there was something interesting in the thought of a tiger disguised as a human.
it was interesting at first; the thought of working side by side with someone that was a beast underneath. it was a curious thought and the person himself was a curious thing- an anxious curious little thing (ranpo might say little but atsushi was still taller than him), who jumped at the slightest of noises and who cowered in the face of danger despite being a beast. he was a curious thing because well, although he was a scaredy-cat (scaredy-tiger? ranpo muses, but at the end of the day, the tiger is part of the cat family), he still had one of the worst hero complexes ranpo has ever seen and- it's-
it's a bit aggravating in all honesty. it burns out ranpo out and slightly annoys and irks him whenever he has to use his ability in order to pinpoint and save atsushi from captors or from whomever he decided to piss of by saving someone.
it gets tiring and truthfully ranpo is starting to get tired with saving atsushi because of his hero complex and because of the beast beneath him. though- it isn't to say that ranpo isn't interested in atsushi. nay, perhaps despite him being a bit fed up of the circumstances, his interest is very very much piqued.
what on earth is atsushi? what happened to atsushi? where was his parents? how did he not know of his ability? what on earth happened in the orphanage? who ran the orphanage? and the most important question of them all- how?
how can he still be optimistic, still see the good in all people despite his past experiences. how can he still be oh so trusting when it deals with new people he just met. how the fuck can a young man like him still grin and still smile at life's simplest pleasures when his life-
ranpo often dislikes his curious mind. he loves being curious- but being curious about atsushi- there's something close to sacrilegious to his questions. he still has questions though. more direct, more inquisitive, more prying but- strangely, ranpo also has these carnal questions that he dares not tell anyone, especially atsushi himself.
(have you ever kissed anyone? have you ever felt the embrace of a lover? do you like anyone? how do you feel about romance? how do you feel about dating? how do you feel about having a lover? how do you feel about me? how do you feel about having me as a lo-)
(he doesn't tell anyone about these questions, but fukuzawa, the damn lovable bastard, always has this knowing gleam in his eye. he's never asked ranpo about it though, which is kind of good because truthfully? he doesn't even know what the fuck he's going to say to fukuzawa.)
"are you okay ranpo-san?" a familiar voice interrupts the lecherous train of thought his mind was going and ranpo shakes these thoughts out of his head. it's- it's not good to think about these thoughts while on the job.
he looks up, seeing the most brightest amethyst-topaz eyes peering into him curiously. (god, god, god, god, god. those eyes- ranpo would think that they rival even the most precious and rarest of gems. it's not as if atsushi's eyes are common, they were rare and they were precious having heterochromia). he weakly grins at the other. "yeah, maybe a little under the weather." (he thinks and he dreams of holding the other down, his pale white skin colored with purple and red all because of ranpo. atsushi's eyes lock onto him as he moans out ranpo's name, oh dear god god god don't stop- oh dear oh dear- oh god-)
atsushi is quite skeptical about this, but he doesn't press and instead gives him a warm cup of tea, which ranpo happily accepts. atsushi sits across ranpo, he's not too far that if ranpo wanted to he can easily kiss the other, which ranpo won't do. he still has a little common sense after all.
they sit there in silence as there is no one inside except him, atsushi and fukuzawa. ranpo's staying late since there's really nothing to do back at his home, he hasn't have the foggiest of thoughts why atsushi would decide to not leave early like the others did, fukuzawa's staying late because well- he's fukuzawa, in all honesty the detective thinks that the older man lives in the agency's headquarters.
it's an awkward silence, but not too overbearing to be uncomfortable. ranpo silently takes a sip of the tea the other gave him; green tea, he silently thinks, bitter but mellow. he contemplates, staring at atsushi intently and the other knows. seeing atsushi turn into a pretty pale pink is good. it's nice. seeing atsushi have this confused but flattered expression is good and ranpo can't quite help but wonder about other things-
"so!" atsushi breaks the silence, and thus once again breaking ranpo's train of thought. "um-" he fiddles with his fingers and ranpo can't quite help but feel curious. more and more curious. the other is avoiding ranpo's gaze but nothing can't quite escape the detective's gaze.
"yes?" ranpo asks, his tone inquiring and telling atsushi to go on. he folds his hands and rests his chin on it. "whaddya want?"
"well-!" atsushi stutters out, "um-! i can't help but wonder- er, um."
ranpo raises an eyebrow, a bit annoyed and a bit delighted to see the other this flustered. this is far too much stuttering, even for atsushi. "go on, we haven't got all day."
"willyoubedoinganythingafterthis?" atsushi blurts out so fast that ranpo can't quite decipher his words, and there are tears forming in his eyes in embarrassment. his whole face was now a red that contrasts his pale skin quite clearly.
ranpo's eyebrow scrunches, "come again? i can't quite hear you, you know!" ranpo chuckles a little bit, "maybe i really am going old."
atsushi's still red in the face as he fiddles with his fingers, "i said-!" atsushi suddenly pipes up, and is now covering his face with his fingers, leaving only enough space in between his fingers for his eyes. "will- will you be doing anything after this?"
now this stops ranpo. the detective didn't quite expect this kind of development. he sits there, in shock and his eyes are open to see the other more clearly.
atsushi probably took this the wrong way as he was now covering all of his face with fingers but this time without any space for his eyes. "ah! i'm- i'm sorry. you- you don't have to reply." he mumbles out, "i shouldn't have asked."
"wait-! no, no! i was-" ranpo takes a deep breath, not quite believing the situation. "i was surprised. that's all. i don't have anything to do after work, if that's what you're asking."
"oh!" atsushi finally perks up, removing his face from the safety of his palms, "would you want to maybe come with me? there's- there's this shop, sells really really good chazuke and-"
"if it's for a kouhai, then say no more." ranpo shushes him. though he may act 'cool' right now, he's actually the most happy he's been "i'd accompany you, if that's what you want."
atsushi's grin was the brightest the detective has ever seen and perhaps- perhaps ranpo's falling into a hole that would be difficult to crawl out of it things goes wry.
hey, he was smart but it wasn't as if he had the common sense to go along with it!
(inside a room in the agency, a middle-aged man smiles contentedly, wiping away crocodile tears with a white handkerchief. he feels as if a father, finally seeing, in this case hearing, his son finally becoming an adult. he was glad that his old friend was to finally go on a date.
"now, to plan the wedding." he tells to no one but himself.)