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“Jinko.”
“Akutagawa.”
They glare at each other.
They look like idiots, glaring at each other with swim shirts and swim trunks. Akutagawa is slowly floating away on the lazy river, while Atsushi has a floatie around his waist. They continue to glare at each other as Akutagawa floats farther and farther away.
He’s almost out of view before Rashomon grabs Atsushi’s waist, yanking him into the river. Atsushi sputters for a moment before his instincts kick in, and he paddles along before reaching Akutagawa’s floatie, tipping him over.
They scuffle for a few moments, treading water and disturbing others until a lifeguard blows their whistle at them.
“You two! Either you get out, stop fighting, or I pull you out myself!” The lifeguard’s voice wavers for a moment when Akutagawa turns to glare at him, but they keep their composure until the end, puffing out their chest.
“Dazai-san said that we should enjoy ourselves today, didn’t he?” Akutagawa’s head whipped around at Atsushi’s mention of his beloved mentor (and Atsushi’s barely tolerable coworker), but he does get back on his floatie without any more complaints, elegantly stretching over the plastic as he readjusts his sunglasses.
“I never knew that your idea of enjoy yourself was spending time with me, Jinko.” Akutagawa remarks as Atsushi floats closer, holding into his tube to keep distance, “I would have thought that enjoying yourself would be spent far away from me.”
Atsushi lets out a small, forlorn sigh. Akutagawa’s never going to figure out that Atsushi likes him. No matter how many hints that Atsushi dropped, Akutagawa never picked up on a single one of them, like how Atsushi made sure he had food after missions, or how Atsushi made sure that whenever Akutagawa got something from Uzumaki, there was a heart in his drink, or how Atsushi kept on trying to spend his free time with him.
(So what if Atsushi kept on walking into firefights? It wasn’t his fault that he doesn’t have intricate workings of the Port Mafia! There’s no reason for Akutagawa to be so torn up about it every time Atsushi gets riddled with bullets. All it does it hurt, the damage won’t stick.)
“You know that I do like spending time with you, right?” Akutagawa glances at him. Atsushi tries to flutter his eyelashes but Akutagawa just looks away. Atsushi wishes that he knew if Akutagawa was blushing or not, but Akutagawa slathered on a thick layer of sunscreen before coming outside.
Atsushi’s ninety percent sure that Akutagawa’s wearing too much sunscreen, but Akutagawa often flushes at the slightest breeze so it’s probably for the best. Atsushi leans over the side of Akutagawa’s tube, slowly treading water.
“Were you never told not to stare, jinko?”
“Were you ever told not to stalk people?”
“That was for my job.”
“You could have refused.” Atsushi shoots back, leaning forward more. His head is nearly on Akutagawa’s thigh, and the thought of resting his head on the pare skin there sends a thrill through him. His skin is pale, but not deathly so. Just pale enough that the light scar marks are nearly invisible. But they don’t escape the tiger’s eyesight. There is about a dozen of them littering his skin, different shapes and lengths. Only one of two seem life threatening. Atsushi lets out a sigh of relief.
Of course he knows that Akutagawa survived the life threatening ones, but Atsushi doesn’t like the thought of Akutagawa in pain.
He’s staring so hard that he misses Akutagawa rearing up to kick him. Unluckily, Akutagawa misses, only pressing his thigh against Atsushi’s face in an attempt to knock him off. Instead, Akutagawa presses the soft, warm skin to Atsushi’s lips.
His brain shuts down for a moment, leaving him drifting.
(Rashomon is kind enough to grab Atsushi’s tube and drag him along while its owner struggles to hide his smirk behind his cough.)
“Don’t tell me you’re weak to such a thing?” Akutagawa calls to Atsushi as his brain attempts to reboot itself, “The savior of Yokohama, taken down by a simple accidental kiss. Oh, if the tabloids could see you now.”
“If the tabloids could see me now, they’ll be talking about me fraternizing with the man whose wanted posters are plastered on every street corner. It’ll take them a week or two to get to this part.”
“You understand people with nothing else to do but make creepy stories. There’s a few about me, and how I murder people by stuffing leaks down their throats. The ‘Leak Murderer of Yokahama’ or—why are you looking at me like that.”
Atsushi’s eyes are shining .
“Tell me where to find that, I’m going to show them off to everyone— ” Akutagawa dunks him, shoving his floatie down. It splashes them, but he’ll ignore it for the sake of getting Atsushi off that track of thought. If that got out…Akutagawa shudders at the thought.
Atsushi opens his mouth again once his head breaks water.
“Find it and I’ll leave around every article that goes into frankly disturbing detail on your abs.”
Atsushi blinks, “ What? ”
“You have more stalkers than just me.”
“...I think I prefer you.”
“I would too.” Akutagawa agrees, holding his breath as Atsushi swims forward, laying his head on Akutagawa’s thigh. His hair is soft, silver strands gently tickling his thigh.
“Are you purring?”
“Tigers can’t purr.”
“I’m not talking about tigers, I’m talking about you .” Akutagawa leans forward, listening for the soft rumbling noise that comes out of his partner, “No, you’re definitely purring.”
“You don’t know what purring is. I’m just relaaaaxing.” The last word is muffled because Atsushi has now pressed his entire cheek against his thigh, rubbing gently, “You’re warm.”
“Of course I am.” Akutagawa hides his flushing cheeks with his hands, “You know how hot it is.”
“But you’re normally so cold. It feels nice.”
Atsushi doesn’t notice Akutagawa’s fight with a furious blush as he lets the cool water and Akutagawa’s warm skin slowly lull him to sleep.
Akutagawa lets out a soft huff, but Atsushi knows that he’s not imagining it when Akutagawa starts scratching his head, fingers twisting wet hair and massaging his scalp, “They’d have a field day when they see the savior of Yokohama being pet like he is a cat.”
“Is that insult supposed to be directed at me or you? Because, if you haven’t noticed, the savior of Yokohama very much likes to be pet.” Atsushi lets out another warm sigh, that is very much not a purr, thank you very much.
“You.” He replies, pushing his head into Akutagawa’s careful attention.
Akutagawa groans, but doesn’t stop.
(He doesn’t mention the ears that have appeared on Atsushi’s head, or the tail tip flicking above the water. His written speech that was supposed to proclaim his love is, well was , in his back pocket, completely ruined now.
Eh, it doesn’t matter. Right now, it feels like they have forever.)