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Atsushi woke up with a shock. His phone was ringing. He looked at the clock on the wall, it was 3:26 am.
Who could possibly be calling at this hour?
He picked up the phone and saw “Akutagawa” on the screen… for some reason. They exchanged contact information after the Shibusawa incident just in case they needed to contact the other in an emergency or if the Agency and the Port Mafia arranged another alliance. He decided he would answer just in case it was something important.
“Hello?” he said.
“Yes, hello, is this Atsushi?” said a voice that wasn’t Akutagawa’s.
“Yes, who is this?” he responded with.
“My name is Asahi, I’m at a bar with this guy in a long black coat… he’s really drunk and I don’t think he can make his way home.” The man said, “I saw he left his phone open and called the first number in his favorite contacts.”
Why am I in his favorite contacts?
“Okay…” was all he managed to say.
“I know it’s late but I don’t think he can get home by himself, is it possible for you to come get him?” the man asked, sounding a bit drunk himself.
Atsushi thought about it for a second. He didn’t know where Akutagawa lived, so he’d have to bring him back to his place. The Agency and the Port Mafia were allies right now, and Kyouka had finally been given her own apartment, so there shouldn’t be an issue there. Plus it’s pretty late so the chances of someone from the agency seeing anything were slim.
“Alright, I’ll get him. What bar are you at?”
He left his apartment as quietly as possible, praying no one else happened to be awake. He hopped into his car and drove away as fast as he could without being too loud.
Why the hell am I in his favorite contacts list? We exchanged contact information in case of an emergency, and we’ve only exchanged a few texts. Not to mention he wants to rip my fucking head off.
He arrived at the bar Akutagawa and the man called Asahi were at. He noticed the bar was pretty empty when he walked in, so he found Akutagawa pretty easily. The man was slumped over the counter with a half empty glass of a clear liquid next to him. Sat next to him was the man he assumed had been the one to call him.
“Atsushi?”
“Yeah. Is he conscious?” Atsushi asked, feeling slightly worried about the man slumped over the counter.
“Yes ‘m awake” a muffled voice said, slurring quite a bit.
“I assume you can handle this from here?” Asahi said in lieu of responding to the very drunk man slumped over the counter.
“Yeah I got him.” Atsushi replied, turning to Akutagawa, “Alright, can you walk to the car or do you need me to carry you?” he said, only half joking.
“I can get up, you don’t need to fuckin carry me” Akutagawa said.
He then proceeded to trip over the bar stool, landing on the floor with a shockingly loud thud.
“Sure. Come on, let’s go to the car.” Atsushi said while trying to lift the extremely drunk man off the floor. He slung the man’s arm over his shoulder and basically dragged him out of the bar. He was glad for the strength he had built over his time in the agency, it was the only reason he managed to get Akutagawa to the car.
“What the fuck get offa me” Akutagawa said while Atsushi was opening the car door, “I don’t need any help”
“Yeah, and I spoke to my parents yesterday. Get in the fucking car.”
Once he finally got the black-haired idiot into the car, he pulled away from the curb and drove towards the Agency’s apartment building in absolute disbelief over the situation he was currently in. It was almost 4 in the morning, and he was driving to his apartment with a mass murderer that had vowed to kill him in the passenger’s seat. How the hell did he go from living in an orphanage to this?
They finally reached Atsushi’s apartment. Unsurprisingly, the drunken man was equally as uncooperative as he had been at the bar.
“Where the hell am I, Jinko?” he slurred while trying (and failing) to get out of the car.
“We’re at my apartment. Can you actually walk this time or am I gonna have to drag you again?” Atsushi replied, getting worried about how drunk this man actually was.
“I can get up by myself, I don't need help,” he replied.
For some reason Atsushi doubted that. Despite his uncooperativeness, getting Akutagawa out of the car was the easy part, it was getting him up the stairs that proved the most difficult.
“Man, you gotta work with me here. It’s either you walk up as best as you can or I toss you up.” Atsushi said after a few minutes of struggling.
“Hey Jinko have you seen the Jinko?” Akutagawa said once they were halfway up the stairs.
“Excuse me?” he replied, confused and tired.
“Hesso pretty.” the drunk man slurred, clearly unaware of what he just said and to whom.
Atsushi stopped dead in his tracks. Halfway up the stairs.
What? The fuck?
“Why’d we stop?” Akutagawa said, looking around confused.
Atsushi decided to keep walking, as best as he could with the deadweight he was currently carrying, and to deal with that once he was in his apartment.
Approximately 10 minutes later, they made it to Atsushi’s apartment. Thankfully no one else had woken up during his struggle with the drunken idiot. He laid Akutagawa on the couch (he ended up having to carry the man up the stairs) and went to the kitchen to get him a glass of water.
“Woah where am I? This place is small.” Atsushi heard coming from the direction of the couch.
“Thanks. You’re in my apartment, asshole,” Atsushi said, handing him the glass of water, “Drink up. Unless you want your hangover tomorrow morning to be worse than it needs to be.”
“I don’t need your help. Jinko will never love me back if I need anyone’s help.”
.
.
.
Huh?
Atsushi paused but Akutagawa clearly had more to say.
“He’s so pretty and strong and helpful and he’ll never like me if I’m so pathetic.” Akutagawa said with a bit of sadness behind the drunken slurring.
Atsushi was a bit taken aback by this. He thought the man had absolutely despised him, never would he have thought he actually liked him. To be honest, Atsushi had been drawn to Akutagawa’s aggressive, angry vibe he had going on since their fight against Ivan Goncharov during the cannibalism incident. He never would’ve imagined the man felt the same way about him.
“I think he’ll like you whether or not you need people’s help.”
“No he won’t. He’s too perfect and I’m too… me.”
“Listen, Akutagawa. You probably won’t remember any of this in the morning” Atsushi said, trying to think of what to say next, “but I think the Jinko might feel the same way, if you said something to him besides angry declarations of murder.”
Akutagawa was clearly in deep thought for a moment, before downing the entire glass of water and promptly passing out.
“Goodnight, Akutagawa.”
The next morning, or afternoon technically, Akutagawa woke up with the worst headache of his life, no memory of the past 24 hours, and no idea where he was. He groaned and turned around on the couch (?) he was currently sleeping on.
“Good afternoon sleepyhead” he heard a vaguely familiar voice say from the next room.
“Don’t you dare call me that.” he said with more anger than he actually felt, “Where am I and what the hell happened yesterday?” He was more concerned with getting home and sleeping for the next year than trying to keep up his angry persona or think any more than he had to.
“I only know about the last couple hours you were awake.” the voice from the next room said.
“Then what did I do in those hours? And where am I?” he asked, sounding significantly less angry than before. Akutagawa sat up on the couch and felt a wave of pain rush through his head as the voice from the next room walked over and revealed itself to belong to the Jinko of all people.
His face must have betrayed his thoughts, as the Jinko’s face changed from happy to concerned as soon as he saw him. He handed him a glass of water and some pills.
“Drink some water and take the meds. They’ll help with your hangover while I make some food.” the Jinko said as he walked back to the room he came from.
“And how should I know these aren’t cyanide or something?” he replied.
“Seriously? Just take the meds, man, we both know your head is killing you right now.” the Jinko said, sounding mildly annoyed, “and you’re in my apartment.”
Akutagawa hesitated for a second before taking the meds. If they killed him at least he’d be free from this godforsaken hangover. “Why am I in your apartment?”
“Some guy at the bar last night called me on your phone to ask if I could pick you up. You were super drunk so I said I would since the Agency and the Port Mafia are allied right now. I didn’t know your address so I just brought you back here. You were a pain in the ass to get here, by the way.” Atsushi explained to the man who was currently contemplating jumping out the window.
“Oh my god. Did I do anything?” Akutagawa worried aloud.
“You didn’t do anything besides be a pain in the ass.” Atsushi replied. Before Akutagawa could breathe a sigh of relief, though, he continued, “You had quite a lot to say though.”
Akutagawa’s heartbeat accelerated instantly. “What did I say?” He asked, more scared than he had ever been in the presence of the Jinko.
“Not much worth noting. A lot of ‘I don’t need any help’ and ‘Jinko is so pretty’.” Atsushi said, laughing at the man’s shocked and horrified face when he processed what he had just heard.
Akutagawa’s heart stopped. He can’t be serious.
“You’re joking.”
“Nope.”
“Oh my god.”
“Yup.”
“Shit.”
Atsushi laughed. He didn’t seem upset or disgusted like Akutagawa thought he would be if he ever found out about his feelings.
Does this mean he feels the same way? No. Impossible. He’s probably just messing with me.
“Food’s ready. Come eat and I’ll call your sister to come pick you up.” the Jinko said, leaving Akutagawa to desperately try to remember what he had done the previous day.
Gin came and helped get Akutagawa to the car, since the man was acting like a vampire in the sun.
“Did he tell you anything that I said last night?” Akutagawa desperately asked his sister once they were in the car, hoping for any bit of information about the previous night after his attempts to remember had proved fruitless.
“Some.”
“What did I say?”
“So much.” She replied, laughing at her brother.