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Atsushi had been looking for his pet chameleon for hours— he checked the laundry basket, kitchen cabinets, under the beds and every corner of the house, but the little beast was nowhere to be found. He decided to look in the garden and Akutagawa volunteered to help, except that his only intention was to watch Atsushi climb some trees.
"You've been looking for him all day," Akutagawa says after a while. "Maybe he doesn't want to be found."
"What if something bad happend to him?" Akutagawa raises a brow and Atsushi laughs. "Of course you're not worried. He takes after you, even in wearing black. I bet he's out there with the other chameleon gangsters spreading terror in the chameleon society. Maybe he sprouts a Rashomon of his own. I wouldn't expect anything less."
Akutagawa shoots him a glare, and Atsushi bites his lip to keep from laughing. He often argued that the animal learned everything from Akutagawa; his stealth, his black camouflage and even his fearsome presence.
"Besides, Kyouka-chan wants a picture."
"Abuse," Akutagawa huffs. Atsushi rolls his eyes and moves to another branch, his lean legs bend effortlessly, as though he'd always belonged up there. The movement reveal his thigh beneath the summer shorts, and the blue shirt keeps riding up his back, its color clashing with the skin. The angles are spectacular. Akutagawa follows the scene with his eyes, with every fiber of his being.
"Ryuu?" Atsushi calls, and the voice startles him in its softness, but then he remembers: Ryuu is the name of the little beast.
I'm naming it after you, Atsushi had said. And he was so happy, Akutagawa didn't pay it any mind. If only he knew the amount of tease that would come out of it, he'd never have bought the little beastie. Then again Atsushi talked about chameleons with such wonder that Akutagawa couldn't resist. And how could he, when Atsushi's eyes sparkled like that? How could he have missed the shower of kisses that he got from Atsushi when he received the gift? Akutagawa thinks again: even if he knew, he would still buy it. Nicknames be damned.
As though to answer the call, they hear the elastic sound of the chameleon's tongue as it catches prey. Atsushi's face lights up, and he follows the sound. That's when Akutagawa sees it : the sly little thing, colored the exact green as the leaves of their apple tree, takes advantage of the distraction and climbs the branch Atsushi just left. Akutagawa wants to laugh, but he keeps it in. After all, he's not very interested in finding Ryuu, and the show has turned out quite good.
After a while of muscle flexing and quality fanservice for Akutagawa, Atsushi sighs and lets his body slump on a thick branch.
"I'm so tired," he exhales. "You win today, Ryuu."
Ryuunosuke knows Atsushi's scheme : he would never say such things to Ryuunosuke, but he would tease him by saying it to the pet. Ryuunosuke bites the inside of his cheek. Atsushi smirks at him and says, "you've been staring at me."
"Observing," he answers. He won't give Atsushi the satisfaction.
"And what did you observe?"
Akutagawa takes a breath.
"For one, I've never understood how cats get stuck on trees, until now."
"You," Atsushi jumps, "I told you to cut it off with the cat jokes—"
He tries to grab for anything but he slips anyway. Akutagawa launches Rashomon to stop the fall, but it doesn't make it on time.
"What?" Atsushi says, catching his breath.
"You landed on your feet."
"So?" Atsushi answers, the joke lost on him. When he realizes, he jumps from the floor like it's lava, and stomps over to Akutagawa, perhaps to yell or throw a tantrum on how he is not and was never a cat. Ryuunosuke also stomps over and it might have looked like a Dragon Ball showdown for a moment, but when they meet in the middle, Ryuunosuke swallows Atsushi's speech in an open-mouthed kiss.
Atsushi protests in the beginning, but he was never good at pretending he didn't want a kiss when he got one. Soon enough he melts in Ryuu's arms, and Ryuu loves every detail of him, licks every corner of his mouth, kisses every crack in his lips. When they part, Atsushi's disoriented, his eyes dazed and his face full of color. His dumbfounded state is the cutest, but Ryuunosuke would never tell him that. Instead, he turns both of them to the tree, and with his face still close to Atsushi's, he points to a further branch. "There he is," he says, his voice is low, and Atsushi's eyes don't leave him right away. "Go take your picture."
Atsushi looks at him as though he forgot what words and sentences were. Ryuunosuke finds himself smiling, and he lets it be seen.
"I—I left my phone inside," Atsushi blurts, the perfect excuse to be flustered away in peace. "Keep an eye on him for me."
Once Atsushi is out of sight, Ryuunosuke launches a slow tendril of Rashomon towards the chameleon so as not to spook it. The tendril gently brings the animal to Akutagawa's arms. "You know, Ryuu," he starts, "I'm so glad you live with us." He takes a silver band from his pocket and slithers it on the tail, making sure it wouldn't fall off. The tendril then puts Ryuu back up in his favourite spot. When he hears Atsushi's hurried footsteps he moves away from the tree, and waits for the magic to unflod.