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“You’ve never dressed up for Halloween either?”
Chuuya shakes his head. He hardly had the time, working in the Port Mafia. Never mind his reputation. And forget having the means to when he was still on the streets. So no, he’d never dressed up, even for the company parties, despite it being allowed.
Still, he has to ask his newish subordinate. “Either? You haven’t before?”
Atsushi scratches his cheek, glancing away. “Ah, no. It wasn’t really an option where I grew up.” He looks like he might say more, then stops himself, looking back over to the executive with a half shrug.
“Huh. Would’ve expected shitty Dazai to trick you into something at the first opportunity. No pun intended.”
The responding awkward smile makes Chuuya feel bad bringing the mackeral up at all. Atsushi’s been adjusting well since the transfer—takes criticism well, learns decently fast even if he does have the random stubborn streak—but the agency is still a sensitive topic.
“Yeah, I’m sure he would have, if there had been time for it last year.” Atsushi’s smile shifts into something between fond and exasperated. Chuuya understands completely.
“Shit, yeah. What a fuckin’ year it’s been.” He sighs. “Either way, Halloween’s right around the corner and I’m not gonna half ass a stupid costume. Ane-san would kill me for showing up in some cheap shit to a work party.”
Atsushi pauses, letting out a thoughtful hum. “Does it have to be complicated? Simple doesn’t have to mean cheap.”
Not following the train of thought, Chuuya squints at him a little. “I guess so. Did you have an idea? Shouldn’t you be coming up with something for yourself?”
“Maybe. But you said Kouyou-san would kill you, and that put the image of you floating around with your ability like ghost in my head.”
Chuuya barks a laugh. “You gonna throw a bedsheet over my head, tiger?”
“You wouldn’t need it for long if she caught you doing that,” Atsushi muses.
“True.” Chuuya pauses for a moment. “I would make a killer ghost, though.”
“No pun intended?” The barely restrained laugh can be heard in Atsushi’s voice.
“Tch.” Chuuya waves him off. “What about you, huh? This was your idea, so if I’m gonna do it, you have to, too.”
“Well, my first thought was the scariest person I can think of, but I’m kinda worried I’d just get people offended I didn’t choose them or something.”
“You could go for ugly and dress up as Dazai.” He smirks at Atsushi’s choke. “Hell, I can even show you how he used to do the stupid bandages over the one side of his face if you haven’t seen that before.”
Atsushi blinks at him, clearly not knowing what he’s talking about, before shaking his head. “I think that would get me a different kind of angry response. Funny, but pass.” Atsushi tilts his head, then adds, “Also, he’d never let me hear the end of it. Double pass.”
“That’s fair.”
They stand there together in Chuuya’s office, and as he shifts his stance, hand on his hip, he absently thinks how this is not at all what they should probably be doing right now. He’d only mentioned the party to him offhandedly, in case the tiger somehow wasn’t aware, at the end of the updates he had to issue.
Observing him standing there, thinking far too hard about this with his eyes closed and arms crossed, Chuuya snickers. “You could be a cat ghost.”
Atsushi startles slightly, then gives him a deadpan look. “Bedsheet over my head but with a hole cut out for my tail?”
“Don’t forget the ears,” Chuuya mimes with his hands over his head, tone teasing.
(Atsushi doesn’t forget the ears. And while not arriving together, they meet up to very courteously receive Kouyou’s scolding at the same time. But with his signature hat still on over the sheet, he has to admit he has a little too much fun floating around to sneak up on people and whisper “Boo!” at them.)