Work Text:
It felt... A little dizzy to just go through everything like this. From being energetic to just spent is something else in Akutagawa's opinion. It felt hot and now it became cold all of a sudden. As if something was missing from the place.
Right. Damn tiger's presence.
He figured that Atsushi would leave anyways but it still manages to make him shiver up like that from the cold air filling the area. So, Akutagawa decided to just close his eyes and ignore every other bit of life around him. He already tested that socks still count as clothing, which isn't quite the most reassuring knowledge but it means he could still use Rashomon despite the obvious nakedness. Is he gonna catch a cold? No, he doesn't think so. Even if he did, he'd refuse to listen to everyone telling him he is.
That thought didn't last too long as Akutagawa felt a pair of warm hands on his hips, he opened his eyes as he saw the sunset colored eyes catching more to purple on his way. It made him confused, why didn't Atsushi leave yet? Another round, perhaps? But no, he's too soft hearted to push Akutagawa to his limit.
Before he knew it, Akutagawa was taken from the bed into Atsushi's arms like a doll. Which made him scoff.
"Hey, who gave you permission to carry me?" He grumbled, hands on Atsushi's shoulders and nails purposefully digging into the weretiger's skin to hurt him. "Ow, I'm just bringing you to a bath you ass." Atsushi grumbled, biting his lip as he felt Rashomon stabbing his leg. That damn sock.
"I don't need a bath."
"Yeah, guess who cares."
Akutagawa frowned even more at that. He hated being ignored like this.
"This is my house, Jinko. You can't order me around in this place or force me to bathe." Akutagawa gritted his teeth. He was annoyed and stubborn, only thing that would convince him to bathe would be taking the seeds of 100 strawberries one by one. But Atsushi seems to have no patience or time for all that.
Atsushi frowned a bit more and bit his lip as Rashomon dug deeper to his leg. "Yeah, it's your fault to let me into your house then. I don't give a shit what you say, you're having some aftercare." What the hell? Was this guy just deaf or something?
"The heck you mean aftercare? Are you saying I'm not capa-"
"Ohhhh fuck offffff." Atsushi huffed, cutting Akutagawa off which made Akutagawa just even more annoyed.
Despite that, Akutagawa stopped attacking him with Rashomon. He was already in a vulnerable spot right now that the other wouldn't have any struggle removing his socks to make him fully naked. Though, he was also wondering if that theory was true. Better not to push it.
Once they arrived at the oh-so-holy bathroom, Akutagawa was able to notice the bathtub already filled. It seemed warm but appearances can be deceiving, Atsushi can also attempt to murder him with cold water.
"Stop glaring at me." The younger sighed, looking at Akutagawa. The older had an expression as if he murdered his sister for god's sake.
Akutagawa grumbled, taking his gaze elsewhere.
Atsushi didn't question it much before starting to lower the other down to the water. And something became clear. Akutagawa's grip on him tightened the closer he was to the water. "Are you fucking scared of water?" He asked, frowning at him. Akutagawa, of course, didn't give an answer. Atsushi wondered why he even bothered to ask.
His right hand left Akutagawa's body and went to the water, grabbing a handful of water and splashing it all on Akutagawa's face. "Wha- what the fuck!?" Akutagawa coughed, his hands leaving Atsushi to wipe away the water.
Taking the opportunity, Atsushi swiftly put Akutagawa down on the water. "There we go."
...
..............
..........................
"...Great, my socks are completely wet."
Akutagawa complained, summoning Rashomon just for it to slowly fall back to his socks. He hated them getting wet. Even if his ability can work while they were wet, he honestly didn't want to use much of his energy to use it to wrap Atsushi (despite the mental struggle to quite literally choke the other). "It had to be a bath, didn't it? Why not a damn shower. At least maybe we'd have a better time in it."
"Oh hell no, you can barely last 3 rounds." Atsushi said back, getting glares from Akutagawa yet again. They were honestly more annoying than scary. "It's true!" The younger said again.
"..." Akutagawa kept silent, perhaps because he didn't necessarily wanted to keep things more vocal. His hand plunged inside the water, feeling as the water traveled up to his elbow the more he let his hand sink. It was warm. Not too hot, not too cold.
He murmured under his breath, making Atsushi wonder what he had said behind his back but he pushed it aside because he would rather have Akutagawa bathe than complain about not answering him.
He looked to the side, seeing the expensive looking shampoos and conditioners. For a man not liking to bath, he has quite the stuff.
He squinted, trying to read the ant sized instructions on the bottles. It was as if they added stuff so complicating to read that they are trying to cover up for some poisoning effect or something. Plus, most of it was written in chinese with a poor translation to japanese. He contemplated upon putting it down and instead sticking to something else instead.
Instead, he took off the cap and smelled the shampoo. His smile grew bigger as if he was a child enjoying his toy, the faint smell made him remember how he'd smell the same on Akutagawa's dark locks whenever he leaned to his neck to give another sweet hickey, sweat unable to cover up the shampoo's scent coming from his hair.
"What the heck. Why is this in Chinese?"
He complained suddenly as the discovery of another shampoo pulled him out of his fantasies. Akutagawa made a sound closer to ones he makes whenever he finds Atsushi annoying/doing something annoying/making a statement that's annoying/being annoying but this one was more forced since the bath was actually doing something to soothe his aching body. Atsushi gives a hum back and an eye roll before he decides to use it, nobody told him anything about not using it.
Despite missing pretty much the entire smell of Akutagawa's casual shampoo, Atsushi doesn't deny that seeing the other evenly annoyed was great, pleasing.
Akutagawa huffed, turning away from the mirror as he got out of the bathrobe halfway to put on some underwear and sweatpants. Atsushi watched from the side as well, his shirt got soaked but he can live with that honestly. After the amount of times his shirts and pants got destroyed in battles (he does not wish to include other occasions for that matter) this doesn't even seem like much of a deal for him.
But in the end, seeing Akutagawa be careful makes him feel so much like an idiot. The other is always on guard, always making sure he has a control on everything while Atsushi is willing to trust him fully. This, in the past, led to many anxieties about Akutagawa not wanting him the same way. In the end, he does still sometimes feel the same but he can understand why.
"Hey." Atsushi blinked at the sound, looking up to Akutagawa who was fully dressed with a damp hair. He raised his eyebrows in acknowledgement. Akutagawa only gave a small hum as a warning before Rashomon sparked up from his sweater, wrapping around Atsushi coat hung on the side of the bed and throwing at his face. "You may leave now."
Atsushi huffed, peeling the coat off his face. Of course, the causal leaving between the two that makes Atsushi even more confused about their relationship.
"Fine." He breathed out. At least he was able to give him a bath this time. Improvement, he guessed.