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Dazai jumped out from behind a bush on the sidewalk he was strolling down. Atsushi screamed, limbs flailing before curling into fists to fight who ever it was.
“Ah! You scared me!” Dazai yelled over the scream from the other, playfully grabbed his chest as if wounded. Atsushi’s widened gaze narrowed in surprised annoyance.
“No, you scared me! Is everything okay?” Atsushi’s heartbeat slowed down enough to not be in his throat. Dazai’s micro expressions shifted just enough for the other to notice something was very wrong, and he took a step forward to peer up at him. Dazai didn’t do anything without reason Atsushi’s learned, and if he was here, there was something amidst. Dazai was wearing his typical attire though with a new bandage over his right cheek. Atsushi could smell smoke on the other and immediately wondered what they got into tonight.
“What? Did I do something? Did something bad happen at the office?” The ramble of words spilled out so quickly they were barely understandable and Dazai’s hands toyed with a switchblade, a darkness hitting his iris’ in a deep dilation until a distorted smile stretched his lips.
“Chuuya-san is probably dead,” Dazai pet his shoulder, “oh well, it was good while it lasted right?”
“What?!” Atsushi’s anger burst to life, white hair erupted over his forearms and nails elongated. Dazai raised a challenging brow at the flare of emotion.
“I spoke articulately-- Atsushi-kun, what part of that sentence didn’t you get?”
“I just left him, he was all right–” his chest was heaving, but it was the ghost of their good night kiss that was resurfacing as a movie reel in his mind. Chuuya had said everything was fine, that Dazai had their back. Was that why he was here? He appreciated the support, but he didn’t want him following them around. They could handle themselves, right?
“Ah, yes well. I did text him see!” Dazai showed him the phone where it said:
Hatted Slug: Get out.
“And he didn’t respond, so I assumed he ignored it–”
“Why? I have to go back–” Atsushi’s arm tugged back by Dazai who seized it, nulling the effects of his tiger abilities in a burst of light. The tug continued until they were behind the bush Dazai had been initially hiding behind. The doors to the front of the condo building opened up, and about fifty people came out of it like a swarm of locust. Dressed in black hats and suit jackets looking intimidating even in just an exit.
“Why so many?” Atsushi asked.
“Do you understand how powerful Chuuya is? He could level the city if he wanted too,” Dazai’s playfulness was gone now, Atsushi felt like the other sometimes put on different masks to shroud what they were thinking. It was discerning most of the time because Atsushi missed the cues to know when Dazai was leading him on like a horse with a carrot stick.
“I can take them on,” Atsushi growled, and Dazai’s laugh was like a strung chime.
“No doubt, but we don’t know where he is,”
Atsushi realized the error, and in the throw of the many men there was no way to know if Chuuya was in the mists of all of them. Being carried, forced to walk, or otherwise. A few SUV’s showed up and took most of the people away, but many walked out on foot in a practiced way to hide their intentions. Dazai wasn’t fooled, but he also had a few ideas what was happening. He needed to narrow the field, and so he let go of the secure grip on Atsushi’s forearm the moment the last person left and started heading for the door as if he lived there.
“What are you doing?”
“Something isn’t right–” Dazai trotted up the stairs, Atsushi right behind him. Once inside, a guard tried to stop them while residing in the middle of the room instead of being behind his desk, but Atsushi punched them in the face. They both paused at the burst of anger and Dazai clicked his tongue as if disappointed– though there was a tugged smile on his face when he reached down to take the badge to get the elevator moving with a sweet laugh ringing out like a chime.
"Drag him back there to give us some time,"
“Sorry– Dazai-san. You think he’s okay? He’s just a guard– nothing to do with--” Atsushi’s guilt surfaced immediately, and Dazai waved him off with his phone while the doors closed. He tapped on it before he glanced at the worrying Atsushi.
“That guard was likely mafia, and he will be okay. Probably a bad headache though,” Dazai chuckled.
When the door opened the floor was silent. Atsushi could smell various scents as they moved through it towards Chuuya's condo door. Things that proved a good portion of the crowd has been in the hallway. The door was shut, Dazai knelt down to look at the floor where the carpet was rippled along the inside seam of the door frame.
"Hrm," he tested the door handle, and it was unlocked. Atsushi went to grab it and barge in, but Dazai stopped him with a rigid arm bar.
"Atsushi-kun, do I need to send you back to the office?" The words were quietly delivered, sharp as knives-- and when he looked up at the other, his chest seized slightly at the intensity of the stare.
"I'm sorry, I'm a little scared," he stepped back, letting Dazai's body stand in front of the door.
"We are a detective agency, so look-- tell me what you think is wrong about all of this," Dazai blocked the handle of the door with his back, and Atsushi glanced up and down the long hallway to see if anything was out of place. There were only six doors on this floor, but they were all fake except two. Chuuya had the entire right side of this floor to himself, and the other was likely occupied by another Mafia agent. Was that how they got caught?
He sniffed the air again. At first, he believed it had been a mixture of cologne from all the people, and there was an unbelievable musk in the air, but under that, there was something else. Subtle, yet intense.
"Gasoline--" his eyes widened, he walked towards the other door and knelt down. There was a steady breeze blowing from under it, when he pressed his face to it he could smell outside.
"They have all the windows open--"
"Yes, I can feel it from here. The pull of air,"
"But why?"
"Come here," Dazai pointed a bony finger towards the carpet, and Atsushi's brow wrinkled in confusion.
"I don't know what I'm looking at,"
"It's okay not to know, but you will now. That wrinkle is hiding something, rub your finger carefully along it,"
Atsushi did, and he felt a hard line under it, "is that wire? Wait-- is the door--" Atsushi paled. He could have blown them all up. Dazai laid a palm on his shoulder, bringing the shock immediately out of his system.
"This door is a trap-- that air would have caused a massive explosion. Come on," Dazai strode forward towards one of the fake doors. "Pull this one off yeah? It should just be bolted into place." Dazai shrugged off his coat and tucked it under the door from the neighbor, stopping the deep pull of air in the hallway. Now that it was gone it was impossible not to notice it.
Atsushi brought the door down quickly, leaning it against the wall. The drywall on the other side was smooth but thin, Atsushi punched his arms right through it without prompt and removed the wall in one mighty pull. Dust flew up in the hallway, and a release of gasoline smell spilled out. They both coughed from the intensity of it. Atsushi didn't want to find Chuuya in here, how was he even breathing in this?
The laundry room they ended up in was in ruins. Someone had gone through all of Chuuya's things. The mess leads into the kitchen and living area where they saw four canisters of gasoline still trickling liquid out of their overturned sides. They had their hands over their mouth, as the overwhelming scent was making both their eyes water.
Chuuya was on the couch, curled up in a ball on one cushion shaking in pain and bound with rope.
"Move carefully," Dazai warned, walking towards the front door where a trigger laid in trap around the handle. There was a switch in place along the cord that would cause a spark. Dazai frowned at the old tactic used by himself long ago. With nimble fingers, he dismantled the central piece of it and opened the front door to air out the room.
"Chuuya," Atsushi was knelt down near the couch, too alarmed to touch him.
"Is he alive?" Dazai walked over and pulled Chuuya's wrist from the confines of his chest and felt a pulse. He quickly cut the rope freeing Chuuya's hands.
"So they wanted you to kill him, hmm-- well up we go!" Dazai coughed at the end of his sentence while they both unfolded him from the tight ball position. Chuuya didn't respond right away, his chin down against his chest, but Dazai could see his jaw tightening in frustration.
"Get. Out of here," Chuuya insisted.
"Did they not realize I'd be here Mr. Hat?" Dazai had that dark sheen to his expression again, the one that made Atsushi's heart seized in concern to all the things he doesn't know about the other.
"It. Doesn't matter, if we leave-- the other floors will go off," Chuuya lifted his chin and Dazai couldn't hide his collapse when he saw how red Chuuya's eyes were. They bled down in tear tracks, his pupils didn't dilate or respond to focusing on his old partner.
Dazai was impressed Chuuya was standing if he was honest, this particular poison was something he designed with a group of scientists when he was a kid to help with the interrogations. It blinded the person so painfully it felt like their eyes were being gouged out as each tiny vessel burst and the shock to the optic nerve completely shut down to blind them.
It also temporarily took out abilities. Not for long, usually just enough to scare them into thinking they were gone for good. Chopping off limbs and cutting into people had real effects on people, but those with the strongest pride-- their abilities was the limb they wouldn't ever want to be without. Removing that or threatening its removal was one of Dazai's best tricks.
So this was punishment then? They were going mock all of his things against his old partner to prove a point of both their betrayal?
"The elevator triggered it, I see--" Dazai helped Atsushi pull Chuuya into the hallway, and he shut the door to the doused condo. Chuuya leaned on the wall staring forward, Atsushi gripped his cheeks. Thumbs smearing the crimson lines across pale cheekbones. They had such a beautiful night before this, sharing smiles and being happy.
"Can you see?" Atsushi whispered.
"No, but I'd know those fingers and weighted concern anywhere," Chuuya grinned a little, lifting a bruised hand to press his palm over the top of Atsushi's hand.
"Why didn't you use your ability?" Atsushi's panic rose up like an apple had lodged into his throat. He had the instinct to curl up against his chest, to hug him until it was all better. It was a silly thought-- he knew that it wouldn't serve any of them at this moment, but it was impossible not to realize how small Chuuya was. How thin his wrists were, how without his hat and oversized coat he seemed frail. Atsushi would never put to words such a thing, he was sure Chuuya has had his fair share of comments over his lithe frame, but his ability, personality, and confidence were what made him larger than life. Seeing him look minorly defeated was a vision of frustration to the weretiger.
"They injected him with a poison I had assumed all been destroyed. They will be back soon, it's something I used to use in interrogation. Chuuya-- they are furious at you--" Dazai teased.
"Don't you get it? How long did you have to stay away-- 1483 days? You are still on the hit list,"
"You were going to leave the Mafia?" Atsushi figured out immediately and had his chest opening up in affection, and before he could stop himself, he leaned forward and brushed a soft kiss to Chuuya's dry lips. They twitched back into a smile, and they both shared a hum of content before the elevator sounded in a descent. Chuuya stiffened.
"This entire building is going to blow up," Chuuya pushed away from the wall with a stagger, "the second that elevator gets to the bottom and opens. You triggered it when you came up to get me."
"They would kill all these people?" Atsushi was shocked at the news but realized he wasn't all too surprised. The ex-mafia didn't seem to be affected as if it was entirely expected or planned.
Dazai pulled Chuuya close until his arm flopped over his shoulder. Chuuya winced at the sharp pain through his system dealing with the poison but stayed quiet. They had moved to the other condo where all the windows were open, Dazai had grabbed his coat as well. Atsushi peered around the clean place in a spin before eyeing the others.
"We're too high,"
"Not too high for you to jump," Dazai set Chuuya against the counter, and lifted a metal chair to break the window. The rush of air from this height filled the room, blowing various things around.
"It's only nine stories up, you are strong enough for this," Dazai ushered Chuuya into his arms. "Pick him up-- there you go like a blushing bride!"
Chuuya growled but didn't say anything, choosing instead to wrap his arm around Atsushi's neck and keep himself secure.
"And I just jump!?" Atsushi's voice peaked into a crescendo of fear and Dazai laughed a little.
"Or fall!" Dazai shoved him from behind with the chair legs, their screams immediately rushed towards the ground. Dazai hooked his coat back on his shoulders just as they landed on the dirt with a shockwave that cracked the concrete and dug into the grass. He could see the white of the weretiger's fur encased around his limbs and he felt pride that such a person had taken so well under his wing.
"Dazai!" Atsushi was gazing up, and Dazai knew they were down to the second now before the place blew up. He wondered what it would be like to jump from this height. Was it high enough to guarantee death? Exploding into nothingness seemed like an interesting way to go. Dazai was swept up in the romantic feeling of mortality within himself that he didn't notice Kuni in the window, encased in a red light and with his arms crossed-- ponytail blowing in the wind.
"Why are you mad?" Dazai chirped, "and come on. This would have been a glorious death, and you just couldn't help but also save me?"
"The fact I am here is only because you had issued a bomb threat to the entire building. Then you went into the building with the brat! Sit in that chair," Kuni demanded, and Dazai listened, plopping back on it with his legs crossed as if they were about to have tea. Kuni grabbed the seat from the back, and they both immediately flew backward with a scream from one person and a 'weeeee' from another. They landed roughly in the grass, and Chuuya was panting.
The cops and bomb squad was there from Dazai's alert to the ADA, but Chuuya knew it was far too late.
He lifted both his hands, summoning all the strength he had-- gravity in bright reds and violent purples wrapped around the entire circumference of the building. The explosions erupted at the bottom first, each one catching against the manipulation of gravity forcing it in on itself and skyward. Chuuya lifted it up as every floor blew out, the glass obliterated against his powers until the top level went up in flames from the gasoline. The building glowed from his ability, looking like it was trapped underwater dipped in red.
With a sigh, he dropped the gravity, the rush of air inverted the heat and put out all the fire immediately. Chuuya panted. Atsushi and everyone else was slack jawed in awe.
"Show off--" Dazai chimed in from the far bushes having apparently run towards them as to not null the powers.
"You knew I would do that--" Chuuya gritted.
"Didn't know you would float Kunikida-san up like a balloon! That was a surprise, one I might remind you about for weeks to come, dear partner,"
Kunikida frowned but helped Chuuya up from the ground. The fact Chuuya had been able to gauge the building size and location from memory and position reminded Dazai how impressive Chuuya always was in a tactical situation of this scale. It would be good to have him on the team.
"Kunikida, he saved all of us! This was quite the night for a test,"
Atsushi seemed like a lost pup looking at Dazai. "You used this as a test?!" Atsushi confronted suddenly heated, "I could have killed him and everyone in there if I had opened that door."
"But I was there pup! And you didn't and don't belittle Chuuya's work-- he saved everyone out here from that explosion. The ADA got everyone out once I figured the building was likely rigged. Everyone left in a hurry, and it was suspicious. Usually, guards would remain in the hallways or by the elevator, but it was all open with just one guard."
"Come brat! Get in the car, let the police and Dazai-san deal with this," Atsushi jumped out of his skin at the yell and ran towards the vehicle. He piled in and sat next to Chuuya who had his eyes closed in exhaustion. His hands were on his lap, and Atsushi put his fingers through his own stirring Chuuya's chin to tilt and peak in the direction of him but not quite landing on it from the blindness.
"You are in the ADA now-- officially. You passed, and people's lives were actually at risk. With me it was all a fake situation," Atsushi admitted sounded equal in awe and disappointment.
"It doesn't matter, if your heart and mind are in the right place to save people than you deserve a chance to be with us," Kunikida's eye caught Atsushi's for a second before they went back on the road.
"I talked to them a while ago," Chuuya admitted, leaning until his temple tucked on Atsushi's shoulder.
"But we just had our first date? Today even," Atsushi blushed. "Not that I am the reason you are doing this-- I didn't mean to assume..."
Chuuya laughed a little. "You are a bonus,"
"You wanted to leave for a while?"
"Dazai annoys me, but we were feared for a good reason as partners. I didn't think I'd lose everything, but maybe it will be for the better all my stuff is gone,"
"I'm still in your clothes, so you didn't lose everything," Atsushi chuckled, and Chuuya laughed then snuggling closer until his leg plopped over Atsushi's lap and he latched completely onto his side exactly how Atsushi had wanted to hug him before. He rubbed Chuuya's arm, resting his chin on his head.
"Rest Chuuya-san, we will get you healed right up when we get back,"