Headcanon: Atsushi Can Only Fall Asleep When He’s Either Completely Exhausted Or When He Knows He’s

New headcanon that Atsushi isn't actually a fan of his birthdays. Especially right after he leaves the orphanage. I feel like on his b-days there things would get extra bad. The only good thing is that the other kids would avoid him instead of joining in on the harassment from the staff, and even then they'd avoid him like the plague, giving him glances that screamed they were disgusted and scared of him. The staff would double down instead. Because of this Atsushi probably didn't mention his birthday to anyone, and was hesitant about it when any of the other ADA members asked. Ranpo ofc knew, and the first time Atsushis b-day passed Atsushi walked in to see a piece of candy from Ranpos stash on his desk. Now everyone knows when it is because of that, but the most they do is take a bit of the workload off of him (AKA get Dazai to do his own work, which he doesn't argue against aside from some complaining that day), and put something on his desk, because they know celebrations make him uncomfortable.

sskk living together but aku has a cat so whenever he goes "pspsps" to the cat while hes laying on the couch he just hears thudding and has five seconds to move before atsushi jumps onto him Cat: Akutagawa: Akutagawa: Pspsps- ah shit. *insert atsushi, going 40 mph, before tackling akutagawa*

atsushi with more cat/tiger behaviors but some lesser discussed ones:

he scratches all the doorways of the agency building and his dorm. kunikida scolds him for damaging property for over an hour but while he apologizes he’s strangely uncontrite (at least for atsushi who tends to overapologize) about it

/

a mostly nocturnal sleep schedule feels the most natural to him but since his orphanage’s schedule was (quite literally) beaten into him, he regularly wakes up early, though after a long mission or multiple in a row, he tends to sleep through the day instead.

/

when really frustrated (usually during an argument with akutagawa) he has a tendency to stomp his feet. it tends to break the tension, and atsushi finds its super embarrassing. akutagawa finds it cute

/

he’s constantly fighting the urge to sit on his coworkers desks while they’re working and distract them. same with knocking things off their desks.

/

head bunting!!!! he first starts doing it to kyouka after the end of the guild plot. just does it to her one morning while they’re cooking breakfast without realizing. he’s mortified for a moment until kyouka does it back, equally shy yet earnest about it. slowly he catches himself doing it to the rest of the agency: when kenji gives him a hug after a mission, when yosano buys him something he was looking at during a shopping trip, while sharing lunch with the tanizakis, to ranpo after atsushi solves his first mystery on own, to kunikida and dazai after a dangerous mission. he hasn’t worked himself up to doing it to the president yet (and fukuzawas kind of sad about it). dazai and kunikida are the most flustered by it, kenji and kyouka do it back to him the most.

/

as much as he hates being locked up or confined against his will (and he really hates it), he genuinely loves being in small spaces. he sleeps in the closest for kyoukas privacy but he does geniunely feel comfortable there. sometimes he eats lunch under his desk or in the supply room if he’s feeling stressed. dazai did give him a giant box once to see if he’d sit in it and he totally did.

/

he tends to suck on the corners of blankets and things like his shirts or sweaters when he’s asleep or distracted. dazai used to tease him for it until he read that it was often found cats taken to soon from their mothers. he didn’t really find it funny after that

/

he will just Stare at people. agency members look up from their work and will see him looking directly at them. he usually snaps out of it right after and apologizes but just like slow blinks and winks and closing his eyes, he starts doing it more and more as he gets in tune with his ability.

Nekomimi

(The Japanese art concept of giving human characters animal ears and tails is called kemonomimi! And did you know that tigers don’t purr, they chuff?)

216/365: Nekomimi

“Stop laughing.”

“I’m not.”

“You are. It’s in your eyes.”

Ryuu looks away quickly, placing his hand over the lower half of his face. Atsushi sticks his lower lip out.

“Now you’re covering up a smile,” he mutters. Ryuu coughs once, happening a glance back to Atsushi before he quickly turns to face the wall again, closing his eyes.

“How dare you accuse me of such things, Jinko,” he says. Rolling his eyes, Atsushi leans across the futon to swipe Ryuu’s hand from his face. For a split second, he sees the smile on Ryuu’s lips, a rare sight that Atsushi would normally welcome. But in this case, he groans and draws back.

“C’mon, Ryuu, it’s not funny,” he mumbles, crossing his arms over his chest. Ryuu glances at him once before giving a cough that sounds oddly like a snicker.

“Your tail is lashing,” he points out monotonously. Atsushi bristles, an emotion that’s only further emphasized by the fur on his tail sticking out in all directions.

“Imagine if you got hit with that Ability,” he says, round ears pinning back against his head. “Rashoumon would practically have a mind of its own.”

Ryuu coughs again, leaning forward, and Atsushi doesn’t realize until it’s too late that he’s reaching for his ears.

“Yes, but,” Ryuu says, rubbing Atsushi’s velvety fur between his forefinger and thumb, “this is far cuter, I believe.”

Atsushi blushes, and though his fur settles, his tail continues to swipe back and forth. He isn’t sure how long he’ll be stuck like this, with his Ability on the fritz and his ears and tail manifested, but he hopes it ends soon. Asking for Dazai’s help is out of the question; Atsushi wouldn’t hear the end of it for weeks. Months.

“You’re patronizing me,” Atsushi grumbles, shoulders bunched and knees crisscrossed beneath him. But Ryuu takes his fingers from his ear, moving down to the space behind it, scratching there, and Atsushi’s tension seems to suddenly and miraculously leave his body. He relaxes under Ryuu’s touch, closing his eyes, turning into butter in his fingers.

Ryuu abruptly stops, and Atsushi looks up to ask what’s wrong, but Ryuu stares down at him with something bordering on playful in his eyes.

“What was that?” He asks. Atsushi tilts his head, subconsciously cat-like.

“What was what?”

“You made a sound.”

Atsushi frowns. “Did not.”

“You did. You chuffed,” Ryuu says, the tiniest of triumphant smiles on his lips. Atsushi narrows his eyes.

“I did not,” he says again. “I’m not so much of a tiger that I’d-!”

He stops the instant Ryuu begins to scratch beneath his chin. Atsushi closes his eyes again, leaning into Ryuu as if some other force were controlling his body, smiling and definitely chuffing.

“Good kitty,” Ryuu murmurs, kissing the crown of Atsushi’s head as he scratches his chin with both hands.

Atsushi’s tail gives the occasional, satisfied twitch.

Cat!Atsushi spending the day with Akutagawa (hc)

This is based off my “Atsushi w/cat like urges” headcanons (will be linked below). Feel free to take this as platonic or romantic 😉

TW- mild swearing (nothing to bad, just a few mentioned here or there)

It originally started out as a way for the ADA to get at least one moment of peace to do their work without worrying about Atsushi accidentally swating something off the table or out of someone’s hands

It was one of Atsushi’s “bad days” where the cat urges he felt from the Tiger were more violent/prominent and between the broken mugs and near constant head scratches, everyone was starting to get frustrated

Atsushi included

He felt terrible for causing so many problems around the office and always got frustrated when he couldn’t control the urges the Tiger gave him

Of course no one blamed Atsushi, it wasn’t his fault his ability caused him to nap if he sat in the sun to long, or lead him to ignore people completely for no reason

But it was taking Kunikida all his will power to not yell at Atsushi when he swatted at his ponytail like it was a cat toy for the fourth time that morning

Of course Dazai, being the selfless mentor he was, offered an idea

“I have a job for you that should take up most of the day. I’ll even call Akutagawa to help out!”

It was clear as day that Dazai was scheming something, but everyone was to tired to argue.

And it would be good for the truce if the Agency and Mafia worked together more often

So thats what lead to Dazai and Atsushi walking across town to the Port Mafia HQ to steal Akutagawa on his day off

He refused to let Atsushi know where he lived, so they planned to meet at the Port Mafia instead

“Why do I have to be teamed up with him?” Atsushi had whined as they walked through Yokohama

“Because it’ll help the Agency and Mafia get along better!” Dazai had responded with a big smile as he wrapped an arm around Atsushi so he didn’t walk off

‘It’ll help You and Akutagawa get along better’ is what Dazai really meant

Luckily Atsushi’s discourage about having to spend the day with Akutagawa kept him from getting to distracted on the walk over (he only wondered off twice)

When they got there Akutagawa was patiently waiting outside the Port Mafia building, though he also looked less than pleased to be spending his day off with the weretiger

Dazai pretty much just dropped off Atsushi with a “Take care of him, and be careful around cups!” Before walking off

Atsushi and Akutagawa just glared at each other before Atsushi sighed and asked if Akutagawa was hungry

“We can go over the case while we eat, that’s all” Akutagawa didn’t argue, just huffed and started walking down the street

The first thing that Akutagawa learned about the Jinko was that if he didn’t keep a close eye on Atsushi, he would loose him in the heavy crowds of Yokohama

The first time Akutagawa lost Atsushi, the latter was helping a little girl who had gotten separated from her parents. Nothing new

The second time he lost Atsushi, he was found at one of the candy shops in town. “Ranpo-san’s birthday is coming up soon and this is his favourite shop” Atsushi had claimed

They spent much longer than Akutagawa would have liked in the candy store, but Atsushi refused to budge until he got all of Ranpo’s favourites

The third time they got separated, Akutagawa found that Atsushi had somehow been convinced to chase birds in the park with some of the little kids

Akutagawa had no idea how or when that had happened but he was already starting to loose his patience. This was the third time in the half hour since they left that Atsushi had wondered off

Akutagawa had to practically drag Atsushi by the collar to get him to leave, especially when Atsushi tried to get them to stay by giving him the big kitten eyes

It took all Akutagawa’s will power and “hatred” for Atsushi to not sigh and agree to five more minutes of running around

The second thing Akutagawa learned was that Atsushi ate...a lot...

“It’s the tiger” he had said sheepishly after scarfing down his 12th bowl of chazuke within the short time they had been at the restaurant.

Akutagawa just hummed and continued to eat his food. He wasn’t one to judge, Rashomon was the same way.

The third thing Akutagawa learned was to keep anything and everything glass or ceramic away from Atsushi

Atsushi had tried to explain that it was one of his “bad days” but Akutagawa didn’t catch on until half way through their lunch when Atsushi tried to swat the tower of empty bowls off the table

Luckily for them Aku was quick on his feet, using Rashomon to catch the bowls, and finding out it apparently wasn’t uncommon for things to get knocked off the tables according to their waitress

“The tables are pretty small, it happens all the time so don’t worry” she had said while Atsushi began to apologize profusely for the trouble

Needless to say, they took over the neighbouring table to keep their empty dishes on so they didn’t have another incident

The fourth, fifth, and sixth things Akutagawa learned was that Atsushi couldn’t sit in the sun for more then a few minutes without falling asleep, he was clingy, and he was addicted to head scratches

“Jinko, hand me that case file Dazai-san gave you.” Akutagawa had asked only to get no response from Atsushi.

“Jinko? Jinko are you listening to me?” He had asked, looking up to see Atsushi’s head resting in his arms and face towards the window. It was only when Akutagawa saw the sun illuminating his partners face did he realize Atsushi had fallen sleep.

“You have got to be kidding me...” it took Akutagawa two minutes longer than usual to wake Atsushi up. It wasn’t the first time Atsushi has fallen asleep during a mission. But it was usually during late night steak outs not in the middle of the afternoon at a restaurant. In the end Akutagawa had to blow in Atsushi’s face to get him to finally wake up.

“Huh...what’s wrong Akutagawa?” Atsushi had asked as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Akutagawa did not find it cute when Atsushi’s nose scrunched up as he stretched out his arms. He most certainly did not!

“You fell asleep”

“O-oh my gosh! I-I’m so so sorry Akutagawa! The sun makes me really sleepy! I’m sorry!” Atsushi had stuttered out, face red with embarrassment. Akutagawa just shook his head and told Atsushi it was fine.

“But sit over hear so you don’t fall asleep again, idiot”

So there they sat, Atsushi sitting as close to Akutagawa as humanly possible. Like he was borderline sitting in Aku’s lap as they looked over the files

“Jinko must you be so close?”

“Yes, it’ll be easier for both of us to read the files like this”

So there they sat, Atsushi practically in Akutagawa’s lap, his head on the mafioso’s shoulder as they read through the files Dazai gave them.

It wasn’t long before Akutagawa could feel Atsushi staring a hole into his hands. Every time Akutagawa moved his hand to turn a page or cover a cough, Atsushi’s eyes would follow like a hawk

Rather than just ask Atsushi what was wrong, Akutagawa decided to do a little experiment. He had remembered seeing Dazai pat Atsushi’s head a few times in the past, and the weretiger seemed to like it

So without much thought Akutagawa raised his free hand and rested it on Atsushi’s head. Atsushi squeaked a little in surprised confusion before eventually melting into his partners touch

That’s when Akutagawa discovered his favourite thing about Atsushi; thing seven, the jinko purred when he was happy

Though it wasn’t long before Akutagawa learned his least favourite cat trait that Atsushi had

It was getting late and both boys were starting to think Dazai had sent them on a while goose chase (took them long enough)

“I’m starting to think Dazai-san has sent us on a wild goose chase.” Akutagawa huffed out, rubbing his temples with his free hand. The other one was holding three of Atsushi’s shopping bags, apparently they were all gifts for the Agency members.

After a few moments of silence, Akutagawa raised an eyebrow.

“Jinko?”

No response.

“Jinko! Jinko are you listening to me?”

Still no response. Now Akutagawa was starting to get annoyed.

“Jinko you best not have fallen asleep again because I will NOT be carrying you back-“ When Akutagawa finally turned around he was surprised to see Atsushi still following him, and not asleep on a park bench (it had happened earlier, Aku was not happy). Though rather then looking Akutagawa in the face like his partner usually would, Atsushi was staring at his phone.

Okay. Maybe Atsushi just didn’t hear him, the weretiger did have an annoying habit of zoning out during missions when nothing was happening. So Akutagawa stopped and tried again.

“Jinko snap out of whatever trance you’re in. We’re still working remember?”

But rather than Atsushi snapping out of it, stopping in his tracks and apologizing like usual, he just continued walking down the street. It was almost as if he was ignoring Akutagawa.

“Jinko are you ignoring me!? Where are you going!?”

Still no response. Now Akutagawa was getting pissed. No way in hell was he just going to stand by and allow his cat like partner to just ignore him after all the babysitting he had to do! Atsushi had walked off three more times after lunch and Akutagawa did not want to be dragged around another department store.

So Akutagawa stormed over to Atsushi, grabbed his shoulder, spun the weretiger around, and snatched his phone.

“Atsushi look at me damn it!”

That seemed to pull Atsushi out of his daze. ‘Finally!’ Akutagawa thought as Atsushi looked up at him, purple and gold eyes blinking a few times before registering what was happening.

Suddenly Atsushi’s face turned a deep red and his face dropped in horror; Akutagawa had him by the shoulder, Atsushi’s phone in hand, and had actually used his name for once. He messed up and he messed up big.

“A-Akutagawa...I-I-I’m so so so so so s-sorry! Oh, it happened again, and in public this time! I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to, I just kind of zone out and oh my god your probably angry with me now!” Atsushi scrambled out in a mix of embarrassment, guilt, and fear. It was one thing when he accidentally ignored the ADA members...it was another thing to ignore Akutagawa.

Noticing Atsushi’s nervousness, Akutagawa let out a long, drawn out sigh and let go of Atsushi to run his hands over his face. While Akutagawa didn’t appreciate being completely ignored like that, he could tell Atsushi wasn’t doing it on purpose. Honestly, he was starting to think that none of the weird things Atsushi had done today was on purpose.

“It-its fine, just don’t let it happen again”

“Yeah, okay, I’ll try!”

It wasn’t long after that till they realised they had, in fact, been sent on a wild goose chase and neither one was happy about it

“Dazai-san! I can’t believe you would send us out on a fake mission like this! Well, actually I can believe it, but still!” Atsushi had said the moment they entered the ADA office

Dazai, of course, was laying on the couch with a smile on his face that clearly screamed, ‘But you both had a good time didn’t you?’

Despite a few hiccups here and there, Akutagawa and Atsushi had to admit that the day wasn’t all that bad.

They still kicked Dazai off the couch though. They were tired and needed a minute to sit.

It wasn’t long before Atsushi had passed out again, his head laying in Akutagawa’s lap this time.

“Do you want me to move him Akutagawa? It’s getting pretty late?” Dazai had asked when he noticed the silver haired boy had gone quite.

Akutagawa glanced down at his partner; he had covered Atsushi with his jacket so only his face was visible, but even so his face looked the most relaxed it had been all day and he could hear Atsushi’s purring as he combed through his hair. A ghost of a smile tugged at Akutagawa’s lips as he shook his head.

“No, it’s alright. It seems he’s claimed my lap for the time being”

Wow okay, this is my first time doing a set up like this! I hope it turned out good 😅. Like I mentioned earlier this is based off of a mini series on my tiktok (@bigglitchcos) about Atsushi if he had cat urges. Someone had mentioned doing a skit where Shin Soukoku spend the day together, so here’s my take!

Cat!Atsushi hc pt 1 | Cat!Atsushi hc pt 2

Atsushi giving someone in the ADA a dead bird or mouse or something, and they throw it away because, obviously, it's a dead animal what else are they supposed to do with it? and Atsushi is so freaking hurt over it, like yeah his human brain gets it, but his heart is still broken, because that was a present and he worked so hard to give it to them and the rest of the ADA just stares at the person who threw it away like they're absolutely scum for throwing away Atsushi's present as Atsushi tries not to cry in the background.

My only "pet peeve" about Cat Like-Atsushi stories

I don't know if anyone else cares about it, but I care about it so imma talk about it.

Tigers cannot purr.

Basically Roaring and Purring are exclusive. Cats who can purr can not roar and cats who can roar can not purr. Tigers roar, they do not purr.

Now honestly, it doesn't bother me too much, as purring is adorable and Atsushi being able to purr while human can be explained away by "Oh human vocal cords aren't strong enough to roar, so when he's human he can purr instead", but i would like to see some roaring atsushi fics.

Like, maybe Dazai's teasing goes a little too far one day and he roars to warn Dazai to get out of his face, or Kyouka gets lost in a crowd and he roars to find her out of instinct, or if you wanna get shippy he roars as a way to get Akutagawa's attention.

I guess I just wish Tiger habits were explored more was apposed to him just being compared to a domestic cat.

That's all.

Edit: Unrelated, but you know how Snow Leopards carry their tails around in their mouths? I know tigers don't do it, but I kinda wanna see Atsushi do that. Like his tail pops out when he's nervous and he walks around with it in his mouth. Idk it just sounds cute.

Since Atsushi is a cat I think Dazai would want to communicate on his level :D family bonding time

YESSSS to the"feel strongly, that's what you do when you want to experience the past". atsushi's hallucinations mentioned by fake dazai YAY next month has to be about atsushi's ptsd PLSSS (also, AWWW atsushi's expressions when he's overwhelmed😭 i want to hug him)

okay since obviously ive gotten to into catifying atsushi i forgot he was a tiger - as u guys pointed out

this is how a beach episode would ACTUALLY play out in my head - kunikida, dazai, and atsushi focus

kunikida: are you not gonna go swimming dazai?

dazai: nope! i think today im just going to relax in the sand! maybe i'll try and drown myself later tho... what about you?

kunikida: im not swimming either

dazai: awww why not

kunikida: for some reason i dont feel safe getting in the ocean w/ u here

dazai, snickering: aww~ how could you say that~ im so hurt

atsushi, in the background, trying to secretly run away:

dazai: aww atsushi-kun why are you sneaking away

atsushi, startled: me? running away? haha... no i wouldn't

kunikida: atsushi, is everything all right? don't tell me you've decided to not participate in a company wide vacation?

atsushi: no! it's not that

dazai: you cant swim? but you fish me out all the time

atsushi: i know how to swim! i just... i don't really like water

dazai: is it becuz you're a cat?

kunikida and atsushi: he's/im a tiger

kunikida: atsushi don't tigers usually like water

atsushi: well... im not really a tiger... it's just my ability

kunikida: is it becuz dazai's here?he is a rather unsafe person to be near when you're also near wtaer

dazai: how cruel~ atsushi-kun i pinky promise i wont drown you~

atsushi:

atsushi, shyly: you really promise?

dazai, who was just joking: ?????????

kunikida, also flabbergasted: ?????????? did you think one of us would-

atsushi: no! i mean obviously not haha... but you promise...?

dazai:

kunikida:

dazai: of course! we promise not to drown you

kunikida: and to get you out of the water if you're in trouble

atsushi: oh... but didn't you not want to swim

kunikida dazai, professional dgaslighters: that never happened

atsushi: ...oh okay... then i think i'll try to swim... you'll be there?

dazai and kunikida: of course

*later*

dazai: atsushi-kun you really...

kunikida: atsushi, please, it's been 7 hours come back out

atsushi, having the time of his life, eyes sparkling, tail wagging: five more minutes!!

kunikida: you said that last time too...

dazai: atsushi-kun sure likes water

kunikida, fixing his glasses: we have to just grab him and run off quickly

dazai: ooh~ kunikida wants to kidnap someone~? how despciable

kunikida: its not kidnapping its for his own good

dazai: if that helps you sleep at night :3