Chapter Text
Dazai wakes up to the sun shining through the window. He groans and turns his head away from the window, burying it in Chuuya’s hair. The stupid slug must have forgotten to close the curtains all the way before they went to sleep. And, of course, Chuuya, being the heavy sleeper that he is, doesn’t even stir—leaving poor Dazai to face the brutal torture of waking up to the sun while Chuuya sleeps peacefully. Naturally, he has to change that.
“Chuuuuya~” Dazai whines loudly in the other’s ears, grinning when the redhead startles awake. He sits up and looks around, still half asleep. Slug is so adorable when he is confused.
“Huh? What’s going on?” Chuuya asks blearily. “Did something happen?”
“Yes!” Dazai sits up as well, but only so he can flop dramatically across Chuuya’s lap. “You’ll never believe it! The evil Chibi left the curtains open in a cruel attempt to blind me!”
Chuuya rolls his eyes but doesn’t shove Dazai off. He runs his fingers through the strands of dark hair, weaving them into small braids. “Interesting, because I seem to remember you dramatically opening the curtains yesterday to wake me up. So, really, it’s your own fault.”
“Chuuya! You wound me!” Dazai clutches his chest dramatically to emphasize his point. “Surely, if you truly loved me, you would have predicted the future to keep the blinding sun from waking me up so early!!”
“I guess I just don’t love you.” Chuuya shrugs, checking the time on his phone. “Besides, it’s 12:15 pm; I wouldn’t exactly call that early.” He climbs out of bed, dumping Dazai to the ground in the process.
“Chibi is so mean to me,” Dazai pouts from the floor, not attempting to get back up. Chuuya just rolls his eyes and walks to the kitchen their hotel room has—luckily, Mori put them in a suite instead of the basic room, so it comes with a full kitchen. Dazai pulls out his phone and starts typing away on it while Chuuya opens the minifridge to see what they have. The fridge is barren. They must have already gone through the groceries they’d bought when they first arrived.
“I guess we’re going out to eat,” Chuuya hums, looking back at Dazai, “Any ideas on where to go?”
Dazai, who’s just found what he is looking for, holds up his phone triumphantly. He doesn’t tell Chuuya what is on the screen, instead making him walk over and take the phone from Dazai. Once Chuuya grabs the phone, then he says, “The farmer’s market! Doesn’t it look so fun Chuuuya~!! And look! There are tons of vegetables—perfect for a growing slug like you!”
“Don’t call me that, Mackerel.” Chuuya’s hand twitches upward, getting ready to punch Dazai’s shoulder, but Dazai beats him to it, pulling Chuuya down into a short kiss. He smiles against Chuuya’s lips as, as expected, Chuuya melts into the kiss, his hand landing harmlessly on Dazai’s waist as opposed to punching his shoulder.
Dazai pulls away after a moment, making a face full of fake disgust. “Chuuya’s trying to poison me with his bad breath!”
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“It’s less crowded than I expected,” Chuuya mumbles as they walk past the stalls—little trinkets decorating each one. Live musicians play instruments with their cases open in front of them so people passing by can drop money in them. Artists show off their creations, and there are more colorful fabrics than he’d see in Yokohama—it’s almost comforting.
“I guess it's more lively in the mornings. Ugh, people wake up at the crack of dawn to go to this. Can you imagine that, Chibi?” Dazai grumbles, glancing around at their surroundings. Chuuya rolls his eyes at his complaining.
“First of all, stop calling me that. Second, some people actually enjoy shopping around at these things. And it’s not just for shopping; sometimes people just enjoy the atmosphere.” Chuuya shoves his hands in his pockets as a chilly wind starts to pick up around them.
Dazai sighs dramatically, tugging his scarf up to block out the cold air. “Hm… I’m thirsty. You think there's a little cafe nearby?” Dazai looks around. The places here have strange names; he can never tell what they serve.
“There's a cafe over there.” Chuuya points to a small black building, guiding the both of them over. The atmosphere inside is cozy. There are people around typing on laptops, talking with friends, or just enjoying a book.
“Chili coffee? What?” Dazai mutters in slight bewilderment. Americans put anything in their food and drinks. Chuuya makes a small hum in acknowledgment.
“Doesn’t seem too bad.” He shrugs.
Dazai looks at him with disgust. “You can’t actually be serious. Are you going to get it?” Dazai grimaces at the slight idea. Chili and coffee seem like a combination that should never be put together. Chuuya rolls his eyes at Dazai’s dramatic behavior.
“Some people actually like trying new things. It seems like a local thing here, so why not give it a shot? Plus, not everyone is a freak and drinks their coffee black like you.” Chuuya sighs. Slight amusement fills his eyes at Dazai’s offended pout.
The line moves forward pretty quickly. Chuuya will give these people some credit for working quite quickly, given the small number of employees. Chuuya’s shoulders straighten as they reach the desk: a young lady standing there, a small smile on her face.
“Hello! What can I get you guys?” She chirps, smiling brightly. Chuuya falters a little bit. For the short amount of time he's been here, he's learned that, surprisingly, despite what people say, America does rely on a cheerful form of politeness. Even to strangers, they speak in a friendly tone; well, most will. It lessens the wariness on his shoulders.
“Ah, yes, hello.” Chuuya offers his own polite smile. “Can I get one of your… uh… chili coffees? As well as a…” He trails off, nudging Dazai. Dazai gives him a wary look in return, glancing at the menu with hesitance. Chuuya rolls his eyes.
Stupid picky eaters
Chuuya grumbles in his mind. Truly, he’d never be upset at Dazai for repeating the same foods. Chuuya can barely get him to eat a whole meal. Exploring new foods is probably off the table for a while.
“Do you have hot chocolate?” Chuuya asks the barista. Something sweet and something Dazai will drink.
The barista nods. “We do! We have peppermint, caramel, or just regular. Would you like one?” She turns back to him, patience in her tone.
“A regular one, please.” Chuuya fishes out his wallet, pulling out a couple of dollar bills.
“Chuuya,” Dazai calls from behind him. Chuuya glances over his shoulder, raising a questioning brow. “I want the cider.” He points at the menu. Apple cider, that’s new. Chuuya blinks away his shock.
“Sure.” He hums, trying to keep his tone level. “Scratch the hot chocolate. Can we get a cider instead?” He asks. The barista nods, finishing up the order as Chuuya pays. He makes sure to leave a good tip in the jar.
They grab their drinks that were already placed by the time they were done paying. They exit the cafe, the cold air hitting their skin. Chuuya shivers at the breeze, taking a sip of the warm drink. “Huh, it's not bad.” He notes. It’s really not. It has some kind of warm spice to it. “Trade?” Chuuya lifts up his cup to Dazai. The other contemplates it before nodding, passing his own cup over. Chuuya takes a sip of Dazai’s drink. It’s very… apple-y…small hints of caramel, too. He glances over as Dazai sips his own drink, letting out a snort as Dazai’s face morphs into disgust. He hands the drink back.
“There's a pond nearby; they have ducks.” Dazai points to a small path. Chuuya interlaces their hands together, ignoring the falter in Dazai’s steps.
“Let's go check it out then.”
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“It’s not busy here either.” Dazai glances around. It is a weekday. Children are probably in school, and adults are busy working. The quiet atmosphere is quite nice. Quiet… It's almost too quiet.
“Chuuya?”
Dazai looks around, noticing the ginger isn’t by his side. Chuuya doesn’t ever stray that far, not in Yokohama and definitely not in a foreign country.
“Hey ‘samu! I found a fatass squirrel; come look!” Chuuya calls from the trees. Dazai turns towards the voice, a snarky ginger joke on the tip of his tongue. Before the insult can escape, his breath catches in his lungs. Everyone knows Chuuya is pretty; even things like his fierce determination and bold personality only make him enticing.
To Dazai, no one could match the breathtaking sight of Chuuya.
“Fall colors compliment Chibi quite well.” Dazai comments, walking towards the other. Chuuya scoffs, shoving his hands in his pockets.
“When did you start saying sappy shit?” Chuuya glances away, a small smile forming on his lips. He reaches up to plush one of the orange leaves off the branch, twirling it between his fingers as he walks towards Dazai. He reaches up, brushing back the brown locks and sticking the leaf between the curls. His hand drifts down to cup the back of Dazai's head, his fingers sliding through the curls at the base of his neck. He gently scratches his fingers against Dazai’s scalp as he pulls the taller boy towards him. Dazai lets himself be pulled easily, pausing to smile when they’re so close their noses are nearly touching.
God, it is unfair how pretty Dazai is, especially when he genuinely smiled. It doesn’t happen often around others, and Chuuya would always be happy that he seems to be the exception to that. Dazai smirks, seemingly reading his thoughts. Before he can say something stupid to ruin the mood, Chuuya pulls him down the last few centimeters until their lips meet.
They stay like that, Chuuya relishing the closeness. Dazai’s lips move against his with a tenderness the brunette never seems to show anywhere else. Eventually, Chuuya pulls away. As much as he would like to stay here kissing Dazai for the rest of the day, they still have things to do. He looks at Dazai; there’s a light blush on his cheeks, and his lips are slightly kiss swollen. It reminds him of what Dazai said that made Chuuya want to kiss him.
“You don’t look too bad yourself, mackerel.”
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“Chuuya!” Dazai points at a sign as they walk around the town. Chuuya follows the direction of his arm to a sign about apple picking. Chuuya grumbles. It seems like a waste of time. What would they even do with the apples? Dazai isn’t a fan of them, and neither is Chuuya himself.
“Why? You don’t even eat apples.” Chuuya hulls, looking over the little pamphlets stored in a box on the side of the sign.
“It’s not about the apples, Slug. It’s about the experience!” Dazai whines, draping himself on Chuuya’s shoulders. Chuuya nudges him off at the nickname. “Whatever. They close soon, so we had better hurry. The orchard is around here somewhere.” Chuuya glances around for any sign. His eye catches a barn-styled fence painted red with white accents.
“Over here.” Chuuya leads them into the orchard. They walk down the path before spotting an elderly couple talking to a few people. The elderly lady spots them, her face lighting up.
“Well, welcome y'all! Are you two looking to pick some apples?” She smiles kindly. Chuuya nods, easily warming up to the lady. She had a comforting aura around her, the smell of cinnamon and cider relaxing them.
“Yes, ma’am. How much is it?” Chuuya reaches back to tug out his wallet. The lady chuckles, waving a hand. “We’ve had quite a good working day today. Why don’t you two boys run off and have some fun? Free of charge.” She hands them a basket. Chuuya and Dazai both look up at her before nodding hesitantly and walking off down the path.
“She was… nice,” Dazai notes, looking at the apple-filled trees. Kind people are hard to find in Yokohama, as well as in other places. But it’s nice to remember that not everyone has terrible intentions.
“Let's get picking.” Chuuya sets the basket down, reaching up to snag the apples off the reachable branches. Dazai seems to enjoy himself. Something about the normality in the atmosphere brings comfort. It’s just them. No need to glance around to see if anyone is out to kill them or attempt to kidnap them. It’s always these rare moments that let Chuuya remember that there are times between them when they can just bask in the norm of humanity. To everyone here, they’re two kids enjoying fall. And Chuuya would be damned if he let that serenity fade away.
“Chibi, help me reach that apple!” Dazai calls out, pointing to one of the golden yellow apples at the higher branch. Chuuya walks over with a sigh. “Isn’t there a ladder somewhere?” He asks, glancing around. Dazai rolls his eyes impatiently. “Why do we need that? We can just get it ourselves.” Dazai crosses his arms, tapping his foot.
“Whatever. You whine too much.” Chuuya grumbles. He walks towards Dazai, crouching down.
“Chibi what-” Dazai shrieks as Chuuya hoists him up on his shoulders. “Stop squirming, or you’re gonna fall. Just pick the apple.” Chuuya tries to keep them steady enough so Dazai doesn’t tip over. As funny as that would be, Chuuya doesn’t want to deal with Dazai whining the whole way back.
Dazai shakes himself out of his daze, puffing his cheeks. “If Chuuya drops me, I'm gonna return him to the pound.” He grumbles, leaning forward to grab the apple. He teeters slightly, growing unstable the further out he leans.
“Got it!” Dazai calls in triumph, dropping the apple in the basket. Chuuya adjusts him back to where he isn’t wobbling, his hand securely holding his legs in place.
“Next one!”
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“I am not carrying you all the way back,” Chuuya grumbles, hoisting Dazai up on his back. The basket is securely held in Dazai’s hand, filled to the brim with apples of all colors.
“How cruel. Chibi doesn’t care for me at all!” Dazai whines, almost dropping the apples during his antics.
“Oh! Did you boys have fun?” A familiar voice calls. The old lady stands there with her husband, a joyful smile on her face. Both nod slowly.
“We did, ma’am. Thank you for letting us pick some apples.” Chuuya nods politely. “Oh, it’s nothing! We have some leftover snacks if you boys get hungry. Just some cookies.” She hands Dazai the cookies. They look like some kind of Cinnamon-sugar cookies. They smell really good, too.
“Thank you again, ma’am.” Dazai places the snacks into the basket. “It was nothing mijo. You both be safe on your way back.” She waves goodbye. Both wave back. Chuuya carries Dazai down the path. Dazai lets out a snort, leaning forward and wrapping his arms securely around Chuuya.
“You know you could have just used your ability,” Dazai asks as they’re walking out of the apple orchard, his finger twirling around Chuuyas hair.
“Shut up.”
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Chuuya scans their room key and holds the door for Dazai to walk through. He’s still carrying the basket of apples—something he complained about the entire way up to their floor. Chuuya might have felt sorry for him if he hadn’t, despite what he’d said earlier, carried Dazai not only out of the apple orchard but all the way back to the hotel.
Once they are in the room, Dazai plops the basket onto the table. “Chuuya! My arms nearly fell off! How could you be so cruel to me?” He flops onto the bed, making a show of massaging the soreness out of his arms. Chuuya rolled his eyes.
“I don’t know how you managed to survive,” Chuuya says dryly as he grabs the needed tools to carve the pumpkins. They don’t have knives specific to carving pumpkins, but they do have a large variety of knives just lying around; Chuuya is pretty sure at least a few of them will work. Once he’s grabbed a few knives that seem like they will work and cleared off the table, he spreads a piece of plastic across it. He doesn’t want to leave too much of a mess for housekeeping to deal with.
He places the two large pumpkins on either side of the table, leaving the small ones behind on the counter. Dazai finally gets up once the actual work is done and sits in front of his pumpkin. Chuuya does the same, grabbing a knife from the pile. He stabs the knife into the top of the pumpkin, cutting around the stem, so he can pull off the top and scoop out the guts.
“CHUUYA!” Dazai yells in horror, startling Chuuya so badly that he nearly cuts himself with the knife. When Chuuya looks at him, Dazai points to the small pumpkins on the counter. Chuuya looks at them, confused. Did Dazai see a spider or something? “I can't believe you would be so cruel, Chibi! Murdering a parent right in front of their child!” He fakes a sob. Chuuya stares at him with a flat expression on his face. He should have guessed it’s something stupid. “What’s next? Are you going to make the poor baby pumpkin watch as you slowly pull out the guts of its parents!” Dazai continues. He gets up, cradling the small pumpkins in his arms, murmuring comfort to them.
Chuuya turns to him and raises an eyebrow. “You were the one who said you wanted to carve pumpkins when we got home.”
“I never said we should brutally murder them in front of their children!” He persists.
“You’ve literally done that to actual people.”
“People don’t have feelings! These pumpkins thought they would live together as a happy family forever! Now the baby pumpkins will have to go to pumpkin therapy.”
“Fine,” Chuuya pinches the bridge of his nose. Honestly, he should have expected this. And maybe he does find it a little funny. He takes one of the mini pumpkins and walks to the other side of the room. “We can put them over here so they don’t have to watch as their parents are murdered.”
“I knew Chuuya had a heart!” Dazai hums happily. He sits back down at the table and wastes no time picking up a knife and stabbing into the pumpkin.
In no time, he has the top of the pumpkin cut off. He sets it aside and plunges his hand inside, only to immediately yank it out with a shriek. “Chuuya, it’s slimy!” He whines, examining his bandaged wrist that is now covered in pumpkin guts.
Chuuya nods. “Yeah, it’s a pumpkin, dumbass. What did you expect?”
“I don’t like it!” He pouts. “You’re used to slime, Slug! Scoop my pumpkin too.”
“I’m not scooping your pumpkin! You can do it yourself.”
“But Chuuuuuuuuuuyaaaa! Look at how dirty my bandages got after just a second.” He held up his arm. “I already have to change this one, and now you want me to have to change the other as well!”
“Go change your bandages.” He waves Dazai away from the table, scooting so the other pumpkin is in front of him. While Dazai changes his bandages, he scoops the guts and seeds from both pumpkins. Dazai finishes before him, so he drapes himself across Chuuya’s shoulders and watches him work as he finishes removing the last of the seeds. Chuuya notices he removed the bandage covering his eye but doesn’t mention it. Dazai tends to not wear it when its just the two of them now, but if Chuuya brings it up, the bandage usually goes back on.
Once Chuuya is finished, Dazai dramatically kisses his cheek. “My hero! My knight in tacky hats! I don’t know what I would do without you.”
Chuuya rolls his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, you’d be lost without me. Just carve your pumpkin.” He fails to keep the fondness out of his tone as he moves back to his original spot and picks up his knife again.
They sit in silence as they carve, for the most part, only the occasional comment slipping through the comfortable quietness. Chuuya carefully runs his knife along the outside of the pumpkin, trying to copy the technique that will let the light shine through just more dimly than the actual holes. He’s doing a pretty good job of it as well.
Chuuya glances up at Dazai to check on his progress. He can’t see what the other is carving, but the look of concentration on Dazai’s face is adorable. His tongue is just barely poking out from between his lips, and his brows are furrowed together. Chuuya turns his focus back to his own pumpkin. He is almost done with it. It isn’t a masterpiece by any means, but he is proud of it.
He’s just adding the finishing touches when Dazai loudly exclaims, “I’m done!”
Chuuya carves one final chunk off, then nods, “Me too.” He turns his pumpkin around for Dazai to see it. He had attempted to carve Dazai, carving out the main features and scraping layers off the pumpkin for the bandages. Chuuya watches Dazai examine the pumpkin. He’s proud of it, but he is curious to see what Dazai thinks.
“Great minds think alike.” Dazai grins, then proudly turns his pumpkin around. On the pumpkin was a remarkably detailed slug wearing a hat. “It’s you!”