Katsuki stomps down the street with purpose. He's not going to fall behind his... whatever and he's gotta work hard to make that happen. He won't let the old hag making him visit for the weekend drag him down.
He's distracted for a moment by the hint of a sound, his hearing aides don't pick it up enough to actually make it out. It probably isn't important but Aizawa's fucking lectures about situational awareness flash through his mind.
He turns to the alleyway the sound probably came from and glares. He better not be wasting his time.
It's a cat.
A tiny little tabby scrap of a thing that puffs up and hisses at him as soon as they make eye contact.
Katsuki can respect that.
It really isn't looking good though, and definitely shouldn't be in a filthy alley like this, especially with the rain coming.
Ugh, a good hero would probably help the stupid thing out wouldn't they?
Fine.
It tries to scratch him the instant he's close enough. Tiny fucker.
It doesn't even have the sense to run away or anything, just shows its tiny little teeth and hisses again, like he's the one being difficult.
Katsuki might have to rethink some things.
He doesn't want to get bit, it probably wouldn't hurt seeing how small they are but kittens probably shouldn't eat nitroglycerin or nitroglycerin-like substances. He sighs and riffles around for some gloves, he doesn't have any food to bribe it with and it's going to rain so he should probably get it out of the alley as soon as possible.
It tries to eat his gloves.
He very carefully does not curse aloud. He needs to find somewhere to put it. He can't go back home, the old hag will have his head if her allergies act up. He can't waltz into the dorms carrying a cat. He has a reputation to uphold.
and Bakugou Katsuki is not soft.
-
His solution ultimately turns out to be putting the cat in the kangaroo pocket of his sweatshirt. Getting a hissing, spitting mad cat into the dorms without anyone noticing is another matter altogether.
Getting on campus isn't hard, a few well placed glares gets him a wide berth from the few extras milling around and returning to their dorms. The dorm itself is a little trickier, a glance through the front windows reveals a few people hanging out in the common room. Most relevant to Katsuki is Racoon Eyes and Shitty Hair. If there's anyone smart enough to notice something off and stupid enough to bother him it's them.
Luckily for Katsuki there's a back entrance with stairs. Not that he's avoiding them or anything, they're just annoying is all.
He makes it to his room and locks the door without running into anyone.
Now, what is he supposed to do with a cat? He fucking doesn't know how cats work. He could probably ask someone but Bakugou Katsuki doesn't need help, he's perfectly capable of handling one stupid cat by himself.
Said stupid cat takes his new lack of movement as an invitation to escape its pocket and jump onto his bed to hiss at him irritably.
And now there's dirt and who knows what else on his covers... disgusting.
It solves his problem for what to do first though.
He points a finger at his new companion. "Like it or not cat, you are getting fucking clean."
It hisses again.
-
Cleaning the cat, as it turns out, is less than simple. His initial research shows that he's woefully unprepared. Who knew cats had their own shampoo?
It seems a trip to the store is in order. He's still technically allowed out and curfew isn't for quite some time so Katsuki locks the cat in the bathroom and makes his way to a pet store for supplies. He had no idea cats were so much work. It might have been better to just drop it at a random shelter but Katsuki will not step down from a challenge. To give up now would be admitting defeat and Katsuki will not be defeated by some mangy street kitten.
Some, like a certain annoying teacher, might say that Katsuki's stubbornness is a potential weakness and working with other people is a sign of strength and knowing your limits. Those people don't know shit.
Luckily enough, Katsuki's bathroom hasn't been torn to shreds while he was gone. Maneuvering the little menace into the bathtub doesn't take long although she, and apparently it is a she, does her best to kill him the entire time. She hisses and splutters at the water and tries to scratch and bite him every chance she gets, which is a lot considering how close he needs to get to get her washed.
Katsuki has to respect her blatant aggression for all that it annoys him. She's not acting scared, she's pissed. He might as well be a particularly annoying fly for all she seems to fear him.
Finally, he manages to get her some degree of clean and like a fucking idiot decides to hold her slightly closer to make sure there isn't anything wrong with her. She squirms and lashes out at him in her fury, managing to swipe his cheek.
"Fuck!" He nearly drops her, banging his elbow on the tub in the process.
It is at this moment that a knock at his door replaces any remaining annoyance with a feeling of slight dread, not that Katsuki would ever admit that.
"Hey bro! Are you ok? Did you bump into something? Mina and I came by to ask if you wanted to join us, Sero brought some new card game we could try?"
Katsuki really doesn't want to deal with this shit right now and he definitely can't go out and talk to them without annoying questions about his new battle injury so...
"FUCK OFF SHITTY HAIR, I'M BUSY!"
That should work.
"Alright man, feel free to join us later if you want!"
He waits a few seconds to make sure their gone and glares at his little guest.
"You're a menace."
She hisses at him again, still damp, tail all puffed up and hair on end, the tiniest little baby teeth flashing in warning.
-
Katsuki leaves her in the bathroom with an old blanket, some food, and a litter box, he's not sure she knows how to use it but he'll figure it out how to train her if he has to, and heads out to class the next morning. He has a band-aid on his cheek from where she got him the night before and several more on his hands from where she scratched and bit him. Hopefully, no one will be dumb enough to ask stupid questions.
"Hey Bakugou! What's up with your face?"
"HAH?"
"Kaminari, maybe you shouldn't..."
"Did you get in a fight with a cat or something?"
"None of your business Sparky."
He's saved from more annoying questions by class starting and not even Sparky is dumb enough to try Aizawa this early in the morning over a band-aid. He doesn't miss the considering look from his teacher though. He obviously catalogues each bandage and moves on with a pointed comment about visiting the nurse if you're hurt. Hopefully he'll leave it at that and Katsuki won't have to dodge even more annoying questions later.
-
Katsuki still isn't in the mood once school lets out so he dodges his clingy classmates and heads to his room. Hoping he won't come back to a destroyed bathroom he'll have to explain. Icy-hot might be able to help fix it, he did singlehandedly remodel his whole room somehow, but he'll also regale him with his dumbass conspiracy theories. Katsuki would rather jump into a freezing lake than put up with that shit again.
She hasn't destroyed the room, it actually looks mostly fine although she did chew on the blanket.
Now what.
Crisis averted, he sets about putting his breakable merch away. She really shouldn't stay cramped in such a small space and he's not about to sacrifice his limited edition collector's items to her evil whims. Once he's satisfied that she won't destroy anything important he lets her out of her makeshift prison and starts on his homework.
He's completely focused on his English essay when he feels a flash of pain. He looks down at the culprit, for once a perfect picture of innocence, laying on her side, clinging to his foot and gnawing on his toe.
"I fucking gave you food!"
She blinks at him before deciding he obviously isn't worth her attention.
"Stop that!"
He shakes his foot a little in a attempt to get her off, she isn't intimidated, merely insulted. She makes her displeasure known with a rather unpleasant growl. Accepting that his homework isn't going to get done anytime soon Katsuki huffs and considers his options.
Clearly he isn't going to have an easy time getting the demon cat to stop biting him.
She ignores his offers of more food, for some godforsaken reason preferring to continue trying to eat him.
He's about to give up and try grabbing her for banishment back in the bathroom when he glances at the half empty bag of cat supplies.
It only takes a moment to track down what he's looking for, a small laser pointer he grabbed on a whim. He's read kittens need stimulation, maybe if he wears her out enough she'll stop trying to eat his toes and he can go back to his homework.
As soon as she notices the laser her attention snaps to it. She immediately abandons all attempts to devour him and focuses all of the hatred in her tiny little body on the beam of light. She snarls at it and lunges.
By the end of it he's glad he didn't buy a feather or something, she would have definitely destroyed anything physical. She growls once she realizes the light is gone and prowls the room looking for it, glaring at Katsuki as if she somehow knows it's his fault her entertainment is gone. He glares back, he won't lose to a cat, especially not a baby cat like this one.
-
Katsuki can't see, he can't move, can't fight, can't breathe.
It's hot and he thinks it might be his explosions, he can't tell. Normally his explosions are a familiar comfort, but not now. Not when the important thing is that he can't see, can't move, can't fight, can't breathe.
He's choking on something slimy and terrible. He feels helpless like he never has before.
There's a sudden prick of pain and...
Katsuki's eyes fly open to meet the growling face of a cat. When did a cat get in here? Everything comes back to him all at once, he's in the dorms and he's safe, his ear is bleeding, his tiny fluff ball of nightmares bit his ear to wake him up.
He can't even find the energy to be mad at her for that. He just sighs long and hard, trying to release the lingering panic and quell the shaking in his hands.
He should really take care of his ear but the kitten is warm and not moving off his chest or trying to kill him at the moment so he tentatively lays a hand on her back and starts petting her. It's nice and the self-deprecating spiral that usually follows his nightmares doesn't haunt him. The only thing he thinks of before finally getting up to take care of his ear is how warm and soft her fur is. His thoughts remain pleasant as he goes back to sleep.
-
They have a truce now, Katsuki thinks. He isn't really sure what else to call it. She hasn't stopped her growling or hissing or snarling and she still bites and scratches him at the slightest provocation but it seems the definition of provocation has changed.
Taking a bath is just as offensive as failing to play with the laser pointer.
picking her up is met with the same aggression as not petting her when she wants.
She hates being left alone and sits on his homework for attention but if he gives it to her there's still a good chance she'll try to bite his finger cause he did it wrong some-fucking-how.
Worse, he's caught himself almost smiling at her antics more than once. He only half rolled his eyes the last time she demanded petting! Maybe one of his scratches is getting infected cause there's no way he actually likes this fucking cat.
-
He's started bringing her with him downstairs sometimes. She likes to ride in the hood of his sweatshirts so she can see to properly wish death upon her surroundings. Katsuki can relate. He never brings her when anyone else is around but he's gotten in the habit, when his dreams are too real and he feels hands and slime at his throat, of coming down late at night and making something in the little dorm kitchen.
It's less lonely and depressing with her shuffling around in his hood and occasionally trying to climb his head to get a better view.
They've done it together a couple times when he decides to make her treats. Her food is fine and everything but anyone with any sense would know that homemade is always better. Not to mention, Katsuki is a great cook.
Going through the motions is soothing and for once he didn't bother with his hearing aids, which might be why he doesn't notice someone else come in.
He nearly drops the whole pan in surprise, only barely managing to right it at the last second.
"fuck!"
Aizawa is standing at the edge of the kitchen counter, hands out in mild concern, looking as exhausted as he ever has.
"Bakugou..." He furrows his brow in more mild concern before his eyes flick up just above Katsuki's head and widen in minor surprise. "Bakugou is that a cat?"
"I don't know, is it?" That might be a little petty, but Katsuki is feeling a little petty at the moment, and his resident annoyance has her claws digging into his skull.
Aizawa's expression is one that perfectly conveys that he doesn't know why he bothers.
"Let me rephrase that then. Bakugou, why do you have a cat?"
Katsuki hopes his glare expresses just how much he wants to answer that question.
His teacher somehow manages to look even more tired.
His cat decides that obviously this conversation has gone on too long without any attempted homicide and lunges at him.
Aizawa pulls an incredibly impressive move for someone as old and tired as he is and manages to get a hold of her without getting so much as a scratch. Katsuki should ask for tips. She hisses and howls at him, very put out by his justified self-defense.
"Do I want to ask?"
"No."
"Fine," He hands her back and Katsuki tucks her back in his hood. "Is this why you've been covered in band-aids lately?"
He scowls and nods.
"Alright," he stares at the ceiling for help and says, almost too gently. "I'm not going to make you get rid of your cat Bakugou, I would have liked to have been told, but honestly I'm too tired to make a big deal out of this. Have you seen a vet? Alright, you'd better do that." He closes his eyes in thought. "Do your parents know about this?"
Katsuki freezes, he'd really rather they not know about his cat. He doesn't know exactly how they'd react but... the old hag wouldn't let him keep her. He hadn't realized how much he wanted to until now, but he does, he doesn't want to give her up. Something must show in his expression because Aizawa just sighs, long and tired.
"Alright, we'll figure it out. For now, go to bed Bakugou. I think we both need it."
The kitten rubs her head against his neck and he finds that it soothes his nerves. It'll be ok, Aizawa isn't mad. He breaths in and out, nods, and cleans up the kitchen before heading back to bed.
Fuck, now he has to name her doesn't he.