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This is a bad idea , Akutagawa thought as he stood outside at the flower shop, staring through the glass. He didn’t even know what kind of flowers the stupid weretiger liked. He didn’t even know if the stupid weretiger liked him . Maybe flowers were too forward. Maybe chocolates would be better. Or would that be worse? Akutagawa was at a loss.
He stepped into the flower shop anyway.
Rows and rows of flowers stared back at him. Roses were about as far as his botanical knowledge went and he was quickly becoming overwhelmed by all of the options in front of him.
Did he even know Atsushi’s favorite color? He wondered as he passed bouquets of something in different shades — pink, yellow, red, white, orange. Perhaps something purple and yellow, like the weretigers eyes. Maybe that would be too cliche.
Akutagawa wanted to run himself through with Rashomon. What was he even doing here, he felt like an idiot.
This was all Dazai’s fault. His old mentor had ruined a meeting between Akutagawa and Chuuya this morning, flooding Chuuya’s office with a delivery of varieties of flowers and heart shaped balloons. The two had been insufferable since they had mended their relationship, Akutagwa should have known that Valentines Day would be no exception. He was happy for Chuuya, happy for both of them, of course he was, but sometimes it was too much. It had, of course, then led to Chuuya asking Akutagawa if he was doing anything special for Atsushi.
Akutagawa had spluttered and turned a violent shade of red.
“The weretiger?” he had asked incredulously.
“Aren’t you two, like, a thing?” Chuuya asked casually, moving vases around on his desk to make room for paperwork.
“No! Absolutely we are not ‘like a thing’ that is absurd.” Akutagawa defended. Chuuya had given him a skeptical look and Akutagawa knew his flaming face wasn’t doing him any favors.
“Maybe you should be.” Chuuya said.
Akutagawa had spent the rest of the day thinking about that. And well, here he was now in this god forsaken flower shop, thinking about the weretigers favorite color.
God damn Dazai.
“Can I help you dear?” came a voice from behind him.
Akutagawa turned and there was an older woman in a green apron standing behind him, smiling gently. Her name tag read ‘Yuki’ and she was wearing a pink flower tucked behind her ear, gray hairs curling out around the stem.
“Um,” Akutagawa wasn’t sure he wanted help but he certainly needed it if he was going to do this right.
Yuki’s smile grew and she came closer, standing side by side with Akutagawa now. “These are carnations, they are a popular one today, good for love. Each color has a different meaning, as they do with most flowers. Did you have anything specific you were looking for?”
“Something for a … potential … partner, type person, I suppose.” Akutagawa cleared his throat uncomfortably.
“A love partner I assume, dear?”
“Uh,” Akutagawa wished he was anywhere else right now. “Yes.”
“Hm, hm, hm. Blooming love, let’s see what we have. Pale red carnations, ‘my heart aches for you,’ they mean.” Yuki pulled floral scissors from her apron pocket and began on her mission, Akutagawa trailing helplessly behind her.
“Red tulips, I think, they’re good for confessions of love,” she clipped a few stems and moved down the aisle. “Pink ones as well, for sprouting love. Purple for undying love … ah! Lavender for faithfulness of course. Baby’s breath for new beginnings and thankfulness. This looks lovely, what do you think dear?”
She showed the bouquet off to Akutagawa and he regarded it thoughtfully. “Do you have anything to say sorry?”
“Some white orchids perhaps, I think those would look quite beautiful in here.”
Akutagawa nodded and followed her to the other side of the store. Yuki added the orchids and then adjusted some of the flowers to make the bouquet look fuller. “One final touch and I think we’ll be all set dear.”
They wound through the crowd of distressed men in the store, all the way up to the register. There were buckets of purple wisteria in front of the counter and Yuki plucked a few stems of it. “Love and longevity,” she told Akutagawa.
The stems were shuffled again, leaves trimmed off here and there, and then tied up with a ribbon. Yuki wrapped them in floral paper and handed the bouquet off to Akutagawa with a flourish. It really did look stunning.
“Thank you very much for your help.” Akutagawa said as he paid.
“It was a pleasure dear. I hope your potential partner type person enjoys them.” Yuki winked and Akutagawa blushed all the way up to his forehead. He gave her a small bow and left the store, confession bouquet clutched tightly in his hands.
The next part would be even harder and certainly even more humiliating.
The weretiger picked up his phone on the second ring. “Akutagawa?”
“I need to speak to you.”
“Right now?” Atsushi asked, confusion clear in his voice.
“Yes, now weretiger.”
“Uhhhh, okay sure. Where?”
Akutagawa had not thought this through. Where could he ask the weretiger to? Somewhere meaningful, special.
“Yokohama Bay Bridge.” Akutagawa said.
Atsushi was silent for a moment. Then, “Where the Mobydick crashed?”
“Yes. On the skywalk.”
“Yeah, yeah okay. I’ll be there soon.”
Akutagawa hung up without saying goodbye, which probably wasn’t the best thing to do if he was planning on confessing to Atsushi but Akutagawa’s naturally standoffish behavior couldn’t be helped.
Heart beating out of his chest, Akutagawa leaned against the railing of the skywalk waiting for his weretiger. He wasn’t sure what he would say when he saw Atsushi but he was sure he would make a fool of himself. He stared out the window to avoid watching for when Atsushi would inevitably come through the crowd of people to meet him. Akutagawa didn’t think he had ever been so nervous in his life.
It felt like an eternity before the weretiger slid up next to Akutagawa at the railing.
“I’m surprised you even have my phone number saved,” Atsushi started. “What’s up? Do we have a mission?”
“Not exactly.”
“Oh. Well, what’s up then?”
Akutagawa bit the inside of his cheek and lifted the flowers into Atsushi’s view. He kept his own eyes locked on the horizon. The sun was starting to set and it looked enough like Atsushi’s eyes that Akutagawa could pretend he was brave enough to meet his partner's gaze in this pivotal moment.
“What … what is this?” Atsushi asked. He reached for the flowers but stopped short. “Are these – Akutagawa are these for me?”
“Who else?”
Atsushi took the bouquet then, he hugged it close to his chest, eyes wide and cheeks pink. “What for?”
Finally Akutagawa looked at Atsushi. “For Valentine’s Day weretiger.”
“ … Valentine’s Day?”
Akutagawa hummed in confirmation, analyzing every expression flickering over the weretigers face. He thought that Atsushi looked … pleased.
“So are you, um, are you asking me to be your valentine then?” Atsushi asked hesitantly.
“I am asking you, to be mine, weretiger.”
“Yours.” Atsushi repeated breathlessly.
“I learned a lot about what all of these flowers mean today. Do you know what they mean?”
Atsushi nodded slowly, turning from pink to red.
“So then, take this as my … confession. If you will have me, I am already yours.”
Atsushi nearly dropped the flowers when he threw his arms around Akutagawa’s neck. Akutagawa was so caught off guard by the hug he stumbled backwards, but he wrapped his own arms around Atsushi’s waist and steadied them. Atsushi was laughing, mouth pressed into Akutagawa’s shoulder. His weretiger picked his head up then and pressed their foreheads together, faces closer than they had ever been before.
“Can I kiss you?” Atsushi asked.
Akutagawa swallowed past the knot in his throat and then nodded, jostling both of their heads. Atsushi laughed again and then they were kissing and Akutagawa thought he must be dreaming because he had never expected to be so well received or for Atsushi to seem so happy about it all.
Everything was bathed in purple and gold light when they finally broke apart and everything was Atsushi, Atsushi, Atsushi.
His weretiger was grinning, arms still wrapped around Akutagawa, flowers held tight in his grasp.
“Happy Valentine’s Day Akutagawa.”
“Happy Valentine’s Day weretiger.”