"It's cold..." Atsushi whines, hugging Rashomon around himself.

Akutagawa's eyes narrow at the other man, hardly believing his childness. "That's my jacket," he says stubbornly.

Atsushi lets out a long sigh, but clearly doesn't loosen his grip on Akutagawa's prized possession. He has this look on his face, a bit like a pout but it's ruined by all the miserable rain sticking to his face. The uneven ends of hair are sticking up all over the place and his eyes are comically wide. If he stuck his bottom lip out any farther, Akutagawa would have thought he was looking for a kiss. If Atsushi thought this was convincing face...

He was right.

Akutagawa covers his mouth as he coughs, half out of habit, half because he's trying to hide the fluttering in his stomach. All the same, once he's recovered he grabs onto the sleeve of the jacket. "Hand it over, man-tiger."

His partner hugs himself tighter. "I hate the rain," he says in a whiny tone. Akutagawa has to resist the urge to let out a chuckle. How similar he was to a cat was occasionally terrifying.

"Man-tiger," his voice is a well-practiced low and threatening growl. As... cute (there, he'd said it) as the other man was, Rashomon was something much more to him. It's his life-line and barrier from the rest of the world so it doesn't all seem so daunting. He'd given it up this time only because that idiot Dazai-saying it would be some sort of bonding experience-grabbed his hand and tugged him away from the action. Rashomon was useless in his hands, thus he gave it to his partner where something could be done with it. Letting him keep it longer than he already had was hardly an option. There was a weird empty spot in Akutagawa's chest when he couldn't feel it's weight on his shoulders.

For a split second, Akutagawa could swear Atsushi looked frightened by the dark-haired boy's tone of voice. It quickly shifted from scared to defeated and he took the coat off his shoulders. Akutagawa snatched it from his hands more roughly than he meant to.

"My shirt's gonna get all wet..." Atsushi said.

Akutagawa shrugged as he put his arms through his sleeves. "You're drenched already." He started walking towards his apartment.

The sound of Atsushi's clumsy footsteps followed close behind. "Wait!"

The sound of his partner's voice was almost drowned out by the howling of a truck passing on the road beside them. Akutagawa flinched away as splashes of water hit his cheek from a puddle the tires plowed through. Atsushi let out a somewhat panicked yelp. He turned to look at the man-tiger, eyebrow raised.

Atsushi was more dripping wet than before, his arms raised a bit as he stared down in horror at his sopping wet form. "Fuck!"

Akutagawa found it very hard not to burst out laughing from the shock. Not only did the poor cat look like he'd been murdered, but the harsh language was so unlike him.

Before he really registered what he'd decided on what he was going to do, he was at his partner's side, wrapping Rashomon around his shoulders.

Atsushi tensed for a moment, before turning his head to stare at Akutagawa. His eyes said something, but Akutagawa had a hard time reading it. Perhaps an unspoken 'thank you' or simply shock from the gesture.

But he didn't say anything of the sort and he grabbed the collar and pulled it closer to him. "This is just as wet..."

Akutagawa's eyes narrowed. "I'll take it back if you don't want it."

"I didn't say that!" Atsushi said, taking several steps forward. Akutagawa couldn't hold back a smile.