Work Text:
The soft pitter-patter of raindrops hitting the roof of the bookstore made Atsushi’s weekly visit feel more relaxing in a strange way. He lingered at the fantasy section for a moment longer, deciding on which novel to buy — the last novel of a fantasy series that made him look at countless theories on how it will all end or an intriguing synopsis from a dystopian novel.
Atsushi was busy deciding which novel to buy, oblivious to the sudden transition of rainfall being light to heavy under a few minutes. Okay! I’ll pick this one, he thinks while keeping the novel with a fantasy cover and putting the other back onto the bookshelf.
After the light grey-haired man placed his recently bought novel into his bag, he stepped out onto the sidewalk with the rain still pouring heavily. Out of all the days that Atsushi brought his umbrella with him for this week, the weather always ended with no visible grey clouds in the sky. It just had to be today, he thought to himself, trying to remember why he didn’t bring his umbrella today.
Worried that his bag (mainly the novel he bought and some papers that Kunikida asked him to take care of) would get drenched to the point where there’ll be no print on it, Atsushi moves his bag in front of him and tries to hunch over, hoping to keep it dry until he finds a sheltered area.
The rain kept pouring when he reached the stoplight. Atsushi was going through the same thinking process ever since he got out of the bookstore. My clothes are soaked, it’s cold and I took the night shift today. I also didn’t sleep much today. Why is this happening today? Especially today.
It was around the third time he repeated the rain mantra he made up on the spot when the raindrops stopped falling on him. Atsushi started going through a list of why he’s sheltered from the rain but it wasn’t until he heard a voice speak to him that made him realise the most obvious answer — someone shared their umbrella with him.
“Do you still want to stand in the rain?”
Although the voice lacked sarcasm since the last time Atsushi’s seen him, he remembers him. “You’re Gin-chan’s brother! From that time in the hospital!” He blurts out looking at him.
Whatever Akutagawa said to him earlier missed him because he had to ask Atsushi again if he wanted to stand under the rain. “Of course I don’t!” He replied, starting to walk alongside him under Akutagawa’s plain, black umbrella.
It was a good thing the intersection they were in had a longer crossing time which was around thirty-five seconds or else they would have to wait another three minutes for the next crossing.
The walk to the nearest sheltered area was quiet. All the adjectives Gin used to describe her brother when bringing him up during their conversations were all synonyms with words like quiet and stoic.
Before they were a step away from the bus stop along the strip of covered area, Akutagawa told him something nice.
“Take the umbrella with you.”
Blinking his eyes for a few seconds, Atsushi thought about the other man’s offer. “No, thank you. We’re already at a covered area so it’s okay! Plus the bus stop is also just a minute away.” Akutagawa looks at him and the pleasant mood is destroyed once he replies.
“But you look like a drenched cat from one of those pictures online.”
Atsushi sets aside his embarrassment and refuses his offer yet again. Not because he made fun of him, no. “It doesn’t matter because I’ll at least be dried up halfway through the trip back home.” His statement makes Akutagawa raise his eyebrows questioningly, pinching his nose bridge before saying something. “Just take the umbrella for whatever it is inside that bag of yours.”
Ah. My bag. The one that holds my new and beloved fantasy novel. And papers Kunikida entrusted to me today.
Atsushi must’ve conveyed his question: how did you know what was inside on his face perfectly because Akutagawa answers it spot on. “You placed it in front of you and you were hunching your back to cover the bag.”
“Just take it.”
Akutagawa extends his right arm out holding his black umbrella out to Atsushi. When he didn't take it, the raven-haired man took Atsushi’s left arm and tried to put his umbrella in his grasp. There’ll be no end to this, Atsushi thinks.
When he finally grips his hand around the umbrella, he sees a hint of relief wash over Akutagawa.
“I’ll be on my way.”
As quick as they met, he turned the other way and started to blend in with the rush-hour crowd. Atsushi hopes that the 'thank you' he shouts reaches him.
—
The comfort of warm clothes and the thick blanket wrapped around Atsushi’s squatting figure helped relieve the coldness of being drenched earlier fade away. He stayed in that position for at least ten minutes, exchanging messages with Gin about his encounter with Akutagawa.
That is until Gin pointed out the tear in the umbrella when he sent a photo to her. Rushing to the torn fabric, Atsushi scoops up Jinko in his arms to try and get his cat away from causing any more damage to the umbrella. The light grey-haired man grabs his phone from the couch and calls Kyouka.
“Hi Kyouka-chan, are you busy with anything at the moment?” Atsushi asks with fondness in his voice as he runs his fingers through Jinko’s fur. “I’m heading to your door as we speak.” The younger girl replies with no hesitation as the sound of her door closing is heard from her side of the call.
The worried nurse didn’t have to wait long until his friend arrived. She stood there, knocking at Atsushi’s door, her usual pigtails were styled into one Dutch braid with some short hair poking out of the woven hair. “What’s wrong Atsu? Are you okay?”
Izumi Kyouka is a godsend for better or for worse, the latter option only occurs when Atsushi oversleeps through the time he’s supposed to be walking into Yokohama Hospital’s grounds. He gestured for her to follow him and points to the black umbrella with the obvious tear in the fabric once it’s in sight. “You know how to sew!” Kyouka tells Atsushi bluntly. “But just plainly sewing it together wouldn’t be enough!” The antsy man replied, giving her Jinko before throwing his hands in the air, defeated.
“Atsu, so you wanna learn embroidery?” From Kyouka’s reply, he stood up, nodding his head like a madman. “Yes! I forgot the word earlier but you know how to do it right?”
The raven-haired girl lifts Jinko, making faces to the feline creature. “I do.” She pauses before lifting the cat down. “Only basic patterns, not as intricate as Kou-neesan does it. Did you have an idea in mind?”
“I did, but isn’t Kou-neesan busy with the school festival for most of this week?” Atsushi mentions while hanging his head low, scrolling through his phone to look for the picture reference. Kyouka sat down beside him, changing the way she was holding Jinko. “Show me the reference first and I’ll evaluate how difficult it’ll be to do.”
“Also, what’s making you put so much effort into beautifying an umbrella’s tear?”
The imposing question his friend asked made him stop his search for the photo. Kyouka shoots him a questioning look, scrutinizing Atsushi’s facial expression as much as she can, waiting for an opening where he just gives away the answer before even spelling it out loud. “That’s not your umbrella, I’d know it in a heartbeat. Are you being blackmailed? Or threatened? Or is your life on the line that you have to make a pretty umbrella? Who’s umbrella even is this?” Both of them know that Atsushi’s poker face game is the weakest, so it was only a matter of seconds before Kyouka knew.
“You know Gin-chan right?” Atsushi starts, trying to regain his composure under Kyouka’s keen stare. When she nods, he continues to tell his encounter with her brother.
“You told me that you didn’t mind him when you were his nurse right? Why are you suddenly fearing he might go all berserk on you all of a sudden just because your cat tore his umbrella?” Kyouka responds while moving Jinko in different circular motions, shaking him when she says ‘berserk’.
“Please stop spinning him around like that, I’m becoming dizzy just by looking at my cat.”
“Then tell me why you’re putting this much effort into Gin-san’s brother!”
“It’s common courtesy!”
“That’s not enough reason to waste an entire hour or so into making the umbrella look nice! Not to mention all of the threads you’re willing to waste just to keep your connection with him on the good side. You’re already on his good side if he gave or lent you his umbrella!”
She does make a very good point, Atsushi thinks.
“I understand that you want to make it look better because you think you’re at fault for tearing the fabric but simple reparations are also good. But you don’t have to give your 120% to someone you’ve barely interacted with. Most of which is when he was hospitalised and was a grumpy baby towards you.”
It is good advice for him and he knows he should take it without feeling bad about not giving more effort. “You’re wise Kyouka-chan,” Atsushi tells her before embracing his friend and thanking her a million times. The raven-haired girl knows that she has a bias towards the rude attitude Akutagawa had towards Atsushi. She couldn’t understand why he was so guarded, as if Atsushi would steal something from him. An important thing she couldn’t understand is why Atsushi was willing to decorate Akutagawa’s umbrella.
“We can still embroider it if you want. But ask Gin-san first.” Kyouka delivers her sentence quietly as she feels guilt creep inside her mind for overstepping her boundaries. Atsushi smiles and thanks her as he makes his way to the umbrella.
“I’m sorry too if I went a bit too far with this whole thing,” she timidly says out loud. Atsushi knows Kyouka has good intentions for him because, with his flighty naivety, he tends to get carried away and deals with the consequential damage it brings him. “I’ll tell you if I get the go signal from Gin-chan and if I still want to continue to embroider the umbrella.”
“Right, anyways where’s your reference?”
“I think I’ll make one from scratch.” He replies, an idea forming in his mind as he sees Jinko play with a ball of yarn.
—
“Atsu, how’s the umbrella project going?” Kyouka’s voice fills the room. “Hi, Kyouka-chan!” Another voice is heard from the opposite end.
“Am I on speaker?”
“Yes.”
“Hi, Ken-chan! Where’s Atsu?” She asks with a hint of concern mixing in her tone.
“Over here!” Another voice shouts. “The umbrella project for my part is already done. Gin-chan said that he doesn’t mind embroidery. ‘Just as long as it’s not crowded’ is a quote from him, if you ever need to ask me for supporting evidence.”
“Really!? It's good to know you can embroider your heart out until you run out of threads on the umbrella’s fabric.” Kyouka sarcastically jokes, chuckling out the last few words. “But make sure you come to me first before you start to embroider it. You don’t want to dive headfirst and start embroidering without firsthand knowledge.”
“Yes ma’am, I’ll make sure to report to you!” Atsushi continues the banter, saluting after replying to her and marching around the small break room. Kyouka laughs, they exchange their goodbyes and end the call.
“You cannot tell Kyouka that I messed up big time on the prototype umbrella!” The light grey-haired man hurriedly told Kenji. His fellow nurse colleague stared at him with wide eyes, but the shock wasn’t anywhere seen on his face. “Knowing you Atsu, you would’ve tried something first without the consultation of experts,” he tells him, mimicking his previous epic failures in the past few years.
Atsushi brought an old umbrella he had no use for with him today, hoping he could work on an idea during his breaks but there didn’t seem to be enough time especially when the eagle-like Yosano is there, lurking around the halls of Yokohama Hospital. She’s been pushed out of pictures for the past five times they’ve gone to eat lunch with Kunikida which is why she’s been trying to wedge in the pictures by showering Atsushi with more friendliness and enticing him to go eat chazuke with her, more so than usual.
Speaking of the devil herself, she enters the break room, asking what they were doing. Her voice startles Atsushi and he immediately slammed his locker, trying his best to scramble the numbers on his lock as he hears Yosano’s heels click louder and louder, with an ominous silent beat in between. “Hiding something?” She asks with a devilish grin, tapping her fingers on the table.
“Hiding what?” Atsushi tries his best to feign ignorance about what transpired seconds ago. “I’m just practising my strong-locker-slam, nothing else. Nothing weird going on. I swear I am not hiding illegal items inside.” He hopes that his reply would brush off as usual banter with his superior because if Yosano knows he’s made a mistake on the umbrella, she will not hesitate to call Kouyou. Which then leads to Kyouka finding out. Meaning he will be in a storm, starting from the drizzle of ‘okay, we’ll do this all over again’ to the pouring of ‘why didn’t you tell us you were starting this, we could’ve helped you'.
“Let me see how strong your ‘strong-locker-slam’ is.” Yosano points to the locker with a smile on her face. The light grey-haired man tenses at her remark, knowing that if he opens his locker, she’ll be able to see the umbrella clearly. “How about we don’t? My beefy arm is pretty much tired from all the practices I did just now.” He holds his lanky, right arm out and playfully acts as if he’s got muscles to flex. Atsushi looks at Kenji, using all of his might to send a telepathic message to him, pleading to divert Yosano’s attention from him.
The message was received although the execution wasn’t what Atsushi thought it would be. “Yo-chan, Atsu told me that he and Kunikida-san were planning another lunch get-together this Friday! It was supposed to be a surprise and I think I might’ve spoiled it by telling you now.”
The short-haired woman gradually formed a Cheshire cat smile on her face. “Do you mean it? I have waited so long for this! Finally! Was that why you flung your locker shut when I came into the room?” Yosano’s excitement coated her words, as she jumped up and down and moved around the break room, filling it with clickety-clackety noises caused by her heels.
Atsushi smiled and nodded his head, pretending to act disappointed at Kenji’s supposed ‘spoiler’ for Yosano. As she revels in the wonderful news, Atsushi begins to think about how he will deliver the information to Kunikida.
“Well, how about that? I can finally be included in the pictures for this Friday.” She declared with a smile plastered on her face. The ambience in the room became calm with the doctor’s focus diverted from Atsushi’s locker to the expected lunch in a few days. He sighs deeply, relieved from Kenji’s save. As soon as Yosano bid her goodbyes with them and stepped out of the room, Atsushi spouts at least 10 phrases of thank you’s to Kenji.
“I know how Yo-chan gets, so I figured you needed more time to correct your mistake. But, do you have money to spend this Friday?”
“It’ll be fine! I haven’t used my one-time monthly free chazuke deal with Kunikida-san for this month. It’s gonna turn out great!”
Atsushi prays to every deity he could think of, that it will.
—
The lively banter between three fully grown adults caused a few displeasing looks from passers-by on the street. Yosano continues about the preschool event Kouyou was participating in, boasting about her girlfriend as she shows ten different pictures of the red-haired woman donning a traditional Japanese kimono with an apron on top.
Atsushi listens keenly as he tries to memorise the menu Kouyou’s class has while Kunikida manages to write details about the event in his journalism notebook. “Wait but it’s the end of the week Yo-chan, wouldn’t that mean the end of the event?” Atsushi asks her, dramatically stopping in his tracks as if a godly revelation had been whispered into his ear.
“That’s right, my bright nurse! I am so glad we went out today. If we didn’t, I’d have taken us to the preschool event.” The doctor smiled playfully, humming a song as she continued walking.
The two men stare dumbfoundedly at Yosano’s back walking away from them and then at each other. “We could’ve gone to the school event.” Kunikida repeats out loud, heavily affected by the bombshell dropped. She knew he was craving a change from their weekly lunch at the izakaya by the hospital, and she clearly used it to her advantage - just for a damned picture.
Atsushi thought for a moment as they neared Kunikida’s building. “Were you really going to take us to Kouyou-san’s class cafe?” He questions the doctor knowing she likes to fool around with them, which causes them to be wary about her past invitations such as her treat at places highly recommended by food bloggers. There was only one time she actually did out of the thirty times Yosano brought the idea up.
“Maybe. You can ask Kyouka-chan about it. She may or may not have any idea about it.”
“Thanks a lot for a vague and disbelieving response as always.” Kunikida says as he jokingly does a thumbs up with a hidden frustration in his smile. He takes his leave as they stop in front of his office building, a few of his co-workers greeting him as they pass by and exchange short pleasantries with them. The blond-haired man waves back at Atsushi and Yosano a few times before he enters through the automatic glass doors.
“Want to check something out before we continue to the hospital?” Yosano moves her arm in a circular motion around the area as she eyes Atsushi, knowing the nurse will remember something later during the shift.
Atsushi lights up and answers her by pointing to the direction of the nearest bookstore. “I just remembered looking for an embroidery book.” His reply made the doctor raise her eyebrow, quick at picking up at what one is up to. However, the light grey-haired man doesn’t realise the huge hint he gave her.
“I’ll see you back there!” He says to her, already running to catch the crossing from the other side.
Yosano smiles as she shouts goodbye his way. She heads toward the hospital’s direction with an idea about what Atsushi’s hiding — he must’ve messed up an embroidery project without telling Kouyou or Kyouka about it.
—
Yosano’s text earlier didn’t make Atsushi feel worried. That used to be the case when they were first acquainted. He thought she sent someone to kill him in his sleep because of how menacing the tone of her message was - ‘You’re not going to be alone tonight.’ Atsushi ended up asking Gin and Chuuya to stay with him the entire night. What Yosano meant by ‘not being alone tonight’ was an unorthodox way of Atsushi’s surprise birthday party.
The entire affair was a mess but it ended well. Atsushi braced himself for another ‘surprise’ party shenanigan she planned; however, he really shouldn’t have let his guard down.
Inside his living room was Kyouka and Kouyou-san. Unexpected visitor(s). How did Yosano-san know I was working on the umbrella? Kouyou broke Atsushi from his reverie with a simple question. “Is this person worth the trouble for you to be spending your free time decorating the umbrella they lent you?”
He resigned easily and nodded his head. “I’m relieved Yo-chan figured it out. I was itching to ask you about how to continue with it, considering I messed up with it earlier this week but it's on an old umbrella I don't use anymore.” Atsushi hands the prototype and Akutagawa's umbrella to Kouyou, who was eager to look at it especially because of the ‘stories’ she’s heard from everyone about how the Akutagawa and Atsushi situation came to be. Being a preschool teacher lessens her source of things that intrigues her.
Kouyou carefully inspects each stitch woven into the fabric of the prototype. “Can you show me the reference for this?” The nurse nods and fishes in his backpack for a notepad. As he flips through the pages to find the reference, Atsushi asks if his embroidered design can be applicable to the umbrella. “Not necessarily dear. Your design would be a waste if you applied it on the fabric of the umbrella but if the strap of it is large and wide enough, it’d be a great area to put it on.”
Atsushi gives the reference picture to Kouyou with Kyouka snaking behind her to peer as well. “I expected it to be another cat-related piece,” Kouyou jokingly tells him. There was a short pause as all three of them looked at the reference picture and umbrella. “Atsushi, you’re sure that you want to embroider this umbrella?” He nodded immediately at Kouyou’s question, sure that it was worth a try to revamp a plain umbrella.
“Okay, let the embroider-umbrella operation begin!” She says with a smile before telling Kyouka and Atsushi what they needed to do.
—
Atsushi finds himself in the bookstore again but this time he’s in the crafts section. Spending that entire forty-minute or so seeing Kouyou’s expertise in embroidery opened a whole new world for him to explore, another hobby he will not excel nor fail at surprisingly. He wanted to find books with embroidery patterns to test with his newfound motivation.
He bumps into someone and as cliché as this trope has been used, the nurse never thought it would happen to him. He didn’t even have to guess who the person was. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have stepped in too close.” Akutagawa bows his head and Atsushi starts to laugh. The raven-haired man raises his head, thrown completely off guard by thinking he did something funny. “I’m sorry as well, I shouldn’t be laughing but the way you took the situation was a bit too serious.” Atsushi replies and his laughter dies down.
They become silent for a few seconds before Atsushi remembers he brought Akutagawa’s umbrella. “I believe this belongs to you.” He holds the umbrella as if he’s offering a knight his sword. “I may have added a splash of colour so if you happen to not like it, you have to tell me immediately so I can buy you a new one while you’re here.”
Akutagawa looks at him confused, before taking his umbrella and examining where the ‘splash of colour’ was. He finds it at the strap keeping the umbrella folded neatly. Ripping the strap away from the fuzzy velcro, the full image becomes clear. It was an embroidered pattern of cats with different fur colours scattered within the given amount of space.
A small smile forms on his lips and says “this makes it easier to differentiate my umbrella now at least”. Atsushi stands still, bewildered that a mellow response was the real outcome from Akutagawa. He played different scenarios in his head countless times, preparing himself to meet the same grumpy Akutagawa he met at the hospital. “Are you okay?”
His question breaks Atsushi from his string of thoughts. “I - uh, yes. I just thought it would end - never mind about it.” He shakes the idea out of his head but it seems that Akutagawa picked up on it. “Oh, you thought I would act the same way I did when I was confined at the hospital?”
The light grey-haired man nodded sheepishly. “Rejecting my revamped umbrella would be befitting of me considering people think I’m cold or terrifying even. I do apologise for the way I acted then.”
“It was some time ago so don't let it bug you. Have you been taking care of yourself? A reminder that you were confined because you overworked.”
“I have and will keep that as a reminder. Thank you for decorating this plain umbrella of mine but I have a meeting to attend. It was nice seeing you around Nakajima-san.”
Akutagawa leaves Atsushi stunned. Now, this is something to talk about with Gin-chan, he thinks before finally choosing a pattern book to buy.