||Lungs of roses|| Hanihaki Au | Shin Soukoku | Bungou Stray Dogs

Bad Decisions (23)

Atsushi sat next to Akutagawa at the bar in Lupin. Atsushi didn't drink. He couldn't, he was underage. Akutagawa had only had one or two Whiskey on the Rocks. He was only a bit drunk. Surprisingly, the two were conversing normally.

"What do you plan to do when you get older?" Akutagawa asked, taking the last sip of his second glass of whiskey.

Atsushi put his finger on his chin as he thought. "Hmm..." He thought long and hard, only to say, "I want to stay and work for the agency! I can help people more."

"Expected."

Atsushi would've asked the same question if it weren't for Akutagawa's situation.

"I'm drinking on your dime, huh? Sorry..." Akutagawa placed his glass down on the table.

"Yeah... It's fine, I guess." Atsushi said as he opened up his wallet, checking exactly how much he had. "As long as you're happy!" He turned back to Akutagawa, smiling.

"Hmm..." Akutagawa hummed.

Atsushi glanced around the bar. He watched as a few men stumbled out the bar, and a few walked in. It was almost silent in the bar, other than the soft jazz music playing. The atmosphere was very calm and serene.

"Dazai used to spend a lot of time here... He brought me one time... I'm still not sure why he did that." Akutagawa poked at the ball of ice in his cup. Atsushi just watched as Akutagawa lowered his head a bit. "Can you get me another one?" Akutagawa asked the bartender.

"Sure thing! That's why I'm here." the bartender said as he grabbed Akutagawa's basically empty glass.

Akutagawa watched the bartender walk away. He traced random patterns on the counter with his fingers. Soon, it wasn't random patterns. He knew what he was doing. He was tracing a heart into the table. He immediately stopped as soon as he realized.

This is so sappy... He thought. Pathetic...

"Here." The bartender placed the glass in front of Akutagawa.

"Don't get sick... More sick, at least, " Atsushi said, tilting his head to Akutagawa as the bartender left.

"I'm fine,"

"Right now, you are. Just don't have too much."

"I'm fine..!" Akutagawa raised his voice a bit. Atsushi quieted. "Sorry..."

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"Come on! You had a lot to drink!"

"One more~" Akutagawa swayed as he spoke. He looked back at Atsushi

Atsushi was already wheeling Akutagawa down the alley where Lupin was located. He finally stopped and looked at Akutagawa.

"We already left, and I don't want you to get even more sick than you already are going to be." He pet Aku's black hair. "I'm so glad you can't do anything stupid." He started heading down the alley again.

"Hehe... You're cute..." The older's head hung forward. "Y'know... We should go out sometime..."

Atsushi was barely fazed, but it was still surprising. "You already know that's not how I feel..."

"Yeah... worth a shot, I guess. " Akutagawa chuckled, his cheeks dusted pink from the alcohol. "You can't even give me a chance?"

"We can talk about this when you sober up... Why did I even agree to this?"

"Because you lov-" He began to cough violently. He hunched over in his wheelchair, holding his chest. "Damn- *Cough* - it" He wheezed.

Atsushi immediately stopped and patted Aku on the back. He winced as he listened to Aku's struggle. Akutagawa finally was able to force out the petals... No... It was a flower head. He coughed up more blood afterward. Once he stopped coughing, he panted. He tried to calm his breathing.

"Hehe... I-It's not a dream... Fuck..."

"Of course it's not a dream..." Atsushi said as he looked down at the flower head. "We'll get you cleaned up when we get back. Meanwhile, here, " Atsushi said as he took off the oversized band shirt and handed it to Akutagawa to cover the blood on his own shirt. Atsushi remained in the red and black long-sleeved shirt.

"Thank you... Sorry for the...uh... inconvenience..." Akutagawa said as he pulled the shirt that Atsushi handed him over the one he was already wearing.

"It's fine. My job is to take care of you so it's fine!" Atsushi continued their path.

Akutagawa just smiled to himself. He was lucky to have Atsushi as his caretaker in his last days.

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Atsushi struggled to unlock his door for a second before he heard the lock click of his dorm door. Meanwhile, Akutagawa watched the silver stars in the sky, then the silver moon. They were beautiful, majestic.

"Those stars..." Atsushi looked back at Akutagawa as Aku started speaking. "I want them to look like that when I die. Bright, silvery stars. And the moon... I want it to be that shade of blue... I want to die sooner... No longer endure this pain..." Atsushi just quietly listened.

Atsushi stood by Akutagawa, watching the stars along with him. He was right. The moon was a light hue of blue, and the stars were pure silver in the sky.

"I wish you didn't have to go..." Atsushi admitted, sadly.

"Heh... I'm your enemy, and you don't want me to go? Are you falling for me or something?"

Again, Atsushi was not fazed by Akutagawa's words. "I don't think it's that... I-I don't know, but we should go inside. It's getting cold." Atsushi said as he wheeled Akutagawa into his dorm.

Akutagawa turned around a bit to get one last glance at the sky.

Once inside, Atsushi locked the door. He grabbed a wet rag to clean some blood off of Akutagawa's face. Akutagawa dodged the rag.

"The fuck am I? A child?" He said as he shoved Atsushi's hand away. Atsushi was kind of surprised.

"I'm just trying to take care of you. Can you not make it harder than it already is? I'm tired, okay..?" Atsushi pinched the bridge of his nose. "Stop whining and just let me do this" Finally, Akutagawa let him wipe the blood off his face. "There you go." He said as he finished cleaning the blood. "Are you okay?"

Akutagawa was almost staring into nothingness. "What?" He immediately snapped back to reality when he heard Atsushi.

"Are you okay? You were just staring..." He rinsed off the rag.

"Yeah... I'm fine..."

"Okay... Well, you need to change your clothes. I'll get some clothes for you." Atsushi began to walk away.

Akutagawa took off the top that Atsushi had handed him to cover the blood. His hands shook erratically.

"Uh... Bad news... I don't have any more night clothes..." Atsushi said, peeking out from the bedroom. "We might have to go to a laundromat or sleep in our dirty clothes..."

"I'm tired..."

"I bet you are but I don't know what you want to do about this."

"Nothing... I don't want to do anything right now." Akutagawa crossed his legs at the ankles. He tugged at the bottom of the t-shirt he wore. He chuckled for no apparent reason, maybe just the alcohol...

"You really are drunk aren't you..?" Atsushi sighed. "At least you haven't passed out on me yet.."

(This was an unfinished draft that I never posted, so here u go)