Praise (shinsoukoku)

Chapter 1

„Great job, Atsushi!" The bandaged man says loudly as he pets the weretiger's head. Akutagawa tries to look away, to ignore his ex-mentor.

Why was it never him who was on the receiving end of the praise? Why was it always Atsushi? They contributed the same power and work into the same mission, but it was never Akutagawa who got the credit.

Always that damn weretiger.

"Thank you, Dazai!" The man answers and smiles in recognition. For a few seconds, he glances at Akutagawa but the diablo avoids eye contact.

Before Atsushi can say anything like tell Dazai that Akutagawa helped a lot too, the man's already walking away and a few seconds later only he and Akutagawa are left again.

Atsushi's a bit sad about that. He's been feeling pity more and more for Akutagawa, that whenever Dazai was on a mission with them, only Atsushi got praised. Atsushi already spoke to the bandaged man about that but he would always answer that Akutagawa's not strong enough for any kind of praise yet.

Atsushi always found that answer to be stupid.

"...I-„ The weretiger starts but gets interrupted.

"Shut up Jinko" Akutagawa growls and his Rashomon flies towards Atsushi's face, stopping only a few millimeters in front of it.

"If you say anything, I'll kill you" The diablo warns and at first, Atsushi stays still but then, surprising even himself, he reaches out and...he touches Rashomon.

And for some reason, the ability doesn't fight back. Instead, it leans into the warmth of Atsushi's hand and the weretiger wants to pull it closer. Before he can do so, AKutagawa has already taken his ability away from him.

He was as surprised as Atssuhi was. his ability was there to kill, to destroy.

Not to like, or love.

The weretiger and Akutagawa stare at each other and Atsushi smiles softly.

"I think you did a good job today, Akutagawa. Even if Dazai doesn't see it, I do" Atsushi says and for a few seconds, the diablo's eyes go a bit wide. It's not a big expression change and soon later the surprise changes into an expression of anger.

His ears are red though. As if Akutagawa was a bit flustered.

The diablo opens his mouth to say something but in the end, he decides not to. He simply turns around and walks away from Atsushi at a fast pace.

For some reason, Atsushi feels as if what happened to him and Akutagawa today, this... ‚conversation', if you could call it that, was a good thing.

Something new and ...exciting.

_______

The rest of the day, Atsushi spends normally. He finishes his paperwork at the office, playfully argues with Dazai, gets lectured by Kunikida, goes out with Tanizaki and Noemi and in the end, he and Kyoka go to a restaurant to buy and eat come crêpes.

He doesn't think of Akutagawa. Not until it's night and the weretiger can't seem to fall asleep.

He keeps tossing and turning, flipping his pillow to the cold side, listening to some calming music, but nothing works.

He can't get the image of Akutagawa being flustered for a short time out of his head.

The way small movements on his face could change his entire expression, and how fast that process is.

Atsushi wonders; would Akutagawa blush again if Atsushi praised him? He really wants to know.

Almost desperately so.

_____

This story might appear fluffy, but it will quickly take a turn to become toxic. (Hehheheee). I seriously have some problems. I don't know why I love making Atsushi toxic (That's a spoiler for this fanfic but it's written in the description, sooooo, yk)

I don't know yet how disturbing this fic might become, it really depends on my mood. But in case anyone has any ideas how to make Atsushi become obsessed with Akutagawa or what actions I should make him take to become toxic, feel free to comment :)

I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter
-Nat