Work Text:
Spring had begun, marked by the gentle warm breeze and sakura blooming all around. The weather was warm enough that children were playing outside their homes, running about without a care in the world now that there were no more demons.
Such peace in the country now allowed the remaining Demon Slayers relaxation as the Demon Slaying Corps disbanded. As such, Sanemi and Giyuu could indulge themselves in a lazy day of hanami in a park that was popular for sakura-blooming and hence a popular spot for hanami amongst the villagers.
A little boy was chasing his sister. She didn’t see where she was going, and ran head-first into Giyuu. “Oops,” she said sheepishly. “I’m sorry, onii-san!”
Her brother bowed apologetically to Giyuu.
Giyuu smiled gently down at the two of them. “It’s okay. Just be careful,” he told them. Then, Giyuu reached out to pat the little girl on the head. “Your ribbon is coming undone,” he said, referring to the huge bow on her head that held her hair up in a ponytail. “I can help you fix it.”
“Can you, onii-san?” The little girl’s eyes were literally sparkling. “I don’t know how to tie a ribbon yet, and Mama always ties my hair for me.”
“Sure,” replied Giyuu. He knelt down so that he was level with the little girl’s head and began working on her hair.
Sanemi watched his mate bundle the little girl’s hair into a ponytail and knot the ribbon into a bow. Despite being a man of few words and generally being bad at communication, Giyuu was surprisingly good with kids. He would make a good parent. Suddenly, an image of their kids trailing after a very pregnant Giyuu appeared in Sanemi’s mind, and he had to mentally slap himself to dispel the image. That is thinking WAY WAY into the future, damn it, Shinazugawa!
“Thank you, onii-san!” the little girl and boy chorused before they took off running.
“So cute,” mumbled Giyuu.
“Hmm,” Sanemi hummed in agreement as they resumed walking slowly. “Where did you learn to tie such a nice bow?”
Giyuu looked at the ground. “When… When Tsutako-nee-san was… Well, when I was younger, I would tie Tsutako-nee-san’s hair every morning.”
Sanemi transferred the small picnic basket he was carrying to his left arm. With his right hand, Sanemi took Giyuu’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Sorry.” He felt bad for bringing up Giyuu’s beloved but now-deceased sister, but he was genuinely curious on where Giyuu had learned to tie a bow because he sure as hell couldn’t.
“It’s okay.”
Sanemi and Giyuu continued making their way deeper into the park. As they walked, Giyuu couldn’t help noticing a few young women (and even one or two men) staring at his mate with lecherous eyes. Sanemi was an incredibly handsome and sexy alpha male, and Giyuu didn’t blame them for staring, but did they have to stare LIKE THAT? Sanemi was, as usual, oblivious to them. And while Giyuu trusted Sanemi with all of his heart, an ugly feeling started bubbling inside him.
Sanemi noticed the subtle change in Giyuu’s demeanor. He squeezed Giyuu’s hand again. “Yuu, are you alright?”
“Yes,” Giyuu said with a nod. He pointed at a large sakura tree. “What do you think about that area? Under that tree?”
Sanemi’s eyes followed in the direction of Giyuu’s finger. He was pleased to see that the area was barren of people and rather secluded, so he and Giyuu could have some privacy. “That is perfect,” he said, smiling.
Sanemi and Giyuu made their way towards the sakura tree.
Giyuu took the rolled-up picnic mat from where he had tucked it under his armpits and placed it on the ground. Then, he un-rolled it and settled himself on top of it after removing his shoes.
Immediately, Sanemi joined Giyuu. But before he could take any of the food out of the picnic basket, Giyuu had launched himself onto Sanemi and began rubbing his neck on Sanemi’s face.
“Yuu!” Sanemi gasped. “What are you doing?!”
Giyuu didn’t reply. Instead, he encircled his arms around Sanemi’s shoulders, tightening his hold on his alpha. Giyuu travelled lower and was soon rubbing his cheek against Sanemi’s cheek, his neck against Sanemi’s neck.
Straightaway, Sanemi realized what Giyuu was doing. He turned his head and planted a gentle kiss on Giyuu’s cheek. “Yuu, were you intimidated by something earlier on?” he asked in concern. Omegas scent-marked when they were feeling vulnerable, when they wanted to stake their claim on their alphas, when they wanted to show others that a particular alpha was theirs.
Giyuu stilled. “I-I didn’t like the way they were looking at you,” he said in a small voice.
“Who?”
“Them.” Giyuu gestured vaguely at the other people that they had left by settling down underneath that particular sakura tree. They were now insignificant to Sanemi and Giyuu, but the way they had been looking at Sanemi still unsettled Giyuu and weighed heavily in his mind. “I wanted to show them that you are mine.”
“Ah,” said Sanemi. That made a lot of sense. “I’m yours,” he told Giyuu, wrapping his arms around Giyuu’s waist. “Only yours. Always yours.”
It was best to allow Giyuu to resume his scent-marking, so Sanemi acquiesced, and Giyuu resumed his ministrations. At regular intervals, Sanemi interfered with a kiss onto whichever part of Giyuu’s face he could reach.
Suddenly, there was a soft rumbling sound.
Sanemi froze, but Giyuu was so engrossed in his scent-marking that he either didn’t hear it or totally ignored it.
Then, Sanemi heard it again. He was positive that the sound was not coming from him, so Giyuu had to be making that sound. Was he hungry? But it didn’t sound like the noise was coming from Giyuu’s stomach. It was coming from his throat. And it sounded kind of familiar.
It dawned upon Sanemi where he had heard that noise before.
“Yuu,” Sanemi whispered. “You’re purring.”
Giyuu stopped his scent-marking to stare at Sanemi. “I’m what?”
“You’re purring. Like a fucking cat.”
“I can purr?”
“Evidently,” said Sanemi. In the two years since they had become mates, this was the first time Sanemi had heard Giyuu purr. He knew that some omegas are capable of purring when they were comfortable with their companion, when they happy and contented. And Sanemi was obviously delighted that he could elicit such a response from his omega.
“I have never done it before,” Giyuu said with a perplexed expression on his face. He was face-to-face with Sanemi and was gazing deep into Sanemi’s eyes, which seemed to be dilated in euphoria. “I wasn’t even aware that I was doing it.”
Sanemi shrugged. “I’ve heard that some omegas are capable of purring when they are especially happy,” he explained. “But I didn’t know that you could do it subconsciously.”
Giyuu looked thoughtful. “Am I happy?” he questioned.
“I don’t know. Are you?”
“Well, at first I was pissed at the way people were looking at you,” said Giyuu. “Then, I guess when I started scent-marking you, that feeling went away and I was beginning to enjoy it.”
“There you go,” replied Sanemi. He inhaled deeply, and the scent of Giyuu’s pheromones wafted through his nostrils. Sanemi really liked the smell of his omega’s pheromones – it smelt of lavenders and citrus, it was nice-smelling that Sanemi would consider it tantalizing and with the right amount often managed to turn him on, it was warm and relaxing… But too much of it was calming Sanemi down to a point that it had become a sedative – it was now making Sanemi a little sleepy. He stifled a yawn.
Giyuu detected it instantly. “Sorry,” he said softly, bowing his head and extracting himself from Sanemi. “I didn’t mean to go overboard.”
Sanemi leaned forward and pecked Giyuu lightly on the lips. He plucked a sakura petal from Giyuu’s hair. “It’s not too bad – no harm done,” he said. “We can still enjoy the sakura.”
Giyuu’s cheeks turned a light shade of pink. He turned his face away from Sanemi. “If you want… you can scent me to reduce the effect of my scent,” Giyuu suggested shyly.
Sanemi stared at Giyuu for a while. Then, his lips curved up into a grin. “I won’t hold back then,” he said before shifting his weight forward to embrace Giyuu. Sanemi rubbed his face onto Giyuu’s, earning a tiny squeak from the omega.
Giyuu wrapped an arm around Sanemi’s waist, bringing his alpha and him even closer together. When Sanemi began licking at the mating bite mark on Giyuu’s neck that he had made two years ago, Giyuu shuddered and let out an involuntary gasp. It wasn’t that the mark hurt, but it was particularly sensitive, and Sanemi used that knowledge to his advantage every time they got physical. And very soon, Giyuu was reduced to moans and whimpers as Sanemi assaulted the mark.
Sanemi thanked the gods that Giyuu managed to find such an isolated spot, because he was sure that what they were currently doing might be bordering on obscene, especially with the sounds Giyuu was making.
Finally, when Sanemi was satisfied, he broke apart from Giyuu. He could smell their scents intermingling with each other in the air. No sane person would dare to bother them now.
Giyuu was flushed, his eyes were half-lidded as he regarded Sanemi fondly. “Better?” he asked Sanemi breathlessly.
Sanemi brushed a stray strand of hair from Giyuu’s face. Then, he moved forward to plant a kiss on Giyuu’s forehead. “Better,” he replied with a gentle smile. By his own scent-marking, Sanemi had managed to cover up some of Giyuu’s scent, so it didn’t have a sedative effect on him anymore.
Giyuu returned Sanemi’s smile. “I’m glad.”
Open-mouthed, Sanemi stared at Giyuu. He looked exceptionally breathtaking smiling like that with sakura flowers blown around by the spring breeze behind him. If only Sanemi had a camera – he would capture the magnificence of Giyuu’s beauty to immortalize it so that he could go back and revisit this moment. “You’re beautiful,” Sanemi breathed out.
“Well, so-” ‘are you’ went unsaid as Sanemi launched himself onto Giyuu, pressing his lips onto Giyuu’s and sending the two of them to the ground. Sanemi inserted his tongue into Giyuu’s open mouth. For a moment, Sanemi and Giyuu were interlocked in a rather passionate make-out session.
Eventually, Sanemi dislodged himself from Giyuu. A thin string of saliva still connected them. Giyuu was panting, his cheeks were dusted in dark pink, his lips were red, his hair was even messier now splayed out on the ground, and as Sanemi gazed down at him, he thought Giyuu looked absolutely lovely.
“We seem to have diverted from our intention of hanami today, Nemi,” Giyuu said with a teasing smile.
“Yeah, well, I can’t help myself when you offer yourself up so freely like that,” countered Sanemi with a smirk.
Giyuu laughed softly. “It was my fault for over-scenting you,” he admitted.
“I like the combination of our smells.”
Giyuu sniffed the air. He could smell his own flowery fruity smell and Sanemi’s rainy foresty scent. Combined, it had a flowery forest smell. It made Giyuu think of flowers blooming in the forest after the rain. It sent a serene feeling coursing through him. “Me too,” Giyuu agreed.
Sanemi moved off Giyuu and positioned himself into a sitting position. Giyuu did the same.
“I wish we could stay like this forever,” murmured Sanemi as he wrapped an arm around Giyuu’s shoulder and pulled the omega closer to him.
“Sakura don’t bloom forever,” said Giyuu nonchalantly.
“You know that’s not what I meant,” replied Sanemi, smiling as he watched the sakura.
“Mmm.” Giyuu leaned forward and extended his hand out to take the picnic basket from Sanemi’s side of the picnic mat. “Drinks first or food first?”
“Tea would be good,” Sanemi said. “I’m a bit thirsty.”
Giyuu took out the flask of green tea he had packed from the picnic basket along with two teacups. He handed one of the cups to Sanemi and uncapped the flask to pour tea into it. Sanemi then took the flask and poured tea for Giyuu.
Sanemi and Giyuu sat side-by-side sipping their tea and watching the sakura. Sanemi was thankful that peaceful days such as this could now exist and willed such days to continue for a long, long time.