Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Atsushi has been stuck in the rain for hours, which under normal circumstances would just be annoying and at worst probably result in a cold, but today it’s life threatening and he can feel his energy draining fast. 

Such a small, frail body isn’t made for being stuck in an alley during a massive storm. 

He came to said alley to investigate the most recent missing person in the slew of mysterious disappearances lately. This was the last place they were seen yesterday, and since everyone is busy following leads and all of the missing people vanished from different places, they assumed it would be safe for Atsushi to check it out on his own.

At this point, they really should know that Atsushi is nothing if not a beacon for danger.

Before he even had time to register what was happening, a hand was on his shoulder from behind and the words “Beware the Cat” had him transforming into a tiny kitten. The intense pain from the sudden transformation, and the general weakness of his new body, made him slow to move at first and by the time he gained any semblance of bearings and turned around, the assailant had already gone.

So here he is, tiny and freezing and drenched . 

Despite being a weretiger, Atsushi doesn’t actually know much about cats or tigers (which are different, no matter what Dazai says). Thanks to his lack of knowledge he has no way to gauge what age he might currently be, or what he needs to survive, all he knows is he’s tiny, his legs are kind of wobbly, and he cannot regulate his temperature yet.

Which definitely doesn’t bode well for him. 

His frail new form won’t stop trembling, and thinking is becoming more difficult with each passing second as his stomach screams out for food and his body begs for warmth.

Death by being a kitten would definitely be humiliating.

He can’t help but wonder what the ADA would feel if he never returned. There’s no doubt the culprit will be found eventually, and Dazai will nullify the ability, so it’s not like they’d never find his body.

A body too far gone for Yosano to save.

Would they be sad? Probably to a certain extent.

Kyoka definitely would take it the hardest. They’ve basically become like siblings at this point, which makes the thought of leaving her without him especially painful.

Sadly there isn’t much he can do. 

Clearly it’s his time to-

“ Fucking Kaiji ! What kind of asshole fucks with someone else’s food? I swear to god next time I’m gonna-” A familiar voice carries on the wind and Atsushi looks up to see a very annoyed Chuuya Nakahara.

Granted, Atsushi doesn’t personally know him, but Akutagawa is very clearly fond of him and Dazai (although he would never say it) trusts him more than literally anyone so he must be good.

Having made up his mind, Atsushi musters up every last bit of energy he has to cry as loudly as he can and get the gravity manipulator’s attention. To his horror it’s a very broken yowl and practically disappears under the sounds of the storm. 

By some miracle, though, it catches Chuuya’s attention.

“What was that?” He lifts his foot, apparently thinking he stepped on something, before the small ball of spotted white fluff catches his eye, “Was that sound you? ” Curious blue eyes lock with frightened and exhausted ones, Atsushi desperately trying to meow louder for help, the sound coming out scratchy and painful . 

The cry is thankfully cut short by two gloved hands suddenly cupping him, enveloping his cold body in warmth and shielding him from the rain.

“Shit, you’re freezing .” Chuuya frowns, cradling the kitten closer to him with one hand so he can unbutton his shirt some with the other. “Get in there and warm up while I try to find some help.”

The part of him that's still Atsushi is mortified, but the part of him that's a kitten who's freezing to death is beyond relieved and he feels himself snuggling up to the warmth against his better judgment. A hand comes up to cradle him from over the shirt, and Chuuya begins tracing circles against his back through the fabric. It starts with an awkward stutter, his body too unwell and unfamiliar with the act, but Atsushi begins to purr. 

A tiny, wet kitten relaxes into the warmth of bare skin and the grounding pressure of a gentle hand as the renowned Port Mafia executive quietly talks to him, reassuring him that it’ll be ok.

Before he falls asleep, the last thing he hears is barely a whisper, “It was always supposed to be a dog..but I guess I can make an exception for you.”

He’s not sure how much later, but Atsushi is woken up by something soft and fluffy being carefully wrapped around his small body until only his head is visible. He doesn’t move, doesn’t even bother to open his eyes, still too tired and weak to do much more than enjoy the steady and strong warmth beneath him that’s soothing the cold deep in his bones.

“There’s no vet open tonight,” Chuuya says softly, his footsteps barely audible as he walks around the room, “The emergency vet is even closed because the doctor got sick, what a joke. Thankfully the lady at the pet store I found was able to help out.” There’s a dip beside Atsushi, presumably Chuuya sitting beside him, but he doesn’t react, still unable to do much more than listen. 

He hears rustling now, followed by light taps onto a solid surface as Chuuya sets things down. Something is popped open, and before Atsushi’s brain can even register what it could be, his body begins purring harder and louder than he thought possible. 

Chuuya huffs out a fond laugh and lightly strokes the fur between Atsushi’s ears with his thumb, “Still lethargic, huh? Don’t worry, the woman gave some suggestions.” He can hear the sound of water and a light clink as he stirs something. “She said you look like a 4 week old white bengal cat, I don’t know shit about breeds but she did tell me what you need at such a young age. Apparently you’ll be weaning and potty training at this age. Most importantly, though, she said you should pull through even without immediate vet intervention, so long as you get fed and warmed up.” Soon there’s a strong scent of formula and a mystery substance whose overpowering smell he would normally find disgusting but his kitten brain is telling him it's everything he needs. “Alright, little guy, I need you to come out to eat.”

A hand gently shifts through the fabric he’s wrapped in and Atsushi finally opens his eyes as he’s placed in Chuuya’s lap, the warm blanket quickly returning and being loosely placed over him. There’s a bottle in the man’s hands filled with formula and, ugh , moist cat food. A now familiar thumb comes back up to stroke his head, gently coaxing him to lift it up before the bottle is in front of his face. Luckily his taste buds are those of a kitten, so when he finally latches on and begins to drink it is easily the most delicious thing he’s ever had.

His purring amps up and he can’t control the kneading his tiny claws are doing to Chuuya’s thigh. His hunger pains are finally lessening and it’s getting easier to hold himself up. For the first time in hours he’s truly warm, full, and comfortable . Standing here on Chuuya’s thigh, drinking a strange kitten food concoction, covered in a fluffy blanket, Atsushi feels safe .

He’s glad Chuuya found him. 

The food runs out shockingly fast and Atsushi can’t help the loud, desperate whine he lets out.

It’s mortifying, but Chuuya simply laughs, wiping some formula from his fluffy cheek. “Don’t worry, I can make you more.” He stands up and wraps Atsushi back in the blanket, setting him on the heating pad he was apparently on before, “I’ll go warm up some more water, don’t move.”

Atsushi does as he says, opting to look around the room instead. The couch he’s on is a nice shade of red, big and plush and clearly expensive. There’s honestly a good chance this piece of furniture alone is worth more than Atsushi’s entire apartment, but on the whole Chuuya’s place doesn’t feel ostentatious. His furniture is well made and expensive, but the things around it are more simple.

Chuuya’s apartment is large, with an open floor plan. They layout itself feels cold, but he’s filled it with knick knacks and books and even though Atsushi doesn’t know this man and has never been here before it feels so much like a home he finds it more relaxing than intimidating.

There’s a bookcase on the wall diagonal to the couch, and while Atsushi doesn’t know the themes to each shelf, he feels like they are very important. Random amounts of objects fill each shelf, all well cared for and delicately arranged in a way clearly dear to Chuuya. While looking at it, his attention keeps coming back to the highest center shelf, where lies a group of things that have clearly been around the longest, meticulously maintained and cherished over the years. 

The objects and layout makes no sense to him, though. 

Why does he have an old magazine with a famous deceased actor on it? And why is it next to a pair of old worn out sunglasses? 

Then there’s an old record that sits in the middle of the shelf and shows signs of frequent use in the past, although it very clearly isn’t played anymore, and next to that are immaculate looking white gloves and a scalpel. The items feel so random and disjointed, yet put together with the white billiards ball in the center of the shelf, it all feels precious.

Like an old memory desperately being clung to. 

The microwave suddenly goes off, surprising Atsushi out of his thoughts, and soon enough Chuuya is back by his side with a measuring cup full of water and another measuring cup that still has remnants of formula powder from the last mixture.

“Alright, time to make your disgusting food again.” Chuuya teases, a fondness in his tone, “You’re lucky you’re cute because this is easily some of the foulest looking and smelling stuff I’ve dealt with, which is actually saying something.” He rolls his sleeves up to his elbows and reaches for the water when suddenly his phone rings.

The ringtone is Dazai’s voice, as high pitched as possible, “Pick up the phone, Chuu~ya! I’m waiting~! Ignoring me won’t make me go away~! If I have to call back I’m pouring one of your wine bottles down the drain! Don’t make me come to-!”

Chuuya groans, “When the fuck did he change his ringtone, again ?” He hits the button to answer, and then another for speaker phone, “What the fuck do you want, mackerel? And stop changing your ringtone . How do you manage to make each new one more insufferable than the last?”

Dazai ignores the rambles, “Did you put me on speaker phone?”

“ Yes , idiot, I’m in the middle of something,” Chuuya rolls his eyes, starting to mix the water and a specifically measured out amount of powder, “What do you want?”

“Hmm…you never get a break, huh, Chuuya?” Dazai mutters before sighing dramatically. “Well, turns out I’ve caught some of your bad luck, too. Or, I guess technically Atsushi has.”

“Atsushi?” Chuuya asks, not taking his eyes off the concoction he’s creating, “The kid you’ve got Akutagawa obsessing over?”

“The very one~!” Dazai happily answers, before his voice takes on a marginally more serious, but mostly exasperated, tone. “Looks like he’s become one of the missing people.”

Chuuya’s hands stop and he finally looks away from the mixture to frown at his phone, “Really? Shit, I know whoever is doing this got some of our member, but I figured you idiots would be safe.”

“We don’t know where he is, but the director says he’s alive, so there’s no need for you to worry about him too much.”

“I’m not worried about some kid I don’t even know!”

There’s an embarrassed flush to the man’s face now and Atsushi himself is feeling flustered at the idea of the gravity manipulator actually worried about him. The real him, and not the random kitten he found on the street.

“Mmmhmm, anyways because I have to look for him with the others, I get the privilege of not having to see your face for a while~!” 

“Oh?” Chuuya’s left eyebrow twitches, and a pout comes and goes from his face in the blink of an eye, “ Good , feel free to make that a permanent thing.”

“Now, now, don’t miss me too much. I’ll be back soon.” Dazai teases, but the disappointment in his own voice is so evident it stuns the teen.

There’s been an openness in general to Dazai’s voice on this phone call that he’s never heard before, and it makes him feel guilty he’s hearing it now. It’s not Atsushi he’s willingly being so unguarded with, after all, it’s Chuuya. As they continue talking, teasing now replaced with idle chit chat, Atsushi makes a point of not listening to what they are saying. Yet even without paying attention to the words he can hear the fondness in Dazai’s voice, a level of fondness he didn’t know the man was capable of.

He’d be lying if he said it didn’t make him happy.

Chapter Text

It takes two and a half bottles to fill Atsushi up. He’s not sure if that’s normal, and from the look on Chuuya’s face when he begins turning his head away from more food, he’s not either. Still, there’s relief in the man’s eyes when he feels the kitten’s now full belly.

The phone call with Dazai ended around the beginning of the second bottle, Kunikida showing up and dragging him away to go look for Atsushi.

He feels guilty. If only there was a way to let them know he was safe. There’s not a doubt in his mind that at least Kunikida and Kyouka won’t rest until he’s found. If only there was a way he could tell them not to worry about him and focus on finding the culprit.

Of course if they found out where he was he could also go home, which would be good. Not that he doesn’t like it here.

He might like it too much , honestly. 

His musings are suddenly cut off when Chuuya gently makes him lay down, four fingers lightly patting his back.

Is this how he pets animals?

No, that can’t-

Atsushi and Chuuya both startle when the kitten lets out a small burp.

“Hah!” The red head laughs as Atsushi clings to his thigh, shaking in embarrassment, “I guess she was right, you do need to be burped.” He tilts his head to the side, examining the tiny ball of fluff, “What’s up? Was I too rough?”

That’s not the problem, Atsushi wants to scream, but he can’t so he just meows weakly and keeps his grip on the man’s thigh as he calms down. He still doesn’t have much understanding of this body, and the sudden forcing of a burp, the lack of control or knowledge of what was coming, was almost scary . 

Chuuya helps him through his discomfort by carefully petting him, smoothing out his fur. He soon feels the tension fading after that, and lets go, curling up on him instead.

They sit on the couch like that for a while, Atsushi curled up on him and purring as he’s being pet. He’s not sure how long it is, only that he begins to fall asleep before Chuuya is suddenly scooping him up with both hands and carrying him away from the couch. 

“I’m sorry little guy, I need to take a shower and change, so I’m gonna set you in here for a bit.” They arrive at a gorgeous crate that’s built to double as a long end table. Inside is a fluffy looking bed, a stuffed cat that looks kind of like him and has a plastic heart and heat pack next to it, and then…

A litter box.

He’s absolutely mortified when he’s put in it.

“I don’t know if you need to use it yet, but it can't hurt to introduce you to the litter box. This crate will be your bedroom until you can prove you are litter trained. As soon as you go 24 hours with no accidents, I’ll allow you in my bed.” Chuuya explains while he takes out the stuffed animal and puts the heart inside as well as the now activated heat pack. He sets it back down and quickly scratches under the kitten’s chin once before heading down the hall.

Atsushi is torn.

Obviously he’s going to use the litter box, since there’s no way he can reach the toilet at this size (and would probably lose his balance and drown even if he could), but the idea of sharing a bed with the port mafia executive, and Dazai’s…whatever they are, is extremely terrifying.

He’s not scared of him while he’s a kitten, of course, but he is scared of how Chuuya (and Dazai) will react when he returns to himself.

It’s not like he’s asking to be in the bed, though, right? So he can’t really be blamed. He’ll even sleep on the other side of it, not touching Chuuya. 

Of course not sleeping on it at all is also an option, but given how comfortable the couch is, it would be a waste not to check out the bed.

Right?

Since he’s alone now, he decides to take some time and explore the crate. There’s a metal bottom to it that’s covered by a fluffy blue blanket he’s fairly certain is technically for human infants.

He briefly wonders if he ever had one as a baby, but the idle musing is soon squashed by the memory of the headmaster’s words.

‘This is nothing compared to what your parents did to you.’

It’s sad he’s getting more from a man he’s never technically met, as a kitten , than he ever did from those around him as a human child.

He pushes the thought away and climbs into the pet bed.

It’s memory foam. 

This pet bed is a nicer quality than his futon and he’s suddenly finding himself scared to sleep in Chuuya’s bed. There’s only so much extravagance someone can experience before their own things feel dull in comparison. 

This home is pure luxury . Even the stuffed animal on the cat bed feels fancy. It’s warm from the heat pack, and softer than the baby blanket or the pet bed, and when he gets close enough he can feel the heartbeat.

The stuffed animal is made for orphaned kittens. The softness, heat, and heartbeat is meant to help mimic their mother or sibling. 

There should be a limit to how diligent someone can be with a strange creature they found in the alley.

He can’t help but wonder if Chuuya chose this one because it could look like Atsushi’s kitty family.

Of course he doesn’t have a kitty family. He doesn’t even have a real family. 

Still, while he’s here he’s going to miss his quiet meals with Kyouka, lunch in the cafe with everyone from the ADA, and just their general presence. 

Laying here with this tiny body, on a plush bed in a luxury crate with the sound of a shower running in the distance, he begins to feel what he can only assume is homesickness. 

He never experienced anything like this when he left the orphanage, only the fear of when he would eat again, until he met Dazai. 

After all, what was there to miss there? The cold floors or the other children who wanted nothing to do with him? The degradation and the beatings?

That place had never been a home, it was more like a prison, but his little apartment with Kyouka, surrounded by the other members of the ADA feels like it could be a home. 

It’s where all the people that he loves are. The people who saved his life more times, and in more ways, than he can count. 

It’s somewhere that has become irreplaceable in this short period of time, and being away from it  is beginning to hurt, even if he knows he’ll be back soon. 

Or at least eventually.

Perhaps the ADA count as family? Kyouka feels like a sister to him, but what would the others be?

Maybe individual labels aren’t really needed. Maybe all that matters is they feel like family.

The ADA have shown him more kindness and care than he’s ever experienced before, but he is now experiencing more affection than he ever thought he would in his life. Gentle hands, more gentle than any hands he’s ever come in contact with, a quiet voice, a level of concern and care that’s so open and honest, he does not think anyone in the agency would be comfortable or capable of showing anything like it.

Surely if he weren’t a kitten, Chuuya wouldn’t either. He finds himself wondering if Chuuya shows this open, gentle kindness to Dazai when they’re alone. He hopes so.

Still, there’s a part of him that might be a little jealous if he does. 

He can’t imagine receiving that kind of thing as himself.

“Hey little guy,” Chuuya calls as he returns to the living room holding a bowl of his own food, “Without the mackerel around it looks like I’m free from crab for a while.” He jokes, opening the crate door before sitting down on the couch, “It’s not like it’s all that he eats, though. He’s honestly happy with anything that I make…” He looks over to the small kitten now fumbling to leave the crate and laughs awkwardly, “It’s not like I miss him or anything. He was here last night for fuck sake, and he’ll be back once he finds his protégé. It feels kind of weird to go back to eating alone now, though. Since he’s come back, we usually…” His voice trails off and he looks at Atsushi with a sad smile, “I know you’re exploring, but I don’t suppose there’s any chance you’d like to come back to the couch?” 

As soon as Chuuya pats his leg, Atsushi finds his feet moving and before he can think about it he’s at his side, trying to crawl up his pajama pants and failing miserably. Chuuya laughs and easily scoops the kitten up, setting him by his side on the couch before scratching him behind the ear. 

It’s quite possibly one of the best feeling Atsushi has ever experiences, and he makes a note for the next time he runs into a cat. 

Or maybe even if he sees the tiger again.

Even though a tiger is not a cat. 

He looks up at Chuuya as he eats, and finally realizes the dark blue pajamas he’s wearing are way too big for him. His savior is practically swimming in the hooded sweatshirt, and the strings on the sweatpants are pulled out pretty far and tied tight to keep them from drooping not to mention Chuuya’s feet are entirely engulfed in the pant legs.

They’re Dazai’s.

The realization floors him. 

This mafioso, a revered and feared executive in the Port Mafia, has covered himself head to toe in his boyfriend's (?) clothes for the night.

It’s so domestic it feels wrong . 

But only if you think of him as The Chuuya Nakahara.

If you look at him simply as a kind man relaxing at home, in his loved ones clothes because he misses them, it’s sweet.

For some reason, in this moment, he remembers the day Q was stolen by The Guild and used to wreak havoc on Yokohama. He remembers that Chuuya was the one he noticed as he was falling with the doll. The look on the face of a man he only knew in name, a mafioso clearly worried for his city and the people. 

It was Chuuya who convinced him to suggest a truce. 

Atsushi thinks, now, that if he told Chuuya this, the man might get flustered. Even just a little. A part of him wants to when all of this is over.

He remembers when Dazai asked him, after The Guild situation was over, what made him decide to trust them. When Atsushi described the sight of Chuuya desperately fighting to save the city, Dazai laughed and said “Of course, he’s the most human of the Port Mafia, after all.”

Thinking about it now, he should have noticed from the softness in Dazai’s tone then, that the red haired mafioso meant something to him.

The gravity manipulator, half of the most feared partnership in Yokohama, is a kind man who fights for his city, deeply loves the other half of said partnership, and picks up random dying kittens in alleyways. 

Atsushi would laugh if he could. 

It’s immensely endearing. 

Chapter Text

Atsushi wakes up in the dark to the sound of an alarm coming from down the hall. It’s quickly followed by a low groan before Chuuya emerges in the living room, disheveled and barely conscious. 

He looks to Atsushi, who is staring up at him, and gives the kitten a tired smile. “You’re lucky you’re cute.”

The teen is positive he will never be able to look Chuuya in the eyes after all of this is over.

“We have some people coming over later today,” Chuuya says as he heads to the kitchen, “Not that you really know what I’m saying or what that means…”

People are coming?

Who visits a mafia executive?

Probably other mafia members…

Atsushi gets nervous.

“I think you’ll like them, though.” Chuuya continues, returning to the living room with the pre-mixed bottles, “And I think they’ll love you.” He grins at the kitten, weirdly calming him down instantly, as he unlocks the crate, “They’ve never really spent time with a kitten, to my knowledge.”

The two go to the couch where Chuuya lays down, settling the small kitten on a fluffy nest perched on his stomach. Drinking from a bottle is easier now, and Atsushi can’t help but feel like he could probably even handle drinking from a saucer, but something inside him doesn’t want to. Deep down, there’s a piece of him that knows he never got this type of bonding as a baby, a part of his soul that desperately wants to cling to this paternal affection that he’s finally getting.

He lets it over-ride common sense. For now at least. 

Chuuya’s eyes are drooping, unfocused, but he still looks at the kitten with such a tender fondness and Atsushi can’t help but wonder if this is a pretty standard sight for young children to see, and something warm fills his heart at the thought.

By the time the bottle is empty, Chuuya’s wrist goes slack, the man’s eyes now closed and lips slightly parted.

He fell asleep.

Atsushi isn’t sure when he did, but he seems pretty out already, so the small kitten reaches for the blanket hanging off the back of the couch and uses all his strength to pull it down onto the man. He stares at Chuuya sleeping peacefully, debating if he should leave the couch and let him sleep alone. Admittedly he’s never even really slept next to someone before, since Kyouka sleeps in the closet and all the kids at the orphanage avoided him unless they were bullying him, let alone on someone so the thought seems extra daunting.

But Chuuya’s warm , inside and out, and as a kitten Atsushi needs warmth. Making up his mind, Atsushi crawls under the blanket he pulled down and curls up in the fluffy nest Chuuya made for him on his stomach.

He falls asleep quickly.

And it’s the best sleep he’s ever had.

He’s not entirely sure when he wakes up, but the sun is definitely out now. The blanket above him is gone and Chuuya is awake as well, he hasn’t moved but the TV is quietly playing as he watches halfheartedly. It’s peaceful, a kind of peaceful he’s never experienced but would love to have more of. 

Chuuya notices the kitten stirring out of the corner of his eye and turns his attention to him, “Hey, little guy.” He frowns immediately, “I need to give you a name. I can’t keep calling you random shit…” A hand comes up to idly pet the tiny kitten.

The nervous kitten.

How good is Chuuya at naming things? Is he going to get some edgy-sounding name? Or maybe an overly sophisticated one that’s actually three names in one?

Maybe a basic name like Tama? Maybe a more themed basic name like Shiro? Yuki?

“How about Mignon? That piece of shit Verlaine taught me French for a mission in my teens and I always liked that word. I think it’s cute enough to suit you.” He smiles and Atsushi finds himself purring. 

Oh thank god. It’s normal. Although he doesn’t know its meaning, he likes it. He can definitely accept it as a temporary name.

“You like it that much, huh? Mignon it is, then.”

They spend the next hour or so just relaxing after Atsushi is fed. He explores the living room a bit but quickly comes back to Chuuya’s lap, relaxing as the man watches tv.

Until a hand comes down and begins to poke at him, trying to rile him up to play.

Atsushi is caught off guard by it, but soon finds his body moving on its own. Tiny paws stretch out to try and grasp long, slender fingers to nibble on, but all of his attempts are failures. Chuuya soon materializes an actual toy out of nowhere for the kitten to chase instead and Atsushi uses this as an opportunity to practice controlling his claws. They have a mind of their own so far, and he is always getting them stuck on something.

Sadly as he plays, that doesn’t get any better.

He even ends up scratching Chuuya’s hand more than once, which the man simply laughs off but he feels bad about.

It’s a lot of fun, the kitten part of him is hyper focused on play time but soon enough he’s tired again and curls up on Chuuya’s thigh to take a nap. 

In spite of himself, he can’t help his mind from reveling in how soft the man’s thighs are, and how perfect they are for napping.

It’s a thought Atsushi will take with him to the grave, to ensure it’s not an early one.

The next time he wakes up he’s alone on the couch, gently placed in the little nest Chuuya had him in earlier. There’s other voices now, everyone is in the kitchen for some reason, but Atsushi can hear them well. Chuuya is talking to a quiet girl, explaining how he found Atsushi and how he’s ‘a good boy’. 

It’s embarrassing how happy that makes him.

“I thought you’d always wanted a dog.” A familiar voice says and Atsushi doesn’t even hear Chuuya's response because his entire body is suddenly at attention.

Akutagawa .

Chuuya has Akutagawa over!?

The universe must really hate Atsushi. 

If Akutagawa is here, then that means the girl’s voice must be his sister that Katai has a crush on. 

Gin? 

He’s pretty sure it’s Gin.

So the Akutagawa siblings are Chuuya’s house guests, the ones who have never really seen a kitten and who Chuuya thinks he’ll get along with. Maybe he could get along with Gin, but Akutagawa?

What if Rashomon recognizes him and tries to kill him?

Their voices begin to get closer as the three head into the living room where Atsushi is not prepared. Before he can hide in his crate or under something he’s suddenly face to face with Akutagawa, looming over the back of the couch to peak down at the terrified kitten.

“He’s shaking. Is he cold?” Akutagawa asks blankly and Chuuya shakes his head no, scooping the small creature up to hold safely in his arms.

“No, he’s probably scared of strangers.” Chuuya gently strokes the kitten’s head, calming him down some.

“That’s wise, given how weak he is.”

Of course Akutagawa would say that.

Ugh.

“He’s cute.” Gin says from the other side of Chuuya, her eyes sparkling as she looks at him. She seems safe enough so Atsushi leans towards her direction.

“Guess he’s only scared of your brother.” Chuuya teases, handing Atsushi to the girl.

“A wise decision.” Akutagawa says, as his eyes still follow the kitten.

No shit .

Gin carefully takes him, holding him to her chest as she pets him.

He’s definitely a dead man when he turns back.

“He looks a little like Jinko.” Akutagawa mutters, catching everyone off guard and giving Atsuhi an internal panic attack.

Does he know?

Is this how Atsushi dies? A tiny, helpless kitten in the arms of Akutagawa’s little sister?

He didn’t ask to be there! He’d feel way more comfortable in Chuuya’s!

…

He didn’t mean that.

God he hopes Dazai isn't a jealous man.

“You’ve been so focused on him since yesterday,” Gin frowns, “I’m sure he’s fine.”

“Jinko wouldn’t just disappear .” Akutagawa says with a little too much conviction, “He is not dead, but something has clearly happened.”

Wait.

Is Akutagawa… worried about him?

Is such a thing physically possible? 

“Jeez, no one told you, huh?” Chuuya asks, scratching the back of his head, “Atsushi didn't just 'disappear', he vanished while investigating the disappearances that have been happening lately.”

Akutagawa is suddenly at attention, looking ready to run out the door, before Chuuya places a hand on his shoulder.

“Hold it. All of the Detective Agency is looking for him, there’s no need for you to join.”

“That’s right.” Gin agrees, “Thanks to Yosano healing you after the vampire incident you aren’t dying anymore, but your body is still recou-”

“I’m the one best suited to find Jinko.” Akutagawa says like it’s just a fact, and this weird connection they have, the strange pull he feels whenever the mafioso is around, is something mutual and important .

He’s not sure how he feels about that.

“Like I said, Dazai is on it, so he’ll be found soon enough.” Chuuya sighs, using his grip still on Akutagawa’s shoulder to lead him to sit on the couch, “Now take it easy for a bit. Play with the kitten or something.” He suggests and while Atsushi is still reeling over a lot of things, Gin places him in Akutagawa’s lap.

His mind is immediately scrambling for an escape plan but then he catches a glimpse of Akutagawa’s face and it’s unexpectedly curious and soft and his brain shuts down entirely.

A hand is soon petting him, albeit awkwardly, and his body now on autopilot begins to purr.

Today.

Is.

Terrible .

Chapter Text

Since the siblings arrived, Atsushi has learned 4 things:

One, Chuuya is apparently on a week’s vacation. Today is the second day of it, which means Atsushi will probably be ruining the entire thing (He’s really sorry, it sounds like Chuuya really needs it).

Two, Dazai is actually the reason he is on vacation. He forced him to agree to it. How he forced him was not specified and there may or may not have been a vague threat to keep from questions being asked.

Three, Dazai is completely comfortable threatening the Port Mafia boss to get Chuuya a week’s vacation. Even though all three of them agreed a threat wasn’t needed and Dazai probably just did it for the hell of it. (Atsushi thinks so, too.)

Four, the one he’s deeply uncomfortable with (second only to the thoughts of what Dazai might have done to get Chuuya to comply with a vacation) is the uncomfortable realization he doesn’t hate being fawned over by Akutagawa. His hands as they stroke the kitten’s fur are gentle and comforting , like he’s some sort of treasure, and it makes him weak. Granted, both Gin and Chuuya were the same in their approach but somehow the idea of Akutagawa treasuring Atsushi feels different. 

He’s filing number four under the list of things he’s learned during this ordeal that he will take to his grave.

“So what exactly did you name him?” Gin asks and Chuuya looks over to Atsushi with a smug smile, clearly proud of his naming prowess.

“Mignon.”

“Mignon?” Akutagawa looks confused.

“It’s French,” Gin explains, reaching over to scratch under Atsushi’s chin, “It means cute.”

“ Cute , huh?” Akutagawa looks down at Atsushi and his lips curve up in a small smile, “I suppose it’s fitting.”

Atsushi’s brain shuts down for a second, which is totally normal . How else are you supposed to react when your rival looks you dead in the eyes and calls you cute? While smiling like that ?

Except of course he’s not actually calling Atsushi cute. He’s calling the tiny kitten in his lap cute.

(For the first time in this ordeal, after being called cute, a part of him wishes it was actually for him. But that’s yet another thought he will take to his grave.)

“You’re a good boy, Mignon.” Akutagawa begins scratching behind his ear and in spite of himself Atsushi’s purrs immediately ramp up to 1000. Between being praised, and having the best spot scratched, Atsushi is a puddle in his lap. It’s so comfortable , soon he’s fighting off sleep, wanting to soak up what will most definitely be the only time he is ever treated nicely by the mafioso.

“Do you and Dazai have any plans for your vacation?” Gin asks Chuuya, bringing Atsushi back to his senses enough to realize both are now seated beside them on the couch.

Atsushi almost forgot they were here. 

He almost wishes they weren’t.

“What the hell? Of course we don’t.” Chuuya looks utterly disgusted at the idea, “You think I’d make plans with him ? That absolute waste of fucking air ?”

Both Akutagawa and Gin look unconvinced.

Chuuya pointedly ignores their looks as he continues, “ Besides , he’s going to be busy looking for Atsushi. Gotta find him before the Detective Agency and Akutagawa lose their minds, after all.”

Akutagawa looks ready to argue, but instead stares at his superior for a moment before turning back to the kitten in his lap, “Hopefully they can find him before you lose your mind as well.” His tone is even, nonchalant, but it’s very obviously retaliation and if the twitch in Chuuya’s left eye is anything to go by, it worked.

“ Please , Akutagawa. I’m on vacation and don’t have to worry about Dazai invading my place? There’s nothing for me to ‘lose my mind’ about.”

Neither Akutagawa nor Gin look convinced.

And obviously Atsushi already knows better.

“It’s finally quiet .” Chuuya tries.

Still nothing.

“Well, if anything,” Gin starts, “Verlaine will certainly be happy to hear that Dazai is going to be out of your hair for a while.” Almost immediately after saying it, Gin’s eyes widen, like she realizes she’s messed up. 

A tension fills the room as Atsushi watches Chuuya’s expression become… complicated . There’s the smallest flash of pain, an intense and twisted pain that physically hurts Atsushi to see on his face, before it’s quickly replaced by a mask of annoyance. 

“Verlaine, huh…?” Chuuya’s eyes briefly look at the shelf that Atsushi noticed the night before. His gaze lingers on each object as the room becomes eerily quiet. 

Who is Verlaine ?

Gin begins to speak, probably to apologize, but is cut off by Chuuya who simply smirks.

“Too bad for him Dazai is coming over tomorrow.”

“He is?” Gin asks curiously.

“Isn’t he too busy?” Akutagawa adds.

“He will make time if I tell him it’s to piss off Verlaine.” Chuuya answers casually, now leaning back on the couch and relaxing again. Like he’s won something against this man simply by having Dazai over.

“Dazai does like pissing him off.” Akutagawa agrees. 

“I’ll be sure to tell him. He’s always asking how you’re doing.” Gin says and Atsushi is more confused.

“Yeah, I know.” Chuuya looks almost resigned to this Verlaine man being in his life.

Atsushi turns to the shelf with the strange collection of things, the collection that feels even more important now, as he is fairly certain he’s pieced together what it signifies. 

The magazine, the sunglasses, the record, the gloves, the scalpel .

It’s a memorial. 

These were items that belonged to people Chuuya loved. People Verlaine probably killed.

Yet the man cares about Chuuya?

He thinks back on his headmaster, and the revelations that came after his death. Perhaps it’s like that. Another misguided adult trying to ‘help’ in a terrible and traumatizing way.

It hurts to think someone as kind as Chuuya has had to deal with those sorts of things as well, but realistically no one ends up in the mafia because they have had an easy life.

The rest of the visit is fairly uneventful, just three people relaxing and chatting with each other.

Eventually Chuuya makes them all a big meal, and when he brings the food out, Atsushi wants to cry.

It looks amazing and smells even better. 

And Atsushi can’t have any thanks to his stupid kitten stomach.

He tries to sneak a taste off Akutagawa’s plate, but the man threatens to put him on the floor if he does it again, so he behaves.

Never would he have guessed that being told he couldn’t be near Akutagawa would be a threat and not a reward .

They chat while eating, and somehow the conversation circles back around to Atsushi being missing.

(It was Akutagawa. Akutagawa brought it back to Atsushi being missing.)

“Atsushi will be fine ,” Chuuya groans, “We all know the detective agency is pretty capable, and if they haven’t found him by the time Ranpo comes back, it’ll literally be a matter of minutes for that bastard.”

Akutagawa grumbles in what sounds like protest, before he looks at Chuuya curiously, “Why do you no longer call him Jinko?”

Chuuya blinks for a moment before looking away uncomfortably, “Well...we’ve all been having a hard time calling him that lately, to be honest.”

“Why?”

The redhead is very pointedly looking at the opposite side of the room now, “Because the way you say it lately makes it sound…”

Akutagawa narrows his eyes, starting to get annoyed, “Sounds…?”

“ Fond .” Chuuya admits, Gin nodding beside him, “Feels weird to call him it now.” 

Fond? Is Akutagawa capable of sounding fond? 

Well, he is with a kitten. But with Atsushi? As himself ?

He definitely hasn’t heard it.

It hasn’t sounded fond any time he’s said it today either, just the same as always.

Well, it’s admittedly less vicious than when they first met, for sure, but still.

Not fond .

Clearly Chuuya’s weird relationship with Dazai is skewing his views on romance.

Because it’s definitely not-

He looks up to see a faint blush on Akutagawa’s cheeks and feels five years immediately drop from (or maybe add to?) his life.

“It’s not fond .”

Chuuya grins at the man on the other side of the couch, “It definitely is.”

Chapter Text

Akutagawa and his sister leave shortly after dinner, much to Atsushi’s relief. He’s hungry now, honestly, and while he refused to leave Akutagawa’s lap he also refused to be fed by him.

A man must have his limits, after all.

Luckily, Chuuya is on top of it because as soon as he’s said goodbye to the siblings at the door he’s rushing over to the kitchen to prepare Atsushi’s meal. He’s proven he can basically do it in his sleep, so it’s not surprising when he’s back to the couch within minutes of the front door closing, ready to feed him. 

“Alright little guy, sorry you had to watch us eat.” Chuuya says, laying him on his thighs and offering him the bottle, “I should probably try to feed you with a saucer tomorrow…” He mutters, gently petting the purring kitten in his lap, “Or maybe the day after. I’m not looking forward to the messes you’ll create when you start drinking from a saucer, after all.” His tone is familiar, and Atsushi picks it up immediately.

It’s the same tone he uses when he lies about wanting to see Dazai.

He feels a sense of relief at the idea that Chuuya is enjoying these moments as much as he is.

“I hate to say this, Mignon, but…” Chuuya pulls out his phone, his expression now grim, “I have to call that bastard while you eat. Hope it doesn’t ruin the meal.”

Atsushi’s excited, if he’s being honest. With Dazai coming over, maybe he can turn back. He should be able to turn back, and then he can go home.

Which is good.

Definitely good. He can’t stay here forever and he can’t get used to being doted on like this.

Chuuya selects a contact on his phone that says ‘Mackerel’, puts it on speaker, and sets it on the table before laying down on the couch with Atushi on his chest, still drinking.

“Speaker phone again, huh?” Dazai asks in lieu of a greeting.

Chuuya rolls his eyes. “It’s not as impressive as you think when you do stupid shit like that, you know? Anyone who pays attention can tell when they are on speaker phone. Be normal for once and just say hi, for fucks sake.”

“If you insist,” Dazai says before using the most obnoxious tone Atsushi has ever heard, “Hi~ Chuuu-ya~!” 

“ Oh my god …” The redhead grumbles, his free hand covering his face in exasperation, “Anyways, Akutagawa and Gin came by today…” He begins, quickly getting cut off by Dazai.

“ Ohhh ? Did big brother Chuuya treat them to a meal?”

“ Obviously I did, now shut up mackerel, that’s not the point.”

“Oh no? What is the point of this horrible call, then?”

“Well, Gin pointed something out I couldn’t really ignore, and I don’t think you can either.”

“I’m listening.”

Chuuya takes a deep breath, “You have to come over-”

Dazai interrupts with a teasing tone, “Chuuya~, I-”

“Don’t get the wrong idea, shit head! It’s not for me, it’s to piss off Verlaine!”

There’s silence on the other end for a moment, before Dazai responds, clearly intrigued, “I’m listening.”

“Gin pointed out how happy Verlaine would be if he knew you weren’t coming by while looking for Atsushi. So if you truly don’t, it’ll only be a matter of time before that French bastard finds out and gets the immense satisfaction of knowing you aren’t near me. ” Chuuya explains, sitting up for a moment to grab the second bottle he prepared for Atsushi before laying back down.

“You’re right, we can’t have that.”

“Obviously not.”

“But not because I want to see you.” Dazai adds, fake annoyance in his voice, “Just the thought of it exhausts me.”

Chuuya grimaces, despite the undeniable shine in his eyes, “Ugh, seeing you is going to ruin this vacation for me, but…”

“But…” Dazai continues for him, “I have made it one of my life’s missions to ensure he doesn’t get anything he wants.”

“Exactly, there’s nothing he wants more than me being far away from you, after all.”

“Very true. I suppose it leaves us with no choice. I’ll come by tomorrow after I search for Atsushi a little.”

“Sadly, it’s unavoidable.” Chuuya sighs.

“Out of our hands.” Dazai agrees.

There’s a long pause of silence between them.

“Buy me some crab for dinner.” Dazai finally says, causing Chuuya to shoot up from the couch, Atsushi held tightly to his chest, so he can glare down at his phone on the coffee table.

“Are you fucking-!?”

“I’m still abandoning my duties, Chuuya. I deserve at least a good meal.” The brunette teases as Chuuya begins trembling with anger.

“Don’t talk as if you don’t abandon your fucking duties all the time, shitty Dazai!” He hisses.

“Chuuya!” Dazai gasps in mock horror, “I would never!”

“You ‘would’ always !” Chuuya looks at the confused kitten in his hand, pressed to his chest, and sighs in defeat, “Ugh whatever. I have to buy more food anyways. I guess I’ll make your shitty crab.” He says, laying back down on the couch to feed Atsushi.

“Crab is never shitty.” Dazai huffs, “Unless you’re referring to the fact you’re cooking it.”

Chuuya scoffs, “You can’t play the ’your cooking is terrible card’ with me when my cooking has been the only consistent way to get you to eat a full fucking meal since we were fifteen.”

There’s another pause before Dazai takes a deep breath.

“Chuuya’scookingsucksbecauseChuuyasucksbye.”

Dazai hangs up.

Chuuya stares at his phone for a moment before an indignant look comes to his face “ Hah!? ” He throws his head back on his pillow and premises, “I take it back, let that French bastard be happy, fuck Dazai! No way in hell I’m buying that ungrateful piece of shit crab now! He can starve !”

That’s the second time he’s called Verlaine a French bastard. 

Is Verlaine French? Why would a French man be so invested in Chuuya?

Did Chuuya used to live in France? He admittedly doesn’t know much about Dazai, let alone Chuuya, but he’s pretty sure they met when they were fifteen. 

Could Chuuya have lived in France before that?

Something tells him no.

The rest of the evening is uneventful, the tv plays in the background while Chuuya plays with Atsushi using various new toys Gin brought. It’s fun, and quiet, and a part of him wishes his life could just be simple like this.

Not life as a cat, though, he wants to be himself again.

Just… different.

No enemies or abilities.

No orphanage…

Just a life he could have spent coming home and spending time with people who loved him. Cuddling up on the couch and watching tv, getting fretted over and fed homemade meals, having someone just happy he’s around and able to show they are happy he’s around.

He remembers when Dazai asked if he was jealous of kids with their parents, and he honestly wasn’t. It was a warmth and experience he had never known, but now he can say he’s absolutely jealous.

To his core.

But even if it’s fleeting, he’d rather have a small taste of it than nothing at all. So he’s honestly glad he’s experiencing this, and he’ll hold this newfound jealousy as the bittersweet proof it happened.

After a few hours, Chuuya is feeding him one more time before bed. It goes quickly, Atsushi being too tired to be particularly hungry, both of them beginning to doze off more than once during his meal. As soon as one bottle is empty, and he’s been burped again, he refuses the second and begins to fall asleep on Chuuya.

The man laughs a little and holds him to his chest, walking around the house to shut things off as he quietly talks to Atsushi, “I’m a man of my word, and you’ve been a very good boy, so you can sleep in bed with me tonight.”

They are soon heading towards the bedroom and Atsushi is nervous. 

It’s not like he was trying to get into Chuuya’s room, and a big part of him doesn’t want to go because if Dazai turns him back tomorrow that’ll be so awkward.

But…he’s tired, and tomorrow he’ll probably be himself again and all of this will be over.

The chances of Chuuya coming anywhere near him after this are slim to none.

Would it be the worst thing to just… enjoy this for a little while?

Chuuya sets him down on his pillow and Atsushi kneads it, in awe of how fluffy it is. It actually feels like a cloud and puts even his fancy pet bed to shame.

The Port Mafia seems to truly embody the phrase ‘high risk, high reward’.

Soon Chuuya is crawling into bed with him and Atsushi gets feels his fight or flight instincts kicking in, deciding to leave the pillow when Chuuya’s face gets too close. The man simply laughs and pets him as he awkwardly walks on the mattress. It’s memory foam like his pet bed, but of course denser and firmer, making it a bit weird for his little legs that still aren’t used to walking.

As he feared, it’s on a whole other planet from his futon at home.

Or even his pet bed.

Chuuya soon derails his train of thought when he reaches out and pulls him closer. Laying on his side so he can look at the kitten in front of him easier, he brings the small ball of fur to his chest, idly petting him. “It’s refreshing to have someone to cuddle that isn’t a massive piece of shit.”

Atsushi’s barely listening, if he’s being honest. The bed is soft, and smells like Chuuya which has embarrassingly become a comfort in these past two days, so being surrounded by that and being pet just right is almost too much for his little kitten brain. It seems to flip a switch, awakening an actual kitten’s instincts with its mother. His purrs grow louder and somehow deeper than ever and before he can even think of what he’s doing, he nudges his head against Chuuya’s chin, feeling a pair of lips against his ear as he does so.

He freezes.

“Do you want a kiss?” Chuuya asks amused and for the record no, Atsushi does not. But the man is looking at him with such bright and shining eyes, like he’s won some big prize, so he can’t exactly move away when an almost feather light kiss is placed on top of his head.

He’s never been kissed before, obviously. Not even something as simple as the head. It fills him with more of that warmth only Chuuya seems able to bring out (although admittedly the only others who have seen him like this are a girl he doesn’t really know and Akutagawa, so it might not be as special an achievement as it seems), and he finds himself nudging Chuuya’s chin again.

“Ah, so when you get comfortable you get needy, huh?” Chuuya teases,  “Luckily for you I’m used to needy.” He kisses the top of his head without the hesitance of last time and it’s even nicer.

Somehow even grounding, in an odd way. 

Just another thing to add to his other, much bigger, list he’s making thanks to being a cat;

The things he’ll miss when it’s over.

Chapter Text

Like yesterday, Chuuya’s alarm is going off and waking them up before the sun’s risen. He mumbles to himself, Atsushi only catching ‘no food in the bed’ within the jumbled mess of words before he’s whisked away to the living room and placed in the crate, more unintelligible speak from the redhead providing no actual explanations he can understand this time.

Not that he needs them. He knows why he was put in here while Chuuya makes his formula.

Soon enough they are on the couch, both fighting off sleep while Atsushi eats. He wishes he could tell him he doesn’t need this meal, that they could in fact sleep for longer than 4 hours at a time, but he knows from his own little body’s reactions that he actually does , no matter how much he hates waking up for it. 

Despite the constant care from Chuuya, it has only really been around 30+ hours since he was rescued and genuinely on the verge of death. His body for sure still needs the extra nourishment and care.

Not that any of this little routine will matter later on today when Dazai comes and turns him back. He’s guessing it’ll be this evening, so he can at least get a little more time with Chuuya before it comes to an end.

There’s a small part of him that hopes Dazai can’t make it today.

Chuuya pulls the full kitten closer and begins peppering his small face with kisses, eliciting a loud purr from the ball of fluff. He looks at Atsushi with the brightest smile despite the bags under his eyes and Atsushi can’t help but nuzzle his cheek, earning him a surprised giggle from the man as little kitten whiskers tickle his skin. It’s warm , everything with Chuuya is warm , he doesn’t know how else to describe it. As they settle onto the pillow, Chuuya bring an arm up to keep Atsushi from falling and the small kitten nestles into the crook of his elbow.

It’s a bittersweet moment for Atsushi.

He wonders, as he dozes off, what he should do for his last day with Chuuya.

In the back of his mind, he decides a day of just this would be pretty great.

Of course…that would be asking too much.

Too soon for his liking, Atsushi is pulled from his peaceful sleep by a finger not-so-subtly poking his cheek. The difference in this rough poke compared to Chuuya’s gentle pets immediately has him on alert and he opens his eyes to see none other than Dazai’s face hovering above them from behind the couch.

“Well, one of you woke up.” Dazai smirks, still poking a sleeping Chuuya’s cheek, “Chuuuu-yaaaa~! It’s time to wake up~! You’ve got a lot of explaining to do!” With that, he gently squeezes the man’s cheek and pulls, earning a grumble and hand batting him away.

“Fuck off, mackerel. Why are you even here this early?” He groans, burying his face in the pillow and pulling his elbow to his head so Atsushi can hide with him from Dazai’s onslaught of pokes.

“Well, I thought maybe chibi missed me, so I decided to grace you with my presence early…yet here you are taking care of some secret kitten.” Dazai sighs dramatically, “How could you not tell me you had a baby?”

Chuuya groans into the pillow, pointedly ignoring his remarks, “Aren’t you supposed to be looking for Atsushi?”

“ Chuuya !” Dazai gasps, “Are you insinuating I didn’t look for my dear protege? Obviously I looked tirelessly on my way here.”

Chuuya sits up, hair wildly disheveled and eyes full of contempt when he turns his gaze to the man leaning over his couch, their faces now inches apart, “So you ditched your duties to come piss me off first thing in the morning? It would break Atsushi’s heart to know that.”

It actually doesn’t break Atsushi’s heart, for the record. He’s impressed Dazai has looked for him at all.

Besides…how could he be upset?

The look in Dazai’s eyes as he grins at the wildly unkempt man in front of him is so fond it knocks the air out of Atsushi’s lungs. He’s never really seen anything like it before, and for that look of pure joy to be coming from Dazai …he could never blame him for choosing this over some coworker. “You’re the one who told me to come see you today.” 

“I meant in the evening . You’re insufferable when you come over in the morning.” Chuuya grumbles, reaching for his phone only to find it in Dazai’s hand, “ The fucking worst .”

“Awww don’t be like that!” Dazai turns the lockscreen on to show the time, noon, “I let you sleep in! How am I the worst?”

Chuuya pales and snatches his phone from Dazai, “I was supposed to be up to feed him two hours ago! You- !” He glares at the still grinning man, “How long have you been here !?” His eyes narrow, “ What have you been doing while you’ve been here?”

Dazai rests his cheek against the back of the couch and smiles up at Chuuya innocently, “I’ve done nothing but watch you sleep, Chuu-ya~!”

“If you fucked with my wine again, you piece of shit, I’m kicking you out immediately.” The red head warns before getting up from the couch and heading to the kitchen, “I’m gonna make the kitten his food and check for any of your bullshit. For your safety, there better not be any wine missing or replaced with fucking vinegar like last time.”

“How hard is it to believe I’ve been good?” Dazai grumbles before turning his attention to Atsushi, who immediately scrambles to hide under the blanket.

He’s early, and he didn’t even know about Chuuya having a kitten, and he just found Atsushi curled up sleeping with his boyfriend so turning back right now feels like it would be bad for his safety.

“Ahhh, shy, huh?” Dazai lifts the blanket and smirks down at the tiny kitten, “How’s the rich life, Atsushi?” 

Atsushi’s life flashes before his eyes. 

He knows .

Oh god.

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Dazai laughs, “I already knew this was a possibility.” He looks the frightened kitten in the eyes and his smile fades, “The real problem is that I couldn’t turn you back.”

That’s right, Atsushi realizes, Dazai was poking his cheek earlier and he stayed a kitten. Which means he’s stuck like this until they find the culprit.

Atsushi’s ears droop and Dazai smiles at him, petting his tiny head.

“Don’t worry, we’ll find him. Even if the rest of the agency doesn’t, when Ranpo gets back, he can find him in a few minutes.” Dazai whispers, making sure Chuuya can’t hear as he finishes his rounds.

“Are you harassing my kitten?” Chuuya asks, coming back to the living room.

“You mean your secret kitten?” Dazai turns to face him with an innocent smile, “ Yes .”

“You like cats, so be nice to him.”

“How can I be nice to him when you haven’t mentioned him once in our past two calls? He’s your dirty little secret, I have every right to be offended.”

Chuuya rolls his eyes and sits back down on the couch, feeding Atsushi in his lap, “I don't have to tell you everything . You would have just teased me about it, anyways.”

“Hmm, that’s true.” Dazai walks around the couch and looks down at Chuuya with an almost gentle smile, “ But ,” He begins, obnoxiously plopping down beside him, “You still should have told me.” His tone is amused more than anything as he wraps an arm around the other man, unceremoniously yanking him closer before snapping an impromptu selfie.

It causes Chuuya to accidentally spray milk on Atsushi’s face.

He’s suddenly conflicted.

Atsushi was definitely happy Dazai was coming, but now he wants him to leave. Dazai is early , for one, and unable to turn him back for another. Besides, feeding time is supposed to be relaxing and full of cuddles for him.

No, wait. 

Scratch that last thing. 

It’s not like Chuuya is his parent or something, he has no right to think that.

“What are you doing, asshole !? Look what you did to poor Mignon!” Chuuya scolds, escaping his grasp and cleaning Atsushi’s face with his pajama sleeve.

“I needed a picture to send Verlaine.” Dazai answers, unphased by Chuuya’s grumbles as he happily types something up before sending the picture.

“ Seriously !? Don’t get me wrong, I know you’re here to spite him, but every time you do shit like that he blows up my phone about how awful you are. Like I don’t already know.” As if on cue, his phone begins to ping and light up, flashing a rapidly increasing number of texts from the mystery man.

“He’s such an obsessive big brother.” Dazai teases, smiling when a clearly expected fist connects with his shoulder.

“Don’t call that asshole my brother.”

“He is, though. Your doting French brother .”

Atsushi notices Dazai looking at him and realizes he’s telling him this .

It feels a little wrong, and he would normally feel some guilt over it, but honestly right now he is so confused as to how Chuuya has a French brother that nothing else is clicking.

With Atsushi finished eating, Chuuya leans back on the couch and looks to Dazai curiously, “So… how are you here so early?” He asks, idly petting the kitten in his lap.

“I took the day off, of course.”

Chuuya eyes the man next to him warily, “Do they know that?”

Dazai leans back, a playful smile on his lips when he looks at Chuuya, “Well, my messenger boy Atsushi isn’t here…so no.”

“You have a phone .” 

The man wordlessly shrugs.

Atsushi can’t help but feel bad for Kunikida right now. 

“I swear to god, you’re such a shitty employee. You’re only useful in life or death situations.” Chuuya groans, “I’m so fucking glad I don’t have to put up with your non-existent work ethic anymore.” 

“That’s so mean , Chuuya!” Dazai whines and Chuuya just glares at him.

“I met with that Kunikida guy once after everything with Fyodor was over, to make sure both parties had all of the information and he actually cried when I was on time and had my documents present and in order.” Chuuya’s glare sharpens, “He thought I would be as bad as you, since we were partners, so the fact I was at all competent brought him to fucking tears, you piece of shit. Give your coworkers a break. Especially that guy, he’s gonna end up with an ulcer because of you.”

“Ohh? I hope he names it after me.” Dazai teases, earning a swift elbow to the gut that even Atsushi has to admit he definitely deserved.

“ This is why I’m glad you aren’t in the mafia anymore.”

“But aren’t I useful in life or death situations? Don’t you miss that?”

“We were literally just in a life or death situation together, clearly you being with the detective agency isn’t putting an end to that.”

There’s a pause before Dazai’s head flops down onto Chuuya’s shoulder. “It’s fun, though, isn’t it? Working as partners again.”

Chuuya sighs and runs a hand through Dazai’s hair, “Sure, sometimes , as long as I only have to deal with you during the action and those poor idiots at the agency have to deal with the paperwork.”

“You still have to deal with me more,” Dazai teases before nuzzling against Chuuya’s neck.

“Ugh, unfortunately .”

“If I’m only useful when things are life or death,” The brunette begins, his arms now wrapping around Chuuya’s waist, “Why did you call me over right now? At such a dire time?”

“You know why,” Chuuya groans, making no moves to push the man away as Atsushi remains in his lap, frozen in panic, “Besides, it’s clearly not life or death.”

Dazai stops wrapping himself around the redhead and looks at him curiously, “What makes you think that?”

“You wouldn’t be here if it was.” Chuuya laughs a little, surprising Dazai and Atsushi, “For all your bullshit antics, you care about Atsushi and wouldn’t risk his life to go dick around.” The grin on Chuuya’s face is practically criminal as he continues, “I’m willing to bet you already had an idea of what happened the first day he went missing. Otherwise you wouldn’t have called me, it would have just been a text and I wouldn’t be able to actually talk to you until it was all settled.”

Atsushi feels like the world stops for a second. It’s one thing for him to kind of feel like Dazai cares, but it’s another thing entirely for the person who knows Dazai the best to flat out say Dazai would in fact search for him wholeheartedly if he was in true danger. The idea someone could care about him is still hard for Atsushi to wrap his head around, and it’s now confirmed Dazai cares about him.  

Not a cute little kitten, but Atsushi himself.

“What would you know, Chuu-ya?” Dazai looks at the other man appalled, “Shouldn’t you be going and getting your groceries and my crab now, anyways?” He huffs, pulling away and crossing his arms.

“I would, but-”

 “Don’t worry about the kitten, I’ll babysit it while you’re gone.”

Chuuya eyes him suspiciously, “ His name is mignon, and I don’t know if I trust you alone with him.”

“ Chuuya !” Dazai gasps, reaching over him to scoop up the unsuspecting Atsushi that’s still on Chuuya’s lap, “I’ll treat it like it’s the most important thing in the world!”

“For the love of-! Stop calling him an ‘it’ !”

Chapter Text

Despite his reluctance, Chuuya eventually gets dressed to grab groceries. 

While getting ready, he notices his hat missing from its usual place. 

After finding it in the (thankfully empty and new) garbage bag in the guest room, Chuuya washes it to be safe, while calling Dazai every name in the book, and some colorful new ones Atsushi’s never heard before. 

When he’s finally ready, he comes up to the two of them on the couch, making sure to look Dazai dead in the eyes when he puts his hat on. After fully dressing, Chuuya scoops up Atsushi and gives him a couple of over-the-top kisses all over his face before putting him back in Dazai’s lap, the latter’s whines about his goodbye kiss falling on deaf ears.

And just like that, he’s left alone with Dazai. 

Just Atsushi...and the man whose boyfriend just smothered him in kisses.

“You two sure get along, huh?” Dazai asks, smiling at Atsushi in a way that doesn’t reach his eyes.

Please hurry back, Chuuya.

He must look sufficiently nervous, because Dazai soon begins laughing and gently petting his head, “I’m kidding , it’s fine.” His eyes go dead again for a moment, “You’re just a cat, after all.” 

He really hopes Chuuya doesn’t leave them alone together again after this. Atsushi is genuinely beginning to worry about his safety.

“So,” Dazai begins, suddenly back to normal, “Do you remember anything about the guy who did this?”

Atsushi shakes his head no, of course even if he did there was no way he could tell him.

“I figured as much,” Dazai sighs, “Of course, even if you did , there would be no way for me to get the finer details from you unless I guessed them correctly…”

Atsushi’s ears lower, he can’t help but feel a little guilty that he can’t communicate. Not that it would be much help, but it would at least be some .

“Don’t worry, it’s not a total lost cause,” The brunette says, petting under his chin this time, “We are detectives after all. Ranpo isn’t the only capable one in the group. Thanks to the ADA’s fine detective work we’ve already discovered quite a few things on our own, including the fact he’s a man.” He explains, earning a confused purr from the kitten, “He’s apparently British, in his late 30’s, and after seeing you we now know he’s turning people into cats.” 

Atsushi can’t help but worry about the others he’s gotten to. If they were turned into kittens like him, they could be dead by now. In fact, given the weather recently, they almost certainly are.

“I don’t think he’s turning them all into kittens, though.” Dazai interrupts, as if reading his thoughts, “If he had, we would have found their bodies at the very least. I think he did it to you, specifically, since you were investigating him and posed a true threat. That night was wet and cold, and the age he turned you wouldn’t have survived long if someone didn’t intervene. Even now you look pretty rough.” He smirks down at the kitten on his lap, “Too bad for him Chuuya has this time off.”

Atsushi can’t help but wonder how much Dazai knew about all of this beforehand. It does seem like Chuuya genuinely needed a break, though. 

Was forcing the break for Chuuya’s sake? Or because of what was about to happen?

Or both?

Ultimately, like Akutagawa has said before, he’ll never truly figure out Dazai, so he decides not to dwell on it.

He’ll just be grateful Dazai made sure he’d be safe.

“I guess it’s time for me to be a good pet owner and teach you some tricks.” Dazai grins at the now nervous Atsushi. “Don’t worry, don’t worry, the first one is real easy. I simply need you to hiss as angrily as you can whenever you hear the name ‘Shirase’. Understand?”

In theory Atsushi does, but he doesn’t really get why he should.

“Hmmm, I know that face. Look, this is an order from your senpai ,” The brunette stresses before shrugging, “And if you don’t do it, I will make sure you stay a kitten forever.”

Atsushi tenses up and Dazai smirks.

“That’s right, I’ll nullify the ability and then make him touch you and only you again. It’s a win for me, ultimately. Chuuya adores you and having a cat of human intelligence feels like a pretty big win.” 

There’s so much Atsushi wants to scream at his senpai right now.

What about The ADA!? The Shin Soukoku partnership Dazai has been shoving down his and Akutagawa’s throats all this time!?

What makes Dazai think Atsushi won’t find a way to tell Chuuya what’s going on when he’s a bit bigger and can move things better!?

Because he will!

He absolutely will!

Why does Dazai hate this guy so much anyways? If Chuuya likes him, he must be nice!

It’s probably just pettiness. Dazai is jealous of their friendship and is acting out.

Except if there’s one thing he’s learned while here, it’s that Chuuya has (and had) lots of friends. Dazai doesn’t seem to care about any of them, so why this guy?

“Shirase is a terrible friend.” Dazai says, as if answering the teen’s thoughts.

For some reason, having Dazai call someone a terrible friend feels heavier than when others say it.

“If you must have a reason, I can give you a few.” The brunette turns to him with a serious look on his face, “Because of him, when we were fifteen, Chuuya had a terribly skewed vision of what was expected of him with friends. It wasn’t until The Flags over there came,” Dazai gestures to The Shelf again, “That Chuuya learned what real friendship was.”

Atsushi wants to ask why he hadn’t learned it from Dazai by then, but he’s pretty sure he knows. He definitely has always been the type to bully the person he likes.

Poor Chuuya has been putting up with it for 7 years now. He honestly deserves a reward.

“If that wasn’t enough, he literally stabbed Chuuya in the back when Chuuya finally did one thing for himself.” His tone is growing increasingly unnerving, and Atsushi’s fairly certain he can see the light leaving his eyes with every new word, “Because of Chuuya’s abilities, Shirase seems to think of him as something inhuman. It took Chuuya almost being beaten to death for him to realize he wasn’t.” Honey brown eyes are suddenly pitch black, reflecting nothing in them. 

It’s in this moment he realizes, with an immense amount of relief, that Dazai was not actually angry with him earlier.

His true anger is much more terrifying than a few empty smiles.

“The idea that Chuuya isn’t human,” Dazai’s voice is hollow and cold, a kind of cold that sends a chill deep into Atsushi’s bones, as he continues, “What absolute nonsense. There’s no one more human than Chuuya.”

Atsushi doesn’t really know what to do, or why the thought of Chuuya not being human, rather than a literal knife in the back, is what sends Dazai into this state. This must be the true face of the Demon Prodigy he’s looking at now, and he can’t help but be immensely grateful to the man buried in that grave Dazai visits.

This Dazai is disturbing.

Dazai’s voice is quiet now, muttering to himself so quietly even Atsushi can’t make out the words. It’s like he’s not there any more, lost in a past Atsushi knows nothing about. That’s when he decides to pull the only card he has right now.

He stands up in Dazai’s lap…and hisses.

It’s terrible . 

Dazai looks at him, empty eyes only reflecting the tiny kitten as he stares, “Was that because I said Shirase?” He asks and Atsushi hisses again.

It’s still terrible.

The sun finally catches in his eyes again, slowly bringing back the familiar honey brown as a small smile comes to Dazai’s face and Atsushi’s beyond relieved, “You definitely need practice.” He ignores the pout now on the kitten’s face as he pulls out his phone, bringing up Youtube and holding a video of an angry cat up to Atsushi, “I want this level of animosity.”

Atsushi watches in horror as the cat on screen looks ready to tear the person recording them into pieces.

There’s no way he can pull that off!

He looks up at Dazai helplessly and the man simply laughs. It’s a little rough, like Atsushi’s hiss, but it’s music to the kitten’s ears after that strange episode.

“I’m not expecting perfection, but I am expecting an attempt at it.” 

They spend the next half hour with Atsushi standing on Dazai’s chest and hissing as the man studies his every move and gives him notes.

It’s fun, if he’s being honest. They definitely aren’t cuddling like he did with Chuuya, but it’s still a new closeness he enjoys. Their intensity to get it right is evenly matched and when Atsushi messes up Dazai simply laughs, petting him gently to keep him from getting discouraged.

The dynamic is honestly what he wishes his dynamic with Dazai was all the time, except he knows better. A kitten is easier to dote on, and Chuuya himself said Dazai likes cats.

It’s so much easier for people to openly love cats, rather than each other.

Eventually they can hear Chuuya coming down the hall and for all their practice, by the end, it’s…not much better.

They both know it, but to Atsushi’s surprise, Dazai has the decency to not say it. 

Before Atsushi can register him even entering the apartment, Chuuya is standing behind the couch, snapping pictures on his phone of the two of them with a cocky grin on his face.

“Cute, isn’t he ?” Chuuya asks and Dazai huffs.

“ It isn’t ugly, at least. We’ve been working on tricks while you were gone.” Dazai says and Chuuya raises a brow.

“Oh? What kind of tricks?”

Atsushi feels himself getting nervous when Dazai smirks at him.

“ Sit.” The brunette orders and Atsushi considers not doing it for a second, because really? Sit? Is he actually a dog , now?

But he doesn’t want Chuuya to somehow end up figuring out what they were doing, so he sits nicely on Dazai’s chest.

If his nails happen to pierce through his shirt and into his skin, there’s no helping it.

He’s just a kitten, after all.

Chapter Text

“He’s not a dog, you ass!” Chuuya scoops Atsushi up into his arms, holding him protectively, “What’s with you and dog stuff anyways?”

“Can’t be helped, I’ve only ever trained a dog, after all.” Dazai grins up at him, “Although he continues to pick and choose when to listen.”

His eye starts twitching, “ You fucking -” Chuuya stops himself and takes a deep breath, then another, before placing Atsushi back on Dazai’s chest with the most disgusted expression, “You haven’t trained shit . Not even your little proteges have been properly trained by your sorry ass. I’m still dealing with the bullshit you’ve caused with Akutagawa.”

Dazai smiles up at him innocently, “I’ve never done anything to Akutagawa that he couldn’t handle.”

“ Don’t start with me.” Chuuya warns, and there’s a tone to his voice that reminds Atsushi of the actual feared Port Mafia Executive that this man is, “Look, if you want to actually teach the kitten tricks, at least teach him cat tricks.”

“Cat tricks, huh?” Dazai holds Atsushi to his chest and sits up on the couch, turning to face the annoyed man behind it, “Like what?”

“Fuck if I know,” Chuuya groans, “I’ve never had a cat before, but I know sit isn’t a cat trick.”

“Maybe I’ll train it to jump through hoops,” The brunette grins mischievously at the kitten clutching to his shirt, “Would you like that?”

Atsushi would very much not like that, and from the widening of Dazai’s grin, he seems to have properly conveyed this

Besides, with his body as it is at the moment, he doesn’t think he could even remotely pull it off if he wanted to.

Jumping is not something he can really do yet.

“If you mess with my cat, I’ll kick your ass.” Chuuya warns, and it sounds like a genuine threat, “I’m gonna put the groceries away.” He leans forward and Dazai closes his eyes, going to meet him, before Chuuya swoops his head down and kisses the side of Atsushi’s head. 

“ Chuuya!” Dazai whines, appalled, but the mafioso simply smirks at him before grabbing the groceries and walking away.

“It’s what you deserve, hat stealing bastard!”

To his immense relief, Dazai doesn’t pay him any attention after the kiss. He’s too busy watching Chuuya walk away, his expression so openly fond, it makes Atsushi incredibly uncomfortable. 

He takes the opportunity, though, to squirm out of his grasp and to a pillow on the other side of the couch. 

“Chuuya is so mean .” Dazai teases when Chuuya returns to the living room, watching with glee at the look of indignation that quickly comes to his partner’s face.

“ Excuse you ? Who the fuck just bought you expensive fucking crab, you ungrateful little shit?” Chuuya huffs, plopping down on the couch between Dazai and Atsushi, much to the kitten’s relief.

“Ohhhh, it’s expensive, huh?” Dazai asks, lazily moving closer to the mafioso beside him, “I stand corrected, then.” His hand comes up to remove the hat still on Chuuya’s head, his smile somehow growing more fond after he does, “My chibi is actually so nice to spoil me.”

Chuuya goes to tell him off, and Atsushi watches in horror as Dazai effectively silences the unimpressed man with a completely unnecessary kiss. Luckily, before he can even turn away to shield his eyes, he’s suddenly covered by Chuuya’s hat and surrounded in darkness.

Thank god . Dazai has at least some decency.

Except...it’s not some chaste kiss, and to his horror he can hear everything as it progresses. It starts with Dazai’s whispered apologies and admissions of missing Chuuya while he’s been away these past few days, from there, all hell breaks loose. Soon he can hear the rustling of hands sliding over fabric, buttons being undone, and of course the actual kissing .

He takes it all back. After this, Dazai might be dead to him.

No part of him ever wanted the thought (or sound ) of Dazai shoving his tongue down Chuuya’s throat, and yet it’s inescapable now, happening in real time, and he doesn’t know how to escape it .

He’s not sure who, but someone lets out a small moan, and finally his mind kicks into panic mode and supplies him with a solution.

Using his most loudest, most anguished kitten voice, he cries . 

Immediately, he hears Chuuya curse under his breath and push Dazai off, the latter letting out a quiet grunt as his back slams into what has to be the armrest on the other side of the couch.

Good.

He can honestly say he hopes it hurt.

Soon the hat is removed and a disheveled Chuuya is scooping the kitten up, petting him and muttering apologies. It would honestly be a lot more comforting if his now bare chest wasn’t in Atsushi’s face.

“Well played,” An equally disheveled Dazai smirks at him, making the small kitten nervous. 

This was not for Chuuya’s attention! It was for Atsushi’s sanity! Dazai forced his hand!

You can’t make out with him right here !

While can’t say any of this, the look that comes to Dazai’s face says he damn well knows, and blatantly doesn’t care .

“Shut up, shitty mackerel. I can’t believe you did that in front of the kitten !”

Seriously , Dazai! Have some shame!

“You weren’t complaining when I was doing it.” Dazai points out with a self satisfied smirk, “Not until your needy kitten decided to whine.” 

“You trapped him under a hat!”

“It was perfectly fine under there. It had air, after all.”

“That’s not the point ! No one wants to be trapped under a hat!”

“What do you mean? You’re willingly trapped under a hat every day.”

“ You- !” Chuuya stops himself, “Dazai, you are not seriously competing with a tiny, malnourished, kitten for my attention.”

Dazai pouts, “How could you, Chuuya?” He moves closer and plops his head in an entirely unamused Chuuya’s lap, “I’ve been very understanding of your secret kitten. Even when you were smothering him in kisses and ignoring me.”

Bullshit , the smile and warning Dazai gave him when Chuuya left will haunt Atsushi forever!

“Even when you’ve made it perfectly clear he’s your favorite!” 

Chuuya raises a brow and looks down at him, Atsushi still clutched to his chest, “Of course he is, the kitten is actually cute, dumbass.” He lightly flicks Dazai’s forehead, “And you deserved me ignoring you, asshole. Now you need to be nice to him or I’m kicking you out.”

Dazai stares up at him for a long moment, as if gauging the validity of the statement, before he sighs in defeat, “Chuuya is the one who begged me to come over, and yet he’s already trying to kick me out? You really are mean.”

“ Stop calling me mean ! You’re the one trying to push away an innocent kitten because you’re a possessive ass .” Chuuya chastises, “Also no more of that in front of him. Whether he can see it or not, it feels wrong.”

“Well that’s just unreasonable.” Dazai grumbles, crossing his arms.

“Don’t be such a baby .” Chuuya teases, setting Atsushi back on the pillow and running his fingers through Dazai’s hair absentmindedly. The man below him huffs, wrapping his arms around Chuuya’s waist and burying his face in the red head’s stomach.

“Don’t treat me like another cat.” The brunette grumbles into his shirt and Chuuya laughs.

“You are a cat.”

“The nerve! ” 

Atsushi wants to escape, but he’s too small to jump off the couch so he decides to suck it up. This amount of intimacy is fine.

Still, he can’t help but feel a little lonely laying by himself on the pillow and watching the two of them cuddle together, wrapped up in the other’s presence. 

The fact it makes him feel this way is more than a little unsettling.

His days of Chuuya’s attention, of warm hands and soft hugs, are numbered even without Dazai around. Ranpo won’t be gone much longer, after all, and if Dazai did plan Chuuya’s vacation for this situation then he has maybe four more days. 

Provided Dazai didn’t make sure Chuuya took some time off to actually relax after it’s all over as well.

He’s finding himself increasingly jealous of the fact Dazai can just spend time with Chuuya, no matter what shape, attitude, or even organization he’s in. It’s not that he wants their bond, because he absolutely has no interest in doing what he heard earlier with Chuuya (or Dazai for that matter), he just enjoys time with Chuuya. It provides him a sort of comfort he doesn’t get from the members of the ADA. 

Still, he can’t help but find himself wishing Dazai would leave, and it makes him feel incredibly guilty.

Chuuya’s his partner (both in the past and now, when the ADA and Port Mafia need it), his boyfriend, and ultimately (clearly) his primary source of comfort. Wishing Dazai away from all of that is just petty and childish.

He can’t help it, though.

A part of him wonders if kids are ever jealous when their parents pay more attention to each other than them, but he squashes that part down quickly because neither of them are his parents (they are only four years apart!) and thinking of Dazai in that sort of role for even a moment is terrifying.

Atsushi tries not to be bitter, as he gets comfortable on his pillow, slowly falling asleep to the quiet voices of the two men beside him.

He’s not sure how long it’s been, when Chuuya is suddenly scooping him up, but he knows he wasn’t asleep for long. Tired eyes open to see the red head sprawling out on the couch, placing the kitten in the familiar spot on his lap. 

“You don’t have to feed him in this position.” Dazai huffs and Atsushi looks to see him sitting on the other end of the couch, Chuuya’s legs in his lap.

“This has become a sort of routine for us, cuddling while he eats. It makes him happy.” Chuuya explains.

“ Him happy, huh?” Dazai rolls his eyes, running his nails gently over Chuuya’s calves, “And what am I supposed to do while you weirdly feed your kitten?”

“ You ,” Chuuya pulls one of his legs away to poke the brunette’s side with his foot, “Can sit there and shut up. This is kitten time.”

“Hmm,” Dazai quickly snatches said foot and brings the leg back into his lap with a dramatic sigh, “I guess I can do that.” 

“You ‘guess’, huh?” Chuuya rolls his eyes before turning all of his attention to Atsushi, a warm smile quickly lighting up his features, “Did you have a nice nap, Mignon? Sorry I couldn’t cuddle with you. The big cat was being needy.” 

A gentle hand reaches out to pet Atsushi lovingly and the small kitten purrs, nuzzling into it and soaking up the affection. That familiar warmth that he gets from Chuuya’s attention fills him to the brim and a piece of him aches at the inevitable loss of it, but the rest of him revels in the fact he can at least have it for now. 

Lost in it all, Atsushi ends up losing to kitten instincts and licks Chuuya’s hand, eliciting an excited gasp from the man.

“He licked me!” Chuuya’s eyes are shining as brightly as when Atsushi asked for his kisses, and he looks to Dazai, “Did you see that!?”

Atsushi tenses up, he forgot Dazai was there for a second.

Is he a dead man now ?

Turning to look, body tense with fear, Atsushi is surprised to see the understanding smile on the man’s face.

“That’s great, Chuuya.” Dazai says, his sincere tone filling Atsushi with relief.

It’s going to be alright.

Even after all of this is over, he won’t be alone. There will still be Dazai and the rest of the ADA who care, even if no one can show it well.

For now, at least, Chuuya will still be by his side. He’ll make sure to soak up the mafioso’s warmth as much as he can while he can.

And for the rest of his time here, he and Dazai can share .

Provided there's no more make out sessions.

Chapter Text

Atsushi’s meal time is over far too quickly, and soon he’s left alone in the living room while Chuuya cooks and Dazai clings to him, trying to sneak things into the meal that don’t belong.

“Cut it out! You’re as bad as Kaiji!” Chuuya groans, “I fucking swear, why do you idiots keep putting nonsense into food?

“Ohhh right, you have meals and drinks with Kaiji a lot , huh?” Dazai asks in a sweet tone that even Atsushi can tell is fake.

“If you are so stupid that you would be jealous of Kaiji , then I truly don’t know what to say.” Chuuya rolls his eyes, but reaches back to pat Dazai on the head anyways, “You’re the only self important dumbass that I’d be stupid enough to fall for.”

“Ohh Chuu-ya~! You have such a way with words!” Dazai teases, pretending to swoon.

“Why don’t you go hang out with Mignon or something? You don’t need to be up my ass.”

“But, Chuuya, up your ass is my fav -”

“ Don't -!”

“Hmmm, or maybe my favorite is when you’re up my -”

“ Dazai !” Chuuya warns and Dazai laughs. 

“Fiiiiine, I’ll go play with ‘ Mignon ’.” He sighs and shakes his head as he leaves the kitchen, “Such a dumb name. I guess that’s expected when a dog names a cat.”

“I am dangerously close to kicking you out, Dazai.” 

Dazai stops on his way to the couch, only to look back at Chuuya and smirk, “No, you’re not.”

Chuuya goes back to cooking, cursing under his breath as Dazai plops down on the couch next to Atsushi.

“So, should I teach you some kitty tricks , Mignon?” Dazai asks, “Ohhh I wonder if you can bark .” 

Atsushi won’t let him win by trying it while Dazai is here.

He is curious now, though.

…Maybe he’ll try it after he leaves.

“Hey, that reminds me…” Dazai turns around on the couch to look back into the kitchen, “How did the Akutagawa siblings do with little Mignon ?”

Atsushi swallows nervously.

Dazai notices.

Oh no.

“Mignon is a good boy, so of course he was very affectionate with both of them,” Chuuya answers as Atsushi sees his life flash before his eyes for what he wishes was the first time today, “He was extra clingy to Akutagawa, though. Didn’t wanna leave his side.”

“Ohhh?” Dazai raises a brow at the kitten, and Atsushi dies a little inside.

Of all the things he could find out.

Chuuya, why ?

Not that Chuuya even actually knows what he’s done, but still.

“Wow, someone actually has a soft spot for Akutagawa, huh?” Dazai teases, “Who knew?” He leans in and whispers so only Atsushi can hear, “ I knew .”

The cocky grin on Dazai’s face will haunt Atsushi for the rest of his life. He has no doubts.

“He adores Akutagawa, it was really cute.” Chuuya says, like the oblivious traitor he is, “He honestly seemed to prefer him over me, in a way.”

No! That’s not true!

(It’s a little true.)

“Oooohhhh, we’ve got Akutagawa’s number one fan here, huh?” Dazai teases and Atsushi hides his face behind his paws, surprised to hear a phone’s camera go off as he does, “I’m sure Akutagawa will like this pic of his number one fan.”

Atsushi meows in agony and Dazai actually laughs .

“Sooo, Akutagawa must’ve been really affectionate with Mignon, huh?” He asks Chuuya, keeping his ear splitting grin on the kitten in front of him, “For a kitten to get attached so fast he must have.”

“Oh yeah! Akutagawa fell in love at first sight! Man you should have seen him, cooing over the kitten, even calling him a good boy, like some dog . With you two around he’s gonna have an identity crisis, I swear.  Still though, Mignon was the perfect distraction from his concern over Atsushi.” Chuuya says as Dazai's lips twitch, a mocking laugh just waiting to be set free, but he holds it in so he can keep hearing what the traitor has to say, “Akutagawa fawning over a cat isn’t that funny, Dazai. He fawns over your tiger boy all the time , after all.”

“Heheheh,” Dazai pets Atsushi, somehow mockingly , “He sure does!”

This is the worst .

“You’re so loved , little guy!” The brunette teases, his eyes lighting up when Atsushi does… something , he doesn’t even know, “Oho..this is just too good .” He leans forwards to whisper to the kitten again, “I’ve never seen a kitten’s eyes shine so bright , Mignon. You must be smitten .”

Oh god .

Atsushi’s ears go back and he sinks lower onto the couch, this body keeps betraying him .

Like Chuuya .

“Alright, dinner’s ready!” Chuuya calls, saving (?) Atsushi from more torment, “Help me bring it in.”

Dazai’s teasing smile quickly softens and he gets up, “ Fine , I guess it’s not fair to expect someone so tiny to carry so much.”

“ Watch it .” Chuuya warns, half heartedly, before Dazai comes up to him and grabs both of their plates, heading back to the couch, “Oh, perfect, I can grab some wine.” He turns around and goes to grab an unopened, fancy looking bottle. It’s the first time he’s brought it out and Atsushi wonders if it’s solely because Dazai is here.

Like it’s something to celebrate , which he would have agreed with literally a day ago, but now it feels like a waste of a nice drink.

“No wine.” Dazai huffs, “If you have to drink something, grab the Dom Perignon Gin bought you a few weeks ago.”

Chuuya eyes him wearily before sighing in defeat, “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised you know about it. Stalker.” He puts the wine back and pulls out an unopened champagne bottle, as well as two glasses, and comes to the couch.

Atsushi stares at the champagne bottle in awe, Dom Perignon is expensive, isn’t it? 

The Port Mafia really must be making a lot if Gin can just give that as a casual gift.

Chuuya sits down and eyes the Dom Perignon, unsure, “Do you want to open it? I don’t have much experience with opening a champagne bottle.”

“Nah, you open it.” Dazai says, tossing a little ball at Atsushi, who can’t stop himself from chasing it all around. 

“Ugh, fine,” Chuuya grumbles, “I’ll open it slowly.” He says, removing the foil and loosening the wire ‘cage’ around the cork.

“So scary~!” Dazai teases as Chuuya tilts the bottle 45 degrees and holds the cork.

“Would you shut-” As soon as he goes to turn the bottle, Atsushi’s toy lands on his foot and without thinking, the kitten pounces, “Waah!” Chuuya exclaims as the cork flies across the room and champagne spills all over his lap. 

Dazai immediately begins laughing so hard he’s wheezing, only high pitched squeaks making it out, as Chuuya ignores him and looks at Atsushi worried.

“Did you get hit!?” He asks, scooping the kitten up and inspecting him for any champagne.

Atsushi is perfectly clean, and absolutely floored that Dazai can laugh like that. Yet, from the way Chuuya is fretting over him and barely reacting to the crying, wheezing man beside him, this must not be all that rare between them.

How are he and Akutagawa supposed to live up to this ?

“You sound like a fucking parrot ,” Chuuya begins laughing himself, “ Breathe you idiot.”  He halfheartedly scolds, setting Atsushi on the couch as Dazai falls against his shoulder, being held up by him as he continues cackling and wheezing.

“It’s everywhere !” He finally gets out, his voice higher than Atsushi thought possible, “It’s all over you and the first thing you think of is the fucking cat that caused it !” Dazai’s struggling to get the words out between gasps of laughter, “That’s so Chuuya of you I can't -!” The man finally gives up on forming words and returns to maniacally laughing.

“It’s not that funny, shit for brains!”

Dazai suddenly stops and lifts his head to look at him with a grave expression, “It is absolutely that funny.” His lips quickly quirk back up and he buries his head in Chuuya’s shoulder, cackling again.

“You are the fucking worst.” Chuuya says in such a fond way, laughter on the tip of his tongue, Atsushi has to admit he’s honestly jealous of their bond.

There’s no way he could reach this with Akutagawa, even if they…

Even if somehow…

They dated.

“Should I be nice and help you get out of those wet pants?” Dazai teases, after his laughter starts calming down. He brings a hand to settle on a very wet thigh, and Atsushi tenses up, eyeing the hallway in case he needs to run for it.

“You fucking wish , Mackerel.” Chuuya simply laughs again, waving Dazai’s hand off of him before he gets up, heading toward his bedroom, “I’ll be back after a quick shower. Feel free to eat without me.”

Dazai watches him go with a fond smile, before closing his eyes and leaning back against the couch, “I think I’ll wait.”

The man who is so often touted as a genius, who keeps the world at arms length, looks so relaxed, is acting so unguarded, that Atsushi can’t help but be in awe of Chuuya. To naturally bring Dazai to such a state that he doesn’t even care if Atsushi sees it, the man is amazing.

After spending these last few days with Chuuya, though, he’d be lying if he said he didn’t get it.

Chapter Text

While Chuuya is cleaning his champagne mess, Dazai gets to work cleaning up the liquid that missed the red head and made it onto the couch and floor. By the time he’s finished, he hears the water turn off in the bathroom and grabs their plates, reheating the food in the microwave so when Chuuya returns it’s hot and ready. 

Atsushi honestly didn’t think Dazai could be so attentive. Even with Chuuya.

The Port Mafia Executive is impressive in so many ways, it’s hard to keep count at this point. He can’t help but wonder how Akutagawa latched onto Dazai instead of Chuuya. Probably because when Dazai was there, he was Akutagawa’s immediate superior.

Still, though. 

Once the coffee table is set up nicely, and their cups are filled with the champagne that was still in the bottle, Chuuya returns, looking as surprised as Atsushi felt while watching Dazai prepare it.

“Why aren’t you like this all the time?” Chuuya asks, amused.

“Well, I can’t have you expecting it , Chuuya. Where’s the fun in that?” Dazai grins and the older man simply rolls his eyes.

“Of course, why would you be helpful consistently? How silly of me.” Chuuya huffs, petting Atsushi before he sits back down on the couch.

“A treat is a treat because it’s rare, after all~!” The brunette sing-songs, earning him a swift kick to the foot from the man beside him, “Chuu-ya! Don’t be so rough!” He whines and Chuuya simply rolls his eyes.

They eat in peace, both taking turns to lean down and toss a ball for Atsushi to chase around at their feet. It’s nice, possibly a little degrading if he thinks about it too much, but definitely fun for the kitten inside him. Before too long, the men are done with their meal.

As Atsushi rolls around on the floor, nipping and kicking at his ball, Chuuya watches with a fond smile. There’s a noticeable flush to his face after he’s finished his cup of champagne, which surprises Atsushi. He never would have guessed the man was a lightweight with alcohol.

Still, he’s got his own thing going on right now, so he doesn’t really care.

As if hearing his thoughts, Dazai leans over Chuuya’s lap to get to Atsushi on the ground, snatching the ball away from him. In retaliation, Atsushi grabs his hand with his tiny paws, his little teeth now on one of the offending fingers, not biting down, but there. 

For a moment, Atsushi is horrified.

He’s not too surprised, though, when Dazai just laughs and tosses the ball across the room for Atsushi to quickly chase after.

“Your kitten is a dork.” Dazai tells Chuuya, fondly.

“Mmhmm, a dork you have a soft spot for.” The redhead teases.

“Well, it is cute.” He admits, throwing Atsushi off and making him lose his ball under the entertainment center, “Bit of an idiot, though.” His tone is mocking, and Atsushi turns back to glare at him.

“Too bad he can’t stay like this forever.” Chuuya mutters, looking at the kitten with a somber smile.

The words hit harder than Chuuya intended, even surprising Dazai, who recovers faster than Atsushi and pats the other man’s leg reassuringly.

“He can’t, but he’ll still be him in the future.” Dazai says, looking at Atsushi with a fond smile that causes the poor boy to reel even more.

Chuuya and Dazai are doting on him right now and his brain honestly can’t comprehend it. The words Dazai says seem to release the weight put on his chest by Chuuya’s. 

For the most part, at least. 

He’ll still be him, but Chuuya isn’t really seeing him . He’s not listening to Atsushi’s thoughts, having conversations with him, in every way but technically Chuuya is not getting to know Atsushi .

The thought stings, and the heaviness returns. Chuuya doesn’t know Atsushi at all. They’ve never had a conversation with each other, never really met face to face. All of their knowledge about the other comes from Dazai and Akutagawa in second hand form.

Or it did, until Atsushi got stuck like this and thrown head first into a crash course on the Port Mafia Executive. He does know Chuuya now, to a degree, and has formed an admittedly strong attachment to him through it all.

Dazai teased him for being like a big brother to the Akutagawa siblings, Atsushi wishes he could have that when he turned back. Ultimately, though, he’ll be a stranger. A stranger that, in a way, fooled Chuuya this entire time.

“Mignon,” Chuuya calls, a gentle smile on his face, “You look sad, little guy. Need me to get your toy?”

Atsushi looks over at him, a bit surprised, and finds himself meowing in response, because yes, honestly, he does. 

The man’s smile widens and he comes down to the floor, his balance a little off from drinking, “Alright little guy, it went under the entertainment center, right?” He crawls over to the entertainment center, both him and Atsushi ignoring the whistles from Dazai on the couch.

“That’s quite the view, Chuu-ya~ ! I’d say it rivals a billion dollar masterpiece.” Dazai teases, a glint in his eye telling Atsushi those words matter somehow. Between these two, with seven years under their belt, they probably have a lot of words that matter.

“ Hah , very funny, shitty mackerel.” Chuuya grumbles before lowering his head to look under the entertainment center, an even louder whistle coming from Dazai as his butt remains up in the air.

“So flexible ! I guess that’s a perk to being a slug, huh?”

“I swear to-aha!” The red head sits up, toy in hand and a triumphant smile beaming down at Atsushi, “I found it!” He reaches down and gently pets the kitten, easily drawing purrs from the ball of fluff, “Who’s the best pet owner?” Chuuya giggles to himself before he picks Atsushi up and gives him a clumsy kiss on the forehead, setting him back down with a victorious smile.

There’s no competition on the best pet owner, honestly.

Absolutely Chuuya is.

“Alright, little guy, here ya go!” Chuuya tosses the ball across the living room, landing by Dazai’s foot.

In Spite of wanting to spend more time with Chuuya, Atsushis finds himself clamoring after the jingling toy, tripping over his own feet as he does so.

Chuuya laughs before standing up and working his way back to the couch, plopping himself down in Dazai’s lap. “Oops,” He mumbles, looking to Atsushi almost guiltily before moving to sit beside the other man instead.

“That’s just cruel, Chuuya.” Dazai whines and the red head grins at him.

“I can be crueler .” He says in a tone Atsushi is not comfortable with.

“Better not be,” The brunette sighs heavily, gently coaxing Chuuya to lay his head in his lap, “Wait til your sober for that.”

“Hmmm, good thinking.” The red head agrees.

For the next hour or so, Chuuya lays with his head in the other man’s thighs as they talk about random things, each taking turns to throw the ball for Atsushi. Chuuya brings him up once in a while during this time as well, petting him and doting a bit before setting him back down to play. 

It’s peaceful, and nice.

Atsushi should have known better than to believe it would stay that way, with Dazai here.

During this entire time, Dazai has been staring down at Chuuya with the reverence Atsushi now comes to expect. He really shouldn’t be surprised when Dazai finally opens his mouth to ruin the kitten’s evening.

“So, can I kiss you or will we ‘traumatize the kitten’?” Dazai asks, mockingly, and Atsushi internally groans.

He will truly know no peace with Dazai around.

“We will traumatize the kitten,” Chuuya points out with a smirk, before reaching up to bury a hand in messy brown hair, “But he’s already been traumatized tonight, so you might as well.”

Dazai grins, allowing Chuuya to pull him down towards him, “That’s the spirit.” 

Atsushi takes his ball and runs to Chuuya’s bedroom before they kiss. Not that it’s much use since he can hear it .

Curse you, drunk Chuuya.

True to his word, though, Dazai only kisses Chuuya once, before calling Atsushi back in, “Mignon, it’s safe now!” He mocks, grinning at the kitten like an idiot who just won something huge.

If he’s that giddy about a kiss from Chuuya, though, Atsushi can’t be too mad .

He can still be petty, though. So he begins refusing the ball when Dazai throws it, bringing endless joy to Chuuya at being the undeniable favorite.

A few hours later, after his last feeding of the night with a thankfully sober again Chuuya, the men begin to shut things off to prepare for bed.

It’s not their normal routine, so Atsushi can’t help but feel a little dejected. Especially when Dazai insists Chuuya go to bed first, the man swaying on his feet as he tries to do his regular nightly ritual.

“I’m fine , idiot. I’m sober again.” Chuuya huffs and Dazai smirks.

“Yeah, but when you sober up you always become really sleepy . Just go to bed, I know your routine.”

The red head looks to Atsushi, hesitant, “But…”

“Alright, you leave me no choice!” Dazai scoops Chuuya up, earning him a surprised gasp that quickly turns into laughter as the tired man lazily wraps his arms around the brunette’s neck.

“You’re an idiot.” Chuuya says fondly, and Dazai grins as he carries him towards the bedroom.

“I’m your idiot.” He teases.

“Ugh,” Chuuya scrunches up his nose in disgust, “Regrettably.” 

“Oh, well, if it’s regrettably , then I guess I’ll just…” Dazai lets go of Chuuya over the bed, seemingly forgetting the man’s arms are still around his neck, sending him tumbling down with him.

They both let out a noise of surprise before erupting in laughter, Chuuya letting go of him to gently bop him on the top of the head, “You make a terrible prince.” He teases and Dazai smiles down at him.

“I know, that’s why I’m always the princess.”

Atsushi needs Dazai to leave, like, now .

He gets their in love, he’s happy they have each other, but do they have to be so insufferable in front of him?

Especially considering he’s not gonna be invited to bed. He’s going through a cuddle deficiency today, after all!

Sure, he got a lot of cuddles anyways, but it’s not the same , Dazai kept interfering. He’s way too needy for a grown man.

The giggles from the bedroom die down, and to his surprise he’s soon face to face with Dazai again. He scoops the kitten up, Atsushi getting excited for a moment, before suddenly he’s put in his crate.

“Good kittens sleep here!” Dazai grins and Atsushi’s ears lower as he tries to hide his disappointment, before the man chuckles, “I’m just messing with you.” His smile turns surprisingly gentle as he scoops him back up and holds him to his chest, softly whispering to the kitten, “Let’s go to bed.”

Atsushi is shocked, allowing himself to purr when Dazai begins to pet him on the way to the bedroom. Once they arrive, Dazai holds him up above his head, carefully cupping him in both hands.

“I have brought the prodigal son to sleep with mommy and daddy!” He announces, yelping when Chuuya chucks a pillow at him, “Hey! Careful! There’s precious cargo, here! Even a kitten!”

Chuuya rolls his eyes, the grin now on his face betraying any annoyance he might feel, “Stop teasing him and get into bed, you idiot.”

Dazai grins back, crawling into bed with a still very confused Atsushi cupped in his hands, before he lays him down on Chuuya’s pillow. “There you go, Mignon .”

Atsushi sits there confused for a moment, before curling up beside Chuuya’s cheek, purring loudly at his unexpected victory.

“Are you really alright with him being in the bed with us?” Chuuya asks, his voice sounding almost guilty, but Dazai simply shrugs.

“It’s ok, he’s a good boy.”

Atsushi’s eyes shoot open at that and he’s fairly certain his heart almost explodes. He dares a look at the man who has made his entire day difficult, and sees the gentle smile he’s giving the unexpecting kitten. 

It’s too much, so he buries his face in Chuuya’s hair, calming himself down with the familiar scent and purring again.

So the man he’s looked up to for who knows how long just called him a good boy. That’s fine. Everything is fine .

…

Work is gonna be so awkward when he returns.

Chapter Text

Atsushi wakes up curled around the back of Chuuya’s head, his long section of hair acting as a sort of bed. Between the fluffy pillow, soft hair, and calming scent of Chuuya himself this is basically heaven.

Except for whatever the hell is pressing against his back.

He doesn’t wanna move too much and risk waking Chuuya, but he lifts his head a little and peaks, seeing Dazai sound asleep with his cheek lightly pressed against his back.

Moving his head a little more, he sees that Dazai is in fact tangled up with Chuuya, and it seems Atsushi got caught in the crossfire.

Except that his cheek isn’t actually putting any weight on Atsushi. His head is positioned deliberately so he doesn’t apply pressure to the tiny kitten.

He’s touching Atsushi on purpose. 

Why, though?

Dazai could have moved Atsushi, or just moved up a little so his head was above Atsushi, so why make any contact?

Not to mention he’s sound asleep, entirely unguarded despite the fact Atsushi is here. He has been a lot since arriving at Chuuya’s, actually.

Is Dazai…comfortable around Atsushi?

Does he feel safe around him?

The idea is a lot, too much for him to think about right now if he’s being honest.

You care about Atsushi.

Chuuya’s words from yesterday ring clearly in his head, and Atsushi is left wondering just how much Dazai cares.

Sure, he has to trust Atsushi and Akutagawa to an extent, since he’s relied on them to save Yokohama (and the world) a few times now, but trusting a coworker to be competent at their job and trusting them enough to be unguarded and vulnerable in their presence are two very different things.

Especially with Dazai.

His mind is muddled now, brain stumbling over itself to make sense of Dazai’s actions all of yesterday and now. 

What does it mean ?

What does… he mean to Dazai?

Dazai has confirmed he picked Atsushi up that day to create Shin Soukoku, but there’s a part of him that can’t help but feel there’s more to it than that.

When Dazai looks at him sometimes, he seems to be looking through him, at someone not there that mattered in a way Atsushi probably never will. It reminds him of the look he had at that man’s grave. 

Oda, was it?

He’s not sure what connects it all, but there’s something inside him that says it’s definitely tied together.

Nobody at the agency knows who Oda is, so he must be someone from Dazai’s port mafia days. Someone who meant the world to him, in a different way from Chuuya.

There’s so much he doesn’t know about these two men, naturally, and he didn’t care about that before but now it’s different. He feels a new connection to Dazai, and he’s pretty sure the kitten part of his brain has latched onto Chuuya as his parent, so he can’t help but want to know more. 

Prying is wrong, though, and he still feels bad about learning Verlaine’s connection to Chuuya from Dazai. As well as the betrayal from his friend Shirase. 

Even the terrifying anger Dazai showed him felt like something he shouldn’t see.

Of course Atsushi has no illusions Dazai doesn’t have all of his history, but that feels different. More okay, since so many people have his history in the orphanage. 

A part of him wonders if Dazai might even have his records from before the orphanage. The man is very thorough when he wants to be, after all. 

As he wonders just how much Dazai knows about him, and if he knows more that Atsushi himself, the sound of an alarm rings.

Chuuya groans, trying to move before realizing he’s effectively pinned by Dazai wrapped around him and Atsushi curled up in his hair, “Oi, Dazai, get off me and help me move Mignon off my hair.” He calls, only to receive a sleepy whine from the man behind him, “ Dazai , I have to feed the kitten, he’s still practically skin and bones he needs more food!”

“‘S fine, don’ go.” Dazai mumbles, tightening his grip on Chuuya.

Honestly, Atsushi doesn’t really wanna get up either. He’s comfortable, really comfortable, and a part of him isn’t quite ready to lose this… closeness with Dazai yet. 

Chuuya sighs, “I can’t. After he’s fed we can all come back to bed, but right now he needs food.”

Dazai groans and sits up, “You just mix that formula and moist food together, right?”

“...Yeah…why?”

“I’ll feed him.”

Atsushi looks back at Dazai in surprise, the man’s eyes struggling to stay open.

“Fuck off, I feed him. Get your own alley kitten.”

“Don’t be stingy. You need to sleep more on your vacation.” Dazai places a hand on Chuuya to keep him from sitting up, “Just go back to sleep and we’ll be back shortly.”

Chuuya makes an uncertain sound before sighing in defeat, “Alright, fine, but there’s some stuff you need to know!”

“Teach me your ways, Papa.” Dazai teases, lacking any of it’s bite as he mumbles it more than anything. He untangles an unwilling Atsushi from Chuuya’s hair as the man goes over proper temp, amounts, how Atsushi can not be fed on his back, and how he needs to be burped right after. Dazai sleepily snickers at the burping.

“Kittens burp? That’s so cute.” He mumbles and Chuuya rolls over on his back to look at them, a fond smile on his face.

“Yeah, it is.” 

“Mmmhmm, and it’s my turn to enjoy the cuteness, so you roll back over and go to sleep.” Dazai orders, earning him a scowl from Chuuya, who does as he says anyways, “Alright, we’ll be back soon!”

By the time they reach the bedroom door, Chuuya is snoring again.

“I should have known he’d push himself to take care of you,” Dazai sighs, “Which isn’t your fault, by the way, don’t go down a self-guilt trip over it. He pushes himself too much constantly .” He grumbles as he rummages through the kitchen, preparing the mix with one hand as he keeps Atsushi held to his chest with the other, “I wonder how much longer you’ll be like this…” Concerned brown eyes gaze at the small kitten for a moment, “Well, Ranpo will be back today or tomorrow and then this will all be over. Then for his last days of vacation I’ll just force him to take it easy.”

That sounds nice, honestly. He hopes Chuuya gets that time to relax.

Even if Atsushi will miss him when it’s all over.

The microwave suddenly dings and Dazai pulls out the now ready mix, grinning down at the kitten.

“Time to eat!”

They sit on the couch, Atsushi placed on Dazai’s lap before the man holds the bottle to him. He honestly expects him to pull some sort of prank, like squeezing the bottle or something, but instead he feeds him properly, lazily petting him with his free hand as he does it.

“When I was a teen, I wanted to rescue a kitten like this.” Dazai admits, surprising Atsushi, “Chuuya and I did, actually. When we were fifteen, we found a scruffy little guy a bit older than you on death's door behind the arcade we always went to. It was actually one of our first true bonding activities…outside of murder. I stayed at Chuuya’s place the entire time we had him, and when we had to leave for a mission that guy Albatross would watch him for us. He was with us for three months, before we decided our lives were too hectic to keep him. We basically fostered him, I guess?Lippman actually found him a home with one of his actor friends, so we got updates now and then, until…” He sighs heavily, “I didn’t really know The Flags, and I didn’t like them purely because I was a possessive brat and they took Chuuya’s attention, but they were good guys. That cat is still out there, living his best life, thanks to their help.”

Atsushi wishes he could say something, but a part of him is fairly certain Dazai would never be opening up about this if he actually could.

“I knew all kinds of stuff about cat care when we found him, so I led the way. He was already old enough for actual food, though, so it wasn’t hard to care for him. We used to sleep with him every night. The first time we ever shared a bed was because we kept fighting over who he would sleep with. Eventually I suggested it, partially to sleep with the kitten, partially to not sleep on the couch, but mostly…as an excuse to sleep with my crush.” Dazai has a tired smile on his face, “I didn’t get any sleep that first night. It’s nostalgic, honestly, sleeping in a bed with him and a cat again.”

When Atsushi is done with the bottle, Dazai holds it up to see if he wants more, and the kitten shakes his head no.

“I seeeee,” The melancholic Dazai is quickly replaced with the grinning menace Atsushi knows, “I guess it’s burping time .” He pulls his phone out of nowhere and sets it up on the coffee table to record Atsushi.

Great . His humiliation will be immortalized. 

He wants to fight it, to go against Dazai and somehow not burp, but he can’t fight his kitten body and on the second (surprisingly gentle) back pat he lets out a tiny burp.

It’s quickly followed by a delighted noise and bright smile from Dazai.

“That’s so cute Mignon ! Who knew you had it in you?” He turns off his phone and puts Atsushi near his litter box before heading to the kitchen to wash the bottle out. 

It wasn’t like his feeding time with Chuuya, him being so much more affectionate, but it was still…nice.

A different kind of warmth and closeness. 

He knows the story he was told was anecdotal more than anything, no true glimpse into what Dazai’s past was truly like, but to get anything about it feels like some massive victory.

Soon, Dazai is back, picking him and carrying him back to bed where a sleeping Chuuya waits.

Dazai lays him down in his original spot, allowing Atsushi to curl back up in Chuuya’s hair, before wrapping himself around the man again and gently resting his cheek against Atsushi’s back, “Goodnight, Mignon. ”

Chapter Text

Atsushi wakes up to an empty bed. He can hear Chuuya and Dazai outside, saying goodbye as Dazai is forced to leave for work only a few hours late. There’s some movement after that, followed by the ding of the microwave.

Chuuya’s prepping his formula.

Soon the man appears, bottle in hand confirming his suspicion.

“Oh hey, when did you wake up?” He asks, voice tired and gentle, “C’mon, lets go feed you on the couch, that idiot isn’t here anymore so we’ll have a nice, quiet, day.”

Atsushi purrs as Chuuya scoops him up with one hand, pressing him to his chest so he doesn’t wiggle around and fall. 

Finally . Peace .

Although he has to admit that earlier this morning with Dazai was really nice. He thinks about the kitten Dazai mentioned, the softness in his eyes even when he was teasing him, and wonders if maybe his mentor misses that kitten more than he let on. 

Then he wonders if Chuuya might as well, although he’s never mentioned it.

They sit on the couch, curled up on one end as Atsushi drinks and Chuuya watches him, “Dazai is probably right, I should teach you to drink from a bowl…you have decent balance now…but you’re so small still. I don’t think it’s actually safe for you to try yet. If you breathed any formula in you could easily aspirate and get pneumonia, and possibly even die…” He sighs, “Won’t be much longer, though, you’ll grow big soon.”

Atsushi wonders just how long this tiny body would actually take to bounce back fully. Not that it really matters since he’ll be out of it in three days, tops.

When he’s finished with his meal, Chuuya turns the tv on, putting on some show about repairing run down old motorcycles, and they begin their day.

He likes Dazai, he does , but he really likes spending time alone with Chuuya a lot more. The day is simple, Atsushi goes and adventures around the living room while Chuuya eats his breakfast, and then immediately comes back when he’s done to cuddle and play.

He’s learned fetch. Despite it being a ‘dog trick’, Chuuya looks over the moon about it, snapping a ton of pictures and taking videos whenever he awkwardly stumbles his way back over to him with the too-big-for-his-body toy.

Around two, after they’ve both eaten, Chuuya calls him up for a nap on the couch. The same program is playing, droning on about mice inside the motorcycle and Chuuya scoffs, muttering about people not taking care of their stuff. His voice is heavy with sleep, a hand coming up to pet the kitten curled up on his chest.

Soon he’s asleep, hand nestled protectively around the kitten but not on top of him. 

Careful not to apply any weight.

Like Dazai was.

Being treated so gently, treasured so wholly and openly, is an amazing thing.

When Atsushi wakes up a few hours later, he hears the quiet voices of two men talking, smells the scent of freshly brewed tea, and realizes that he’s now in Chuuya’s lap rather than on his chest. How was he so out of it that he didn’t notice Chuuya getting up and coming back?

Or an apparent phone call?

“And he had the NERVE -!” The other voice begins, quickly getting cut off by Chuuya quietly scolding him.

“I told you to keep your voice down , don’t wake up Mignon, Shirase .” He warns and Atsushi tenses up in his lap, a low growl escaping him and surprising them both.

“Sounds like he’s awake.” Shirase teases, “You finally have a Thursday off so we can chat and I have to be considerate of a kitten sleeping? What kind of Port Mafia Exec are you?”

“The kind that’ll kick your ass for waking up his kitten.” Chuuya answers, eying Atsushi curiously, which is fair. 

He’s pretty sure he hasn’t growled before. 

Ultimately, the redhead shrugs it off and goes back to half-heartedly listening to Shirase. The man drones on about some totally amazing thing he did since they last spoke in wildly immaculate detail.

It doesn’t take a detective to figure out this guy is lying through his teeth.

For his part, Chuuya sits on the couch, eyes closed and humming in agreement here and there.

Clearly he doesn’t believe it, either.

When Shirase is done boasting (lying), he falls silent for a moment, before speaking in a gentler tone.

“I worked with Adam not too long ago.” He says and Chuuya’s eyes shoot open, his face lighting up.

Atsushi is thrown off-guard. He’s only seen that expression in regards to Dazai (or himself when he does something cute). Just who is Adam and why is Chuuya so openly fond of him?

And since he garners so much fondness, why isn’t he on Dazai’s shit list?

“Adam, huh?” Chuuya’s tone is light, joy radiating out of every word, “How is he?”

“Same as always,” Shirase grumbles, “Unnecessarily rude to me. Even when he’s asking me for intel! You need to do something about that!”

Chuuya shrugs, “Not much I can do, he can act however he wants. He’s his own android.”

ANDROID?

Atsushi’s head immediately begins spinning. 

Androids are real!?

Well, ok, vampires and tripolar singularities are real as well so in the grand scheme of things an android isn’t too crazy , but still!

“We both know you could make him do pretty much anything.” Shirase huffs and Chuuya laughs, light hearted and soft.

“Not when it comes to you.”

“But why does he hate me!?” 

“I asked him once, and he said ‘because Shirase-’”

Atsushi hisses.

Everyone falls silent, Chuuya turning to look at him curiously, “...’Because Shirase-’”

He hisses again.

Genuinely he’s not trying to, but after spending so much time doing it to cheer up Dazai-

Dazai ! 

He really did train it into him!?

Chuuya eyes the kitten suspiciously, “...Shirase.”

Hiss.

“ Shirase. ”

Hiss.

“Shir… o. ”

Silence.

Shirase finally speaks up on the other end of the line, “Chuuya, what are you teaching your cat?”

“I left him with Dazai for a while yesterday.”

The man on the other end hesitates, before speaking in a weaker tone, “...Oh.”

Chuuya sighs, “I think I’m gonna go. I’ve gotta call Dazai and ream him a new one.”

Shirase laughs a little, “I think he’ll be too happy it was a success to worry about you being angry.”

“ Probably. Still, though.”

“Yeah, I get it. I’ll talk to ya later.”

“Yeah, try not to piss off Adam so much.”

Shirase scoffs, “You’ll probably talk to him before I do, so maybe tell him to stop bullying me so much .”

Chuuya rolls his eyes, “I’ll try . Bye.”

“Bye.”

Hanging up the phone, he stares down at the tiny kitten, who is making sure to look up at him with the biggest, cutest eyes he can muster, “ That is not playing fair,” He sighs, a hand coming up to stroke under the kitten’s chin, “Besides, I’m not mad at you .” A dark smile comes to his face as he pulls up his contacts and selects ‘Mackerel’, “ This bastard, however, is a different story.”

Well, Dazai has it coming, honestly. 

“Chuu~ya! It’s only been eight hours and you miss me this much? That’s so needy of you.” Dazai says in lieu of a greeting.

“Cut the shit asshole, you know why I’m calling.”

“I don’t have the faintest idea, my dear chibi. Why, it’s Thursday , after all. Shouldn’t you be talking to that waste of oxygen in London right now?”

Chuuya responds through gritted teeth, “You know damn well that’s exactly why I’m calling you, you piece of shit.”

“Ahhh, I understand. I’d want a palette cleanser after talking to that thing as well.”

“ Dazai ! You taught my kitten to fucking hiss at the sound of Shirase’s name! It would honestly be impressive if I wasn’t so pissed !”

Dazai laughs, “Awww, such a good kitty~! He can probably just sense the narcissism, even over the phone!”

Atsushi kind of could, but, Chuuya doesn’t need to know that. It’s not why he hissed, after all.

“If he had an issue with narcissists he wouldn’t have gotten so cozy with your sorry ass.”

“Hey, you said I could teach him a cat specific trick.” Dazai points out, “That is a cat specific trick.”

Chuuya is fuming now, the couch noticeably not entirely on the ground anymore, “That’s not what I fucking meant and you know it! You’re always like this with Shirase! He was a kid, Dazai!”

“He spent 7 years with you and didn’t see you as anything but a monster, until you were on the verge of death for the second time in front of him.” The tone that comes over the phone next sends a chill down Atsushi’s spine, “As far as I’m concerned, we should have left him to Verlaine.”

“ Dazai ,” Chuuya warns, “We’ve made up. It doesn’t matter.”

“ Chuuya ,” Dazai bites back, “It absolutely matters when you still think you did anything wrong. Until he tells you that you didn’t, I’m not giving him an ounce of forgiveness.”

A tense silence falls over the room.

This is…actually more serious than Atsushi expected it to be. He gets where Dazai is coming from, though. Chuuya is far too selfless and he definitely seems the type to take all the blame onto himself when he shouldn’t.

Also knowing even the small amount he does about Shirase, he can’t say he’s a fan.

“I hate him because I love you , Chuuya.” Dazai suddenly says, shocking Atsushi more than anything he’s done yet.

Even Chuuya looks caught off-guard, the couch slowly lowering back to the ground as Dazai continues to speak.

“I get your stupid line of thinking, so I know why you’re still friends with him, but that doesn’t mean I have  to like it…or him . Just like Adam still hates him. If you won’t value yourself, then we’ll do it for you.” He goes to say something else, before Kunikida yells something not even Atsushi’s cat hearing can quite make out, “Tsk, I’ve gotta go. I know you’re actually mad, but, um…”

“ I love you, too , shitty Dazai.” Chuuya huffs, “I’m not actually mad...anymore.” He grumbles, “Just…I don’t know. Fuck you , and all that. Don’t pull that shit again.”

There’s relief in Dazai’s voice when he responds, “ Noted. I’ll see you soon.”

They hang up and Chuuya looks to Atsushi, frowning, “Look, Shirase isn’t perfect, but he’s saved my life twice. Granted, he tried to end it once as well, but he’s still net positive over all.”

Atsushi’s beginning to deeply worry about Chuuya and the relationships he builds.

Chuuya gets up and gets his dinner started, still rambling, “It’s not like he can speak on friendships, anyways. The first person he didn’t hate was me , and I can attest to the fact he was an obsessive little creep about it.”

A creep you’re dating , Atsushi can’t help but think.

“Who meets someone, confesses shortly after, and then proceeds to take them away from their only friends and home?” He asks as he prepares Atsushi’s dinner in the kitchen, “I mean yeah , I wasn’t cut out for leading the Sheep, and the Port Mafia has been far better for me, but still !” The man comes back to the living room with the bottle prepared and brings Atsushi into his arms, feeding him.

“From day one of me joining the Port Mafia and working with him he was an absolute menace ! He used to make these stupid weekly pamphlets or whatever about random shit I did, told in a way to make me look as stupid as possible! How is that better than Shirase!?” He fumes, before frowning, “Well, ok…Shirase expected me to risk my life constantly for the sake of the Sheep and their whims…and Dazai never put me in harms way unless he knew he could keep me safe…he doesn’t even suggest using corruption unless there’s absolutely no other option, and has always been really gentle after I use it…”

Atsushi can visibly see Chuuya’s mind veering off track and losing his own argument. 

Dazai would love it.

He’ll keep it to himself, though.

“Still! Sure, he’s been better to me than Shirase ever was as a friend, but we didn’t stay friends for long. We started dating at sixteen, so I barely count for what he knows about friends. I probably have to count, though, since he’s not really friends with his current coworkers.” Chuuya sighs, and although it hurts Atsushi a little, he’s not wrong.

Dazai keeps the ADA at a distance, the closest being Atsushi, even before all of this. Except before all of this they never hung out for fun or anything. More than a friend, Dazai has always felt like a mentor…and a menace. He will help him when it’s needed, and tease him any chance he gets, but he seems scared to let anyone get too close.

Besides Chuuya. 

Atsushi finishes drinking and the timer for Chuuya’s meal goes off, making them part.

“I know he’s not like me, he doesn’t get really close to people…and the last two he did ended terribly.” Chuuya sighs, coming back in with a plate of his food and a cup of wine.

Oh boy .

“Doc glasses and that guy Oda… something .” The red head sits on the couch as he continues, whether it’s to himself or Atsushi, the kitten isn’t sure anymore, “I guess, given how that ended, it makes sense he isn’t too eager to get especially close with others.” He frowns, “Even from the little I know, though, I have to admit Oda was at least a better friend than Shirase ever was.”

As he eats and sips from his wine, his ramblings become more revealing. He talks about how he had friends like Oda as well, in The Young Bloods, or the Flags, Chuuya sounds unsure about their true title. His eyes go to the shelf as he talks about them, full of nostalgia and longing for a friendship he can never get back. Atsushi listens as he tells stories about each man, anecdotes about their time together and things they showed him.

How their final act towards him was one of generosity, of pure selflessness and admitted recklessness to help him learn who he was.

He gets quiet after that, staring into space, so Atsushi climbs up his leg to settle in his lap, nuzzling against his stomach to try and pull him out of it.

It takes a moment, but soon a gentle hand is petting him, a melancholy smile on his face.

“I didn’t really know Oda, the first time I ‘met’ him he was in the streets during the chaos of the Dragon Head incident, saving some child whose parents were killed in the crossfires. We didn’t really speak to each other, I just told him to get out of there. Seeing him in that moment, though, saving a child…and knowing how he saved Dazai as well not too long before, was all I needed in order to know he was a good guy.” He scrunches up his nose, “Which is why it was so weird he was friends with Dazai .”

Atsushi has to admit that’s…pretty fair. 

Turns out he was right, Oda Sakunosuke was from the Port Mafia days. 

“I talked to him a bit after that, here and there, when Dazai would force me to come get his ass from the bar on the rare occasions he was actually drunk.” His pout turns into a fond smile, “There was one time when I did, Dazai was barely awake, latched onto me the moment I arrived before he allowed himself to actually pass out. That day Oda told me that whenever Dazai got drunk, he talked about me nonstop and would make me come to ‘brag’, which is why Oda and Doc Glasses never brought him home at times like these.”

Atsushi can definitely see that. With how fond Dazai is, he can imagine a teenage him wanting to show off the boy he thought the word of.

Chuuya preps his last bit of formula and Atsushi looks at the clock. It’s somehow already ten. Chuuya has been rambling for hours , getting things off his chest he no doubt has before. Still, Atsushi doesn’t mind letting the man do it again with him as his audience. He clearly needs to talk about it, and this whole thing is connecting a lot of dots, ones he didn’t even realize he wanted connected.

“You know, I was jealous of Oda.” Chuuya admits quietly, surprising the kitten in his lap, “Not of his relationship with Dazai or anything stupid like that, we had wildly different bonds with him and I’ve always been happy with my place in his life. No, I was jealous of what he was able to achieve , that I couldn’t.” He feeds the small kitten, staring at him with unfocused eyes, “He was able to actually help orphan children. Well, until the end. Still, before that happened, Dazai would tell me about Oda’s orphans and I would be bitter because he was able to do what I couldn’t. He was normal enough to get involved without it growing into chaos because of his powers.” A bitter laugh escapes the man’s lips.

“I felt like shit about that jealousy when I learned what happened to them all.”

He doesn’t elaborate, but Atsushi can imagine. 

“You know, everyone was surprised that I was never mad at Dazai for leaving. But why would I be? I was proud of him for following through on his dead friend’s wishes, and a little relieved he left an organization that was clearly causing him to spiral further down. It was truly the best thing for him, and our relationship. We were too codependent. Of course, we only went two years without seeing each other. Even then we would text in secret, using burner phones. Still, it wasn’t too often and we still weren’t near each other constantly like before.”

Atsushi doesn’t know much about when Dazai left the port mafia, but he did know he was in hiding for two years before joining the ADA. No one knows what he really did during that time, except maybe Chuuya. 

He truly is the only one who knows all of Dazai.

“The first night he came out of hiding, we met up in a secret location only the two of us knew. Seeing him in person after so long made me realize how much I actually missed him while he was gone. As soon as we were face to face, for the first time in two years, I felt like I was… whole again. It was eye-opening, and a little scary. Those first two years, before Atsushi came and we were chasing the bounty on his head, we kept our meetings secret. Only after fighting in the Port Mafia dungeons did we stop bothering to sneak around, although I’m sure Mori knew they entire time anyways.” 

Atsushi finishes his formula and Chuuya yawns, setting the kitten down to go wash his bottle out and close the apartment down for the night. On his way around the apartment for his rounds, Chuuya passes The Shelf, and lingers on it.

He looks at each object, a melancholy smile on his face. After a few minutes, he turns back to the kitten by his feet, prepped and ready for bed as well.

“Now that I think about it, Dazai butted heads with the flags constantly, but it was different than with Shirase. He respected them, as colleagues and as my friends. I know he felt guilty that they were taken out before he expected, it’s part of why he brought me to them to say goodbye.” Chuuya leans down and scoops the kitten up, sparing one last glance at the shelf before heading to his room, “It’s hard to say goodbye to someone you love, while they’re dying in your arms, but I’m glad he gave me that chance…and I’m glad he had that chance with Oda.”

They lay down in bed, Atsushi curling up into the crook of his neck and purring as loud as he can, to try and help cheer Chuuya up. 

“I’m sorry for talking about such depressing things tonight,” Chuuya sighs, “Some days the memories are easier to brush off than others.” He reaches a hand up to pet the small cat and turns his head to place a small kiss to his back, “It was nice that even with Dazai not here, I wasn’t alone this time.”

Atsushi lays there, listening as Chuuya’s breathing evens out and he falls asleep. He can’t help thinking about just how much Chuuya and Dazai have experienced in only twenty-two years. 

Before joining the ADA, all Atsushi knew was the horrors of his orphanage, where it was every child for themselves. In his new life he has people who care, bonds that are stronger than he could have ever dreamed he’d have, yet none are nearly as deep as Dazai and Chuuya’s. He’s never grown up with someone.

They both have lived such tumultuous lives side by side, and even apart, Atsushi is truly relieved they were able to find one another. Someone who truly understands them in a way no one else could.

Perhaps they’re what real soulmates are.

As Atsushi closes his eyes, beginning to drift off, he thinks it would be nice if that were true.

Chapter Text

Atsushi wakes up in Chuuya’s arms…sort of?

He’s too small   and Chuuya is too cautious to actually have him in his arms, so he’s just sort of being cradled in the crook of his elbow. It’s comfortable, though. Warm and safe. Atsushi’s fairly certain he’ll never feel as safe as he does in these moments, held gently by Chuuya, ever again when this is over.

Chuuya mumbles something in his sleep, his nose lightly pressed against the soft fur on Atsushi’s back, and the kitten begins to purr. It causes more mumbling, a small smile on the man’s lips as he sighs contentedly.

Atsushi hopes the alarm isn’t gonna go off soon.

So, naturally, it does.

Chuuya groans, annoyed, and if Atsushi could he would, too, “Sorry about rambling last night.” The man says with a tired, almost embarrassed, smile, “I shouldn’t have drank while I was upset.”

He seems genuinely remorseful, which confuses Atsushi.

Why would he feel bad about rambling to his kitten?

Isn’t that what pets are for?

“Well, anyways,time to get up I guess.” Chuuya scoops the confused kitten up and heads out of the room.

The two curl up on the couch, neither wanting to be up yet both knowing feeding time has to happen. Atsushi drinks two bottles, gets burped, and the two nestle in for their after-breakfast nap.

Today is Friday. It’s probably his last day with this.

His heart sinks whenever he thinks about it. 

A part of him is excited to go back to his home, to see Kyouka and everyone in the ADA again. 

To talk again and eat human food.

…To maybe see Akutagawa again. A little. 

Just a little.

But...even with all the things he’s excited for, all the things he misses, a huge part of him doesn’t want to leave this comfort.

There’s no doubt in his mind that Chuuya will never talk to him, and there’s a huge chance that he will kick both Atsushi and Dazai’s ass when this ends and he learns the truth. Not that Atsushi would blame him for either of those things, honestly.

Even as he lays here, curled up in the crook of Chuuya’s neck, he preemptively misses the man, and it’s an odd feeling.

As if sensing his unease, Chuuya reaches up to gently pet him, quietly telling him to sleep for a bit.

Although he wants to soak up the affection more, his body gives in and he’s soon asleep.

After they wake up and Atsushi gets his next feeding, Chuuya is munching down on a bowl of salad when it happens.

The call Atsushi’s both dreaded and prayed for.

Chuuya looks at the ‘Mackerel’ flashing on his screen for a moment, and almost seems hesitant to answer it, before caving and putting him on speaking phone, “Ranpo finally back?”

“Yeah.” Dazai answers and Chuuya immediately straightens up and looks at the phone with a grimm expression.

“What happened?”

Atsushi’s confused, because he didn’t notice anything in Dazai’s tone to warrant that reaction, but at this point he expects no less from these two.

“Ranpo…figured some stuff out.” Dazai begins, “The man who did all this has left the country,” He groans, “All the way to fucking Blugaria for some reason.”

Atsushi’s mind is reeling, but Chuuya, for his part, relaxes on the couch.

“Bulgaria isn’t a bad hiding spot. We don’t have any connections there as far as I’m aware.”

“Ango is gonna help, I guess.” Dazai grumbles, “ Apparently they have connections out there.” He goes silent for a while before speaking quietly, “I don’t know how long this will last now.”

Chuuya smiles gently at his phone, “I can talk to Adam and see if he can help,” He picks up the phone and takes it off speaker before comforting Dazai on the other end, “It’s alright, Dazai, it’s just a hiccup. Atsushi will be alright, everything will be fine.”

Atsushi doesn’t know what is said after that, but soon Chuuya is hanging up and the two are going about their day as usual.

Except the strange tension in the air. From both of them.

Granted, he wasn’t sure how he felt about leaving so soon, but with it up in the air now Atsushi is terrified .

Mostly.

But honestly, there’s a small part of him he’s afraid to dwell on too long that’s slightly relieved.

Still, like any other day, they play and cuddle and eat together. Today Chuuya has movies in the background. Slightly older movies, none from more recently than 6 years ago, and they all feature the same lead actor.

He’s honestly beautiful , and whenever he’s on screen Chuuya stops what he’s doing and watches him.

Atsushi must admit he does, too.

The man on screen almost seems to act as a comfort for Chuuya, helping to relax him even for a moment when he watches him.

He wonders if he’s one of the people on the shelf .

“That’s Lippmann.” Chuuya says out of nowhere during the third movie of his they watch, “I told you about him last night. Sometimes watching his movies is nice.” He pets the kitten in his lap, “Seeing him still shinning is nice.”

Atsushi just stares at Chuuya in awe. 

He did talk about him and the others on the shelf a lot last night, but he didn’t expect to watch his movies.

“Talking about him last night made me nostalgic,” Chuuya answers his unspoken question, “And things are gonna get messy for a while so I figured we could have a nice relaxing day of Lippmann movies.”

Atsushi must admit, Lippmann has a very soothing screen presence, so he doesn’t hate it. Watching him is pretty nice for Atsushi, too. The movies and play time have been helping him from stressing too much as well.

In the evening Atsushi isn’t surprised to wake up from a nap and find Dazai back. He is surprised to see him so quiet, though. Dazai sits on one end of the couch, not bothering Chuuya at all and barely even looking in Atsushi’s direction.

If he didn’t know any better, he’d swear it was out of guilt.

Shortly after Atsushi wakes up, Chuuya moves him from his lap and onto the couch so he can take a shower.

When he’s gone, the room stays quiet for a little while. Longer than Atsushi’s comfortable with.

“I don’t know how long you’ll be like this.” Dazai finally says, looking down at Atsushi with a neutral expression, “You could be stuck in this form for months, years , even.” He sighs heavily, “We might have to send Ranpo out to Bulgaria, probably with Kunikida to babysit him, but that’s a last resort. For many reasons, I’m sure you can figure out.”

Atsushi nods in understanding.

No doubt the biggest one is that Ranpo doesn’t want to, which Atsushi has to admit he kind of understands. Ranpo doesn’t seem the type to be too comfortable in such an unfamiliar place.

“At least you have Chuuya, I guess,” Dazai sighs, “Although now I kind of wish I’d had someone from the ADA find you…”

Atsushi’s a little afraid to find out how much Dazai planned.

“Or maybe I should have just gone with you, I guess…”

Oh.

He’s really feeling guilty, huh?

There’s no way for him to say it, but he’s honestly glad all of this has happened. Even if it’s more up in the air now, being with Chuuya like this has shown him so much he never would have known.

Unsure how he can convey this, Atsushi goes for his current signature move: cuteness.

He climbs into Dazai’s lap, purring as loud as he can before nuzzling his face into the surprised man’s hand.

Dazai sighs, “Well, you might be okay with it, but you’re taking Chuuya time away from me now so I’m not.” He teases, poking the kitten’s cheek lightly.

Chuuya comes out shortly after, forcing Dazai to go take a shower while he makes their dinner and feeds Atsushi his.

The crab is steaming now, Atsushi can smell it and desperately wishes that’s what he was eating right now instead of his normal mix.

He loves the mix, though.

Which is also horrifying, in it’s own right.

Chuuya is still feeding Atsushi when Dazai comes back out, muttering something to himself. They watch as the brunette plops down on the floor, arms crossed and brows furrowed. Without a word, the red-head begins to glow, his powers coming into use as the coffee table in front of them is floated to behind the couch.

Atsushi watches it curiously, and before he can even wonder why Chuuya did that, Dazai is laying down, rolling around at alarmingly fast speeds across the living room floor as his muttering begins to form into audible words. He watches in awe as Dazai bounces his thoughts off Chuuya, the latter meeting his frantic mind head on and with practiced ease. With every word Chuuya says, Atsushi can see the tension lessen in Dazai’s form. 

Eventually he stops rolling and just lays there, hair splayed on the floor. His brow is furrowed as he reluctantly resolves himself to their current fate. 

Still, he looks far more relaxed. There’s no tension in his muscles and no neutral mask. 

All that’s left is Dazai, laying at Chuuya’s feet, resigned and relaxed.

A timer dings and Chuuya removes Atsushi from his lap. He doesn’t go right to the kitchen, however. Instead, he sits down beside Dazai, smiling at the man for a moment before placing a soft kiss to his exposed forehead.

“The crab is ready, so grab the coffee table and sit on the couch, you idiot.” He teases, his voice openly affectionate.

“You made crab?” Dazai asks, eyes now shinning as he looks up at Chuuya.

“That’s right,” Chuuya stand up with a smirk, “So stressed out that you couldn’t even smell it, huh, Shitty Dazai? Impressive .”

“I can now.” 

“Is that so? Good for you.” The look they share is so unabashedly loving that Atsushi has to look away until Chuuya finally heads for the kitchen.

When he looks back, Dazai is simply laying there, his entire being focused on Chuuya’s movements. 

His smile is blinding .

Chapter Text

Chuuya groans as he sits down on the couch, the tiny Mignon clutched to his chest, “I can’t believe I’m stuck with you on my last two days off.”

“You act like you’re the one suffering,” Dazai huffs, crossing his arms, “ I’m the one who has to see a dog carrying around some mangy kitten for the entirety of my well deserved weekend.”

Atsushi would groan, if he could.

It doesn’t help that they are literally pressed up against each other’s sides, like a pair of over powered magnets that can’t be within ten feet without touching.

Really, if anyone is going to suffer this weekend, it’s gonna be him.

“Well, you could just go against Ranpo’s orders for everyone to take a break this weekend.” The red head points out, placing Atsushi in his lap and feeding him from his bottle, “You’ve always seen orders as more of an option than a rule, anyways.”

“Well, the guy is in Bulgaria and Ranpo said Atsushi is safe, right? I don’t wanna be near you, but that doesn’t mean I wanna do useless work, either.”

“Mmhmm.” Chuuya mutters absentmindedly, smiling fondly at the kitten in his lap, “You could also just stay at your apartment.”

Dazai pouts, leaning away from Chuuya, “Well, if you want me gone so badly, I guess I have no choice.”

“See ya later.”

The brunette looks defeated but also determined when he goes to stand up, only to have Chuuya use his free hand to grab his arm and pull him back into his seat.

Neither says a thing, but both have matching smiles on their faces, like they each won something.

Although, if he’s being honest, Chuuya seems to be the actual winner.

Or they’re both equally losers. He genuinely doesn’t know anymore.

The rest of his meal is a comfortable silence, only broken when he finishes and is placed in Dazai’s lap so Chuuya can rinse his bottle.

“So, what are you going to do with this guy when you go back to work Monday?” Dazai asks, poking Atsushi’s now plump little tummy and earning a paw swiping at him and little teeth biting into his hand.

It doesn’t deter him.

“I’ve been doing some research to find pet sitters in the area, I’ve got it narrowed down to about five candidates that have bottle kitten experience.” Chuuya explains from the sink, “I was thinking of having them come out tomorrow for interviews.”

Dazai scrunches up his nose in disgust, “So much work,” He finally stops poking Atsushi’s stomach and instead uses his whole hand to cover the kitten’s head for a second before moving it, like some weird peak-a-boo game, “Just let me take him to the agency. I already know how to care for him and it won’t be hard to teach the others, “Dazai continues, making sure to leave no room for Chuuya to protest before he gets everything out, “there’s always people in the office, after all. Kunikida’s also anal enough to make sure everything is done correctly.”

Chuuya begins to return to the couch, a contemplative look on his face, “That’s true , I would definitely trust Kunikida to take care of him for the day…” He sits back down and watches Dazai play his weird peek-a-boo game with an almost exhausted expression, “But you being in charge is a no-go.”

Dazai pouts, “ Fine , I’ll get Kunikida to agree to watching him for the day.”

“Do it now.”

“It’s easier to convince him in person.”

“To trick him in person. Just give the poor guy a head’s up so he can put it on his schedule.”

“Chuuya doesn’t let me have any fun.”

“You have more than enough fun at the cost of that man’s sanity.”

The two continue talking as Atsushi truly considers the new situation.

Dazai’s here for the next two days because Ranpo assured them that Atsushi was somewhere safe, so does that mean Ranpo has deduced this situation?

When he sees them will Ranpo know it’s him ? And if he does will he be the only one allowed to know?

But…if everyone does know, there’s arguably no reason for him to stay with Chuuya, and he’s not ready for that.

He decides it’s fine to see them without them knowing it’s him, as long as he can enjoy his stay with Chuuya for a little longer. Seeing them at all will be amazing, he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t excited.

Especially since Kunikida will be the one taking care of him. He seems really gentle with animals.

Atsushi can’t wait.

“He said yes, Chuuya.” Dazai grumbles, taking Atsushi out of his thoughts.

“Show me.”

“What am I, a child ?”

“ Basically , now show me your phone to prove it!” Chuuya huffs, taking the phone easily and looking at the message before typing something out.

“What are you typing?” Dazai asks, clearly indifferent to Chuuya messing around on his phone, “A how-to?”

“Obviously. I’m giving him his feeding schedule, his formula to moist food ratio and measurements, instructions on burping him, the temperature he should be kept at…just the basics.”

“Pfft, I should have known Chuuya would be a helicopter parent.”

Chuuya rolls his eyes, “The guy is tiny , Dazai, and he’s still thin. Speaking of which, I’m gonna make sure to get him a vet appointment this week.” He looks Dazai over for a moment, assessing something, before he turns back to the phone to talk with Kunikida, “I’ll have Akutagawa take him on it.”

“Why Akutagawa? Kunikida can’t?”

“No, dumbass, he has work to do at your agency. Akutagawa has Tuesday off so I’ll make sure the appointment is then.”

“So Mignon here is gonna be stuck with Akutagawa for a day, huh?” Dazai smirks at the kitten in his lap, “Wish I could see that.”

“They’re definitely cute together,” Chuuya responds absently, and Atsushi knows it’s not on purpose , but it still feels like an attack.

Especially with the way it made Dazai’s grin grow.

“I’m sure they’re a perfect little pair.” He teases and Atsushi hisses, making Dazai burst out laughing and Chuuya side-eye them.

“Stop fucking with Mignon, asshole.”

Dazai pulls the tiny kitten into his arms and holds him to his chest, “ Never !”

“Such a baby…” Chuuya muses before the phone pings again, “Ah, he’s gonna call so I’m gonna take your phone into the other room.” He grabs his own phone and tosses it to Dazai, “You can play with this if you’re bored. I have all the numbers memorized anyways for if you fuck with their names again.”

“Such a smart little dog!” 

He leaves the room with a roll of his eyes and Dazai answers the question Atsushi hasn’t even had a second to think of.

“Kunikida refuses to contact a mafioso’s phone. So they communicate through mine.”

Ah.

That makes sense, definitely sounds like Kunikida.

Once again, their trust astounds him. To so easily hand over their phones, he’s not even sure he could comfortably do that with Kyouka. Not there’s anything he doesn’t want her to see, but just because it’s so personal .

Another activity to add to the ever growing list of things the two of them do that he and Akutagawa could never. 

The rest of the day goes by fairly uneventful, until about 8 pm.

The rain starts and it’s not a huge deal, honestly. More relaxing than anything to listen to the quiet pitter patter on the windows. It begins to lull him into another nap when suddenly there’s a loud roar of thunder that shakes everything. 

Even by human standards it’s loud, if Dazai and Chuuya’s matching surprise is anything to go by, as well as the rumble of the earth itself, but with Atsushi’s cat senses it’s even louder and he finds himself shaking.

“Hm?” Chuuya looks at the trembling kitten in his lap, “Hey, it’s ok, Mignon.” He says softly, scooping the kitten up and bringing him to his chest as the thunder continues. It doesn’t take long for Atsushi to calm down, growing accustomed to the loud noises.

Until it changes.

The rumbles become crashes, so loud and so violent they send his mind where he desperately doesn’t wanna go.

It gets louder and more vicious as the accompanying lightning strikes from the sky. 

There’s too much, it’s too loud. The crack is too prominent, far too reminiscent of a painfully familiar whip the director enjoyed using for punishments in the orphanage.

Atsushi trembles, focusing in on the sight of Dazai, who is now staring at him with concern as he clings to Chuuya and buries his nose in the man’s shirt to try and calm down. His scent always works. It always works.

Except it’s different now, he’s not just nervous, or scared, he’s having a panic attack .

Can a kitten even get a panic attack?

It’s suddenly hard to breathe and he’s gasping in his tiny body, the two men near him, his only source of grounding himself, suddenly vanish as the lighting knocks out the electricity.

Now it’s just their voices, their touch, barely registering as his mind retreats more and more into his memories. A dark dungeon, no way to see, no way to know when or where the whip was gonna land.

His tiny body can’t keep up, it’s getting weaker from the grand reaction, until suddenly he’s yanked away from Chuuya’s warmth and rushed somewhere .

“Atsushi, snap out of it !” Dazai demands, right into his ear so it’s all he hears for a moment. He gasps, audibly, which he didn’t know a cat could do and honestly maybe they can’t but he can. Dazai holds him to his chest, crouching down to curl in on himself and whisper so only Atsushi can hear him, “You aren’t there, Atsushi. You’re here with us. Chuuya is in the other room, worried about you. It’s okay, you’re okay. Just breathe. In, and out. You’re too small for a paper bag to help, but I know Chuuya learned CPR for cats, so if you need help to get air in we can-”

“Dazai?” Chuuya asks, opening a door and coming into the darkness with them, “What are you doing? Is it helping?” He bends down beside them, putting a hand on Atsushi’s tiny body, “Hey, it’s okay little guy. It’s just the weather.” His thumb comes down to gently stroke the kitten’s cheek, and the pressure along with Chuuya’s now familiar scent help to finally ground Atsushi in the present.

A tiny furry face buries itself in Chuuya’s hand, his breaths finally slowing down and becoming more even. 

Suddenly the lights are back on and he sees they are in the bathroom. The bathroom he hasn’t really been in yet, but it’s so warm and nice and Chuuya , that the sight of it helps relax him as well.

“Looks like he’s calming down.” Dazai mutters, the smallest hint of relief in his voice.

“I didn’t expect you to so aggressively take matters into your own hands,” Chuuya says quietly, using the hand Atsushi’s face isn’t buried in to pet the kitten, “I haven’t seen you run so fast in a while.”

Dazai laughs a little, keeping his voice low as well, “I guess so.” 

Atsushi can’t see them, all he can see are the lines in Chuuya’s palm as he continues to breathe slowly and deeply. His tiny body is exhausted now, and as his mind clears more he’s becoming increasingly embarrassed by his actions.

Once his heart rate is at a safe pace, he ventures a peak up at the two men, only to see matching smiles of relief staring down at him.

Dazai’s still holding him to his chest, although he’s sitting up straight now so Chuuya can pet the kitten. Atsushi doesn’t feel any racing of Dazai’s pulse, no indication of fear or concern in the heart beating against his ear, but he already knows the man’s ‘parlor trick’.

The pulse in Chuuya’s palm has been racing since he first reached out to the kitten.

They were worried.

Atsushi had a panic attack, and people were concerned .

Cats don’t cry from sadness, their eyes tear up from irritants, but tonight in an upscale apartment in Yokohama, that law of nature was broken.

Lavi and the babies

Mackerel first day here (two weeks)

Hannibal, first day here (two weeks)

Mignon (two weeks)

their full setup. (Incubator in my pet playpen)

interrupting the discord VC

them now

bonus Mignon (and my dog Lumi) bc you couldn't see his face in the last pic.

Chapter Text

After the storm, and Atsushi’s little breakdown on Saturday, things got… embarrassing .

He was ashamed as soon as his head was clear again, even when Dazai assured him there was nothing to be ashamed of. 

Chuuya became extra doting after it. Atsushi’s paws barely touched the floor all sunday. He was either in Chuuya’s arms or lap, and when he couldn’t be, he was in Dazai’s.

Speaking of Dazai…the teasing and harassment he's used to, but for the entirety of Sunday, the man was nothing but calm and kind to him. It was honestly more unnerving than helpful.

The theme for Sunday was We Love Atsushi (Mignon, for Chuuya) and Atsushi didn’t know what to do with that. It was nice, for a while, but then it was too much.

That’s why he’s relieved it’s Monday. He finally gets to see the agency members again! It’s only been a week, but somehow it feels like it’s been years .

Perhaps it does for Chuuya, too, and that’s why he’s having such a hard time letting Atsushi go.

“You have to go to work, Chuuya.” Dazai reminds the man, who still refuses to hand over the small kitten cradled in his arms.

“I know  that.”

“He’s coming to work with me, he’ll be fine.”

“I know .”

“You’re being a helico-”

“ Shut the fuck up already !” Chuuya practically hisses, swinging a leg out to kick Dazai, who easily evades, “I’m gonna hand him over, just give me a second !”

Dazai sighs dramatically,“...It’s been ten minutes. This is honestly just pathetic at this point.” 

Chuuya looks like he wants to say something, but seemingly decides better of it. Opting instead to grumble a few choice words under his breath that shock even Atsushi. He looks down into those wide kitten eyes one more time, and with a pained expression, makes his way over to Dazai, reluctantly handing him the kitten.

“I’ll see you tonight.” The mafioso pouts, leaning forward and kissing Atsushi on the top of his head, “Behave for the detective agency. Or, at least, don’t get caught misbehaving.”He says, scratching the kitten’s cheeks and under his chin one more time.

Atsushi sees the reluctance intensify in Chuuya’s eyes when he begins to purr.

It wasn’t on purpose! Those spots are just the best!

“Where’s my encouraging parting words?” Dazai pouts and Chuuya rolls his eyes, flipping him off.

“Stop being a fucking menace at work and actually do your job, you piece of shit.” He huffs,  before grabbing the smirking brunette’s shirt collar and pulling him down into a quick kiss, “And bring my kitten back tonight or I’ll hunt you down and chop your dick off .” Chuuya whispers low into Dazai’s ear, earning him a shiver from what Atsushi chooses to believe is fear, before putting on his hat and heading out.

“He’s so passionate first thing in the morning~!” Dazai mockingly swoons, earning him a smack to his chest from a tiny kitten paw, “Uhoh,” Brown eyes turn down to look at the kitten with a smirk, “Looks like you’re picking up on Chuuya’s bad habits.”

Atsushi chooses to ignore that, along with the strange swelling in his chest at the thought of taking after Chuuya somehow. They aren’t actually family, but if he could take on attributes of Chuuya’s, it would almost be like they were.

Right?

“Welp, better drop whatever train of thought you’re riding right now, because we have to get ready.” Dazai sighs, going up to the large diaper bag perched on the couch, topped with a long note from Chuuya, “There’s a list .” He clicks his tongue, “ Of course there is.”

Atsushi expects him to just toss it and head out, but Dazai surprises him by picking up the piece of paper and actually reading it, albeit reluctantly.

“All of your supplies are in here, apparently. Kunikida has been texted a list of things to do for your care today, and his last order is to take you…” Dazai looks over to a bulky carrier on top of Atsushi’s crate, “In that .”

They both stare at it, matching looks on disgust on their faces.

“ Well , what Chuuya doesn’t know can’t hurt me,” Dazai shrugs, grabbing the diaper bag and throwing it over his shoulder before scooping Atsushi up and tossing him in his coat pocket, “That’s basically a house at your size, perfect transportation.”

He’s not wrong, admittedly. Even standing on his back legs, Atsushi can’t reach the top of the pocket. 

It never occurred to him before how deep they actually were.

Or maybe he’s just so small that any pocket would be deep.

Either way, he’s insulted, albeit kinds relieved he doesn’t have to go into that terrifying looking carrier.

In the beginning, at least.

A few minutes of Dazai walking, and Atsushi decides he will make him use the carrier from now on! No matter how embarrassing!

When Chuuya rescued him that cold and rainy night, he was so gentle, holding him close and walking as lightly as he could to cause as little disturbance for the kitten as possible.

Dazai on the other hand has him flopping around in his fucking trench coat pocket, getting whiplash as he walks in the most chaotic way possible.

Atsushi thought Dazai’s driving was dangerous, but this honestly might kill him in this tiny body!

Just when he becomes convinced his little kitten self will end up with something broken, he hears a door open, and the familiar idle chitchat of those in the agency.

Dazai finally comes to a stop and Atsushi wiggles around in his pocket, trying desperately to come out and see his friends.

“Hand him over.” Kunikida says, his voice close, probably right in front of Dazai, and Atsushi’s heart races with excitement at the thought of seeing him again.

And the thought of getting out of this death trap.

“Right, right,” Dazai reaches in his pocket, ignoring the sound horror coming from Kunikida as he pulls out the disheveled looking kitten.

“He is…tiny.” Kunikida observes, adjusting his glasses as he looks at Atsushi with a shine in his eyes the younger man has never seen, “Smaller than I expected.”

“Yeah, well, he’s a baby -baby, after all. Also a malnourished one.” Dazai explains, handing him over to the taller man, “We’ve been working on it, and he’s much better than the first day, but still has a long way to go.”

Kunikida tenses up when Atsushi is handed to him, and holds him gently, like something fragile and precious, “I see.” He says, face as serious as ever, outside of his eyes.

Unabashed fondness lights them up and it makes Atsushi flustered, and a little disappointed, because he’s never seen such a look from Kunikida.

“Nakahara gave me a list of how to properly care for him, so hand me his things.” The blonde orders, holding out his free hand to take the diaper bag.

“He’s my cat, you know,” Dazai pouts, handing it over anyways, “Kind of. He’s, like, my step-kitty? I don’t know.”

Kunikida tugs the bag over his shoulder and looks at Dazai curiously, “So you want to take care of him all day?”

“Oh, god, no.” Dazai waves both hands and shakes his head, “I just need you to remember, he’s Chuuya’s, so he’s mine.”

“Uhuh,” Kunikida heads to his desk as everyone else gets up to come see the kitten.

All of the familiar faces, Atsushi is overjoyed and begins purring at the sight.

“Awwww, he’s so happy to be surrounded by people he’s purring!” Naomi coos, scratching under his chin.

“Ranpo, don’t you want to see him?” Tanizaki asks the man still in his seat, munching on candy.

“Why should I? It’s just a cat.” Ranpo answers between bites.

“But he’s so cute!” Kenji exclaims, gently petting Atsushi’s head, “Such a lil guy, you’d definitely be the runt of the litter that died if it weren’t for Mr Fancy Hat’s help!” His smile is bright and happy, but his words fill the small kitten with an odd sense of foreboding.

This body wasn’t supposed to be a problem for more than a week, but Kenji is right, it is very frail.

What if he can’t survive in it?

And why is it so malnourished, anyways?

He isn’t malnourished. Not anymore. Not since the agency took him in.

“Wait, Mr. Fancy Hat?” Dazai asks, looking at the teen curiously, “Since when did you call him that?”

“Since Mr. Ranpo said that’s what we are supposed to call him!”

Atsushi looks to Ranpo at the same time Dazai does.

Chuuya certainly has a knack for attracting the attention of the annoying geniuses, doesn’t he?

“Ahhh, right.” Dazai finally says, a dark grin on his face, “Chuuya’s quite proud of his hat, so he loves that title.” He pats Kenji on the head before going to his desk, “Make sure to use it next time you see him.”

“Right!” Kenji exclaims and Atsushi tries to shoot Dazai a glare across the desk, only resulting in the brunette laughing.

Guess a kitten can’t really pull off a glare.

That’s…unsurprising, actually.

The morning goes by pretty calmly, with Kunikida feeding him and setting up a private area for his litter box.

Kyouka has yet to come near him, eying the small kitten from her desk impatiently, clearly wanting to get closer.

He can see the fear in her eyes, though, and he knows her well enough to know what it is.

The rearing up of her guilt, stopping her from enjoying something.

While he can’t speak, he can still move around okay enough, so he slowly waddles his way from Kunikida’s feet and over to Kyouka’s, sitting down on her shoe and looking up with his wide kitten eyes.

She looks down at him conflicted for a moment, before leaning over and picking him up, holding the small kitten close as he purrs. 

He can feel her begin to relax, and nuzzles his head against her hand.

Her lips remain unmoving, but her eyes shine even brighter than Kunikida’s.

It’s odd, when he thinks about it. Chuuya, a man in the mafia, can be more open about his joy than those in a detective agency.

Then again, Chuuya was in the privacy of his own home.

Everyone leaves Kyouka to dote on the kitten as they finish up paperwork, and Dazai naps.

Unsurprisingly, at noon, Dazai receives a phone call.

“Hmmmm? Chuuya? That’s odd, I was craving crab for lunch, not shrimp .” Dazai smirks proudly to himself, and while Atsushi can’t hear what Chuuya is saying from this distance, he can still hear the yelling, “So temperamental, Chuuya~! If you hover around the kitten too much, he might find you annoying , you know?” He teases, earning another slew of indecipherable yelling, “How is he? Well, last I saw he was still breathing, so seems good to me.”

At this point, Kunikida sighs heavily and gets up from his desk, snatching the phone from Dazai and having a pleasant chat with Chuuya where he gives him a very precise yet somehow detailed report of everything Atsushi has done over the course of the morning.

That seems to satisfy Chuuya, as Kunikida bids him goodbye when the report is over.

Dazai pouts, “Such a poorly trained dog, not saying goodbye to his master.”

“Oh, no, he said goodbye to you. He said to tell you ‘drop dead and leave Mignon to Kunikida’.” The blonde answers, completely unphased by the message or Dazai’s indignant sounds from the couch after relaying it.

After the call, everyone goes to lunch in the cafe, Kyouka deciding to say up in the office with Atsushi as they do. It’s a quiet lunch, and after Dazai shows her how, Kyouka is even able to give Atsushi his before eating hers.

With a full belly and a quiet room, he falls asleep quickly in the girl’s lap.

When everyone returns, Atsushi wakes up to the sound of panic in their voices.

“We have to look for Atsushi, but who will stay with Mignon?” Tanizaki asks, looking to Ranpo.

“Not a chance, I’m not a cat sitter.” He huffs, crossing his arms indignantly.

“Well you also aren’t joining us in looking for Atsushi since he’s ‘safe’, as you say,” Kunikida crosses his arms, “It only seems right you look after Mignon. It won’t be for long.”

“Nope.”

Everyone’s getting agitated, Kunikida nearing his limit, when Fukuzawa suddenly emerges from his office.

He looks to the agents before turning his attention to the small kitten in Kyouka’s lap, “You need a cat sitter, correct?” 

“That’s right, President.” Kunikida answers as Fukuzawa walks up to Kyouka.

“I will watch him while you are out.” The president announces, taking the kitten when Kyouka hands him over, “Text me the care instructions Mr. Nakahara left you.” He orders Kunikida, before grabbing the diaper bag and bringing the kitten into his office.

Atsushi is…nervous.

He’s not sure why, the president is never mean to him or anything, he’s just not sure what to do alone with him.

Even as a kitten.

Fukuzawa sets him down on the couch in his office before he goes about setting up a little area for his litter box, before he knows it Fukuzawa is right back with him, picking him up and holding him to his chest.

It’s easily the most unnerving and surreal experience Atsushi’s ever had. He can feel the president's heartbeat beneath him, his quiet breaths above him, it’s the most human that the man has ever felt to Atsushi.

Even at the airport, when their lives were falling down around them and Fukuzawa was grieving, he still felt above the young man.

People really do find it easiest to show their truest selves to animals, huh?

They sit like that for a while, Fukuzawa idly petting Atsushi as the kitten begins to purr. It’s peaceful, reminding him of the peace he feels with Chuuya in a way, and Atsushi falls asleep easily.

After he wakes up, Fukuzawa feeds him, and then pulls out his toy to play. It’s a feather wand toy that Atsushi’s been obsessed with for the past few days, so he goes harder at chasing it than necessary.

He’s enjoying himself, purring loudly as he tackles the feather, fumbling over and tangling himself in it.

To his surprise, the president laughs.

He should know better, but he can’t help but stare, wondering how many others in the agency have seen such open joy on the man’s face. It’s all the nicer given the horrors he went through recently.

Fukuzawa reaches down to pet the still staring kitten, a fond smile on his face, before he suddenly freezes up.

Atsushi’s confused, and looks around to see what cause him to stop petting him, but he realizes the president isn’t looking elsewhere. Only at him.

“...Atsushi…?” Fukuzawa asks and Atsushi wants to scream, “I see, you are Atsushi, aren’t you?” His eyes are still warm, a look of relief washing over them when the kitten nods. He clears his throat, awkwardly patting the kitten’s head, “I am glad to see you are alright.”

They go back to playing, Fukuzawa being more guarded now. It’s expected, honestly, but it still hurts.

If Fukuzawa reacts like that after a few hours together, he can’t help but dread how Chuuya will react after who knows how long, when Atsushi turns back.

Because he will turn back, and Chuuya will need to know where his kitten went.

He stops chasing the feather, no longer up for games, and goes to curl up in the corner.

Fukuzawa watches him for a moment, before reaching out and petting his soft fur, “Those who are unaware, will not begrudge you it when they find out.” He says, as if reading the kitten’s thoughts, “From what I know of Mr. Nakahara, I don’t think he’ll be angry with you, either.”

Atsushi lifts his head up to peak at the president.

Could he be right?

“A man like Dazai, who is suspicious of everyone, trusts him, so he must be trustworthy.” Fukuzawa explains and Atsushi nods.

Chuuya is a good man, so Atsushi will believe the president.

Both because the president is a smart man, and because Atsushi desperately wants him to be right.

The rest of their time together goes well, Fukuzawa becomes less rigid, holding Atsushi again and petting him like he did before.

It comes to an end, though, when everyone returns. At the sound of the door closing, Fukuzawa emerges with Atsushi and his things, handing him to Kyouka and his things to Kunikida, both of whom look defeated.

“We couldn’t find a sign of him anywhere.” Kyouka mutters, holding the kitten close to her chest, “Where did you go, Atsushi?”

Ranpo sighs loudly from his seat, “You guys are bumming me out, so I’ll give you some good news,” He smirks, “For the right price.”

“Oooo~!” Dazai grins, holding up a bag of a special type of candy that the detective’s been obsessed with lately, “Would this pay the price?”

Ranpo grins, snatching them from the taller brunette with ease before leaning back in his chair, “Atsushi is fine, like I already said,” He begins, tearing open the bag and popping a piece of candy in his mouth before he continues, “You can even verify that statement right now,” His arm raises up and his hand points to Atsushi in Kyouka’s arms, “Because he’s right there .”

No one reacts, so Fukuzawa speaks up, “It is true, I have also confirmed it.”

Dazai’s grin grows wider, “It’s true, indeed, but don’t tell Chuuya! Atsushi still needs him!”

Everyone is silent for another moment, before the room is awash in joy.

“You’re ok…” Kyouka mutters, looking down at Atsushi with teary eyes, “I’m so relieved..”

“I see,” Kunikida looks at him with an unreadable expression, “That’s good to know. We won’t have to spend so much or our time searching anymore.”

“Come on!” Naomi pats his back, teasingly, “Just admit you’re also relieved! Like the rest of us!” She smiles at the kitten, warm and gentle, “I’m glad you’re okay, Atsushi.”

Atsushi would cry if he could, the smiles on everyone's faces as they crowd around him are overwhelming. It wasn’t just Kyouka who missed him, everyone did.

When the work day is over, Kunikida, and even the president, demand that Dazai carry him in his arms for the walk home. It’s still not the best, but it’s worlds better than that damn pocket.

They arrive at Chuuya’s apartment to see the man already there, rushing over to snatch Atsushi away from Dazai.

“Hey, Mignon!” Chuuya grins before looking a now purring Atsushi over more intensely, “He seems really happy, I guess socializing him really is the best idea.” He places a kiss on top of the kitten’s head, before laughing a little, “Hopefully he has as much fun with Akutagawa tomorrow for the vets.”

Atsushi’s purring stops.

That’s right.

He almost forgot.

An entire day with Akutagawa.

Chapter Text

Atsushi is tense.

Yesterday was amazing, seeing his coworkers again, letting them know he’s okay…

But the president figured out it was him pretty quick.

He’ll be with Akutagawa all day ! What if he figures it out!?

…Or…what if he doesn’t?

Is that better?

That his unofficial partner wouldn’t recognize him like his boss does?

Or maybe he shouldn’t be surprised, Kyouka didn’t realize it either and they live together.

If it were Chuuya and Dazai, they’d know it was the other, though.

But they are also in love, so it’s different.

He needs to stop comparing him and Akutagawa to them, they aren't the same. No one will ever be on Dazai and Chuuya’s level.

“Akutagawa is almost here, can you get Mignon into his carrier?” Chuuya asks Dazai, sending Atsushi’s tiny heart into his stomach. 

“Fiiiine,” Dazai groans, scooping Atsushi up and looking at him with a shit eating grin, “Enjoy your day with Akutagawa~”

The small kitten stares up at him and slaps his face before turning away to go into the carrier.

“Keep it up,” Dazai whispers, “And maybe I’ll forget to pick you up after work.”

Atsushi huffs through his nose in his best attempt at a scoff.

Like Chuuya would let him.

Dazai just laughs and looks at Chuuya as he gets dressed, “Your kitten is so sassy .”

“Leave it to you to bring out the sass in a tiny kitten,” Chuuya teases, buttoning the last button on his vest.

“I’m just that good, I guess.”

“Don’t be proud of that, you loser.” The red head rolls his eyes, going to the kitchen and gathering all of Atsushi’s supplies to put in the diaper bag he has for him. As he’s setting everything in there for optimum spacing, the doorbell rings and Dazai opens it to reveal him .

Akutagawa, in his casual clothes, sunglasses perched on top of his head as he looks over at Chuuya in the kitchen curiously, “What’s he doing?”

“Grabbing Mignon’s stuff, don’t worry about him.” Dazai waves him off, dragging Atsushi over to the carrier instead, “Now there’s some things you need to know about him and his care, so write these down.”

Akutagawa produces a pencil and pad of paper out of nowhere, looking to Dazai with determination, “I’m ready.”

“He’s an odd little guy, so whenever he has to go potty you need to play classical music.”

What?

“What?”

“That’s right. You have to play it pretty loud, too,” Dazai leans in towards the confused Akutagawa, “He’s a nervous pottier, you see.”

“Ahhhh, I understand.” The man mutters, writing it down as Atsushi begins hissing and reaching his paw through the bars of the carrier door.

Dazai !

“He also cannot sleep unless you cradle him in your arms and gently kiss him on the forehead,” Dazai adds, looking to the kitten with a cheek splitting grin, “He’s quite spoiled, after all.”

“Of course.”

“And~”

“I don’t know what Dazai’s been saying, but ignore all of it.” Chuuya says, coming up behind the two men with an unamused look aimed at the brunette, “Everything he needs is written on a list in the large part of his bag.” He hands the diaper bag to Akutagawa, creating an interesting scene.

A very confused Akutagawa, in head to toe black, carrying a baby blue diaper bag covered in little tigers.

It’s honestly pretty cute.

Or.

No.

Interesting . 

Just. Interesting.

“Well, the appointment isn’t too long from now so you guys should head out.” Chuuya gently picks up Atsushi’s carrier and hands it to Akutagawa, “There is a note on the outer pocket,” He points to a large pocket in the shape of a cute tiger, “Give it to the vet, it has all of his information on it. I’d recommend not reading it yourself, tho, some of it’s gross.”

Akutagawa raises a brow, “Gross?”

“It talks about his poop!” Dazai explains from his spot now in the bathroom, voice slightly muffled by the toothbrush in his mouth, “Spare him some shame and don’t look!”

Atsushi would be touched, if it was anyone but Dazai. He knows it’s not for his sake, and Dazai’s just saying it to fluster Akutagawa.

“Right, well, on that note…give me a call if anything happens. I’ll answer no matter what. If you can’t get a hold of me, call Kunikida , his number is on the care list. Never call Dazai. He will be useless.”

Akutagawa looks like he wants to argue, but he knows better and silently nods instead.

“Great, see you later today. Shoot me a text with what the vet says as soon as his appointment is done.”

“Right.”

Chuuya bends down and smiles at Atsushi in the cat carrier, “I’ll see you tonight.” He reaches in and gently scratches Atsushi’s cheek, earning himself a purr before standing back up. “Alright, now you can leave.”

“Run, Akutagawa! Before he changes his mind!” Dazai yells from the bathroom and Akutagawa nods grimly, turning on his heel and quickly walking out the door.

The sounds of Chuuya reaming Dazai a new one can be heard in the hall.

Akutagawa says nothing until they are outside, where he lifts the carrier to be eye level and inspects the setup, “Are you comfortable?” He asks, watching the kitten curl up in a ball and purr in response.

It’s a good enough reaction for Akutagawa to accept and keep moving. 

Honestly even if Atsushi could truly answer, he doesn’t know what he’d say.

In theory, yes. Chuuya, being who he is, chose a great carrier. Atsushi can easily see through the holes on the top and sides,  and it’s a sturdy plastic. The bedding as well, of course, is amazing. He placed a memory foam liner on the bottom that’s plush and cozy on it’s own, but also covered it with possibly the softest blanket Atsushi’s ever felt. There’s a heating pad under the blanket as well, laid along the edges of the carrier to surround Atsushi with a steady heat from all sides but the door.

Dazai even placed a crinkle toy in it that he reshaped into a black dragon (he’s not as funny as he thinks he is).

Truly, it’s as comfortable as a carrier can get. 

But ultimately, it’s still a carrier. 

When it’s on the steady ground it’s great, very comfortable and warm and feels safe , but the second it’s picked up things are completely different.

No matter how hard Chuuya or Akutagawa try, it’s still nerve wracking. You are dangling from a hand, no safety except the handle as you sway to and fro with the person’s movements. Anything he lays against will also move back and forth, even if only a little, but for someone his current size a little is a lot .

Still, it’s worlds better than Dazai’s pocket. It might be a little wobbly but it’s nothing like the whiplash he got in that trench coat.

The rest of the walk to the vet’s is in silence, the two locking eyes every now and then through the top holes of the carrier as they go.

Every time it happens, Akutagawa gives him a small smile, his sunglasses failing to conceal the fondness in his eyes when he does so.

Atsushi’s nervous now that the vet will clock his racing heart and assume something’s wrong with him. 

Arguably, if Akutagawa’s making him this flustered, there is.

They arrive at the vet’s and Atsushi is relieved when they walk in and it’s just a normal vets office. He’d be lying if he said there wasn’t the tiniest part of him that was afraid it would be a shady mafia-specific vet filled with mafiosos he’s fought in the past.

Luckily it’s just filled with regular men and women, and the only mafioso he’s fought in the past is the guy bringing him in.

Akutagwa signs him in at the front desk and goes to sit down beside a woman and her golden retriever puppy. He holds the carrier firmly in his lap, allowing Atsushi to relax as he watches the woman and her excited dog.

The puppy looks to Akutagawa, wiggling with excitement when the man brings a hand down for it to sniff before allowing him to pet them.

“Her name is Zoey!” The woman says, smiling at Akutagawa, “She’s a very sweet girl,” She looks at the carrier in his lap, “And who’s in there?”

“Mignon,” Akutagawa answers, turning the carrier so the door faces the woman, “He is a…coworker’s kitten.”

A coworker? Who regularly makes meals for you and your sister?

Atsushi’s pretty sure hearing that would hurt Chuuya’s feelings.

“My, my, are you sure they aren’t your friend? To trust you with such an important task.” She says, taking note of the surprise on Akutagawa’s face, “I’m willing to bet you’re the only one who thinks you’re ‘coworkers’.” Leaning over, she peaks into the carrier and sees Atsushi curled up with the crinkle toy against the wrapped heating pad, “Oh my! He’s so young !”

“They found him in an alley, close to death, last week.” Akutagawa says as he continues petting Zoey, making sure she doesn’t jostle the carrier in her pursuit of attention. “He’s doing much better, thanks to my… coworker .”

He at least seems doubtful on that title this time around.

“My goodness, your friend must trust you immensely ,” She smiles at him, “That’s so wonderful.”

“Um,” Akutagawa looks like there’s a million things that run through his mind before he finally settles on, “Yeah.”

“I hope everything is okay with little Mignon, such a sweet baby.” She reaches a finger in, to see if he’ll come closer, so Atsushi gets up and walks over to the door and rubs against it, watching her face light up.

“He’s a good boy,” Akutagawa agrees.

The two sit there, petting the other’s animal for a while, until a loud wail rings through the building from one of the patient rooms.

“Sounds like someone didn’t like their shot,” The woman laughs a little before Zoey comes back to her trembling, “Oh no, my poor girl, you’re okay.” She coos, scooping the puppy into her arms and placing kisses on top of her head.

Akutagawa looks down at Atsushi, who is relatively unfazed by the noise. Granted, he’s not excited at the thought of shots, but he’s not scared either.

The woman gives Akutagawa a final smile, as if apologizing, before focusing all of her attention on calming the trembling puppy in her arms. She starts with quiet whispers before it turns into humming, rocking the dog back and forth.

It reminds Atsushi of Chuuya. His heart swells at the thought. He’s been held like that, comforted, doted on. Even if it’s as an animal.

Zoey is a lucky dog.

Soon, Zoey and her owner are called off to a room and Akutagawa and Atsushi are left sitting alone. 

Once alone, Akutagawa sets the carrier in the seat the woman was in before, and looks down at Atsushi, “You weren’t even phased by the dog, I wonder if you could tell she was harmless…” He muses before smiling at the kitten, “You really are a good boy.”

Atsushi’s heart combusts.

Luckily, before he can be subjected to more of Akutagawa’s unabashed praise, they get called into a room.

“I am not the owner,” Akutagawa says as soon as the door is closed, “But he left me with all of the information he has on Mignon.”

“How diligent!” The woman says with a smile as Akutagawa rummages through the diaper bag, before remembering the outer pocket and pulling out the paper.

It’s filled to the brim, front and back.

“How very diligent!” She exclaims, her eyes light up with amusement, “Someone is certainly doted on!” 

Akutagawa nods, placing the carrier on a chair in the room and opening the top to scoop Atsushi out as the woman looks over the paper.

“So he’s from an alley, huh? He looks quite young,” She sets the paper down on the counter and comes over to gently take Atsushi from Akutagawa, “Let’s get you weighed and take your temperature!”

The weighing is simple enough, no issues there, but Atsushi is confused when the nurse brings out the thermometer.

He figured it would be an ear one, since he can’t imagine animals are good at keeping it under their tongue, yet this one looks a lot like the oral one he has at home. The woman covers it in some kind of jelly, maybe some sort of flavored jelly to entice them to keep it in their mouth. Both he and Akutagawa watch curiously as she preps…

And both are equally surprised when she turns him away from her.

“What are…?” Akutagawa begins, horrified when his question is answered by the woman gently putting the thermometer not in his mouth . “Isn’t that too big!?” He exclaims and the woman laughs a little.

“Not at all. He’ll be okay.”

Atsushi yowls, trying to escape despite knowing it needs to be done. It doesn’t hurt , but it isn’t pleasant .

Akutagawa looks on, clearly torn between trusting the woman and knocking her out to get Atsushi out of here.

Before he can choose violence, however, the thermometer is removed and the woman tries to pet him, only for him to bolt over to Akutagawa’s now extremely protective arms.

She laughs a little as she cleans the thermometer and writes his temperature down, “It’s alright, he’s not hurt, just surprised. His temperature is fine, by the way.”

Akutagawa glares at her, his arms holding Atsushi as close as possible, “That’s good.”

“Well, I’ll bring this paper to the doctor and she’ll be in soon!”

Atsushi is mortified . If only he knew beforehand, he could have mentally prepared!

His thoughts go to poor Zoey, who also didn’t know what was coming.

Although the thermometer is far less of an intrusion for her size.

Poor animals.

Poor, poor, animals. 

“It was necessary,” Akutagawa says, and Atsushi’s not sure if he’s saying it to him or himself, but soon he’s bringing the kitten up under his chin and whispering to him about the importance of taking his temperature in a weirdly calming way. It helps calm the kitten down, and he even begins to purr quietly, until Akutagawa places a kiss on top of his head like Zoey’s owner did for her earlier.

Atsushi’s brain short circuits as his purr becomes louder than he knew was possible. He can feel Akutagawa’s lips curve into a smile against the top of his head at the sound, and he kisses him again, raising the purrs another inconceivable octave.

Akutagawa seems to like this new discovery, and continues to gently pet the small kitten, placing kisses on the top of his head, his cheeks, and in one daring moment his nose !

This is bad for his heart!

The vet needs to get here FAST !

Chapter Text

Much to Atsushi’s horror, the vet does not come quickly, and by the time she arrives he has been thoroughly coddled, and kissed, by Akutagawa.

His brain is honestly having trouble processing that fact, or really anything at all, at the moment

“My goodness, I could hear his purring from the other side of the building!” The vet teases as she enters and Atsushi wants to die , “I love to see such happy little patients,” She coos, coming over and gently scratching under his chin before taking him from Akutagawa, “Sadly I have to be the bad guy.”

For his part, Akutagawa stares at her blankly, his eyes going to the tiny kitten in her arms as if he’s fighting the urge to take him back, “What will you be doing?” He asks, before receiving a bright and practiced smile.

“I’ll be taking him into the back to do some blood work. My assistant brought back the stool sample for an examination, and there was nothing in it, so now we wanna see what’s going on in that blood of his.” She holds Atsushi up in her hands, “He’s much smaller than he should be, given his estimated age, and I wanna know why.”

“And his blood will tell you?”

“That’s right! Ailments are shown in their stool and blood. Mr. Nakahara asked for the most in depth blood testing we have, as well as x rays, which have to be done in the back, but luckily for all of you we have a lab right here so we will have the results almost immediately for the blood, just like we did for the stool.”

Atsushi really wishes she’d stop mentioning ‘stool’.

“I see.” Akutagawa frowns, but nods, “Do with him what you must.”

The vet smiles a little more easily now, and Atsushi can’t help but wonder what kind of push back she gets from owners to be so guarded about something so routine, “We’ll be right back.”

As soon as they leave Akutagawa, Atsushi is bombarded with everyone in the back rushing over to coddle the tiny kitten, effectively distracting him from the needle and blood drawing. 

Everyone boos when they have to leave him alone for a moment as he gets x-rayed. 

Eventually all the exams are finished and the workers in the back smother him with goodbye kisses before going to look over the results. 

He returns to Akutagawa frazzled.

So many kisses .

He’d much rather just receive those from Ak-

Nope .

Not the time.

Akutagawa holds him in his arms, watching the kitten run through his mental gymnastics, “What did you find?” He asks and the vet frowns.

“Well, we still have some bigger tests to run with the blood, but all of the common issues aren’t present. He has no parasites, no common diseases, his body seems perfectly fine…and yet…” She taps her clipboard against her chin, staring down at the kitten curiously, “He’s off.”

Akutagawa raises a brow, “ Off ?”

“He’s not dying or anything, but based on these detailed accounts from his owner, he should be thriving . Possibly even overweight.” The doctor sighs, “Yet he’s underweight . His body is taking in nutrients, but only enough to survive. As I said, we will be running more tests for the rarer options, which will take a while, but...it’s very odd.”

Atsushi feels the grip on him tighten protectively, and is caught off guard by the slight tremble in Akutagawa’s hand as it gently strokes the top of his head.

“He won’t die, right?” Akutagawa asks, his tone and outward body language doing nothing to betray his apparent fear.

“No,” The vet says, before looking at Atsushi and frowning, “At least it’s highly unlikely. He is gaining some weight according to Mr. Nakahara’s notes, so he’s doing okay, he will just need to be given extra care, and if he acts off at all you should bring him here immediately. I’ve written a note for Mr. Nakahara that essentially says the same thing.”

The look that flashes on Akutagawa’s moment for a brief second shatters Atsushi’s heart. 

It’s gone as soon as it comes, though, and he looks to the doctor with a practiced indifference, “I understand. If that’s everything, we will be going now.”

“Yes, of course. Have a wonderful day, and don’t worry too much. We’ll figure it all out.” She gives Akutagawa a sympathetic smile, and Atsushi wonders if she picked up on it. 

With her job, hidden concern on an owner is probably fairly common, after all.

Akutawa nods and turns away from her, packing Atsushi into his carrier before they head back to his place.

…To Akutagawa’s place .

He’s going to another mafioso’s home and he’s insanely nervous about this one.

Granted, even going to Chuuya’s place was a little intimidating that first day, but that feels like a lifetime ago now. Just the thought of being nervous in there before almost feels laughable now.

But Akutagawa is different. Chuuya has never tried to kill Atsushi countless times, after all.

Of course Akutagawa would never hurt Mignon, he doesn’t even really hurt Atsushi these days, either, now that he thinks about it.

Still, though, his place is a terrifying concept.

As they continue walking, he can’t help but wonder what it will look like. 

Dark and foreboding?

Empty?

Will it be as high end as Chuuya’s? 

He’s seen Akutagawa’s ridiculously high paycheck, so he knows the guy could easily afford a fancy apartment, but Atsushi also knows that he’s not really the kind of guy into that stuff.

Chuuya enjoys nice things. It seems he didn’t always have them, and so now he indulges from time to time. Nothing excessive, only the higher end version of things he needs or wants. The mafia executive isn’t one for overindulgence, after all.

Akutagawa doesn’t really strike him as the type to care about any of that stuff. Atsushi gets the feeling he’s very frugal, not out of necessity, but out of habit. He truly wouldn’t be surprised if Akutagawa’s home only had the cheapest of the most basic necessities in it. 

Eventually they arrive at the apartment building, and while it’s not high end, it’s certainly not cheap either. With every step they take up the stairs, his nerves give way to excitement from his curiosity, until the door opens.

The genkan is simple enough, with the meticulously arranged shoe cupboard coming as no surprise. Akutagawa takes Atsushi out of his carrier here, leaving it on top of the cupboard as they head further inside. They go through the kitchen next, which is actually a decent size, having counter space on par with Chuuya’s, most of which is filled with various cooking gadgets he’s never even seen before.

Very unexpected.

Does Akutagawa cook? 

They walk past the room with the toilet, and then the room with the bath, before reaching the living room. He can see in the hall that there’s two bedrooms across from it, both a decent size. If he looks hard enough, he can make out the vague vibe of each room.

One has a plush white carpet, bright colors and soft objects inside, while the other is very plain except for a large bookshelf filled to the brim. The rooms act as a reminder that Akutagawa probably lives with his sister.

Suddenly the apartment makes more sense.

It’s a nice place, and far cozier than Akutagawa would probably make it. There’s large windows in the kitchen and living room, with sky blue curtains open and various types of plants thriving on their window sills. 

This is Gin. 

Atsushi is almost relieved to see that, even if their job takes them to the darkest places of humanity, Gin has made sure they have a home bathed in the light to return to.

“Gin is working today, so it’ll just be us.” Akutagawa finally says, sitting on the living room floor with the kitten and pulling out all of the supplies from the diaper bag to set up or put away for now, “One of the...many instructions in here says to feed you when we return from the vet.” He sighs and stands up, formula ingredients in hand as he goes to the kitchen. It’s not far, so Atsushi is able to follow him fairly easily, watching as Akutagawa follows the instructions meticulously. 

Atsushi was thinking the cooking gadgets might be Gin’s, but watching Akutagawa’s confidence in the kitchen, he begins to wonder again if his rival is actually a good cook.

If he is, that’s definitely something he’s got Atsushi beat in.

He prepares two bottles of formula before scooping the kitten at his feet up and bringing him to the couch. Chuuya prepared Atsushi’s favorite blanket, among many other things, in the diaper bag and Akutagawa takes it out to lay over his own lap. 

It’s soft, fluffy, and smells like Chuuya. Everything a kitten could want. 

Atsushi sits in Akutagawa’s lap, looking up at the mafioso as he re-reads the instructions Chuuya left before awkwardly bringing the bottle to the kitten’s mouth, only for him to not budge. He thought he was ready to be fed by Akutagawa, but outside of his own embarrassment, there’s something in him that hesitates. 

It takes him longer than he’s proud of to realize it’s the kitten instincts he now has.

The ones that purr on their own, make him knead when he’s comfortable, chase cat toys, and now refuse food from people other than Chuuya and Dazai, apparently.

He wonders briefly if Dazai was a fluke because it was in Chuuya’s apartment, which is a place his kitten instincts very much associate with safety, home, and food.

Akutagawa frowns and Atsushi feels guilty. 

It’s nothing personal!

…Shockingly.

“It’s alright, I expected something like this might happen.” Akutagawa says, “I’m not Chuuya, after all.” He takes the blanket beneath Atsushi’s paws and wraps the kitten in it. Cradling the now burrito’d ball of fluff in one of his arms, he allows some time for the familiar warmth and scent on the blanket to relax the nervous kitten instincts. 

After about a few minutes, Atsushi’s feeling drowsy when Akutagawa repositions him so they are facing each other as the still wrapped kitten lays on his chest. Finally, he brings the bottle back up, and this time nothing stops Atsushi from taking it. It’s amazing , actually. It must be that thing the weirdly culinary mafioso used on it, the moist food is blended so well with the formula it’s almost like a smoothie now. If only Chuuya had that device. 

He finishes it quickly, eagerly accepting the second bottle as a relieved smile washes over Akutagawa.

They lay on the couch, curled up together as the kitten eats, and it’s vastly different from when he does the same with Chuuya, but it fills him with that now familiar feeling of safety regardless.

Once he’s finished eating, Atsushi’s shocked by the firm yet gentle pat to his back, and horrified by the burp it causes him to let out.

“He really does burp,” Akutagawa mutters to himself as Atsushi retreats into his blanket, “Cute.”

Not again . 

He’s gotten used to Chuuya doing it, of course, but having Akutagawa do it just feels deeply wrong. Being treated that much like a baby by the guy he maybe might not possibly completely hate just a little is awful .

Wishing to escape the moment somehow, Atsushi retreats into the blanket he’s wrapped in, cursing nothing in particular, yet cursing all the same.

A sudden weight is on Atsushi’s back as Akutagawa pulls down the blanket that was hanging off the couch and wraps himself in it. That weight is quickly followed by the weight of the mafioso’s hand, now gently petting the kitten’s back from above the cocoon of blankets.

The two relax, and soon Atsushi is asleep.

He isn’t sure how long he’s asleep for, but when Atsushi wakes up in his blanket cocoon he’s completely forgotten where he is. The blanket he’s in smells like Chuuya, after all.

Chuuya’s voice is also coming from above him, albeit sounding a little off in whatever he’s saying.

It isn’t until Akutagawa speaks, his voice completely surrounding the kitten on his chest, that Atsushi remembers where he is and realizes Chuuya is on the other end of a phone call the two are apparently having.

“With everything the vet said, it seems almost as though someone used an ability on the kitten,” Akutagawa says and Atsushi freezes, “Although I can’t imagine the level of trash someone must be to attack a kitten like that.” He practically growls out, anger evident in his voice and the tension now filling his body.

“Yeah, it does seem more like an ability situation than actual nature,” Chuuya agrees, voice tone completely calm.

“You sound alarmingly calm at the idea.”

“Oh, well, to be fair I’ve been considering that as an option for a long while now. It’s why I’ve been keeping him on such a rich and nutrient filled diet rather than moving him to hard food.” The red head pauses for a moment of what seems to be self reflection, “Well, it’s one of the reasons, at least.”

“If it is truly an ability, though, shouldn’t it have been nullified already by Dazai?” Akutagawa asks and Chuuya sighs.

“You’d think , but to be fair, we’ve encountered ability users where he needs to touch them rather than the one afflicted. If that is the case, then Mignon is stuck like that until we can figure out the culprit.”

“But what if he dies before then?” The anger in Akutagawa’s voice is palpable, and Atsushi’s so used to being the one it’s pointed at that he almost tries to run.

Except it’s not aimed at him.

It’s aimed at Chuuya of all people, which almost makes Atsushi want to fight the man he’s currently cuddling with. Even if he does pose a good question.

“He won’t.” Chuuya replies, his tone free of doubt, “The vet said he was going to be fine as long as we kept on top of it, after all. I’ve got some men keeping a look out for an ability user that might be able to do something like this, as well. If it’s an ability, he won’t be suffering from it for long.”

Akutagawa hesitates before speaking again, “You’re too calm about this situation..but if you insist…”

“I’m calm about it because I’ve been piecing it together and working on it for far longer than you have.” Chuuya points out, “Everything will be fine, and if he gets too bad…Dazai can have Yosano save him.”

“That’s true…”

“Honestly, the bigger thing that has me stumped is why curse a cat ?” The executive asks and Atsushi tenses up again, “A small, practically newborn kitten has no weight on the world, cursing it would do nothing to anyone but that cat, especially since he was in an alleyway all alone…”

“Hmm…” Akutagawa lifts the blankets to peak at a now terrified Atsushi, “Could he belong to someone important?”

“Perhaps…but another thought occurred to me as well.”

“What would that be?”

“ Is he really a cat ?”

Chapter Text

Atsushi sees his life flash before his eyes as Akutagawa stares him down for a moment, before finally speaking. 

“Don’t be ridiculous.” He scolds Chuuya, “There is no way he is not a cat. His visit to the vet alone is evidence enough.”

“Is that so?” Chuuya laughs, but Atsushi can tell from his tone that he’s not convinced, “So you’re of the thought an ability user just decided to torture a random kitten.”

“You’re too naive, Chuuya, if you think an ability user wouldn’t be deranged enough to torture a kitten for fun.” Akutagawa sighs, now petting the uneasy kitten on his chest.

“I am not naive ,” Chuuya groans, “It is still a strong possibility. Although, admittedly, he doesn’t act like a human. I doubt an actual person would have trouble eating at your place. Even stuck as a cat, I can’t imagine someone being that sensitive.”

Oh thank god .

“Exactly.” Akutagawa agrees.

“Speaking of people in terrible predicaments…” Chuuya begins, before his tone grows harsher, “You’ve been using your free time to look for Atsushi still, haven’t you?”

“…No.”

“At least try when you lie to me!!!”

Akutagawa rolls his eyes as he gets a lecture from his superior, and Atsushi has a new mental breakdown on his chest. Maybe it’s innocent, but the fact Chuuya went from Mignon possibly being human, right to the whereabouts of Atsushi, makes him nervous.

Was it a coincidence?

Perhaps something Chuuya’s been trying to segue into the entire call and he just used that as a jumping off point?

Atsushi is scared.

Terrified .

Is Chuuya going to be different towards him when he gets home? 

…Is it all over?

“Your head is so full of Atsushi,” Chuuya sighs, pulling the aforementioned man from his thoughts, “it better not get in the way of you taking care of Mignon.”

Akutagawa looks at his phone, deeply insulted, “It would never .”

“It better not,” Chuuya warns, “because if your weird obsession with Atsushi gets in the way of my kitten’s needs, I swear to-”

“I do not have a weird obsession with jinko!”

“You absolutely do, and you’ve had it since the day you two met.”

“That’s not -!” Akutagawa begins, before someone on Chuuya’s end begins calling for him. It sounds like a child, an almost familiar sounding little girl.

“Ugh, I don’t have time for your stubborn bullshit, I’ve gotta go. Have fun with Mignon for the day.” Chuuya sighs, as if he’s being put upon, but Atsushi can hear that familiar fondness in his voice, “I’m coming, Miss Elise.”

The phone is set aside and Akutagawa looks at the kitten curled up on his chest, “Chuuya is too paranoid, you’re definitely just a cat.” He says, resolute in this conviction, and Atsushi feels a twinge of guilt, but more so relief. 

“Well, since you’re awake now, we should get up.” Akutagawa decides, cradling the kitten in his hand as he sits up, “Chuuya packed a lot of your toys in that diaper bag, I’m sure we can keep you entertained with something in there.” He muses, looking to the bag before setting Atsushi down and going to fish out all the toys. 

\When he returns to the kitten on the couch, he lays them all out in front of him, unsure of  what exactly to do.

Now that Atsushi thinks about it, they didn’t play when they first met. They simply cuddled. He’s older now, though, and his little kitten instincts want to play. As Akutagawa tries to figure out how to use the toys in front of him, Atsushi walks over and begins batting at a ball.

“Do you...fetch?” Akutagawa asks curiously, and technically Atsushi has, but this ball would be far too big for his little mouth to carry. 

Of course Akutagawa doesn’t know that, so he sets the kitten on the floor and tosses the ball a few feet from them to find out the answer for himself. Immediately, Atsushi runs after it, jumping on it and falling to the floor as it rolls from his weight. 

“Ahh, I see, it’s too big for fetch. You simply attack it.” The mafioso reaches over and takes the ball that Atsushi is clinging to for dear life, easily prying it from the kitten’s paws before throwing it in another direction and watching the kitten chase after it again.

As Atsushi rolls around on the floor with it this time, Akutagawa turns to the other toys, grabbing the wand with a large feather and small bell on the end. He holds it up in front of himself, trying to make sense of how one should use it. Atsushi finds himself drawn to the swaying feather and small jingle it lets out with every little movement Akutagawa makes, and before either of them can register it, Atsushi is on his thigh, teeth locked on the feather for dear life.

Akutagawa looks at the kitten with a wide-eyed curiosity, shaking the wand to try and get Atsushi to let go, but he doesn’t, so he lowers the wand to the ground, confusing the kitten. Atsushi’s jaw slacks and Akutagawa starts to slowly drag the feather across the floor using the wand, before speeding up when Atsushi begins coming for it. He decides not to keep turning to meet the kitten’s location, so to Atsushi’s surprise (and amusement) Akutagawa uses Rashomon to drag it around behind his back, returning it to his hand when it reaches his side. 

They continue this for a while, until Atsushi whines in frustration and the wand suddenly becomes super slow, allowing him to tackle it. Receiving mercy from Akutagawa, even in such an inconsequential way, feels like an even bigger victory than finally getting the feather.

“Good job.” Akutagawa praises, a smile on his face that Atsushi’s heart was not ready for.

Eventually, Akutagawa pulls out the stuffed toy that Atsushi does fetch and begins throwing it, his eyes lighting up whenever the kitten brings it back to him. This seems to be his favorite toy now, so they play fetch for a long while, until Atsushi rams into a wall while trying to chase it, knocking something framed down beside him and almost having a heart attack.

“Are you okay!?” Akutagawa hurries over, scooping up the kitten and looking him over, “Should we go back to the vets?” He asks and Atsushi just stares, wondering how he can show he’s fine without looking suspicious. 

The kitten settles on playing with the frilly cuffs of Akutagawa’s sleeves to calm the panicked man down, and it seems to work.

As if on cue, the timer Akutagawa set for meals goes off.

“Let’s get you some more food and let you rest some.” He sighs, petting the kitten, “I know that you cannot actually tell him about this, but still, Chuuya can never know .”

Atsushi would laugh if he could. Honestly the head pain has already gone away, although he’s admittedly unsure of if that’s a kitten thing or his own ability helping him out.

Still, he has no problem keeping this a secret from Chuuya. It’s definitely in Akutagawa’s best interest that he never finds out.

Akutagawa preps the formula and comes back to the living room, setting the bottles down and walking past Atsushi to pick up the frame that fell. It’s a beautiful frame, one of the nicer things in the apartment, honestly, and inside is a pressed flower crown.

It’s messily put together, made with some simple but colorful weeds, and is so small . It has to be from when they were children. Probably something Gin wore as a little girl. He’s glad nothing broke, and from the look on his face, so is Akutagawa.

“Good.” Akutagawa mutters, setting the frame on the coffee table in front of the couch before sitting beside Atsushi, “Sorry you had to wait a moment,” He gathers the kitten up in the blanket and begins feeding him on his chest again, “That flower crown is very precious to me, you see.” There’s a fondness in his voice at whatever he’s remembering, “It’s the first gift I ever received.”

Atsushi’s ears twitch as his curiosity peaks. So it was his .

For it to be his first gift is a little sad, though, a child shouldn’t receive their first gift at an age where they are old enough to always remember it.

Not that he can say much. His first actual gift was significantly more recent.

“When we were little, my sister and I were in a group with other orphaned children. Things like toys and gifts were unheard of, unimportant. Food and survival were all that mattered to us.” The mafioso begins to explain, his tone slightly bitter, before quickly shifting to a softer, fonder one as he continues, “But one day...a newer girl in our group taught some of the other kids how to make flower crowns. Gin was clumsy at it, she was so young, and so focused , picking the prettiest flowers that were available where we were.” 

Atsushi suddenly feels like an ass for calling them weeds.

They are , but still.

“She worked on it for an entire day, so determined for it to look its best. I was sure it was for her, but eventually, the next morning when I woke up, she came running to me with the finished product and the biggest smile on her face. It was on my head before I could say anything…but it was lopsided so she started to cry.”  There’s a small smile on his face as he sets the empty bottles down and pats Atsushi’s back, “She was devastated , so I told her that she was wrong, it wasn’t lopsided, my hair was simply uneven. Luckily she was young enough to believe that.” He sighs, almost wistfully, “I wore it for the entire day, and was going to wear it until it went bad, but the girl who taught them about flower crowns also taught us how to press flowers, so we could preserve it in a little baggy. I made sure to keep it safe for so long in that old withered baggy.”

It’s both endearing, and tragic, how Akutagawa values the things he cares about simply existing more than them looking as beautiful as they can. For him, them being there is a miracle in itself and all he needs.

“It wasn’t until after Dazai left the Port Mafia, and Chuuya started to keep a closer eye on me, that I received the frame.” Akutagawa’s smile grows a little, “During Chuuya’s second time checking in on me and Gin he found it in the baggy, and was appalled I was keeping something so precious in something so ‘old and gross’. The next day he came back to our apartment with the regular food he’d bring and that unnecessarily nice frame. He then went into a lengthy explanation on how to set it up in the frame and suggestions on methods to make it look less crumpled. The entire time he had this uncertain look on his face, though. It was very clear he spent the night before researching it.”

Atsushi’s purring, relaxed into Akutagawa’s petting and listening to his soft voice. Chuuya is such a kind man, far too kind for the Port Mafia, in his opinion. A part of him wishes he would come to the ADA, but he’s known the man long enough now to know he’s both accepted and takes pride in his role as a necessary evil to keep Yokohama safe and thriving.

Akutagawa is… nicer than Atsushi would ever have expected, as well.

He’s not like Chuuya, his kindness is not so freely given to simply anyone, possibly a byproduct of having to disconnect from the children around him in the slums as many undoubtedly died and went missing, but he truly treasures those he cares for. In his own awkward way.

Even Atsushi has made it on that list somehow, as himself no less, and for that he’s honestly honored .

The rest of the day is spent fairly similarly to how it is at home with Chuuya. The two nap again, get up and play together and then Atsushi plays on his own as Akutagawa reads a book from his shelves.

Eventually a call comes in from Chuuya, he’s on his way to pick him up, and to Atsushi’s surprise he’s both excited…and lonely at the thought.

Being with Akutagawa like this is quiet, it’s relaxing, it’s…

Something he’d like to do more of when he’s back to normal.

Chapter Text

Atsushi is in Akutagawa’s lap, enjoying one more meal with him, when there’s a knock at the door. There’s no doubt it’s Chuuya, Atsushi gets the distinct feeling he’s the only one who visits the Akutagawa siblings at their home.

Sighing to himself, Akutagawa scoops the kitten into his arms and heads to the door with the bottle in his other hand. “Hello, Chuuya.”

“How’s Mignon?” Chuuya immediately asks, his eyes shining as soon as they lock onto the small kitten. 

It’s a powerful feeling, being able to get someone like Chuuya to be so elated purely at the sight of you. 

“He’s fine, I was giving him one more meal,” Akutagawa holds up the bottle and Chuuya zeroes in on it, seemingly in awe.

“What the…? How did you get the moist food and formula so blended ?”

“Immersion blender.”

“ Of course !” Chuuya pulls his phone out, “You can finish feeding him, I’m gonna text Dazai to pick up an immersion blender on the way home.”

There’s an amused smile on Akutagawa’s face for a moment, before he looks back down at the kitten with a frown. His hold on Atsushi seems to tighten ever so slightly as they head back to the couch for the final feeding.

Atsushi drinks slowly, but it still goes by too fast.

It’s weird, the desire to stay with Akutagawa longer. He can’t even blame kitten instincts, because as soon as Chuuya was in front of him, those wanted nothing more than to go back to the red head.

Wanting to be with Akutagawa is entirely Atsushi, and that fact makes his stomach flip in the most chaotic way.

In a way he kind of likes.

A way he really hopes he can explore more with Akutagawa, when he’s himself again.

After his meal, he’s placed in his carrier and they bid goodbye to Akutagawa.

Both Chuuya and Akutagawa walk carefully when they have him in a carrier, making sure to jostle him as little as possible. It’s more of a gentle rocking, especially with Chuuya who he suspects is using some of his ability to keep it calm. The walk isn’t very long, but Atsushi still finds himself falling asleep.

Once home, Chuuya brings him out as gently as he can, trying not to wake him. It fails, of course, but he simply curls up against a pillow on the couch and melts into the familiar warmth and scent, relaxing in a way he never could at Akutagawa’s.

This is home .

For the kitten part of him at least, and while he does like it, he also can’t deny he misses his little apartment with Kyouka. 

With each passing day he grows more anxious about his situation, and the conversation Chuuya had with Akutagawa today has increased that anxiety tenfold.

Even though Chuuya clearly adores Mignon, he can’t help but wonder what the man is thinking, what he might suspect, what he’s ruling out or adding to possibilities with each move Atsushi makes now.

It’s a game of cat and mouse where the cat is the one in danger, and the mouse isn’t fully aware yet that they’re even playing, or the power he holds once he does figure it out.

Still, even with his fear, this place feels safe and Chuuya feels safe, and now that he’s ‘home’ he falls back asleep.

He’s had a busy day, after all.

“I’m home~!” Dazai sings, waking the barely sleeping kitten as he loudly fumbles through the door.

Atsushi wonders if he’s drunk to be making so much noise, but he doesn’t really drink when he’s at Chuuya’s, so he climbs onto the couch arm and peaks behind it to see what the man is doing.

There, hitting everything it possibly can on the way in, is a red pet stroller.

A nice one at that.

Chuuya’s currently taking a shower, but all the noise makes him come running out.

In only a towel.

Dripping wet.

Atsushi quickly buries his little face in the nearby pillow, both in embarrassment and as a safety precaution. God only knows what Dazai would do to him if he saw too much of Chuuya.

“What the fuck are you slamming all over my god damn- ” Chuuya falls silent as soon as he sees the stroller and Dazai gives him a shit eating grin.

“I got a stroller for your baby ~!” 

Atsushi can tell from his tone it’s meant to be a joke, meant to mock Chuuya’s intensity about the kitten, but he’s not the least bit surprised when Chuuya reacts.

“It’s perfect ! Holy shit, Dazai, I didn’t know you had it in you to give good surprises.” The red head is practically vibrating with excitement as he walks up to it, “This is a nice one, too.” 

Atsushi can’t help but peak, enjoying the baffled look on Dazai’s face before Chuuya gives him the brightest smile.

“Thank you.”

“Y-you’re welcome…” Dazai blushes, bright red , and Atsushi can’t help but wonder if it’s from that smile or guilt.

Probably both.

The brunette looks to the kitten for a moment before quickly pulling off his own coat to cover Chuuya’s body, glaring at Atsushi.

“What are you-?”

“As happy as I am that you love your gift, and as much as I love the view, you can’t run around wet and practically naked, you’ll get sick.”

Chuuya pouts for a second before heading back to the bathroom, grumbling under his breath.

“You saw nothing.” Dazai whispers in Atsushi’s direction, and the kitten quickly nods.

Technically that’s true, anyways. The towel hid everything he hasn’t seen already.

Still, though, something tells him he’ll be paying for this when he’s back to normal.

Now dressed, Chuuya goes into his bedroom and comes out with his arms full of baby blankets and cat toys, eyes as bright as they were earlier when he came to pick up his beloved kitten.

“What…are you doing?” Dazai asks, a confused smile on his face as Chuuya tosses everything into the stroller and then pushes it over to the couch.

“Decorating, obviously .” Chuuya sits down next to the arm Atsushi is currently still on, blissfully unaware he has both the kitten and Dazai’s undivided attention as he basically makes a kitten nest in the stroller. 

He starts with a few baby blankets, folding them to fit and putting them on top of one another for optimum cushion. Then he begins laying the, quite frankly, insane amount of toys in there.

“Chuuya.”

“Yeah?”

“Why do you have… actual baby toys?”

Chuuya takes a second to look away from the stroller and stare at Dazai like he’s an idiot, “Baby toys are cheaper than pet toys of the same kind.” He holds up a stuffed animal rattle with a wooden teether for a handle, “This is a safe for both, but the same thing from a pet store is twice the price. Also, baby toys have cuter options.”

A now familiar fond smile forms as Dazai watches Chuuya add more things, “You’ve done research, huh?”

“Not unless we’re counting ‘noticing a trend’ as research.”

“Mmmhmmm.” 

“Ugh, fuck off,” Chuuya huffs, his face now a bright red as he goes back to decorating. 

It’s peaceful, spending time with these two while they just quietly relax together, and Atsushi dozes off again to the sound of Dazai’s laughter.

He’s not sure how long he slept, but when Chuuya wakes him up the stroller is fully decked out and over by the front door. While he can’t see in it very well, he can see some toys dangling from the top, and would be lying if he said he wasn’t excited to try it out.

“Are you looking at the stroller?” Chuuya asks, curiously, and Atsushi goes to look away, but stops himself, making sure not to look more suspicious, “Well, it is something new, don’t worry, we’ll play with it tomorrow,” He assures the small kitten before holding up the bottle, “For now, though, it’s meal time! Dazai shockingly did pick up what he was actually supposed to, so the food should be a nicer consistency like at Akutagawa’s place.”

Atsushi holds in his excitement as Chuuya goes to feed him, but can’t help purring as soon as he’s drinking the mixture.

Chuuya smiles at him, watching the kitten drink as Dazai messes around on his phone beside him, “I wonder how long he’ll be like this…” He mumbles, catching Atsushi off guard.

“It won’t be long,” Dazai assures him, “He’ll get better in time.”

Obviously he means how long Mignon will be sickly, but Atsushi’s mind begins to wander to the true depth of that question. He won't be a kitten forever, the ADA will find the culprit and Atsushi will return to normal. It’s the best thing for him, personally, but it will leave Chuuya without a beloved pet.

The small orphaned kitten that Chuuya has been diligently raising will be gone, and there will be nothing he can do about it. Nothing anyone can do about it. Mignon will cease to exist, and while they will tell Chuuya what happened and give him that closure, he will still be losing someone that’s irreplaceable and dear to him.

And that someone will be replaced with… Atsushi .

Some guy Chuuya doesn’t know, who suddenly knows everything about him.

That day is coming sooner rather than later, he knows it is. 

When it does…how does he face him?

Chapter Text

After spending Tuesday with Akutagawa, the week goes by pretty fast. He spends the next few days at the ADA, sitting in either Kyouka or the president’s lap, and then his evenings being doted on by Chuuya.

It’s a simple routine that’s fairly easy for him to settle into.

But it all comes crashing down on Thursday night.

“Akutagawa sent me a text asking how Mignon is,” Chuuya smiles down at the kitten in his lap, “Let's send him a picture.” He easily poses Atsushi to sit up and look right at the camera, taking a quick pic before Atsushi curls back up in his lap, “Akutagawa’s really taken to Mignon. He should look into getting a cat of his own, I think it would be really good for him and Gin.”

“In due time he’ll have his favorite kitty back,” Dazai says with a smirk, plopping his head in Chuuya’s lap and moving the kitten to his own chest, “Although I don’t think he’ll share him with Gin.”

Atsushi makes sure his little kitten nails dig extra deep as he kneads the man’s shirt.

Chuuya rolls his eyes and flicks the space between Dazai’s brows, “Stop calling your little protege a cat .”

The way Chuuya immediately knew who Dazai meant makes Atsushi wonder just how often the man had referred to him as a ‘cat’ in front of Chuuya before. It should annoy him, but the thought that he talked about Atsushi ‘at home’ even before all of this is admittedly flattering.

“So how’s the search for him going? Akutagawa keeps disappearing to look on his own, it’s getting really annoying.” Chuuya grumbles.

A surefire sign that he is, in fact, concerned.

He reaches out and begins stroking Dazai’s hair and Atsushi’s fur, in an attempt to look nonchalant.

It fools no one.

“Don’t worry,” Dazai closes his eyes, “Once we find the ability user, and I can undo whatever he’s done, Atsushi and all the other people missing will pop back up.”

“And just when is that going to happen?” Chuuya counters, narrowing his eyes at the brunette, like he knows he’s keeping something from him.

Dazai smiles nervously, and Atsushi tenses up, “Hmmm? How would I know?”

The hand previously stroking Dazai’s hair grabs the handful of it, “ Dazai .” He warns, “You think I didn’t see your passport suddenly in your coat?”

Atsushi tries not to show his confusion as he listens.

Passport?

Just what is Chuuya trying to get him to admit?

“When are you leaving for Bulgaria, asshole ?” Chuuya asks and Atsushi is even more confused.

“Tomorrow morning!” Dazai grins, earning a harsh pull of his hair, “Owowowowow! Chuuya! I know you’ll miss me, but be nice!”

“‘Be nice’!? I don’t give a shit if you leave, but what the fuck am I supposed to do with Mignon, huh!? If you had told me sooner , I could have made plans for him! We have a system set up right now that a life depends on, you can’t do your usual flakey bullshit!” Chuuya scolds, taking the kitten off Dazai’s chest before shoving the man off his lap and onto the floor, stomping out of the room.

Atsushi can hear Dazai sighing from where he was tossed, muttering about screwing up, as Chuuya locks him out of the bedroom.

“Fucking asshole .” Chuuya hisses as he sets Atsushi on the bed, “I can’t even take Mignon to the ADA myself now, they are definitely going to be too busy since they’ve caught such a major lead…” He begins pacing around his room, muttering to himself about pet sitters and last minute options, scrolling through his phone to find something, before coming to a stop and looking at the kitten currently perched on his pillow, “There’s no other options, you have to come to work with me tomorrow.”

Atsushi tries not to look horrified.

Fucking Dazai .

Said ruiner of lives is kept locked out of the bedroom for the rest of the night, and when they get up for Atsushi’s late night feeding, he’s completely gone from the apartment altogether, leaving a note for Chuuya next to some pre-mixed formula in the fridge.

“This isn’t nearly enough to keep me from kicking your ass when you get back,” Chuuya grumbles sleepily, setting the note on the counter with Atsushi as he warms up the kitten’s meal.

Luckily, he can still read, so Atsushi takes the time to look over the note. There is a shockingly apologetic opening that Atsushi makes sure to skip over, only stopping to truly read when he sees Bulgaria.

Ango’s connections in Bulgaria have finally found a general location of the man we are looking for, so Ranpo and I are going early in the morning. I’m not sure how long we will be, but Ranpo will want to return quickly so I don’t imagine it will take too much time. 

Atsushi stops reading after that, as it seems the rest is basically more grovelling. 

He never expected Dazai to be the grovelling type.

Then again, he never expected Dazai to be anything he is when he’s alone with Chuuya.

The late night feeding is held at the kitchen counter, and Atsushi notices Chuuya’s eyes never leaving the note.

They’ll be fine when he returns, but a big part of him is hoping Chuuya kicks his ass first. 

Thanks to his bullshit, Atsushi has to go to the one place in Yokohama he never wanted to, after all.

When they get up for the day, after Atsushi gets his morning meal, Chuuya puts him in his stroller and zips it shut, storing the pre-packed ‘kitten bag’ in the basket at the bottom. He must admit, this stroller is handy. 

The ride, as it turns out, is also amazingly smooth!

Definitely the best mode of transportation, he’d thank Dazai if he could (even if Dazai would hate it).

Thanks to the stroller, Atsushi is truly able to enjoy the walk to work, taking in the sights of the town and just relaxing in his soft comfortable blankets, chewing on his little toys.

For a kitten, this is true bliss. 

…Until they get to the Port Mafia. 

Granted, Atsushi hasn’t really been here, but his sordid history with this ‘company’ and it’s people is enough to make him squirm.

“Sorry little guy.” Chuuya sighs before finally bringing him inside.

As soon as they enter, there is a woman at reception who eagerly comes and greets the small kitten, holding him and gushing over how tiny and soft he is.

Atsushi is…confused, but she honestly seems like a regular office worker hired for the ‘company’ Mori runs, so he relaxes some.

It takes longer than he expects for her to have her fill, and apparently longer than Chuuya did as well, because after five solid minutes the mafioso is awkwardly trying to get his kitten back so he can go to his office.

She seems to purposefully misunderstand him for a moment before finally giving Atsushi back.

Luckily the rest of the trip to Chuuya’s office is uneventful. They are bowed to by many men in suits and sunglasses, before reaching the elevator, and once inside no one else enters during the long trip to the top floor.

His office is large, it’s size looking all the more imposing by the emptiness of the room. There’s his office desk, a few large filing cabinets, some chairs in front of his desk and two couches on either side of a coffee table behind them, but with the size of the room they barely fill it.

The furniture is beautiful, elegant, but a level above Chuuya’s taste. He can’t help but wonder if Mori or someone else decorated the room, because it’s clear to him Chuuya never bothered to.

Chuuya sets Atsushi’s stroller against the side of his desk, pointing it towards the floor to ceiling windows lining the left side of the room. It's a beautiful view, and the sunlight coming in warms his fur, creating a peaceful ambiance.

The thought that such a serene place can exist in th headquarters of a vicious mafia group, let alone be owned by their strongest executive, is jarring to think about.

But he's learning that everything about his preconceived notions towards the Port Mafia are ill conceived at best. 

Allowing himself to relax in this empty, yet warm, office, Atsushi soon falls asleep.

He's not sure how long it's been when he wakes up to the delicious smell of his formula and the sight if a familiar blonde woman, looking at him with unbridled affection.

“Thank you for preparing this, Higuchi.” Chuuya says from his desk, taking the bottle from the woman and setting it beside him.

“I’m happy to help, sir.” Higuchi replies before scooping Atsushi up in her arms and bringing him over to the executive.

It feels weird, being so gently cared for by a woman who attacked him not really that long ago when you think about it. He feels safe, as Mignon, in her arms and his brain is running overtime to try and process that.

“Are you ready for him?” She asks, now at Chuuya’s side with the small kitten.

For his part, Chuuya mumbles a noncommittal response, focused on filling out paperwork. The woman is clearly a subordinate, and not comfortable speaking up to get his attention if her conflicted expression is anything to go by.

So Atsushi steps in with a loud, needy, meow.

Chuuya immediately snaps to attention and looks over to the kitten, “Right.” He awkwardly clears his throat before taking Atsushi, “That will be all, Higuchi. Here’s the documents you needed.” 

Higuchi takes the papers he was just filling out and bows before leaving the room.

Even in Chuuya’s arms, Atsushi finds himself having a hard time eating in this office. His body is uneasy, more uneasy than when Akutagawa first tried feeding him. Akutagawa’s home was at least cozy, after all. 

This office is just too…somber.

It’s fine for naps, but for eating it’s far less agreeable.

Which is why, in spite of himself, it takes a good ten minutes before Chuuya can get him to accept the bottle. Even when he does accept it, he’s still uneasy and can’t even enjoy it.

For once, there is no purring, and Chuuya looks at him with a sad smile.

“Is it the room? Or the building?” He asks, his only answer being the quiet sounds of suckling.

Once Atsushi is finished, and burped, he’s placed back in his bed and almost falls asleep, only to be put on high alert when Kouyou comes in.

“You really brought him in, hm?” Kouyou asks, clearly amused as she watches the now nervous kitten, “He seems quite peculiar for a cat.” She points out, making him even more nervous, before she turns her attention to Chuuya and discusses something business related.

Their voices are quiet and oddly soothing, allowing Atsushi to be lulled back into another nap with ease.

“He’s adorable!” A young girl’s voice calls out, waking Atsushi up and bringing him face to face with a familiar blonde girl, “Oh, he’s awake!” She exclaims, looking over to Chuuya excitedly, “Can I bring him to Mori’s room to play?”

Chuuya thinks about it for a moment before sighing, “Yeah, that should be fine. He’s very fragile so be extra careful with him. Alright, Miss Elise?”

“Of course!” Elise smiles at him before gently scooping the kitten up, carefully wrapping him in the fluffy blanket he’s been sleeping on, before heading off to Mori’s office across the hall.

Atsushi. Is. Terrified.

He knows what Elise is, and of course he knows who Mori is. 

His only solace is that he’s simply an innocent kitten right now.

“Who would have thought my dear Elise would be the one to bring me the weretiger?” Mori muses, immediately shattering Atsushi’s false sense of security.

He knows . He knows!?

How does he know!?

“I didn’t bring him here for you,” Elise huffs, holding the kitten close, “He’s mine .”

“Technically, he’s Chuuya’s.” Mori points out and the girl pouts, pointedly ignoring the head of the mafia to bring Atsushi over to a corner with all her toys.

She places the burrito’d kitten in her lap, petting him sweetly and making Atsushi purr in spite of himself. “Hey, weretiger,” The girl begins with a curious smile, “Can you turn into a tiger for me?”

Atsushi’s purring stops immediately as he grows nervous.

“I’m afraid he can’t right now,” Mori sighs sadly, “His ability is currently working overtime to simply keep him alive in his current state.” Despite his sympathetic tone, he looks at the kitten with pure fascination, “The ability user who got him, and some of our men, is quite the nasty one.”

Elise looks the kitten over, her expression more curious than anything, but unlike Mori there is a hint of sympathy in her eyes, “Ahh, so that’s how it is..”

Mori nods, “Afraid so. Thanks to Dazai’s help we were able to find our men who were affected, but luckily their curse was only to turn into a cat. It appears Atsushi here was given the harshest version.”

Elise gently pets the uneasy ball of fluff in her lap, “Poor little Atsushi has been cursed to wither away as a kitten.”

The phrase strikes a chord in Atsushi, and he suddenly remembers.

The only words the assailant said besides his ability, as he was leaving.

“You are now cursed to wither away as a kitten.”

He looks up at the little girl with curiosity and fear. How could she know that?

“It’s true,” Mori looks Atsushi in the eyes, “If it weren’t for your ability working overtime, and Chuuya’s intense care regimen, you’d be long dead.” He smiles, a shockingly fond smile that Atsushi has no doubt is not for him, “It’s no real surprise, though. The boy has always been quite diligent.”

Atsushi is floored.

Even someone as terrifying as Mori Ougai can’t help but be fond of Chuuya.

It’s surprising in the way that’s it’s not surprising at all.

“Chuuya’s a good caretaker,” Elise agrees, openly showing her fondness for the man as she looks at the kitten in her lap, “Be sure to give him a nice thank you present when you turn back, ok?”

The kitten simply nods.

“Good boy!”

He stays with them for far longer than he’d like, freedom finally coming in the form of an older man entering the room and summoning them for a meeting. The man looks at Atsushi curiously as they head out.

“Come on, Hirotsu!” Elise calls, “We’ll be back quickly so he will be ok!”

Hirotsu nods and turns to follow them.

Atsushi wait until he can no longer hear their footsteps, before making a beeline for the door. It’s not fully closed, thankfully, so he bolts out of it and into the hallway, ready to go back into Chuuya’s office.

Except his door is closed.

And there are footsteps coming from the other side of the hall, getting closer by the second. He considers crying at the door and having the person help him into the room, but then he sees who is it.

Kyuusaku Yumeno.

Remembering his last interaction with the child, his body reacts before he can think and runs away, sneaking into the closing elevator. It’s too much exertion for his tiny body, though, and he has to lay down, watching as the button for each floor lights up when he passes it.

Until they reach the very bottom.

The basement.

As the doors open, he sees a blond man perched on an old chair.

“A kitten?” The man raises a brow, “What are you doing here?”

(Soot's first night)

Soot meets Bunmann

The face of a baby who throws a fit whenever I try to write

Chapter Text

Atsushi stares at the beautiful blond man in confusion. 

Who is this guy? 

Looking at him, his style kind of reminds Atsushi of Chuuya’s.

Honestly, you could almost mistake them for broth-

Wait.

Is this…Verlaine!?

The man looks at Atsushi with a level of scrutiny you normally wouldn’t give to some random kitten. Dark brown eyes looking deep into the kitten’s soul, seeming to search for something. 

“Ah, I see,” He stands up from his seat and walks towards the now admittedly curious kitten, “You’re certainly no normal kitten, are you?”

Atsushi’s curiosity quickly changes to dread.

Does he know?

How could he know? It’s only been a few minutes and they’ve never met before! 

“You’re the kitten Chuuya took in, aren’t you?” Verlaine asks, bending down to scoop Atsushi up off the cold floor, “Gin told me about you, some sickly little thing he picked up off the streets.” He roughly moves the kitten around in his hands to truly look him over, treating him almost like some ragdoll, “Such a tiny, fragile, kitten. You almost remind me of Chuuya when we rescued him from the lab.”

The…lab?

“You look thin, but you’re quite soft,” The blond muses, properly holding him in his arms now as Atsushi regains his bearings, “I suppose that’s from Chuuya’s diligence.” He lets out a heavy sigh, “Personally, I don’t care either way, but since he’s so fond of you, I’ll be sure to take care of you while you’re down here.” 

With how this man is acting, something tells Atsushi that if he weren’t Chuuya’s kitten, Verlaine would have had no qualms with leaving him on the floor to freeze.

It’s scary. 

Arguably scarier than Mori and Elise were.

Because Mori is interested in things, even if it’s not in the most conventional of ways. Mori enjoys learning about creatures and people, mostly in an effort to see how they might be useful to him, but he can see a more pure form of curiosity in him as well. 

He interacts with the world willingly, happily, in his own odd way.

Verlaine, however…Verlaine seems utterly disinterested. The spark in Mori’s eyes when he saw kitten Atsushi is nowhere to be seen. For the man currently allowing the small kitten to cling onto him for warmth, Atsushi is no more important than the broken clock hanging on the wall.

He seems almost like the complete opposite of Chuuya, in that regard. Less brash, but also less caring. It’s odd to see, in someone with such a strong resemblance to the man.

They sit in silence for what feels like an eternity. There’s no food, no real heat besides what’s coming from Verlaine, and Atsushi can feel himself growing weaker. 

A breeze blows through the basement and he shivers. 

It almost feels like when he was first turned, helpless as his tiny weak body began to succumb to the cold.

“There is no phone down here, and it is not time yet for me to leave the basement again, so I don’t know when you will be found.” Verlaine mutters, wrapping the kitten in his coat for more warmth, “Chuuya doesn’t come to see me unless he has to, either. Such a cold little brother I have.” 

Sadly, the coat doesn’t do much, and he already knows there is nothing down here that can safely remedy his hunger either.

Chuuya has been so diligent, so doting, both in his own care and in the rules he gives others for the kitten’s care that Atsushi never really noticed just how close this body constantly is to actual death.

It’s horrifying.

“You’re still shaking, hm? You almost look like Rimbaud when you do that,” The blond muses, his eyes growing soft as the name leaves his lips, “Perhaps there’s a way for me to-” He stops and looks at a spot directly above them.

Atsushi cannot see it, but he can hear the thud of something on the first floor, can feel the shift in gravity for a split second.

“Someone should be here for you soon.” Verlaine says, looking at him with a sad smile, “I would prefer not to witness the death of something that reminds me of him. Even if it is  only the slightest resemblance.” His gaze turns to the elevator as it makes its way down, “I wonder if he would find that endearing.”

Atsushi watches Verlaine for a moment, and despite all he knows about the man he can’t help but feel a little bad for him. He purrs a little, to try and thank him, and give him some comfort, but Verlaine is in his own little world and couldn’t care less.

He can’t say he’s surprised, honestly.

“Verlaine! Why are you making a mess in the lobby?” Akutagawa storms in, looking more frazzled than Atsushi has ever seen him, “I don’t have time for this nonsense, I’m looking for someone!”

“You mean that weretiger?” Verlaine asks, before holding out his coat and lifting a piece to reveal Atsushi, “Or might it be him?”

Atsushi watches the tension quickly vanish from his rival with each step he takes towards the kitten, actual joy practically radiating off him when he reaches Verlaine and scoops Atsushi into his arms, holding the kitten close and warming him up almost instantly.

“You’re safe.” He whispers under his breath, before suddenly tensing up, remembering where he is. 

Verlaine simply stands there, an eyebrow quirked.

Akutagawa clears his throat awkwardly before bowing to the man in front of him, “Thank you for caring for Mignon, and alerting me to where he is.”

“He’s quite endearing, isn’t he?” The blond asks, “But I have no interest in caring for something so fragile, so make sure he doesn’t end up down here again.” Verlaine orders.

“Of course.” Akutagawa bows and thanks him one more time before turning and going into the elevator. 

“How nice for you, little one, to be so loved.” The blond says quietly, more to himself than anything, but Atsushi’s ears catch it.

He wonders, briefly, if there’s a way he could get Chuuya to visit the man.

Until he remembers what Verlaine did, the bookshelf of mementos from lives ended too soon.

Like everything else in this world, Verlaine is not black or white, he is his own unique shade of grey.

Also, like everyone else in this world, he must live with the consequences of his own actions.

Once the door closes, Akutagawa takes the time to gently inspect Atsushi, a far cry from the manhandling he dealt with when Verlaine did the same, “You’ve been gone for hours, Mignon. Your body can’t handle this long without food. How did you even manage to run off like that? Miss Elise felt so guilty, she broke down crying when she told Chuuya. Even the boss was caught off guard.” He lets out a heavy sigh and holds Atsushi close again, “You appear to be alright, at least. Chuuya has given us all orders to bring you right to his office if someone else found you first, he’s looking for you as well but has made sure there are a few prepared bottles for you in there.”

Chuuya is so diligent, Atsushi wants to cry.

Akutagawa pulls out his phone and calls Chuuya, informing him that Mignon has been found and is safe. Atsushi can hear the conversation, the sound of Chuuya’s voice helps to calm him down more, even as the man fusses over calling off the search party and grumbles about having to head to a meeting. He ends the call by giving Akutagawa orders to stay in his office with Mignon, and not let the kitten out of his sight until he returns.

As soon as they arrive in Chuuya’s office, Hirotsu is waiting with a freshly warmed bottle for Atsushi. He hands it to Akutagawa before grabbing another and leaving to warm it in the lounge’s microwave.

“Chuuya’s diligence is almost scary,” Akutagawa muses as Atsushi desperately downs the contents of the bottle. 

What’s scarier, Atsushi would argue, is Hirotsu’s impeccable timing with each bottle as they work to fill the kitten up. As soon as one is empty, the man seems to appear with a new one.

He doesn’t know Hirotsu, but he must admit that the man now fascinates him. 

In the end it takes 4 bottles to fill him, more than he’s had in one sitting ever, but it makes sense. He’s gone too long without food, been more active than he’s ever been in this body, and almost froze in that basement.

His tiny body is full now, though, and with that Hirotsu bids them farewell.

Akutagawa lets out a relieved sigh as he sits down on the couch, burping the full kitten before laying down and having Atsushi curl up on his chest, “You had this whole place in a roar, you know. Chuuya was so scared…” Dark eyes stare into wide blue ones, “There’s already one insufferable cat missing, do not make me sit with the idea of losing you, as well, ever again. Understood?”

Atsushi’s heart begins beating out of his tiny chest, Akutagawa’s looking at him with such open fondness and concern, it’s-

Wait.

Did he compare Byakko to a cat!?

“Luckily you were much easier to find than that useless weretiger,” Akutagawa sighs, “Searching for that idiot is starting to feel like a lost cause…” For a moment he looks scared, almost defeated, and Atsushi wishes he could tell him, even if it ends in a fight.

Anything to not be the cause of that look on his face.

Akutagawa rolls onto his side, hugging the kitten close as he settles in for a nap, “It’s been such a long time since I’ve had a restful sleep, I will take a quick nap and then resume work.” He closes his eyes and whispers into Atsushi’s ear, “Where are you, Atsushi…?”

The kitten lays there, purring in Akutagawa’s arms as he watches the man drift off, clinging to Atsushi like a lifeline.

Clinging to the one he could find.

He wonders how Akutagawa will feel when it’s over, when Mignon is gone and Atsushi is back. Initially, he wasn’t going to tell him, planned to play it off as he finally returned and perhaps Mignon passed away or something…but he sees now that going that route would be too cruel.

Maybe…when he turns back and tells him…it can bring them closer?

After Akutagawa beats him into the pavement for hiding it.

Does this count as hiding it?

Dazai is hiding it, but arguably he has no way to tell him or Chuuya. He can’t speak, can’t write, can't make his kitten body move in human ways so he can perform some weird game of charades. 

Still, he’s not an idiot, he knows damn well Akutagawa will kick his ass regardless. Even if it’s just out of embarrassment. 

He’ll accept it, though. An angry Akutagawa hurts far less than seeing him so upset.

With his new resolve, Atsushi buries his face into the ruffles of Akutagawa’s shirt and falls asleep to the sound of the man’s quiet breathing.

Some time later, Atsushi feels familiar hands gently picking him up. He opens his eyes and yawns, immediately purring when he sees Chuuya smiling at him.

“You’re ok,” Chuuya sighs in relief, hugging the kitten, “Don’t pull that shit again.” He offers Atsushi a bottle, but the kitten is still full, so instead, the mafioso gently places him back where he was on Akutagawa, “He’s not been sleeping well, so you two can nap here for a while. We’ll go home when he wakes up.”

Atsushi’s purrs grow louder as he curls back into Akutagawa’s chest. Truly at peace now, after finally getting to see Chuuya again, he falls into a deep sleep.