Cats and Coffee

Chapter 4: Aldera

A/N: I'M BACK! That's right, I've been working on my bnha stories again! Woohoo!! Celebrate! I can't promise more consistent updates, but know that stories like Viridian, Swan Dive and Instinct are open in my tabs and being slowly worked on!

I did post a lil oneshot of my backstory for Lunch Rush, so if that interests you, check it out! Since it's my HC for him, you'll find that it's his backstory in ALL of my works. :3 Maybe you'll find mentioned easter eggs in some of my other fics, mm?

Other than that, I wanted an opinion from you guys on posting outlines that'll likely never make it as full stories. I've got over 30 bnha stories started, or in the outline format (outline for me is apparently other peoples' first draft, and can range from 3k words to 40k words depending). Most of them stop around the USJ arc, but if reading those is something that interests you, lemme know in the comments!

I've finally figured out where to go with this story! Know that there will be PLENTY of Dadzawa, but also Dadmight! Yeah, you read that right. DadMIGHT. Never seen that one from me before, have ya? :) And this'll also be my first time writing Izuku getting OfA, so be patient with me on that.

Reminder that fanart can be sent to aizawa@email.com

◊◊◊Linelineline◊◊◊

Shouta woke up cold and hungry. This had become normal over the last few days. That first day or so, he'd practically blacked out from the lingering medication in his system, and he'd come to in an unfamiliar part of Musutafu. He wasn't sure how long he'd been out of it, but it was long enough for him to get completely lost.

Curse his short legs.

But he'd found himself adjusting well to his new form. Considering the fact that he could jump up to high places with ease, it wasn't too different from his nightly patrols. Though he'd learned the hard way that the extra speed he had as a cat wasn't worth the loss of fighting ability he'd had as a human.

He'd come across several muggings over the last few days and had been unable to do anything. The most he'd done was prolong the inevitable by clawing at the villains, who—at best—would throw him into a wall.

It was humiliating and frustrating. He was a hero and he just had to stand there and watch. It went against every fiber of his being. In light of this, he'd started moving about during the daytime in the hopes of avoiding further situations that he could do nothing to help.

He caught sight of his reflection in the window of a shop. He was a pathetic sight. Scraggly and dreadfully thin, he'd been neglecting his grooming too, so his fur was all tangled in knots. He wasn't a long-haired cat, thank goodness, but he wasn't exactly a short-haired cat either. The light cream around his neck was an ugly dirty brown color, and several patches of fur were clotted with blood from some nasty feral cat encounters he'd had—something that had quickly taught him how to move and attack as a cat.

Speaking of... He eyed a few ferals gazing at him warily from a nearby alleyway. They gave warning growls when he ventured too close, and he flicked his tail—still held high—to show them they didn't frighten him.

His ears went back when one of them ventured out into the sunlight, and he gave a warning hiss. The cat was a dappled cream with a fairly good chunk of his ear missing. The feral—Tornear, Shouta decided he'd call him privately (so what if it wasn't creative? Not like anyone could understand him right now anyways)—hissed out a territorial warning. He recognized it as such only by his cat-given instincts and years of experience with felines. Shouta glared back. This alleyway was the fastest route to a café he could spy on the other street, and if his enhanced vision was correct, there was some kind of map inside. He might be able to figure out a way to UA.