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Atsushi groaned as he cracked his neck as he walked home. He was exhausted and needed to sleep. But he had to walk through the neighborhood to get to his apartment.
Atsushi didn't mind where he lived.
He had a roof over his head, a place to call his own, was in charge of his food and bills. He was finally free and was an adult and could do what he wanted.
Well.
Not really.
Being an adult didn’t have any freedoms. It was a little better than the orphanage, but he still had quite a few things to worry about.
The orphanage he had "graduated" from had fucked up his grades. The teachers didn't even give him his high school diploma when he graduated from those classes. They just booted him out of their stronghold of abuse and told him that he was on his own now.
Even though Atsushi knew plenty well that they had kept other graduating kids as staff.
It was his hair and eyes. Always managing to curse him, and he couldn't do anything about it. The stupid grayish locks that sprouted from his head ever since he could remember and his eyes that were oh so obviously two different colors warned everyone away from. Told everyone that he was a bad omen.
Without a diploma and with these markers of bad luck, Atsushi had an extremely hard time searching for a job. And for housing.
It was nice of the people whose flier he was responding to to even look his way.
But if there was one thing that Nakajima Atsushi was good at, it was cleaning.
The cleaning company Atsushi worked with was a little shady. It worked him at all the hours it could, paid him the minimum it could get away with, and sometimes refused to give him his day off.
But it paid him. And he got an apartment out of it because they paid him.
The place Atsushi managed to get as an apartment was okay. Ish. Okay-ish.
It was clean as Atsushi could get it, his small one-room apartment. It looked nice at least. Something he could do well, Atsushi had an eye for detail and he used it well. His futon could be rolled up and put in the closet and give him the space for the living room. He didn't need a desk or anything because he didn't have a computer.
The only reason he had a bookshelf was because of his guilty pleasure with books. On his one day off, he would clean what little mess he made and read the day away. Sometimes he would forget to eat, but it was worth it to get lost in the maze of words that took him away from his current lifestyle.
One charger for the single, old flip phone he had.
And the closet also held his clothes that were mainly used for work.
What mostly concerned Atsushi about where he lived was the location.
He was in a deeply gang-related hangout area. And the gangs, while usually only being made of children, came about like drones. They swarmed and would beat someone within an inch of their life if they didn't get the money they wanted.
And now here Atsushi was, walking home after dark with about five thousand yen on him. In a gang-heavy area. He was asking to be robbed, but he needed to be careful not to run. Just like he knew the gangs, they probably knew him.
He was walking easily, his movements as normal as he could make them.
Internally, he was preparing the meals for the next week in his head with the groceries he could buy–
"It won't come to us. What do we do?"
Don't stop. You're not capable of helping. The headmaster's voice echoed.
Fuck you. Atsushi said sharply, turning towards the voices.
Two girls, dark hair trailing down their backs like rivers at nighttime, were peering down an alleyway.
You can't do anything. The headmaster insisted.
Watch me.
Atsushi approached, making his footsteps heard. He called out still aways away. "Do you two need help with anything?"
One of the girls looked up, eyes narrowed in suspicion, before blinking and smiling. "Oh, Atsushi-san."
"Kyouka-chan, I nearly didn't recognize you without your uniform." Atsushi says warmly, his shoulders relaxing now that he knows one of the girls.
Kyouka-chan was a girl that had asked to sit next to him on the train one day, as someone following her. Atsushi, as he had read about, had given her his seat which had been next to an older woman that he had been chatting with and stood guard over her, eyes scanning for the person.
She had hugged him afterwards, just a brief hug that had made Atsushi freeze and gifted him a small, pretty smile.
They met on the train often after that, Atsushi always being her guard for someone with harmful intents.
Atsushi liked kids like Kyouka-chan, who liked books and bunnies. She wanted a bunny, but her eldest brother was away often, and the second eldest was too busy learning to be a teacher to get his opinion on the matter.
“What’s going on, Kyouka-chan?” Atsushi asked, tilting his head. His eyes wandered to the other girl, who was staring back at him with gunmetal gray eyes. “Ah, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Nakajima Atsushi.”
“Gin.” The girl nodded, her voice as soft as a whisper. “As to what’s going on.” She sighed, pointing her finger to the alleyway. “There’s a kitten in the alleyway that won’t come to us. And we think it’s hurt.”
“Ah, I see.” Atsushi hummed, listening, and yes, he could hear the kitten now. It’s soft little mews were like a hammer to his glass heart.
Atsushi’s eyes wandered to the convenience store that they were by. “Wait just a second please.”
Walking inside, he was quick to dart down the aisle for cat food and grab a can of wet kitten food. Going to the counter, he was a little sheepish. “Uhm. Sorry to bother you, but do you have any empty boxes?”
The man blinked at him, turned to the back, and picked up a shallow box that was there. “Will this do?”
“Yes, perfect! Can I buy that and this food?” Atsushi asked, mentally detracting the cost of the cat food from his funds.
“You don’t need to buy the box, just the food. You’re doing me a favor getting rid of it.” The man shrugged, dark hair moving with his shoulders, and rung up the cat food. “Have a nice night.”
“You too!” Atsushi called back, eyes lingering on the man’s tattoos under his eye, but turned back outside and to the girls still waiting outside. He placed the box on the ground, and opened the wet kitten food and pushed a little out onto the bottom of the box.
Soft whines, and the small, dirty little kitten came toddling towards the kitten food and towards the box. It was just a little thing, so small. Atsushi could pick it up with one hand and still have room to pick things up with the same hand.
The kitten got into the box, wolfing down the wet food and licking its lips, turning big yellow eyes at Atsushi, nearly pleading. Atsushi could only laugh, motioning to Kyouka-chan who had the food. “Just a little more. We don’t want to overfeed them.”
She pushed a little more food into the bottom of the box with her finger, watching with enraptured eyes as the little thing ate that too. Gin watched as well, her eyes light and happy.
Atsushi stripped himself of his zip-up coat, scooping up the kitten with it and making it let out a little mew of protest, before purring happily as it leaned into the hands holding it.
“Kyouka-chan, do you want to hold it?” Atsushi offering the little thing to her and she gladly took it, cheeks pink with happiness.
“Now what?” Gin-san asked, looking like she also wanted to hold the kitten
“Do you want to take it home?” Atsushi asked, tilting his head. “Do you have the things that could help with a kitten?”
Silence greeted him from the girls, both of them looking guilty.
“We could ask Onii-san.” Gin-san muttered. “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind, would he?”
Kyouka-chan rocked the kitten back and forth, swaying happily on her feet with the kitten in her arms. “It would be nice to have a pet. And it would be a good alternative to having a bunny.”
The slight pout on her face made Atsushi snicker. “Still a hope, ne Kyouka-chan?”
“It always will be.” Kyouka-chan huffed, but cuddled the kitten closer. “Atsushi-san, walk us home?”
“Of course.” Atsushi nodded.
“Yeah, he wants his coat back.” Gin-san decided to jump in and tease, a small smile on her face. Atsushi nearly tripped into the building, the girls giggling drowning out the hissing of the headmaster.
“That, and I want you two to get home safely.” Atsushi said, his eyes trailing along as they walked the opposite way to his apartment. The way that he had been coming from. Atsushi probably wouldn’t be able to get home until late tonight, but that was fine. As long as the girls got home safe, then everything would be fine.
Getting into the building was a little bit of a hassle, as the woman receptionist interrogated Atsushi quite a bit before Kyouka-chan scolded the woman harshly, defending Atsushi and Gin-san laughed in the background before they went to the elevators. Kyouka-chan was huffing, holding the kitten close as she muttered under her breath about people who didn’t know about Atsushi’s character, and Atsushi found it rather endearing.
“This is us.” Gin-san said, pulling a key out and inserting it in the lock.
They entered the apartment, and Atsushi muttered “Pardon the intrusion,” as Gin-san got him some slippers. As they walked further into the apartment, Atsushi froze. And twitched.
“Sorry for the mess.” Kyouka-chan, who knew his occupation, at least looked a little abashed as she pet the kitten in her hands.
Atsushi licked his lips, trying not to say anything about the horribleness of the mess that encompassed the apartment’s living room. “It’s fine. Do you have some water for the kitten to drink?”
Gin-san and Kyouka-chan shuffled in place, the kitten letting out a plaintive mew in the girl’s hold. “The. . . .the kitchen isn’t much better, Atsushi-san.”
Atsushi sighed at the state of the kitchen, hands on his hips. “You guys have been really busy, haven’t you?”
Kyouka-chan nodded. “It was midterms, and Ryuu-nii has had a lot of teaching trials.”
Atsushi placed his bag down on a relatively clean chair, pulling out a bag of disposable gloves that he usually used for his own small kitchen. They would be put to a better purpose today. “Is he here right now? I don’t want to wake him up. And there’s nothing here that needs to be saved, right?”
“No to both questions.” Gin-san said, fishing a relatively clean bowl out and managing to get it in-between the dishes in the sink and the water faucet. “Onii-san is out at a late night class.”
Atsushi clicked his tongue softly, working on the dishes in the sink after he pulled his gloves on. He started running some water at a trickle, letting it get to a warmer level before squirting some dish soap in and starting to soak the dishes that needed it. Wetting the dishes that didn’t need a good soak, Atsushi found a sponge in the sink that didn’t smell like sour milk and started scrubbing gently.
“Atsushi-san, you don’t have to.” Kyouka-chan said softly. “We’ll get to it eventually.”
“I’m sure you will.” Atsushi nodded, tossing a smile over his shoulder at her as he finished the first glass and rinsed it quickly. “However, I want to do this, and I know you all are more than likely tired from midterms.”
Kyouka-chan sighed, closing her eyes and nodding. Atsushi noted the slight dark circles under her eyes, more than likely there from staying up late at night because she was studying. The cat in her arms squirmed and hopped onto her shoulders, rubbing at her neck with Atsushi capable of hearing the purrs from across the room.
Easily, Atsushi started to get through the dishes, and started to move onto drying them. Kyouka-chan took them from him from there, putting them away. Gin-san appeared in the doorway, taking the kitten and likely going to wash it.
Dishes done, Atsushi worked on the sink and countertop, scrubbing away at the dirt and crumbs that had accumulated there with a few rags that he asked Kyouka-chan for. He had to pull a few cleaning supplies, that looked almost brand new, from under the sink and got to work.
Atsushi tried not to judge on the fact that the cleaners were not used. Kyouka-chan and Gin-san had had midterms, and their older brother had had teaching trials? He thought that’s what they said, but he didn’t want anyone to quote him on that. They were busy, and Atsushi knew that cleaning fell by the wayside when things got stressful.
The countertop and sink clean, Atsushi turned to eye the cabinets, deciding if they needed a scrubbing too, but decided that sweeping and cleaning the linoleum floor was better.
Sweeping was easy, even though he had to dump the pan three times thanks to bigger pieces of crumbs, and he had to warn Kyouka-chan that the kitten couldn’t have any chocolate that fell on the floor. She listened intently, holding the trashcan lid open and washing her hands dutifully afterwards.
Finally, he started scrubbing down the floor, and it was going well until he got to a rather stubborn spot.
The door opened and slammed.
"Today was a fucking day."
Atsushi very nearly, oh so nearly, let out a laugh at that. He instead looked at Kyouka-chan. "Does he know I'm here?"
Kyouka-chan shook her head. "Ryuu-nii, we have a guest."
Silence.
"Fuck."
Atsushi allowed himself a small smile at the curse from the entrance.
He went back to the spot on the floor, determining it was some sort of try at miso broth, and heard footsteps approaching.
"And just who are you?"
The tone was flat, giving nothing away. But Atsushi heard the bite beneath the tone, the warning.
Atsushi decided to take a quick break, rocking back on his heels and taking in the older brother. He looked remarkably like Gin-san, but with white colored tips in his hair.
"I'm Nakajima Atsushi, nice to meet you." Atsushi introduced himself, and a flicker of remembrance flared through the silver-gray eyes, followed by slight relaxation of the shoulders.
"As to why I'm here." Atsushi cracked his neck. "Your sisters found a kitten and I helped them bring it home. And my occupation is a cleaner."
The man tilted his head.
"What's your hourly rate?"
Eh?
Atsushi stared. Blinking.
The man stared back, eyebrow raising after a bit at the prolonged silence.
"Uuuhhhmm. Why. . . Do you ask?" Atsushi asked.
"Because I think this kitchen is cleaner than when we moved in, and people shouldn't do good work for free."
Atsushi felt heat creep up his neck, a flush hitting his cheeks first and then crawling to the top of his head.
"This is just– it's just a favor to a friend." Atsushi mumbled, staring down at the spot that was almost up from the floor. "Good work should always be done, in my opinion."
They stared at each other for a few seconds, before Atsushi ducked his head down.
"What time do you work in the morning?" The man asks instead as Atsushi starts tackling the spot again. It's finally fading away, and Atsushi is glad that no one will have to walk on that spot and be upset at it again.
"About five or so is when I clock in." Atsushi shrugged as he worked little circle of cleaning products into the kitchen floor.
"In the morning?"
"Yes." Atsushi says, managing not to drag it out and make it sound like the man was stupid. He had asked for time in the morning, so Atsushi gave him time in the morning.
"It's ten. At night." The man pointed out, leaning against the doorway. His tone was somewhat sharp. "From what I gather from my sister, you've been cleaning for an hour. At least. And you still have to go home."
"I've survived worse." Atsushi replied easily. Because really, he had. A few nights with less sleep than he was used to was nothing compared to the hell he used to live in.
Kyouka-chan appeared by the man's elbow, grabbing and pulling him away for a second, whispers between them and a third voice chiming in before the man reappeared in the doorway.
"You're staying the night." The man said in a decisive tone.
Huh?
Excuse me?
The authoritative tone grated on Atsushi's nerves in a way that he only remembered from the orphanage.
He snapped his head up, eyes burning.
The man blinked as he lifted his foot, nearly taking a step back at the force of Atsushi's glare.
"Ryuu-nii." Kyouka-chan sighed, squeezing around him and padding over to Atsushi. "Please stay the night, Atsushi-san?"
Atsushi's eyes flicked to Kyouka-chan. "I can get home just fine. You know that."
His tone was gentler, talking to his young friend now.
"I know that." Kyouka-chan scratched at the kitten's chin, who was letting out a stream of purrs. "But I'd feel better if you stayed the night? Please Atsushi-san?"
Dammit, she was using the kitten eyes on him. She had used those on him during the train ride and he had given her a treat next time they met up because he had just talked about his baking.
Atsushi was weak to cute things.
So his shoulders slumped in defeat. "Okay, just for tonight."
~~~~~~~~~~
It wasn’t just for the one night.
It wasn’t just the one night.
Atsushi found himself staying over at the Akutagawa’s apartment for nights when he couldn’t get home, when he bumped into Gin-chan, when Kyouka-chan dragged him there to check on the kitten that was named Byakko.
Apparently Ryuunosuke, the older brother, had named the male kitten. He had insisted that Atsushi call him by his name when they had bumped into each other in the grocery store.
He was also apparently a dork, but Atsushi only knew that because he knew where the name Byakko came from.
Ryuunosuke-san was mainly the driving force for Atsushi staying over, ensuring that the extra room they had was at least always clean and neat for Atsushi. And tried to keep on top of the dishes when he knew Atsushi was coming over. He was worried for Atsushi, Atsushi knew that. Atsushi did live in an area that was rife with gang activity. Ryuunosuke-san did his best to stay on top of things while also studying for his teaching.
It was sweet. No one had ever put forward this type of effort to make Atsushi comfortable in a place, even temporarily.
Gin-chan and Kyouka-chan laughed behind their hands whenever they interacted, but Atsushi would always shrug it off as he cooked meals for the family.
It was the least he could do. They allowed him to stay nights whenever they bumped into each other and insisted that he come over to play with Byakko.
He also did it because Ryuunosuke-san just simply couldn’t cook some things. Atsushi didn’t know how the older man wasn’t able to wrap his head around simple recipes that Atsushi could make, as Ryuunosuke-san was incredibly intelligent, but the man just couldn’t cook some normal meals.
Case in point, Atsushi was dragged back to the Akutagawa apartment by Kyouka-chan when she found him on the train, only to find a mess in the kitchen and a Ryuunosuke-san with a burned hand.
Atsushi had to shoo the girl away and walk into the kitchen and force the older man into a seat while he got the first aid kit from under the sink and approached the usually prickly man and coaxed him into giving him the burned hand.
He carefully applied the burn cream, thankful that it was only a minor burn, if painful, and started to wrap it up.
"There we go." Atsushi sighed, tying off the bandage and snipping the excess roll to return it to the Akutagawas first aid kit. "I know you can't help not being able to cook some things, but seriously. How does someone burn themself on rice?"
Atsushi eyed the still steaming rice that was on the floor, and was glad that Byakko was in Kyouka-chan’s room.
Ryuunosuke-san grumbles, studying Atsushi's handiwork with the bandages as Atsushi surveys the destruction of the kitchen. He didn't want to know what all was Gin-chan's work, or Kyouka-chan's, or Ryuunosuke-san's. He could feel the cleaner in him twitch, and he reached beneath the sink to find a partially used box of disposable gloves that he had put there for the household.
Turned out that he was the only one using it whenever he came over.
"I was trying to make ochazuke." Ryuunosuke-san sighed behind him, freezing Atsushi in his tracks.
"You were?" Atsushi asked slowly, restarting his cleaning as he emptied half-filled containers into the trash and returned them to sink, resolving to wash them in a little bit.
Ryuunosuke-san didn't like ochazuke. He complained about the rice growing soggy. Gin-chan didn't care for green tea. Kyouka-chan would probably eat it, but only when Atsushi made it, insisting that he made the best rice. Atsushi hadn't met Chuuya-san yet.
The only reason that Ryuunosuke-san would be making ochazuke for is–
"It's late, because I didn't know." Ryuunosuke-san said, voice soft. "But, happy birthday Atsushi."
Atsushi didn’t remember when he told them his birthday. It was an inconsequential thing, something that had happened over the passage of time. Just like Atsushi calling Ryuunosuke-san, well, Ryuunosuke-san. He had tried to call the man by his last name. He had tried. Atsushi had tried to call the man by “Akutagawa-san.”
Ryuunosuke-san had pouted.
Atsushi had switched to Ryuunosuke-san and the man had been pleased, eating the soup that Atsushi had made without a fuss.
He stared at the dishes that needed to be washed, his heart doing a strange ba-thump thump that it has never done around the Akutagawa family before. His cheeks started to heat and he could feel it creeping up to the top of his head.
The bandaged hand, bandaged by Atsushi’s own hand, ghosted over his arm.
Atsushi flinched away, eyes wide and afraid as he looked at Ryuunosuke-san.
Ryuunosuke-san stared at him, eyes wide as well, before slowly lowering his hand.
Atsushi turned to the dishes, starting them and focusing on the gentle motions that were needed to clean them until they were sparkling again. Ryuunosuke-san took the dish towel and started to dry them once Atsushi was done washing them.
“I’m sorry, if I offended you.” Ryuunosuke-san whispered after the dishes were done. His hand reached for Atsushi’s arm again, and Atsushi evaded again, swallowing softly and avoiding the older man’s eyes.
“I need to go home.” Atsushi said, turning to the kitchen door, his hand quickly plucking up the coat he had hastily discarded after seeing his friend hurt. “There’s some food in the fridge, should last you a few weeks until you start cooking again and figure things out–”
“You’re acting like you’re not coming back.” Ryuunosuke-san said.
It made Atsushi stop in his tracks, his shoes half-pulled on and his coat barely on his shoulders.
His eyes lingered on the slippers that had become his in the household. He had left clothes here, because he visited so often.
“I’ll come back.” Atsushi said slowly. He would. He would collect his clothes, and he would walk away from this.
Atsushi was not allowed to be happy, after all.
~~~~~~~~~~
Atsushi groaned as he wrapped his blanket around his body.
He was so cold but also so hot. Chills wracked his frame and he whined, a cough working its way up his throat. He just wanted to rest but he couldn’t sleep long enough to actually rest properly.
He curled up into a ball, tears starting to squeeze out of his eyes because of the utter pain that he was feeling from the headache that had formed in his mind. Atsushi just wanted to sleep, to rest, to not have to give up days of vacation leave to be used like this.
Atsushi wanted his friends. He wanted someone here to take care of him.
But that was selfish and cruel of him to ask for such a thing. Especially for a lowly creature like himself, who deserved nothing but what people decided he should deserve. It was usually the worst of the worst that they gave him, but that meant that Atsushi deserved that. It meant that he earned it. It meant that he. . . . .
His mind floated away with the pain and the fever, chills bringing him horrible bouts of clarity for split seconds as more tears poured from his eyes. How could he be crying in a situation like this? He was sick and needed to conserve water, but here he was, wasting his own internal water on something as inconsequential as tears.
The headmaster was right, he was nothing but a waste of space and deserved everything they gave him–
Something banged open.
“YOU CAN’T IGNORE US FOREVER!”
Atsushi whined, burrowing under the covers more to hide from the racket that someone was making. More tears poured from his eyes, and he cursed the fact that this was a brief second of lucidity before he lost everything he was feeling again.
“. . . . .Atsushi?”
A hand was on his shoulder, gently shaking, and Atsushi groaned at the jostling, a cough making its way out of his throat as well. The hand moved to his forehead, before moving back to his shoulder.
“You’re sick. You’re not avoiding us, you’re just sick.”
The voice sounded incredulous, as if it couldn’t believe that Atsushi of all people could get sick.
Well tough luck for the voice, he was constantly cleaning up after other people, of course he would get sick every once in a while. Of course if he spent time cleaning up after the worst of the worst people, then he would catch something eventually. It only made sense, and this stupid voice that was attached to the this stupid hand that was weirdly comforting on his shoulder should know that.
Especially if it was a figment of Atsushi’s imagination.
“Kami Atsushi, why didn’t you call me? Or text me?” The voice muttered, moving away from Atsushi and retracting the hand. Atsushi can hear the water running for a few seconds before it comes back. The hand dives under Atsushi’s neck, coaxing him up and out of his cocoon.
Atsushi protests vehemently.
That is to say, he whines like a pitiful kitten and tries to crawl away the best he can.
“Quit that.” The voice scolds him, readjusting the hand and pulling him up and cushioning his head on a shoulder. The rim of a glass is placed on his lips, and tipped gently. Slowly, water fills his mouth and Atsushi remembers how to swallow the liquid, it soothing a burn in his throat a little, but not doing much.
Atsushi pawed at the glass, pushing it away and turning his head away from the shoulder to cough loudly. He groaned as his movements rattled his head, the headache returning with a vengeance. The icepicks lanced through his eyelids, and Atsushi wanted to sleep. Or at least try to.
“Okay, okay. I get it. I’ll go get you some–”
A sharply clearing throat interrupted the voice.
~~~~~~~~~~
Ryuunosuke snapped his head around from the adorable picture that a sick Atsushi made, his eyes growing wide at the picture the man in the doorway made.
Sharp, angry, dark eyes glared at him under wavy bangs, the lips curled into something between a smile and a warning.
Ryuunosuke was leaning towards warning.
“And just who might you be?” A silky voice asked in a near coo, and Ryuunosuke realized he had left his coat in the entryway. Beside the man. His one defense was his coat, it was practically his armor and he left it on the floor because he had been so worried at the sight of Atsushi not responding to him.
And Ryuunosuke was holding a glass of water, which was empty and could have held anything.
“Okay, I know how this looks–” Ryuunosuke started.
“Do you?” The man asked, stepping forward and nearly into Ryuunosuke’s space. He had a good ten or so centimeters on Ryuunosuke, staring him down with eyes that promised pain. “I don’t think you do.”
“I’m Akutagawa Ryuunosuke.” Ryuunosuke said slowly, placing the glass down on the floor beside the burrito that Atsushi had become. “I’m friends with Atsushi, I swear. So are my sisters, if you would like to call them?”
The eyes were analytical, flicking over Ryuunosuke before reaching a long arm past him and snatching Atsushi’s phone up. A few number taps later, and the man was looking at the screen, humming a song that Ryuunosuke hadn’t heard before under his breath.
Ryuunosuke could only hold his own breath.
Something about this man just screamed dangerous, and if Ryuunosuke made one false move, then he would be paying with it in blood.
“Well it appears you indeed do know Atsushi-kun!” The man said, flipping the phone closed after turning it off. “That’s good. For you at least.”
Ryuunosuke allowed his shoulders to relax minutely.
“I’m Dazai Osamu, a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” The teeth were back, and Ryuunosuke wasn’t going to listen to that farce of an introduction.
“Nice to meet you.” Ryuunosuke muttered. “He wouldn’t answer any of our calls, or texts, and we got worried after how we parted ways last time we saw each other.”
The man hummed, squeezing past Ryuunosuke to sit by Atsushi’s side and coax him onto the man’s shoulder instead, and Atsushi didn’t fight it. A brief flash of jealousy flared through Ryuunosuke, but he let it pass. The man, Dazai-san, knew Atsushi after all, it would make sense for the younger man to relax in a familiar presence.
“He was already showing signs of sickness last time you two saw each other?” Dazai-san asked.
“No. Yes?” Ryuunosuke sighed. “He has been staying at our apartment lately, due to the nature of his job keeping him out so late and the,” Ryuunosuke sent the apartment a look, “this place’s inability to keep Atsushi from feeling truly safe as he slept.”
“Ah.” Dazai-san nodded sagely. “He was going to run.”
Ryuunosuke shifted uncomfortably. He had thought the other man would. That Atsushi would leave their lives as abruptly as he had entered them.
Ryuunosuke did not want that. He never wanted that.
“In any case, you needn’t worry from here.” The man said, waving a bandaged arm Ryuunosuke’s way. “You can run along now. Back to your little sisters. I’ll take care of my little brother.”
The eyes warned him from fighting, so Ryuunosuke nodded and got to his feet, picking his coat up from the floor and stuffing his feet into his shoes.
Every step he took felt like defeat.
~~~~~~~~~~
When Atsushi’s fever broke and he saw Osamu-niisan, he would admit that he cried again as he threw himself at the older man.
Deceptively hidden but strong arms wrapped around him, gentle hands stroking his hair that was no doubt unwashed and gross.
“There there. It’s okay Atsushi-kun. I’m here. Onii-san’s here.”
Atsushi nearly bawled all over again at that.
Last time he heard those words, Osamu-niisan had had to leave.
Not of his own volition. Osamu-niisan would never leave Atsushi of his own volition, they both knew that.
Finally, Atsushi felt sufficiently wrung out enough and his eyes crusty enough to pull away, all his tears cried. He tapped at the bandages on the man’s arms, eyeing the ones on his neck and wondering if he would have to memorize the number for the crisis hotline.
“You had a friend that stopped by. In fact, multiple.” Osamu-niisan said as he reheated food in the shitty little microwave that Atsushi’s apartment had, and Atsushi froze when he heard that. Because there was only a few people that knew where he lived, and they knew because they were worried about him.
“Akutagawa-kun is a nice boy. His sisters are sweet too.” Osamu-niisan said with a calm voice, and Atsushi knew his brother was probing him.
“Ryuunosuke-san is rather nice.” Atsushi said absentmindedly, thinking of the first degree burn the man got when he tried to make Atsushi ochazuke. He clamped a hand over his mouth a second later, Osamu-niisan’s eyes pinning him down with glee as he held Atsushi’s food.
“Oh~?” The older man asked in that stupid lilt. “Ryuunosuke-san?”
“Shut up. I’ll stab you.”
“Aim for my liver and make it quick.” Osamu-niisan shot back, and they stared at each other for about five seconds before breaking into laughter.
“Atsushi-kun, he’s gone now.” He said later, scrubbing Atsushi’s hair because his brother loved to pamper him. “You don’t have to be so afraid now, because he’s gone forever.”
Atsushi nodded, mindful of his brother’s hands. “I know that. I know. It’s just. . . .”
“Hard.” His older brother sighed, drawing him in for a hug without caring for how soaked Atsushi was by the bath. “You’ll be okay eventually. I promise you that. Onii-san will make everything okay.”
“You already did.” Atsushi held onto his brother’s bandaged arms, letting the water soak and seeing just a hint of what was beneath. “You’ve done everything, given everything, for me Onii-san. Just rest now.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Atsushi nearly dropped the pan of tamagoyaki.
“WHAT?!” He managed to choke out at Ryuunosuke-san, who was still at the kitchen table in his own apartment and was studying for his upcoming exams.
“I said you would make a good housewife.” Ryuunosuke-san turned away from his books to look at Atsushi to say this. With a completely straight face.
Atsushi opened and closed his mouth, trying to understand what the absolute hell his friend had said. Sure, Atsushi cleaned as a profession. But that paid the bills. Mostly the electric, but even then, since Osamu-niisan came back Atsushi hadn’t had to worry much.
Osamu-niisan had all but bullied Atsushi into letting Osamu-niisan take care of everything.
And sure, Atsushi cooked for the Akutagawa family. But Ryuunosuke-san couldn’t cook much of anything. Kyouka-chan just wanted to cook tofu, and Gin-chan wanted to eat oranges like they would save her from the world.
Atsushi surmised that they had survived off of takeout and the random food poisoning experiment before Kyouka-chan and Gin-chan had dragged him home with Byakko.
And Atsushi took care of the sisters and the cat, of course he did. Ryuunosuke-san had so much studying to do, all the teaching exams. It was the least Atsushi could do to take the load off of his friend’s shoulders–
Oh Kami.
Atsushi was a housewife.
What’s more, Atsushi didn’t mind being a housewife to his friend. He liked it. He liked it a lot.
“I need to go for a walk.” Atsushi heard himself saying faintly. Ryuunosuke-san’s hand reached for him, but he waved him off as he ran out the door, and just–
Ran.
This wasn’t like before, when memories swam in front of his eyes and Osamu-niisan assured him that everything would be okay. This was Atsushi realizing that he may have caught feelings and that was bad. That couldn’t happen because Atsushi already had Ryuunosuke-san’s friendship. That was precious enough, that was more than enough, Atsushi couldn’t be greedy here and ask for more, want for more.
It would be one of the cardinal sins, to be so greedy to ask for something like that. To want something like that.
Atsushi stopped running, planting his hands on his knees and drawing deep breaths to regain himself. He just wanted to exist in peace. Was that too much to ask for?!
Atsushi was so lost to his inner turmoil he missed the presences sneaking up behind him and only realized they were there when hard iron slammed into his skull.
~~~~~~~~~~
Atsushi came to slowly, opening his eyes carefully and watching through the slits and his eyelashes.
The people around him milled about, snapping back and forth about this and that, pointing Atsushi’s way and yelling. He carefully hid a wince and pulled gently at his bindings. Duct tape.
There was a sound, and Atsushi looked up to find a knife pointed right between his eyes.
“So the lil bitch is awake.” The man sneered, his purple eyes making his skin seem way too pale with his platinum blond hair. “Just a little ahead schedule. Aren’t you full of surprises?”
Atsushi recognized this man. He went by the moniker Ace, running with one of the larger gangs in the area. Atsushi blinked at the man, working his jaw slightly. He would keep quiet until someone asked him a direct question.
“Hey, no hurting the merchandise Ace.” Another man said, stepping into view. “We need him in pristine condition for the clients.”
Clients? What clients? Do I want to know?
“Yeah, well maybe he should turn his phone off.” Ace sneered, putting the knife away. “It keeps ringing.”
Well that was no wonder, especially to Atsushi. He had gone on his run to avoid his feelings at around five in the evening. He didn’t know the time now, but judging by the moonlight streaming through the windows, it was late. Very late. Late enough for Osamu-niisan to be extremely worried and probably chain-calling him.
“You can’t turn my phone off? Geez.” The quip slipped from Atsushi’s lips easily, when it really shouldn’t have.
Flashing pain lanced the side of face, making Atsushi wince. His face felt wet.
Ah.
Ace didn’t like people talking back. The knife was now christened with his blood.
Atsushi could feel the way that the edges of the cut felt raw, the only way a new cut could. It started to throb as more blood poured out and onto his clothes. It was a head wound, a face wound, so of course it would bleed a lot.
The knife was placed under his chin, making Atsushi keep his face still. He wanted to tilt his head away, but doing so would show his neck. He wouldn’t expose a weak point like that.
He’s learned that lesson.
“That was a mistake.” Atsushi said calmly. The drip, drip, drip of his blood onto his clothes and the plap, plap, plap it made when hitting the blood-soaked cloth echoing into the room.
“Oh, and why’s that?” Ace asked, leaning forward, and the knife dug into the soft skin of Atsushi’s chin.
“It’s visible. Hard to miss.” Atsushi clicked his tongue. “Big mistake.”
Ace narrowed his eyes, or well, eye that was visible. Obviously trying to see if Atsushi was trying to psych the gang that took him out.
“He’s right.”
Osamu-niisan’s voice was cold.
Just like that night.
He walked into the room, and everyone parted like he owned the place. Like he was a magnet and they were all repelling poles. His eyes were dark and dangerous. Just like that night.
Of course, the small redhead by his side might help with that. Even with his smaller than normal stature, Atsushi could tell simply by the way that he moved that the redhead knew how to fight, and could probably come out on top if things got to that point. The intricate tattoos of red camellias working their way up from his wrists to his shoulders had Atsushi craning his neck to see them better.
The blue eyes flitted from person to person, likely sizing them up, before landing on Ace and studying the knife that was in his hand.
“Who the fuck are you?” The man that had backed Ace off beforehand snapped.
Osamu-niisan grinned, reaching up and tugging his bandages off. They dropped to the dirty floor of the warehouse, unravelling at a rapid pace.
There, inscribed on his arms and linked by his neck was a white dragon with red eyes and a horn protruding from its forehead.
A dead white dragon with a horn. Its body was pockmarked with blades sticking out of it, the detail must have been excruciating for Osamu-niisan to sit through.
“Me? I’m just the Dragon Killer.”
Atsushi remembered when Osamu-niisan got that nickname. When he killed the person that was stalking around the orphanage they both stayed at, the man that had been stalking Atsushi.
The man that had kidnapped Atsushi and was going to sell him too.
All until Osamu-niisan tracked him down and killed the White Dragon, because he dared to try and hurt Atsushi. Dared to try and sell him.
Osamu-niisan had washed the blood off his hands and his body and off of Atsushi before he bundled Atsushi up, taking them back to the orphanage. The orphanage had been in a state of chaos, practically a whirlwind of destruction. But Osamu-niisan just carried Atsushi to the infirmary in the orphanage and told him, promised him, that he would always come back and protect Atsushi.
The police came. They asked questions, they took Osamu-niisan away after some horrible questions that they asked Atsushi.
Osamu-niisan had simply looked back at Atsushi through the window the police van, age eighteen, and told Atsushi with his eyes that Atsushi would be okay until Osamu-niisan came back for him.
That had been over five years ago.
“Atsushi-kun?” A gentle hand pressed against his shoulder, and Atsushi looked up. The blood on his face was drying, he could feel it. It was growing tacky and felt gross.
Osamu-niisan studied him with dark, deep eyes. The eyes latched onto the mark on Atsushi’s face, but Atsushi could only smile at his older brother. “It’s just another mark. What’s the harm?”
Osamu-niisan thinned his lips and pulled out another roll of bandages, gently daubing at the blood and trying to stem it a little faster.
Behind Osamu-niisan, the short redhead was taking out members of the gang so easily.
“Let’s go home, Atsushi-kun. I’m sure Akutagawa-kun is very worried about you.”
~~~~~~~~~~
“Sorry about running off on you.” Atsushi apologized to Ryuunosuke-san while he was seated in the hospital bed, right after the nurses had applied the antiseptic and bandages to his head. The new split on his skin ran from just above his eyebrow to just about under his ear.
The man had practically forced himself into the hospital and to be beside Atsushi’s bedside, promising that Kyouka-chan and Gin-chan would be by later. Maybe with Byakko in their grasp if they could promise the hospital staff that the kitten wouldn’t run amok.
A challenge, to be sure.
“Why did you?” Ryuunosuke-san asked, his hands reaching out and grabbing Atsushi’s as they were starting to pick at his cuticles. “It was already dark out, why were you out and running around?”
Atsushi looked away, focusing on their connected hands. He felt his cheeks starting to heat up, and wondered how he had enough blood in his head to be sent to his face again.
“You called me a good housewife.” Atsushi muttered, focusing his eyes on something other than their intertwined hands. The floor was really interesting.
“So? You would be a good housewife.” Ryuunosuke-san said, completely blunt.
Atsushi nearly tipped onto the bed. “You–!”
“You cook and clean and are great with kids. Although my sisters may just be outliers.” Ryuunosuke-san continued, his hands squeezing tighter on Atsushi’s. “So- so maybe you should just. . . .”
Atsushi tore his eyes away from the floor to look at his friend.
His jaw dropped when he saw that Ryuunosuke-san’s ears were bright red and so was his neck.
“So maybe you should just stay and be mine.” Ryuunosuke-san mumbled softly, almost to the point that Atsushi couldn’t hear him.
Atsushi choked. He pulled his hands back, out of Ryuunosuke-san’s hands and the man looked utterly devastated before Atsushi snapped his hands up and hid his face away.
“YOU BETTER TAKE HIM ON A DATE FIRST!” The redhead from before burst into the room, and from what Atsushi could hear, he was grabbing Ryuunosuke-san by the collar and shaking him back and forth.
Osamu-niisan chuckled gently, stroking a hand through Atsushi’s hair. His cool fingers worked through the knots that had been formed in the few hours that they had been apart. “Chuuya is protective even though he hasn’t met Atsushi-kun properly.” He teased lightly.
“FUCK OFF. HE TAKES GOOD CARE OF MY FAMILY!”
“He’s gonna get thrown out.” Atsushi muttered to his older brother.
“So he will.” Osamu-niisan laughed lightly. “Let him. Chuuya will just be back tomorrow. You’re in his good books, so welcome to his family Atsushi-kun.”
Atsushi peeked his eye out. “Does that make you his brother-in-law?" He asked cheekily.
The shouting stopped abruptly, and Atsushi turned over to watch the redhead. He looked utterly sick at the thought.
Osamu-niisan, however, looked utterly gleeful at the opportunity to tease. “Why it does indeed! Chuuya! We could be!”
“SHUT. YER FUCKING. MOUTH!” The redhead flew at Osamu-niisan and tackled him to the floor, the two of them rolling while Osamu-niisan tried to avoid the hands that were trying to grasp for his throat.
“I can’t believe our brothers are like this.” Ryuunosuke-san muttered.
Atsushi hummed in agreement, watching the two roll around like they were brothers as well and just roughhousing. “Think we can escape and go on a date before they realize?”
Ryuunosuke-san’s hand nudged against Atsushi’s again, and Atsushi took it.
“I’d like that.” Ryuunosuke-san said softly. “I’d like that a lot.”