A/N: it is complete. Enjoy.

The day had finally come. Iida and Shouto were officially being discharged from the hospital, with orders to take it easy and try not to fight any more villains. Shouto's X-ray and Iida's MRI had both come back with positive results, showing no further complications with their injuries. Thanks to several healing Quirks, Iida's stitches were all out and he only had a few bandages left. Shouto had two little scars on his right side, and he could move his shoulder fairly well, though the stitches and bandages remained.

Two familiar faces were waiting for them as they walked out of the hospital.

"Welcome back to the world, problem children, " Aizawa said. Midoriya was with him, bouncing excitedly. He immediately pulled the two of them into a hug.

"I missed you."

"It's only been a couple of days," Iida replied. Shouto rolled his eyes.

"We missed you too," he said for both of them.

"You can talk in the car," Aizawa said, steering them towards the UA-issued car they had arrived in. "We've got places to be."

"Aren't we just going back to the dorms?" Shouto asked.

"Not yet. We're stopping somewhere else first."

"Where?"

"You'll see."

Iida took the front seat, leaving Midoriya and Shouto together in the back. Midoriya leaned towards him.

"I think he's gonna kill us," he mock-whispered. "He's gonna take us into a shady back alley and stab us." Aizawa rolled his eyes and started the car.

"Hilarious." The car pulled out of the hospital parking lot and headed onto the highway.

"So, where are we going then, if not to our deaths?" Shouto asked, a small grin on his face. "Picking up your groceries?"

"Very funny, problem child. No, it's something else. Just stop harassing me for five minutes and you'll see."

"But it's so fun," Midoriya chimed in. Aizawa glared at him through the rearview mirror.

"Don't make me change my mind."

They lapsed into silence for a few minutes. Shouto looked over Midoriya's shoulder as the other scrolled through the latest hero news on his phone. It seemed that Stain was still on the loose, which Shouto had expected. Still, it was a bit nerve-wracking to know that the man who had almost killed him was still out there.

As if sensing his unease, Midoriya closed the news app and switched over to memes. That lightened his mood considerably, and soon the worry was pushed to the back of his mind.

Aizawa exited the highway and moved onto a road that passed several shopping centers.

"You missed your turn," Shouto said with a straight face, pointing at the grocery store they had just passed.

"Iida, could you hit him for me?" His teacher asked. Shouto yelped and dodged his friend's hand.

"Stop distracting the driver!" Iida said, chopping his arm through the air.

"Protect me," Shouto said to Midoriya, hiding under his arm. The latter giggled.

"Iida, don't let him turn us against each other! We'll never be able to figure out where we're going if we're too busy fighting!"

"Too late, we're already here," Aizawa interrupted. Shouto hadn't even noticed that the car had stopped. He glanced up to see where they had ended up, and-

"Oh. Nice."

The front door of an animal shelter greeted them.

"Dorm cat!" Midoriya practically squealed. He hugged Shouto tightly and shook him. "We're getting a dorm cat!"

"You could have just said so," Iida said.

"That's no fun. Besides, I knew you'd all go nuts the moment I mentioned it, and I didn't want to drive with all that noise in my ear. You're lucky no one in your class is allergic." Aizawa shut off the car, and they all clambered out. Shouto could barely keep his excitement out of his expression.

"We're getting one cat. Not three. Not a dog. Got it?" Aizawa said. The three of them nodded vigorously. "Good. Let's go."

The door jingled as they entered, and a lady with long black hair greeted them.

"Hi, I'm Jean. Can I help you find anything today?"

"We're looking for a cat," Iida said.

"Preferably one that wouldn't mind living around twenty teenagers," Aizawa added. Jean looked a bit surprised at that, but she took it in stride.

"Boy cats tend to be more sociable. Want to start looking there?"

They followed Jean into the cat section. Behind glass, several cats were napping or climbing around their cat towers. Several others outside of the glass were playing in a fenced in area, and Jean led them there first.

"We tend to keep the more sociable cats out here," She explained. "They get bored in the cages. The others are fine with it, though- they love to nap."

One of the playful cats mewed at Shouto. He was a brown tabby with a bright orange collar. Shouto walked closer, putting a hand over the fence so the cat could bat at it.

"That's Bongo," Jean informed him. "He's a fan favorite."

Feeling a brush of fur on his hand, Shouto looked down and saw that the other cats were now crowding around his hand. Oh right- it was his left hand. They probably liked the heat.

"You can go in there, if you'd like," Jean offered. Shouto nodded hurriedly. Jean chuckled as she opened the gate, letting the three kids in with the cats.

Shouto was in heaven. The moment he had sat down, three cats had made themselves at home on his left side. A black cat on his right shoulder was chewing on his hair. Bongo demanded pets loudly, and he complied. A few feet away, an orange cat was chewing on Iida's engine pipes. Midoriya snapped a picture, then lost himself to laughter.

Shouto glanced back to the cats around him when one headbutted his hand. He was a grey tabby, and his collar said Oliver. Shouto scratched him under his chin, and let out a small smile when Oliver leaned so far into his touch that he fell over. The black cat on his shoulder smacked him in the face with a paw.

"I want them all," Shouto said to Aizawa.

"Trust me, I know the feeling," he replied.

Shouto glanced back at his friends. Midoriya was petting every cat he could reach, while Iida tried to shoo the orange cat away from his engines.

"Come hold this cat," he said, lifting up Bongo. The cat beeped indignantly. Midoriya came over first, and when he took Bongo, the cat immediately took a mouthful of his shirtsleeve and started pulling. Midoriya put him down, but Bongo kept pulling.

"He wants to take me somewhere," he joked. He then offered the cat a toy, which he took in favor of the shirt. Midoriya quickly found himself in a game of tug-of-war with the cat.

"He's like a dog," Iida said.

Midoriya passed the cat to Iida, who put him on his lap. Bongo settled down, resting his head on Iida's leg. He looked ready to take a nap right there.

"He seems to like you all," Aizawa commented.

"This one," Shouto said. "We're keeping this one."

"All in agreement?" The other two nodded. "Good."

"I can help you get everything sorted out," Jean said. "You kids can stay here if you like."

The two adults left the room, leaving the teens to continue playing with the cats. The orange cat that had been chewing on Iida's engine was named Cheddar, fittingly, and chewed on Shouto's finger lightly when he attempted to pet him. A brown cat kneaded his leg with his paws, and he felt the small pricks of claws poking through his pants.

Shouto picked up the brown cat, who hissed and smacked his shoulder in protest. Pain shot through the partially healed wound and Shouto cursed, dropping the cat and cradling his shoulder.

"Shit- are you alright?" Iida shot to his feet, and Bongo trotted over to Shouto. The cat sniffed his shoulder cautiously. The other brown cat kept his distance, looking spooked.

"Is it bleeding?" Midoriya asked.

"It shouldn't be," Shouto replied, but pulled his sleeve up to check anyways. The bandage was spotless, as expected. Bongo licked it. The pain was already starting to fade.

"This cat has cured me." Shouto plopped Bongo into his lap and tried to block him from continuing to lick the bandage. He offered a hand to the brown cat, who hesitated before headbutting it. Midoriya joined in, giving the brown cat a toy to play with.

"That probably spooked him. I bet he didn't think he hit you that hard," the other boy commented.

Bongo wandered off for a moment, then hopped back onto Iida's lap with a squeaky toy in his mouth. He plopped down and began gnawing on the fake frog.

"I'm glad we chose this one," Iida said. One of the lady cats behind the glass wall hissed at all the noise they were making. Bongo ignored her and kept squeaking. Cheddar batted at his swishing tail. The rest of the cats went off to nap, bored.

Aizawa returned, holding some paperwork and a cat carrier and putting a checkbook back into his pocket.

"We're all set, let's go," he said, putting down the cat carrier. Iida carefully dislodged Bongo, who squeaked his frog at them. They struggled to get him to drop the frog, but once he did it wasn't too hard to herd him into the carrier. Shouto had cat fur all over his clothes, but he didn't mind. He and Midoriya gave some goodbye pats to a few cats, then followed Aizawa out. Iida held the carrier, but passed it back to Shouto once they were in the car. Shouto and Midoriya played with Bongo through the bars of the door while Midoriya talked nonstop about the cats they had met. He barely took a break to breathe throughout the seven minute drive, and by the time they arrived at the dorms he was looking a bit lightheaded.

"I already bought some supplies beforehand, they're in the trunk," Aizawa informed them. Those supplies ended up being two large bags of cat food and litter, a cat bed, a litter box, and a box of toys. Shouto held onto the carrier this time, while Midoriya lifted both the litter and the cat food with surprising ease. Iida grabbed the bed and litter box, while Aizawa propped the box of toys under one arm so he could lock the car and open the door to the dorms with the other.

"We're back!" Midoriya announced, not even struggling under the two massive bags he was carrying. It looked like about half of the class was hanging out in the common room. A few of them waved at Iida and Shouto.

"What's all that stuff for?" Kaminari asked.

"Him," Iida replied, pointing to Bongo's carrier. Shouto crouched down and let him out. Bongo stretched and yawned, blinking at his new surroundings. He then settled down on the carpet and began grooming himself.

"Oh my God," Mina breathed. "You got a cat?"

"Why? Not that I'm complaining," Kirishima said, scooting over to pet the cat.

"You're all too stressed," Aizawa replied. "This is a solution. Don't make me regret it." With that he left. The room almost immediately exploded into noise.

"How did you do it? How'd you make him agree?" Mina demanded. "I have to know!" She grabbed the nearest person to her, which happened to be Shouto, and shook him wildly.

"Whose idea was this?" Kaminari asked. Shouto raised his hand. "You've saved us all," Kaminari deadpanned.

"I've wanted to pet a cat for weeks now," Kirishima said from the floor. "I missed my neighbor's cat."

"What's his name?" Jirou asked, letting the cat bat at her earjacks.

"Bongo," Midoriya replied, putting down the bags. "Give him a toy, he's like a dog."

Kirishima complied, grabbing a rope toy from the box and offering it to Bongo. The cat immediately latched on and tugged furiously.

"Man, he's strong! Dude, hold this." Kirishima passed the toy to Kaminari, who lurched forward from the force of Bongo's pulling.

"How did this happen?" Mina asked again as Kaminari was dragged into a tug-of-war with Bongo.

"Well... you guys heard what happened with Endeavor in the hospital, right?" Midoriya asked. Jirou winced in sympathy.

"Yeah. I heard he was real aggressive."

"We thought he was a villain at first," Shouto said, which was partially true. Thankfully the other two didn't contradict him. "He certainly acted like one."

"Technically he was breaking hospital rules just by being there," Iida said disapprovingly. "Such blatant disrespect to the doctors is unbecoming of a pro hero."

"Yeah, and he wouldn't stop screaming at us. It was terrifying," Midoriya added. "So we were all kind of shaken, and when Aizawa-sensei showed up, Todoroki asked him about the cat. I guess after what had just happened, he thought it might be a good idea."

Sero nodded seriously.

"So I'll ask for a dog the next time we get attacked by villains," he decided. Iida burst into protest.

Shouto tuned out the noise in favor of sitting down and scratching behind Bongo's ears. The tabby purred loudly and let go of the toy in Kaminari's hand to chew lightly on Shouto's fingers. It hurt a little, but Shouto didn't mind.

"The hell are you dipshits screaming about?" A familiar voice growled, and Bakugou came storming down the stairs. He stopped and stared at Bongo. The cat made a little bwurr sound at him.

"How the fuck."

"Todoroki convinced Aizawa-sensei that we're all too stressed," Sero replied. "And, y'know, he's not wrong."

"Come pet him!" Mina demanded, pointing at Bongo.

"I was already going to, asshole," Bakugou snapped. He stalked down the stairs and stood by Bongo. Said cat began chewing on his shoelaces.

"The nerve of this little shit," he grumbled. Then, to everyone's surprise, he scratched under Bongo's chin with a gentleness they'd never seen before. Shouto watched him blankly. Bakugou glared at him.

"Not a word, Icyhot."

The click of a camera broke the silence, and Bakugou's head snapped up with murder in his face.

"You're dead meat, Shitty Hair!" He leapt over Shouto to lunge at Kirishima, who was already running with his phone held high.

"He didn't even turn off the shutter sound," Kaminari snickered once they were out of earshot. Not like they would have heard him past Bakugou's explosions. "What an amateur."

"Unlike me," Sero said, holding up his phone. Sure enough, he had taken a picture too.

"He's going to kill you when he finds out," Jirou said.

"Not before I send this to the entire class!"

Shouto tuned them out again. He laid on the floor, petting Bongo. After a little while, the cat cuddled up to his chest, still chewing on his toy. Shouto smiled slightly at the little mrrp sound the cat made. The events of the day were beginning to catch up to him, and exhaustion began to creep in. His eyes began to slip shut, comforted by the warmth pressing into his chest.

The room was suddenly quiet. He glanced up, seeing everyone watching him. Kaminari's phone was raised.

"Delete that," Shouto said.

"Not a chance, my dude," he replied.

"I'll melt your phone."

"You wouldn't dare."

Shouto just sighed and dropped his head to the floor again.

"Send me that," Midoriya whispered to Kaminari. Shouto pretended not to hear him. He had only a moment of peace before someone grabbed him under the arms and lifted him up. He flailed a bit in surprise.

"You shouldn't sleep on the floor," Iida chided him, depositing Shouto on the couch. He huffed and grabbed a pillow, hugging it to his chest. A moment later, Midoriya dropped Bongo on top of him. The cat trotted over his side and settled on his head.

Kaminari raised his phone again. Midoriya pushed it down.

"Let's go, I think he wants some peace and quiet," he suggested.

"You are absolutely right," Shouto mumbled, slightly muffled by the cat on his head. He was thankful when Midoriya and Iida began herding the others away. Midoriya left, then came back a moment later with a blanket. He draped it over Shouto, who swatted at his hand.

"Stop mothering me." Bongo mewed quietly. "See, he agrees with me," Shouto said, pointing.

"Alright, alright." Midoriya backed off, throwing one last grin over his shoulder before leaving.

Gradually the noise faded away, leaving only his own breathing and Bongo's purring. He gave the cat one last scratch behind the ears, letting happiness swell up inside him as Bongo pushed his head into his hand.

He drifted off slowly to the sound of purring.

A/N: hope you liked the completed story! Feel free to hit me up with some bnha prompts if you want