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Oda walks into La Gravité, and the scent of the familiar coffee wafting through the air puts him at ease immediately. It has been a while since he had come to this particular café, and he hadn’t realise just how much he has missed it.
“Oda-san,” a voice calls from behind the counter, and a smile graces his face as he sees a young girl behind the counter.
“Maki-chan,” he greets as he makes his way over to her.
“It’s been a while! I thought you got sick of this place,” Maki jokes with a chuckle.
“I’ve just been busy,” Oda answers.
“The usual, then?”
“You know it.”
He gives her a smile before taking his usual seat – the last table by the window. There’s a large pot of Birds of Paradise next to this seat that gives him privacy from other patrons but leaves him free to stare out into the streets. Sometimes he people-watch, but he chooses to engross himself in a book today.
Maki calls out ‘Caramel Macchiato’, and Oda stands to retrieve his order. The doors swing open and the sound of chatter catches his attention. He turns to see a group of people walking in, and has the feeling that he has seen them before.
“Chuuya-san! Long time no see!” Maki chimes happily, and Oda’s eyes stray to the person standing in front of the cake display. He smiles at the sight of Chuuya; Dazai’s right – the teen really is unbelievably small. It’s cute.
“Maki-chan,” Chuuya returns with equal joy in his voice. “My usual, please.” He turns to the rest of the group. “Order whatever you want. It’s on me.”
“Thanks, Chuuya-san!” the group choruses, and, oh, no wonder they look so familiar – they’re from the Port Mafia.
“Chuuya-san, you’re the best!”
“Bootlicking will only get you so far, Michizou,” Chuuya chides but Oda can tell he’s just joking from the way his eyes twinkle mischievously as he says it.
“Chuuya-san, your usual seat is taken by another regular though,” Maki says.
“Oh?” Chuuya’s eyes stray over to Oda’s seat and he purses his lips in curiosity when he sees the book on the table. “Where is – ”
“That would be me,” Oda says simply as he steps in front of Chuuya, offering the sub-Executive a smile. “Chuuya-san.”
Blue eyes widen in recognition and it really is adorable they way Chuuya’s cheeks colour a rosy shade as he no doubt thinks back to the last time they met. It makes Oda chuckle. Chuuya snaps back to himself at the sound of his laughter, and he smiles at Oda as he touches his arm lightly.
“Odasaku! It’s such a pleasant surprise to see you here,” Chuuya says excitedly, and Oda wonders if Chuuya’s going to start flirting with him in broad daylight, in front of all his subordinates. But Chuuya just offers him a wink before removing his hand, and Oda cannot help the laughter that escapes his lips. He catches a pleased smile on Chuuya’s face.
“Who’s he?”
Oda looks over to see the teen from just now furrowing his brows at him. He has brown hair, and a bandage over his nose. Oda knows him. Tachihara Michizou.
“Odasaku,” Chuuya replies easily, and he drags Tachihara over. “This is Michizou.”
“Tachihara,” the other says as he offers a hand, his eyes narrowed.
“Oda,” Oda replies as he shakes Tachihara’s hand. He wonders what he has done to receive this cold treatment from him. As far as he knows, they haven’t talked before this.
“Odasaku here is a good friend of mine,” Chuuya tells Tachihara, though his eyes are fixed on Oda.
“Oh,” Tachihara says, sounding entirely unimpressed, and when Oda flickers his eyes over to him, he receives a glare.
Can it be… Oda looks between Chuuya and Tachihara, and barely stops himself from laughing out loud. First Dazai, now Tachihara. And Chuuya remains guileless through it all. It really is quite flattering and… it’s also really quite endearing if Oda were to be honest.
“Chuuya-san, your drink is ready!”
Chuuya excuses himself, leaving Oda to deal with a fuming Tachihara.
“Odasaku, huh?”
Oda doesn't really like the way Tachihara is saying his nickname like it’s dirt, but he isn’t going to get into a squabble with the younger one over it either. He simply shrugs.
“My friends call me that.”
“Chuuya-san is your superior,” Tachihara retorts, and it’s almost cute the way he says Chuuya’s name with such reverence.
Before Oda can respond to that, Chuuya returns to them, and Tachihara immediately puts on a smile.
“I’ll get a seat for us, Chuuya-san!”
Chuuya spares a longing look at Oda’s seat before nodding. However, before Tachihara can sprint off for his mission, Oda places a hand on Chuuya’s shoulder. The action has Tachihara freezing on the spot as he stares at Oda’s hand like it’s personally offending him.
“Get your flith – ”
“You can sit with me if you like, Chuuya.”
Chuuya’s eyes widen slightly, and he flushes such a pretty shade of pink that Oda’s face twitches into a fond smile.
“Did you just call me Chuuya?”
“Didn’t you tell me to call you that?”
“Well, I, yeah, you, I…” Chuuya falls silent and looks at everywhere but Oda.
“Well, come on,” Oda says gently as he takes Chuuya by the arm.
Chuuya smiles him, and nods, as he makes his way to Oda’s table, but not before shooting Tachihara an apologetic look. Tachihara, on the other hand, barely registers it, for he’s too busy trying to decide whether to be shocked or angry. In the end, he settles for glaring at Oda who merely gives him a casual shrug and a pat on the shoulder before making his way back to his table. Chuuya’s peering at his book, and Oda turns it around so that he can get a better look at the title.
“Snow Country,” Chuuya reads.
“Have you read it?” Oda asks as he takes his seat. He stirs his coffee idly, and raises an eyebrow when Chuuya scoffs.
“Only five times.”
“This is my sixth.”
Chuuya’s mouth hangs agape before he starts shaking his head. “No way. You’re fooling me.”
“I swear on Lupin’s whiskey.”
It hadn’t been his intention, but Chuuya still blushes scarlet. Oda takes a few seconds to figure out exactly why, and his cheeks are marred red as well as he remembers soft lifts against his own. As if in a trance, Oda finds his eyes drawn to the luscious lips across the table. Chuuya licks his lips in nervousness, and Oda inhales sharply as he tears his eyes away.
No, Sakunosuke. He’s only a teen. He’s only sixteen. No.
Chuuya pushes the book back over to him, and Oda looks up to meet cloudy blue eyes. The sight pinches his heart, and he feels irrevocably sad for reasons unbeknown to him.
“The melancholy of loneliness in the book…” Chuuya says as he strokes the cover page of ‘Snow Country’, drawing Oda’s eyes to his fingers, fingers that he had never realised are so elegant and delicate. “I feel like I can relate to it, and I think that’s why I like it so much…”
Oda feels the same sentiments resonating in his chest, and he suddenly finds himself seeing Chuuya is a new light.
“Me too,” he admits quietly, and when Chuuya offers him a soft, tentative smile, he returns it with reassurance and comfort.
The resulting smile that blossoms on Chuuya’s face and lights up his sky-kissed eyes is a beautiful sight, one that has Oda’s breath catching in his throat.
“You like caramel macchiato?” Chuuya asks as he glances over at Oda’s drink.
Oda nods, and that’s when he realises the same drink in Chuuya’s hands. The sub-Executive beams at him.
“Me too!”
It’s such a trivial thing, but the fact that it makes Chuuya so happy causes Oda to grin as well, and he realises with a start that it has been too long since he has felt so light.
“A little sweetness in the bitterness,” he says simply.
Chuuya catches his eyes, and he holds his stare. “That’s all I need,” Chuuya breathes out, and the sudden urge to close the distance between them has Oda breaking the stare immediately. He hears Chuuya coughing, and looking the other direction.
They’re both spared from saying anything else when Tachihara walks up to their table. He spends a few good seconds glaring at Oda, but the older man is too preoccupied to care about his animosity. He then turns to Chuuya.
“Chuuya-san, I received a call from Dazai-san. He wants to see you.”
“Why didn't he just… oh…” Chuuya says as he stares at his phone. He pockets it, and stands up. “Right, let’s go then.” Before he leaves, he spares a hesitant glance at Oda. “I’ll see you around… Odasaku?”
It’s the uncertainty that has Oda looking up to catch his eyes again, and he doesn't break it this time as he says, “any time, Chuuya.”
The sub-Executive smiles, and waves him goodbye before he saunters off to pay the bill. Tachihara shoots him one last glare before following after Chuuya. Oda slumps in his seat, and finds himself watching Chuuya as he bids goodbye to his subordinates before leaving. His eyes follow the smaller redhead as Chuuya goes over to his beloved motorcycle that Oda has heard Dazai complain about one too many times before. A fond smile appears on his face as he watches the caring way Chuuya handles it, and as Chuuya speeds off, he thinks that he might be in trouble.