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The first time it happens, is when Chuuya is settled in bed, humming to himself as he plays with a stuffie, babbling softly to himself, when his carer, Dazai, calls to him.
“Hey,” Dazai starts, and Chuuya looks over. “Puppy. What do you want for dinner?”
Chuuya blinks, tilting his head and pointing to himself, confused. Him? Dazai’s never called him puppy before…
“Yes, you, puppy. What would you like to eat? We can order out.” Dazai says casually, and Chuuya can’t help but beam behind his pacifier. Puppy! He likes that!
The regressor pulls out his pacifier, and speaks softly, smiling. “Sushi.”
Dazai grins at him, and walks over, pulling Chuuya into his chest, letting the smaller boy snuggle against him and hum happily, putting his pacifier back into his mouth and rubbing his cheek on Dazai’s chest in a silent display of affection. Dazai coos to him softly, and speaks once more.
“Sushi it is.”
—
From there, it’s a regular occurrence.
Whenever Chuuya is regressed, Dazai calls him his puppy. Chuuya doesn’t mind, really. It’s a cute name, and it makes him feel small and safe, because that’s something unique to Dazai that lets him know that he’s with his carer. He’s safe.
But, of course, he should have seen one thing coming.
The fact that Dazai always has a superior motive.
—
One day, Chuuya is angry. He’s stalking around his room, pacing, cracking his knuckles even though it’s not doing anything anymore. There’s the creak of a door and he whips around, but it’s just Dazai.
Dazai looks him over, and just smiles calmly. Chuuya is about to snap at him, ask what he’s smiling at, when Dazai speaks.
“Hey, puppy. Bad day?”
Chuuya melts.
Then his eyes go wide, startled at his own reaction, considering he half regressed immediately . Dazai grins at him, and opens his arms.
“Come here, puppy. I’ve got you.”
Chuuya glared, but obediently shuffled over anyway, settling into Dazai’s arms and clinging to him, calmed by Dazai’s soft and bandage-wrapped touch.
—
After that, Chuuya knows he’s been trained to regress upon hearing Dazai call him puppy, and he hates it. But it’s useful, because suddenly he’s post-Corruption, shaking and panicking. It’s rare he gets like this, but sometimes he crashes a little too hard after Corruption.
Dazai is holding him, and suddenly, whispering in his ear.
“Hey, puppy. Puppy. Breathe for me. You’re okay. You did everything like you were supposed to.” He coos in Chuuya’s ear, and Chuuya finds himself melting on the spot, relaxing in Dazai’s arms, breaths still stuttering, but starting to even out as Dazai rocks him gently.
“That’s it,” Dazai purrs. “There’s my boy. My little puppy. Good boy.”
Chuuya whimpers, and goes still, leaning on Dazai heavily and fighting to breathe, still, using Dazai’s calm breathing for guidance.
Once he’s calm, Chuuya gently punches Dazai’s chest, mumbling unhappily about how Dazai made him regress. But Dazai just laughs softly, and kisses his temple, helping him up gently.
“You know you love me.” Dazai murmurs, and only gets a (halfhearted) glare of response as Chuuya wobbles, before finding his balance and pulling away with a defiant huff.
—
“Dazai.” Chuuya mumbles, and Dazai hums, glancing over at him. Chuuya opens his mouth, then closes it, looking mildly ashamed of himself.
There’s a beat of silence, in which Dazai quirks an eyebrow, frowning as Chuuya clearly hesitates in speaking again. Which means Chuuya probably has something to ask him, but is hesitating in spitting it out, either for his own pride, or because he’s not sure of what Dazai’s response will be.
“Go on.” Dazai encourages softly, and Chuuya glances at him, before sighing quietly, looking away, his face flushing a light pink that makes Dazai’s eyebrows raise. Huh. He must be pretty embarrassed about whatever this is.
“I’m… really stressed, and-” Chuuya starts, the hesitant tone to his voice strong and making it easy to tell how anxious he is about asking for. Which, Dazai realizes, is help regressing. In light of that realization, Dazai just smiles, and opens his arms.
“Come here, puppy.”
Chuuya’s head snaps up, and he relaxes noticeably, a small smile coming to his face as he moves over, fitting himself into Dazai’s arms and nuzzling against his shoulder, sighing in relief.
“Thank you, Dazai.”
Dazai laughs softly, petting over Chuuya’s head and kissing his head, nuzzling against his soft orange hair.
“Of course, puppy.”