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“I will carve out your eyes and feed them to the strays.”
Atsushi rolls his eyes, almost taunting. “With what? That silicone spatula? Ooh, I’m real scared.”
“‘Tis the season after all. You’d grow them back regardless, wouldn’t you? Perhaps we can use your eyes as decorations instead.” Akutagawa twirls the baking implement in one hand, the other at his chin now, mock-thoughtful. He stares at Atsushi’s face, though if he had to guess himself, Atsushi imagines gouging his eyes out isn’t quite what’s on his mind.
“That’s disgusting. And unsanitary.”
“I would eat it.”
“Okay, vampire,” he says, just to make Akutagawa sneer as he does, “I know this is your holiday, but we are not feeding that to people. Also, I’d rather not know what it’s like to regrow yet another body part, thanks.”
Akutagawa gives a low hum, eyes still roving over his face. And neck, he’s sure of it. “Next time, then.”
With a scoff, he shoots back, “You can’t be serious right now. Ew.”
Wordlessly, Akutagawa turns back to the dark chocolate cupcake batter he’d slammed down in his short-lived agitation, adjusting to hold the bowl in one arm as he mixes. Pretentious prick.
“I’m amazed you don’t have one of those electric mixers, what with your income.” For his part, Atsushi moves to rummaging around in the pantry, because someone put the sugar away preemptively and he still needs it for the frosting.
”How often exactly do you think I bake?”
“I don’t know, isn’t that why we got put on cupcake duty for this party?”
“No,” Akutagawa huffs.
Blinking into the shelves, he then glances over his shoulder and very decidedly does not observe the motion of Akutagawa’s shoulders as he continues to stir, back facing him. Back facing him, in just a simple, casual sweater. No coat in sight. There never is, when they’re here.
“Really? Could have fooled me, with how stocked your pantry is.”
He can practically hear the eye twitch as Akutagawa grumbles. “I like to be prepared.”
“Well you aren’t. Prepared, I mean.”
“I am. I bought everything we needed just yesterday.” He sets the bowl down to reach for the cupcake tray, already set with the bat-adorned paper liners.
“Okay. Then you tell me where the purple food coloring is.”
The way the long parts of Akutagawa’s hair fly out as he spins his head is almost comical. “No.”
Something akin to a cackle breaks out of him, and Atsushi nearly doubles over his reacquired container of powdered sugar. “You can’t “no” your way out of this one. I’ll even start filling the tray if you don’t believe me and want to look for yourself.”
“No,” he repeats. He glances over to his phone, currently open to the frosting recipe for the ingredients. “Aimee would never lead me astray.”
Tears spring to Atsushi’s eyes with the renewed force of his laughter. “But you don’t bake, huh?” he chokes out between bouts of laughter.
The responding glare is diluted by the flush overtaking Akutagawa’s pale face. It’s both too cute and too funny, and he can hardly breathe.
Eventually, he does manage to gather himself again, sets the sugar off to the side, and says, “Relax, relax, I’ll run out and grab some right now. We have to wait for those to cool anyway you said, right?” A nod. “Then there’s plenty of time. I’ll be right back!”
“Wait,” Akutagawa takes his arm with a tendril of Rashomon, yanking him back and causing Atsushi to stumble into his space. He swipes his thumb over Atsushi’s jaw as he rights himself, and pulls back to reveal a dab of chocolate. Oh. That’s what he’d been looking at, Atsushi thinks. Then Akutagawa is lifting his hand to his own mouth as he maintains eye contact, and it’s Atsushi’s turn to blush bright red, and he darts away, grateful for the excuse to flee.
Later, when he returns with the promised food coloring and cheap fondant eyeballs for decoration, Akutagawa sighs at him, but he catches a flicker in his expression that he would dare to call fond.