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Chapter Text

Izuku sniffled as he sat up from where Kacchan left him laying on the ground after he finished fighting him. “Why does he have to be so mean?” Izuku mumbled as he struggled to get up on wobbly legs. He walked slowly to his favorite yellow backpack that was cast aside during the whole incident. He stood up for someone else and got beat down by Kacchan and his other two ‘friends’

“When did Kacchan become so mean?’ He thought even though he already knew the answer.

He was quirkless. There was nothing he could do he was part of 20% of the world that didn’t have quirks. The teachers didn’t listen to him, and no one believes he could be a hero. He was stuck in a world where no one thought he was important. Except his mom, his mom loved him with all her heart, but even she doesn’t want him to be a hero. She was very worried he might get hurt, and he was beginning to understand since she is so protective of him. He smiled, he really did love his mom.

He grabbed his backpack and started walking in the direction of his house. He didn’t bother lugging it onto his shoulders because he knew it would hurt if he did something like that.

He walked slowly past an alley to hear a small whimper come from an area of trash bags. He stopped when he heard that sound to look over to a pile of trash bags with a small cardboard box laying in the middle of the pile. ‘That seems to be where the sound is coming from’ he thought as he ventured closer. Izuku walked over to the cardboard box that seemed to move slightly at the sound of him coming closer.

Gulping down his fear, he opened the top of the box to see a little puppy curled up against the a corner. Her muzzle is squared-off, she has a black nose with the accompany black mask that covered around her mouth, and she has cute eyes that are dark brown. Her ears are small and thin, that hang close to her cheeks. Her tan coat is really short and dense and she has small white markings on her chest and feet. He cooed at the puppy, wondering why anyone would do such a thing. The puppy looked to be very young, but he got his answers when he looked at the lonely puppy.

She only had three legs, she missing the the back left leg. And when he peered at her face a little longer there seemed to be a small scratch like scar across her face. He looked down at the puppy, who was rejected for the way they are, and saw himself. Izuku looked at the puppy’s large sad eyes and made a decision he knew he wouldn’t regret.

***
Inko opened the door at the special three knocks her son gives. She wondered what took him so long, ‘Was he playing a little longer in the playground with Mitsuki’s boy?’ She asked herself, while a small voice doubted that was what really happened.

What she saw was her son seeming to try to keep hold of an excited Tosa Inu puppy. Her son was laughing and smiling as the small dog try to lick every inch of his face.

Inko smiled at the sight. Izuku noticed his mom in the doorway and automatically shifted his attention to her, “Hey mom, I found her on the way home. She... she was in a box in an alley, but I saved her. C-can we keep her?” Izuku asked his mom as the puppy focused its attention to licking his fingers.

She took one look at her sons pleading face and a glance at the small puppy huddled against his chest. She sighed and smiled once again, “You have to take care of her she is a big responsibility.”

“Of course I will! I will train her and walk her around the park. And give her lots of belly rubs!” Izuku promised as the puppy tried to once again lick every inch of his face. He laughed at the puppy’s antic before looking at his mom. “I promise to take good care of her!”

“Alright, come on in. I’m making some ramen tonight, but let’s go to the grocery store to buy some dog food and supplies first.” Inko said as she gathered her coat, phone, keys and wallet before joking her son outside. She locked the door before all three of them headed toward the pet store.

The customers were quite confused but quickly got over the confusion when seeing the little puppy and the cute toddler walk after the woman as she headed to the dog aisle. Inko grabbed dog food, a bowl, a dog bed, some chew toys, some treats, some indoor bathroom training pads, a collar, and a leash for the puppy that hasn’t left Izuku’s arms.

Not too long after, Inko paid for the items and headed out with her child and her their puppy. They headed home where she set up the bed near Izuku’s room, dog bowl near the kitchen, and placed water and food into the dog bowl before continuing to make dinner. Izuku placed the treats on the top counter, so the puppy won’t get to it. He placed the collar on her neck and turned the medal to the front to show her name that he had given her.

‘CHIEKO’ was engraved on the front with their home number and address on back. The collar was a nice bright red that matched his favorite shoes. He took the leastph and toys to his room for safe keeping. He placed one of the bathroom pads on the floor just in case. He needed to take her outside after dinner to use the bathroom before it gets too dark.

After all that, the family had their dinner, the human mother and son ate their ramen while the new addition ate food from their bowl. Not too long after, they finished their dinner and Izuku grabbed the leash from his room. “I’m going to take Chieko outside before it gets too dark so she can use the bathroom.” Izuku said while strapping on her leash as she wagged her tail at the attention. Inko responded with a smile as she supervised her son since it was getting a little dark. After Chieko did her business, they all went back inside where Inko made sure the door was locked while Izuku bathed.

Inko looked back at Chieko who was laying down at the side of the couch looking up at her. ‘Yeah’, she thinks to herself, ‘this change in our lives will be a good one.’

***

Izuku was just finished brushing his teeth while freshly dressed in his All Might Silver Age themed pajamas when the bathroom door creaked open to show a curious puppy that seemed to like to sniff at his ankles.

“Hey Chieko!” He said cheerfully scratching her behind the ears as her tail wagged happily. The puppy barked at him to hurry up, so he fondly followed the puppy to her bed. He moved into his room since she started to cry when he separated from her to go to his own room, so he compromised and move her bed right next to his.

The puppy was rolling on the floor with the special made blanket that doesn’t rip easily for young dogs such as her. He chuckled before continuing to play with her for a little bit since it wasn’t exactly his bedtime yet. But before long, after what seemed like hours of tug-of-war and belly rubs, Inko came in to say goodnight to both of them.

“Goodnight, mom. Thank you for letting me keep Chieko.” Izuku said as she tucked him into his All Might themed blankets.

Inko smiled before kissing his head goodnight. Then she bent down, to give Chieko a good scratch on her head before turning out the main light. Which left only the muted light of his nightlight at the corner of his bedroom as the only light source left. “Goodnight, Izuku. Sleep well.” Chieko yipped a farewell as she paced around in a circle in her new bed before lying down.

Inko closed the door behind her leaving the two alone.

Izuku responded with a yawn, “Goodnight, Chieko. I love you.” He laughed tiredly as she gave a happy yip in response to him.

Izuku thought back to what he felt like when he took her from that alleyway. He felt like a hero for once, a hero to Chieko. He wondered if he could feel like that again. He wondered, ‘Maybe I can become a hero for animals?’

***

It has been almost a year since he has had Chieko as his pet. And like he promised his mom, he took good care of her. He started to train her to use the bathroom inside first in case his mom or himself were too late to take her outside. Which led to some ups and downs before she finally learned to use them, which honestly took weeks. He took her daily on walks after he came home from school right before dinner.

She was growing up to be a tall affectionate girl who loved to tackle Izuku to the ground when he came home.

He didn’t realize how awesome she truly was until today.

Izuku was walking in the park with Chieko on her leash, when he heard some explosions nearby. But not just any explosions, oh no, that specific quirk belonged to-

“Kacchan!” Izuku said as he saw the blond boy with scowling red eyes fast approaching.

“DEKU! YOU WORTHLESS GOOD FOR NOTHING! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!” Kacchan yelled out as he came closer and closer. But with every step he took Chieko took one step closer in front of Izuku.

“Chieko?” Izuku asked his dog as she stood in front of him before crouching in an intimidating pouncing position. Chieko started growling as the angry porcupine head came near. Chieko suddenly started barking when Kacchan got too close.

“WHAT THE HELL?! WHAT IS WITH YOUR STUPID DOG-WHA!” Kacchan yelled out as Chieko barreled into his legs causing him to stumble. She continuing her barking and growling with drool spilling from her mouth. Chieko started to snap her teeth at Bakugo which made him click his tongue and walk away with a ‘unnoticeable’ urgency to get away from Deku and his dog.

“Whatever! That dog of yours is stupid as stupid as you, Deku!” Kacchan said angrily as he walked away.

Izuku looked at Chieko who stared after Kacchan before grunting to look back at Izuku.

“You are the most amazing dog to have ever existed!” Izuku said as he petted Chieko lovingly as Chieko happily received the affection.

Chapter Text

“Who am I kidding you all want to be heroes right?” The teacher asked only to receive a large shouting of agreement from the class, each one showing off their quirk except for two. Two students with two completely different reasons.

After Bakugou stopped bragging about he will be the very best like no one ever was or ever will be, the teacher brought up Izuku’s application

“Mr. Midoriya, why didn’t you write out anything on our high school choosing forms?” The class turned his attention to the green haired boy at the back, to the utter anger of Bakugou Katsuki.

“Well, I’m planning on starting my own business, becoming an entrepreneur of sorts. I want to open an animal cafe actually.” Izuku started simply only to be rebuked by Bakugou saying, “Lame!” loudly which caused some giggles through the class.

Soon the school was over, Izuku was just finishing up a checklist of what he needed to do to start the cafe when Katsuki and his two hype man followed behind him to where Izuku sat.

“What do you have here, Deku?” Katsuki said smiling mockingly at him before snatching the small open notebook away from the desk. “Plans for opening? Give me a break! Do you think anyone would want to come to your cafe when they found out you’re quirkless?”

Izuku crossed his arms at his ex-friend’s behavior, “Of course. Anyone will get over someone being quirkless os they can experience a good time at a cafe surrounded by animals. What part of that seems so mind-boggling to you?” Izuku sassed before holding out his hand, “Now are you going to give it back anytime soon?”

Katsuki snarled at Izuku’s nonchalant attitude before chucking the notebook outside ignoring Izuku’s weak protest of ‘Wait. No. Now I have to walk.’ Katsuki looked back at him with anger, “Are you looking down at me, your quirkless Deku?!”

“No, actually, I’m looking up at you because of our height difference. But seriously what’s with you and throwing my stuff out the window? Does it really bother you that I am making a life for myself away from your own personal bubble?” Izuku asked with his hands in his hip before grabbing his book bag and walking away. To Katsuki’s protest of, “Get back here, Deku! Don’t walk away from me you worthless coward!” Just to be safe, he hid in the janitor’s closet as soon as he walked out the classroom door to avoid the Bakugou rampage run. It happens each time he leaves a conflict before it gets physical. Little to no surprise, he heard the slamming of a door, an anguished cry of “DEKU!”, and loud running toward the stairs. When the sounds of three pairs of feet became quiet, he stepped out from the closet to go downstairs the different way to avoid even more conflict if Bakugou was waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

Izuku headed toward where Bakugou threw his notebook out the window to get it from the ground wherever it might be. He searched the ground before finding it a few feet away from the fountain. ‘Thank god, it didn’t go into the water, that would have taken a long time to rewrite.’ Izuku thought as he continued on his way home a slightly different way to make sure Katsuki wasn’t anywhere near his path. If he knew the schedule correctly , he and his ‘friends’ will go to the arcade which means he has to go through the park to get to the street of his house...

Thinking the plan over twice, he nodded in confirmation to himself before walking on toward the park. The plan was successful, not once has he seen a particular blond haired person in the park. Yes! Maybe he should take this path more often to avoid a Kacchan even more.

Izuku smiled to himself, ‘Yeah that is a good plan,” he thought. He walked on a little peaceful stroll enjoying the cherry blossom trees even though they weren’t in bloom quite yet. He was looking at the pond with all the ducks swimming across the water, the birds in their nest in that tall tree in front of the fountain, the closed cardboard box that seems to be shoved behind a massive throne bush, the flowers-

Izuku paused in his steps with a deja vu kind of feeling of when he adopted Chieko a few years ago. He looked at the box which was moving slightly, he could probably guess that it was another animal in trouble.

He walked over to the rosebush a vote avoiding the thorns as he carefully pulled out the closed box from its hiding place. He bit back a sound of pain as one of the thorns nicked him on the arm. Soon he successfully got the box out from under the thorns, he rubbed one at one of the his arms that the thorn hit. That was only a scratch, he has dealt with worse.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the box and inside was a big fluffy brown bunny. The bunny had a big fluffy body with gigantic floppy ears the hung down from the sides of its face. It sniffed at the box before looking up at him. He frowned at the sight of the bunny’s left eye. While’s the bunny’s right eye was a deep chocolate brown, the left was a cloudy white. The result from, he assumed, the three claw marks that went over the left side of its face. Three deep lines of red that crossed over where the cloudy left eye was positioned.

He smiled as the bunny sniffed at his hands before butting their head against his palm. He laughed gently as he smoothed his fingers over the soft plush of fluff the bunny had.

Izuku, of course, took the bunny home in his arms. The bunny was loving the ride apparently since it kept sniffing at him while he walked. Not too long passed, until he got to the front door.

***

Inko was temporarily startled at seeing her son with a huge bunny in his arms, but honestly she wasn’t surprised. She just sighed as she looked at her son’s overjoyed face while holding the bunny close carefully to his chest.

She rolled her eyes playfully at her son, “I’ll get the food and supplies. You stay here and make sure the bunny isn’t hurt.” Izuku went inside the house as his mother went outside to fetch the needed things from the pet store. Chieko was happy to see him as she trotted on her strong, three legs to him when she smelled him walk in. But she stopped short when she was another animal in his arms, she backed off as he laid the bunny down on his bed after lying down a towel. Izuku was worried about how Chieko would react, but all she did with the newcomer was stare.

Chieko then raised to lay her head down near the edge of the bed to reach her nose to the bunny. Chieko sniffed the newcomer, before softly licking their front paw. The bunny seemed to be curious of Chieko because they returned the sniff to their face. Izuku breathed out a sigh as he was worried they wouldn’t get along.

Not too long after, his mom returned with some food, toys, a ribbon collar, a cage, and other things. He set up the cage in his room on the floor near his desk. With that, the Midoriya family had a new addition added to the household.

Izuku made sure to feed both Chieko and Kimi before having his own dinner. He took Chieko for a jog before it go too late in the night. And he made sure that Kimi got in her daily playtime by playing with her on the ground. Their playing consisted mostly of Kimi chasing after a toy in Izuku’s hand as he giggled from her nose tickling his skin.

It was already time to go to bed because he had lost track of time playing with Chieko and Kimi. All nights seemed to be like this though since he got Chieko. But now since he added Kimi to the equation, he predicted he will be a night owl by his third pet. Since having fun with them, was the best parts of his days, since they bring a smile to his face as soon as he walks through the door to his house.

He smiled as he looked at Kimi resting peacefully in her cage before looking down at the lightly snoring Chieko. With a sudden idea, he added some more notes to his cafe plan

“Zuku’s Cafe”

-pet friendly snacks that are edible to humans as well.
-different paw prints all over the walls
-color theme??
-*Chieko is a good judge of character, if she doesn’t like a customer, they will be regarded as suspicious and be under surveillance or be taken out of the cafe quickly.*
-petting area for animals that can’t roam as free as the others

Izuku smiled as he added the last note of his outline before yawning. He put his notebook back on his desk before going to sleep and dreaming about what the cafe will be like.

‘What would the color be though?’ Was his last thought before going to dreamland.

Chapter Text

The planning for the cafe was in motion.

With only a few months to go before his middle school graduation, Izuku decided to contact his overseas father. He didn’t really talk to his dad much, only over frequent letters and the weekly phone call on Sundays. He does send gifts from America during holidays and birthdays since he gets stuck with most of the work from his coworkers.

His father took it into his own hands to help with his dream cafe. Hisashi knew he couldn’t do much for his son since he was working long hours to provide them with enough money to stabilize themselves. But he knew he could help them in different ways.

Hisashi called up his friend from middle school. While it was ringing, he looked at the photo on his desk.

The photo of his wife smiling as he made a silly face at the small smiling Izuku. He smiled at the picture before straightening up as a voice answered the call.

“Hello, Yukiko? I know I am the last person you expect to hear from, but it’s about my son. And I need your help.”

***
Izuku was putting on the last touches to his cafe in his notebook while he sat in the peaceful silence of the park. He drew out what details he wanted to place, since he didn’t know the layout yet since his mom and him were still looking at some buildings for sale.

He was thinking of different colored chairs at round tables instead of booths for the more eating area for busy customers that just wanted to have a quicker experience. But the more interactive part will be open space with seating along the walls close to the floor, similar to beanbag chairs. He would put some playing areas for certain animals around places. He was planning on putting each animal’s name, likes, dislikes, favorite foods, and what you can and can’t do with them on a separate menu.

On the walls, he wanted to add some paw prints and outlines of certain animals on the wall. He was still wondering about the color. Should he do more of a light pastel for a more welcoming feel or a warm muted sunset colors that are more relaxing? Maybe a mix of what he saw online? Like a brown, dark brown, tan, mint green, and pink. Like neutral with pops of color? Ahh, he didn’t know which direction to go into.

He looked up at the setting sun before his eyes widened at how late it was. Izuku shut his book and got up from the bench before heading on his way home. While heading on his way home, he heard a noise from the alley...

‘Ahh, he we go again’ Izuku thought as he looked down the alleyway toward where the sound was coming from. He heard mewls of what seemed to be kittens from a sideways cardboard box. He approached to find out that it as exactly what he thought young Japanese Bobtail kittens were crawling over each other mewling for their mother who wasn’t there.

“Where’s the mother?” Izuku said while looking at the kittens. He heard a louder mewling sound coming from one of the dumpsters a good ten feet away from the kittens. He looked at the kittens before heading toward the louder cat sounds. He walked carefully to where the sounds were coming from only to find that the mother cat was stuck between the dumpster and the wall. The mother cat was mewling and scratching trying to get unstuck.

Izuku hurriedly tried to pull the dumpster from the wall only to not move it that much. ‘I need help!’ Izuku thought as he carefully made his way back to the entrance if the alleyway he went in. He looked left and right before finding what looked like a shy boy and a tall woman walking down the street. The boy looked to have a uniquely shaped head while the woman wore what looked like a veterinarian would wear. The boy smiled in relief when he saw one of the animal shelter’s names that were near there placed on her white shirt.

He glanced back at the kittens before heading toward the duo. “Um, Hello. I need some help! There are some kittens that need their mother. But their mother is behind a dumpster and can’t get to them, so I need some help to get her unstuck for the dumpster-.”

“Woah, woah! Slow down, kid. What do you mean?” The woman asked as the shy boy only caught the words ‘cat’ and ‘kittens’.

“Umm. Just follow me,” Izuku said before leading them to the alleyway. The woman narrowed her eyes upon the situation. “Koda, you help him get the mother free. I will stay here with the kittens to make sure they are alright.” The woman got down in her knees to look over the newborns while Koda followed Izuku to the mother.

“Okay. On the count of 3. 1,...2,....3!” Izuku counted down before he and Koda pulled the dumpster away from the wall, allowing the mother cat to be set free. The mother cat slowly moved out of the way as they pushed the dumpster back against the wall.

“Thanks for your help.” Izuku thanked as he watched the mother cat purr and move against their legs.

“...no problem.” Koda said shyly as he watched the mother. “She says thank you.”

“Huh?”

“The mother cat. She says thank you for saving her and her kittens.” Koda responded with a soft smile. Izuku smiled and rubbed the mother’s ears before allowing her to return to her kittens.

Izuku looked at the mother cat and kittens while rejoining the woman with Koda. The woman looked up at them before frowning in confusion at Izuku’s face.

“Hey. What’s your name kid?”

“Midoriya Izuku.”

“Oh my god. You are Hisashi’s kid! Wow, you look like him with that curly hair and freckles but the green color and smile is all your mother,” The woman stated before introducing herself. “I am Hinata Yukiko. I am in charge of one of the animal shelters that rescues and provides rehabilitation for animals that have been abused, abandoned, and neglected. I am also a friend of your father. He actually called me today about joining forces with his son to help him with a pet cafe.”

Izuku stared blankly at the woman before him. She had straight brown hair in a sleek bob, dark eyes hidden with glasses, and a kind smile on her face.

Koda looked on at the scene with confusion. Izuku laughed awkwardly before turning his attention to the kittens and mother cat, “Are they going to be okay?”

“Yeah we might have to keep them overnight just in case, but they will be alright before you know it.”

“Thank you very much Hinata- San and Koda.”

Koda nodded as the woman and him returned to the shelter with the cat and kittens in their arms. They agreed that Izuku will come back tomorrow to check in on them. Sooner than later, Izuku showed up to the shelter to find the kittens with their mother playing on the ground.

Yukiko said, “The mother is about 3 years old and the kittens are not that young. The kittens are each a month old. But according to their diet, they looked to be owned by someone up until two weeks ago. They are slightly malnourished, but enough food will bring them back to health.”

Izuku played on the ground with the kittens for a while. Koda appeared from the corner and seemed hesitant to join. Izuku noticed him and waved him over with a smile. “Hello again, Koda. Do you want to join me in kitten playtime?” Koda smiled before he sat down next to the teen.

Izuku didn’t want to leave them at the shelter, and from what Koda told him. Koda could understand that the mother cat and her kittens only felt safe with Koda and Izuku since they saved her and her babies. But Koda’s mom was allergic to cats, which is why he has a bunny. Izuku looked back at the cat and her kittens and knew what he had to do.

***

Inko opened the door to her son holding a box of six kittens and a mother cat.

She rolled her eyes fondly at her smiling son. “I’ll go buy the food and supplies, but make sure they get along with Kimi and Chieko before we adopt them.” Kimi was indifferent toward the kittens and mother just like she was with Chieko. Chieko was just happy to see new friends. The mother cat was chill, but wouldn’t allow Chieko to play roughly with her children.

Inko names the mother cat, Miyu

Izuku names the kittens of course. The one with white coat with black spots was Mitsuo. The one with white coat with orange spots was Masa. The one with a white coat only with orange spots near their tail and face was Masaki. The one with a white coat only with black spots near their tail and face was Manami. The one with a mostly orange coat with white spots on their face and stomach was Miwa. The last one that looked just like their mother was Miyako.

Their family was getting quite big.

And it will only get bigger.

Chapter Text

Izuku was having a lovely time at school.

Which was a lie, but still the attitude people had toward him has lessened into just ignoring him. Kacchan was still the same because he apparently doesn’t believe he actually gave up being a hero and that he plans to still become one. Which was weird, but it didn’t really bother him anymore. Once Kacchan goes to UA, he won’t have to see him again if he wasn’t forced to. Hooray! Good times ahead! A few more months until school is out.

More good news! With the recent partnership with father’s friend Yukiko, he was able to work much faster in the planning of his cafe. With her help and Koda’s, he was able to figure out which building would be perfect for the cafe to be. Yukiko had found a two story building that used to be an actual cafe with an apartment building on top of it. She had found out the owners had put it up for sale a few years ago, but since no one really wanted to deal with the large amount of renovation it wasn’t sold yet.

The building was two story house that was painted a fading yellow with light brown hardwood exterior. It had a western influence in the way it was built. The cafe was a good size for all the stuff he had planned for it. There was a decent sized kitchen to make all the food, a large space for the seating, and they didn’t have to do much shopping. The kitchen was still fully set up with all the appliances that were left behind. There was fully working stoves, ovens, refrigerators, and a glass showcase in the front to put all the tasty foods. There was even a cash register that they found in the closet! Everything was looking up for the future. He couldn’t wait until the offer of payment goes through so they could call the place theirs. Soon they will be able to open the cafe!

Izuku smiled as he walked home from school. He did another escape trick on Kacchan to get away to his new found safe spot in the park. A stream of water that had a log across it, the same place that Kacchan pushed him in after he went to help him. He made it his own special space to get rid of his bad memories, and it was working.

As Izuku was heading in the direction of the stream, he heard the screams and laughter of children by the playground. He paused to look at the playground where most of the children were playing near a certain bush. Izuku furrowed his brows at the scene, “What?” He asked silently to himself. He looked back at the direction of his calming space before heading toward the direction of where the kids were playing. He had a bad feeling in his gut from the way the skids were throwing rocks and poking a stick into the bush. The feeling grew deep when he heard one of the kids say something about a pulling quirk and a snake.

At the word snake, Izuku ran over to where the children were. The children looked up to see a stranger in a high school uniform charging at them, and the let out a short scream before running somewhere else. Izuku came to a stop at the bush in front of him. He looked at where the children were to see a molting long yellow python curled up on themself.

The python looked to be in the middle of shedding skin when the children decided to wreak havoc on it. It looked to be very big and very long from the way it was rolled up. He took a step towards it only to receive beady eyes looking at him through the leaves. He saw a short pink tongue slither out of his mouth and flick towards him.

“Hey, its okay. You are okay now, they are gone.” Izuku made sure to keep a low voice when he approached slowly to the snake. The snake remained calm but showed signs of hostility when he came near too fast. He treaded carefully as he approached the snake and sat down by it. The snake seemed to calm down at the The body language he was showing was very different than the children before him. He was on the same level of the snake to not pose as a threat, but the children were standing over him presenting themselves as a threat.

Izuku got a closer look at the snake. It’s skin was just freshly shredded to reveal a brighter shade yellow and white scales. Their eyes looked at him as their tongue swiped out through their mouth multiple times. It took him calmly sitting in silence for what seemed like ten minutes before the snake made a move towards him. From what he could tell the snake looked uncomfortable with the wild surrounding it, so they must have been a pet that had been recently abandoned.

The python had slithered most of its body onto Izuku’s shoulders when he carefully got up from the ground. It was quite heavy, almost seemed like they were around 90 pounds, and it was most certainly longer than him. With the snake comfortably fitted around him, he made his way to the shelter that Yukiko worked at.

Sooner than later, he showed up at the shelter’s door with a curious and slightly spooked out Koda opening the door for him. Koda asked quietly to Izuku when he walked in, “What happened?”

“Some children were causing them some trouble.” Izuku said to Koda as they walked to Yukiko’s office.

“She says they were being mean to her before you showed up,” Koda piped up, translating the python wrapped around his shoulders.

“Yeah. So when they ran away, I wanted to make sure she wasn’t hurt, so I brought her here for a checkup. Just to make sure everything is okay.” Izuku replied as they finally reached the end of the long faded pastel blue hallway to find the white door of Yukiko’s office.

Yukiko was at her desk, tense while writing a report while a weird statue was lying on the table meant for animals. The statue was like smooth ropes of snake pattern scales wrapped up in a square-like ball. Yukiko looked up to see who was at the door, only to be surprised by the large python wrapped around one of her visitors arms. Yukiko paused to reflect on how Izuku looked like one of her favorite singers from before quirks. What was her name? Britney?

Yukiko asked Izuku slowly while looking at the large snake “Whoa! Where did you find...”

“Her,” Koda offered as Izuku carefully set the large female snake down at the table where the statue sat. With his movement, he noticed that the statue seemed to move slightly, curling in towards the center. He was about to question what exactly it was when he saw a little snoot poke out.

“Oh hey little... noodle,” Izuku said as he saw the tiny eyes of the snake from where it balled up itself. The yellow python regarded the strange snake with a flick of their tongue before curling herself against the warm wall.

Yukiko then heard from Izuku the story of how he had found the large python in the park. Yukiko sighed when looking at the relaxing snake. She told him that they were called reticulated pythons. “Oh poor things. One day and two snakes come in to the shelter.” From that, Izuku learned the story of the statue snake, which he learned was called a ball python.

“Koda found him earlier today in a recyclable grocery bag in one of the alleys near the shelter. Koda said that his owner neglected him and pushed him around when they got in a bad mood. The owner apparently got bored and dumped them at the side of an alley. It seems to us, that because of the stress that he had been under, he has been starving himself for a few weeks. We have been trying to entice him into eat, but he keeps refusing the food we give him.”

Izuku listened in silence as he stared at the lonely looking snake. Yukiko decided to leave the ball python with him while Koda and her check on the reticulated python. They came back in thirty minutes later to report what happened to the yellow python.

The yellow python was average with a length of 10 feet and the age of 2 years. It was born in captivity to be used as a pet. They found scarring around the edge of its lower body and removed fangs that proved that its past owner looked to have the young female as more of a selling object than an actually pet. Koda translated that she escaped through the window of her owner’s apartment to escape her incoming doom. He said that she’s as wild for about a week before she got lost in the park and ended up being found by those cruel children.

Despite her having a bad experience with her last owner, she was very gentle toward the three since she felt safe around them. Izuku named the reticulated python Hotaru and name the Ball python Takeo. Hotaru and Takeo got along with each other well, Hotaru even managed to convince Takeo to let Izuku feed him. Koda said it was because she knew Izuku was a good person, so Takeo trusted him enough to eat from his hands. Time went by a little too quickly from the fun that he had with the two snakes.

Izuku looked out the window to see the sun was not too far from setting so he had to go back home soon. Yukiko decided to keep the snakes overnight to check their status of health and keep them in check for a short while. Izuku said goodbye and headed home.

But when he arrived back at his home, he felt a longing for another two additions to his already filling home. The house already had a dog, a bunny, a cat, and the cat’s litter of six kittens. But he still felt like it could grow a bit bigger. He went to sleep that night in his room surrounded by his pets. Chieko slept by the two month old kittens and their mother on the floor while Kimi slept next to his feet on the bed. Izuku stared up at the ceiling before going to sleep with a dream filled with many more pets, including the two slithery ones he met today.

**

It was only a few days after he met the Takeo and Hotaru, but he still felt empty without them going back home with him. Koda noticed it first before he told Yukiko about it secretly when Izuku was playing with the two. Yukiko was just grateful that Izuku wasn’t adopting the whole shelter, so she let him take the two home since they were feeling a lot better than before.

Which brings him to his mother staring in silent shock from seeing her son with two snakes wrapped around him. His mother was about to open her mouth before he said, “Don’t worry I have the supplies and food in my bag. I stopped by on my way home.” Inko nodded letting her son in. She could have sworn she saw the two snakes wink at her, but she was sure she was just imagining things. 'Snakes can't wink...' She thought to herself, ‘My house will become a petting zoo soon enough before the cafe even opens.’ Miyu rubbed against her legs purring. She looked down and smiled, ‘And I wouldn’t have it any other way.’

Izuku went on a quick shopping trip to buy cages for Takeo and Hotaru. He set them up in his room a bit far off from his bed, and he happily arranged his stuff elsewhere to give them the room they deserved. So there he stood in his room of animals before collapsing back on his bed with a smile overtaking his face. With the barks and meows accompanying the otherwise silent room, he thought that it wasn’t quite over yet.

**
Bonus:

It was a week after he brought the pythons home, but Izuku was running late to school. He said goodbye to Chieko, Kimi, Miyu, Mitsuo, Masa, Misaki, Miwa, Manami, and Miyako. He didn’t see Hotaru in her cage but he surmised that she was hiding beneath her leaves like she often did, so nonetheless he said goodbye to the cage.

He picked up his backpack and noticed it felt a little heavier, but he shrugged it off as nothing since his backpack is always heavy with schoolwork. He grabbed a piece of toast, his lunch, and said goodbye to his mom before running out the door.

He ran to school with a piece of toast in his mouth and barely made the bell to his home room.

During class after lunch, he was writing notes as usual with his notebook open when he heard a screech from his right. He turned to see one of his female classmates screaming at the ground, and her screaming caused the others to look to the ground. They started screaming when they saw what the girl saw. Kacchan even looked back to see what the fuss was about only to respond with, “WHAT THE HELL?!”

Izuku curiously looked down to see Hotaru slithering out of his backpack like she didn’t know what was wrong. The class kept freaking out, Bakugo was looking confused as heck, and Izuku felt Hotaru slither up onto his arms.

‘Why me?’

Chapter Text

“Okay so how about the tables around here?” Inko asks pointing at the rough drafted blueprint of the cafe area.

Yukiko nodded with a hum, “Sounds good. We should position them so we have a lot of space for walking and for the pets to roam around.”

Koda and Izuku sat looking at the blueprint in concentration rubbing their chins in unison.

The blueprint had the first story of the building drawn out. The large space that went from the middle of the page to the very back was the kitchen area. There was squares indicating where the working appliance were set up. A long rectangle in front of the kitchen where the glass case was to show off the food. A sketch of the cash register set up in the end.

Yukiko got the blueprint from measuring how big the space was herself with Inko helping by drawing it all out. Thankfully, they had more than enough space to work with. There was plenty of space for the animals to roam and room for the cages where the other animals would be placed. The first floor itself was bigger than Inko’s whole house! But since there was so much space for a cheap price, the renovations they had to do was piling up. Yukiko and Koda had already decided to help them as much as they could when they weren’t busy working at the shelter.

Koda has already decided to attend UA if he could get into the hero department. He expressed how he wanted to go there since Izuku had really wanted him to follow his own dream of becoming a hero to save others. Koda had already promised that no matter what happens he would always try to help out with the shelter and the cafe when he had the time. But since UA was still a long time away, he still had time to help out.

They had it all planned out the paint job and where certain colors would be. The type of furniture and where it would be placed. Izuku and his mom were still thinking about moving into the second story floor since it was safer for them and the animals. They still had t talk it out, but they knew that they would probably move in after the cafe was redone. The second floor was kept clean and empty. All they would have to do is move the furniture from their apartment to the building. And since the building was so huge, the pets could have their own room, well if they would dare separate from Izuku.

Koda and Izuku looked at each other and smiled.

‘This is going to be great’

*

Another day, another pet it seems as Izuku stumbles upon a weird box with holes in it. It had a huge water staying at the bottom of it. He was lucky to actually find the box! He was heading to his happy place stream and he found the box right next to a tree that bordered the stream.

Izuku sighed and smiled because he knew if he opened the box, boom, new friend. And that’s what he did, he opened the flaps of the box to find a little turtle bobbing in a leaking bowl of water. A red eared slider turtle from what he learned about from Koda. Their eyes seemed to be clouded while their little legs keeping swimming right into the edge of the bowl.

Being gentle with the turtle, he gently lifted the turtle from the box in its bowl as he walked his way to the shelter. Along the way he met Koda, who was walking a little faster than him with a tiny box that seemed to be screeching every once a while.

“Hey Koda, what’s wrong with the box traveler?”

“I-Izuku! I found three sugar gliders. But they a-are hurt! I need to give them to Miss Yukiko. They need medical attention soon.” Koda explained quietly as he walked briskly, trying to keep his pace even to not further harm the injured animals. Izuku walked with him with a turtle in his arms. Together they reached the shelter with Yukiko standing outside.

“Ah, heck, come on in, kids,” Yukiko said as Izuku and Koda rushed in with a turtle in a bowl and a screeching box. “Let’s get these animal friends checked out, shall we?” With that, she led Izuku’s turtle and Koda’s sugar gliders to be taken care of by the shelter’s vet.

Koda and Izuku sat by each other in the lobby waiting for the results. Yukiko came in with the results about an hour later.

“The red eared slider seems to have a bit of a fever. But the sugar gliders need to have more medical attention. Nothing big is bad, but they need a few stitches from whatever they escaped from. I suggest you two come back tomorrow. You two should go home and have some rest.”

They both nodded at the news, they left with talk about coming back tomorrow right after school.

*

Izuku immediately headed to the shelter after the school bell had rung. He had a bad day today because Bakugo had made sure to spread a rumor that he only had pets because he didn’t have friends. Which was true, but now everyone is pointing out any bug or animal they see and going ‘look, Izuku’s only friend!’ It was silly to be upset over it, but it still hurt a bit. Koda was his friend! He had other friends besides animals!

Speaking of Koda, Izuku spotted him with yet another box.

“Hey, are you turning into me? Spotting a box and automatically adopting what is inside?”

Koda chuckled and joked, “No, but maybe?”

Izuku giggled despite himself as they both walked with their middle school uniforms on. “So, who did you find?”

“A hamster. The boss at one of those really overpopulated pet shops wanted to throw her out, but I took her before he could do anything.” Koda explained quietly with a sad face. The hamster looked up at him with big brown eyes that stared into his soul. “She was deaf and no one was adopting her. So I saved her from a future no one should have.

“Heck yeah! Be the animal’s hero, Koda!” Izuku praised his friend with a smile.

Koda smiled at his words before looking down at the hamster that was as big as his hand, “Thanks for saying that, Izuku. I hope I can keep her along with my bunny.”

“Yes. One of us. One of us!” Izuku started to chant and after a moment, winning the giggles from his soft friend.

“Stop that.” Koda said gently while laughing at Izuku’s chant. The hamster sniffed at his hands while they walked inside to check on the other animals.

Yukiko greeted them, “Hey guys! Everything seems to be okay. The sugar gliders might have to stay a little while longer because of the issues they have with handling and the trauma that looks like they have been through. They all had to get stitches, the wounds were small, but they have a great impact on them. The turtle is stabilized, and before you ask, Izuku, ready to take home. I know what you are going to do..”

“His name is Turters.”

“And there it is, I knew it,” Yukiko said shaking her head fondly and sighing. She peeked up when the saw the small animal in Koda’s hands. “Does she need a check up too?”

“Please. Just to make sure,” Koda said as Izuku was roaming through a pet website on his phone looking for the right supplies.

“Ooh 40 gallon tank, I can fit that in my room if I just clean up that space by my closet. I should probably reorganize to fit more friends. Oh, then I can donate some stuff I don’t need any more, I’m sure I still have stuff that doesn’t fit me anymore that I can donate to a thrift store. I wonder, if my bedroom will have enough space for everyone to fit in the new house.” Izuku mumbled as Yukiko took Koda’s hamster away. Koda looked over and smiled at his friend mumbling. Not too long afterward, Yukiko brought out Koda’s hamster and Turters out to the two awaiting recipients.

“Everything checks out. Turters has already been fed, he is full. And he is slightly blind, he can see ahead if him, but his view is blurred. It looks like the little guy was born like that, and according to his size he is about a year old. Koda, your hamster might need a bit of snacks at your house-.”

“I didn’t say-“ Koda started to explain, interrupting Yukiko

“I can see you are becoming Izuku. Embrace it sweetie.” Yukiko said to Koda as he blushed and Izuku smirked.

“One of us. One of us.” Izuku chanted softly with Turters in his hands. Turters looked around aimlessly as the hamster chirped happily in Koda’s hands once again.

“I am becoming you.” Koda realized.

“Yep, now let's go to the pet store and get these two the appropriate supplies and equipment they need.”

“Yep!” Koda agreed as they both walked out with their hands full.

*

Which brought us to Inko opening the door to see her son with a turtle in a small tank with a little pond filled with water. A bag of supplies around his arm.

“The bigger tank will come soon, they have to order it.”

Inko sighed, ‘Yep, this was her life now. And she couldn’t be any happier.’

*

Koda introduced his bunny and his hamster to each other when he got home. He was lucky his mother had allowed him to keep his new friend.

His new friend, Asa

Chapter Text

Izuku and his mother, Inko, was hard at work scrubbing the floors of the cafe. Koda and his mother volunteered to help them, so they were currently scrubbing off the walls. Yukiko and two of her workers helped by cleaning up the kitchen and writing down appliances that they still needed to get.

After their hard work cleaning and dusting off, they taped the trim and primed the walls for a fresh coat of paint. Their decided to keep the dark hardwood floors to incorporate into their theme. Mint Chocolate. Izuku’s mother and Koda’s mother worked together to paint the walls behind the display a light mint green. Yukiko and one of her assistants painted the pet area walls a nice calm beige. The hallways were being painted by another worker the same green color. Koda and Izuku helped the worker paint the bottom of the walls with the same color.

A lot of time was spent going back to some areas to touch up, repainting, adding another layer of paint before each wall was at the desired color. With the walls out of the way, they painted the outer trim of all the walls a lighter brown color that reminded Izuku of chocolate.

It took a few days for them to finish the paint job, but it looked amazing when it was finished.

The walls of the pet area had little paw prints and footprints of several pets trailing up the beige walls in the same chocolate color that was the trim. They were planning on having yellow tabletops and yellow accented chairs to bring in the color. The wall behind the display case had an intricate border painted in the chocolate colors that laces around the sides of the wall. They were planning to put a large mural that Izuku can paint or decorate in his own style.

The kitchen in the back had the same beige as the hallways, but had thin stripes of the same green and yellow shades. As well as the pantry and fridge area located at the side of the kitchen.

Everyone was so proud of the work they accomplish into making the cafe dream come true. They couldn’t wait until the next step of getting the furniture set up.

*

Meanwhile in America, Midoriya Hisashi sat at his desk with his to-go pizza lunch while he looked over the list Yukiko sent him of necessities the cafe needed. He was glad he was able to help his family by getting what they absolutely needed to open a cafe. A cafe that he knew would take off because he knew his son could do anything.

In one tab, he had many items placed into a wishlist with priority shipment to their address. But in the other tab was a request to transfer opened up.

His coworker noticed how happy tears ran down his cheeks when he opened the letter. They thought, ‘Man, Hisashi really deserves it….. Now if only Karen would get off my back.’

Hisashi smiled at the big words at the bottom

‘REQUEST ACCEPTED’

*

Izuku breathed out heavily as he walked into the park again, trying to calm himself down. They had a really big exam today, and he was tired from studying. This should be the last one for a while. It was only a month or two away from officially being down with middle school. He just had to stick it out.

He decided to take some time to himself and venture off into the trees. He didn’t really know what was going to happen, but, hey, he might find another pet with his luck.

And just as he would have it, he saw a basket that looked to be from Halloween because of its smiling orange pumpkin face. He approached with caution because he didn’t know what was in there.

He gently tilted his head down to look to see a tarantula sitting on top of a shallow nest with seven legs. Wait. Seven legs? Weren’t they supposed to have eight?

He carefully picked the bucket up to not startle the spider inside as he gently made his way to the shelter. He met with Koda who gently smiled at seeing their friend.

“Hey, Izuku,” Koda greeted softly at his friend who looked very concentrated on whatever was in the plastic pumpkin bucket.

“Hey, Koda, I just found this little tarantula,” Koda flinched and paled at the word, “And I am going to bring them inside to make sure there is nothing wrong with them. They only have seven legs, so I’m a bit worried.” Izuku explained, oblivious to his friend’s fear of insects.

“A-a-a t-tarantula?” Koda asked in fear as they approached the shelter.

“Yep!” Izuku answered heading inside with Koda frozen in place for a moment before following him into the building. Yukiko wasn’t surprised to see the curly haired child with yet another animal in his arms.

Yukiko greeted them, “Hello boys! What have you got here?”

“A tarantula!” Izuku said happily despite Koda looking a little worried. Yukiko carefully took the bucket from Izuku before guiding him to the check out room.

They all walked into the check up room to see two lizards set in two separate temporary tanks. Izuku looked in awe at both of them. One was a Veiled Chameleon that reminded him so much of the one in Tangled. And the other was a Bearded Dragon that reminded him so much of an actually dragon.

Yukiko examined the spider in question while Izuku and Koda looked at the lizards. “Well, it looks like this girl is indeed missing one of her legs. It sets off her balance a bit. And she looked to be a Mexican Redleg Tarantula from my understanding. It looks like she needs to have a snack of crickets. Izuku would you want to feed her?”

“Yes please.” Izuku replied gratefully. Koda still looked a bit uneasy but followed after Izuku to see the feeding. Izuku fed the female spider the crickets that Yukiko gave him, and she seemed to really enjoy them. You know, since she crawled up his arm afterwards with a slight struggle.

Izuku cooed as the spider walked all the way up his arm his shoulder and stopped. He turned to Koda and frowned at seeing his scared face. “It’s okay Koda she won’t hurt me or you. I’m sure she is more afraid of us.”

Koda nodded and slowly came closer with hesitancy. He started to whisper to the spider and she seemed to understand since he almost nodded. Koda returned the nod before stretching out his hand to pet lightly at her abdomen. The tarantula gave off a purr, or what sounded like one. Koda smiled softly at her and Izuku looked so proud of his friend for conquering part of his fear.

Koda turned to him, “She says you can call her whatever you want. She would like a name that isn’t referring to her as a tarantula anymore.”

Izuku pursed his lips and looked down at her, “How about Ren?”

Ren purred at the name and Koda gave a nod. “She likes it.” Izuku nodded and gently placed Ren back down on the desk, so he could feed the lizards. Which by itself was fun. The Bearded Dragon didn’t like to be picked up that much, but he does like getting petted and being held. The Veiled Chameleon loved to venture up his arm onto his neck where Ren was. Izuku laughed at them when they stuck his tongue to his cheek when he was talking absentmindedly.

The Veiled Chameleon was named Pascal. The Bearded Dragon was named Kisuke. Koda and Izuku hung out with the three of them before Yukiko came back in to check up a bit more in the two lizards. One of the workers found them in their tanks near the bridge abandoned. Apparently they seemed to share the same owner and something happened to cause the owner to move fast out of town and left his pets behind. They were both only about two years old.

Ren, Koda translated, had been a pet bought as a birthday gift for a boyfriend, but the girlfriend dropped her from a small height resulting in her losing her leg. The boyfriend and her started to argue about how the girlfriend didn’t care or about how the boy didn’t spend as much attention on her. The girlfriend ended up cheating on him and left Ren with him, but the boyfriend was too heartbroken and upset to take care of her. He tried his best, but he got evicted since the girl left with all his money. He couldn’t take care of her anymore, so he wished her the best and left her in the wilderness in hopes she could survive there.

Izuku and Koda headed home after spending some time with the three. Izuku planned to stop by the shop and get the recommended homes for his new additions. Of course, his mom didn’t question it anymore, but she was excited to move into the apartment above the cafe building because it had more room. Three bedroom, one bath, a kitchen and a living room. What more could they want.

Of course, Koda and Yukiko were fully expecting Izuku to come prepared that day after. And he was guaranteed. Yukiko allowed him to keep the tanks the lizards already came in since it was their home already, all he really needed was a place for Ren. He bought necessary additions to the homes as well. For Pascal, he got nontoxic plants that could fit in his cage. For Kisuke, he got a piece of driftwood and reptile carpet to replace the sand in his cage. And for Ren, he got a small clay flower pot, a 6 gallon tank, some piece of wood and some soil for her to dig. He got them all a thermometer and hygrometer to make sure the temperature and humidity was right for each of them.

Koda helped carry Kisuke while Izuku carried Ren and Pascal to his apartment. His mother held open the door as he got everything settled in. Chieko was all than more happy attack Koda with kisses as the kittens attacked Izuku’s legs. Izuku and Koda giggled as they made their way to his room and placed the cages up.

Inko offered Koda to stay for dinner and he agreed. They were all eating sushi that Inko had started to try making, and so far it was delicious.

“So, how many animals do you plan on having in the future, Izuku?” Inko asked before Izuku choked a little on the rice. Koda laughed and patted his back.

“I don’t really know. I want to be a hero for animals, but I know I can’t save everyone.” Izuku responded with a tinge of sadness.

“I can help you,” Koda offered, “And so can the shelter. There might be times that you can’t take care of all of them. But we can help.”

Izuku smiled with tears in his eyes before strangling Koda into a tight hug, “Thank you so much!”

Koda coughed at the tightness before wrapping his arms around his friend as well. ‘No, thank you. For being my friend,’ He thought to himself.

Inko smiled at the two friends hugging. ‘My little boy is growing up so fast,’ She thought to herself.

*

Koda went home which left Izuku to his own devices in his room. He turned on the necessary lights to keep his new friends from getting irritated, so they can rest easily.

And so Izuku rested a bit more easily. There might still be room in his family that has yet to be filled, but he knows that the will be here soon

Chapter Text

All of the furniture and supplies has been delivered so the next step was in motion. Yukiko was pretty busy with the shelter, but Koda and his mom were able to help them set up the furniture.

They got medium brown booths for the window side of the pet area. A lighter brown shade of round tables and accompanying chairs that came with a the same shade of yellow as a cushion. They also got an intricate set up on the wall for the pets that had their cages.

Inko got in touch with a special company who specializes in custom furniture for pet cages that set them up to be held properly near the wall. The cages would be placed in certain areas to keep them accessible to only them and that the customers couldn’t mess with them without getting help first. They wouldn’t be able to interact with their lamps, their habitat, their food or their water. Each cage would be protected by a special contraption that opens with only their touch. Any strangers wouldn’t be able to pry the cage from the wall, it is made with a quirk that only recognizes the owner of pet(s). Koda and Yukiko had special access since they helped them along the way and they can help the animals right away if they need help.

The Kimi would have their special cage near the ground with a slightly ajar door to let her roam freely if she wished. Her cage would have a little shelf on top, like a border. The shelf was decorated with little ribbon bows that Kimi loved to wear around her neck. It had a little bunny ears drawn in gold at the bottom left corner.

Ren was slightly above Kimi on a shelf that was decorated with little painted flowers. Little painted flowers in all different colors on bright green vines. And little silver white webs were spotted amongst the leafy vines. She had her own little spider outline in gold at the bottom left corner.

Pascal and Kisuke was above her in their own two cages with a little divider in between. Kisuke and Pascal had their own special leaps and temperature set within the cages and couldn’t be tampered with. Kisuke’s shelf had earth tone colors painted while Pascal’s shelf had a more bright and light purple painted on. They both had their own little gold outline on the bottom left.

Takes and Hotaru’s cages were placed above them. Takeo had a bright colorful circles dotted among his shelf while Hotaru had herself drawn inside a backpack snuggling amongst the school books. They had their little gold outline with their tongues sticking out in the bottom left corner

Turters’ cage sat in the middle with his shelf depicting a land and water scene. His little self was outlined in gold as well at bottom left corner.

Chieko’s home was away from the pet area in her little spot near the display. Her doghouse was decorated with the mint green color with a line of pink outlining the entrance. So she would be the first face people see and she was more active to roam freely around the whole place. Because she was more of a protective guard dog that could spot the bad guys and stop them from entering inside. Besides that, she would love pets from anyone!

Miyu had her own special spot atop a well made cat tower that had her master bed near the top. Her kittens, who were now little bigger than they were a few months ago, had their small houses sprinkled on the sturdy branches of the cat tree. The cat tree in itself took up the opposite wall of wear the booths sat. You can look at it through the window! It was a muted rainbow of colors that had planks to help the cats get to the top and bottom easily. The bottom of the tower held all the toys that they played with regularly. Their family picture was framed at the right side with their little paws drawn in a gold outline.

The cafe was looking great! It was almost done! All they needed was the new kitchen appliances, utensils, and some decorations! They should all get there very soon!

Izuku took a deep breath and looked around the cafe another time. Koda and his mom went home to cook some dinner early. They invited them to come down when they were ready. Inko watched as her son navigated through the round tables with the chairs all set.

Izuku turned back around with a smile and laughed into a hug attack for his mom. Inko laughed, tightening her arms around him.

“Thanks, mom. I couldn’t have made this possible without your support and help. You are the best.” Izuku whispered to her, tears welling up in his eyes.

“You are welcome, Izuku. Now come on! Mrs. Koji is making some miso soup tonight, and I heard it’s very tasty.” Inko said guiding her son through the front door of his business.

He couldn’t wait to open!

*

“Dammit! Where is that nerd?!” Katsuki said to himself out loud from the empty hallway of school. Meanwhile, Izuku was sneaking away fast past the school entrance to the park.

Izuku always wondered why Kacchan was his friend in the first place, before he had to remind himself that it was because they lived close.

He sighed to himself before mumbling mostly to himself, “I need to take a walk.”

So he did. He made his way past the forest before hearing a panicking chirping sound. He paused when he noticed that the chirping was close to where he was.

“Oh well, here we go again it seems,” He said to himself as he walked in the direction of the loud bird noises. Their panicked song grew louder with each step until he found where exactly it was coming from.

A cockatiel. A cockatiel had their little leg roped to a rose bush branch. Their panicked song was accompanied by the rustling of the Bush’s leaves and the grasss crunching underneath their fast footsteps. They couldn’t fly away, and the rose bush’s thorns kept pricking them when they tried to set themselves free. They tried to chip at the tether with their beak, but since it was a leather type rope they couldn’t make a single dent.

Izuku cursed quietly before heading his way towards the panicked bird. It started to fall its wing and panicked more at the sight of a stranger approaching.

“Shhh. Shhhh. It’s okay. I won’t hurt you.” The bird seemed to calm down at his reassurance. “I want to help you get out of here. And then Yukiko can make sure you are okay, alright?” Izuku asked softly receiving less struggle from the bird.

He nodded gently, smiling at them while the cockatiel tilted their head and chirped at the sight. He pulled some scissors from his school bag and began to cut away at the strong ethers that held own the pretty bird. As soon as they were free, they took to the sky and sailed above his head. He laughed happily at their release right before he felt them rest right in his shoulder and nudge at his hair.

“Hey. Haha. Stop that, it tickles!” Izuku commanded weakly to the bird who continued to play with his curly hair. The cockatiel began to sing a song of bird chirps as he continued on his way to Yukiko’s shelter.

Izuku spotted Koda who was carrying a blanket. Koda looked around before he saw him with the bird on his shoulder and began to walk over to him. Izuku quickened his pace to meet Koda halfway, so they could walk back to the entrance together.

“Hey Koda. How’s life? I have a bird who is mistaking my hair for a nest. What about you?” Izuku asked while he walked casually with his friend.

Koda smiled and chuckled with his eyes on the cockatiel. “I-I found a chinchilla in an alleyway, they looked like they got hurt. So I w-wrapped them up in my blanket and carried them here t-to check on him. I was waiting for you while h-he got checked on.” Koda explained with a worried stutter to his words.

“I found this friend in the forest. I’m going to need for them to be checked out for any scrapes that the thorns might have caused and any foot injuries.” Izuku explained while a beak tried to scavenge in his curly hair for food. Koda smiled at Izuku’s mild tickling discomfort.

They both walked inside Izuku turned in the cockatiel to one of the workers who could take care of them. For a while, they both waited in the front waiting room while they anticipated for the news of both the animals they brought in. But while they were waiting they heard a weird sounding bird noise come from down the hall. They straightened up at the unfamiliar noise before hearing a panicked Yukiko calling out.

“Stop that Silkie!” Yukiko shouted out as a blue black bird launched himself towards Izuku’s head. Izuku closed his eyes as he felt a hefty bird settle themselves on his head. ‘Not again. Does my hair really look like a nest?’ He thought to himself as the soft feathered chicken relaxed on his head.

Yukiko caught up and let out a short laugh at the sight, “It looks like you caught her, Izuku.”

Koda laughed softly at Izuku’s frozen state. Yukiko shook her head and sauntered over, while Izuku reached his hand above to pet the soft feather on the Silkie chicken.

“The little girl showed up just this morning pecking at our doorstep. We don’t exactly know where she came from and we haven’t heard from any owner of the sort. The only clue we had that she was alone was a collar on her neck with a note that read, `She is your problem now.’”

Izuku sobered up while hearing the shorty and the chicken in his head relaxing in his soft touch. Yukiko continued, “From investigation, we think she might have had emotional support training before she ended up being abandoned by her owner. The training would explain the need to comfort the workers here and the other animals that she could make it to.”

“Aw, sounds like you have a little mascot.” Koda responded to Yukiko.

Yukiko smiled, “We might. She has been a little troublemaker, but she is very sweet. She will be helpful around the shelter.” Yukiko coughed before Silkie launched from Izuku’s head back to the ground. “Izuku, can you name our dear mascot?”

“Hmmmmmm,” Izuku hummed while tapping his finger to his chin dramatically. “How about Yuina?”

“Sounds perfect for our new mascot. And about the animals you brought in today, they check out just fine.” Koda and Izuku sighed in relief.

The cockatiel flew down the hallway to land on Izuku’s shoulder while the worker handed Koda the chinchilla. The chinchilla snuggled into Koda’s chest while the worker prepared to give the news.

“The chinchilla is alright, just some mild scrapes that we put some ointment on. The cockatiel got poked by a few thorns, but the tether did cause him some swelling and bruising on his foot. He might take a while to get back to walking normal again, right now, he might stumble with a limp.” The worker said as the cockatiel leaned on Izuku’s head.

“Alright goodnight you kids! See you soon!” Koda and Izuku nodded at her before heading out

“Wait what?” The new hire questioned in utter confusion.

“You must be new here. They both adopt the pets into their family as soon as they become attached.”

“But, What?” The worker asked as Yukiko walked back inside.

She called over her shoulder, “You get used to it.”

Meanwhile…

“I’m going to n-name him Kaede.” Koda said petting the soft fur of the chinchilla as they relaxed in his arm.

“I’m going to name him Mic since he sings songs. He reminds me of Present Mic with his radio show.” Izuku said as Mic sang soft bird chirps into his ear, very loudly.

They both smiled as they walked to their homes.

*

Izuku was happy that Mic was part of his little family. Well not so little family, but he was so excited because they were about to move into the second floor building of the cafe! Inko had just sold their apartment from a Japanese citizen coming back from America. Which meant his friend get more room to play!

He was heading back to his home to help his mom with the boxes when he noticed a bright furry animal body lying down.

“Welp.” Izuku said to himself as he approached the animal. It was Shiba Inu! She had large part of her fluffy ear missing and she looked to be very hungry. She made a begging noise as he came closer.

He bent down to reach into his bag for his school bento. Izuku grabbed a few pieces that he didn’t finished and gladly fed it to her. She started to brighten up with the food if her tail wagging was any indication.

She licked his fingers and his face when she was done as thanks. Izuku pet her on her head gently receiving a delighted bark in response.

“I think you look like a Suzu. What do you think?” Suzu gave a bark in agreement.

*

Long story short, Suzu was cleared by Yukiko to go home which .

Inko opened the door to her son with another pet for the seventeenth time. She doesn’t even know anymore, she lost track.

Either way, she let him in with a laugh.

Thankfully, Chieko got along with the new addition well. The kittens enjoyed sleeping near Suzu while she was sleeping to snuggle into the fluff.

And the family slowly began to fill.

But before any of that happens, Izuku had to pack up for moving time!

Chapter Text

It was official!

After a week of moving boxes in and out of both buildings, they were finally settled into their spot above the cafe. A nice comfortable home for them to live in with most of the furniture they had from their old place. The pets had more room to flourish and they couldn’t be happier. Inko was excited about the kitchen that was bigger than the last one. She couldn’t wait to try out new recipes here! And Izuku couldn’t wait to open the cafe downstairs, so everything would be completed.

And speaking of new things, when they moved in they noticed a little bird’s nest on the windowsill. They thought nothing of it until a small crow was perched on it the next morning. And Izuku with his big heart, starting to give it a small portion of food to eat. Safe to say, the crow wasn’t planning on moving away from their window spot anytime soon. Izuku names him Sho.

On other news, Izuku started an online website for the cafe with his mother’s help and some advice from Yukiko. The webpage had the same colors that their cafe was painted in with the beautiful words, ‘Zuku’s Cafe’ across the top. It featured on the main page when the estimated opening date would be and where it was located. It also had pictures of each animal that will be there for everyone to see. If someone were to click on their photo, it will give the viewer every piece of information they need. Their name, likes, dislikes, and what they are in terms of official name.

Other features include the incoming menu of what they will serve. And some other delicious items that are themed after the pets. Furthermore, Izuku gave some tips and tricks on how to take care of each of the pets if anyone is considering to have one in their life. Izuku also gives mandatory instructions on what each pet that he has needs if anyone were to become interested in having one as a friend.

They also purchased another doghouse for the new addition, Suzu. It was placed on the left side of Chieko’s place at the register. With some hired professional help, the cages were officially set up for the pets to be placed. The cat tower was officially assembled.

The cafe was almost ready to be open. Izuku just had to graduate from middle school first.

*

Hisashi sat at his office desk packing with a smile on his face.

“Hey, where are you going? We heard you are getting moved someplace?” One of his coworkers asked.

He turned to them. “I am moving back where I belong. I got an apartment set up, the request granted, and my airline tickets. Would it be too late to buy some souvenirs for them? I mean I’m not really leaving until a few more days go by. Should I purchase some things here while I’m—?”

“Hisashi, dude, where are you going?” The coworkers asked snapping him out of his mumble ranting.

Hisashi looked at them and smiled softly, “Japan.”

*

Izuku was on the way to his new home from his school. It was almost time to graduate! At the end of this week, he will be done with middle school and welcome his new cafe into business.

He was so ready for this!

Izuku decided that he would stop by the park forest trail to celebrate, but mostly to calm his nerves. He was a bit nervous thinking about his life as a cafe owner after graduation. Will it even work out or will he waste his time. No! No time to think about something like that!

He shook his head to get rid of those thoughts as he took his first steps on the forest trail. He wanted to just take his time and relax before going home and cooling off.

But like every single time he even strays from his oath of going straight home, he heard a mewling sound. He turned his head to see what direction it came in before he heard it again a few feet away from his spot. Izuku narrowed his gaze to see a fluffy white tail peeking out from behind a bush. He walked towards it to find a white fox with two tails lying down on its side.

It mewled again when their ruby eyes peeled open to find him staring down at them. He bent down to find that the young kit was barely old enough to fend for themselves. He was guessing that their pack didn’t like that the young fox kit had two tails. He squinted closer to find red markings along their body. Their ruby eyes were accentuated with their own red markings above their eyelid, making it look like they had fierce eyeliner.

Izuku hushed their mewling as he crouched down beside them. “Hey, it’s okay. Everything is going to be alright. Are you hurt?”

The fox looked down at their side to show off a marking that wasn’t like the red markings that they had all over their body. This marking was more of a scar that was colored pink and formed to look like a large scratch mark. Their white fur around it didn’t grow back to cover it.

“Okay. I’m going to take you somewhere to get you fixed up. Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you and they will just make sure you feel better.” Izuku reassured the crying fox. The fox’s ears went up before they looked straight into Izuku’s green eyes with their ruby ones. Izuku felt like the fox was digging into his soul to find out something about him. The fox blinked and let Izuku out of whatever trance he was under. The fox seemed to nod at him which gave him enough permission to take them into his arms and carry them to Yukiko’s.

It didn’t take long before he made it there with the fox in his arms. Yukiko immediately tried to take the young kit into their office, but Izuku had to carry her inside because the fox refused to be let out of Izuku’s arms.

Yukiko sighed in relief, “Well she looks to be okay. She is a little young, about a month old. She is just a little hungry, so you can feed her some berries for now, but her diet will mostly be meats when she gets the hang of it.” She went into the mini fridge to grab some berries that she was saving for a snack.

Izuku nodded before taking the bowl of berries, “Here you go, Vixen.”

Vixen ears perked up at her name before she grinned. Izuku was stunned at her mischievous smile before she smacked on the blueberries in his palm.

He sighed happily while she ate from his hand.

*

It didn’t take long for him to jog up to his cafe/new house. Vixen peered at the outside before plopping her head down into his arms again, purring from his warmth. He chuckled as he climbed upstairs to get to his new home.

He unlocked the door to welcome the new family member inside.

“Welcome, Vixen, to your new home.” Izuku said as Vixen’s ruby eyes widened at the welcoming sight. Chieko laid with Suzu on the floor next to the couch where his mother was knitting. Miyu was laying down next to her on the sofa cushions while Kimi sat on the other arm of the couch. All the kittens play fought with each other under the dining table. Pascal was crawling on the table with Kisuke napping under his lamp unbothered. Takeo was wrapped up in Hotaru cuddling on the small bookshelf next to the television. Ren and her little flower pot placed low on one of the shelves by the books. Turters was playing in his water of his cage on the kitchen counter.

Vixen looked around in amazement before licking his hand.

“I’m guessing you like it.”

‘I do, Izuku.’ A smooth voice sai.

“Great! Wait..” Izuku said before his face turned confused. “Did you..?”

‘Oh, this will be fun,’ the voice said while the fix seemed to snicker at his expression.

*

‘I really do despise that blond porcupine. Just say the word , I have a tanuki on standby to mess with him.’ Vixen commented from their spot inside Inko’s purse, hidden away from the eyes of his classmates. Vixen snuck in last minute to get to see Izuku’s graduating. Koda was pet sitting for the rest of his friends back at the house.

‘You don’t need to do that, Vixen. I’m fine. I’ve dealt with him for this long, haven’t I?’ Izuku thought to Vixen from his seat with the rest of his classmates.

‘It doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve to be messed with.’ Vixen mumbled in his head before quieting when the announcer started to list the names of his class.

Vixen, as it turns out, had a telepathy quirk. He found out that day he heard the smooth voice of a woman answering him in his head. Vixen explained that she communicate with him through telepathy. Vixen said that when she grows bigger, she might be able to talk to other people besides him, but right now, it is only him that can be talked to through his mind.

“Bakugou Katsuki. The first of our students to make it into UA! We are sure to see a pro hero of him,” the announcer said with a smile as many classmates cheered for the explosive blonde. Bakugo smirked as he grabbed his diploma from the guy before heading back to his seat.

“Ad the last of our class, Midoriya Izuku. Apparently he isn’t going to high school,” the announcer said. His classmates polielty clapped, mostly slowly as he climbed up the stairs to get his diploma.

‘Hey Izuku….’ Vixen started with a slight hint to her voice.

‘Vixen…’

‘How mad would you be if…’

‘Oh god…’ Izuku thought back as he felt, heard, and saw it before it happened. Chieko and Suzu came barreling through the doors with Koda right behind them. Yukiko ran behind him with the cats and bunny behind her. Koda’s mom set free Mic from her shoulder to let him fly over the heads of his classmates to Izuku on the podium. Takeo and Hotaru slithered up his legs and through the neck hole of his graduation cape. Ren crawled out from under his cap and he spotted Turters in the hands of Koda’s mom. Vixen jumped out of his mother’s purse and ran straight towards him.

Safe to say, the ceremony turned into screaming as many people didn’t know what was happening anymore.

Izuku stood there laughing with a smile on his face and a diploma in his hand. Bakugou sat in bewilderment as Izuku was surrounded by his many animals friends. Koda, Koda’s mom and Yukiko joined his mother in the chairs. Inko had a smile to her face as she clapped for her baby boy.

He couldn’t wait for his cafe to officially open, so he could start his life with all his friends and family.

*

It was graduation night that a new picture got updated to the website.

A photo of Izuku standing there in his cape with his diploma. All his animals friend were next to him while his family stood by him. Each person had a smile on their face, eagerly awaiting what next week would bring.

Next week.

Zuku’s Cafe official grand opening.

Chapter Text

Animal Rules. The guidelines of each pet available in Zuku’s Cafe
This applies for every animal: Don’t harm or injure any animal friend. Don’t do anything regarding the pets before asking the ones in charge first, it will result in varying punishment. You must pay attention to each rule listed. They are listed for a reason.

Chieko (Tosa Inu) Female: Welcome to pet her. She will be walking around, so you are allowed at anytime to pet her, unless she is eating, sleeping, or playing around with another.
Suzu (Shiba Inu) Female: Female: Welcome to pet her. She will be walking around, so you are allowed at anytime to pet her, unless she is eating, sleeping, or playing around with another.
Kimi (French Lop) Female: She can be very shy, but she likes to be pet. But she does not liked to be picked up
Turters: (Red Eared Slider) Male: ask for assistance if you wish to pet him. He loves to swim around his his miniature pool. You are welcome to watch, he loves an audience.
Miyu (Japanese Bobtail) Female: Mother of six. Doesn’t like to be picked up, but you are welcome to pet when she comes near you. Very Protective of her kittens, so don’t harm them in any way.
Mitsuo (Japanese Bobtail) Male: likes to play with his brothers the most, and will allow pets from anyone.
Masa (Japanese Bobtail) Male: Likes to be pet gently, especially behind his ears
Masaki (Japanese Bobtail) Male: Very picky with one he let’s touch him. If you are chosen, pet him gently.
Manami (Japanese Bobtail) Female: very playful, will allow most anyone to pet her.
Miwa (Japanese Bobtail) Female: very shy, will only allow a select few to pet her.
Miyako (Japanese Bobtail) Female: will allow most to pet her, but don’t bother her when she is napping.
Hotaru (Reticulated Python) Female: Ask for assistance if you wish to pet her
Takeo (Ball Python) Male: Ask for assistance if you wish to pet him
Kisuke (Bearded Dragon) Male: Ask for assistance if you wish to pet him. He likes to be held in hands. He is partial to gentle pets of on his back
Pascal (Veiled Chameleon) Male: Ask for assistance if you wish to pet him. Very playful and childish. He likes to ride around on shoulders, but be careful. He has a bad habit of interrupting.
Vixen (Fox) Female: Don’t be rough. She is very picky with who she chooses to touch her, don’t force her into anything. She is very elegant and likes to be softly pet.
Mic (Cockatiel) Male: He loves to sing small songs. He loves to be pet, but don’t be too rough with him or his feathers. He is very gentle with children.
Ren (Tarantula) Female: Ask for assistance if you wish to pet her. You will have to be careful if you wish to carry her, you mustn’t drop her. She likes to be held.

Animal Friendly Snacks. (Snacks meant only for the pets. Not very tasty to humans. You may purchase these to feed them a little treat)
Dog:
Frozen Plain Yogurt Ice Cubes with berries inside
Peanut Butter Biscuits
Cat:
Cheesy Cat Treat Squares - firm outside, chewy inside
Tuna Treats- made into soft treats about size of thumbprint

Animal Themed Snacks
Bird-
Trail Mixes in a Cup:
Sweet-S’mores mix (mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, graham crackers, and walnuts
Savory- Packin’ a Punch (peanuts, sunflower seeds, pretzels, and wasabi peas)
Unique-Coffee Buzz (chocolate espresso beans, almonds, raisins, and white chocolate chips)
Healthy- Mountain Prep (dark chocolate chips, dried cranberries, almonds, cashews, and sunflower seeds)
Spider:
Dark Chocolate Cupcake with Mini marshmallows for eyes and pretzel sticks for legs
Coffee Jelly served with spiderweb detailed shortbread cookie
Snake:
Fruit kebabs in the shapes of snakes
Fox:
Pineapple and Orange Soda
Carrot Cake Waffles with Maple Cream Cheese Glaze
Dog:
Pup-cakes: Oreo Cupcake with frosting made from the filling. Hershey kisses and Oreo topping t make it looked like a paw print.
Cat:
Kitty Cat Latte served with cat shaped cookie. Served with yellow bell souvenir to keep.
Strawberry Macaron with Kitty Whisker Design.
Lizard:
Watermelon Soda served with a drawn lizard on a plain vanilla biscuit.
Gummy Worms in Jello topped with gushers, served in small amount.
Bunny:
Bun Bun Brownie- Peep Bunny covered in chocolate blanket on top of moist chocolate brownie
Bunny Butt Cookie- two paws and a tail made out of marshmallow on top with white frosting on a soft vanilla cookie.
Turtle:
Mini Zucchini Banana Bread Cakes served with fresh raspberry and blackberries, and a dollop of whip cream to the side
Green Apple and green grapes shaped in form of turtle on a lettuce leaf

Quick Meals:
Omelet made with smoked salmon, brie, asparagus, and cherry tomatoes
Blueberry or Chocolate Chip Pancakes for One
Nutella Cookie Dough Breakfast Bites
Spinach and Feta Pita Pizza
Fresh Mozzarella Cheese Pita Pizza
Summer Strawberry Salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette
Herb Crusted Turkey Sandwich
Udon
Soba
Strawberry Banana Ice Crepe
Peaches and Cream Crepe
Coffee Mascarpone Crepe
Apple Cinnamon Crepe
Dorayaki- castella pancakes with Anko (sweet paste of Ashli beans) in middle
Honey Toast- large piece of toast with ice cream, honey and cherries on top
Mochi Ice Cream

Drinks:
Key Lime Pie Protein Smoothie
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Protein Smoothie
Assorted Soda Fountain Drinks
Milk- Chocolate, Strawberry, Regular
Milkshake- Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry
Water
Lemonade
Coffee
Tea

It was opening day. And they were set to open in ten minutes. Suzu and Chieko were at their places by the counter in their little decorated dog houses. All the cats were on their tower, fed and ready to welcome the free pets. Vixen was lounging by the kitchen door with their tail wrapped around her body.

All the cages that the others were placed in were ready for the viewing and highly possible petting. Mic was playing with his feathers on his little perch in the corner of the wall where the booths were set up.

Inko was placing the last bits of the snacks in the display case while Izuku swiped down the last table. Yukiko wiped her hands clean from the kitchen before saying, “Well, I think we are ready to open, huh?”

Koda came from behind her with an excited and nervous smile, “I’m so excited for the cafe to finally open.” He said quietly, going to Izuku’s side before resting his eyes on the excited animals.

Izuku smiled and looked outside to a forming long line of waiting customers, eager to see what the website was all about. The line was filled with excited teens and adults that were ecstatic to see what the new cafe had to offer. Some were there for a quick snack and go, others were more happy to see what animals they could finally pet.

Izuku took a deep breath when Inko placed her hand on her son’s shoulder. “Are you ready?”

He took one look at the waiting line filled with people, “Yes.” Everyone took their place as Izuku opened the door.

“Welcome to Zuku’s Cafe! Please order at the display case with my mother behind the glass or order with me if you choose to sit at a table. The animals are waiting in the pet area, and feel free to ask for anything if you need any help! Thanks for waiting!” Izuku greeted with a big smile receiving a big welcoming clapping from the people. He wrenched the door wide for everyone to file in. Some small families chose their booth first to look at the provided mini menus. Some waiting at the smaller tables for the line to go down as they took part in letting the animals free walking around the area. A few people stood at the case for a delectable treat to take with them with them quick.

Many were surprised by how many delicious things on the menu. Izuku was so happy with everyone having fun at the cafe. He took orders from five groups sitting at the booths when he caught the looks of enjoyment with some small children looking at the animals in wonder. He looked around the see a loner teen with wild purple hair gaining the attention of Miyu, Masaki and Miyako, he was smiling at the soft fur. At another table was a man dressed in black sweats with a strong black coffee with the rest of the kittens sitting around him.

Izuku went to visit Koda and Yukiko in the kitchen in between orders.

“Hey, how's everything going here?” Izuku asked.

Yukiko looked up with a nervous gaze from her phone. “Where is- oh hey! Nothing much, what’s up with you?”

Koda laughed softly, “Everything’s fine back here. How’s the front?”

“It’s going great! Everyone loves the cafe!” Izuku replied with a giant smile.

Yukiko received a message that made her return the smile even bigger. “Oh really?! Awesome! You know what, go back out there and see for yourself again!”

Izuku rolled his eyes fondly, “Okay, okay! I’ll be back!”

Izuku stepped out of the kitchen, gaining him a brush of fur on his leg by Vixen.

“Hey Vixen!” Izuku greeted while Vixen got up to follow him. Vixen knew what Yukiko was hiding and she knew it would make quite a heartwarming sight to see. Izuku returned to take orders when the shop’s doorbell rang.

Inko looked up to welcome the customer only for her jaw to drop in silent joy. Izuku turned around to see who it was.

A man with black curly hair and freckles stood by the door. A small wish of smoke escaped from his mouth when he breathed out. “I hope I’m not too late,” Hisashi greeted his wife and his son.

Inko teared up and ran into a tight warm hug with her husband, she laughed as he spun her around. He listened to her giggles before setting her down with a kiss on her forehead. “I’m back to stay this time. I hope this was a good surprise.”

Izuku stepped forward to see his dad. Hisashi looked up and his eyes softened at his son, “Look at you! Opening a cafe right after your graduation, I’m so proud.”

Izuku rushed forward for his own hug. He didn’t notice his sniffles until he heard Chieko’s worried bark from his feet. The hug with his father was a welcomed warmth accompanied by the sounds of the soft cafe setting.

“You’re back?”

“Yes. I wouldn’t want to miss this for the world. I requested to get moved back here for the longest time and the big bosses finally accepted. Now, I get to see you guys more, it’s all I ever wanted. Also,” Hisashi paused to laugh, “The little animal surprise at the graduation was a great sight my first day back.”

“You watched my graduation?” Izuku asked quietly in surprise.

“Yes, and I am here to watch the rest of your life achievements all right here. I’m here to stay, no more overseas nonsense!” Hisashi laughed at his own words softly before focusing his attention on his family. “I’m finally back to where I belong, with my family.”

The Midoriya’s hugged as Vixen watched on with Yukiko, Koda and the rest of the cafe who was paying attention.

‘Izuku must be experiencing the best day of his life right now,’ Vixen thought to herself while watching her friend happy cry with a bright smile on his face. ‘Good, he deserves this.’

Eraserhead sipped his strong coffee while petting the head of a soft kitten on his lap. This one name looks to be Masa from the directory provided at the table with all the names and pictures of the animals. He watched the tearful reunion before remembering what he had to do in just a few days.

‘Hopefully I find enough potential in the new class,’ he thought to himself.

Chapter Text

“Koda! I can’t wait for you to go to UA! You can tell me about all your adventures and stuff! And you can make new friends and everything.”

Koda laughed while sitting in one of the chairs in the cafe. Suzu was lying next to his feet while they chatted. Zuku’s cafe was a hit was many locals leaving the cafe to be very busy most of the day with cutsiners that just want a nice coffee before heading to work to a lovely family that came in for a fulfilling lunch. Safe to say, Izuku was so happy that he could bring happiness to other people.

His dad helps out the most when he can. Ever since he came back he has been determined to spend time with his family by working where he is needed. After an agreement for him to move in to the upstairs home when all the moving boxes that are finally unpacked. They have been procrastinating on unpacking them for the longest time!

When dad isn’t helping with orders or helping in the kitchen, he works select shifts at a company branch near their old apartment. The family was finally reconnecting. And for what it is worth, the animals trust Hisashi which meant a lot to Izuku.

“I’m not.. not sure that I will be able to make new friends on the first day,” Koda stutter at first, smiling when Miyu punched herself into his lap. He stroked her fur, gaining a lengthy purr out of her. Izuku smiled gently at the sight before turning to his best friend.

Izuku added, “I’m sure you will be able to make a bunch of friends. You aren’t like some distasteful people I know. You are sweet, kind, gentle, and you wouldn’t hurt anyone but a villain, right?”

“Right.” Koda nodded.

Izuku smiled big, “Then I’m double sure that you will be able to make at least one friend by the end of the first day.”

Koda asked hesitantly, absentmindedly stroking Miyu’s fur as she purred softly against his palm, “... You sure?”

“Absolutely.” Izuku answered before heading over to a favorite regular of his that steals most of his cat friends away.

Izuku approached the wild purple haired teen who had three of the kittens around him and his table. He smiled and nodded to him in respect seeing Masa resting on his shoulder. The purple haired teen nodded back while holding Masa’s lower body in his arms as the curious cat clawed at his denim jacket.

“Having fun there?”

“Yeah. They seem to like me better than my old classmates did.”

“God, that is a mood,” Izuku mumbled as Miyako came up to brush against his legs.

“You too?”

“Yeah, but I’m the first to actually do something with their life. So… I am winning,”

The teen grinned, “What’s your name?”

“Midoriya Izuku.”

The boy froze before blinking slowly, “Midoriya?... like the couple who now the place?”

“Yes and no. Yes, I’m their son. No, I’m the actual owner of this establish,entertainment.” He exallined before dissolving into a mutter, “I was so sure I put that on the website.. did I not? Well, I know one thing I need to do after this..”

The teen watched as the teen in front of him continued to softly talk to himself. “Hey, you alright?”

“Oh! Yes, I am. Um, what’s your name?”

“Shinso Hitoshi.”

“Nice to meet you, Shinso.”

“Glad to meet you too, Midoriya.”

*

Izuku was walking back from the grocery store with a few bags adorning his arms. He made sure that he got more salt and pepper for the shakers on the tables. He also purchased more condiments and napkins. He smiled down at another bags filled with coloring books and crayon packs. Izuku just wanted to make sure the younger audience was catered for as well.

A loud clang came from down an alleyway. Izuku peeked over the corner to see that the sound came from a moving truck. He shrugged and was about to continue on his way before hearing a deep hiss before a loud kick against metal. Izuku crouched behind the safety of a conveniently placed dumpster to survey the scene.

Two men, one more scrawny compared to the more muscled one, opened the back to reveal a huge beautiful snake curled up. Their scales were almost rainbow like against their base color of black. The tips of each scale reflected a multiple colors into the luminesce of the moonlight. It’s dark eyes tracing the bodies of the two men blocking their way to freedom. Izuku noticed a rather huge shackle around the neck that repeated about every 2 feet of their humongous body.

The more muscled one asked with a glare directed to the huge serpent, “How much is this one suppose to sell for again?”

“Apparently this one is so rare since it was practically created in a lab. It is supposed to sell at 500,000,000 yen.” The scrawnier one said, wiping his hands on his pants.

“Hah! We are going to be rich,” the bigger one said, kicking the bumper of the truck eliciting another long threatening hiss from the snake. “Shut the hell up! Your price is the only thing keeping me from electrocuting you to a crisp and eating your meat for my dinner.”

The snake retreated their head into their coil as the men laughed at their predicament. Izuku had seen enough.

Placing the bags down silently as he could, he reached for his phone before a black clothed figure entered the alley by jumping down from the rooftop.

“I’m tired of this.” The dark clothed figure said perching up their yellow goggles further up their nose. Izuku held back a fanboy squeal recognizing the underground pro hero, Eraserhead. For a moment he thought that the hero’s eyes glanced over at him before focusing their attention on the bigger opponent.

Izuku watched as the larger charged at the pro hero, very cocky of his victory while the other one ran off as fast as he could, leaving his comrade behind. The muscled man tried to charge up his quirk, but stopped his advance when he noticed it wasn’t working. He also didn’t notice the punch that Eraserhead gifted to his face when his attention was off him. From there, Eraserhead took control of the fight, subduing the large brute in his floating scarves. ‘How the hell are they moving?’ Izuku thought to himself right before falling prey to the pro hero’s red eyes.

“What are you doing here, kid?” Eraserhead asked monotone.

Izuku was about to retort with his excuse before turning his attention to the large snake that stared at him from their spot in the vehicle. Izuku ran forward, purposely missing the pro hero’s grabbing scarves to make his way to the beautiful scaled serpent.

Eraserhead blinked at his escape before ordering him, “Hey! Get away from the—“

“No! I can’t! She’s hurt!” Izuku called back with more authority to his voice. His eyes scoured the shackles around her body before noticing a glint through the window that connected the front to see into the back. A shiny key was reflecting the moonlight through the strong glass.

Izuku nodded his head before getting caught in Erashead’s scarf.

“Hey. Answer me, kid.”

“I’m trying to get her out of her shackles! The key is in the front, I need to get it!”

“Why?”

“Because I need to helpher! That’s what a hero would do, right? Let me go!”

“Wait… are you that Midoriya kid, the one who owns that cafe?”

“Yes. Please, let me go, I want to help her.”

Eraserhead stared at Izuku’s honest eyes before sighing. He let Izuku go from his scarves but kept an eye on him. “Fine. But I am watching you, just in case.”

“Thank you, Eraserhead.” Izuku replied before making his way to the front of the vehicle to get the key. He wretched open the door to get the key only to see another small box that is in the cup holder. Izuku took the key from around the mirror before taking the tiny box out of the cup holder to see what was inside. The tiny box revealed to be another snake.

While not nearly as big as the one outside he was trying to save, this small creature was only the length of what could be wrapped around his finger. Izuku awed at the tiny reptile only for them to stare at his green eyes innocently. They had multicolored eyes with a pure white scales covering their body.

Izuku carefully took the little snake out of their confinement before crawling out of the van with key in one hand and tiny friend in the other.

“What the—?” The pro hero asked in confusion as the distant sounds of police sirens came closer, ready to take their part in taking the criminal away. Izuku ignored him, focusing his attention on unlocking the shackles around each part of the larger snake’s body.

Within the time the police arrived, the large snake was free from her confines, thanking Izuku by slithering right in front of his face and nodding with a grace about it. Izuku smiled and nodded back to her while Eraserhead looked even more done with life than he did at the beginning of his shift.

*

Izuku sat in his cafe with the pro hero and one police guard taking his side of the story. He seated them at a booth while he made sure the two snakes were comfortable at another table getting a check over by his friend, Yukiko ran. He went out to talk with them after putting away the items that he bought that night.

Izuku placed two hot cups of coffee in front of the hard workers as he took his seat. Eraserhead took his mug quickly as Tsukauchi started the questioning. “So, let me get this straight.”

“Alright. Ask away.” Izuku responded with a slight shrug.

“You are a middle school student.” Eraserhead glanced up from his coffee mug to watch Izuku brightened up with a smile.

Izuku replied happily, “Graduated actually.”

“Right. And you work here?” Tsukauchi questioned earning a poorly hidden snicker from Yukiko, who was switching her attention to the smaller reptile.

Izuku retorted, “I am the owner and me and my parents work here, yes.”

“All these animals are yours?” Tsukauchi asked, nodding to many cages with resting animals friends. Hotaru and Takeo, however, were watching the two new serpent additions that entered the cafe. Yukiko was watching over the small one as the larger looked around the cafe with a slow graceful movement of her head.

“Correct.” Izuku nodded at his question. Eraserhead finishing off the last of the coffee that Izuku made.

“Wow. Freshly graduated and already running a place… Geez. Anyway, tell me your side of the story leading up to the incident.” Tsukauchi asked while Izuku got up to refill their white coffee mugs.

Izuku returned with the hot kettle of coffee with his lovely hand knitted mittens his mother had made for him. He poured the liquid into each cup, earning a thankful nod from both of them.

Yukiko said to Izuku, “Hey, Zuku. They are both fine. They just need some food and good conditions, which I know you can give them no problem.”

“Thank you, Yukiko.” Izuku replied gratefully.

“No problem, little guy! And hey, come back to the shelter soon! The sugar gliders are doing better and they might need some naming!” Yukiko added, pausing at the door of the cafe before continuing to her own shelter.

“Okay!” Izuku called out right before the door closed. He refocused his attention to the two in front of him. “Anymore questions?”

Eraserhead piped up with his own question, “You are open until late night right?”

“Yes, sir.” Izuku replied with a strong nod.

“Good. You run the only place that can get me this good of coffee.” Eraserhead answered before standing up to brush himself off. “I would stay longer but I need to prepare for my first class tomorrow.”

Detective Tsukauchi stood up as well, “I’ll go ahead as well. You're not a bad kid at all and everything you said checked out with my quirk. I hope the snakes you saved turn out to be alright.”

“Wait.” Eraserhead said before he wrote something down. “Here kid. If something like this ever happens again, call this.”

“Thank you very much Eraserhead-San, Tsukauchi-San. Have a good night!” Izuku replied in gratitude, waving goodbye to the two as they walked out.

Izuku’s parents came down quietly from the upstairs home down to the cafe floor since they heard some noise in the middle of their sleeping. Izuku explained the whole situation to them when they asked what had happened.

“So when we were sleeping, all of this happened when you were just getting some groceries?”

“Yep!”

“Fricking hell.”

“This is a normal thing dear. Might as well get used to it.”

Hisashi blanked out before turning to his wife, “Him being in trouble is a normal thing or the bringing home an animal thing?”

“Izuku bringing home a pet, darling.” His wife answered before turning to her son.
“And Izuku are you sure you are alright?”

“I’m fine. Eraserhead even gave me his contact if I’m ever in trouble again.”

“Well, that is good!” Hisashi said. His eyes then wandered over the the big snake and the little one that curled up against the other's coil. “So what are we going to do with Big Mama and..”

“Sukoshi,” Inko added lovingly, looking at the small adorable coiled serpent.

Izuku smiled at the names. “Big Mama and Sukoshi will eventually get their spot down here next to Hotaru and Takeo. From the way Big Mama is acting, she would love to be the motherly snake to everyone.”

Big Mama seemed to understand the notion and winked. Vixen snickered as she came around the corner.

‘I like these new additions, especially the larger one. She is very funny.’ Vixen added, swishing her two tails while she walked up to Izuku.

Izuku asked in his mind, ‘You can understand her?’

Vixen nodded, ‘Yes, but only because she is almost the same as me.’

‘Big Mama has a quirk too?’ Izuku asked, turning his attention back to the calm serpent.

Vixen hopped onto the booth table right next to Izuku, ‘A small one. She has an intelligence quirk, so she can understand what you are saying. But she can’t communicate back through words, only body language.’

‘Cool.’ Izuku thought, stroking his hand over her smooth head scales. Big Mama had rainbow scales that shone brightly, even under the store lights. Izuku noticed how big she was, almost as big as an anaconda. Sukoshi looked to be a ring-necked snake because of their very small length, he couldn’t even fill up Izuku’s one hand. Izuku giggled as Sukoshi slithered against his palm while Big Mama looked on serenely.

Chapter Text

Koda was ready for school. His bunny, Bud, and hamster, Asa, were unable to contain their excitement at seeing him follow his dream.

“I can’t wait,” Koda whispered happily to himself, double checking his bag when his mother came into his room.

“Do you have everything, champ?” His mother asked sweetly,

“Yes, mom. I have everything.” He replied, nodding.

“Good,” She paused and looked at her boy standing there, “I’m so proud of you that you have come this far. Have fun at your first day of school, honey.”

“I will. I love you! See you later.” Koda said quietly, his shy smile growing bigger as he walked out the front door to get to his new school.

Koda’s mother watched with his pet friends standing near her feet as he walked on to his future

*

Koda decides to stop off for a refreshing snack before he goes to school, and what better place to stop than the cafe that his best friend own!

He asked for the pineapple and orange soda before heading over to talk to Izuku who was playing with Kisuke.

“Hey,” Koda fretted

“Hey!” Izuku greeted in surprise seeing his friend right before his first day, “What are you doing here.l

“I just wanted to stop by for a snack and talk before I head over to UA,” Koda replied softly with a smile. Hisashi stopped behind Koda real wuikcly to give him his drink before heading off back to another person at a table.

“Is everything going okay around here?”

“Yeah everything is going amazing. And I already told you about our two new additions,” Izuku responded, pointing at a small containment for Sukisho and then gesturing to the ceiling, “Big Mama is up there napping her heart out.”

“Ah, that’s great,” Koda retorted, sipping on his drink. “Well, Do you have anything advice for me?”

“Oh! Yes, I do. First, try to make friends there, I don’t want you to be lonely. Second, do not start thinking negatively of your quirk or I will knock some sense into you for doubting yourself. And third, just stay away from Bakugo. I know he probably got into the Hero course, and I don’t want you to get hurt from his aggressiveness.”

“This is the guy who caused your life to be miserable, correct?” Koda asked, a bit louder than his usual speaking voice.

“Well, yeah. But I’m making the most out of my life right now.” Izuku responded, unknown to the planning look that Koda had in his eyes.

“Alright. Well, I’ll be heading off. I’ll come talk to you about my school day this afternoon.”

“I’ll be waiting!” Izuku called out as Koda exited through the door. “Oh, they grow up so fast, Kisuke.” He gave Kisuke gentle pats on his back, before giving a little boop to his nose.

‘Koda will do just fine. And I will be his number one supporting fan!’ Izuku thought, staring out the window. Vixen watched the scene fondly.

‘I feel like Koda is going to own that Bakugo oh very soon,’ She thought with a smirk.

*

“Geez,” Koda whispered, staring at the huge door in front of him with the words 1-A on it. Taking a deep breath, Koda stepped inside the humongous door, only to hear that Bakugo kid shouting with a dark blue boy.

“Take your feet off of that desk now!”

“HAH?”

“It’s the first day and you are already disrespecting this academy by damaging school property, you heathen!” The teen called out his bad behavior.

“You’re kidding me right? Did your old school put a strict stick up your ass or something?” Katsuki sneered with a grin, “Or were you born with it?”

The dark blue haired man stopped and recomposes himself, “Let's start over. I’m Tenya Iida from the Soumei Private Academy.”

“Soumei, Huh? So you must think you are better than me! I’m going to have fun beating you!” Bakugo shouted at him, smirking pridefully.

The blue haired teen gasped, “Did you threaten me? Your own classmate?”

“Um, Hello.” Koda greeted quietly with a wave, shaking in his shoes.

“Oh! Hello, I’m Tenya Iida from Soumei Private Academy.” Iida greeted

“I.. I’m Koda Koji,” Koda said quietly, drawing his eyes away from the angry blonde teen and toward the floor in front of Iida. “Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too fellow classmate!” Iida smiled happily at Koda.

After his introduction from Iida, a brown haired girl arrived through the door. Koda looked over and she waved at him, he waved back. ‘Maybe this won’t be too bad of a day,’ Koda thought before he heard a loud thump from behind him.

“If you are just there to make friends then you can pack up your stuff now.” A deep voice came from behind him. He turned around to see a dark haired man, laying on the ground encased in a bright yellow sleeping bag. Then the man took out a drink pouch and started drinking from it.

“Welcome to UAs hero course. It took 8 seconds before you all shut up. That’s not gonna work. Time is precious. Rational students will understand that.” The man explained, looking bored.

‘This guy must be a pro, but I haven’t seen any pro heroes that look like him. Wait, could this guy be one of those underground heroes that Izuku talks about?’ Koda thought, watching silently as the man rose from his sleeping bag to address the class.

The dark haired man introduced himself, “Hello I’m Shouta Aizawa. Your homeroom teacher.”

“Huh?” The class said at the same time. Each of them wondering that this homeless looking man was their teacher.

“Right. Let’s get this over with. Put these on and head outside.”

*

“What? A quirk assessment test?” the class asked, now figuring out why they were instructed to put in their P.E. uniforms.

“But orientation! We are going to miss it.” Uraraka brought up to her teacher.

“If you really want to be in the big leagues. You don’t waste time with pointless ceremonies.” Aizawa stated simply.

The other gasped when he slowly turned his head around.

Aizawa straightened up and addressed the concerned students, “Here at UA we aren’t tethered to traditions. That means I get to run my class however I see fit. You have been taking standardized tests most of your lives. But you never got to use your quirks in physical exams before.”

The class watched on as he confused. Koda felt a little overwhelmed while he thought,‘What can I do with my quirk? I barely passed the exams with the help of my animals friends chewing out the wires of the smaller robots…’

“The country is still trying to pretend were all created equal by not letting those with the most power excel. It’s not rational. Bakugo, you managed to get the most points on the entrance exam.” Aizawa continued before asking, “What is your farthest distance thrown with a baseball when you were in junior high?”

“67 meters, I think.” Bakugo replied.

“Try doing it with your quirk this time.” Aizawa commanded, placing a ball into Bakugo’s hand and pointing him towards a large white circle on the ground. “Anything goes just stay in the circle. Don’t waste time.”

“Alright. You asked for it.” Bakugo retorted before throwing the ball so hard with his quirk, lighting the sky up with bursts of fire.

“All of you need to know your maximum capacities.” Aizawa said to his class, clocking out the distance for his throw. “It’s the most rational way of figuring out your potential as a hero.”

He ended the statement by showing the class Bakugo’s throw. 705.2 meters

“Whoa! 705 meters?” A blonde haired guy with a black lightning stripe in his hair said looking at the number in shock.

I wanna go! That looks like fun!” A bubbly pink girl responded in excitement.

This is what I’m talking about! We can use our quirk as much as we want.” A spiky black haired guy with large elbows replied, raising his fist in anticipation.

“...so this looks fun, huh? You have three years here to become a hero. You think it is all going to be games and playtime? Idiots. Today you will compete in eight physical test to gage your potential whoever comes in last has none. They will be expelled immediately.”

‘Immediate expulsion? Oh dear,’ Koda thought as he sort of shivered in the dark haired man’s menacing figure.

“Like I said, I get to decide how this class runs. Understand? If that is a problem, you can head home right now.” Aizawa stated, making most of Koda’s other future classmates gain confidence in their skills. He peeked over at Bakugo’s smug grin growing onto his face.

Koda frowned, remembering how much of a hell that Bakugo put Izuku through.

“What? You can’t send one of us home! We just got here!” Uraraka complained, looking worried. “Even if this wasn’t our first day, it isn’t fair.”

Aizawa looked at her with a deadpan stare before looking at the whole class, “Oh and you think natural disasters are? Power hungry villains, hmm? Or catastrophic accidents that wipe out whole cities? No. The world is full of unfairness. It is a hero’s job to try to come back from that unfairness. If you want to be a pro hero, you are going to have to push yourself to the brink. So go beyond. Plus Ultra. Show me it’s no mistake that you are here.”

Test One was the fifty meter dash. Koda did okay. His score was just around 7 or 8 seconds.

Test Two was grip strength. Koda hit a pretty good number, but being close to a red and white haired boy who got an even higher number was making him feel quite inadequate. Especially when he overheard one of the kids, the one that wore the mask, got over 500 kilograms.

Test Three was standing long jump. Now Koda wasn’t a Kangaroo, but he channeled that to get a pretty high score.

Test Four was repeated side steps. That purple haired short guy got a really high score by bouncing off his sticky hair balls. Koda tried his best, but he doesn’t think it will be enough. ‘What happens if I go home? I don’t want to disappoint my mom or Izuku!’ He thought

Test Five was the ball throw. The kind girl with brown hair scored first with a score of infinity. But with the girl’s strong throw, Bakugo looked a little unnerved at being beaten. Koda decided to kick things up a notch with his own quirk

So when he threw the ball, he called upon a few bird friends to fly it as far as they could away from the campus. If they could do it just over 710 meters he would be so grateful. So with everyone watching him, his bird friends helped carry the ball over 1,000 meters away. Safe to say, Koda wanted to laugh at Bakugo’s enraged face.

Test Six was sit-ups. Koda was a bit out of touch, but he powered through with the cheering and coaching of a squirrel who came to help him.

Test Seven was seated toe touches. He stretched as far as he could. His squirrel friend praising him to stretch even farther, picturing a nice big acorn in front of him.

Test Eight was long distance run. He chugged as fast as he could, but he was running out of breath, his squirrel friend scampered beside him with his earlier bird friends pulling him by the sleeve to make him run faster.

When it came time to look at the scoreboards, Koda was relieved to find himself in 11th place. He wasn't going to be expelled! Apparently the only person being expelled was the purple sticky haired ball boy from before. Koda never got his name. But Aizawa reprimanded him for his behavior towards the females for the whole time they were supposed to be focused on assessment. He went as far as to warn the blonde with a black lightning stripe from before to not fall down the path the other one was. The blonde agreed, looking quite ashamed.

He couldn't wait to tell Izuku about his day! He could tell him all about how he schooled Bakugo in the ball throw!

Wooh!

Chapter Text

“You schooled Bakugo in the ball throw?!” Izuku asked loudly, leaning over the table. Mic took off from his perch to land effortlessly on Izuku’s shoulder.

“Yes,” Koda laughed gently at seeing his friend’s excited face.

“Oh my god, it would have been amazing to see his face. And the squirrel coach sounds like a good ally to have there.” Izuku commented, petting and fluffing Mic’s feathers to calm him down.

Koda nodded with a small smile, “Yeah, he is very nice, I’m thinking about getting him some nuts as a thank you gift.”

“Go ahead and take some from our pantry for next time you see him. I think we have more than enough of a variety for you to choose from.” Izuku offered, letting Mic crawl over his shoulders onto his head of curls to relax there for the time being.

“Thanks, Zuku.” Koda replied.

*

“Hello, fellow classmate,” Tokoyami greeted before being interrupted by Dark Shadow.

“Hey! How’s it going?” Dark Shadow asked, earning him a nudge from Tokoyami.

“Hello. I’m good,” Koda answered back softly.

“That’s nice to hear. Hey, you did good in the quirk assessment.” Sato commented, giving a friendly smile at Koda.

Koda blushed and nodded, “Thank you. You both did great as well.”

He was eternally grateful for the help of practicing conversations with Izuku that he was able to talk a little bit more to others. But he still felt just a bit awkward about it.

The other two noticed his hesitancy and started to just idly chat about what they thought today’s hero basic training was going to be on. The two just threw ideas at each other, letting Koda contribute by asking his opinion. Each time they took his nod of agreement as an answer instead of digging for more like past classmates have done to tease him.

“I AM HERE...COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A HERO!”

“Wow! I can’t believe it’s really him.” Kaminari said, excitedly.

“Omg, he is a teacher. That means this year is going to be super awesome.” Kirishima exclaimed, pumping his fist into the air.

“Is that his silver age costume?” Tsuyu asked, holding her finger to her chin.

“It’s so retro.” Ojiro commented.

“Welcome to the most important class at UA High! Here you will learn the basics of being a pro hero and what it means to fight in the name of good! Today’s lesson is BATTLE TRAINING!”

“Fight training...alright.” Bakugo said under his breath, a sadistic grin growing on his face. He cracked his knuckles in anticipation.

“But one of the keys to being a hero is your costume!” With a confident gesture towards the wall while yelling, multiple ports with numbers on them slid out of the wall. “These were made based on your quirk registration forms and the requests you sent in before school started. Get yourself suited up and meet me in Training Ground Beta!”

Koda took his costume out of the cubby to looks at the warm colors of red and orange. He felt the material to see that it was soft to the touch, but durable enough not to rip when dealing with animals with sharp claws. Koda was so excited but also very very nervous for the lesson.

*

Everyone walked out, Koda conversation with the underrated boys.

“So shall we get started you bunch of newbies?!”

Everyone settled into position, idly chatting before All Might cleared his throat.

“Now that you are ready, it’s time for combat training.”

“Sir, this is the fake city from our entrance exam p, correct? Does that mean we are facing robots again?”

“Not quite, I’m going to move you ahead. Most of the villain fights on news take place outdoors, but the most dastardly evildoers get taken down indoors. For this exercise, you will be splitting into two teams, the good guys and the bad guys. Then it’s going to be a two on two indoor battle.”

All Might takes out a script to continue with the scenario. “The situation is the villains have planted a nuclear missile in one of the floors of the building. The heroes must try to foil their evil plans to do that they either have to catch the villains or recover the weapon. Likewise, the villains succeed if they protect their weapon or capture the heroes. Time is limited and your teams are chosen by random ballot.

Koda supposed it does make sense since heroes have to team up on the spot to stop the villains, But is it really the best choice since he doesn’t really know anyone here except Tokoyami and Sato right now. Sure he knows almost everyone’s name, but he doesn’t know if he will be able to communicate well with them.

Team A was Koda and Uraraka
Team B was Todoroki and Shouji
Team C was Momo and Sato
Team D was Bakugo and Iida
Team E was Ashido and Aoyama
Team F was Jiro and Kaminari
Team G was Tokoyami and Asui
Team H was Hagakure and Ojiro
Team I was Kirishima and Sero

“I declare the first team to be D and A!” All Might announced, causing a little uneasy rumble in Koda’s chest. That means he has the face Bakugo again… the uneasiness seemed to clear up a bit with the thought of getting some revenge on the way he treated Izuku.

*

“Hello, remember me? I’m Uraraka Ochaco. And you are Koji?”

Koda nodded a bit timid. Uraraka smiled at him reassuringly, “Well, from the quirk assessment tests, you have an animal quirk that allows you to communicate with animals. And my quirk gives me the power to touch things and make them have no gravity until I release them. So, what do you think our plan should be?”

Koda looked up to the building with a determined look on his face. He had to prove himself! He looked around, catching a glimpse of a rat escaping into a grate.

Ooh, he is going to need to apologize to Iida afterwards. He might be a little loud, but he doesn’t deserve what he is thinking about.

Gathering his courage, he told the plan to Uraraka. Talking with Izuku has really helped him with his shyness around strangers, he told Uraraka his plan in a low voice while gesturing with his hands what he was planning on doing.

The time was called for Team A to advance into the building since Iida and Bakugo had set up their hiding spot already. Koda swallowed and looked over at Uraraka, she nodded to him before they both walked in calmly.

Koda and Uraraka separated, he went to Bakugo while she looked for where the bomb was. He already had a conversation with the little furry friends from the grate to help him in this exercise and he also got help from another friend he had met the day of quirk assessments.

“There you are.” A hostile voice came from behind him. Before he could turn around, on elf the gauntlets hit him hard causing him to stumble back. He looked up to see his best friends tormentor.

Meanwhile Uraraka found Iida and the missile. She looked around and saw no projectiles to use with her quirk to hit him with.

“Haha! I have hidden anything you can use against me, hero! Try to defeat me now!” Iida laughed spookily before running to her with his speed. She dodged by making herself float up close to the ceiling. She was about to launch over to the missile before she saw Iida right back there with the capture tape at the ready.

She hoped Koda’s plan works with the change of not having anything to distract Iida with.

*

“Hah! You really think someone with your kind of quirk can go up against my explosions. Think again, wimp! A little birdie isn’t going to help you.” Bakugo threatened, stalking close to him while Koda slowly backed away.

When Bakugi approached him running, Koda remembered Izuku’s advice on him. His left hook! Koda grabbed his arm and used his strength to flip him over.

“Woah! That was so cool!” Kirishima complimented, watching the silent Koda whip Bakugo to the ground.

“Revelry in the dark.” Tokoyami commented, watching his classmate take down the brash blonde.

Bakugo coughed whine he landed on the ground, with him stunned Koda started to run away.

“Koda, the missile is in the middle of the second floor. And Iida already knows I’m here, I think I won’t be able to take the next step until he is away from the missile.”

Koda responded softly with, “Okay. I’m on my way.” He quickly hurried to the second floor, but he didn’t know which turn to take.

“Get back here,” Bakugi yelled after him as he ran as fast as he could. Koda intimated his plan early by whistling to signal his allies.

Bakugo sneered at his whistle, “What are you doing?!”

His answer was given when he heard tiny squeaks and scampering feet behind him. Bakugo turned around to face his next opponent only to widen his eyes at the amount dirty sewer rats who had come to help Koda. There was almost a wave of fuzzy gray haired bodies with red eyes just glaring at his figure.

“Take him down.” Koda requested over his shoulder before running off to the stairs. He slid a roll of capture tape towards the overall mountain of fuzzy rodents while he escaped. Bakugo watched in shock while his hands started to spark when the rats started to squeal at him and ran towards his legs.

“No! Get off of me!” Bakugi yelled at the squirming rodents, running away from the chase. “I’ll get you back for this!” Bakugo refrained from using his quirk since the rats had already crawled up to his arm and wouldn’t let go of him no matter how many times he tried to shake them off.

Koda held back a laugh while sprinting up the stairs to get to uraraka. Now, another friend will help with Iida as his backup plan.

He arrived at the doorstep to find Iida doing a very good impression of a villain with a weird evil laugh. He stepped forward, eyeing Uraraka up towards the ceiling hanging onto one of the support beams. He looked back at Iida and whistled twice.

“Calling for help will do you no good, good-doer!” Iida laughed before hearing multiple squeaks come from the rafters. Everyone slowly looked up towards the vents right above Iida just in time to see the vent fall down at the uproaring mass of furry squirrels. Iida our his hands over his head as the amount of squirrels started to fall on him and run around his hero suit.

“What? No! Hey, get off of there!” Iida exclaimed loudly. Uraraka took her chance with the distraction to release herself from the gravity to land right on top of the missile.

“Heroes captured the weapon! Heroes win!” all Might’s voice came over their intercom speaker.

The same squirrel who helped Koda from the quirk assessment gave him a tiny high five. Koda promised him nuts the next time he saw I’m which caused the squirrel to do a little happy dance before leaving with his fellow comrades. The rats should have already ran away as well since the whistle twice was their cue to go ahead and leave. Bakugo reared the corner as Uraraka walked up to Koda with a smile on her face.

“What?! You got to be fu-,” Bakugo yelled as he started to approach the scene.

“No cursing!” All Might called out offer speaker causing Bakugo to frustratingly roll his eyes.

Uraraka and Koda high fives before they gave a hand to Iida to get him up from the ground.

After their match, the other teams had their chance to win against their matchups.

Koda sat back and watched the others perform, letting himself get comfortable around Tokoyami and Sato. They didn’t mind that he didn’t talk that much and instead just kept an easygoing conversation happen where he could just listen most of the time. They don't pressure him to talk or anything. He thought Iida and Uraraka were nice as friends, but he really connected with these two more.

He couldn’t wait to tell Izuku about the rat friends he released on Bakugo.

*

And just like he expected, Izuku fell over in his chair causing Chieko and Suzu to rush over and lick his face in worry.

Chapter Text

“So, you actually expelled someone on the first day? That’s funny, my friend said that someone got expelled their first day too.” Izuku replied, petting Manami after she jumped up onto the table to join her brother, Mitsuo for attention from Eraserhead. He giggled as she jumped straight into his lap while her brother crawled onto his neck.

Eraserhead helped Mitsuo onto a stable position on his shoulder before answering, “They didn’t have any potential.”

“Hahah,” Izuku laughed, letting Kimi hop next to his leg, only to jump on his leg to get his attention. He rolled his eyes fondly, picking a Kimi up only to place her in the big pocket in his apron. “But other than that student, do you think your class has potential?”

“Yes. Although they are strong, it is my responsibility to make sure they are ready for what life will bring them when they become older.”

Izuku asked, going over to a full coffee pot to refill his drink. “Where do you teach again? I can only imagine it’s a hero school.”

“Yeah, Yuuei. I teach heroics, but don’t go telling just anyone, will you?” Eraserhead resounded with Izuku’s back turned.

“I won’t, I promise! Wait, heroics?” Izuku paused before turning back to him with a coffee pot to refill his drink, “You don’t teach Class 1-A, do you?”

“Why?” Eraserhead asked, Manami meowing as he scratched behind her ear. Izuku took time to refill his cup, adding a sugar cube for good measure before replacing the pot back to the machine. Izuku made his way back to him to give his answer.

“Because my friend is enrolled there.” Izuku smiled before remembering who else was there, “My old bully too, but that doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Bully? UA has a strict no bullying or discrimnating rule.” Eraserhead stated, petting Mitsuo’s fur.

Izuku said, “Well, he only real bullied ME, so as long as I’m not there you probably won’t have to deal with him doing anything.”

“Who is it?” Eraserhead questioned, raising a brow while taking a sip of coffee.

“You’ll figure it out soon enough. But don’t punish him too much. Thanks to his bullying, I wouldn’t have been able to find comfort in my animal friends. I probably wouldn’t even have them in my life, so that is the only thing I find good about him. He has a strong quirk, but his ego is just too big. Hopefully, Yuuei will actually knock him down a peg to truly learn how to be a hero.” Izuku explained, petting down Kimi’s ears much to her delight. Vixen hopped up onto the seat opposite of Eraserhead.

‘Yeah, that’s right. Save Bakugo for us. We will take care of him in the future.’ Vixen whispered in her mind, unintentionally broadcasting her idea to Izuku who wasn't really paying attention until the last three words.

‘Huh?’ Izuku asked to her with his thoughts,

Vixen seemed to smirk at him, ‘Nothing you need to worry about.’ She winked before laying down on the chair.

“Well, if you won’t give me a name, I’ll just have to keep an eye on everyone like I planned.” Eraserhead said, Mitsuo and Manami moving out of his way for him to standup. “Thanks for the coffee. I better head out now to get started on my patrol.”

“You’re welcome! Talk to you again soon!” Izuku waved as Eraserhead vanished into the night with a to-go cup of coffee.

Izuku smiled, resting his hands on his apron before remembering about sweet Kimi in his pocket. He reached down to take her back to her home upstairs much to her displeasure because she was getting really comfortable in the apron. “Come on, Kimi. My pocket is no place for you to sleep. Now is time to close up shop. You can catch some sleep later.” Kimi still gave her best pleading expression, “Fine, you can sleep in the apron pocket, but only after I’m done with bringing everyone up!”

Kimi look satisfied as Manami and the rest of her siblings followed Izuku up the stairs to the apartment. Vixen followed up last, her ear peeking up at a noise she heard. She looked down but saw nothing so she continued upstairs with intent to tell Izuku about it.

Izuku placed Kimi back in the apron after taking it off while the kittens were reunited with their mother. Chieko and Sukzu was playing tug of war while his parents watched a movie together while making the last of the decorations.

“Last customer of the night gone?”

“Yep, Eraserhead left for his patrol. Now all I have to do is bring the rest of our friends upstairs.” Izuku replied, giving a long stroke to Big Mama’s scales in her spot curled up. “I’ll be right back.”

‘Izuku, I heard a noise from the pantry. It wasn’t loud enough to sound like an actual human or person breaking in. But I did hear something, fly in? I think they didn’t mean to come in, but still be a little careful when going downstairs.’ Vixen told him

Izuku nodded, “Ill go see about it before I bring the others upstairs.’

‘Do you want me to come with you? I can provide protection!’ Vixen reminded him making Izuku smile.

“Sure,” Izuku said before telling his parents, “Vixen heard something downstairs. I think a bird must have accidentally came through a weak spot in the pantry’s ceiling or something. I’m going to check it out.”

“Okay, but be careful sweetheart. If you need us just call for us.” Inko said, laying a comforting head on Miyu’s head while she purred.

Chieko and Suzy stood at attention. Hisashi chuckled, “If we can beat Chieko and Suzu to you that is. But still, be careful.”

“I will,” Izuku promised.

Izuku walked back down with Vixen to venture into the pantry rom. Even before entering the room, Izuku heard flapping. Vixen heard it too, her ears perked up at the sound. ‘They sound small and from the way they are flapping their wings...they seem to be scared. Approach carefully.’ Vixen voiced to Izuku in his mind.

“Got it,” Izuku whispered back. He peeked open the door only to see a flash of black leathery wings fluttering from the shelves while a whining sound came from the small creature

“Hey, hey. It’s okay. I’m here, you are safe.” Izuku called out softly to the scared animal. Izuku looked further in the dim light of the pantry to see it was a fruit bat that seemingly appeared from out of nowhere. He looked up at the ceiling to see a small part of the roof had a hole where the creature must have come through.

The fruit bat looked up to where he could sense Izuku was with their night vision. Izuku exited the room for a few seconds to get the fruit bat a few pieces of an orange to feed them.

Vixen looked up at him, ‘good, job p, it really looks like he needed it.’

Izuku nodded, watching the bat use their teeth to crush into the fruit piece but spitting out the seeds and pulp. The fruit bat cheered while eating the sweet fruit because they felt their hunger subside. Izuku let their little head gently before retapracting his head.

“Looks like the little guy is alright. Can you keep an eye on him to make sure he is safe while I bring the others upstairs and tell my parents about him? Maybe we can house him for a bit if he needs it.” Izuku says before petting Vixen’s head in temporary farewell. Vixen nodded, keeping her sight on the snacking fruit bat as a Izuku took care of things outside.

It took awhile for Izuku to get everyone upstairs. First he took Ren alone to make sure she didn’t fall out of his hands. Then he took up Pascal and Kisuke in their tanks. Next was Turters, followed by Hotaru, Takeo and then finally Sukoshi hitched a ride up in his shirt pocket.

“So a little fruit bat?” Hisashi asked.

“Yeah. I’m going back downstairs to check on him.” Izuku said before taking the stairs back down. When a Izuku got to pantry, he was holding a little shoebox.

‘What are you doing with that?’ Vixen asked.

Izuku smiled, “Fruits bats are nocturnal which means hey will sleep in the sunlight. Now they might go away when the moon goes away, but if they come back they have a little temporary house to nap in.”

Vixen smiled serenely, her two tails swishing through the air, ‘I like the way you think. Now let’s get some rest, we need it for tomorrow. He looks like he just accidentally came in, he knows the way out if he wants to use it.’

Izuku nodded before waving goodbye to his little buddy for the night. “Have a good night, little buddy!”

*

The next day brought Halloween! Izuku was so excited to dress up. And he put in the website and advertised elsewhere that if you came in your costume, you will get a discount on your overall order. Which was sure to bring in many customers dressed in the best costumes they could wear.

The tables were decorated with black spiderwebbed table cloths with spider rings scattered through it. There was so many pumpkin decorations of sewn patchwork designs placed strategically all around. There was so many orange triangle garlands with intricate Jack-o-lantern faces detailed in each piece. There was fairy lights hung around with amber and orange lights to set the atmosphere since the main natural lights were a bit dimmed to fit the theme of the day. It wasn’t dark enough to not see, just a bit dim that’s all. Especially since the window gave the most light in the cafe.

Chieko and Suzu were dressed as Tweedledum and Tweedledee with striped shirts with little suspenders, bow ties, and little hats. Kimi was part of the theme with her own little suit with a pocket watch at her side.

Inko was dressed as the White Queen. Her lacy white dress was covered little appliqués of sequins. She wore little daisy flats and a white flower crown in her hair. She even paired it with some lacy gloves and a glittering necklace that made her shine. She had a bit of dark liner around her green eyes and she was wearing a dark red lip.

Hisashi was dressed as a very detailed Mad Hatter. His unruly curly hair truly put the Mad Hatter’s hairstyle to shame. His brown top hat was tied with a red and orange scarf. His brown pants and black boots really let his dark red coat shine out the most with its color. He wore a very decorative giant bow at his neck to show off its many patterns. His almost pink orange button down shirt under a light brown vest.

Izuku was delighted to be Alice as he served the guests. He made a lot of kids happy with his recognizable outfit. His dress was very simple and classic. He wore a white apron just like his regular one but over a light blue dress. He even went ahead and wore a petticoat underneath just to add more to it. He got his hair tied up with a black bow and little black flats. He wore long white stockings to finish off his look.

But that’s when Izuku’s attention was stolen by a frequent customer, “Shinso?”

Shinso looked a Izuku up and down before looking back at his parents at the counter, “I swear I didn’t plan this.”

Izuku laughed as he touched Shinso’s purple and pink striped furry ears on top of his head. “Hello, Cheshire Cat. You have a lovely smile, you should do it more often.”

Shinso was wearing bright pink and purple striped furry ears upon his fluffy purple hair. He even got into a more punk style with the traditional costume. He wore a sleeveless black turtleneck under a sleeveless dark purple denim jacket. The jacket was dip dyed at the end with a darker pink color. The back of the jacket’s neck had so many spikes and there were so many buttons near the pockets. Just over his two breaths pockets were two chains hanging low over the bottom of the pocket. He wore an edgy black collar with a metal heart ring in the center. He had on dark black jeans as his bottoms with black boots with chains hanging down the sides.

“Heh, very funny.” Shinso smirked, rolling his eyes at a Izuku. “Hey, can I see Ren today? I haven’t really gotten the chance to let her yet.”

“No problem, be right back.” Izuku said, walking to the wall to gather up Ren into his hands. He returned back with a happy Ren being placed on the table for her to get situated.

“Here she is.” Izuku said, presenting her with a grand flourish.

“Oh, hi there.” Shinso greeted, letting Ren crawl into his open plam. He stroked his pointer finger along her back. “She is fuzzy. I thought it would feel different, but it feel very nice actually.”

Izuku smiled at their cute first interaction before seeing new customers pop in to sit down and saying that there was orders to be filled. “Oh, I have to go check in a few tables. You know the rules, right?”

“Yes. I’ll make sure she doesn’t fall and stays safe with me.” Shinso replied, smiling at him. Izuku nodded before heading over to complete multiple orders and other things for a few tables. He was glad that one kid with a mohawk seemed really interested in hearing Izuku’s facts about snakes. His parents smiled at his passion. Apparently his quirk was similar to the mythical character, Medusa. His hair basically became little snakes that he loves to take care of. Thankfully, his quirk didn’t come with the power of turning people to stone.

Izuku finally came back to Shinso after about ten minutes, most of the time having a fun conversation with the boy he just met. “How are you two getting along?

“Good. Although she has tried multiple times to get into my hair.” Shinso chuckled, letting Ren crawl over his fingers onto his other hand.

“Yeah, she does that sometimes. She doesn’t mean anything bad by it, she just likes the texture.” Izuku responded, leaning on the table to watch Ren.

“Oh,” Shinso replied, a smile grew on his face as he watched Ren try it crawl multiple times into Izuku’s hair now that he was close. “Trying to leave me now, huh?”

“Ren.” Izuku said as Ren tried to reach her little legs up to his face to crawl on him. Izuku reach his hand around to lift her away from both their hair into the table once again.

“No, I understand. Why would she want to ever leave you?” Shinso said, looking back at a Izuku with a smirk.

“Huh?” Izuku blushed at Shinso’ statement not really knowing what it means.

“Because you are her friend,” Shinso said, raising a brow at Izuku’s odd sudden behavior.

“Oh, hahaha. Yeah, right. Yeah, I am just going to check on some tables. Let me know if you need anything.”

Vixen, who was dressed in red and black fabric with a little crown atop her head, watched as Izuku practically walked away fast from Shinso with a burning face. ‘I think I need to help him with stuff like this.’

*

It was close to closing time and Izuku was sweeping up the hallway next to the fridge area when he heard his fruit bat friend come in. Instead of Vixen with him, it was Mic who was very curious as to what was making the familiar flapping of wings.

“Little buddy!” Izuku exclaimed, opening the door to greet the bat only to be interrupted by Mic who flew right over to welcome them instead.

Izuku freaked out at first, making sure Mic didn’t accidentally hit him with his wings when he flew in all fast, but the bat was still okay. Izuku smiled before going to get some fruit for his new friend.

I’m the time it took him to get fruit and come back, Mic had already made up his mind and was currently trying to be best friends with the fruit bat. The bat, however, was not liking the loud presence of a bird so close to him. Izuku laughed at the similar deadpan face of a regular late night customer. Wait, wasn’t he friends with Present Mic? Oh, then this name was going to fit very well with his new nocturnal friend.

Eraser will be a lovely late night addition to this home.

*

“Mr. Eraserhead?”

“Yes?” Eraserhead asked with a costume just made out of a different colored sleeping bag. It was just like the color from the caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland, he even had a fake long cigarette to go with it.

“Nothing.” Izuku giggles as he got his customer his normal coffee and went ahead and added a spider cupcake for good luck in his trail since spooky stuff happen on Halloween night.

Chapter Text

The cafe was doing so well! They had slow hours during the night, but most of their day was filled with happy customers that just loved the animals. Sho, the lovely crow at his window, had slowly began to migrate inside of his room. Eventually, he will become part of the family, slowly but surely. But until then, he will keep bonding with Eraser during the night when they are hungry for berries.

After a busy day, Izuku was cleaning up all the tables to get ready for the next day. Vixen was relaxing at the feet of the cat’s tower of steps, lazily watching him from afar as he worked. But when Izuku went to put away the broom, he and Vixen heard a noise from the trash cans outside. They both looked at each other before venturing to the back door to see what was causing the ruckus.

Izuku peeked his eye through the clear window in the door to see if it was any kind of intruder. When he didn’t see any danger, he opened the door cautiously to see a tail whipping around near the trash cans.

“H-hey,” Izuku weakly interrupted to stop the raccoon from digging around in the trash. Because who knows if they will end up eating plastic accidentally.

Vixen sniffed the air before straightening up. Vixen sent the thought over to Izuku, ‘Izuku, that isn’t a raccoon.’

The raccoon stuck his head out before sticking its chin out, ‘Who are YOU calling a raccoon? I’m a magnificent Tanuki! How dare you?!’

“Um, sorry. Hello, I’m Izuku…” Izuku weakly introduced himself to the angry animal.

The tanuki sneezed, ‘Hmmph. I don’t care who you are. I’m just wondering what YOU are doing here out of all places.’

Vixen fixed her narrowed eyes on the animal sitting on top of the trash can lid, ‘Nuki, we have talked about your screaming. Lower the volume.’

Tanuki lowered his head slightly, ‘I apologize. But you haven’t answered me yet, why are you here?’

Izuku stood between them quite awkwardly, knowing he should stay out of this conversation between what looked like old friends.

Vixen looked momentarily sad before looking at the bright red shoes of her friend with a soft smile, ‘I was abandoned by the pack for being too weak. Izuku took me in and gave me a warm home. Our have no need to worry about him. He isn’t like other humans. He cares about all lives, big and small.’

‘No way! Humans are out to get us! We can’t trust this guy!’ Tanuki tried to argue with his old friend.

‘I most certainly do, or else I would have escaped by now. Nuke, he is a good person.’

‘I’ll believe it when I see it.’

‘Then, watch. Izuku, let’s go back inside. Pascal is probably craving your attention right now.’ Vixen dismissed. ‘You will learn eventually how Izuku truly is.’

“Oh, right. Yes! Bye, Mr. Nuki! Have a great night.” Izuku Bowes slightly before opening the door to allow Vixen inside first. He followed straight behind her, leaving the Tanuki to wonder who exactly this Izuku was.

*

The next day was started off with great news since Big Mama’s branch loft in the corner was finally ready for her. The crafted branches made of strong metal that could hold up to 600 pounds was placed in the corner of the cafe, hung up high to the ceiling. It provided her easy access to a supply closet upstairs, so she could slither up and down whenever she wants.

“Zuku!” Makoto yelled out as his parents sat down at their usual booth. Makoto’s head snakes going wild at the sight of their favorite green haired friend.

“Hello, little Makoto! How has your day been?” Izuku greeted, giving Makoto a high five in greeting.

“Boring! But my day is better now that I’m here! Ooh, can I hold Sukisho today?” Makoto asked, stars growing in his eyes from his growing excitement.

“Alright, I will go get him for you.” Izuku responded, passing my a shy girl in a large sweater who had Kimi sleeping near her feet.

Izuku lifted Sukoshi from their comfy spot to bring him over to Makoto. On the way, Izuku spotted two twins that were slumped next to each other with two cats on their lap. Izuku smiled, allowing Sukoshi to slide into Makoto’s palm easily.

“Oh, oh! Hi there, I’m Makoto.” Makoto whispered to the small danger noodle in his hand.

Vixen raised her brows back at Tanuki threw the window of the back door. ‘Told you so.’

Nuki sighed, ‘He seems trustworthy enough. I trust your judgement. But I still don’t trust the other humans.’

‘I can understand that. Not all humans are good, but not all of them are bad. I was lucky enough to find one with a huge welcoming heart that accepted me into their loving home.’ Vixen added, watching as Izuku laughed at Makoto’s genuine excitement to see Big Mama boop his palm with her head.

‘Well, I’m glad you found a place to feel safe.’ Nuki said honestly, scurrying away until another day.

*

The next day, Yukiko dropped by with a gift that one of her friends had prepared for him. Yuina, the selkie chicken, accompanied her only to run straight for Izuku’s red shoes. Izuku laughed as Yukiko placed a container with a sheet covering its contents on the table.

“It’s like a congrats to the whole success of the cafe thing and combine with the fact that you can basically care for any animal.” Yukiko said as she revealed what exactly she brought for him.

A glass container of sand? Wait no, it’s an ant farm!

Izuku being closer to see the small ants just munching on a piece of bread crumb. “Neat! They looks so focused on the crumb. Is it true they can lift up to twice their body weight or something? Ooh, so cool.”

Izuku peered at one of the ants who tilted their antenna at him.

Later that day, Izuku fed them little pieces of food much to the curiosity of the older kids. The younger kids were a bit more scared.

Izuku smiled before explaining, “You have nothing to be afraid of. They are more terrified of you then you are of them.”

The little ones were still hesitant, but they arched the ants chew down in their snack like the rest of the kids.

*

Later on that day, Koda camecover to the cafe with three new people behind him.

“Hi, Izuku.” Koda greeted softly, Chieko greeting him at the door with a sloppy kiss to his hand.

Izuku smiled, “Hey, Koda! Who are your friends?”

“I’m Tokoyami. It's a pleasure to meet you.” Tokoyami introduced himself formally.

“Hello. I’m Shouji.” Shouji introduced himself by turning one of his arms into a mouth.

“And you can call me Sato. Ooh, is that Honey Toast?” Sato introduced, getting distracted part way to look at the giant menu.

“Yes it is. You guys can take a seat anywhere and I’ll come take your order when you are ready,” Izuku replied, handing them a couple laminated menus to pick from.

The friend sat down at the table while Izuku checked in on some tables.

“Wow, all this food sounds really good.” Sato commented, his mouth watering. “I wonder if he could spare a recipe.”

“He is very nice from what I could tell about him from the first greeting.” Shouji stated, turning one of his arms into a hand to pet Suzu when she came up next to him.

Tokoyami nodded, casting a glance at the Cockatiel staring at him. “Indeed, how long have you known each other, Koda?”

“Oh, we go way back. Actually, we have known each other for about a year now, but it feels like longer.” Koda stated, reminiscing on the time he had known Izuku.

By the time, Izuku came back they were ready to order their snacks. Shouji chose the Coffee Jelly with an apple cinnamon crepe. Koda chose a Strawberry Macaron with a Pineapple and Orange soda. Sato chose a Bunny Butt Cookie with some Mochi Ice Cream. Tokoyami chooses a Unique-Coffee Buzz trail mix with a Kitty Cat Latte.

They didn’t have to wait that long since talking with Izuku and playing with the animals sure did pass the time. When their food came, they couldn’t help but look in awe at the plates with their cute designs.

They ate as Izuku continued around the cafe, making the children smile.

“So, he works here?” Shouji asked with his mouth half full of crepe.

Koda took a sip of his soda before responding, “Oh? I didn’t tell you yet? He owns this restaurant.”

“What?!” The three exclaimed in disbelief, much to the amusement of Koda. Izuku snickered as he could only assume what Koda told them. He threw a glance over at their table before heading back over to check on the new ant farm.

One of the ants tilted their body to face him, their antennas acknowledging him. “I hope you like it here.” Izuku said with a grin.

Chapter Text

“Chieko, Slow down. Not you too, Suzu. Geez, you two are hyper today, huh?” Izuku asked, holding on tight to the two leashes. Chieko and Suzu were really pulling him through the causal walk, they just seemed really happy today.

It must be because the holidays were coming around the corner. The weather was cool, the streetlights were wrapped in soft lights, and there was a whole lot of Christmas spirit in the air.

Heck, Izuku had just finished decorated the cafe with his parents for the incoming weeks for Christmas. When he finished up the decorating, he offered to take the two out for a late afternoon walk. The sun hasn’t gone done yet, and the weather outside wasn’t quite frightful so it was a delightful time for a walk.

Chieko took the lead while Suzu followed behind her while Izuku just held on to their leashes. He let them walk where they wanted to as long as it wasn’t too far away from the cafe.

Out of nowhere, Chieko stopped at the beginning of an alleyway, turning her head to sniff. Suzu barked at the alley.

“What is it?” Izuku asked his friends, only to receive a bark in response. But the bark wasn’t coming from either of his friends, it came from down the alley. Chieko immediately traveled down the alleyway with Izuku right behind her. Suzu kept barking, trying to locate where the other bark was from.

Izuku’s eyes widened when he saw a little cardboard box that had the little flaps being pushed open by a snout. Once he heard the small whimper, Izuku headed straight over with Chieko and Suzu right behind his legs. When he reached the box, he opened the lid to find a small Daschund puppy huddled against an Akita Inu puppy.

Izuku tilted his head and thought, ‘Were both of these puppies abandoned?’ And then he noticed that the Daschund looking puppy had a little tail growing out of his head, making him look like a dog unicorn. The Akita Inu puppy was slightly older by what looked like a few months. The puppies both whimpered and barked when he opened up the lid, he noticed how they shivered in the cold wind.

“Hi, you two look cold.” Izuku greeted awkwardly, crouching down to not seem threatening to the young pups. “I’m Izuku.”

Chieko and Suzu weakly barked, shoving their faces to see inside the box. The Akita Inu puppy barked at Chieko before bumping his snout against hers. Chieko sneezed before rubbing her face against the young puppy’s head, licking his ear.

“Aww, it’s nice to see everyone getting along.” Izuku mumbled before smiling, “Why don’t we get you someplace warmer? It must not be fun freezing in this weather, huh?”

The Narwhal puppy barked at him in agreement as Izuku chuckled. He went ahead and took off his jacket to place over the two cold puppies. Chieko and Suzu waited as Izuku took the cardboard box into his hands.

“Okay, let’s go home.” Izuku said, taking their leashes again before walking gently with the two new puppies in his arms.

*

“Oh, hi! Back from the walk so soon?” Hisashi greeted his son as he walked in only to focus on the box in his arms, “What’s in the box?”

Izuku lifted his jacket from over the puppies to show his dad. “Some puppies who needed warmth.”

“Might as well say, ‘hey, I found some new family members!’” Hisashi mumbled with a chuckle as Izuku walked upstairs to find the puppies some heat. Suzu came up to him and licked his hand. “Hey girl, excited about two new siblings? Because I can bet that that is what is going to happen.”

Suzu barked.

“You think so too? Great.” Hisashi responded back absentmindedly before getting back to reorganizing some small things at the counter.

Upstairs, all of his animal friends were all around the place. All of the cats were near their mother, resting on an old quilt on the couch. Miya and Mitsuo were playing with each other, pawing at the other while their mother watched over them. Kimi was resting on top of Hisashi’s favorite chair, flapping her ears when Izuku walked in. Mic was pruning his feathers on his little stand by the shelves. Sho had finally come inside from his favorite window, resting in his own nest on a shelf near the closed window frame. Eraser was still resting in his nocturnal habitat in one of the dark corners of their storage room. Vixen was napping serenely on a plush bed by the entrance to his room. Speaking of his room, the ant farm was placed on one of his bookshelves.

Sukoshi was wrapped around a small rock with googly eyes that Inko had bought just of him. Big Mama was coiled up near the television, letting the vibrant colors reflect their light on her scales. Turters was swimming around in his little tank on the table. Kisuke and Pascal were both out of their tanks, but they were both chilling on small wooden logs by the bookshelf. Hotaru and Takeo were coiled up in the corner, resting after eating their supper. Ren was crawling away in her tank, playing around in excitement with her brand new flower pit that Inko had painted herself.

Inko welcomed her son upstairs from the kitchen by placing a cup of hot chocolate on the counter. “Hello, Izuku. Oh, what happened?”

Izuku explained, “I found these two outside in the cold. They must not have been there long because I haven't really seen any frostbit. I am going to set them around the heater to warm them up. Can you give me some food and water for them? They must be hungry.”

“Okay,” Inko said, walking back into the kitchen to get the needed things for the small puppies. Chieko came up the stairs when Izuku set the puppies down. Once he made sure they were getting the warmth they needed, she came up to them to lay by their side.

Inko approached with small bowls of food and water for the two puppies. Theyeagerly slurped down the water as soon as she put it to the ground. She smiled when she saw Chieko with them,“Oh, it looks like Chieko has taken up a big sister duty to them, or dare I say a motherly kind to them.”

Izuku returned the smile as his father came upstairs with Suzu behind him. “Yeah, I think she is acting protective over the two.”

Hisashi yawned, taking his son’s cup from off the counter to give to him. He slowly went down to the ground to see the little puppies before handing his son his drink.

“Thanks, dad.” Izuku said, taking a sip of his drink. “Thank, mom, for the chocolate.”

Hisashi patted his back as they watched the two puppies warm up to their surroundings.

Izuku looked over to his dad, “Hey, dad. What do you think their names should be?”

Hisashi thought hard before answering, “Um, I’m not very good with names. Um….Yunikon? For the Daschund?”

“Unicorn?” Inko asked with a giggle.

Hisashi blushed, “I know! I’m bad with names!”

“No, I think it’s a good fit.” Izuku answered. “What should we call Yunikon’s brother?”

Inko hummed, “Maybe, Sora? Would that be good?”

“Hmm, I think he fits that name well.” Izuku replied, giggling when Suzu licked his cheek.

“Okay then, Yunikon and Sora are welcomed into the family,” Hisashi stated.

“Yeah,” Izuku whispered, softly petting the two additions.

*

It had been a while since the two pups had entered the family life of the Midoriya’s. Yunikon and Sora were very excitable around people. When the first few families came in for lunch, they were more than happy to allow the young daughter to pet them. She even excitedly whispered to her parents that she was petting a fluffy unicorn.

And now, it was close to Christmas Eve. A few happy couples came to the cafe to have their little holiday date together around the friendly animals and lovely decor.

The cafe outside was decorated in white fairy lights around the top with big red bows to decorate the window. On the welcoming door was a wreath that greeted the incoming customers with the warm smell of cinnamon.

On the inside of the cafe, everything was decorated lovingly for the holiday. Inko and Hisashi has dressed up as Mr and Mrs. Claus. Hisashi took off his fake beard early on when the children would point out he wasn’t really Santa. Suzu and Chieko had little reindeer hats on their heads as they welcomed in the customers with a friendly bark. Yunikon and Sora were dressed in little candy cane themed capes that tied around their collars. Izuku was dressed in a little elf costume with a white frilly apron covering up the red and green tunic. He even had little pointy ears poking out from under his hat.

The cafe tables and booths were covered in a soothing red tablecloth and a mini tree centerpiece. Garlands made of tinsel were strung up on the walls. There were small plush dolls of snowmen, reindeer, and gingerbread that decorated some parts of the cafe. Small ornaments were hung on a little Christmas tree by the counter where people would order. The cork board behind the counter was covered in even more pictures of the animals in the cafe. And the menu even had an exclusive item added to it, ‘Gingerbread Crinkle Cookie’.

Izuku was explains a bit about Kisuke to a girl when familiar purple hair caught his eye. Once he was done chatting about Kisuke, he walked over to his regular customer. “Hello, Shinso.”

“Dang, maybe I should wear a beanie next time, so you won’t recognize me.” Shinso said.

Izuku scoffed, “Oh please, I can recognize you a mile away.”

“Really?” Shinso asked.

Izuku nodded, “Yep!”

“How?” Shinso questioned.

“Miwa. She is the most shy out of all her siblings, she would only allow you to hold her. Yes, she might let a certain few customers pet her, but you are her favorite because she allows you to hold her. That’s how.”

“Hmm, I never knew that. I thought she just liked the warmth.” Shinso said, allowing Miwa to snuggle into his arms more. “It’s pretty empty around this time, huh?”

“Yeah, it will most likely get a bit more busy around dinner time because if the couples.” Izuku answered back, looking at the few tables that had people sitting down to eat. “It might be more busy tomorrow since it would be Christmas Eve. We are closed on Christmas.”

Shinso nodded. Izuku looked at him, “Hey, What high school do you go to?”

Shinso looked up, “What?”

Izuku shrugged, “I don’t know. I’m just starting up a chat since all of the people here are already eating.”

“Well, I got to UA. I’m in the general education course though.” Shinso answered.

Izuku smiled, “That’s nice. It’s very hard to even get into UA, congrats.”

“Yeah, I actually want to get into the hero course, but it didn’t work out.” Shinso explained, scratching the back of Miwa’s neck. Miwa purred under his fingers.

Izuku replied, “Hey, that’s okay. I heard that the Sports Festival is a good opportunity to prove yourself. I heard from a while ago, maybe 15 years ago, a student from general got accepted into hero course by proving his worth in the festival.”

“Woah, really? How did he do it?” Shinso questioned, his face brightening up

Izuku hummed, “I think he scored in the top three. He might have won actually. I don’t remember all the details. But there is hope!”

“Right. If I could ever prove I could be a hero with my quirk.” Shinso looked down, “Everybody I knew back in middle school always said I had a villain's quirk.”

“Well, that is a load of crap.” Izuku said, finally sitting down across from Shinso. “Look, there is no villain or hero quirk. The person determines how the quirk would be used. You are not a villain, are you?”

Shinso shook his head, “No. I want to be a hero.”

“Then you will be. Simple as that. Well, not simple, you do have to work towards your goal. What is your quirk anyway that would make people say that to you?” Izuku asked.

“Brainwashing. All you have to do is respond to me when I ask a question and I can make you do certain things.” Shinso mumbled the explanation, petting Miwa as she slowly started to fall asleep in his lap.

Izuku’s eyes brightened up, “That is awesome though! You can easily solve things quickly. You can interrogate villains easier, you could make them walk right into a pair of handcuffs, you can make them stop using their quirks to wreak havoc, and all kinds of stuff.”

Shinso reddened from Izuku’s praise. He grinned at Izuku, still a bit shocked from the support from him. “Thanks, Izuku.”

Izuku said, “You’re welcome, Shinso.”

“Call me Hitoshi.” Hitoshi offered

Izuku returned his offer with a smile, “Okay, Hitoshi.”

Yunikon walked right up to the couple of teens, laying down at their feet with a yawn as they continued to talk. Now and again, Izuku would have to leave the table for a short time to talk to other customers, but he always came back to Hitoshi’s table.

“Aww, it reminds me of the old days when we started to date.” Inko whispered, peeking at her son.

“I shipped it since Halloween,” Hisashi stated before kissing his wife’s cheek.

Chapter Text

Koda’s classmates started to wonder why the shy boy always smelled so good. He walkways smelled like sweets or freshly baked bread.

He always smelled like that and their curiosity is getting out of hand. Class 1-A talked amongst themselves after their lunch period back in their classroom.

“No, I’m serious! You guys, he always smells like crepes of like sweet bread.” Kirishima said with a smile.

Ojiro confessed, “I get what you mean. One time, I swear I saw powdered sugar on his blazer.”

“Well, wherever he is going, I want to go there too.” Aoyama replied with sparkles all around his head, “The place sounds good just from the smell. But it can’t be as fabulous as me!”

“I also noticed a bit of animal scent on him, but that just might be because of his quirk.” Asui added, putting a finger to her lips.

Yaoyorozu clapped excitedly, “I’m excited to see where he goes. Should we see where he goes?”

Hanta asked, “What do you mean?”

“I mean, maybe we can track him down after school if he ends up at the place that smells good. Maybe we might happen upon it, and we might get some good food…” Kaminari added, wiggling his eyebrows a bit.

“Okay, we strike today.” Ashido ordered, slamming her fist on her desk lightly.

They glanced over to Koda who was talking to Tokoyami near the back of the classroom out of their desks.

The class quieted up and went back to their seats before class resumed with Aizawa in his usual comfortable attire.

After school, Koda’s classmates followed a safe distance behind while tracking where Koda was going with Sato, Shoji, and Tokoyami. They were all there except Bakugo. Bakugo wanted to just go home to study and not hang out with them. Most of the others just joined out of curiosity, Iida only went to try to persuade people that Koda has his own private life and that they shouldn’t disturb it.

Plan Find-Out-Koda’s-Secret-Place is under way

*

The bell rung as Koda opened the door to the cafe. Dark Shadow whistled from Tokoyami’s back when they walked inside.

“I think I will get used to this.” Sato said as he took a deep breath to smell the freshly baked cake that Miss Inko made that morning.

“Hi,” Koda greeted with a smile to Inko.

Inko returned his smile before telling him about Izuku, “Izuku is upstairs right now. He’ll come down in a minute. He is taking care of a new addition.”

“I’m not surprised.” Koda commented, rubbing Chieko’s head when she came up to him.

Inko laughed, “Neither am I. Yukiko dropped off an Axolotl not too long ago that need some affection. Apparently it was caught in the middle of a smuggling ring for exotic animals or something of that nature. She hoped that Izuku could help them.”

“Do they have a name already?” Shoji asked from behind his mask, allowing Yunikon to snuggle their head into his arms while Sora kept licking at his other set of arms.

Hisashi snorted, “Guinevere. I think it fits well. Yukiko should name the rest of the rescued animals after King Arthur and his men… that would be spectacular. Anyway, aizuku is making sure Guinevere is comfortable with us before introducing her downstairs if she wants to.”

“Sounds good. I hope that all the animals involved recover well.” Tokoyami wished, looking back at Dark Shadow who seemed to be very excited that they got Suzy to roll over on her back so they could rub her tummy.

Hisashi pointed them over to annice table by the window. Right now, the cafe only had. A few customers scattered around the tables in the center while the kittens lurked around the chairs. Koda smiled as he saw them walking around since he remembered how they used to be so small and they were growing bigger.

“Oh do, everything on the menu still looks so good. What do I get this time?” Sato asked.

Izuku’s familiar voice piped up from a few feet away from them. “I can recommend some crepes if you want. Or perhaps some Dorayaki?”

“Izuku, I heard you have a new friend..”

“Ha, you know me too well. Guinevere is resting up upstairs, but when she gets better I can’t wait to introduce you. She is so pink.” Izuku responded, taking out a little pad of paper to write on. His low ponytail bounced as he turned around to one of the tables to fix a chair before looking back to them. “See anything in the menu you guys like?”

Tokoyami hummed, “Hmm, could I have some Earl Grey tea with some chocolate chip pancakes?”

“Coffee Jelly!” Dark Shadow added in.

Tokoyami sighed, “..and add an order of coffee jelly if you won’t mind.”

Izuku smiled, “Not at all. What about you, sir?”

Shoji laughed at the title before looking back to his menu, “I’ll have a Key Lime protein smoothie. And… a turkey sandwich.”

“Alrighty. Anything for you?” Izuku asked looking at Sato.

Sato smiled, “Oh, definitely. Can I have a strawberry milkshake and a strawberry and banana crepe?”

“Absolutely. And for you my friend?” Izuku questioned, looking up to Koda right as Kimi hopped onto Koda’s foot.

Koda gently said, “I’ll go with the Turters special.”

“You want both the mini zucchini banana bread cakes and the green apple dish?” Izuku asked.

Koda nodded, “Yep.”

“No problem. I’ll be back with your orders in a few minutes.” Izuku answered back with a bright smile.

“Thank you,” Koda replied, waving to his friend as he walked back towards the kitchen.

“I still can't believe you are friends with the owner of a full on cafe and that he is our age too! It’s so awesome. And I love all the animals here…” Sato said, looking around. Waving at the huge rainbow like serpent in the corner of the room with her body coiled around her branchlike pipes. He could have sworn he saw her tail wave back to him, but he could be imagining it.

“Yes. These animals companions really bring a sense of light into this establishment.” Tokoyami mused, looking over to the smiling face of a young child who looked at Pascal with wonder.

Izuku started to say, “Okay, I’m back with your order and-,”

“Omg, he was visiting his boyfriend!!” Ashido screamed when she came in through the doors followed by almost ten other people behind her.

Izuku was startled that he almost dropped the plate with their food before turning to the pink skinned girl. “What?”

*

Izuku turned to see Koda very red from the statement that Ashido just said. “Are these your classmates?”

Koda was basically frozen while Sato nodded. Shoji asked, “Wait, how did they end up here?”

Uraraka rubbed the back of her head shamefully, “Well, we sort of maybe followed you here…”

“...Why?” Tokoyami asked, Mic flew over to where the group was to see what was going on.

“We wanted to know why he smelled like good food all the time!” Kaminari whined as he drudged up, not noticing how Chieko and Suzu seemed more alert than usual. Chieko seemed to snort from the smell in the air that smelled too familiar for her taste. That sweet caramel smell only came from one person, but that one person wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Even though, his scent was very prominent on four people that they didn’t recognize.

Vixen’s ears perked up when she sniffed the air. She quickly looked up from her spot to see if there was any blonde porcupine boy she needed to kick, but there was no Bakugo in sight. His scent lingered on four individuals especially that shark toothed redhead.

“Um, why are the friendly dogs staring at us like that?” Ashido asked in a harsh whisper.

“You must smell like a threat for some reason. I have only seen that look from one person though.” Izuku mumbled.

“Izuku… he is in our class. They probably smell like him.” Koda reminded him in a small whisper while Izuku’ eyes grew wide.

Izuku sighed, “Ah, yep. That would do the trick.”

“What? What’s going on?” Hanta asked.

Izuku breathed out, allowing Mitsuo to rub against his leg in comfort, “Long story short, I’m sure you know of Bakugo Katsuki. Well, safe to say, he is banned from this establishment until he learns some manners among other things. I won’t explain further than that, but he might be the reason the others might be acting on edge. Just give me a few moments to calm down and they should be alright with you.”

Kirishima fell silent with the rest of the Bakusquad as they started thinking about what he could have done to this guy. “So, you come here to visit your friend while he is working.”

Koda nodded as Shoji piped up, “He doesn’t just work here. Izuku owns the cafe.”

Safe to say, everyone was shocked at that discovery. Iida paused his arm motions, Todoroki raised his brows, and Asui tilted her head.

Izuku went to calm down his dog friends as Todoroki looked around the place with calculating eyes. His mismatched eyes met Vixen’s serious red ones that seemed to look deep into his soul. He quickly broke off their eye contact before sitting down at the table.

Everyone slowly sat down at different tables around the cafe. Koda watched as all of his classmates sat around him at different booths and tables and ordered some snacks for theme,vets. Iida took it upon himself to order Uraraka some Mochi ice cream when she said she forgot to bring any money with her.

Iida asked for some orange juice while most of them just looked over the menu at all the things they can get. They almost got everything on the menu if you combined everyone’s orders.

Ashido was having some fun with Pascal as Kaminari patted Kisuke’s head while he sat in Hanta’s hand. Ojiro happily let Ren crawl on his arm while Jiro was happy to hold Takeo in her hand. Hotaru was all wrapped up on Yaoyorozu’s and Hagakure’s table. Sukoshi was just chilling in Asui’s hands as Uraraka looked at him.

Eventually, most of his classmates went home, all except for Todoroki who seemed trapped with all the cats crowded around his legs. Koda smiled gently at him when Todoroki looked utterly confused over what to do since cats were practically all over him.

Izuku went over to Todoroki to refill his lemon tea before noticing Vixen giving him a very knowing look. After Izuku refilled Shoto’s cup, he looked to Vixen.

“What is it?” Izuku asked silently, rubbing her head.

‘That boy...something is wrong at his household...I’m sure of it. I see his eyes are sad and cut off.’ Vixen explained through her telepathy. Izuku nodded to her, looking back to see Todoroki’s rather calm face as he took a bite of his cold soba.

Izuku gave a look over to Koda who was happily petting Kimi who was resting on his lap. He looked over to Vixen before taking a deep breath and walking back over to Todoroki.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Izuku asked.

Todoroki started at him, “...nothing?”

“I… goodness, I’m not good at talking to people,” Izuku muttered to himself before focusing back on Todoroki. “Well..”

‘Ah, I have to do everything. Izuku, stand back, I think I know how to deal with a situation like this.’ Vixen said.

‘What are you going to do?’ Izuku questioned through his mind.

Vixen curled back her two tails to show him her pale pink scar that never quite went away. ‘Show him that he is one of us. And that there is nothing to be afraid of.’

Todoroki was in the middle of slurping up his noodles again when Vixen gracefully walked right up to him. Todoroki looked down at her surprised since he has never seen a fox with two tails before. He swallowed as he looked down at her brilliant white fur that was covered in red markings. His eyes trailed over the pink scar as she rubbed her face against his cold leg.

“Animals can tell who is a good person. Vixen can tell that you are one of them.” Izuku explained.

Todoroki raised a brow, “One of them?”

Izuku nodded, “Yeah, each one of these animals are my friends. They were..neglected, abandoned or abused . I came across them while I was growing up and slowly just adopted them into my family life to show them love they deserve.”

“What makes you think I’m one of them?” Todoroki question with a bit of an angry tone.

“Your eyes. They show a level of sadness that I can recognize.” Izuku replied.

Todoroki’s eyes went down to the table silently. “I don’t need to tell you anything.”

“You don’t. But I just want to say that this place is safe. If you ever need a sanctuary, just come here.” Izuku offered.

“Thank you for your offer.” Todoroki looked back up with a small smile. He looked back down to see how the little cats were still gathered around him. “Do you mind telling me their names?”

“No problem at all.” Izuku said, gesturing to the small cats and introducing them one at a time. Koda started at the soft interaction while finishing up his drink with a grin.

Vixen looked back up and congratulated herself for a job well done since the boy seemed less closed off. ‘Hopefully the young Todoroki can feel safe again,’ Vixen thought to herself as she curled up under the table.

Chapter Text

Koda sat back in his seat after getting the scare of his life during lunch. First, they had an election to decide who was going to be class president. He ended up voting for Iida since he seemed to be really excited about the position. Yaoyorozu won the position of class president and Iida became the Vice President.

Then, they went to lunch only to be freaked out by an alarm which caused everyone to crowd and push against each other. Koda kept freaking out and stuck close to Tokoyami during the whole incident before Iida slammed into the exit sign to inform everyone it was just the press.

And now, everyone was back in class.

Sato looked at Koda and whispered from behind him, “Hey, Koda, did you do the English homework? I had some trouble with nine. Was it past tense or present tense?”

“It was present tense,” Koda answered back softly.

Tokoyami hummed, “Ah, I was mistaken on my homework as well then.”

Meanwhile Aizawa sat at his desk, still pondering over who in his class or in UA could be Izuku’s old bully. They have no tolerance for bullying at this school, so he would have to keep his eye out. As far as he knows, the whole class visited Izuku’s cafe from what he told him the previous night.well the whole class except for one…

Aizawa is going to keep an eye on Bakugo for now to see. It looks like he has some issues to work through, one of them was his ego. He will just have to see about him in the future since he hasn’t really done anything except acting very brash and cocky.

Koda looked to the window to see a familiar squirrel on the sill just hanging out. That reminds him to recap Izuku on his time at a school tomorrow since he had homework. Tonight. He wonders what Izuku will do today. He hopes that the cafe is doing alright, it does get pretty crowded there. Maybe he can ask Sato if he can help out there for a little while to help them out.

*

The cafe was busy today. Izuku’s little friend with the mohawk of snakes came to visit after his parents got off of work. Big Mama seems to have a soft spot just for him. There was a new couple who just loved Yunikon, Sora, Cheiko, and Suzu. But from the way business was going, they might need to invest in some employees to help out. They should need another pair of hands or two to make sure that they can keep up with all the business.

Other than the lunch rush, the day was mostly filled with take out orders for people on the go and only a few people actually stayed in to enjoy the cafe with all the animals inside. He noticed how one girl giggled when Kosuke slowly waved back to her after she waved to him shyly.

Sooner than later, they had run out of the good coffee beans to make coffee. Izuku went ahead and volunteered to go get some from the grocery store a few blocks away. It was starting to get dark, so his parents were a bit hesitant to let him go alone before Vixen stepped up beside him proudly. Inko relaxed at the sight of Vixen next to him, patting Hisashi on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry. Vixen will protect him, she has his back,” Inko said with a smile to Vixen. Vixen nodded to her before nudging Izuku out of the door. “She won’t let any harm come to him. I trust her. Now come on, let’s go make sure everyone inside is comfortable. Izuku shouldn’t be too long.”

“Okay, honey,” hisashi agreed before saying a short goodbye to his son, “Be safe, Izuku!”

“I’ll try,” Izuku answered, allowing Vixen to take the lad as he followed her outside.

“That doesn’t sound reassuring,” Hisashi replied back as Kimi headbutted him in the ankle. He looked down to pick her up in his arms. “I think he will be okay. Do you think so?”

Kimi looked into his eyes while sniffing her nose. He booped her on the nose. “Good. We are on the same page then.”

*

“Okay, we have the coffee beans, a jar of sweet cherries, and more whipped cream. Are we missing anything?” Izuku asked, looking down at the items in his arms.

‘No. I think we are all good. Ooh, wait grab that creamer, we might need it,’ Vixen replied to him through her mind, pointing her nose at a vanilla creamer. Izuku grabbed before making his way to the cashier to pay for the items.

After Izuku bought the groceries, he exited the store with Vixen at his heels and a reusable bag in his hands. Izuku and Vixen were casually chatting as they walked down the street. It consisted of Vixen answering back with her mind as Izuku talked normally to her.

Izuku was just starting to pass the same street that he found Sukoshi and Big Mama at from the smuggler incident. It didn’t sound good when he heard a whimper come from down the alleyway. By the looks of Vixen’s ears perking up, she heard them too.

Izuku exchanged a look with Vixen before peeking his head to see down the alleyway. Just like before, there was a van with a man standing outside of it. He looked to be talking on the phone with the bed of the van open slightly to reveal a huge silver cage in the back.

Izuku gasped and Vixen growled at the sight of blood matted on fur. There wasn’t much, thank goodness, but it was obvious that whatever animal was in the cage was injured.

Vixen looked up to him, ‘I despise humans like this. The ones that think they can get away with things like this. The ones that don’t care about the ones they hurt.’

Izuku nodded, returning his thought as an answer to her, ‘I don't like people like this either. Whoever is in the cage needs help. The van is similar to the one from the incident before, so this might be another smuggling situation. It looks so familiar to the night that I met Big Mama and Sukoshi…’

‘We need a plan,’ Izuku said, watching as the man banged on the side of the van, causing the whimpers to become quiet in fear. ‘And I think I have just the idea.’

Vixen narrowed her eyes at him, ‘I have a clue, and it is a terrible idea,’

‘Well? Do you have a plan?’ Izuku asked.

‘Look, the man is already distracted. You and I just grab the animal and run for our lives.’ Vixen summed up. ‘If he tries anything, I can defend us by attacking him.’

‘Okay. Let’s sneak up while he is still on the call. We help get them out and run. But if something unsuspected happens…’

‘Like that?’ Vixen asked, causing Izuku to look back to see that the animals were actually animals. As in plural. Suddenly, they saw four pairs of eyes staring from inside the cage. One even pawed at the cage slightly, showing off their fluffy paws in the moonlight.

‘Exactly like that. Okay, going with my plan, I distract him when he gets off the phone. While he is still distracted, I will help you get the pups out of there.” Izuku said, tying his hair up tighter in the small ponytail he already had.

‘Alright, but I will attack if he even tries to go three feet near you.’ Vixen added.

Izuku smiled, ‘That sentiment is very much appreciated.’

Izuku turned back to the van,stuffing his hand into his pocket to pull out his phone. With a few buttons pressed, he sent his location to Eraserhead. By this time, he should already be on patrol. With as little noise as he could, he hid the grocery bag between two cardboard boxes.

Quietly, the two snuck closer to the van, making sure to keep in the shadows. With a wink, Vixen signaled to Izuku that the man was indeed alone since she didn’t see or smell anyone else with him except the pups. Izuku nodded back to her as he crept closer to the cage. Vixen silently hopped next to the cage to soothe the pups.

Izuku saw their shivering bodies up close, but even then they didn’t look at him with anything but hope. Hope that he might be different than the man they knew. With a steady hand, he carefully outstretched it to the pups inside the cage. Vixen seemed to communicate with a few noises to them that Izuku was trusted. Thankfully, it was enough to convince two of the four to allow Izuku to pick them up gently and set them on the ground.

Vixen hurriedly picked one up by the back of the neck with her jaw before gently jumping to the ground to allow the other to rest by their other siblings. But when Izuku reached for the last one, he saw the shadow of the man approaching the back. With his quick thinking, Izuku picked up a large piece of gravel from the ground of the alley and threw it as hard as he could to the front of the van. The man turned to the front in a hurry and started shouting at the mysterious disturbance to leave.

With the distraction, Izuku picked up the last pup and placed them on the ground. Vixen took the lead and guided the pups to the en did the alleyway. One of them was limping, so she easily picked them up by the back of their neck to continue to escape.

“Hey!” The man’s voice yelled louder than ever as he grabbed Izuku by his ponytail. Vixen looked back to see the man and growled. She quickly guided the pups under the cardboard box to stay out of sight as Izuku struggled to fight off the man.

Izuku tried to grab for his pepper spray, but then the man pulled out a switchblade. Izuku focused on the knife in his hands for a short moment before he saw Vixen fully pounce on the man, biting his fleshy side of his leg straight through his sweatpants.

Izuku watched as Vixen big hard on the man’s leg causing him to cry out. He tried to swing his knife at her before Izuku grabbed his arm. Izuku was struggling to get the blade away from Vixen, causing the man to get a lengthy slice on his arm from the blade. Vixen growled low when she saw Izuku get hurt.

Izuku was temporarily blinded by light as he heard the man fall down, hearing the sound of his head bounce off against the corner of the van. Izuku squinted to see Vixen with three tails. Wait, three tails?! Vixen looked back at her own tails in surprise before swaying all of them happily.

Then a sudden noise caused Izuku to look back, making him face the tired face of Eraserhead with his yellow goggles on.

“Heeeyyyy,” Izuku greeted, holding his arm to try to stop the bleeding from the blade slice. Eraserhead silently detained the man as Izuku heard police siren closing in to where they were. Vixen trotted back to the pups to soothe them as Izuku let Eraserhead wrap his arm temporarily.

*

After everything went down, they were all back at the cafe. Vixen was letting the young cats play with her new tail. His mother fretted over the scratch on his arm from the attempt the man tried to take with his switchblade. His dad patched him up with the first aid kit since the cut wasn’t that serious. He helped out the police once again with his witness testimony as Eraserhead sat with his coffee off to the side.

Yukiko stayed open a little longer to help care for the injured pups. The four pups seem to be wolves that have been mixed with some breed of dog. She guesses it might be a husky that the wolf parent was breeded with from the looks of the fur.

Izuku’s parents are just glad he and Vixen didn’t get hurt badly from the encounter. Eraserhead looked stressed from the whole encounter, either that or he was just tired. Or both?

After being questioned by the police, Izuku sat across from Eraserhead. “Are you enjoying your night?”

Eraserhead just gave him a look as he sipped his coffee. “Quick question..”

“Yes?”

“Are you always this selfless yet reckless at the same time? Or am I just now noticing it?” Aizawa asked, rubbing his fingers against his temple.

“Yes.”

Chapter Text

After the event with the wolf pups, Izuku wanted to make sure that the pups were accommodated properly. He didn’t want them to run around the cafe yet in fear that they might be a little too fearful of humans given that they were treated rather harshly. Thankfully, Vixen has stepped up to be a great influence on them as well as the other dogs.

There were three male wolf pups with one female as the youngest one. Sakumo was the oldest and imprinted on Vixen the most since he always followed after her. Lobo was the fluffiest out of his siblings. Hinto was the youngest brother with his black and white fur being his most defining feature. The girl was named Chai after she bumped into the tea table when she was chasing Hinto around the kitchen in their home above the cafe.

Chieko was the oldest out of his friends so she was more of the calm teacher who taught them how to be calmer. Suzu was the most playful influence on them. Yunikon and Sora were learning with the other puppies like slightly older siblings to the young wolf pups. But Vixen was proving to be the most effective in her teachings of being the adoptive mom to them.

Izuku’s new axolotl friend Guinevere was still up in his room along with the ant farm since the pet cafe didn’t have any room for them just yet. They would have to form the walls to hold the water for Guinevere’s tank and be roomy enough for her to take care of her need to swim freely. The ant farm was going well, Izuku couldn’t really name any of the ants except the Queen, so he just named her Queenie.

Sho had fully made a corner in Izuku’s room his place by continuing to bring in branches to nest himself inside. Eraser still visited every night for fruits.

Thanks to Zuku’s Pet Cafe doing well in sales, he was able to purchase a lot of new toys for his friends. Kimi got a nibble toy along with a carrot-themed toy. Hotaru, Takeo, Sukoshi, and Big Mama got balls of varying sizes to play around with along with variations of different textured toys to enjoy. Turters got a little platform for his tank as well as a rope ball and a hide-a-treat toy.

All of the cats got nice things that varied from sushi-themed toys to more interactive toys. Kisuke and Pascal got toys that looked like moss and branches based on their color. Izuku trusted the opinions on the pet store that he always bought from, they always looked excited when he walked in there.

Mic got a long climbing toy with different things to spin and interact with one each level in the corner. And Ren was enjoying her new rocks with all of her legs.

With Yunikon currently chewing on one of his shoelaces, he looked over to his mom working the respite to see Kimi laying by her feet to soak in the sunlight that the window was allowing in. Some of the young children at the tables were playing with Suzu and Chieko who were loving their attention from the wagging of their tails.

Vixen was currently upstairs with the other young dogs to train them. Hisashi was up there as well to get them more used to humans so they don’t accidentally snap one of the customers if they were being too rough with them.

Kisuke was out of his tank, sitting on top of a university student’s table since she expressed how she truly loved reptiles. Izuku and her even talked a bit while he got him out of his places about her two bearded dragons at her apartment. Ren was currently hidden inside her little flower pot as far as Izuku could see from his spot with menus currently under his arm.

Izuku turned to walk to the kitchen to get a water canister for refills when he came back out to see an older teen with dyed hair currently bopping his head from the music coming out of his headphones around his neck. Midoriya smiled when he saw Mic bouncing his head from the beat coming out of the headphones. The guy was currently sipping on his juice with his sandwich half-eaten in front of him.

Speaking of guys, he wonders how Koda is doing today. His curiosity was getting the better of him when he wondered what he was doing in his hero class.

*

Koda had no idea how any of this happened. One moment Thirteen was explaining the USJ and the next he was swirling around in the purple mist of a villain who teleported him and Tokoyami to one of the zones.

‘Wow, I wonder what Izuku will say when I tell him about this,’ He thought to himself, raising his arms when he saw multiple villains slowly approaching the two of them.

Chapter Text

Koda had no idea what was happening. One moment the teacher was talking about their quirk and how even though it was dangerous and could kill, they’re ere using it for good. Then the lights went out, villains broke in before they could start their lesson and a purple mist villain had teleported him away.

He ended up in a somewhat dark area that was raining with Tokoyami. He let out a sigh of relief when he noticed that he was not alone that turned into a wheeze when he realized that they were surrounded by a group of villains.

“Hi,” Dark Shadow greeted happily. Koda waved back at him before the shadow turned its sight on the men surrounding them. The rain was beating down on them, making a symphony from the beat of the water droplets hitting the ground.

“Dark Shadow and I will take care of the west flank,” Tokoyami told Koda who was standing back to back with his classmate.

Koda hummed his agreement right as Dark Shadow intercepted a man who rushed forward towards the two students. Tokoyami fought hand to hand with a man with long fingers that scratched at him.

Koda readied his fist to block against the attacks coming at him, pushing them away from him and throwing a punch directly into another’s face.

One by one, thug after thug, both of them took the thugs down until they all laid on the ground mildly injured from the fight. Dark Shadow saw this opportunity to see the sliver of light coming from the entrance of the zone. Tokoyami grabbed onto Koda’s arm to run with him towards the exit.

Koda runs with Tokoyami to escape the pouring rain of the zone and away from the injured thugs behind them. When the exited the zone, they had a clear view of what was happening in the middle of the Unforeseen Simulation Joint. They could see the hideous monster that they saw walk through the portal with the villain with hands covering his body.

And now, the monster was above the motionless body of the teacher with the villain walking towards the water where one of their classmates was frozen in fear. Koda recognized Tsuyu even from their spot from the dark green color against the blue of the water. The hand-covered villain reached towards Tsuyu’s face.

But right as the villain’s hands came in contact with Tsuyu’s face, the villain turned back to face Aizawa who was apparently stopping him from using his quirk.

Koda desperately looks around for an animal to call on, praying that any kind of bird or insect might be around to aid him. He couldn’t see any of them in sight, but he was going to shout for them to help when Shigaraki was slowly walking back to their home room teacher.

Dark Shadow gasped behind him with Tokoyami holding onto Koda’s arm to pull him away from the rain zone entrance just in case the men inside was heading towards them.

But right as Koda opened his mouth to call for help on any animals around them, he heard a sudden eruption of noise towards the entrance of the USJ. Koda turned his head to see All Might at the top of the stairs dressed in yellow.

*

“All Might?!”

Koda nodded his head frantically as he recounted the tale from there. How All Might had defeated the monster with a series of heavy powered punches before the villains retreated. After that, both of the teachers that were hurt were escorted to the hospital to be treated for their injuries while the other staff members gathered the students that were spread around the building. The small-time villains were all arrested afterwards by the police.

Izuku breathed in, no doubt thinking about Eraserhead in the hospital since Koda heard about his teacher visiting here during the nights.

Koda chuckled as the wolf dogs pounced onto his shoes to try and chew on his shoelaces.

“What’s new around here?” Koda asked quietly as he allowed the wolf dogs to crawl all over his lap. Chai was currently trying to lick all over his face no matter how much he moved his face away from their tongue.

“Nothing That new. Although dad was bringing up an idea of expanding the cafe to have more room since the cafe has been doing really good in sales. So if we put aside some money, we could extend and remodel a bit.”

“That sounds nice. It would mean more room for customers and new animals you will bring home,” Koda replied as Hinto sat on his feet while Chai settled into his lap. Sakumo dropped down from the couch with Lobo to set their attention on Izuku.

Izuku smiled at his friend, “You make it sound like I return with an animal every time I go outside.”

Koda raised an eyebrow. Izuku rolled his eyes at his friend, “Okay, it’s true. I might have a problem with adopting every animal I see. But I don’t know fully about the idea yet since it might mean we have to move buildings to somewhere new.

“This place already has everything and it’s so close to the Yukiko who can make sure all the animals are alright. But I really want to have at least more of a backyard where all the dogs can run around more instead of me having to walk them to the park to do their business,” Midoriya explained as Lobo hopped into his lap to get cuddles. Izuku ruffled his fluffy fur coat as the wolf dog licked and nibbled at his fingers. “I’m still thinking it over and going over the options.”

“It sounds stressful. I can’t imagine having to take care of a business especially now.”

“Yeah. Could you imagine if I was trying to juggle school along with this? Oh, I would have dropped out so quickly. Probably quicker than All Might finishing a fight,” Izuku said, scratching behind Lobo’s ears.

“How’s the cafe going in general?”

“Thankfully, we got a new employee to help with the workload around here.”

Koda hummed as Chai crawled over him to get him to play with them. He let out a small giggle when Chai started to attack his neck with her wet nose. Hinto saw his chance and jumped back on the couch to push his body against the student to get more rubs.

“Their name is Shuichi Iguchi. He starts at the beginning of next week,” Izuku paused to run his fingers through the fur of Chieko who was sitting next to him on the floor while he sat on the chair across from his friend. “And don’t worry, we made sure that he got along with all of the animals before hiring him to make sure he could handle that responsibility.”

“That’s good.”

“Yeah, the guests are bouncing between only a few customers to as crowded as a bullet train. I just hope Shuichi will be able to handle his first week. We plan on doing some training during the weekend,” Izuku says. “Just letting him study what he needs to know about the animal friend we have and then the next day will be learning what the cafe has. So he should be prepared by the start of next week if everything goes well.”

Chapter Text

Pet cafe

Iguchi was really tired of playing the same games he could afford all day long in his room. It had been forever since he got out of high school. And ever since then it was hard to find a job, so he just started to spend his time locked away in his room with instant ramen and video games.

He didn’t know what to do with his life except having fun.

But eventually the money became less and less so he had to look for a job. He wasn’t thinking of much happening when he sent in his resume for a cafe since he didn’t have much experience in anything.

So he was more confused than excited when he learned that he got the job.

So he got dressed in the clothes he had washed only a few days ago, sure it was a bit wrinkled from laying in the basket for a few days. But it was better than his other clothes that were stained. It still had the clean air scent from the dryer sheets he found in the laundromat.

Iguchi kept messing with his hair while he walked towards the cafe with the decorated sign beckoning him forward.

He heard some things about the cafe from people he walked by on the street, about how it was some sort of pet cafe. He guessed it might be like a cat cafe when he sent in his resume, but he never really went inside the cafe so he really didn’t know what to expect.

But he was ready for anything. He pulled out his phone to check the notes that the owners had sent over to him, informing him that the cafe door was open, but it was just closed for the public.

And immediately he was greeted with a small group of dogs heading his way. His eyes widened as all four of them ran towards him with yips and barks. He bent down slightly when they finally got to him, letting them smell him before he would reach out and pet them.

“Who’s a good doggy?” Iguchi smiled as the Akita Inu laid on their back for him to pet their stomach. “I bet you are.”

“I see you have already met four of my friends.”

Iguchi looked up to see a teenage boy looking back at him with a relaxed smile that growled bigger when one of the bigger dogs trotted their way towards him to get some pets of their own. “Hey, Chieko. Thanks for greeting the new recruit.”

Chieko barked back at him with their tongue flopping out of their mouth as their tail went wild when the teenager started to scratch their back in a good spot.

The teenager pulled a piece of paper from their pocket, a paper that looked familiar to his resume. “You must be Iguchi Shūichi, correct?

“Ah yes, that’s me,” Iguchi responded as a dog’s tongue licked his face after he replied. He stood up after that, removing himself from the licking range as the dogs settled down.

“Great. You’re here right on time,” the teenager responded back to him. “Did you have any trouble finding your way here?”

“Uh, not that much trouble. When I saw the sign, I knew I was in the right place.” Iguchi brushed his hands against his pants. “So where do I start?”

“Let’s begin with completing the introduction first. I am Midoriya Izuku and I basically run the store along with my parents,” Midoriya introduced himself calmly. The dogs walked away from Iguchi’s legs around to the corner of the wall to play together with the rope toy that was waiting there. “I will introduce you to each animal in the cafe, so you can know what is needed for them. I have a paper ready for you to look over when you get back home.”

“Awesome. It’s nice to meet you, Midoriya,” Iguchi replied.

Midoriya nodded, “And it’s good to finally have another worker here because the cafe can be a bit overwhelming when you’re understaffed on a busy hour.”

“Now,” Midoriya clapped his hands together. “I’ll introduce you to the cash register area, the kitchen area, and finally the pets in the main area. I have already moved them from upstairs to the downstairs play area just so I can introduce you fully to them with no problem.”

“First up is the cash register area, this is where people can order takeout, will ask for a table, and just overall pay for their food ahead of time or after they have eaten,” Midoriya said, allowing Iguchi to come behind the register to show him how it works. Iguchi took a moment to look at the large menus on the wall indicating what kind of food they serve. “We accept debit, credit and cash here. I think dad is working on bringing a touch-less option that they can scan their phone to pay virtually.”

Midoriya coached him through the motions of how to open the register to get the change for the customer, which buttons to press on the screen, and more. Iguchi was pleasantly surprised it was a touchscreen when Midoriya added that they originally had an old model, but they upgraded to deal with customer order faster.

Midoriya guided him away from the register to a door past a set of stairs. “Here is where the kitchen is. This is where the food is prepared for the customers. Prep work is done the night before and the day of.” He gestured to two double doors that were just inside the room. “And that separate closet room is the pantry. You may spot a bat in there, but don’t worry and just feed him some fruit because that is what he is after. His name is Eraser and he only comes by during the night, so unless you have a nightshift you wouldn’t need to worry.”

Midoriya breathed in after talking for so long, “And it’s basically basic stuff from here on out. You may not need to cook or bake at all since we mostly take care of that. But if we do need your help, we guide you through it while it’s being made.” Midoriya gestured to the tall fridges along the wall. “This fridge is for the ingredients and the seepage One is for the already done prep work that will be baked in the morning and so on. Any ingredients we use are mostly fresh like the fruits.”

“The ovens are there for the baking, the stove tops are for the cooking, and we have several mixers for the drinks like the milkshakes or smoothies. We have the coffee machine right here next to the electric kettle for the teas.”

Iguchi looked over both of them to see that he had both of those types of models back at his own apartment that his mother had gifted to him. “I know how to use the kettle and coffee machine.”

“Great, so you can prepare the drinks as needed,” Midoriya grinned. “We will help if you have any further questions on how the drinks are prepared.”

“And now for the final step. It is time for you to meet the stars of the show!” Midoriya said, walking towards the main room with all the tables that were waiting for them.

*

“You have already met Chieko, Suzu, Yunikon, and Sora,” Midoriys gestured to the dogs that greeted him at the door. They were all roughhousing together with Chieko laying down and watching over them. “There are several more puppies upstairs, but they haven’t been in the cafe that much since my dad is still training them.

Midoriya gestured to a tall cat tower that took up half the wall with seven cats that looked like Japanese Bobtails climbing on it. “This is Miyu, Mitsuo, Masa, Masaru, Manama, Miwa, and Miyako. Miyu is the mother to all of them. They all have comfortable collars on so you can tell the difference between them. They all act differently so I put that detail in the paper I will give you at the end.”

“That is Mic, he is a cockatiel named after Present Mic,” Midoriya gestured over to a bird that was preening his feathers on top of a stand in the corner near the window. He is easy to take care of, but he might surprise you with his sudden singing. So be careful with that.”

Midoriya squatted down to move his hand over a little area with a fluffy bunny laying down. “Down here is Kimi. She is very sweet and she mostly stays in this area for the day, he doesn’t like to walk around the tables as much as the cats and dogs do.”

“Onto the large tanks in the wall. You might not need to access them, but just in case there is a secret method to open them up for you to either feed them or take them out to let them get pet by anybody,” Midoriya explained, showing how it is done by demonstrating with a tank with a small turtle inside. “This is Turters. He won’t snap at you and be careful with the way you pick him up.”

Midoriya gently picked Turters up to show Iguchi directly how to hold him through the visual example. “I will teach you how to pick up the pets carefully and how to transfer them to the people who want to hold them.”

Midoriya set Turters down before opening up two more tanks using the same technique. “Just let me know if you can’t open a tank if you need help in the future. And ask any questions if I’m going too fast.”

“I’m good for now,” Iguchi replied easily, watching a chameleon travel up Midoriya’s arm as he picked up a bearded dragon with his other hand.

“This is Kisuke and this little guy is Pascal,” Midoriya tilted his head towards the chameleon that was traveling up His arm to his shoulder. “Pascal likes to just travel around on your shoulder if you let him. Kisuke likes to be held, but doesn’t like strokes that much. But he does like pats on his head.”

Midoriya set them both down while Iguchi looked around him only for his eyes to catch on the scales of a huge snake laying on top of a tree-like structure in the corner. Iguchi’s eyes widened. “Woah, that’s a huge snake.”

Midoriya followed his gaze to see the long snake draped over the branches. “That’s Big Mama. She is the largest out of everyone. But don’t worry, she is a total sweetheart and very well-behaved.”

“And since you brought up Big Mama, I’ll introduce you to the rest of the snakes.” Midoriya said, opening another two tanks with snakes inside. He gently grabbed a python wrapped in a ball and let another drag itself onto his arm. He didn’t move his arms that far away from the tanks before turning to him. He gestured to the ball python with his head, “His name is Takeo.” And then he moved his arm up slightly to show off the longer python. “And her name is Hotaru.”

“Sukoshi is also in this smaller tank since he isn’t that big. I can’t really see him right now, so he must be hiding. You must deal with him the gentlest since he is very small and can fit in the size of your palm,” Midoriya explained as he set the other two down gently back into their homes, giving them each a quick head pat with a smile.

Midoriya straighten up before addressing Iguchi with a serious look on his face, “Before I forget, I know in the resume you don’t have any allergies to the pets here. But are you sure there isn’t any pet you are afraid of? Like spiders, lizards, reptiles of any kind?”

“To be honest, I’m a bit off with spiders, but only like the little ones. If you have a tarantula, I’m cool with it,” Iguchi replied. None of the animals here put him on edge or made him scared to touch them.

“That’s great because this is Ren,” Midoriya moved over to the side to another tank between the reptiles that had a flower pot inside. Iguchi peered closer to see furry legs popping out from the wood piece in there.

Iguchi spotted a missing leg on the spider, “Aren’t spiders supposed to grow back their limbs?”

“Mmhmm. Ren is a bit different.” Midoriya watched as Ren slowly crawled underneath her flowerpot inside her tank. “But we love her just the way she is.”

“There are a lot of pets here,” Iguchi said as he looked around at all the space with the cats and dogs starting to roam. A cat grazed against his ankle as they walked past him to the window. “What happens when they get stressed or something?”

“Situations like that do happen when it gets a bit overwhelming like some of the cats will get overwhelmed but the amount of pets they get. When that sort of thing happens, I just bring them upstairs away from all the people. I don’t want to put them through all of that if I can help it.”

“You must care about them,” Iguchi replied honestly, relaxing while he was talking. “I think some people would have done nothing to help since it brought them money.”

“Well, I found most of them abandoned and I saw a bit of myself in them. It would be like leaving them to suffer and I couldn’t do that to any of them,” Midoriya breathed in, resting his hands on the glass surface of the tank. “I’m quirkless so a lot of people just pushed me to the side like that. Not caring about me if I was pushed around or left behind. So I don’t want them to feel that way.”

“And yet here you are a business owner at the age of, what, fourteen?”

“Fifteen actually,” Midoriya’s eyes twinkled as he replied. And Iguchi couldn’t help but feel like he passed a silent test when Midoriya smiled.

“That’s impressive. More than what I have,” Iguchi explained. He looked at the bearded dragon named Kisuke as they relaxed under the lamp in their tank. “I got out of high school but that’s it. I have nothing else worthy to my name. And I didn’t even know I would get accepted to this job, I thought it was a long shot, yet here I am.”

Iguchi looked over Izuku’s shoulder to see a flash of white fur disappear behind the cat tower. He looked closer just in time to see a fox of white and red climb on top of a chair. “Oh, who is the fox?”

“Oh, that’s Vixen,” Midoriya introduced before straightening up to gaze at the white and red fox. Iguchi stood still as the fox’s eyes seemed to trail down his body like they were scanning him. Until Vixen jumped down from the table and started to head towards the stairs. “Good news, she likes you.”

Iguchi blinked. He feels like that was another test if the way that the teenager acted with the fox was any sort of clue.

The rest of the training went smoothly with Izuku presenting the papers that he needed to look over that would detail each animal. And then Izuku showed him the basics of the drinks that would come in handy since he started the next day. Midoriya went through each and every detail and answered all the questions that Iguchi had as they walked through the cafe multiple times just so he could remember everything he needed to do.

“See you tomorrow, Iguchi! Have a safe trip back!” Midoriya yelled out in farewell followed by multiple dogs barking at him. Iguchi waved back at them while he walked down the street to head back home.

Iguchi traveled back to his small apartment the way he came with a paper packet held tightly in his hands with a growing smile on his face. And once he entered his apartment, he instantly jumped onto his mattress to relax.

Pulling out his phone from out of his pocket, he called his mother to tell her the good news. It took a few rings before his mother picked up. “Shūichi?“

“Hi mom,” Iguchi said looking down at the paper he held. It had stickers of cute little animals, bullet points of information, and little facts at the bottom. All with his name signed in Kanji at the top. “I got a job.”

Chapter Text

“Special at table 4,” Midoriya called out with Chieko walking around his legs to get attention from a four year old girl.

Iguchi nodded back at him while handing glasses of sodas to a table of older teens who looked like they were in university. “Enjoy your drinks.”

“Thanks, dude.”

Iguchi was doing well in the cafe despite just starting out recently. And Pascal, the veiled chameleon, had taken an extreme liking to him. Pascal was often riding around on his shoulder when he was taken out of his cage.

Iguchi started to only struggle when the cafe was really filled with people. But he was slowly getting the hang of it with Izuku there to help him through the crowded tables.

On his break, Izuku went up the stairs to his room to check on the recently expanded ant farm. He had made a new enclosure that allowed the ants to roam around more in plastic tubes. Although he made sure it was tightly closed off since he didn’t want them roaming around his room. Sometimes he would feed them little pieces of their baked goods to give them sweetened bread along with their regular food.

He looked towards Guinevere, the pink axolotl, in a tank and gave her a check over. “Hey, Girl. Are you okay? I see you ate all the breakfast I gave you earlier today.”

The axolotl swam around the bottom of the tank while he watched over them. With a smile, he exited his room only to be jumped on by the wolf dogs who wanted attention.

“Okay, Okay. I can play for like a few minutes before I need to go back downstairs,” Izuku reassured the dogs while they playfully nipped at his fingers. He bent down to pick up a chewed up baseball. “Fetch!”

*

Koda listened from his seat as a bandaged Aizawa announced to them all about the Sports Festival coming up in two weeks. He barely heard Uraraka hyping herself up when thoughts started to rush through his head.

‘What am I supposed to do? How would I use my quirk?’ Koda thought to himself while he tapped his pencil against his paper.

And those thoughts continue to cycle through his mind through the rest of his classes until lunch when he sat with Shoji and Tokoyami.

“Koda, what do you think about the festival being moved up?” Shoji asked with one of his mouths on his appendages.

“I... I don’t know,” Koda answered quietly. “I don’t think I’m ready.”

“Revelry in the darkness,” Tokoyami added dramatically while Dark Shadow snagged an apple slice off of his tray. “Since the festival goes on all throughout the day, I must train with Dark Shadow, so we can be at our best even with the solar rays on us, restricting his darkness.”

Dark Shadow munched on another apple slice while Shoji coughed behind his mask. His mouth at the end of his arm starting talking, “I’m just going to aim to do my best no matter how far into the competition I make it to.”

Koda nodded at his friend’s words, keeping to himself as the other two talked about little stories they had.

It was after lunch when they headed back to their homeroom before moving into their next class. When Bakugo swung open the door to find a large amount of students surrounding the door.

Bakugo scoffed at the crowd, “Great, you know what we look like. Now move it, extras.”

“Don't call people extras! That is extremely rude,” Iida shouted out near the back wall of the classroom. His voice steadily grew louder as he headed over to the blonde in the doorway.

“Hey, if any of us do well, we can transfer into the Hero course with no sweat,” a deep voice interrupted what the class President was about to say to the crowd. Koda peeked around his other classmates to see a head of purple hair staring down Bakugo. “And then they’ll kick any of you out to make it possible. So don’t look down on us.”

Many other students nodded at his words. Some students in the classroom looked at each other with wary looks.

‘One of us could be kicked out?’ Koda thought to himself. ‘But wait, Mineta got kicked out, so there is already an open seat available.’

“I mean, there is already an empty seat,” Koda heard Kaminari mutter to Kirishima.

“So watch your backs because I’m coming for that spot in the Hero course. Just like the rest of us,” the purple haired ten stated before turning around and disappearing into the crowd of students.

“...Does that guy have a lego brick for his head?” Koda heard Kaminari mumble again. Koda watched as Kaminari slowly nodded as he glanced around at the other students behind the door. “Cool.”

“Alright,” Aizawa interrupted from the hallway. “Back to class, everyone. Or else Nedzu is going to have a very long line to his office.”

The other students scattered at the threat of seeing the principal. Aizawa breathed out as he walked inside the classroom.

“I don’t get paid enough for this,” Aizawa said, leaning down to suck on a fruit pouch left on his desk.