Don't leave just yet...

To get to know you

( Atsushi's POV)
Friday 8.06am

I listen intently to what he has to say.

"We weren't exactly doing the best..." The man before me pauses. Without thinking, I place my hand gently onto his shoulder and give him an encouraging look.

" Some kids died of hunger or malnutrition, or the cold... we weren't doing good at all." Akutagawa takes a deep breath, my hand squeezing his shoulder a bit tighter. " Then one day, when it was only me and my sister left, in the freezing winter... Dazai- san came and asked if we wanted to join... we obviously said yes, we wanted somewhere to belong I guess..."

I somewhat start crying, then pull him into a hug, a warm embrace.

" Y- you were only just a kid... you shouldn't have had to go through all that!" I say, my voice shaky. We stay in that position for a while.

"Jinko..." Akutagawa whispers, though he does not carry on.

After God knows how long, we pull ourselves off each other, the silence a bit awkward between us.

"So..." Akutagawa starts. " D- do you have any questions?"

I think for a moment.

" No, I don't."

" Now then, tell me about yourself. It would only be fair." Akutagawa looks away as soon as he says this, his expression becoming unreadable.

" A- ah uhm" I fidget with my hands before taking a deep breath and starting my story. " Well, from as long ago as I can remember, I was living in the orphanage." I glance up to see him listening to my story intently. " My headmaster would punish me if I did something wrong or even if others accused me of something I didn't do." I take a deep breath.

" You got punished even for things you didn't do?!" Akutagwa looked mad, but didn't say anything more.

I nod my head.

" It wasn't the best place..." I look down slightly. " But I couldn't really do anything about it."

I can see the raven haired man looking sympathetic towards me.

" Then...well, I started causing havoc by becoming the tiger without even knowing, I stole food and then after a couple of nights, I finally got kicked out."

Akutagawa nods understandably, I smile slightly at that.

" After a while, I found Dazai- san trying to drown himself in the river, so I rescued him. And yeah, he figured out I was the weretiger and invited me into the Armed Detective Agency."

Akutagawa raised his eyebrow. " That's how you met Dazai- san?"

We chuckle a bit.

" Yeah, crazy right?"

Akutagawa...smiles. I stare at his smile, his wonderful smile...

What a beautiful smile...I want to see it forever...

He catches me staring and then covers his mouth.

" Sorry." He mumbles.

" No no! Please smile! You look beautiful!" I say without thinking. Then I blush and see him covering his face even more. " I uh...I think you look nice smiling..."

After a short while, he removes his hand from his face, his cheeks flushed pink.

" Th- thanks." He whispers without directly looking at me. Then he looks at me and smiles again, slightly but still a smile. I smile back, beaming at him.

" I'm glad we came here and talked!" I say happily.

He nods his head. " Y- yeah."

I look down at my watch. " Oh! It's already nearly 10 a.m.!"

" We still have a while to go." Akutagawa stands up and stretches. " Is there anywhere you want to go?"

I think for a minute, putting my finger on my lip and tilt my head. " Hmm, I'm not exactly sure. What about you? Is there anything you want to do?"

He seems lost in thought as I wait patiently. Finally, he looks up and shyly answers.

" D- do you want to go to an arcade? Dazai- san they're really fun." His voice was so soft and soothing.