Chapter Text
Izuku wondered if his mother had ever loved him. It always hurt his heart when he came home to an empty, dark apartment. He could almost always feel tears building up when his mother decided to ignore him instead of commenting on whatever it was Izuku was saying. It hurt Izuku whenever he would excitedly talk about his day but would get shut down by his mother for being annoying, he doesn't really remember the last time his mother had hugged him or showed him any kind of affection, and the possibility that she never did show him any affection was all too possible. Maybe it helped Izuku's growth in a way, he had always been responsible since he never had anyone to cook or clean for him or care for him. He would always cook for himself and do his laundry, and he was honestly grateful he had the resources to do so.
Sometimes when his mother was in a particularly bad mood she would take her anger out on him before kicking him out of the house so she could rest in peace. It never mattered whether it was in the middle of the winter or in the scalding hot temperatures of the summer, Izuku was left with bruises scattering around like freckles and the occasional blood dripping out of his skin. They both knew well no normal person would be able to survive such an extreme situation, but Izuku was never normal in her eyes. He would always come back on the doorstep.
The Bakugou household had always been more of a home than his apartment could ever be. He and Kacchan had been friends since the age he could recall things, he doesn't think he has any memories of a time he wasn't friends with the stern blondie. Ever since he was little his mother would always drop him off at his childhood friend's house, or more like he would trail after her while she made her way to work, since she passed by their house on the way. They luckily lived in the same neighborhood, but it didn't exactly mean that Izuku was always over at their house, Bakugou was always busy with different things. That's what happens when you have a true family after all. Izuku never bothered to join their family events, or rather he never wanted to intrude on a perfect family. Mitsuki and Masaru always asked him to join on their trips on the dinner table while Izuku was over to dine with them, but he always refused with a polite smile and a shake of the hand.
His days were spent in the dark lighting of his apartment, either doing his homework or hero analysis. His mother had never supported his dream of becoming a hero, even before he had gotten his quirk. She always looked at him with a cold gaze that screamed disgust whenever he was watching an All Might video or whenever he was ranting about heroes. He could feel his heart break just the tiniest bit every time he looked off to the side at her just to find that gaze directed at him. He never really understood why she resented him so much, but it he figured it to be his fault. Maybe he had done something unforgivable he could not remember as a child, he didn't really want to think about it.
Speaking of his quirk though, it had manifested in an interesting way. It manifested late, months after his birthday. It was winter, on a day where his mother was particularly stressed. That day he had gotten kicked out, thinking about it now, he was sure his mother had kicked him out before she would lose control of her temper and beat him up. He was grateful for that, at least he hadn't gotten injured- well- only partly. No four year old could survive a heavy snowstorm without fatal injuries, and that included four year old Izuku too. He had been wandering around alleyways and streets, trying to find shelter that would protect him from the storm and cold. Usually when Izuku got kicked out, he would wander in and out of stores, looking at the products to distract himself. His favourite store was the hero merchandise store, everything that was sold in there always amazed him, and even though he knew he wouldn't ever be able to buy something as expensive as hero merch, he still liked observing it. But now that a dangerous storm was present, all the stores were closed as expected. Even though it was only late afternoon, the streets were dark and abandoned.
He had been swept up in the wind a couple of times, falling on his knees or near a wall. It wasn't the worst of his injuries, but he was only wearing an old hoodie with some thin sweatpants. It wasn't enough to warm him up, so as Izuku lay on the side of a dumpster in an alleyway, he wondered if this would be the end of it.
The snow was falling in front of him, soft to the touch. Izuku was starting to feel a little warm, he was confused by the fact since not even two seconds ago he was freezing like crazy. His eyes were starting to droop and just as he thought he would pass out, white hot pain flared up against his whole body.
It was excruciating. Little Izuku thought he had somehow caught fire. It felt like all of his muscles were melting away, his vision was hazy and he could feel himself twitching and shaking. His whole body felt hot from the pain. It had lasted around seven minutes, but it felt like an hour for him. Izuku was immensely grateful once it had slowly started to fade, even though his muscles were now sore. He was confused and felt lost. His body felt different and his senses were all mixed up. He could hear all of the wind hitting against the walls and the snow falling against different surfaces. Once he'd mustered up the energy to open his eyes, his perspective had changed too.
Instead of staring at a dumpster belonging to a random bakery, he was now looking at the gap between the dumpster and the concrete floor. He immediately jumped up, but even that had felt different too. Instead of feeling two feet holding him up, he now felt four limbs below him. Upon looking down, he found that he was standing on paws covered with fur. It had taken exactly ten seconds for Izuku to process the fact and five additional ones for him to draw up the conclusion that it was his late quirk. Instantly excitement spiked him, but he hadn't exactly forgotten his current situation. He had what had to be at least four scratches and two bruises, and he was freezing to death.
Well- It's not like there was much Izuku could do here, even as a cat. He curled up and tried to preserve his body warmth as much as possible, his fur only helping the slightest bit. An idea suddenly struck him, he pushed himself up and forced his body to move in search for anything that could provide him shelter and warmth, like newspapers and cardboard boxes. He sometimes saw stray cats and homeless people whenever he was out and found that the both protect themselves in a similar way. He always sees the cats curl in on themselves in cardboard boxes or under dumpsters, often times covered by old newspapers. Homeless people lay down newspapers to act as sheets so that their body warmth isn't soaked up by the floor and rearrange cardboard boxes to act as a roof for them while they also curl in on themselves.
So Izuku did the same. He walked and walked until he found a fairly good in shape cardboard box and some newspapers laying in front of a doorstep. He didn't feel bad for the people, it was either he died or some family didn't get their newspapers for the week. He dragged the stuff with his teeth over to the closest alleyway he could find and tried his best to build something that would keep him at least slightly warm until the storm subdued.
Izuku woke up in a daze, immediately noting the new kind of exhaustion settling in his bones and the change in his body. He had changed back human overnight, he figured it was because of quirk exhaustion. Not wanting to waste anymore time Izuku stood up and tried to make his way back home. He had lost his way last night while searching for a box and newspapers.
It took some time before he eventually found a familiar street. Izuku was grateful that no one had decided to kidnap him or anything, since the storm from last night had cleared out, more people were out. Izuku guessed it was about time most people headed out for work, since he saw businessmen dressed up going in the direction to the subways.
He always kept a spare key under the doormat for cases like these, it felt wrong to ring the doorbell after she had kicked him out. Izuku had a slight fear she would just send him back out instead of letting him in.
He found he was thankful that instead of being met with the face of his mother that resented him so much he was greeted by the dark and lonely apartment, once again.
It still didn't hurt any less though.