Work Text:
1.
It started, much like a lot of Atsushi's other dilemmas, with his superior, Dazai, calling him over one work day, the same smug smile on his face that he puts on whenever he's planning something. Atsushi's seen it enough times to know the exact shape his lips make, has memorized the slight raise of his left eyebrow, and the unmistakable glint in his eyes. He's also seen situations that start with this very smile end in various ways ranging from a week off from work (which would be the ideal ending considering Christmas was not that far away) and the Armed Detective Agency in flames.
So he guesses he's partially at fault when he lets himself fall into the rabbit hole of Dazai's long list of ideas that could or could not end in a disaster.
This time though, he's not too sure.
"Atsushi!" Dazai chirped, signature scheming smile on his face, chin resting in his two hands. "Do you have any work to do until the party tomorrow?"
There's a pile of unfinished paperwork atop Dazai's table even though there's only three hours left until the end of the day and an abandoned game of Tetris on the computer in front of him. Atsushi can already hear Kunikida's voice nagging at Dazai when he realises he's been slacking off the entire day.
"Not anything other than a bit of paperwork. Why, did you need help finishing your pile?" Atsushi replies, already subconsciously figuring out how fast he's gonna have to work to leave on time.
Dazai sighs dramatically, clutching his chest, pointedly turning away from the pile of unfinished paperwork.
"Don't talk about my work when I'm on my break—"
"Your break ended four hours ago."
"—and this is something I thought you'd be interested in doing!" Dazai says.
Atsushi blinks, setting aside the fact that he just got ignored. "Is that so?"
"Mhm!" Dazai exclaims, bending down to pull open one of his drawers, beginning to rummage through it. "You're gonna attend the party tomorrow right?"
"The joint Christmas party of the ADA and the Port Mafia?" Atsushi asks.
"Yep," he pops the 'p'.
Everyone knows about the Armed Detective Agency and the Port Mafia's history. They were in a similar line of work, the only difference was that their principles were inherently contradicting. It was after a few jobs that overlapped, jobs that they had to use the collective prowess of the Armed Detective Agency and the Port Mafia to get it done, that they decided to call a truce. It wasn't as if they were at war with each other, but they weren't in the best terms either. They decided that they would simply coexist with each other, and if they ever needed either side's help, they would gladly give it.
Atsushi didn't know that meant their annual parties would be joint as well.
"What about it?" Atsushi tilts his head.
Dazai smirks, "How do you feel about putting up a few decorations?"
It's then that Dazai pulls out a box from his drawer, slamming it down on his desk, some of it falling from out of the box.
It's filled with mistletoe.
Atsushi eyes the box, wracking his brain for what Dazai could possibly be thinking of that he's making him put up mistletoe for the party the Port Mafia is gonna be present at.
"What do you mean?" he asks, unable to think of any answers.
"Oh, nothing!" Dazai exclaims, a not-so-innocent smile on his face, "I just thought it'd be nice to create a festive atmosphere. It's a Christmas party, after all!"
"A festive atmosphere."
" Yes ."
"With mistletoe."
"Mhm!"
" Just mistletoe?"
"Exactly!"
Dazai continues to smile up at him as Atsushi deflates. He has no idea what he's up to.
"Uh, I'm not sure I under—"
"Akutagawa 'll be here early tomorrow, did you know? I called him over to finish my paperwork."
Ah . Atsushi thinks. Now , he gets it.
Atsushi sighs, "I didn't know you were into playing matchmaker, Dazai."
Dazai raises his eyebrows, "I have no idea what you mean," he feigns innocence.
He knows exactly what Atsushi means, he knows what everyone means more than half the time, Dazai's unmistakably a genius in that regard. It only irks Atsushi that he's acting like he doesn't.
So he scoffs, crossing his arms as he says, "You should at least try to finish half of today's pile, Dazai."
He hears Dazai say, "Yes, yes!" as he takes the box of mistletoe back to his desk, setting it down with a sigh.
The truth is that he didn't hate the idea of him and Akutagawa kissing under the mistletoe. In fact, Atsushi's fantasized about kissing the mafioso many times under many circumstances (in public or alone, on the cheek or with tongue, no clothes and under the covers— god Atsushi get ahold of yourself ) but he never thought it'd ever actually happen, what with their history of animosity, not just within the Armed Detective Agency and the Port Mafia, but also between Akutagawa and Atsushi themselves. Since the truce they've been… tolerating each other. Atsushi's had his fair share of joint missions with the mafioso (even more so after Dazai picked up on Atsushi's little crush on the guy) and he doesn't think the way Akutagawa looks at him has changed too significantly. Not enough to maybe wanna exchange blows with tongues instead of fists. But maybe, just maybe, he'd want to.
Atsushi wants so badly that he'd want to.
That's what leads him to right now, slightly dazed and distressed with the thought of the oncoming party and whatever it entails.
And the tiny traps he's set just before that, of course.
"Ah, Jinko," Akutagawa's bored, monotone voice rings as he steps inside the Armed Detective Agency's building. Atsushi's in the middle of waiting for the elevator to come down (and he's going to pretend he didn't just miss it five times because he was waiting for the elder to show up).
"Good morning, Akutagawa."
"Mhm."
He steps into place next to Atsushi. He's wearing a thick black coat and a white muffler that covers up his mouth, perfect for the winter weather. Atsushi thinks he looks adorable.
It's silent until the elevator pings, signalling that it's come. The first thing Atsushi does is look up to check if the mistletoe he'd hung up was still there.
Akutagawa steps in first.
"Will you be attending the party later?" Akutagawa asks as the elevator goes up.
Atsushi raises an eyebrow, intrigued to hear that Akutagawa is actually talking to him and not ignoring him completely.
"Of course," Atsushi replies. "Dazai's put a lot of work into it."
The elder chuckles, looking up slightly and Atsushi holds his breath.
"That Dazai. Probably used up all his time to plan for the party instead of doing his work. Now he has to ask me for help. And he calls me the idiot."
"I don't think you're entirely wrong about that, to be honest," Atsushi says, beginning to fiddle with his fingers as he anxiously looks up.
Akutagawa seems to notice him fidgeting because he says, "Your hands are turning blue."
Atsushi looks down at his hands.
"Ah," he says, hiding them at his sides, "I wear gloves but they're fingerless and not very suited for the winter."
The elevator door opens with a bell.
"Well, then," Akutagawa says as he steps off the elevator, "Good luck on your work today, Jinko."
He's too stunned to get off that the elevator takes him straight down. Alone, with a mistletoe above his head.
Akutagawa didn't even notice it.
2.
Okay.
So, maybe that didn't work.
Atsushi slumps against the café table, turning his head to face the coffee cup right next to him. Its heat presses against his face in the slightest way possible but he's too unmotivated to move away from it.
So what if it didn't work? It wasn't like he expected it to. He knew Dazai's idea was stupid from the beginning, anyway. There was no way Akutagawa was gonna kiss him there.
Atsushi sits up to lean back on the booth, drooping his shoulders down as he stretches his neck to look up. He can see the mistletoe he hung up yesterday on the small chandelier above the booth. It really isn't quite noticeable unless he didn't already know it was there. Maybe the problem was that he needed to point it out.
Atsushi slurps the rest of his coffee, glaring at the mistletoe above him and the very empty spot in front of him. He put it there on the off chance that Akutagawa would agree to having lunch with him but Atsushi couldn't even bring himself to ask after what happened this morning. He's not even sure Akutagawa was gonna have lunch here—
"Oh, Jinko. Is it your break, as well?"
Speak of the devil. Atsushi nearly spits out his coffee.
"A-Ah!" Atsushi chokes, setting his cup on the table with a clang and calming himself down. "Akutagawa!"
The mafioso raises an eyebrow, staring at him questionably. "Did something happen?"
" Nothing !" Atsushi's quick to reply. "Nothing happened! What do you mean I just—," he coughs, "—choked on my drink is all."
"Oh," Akutagawa turns to his side, "As careless as ever, aren't you, Jinko?"
Atsushi lays his head in his hand. "I guess so," he says, not even having the energy to rebut.
"I suppose I'll have to accompany you for lunch, considering you can't even manage to drink a cup of coffee without accidentally getting yourself killed," he says, taking the liberty to take the empty spot right across from him.
"Ah, no. You don't have to—"
He catches a glimpse of the mistletoe right above the booth and freezes.
This might just be the opportunity he's been waiting for.
"Sure," he says instead, trying to contain his smile. "Be my guest."
Akutagawa nods, calling over the waitress to order a portion of curry.
Now, how was he gonna bring it up?
He could easily just point towards it without saying any words and quickly pull Akutagawa in for a kiss, but he obviously couldn't do that. Not sober, anyway. He could try to bring it up in conversation. Atsushi wasn't known as a very smooth talker, but he could probably mention it in passing.
"The snow hasn't let out all day, you think it'll keep at it until evening?" Akutagawa says, arms crossed as he looked out the window.
It's the second time Akutagawa has initiated a conversation with him today and it still baffles him that he does.
"Oh, yeah, it has," Atsushi says, looking out himself. "It'll probably stop in a few hours, though."
Akutagawa sighs, "Getting home's gonna be a pain in the ass."
Atsushi chuckles, "Ah, I don't think it's all that bad. Christmas is best when it's snowing."
"Christmas and all of its traditions are a pain in the ass," Akutagawa rebuts.
It makes the younger raise an eyebrow. It's almost as if Akutagawa's doing all the work for him.
"Really?" Atsushi questions. "What other traditions are a pain in the ass?"
Akutagawa rolls his eyes. "God, where do I even begin? Setting up the tree at the Port Mafia was such a bother. Mori kept telling us to change around the ornaments because apparently Elise didn't like them all that much. The Christmas songs you hear absolutely everywhere make my ears bleed, let alone hearing them from a bunch of tone deaf teenagers singing at your doorstep to make an easy buck. And I don't think I even need to explain why gift giving is awful."
Atsushi can't help but laugh as Akutagawa drones on about his hate for Christmas, not used to the mafioso being so candid with him that he's going on a tangent.
"I didn't know you were such a grinch," Atsushi comments.
"I'm not a grinch ," Akutagawa defends, "I just think that some things are unnecessary for the holiday season."
Atsushi sips what's left of his coffee. He'll have to do it now because he probably won't get another chance.
He takes one last glance above them and says, "What about mi—"
"Oh my, what's this?"
The waitress materialises at their table with Akutagawa's order in hand, placing it down before she reaches up at the chandelier. She grabs the mistletoe and pulls it off. Atsushi might've felt his soul leave his body.
"That's weird, I don't remember putting this up here when we decorated the place."
She carefully examines it in her hand and Atsushi so badly wishes the ground would swallow him whole.
"That's mistletoe, isn't it?" Akutagawa speaks.
"Mistle… toe?"
Atsushi quickly turns to Akutagawa, wondering if he's realised what could've happened.
"Ah, I remember!" the waitress exclaims. "Aren't the people underneath supposed to share a kiss? A bit awkward that it's been above you both all this time isn't it?"
Atsushi actually laughs; at himself and the ridiculousness of it all.
"Yeah… awkward," he says dejectedly.
"Lucy must've put it up as a prank or something. Anyway, enjoy your meal, Akutagawa! Nakajima, if there's anything else you want, let me know!"
She goes off her merry way without a single idea of the inner turmoil brewing in Atsushi's brain. Across from him, Akutagawa starts to eat, also completely ignorant of the storm in Atsushi's chest.
3.
"Tanizaki, I'm losing my mind! "
Atsushi whines when Akutagawa enters the shop by himself. They were in the middle of getting the cake for the party later because Dazai forgot to order one. Akutagawa had told them that he needed to buy something and to wait for him outside.
Tanizaki smiles, patting Atsushi's back, "There, there, Atsushi."
He was telling him about the plan that Dazai hatched and all the unsuccessful attempts thus far. It felt depressing even talking about it.
"I don't think it's gonna work. Either Akutagawa's blind as fuck or I've been putting them in awful spots. Either way, it's hopeless," he groans leaning against the wall near them.
"Hey, don't think that," Tanizaki encourages, "I'm sure you'll get your kiss soon enough."
Atsushi sighs, leaning against the wall, "What if he doesn't even want to kiss me?" he asks.
" Oh , Atsu—"
"Apologies for the wait. There was quite a line in there," Akutagawa arrives with a plastic bag in tow.
"No problem. You got what you needed?" Tanizaki asks.
Akutagawa nods. "Should we go?"
They begin to walk towards the train station so that they could get back to the agency, cake and whatever Akutagawa bought with them. It's still snowing and Atsushi's hands are becoming increasingly more cold, he wishes they could just head back.
"Ah!" Tanizaki says, "Sorry, but could I go to the restroom here first? The restrooms in the subways are god awful."
Akutagawa does nothing but nod, already beginning to lean against the wall near him.
"Hurry back," Atsushi says.
"Will do!" Tanizaki responds, and with that he runs away.
Now it's just… the two of them.
"I don't understand why we need a cake," Akutagawa says, gesturing towards the plastic bag Atsushi was holding. "Is that a Christmas tradition as well?"
"I'm pretty sure Dazai just wants cake," Atsushi replies, "But yeah, Christmas cake is something people do, too."
"This is just a normal cake, though," Akutagawa says, "Nothing Christmassy about it."
"We bought it on Christmas. That's plenty Christmassy already."
"Already making excuses for Dazai, are we?" Akutagawa jabs.
He rolls his eyes, "As if that wasn't you two months ago," Atsushi rebuts.
Akutagawa laughs, actually laughs at that. And it's a sight that Atsushi hardly gets to see, he nearly stares in awe.
But instead he turns away, lest Akutagawa realise that the blush on his cheeks is because of his smile and not because of the cold winter air.
It's then that he sees an actual, growing mistletoe across the street. His eyes widen.
"What's wrong?" Akutagawa asks when he realises Atsushi hasn't spoken.
"Oh, nothing it's—," he turns away from the mistletoe and meets eyes with Akutagawa.
If they could just could just cross the road he could get all of this over with.
"H-Hey," he stutters, feeling his stomach make a flip. "Do you wa—"
"I'm back!" Tanizaki exclaims, out of breath, cheeks puffed. "Hurried back, as promised."
He wanted so badly to punch his friend.
"Good," Akutagawa says, "Let's go before the train leaves without us."
Atsushi doesn't speak for the rest of the way to the station.
4.
The train station is, as expected, crowded. As do most public places become when the holiday season arrives, what with everyone hustling around to buy their presents and give them to their loved ones. It's all a bit overwhelming and stressful for Atsushi even though he doesn't make enough to give presents for everyone.
Right now though, it's just a huge inconvenience.
The train begins to move and it takes everything in Atsushi not to fall on a stranger's back and gain his balance. The train is full of people and their paper bags and boxes full of presents, taking up more space than they should. He's far too close to the person next to him for comfort.
It doesn't help that the person next to him is Akutagawa .
Well, he isn't next to him. He's in front of him, and since they were more or less at the same height he was just about head to head with Akutagawa, unable to look anywhere without seeing him in his view.
Luckily Akutagawa is looking away from him. He would've seen the blush Atsushi's unable to stop spreading all over his face like a disgusting plague.
Behind them is Tanizaki, a weird-looking smile on his face that looks eerily similar to the one Dazai had on when he first proposed this entire thing. For what reason, Atsushi has no clue.
He tilts his head and Tanizaki points up.
It's then that he realises that a mistletoe had somehow materialised right above them.
He widens his eyes, not even noticing that there had been a mistletoe there. And it probably wasn't actually there before, considering the sly look on Tanizaki's face, looking all proud of himself for forcing Atsushi into this spot. It was his ability's doing.
He might've been staring at the mistletoe for far too long because all of the sudden, Akutagawa's looking up as well, following his stare and landing on the plant growing (artificially) on top of them, and they look away from it at the same time.
The eyes meet, and if Atsushi's eyes weren't playing tricks on him, he can see the faintest taint of blush adorning Akutagawa's cheeks, mirroring Atsushi's own.
Well, what else is he supposed to do?
He makes sure his center is balanced, not wanting to completely shove his face against Akutagawa and hurt him in any way. And he slowly, slowly begins to inch towards his face, starting to feel Akutagawa's breath against his chin. He closes his eyes and—
Akutagawa turns his head before he can go any closer, as if he sensed that his lips were just about to land on his.
"Sorry about this," Akutagawa whispers, loud enough that Atsushi could hear it even though he's already stepping away. "It's a bit crowded in here, isn't it?"
Atsushi nearly freezes. But the mistletoe disappears and suddenly he feels like he's been doused by a cold bucket of water, pulling him out of whatever kind of slumber he was in when he thought that he could finally, finally kiss Akutagawa.
"Oh," he says plainly just to respond. "Yeah."
Behind him, he can see Tanizaki with an apologetic look on his face. Atsushi mouths an, "It's okay," to him and shoots him a small smile.
He turns away from both of them to hide the embarrassment he feels bubbling up inside of him.
5.
" Chuuya! "
Atsushi can hear Dazai's high-pitched voice even from the other side of the Armed Detective Agency. He can tell he's already had a few drinks, a light blush on his face as he approaches the young mafia executive. From here, Atsushi can see the scowl on Chuuya's face as Dazai comes closer to him. It makes him laugh
"Let's play a drinking game!" Dazai proposes, "Whoever throws up first loses!"
"Don't drink to make yourself throw up, you mackerel," Chuuya replies, but he takes another swig of his drink anyway. "Or are you trying to get alcohol poisoning?"
"Exactly!" Dazai exclaims, "Come on, Chuuya, afraid you won't be able to hold your liquor?" he teases.
Chuuya scoffs, grabbing an entire bottle of wine and opening it. "Don't say shit like that when you're already halfway drunk," he rebuts.
Atsushi ignores whatever witty retort Dazai's drunken brain thinks up and opts to take a swig of his own drink he's been trying to finish for all of five minutes. He can't really get himself to enjoy the taste of alcohol just yet.
But he guesses this is exactly what would happen at a party with both the Armed Detective Agency and the Port Mafia.
"They're acting like children," Akutagawa materialises next to him, nursing his own glass of what looks like red wine. There's a faint blush on his cheeks so it's probably his second drink. "Children with alcohol."
Atsushi giggles, "It's not very different to what happens any other day," he remarks, grimacing as he gulps down his drink.
They se Dazai drag Chuuya into another room, the latter screaming his protests despite following obediently. He hears Akutagawa chuckle at the sight of them.
"They seem to be having fun," Akutagawa comments.
He glances at Akutagawa and his small smile, small enough that if Atsushi weren't situated so close to him, he'd have missed it. Luckily, he's found himself right next to Akutagawa quite often nowadays. Whether it be whenever Dazai calls him over to do his work or at the joint missions he and Akutagawa go on, he somehow always finds himself in the spot right next to Akutagawa. So he supposes he shouldn't be surprised at the blooming in his chest as he stares at his subtle smile, unable to take his eyes off of him for even a second.
He'll blame the five sips of alcohol he's had for what he does next, but maybe, Atsushi's just been waiting for the right moment to do this.
"I know some place we can have our own fun," Atsushi states, swallowing his bashfulness.
Akutagawa raises an eyebrow, the small smile on his lips disappears and gets replaced by a small 'o'.
He takes Akutagawa's wrist and turns away so that he doesn't see the expression on his face, afraid of how he'll react. But he doesn't pull away, even letting Atsushi drag him along, taking him to wherever he wants.
There's a secluded spot on their floor that Atsushi had set up a mistletoe in without expecting too much. If he was ever going to ask Akutagawa for a kiss, now would be the perfect time.
Except when they turn to the corner, they see Dazai and Chuuya in the exact spot Atsushi was taking Akutagawa to, drinks forgotten and empty on the floor and kissing.
They were kissing.
Under the goddamn mistletoe.
Akutagawa snorts next to him.
"How interesting," Akutagawa says, trying to contain his laughter. "This is quite fun."
Atsushi visibly deflates, his laugh coming out empty.
"Yeah," he says, setting his drink down on a nearby table and turning around. "I think I'm gonna head off early."
He doesn't even give Akutagawa the chance to call after him.
+1
The snow is powder soft when he steps outside of the building, the cold winter air harshly brushing against any exposed skin he has, leaving him shivering from the cold even though he's wearing at least three layers of clothing.
He shoves his head into the scarf around his neck and sighs. He just wants to go home.
Maybe it was his fault for assuming things would go his way today. After all, Dazai never explicitly told him that putting up the mistletoe was for his sake. Maybe he'd been anxious over nothing.
"Jinko!" Akutagawa's hurried voice calls after him.
He turns to find Akutagawa running towards him, gusts of smoke coming out of his mouth as he pants for air.
"Finally caught up to you," he says as he arrives in front of him. "Why'd you leave so early?"
Atsushi blinks, mouth opening to gawk at the sight of the elder. He was already a few blocks away from the agency and he's sure he's never showed Akutagawa the way to their dorms.
"How'd you find me?" he asks, looking at Akutagawa in disbelief.
The mafioso points to the ground below them. "Your footsteps."
It's then that Atsushi realises he'd been leaving a trail in the snow, his footsteps leaving tracks that lead to where he stood.
"Oh," Atsushi says, scratching his head. "Then why'd you follow me?"
Akutagawa's mouth opens, "Ah!" he says, beginning to rummage through his coat pocket. He takes out the plastic bag that he bought when they were out on an errand earlier today. He extends his hand to give it to him.
"Merry Christmas, Jinko."
He takes the plastic bag in his hands, tilting his head.
"Apologies that I didn't have time to wrap it," Akutagawa says, hiding his head in his scarf.
He reaches into it and when he takes it out he sees a pair of black winter gloves with a paw print design in its palms.
"Oh, Aku—"
"Your hands were turning blue this morning so I—Well, I thought I'd buy one for you for, uh, a Christmas gift."
Atsushi doesn't even have the words to reply, he can only begin to slot his hands into the gloves, stretching his fingers out to find that it fits perfectly.
He looks up to see Akutagawa's cheeks bright red.
"I— thank you , Akutagawa. This is really sweet," he says, rubbing his hands together. "I'm sorry I didn't get you anything."
Akutagawa shakes his head, "You didn't have to," he says, "I mean, I didn't get your present until earlier today."
Atsushi chuckles, "Yeah, I guess you're right."
Atsushi takes a bit of time to just stare at his present, not used to seeing his hands fully covered and definitely not used to accepting gifts from Akutagawa , of all people, the person who Atsushi thought was tolerating him at most.
"Does this mean you don't hate me?" he says without even realising it, brain to mouth filter nonexistent.
Akutagawa furrows his eyebrows, "No, I—Jinko, I thought we've moved past that."
"I don't know!" Atsushi exclaims, self control out of the window, "You can't even call me by my name—"
"That's a habit—"
"—and you usually don't even give me the time of day. How was I supposed to know anything's changed?"
Akutagawa splutters, "Things have definitely changed!"
" How has anything changed?"
"Because I'm falling in love with you!"
Akutagawa's scarf falls from his mouth at his aggression, the gusts of smoke coming out of his mouth become more rapid. Behind him the snow continues to fall, but Atsushi can only feel heat spread all the way to his chest, he couldn't even feel the cold.
"W-What?" Atsushi manages to get out.
"I—I know I don't really speak to you, and I can't even bring myself to call you by your name but—"
He pauses, swallowing before he says, "We've gone on a lot of jobs together ever since the truce and because of that we've seen each other a lot more often. And it isn't very hard to fall for you when I'm around you all the time, Jinko. It's actually really, really easy. Easy enough that I didn't even notice it when I did."
Akutagawa isn't even looking at him as he speaks, a stark difference to his usual confident self. He must be just as embarrassed as Atsushi is.
"You—You're not joking, are you?" Atsushi asks.
"Of course I'm not!" Akutagawa exclaims, "You think I'd say something as embarrassing as that as a joke ?"
His reaction surprises Atsushi, making him step back a bit, the snow crunching beneath his feet.
"You're right. It doesn't sound like something you'd do," Atsushi says. "Then that means—"
"That I love you?" Akutagawa finishes for him. "Yes. I think I do."
Atsushi burns red, "H-How could you say something so straightforward like that?" he asks, turning away.
"I'm afraid there's no other way to do it. Otherwise you wouldn't believe me, would you?" he replies.
Atsushi looks down in embarrassment, hands fiddling with each other. It's true that he's dense as concrete when it comes to things like this. But Akutagawa's not that good at picking up hints as well, considering everything that happened earlier today.
" Wait !" Atsushi exclaims, "Does that mean you weren't ignoring all the mistletoe I set up today?"
Akutagawa's eyes widen. "You set up mistletoe?"
Atsushi pauses. "Y-Yeah. Didn't you notice?"
Akutagawa hums, looking up to recall everything. "Come to think of it, we did see a lot of mistletoe together. It didn't come to mind that it was you who hung them up, though."
"Yeah," he deflates. "It was me."
Atsushi sighs. So he didn't notice everything Atsushi set up.
Maybe mistletoe was a bad idea after all.
"Huh," Akutagawa says in realisation, "Does that mean—"
His voice trails and his cheeks turn even redder. Atsushi tilts his head.
"Does that mean you… wanted to kiss me?"
Atsushi freezes in place even though his cheeks are burning red, nearly letting go of the plastic bag that formerly held the black gloves Akutagawa gave him.
"I—," Atsushi glances at Akutagawa to find him staring straight at him, his usual confidence back and in full gear.
"... yes. I wanted to, um, kiss you."
He looks to his side, suddenly finding the pile of snow building up around them very interesting. He wishes he could just be buried underneath all of it so he didn't have to deal with this.
"You know you don't need mistletoe to get me to kiss you, Atsushi."
His eyes shoot back up to Akutagawa in shock.
In the corner of Atsushi's eye, a black shadow materialises out of Akutagawa's coat, ripping away a mistletoe growing nearby at lightning speed and placing it right above both of them.
"But since it's Christmas, I guess it'd be pretty romantic to do it like that."
Before he can even stutter out a reply, Akutagawa's advancing towards him, and all of the sudden his lips are against his, warm and delicate, like a flames burning inside of a fireplace, perfect for the winter cold.
It's still snowing, and Atsushi's hands have only just gotten covered up, so he kisses back to keep it aflame, unable to contain the feeling of his heart beating inside his chest threatening to jump out of his ribcage.
It is so very, very warm. Atsushi wishes they could stay just like this.
But they pull away eventually, needing to take a breath. Akutagawa keeps his forehead on Atsushi's and snakes a hand around him as compensation.
Atsushi shakes his head, "You don't even know how long I've been wanting to do that," he says, and he's close enough that his breath mingles in with Akutagawa's.
Akutagawa chuckles, "I think I have an idea," he replies.
Atsushi laughs and it sounds light and easy against the otherwise quiet night, and Akutagawa can only kiss his smile.
They kiss just like that; snow falling in the background, arms wrapped around each other and hearts beating miles a minute.
And with a single piece of mistletoe above them, the winter cold is all but forgotten.