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Bakugo Katsuki did not hide from things. He had always been the type to rush headfirst into danger and towards any threat. Fearless. He would never choose flight over fight. 

He’d never felt as much relief as he did as he’d closed the employees only door behind himself and successfully fled from it all.  

If he had been asked another stupid fucking question, the fact that they didn’t have security wasn’t going to be a problem. Whatever charges he caught for aggravated assault would be.

He’d hoped he’d be lucky enough to be left alone while he regrouped, but fate continued to test him. Of course his nosiest, chattiest coworker had to be at the cheap-ass dining table for her lunch. 

He couldn’t avoid being bothered even in what was meant to be a sanctuary from the fuckass extras. 

“Whoa, pookie, take a chill-pill,” she chirped. “You look like you’re gonna crash out. Or, like, blow something up.” 

That was an idea. He wondered if arson would be better or worse than aggravated assault. 

No, the radius of damage of an explosion would be too big for even Katsuki’s conscience.

“Considering it.” 

“Did you have to actually talk to people?” She mock gasped. “At our job where we have to talk to people?” 

“First of all, I took this job because I wouldn’t have to interact with the dumbass public like that.” 

His fuckhead coworkers were a different story, but they were certainly more tolerable in quantity if not quality. And he wasn’t bullshitting- he wasn’t supposed to have to deal with people except on rare occasions. Unfortunately, one of his other coworkers needed to run home and change after a very unfortunate vomit incident. He couldn’t hold that against the poor bastard, as much as he wanted to.

“And yet here we both are,” she gave him an amused look.

“Secondly,” he bulldozed past the interruption. “If I get asked one more stupid question in the next hour I’m going to commit something. Just haven’t decided which something yet.” 

“Is it giving for realsies stupid questions, or Bakugo POV stupid questions?”

“I just had to explain to an entire family that, yes, we’re sure that dog is male, and yes, even though he has nipples.”

That earned him a whistle of sympathy. 

If the question hadn’t come after so many other obnoxious interactions, he might’ve been able to get past it. But, fuck, it had him on the brink of tearing out his own goddamn hair. 

“Say sike right now. The entire family was confused. Deadass?” 

“Yeah.” He opened the small staff fridge to grab a canned coffee instead of bashing his head against the nearest wall. “Including who was presumably the husband and dad, who I pointed out also had nipples when they tried to give me pushback on it.”

“Mega-L.. That’s such an ick.” 

“That was after some bastard whined and kicked his feet because of the microchips.” 

“Conspiracy nut?”

“Fucking always.” 

“Flop central,” she blew a raspberry and held a thumb down.

He cracked the can open and finished off the drink in a few large gulps. It was sorely needed. He knew the science of how the body metabolized nutrients and substances like caffeine, but he still found himself scowling at the fact that he didn’t immediately feel better from it. 

“Since you earned my sympathies and proved that it wasn’t just you being grumpycore-”

“Oh fuck off-”

“- You also have earned yourself some tea.” She clasped her iridescent bento closed and put it back into the obnoxiously cutesy matching lunchbag, complete with charms dangling off of it. Who the hell needed fucking trinkets on their lunchbox, let alone multiple? Fucking Camie, apparently.  

“Don’t give a shit.” 

“You will,” she sing-songed. “That prettyboy with a crazy face-card you like just came in.”

“You mean Red?” She started to smirk, and he immediately realized his mistake. “I don’t like him.” 

“That’s so cap, but sure. I can play along and pretend like you don’t stare at him and set out treats so he can give them to the cats. It’s the denial for me,” she rolled her eyes. 

“Whatever,” he scoffed. “Why the hell does it matter to me?” 

“Cause he was giving depression-core, like, seriously sadmaxxing.” 

“And? You shouldn’t sound perky about that, freak.”

“Aaaand I bet he’d really like the cutie blond shelter babe to give him a lil attention, cheer him up.” She batted her lashes. 

“Yeah? Go ahead, then,” he said dryly. “You love getting to use the animals as an excuse to flirt with people you think are hot.” 

“Oh, puhlease. I am not his type.” 

“And how do you know that?”

“It’s all in the eyes, babe,” she nodded seriously. “And also his little fruity-ass keychain that’s always hanging out of his pocket. But, y’know, mostly the eyes.” 

“Since you’re apparently more goddamn deaf than I am, I’ll repeat myself. What the fuck does any of this matter to me?” 

“You’re the most annoying person I’ve ever met,” she sniffed. 

“Only because you’ve never had to meet yourself,” he muttered. She ignored him.

“You totally have a thing for him or else you wouldn’t remember him. You only ever remember the regulars that make you hella grouchy, never any of the sweeties or looksmaxxers, and this guy is both. You literally don’t even know the names of most of our volunteers! Like, even the ones that have been here every week for a bajillion years.”

Well, shit.

She had a point- almost.

“I don’t have a thing for him, he’s just got fucking traffic light hair.” 

“Hatsume’s is like, totes bubblegum-bright pink.”

“Who?” 

“Oh my god, exactly,” she groaned. “He’s soooo living rent-free in your head. Just accept that you’ve been clocked.”

“I don’t have a thing for him,” he maintained through gritted teeth. 

He didn’t. 

“Baku-babes. I hate to break this to you. But every other time he’s visited you’ve been the one to bring him up to me.” 

He froze for a split second, then scoffed. This was Camie he was talking to. He couldn’t breathe near her without her yapping at him. 

“Like hell.” 

“The first time you peeped him, you asked me if I knew ‘Shitty Hair’ and why he was sulking around. The next time he came in, you grumble-grumbled about his moping. Then the next time he came in after that you made a comment about the fact that he should’ve put all the cash he’s donated to the shelter towards getting himself a shrink. Then the next time after that-”

“Fuck, alright, enough!” His face felt strangely warm. 

“I didn’t even get to the time you mentioned his roots being grown in,” she pouted, but there was pure evil glimmering in those eyes.

“That doesn’t mean I have a thing for him!”  

“Then what does it mean? BFFR, pookie.” 

“That I have no idea what his problem is,” he rolled his eyes. It was true; he couldn’t figure him out. 

“Then why don’t you go ask him?” 

“Hah?” 

“Aren’t you, like, totally about being direct and not holding back on people?” She raised a perfectly shaped brow. “Lock in, oomf.”

Fuck. 

“Usually you fuckers don’t encourage me to accost the customers.” 

“Then you should highkey be jumping on this opportunity, huh?” 

“Fuck off.” 

“Nahhh,” she drew the word out and folded her hands on the table. “Actually. As your boss, I’m gonna tell you to go talk to him.” 

He stared at her in disbelief. 

She tilted her head to the side and blinked her drugstore glued-on lashes at him. 

She was technically his superior as a team lead, but the shelter rarely adhered to hierarchies like that. 

“You’re on lunch.” 

She hummed in consideration, then typed furiously on her phone for a few seconds. The taptaptap of her acrylic nails made his eyes twitch. 

“I am officially back on the clock,” she smiled prettily and held up their timekeeping app. “Checkmate, bitch.” 

“I’m reporting your ass to HR for harassment.”

“You send in your sticky-note sized complaint. I’ll send in my entire file on you.” 

There was no HR department. The organization was too small for that. 

“Fuck! If I go talk to him will you drop it?” 

“Totes, babes.” 

“What the fuck ever, fine.” 

“Think of it like this: I’m making sure no opps bother you with stupid questions,” she raised her hand to give him a little fingerwave. He gave her a single middle finger in answer and stormed off.

For all his complaints about the redhead looking all forlorn and shit, he himself sulked as he walked to the area of the shelter where their cats were held. 

Fucking meddling ass coworkers and stupid guys with stupid bright hair and big sad doe eyes.

Whatever. 

If he was honest with himself, he did want to know what the hell Red’s deal was.

It was never consistent when the guy would show up. Sometimes they went weeks and weeks without seeing him. Some weeks had him visiting multiple times. 

He’d do a round of the shelter but would linger with the cats the most. Most of their cats were in kennels with a fully glass front, but they had some with the wire bars. That’s where the man normally was when Katsuki spotted him; leaned in, a finger wiggling between the bars to try to pet or play with a cat. He’d definitely gotten clawed doing so, and bitten at least once, but from what Katsuki had caught it made Red laugh more than it bothered him. 

It seemed like he needed to laugh.

Without fail, he looked like the weight of the world was pushing down on his shoulders when he first arrived. It always lightened at least a little by the time he left, even if he only popped in for ten minutes before hurrying off somewhere. He left a donation every time Katsuki had seen him; not a big one, but at least a thousand yen note. That was more than most of the people that came to ooh and aww at the pets they weren’t actually interested in. 

Sometimes when he left, it was like the shelter had freed him of a stormcloud that had been hanging over his head when he entered. He was all sunshine and happiness. 

Maybe that was the real reason he remembered the guy. 

The first time Katsuki had ever seen him, he’d noticed when Red had first walked in. His hair really was a borderline neon color. Katsuki registered the hair, the fact that he was gloomy, and nothing more than that; he was busy feeding dozens of cats lunch. 

He’d left not long after Katsuki had brought everyone their lunch and washed the bowls from their breakfasts. One of his other coworkers had been talking with the man- he later learned accepting a donation. But then Red looked over his shoulder at him. Even from all the way across the large room, they made eye contact, and he flashed Katsuki this bright smile. Thanked him and his coworkers for their work with a respectful nod, then walked out. 

He had never seen a smile like that on a person before. Only in photos of idols and toothpaste advertisements- but those just had the brightness, none of the warmth. 

It branded itself into his memory. That had been enough for him to remember the man the second time he visited, and every subsequent visit while Katsuki was working.  

Just because he remembered every time that smile was directed at him again- that didn’t mean he had a thing for the asshole. It was.. Memorable. It wasn’t his fault most of the extras weren’t. 

And, well. He complained and snarked, but he didn’t lie- so he couldn’t correct Camie when she’d called him a prettyboy, even if he’d had the instinct to. That still didn’t mean he had a thing for the guy, he just… could acknowledge that something like that was objectively true. 

He’d half expected Red to be long gone by the time he reached the cat area. It took no time to find him. Near the kennels with bars, and red hair. Either one would’ve been enough to spot him immediately. 

The top layer of red hair was pulled back in a ponytail, which was less common than the other ways he usually styled it. On the days where he was only kinda down, it was spiked up. On the days where he was more of a sadsack, it would be in a bun or down and loose. 

Katsuki hadn’t intentionally paid attention to it. He was just good at pattern recognition. 

He realized he had no idea how the fuck to start interacting with Red. So, he did the sneakiest possible option. He stepped back into the employee access area, and walked through the backside of the kennels until he got near the ones the man was standing at. 

Red was far too focused on the cat he was currently petting the cheek of to notice Katsuki. 

Katsuki wasn’t far away enough to miss his sniffling or his red-rimmed eyes. 

Fuck. 

That wasn’t something he’d seen from the dumbass before. 

He pretended to check a clipboard as he thought about what the fuck he was going to do. The clipboard held recommendations for local vets, but no one out front would know that, which was all that mattered. He didn’t want to get interrupted by someone asking where the bathrooms were- under the sign that said bathrooms- or where the dogs were- following the dog prints painted on the floor and under the sign that said dogs- or something even more annoying. 

He had to say something. Camie would get on his ass if he didn’t. He reminded himself that was his motivation; nothing about how he felt his chest doing something miserable even several long moments after averting his gaze from the redhead’s expression. 

He could tell him about their upcoming adoption specials. Casually. Use that as an in for further conversation. 

He could see if he recognized the logo on his hoodie, strike up conversation about that. 

He could say something about the specific cat he was playing with. He checked the kennel again and, oh, that was Nosfercatu. He grimaced at the idea of saying the name aloud. 

Maybe not that option unless he switched to one of the other kennels. Above was… Meownibal Leckitty, which he wasn’t any more thrilled by, so he scratched her off the list. Beside her was Neko-rokubi. Pass. Below him was Chupacatra. 

Maybe not any of those unless he could somehow avoid saying their names. 

Fuck it. He was Bakugo fucking Katsuki, and he knew how to talk to a goddamn visitor at his fucking shelter. He just needed to get over himself. 

Besides, Camie had made a good point- he was pretty fucking sure this guy knew enough to not ask if a cat could be unspayed or if coconut oil alone was enough to get rid of fleas. 

It was with that thought in the back of his mind that he hung the clipboard back up, and walked out of the back. He kept his chin up and tucked his hands in his pockets as he approached. 

Talk to the guy like he would anyone else. Easy work. 

“You keep coming here,” he said. 

That was pretty fucking far off from what he’d meant to say. 

After his shift, he was going to finish up any leftover tasks, make sure all the animals were fed and settled for the night, and then he would lay down facefirst in the middle of the road. 

“Oh! I’m sorry- I know it isn’t a petting zoo,” Red flushed, and his eyes darted towards his own hands, still resting on the kennel. He clasped them behind his back like a kid caught fishing out of a cookie jar. Nosfercatu meowed indignantly at the abandonment. “I can totally go, I didn’t mean to cause any problems-”

“You’re fine,” Katsuki rushed to say, then cleared his throat. “Better than all the grubby kids with sticky hands that come through.” 

That drew a laugh from the other, but it was a little wobbly. Watery, like a diluted version of whatever his full laugh probably sounded like. It still looked better on him than his previous bleak expression 

“You sure I’m not breaking any rules?” 

“No rules against visiting,” Katsuki shrugged casually. That unabashed concern was.. unexpectedly considerate. That earned Red some immediate respect. “But if you’re here this often, I dunno why you wouldn’t just volunteer.”  

There was a chance he hadn’t fumbled this entire interaction. Not that there was anything to fumble besides finding out what his problem was. It didn’t matter that Red was in a sweatshirt that was comfortably sized but still stretched across his chest and shoulders, or if his voice was husky in the same way as a motorcycle engine- gravelly, but rich and resonant. It did not matter that his teeth looked sharp when he’d laughed- or as he chewed at his full lower lip. None of that affected Katsuki in the slightest.

“That sounds so awesome,” he glanced wistfully towards Nosfercatu. “But my work hours are kinda all over the place, so I don’t think I could commit to it with the kind of regularity you guys probably want.” 

“We have people become volunteers to work with us once and never again,” he shrugged. “One of our volunteers lives a city over and only has time to come by every couple of months. Doesn’t matter how often or how long you’re able to if you wanna help,” he countered- then remembered he was talking to a customer at his job. “Don’t mean to assume, though.”

“No, seriously, I would really like that!” Those big eyes were focused on Katsuki again, shining with earnestness this time instead of with unshed tears. “But I’ve never done any sort of animal volunteering before, and I didn’t go to school for anything like that. I didn’t even grow up with pets,” he scratched the back of his neck. 

“That’s not a requirement,” he shrugged “But if you’re an official volunteer with us you’re allowed to hold the cats.” Katsuki pointedly looked towards the cat Red had been barely able to pet with a finger as he waited to see if the bait would work.

“Really? It’s not just all cleaning stuff?” He lit up. Katsuki’s ploy was successful. He wasn’t sure what exactly he was trying to accomplish; he only knew he felt compelled to do something. 

“Nah. Some of it, sure, but it depends on the day,” he shrugged. “Right now we’ll be set for cleaning and closing, but there’s always other things to be done. Checking on the animals that have specific meal plans and not just the main few of the day, helping during med times or checkups.. Especially when we’ve got kittens in. Nice to have extra hands to help wrangle them.”  

Sure, it would’ve probably been more helpful to have extra hands on the cleaning than on cat handling, but it seemed like the latter was what would do Red some good.

“Oh,” he breathed. That was all Katsuki needed to know he had the redhead fully locked in. 

Katsuki pointedly turned his wrist and checked his watch, despite being fully aware of what time it was. 

“Actually. It’s about time for one of our litters to get fed and checked on. Can put you down as a volunteer to help with that. If you want.” 

“Wait. Is it seriously that easy?” 

Traditionally, no, they’d do more to get someone set up. But.

“Yeah. C’mon.” He turned and began walking, and smirked to himself when he heard the other pivot to follow. 

“This is really nice of you to do,” he started, and Katsuki clicked his tongue. 

“Whatever. ‘S just easier to keep track of them with a few extra people, and one of our guys had to head home.”

“Sure. But it was still nice of you to talk to me about it, so, thank you.” 

Katsuki hummed non-commitally and held open a different employee entrance, and gestured for the other to head in. It wasn’t the most direct route to get to the area where they checked in volunteers, but it was the one that would avoid them being anywhere near the breakroom. 

It was a short process to get him registered. Katsuki shoved a volunteer lanyard and an overshirt at him- they wore them when feeding to have a barrier between outdoor clothing and the kittens, and any messes that inevitably followed. They looked not unlike one a kid would wear in a primary school art class. 

“Congratulations, you’re official. You still in?” 

“Dude, this is like, the best thing that’s happened to me this week. This month, are you kidding?” Red- Kirishima comma Eijiro, as Katsuki had just learned, birthday the sixteenth of October, a year younger than Katsuki- looped the lanyard around his neck and gave him a double thumbs-up. “Whatever you need me for, I’m your guy!” 

“You better not whine at me if you get shit on,” he warned. He was strangely charmed when Red just laughed and saluted in response.

They entered one of the rooms dedicated to odd jobs like feedings. It was similar to an exam room at a vet clinic. He had the man sit and wait for him to return with everything they’d need. He brought in the warming cup, an extra towel, and a backup box large enough for the litter just in case. It took virtually no time to get the room prepped. 

“Is there anything I can help carry? Or anything else I can help with? I feel bad that you’re doing all this running around while I’m just sitting here.” 

Katsuki shot him an amused glance from where he was neatly arranging the supplies.

“I get paid to be here. Historically you pay to be here.” Kirishima flushed a little but held his hands up in surrender. “Just keep your ass planted in the goddamn chair and wait.”

“Whatever you say, you’re the boss.” 

“Damn right,” Katsuki agreed before slipping back out the door. 

Feeding the kittens was an autopilot task. Make up the formula and bottle it, set up the carrier and turn on the heating pad, start the kettle, thermos the warm water from the kettle, get each kitten to use the bathroom if little enough to need the help, and weigh each before transferring into the carrier.  

He was cornered right as he was scooping one of the kittens off the scale, so he had no means of escape. 

Damn. 

“Sooo, I just got a notification about a new volun-sweetie and I was like, slay!” Camie cheered as she came through the door with a little clap. “But it’s, like, the weirdest thing? The computer shows your name as the signing staff member? But you literally mega hate dealing with NPC’s and totes refuse to do that every time you’re told to?”

“And?” 

“And I would love to hear more about this Kirishima character! Eijiro- on a scale from chopped to rizzcake, how baddie is he? And, like, how did we end up with him?” She tapped her fingertip on her cheek as if trying to remember his name or place his face. 

If Katsuki rolled his eyes any harder, he would’ve strained something. 

“Did what my boss ordered me to do against my will and talked to a visitor. You know the one,” he scoffed. “Fuck off, have to get started on this.” He pushed the door open with a foot and ignored the laughter behind him. He’d deal with that later, and he was already dreading the headache that would come along with it. He was stubborn, sure. But Camie was worse when she got her claws on any shred of gossip. 

That suddenly didn’t seem to matter much as he entered the room and saw Red sitting there eagerly, hands folded politely at his knees. 

“Kay. One at a time to start with. You watch me feed one, I walk you through feeding the next one.” 

“Okay!” 

“The formula needs to be warmed up first. Can’t just nuke it, so we put the bottle in a bath of warm water.” He poured some of the water from the thermos into the cup specifically used for this process, then set the bottle within it to gradually warm.

“How come you can’t just microwave them?” 

“It fucks with the proteins and shit in the milk, but obviously it can’t be too cold,” he explained. He should’ve expected the guy to be one of the ones that wanted to know the reasons behind everything; he respected when the volunteers liked to know the why behind whatever they were doing versus blindly accepting the instructions. “But the milk can’t be any warmer than about skin temperature, so we test it on our wrists.” he demonstrated once the milk had sat for a good length of time, then nodded. 

“Can I feel so I know what’s right?” Red held his hand out. Katsuki was mildly taken aback by the initiative, but he dribbled a drop onto his arm anyway, and watched how Red’s face scrunched in concentration like he’d be tested on it later. 

He unlatched the lid of the carrier on his other side, and gently fished one of the little balls of fluff out. The litter was pretty standard for what the shelter tended to get- domestic shorthair mixes, some were variants of tabbies, others pure black, the rest calico. The other man watched, entranced.  

“It’s so teeny,” he breathed, hunching down to get a closer look at the first of the litter; an orange tabby. Katsuki bit the inside of his cheek to stave off the beginnings of a grin. 

“Yeah. Little shits are pretty cute,” he admitted. “These aren’t the smallest ones we get. They’re on the older side, so they’ve got it kinda figured out.” He kept his voice low, but had to raise it enough to be heard over the mewing of the kitten squirming in his hand. “Their eyesight is still pretty ass, so you have to guide it to them.” He nudged its tiny snout with the tip of the bottle, and once it figured out where the bottle was in space, it started chugging.

“But there it goes!” Red whisper-cheered. “Whoa, it’s really gobbling, huh?” 

“That’s what I mean when I say they have it figured out. The younger ones need more help. But these guys just go until they’re full,” he nodded. 

“Holy crap, this is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. And look at- oh, man, the ears twitching is gonna kill me.”

“That’s one of the tells that they’re actually latched on and feeding.” He angled himself closer to the other so he could see better. Sometimes it was so routine for him, he forgot how novel it was for others. Now, he was more worried that the guy would start crying over cuteness than from whatever was bothering him. That concern sat much better in the back of his throat.

It didn’t take long for the kitten to slow down, then start turning its face away from the bottle. 

“See how he pulled away? You wanna nudge ‘em with it again in case they’re not actually full, but he’s gonna be,” he narrated and, yes, the kitten turned his head away again. “They lose the attitude when they’re full, too.” He set the bottle aside and held the kitten in both hands. The ginger was perfectly content to settle there, and to let Katsuki rub between its ears with the pad of his thumb. He extended his hands towards the other in a silent offer. 

“Are you sure?” 

“He’s pretty much a paperweight right now, he’s not gonna try to go anywhere. Just cup your hands.” Once he listened, Katsuki passed the kitten off. 

“Hey, buddy,” Red whispered directly to the sleepy kitten, grinning. “Good job!” 

Katsuki watched, fascinated, as the man cooed over the kitten that visibly could not give less of a fuck about the attention. It didn’t matter; Red still looked like he’d been handed a first place trophy. 

Shit. 

A tendon in his jaw flexed as he willed the sudden surge of affection for a complete fucking stranger to go fuck itself. 

It wasn’t very effective. 

He busied himself with getting the next bottle warmed up as if that could circumvent the feeling from catching up to him. He took the first kitten back and got him settled in the carrier, then scooped the next. 

“Remember everything?” 

“Test the milk, bring the bottle to their face, make sure they’re actually drinking, then wait ‘til they’re full?” 

“Prove it,” he handed the bottle over first. Red’s lips pursed in focus as he held the bottle upside down and nudged it with a finger. A pitiful piddle of a drop came out. He met Katsuki’s eyes and Katsuki shook his head, unimpressed. He tried again and got out a testable amount. 

“I think that seems right?” He held his wrist over to Katsuki, who poked at the drip on his arm. 

“Uhuh.” Katsuki had taken the bottle out when he knew it would be within range, but it was good practice to make a newbie test it anyway, would get them into the practice of always checking. He held the kitten out next. That was where Red hesitated. “Go on, take her. She won’t bite.” 

“I just don’t wanna mess up,” he murmured, and bit his lip as he reached for the calico. 

“You’re fine. ‘S why I’m here,” he found himself reassuring. 

As expected, Red was able to hold her without any issue. He was a little too cautious with where he was holding the bottle, like he didn’t wanna accidentally bump her, but she was motivated enough to lean the little bit forward to get it. 

“Whoa, you can really feel them eating, huh?” He held his hands close to his chest, as if he was afraid he’d drop her. 

“You’ve never been around cats before, huh.”

“Not when they’re this little,” Red agreed, and sat back some once both he and the kitten got settled into it. “How old are they, anyway?” 

“About five weeks. Maybe a couple more weeks of bottle feedings at most, then once they’re eight weeks it’s safe to fix ‘em. Then a little recovery and they’ll be ready to adopt out.” 

“That’s amazing,” he shook his head in disbelief. “Can I ask a dumb question?” 

Katsuki maintained his composure and usual scowl, nothing worse, but braced himself for whatever dumb shit could leave the fucker’s mouth.

“Whatever, go on,” he shrugged.

“What do you do here? Like, are you also a vet, or are the shelter vets always entirely behind the scenes? Uh. Do you guys even have vets?” 

“That’s it?” Katsuki blinked at him. 

“Yeah..? Should I be asking something else?” 

“No,” Katsuki answered quickly; too quickly. Red was the one to look at Katsuki strangely then. He cleared his throat, and averted his gaze to the kitten happily feeding. “Just. Been a long day when it comes to stupid questions. This one ain’t one of those.” 

“Man, I can’t imagine the kinds of questions you get.”

“You don’t wanna know,” Katsuki muttered darkly, then cleared his throat again. “Nah, ‘m not a vet. A couple of our part time staff are, but we only have one that’s officially hired as a veterinarian. We have a few clinics we work with for any of the medical shit that can’t be done in-house.”

“That’s sick! Can I ask how you started working here if you’re not a vet yourself? But if that’s too personal-” He quickly started trying to give an out, but Katsuki shook his head. 

“It’s not that deep. ” he intervened. “I didn’t start out planning to do this shit. If I’d known this was where I was gonna end up, it would’ve been a hell of a lot quicker to just start out working towards it.” 

“Where’d you start out instead?” 

“Went to school for biochem. Planned to end up in a medical lab somewhere.” He had a few similar but distinct options he’d considered, but that was the one he’d decided on and pursued. “Three years in and I took some dumbass elective I needed for the degree. It ended up having a field study component, my focus was on snakes.” 

“Snakes?” 

“Yeah. I was pissed about having to take the class, and kinda picked whatever from the options. Then I figured out I could use the class as an excuse to go hiking. Went a lot as a kid, didn’t have much time as a teen, had no fuckin’ time to go at that point.”

“I don’t wanna interrupt, but I think she’s done,” Red’s concentration was fixed to the kitten in his hands. She shook her head away from the bottle, and Katsuki nodded and took the practically empty bottle from him. 

“You wanna put her back in the crate?” 

“How do I need to do it?” 

Katsuki stood and crouched down in front of their seats, so the other had full access to the carrier. 

“We’re just gonna open it up,” he narrated as he went. “Then find a spot of heating pad to get her comfortable in. If you put her down, she should flop right into it. Then ya just pull the blankets up around her some.” 

“Okay..” Red took a little breath in, then did exactly as Katsuki said. He tucked her in beside her equally sleepy brother, and pet her for a moment before withdrawing his hand. “Does that work?” 

“Yeah. Good job. Want me to watch you get the next one set up even though you just did everything fine?” 

“Yes, please,” he grinned sheepishly up at the blond, who hummed in acknowledgement. 

The redhead repeated the process Katsuki had shown him from the top, and had a tortoiseshell patterned calico comfy in his lap as he fed it. Once he felt settled, Katsuki started feeding a tortie himself. It was a much easier process when the kittens weren’t newborn; every four or so hours felt so much less taxing than going through the entire ordeal every two hours. 

“So, you finally had a reason to go hiking again with the field study?”

“Right. So I got way less pissed off about it once the class actually started. Then I needed to do some other research on the side, too, not just observation in the wild. I’d been reading about snakes until my eyes felt like they were gonna bleed, so I knew- I didn’t know literally everything the history of humanity knows about snakes, but I got goddamn close. Happened to walk past a pet shop when I had some free time and figured, what the hell, maybe I’d stop in and see if they had any of the snakes I’d been studying there.” 

“And?” Red prompted impatiently, then laughed at himself before Katsuki could get offended about being rushed. “I feel like a little kid being told a bedtime story, I’m invested!” 

Katsuki ducked his head to look closer at the kitten in his hands, and didn’t allow amusement to cross his lips.  

“I walk in this shop, yeah? It’s run by dumbasses. The standard pets aren’t in that bad of shape, but they’ve only got a few snakes, and their enclosures are pathetic. I,” interrogated, “asked the guy behind the counter some questions, and he didn’t know shit. Their diets were fuckin’ awful. So then I was pissed about that. Went home and searched up the shop and did some.. digging.” Some light internet stalking was just another way of describing thorough investigation. “Turned out the guy behind the counter was the nephew of the owner, somethin’ like that. So then I tracked down that guy’s number and asked what the deal with the shop was. Hadn’t expected it, but apparently he didn’t even really want this punk ass kid working there, but there was some bullshit family drama?” He shrugged. It hadn’t been what interested him then, so he certainly didn’t remember the details years afterwards. “So my call gave him an excuse and he fired the kid. Called me back a couple weeks later, asked if I’d do a consultation for what the reptiles needed.” He glanced over at Red, and almost startled at the look of awe on his face. “What?” 

“What do you mean what? That’s so cool! Did you go to consult? Did he learn a lot from you?” 

“Yeah. Didn’t expect it, but the old bastard actually listened. Reached out to me a few months later and thanked me ‘cause of how well the snakes were doing after the changes,” he hummed. 

“Dude,” Red breathed. “That’s amazing. You really made a huge difference! That’s really, really cool.” He cradled his kitten a little closer. 

“So, then-”

“Holy crap, I forgot there was an actual point to the story,” Red mumbled, and Katsuki barked a laugh. 

“Yeah, answering your own question, dumbass.” He slid his foot to kick the other’s, since he couldn’t do an arm punch or shoulder check without jostling either calico. “So. Then I guess the guy talked about it somewhere? ‘Cause then I randomly got a call after that from some total stranger asking if I was the Bakugo that was a snake expert? And I said yeah, obviously, and suddenly I was doing consultation on the side while I was still going to school. Figured out, shit, I actually liked it. Then it was, shit, I liked it better than my internship and other classes. Still got a biochem degree, but threw on a minor in zoology. Bounced around a while after that. Since this rescue is one of the bigger ones in the area, they wanted to expand to be able to accept surrendered exotics, but they needed a reptile specialist. Now here I am.” 

“Dude,” Red blinked at him. 

Sitting as close as they were, Katsuki could see that his eyes were the slightest bit puffy still. He’d never seen the scar above his right eye. He must have always been too far away to notice it. If it was darker instead of a shiny pink, it would’ve just been mistaken as a shadow from his lashes even while so close. 

“You literally could write a memoir. Or have a documentary about you. Or a docuseries!” Red exclaimed, as if the idea was somehow thrilling- even though he didn’t know Katsuki at all. They were just two people that went into the same building, sometimes at the same time. 

Well. That wasn’t exactly fair, was it?

He’d just gone and yapped about his whole fuckin’ life story to this borderline stranger because he’d asked nicely. 

He was certain at least half the people he worked with didn’t know his general background, and most definitely didn’t know the extent of how he’d ended up working there. Red had a leg up on a lot of people in Katsuki’s life pretty immediately, if he thought about it too much. 

“You’re pushing it. Docuseries?” He raised his brows, unimpressed. 

“No, seriously! Okay, picture it,” His hands twitched, and he scrunched his brows as he caught himself. He smiled down at the kitten impeding his movements, momentarily distracted, until he snapped out of it and shook his head. “Right. Okay. So. You’re the snake guy. We’ll come up with a better name for you eventually, this is just the basic pitch. First episode delves into your background. Dramatic recreation of events. That includes you standing on a sick ass mountain, gazing wistfully off into the distance, not knowing how your life is about to change, just so you know.”

“Gazing wistfully off into the distance?”

“Trust the process, man. And you have the dramatic recreation of your first couple consulting jobs. Then after that, just before the end of the show, you’re doing some sick monologuing over some B-footage, right? Narrating about why you do what you do or why it’s important, whatever the vibe is, but then you also lay out the basic formula for the show.”

“Which is?” 

“You start out your day here, and then you get called about a consultation job or an emergency or whatever the main plotline of the episode is, and then it follows you working the job. Then there’s some filler of a fun cast of background characters for comedic moments or to help lighten the tension when it’s a heavier episode. You probably would end up with a team, just for the sake of giving viewers more people to relate to in the main cast. You’re the serious passionate one, so you probably would end up with a chill goofy guy that like, carries your equipment and drives the van, then someone who does something else- maybe the coordinator? Yeah! The coordinator, who shows up at the start of every episode, and you go what’s wrong today?” He dropped his voice and made it even more gravelly in an impersonation of Katsuki’s, “and then the coordinator is like, here’s the situation we’re dealing with or I just got off the phone with Pet Store Store or we just got a call from a ranger at Yakushima Park, and they need you on the scene. And then the camera crew follows you as you go deal with whatever problems a snake guy would get called for!”

“How the fuck did you just come up with that so fast?” He stared. “Are you some kind of tv freak or some shit?” 

“I dunno, I just let it come to me,” he shrugged. “Oh- actually, yeah, one of my friends majored in film stuff. You wouldn’t believe the number of movies and shows I’ve sat through.” 

“Fuck that.”

“Not a movie guy?”

“Not a sitting through shit I don’t like guy,” he corrected, which earned him another laugh from Red. 

“I’ll give you that. I don’t mind it if I’m hanging out with friends. I wouldn’t sit through something I didn’t like if it was just me watching, I guess,” he mused.

“It’s started more than one fight for me.” Memories from childhood all the way through to no more than a few months ago flurried across his mind; how many yelling matches and broken remotes and wrestling matches had begun just because of movie opinions? No less than dozens. 

“That weirdly makes sense for the vibe I’m getting from you,” Red nodded. That could’ve been a snide comment, but from him, it sounded neutral. Leaning positive, even. 

“What vibe is that?” 

“Hmm… Like someone who has loud opinions and it’s your way or the highway. But you’re also right most of the time, so you kinda get away with it.” 

Katsuki tch’d, and didn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing that he had pretty perfectly summed up Katsuki’s entire personality in less than thirty words. He had the excuse of tending to the kitten to move past that; it was a simple repeat of the process, and then he had another in his hands. 

“Mine’s pretty much done, too,” Red piped up almost hesitantly. 

“Sounds right. Go on, you know how to do it now,” he jutted his chin towards the carrier. There was no reason for him to be so hesitant, but Katsuki would give him some grace. Most people got fretful about doing things perfectly and being meticulously careful whenever it came to any of the baby animals. Once they got used to it, though, that tended to wear off pretty quick. 

Even so, he still watched Red go through the motions, and gave him a nod of approval every time he turned to Katsuki for reassurance. He had no reason not to provide it; he really had picked everything up well. 

They fed their next kittens in a comfortable silence. Katsuki debated exactly what to say, or if he should say anything at all. 

Then, he thought fuck that ; there was a reason he followed his gut instincts most of the time. They had rarely led him astray. 

“What about you?”

“Mm?” Red looked taken aback by being addressed. Probably lost in staring at the kitten in his hands. 

“How come you’re here?” Katsuki elaborated. 

“I’m pretty sure you’re the one who told me about volunteers getting to feed kittens,” Red quipped.  

“Hah, hah.” Even that was more than he should’ve dignified the joke with. But he wouldn’t press if the man wanted to keep his reasons to himself. 

At least, not right away. He absolutely would’ve prodded about it if Red hadn’t elaborated organically. 

“I kinda come here whenever I’m not at a hundred percent, I guess,” he admitted, his face dimming some. Katsuki bit the inside of his cheek to school his expression from twisting in the opposite way from how his grin had been building. “The first time I did it, it was total happenstance. I was walking back to my apartment after a long day and had to take a different route because of construction. I didn’t know there was a whole shelter so close until then. And it had been kind of a bummer day- I don’t even remember why now, that kind of blah day, y’know? So I came in on a whim and kinda got lost. Not literally, the signage is super helpful here!” He made sure to reassure before continuing on. “But I walked through and saw all the animals you guys had out that day. Like, every animal. Walked through all the aisles of dog kennels, all the cats- there was a bunny here that first day, too,” he recalled. 

“Huh. Don’t get those too often, you got lucky.” 

“Right? That’s the only kind of rabbit foot related luck I wanna see,” he exhaled a laugh. “But, yeah. I dunno. Maybe just being around so many animals or getting to pet a few did the whole therapy-dog effect? I just felt way better when I was leaving than when I’d come in. Like if my bad vibes were tinnitus, the shelter sorta cancelled out the ringing so it wasn’t so bad, if that makes sense?” 

“Yeah, it does,” Katsuki murmured. He’d had his share of coming into work frustrated and leaving much calmer. Even if the customers pissed him off, the time spent after public hours was a balm to any irritation.

“So then after that, if I was having a crummy day and had the time to spare, I’d make myself come by. Honestly, making myself do the whole touch grass and take a walk thing was probably a factor, too. Whatever the deal is, it’s worked pretty well so far,” he smiled fondly down at the kitten he was feeding. “But, uh, sorry if that’s weird and I shouldn’t’ve really been doing that?” 

“Relax,” Katsuki shook his head. “Not fuckin’ illegal to walk around a shelter and then give a donation. You should have a pretty goddamn clear conscience as far as the shelter goes.”

“If you’re sure..” 

“Didn’t you just say that I’m always sure of shit and also always right about it?” 

“Preeeetty sure those weren’t my exact words, actually.” 

“Means the same thing.” 

“Whatever you say,” he chuckled, and nudged Katsuki with his shoulder, careful not to jostle either of their arms. Katsuki found himself strangely at ease with the proximity and the contact alike. 

“What about today?” 

“..Honestly? It’s kinda pathetic,” he winced. 

“Can’t be that bad. C’mon.” 

“Just.. my roommate moved out this week.” Red didn’t raise his head to look at Katsuki as he spoke this time. 

Katsuki waited for him to go on, but he didn’t. 

“Yeah?” He prodded. 

“We’ve lived together the last couple years, so we were really used to each other. He’s also one of my good buddies, so it was extra cool to have an apartment together. And our friend group would always come over to our apartment for any sort of get together nights.” 

“Mhm.” 

“But he’s moved out and it’s been so quiet. And he’s getting settled into his new place, so of course he’s crazy busy right now,” he rushed to add the of course, as if Katsuki was going to hold a grudge against the former roommate. “And then our other friends are also pretty busy or out of town- and he moved in with one of them, so, y’know- everyone's kinda existing in their own world for now.” 

“Right.” 

“So the long story short is that I’m a big loser that can’t even make it a full calendar week without bothering his friends for attention.” He forced a self-depricating little laugh. 

“That seems like an escalation.” 

“I dunno, man, it feels pretty lame to me.” 

“You lived together for a few years?” 

“Yeah, since we graduated college!” 

“Where’d you live before?” 

“I had university housing with a few of our other friends before that,” he tilted his head to the side, not unlike a curious puppy or intrigued cat, and Katsuki shoved aside the instinct to tease him for it; he was busy trying to make a point. 

“And before you lived on campus, you were living at home?” 

“I think that’s usually where most minors tend to live?” 

“So you’ve never lived alone?”

Red looked a little surprised at the basically rhetorical question. His face scrunched with concentration for a moment, until he finally nodded in agreement. 

“I guess not, now that I’m thinking about it.” 

“So. Doesn’t seem that fuckin’ surprising that you would be feeling weird about it.” 

“I guess.. Not, when you put it that way. Huh.” 

Katsuki let him have the moment to think about it. He set the grey kitten in his own hands back into the carrier and went over their numbers. There was only one left to feed. He glanced over at the redhead, who was looking fondly down at the one he was feeding in the moment, and elected to just start getting a bottle ready. Sure, it would’ve been quicker if Katsuki just fed the last one himself, but.. He was getting as much free labor out of the asshole as he could. 

“There’s something else about it that’s bumming me out, but I feel dumb about it, but I think you’ll kinda get it.”

Katsuki turned to him in surprise. He traded Red the last hungry kitten for the satiated one he’d just finished feeding. 

“Try me,” he held the bottle out once the black kitten was tucked in cozily. 

“So, my roommate worked nights, so it shouldn’t even be as much of an adjustment as it would be with a roomie working normal hours, ‘cause we had different sleep schedules, right? But he’s got a pet cat- Blinks. And she’s totally his cat- like, he rescued her as a kitten and did that whole thing years before we moved in together. But she would keep me company a lot, y’know? She’s a real cuddler, so she usually sleeps on him whenever he’s around and asleep, which is so cute. But she’d hang out with me a lot, too. Like, she’d come sleep on me when he was at work, or would come chill on the couch with me if he was out or busy while I was home. So it just feels.. extra lonely with her moving out with him, I guess.”

With that context, so many of the things Katsuki had noticed or wondered about were falling into place. 

“Why do you feel dumb about that?”

“I mean.. She isn’t my cat, so it’s silly to be this worked up about it…right?” 

“You’re not exactly throwing a tantrum. This doesn’t seem all that worked up,” Katsuki pointed out. “Pets end up taking up enough space to be a household member. They’re just fuckin’ bums that don’t help with rent.”

Red laughed and leaned back, and tucked his chin to better watch the last kitten. 

“They do end up having a presence, like, way bigger than they literally are, don’t they?” His shoulders slumped. “I dunno. I tend to be the overemotional type, so I try not to let myself…I dunno., wallow, I guess.” He shrunk into himself further, like he regretted the space he was occupying. 

“It sucks though,” Katsuki acknowledged. He considered whether or not to elaborate, but.. Fuck it. He figured he may as well be honest, even if it was more than he’d usually give away of himself. “One of the biggest rules at the shelter is to not get too attached to the animals, but everyone ends up breaking it. Impossible not to. There’s plenty of animals I was around during work hours only, some of ‘em only for a week or two, but I still fuckin’ miss them or whatever. Would be weirder if you didn’t for a cat you lived with for multiple years.” 

He immediately busied himself with checking the carrier and fussing with the blanket wrapped around it, like it would somehow save him from the crumb of vulnerability he’d dropped. 

“Thanks for saying that, Bakugo,” Red said softly. Katsuki nearly startled at hearing his own name without having properly introduced himself- despite being fully aware of the badge clipped to his pocket that had a boldly printed nametag. “Not to make assumptions, but I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess you’re not the most touchy-feely guy. I really appreciate you saying that, and for telling me about the volunteering and helping with all this.” 

“‘S not a big deal,” Katsuki muttered, and ignored the heat crawling up the back of his neck. 

“Maybe not, but it’s a big deal to me,” Red gave him a small but devastatingly warm smile. “So, seriously. Thank you.”

“Uh. Sure.” 

Katsuki didn’t let himself roll his eyes at his own short response. It was lame as fuck, but what the hell else was he supposed to say to such earnest gratitude? Especially for something that was technically his job; if he cared about going above and beyond on the people side of shelter affairs, he would’ve probably chatted the guy up weeks ago to pitch him volunteering, so it wasn’t like he was even doing that. Hell- he’d only even started talking to him that day because of Camie’s bullshit. It didn’t feel the most worthy of thanks. 

Even so. When the redhead put the final empty bottle to the side and cradled the kitten close enough to nuzzle his cheek against it, it felt like maybe he had done something good after all. 

Red helped him get the last kitten packed away, and that time followed him back to return them to their home kennel. Katsuki tried very, very hard to not let himself be charmed by the way Red chatted with each of the kittens he picked up to get settled in, but he was only human. 

Katsuki snuck a look at the time as he finished putting up the last of the supplies they’d used. 

He’d already fully thrown himself and his day for a loop, and they still had a short while before the shelter closed for the day. So-

“Want a tour?” He casually suggested. “That’s usually how we start volunteers off, but since they needed fed, figured you wouldn’t mind jumping right in.”

“Not at all! I mean- not at all about jumping right in. Yes, I’d love a tour,” he grinned widely at Katsuki once he stopped stumbling over his words.

“This is where we keep the cats we gotta keep an eye on, but don’t need to be specifically quarantined. Kittens after a certain age, cats with general disabilities and health issues we wanna monitor. Pretty self explanatory. Sometimes it’s pretty full, other times- like right now- ‘s not too crowded. Had a big adoption event last week, so we’re pretty much wiped out of adoptable age kittens, and managed to get a lot of our senior cats homes too.” 

“That’s amazing!” 

“It’s pretty cool,” he admitted and grinned back at the redhead. He knew he could come across pretty nonchalant at times, but if there was one thing he cared about it was the animals they helped. Something like a successful adoption event gave him the same rush that winning in a sports match in high school had. 

They chatted more as he led Red to the next area, and another question came up. 

“So.. you said you’ve got some former shelter pets that you miss, right? You have any favorites that you really remember or think about a lot?” 

Katsuki considered the question. 

“Yeah, plenty. The reptiles always stick out to me ‘cause we don’t get many in. We had a specific ball python last year. His scale pattern was so fuckin’ sick. You ever check our social media, he’s on there- he ended up adopted by an elementary science teacher. She’s sent us a couple photos of his tank in her room and said we could share ‘em.” 

“I didn’t even think about that being an option,” Red stared at him in wonder. “Do you get a lot of class pet adoptions?”

“Not a ton. The ratio of cats and dogs to literally any other animal is pretty insane. There was one lady that worked at a dental office that adopted a fish that was surrendered to us.” 

“A fish?”

“Uhhuh. Poor fucker’s swim bladder was messed up in a way the vet couldn’t fix- that’s the thing that regulates how they float. Kinda important. But a nerd I know managed to rig up a sorta.. fish flotation aid. Fish equivalent of a wheelchair, basically. So the fish was chill, but kinda needed someone to keep an eye on him. We were gonna just keep him as one of our resident animals, but this lady was there to get her kid a pet and ended up taking the fish, too.” 

“Dude. Are you serious?” Red’s voice sounded strangely tight. Katsuki glanced over at him, and had to do a double take. 

“Are you alright?” Katsuki was actually concerned; Red’s face was all pink, and his eyes were wet again. He looked like Katsuki imagined the man would’ve if he’d tried to hold in a gnarly cough. 

“I’m fine! It’s just. That’s really cool. You guys made him a floaty so he could swim,” he sniffed and rubbed at his face aggressively. 

“Holy shit. Are you crying?” 

“Not actually! I just could! I warned you I overreact,” he whined from behind a hand. “Go on, keep telling me more. Ignore me.” He waved at Katsuki with his free hand. 

The blond pressed his lips together and managed to stifle any laughter creeping up his throat. He chose mercy rather than prodding at him more about it. Only because the fucker was already bummed out. 

“Anyway,” he cleared his throat to help keep his composure. “Animals. Had a lizard gecko a couple months back that liked to hang out on people. Was kind of a pain in the ass ‘cause she was an escape artist, and I was convinced she was gonna get herself squashed by accident, but whenever she slipped out she’d just climb up the nearest person and chill on them. There have been some cool cats and dogs, too, obviously. Mm…” He keyed them into the next room, then stopped in the middle of the doorway when a thought struck. That was where they’d go after the reptiles. He had an idea- hopes, really- of how the other would react, but this room would be a good screening test to see if Katsuki’s instincts were right. 

Unfortunately, he hadn’t given any warning before stopping cold in the middle of a walkway. Kirishima ran into Katsuki and nearly tripped backwards. “Shit!” He swiveled and grabbed the redhead’s arm to stabilize him, who looked entirely embarrassed as he held onto Katsuki’s wrist in return. 

“I am so sorry, I don’t know how I just- are you alright?” Red ran worried eyes over him. 

“My bad. ‘M fine. You?” 

“I’m all good!” He nodded quickly. 

It took a beat for them to realize they were still holding onto one another.

They noticed simultaneously, and quickly stepped apart with more stuttered apologies and blushing faces. 

“Exotics,” Katsuki cleared his throat, quick to move on past that. “Not a ton of new guys in right now. A few snakes, an iguana. We’ve got some long term residents, too,” he gestured towards the wall shelves that held them. 

“Wow!” Red whistled. “How have I not seen them before? This is awesome!” 

“Gotta ask an employee for access or schedule an appointment to check ‘em out. We grill people harder for them than we do for the standard animals, since most of them’ve got such long lifespans and need so much maintenance comparatively.” 

He hadn’t thought to make sure the fucker wasn’t freaked out by reptiles before he brought him in, but he’d been right not to bother. Red beelined for the first eye-level tank and looked in curiously. 

“So all of these guys just live here?” 

“Basically. They’re technically adoptable, but odds aren’t great.” 

“But that’s so sad,” he frowned. 

“Eh. They have it pretty fuckin’ cushy here. Guarantee you they don’t mind.” 

Red hummed contemplatively and lowered himself to study the next tank.

“Makes sense,” he agreed, and glanced up towards Katsuki. “Guess they can’t ask for much better than being taken care of by Bakugo Katsuki, the snake guy of the area, right?” He grinned. 

“Damn right,” he grinned back. He didn’t think about how his given name had sounded in the man’s warm tone: Ka-tsuki. The room had a space heater and humidifier to keep it closer to the environments of the enclosures, so if his cheeks grew any warmer, he didn’t notice. 

“What are they all?” 

“The one you’re looking at right now is Maroon. He’s a boa, only about a few years old. The first one you saw is Midnight, he’s a ball python under two years old.” He walked towards the next enclosure and gestured towards where the snake was curled up. “That’s our other ball, Yoyo. She’s the oldest one here, right about seven years old. And then the lizard up there is Bejeweled, she’s an anole, only a year and some change.” 

“That’s so sick. How are their personalities? Like, do you have one that’s kinda yours, or is that all of them?” 

“Everyone in this room is,” he admitted. “Same way a teacher probably feels about their students. But I’m pretty partial to Yoyo. She’s got a sick ass morph, but she’s got wobble. So she’s one of the least likely to get adopted, and she’s been here the longest.” 

“I understood some of those words that you just used,” Red blinked up at him as he stood back up to peer into Yoyo’s tank. “Is morph a word for like.. corporeal form? And she’s got wobble?” 

“Corporeal form,” Katsuki echoed with a huff of laughter. “Sorta. Catchall term for the genetic variables for what coloring and pattern they have. Yoyo’s a fire black-pastel spider yellow-belly.”

“You just said so many adjectives, dude.” 

“Those are all the different gene factors,” he shrugged. “Breeding for different morphs can get pretty crazy.” 

“And wobble?” 

“A neurological thing. Kinda like how restless leg makes your legs twitch, but ‘s their head. Sometimes it’s just a head wobble when they’re chilling, but it can also cause her to corkscrew when she’s trying to move around.” 

“Does it hurt?” The corners of Red’s lips tugged downwards. 

“Nah. Just gets a little turned around sometimes. Not the kinda thing that affects quality of life..” 

“Then how come she’s not likely to get adopted? I dunno anything about morphs, but she looks pretty to me.” 

“Problem is feeding; wobble can make it hard to target prey, so it gets a lot harder and takes longer to actually get ‘em to eat. It’s ‘cause of the spider pattern gene. Even if it’s barely there, every spider morph is gonna have wobble. Even though they’re a designer breed, people get ‘em and then have too hard of a time with that, or they buy one without knowing that’s a problem for the breed.” 

“That sucks,” Red frowned. He crouched down again to get a closer look at her, and Katsuki got a better view of his remarkably not-fried hair. The red was vibrant, and blended well into where the roots were sneaking up. They weren’t too grown in, and the colour did a good job covering them. 

“We manage,” he shrugged and crouched down too. “She’s a cool one. Likes being handled, which a lot of snakes don’t. Her owner did a good job with her, but had a hard time with the feeding. Gets worse when they’re stressed or excited, and she’s fuckin’ thrilled to eat. And the previous owner had a pretty busy household, so that can be environmental stress. So here’s good for her. Gets all the attention she wants, but it’s nice and calm for her, too.” 

“I guess that works out okay, then, even if I wish every animal here could go to a dream home with someone who would take care of them perfectly,” Red pursed his lips in what was almost a pout. “But it sounds like here might be as good as that,” he added. 

“You would wish that,” Katsuki rolled his eyes, but he was smiling ever so slightly. That was an easy option for anyone to stroke his ego, but it felt more substantial when it came from someone with their heart so fully on their sleeve. “Sappy ass volunteer.” He bumped his shoulder into the redhead’s. 

“Hey! Nothing wrong with having big wishes! I’m trying to positively manifest,” he made a face at the blond and shoulderchecked him back before turning back to the enclosure. “She actually likes being held? I guess I kinda figured they’d just wanna mind their own business.”

“That’s how most of them are. But you get your exceptions. She likes being out, likes to hang out on people or explore around. Begs like a goddamn puppy for it.” 

“Really?” Came way too quickly from him. 

Katsuki nodded, then paused. He looked over at Red, and- yeah, he was certain his suspicions were right. 

“Yeah. Wanna hold her?” 

“Could I?” Burst enthusiastically from him. Katsuki totally was right. “I’ve never held one before, how big is she? Am I okay to hold her, it won’t stress her out that it’s me?” 

“Watch and see if she seems stressed out to you,” Katsuki grinned. “Up. Lemme get shit ready.” 

They both washed their hands and Katsuki told the other where to stand. She was lurking at the enterance to the tank even before he started opening it. 

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t rush me,” he chided affectionately as he did open it up. The second he extended his hand, she was slithering out onto it. She took a moment to look around before actually beginning to make her way up his arm. He scooped her middle up to help her along, and let her find her bearings. 

“That was so cool,” Red breathed, awestruck. “That was so fast, it was cartoonish. Like a snake charmer or something!” 

“That’s all her, not me,” Katsuki grinned at her. He supported her as she climbed around him, but let her have free reign otherwise. She draped over his shoulders and wound around his bicep a few times, and poked her head up- he always thought of it as a snake going into periscope mode- from his elbow. 

“She really does like hanging out, huh?” Red looked tickled to just be watching her. 

“Told you,” he smirked. She looked around for a few times before suddenly pausing, then beginning to sort of sway her head back and forth like a stumbling drunk. “Hold on. Give her a second to lock back in- this is what wobble is.” 

The redhead hummed in understanding, but he tensed like he was waiting for something bad to happen. 

“And you’re sure she isn’t bothered by it?”

“Yeah. You’ll see. It’s like..” He paused for a moment to consider a good point of comparison. “Like if someone with mild vertigo also got shaky leg syndrome at the same time. Can be annoying, can look freaky, but it ain’t exactly a seizure. Dunno if that helps any,” he sniffed, shifting his hands around to better support Yoyo’s neck. 

“A lot, actually,” Red nodded. 

“Vertigo’s probably worse. Don’t think snakes really get nauseous, ‘n even for a real bad episode, least they aren’t toppling over from a couple yards above the ground,” he snorted. “Usually they aren’t bad for her. She’s already regulating, see?” It hadn’t been very severe in the first place, even by her standards, and her wiggles were already getting smaller and slower. 

“She’s doing a great job!” Red nodded encouragingly. 

It was something entirely out of her control, that she couldn’t really do a good or bad job with, technically, but he didn’t have the heart to correct the softie. Katsuki hummed in vague agreement, and they both watched as she steadied herself and shook it off. 

“There she is,” Katsuki murmured approvingly. Once she was good and relaxed again, he twisted his hand to be able to brush his thumb back and forth across the top of her head. “You ready?” He raised a brow at Red, who was staring intently. 

“Huh?” It  took him a half second and a quick blink to seem to focus. Once he did come back to reality, he was nodding eagerly. 

“What do I do?” 

“Hold your arms with your elbows mostly down and forearms up and out, hands curled but open,” he demonstrated with his own until Red mirrored him. “Brace yourself for the weight, she’s not light,” he added. 

All it took was Katsuki stepping closer to Red and Yoyo was immediately pivoting to examine him. He held his hand so the backs of his fingers brushed Red’s. It was only to help the transition from handler to handler. Katsuki’s fingers still tingled pleasantly despite the practicality of the contact. He slid them atop the others to guide his hand to fully open his palm to the sky, and let the connection point between them become a bridge. The python didn’t hesitate to sidle up Red’s arm, then begin winding around his arm instead. Until she fully latched onto the redhead, their arms were linked together the same way fingers get stuck in one of those bamboo finger trap toys. Katsuki shifted his slightly freer hand to help support her tail, his fingers and wrist following her lead like was second nature to him. 

He wasn’t someone who hid what the fuck he was thinking most of the time. Only when it felt too vulnerable, when it was something he wanted to tuck away and keep safely within himself. Tenderness was not something he made room for outside of the painstaking care he took with the animals he tended to. 

Red’s smile brightened into something even more dazzling, and Katsuki found himself reflecting that radiance. A breath he hadn’t known he was holding released, and with it went tension in his shoulders. Katsuki could feel himself softening. As if beneath the surface, his ribs were being opened and peeled back like a citrus fruit; his one layer of defense torn apart to expose the flesh it had been protecting. His vulnerable entrails were more revealed in the small smile his lips curved into than in his own evisceration. His eyes gentling at the scene was as damning of evidence as a bloody trail in the snow. The silvery powder melting against its will from the warm gore, all saturated and raw and striking, and-

Red.

Red, who was staring at Yoyo like she was something miraculous. Regardless of the tears shed before Katsuki had seen him that day, Red was beaming. His decidedly less puffy eyes were crinkled in delight the same way they had for the kittens, and his head tipped curiously to the side once more, as if that would somehow grant him a better angle of observation. 

If anyone else looked at Katsuki, they would see through his moony expression to his mutilated chest, to the damning red stains dripping from his hands. 

But that was just it; there was no one else there to look at him. 

There was just Red, whose focus was entirely on the python. 

Until it wasn’t, and his joyful eyes met Katsuki’s. 

“She’s so cool!” He whisper-yelled with the same concern of being too loud that he’d had when feeding the kittens. “This is amazing!”

Katsuki’s cheeks ached as his own grin instinctively stretched to match the other’s exuberance. That was when the answer to a question he hadn’t actively known he’d had clicked. Everything about the redhead had felt different, somehow. He’d just realized one of the reasons for that: Red’s excitement was not just his own. He wasn’t just experiencing everything he was being shown, but sharing it openly with Katsuki. He’d been so candid and upfront with Katsuki, but it wasn’t just that; he was eager to engage in it with Katsuki. It was the difference between watching someone laugh at their book versus laughing with someone. It was the difference in hands that were touching versus fingers that were connected. 

He could feel every point of contact, from where his nails met the other’s palm to where Red’s fingertips settled between the ridges of Katsuki’s knuckles, as if that was where his pulse was stemming from instead of behind his sternum. 

“Fuck yeah,” he bared his teeth more, and then it was Red’s turn to mirror Katsuki and follow suit. He felt himself buzzing from the energy emanating from the other like some sort of secondhand smoke high. 

“I know you told me she wouldn’t be, but I can’t believe she’s not freaked out by me. She’s just super outgoing, huh?” 

“She is, but ‘s not just that,” Katsuki admitted. “She likes exploring but can get weirded out with people sometimes.”

“How’d you know she wouldn't be with me?” 

“Dunno. Just did.”

Their eyes met again, and Katsuki was keenly aware of the level of sweat suddenly accumulating on his palms. 

Another answer to another question. This one, he’d known he’d had. Why did he give a fuck about this asshole? He couldn’t explain it before,but since he’d actually spoken to him the answer couldn’t stop rattling around in his head: I like him. 

“I’m really glad. This is so sick,” he gushed as Yoyo became fully coiled around his arm. Neither of them separated their hand from the other’s.

“Didn’t know you’d be a reptile guy or I would’ve offered sooner,” Katsuki said, surprising himself with the admission. He hadn’t known it was true until he said it, but it felt right. 

“I didn’t know I was a reptile guy until today! I’ve thought snakes were cool enough, but I’ve never gone out of my way to see them. You didn’t even explain a ton about them, but it was way more than I ever knew about them before,” he laughed brightly. It was one borne out of joy more than humor, and Katsuki’s stomach swooped at the sound. 

“Yeah?” He brought his free hand forward to glide his fingertips across Yoyo’s back. “They’re interesting little shits.”

“I get why a lot of people are scared of them- and it’s totally different to be holding one here in a pet shelter than to be just minding my business and then having one slithering around my kitchen, I guess. But I can’t believe anyone would look at her and be scared! Look at her little face!” He all but cooed the last part at Yoyo. She idly flicked her tongue out towards him, then continued her exploration of this new territory of a person. Katsuki hummed in agreement, and chuckled as he watched her forage through Red’s ponytail to explore his opposite shoulder. 

“She’s pretty goddamn cute.” 

A little giggle escaped Red, and Katsuki’s brows shot up.

“That tickles,” the man’s shoulders reflexively wrenched up as she brushed the back of his neck. Yoyo was undeterred. She ended up draped across his traps, and looped her head and neck around his bicep to take in the new vantage point. 

“Guess you’re all sorts of sensitive,” Katsuki teased. 

“Got me,” Red snorted. “I’ve made the joke more than once that I need one of those handle with care shipping stickers.” 

“Fragile sure as shit doesn’t seem to apply,” he pointed out, and, well. If he watched the man’s biceps flexing because of how he was holding Yoyo, he was only human. 

“I try not to let it. You’re definitely the opposite, huh? You’re out here hauling around these big-ass snakes- and I bet people ask you to help with the big dogs, too. Am I right?” 

“Guilty,” he smirked. “Surprised you’re a cat guy more than a dog guy.”

“Am I that easy to read?”

“Completely.” Katsuki was polite and kept his eyes level- rather than dipping down to the keychain that he had seen. He hated to give Camie even a centimeter, but.. yeah, the rainbow hammerhead dangling from his keys was gay as hell. That was the baseline of subtlety that Red seemed to operate at.

“I think I’m just an all animals guy, really. But I- man, this sounds so dumb.” 

“Try me.” 

“I feel like dogs get all the attention compared to cats? And I feel bad! So I try to give the cats extra attention. They’re better for chilling out on a rough day, too, so. Most of my shelter time ends up as cat time.” 

“Feeling bad for them is a little dumb-” 

Red groaned dramatically, but Katsuki continued on. 

“- but s’nice of you. And the cats appreciate it.”

“Really?” 

“Definitely. All the animals get a decent amount of attention as one of the popular shelters, but people don’t usually take time with the cats if they’re not interested in one specifically. Some of them prefer that, but others are more social. Good for them to have more people to interact with.” 

“Huh. I guess I didn’t think it would make much of a difference, but I’m really glad!”

“And if you’re worried about the animals that aren’t in the spotlight as much, you’re getting your brownie points right now,” he pointed out. 

“Are snakes really not that popular?” 

“They can get people’s attention, but most aren’t gonna want to adopt one or have the space to. And some of the workers and most of the volunteers aren’t huge fans. Usually just me or a few of the others, which s’fine. But it’s good to have them exposed to someone new when we can.”

“That works out great, ‘cause I’m having so much fun hanging out with them!” He exclaimed more to Yoyo than Katsuki. 

“Actually.” Camie was gonna roast the shit out of him later for what he was about to say, and it was a burden he would bear. “Rare for us to get good photo ops with ‘em. Mind if I take a few? We can crop your face if you want.” 

“That’s actually really sick! I don’t mind being in them or anything- as long as you make sure they’re good photos,” he chuckled. 

“Not gonna be hard to do,” Katsuki mumbled. He got out his phone and snapped several- Camie had been on his ass about getting more for their social media. Objectively, Red really was pretty, even if that wasn’t the normal descriptor for someone so stocky and masculine. “These alright?” He brought his phone over to scroll through them together. 

“Those are really good,” Red sounded surprised. “Could you text those to me? Uh, or send them through the shelter’s account?” 

“Text’s fine. Gimme your phone,” he supported Yoyo with a hand to free one of Red’s. Red complied easily, and slipped it into Katsuki’s waiting palm once he’d unlocked it. Trusting fucker. 

He added himself as a contact, texted himself from the other’s phone, and then replied to that with the photos. “All yours. If you wanna be tagged if we upload it, you can send me your username.” 

And if that came with the bonus of getting to peek at Red’s profile, well, that was convenient. 

“Totally! Here, you wanna just look me up right now?”

He gave Katsuki his information, and suddenly photos of the man were staring back at him. More than one of them were shirtless photos, a fact that Katsuki’s brain felt necessary to point out. He’d have to be careful to keep that to himself. 

“No photo I’ll take can be any worse than that second one,” he finally found something to latch onto that wasn’t totally inappropriate. 

“Which one?” Kirishima angled his head to look at the screen, then groaned dramatically. “It was a charity fundraiser!” 

“What kind of charity needs you to get pelted with.. Are those just sponges dipped in paint?”

“Yeah! We had a few things people could buy tickets for, but apparently thwacking someone with a paint-sponge is especially profitable. Next time we’re gonna cut some of the other stands to have more of these.” 

“Let me know when you next have one.” 

“Aw, do you wanna volunteer?” 

“Fuck no, I wanna throw shit at you too.” It wasn’t a joke- he figured it would be oddly satisfying to hit someone with a saturated sponge, but the redhead laughed anyway. 

“I’ll personally make sure you’re invited,” he angled his wrist awkwardly around Yoyo to brush his fingertips against his chest like a vow.

“I’ll hold you to that,” he warned, his voice lowering more than he’d intended. 

“Then I’ll just have to prove that I’m good for my word,” Red teased right back. 

By the time both of their phones were tucked away, Yoyo was contentedly tangled entirely around Red’s arm, opposite of the one she’d started out on. 

“About time for you to go back in. Yeah, yeah, you don’t wanna leave your new friend, I know. Sucks.” He coaxed her off with the utmost care despite his put-on exasperation. 

“I guess I’m just gonna have to come back to say hi more, aren’t I?” Red danced his fingertips across her scales once more before stepping aside. “If that’s okay, I mean.”

“‘Course,” Katsuki said automatically, then cleared his throat as he guided her back into her enclosure. “Don’t have that many people interested in reptiles. Real helpful to have extra hands around for cleaning their exhibits and shit.” 

“I can totally do that!”

“I’ll send you a picture of the schedule we have. If you’re busy when we normally have it, but you really wanna help, it’s no big deal to bump it a few hours.” It wasn’t, but Katsuki had absolutely never offered such a thing to a volunteer before. 

They washed up, and Red watched as Katsuki did a few last checks before guiding him out of the room. 

The idea he’d had that had stopped him in his tracks before was still clattering around in his mind. He knew it could be a big swing, but that had never been an obstacle for him before. 

It wasn’t something that would really affect him too much besides the normal way his job did. Even so, excitement was brewing in the electricity of his veins.*

“This way next.”

They chatted as they walked back towards the cats, but a different section than where he’d first approached the other. He held the door for Red into the back area, and stepped in after him. 

“I don’t feel like I need to explain anything here to you. Cats. Care shit. Paperwork. Just figured you’d wanna see more of ‘em.”

“You figured so right, dude.” Red wandered down the aisle of kennels like a kid in a candy shop. Katsuki watched closely and sank his teeth into the side of his cheek. He didn’t want to actually say anything that could sway the redhead; he wanted his organic reaction and thoughts. But with every step the other took towards the kennel Katsuki knew was just a few meters down the aisle, Katsuki’s heart beat a little faster. That didn’t stop him from concentrating all his thoughts on guiding Red’s eyes to right where he wanted them to land. 

It was stupid of him- he was breaking the very rule he’d told Red about earlier, but he couldn’t help himself. He was always bound to have favorites. 

Red looked enamored with every kennel he glanced into. He was such a fucking sap, making sure to wave or coo at every cat he walked in front of. That made the anticipation all the more agonizing. 

Then, one a few down from the cat he was actively in front of caught his eye. Enough for him to pass over the other cats between and go straight for that one. 

“Oh, aren’t you a cutie? What’s your name?” His voice softened and lilted upwards as soon as he set eyes on her. “Gem?” He read aloud, and got a loud meow in response. Katsuki huffed in relief under his breath, and let a comfortable warmth settle where the nerves had been. “Whoa! Yeah! Nice to meet you!” He leaned in to get a better look, even closer than he had for the other cats. Katsuki bit his cheek harder to temper his smile. 

“Move,” Katsuki bumped the other out of his way, and opened up the door to her kennel. He stepped aside, and tilted his head towards it. “There. Say hi all you want.”

“That’s awesome, thank you,” he gave Katsuki a double thumbs up, and all of his focus returned to the cat watching him curiously now that there was no barrier between them. “Nice to actually meet you, Gem.” 

She meowed again, and Katsuki watched as Red melted in real time. Katsuki was half convinced that if he pressed his palm against his own chest, it would come away bloodstained.

Red offered a hand out for Gem to sniff him out. She did exactly that, then headbutted hard against his open palm. 

“You’re feisty, aren’t’cha?” He received a loud yowl in response, and it made the redhead laugh. “Yeah, you tell me!” 

Katsuki kept quiet as he observed the two. Red cooed and petted, Gem demanded even more attention and meow-yelled obnoxiously. 

Then, after a few minutes-

“Am I allowed to hold her?” Red turned to Katsuki with pleading eyes. 

“Up to her. Knock yourself out ‘s far as I give a shit.” He crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall. 

“Okay. You’re totally allowed to bite me or maul me if you hate this,” Red reassured as he slowly reached further into the cage. Both hands landed on her sides and settled there. He was giving her a moment to acclimate, or to back up. “Heeeere we go..” He scooped her up as delicately as he could, and cradled her in his arms. Katsuki could see the tension in his hands, the little worried creases on his forehead. He was so damn worried she was going to lose her shit or be uncomfortable about it. 

Katsuki knew better, but he let them come to that conclusion by themselves. 

As the blond expected, Gem shifted in his arms. Red braced her like he was ready to put her back in the second she demanded it. Instead, she pressed her paws against his chest and slammed her forehead into his jaw, then smashed her cheek against it just as aggressively. 

“You might be the cutest thing I have ever seen,” Red breathed. Katsuki knew he was biased, but he agreed with Red. She was young enough to still be pretty small, but she was clearly going to be a large cat. Her fur was a pain in the ass, all long and thick, but it meant she looked exceptionally fluffy. It was a pretty ginger from her forehead to her tail, but her face and underside were all a creamy white that contrasted nicely against the ginger. He held her up to be face to face with him, and cheesed when she butted her forehead directly against his. “Bakugo. This is the cutest cat on the planet,” he said gravely without breaking eye contact with her. 

“Think so?” 

“Look at her!” He pivoted so they were facing Katsuki directly and held her up. “I think I love her.” 

“That quick?” Katsuki asked casually, despite how he could feel the anticipation and excitement suddenly spiking his heartrate once again. 

“Dude. She’s the cutest, sweetest baby on Earth. It would be weirder if I didn’t.” 

Katsuki chuckled and nodded noncommittally. The redhead scowled at him and held her to his chest. 

“Careful with how she balances on you,” Katsuki kept his tone deceptively bored. He felt the upbeat tempo inside his chest and the jitters in his leg and wasn’t sure how convincing he was. 

“Huh? What do you mean?” 

“Hard to tell with how fucking puffy she is-“ 

“Fluffy! Puffy sounds rude,” Red defended. 

“But look.” Katsuki didn’t take the cat from him, but gently lifted her shoulders so she’d stretch out like a slinky. He jutted his chin at her haunches- where she had one perfectly average leg. Singular. 

“Oh,” Red’s voice sombered. “Is she hurt?” 

“Nah, this was from when she was born. She’s fine, runs around like a goddamn maniac when she gets a room to herself.” 

“I’m glad it doesn’t bother her,” he gathered her back in his arms more carefully.

“Bothers people hell of a lot more than it bothers her.”

“Seriously?” Red stared at him like Katsuki was gonna follow it up with sike.

“Yeah. Rest of her litter got adopted out months ago, but she’s still stuck around. People don’t like anything that could be difficult. Even though she’s fucking perfectly healthy and happy.”

“That’s so messed up,” he tightened his arms around her until she mrowed at him, and he quickly loosened them to just tight enough. “Gem, you don’t listen to anyone like that. You’re perfect, understand?” He looked very seriously down at her. She squeaked and headbutted him again, which started a second wave of cooing and aww’ing. 

Katsuki gave him a few minutes of fawning over the cat before he spoke up again.

“She likes you.” 

“And I’m obsessed with her!” 

“So you’re taking her with you when you leave?” 

“Huh?” Red did a double take at him. 

“You miss having a cat. You just said this is the best cat alive and you’re obsessed. So, you’re gonna bring her home. Right?” He asked in a way that wasn’t a question at all. 

“But I don’t- I’ve never owned a cat before, and I work weird hours sometimes.” 

“Not legally, but you had Blinks. Sounds like you took care of her like she was your own whenever your roommate needed you to- and he also worked weird hours.” 

“I mean, yeah, but that’s not the same as actually being a full time pet owner, or having a roommate to help with it. I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do.” 

“Oi. Listen the fuck up, ‘cause I’m only saying this once.” He stepped forward to glare directly into the other’s eyes. “You’re giving shitty excuses about why you shouldn’t. I dunno why the fuck you think you don’t deserve this, but it’s bullshit. You’re obviously fucking competent- more than half the people who get pets and still manage to do a decent job with them. She likes you. You’ll be a great goddamn owner because you give a shit.” He poked hard between the man’s brows. He startled at the touch, but didn’t otherwise respond. 

It didn’t deter Katsuki in the slightest. 

“You can wimp out and leave alone and be miserable when she’s adopted by someone else, or feel guilty as shit when she sits here for months to years because no one else is willing to take her home because of a stupid goddamn leg. Or, you can get the fuck out of your own way and let yourself have this. You don’t need anyone’s permission but your own, so fucking give it to yourself.”

Red stared at him in silence for long enough that Katsuki started to feel the faintest inkling of worry begin to knot in the pit of his stomach. He meant everything he’d said, but he didn’t really know this fucker, despite whatever understanding between him he felt. He might’ve misread the situation entirely and not just overstepped, but-

“You really think I can give her a good home?” His voice was quiet but sturdy. 

“Fuck yes I do. Look at her right now, Red,” he gestured at where she was cradled in the man’s arms. She was rubbing a cheek against his bicep, and her paws were curling where she was kneading them against his forearm. “That’s not normal. She’s not shy, but this is more than I even expected.” 

“Really?”

“I don’t go around encouraging people for shits and giggles. If I said it, I mean it.” He still looked a little unconvinced, so Katsuki persisted. “And I’d know. She’s one of my rule breaks; been here since she was born. She’s sweet, but she hasn’t reacted to anyone else the way she just reacted to you.”

Red grew quiet again, but looked down at Gem. She took the opportunity to smack the top of her head against the underside of his chin. A smile broke through the contemplative look on his face, and he glanced back up towards Katsuki. Resignation. 

“I don’t even have any supplies or anything.”

“We’re used to that. We’ll send you off with a baggie of food, shit that’s already in her cubby.” 

“What else would I need? I know the obvious essentials. A cat tree? I should get a cat tree, right? Does it need to be shorter since she’s missing some balance? Does she need a water fountain? I know some people use those but is that one of those things that’s just a gimmick?”

Katsuki caught how the hypothetical would turned into I should as Red spoke. 

“Here’s the deal.” He rolled his shoulders back and crossed his arms. “There’s only a few minutes before close. We’ll get you all set up, microchip registered, everything.” 

That was the standard procedure. 

“But then,” he began again. “I’ve got a proposition.” 

“What is it?” 

“You stick around long enough for me to close up shop, and we’ll go to a shitty pet store after since you’re so worried about not knowing shit. I have a car. You’re gonna need one for a cat tree.” 

“That’s so generous, I couldn’t ask you to do all that,” Red bit his lip. 

“You’re not. ‘M offering.” His eyes flickered across Red’s face, and.. Fuck it. “You can even it out by covering dinner. We can get takeout- or if you’ve got groceries I can throw something together, we can build the tree after.” 

Red’s cheeks matched his nickname, then, as blood rushed to his face. His eyes were wide and his lips nearly parted, but he shook his head slightly and regained himself. 

“Asking to come over before the first date is pretty bold, Bakugo,” Red cocked his head, but he was smiling. Pleased.  

“Tell me this tour hasn’t been better than any other first date you’ve been on,” he challenged. Red couldn’t do more than try not to smile bigger, and pride swelled in Katsuki’s chest. “But it wasn’t official. Pet store ain’t exactly first date material-”

“I think it’s perfect, actually.” 

“That a yes?” 

“You’re smart, you can figure it out,” he teased, and Katsuki grinned. 

“Good. Put her up so we can get you started on the paperwork, I’ll start on the backend shit.” 

At that, some of the playfulness left Red alongside his smile. Katsuki’s brow furrowed- he had no idea how the hell that would be the line that he’d somehow fucked up with. 

But then, he watched Red’s arms tighten around Gem, and fuck. Of course it was that he didn’t want to put her down. He closed his eyes for a moment, and willed himself to overcome the fucking absurd cuteness of a grown ass man. Every time Katsuki’d thought he had an idea of how much of a sap Red was, he’d gone and done something else that was equal parts ridiculous and endearing.

“The sooner you set her down, the quicker you get to pick her back up,” he pointed out. 

“I know,” he mumbled, and nuzzled down against her. “There’s no way someone could swoop in and adopt her while we’re getting it all set up, is there?” 

“Nah.” There wasn’t; there also hadn’t been an inordinate amount of interest in her, and it was also no more than ten minutes before they technically closed. Even so, he grabbed a dry erase sign from the stack, and scribbled on it. He tied it to the top of the kennel hatch, where no one would be able to miss the ADOPTION PENDING in bright red. “Just for good measure.” 

“Alright... I’ll be right back, understand?” Red softened his voice when he addressed Gem again, and she yawned in his face, clearly as deeply concerned as he was. He put her down gingerly, and let Katsuki latch it closed. 

“C’mon, mushy ass.” Katsuki crossed towards the door. A hand on his wrist drew him to a halt, and he turned to look at Red. 

“Thank you for this. All of today, actually.” 

“‘S whatever.” 

“No, it’s really not.” Red stepped closer. “You were right. This has been better than any first date I’ve had. Just one thing missing from it.” 

“Yeah?” Katsuki murmured, and took a step in until they were a breath apart. “Think I can figure this out too?” 

“I dunno.. I’ll give you a couple guesses.” Red’s hand slid down Katsuki’s wrist to where he could draw circles on the other’s palm with his thumb.

“Bet I can get it in one.” He brushed a crimson lock out of the way, and leaned in. 

It was a sweet, surface-level kiss. Acceptably appropriate for a kiss at work. It didn’t need anything more than that to take Katsuki’s breath away. His free hand found the nape of the other’s neck, and felt fingers curling around the cut of his jaw and the apple of his cheek. 

When they pulled back after what felt like not nearly long enough, neither rushed to move. 

“I really fuckin’ like you,” Katsuki muttered. He needed to make sure Red knew this wasn’t something he just did, some sort of long-con pickup line he’d perfected. 

“Oh man, thank goodness.” He let out a long breath of relief, as if it had been pent up for forever. “Of course I thought you were attractive before today, but I actually like you so much it’s making me feel kinda crazy.” 

“Good crazy?” He nipped at the other’s thumb when it brushed the corner of his mouth. 

“Crazy enough to get suckered into volunteering and convinced to get a cat. You tell me,” he laughed. Katsuki snorted, and tugged him into another quick, harder kiss. 

“You wanted that shit anyway.” 

“Yeah, for sure, but I probably wasn’t gonna ever act on it. Or this, for the record, but that one just feels like an ethical thing. Didn’t wanna hit on you while you were just doing your job.” 

“Fuck, you really are some chivalrous asshole.” He took a halfstep back so he wouldn’t do the opposite and lean in further- only so he wouldn’t entirely ignore that he was at work. 

“I think that’s just basic decency, man.”

“You would,” Katsuki scoffed affectionately. “Paperwork now. Go.” He held the door. 

“Does that mean more of this later?” Red kept his voice low enough to keep it from echoing down the hallway. 

“Depends on how you play your cards, Red,” he smirked. “And if you have shitty taste in food.” 

“I like those odds.” His fingers brushed Katsuki’s arm with plausible deniability deniable plausibility as he passed through the doorway. “Well, c’mon already, there’s paperwork to fill out!” 

“You’re so,” he started with nothing to follow, exasperated already.

Their grins were of equal size regardless of what shit he talked. 

Later, when the paperwork was all signed and Gem had a new collar with a shiny engraved nametag, when there was a cat tree built to the ceiling of Red’s apartment with only a few battle scars earned in the process, and all three were full from dinner and affection, Katsuki sat back and took in the view. 

His legs were across Eijiro’s lap. Eijiro, who was slowly tipping more and more towards Katsuki as he dozed- he’d either end up startling himself awake or they’d end up in a heap together in the corner of the couch. Katsuki had preventatively tucked a pillow behind his own shoulders and had a hand on the closer of Eijiro’s. On the man’s opposite shoulder was Gem, stretched long against his torso and supported by the crook of his arm more than by the claws curled contentedly into his shirt. 

He laughed under his breath at the dumbass position Gem was in, and at Eijiro’s instantaneous bedhead, and in disbelief at where he’d found himself. He wiggled his phone out from where it had wedged between couch cushions to take a picture to commemorate. 

The dozy fullness and warmth of affection- and maybe some quiet gratitude- were enough to sucker him into sending the photo to Camie. 

‘Don’t know wtf happened.’ was the caption sent with it. 

Gem yawned and curled her nails deeper into Eijiro’s hold. Eijiro made a little noise as he shifted closer to Katsuki, and Katsuki tucked a stray lock of red hair behind his ear. 

‘Gonna make sure it keeps happening, whatever the fuck it is.’