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Eiji had never really been one for wearing cologne. Japanese people on the whole tend to favour a clean, non-obtrusive scent that doesn’t bother others, so most of them avoid strongly scented perfumes. It is actually considered culturally impolite and offensive to have a strong odour, good or bad, so the most popular Japanese perfumes are mildly scented and many schools and offices ban their use for the comfort of others. It helps that a genetic quirk found in the majority of East Asians means Japanese people don’t have much of an issue with BO, and so the use of perfumes and deodorant daily are mostly unnecessary. That’s not to say they don’t wear them, however; many women will apply a generous spritz of perfume if out on a date, and the alluring scent of aftershave is common in a host bar. As far as Eiji was concerned, though, his signature scents were that of fabric softener on his clothes, either menthol or floral scented shampoo (the choice was dependant on what was on offer in the supermarket when he brought it as he wasn’t fussy, and just got whichever brand was cheapest at the time), and whatever natural odour his body decided to emit that day.
Therefore, he was a little annoyed when the shop assistant approached him while he browsed a department store with Kong and Bones, and spritzed him liberally with a sample of men’s fragrance. He blinked a couple of times, stupefied, as the misted droplets settled on his clothes and hair, his nose assaulted with a musky, woody odour. It wasn’t unpleasant, but it was potent, and his nose wrinkled just slightly and cutely as it processed the olfactory disturbance. He coughed a couple of times when he accidentally inhaled some of the airborne particles, the alcohol taste burning his throat.
“It’s the new scent from Calvin Klein!” the ditzy young woman dressed in the store uniform said enthusiastically, a plastic smile on her face as she held up a glass, oval-shaped bottle. “Obsession For Men! It’s one of our best sellers!”
“Sorry, I am not interested in buying!” Eiji told her, voice slightly strained from coughing, yet still remaining polite despite his impromptu coating of brand-name perfume. “I am not here for perfume.”
He was actually looking for a fancy brand of moisturising cream that Ash favoured. Ash might have detested living in opulence under Golzine’s roof, but it had still left him with a taste for the finer things when it came to food and little luxuries, and he was a stickler for personal cleanliness and hygiene. Some hard-to-drop habits from his prostitute days, when retaining youthful, smooth, supple skin was beneficial to earning his keep, stubbornly remained part of his schedule, plus he tended to get dry, itchy patches if he didn’t rub a little lotion on his face at least once every few days. He used to use cheap hand cream when money was an issue, but now he’d stolen millions from the Union Course he could afford better things. He’d given Eiji a generous allowance and requested he buy him some more when he was next out with his bodyguards. Eiji had commented on how expensive it was compared to a supermarket brand that would do the same thing, but had then shrugged and accepted the quest without further judgement. Kong and Bones, naturally, didn’t even question this request; Ash had more than a couple of effeminate tendences and, while mentioning it was taboo, his past life wasn’t exactly a secret. He could still thoroughly kick their asses and was absolutely terrifying to everyone except Eiji when annoyed, so it was best not to tease him about a few less masculine attributes to his personality.
“But it’s the perfect scent for you!” she persevered. “Classy and sophisticated!”
Eiji was wearing a T-shirt with an ugly Norinori print on it, and a pair of jeans with the hems rolled up so they wouldn’t drag on the floor. He was cute for sure, but also the exact opposite of ‘classy and sophisticated’. He could see Bones trying to hide a sudden outburst of laughter at the very idea.
“I do not usually wear perfume!” Eiji told her. “I would appreciate if you did not spray people without asking too. It is very rude! And it is very strong smell! Some people may have allergies, or be sensitive!”
“You’ll get all the girls!” she said, oblivious to his disapproval. “Ladies love a nice smelling man! It’ll make you even more attractive!”
“I am not interested in girls!” Eiji told her, not really thinking about the accidental double entendre. At that, Bones lost control and openly got the giggles.
“Damn straight! Or not in this case!” he muttered under his breath to Kong, causing the large black boy to snort with laughter too while trying and failing to hide a smirk playing on his lips. Eiji blushed slightly as he realised what he’d just said.
“What I mean is, I am not looking for girlfriend right now, and I do not need perfume!” he said defensively.
“But I think it would mix well with your-“
“I said no, thank you,” Eiji told her firmly. “Please stop trying to sell me perfume – I do not want it!”
“Maybe your friends would-“
“Lady, I can barely afford a dog at Nathan’s, never mind some fancy cologne!” Kong told her.
“Yeah, I’ll buy that stuff once I can afford a dentist!” Bones said, still fighting laughter, his grin showing off his very noticeable lack of front teeth.
“Why are you in an exclusive store like this if you can’t-“
“We are allowed to browse,” Eiji told her, his accent thickening as he started to lose his cool. “It is not a crime! And we do have money, but I want to use it on specific thing! That is why we here! Not for perfume!”
“Sheesh, touchy much!” the woman said, her smile flickering into more of a grimace. “I’ll leave you to your shopping. Have a nice day!”
“Thank you, we will,” Eiji responded, and she finally left them in peace, wandering off to pester some other shoppers.
“Wow Eiji – I never knew you had such moxie!” Kong told him, looking impressed. “I mean, I already knew you have balls of steel to be all friendly with the boss like you are, but man! You sure told her where to stick it!”
“An’ he did it all without droppin’ an F-bomb!” Bones added. “I’d ‘a just told her to fuck off!”
“Well, she very annoying!” Eiji frowned. He held out the neck of his shirt and sniffed it, pulling a disapproving face. “I smell very… pungent.”
“It doesn’t smell bad,” Kong assured him. “Quite manly, actually.
“Yeah, it’s fine!” Bones added. “An’ it’ll probably wear off in a couple ‘o hours.”
“I hope so,” Eiji sighed. “It was very rude of her to spray me without asking like that!”
“Let’s get what we came in here for and go someplace else,” Kong suggested. “If we go back to the apartment, you could take a shower!”
“Hmm…” Eiji nodded.
*
Ash arrived home before Eiji and the others returned. He found it weird that he considered the strategically-placed apartment home – he hadn’t really thought of anywhere as being ‘home’ since he left the Cape. He’d lived in brothels, mansions, and dives, and he’d slept rough and couch-surfed and bunked with Shorter and Max in juvie and prison respectively. In theory, this place should just be another in a long list of shelters, but… He had a roommate now. Somehow, Eiji’s presence made the place a lot warmer and welcoming than it had any right being. His sunny disposition and calming influence made the place feel safe and familiar and relaxing, a place he actively wanted to come back to every day.
He hadn’t had a place like that since Griff left.
Maybe it was less that he thought the apartment home, and more that he considered wherever Eiji was as ‘home’.
The front door opened with a jingle of keys and a murmur of youthful voices as Eiji returned, Kong and Bones in protective tow. Kong hefted a large tote bag full of groceries, and Eiji himself had a fancy paper bag with a department store logo on it.
“I’m tellin’ ya, it was the size of a hawk!” Bones was saying, showing the size of something with his hands held up in front of him, like he was bragging about a fish. “Musta been a hornet!”
“It was just a lil’ yellowjacket!” Kong told him.
“It was huge!” Bones insisted. “An’ it took offense to me – it came after me, all stingers blaring!”
“That’s because you tried to swat it!” Kong told him.
“It was scared,” Eiji said kindly. “You be scared too, if big, clumsy human try to hit you on head.”
“It was scared?!” Bones said, scandalised. “What about me?! That thing was massive!”
“If you think that is big, then you best not come to Japan,” Eiji said. “Ōsuzumebachi are called ‘sparrow bee’ for a reason!”
“Sparrow… bee?” Bones blanched.
“Asian hornet is impressively large,” Eiji nodded. “They are size of your hand! We had nest in our garden once. One stung my sister! Her whole arm swelled up!”
“Jesus!” Kong gasped.
“I thought ya were Japanese, not Australian!” Bones quipped. “They sound fuckin’ horrifyin’!”
“Some people eat them,” Eiji said nonchalantly.
“What?” Bones deadpanned.
“More specifically, they eat… eto… What is English word? Babies? Maggot? The stage before adult?”
Neither Kong nor Bones could answer, Bones shrugging while Kong shook his head.
“Never mind. You know what I mean. I have not tried eating myself, but I am told they are similar to shrimp, only not fishy. People also put Ōsuzumebachi in shochu, which is a type of alcohol, and then drink it.”
“Like a worm in tequila,” Kong said, nodding.
“Eeew…” Bones muttered, looking a little nauseous at the thought.
“Welcome home!” Ash told them, interrupting their conversation. “And the word you’re thinking of is ‘larvae’.”
“Boss!” Kong and Bones greeted him energetically.
“I was not expecting you to be back yet,” Eiji said, smiling in his usual warm way.
“Did you get everything you needed?” Ash asked, eyeing up the department store bag.
“Yes,” Eiji nodded. He held out the bag for Ash to take. “Here! They had the brand you asked for.”
“Thanks,” he accepted it. As he took the bag, a scent wafted over to him from somewhere, something spicy and reminiscent…
Ash wasn’t a fan of strong perfumes; masculine cologne was the preferred choice of most of the influential men who had abused him, and he strongly associated the smells of oud and tobacco with Golzine. As far as masking personal body odour goes, he himself made do with a stripe of cheap deodorant under his armpits daily, but in the past he would be doused in the same heady aroma, the smell sometimes making him feel nauseous, although whether this was through its overpowering nature, or a reactive response to the bad memories the smell would induce in him, was unclear. Usually, a mere tiny sniff of aftershave would bring bad memories streaming to the surface of his mind, unpleasant and anxiety inducing, but this time was different.
He should hate this aromatic musky smell.
But he didn’t.
In fact, he really liked it.
He took a deep sniff of the air, savouring the smell, trying to figure out its source. It was… intoxicating.
Clearly, something showed on his face, because Eiji was staring at him curiously. “Ash?” he queried, seeing him frowning slightly.
“Something smells…” Ash murmured, sniffing again. Whatever it was, it wasn’t on Kong or Bones. He followed his nose… “It’s you!” he told Eiji, finding the source. “You smell!”
<”Well, that’s rather mean…”> Eiji said to himself in Japanese. He switched to English to apologise. “I know. Sorry about that! A lady in the department store sprayed me with something.”
“It smells nice… Like, really nice!” Even Ash isn’t sure what he was doing when he slowly reached out and wrapped his arms around Eiji. He’d never been this brazen before, especially not in the presence of others, with the exception of that very brief moment in prison.
“Ano… Ash…?” Eiji asked him in confusion, stiffening slightly in self-conscious discomfort as Ash buried his face in his hair and sniffed him again more closely. “What are you doing?”
Ash whined slightly with a satisfied sound, something between a purr and a groan, acting somewhat cat-like as he rubbed his face in the soft, black strands.
“Boss?” Bones tried asking him. Hearing a different voice seemed to snap Ash out of whatever trance he was in, as he raised his head and turned to look at Kong and Bones, although noticeably he kept a gentle hold of Eiji.
“What?” he asked.
“You’re actin’ weird…”
“Huh?” He felt Eiji shift slightly in his grasp, not trying to escape, just adjusting his stance. The movement brought him fully back to reality as he realised exactly what he’d been doing. He let him go and took a bashful step back. “Ah… erm… Sorry!”
That was embarrassing. He’d never reacted like that to a smell before, and especially not to perfume. Usually, scents like that made him run a mile, and yet… This time, he almost wanted to roll around in it, wrapping the olfactory joy around himself, huffing its intriguing, exotic fragrance. Was it purely a nice smelling eau du toilette that didn’t make him gag, or was it possibly…?
Was it because Eiji was wearing it?
Ash thought Eiji’s usual scent smelled comforting, although he never told him as such because it’s simply not the sort of thing you can just say out loud to someone without it sounding weird. He usually smelled clean and fresh, which was welcomed in the city slums, and strangely nostalgic. To him, Eiji’s natural smell reminded him of a warm summer day, all grassy fields and breezy sea air, and lazy days relaxing on a porch with cold lemonade. It was away from the city, away from the stress, away from the mess of his cursed life. It reminded him of being out all day long with Griff back at the Cape, when times were simpler and safer, when he was still free and innocent. When Eiji held him gently and enveloped him in that familiar smell, he would feel very relaxed and, dare he say, loved. He associated cologne with something completely different: passion, possession, and sex. Combining the two was apparently a dangerous and heady cocktail for him.
“It’s just… It smells really good, you know?” he tried explaining, knowing it sounded lame.
“I thought he just smelled like Eiji with aftershave on him…” Kong muttered.
<”Why is everyone saying I smell today?”> Eiji murmured to himself, now feeling self-conscious about his regular body odour too. He’d never really had BO before, at least not that he was aware of, not even after a hard day of training out on the track. He’d showered within the last 24 hours and his clothes were clean on this morning, so he shouldn’t smell too bad, even if he’d sweated a bit while out and about. He tried to surreptitiously sniff himself, raising his arm slightly and pulling his shirt out to see how fragrant his armpits and clothing was, but he couldn’t detect anything unpleasant. That could just be because he was nose-blind to his own odour though.
“Eiji never smells of anythin’ though. Not like we do sometimes,” Bones added with a shrug, which soothed the spike of Japanese fastidiousness that had suddenly risen inside him.
“That’s because, unlike you, Eiji actually bathes every night,” Ash scoffed.
“I wash myself!” Bones said, sounding scandalised that anyone suggested otherwise. “I can’t help it if I don’t always have access to a shower sometimes, but I always do my pits and bits!”
“Them’s the important bits to do,” Kong nodded. He held out the grocery bag for Eiji to take as he added, “We should probably get going anyway. Boss is here, so we can clock off for the day and, I dunno, maybe go have a bath or somethin' ‘cause, apparently, we stink!”
“We’re stayin’ with Alex again,” Bones grinned.
“When you see him, tell him I want to talk to him about the Capulets getting cocky over in Hell’s Kitchen. It may be time we take some action to calm things down,” Ash told them.
“Will do, Boss!” Bones said, saluting him.
“We’ll see you in the morning,” Kong told them, raising a hand in a farewell gesture before he and Bones turned and let themselves out of the apartment.
“Bye Eiji!” Bones said, waving before Kong slammed the apartment door shut behind them.
Eiji sighed after they left, adjusting his grip on the grocery bag. “I should put these away,” he said, making his way to the kitchen. He started to fill the fruit basket on the countertop with apples. “Then I think I will have early shower, get perfume smell off me…”
“You don’t have to!” Ash said, his voice slightly clipped. He didn’t want Eiji to wash it off just yet. “It’s fine! Really! You can shower before bed like you usually do.”
Eiji frowned slightly at him – he was acting peculiar today. “Okay…” he agreed. “If you do not mind…”
“Like I said, it smells nice,” Ash shrugged.
Ash sat at the kitchen table and watched Eiji as he put the rest of the groceries away. He would help, but last time he tried Eiji had moaned at him for putting things away in the wrong places, so it was easier to let him get on with it. He could smell the woody aroma of the cologne from way over here, enticing him with its spicy allure. He wanted nothing more than to press his face into Eiji’s chest and huff endless lungfuls of it, but it would be very strange and more than a little uncomfortable for all concerned if he just marched up to his – what was Eiji to him anyway? A good friend? Platonic lover? Soulmate??? – and essentially motorboated his non-existent male breasts. Even thinking of doing it was weird! What the hell had that department store lady sprayed him in? He decided to ask.
“What was the name of it?”
“Sorry?”
“The perfume you said you were sprayed with. What was it?”
“I do not remember the name, but she said it was new? Oh! The brand was ‘Calvin Klein’ – I remember that!” Eiji struggled with the pronunciation of L’s and V’s, so it came out more like ‘Karubin Krain’, but the brand was famous enough that even mangling it with a foreign accent did little to destroy its familiarity.
“Hmm.” Ash grunted, acting vaguely disinterested, but vowing to ask at the department store next time he was passing what Calvin Klein’s most recent fragrance was, for curiosity’s sake. It was the first time in a long time that a strong male perfume hadn’t caused him distress (although whatever Max wore sometimes didn’t seem to spark any trauma either – he tended to smell like vanilla and old leather, which Ash though was a very dad-like smell to have, and he was kind-of indifferent to it as it was mild and non-oppressive and just smelled like Max). The fact it wasn’t putting him off, and he was actually actively enjoying the smell, was intriguing to him. Had he finally found a brand he could use himself maybe? Would whatever it was smell the same on him? Probably not. Most perfumes are affected by personal chemistry and smell subtly different from person to person, as they mingled with natural and environmental factors on their skin and clothes to form a unique cocktail. Ash’s trained nose was pretty sensitive to such things too. What smelled absolutely gorgeous on Eiji could just as easily smell cloyingly awful on him. Besides, he didn’t really want to invite any more unwanted attention, and the combination of aftershave with his angel face was practically asking for trouble – he knew that from past experience!
How about maybe… A gift? Clearly, it suited Eiji well, complimenting his usual clean, fresh smell. The shop assistant had been bang on the mark there. He could buy some for him, and then Ash could enjoy it as an outsider. Eiji didn’t seem nearly as enamoured by it as he was though, plus he’d never worn or shown any interest in perfume before. Would he even appreciate cologne? He might be outright offended by it. Could it even be classed as a gift if it was mainly a self-indulgent thing for himself?
Best just to enjoy it as much as possible now, before Eiji washed it off later.
He tried his best to ignore the urge to sniff Eiji directly again, although the pull to do so was incredibly strong. He waited for him to finish putting things away, torn between desire to hug him for no good reason other than to enjoy his perfumed aroma, and gay panic that he wanted to do something like that so badly.
“I wonder if there is anything good on TV?” Eiji said, mostly to himself, but he looked at Ash as he said it. “I think I will look. Maybe there is a movie or something.”
“Good idea,” Ash said, trailing him with his eyes as he retreated to the sofa and dropped lightly down onto the soft cushions. He grabbed the remote and began channel hopping. While he did so, Ash followed him into the lounge area and flopped down next to him, almost uncomfortably close. Their thighs and shoulders were touching, grazing against each other with feather light touches every time they moved. Eiji thought very little of it; ‘skinship’, or non-sexual physical intimacy, was a very normal thing between East Asians of the same gender, particularly those who are young or close friends. The Japanese were a little more reserved than most when it came to public displays of affection, but sitting close to someone you liked was more than acceptable. It wasn’t unusual for Ash to sit close next to him either, and it was a real sign of trust that he didn’t mind physical contact with him.
This close, the perfume smell was overwhelming.
It wasn’t long before Ash slumped sideways to rest his head on Eiji’s shoulder. Still Eiji didn’t question it. While more unusual than sitting close, it hadn’t been unheard of for Ash to use his shoulder as a pillow if he was sleepy and they were alone, like they were now. What he didn’t realise was that Ash was wide awake and consciously leaning so he could better enjoy the smell of his cologne. He sighed contentedly as he adjusted his position slightly to be more comfortable.
“Are you tired?” Eiji asked him conversationally.
“Not really,” he responded.
“You are being very… cuddly.”
“Maybe I want to cuddle.”
Now we were entering strange-for-Ash territory. Ash rarely if ever requested physical affection; Eiji usually had to read the body language cues, and hugs in particular seemed to be exclusively used as comfort when he was scared or upset, usually after a bad dream or traumatic event. Ash was not a hugger naturally, which was why when he’d held him at the door earlier it had taken him by surprise.
“Are you feeling okay?”
“Yep. Why?”
“Just checking.”
Ash being ill might have explained him wanting a little extra reassurance, but generally when Ash was sick he got moody and defensive, not soft and snuggly.
“I just feel like… I wanna…” Ash twisted slightly, reaching out an arm to drape over Eiji’s chest as he burrowed his face into his collarbone. He made that same satisfied, moaning sound he had done when he’d sniffed his hair earlier, only how he was completely surrounded by the smell of resinous woods, musk, and Eiji.
“Erm…?” Eiji seemed a little uncertain of how to act to this uncharacteristic development. It was becoming a little uncomfortable with no context to it. “Ash…? You are definitely acting weird.”
“It’s your fault for smelling so nice!” he said, voice muffled as he kept his face smooshed into Eiji’s shirt.
“Wait… Are you acting like this… Because you are trying to smell me?”
“Why is it so GOOD?!” Ash grasped Eiji’s shirt tightly as he rubbed his face against him.
<”Are you even human?”> Eiji muttered. “Ash, you are acting like cat with cat mint!”
“Huh?”
“You know? How cats rub against smell they like? You are being like that!”
Ash paused, stiffening slightly, feeling highly embarrassed at that comparison. He didn’t disengage from clinging onto Eiji yet though.
“I do not mind,” Eiji hastened to add, sensing his sudden shame. “I will hug you if you want, that is fine, but… It is just… A bit strange for you. I am not sure if I should be concerned or not.”
They were silent for a few awkward seconds, before Ash broke the tension, fidgeting slightly.
“…I never thought I’d find cologne attractive like this…” Ash murmured, his cheeks painted with a delicate pink blush. “Before, it always made me think of… Well…”
“Oh.”
“But it’s almost like… On you, it’s different. Like it’s resetting my brain or something, and I can associate it with good things instead of bad. I want more of that.”
“Ash…”
“Sorry…”
“You do not need to apologise,” Eiji shook his head slightly, placing one arm gently over Ash in a half-hug of reassurance. “If it is helping your past trauma in some way, then… This is good thing, I think.”
“I probably did come on a little strong though,” Ash admitted. The embarrassment of hearing he was acting felid seemed to have erased some of the magic the cologne had over him. “Seriously – whatever they used is powerful stuff!”
“May as well enjoy it while you can,” Eiji said matter-of-factly. “I will go back to normal, smelly self soon!”
Ash snorted with amusement at that. “Your ‘normal, smelly self’ smells fine too, you know,” he murmured. “I like your normal, smelly Eiji smell.”
“That is reassuring, after so many people today tell me I smell,” Eiji smirked.
“Maybe I should buy you some cologne to use all the time, if you’re self-conscious about it,” Ash teased him. “It does smell good on you.”
“Maybe not use as much as the lady spray on me – it is very strong! And maybe not use it all the time…” Eiji responded contemplatively. “Just… Special times.”
“What, like weddings and funerals?”
“Yes… But also… Dates. And maybe before having… eto…” Now it was Eiji’s turn to flush crimson as he trailed off the end of the sentence.
“Yes?”
<”Please don’t make me say it!”>
“I don’t understand you unless you speak English,” Ash told him, wearing a teasing expression with a slight smirk.
“If it has… Strong effect… Like that on… ano… Certain people, then…”
“Yeeeeeeeeeees…?” Ash said in a sing-song way, elongating the ‘e’, trying to both encourage and embarrass him further.
“…Sex.” Eiji admitted sheepishly after an awkwardly long pause.
“Oh my – in my good Christian household!” Ash said in mock outrage, his eyes twinkling gleefully as he ribbed him.
<”You’re horrible and I don’t know why I like you!”> Eiji groaned in Japanese, folding his arms and turning his face away from him to hide how flustered he was while Ash giggled at him.
“Hehe, you’re cute when you get all bashful!” he said, leaning into him. “But I agree. Maybe best to keep something this powerful for a special occasion!”
“I am going to shower now…” Eiji mumbled, pulling away from Ash to stand up.
“Aww, Eiji – I was only messing with you!”
“Maybe, but… I am not at wedding or funeral, nor am I on date, and I am starting to feel a bit uncomfortable smelling so…”
“Attractive?”
“Yes.”
Ash sighed, feeling a tad guilty that he’d made him so self-conscious. “Alright,” he said, shrugging. “Go and shower… But… It was nice while it lasted.”
Eiji hesitated briefly, looking at Ash with a strange and thoughtful expression, frowning slightly. He grabbed a fold of his shirt contemplatively before making a decision. He started to pull the shirt up over his head.
“What are you do-“ Ash began to ask him with an eyebrow raised in confusion, but a soft ‘flump’ of wadded up fabric hitting him in the face silenced him.
“Here. You enjoy for longer,” Eiji said, now shirtless. He turned away, so Ash couldn’t see how warm his face had become. “I go shower.”
Ash watched him leave, clutching the rumpled shirt, shocked into silence for a few seconds. He heard the bathroom door slam, the lock latching closed, and the muffled patter of shower water hitting the bathtub. He looked down at the shirt screwed up in his hands, the goofy smile of that damn ugly bird grinning up at him. After a moment of hesitation, knowing nobody could see him, he held the shirt up to his face, closed his eyes, and inhaled deeply.
*
The article in the paper a few days later caused Eiji to laugh out loud and Ash to blush a deep crimson red. Apparently, the Bronx Zoo had been looking for ways to provide enrichment to their big cats, and had found that strong smells sprinkled onto cardboard boxes provided hours of fun as the cats sniffed, rubbed, tore, and rolled upon them. While the lions and tigers reacted to nip much like a housecat would, and would huff at herbs and spices rubbed over the rough cardboard eagerly, a clever keeper had sprung across the idea that maybe perfumes could provide interesting and unusual smells for the cats to interact with and be curious about. The smelly colognes would provide strong and varied scents, which would last a while and give the big cats something to ponder over.
They tried several common perfumes on the cats, but the overarching favourite was a Calvin Klein spray, specifically the male branding of their Obsession range.
The big cats would rub and nuzzle the boxes for hours, chuffing and yowling with pleasure same as they would do with nip. They would roll in the scent, marking themselves with it, and get really defensive of the scented boxes should anyone come near to try and take it from them. The keepers theorised that there was a compound in the cologne, specifically a compound named ‘civetone’, after the small, carnivorous mammal the scent originated from, that encourages the cats to ‘scent mark’ furiously over the top of it. Civetone has a musky, wild odour, which apparently drives the cats into a fervour. Wildlife photographers and trackers had already started testing theories that the cologne could be used to attract big cats in the wild, with some promising results. Jaguars, for example, were found to be drawn to the scent when it was trialled on trees in South America as a lure during a scientific species count, and in India they were toying with the idea of using it to capture known man-killing tigers.
“Attracts… Big cats…” Eiji had wheezed, doubled over on the sofa where he sat besides Ash, laughing so hard he was crying. “And you are lynx!”
“Shut up!” Ash snapped, highly embarrassed. He’d snatched the paper from him to speed read the article, annoyed at himself for allowing Eiji to get hold of it first. If only Ash had been a little faster to the mailbox… He could have torn it out before Eiji got any ammunition! Now he would never live this down, and all because he thought he smelled nice!
“I did say you act like cat with nip!” Eiji teased, wiping his eyes. “No wonder!”
“You are never allowed to wear cologne again!” Ash spluttered.
“What, are you afraid I may attract rival cat?” Eiji laughed harder. “Maybe… Hahaha! Maybe I should try fill a pumpkin with treats for you to roll around, like zoo does for cats!”
“You do that and I’m kicking you out on your ass!” Ash griped, moodily. “You can go and get kidnapped again for all I care!”
“Hahaha, you do not mean that!” Eiji said, still tittering with laughter. “You like me too much!”
“You’re lucky I do…”
“Besides, all I need do is buy perfume, and you will come find me anyway!”
He had to dodge the sofa cushion that came flying at his head, swearing in Japanese as it skimmed past him and laughing harder.
“Fuck you!” Ash swore at him, holding up another cushion ready to lob, but he was smiling and it was said without malice. “Maybe I’ll take you to the zoo and let the lions have a sniff!”
He smacked him with the second cushion, Eiji catching it this time, using it as a distraction before launching himself at him.
<”Oh Shit!”> Eiji swore again as suddenly Ash was upon him, wrestling him on the couch, both of them laughing as they playfought and roughhoused, Ash honestly surprised as he always was by exactly how strong Eiji was. Everyone assumed he was weak, but people forgot he was a former professional athlete, and was surprisingly muscular under his soft façade. However, while he struggled admirably, trying to push him away and wriggle free, he was an inexperienced fighter, and Ash eventually won by pinning Eiji’s arms and using his height and slightly greater weight to his advantage.
“See?” he panted. “You wouldn’t… Stand a chance… In a lion cage!”
“Guess I would die then,” Eiji said, breathing heavily. “But at least I can die… Hugging a lion… Which I think I would be nice…”
“You can hug a lion right now!” Ash said, letting his full weight plop down onto Eiji’s chest with a snicker of amusement. Eiji grunted quietly as the wind was knocked out of him momentarily, squished under Ash.
<”Oh god, you’re heavy!”> he huffed, squirming and trying to push him off. He patted him on the back feebly. <”I can’t breathe!”>
“Are you sorry?”
“Ash!”
“Do you yield?”
”Yes! I give up! You win!”
Ash sniggered and rolled off him. “Damn right I do!”
It seemed that even without perfume, Eiji had a positive, uplifting effect on him. He always felt like he could act more his age and be silly with him, and there was much more laughter and joy in his life now. It was fun, being able to tease someone and be physically close without fear of repercussions. However, if the cologne incident had taught him anything it was that, maybe, with Eiji at least, he possibly could take things a stage further in the future, and it would be okay.
If he was with Eiji, he could heal.