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Every other night around 11:45 pm, Dazai would hear Atsushi sneak out of the dorm next to him, only to come back an hour or so later, laughing to himself and sighing happily. Most of these nights, the boy could be heard carrying things to and from his secret location. Dazai’s heard the faint sound of aluminum clinking together as Atsushi walks down the stairs, and other times he could be heard carrying and- more often than not- dropping a box he was carrying by accident.
For a while, Dazai decided not to pry, and was only interested in hearing his sweet little protege hum a sweet little tune in that sweet little voice of his as he snuck out and snuck back into his dorm, it usually helped lull him to sleep a bit, or usually gave him the feeling of tiredness that he lacked on bad nights. But eventually and inevitably Dazai grew curious, for recently Atsushi would now murmur things to himself such as, “Will this be comfortable enough for her?” and, “I really hope her kids like this brand...”
So many questions rang through Dazai’s unresting mind: Was Atsushi...seeing someone? Just who was this secret female companion Atsushi giving things to? Not to mention she apparently had kids- so who was the father? Surely Atsushi didn’t…
The brunet only laughs at that possibility, but that still doesn’t help him conclude much about the situation. So of course, the only way he can possibly gain any answers to his questions is by following his subordinate out the next time he leaves.
~
“My my, what have we here, Atsushi-kun?”
The aforementioned loses his balance and trips with a squeak, dropping the box he was holding along with him, “Shit- I-I mean, D-Dazai-san?!? What are you- how did-?”
“I find you?” Dazai finishes with a roll of his eyes, “Oh, Atsushi-kun you underestimate my superior detective skills! I already knew you were sneaking off, but I merely decided to follow you this time~”
“O-oh…” Atsushi sighs in relief, starting to repack the items that fell out of the box, “that’s...good to know...I think. Well, it’s good to know you weren’t stalking me at least…”
Dazai gives a laugh, moving closer towards the younger, “Oh please Atsushi-kun- we both know something like that takes time and patience- two things I don’t have the attention span for. And besides,” two bandaged arms wrap themselves around Atsushi’s neck lovingly, “I trust my darling enough that I would never stoop so low~” he purrs, ending his reply with a kiss to Atsushi’s cheek.
“And you basically know everything about everyone, anyway,” the boy deadpans, but welcomes the gesture nonetheless, bringing a hand up to press against Dazai’s own face.
Dazai hums in approval until he makes a confused noise at all of the items in Atsushi’s box: canned crab and tuna, pillows, a blanket and, a bottle of milk, and two shallow bowls that Atsushi is setting back inside are what Dazai makes out, and then suddenly it all clicks.
“Aww, Atsushi-kuuun...so meeeaaan!” the brunet whines, shaking Atsushi around in his arms a bit before the boy sits up, causing him to let go.
“How am I mean? You’re the one who snuck up on me, you know!” Atsushi yell-whispers back.
“Only because I wanted to see what you were up to without me!” Dazai half-heartedly glares, “but I suppose I’m just not boyfriend material enough to meet your new kitten friends...”
Atsushi freezes. Ah, so he had been right after all. Well, seeing the items in the box was kind of a dead giveaway.
“Ah...well, I…” Atsushi wracks his brain for an excuse, but eventually sighs in defeat, “alright fine just- just follow behind me carefully. And please be quiet...the kids get scared easily with people they aren’t all that used to.”
Dazai smiles something hard as he practically skips behind his protege, excited to see the secret kittens Atsushi had been hiding.
~
The cats all live underneath an abandoned apartment building only eight minutes from the agency dorms, but they seem to almost be living luxuriously all thanks to Atsushi. The mother cat is a beautiful Japanese bobtail with the largest and sweetest pair of eyes Dazai has ever seen on a cat, and her kittens are just as gorgeous. Three that he manages to make out are almost exact replicas of her, though there are two more that are all white and black with white paws.
“Oh, Atsushi-kun...they’re absolutely adorable!” Dazai coos, wary of where he stands so that he doesn’t scare any of them off.
“They really are. Ah, it’s good to see you again, Kikyo-san!” Atsushi murmurs fondly, petting the mother with a soft hand and giggling at the purr that follows as she nuzzles against him.
Dazai’s heart swells at the wholesome scene, clutching at his chest albeit dramatically, “Kikyo…” he repeats the name sweetly, “Did you name the kittens too?”
“I did, actually,” Atsushi chuckles, setting the new blanket and pillows out and taking up the old ones carefully, “These three are Heigo, Tetsuo, and Taro,”
The boy points to the three that resemble their mother the most, Heigo being the kitten with an orange mark just above her eye, who is currently nuzzled against her mother, Tetsuo, being the kitten with two orange front paws that are pawing curiously at Atsushi’s shoe, and Taro is the kitten with a large orange mark nearly covering his whole forehead, currently peeking into the box Atsushi is gradually emptying out.
Shiro actually turns out to be the name of the black kitten, and the ivory colored one gets the name Kuro surprisingly, they’re both currently playing with the ends of Atsushi’s pants, reaching up every now and then to claw at the fabric with their tiny claws. Whenever Atsushi shifts, the kittens back away and wrestle with each other until they catch sight of his pants again.
“How cuuuute!” Dazai clasps his hands together as he watches the small kittens play around. They don’t seem shy around Atsushi at all, then again, they’ve known him and grown much more comfortable around him than Dazai himself.
Atsushi hums in agreement as he sets the bowls and milk and tuna over the blanket, “There’s actually six of them...but I don’t think Oda’s gonna come out anytime soon…”
Dazai stills, eyes the size of the moon when he hears that name, “Wha...who?”
Atsushi turns to him, “Ah, Oda is the name of the last kitten...and the smallest too so I was the most worried about him. He’s extremely shy, the poor thing…”
The bandaged brunet is just about to ask him where he came up with that name specifically before a small mewl is heard behind them. Both of their eyes widen when they see a much smaller kitten rolling around in a smaller patch of tall grass. The kitten seems to be enjoying himself, purring and mewling in patterns as he continues to toss and turn in the grass.
“Oh, there he is!” Atsushi beams at the sight, and suddenly looks confused, “it’s so weird to see him outside of the hole though..I guess I need to make a grass bed for him or someth- Ah, wait, Dazai!”
The brunet had gone off the venture closer to the kitten. Be it because of the little cutie’s name or his overall love for cats, he wasn’t entirely sure, but something in him was determined to see this kitten Oda, “Shhh, I’ll be careful I promise!” Dazai yell-whispers excitedly, crawling on all fours in the grass to get a closer look.
Kitten Oda seems too blissful to even notice as Dazai hoovers above him and coos again. The brunet decides to test his limits a bit, snaking a hand over towards the completely orange-colored kitten as he attempts to pet it. Surprisingly, it deems successful, and the kitten allows Dazai to pet, and even hold him in the palm of his hand. Atsushi had been right- this kitten is very small, but he looks healthy for the most part. He and Atsushi share a shocked, open-mouthed look with another as the brunet makes his way back behind him, placing Oda next to the box so that he’s closer to his sibling.
“I can’t believe it...even I’ve never been able to pet him...let alone hold him just like that!” Atsushi shakes his head with a disbelieving smile, “that was amazing, Dazai-san!”
Dazai makes a dramatic bow and follows Atsushi as he stands up. They both watch quietly as Kikyo and her kittens crawl over to the bowls filled with tuna and milk, giggling breathlessly as they eagerly eat and lap everything up. Oda eventually joins them too once he snaps out of his blissful state, his siblings oddly moving closer to him as they continue eating and drinking.
Atsushi notices the behavior but doesn’t pay it any mind, “We’ll see you tomorrow evening, Kikyo-san! Enjoy!” he promises as he pets her one last time before he starts off in leading Dazai back to their dorms.
“Eh?! Did Atsushi-kun say “we’ll?” Dazai teases once they round the corner of the building, “as in..." we will?" As in, more than one person? As in more than just Atsushi-kun~?”
A chuckle, “Well, you seem to love them a lot, and now that I think about it I probably should have introduced my own...boyfriend to them,” Ah, he’s still embarrassed to say that word. Such a cute little thing, Dazai thinks.
He decides to tease him further, nuzzling closer to him as they walk down the sidewalk, “You definitely should have, especially considering I’ve always…” a wide smirk grows over his face as he moves to whisper in Atsushi’s ear, “loved and adored how cute cats are.~”
Usually, the boy would turn bright red and stutter out of embarrassment when his boyfriend made gestures like that, but it seems that today will turn out to be much different.
Because this time, Atsushi reciprocates.
And now it’s Dazai’s turn to grow a little flustered as the younger male nuzzles his chest affectionately, clinging onto his left arm and inhaling deeply with a tired smile as he continues doing so, “Ah, I almost forgot about that...hm, I’m sorry, Forgive me~?”
The brunet isn’t even sure of what he can say in response to that. It’s all said in the same teasing lilt Dazai normally pulls on him! Had he taught him too well? Had Dazai created an adorable eros transformed monster?!
“O-oh, I uh...of course, I forgive you!” Dazai has never been so confused and so nervous near Atsushi in the last year they’ve been dating, but this is quite literally coming out of nowhere.
And it’s even more confusing because as they’re walking home, the silver-haired boy doesn’t move away from his chest at all, and suddenly Dazai can feel the boy’s face traveling lower down his torso, an arm wrapping itself around his thin waist to keep the brunet from moving away. Dazai catches a mischievous grin on Atsushi’s face and for a minute he thinks he had Atsushi have either switched bodies or personalities,
“Atsush- Yah, Atsushi-kun!” he gasps, feeling a soft nuzzling against his tummy.
“Oya? Am I getting too carried away for Dazai-san’s liking?” the boy purrs, tongue sticking out a bit as he finally moves his face back up to Dazai’s chest. If Dazai were anyone else, he might possibly scream or faint over Atsushi’s sudden behavior. Was it awful? Absolutely not! But it was just so unexpected. Dazai had only ever dreamed of Atsushi being a bit more playful when he flirted and did other sweet things with him, and it was really hard to tell if this was another one of his dreams.
“N-no no it’s not that,” was he, stuttering?, “it’s just, this is rather surprising since Atsushi-kun would normally shy off from affection like this. You’ve never been so bold before, what’s the sudden change?”
“Mm...maybe that’s just it, Dazai~” the younger was brave enough to drop honorifics? Is this even Atsushi anymore??, “perhaps we needed to switch things up a bit. Nothing’s wrong with surprises every now and then, hm~?”
Dazai’s just about to continue the conversation before he finds himself being put into a bridal carry, his stomach being nuzzled at once again (and licked? He swore he felt Atsushi lick st him from over his fabric a few times) as Atsushi takes them the rest of the way home without a problem.
“There, that’s better~” the boy’s voice is even lower than usual, and Dazai would be lying if he didn’t think it sounded anywhere near nice...
“Whoa, whoa Atsushi-k-kun! Really- what’s gotten into you!?” Dazai squirms a bit, already feeling his face growing warmer despite the cool Yokohama wind that passes them.
Atsushi only shushes him with a cunning look and a sly wink, “Ah ah ah, Dazai. If there’s anything I’ve learned from you, it’s act now, answer questions later.”
Anything else Dazai wants to say, ask or even do, is completely forgotten when the younger licks his lips and presses a lingering kiss to his boyfriend’s own. Dazai’s absolutely sure his face looks akin to an apple now, and he’s too intrigued by Atsushi’s new behavior to care enough.
Well, as shocking as it all is, maybe he could get used to this...
~
The next day Dazai wakes up on his couch alone to his coat, vest, and shirt thrown haphazardly along his floor and discovers that the bandages around his torso are shredded to bits, and there are even light scratches along his already partial scarred skin.
“What exactly did you do?” Kunikida deadpans the minute Dazai comes into the office, fully dressed with a new set of bandages and yet another confused look.
“How rude! I just walked in here!” he pouts, “I haven’t done anything yet!”
The blond shivers in fear at the word ‘yet’ and then Yosano chimes in, “Well that’s not what Atsushi made it seem like. Poor kid doesn’t wanna come in for the next few days because he wasn’t himself yesterday…”
So last night wasn’t a dream, but that still didn’t explain why Atsushi-”
“And? Why does it smell like catnip in here all of a sudden?” she narrows her eyes at the brunet. And suddenly it clicks for everyone but Dazai, which rarely- rarely- ever happens.
“You’ve gotta be kidding…” Kunikida rolls his eyes, “you’re already dating the brat, what was the point of covering yourself in catnip? Where’d you even get catnip, anyway?”
Catnip…?
Oh, waaaaiiiit a minute...the grass from yesterday...no wonder it looked so strange...and the kitten rolling around in it…
Ranpo looks up from his newspaper with a mischevious, all-knowing smile and gestures to Dazai with his head, “Ah, so that explains the mark on his ear. Nice one, Atsushi-kun...didn't know you had it in you~.”
And suddenly Dazai’s co-workers are staring at his ear in awe, a mix of shocked and perplexed looks making up the overall reactions.
“What’s so…” when Yosano hands Dazai a compact mirror, he’s just as surprised as most of the agency. Actually- he’s downright speechless.
His left earlobe is now adorning a red bruise on the verge of turning purple, a bruise that could only come from a possible bite, according to Yosano. Dazai immediately puts two and two together and quickly hides his ear with the hair that had been tucked behind it in the first place. How had he not noticed that before in the bathroom mirror?
“Maybe I can use the bag that I have for more than age-old healing remedies…,” she smirks, and the rest of the agency seems to be just as interested, “I’m curious to know the effect catnip really has on Atsushi.”
Dazai doesn’t really have to even say it, but he does. A steady smile curls over the ends of his lips as if to say, “as am I~.”