Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Akutagawa Ryūnosuke. Ability? Rashōmon

The dog of the Port Mafia. Pretty well known in the underground’s, all things considered. And yet… this idiot… this insane idiot… didn’t know who he was.

Akutagawa wasn’t offended that the boy didn’t remember him. Simply offended that the boy didn’t know his status.

It had started with a simple not telling him the truth. And then it grew to a full grown lie. One he couldn’t risk revealing the truth behind. Not anymore.

“Aku-kun!”

He had called one day. And just out of nowhere.

“You know… what do you do for work?” That question had made Akutagawa freeze up. And what has he said? He could have easily changed the subject. He knew he could have easily changed the subject. But no. He had lied.

“Huh? Oh… I’m a… a body guard! A bodyguard for hire! I take commissions and protect people.” He had laughed awkwardly that day. The idiot had complimented his laugh and that had made Akutagawa’s heart skip a beat.

That one… fault. It was all his hearts fault. Maybe he had some heart disease as well? But no. He had asked a random person in the Mafia and they had said he most likely had a crush.

The nerve that person had… but she wasn’t wrong.

“Aku-Kun!~” Akutagawa heard through the crowd and he looked up from the outside menu, looking around. Nothing. His imagination? No. Other people seemed to have noticed. Someone hugged him from behind. Pulling him into a possessive embrace, their head resting sideways on his back. Akutagawa’s first thought was to summon Rashōmon. But then the person spoke. And he relaxed. “You know, for a bodyguard. Your really easy to sneak up on.” The idiot laughed at his own teasing. Releasing Akutagawa from the hug. The Mafioso turned, pocketing his hands as he faced the idiot.

Or maybe he was the idiot. Who was more of an idiot? The idiot? Or the one who fell in love with the idiot? That wasn’t important right now. Akutagawa looked over his idiot.

Atsushi Dostoevsky. Ability? Beast Beneath The Moonlight

The youngest member of The Decay Of Angels.

A terrorist organization. An organization his father had helped make. That brought up another important figure.

Fyodor Dostoevsky. Ability? Crime And Punishment

A member of the Decay Of Angels. An enemy of the Port Mafia and Armed Detectives Agency.

The man was a monster.

His son was simply broken.

“New outfit?” Akutagawa tilted his head to the side as he looked Atsushi up and down.

The boy had his long hair in its usual two braids. With some of his hair pixy short and messy, but most of it gathered up in his two braids that reached down to his ankles. As always, he wore black cargo pants, with plenty of pockets; a necessary by Atsushi’s standards, and black military style boots. Also as usual, he had his black wrist guards that also had a fabric covering some of his palms and his thumbs. As usual, the fabric of the guards probably went up to Atsushi’s elbows. Though Akutagawa couldn’t see, since unlike usual, Atsushi wore a long sleeved, loose, cropped, hoodie with neon purple and neon blue words spray painted, though the spray paint wasn’t unusual, the rest of his outfit having darker neon colors spray painted on them. The words, “Sleep, bomb, eat, repeat >~<”. With the hoodie on, Akutagawa couldn’t see for sure, but Akutagawa doubted the tattoos on Atsushi’s arm were gone as well.

Classic Atsushi.

“Omigod! You noticed!” Atsushi smiled, hugging Akutagawa again. Akutagawa couldn’t stop his smile.

“Yup. I noticed. Wanna let go of me now?” Akutagawa laughed softly. Atsushi laughed as well, releasing Akutagawa from the hug and stuff his hands in the top pockets of his cargo pants.

“Sorry.” Atsushi laughed softly, the older smirked, ruffling Atsushi’s shorter hair.

“What did I say about apologizing?” He teased, Atsushi huffed.

“You sound like my father.” He rolled his eyes. Akutagawa smirked, he held his hand out to Atsushi.

“Shall we head inside?”

Atsushi looked at Akutagawa’s hand, his eyes widening and a blush spreading across his cheeks as he reached out and took Akutagawa’s hand. Aku smiled, intertwining their fingers and leading Atsushi’s inside the restaurant. The two found a table and sat down.

Atsushi started looking through the menu, Akutagawa’s smirked, Atsushi probably wouldn’t know what half the things on the menu were.

Fyodor had somehow managed to keep the boy very isolated from the world.

Who would ever believe… that this was Specks, the feared Beast of the Decay Of Angels.

Akutagawa thought to himself, looking across at Atsushi as the boy set the menu down and pointed at something in the desert menu. Akutagawa stifled a laugh at the fact the other had gone straight to desert.

“Hey! Don’t laugh!” Atsushi huffed, Akutagawa smiled softly as he read what the other had pointed at.

‘Banana split’

Akutagawa sighed.

“It’s like, a banana, in a bowl, surrounded by ice cream and other stuff like that.” Akutagawa explained, Atsushi’s face lit up.

“I want it!” He stood up, a look of hunger in his eyes. Other people looked and Akutagawa sighed, pulling Atsushi back to sitting.

“Sure, if you eat something healthy for the main course.” He responded dully.

“But banana’s are healthy.” Atsushi responded.

“Not enough to even out the unhealthy ice cream.”

“Your so mean~” Atsushi whined, Akutagawa sighed, watching Atsushi silently, chin resting in his palm as Atsushi sat back and crossed his arms.

Akutagawa closed his his eyes. “Do you want me to order for you?” He asked.

“Thank you Aku-Kun~”

Akutagawa could tell Atsushi was smiling when he spoke, this made Akutagawa smile as well.

The waitress walked over eventually. “Hello you two, what can I get for you?” Akutagawa opened his eyes and looked up at her silently, he could feel Atsushi’s gaze on him, and was careful to keep a stoic expression.

“I’ll have just an ice water and a salad. My friend here will have an orange juice and a ham sandwich.” Akutagawa responded. The woman nodded, writing it down.

“I’ll get that started for you.” She turned and walked away, Akutagawa watched her go before looking back at Atsushi and meeting his cold gaze.

Shit. I fucked up.

Akutagawa cursed silently, holding his hands together. Atsushi raised an eyebrow.

“Friend? I didn’t realize we went back a step.” Atsushi frowned. Akutagawa sighed.

“Atsushi. It was a slip up. You know my job-… my job as a bodyguard is tiring. I’m sorry I messed up. I promise we haven’t taken a step back.” Akutagawa reached forward and set a hand over Atsushi’s. Atsushi frowned at the hand for a moment before looking up at Akutagawa and then back at their hands.

“Good.” He whispered, watching their hands intently, Akutagawa couldn’t tell what he was specifically thinking about, but had a pretty good feeling.

(^-^)

Atsushi sat at the table across from his Akutagawa. Staring at their hands together and silently imagining the size difference in their hands if Akutagawa became facing the same direction as his. He concentrated so heavily on that that he hadn’t even realized the food had arrived till Akutagawa pulled his hand away from Atsushi’s and the threat set their food down in front of them before leaving.

(^-^)

“Ahh” Atsushi sighed as he and Akutagawa left and started to walk through the streets, fingers intertwined.

“Did you like the Banana split?” Akutagawa looked down at Atsushi, smiling softly. Atsushi looks up at Akutagawa, he smiled widely.

“It was amazing! I want more!”

Akutagawa laughed, patting Atsushi’s head with his free.

“Maybe next time.” He hummed, sitting down next to Atsushi at a bench in a park. The two sat together till Atsushi got a call. He took out his phone and checked it. He sighed.

“It’s my dad.” He huffed, standing up.

“Good luck. I’ll see you around.” Akutagawa smiled, Atsushi waved, turning and answering the call as he walked off.

(^-^)

“Where were you?” Fyodor stepped into Atsushi’s room, looking at the boy laying on his back on his bed, his braids below him on the ground.

“Eh? I was getting Banana Sundays!” Atsushi smiled widely. Fyodor sighed, closing the door behind him and walking forward, sitting down next to Atsushi on the bed.

“Did they taste good?” Fyodor questioned, Atsushi smiled, sitting up.

“Ya! Amazing!” Atsushi laughed.

“Hardly.”

“I’d say they were pretty good!”

“That’s because you have terrible taste.”

“Now your just being mean.”

Atsushi rolled his eyes, smiling at the argument. He wrapped his arms around Fyodor and Fyodor responded by picking Atsushi up and setting him on his lap, one hand fiddling with one of Atsushi’s braids.

“Good.” Fyodor smiled, setting his chin on Atsushi’s shoulder and closing his eyes, his other hand rubbing Atsushi’s back softly. “Have you taken your pills yet?” Fyodor asked. Atsushi shook his head. “Go ahead and do that. Then we’ll head off to meet with the rest of the Decay of Angels.”

Atsushi stood up and padded over to his desk, opening a drawer and looking through his pill bottles before finding the one titled ‘Seroquel’, he opened the child proof cap and tossed one pill into his mouth, closing the bottle, and setting it back in the drawer, taking some water and swallowing the pill.

(This pill, along with the others, were prescribed in this AU. Do not take unless prescribed.)

“Good. Let’s go.” Fyodor stood up and Atsushi took his hand as the two left the room.

Chapter Text

The first time Atsushi had been diagnosed with a mental illness was at the age of seven. About six months after Fyodor had found him again, Fyodor had taken Atsushi in to see a psychiatrist, they had met for about a week. Then Atsushi had returned to the office, with Fyodor a week later and had gotten a result. The conversation had gone something like this.

“So, your child was here to be diagnosed with ADHD, correct?” The man had checked. Fyodor held Atsushi’s hand as Atsushi clung to his side.

“That is correct.”

“Well, it seems your child does have ADHD, and we recommend a light medication for now… uh… but Mr. Runuchi did recommend that you wait a few years and then check for more mental illnesses. He claims that your child showed signs of more… concerning mental illnesses…. schizophrenia, and psychopath-type two, to name just two of them… but he’s to young to diagnose him for sure.”

Atsushi had looked up at Fyodor and tugged his cloak. Fyodor had ruffled his hair in response, not looking at Atsushi. Fyodor had been surprised, but took the man’s advice. When Fyodor and Atsushi left the building, Atsushi had spoken up.

“What is… Schizo-phren-ia?” Atsushi whispered, he clung to Fyodor as they walked. He paused his question and whispered a quite, ‘Shut up, I’m talking to my dad’, To… himself, Fyodor sighed, understanding what the man had said. “And… Psychopathy-type two? Is any of that stuff bad?” He had asked. Fyodor had remained silent for a moment before responding.

“No. Nothing about you could ever be bad. Life might be more difficult for you, but I’ll always be there to help you through it. And Schizophrenia simple has to do with those voices. You can forget about Psychopathy-type two for now, I’ll tell you when your older.” He comforted, rustling Atsushi’s hair, Atsushi looked up at Fyodor and huffed.

“I don’t like Schizo-phren-ia, then.” He muttered, Fyodor laughed softly.

“It makes you, you, Atsushi.” He reminded. “And I love you, for being you.” He added, removing his Ushanka from his head and setting it atop Atsushi’s head. Atsushi smiled softly.

“Then I like me, two!”

(^-^)

Atsushi huffed as he listened to Nikolai and Bram argue below. The meeting room was a basic room with a boring long table. The best part of the room, in Atsushi’s -humble- opinion, was the metal, grated walkway above the table. The perfect hideout. It’s where Atsushi normally was, laying on his stomach, kicking his legs back and forth like a schoolgirl, as he fiddled with a dull bomb he had found during a mission.

“Come on Bram~ smile for once” Nikolai teased.

“He smiles for us”

“Nikolai’s not Atsushi”

“Lucky us”

 Atsushi’s voices whispered in the boys head.

“Not for you, get out of my face.” Bram responded duly.

“Deserved”

Fukuchi had left when the meeting had ended, needing to return to something called the Hunting Dogs, leaving Fyodor, Sigma, Bram, Nikolai and Atsushi.

Sigma sighed, watching the drama. Fyodor quickly got bored, standing up. “Atsushi.” He called. Atsushi looked up, dropping the bomb and standing, jumping off the walkway and landing silently on the table, hands behind his back.

He walked over to Fyodor, legs straight, like a mock march. Atsushi used one leg to spin to face Fyodor. His father held out a hand to him, and Atsushi took it, stepping off the table, Fyodor’s second hand quickly found Atsushi’s hip, making sure Atsushi landed safely. Atsushi, unbothered, set his free hand on Fyodor’s shoulder for a second before turning away, Fyodor’s hand still in his as the two left the room for their apartment.

(Before ending this chapter, I would like to point out that Fyodor is Atsushi’s biological father, so any kinda physical things Atsushi and Fyodor do in this fanfic are solely because their related, and not any form of pedophilia.)

(Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please tell me your thoughts! See you next time! If ur reading this as I'm posting, I'm focusing on my other works and will be posting kinda slow, but I'm gonna post more often later.)

Chapter Text

“Dazai-san? You called?” Akutagawa walked up to Dazai, having entered the ADA office. Some of the members looked up at the Mafioso entering but quickly returned to their own work.

Dazai Osamu. Ability? No Longer Human.

An Ex-executive of the Port Mafia, and current detective of the Armed Detectives Agency.

“Yes, Akutagawa. I wanted to ask you about something.” Dazai didn't look up from the file on his desk. Akutagawa walked closer and looked at the file.

Atsushi Dostoevsky; Specks

The title read. Akutagawa’s eyes widened.

“Do you know anything about the young terrorist that I might not?” Dazai questioned, finally looking up at him. Akutagawa was silent.

He should be happy, overjoyed, at the chance to tell Dazai what he had learned. But he wasn't.

This had been the plan all along. When he had first met Atsushi, this had been the end goal. So why did he feel like throwing up right now?

“No. I don’t. I haven't even met him yet.” Akutagawa finally responded. Dazai was silent for a moment, quirking an eyebrow before nodding and looking back at his papers, his gaze lingering on Akutagawa for a second.

“Understood, sorry if it sounded like I was making accusations. You can return to your earlier task.” He sighed. Akutagawa turned away and left, he caught Ranpo’s gaze.

The look in the detective's eye told Akutagawa he knew.

But he wouldn’t tell. Akutagawa left.

The plan had been simple. Akutagawa had met Atsushi in an alleyway, Atsushi had attacked him, in his own way, but had stopped. Atsushi hadn't known Akutagawa was in the Port Mafia.

He had only attacked because he could tell Akutagawa was strong. Akutagawa decided that if he befriended the boy, he could get information. And then Dazai would be proud of him.

But Akutagawa was weaker than he thought he was.

(^-^)

“Hello.” Atsushi had spoken from behind Akutagawa, Akutagawa had turned, activating Rashomon, and found the young terrorist.

Standing with his hands behind his back, his heels together and feet pointing apart. Like a dance, maybe.

“Who are you?” Akutagawa had faked not knowing the boy, hoping to get him talking to see if he could find a weakness. Atsushi had disappeared, appearing to Akutagawa’s left, in the middle of a graceful spin, before disappearing again and appearing behind Akutagawa, leaning forward a bit, one hand on his back, and the other outstretched for Akutagawa to take. And then the boy spoke.

“My name is Atsushi Dostoevsky. I’m the son of Fyodor Dostoevsky. I am 17 years of age. My ability allows me to turn into a tiger, I’m also quite fast. My bomb making and great aim are not part of my ability, I’m simply awesome at those. I like bunnies, bombs, and food that’s both sweet and sour. I love my family. I don’t like sudden physical contact, torturing people, and secrets. Your turn!” Atsushi smiled as he looked up at Akutagawa.

The introduction had been innocent enough, but Akutagawa was still on edge. Something wasn’t right about the introductions. Akutagawa hesitated, before reaching forward and taking Atsushi’s hand. The boy’s grip was tight. Almost painful to a point.

“Uh... My name is Ryūnosuke Akutagawa... I’m 20 years old. My ability allows me to control my clothes. My coughing is not because of my ability. I like Curios and Antiques, tea and figs. I love my sister. I do not like Bonsai trees, dogs, or baths.” He introduced himself carefully.

Atsushi had smiled and stood up straight, shaking Akutagawa’s hand, loosening his grip. “I don’t like dogs either. They always get in such a mood when I walk by.” Atsushi sighed after he spoke.

“Oh... Uh... I’m sorry...” Akutagawa found himself confused. Was this boy not going to attack him?

Atsushi was silent for a moment before he started mumbling to himself, letting go of Akutagawa’s hand. He crossed one arm over his stomach, the elbow of his other arm on his wrist, with his hand on his chin.

After a few minutes of his silent talking, he nodded to himself. He looked back at Akutagawa, eyes wide with some form of idea in his head.

“Your strong.” Atsushi pointed at Akutagawa.

What’s he getting at? Akutagawa had asked himself.

“And I’m strong…” Atsushi had pointed at himself. “Let’s be friends!” Atsushi had smiled. Akutagawa had frozen.

Be... Friends? After having just met each other again? That was idiotic. How could he trust this boy? Why did Atsushi even want to be his friend? Before Akutagawa could answer, Atsushi waved goodbye, calling Akutagawa his ‘new friend’ and skipped away.

Akutagawa had clutched his shirt, the part of his shirt over his heart. His face was hot. What had just happened? Had he just befriended a terrorist?

Akutagawa had contemplated the whole night on what to do. And had come up with a solution. He would get close to Atsushi. And then tell Dazai-san what he had learned. And then Dazai-san would be proud of him.

Akutagawa knew he shouldn’t trust Atsushi. Atsushi was a terrorist, known for being unstable. Had bombed at least five buildings in the past two months. But Akutagawa was running out of time.

He knew his days were limited. He only had a few more years to get Dazai’s approval. It had to be now. But he’d stay on guard. He wouldn’t form feelings for the idiot. They’d pass.

(^-^)

So why had he lied?

Why had he told Dazai-san he didn't know anything?

He was asking himself the same thing on his way home, and while eating, and while falling asleep.

He clutched the spot over his heart, a habit he had formed since meeting Atsushi.

Damnit heart.

Chapter Text

Insanity is an odd thing. Always has been. The fact that someone could be labeled as ‘insane’ just for being different? Fyodor had never understood the label, and Atsushi certainly hadn’t.

Atsushi would gladly take being called a schizophrenic, or a psychopath. Heck, he’d even take being called a simple terrorist. But to walk around, and see his face on television’s as they called him insane, crazy, obsessive…

Well… obsessive wasn’t all to inaccurate. But they were calling him obsessive over the wrong things.

Sure, he loved his family. And sure, he loved blowing shit up. And sure, he wouldn’t mind killing a few failures along the way. But he wasn’t obsessed.

Yet, at least.

Atsushi remembered what he had first been thinking when he met his Akutagawa. The thought process had been simple at the time. Just a few weeks ago.

(^-^)

Atsushi had been walking, pop, pop, pop.

Atsushi’s thumbs had been numb for a long time. Pop, pop, pop.

It became a habit of his to dislocate and relocate his thumb when nervous or anxious, it was easy since he could barely feel the pain, and it was more a satisfying pain than anything. Pop, pop, pop.

For the moment, the voices clouding his thoughts.

“You should blow something up.”

 “Father hasn’t given us permission.”

“Why does Atsushi need permission?”

 “Because it’s father.”

“Fuck him.”

“Shut up.”

“Atsushi. Why do you care about Father?”

 “We don’t need to answer that! It’s father!”

“Who raised Atsushi from when he was three?”

 “You mean seven?!”

“Same difference.”

Atsushi shook his head. Stopping in his casual walk along the edge of a building. He regained his footing, his head falling into his hand. He heard something behind him and whirled around, his braids moving with him.

He saw the reminisce of something… no. Someone… or was it someone? Maybe a something.

“Atsushi.” He heard the voice behind him. It wasn’t his usual two. No. It was something else.

Atsushi had spun around again, taking out his gun at record speed and holding it out. It was gone before he could shot.

Atsushi always got faster when under pressure or stressed.

“Not fast enough.” It whispered. Atsushi didn’t hesitate as he whirled around and shot in the direction the voice had come from.

A body. An old body. A body from his past.

His vision blurred slightly, as if he were crying, but he wasn’t crying. His eyes weren’t wet.

It’s eyes rolled back, bleeding from the head as it fell of the building. Atsushi froze, his hand shaking.

It was his imagination. His psychosis acting up. The blurriness proved it.

Right?

RIGHT?

Atsushi had ran to the edge and looked over.

Nothing. Or… something. Someone. Not dead.

They had felt strong, the person below him.

But he wasn’t in the mood. Not now. Not after what he had just done.

And when he turned away. One of his voices spoke.

“We’re just gonna leave?”

“Why wouldn’t he?”

 “That boy seemed strong. And looked kinda cute.”

“So?”

“We should be his friend.”

“And what about Fathers warnings?”

“Oh, so now you want to listen to father?”

Atsushi scowled as the argument filled his thoughts, he stumbled away from the edge, clutching the sides of his head. His thoughts raced, the voices loud, pounding in his skull. He held up his gun again and pointed it at his own shadow.

“Shut up. I’m trying to think.” He snapped.

Everything was silent. To silent.

Atsushi looked away from his shadow, pocketing his gun as he started to think through the possibilities.

Of course, he could always just walk away. But where would the fun in that be? Plus, Nikolai always said that making new friends was the key to self growth.

And didn’t Atsushi want to improve?

And even if he didn’t want to improve, he needed friends. He couldn’t let himself die alone. He didn’t want to die alone.

“There he goes again, being desperate for connection.”

“We’re not desperate.”

“Look at him.”

“Stop talking like I’m not hear.” Atsushi hissed at the voices, they fell silent again. Once Atsushi calmed down, his heart was set on a decision.

Atsushi walked to the edge and looked down at the man below. Short black hair, pale skin, black coat.

He looked… not half bad…

“Him? He looks half dead. Terrible taste.”

“Shut up. We said to be quiet.”

“He never said for how long.”

Atsushi scuffed at the voices before blurry away and appearing standing behind the man, hands behind his back and heels together, feet pointed apart.

The man turned to face him.

“Who are you?” The man had asked.

A clean slate. If this man didn’t know him. This man could be a clean slate. Atsushi had told himself he made the right decision.

(^-^)

“Oh how change, changes.” Atsushi murmured to himself, sitting sideways in his rolly chair, his hair in a rushed ponytail. He had woken up and hadn’t been in the mood to have his hair dragging behind him.

But the patients to braid his hair had been lost on him.

Atsushi spun as he sat sideways, one arm draped over the top of the chair, the other laying limp off the side of the armrest. One leg draped over the other arm rest, his other leg swinging off the chair, foot on the ground.

Atsushi’s gaze remained on the wall he often covered up with a drape. Couldn’t have father learning of his little… friendship.

Even through all his… research, which wasn’t much, Atsushi hated research. He had never found his new friends job. Which was why he had asked him that day.

What’s your job?

Bodyguard. That had been the response. Not ideal.

His new friend, was surrounded by strangers all day, protecting them.

Atsushi stood up, slowly walking over to his wall and running his hand along the photos and papers, used supplies and small charms.

Unread notes that would never be given.

Atsushi walked up to the small desk next to the wall and opened the drawer, taking out his most recent note. He took a pin, fiddling with it between his fingers as he stepped back and looked over the wall for room.

It had just been a few weeks, maybe two months, and Atsushi was already desperate for room.

Fukuchi always told him that it was a sign of his ADHD. Hyper focus or something ‘er other.

Atsushi called it, being himself.

The boy finally found a spot on the wall and pinned the note into the cork board. His hand lingered on the cloth he had written the note on when bored, and then torn off of one of his long sleeved shirts.

My dearest boyfriend,

Killing is arbitrary. Who’s to say I’ve ever actually killed people? You could say I kill people for my family. And I’d happily die for my family. Because they’ve done things for me. They raised me, cared for me. But you, your something else.

You’re not just another person. I love you more than that. You’re not just another passer of my test. No. You’ve grown. I think of you every day.

Have you ever loved someone so much? That you want to know everything about them? That you want to know how to look like them? How to act like them? How to be them?

That’s what some see as an obsession.

If so. I guess you’re my obsession.

Your Mine

My boyfriend

My friend

My everything

My Akutagawa

With unconditional love, Atsushi.

P.S. unconditional is a funny word, isn’t it. I asked Bram for the meaning.

Chapter Text

Fyodor sat in his chair, looking at the screens in front of him, specifically, one lower screen, watching two Port Mafia members, one with the ability to control his coat as a weapon, and the other able to summon a demon warrior through a phone that the other kept with him, fight Fitzgerald atop the Moby Dick.

Both were getting pretty beat up, but Fyodor knew how it would end, it would have ended faster if he had gotten Atsushi on board as well to help, but he wasn’t willing to risk the boy’s safety any more than he already had when leading Fitzgerald to Yokohama.

Fyodor wasn’t surprised when Fitzgerald used up all his money, and the girl’s ability slashed a cut right through his right leg, and the boy’s coat stabbed through Fitzgerald’s shoulder, the man fell back and off the Moby Dick into the water.

Fyodor was silent as the girl turned to the boy, who took out the control panel, and the girl stopped the Moby Dicks trajectory. Fyodor’s video cut off as it was replaced with a warning of their actions. The door to his office opened and Fyodor tensed, the door closed behind whoever had entered and the person walked over, stopping right behind Fyodor, and leaning over the chair, resting their chin on his head, Fyodor relaxed, smiling softly.

“The Armed Detectives Agency beat Mr. Fitzgerald?” Atsushi spoke, eyes wide with wonder. Fyodor smirked calmly.

“I suppose you could say that.” He answered, starting to prepare the system to return the Moby Dick to its original purpose to hit Yokohama.

The boy behind him sighed, standing up straight and walking around, sitting up on the desk and watching Fyodor work, swinging his legs. “Your doing that thing again.” The boy complained.

“What ‘thing’ again?” Fyodor smirked, looking up at Atsushi with a sparkle in his purple eyes, Atsushi give him a ‘seriously?’ look.

“Where you answer a question without answering it. Plus! You said the Armed Detectives Agency only had one person who could beat Fitzgerald! And you predicted that Dazai wouldn’t go on that mission!” Atsushi argued back, pointing an accusatory finger at Fyodor.

The older sighed, closing his eyes and setting his chin in the palm of his hand. “Your memory serves you well, Moy Syn. And my prediction wasn’t wrong, Dazai Osamu did not go on that mission, in fact, no one from the Armed Detectives Agency did.” Fyodor responded.

Fyodor felt a weight settle on his lap and opened his eyes, looking up at Atsushi, who sat crisscross, hands on the ankles of his boots, on Fyodor’s lap. The boys eyes were narrowed, his mouth open in an expression that was basically telling Fyodor to make sense, the man laughed at his sons inability to understand his riddled words.

Fyodor leaned forward and pressed a button, Atsushi looked back at the screen, watching as Fyodor’s hack hit and the Moby Dick started to lower again, he watched a security camera view from one of the screens, showing the full Moby Dick.

“I’ll explain it for you, simple enough, my plan involves the collaboration of the Port Mafia and Armed Detectives Agency, the Moby Dick was simply the catalyst to getting the two organizations to follow through with my plan without even knowing. The agency couldn’t defeat Fitzgerald, not enough of their members are fit for fighting, but they must have known that the Port Mafia could.” Fyodor explained calmly.

“Why do you need the Port Mafia and Armed Detectives Agency working together? They just have a more likely chance at beating us now.” Atsushi continued to watch the screen, pop, pop, pop, he started to dislocate and relocate his thumb.

“It’s going to hit Yokohama…”

“But your in Yokohama right now…”

“We’re going to die…”

Fyodor closed a hand around Atsushi’s, stopping the boys unhealthy fidgeting.

“That is a chance they may win if they work together, but trust me, my plan won’t fail, not now. I have it all laid out, you just need to stay safe until my plan is complete, and then we can bask in a world without the gifted, without sin.” Fyodor smiled up at Atsushi, the boy looked down at Fyodor, his body relaxing.

“Right… I promise.” The boy sighed, smiling.

Atsushi heard a loud sound from outside, and looked to the monitor, watching as part of the Moby Dick started to smoke, as it fell towards the water, Atsushi’s eyes widened.

“What happened?!?” He questioned loudly, looking at the damage.

“It seems Chuuya Nakahara has arrived at the scene… just as I predicted.” Fyodor smirked calmly.

“Right… part of the plan…”

“Chuuya Nakahara? Huh?”

“He sounds strong… we should become his friend!”

“I doubt it, Atsushi.”

“So… now what?” Atsushi swallowed, looking back down at Fyodor.

“Now we wait for the next part of my plan to take place… you seem tired? Rest.” Fyodor looked up at Atsushi.

“I can’t sleep right now.” Atsushi frowned, Fyodor gently pulled Atsushi’s head down, resting Atsushi’s forehead against his shoulder, and messing with Atsushi’s braids.

“I’ve got you child.” He comforted, Atsushi slowly relaxed, thinking about how the Moby Dick would be somewhere in the water by now…

Chapter Text

“What kind of clothes do you like?” Kouyou asked, walking behind the boy with Chuuya.

Kouyou Ozaki. Ability? Golden Demon

An executive of the Port Mafia.

And

Chuuya Nakahara. Ability? Upon the Tainted Sorrow

Also, an executive of the Port Mafia.

“Black.” The boy responded, hands behind his back and braids swishing behind him as he walked through the mall.

“Uh… any other kinds?” Chuuya hoped.

“Dark neon colors.”

The two sighed. This would be more difficult then they had thought.

(^-^)

The plan had been easy. Had seemed flawless.

After they had met the boy. They had been on a Mission get rid of a bomb, before it blew up. They had met him. Guarding the bomb.

But instead of attacking. He had introduced himself.

“My name is Atsushi Dostoevsky. I’m the son of Fyodor Dostoevsky. I am 17 years of age. My ability allows me to turn into a tiger, I’m also quite fast. My bomb making and great aim are not part of my ability, I’m simply awesome at those. I like bunnies, bombs, and food that’s both sweet and sour. I love my family. I don’t like sudden physical contact, torturing people, and secrets. Your turn!” The boy had said.

Kouyou had responded first, she could simply tell from the boy’s demeanor that this wasn’t just a game or a sweet introduction.

Kouyou had connected the dots at that moment. The boy… Atsushi. Everyone who had survived an encounter with Atsushi, and that number in itself was low, all described the same thing.

An odd introduction that included likes, loves and dislikes. And the people had responded in a similar way, whether out of fear of getting killed, or a more thought out strategy.

“My name is Kouyou Ozaki. I am an executive in the Port Mafia. My ability allows me to summon a female fighter to fight for me. I like golden tempura, Japanese pickles, and a friend of mine named Kyouka Izumi. I love the Port Mafia. I do not like unnecessary hope or useless love.” Kouyou responded, having taken the boys hand and shook it.

The boy had smiled widely and made a comment about how he would like to meet this friend of hers, Kyouka. He then removed his hand from Kouyou’s grip and held it out to Chuuya. Waiting for the other execution to take it.

Chuuya had been more hesitant, but seeing Kouyou’s success, had excepted, taking Atsushi’s hand.

“My name is Chuuya Nakahara. I am also a Port Mafia executive. My ability allows me to manipulate gravity. I like my hat, dogs, the port mafia, fights and… hanging out with my boyfriend.” Chuuya huffed at his last words before continuing. “I love music, and alcohol. I don’t like when people comment on my height.” He finished.

Atsushi was almost ecstatic. “You have a boyfriend?! I have a boyfriend!” Atsushi smiled widely. “Though my boyfriend’s not in the Port Mafia, so you probably don’t know him.” Atsushi shrugged, still grinning ear to ear.

“Huh. Interesting. My boyfriend used to be in the Port Mafia, but then he left.” Chuuya huffed.

“Awwww. Are you two still in contact?” Atsushi seemed… genuinely concerned. Kouyou watched the interaction with interest, studying Atsushi to look for any hints of manipulation. For the moment… the boy seemed genuine.

“I mean, ya. We usually hang out every weekend at my place.” Chuuya responded.

“You probably have a really big house! Being a Port Mafia executive and all.” Atsushi grinned.

“In fact, I have multiple really big houses!” Chuuya responded, seeming proud of himself. Atsushi’s eyes widened in awe.

“No way!”

“Yes way!”

(^-^)

“You know, kid, why don’t you tell us about your boyfriend?” Chuuya sped up to walk next to Atsushi. The boy beamed, fidgeting with his cargo pants as he walked.

“My boyfriend? Well! He’s really awesome! He has black hair and wears a really cool black coat. He coughs a lot, tho, it’s kind of worrying.” Atsushi sighed, his movements growing faster and more erratic as he spoke, making multiple different gestures, speeding up his walk and turning to look back at Chuuya and Kouyou, before slowing down and turning to walk forward again.

“What’s his name?” Kouyou walked next to Atsushi, watching the boy.

“Akutagawa! That’s his last name, at least.” Atsushi saw a candy store and ran ahead, not waiting to see if the two followed. His running off gave Kouyou and Chuuya the chance to exchange worries.

“Do you think it’s our Akutagawa?” Kouyou looked down at Chuuya.

“Almost certain.” Chuuya huffed.

“This could be bad.”

“Akutagawa had a reason for not telling us he was dating the boy.”

“Do you think he’s defecting?”

“I doubt it. He’s probably still trying to earn Dazai’s recognition.”

Kouyou fell silent. Chuuya could tell she was worried, he sighed.

“Your worried for Atsushi.” He observed.

“If he finds out Akutagawa lied to him… He’s already unstable enough.” Kouyou responded softly.

“We’ll be able to help, someway. Come on, let’s go find the kid.” Chuuya smiled hopefully, Kouyou sighed and the two rushed off after Atsushi.

Chapter Text

“Akutagawa. Do you know why we asked to talk with you?” Kouyou watched Akutagawa from across the table. Chuuya sat next to Kouyou, Akutagawa held a cup of tea in his hand.

“No. I don’t.” Akutagawa responded coldly, Kouyou sighed.

“We met someone, recently. A boy, braids down his back, he seemed quiet unstable. He talked to us about a boyfriend. Would you know anything about this?” Chuuya looked Akutagawa dead in the eyes.

Akutagawa’s hands shook and he set the tea cup down on the table. “No, I wouldn’t.”

“Alright then, the boy said his boyfriend had a ‘cool coat’ and ‘coughed a lot’. His description reminded me of someone. The boy told us he wanted to introduce us to his boyfriend, someone named Akutagawa. Ring any bells?” Chuuya sat back, crossing a leg.

Akutagawa took a deep breath before speaking again. “Atsushi’s relationship with me is not a threat to the Port Mafia.” He said slowly.

“We met him on a mission trying to stop him from blowing a building up! Like hell he’s not a threat!” Chuuya raised his voice.

Akutagawa opened his mouth to responded, but Chuuya continued.

“Not only that, but Atsushi is in the Decay of Angels. You know, the terrorist organization the Port Mafia teamed up with the Armed-Fucking-Detectives Agency because of?”

“Chuuya.” Kouyou looked down at Chuuya, the other sighed, leaning back again. Kouyou looked back at Akutagawa.

“We didn’t call you here to investigate or scold your personal life. If anything, I’m happy you’ve found someone.” Kouyou started, Akutagawa didn’t let himself feel relieved. He knew something else was coming. “However…” Kouyou fell silent, covering her mouth with her sleeved hand.

“Atsushi Dostoevsky is an unstable individual. And you have decided to withhold an important piece of information about yourself, from him.” Kouyou spoke softly, Akutagawa looked down at his hands. “Right now, I don’t speak to you as an executive, Akutagawa.” She spoke slowly, Akutagawa froze.

What?

“But as a friend of yours, and someone who hesitantly believes that Atsushi, if anyone, can change.” Kouyou looked at Akutagawa.

“Currently, Atsushi’s beliefs are obvious enough to me. He’s been through a lot, he’s unstable. He’s not suicidal, but he doesn’t value life. The only reason he’s still here, is because he doesn’t wish to die alone. He’s desperate for connection, desperate enough that he’ll befriend an enemy. But not desperate enough that he’ll just look straight past a loved one’s lies. I advise that you tell him the truth before it becomes to big a lie. He’s to unstable to take a lie from someone as important to him as yourself.” Kouyou spoke without a waver in her voice. And that was that.

Akutagawa didn’t have a response. He didn’t want to lose Atsushi. But he feared it would be to late to tell the boy the truth.

(^-^)

Akutagawa had returned home on day, a few weeks ago, Gin was on a mission, as it seemed she always was these days, and Akutagawa had finished something for Dazai.

The moment Akutagawa walked into the house, he could smell the prominent smell of takeout.

Akutagawa summoned Rashomon as he moved through the house. What he saw, he was not expecting.

“Huh?” Atsushi had looked up from a knife in his hand, having been laying on his stomach, feet kicking behind him. Atsushi had smiled, tossing the knife to the side, discarding the weapon like it was a toy and starting to sit up before blurring, and disappearing, reappearing right in front of Akutagawa.

“Atsushi? How’d you get inside?” Akutagawa had kept Rashomon at the ready, taking a step back. Atsushi, hands behind his back, leaning forward a bit, braids resettling after the movement, eyes wide, taking in Akutagawa’s wariness.

Atsushi had stayed like that for a moment before standing up straight and smiling, a hard shift from the serious look he had just given.

“Oh, silly. You gave me the key to your apartment, remember?” Atsushi skipped over to a window and closed it.

“No… I didn’t.” Akutagawa watched Atsushi, the younger sighed, waving his hand absently.

“Fine, fine, I broke in through the window, happy now?” Atsushi seemed unbothered by his own choice of entrance. He had then disappeared once again, reappearing intertwining his fingers with Akutagawa’s.

The older didn’t know what to say, and so Atsushi spoke.

“You know, I could kill the Dazai person for you. Just say the word.” Atsushi pulled away slightly, raising Akutagawa’s hand and kissing his knuckles. Akutagawa stared at Atsushi.

What was he supposed to say?

“Please don’t.”

Was what he responded with. Maybe he should have been more insistent on it? Probably, but it had stopped Atsushi, at least for the time.

Chapter Text

Atsushi had a room in his and Fyodor’s apartment, sure. And he stayed in the Decay of Angel’s base sometimes, sure.

But there was only one, true place he felt truly at home. Fyodor had helped him find the building, and Atsushi had designed it in his free time.

Now, the once dull, old, abandoned cabin in the woods had four basement walls covered in spray paint of Atsushi’s design, and still looked old from the outside.

The basement was surprisingly large, though only one room, the floor was mainly bare, with a circular desk in the center of the room, with way too many papers and small unfinished bombs on it to keep track. Atsushi’s bed, a hanging hammock in one corner, and a spinning chair with wheels that was at Atsushi’s desk, as the only real furniture in the room. One corner of the base was covered with chalk drawings and equations.

The whole house was on the edge of a ledge in the hills around Yokohama, hidden by trees, the small base overlooked Yokohama.

Currently, Atsushi stood in the center of the top floor, standing close to Fyodor, one hand in Fyodor’s hand, while the other was on Fyodor’s shoulder. Atsushi’s eyes were closed as he followed Fyodor’s lead in a dance the two knew almost by heart.

Fyodor had been teaching Atsushi dances since before Atsushi had been even left at the god forsaken orphanage, but this one had stuck around, even being converted into Atsushi’s fighting style.

But it was always different when it was Atsushi and Fyodor.

Atsushi’s mind cleared, when dancing, the voices went away for a small time. Even if just for a few fleeting minutes.

Atsushi stepped away from Fyodor, letting himself spin on the surprisingly empty floor, before he returned to Fyodor’s side. He could feel Fyodor’s gaze on him, but it wasn’t one that chilled Atsushi, it was one of comfort.

One that matched the calming touch of Fyodor’s fatherly affection (Not Pedo, guys, just biological love.). But there were some days, that Atsushi didn’t seek physical affection, and those were the days he went to Nikolai.

(^-^)

“You messed up.”

“How could we freeze up like that?”

“You just saw a glimpse. It could have been anything.”

“Such a weakling we are.”

“Even a moment of weakness is unforgivable”

“We’re worthless”

“The world would be a better place if you just died in a ditch somewhere (I had to add it, y’all) ”

Atsushi paced back and forth, his hands stroking one of his braids over his shoulder, eyes wide.

He had frozen.

He. Atsushi Dostoevsky.

Had frozen up. And at what? A simple.. simple… stupid… comment about his worthlessness.

One. Single. Idiot. Had made him freeze up.

A simple, “He’ll throw you to the slums once you become to insane to handle.”

That had been all it took.

“Atsushi?” Fyodor walked down the staircase and into the room, Atsushi froze.

No. No. He didn’t need Fyodor right now.

“Him? Seriously? Of all people?”

 “He’s only trying to help… but he should leave.”

“He isn’t needed right now.”

“We’ll tell him to leave.”

“Go away!” Atsushi snapped, turning to face Fyodor, the desperation clear in his eyes.

Fyodor was silent, he looked at Atsushi, before backing up. “I’m going to get Nikolai.” He whispered as he turned away. Atsushi stumbled back a bit, not registering Fyodor’s words.

Had his father just left him?

What had he said before leaving?

Atsushi’s thoughts were drowned out by the insistent calls.

“He just left you.”

“Some father he is.”

“Shut up!” Atsushi shouted, blurring away, collapsing on his hammock, tear stains had managed to hit the floor where he had been standing earlier. He hid his face in one of his pillows. Trying to drown everything out.

“You know, I think tigers and their pray get along.” A voice broke through the fog, as a weight settled in the hammock next to the boy, causing him to slide till his back was against the others side. Atsushi’s breathing grew steadier as he listened to the person, and not his inner thoughts.

“Think about it, their pray must have changed to escape them, so how come they are still caught? Obviously their caught on purpose, because Tiger’s are their friends!” The person rolled over, facing Atsushi. The boy peaked up from his pillow, his face tear stained as he took in Nikolai laying on his side next to him, smiling.

(^-^)

The dance came to an end, and Atsushi pulled Fyodor into an unplanned hug.

“I love you, father.” He whispered.

Fyodor smiled, ruffling the short strands of Atsushi’s hair. “I love you more, Moy Syn.”

"I know."

Chapter Text

“Would you be able to make a bomb that could break through that kind of door?” Fukuchi looked up at Atsushi, who had been dancing around the room for the past few minutes.

“Huh? Oh! Ya. Easy peasie.” Atsushi grinned, sitting on the table in front of Fukuchi and crossing his legs, looking over the map.

“And you’ll leave at least one person alive?” Fukuchi looked back down at the map. The room was silent for a moment and Fukuchi sighed, looking up at Atsushi. “Right?”

Atsushi shrugged. “Not so easy. But I’ll try.” He sighed, Fukuchi sighed as well.

“Alright, kid, well, you should head off. Don’t want anyone catching you.” Fukuchi set his head in his hand, Atsushi stood up with two flicks of his legs.

“Okie Doki.” He gave a thumbs up and skipped off, Fukuchi sighed. That kid really was… something.

(^-^)

“Sigma!” Atsushi called, running up to Sigma. The other turned and looked down at him.

“Oh… Atsushi… what are you doing here?” Sigma questioned, walking up to him.

“Fukuchi kicked me out of his planning room, for ‘Don’t want anyone catching you.’” Atsushi huffed. “So annoying.”

Sigma chuckled slightly. “He’s just looking out for you.

“Maybe… Got any gossip!” Atsushi’s eyes lit up as he looked at Sigma.

“Well… I did hear…”

(Uh… so basically… Atsushi and Sigma are gossip buddies. This day was a bit shorter. Hope you liked it anyway, I'm posting two today bc that one was so short. Love y’all platonically)

Chapter Text

(Uh… warning: most of what I know about the Decay Of Angels is based on spoilers I’ve seen on YouTube… cause I love Bungo Stray Dogs. But all my friends are either basically forcing me to watch other shows [Watch Arcane, Rewatch She-Ra{Idk guys, my friends are childish 😭 and so am I}, etc…] or pure anime haters along with the rest of my school, so I can’t even talk about watching it with them, so I can’t watch Bungo Stray Dogs/read the manga as much as I wish I could. But basically, if I get anything about anyone wrong. Please forgive me. Pls and thank you Pookies)

“Not now, Moy Syn.” Fyodor was busy planning with Fukuchi.

“Maybe some other time, kid.” Sigma was working on some papers.

Nikolai was on a mission of some sorts.

And Bram was…

Wait.

Was Bram doing anything?

Atsushi barged into the room, skipping up to Bram’s stand up coffin. “Bram-kun! Rise and shine!” Atsushi called as he kicked the coffin open.

Bram slowly opened his eyes and glared at Atsushi. The kid looked back at Bram with a big smile and wide, unblinking eyes.

Bram’s expression became hesitant, before he sighed. “Fine, Fine, sit on down.” Atsushi happily plopped down in front of Bram’s coffin.

“What story do you have today?” Atsushi questioned.

Bram thought for a moment before speaking.

“Have you heard of the (idk Pookies) war?” Bram questioned.

“This should be interesting…”

“No! Tell me about it!” Atsushi sat closer.

“Of course you haven’t, you uneducated swine.” Bram huffed before he started his story.

(^-^)

Bram and Atsushi hadn’t always gotten along that way.

It had started with a simple day that Atsushi was bored and everyone else was busy.

Fyodor had -sarcastically- recommended Atsushi go and annoy Bram.

Atsushi hadn’t taken it sarcastically.

So Atsushi had found Bram’s room and kicked the coffin open-A thing he had made a habit of doing just to annoy the Vampire ability user-.

“Wakey, Wakey, eggs in Bakey.”  Atsushi called to Bram.

Bram opened his eyes and looked over Atsushi before scowling.

“Go annoy someone else.” He snapped, not in the mood to be interrupted.

“Father told me to annoy you.” Atsushi responded bluntly. That had pissed Bram off-clearly Fyodor had been sarcastic- and Bram threatened Atsushi to leave and Atsushi had left, exaggeratedly dragging his feet behind him.

After that day, Atsushi had continued to visit Bram often, Bram continued to reject Atsushi’s friendship, visit after visit.

One day, Bram had enough, he had snapped and told Atsushi to stop being a nuisance. Atsushi had left silently that day, and hadn’t returned the next, or the next.

And when Atsushi and Fyodor had entered the meeting room a few minutes late, Atsushi had not smiled at Bram, or Sigma, or Fukuchi. Not even Nikolai, as he jumped up to the grating above and remained silent the whole meeting.

Bram had felt… guilty? Oddly enough, he believed so.

And after the meeting he had reluctantly apologized.

Atsushi, being who he was, had quickly excepted the apology.

And the next day,

“Bram-Kun!” Atsushi kicked the coffin open and Bram looked at the boy calmly. “Are you actually awake this time?” Atsushi smiled. The boy then smirked, leaning closer to Bram. “Were you waiting for meeeeeeee~?” He teased.

Bram couldn’t hold back a small smile.

Chapter Text

“Hey Atsu?” Akutagawa whispered. No response. He paused and looked down at his boyfriend.

Atsushi lay on his side, his head in Akutagawa’s lap, whose hand was messing with the short parts of his hair, and his arms wrapped around himself, eyes closed.

Atsushi had shown up at Akutagawa’s place wearing a jacket, probably ‘borrowed’ from Fyodor, over a random white, short sleeved shirt, but had hung the jacket up upon entry.

From the way Atsushi’s breathing was light, though not rhythmic, even in the boys sleep, Akutagawa could tell Atsushi had fallen asleep.

Akutagawa smiled softly, his fingers brushing some bangs out of Atsushi’s face.

What a cute man.

Akutagawa thought to himself. When first meeting Atsushi, he never would’ve thought the boy would grow comfortable enough to fall asleep with him.

Akutagawa sighed, leaning back and closing his eyes, letting himself drift asleep in Atsushi’s presence.

(^-^)

The first time Akutagawa had seen how important he had become to Atsushi, Akutagawa had just finished a mission.

He had been talking to someone before leaving the scene and walked into an alleyway.

(Because it’s Akutagawa, he does shit like that)

When he had heard a sound, pop, pop, pop, and then a voice behind him.

“Who was that?”

Akutagawa looked back and saw Atsushi… glare at him, hands together, repeatedly popping his thumb out of its socket and relocating it.

Akutagawa felt a chill go down his spine. “A… that was a coworker.” Akutagawa responded. He watched as Atsushi walked closer to him.

“Just a coworker?” He checked.

“I promise.” Akutagawa answered, tensing when Atsushi grabbed his sleeve, looking up at him with a deadly look in his eye.

Atsushi was silent for a moment before stepping back and shaking his head.

“Shut up.” He hissed.

Atsushi pulled out a gun and shot at the wall. “Shut up!“ He shouted. He was silent before turning back to Akutagawa, catching his breath and lowering the gun.

“Hey… let’s head back to my place?” Akutagawa held a shaky hand out to Atsushi.

The younger boy stared at him for a moment, scrunching up his face in concentration before taking the hand and letting Akutagawa lead him away.

(Another short chapter so I'm posting 2 today again)

Chapter Text

Atsushi had been skipping through the streets of Yokohama, hands behind his back, one hand holding his other arms wrist. Wearing his normal cargo pants and a black shirt that he had cut the shoulder parts out of, he had done it for fun and ended up liking the design.

Atsushi’s hair was in two pigtails, down and just barely not reaching the ground, mainly though, due to the slight platforms on his boots.

Atsushi paused in his skip, focusing on a group of people crowding a space. Atsushi slipped through the crowd, crouching down and looking at the Television people had been huddled around.

“Just an hour earlier today, we were informed of a bombing from the Insane terrorist known as ‘Specks’. We were informed that the police and Armed Detectives Agency showed up just after the bombing, but ‘Specks’ had already escaped the scene. We ask everyone to stay on the lookout, and please turn in any explosive looking objects.

Atsushi silently slipped his hand into one of his pockets, pulling out a small sphere with the words ‘BOOM!’ spray painted on neon yellow on. He pulled the ring out of the top with his teeth, since his other hand was on his knee, and silently rolled the sphere in between the crowd and the television.

Atsushi quickly slipped from the crowd, skipping away again as he started to hear the sounds of confusion, and then the shouts of surprise, and finally the loud sound of an explosion. His hair blew past him on either side from the effect of the bomb.

He smiled proudly as he skipped away from the scene, eyes closed.

“Damn…”

“We just love when they go BOOM!”

“Of course Atsushi does”

“you don’t?”

“Oh. I do.”

“One thing we can agree on.”

“One thing we can agree on, indeed.” Atsushi whispered as he turned the corner to the alleyway and blurred, disappearing and reappearing on a roof, laying on his stomach and kicking his legs back and forth, his head in one hand, his other dislocating and relocating his thumb as he watched a few fire fighters rush to the scene he had caused and start checking people’s vitals.

“I do hope they died. It would be sad if God wished them to suffer more.” Atsushi sighed.

“Sad indeed…”

Atsushi then noticed a small poster in the distance. He started to sit up, disappearing and reappearing in front of the paper poster, tearing it off the wall it was on and reading it.

A breakfast place that was giving out free pancakes this weekend…

Atsushi folded up the paper, shoving it in his pocket and finally leaving the scene completely, pulling out his flip phone and searching for Akutagawa’s number, sending him a message to ask if he wanted to meet up this weekend.

(^-^)

“Did you like my scenes two days ago?” Atsushi asked, walking alongside Akutagawa as the two made their way to the breakfast place that was giving out free pancakes, Atsushi spoke cheerfully, but the pop, pop, pop, from his thumb gave away his desperation for Akutagawa’s approval.

“Hm? You mean the building and the random group of people you exploded?” Akutagawa clarified, though he knew he didn’t need to.

“Yup! Though, I was aiming for the television, not the people.” Atsushi shrugged.

“You killed two people and injured the five others there.” Akutagawa pointed out.

“Really? Only two? That’s disappointing.” The younger boy sighed.

Classic Atsushi.

“Look! We’re here!” Atsushi took Akutagawa’s hand and dragged him inside. The two found a table and took a seat, starting to talk until the waiter came to the table.

Akutagawa ordered some bacon and a pancake, along with ice water. Atsushi ordered an orange juice, bacon and three pancakes.

(Atsushi’s order is literally my order at every breakfast place I go to, just swap out the orange juice for apple juice 😭)

“Your really going to eat that many pancakes? Your stomachs going to hurt.” Akutagawa looked at Atsushi.

The boy shrugged. “It’ll be worth it!”

And so, the two boyfriends had breakfast and then separated to go about their day until they went on another wholesome date😊.

Chapter Text

“Worthless” “Go die somewhere” “How useless” “No wonder your mother left you with us” “A child like you doesn’t deserve to cry” “You should be thanking us, maybe one day we’ll have freed you from being the sinner you are”

“Sinner… they always said that… they had to ‘beat the sinner’ out of me.”

Atsushi cried out as he felt the whip hit his back. “Shut up!” They snapped.

“Please stop. It hurts.”

A slap to the face, causing Atsushi to fall to the ground, a hand moving up to his cheek, eyes wide with tears as he gently traced his shaking fingers over the reddening skin.

“I had done nothing but breath?”

The water filled his lungs as he accidentally breathed in, they had brought his head up a bit, tricking him to think he was going to get air. The sound of water gurgling filled the quiet room as Atsushi struggled, finally they released his head and he whipped his head up, gasping for air as he fell backwards, crawling to his hands and knees as he coughed up water onto the floor. Atsushi looked up at the man, shaking as he looked down at him and shamed him for being so weak.

“I’m just a child”

“Monster” “freak” “weirdo” “different”  “weird” “inhuman” Atsushi tried to ignore the words as he walked through the halls. He bumped into someone, when the kid he had bumped into told the headmaster, Atsushi had gotten a slap across the face and he had to do the kids chores for a week.

“He didn’t deserve the help”

“I- I’m sorry!” Atsushi cried, his legs and back bloody as he watched one of the ones in charge cut along his arms. He cried. They didn’t care. The cuts on his neck, wrists and ankles  were the worst, cause the blood would dry over night, but Atsushi was chained at night. So the next morning, the cuts would reopen when the chains were removed. Atsushi always cried. And the only thing he would get in return would be a slap across the face.

“Why me?”

Atsushi had spilled some water when doing his chores. He had blanked, didn’t even remember what happened looking back at it. The next thing he remembered was an almost deafening cracking sound, and then the pain, he could feel everything as if it was that same night, and then he screamed, and cried, and tried to move his arm, but it wouldn’t move. He was young, maybe four, the first time it happened, guess he hadn’t realized that a clean hammer hit to the shoulder would break the bone, or didn’t realize that much pain meant he had been hit.

“Please stop”

“Atsushi?” The young girl opened the door, peaking inside before walking  into the room, a small, brown box in hand. Atsushi looked over at her, tear-stained face. She smiled hopefully, sitting down across from him, pulling out a dirtied handkerchief and wiping at the red mark on Atsushi’s cheek. “Happy birthday, I think. No one really knows your birthday… nor do most people care…” She smiled softly, holding out the box.

Atsushi’s eyes widened, she had always been the nicest to him, even calling him by his real name, but this was more than he was expecting. Atsushi slowly took the box, slowly opening it.

Inside was a small piece of candy. Tears welled in his eyes as he smiled. She smiled back.

The door burst open and the girl and Atsushi looked over, the headmaster.

“Did you steal that candy from her?” He snapped, Atsushi shook his head, voice stuck in his throat.

“No! He didn’t! I gave it to him!” She quickly stood up. The headmaster walked to Atsushi and the girl, slapping her across the face.

“Leave.” He ordered, she gave Atsushi a sad look before running out, crying from the slap. The headmaster looked back at Atsushi.

“I… I didn’t steal the candy.” He whispered.

The headmaster dropped a nail and hammer in front of Atsushi. “Nail it into your foot.” He ordered. Atsushi did so, but not without struggle.

“It hurts... It hurts… it hurts…”

Atsushi had screamed, feeling the teeth sink into his skin, he had cried, screaming for someone to make it let go. The men had only watched. Atsushi’s arm went numb from blood loss before the Akita Inu (dog breed, I chose it cause they have a strong jaw and are aggressive towards felines if you know, you know) let go. He had just wanted to pet it, it looks so nice, but for some reason it had bitten his arm, and hadn’t let go. His arm was limp, they had at least been nice enough to give him the supplies to bandage his arm, nothing to clean it to stop it from getting infected, but he wouldn’t be greedy.

“At least they had given me some bandages… what would have happened if they hadn’t?”

The orphanage had kept an Akita Inu in the building, that had been the first, and certainly hadn’t been the last time it had attacked Atsushi. And he never forgot any of them.

It had almost killed him from blood loss, biting his thigh when he had walked by during his chores, it had pierced an artery, hadn’t let go as Atsushi screamed and kicked and cried and tried to get it off. He had gotten a slap for not finishing his chores that day, and a small amount of bandages to wrap around the wound. That slap had felt especially worse, that day.

A backhanded slap, causing him to fall to his knees, his leg numb, limp, and still bleeding. Atsushi had felt he had cried so much from the dog bite that he would never cry again, but he had cried then. The tears shed earlier hadn’t done anything as he had cried before the adult, they had dropped some medical cloth next to the door of his room and left, locking the door. Atsushi had crawled over and cried as he wrapped up his leg.

“What did I do to deserve this?”

(^-^)

Fyodor was working in his office in his and Atsushi’s apartment, he had made sure Atsushi took his medication before going to sleep, so Fyodor wasn’t expecting Atsushi to interrupt him.

And Atsushi hadn’t, instead, Fyodor had been working, until he heard screams. Fyodor hadn’t hesitated as he stood from his desk and run from his office, making it to Atsushi’s room and opening the door, finding Atsushi crying in his sleep, tearing at his pillow’s and sheets and shaking as he screamed and convulsed in pain.

A dream.

Fyodor knew. But that didn’t make it any less real for Atsushi. Fyodor was at the side of Atsushi’s bed in a second, leaning over and grabbing Atsushi’s arms, pinning them to the bed as he spoke.

“Moy Syn, wake up. It’s okay, your okay.” Fyodor looked over Atsushi’s face, desperate for him to wake up. He didn’t. Fyodor sat down next to Atsushi, pulling Atsushi to a sitting and pulling Atsushi against his chest, holding Atsushi in a tight hug as he whispered reassuring words as he waited for Atsushi’s nightmare to either stop or for him to wake up.

It took about 15 minutes before Atsushi slowly stopped his struggle, nuzzling closer to Fyodor as he slowly opened his eyes, tears staining his face.

“Moy Syn?” Fyodor looked down at Atsushi, Atsushi was silent, looking straight ahead and trembling as he cuddled closer to Fyodor, wiping his tears.

“I’m scared.” He whispered, popping his thumb constantly. Fyodor frowned, pulling Atsushi closed against him.

“You have nothing to be afraid of, Moy Syn. I’m here, your safe.” Fyodor whispered, slowly laying down and pulling Atsushi against him, letting Atsushi lay in his arms. He moved a hand to the side of Atsushi’s head, using his thumb to tuck some of Atsushi’s long hair out of his face and behind his ear. Leaving that hand there and cradling the side of Atsushi’s head in his hand.

Atsushi had cut his own bangs, and had cut them while some of his hair was in its braids, some of the hair that should’ve been in his bangs had been caught in his braids, meaning when his hair was down and had nothing to hold it back, some of his long hair joined his bangs in front of his face.

Atsushi closed his eyes, staying close to Fyodor. “I had a dream.” Atsushi whispered, Fyodor rubbed the boys back with his other hand.

“Orphanage memories?” Fyodor guessed, a soft tone in his voice that no one but Nikolai and Atsushi ever heard. Atsushi flinched and nodded, new tears joining the old ones in his eyes. Fyodor slid his hand down to cup Atsushi’s cheek, wiping away some of the tears with his thumb before they fell. “Moy Syn, I love you. And you know the orphanage can’t hurt you anymore. You have me, and Nikolai, Sigma, Fukuchi and even Bram.” Fyodor comforted.

“You’ll have any friends you make to help you. And you have proven to yourself how much better than the Orphanage you have become.” Fyodor finished. Atsushi sniffled, moving a hand up to wipe some tears, but Fyodor wiped them away first, Atsushi’s hand found and clung to Fyodor’s coat instead, his hand shaking.

“Can you stay with me for the night?” Atsushi whispered, hopeful. Fyodor hesitated only for a moment before he sighed and nodded, pulling Atsushi closer and running a calming hand through the shorter parts, and some of the longer parts-just not all the way down- of Atsushi’s hair.

“Go back to sleep. I’ll be here for you. How about I make you some (a nice breakfast thing bc’s I’m lazy at school and apparently when copying my writing from notebook to phone at home), tomorrow.” Fyodor offered, Atsushi smiled softly, nodding and closing his eyes.

“That sounds nice.” He whispered hesitantly.

Chapter Text

“Dos-kun? What are we doing here? This place is destroyed!” Nikolai called, running up behind Fyodor. Fyodor didn’t look back, looking at the remnants of a building.

 It had been almost three years, and the place still smelled of a fire. Perhaps this was why Atsushi loved bombs so much.

“This place…” Fyodor started, feeling the wind blow past him. The reports had gone on, and on. Fyodor still remembered how pure Atsushi’s smile was, as he stood next to Fyodor, watching it go up in flames.

“Dos-kun? You still with us?” Nikolai waved his hand in front of Fyodor’s face. Fyodor turned to look at Nikolai.

“This place, was Atsushi’s first crime.” Fyodor was calm. Nikolai looked back at the building.

“First crime? So almost three years ago, now, huh?” Nikolai walked forward and crouched down, picking up some ash and letting it fly from his hand in the wind. “What happened here?” He questioned.

“This place… used to be an orphanage. A terrible orphanage. Once Atsushi found out I was a criminal, it didn’t take long for him to want to become so as well. His first target… his old orphanage.” Fyodor explained calmly. Nikolai stood up and turned to Fyodor.

“Why bring it up now?” He questioned, though he was internally proud of Atsushi for doing something like this to the place that had hurt him so much.

“Atsushi had a nightmare, two nights ago. And another last night. I had to wake him both times. And although he tried, he was unable to get back to sleep either night. I’m sure that he was dreaming about the orphanage.” Fyodor frowned, looking at the old, rusted and burnt gate, one side on the ground and the other barely standing, waving in the wind.

Nikolai frowned, walking back to Fyodor’s side and taking the others hand in his. “Do you know of the headmaster’s family?” He asked. Fyodor looked at Nikolai and cracked a smirk.

“Your about a year or so to late. Sorry Kolai.”

Nikolai huffed. “Where’s Atsushi now?”

“He’s out in Yokohama again.”

“Not tracking him?”

“I trust my son, Nikolai.”

“Of course you do.” Nikolai stole a kiss from Fyodor before running off, Fyodor was silent for a moment before turning to Nikolai’s smaller form in the distance. Fyodor was quick to follow after.

(^-^)

“When was the last time you slept?” Akutagawa looked down at Atsushi, who rubbed his eyes, careful not to smear any makeup.

(Atsushi insane AU is definitely the type to wear face paint when he’s blowing shit up. And wear eyeliner or something like that just normally, at least in my head that feels like him.)

Atsushi yawned, leaning against Akutagawa as the two walked. “Two nights ago.” Atsushi sighed.

“Obviously”

“He was just asking”

“he should know”

 “he has a life aside from us”

“he shouldn’t”

Atsushi ignored the voices as best he could as he silently clung to Akutagawa’s arm.

“Let’s get you back to your base, you look really tired.” Akutagawa sighed, Atsushi smiled softly.

“Carry me.” He hummed. Akutagawa was silent for a moment before rolling his eyes and picking Atsushi up bridal style, starting to carry him out of Yokohama and to his base.

Once there, Akutagawa lay Atsushi down on their hammock. “Sleep well, don’t have a nightmare.” Akutagawa kissed Atsushi on the cheek before walking up the stairs.

Atsushi watched Akutagawa go before curling up under his blanket and closing his eyes. Hoping to get some sleep to make Akutagawa happy…

Pop, pop, pop.

“Habits, huh?”

Not long after he had made it to sleep, the nightmare start, and his screams and tears soon followed as he rolled around in his hammock, clinging to his pillow and tearing at his sheets.

But unlike the last two nights, Fyodor wasn’t there to wake and comfort him. And so Atsushi slept through it, waking up with a start a few hours later, eyes wide, eyeliner smeared and face stained from his tears.

Atsushi sat up, pulling the hair ties out of his hair but not bothering to undo his braids as he swung from the hammock and started to pace around his base.

The voices loud on his head as his braids came undone and his hair fell over his face, he ignored it as the voices overwhelmed his brain. He clutched his head, falling to his knees, and then to his side and he curled up and cried silently to himself.

Why can’t I just be a normal person with normal thoughts?

Chapter Text

Kunikida burst through the office door. “Kenji, Ranpo, Dazai, Yosano, you’re all coming with me!” He shouted, the four named looked up.

“Why’s that Mr. Kunikida?” Kenji asked, standing up. Kunikida fixed his glasses.

“The president wants you, Ranpo and Yosano to join me and Dazai on this mission, ASAP.” He answered. Dazai spun in his chair.

“Why do I have to go?” He asked, Kunikida crossed his arms.

“Because you’re the one who the President assigned to look at the ‘Specks’ case. And I’m assigned to you as your partner in general.” Kunikida snapped.

Yosano and Ranpo shared a look while Dazai perked up.

“You mean Dostoevsky’s son?” He asked, Kenji looked between Dazai and Kunikida.

“Yes. Now, everyone, up, we don’t have much time.” Kunikida turned and left the office, Kenji was quick to follow, with Dazai, Yosano and Ranpo following behind.

The five all got in a car and quickly made their way to their destination. A building in a densely populated area. The area was a shopping district, and it was midday.

“So… what are we looking for?” Dazai crossed his arms behind his head, leaning back.

“I don’t know, we’ve never gotten brought to a scene before the actual attack happens.” Yosano sighed, hands on her hips.

Kenji looked around absently and Ranpo leaned back against the car.

“Give it about a few seconds.” He sighed. Kenji was about to ask what he meant, but a loud sound, followed by screams and the sound of a collapsing building interrupted him.

Dazai was the first to react, running towards the sound, Yosano close behind, the Kenji and Kunikida picking up the end.

Ranpo paused, sighing. “Your welcome.” He huffed before slowly following the rest of the group.

“He’s purposefully making a scene. Shopping district, midday.” Yosano said as she and Dazai made it to the scene, stopping in front of the crumbling building.

Dazai turned to look back at Kunikida and Kenji. “Kenji, trying and help as many people get away. We don’t know ‘Specks’ plan.” Dazai ordered. Kenji gave a quick solute before running off to help people get away.

Ranpo walked up behind them, hands in his pocket’s.

“Any insight? Ranpo” Kunikida looked over at the detective.

“You morons wouldn’t have time to understand my explanation.” Ranpo responded, watching as Kenji returned to the group. Kunikida was about to snap back, but someone else spoke first.

“It seems you guys listened to my message.” A voice spoke, Kunikida looked forward, seeing a figure walking out of the smoke from the building. “I’m surprised you actually listened to my little ‘anonymous tip’. For all you knew, it could have been a trap.” The figure jumped down from some rubble, his hands behind his back, one hand fiddling and holding a gun.

He wore a small amount of makeup, some black eyeliner, and some simple neon yellow and neon blue face paint, in simple mismatching lines on his cheeks, clearly no actual disguise, just for amusement. Another noticeable feature, was the obvious tiredness, the bags under his eyes, and the way his eyes were both half-lidded and alive at the same time… as if something had been keeping him awake for a while now…

“How do we know it’s not a trap now?” Dazai smirked, the boy narrowed his eyes at Dazai, Ranpo’s gaze focused on the way Atsushi’s fiddling with the gun became more noticeable.

The way his pointer finger continuously swiped at the cylinder of the gun, spinning it again and again… Ranpo also noticed that the gun seemed to be customized. It looked like a normal gun that most used, and yet had the cylinder showing like a revolver, it was clear enough to him.

That gun, was customized for a game of Russian Roulette.

“It’s not a trap…” Atsushi paused his sentence, tapping his chin before smiling again and pointing his finger at Dazai, pointing in a finger gun style. A threat of some sorts? Or maybe just a habit…

“Because I just wanted to meet you guys! I’m not gonna kill you! Yet, at least.” Atsushi smiles, lowering his hand.

“Meet us? Oh? Fun” Dazai smirked, leaning over to become eye level with the boy. “And what makes you think we’ll just let you walk out of here without making an arrest?” He teased.

Atsushi completely ignored Dazai’s question, focusing on the other detective’s there.

“Here’s how it’s going to go, I want to get to know you, right?” Atsushi paused, waiting till one of them, who ended up being Kenji, opened their mouth to speak, before continuing. “Don’t answer that, it’s called a rhetorical question, Bram-kun taught me the word a week or so ago.” Atsushi smiled, as if proud of himself for know the word. He then continued with his previous point.

“But of course, how would it be fair if I just learned about you guys? Surely you came to meet me.” Atsushi set his hand on his chest. And before anyone else could speak, he disappeared and appeared right in front of Yosano, leaning forward slightly, the hand holding the gun was on his back, and the other outstretched for her to take.

“My name is Atsushi Dostoevsky. I’m the son of Fyodor Dostoevsky. I am 17 years of age. My ability allows me to turn into a tiger, I’m also quite fast. My bomb making and great aim are not part of my ability, I’m simply awesome at those. I like bunnies, bombs, and food that’s both sweet and sour. I love my family. I don’t like sudden physical contact, torturing people, and secrets. Your turn!” Atsushi smiled widely as he looked up at Yosano, waiting for her to respond.

“..” Yosano was silent for a moment before taking his hand. “My name is Akiko Yosano, I’m 25 years old. I work as the physician and a detective of the Armed Detectives Agency. My ability, Thou Shalt Not Die, allows me to heal all wounds on someone as long as one of the wounds is lethal. I like flowers, and love Japanese sweets. I dislike male chauvinism and weak men.”

Atsushi looked at her for a moment, his grip tight, before it loosened and he smiled. “I like flowers two! I love when they fall from the tree’s and flow through the air! I had never seen anything like that back in Russia, it’s always so cold there.” Atsushi smiled as he let go of her hand.

“You used to live in Russia?” She questioned.

“Yup! Since I was seven!” Atsushi responded, skipping past her and holding a hand out to Kenji.

Kenji took it with no hesitation as he spoke. “My name is Kenji Miyazawa, I’m 14. I work as a detective for the Armed Detectives Agency! My ability is Undefeated By The Rain, it makes me really strong when I’m hungry! I like Tempura soba and Mitsuya cider! I love music and don’t like poverty.” Kenji said, Atsushi smiled, shaking the boys hand.

“Your really strong? I’m really fast!”

“So cool!”

Atsushi smiled, pulling away and turning to Ranpo and Kunikida, he held out his hand, waiting for one to take it. Kunikida took Atsushi’s hand, pushing his glasses up.

“My name is Doppo Kunikida, I am 22 years old and work as a detective for the Armed Detectives Agency. My ability allows me to write something down in my notebook, and that thing will appear as long as it is the size of or smaller than my notebook. I like fishing and seared Tataki bonito. I love my notebook and dislike unplanned events and authority.” He answered, Atsushi smiled widely, shaking Kunikida’s hand.

“I hate authority! They never understand me.” Atsushi sighed, pulling his hand away and holding it out to Ranpo. Ranpo took it, leaning over, hand on one knee, Atsushi did the same.

“My name is Edogawa Ranpo. I’m 26 and work as a detective for the Armed Detectives Agency. My ability is the best ability in the world, I can solve a case in 60 seconds, tops. I like logical thinking and fantastic tales. I love sweets. I dislike common sense and useless knowledge.” He answered. Atsushi smiled widely.

“Your ability sounds awesome! So much better than mine.” Atsushi sighed before releasing Ranpo’s hand and standing up straight, looking around and his gaze landing on Dazai.

He started swiping at the cylinder of his gun again as he walked up to Dazai and held out a hand.

“Go on.” He urged, a dangerous look in his eyes. Dazai smirked, hands in his pockets. He pulled out one hand and took Atsushi’s in his.

“Names Dazai Osamu, I’m 22. I work as a detective for the Armed Detectives Agency. My ability nullifies other abilities. I like alcohol, crab and MSG. I love Suicide and don’t like pain or dogs.” Dazai smirked, shaking Atsushi’s hand.

Atsushi shook Dazai’s hand back before pulling away and wiping his hand on his pants.

Atsushi was about to say something, but police sounds could be heard in the distance, he immediately disappeared, reappearing closer to the building he had blown up.

“Они уже здесь? Я думал, у меня будет больше времени...” He whispered to himself in Russian before sighing and speaking once again in Japanese/english(whichever, I don’t really know which one it would be. I think Japanese, but idk.).

“It seems our time together is up.” He didn’t stop his fidgeting with his gun. “Until we meet again, try not to die painfully.” Atsushi waved, turning away and starting to step before disappearing. Leaving the scene.

Chapter Text

Someone gasped behind her, and she turned around.

“Gin-Chan!” Atsushi ran up to her, she smiled. “OMG. How have you been? More importantly, how has Aku-kun been? We haven’t hung out in a while.” Atsushi sighed.

Gin simply smiled, and Atsushi took that as a, “we’re both okay”

“Anyway, what are you doing here?” Atsushi walked along next to Gin.

Gin smiled, pointing at the bag’s in her hand.

“Shopping? What are you shopping for?” Atsushi question, Gin opened the bag, showing some groceries.

“Oh! That might be heavy, how about I hold it for you!” Atsushi held out his hand. Gin hesitated before nodding and passing the bag over to Atsushi.

Atsushi and Gin fell into silence as they continued to walk, heading back to Akutagawa and Gin’s apartment.

“What’s Aku-kun been up to recently?” Atsushi inquired after some silence, Gin paused before shrugging. Atsushi sighed.

“It’s probably just work as usual. Does he usually get assigned to bodyguard someone from the Armed Detectives Agency? Is that why he always hangs out around that Bastard Dazai?” Atsushi questioned, Gin nodded.

It was easy to lie when she just needed to nod or shake her head.

Atsushi sighed. “What’s he doing right now?” Atsushi asked. Gin was silent for a while before finally speaking.

“Home… sick…” She whispered, Atsushi’s eyes widened.

“So that’s why your out alone!” Atsushi smiled, Gin nodded.

Atsushi noticed Gin and Akutagawa’s apartment coming up, he ran forward with the bags, waiting as Gin unlocked the door. Atsushi rushed in, and Gin followed behind, closing the door behind herself as Atsushi ran through the apartment, setting the bags on the counter and running to Akutagawa’s bedroom.

Atsushi opened the door, seeing Akutagawa asleep on his side. Atsushi walked in, closing the door behind himself as he walked over to the bed, laying down behind Akutagawa, wrapped an arm around Akutagawa’s torso and hooking a leg over Akutagawa’s as he cuddled close to the mafioso.

Gin peaked inside, smiling softly at them before closing the door again and putting away the groceries.

Akutagawa woke up about an hour later, feeling someone behind him, he was about to activate Rashōmon, but when noticing the multicolored nails on the hand wrapped around his torso and he let himself relax, coughing into his arm, letting himself fall back asleep.

Chapter Text

Atsushi hummed to himself, skipping through the streets, his hair in one long braid down his back, Gin had done it for him after not much convincing.

It was late, and Fyodor was probably worried sick for Atsushi. But he had eaten dinner with Akutagawa and Gin and had lost track of time. The streetlights were on, but they weren’t too bright, leaving shadows everywhere. And no one dared be out this late. Except for the unsuspecting-

“-MOTHER!”

Atsushi’s head whipped around as he heard the cry for help, he disappeared in a blur of speed, heart beating in his chest for some unknown reason as he slowed down atop the edge of a roof, looking down into an alleyway.

A girl… maybe 10 or 11. Atsushi looked down at her for a moment, no wonder she had cried for help. There was a man, cornering her. The man was clearly drunk, his movements wobbly, but he seemed strong compared to the girl.

Atsushi took out his gun, not the rifle, he wouldn’t risk it. Atsushi raised the gun, aiming…

He couldn’t get a good shot, the girl kept trying to find a way of escape, causing the man to move too drastically for Atsushi to track, and the voice in his head was… so… loud.

“Why do you care? It’s just one mortal. Her life means nothing in Gods eyes.”

The voice whispered.

This one was unlike his other two, even the headmasters. It always seemed to make him freeze up, but not this time, Atsushi’s hand shook, he couldn’t get a good aim, but he wasn’t frozen.

“Then God is wrong, for once in his existence. Because everyone matters. She is to young to have suffered too much to be saved.” Atsushi whispered, this time, the voice shut up, as if shocked by the bold words Atsushi had just said.

Atsushi threw his gun to the side, his hands tightening to fists, his nails would be digging into his palms if they were long enough to do so. And then, they were long enough to do so. And Atsushi’s palms started to bleed as the nails, no, claws, dug into them.

Atsushi jumped forward, feeling his insides shift, and then he grew warmer as he changed.

Four claws dug into the man’s back, and blood was quick to follow as Atsushi found his footing on the ground, landing smoothly on four paws. The man crumbled to the ground, the girl screamed again, pressing against the wall.

Atsushi shifted back into a human, feeling his body returned to normal as he walked to the girl, slowly, he kneeled before her. “Are you okay?” Atsushi whispered, hands together, pop, pop, pop.

“Good job, you just disobeyed God.”

“Oh shush, we did the right thing”

“God warned against it.”

“Father would have approved it.”

“Father is a man of God, Atsushi disobeyed God.”

“We simply told God he made a mistake once.”

“Does Atsushi no longer believe in God?”

“I… I’m okay… thank… thank you?” The girl whispered, slowly sliding to the ground, Atsushi watched her.

If the voices would just shut up for one minute…

And when the girl spoke again, they did.

“You were really cool back there.” She whispered. Atsushi’s eyes widened, he stopped dislocating his thumb. The voices hushed to complete silence. There was no sound, aside from the rush of wind down the alleyway.

“What?” Atsushi stared at the girl.

“That white tiger, it was cool. You should name it.” The girl specified.

“The white tiger… the white tiger is me.” Atsushi responded, slowly moving to sit on both his knees, hands on his knees as he watched the girl pull her legs to her chest.

“And what’s your name?”

“Atsushi”

“Now see, that’s not a superhero name.” The girl responded almost immediately.

“Superhero?”

“Ya, you saved me. You’re a hero.”

“A hero… I’ve… no one else has ever seen me like that.” Atsushi looked down at his hands, fidgeting.

“Do you have a code name or something?” The girl questioned, she moved forward, taking one of Atsushi’s hands in hers, Atsushi watched, trying to find the words to say.

“Specks. A lot of people call me Specks.”

“As in the terrorist?”

“Yes.”

“You need a new name.” The girl sighed, wiping at the part connecting Atsushi’s thumb to his hand. Atsushi watched as she slowly, revealed the bite mark hidden under the canceller.

“You're not scared that I’m Specks?”

“You just saved me. Why would I be scared?”

“I’m a terrorist. Why wouldn’t you?” Atsushi argued back, the girl was silent for a moment before speaking again.

“I think Byakko sounds good. Plus, Byakko is one of the four symbols of the Chinese constellations.” The girl said calmly, looking over the bite mark on Atsushi’s thumb.

“Byakko?” Atsushi raised an eyebrow at the name.

“Ya. It can be your hero name.” The girl smiled, Atsushi was silent.

“Let’s… let’s go find your mom.” Atsushi whispered after some silence, standing up.

The girl followed suit. Keeping his hand in hers as she followed him out of the alleyway.

“Misha?!” Someone called, the girl ran from Atsushi’s side, the boy watched as the girl ran to a woman who looked much like her.

Brown hair, green eyes, slim figure.

“Mom!” The girl called, hugging her mom.

“Misha! Where were you?” The woman kneeled down to her.

“This one guy cornered me, but Byakko helped me” The girl turned to face Atsushi again, but he was gone.

“Byakko? What is that?” The mom questioned.

The girl smiled softly. “My imagination. I fought the guy off, I guess” she finally answered.

“Your so special.” The mom whispered, hugging the girl again.

“Byakko… We like that”

“Ya, I do two.”

“For once, the three of us agree.” Atsushi whispered to the voices, standing atop the roof of the building.

The woman led the girl away, the younger looked up, meeting Atsushi’s gaze. Both smiled, Atsushi turned away and left, the girl followed her mom.

“I guess I was wrong”

The usually paralyzing voice admitted as Atsushi walked home.

Chapter Text

Chuuya sat silently, staring at the empty bottle of wine in front of him. He sighed. “Another.” He called to the bartender, the man nodded and grabbed another bottle, setting it in front of Chuuya.

Boots hit the wood floor as someone descended the staircase into the basement of the bar, said person plopped down in the stool next to Chuuya, spinning once before stopping and grinning.

“One bottle of vodka please!” The boy called. Chuuya smirked and sighed.

“One glass for the kid, put it on my tab.” He corrected, Atsushi huffed and stuck his tongue out at Chuuya, Chuuya simply smirked.

The bartender, used to Mafioso’s and other odd customers, simply grabbed some vodka and poured a glass, setting it in front of Atsushi. The boy sighed but thanked the bartender.

“Your no fun.” He huffed at Chuuya, drinking a bit of the glass, Chuuya smirked.

“Just trying to keep you sober, kid. Don’t want you running around drunk.” He responded, Atsushi sighed, setting his chin in his hand and looking at all the kinds of alcohol on the wall behind the counter.

“Sir! Sir!” He called, the bartender turned to them.

“Ya kid?” They asked, Chuuya covered a laugh at Atsushi’s expression at the man calling him ‘kid’.

“Do you have bleach?” Atsushi asked after glaring at Chuuya for laughing.

“Nope, sorry kid.” The bartender turned away, Chuuya stared at Atsushi.

“Why do you want bleach? Don’t tell me…” Chuuya started, genuine concern in his tone.

“What? No! I’m not suicidal! I have to much to do before I go! I was just thinking that maybe I could use bleach to kill your boyfriend.” Atsushi sighed, resting his chin on his arms and flicking the glass of vodka.

Chuuya smirked, picking up his bottle of wine and taking a drink. “Try it, kid. That bastard is basically immune to that shit at this point.” Chuuya responded, Atsushi whined.

“Why is he so difficult to kill!” He complained.

“He always plans ahead, he see’s how everything is going to play out, a smart man can be more dangerous than a strong one, Tiger Lily.” A lady spoke before  Chuuya could, Chuuya and Atsushi looked up, Kouyou walked down, a calm smile on her lips, Kyouka followed behind nervously.

Chuuya grinned, spinning in his stool to lean back against the bar counter, giving a peace sign. Atsushi smiled, standing up and disappearing from speed, appearing before Kyouka.

“Hey Snow Girl!” He laughed, ruffling her hair. Kyouka smiled shyly, glancing up at Kouyou, who nodded back, Kyouka focused on Atsushi, while Kouyou went and sat next to Chuuya.

“It’s nice to see you again, Oni-San.” She did a short bow, Atsushi laughed, taking her hand and leading her over to the bar, sitting in his stool, she sat up on her own.

“No need to be so formal, Snow Girl.” He teased, taking a sip of his glass. He finished it quickly, pausing and glancing over at Chuuya.

Chuuya smiled innocently. Atsushi huffed, sticking his tongue out at Chuuya.

“Another glass of vodka please!” Atsushi called to the bartender. The man quickly complied, Atsushi thanked him and focused on Kyouka again.

“Soooo, how you doing Snow Girl?” He smiled, taking a sip of his glass.

“Good. I went on a mission with my mentor the other day. He’s been a lot nicer recently.” She smiled softly as she spoke, looking at her hands, folded on her lap.

“Really?? Good for you!” Atsushi smiled.

Chuuya and Kouyou shared a look. Knowing Atsushi seemed to have been helping Akutagawa, and knowing that he had been kinder to Kyouka recently. Kouyou could relax a bit and ordered a drink off Chuuya’s tab.

Atsushi ordered Kyouka a pink lemonade, and when it came, he offered a cheers between the four of them. “To friendship.” He offered, raising his glass in the air.

Chuuya smiled, raising his as well. “To friendship.” Kouyou and Kyouka joined in, and the four all drank.

Atsushi smiled softly as he watched his empty glass.

To friendship.

He thought to himself, happy to have the three mafioso’s.

“To friendship…”

“To friendship.”

“To friendship.”

Chapter Text

“You need to be more careful, Aku-kun.” Atsushi sighed, wrapping the bandages around Akutagawa’s stomach.

“I was careful.” Akutagawa huffed, watching Atsushi help him, even as Atsushi’s skin was paler than usual. Akutagawa sighed. “Hey…” Atsushi looked up at him. “Thanks.” Akutagawa forced out, Atsushi smiled.

“Of course!” The boy grinned, finishing the bandages. Atsushi settled next to Akutagawa, curling up next to him, Akutagawa’s arm draped over Atsushi’s shoulder.

“Hey Aku-kun?” Atsushi whispered. Pop, pop, pop. That habit with his thumb always worried Akutagawa.

“Ya?”

“Are the guys that hurt you still alive?” Atsushi questioned. Akutagawa was silent.

“Ya…” He looked down at his boyfriend. “Why?” He could guess the answer.

Atsushi’s look darkened and he stood up. “I’ll be right back.” He started to leave, picking up his gun from the table next to the couch.

Akutagawa gulped. “Hey Atsu.” Akutagawa called, Atsushi looked back, eyes wide and looked blank. “…” Akutagawa looked over Atsushi. “Don’t do anything stupid.” He finally warned, Atsushi smiled.

“Never.” His smile turned to a smirk, and he turned away, leaving the apartment.

Atsushi wandered through the streets, pop, pop, pop, he didn’t know much about how Akutagawa got hurt. He had been body-guarding someone. When he had been attacked by some group, he had apparently taken out the main attackers left arm. As far as Akutagawa had told him, that was all the important parts.

So, Atsushi walked through the streets, the most likely place they would be would probably be a bar. But which bar? Well, narrowing it down to a few in the area, and what Atsushi knew. They had attacked brutally, probably with the attempt to kill whoever Akutagawa had been body-guarding, but had failed, so they probably didn’t get paid, which meant it wouldn’t be the richest bar.

Atsushi stepped down into a small room, looking around the area. Chairs scattered around, a bar along the back, people in different areas. Atsushi walked forward, sitting down at a stool.

The boy spun a coin through his fingers. The bartender spoke up. “How can I help you tonight?” He asked.

Atsushi caught the coin, setting it on the table, he stared at the coin, his gaze calculated as he looked up at the man. “I want information. Some people are around these parts, they attacked someone today, one of them lost a left arm. Do you know a group of the sorts?”

The bartender was silent for a moment before looking away. “You don’t know… it seems I’ve forgotten.”

Atsushi scowled, taking out another coin. “I don’t have all day. Do you remember or not?” He snapped; the man took the money.

“The back room marked with a sign that says, ‘No Admittance.’” The man answered, Atsushi stood and walked to the back.

It didn’t take long for Atsushi to find the door, and he opened it, walking inside and kicking the door closed behind himself. Four men.

“Who the hell are you?” One of the men stood, hand on his gun, Atsushi watched his movement, unconcerned, no longer dislocating and relocating his thumb.

“Answer him, kid.” Another spoke, that one was missing most of their left arm. Atsushi was silent still, he started to walk around the perimeter of the small room, his hand trailing along the wall, his other in his pocket.

“I have plenty of names. Atsushi is one. Byakko is my most recent.” Atsushi paused halfway across the room. “I guess the one you’ll probably know, is ‘Specks’.” Atsushi turned to face them, gun in hand, the room froze.

The first move anyone made, was one of the men raising their gun to Atsushi. The boy was too quick, raising his own gun and shooting the man in the neck, he almost immediately bled out, and Atsushi averted his gaze, shooting a second guy in the chest.

The two last guys were the one with the lost arm, and the boss. Atsushi disappeared in a burst of speed, stopping right in front of the one without the arm and kneeing his in the stomach, he fell back, and Atsushi straightened his leg, high kicking the boss in the face.

Atsushi shot the boss, turning to the final guy. The room was bloodied already, Atsushi walked over to the man, crouching down and grabbing him by his hair. Atsushi glared at the man, setting his gun against the guy's forehead.

“I don’t usually like torturing people. But no one hurts what’s mine.” Atsushi snarled, shooting the man in the shoulder. The boy rose to his feet, pointing his gun at the man, who was shaking, looking up at Atsushi with fear, clutching his shoulder.

Atsushi shot him in his leg and finally ending it with a shot to the forehead. Atsushi turned away, his hand rising to his mouth, he quickly swallowed the vomit, leaving the room and returning to Akutagawa’s apartment, pop, pop, pop.

Chapter Text

Atsushi walked next to Akutagawa, the two made their way through the streets, within minutes, Atsushi grabbed Akutagawa’s hand and intertwined their fingers, Akutagawa looked down at Atsushi.

“Atsu?” He questioned, Atsushi paused his walk, he looked up at Akutagawa.

“Aku-kun. Do you think there’s a chance we might not be together forever?” Atsushi questioned.

“Why do you ask that?” Akutagawa turned to face Atsushi completely.

“I… I don’t know. I just have these weird feeling that we won’t be the same for long…” Atsushi looked away.

Akutagawa stepped closer to Atsushi, pulling Atsushi into a hug. “I love you, Atsushi. That will never change.” He whispered, the boy's eyes widened, and he hugged Akutagawa back.

“Hey, come with me, I want to show you something.” Akutagawa pulled Atsushi along, Atsushi followed.

The two stopped in front of one of those photo booths(idk if these existed then, bc I’m stupid, but trust). “Aku-kun?” Atsushi questioned, Akutagawa smiled, pulling Atsushi inside.

Akutagawa turned to Atsushi, closing the curtain and paying for two strips to be printed.

Akutagawa selected everything, Atsushi watched until the first count down started. Akutagawa wrapped his arms around Atsushi’s waist, pulling Atsushi close. Akutagawa winked, pressing his lips against Atsushi’s. Atsushi’s eyes widened before he grabbed Akutagawa’s upper arms and kissed him back.

The first picture was taken, and Akutagawa pulled away, kissing Atsushi on the forehead for the second picture, and for the third, Akutagawa set his forehead against Atsushi’s. Atsushi smiled, eyes closed, Akutagawa smiled back, eyes open, his smile more gentle than Atsushi’s.

The third picture was taken and Akutagawa and Atsushi remained like that for a moment before Atsushi stepped out, pulling Akutagawa with him, he grabbed the photos and held one strip out to Akutagawa, Akutagawa took it, and Atsushi took his own.

Akutagawa pulled Atsushi into a side hug, giving him a kiss on the forehead.

(Time skip, brought to you by Akutagawa genuinely smiling around Atsushi.)

Atsushi sat down at his desk in his base, grabbing some scissors. He cut the third picture off the strip, pinning the two still connected to his wall before returning to his desk. Atsushi cut the small picture into the shape of a heart. The boy grabbed a heart shaped locket, opening it, he grabbed some glue, putting it on the back of the picture and glueing the picture into the locket.

Atsushi let the picture dry, dislocating and relocating his thumb as he waited, before closing the locket, putting the necklace on and slipping it under his shirt. Atsushi stood up, and left his base, walking back to his and Fyodor’s shared apartment.

Nikolai was visiting for the night, and Atsushi didn’t want to miss a second.

Chapter Text

“Chuuya, dear, why refuse my offer?” Kouyou asked, sitting on the couch in the gingers office, calmly.

“Ane-San, I’m too busy to take breaks.” Chuuya responded.

“Watcha two talkin about?” A boy appeared sitting crisscross next to Kouyou. Chuuya looked up and at a now open window before sighing.

“Well, hello Tiger Lily. I was trying to convince Chuuya to come to a bath house with me to relax, would you like to join.” Kouyou responded calmly, Chuuya looked up and gave Kouyou a questioning look.

“A bath house? We’ve never been to one before!”

Atsushi paused to think about it, before smiling. “Sure! That sounds fun! Please can we go Chuuya-Kun?” Atsushi smiled over at the ginger.

“Come on Chuuya, can you really say no to him?” Kouyou ruffled Atsushi’s short hair.

The ginger looked between the two before sighing. “Fine. Give me ten minutes.” He scowled, Atsushi and Kouyou smiled, waiting for Chuuya to be done.

Once he finished up his paperwork he put most of it away and stood up. “Okay, let’s go then.”

“Great, let’s go Tiger Lily, you’ll love the bath house.” Kouyou started to leave, Atsushi and Chuuya followed behind.

“You ever been?” Atsushi asked, looking to Chuuya.

“Once, when I was younger, I went with The Flags.” Chuuya smiled sadly, a nostalgic look in his eyes that Atsushi didn’t quite pick up on.

“Who are the Flags? Are they your friends? Can I meet them?” Atsushi asked, smiling widely. Chuuya looked to Atsushi, silent before sighing.

“Sure, I was gonna visit them this weekend, you can join me.” Chuuya offered slowly.

“Did he seem sad?”

“We didn’t notice it.”

“Yay!” Atsushi cheered, speeding up to walk next to Kouyou. The older woman looked back at Chuuya, smiling hopefully, Chuuya forced a smile back.

The three soon arrived at a small, traditional bathhouse in a more traditional part of Yokohama.

“This is the place?” Atsushi asked, head tilted to the side.

Kouyou nodded, walking inside, the two boys followed as she spoke. “I am close with the woman who owns this place, she’s quite a nice woman. Young Tsumani-Chan, it’s me, Kouyou.”

A young woman walked into the area, she smiled when recognizing Kouyou. “Kouyou-san, it’s nice to have you again. I see you brought friends.” The woman greeted with a bow, which Kouyou returned.

“I did, this is Chuuya-kun, I’ve told you about him. And this is Atsushi-kun, he’s one of my newer friends.” Kouyou introduced them, Atsushi’s eyes lit up when Kouyou introduced him as her friend.

“We’re her friend…”

“It’s nice to meet you two.” The woman bowed, Atsushi and Chuuya bowed back.

“Thank you, Tsumani-Chan.” Kouyou spoke calmly, walking into one of the rooms, Chuuya and Atsushi shared a look before following.

“Of course.” The woman responded.

“Nice Lady.”

Atsushi heard the smile in that voices tone… he didn’t realize his voices could smile.

“So… who was that?” Atsushi asked, looking around the room, it was what Atsushi could guess to be one of the cleaning rooms you had before the actual bath, Fyodor had told him at least a bit about the tradition. With stools lined in front of showers with mirrors.

“That was the young owner of this establishment. Her grandmother owned it before her, she lets me come here for free, we’re friends.” Kouyou answered, grabbing some bathing supplies and setting it with one of the stools, starting to undress.

“She’s undressing! Shit!”

“You're using her.” Chuuya observed calmly, Atsushi turned his back to Kouyou when she started to undress.

“No, I’m not.” Kouyou responded to Chuuya, she noticed Atsushi and sighed. “Tiger Lily, nudity is part of the tradition, it’s quite alright, just sit at a different spot.” Kouyou added, Atsushi, eyes closed, walked to a stool and shower on the other side.

“Father didn’t tell us that part of the tradition.”

Chuuya sighed, walking to the side Atsushi was on and starting to undress as well.

The three all cleaned themselves, before each taking a towel, Chuuya wrapped it around his waist, Kouyou wrapped hers around her chest and lower, and Atsushi wrapped his around his chest and lower as well, Chuuya could see bits of scars on what was shown of Atsushi’s back, but he remained silent about it.

Kouyou put what she could of Atsushi’s hair in a bun, and simply braided what was to long to stay in the bun. “Thanks, Kouyou-Chan.” Atsushi smiled, looking in the mirror.

“Our hair looks so pretty.”

“I suppose it’s nice.”

“You’ve been really quiet today.”

“…”

Atsushi barely heard Kouyou’s, “Of course”.

Atsushi and Chuuya followed Kouyou outside to a rock surrounded pool of steaming water. “This is a more traditional bath house, and as I mentioned, family owned, it runs on heat from bellow, so there’s no separation between woman and man.” Kouyou explained, her back to Chuuya and Atsushi as she took off the towel and set it aside, slipping into the bath, her hair up in a braided bun.

Atsushi covered his eyes with a hand when Kouyou removed her towel, until Chuuya pushed Atsushi’s hand back down when Kouyou had submerged her body, Chuuya noticed the scar around Atsushi’s thumb. He frowned, but once again, didn’t want to ruin the light mood.

Chuuya slipped in after Kouyou, sitting across from her, and Atsushi went in last, hissing at the heat of the water as he slid in, leaning back, the braided part of his hair laying over his shoulder.

“The waters hot! It feels like the burns from-”

“-From the hot metal.”

“But it’s not… right?”

“You’ll get used to the heat.” Kouyou responded to Atsushi’s hiss.

“Sure.” The boy sighed, crisscrossing his legs and holding his ankles even as he leaned back and closed his eyes, his head resting back on a rock behind him.

Chuuya watched Atsushi for a moment before speaking up. “Atsushi… did your father have anything to do with the Moby Dick?” Kouyou gave Chuuya a warning glance. She had wanted this to be a relaxing moment, not an interrogation of Atsushi.

“Hm? My father?” Atsushi opened his eyes and looked forward. “Ya… actually he did. He put this chip in the control panel and that allowed him to hack into it and cause it to continue to go to destroy Yokohama.”

“But you were in Yokohama, why would he want to destroy it?” Chuuya asked back, listening to Atsushi’s words. Kouyou watched, ready to step in if she felt it was necessary.

“He didn’t. He needed you to get involved in order to destroy it, he never wanted to destroy it in the first place, it was always just a means to get-” Atsushi started to explain.

“Shut up, idiot. You're giving away your father’s plans, you can’t let them know!”

“Right! We can’t let them know!”

“They might be your friends but their still your enemy.”

Atsushi fell silent, he looked down at the steaming water, his bangs covering his eyes.

“Atsushi?” Kouyou slowly moved to his side and tilting his chin up with the palm of her hand, Chuuya watched, a pang of guilt when he saw the tears in the boy's eyes, as if it was his fault.

Atsushi’s chin quivered as he held back tears, he wiped his eyes, looking away.

Please tell me I can trust you.

He wanted to say.

Please tell me you aren’t using me.

He wanted to plead.

You guys are my friends, right?

He wanted to check.

You're not going to leave me like Mother?

He wanted to ask.

He said none of that.

“I…” Atsushi forced a sad smile, and then a happy one, he looked up at Chuuya and Kouyou, closing his eyes and laughing. “It seems I forgot what his plan was. Sorry Chuuya-Kun.” Atsushi wiped his tears.

“Oh… Tiger Lily… it’s fine.” Kouyou comforted, seeing past Atsushi’s mask, she pulled Atsushi into a hug, the boy’s eyes widened, and tears ran down his face again as he hugged her back, sniffling.

“You’re being dramatic.”

“We know.”

Chuuya watched Atsushi and Kouyou silently, his eyes subconsciously tracing the scars along Atsushi’s back, most looked like lash marks, one scar, on his shoulder, seemed more like a bite.

The two that caught Chuuya’s eyes now, were two burn marks on his back, in lines, he would have suspected a branding of some sort, but with nothing more than a line, it was clear to him that it had simply come from heated up metal that had been used against Atsushi.

Chuuya forced himself to look away, he sighed, Atsushi clearly didn’t like his scars, he wore short sleeves or no sleeves, and yet Chuuya had never seen the scars on the boys arms, so Atsushi most likely used some kind of concealer, but it had washed off when he was cleaning himself before the bath.

(^-^)

“Where are we going?” Atsushi asked, following Chuuya, who held five flowers. It had been a few days since the bath house and Chuuya was holding up his promise to introduce Atsushi to the Flags.

“Graveyard.” Chuuya responded, walking up the hill.

“Why do your friends hang out on a graveyard? No less a cliff graveyard, and one near water?”

Chuuya was silent, leading Atsushi to a line of five graves, Atsushi was still, standing behind Chuuya as the executive kneeled down and took the old flower from in front of each grave, and replaced each with one of the flowers he brought, Atsushi’s gaze slowly darkened with realization.

“Their dead…”

“These are the Flags? Atsushi asked silently, Chuuya nodded, not looking up.

“Lippmann, Piano Man, Albatross, Doc and Iceman.” Chuuya whispered.

“Were they suffering?”

“Were they suffering in their life?” Atsushi asked for his voice.

“I suppose.” Chuuya responded quietly.

“I see…”

“They’re better now.”

“Yes.”

“You miss them.” Atsushi stated calmly.

“I do.” Chuuya responded. Atsushi was silent, staring at the graves…

Chuuya was suffering, Atsushi could free him… Atsushi’s hand went to the gun at his hip.

“It’s the right thing to do, Atsushi.”

“… It is… but…”

Atsushi slowly let go of the gun, his hand drifting back to his side. “But I’m too selfish.” The boy whispered to himself.

Chapter Text

Atsushi and Akutagawa were silent as they walked, they seemed to be walking together a lot recently, Akutagawa finally spoke up.

“Hey Atsu?”

“Ya Aku-kun?”

“You seem so thin, yet you always eat so much when we’re together. Why’s that?” Akutagawa asked, concern lacing his tone, though he tried to keep it out.

Atsushi fell silent, before speaking again. “I don’t eat much outside of hanging out with you.” Atsushi shrugged, skipping ahead and into an alleyway, Akutagawa followed, hands in his pockets.

“You should eat more.” He looked down at Atsushi, not ignoring the guys who had started to follow them.

Atsushi seemed to have noticed them two but continued talking to Akutagawa. “If you insist.” Atsushi huffed.

“I do insist.” Akutagawa answered, Atsushi chuckled.

“Alright, alright, you win.” Atsushi smiled, continuing to skip ahead.

The two heard a gunshot, and Rashōmon cut the air between Akutagawa and the bullet, the bullet fell to the ground and Akutagawa stopped walking, as did Atsushi and the two turned to face the guy who had shot.

Akutagawa raised an eyebrow. “Bold.” He commented, Atsushi walked to Akutagawa’s side, looking at the guy, hands behind his back. Atsushi held his gun.

The man froze, realizing his mistake. Before he could run, Atsushi shot him, and the man fell.

“There are more of them.” Akutagawa commented, looking around, Atsushi did the same.

“I noticed that.” Atsushi responded, he noticed a guy up on a roof and shot, the guy fell.

Akutagawa noticed someone aiming at Atsushi, and Rashōmon attacked, the guy slammed against a wall, bleeding and falling unconscious.

“How many do you think there are?” Akutagawa asked, Atsushi looked around, trying to spot as many as he could.

“Three on the roofs. Multiple on the ground.” Atsushi responded, shooting at two guys on the roof and dodging a bullet from the third, sliding across the ground.

“Of course.” Akutagawa grumbled, Rashōmon flew at someone, cutting them in half, Akutagawa jumped back from a bullet.

Akutagawa was about to attack the one that shot him, but one of Atsushi’s bullets beat him to it. Akutagawa turned to face Atsushi, and the boy smiled, disappearing and reappearing in the air, kicking a guy in the head. Atsushi turned back to face Akutagawa, who quickly leaned back to dodge a bullet Atsushi shot, Akutagawa looked, and the bullet hit the last guy.

Atsushi walked past the guy and shot him two more times, before turning to Akutagawa. “Let’s head back to my base.” He smiled and skipped off. Akutagawa watched Atsushi go, looking around at the mess before quickly catching up with Atsushi.

(At Atsushi’s lair🤣)

Atsushi spun in his chair and watched Akutagawa as the man looked through books Atsushi had on a shelf.

“You really don’t have much variety. Horror books, mechanical books and math books.” Akutagawa commented, Atsushi laughed, smiling as he watched Akutagawa.

“I don’t see use in other books, I like horror and math and mechanical books help me make more bombs.” Atsushi smiled.

“Ya…” Akutagawa looked back at Atsushi, walking over to him and leaning over, looking Atsushi in the eyes, Atsushi met his gaze, tilting his head to the side lightly. The two were silent for a moment before Atsushi leaned forward and pecked Akutagawa on the lips, Atsushi leaned back and stood up, watching Akutagawa’s ears turn red.

“I have a meeting with the rest of the Decay, I’ll see you some other time.” Atsushi skipped off, Akutagawa watched him go, clutching his shirt over his heart again.

(Time skip again)

Atsushi sat down on the armrest of Fyodor’s chair, Fyodor was unbothered as he listened to Fukuchi, Atsushi looked over his nails, bored, until Fukuchi spoke to him.

“Atsushi, I have an assignment for you.” He spoke, Atsushi looked up.

“I’m listening.” He smiled.

“You now Dazai Osamu, I trust?” Fukuchi asked, Atsushi rolled his eyes.

“Ya, I know of him.”

“He might become a problem in the future, why don’t you go ahead and kill him.” Fukuchi responded, Atsushi was silent, a smile spreading over his face.

“Are you sure?” Fyodor spoke up, concerned.

“I trust the boys strength.” Fukuchi responded, Atsushi was already plotting on how he’d kill Dazai.

Chapter Text

The man stood up, leaving his desk for a break, only seconds later, the window cracked open and the boy slipped in, setting the note on the desk, before slipping back out and escaping into the night.

Atsushi knocked on the door, and Gin opened it, she smiled and let him in, the two walked together to the living room, where Akutagawa was setting up a game of chess. Atsushi skipped over and sat down next to Akutagawa, leaning against him.

“How was your meeting yesterday?” Akutagawa asked, Atsushi huffed, rolling his eyes.

“It was boring. They wouldn’t stop talking.” Atsushi answered, Gin sat down on the other side, she had the white piece’s and Akutagawa the black, Gin moved her first piece.

Gin and Akutagawa both had very different tactics for Chess. Gin would work first on protecting herself, and then work on attacking, Akutagawa would go straight for the attack.

Atsushi loved watching them play Chess, even if he had never gotten good at it.

Atsushi leaned against Akutagawa, hooking an arm around Akutagawa’s and intertwining their fingers, fiddling with Akutagawa’s fingers. Akutagawa felt a twinge of annoyance at having to use his left hand because Atsushi held his right, but he didn’t speak out about it.

As the game of Chess continued, Atsushi’s gaze blanked as he disassociated, Akutagawa’s voice brought the boy back. “Alright, you win.”

After Gin won, to no surprise, Akutagawa started setting up a new game, Sorry, while Gin got snacks for everyone.

“Do you want to play this game?” Akutagawa looked down at Atsushi, the younger looked back up at him, silent. Atsushi smiled and shifted to sit in front of one of the ‘bases’ in Sorry.

“Sure!” Atsushi smiled. Akutagawa smiled back.

Gin returned, setting down some snacks as she sat down. The game started and Akutagawa was in an early lead, before Gin took over, by the end, Atsushi was close to winning, but Gin got the win. Atsushi smiled, shaking her hand.

“Good game.” He smiled, Gin smiled back.

She reached to grab a snack, but when realizing the bowl was empty, looked straight to Atsushi, who avoided her gaze. Gin huffed, standing back up and grabbing more snacks, Atsushi and Akutagawa put the game away, and cuddled close to each other as they started to search for a movie.

Once deciding on a movie, Gin returned and the three sat down, starting to watch the documentary.

Gin fell asleep first, then Akutagawa, both leaning up against Atsushi. Atsushi was silent, liking his place, but he stood up, quickly fixing the two into a better position. Atsushi gave Akutagawa a kiss on the forehead, before standing up.

Atsushi turned away, and left the room, sneaking out a window and jumping off to the old storage building, pop, pop, pop.

“We’ll miss him.”

“Atsushi isn't saying goodbye.”

 “He’ll be annoyed that we killed Dazai.”

“He’ll get over it.”

 “Will he?”

“…Probably.”

“What if he’s lying?”

Everything fell silent, and Atsushi slowed, standing on the edge of a building, eyes wide, pop, pop, pop.

“… lying?”

Both normal voices questioned at the same time.

“It’s always a chance.”

Atsushi was silent. What could he say to that? And why was it so GODDAMN QUIET???

Atsushi forced one step forward, and then another, before jumping off the building and to a next.

Just one foot in front of another.

Atsushi thought to himself, pushing that doubt to the back of his head.

Just one foot in front of the other…

Chapter Text

“Seems you got my note” Atsushi smiled.

“Wasn’t difficult to find.” The detective responded, walking up behind Atsushi. The boy turned, grinning.

“It’s a good thing you aren’t blind.” He commented. Dazai smirked.

“Cute.”

“I know.” Atsushi smirked back, jumping down from the storage crate, walking closer to Dazai.

“I was being sarcastic.” Dazai explained, Atsushi rolled his eyes, pulling out his gun and pointing it at Dazai.

“I know.” Atsushi’s voice lowered, and he glared at Dazai.

Dazai’s smirk widened, and he walked to stand right in front of Atsushi, he was about to speak, but Atsushi beat him to it.

“How’s Chuuya?” Atsushi grinned, Dazai stared down at the boy for a moment before finally responded.

“How do you know about my relationship with Chuuya?”

“The executive told me himself.” Atsushi answered, Dazai stared.

He’d need to talk to Chuuya if he made it out of this alive. But until then;

“You won’t do it.” Dazai’s confident smirk returned, and the scowl that grew on Atsushi’s face in return, told Dazai that Atsushi hated his smirk.

“What a smug bastard.”

“We seem to be agreeing a lot these days.”

“How do you know?” Atsushi narrowed his eyes, finger resting on the trigger.

Dazai walked past Atsushi, a smirk on his lips. “Because you’re a coward.” Dazai stopped, standing behind Atsushi, back to the boy. “I dare you to try. Your hands are already shaking.”

Atsushi froze, his hand was indeed shaking. Atsushi looked back at Dazai. Bastard. Atsushi spun around, shooting twice…

The bullets fell to the ground, blocked by a slightly red force... Dazai was still, he must have thought Atsushi genuinely wouldn’t shoot. Dazai turned to face Atsushi, the two met gazes.

Atsushi jumped back, gaining some space between himself and Dazai. Atsushi heard footsteps, he turned in the direction, aiming his gun. Now that, that made him freeze.

Akutagawa ran in, Rashōmon returning to his coat. The man slid, slowing down and stopping between Atsushi and Dazai, closer to Dazai.

“Well, looks like the dog of the Port Mafia has arrived.” Dazai smirked, Akutagawa flinched, Atsushi dropped his gun, hand shaking.

“Port… mafia?” Atsushi stumbled backward.

“Atsu… I can explain…” Akutagawa started, stepping forward. Atsushi pulled out his second gun and shot at Akutagawa, Rashōmon shielded him.

“You… you lied…” Atsushi’s eyes were wet. Was he crying? Why was he crying? Of course he was crying. Why wouldn’t he cry?

“He lied…”

“you were right…”

“of course I was right”

“You were right…”

“You lied to me!” Atsushi shouted, Akutagawa fell silent.

“I’m sorry, Atsushi.” He whispered, Dazai watched.

“You lied to me! How could you lie to me? I trusted you!” Atsushi screamed, tears pouring down his face.

“I know… I know and I’m sorry. I can explain.” Akutagawa continued, keeping his voice calm.

“How can he stay calm?”

 “HE LIED TO US!”

“How dare he stay calm!”

“He lied to us!”

“why would he lie?!”

 “He lied…”

“You… you lied to me and you want to explain???” Atsushi backed away, shaking his head.

“He lied… He lied… He lied…”

“Atsushi, come back here. Please.” Akutagawa frowned.

“No… No.” Atsushi’s knees were weak. Fuck. Fuck. Goddamnit. Atsushi could taste the salt of his tears.

“Atsushi, please. Calm down.” Akutagawa stepped forward again, watching as Atsushi’s arms went limp, the boy dropped his gun.

“He wants Atsushi to calm down?”

 “He wants us to calm down.”

“How could Atsushi calm down?”

Atsushi stared at Akutagawa. Dazai was long forgotten. The boy walked forward, crouching down and grabbing his original gun. Atsushi met Akutagawa’s gaze.

“He’s crying…”

“Fake.”

Atsushi took a step back, and then another, and then he disappeared.

With Atsushi gone, Akutagawa fell to the ground. Dazai walked up behind him.

“I guess now I have two people I need to talk to.” Dazai looked down at Akutagawa, the Mafioso was silent, staring at where Atsushi had just stood.

Chapter Text

Interrogator: “Hello. This conversation will be recorded for safety purposes.”

Criminal: “I understand.”

Interrogator: “You are expected to comply with all decisions made and questions asked.”

Criminal: “I will.”

Interrogator: “Good. Let’s start with the easy question. Please restate your name, and state your son’s name and age.”

Criminal: “I am Fyodor Dostoevsky. And my son is Atsushi Dostoevsky, he is 15 years old as of a month ago.”

Interrogator: “Happy late birthday to him, where did you live before moving here to Yokohama.”

Fyodor: “I was born and raised in Russia before moving to Yokohama, I returned to Russia to raise my son and have now returned to introduce my son to the rest of the world.”

Interrogator: “Interesting… I’d like to mention he has no legal record of being alive.”

Fyodor: “I am aware.”

Investigator: “On the records, he died when he was three.”

Fyodor: “A lie crafted my late wife, I fear.”

Investigator: “I see. So your son was born here in Yokohama, to which you moved back to Russia shortly afterwards?”

Fyodor: “That is correct.”

Investigator: “Interesting. Now let’s move to your criminal record. You have quite the record, for a single father.”

Fyodor: “I had to cross some lines to make ends meet, with the growing son and his needs”

 Investigator: “yes… teenage years can be difficult. My next question, has your son been taught the basic skills a 15 year old should know?”

Fyodor: “If your trying to accuse me of being unable to care for my son properly, I will inform you that my son is currently above his average age level.”

Investigator: “No need to be so hostile, after all, your already a guilty terrorist. Someone like you is legally incapable of caring for a child. Things may be different in Russia, but here in Japan, we take what the youth are exposed to very seriously.”

Fyodor: “Bullshit.”

Investigator: “This seems like a sensitive topic, let’s return to talking about your criminal record.”

(^-^)

(Back in time a bit)

Sitting in a room alone is never entertaining, especially when you’ve already read all the books and your father still won’t return home for another two hours.

So what better did Atsushi have to do? He’s a ten year old boy and the voices said it wouldn’t end like last time. He rubbed his thumbs joint calmingly, he couldn’t feel the rub, his thumb was numb.

If I unscrew this and set it on that cloth with the rest of the bolts, then I can remember not to forget about it and then I can open this hatch…

Atsushi thought as he heard the door open. Atsushi stood, running to the door.

“Father!” He jumped into Fyodor’s arms, wrapping his arms around the other. Atsushi then looked past Fyodor at the man behind his father. “Whose he?”

Chapter Text

“Whose he?” Atsushi had asked, Fyodor looked behind himself to the man.

“I’m going to make a deal with him… Go to your room.” Fyodor set Atsushi down, Atsushi eyes the man suspiciously.

“He looks weird”

“I don’t like him”

“His smile is so fake”

“He’s unnerving”

“Syn.” Fyodor’s voice broke through the thoughts.

“Sorry Father.” Atsushi left the room for his own, giving the man one last glance.

Atsushi closed the door to his room and laid down on his bed, bored out of his mind, rubbing his thumbs joint silently.

His eyes grew heavy and his breath lighter as he slowly curled up in his blankets, till…

Atsushi suddenly remembered something. The boy stood up, leaving his room and making his way to Fyodor’s office.

He stopped at the door, hearing some talking in a language he didn’t understand enough to decipher.

Atsushi heard a loud sound, his anxiety peaking as it rang in his ears and he opened the door, checking inside. His stomach churned and face paled.

Fyodor turned to face him, a dark, cold look in his eyes, just long enough to Atsushi to shrink back before Fyodor’s look softened and he slowly walked over to Atsushi, dropping the gun.

Atsushi’s gaze looked back at the man… now just a body. Bleeding… so much blood.

God…

“Atsushi… Fyodor kneeled down.

Atsushi felt the bile rise in his throat as he fell to his knees, Fyodor seemed to notice the green tint to Atsushi’s cheeks because he stood between Atsushi and the body and picked Atsushi up, covering the boys eyes as he carried him out of the room.

Fyodor carried Atsushi to the bathroom and set Atsushi down in front of the toilet, he set his hand on the boys back.

“I’m sorry you had to see that, Moy Syn.” He whispered, Atsushi was silent, rubbing his thumbs joint, he was about to say something, but he threw up before he could.

Atsushi gasped for air, eyes wide as he fell away from the toilet and scratched at his face, not causing any damage, due to how carefully short and smooth Fyodor kept the boys nails.

“Atsushi.” Fyodor moved over to Atsushi, gently pulling the boys hands away from his face, not willing to take any chances.

“I- I-” Atsushi’s breaths were short and fast, his eyes searched Fyodor’s face.

“That body…”

“The horror”

“He killed someone”

“Father… killed someone”

“He’s a murderer”

“It was disgusting”

“Atsushi’s going to throw up again”

“He killed someone”

“I liked it…”

“…”

There was silence in Atsushi’s mind, and the boy used the momentary peace to fall into Fyodor’s arms and hide against him, his hands shakily moving together. Pop. He felt something as he dislocated his thumb for the first time, he rubbed his thumb joint as he lay against Fyodor.

“Yes… Yes… We liked it.”

“The blood was disgusting.”

“but the death looked peaceful.”

“So peaceful…”

Fyodor sat with Atsushi, letting the boy cry against him and watching as Atsushi slowly drifted asleep.

“I’m sorry.” Fyodor whispered a final time.

Chapter Text

Where was he? The streets were black. It was night, but where were the lights, pop, pop, pop.

“Everything hurts”

“Atsushi can’t feel anything”

“It’s to dark to see”

Atsushi’s hand found a tree. Right… wood… wood… tree… forest? Probably forest.

“We’re not in Yokohama right now”

“ATSUSHI COULD GET LOST”

 “I don’t know where we’re going”

“I don’t think any of us do”

Atsushi pushed off the tree and continued forward. He blanked, and next he knew, his hand was sliding along rough stone as he stumbled up a small hill.

“The base?”

 “Maybe”

“Is Father there”

“We want Father”

“Atsushi needs to be alone”

Where was he… not enough clues. His eyes hurt. His head hurt.

“Cried to much”

 “Dehydration?”

“Forgot what that means”

 “… same”

Atsushi turned and walked towards a wood cabin, slipping inside and walking down the stairs to the basement.

“Called it”

“Can’t think”

The boy walked forward, opening a drawer and taking out a paper. He picked up a pen from his desk and wrote a small note.

“What are we writing?”

“Can’t see”

Atsushi finished the note, leaving the paper on the desk, with all the other random pages, grabbing a black cloak and putting it in, leaving the base.

“Why are we leaving?”

“Need a break”

 “But Father-”

“Need a break”

The note was simple. Something Atsushi could write without really thinking.

FaTher

Im safe

Need a breaK Luv u

WiLL exPLaiN oN reTurN

-AtSushi

               :b

With that note at his base, Atsushi pulled the hood up, and returned to Yokohama. It was still dark. And the boy started to wander, pop, pop, pop.

Quickly, Atsushi found himself in a part of Yokohama he hadn’t been before. The only thing the boy new of this part was that the hospital was nearby… or was it? Atsushi couldn’t remember.

“Where are we?”

“It’s dark”

“Forest again?”

“Doubt it”

“I hear people.”

“I can’t”

 “Footsteps two…”

“Now I hear them.”

Atsushi stumbled backward, landing on the ground. He looked forward… a child. A girl.

“Can’t think…”

“Who is she?”

 “We don’t know”

“What is she doing here?”

 “Haven’t asked yet.”

The girl had black hair, in a ponytail, tied off with a pink bow ribbon instead of a band. She wore a hospital dress and sandals. She looked 7 or 8.

The girl grumbled to herself when she fell, she sat forward onto her front knees and looked Atsushi up and down. She finally spoke.

“Sorry about that. Didn’t look where I was going. I’m Nora. You?” The girl held her hand out to Atsushi. Atsushi’s hood fell down, he moved onto his knees as well and took her hand.

“Atsushi… Same fault here.” He whispered. The girl smiled.

“I think I recognize you…” The girl squinted, Atsushi held his breath without even realizing it.

“She recognized us.”

“Atsushi should run.”

 “Wait.”

“She might scream”

“Wait…”

“What if she-”

Nora shrugged. “Can’t place it.” She stood up, Atsushi joined her.

“You should visit me sometimes, I’m living in the hospital right now.” The girl grinned, pointing in the direction of the hospital.

“You… Why?” Atsushi looked down at her.

“Why what?” She blinked back up at him.

“You don’t know me.”

“So?”

Atsushi fell silent. He opened his mouth to answer-

“Someone's coming”

Atsushi looked up, past Nora at the two people running towards them. Nora turned to look as well, and she huffed. Atsushi had tensed up.

“Nora! Your not supposed to be running around, especially not at night!” One of the two called, both were women. They seemed like nurses of some kind.

“I know, but I got bored.” Nora responded, walking towards the two. One held Nora’s hand, the other looked to Atsushi.

“Thank you, young man.” She smiled. Atsushi’s lips tilted in an attempted smile back.

“Of course.” He responded.

Nora started to leave with the nurses, she turned back to face Atsushi.  “Bye! Come visit me!” She called as she left. Atsushi watched her go.

“She was nice”

“Agreed”

 “We should visit her.”

“Maybe.”

Atsushi turned away and walked to a ladder at the side of a building, climbing up to the roof, he sat down at the edge of the roof, looking out over Yokohama, pop, pop, pop.

I wondered if Akutagawa did feel bad…

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

Chapter Text

Fyodor and Nikolai walked into Atsushi’s base cabin, looking around.

“Sushi?” Nikolai called. Fyodor was silent, walking downstairs and over to Atsushi’s desk, glancing over the bomb designs and math equations, he shifted some of the papers aside, skimming over a paper torn out from Atsushi’s diary.

The handwriting was messy, but Fyodor had taught himself to read Atsushi’s handwriting, both the neat handwriting and his messy breakdown handwriting.

EveryThINg hurTs I caNT thINK aNd everyThINg hurTs FaTher IsNT here aNd everyThINg hurTs; Im sTupId aTuoId sTupId.

WILL everythINg hurT forever?

IT aLways hurTs

ILL see AkU hIM  Tomorrow MayBe heLL MaKe IT BeTTer?

They KeeP INsISTINg Im a faIlure

I feeL LIKe oNe wheN They say I am

Im sTarTiNg To reaLLy BelIeve Them

I used To JusT acT LiKe I BeLIeved Them so Theyd shuT uP

BuT If They KeeP sayINg iT

How wILL I ever KNow if Theyre wroNg?

IT aLL hurTs aNd They woNt shuT uP

Ples jusT shuT uP

“Dos-kun…” Nikolai spoke up, hesitantly, Fyodor looked over, Nikolai held up a paper.

Fyodor walked over, a note.

Fyodor read it out loud. “Father, I am safe. Need a break, love you. Will explain on return… Atsushi…” Fyodor let the paper drop to the ground.

“I… I’m sure he’s fine… right?” Nikolai was hesitant. Fyodor was silent, his hands shaking slightly.

“Fuck.” Fyodor turned away. “He’ll return when he’s ready.” Fyodor frowned.

Nikolai followed after him nervously.

(Time skip)

“This is stupid.”

“Correct.”

“But Atsushi’s doing it anyway.”

 “That is also correct.”

“Hello, ma’am. I’m here to visit a girl named Nora. We became friends but I don’t know her last name.” Atsushi spoke to the woman at the hospital’s desk. The woman smiled.

“So you’re the young man she wouldn’t stop talking about.” The lady smiled, Atsushi laughed awkwardly, pop, pop, pop.

“I really made an impression, huh?”

“Ya, I mean, you were nice to her. Nora doesn’t have many friends, she has a disease that weakens her muscles, she’s always really happy, but she’s at high risk of lung failure or a heart attack, especially since she spent the years before hospitalization so active. So none of the kids her age have befriended her since. The nurses that work with her are the closest she has to friends.” The woman sighed, Atsushi frowned.

“Well, I’m happy I can be her friend” Atsushi fiddled with the fabric of his wrist guard, the nurse smiled.

“Atsushi!” Someone called, Atsushi looked over, Nora ran down, waving. She looked tired, Atsushi bit his lip. If she had a muscle problem, she shouldn’t be running.

“Hey Nora” He smiled.

“Smile girl...”

“She should stop running”

“She should be more careful…”

“We shouldn’t be here.”

“Come on! Come on!” Nora took Atsushi’s hand and pulled him along, Atsushi followed.

The girl led Atsushi to what seemed to be her hospital room, there was a hospital bed in the corner, right next to a glass wall with a glass door that lead to a small balcony, two chairs on one wall and a small TV, a heart rate machine was next to the bed, along with a desk.

Nora sat on the bed; Atsushi sat next to her. “This your room?”

“It’s nice”

“Fancy”

 “Nothing like our base”

“Do u think father has seen Atsushi’s note?”

 “I miss father”

“Atsushi misses father”

“Nikolai misses us…”

“Bram…”

 “Maybe Sigma misses gossiping with us?”

“Fukuchi is probably at least a bit worried…”

“We’ve been distant even before Aku.”

“-Don’t say that traitor’s name”

“-Atsushi?” Nora looked up, Atsushi smiled sadly.

“Just got… lost in my head. Why were you saying?”

“I…” Nora looked concerned for a moment. “I was asking if you had read that book…” She whispered. Atsushi blanked, before realizing he was… indeed holding a book.

Graceling, by Kristin Cashore (technically it wasn’t released when BSD ‘technically’ takes place, but let’s just say it was)

“Oh… right… once… a few months ago.” Atsushi mumbled, setting the book to the side.

“So recently? Don’t tell me what happens!” Nora giggled, Atsushi smiled sadly, his arms dropping over his knees, pulled close to his chest, resting his chin on his arms.

“Weeks and months go by slowly. So for me it felt like a while ago.” Atsushi shrugged.

“Oh… was it good?”

“Ya. It was good.”

“I’ll make sure to finish it soon.” Nora smiled hopefully.

“Ya…” Atsushi tried to smile back.

Chapter Text

Atsushi lay silently, his legs swinging behind him as he flipped the page of a book, Nora sat next to him, leaning back against the bed and reading Graceling.

Atsushi read through the chapter, cheek in his palm as he read the description of the murder scene. He had just recently started the book, a book where someone had died and the main character was trying to find out who the killer was.

Pretty basic trope, Atsushi had read books like these before. They were always quick reads, pretty easy for him, and good for ideas.

“Oh my god! Po went blind?” Nora spoke up, Atsushi looked up, smiled softly. He had ranted to Akutagawa about that scene.

Atsushi’s hand went to his chest, touching the locket.

“He’s a traitor”

“True”

 “It’s warm though”

“He lied to Atsushi”

“But I like that memory”

“it was all fake”

“I know, but that doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate the memory.”

“He lied to you.”

“But what if he didn’t mean it.”

“Like… he actually cared?”

“Lies! How could he possibly care after what he did”

“Exactly. It was fake”

“He didn’t care…”

“All fake.”

 “His kindness towards us?”

“Fake.”

 “His understanding of us?”

“Fake.”

“But… he loved us…”

“Fake, Fake, Fake”

Right… fake…

Atsushi closed the book and sat up, leaning against the bed. “I know, right?”

“But his Grace is better now.” Nora added.

“He’s accepted it more.” Atsushi responded, pulling Nora into a hug.

“But I feel so bad for him.”

“He’ll be fine, he’s strong.”

“True…”  Nora sighed, leaning against Atsushi. “I just have two chapters left… but I’m tired.”

“Do you want me to read it?”

“Yes please.”

“Alright.” Atsushi took the book and started to read.

“How did it all go so wrong?” The ginger asked to the two others at the counter with him.

“An unstable person is prone to such things.” The woman responded.

“It’s my fault. I should have just told the truth.” The black haired mafioso scowled.

“If you blame yourself, it’ll only make it worse.” The ginger spoke, the youngest frowned.

“It’s still my fault.”

“Doesn’t mean you need to blame yourself.” The woman replied.

The three fell silent, the ginger ordered a vodka.