Forgotten Nostalgia (Dadzawa)

I Didn't Sign Up For This

Not two minutes in and there was a loud crash coming from the living room. 

Shouta dropped the spoon he'd been holding and raced out of the kitchen. 

There was Midoriya, laying on the floor, limbs tangled in a curtain that had been ripped away from its window.  

This- he should have expected. 

Before Shouta could question how the Hell he'd managed to get attacked by a piece of fabric Midoriya spoke. "It's the cat's fault!" he defended. His eyes were narrowed like he knew Shouta was about to make fun of him. And well, Shouta was about to. The whole thing was ridiculous. The dark curtains were twisted around his legs and torso like a Python would around its victim. 

The cat in question was sitting off to the side, licking her paw indignantly as if the accusation was completely unjustified. Her bright orange tail flickered from side to side, keeping time with the seconds ticking by. 

Shouta could see the two other cats hiding behind a chair and watching him. Their bright eyes glowed from the chair's shadow, making them look more alien than cat. 

Great. Now the whole crew was here.

Shouta took a long moment before answering, "And how did 'the cat' make you rip my curtain?"

He almost didn't want to hear the answer.

Midoriya sat up gingerly, his arms bent back to prop him up. Freckles had disappeared beneath a layer of bright red. He shot an accusing look at the orange cat still licking her paw before turning back to Shouta. "The thing was hiding behind the curtain. When I walked over to look out the window it poked its head out and made me jump back and get tangled in the curtain,"

Shouta's eyes widened. Turning to the side quickly, he coughed to hide a laugh. Who wouldn't when hearing a confession like that? If Midoriya had even partially liked his cat the other night he sure didn't now. 

"She is not an it. Her name is Cat Number One," Shouta corrected with a small smile. He walked over and crouched down, gently scratching under her chin. Rumbling purrs flowed from her as she leaned into his hand. "And the ones hiding over there are Cat Number Two and Cat Number Three," Shouta concluded. 

"You numbered your cats?" Izuku asked, wrinkling his nose. It only made him look more ridiculous. He wasn't exactly in a position to judge. 

Shouta shrugged. It was better than naming your cat after food or something like "Sir Whiskers". He'd saved them their dignity. 

"I hope you learned a valuable lesson," Shouta said. He moved away from Cat Number One to help untangle Midoriya. For one fall the curtain had certainly gotten a tight hold of him. Now that he was closer he could see small red indents from where it had pressed against his skin. 

"What lesson is that?" Midoriya asked. He just sat and watched Shouta unwrap the fabric, not even bothering to try himself.

Shouta's smile widened. "To never look out a window," he warned ominously. 

With that warning still hanging in the air, Shouta pushed away the last of the ripped curtain, shoving it into a pile he would most likely forget about. It looked unsalvagable anyway, a deep rip almost tearing it in half. 

He stood, thought for a moment, and then scooped the kid up too. 

"Hey!" Midoriya protested, trying to push away from him. "You can't keep doing that!"

"And you can't keep breaking all my stuff," Shouta countered easily. It was hard not to be amused by the everchanging expressions of Midoriya. Especially after they had walked a fine line between Midoriya hating him or being terrified of him a week earlier, well, if it was even possible for Midoriya to hate someone. That child was too loving for his own good.

"Stay put," he 'suggested' before placing him in his normal chair. It was directly across from the oven, close enough Shouta could keep a closer eye on him. 

Truthfully, Nezu would probably pay for everything in a heartbeat. But Shouta preferred to not interact with the principal unless absolutely necessary. That and it was still a gamble if the mouse/bear/creature was planning on trying to adopt Midoriya for himself. 

Midoriya huffed loudly, sounding more like a teenager than ever. "Can I at least help you cook?" he asked, a hint of sass making its way back into his voice. 

"You're not coming anywhere near a hot stove."

"You sound like a dad when you say that," problem child pointed out. He was smug, probably thinking he was going to embarrass Shouta by saying it. 

Shouta turned before Midoriya could see him smiling. 

---

Eating dinner was mostly the same as always. 

Shouta was horrified by the way Midoriya seemed to eat food without even chewing first. 

Then he was horrified over how much of dad he sounded like when telling Midoriya to eat more slowly. 

Once the plates were cleared Shouta had reminded himself at least ten times that Midoriya was, in fact, not his child. He should not be thinking like this. 

After his memories were back in place this would all seem like a very chaotic dream. Midoriya would go about his normal life, maybe with a few more smiles directed at Shouta, but there would be little change otherwise. He would graduate and have to deal with social workers and legalities until he turned eighteen. And Shouta would become that weird teacher that owned one too many cats in Midoriya's memory. 

Shouta knew growing attached was not a possibility. 

He had never even wanted kids, this new line of thinking was insane. And even if he did want them it wasn't like he could just claim Midoriya as his child and tell his social worker the problem had been taken care of. 

But when imagining the kid living without him, going back to the dorms alone, it was a thought Shouta couldn't quite manage to accept. 

He'd always thought Midoriya living in the dorms after his parents died was a bad idea. But the school had wanted to keep him on campus with the promise of top-quality protection. 

Where had that protection gotten him now? Stuck with an overworked teacher and no clue what the rest of the world was like? 

Would this be what Midoriya would have wanted if he still had his memories? Is that what he wanted now?

This really was a disaster waiting to happen. 

---

You might be thinking, there are no right answers. But you would be wrong.

Up next: Iida has got a solution and it's not murder.