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『無表情にゃ男! 』
❝ He is an e-meow-tionless man! ❞
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Tenko never released you from his arms, not even once.
In normal circumstances, you wouldn't be bothered by it. The boy seemed to know how to pat you enough to make you feel comfortable, which you assumed was because of his dog in the past. He also calmed down whenever his hands touched your fur, and as his new guardian who didn't want him to feel any distress anymore, it's a good thing for you: getting nice and comfy pats while comforting someone else? it's a win-win situation.
Until it's not anymore.
You are losing here.
Losing the chance to get pats from Aizawa Shota himself, the man who has boundless love for cats underneath that tired gaze of his.
Now, you are not saying Tenko is less important than Aizawa’s pats, because you definitely know that the entirety of Japan would crumble if Tenko ever strays into the path of villainy.
But, come on.
You're a cat!
And the characters you loved, the ones you saw on the screen, are right in front of you. They have the ability to give you their full attention and care without it being weird or too clingy! It's a once in a lifetime chance!
Is it that wrong to desire an indulgence on your part?
"Being a guardian is so difficult," you grumbled, stretching your cat arms across Tenko’s chest. "Come on, Tenko! Let me hug Aizawa one more time! Who knows if we'll get to meet him later on? This place is huge as hell and we don't have a permanent home anyway so let's just cuddle with him for a while. Please?"
Shirakumo glanced at you past his shoulders. "I just noticed, but your cat is really talkative, huh?"
Tenko simply looked down at you, blinking. "They… they're always like this…"
His voice was almost drowned by the passing vehicles and your whines. But the two students seemed to focus on him well, so they just smiled (or Shirakumo grinned, hands behind his head, while Aizawa had that ghost of a smile that you barely even saw since he looked away fast).
"Well, they must be a fun company to be with, then!" Shirakumo slowed, walking only a few feet away from Tenko. "Any particular food you and your cat would like to eat? I'd let Shota treat you guys to a restaurant but we're pretty broke right now so we can only afford a convenience store for now!"
"What are you even saying?" Aizawa deadpanned. "You're the one who wants to do this, so you should be the one who pays for their food."
The dark-haired boy soon stopped in his tracks, then he beckoned for Tenko, who looked at him with a cautious blink.
"Come here," Aizawa stepped to the side. "It's dangerous if you walk too far from the sidewalk."
Tenko’s grip on you tightened. He looked at you, the same look he does when he's asking reassurance, and you just stared back at him with a nod— or you tried to, since you ended up yawning instead.
Still, that was enough for Tenko since he bobbed his head shakily and stood beside the dark-haired boy. Now he was flanked by both Shirakumo and Aizawa, with the former directing a lazy grin at his grumpy friend.
"See what I told you? " Shirakumo teased. “You’d be good with kids. Wanna be a teacher someday?”
Aizawa frowned. "Stop spouting nonsense. Give the kid some space, will you?"
Instead of replying, Shirakumo directed his attention to Tenko instead. "Hey, what's your name?"
The poor child simply looked at him, wide eyed and blinking. He hugged you even more tightly in his arms, almost burying his face on top of your head, and you had to fight back the urge to not let your ears twitch.
Shirakumo seemed to be extremely patient, since he just pointed at himself after Tenko’s silence. “My name's Shirakumo Oboro,” he introduced, then he pointed at his other company. “While this guy over here is named Aizawa Shota.”
“I can introduce myself, you know,” Aizawa grumbled. You didn’t miss the way his gaze swept from yours to Tenko in just a short second (come on, you urged him in your mind. You know you want to pet me.) “If Aizawa is too long to say, just call me Shota.”
“Yeah, like I did when we first met each other!”
“The difference is,” Aizawa snapped, “I offered it this time, while you just went and said it without my permission.”
Shirakumo wiggled his fingers at you as a greeting. Either he was fully intent on ignoring Aizawa’s words or he just got distracted after making eye-contact with you— the second one is the most plausible, cause you're pretty sure he thinks you're adorable.
If Tenko wasn't protectively holding you in his arms and if you didn't entirely scratch out his face earlier, you know that Shirakumo would have already showered you with lovely pats and rubs for at least an hour (and you'd let him; there’s no shame in admitting that. He's a handsome and kind man after all!)
From above you, Tenko muttered atop of your head. “Shi… Shirakumo…” he repeated those words, unsure and shaky.
The two of them seemed to hear it, since they blinked and faced Tenko with a curious look.
This made the child shrink on himself, looking down at his feet in nervousness. “Where- where are we going?”
Aside from talking to you, Tenko had never conversed with anyone else before. It's obvious that he's holding himself back, because he's skeptical about these two strangers.
You wished you could just tell him that they're the best people he could ever meet in this world, but in the end, you just rubbed your head against his chin as your own version of reassurance instead. That seemed to soften Tenko's edge, since he loosened his tense shoulders and listened at Shirakumo's answer.
"Hmm, we're on our way to the konbini but wouldn't most of the food there be pretty unhealthy for a growing kid like you?" Shirakumo turned to Aizawa for confirmation, who grunted instead. "Actually, what do you want to eat? Miso? Taiyaki? Candy?"
"Your choices are slowly becoming even more unhealthy than microwaved food," Aizawa said, a bit of exasperation creeping into his tone. You noticed how he's walking a lot slower, as if he's following Tenko's timid pace instead.
Tenko didn't notice. "I- I don't mind konbini food!" He gawked at his exclamation, starry wide eyes, and a hint of red hue came on his cheeks.
Shirakumo's grin widened. "Great! I like that energy you have there, uh…" he leaned to the side, staring questioningly at the stiffening Tenko. "What's your name again?"
"...Tenko," he answered softly.
"Tenko!" Shirakumo grinned.
Tenko looked down. He's now fidgeting with your tail, and if it was someone else, you'd be pretty annoyed at the sensation of someone touching a part of yours. But it's Tenko, and since you can't communicate for him, you just have to suck it up and make him less scared of talking to people.
“Oh, your cat has a hat!" Shirakumo gasped. "That's amazing! Shota and I have a cat too, you know? His name's Sushi. We found him somewhere in the street. He looks as cute as your cat as well, but without the hat, of course."
You fought back a snort. “As if a normal cat can be as cute as a special cat like me.”
Tenko simply rubbed your head in response.
"You're making it sound like we adopted it together,” Aizawa grumbled.
"We technically did, didn't we?"
"It's in Kayama's house, not yours."
The two bantered over Tenko's growing silence. Shirakumo would always be the one asking him normal questions like what other animal he likes, what kind of food does he want later, did he know the jingle song of the garbage truck in the morning (Aizawa pointed out that nobody knows it, and Shirakumo just shrugged in response and said, "It's catchy, so someone must at least know about it!").
Tenko either nodded as an answer or, if he did speak, he'd say it as quietly as he could, as if he didn't want them to hear his voice.
That is, until the two brought up the topic of UA and heroes.
Tenko's eyes widened, and a sparkle danced in his scarlet gaze. It was as if someone had flipped a switch inside him, and all the hues on his face bloomed into an excited and bright beam.
"You're heroes!" he exclaimed, his voice suddenly filled with enthusiasm.
"We're still students in UA," Aizawa said, pausing for a bit. "But yes. We are heroes."
His response only increased the stars in Tenko's eyes. "I- I love heroes!"
The way he gushed almost made you want to wipe your happy tears away— your boy is growing up. Not only was he responding to people now, but he's also initiating the conversation with a cute smile on his face. You're such a good mentor to him: a cute face is what gives you food and happiness after all. Aside from money, that is.
Shirakumo leaned closer to Tenko and hummed playfully. "Who's your favorite hero?"
Tenko didn't even notice the sudden closeness of the two. He just beamed and his hold on you was slowly loosening up. "I like All Might!"
An exasperated look passed by Aizawa's face, but Shirakumo only brightened up at his answer. "Oh! I like All Might as well! He's super busy but we saw him a couple of times near our school since that's his old school, I think?"
Tenko opened his mouth to ramble on, but Aizawa's irritated sigh made him stop.
"Ugh, All Might again," Aizawa drawled. You agreed with his sentiment— you had heard too much 'All Might' this 'All Might' that when you were running around the streets, and you just wanted to bang your head into a wall because of it.
But did he really have to soil your Tenko's happiness with his annoyance to the hero?!
"Y-yeah," Tenko offered, shrinking a bit to himself again. His fingers twitched against your fur, and you knew that's his way of calming down the excitement buzzing in his nerves. He does that a lot when someone walks in on where you two were resting, and Tenko feels self-conscious about rambling too much.
That reaction was definitely noticed by both Shirakumo and Aizawa.
"We just had a lesson about All Might earlier," Aizawa continued, his voice even and the same exasperation as earlier. "Hearing his name stressed me out now, but he is amazing when he's not on our quizzes."
Still, you definitely noticed him toning down his annoyance to the hero when he saw Tenko's reaction.
"Ah, how could you be so cruel, Shota!" Shirakumo chimed in with an exaggerated gasp. "Everyone likes All Might, but that doesn't give you the right to crush a young hero's enthusiasm just cause you don't!"
"It's not that I don't like him—," Aizawa started.
"Yeah!" But he was interrupted by your venomous hiss. "How dare you ruin this child's happiness!"
Your outburst made everyone glance at you with a confused blink, but you continued on, as if your words were understood anyway.
"It took me a week to help him ramble like that. A week, and we don't even have a home, you handsome bastard— you also haven't pet me either! How dare you!"
Tenko stammered when you scrambled out of his arms, and in the midst of your fury, you jumped towards Aizawa who certainly didn't expect you to lash at him at that moment, so his eyes widened and—
He staggered as you launched yourself at his chest, your tiny paws pawing at his clothes angrily. His arm instinctively came up to shield his face from your tiny but determined assault, while his other arm held you to make sure you didn't fall into the ground.
Shirakumo was unable to contain his burst of laughter. "I told you everyone likes All Might. Even the cat doesn't agree with you!"
Aizawa scrunched his face in bewilderment. "And I said it's not that I don't like him,” he said to you without any guile whatsoever, like he had something to prove. Like he needed to prove his innocence.
It's obvious that your sudden pounce had left Aizawa baffled, especially when you weren't fully scratching out his clothes (you know how to keep your claws inside your paws, cause you're overpowered). He even pursed his lower lips as his way of scowling, but it looked like a pout against his usual stern expression instead.
And goddamn it, he's even more adorable cause you realized he is pouting.
Aizawa Shota is pouting because you're angry.
Just the sight of it made your burst of anger melt into a puddle. Which isn't fair!
How dare this man look so soft during his teenage years? You can't even get mad at him for ruining your care for Tenko, and this unreleased anger makes you mad in itself!
Aizawa was now cradling you in his arms. "Alright, alright, I surrender," he sighed, his voice rumbling in his chest deeply, "I promise to be nicer about All Might in the future."
You didn't understand how anyone could resist this boy, but what you did understand was Shirakumo's teasing words at Aizawa's dilemma.
"Why don't you admit you like All Might as well, then, Shota?"
"Are you setting me up," Aizawa scowled. "What, do you want me to answer 'I don't like him' and make the situation worse?"
Shirakumo wheezed even more, he ended up stumbling on his feet at how weak his laughter was making him.
Tenko looked absolutely disoriented by the situation. He didn't even shake off Shirakumo when the older boy placed a hand on his shoulder to balance himself— no, he was staring at you and Aizawa: a familiar situation, where you are cradled in the dark-haired boy's arms.
But this time Tenko didn't look terrified.
Tenko glanced at the laughing Shirakumo, who teased the other boy even more about you not liking Aizawa at all (which made him slam his eyebrows together and deepen his frown at his friend's words).
Then Tenko's gaze swept at you, who just jutted your chin up at Aizawa and let your head fall back onto the boy's chest. You don't understand this guy's patience— isn't he supposed to like cats? Why the hell doesn't he want to pet you, even when you're against his chest already?
"Ah, wait— don't ruin my uniform! I don't have enough money to pay for a repair," Aizawa fretted when you began to adjust your position in his arms.
"I'm just being comfy!" You deadpanned. "Jeez, aren't you such a worrywart at your young age. This is why you'd be hot in the future, but it's still annoying when I'm experiencing it in real life."
Aizawa looked at you with an indignant stare. "Kid, is this cat capable of judging a person?" he asked Tenko who was awfully quiet the whole time.
"I'm complimenting you, not judging you."
"I won't be surprised if they judge you," Shirakumo shrugged, grin never straying the line between enthusiasm and teasing. "Seems like both the kid and the cat are fans of All Might, and you obviously said you don't like him."
"I didn't—," Aizawa began, but you interrupted him once again.
"I don't like any heroes here. I'm an unbiased person, you know!"
Aizawa glanced down at you, deadpanned. "You know what? Fine. Think whatever you want. I'm not going to bother saying anything anymore."
"But you just said something," Shirakumo pointed out, and Aizawa's scorching glare made his laugh louder.
Then the most shocking thing happened.
Tenko giggled.
He giggled alongside Shirakumo, like the cloud boy's laughter was contagious in itself. You almost didn't notice it, since it started out like a small, awed gasp for the boy, until his lips pulled into a smile, and then the laughter bubbled out of him like the tinkling of a bell.
Your heart soared. He didn't stay disheartened by Aizawa's mistake earlier— he's laughing, and now Shirakumo's bending near him and mock whispering a jab towards Aizawa, like he's exchanging secrets with the pure child.
It was a heartwarming sight, especially when Aizawa, with you cradled in his arms, let the two (or let Shirakumo) make fun of him in order to lighten up the mood. He can't escape your observant eyes though— you saw him crack a small smile when Tenko's excitement roared back into place again at Shirakumo changing the topic to heroes once more.
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"I have a mutant Quirk!" Shirakumo proudly said.
Aizawa facepalmed.
"Uh-uh…" the cashier by the convenience store glared at the white-haired boy whose beam never wavered, not even once. "Is your hair cloud too?"
"Yep!" He chirped. "My body is made up of cloud, so there's nothing to see here!"
There is, in fact, a lot to see here because Shirakumo Oboro is covered with his fluffy clouds throughout his entire torso. That wouldn't be a problem now, on normal circumstances, but he stupidly decided to let the clouds form just on his torso alone, so it's a lot more obvious to see that his Quirk isn't exactly the mutant type, and he's just spouting nonsense right in front of someone who knows he's lying.
"Oh for crying out loud," Aizawa heaved an exaggerated sigh.
He patted his pockets, sifting through it until he took out his wallet and soon, his hero license. In just a second, he lifted it and showed it to the cashier.
"We're heroes, and we just saved a cat— the one resting underneath that pile of clouds on him. We're here to buy some food for it."
The cashier's expression contorted in confusion as he analyzed Aizawa's hero license, while Shirakumo blinked a couple of times.
"Oh, yeah. We do have permission to use our Quirks, don't we?"
You would have facepalmed at his words jjst like Aizawa did earlier ago, if only you weren't flying in bliss at how soft and fluffy this cloud of bed was.
Honestly, you're not so sure about this development either.
One moment everyone was laughing and joking around, and the next, Shirakumo had already taken the initiative. Pets weren't allowed inside the convenience store, and his solution to that?
Put you in a cloud and just waltz in like you guys own the damn store.
Without hesitation, Shirakumo created a huge pile of clouds around his torso and he placed you inside of it. At first, you thrashed against his holding, thinking that those suds looking clouds would suffocate you, but to your surprise, it was incredibly soft and fluffy. The cloud cocoon provided the perfect balance of comfort and support, and you found yourself settling in quite comfortably like you're on the best bed anyone has ever created.
Aizawa tried to interrupt him by saying something, but you know how it is: Shirakumo is steadfast and always ready to go forth in his adventure, so he didn't hear his friends words. Tenko just watched it all play out, and since he looked a lot more comfortable with Shirakumo (he's basically clinging on the boy's pants right now), he let the white-haired goof carry you—
Which then led to this situation.
When the cashier shifted his gaze from the card to Aizawa's apprehensive face, he then looked at Shirakumo and soon brighted up. "Oh! You're Loud Cloud, aren't you?"
Shirakumo didn't hesitate, "Yep, that's me alright!"
"My kid's a huge fan after you let him play on your clouds a few weeks ago," the cashier said, his glare now replaced by a gentle expression. Then his gaze swept over Tenko. "He's also the same age as your kid over there!"
Tenko jolted at the sudden attention, shoulders rising to his reddened ears as he hid behind Shirakumo's legs.
Shirakumo simply grinned. "He must be a growing boy then! Would you like some autograph for him, old man?"
"If it doesn't inconvenience you!" As the cashier reached for a pen and paper, he perked up and turned to the boy again. "Oh, and the late-night discount is still a few hours from now, but just for you, I'll let you have an early discount on any food you'd buy here."
"Really? Sweet!" Shirakumo gave the cashier a thumbs up. "You're the best, old man!"
The cashier returned the thumbs up with his own and grinned. "Keep up the good work, you young heroes!"
"What… what sorcery is this?" Aizawa could barely contain his bemusement at the turn of events. You don't blame him— you didn't even understand how everything turned out this well, but one thing about you is the ability to accept all kinds of blessings: this discount is definitely a blessing in both yours and Tenko's part.
With you nestled safely in the cloud cocoon, Shirakumo continued to strike up a conversation with the cashier. Aizawa had to drag him away cause he remembered Tenko's hunger— the reason why they're even here in the first place— and the chaos of shopping for food started there.
Shirakumo made a beeline for the ramen station, Tenko trailing after him like a little duckling, and Aizawa being the voice of reason by saying: "No, a ramen for a hungry kid is a bad idea. Don't make him turn out like you."
Throughout their bickering, you had a lot of chances to grab a couple of candies and junk foods with your claws— Tenko even caught you in the middle of grabbing a chocolate bar, and that sudden pause in him brought Aizawa to finally notice the pile of food you'd stockpiled in Shirakumo's clouds, and he took it out one by one. Or at least, he took the foods that were bad for cats, like that chocolate bar that you really miss eating. Damnit, you aren't a cat anyway so why can't you eat your favorite junk food now!?
Tenko stood awkwardly in between the two high school boys, who were getting even more passionate at what type of convenience food they'd give to him.
He winced each time Shirakumo walks to another aisle and Aizawa separates from him to go to the drinks section. He obviously didn't know the person he's supposed to go with, but since you're with Shirakumo's clouds (and getting scratches from the boy who talks to you about the food he liked around here), Tenko followed him around until they met up with Aizawa again.
In the end, the two boys settled for a bento box filled with a variety of dishes. Aizawa even grabbed him a milk carton and some hotdogs when he's out of their sight.
Of course, it's Shirakumo who ended up paying— you didn't know if he just wanted to continue talking to the kind cashier man or if he wanted to make sure the discount was really true, but the last one sounds a bit too intelligent and cunning of him so you brushed it off.
Plus, you can't think of them as intelligent at all, cause these two boys kept on bringing you cat food! You didn't know there's a catnip candy somewhere in the cashier table too, but you hissed at them in a threatening way.
Thankfully— since Shirakumo was the closest person to your claws— they didn't buy any cat food nor catnips to you. You can't imagine ever eating any of those when you yourself are human deep in your heart.
Sure, curiosity for the taste of cat food is somehow there at the back of your mind, but when you become human, would you even have your dignity left if you ever enjoyed the taste of cat food?
At least Aizawa let you take the tasty biscuit you picked out. If you weren't simping for him, you would have clawed him out already for taking away all of your desired junk foods.
Now the four of you were by a nearby park.
Tenko sat by the bench, eating his bento box in eagerness with you curled up beside him. Shirakumo was crouched near him, and Aizawa, contrary to his exhausted expression, was standing even after all those walking away you guys had done.
Oh, Shirakumo is chattering about some kind of topic— you're pretty sure he just mentioned Cementoss there and Tenko brightened up, but you didn't want to listen. You're tired after all those socializing, okay? And you just finished eating your sweet biscuits. You basically feel the need to slumber, and it's pulling your eyelids close, your entire body heavy.
"It's getting pretty late," you heard Aizawa mumble, and Tenko tensed up at his words.
"Oh, yeah!" Shirakumo glanced at the purple sky. "I didn't even notice."
Tenko had already finished his bento box, and he was fidgeting with the pockets of his flannel jacket, his mouth opening and closing in hesitation.
Shirakumo rose up from the ground, stretching his arms up. "Don't we have hero lessons tomorrow somewhere pretty far away? You should probably get some good rest, Shota. You might end up in the nurse's office once again if Sensoji finds a way to knock you out during training."
Aizawa grimaced at his words. "Even if I sleep or not, that guy will still do his best to knock me out."
It took only one step forward from Shirakumo before Tenko desperately grasped at his pants.
“W-wait!” Tenko yelled, and the desperate tone made both Shirakumo and Aizawa stop. “No, wait, don’t leave!”
“I’m still here," Shirakumo instantly said, smiling as if the child's voice wasn't concerning itself. “Just stretching my legs out a bit— oh, you finished eating? How is it? Is it good?"
There's a few seconds of silence as Tenko refused to let go of Shirakumo and Aizawa's gaze drilling through the kid in an impassive manner.
"I…" Tenko started.
But he couldn't speak again.
You raised your head at that, barely seeing Shirakumo tilt his head at Tenko's sudden silence after rambling for hours earlier. It wasn't as bad as before— this sleepiness of yours— since you always had to look out for Tenko and keep him away from harm.
But the fact that you're surrounded by these heroes who you know were trustworthy, it most likely made your guard down. They filled your empty stomach up with delicious food too, and now it's not wonder you couldn't even bring yourself to see past your fluttering eyelids at that moment.
You sensed Tenko feeling his hand near you, patting hastily as if he's trying to find you. And when he did find you, he stilled. Fingers woven through your soft fur.
The warmth in Tenko's knitted gloves, and the soft, gentle muttering of Shirakumo and Aizawa's voice— it lulled you into fluttering your eyes closed, until the last thing you felt was the spurring of your world, and tiny arms wrapping around your body as they ran away.
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Cats are sleepy creatures. Had to incorporate that at one point, so now here it is!
One thing I like about the Vigilante Manga is Aizawa pouting at every monent that displeases him. He's adorable. He's everything, and you guys should feel as angry as MC feels cause we've been robbed of pouting teenage!Aizawa in animated form!
This is MC to Aizawa: