BUNGO STRAY DOGS SHORT STORIES

blood wine and lips

Brief summary: Akutagawa and Atsushi get drunk.

TW: violent themes and gore.
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A bottle of red wine was their undoing. Their glasses lay abandoned on the floor, the duo tangled in one-anothers limbs, under the lights that were too hot. Drops of crimson dried on wounds, liquor on their tongues.

If you were to tell Atsushi Nakajima that he would be in that euphoric state in no less than 8 hours. He would of surely thought you'd gone mad. But here he was: Hands sliding under the mafioso's button-up while lips brushed against his skin.

Akutagawa and Atsushi had been assigned to investigate a matter that involved both of their organisations. It was an unfortunate pair up, as the two had previously tried to kill eachother multiple times but unfortunate circumstances were laced in their job descriptions. Atsushi had just received the news of who his partner would be for this investigation after the morning briefing had concluded, and he was not thrilled.

In between their consistent bickering and rough handling of one-another, there was no doubt that they were significantly powerful and highly skilled when their abilities intertwined. Atsushi's patience with the mafioso was hanging by a thread already.

"I told you to stay out of my space, I don't want fleas."

"Youre in an awfully bad mood today, Akutagawa." He stuffed his hands into his pockets. "This isn't a walk in the park for me either, oh and by the way you're considered the mafias dog, dogs have fleas-" Atsushi's back was slammed against a shop front, knocking the air out of his lungs.

"I've had enough of listening to your pathetic voice. Shut up, or I'll slaughter you." Akutagawa really wasn't in a good mood today. Much to Atsushi's dismay he obliged to the comment, dying wasn't on his to-do list. "Good, now let's go, we've wasted enough time." The older man let Atsushi go and continued on with his fast paced walking. 'This is going to be a long day', Akutagawa thought to himself. He was not awfully pleased when the situation was announced early that morning, but with a little encouragement from Chuuya, he accepted the mission.

Atsushi let out a breath of agony. "I have to work with him again?" Atsushi couldn't help but whine to his mentor, this was beginning to become a weekly occurrence, and it was disrupting his peaceful interludes between work and play. "We're not friends you know Dazai."

The ex-mafioso seemed very amused with the whole ordeal. Only looking at his apprentice with a patient expression.
"Both you and Akutagawa's abilities are crucial for this mission to be successful," Dazai looked like a ray of sunshine next to the antsy teen. "And besides, it was decided by Mori and Fukuzawa together, so it must be important." Dazai found the situation too perfect. Akutagawa and Atsushi both had issues with eachother that needed to be worked on. And quite frankly he wondered if fate kept insisting to bring them together for purposes unrelated to their work.

"So you're saying you don't know what the investigations about?" Atsushi turned to his mentor, astonished that even he hadn't been filled in. "How am I supposed to work with someone who is so determined to kill me?" Atsushi asked the question, it's not like they hadn't worked together before. But who's to say Akutagawa won't take the chance to end him this time? 'Not that I would let him.' A shiver of determination slipped into his bones, fear and anxiety unravelling into a new purpose.
"I'm sure he has been given orders not to kill you, that may not stop him from trying, so don't die just to spite him." Dazai's advice wasn't at all helpful, he turned on his heel and faced Atsushi. "Listen, all I know is that you're scouting out an area downtown, you yourself should know how stubborn that man is so he won't go down without a fight," Dazai opened the front door and let the cool air into the office hall, gesturing for Atsushi to meet up with his partner. "Use that to your advantage, Atsushi."