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As Junichirou entered the café, he immediately knew that something was amidst.
The redhead was the last to show up during their designated break at the coffee shop downstairs, with Dazai squeezed next to Atsushi in a booth facing Kunikida and Yosano. Kenji and Ranpo, who were seated at the bar, seemed to notice his entrance first. The rest of the group was too entranced by a heated conversation taking place at the booth. Junichirou made his way over to see what the fuss was about, although he was almost positive it would just be Dazai bothering Kunikida again.
But that didn’t explain why Atsushi’s face was more red than he had ever seen it.
As he stood at the end of the table, the four agency members seated in the booth finally seemed to take notice of him. The loud conversation died down a bit as everyone waved at him, except for Atsushi, who avoided eye contact by looking down at his lap.
“Junichirou, you’re here!” Dazai drew out theatrically. “Good, good. We need your help.”
The redhead cocked his head to the side, inviting an explanation from one of his coworkers. There was a slight pause, with Atsushi still refusing to look up, before Yosano spoke up.
“Atsushi has been acting strange all day,” the doctor said.
“He’s not acting like himself,” Kunikida added, pushing up his glasses.
Dazai shook Atsushi’s shoulder after the limited explanation. The young man seemed to try and curl in on himself as much as he could with Dazai squeezing into his side, and his hands went up to cover his exceptionally red face. Junichirou raised an eyebrow in confusion.
“Stranger than usual?” he joked.
Junichirou expected a squabble of protest in return from Atsushi, but nothing prepared him from the giggle that came from the younger boy.
“See?” Dazai exclaimed, sounding genuinely distraught and dramatically throwing his head into his hands. Junichirou suppressed a laugh at the older man’s theatrics, but quickly snapped out of it as he realized Atsushi was beaming.
Atsushi was always nervous when involved in the teasing from his coworkers. He rarely went along with the antics, and he had never giggled or beamed at the jokes before. Junichirou’s eyes went wide. The sight of Atsushi’s relaxed attitude towards the teasing was uncanny, to say the least.
“What’s up with him?” the redhead asked no one in particular.
Ranpo stood up from where he was seated at the bar and walked over, peeking out from behind Junichirou. The man had a sly smile on his face, a sign that he knew he found information that no one else had caught on yet.
“I think I know what’s going on here,” Ranpo said.
Every person in the conversation turned towards him expectantly. The short man drew out a suspenseful silence, the smile on his face growing with each passing second.
“I think Atsushi’s in love,” Ranpo said in a sing-song tone.
The younger man’s eyes widened, and he quickly looked out the window. Even if Ranpo was wrong, which was pretty much impossible, Atsushi’s reaction wasn’t helping his case.
A blanket of realization draped over the employees. Dazai’s expression went from a mix of smugness and concern to maybe the most excited Junichirou had ever seen the man, and that was saying something. Multiple people exclaimed at once, but Dazai was the most enthusiastic of the cries.
“Holy shit!” Dazai screamed so loud that Atsushi flinched. “I can’t believe I didn’t realize sooner.”
Atsushi was pointedly avoiding eye contact with each of his coworkers who were currently gaping at him in shock.
Junichirou thought about it. The signs were all there – the blushing, the giggling, the smiling. Atsushi was giddy because he was in love. There was just one question left.
Who?
Even as one of the less competent of the detectives in the agency, Junichirou knew the options of who Atsushi could have an eye for were limited. There were only so many people who were close to the younger boy in age that he interacted with. There were even less who were available.
Junichirou was out of the question, as he had no knowledge about this beforehand. His boyfriend, Michizou, was also off limits because he was already dating someone. They weren’t a member of the ADA most likely, or Junichirou would already have heard about this.
Who else could it be?
It was obvious by his nervous tics that Atsushi had no intention of confessing anything. That just left one way to find out who Atsushi was in love with. Junichirou turned to the man still standing behind him.
“Ranpo,” the redhead started, “you know who it is, don’t you?”
The shorter man nodded simply, his sly smile never leaving his face. Junichirou took that as a sign that, for once, Ranpo wasn’t going to reveal his deduction.
Atsushi seemed to understand that Ranpo had no intention of spilling his secret as well, and let out a sigh of relief. Dazai laughed.
“Oh, there’s no way you’re getting out of this that easily,” Atsushi’s mentor said, still laughing.
Atsushi’s blush had only been getting worse and worse, to the point that Junichirou was worried that he might be on the verge of passing out. The younger man went back to looking directly at his lap, avoiding all the gazes glued onto him.
“I won’t talk,” Atsushi stated through gritted teeth.
Dazai squeezed impossibly closer into his subordinate’s side.
“I’m not letting you out until you tell us who it is, kid,” Dazai said, shooting Atsushi a cheeky grin.
Atsushi sighed and hung his head, likely about to give in, when a ringtone sang out from the younger boy’s pocket.
If it was possible for Atsushi’s blush to deepen, it did. That ringtone obviously meant something to him, and if everyone on his usual roster of friends and allies were in the room, staring at him, that could only leave one possibility.
Was this Atsushi’s secret partner?
Atsushi fumbled with his phone for a suspenseful moment, before flipping it open and answering it. He was silent for another beat. All of the agency’s employees went silent as well, hoping to listen in on the conversation about to happen.
Atsushi was beaming again.
“Hi, babe,” he said into the phone. Dazai gasped, looking like he was about to squeal like a little girl.
The voice that responded was muffled to the point that no one except for Atsushi could make it out. Junichirou was on the edge of his seat. He needed to know who this mysterious partner was. Luckily for him, Dazai took initiative.
Atsushi’s mentor launched his arm around his subordinate’s body, grabbing his phone and switching the speakerphone on. The mysterious partner’s voice echoed through the phone as he said one word that gave himself away.
“Weretiger,” the mysterious partner said, a fondness in his voice so strong that it could be heard through the robotic filter of the phone’s speaker.
Junichirou’s jaw dropped. All of the spectators were shocked at the realization, Junichirou included. Atsushi’s secret partner was fucking Akutagawa.
“No fucking way!” Dazai shouted.
Multiple voices broke out at once, with varying responses. Junichirou could barely make out Akutagawa’s voice over the phone.
“What’s happening?” Akutagawa asked, very obviously confused.
“I’m sorry, Aku, I’ll have to call you back,” Atsushi responded, hanging up and putting his head in his hands again.
“Aku?” Kunikida rolled the word over his tongue as if mildly disgusted.
“Holy shit, man!” Dazai laughed. He clapped his subordinate on the back.
“That makes three ADA members dating Port Mafia members,” Junichirou chuckled. “Welcome to the club!”
“I have to tell Chuuya about this right now,” Dazai giggled. The younger man’s mentor was obviously ecstatic about the news.
Atsushi looked like he was about to die from embarrassment, but he made no move to stop the older man from calling his boyfriend.
Junichirou couldn’t believe that Atsushi’s secret boyfriend was his biggest rival, of all people. He supposed it was the same way for him and Michi, as well as for Dazai and Chuuya.
Some things never seem to change.