The Purrfect Companion - Chapter Three [Bakugatsu Day 17]

Cat woke up from her nap already squawking, and Bakugou jumped at the sudden interruption, setting his book down to pet her. She immediately dove down the end of his sleeve, and he brought it in to his chest, holding her in his arms.

“Everything okay?” he asked gently. “Do kittens have bad dreams?”

She poked just the tip of her nose out under his hand, and Bakugou stroked it lightly, waiting patiently for her to return to the open. Sure enough, after a long minute of petting, she crawled back out of his sleeve in favour of curling up on his shoulder, leaning against his neck.

“Is this why you always sleep on top of me? Am I comforting?”

Her only answer was a long purr, but it was plenty to make Bakugou smile again, stroking her pale fur. He'd spent all day in his room with her, mostly reading or messing around on his laptop while she slept on him. He hadn't realised just how much kittens had slept, but according to a few quick searches it was perfectly normal.

“The internet said you should have formula as well as biscuits, since the vet gave it to me,” Bakugou informed her, reaching for the paper bag beside his bed. “Think you can try it for me? We'll stick with biscuits three times a day and formula for snacks. You cool with that?”

She slid down from his shoulder to investigate as he prepared the formula, already nosing at his hand, and the moment he offered her the teat she latched on, sucking at it like her life depended on it.

“You're a greedy little shit, aren't you? You better grow out of that.”

His grip tightened a little when a fist landed on his door, but Cat was too enthralled to care, so with a little sigh he conceded.

“It's open, close it behind you.”

Ashido and Kaminari slipped inside with matching little grins on their face, hands tucked behind their backs, and it didn't take a genius to realise they were plotting something.

“Can your dumb shit wait? She's eating.”

“You bottle feed her?!” Ashido gasped. “That's so cute!”

“Apparently she would still be drinking milk at her age, so she's meant to have formula sometimes for vitamins or some shit, I don't know.”

Cat didn't stop until the bottle was empty, licking her lips a few times before she looked up to meet Bakugou's eyes, offering him one short little “meep” of thanks. She startled when the others took a step closer, quickly hiding behind Bakugou's neck, but when they produced the little plastic baggies her eyes widened.

“We brought you some things, Cat!” Ashido informed her, pouring tiny birds and mice onto the bedcovers. “We want to find out which is your favourite.”

“It's gonna be the feathery bird, right?” Kaminari asked, holding up a little toy made of blue feathers. “He's so fluttery!”

“No way, it's gonna be the red mouse. Matches Daddy's eyes, doesn't it Cat?”

Bakugou grumbled under his breath, but Cat slowly made her way down his torso, sticking close to his leg as she moved closer to investigate. The pair continued to tease and tempt her with toys, but Cat walked straight to the middle of the pile, carefully picking out a little pink bird and trotting back to Bakugou with it.

“You like pink, don't you?” Bakugou grinned, scratching her ears. “I could have told the dumbasses that. Pinky brings you the first mouse you liked, then totally ruins it with this red shit, huh?”

She dropped the bird in his lap and turned around, returning to nose through the pile, little head darting back and forth as if she was searching.

“You want your Mousey?” he asked finally, reaching under the pillow to where it had ended up overnight. “Cat, is this what you're looking for?”

She turned around to look, immediately lighting up as she bounded back to him, diving on the mouse like a long lost friend.

“I was gonna send you a photo,” Bakugou looked up at Ashido briefly, then back to the mouse being batted around. “She loves the thing, carts it around everywhere.”

“Oh man! I was sure she'd like the birds!” Kaminari whined.

“She likes the pink bird,” Bakugou pointed out, picking it up from his lap and laughing when she pounced on him. “Who knows, maybe she'll change her mind when she gets bored.”

“Yeah, you keep them anyway! We just saw them at the mall and started arguing about mice versus birds.”

“She's not picky, clearly,” Ashido grinned. “As long as they're pink. Does that make me your favourite, Cat?”

She glanced up at the sound of her name, already catching on, and when Ashido held out a hand she approached to sniff curiously. She batted at it a few times, licked a few more, but quickly returned to her mouse and her bird. With a mouse tail in her mouth and a bird under her paw, she looked up at Bakugou for praise, and he couldn't resist a smile.

“Yeah, good job Cat, you're such a great hunter.”

Kaminari gathered the rest of the toys back into the bag and set them aside with the formula bottle, sitting down beside the bed to watch. He reached for the bird when she moved her paw, wiggling it a little, and Cat dove at him with delight. Her eyes were wide as saucers, tinged blue in the sunlight streaming through the window, and as she bounced back and forth to hunt the wiggly bird, Bakugou reached for his phone.

He needed more videos.

─────

Midoriya grinned when he found Bakugou in the kitchen, stirring a pot on the stove. He crouched down to peek into his pocket, a greeting waiting on his lips, only to find it empty.

“Meep!”

He looked up to see a little cream-coloured head poke out of Bakugou's hood, and a smirk lingering on Bakugou's lips, though he didn't look up from his task.

“You had me worried!” he exclaimed, scratching her ears and feeling her purr under his hand. “Gosh, I forgot how little you were. You need to grow big and strong, Catchan, I'm scared I'll hurt you just by patting you!”

She rubbed a furry cheek against his hand, and Bakugou finally looked back at them, watching her lick the scarred finger fondly.

“It's no wonder everyone adores you,” he gushed. “You're so snuggly, it's adorable.”

“She's not. Not really.”

“Huh?”

“If she's on me she's okay,” he shrugged. “But she won't go to anyone else.”

“Aww, need Daddy Kacchan to protect you, huh? Yeah, he's a good person to trust. Big scary hero who can protect you from anything that comes your way. You just gotta keep the bugs away, he doesn't like bugs.”

She squeaked at him again as if she understood, as if she was agreeing with him, and Midoriya laughed brightly. 

“She's being trained on mice and birds at the moment,” he offered. “Pinky and Sparky have made sure of it.”

“Aww, have Daddy Kacchan's friends been bringing you presents? I guess mine won't be as exciting then.”

Bakugou raised an eyebrow at him, and Midoriya produced a fluffy pink blanket from his pocket, offering it to Cat in the hood. She snatched it immediately, dragging it into her nest, and Midoriya was laughing before Bakugou could even glance back.

“I thought she might let me have my shirt back, if I gave her something else,” he explained. “I went and bought it early this morning and I've been carrying it around so hopefully she'll like the smell.”

“I think you succeeded,” Bakugou answered reluctantly, holding up his phone camera to see her snuggled against the fluffy blanket. “Why did you pick that one?”

“I thought it might fit nicely in her basket when you have to leave the room, and it was super soft and warm, in case she gets cold at night, and it's not quite the same colour as her mouse but it's still pink so I figured she'd approve.”

“Why pink?”

“Huh? It's her favourite, isn't it?” he asked, tilting his head slightly in his confusion.

“Did Pinky tell you?”

“No? She has a pink mouse, and she just... Seemed like the type. Was I wrong?”

“No,” Bakugou admitted. “The idiots were arguing about it this morning though.”

“Which idiots? Kaminari and Ashido?”

“Yeah. They were betting on which toy would be her favourite or something.”

“And picked the wrong one?”

“Yeah,” Bakugou smirked, reaching back to pet her lightly as he turned the stove off. “Raccoon-eyes picked a red one, Pikachu picked a blue one, she immediately claimed the only pink one in the pile and ignored the rest.”

“She's definitely your cat,” he laughed. “She knows what she wants.”

Midoriya moved to take a container of leftovers from the fridge, shoving it in the microwave, and by the time Bakugou sat down he was joining them.

“Has she been eating okay?”

“She eats like she's starving. No matter how often I feed her.”

“Probably worried there won't be another meal for a while.”

“Yeah.”

“Poor baby,” Midoriya cooed, reaching into the hood again to pet her. “Don't you know Daddy Kacchan will always have food for you?”

“You really need to stop calling me that,” Bakugou blushed. “It sounds weird.”

“But she's your daughter, isn't she?”

“She's my cat.”

“Uh-huh. We know better, don't we, Catchan?”

She mewed quietly, and even Bakugou couldn't help but laugh, shaking his head fondly.

“Traitor. Back there conspiring with the enemy, are we?”

“Shhh, Catchan, he's on to us!”

“To think I was gonna ask you to babysit her.”

“Yeah right!”

Bakugou fell silent, stuffing food in his mouth, and Midoriya's eyes widened. 

“Were you really?”

“I need to go buy her a scratching post,” he shrugged. “Want to check they're decent quality rather than order one online.”

“Yeah! I'll look after her!”

“If you touch any of my shit, you're dead.”

“Of course!”

When their plates were clean, Bakugou led the way up to his room, watching Midoriya sit down on the edge of his bed with an eager smile. He held out his arms, and with a little sigh Bakugou crouched, letting Midoriya coax Cat out of his hood.

“Here, I'll leave it for you,” he offered, pulling his hoodie over his head and setting it on the bed. “You have that and you have Deku, you'll be okay for an hour, right?”

She mewed pitifully as she watched him get his things to leave, and he felt a pain in his chest, cursing himself when his hand trembled on his shoelaces.

“I'll take good care of her,” Midoriya assured him. “She'll be so happy to see you when you get back.”

“Yeah,” he murmured, leaning over to kiss Cat's ears. “Sorry, I'll be back soon, I promise.”

Steeling himself against the whines, he slipped out the door in a hurry, leaving Midoriya to comfort her and give her plenty of cuddles while he was gone. He hadn't even made it to the front door before he was regretting leaving, but it wasn't like he could take her to class with him, she was gonna have to get used to it sooner or later.

The department store had a surprisingly wide array of cat products for sale, and it took every ounce of his willpower not to buy every single one. He had to admit his friends had done a good job, though, when he scanned through the aisles and saw the insane number of beds and foods on hand, and conceded he'd have chosen the same ones. At least they knew his tastes, he supposed.

His plans for a simple scratching post went out the window immediately when he spotted it. Bright pink, covered in the softest fur, and well built to boot – It was a two-tiered climbing toy, with scratching post legs, a scratchy tunnel on the second level, and a fluffy pompom hanging from the uppermost platform. Best of all, in his opinion at least, a little pink hammock hung underneath the second level, and he could already envision Cat in there with her blanket and her toys, snuggled up for a nap. He threw a tiny brush and some cleaning supplies in his basket and tucked the tower box under his arm, trying not to blush as he carted it up to the check out counters.

He half expected to find Cat still whining when he got back, but instead he walked in on the giggliest Midoriya he'd ever seen, batting a screwed up piece of paper back and forth with her on the floor. Every time he pushed it to her she dove on it, rolling around to gnaw on it for a minute, then carefully deposited it back at his feet to throw again. 

“Kacchan!” he grinned, “you're back!”

Cat forgot about her toy immediately, running to his feet, and Bakugou cursed under his breath as she began to climb up his pants. He put his box down in a hurry, quietly grateful when Midoriya snatched it away to steady, and with a low grumble he picked Cat up in both hands, holding her in front of his face.

“You can't wait ten seconds?” he demanded. “Impatient little shit.”

“Mew!”

“God damn, why are you so fluffy? I can't be mad at all this fluff.”

With another little squawk he brought her closer, letting her get comfortable in her usual spot, butt in his hood and paws up on his shoulder.

“Thanks for taking care of her.”

“Any time! It was fun! Let me help you put this thing together, it'll be hard on your own when she's trying to help.”

“You don't need to get to bed or some shit?”

“Nope! You're the only one who falls asleep at seven, Kacchan.”

“Shut up.”

He sat down carefully on the ground, one hand protecting Cat in case he slipped, while Midoriya tore open the packaging and hunted down a page of instructions. It wasn't difficult to piece together, just a few bolts into their relevant slots, but when Midoriya found the tiny hammock he squealed in excitement.

“It's so cute Kacchan! I'm so jealous! She's gonna love it so much!”

“I hope so. Don't want her to be lonely when I'm out.”

“She'll get used to it, Kacchan, don't worry. Just think how happy you'll both be when you reunite each day!”

“I guess.”

Before long the little pink tower was beside the balcony, where she could look at the world out the glass, and he leaned over to let her crawl onto it. 

“You like it?” he asked, when she sniffed at the little pompom. “You can scratch it lots.”

She mewed at him, hopping down to the floor to sniff at the rest of the posts and the little hammock, but as soon as she finished investigating she was back in Bakugou's lap, clambering up to his shoulder.

“Fair enough,” Midoriya grinned. “Gotta make the most of Kacchan while he's here, right? You can climb and scratch any time.”

“You're the cutest,” Bakugou mumbled into her fur, hoping it was quiet enough for Midoriya to not hear it. “I'll put your new blankie in it later.”

“I'll leave you two lovebirds to snuggle,” Midoriya teased, scratching her ears lightly as he stood up. “Give me a call if you need me again, I'll be here in a heartbeat.”

“Come by whenever you want, too. If you want to play or cuddle or anything.”

“With you or the kitten?”

“I retract my statement. Screw you.”

“Sorry, couldn't resist,” he laughed. “Thanks Kacchan, have a good night. You as well Catchan.”

Cat watched him go, but didn't try to follow, too busy rubbing her face against Bakugou's cheek happily. She purred so loud it made her whole body tremble, and Bakugou smiled again when he leaned into the touch.

“I love you, Cat.”