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“They’re so cute aren’t they?” Atsushi asks his boyfriend, Ryuu, as they stand, hand in hand, watching the puppies run around behind the glass window of the mall’s pet store. Ryuu sighs, clearly disinterested.
“Not as cute as you,” he replies, pulling him into an embrace to kiss his jinko’s forehead. Atsushi laughs as he nuzzles into Ryuu’s neck. When they finally separate, Atsushi had forgotten about the puppies and the two were on their way to head home. Ryuu inwardly sighs in relief. The truth was simple: dogs freak him out. But of course, he was hellbent on keeping his fears concealed from Atsushi. He was supposed to be the one protecting them wasn’t he?
After a warm bath, the two get ready for bed--but not before messing around with each other first, of course. Completely spent, they practically collapse into each other’s arms, legs tangled beneath the sheets.
It wasn’t until around 3AM when Ryuu’s slumber was rudely interrupted by Atsushi shaking him awake.
“Ryuu, I heard a noise...”
“Go back to sleep, jinko.”
With a huff, Atsushi attempts to resume his sleep before the bang of metal on concrete awoke him again.
“Ryuuu…”
The latter groans and removes himself from the comfort of warm pillows and blankets to grab a flashlight and check outside. Atsushi, feeling a tad bit guilty for troubling his half-awake boyfriend, gets up as well--draping the blanket around his shoulders and taking it with him to join Ryuu outside.
There were a lot of things that Atsushi was guessing the host of the noise to be, but this was definitely not one of them.
There stood Ryuu, casting rashoumon defensively at… a small dog?
“Ryuu, what are you doing?!” Atsushi cried, grabbing the dog before his lover could even think of hurting it.
“I-it’s trespassing!” Ryuu quickly blurts.
“It’s just a dog! Look it’s hurt.” Atsushi motions to it’s leg, fur stained red.
The boy is practically swaddling the dog in their shared blanket (great, now it’s all bloody!).
“You want a warm bath, don’t you?” Atsushi says to the dog, half gushing.
Ryuu stares, mouth agape.
“We are not keeping that.”
But his protest falls on deaf ears as Atsushi walks toward their bathroom, cooing at the small animal the entire way.
Ryuu leans one shoulder against the bathroom doorway, arms folded as he watches his jinko wash the dog in the warm water of the sink. The latter showered the pup in compliments and Ryuu couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy. He silently glares at the dog as Atsushi wrapped its leg in bandages. He then sets it in an empty cardboard box with a bowl of water and some of last night’s leftover chicken (Ryuu was looking forward to finishing that too!).
Atsushi steps back to admire his handiwork, eyes sparkling as he turns to his boyfriend with a cheerful smile. Ryuu rolls his eyes.
“I’m going back to sleep.”
Atsushi laughs and runs up to join him.
***
Ryuu wakes up that morning to an empty bed and the sound of something frying in the kitchen. He smiles when he sees Atsushi cooking eggs-over-rice while humming a sweet tune he doesn’t remember the lyrics to.
Ryuu goes to hug him, but before he can make it, he’s suddenly attacked by the dog from last night--successfully toppling him to the floor to lick at his pale face.
“Eugh…”
Atsushi turns around, startled by the noise, only to laugh at the picture-perfect scene.
For the rest of that day, the dog, now named ‘Naki’ by Atsushi and ‘Annoyance’ by Ryuu, stayed true to its name and followed the latter like a shadow.
“Ugh, go play with jinko. He’d much rather have you around than I do,” Ryuu complains--trying to find some quiet to read his book. As if it understood, Naki leaves the room. The raven smiled inwardly, opening the book to the page he left off on… until Naki came back. With a ball. It resolutely drops it on Ryuu’s lap.
“If I throw it, will you go away?”
Ryuu doesn’t wait for an answer he knows won’t come. He throws the ball and watches Naki run off before returning to his book.
Naki comes back just as quickly as it left, dropping the slobbery ball on Ryuu’s lap again. Ryuu doesn’t even look up from his book when he uses rashoumon to toss the ball across the room.
After about five or six rounds, Naki hops on Ryuu’s lap, circling around before settling. When rashoumon throws the ball again and Naki doesn’t leave, Ryuu finally peels his eyes away from his book to study the ball of overgrown fur on his lap.
“...warm.”
***
“Ryuu, I finally got an appointment for the ve…” Atsushi pauses mid step.
There Ryuu was, one hand buried in Naki’s soft fur and the other hand barely keeping his forgotten novel open, head drooping and fast asleep on the couch. Atsushi giggles before going to join his sleepy boyfriend and dog.
Not before taking a picture of course.