Chapter Text
It was a nice Saturday afternoon. Chuuya was lounging in dazai's leather couch, scrolling through shows on netflix while the other sat on the opposite side grinding block blast. It was a rare day when Mori gave them both the day off, and like normal teenagers, they spent it rotting.
'Oi, Dazai, what are you doing for the last day of summer?' Chuuya suddenly asked, breaking their comfortable silence
'Last day of summer? That's a very random day. Probably working,' dazai answered as he cleared the grid. A man's voice saying 'unbelievable!' came from his phone. 'Why? Chibi wants to go for a walk?'
'You're not very subtle, bastard,' Chuuya called out, catching on to the dog insult.
'I was thinking we could bake something for the mafia. a cake, maybe. It's not like we have many things to celebrate.'
'A cake? And who would eat it? Elise chan?'
'Hey, don't underestimate the number of sweet teeth in the office.'
'I mean I’m okay,' Dazai agreed as the point count exceeded 1 million, 'but the two of us don't really go well with the kitchen.'
'Ha?! What does that imply?! I'm a great cook, just so you know.'
'That may be true, but that doesn't mean the two of us in the kitchen won't result in no casualties,' Dazai replied, putting more emphasis on the 'two'.
Chuuya caught on to his motive and rolled his eyes, 'It's just baking. If we can take down a major rival group in a night, how bad can baking be?'
Words he will soon regret.
--
The following Saturday, Dazai waltzed into Chuuya's apartment with his usual black coat. They had agreed to meet in Chuuya's penthouse because, obviously, he was the one who had the tools and oven. The plan was simple: bake a chocolate cake. They had failed at the first step.
'Dazai, where's the flour? and brown sugar?' Chuuya asked as he entered the scene.
'uhhh'
'and our cocoa powder?'
'uhhhh'
'I should've known this dunce would forget,' Chuuya muttered to himself.
'Hey! I say it's Chibi's fault for trusting me to get such important ingredients.'
'We're already using my kitchen, asshole! Whatever... There's a minimart in the lobby. Hurry and get the stuff,' Chuuya sighed.
While Dazai picked up the ingredients, Chuuya took the time to preheat the oven. The brunette returned with his casual smile that showed no remorse for his slipup, making Chuuya a bit annoyed. It's fine, he told himself, it's too early to get angry. They split the ingredients to measure, then Chuuya went ahead and mixed the dry ingredients, leaving Dazai with the eggs, oil, milk, and vanilla to combine.
The redhead was humming to himself, enjoying the peaceful baking, when from the corner of his eye, he saw Dazai doing a jerky action.
'Dazai, what are you doing?' Chuuya asked suspiciously.
'I'm mixing the eggs,' Dazai explained as he vigorously shook the eggs up and down. 'Since the recipe said to mix the eggs with the milk and stuff, I thought it'd be more thorough if I mixed the eggs separately first, then with the rest.'
Chuuya found nothing and everything wrong with this logic.
‘Why can't you just stick to the recipe?' Chuuya muttered with a sigh. 'Fine, you know what? It's just eggs... It's just eggs... but I swear if you ruin the cake with your shenanigans, I'll skewer you, mackarel'
Dazai gave his signature grin, 'When have i been wrong, Chuuya?'
'Literally every time when it comes to cooking!'
‘Okaay okaay, geez... you don't have to be so wary...' earning a glare.
There was a moment of peace as Chuuya patiently whisked the dry ingredients, until he felt something wet suddenly hit his cheek. He turned and found the brunette grinning sheepishly, with more batter splatters on the counter near Chuuya.
‘I was wondering how far the mixer can launch the batter, so I tested some angles. this one is with the mixer about half deep,' Dazai said as he pointed to the drop on the counter. ‘and this one is with the mixer barely grazing the batter,' the brunette guiltily explained as he rested his hand on Chuuya's cheek.
Chuuya swatted his hand away. ‘Stop fooling around, dumbass! And look! now my hand's dirty too,' Chuuya said as he was about to wipe his fingers on his apron. However, dazai caught his wrist and pulled it up, then took the liberty of cleaning Chuuya's fingers by licking them.
Chuuya watched, mortified and red. 'Wha- what are you doing! Hey-'
In his fit of panic, Chuuya accidentally dropped the bag of flour, causing the white powder to explode and dirty the kitchen. Dazai pulled out Chuuya' hand and said, 'There, clean!' and brought it to dry on his own apron. Then he turned to resume his work.
What the shit, Chuuya thought to himself. What did that bandage freak do to me? Why'd he lick my hand, ew gross! what even happened, how?!!
Chuuya short-circuited. Dazai must've realised that Chuuya was crashing, because the brunette walked behind the redhead to pick up the bag of flour,
‘Look at chibi being so careless, he even dropped the precious flour I bought,' he sighed.
Dazai even took some wet tissue to clean the floor a little and got Chuuya a glass to drink.
‘Maybe the heat from the oven made the chibi get a heatstroke. he's a sensitive fog, after all.'
‘Who are you calling a dog?!’
‘Aha! There's the slug! Get back to work, we don't have all day after all.'
After regaining his composure, Chuuya seemed to have some choice words for Dazai, but it died in his throat. His mind was still reeling about the weird display of physical touch, but Dazai was right. They have a cake to finish.
Once the wet ingredients finished mixing, they added the dry and some boiling water. That was when Chuuya realised there's something very odd about their cake.
'Dazai, does this consistency look alright to you?'
‘Hmm well it seems pretty consistent from where I’m at.'
Chuuya glared, 'Why do I even bother...'
‘I don't know,' the brunette said truthfully, 'I'm no cake connoisseur.'
‘Oh and im the fucking gordon ramsay of cakes, is it?'
‘Yes,' Dazai answered smugly.
‘Just tell me if it looks too dense to you, mackarel.'
‘hm...' Dazai said as he inspected the cake, 'I can’t tell, I mean I’ve never courted the cake before and I've never sent any pointed signals to it, so it's kind of mean to call it dense.'
'What kind of flour did you use?' Chuuya asked suddenly.
‘Well not peonies-'
‘I swear to god, one more time-'
‘okaayy okaayy,' dazai said with hands raised, 'sheesh... I just bought the most expensive one they have. I think it was tapioca?'
'Oh fucking course,' Chuuya said with his hands on his forehead. 'Tapioca flour makes things sticky, Dazai.'
‘Oh! well that explains-'
‘Yes that explains it! You bought the wrong flour!'
‘Hey how was i supposed to-'
‘That's it! You're not touching this batter again! Go and line the parchment paper.' Dazai did a salute and quickly walked to the pans and parchment paper as Chuuya surveyed the damage.
'You know, you should've known we're going to flunk at baking,' Dazai said as he focused on the circular tins.
‘Well I thought you'd be bad at it, I didn't know you're disastrous!' Chuuya replied as he inquired google how to fix the issue.
‘Chibi knows I don’t cook. I mean the kitchen in my apartment is practically just decoration.'
‘Yea unless I come around and force you to have some food.'
‘Chibi makes such a great housewife,' Dazai muttered.
'Say that one more time and you'll be getting this flour on your face.'
‘And risk chibi's precious kitchen to be dirty? I’d never,' Dazai exclaimed with a fake mortified look.
‘I've already cleaned your mess once.'
The memory of what happened earlier brought color to Chuuya's cheeks and effectively shut him up.
Once Chuuya fixed the problem, they popped the cake into the oven and got started on the buttercream. Chuuya actually let dazai do this part, thinking that, surely, it was too easy for the brunette to mess up. Meanwhile, Chuuya scoured his kitchen cabinets for food colouring, happily finding blue, red, yellow, and white. The duo divided the buttercream to make like three different shades of orange and blue, sparing a little bit of white buttercream. The idea beforehand was to paint a beach, a simple icon of summer days. Chuuya was reluctant to let Dazai paint, seeing as the boy can barely handle baking, but he also didn't want to carry the entire cake making shenanigans and the brunette had to pick up his own slack, so they agreed to make it a joint effort. Chuuya would paint the sea, Dazai would do the sky.
Once the two layers of cake got out of the oven, they stacked it using the blue buttercream, and started on the paintings. Chuuya had always loved the beach, and especially during sunset. Not only does it remind him of summer (which is by far his favourite season) but it reminds him that even nature had a horrible temper. While some beaches had soft waves with children playing under the sun, paddling in its waters, others had crashing rocks and exploding seafoams. While some days the waters seem as still as a sleeping newborn baby, others it looked like a teen throwing a tantrum. And yet, theories suspect that all life came from the sea, and storytellers say that the sea god is the most worshipped of them all. the beach, the sea, the ocean, they are a statement made by mother nature that emotions are to be felt, and to be felt strongly. Chuuya has always doubted his identity as a human, but even when he was still unsure of what he was, he knew that he could resonate with the sea. And now paired with the sunset, his closest friend looked so devastatingly beautiful.
–
Dazai had agreed with Chuuya's proposition to make a sunset on the beach as a 'whatever' thing. The redhead had brought it up while he was lounging in bed, and as the stress of finding space for his blocks overtook him, he had no energy to say anything but agree. Now tasked with painting it, he was grateful he made that choice, not because it fit the theme (god he didn't even know summer was ending) but because the boy beside him was the literal manifestation of that picture, and the thought of finding colours that resemble Chuuya made him giddy, like a newfound hobby. Now looking at their bowls of buttercream, each a different shade, Dazai found pride, and also mortification, at how he can pinpoint exactly when Chuuya's eyes turn a specific shade of blue. and under which light would his hair shine that beautiful shade of red.
Dazai had half a mind to take a bit of the blue buttercream onto his thumb, and smear it on the side of chuuya's eyes, just so he could admire the likeness. He was stopped, of course, at the thought of a scolding Chuuya.
It terrified him, sometimes, how much he thought of the redhead, and how he would find his body reacting to things without his brain's consent whenever he was near the boy. But Dazai brushed it off, believing it was Chuuya's fault for being so annoying that his mind kept on anticipating his movements in an attempt of self defence.
–
By the time they finished the cake, the sun had fully sunk and city lights began flickering on. in the not-so-small apartment unit. The duo admired their work. Despite the hurdles, messes, and banters, they had succeeded in making a decent cake that had even looked the part as a dessert. Sure the edges were a bit burnt, the texture questionable, and the artwork was only a little above average, but between Chuuya's masterful cooking skills and Dazai's horrendous attempts, they did a good job.
'Color me surprised, we made a cake,' Chuuya said in shock as they admired their finished work.
'What a shame we can't eat it, since the slug insists on giving them to our 'coworkers'' Dazai said with air quotes, showing how lowly he thinks of his subordinates.
‘It's the least we could do. that you could do, shitty Dazai, after making them put up with your shenanginas twenty four seven'
‘I mean sure if it's the slug's idea. I'm just saying that they would appreciate a cake with better decorations...'
‘It was a joint effort so who's part of the artwork are you insulting, Dazai?' Chuuya asked pointedly.
'with a bigger size...' Dazai continued as if not hearing the redhead.
‘What problem do you have with the size? It's literally a simple chocolate cake.'
‘and probably a better 'consistency',' Dazai said without really understanding the meaning of the word, ‘one that's less dense too.'
‘That shit was your mistake!'
‘Hey, I'm just saying, it's not very nice to give things that aren't perfect, chuu-ya-kun,' Dazai said, stretching out the name. 'I mean I don't care about how my subordinates see me, but I can't imagine them being happy they got an awful cake,' Dazai continued teasing, while moving to chuuya's cabinets to get two plates and a pair of forks. 'But what do I know? I'm no cake connoisseur.'
'Fine! you win!' Chuuya cried in defeat.
Dazai's grin grew wide. 'awwww chibi kun is sooo niceee. Here, I'll get the big piece while you can get a small one to match your tiny body.'
'Say that again and the only place this cake is going is your face.’
Dazai mimed his mouth shut as Chuuya rolled his eyes.
The duo walked to the gigantic couch and Chuuya extended the bottom to make it like a bed. While Chuuya grabbed some blankets, Dazai took the liberty to turn on Netflix.
‘Stop! My house, my movie! We’re watching Howls Moving Castle'
'Arghhh this is like the nth time ill have to see you crushing over that hideous tax evader'
‘Hideous?! That man looks ten times better than you do!'
‘He acts like a child! He throws tantrums and lies to get this fake 'freedom' when all he's doing is avoiding responsibility, and yet millions of girls are FAWNING over him? That's unfathomable,' Dazai drawls.
‘Oh and you don't do the same? You're literally the same guy except with worse looks.'
‘I'd argue that when howl's hair turns black, we can be mistaken as twins,' Dazai replied wittily.
‘Ha! In your dreams! Now put on the movie and move, buster. Let me scooch in!'
They lay on the couch together, feet under wrapped blankets, each nursing a can of coke and some cake. While they were only going to taste the cake, having the entire dessert before them posed too much of a temptation, and by the time Chuuya fell asleep, there was only one untouched slice left.
They switched to ponyo after howls moving castle, where Dazai visibly cringed all the times Chuuya screamed at howl's romantic endeavours ('hey mackarel, look at that smile!! its sooo cheeky' dazai gagged).
Now, Dazai was picking at his food, the leftover cake on his own plate, while Sosuke saves the village by passing the final trial and fulfilling ponyo's wish. He could feel Chuuya's even breathing beside him, the soft in and exhales.
‘Chibi makes a quiet sleeper,' Dazai said to himself. Say, this is the first time he's actually seen Chuuya asleep outside work (not that he sleeps in the office). He doesn't know what he expected, but seems so... at peace. In fact, Dazai felt honored and happy that Chuuya felt safe enough to sleep with him around.
'Slug is so trusting. That empty brain and full heart of yours will be the death of you some day,' Dazai mused as he tapped Chuuya's chest lightly.
The sudden touch must've caused a shift in whatever dream Chuuya was having because his brow furrowed and his mouth gave a small pout. He started moving, if only a little bit.
'Hey, shhh,' Dazai tried whispering as he rubbed on the spot where the redhead's eyebrows met. 'You know, sleep helps with growing. Maybe this is why you're so short,’ but Chuuya was still pouting and moving unpleasantly, so Dazai moved his hand up and thread his fingers along Chuuya's hair instead.
‘You've got nice hair, for a slug,' Dazai whispered as Chuuya finally relaxed. 'So silky and soft, Chuuya is such a beauty king.'
The plan was to only ruffle his hair until Chuuya slept peacefully again, but before he knew it, Dazai had been playing with the orange hair for over half an hour. Carefully, he moved out of the sofa bed and took with him the last slice of cake. Sparing a glance at his sleeping partner, Dazai decided that maybe he could try cleaning up the kitchen... afterall, a master has to make sure his dog's not overworked. so Dazai wiped the countertops, washed the plates and spoons and mixers and pans, returned the ingredients to their cabinets, and packaged the last slice of cake.
‘I could give it to Elise-chan,' he thought to himself. they're not friends, but he supposes they're acquaintances by proxy of Chuuya, and regardless of his distaste against her guardian, he agrees that she is just a lonely girl.
–
He finished his business in the penthouse by carrying a dreaming Chuuya into the master bedroom and tucking him into bed.
Just as he rose, he paused for a bit, his face just slightly above.
One second, three seconds, five seconds.
He looked at the sleeping boy under him, the pale skin and freckles along his nose. Then without warning or any stir, Chuuya awoke, his eyes registering to dazai's face right in front of his own. dazai was stricken, wanting to jump and run but too surprised and worried to make his limbs move.
Suddenly, the redhead brought his head up and pressed his lips on Dazai’s for a light touch. It was so brief that Dazai could have imagined it, but the fact that his mind was reeling told him it wasn't just a dream or bout of hallucination.
With his partner still sitting motionless, Chuuya rolled on his side and looked away. Then he said with his raspy post sleep voice, 'Get in here, there's space for the both of us.'
Chuuya actually thought that Dazai wouldn't take up that offer, knowing how flighty the boy is and the catastrophic state of his mind right now, but a few seconds later, Chuuya heard shuffling from behind him and the bed sank lower.
When he turned, he saw that Dazai had taken off his tie with his body facing Chuuya's, albeit his eyes looking away. It dawned on Chuuya that the brunette was probably expecting some kind of insult or jab for being so close to Chuuya's face earlier, and while it's not entirely out of their dynamic, it pained him to think how cruel Dazai considers him, considers those around him.
Without a word, Chuuya moved his body closer to the brunette and draped a part of the blanket on Dazai's body, then his right arm stretched to clasp onto dazai's back. Meanwhile, his left arm slipped through the hole between Dazai's neck and the bed, and he held onto the boy's brown, fluffy hair.
'I’ve always known you had a bad sleeping schedule, shitty Dazai, but I’ve never asked you when was the last time you slept,' Chuuya muttered. 'No don't answer that. Just sleep now, kay?'
'Chuuya's so small it's like he's climbing me rather than hugging me,' Dazai replied.
'Shut up,' Chuuya scolded, but instead of a counter, Dazai actually obeyed. The redhead stroked his hair and lost his fingers between the locks, meanwhile the other hand eased on his grip to allow Dazai to breathe.
It was only after Chuuya heard the other's even breathing did he let himself succumb to sleep.
The next morning, for the first time since he'd met him, Dazai was still snoozing when Chuuya awoke. The latter gave a soft smile and pressed his own lips to the other's cheek before getting out of bed for his morning tea.