Work Text:
Blinding white.
A buzzing sound.
Whispered words.
Atsushi closes his eyes again.
When he opens them, it is dark.
Everything feels wrong. His clothing is scratchy. Something burns his nose. His thoughts come swimming through fog.
A hand settles onto his stomach.
“Ah!” Atsushi tries to sit up but something jerks him back and hears noise - a beep, a siren?, someone hissing in pain.
He swipes out at what’s tethering him, but where he expects to hit chains, he elbows someone in the stomach.
“Weretiger!”
Oh.
He knows that voice.
Atsushi freezes. His heart is still pounding and the noises are still going off, but he stops. “Ryuu?”
When Akutagawa speaks again, his voice is slightly muffled. “Weretiger, do you perhaps have rocks inside that skull of yours?”
“Did I hit you?”
“You almost knocked me out of the bed, you buffon.”
It’s then that Atsushi realizes that it is Rashomon that is tethering him. Not to restrain, but because without her acting as a sling, Akutagawa would be sprawled out on the floor. He scooches over on the bed to give him more room as he reaches out and pulls him closer.
“What are you doing here?”
Akutagawa mumbles something that he does not catch.
“What?”
“You were restless.”
He gets off the bed and goes to the monitor on the other side. After a moment of searching he presses a button and the beeping stops.
Akutagawa sighs, then rejoins Atsushi on what he now realizes is a hospital bed.
“You were restless,” he repeats to Atsushi’s silence. “I wanted to make sure you settled down. That was a … challenging fight.”
“You have a bed. One with the fancy pillows you like. And not an unconscious weretiger taking up all the space,” Atsushi says.
“I do,” he says. Atsushi settles in and does his best to make room for them both on a cramped bed. Akutagawa finishes, “But I slept here instead.”
“Fool,” Atsushi says.
“That’s my insult,” Akutagawa protests. Then he says nothing further as Atsushi settles in and sets his head on his shoulder before falling back asleep.
Atsushi fidgets through dinner. The weretiger is always fidgeting and fretting, but tonight was … excessive. Akutagawa asked several times what his problem was, and received the answer that it was nothing that Atsushi was doing fine and maybe Akutagawa is the one with a problem. At that last declaration he’d stared Atsushi down until the weretiger had mumbled a hushed apology and finished his glass of wine.
Dinner is over now and Atsushi suggested they walk through the park.
A hand folds over his. He takes it.
They keep walking.
They are silent. This is not their usual. Usually he talks with the weretiger, sharing details of their day, or what is on their mind, or they discuss either an upcoming or just finished mission. But as Akutagawa looks at him out of the corner of his eye, he knows that Atsushi’s mind is still racing a mile a minute. He also knows the weretiger will get to it when he is ready.
Atsushi turns to him.
“I got you something.”
Akutagawa cocks an eyebrow.
Atsushi dives into his pocket and pulls out a box.
Akutagawa’s eyebrows now both raise.
“Oh! No, sorry. It’s not that. We’re not there yet.”
Yet. He does not miss the use of that word.
Atsushi flushes a bright red and opens the box. Inside is a necklace. Akutagawa reaches out and pulls it back. It’s a pendant - no, a locket, on a black chain. At the center is an engraving of a raven and it is surrounded with filigree. He opens it to see a picture of Atsushi in the center. It’s one of his favorite photos, Atsushi red cheeked and grinning as he headbutts Akutagawa after a particularly grueling fight.
It’s stunning.
“You can’t afford this,” is the first thing he says.
“Ryuu,” Atsushi says with a sigh. It’s a familiar tone. One that says his reaction was not the one Atsushi was looking for.
Still, he frowns. “On your meager salary-”
“Do you like it?” Atsushi cuts in.
He looks at it a moment longer.
“I can take it back…” Atsushi says. He rubs at his forearm. “It’s not a big deal.”
“No,” he snaps. “It’s mine.” He looks at it a moment longer, then hands it to Atsushi. “Put it on,” he orders.
“Okay,” Atsushi says softly. He does as asked. The necklace is heavy around his throat. The weight is perfect.
He steps back when he’s finished with the clasp, but Akutagawa turns and captures his lips in a kiss. The weretiger startles, then wraps his arms around him.
When they break he asks, “But seriously are you sure you can afford it? You are so poor.”
“Oh, shut up Ryuunosuke.”
He has made some mistakes in his life.
Perhaps the worst was agreeing to go out for drinks with Chuuya.
Akutagawa holds himself up with a hand on either side of the bathroom stall and wills himself not to retch again. He will not. He will not. He will not.
He fails.
When he is done, he realizes he is not alone in this bathroom stall. Fuck. An enemy? Where is Rashomon? Right - on his shoulders, so he can just.
“Knock it off,” says an ever patient, ever kind voice. “It’s me.”
“Weretiger,” he growls.
It comes out raspier than usual, given his raw throat.
“Me,” Atsushi says. “Now come on. Are you done? We’ll get you home.”
“You were busy tonight,” he comments. His head is swimming. This bar is too loud. What is that noise? Atsushi helps him to his feet and he spots it - a dripping faucet.
He bares his teeth at it.
Atsushi chuckles and approaches the faucet. With one arm still around Akutagawa he puts his hand under the faucet and cups it so he can give him some water.
“Drink,” he says. “And it’s okay. Gin texted you were not doing so hot. I left the dinner.”
He frowns and tries to remember what Atsushi was doing. Right - a dinner with Ango and Dazai. Some work business. He remembers how excited Atsushi had been, more for the food than anything else. A real steakhouse he’d said as they got ready for work in the morning. With fancy cocktails.
“It’s over?”
“Huh? Oh, no. We were just sitting down. Damn, I don’t think I’ve seen you this drunk before.”
“Shots. I did shots.”
He thinks that’s right? He has a vague recollection of Chuuya handing him something in a glass. He remembers looking at it and thinking it couldn’t be that bad.
The memory of the taste makes him want to vomit again.
“Okay, okay. C’mon. I texted Chuuya that I’ve got you. Let’s go home.”
In the end, Atsushi has to half carry him out of the bar. He goes along with Akutagawa’s instance that he pretend he can walk to preserve some dignity but once they are on the street he picks him up.
He wants to say ‘thank you’. He wants to say ‘I know you were looking forward to dinner. Thank you for getting me instead.’ He wants to say ‘I’ll buy you as much steak as you want’
What ends up happening is that he grabs Atsushi’s face and says, “I’ll get you a cow.”
Atsushi laughs and adjusts his grip so he can press a kiss to an admittedly sweaty brow. “Sure, Ryuunosuke. Whatever you say.”