Chapter Text
The air was brick and the sky was still black on this dark early morning. The car clock read 4:30am when Tachihara and Hirotsu pulled up to a looming apartment complex in an unassuming part of Yokohama. Tachihara didn’t bother taking the keys out of the ignition when he slipped out of his seat and into the densely cold air. He held his arms and shivered violently at the wind; his tiny, yet trendy, forest green crop jacket did nothing to shield him from the harsh winter air. Not to waste any time in the frigid atmosphere, he trudged up to the front doors and looked for the labeled button that would connect him to his superior to let him in. ‘Kuro Shinai’ , Tachihara read it in his head before pressing the button, ‘that doesn’t even make sense, damn edgelord.’ there was a low beeping before it connected to the room.
“Come up, we’ll be ready in a moment,” Akugawa’s voice was low and staticky through the speaker, but too distinguishable to ignore. “We? Who’s we? Is Higuchi with him?’ Tachihara wondered in his mind as he stomped through the heated lobby towards the elevator. He shoved his hands in his pockets and leaned back against the walls of the elevator while he rode up. He’d never been inside Akutagawa’s apartment before, he didn’t know what to expect beside total darkness and maybe a coffin for a bed. Pffft! He couldn’t help but hunch over in laughter at his own thoughts. Akutagawa, sleeping in a coffin like some kind of old-world vampire, probably with some crazy amount of gothic candles and shit all over the place. The elevator dinged and the doors opened to allow Tachihara to make his way down the dimly lit hall towards Akutagawa’s residence. He looked for the name plate, Kuro Shinai , Akutagawa’s normie alias. High ranking Mafiosi use them to disguise their presence in normal society.
“Oi, I’m here!” Tachihara called through the door instead of knocking. It was dead silent. He stood there waiting, growing more and more impatient until speaking up again. “Oi, Kuro-san, did you fall asleep aga-” he was cut off by the doorknob twisting and the door creaking open ever so slowly. He waited a moment before nudging the door open with one hand and cautiously stepping inside the unlit apartment. It was very clean, he discovered, though that wasn’t a surprise. It was minimalist, and quite modern, with sleek furniture and appliances, hardwood floors, and large windows that sure let in a ton of natural light in the daytime. No photos of any kind, however, but he did notice a pair of women's heels in the doorway. Tachihara smirked involuntarily and had to cover his mouth to stifle the laugh rising within him. ‘Akutagawa, you sly dog,’ he thought until he remembered that Higuchi was probably here. ‘Oh, yeah, I wonder if he finally gave nee-san the time of day…’ There was a light on in the hallway that drew Tachihara towards it. It’s likely Akutagawa was finishing getting ready for their mission. Either that or he and Higuchi were...Tachihara had to muffle another giggle as he sneaked toward the door with the light coming through. The place was so silent, not even the whir of a heating unit or water or gas. The dead silence started to give Tachihara chills, as if he was in a horror movie slowly moving towards the killer's hiding spot. His heart sped up as different horror movie scenarios flooded his mind and started to make his breathing shaky, but he was a mafioso, not some dumb teenager in a B movie. He swallowed and allowed reason to re-enter his thoughts. ‘It’s just Akutagawa and Higuchi, if you walk in on them makin’ out, it’s fine, there’s no serial killer or undead monster here to tear you up 80’s slasher flick style.’ He got ever closer to the door with the light and his nerves began to subside. He let out a soft sigh of relief when in the corner of his eye he could swear he saw someone. He halted and on instinct reached for and aimed his loaded gun at a closet door. A closed closet door. He lowered his weapon and groaned, feeling quite stupid for letting himself get worked up like this. He turned back to where he was going and-
“AAAAAAAAH!!!!” Tachihara screamed at the top of his lungs in such dramatic fashion that he flung himself backwards and into the closet door, nearly busting it in. His vision was blurry with forming tears and his breathing was now completely erratic. He fumbled around with shaky hands for a weapon but couldn’t focus enough to get his hands in the right place. The figure before him began to slowly walk forward and Tachihara nearly stopped breathing completely...until he could make out the familiar shape of the person before him. His breathing slowed and his panicked whimpering turned into furious growls through gritted teeth. “GIN! You son of a bitch, what the hell is wrong with you, huh?!” Gin didn’t respond, only stood there glaring down at Tachihara, still splayed on the floor like a coward. His blood began to boil as he launched himself up and stormed over to Gin’s covered face, piercing eyes, and tense body that was trained and ready to fight at the drop of a hat.Before he could grab that smug bastard by their throat and shove his gun up their face the door with the light shining through flung open and Akutagawa stood in the doorway. Tachihara spared him a glance but didn’t have time to react before Akugawa’s piercing voice shot through his very core.
“Quite your goofing off, Tachihara! We are on a schedule and don’t have time for you to act like an idiot!” Akutagawa pushed past Tachihara, breaking his path towards Gin who just stood there, the same blank expression on their face. Tachihara growled in Gin’s direction, who, as per usual, said nothing in response and simply turned away to follow Akutagawa.
“What the hell are you even doing here, man? We could’ve just picked you up from your place! Or are you embarrassed cuz you live in a weird shit hole and don’t want anyone to know, you creepy bas-” Tachihara was cut off by a blade sliding up to his throat and Gin’s ferocious eyes staring into his soul. Sweat began to form on Tachihara’s forehead but he could never let Gin know they made him nervous.
“Hurry up, nitwit!” Akutagawa called from the outside hallway. Gin retracted their knife and turned to follow their superior. Tachihara grumbled and reluctantly trailed behind them. ‘Why am I the only one getting yelled at? This creep was just in your apartment hiding in the dark like a freak!’
The mission is over before it starts. When you have Akutagawa on your side you can almost always guarantee victory, no matter how many you’re going up against. Tachihara looked at his superior in amazement, hands resting behind his head, because what does he need to worry about? Akutagawa is there in front with his incredible power, mowing down their adversaries with ease. The few left alive cowered in fear, shaking and trying to reload their assault weapons to no avail. The screaming, the crying, the begging for mercy, it was all a familiar tune to a mafioso like Tachihara, who stood back and watched the mission come to it’s inevitable completion.
“Let’s go. We’re done here.” Akutagawa spun around, turning his back on the sniveling henchmen. They were no longer worth his time or energy. The rest of black lizard kept their stance and allowed Akutagawa to pass behind them, knowing it was over, and there was nothing that could be done to them now.
BANG!
Every last Black Lizard operative had their guns locked and loaded, aimed towards the henchmen as soon as the bang rang out. In the dark it was hard to see who was the shooter. Tachihara kept his gun trained in front of him when he heard a low whimper to his right. He let his eyes slide over to the sound and nearly dropped his gun. Gin was on the ground, clutching their shoulder in agony, groaning and panting.
“Gin!” it was Akutagawa. Tachihara looked back at his leader and nearly dropped his weapon yet again. The rest of Black Lizard lowered their weapons in unison and backed away cautiously, knowing what was to come. “Higuchi!” Higuchi flinched at her name being roared out, but straightened up immediately and stood at attention for Akutagawa’s orders. “Take Gin to get medical attention NOW!” Higuchi stuttered but decided to just bow and do as she was told. “You’ll pay for that,” the aura around them began to feel darker and denser. Tachihara put away his gun and began to back out along with the rest of his squad, knowing that absolute carnage was to come. It was rare to see Akutagawa so worked up, so angry. His very presence shook Tachihara to his core to the point he couldn’t look directly at him. The mission said that a few were to survive to set an example, but it didn’t look like that was about to happen. ‘All cuz Gin got his ass shot? Geez, is he your favorite or somethin’?’ Tachihara hustled back to the car with Hirotsu and peeled off, leaving Akutagawa to have his way with his victims. The screams were still able to be heard while the warehouse was far in the distance. Tachihara turned up the radio and continued to drive away, ignoring the carnage he left behind.
Tachihara yawned dramatically as he lazily dragged himself into Black Lizard’s base. Akutagawa asked everyone to arrive early; 6:30am, to be exact. Never has this team been asked to arrive at base so early unless it was for a mission, and Akutagawa gave no hint as to what was to be occurring. The lights were still set to “dim”, the sun was just barely peeking over the horizon and casting mellow blue shadows around the room. Tachihara plopped on the couch and leaned his head back, letting his eyes flutter shut while he waited for the rest of the team to start filing in.
Several minutes passed and the sound of low murmuring and the sensation of bright, yellow light woke Tachihara up from his impromptu nap. Higuchi was sitting next to him, turned away and speaking with Hirotsu. Hirotsu noticed Tachihara’s eyes peeking open and nodded towards him, which also let Higuchi know he was finally awake and to turn around.
“You’re finally up,” Higuchi said to him in a somewhat hurried tone. “What did Mr. Akutagawa say to you in the email about coming in early?” Tachihara blinked and tried to unscramble his sleepy brain so he could answer her. It took longer than Higuchi wanted and so she repeated herself, “Tachihara, what did Mr. Akutagawa’s email say? Mine and Hirotsu’s both only said, ‘Meet at base at 6:30 sharp, tardiness will not be tolerated.’, and it’s now 6:47 and he isn’t here! Mr. Akutagawa is never late and I’m worried that this might be a trap to-” Higuchi was cut off abruptly by the door to the base flying open violently and the sound of shoes stomping across the linoleum floor. Like muscle memory, Hirotsu, Higuchi, and Tachihara all stood up straight at attention as soon as they noticed it was Akutagawa. Higuchi bowed, “Good morning, Mr. Akutagawa, I was worried about your safety since it’s past the time you ordered-”
“At attention, NOW!” Akutagawa barked this order to whom Tachihara thought was Higuchi, but upon looking up cautiously, he could see that Akutagawa’s anger was pointed at…Gin? No one had even realized Gin was tailing behind Akutagawa as he came in, but there they were, standing defiantly before their boss, eyes narrowed. Higuchi looked dumbfounded, her mouth gaping like flounder as she looked back and forth between the two. Hirotsu simply kept his head bowed, and his mouth shut. Tachihara also looked rapidly between both Akutagawa, the boss of everyone in the room, and Gin, the creepy, silent, assassin who he can never read. Usually, they stand in place, completely quiet, and yet somehow condescending. Somehow, cocky, and always infuriatingly quiet . ‘ Now this son of a bitch thinks he can stand against Akutagawa? The freaky bastard is gonna get himself killed! Serves him right, though…’ A cold sweat forms on Tachihara’s forehead as he watched the two engage in a terrifying staring match. Akutagawa kept his chin high, looking down at Gin like the superior he was. Gin kept their gaze low, peering sharply upwards through narrowed eyes, piercing and ice cold. ‘ Are they gonna fight?! Gin, you can’t beat Akutagawa in a fight, you’ve seen what that guy can do! You don’t even have an ability!’ tachihara began to panic and sweat more watching the two. There wouldn’t be a thing he could do if Akutagawa attacked Gin for being insubordinate; bullets don’t work on Rashomon afterall. Tachihara looked at Higuchi, hoping she would step in and do something as Akutagawa’s equal, or at least as close to his equal as one could get. She, however, was frozen, her eye twitching, and mouth opening and closing without saying a thing. Tachihara pleaded with the gods above to give Higuchi the strength to say something and stop the impending bloodbath and finally it looks like his prayers were answered.
“Uhm…” Higuchi couldn’t even get a real word out before the two whirled around to place their deadly gazes on her. She gulped and tried to straighten herself, cleared her throat, and attempted to look directly at them instead of at her feet. “Mr. Akutagawa, we’re all ready to receive our assignment and know what it is you ordered us here for,” Akutagawa merely narrowed his eyes and dipped his chin down. Higuchi turned her attention to Gin, attempting to keep her calm and firm tone, “Gin, please stand at attention with us.” Higuchi nodded to the space next to Tachihara, signaling that they should take their place there. A few heavy moments passed and Akutagawa sighed and closed his eyes. He gestured to the same spot Higuchi nodded at, “We’ll talk about it after work.” he said in such a low tone it was hard to make out, but Tachihara heard it and it echoed inside his head over and over. ‘ Talk? After work????’ T achihara followed Gin with his eyes as they glided beside him to stand at attention. Suffice to say, Tachihara wasn’t paying much attention to what Akutagawa was saying, he just kept thinking about Akutagawa and Gin needing to “talk”. About what? Their little staring contest didn’t exactly look like it was work related. Were those two always this close?
Akutagawa wasted no time getting down to brass tacks and aggressively assigning the team their individual tasks for the mission at hand. It had come on extremely sudden, directly from the boss and the narrow time limit had them all on edge. Tachihara looked over the sheet he was given; it was a map of an abandoned factory they were going to be raiding in broad daylight ! This was of course completely out of the ordinary for the mafia who usually strike under cover of night, but it seems the situation here is dire for the port mafia and it has to be done by noon. Tachihara sighed and lolled his head back, ‘ this is gonna be a pain!’ he thought while Akutagawa gave Higuchi her set of orders, to which she, surprisingly, enthusiastically obliged without question. Shocker. Tachihara was barely listening at this point until he realized he was hearing a name on repeat. Gin . He glanced over to his fellow battalion leader to see them scowling, with their head turned away from their boss, Akutagawa . Tachihara raised an eyebrow and quickly looked over to Akutagawa to see his eerily similar deep scowl. It felt like the blood drained from his body as he surveyed his superior's expression; his “eyebrows” were furrowed so deeply they could’ve left indents on his face, and a pulsing vein bulged on his forehead. It almost looked like…yea, he was turning red with anger. Tachihara’s eyes widened and breath picked up again as he, yet again, looked at Higuchi pleadingly, for her to step in. It was as if Higuchi could read his mind.
“Gin…please stand at attention and receive your instructions, we’re on a very tight schedule.” Higuchi’s voice was firm and got through just enough for Gin to turn to face Akutagawa. Their superior was clenching his jaw at this point, grinding his teeth even, but didn’t scream or threaten anyone. Tachihara found himself a bit impressed; usually Akutagawa is the first to lash out in anger at insubordination and even become physically violent, but here he is holding his composure…sort of, in the face of blatant indignation and non-compliance. Akutagawa held out a sheet to Gin for them to use during their mission; likely a map of the terrain and factory since they are an ambush specialist. It looked like the silent fighting might be over, but Gin wasn’t moving. Akutagawa remained still as well, his arm extended with the paper. A few heavy moments passed with everyone looking on with baited breath for something to happen. Gin looked away from Akutagawa again, arms crossed, and in the dead silence of their hideout everyone could faintly hear a low “ tch” . Higuchi nearly fainted, her complexion now sallow and her eyes enormously wide. Tachihara felt the same, his eyebrow twitched with pure disbelief.
‘You motherfucker! Who the hell do you think you are?! Did you forget he’s our boss and WAY STRONGER THAN ANYONE HERE?!’ Tachihara was both fuming at Gin’s absolute gall, and trembling at the thought of what Akutagawa was going to do in retaliation. The room was silent once more, save for Higuchi’s hyperventilating. It felt like the air itself was stagnant in that moment, like the entire universe was waiting to see the explosion of unbridled rage that would come from the powerful and terrifying Akutagawa.
Whapp!
The anger on Akutagawa’s face didn’t leave; he was still red and fuming, holding the paper he tried to give to Gin, now rolled up like one would a newspaper. Gin’s head was slightly bowed and their hair tousled from the point of impact. They slowly raised a hand to the spot they were struck and gently left it there, their eyes now wide and buzzing. Higuchi’s jaw was on the floor, even Hirotsu was looking on in shock. Tachihara gathered his thoughts and pieced together what he had just witnessed.
“Is…is that it?!” he exclaimed, almost disappointed that there wasn’t a more dramatic display. “All you got was a whack on the head with a rolled up paper like a dog, I guess we know who Akutagawa’s favorite is-” before he could finish Gin snatched the rolled up paper from Akutagawa with such swiftness and force it might as well have left smoke, and stood facing their superior with their head bowed all the way down to the point you couldn’t even see their eyes. Looking at Gin you could see their shoulders were very slightly shaking and their grip on the paper was so tight their fist was also shaking.
“Gin…” everyone snapped their heads to Akutagawa. That didn’t sound like Akutagawa, they thought. His voice was softer than anyone had ever heard it before, no one would’ve even thought he could sound like that. There wasn’t even a trace of anger, just softness. “Chuuya’s office will be open as soon as we’re finished with the mission.” he said so softly one could assume it wasn’t for others besides Gin to hear.
“Chuuya’s office? The hell do they need to go there for, is he their counselor? Also there’s no way an executive just keeps their office open for anyone to waltz on in…right?’
The mission went on without a hitch, save for the awkward silence and tension in the air from this morning, the raid was a complete success and they even finished before 11a.m.. Tachihara was driving toward headquarters to hang out until the afternoon assignments, but he just couldn’t get Akutagawa and Gin’s weird behavior out of his head. Chuuya’s office? And they were gonna talk later, too… what does it all mean? He parked his car and jogged up the stairs inside headquarters while he mulled over whether to spy or not. If he gets caught, he’s toast; but if he doesn’t and learns what the hell is going on between those two…he’d be like James Bond. The thought made him giggle to himself and with that he had made his decision.
Chuuya’s office was easy to find but not to get into, he’s an executive afterall. As he jumped from corner to corner, sneaking and peeking around walls and through corridors like a dork, he finally spotted Akutagawa and Gin; Gin was trailing behind Akutagawa as they walked towards where Chuuya’s office was. There were two armed guards by the door that lead to the hallway that leads to Chuuya’s office. Tachihara peeked around a corner at them and saw Akutagawa whip out a silver oracle. Tachihara was taken aback by this until he remembered that they actually have a shit ton of silver oracles in their base for some reason, for any of the commanders to use. ‘ Ugh, I’m gonna have to go all the way back and get one, what a pain.’ But sacrifices had to be made in the name of pretending to be a spy… wait…pretending, huh.
Finally, back to where the guards were, Tachihara took a breath and swaggered his way over to the goons. They stared down at him, hands on their guns ready to draw at a moment's notice before Tachihara flashed the silver oracle in their faces. Immediately they lowered their guard but didn’t step aside.
“State your business.” one ordered in a jarringly deep voice. It made Tachihara falter for a moment before getting his bearings again and remembering he didn’t think of an excuse for why he’s there yet. As a matter of fact, what did Akutagawa and Gin say they were doing? Is Chuuya even there? ‘If i say I have a meeting with Chuuya but he isn’t even there they’ll know I’m lying…’
“Umm, Chuuya got a bunch of viruses on his computer from downloading porn, so I was gonna check it out and see if I can do anything about it…” he hoped that was believable enough. The guards didn’t say anything at first and simply looked at each other. Crap.
“Pffft, I told you what I heard, man! Pay up!” The guard with the normal voice began cackling and nudged the deep voice guard in the ribs. Deep voice forced his laughter to remain inside of him as he dug in his pocket and pulled out a 5000yen bill, handing it over to his partner. They both stepped aside to let Tachihara through and closed the doors behind him. Behind the doors Tachihara could still hear them.
“Do you think it’s pet play stuff?...ya’ know, cuz of the collar?”
Tachihara approached the french doors to Chuuya’s executive office and crouched down low to press his ear against the wood for a better listen. The voices were low and muffled through the thick mahogany doors but he could make out Chuuya’s voice at least. So he is here, huh? What, are they hanging out?
“You two were really fighting over that ? And here I thought you were the more mature one of the bunch, Akutagawa…” Chuuya was talking and sounded rather disinterested. Tachihara couldn’t hear Akutagawa or Gin through the doors but could faintly make out some…vibrations? As if he could feel that there was sound but couldn’t actually hear it or make out what they were saying. They both have such darn low, quiet voices. After some barely there mumbling Tachihara heard Chuuya’s voice again. “Look Akutagawa, I get you had good intentions by doing the laundry yesterday, but the fact of the matter is you ruined Gin’s favorite shirt-” Chuuya was cut off by more mumbling, this time even harder to make out, it almost just sounded like breathing. “Right, your favorite shirt, and a pair of rather expensive pants, so you should just apologize and try not to make the same mistake again. I get you don’t typically do the housework at your shared apartment…” Tachihara nearly yelled, but bit his tongue to keep quiet. ‘Shared apartment? So that time Gin was hiding in the shadows of Akutagawa’s place was because he lived there?! They live together?!’ He pressed his ear against the door again as to not miss anything. Things were getting juicy. Chuuya continued, “So accept this as a learning experience and move on. And Gin, I know it’s frustrating when you tell someone not to do something and then they do it anyway and mess things up, believe me, I have plenty of experience with fuck ups like that, but maybe this is just a sign that it’s time to start splitting the chores; instead of taking on all the housework yourself it would benefit you both to share in the responsibility.” Tachihara tilted his head a bit, taken aback. Chuuya doesn't usually dole out life lessons, I guess since Akutagawa is higher ranking than most of the port mafia he felt the need to help, but to hear Chuuya sounding like a real mentor was truly shocking to say the least. A long silence dragged on and Tachihara wondered if they were done talking all together until he could distinctly make out Akutagawa’s voice.
“Gin, on our next day off, please teach me how to do laundry. You work as much as I do, it’d be an embarrassment to say I leave all the housework to you while I do nothing.” yep, that sure sounds like Akutagawa. Tachihara heard nothing for a few moments after that until Chuuya loudly went “YEA” and the sound of glass clinking traveled through the thick doors. ‘Drinking this early? Isn’t it like, 11am?’ Tahcihara thought to himself.
“I’m glad that's all settled then!” Chuuya said, sounding awfully proud of himself. “So who wants another shot? I know I could go for one!” ‘ Hard liquor?! IT’S 11AM, CHUUYA!’ Tachihara was about to get up and leave after discovering the truth about their quarrel; however still left with more questions about their relationship. The fact they lie together is unexpected, but what does it really mean? Because Tachihara could get out of earshot he heard them start chatting yet again and, chained by nosiness, he pressed his ear to the door once more.
“I know that you’re concerned for me, Gin, but I am also allowed to worry about you. I don’t want you overexerting yourself on my behalf.” Akutagawa said in that same, unfamiliarly soft tone.
“You two clearly have a lot of love for each other, so don’t let petty squabbles like laundry mishaps put a rift between you. I get it, we all have our days, just remember that at the end of the day you love each other.” It went quiet. Tachihara was frozen in his spot, crouched on the floor, practically trembling with confusion. Love? Love each other? From the other side of the door there was loud shuffling and what sounded like glasses clinking and chairs moving. Tachihara didn’t want to risk being caught eavesdropping and, as quietly as possible, made a mad dash for the guarded doors. ‘ I can’t believe it!’ he thought, ‘Akutagawa and Gin are totally dating! They're dating, oh my God! I gotta tell Gramps and Nee-san and…well I guess that’s it for my friends…’