Work Text:
Most days, Adachi eats lunch with Kurosawa. Since they work in different departments they don’t see each other too much during the work day, so it’s nice to spend that bit of time together.
Today however, Kurosawa is out with a group of other salesmen from their floor, to close a deal with Cube Enix. Toyokawa is to produce themed stationary to advertise an upcoming anime adaption for one of their series. Kurosawa had told Adachi some of the details while they cooked last night but Adachi hadn’t retained a lot of it, too focused on preparing the ingredients right and not screwing up dinner.
“It’s called - cuties something?” Adachi tells Fujisaki over lunch.
“Cuties Force X?” Fujisaki says.
“Ah, that’s right! You know it?”
Fujisaki shrugs. “I’ve seen advertisements around. It’s about a group of anthropomorphic animals but I’m not sure about the plot. It looks cute, though, perfect for themed stationary.”
“Hm.” Adachi takes a bite of his burger. “I guess so.”
They finish eating in companionable silence. As they head back to the office, they hear loud chatter and peals of laughter echoing down the hallway. A woman passes them and Adachi’s eyes widen for a moment - she’s sprouted cat ears! - before realizing she’s wearing a headband.
He and Fujisaki exchange puzzled looks but they get their answer as soon as they enter the office. A group of people is gathered around a stack of boxes, and they’re pulling out animal-themed headbands.
“Adachi! Fujisaki!” Rokkaku calls, waving them over. Kurosawa is standing next to him, wearing an abashed grin and a pair of - are those fox ears? “What do you think?”
“Where did these come from?” Fujisaki asks, accepting the headband Rokkaku thrusts at her. It’s a pair of brown, white-speckled deer ears. At Rokkaku’s urging, she puts them on.
“We closed the deal with Cube Enix! They gave us all this merchandise in order to inspire the planning and development team. But they said they didn’t need all of it, so we offered to take some of the boxes off their hands.”
Adachi peers into the nearest box. It looks like someone threw all their surplus Cuties Force X merchandise in there, all different sorts of headbands and tail pieces carelessly mixed together.
“We’re picking out headbands based on personality,” one of their coworkers, Nakamura, explains. She’s wearing a pair of zebra ears, which Adachi has no idea what says about her.
“That’s why Kurosawa is a fox,” another coworker, Chino, adds with a giggle.
Kurosawa gives her a polite, somewhat uncomfortable smile. Adachi wants to say something, to deflect the unwanted attention away from him, but thankfully Rokkaku intervenes before he has to.
“What about me?” he asks the women, pointing at his own bare head. “What animal suits me?”
Nakamura tilts her head. “Hm. A bear maybe?”
“A bear?” Rokkaku repeats incredulously.
“Or a frog?” Chino says.
“A - they don’t even have ears!”
Adachi startles when something touches his head. He turns to see Kurosawa grinning at him, hands raised to place a headband in Adachi’s hair. Curious, Adachi reaches up to feel long, soft ears.
“Rabbit?” he guesses.
“Bunny,” Kurosawa says, leaning in to quietly add, “because you’re quiet, reserved… and cute.”
Adachi feels his cheeks grow warm but he’s put up with Kurosawa’s teasing for long enough to be able to maintain eye contact at least. “And what’s it supposed to mean that you make me a bunny when you’re a fox?”
“Hm.” Kurosawa tilts his head. “That I want to chase you?”
“And eat me?” Adachi dryly asks. Kurosawa’s grin just widens and okay, now Adachi does have to look away before his face combusts. “Pervert.”
He goes to remove the ears but Kurosawa grabs his wrist to stop him. “Don’t you want to keep them on? Everyone else is.”
Adachi looks around the office to find that Kurosawa is right. Everyone, even the people sitting at their desks, hard at work, is wearing animal ears.
“They suit you,” Kurosawa adds.
Adachi huffs. He leans in, quickly whispering before he loses courage, “So do yours.”
It’s worth the embarrassment when Kurosawa beams at his compliment.
*
Adachi blinks. He’s standing in a clearing in a darkened forest, the huge crowns of the trees above blocking nearly any hint of light. The ground below him is soft and damp, fragrant with the heavy scent of decaying leaves.
He looks around but sees no one. There are no sounds either aside from the wind rustling the leaves; no birds chirping, no small creatures scattering across the forest floor. Whever Adachi is, he’s far away from his burrow.
His… burrow?
Ah, that’s right. He’s a bunny, he lives in a burrow at the edge of the forest. He had to enter it for - something? Food, maybe? For some reason, Adachi is finding it hard to concentrate, to form any concrete thoughts.
Behind him, a twig snaps. Adachi twirls around, ears raised, whole body alert. It’s a fox - a human? - a fox, with orange ears nestled in his dark hair. He’s wearing a suit and looks comically out of place, leaning casually against one of the trees.
“Are you lost, bunny?” the fox asks. It’s Kurosawa, but it’s not, and Adachi can’t figure out how that makes sense but somehow, it does.
He straightens and Adachi leans back on his heels.
“Don’t come closer,” he says, raising his hands as if he has a chance in hell of fighting the fox off should he decide to give chase.
Kurosawa grins, clearly thinking the same thing. “Or what? You’ll cuddle me into submission?”
Adachi doesn’t respond. There’s a hungry gleam in Kurosawa’s eyes and it’s making Adachi’s heart pound, making him want - want to be chased, to be caught.
Clearly, something is wrong with his instincts. He’s just not cut out to be a prey animal.
“Don’t worry.” Kurosawa takes a small step closer. Adachi takes a step back. “My fangs are sharp. You’ll barely feel it when I sink them into your throat.”
Adachi swallows.
He bolts.
He hears Kurosawa give chase.
Heart hammering wildly as if trying to escape from his chest, Adachi can barely see his surroundings as he runs past them, blurring into shades of green and brown. He’s fast, faster than Kurosawa, but he doesn’t know this forest as well as the fox.
Every step counts, every stumble could seal his fate. The wind whips past his ears, the taste of copper rising on his tongue. In the distance, he can see the treeline start to grow thinner, rays of sunshine escaping through, and somehow Adachi knows that if he only makes it there, he will have escaped the fox.
He doesn’t.
His foot catches on a raised root and Adachi goes flying, breath knocked out of him as he lands on the forest floor. He turns around, trying to get back on his feet, but Kurosawa is on top of him in a second, pinning him down.
Adachi stares up at him, frozen. Kurosawa stares back, eyes dark, his grip warm and solid around Adachi’s wrists.
“I caught you,” the fox says.
“Yeah,” Adachi breathes out. He should probably be terrified but it’s not fear that sends his heart pounding again as Kurosawa lowers his head, lips trailing softly against the column of his neck.
“You know what that means, don’t you?”
Kurosawa’s grip on Adachi’s wrists tightens and he’s opening his mouth, tongue hot against Adachi’s skin, his entire body pressed against Adachi’s. Adachi feels the touch of fangs against his throat and squeezes his eyes shut, prepared to feel them sink in when -
A loud noise startles him awake.
Adachi stares up at the ceiling, brain trying to catch up with everything that just happened. It was… a dream?
Next to him, Kurosawa groans and then leans over Adachi to turn off the alarm on the nightstand. He runs his hand through his hair and then lies down again, giving Adachi a curious look.
“Adachi? Are you okay?”
Adachi blinks. He’s not sure. Is he okay?
“Bad dream?” Kurosawa guesses, rubbing Adachi’s arm comfortingly.
“Ah-” Adachi looks away, heat rising to his cheeks. “Not exactly.”
“Not...” Something new enters Kurosawa’s voice, making it husky. “A good dream, then?”
Adachi swallows. “M-maybe.”
There’s a brief silence. Then Kurosawa’s fingers are gently grasping Adachi’s chin, turning his head to face him. Adachi reluctantly lets him and when he looks Kurosawa in the eyes, they’re gleaming in a familiar way that sends heat pooling in his gut.
“Wanna tell me about it?”