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Chuuya was quiet as the car rolled into the Port Mafia HQ's underground parking lot, most of the ride had been spent in a stifling silence, neither of the occupants of the car feeling up to their usual taunts and banter.
Dazai had been acting particularly strange, only replying in short hums when Chuuya would try and start a conversation to alleviate the tension. This would be worrying, as the mackerel usually didn't waste an opportunity to poke fun at him, much to his dismay.
However, tonights mission had gone a little, lets say,, wrong, if you could call almost destroying half of Yokohama just 'wrong'. Chuuya was still learning to use corruption, and after accidentally setting it off when their targets had him cornered, Dazai had only just managed to reach him in time before it was too late.
Chuuya knew that Dazai's face as he descended back down to humanity would remain forever in his memories. The look of outright fear and panic as he held Chuuya close to him was one of the few genuine moments of emotion he had ever had with the man.
Despite being partners for about a year, Dazai still only showed this kind of vulnerability to him after he had been shaken up pretty badly. Chuuya didn't know how he felt about that, he would love for Dazai to stop taking every opportunity he had to insult him, but the thought of being emotionally open with his partner made his stomach flip for reasons he hadn't worked out yet.
Chuuya stepped out the car and sighed, the de-briefing with Mori wasn't going to be fun, especially when Dazai wasn't acting like his usual bastard self. Still, he reluctantly pocketed his keys and made his way over to the elevator, hearing Dazai following behind him.
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Chuuya had been right, the de-briefing with Mori had not, in fact, been fun. Especially as Dazai, who usually had an answer or a deflection ready for all of Mori's questions, had been silent the entire time.
He was honestly starting to get concerned about his partner, they were taking the elevator back down to the floor with their rooms on it and he was still just staring into nothingness on the opposite side to Chuuya.
He shifted his feet and looked out of the window, trying not to give in to the obvious tension.
The elevator dinged as it signalled it had arrived at the correct floor. Dull grey doors slid open. Dazai remained rooted to his spot. Chuuya was officially now worried, an emotion he did not like, of course it was that damn mackerel that would make him feel like this, Chuuya huffed in his own head, the man did have a talent for getting on his nerves after all.
"Dazai." Chuuya said firmly. Finally, that at least seemed to shake him out of whatever train of thought he was in the middle of. He nodded towards the open doors and then exited himself, listening as Dazai eventually got out of the elevator and walked towards his own door.
He sighed again, tonight had been a horrible night and he honestly couldn't wait to finally go to bed.
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The microwave beeped, announcing that Chuuya's leftovers had finished reheating across the otherwise silent apartment. Taking it out carefully, he brushed his still dripping hair away from his face. As much as he hated to admit it, his thoughts still lingered on his shaken partner, the mixed look of downright terror and relief still playing in his mind on loop.
Huffing, Chuuya sat down to eat, annoyed that even when he wasn't present, that damn bastard could still annoy him. Just as he was about to put the first bite in his mouth, a subdued knock rang out from his front door.
Dropping his chopsticks back down into his plateful of food, Chuuya stood up angrily, he couldn't even eat his dinner in peace for fucks sake! He felt like decimating the door and whoever stood behind it into dust, but his duty as an executive came first and foremost, so he stomped over to the offending wooden object and yanked it open.
Chuuya's eyes widened, there was the person he had least expected to be there, his partner, Dazai Osamu, still in his clothes from the mission earlier, stood before him. A smile even faker than the ones he usually wears on his face, false bravado in every motion as he speaks:
"Thought I would come check on the chibi, got to make sure he hasn't fallen through a crack in the floorboards" Dazai said cheerily. Chuuya had to use every last inch of self restraint he had left not to slam the door in his face. He wasn't stupid, and he could clearly tell that Dazai's main purpose for coming wasn't to antagonise him, so he decided to be merciful for once.
"Do you want to come in?" Chuuya said with a grimace, not looking forward to the series of mocking insults he was going to get for being benevolent. Dazai actually looked shocked, before quickly regaining his composure.
"Sure, after all, Chuuya is so small that he could go missing at any point, someone's got to make sure to laugh when it happens"
Chuuya reluctantly stepped aside and let Dazai in, despite all of his survival instincts telling him to do the complete opposite.
"So, uh, have you eaten?" Chuuya asked awkwardly, Dazai had never been inside his apartment before, and by the way he was looking around curiously, it should've stayed that way.
"Chibi... you have more hats?!" Dazai gasped, pointing to the hat rack, seemingly intent on making Chuuya mad and waking the entire building.
"I swear one day I will smother you with one of my hats" Chuuya grumbled, however he did not fall for the obvious diversion.
"Come on, you can share with me, then you can leave quicker" Chuuya said to the wall, deliberately not looking at Dazai, therefore missing his surprised expression as he quietly followed Chuuya into the kitchen.
As they sat down next to each other, a bowl of leftover katsudon was pushed in between them, extra pair of chopsticks shoved in Dazai's general direction, narrowly missing his head (much to Chuuya's dismay).
They ate in comfortable silence, with Chuuya stealing glances at Dazai every so often, and Dazai pretending not to notice. As they were sharing the same bowl, Chuuya often found his arm bumping into Dazai's side, he had been close to his partner before, but somehow this felt more... intimate.
Chuuya slowly processed his last thought, face heating up once he realised what he had just insinuated in his own head. In his shock, he started to choke on a mouthful of rice that had gone down the wrong hole, violently coughing and banging his chest to alleviate the grains.
Dazai just looked on in amusement as all this happened, offering a "were the rice grains too big for chibi's little mouth?" when he was done.
Chuuya shot him the deadliest glare he could in his current state, while gulping down a glass of water.
"Right, I've had enough, I'm going to bed; if you really won't leave then you can sleep on the couch" Chuuya groused, heading to his bedroom to finally get the sleep he had been longing. Dazai looked almost sad as he watched Chuuya retreat into his room, sighing as he made his way over to the couch.
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It had been about an hour after he got into bed, and for some god-forsaken reason, Chuuya was still awake. Maybe it was to do with the earlier events of today that still had him shaken up, or maybe it was the fact that his idiotic partner was sleeping on his couch in his living room, instead of going to his own apartment, which was a thirty second walk from here.
Chuuya rolled over again, trying to make himself comfortable enough to doze off again when his bedroom door clicked open. The light from the living room fell across his bed, with a very distinctive mackerel-shaped shadow looming in it.
"Chuuuya~ I'm cold" Dazai whined.
"So get a blanket" Chuuya grumbled, not happy about this turn of events.
"But chibi is so warm from the heat of all his anger, especially because it's condensed into his tiny little body!" You could almost hear the pout in his voice.
Chuuya sighed, they both knew what he wanted, and that it was a very poor excuse to get it. However, if it made him shut up faster then Chuuya could allow it, at least he told himself that was the reason as he pulled down the covers wordlessly for Dazai to join him.
Surprisingly, no taunts came from his partner as he closed the door and slipped into bed beside him. In the faint strips of moonlight coming in from in between his blinds, Chuuya could make out Dazai staring at him almost... softly? A strange display of outward affection, but Chuuya found that he didn't hate it.
As he continued to stare into his partner's eyes, he subconsciously started to shift closer to Dazai. Dazai, upon noticing this, tentatively opened his arms towards Chuuya, expecting to be shouted at and forced to leave the apartment. So, you can imagine his immense surprise when a warm body pressed up against his.
Dazai blinked, arms still outstretched before they cautiously made their way down to wrap around Chuuya's waist. Chuuya just buried himself further into his chest and although he would never say it out loud, they both knew that they found comfort in each other's touch, knowing that Arahabaki couldn't go out of control as long as they were like this.
And maybe, there was something more that was the reason why Chuuya wrapped his own arms around Dazai's stomach, and Dazai pressed his face into Chuuya's hair, however neither of them had figured that out yet. Needless to say, both fell asleep quickly after that, safe in the arms of their partner.