Escape and Freedom

Just kill him now.

Shouta needed out. Right now. This was the last straw!

Ah, he had been completely and utterly disgraced in front of a room of random people that he had never before in his life seen, and he would never be able to forget about it until the day he died.

It got to the point where it was so bad that Shouta couldn't even recall what happened back there. All he remembered was going in, then coming back out. Before he knew it, they were already back in the Villain's apartment.

Izuku choked back the laugh as he stared into the Hero's stunned face. He was really so stunned that he didn't even know how to react.

Ah, quite frankly, he was just messing with him, but he was too cute!

Too bad it couldn't last, though.

Any day now, one of the Heroes were going to be able to track down their wayward Hero that had taken the form of a little kitten. That would be the day that Izuku had to disappear from this apartment and find some other lodging.

That, or the Hero was going to run away by himself after this episode.

Izuku couldn't say that he would be sad, but he would miss messing with the Hero. It had been a long while since he'd had so much fun in such a wholesome way.

However, it was about time, he supposed.

Good things were never meant to last.

He had enough blackmail on the Hero to ensure that he wouldn't be a problem to himself in the future, and Izuku would be able to go back to freely messing around, so what was the problem?

What was this strange feeling in his chest?

Izuku frowned before pushing it aside. He supposed it didn't matter.

That night, Izuku made sure not to lock the door, idly stroking the kitten's fur as he drifted off.

Shouta, sensing that Izuku had fallen asleep due to the absence of motion on his body, perked up. Now was the time!

The Villain seemed to be deeply asleep this time, so he should have ample amount of time before he woke up.

Shouta would have enough time to get back to his apartment to get help before the Villain tracked him down.

Luck of all luck, the door was not locked. Shouta was slightly worried that the Villain just left his door unlocked like this in a neighbourhood that was as shady as this before resolutely shaking it off.

Midoriya was a Villain. A rather good one, at that. He would be able to take care of himself.

Shouta leapt off the window ledge and landed on the doorknob, desperately clutching at it as he fell down.

The door creaked open the slightest bit, and Shouta squeezed his way through it, doing his best to keep the gap as small as possible.

As a Hero, even if the other person was a Villain, that didn't mean that he would put the other in unnecessary danger. Not before Shouta brought him to justice.

-

Izuku opened his eyes, hearing the front door creak open. He felt a complicated mess of emotions. He shook his head. Enough was enough. Tomorrow, he would be gone from this place.

The Villain touched his chest, wondering what this lingering emotion was. How persistent.

-

Shouta pawed the spare phone that he had, tapping out Hizashi's number.

The phone barely even rang when it was picked up.

"Shouta?!" came Hizashi's booming voice. He sounded both worried and elated.

Shouta hissed as he recoiled from the loud shout, mewing in protest.

"Shouta?" Hizashi repeated, confused.

Shouta mewed again, frustrated. Hanging up, he started painstakingly typing out a message, but before he was able to finish typing it out, his apartment was busted into.

Hizashi came barrelling into his apartment, having tracked the trace back here.

"Shouta!" he cried out, but only saw a small kitten on the man's bedroom floor, standing on the phone.

Hizashi walked over to pick up the kitten by the scruff of his neck, only to abruptly burst into laughter. "Damn, Shouta! Look at you! You're adorable."

Shouta hissed, batting his persistent best friend off with a tiny paw.

"Let's go reverse this, then you can tell me about where you've been for the past couple of weeks. The media will have a field day with this," the man said under his breath, causing Shouta to glare at him.

-

By the time Shouta was back in his blessedly human body, the world felt strange.

From going to seeing everything large and looming over himself, they now felt… rather small. He was also stumbling over himself every other step, just like when he'd been adjusting to being a kitten.

It felt strange not having four paws anymore, if that even made any sense.

"So, where have you been?" Hizashi asked his friend yet again.

Shouta grunted. "Someone brought me home with them," he hedged, before realizing that he was hedging. "Midoriya."

"Oh," Hizashi said. Pause. "Wait, that Midoriya?! As in, Midoriya Izuku?!"

Shouta nodded.

"Come on, there's no time to lose. I know where he's staying."

Hizashi held his hand up as Shouta made as if he was going to charge out the door at this very moment. "Just where do you think you're going? Leave it to the other Pro Heroes. You've barely got your balance with you as it is."

Shouta frowned. "No, I have to go."

Hizashi frowned as well, studying his best friend. It was rare that he was this stubborn about something. What else wasn't Shouta telling him? Why else would he insist on going himself instead of leaving it to those who were more fit for it at the moment?

The two of them swiftly made their way over to the Villain's apartment, where the lights were still off.

There was Snipe, who was covering them from a distance should anything go wrong, but they were hoping that this would be a quick and efficient take down where the Villain was caught unawares.

However, Shouta didn't know why something niggled at him, like there was something wrong.

Without thinking more about it, he wrenched open the door, walking in, only to freeze in his tracks.

Scanning around, there was nothing. No furniture, no frames, nothing.

Shouta had to walk out to confirm that he was indeed in the right place before going back in with a sinking heart.

Hizashi walked to him and shook his head. "There's no one here."

Shouta slammed a fist against the door.