The apartment was almost romantic in the dim lighting. It was probably between midnight and 2am, but there was no way for them to know for sure because the power was still out. That was probably for the best though. As small as Atsushi's new pajamas were, only the shirt came close to fitting and that still hung loosely off of his small frame and went down to his thighs. Not even the underwear fit him; if he wanted to keep them on, he would have to pull them up every few minutes, and he knew they wouldn't stay on all night without his conscious help. Atsu could only imagine how he looked right now in the candle light. There were no flashlights or lanterns or anything like that, but luckily Dazai had a huge candle collection large enough to light up the whole apartment, more or less. Atsushi honestly thought it was a little too convenient that he only had candles, but he didn't particularly care. It made Dazai look even hotter if he was being honest. The pair had decided to stay up talking instead of sleeping- for the time being that is- hence the candles and Atsu's growing suspicions.
They were cuddled together on the couch, Atsushi's head resting on Dazai's chest. Dazai wasn't wearing a shirt, only pajama pants and his bandages, so Atsushi could easily breathe in his scent. It started out with them on opposite ends of the couch, but Dazai pulled Atsushi close and covered them both in a blanket when he noticed Atsushi shivering- it was rather cold to him in the apartment without any pants on. The two had been snuggled together for a little while before the talking started.
They talked about nothing and everything, though it was mostly about Atsushi's past; questions like "how did you become homeless?" and "where did you live before then?" Dazai wanted to learn everything about his precious Atsu and it was going to happen eventually; he was glad it was happening now though, even if it the boy was starting to get annoyed talking about himself.
"What about you, Dazai-san? What was your life like before? Or, what do you do now, for that matter?" Dazai smirked.
"Why don't you guess, Tiger~?" Atsushi stiffened his posture, blushing slightly in the dim glow of the room.
"Why do you keep calling me "Tiger," Dazai-san?"
"You don't remember? We had a small conversation when I came out of the shower earlier and, in the process, we found out you have an ability. I don't know what could have possibly triggered it~" he practically sang that last sentence, "but it does suit you very well.~ You're at least a neko when your ability is activated-"
"What's a "n-neko"?" Atsushi interrupted, squirming slightly as he looked at Dazai in the eyes.
"Don't worry about that right now. I think you're actually the tiger that's been in the area. It's been described as white with black stripes, yellow eyes, and a blue glow surrounding it. When you activated your ability earlier, your eyes were yellow, and you had tiger stripes on your tail too. Do you remember any of it?" Atsushi shook his head, gripping the blanket tightly,
"My ability," Dazai continued, "nullifies the abilities of others. From what I've heard about the tiger, it's only been seen at night; more specifically in the moonlight. My ability is probably what stopped a full transformation earlier."
"But that tiger… people have been saying it's a maneater. Did… Did I eat someone?" Dazai pulled him a bit closer,
"Yeah, kinda, but that doesn't particularly matter. You didn't leave a lot of evidence behind, and if you have the right connections- which is me- then you won't have any trouble with the law. The only thing you should be particularly worried about is the seven billion yen bounty on your head, but that won't be a problem so long as you stick with me." Atsushi nodded, but he still felt horrible about it.
"Dazai-san, how do you know about all of this? Does it have to do with your job?"
"Yeah, I work at the Armored Detective Agency. I was actually hired to find you, but now that I know you, I don't want to give you to the proper authorities. I want to keep you close~" Atsushi blushed and awkwardly pulled the blanket over his head to hide the blush, completely forgetting about the tiger thing. "At-su-shi-kun~ Would you like to work with me?" It would be much easier to keep an eye on him if he could take him to work every day. He looked down at Atsushi only to find the boy sleeping under the blanket. Most of the candles had burned out by now and Dazai decided that wasn't such a bad idea. He gently kissed Atsu's forehead before going to sleep himself. According to his internal clock, it was 3am, and he would be wrecked waking up at 7 in a few hours.