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It was a miscalculation on both parts. The timing of when the last bomb would go off. Even though, they were able to bring the people out to safety, who's to say they will be able to bring themselves out as well?
Akutagawa cursed inwardly as he counted the last seconds of the bomb ticking before it went off. There wasn't enough time for the both of them to jump out through the window.
So, at the last second and without thinking, his body moved on its own.
He summoned Rashomon but instead of encloaking himself, he used it to wrap Atsushi in protection. The last thing he saw and remembered was the man-tiger's surprised expression, the pain of something heavy hitting his head and body, the feel of someone desperately embracing him, the faint shout of his first name over and over and lastly, the feel of something wet carassing down his cheeks as he slowly lost his consciousness.
He woke up a day later. His eyes squinted as it tried to adjust to the brightness of the room. Slowly, he sat up and took in his surroundings.
"This is..." The Agency's clinic, he mentally noted when he recognized the small desk just few meters away from his bed.
He recalled the numerous times that he had found himself lying on the same bed. Ever since Dazai decided that Atsushi and him would be the new double back to fight against The Rats in the House of the Dead and its remaining remnants, he and the man-tiger had not been left unscathed.
The woman with the healing ability, Yosano, was reluctant to use her healing powers on him but with the current alliance in place and by Fukuzawa's orders, she begrudgingly had to comply.
Akutagawa checked his body and flexed his palms by opening and closing them to see if anything went wrong with the healing process. As suspected, his body feels just as new. But the missing pain still lingers as the memory of being almost blasted to bits was still etched to his mind.
There was a faint rustling of fabric and he finally noticed the sleeping figure to his right. It was his partner, the man-tiger. The black cloak that was previously an armor was now formed as aw arm blanket of sorts to Atsushi's sleeping form.
Akutagawa closed his eyes and recollected the events prior that led him to use Rashomon and manipulating his coat to wrap Atsushi in its armor.
This was not the first time he had made the man-tiger wear his coat. The first time that it had happened was from a year ago. Coincidentally, it was also from their first mission together as partners.
In that mission, they were pinned against a powerful ability user that was able to manipulate the earth's surroundings and a stone titan to fight them. That battle took more effort than originally planned. To the point that they were driven into a corner (or in that case sunked into what is like a makeshift quicksand. )
During that time too, the enemy's other companion, a virus ability user, had also infected them, so they were running out of time and options.
Except for one.
That is when he decided to wrap Atsushi in Rashomon's armor and trust the man-tiger to finish off their enemy.
They succeeded and ever since then, that option was always there. If the situation called for it, he would let Atsushi "borrow" his coat and he would trust in the man-tiger to deal with their enemies on future missions.
Now that he has reflected on it, it felt strange.
It was the only "gift" that Dazai had left him with. At that time, it never occured to him that he would be so willing to have Atsushi wear it. In fact, he never let anyone even touch it besides Gin on a few occassions. But that was only up to her touching the coat. She never really asked to try it on because she knows how much his coat means to him. And yet here he was, just letting the man tiger wear it as if it wasn't a big deal.
The whisper to his name, snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Why, Akutagawa..Why did you do that?"
Akutagawa doesn't know how to respond to that as he looked at Atsushi shift to a more comfortable position to his left side.
His body moved on its own. He repeats for the nth time as he tries to know why he did such a thing. He is more surprised to realize that he doesnt even regret his actions either. (Although, his tired body disagreed with him.)
Glancing back to the sleeping form of his partner, he observed from the furrowed brows of his eyes and the bags underneath them, that the man-tiger hasn't slept well. A weird feeling started to ache in his chest.
He felt guilty?
Once more, Akutagawa is taken aback by another emotion that he feels unfamiliar with. But why would he feel guilty for making Atsushi worry for him? It's not as if he got hurt on purpose.
Yet, he sort of did, didnt he? By not protecting himself, and using Rashomon's armor on Atsushi when the bomb went off, he indirectly hurt himself.
Why?
Why did he do it?
It was like a reflex. That was what his mind concluded. An involuntary action caused by a certain stimulus. In this case, the bomb was the stimulus, and the involuntary action (it was actually a voluntary action, his mind argues) was him, responding by protecting the man tiger.
To Protect... Oh.
Was that it? He wanted to protect Atsushi, didn't he?
Akutagawa let out a groan as the answer was obvious from the start. Just when did he start caring for the man-tiger, he didnt know.
Maybe the promise they made a year ago had some form of influence with it. The promise of not to kill anyone for six months in exchange for a chance to kill the man-tiger himself.
That was six months ago. He never was able to kill Atsushi. Not because he wasn't strong enough but he just could not do it. During there six month truce, he had started noticing things about his partner but he often just brush it off as just adrenaline during missions. That is probably when it first started. When he first started to care for the well being of the man tiger.
No use contemplating about that now.
All he knows now that when his partner wakes up, he has to come up with some other excuse. An excuse that will justify his actions but won't make the man-tiger think that Akutagawa actually cares for him.
They are only partners and should only stay that way. No need to complicate things. After all, its dangerous to even have these kind of feelings. He is the Port Mafia's dog. If word gets out that he sort of does care for the man-tiger, that facade he built will crumble. Worse, it may be even used against him by his enemies.
So in turn, he would keep Atsushi at an arm's length.
Reflex or not. He would have to make sure that a situation like this never happens again.
But most importantly..
"Akutagawa..?" He hears Atsushi stir as his partner slowly wakes up.
He wants to keep Atsushi safe, too.