Chapter Text
When Dazai came in for work the next day, he had almost completely forgotten about his conversation with Mori. He was pleasantly surprised to find a new assignment on his desk.
Except, rather than being placed with another high ranking member, he was to oversee the new recruits in their training today.
This has to be a joke.
Him? A high ranking Port Mafia executive? The Black Wraith, Dazai Osamu? Made to train some wimps that would quit or end up dead in the next 2 months? Mori had a funny way of addressing problems.
Dazai briefly considers passing off the task to another unfortunate employee, but thinks better of it after recalling Mori’s threats the day before. He really doesn’t want him to lock up the medicine cabinet again.
Once this ordeal is over, he’s going to give Mori a piece of his mind. Maybe even sneak poison into his drink. As for now, though, Dazai was going to take as many detours as possible before arriving at the main training room. If he had to suffer, so would everyone else.
While dragging his feet down one of the executives’ many hallways, he hears a familiar voice from Kouyou’s office. The brunet presses his ear against the door to hear what sounds like his dog talking to their coworker. Although a bit muffled, Dazai can make out some words.
“Think about it, lad. He’s a great fit for your ability….It would be a shame to let that go to waste…”
“I know, big sis… but that doesn’t make it any better. I’m not sure how the mackerel would react to…” The rest was incomprehensible, but Chuuya sounded apprehensive.
Dazai lit up at hearing those words leave Chuuya’s mouth. So the shorty does miss him! Even if just a tiny bit! With that now serving as motivation, Dazai makes his way to where the newbies were waiting for him.
A wave of fresh faces lines the Port Mafia corridors outside of the room designated for sparring. Upon seeing the Black Wraith’s face, most freeze up and stop talking. Whether from recognition or the sheer negative energy that naturally radiated off the 16 year old, Dazai couldn’t tell. Nor did he care.
Very quickly, he divides his subordinates into groups of 4, having them take turns fighting each other while he oversees their techniques, correcting them when need be. The whole process was rather boring to Dazai, who just wanted to finish up and go to his shipping container. One of these grunts, a boy slightly older than the executive, seems to admire the brunet quite a lot. Almost immediately, it became evident to him that the boy was trying to get his attention. Dazai was quick to shut that down.
“Mr. Dazai, do you think you can help me with this? I can’t seem to get this move right..” The newbie moved too close for the brunet’s liking. He was brave, addressing the executive directly, Dazai would give him that.
“Hm? I see you’re struggling quite awfully. If this continues to be an issue, I’d be more than happy to assign you under Akutagawa, Heizou. He might have a better time disciplining you.” Dazai’s voice was artificially sweet. He gave the boy a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, making no effort to hide his irritation.
“Ah! Th-there’s no need for that, sir..” Heizou quickly ushered off back to his group, all who seemed far too entertained with their little interaction. Dazai flashes them a sharp glare, making the grunts pale before continuing training.
The boy seemed to be around 17, with wavy white hair that didn’t quite reach his shoulders tied into a low ponytail. He wasn’t exactly ugly. If anything, Dazai might’ve been intrigued under different circumstances. But the brunet had no interest pursuing low level grunts who didn't know their place.
He carries on with his instructions, visiting each group individually and assessing their strengths and weaknesses. He spares no honesty in his words. He swears he even sees a few grown men shed tears.
Soon after, the room settles back into an appropriate atmosphere. Three hours had passed since they started working out. These newbies weren’t as bad as Dazai thought they’d be.
Dazai decides his men deserve a break (more like he wants one – from them) and temporarily dismisses them. He settles down on one of the benches off to the side and pulls out his book. He’s hoping the newbies take the hint and leave him alone. But when has the universe ever been kind to Dazai?
Much to his dismay, familiar footsteps make their way to the executive. He refuses to look up as a small protest to being bothered. After a moment of no reaction from Dazai, the boy standing in front of him clears his voice.
“Ehem. Sorry to bother you, Mr. Dazai, but I got an extra cup of coffee from the cafeteria! I was wondering if.. Maybe you’d like to drink with me?” Dazai finally looks up at him and sees the two cups of cheap coffee the newbie is holding up. He seems awfully nervous. Good.
“Ah. I apologize, Heizou. But I am afraid I am needed elsewhere. Do be a dear and never ask me that again.” Dazai moves to get up and make his escape from this awkward conversation. Behind him, the boy closely follows.
“O-oh! Of course! Maybe some other time then? I know a good place down-”
“Listen, Hei-” Dazai turns around to tell the boy to politely fuck off, but as soon as he does so, his chest bumps against another’s. The first thing Dazai feels is a scalding, hot pain on his collarbone. The brat had spilled both cups of coffee on them. The brunet silently seethes in anger.
“Oh my god! I’m so sorry, Mr. Dazai! Please, let me-”
“I think you’ve done enough, you insufferable brat. You’re lucky I’m not carrying my gun right now. Get out of my face. I better not see you again.” The last thing Dazai wants right now is to deal with more scum, and yet a crowd has started to form, whispering about God knows what.
The unfortunate boy has started tearing up, trembling like a leaf. Dazai pays no mind to that. He instead turns his attention to the crowd.
“Unless you want to experience what it feels like to eat with a dislocated jaw, I suggest you all make yourself scarce. Training is over for today. Do not expect me to be lenient tomorrow.” And with that, the brunet takes his leave, disgusted at the feeling of his shirt sticking with coffee to his chest.
Offhandedly, the brunet thinks about what Chuuya is doing right now. Is he still at his apartment? No, his hatrack is too much of a workaholic to stay home and properly recover. His injury wasn’t that serious anyway, and he’s pretty sure Arahabaki grants the redhead some amount of regeneration. That stupid slug is probably off gushing with a subordinate or drinking tea with Kouyou again. He makes a note to visit her tomorrow and ask.
Although, it seems he wouldn’t need to wait long to see his partner again.
On his way out of the Port Mafia to look for a clean outfit, Dazai hears the familiar laugh outside the entrance. He’d recognize that obnoxious sound anywhere. The brunet peaks his head around the corner and catches a glimpse of fiery red.
It seems Chuuya was having a great time… with someone else. Something dark twists in Dazai’s chest, but he doesn’t know why. He chalks it up to simply being bothered by the other’s presence.
The more Dazai stares, the more unreasonably annoyed he gets. Chuuya’s sporting his usual uniform, but he doesn’t seem to be on duty. The boy twirling a finger in the redhead’s lock seemed to also be around their age. The stranger carried himself elegantly, which was only further accentuated by his long, black hair. Of course that hatrack would feel enchanted. Dazai decides that’s enough gawking and makes his way towards the pair.
Almost as if sensing his presence, Chuuya abruptly stops speaking and turns to look at him. The light immediately drains from his eyes at the sight of Dazai.
“So this is what my doggy has been doing? Bothering other people?” The brunet drapes himself behind Chuuya, making sure to not put pressure on his wound.
“Hah?!”
“I thought you were out of commission for the next week, Chuuuuya! What are you doing cursing everyone with your appearance?” Dazai purposefully doesn’t acknowledge the other boy, who he’s already not very fond of.
“You bastard! Get off of me!” Chuuya ducks out of his reach. “And for your information, I am off work. But I decided to stop by and look at the details of my new assignment. Can you fuck off now?” Chuuya lets out a huff before shooting an apologetic glance towards the fancy freak.
The sight of that bothered Dazai to no end. “What does that have to do with harassing other people? Is he not aware of how loud you snore?” The redhead flushes.
“Shut the fuck up! I do not snore, you creep! If you have to know, this is my new partner,” Dazai bristles at that statement, “it seems your tantrum was actually helpful for once. Alois has great reflexes and makes for a good sparring opponent. Your lanky ass could never keep up.” To that, Alois lets out a chuckle before speaking up.
“Ah, you’re too kind, Nakahara. I’m simply matching your moves. It can’t be that hard, right?” Only Chuuya would be enthralled by a pretentious European man with a French accent.
“I’ve told you a million times. Just Chuuya is fine.” He turns to Dazai. “Anyways, why the fuck is your shirt stained? Did you fall into a sewer instead of a river?” Chuuya snickers.
Dazai had completely forgotten about his shirt. He’s even more upset now than he was before. “Stupid slug! None of this would have happened if you weren’t so slow!” With that, the brunet marches off, embarrassed and angered by the thought of Chuuya being paired up with someone that wasn’t him. The slug should suffer with Dazai.
Chuuya lets out a sigh at the sight of Dazai running away. Really, he doesn’t understand what the issue is. That beanpole was the one that suggested they take on different assignments. Shouldn’t he be jumping up and down for joy right now? Honestly, if it was up to him, he and Dazai would’ve stayed as partners. Sure, that mackerel can be annoying sometimes, but Chuuya still cares for him. He thought Dazai felt the same way, too. The redhead’s pulled out of his thoughts by Alois tapping on his shoulder.
“Are you okay, dear? You seemed pretty upset just now.” Bless the guy’s soul, he has no idea what a shitshow Dazai and him can be sometimes.
“No, I’m fine. Sorry. That asshole always gets under my skin. He’s the reason you got paired up with me, you know. He started sabotaging our missions so Mori would separate us.” Chuuya sighs again, not fully comprehending the root of Dazai’s turmoil.
“Well, if he’s the one that made us partners, surely, he can’t be that bad of a person. Come on, let’s go eat.” Alois takes his hand and guides him down the street. Chuuya lets himself be dragged along.
The next day finds Dazai pouting outside of Kouyou’s office, waiting for her to be back in her office. She may not look like it, but that woman is constantly busy with prisoners. Dazai remembers how terrifyingly creative her torture methods could be at times. He shakes his head, zoning back in at the sound of unmistakably heels clicking down the hall.
They stop in front of Dazai, who looks up to see the redheaded lady gazing down at him.
“Oh? And what do we have here? Rarely do I see you make a trip to visit me. Chuuya will not be joining us, if that’s what you were expecting.” A teasing lilt can be heard in her tone.
Dazai tenses at the mention of him. Kouyou, ever the smart lady, seems to notice his distress, and simply sighs before unlocking her office. “Truly, how difficult can life as an adolescent be sometimes,” she mumbles to herself.
Once the pair make their way into her office, Dazai sits down at one of her tea mats. Kouyou walked off to prepare them a drink. Dazai fiddles with his bandages and looks around. From the look of her office, you’d never guess that she was the one to train Chuuya, who remains still a bright ball of fury. Something the brunet was really fond of.
Woah. Dazai really needs to control his thoughts. This is starting to get embarrassing.
After a few long minutes, Kouyou returns with two cups and a pot of tea. She keels down in front of Dazai before pouring them both a drink.
“So, the new bigshot executive found me to deal with his quarrels?” Kouyou chuckles to herself, clearly trying to get comfortable for whatever nonsense Dazai might spew.
“...Something like that. That dumb slug went and found himself another partner! Who gave him the right to do that? He’s my dog! And that stupid fancypants doesn’t look like he’d risk even breaking a nail! Surely, he can’t be my replacement.” Dazai pouts, resembling a toddler who had his favorite toy taken away.
Kouyou looks at him sternly, but not cold. “Lad, as far as I am aware, it seems you were the one that didn’t want to keep working with him. That boy came in here yesterday, hurt that you’d even consider trading him for another partner.” She takes a sip of her tea.
“Wh- Okay, yeah, but still! I didn’t even get another partner! And just because I wanted a break from him doesn’t mean he should replace me with some lowlife French boy!” Dazai huffs, realizing that Kouyou was not going to sugarcoat this.
“Hm.. Could it be… you’re jealous?” Dazai spits out his tea. Kouyou shoots him a warning glare at that.
“Me? Jealous of that slug? No way! I’m the one who got promoted! If anything, he should be the one seething with envy right now,” Dazai argues back like a little child.
“I do not mean jealous of him. I mean, jealous of the boy who he’s been partnered up with.” She hands the brunet a napkin, hinting to clean up his own mess.
Dazai accepts the paper, scrubbing furiously while replying, “Of course not! I bet that guy’s ability is nothing compared to mine…”
Kouyou hums. “While it may be true that no one has an ability quite like yours, Alois does seem to be quite compatible with our boy.”
The teen looks up. “What do you mean?”
“Well, according to Chuuya, Alois is quite skilled with manipulating certain molecules. By controlling the makeup of compounds, he can extract water vapor from the atmosphere and create ice projectiles. Chuuya would have no need to carry around bullets. Alois can simply manifest weapons and allow Chuuya to aim them at enemies. Quite the match up, I admit.”
Dazai drops the napkin and looks up at Kouyou. “That’s nothing! Chuuya is strong enough by himself! He doesn’t need any weapons to take down enemies!” This all was starting to irritate the brunet far too much. “Besides! I heard you guys talking yesterday. I know Chuuya admits our abilities work well together!”
To this, Kouyou blinks at him. “...Yesterday? We were discussing his new partner.” Dazai stills. “The boy was awfully concerned with you throwing a fit at finding out he met someone else with a compatible ability. It seems his concerns were right…” Kouyou lets out an exasperated sigh.
“So… Chuuya doesn’t think we work well together..?” Dazai frowns, feeling an ache in his chest at the thought of his dog finding a new owner.
“Now, I didn’t say that. But you can’t expect the boy to be at your beck and call constantly, lad. And you can’t constantly push him away and await his return everytime.” Dazai majorly fucked up.
“What can I do..?” The brunet stares up at her with large brown eyes. Kouyou often forgets that Dazai is just a little boy. Moments like this really show his true nature.
“Talk to him. Or talk to Mori. Either should work. I doubt that conniving man set this arrangement up to be long term. I believe he simply wanted to show you a lesson.” Kouyou picks up their now empty teacups.
“Thank you, Kouyou. I’m going to make that slug want to be my partner again!” Kouyou sighs for the last time, but makes no move to correct him.
“Well, be on your way then. Don’t try any more funny business with the poor boy. I think we can both agree you’ve caused enough trouble already.” She moves to clean their dishes, not sparing the fellow executive a glance as he walks out.
Dazai has some major apologies to make.