apathy

everybody wants to be a cat

Shouto glances down at the directions on his phone again on the crowded street corner, doing his best impression of a pole in the hopes that it will discourage people from bumping into him. Maybe he doesn't get out enough—he definitely doesn't—but he thinks there are way too many people out for the time of day. He shortly wishes for Hakagure's quirk when he catches yet another person staring at his hair.

They're all talking about Stain's takedown too, which has the effect of making Shouto feel a touch anxious. He wouldn't say that Iida and Midoriya are friends, because he has no idea if they are or how to identify friends, but they are classmates that he cares about a fair amount about. He had even been there in Hosu when the Stain thing happened, and had watched Midoriya get kidnapped by the flying nomu.

The news is crediting the vigilante "Green Devil" for Stain's takedown, a name that apparently has history to it according to Shouto's late night searching. Most of the things put to his name is stopping robbers and rapists, with every witness account talking about how Devil took down their attacker without using his quirk. Without a quirk, Shouto knows now, because he doesn't have one.

Shaking his head to dislodge the ongoing thoughts about Midoriya, Shouto shoves his phone into his pocket and crosses the street with the rest of the crowd. The hospital where Midoriya and Iida are is only a block down according to the map. Two buildings away, someone crashes into him.

The person reels backwards and Shouto moves on instinct to grab their shirt before they can fall backwards and onto their ass. Once that's handled, he finally takes in who it actually is. Midoriya, a cast on one arm, stares back from the end of his arm, some indiscernible emotion in his exhausted eyes. Shouto quickly pulls him back to stable footing and then lets go, like he's been burned.  In an uncharacteristic move, Midoriya reaches out and grabs Shouto's hand before it can get too far away.

Shouto almost short circuits, looking between Midoriya their hands in bewilderment.

"No witnesses." Midoriya mutters decisively, gripping his hand tighter. He starts walking the way Shouto had just come from, dragging him along.

"Wait—" Shouto tries to speak up, "—Shouldn't you be in the hospital? Where are we going?"

"If I hear one more thank you from Iida, I will snap and commit first degree murder." Midoriya pledges instead of answering his questions.He goes silent for the rest of the walk, and Shouto just does his best to keep up without tripping. How someone as short as Midoriya can walk so fast, he'll never understand. Eventually they slow to a stop in front of a...

A cat cafe?

Midoriya drops his hand to push the door in, leaving Shouto with a choice. He can escape right now and go home or he can stick around Midoriya and also pet cats. Needless to say, when Midoriya reaches back to grab him again, Shouto is all too happy to offer his hand. It's mostly for the cats.

The purple haired boy that is always around Midoriya at school looks up from his phone as Midoriya drags Shouto over to his table. He glances at Shouto, then at their hands as he addresses Midoriya.

"Hey, Izuku. What's with the candy cane?" He asks, shifting to make room. Midoriya drops Shouto's hand again to sit, and Shouto doesn't frown over it.

"Caught me escaping." Midoriya explains, picking up a cat laying on the table. Shouto awkwardly sits across from them, out of place amongst the friends. "Is Mei coming?"

"I told her we were here, but I think she's working." Purple boy replies, scratching Midoriya's cat. In response, the greener of the pair grunts and climbs back out of the booth.

"Hitoshi, I'm going to lay on the floor to be attacked by cats." He announces, carrying the cat as he leaves. "Don't talk to me until she gets here."

"You got it, bud." Hitoshi answers, looking back at his phone. Shouto hears Midoriya flop onto the ground, and when he glances back, he has a cat on his face. Hitoshi is looking away when Shouto faces him again, trying to not to get caught looking. The two of them sit silently amidst the sounds of the cafe until Hitoshi looks up at him.

"You're staring." He says.

"Sorry." Shouto keeps staring. Hitoshi leans back into his seat, and they stare at each other in silence. Shouto is the one to blink first, unused to staring competitions for that long. An almost smug look pulls at Hitoshi's lips from winning that invisible power play.

"Do you want to join a group chat?" Hitoshi asks, already holding his hand out for Shouto's phone. "It's for talking about how dumb Izuku is."

"Fuck offff." Midoriya calls, muffled by the cat on his face. Shouto silently hands over his phone and lets Hitoshi add him. He glances back at Midoriya while waiting and finds he's accumulated at least 5 more cats. Hitoshi hands back his phone and Shouto scans over the chat.

- SleepyBoi added todoroki shouto to the chat -

The Genius(tm): OH FUCK
The Genius(tm): DADZAWA OWES ME MONEYYY

-The Genius(tm) changed todoroki shouto's nickname to gay candycane -

"Um." Shouto says. "Who are these people?"

"Don't mind Mei. We have me, you, Mei, Tsuyu, Monoma from 1-B, Aizawa-sensei, and two detectives that Izuku knows. " Hitoshi lists off. He glances at Midoriya, and leans in a little. Shouto leans away. "If you snitch on me, I'll end you."

"Sure." He agrees, without knowing what exactly he's agreeing with. These people Midoriya associates with are... scary. Hitoshi leans back again, seeming satisfied with the promise. A few more messages ping onto Shouto's phone, and he looks down at it with a thoughtful expression.

"Is this friendship?" He asks. Hitoshi glances up at him in surprise, then with pity.

"You poor, poor kid." He sighs. He offers no more explanation.

They have to excavate Midoriya out of a pile of cats.