Archive of Our Own

He was twelve. In fact, his birthday had been last week, not that he paid much attention to those things. Birthdays were just a number, nothing to celebrate when it meant having more responsibilities piled on your shoulders.

And Dazai already felt so weighed down.

There was a rumor that another kid his age had been found and taken in, though Dazai wouldn't believe it until he saw proof. Aside from himself, Q was the youngest in the Mafia. Kids below a certain age just weren't useful. Taking one on was more likely to be a burden than anything else, unless they had something special.

Like a powerful Ability, or a brilliant mind.

The person next closest to him in age in the Mafia was Kouyou, and she was sixteen. Dazai didn’t really consider her a kid, despite her age, because she held a higher rank than him. She’d been around when he’d arrived, though he suspected that she hadn’t joined the Mafia as young as he had.

It was Kouyou who ended up taking this new kid under her wing, and it was with Kouyou that Dazai caught a glimpse of him for the first time. Dazai was being shuffled down the corridor by Mori alongside Q after a day spent learning strategy. Kouyou came from the opposite direction, her hand on the shoulder of a small boy, guiding him forward.

They looked at each other as they passed.

Dazai had no idea what the other boy thought of him, but Dazai had plenty of thoughts of his own. This boy had red hair and grey eyes, and he was small. He didn’t look like the sort of person suited to the Mafia. Then again, neither had Kouyou, and she was one of their most deadly assassins.

Dazai sensed that this boy was warmer than most people he knew, judging by the look in his eyes. But there was determination there, and underlying curiosity. Dazai figured this boy hadn’t seen anyone else his age since he’d arrived.

Dazai wondered just how good this kid was at the physical training that all members of the Mafia received. There was a hardness in his eyes that told Dazai he was willing to fight, and unfortunately Dazai wasn’t as good at sparring as he wanted to be. It was the only thing he didn’t excel in and, sadly, it was an important thing.

Mori ushered him along and Dazai stumbled a bit, realizing he’d slowed down to look at the other boy closely. They rounded a corner and he was gone.

*

Dazai was curious about the other boy the first time they saw each other, but there were more important things to think about, and he never really had time to be idle. It wasn’t until several months later that Dazai saw the boy again.

He learned initially from Hirotsu that the other boy’s name was Nakahara Chuuya, and that he had a gravity manipulation Ability. That partially explained why he was allowed to join the Mafia at such a young age. The mafia’s youngest members had the most powerful Abilities, it seemed.

Then Dazai heard another thing, this time from Mori, shortly before Dazai saw Chuuya for the second time. He heard that Chuuya was quickly becoming a martial arts prodigy.

Something twisted in Dazai’s stomach when he heard those words. No one else had been referred to as a prodigy except him. He couldn’t have another boy coming in and taking that away. Dazai wanted to knock this boy off his pedestal, but he couldn’t do it by becoming better at martial arts. He’d have to use his brains, something which he assumed Chuuya didn’t have, and his Ability.

One afternoon Dazai managed to walk in on a training session. He stood in the doorway, watching as Chuuya dodged Golden Demon’s attacks, weaving in and out between the Ability and Kouyou herself. The only reason Dazai stood a chance against someone like Kouyou was because he could nullify her Ability, eliminating half the threat.

Chuuya wasn’t even using his to its fullest extent. At least, not in a way Dazai could see. There were a few times when Chuuya leaped higher than he should have been able to, and landed hard enough to crack the ground. But most of his movements and attacks were things that Dazai had learned but hadn’t been able to master. Chuuya executed them well enough to hold his own.

As the sparring match went on, Chuuya started to make mistakes. Dazai could see that he was trying to use his Ability on Golden Demon, but must have miscalculated, because the result seemed to be that Golden Demon’s attacks hit with more force. Chuuya was slammed into the wall, unable to stop himself in time.

Still, that was a problem with Ability control. Chuuya’s actual fighting skills were almost on par with Kouyou’s.

Dazai felt something foreign. It wasn’t just anger. The urge to bring Chuuya down a notch grew stronger. His Ability wouldn’t be enough.

It was jealousy.

A hand on his shoulder pulled him out of his thoughts.

“This is a private training session,” Hirostu said softly.

Dazai wondered why he wasn’t allowed to interact with Chuuya or Kouyou, but he allowed himself to be led away. He still had planning to do. He didn’t want to confront Chuuya right away. He’d have to strategize. As they were now, Chuuya could kick Dazai’s ass.

An ass kicking wasn’t in Dazai’s plans.

*

The months that followed were chaotic. The Mafia Boss fell into madness, and most of the Mafia's efforts were split two ways: into nearly destroying Yokohama's criminal underworld, and trying to keep it from falling apart. Then Mori became the Mafia Boss, which turned the organization on its head.

It took Mori a few months to work his way from fixing the immediate problems the previous Boss had caused and gaining loyalty to planning for the future. Dazai had been waiting for Mori talk to him about what role Dazai would play in this new Port Mafia. Shortly after things were mostly stable again, Mori called Dazai into his office.

"Dazai-kun, how do you feel about a partner?"

Dazai expected this, but he didn't like it. He was perfectly capable of planning out missions and having them be carried out without someone by his side. He didn't mind leading larger groups of people. A partner would make him feel like he needed to be on equal footing with another person. He always wanted to have the upper hand.

"I don't think I need one," he said. Not that his answer mattered. He knew that when Mori asked certain questions, the answer was irrelevant. It was just a way for Mori to transition into talking about a plan.

Mori eyed Dazai from across his desk. "Would you not enjoy having a weapon you can yield? For your own personal use?"

"Nothing is mine here," Dazai said. "And aren't partnerships equal?"

"Yes, ideally, partners would be considered equals to each other," Mori said. "However, your role in this particular partnership would be the same role you take when leading missions. The Mafia has changed over the years. We now have the opportunity to use less people to accomplish more. We have the necessary talent. With your mind, and your partner's Ability-"

"What Ability?" Dazai asked.

Mori grinned. "Of course, we will have to see how you two work together first."

"Who is it?"

"I'm sure you can figure it out."

Mori dismissed him without another word. He was right; Dazai knew even if Mori didn’t answer his questions. There was no way that two kids in the Port Mafia who were the same age would never interact. If Chuuya was still a martial arts prodigy, with his useful Ability he would be an effective weapon for Dazai to wield.

But something about the partnership made Dazai uneasy. Aside from the fact that Chuuya could kick his ass, Dazai didn't know anything about Chuuya. He hadn't even seen Chuuya in over a year. Gathering information about Chuuya had fallen to the wayside.

Now, Dazai picked up his efforts to find out anything he could about Chuuya before Mori set up their meeting. It wasn't easy. Kouyou tended to keep herself as distant from Mori as possible without actually leaving the Port Mafia (though she had tried), and anyone who worked with her was just as elusive. Dazai didn't even know where Chuuya slept, which bothered him. He knew where almost everyone slept.

The first scrap of information he gained came from a mission report. Kouyou had led a mission to take out a foreign group attempting to get into Yokohama through the Port. They were small, and therefore didn't require a huge response. In fact, Kouyou's only backup was Chuuya.

The mission had been a success. Dazai noted that Chuuya had initially rushed into a confrontation that Kouyou needed to finish. So Chuuya was rash. Other than that, everything went well. No one was hurt.

Kouyou tended to work on high level but smaller scale missions as an assassin. Based on what Mori had said about using less people to do more, Dazai got the feeling that Mori wanted Chuuya to take on larger operations, but with just him and Dazai. Therefore, Dazai would need to direct Chuuya as he would an entire group of people, but just in one person. He wondered if Chuuya was up to that task.

He wanted to find out where Chuuya had come from, or what his personality was like, and how he viewed working with other people. He wondered if Chuuya was grateful for being in the Mafia or resented it. There was so much Dazai couldn't figure out, and Mori kept the information he had on his subordinates close to his chest unless there was a reason Dazai needed to know.

It seemed that Mori wanted Chuuya to be a surprise.

The only comfort was that Chuuya would probably be just as in the dark about Dazai as Dazai was about him.

*

"So you're the bastard Ane-san's been talking about."

Dazai couldn't believe what he was seeing. He'd seen Chuuya before, but the person in front of him looked somehow completely different. He was still small. He still had red hair, which was still short, but it was more choppy, like he’d cut it himself.

It looked as if Kouyou had tried to make Chuuya look presentable by Mafia standards, but Chuuya was trying his best to undo her efforts. He had his white button-down shirt unbuttoned enough that Dazai could see a good amount of the undershirt beneath it (which was glaringly red). He'd rolled up the sleeves almost to the elbow, but was wearing black gloves. The tie, if it ever existed, had been completely disregarded. A silver chain hung from Chuuya's black pants. He wore a hat, which looked at odds with the rest of him because it was actually well-made and worn properly.

And the way he talked, at least to Dazai, was crude.

"You really do look like you've been dragged off the street," Dazai said.

Chuuya scoffed and looked him up and down. "You haven't changed your clothes in years. What's with the bandages? Are you trying to be some kind of mummy?"

"Actually, I want to die," Dazai said cheerfully.

Chuuya stared at him. "I can make that happen."

Dazai had no doubt that Chuuya could. But seeing as they were standing in the middle of Mori's office, he got the feeling that neither of them would be killing each other just yet.

"Now that you're acquainted," Mori said, stepping forward, "I have a mission for you two."

Chuuya opened and closed his mouth. Dazai was less surprised.

“When is it?” he asked.

“Tonight.”

*

Dazai and Chuuya had a few hours to go over the details they were given. Dazai decided to have them meet outside a convenience store on the edge of the slums, where the mission would take place.

Dazai didn’t mind that they had gone their separate ways to look over the mission details, even if it meant that they had no idea what the other thought about the situation. The mission itself was simple: a small group was starting to gain traction by distributing drugs, and Chuuya and Dazai were meant to sneak into the building where they stored those drugs and get information about their inventory.

It was an odd choice of a mission given that Mori had referred to Chuuya as a weapon for Dazai to wield. Dazai had a feeling there were multiple purposes for the mission, only one of which being to gauge how well Dazai worked with Chuuya.

Chuuya was already standing in front of the convenience store by the time Dazai arrived. He was still wearing the same clothes, hat included. His punctuality surprised Dazai--given the way Chuuya talked and dressed Dazai assumed he would be late. He had made a lot of assumptions about Chuuya, and it would be interesting to see how many were proven right or wrong.

Chuuya watched Dazai approach warily. Dazai wondered what Chuuya had assumed about him.

For now, it didn’t matter. “Actually on time. I’m impressed.”

Chuuya glared at him. “I want to get this over with.”

“But it’s not just one mission, Chuuya,” Dazai said, grinning. “We’re supposed to be partners!”

Chuuya rolled his eyes and started walking. Dazai followed him.

“You don’t have a plan,” he said. “Are you just going to break into the building and hope for the best?”

“You have a plan?” Chuuya asked. He sounded like he was barely holding back an insult.

“Ideally, the plan involves not confronting anyone,” Dazai said. “I know that’s hard for you, since that’s all you know how to do-”

“What?!”

“-but this operation will be most successful if we gain information to use against these people at a later time,” Dazai finished.

“You’re not good at fighting,” Chuuya said.

“What gives you that idea?” Dazai asked. “Because I want to avoid it? Not all of us are stupid enough to throw ourselves into danger all the time. Not that I don’t want to die, but I wouldn’t want to die because I was an idiot.”

“Because you look like a toddler could kick your ass,” Chuuya said. “What kind of person do you think I am, exactly?”

“What?”

“You’re acting like all I do is beat the shit out of people,” Chuuya said.

“I’ve read about you,” Dazai said.

Chuuya stopped in his tracks. “You what?”

Dazai sighed. “If you waste time like this we’ll never get anything done.”

Chuuya started walking again. Dazai could practically feel the frustration radiating off of him. “What are you talking about?”

“I’ve just read some things,” Dazai said.

“I’m this close to punching you in the face,” Chuuya said. “What things?”

Dazai figured that breaking Chuuya’s patience entirely before the mission even started was a bad idea, so he said, “I read a mission report. You were working with Kouyou, and you rushed into a fight with another organization without thinking and nearly compromised the whole thing.”

Chuuya was quiet for a moment. Then he said, “the whole point of that mission was to get rid of them.”

“But you could’ve gotten injured or worse by giving away your position without a plan,” Dazai said. “Then again, I’m not surprised. You can’t even plan your own outfit effectively.”

“What’s wrong with my outfit?” Chuuya snapped.

“Do you really want me to answer that?”

Chuuya stuffed his hands into his pockets. “I don’t know why I have to work with you. You’re a smug asshole who can’t do anything except talk.”

“And nullify Abilities,” Dazai said.

“That’s a bit shit if your partner has an Ability,” Chuuya said.

“That’s why I don’t use it on the people I work with,” Dazai said. “Unlike you, I have some restraint.”

“I swear to-”

“Quiet.” Dazai held up a hand. They were a block away from the building they meant to break into.

Surprisingly, Chuuya stopped talking.

No one else was around, which in some ways made things harder. Their presence would be more noticable.

“The inventory should be in the basement,” Dazai said. “We have to break in without raising any alarms.”

“What do we do?”

“Maybe you should be a distraction.”

“Shut up.”

“I’m serious!” Dazai considered the building again. “I don’t think we’ll get out of here without a confrontation. But if we can prevent them from figuring out our identity, that would be ideal. Which means if someone sees us, we should kill them. But quietly. So no one else comes running.”

“Do you think any of them are Ability users?” Chuuya asked.

“I don’t know,” Dazai said. “Most of the organizations we deal with involve Ability users, but some are just criminal organizations trying to make their way into Yokohama. In the end it doesn’t matter. Come on.”

They headed around towards the back entrance to the building, which was most likely to have more direct access to the basement.

“Stand back,” Dazai said. Chuuya stayed just out of the area illuminated by a light above the door.

There was a camera half-concealed overhead.

Dazai frowned. This was something he had expected but didn’t really have a solution for. His own looks were ordinary enough that he probably wouldn’t be recognized by sight alone. But Chuuya’s red hair was a bigger giveaway.

“There’s a camera,” Dazai said.

“I see it,” Chuuya said.

Dazai scanned the area, trying to determine the camera’s coverage. Anything outside of the illuminated area would be hard for the camera to pick up, and if Chuuya’s Ability worked like Dazai thought it did, then Chuuya could get past the camera if he came in from above.

“You can scale a building, right?” Dazai asked.

Chuuya nodded. He started moving and Dazai was glad that he didn’t have to take the time to explain himself. He was sure Chuuya had probably done this sort of thing before. He didn’t directly look at Chuuya as he scaled the wall, and then moved above the camera so that he was directly overhead. But he saw most of what Chuuya was doing out of the corner of his eye, and it was fascinating.

“Destroy it?” Chuuya asked, one hand hovering over the camera.

It was surprising that so far, Chuuya had actually chosen to defer to Dazai’s decisions. Dazai shook his head and began picking the lock. He knew how to make it look like he was just using a normal key, and he was fast enough to not really be suspicious if someone happened to be watching.

The door swung open.

Dazai stepped inside and glanced around.

No cameras here. A smaller organization probably didn’t have the funds necessary to put a camera everywhere they would need one, which was lucky for Dazai and Chuuya.

“If you have a way to get in here without the camera seeing you-” Dazai started, only to to be cut off when Chuuya dropped down next to him. He didn’t make a sound when he hit the floor, which was slightly unsettling.

“Stairs?” he asked.

There was a long corridor with several doors on either side. Towards the end, Dazai found the stairs. He poked his head into the stairwell and noticed another camera.

“I don’t think you can spiderman your way out of this one,” he said. As much as he’d like to leave Chuuya behind, he knew that it was better to have Chuuya with him.

“I’ll take care of it,” Chuuya said.

Dazai stepped back out of curiosity, only to immediately regret it when Chuuya pulled a gun.

A familiar gun.

Dazai’s gun.

“Wait-”

Chuuya shot the camera.

But the gun didn’t make noise.

Dazai couldn’t hide his shock.

Chuuya brushed past him into the stairwell and started heading down.

Dazai was beginning to wonder just how well Chuuya could use his Ability. Mori certainly hadn’t given him an indication that Chuuya was good at anything but fighting, and the applications of gravity to fighting were easy to guess at. But this was something more subtle.

By the time Dazai reached the door on the bottom floor, another camera had been shot. Chuuya hadn’t actually opened the door, preferring to let Dazai take the lead.

“That’s my gun,” Dazai said. He couldn’t even pinpoint when Chuuya had taken it off him.

“I’ll give it back,” Chuuya said.

Dazai picked the lock to this door as well. They would have to move fast. Someone would likely notice the cameras not working by now.

The basement was a large room stacked with crates. It seemed to be used purely for storage. There were cameras here, and if these people were smart, they’d have one right above the door. Dazai stood in the threshold and gestured up, then stepped back. Chuuya took his place and aimed the gun straight up, shooting this camera out.

There were other cameras. Dazai was sure of that. But the crates allowed them plenty of blind spots to utilize.

Chuuya held out the gun. Dazai took it. “You don’t have one?”

“I have a knife,” Chuuya said.

Dazai chose not to comment on that and led the way, and Chuuya followed his path. “It’s a good thing you’re so small,” Dazai whispered. “The crates are bigger than you!”

“Shut up,” Chuuya hissed.

Dazai chose a crate buried deep within the room. He took the opportunity to swipe Chuuya’s knife while Chuuya was distracting, presumably with making sure no one was going to sneak up behind them. He plunged it into the crate and cut an opening into the side.

Chuuya turned around just as Dazai was pulling out a bag of pills.

“That’s my knife,” he said.

“Oh, does Chuuya not like it when I take his things?” Dazai asked. Chuuya glared at him. But then his gaze dropped to the bag in Dazai’s hands.

“What’s that?”

“Drugs, Chuuya.”

“You know what I mean.”

Dazai took a closer look at the bag. He couldn’t tell at first glance, which meant he’d have to bring back a sample for Mori. He headed towards the other side of the room and opened another crate. This one had the same kind of pills. Dazai was sure that they all contained the same thing, so he stood up.

Before he could say anything, he heard the door open.

Chuuya was behind him, so it wasn’t Chuuya. Someone was making their way further into the room. Dazai glanced at Chuuya, handing him back his knife, and gestured towards the door. He wanted to try and sneak past the person rather than engage them.

As they crept forward, Dazai was grateful that Chuuya could at least be quiet. Unfortunately for them, Chuuya wasn’t the only one. When Dazai reached the door, he heard a sharp intake of breath and whirled around in time to see a man grab Chuuya by the arm and pull him in close, pressing a gun to his head.

This was the last thing Dazai wanted. Chuuya looked furious, and Dazai was ready to try to convince this guy to let Chuuya go. But Chuuya moved first, ripping his arm out of the man’s grip and grabbing for the gun. The gun went off, and Dazai was surprised that it actually made a sound that echoed off the walls. Chuuya threw the man to the ground and slashed his throat.

Dazai grabbed Chuuya’s arm and pulled him out of the room.

As they ran up the stairs, Dazai heard the sound of people running from above. Chuuya’s hat flew off and Chuuya pulled his arm out of Dazai’s grasp to catch it. Dazai hadn’t realized he was still pulling Chuuya, and he hadn’t meant to keep in contact with Chuuya for so long.

They reached the door and sprinted through it and away from the building. They didn’t have a tail, luckily. They’d been fast enough and discreet enough that they’d caught the organization off-guard. Still, they didn’t stop running until they were out of the slums. Dazai noticed splattered on Chuuya’s arm from the man he’d killed. More dripped off his hand, which luckily was still gloved. They couldn’t walk back like this. Dazai called a car to bring them the rest of the way to the Port Mafia headquarters.

“If you’d silenced the gun, no one else would’ve noticed we were there,” Dazai pointed out.

“We got what we came for, right?” Chuuya snapped.

“Next time we might not,” Dazai said.

Chuuya was silent on the ride back. He was mostly silent as they delivered a report to Mori upon arrival, and Dazai handed over the drugs, only talking when Mori asked him a direct question. He was still quiet when Dazai started following him as he left the building.

It wasn’t until they reached what Dazai assumed was Chuuya’s building (not far from where Dazai had an apartment) that Chuuya turned around, his eyes narrowed.

“What are you, some kind of dog?” he asked.

“I’d say you’re the dog,” Dazai said, grinning. “Following orders the way you do.”

“Fuck off.” Chuuya didn’t make a move to go inside. It was clear that he didn’t trust Dazai enough to let him into the apartment.

“You’ve been quiet ever since we got back,” Dazai said. He didn’t know Chuuya well enough to know why, but he didn’t think it had anything to do with how the mission played out.

Chuuya took off his hat and ran his fingers through his hair. “I’ve never had my Ability nullified,” he said after a moment.

Dazai didn’t know what it was like to have an Ability nullified. Other people often commented on how it felt when Dazai touched them. The reactions ranged from fear to discomfort to anger.

Chuuya didn’t look like he was feeling any of those things.

“Just a reminder not to get too cocky about your gravity talents,” Dazai said, wiggling his fingers. He hated to admit it, but the extent to which Chuuya could use and control his Ability had been impressive, the mistake with the final gunshot aside.

Chuuya ignored Dazai’s comment and asked, “What does it feel like?”

It was such a weird question that Dazai was sure he’d misheard. “Are you asking me what other people tell me it feels like?” Did Chuuya want to know if his experience was like everyone else’s that Dazai had ever touched?

Chuuya shook his head. “When you nullify my Ability, what does it feel like?”

Dazai had never been asked that. And he hadn’t been paying attention. He’d long since stopped paying attention. He knew that different Ability users felt different when he touched them. He never thought about it too much, because it never made a difference. The feeling was always very brief.

“We were a bit preoccupied at the time,” he said.

Chuuya came closer and held out his arm. “We’re not now.”

Dazai frowned. He wanted to ask if Chuuya was stupid, to willingly let Dazai nullify his Ability. But he decided to humor Chuuya since they weren’t in danger. He wrapped his hand around Chuuya’s wrist, noticing that Chuuya had taken off his gloves.

The point of contact between them felt like a dull static shock before disappearing. It didn’t hurt, but Dazai felt like Chuuya’s Ability would have fought the nullification had it been able to. Some Abilities were more passive. He realized that a few others’ Abilities--Kouyou immediately came to mind--felt the same way as Chuuya’s.

It was subtle enough to ignore most of the time.

Dazai let go. Chuuya was looking at his arm, a small frown on his face.

“Why, do you feel something?” Dazai asked. “Aside from not having your Ability?”

Chuuya opened his mouth and closed it again. He looked off to the side, staring at nothing, probably trying to come up with the words he wanted to say to describe whatever it was he felt. Dazai waited.

Chuuya turned back to him. “It feels quiet,” he decided.

“Quiet isn’t a feeling,” Dazai pointed out.

Chuuya glared at him. “Shut up!”

“Something can’t feel like a sound,” Dazai said, smirking.

“I’ll kick you across the street,” Chuuya snapped.

“With what Ability?” Dazai asked.

“It’ll still hurt.”

Dazai didn’t doubt it would. “As quiet as my Ability is, I’m sure you’ll find it annoying in no time. Because I plan to use it a lot on you!” His grin widened.

“You must get a kick out of that sort of thing,” Chuuya said.

“It’s entertaining. Imagine if I’d touched you while you were scaling the walls,” Dazai said. He hoped he’d actually get the chance to touch Chuuya while he was scaling a wall someday if only to see his reaction when he fell.

“I would have killed you,” Chuuya said. “It’s bad enough you touched me while we were running away.” He didn’t sound angry about it, but he did sound like he wished he was.

“Was that bad?” Dazai asked. “I was saving your life by pulling you out of danger!”

“Uh huh. What happened to not using your Ability on the people you work with?” Chuuya turned around.

“You’re not saying goodnight, partner?” Dazai asked.

Chuuya paused. Dazai could see his shoulders tense. “Goodnight, partner,” he ground out.

Dazai laughed as Chuuya hurried inside the building, and then began his walk back to his own apartment. He started going over the mission in his head. The thing that surprised him was that aside from a few hiccups here and there, he and Chuuya did work well together. He couldn’t say how they’d compliment each other in an all-out fight, but it wasn’t bad working with Chuuya.

Dazai hadn’t been able to picture himself working with someone as an equal before tonight, but now he thought he could.

Chuuya didn’t have the same intelligence as Dazai, but Dazai couldn’t deny how useful Chuuya made himself with both his fighting skills and his Ability. He was impressed by the amount of control Chuuya had over his Ability, and with more training Chuuya would probably gain even more control. Dazai would have to figure out the exact scope of Chuuya’s Ability before their next mission.

That wasn’t the only thing that made Chuuya more than someone Dazai could use, even if that was what Dazai was doing. Chuuya surprised him with how he acted. He listened to what Dazai said despite being annoyed with him, but had moments where his impatience took over. Luckily tonight that hadn’t affected them in a negative way.

His genuine curiosity about Dazai’s Ability was something Dazai hadn’t really experienced before. That he wasn’t angry about Dazai nullifying his Ability despite being angry about almost everything else Dazai did surprised him (but he was sure that would change.) The way he’d described the effect Dazai’s Ability had on him made Dazai think. He wanted to know exactly what Chuuya meant, but he got the feeling Chuuya couldn’t express it in any way other than the way he had.

Everything Chuuya could do and every skill he had made him suited to combat. Chuuya was a weapon. Dazai could see that. It would have been easier for Dazai if that was all Chuuya could be. But Chuuya felt like something more. An actual partner that he could trust.

The idea of trusting someone that much made Dazai’s stomach turn, but he’d already trusted Chuuya with watching his back during the mission. He’d trusted Chuuya to be competent. He was already thinking of Chuuya in terms of someone he would work with again, as someone he would want to work with again. He was planning for them to work again.

He couldn’t tell if that was something good or not. All he knew was that in the Mafia, trust could be a liability.

Dazai had never trusted anyone before. Trust seemed nice to have.

He wondered if the Mafia would let him have this one nice thing.