They had been hiking for the better part of the afternoon, through dense, shaded forest and up a gently sloping mountain trail. Akutagawa hadn’t seen any hikers since they set out in the early morning, leaving Dazai on one of the old wooden benches, Chuuya’s hat over his eyes. Supposedly they were hiking one of the trails as well, but as Dazai had seemed less than enthused with the activity he wouldn’t be surprised to see the car gone whenever they returned to the trailhead.
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It was nice, to be out in nature. He could hear the animals moving about around them—a wild deer had crossed the trail ahead of them, it froze when it noticed the intruders, and then was gone with a flick of its white tail, vanishing into the trees.
“There goes lunch,” Akutagawa said dryly, and Atsushi elbowed him.
Akutagawa had been remarkably amenable to this whole endeavor, which came as a surprise—mostly to himself. He knew Atsushi hadn’t pegged him as someone who would enjoy being outside as long as they had been, but he’d been by Atsushi’s side most of the days now, so much so that the paleness of his skin had warmed from the constant exposure to the sun.
There was a small, shallow creek that crossed the trail, with large flat stones meant to make the crossing easier. Atsushi still managed to wipe out on them and land in the shallow water, much to Akutagawa’s great amusement. Instead of deigning to follow Atsushi’s lead, Rashomon easily lifted him over the creek, and he stood, dry, on the other bank as Atsushi splashed through the ankle-high water.
Eventually, they reached a natural overlook that was marked with a pile of stones; it hadn’t been on Atsushi’s map and probably wasn’t that safe, but they sat on the rocks and looked out over the rolling hills, the ancient remnants of once-majestic mountains. Akutagawa leaned against Atsushi’s shoulder, the most contact he was willing to offer at the moment, still sweaty and gross from the climb.
“It feels like we’re the only two people in the world up here,” Atsushi said, shadowing his eyes from the sun.
Akutagawa threaded his fingers through Atsushi’s, and Atsushi looked over at him and smiled when Akutagawa leaned for a kiss. “Sometimes,” Akutagawa said, “I wish we were.”
Atsushi clearly didn’t know quite how to take that, so he ducked his head and looked away, blushing furiously and still holding Akutagawa’s hand—so he tugged Atsushi back and kissed him again.
Sometimes, when he looked at it from the outside, it still made not a single lick of sense to him that he would be here right now, walking under the midday sun, side by side with his most hated enemy. Akutagawa watched Atsushi as they walked, and he was taking in the sights and sounds of the forest around them, smile broad and open on his face—and Akutagawa was smitten all over again.
God, he was smitten. Hadn’t he come on this trip determined to pretend there was nothing left between them?
Atsushi’s face buried in the covers beside him, dropping off to sleep as he spoke; “good, ‘cause I love you too much…”
Akutagawa flushed and immediately turned his head slightly and stopped walked walking to cough.
Atsushi’s reaction was immediate, he half-turned on the trail, just a little bit ahead of Akutagawa. “Are you alright?” he asked, as Akutagawa uncapped his water to take a drink. “Has this been too much? We can head back at any time.”
“I am fine, weretiger,” Akutagawa said, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth. He looked up to see Atsushi looking around, clearly eying the landscape. The trees were large and old but the space between them was wider at this point in the trail, and there wasn’t that much by way of vegetation and underbrush—in fact, there were several small clearings dotted around where the sun broke through the canopy above.
Atsushi nodded his head, shifting his backpack on his back, and stepping off the trail. “Come on, we’re gonna take another break. I’m hungry anyway, aren’t you?”
“Isn’t going off the trail the number one thing we’re not supposed to do, ever, co-signed by at least four signs we passed?” Akutagawa asked.
Atsushi waved his hand in the air. “Look, you can see the trail from over here. We can spread out the blanket in my back and eat lunch and you can rest up before we start to head back.”
“We don’t need to head back; I am fine going further.” Akutagawa still didn’t step off the path, at least until he identified the largest old tree and using Rashomon impaled a branch high into its trunk in a most unnatural manner so they could find the trail again.
“You didn’t trust me?”
“Of course not. You will fall asleep in the sun after we eat and by the time you wake up, we will be disoriented and not able to find the path again.”
Atsushi stuck out his tongue as Akutagawa joined him in the clearing, full of lush wild grass that had been tamped down already by something large. Atsushi spread out their quilt and immediately dropped into a sitting position on it, backpack in his lap as he began to pull out the sandwiches he’d packed for lunch. Akutagawa sat on the soft blanket as well, picked up a sandwich from the pile, and began to eat.
He actually managed two of the sandwiches and was considering a third when Atsushi puppy-dog-eyed him out of it. “You are lucky I like you,” Akutagawa sniffed, and Atsushi beamed at him, devouring the sandwich like all the others before rolling onto his back in the sunlight and spreading his arms out, stretching big.
“And, out,” Akutagawa commanded, waving his hand—Atsushi lifted a particular finger in his direction, and he smiled, amused. “No sun-fueled power nap for the overgrown house pet? Color me amazed.”
“You know,” Atsushi said, folding his arms under his head, “you don’t have to be so sarcastic all the time, right? No one’s going to hold it against you to be genuine about things now and again.”
Akutagawa was silent for a long time, staring at Atsushi, whose eyes remained closed against the sunlight. “I am genuine about one thing,” he said, finally, and Atsushi shaded his eyes so he could look over at Akutagawa, sitting on his knees on the blanket. “I’m genuine in how I feel about you. The rest,” he said with a sad, wry smile, “is unfortunately just my shitty personality that you will have to deal with if you choose to continue with this relationship.”
Atsushi sat up on his elbows for a second, before transitioning to all the way upright. “Don’t say things like that,” he said. “Why wouldn’t I want to continue with this relationship? Being around you is fun, easy, and comfortable.”
“Three things that would baffle literally everyone who knows me,” Akutagawa said. “You do recall I cut off your leg?”
“Don’t forget all the times you stabbed me,” Atsushi started counting off on his fingers every instance of bodily trauma he’d endured at Akutagawa’s hands until Akutagawa had to stop him. “If you’re not going to get rid of me over a little thing like that, I really don’t think you have to worry about your personality that much.”
Akutagawa pushed him over and Atsushi flopped onto his back again, surprised—but he stilled when Akutagawa laid out next to him, their heads nearly touching. “I’ve never been in love before,” Akutagawa said, finally, and Atsushi’s hand found his and squeezed it tight. “So, I figure I’m pretty shit at that, too.”
“Well, neither have I, so we can be shitting about it together,” Atsushi said with confidence, and Akutagawa bonked his head softly against Atsushi’s, and they both laughed.
Atsushi did doze off, just as Akutagawa had predicted. He eventually extracted himself to step away from the blanket, far enough away to take a leak and not have to worry about their belongings, and when he returned Atsushi was muzzy but starting to wake from his nap. Akutagawa, teasingly, leaned in for a kiss to wake his sleeping weretiger.
When Atsushi shifted, his shorts revealed that he’d gone hard, erection visibly straining through his underwear, and Akutagawa pushed him in the shoulder. “It’s far too late in the day for morning wood!”
Atsushi lifted his hips, shifting his weight, and was about to put his hand down his shorts to deal with it when Akutagawa caught his wrist. Atsushi huffed and dropped back to the quilt, as Akutagawa threw his leg over Atsushi’s chest and sat up on his knees, looking imperiously over his shoulder. “I wanted dessert anyway.”
“Did you?” Atsushi helped regardless, getting his shorts down enough that Akutagawa could extract him from his underwear easily enough. “If I had known that I would have let you go to town earlier—hng.”
Akutagawa’s mouth always shut him up, and, after a moment of creative shuffling, he stretched himself over Atsushi better. He was more focused on the dick in front of him and in his mouth than how he was arranged, at least until Atsushi started pulling his own shorts down. “What are you doing?” Akutagawa asked, the head of Atsushi’s cock slipping from his lips, leaving sticky strands spiderwebbing between them.
“Maybe I want dessert too,” Atsushi said, one eye closing as Akutagawa’s dick smacked into his face. Akutagawa snorted as Atsushi licked him, then shuddered once and returned to his task at hand.
The air was full of nothing but the soft noises they were both making, licking and mouthing and sighing and little grunts and groans of pleasure. Akutagawa squeezed the base of Atsushi’s cock when he felt his muscles start to clench and Atsushi groaned, Akutagawa’s dick slipping from his mouth. “Was close,” he complained, and Akutagawa licked him up one side and down the other and that silenced him as effectively as anything.
Atsushi’s mouth was pretty damn good on its own, an oven that swallowed him down, and he grabbed at Akutagawa’s hips, dragging him down and swallowing Akutagawa’s cock to the root. Shudders ran through him, and Akutagawa gasped, Atsushi’s throat working around him, and he couldn’t hold back the tidal wave of his orgasm; it very nearly swept him under.
He tried to focus on Atsushi’s dick, but the aftershocks were still rocking through him, his dick dragging across Atsushi’s cheek leaving streaks of white while he coughed and swallowed, still lying flat on his back. Akutagawa refused to choke himself out, but he stroked Atsushi hard, mouth wrapped around the tip, and when he finally encouraged the climax out of Atsushi, he was able to catch most of it in his mouth.
“Fuck,” Atsushi said and laughed breathlessly. Akutagawa rolled off him, onto his back, dick flopping against his skin—and he covered his eyes with his arm. “Fuck, that was better than I was expecting.”
“Weretiger,” Akutagawa said raggedly, “do you even have a fucking gag reflex?”
“Hm? No, I don’t think so.” Atsushi sat up and wiped his mouth. “Didn’t Dazai-san already mention that?”
“I thought he was joking.” A pause. “How does he know—?”
“You’ve seen me eat.”
Akutagawa had to concede the point. He exhaled and laughed, and Atsushi nudged him with a knee, and they both kept laughing under the warm summer sun.
I really liked your Witch Hat Atelier pieces, your art never let down ~ but Ihave to say I forgot "wha" stood for the show's title and thought you were using it was a cute little gasp like "woah" or "wah" in the tags
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