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Akutagawa stared at him with those big, empty eyes, seemingly no emotion behind them. The closest thing Atsushi could link his expression to was indifference, laced with a little bit of contempt and some leftover hatred. Empty, and not in a comfortable way; not very welcoming, but not outright murderous anymore.
“… can I come with you.”
See, Atsushi knew things had changed. They kind of had a moment after they somehow defeated the seemingly undefeatable threat to the world order that was Amenogozen. (You know. The usual way enemies become acquaintances?) He wouldn’t call it friendly, what they had, but understanding, somehow. And it’s not like they saw each other much after that.
“Uh. You want to come to the arcade with me?”
And then Mori decided to remember the deal he’s struck with Fukuzawa, and then suddenly Akutagawa became his co-worker, and then there was this. Turns out, Akutagawa wasn’t much of a talker outside of battle, and Atsushi often rumbled on about his day to fill in the silence. He mentioned meeting Kyouka to play arcade games after his Port Mafia shift and that he had some time to kill before that, and that’s when the mafioso (the one dressed in black) finally spoke.
Can I come with you?
What. The.
“If it’s not too much trouble.”
All you do is trouble, Atsushi thought, but of course didn’t say it.
“N-No, no, of course not.” He managed to smile, something that seemed to annoy Akutagawa; he often shifted uncomfortably when he did it, looking like he wanted to wipe it off his face but figured he shouldn’t kill him since they were partners now and all. “If you really don’t mind hanging out with just me for some time.”
Akutagawa gave him one of his ‘are you stupid’ kind of stares that Atsushi was well acquainted with by now. Even though he still struggled to understand why he kept getting them, like the one right now.
“Uh. Okay. Let’s go, I guess.” He stopped himself from giving him another smile.
Kyouka’s favorite arcade was located near his other office, quite some time away from where they’ve just finished their job. Atsushi struggled to figure out the correct train connections while Akutagawa lurked behind him, not helping but not bothering him either. They’ve walked straight into rush hour, and Akutagawa attached a strand of Rashomon to Atsushi’s belt so he wouldn’t lose him in the river of people.
“We could’ve just taken the car,” he casually mentioned after he bumped into Atsushi for the third time.
“Why, was that an option?”
His question was followed by another one of his ‘are you stupid’ glares.
“Yes.”
“Oh.” Atsushi tried to give him some more space since the man in black was basically leaning into him at this point, but he was squished into the corner and unable to move a finger. “Is there like a company number I could call or …?”
“Yes. But it’s not for you. I could call it, though.”
The weretiger internally sighed. If he said something similar, he would one hundred percent get the ‘you’re a fool’ treatment. But he wasn’t like that, so he smiled instead.
“I see.” He debated saying ‘okay, now I know for next time’, but he wasn’t sure he should assume that far.
Akutagawa was looking at his lips, his own forming into a thin line.
Right. I really should stop smiling this much.
“Well. You know for next time.”
*
The plan was to fool around the arcade for about an hour before Kyouka got there and they did their obligatory dance off that Atsushi always lost and then got something to eat. It was their little Friday ritual that got disrupted almost every other week because of some work-related issue; Atsushi got double the emergencies, so it was usually him who had to cancel. It was Kyouka’s reasoning that it was only fair he always paid for dinner because of that (he would’ve done that anyway).
“Oh, nice, the claw machine is free,” Atsushi remarked as he tugged Rashomon to follow him. “Kyouka-chan really wanted this bunny plushie, but neither of us could get it last time.”
Akutagawa leaned on the glass, observing Atsushi as he rummaged around his pockets for spare change.
“Is this what you do with your Friday night?”
“Yeah, if I can help it.” He finally managed to insert the coin, and the machine came to life, lighting up the displays while singing a happy tune. “Why, what do you usually do?”
“... work.”
“Oh, yeah, much better,” Atsushi chuckled as he lifted the claw and confidently plunged it into a sea of cute plushies. “I’ll grab one for Kyouka-chan and then we can figure out if there’s anything you’d like to try.”
His confidence was soon proven to be unjustified.
“I forgot what a nightmare this joystick is,” he grumbled more to himself that Akutagawa, putting in his fifth coin, eyes trained on the colorful blob of cuteness that Kyouka insisted was a rabbit.
“Hm.” Akutagawa wore the expression he had when he came across an opponent that he couldn’t immediately subdue. It was therefore fair to assume that he was amused. “I have to say, you make it look hard.”
“What? Are you mocking my skills?” Atsushi complained, eyes still glued to the rabbit/cute monster.
“I think I am, yes.”
The tune announcing defeat rang for the fifth time and Atsushi groaned, while Akutagawa covered his mouth with his hand as if he was about to cough; but he hasn’t coughed since he was turned, so, what was he covering?
Oh. He’s laughing at me.
“All right. Fine.” He let go of the machine, leaning on the glass to face Akutagawa covering his smile, trying to sound as annoyed as possible. “If you think it’s so easy, why don’t you do it?”
“I don’t think it’s easy. I just think you make it look harder than it probably is,” the vampire explained, the corner of his lips still quirked upwards, and leaned closer to the weretiger, who immediately put his outstretched hand between their faces.
“I got five rounds, so it’s only fair you get five tries also. And I bet you can’t do it on time. If you fail, you owe me an apology.”
Akutagawa pushed his hand out of the way, his cold fingers lingering on the weretigers hot skin.
“And if I win?”
“Kyouka-chan gets her bunny. And … I’ll agree you’re better at this than I am.”
Akutagawa straightened his back, eyes narrowed at the challenge ahead. He pushed Atsushi to the side, grabbed the joystick and zeroed in on the correct plushie among dozens.
“I shall be victorious, weretiger.”
Atsushi gave him the side-eye.
“Will you relax? I still haven’t put the coin in.”
By round four Atsushi was rolling on the floor with laughter while Akutagawa swore at the ‘cheating, lying, malfunctioning piece of crap’ that held the deformed (but still cute) bunnies hostage.
“Did you see that!? Did you? It literally opened right after I grabbed it, it’s not fair, this stupid game is rigged!”
Atsushi picked himself up from the wall he was leaning on for support, the muscles of his abdomen burning from the unexpected exercise, and wiped the tears with his sleeve. He looked apologizingly over to the crowd of people who were giving Akutagawa nasty looks; he was the loudest person there, even if the music played and people chatted.
“Hey, it’s just a game, will you relax?”
“No. This machine will feel my wrath,” Akutagawa said with such angry seriousness Atsushi doubled over with giggles once again.
“Well, it better feel it soon, because this is your last chance.”
The older mafioso took the fifth coin from the younger one, looking as serious as Atsushi wasn’t.
“I think you have to say something, since this is basically it, the last stand. Something Akutagawa-ish. I was thinking ‘I shall bring Kyouka-chan the glory she deserves’,” the weretiger proposed and immediately laughed at his own joke.
“Laugh all you want, weretiger. I’m winning this.”
“Yeah, yeah, just put the coin in, Kyouka-chan will be here any minute.”
Akutagawa took a deep breath, and put the fifth coin in.
He then turned towards Atsushi, giving him a sly look.
Uh-oh. I know that look.
“You didn’t specify I couldn’t cheat.”
Rashomon slipped through the hatch of the machine, grabbing the nearest plushie and taking it with him back from where it came from, all in a matter of one or two seconds. The plushie was then neatly placed into Atsushi’s hands, and Akutagawa crossed his arms, looking smug.
“I’m waiting for the announcement, weretiger. Say I am better at this than you, and make sure to tell Kyouka who got her the damn rabbit.”
The weretiger stared at the plushie in his hands, head inclined, shoulders shaking.
“Weretiger. I am serious.”
Atsushi slowly lifted his head, and Akutagawa’s smug expression immediately turned blank. The white-haired boy was biting his bottom lip, obviously trying to hold in the laughter he kept at bay like a very poorly constructed dam.
“This … this isn’t the rabbit.” He showed him the plushie as a tear rolled down his cheek. “You got the wrong one.” Akutagawa stared at the plushie, which most definitely wasn’t a bunny, but rather a … “It’s a tiger.”
It was Friday night, and this was a quite popular establishment; the place was buzzing with activity, people playing loud games, dancing to loud music, and talking loudly over said sounds. And yet, somehow, the laughter and cries from the claw machine section managed to overshadow them all.
*
They sat on the stairs in front of the arcade. Akutagawa looked indifferent as usual, while Atsushi looked mortified. He was holding onto the plush tiger, staring at nothing in particular.
“I won’t apologize.”
Atsushi blinked and slowly looked over his partner, who was facing the opposite direction. This was basically him saying he was sorry, which confused the weretiger further.
“What? No, it’s not your fault. I just … I can’t believe we got kicked out.” He sighed deeply, burying his head into the toy. “I heard them right, right? Not banned? Just … removed from the premises? For just today?”
Akutagawa shrugged and Atsushi groaned.
“Well, at least they let me keep the tiger,” he said dejectedly, squeezing the plush in his arms.
“Who said the tiger is yours?”
“Kyouka-chans?” he tried hopefully.
“It’s not a rabbit and I won it.”
“Right.” He sighed, holding the plushie by its hands, lifting it in the air. “Good-bye, Kotora-chan. It was nice knowing you.”
He then passed it to the man sitting next to him, who carefully took the tiger in his hands.
“Huh.” He did the same as Atsushi, lifting it up in the air to examine it further. “He kind of looks like you.”
“Does that mean …”
“No.” He slowly lowered the creature who resembled Atsushi’s tiger form if you squinted really hard and hugged it. “I’m keeping it.”
Atsushi debated if it was worth noting out loud how saying that and then doing that was a little weird but decided against it.
“Kyouka-chan’s going to kill me.”
Akutagawa got up, dusting his coat with one hand while holding the tiger with the other.
“I think that’s my que.”
Atsushi looked up at him, surprised.
“You’re going already?”
The vampire looked at him sideways, which wasn’t nearly as menacing as he was probably trying to be, not with a stuffed toy in his arms.
“I never meant to impose on your meeting with Kyouka, weretiger.”
“Oh. Right.”
Something in his chest stirred, and he shifted on the stairs to try to shake off the discomfort.
“See you later,” Akutagawa said, but didn’t move.
“Yeah.” He smiled up at him, disregarding Akutagawa’s displeasure at him doing so. “See you around, Akutagawa.”
The blank expression that usually followed after he smiled at him or did something nice for him or said something fairly stupid was there again. There was also a faint blush there that could be attributed to the cold weather, and Atsushi thought it looked rather nice on his emotionless face.
Or does he just not know how to make a happy face?
It was a frightening thought. And sadly, not that unlikely.