Work Text:
Tanigaki stared blankly at the array of bookcases shoved together, making up the wall unit that adorned three-fourths of the wall in his shared living room. He’d just come in to start dusting- rare as days off were for him, he would take any chance possible to clean up, just to keep things somewhat tidy. Accumulating dust started to make him a little antsy and made allergies resolved years ago flare up again, so it was honestly easier to just nip it in the bud. Besides, it never took long; his listening to some good old fashioned rock just made it go faster.
Well, today he probably didn’t need to dust the top of the shelves. Ogata was up there, already, laying down with his head limply lolling off the edge.
How in the hell did he…
And, alright. So this wasn’t entirely strange for Ogata. Tanigaki had found Ogata passed out in various odd locations before- inside the closet, curled up in the bathtub (with the water still running and his clothes on), sprawled on the back of the couch and not the couch itself, passed out at the kitchen counter, on top of the kitchen counter… but this was a new one. And Tanigaki wasn’t smelling weed or alcohol, so presumably, his boyfriend was somewhat sober before falling asleep.
Well, there was a lot to unpack here, and honestly, Tanigaki was more inclined to throw the metaphorical baby out with the rest of the suitcase.
He really did need to get Ogata down from there, though. Nihei was going to be coming by later- and he was already somewhat convinced that Ogata would make a good hunting trophy. Better not bait the old bear. Or do anything to warrant any questioning.
Tanigaki poked at Ogata’s side gently with his extendable swiffer. Ogata made absolutely no move whatsoever, which prompted more good-natured prodding. Then slightly not-so-good-natured prodding. Jesus Christ, how did one man work himself into such a stupor when he only worked three days out the week? Maybe there was something he’d taken…
Tanigaki tried calling Ogata’s name a few times. “Hyakunosuke. Suke. Hyakunosuke…” But received no answer for his efforts. Pursing his lips, Tanigaki sized up the wooden furniture- it was by no means anything that he could climb up, and he would have had a hard time pulling Ogata’s prone body down from a bit above his head without dropping him.
Eventually, Tanigaki reached out and hit Ogata in the face with the shitty, pillowy end of the swiffer. Ogata awoke with a start, managing to stop himself mid-sneeze to instinctively bite the cleaning utensil currently being shoved into his unsuspecting face. The coughing fit that followed directly after that alarmed Tanigaki- not because of the coughing, but because the violent fit was marginally shaking their bookcases, and if Tanigaki had to clean up a dozen of more biographies from the floor before Nihei got there, he wasn’t going to be too pleased.
Thankfully, Ogata stopped, glaring slightly at Tanigaki as he asked, “What the hell was that for?”
“I needed to dust.” Tanigaki’s eyebrow raised as Ogata lifted his head up, a slightly sour look on his face. “You just so happened to be in the way.”
Ogata squinted at Tanigaki, slowly processing. Then again, now that Tanigaki thought about it, he hadn’t smelled any coffee being brewed that morning- usually Ogata brewed so much, so early in the morning, that the smell of bitter brew was absolutely inescapable. Tanigaki would need to brew coffee; for both his boyfriend on the bookshelf, and for the old hunter.
“Mm.” Ogata said, reaching a hand up to rub at his eye, but only after bumping his wrist against pockmarked plaster. There really wasn’t much wiggle room up in the narrow space between the wall unit and the ceiling, much less for a grown man. Ogata’s height made it a little more manageable, but even so… “Bastard.”
“I love you too, Suke,” Tanigaki said, somewhat fond as he shook his head. This man was ridiculous sometimes- but he was a loved fool, regardless. “Let’s get you down.”
“I feel like my joints are fucking glowsticks,” Ogata complained, pushing himself up as much as he could manage in the limited space. As if to echo that statement, his elbows popped with twin cracks, loud enough to make Tanigaki wince slightly. He started wiggling towards the edge, glancing down at Tanigaki.
“You were sleeping on solid oak.” Tanigaki reminded him because, before his coffee, Ogata had about the same memory capacity as an amnesiac goldfish. Still, though… the fact that he was asleep up there was a little worrying, now that Tanigaki saw the bags under Ogata’s eyes.
“This shitty mass of firewood?” Ogata scoffed, slipping one leg off of the wood, “As if this was anything other than a solid piece of…” Then he paused.
For a few seconds, he stared into empty space, going back to processing his thoughts. Tanigaki could even hear the series of mechanical beeps and gears whirring between Ogata’s ears as he struggled, until eventually, Ogata sprung into action. He patted down his legs, feeling along the many pockets of some somewhat horrendous cargo pants, before pulling a shiny blue box out of his pocket. Quick as a flash, he stuffed it back in, looking down at Tanigaki. Tanigaki’s eyebrows raised a little further as he asked, “What do you have there?”
“Vape,” Ogata said too quickly, and come on, that was just a shitty lie. Tanigaki knew what a vape looked like- it was impossible not to when spending any amount of time around Kiroranke- so it was almost impressive that Ogata seemed to think that he could get away with that one. Still, whatever it was, it was probably nothing to really worry about; Ogata was just a private person, in a lot of ways. This was something that Tanigaki knew all too well, being fairly private himself in a lot of other respects. Ogata would probably tell him in his own time, or else they’d both forget about it. It did make him wonder if this thing was why his boyfriend had gotten up on the bookcase, though…
Then Tanigaki remembered that this was Ogata Hyakunosuke, who just sometimes did inexplicable things to get a reaction, and decided that he didn’t need to think too hard on this.
Tanigaki set his swiffer aside, reaching his arms out. “Here, I can help you down,”
He wasn’t exactly expecting Ogata to take him up on that offer, so he was pleasantly surprised when Ogata shrugged and said, “Okay.” He was a little less surprised when Ogata, instead of slowly lowering himself down and taking his hand like a normal person, threw his entire body at Tanigaki. Because of course Ogata would take the melodramatic way and roll off. The bookshelves wobbled dangerously as Tanigaki caught Ogata, taking a few steps back in an attempt to keep his footing and not topple ass-backward in their coffee table.
Letting out a sigh of relief when that solid oak wall unit didn’t fall and crush either of them, Tanigaki tilted his head back a little, giving Ogata a mildly unimpressed look. In response, Ogata only gave a cheeky little smirk and leaned forward to kiss the corner of Tanigaki’s mouth, arms wrapping around his broad shoulders. “Guess you love me after all.”
“I do,” Tanigaki said fondly, sighing in a way that might have started out exasperated but devolved into something quiet and fond. This wasn’t the first time this had happened. “and I ask myself why I do every single day.”
“Because I’m the only interesting thing in your life,” Ogata said confidently, “and then I’m also the most seductive ,” His legs wrapped around Tanigaki’s waist next as he leaned in to kiss Tanigaki’s jaw.
Suppressing a shudder, Tanigaki snorted, tilting his head to the side. “You may be right- or you give yourself too much credit.”
“I don’t get enough credit,” Ogata huffed a bit, going limp and heavy in his arms. Tanigaki chuckled softly to himself as he set Ogata down on the couch, where he squinted up at Tanigaki for leaving him there. Well, tough luck there- Tanigaki still needed to make coffee and make things a little more presentable. Even if Nihei was an old hunter who didn’t much mind a mess, Tanigaki still would have felt bad, not giving him the courtesy of a put together home to come visit.
“I’m making coffee,” Tanigaki said, lips quirking up. “Do you want any?”
“It’s fuck all early in the morning.”
“It’s noon, but I’ll take that as a yes.” Tanigaki turned to go back into the kitchen, which honestly, wasn’t so much as a separate room from the living room as it was a new pattern of tile separated by the saddest half-wall in existence, with cabinets on either side. Both “rooms” were still in full view of each other, which made it easier to carry on conversations. Rare as they were, what with neither being particularly talkative.
“Mmm.” Ogata hummed from the couch, and when Tanigaki glanced over the laughably tiny wall, he was back to sprawling himself over it, body twisted at an odd angle that Tanigaki absolutely could not conceive of being as comfortable.
“You’ll need it anyway- Nihei will be here later on.” Tanigaki continued, flicking on the coffee machine with one hand and reaching for the tea bags with the other.
“Really? What for?” Ogata lazily asked, getting comfortable.
“Just to visit, or so he says,” Tanigaki said, frowning a little when the green tea wasn’t where they usually were. They’d just bought a box, hadn’t they? “Then I have to go down the theatre. It’s a dress rehearsal apparently.”
When Ogata spoke, it was with a measure of contempt. “They’re not expecting you to do anything with the costumes, are they. Fucking vultures…”
“I don’t think so- that sounds more like costuming.” Tanigaki mildly said, crouching down to see if maybe he’d set it in the wrong cabinet. He had. Ah, oh well. “Edogai has been handling things well thus far- though, it seems the closer the date comes, the more worried he is about how the costumes hold up. Something about zippers being hell to install on chiffon…”
“See, Genjirou, here’s the thing,” Ogata twisted his body a little more, raising up slightly on one elbow. “You know way too much about this shit now.”
“It’s not at all by choice, Suke.” Tanigaki deadpanned, unable to keep himself from thinking back to the one thing he dreaded about working running crew during every rehearsal.
Working with the actors was fine. Kiroranke and Sugimoto were generally more focused on practicing the acrobatics for King Oberon and Puck respectively, while the Nikaidous messed around with the lights at the most inappropriate times. Fumi, who had gotten the role of Peaseblossom and pulled him into the world of theatre, occasionally asked him to help with braiding her hair in that intricate, particular way that Edogai dictated, because “he’s kind of weird, and his hands smell like chemicals a lot?? I don’t know Genji, there’s something about him,”
Working with the rest of the crew was rewarding as well, in its own ways. It wasn’t as if it was a hard job- Tanigaki just helped get props and stage backgrounds out of the way when the lights went down between scenes. Ariko was nice to talk to, and Yuusaku was always excited to show him what kind of technical wizardry went behind the lights and staging. While Shiraishi was constantly coming and going, he made sure that the prop department was well funded and well stocked.
(Where a bum like him got the funds wasn’t any mystery (what with all the weed he sold), but some people speculated anyway. Sometimes Fumi and a few of the other fairy actors gossipped about how he had a shady connection with an even shadier production of Hadestown about to hit the stage at an art gallery housing the world’s rarest sapphire. Others say that they saw a local bouncer chasing him through the subway because he was suspected of murder. But, looking at Shiraishi Yoshitake, who oftentimes had trouble staying upright and was overly friendly with everyone, Tanigaki just couldn’t believe it.)
But the one thing Tanigaki dreaded most of all, was one actor in particular. The prima donna of the theatre department- the diva to put them all to shame. The one who was apparently knocked down from his pedestal for this play and this play only- because rather than playing Puck or a more dignified position, like one of the Athenian lovers, he was given the role of Bottom.
Koito. He certainly didn’t need to act to have the head of an ass.
“It’s not at all by choice,” Tanigaki repeated, sighing to himself. “One of the actors loves to… go into detail, about this sort of thing.” Really, it wasn’t even that. Tanigaki could listen to others talk about the things that they loved for a while and not at all be angry. After all, Yuusaku also tended to talk his ear off, and he could never be too cross with him.
It was just that Koito was constantly ranting about how everyone was doing the production wrong. Ranting and complaining and throwing a three week long fit- perhaps even longer, since Tanigaki had just come on board a month ago- because Sugimoto “stole” his role. Tanigaki figured that he was a fairly patient man- but playing Koito’s therapist, dealing with him constantly hiding or destroying the donkey mask he’d have to wear for the show… Christ.
As Tanigaki raised up, he had a small heart attack, seeing Ogata suddenly beside him. Sometimes, he forgot just how uncannily quiet Ogata could be at times. Ogata stared up at him blankly, though this time, it didn’t seem quite blank enough to be Ogata still processing the fact that he was, in fact, a living being who was awake.
Then Ogata said, “Hey. Take this.” before shoving the blue case from earlier into his hand. Raising his eyebrows, Tanigaki held it up and read the label.
Shooting earplugs.
“...” Tanigaki looked back up at Ogata. “We’re not due to go back to the range until next week.”
“These aren’t for the range,” Ogata said, brushing by him to grab a monster out of the fridge. A small spike of disgust crept up his throat. Sure, it might have technically been the appropriate time to crack one open, but that didn’t make it right. Just as long as Ogata didn’t do something like pouring it into his coffee again, though, Tanigaki could grit his teeth through it. “They’re for your rehearsal.”
“Is that so?” Tanigaki said, surprised. “That’s sweet of you.”
“Yep.” Ogata took a swig of radioactive sludge. “That way, you don’t have to tell me anything more about this theatre crap.”
Tanigaki snorted. Of course- why would Ogata ever do anything altruistic without some ulterior motive? Or really, the better question was, why would Ogata Hyakunosuke ever do anything sweet without first making it seem like he wasn’t being sweet? “It’s not that bad, surely.”
“Genjirou.” Ogata said flatly, looking into Tanigaki’s eyes, “I would rather dig my eardrums out one by one with a fork than sit through any more secondhand words out of Koito’s mouth.”
Tanigaki’s eyes widened slightly as he was caught a little off guard. “Wait. I never mentioned it was Koito.”
Ogata looked at him with a slightly smug look on his face. “Genji, there isn’t any one else into all that twee, prancing, theatrical sack of shit- and no one nearly as fucking annoying by mere virtue of existing- as Koito Otonoshin.”
Tanigaki was about to say something but then thought better of it. “... Yes, you’re right- he’s an ass. On stage and off stage, in this case.”
“Isn’t that always the case with him?” Ogata smirked, chugging back half that monster without an ounce of shame in his body. He turned away, starting to rummage around the cabinets. “You better use those- spent way too much money to make sure you don’t have to listen to that twinky bastard…”
“I’m sure,” Tanigaki said, smiling gently. He set the box of tea down to the side and caught Ogata’s shoulders, turning him around to plant a chaste kiss against Ogata’s lips. Ogata quickly twisted his arm to set the energy poison behind him and reached a hand up, slipping one hand into Tanigaki’s short hair and tilting his head in an effort to deepen the kiss. Tanigaki pulled away, though, eyes shining with some measure of mischief.
“Thank you, Hyakunosuke,” Tanigaki said, hand going up to rub a thumb over Ogata’s face. Ogata’s face pressed into Tanigaki’s hand, eyes slipping shut.
Ogata huffed out a breath from his nose, pleased. “You’re welcome. Kiss me again.”
“Sorry- but not until you stop tasting like… that.” Tanigaki patted Ogata’s cheek gingerly before stepping away, going towards the electric kettle. Ogata’s stare drilled into the back of his head and Tanigaki had to fight to keep his smile hidden.
“You’re terrible, Genjirou.” Ogata groused.
“It’s not my fault you taste terrible, Suke.” Tanigaki laughed a bit under his breath. “Here, let’s have breakfast. Then, we should have some time before Nihei gets here… Then, we can do whatever we want.”
Tanigaki saw Ogata perk up slightly at that out the corner of his eye. It was all he could do to keep himself from smiling too much as the electric kettle gave a whistle in the background.