Work Text
“Heyyyy bestie—” The door slammed in Nagumo’s face.It took a couple more tries and a solid fifteen minutes of nonstop knocking before Shishiba opened the door wide enough to yank him in and shove him against the back of it in warning.“Woahhh ever heard of foreplay?”“Nagumo. What. Are you doing here? You’re disturbing the neighbors!”“Thought you might be bored, so I brought a game we could play!”“Don’t say ‘you’ when you mean ‘I was bored.’” Shishiba’s irritated expression didn’t change when a small bouquet of white roses was shoved into his hands. Rather, his jaw clenched a bit tighter in annoyance.Beaming, Nagumo held up the items in his other hand. He wiggled a sealed deck of playing cards and a fancy heart-shaped box of sweets. “Let’s play! The usual, modded blackjack. But with a twist! Loser for each round has to eat a chocolate out of this box!”Shishiba groaned. “What’s in them?”“Drugs!” Hearts and stars could’ve formed in the air around him from the amount of joy he put into his voice.“Uh huh… so you just brought contraband into my apartment building?”“Not that kind, silly! It’s more like… liquid Viagra? Some friends in the poison department hooked me up with a couple doses of their party stuff!”After one of the longest sighs he’d ever managed to draw out of Shishiba, his coworker massaged his temples. “Get out.”“Aww, but I came all this way! And I brought you flowers and chocolates! Give me a chance, won’t you?” It was only because Nagumo knew it wouldn’t work that he made a big show of batting his eyelashes.Shishiba’s eyes flitted to his hammer on the desk for a moment. But perhaps feeling a little more comfortable since they were in his apartment and not in a hotel room, his hand remained at his side. “Flip a coin. Heads, we play cards. Tails, you leave.”“Okay! Heads, we play cards first. Tails, we get straight to it!” Pulling a golden coin out of his pocket, Nagumo flipped it expertly, slapping his hand over it when it landed. “Wanna switch which one’s which? So you know I didn’t cheat?”“It’s fine. What did it land on?”After humming a little trumpeting sound in preparation for the reveal, Nagumo lifted his hand dramatically to uncover empty space. The coin was gone. “Huh?! Where did it go?”“Nagumo. I’m seriously going to—”“Oh? What’s that?”Despite Shishiba not turning in the direction pointed, Nagumo smiled like he had fallen for it and reached out, pulling the coin from behind Shishiba’s ear, his fingers brushing the cartilage there ever so slightly. “Taa daa! Looks like it’s heads! Ohhh should’ve switched when you had the chance!”“Five rounds. That’s it.”“But there’re fifteen chocolates! We have to at least do that many or the uneaten ones will feel left out.”“That’s overkill no matter how you look at it.”“Don’t worry, they’re not all filled! Actually, only one third are. The rest have bourbon centers.”Shishiba’s eyes narrowed.“Don’t look so suspicious! You can shuffle them around if you want?”“Ten. Maximum.”“Okay! You’ve convinced me! Ten it is!” Giggling, Nagumo tossed him the box of sweets and sat down on the carpet to begin shuffling cards over the coffee table.Nestled together in the center when he opened the lid were a snug assortment of chocolates of various sizes and shapes. A couple were dark and oblong, a few were white and heart shaped, another was molded to look like a small flower—there was no overarching theme or pattern which had been intentional since it was more fun that way. Shishiba scrutinized them dubiously, bringing the box to eye level to see if he could pick out any visible suspicious details. Of course, Nagumo had ensured there were none.By the time their first hand was over, Shishiba had already made several mistakes. The first of which was letting Nagumo bring the cards they were using. The second of which was letting him choose the game they were playing. And the third of which was letting him be the dealer. It was the same three mistakes he made every time they played. He never seemed to learn, and Nagumo had started factoring the trifecta into his strategies to adjust the difficulty so games wouldn’t be boring. Really, he didn’t have to, but he was a nice guy.The first chocolate Shishiba chose was a thin oval shaped one decorated with a drizzle of lighter milk chocolate. He didn’t seem to register any issues with the taste, and after he swallowed it, they played a second round.It was only on the fourth that Nagumo dealt himself a losing combo and hovered his hand over the box in contemplation. “Hmm, which one should I pick? They all look so good! Would you choose one for me, Shishiba?”“Get it yourself. Stop stalling, I have work to do after this.”Said ‘work’ was probably answering emails until he got tired enough to fall asleep. Well, hopefully those correspondences weren’t urgent because Nagumo doubted Shishiba would be touching his laptop for the rest of the night. Originally, he’d wanted to go easy on his coworker, but frankly it was a little disappointing that he’d let Nagumo chose a chocolate without forcing him to close his eyes first. It was more than a little irritating actually. So it was without a shred of guilt that Nagumo purposefully lost the next two rounds as well and popped two more of the safe sweets into his mouth.If Shishiba didn’t want to be an utter mess in a couple minutes, he’d better start thinking and realize that Nagumo had been lying ever since he’d entered the apartment.The seventh round passed with no indication Shishiba had realized the information he’d been told about the flavour of the filling, the ratio of spiked to unspiked chocolates, and even the number of bonbons in the box was wrong. Eventually, Nagumo stopped going easy on him and started splicing Shishiba’s losses with his own whereupon he’d pick out another of the dwindling safe chocolates from the box.It was on round nine that Shishiba finally looked up from the cards he was holding and murmured, “Haven’t we played ten rounds already?”“Nuh uh! Look at how many chocolates there still are! There’s like ten more! Fifteen minus ten is five! If we’d played ten there would be five left!”So yes, they were still on round ‘nine.’ They’d been on round nine for six games now.Shishiba didn’t quite make it to the point where there were only five chocolates left in the box. Maybe Nagumo could convince him he still owed him a couple rounds on some future day. That was the first thought he had as he lifted his eyes from the box of chocolates he’d been shifting his gaze over in a specific pattern of purposeful tells which could’ve been picked up on if his opponent had been paying attention. Nagumo looked up because Shishiba had dropped the cards he was holding and was now clutching his head looking quite sweaty.“Don’t tap out on me! We still have a few games to go!”There was no reply except for a small exhale. Setting down his hand, Nagumo stood up and crossed over to poke Shishiba’s cheek.“Nagumo, what was in those?”“Huh? I told you, drugs!”“What kind of drugs?” He hissed through gritted teeth.“Uhhh I told you that too. They’re aphrodisiacs the post-grads whipped up. Wow! Your face is like a tomato!”“Don’t give me that. What kind of aphrodisiac has this effect?!” Shishiba slapped his hand off. “I… don’t believe you.”“Why so skeptical? People can do all sorts of cool things in the lab nowadays. Even heard one scientist made a potion that gave a kid mind-reading abilities!”“Yeah right…” The rest of his words seemed to dry up in his throat.Not wanting to take mercy on him yet, Nagumo rested his forearms on Shishiba’s knees and looked up at him from the floor with a smug smile. “Want some water? If you’re polite about it, I’ll get you a cup?”Surprisingly, after a moment a few more words trailed out from the curtain of hair concealing most of Shishiba’s lowered face. “I’d… appreciate it if you could… Nagumo.”“Please?”“… Please.”Woah. He must’ve been seriously out of it. Blinking, Nagumo got up and returned with two glasses of water. One for Shishiba to drink and the other to dump over his head if he felt mischievous. It turned out he did need the second cup after all, but not for a trick, because immediately after the first was handed over, Shishiba dropped it. Cold water splashed across his lap, and Shishiba flinched.Nagumo pressed the other glass into Shishiba’s hands and watched the way his throat moved as he managed to swallow a few mouthfuls.“Could you… get me a towel?”“You might as well just take them off? Would save time later.”“Nagumo… please.”Hmm. It wasn’t as satisfying the second time. Silently, Nagumo rose and fetched a towel, pressing it into Shishiba’s slacks instead of into his hands when he got back. It was just a little pressure before he let go, a small play, but the effect was instantaneous. Shishiba practically folded in half. If he hadn’t been sitting, he probably would’ve collapsed. Doubling over, he wrapped his arms around his body to protect it, his breathing becoming unsteady.After a beat, Nagumo reached out and moved some hair aside to get a peek at the flushed face hidden by it. Shishiba’s eyes were squeezed closed and it sounded like he’d started doing that thing he did sometimes where he counted his breaths to stabilize them. Aww. It’d be no fun it that worked.Picking up the forgotten box of chocolates, he shook it slightly so miniature paper cups rustled a little signifying what he was holding. “Want another one?”A hand came up to swat the box to the ground angrily. When it did, Nagumo caught it, slid his fingers gently against Shishiba’s palm, and brought it over the box. “Pick one for me, won’t you?”Shishiba did not in fact pick one, but Nagumo moved his hand until one of his fingers touched the top of a dark brown chocolate with a caramel drizzle. “That one? You sure? If I get riled up, you might not be able to walk for a few days. How’s Osaragi gonna feel about solo missions? You gonna take responsibility for the damage she causes?”Eventually after enough prattling, the implications of his first statement seemed to make it through Shishiba’s addled mind. The hand in his grasp ripped away and a fist smacked weakly into Nagumo’s cheek. “You… I’m going to kill you…”“It’s kinda no fair to get mad at me, Shishiba. You know me better than to think the game would’ve been clean… But hey, I’ll make it up to you now by eating one too, okay? Look, I really am eating it.” Nagumo leaned in close, moved some more hair out of the way, and made a big show of putting the chocolate on his tongue. Then he jerked forward and pressed his mouth against Shishiba’s, shoving the sweet down his throat.In the resulting scuffle, the bonbon’s chocolate shell cracked spilling its bourbon liqueur filling across their tongues before Nagumo managed to massage Shishiba’s throat, forcing him to swallow it. Drawing back, he took a drink of water, making no effort to put his mouth on a different part of the rim, then grinned. “Just kidding! That was a normal one! I think you’ve probably had enough of the other stuff. Too much of a good thing can be dangerous! Believe me? They all taste the same after all. That’s partly why you were caught so off guard when the effects kicked in. Shouldn’t just make assumptions. Partial truths are a pretty scary form of lie, huh?”Already moving on to his next possible play, he handed the glass of water back to Shishiba and glanced around for ideas. It only took a few moments to spot the small bouquet of roses Shishiba had tossed carelessly onto the coffee table earlier. Two moves for the price of one? Maybe he should make a bingo card some time. Hah. Shishiba would hate that. Nagumo made a mental note to start a list of possible challenges to include on it.Then he plucked out a few white roses from the bundle and turned to place one on top of Shishiba’s head. It promptly rolled off. Entwining a couple stems together to make a circlet, he tried again. With Shishiba’s hair so long, the ring of roses almost resembled a crown of thorns—Nagumo quickly and casually hooked it off with his pinky and tossed it aside as if bored. Hm. The next option would be… Flicking open a switchblade, he decapitated the flowers and held a handful of the resulting stemless roses in his hands in thought. All his idea would need was the temporary elimination of gravity.The instant Shishiba set his empty glass on the coffee table and restarted his breathing exercise, Nagumo grabbed his shoulders and shoved him down on the couch. He tipped over with barely any resistance, looking up with dazed, unfocused eyes.Just as Nagumo had hoped, Shishiba’s hair spilled out beneath him pooling around his head and dripping off the edge of the couch cushion in a pretty blonde halo. Picking up his roses, he tucked a blossom behind Shishiba’s ear. The picture was good, a little downy flower amid a sea of harvest wheat, but he could add more. Humming, he began plucking individual white petals off unused roses and carefully placing them here and there until the complete image resembled a sprinkling of snowflakes swirling down upon golden rivers of silk.Finally, Shishiba recovered enough to complete the picture with a scowl. “What are you doing?”Grinning, Nagumo took a mental snapshot. Perfect. “Isn’t it obvious? Arts and crafts session!”The frown of irritation turned into one of exasperation. “A child…”Nagumo hummed cheerily, ingrained a couple more details the best he could into his memories, then dropped his hand down on the join of Shishiba’s pants and felt around a little.Instead of slapping him off, Shishiba practically writhed beneath his touch. When his preliminary efforts were met with a ragged gasp but no further retaliation, Nagumo drew his hand away.“Wow! They weren’t kidding! This stuff is strong!” If Nagumo had to be honest, it was a little strange seeing Shishiba so quiet and docile. Usually he fought back at first. The effect of the drug wasn’t exactly what he’d been expecting. Shishiba really was a bottom through and through, huh?Nagumo resisted the urge to pop a few of the remaining chocolates himself and check his true nature. The only person he could’ve been that irresponsible with didn’t exist in this world anymore. Just thinking of Akao made him feel chilled and he scooted in closer, basically flopped on top of Shishiba’s chest, and rested his chin in his hands to look down at him. Shishiba was warm. Really warm, almost burning like a furnace. Honestly it felt nice lying on him. Would’ve been even nicer if his nails had been scratching into Nagumo’s skin to shove him off.“Why do you always lose, Shishiba? You’re really bad at this game y’know? Should probably just stop playing. I know you love fighting me, but there are different opponents too. Gotta live a little some time!”He wasn’t expecting any answer to his space-filling ramblings, which was partially why Nagumo was caught off guard when Shishiba’s eyes seemed to focus on his face slightly and he spoke a few quiet words.“It’s like… cleaning.”“Sex is like cleaning?! Wow, that’s a new one! Never heard it put like that before. Now, if you’re gonna go on to say I’m the garbage you’re taking out, that would be boring. Such an overdone joke!”Shishiba’s next phrases were so faint Nagumo had to lean in to catch them. “Sometimes people need help keeping their houses clean… It’s important, even if it’s annoying.”“Uh-oh, Shishi! I think I gave you too much. Maybe the chemicals have melted your brain!” Nagumo’s voice pitched higher with desperation as the meaning of those softly spoken words started trickling through his system. Unimpaired by any substance, his neurons were as fast as ever and by the time his last sentence came out, it was almost a hysterical little whisper. “Like, what’re you even talking about anymore?”“Nagumo… I don’t mind… It’s prefrr… preferable when you’re str—”A hand slapped over Shishiba’s mouth cutting off the rest of that sentence. “Hey. If you hate me that much you’ve gotta hide it better. How’s saying that gonna affect our work relationship? If we can’t jive on missions it could be lethal.”Confusion washed over the face looking up at him, and Nagumo told himself it was because Shishiba never gave anything that happened at night between them a second thought. To Shishiba, it was just something annoying that happened occasionally, a brief irritation that disappeared when the sun rose and he woke up alone in bed. Not substantial enough to ever affect their work relationship.Whatever strange, half-drugged conversation they’d been having was over. Nagumo made sure it was by putting his hands on Shishiba again, under his dress shirt, on the outside of his pants, against his thighs, anything to rile him up, dispel his thoughts.It worked. In fact it worked a little too well. In a few short minutes, Shishiba had slid from semi-lucid to barely coherent. A bright flush of red streaked across his skin, and his form seemed to shake at every ministration. Shishiba’s gasping breathing, his reactions, his body language—they were all too loud. Without the usual heavy blanket of self-control keeping them subdued, they scraped against Nagumo’s ears and mind. He could’ve been touching a stranger.It was… weird. Not in a fun way. Despite that, Nagumo managed to keep going until Shishiba reached out and started fumbling with the closure of his pants. Some form of visceral fear lurched in his stomach. Nagumo smacked off Shishiba’s hands and sat back. That wasn’t how it worked. Shishiba knew that. He should’ve known that. When Nagumo glanced down to scowl, he paused again.His coworker looked only partially conscious lying there beneath him on the couch… small.It wasn’t like Nagumo hadn’t slept with people who were drunk, high off their rockers, or even half asleep before. He was an assassin, not a saint. An ‘okay’ or a nod were plenty enough go ahead usually. But for some reason, it was like there was a mental block with the current situation. Even though he always ended up in control, even though Shishiba would’ve let him have his way before the night was over drugs or not, Nagumo didn’t reach forward. Touching Shishiba right now felt wrong.Warm fingers pulled at his hand trying to get him to place it where they needed it. Nagumo tugged his arm back slowly, chewed his lip. Shishiba let out a little whining noise at that, something he never would’ve let slip out if he was sober, and Nagumo bit back the urge to be ill.This was what he got for bedding someone he actually had respect for rather than a random off the street. He’d really messed up this time because he couldn’t afford to have respect for Shishiba tonight. Nagumo was so horny he could’ve shagged a dead body. There was a perfectly live one right there, yet he couldn’t do it. A ghost of a laugh tickled his cheek.Nagumo’s skin crawled with thousands of little teeth, all of them hungry for contact. Ravenous to feel someone’s warmth against his. Since Akao wasn’t around to offer a curse for the situation, he did it instead. Fuck. Then added a second for good measure when Shishiba tried to grind against his thigh. Fuck. In the end his mind came up with a solution before he started peeling his skin off his arms—at least the stupid, dysfunctional lump of cells in his skull was good for one thing, strategizing.This time the game plan was simple, thankfully. Rushing water crashed down into the stoppered tub as Nagumo sat on the edge watching it slowly fill and letting the roar drown out the quiet noises coming from the other room as Shishiba had started searching for friction against the couch itself. Humming, Nagumo looked around at the various colorful bottles set neatly on a little ledge in the shower and picked one up, poured a little into the bath. Small iridescent bubbles began floating up from the surface of the water filling the air with a subtle scent of myrrh and vanilla. Huh, so they made bubble bath mixtures for adults. Duly noted.Once the tub had filled, he stopped the water and returned to the living room to collect his game opponent. After a moment’s consideration, Nagumo fiddled with Shishiba’s buttons and removed his clothing but left on his dress socks. Wet socks were the worst! The little bit of mischief made him feel better, more himself. Maybe Shishiba would even snap at him for it the next day since the particular ones he was wearing were quite expensive.Shishiba’s skin was hot to the touch, burning up from deep inside, but Nagumo didn’t lower him into the cold bath gently, instead he adjusted his grip and yanked both of them down into the water sharply to cause as much temperature shock as possible. As predicted, Shishiba jolted, squirmed, trying to get out, but the arms around his body were strong, and his writhing didn’t result in any progress.Hugging him from behind, Nagumo locked Shishiba’s arms to his chest so he couldn’t touch himself, and gradually they adjusted to the temperature together. There were a couple more brief attempts at breaking free, a couple more struggles, but eventually Shishiba quieted down and gave up trying to get the friction his body was calling for. If Nagumo couldn’t have what he wanted tonight, neither would Shishiba. Fair was fair, he decided.Really, maybe it wasn’t that fair because his needs could in theory be met by this scenario while Shishiba’s couldn’t, but it wasn’t like Nagumo valued playing by the rules beyond an envious appreciation for those who could afford to. If Shishiba couldn’t beat him, he couldn’t complain about having to settle for the cold water wrapping over them chilling his flushed skin.Long flaxen hair drifted in the bath around them where it touched the water’s surface giving the impression of octopus-esque tendrils draping down from Shishiba’s head. The limited space and their positions weren’t exactly comfortable, but eventually Nagumo dropped his head into the curve of Shishiba’s neck and Shishiba leaned back against his shoulder and it was alright.The two of them sat in that tub until Shishiba fell asleep, until Nagumo didn’t feel like he could eat his own skin just to feel some touching him deeper than surface level. And they sat there even after that as well. As Nagumo pulled the plug and watched lazily draining bathwater reveal the bare flesh of two men.The water really should’ve been red from all the unseen dried blood staining their bodies and collecting under their nails. But it wasn’t. It was only mildly cloudy, slightly iridescent from the bubble bath he’d poured in.Their skin too, it should’ve been blackened and crackling and diseased. Instead, it was peachy and wet and unassuming. Apart from their flat eyes, a passerby on the street would have no idea they were assassins who killed others for a living.Falsehoods were the one thing Nagumo despised most, and here the world was constantly lying to his senses every day.Eventually he toweled them off, carried Shishiba to bed, and slipped out the door after dressing. The night sky above his walk was dark and rich, but Nagumo didn’t search for any constellations in it. He’d never really understood the logic behind them in the first place as lines could be drawn between the composite stars in any number of combinations. The only one that had ever mattered had fallen to Earth long ago to spell out demise on a young woman’s arm.After Akao died, he’d looked for the three tell-tale lights of Orion in the heavens a couple times before remembering Akao didn’t believe assassins were sent up above. What a shame hell was paved over by such a thick, opaque crust of tectonic plates. He’d have to wait until he was shuttled down there to go stargazing. Nagumo still hadn’t regained enough energy to don his usual persona by the time he spotted Shishiba entering headquarters the next morning and fell into step beside him casually. That was fine, he supposed. His serious face better suited his words anyways.“About last night… I’m sorr—”“I don’t remember much of what happened.” His coworker didn’t even turn as he said it.Nagumo paled. He’d forgotten just how bad Shishiba was at lying. How much did he…“The usual stuff right? Yeah, you better apologize. Show up at my place again and I’ll kill you.”Shishiba was offering him a way out. Taking it would mean a loss, but Nagumo desperately scrambled for it anyways. He could recover the point difference later. Right now, he just needed to shove what had happened out of their surface consciousnesses. They needed to go back to how it was before.“You’ll just have to see if you can stop me! One of these days you’ll win, Shishi! Don’t give up now!”“Don’t call me that!” With a hiss of annoyance, he began to stride away.If only there was a drug which could erase memories. Shrugging, Nagumo dismissed the thought and trotted after Shishiba to needle him about buying him a breakfast pastry from the office coffee shop.Amnesia drug? If only. He’d have overdosed a long time ago. Shot himself up with poison until he was an empty shell if that would’ve erased the raucous laughter which still echoed in his mind when he made a big mistake.“Nagumo, you idiot…” An exasperated whisper traced the spiral of his ear.Two phantom hands shoved him forward. Caught off guard by even the light touch, Nagumo stumbled a little, his shoulder bumping into Shishiba who’d stopped walking and had turned to look at him expectantly. “So? Which one do you want? We don’t have all day.”“The strawberry streusel! Cause it’s sweet like you!”One heavy sigh later, Shishiba pointed out a rectangular pastry drizzled with red jam and white icing to the cashier. When his coworker stepped forward to pay in spite of his annoyance, Nagumo suddenly remembered the quiet words spoken to him last night despite his best efforts to shove them down a mental garbage disposal.Yeah. A memory erasing drug would’ve been great just about now.