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“You believed in me and used Corruption? I’m so touched I could cry.”
“Yeah. I believed in your cunning schemes and shitty inability to die.”
“That was a violent way of waking up Snow White, ne?”
“Shut up, shitty princess!”
Chuuya pulls his princess’s collar rather violently, but gives him the gentle wake-up call he had wanted - a soft kiss on the lips - as they fall from the night sky with only the moonlight and the stars bearing witness to their true love.
“Huuuuhhh???!!!”
Chuuya jerks awake and sits up in a rush, his palms pressed heavily on the sheets, his eyes opened wide yet blinking swiftly to consciousness. He feels sweat dripping on his forehead and his shirt sticking on his back, and he can hear nothing but his loud panting as he catches his breath.
“A dream???”
He murmurs, as he gets into his senses, eyes hovering around the place realizing that he is in his room.
He lets out a sigh.
He wipes away the sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand as he hisses, “No, a nightmare. The worst one.”
The ‘nightmare’ then replays on his head, and Chuuya gets redder than an apple.
“W-why would I even have a dream of k-k-kissing that bastard????!!!”
Dazai’s smile flashes on his memory, that ever-loving fond smile he wore while touching Chuuya’s cheek as he complains about Chuuya punching him.
Chuuya clenches his fist on his chest as he feels his heart doing somersaults at the thought.
“Tch! That asshole bothering me even in my sleep!”
“Shut up, shitty princess!”
Chuuya pulls his princess’s collar rather violently, but gives him the gentle-
“Fuck! It’s a nightmare okay. Chuuya, calm down.”
He starts to take deep breaths to declutter his mind. His heart doesn’t stop pounding like there’s no tomorrow though. Right, he might actually die out of this. He gets up to get a glass of water in the kitchen.
He crawls back under the blanket after a few minutes, and lies down on his side in a fetus position. He attempts to go back to sleep.
---
“Chuuya-kun.” The elegant lady in kimono looked at him with worry lit in her eyes.
“Ane-san. Good morning.” He promptly replies.
The woman enters Chuuya’s office without a knock, as usual. Chuuya’s face is on the pile of papers on his desk.
Kouyou lets out a sigh.
“Lad, I know well how hardworking you are, but you also know how important it is to take a good rest after using Corruption, right?”
“This amount of paperwork is fine, ane-san.” He looks up and gives her a reassuring smile.
“Besides I already got the day off yesterday after coming back from the mission.”
The sister figure steps closer to him.
“But you didn’t sleep well last night.”
“Eh?”
Kouyou extends her hand to touch his right cheek.
“You’re not doing a good job hiding those bags, my dear.” She lightly brushes her thumb just under his eyes, caressing his cheek at the same time. She flashes a fond smile.
“You believed in me and used Corruption? I’m so touched I could cry.”
Chuuya’s eyes widen in an instant as the gesture and the smile remind him of the events of yesterday.
He looks down as heat rushes to his cheeks.
“Hm? Anything else bothering you?” Kouyou asks as she lets go of her hold.
“I-I, uhm, no, nothing.” Chuuya hesitantly answers.
“Chuuya-kun?”
Chuuya sighs and looks up to her again. “I’m sorry for worrying you, ane-san. I just had a bad dream last night. That’s it.”
“A bad one?” Kouyou knowingly hums.
“Let's just say that I know that you had to meet with your partner again yesterday, to save each other.”
“That’s-”
“Nufufufu~” The beautiful lady lets out a soft chuckle. Her eyes closed in her laughter and her fingers covered her lips, the sleeve of her kimono dangling on her arm. The affectionate sight and sound somehow made Chuuya relax.
“Don’t think too much about it, my dear. How about taking today off, too? Your mind also needs rest, and,” she pauses as she turns her back from her 'little brother.’
“And?”
She turns her head to the side to look back at Chuuya, “Your heart, I guess?” She chirps and gives him a wink.
“Ane-san!”
---
Chuuya thinks that Kouyou really knows him too well, and while that isn’t a bad thing at all, sometimes she just causes him more confusion than understanding.
He decides to take the day off anyway, but of course after submitting some papers to Mori and talking to him.
“I said I don’t want to wear that, Rintarou!”
“But Elise-chan! This is perfect for a princess like you!”
There it is, the Port Mafia boss, losing a battle against a little girl, which is actually his own Ability. Chuuya is already used to this scene that he witnesses almost every day.
He politely asked permission before entering the room, and now he just has to wait for a few minutes for their attention to be on him.
It shouldn’t be a bother at all to wait, but Chuuya isn’t prepared for this today.
The feeling of discomfort is growing inside him, and his mind is debating internally whether to wait as always, or to disturb them so he can get out of this room.
“I don’t want to be a dead princess with no prince!”
Elise yells and turns away at the older man who is carrying a blue and yellow-colored gown with puffed and striped sleeves.
“I’ll give you apple candies, Elise-chan!”
“Hmp!" The little girl takes a few seconds to consider the offer. "Okay! But Rintarou, you’ll be the old woman who wants to poison me.”
“If you say so,” the Port Mafia boss weakly agrees.
“And there!”
Their attention finally falls on Chuuya. Elise points at him, and the confused executive just bows his head in respect.
“I’m having Chuuya-san as the prince to wake Snow White up!” The little girl grabs the gown from Mori’s hands, then runs to show it off to Chuuya.
Chuuya’s jaw drops.
He isn’t prepared for this today.
“Chuuya-kun,” Mori shyly greets him. "I apologize for the bother.”
“Boss…”
“Ne, Chuuya-san. You’ll come and save the princess, right?” A pair of big, eager eyes looked up at him.
“That was a violent way of waking up Snow White, ne?”
Chuuya really regrets coming to Mori’s office today. He does not need any more reminders of yesterday’s fairytale moment, but still, his kind heart cannot resist this.
He puts one knee down to level his eyes with the little girl.
“Sure, Your Highness,” he says as he takes the princess’ hand.
Elise’ eyes sparkled in delight. “Chuuya-san is really the best prince!”
---
After spending half an hour playing and somehow reliving the Snow White tale, the executive was finally let off.
While it was honestly never a bother to play with Elise (he’s really good with kids anyway), Chuuya felt especially exhausted today because another princess kept on popping in his mind.
And as soon as he went out of the room, he heard that shitty princess sulking at the back of his mind.
“Chuuya! That’s unfair! I also wanted a ki-”
Chuuya lets out an exasperated sigh to drive away the annoying voice. Of course, he only gave Elise a kiss on the forehead.
“I just wanted a ki-”
“Aaarrgghh,” Chuuya groans. He really is tired.
He turns on the next corner, and with his distracted mind (and heart according to Kouyou), he bumps into one of his subordinates.
The other guy almost falls on the ground from the impact, but Chuuya was quick to catch him by the arm.
“Ah, Tachihara. Sorry!” He immediately apologizes.
“Chuuya-san!” The man exclaims, and he rushes to stand straight and bows his head at the executive.
“Oh, are you okay?” Chuuya looks at his face in shock.
Tachihara quickly covers his left cheek in response. It’s very reddish, and Chuuya is certain that it is fresh from receiving a huge blow and not from them bumping.
“Ah! It’s nothing!” The man with a plastered nose replies, though Chuuya thinks that his nose is not where the plaster should be on right now.
“That looks pretty bad. What happened?”
In Chuuya’s surprise, the man blushed. “N-nothing serious, Chuuya-san! It’s just that... that shitty Gin punched me in the face for teasing her!” He growls.
Chuuya blinked.
“That was a violent way of waking up Snow White, ne?”
And there goes the flashback again. Chuuya should also punch himself soon.
“Ah, ahaha, haha, I see, I see,” he awkwardly laughs.
“Chuuya-san?” Tachihara looks at him in confusion. “Are you… okay?” The subordinate hesitates but it slips from his tongue anyway.
“Oh yeah, of course!”
He steps forward beside the other guy, but before leaving he puts his hand on the other’s shoulder.
“I hope you and Gin get along well!”
He says, patting his shoulder twice, then he continues his steps away from the puzzled one.
---
It’s been a long day, and while the executive eventually took the day off, he really feels drained.
He would have preferred it if the exhaustion is instead caused by work, but it irks him that it isn’t. It all really started from that nightmare.
The wine lover finds himself ending up in his favorite bar in Yokohama. There isn’t really a better way to wash off all the stress brought about by his unnecessary thoughts fueled by everyone he met that day whose purpose was to remind him of being an irresponsible prince.
“The usual,” he tells the bartender who gives him a knowing nod and smile, and Chuuya proceeds to take his seat.
He lets out a loud sigh.
Finally, he can relax.
He was on his third glass, and he is indeed feeling good right now (and he may be a bit tipsy), when someone takes the seat next to him.
He glances on the side, but before he can take a look at the man’s face, his attention draws to the thing that the man is holding with his left hand.
His hand is settled at the bar counter, and there rests at his palm is the red fruit of death - an apple.
Chuuya’s eyes blow wide, and they eventually rolled when he recognizes the bandages showing from the man’s wrist.
He groans. “Oh for fuck’s sake, give me a break!” He rests his face on the bar counter, folding his arm so that his face is covered with his elbow.
“The usual,” the man tells the bartender.
“What a way to greet your partner,” the man’s attention finally goes to him.
“Why are you here?” Chuuya asks, his face still hidden inside his arm.
“Why, you ask? Well, maybe I want a drink, too?” He sighs. “I got tired today thinking of ways to annoy Kunikida-kun.”
“Such a bastard. You haven’t changed at all.”
“Well, well, more than that…”
He left the sentence hanging, which urged Chuuya to finally lift his head up a bit, turning his head on the side but not fully leaving the counter, so he can look at the face of the man beside him.
“I figured out Chuuya wants me here, at least for tonight?”
“That is a wrong prediction, Dazai.” He counters.
“Heehh? Besides,” Dazai smirks, “you have something to give me.”
“Huh?”
“Chuuya, when have I ever been wrong?” Dazai then turns his face to look back at him and show his knowing smirk.
But what Chuuya notices is the swelling on one of his partner’s cheek.
Chuuya stares at it for a bit, until his shoulders start shaking. He couldn’t resist to laugh.
“That’s a pretty good bruise you have there.”
Dazai pouts as he consciously covers his cheek with his hand and looks away. “Well, the prince wasn’t really kind even the slightest bit!”
“Shut up, shitty princess!”
Chuuya pulls his princess’ collar rather violently, but gives him the gentle wake-up call he had wanted - a soft kiss on the lips - as they fall from the night sky with only the moonlight and the stars bearing witness to their true love.
The scene in his ‘nightmare’ replays on his mind again, but now it looks more vivid, with the shitty princess in front of him. He feels heat rushing up to his cheeks, and in reflex, he hides his face again in his arm.
Dazai remains silent, but he hears the sound of him biting the apple on his hand.
Chuuya lifts his head a bit again to look back at his partner. His eyes landed on his lips, that are busy moving as Dazai chews the apple.
Chuuya swallows a sudden lump in his throat.
“Tch!” He scowls and orders his fourth glass.
“Hey, hey, I don’t want to have to carry you home, okay?” Dazai scolds him.
“I don’t want to have to protect you from your Ability in this situation.”
An additional memory resurfaces on Chuuya’s mind, when Dazai dealt calmly with their awkward position when they fell from the sky.
Chuuya feels that today, he will never run out of heat rushing to his cheeks.
Not to say that his heart isn’t even getting tired of beating rapidly than usual throughout the day.
“It’s fine. I don’t expect you to, and I’m allowed to sleep here anyway.” He mutters. It's actually true, for the bar owner has known Chuuya and his alcohol resistance for a long time.
Dazai just hums (of course he knows), then orders another glass.
“Don’t sleep on me, okay.”
“Huh?” Chuuya raises his head. “You plan to talk to me for the rest of the night?”
“I’m not saying that I want to talk to you,” Dazai scowls.
And Chuuya doesn’t know if it’s because he’s really getting drunk, but instead of getting annoyed, he laughs at what seems to be Dazai’s indirect confession.
“Whatever. I don’t want to talk to you either.” He says but with a smile as he gets up and sits straight.
A little smile forms on Dazai’s lips, then he orders his partner’s fifth drink.
Nevertheless, the two men ended up spending the rest of the night together. It is to say, their first 'proper get-together' after four years.
They talked about almost anything - from childhood memories, to their current status, and even up to future predictions.
There were lots of bickering in between of course, and surprisingly, candid fits of laughter were shared.
“You’re really fond of your current partner, huh? But you know, I think I’m gonna get along well with that Kunikida,” Chuuya lightly comments at one point.
“Oh yeah, but not as fond as I am of you,” Dazai’s tongue slips, as he gulped his nth drink.
“Heehh?" Chuuya pauses, and Dazai's eyes widened when he realized what he just blurted out.
"And of course, you’re gonna say that that’s because you can’t make fun of his height!”
Dazai takes a glance at his small partner, then rolls his eyes at Chuuya’s obliviousness. The fondness he feels though, multiplied in that instant.
While drinking has always been enjoyable to Chuuya, he felt like it has been a long time since he felt this good.
The bar is already closed, even the owner has already gone home since earlier, but they were allowed to stay for the night.
He didn’t plan to drink a lot as he doesn’t want to put up with a hangover the next day.
But at this hour, he thinks that maybe, the sight and sound of Dazai’s laughter may be worth it all.
Maybe, he’s getting drunk not from the alcohol.
At some point, in the wee hours of the morning, Chuuya finally lets out the thing that has been bothering him the whole day.
“Oy, Dazai,” he’s getting a bit incoherent and he’s drunk enough to grab Dazai by the shoulder, coaxing the other to face him.
“Hah?” Dazai isn’t any good either, but of course his alcohol resistance is still way better than Chuuya.
He turns his body to face Chuuya completely.
He manages to hold back a gasp as he looks at the breathtaking man before him. He looks wasted - red all over, his collarbones peeking as the first buttons of his shirt are now undone, orange curls disheveled in a way the redhead would not prefer anyone else seeing, ocean blue eyes half-lidded, plump pink lips slightly parted.
He looks... perfect.
Not as if looking perfect isn't Chuuya's usual state, but right now Dazai doesn't know why that fact just suddenly occurred to him, like he has been dumb all this time. Oh my, maybe he really is drunk.
Only Chuuya's upper half body is turned to him but he openly stares at Dazai in silence, drunk eyes softening at each blink.
Dazai swallowed a lump in his throat, while his cheeks start to feel burning. His insides seem to be revolting while his head feels spinning yet he is amazed how his focus doesn't waver even a bit at the sight before him.
If Chuuya isn’t holding him, Dazai thinks he might have fallen out of the chair. He also hopes Chuuya is drunk enough not to hear the loud thudding of Dazai’s heart, as it is the only sound that Dazai can sense in the tranquility of this night.
The corner of Chuuya’s lips slowly turned up in a smirk, until a laugh breaks out of him.
“You look really good with that cheek,” he says after giggling.
“Chuuya!” Dazai whines to complain.
“If you want, I can punch the other side too so it’d look even.”
Dazai pouts. “It’s not funny, okay? It still hurts, you know?”
“YOU wanted that.”
Dazai sighs in frustration.
To his surprise, Chuuya’s hand left his shoulder and reaches up to cup his face, guardedly. His thumb started to dab lightly at his swollen cheek, and Dazai saw the glint of worry in his partner’s eyes as he leans closer.
“Does it hurt?” His voice is as soft as his hold that Dazai felt some swirls in the pit of his stomach, as if two butterflies started dancing there.
Dazai hums, then he closes his eyes, allowing himself to be lost in the feeling of Chuuya’s warm hand on his face.
“If the prince had been this gentle, then it would not have hurt in the first place.” The smile that appears on his face reflected the warmth inside his chest.
Chuuya snickers, “You keep on complaining about the prince, but did you ever think if you were even fitting to be a princess?”
Dazai opens his eyes. “Well," he tilts his head to the side as he thinks. "I do have magic hair and hands. A tiger talks to me. I got poisoned, and of course, have been kidnapped in most of our missions.” He kept on nodding as he enumerated the proofs of his 'royal authenticity'.
Chuuya chuckles in amusement.
“But most of all, I do have a prince who has ne~ver failed to save me.” He concludes, looking straight into his eyes, a befitting modest yet dignified smile drawn on his lips - like a princess.
The prince rolls his eyes to avert his gaze, but his cheeks slightly glowed in crimson.
“Though this time, to be honest, I was thinking that Chuuya fits the role of the grumpy dwarf instead,” he nods eagerly in agreement to his own statement.
“Oy!”
“See?” Dazai laughs.
Chuuya presses his thumb on his cheek, “Shitty princess!”
“Ouch!” Dazai’s face muscles scrunched up in pain. “Chuuya! So violent!”
“Oh yeah, that’s why you should start relying on other princes,” he says and lets go of his hold on Dazai’s face.
“No.” The answer came out instantly of Dazai’s lips, while his hand catches Chuuya’s wrist.
“I only want you.” He lets his feelings speak out. He blames the alcohol.
Chuuya’s half-lidded eyes shot open, as if his drunkenness is fading all of a sudden.
“I- I mean,” Dazai unbelievably stutters and shifts his gaze away.
“You’re the only one I can entrust with my life.”
He attempts to lessen the tension that’s suddenly building up in between them, but soon after he then realizes that that line actually sounded even more romantic (?).
“No, I mean…” he trails off, failing to come up with another excuse. Oh my, this is why Dazai hates being drunk. Things get out of his rational hands.
“Tch,” Chuuya clicks his tongue.
“Always leaving me with no choice, huh?”
Dazai looks back just to ascertain, and he sees right away that Chuuya isn't really complaining.
With that assurance, he grins contentedly and his eyes closed adoringly with the gesture.
Chuuya looks at his spoiled princess, and a familiar warmth fills his heart.
“Ne, Dazai?” He speaks softly.
Dazai flutters his eyes open in response.
“You-you were actually expecting a punch, right?” Chuuya clears his throat. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to wake up.”
Dazai hums and avoids answering the question, “You think so?”
“There’s no other way! Besides, I was in Corruption state so I can’t really do anything else!” He scowls.
“Anything else?” Dazai innocently looks at him, waiting, as if Chuuya didn’t finish his sentence.
“A-anything that’s not violent!” His pitch heightens while his tongue suddenly feels tangled.
“Such as?” Dazai is smiling very knowingly at him.
Chuuya feels the heat rushing for the nth time, but this time passing by his cheeks, as it reaches the tips of his ears and he thinks it even went past the top of his head.
“I hate you.”
He mumbles, his face now looking down as he can no longer stand to look into Dazai’s eyes.
“Oh yeah, I know.” Dazai chuckles.
“But Chuuya,” he pauses a bit as he leans closer to the other.
“You think there’s something else you want to give me?”
“Haahh?” Chuuya looks up, and maybe that’s a big mistake, for he is now face-to-face with the taller one.
It’s suddenly hot, as if the air around them changed abruptly, and Chuuya is made conscious that they’ve actually gotten closer to each other.
When that happened though, he does not know.
In the first place, the bar stools aren't really far from each other. Dazai is facing him since earlier, and Chuuya remembered that he was even the one who made Dazai turn to him.
But now Chuuya also noticed that his body has also fully turned to face Dazai. Their legs are pointing to opposite sides so that their knees aren't bumping, rather the sides of their right thighs are touching.
He lets his eyes wander around Dazai’s face.
He looks at his deep, brown eyes that Chuuya knows speak a thousand more words than his mouth.
He has matching bags under them and somehow Chuuya wonders if Dazai also got bothered with the events that happened between them last time.
He runs his eyes again over his swollen cheek that Chuuya will likely still laugh about for the rest of the week, though he observes that both cheeks are uncharacteristically dashed in red now.
And lastly, his sight lands on his lips, up in a tender curve that Chuuya very much likes.
He's seemingly anticipating something to happen, but he isn’t smirking in a knowing way that pisses Chuuya off.
Rather, he looks of something like… selfless, if that is even a word that Chuuya can use to refer to Dazai.
Truth be told, it is actually a look that he has seen quite a lot of times.
It is when Dazai leaves matters to his hands, with no uncertainties, even if that matter refers to the man's own life.
It is the times when Chuuya instantly understands that Dazai trusts him, more than anyone else, no matter what.
It is when Dazai sincerely wants Chuuya to decide and make a choice for himself.
Chuuya leans closer.
“Dazai, I’m drunk.” His voice came out to be hoarse, groaning as he hesitates to cross the few centimeters left between their faces. He feels uncertain, afraid even, that this may be inappropriate for them.
“Chuuya, I am too.” He breathes out, letting Chuuya take in the smell of alcohol from him.
“But I’m pretty sure that I won’t be regretting anything about tonight when we wake up.”
He hears Dazai say it while looking into his eyes, and then he... smiles. Dazai's lips and his eyes, they smile.
Chuuya remembers he has seen stars, maybe galaxies even, a number of times when he's drunk.
But the sparkle he is seeing right before him at this moment... he is pretty sure that they aren't born from whatever spirits he took tonight.
The stars may be little, but they twinkle as if they are a whole universe in themselves, created solely for him to revel in.
Chuuya blinks slowly, and... he smiles back.
This is Dazai, he concludes, as he throws away any remaining hesitations.
This… is the man who he leaves his life to.
Chuuya lifts his hand and brushes his fingers against his partner’s cheek, before moving up to touch his hair, tucking brown strands behind his ear. His hand rested just below Dazai’s ear, his thumb settling on his cheek.
Dazai closes his eyes.
Chuuya angles his head a little, then he closes his eyes too as their personal spaces become one, finally letting their lips to find each other, fitting perfectly like two pieces of one whole.
The prince moved ever so gently, while the princess stayed still, savoring the feel of his prince’s kiss.
If Dazai would get this kiss every time, he thinks he would bite all the poisoned apples in the world.
He starts to move his lips too, responding thoughtfully to his partner’s feelings, while his hand also finds its way on the other’s cheek.
A very soft sound came out of Chuuya when he felt his partner kiss back.
These lips.
This man.
This feeling.
An envelop of warmth blankets them, while all their senses focus on the taste of the kiss they are sharing.
It tastes of familiarity - like going home to where you belong.
It tastes of comfort - of being safe, of burdens taken away, of being protected.
It tastes of trust - of faith, of uncertainties disappearing, of the other’s life willingly laid on your hands.
It tastes of truth - masks taken off, no pretense, nothing but the most genuine feelings.
It tastes of fate - defying all reason, like the red string that may stretch and tangle but will never break.
It tastes of bliss - of positivity reigning, of floating high up on the clouds, of the sweet taste of heaven.
And above all,
it tastes of love - the kind that you can only feel towards that one person.
It isn’t their first kiss. No, they’ve shared a lot of kisses in their teenage years.
But this one feels different.
It broke boundaries, crossed over the four years, reuniting two hearts in denial.
It filled the longingness suppressed, and spoke of feelings that never changed.
Their first kiss in four years.
A destined continuation of the past.
A fresh start in the present.
A bright promise of a future.
They parted to catch their breaths, but their eyes remained closed while their foreheads pressed against each other.
“Dazai.” “Chuuya.”
They pronounced their other half’s name at the same time.
They opened their eyes and pulled away a bit, only to see a smile that complements the one they are already wearing.
Chuuya’s arms instinctively went over his partner’s shoulders, locking them at the back of his neck, while Dazai automatically wrapped his arms around his partner’s waist, resting his hands on the small of his back.
“I’m glad I got drunk tonight,” Chuuya whispers, breaking the silence.
Dazai chuckles. “Let’s get drunk everyday?”
“Hmmm?” Chuuya replies and his smile widens, “Sounds good to me.”
And this time it is Dazai who leans in to cut the space between them, pressing his lips softly on Chuuya’s smile.
---
“You believed in me and used Corruption? I’m so touched I could cry.”
“Yeah. I believed in your cunning schemes and shitty inability to die.”
“That was a violent way of waking up Snow White, ne?”
“Shut up, shitty princess!”
Chuuya pulls his princess’ collar rather violently…
“Huuuuhhh???!!!”
Chuuya jerks awake and sits up in a rush, only to feel something draped around his stomach.
“That dream, again?”
He murmurs, as he gets into his senses, eyes hovering around the place realizing that he is in his room.
“Chuu… ya…”
He hears someone mumble his name, and when Chuuya turns his head on the side, there he sees a sleeping princess - if he still fits that title because of having no elegance at all - with his brown locks in a total mess and drool coming out of his mouth.
Chuuya couldn’t help but laugh.
The man is lying on his side and moves a little to get closer to him, the hold around him getting tighter.
This… is his princess.
He lets out a relieved sigh, before lying back on the bed. The events of last night played back on his mind, though he doesn’t remember how they managed to go home at his place. They aren't fully naked, he notes in relief.
He smiles and turned to lie on his side.
This shitty princess would most likely bother him in his dreams, until he gives him what he wants.
Chuuya reaches out his hand, lightly brushing away some brown strands from the sleeping one’s face.
Chuuya must admit, for the record, that Dazai is indeed handsome. And he is especially charming when he is asleep, because this may be the only time when he looks kind and innocent - words he doesn’t really want to use to refer to this annoying brat. And maybe, uhm, okay, he looks cute.
He takes a deep breath.
Chuuya doesn’t know how this would work, but he does so anyway. He scoots closer silently, leveling his face with the tall one. He realizes then that this is actually a rare opportunity to see Dazai without having to look up.
And oh my, his heart, his heart is going to get out of his chest soon with how hard it is thumping. His face is no good either as it feels flaming with embarrassment and affection.
Chuuya leans and touches his lips discreetly, like the prince that he is, onto Dazai’s lips.
He couldn’t help but smile to himself. What is he doing anyway? He takes a brief look at his partner again, before wrapping his arm around his body, pulling him closer.
He plants small kisses on Dazai’s nose, cheeks, eyes, forehead, before going back to his lips, this time pressing deeper and longer.
When he pulled away, the princess is starting to blink his eyes open.
“Chuuya?” He calls his name, voice and mind still sleepy.
Without thinking, Chuuya leaned once again and gave Dazai a sweet peck on the lips.
In a second, Dazai’s eyes shot open and his mind is fully awake. He also felt the sudden racing of his heart.
“Don’t be surprised now,” Chuuya taunts him. “That’s what you wanted, right?” He is smirking at Dazai’s stunned expression and silently wished he had a camera to capture it.
Dazai blinks.
A curve forms on his lips, until they break into a grin, until he snorts and bursts out laughing.
“What?” Chuuya asks, his eyebrows furrowing.
But Dazai continues laughing, even burying half of his face in the pillow.
“Oy! Don’t just laugh there!” Chuuya scowls, and when he got no response but laughter, he shoved a pillow on his partner’s face.
“Just go back to sleep, you dumbass!” He says, as he starts to sit up.
Dazai tosses the pillow aside as his laughter dissipates and he catches his breath.
He then launches himself to Chuuya, his arms wrapping around securely while his face landed on the sitting one’s stomach.
He looks up to speak, “Sure! As long as Prince Chuuya wakes me up again, okay?”
His eyes are lit up, and his long legs are even kicking under the blanket in delight.
“Oy-” Chuuya wanted to protest but he gets cut off when Dazai plants a kiss on his stomach, before he turns his head to rest his cheek against it.
The show of affection sent butterflies on Chuuya’s stomach, and his irritation evaporates in a flash.
“Chuuya,” he calls his partner, his tone now serious.
“What?” he responds, his tone now calm.
Dazai tightens his wrap around Chuuya, as he contemplates on what he is about to say.
He feels heat rushing to his cheeks, and he buries half of his face in the other’s stomach.
He closes his eyes before he proceeds to whisper,
“Thank you.”
His voice was soft but firm, hoping that his partner would decipher what he truly meant.
(I love you.)
Chuuya was taken aback - his eyes widened, his lips trembling, and his entire face now redder than his hair.
Of course he knows what his partner meant. And of course, he understands why Dazai chose to say those words instead.
A very sincere word of gratitude, in exchange for the words they aren’t ready to say out loud yet.
He wraps his hands around Dazai’s head and pats him lightly, before answering knowingly to his confession.
“You’re always welcome.”
(I love you too.)
They fell asleep again in each other's arms, and when Chuuya woke up, the shitty princess indeed no longer bothered him in his dreams. Instead, he bothered him in real life.
"Chuuya, I'm not gonna wake up until I get my kiss."
"But you're already awake!"
"NO! I'm asleep, okay? I'm not yet awake so-"
"Daza-"
"ZZZZZZ..."
Chuuya sighs in exasperation, and he wonders if all princes and princesses actually lived happily ever after.
With this princess he chose, maybe they would really need some magic to even withstand living together.