Eye of The Tiger | Shin Soukoku One-Shot

2

Friday, December 19th, 9:34am.

Now, when Akutagawa was offered the chance to stay at Atsushi's place while Gin went to Higuchi's, he initially wanted to say no. Obviously, the idea of living and breathing in his literature-rival's safe space felt wrong. But not to mention the fact that he and Atsushi had completely different schedules, and he didn't want to accidentally wake the Jinko during his very few hours of sleep.

However, Akutagawa really didn't want to be sleeping in an apartment with a broken lock when there were murderous criminals. 

So, weighing between death and humiliation, he chose the ladder. 

"Is that all?" Atsushi asked when Akutagawa came back outside to his car, holding only a small suitcase.

"I don't have much." Akutagawa elaborated, tossing the suitcase into the trunk. "The clothing budget tends to go towards Gin."

"She does pull off the soft punk vibe very well," he commented, watching as Akutagawa mindlessly tried to stuff the very end of his computer charger back in the case, as it kept slipping out. He eventually just gave up and closed the trunk. 

He truly didn't want to be a bother, as petty as he was that Atsushi hid his identity. It just... felt strange. Last time he actually did anything of the sort was immediately after his parent's death when he was younger, and Uncle Mori took him in for a bit. Of course, after he died, Akutagawa just decided it was better for Gin's mental health to take care of her himself. 

They've been happy ever since. 

But this was temporary, anyway. It'll be fine. 

"Are you sure about this?" Akutagawa had asked, pulling his jacket closer around his shoulders as he walked towards the passenger seat. "I don't want to intrude or anything-"

"It's fine, don't worry. My place is kind of boring, though, so if anything you'll make it more lively."

"Don't you have a cat?"

-

Friday, December 19th, 9:39am.

...FUCK.

How did Atsushi manage to forget about his furry companion- no... beastly companion? If Akutagawa saw he had photos of him and his tiger around the walls- and the fact he took him home every weekend to hang out and cuddle on the couch to watch The Tiger King and mock the characters- what is he going to do. 

"Atsushi?"

"Yeah, I have a cat." Atsushi said, playing it cool as he climbed into the drivers seat, jamming the keys into the ignition. Soon, they were driving away, and every second was a living nightmare, as Atsushi tried to scramble for some sort of excuse... "His name is Usher."

"...Usher?" Akutagawa, though only visible in Atsushi's peripherals, was clearly trying to contain himself. "As in the... 'yeah, yeah, yeah' guy?"

"No! As in 'The Fall of The House of Usher.' And you call yourself an author..." Atsushi shook his head, fully aware of how absurd his Tiger's name was. "But sometimes I call him Hush."

"Is he friendly?" Thank God for Akutagawa's clear lack of body language awareness, for Atsushi was sweating. "Like... will he bite me if I pet him?"

"Eh..." Atsushi was about to burst into tears. "He has to warm up to you fir-"

His phone suddenly rang, automatically connected to the Bluetooth radio in the car... with Chuuya's contact name appearing in big bold text; right in view of Akutagawa.