Chapter Text
Akutagawa Ryuunosuke hated the beach. Hated having to drive to the beach, or even driving in general, and did he mention he hated the beach? Yeah, that too. He hated the sun blaring magnanimously in the sky with the sea gulls obnoxiously squawking in the distance even after he had set his stuff in the inn he was staying at for a whole week. He hated the beeps his phone is currently making because Chuuya or Gin is texting him if he had arrived safely. He hated his Labrador's wagging tail and cheery huffing as if he deserved this vacation more than his owner.
“This isn't about you, Ryuushii.” He said to the mutt, glaring at him as he discarded his clothes from his traveling bag, already setting out an outfit for today.
He had already planned out his whole day at the beach, and by that he meant: set off an alarm at 4:00 am and travel for 3 hours to the inn he had reserved and paid a whole week for (of course, he failed and woke up at 9:58 am, with Ryuushii barking at him nonstop,then when he got to the road, he got lost for about an hour or so, but he arrived five hours later), park his car somewhere he could see and reach easily if ever he needed to travel outside the inn more (and since he arrived later than expected, the inn's visitors took up most of the space so he was forced to just make do of his spot at the very edge of the parking lot, which is a whole several meters walk away from the actual inn), set in his stuff (which he was now doing but of course, Ryuushii has other plans because now he was looking at Ryuunosuke with those pleading eyes).
He checked his phone for the time and ignored the barrage of messages from the aforementioned two. 3:58 pm. He moved his gaze to his dog, who was already barking at him non-stop.
“I know.”
Bark.
“Be patient and let me lie down for a few minutes. Driving is hard, you know?”
Bark. Bark.
“I know you wanna go on a walk, but please, let me lie down.”
Bark. He took that as a yes and jumped on the bed, staring out at the floor to ceiling window that introduced him to the view of the sea and the very few people scattered around. He purposely chose this spot because it's not as crowded as the others—except of course, there were still a lot of people around, but compared to the other places, it was deserted. There were people lounging on the beach with their swimsuits and swim gear and all the other necessities of a fun vacation spent on the seaside, and there were others who were already packing up to leave. Ryuunosuke, however, was only getting started.
For a few minutes he laid there, as Ryuushii sat patiently before him. Just staring at his eyes as he wagged his tail cheerily,like the sight of him being exhausted made him feel so amused. God, he hated dogs. He didn't like how jolly or energetic they were, or how they look at you and suddenly you want to fight the whole world for their happiness and satisfaction. He didn't even know why he let Ryuushii stay despite him being so hard to take care of. He didn't even know why he dealt with Ryuushii for so long when he could've just made him keep it.
Ahh, him. The thought of him crossing Ryuunosuke's mind wasn't a foreign thing; his vacation hasn't officially started, and yet here he was: crossing through Ryuunosuke's mind like he belonged there more than anywhere else. That being said, Ryuunosuke quickly stood up, ignoring the way his mind screamed the name. He eventually mentally beat the thought into submission. Until his mind turned silent again. He took off his sweat-soaked shirt (summer is really the worst season for him) and exchanged it for a floral button up that Gin insisted he took with him to wear at the beach.
“It's not summer vacation at the beach if you're gonna wear dark hoodies for a whole week!” She scolded him non-stop about bringing his disgusting (according to Gin) fashion sense with him during his vacation.
“I don't give a fuck!” He had said and proceeded to throw in the floral shirts in his travel bag against his will.
When he finally slipped it on, he grabbed his glasses and put them on for good measure and decided to check out Gin and Chuuya's (who were all kinds of overreacting) texts.
GIN: reply or i might assume you're dead
GIN: okay i'm joking pls don't be dead
GIN: CALL ME AS SOON AS YOU GET THERE ASSHOLE
CHUUYA: hey gin-chan's being abhorrently concerned right now so please answer my calls
CHUUYA: okay now i am worried too
CHUUYA: please don't die we need you in the office
And those were only just 6/59 messages, and not to mention the 43 missed calls by the same people. Just to spite on them, he decided he'll reply when he gets back from walking Ryuushii.
He earnestly put the leash on his dog, caressing down to black fur and his chest that faded into white, who encouraged him with a bark. He's more excited for the walk than Ryuunosuke would ever be.
He wasn't even sure why he chose to go to the beach for the vacation he had been forced to have because he overworked himself and apparently their boss had sympathy and let him take a vacation (aka Chuuya and his favoritism over his employees) as payment for finishing a month's worth of their paperwork in the span of 3 days and nights, without sleep. When he finally blacked out and woke up to Gin's worried-turned-to-annoyed face, he knew he was going to have to either be pulled away from his desk to stop him from working too much again, or be given another payment that was not necessary but was hard to turn down. And in this case: a full week of vacation for him.
He locked the door to his quarter, turning to face the other building adjacent to his, then walking down the stairs situated at the far end of the building. The inn's design was quite fascinating for something quite cheap (or was that because of the discount?). There were three buildings: one at the front (with the parking lot by the side) for the registration and the lounge and the what-nots, then two mirrored buildings facing each other. At the center laid a huge rectangular pool with some jacuzzis attached to the other ends. By the back laid some roofed tables and some small huts for when the customers want to eat or just chill there. Then there was the beach—open and wide and much more peaceful than the few people loitering around the pool area.
Ryuushii lead him along the beach. The sun was setting and it made the sky burst out in different hues. And the walk was otherwise silent—there were people around him who were packing up to leave, some were gathering some wood to make a bonfire, and some were just there, watching the sea as it pushed and pulled. The waves sounded calm compared to how angry it had been earlier, and Ryuushii's tracks littered the sand.
Ryuunosuke let Ryuushii pull him into whatever direction he pleased (except the water of course), and he let his mind wander. He imagined what kinds of places he'd try going to, or what kinds of things he'll actually try for the first time, and probably only once. He even thought of what he'll buy for Gin and Chuuya and the others at home, already making a mental note to check the souvenir shop later on. He imagined what it would've been like if his sister was here with him, then he realized that would be hell and shook his head, trying hard to push back the thought of having to push away men and women crowding and fawning on how beautiful she is. God, why did he even have a pretty sister he loves oh-so-dearly? It didn't help that she was annoying too.
Gin had already told him that he needed this time for himself. After countless black outs and overworking himself until he drops (even if he'd only been working for the publishing company for a year) Chuuya, their boss and old friend, have decided it would be best to have him take this break for his hardwork. Gin was, of course, on board with it despite her being left alone in their shared apartment, and told him to just go book a trip in some beach inn. Said beach inn was, courtesy of Chuuya being friends with a lot of people, more than happy to let him get a reservation and a discount.
Now that he thought about it, he's actually excited about all of this. A whole week, no work, no problem, no annoying sister, no nagging boss, no unsatisfied customers, no typos to deal with, no proofreading and dealing with editing out articles. He actually had time for himself to just read and maybe have fun with his dog if he wasn't being too enthusiastic.
Speaking of dog, Ryuushii's walking was gradually increasing into a sprint, and Ryuunosuke wasn't a big fan of it at all.
“Ryuushii, no.” The dog only spared him one glance, then he started to fucking run.
Ryuunosuke let out a strangled yelp as he tried to pace himself with Ryuushii. People he passed kept staring at him as struggled to keep up. For some reason, his dog really liked to bully him more than anybody in this planet. He looked amused to see his owner suffering immensely as he enjoyed himself at the beach. And again, he's having second thoughts on why he decided to keep this dog. But then his mind crossed over the reason why he decided to keep him anyway, so here he was: stupid as always to get stupidly attached to something that made his life a lot harder to live with.
Apparently, Ryuushii's tugging at the leash and Ryuunosuke couldn't handle the forceful aggression that was his dog. His hands (he held on with both hands to try to stop him, but alas, he's a weak shit) gave away and Ryuushii started running off to God knows where.
“God fucking dammit.” He muttered to himself as he chased after him, silently cursing the sand for getting in between his toes. He glared at the sun because apparently, it rushed to set. The inn he was staying at became smaller and smaller at his back. More strings of curse words left his mouth the more he ran, feeling his energy battery stumble into a critically low level.
He stopped running for a moment. He put both his hands on his knees as he panted and considered just letting Ryuushii go. He apparently didn't like Ryuunosuke at all, and had finally tore off the connection that bound him to the human. He finally broke free of the prison ghat was Ryuunosuke. This was probably what that mutt wanted more than anything else in the world. And who was Ryuunosuke to hinder him of the luxury of freedom? He could just run off to the sunset and live his canine dreams into reality.
But then he remembered how much money he spent on the dog's food, shampoo, accessories, more food, everything. And now he's running again. When he finally caught on and Ryuushii's familiar black coat greeted his vision on a few meters ahead, he felt a surge of relief.
Then said surge of relief became a sick twist in his belly as he registered what his dog was doing.
“Calm down, boy.” A very few meters ahead of him was Ryuushii on top of a man, licking his face into oblivion as his tail wagged as if he's the happiest dog in the whole universe.
He didn't know what annoyed him more: the fact that Ryuushii made him run what felt like miles just to find him cozying up to some asshole, or the fact that said asshole was none other than Nakajima Atsushi—his ex-boyfriend from six years ago—who was wearing a floral button up with similar atrocity as his and some knee-length shorts, his hair clipped to one side, and the longer strand in a braid, and his lips quirking up with laughter and giggles.
When his heterochromatic-muted-gold-lilac eyes met his, he took his merry time to register the uncharacteristically floral button up and the scowl Ryuunosuke sent him via eye mail, until he raised his eyebrows in mockery.
“Six years, and he still likes me more, huh?”
Six years, and Ryuunosuke still wanted to punch his irritatingly adorable face.