This was supposed to feel good. It was supposed to reassure him that Kugutsu was still his loyal fan girl. That she was in love with him. The kiss should have been soft and sweet, like when she kissed him before.
Her lips tasted like blood. She was shaking and gripping the front of his sweatshirt, distracting him from whatever good he probably could have gotten out of the kiss. Then, to make matters even worse, Kugutsu hiccupped against his lips.
His eyes widened behind his unkempt, pale blue hair and Shigaraki broke the contact. One hand still held her neck, his little finger extended to prevent a horrific accident from happening. Staring down at her, he saw her face flushing a vibrant red and she looked like she was going to cry.
This was supposed to be a good moment for him and it was being ruined. He was getting irritated and was about to say something, but then his gaze dropped to his hand. Beneath his palm and fingers, her neck was still deeply bruised from her fight with Dabi. Barely hidden by her dark, scruffy hair, he was able to see the burn on her left cheek.
Shigaraki's irritation shifted from the horrible kiss to what Dabi had done to her. He sighed and lifted his free hand. The back of three fingers lightly traced over the skin right beside her burn. "You're mine," he murmured. "And he did this to you. Just like when he pet you."
Kugutsu blinked away tears and hiccupped again. Her hold on the front of his sweatshirt loosened as she seemed to lose her confidence. "I…hate that he made me purr," she admitted.
"It's not your fault. It was subconscious. Wasn't it?" He saw her nod and she wiped at her tears. "You wouldn't choose to purr for him, would you?" She shook her head now, her ears flattened in despair. Shigaraki took a step closer and felt his dry, cracked lips pulling into a wicked little smile. "I want to be the only one you purr for you. Got it?"
He was sure this was the way to get things back on track. Mostly because this was the sort of thing he knew male characters would say in dating simulator games. He had played enough that he knew all of the sickeningly sweet cliches. As corny as this line sounded, though, it was the truth.
If he had any control over it, he would be the only one that could make Kugutsu purr. He would be the only one that touched her ears or got this close to her. He would be the only one that could get this sort of confidence boost, this rush of euphoria, from being around her.
She nodded and bit her lower lip. The hiccupping subsided. Her ears perked forward as she felt his fingers brush along the side of her cheek, carefully avoiding her burn. Kugutsu leaned into his touch like a plant craving the sun's warmth and her trembling fingers gripped tightly to his sweatshirt again. "I love you," she murmured, turning pink with embarrassment.
There it was. His pulse quickened and he trailed his fingertips beneath her chin. A soft, sweet purring escaped her as he rubbed at her sensitive skin. It was only for a moment, though, before he lifted her face to be sure she was looking at him. Kugutsu's sharp yellow eyes stared up at him, her pulse rapid beneath his fingertips.
He gave her an expectant stare until she gently pulled him down so his lips collided with hers again. The kiss still tasted bloody, but he could feel excitement stirring in his chest. Her lips were much softer than his and he knew it. Feeling them caress his dry, cracked lips was like being caressed by velvet.
Kugutsu seemed a little hesitant, but slowly wrapped her arms around his neck. He released her throat and let her pull him closer. When he wanted to get her away from the others, this was not his original plan. He had told her to wait in the back with Toga so he could gather his thoughts. He had planned to tell her she needed to be loyal to him and then he would follow that with a threat of some sort. He had trouble settling on what sort of threat he wanted to use, though.
It was as he was thinking about what to say that he started dwelling on that one moment earlier where she had been so close and rubbed against him. That had sparked certain feelings he was not exactly accustomed to. His experience was still really limited so to pinpoint this would be difficult.
He had seen certain things in mature rated games though. He knew what he wanted. Shigaraki could feel that want returning now as he let her pull him against her. His chest was against hers, his hips were brought against Kugutsu's, and he realized he wanted more than this. He wanted to make her all his. If they sealed the deal, he was sure she would never purr for anybody else.
His bed was somewhere behind him. Of course, there was also the computer chair. That is, if it could hold two people. The floor was always an option; he was pretty sure he had seen that before in a game. Or at least heard of it somewhere. There were so many possibilities. When she parted her lips slightly and the tip of her tongue ran along his lower lip, it felt like his heart jumped a little and he knew he had to make a decision.
A knocking at his door drew him out of his thoughts. Cold, hard reality struck as Shigaraki remembered that they were basically in the middle of a hostage situation. The other villains were still all in the bar. They had a captive or "potential new member". This was definitely not a good time for this.
Regardless of if he wanted to go further, it was a dumb idea right now. This was not something he wanted to share with everyone. He wanted the moment when he fully claimed Kugutsu to be between just himself and her. Away from these increasing annoyances.
Not about to admit to Kugutsu that they were quitting because the situation outside had dampened his mood, Shigaraki pulled away from her and grinned. He carefully set a hand on top of her head, rubbing behind an ear and listening to her purr for him. "Win that kid over and I might give you more. You want that, don't you? You want to be all mine because you're my fan girl. Go ahead and say it."
Kugutsu seemed to have lost all composure at this point. Face a bright shade of pink, her cat-yellow eyes wide, she nodded and grinned. "Yeah! I'll win him over…no matter what. I promise."
"No touching this time."
"No touching," she agreed.
Shift P.O.V
She was on cloud nine after basically making out with her crush. Still remembering how it felt when he pressed so close, she felt as though little bubbles of happiness were popping in her veins. His kiss, despite being super chapped and kind of rough, was like a drug. She wanted more. She wanted to know what more he would really give her if she succeeded in her mission.
As Kugutsu walked back into the bar, behind Shigaraki, she thought about how she could try to win Bakugou over. It was a mess the last time she tried. She almost tried to kill him. The only thing that had stopped her from killing both the kid and Dabi was the fact that Twice was within range. He was too nice of a guy for her to kill.
We need this kid to join us. She sat beside Shigaraki at the bar, flushing pink when she felt his knee press against hers. If I can get him to join…I get a reward. Ugh! Why am I getting so worked up about this, though?! I look so lame!
"Hey, Yami. Remember that thing you were doing before?" The inquiry came from Spinner, who came up on her other side.
"What thing? I do a lot of things," she muttered. Kugutsu tried to keep her face neutral as she regarded the reptilian villain.
"You know! Remember when you were cyberstalking that kid Stain approved of? Can I see your phone?"
She hesitantly handed it over and watched as he scrolled through something. At her other side, Shigaraki was leaning over a bit to peer down at the screen from behind the hand he had secured over his face. "So? What is it?"
"Here we go! Okay, so I watched you last time when you were looking for the kid's profile." Spinner kept his voice low to prevent the student from hearing them, his back turned to the kid. "This has to be his mom, right? Ah! Here we go!"
It took a second for it to click, but soon Kugutsu realized why he was so excited. Bakugou Katsuki was lousy at posting pictures or status updates of interest, but Bakugou Mitsuki was amazing at it. Not to mention that she stupidly had her profile set to public instead of private. As if she had zero enemies.
She had posted a few frantic status updates about worrying for her kid's safety, but everything else seemed like typical mom stuff. Pictures of her and her husband. Pictures of her. Pictures of her son. Inevitably, a few old pictures came up of her son with a boy that had unruly dark green hair.
Kugutsu bit her lip as a smirk threatened to form. She took her phone from Spinner, instantly recognizing Midoriya, and she nodded to herself. This is great! I couldn't ask for better fuel for that little dumpster fire over there! Looks like they're childhood friends. All I've got to do is pick away at him and talk about this brat. Sooner or later, he'll cave in and tell me what incentive he needs.
Taking her phone with her, she approached Bakugou and sat on the floor in front of him. "So. Things got kind of tense earlier, didn't they? Listen. I want to be your friend. As far as heroes go, you're actually kind of cool. So how about this? Let's talk."
She set her phone down on the floor and spread her arms out at her sides in a peaceful sort of gesture. "If you can listen to what I have to say, I'll treat you. I know that one stick of Pocky isn't a meal. You've got to be…pretty hungry by now, right? Boys like meat, don't they? If you cooperate with this little talk, I'll get you a steak. Sounds tasty, doesn't it? I know the best place to get one, too. High class."
The boy bristled when she first sat down, but slowly nodded now. "Fine. Whatever. It better be good!"
Kugutsu tilted her head, allowing herself to smirk. So steak is what it takes? Do I even really need to drag "cute" little Midoriya into this? She scooted a bit closer and examined his expression. He still looked irritated, but ragged. Tired. Hungry. Still nowhere near broken, though.
She half-wondered if someone else had done or said something to him after she left the room. Maybe he really is that hungry. Her own stomach was starting to growl a little so she could sympathize.
The second that Midoriya's name was mentioned, she saw a fire spark in the boy's eyes. His teeth gritted, mouth twisting into a scowl. Kugutsu, feeding off his obvious irritation, knew now what she had to say. She told him how the League of Villains could help him get strong enough to beat the kid. He could act however he wanted, do whatever he wanted, if he joined them. They could make him stronger than Midoriya could ever hope to be.
When he actually agreed to join, Kugutsu's heart skipped a beat. She had to fight back a grin. Keeping her expression stoic, she could feel the mangled stump of her tail twitch slightly and it reminded her of something horrible.
I did it. So Shigaraki's going to reward me, right? But what does he have planned? She looked over her shoulder toward the other villains as Bakugou started demanding food. Her eyes locked with Shigaraki's and she felt a rush of that fan girl bubbly bliss from before. But I don't want him to see my tail…
Shift P.O.V
In all honesty, he had expected this to take way longer. After all, his fan girl was crazy. He was sure she would lose her patience at least one more time and struggle a little more. Not that he was mad with how this turned out; he was just surprised. Not to mention that now he would need to reward her sooner.
Bakugou, their brand new member, was now loudly demanding food like he was a cat and it was three in the morning. Kugutsu was asking what exactly he wanted, typing his order into her phone. When she got it, she looked to Twice, who was still hanging around near that area. The other villain gave her a thumbs up to confirm he would watch the kid and she turned to rejoin the others at the bar.
"I'm going to make a food run," the girl announced. She was looking at Shigaraki as she spoke, her eyes focused only on him.
He disliked the idea of her going alone and looked toward the others. There was no way he was going to go out again. Last time had been annoying enough with all of the mouth-breathers clogging up the streets. His eyes skimmed over Dabi without a second glance and then surveyed his other options.
Compress would never be able to go out because he refused to take off his ridiculous costume and pretend to be a normal, functioning person. Toga was an okay option. Magne had decided to join Twice over by their new member. Kurogiri needed to stay in case Shigaraki needed something. So he settled his glare on Spinner, who was looking through his phone.
Shigaraki quietly seethed for a second. Spinner's little crush on Kugutsu was disgusting and glaringly obvious, but he had helped her find a way to persuade Bakugou to join them. Not that he was about to reward the reptilian villain; he just realized that he was actually worth something. Just not worth enough to send with Kugutsu on her food run.
"Toga. You go with her," he finally decided.
"Do I have to? I wanna ask the newbie about Midoriya!" She caught sight of his glare and sighed. "Fine! Let's hurry, okay, Yami-chan?"