DISCONTINUED.
{ A soukoku and shin soukoku book with switching POVs } The ADA decides to take a week of relaxing at the beach to celebrate their victory against the Guild. What happens when they invite Chuuya and Akutagawa along...?
I returned to the room later in the evening, fidgeting slightly as I unlocked the door. How would Akutagawa act now?
I expected to walk in and see him scowling at me while I opened the door, but he just glanced over with a neutral expression. I stared for a moment, trying to sort out my confusion.
He coughed awkwardly and his gaze travelled away from my eyes as he pat the spot next to him. "Come here. Let's... talk."
"Yeah..." I smiled at him. "Yeah, alright." I sat beside him on the bed, trying to keep a comfortable distance between us.
Silence, for a long, awkward moment. And then, "Atsushi, I'm sorry."
I blinked in surprise as he continued. "It wasn't right for me to snap because you were right. And you were just worried I guess. But I didn't want to talk about it. I didn't know how to react to you being concerned for me because... truthfully, no one has before."
"Akutagawa... are you... crying?" Sure enough, Akutagawa blinked and tears began to spill from his eyes, rolling down his face slowly.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what's wrong-" he cut off as I threw my arms around him in a hug. "What- what are you doing?"
"Trying to comfort you. Uh... is it working?" I heard an amused scoff before his arm reluctantly trailed on my back. I felt my face warm up at the gentle touch. Especially coming from someone like Akutagawa...
I guess he isn't who I thought he was, I thought as he opened his mouth to speak again. "Thank you, Atsushi," I nodded. "You're the first person to treat me like this, and... I think I like it."
"I'm happy to hear it." I smiled at him. My smile widened as he attempted to give a smile back. "I think you need to work on your smile."
"Hm? Is there something wrong with it?"
"No! It's just, it doesn't look natural. You don't have to make yourself smile you know, just let it come when it does."
"Huh, I'll consider it. I don't see people smile a lot. Besides Chuuya's smirks, and Higuchi is an exception."
"In the Agency it happens all the time. That's when we're just hanging out, though. We're basically all friends!"
"What does the Agency even do?"
"Oh, we just take cases the police can't handle, like with suspected ability users and bomb threats," I said, my voice quivering slightly with excitement to talk about my job. "We prioritize civilian safety and keep damage down, and all look out for each other!"
"You really love the Agency, don't you?"
"Yeah! It's the place that took me in, after all. I couldn't ask for anything better."
For a while we just sat together and talked, any cold distance between us filled. Maybe even more than it had been before? I don't know... Akutagawa himself said we'd never become friends.
But how could he know?
--------- hello this chapter was kinda short but i don't know if it justifies posting two, so hopefully this atsushi i drew will make up for it lol:
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but if you do want an additional chapter i don't mind posting one, i have a good amount of chapters drafted already so it's not a problem
