✶"..𝓖𝓸𝓭 𝓓𝓪𝓶𝓶𝓲𝓽..!"✶ (ᴬᵗˢᵘˢʰⁱ ˣ ᴬᵏᵘᵗᵃᵍᵃʷᵃ)

Chapter Three: -Worry-some Thoughts (To Be Ignored)-

Ryuunosuke's eyes snapped open, as he sat up. He looked around frantically trying to analyze his surroundings, before realizing it was a nightmare. 'Oh, thank god.' He took a deep breath, then got to thinking. 'Wait.. what did I dream about, anyway.. Oh, right. The weretiger jumping off a building.' Then Ryuunosuke frowned. 'Why would I care about him in the first place.? Fuck, why did I dream about him, even?'

Ryuunosuke laid back in bed, shuffling around. Though, he couldn't sleep, and concern (which he would rather think of as curiosity) got the better of him. 'At this rate, I don't think I'm going to get any sleep.' Ryunosuke sat up carefully, groaning, which was followed by a sigh. He then put on some trousers before he got his coat, slipping it on before tip-toeing to the door.

-'I don't even know why I'm going this far for this deranged animal..' He debated whether he should actually do this or not, before deciding to step out the front door.

He was dressed in his normal attire (or at least it appeared so), yet he didn't bother putting on that (ridiculous, as the Jinko thought) jabot of his. He also wore a casual white T-Shirt underneath his coat, but made sure to button the coat up, which he brought in case he needed Rashomon.

He faltered in the elevator, and he faltered all the way up to the last few blocks.

He strolled over to the ADA dorms, being careful not to make a sound. For some stupid reason, he couldn't get the weretiger's little fictional attempt off his mind, which annoyed him. 'First of all, I don't care about the man-tiger, why is this even bothering me this much..? And second things straight, even the weretiger isn't that stupid, right..? It was merely a dream. What am I even doing here..?' He abruptly stopped, reaching his destination. 'The filthy dorms of the Armed Detective Agency.'

To his surprise, the weretiger was outside, on the balcony. He was wearing the same hoodie as when they last met outside of work, and had the hood up. The only reason Ryuunosuke was even able to recognize him was the tail swishing behind him.

Atsushi barely even noticed he was there, because he was admiring the stars- he was wondering what it'd be like to be one of them. But of course he wouldn't tell that to anyone, they'd call him dumb or childish for it. 'H̶e̶ ̶l̶o̶o̶k̶s̶ ̶k̶i̶n̶d̶ ̶o̶f̶.̶.̶ ̶p̶r̶e̶t̶t̶y̶.̶ Wait, no. Scrap that.'

Ryuunosuke thought the weretiger hadn't noticed his presence but as he got closer he watched the weretiger stiffen. His swishing tail spiked up, before it relaxed again. "Fancy seeing you here, Akutagawa. You're not here to fight, are you..?" Atsushi was a bit nervous asking the last part, as if he feared Ryuunosuke. Ryuunosuke didn't know why, but that thought deeply hurt him- he felt a pang in his heart..

-"No, I'm not. Wasn't it you who asked if 'We have to fight every time we meet?', last time..? Well I'm debating if there should be. So think of this as an experiment- don't get used to it." Ryuunosuke sighed as he walked closer, and Atsushi met him along the way as he speed-walked down the stairs.

The hood fell off Atsushi's head as he walked, and surprising Ryuunosuke, he had this huge, cute grin on his face. As if he was happy to see Ryuunosuke, and the thought made his heart leap. He didn't know why though, and so, he hated the feeling. 'It's all so confusing, and it only happens around the weretiger, so it must be his fault.' Something else that caught his attention were two fluffy tiger ears on the (woefully attractive) weretiger's head.

"What's with the ears?" Ryuunosuke pried.

"Hmm.?" Atsushi curiously hummed. 'Did he not notice..?' "Your ears." Ryuunosuke pointed at his head, a neutral expression on his face.