Work Text:
“Can I try?”
Ryuunosuke raises his head from his desk to look at Atsushi, a calligraphy brush still in his hand.
“Sure?”
He gestures for Atsushi to sit on his lap and Atsushi happily complies. Ryuunosuke places his head on Atsushi's shoulder comfortably, then guides Atsushi's left hand with his own to hold the paper and gives him the brush. Atsushi takes it and Ryuunosuke makes him dip it in the ink bottle and remove excess ink by tapping it on the rim.
“Try writing something normally first. To get used to the brush.”
中, Atsushi writes.
“Good,” Ryuunosuke corrects his hand position a bit. “Now try something more complex?”
島, Atsushi adds underneath the previous kanji. He can feel Ryuunosuke smirking when he realises what he's writing.
“What are you, a child?”
“You're a child,” Atsushi retorts with a confident smirk, he knows he'll turn the tables on Ryuunosuke in a moment. He didn't write "Nakajima" just because he didn't have a better idea, no. He is a man with a plan. “I'm a very mature adult, I'll have you know.”
“Sounds like something a child would say.”
“Shut up,” Atsushi taps his brush on Ryuunosuke's hand. The black ink stands out on his pale skin, and it's actually quite pretty.
Ryuunosuke retaliates immediately, because no matter how much he tries to hide it, he's as much of a child as Atsushi, and soon, they're both covered in lines and dots of ink.
Ryuunosuke suddenly pauses after drawing a line on Atsushi's cheek.
“Hold on,” he grabs Atsushi's chin. “Don't move.”
And then, his brush is on Atsushi's face again, and his concentrated look tells Atsushi that he's drawing something.
“That tickles!” Atsushi giggles, which causes Ryuunosuke to squeeze his chin harder.
“Stop talking.”
After a few more minutes of Atsushi doing his best not to laugh, Ryuunosuke gives Atsushi a quick kiss on the lips before letting go of him.
“There, done. Tiger stripes.”
“What?” Atsushi turns to the mirror on the wall, blushing. And indeed, there are stripes on his face, very similar to the ones he had in his tiger form. “Ryuu!” he protests.
“It suits you, it's cute,” Ryuunosuke smiles behind him, ruffling Atsushi's hair playfully.
“I'm not cute!”
“Yes, you are. Especially your tiger ears are adorable.”
Atsushi transforms his ears. Not because Ryuunosuke said it was cute, no, he just wanted ear scratches. And Ryuunosuke gave him those without hesitation. A small, feline part of Atsushi really liked this, so he leaned into the touch.
“Who would've thought that the self-proclaimed dog of the Mafia would be a cat person,” Atsushi teases.
“Maybe you're just an exception,” Ryuunosuke smiles, scratching at the back of Atsushi's neck which causes him to throw his head back, arching his back and letting out a satisfied hum.
“So you don't like cats, you just like me?”
“Not sure. I don't mind normal cats, but only because they remind me of you.”
Noticing he was turning into a tiger more and more, Atsushi deactivates his Ability. He'd be too heavy for Ryuunosuke's lap in tiger form.
“Shall we continue with the calligraphy?” he proposes.
“Sure.”
Ryuunosuke takes out another piece of paper and a different brush.
“Now, try to write more slowly and add a bit of… elegance to it.”
“What does that even mean?” Atsushi deadpans.
“I don't know how to explain it. Watch.”
He draws the kanji for "Atsushi" on the other paper, slowly, beautifully, and Atsushi feels his heart pick up in speed at the care Ryuunosuke puts into writing his name. He observes the way he tilts the brush to make the strokes more… well, he supposes there isn't any way to describe it other than "elegant" after all.
“I'll try,” he nods determinedly and continues writing on the left half of his own paper. Slowly, carefully, trying his best to make the characters at least a little bit close to how Ryuunosuke draws them.
龍
之
介
Now, this might look like Atsushi just wrote Ryuunosuke's name because Ryuunosuke wrote his, and that it has no relation to what he wrote before, but this was his goal from the start. His paper now reads "Nakajima Ryuunosuke", and it seems that his calligraphy teacher picked up on it because he tensed underneath him, breath stilling.
“Look, this is what your signature will look like one day,” Atsushi says innocently. Ryuunosuke groans and hides his face in Atsushi's shoulder. Atsushi turns to kiss the top of Ryuunosuke's head that was now easily accessible to him. Then, he takes another paper and begins writing again, taking great care.
He feels Ryuunosuke shift behind him as he looks to see what he's writing. Luckily, Atsushi isn't that far yet, so Ryuunosuke can only see the character for "boku", which gives him absolutely no clues as to what Atsushi is planning.
“Close your eyes,” Atsushi beckons him gently. Ryuunosuke hums, and his lips find the back of Atsushi's neck, placing soft, closed-mouthed kisses on the exposed skin.
That makes it harder for Atsushi to focus, but this is important. There is a phrase he's been waiting to say to Ryuunosuke for quite some time now, but he can't bring himself to do it. They're already living together, sharing everything and spending most of their free time together, so this phrase won't change much in their relationship, but Atsushi wants Ryuunosuke to know how he feels and what he would want to do if it was legal and possible.
And since he can't say it out loud, he came up with this brilliant plan. Dazai-san would be proud of him if he found out, not that he ever will.
“Are you writing a novel or something? What is taking you so long?” Ryuunosuke asks.
“Just a moment, I just want it to be perfect before I show you,” Atsushi answers.
To be completely honest, it's taking so long because he's nervous, his hand is sweaty and shaking and his heart is beating like crazy. However, he manages to finish it despite all that.
“I'm done. You can look now.”
Atsushi is a bit sad that he can't fully see Ryuunosuke's reaction from this angle, but he could perfectly imagine his wide eyes and deep flush as he reads the phrase "僕と結婚してくれませんか？— Will you marry me?"
When Ryuunosuke recovers from the surprise, he takes his brush and draws a little yes — はい♡ into the bottom left corner.
Atsushi turns to kiss Ryuunosuke, properly this time, and it's moments like these when he sees how perfect their partnership is, because Ryuunosuke is thinking the same thing, meeting him halfway.
“I love you so much, Ryuu. I want to spend my whole life with you,” he whispers against his lips.
“So do I,” Ryuunosuke replies and Atsushi feels the smiles tugging at the corners of their mouths.
He pulls away, suddenly feeling a bit self-conscious. He reaches for the paper with his proposal.
“Okay, now let's burn this embarrassing thing before-”
“Absolutely not!” Ryuunosuke ties his hands with Rashomon, pulling them away from the desk. “I'm framing this and hanging it up in the living room…”
“Noooo!” Atsushi wails, embarrassed.
“…so that I can show everyone who visits how much of a romantic my wonderful boyf- I mean, fiancé is...”
“Ryuuu, stop, please…”
“…proposing to me with calligraphy because he's scared to tell me to my face…”
“You're too pretty, it's distracting!” Atsushi defends himself.
“Spare me your excuses, Weretiger,” Ryuunosuke tightens Rashomon's grip and lifts Atsushi up to face him. “Now, we'll leave this work of art right here, you won't lay even a finger on it, and I'll make you chazuke for dinner and we'll cuddle afterwards. Do we have a deal?”
As if Atsushi could ever say no to chazuke and cuddles.