Work Text:
When Ryotaro Dojima kissed Tohru Adachi for the first time, there was a thin layer of snow covering the ground in Inaba, and even more snow falling from the gray sky.
Both men stood outside the Dojima residence, watching Nanako play around in the fluffy, cold blanket of frozen water. The little girl laughed in joyous, childlike wonder as she tossed handfuls of snow above her head and danced around. Every so often, she would glance back at her father and Uncle Adachi with a wide smile on her round face.
Adachi held out his hand to the empty air. As snow crystals fell onto his outstretched arm, he stared at them in amazement. “Wow,” he said softly, “Snow came early this year, huh?”
“Yeah, it sure did,” Dojima said, raising a cigarette to his lips. As Dojima took a drag of his cigarette, his eyes lingered on Adachi's cheeks, which were tinged pink by the cold.
Glancing over at Dojima, Adachi caught the older man staring at him.
Dojima quickly averted his eyes, turning his head to look away.
Adachi frowned and cast his eyes downwards, looking deeply at the pure white fluff on the ground. He pulled his coat tighter around him, drawing in on himself. “I know what you see, whenever you look at me,” he said quietly, so Nanako couldn’t hear him.
“What?” Dojima asked, confused. He risked another glance at Adachi, and took note of the younger man’s change in demeanor. “What are you talking about?”
“You see a killer,” Adachi said softly. “You see someone who murdered two women and almost got your daughter killed.”
Dojima hummed thoughtfully. He flicked his cigarette butt onto the snowy ground. Then, he stepped over to Adachi, and his heavy feet left large footprints in the blanket of snow.
Adachi raised his eyes, sending a confused and cautious glance at Dojima. His cheeks were still pink. His arms were shaking, although from the cold or from Dojima’s close proximity was unclear. “Sir?” he asked, wincing at the nervous, high-pitched sound of his voice.
“You’re an idiot,” Dojima grumbled. As his words tumbled out harsher than originally intended, he raised a hand and reached for Adachi’s head.
At first, seeing the approaching hand as a threat, Adachi closed his eyes tight and flinched away.
Stubborn as ever, Dojima wasn’t deterred by Adachi’s behavior. He reached out the rest of the way, closing the distance between his large hand and his former partner’s messy head of hair. His fingers tangled into Adachi’s hair, ruffling it playfully.
Adachi’s eyes snapped open and he stared wide-eyed at Dojima. His body relaxed into Dojima’s warm touch, but his expression resembled a deer in the headlights. “Huh?” he exclaimed in confusion.
Dojima chuckled. He looked at Adachi with a profoundly fond expression. “Whenever I look at you, I see my partner,” Dojima explained. “I see my friend. Someone I can trust, despite his troubled past, because he’s shown me that he wants to be a better man now.”
Tears welled up in Adachi’s eyes and he began to sniffle. “You don’t mean that, Dojima-san.”
“What?” Dojima pulled his hand away and glared at Adachi. “Since when do I say things I don’t mean, you idiot?”
Before Adachi could respond, Nanako rushed over to them. Her tiny feet left little prints in the snow. She wore an intense expression, made even more dramatic by the redness of her face in the sharp cold.
Both men turned to look down at her.
“Dad,” she whined in that soft, gentle voice of hers, “Are you bullying Uncle Adachi again?”
Dojima sputtered a denial, and Adachi chuckled through his sniffles. Nanako glared at both of them.
After regaining his composure, Dojima ordered Nanako to go back inside and warm up.
Reluctantly, she did as she was told. She shuffled back towards the house, glancing over her shoulder as she went, until she was safely inside.
“Don’t you think you’re too harsh on Nanako-chan sometimes, boss?”
Dojima sent a quick glare at Adachi, but didn’t respond verbally.
Adachi shuffled his feet, kicking lightly at the snow under his winter boot. “Did you really mean what you said, Dojima-san?”
“Of course I did,” Dojima said. His expression softened. “You’re my friend, Tohru. I trust you.”
A fierce red blush spread across Adachi’s face. He looked like a flustered, brunette tomato.
Pulled by some magnetic force, Dojima leaned forward into Adachi’s personal space. Their lips were an inch apart, then half an inch.
Adachi did not pull away. He didn’t flinch.
Dojima closed the distance.
Their lips met.
Both men melted into the kiss. Adachi stumbled forward in his eagerness, and he fell right into Dojima’s strong arms.
After what felt like an eternity wrapped up in each other, Dojima pulled away.
“Hm? What’s wrong?” Adachi asked, raising an eyebrow in concern. He was out of breath and dazed from the intensity of the kiss.
Dojima shook his head. “Nothing,” he said, as a small smile tugged at the corners of his lips. “It’s cold out here.”
Adachi looked around, as if noticing the falling snow for the very first time. “Yeah, I guess it is.”
“Let’s head inside, where it’s warm,” Dojima suggested, nodding towards the house.
“Good idea.” Adachi nodded in agreement. “I’m sure Nanako-chan is waiting for us.”
Dojima wrapped an arm around Adachi’s shoulders, and guided them both towards the house. “I’m sure she is.”
Wearing blissful smiles, Dojima and Adachi left the snow behind them and retreated into the safe warmth of their shared home.