#my dad knew I was interested in Akutagawa lately since I was looking for his books and found me a historical drama about him XD

[pompompurin1028]

I was yesterday years old when I learnt that Akutagawa-sensei had traveled to China

[shinsoukokuvalentine]

Family

(Valentine, you might say, It’s been a week since Christmas and your Christmas fic isn’t finished. What have you been doing, you might say. I have no good answers. I have bad answers, such as I was watching cooking shows, playing Spyro, and eating cookies. If you take into account the fact that the week between Christmas and New Year’s doesn’t actually exist, I say I’ve been doing pretty well.

In all seriousness I am very sorry for the lack of updates as I try to get my motivation back. Thank you for sticking with me!)

282/365: Family

-

The few times Atsushi’s visited an onsen, it’s been the tiny, fake ones situated in a somewhat dingy part of the city, typically across the street from a fast food restaurant or another competing onsen.

So nothing had prepared him for their destination.

If a helmet hadn’t been covering his entire face, Atsushi’s gasp would’ve been audible. As Ryuunosuke rounds a curve on the mountain road, the large traditional building comes into view, the green of its roofs barely visible under a thick layer of snow. Ryuu drives the bike further up the plowed road, barely looking up at the onsen as if not interested at all.

Atsushi continues to stare as the bike comes to a halt, resting in a small parking lot down the hill.

“You act as if you’ve never seen one before,” Ryuu huffs as Atsushi doesn’t move from his seat, giving him an odd look.

“You ask as if you see them all the time,” he says curtly, but to his surprise, Ryuu nods.

“My father owns this onsen,” he explains, walking to the back of the bike to its small trailer. “And for some reason, he’ll make any excuse to have us all visit him, even for a holiday we’d barely even celebrate otherwise.”

Atsushi stares at him with wide eyes. “Your dad owns that?” He repeats incredulously. Ryuu rolls his eyes.

“Yes,” he says, exasperation and warm clouds puffing from his mouth. “Now are you going to get your suitcase?”

Snow and ice make the walk up the stairs difficult, but Atsushi pulls his scarf tighter around his neck and drags his luggage up the hill. Ahead of him, Ryuu walks with confidence, but Atsushi sees his shoulders sag in a deep sigh.

“Is everything o-” Atsushi begins to speak, but stops immediately. Every word becomes sucked out of his lungs, his stomach drops as he feels the horrible sensation of his foot slipping, falling, a shout pushed from his lips as his boot misses the icy step.

“Atsushi!”

And the feeling stops. Ryuu holds his gloved hand, keeping him steady, panting, worry lines creasing his brow.

Atsushi stares at him, still shaking a bit. Both hands grip tightly, one to his suitcase, the other to Ryuu. And he doesn’t move.

“Just step forward,” Ryuu says, voice low and steady. “We’re almost there.”

For a second, Atsushi says nothing. Then Ryuu blinks once, breaking their eye contact for a split second, and it’s as if a spell has broken. He frowns again, hoisting Atsushi back to a full stand.

“If you drop your suitcase down the hill, I’m not getting it for you,” he snaps, but his words seem off, as if he were scrambling for something harsh to say in the moment. And Atsushi follows him silently.

As soon as Ryuu opens the door to the onsen, a loud shout sounds from behind it, and Atsushi jumps again.

“Ryuu-kun!”

Ryuu seems to stiffen as an older man bursts from the hallway, dressed in a dark haori with his arms open wide. “You made it!”

Ryuu nods, his eyes to the ground as the man embraces him, obviously against his will. Atsushi isn’t sure if the man’s oblivious or just doesn’t care.

“And who’s this?”

Atsushi’s back straightens into a perfect line as the man fixes his smiling eyes on him.

“This must be Atsushi-kun!” He grins, and begins shaking Atsushi’s free hand rapidly. “We’ve heard so much about you! Although, honestly, a few of us were afraid you didn’t even exist!” He laughs, and Atsushi laughs too out of pure confusion and nerves.

Off to the side, Ryuu clears his throat.

“Atsushi, meet my father, Ougai-san,” he says, but Mori scoffs.

“Please, we’re all family here!” He beams, and the longer Atsushi looks at his smile, the more something doesn’t quite seem right about it. “Call me Ougai!”

Atsushi nods, and he begins to wonder how on earth he’s going to manage to get far, far away from this man when a welcome vibration comes from his pocket.

“Is that your phone, Atsushi?” Ryuu asks with a slight cough and no direct eye contact, and Atsushi realizes that the situation’s putting him off, too. So he nods quickly.

“Y-yeah,” he says, grabbing for it. “I have to take this,” he says without even looking at the screen. Ougai nods jovially and finally takes his hand away.

“Of course, of course! You do what you need to do,” he continues to smile, grabbing Atsushi’s suitcase. “We’ll put your stuff in your room, and when you’re done you can join us in the lounge for the first presents!” Ryuu frowns a tiny bit.

“Presents already?”

Mori simply laughs and leads Ryuu away by the back, even though Ryuu walks a little faster as if trying to stay a few centimetres away from his hand.

With a significant sigh of relief, Atsushi answers the call once they’re gone.

“Hello?”

“Atsushi-kun! Where are you?”

Atsushi smiles a little.

“Hey, Dazai-san,” he says.

“Don’t ‘hey Dazai-san’ me, young man!” Dazai says with mock indignance. “Are you coming or what? Kunikida’s trying to keep me from bringing liquor, but I’m sure if we both sneak some in we’ll have enough to-!”

“Oh,” Atsushi groans, dragging his hand over his eyes. “The company party’s tonight.”

“Don’t tell me you forgot,” Dazai says. “You promised to bring your famous onigiri.”

Atsushi frowns. “Dazai-san, I buy those from the gas station down the street.”

“And they’re amazing,” he says. Atsushi rolls his eyes a little, but his shoulders fall.

“Yeah… Sorry, I forgot. I’m out of town.”

“Out of town?” Dazai’s voice comes over the line, laced with disbelief. “What reason do you have to be out of town? It’s not like you have anyone to visit.”

Atsushi’s lips pull taught, but he quickly realizes he can’t tell the truth to Dazai without it being told to every single person at the office party. So he gives a half-lie.

“I’m with my friend Ryuunosuke,” he explains.

He expects a quip, but strangely, he hears nothing. Suddenly, Dazai’s gone silent.

Atsushi gulps. “Dazai-san?”

“Akutagawa Ryuunosuke?” He says simply, voice abruptly heavy. Atsushi frowns again.

“Yes…?”

“You never told me you knew him.”

Atsushi feels breath quicken as he digs himself further into his lie.

“It never came up,” he says quickly, but he hopes not too quickly. “Is that a bad thing?”

He hears Dazai sigh, but his next words send chills down Atsushi’s spine.

“Stay away from him, Atsushi. He’s bad news.”

Atsushi freezes to the floor. “What do you-?”

“Atsushi-kun!”

Atsushi whips around to Ougai, standing in the hall once more, beckoning with his hand.

“You don’t want to be late for presents, do you?”

Atsushi’s mind races to form words.

“I-i’ll call you back,” he says to Dazai, and hearing nothing, he hangs up, leaving him alone with Ougai. But the man, as always, simply smiles.

“Everyone’s in the lounge,” he says as Atsushi makes his way forward. “We’ve saved you a seat right next to Ryuunosuke-kun.”

Face blanched, plastered with a fake smile, Atsushi nods as he follows him. All while Dazai’s warning digs into his neck like a noose.

[leonawriter]

Stray Dogs and Tiger Cubs (pt.13)

Read it on AO3 from the start

Fandom: Bungo Stray Dogs

Characters: Chuuya, Dazai, Mori.

Summary: Ah, yes, one of those other chapters/scenes I’ve been looking forward to getting out there! And just in time for Father’s Day, too.

...

It'd been unnerving enough, seeing Dazai turn all of that anger that he'd not even been sure Dazai had even been capable of, let alone the hatred in his eyes that'd been there for just a few seconds too long, long enough he wasn't about to forget any time soon, and if that was bad, then somehow, seeing his ex-partner just collapsed like that as if after all the emotion had been used up it'd just drained out of him, was even worse.

Dazai was- they were on opposite sides now, didn't he get he wasn't supposed to do that anymore?

Then again, it was Dazai he was talking about here.

A Dazai who'd somehow... picked up a kid he cared about enough to get as pissed off as Chuuya had seen him get just a few moments ago.

The same kid the mafia was after right now, which meant there'd probably be hell to pay if anything happened to him, and given who was in charge of that particular mission-

With half an eye still on Dazai, who still hasn't moved, Chuuya's hand darts into his jacket for his phone. It's a risky move - more because of Dazai's position than anything - but given the situation, it's not one he can put off.

He could have attempted to call Higuchi, or Akutagawa himself, but they'd fluff about and stutter their way through their explanations, and he really doesn't have the patience for that right now.

In the space of a few rings, he wonders if it's a bad time, if he's going to have to wait, and how the hell he's going to explain the mess in the first place, not to mention whether it's already too late.

He'd seen that look in Dazai's eyes. Whatever he was up to now, he hadn't changed that much from the Dazai Chuuya had known four years back - push him far enough, and he'd still bring down entire organisations just because they'd made an enemy of him. And right now, if the slippery bastard didn't die first - not that Chuuya wasn't tempted - that'd be the mafia. All of it.

"Ah, Chuuya-kun. I trust all is well?"

"Boss." Dazai's eyes snapped open. Chuuya held up a hand. "There's an issue," he said, talking to the point and as if he didn't have Dazai glaring daggers at him.

"Oh? I'll take the liberty of assuming it's not something you're capable of dealing with by yourself...?"

"Someone," he said, "is trying to make a mockery of the organisation."

"Explain."

The boss' tone slipped from it being a social call from a trusted associate, to pure business - at the same time as Dazai's glaring eyes widening again, as he caught on to the idea of what Chuuya was aiming at.

Good. The last thing he needed was Dazai making things more complicated than they had to be, right now.

"The weretiger we've got that bounty on. I just got new intel from a reliable source - when they gave us the info to get him, they only put down that he was a 'dangerous ability user', right? Young, but dangerous."

"Chuuya-kun."

"The kid's eight, boss."

There's a moment in which he almost can't hear anything, though the faint sound of Elise calling for the Boss' attention was enough to say the line hadn't gone dead.

"...and just how reliable is this source of yours? Any ulterior motives,  perhaps?"

Dazai's expression had shifted into a steady frown, but it didn't take much to remember brown eyes boring into him as his knife had still been a close threat.

Just don't hurt the kids, you said, Chuuya remembered. I did it mostly for Atsushi-kun, Dazai had said.

There was no getting around it, there was something new in Dazai's eyes that hadn't been there the last time Chuuya had seen him. Who even knew if it'd ever been there before, but-

"I think the kid is the motive."

"An interesting proposal. Very well, in which case... since you have already made yourself involved in the matter, you can see to it that the information is verified personally. Oh, and - do take your informant with you? The last thing we need is someone with that sort of grudge loose in the building. If he's telling the truth, then we can take things from there. And if this is a ploy, then - you know what to do, don't  you?"

"Right. Understood, sir."

The call terminated, the tone beeping in his ear.

There was something unsettling about the idea of the Boss having already figured out who he was talking about, though at least him realising Dazai was free was probably more to do with not everyone being so quick to forget that this was Dazai they were dealing with. Slippery bastard had picked locks for years, and that wasn't the sort of skill you just forgot because you were working for the other side.

Chuuya sighed. Things had started out so well, and now?

Ugh, this sucked.

"Oi. Shitty Dazai." The piece of shit himself straightened up, leaning away from the wall he'd been holding up. "Looks like you're coming with me."

"Oh? Aren't I supposed to be waiting for my execution, then?"

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" The weirdly blank look Dazai got frankly unnerved him. "But no. Boss wants confirmation. You'd better not be lying, or you won't be able to pick your way out so easily next time."

"Chuuya! So you do care!"

"That's a warning that if you're taking advantage, I'll be the one to kill you myself, idiot!"

From his place looking back from the top of the stairs, he could see Dazai with his hands behind his head, pouting.

"Mean, mean... offering me such a thing. It's a shame. But if you do it now, you'd just make poor Atsushi-chan cry."

Chuuya blinked, trying to make sense of any of that, and failing.

"Make... him cry?" he asked, unsure if he even wanted the answer to the only part of it he even felt like getting an answer to.

"Well, of course!" As if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. As if this wasn't possibly some weird-ass plot of his- "Atsushi's gotten pretty attached to me, after all! Just the other day, he started calling me 'Da-san'!"

Chuuya wheezed, trying not to choke on his laughter too much at the idea of some poor kid looking at Dazai like that - and then again at the fact that Dazai wasn't following that up with some just kidding comment.

On any other person that'd make the situation make more sense, not less, but here it just-

"What the fuck, Dazai? You're the last person I'd trust with a kid!"

"....you're hardly the first to say that either, you know."

"That doesn't make it any better."

Neither did the fact that even if they were headed out, it was both of them, and he'd be taking Dazai with him, not just leaving him behind to rot. He really could have done with having a chance to clear his head, without the source of his headache following behind him like this.

...

AN: 

Two points from the chapter that could be abridged/omake'd:

Chuuya: Ok so boss, it looks like the kid's not eighteen, he's eight, and-<br /> Mori: Excuse me the fuck, I think I just misheard. What???

and,

Chuuya: ...I've just got that specific feeling you get when your dad knows you're talking with your ex again, and I'm feeling vaguely mortified, and if it weren't for my duty I'd like to either pummel said ex some more, or let the earth swallow me up.