The Purrfect Companion - Chapter 10

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Bakugou heard the squeals from his bedroom, the panicked screeching of half the girls in their class freaking out simultaneously, and despite every fibre of his being telling him it was a bad idea, he stood up.  

He hoped to run into someone else, another classmate hurrying down to see what was plaguing the girls downstairs, but he knew most of them came back late on Monday nights, off at internships or getting started on their study for the week. So it was just Bakugou, footsteps echoing in the stairwell, even though he half-expected to find them squealing over some new eyeshadow palette again. Still, like the dutiful hero he was, he found himself in the kitchen doorway.

“Oh fuck.”

“Bakugou!” Uraraka squealed, darting behind him with zero hesitation. “It’s huge, save us!”

“Haah?! Why me?! Where’s your shitty frog friend? She’ll eat the damn thing.”

“She’s at her work study! Bakugou, please!”

“Blasty, my hero!” Ashido cried, slinging her arms around him tightly. “Perfect timing, save us!”

“Heroes don’t get rid of spiders,” Bakugou insisted. “That thing is massive, what the actual fuck.”

“But that’s what men do!” Ashido insisted. “I swear Blasty I’ll never make fun of you again, please just be our man just this once!”

Bakugou gritted his teeth, mind whirling with choices – he’d never faced a decision so hard in his life, and that included deciding whether or not to antagonise a league of villains. But he couldn’t admit to them his massive bug-phobia, they’d never let it go, so how was he supposed to...?

“Merp?”

A tiny head poked out of Bakugou’s hoodie pocket, investigating the sudden disturbance of her nest, and before Bakugou could even open his mouth, Cat was dropping herself to the floor. She pattered happily across the tiles, pausing to sniff at Yaoyorozu’s feet as she passed, but quickly returning to her fascination with the huge, black blob on the pantry door.  

For a minute the room fell silent, Cat’s tail swishing as she stared, but the moment the spider dared to move a leg, she pounced.

Uraraka screamed again when the spider fell to the floor, clinging to the back of Bakugou’s shirt, but Cat was already on it, having the time of her life as she smacked the disgusting bug around the floor. Bakugou backed out the doorway a little further, unsurprised to find Yaoyorozu quickly joining them and Jirou right at her heels – their brave crusade gratefully halted by the ball of fluff.

“Meep!”  

Cat looked up when the blob stopped moving, and Bakugou could have sworn he saw disappointment in her expression, as if she were demanding to know why it had stopped playing. In contrast, Jirou, satisfied that it was no longer moving, picked it up in a paper towel and quickly deposited it in the trash bin, shuddering as it fell.  

“You’re such a good girl!” Uraraka praised, tears streaming down her cheeks as she snatched Cat into a hug. “Oh my gosh, you’re the best hero in this class! In this school!”

Ashido tore open the now-spider-free pantry and grabbed a packet of kitten treats, feeding them to a very happy Cat as she cooed and fawned over their “brave little hero”. Bakugou breathed a sigh of relief, watching Cat indulge in their affections, only stepping forward when the room began to calm down.

“She’s a good hunter,” Bakugou said needlessly, offering her an arm to climb up. “Aren’t you, Cat? Very clever.”

She perched on his shoulder, rubbing her face against his jaw, and he couldn’t help but crack a smile as he reached up to scratch her ears.

“But now you need a bath, I don’t want you tracking spider into my bed. Come on, we’ll use Shitty Hair’s washcloth while he’s not around to find out.”

Cat purred at him happily, officially ruining Bakugou’s belief that she understood his words, and Ashido smiled at him faintly as he started to leave.

“Thank you.”

“Whatever, not like I planned it. She just likes chasing the damn things.”

“I’ll give you a call next time there’s a bug, then?”

“Fuck off, call Shitty Hair or Tape Face. They’re animals, they don’t give a shit about germy little bastards.”

“Noted!”

He took Cat straight into his bathroom, grabbing a rag that, unbelievably, actually belonged to him, and running it under a warm tap as Cat watched from his shoulder. He set her down, ignoring her indignant look, and despite the offence written all over her face and posture, she let him clean off her little paws.  

“Such a good girl,” he murmured, lathering her feet up with the tiniest amount of shampoo. “I guess we’d better thank Deku for those hunting lessons, huh? He may be a dumb nerd, but sometimes he has alright ideas.”

He bundled her up in a towel when she was all clean, bringing her in for a hug, and immediately her purrs returned. She snuggled into his grip, nuzzling his cheek and neck, and Bakugou found himself smiling again as they cuddled. She was just too damn cute, he was so gone.

They were back on the bed by the time Midoriya burst through the door, grinning as he bent down to rub his face all over her fluff and sing her praises. He cooed and baby-talked  in a way Bakugou didn’t think he was even capable of, and Cat ate it all up, purring and chirping as she returned his affections.

“I guess you heard the news, huh?” Bakugou snorted.

“Yes! My big brave baby girl! You’re so clever!”

“She knows, she’s heard. They told her a thousand times while feeding her far more treats than is probably healthy.”

“She deserves to hear it all the time! What a good girl! Best girl!”

“Of course she is, she’s mine.”

“Of course, Kacchan,” Midoriya humoured him, grinning that same bright-eyed smile he always had slapped on his dumb face. “The best girl for the best boy!”

“Best hero.”

“We both know that’s All Might, Kacchan.”

“Shut up, asshole.”

Midoriya only giggled at him, climbing up beside him and nudging him over to make space, despite Bakugou’s pathetic grumbles. Frankly, he was shifting even before Midoriya had sat down, but he’d never admit that out loud.

“How was it?” he asked quietly, sneaking a glance over at the scarred hand scratching his cat’s cheeks.  

“How was what, Kacchan?”

Bakugou blushed, looking away again, and it took Midoriya a moment to catch on.

“Kacchan, are you asking about my day?”

“Fuck off!” he snapped, face burning. “About the hero shit not about your damn day.”

“You’re so sweet!” Midoriya giggled, slinging an arm around his shoulders to drag him in closer. "Thanks for asking, Kacchan! It was really good! We only ran into a couple of minor incidents, but I got to ask the sidekicks a whole ton of questions and learned a ton of stuff!”

“Good,” Bakugou huffed, leaning away slightly and getting pulled back immediately. “Keep learning, nerd, gotta catch up to me somehow.”

“Yeah! I’ll beat you one day!”

“Keep dreaming.”

Bakugou stopped fighting the touch, but Midoriya’s arm remained around him all the same, his body heat radiating through his-

“You didn’t even change first?!” Bakugou demanded, pulling away in earnest this time from Midoriya’s wrinkled school shirt. “Stinky-ass nerd! Take a shower!”

“I did!” Midoriya insisted, holding up an arm as if he expected Bakugou to sniff him – gross. “I took a shower at the agency! I just had to stick my uniform back on to come home!”

“Disgusting!”

“Well excuse me for being excited to praise my baby for her good work!” he huffed. “I would go change, but we both know she won’t let me go without a fight!”

“Ugh! You’re the worst.”

“And you love it,” Midoriya teased. “Don’t you, Kacchaaaan?”

“Shut the fuck up,” Bakugou growled, climbing over him to escape. “Take off your shitty gross uniform you probably haven’t washed in days.”

“It was clean this morning, Kacchan!”

Rather than answer, Bakugou settled for hitting him square in the face with an old t-shirt, following it up with a pair of baggy sweatpants the moment he freed himself.

“You want me to wear your clothes?”

“Better than your gross smelly shit on my bed,” Bakugou growled, cheeks pink again. “You’re too damn clingy to make you leave, so consider this a compromise.”

“Aww, Kacchan is all grown up!” Midoriya grinned, unbuttoning his shirt obediently. “He finally learned to work with others!”

“Shut the hell up.”

He waited until Midoriya was safely decent again before he climbed back onto the bed, grumbling under his breath as he snatched Cat back for cuddles. She didn’t seem at all perturbed, happily switching to rubbing herself on Bakugou again, but Midoriya pouted at him, flailing his arms as he tried to grab her back.

“Bakugou?” a voice called through the door, knocking twice before it opened without waiting for an answer. “You didn’t pick up the call, are you- Oh, hello Midoriya.”

“The fuck are you doing here, halfie?” Bakugou growled, narrowing his eyes at the intruder. “Get out of my bedroom, asshole.”

“Camie insisted I come check on you, in case you were sick, or traumatised by what I hear was an abnormally large spider.”

Bakugou groaned into Cat’s fluff, getting more purrs in answer, but Todoroki was already turning the laptop in his hands, pointing the camera at Midoriya.

“This is Camie and Inasa,” Todoroki explained, pointing at the two faces on the screen. “And this is Midoriya, I told you about him.”

“Hey, dude! Finally!” Camie grinned, leaning closer to her camera as if she could get a better look at him that way. “You hangin’ out with the Splodey-Boy?”

“Yeah,” Midoriya smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, I didn’t know he had plans!”

“Nah my man, sorry to interrupt.”

“Bakugou likes to avoid our calls,” Inasa explained, sitting bolt-upright in his chair, hands neatly folded on the desk – weirdly formal next to Camie lounging on her bed, Midoriya couldn’t help but notice. “So we sent Todoroki on a mission to hunt him down."

“He’s never hard to find,” Todoroki shrugged, deadpan. “He never leaves his room.”

“Aww man, we gotta drag you out for some fun!” Camie insisted. “You should come too, Midoriya! School has been so damn stressful anyway, I could use a good karaoke night with my remedial squad!”

“Not a hope in hell,” Bakugou growled, rolling his eyes when Midoriya laughed. “The nerd-ass can go with you but I’m not.”

“He’ll come,” Todoroki assured them. “He just likes to play hard-to-get. Did I use it right that time?”

“Near enough, my man,” Camie laughed again, and Midoriya found it oddly infectious. “Yeah, that sounds like our Splodester. I’ll come drag him out, again, no biggie.”

“What are you stressed out over, anyway? Is everything okay?” Inasa asked, making Bakugou gag at the sincerity of his concern.

“Just the usual, dude. Schools are so shitty at work-life balance, you know? They’re killing my vibes.”

“That means they’re making her depressed,” Todoroki translated solemnly, sitting down on the edge of the bed. “I learned that one last week.”

“Did you know some schools have a puppy room to help with student stress levels?" Camie whined. “We don’t even have a counsellor on site!”

"Our dorm has a Cat room,” Todoroki answered.

"You have a room full of cats?!"  

"No we have a room that belongs to Cat. Who is a cat. Named Cat.”

He raised the laptop over his head, angling it down to get a clear shot of Bakugou with his snuggly bundle of fur, and the coos that came out of it made Bakugou want to slap it out of his hands.

“Is she a school cat?!”

“Nah, she’s Bakugou’s, but he lets us hang out with her.”

“She’s so cute! I need to come meet her!”

“Not a hope in hell,” Bakugou snarled. “You keep your disgusting mitts off her.”

“Rude!”

“You can come over, he won’t mind,” Todoroki assured her. “He’s learned to share. The room next door is our Cat room, though Aizawa calls it a study.”

“I’ll be over in five!”

“Sure,” Bakugou snorted. “If you’re here in five minutes, you can come hang out.”

“Oh Splodey, don’t tempt me,” she grinned, blowing him a kiss. “I’d do it for you, babe.”

“Fuck off.”

“Alright Todoroki, let’s leave the lovebirds to their date night,” Camie grinned. “Show us the Cat room! Then you can head back to yours, mission accomplished!”

Todoroki nodded, showing himself out again without a word, just a parting scratch to Cat’s ears.  

It wasn’t until the door was closed behind him that Bakugou realised he hadn’t refuted the dumb comment, hadn’t yelled at her or sworn at her to mind her own business and stop saying stupid shit. Midoriya had noticed, too, judging by the pink tinge that absorbed his freckles, his nervous eyes looking carefully anywhere but at Bakugou’s face.

“She’s a pain,” Bakugou huffed finally. “Um, sorry for that shit. I forgot tonight was when they wanted to catch up, or whatever.”

“It’s okay, Kacchan! I’m sorry I interrupted your call, it sounds fun!”

“Interrupted?” he snorted. “I do whatever I can to stay out of that shit.”

“It’s nice that they care!”

“Whatever, nerd.”

The room fell silent, other than Cat’s ever-present purrs, and Bakugou felt oddly cold where an arm had once wound around him.

“About that ‘lovebird’ shit,” he croaked. “I just-”

“It’s okay, Kacchan, I know friends tease like that,” he smiled faintly. “Don’t worry about it.”

“No, it’s not- Ugh. I, fuck-”

Midoriya reached out, to awkwardly pat him on the shoulder in an attempt at reassurance, but before either of them even knew what was happening, Bakugou scooted in. He pressed their thighs together firmly, Cat planting herself on top of them, and with his freed hands, Bakugou dragged the arm around his waist.

Midoriya burned bright red again, staring at him in silence, but Bakugou’s glare just dared him to object, to say a word of question about it.

“Do you want the lovebird shit?” Midoriya whispered, eyes locked on fiery red this time.

“I’m fuckin’ here, aren’t I?”

With a smile somehow even brighter than the eternal sunshine that lived on those freckled cheeks, Midoriya leaned in. He planted a firm kiss on Bakugou’s cheek, eyes glittering, and Bakugou turned impossibly redder, as if his face might burst into flame at any second.

“I’d like that too,” Midoriya giggled. “Just me, you, and our baby girl.”

“Well she did adopt you first,” Bakugou huffed. “I guess we can share you.”

“Do kittens count as polyamory?”

“Fuck off.”

Despite the words, Bakugou made no effort to pull away, and Midoriya happily pulled him in tighter, squeezing him into his side.

“My best girl and my best boy.”

“And a giant fuckin’ nerd to match,” Bakugou snorted, leaning his head on Midoriya’s shoulder.  

“But I’m your giant fucking nerd, right?”

“Damn right you are.”