JAN 8TH 5:46 PM
Atsushi Nakajima and Akutagawa Ryuunosuke were sent on yet another mission by Atsushi's (VERY annoying) coworker, Osamu Dazai. Recently, Dazai had had been sending them on many joint missions.
His motives were very unclear, but during these missions the two boys had lots of bonding time. It didn't matter if the time was spend bickering or just in (un)comfortable silence, they well spent their time together.
"I don't understand why you eat such cheap food, weretiger." Akutagawa said. "Huh?! Chazuke is not 'cheap food'." Atsushi was a little offended at his 'partners' comment. "Im just saying.." Akutagawa responded trying not to let out a little laugh at Atsushi's tone.
After a few moments of silence Atsushi spoke up. "I have a question." The weretiger spoke. Akutagawa responded with a small "Hmm?" Atsushi looked like he was still forming the sentence in his head, but soon spoke once again. "If.." He started "If Dazai left the mafia, then why did you stay?" He asked after a beat. Akutagawa thought about it for a moment. "Don't you want to be a good person too?" The follow up question made Akutagawa's eyes widen for a second.
"I don't think I could ever be a good person." Akutagawa's face went back to its normal stone cold expression. The blunt response hurt Atsushi in a way. He was confused about Akutagawa's answer but decided not to press. "And to answer your second question," Akutagawa started "When Dazai first left no one knew where he was. We thought he was kidnapped by an enemy organization, until 2 years ago when he started working with the Armed Detective Agency."
"He didn't tell anyone?" Atsushi asked. "Yes, not even Chuuya-san." Atsushi never knew much about Nakahara Chuuya. He never really had one-on-one moments with many other members of the Port Mafia, except Akutagawa of course. Dazai loved pairing the two together, for some reason..
"I thought Chuuya-san and Dazai-san hated each other?" Atsushi asked, a little confused. "They do, it's just.." Akutagawa seemed to be having a bit of trouble to articulate what he was thinking. "It's just..?" Now, he was curious. They stopped walking at this point. Atsushi leaned forward towards Akutagawa, he had a tendency of doing that when he was interested.
They were very close, Akutagawa could feel the weretiger's breath on his cheek. It felt like the world slowed for a second, everything stopping just for this moment. Akutagawa felt his heart start to beat a little faster. This was a new feeling for the boy. "Hmm?" Atsushi said, leaning a bit closer.
"Its hard to explain." Akutagawa finally said. Atsushi put some space between them once again. Akutagawa could only imagine how read his face must be. Atsushi continued to walk again like it was nothing. Akutagawa coughed into his sleeve and caught up to the weretiger. The rest of the trip was spent in silence. Akutagawa couldn't tell if it was comfortable or uncomfortable silence, but for right now he felt content.
———
JAN 19TH 6:27 PM
"Weretiger." Atsushi was started by the voice belonging to a certain person he couldn't stop thinking about. Atsushi knew the mafioso was gonna be here. So, why is he surprised to see him? "Hello, Akutagawa!" He said happily. Why was he happy to see him? Atsushi hated Akutagawa..
Atsushi hated this confusing feeling, it was like a flame igniting in his heart. He felt the flame get bigger and bigger every time he heard Akutagawa's deep voice. Why is Akutagawa so hot- No! He means horrible! Absolutely Horrible!
"Atsushi." Akutagawa spoke once again, waking up Atsushi from his thoughts. Atsushi felt a whole new feeling rupture from inside him. Akutagawa just called him by his name. No nicknames or anything. This was certainly new. "Yes?" The young detective replied. "You spaced out." The mafioso said plainly. "Ah- Sorry.." Atsushi rubbed the back of his neck. "Don't worry about it, Jinko." and we're back to the nicknames.
