chapter 4

Hirotsu sleeps through it.

“I thought I told you to sleep in my brother’s room.”

“I had a nightmare,” Tachihara lies.

“Yeah, right. You just like my ceiling stickers.”

“They glow in the dark, Gin.”

“I’ll buy you a pack for your apartment, okay?”

Tachihara grumbles about his tailbone as he stands up and promptly trips over Gin’s phone charger, going down with a howl as Gin cackles.

Hirotsu continues to sleep through it all.

“Quit laughing at me.”

“Quit doing funny things, then.” Gin hops off the bed and drags herself to the door. “What do you want for breakfast?”

“I dunno. Whatever you’re having, I guess.” Tachihara picks up Gin’s phone to replace the charger and set it down on the nightstand again. “Woah, you have eight missed calls from your brother.”

“Give that here,” Gin says as Tachihara calls Akutagawa back. “Oi, asshole, that’s my phone.”

“Good morning, demon!” Tachihara chirps.

Akuatagwa’s yelling is audible. “Put my sister on the phone, you heathen!”

“He wants to talk to you,” Tachihara relays, holding the phone out to Gin.

She rolls her eyes and takes it, following Tachihara to the bathroom. “You knew I had work last night, Ryuu. Was it an emergency?”

“No. Yes. Kind of. Can you make lunch for us today?”

“Huh?”

“You’ll never guess who got turned into babies last night. They’re a little bit of a handful when they’re fully rested and we — Chuuya, don’t put that in your mouth!”

Tachihara raises his eyebrows at Gin seated on the bathtub edge in the mirror, toothbrush in his mouth, when she snickers. She lowers the phone slightly. “Dazai and Chuuya got baby’d yesterday,” she relays.

Gin’s never seen Tachihara brush his teeth so fast in her life before.

“Tachihara incoming,” she warns her brother. “But, yeah, I can make lunch. Hirotsu and Tachihara are staying too, so you guys can just come over.”

“Great.” There’s a dull thud in the background that Gin hears echo over the phone. “Did Tachihara just run into my front door?”

“It’s possible. Give him an ice pack, would you? I think he still has a concussion from last night’s mission.”

“Jinko, go open the door.”

“Fuck you!” Atsushi screams in the background, followed by a pained yelp. “Stop pulling my hair, Osamu!”

“Bring some of that baby formula with you,” Gin says. “I’ll make something for them to eat, but I don’t know if they’ll like it.”

Akutagawa sighs. “I have to go rescue Atsushi, now. Bye.”

Gin laughs softly. “Bye.”

“Where’s Tachihara?” Hirotsu asks when Gin hangs up. He stands in the doorway of the bathroom and yawns.

Gin feels like she’s been gifted a secret to be able to see Hirotsu looking like he’s just tumbled down a mountain. No one in the mafia would believe her if she said Hirotsu’s hair sometimes sticks up like Einstein when he wakes up.

“Chuuya’s apartment. Remember how he told us he was accompanying Dazai to bring in the ability user that got Atsushi and my brother?”

Hirotsu hums his acknowledgement as he blindly reaches for the toothpaste.

“Well, they didn’t catch her, I presume. Tachihara’s gone to visit baby Chuuya and Dazai.”

“But Dazai is a nullifier.”

Gin shrugs. “With that man, anything’s possible.”

...----------------...

Atsushi collapses on the couch, relieved that Chuuya went to Tachihara without a moment’s hesitation.

“You’re going to kill me when you’re big again,” Tachihara says, but he coos it at Chuuya. “Yes, you are! Oh, you have an adorable smile. Atsushi, take a picture!”

^^^to be continued. ^^^

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