Chapter Text
A walk to the store. That's what it was supposed to be. But of course something so mundane couldn't go well.
Not that he could have expected it.
Way too early that morning, Shouta had noticed 2-A's dorm fridge had been getting low, so he had gone out before breakfast to restock. It was only logical, especially since he didn't want to see what the class might try to create with the odd mix of items they had on-hand. Though, considering the hour, they'd have to go to a proper store later anyway.
Midoriya and Shinsou had been about to go on a run, as was usual for them since they started training together late in their first year, and decided to join him.
This was how he ended up carrying a few bags of convenience store groceries with his protégé and problem child in tow on a hazy morning at about 6 AM.
Then a villain decided that would be the best time to attack.
It was all a blur, really. One second he was walking and listening to his students banter. The next, he was dropping his bags to sprint at a person wielding a scythe while yelling something Shouta couldn't be bothered to care about.
It was a short fight, thankfully. At one point, Shouta did have to protect a cat-like middle-school boy by tossing him at his students to catch when the villain lunged again.
But by the time it was over, barely two minutes after tossing the kid, the villain was tied up and the police were on their way. Plus Tsukauchi with an extra cup of coffee. Lord knows he needed it.
Shouta looked back over at his students, who he had ordered to stay by the groceries unless it looked like he would need help. Yes, Midoriya had his provisional license, but it wasn't necessary for both of them to jump in. Especially since Shinsou had to wait until autumn to get his license and thus would have had to wait on the sidelines alone.
The cat-eared middle-schooler was talking to them animatedly, waving his now-gloved hands around in... panic?
Leaving the troublemaker a short distance away, but within sight, Shouta approached the boys.
"I'm so so sorry! I should have been wearing my gloves, but there wasn't anyone around and usually I have control, but I just panicked!" he said, cat ears pressed back into his honey-colored hair in worry.
The boy noticed him and was about to continue, but was cut off when Shouta raised a hand to stop him.
"Slowly, please. Your name, age, and quirk. I assume the last part will be why you're freaking out."
"Komiya Fuku, thirteen. My quirk is called Cat Morph but because of my parents' quirks, it's really kind of weird? If I touch someone while using my quirk, they turn into a type of wild cat after a few minutes," Komiya rambled, wringing his hands.
"What's the deactivation condition?" Shouta asked while trying to not let his urgency soak into his voice. "Are there any other details?"
The boy's golden eyes widened for a moment. "Uh, no, sir. It can last for at least a few days." He waved his hands around again. "Don't worry though! The time frame has never been longer than a week. I'm really super sorry about this since it only ever wears off on it's own.
"And I guess, uh, when you transform, it shouldn't hurt but we won't be able to understand you. Your clothes will just kind of disappear in the meantime, like, into some pocket dimension or something, we're not too sure."
Shouta waited a moment, but it seemed that was everything Komiya had remembered to say, so he started by reorganizing their groceries to make space in one of the bags.
"Midoriya, Shinsou, if you have anything on you that you don't want stuck in the void for however long this lasts, put it in here," he said, tossing his phone, keys, and other items into the bag along with their things.
No sooner had he stood back up after sorting out the bags, did Shouta feel a hot pulse run through his body. It wasn't painful. Not in the standard sense. It was more uncomfortable than anything. There was a shudder, the world was twisting, turning, tilting, and he had the vague awareness that Midoriya and Shinsou had dropped to their knees. It seemed he did too, but he wasn’t sure when that had happened.
When Shouta finally was able to focus again, he was on all fours, looking down at cream-colored paws with flecks of black. He stared for a moment, looking at claws he couldn't seem to retract completely.
There was meowing that he could understand, perhaps due to the nature of the quirk.
"Oh god, that was so weird, I never want to feel that again," said Shinsou.
"Definitely, but this is kind of cool! We should make the most of it!" Midoriya said cheerfully, ever the optimist about anything that didn’t directly involve his abilities or self-worth.
Shouta looked up at them, seeing a pair of... somethings that he knew were cubs. They weren't any kind of cat he'd seen before. Of course they were also the wrong color by matching their respective hair. One dark green bordering on black and one pale lavender.
Midoriya was busy spinning around and muttering, even in his new cat form, or looking at Shinsou while the other boy watched with light amusement dancing in his eyes.
They both had black markings and tall ears. From what he could see of the spinning blur that was Midoriya, they had rather long legs and were relatively slim.
Actually, now they felt familiar once he started looking closer. Where had he seen those ears before? A nature documentary? What were they called again? He couldn’t seem to recall.
Eventually, Midoriya remembered that Shouta was there and turned to him. "Sensei!" he gasped, green eyes blown even wider than they could in his human body. "What are you? You seem to be some form of cheetah?" He trotted over and tilted his head as he started to pace around him, looking at Shouta from all sides. "But it’s off? You have a bit of a mane and those don't look like standard cheetah spots."
Shouta shook his head as a pair of patrol cars rolled up to them. "We can worry about that later. Both of you come here."
They obeyed and automatically sat tucked between his front paws while a slightly bewildered Tamakawa and Tsukauchi got out of their cars. The former went to grab the villain and the latter walked over to them, flashing Komiya a confused look.
The boy explained, pausing at the end, ears flattening once more. He looked down at Shouta and his cubs.
His cubs?
No time for that.
Komiya bent at the waist to bow to them. "Again, I'm really sorry."
He didn't blame the kid and simply waved a paw, hoping it would come across correctly.
It did and Komiya loosened a bit when he straightened up.
"Alright, if you don't mind, could you give me your contact information?" Tsukauchi asked, scribbling in his notepad as Tamakawa walked up to them.
Shouta looked at him and pawed at the groceries, giving an insistent "mrrp" rather than trying to speak since he knew no one would understand him.
Tamakawa stared for a moment then collected the bags while tilting his head. He looked into them and made a soft noise of understanding. Shifting his grip around to hold them all in one hand, he gestured Shouta over to Tsukauchi's car.
He opened the door and placed the bags on the floor of the car as he said, "Hop in, the detective was going to give you guys a ride anyway since he was going to head past the school.”
Simultaneously, Shinsou and Midoriya crouched and launched themselves into the backseat. And into each other. They tumbled in and Shouta couldn't hold back a low huffing noise that came out in place of a laugh.
Then with a roll of his eyes, he climbed in after them, giving Tamakawa a thankful nod.
The door clicked shut behind him and he settled in, taking up the window seat and the center since he was too big to sit up. Despite the fact the two could probably share the remaining one, Shinsou playfully knocked Midoriya off the seat and onto the floor.
"Hitoshi!" his problem child squawked, putting two little pine green paws up onto the back seat.
The other boy made a noise that was probably a laugh before he shuffled along the seat toward Shouta. "Sorry, sorry, c'mon and sit up here."
It might be safer for them to be on the floor or tucked against him. Shouta pawed them closer and got them to curl up by his chest, between his forelegs, where he could protect them more easily. Once again, they didn’t protest.
It took another minute or so until Tsukauchi came and buckled into the front seat. The engine came to life and they started back to the school.
"Sorry I couldn't give you your coffee, Eraser," the detective said, glancing at him in the rearview mirror.
Shouta huffed. Of course, now that he was some sort of cat for the next few days, he couldn't drink coffee. Or jelly pouches. Or anything that he liked drinking besides water.
But maybe he could sleep a lot more?
Out of the question, he needed to keep his cubs safe. No, his students. Students.
They got to the school pretty quickly. Thankfully, Tsukauchi had given Nedzu a call already, so they went straight back to the dorms. The detective helped them take care of the bags and put the one full of their belongings in Shouta's adjoining flat before heading out.
When he was gone, Shouta ushered the cubs to the end of one of the couches and paced the room, sniffing around anxiously. It was familiar, yes, but nothing was right. He rubbed his cheek against parts of the wall and brushed up against the furniture.
Why was he like this?
Was being a cat weird?
Izuku figured it was, at least a little bit. Except the quirk they'd been affected by was fascinating!
He couldn't recognize the species of cat he and his littermate had been turned into, but the fact they were the same was interesting. Possibly because when they caught Komiya, the boy had grabbed onto both of them at the same time to steady himself?
It also seemed their hair color affected them, making him and Hitoshi very strangely colored.
But Aizawa! He appeared to be a cheetah, but not at the same time.
His markings looked more like a cross between the normal spots and a sort of tabby. There was even a short mane of dark brown, almost black, fur that ran down to a bit past his shoulders. Thankfully, his eyes were the same; a familiar slate color.
But now everything was weird. Too big and not right. Not to mention how anxious he felt when Aizawa had him and Hitoshi sit on the couch without him. Izuku wanted Aizawa to be curled around them like before, which was an admittedly strange desire.
Was it because they were cats now? Maybe the quirk also affected the person's mental state or natural desires? Something like that. He'd have to remember everything so he could write it in his journals when they returned to normal. Maybe he could even ask Tsukauchi for Komiya’s contact information?
But first...
After deciding that everything was as good as he could get it, and feeling minutely more comfortable in the space, Shouta sat in front of Midoriya and Shinsou.
Ears set back, he shifted between his paws and began, "While we're like this, I believe it's best for us to stick together." And not because he currently hated the idea of them leaving his sight.
The two nodded.
"Will we be able to go to class?" Shinsou asked, already formed into a sleek loaf and pressed against Midoriya’s fluffy side.
"That's possible." Not that Shouta liked the idea. What if they wanted to sit at their desks? That was too far from him. "You can listen to the lectures, but you’ll have to catch up on the work afterwards. If you have any troubles, you know that the other teachers and I can help with them."
Midoriya's tail twitched a little and he kneaded the cushion with little pinprick claws. "Uh, sensei, I realized something."
Shouta tilted his head and asked, "What is it?"
"I think this quirk has affected our minds somewhat. I felt anxious when you weren't next to us and I’ve called Hitoshi my, uh, littermate in my head a few times."
Shinsou snorted, but asked, "You too?"
Midoriya nodded.
It was nice to know he wasn't going crazy by calling them his cubs, but he couldn't tell them about that. Over his dead body.
For now.
"I'll admit that I feel similarly," Shouta said. "I've been in these dorms with all of you for almost a year now, but I still feel uneasy. That's why I was walking around, though I didn't like being far away, so I didn't leave the room."
At least it wasn't just him.
Then, in the distance, there were a number of footsteps. More than one person, but not too many people.
And Shouta remembered that almost no one could understand them.