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“Dazai, I swear, get down from there at once or so help me—”
“Kunikida-kun, don’t be such a bore, I’m only adding some spice. I’m doing you all a favour, really.”
“Dazai, I want you at this party, but I don’t want you to make it a place of debauchery.”
“Dazai-san, I agree with Kunikida-san; you really should stop putting up so many mistletoes.”
“Oh, wow, I’m loving all the plants!”
“... They’re very pretty.”
“Well, as you can see, Kyouka-chan and Kenji-kun clearly disagree with that.”
“That’s because they don’t know what a mistletoe is for,” Kunikida refuted, refusing to give Dazai even the smallest victory and turning to Kenji and Kyouka, the former looking excited about all the plants and the latter looking stoic as always. “Do you two know what a mistletoe are for?”
“Oh, oh! I know, it’s for kissing, right? If two people meet under it, they’re legally required to kiss. If they don’t, they’ll be tied up and thrown off a skyscraper!” Kenji exclaimed, clasping his hands together and looking overjoyed at the prospect. “What a wonderful tradition. A fantastic way to show how much you love your friends and neighbours. City folks are so creative.”
“I’ll do what it takes to save the lives of the people around me,” Kyouka added, instinctively reaching in her sleeves for her blade.
“Uh, while it is intended you kiss the other person who’s underneath the mistletoe, there’s no ‘legal’ requirement to do so,” Atsushi explained, wondering where these two got their intel from. He glanced at Dazai, who wore a pensive look on the ladder he was using to hang mistletoes from the ceiling. “So no tying people up and throwing them off skyscrapers.”
“That’s not a bad idea, Kenji-kun,” Dazai said contemplatively, rubbing his chin. “Yes… Let’s make that the Japanese variant of the mistletoe tradition!” He suggested brightly, snapping his fingers as if it was a genius plan.
“No!” Kunikida and Atsushi protested in unison.
“We’ve gone off topic,” Kunikida complained, stepping towards Dazai and beginning to tug him off the ladder. “Get off, now, I’ll take them off myself because I don’t trust you to do anything productive today.”
Atsushi was relieved to see Dazai finally come off and allow Kunikida to take them down. There was a mistletoe on every ceiling tile, people wouldn’t be able to move freely if they kept to the rules. And the Christmas party they were planning for the evening wasn’t supposed to be a kissing fest.
“What a shame,” Dazai sighed, coming to stand by Atsushi’s and nudging his elbow. “I was looking forward to kissing you all evening,” he said, winking.
The corner of Atsushi’s lips turned up, only slightly. Dazai was ridiculous and knew such a thing was impossible, but... “I’m just glad you’ll come.”
Dazai stilled, the admission having an effect on him, but he soon collected himself and threw a hand to his forehead. “You must miss me very much when I’m not at events and parties,” he said with a flair. “All by your lonesome, no handsome knight on a fine white steed to accompany you.”
Atsushi crossed his arms, very explicitly remembering when Kenji had managed to get his hands on some horses and had taught him, Dazai and Tanizaki how to ride them for a mission. Least to say, there was a reason why Dazai had to sit behind Atsushi on the horse that day. “You don’t even know how to ride a horse.”
“You mustn't be so caught up in details, Atsushi-kun. It’s unbecoming and I’m your boyfriend, you should look past those things. In each way, it was only a metaphor.”
Atsushi took Dazai’s hand, smiling. “I know that, and while I wasn’t by my ‘lonesome’ without my ‘handsome knight on a fine white steed’ I definitely noticed your absence during parties. I like it when you’re here with us, I always have.”
Dazai closed his eyes as if he needed to physically recover. “Atsushi-kun,” he sighed. The tips of his ears were beet red and he squeezed Atsushi’s hand.
Atsushi, after glancing at the clock, leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Dazai’s cheek. “I promised Tanizaki-san and Naomi-chan I’d help making the last of the cookies for tonight with Kyouka-chan, so I’ll see you in a few hours, okay?” He said in lieu of a goodbye.
Dazai’s reciprocation was a soft brush of lips against his hair. “I’ll see you then,” he murmured.
Thanks to Kunikida’s meticulous planning, the agency’s office was transformed into a Christmas fest by the time the sun disappeared behind the horizon. In fact, Ranpo, who could seldom be impressed, opened his eyes and admired the Christmas themed decorations placed everywhere when he finally returned from visiting Poe and Mushitaro.
Atsushi was no different in his blatant admiration of the sight. From the glossy Christmas ornaments hanging from the imposing tree that had been set up in a corner, no doubt by Kenji and his infinite strength, to the green-red Christmas lights crisscrossing the ceiling and merrily shining upon the large table in middle of the room, on which a whole banquet was laid out, including the many treats Atsushi himself worked on, brought there by Tanizaki and Naomi.
“Kunikida-san, Kenji-san… This is amazing.” His eyes were as round as baubles. And of course, he had to give credit where credit was due and profusely thanked the office clerks for helping out.
He noted that there were no mistletoes and he chuckled to himself, running a hand through his hair, wet from the snowfall outside. He shrugged his coat off, taking Kyouka’s coat with him, whom he entered the party with, and he hung them on the rack. It was a lot warmer inside, thankfully, but he still rubbed his hands together, for he had typically forgotten his mittens.
The door opened and it suddenly fell silent. A man dressed in a white and red suit and wearing a fake mustache and beard entered.
“Ho, ho, ho,” Fukuzawa said in a deadpan voice.
“President?” Ranpo queried incredulously.
“No,” Fukuzawa replied decidedly. “It’s me, Santa Claus.”
“President, we know that’s you—”
“Santa Claus…” Kyouka murmured, a subtle hint of glee in her voice. She padded over to where Fukuzawa stood by the door and extended her hand. “I’ve always wanted to meet you.”
Atsushi saw Yosano give Ranpo a very meaningful look, who sighed and proceeded to look vaguely surprised. “Wow, I can’t believe Santa Claus is here!”
Kenji looked thoughtful. “The city folks lied to me when they said he wasn’t real, huh.”
Atsushi smiled, it was a little ridiculous and he thought 14 was a little old to still believe in Santa Claus, but it was harmless fun. After all, he nearly believed in it himself at some point when he came to Yokohama, too.
He lived in a world where monsters could be created out of clothes, men could be unharmed by solely lemon shaped bombs and one’s superpower could be being rich; if a man wanted to fly over the world by reindeer with gifts for good children Atsushi really couldn’t do more than sip his tea and say it’s another day in this world.
A crease formed in between Atsushi’s eyebrows however, because with Fukuzawa’s (eh, Santa’s) entrance, the party was as good as officially started. It had honestly started before that. And Dazai still wasn’t here.
He fished his phone out of his pocket, but there were no text messages from Dazai, although there were texts from Ango and Lucy, who were both wishing him a merry Christmas, to which he responded with the same.
Pensively, Atsushi slid his phone back into his pocket and went to the banquet table. He cut up a slice of cake and forked it into his mouth, relieved to see it tasted as good as he wanted it to be when he and Tanizaki baked it.
Dazai wouldn’t… not come, not after he promised he’d come, would he? Well, it wasn’t as if Atsushi could force him and neither did he want to force Dazai to come to the party if he himself didn’t want to. It was always nice if he showed up, though.
He was probably just late, as he had a terrible tendency to do, no matter what the occasion was. Nothing quite compared to the embarrassment of seeing your co-worker (and boyfriend in Atsushi’s case) barge in late at an important meeting with esteemed government officials and begin talking about how a dog apparently challenged him and therefore he was held up.
Dazai, for some reason, was rarely one to break sincere promises anyway. Or deals, as he sometimes called them. Something about lying in situations like that being useless.
Kunikida approached and struck up a conversation with him. “I hope you’re enjoying it so far,” he began, pushing his glasses further up his nose. One lens gleamed red and the other gleamed green and he was looking expectantly at Atsushi.
Atsushi swallowed his bite and nodded. “Yes, yes! It’s all wonderful. Everyone’s having a good time so far I think,” he replied, glancing at the others and seeing nothing but jolly expressions on everyone’s faces and a continuous noise filled the room because of all the enthusiastic conversing. A smile stretched across his face. “What about you, Kunikida-san?”
“It’s nice to see that my planning worked out in the end, despite the occasional troublemaker who threatened to throw it into disarray.”
Atsushi suspected the troublemaker Kunikida was talking about was Dazai. Actually, scratch that. He was sure of it.
Kunikida’s attention shifted to something behind Atsushi and he tsked. “Speak of the devil, guess who decided to show up,” he was saying, sounding apprehensive yet pleased, while Atsushi turned around to see what had caught Kunikida’s eye so suddenly.
“Dazai-san!”
Through all the noise in the office and his conversation with Kunikida, Atsushi hadn’t heard Dazai come in. His eyes widened and he set down his plate a little too hard on the edge of the table in his enthusiasm to get to him.
He stopped right in front of him. “Dazai-san,” he breathed. “You’re here.”
“Seeing you so happy to see me makes me want to kiss you,” Dazai responded with a slightly whining note in his voice. He reached out and briefly cupped Atsushi’s cheek.
Dazai seemed to realize something and frowned. “Wait, you didn’t think I’d come?”
“Eh, well, not that, per say. I just… worried for a moment, that’s all,” Atsushi answered truthfully. “But you’re only late, which isn’t new at all.”
Dazai wiggled his eyebrows. “Oh, did you miss me? Rest assured it was for a good cause, I was on a very important and noble mission, you see.” He winked and brought his index finger to his lips to indicate it was a secret what it was he had been doing precisely.
Atsushi instantly accepted that he would never know whether ‘for a good cause’ actually meant it was for a good cause and figured he’d find out what Dazai meant with it later if it truly mattered. “I’m glad you’re finally here.”
Dazai took off his snow-laden coat and Atsushi stilled. It was a very fancy outfit Dazai was wearing, a brown three-piece with a decorated red tie and a reindeer charm pinned to his suit jacket. Atsushi felt underdressed in his Christmas sweater and black trousers, even if most of the others had gone for a more casual fit. The only one who looked as formal as Dazai was Kunikida, with his similar three-piece.
“You look very handsome,” Atsushi blurted out in the silence where Dazai hung up his coat and brushed the snow out of his hair. Ah, he hadn’t meant to say that so suddenly. Heat crawled up his neck and he squeezed his eyes shut.
Dazai, meanwhile, looked like the cat who got the cream. “Do I now, Atsushi-kun? Care to elaborate?”
Atsushi opened his eyes again and scowled. “You did this on purpose.”
“Did what on purpose?” Dazai inquired innocently. He laughed when Atsushi side-eyed him and his hand found the top of Atsushi’s head, gently patting him. “You clean up very nicely as well, Atsushi-kun.”
Flushed, Atsushi grabbed Dazai by his arm and led him towards the middle. Kunikida’s expression was neutral, but his voice, as it had done before, betrayed that he was pleased. “What held you up this time, Dazai? A dog challenging you? A ‘delectable’ bowl of crab meat that was calling your name?”
“I wish that were the case. But no, as I told Atsushi-kun here already, I was on a very important and noble mission, one I unfortunately can’t tell you more about,” Dazai sighed as if he wasn’t very much revelling in the secrecy.
Kunikida paled, after which his mouth thinned into a hard line and a determined expression overtook his face. “Don’t give me that, tell me what you’ve been doing!” He demanded, his fists instinctively balling into fists.
“No way!” Dazai laughed, enjoying his usual round of unnecessarily irritating Kunikida. “But don’t worry, I promise you’ll really like what’s to come.”
“What?! I don’t trust that, at all!” Atsushi kind of had to give Kunikida right on that.
The bickering went back and forth and Tanizaki, who was standing by the Christmas tree with Naomi and Haruno, made eye contact with Atsushi and they exchanged a look of judgement.
It was only when Fukuzawa turned away from his conversation with Ranpo and Kyouka that the bickering died down that Kunikida was forced to give up and he left to speak with Kenji. Fukuzawa met Dazai’s eyes and nodded in what Atsushi supposed was a greeting. Ranpo and Kyouka waved, each of their mouths full with food.
“How nice that we’ve been able to book Santa for this party,” Dazai remarked. He took the time to finally properly examine his surroundings and Atsushi was happy to see that Dazai seemed to like it. “You’ve all outdone yourselves. ‘Tis a shame of the mistletoes, though. All my own hard work is thrown away as usual.”
“Hard work? If your little plan had worked, none of us would’ve been to walk around, or look each other in the eyes, for that matter,” Yosano commented before Atsushi could respond, coming up to them with a glass of red wine in her hand.
“Ah, Yosano-sensei, I believe I can attribute the amazing Christmas decoration shopping to you,” Dazai replied, dodging the topic as usual.
“You certainly can,” Yosano retorted, giving him a look that told him that she knew what he was doing. “And what of you?” She gestured to his suit. “Dressed up nicely for your boyfriend, hm?”
Dazai put his arm around Atsushi’s shoulder and pulled him close. “I do what I have to do to keep him with me,” he joked. “After I worked so hard to seduce him in the first place, losing him would be such a shame.”
“‘Seduce me’,” Atsushi repeated dryly. If Dazai doing the most ridiculous and extreme things to catch his attention at random times—which was what Dazai’s behavior was towards him when he apparently caught feelings for him, apparently, just furiously and constantly trying to get your crush’s attention while refusing to actually confess—was enough to seduce him, he really needed to examine his standards.
Which, according to at least half the Port Mafia and the Armed Detective Agency, arguably even the Special Abilities Secret Services, he should.
“Yes, seduce you. I’ll need to kiss you for that, too. And how am I to do so without the mistletoes,” Dazai lamented.
Atsushi felt particularly bold when he said, “What makes you think you need a mistletoe to kiss me?”
Dazai’s stare was intense and his mouth curled into a devilish smile as he leaned closer. “I’m going to hold you to that, Atsushi-kun,” he replied in a low voice. Atsushi bit his lip in response.
Dazai straightened and sent Yosano a polite smile before turning his attention to the food, the previous mood completely dissipated. “Atsushi-kun, which ones of these did you bake? I want to try them all,” he called cheerfully.
“Uh, we made most of them together, though, but I helped the most with the cake, cookies and the potato salad,” Atsushi answered. Dazai hummed to himself and cut himself a slice of cake while Atsushi took his own plate from the table and silently finished it.
Dazai was taking an awfully long time to comment on his baking that it made Atsushi nervous. He, personally, enjoyed it but if Dazai thought it didn’t taste as good that would definitely be a downer. Everyone else had seemed to like it, so he didn’t think there was something terribly wrong with it.
“Atsushi-kun,” Dazai began, his voice muffled through his full mouth. “This is so good. You should bake more often.”
A big smile broke out on Atsushi’s face. “Really? Do you like it so much?” He asked excitedly. “I’m so glad! You worried me there for a moment, Dazai-san, I thought you didn’t like it and you were only politely eating it. But that doesn’t make sense in hindsight, because you’re only backhandedly nice most of the time...”
Dazai had closed his eyes while Atsushi rambled on. “Atsushi-kun,” he squeezed out, grabbing him by the arm. “You need to come with me right now.”
Atsushi was all but dragged out of the office to the dimly-lit hallway where the elevator and the stairs also were. He didn’t have much time to process, could only shiver in the cold air, for Dazai had cupped his cheeks with both his hand and brought their faces together.
Dazai’s warm breath fanned over his face and their lips brushed against one another. “You were so cute,” Dazai sighed longingly. “And I realized I hadn’t kissed you properly yet this evening, and with what you said before, I just had to.”
Dazai kissed him, then and there, but Atsushi was quick to respond and reciprocate. His hands found the lapels of Dazai’s suit coat and he used them to pull Dazai down, so that he didn’t have to stand on the tip of his toes to kiss him comfortably. Warmth spread in Atsushi’s chest and didn't let up, even when Dazai let go.
“I’m glad you did,” Atsushi said, a little out of breath. “Told you we didn't need a mistletoe to kiss. Or a hundred, for that matter,” he grinned.
Dazai didn’t reply, but crossed his arms with a frown that turned into a reluctant smile soon after.
And in seeing Dazai, dressed up for an office Christmas party he rarely attended before and seeming to enjoy it, a smile on his face and his reindeer charm catching the light, Atsushi realized what he had. What Dazai had. Or at least, what Dazai knew he had.
It was in the name of love. Every big gesture and every little gesture. It was love. All of it.
Atsushi leaned forward, folding his hands into Dazai’s coat to keep them warm, and kissed him again.
And wasn’t it so that you were supposed to spend Christmas with your loved ones?
Kyouka was already home when Atsushi came home, well past midnight. He had just said goodbye to Dazai and the rest of the Armed Detective Agency members. But she was still awake and not even out of her dress, instead she was staring down at a blue with gold gift box in her hands.
“Who gave you that?” Atsushi queried, coming closer and watching her lift the lid off. Inside was a small bunny plushie keychain and a hot chocolate mix.
“It was here when I got home,” Kyouka informed him and she pointed towards one on their side table. “You have one, too.”
Atsushi leaned down and grabbed his own box, in the same colour as Kyouka’s. When he opened it, he saw a small tiger plushie keychain and the same hot chocolate mix.
“I think Santa Claus got it for us,” Kyouka said with glittering eyes.
However, Atsushi, who knew for a fact that Santa wasn’t real, realized that the reason Dazai was late and the president was too, was because Dazai had helped the president break into their dorms to leave the gifts.
It was a little creepy, but in the end… No harm was done and it was a nice gesture. “I think the same,” Atsushi agreed, his lips stretching into a smile.