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It was a nice day in Yokohama. Atsushi was walking towards the market to get his provisions for the day. He knew that Kyouka was already home so he could take as long as he wanted. He saw his favorite restaurant and wanted ochazuke but he had to get groceries, so maybe another time. He walked along until he could get to the shopping district. As he entered the shopping district he immediately got a bad feeling. He put it off to the side and continued walking around until he could get to the grocery store. Then he saw the reason behind his bad feeling. Akutagawa, the dark haired boy, stood next to the opening of the store.
Atsushi did everything he could to avoid being caught by the grey eyes of the enemy. He tried to sneak around the store in hopes of looking for another entrance. But to no avail. He ended up having to enter the store from the front entrance. He entered when Akutagawa wasn’t paying attention.
“Please let this day be normal or I swear to god-” Atsushi mumbled to himself.
“Weretiger, what are you doing?” Akutagawa asked disgustedly.
Atsushi quickly tried to think of a lie to get him off of his back. His heart was already racing and he decided he didn’t want to die that day anyway.
“Um uh Dazai sent me here to pick him up some… bandages yeah bandages.” he said hoping not to be found out.
“Really weretiger? Because Dazai asked me to come here to gather something for him today.”
Crap, Atsushi had been found out. Why would Dazai send him here anyway? That man always had something up his sleeve that was sure to aggravate Atsushi. Wait, he did tell Dazai that he’d be going to the grocery store after the mission today. Dammit dazai you meddling man, you’ve done it again.
“I uh guess I made a mistake, he told me to come here yesterday and I guess I forgot.” Atsushi stated, hoping to be left alone.
“Well then why would you be here again weretiger?”
Every word that came out of Akutagawa's mouth was drowned in spite and a desire to kill. Atsushi had no idea what to do at this point and he was considering just telling the truth. It had only been one week since Atsushi had told Akutagawa to stop killing people for 6 months. He hadn’t really been checking up on his promise.
“I’m just here to get groceries, that's all.” Atsushi sighed.
“Understood.”
Akutagawa went to another aisle to get whatever he was looking for. Atsushi managed to huff out a sigh that couldn’t be heard. He went looking through the aisles grabbing all the things he needed. Although he felt as if he was being followed, he didn’t know by whom. He turned around and scanned the crowd for anyone who would seem to be suspiciously hiding from his view. He saw the corner of a familiar black cloak hiding behind one of the aisles. His happy facial expression dropped from his face. Akutagawa had clearly been following him and he had no idea what to do with this new information. Atsushi pretended to not have noticed and continued about his grocery shopping activities.
He reached the attendant manning the cash register and paid for his food. Atsushi left the store and still couldn’t shake the feeling of Akutagawa following him. He decided to keep walking anyway. Occasionally he would look backwards and catch akutagawa pretending to be doing something else. Once he got to his doorstep he decided to turn around.
“Okay look, I know that you’ve been following me, what do you, of all people want.” Atsushi huffed out aggravatedly.
“Weretiger, I want to fight.” Akutagawa said bluntly.
“It’s only been a week. I told you to wait 6 months.”
“Well I haven't done anything for a week. Fight me.”
“Wow, I'm so proud.” Atsushi said sarcastically.
Akutagawa looked like he was about to keel over. Was this really something atsushi wanted to deal with? No, he answered himself. He decided to unlock his door and walk inside. He tried to close the door but akutagawa stuck his foot into the door.
“Really? Just leave me alone. I want to make dinner.”
“Invite me inside.”
Was this guy crazy? Why would Atsushi ever invite his enemy inside? Did he think that Atsushi was fine with just throwing his life away?
“No, I'm gonna make myself dinner.”
“I’d like dinner.”
It was like akutagawa was doing anything he could to fight Atsushi. Atsushi could feel his face heating up at the fact that he was going to such lengths to try and fight him. Atsushi was becoming more and more convinced to let Akutagawa in and was begrudgingly trying to avoid doing that.
“you know what? Fine.” Why did he say that? He couldn’t even think of a reason why.
“Thank you weretiger I'm quite parched at the moment.”
“Ugh would you like some tea?”
“Yeah.”
“Kyouka, I'm home! I’m about to make some dinner.” Atsushi yelled through the house.
Atsushi made his way to the kitchen and put up the groceries he had bought earlier. He brought out a kettle from one of the cabinets, filled it with water, and placed it on the stovetop. He wondered if he could throw the boiling water onto Akutagawa's face and get away with it. As if he had read his thoughts, Akutagawa was glaring at him. Atsushi waved the thought away from his mind.
“We’ve only got chamomile and green tea, which do you want?”
“....Chamomile”
Why was he asking for his preference in tea? Atsushi was starting to get annoyed with how stupid he was acting today. He just wanted to eat dinner and go to sleep. Maybe if he kicked akutagawa out he could go back to normal and go straight to sleep. The kettle made a high-pitched squealing sound and Atsushi poured the chamomile leaves in. He waited a couple minutes for the tea to steep and once it was ready he brought out two tea cups, one for him and one for Akutagawa.
Once he brought the cups of tea out he had noticed that Akutagawa made himself comfortable on his couch. He tried to avoid the thought of Akutagawa living with him.
“You’ve got a nice place.” Akutagawa complimented.
“I- um thank you, I guess…” Atsushi said, bewildered.
Why was Akutagawa complimenting Atsushi’s living space? Is he trying to be nice so Atsushi will fight with him? Atsushi was having a hard time contemplating why Akutagawa would be motivated to be kind to him. This whole interaction was strange. Maybe Atsushi was dreaming or something. He pinched himself just to make sure. It hurt so he knew he wasn’t dreaming.
“I’m gonna make dinner, if you want you can drink my tea too, i probably wasn’t going to finish it anyway.”
“Thanks.”
Atsushi made his way back to the kitchen and grabbed his groceries. He had bought some pork and mushrooms and decided to make a stir fry. He spent only a little bit of time making it because stir fry was fairly quick and easy. Once he finished he set out three plates and spread out the servings evenly.
“Kyouka dinner’s ready!” Atsushi yelled.
Kyouka didn’t respond at all, which made atsushi wonder if she was okay. He decided to go down the hallway to her room and gently opened the door. She wasn’t there. He noticed a note on her neatly put together bed. It read: “Hey Atsushi, I'm going on a trip for a couple days, I couldn’t reach your cell, so I wrote you this note. Try not to get in trouble without me. :)”
Great, that was just great, now Atsushi had to deal with Akutagawa all by himself. He realized if things got really bad his home might become rubble and dust so he decided to not pick a fight. He made his way back to the kitchen and put the third serving of stir fry in the fridge for himself later. He grabbed the other two servings and brought one to Akutagawa. He sat down on the couch and stared at akutagawa while he ate. The scariest man in the port mafia was sitting right here, on his couch, eating his cooking. Atsushi felt as if his heart might burst. He took a couple bites from his plate and was beginning to feel tired.
“The dinner was delicious, thank you.”
There it is again, Akutagawa was being nice. Atsushi was awestruck, he had no idea what to say or do. He was super tired at this point and just wanted to go to bed.
“Thanks, i’m gonna head to bed now, i’m super tired.” Atsushi said hoping akutagawa would catch on and leave.
Instead he just stared at him, as if he were waiting for something to happen. Atsushi thought that akutagawa was really dense.
“Well, you can go now, I'm going to bed.” Atsushi said, trying with every last ounce of energy he had not to sound like a prick.
“I don’t want to leave. Let me stay.”
Atsushi looked deadpanned as his face was heating up to a bright red. Akutagawa was just staring at him, awaiting his response.
“No, no no no, it's not happening.” Atsushi said frantically while waving his hands around.
“It’s okay, I'll just sleep on this couch here.”
Atsushi lowered his hands and continued to stare at the dark haired boy. Was he sick? What is wrong with Akutagawa?
“It’s not the matter of where you’ll sleep that’s the problem. It's a matter of why you want to sleep here, in my house, the place I live, alone.”
“Home is far away. It’s late anyway.”
Atsushi looked at a clock in his living room and saw that it was only 6:00. He was becoming increasingly aggravated.
“It’s only 6:00. What do you want?”
“I want to stay here, it's only what i’ve said several times”
“... is something wrong with you? Are you sick?”
“No, I just want to stay the night.”
“...”
“Well atsushi?”
Atsushi, he called him by his name. Something was very wrong here. Atsushi put off the quickening pace of his heart. He wasn’t sure what to call it, it wasn’t fear was it?
“...fine. But you owe me, okay?”
“Thanks.”
“Do you need a blanket or something?”
“No thanks, I'll be fine on the couch by myself.”
Atsushi made his way back to his bedroom. He quickly fixed his messy bed and decided to lay down. He couldn’t fall asleep at all and before he knew it the time had flashed by and it was already 10:00. Atsushi was feeling restless and decided to go get a glass of water or something. He walked out of his room on his toes hoping not to allow akutagawa to notice him. He walked past the couch to the kitchen. He got out a small pot and poured a cup of milk in it. He heated it up hoping it would help put him to sleep. Once he was done he drank the glass of milk he prepared.
Atsushi turned around to see Akutagawa asleep on the couch. He looked so peaceful and happy in his sleep. His face even looked kind of cute. It was strange to see the man in such a calm state. Atsushi sighed and got a blanket from the closet. In order to support his thoughts, atsushi kept repeating that akutagawa looks cold in his head. He approached Akutagawa and noticed that he moved as if he was trying to flinch. Atsushi felt sorry for him. He knew they had very different upbringings. He placed the blanket over akutagawa, just barely above his shoulders. Akutagawa appeared to have snuggled into the blanket and become more comfortable. Atsushi stared at the sleeping man. This whole experience was just so strange. Akutagawa looked so vulnerable. Atsushi wondered if he was ever able to sleep like this in the mafia.
He looked a little closer at his face, he was good looking under his rough exterior. Atsushi couldn’t believe his brain right now. He figured he was only thinking this way because the tiredness was finally starting to settle in. He thought about crawling onto the couch but quickly got rid of the thought.
He headed back towards his room so he could go to sleep. He tucked himself into his bed and finally fell asleep.
The next morning Atsushi woke up hoping that the night before had been a dream. He walked towards the living room while scratching the back of his head. As he walked into the living room he saw Akutagawa sitting on the couch holding the blanket that Atsushi had placed on him the night before. At first he didn’t notice it but as he got closer he noticed a bit of a red tint in Akutagawa's cheeks. Atsushi thought he was going crazy.
“I’ll uh, i’ll go make breakfast.”
“Yeah,” Akutagawa responded.
Atsushi walked towards the kitchen, ready to just blow everything up. He grabbed his cell and was about to dial dazai when he happened to have called him first.
“D-dazai!” Atsushi was startled by how loud his voice sounded so he brought it down to a whisper and said, “Akutagawa’s in my house what do I do?”
“Atsushiiiiii how's it going.” Dazai said innocently.
“He’s being nice to me too! What should I do?” Atsushi said as a bit more panic appeared in his voice.
“Wow that grump? Ah well doesn’t matter, I need you to come help me!” Dazai said.
Atsushi could detect the smile in his voice, he was probably doing something stupid again wasn’t he.
“...what do you need, Dazai?”
“So I read about this cool new way to kill myself but it appears to be very painful and dying painfully is not a way I want to die.”
“Fine I guess, anything to get away from Akutagawa right now.” Atsushi said disdainfully.
Atsushi hung up the cell and decided to get ready to leave the house. He put on his uniform and went to the door when,
“Where are you going?” Atsushi could hear the genuine curiousness in his voice.
“I’m going to go help dazai,” he put his finger on his cheek to accentuate his feelings about it. “Apparently he found some new way to kill himself but it's too painful so it’s my job to save him or something.”
“I’ll come with you.”
Crap, he really shouldn’t have mentioned dazai. Although this could be a good opportunity to lock him out of his house forever.
“Okay, don’t do anything stupid alright?”
“Yeah”
The two walked out the door and Atsushi locked it behind them. Then he realized he never asked dazai for directions to his location. He looked at his cell hoping to have gotten a text from dazai detailing where he was. He hadn’t gotten one. Atsushi decided to text him asking where he was. Of course Dazai couldn't make it easy on him and responded with, “I'm in the shopping district. :P”
“Ughh, if that man can’t ever kill himself I'm gonna kill him myself.”
“Don’t threaten dazai.”
“It's an expression jeez.”
The two walked to the shopping district and passed by many shops. Atsushi saw the crepe shop that he took kyouka to once. He decided that he wanted something sweet for himself if they were gonna go save Dazai from himself. He looked over to akutagawa who looked to be busy petting a stray cat. So he has a soft side eh? Atsushi chuckles to himself and buys two chocolate crepes. He walks over to Akutagawa who pretends he wasn’t ever petting the cat. Atsushi offers him one of the crepes. It was easy to see Akutagawa's face flush a bright red considering his face was so pale. He took the crepe and tried to hide his face behind it.
Atsushi half wished he could have stayed in that moment for just a little bit longer. It was a nice day and for once Akutagawa was being nice to him, he wasn’t gonna let his kindness go to waste.
“Why don’t we go and get breakfast really quick?”
“Aren’t we supposed to be looking for Dazai?”
“We can look for him while we eat, besides I wasn't able to make breakfast this morning anyway.”
“Ok fine”
The two went inside a small restaurant that was offering some sort of breakfast deal. If dazai wanted to be found he could have been more specific and that was his own fault. They met the host and were sat in a booth in the far left corner. It was a spot that made it easy to see the rest of the restaurant. Akutagawa looked restless, no doubt he was thinking about Dazai and if he was okay. Knowing that stubborn man it would take a lot to kill him. They were both handed menus and told to wait for the server. Atsushi pretended as if he were actually looking and deciding on what to eat but he knew he’d be getting his favourite dish anyway. Ochazuke is his best dish. Instead of planning on what to eat he wondered what Akutagawa was going to eat. He stared at him waiting for him to look up and say what he wanted.
The more he stared, the more he took note of Akutagawa's face. He was able to look closer into his grey eyes. He noticed just about how spotless Akutagawa's skin was and how pale it was as well. His hair was such a nice shade of black it was different from others but Atsushi couldn’t put his finger on why.
“Hello sirs, what would you two like to order?” a waitress asked in a perky manner.
“I’d like some ochazuke Please” Akutagawa said before Atsushi could.
Wait a minute, Akutagawa ordered that. Why would he order something like that? He always said he didn’t like the way atsushi goes about things. So why now was he ordering something that he knew Atsushi liked? Atsushi’s mind was riddled with questions that needed answers, but he didn’t know where to find them.
“And for you sir?”
“Uh I’ll have the same thing…”
“Okay! 2 ochazuke bowls coming right up for the happy couple!”
“We’re not a-”
By the time Atsushi was able to realize what the waitress had said she had already left. By now Atsushi was trying to figure out what to do. He was exhausted and he was still a little worried for Dazai in the back of his mind. And now he realized that akutagawa was staring at him. He was a little worried and embarrassed by this new development.
“What are you doing?” Atsushi asked in a concerned manner.
“Thinking,” akutagawa replied.
“...about?”
“Dazai.”
Of course he was thinking about Dazai. Once their ochazuke was done the waitress brought it out to them. Atsushi felt a little awkward eating his food, but he was hungry so he didn’t truly care. Once he finished he felt like having another bowl, but decided it would be best not to order another. He asked the waitress for the tab and she delivered it to them.
“Let me pay.” Akutagawa said abruptly.
“What? No, I took you here.”
“I’ll pay, it’s fine.”
“I have my own money, you know, I can pay.”
“No, I'll pay.”
It seemed as if Akutagawa wasn’t budging about this payment. The two were practically fighting over who would get to pay the tab. The waitress approached and asked who would be paying. Both Atsushi and Akutatgawa offered their forms of payment. Tragically for Atsushi, the waitress took Akutagawa's money instead. Atsushi pouted about this as the two left the restaurant. At this point Atushsi had almost completely forgotten about Dazai’s problem. The two went around the shopping district. Akutagawa was still looking for Dazai but not really paying as much attention to looking around.
Atsushi could swear that they touched hands a couple times. Some time later Akutagawa disappeared for a bit. Atsushi thought he had finally gotten him out of his hair but his theory was quickly disproven. Not only did Akutagawa come back he had something in his hands. It was a small plush, it looked like a tiger.
“Here. Enjoy.” akutagawa said bluntly.
“Thank you.” Atsushi said, embarrassed.
Atsushi took the tiger from Akutagawa and held it up to his face. It looked just like him. Suddenly he got a call and then he remembered Dazai’s situation. He answered his cell to Dazai, sounding like he was satisfied with something he had done.
“Hello Atsushiiiiiii. I’ve already been saved so no need to come get me!”
Atusushi was beginning to think that this was a setup of some sort. This was something that was in the back of his mind ever since he had gotten the shopping district text. Dazai probably tried to trick him into having a day with akutagawa and was planning this ever since he mentioned that akutagawa had stayed the night. Atsushi eyed Akutagawa hoping he was picking up on his telepathic message that they had been set up.
“So apparently he’s been found. We don’t have to worry about Dazai anymore.”
“Oh” Akutagawa said disappointedly
“I guess this means we have to go our separate ways.”
“W-wait! I um, I left something at your apartment.”
“What.”
“I left my uh, my handkerchief.”
“But it’s in your left breast pocket.”
“My other one.”
“You carry around two handkerchiefs?”
“Yes.”
“Why do I get the feeling you’re lying to me?”
“I-i’m not.”
“Your face is all flushed! You’ve got to be lying to me.”
With that comment akutagawa hid his face in part of his cloak, but atsushi could have sworn his face got redder. Reluctantly Atsushi starts leading them back to the apartment. At least this time akutagawa would finally leave, right? They reached the apartment door and Atsushi unlocked it. He told akutagawa to go ahead inside and get his handkerchief. He hesitated. As if he was thinking about doing something stupid. Atsushi stared at the taller boy wondering what was going on in that twisted head of his. He felt his heart go pitter patter and his throat tighten up.
“Did you even actually leave a handkerchief here?”
“No…”
“Well then why are you here?”
“Well i- you know what, come here,” akutagawa said assertively.
“You’re not gonna kill me, are you?” atsushi asked timidly.
Akutagawa shrugged and Atsushi complied. He got a little closer to Akutagawa, his heart practically beating out of his chest. Why was he feeling like this? Akutagawa got a little closer and grabbed Atsushi’s arm to pull him towards himself. Atsushi panicked, but he didn’t do anything for fear of being killed. What happened was something he didn’t expect, Akutagawa pulled his face closer and kissed him. That’s right, he kissed him. His lips fed hungrily upon Atsushi’s. Atsushi had no idea what to think, but he kissed back. Akutagawa brought his hands around Atsushi’s back. Atsushi decided to take the lead and pushed him into a wall. He kept kissing him and he enjoyed it. Had he really been feeling this way the whole time? He came back up for breath and stared into the eyes of the other. He looked so vulnerable right now, like he could do anything he wanted to him. Instead he went back in for another kiss.
The two entered the apartment kissing each other hungrily along the way. They reached the kitchen and atsushi finally pulled away. He was huffing and puffing trying to catch his breath again.
“What does this make us?” atsushi asked exasperatedly
“Partners.”