𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐙𝐀𝐖𝐀

21

Y/N hadn't really been sure whether this guy was telling the truth after Shouta hadn't changed one bit the next few days. She sure hoped that Tsukauchi still was watching his whereabouts, because if this didn't work... well, Y/N didn't know what to do, but it would probably be a good idea to have this guy around. Just in case they needed something from him.

Either way, after a few days there were thankfully some changes. First of all, Shouta was growing much bigger. For a while he was still looking like a cat, but soon he was basically a cat, just... kind of the size of a calf. It was a pretty grotesque thing to watch and if Y/N hadn't known what was going on, she was pretty sure she would have had nightmares after seeing a cat the size of a 7-year-old. A few times Shouta did give her a fright in that form, but she'd never admit that.

After that he was starting to look more and more human, which was pretty handy and at some point he was even getting his words back. He didn't talk much, but he was able to sort of communicate with words. It was quite helpful, but also kind of awkward. Here was that half-cat man in Y/N's tiny apartment and he could barely talk and there were just awkward situations. Y/N was pretty sure that Shouta was embarrassed that someone else had seen him in his cat state.

She would have dropped him off at his own apartment again, if it hadn't been for two things. The first thing was that Detective Tsukauchi had told her not to let him go and stay by himself, that she should keep an eye on him until he was fully back to normal, just in case something awful happened or the change wasn't going according to plan and just... because he needed to be watched. He was still not really in a state to be living on his own. Thankfully, Shouta seemed to accept that quite easily. He didn't look like he wanted to go back to his own place.

The second reason was that... well, how would they even transport Shouta from her apartment to his own apartment without being seen? If anyone was to see him in his half transformed state they would make a big fuss, they would go to the press or whatnot and Y/N knew that neither she nor Shouta really had any nerve for that right now. So they would just have to wait it out in Y/N's tiny and cramped apartment, no matter how awkward it was going to get.

And there were a lot of awkward moments. While Shouta was a cat, he was of course not wearing any clothes. But when he was turning back into a human, there was a very strange stage where he was still too much of a cat to be comfortable with wearing clothes, but he was already human enough again, so that Y/N could see everything, basically. It was weird. Plus, with how small the apartment was, it was really difficult to avoid him when he was basically walking around naked and wasn't really able to say more than a few words a day. It was very awkward.

But Y/N wasn't really complaining. Because, honestly? Human Shouta looked really damn good. And after all this was the cat she had shared a bed with over the last few weeks. They had cuddled loads and she also had the most iconic picture taken of her when he was sitting on her shoulder. Y/N had been kind of annoyed when they had taken that picture of her and Shouta, but once she had seen it in the news, she had mailed them and asked them to get the original, because it looked really good. She looked good in it - better than she would have thought - and Shouta sitting on her shoulder gave the whole picture and air of a sneaky 1950s detective or something like that. It was a whole vibe and Y/N loved every pixel of that damn picture.

Either way, what she did like was that Shouta seemed to have no problem sharing her bed with her, still. From the way he always used to be very pragmatic she figured that he wouldn't really care, but she had offered to sleep on the couch either way, but he didn't want her to sleep on the couch. Which she was honestly fine with, because she had never been sleeping as good as when Shouta was around. Something about him calmed her down immensely and helped her fall asleep and stay asleep. Plus, he was really warm and it was nice to cuddle up to him.

After a while he thankfully was okay with wearing clothes again, too, so that greatly minimized the number of awkward encounters. He also got way more words back and they could talk. Not that they actually talked that much - there was a strange non-verbal understanding between them and Y/N felt quite comfortable being silent around Shouta most of the time. He was asleep a lot, anyway. It seemed like the transformation back into a human was taking a lot out of him. He was eating much more than before and he was sleeping a lot more.

He also looked completely wrecked whenever he went to sleep. Y/N could only imagine how strenuous this whole process had to be with him. Tsukauchi had generously agreed to pay her to stay at home with Shouta until he was ready to live on his own again and continue his own hero work, so she finally got the well-deserved break that she had always wanted to have. And she was even being paid for it. Life was going well, even though she constantly lived with the reminder that her time with Shouta was limited. He'd move out soon and she'd be alone again.

But until then she could enjoy whatever time she had with him. And she was grateful for that. Especially now - Y/N was lying awake at night, since her sleep rhythm was kind of messed up with Shouta sleeping that much and her having all this time off. It was the middle of the night and Shouta was fast asleep next to her. He looked almost completely human now, but he still had his cat ears and his whiskers... no, wait. Y/N moved a little closer to him and looked at his face.

His cheeks looked... completely normal. There was a little stubble, but there were no more whiskers. She glanced up to his head and the cat ears were still there, but the whiskers were completely gone. She could barely believe it. She held out her hand, trying to see if she could feel them, but there was nothing. She touched Shouta's cheek and all there was was some stubble. No trace of the whiskers at all. Y/N felt relieved - every time he was becoming more human she felt relieved. She let out a little laugh, feeling his cheek and chuckling to herself.

Well, she thought she was chuckling to herself until she felt a strong grip on her wrist and she looked straight into Shouta's open eyes. He looked like he was about to arrest her - probably a reflex from all the years he had been working as a hero. Y/N's breath hitched when she looked into his eyes.

"Oh, it's just you. What are you doing?" he asked. His voice sounded a little coarse still, but it seemed like he had not only lost his whiskers, but also gotten back a lot more of his words, which was amazing.

"I just... your whiskers are gone." she answered with an apologetic smile. Shouta gave her a confused look and then shook his head. He still looked pretty groggy and sleepy. He wrapped his arms around Y/N and pulled her closer to him, making her heart beat faster and faster. He didn't even seem to realize what he was doing to her. He closed his eyes again, still holding her.

"Go back to sleep, Y/N." he mumbled into her hair. Y/N gulped and nodded slowly. Going back to sleep? How the hell was she supposed to go back to sleep with him holding her so tightly? She was way too nervous now to go back to sleep. Her mind was racing and her heart was beating wildly. Did he know what he was doing? Or was he just half-asleep? What was she supposed to do now?

Well, it wasn't like she could do much. Shouta was fast asleep and she was basically trapped. She wasn't complaining either - she was enjoying being so close to him. So she just leaned back, relaxed as much as possible and simultaneously hoped that the night would go over quickly and that it would last forever.