Chapter Text
The first rule of their relationship was simple. No one could know. Not the Agency nor the Port Mafia. and especially not Dazai, although Atsushi was increasingly convinced Dazai had known from the moment Akutagawa had shoved him against the wall of a deserted alley six months ago and kissed him like he had something to prove.
They'd never spoken about it afterward. Akutagawa had merely straightened his coat and said, "If you regret that, say so."
Atsushi, still trying to remember how breathing worked, had replied, "...I don't."
"...Good."
That had been the beginning.
Now, months later, nothing had really changed.
"You're staring."
Atsushi jerked his eyes away from the report in front of him. "I wasn't."
"You have looked at the same page for five minutes."
"I was thinking."
Akutagawa looked unconvinced."You were staring."
"I-" A knock interrupted him. "Kunikida wants you both in the meeting room," Kenji called cheerfully before disappearing down the hallway.
Atsushi exhaled. “Saved by Kenji."
"You are fortunate."
"Oh, don't start."
"I had every intention of continuing."
Despite himself, Atsushi smiled. And when akutagawa noticed, there was the faintest twitch at the corner of his mouth, it was so small that anyone else would have missed it entirely.
Atsushi didn't.
They walked into the meeting room several feet apart. Far enough that no one would think twice. But sat close enough that Akutagawa's sleeve brushed Atsushi's hand for less than a second beneath the table. No one noticed. Except Dazai, His smile widened. And Atsushi looked away immediately.
"The target is an ability trafficker," Kunikida explained, pointing at a map spread across the table. "They've been selling modified ability weapons to criminal organizations throughout Yokohama."
"We've received intelligence that the Port Mafia has been tracking the same group."
Just as akutagawa was about to ask why in the world he was needed there, As if on cue, the office door opened. Chuuya walked in and the Agency collectively sighed.
"Wonderful," Tanizaki muttered.
"A joint operation," Chuuya announced, looking only mildly irritated. "Mori's orders."
"I already hate this," Atsushi mumbled.
"You always hate this," Akutagawa replied.
"I hate you."
"I know."
"You two are weird," Yosano observed.
"No kidding," Kunikida sighed.
Dazai was smiling into his coffee.
The warehouse district sat silent beneath a sky heavy with rain. A cold wind carried the scent of saltwater from the harbor.
"It says there are approximately thirty armed persons" Kunikida said into the communicator. "Plus the trafficker."
"We split into teams."
Dazai and chuuya on the east entrance. Atsushi and Akutagawa on the west, then meet in the center. Simple. Atsushi hated simple. simple usually meant something had been missed. Akutagawa adjusted his gloves. "You are frowning."
"I'm thinking."
"You overthink."
"I have anxiety."
"You have incompetence."
"Oh, shut up."
"You first."
"...You're impossible."
"So I've been told."
Atsushi rolled his eyes. "...Idiot."
"So affectionate."
"I wasn't being affectionate."
"No?"
"No."
"Liar."
Heat crept into Atsushi's face. Before he could retaliate. "Move."
Akutagawa's voice sharpened. Instinctively, Atsushi obeyed, and a bullet shattered the concrete where he'd been standing. Gunfire erupted.
"So much for stealth!" Chuuya barked. The warehouse exploded into chaos.
Atsushi transformed mid stride, white tiger claws tearing through crates as he lunged toward the nearest attacker. Across the room, black cloth ripped through the air. Rashomon devoured rifles whole before slicing cleanly through steel supports.
Atsushi ducked. Akutagawa's attack passed inches above his head, severing three enemies at once.
Akutagawa stepped sideways. Tiger claws swept through the space he'd just vacated. There was no communication. And no hesitation. Perfect.
"Since when are they this synchronized?" Tanizaki muttered through the comm.
"I've...never seen them fight like this," Kunikida admitted.
Even Chuuya frowned. "...Huh."
Within minutes The first floor was secure. bodies groaned across the concrete. Broken weapons lay across the ground.
"Too easy," Atsushi breathed.
Akutagawa looked toward the upper catwalks. "...Agreed."
Something felt wrong.
Then. A laugh echoed through the warehouse. "You really are everything they say." A lone figure stepped onto the metal walkway above them. He was formatly dressed. The trafficker. "So this is the weretiger..." His gaze shifted. "And the infamous Rashomon."
"I expected more."
Atsushi tensed. "You're surrounded."
"I don't think I am." He snapped his fingers and the walls immediately shook. The floor beneath them lurched.
"What"
The support columns. Were moving. They were NOT supposed to be moving.
"No..." Akutagawa's eyes narrowed.
"They're abilities."
The pillars weren't pillars, they were people. Their bodies fused into the steel framework itself. Living supports. Hundreds of glowing veins pulsed through the building.
"The warehouse..." Atsushi whispered. "...its alive."
The trafficker smiled wider. "I prefer weaponized architecture."
Every wall shifted, and too many hallways disappeared. The ceiling groaned overhead.
"Separate them." A wall of living steel then erupted between Atsushi and Akutagawa.
"Ryuu!"
Black cloth slammed against the barrier. It didn't even scratch it. "...Jinko!"
"I'm over here!"
Another wall then crashed down. Then another, the warehouse was rearranging itself like a maze. Voices echoed from every direction.
"Akutagawa!"
Silence.
"...Ryuu?"
Nothing.
Atsushi ran but every corridor led somewhere different. The building kept changing. He tore through one wall, only to find another. "Dammit!"
Somewhere nearby, he heard Rashōmon. Then gunfire. And then, an explosion. The entire warehouse shook violently and dust filled the air.
"Ryuu!"
No answer. His chest tightened, something was wrong. Very fucking wrong.
On the opposite side of the maze Akutagawa stood alone. Five enemies surrounded him. "...Pathetic."
Rashomon cut through the first three. The fourth barely had time to scream.The fifth fled. Akutagawa ignored him. His attention was elsewhere. "...Jinko."
The warehouse shifted again. And a faint scent of blood reached him. His head snapped toward the eastern wing. It smelled too much blood. Far too much. Without thinking, he ran.
Atsushi staggered around a corner just as the trafficker appeared.
"So. You found me."
The floor suddently opened beneath Atsushi. He began running, only for steel cables to whip from the walls. They wrapped around his arms. His legs. His throat. He then transformed, ad his claws sliced throug two of them but three more replaced them. "What the hell"
"They regenerate." The trafficker smiled. "I've had years to perfect this."
Metal tightened around Atsushi's neck. He couldn't breathe or move.
The man calmly took a gun out from his pocket. "I wanted to see if the weretiger truly was immortal." He raised the gun. Pointed it directly at Atsushi's forehead. "You'll make an excellent experiment."
The trigger began to squeeze. And somehow, Akutagawa heard it. One heartbeat. One gun being cocked. One terrified gasp he knew better than his own breathing.
atsushis eyes widened. "...Don't."
Rashomon exploded through every wall between them. The warehouse screamed as black cloth carved a straight path through the maze. The trafficker barely had time to look up. The wall behind him burst open.
"Get." Black tendrils wrapped around Atsushi and yanked him backward. "Away." Akutagawa stepped through the cloud of dust, coat torn, blood dripping from a cut across his brow. His silver eyes never left the trafficker. "From him."
The temperature in the room seemed to drop. The trafficker laughed nervously. "Oh?"
"I was wondering when you'd find each other."
Atsushi coughed, rubbing at the bruises around his throat. “Ryuu"
Without taking his eyes off the enemy, Akutagawa asked quietly, "Are you hurt?"
"I'm okay."
Then he turned completey towards the traffiker "You touched what belongs under my protection."
Atsushi's heart skipped a beat.
Akutagawa took one slow step forward. "No one..." Rashomon unfurled behind him like the wings of some ancient beast. "...hurts him..."
Another step. "...but me."
The trafficker's smile finally disappeared. And then the entire warehouse began to collapse.