Work Text:
Ayato often finds himself tired nowadays.
It’s not a particularly unfamiliar feeling. In fact, he should’ve adjusted to it by now, with all the countless nights he’s stayed awake, protecting his family with nothing but carefully crafted words and a single brush in his hand.
Now, however, this same brush is weighing him down heavily. No matter how hard he tries to focus, he can't shake off intrusive thoughts telling him to go out for a break.
Very well, then. If he can't fight them, it's only rational that he act on them.
He quickly puts on his coat and leaves the estate without alerting any of his servants, then makes his way towards the city. The cold evening air of Chinju Forest hits him, and he takes a few deep, relaxing breaths.
This is new to him: leaving his office mid-work and escaping before anyone can try to stop him. Ayato can hardly recognize himself.
His job is boring and tiring, but it’s important, and that’s enough to keep him going most of the time. Well, that was enough, at least. Recently, he often feels this overwhelming urge to drop it all and just do whatever he wants. That’s selfish, he has to tell himself every time it happens. Nevertheless, one question can't seem to leave his head these days: what is the point of organizing all of these festivities if you can’t even participate in them yourself?
Which is a stupid notion, he’s well aware. He never liked crowds or the busy atmosphere of festivals. Only, some part of him longs for them now and he can’t quite grasp why.
Suddenly, there is a roaring laugh tearing through the bustling streets of Inazuma City, and Ayato smiles against himself. He immediately makes his way towards its source and he’s left in awe.
Because there he is, his dumb little oni, celebrating in excess what seems to be a simple victory in a street card game against kids who are half his height, and Ayato’s heart flutters, and suddenly, he thinks he finally understands why.
“Fancy meeting you here, Itto,” he calls out as he approaches, even though he knows he was only just searching for him.
And Itto whips his head around, and his already bright expression lights up even more upon seeing him, and Ayato can bask in the knowledge that he’s the reason for it.
(Even though he knows Itto would give the same smile to any of his friends.)
“Bro!” Itto greets him, locking him in a tight hug. “It’s been aaages, what happened to you?”
Truthfully, Ayato has just been on a few-days-long delegation on Watatsumi Island and then immediately locked himself up in his office to deal with commission matters and exchange a few proposals with the Narukami Shrine regarding an approaching festival. Nothing too serious, but still, it is too much to tell Itto.
“I was just busy with work,” he says.
“Aw shucks,” Itto groans. “If my job was stopping me from meeting up with my dudes for so long, I’d quit honestly.”
Ayato allows himself to smile a little wider at that. “You seem to be enjoying yourself plenty even without me.”
“Nah, don’t be like that,” Itto immediately reassures, pulling him away for a moment only to squeeze him even tighter against his chest a second later. This time, Ayato relaxes and lets himself shamelessly enjoy the feeling. “It’s way more fun when you’re around, trust.”
And Ayato chooses to believe that, as Itto tries to share with him the candy he just won and lure him into playing some more games with him (successfully).
He doesn’t even know how much time passes until they’re walking together through some more remote streets, cups of bubble tea in their hands. After listening to Itto’s tales about all the adventures he had during Ayato’s absence, he finally sees that the point of organizing all these festivities is walking right beside him, and it makes him feel uncontrollably guilty. He still has work to finish, but instead he indulges himself by watching the stars in Itto’s eyes. How selfish of him. What will the oni say if the next festival turns out to be a disaster because of him?
But he doesn’t want to part with Itto just yet. He’d hate to show it, but he missed him too. Maybe even more than he’s willing to admit.
Oh well. Another problem with only one rational solution.
He places his hands on Itto’s shoulders, touching him for the first time ever since that hug, and pulls himself up to whisper into his ear:
“Would you like to come over to my house?”
Ayato’s well aware of how this looks. That’s why he’s only doing it now when no one else can see them. He can’t help that Itto’s reactions when he does something like this are always too good to pass on.
He pulls away to have a good view of Itto’s face, and sure enough, it’s slowly turning the color of his horns. Simply adorable.
“S-sure?” Itto stutters out when thoughts finally form behind his eyes. He quickly clears his throat and tries again, more confidently, “Yeah, sure. Like a sleepover, right?”
“Mn, you can sleep over if you want to,” Ayato replies with a carefully practiced, unreadable smile and watches Itto’s face go unmistakably red. Oh, Ayato is positively smitten.
On the way to the estate, they don’t talk at all. Itto fidgets a lot, and Ayato has to focus all his efforts on forcing himself not to grab his hand in reassurance. That would be too hard to explain if somebody happens to see them.
He knows his feelings are foolish at best. It’s not like Itto will ever reciprocate them, no matter how much Ayato deludes himself. And dating an oni as someone in his position? That’s not just foolish; it’s dangerous.
Yet, he still lets himself drift in those fantasies every once in a while. Especially in moments like this, when he's a bit too tired of his work and acting a little childish feels a bit too irresistible.
Ayato can’t say he ever had an actual childhood. He often wonders if Itto did. He knows that he was picked up from the streets by his granny as a kid, but not much besides this fact. However, he can still presume that his past as the only oni in the village couldn’t have been easy, so he always comes to the same comforting conclusion that Itto didn’t have an actual childhood either. Later, he wonders if that’s the reason they get along so well, and he stops his train of thought so as not to get too ahead of himself.
Itto is his guilty pleasure; Ayato comes to him when he knows best he shouldn't. But the oni shouldn't become anything more.
He leads Itto through the front door – why should he be ashamed of him in his own house? None of his servants would dare talk back to him about that anyway. In the corner of his eye, he can see Itto looking around in wonder. He’s probably never been invited to such a fancy household before; such are hard to come by indeed, as probably only the heads of the Kujou and Hiiragi clans inhabit mansions that can rival Kamisato Estate’s splendor. But that’s for the better. At least this way there’s a low chance that the oni will be able to decipher the meaning of his family’s insignia adorning every corner of the house.
Of course, he isn’t afraid of him finding out. He surely wouldn’t be particularly mad, even if Ayato hasn’t done nearly enough to change the people’s perception of onis during their years of friendship despite his position. But he’d still rather be safe than sorry.
He opens the door to his office and lets Itto in.
“Wow, so, this is your place?” Itto says nervously. “Like, I knew you were rich and all, but now you look not just rich but important on top of that. Makes me wonder what you actually do for a living-”
“Itto,” Ayato interrupts him with a click of the door behind him. Itto nearly jumps at that and turns around with an awkward smile.
“So, uh, what did you want to do?”
Ayato lets out a sigh.
“I apologize, Itto. I may have tricked you a little,” he admits, bitterly. “I still have a lot of work to do, and I only brought you here to keep me company while I finish it. I’ll understand if you want to leave in the end.”
And then Itto does something unexpected: breathes a loud sigh of relief. It stings Ayato a little.
“Oh man, it’s alright! I’d also rather work with Arataki ‘The Greatest Companion Ever’ Itto if I had the chance,” the oni reassures him with laughter. “Unfortunately, there’s only one of me. But! You, my dear bro Ayato, are lucky enough to have my services reserved only for yourself for tonight, haha… So, what do I do?” He looks at him with big, expectant eyes, and Ayato can’t help but chuckle a little under his breath.
“First of all, let’s sit down, shall we?” he proposes as he leads Itto to his desk.
“Aaand now what?”
“Whatever you please, dear… bro,” Ayato supplies, sitting in front of his impossibly boring documents again. “I’d be content to listen to some more of your stories if you still have any left for me, although, honestly, you may truly do anything you want as long as you’re here.”
“But… won’t I distract you from work?” Itto worries.
“A most welcome distraction indeed,” Ayato argues. “And certainly more entertaining than this mess in front of me.”
He gestures to the papers on the desk. It almost pains him to think how many proposals he’ll have to review and how many more letters he’ll have to draft tonight instead of regaling his precious guest…
“Yeah, honestly you’re messier than I imagined,” Itto interrupts his train of thought, and Ayato almost chokes on air. “Shinobu would’ve given you an earful if she saw that.”
“I can navigate myself perfectly fine in this so-called ‘mess’,” Ayato rebuts immediately, his ears getting warmer.
“Hey, you don’t have to tell me!” Itto puts his hands up in surrender. “I get it, dude, I really do, but you know how she is… Wait, no, you guys hardly ever met, huh? Oh man, I gotta introduce you to each other, I just know you two will click perfectly!”
“There’s no need,” Ayato reassures as he takes the page he finished on in his hand. Ah yes, a letter to the Narukami Shrine, speaking of the devil. He conducted a thorough investigation into all of Itto’s friends’ pasts, so he knows of Shinobu’s shrine background, and that already makes him quite sure they wouldn’t make the bestest of friends.
Itto takes this as a cue for him to let Ayato focus a bit more on his work, so he goes on to tell even more unbelievable stories from his past (that Ayato graciously chooses to believe after all). In the end he has to grow tired of it too, since Ayato is only able to respond to him half-heartedly over the unfortunate load of papers on his desk and the night is only growing older, so he ceases his recounting in favor of leaning on his hand and yawning.
And just as Ayato starts to think that his guest may actually fall asleep right there and then, Itto moves across the wooden floor and rests his head on his shoulder instead. It immediately stops Ayato in his tracks.
“Is it okay with you?” the oni asks a little belatedly, because Ayato’s heart already wants to beat out of his chest.
“Make yourself comfortable,” he replies nonchalantly, hoping it will mask his exhilaration.
And Itto does, giving himself permission to even read Ayato’s correspondence through squinted eyes.
“What are you reading?” he asks noncommittally.
“Top secret documents. I could get you killed for unauthorized reading,” Ayato threatens jokingly. In truth, there’s almost no harm in anyone learning or even spreading information about plans for an upcoming festival.
“I don’t understand a word anyway,” Itto surrenders after a moment of pause. Ayato chuckles.
A few more pages later, Itto is already shifting and changing his position again. This time, he chooses Ayato’s lap for a pillow, and Ayato’s heart reacts by doing a somersault.
“Aren’t you getting a bit too comfortable, Itto?”
“Am I bothering you?” the oni asks in a sleepy voice.
“Not at all,” Ayato reassures him. “But if you’re getting tired, I can arrange a bed for you.”
“‘M not tired,” Itto says with a yawn. “I just wanna… rest here for a bit, yeah?”
“Of course.” Ayato pats his head with his free hand.
Not too long later, Itto is already snoring lightly in his lap, and Ayato finally finishes all his tasks for the day (at least all that he’s willing to put his mind to). The commissioner looks down on his oni and can’t help but realize how uncanny he looks as he sleeps with his eyes open. Almost as if he was looking at him, drilling a hole through his head and heart, and unearthing all of his hidden desires.
Ayato pets his oni’s head gently and allows himself another moment of indulgence. Oh, how he wishes he could have Itto all to himself like this every day. How he wants to have him in his bed, falling asleep earlier and waking up later than him, so that Ayato can watch his defenseless and unsuspecting face as the first and the last thing during his days.
Maybe he could wake him up with a kiss? Or – he muses as his thoughts grow darker and needier – he could wake him up by wrapping his selfish lips and fingers around his oni’s unnecessarily big dick.
(Ayato’s never seen it, but he’s sure it would be just as unnecessarily huge as the rest of his body; such a shame it would go to waste with Ayato.)
Or – going even further – he could wake him up by pushing his own cock between those beautiful, slightly parted lips. Itto doesn’t have any experience – at least not as far as Ayato knows – but it doesn’t matter. Ayato wouldn’t mind teaching him everything. He wouldn’t mind even his oni’s sharp teeth dragging on his sensitive skin.
Ayato’s had many lovers in the past. Well, truthfully, they were more playthings than anything else. All of them were boy prostitutes from Inazuman brothels, paid plenty more than what they deserved for their services if only to keep them quiet about these escapades. Ayato also made sure that the servants who brought them in were rotated often and skillfully enough so that none of them would be able to gossip that he’s made a habit out of this. No one could know; not even Thoma, and especially not Ayaka.
He’s known that he was gay since he was a teenager. He never acted on it, though, until he became the head of the clan. Only then, under the stress and fatigue that took the years out of his parents, did he crumble and have his very unromantic first time. But it didn’t matter to him much, as he knew that Inazuma wasn’t yet ready to break up with its strong clan-and-heredity culture, so he’d have to marry some noble lady from a good household and produce an heir someday anyway. That’s a fate he already made peace with. He’s only worried that his family would be disappointed in him if they knew about his selfish trysts.
All that to say, Itto is different from Ayato’s past lovers, not just because of his innocence and lack of experience. Truthfully, there was something wickedly exciting about the possibility of being the one to show Itto everything. It’s just that Ayato’s afraid that once he lets himself fall into his oni, there will be no turning back for him. And he absolutely can’t have that.
But all of that seems so distant when he stares into Itto’s beautiful red eyes.
Ayato sighs and bends forward, closing his eyes.
“You’re so unfair,” he says, his lips hovering right over his oni’s. “If only you knew what your merely lying down like this does to me…”
Ayato pulls himself up before he can get too ahead of himself. Itto would hate him for these thoughts. There’s nothing he valued more than friendship, after all, and there was no way to destroy a relationship like getting too greedy.
Instead he shakes him awake and watches as he groggily rubs his eyes.
“Did I stay too long? What time is it?” Itto asks.
“It’s okay, don’t worry about it,” Ayato reassures with a smile. “But it is pretty late, so I have three propositions for you.”
Itto nods his head for Ayato to continue, still a little out of it.
“You could go back home, or I could arrange a bed for you here at the estate. Or,” Ayato pauses teasingly, “you could sleep with me in my bedroom next door.”
Ayato doesn’t expect much. He’s almost prepared to call for a servant to organize a bedroom for his oni when he speaks with a big, beautiful blush, “So… I choose the last option.”
Ayato forgets how to breathe for a moment after. His ears are warm again, and this time his cheeks follow suit.
“Sure,” he replies finally. “Follow me.”
He leads Itto into his room, holding his hand, they change for the night (or actually only Ayato changes out of his formal wear – Itto only takes off his accessories) and lie down on the bed, staring at each other.
“Uh… Goodnight, Ayato,” Itto says.
“Goodnight, Itto,” Ayato echoes.
In reality, he’s unsure if he’ll be able to fall asleep with his heart thundering in his ears like this. He never expected life could actually get this good.
To hell with rules and propriety. Ayato will make Itto his one way or another, no matter what his family and other clans may think about it. Damn him if he doesn’t at least try.