Work Text:
"Thanks for letting me stay over, Mr Nakahara," Atsushi smiles at the red-haired mafioso. Chuuya had previously put his foot down about Dazai bringing any of his little ADA friends into the apartment, but the three had just returned from a joint mission that had gone a little awry, and it felt unfair to send Atsushi all the way back to his shitty apartment when they had a perfectly good guest room for him. Hell, the poor kid was acting like Chuuya was breaking his own spine for this to happen, so he felt a little bad anyway.
"No problem kid," He shoots back. "And don't call me Mister. It makes me feel old. Just Chuuya's fine,"
Atsushi seems startled by the permission. He had been so embarrassed when he found out he had been calling Chuuya by his first name all this time. Of course, that was Dazai's fault, so Chuuya doesn't really blame the kid.
"Alright then, Chuuya!"
How in the fuck Dazai of all people found a kid this smiley, Chuuya doesn't know.
Speaking of Dazai, he emerges from where he'd been making last-minute preparations for the guest bedroom. And by preparations, Chuuya means that the fucker was looking for the softest, fluffiest blankets they had in storage. His soft spot for the teen was disgusting.
"Atsushi!" The brunette exclaimed, eyes crinkling in one of those grandiose smiles of his. He came up on the tiger's other side, swinging an arm over his shoulder to cajole him into walking.
"This is the guest bedroom where you'll be staying," He said as they stepped, expertly ignoring the following flurry of panicked word-vomit from Atsushi. Where that kid got so much self-doubt, Chuuya will never know. He doesn't think he wants to.
"Now, now, Atsushi," Chuuya was brought back from his distraction by Dazai's voice. "That's enough of that. We won't make you sleep in the closet like at home." That has Chuuya blinking. Just what goes on in the ADA apartments?
"Also, don't grab anything from the fridge," He adds his two pence in. "I'm cooking for all of us tonight so there's no point."
"Chuuya, are you sure? I wouldn't want to be a bother..." The kid trails off, wringing his hands together in nerves.
"I'm not gonna make you starve, kid. It'd be a dick move just to cook for me and Dazai and leave you with nothing,"
Atsushi doesn't look convinced, but he says nothing else and just nods. Dazai coaxes him into actually looking inside the guest bedroom. Turns out, the fluffy blankets are a hit - the kid is enamoured by them.
Whilst Dazai and Atsushi are chatting in the guest bedroom, Chuuya slips away to make a start on dinner. It's nothing fancy, the mission took a lot out of all of them so he doesn't really have the energy for something big, but it's good food either way and he's sure everyone will eat.
He's nearly got everything finished when Dazai comes bounding into the kitchen with all the enthusiasm of a toddler on a sugar rush.
"Chibi. Chibi," He starts, annoying and grating as usual. "We should have a movie night with Atsushi later,"
"He'll be tired," Chuuya reminds him.
"That's the point," Dazai says. When Chuuya just quirks a brow at him, he leans in closer to whisper conspiratorily: "I want pictures."
Ah. That makes sense. Well, Chuuya has no reason to stop him, and it's just a bit of harmless fun after all. Though, maybe he'd have to worry if Dazai showed Atsushi those pictures and the kid combusted from embarrassment or something.
"Alright, just don't get me involved if you're gonna show him the pictures," Chuuya says, knowing Dazai will inevitably involve him.
For now though, the brunette just nods and scampers off, not even helping Chuuya set the table. Asshole.
It doesn't take long for him to do the task himself, nor does serving the food. There weren't any major problems he could see, so Chuuya just calls Dazai and Atsushi through.
As expected, Dazai is still energetic as he runs through, ignoring Chuuya scolding him for running in the house. Chuuya can't really tell how much is real excitement, and how much is Dazai laying it on thick just to annoy Chuuya. Atsushi walks in behind him, looking mortified by Dazai's behaviour. Chuuya wonders how he hasn't gotten used to it yet.
"C'mon, kid. Pick a chair and sit down, let's eat."
The kid looks at him with an expression a little too similar to scepticism. He gingerly pulls back a chair and sits down like he half-expects someone to take offence to the chair he's picked. No one says anything, so he sighs in relief and finally relaxes. Weird kid.
Chuuya has no such qualms sitting, and Dazai is Dazai and would obviously feel no shame even if there were some weird rules towards picking chairs.
"Thank you for the food," They all chime, and tuck in.
After they finish eating and cleaning (except for Dazai, who fucked off the second the dishes were brought into the kitchen) they settle down onto the couch for Dazai's proposed movie night.
Atsushi is buzzing with nervous energy the whole time, clearly not having expected to be invited to willingly hang out with them. He's nervously trying to reassure them it's okay for him to just go back to the guest room and make himself scarce. Dazai gives his words some flippant dismissal, and so he stays.
Dazai starts listing off movies for them to watch, and Atsushi looks confused about all of them. It surprises Chuuya that he'd be so ignorant about pop culture, the ADA seems like the type to have cheesy, workplace movie nights.
Eventually, he gets bored of waiting to find a movie Atsushi does know, and just tells Dazai what to put on. The other, for once in his damn life, is obedient and puts it in the slot.
Before the movie actually plays though, Dazai sprints off to the guest bedroom, emerging with the fluffiest of Atsushi's blanket and promptly throwing it over the kid. Dazai doesn't have a subtle bone in his body, but Atsushi doesn't pick up on his plot, simply smiling and thanking his mentor.
They watch the first movie together, and it's nothing Chuuya and Dazai haven't seen before, but Atsushi is enamoured by it. His eyes are wide and he leans forward from where he's wrapped himself into a sort of blanket cocoon. It's kind of cute if he's being honest.
The credits of the movie draw to a close, and Atsushi's energy seems drained from his body. The mission had taken a lot out of him, and then he had Dazai carefully planning how to get him to sleep. The kid tips to the side, at some point, head resting on Dazai's shoulder. He seems a little too smug about that, to be honest.
Chuuya puts on another movie for him and Dazai, but keeps the volume low, just to be courteous to their sleeping companion. In the time it takes for him to set the movie up, put the other one away and get back to the couch, Dazai has carefully moved Atsushi little by little until the kid's head ended up in his lap. Dazai looks like the cat who got the canary at this point, way too pleased with himself. Chuuya gives a fond eye roll and settles himself back on Dazai's other side.
It's halfway through the second movie when Dazai makes a strangled noise, kind of like a wounded animal. When Chuuya whips his head over to see what the fuss is about, Dazai is staring enraptured down at Atsushi in his lap. He follows his gaze to see Atsushi suckling on the blanket folds that have fallen in front of his mouth, kind of like those videos of cats that Chuuya sees every now and again. Huh.
"Fucks he doing?" Chuuya asks. Dazai looks over at him at the call.
"Some of us at the ADA wanted to know if he showed more tiger-like or more cat-like behaviour. We found it was kind of a mix of both, so I looked into some behaviours," The unspoken 'so I could see if I could scare him with a cucumber, or something similar' is easy for Chuuya to pick up on. "Cats tend to suck on blankets or their owner's skin if they've been separated from their mom too soon,"
Chuuya blinks. "So he's doing that because he lost his mom?"
"He's an orphan, so probably,"
Well, it's not the weirdest thing Chuuya has seen the kid do.
"Wait!" Dazai gasps like he's just had the most brilliant idea. "I wonder if I can make him purr,"
Chuuya gives him the darkest glare he can muster up. "Why are you like this?" He sighs.
"Shut up, you love me,"
"Unfortunately,"
"Chuuya!" Dazai gasps, scandalised. It's clear he's not too bothered, though, because he's carding his fingers through Atsushi's hair, clearly serious about his mission to make him purr. In his sleep, the kid rubs Dazai's hand with his head. Dazai's looking at him like he's hung the stars.
"Chibi." He starts. "Chibi, I am going to scream,"
And, purely because Chuuya likes his eardrums intact and definitely not because he thinks the kids kind of adorable, he reminds Dazai: "If you do, you'll wake him up and won't get to hear him purr."
Dazai accepts this easily though, continuing his ministrations to Atsushi. After a good couple minutes of petting, they finally hear it - a low, rumbling purr. The two turn their heads to look at each other so fast that Chuuya's worried they may have whiplash.
"Chuuya," Dazai gasps.
"Dazai," Chuuya returns.
"Forget pictures, get a video."
Normally Chuuya doesn't like to be bossed around by Dazai, but this is an exception. He's on it like a hound, phone out and ready, recording this disgustingly domestic moment.
"Dazai," He says again, now that the video's done. "The rule about the ADA still applies but... I guess the kid can be an exception,"
Dazai looks like Christmas came early.