The Next Day - Ray's POV
I go to the practice room with Eve on my shoulder, Dad and Shinso are there waiting.
"Why'd you bring your cat?" Dad asks me.
"I have to keep her in my sights right now, she's not doing to good." I say as I scratch Eve's chin who purrs quietly. "Eve scratched her eye on accident, and on top of that, she managed to get into something that got her sick, so now I have to keep an annoyingly close eye on her, she loves the attention, I have things to get done." I say to Dad who nods.
"Why can't Bakugou watch the cat?" Dad asks me.
"He went out with his group of friends to go to a local arcade and bowling lane to have fun." I say to Dad. "And since I don't know the meaning of fun, I'm here instead for the sake of my cat." I say to Dad who nods at that.
I put Eve down with my bag and she lays there purring, her tail lightly tapping the ground. "Yeah, yeah, what a spoiled kitty." I say and Shinso smirks at that.
"Your adorable. Your mother is just so cruel, isn't she?" Shinso sympathizes with my cat as he pets her.
I watch the two. "I am anything but cruel to her. I get her something new every week, she eats the best cat food money can buy, her cat tree extends all around the top of my room, I take her to the vet every month for a check up, she has a field day when I let her travel with me, she gets to do whatever she wants." I say to Shinso who laughs.
We get on with training in how to fight low key like how Dad does it, martial arts and all that jazz, thinking rationally and everything like that.
At about 8pm, we finish for the day
I take Eve back to my dorm room and I apply her medicine carefully before I go take a hot shower. "Ray?" Mina asks outside my shower area.
"What's up Mina?" I ask her as I shampoo my hair thoroughly.
"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to come with us girls to go watch a movie at the theaters." Mina asks me.
"Nope." I say to her.
"Why not?" Mina whines.
"I don't do public theaters, the people there can be rude, I've never had a good experience there when going with friends." I say to Mina. "Besides, according to Denki, I don't know what fun is, so I'm going to watch the Hallmark channel while playing video games in my room while keeping a close eye on my cat so she doesn't hurt herself further." I say to Mina.
"Kami was right, you are no fun." Mina pouts and leaves.
"Yeah, fully aware of that." I say and I finish my shower after about 15 minutes.
I put on my clothes and I sit in the sink on the counter, brushing my hair since it's going to take a while to brush through my hair.
The girls come in to get ready to go to the movies and see me brushing my hair.
"Ray, I know you don't want to come, but why do you have to be alone all the time?" Hagakure asks me.
"What?" I ask her surprised.
"You never actively try to hang out with anyone except Bakugou, and even then, you just let things happen, you never make plans with anyone unless it's family and you don't have a close set of friends either." Hagakure says to me.
I think quietly. "I gave up being the last choice a long time ago, you can ask Izu about the friend group I was in, if you'd like, but that's when I stopped actively trying to be apart of someones life who didn't make any move to keep me in their life." I say to Hagakure. "I figured out a while ago, to just go with the flow, go in and out of peoples lives, is a lot easier, than being someones last choice to hang out with." I say to her as I finish brushing my hair.
"Why would you be someones last choice? Your an amazing person, you had some rough edges in the beginning, but that got smoothed out." Hagakure says to me.
"After I started going to therapy is when I started getting smoothed out. I was a traumatized kid who clung to my brother out of fear." I say to Hagakure as I get off the counter. "It's not hard to see why I was the last choice, I never got help and therefore was a fucked up kid." I say as I grab my bag. "Now, have a good time at the movies, and if any of you try to fix this, I will actively defy it until you give up. I'm content how I am, I have a boyfriend, a cat, I'm actively working to make myself a better person where I might actually be comfortable in making a close group of friends, I personally am not ready for that, and I'm actively becoming a hero." I say to the girls who pout. "Do not try to fix this, I repeat, do not try to fix this." I say to them and I leave the bathroom.
I go up to my room and I relax with Eve quietly, done with being questioned for the day.
I play Minecraft on my pc for a while until arms wrap around my shoulders. "The blue light in a dark room is going to ruin your eyesight." Katsu says to me.
I look up at him and he looks a little worried. "Hey, what's up? You look worried?" I ask him.
"Raccoon eyes said you said some sensitive things in the girls bathroom earlier, sensitive towards you anyways after getting asked why you were always alone." Katsu says worried.
I get quiet. "Remember that group of girls you used to see me hang out with when we we're preteens?" I ask Katsu quietly.
"Yeah?" Katsu asks me quietly.
"They're the reason I don't really do friend groups anymore, I was the last choice in the friend group, the, if nobody else was available to hang out, then I was there." I say to Katsu quietly.
Katsu's arms tighten around me at that. "Those bitches." Katsu whispers in shock.
"I gave up trying to actively be apart of a friend group once I came to that realization. I stopped trying to make friends all together." I say as I exit my game. "I have to find a new therapist." I say as I stare at my wall.
Katsu hugs me tighter. "Come on." Katsu says as he steps back.
I follow Katsu and he takes me and Eve to his room.
Katsu ends up pampering me for hours, he's trying to get me in a good mood since I've been down in the dumps for days now.
"Can I ask what's wrong?" Katsu asks as we lay on his bed, I'm curled up on his chest, my face in his neck as he's rubbing my back in gentle circles.
"Hmm?" I hum confused.
"You've been upset and 10 times more realistic than you usually are." Katsu whispers.
I hum softly. "I haven't been to therapy in a while, and I'm starting to really get cramped by not having that hour, every day, to work on my issues." I say to Katsu who nods. "I need to find a therapist that's going to help me." I say to Katsu quietly.
"Your gonna be okay though, Ray. You'll find someone and I know it's tough right now for you, you were making progress, and now you feel like your at a standstill." Katsu whispers. "But you'll be okay. So for now, just live in the moment." Katsu says to me softly.
I sigh softly and I curl up more before I eventually just relax and enjoy being in Katsu's company, needing the distraction. "This is nice." I whisper as my back is rubbed in gentle circles.
"I love you baby." Katsu whispers against my hair, making me smile.
I bury my face into Katsu's getting sleepy now, tired. "I love you too honey." I say to Katsu quietly.
"Honey?" Katsu asks quietly.
"Your sweet like honey." I whisper and Katsu kisses the top of my head gently.
"Damn right." Katsu says to me quietly, making me smile.
"But only to me." I add and that makes Katsu's chest rumble.
"Damn fucking right." Katsu says louder and I smile wider at that.
Katsu starts to tickle me, making me laugh as I tell him to stop, he doesn't, he's enjoying this. "You lovable asshole!" I laugh as Katsu pins me to the bed, tickling my sides, mercilessly.
"Oh, I know." Katsu replies with a laugh. "I gotta get you into a good mood somehow." Katsu says to me amused as he moves down my sides, causing me to laugh harder.
I push at Katsu's shoulders weakly to stop him, but it doesn't work, my sides hurt as I laugh while he's going up and down my sides. "No fair! You caught me off guard!" I whine and Katsu laughs as I try to wiggle out from his reach, but he pulls me back down and continues tickling me.
Katsu kisses my cheek and then sits on my stomach, preventing me from moving, he stopped tickling me. I breath as I stare at him. "Your an asshole." I manage as I catch my breath.
"I'm aware." Katsu says to me with a smug grin.
I stare at him with a pout. "My sides hurt, I demand water." I say to Katsu who laughs, but gets off me and goes to get a water bottle.
I sit up against the wall as I watch Katsu walk over to me with a water bottle. "Here you are." Katsu says as he hands me the water bottle.
I pout as I take it, which clearly amuses him, but I open the bottle and drink it, my throat is dry. "I am very upset about this, how could you." I say to Katsu with a pout, making him smirk.
Katsu leans into my face and he kisses my lips gently. "Because I like hearing your laughing, you've been so stressed recently, you needed this, no matter how upset you are now, you'll be in a better mood, cause smiling for thirty seconds at least, puts someone in a better mood, and a good laugh relieves stress." Katsu says to me softly as he stares me directly in the eyes.
I stare at him. "How rude." I say as I look away with a pout. Katsu kisses my cheek and pulls me into his arms and holds me tightly. "You used my own psychology tricks against me." I say to Katsu who rests his chin on my head.
"Of course, but it made you smile, so that's a win." Katsu says nonchalantly, he's proud of himself.
I huff, but I relax.
The door gets knocked on, so Katsu gets up, leaving me laying on the bed. "How dare you." I say to Katsu who smirks at me amused.
Katsu opens the door.
"Is Ray in there?" I hear Dad ask.
"The bringer of stress, what do you have for me now?" I ask Dad.
"Can you come out to talk?" Dad asks me.
I groan. "I guess." I groan out and I slide off Katsu's bed.
I get up and I fix my shirt, done with being alive, cause I'm about to receive some bad news and I know it.
I go to the door and I follow Dad out of the room into the hall.
"The school is considering letting you work with Endeavor until you finish school, he personally made a request to continue your work study, with more flexible hours of course, because you have tests and other after school activities." Dad says to me.
I stare at him. "Hell yeah, the more I get to bug Combustion the better, that was the highlight of my days sometimes." I say to Dad who nods. "Now what's the bad news?" I ask Dad.
"We found the Therapist you used to go to, by the name of Nora, correct?" Dad asks me.
"Oh shit." I say quietly. "And what are you guys gonna do?" I ask him.
"Well, the way we found her, was because she came to UA earlier today, with her son, whose transferring here into the general studies class, and her husband who is transferring his agency nearby." Dad says to me. "She was also looking for a job here as a school therapist." Dad continues.
I stare at Dad with narrowed eyes. "Why are they transferring?" I ask Dad.
"Her son wanted to transfer here, so he took to entrance exam and passed into the general studies, he wanted to be in the hero course, but there was no room, but he aced the tests perfectly." Dad says to me.
I continue to stare at Dad as I think quietly. "And is Principle Nezu planning on giving Nora a job here?" I ask Dad.
"Yes, he did a background check on her, which is how we found out you used to go to her for therapy." Dad says to me.
"That's fucked, patient records shouldn't be in a background check, but ok." I say to Dad who nods. "That's supposed to be confidential." I continue.
"The school is well aware of that." Dad says to me.
"Good. When does Nora start?" I ask him.
"Next week." Dad says to me. "And her son, starts tomorrow, He will also be joining you and Shinso for practices in the afternoon after school." Dad says to me.
I nod at that. "The stress this school has given me, is going to make me pop a blood vessel." I say and Dad nods.
"Well hopefully when Nora starts, you can go back to Therapy with her and figure out a way to manage your stress." Dad says to me.
I think about that. "I don't know if she will accept me back as a patient, I caused her a lot of grief." I say with a sigh. "I'll pop by after she starts and see what she says, but that's definitely not a certain thing." I say to Dad and he nods. "I will figure things out, eventually. At least Nora will be safe here." I say and Dad nods again.
"Her son will be joining us tomorrow for practice." Dad says to me and I nod. "Now get some rest." Dad says and leaves.
"Speak for yourself." I say and I go back into Katsu's room and he's waiting for me.
I hug him, burying my face in his chest. "This is utter, bullcrap." I whisper.
Katsu's arms wrap tightly around my shoulders and he rests his chin on my head. "It'll be ok." Katsu says to me softly. "Let's get some sleep though, you need it." Katsu whispers to me as he pulls me to his bed where he flops down, pulling me with him, causing me to yelp in fear from the sudden fall. "Come on." Katsu says as he pulls me farther into the bed and pulls a blanket over us.
"Ok." I say as I give in and I curl up with Katsu, enjoying his attention as we go to sleep.