Bungo Stray Dogs - The 12 Days of Christmas

Day 3: Lonely (Shin Soukoku)

Day 3, Prompt 12: Lonely || Gloomy skies, soft blankets, and a warm fire

Christmas. A time of year typically spent with friends and family, filled with joy, happiness, laughter, and smiles.

But not for Ryunosuke Akutagawa.

The peaceful silence stretched throughout the dark room, lit up only by a lone, flickering candle, and the crackling of the orange and red fireplace, the flames dancing, as the occasional page turn was heard.

The Rashōman user looked down at his book, the tan pages lit up by the fire, as his sharp, grey eyes - covered by framed, tinted glasses, scanned the many words written on the book.

He was dressed in, what he would call casual, and what others would wear at a nice restaurant, a black turtleneck sweater, seemingly unbothered by the heat radiating from the flames.

He had stayed like this for about two hours, now, and Gin had gone out an hour ago to hang out with some of her friends from the Port Mafia. She had wanted to do something on Christmas, but because Akutagawa wanted to do anything but socialise on this merry holiday, Gin had to take matters into her own hands.

Akutagawa assumed she would not be back until late that night, as he merely turned another page.

Another hour passed, as the pendulum clock above the fireplace rang out once, deeming the time 1:00 in the afternoon. It had already been three hours since Akutagawa had begun reading, never leaving that one seat.

However, this was the hour that, undecidedly, wanted to bother the sickly male, as the doorbell rang, echoing throughout the spacious apartment.

Akutagawa narrowed his eyes, as he somewhat aggressively set down the book, getting up, coughing once into his pale hand, and walking over to the front door.

He glanced at the window, stifling a sigh when he saw the white haired, smiling male with lavender gold eyes.

He reluctantly opened the door, stiffening his posture, as he said, "Oh, Weretiger. It's you. What business do you have with me?"

Atsushi was looking like a nervous wreck, even more so than ever, as he intertwined his fingers together. "O-oh, well, I-I just wanted to see how y-you were doing, Akutagawa!" he managed to stutter out, jumping when Akutagawa changed his posture, moving one hand against the doorway.

"Me? For what reason?" His grey eyes narrowed even more, as he added in suspicion, "Did Dazai put you up to this?"

Atsushi jumped once again, as he quickly said, "Wha- Oh, n-no! I just wanted to see if you were available to hang out!"

"Hang out?" Akutagawa repeated the words, as if it were foreign to him. "Why must you have to know what I am doing today?"

"Well..." As Atsushi scratched his mind for an answer, Akutagawa decided to at least let the poor boy inside.

"Whatever the reason may be, it does not concern me. However, I will not be held responsible if you get sick from standing outside. Come in," Akutagawa ordered, opening his door wider.

Atsushi blinked in surprise. "Thank you," he mumbled, picking something up from beside his feet and walking inside, as Akutagawa trailed him from behind.

However, his eyes caught a black bag swinging back and forth from Atsushi's hands. Narrowing his eyes, he used Rashōmon to quickly swipe the bag out of Atsushi's hands, causing the latter to trip and fall in surprise.

"Huh?"

Akutagawa held up the bag closer to his eyes. "What is this? You dare bring weapons into my home? Fool."

"Wh-what?" Atsushi turned his gaze to where Akutagawa was glaring at the black paper bag, as if inside were nuclear weapons. "N-no! I just thought, because you're always alone - no offence - during Christmas, I'd bring you a gift!"

"A...gift?"

Atsushi nodded. "Why don't you open it?" he asked, as they walked over to the couch.

Very slowly, and suspiciously, Akutagawa began to take out the box wrapped in colourful wrapping paper decorated with red and white sparkly stripes. He gently tore it open, and once it was fully unwrapped, a box with a navy, turtleneck sweater was revealed.

"D-do you like it?" Atsushi asked after a moment's silence.

All Akutagawa could respond with was silence, as he stared in awe at the sweater.

"I-I just thought, because you always wear the same colour and seem to like turtlenecks, I saw this, thought of you, and bought it. B-but if you don't like it, I can always-"

"Silence your insolent mouth, Weretiger," Akutagawa cut in. "I love it."

"Y-you do? That's good. And, uh, there's also a gift card to the same place I got your sweater from."

"I see. Thank you." A few seconds of silence passed, before Akutagawa finally said, "Merry Christmas, Weretiger."

Atsushi blinked in surprise, before managing to say, with a small smile, "O-oh! M-Merry Christmas to you too, Akutagawa!"