𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐙𝐀𝐖𝐀

16

Y/N looked down at Shouta who was napping on his favourite blanket. She knew what she was about to do was something that he absolutely would not like. He would detest it and after she had already stepped on him basically, he would hate her even more. She felt bad for doing this, but it really had to be done or she'd just step on him all the damn time or lose him while on patrol or in a villain fight or something like that. And that wasn't a risk she was willing to take.

After all, Tsukauchi had given her the responsibility to look after Shouta in his cat form and she was going to make sure that she did look after him, as best as she could. And this was all part of it, whether he liked it or not. She didn't like the fact that he was eating through half her budget for this job, but here they were. She hadn't stopped feeding him yet, so why shouldn't he compromise a little? After all, it was all only for his best and nothing else. He'd understand eventually.

With a sigh she looked at the collar in her hands. He really wasn't going to like this, especially because there was a small bell on it, so Y/N could hear where the hell he was, especially if he was right behind her. But how else was she going to avoid hurting him again? Honestly, she was doing it just as much for herself, because seeing Shouta running away from her and hissing at her like that had hurt her soul. Y/N never thought she was already this attached to him.

But here she was, feeling bad about giving a cat a collar, so she wouldn't lose him or accidentally step on him. It was kind of ridiculous, if she was being honest with herself. But it had to be done. She just had to go and make sure that she wouldn't lose Shouta again. And while he was sleeping, the opportunity seemed pretty good. At least he couldn't see her coming and run away and hide in some corner that Y/N couldn't get to. At least she had that going for her.

Taking a deep breath she slowly and quietly tried to approach Shouta who seemed to not be napping as deeply as Y/N had hoped. But there was nothing she could do now. She had to go through with it, because once he saw the collar in her hands, he'd be extremely cautious around her and that would be even less fun than their situation at the very moment. It had to work first time or it would never work.

Y/N hovered over Shouta, so she could easily grab him if he tried to get away. Which he would, as soon as he woke up, but she could worry about that when the time came. Maybe she would be lucky and he wouldn't even wake up. She doubted it, though. Mostly because she wasn't even nearly as sneaky and quiet as she would have liked to be. Being sneaky was more Shouta's thing, anyway.

Why was she the one that had to put a collar on him anyway? It would be much more fun if he was to put a collar on her, while he was in his human form and... Y/N felt her face heating up. She had not just thought that. No, no, no. She had not just thought that about the man who was currently sleeping on her blanket in the form of a cat and who used to be her high school teacher (nevermind that he actually turned out to be really hot and all). This was weird. Nope, nope, nope.

She shook her head and moved the collar, so it went around Shouta's neck, which of course woke him up. Y/N tried to quickly close the collar around his neck, while he was still sleepy and groggy, but she could feel how he just knew that something was off. He was starting to squirm and Y/N held him more tightly, which only woke him up more and he was realizing what was going on and starting to panic, trying to get away from Y/N, which only made it more difficult for her to close the collar.

"Just... fucking hold still, Shouta, this is literally not going to kill you, it's to stop you from being killed, so just... stop... squirming... alright?!" she muttered, getting louder and louder the more he was trying to get away. And then she finally managed to close the collar and could loosen her hold on him.

Which he immediately took as an invitation to go and bite her hand. Y/N cursed and backed away from him while he jumped down from his blanket and ran across the room, watching her closely and with narrowed eyes, while trying to remove the collar with one of his paws, which thankfully wasn't working. All it did was make the bell ring and it would have been hilarious if Y/N hadn't been in pain from Shouta biting her.

"Ouch! That really hurt, Shouta. Why the fuck did you do that?" she said, as she looked at her hand. It was a deep bite and he had even drawn blood. That bite would probably swell up, if Y/N didn't immediately take care of it. Damn that cat. And all she got from him as an answer was a loud hiss.

"Oh, shut up. I'm feeding you, I'm taking you places, you can cuddle up with me at night and this is the thanks I get?" she replied. Shouta looked at her, still wary, but a little friendlier now. He tried once again to remove the collar and then shook his head, probably trying to tell her he wanted it gone. The only sound that was audible was the faint ringing of the bell and a weak meow.

"I know, I know. I know you don't like it, but it's necessary. You're just too sneaky for me, okay? I'm going to need to hear you when you're running around the apartment or I'll end up stepping on you again. And we both don't want that, do we?" she asked. Shouta hissed quietly, but he seemed to get what point she was making. He just gave her a sad and humiliated look.

"I'll take it off as soon as we have the guy, alright? It's just while we're living together like this, it'll make it much easier not to lose you. Can we be friends again, please? Please, Shouta? You know you don't want to stay mad at me, because I will close the bedroom door on you and then you won't be able to cuddle with me and I still haven't paid the heating bill. So there. Your choice." Y/N told him. Really, she was hoping that he would be reasonable, because she found that she couldn't sleep well whenever he wasn't around, cuddling under the blankets with her. Which was a little weird, considering that he was an actual human person who was also her old teacher, but when she was sleepy enough she didn't really care enough. Shouta was soft and he made nice purring noises and he was warm and he liked cuddling up and it was just nice to have someone around like that. Even if it was a human in cat form.

Shouta seemed to think so as well. His face softened and he slowly came closer to her. Y/N could see in his face that he really didn't want to acknowledge her right now and that he would rather be mad at her, but he also didn't want to risk any consequences. So he just had to swallow his pride and behave. And not fucking bite her anymore. Or scratch her. That shit really hurt.

"See? There you go. Now can we agree that you biting me is not fun? Because it really isn't fun for me." Y/N said, when he jumped back onto the blanket, still eyeing her suspiciously. He didn't seem too happy about that, but he sat down and quietly meowed which Y/N interpreted as a sign of agreement. At least she hoped that that was what it was, otherwise things would be awkward.

"Thank you. Now how about we get some dinner and watch a movie before bed? Does that sound fun?" she asked. Shouta meowed and rubbed his head against her hand, making Y/N smile down on him. Thank God, they were friends again. Now she had to go and get him some food and while he was eating she'd have to take care of this bite wound. And then they could finally watch some TV.