually sharp senses and he found himself following the man inside without much of a second thought.

"I'll make you some coffee. Or would you prefer tea?" Shouta mumbled something that sounded vaguely like coffee, too busy looking around the room. This man either made them or he collected them but his All Might collection would probably put even the most extreme fanatic to shame. "Sorry about all...that." The man laughed softly. "I get a lot of it free, but it feels bad to just throw it out."