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“I’m not so sure I should work with you on this, Dazai-san,” Atsushi hedges, staring at the whiteboard that Dazai-san reserved for their clandestine meeting. Kunikida-san thinks that the two of them are actually taking their mission seriously—investigating an Ability-user convicted of a crime even though she claims that she’s been framed and that she’s definitely not an Ability-user. Kunikida-san isn’t exactly wrong, because Dazai-san did his usual thing and produced a folder filled with investigation points plus his guesses about the case.
But, well. That only took five minutes.
Dazai-san is busy annotating on several points on the flowchart he had drawn on the whiteboard.
Atsushi continues: “Seeing that you have your marriage certificate framed on your desk, but Chuuya-san still calls you a friend…”
That does snag Dazai-san’s attention. He’s smiling, but it’s very strained. Because Dazai-san is a good person, Atsushi’s confident that he won’t actually get shot or something for bringing that up.
“At-su-shi-kun,” Dazai-san says really slowly, like he’s thinking about Chuuya-san and is getting distracted and forgetting his name, “do you want in on Akutagawa-kun’s pants or not?”
Well.
That is an easy question.
“Of course, Dazai-san!”
“Then there’s no need to question my plans, is there?”
Atsushi nods enthusiastically, even though he really thinks that maybe Dazai-san should focus on breaking the news to Chuuya-san about his civil status in the eyes of the Japanese government.
-
Will this really work?, Atsushi wonders, as he waits in front of the Armed Detective Agency’s office.
Dazai-san had set it up so that Akutagawa will pick him up in front of the Agency so that they can grab dinner and then watch a movie together afterwards. Dazai-san’s notes include a first kiss in front of Atsushi-kun’s dorm! but Atsushi isn’t holding his breath for that, given that everyone in the Agency (or maybe even the whole Yokohama, except Chuuya-san, that is) knows that Dazai-san’s lips are as pure as virginal snow, given that Chuuya-san had managed to resist his very unsubtle flirting for a nearly a decade now.
Atsushi’s having war flashbacks regarding Dazai-san’s loudly-spoken frustrations over Chuuya-san’s denseness, when Akutagawa arrives with his usual gimmick of coughing to announce his presence. Atsushi’s entire body shivers and he forces himself to imagine depressing thoughts—orphanage, claws, spilled chazuke—so that he won’t do something drastic, like transform to a tiger and purr and wind himself against Akutagawa’s legs. It’s a lot harder to accomplish, given that Atsushi’s gaping uselessly at Akutagawa wearing casual clothes—that double-breasted black trenchcoat and black sunglasses, Atsushi—
Atsushi’s died and gone to heaven.
-
Once Atsushi wakes up, it’s to the slow whirring of a ceiling fan. It’s a pretty familiar sight—and Atsushi realizes that he’s passed out in the couch of the Agency, the one where Dazai-san likes to loiter around when he’s busy listening obsessively to whatever Chuuya-san is doing, courtesy of the bug he placed on Chuuya-san’s choker. (It’s yet another fact that Atsushi would be fine to never know about, but Dazai-san had never been shy of spilling his thoughts about Chuuya-san.)
Something unfamiliar though—Atsushi’s head is cradled in a warm lap.
He almost faints again, especially when Akutagawa notices that he’s already awake and flicks a finger over his forehead.
“You are causing a delay in our plans for this evening, jinko.” Akutagawa’s still wearing his sunglasses even though it’s late afternoon and they’re inside an office. It would be comical on any other person, but it just looks so good on Akutagawa that Atsushi thinks he’s about to faint again from his blood leaving his head in a rush. “Dazai-san would be disappointed to know that you can’t even accomplish something of this caliber.”
Atsushi can’t even find it in himself to be jealous, because even Akutagawa’s still-lingering attachment to receiving Dazai-san’s praise is adorable in his eyes. Of course, it didn’t start out like that, but after two years of being molded as the “new soukoku”, and way-too-many times of him fighting with and alongside Akutagawa and seeing his pale skin and nimble fingers and glaring face is enough to blind Atsushi to common sense. (Atsushi consoles himself by thinking that he at least hasn’t married Akutagawa yet without the man knowing, because that just reeks of desperation.)
“Let’s go now, I’ll be fine.”
“You should be,” Akutagawa states coolly. His voice sounds gravelly and it rings in the silence of the Agency’s office, most of its workers already gone for the day. He doesn’t help Atsushi to sit up, but he does offer to hold Atsushi’s hand as they make their way out of the Agency and towards their dinner destination. Atsushi’s hands are cold by the time they reach a restaurant that boasts of several chazuke flavors, but that’s mostly because Akutagawa’s idea of hand-holding is aggressive enough to cut off one’s circulation.
To Atsushi’s surprise, he does get a kiss after Akutagawa walks him back home, stating that Atsushi is prone to getting kidnapped and Akutagawa’s not about to disappoint Dazai-san by losing sight of him before their date is officially over.
Akutagawa boxes him against his door, Atsushi’s back protesting against being jammed against the doorknob unceremoniously, but that’s not even important, because Akutagawa’s worrying the skin on Atsushi’s throat between his chapped lips, nibbling and sucking at it in alternating motions. Rashomon has formed a sphere around them, hiding them from anyone’s view, because Atsushi’s pretty sure that Dazai-san is spying on them.
Akutagawa’s been doing a lot of physical training over the years under Chuuya-san’s tutelage—and it shows, given that he’s able to hold Atsushi down and prevent him from climbing Akutagawa like a tree. Akutagawa’s hands are on Atsushi’s shoulders, keeping him in place even as he attempts to writhe against Akutagawa’s body. Atsushi’s chest trembles and he’s purring and he can’t even think about stopping the sounds from escaping him, as Akutagawa lavishes his throat with nipping kisses. His skin aches in a very good way, and there must be a line of red around his neck, up his chin and until his earlobe, because now Akutagawa’s biting and licking at his ear.
Atsushi shivers and pants and shudders, all inside Akutagawa’s cage.
“Invite me inside,” Akutagawa murmurs against Atsushi’s ear. Atsushi only purrs louder in response, nearly kicking his door down in his excitement. Atsushi’s last coherent thought is that—wow, we’re defeating soukoku right now—but even that is lost to even more purring, as Akutagawa leads them to his futon.
-
The next day:
“…maybe I should be the one to give you advice, Dazai-san,” Atsushi says as he limps to his desk. Because Dazai-san is a good person, Atsushi only gets a scathing glare and no invites for a free-chazuke lunch, instead of Dazai-san extending a leg out to trip him.
Once Atsushi reaches his desk, blushing at Ranpo-san’s smirk and Yosano-san’s wink, he types out a message to Ryuunosuke:
i bet that chuuya-san will finally get a clue if he sees us getting married
Atsushi gets a reply a minute later:
kneel in front of me and ask me that again later, jinko
Atsushi grins.
They’re really winning against soukoku.