Chapter Text
The height difference between Dazai and Chuuya wasn’t as pronounced when they were fifteen.
When they were fifteen, Dazai was barely taller than Chuuya by a few centimeters. They could comfortably lean against each other’s shoulders on the train rides home and look at each other, eye to eye.
The short chibi jokes don’t start until they’re sixteen. Dazai has his growth spurt and leaves Chuuya in the dust.
“No worries, you’ll always be a cute little chibi!” Dazai chirps, patting him on the head.
Chuuya almost bites his hand off. “I’ll catch up and then you’ll be sorry.”
Spoiler alert: he doesn’t grow taller. In the face of Dazai’s ridiculous, annual growth spurts, he feels like he shrinks as his partner grows, until he’s a whole head taller and, well—
It’s almost impossible to look Dazai in the eyes now, because trying to go eye to eye with him results in Chuuya trying to furiously beat up his shoulder and Dazai laughing until his stomach is sore.
“S-Shut up!” Chuuya shrieks as Dazai keels over in laughter. At seventeen and even bent at the waist, Dazai still lingers a few centimeters taller.
“O-Or what?!” Dazai snickers, wiping a tear from his eye. “You’ll kick my kneecaps?”
Chuuya does aim a kick at his kneecaps and his partner yelps, falling backward onto the ground. Even then, he’s still laughing, with that stupidly smug grin on his bastard face. If Chuuya wasn’t so annoyed at the mackerel, he might’ve thought him to be kind of good-looking.
Not that the egoistic asshole needs to know.
“I’m gonna grow taller than you,” Chuuya mutters. “Just wait and see.”
Even that sounds like an empty threat, especially when Dazai is practically towering over him like the beanpole he is.
His partner smirks. “Yeah? Let me know when you break five feet, chibi.”
“ASSHOLE, IM FIVE FOOT TWO—!”
“And you’ll stay that chibified for~ev~er~!” Dazai pats his head, looking annoyingly smug, and Chuuya glares.
“Don’t fucking curse me.”
“No worries, Chuu~ya~!”
Before Chuuya can even protest, his idiot partner drapes his arms around his neck, nuzzling into the side of his neck. “I’ll still love you, even if you’re a teeny-tiny chibi fairy~!”
“Oh my god, no, that’s the fucking worst, are you serious—?!”
“Dead serious!” Dazai’s fingers lock into the choker on his neck and Chuuya sputters a cuss word as his partner’s lips hover dangerously close to his Adam’s Apple. “Chuuya’s always gonna be mine, no matter his height, ne~?”
His breath is hot against his skin, scattering tinges of electricity against his collarbone. Chuuya’s entire body shudders, and the lips at the base of his throat curve into a smirk.
“Does my dog like that idea?” The grip on the choker tightens, and his purr licks its way down Chuuya’s clammy skin. “Being mine, forever?”
“In your goddamn dreams,” Chuuya hisses. He twists out of Dazai’s grip, and his partner surprisingly lets the choker go.
His fingers, however, drift against the back of his neck: feather-light and airy and Chuuya feels the ghosts of it lingering like a hallway whisper.
“Mhm.” The smirk on Dazai’s face disappears as quickly as it arrived, and it’s easily replaced by a more childish smile. “Hey, Chuuya! We should go to the pier today, since we’re free!”
“We have work, in case you forgot.” Chuuya jerks his head in the direction of the mafia towers. “Come on, dipshit. We can’t be late.”
“Ahhh, I must’ve forgotten to mention!” Dazai’s hand oh-so casually slips into his, tugging him sharply in the direction of the pier. “We have the day-off today.”
“No, you have the day—oh.” Chuuya narrows his eyes. “You—“
Dazai squeezes his hand and tugs one more time. “Ready to go?”
“You’re an asshole, you know?”
The responding smile is blinding. “And you’re a tiny, non-growing slug.”
——
“Oh! Chuuyaaaaa!” Dazai points at a rollercoaster as he drags him down the sidewalk. “Let’s go there!”
Chuuya holds on tight to his ice cream as his partner practically sprints to the rollercoaster, still holding onto his hand.
(And now that he thinks of it, Dazai hasn’t really let go of his hand since they got here.)
“Oi, slow down, or I’m gonna drop—“
Dazai skids to a stop, and Chuuya swears as he almost throws his ice cream onto his idiot partner’s clothes. “Dazai, what the fuck—“
“I just remembered something.” Dazai’s voice is so grave and serious, that Chuuya pauses in his tracks. “It’s so important, how could I forget?”
Chuuya frowns, all but dropping his ice cream to squeeze Dazai’s hands. “What happened?!”
“I-I—“ Dazai looks up at him, big eyes wallowing in pools of melted chocolate sadness. “I forgot that Chibi’s too short to ride the rollercoaster.”
“YOU BASTARD—!”
Dazai shrieks as Chuuya picks him up and tries to throw him into the oncoming traffic. “CHUUYA NOOOOOO!”
“DIEEEEE!”
——
They end up in front of the Ferris Wheel. Chuuya’s got a churro in one hand (courtesy of Dazai after he dropped his ice cream) and Dazai’s hand in the other.
“The Ferris Wheel?” Chuuya arches an eyebrow at his partner, who shrugs idly. The hand in his tells another story completely — it starts to sweat, turning concrete-in-the-summer hot, and maybe there’s more to the Ferris Wheel than Dazai lets on.
“Sure.” Dazai tilts his head charmingly and his smile almost seems to glow in the setting sun’s dusk. “It’s the only ride my little fairy can ride on.”
Chuuya rolls his eyes and elbows his partner in the side. “Oh fuck you, let’s just go.”
Ignoring the clammy hand in his, he drags Dazai into the short line and into one of the compartments. The door shuts behind them and the ride creaks to life, dragging into a sluggish crawl.
The wait to the top is a little agonizing. Chuuya doesn’t know where to look (whether at Dazai or the familiar view of Yokohama and the bay or at their intertwined hands on the bench, because he’s only realizing just now that they’ve never held hands and he kind of likes it. Dazai’s hand is larger, fingers longer, and encasing his entire hand in comforting warmth he’s never felt before).
“Hey, Dazai?” He whispers his partner’s name into the evening breeze, watching it flounder about before reaching the other boy’s ears.
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for today. Even if you were being a pain in the ass.” Chuuya looks at Dazai, really looks at him, and his heart flutters. The fading sunset burns dappled pale yellow and red across his cheekbones, torching his lips a warm pink and melting his eyes into liquid amber.
Soft golden flecks dot his irises, making him look softer, younger, and Chuuya wants to hold his cheeks and kiss him so badly. A smile stretches across Dazai’s lips and his amber and golden flecked eyes crease at the corners. “Any time chibi.”
Their hands on the bench squeeze together and Chuuya’s heart clenches right along with it.
The ride to the top suddenly isn’t so stifling anymore. Chuuya leans against Dazai’s shoulder, watching the sun die beneath the horizon and the city lights gleam underneath their feet, and feels his partner’s chin knock against his forehead as he follows his gaze.
It’s comfortable. It’s warm.
And it’s over too soon. Their compartment touches down way too quickly, in comparison to viciously long trip up, and then Dazai’s leading him out of the Ferris Wheel by the hand.
Their fingers are still interlocked though, as Dazai walks them to the edge of the harbor next to the Ferris Wheel and electricity skitters up Chuuya’s fingertips.
“Look at the stars, chibi,” Dazai hums. His breath is next to Chuuya’s ear again, leaving burning heat across his exposed skin. “Pretty, right?”
Chuuya bites his lip as he turns to face Dazai. Where the sunset had left glowing and warm, the twilight seeps ethereal luminescence into his skin, dusting it fine with moon powder and his liquid amber eyes are solid stars in the growing night.
His heart slams into his rib cage. “Yeah. Not as pretty as you, though.”
It’s a gamble, a risk, and he knows it, feels it. Dazai’s turning to stare, jaw slack and eyes wide, and Chuuya stands his ground.
He’s not going to run. Not this time.
“Chuuya,” Dazai breathes. “You—“ His fingers curves around a loose strand of red hair, brushing it behind his ear absentmindedly before cupping his cheek. “Can I kiss you?”
There’s a smile dancing on his lips before he realizes it.
“Yeah,” Chuuya whispers. He stretches on his tippy-toes, wrapping his arms around Dazai’s neck as the taller boy pulls him closer. “Kiss me.”
Dazai grins, breath sweeping across Chuuya’s lips. “With pleasure.”
The kiss is breathtaking and soothing and freeing, all at once. Dazai’s mouth is hot and cool, and it’s almost like kissing a fresh winter’s wind: with all the breathless air caught in his throat and nowhere to go.
Chuuya makes a happy sigh against Dazai’s lips and the other boy muffles a groan as he drops his hands to Chuuya’s waist.
“You’re not fair,” he murmurs. “Being all cute and lovely like this.”
“Shut up, flatterer,” Chuuya mumbles back, pressing a slow kiss against Dazai’s lips. “Kiss me again before my feet get tired.”
Dazai laughs then, a sound like the roll of ocean waves cresting over the shore. “Chibi’s so small, it’s adorable.”
“Yeah, and I’m not gonna kiss you again if you crack more jokes about it,” he grumbles. He drops back onto his heels, pressing his face into his partner’s chest. “You’re the worst.”
“I’m not teasing you! I just think your height is perfect,” Dazai protests. He swoops down to plant a kiss on the corner of his mouth. “Perfect for me.“
“Disgusting. I’m not gonna stay short for you.”
Dazai’s eyes twinkle. “You say that now...”
“Yeah, and I’m gonna grow.” Chuuya reaches up and pecks his partner on the lips. “Just you wait.”
“Mhm.”
Chuuya pouts. “You don’t believe me?”
“Not in the slightest,” Dazai says cheerfully. Another kiss to the corner of his mouth. “But if Chibi’s right...”
Chuuya yelps as Dazai literally sweeps him off his feet and peppers kisses across his cheeks. “Then I’ll make the most of tiny Chuuya!”
“Bastard, put me down—!”
Chuuya’s silenced with a slow, lingering kiss, and then another, and okay fine—
Maybe he doesn’t mind being shorter than Dazai after all.