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Unlike their brother, Gin Akutagawa was never a repressed gay. (Gender was a whole different issue, but they figured it out in the end.)
They were, also unlike their brother, not oblivious to their big fat fucking crush. On the mantiger, or “Atsushi” as he called him one time, before taking several steps back, tripping on his own tongue as he tried to remedy his mistake. All Gin did was stare at him over the rim on their glass, raising their eyebrow as Akutagawa stopped sputtering and put his shield of mild irritation that he kept at all times back up.
And Gin had heard of the time where Akutagawa was tricked into jumping off a walkway by the mantiger and Dazai, so when they’re walking through Yokohama, trying to fill their cabinets—because they have been eating a meal know as “boring people ‘tacos’—tortilla filled with microwaved cheese—for two days straight and Gin has finally broken down.
With some sausage and a few packets of rice stuffed into deep pockets—Gin wasn’t going to get everything, Akutagawa was going to have to go to the store if he didn’t want to be eating “boring people rice”—rice with bits of sausage, and Gin was smirking to themself, thinking of the look on Akutagawa’s face when he gets home and just sees the small packets of rice when they walk past a small cafe.
Gin stops for a moment.
They don’t want to end up eating boring people rice for the next few days so...grabbing some cookies sounds like a good enough idea. Gin slips inside the cafe, listening to the sweet tinkle of the bell, and it’s there, standing there for the barest second that the events of the day are put in action.
Gin sees, out of the corner of their eyes, two heads just peeking over the edge of the booth. It wouldn’t be something to focus on, if it weren’t for the fact that the booths would only cover up the shoulders of a very small child.
Which meant that people were hiding from them. Gin walks up to the counter like they can’t notice this, all their nerves on edge as they ever so carefully direct their gaze to one of the glasses on the counter, carefully turning their head to look at the two hiding people…
Gin blinks, and then rubs their eyes. And then stares before, because those two people are the mantiger and her brother.
“...Ma’am, do you want to order something?” Gin huffs a bit at the title, before making the cashier scramble around for their order a bit, just for the sake of being a tiny bit petty, and when she leaves the cafe again, the two, coined: Shin Sokoku, slink back into their seats like they think that Gin doesn’t see them.
The moment that Gin leaves the store, they turn the control and disappear into the streets.
And after they are out of direct view of the cafe, Gin crosses the street, entering the hardware shop across the street, peering through its windows as the two men stop hiding, and sit all the way back up.
What is the mantiger doing with Akutagawa? Gin hadn’t forgotten the time that the mantiger had put Akutagawa in a coma, so their hackles are still raised, even as the mantiger gives Akutagawa a soft smile. What did Dazai get him into? It always led back to fucking Dazai. Not everything, but a big fucking chunk of the struggle that Akutagawa has been going through for years .
If they needed to act cute and be misgendered to slide their knife between his ribs, then so be it.
Gin is too busy grinding their teeth, and nearly misses it when Akutagawa and the mantiger leaves the cafe, and of course, Gin trails them. They’re an expert at this, so when the two of them walk across the beach, they don’t notice the third pair of footprints trailing behind them.
Gin glares at the mantiger from behind a large stone, staring a hole straight into his back as he steals glances at Akutagawa.
Gin whips their knife out, expertly whipping it around as the metal glints in the evening air.
Higuchi doesn’t even blink—they’ve been in this situation far too many times for Higuchi to even flinch as she lays down next to Gin.
“What are you doing, watching Akutagawa-senpai and the mantiger?”
“Dazai’s planning something with him.” Gin huffs under their breath, “I’m trying to figure out what it is.”
“...”
“What?” Gin turns to Higuchi as she opens and closes her mouth repeatedly. Higuchi finally decides on closing her mouth, and Gin glares at her. Higuchi, of course, ignores it and just reaches into her bag and bring out a pair of binoculars. Gin attributes it to having to watch people from a distance on the fly, and not for her odd...hobby of watching their brother.
Well, former hobby. Higuchi is around Gin more, even when Akutagawa isn’t around, and Gin’s glad that Higuchi has moved on from that.
Gin takes the binoculars with a quick word of gratitude, before holding them up to their eyes and staring through them. The scene was just the same, just in more detail. Akutagawa and the mantiger, hanging out on a beach in the evening. Gin had followed them from a cafe, to a movie theater, dinner, and then here.
What is the ADA planning?
Gin’s shoulders start to raise, and Higuchi gently pats their back. Gin actually turns to Higuchi to say thank you this time, shifting a little bit further into Higuchi’s space as they continue staring at the two.
“What involves having lunch together...then going to the movies...and then dinner…”
There’s another pause as Higuchi keeps on comfortingly patting their back.
You’re far too sweet for an idiot like me Higuchi.
“They’re on a date, aren’t they?” Gin says suddenly and Higuchi pats them on the back one last time.
“Yup.” Higuchi gets up, grabbing Gin’s hand and pulling them up to their feet, “We should get out of here before Rashomon starts going for my ankles.”
“She’s already started.” Gin huffs, before stomping on the mouth full of black teeth ready to nibble at Higuchi’s ankles, “And once we get out of here, you’d better start explaining.”
Gin lays their knife on the table, point directed at Higuchi, who only takes a sip from her coffee before starting.
“They’re dating.”
“Yeah, I figured that out.” Gin huffs, taking a long swig of their own coffee, “How long—wait, about two months?”
Higuchi nods and Gin lets out a loud groan, the sound of it warped slightly by the smirk on their face. They knew that something was up, and now Gin had their suspicions confirmed, they were going to hold Akutagawa to it for the rest of his life.
Gin knew that Akutagawa was smiling at the photo of a tiger cub.
“He’s never going to live this down.” Gin chirps gleefully, already planning Akutagawa’s entrance into their home, where he would see Gin, on their rolling chair, sitting and staring at the sneaky bastard.
“...Why didn’t you realize that they were on a date?” Higuchi asks, after a few minutes of idle chatter.
“I thought that Dazai had his hand in something again. I mean, look at us, we’re on a coffee date right now, and we’re not dating—not that I would be opposed to dating you, you’re very pretty after all.” Gin wants to choke on their words, but they are not going to. They are the cooler Akutagawa after all, they have to stand by their words.
Higuchi’s face lights up like a traffic light and Gin sips more coffee, trying to hide their blush with their mug. Higuchi’s mouth opens and closes again, several times, face getting redder and redder with every repetition, before Higuchi’s hands slam down on the table, chair pushed back as Higuchi stands up.
“Gin! You said that you wouldn’t be opposed to a date right?!”
When you do something dramatic like that, aren’t you supposed to get to the point immediately?
“..Yes?”
“Then tomorrow, we go on our own date! Okay?”
“Ok—”
“GOOD!”
And then Higuchi flees, and Gin is left staring at the table, staring down at their mugs as Higuchi sprints back in and pays the tab before fleeing again.
Gin Akutagawa is, unlike her brother, not a repressed gay person. Still true.
They were, also unlike her brother, not oblivious to their big fat fucking crush. That one was false.