Chapter Text
The sun beat down relentlessly on Suoh, who was slowly trudging his way back to the apartment that he and Munakata shared. It was just after lunch, which happened to be the hottest time of the day, making Suoh particularly lethargic, more so than usual, considering yesterday’s party.
It was someone’s anniversary yesterday, for who, Suoh didn’t remember, for what, Suoh didn’t remember that either. All that mattered to him was that Kusanagi and Yata cooked up a feast, and there was a lot of meat dishes. That he clearly remembered. The delicious moist pieces of steak, the perfectly charred pieces of pork belly and chicken… Definitely remembered those.
After the feast, the boys were rowdy as usual, chatting away excitedly, congratulating whoever they were celebrating for and when the alcohol came in, their energy shot through the roof. It became clear that Suoh wasn’t going to be able to sleep peacefully that night and ended up nodding off for brief periods of time before shaken awake to join whatever game they were playing. Only when the Sun came in the morning, then did the boys finally crash, finally giving Suoh some peace and quiet. He took a quick lunch before finally leaving the bar which led to the current situation, where Suoh was beyond his usual level of exhaustion and was intent on getting back into his bed and crashing for a good twelve hours.
When Suoh finally reached the apartment building, the cooler interior greeted him with a light breeze, bringing relief to his sweating and overheated body. He routinely headed to his apartment room, barely registering anything, like that mischievous teenager boy standing suspiciously at the end of the corridor. As Suoh unlocked the door, the boy dashed towards him, giving him the lightest tap to his shoulder before disappearing down the stairs.
However, Suoh didn’t have any energy to react to the boy or the crimson shiny smoke that surrounded him or that he was now standing on four large, furry paws. He padded heavily into the apartment and straight into the dark bedroom where a King-Sized bed was waiting for him. He unceremoniously plopped himself down into the soft and refreshing sheets, letting out a lazy yawn before knocking out, his tail curling around his body.
While the Slate has been destroyed, Scepter 4’s work never ended. Despite the King’s and clansmen’s aura having faded together with its source, the abilities of strain did not seem to have been affected as strongly, with them still having troubling skills to cause havoc in the city.
This was one of those days, where an urgent report has been filed in into the headquarters, where a strain has been wrecking chaos in the city, turning human beings into animals. The culprit was a relatively young man, most likely still a student in high school, with a cheerful and playful exterior. While it wasn’t too high of a concern, Munakata was intrigued by the Strain’s power and decided to tag along with the team sent out to capture him. Fushimi, who was in charge of this particular chase, grumbled under his breath, that if Captain has that much free time on his hands for a field trip, he could have stayed in his office and finish up the paperwork waiting for him, to which Munakata gave a sparkling smile to. Fushimi clicked his tongue and looked away. He never liked that look that his captain gave him, he just didn’t know how to react to it.
They soon caught sight of the strain, running through the streets, where multi-coloured smoke trailed after him. Once the smoke cleared, every variety of animal could be seen, like koalas, bears, turtles, giraffes, hawks and more. Thankfully, the animals still retained their sense of humanity, if not it would have been chaotic to stop the predators from attacking the preys.
The team quickly evacuated from the van, choosing to chase after the perpetrator on foot. Fushimi, having memorised every cranny and nook of Shizume City, quickly barked out orders, sending his troops in separate groups to round up the culprit, intending to trap him.
Munakata merely sat in the van, observing serenely the chaotic scene and sipped his tea. How did he have time to prepare his tea and bring it along, no one knew and remained a Scepter 4 mystery.
Fushimi released another annoyed click at his superior before dashing off, intent on catching the strain and returning to his desk. There was a stack of reports waiting for him and he was keen on finishing earlier than usual today since he had made plans with Yata.
After the incident with Jungle, the pair have been gradually warming up to one another again, though Yata had to put in a hefty amount of effort to drag the stubborn and workaholic Fushimi out to meet him. Furthermore, just the other day, when they were sharing a warm and homemade dinner courtesy of Yata in their old apartment, Yata had accidentally let slip that he still had romantic feelings for Fushimi, to which made both the boys blush furiously.
Yata was stammering, desperate to take back his words and looked like he was about to combust on the spot. Even so, he didn’t move an inch where he sat, glancing nervously to gauge Fushimi’s reaction.
Fushimi was initially taken aback by the confession and shocked by the mere miracle that his feelings were reciprocated. He had honestly thought that Yata wouldn’t have liked him in that manner, considering his blushing state whenever he spoke to girls and it just never occurred to Fushimi that not only would Yata would swing that way, but to like him of all people.
Fushimi knew he wasn’t going to win any awards with that personality of his, but still, the confession still made demure delight and happiness swell within his chest. He had muttered out shyly afterwards, loud enough over Yata’s stutters, that he had felt the same way, leaving Yata stunned before he was tackled by a hug from an overexcited but still blushing Yata.
That day after, he was considerably less grumpy than usual and snapped less, which left most of the team shocked, like is Fushimi-san…happy? Munakata had congratulated him out of the blue, when they passed by one another in an empty corridor, leaving Fushimi not only annoyed by how did Captain find out this time but also meek, quickly turning on his heels and leaving with his slightly red ears and a beaming Captain.
As Fushimi lost himself slightly in his thoughts, he made a turn and crashed into another, not at all noticing that someone was dashing out from the alley he was about to turn into. Fushimi let out an indignant sound as he burst into a cobalt-blue sparkling smoke. He instinctively threw out commands, as usual, only to find out that his voice came out in literal barks.
Thankfully, the teams he had sent out managed to successfully carry out his plan anyway and caught the strain. When the smoke finally clear, it revealed a raven coloured wolf that flashed a dark blue when its sleek fur was caught in the sunlight. There were clothes scattered around the wolf, with knives peeking out between the cloth and a large Scepter 4 sword at the side. The wolf looked extremely sullen and there was a pair of spectacles that rested upon its snout that was askew and was way too wide for the wolf’s slender head.
Having impeccable timing like always, Munakata was at the scene of the capture and his eyes gleamed with amusement and curiosity as they met Fushimi’s crystal blue eyes.
“Oya? Fushimi-kun?”
A chorus of surprised “Fushimi-san?!” erupted from the team, causing Fushimi to use his front two paws to push his now oversensitive ears down against his head in a weak attempt to protect his hearing, letting out a pathetic whine.
Though the team was charmed by Fushimi’s adorable appearance and sounds, they knew that if they didn’t capture and interrogate the strain soon, Fushimi was going to be extremely unhappy. An unhappy Fushimi in wolf form would probably equate to even scarier and ear-piercing barks and sharp nips.
The strain when properly captured and handcuffed to be brought back to Scepter 4, his ability immediately was cancelled out by the cuffs, resulting in numerous poofs of smoke occurring along the streets where the animals were now changed back to their original forms. However, the strain didn’t warn them in time that when the animals changed back, the people would be as bare as the day they were born, resulting in chaos and screams as the affected people quickly grabbed their clothes and found a secluded corner to save their dignity.
As the squad observed the crowds, they quickly turned back to peek at their third in command, expecting to see smoke and possibly a naked Fushimi, but to their surprise, a black wolf stared right back at them, with no signs of changing back at all.
As a result, they turned back to the Strain, demanding silent an answer with their puzzled gaze.
“I’m not sure why he didn’t change back but maybe it’s because he was previously a clansman? When you cuffed me, my ability was released without my control, but it seems that my ability turns out to be quite compatible with him and refuse to dissipate from his body?”
“Then how are we supposed to get Fushimi-san back?!”
“Hey, chill man. I can kinda feel my ability returning to me, just at…a much slower rate compared to the other people. I think he will eventually change back but I can’t tell you when.”
When Fushimi heard what the Strain had so nonchalantly said, he couldn’t help but slap a paw over his eyes in irritation with a rumbling growl escaping from his throat while Munakata continued standing by the sidelines, extremely entertained and amused with the current situation.
They soon headed back to Tsubaki-mon, deciding that there was no longer anything that they could do in the streets and brought the strain back, together with a sulky wolf and a beaming Captain.
First and foremost, with their third-in-command being a wolf and not knowing when he was going to change back and being unable to communicate with him, they had decided that they would have to settle his long-term accommodation for him. Knowing Fushimi and his tendency to neglect his health, it was almost certain that Fushimi was going to have trouble keeping himself alive and as such, they contacted Yata Misaki, HOMRA’s vanguard and the person who probably would know how to take care of his wellbeing the best.
When Yata received a call from Scepter 4, he was apprehensive before he reluctantly picked up the call, in the case when Saruhiko could possibly be in trouble. With a curt greeting and a brief message telling him to head to Scepter 4’s headquarters to pick Fushimi up with no other information before hanging up, Yata frowned at his phone, wondering what on earth did that stupid monkey do this time.
When he showed up at Tsubaki-mon, Yata was still intimidated by its grandeur and size, concluding that he would probably never get used to this place no matter how many times he dropped by. He was soon greeted by Akiyama, one of the team members who he got on relatively well with due to his calm demeanour that allowed for most people to get along with him easily. When he entered the office, the black wolf with a downwards tilt of his mouth caught him immediate attention, reminding immediately and distinctly of Saruhiko. Munakata, someone that still creeped Yata out with his shining smiles, greeted him politely before introducing him to the wolf who was indeed Saruhiko who was affected by a Strain.
Yata took a while to process the information in his mind before an amused huff escaped his tightly sealed lips.
“Pfft.”
The wolf sharply turned his azure eyes towards Yata who could barely hold back his laughter, and his frown turned even more prominently when Yata gave up holding back and burst out in hearty laughter. Fushimi, clearly not as amused as the Captain next to him or Yata who was even tearing up slightly from excessive laughing, pounced on Yata, pleased that even as a wolf, Misaki was still short enough for him to push down. Yata let out a surprised yelp as he fell on the wall and was faced with a scowling, unhappy wolf.
He just good-naturedly rubbed the top of Fushimi’s head between his pointy ears while smiling away, ruffling up the soft fur and completely unafraid of the razor-sharp canine teeth in his face. Fushimi, though not pleased in any way, still couldn’t help but give in to the comforting rubs on his head, relaxing his muscles unintentionally and his tail swayed leisurely back and forth. By then he was sitting on Yata’s chest, nuzzling into Yata's hand with the end of tail sweeping across Yata’s thighs. The rest of the team looked on, amused by how affectionate Fushimi could be and glad that their third in command did indeed have some form of happiness in his life.
Scepter 4 had, fortunately, provided a large enough cage for Fushimi to be carried in for Yata to transport him back to his apartment, which had Fushimi in an irritable mood once again as he was gently coaxed by Yata into the possibly claustrophobic inducing cage.
Munakata was content with how the day had turned out and was still mildly entertained by today’s turn of events. With strains, they could either be a form of headache or amusement depending on how dangerous their abilities were and how malicious their intent was. Thankfully, the strain captured today was just a playful student who was bored and decided to go all out in the streets filled with busy people. Apparently seeing busy adults panic like little children was a form of enjoyment to him.
Once he was satisfied with what he had finished for today, Munakata packed up and headed back to the apartment he shared with Suoh, greeting his subordinates a good job done today as well as a good night as he left the building.
When he arrived back at the apartment block, the moment he stepped out of the lift and into the corridor, what immediately caught his attention was the pile of clothes outside their apartment. Upon closer inspection, he recognised the ripped clothes as the clothes Suoh always wore and had multiple copies of, a shredded white cotton shirt, his black and torn jeans, sneakers and his favourite fur jacket divided in half.
The gears churned swiftly within Munakata’s head, quickly linking today’s event with the familiar situation he observed right at his doorstep. He sighed tiredly when he thought with what he possibly had to deal with and wonder if the amusement he felt at Fushimi was now biting him back as karma.
He gathered up the clothes in his arms, it was unsightly to leave them outside the door after all, and headed into the dark but otherwise almost silent apartment. When he paid extremely close attention, he could make out a light snore that could be likened to a gentle deep rumble. He made his way across the empty living room and seeing that his lover wasn’t present, he headed straight to the bedroom, where he usually would expect to find Suoh lazing the day away. However, when he opened the door, he couldn’t confidently say that he was entirely prepared to find a snoozing lion on their bed.
The lion wasn’t small like Fushimi, he was an adult-sized lion, who easily took up the entire bed and could probably easily take out even a tall man like Munakata. When the door had open, Suoh’s curved ears slowly flickered up, before one of his eyes lazily opened, revealing bright golden orbs gleaming in the darkness. Munakata let out another sigh, feeling a headache coming on.