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Atsushi had no idea what he was doing. He felt like he was in way over his head, sitting on his couch and untangling a string of lights. When he saw them at the store they had reminded him of Akutagawa, the same sort of beauty held in his eyes.He could stare at them forever. So on impulse he bought them. But then the line was too long at the checkout, and he had gotten home MUCH later than he had planned to. He was frantic as he untangled the lights, wanting everything to go just right.
Suddenly, a strange smell pervaded his nostrils, and he paused for a moment, trying to figure out what it was. Seconds ticked by before it finally dawned on him, throwing the lights down on the couch and bolting into the kitchen. Oh no, no no no! He ripped open the oven door and stared sadly down at the unidentifiable charred mess in the pan. He set it on the counter carefully, wondering if there was any way he could salvage it. That was when the smoke alarm started beeping furiously.
“A little late there, don’t you think?” Oh great, now he was talking to himself. His stomach felt like it was going to eject from his body with how nervous he was. It didn’t help that everything seemed to be going wrong. First the lights, now the dinner. What sort of date was this meant to be, if there were no elements of a date? He probably should have asked Dazai for help, but he was determined to do this himself. He sat on the floor for a few minutes, staring as the smoke started to clear from his kitchen. That was when a knock sounded at the door.
Had he really lost track of time that quickly? He hurriedly got up from the floor, racing to the door. He nearly tore it off its hinges with how harshly he flung it open, revealing Akutagawa standing there. Wow, he was pretty. His black hair framed his face, and he wasn’t wearing that bulky coat for once. Atsushi stood there like an idiot, staring at him with his mouth hanging open.
“Weretiger.” Akutagawa’s voice broke him out of his stupor, and Atsushi noticed the look of thinly veiled concern on the other man’s face.
“Oh! Uh… hi!” Atsushi laughed nervously, stepping out of the way to let Akutagawa into his apartment. “Come in! Um… don’t mind the smell… haha…”
Akutagawa entered the apartment, looking around. He coughed at the smoke that poured from the kitchen, which sparked some concern on Atsushi’s side. He gently grabbed his arm and guided him into the living room and away from the smoke.
“What was that?” Akutagawa’s words, punctuated by a coughing fit, stated the obvious. Atsushi’s face grew red with embarrassment.
“Um… dinner?” Atsushi’s words wavered a bit, betraying a bit of the nervousness that was coursing through his body. Oh, lord… he was doing so horrible. Akutagawa was never going to want to see him again and he had ruined everything… Too concerned about his own doom, he didn’t even notice Akutagawa looking at the lights he had abandoned on the couch.
“Weretiger. What are these for?” His voice snapped Atsushi out of his self-deprecative daze. He turned to look at the tangle of lights that Akutagawa now held.
“Oh… I was gonna put them up but I didn’t have time.” He reached for the messy cluster of lights, taking them from Akutagawa, and their fingers brushed in the process. He turned away before he could spot the dusting of pink that it cast over his dark haired companion’s cheeks. He plugged the lights into an outlet in the wall, holding the bundle in one of his hands.
“They change colors.” Akutagawa was fascinated as the different colored hues lit up across Atsushi’s face. He looked really pretty, the colors cascading over his face like a miniature version of the Northern Lights...
“Huh? Oh, yeah. They do.” Atsushi’s expression softened, a bit of the worry melting away. He gave a soft smile, looking down at the lights. “I was gonna put them up because they sort of reminded me of you. They’re really… dazzling.” He gently set the lights down on the floor before looking back at his date.
“I don’t think we should eat the dinner you made.” Akutagawa’s tone was back to that same bitter, slightly harsh bite that it usually was. “I fear it would kill us both.”
“Yeah… I don’t think so either.” Atsushi laughed, though he was slightly disappointed he had ruined it. “Uh… wait right here.” He disappeared into the kitchen, coming back with a box.
“What’s that?” Akutagawa looked curiously at it, not having seen anything quite so colorful. Though, it made sense for Atsushi to own something like that. He was colors, having everything that Akutagawa lacked. Atsushi turned the box so Akutagawa could look at it.
“Fruit roll ups. I figured we could eat them instead, since that dinner turned out to be uh… charcoal.” He took one out of the box, unwrapping it and handing it to Akutagawa. It was red. The other man took it, staring at it for a moment.
“It’s so… brightly colored. Is it going to kill me? Is this some poisoning attempt, weretiger?” Akutagawa’s non-existent eyebrows furrowed into some weird mix of what seemed to be anger and admiration. “Well, I won’t fall for it!”
“No, not at all!” Atsushi shook his head. “Uh… here, I’ll prove it.” He took one of the ends of the sticky sweet, biting it off and chewing on it with a smile. “Not poisoned.”
Akutagawa studied Atsushi carefully, scrutinizing him for any signs of poisoning. “Very well then. But I’m not eating this one. It has your mouth germs on it.” He gave it back to Atsushi before unwrapping himself a blue one, sitting down on the couch next to Atsushi.
Atsushi sighed. At least it was finally starting to go well. After some discussion about which title to put on, they picked a movie, only for it to be mostly ignored as he and his date talked for hours. And maybe all that worry and nervousness he had felt was for nothing. He hoped that there would be more dates like this, more nights that ended in fruit roll ups and color changing lights. He reached up to cover a yawn, his mouth stained purple.