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Published:
2021-05-13
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2021-07-13
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Bonnie & Clyde

Chapter 3: sugar-coated

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"Tachihara, if you don't put me down—!"

With a wicked grin on his lips, Michizō does the exact opposite as he's been told, throwing the body in his possession into the sea without even giving the poor guy a chance to take his shirt or sandals off first. They hadn't started to set up their area yet or even given the chance to lay down their things before the guy had immediately rushed towards the sea to give his companion a toss, laughing to kill himself when Jun'ichirō's body crashes into the wave.

"Come on, Tachihara, seriously? That was just cruel," Gin scorns in a lighthearted demeanor, assisting Higuchi with spreading out some towels while Akutagawa tried jabbing an umbrella into the sand with much more aggression than necessary. Hirotsu had lugged the heaviest weight, so hasn't had the chance to start on anything yet except put down the cooler.

"Cruel? How dare you insult my act of kindness! I was merely helping him cool off, isn't that right my poor, innocent victim?"

Sitting down on the sands of the shallow ocean, Tanizaki's expression begs to differ as he chokes on the salt water that had got into his mouth, rubbing at his eyes with the palm of one hand so he could actually see again while the other flipped him off, even if it was just so he could slyer at Tachihara once his vision could return. His hair was stuck to his face, ginger hair that now looked much darker flat against his forehead, not to mention how cold his arms now were. Yet the older was still stood by the shore laughing all in good nature at his pathetic display, hands on his hips and an ever so consistent smile on his face that would be punchable if not for how alluring such an expression was. It's genuinely debatable whether or not Tanizaki wants to strangle that neck or kiss it instead.

"Even as you slyer at me with such cold eyes, you're still so pretty, Tani~!" Tachihara teases, seeming to be purposely egging him on like the bait dangling from the tip of a fisherman's pole. And that stupid worm wouldn't shut up either, because when he sighs dramatically, it follows with a, "It's too bad you're so weak and vulnerable, leaving me out here to melt under the sun alone. Oh well, guess I'll walk over here and see the end by myself—!"

Bad ankle be damned, Jun'ichirō used it to his advantage so he could suddenly lunge himself at his companion in their weak attempt to catch him, tackling the man into the sand in a fit of chuckles. With an almost squeal in his voice from the action's impact, Tanizaki yelps the words, "I'll show you 'weak and vulnerable'!" as he playfully slapped him across the face with clumps of sand in repetitive motions, straddling his torso to keep him securely pinned.

Despite the goosebumps that covered his arms due to the sea breeze that cut through his shivering flesh, water still dripping down his back and his shorts feeling a thousand times heavier with the weight of the water clinging to the fabric, Tanizaki was genuinely laughing so hard as they wrestled that his stomach was aching, neither of them having the strength left to do anything but wheeze in a sorry attempt to catch their breath. He believes Tachihara could genuinely say the same, because his state was just as weak as he hovered over him after flipping their positions, that perfect grin of pearl whites Jun could not get sick of never swaying in the slightest.

"Must they seriously frolic at the beach like this? How humiliating," Akutagawa clicks his tongue in visible disgust, earning giggles from Higuchi and his sister. Gin was knelt down on one of their towels, seemingly immersed with whatever she was doing on her phone judging by the smile she couldn't fight, but Higuchi's attention was free enough to properly respond.

"Oh, they're alright!" his subordinate beams as she unscrews the cap on the reusable water bottle in her hand the woman took everywhere she went, having stuffed lemon slices into the bottom for added flavor. "Not like there's anyone around to judge but us!"

"Exactly, that's why I am judging—! Gin, who could you possibly be texting right now?!"

"No one," Gin chuckles suspiciously under her breath, emitting an almost offended gasp when her overbearing brother uses Rashomon to easily pluck the device out of her hand. Though the less intense Akutagawa of the family tries to snatch it back to no avail, the assassin is only semi-defensive when she playfully snaps, "Hey! Mind your own damn business—!"

"Quit giggling and tell me who this is! A man you've been seeing? That Katai guy?!"

"My, Akutagawa, why won't you leave the poor lady be?" Hirotsu utters with a smile, the person in question immediately tensing up as he stiffly glanced at the old man out of the corner of his eye, almost as if betrayed by the fact that he wasn't on his side. "If you're always so invasive of her privacy, how will she ever settle down?"

"Settle down? Settle down?! How old do you think she is?!"

"Old enough," Gin responds, pretty well close to settled down already considering her and Higuchi already live together and have been discussing all week about adopting a pet sometime soon. "You're just prickly that I'm going to be long before you are—!"

"THE WERETIGER?!" Akutagawa shouts almost loud enough for everyone back in Yokohama to hear him, still staring down at the text messages on her phone as he stumbles in his step, slapping his palm against his forehead as if contracting a fever from the very display. It took every sliver of willpower not to laugh at him, because he was always so dramatic, as if the film crew of a cringy drama had their cameras pointed on him at all times. "Gin... Please. Tell me this isn't true. Atsushi is... Atsushi could never be your type! He's immature, and annoying, a-and much too bright to look at. It's painful, utterly PAINFUL!"

"I can assure you, Aku, that I have no intentions of taking Atsushi from you. In fact, I'm doing the very opposite, because you're an incredible brother who deserves all the happiness in the world—!"

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Maybe if you'd stop INTERRUPTING EVERY SENTENCE THAT I SPEAK, MAYBE YOU WOULD KNOW!"

"KNOW WHAT?! THAT YOU INTEND TO HAVE HIM WALK YOU DOWN THE AISLE?!"

"HOW ARE YOU SO STUPID, OH MY GOD!"

"I'm not stupid, but you know who is? Your fiancée!"

"C-Come on now, you two, there's no need to bicker," Higuchi nervously laughs as she stands between them, hands raised in surrender as she served as the poor attempt of a wall between brother and sister. "Let's just take a deep breath and cool off."

"Yo! Your company has arrived!"

Akutagawa's eyes practically bulge out of his head when it snaps in the direction of the entrance where he sees both his mentors sauntering on over to them from a fair distance away yet, a pair of aviators on Chuuya's face as he waves his arm in the air to alert them of their presence. Dazai, his bandages sticking out like a sore thumb as they travelled all up his arms and neck exposed from the short-sleeved button up he wore, is his usual urkingly perky self, stealing the glasses off of Nakahara's eyes and putting them on himself when he knew they had an audience to observe.

Black Lizard proceeds to watch on in awe of their appearance as the shorter of the two immediately begins to yell and scream in protest, kicking the back of Osamu's knees with unnecessary force after a likely taunt towards his height had been hurled his way; after all, Dazai was in his absolute glee watching his partner fail to snatch them back. Kaiji was also with them, likely due to the fact that Chuuya felt so bad that he doesn't have any friends that they ended up becoming accidentally closer than expected. They really do get along better than either one of them expected, despite the fact they're both extremely destructive forces.

As the commotion drew on, Kaiji's laughter just as hilariously loud as Chuuya's voice, Akutagawa groans as he sits down underneath his umbrella, hood up as he leaned his forehead against his knees. Higuchi crouches down beside him, an attempt at a reassuring smile on her lips as she pats him on the back for comfort. Then, after a moment, he groans,

"You invited them here, didn't you?"

"I did, actually," it's Hirotsu who chuckles, Akutagawa then slowly lifting his head to peer over at the old man with his usual blank expression. "Today is Nakahara's scheduled day off, so I thought I'd tell Gin to ask if he would like to accompany us as well."

"This is Chuuya Nakahara you're talking about; I'm sure he has plenty of other things to be doing with his time—!"

"As eccentric as that man is, no one understands but Kouyou and I how lonely he gets."

The temporary silence that follows is heavy, and only because Higuchi's perfume from kneeling so close began to choke him, Akutagawa's coughing had been the factor to break it before Hirotsu goes on.

"Him and Dazai may be reverting back to old habits," he proceeds, and Ryuunosuke can't help but frown, eyes downcasted as guilt settled into the pit of his stomach, "but that doesn't mean things are the way they used to be. Dazai still stays at the Agency dorms, after all, and with how busy Kouyou and the rest of us are with our own priorities, Nakahara didn't really have any company until he started getting to know Kaiji."

He may have claimed that he started asking him out to dinner and the movies out of sympathy, the words go unsaid, but Chuuya was just as desperate for a friend as well. Truly, as strange as a pair they may be, both Kaiji and Nakahara really did need each other more than they would of thought.

As the conversation drew on from there when Higuchi inputs commentary of her own, followed by Gin, Akutagawa peers over at the trio again before he's visibly surprised at seeing a fourth body added to the picture, watching as Atsushi sprinted towards them with bare feet and a sleeveless hoodie, ever so charmingly clumsy as he accidentally tripped fast-first into the sand by his own two feet alone. Ryuunosuke couldn't help the smile that won the fight against his restraint, because somehow it was so like Nakajima to have the shoelace strings of his shirt at uneven lengths.

After Dazai received the beatdown of his life, Higuchi has to catch him when he dizzily staggers into Hirotsu's cooler and almost falls face first like poor Atsushi had, Kaiji laughing at the sight as he carried a backpack on his shoulder and a ring floatie looped through his arm, of course his signature yellow in color. He looked no different, having sunglasses cover his eyes, and as for whether or not he even brought a shirt at all to wear with his swim trunks, that's a mystery.

"Hello, lemon bomber..." Akutagawa dejectedly greets the man when he sits down on the towel beside him, so uncomfortably close that there wasn't a single inch of space separating their hips. Truly, being in the man's company in general is exhausting.

Ryuunosuke didn't think there was any kind of 'hello' he could of said that would piss him off more than their current sitting arrangement, but when he practically screams the words, "Hello, Diablo!!!!!" so very close to his ear, the man hisses in both pain and annoyance, especially when he hears Atsushi giggle on his left.

"Now what are you laughing about?" Akutagawa grumbles, the statement having much less bite than just about anything he's said all day.

"Kaiji is funny," Nakajima chuckles as he walks past him with their own cooler bag hugged to his chest, and Ryuunosuke was half tempted to slit the scientist's throat when his loud, obnoxious laughter drowns out the heavenly sound of Atsushi's entirely.

"Yeah, well I can be funny too!" Ryuunosuke practically snarls, truly being vicious enough to live up to the 'rabid dog' reputation that precedes him.

"You telling the priest that you're the devil after I just admitting I'm an atheist who supports science over religion is true comedy gold, Aku, we should go into business~!!!!!!"

"Fuck off, Kaiji!"

"No!!!!!"

Atsushi is still laughing, still laughing at Kaiji's humor, and Akutagawa is very close to feeding the damn man to the sharks. Rashomon is already sparking at his back, only half grateful when Kaiji rushes off after Chuuya told him to come borrow some sunscreen from him as he knelt down in the sand and slathered some on Dazai's face, probably too much considering he looked white as a ghost. The guy genuinely didn't seem to care though, probably because he was in his absolute glee just to have Nakahara's hands on him.

His back was turned, still starring off at Kaiji as he watched him flop down in the sand next to Chuuya, the latter wheezing when he practically tackles him over with how close he once again sat, Nakahara's reaction to it a complete opposite to his own. However, his attention is only fixated on the sight long enough for Atsushi to sit down beside him without his realization, turning his head in the weretiger's direction with a hum when he feels fingers gently tug on the material of his hoodie he pinched between two fingers.

"I, um..." Atsushi almost sounds nervous, an awkward smile on his face as he stared down at the cooler still in his possession. "I know you don't eat very much, so I wasn't sure if you had packed anything for yourself, so I—!"

"I don't, but Higuchi and Gin made sure to fill the cooler with food that all six of us could share, so I imagine they'll be trying to stuff a meal of sorts down my throat before the day is done," Akutagawa murmurs with vivid attitude, Nakajima's laugh almost airy and embarrassed as he scratched the side of his arm.

"Oh, well that's good then, I'm glad!" he says, tone slightly higher in pitch as he made a motion to stand, a word not leaving Ryuunosuke's mouth as Rashomon absentmindedly slithers out of his sweater and loops around the boy's waist to keep him there in place.

Then, like the most casual thing in the world, Akutagawa drags the cooler over to himself, unzipping the top open and digging through the contents himself as he states, "However, I'd much prefer anything you have put together for me. As much as it brings me great pain to admit this, excruciatingly so, your cooking is... satisfactory. Therefore, I shall consume everything in this."

"Hey, then what will I—?"

"I shall consume everything in this while the tiger fishes for his own food as an animal should. Now, I demand to know, did you or did you not skip breakfast this morning?"

"I—!"

"Then I command you sit and eat before hunger leads you to pass out and drown, or else Kaiji will have a very terrible joke to share about the experience that every fiber of my being wishes to avoid. Now, let us dine—!... You... You packed figs? You bought figs for me?"

Without much say in the matter, Atsushi smiles and sits back down, the silent thank-you he didn't have to voice. It was adorable actually, how flustered the little sentiment made such a prickly man, and it took every sliver of willpower for Nakajima not to kiss his cheeks; to kiss the small smile that rose without Akutagawa's own realization.

 


 

The rest of the afternoon flew by, hours drawing on like seconds. Tanizaki had been SO happy to see Atsushi, the two practically tackled each other in their excitement, and that happiness was contagious beyond describable. The blue skies, the sun, the smiles they couldn't wipe off their faces... Though not everyone expresses it the same way others do, it was without a doubt that they were all in their absolute glee.

They played a fun little game down by the ocean, actually, using Tanizaki's ability; they'd have a test to see which could identify the real Jun'ichirō by trying to tackle him into the sea, but of course the consequence of choosing the wrong one is falling face first into the water through the illusion. 

Everyone was terrible at it, and to be honest, no one expected Tachihara to have some sort of mastery at the sport. Maybe it was just in his head, but in all the expressions the Tanizakis wore, somehow the real one always seemed to have this sort of a gloat about them; a glint that the projections simply lacked. 

The smile would waver, an urge not to laugh when Michizō would stare him in the eye, a knowing smirk on his lips. Tachihara only needed to take those first two steps in stride towards him before Tanizaki would tense at the oncoming attack and curl in on himself as he laughed through his beg for mercy, wheezing when the latter's arms would link around his lower torso and fling them both into the ocean. Taking his injured ankle into consideration, Tachihara always spun them around first so he was the one taking the brute of the fall even on sand, flopping back first so he served as a landing pad.

Honestly, no one had ever seen Jun laugh so much in his life, not even himself. All else aside — worries, stress, the Agency — today, at least, Tanizaki was on cloud nine, and if Tachihara could capture and preserve this day forever, he would do so in a heart beat; he would relieve this day forever if only time allowed it.

Atsushi was probably the worst at the game, not that Chuuya or Dazai or Kaiji were any better. Akutagawa didn't participate, nor did the women who went off by themselves to explore one of the nearby sea caves that Higuchi really wanted to see but not venture through alone. Gin, of course, had happily obliged, and with a smile Hirotsu insisted they have fun and stay careful while he barbequed something for everyone to eat, all the while keeping a close eye on Akutagawa after he accidentally fell asleep under the umbrella's shade. As tough as he is, this is also the same man who fears bathing and sleeping because it leaves him in a vulnerable position; the least the old man could do is ensure he slept comfortably and undisturbed.

At one point during the game, Nakajima had staggered back over alone, dripping wet after his countless failed attempts. Hirotsu and him share a knowing smile in his approach, silent after he quickly notices his partner lost in slumber. Atsushi's stomach — despite being forced into the most awkward but only picnic of his life just earlier — growled just smelling the meat being grilled while he dried himself off with the towel he brought so small and cheap compared to everyone else's, but to be honest, he was more tired than hungry. His nightmares had kept him up most of the night, lead his morning to begin at four instead of five, a story discreetly told by the yawn that forced it's way out of his mouth as he stretched his arms above his head.

"You can lie down too, you know," Hirotsu extends with a genuine kindness, voice barely above a whisper in hopes of not disturbing the young man who slept. "I'm sure he won't mind so long as you don't touch or get too close to him."

Nodding his head, Atsushi doesn't waste any time to take him up on that offer, Hirotsu watching the man sprawl out on the neighboring towel for only a split second before his head shoots in the direction of the beach's entrance where laughter and music could be heard, intrigued by the entry of four men no older than Chuuya or Dazai he couldn't recognize. One was carrying a stereo on their shoulder, lugging bags and other beach equipment with them, and though they were no bother to them, it disappointed Hirotsu the slightest bit; he honestly believed only they came to this spot on the days that they did, but he supposes it must not be as secretive as he suspected. 

Taking a draw of his cigarette, Hirotsu's eyes don't leave them when he watches the boys merge themselves with the group already present by the sea, unable to hear the words that left their moving lips but assuming it was a greeting of sorts judging by the wave of their hands. 

Of course, given the socialites that Chuuya and Tachihara are, it's no surprise they dive into a conversation with them right away, all the while Kaiji and Dazai were behaving as their annoyingly boisterous selves; Dazai was probably subtly insulting them through tease and charm, all the while Kaiji probably aimed to make them the victims of his next science experiment.

Tanizaki, however, was the one Hirotsu pitied the most, because as warm and polite as he is, the presence of strangers makes him extremely shy, especially when they're relatively close to his own age range. Adults or the elderly don't give him struggle, but peers seem to be a bit of an issue when it isn't mission or case related; that much was obvious by the way he immediately side-steps closer to Tachihara with the most uncomfortable of smiles on his face, body language tense.

Hirotsu couldn't help but smile, smile for real, when he didn't have to yell at Tachihara from all the way over here to put his arm around him, because the boy did that all on his own oh so casually while they all chatted it up, Dazai getting thrown into the ocean by Chuuya probably because of something off base that he said. Kaiji seemed to be invading the personal space of one of them, able to imagine beneath the sunglasses rests that crazed look in his eye that no one was safe from, but Chuuya took him too and tossed him out to sea, brushing his hands together like he just performed hard work while he chatted on with the men as if nothing was wrong. 

Hirotsu had to suppress the urge to roll his eyes when he sees them making their way over, all of them. Immediately, he glances over at Akutagawa to see if he was still solid, out like a light so it seemed. As surprising and unsurprising as it is, the mafioso must have sensed Atsushi's presence close by and shifted over, removing the remaining distance between them altogether when he slung his arm over his waist and cuddled into the weretiger's back. Rashomon, however, seemed to be wide awake, red electricity crackling at the edges as it hovered in the air as if to guard them while they slept. If there's ever a time Akutagawa is unnecessarily overprotective, it's in the midst of sleep.

The beast was already pointed in the direction of the strangers just as they had only borderline met their proximity, Tachihara's name just barely leaving Hirotsu's lips in time before the boy he viewed as his own grandson quickly snatches the umbrella pole out of the hands of one of the strangers and transforms it into a weapon, blocking Rashomon's fangs from pulverizing the poor guy's neck just in the nick of time.

Though Akutagawa remained 'asleep', he looked visibly irritated, still not moving from his current position; actually, he only further buried his face into the crook of Atsushi's neck with a groan, like a child being pried away from their favorite teddy bear. As if there were corpses at a morgue, Hirotsu simply sighs and drops one of their larger towels atop of them, covering their bodies entirely.

"I apologize, gentlemen," he says as if addressing a professional in power and not a couple of beach boys who now looked comically horrified even with sunglasses covering their eyes, mouths dropped as they proceeded to stare at the bump of Rashomon still sparking underneath the blanket, the tip tauntingly poking out like a warning. "I'm not aware of how familiar you are with abilities, but that one just so happens to belong to my son, as is the weapon my other son just made out of your pole. While you have no worries about Tachihara giving you any troubles, assuming introductions were already prior made, this one, however, is much more... prickly. He prefers to remain undisturbed, so if you could be so kind."

"Why yes, of course," the seemingly more outgoing one replies, black hair slicked back to one side as he lowered his dark shades just below his nose so the eyes underneath could be revealed. "We won't be causing him any trouble, promise; we're only here for one thing, after all."

"To get wasted until we forget our own names!" another cackles as he raised his already half-empty beer bottle in the air as the other three join on in unison, Tachihara seeming to thrive with the energy as he rushed past Hirotsu with a grin to swipe a volleyball from the backpack he brought with him. Gin and Higuchi, hand in hand, he could spot returning from a distance, Michizō waving them over as he held the ball up, knowing how incredible and competitive both women are at the sport; the three of them are, and now would be no better opportunity to show that off than ever. 

"Well then, guys," Tachihara snickers both in excitement and amusement for what was to come, spinning the ball on one finger, "how about we get this party started with a mean game of volleyball?"

As the newcomers hollered in cheer and rushed over to the open space of the beach, more than prepared to set up the volleyball net they themselves brought, Michizō was not only ready to show them up, but hopefully impress his own newbie still stuck to his side like glue, a habit he'd rather stop breathing than complain about.

"You ever play volleyball before?" Tachihara asks as they slowly made their way over to where everyone else was, eyes solely devoted on the eyes that haven't stopped peering at him. His voice is almost a tease, smack talk coated in sugar, but Tanizaki merely smiles, chuckling as his gaze now reverts to the poor excuse of a construction crew that fought more than set up.

"In high school, yeah; Naomi and I both did. Warning you though," he shrugs, lips tugging in a smile as he mused, "I might make you look bad."

"Is that so?" An eyebrow raises, and as if Tachihara couldn't have been any more fired up to play his best, somehow that flame managed to engulf him from the inside. He can't help but laugh as he peers up at the sky, ever so clear still with only the rare cloud and seagull flying through here and there. 

"Well," he hums, tone just as teasing and cocky in undertone, "give me your worst, Jun."

"Just wait and see, you'll soon be regretting those words, Tachi," his name is emphasized to spite in a lighthearted manner, and never had that name sounded any more perfect coming out of somebody's mouth. 

Notes:

Sorry this update is coming so late, work is a pain in the ass lol. I know I said before that I should only need one more update to clue this mini series up, but I still couldn't fit the final plotline I wanted to include in this part, so by the next I should hopefully have this completed. Thanks so much for reading!