Work Text:
There is a tiger in Ryuunosuke’s apartment.
There is a white tiger in Akutagawa Ryuunosuke’s apartment.
There is a white tiger napping on the couch of Akutagawa Ryuunosuke’s apartment.
“Jinko?” Ryuunosuke asks faintly.
The tiger’s eyes shoot open, and it jumps off the couch, tearing the cushions with its claws in the process. It backs away from him with narrowed eyes, growling quietly, fur standing on end.
Ryuunosuke is fairly sure this is Nakajima; an ordinary tiger, one, would have absolutely no reason to be in his apartment, and two, likely would have attempted to maul him instantly. “What the hell are you doing here?” he demands. “At least turn back to your human form so we can talk about this.”
The tiger growls more loudly.
Ryuunosuke glares at him. “Alright, then. Have it your way.”
His phone starts to ring. The tiger cocks his head at him. Ryuunosuke will concede that it is adorable. “One moment, please,” he tells the tiger, feeling a bit insane. He checks the caller ID.
His heart stops.
It’s Dazai.
He accepts immediately and holds the phone to his ear. “Yes?”
“Did you get my present?” Dazai asks in a sing-song tone. “Figured you’d earned it, what with how little senseless murder you’ve been doing lately.”
Ryuunosuke’s heart drops. “What did you do to the jinko?” He fairly growls it himself. The tiger sits back on his haunches, curious.
Dazai gives back an infuriating little chuckle. “Relax, I’m kidding. I didn’t do anything to him. And he’s not yours to keep, that was just a little joke. Some Ability-user got him stuck in his tiger form, and seeing as I’m currently out of the country, we need you to look after him until I get back.”
Somehow this makes even less sense than whatever Ryuunosuke had been imagining. “Why me?”
“’Cause,” Dazai says, “you’re in love, right?”
“WHAT?”
Dazai hangs up. Ryuunosuke immediately calls him back. He’s sent to voicemail instantly. “Damn you, Dazai,” he mutters. Then turns to the jinko. “You don’t actually know what’s going on, do you?” he asks.
The tiger shakes his head. Somehow that puts Ryuunosuke at ease a bit.
“Apparently, you’ve been trapped in your tiger form,” he says through clenched teeth, “and the fools at the Armed Detective Agency decided it would be a brilliant idea to send you to me for safekeeping. Dazai will dispel the Ability when he gets back from wherever the hell he is right now, and as I have no intention of breaking our pact, I suppose that means we’re stuck together.” He collapses on the couch – a bit dramatically, but it’s been a long day, he’s tired, and there’s a goddamn weretiger in his apartment.
The tiger gives him an incredulous look, then hops on the sofa with him.
“Jinko –” Ryuunosuke protests, not even managing to voice that there’s not room for both of them before he’s being crushed to the couch by an enormous tiger head. Apparently he makes for a very comfortable pillow, because the tiger lets out a contented sigh and closes his eyes, nuzzling into Ryuunosuke’s lap. If he could manage to forget it’s actually Nakajima Atsushi there, it would almost be cute.
Ryuunosuke considers lifting him off the couch with Rashoumon, but he’s already taken off his coat for the day, and he doesn’t know if his remaining clothes would have the strength to carry a tiger. He sighs deeply, and then closes his eyes. It’s late, and he likely wasn’t getting a restful night’s sleep anyway. He might as well accept this.
He falls asleep slowly to the sound of the weretiger’s gentle snores.
An animal whine wakes him up in the night.
Ryuunosuke jolts up – or would, if he weren’t still being pinned down by far too many kilograms of tiger. Right. The tiger. His eyes are still closed, but he’s still whimpering and twitching. He’s having a nightmare.
Nakajima had told him once that he can sometimes see the abusive director of his orphanage lurking behind Akutagawa. If he experiences hallucinations, it’s only natural that he would have nightmares as well.
Rationalizing it doesn’t make it any easier to contend with Nakajima’s fearful cries.
Ryuunosuke is used to jolting up in the night panting and sweating, Rashoumon wrapped tightly around him as some sort of subconscious self-soothing measure. He always gives up on going back to sleep after that, reminding himself that there is always more work to be done. He’s not used to affording himself comfort from nightmares, let alone another person.
No, that’s not exactly true. Gin had nightmares sometimes as well. They’ve never shared a room, but when they were on the streets, she would sometimes cry out in her sleep. And he would draw her close to him and hold her and stroke her hair and murmur that everything was alright, he was there, she was safe.
He wonders if she still has them. He wonders if she can manage to soothe herself back asleep.
Guilt claws at his heart.
Nakajima is still whimpering, head thrashing against Ryuunosuke’s leg.
Tentatively, Ryuunosuke brings a hand to his head and strokes his fur.
“Shh,” he says quietly. “It’s alright, jinko. Everything’s alright. He’s not real. He can’t hurt you.”
Nakajima whines and presses into his hand. Moved by half-remembered instincts from befriended strays when he was young, he brings it up to scratch behind his ears. Nakajima slumps, breathing coming more evenly now.
Ryuunosuke doesn’t quite manage to fall back asleep. Instead he moves his hand down Nakajima’s side in rhythmic petting motions. The soft fur under his fingers is a comfort he hasn’t known in a long time.
He doesn’t talk to himself often. Perhaps it’s because the jinko is here – real enough to talk to but not conscious to hear him. “Dazai thinks we’re in love,” he says. “Or, more likely, it’s just something he said to get under my skin. But regardless… where could he possibly have gotten that idea from?”
The tiger doesn’t answer. Just keeps breathing deeply, warm breath puffing against Ryuunosuke’s leg.
“I suppose Dazai never had much of an idea about love,” Ryuunosuke continues. “He doesn’t seem the type to form attachments. But you would think he’d be perceptive enough to see that we hate each other.” He can dimly make out the dark stripes on Nakajima’s body. He traces one with his finger.
“We fight. We fight constantly. Even when we’re not actively engaged in battle, it seems we’re still fighting in some way or another. I hurt you, and you hurt me in return.” He huffs out a laugh. “I suppose someone like Dazai could mistake that for love.”
The tiger lets out a little huffing sound of his own.
“It all seems… far away now, though, doesn’t it?” Ryuunosuke asks. “Now that we’re here. You resting your head on me, and me allowing you to. It’s a temporary alliance, nothing more than that. But it’s… strange, how easy this is.”
The huffing sounds continue. Ryuunosuke thinks it might be the tiger equivalent of a purr. With no one there to see him, he allows himself to smile.
“I suppose we’ve been through a great deal,” he allows. “We’ve fought each other, but we’ve fought alongside each other as well. For each other. We’ve trusted each other. We’re trusting each other now. I’ve… confided in you, even when I haven’t meant to. And you’ve done the same to me. I suppose that could be a form of love.”
He’s starting to drift off to sleep now, thoughts muddling, blending together.
“I suppose I love you, Nakajima Atsushi.”
“Morning, sleepyheads!”
A weight disappears very suddenly from Ryuunosuke’s lap, and his eyes shoot open. It is morning. He’s sitting on his couch, still dressed in his work clothes. His work clothes are covered in white fur. Dazai Osamu is grinning down at him. Nakajima Atsushi is laying on the couch next to him.
“Dazai,” Nakajima complains, pushing himself into a sitting position. “Did you have to wake me up? That’s the best I’ve slept in years.”
“Geez, so ungrateful,” Dazai huffs. “Remind me not to drop everything to help you the next time you’re hit with an Ability.”
Nakajima’s eyes widen. “Right! What the hell were you thinking, dropping me off with Akutagawa?” He scrambles away from Ryuunosuke like he’s burned him.
“Why don’t you ask him?” Dazai asks, directing that infuriating grin back at Ryuunosuke. “You know what, I’ll give you two time to say goodbye. I’ll be in the car!” He saunters out of the room, leaving Ryuunosuke and Nakajima in uncomfortable silence.
“…Hey,” Nakajima says. It’s… awkward. Much more awkward than Ryuunosuke is used to.
“Hello, jinko,” Ryuunosuke replies.
Nakajima almost meets his eyes when he says, “I think you were talking in your sleep.”
Ryuunosuke goes very still.
Slowly, Nakajima scoots closer to him until they’re side by side. Ryuunosuke’s heart is pounding. Except for last night, this is the closest they’ve ever been without actively hurting each other.
Slowly, very slowly, Nakajima leans over and places his lips on Ryuunosuke’s cheek.
Then he’s jolting back like lightning, face burning. “I’ll, uh, I’ll see you around!” he stammers, racing out the door after Dazai.
Ryuunosuke sits there for a long moment. Then he brings his hand up to trace his fingers over his cheek, where Nakajima had… kissed it.
Nakajima had kissed his cheek.
It was very strange.
But it was also… nice.
Ryuunosuke thinks he would like for him to do it again.
Then something far more important occurs to him, and he’s running after the both of them.
“DAZAI! How the hell did the ADA get into my apartment??”