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The bar was low, and with every passing day Jouno felt like it kept getting lower.
Jouno was currently in an apartment that wasn’t his own, sitting on a couch that wasn’t his own. It smelled of cheap sake and crab, a stark contrast to the more neutral smells in his own house. He said that he would be back by five, and by now it was likely far after five. (It was honestly probably only ten minutes after five, but Jouno couldn’t be bothered to check). He was half-tempted just to leave, maybe take the canned crab with him as some sort of penitence. Though he doesn’t want that smell in his house, and God knows what Tecchou would do with canned crab. Leaning back against the couch, a particular sound catches Jouno’s attention.
A heartbeat.
Now, there are normally hundreds of heartbeats that Jouno can hear at one time (and has to tediously get adjusted to), but this one was different. It wasn’t following any natural rhythm at all, which only meant one thing. Focusing on that sole heartbeat, Jouno began to decipher a code he knew all too well.
‘I’m almost there. Hopefully you like seafood.’
(While some would call it romantic to have a secret code with your partner, Jouno learned it merely out of necessity, because his lover enjoyed being petty in every sense of the word. Why else would he have developed a code based on his own heartbeat? Only Jouno or someone directly monitoring him with a machine could understand it. All and all, it wasn’t too difficult to uncover, but the fact that he felt like he had to know what was being said was annoying.)
Jouno groaned, of course his boyfriend would anticipate him waiting like this as if he had all the time in the world. He wondered if it was too late to leave through a window.
Jouno didn’t because it was too much needless effort, and a little while after the front door opened.
“I’m home~” A familiar voice, belonging to none other than Dazai Osamu greeted. It was an odd circumstance, being the boyfriend of a well-known mafioso turned detective. One that Jouno would never bother explaining to anyone. He had his reasons, Dazai had his, and they’re dating.
“You’re late,” Jouno replied, letting annoyance seep into his tone.
“I had to pick up dinner! You like sashimi, yeah?” Dazai, undisturbed by the tone, walked to the kitchen, setting down the bag of food. Jouno stood up and followed him, pausing in the doorway.
“You could have asked that earlier, along with informing me that you had no care about my time.”
“Aww, someone’s moody today,” Dazai teased, walking towards Jouno.
Jouno felt a hand pinch his nose, and in an instant he slapped the offending arm away. He heard a crack causing Dazai to whine. He couldn’t bring himself to care, so instead he went to the table and got out some of the sashimi.
“So mean…” Dazai huffed, but he was only greeted by silence.
Most of their dinner passed in silence, and every few minutes he could sense Dazai debating on saying something before deciding not to. Jouno wasn’t going to play his games or baby him, if he wasn’t going to respect Jouno’s time then he would have his free dinner and leave. Eventually, towards the end, Dazai finally opened his mouth.
“Hey, why don’t we watch a movie?” He offered as a way to make peace, presumably.
Jouno gave him a blank stare, speaking without a sound.
“I know! But you can still listen, and I can tell you what’s going on.”
“And please, tell me, why would I waste my time doing that?” Jouno decided to grace Dazai with a response, though this stupidity doesn’t warrant one.
“You’ll be with me, and you’ll be able to focus on just that,” Dazai explained as if he was talking about something as simple as the weather.
No Longer Human was an interesting ability, by touching someone Dazai could render another ability user helpless in many cases. Jouno had been subjected to it many times before, but what he didn’t expect was Dazai catching on that Jouno enjoyed it. He had been working hard for years and years to control his ability to the point that he could ignore useless sensations. But, especially in his line of work, complete control was rare. The commander and Tecchou tested him daily. Just this morning Tecchou was convinced that he needed to combine rice, mayonnaise, and sugar for his lunch. No Longer Human offered that relief that he occasionally wished for, though he never outright admitted that to Dazai. He was actually puzzled as to when Dazai figured it out, though asking him would be embarrassing.
Jouno raised an eyebrow but knew better than to try and outright deny Dazai’s implication.
“If you promise to clean up your apartment, then I’ll stay for this movie. I’m tired of being assaulted by your economical choice of food,” Jouno replied, tilting his head.
“You have my word… Though, you’ve never tried canned crab,” Dazai pointed out before taking another bite of the sashimi.
“And I don’t need to.”
That conversation ended before Dazai could make it into an argument. With the paycheck that Jouno has, he does not need to eat food that will more or less lead to liver failure.
After finishing the dinner and throwing away the garbage, Jouno sat on the couch while Dazai picked out a movie. Apparently, this one was about a war in space, but Jouno couldn’t be bothered to care about the movie’s plot. Instead, he enjoyed the brief moment of relaxation, leaning into Dazai’s side and feeling Priceless Tears go quiet. At some point, Dazai wrapped his arm around Jouno, and Jouno accepted it even though he was still mad at him. He could punish Dazai later while making sure that he actually does the cleaning he promised. But, for now...
It was a decent sacrifice for some much needed quiet.