Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Good news, everyone!” Dazai burst into the precinct, a grumbling Chuuya following behind him, looking about three seconds away from smacking Dazai in the back of the head, what with the way he was glaring daggers into it.

Atsushi looked up from the file for the case he and Akutagawa had been assigned and tried his best to hide his grimace at the thought of whatever the ‘good news’ Dazai supposedly brought with him was.

“Please actually be good news,” He muttered under his breath, but Akutagawa seemed to hear him from across the desk, what with the way he let out a half-annoyed, half-amused huff.

“Oh dear,” Atsushi heard Ranpo mutter to Poe, and that was when he knew that this would not be ‘good news’. Or at least, it would not end well. Atsushi had long since learned to trust Ranpo’s precognitions.

“Don’t be interrupting work for pointless things, Dazai.” Kunikida spoke up sharply without looking up from whatever he was typing furiously on his computer.

“Don’t be so mean, Kunikida-kuuun~” Dazai whined, and Chuuya muttered something under his breath that Atsushi didn’t catch. Honestly, it was probably for the best.

“Don’t come barging into the precinct to cause a ruckus.” Kunikida countered, the tapping of his keyboards somehow growing even more aggressive. Atsushi cringed slightly as he wondered if there would be another ‘incident’ between the two, like last week when Dazai had jumped into a river on a job with Kunikida, and Kunikida had come back into the precinct dragging a soaking wet Dazai by his coat collar and began flinging him about in what he had claimed was an attempt to “dry him off”.

He sent a tense look toward Akutagawa, who returned it with a flat one of his own—though when his eye twitched slightly Atsushi immediately knew they were sharing a similar concern.

“Oi, Dazai, stop being a nuisance and just get this over with.” Chuuya growled at Dazai, and Dazai sent him an exaggerated pout.

“But now I’m not in the mood to.” He whined. Then, “Kunikida-kun always ruins everything, like the stick in the mud that he is.”

Atsushi was almost surprised when Kunikida didn’t react more than his eyebrow twitching in aggravation, but he supposed that the other man was well used to Dazai’s antics by now.

“Fine, I’ll tell them then,” Chuuya said with a roll of his eyes. Then he turned toward the rest of the room.

All eyes were already on the two of them due to their… less than subtle entrance, so Chuuya didn’t need to call anyones attention before he opened his mouth.

“Dazai and I are—”

“No, no, no! I’ll tell them!” Dazai suddenly interrupted, jumping back into his previously chipper attitude as he silenced Chuuya by slapping a hand over his mouth. Atsushi could feel the menace in the threatening glare Chuuya sent his partner from here, but Dazai didn’t seem too bothered.

“The chibi and I are getting married!”

Silence rang out in the room.

Three seconds passed. Then five, then eight, then—

“...Eh?” Atsushi hadn’t wanted to be the one to break the silence, but he couldn’t help his surprise. Because, as far as he was concerned…

“Aren’t you two already married?” This time it was Tachihara, voicing Atsushi’s thoughts exactly. A few other people around the precinct nodded their heads in agreement, and Dazai looked… offended, frankly.

“What? Of course not!” He exclaimed dramatically, sending a glare in Chuuya’s direction. “As if I would ever marry this hatrack—”

“You’re fucking annoying, shitty Dazai.” Chuuya hissed, aiming a punch at Dazai’s torso, one that he narrowly dodged.

Atsushi watched them in mildly confused silence. Sure, he knew by now not to be shocked by their antics, but still.

“But… You literally just said you’re marrying him.” Tanizaki said, looking sort of unsure. 

Dazai caught one of Chuuya’s punches—with a slight wince, because Atsushi had also learned that Chuuya was ridiculously skilled in hand-to-hand combat—sending Tanizaki an innocent look.

“I am.” Dazai deadpanned, and Tanizaki sent a helpless look in Atsushi’s direction, but he could do nothing more than shrug in response.

“But I haven’t married him yet.” Dazai continued. “We’ve only been together for three weeks anyway.” 

There was another beat of silence in the precinct.

Oh god, Atsushi thought with a barely repressed groan. This was not good news.

“Three weeks is not long enough to decide on a life partner, Dazai.” Kunikida pointed out, clearly biting back most of his aggravation. He still hadn’t looked up from his computer.

“Ah, but chibi has been my life partner for years already, so don’t you worry about it, Kunikida-kun~” Dazai explained—sort of—and Kunikida muttered something unintelligible.

“Uh, Dazai-san?” Atsushi spoke up, and Dazai’s head swivelled to him almost immediately. Atsushi somehow felt like he was being tested. He decided to choose his next words carefully.

“What do you mean, years?” He asked, genuinely curious. But the moment the words left his mouth, Dazai’s eyes lit up and Akutagawa kicked him under the desk. Had he somehow messed up?

“Well, our partnership all began long ago, back when we were just little kids. Younger even than you, Atsushi-kun…” Dazai started, seemingly ready to go off on a long winded tangent about his entire life history with Chuuya.

Atsushi couldn’t exactly say he wasn’t interested in knowing more about the two, but something about the expressions of his coworkers told him that they’d all heard this story far too many times already.

“Knock it off, mackerel.” Chuuya interrupted him, sending Atsushi a look.

“We met when we were kids. We’ve stuck with each other since then. That’s all there is to it.” He explained curtly, and Atsushi felt as if everyone in the precinct let out a collective sigh of relief at being spared whatever story Dazai was about to tell.

“‘That’s all there is to it’, really, chibi?” Dazai repeated, raising a hand to his chest in mock pain. Chuuya narrowed his eyes at his partner.

“And here I thought you loved me, but,” He let out a dramatic sigh, his posture deflating, “I guess ‘that’s all there is to it’.”

“Quit being a pain in the ass, shitbag.” Chuuya huffed, and the words were harsh, but Dazai seemingly didn’t take him seriously. Like, at all.

Because the next moment he was perking back up, leaning toward Chuuya with a grin.

“Wow, ‘shitbag’, huh? Chuuya’s even coming up with new pet names for me! He really does love me~”

Atsushi wondered, for a solid six seconds, how anything Chuuya had just said had been proof of any kind of love.

“Yeah, whatever.” Chuuya didn’t seem too phased by Dazai’s weirdness, which Atsushi supposedly made sense, considering he’d apparently known him since they were kids.

Atsushi was momentarily curious as to what Dazai was like as a kid. And Chuuya too. He couldn’t picture it, no matter how hard he tried.

“So?” Naomi broke the slight lull in conversation—that people like Kunikida had been mentally praying would be the end of it—and leaned forward in her seat, eyes shining. “Who proposed to who?”

Dazai grinned almost maliciously at this, and Chuuya let out an annoyed groan. Atsushi couldn’t find it in himself to be put off by the strange reactions.

“Well, it started when I, ever so graciously, took Chuuya out to a fancy, candlelit dinner at a very expensive restaurant—”

“Cut the shit, Osamu.” Chuuya interrupted, his tone so aggressive that the use of Dazai’s given name nearly flew right over Atsushi’s head. 

“You tried to escape out of the bathroom window to ditch me with the bill. How is that gracious?” Atsushi couldn’t help the way he gaped at the two of them, looking between Dazai and Chuuya with an expression that surely read, ‘how the hell are these two getting married?’.

Yosano snorted at that, shouting out a ‘how romantic!’ at Dazai. Dazai didn’t seem phased.

Oddly enough, Chuuya didn’t either. Atsushi could not imagine being in a relationship like that and not being phased, but maybe that was just him…

However, a brief glance around the office told him that it wasn’t just him, if the expressions on his coworkers faces—besides Ranpo, who looked as if he was tuning out the conversation in order to skim through the novel Poe had brought for him that morning—were anything to go by.

“Chuuya is so touchy,” Dazai pouted, and Atsushi thought that Chuuya wasn’t touchy at all. In fact, he must have to have a heart of steel to put up with all of this.

“The chibi has always had deeper pockets than me anyway.” Dazai pointed out, as if it was any kind of excuse. Chuuya sent him a flat look.

“We literally have the same job. We make the same amount of money.”

“I know! It’s very strange that Chuuya always has more than me… isn’t it? Perhaps he is a secret agent, deployed by the mafia in order to infiltrate our ranks?!” Dazai gasped, as if he had it all figured out. Chuuya’s eye twitched.

“Yeah, perhaps,” He mimicked, “Or maybe I just happen to have basic financing skills, and I don’t spend all of my paychecks on bandages and cheap liquor.”

Ranpo looked up from his book at that, letting out a childish ooh -ing sound that Yosano echoed, clearly amused.

Dazai looked offended, putting a hand to his chest as he turned to send the two a betrayed look.

“Chibi, you’re turning my own people against me.” Chuuya just snorted.

“As if they even liked you to begin with.” He said with a roll of his eyes.

“Chibi—!”

“Dazai! Stop distracting everyone! We will all be behind schedule at this rate!” Kunikida interrupted suddenly, standing from his desk and slamming his palms against the table in frustration. And wow, Dazai must really be getting on his nerves for Kunikida to take a pause in his typing.

“Ah, but Kunikida-kun~, no one’s even congratulated us on our engagement yet!” Dazai whined, and Kunikida’s eyes narrowed threateningly, and for a moment, Atsushi thought he’d reach over his desk and wring Dazai’s neck right then and there.

But all he did was take a calming breath, push his glasses up, and turn to Chuuya with a half apologetic expression.

“Chuuya-san, congratulations on your engagement.” He said formally. “And you have my condolences for the fact that it is Dazai you’ll be marrying.”

Kunikida nodded at Chuuya politely—despite his words—and Chuuya just snorted out an amused laugh.

“Thanks, Kunikida-san. It won’t be easy.” Chuuya replied, ignoring the way Dazai draped himself over Chuuya’s shoulders dejectedly, whining something about domestic neglect.

Well, ‘ignoring’ may have been too kind a word, because not three seconds after Dazai had sprawled out over Chuuya—seemingly attempting to crush his partner to death—Chuuya suddenly ducked out from his hold and Dazai stumbled forward, only barely catching himself on Kunikida’s desk.

Atsushi watched in near-amazement as Kunikida did nothing more than take a deep breath, righting the pencil holder Dazai had just tipped over and spilled all over Kunikida’s desk, before neatly placing the pencils back in and sitting back down in silence.

“You’re causing a ruckus, Dazai.” Chuuya muttered, a warning edge to his voice. Dazai just sent him an innocent look, batting his eyelashes and raising a hand to his chest as if to ask, ‘who, me?’

“...I’m going to get us coffee. Don’t give Kunikida-san an aneurysm while I’m gone.” Chuuya replied, spinning on his heel to head to the breakroom.

“Aw~, the hatrack really is like a dog, even going so far as to fetch coffee for his master~!” Dazai called out, clearly trying to egg Chuuya on. Chuuya’s shoulders tensed in annoyance, but he didn’t respond with anything more than a glare over his shoulder that Atsushi thought might’ve killed him if he was in Dazai’s place.

Dazai, on the other hand, just grinned and blew a kiss at Chuuya, and as Atsushi was blinking at the utter oddness of seeing Dazai perform the gesture, he almost missed Chuuya sticking up his middle finger at Dazai in return.

A few weeks ago, Atsushi had been confused by the two’s relationship. He’d asked Akutagawa about it more than once, trying to decipher just what the true nature of it was. That was before he’d seen Dazai kiss Chuuya, because after the fact he’d been nearly certain that they must be married. It only made sense.

However, finding out that they’d apparently only gotten together after Chuuya had been compromised by the enemy, Atsushi had been more than surprised.

But, the most shocking aspect of their relationship was that it had only grown more confusing to decipher now that he knew the true nature of it. Because from what he’d heard in the past fifteen minutes, Dazai had proposed to Chuuya—maybe?—by taking him on a date and then attempting to run away from said date out of the bathroom window, and he got the implication that Chuuya had ended up paying for it anyway. And now they were getting married, but the entire announcement went from one mind-boggling statement to the next, Chuuya even saying that it ‘wouldn’t be easy’ to be married to Dazai, and Dazai all but tormenting Chuuya the entire time.

In short, though Atsushi understood what the actual status of their relationship was now, it still made absolutely no sense to him. Instead of constantly asking himself the question of ‘how can these two be partners?’, now he had to wonder ‘how could these two be engaged to be married?’.

It was all beyond him.

(Though, as he was deep in thought, he missed the way that Dazai’s eyes softened as he watched Chuuya leave, missed the way that Chuuya’s lips curled up in amusement at Dazai’s antics.)

Atsushi was drawn out of his thoughts when Dazai sat down at his desk about ten feet to Atsushi’s left. He glanced in Dazai’s direction, wondering if he should ask him about their engagement, before ultimately deciding against it, returning his eyes to his own desk.

...A few seconds later he found himself peering over at his superior again, though, curiosity itching in his veins. He opened his mouth and…

Looked back to his case file. Really, he probably wouldn’t understand any answer Dazai would offer anyway.

“Atsushi-kun,” Dazai spoke up suddenly, and Atsushi nearly jumped in his seat. He snapped his head over to meet Dazai’s eyes, which were a mixture between amused and mischievous.

“What is it, Dazai-san?” Atsushi replied, hoping he didn’t sound too on edge. He’d likely been caught sending glances at Dazai.

“I could ask you the same thing, Atsushi-kun~” Dazai grinned, leaning toward Atsushi slightly. “Did you have something you wanted to ask me?”

Atsushi pressed his lips together for a moment, wondering if he should ask at all—wondering if he even wanted to know—but before he could think better of it, his curiosity got the best of him.

“Why exactly are you and Chuuya-san getting married?” He blurted out, and then immediately felt his face start to heat up when he realized that he’d likely come off as rude.

“I mean, not that there would be any reason for you not to, but, well, you only just started dating, right? And it seems like you argue a lot and don’t really get along well and I was just a bit confused because—”

“Atsushi-kun,” Dazai—thankfully—interrupted his rambling, and Atsushi met his eyes tentatively, momentarily worried he’d offended him.

But Dazai just looked amused, and Atsushi felt himself relax at the familiar sight.

“Oi, dunce, do your job.” Akutagawa muttered from his desk across from Atsushi’s, but before Atsushi could respond, Dazai was speaking up again.

“Now, now, Akutagawa-kun, let’s not be rude,” He… scolded? Either way, it was effective on Akutagawa, because he met Dazai’s eyes with a—slightly aggravated—nod, returning his attention to his own work and not paying Atsushi any mind.

“Dazai-san, Akutagawa is right, I should probably—”

“Don’t let Akutagawa-kun get to you, Atsushi-kun!” Dazai exclaimed, and Atsushi realized that there was no getting out of the conversation that he had—unwillingly—initiated.

“You wanted to know why me and the chibi are engaged, right?” Dazai asked, resting his cheek on his hand.

“Well, since we are both very deeply in love with each other,”—he wiggled his eyebrows at Atsushi—”We thought it only made sense! After all, marriage is the second most beautiful way to show your devotion to someone~”

Atsushi frowned at this.

“Second most? Then what’s the fir—” Akutagawa kicked his shin under their desks again, as if in an attempt to shut him up. Apparently, him cutting his sentence off mid-word didn’t surprise nor sway Dazai in the slightest, because he answered the question without pause.

“Well, you see Atsushi, when two grown ups love each other very much, they tend to—”

“Do not finish that sentence, Osamu.” Chuuya suddenly seemingly materialized behind Dazai, holding two cups of coffee, one of them positioned dangerously over Dazai’s head. Dazai’s expression didn’t waver, even when he noticed the steaming coffee being dangled threateningly over him. Instead, he just peered over his shoulder at Chuuya, almost curiously.

“Aw, how come? You don’t want everyone to know how much you liked the way I—”

Dazai’s voice cut off when Chuuya stomped on his foot, effectively shutting him up. Atsushi very quickly understood the insinuations of what Dazai was saying, and he promptly turned back to his work, doing his best to ignore the commotion at Dazai’s desk.

“Yeah, and I’m sure you don’t want everyone to know what you said when I was—”

“O~kay!” Dazai interrupted his partner, to which Chuuya raised an amused eyebrow. “I think that’s enough chit chat, don’t you?”

Atsushi heard Chuuya snort, then heard him place—slam—Dazai’s coffee on his desk.

“Sure thing, darling.” Something about the pet name made it feel more like an inside joke than a term of endearment, but, given the topic of their previous conversation, Atsushi didn’t really want to know.

“Are we handing out invitations or what?” Chuuya asked, and Dazai leaped up from his chair so quickly that Atsushi couldn’t help but snap his head over to the sudden movement.

“Oh, chibi, I thought you’d never ask!” Dazai cooed, followed up with, “Really, I truly believed you’d forgotten. I thought maybe your ugly hat had finally eaten whatever was left of your tiny dog brain~!”

“You dipshit—!”

“Dazai! Stop making a damn scene!” Kunikida scolded again, seemingly giving up on his previous resolve to leave Dazai to his own devices. Atsushi didn’t know if it had been a good decision or not, but he also doubted that shouting at Dazai would somehow change his attitude.

Dazai just sent Kunikida a halfhearted glare, before turning to Chuuya and muttering, just loud enough for everyone to hear,

“Kunikida-kun’s not invited.”

Yeah, Atsushi thought with a barely contained sigh as Kunikida stood and reached for his chair, with the clear intent to hurl it directly into Dazai’s skull. This had not ended well at all.

Atsushi watched with a tired expression as Chuuya talked Kunikida down before turning to Dazai with a near-murderous expression, looking as though he was not far from throwing a chair of his own at him.

Atsushi decided, with a curt nod to himself, that would never understand their relationship. There was just no way.

Two Days Earlier

“...You want to take me out. For dinner. At a restaurant.” Chuuya’s question didn’t sound much like a question at all, but Dazai just grinned at him, nodding as he shifted closer to Chuuya in the bed.

“Of course, chibi, I am you boyfriend after all~” 

Chuuya narrowed his eyes at him, sending him a suspicious look. Dazai found it strangely endearing, in the way that made him want to wrap his arms around Chuuya and never leave their bed again.

Well, technically it was Chuuya’s bed, but it was all semantics to Dazai. Chuuya had refused to move into Dazai’s apartment—claiming it was ugly and cheap—so Dazai had gotten a free pass to move in with Chuuya instead.

Just as he’d intended it.

“And you’re paying?” Chuuya finally asked the question that had been on his mind the moment Dazai had mentioned going to a restaurant.

Dazai smirked innocently, leaning his face slightly closer to Chuuya, leaving about three inches between their noses.

“Of course I am! I wouldn’t be taking you on a date if I wasn’t, now would I?”

Chuuya's skepticism only grew.

“...Uh huh. And I’m supposed to believe you are suddenly, randomly feeling generous with your nearly empty bank account?” Chuuya asked, unimpressed. “You’re going to be paying from your card, right?”

“Ouch,” Dazai murmured, feeling strangely warm despite Chuuya’s clear annoyance with him. He leaned closer. “Chuuya is so mean to doubt me so much. How will he ever make it up to me…?”

Dazai was nearly able to brush his lips over Chuuya’s, but before he could close the gap between the two of them, Chuuya scooted back in bed, increasing the distance between them.

“I’ll make it up to you when you actually pay for the food. With your own money. The only way I’d believe you’d actually do that would be to see it with my own eyes, mackerel.”

Dazai huffed out a sigh, trying to sound annoyed but feeling much too soft, something he wasn’t quite used to showing yet.

Still, he wrapped his arms around Chuuya and pulled him back toward himself, Chuuya scooting closer in order to help him close the distance.

“You got it, chibi.” He whispered, practically against Chuuya’s lips, before tilting their faces together and finally getting the kiss he’d been after since he woke up to see Chuuya drooling all over his pillow. Like a dog, his brain had supplied first. Then it had decided to linger on how much he liked waking up next to the chibi, and stuck there.

Chuuya hummed something unintelligible into the kiss, but Dazai understood what he’d been trying to say regardless.

“The wine better not be cheap.”

Chuuya was definitely taken aback by how high-class the restaurant that Dazai had walked him to was, Dazai could see it in the way that his eyes flickered around the building, as if he was looking for a smaller, shittier restaurant somewhere near here that he’d surely be going to instead, because this—

“Wow, Dazai sure is the most romantic and amazing boyfriend in the world, taking me to such a fancy place! In fact, I want him to ravish me right now in this street for everyone to see—” Dazai’s narration was cut off by Chuuya elbowing him in the gut.

“Quit fucking around, this place is way too classy for you. If we’re actually eating here, you need to stop acting like an asshole or they’ll kick us out.” Chuuya gritted out, his eyes still focused on the picture windows in the front of the restaurant. 

Dazai couldn’t help but smile as he took in Chuuya’s reaction, thinking that this was definitely worth whatever his partner’s reaction would be when he pulled the stunt he inevitably would have to pull later. He hadn’t looked up the prices for this place, but he was absolutely certain he would not be able to afford them.

Ah, well, he’d burn that bridge when he came to it.

Without taking his eyes off of Chuuya, he leaned over to link arms with him, causing Chuuya’s attention to momentarily stray from the restaurant to his partner.

“Well, shall we go?” He smiled, raising an eyebrow at Chuuya. Chuuya blinked in response, seemingly surprised.

“Wait, we’re actually going to this restaurant?” He asked, the familiar skepticism from that morning returning.

“Well, why else would we walk all the way out here. I even dressed up!” He gestured to himself, and Chuuya gave him a bored once-over.

“You’re literally wearing the same thing you always wear.” He pointed out, and Dazai gasped in fake-despair.

“You’re telling me you didn’t realize?” He exclaimed, and Chuuya squinted at him. “I even bought these top-shelf bandages with your money, and you didn’t even notice—?”

“Oh, shut up, shitty mackerel.” Chuuya interrupted, turning toward the entrance of the restaurant with a persistent tug on their linked arms. “You better be kidding about wasting my money on bandages.”

Dazai decided that he would not point out the fact that he wasn’t kidding, well, he had been kidding about the top-shelf bandages thing, but he definitely did occasionally buy bandages on Chuuya’s card. Occasionally. 

Well, he’d been doing it for years anyway, so it was more routine than anything. It wasn’t his fault if his partner was too dense to figure it out.

“Say, Chuuya, if you want to not get kicked out, you’re going to have to watch your language too~” Dazai pointed out with a grin, and Chuuya elbowed him again just when they reached the doors.

“I better not end up with you trying to drop the bill on me, asshat.” Chuuya warned, but Dazai waved off his concerns dismissively.

Chuuya did not look convinced.

Still, they entered the restaurant without any hesitation, but it wasn’t until they were brought to their reserved seats that Chuuya seemingly finally acknowledged the fact that they were actually eating there.

“...What the fuck?” Chuuya muttered the moment the waiter left their table to get menus, leaning forward in his seat toward Dazai, who sat across from him.

“Osamu, what the fuck?”  

“What’s wrong, chibi? Did you forget basic speech? Here, I’ll help, repeat after me: Dazai is the best boyfr—”

“Wait,” Chuuya put up a hand, his eyes narrowing in suspicion again as he seemingly ignored Dazai’s earlier jests.

“What did you do?” He asked accusingly, and Dazai had to hold back his laughter.

“Really? That’s your first assumption? That I did something wrong and I’m trying to drop the bomb gently?” Chuuya’s expression didn’t waver.

“No, my first assumption was that you were lying in order to get me to sleep in. My second assumption was that you were lying to be a dipshit. My third assumption was that you were pranking me because you’re an ass and you wanted to see me look forward to something only to bring me to some shitty dive bar. This is my fourth assumption.” Chuuya listed off each point on his finger, before returning his eyes to Dazai’s.

“I wouldn’t put it past you either, it wouldn’t be the first time you do something like this.” Dazai just rolled his eyes dramatically.

“You know, generally I just tell you whatever bad news I’ve been hiding. It’s funny to see your reactions. Since when do I butter you up before that?” Dazai pointed out, and Chuuya seemed to consider his response for a moment, before shrugging halfheartedly.

“Whatever. You’re not in the clear yet, mackerel.”

Dazai bit back a smile.

“And when will I be in the clear, then?” He asked, amused. Chuuya’s lips twitched in amusement of his own as he levelled Dazai with a look.

“When you pay the bill. With your own money.”

Ah, so never, then.

...Not that Chuuya had to know that detail just yet, though.

Dazai didn’t get the chance to respond, because the waiter had returned with the menus—including a wine menu that Chuuya had stared at for a solid three minutes once their waiter had left, to the point where Dazai had to reach forward to wave his hand in front of Chuuya’s face to make sure he was still there.

“What the fuck.” Chuuya murmured under his breath, before ordering some fancy, expensive wine that Dazai had never even heard of.

(Of course, Dazai tried to make fun of him for being such a wine fanatic, but Chuuya had simply tuned him out to enjoy his drink. When Dazai offered him alone time with it was when he finally got a reaction out of his partner, which was how he ended up with a bruise forming on his shin, in what he would later refer to as an “aggressive game of footsies”, much to Chuuya’s distaste.)

It was after they had finished eating that Dazai decided it was time to enact his plan. He’d ordered the first thing he’d seen on the menu that had crab, and Chuuya had ordered some overly fancy French dish, which Dazai was convinced he only did to sound classy when he placed his order.

The meal had been good, but Dazai really didn’t understand why someone would pay so much just to eat food that he could likely find better-tasting replicas of in a place much less pricey than this one.

Well, he supposed rich assholes needed to feel like rich assholes, so places like this were necessities for their pitiful, bleeding hearts.

“I’ll be back,” He said a few minutes after he’d decided he was finished picking at his food—minutes in which he spent observing his partner across the table—and standing from his seat.

Chuuya glanced at him, but Dazai was lucky to see that most of the suspicion had left his eyes. He’d likely been distracted by the food, and the wine he’d drunk probably assisted with that distraction.

He’d always been quite a lightweight, after all.

“Where are you going?”

“Restroom.” He explained, and Chuuya just nodded, returning to finish picking at his food. Dazai took it as his cue to leave.

When he reached the restrooms, he cast a glance back at the table just in time to see the waiter coming with the bill. He turned back to the restroom and pushed open the door, which blocked out most of the sounds of the restaurant when it closed with a click behind him.

He did a quick survey of the—honestly, ridiculously large—restroom, grateful to see it was empty. It would make his plan a lot easier.

He had been careful to choose this restaurant above others, not just for it’s classiness or cuisine, but because it was one of the very few high-class restaurants in Yokohama that actually had windows in the bathroom that were large enough for him to squeeze out of.

Sure, they were elevated and would likely take a bit of effort to push open, but those were all meaningless factors. He wasn’t on a tight time limit, anyway.

Besides, he had to stall for time long enough for Chuuya to realize what he was doing, so that gave him about three minutes to get the windows open and to begin hauling himself through them.

The only unknown factor was that another guest might enter the restroom while he was in the middle of this, but he had a contingency plan in that case as well.

So, he reached toward the window—luckily, it wasn’t more than three feet above the bench underneath it, meaning he wouldn’t struggle to escape it—and fiddled with the lock before starting to attempt to slide it open.

At first, it didn’t budge, likely from lack of use, but after another couple seconds of trying, it slid open, revealing the alley behind the restaurant.

Another calculation on his part. He couldn’t be climbing out of the bathroom window of a five star restaurant into the middle of a busy street, now could he?

After all, he needed this night to be as perfect as he could get it, considering.

Once Dazai had the window open, he sat down on the bench as he waited for Chuuya to arrive. It shouldn’t be more than a minute and a half now—no, a minute and forty five seconds when he factored in the fact that Chuuya was lightly buzzed from the wine.

He sat in relative peace as he waited, his hand drifting to his coat pocket almost unconsciously.

His fingers clasped around the tiny velvet box, and he felt a strange sense of nervousness rise up in him. It was rare he’d feel something like that when not in a life-or-death situation. Scratch that, he usually didn’t even feel nervous then.

But this was Chuuya, so it was different. With the hatrack, it always was.

Dazai checked his watch, and, seeing that he had about twenty-six seconds before Chuuya would arrive, he clambered up on the bench, hauling himself up to the window as he began to climb through it.

The bathroom door swung open.

“Of. Fucking. Course.” Chuuya didn’t even sound surprised. Dazai sent him a sheepish grin from where he was perched in the window, his legs swung over to the outside of the building.

“Oh, Chuuya, is that you?” He teased, glancing around the restroom floor. “Hold on, I need to find a magnifying glass so I can see you—”

“Oh, fuck off, Dazai.” Chuuya huffed out in annoyance, glaring daggers at Dazai. “Get the fuck down from there.”

“Ah, only if Chuuya catches me~”  

“I will drop you on your damn head, mackerel. Maybe that’ll knock some sense into you.” Chuuya muttered, and Dazai finally climbed out of the window frame and back onto the bench, wasting no time in approaching Chuuya.

“Well, let’s not waste anymore time. Who knows how long it’ll take before they start to get suspicious.” Dazai said with a smirk, linking their arms again and tugging Chuuya toward the open window.

“You can’t be serious.” Chuuya sighed, but one look at Dazai’s face and he seemingly realized that Dazai was serious.

“I knew it. I knew you’d never pay for that shit, I knew the moment we reached this place, and then I knew again when I saw the prices, and then I knew again when you said to order anything I wanted, but somehow, someway, I hadn’t expected you to sneak out the bathroom window.” Chuuya muttered, and Dazai only grew more amused.

“I did expect you to drop the bill on me, to say that you forgot your wallet or some other smartass shit, but this?” Chuuya gestured to Dazai, then to the window, then back to Dazai. “This is a new low, even for you.”

Dazai grinned, pulling Chuuya closer by their linked arms.

“I’m touched.” He sing-songed, and Chuuya rolled his eyes with a huff of amusement.

“By the way, I was serious about not wasting more time.” Dazai pointed out, but Chuuya held his ground when Dazai tried to nudge him closer to the window.

“...You do realize this is very illegal, right.” Chuuya asked, but it wasn’t a question. Dazai only smirked.

“You’re right, chibi! How could we think we’re above the law! It’s certainly never happened before…” Chuuya only huffed out another sigh.

“Yeah, well those ‘ before’s were also prior to us becoming literal detectives. It’s our job to stop people from committing crimes, dipshit.” 

“Ah ah ah, it’s our job to catch people who committed crimes,” Dazai corrected, as if it mattered. “If we stopped people from committing crimes at all, we’d be jobless. Chuuya should know better. Maybe he had too much to drink…”

“I had two glasses, shithead!” Chuuya retorted, “And that excuse fails in logic in so many ways, I swear, you can be a real dumbass when you want to be.”

“It’s called selective intelligence, chibi, maybe you should try it sometimes, given that you currently seem to be operating in the ‘no intelligence’ state of mind~”

“...You’re the worst. I seriously hate you.” Chuuya muttered, pulling his arm from Dazai’s, and Dazai opened his mouth to respond, but before he had the chance, Chuuya was hauling himself up to the windowsill, slinging his legs over the edge as he smirked at Dazai over his shoulder.

“Well? Didn’t you say time was of the essence? Move your ass, Osamu.”

Dazai was, perhaps, a little bit whipped.

“This is why you insisted we walk here, even though it took nearly an hour, isn’t it?” Chuuya muttered as he noticed the fact that the restaurant had valet parking. They didn’t cross the picture windows again, instead heading the opposite direction when they exited the alleyway—which also happened to be away from their apartment.

“And this explains why you chose a restaurant so far from my apartment, too. We’re never coming back here.” Chuuya gritted out the last part under his breath, but Dazai could hear the undertone of excitement in his tone. As much as he tried to hide it, Dazai knew better than anyone that he loved pulling stunts like the one they just had.

“I think you mean our apartment, chibi~” Dazai cooed, leaning against Chuuya until his partner was shoving him off with his shoulder.

“You haven’t even lived there for a month yet, shitty Dazai. It can be ours when you pay half of this month's rent.” Dazai just smiled.

They walked in a peaceful silence for a couple of moments, before Chuuya spoke up again.

“Are we not circling back?” He asked, glancing down the street they just crossed. Dazai’s smile didn’t falter.

“Well, we could, but I had a couple other ideas.” He responded, and Chuuya glanced at him like he was trying to figure him out, before shrugging and leaving it at that.

It didn’t take more than fifteen minutes for them to reach the water, and Dazai watched as Chuuya almost immediately noticed the carnival going on near the port, and he sent Dazai a look.

“A festival?” He asked, and Dazai bit back a grin as he felt a familiar feeling of deja vu wash over him.

“A carnival, really, hasn’t Chuuya learned by now?” Dazai corrected, and Chuuya just rolled his eyes, but Dazai could tell he was recalling the same experience that Dazai was.

“Have you ever been to a carnival?” 

Dazai’s question was sudden—random. Chuuya blinked in surprise as he glanced over at the boy sitting on the bed across from him. His voice was hushed, as it always was after lights out, after all the boys had fallen asleep.

All the boys but the two of them. It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence, Chuuya hardly dreamt, and it kept him up sometimes. Like a nagging itch in the back of his head that had his thoughts reeling much too loudly for sleep to come.

Not to mention the fact that Chuuya had rarely seen Dazai sleep since he’d arrived, which had been nearly two years ago now. The first time he’d actually seen the other boy asleep had been about eight months after he’d arrived, and Chuuya’s first thought had been that he was dead.

He hadn’t been, of course, but it had been a bizarre experience for a sixteen year old Chuuya.

“A carnival?” Chuuya repeated, and Dazai’s head tipped in a miniscule nod.

“I don’t know.” It was as good a ‘no’ as anything, because Dazai knew that Chuuya only responded to questions like that in such a way when he had no memory of it. Sure, maybe Chuuya had gone to a carnival at some point before he lost his memory, but how would he know?

Somehow, he had a feeling that he hadn’t. Not that it mattered.

“Well then,” Dazai said, standing from his bed and sending Chuuya a look that Chuuya immediately recognized as the ‘i’m-going-to-get-us-in-so-much-trouble’ look, courtesy of Dazai.

“Do you want to go to one?”

Sneaking out wasn’t hard, and this wouldn’t be the first time they’d done it either. The window in the dormitory was on the second story, but when Chuuya and Dazai tied their bedsheets together, they were able to drop down to about six feet off the ground.

(Of course, they only used their fitted sheets for this, as their blankets were needed to create half-assed replicas of their sleeping figures, should the headmaster look into the room at some point in the night.)

The first time they’d snuck out this way—a few months prior when Dazai had insisted on going to a midnight movie playing in some shitty theatre in the neighbourhood—, Chuuya had been half convinced that Dazai’s legs would break when he made the drop, given how he was practically skin and bones.

Of course, Chuuya mentioning this to Dazai had ended up with him telling him that he hadn’t even noticed there was a drop, and that Chuuya must just be so short that such a tiny distance felt so far for him.

This time, as Chuuya watched Dazai fall the last couple feet down into the overrun garden that surrounded the boys’ home, he purposely did not say anything, not wanting to give Dazai another excuse to be an ass.

“Where exactly is this place?” Chuuya asked once Dazai had successfully hidden the sheet ladder behind some of the vines growing over the walls of the building.

“You don’t need to concern yourself with such trivial matters, chibi~” Dazai singsonged, and Chuuya felt a flare of exasperation as he realized that Dazai was in one of his purposely-annoy-Chuuya-for-no-reason moods.

“Besides, who knows if your tiny dog brain can handle it~”

“I’m not a fucking dog, you waste of bandagesl!” Chuuya hissed, careful not to raise his voice too loud as he and Dazai snuck along the side of the building toward the street.

He heard Dazai mumble something like “for someone claiming to not be a dog, Chuuya sure barks a lot”, but Chuuya pointedly ignored it.

When they reached the road, Chuuya shoved his hands into his jacket pockets as he followed Dazai to… wherever this festival was. Seriously, he needed to stop going along with this idiot’s plans.

They walked in relative peace for about fifteen minutes, before Dazai came to a halt in front of him, causing Chuuya to nearly run into his back.

“...What?” He asked, peering over Dazai’s shoulder to see…

Oh, they’d reached the festival.

The street next to the water was lit up with lanterns and colourfully lit up signs, and there were people milling about—though Chuuya would guess there were significantly less people than there usually would be, considering how late it was—between different food vendors, miniature theme park rides, and a bunch of booths that looked like games where you could win different prizes.

However, as electrifying as the sight was to Chuuya, who had never seen something like it before—at least, not that he could recall—, he couldn’t help but be drawn to Dazai’s expression.

When Chuuya glanced over at him, he was almost more shocked than he’d been when he’d seen the festival, because the look on Dazai’s face was probably one of the most expressive one’s that Chuuya had seen on him since… well, ever.

He was watching the festival with a faraway expression, but something in his eyes seemed so deeply sad that Chuuya felt as if that ache had somehow become a part of him. The melancholy of his expression was so heavy that it almost covered the emotion that was just barely visible underneath—

Nostalgia.

Chuuya realized that while he had never been to one of these before, Dazai must not share that sentiment. He was watching the crowd, the stands, the booths, with a wistfulness that Chuuya couldn’t help but feel slightly thrown off witnessing, because it certainly wasn’t something that he was used to seeing on Dazai’s face, of all people.

But, not even a full ten seconds went by before Dazai was blinking against whatever thoughts he’d been having, shaking his head slightly as he turned to meet Chuuya’s eyes.

When he did, he must’ve realized that Chuuya had been watching him, because he went still for a moment.

“Has anyone ever told Chuuya that it’s impolite to stare?” Dazai broke the silence that was growing between them, and Chuuya scoffed at the weak deflection.

“Ah, but he probably couldn’t help it, given how attractive I must be to him~”

“You wish, dipshit.” Chuuya interrupted, deciding to let Dazai’s… moment go. Clearly he wasn’t in any mood to bring up any of that, and Chuuya wouldn’t make him. They had a lot of silent agreements between them at this point anyway, he didn’t mind one more.

“Chibi is so bad at lying,” Dazai murmured in response, but Chuuya ignored him, turning back to the festival.

“Whatever. Are we going to this festival or what?” He asked, and he felt Dazai grinning in amusement before he even looked back over his shoulder at him.

“Well, first of all, it’s a carnival.” Dazai corrected, sounding way too smug over some minor detail. “For a dog, Chuuya sure is a bad listener.”

“Fuck off, like it matters!” Chuuya bit back, but Dazai just smirked and breezed past him, toward the carnival—what was even the difference?

“If Chuuya’s really never been to one of these, I’ll have to show you the ropes!” Dazai exclaimed, as if he was going to somehow be helpful, meanwhile the glint in his eye said the opposite. Chuuya did not believe that he was planning on being pleasant for a second.

Of course, he’d been right. Because Dazai had been nothing but an absolute ass for the entire hour they’d spent there, which included him “beating” Chuuya in a bunch of carnival games that he had no idea how to play, so—no matter how much Dazai insisted otherwise—his shitty “wins” did not count.

Though, Chuuya did get momentary revenge when he’d forced Dazai onto one of the spinny rides, causing him to nearly throw up in a dumpster after. Sweet revenge, in his opinion.

However, after the fifth consecutive time of Dazai approaching a small animal—squirrels, stray dogs, even a goddamn rat—and calling out to it as if it were Chuuya, he was more than ready to just ditch the mackerel and go back to the boys’ home. Maybe he’d even pull the sheets back in the window so Dazai had no way back inside.

But something in him didn’t let him. Something that definitely did not have anything to do with the forlorn look in Dazai’s eyes when he’d first seen the carnival. Nope, definitely not.

“We’ve been out for a while, we should probably head back soon.” Chuuya pointed out as they walked along the boardwalk next to the water—he’d made Dazai walk on the side closest to the water, not trusting the other boy to not shove him in.

Dazai just hummed noncommittally in response, glancing out over the water as if he was waiting for something.

“Dumbass, did you hear me? Or maybe all those bandages cut off your hearing.” The last part was muttered under his breath, but Dazai picked up on it anyway—of course he did.

“Ooh, that’s not a bad idea! That would be a much more efficient way to tune out the chibi’s yapping!” Dazai replied enthusiastically and Chuuya momentarily considered shoving him into the water instead.

But, even with Dazai’s response, his eyes turned away again, glancing back over the water. Chuuya tried to follow his eyes, but he saw nothing but a dark sky dotted with stars over darker water.

“What are you—?”

His voice died in his throat.

There was a loud clapping sound, almost akin to thunder, and the sky suddenly lit up in an explosion of brightly coloured light, which cascaded down past the stars before fading out completely.

Chuuya didn’t even have a chance to ask Dazai what the hell that was, because the next thing he knew, there was another explosion happening, then another, and another.

It was mesmerizing.

“What the fuck?” He found himself asking, his voice sounding far away as he watched the explosions of light in a daze.

He felt Dazai’s eyes on him.

“They’re fireworks, chibi,” Dazai explained, his eyes not leaving Chuuya’s profile.

Then, his eyes finally left Chuuya to return to the sky.

“For how horrid humanity can be, it’s almost shocking when we’re able to create something so beautiful.”

Chuuya hardly processed Dazai’s words, his eyes glued to the display of fireworks before him. Sure, he’d heard of fireworks plenty of times before—kids from the home would mention them occasionally—but he’d never actually seen them. And nothing the other kids could’ve said about firework displays could’ve ever lived up to the real thing.

He watched the fireworks in silence for a few minutes, Dazai’s presence beside him only adding to the peaceful atmosphere. It was… nice.

That was, until the asshole had decided to open his stupid mouth.

“Oh no!” He exclaimed suddenly, sounding animated. “The hatrack probably can’t even see the fireworks from all the way down there! Quickly, someone find a telescope so he doesn’t miss it~!”

Of all the things Chuuya didn’t want Dazai to ruin with his shitty taunts, this was pretty high on that list. So, with a muttered “fuck it”, he turned his attention from the sky to reach toward Dazai with two extended hands and shoved.

Dazai must not have been expecting it, because he wasn’t able to catch himself before he fell back into the water with a splash.

Chuuya allowed himself a smug smirk as he brushed off his hands, watching the reflection of the fireworks in the black water as he waited for Dazai to resurface.

...And waited. And waited—

Chuuya frowned, peering over the surface of the water cautiously. Had that dumbass really drowned?

But, the moment he tipped his head over the edge of the boardwalk, he realized his mistake. Because, before he could react, Dazai was practically leaping out of the water and clinging onto him, dragging him back under with him.

It was freezing.

After the momentary shock from the cold, Chuuya managed to shove Dazai off of him and swim back up to the surface.

“What the fuck, Dazai?!” He hissed as Dazai surfaced beside him, laughing at him.

Chuuya’s clothes were sticking to him uncomfortably, and he gripped onto the edge of the boardwalk as he snatched his hat out of the water and tossed it up.

“Oh, come now, Chuu-ya~” Dazai drawled, floating peacefully around Chuuya. The bandages over his eye had started to come loose. “You’re not allowed to be mad in this situation.”

Chuuya bit back a retort, because Dazai did have a point. But still.

“We’re never gonna be able to cover this up.” He muttered under his breath, clenching his jaw in order to get his teeth to stop chattering. Sure, it was summer, but it was also nighttime and the water hadn’t exactly warmed up yet from the winter.

“We need to get out or we’re gonna freeze,” He said, pulling himself up onto the boardwalk. Dazai made no move to follow him, instead looking back up at the firework display that was only growing more intense.

“The grand finale…” He heard Dazai murmur, and he found his eyes drawn to the sky again, the colours and lights entrancing him.

The moment didn’t last long, though, because he knew that he really did have to get Dazai out of the water, lest he give him hypothermia. So he reached down toward the water, tugging on the back of Dazai’s collar to get his attention.

“Oi, mackerel, I’m serious. Get out of there.” He told him harshly, and Dazai turned to look at him over his shoulder. Chuuya offered him his hand because he knew that Dazai didn’t have the upper body strength to pull himself out of the water on his own. Not to mention the added weight of his clothes.

“Aw, chibi is so considerate~” Dazai cooed, but he took his hand anyway and let Chuuya drag him out of the water. In fact, he hardly even helped at all, leaving Chuuya struggling a bit with trying to drag his abnormally tall body out of the water.

“Dammit, actually try, shitwad!” He shouted, and Dazai just laughed, not helping Chuuya in the slightest as the boy finally was able to pull him onto the boardwalk.

Dazai stayed on the ground for a long moment, even when Chuuya stood over him with an unimpressed look.

The bandages around Dazai’s eye were nearly completely unwrapped, likely only still hanging on to his skin due to the fact that they were soaked through.

“Get up. We have to get back.” Chuuya told him, nudging Dazai with his foot in a way that he would call a kick if Dazai ever called him out on ‘going soft’.

“Ah, the headmaster’s going to catch us for sure.” Dazai murmured as he sat up, sending Chuuya an unimpressed look.

“All because the slug had to ruin my perfect plan and push me in the water.” Chuuya did kick him then, but Dazai scooted away from it the moment he made his move, only the toe of Chuuya’s shoe catching his torso.

“Now, now, Chuuya. Violence isn’t the answer~”

“Oh, fuck off!” Chuuya grumbled, spinning on his heel to head back to the boys’ home. Maybe he would pull the sheets up before Dazai returned, just to spite him.

But, as he heard Dazai standing and following after him, he knew that he wouldn’t. Because, as much as an insufferable ass Dazai had been that night…

Chuuya had never been to a carnival before. And, really, he couldn’t think of a different person he’d want to go for the first time with.

“Chuuya’s being awfully silent. Did he perhaps fall in love with me~?”

Still, that didn’t erase the fact that he was an insufferable ass.

“In your dreams, shitty Dazai!”

“No.” Chuuya's voice was firm, not leaving any room for argument. Dazai pouted in response.

“But I think it would be a really useful learning experience!” He whined, and Chuuya just sent him a flat look.

“A learning experience for what, dumbass?”

“Boo, Chuuya’s being no fun~” Dazai ignored the question, because it wasn’t a useful learning experience in the slightest, and he knew that.

“Going in a fucking dunk tank so you can try to knock me into the water isn’t fun.” He bit out, trying again to drag Dazai away from the dunk tank that he was staring at with an exaggerated miserableness.

“It would be fun for me.” He muttered, and Chuuya just rolled his eyes.

“Why don’t you go up there then, huh?” Dazai narrowed his eyes at Chuuya in mock offence.

“The slug knew that wasn’t what I meant. Unless his hat really did eat his brain—?”

“You’re insufferable.” Chuuya told him flatly, before finally dragging Dazai away from the stupid dunk tank.

“Ah, but it would only be fair, considering last time we were here…” Dazai raised an eyebrow at him, and Chuuya just rolled his eyes.

“You were asking for that.” He told him, then, “And you pulled me in too.”

Dazai mumbled something else that Chuuya didn’t catch, before he was perking back up from his previous slump.

“Let’s go there!” Dazai started dragging Chuuya by their joined arms toward a ring toss stand, and Chuuya felt a familiar feeling of competition thrum through his veins as he remembered his previous defeat in this game the last time he’d been here.

“I’ll kick your ass this time, shitty Dazai.” Chuuya challenged, and Dazai sent him a smirk.

“Well, let’s hope you can reach the rings~” Was his—somewhat predictable—response, and Chuuya just scoffed, cracking his knuckles.

“Scared you’ll lose?” He taunted, and something flickered in Dazai’s eyes for a moment.

“To Chuuya? Not a chance.”

After three rounds and nearly three thousand yen later—luckily, Dazai had actually brought his wallet, so Chuuya was able to get him to pay for something for once—Chuuya had admittedly… not won.

Well, in his defense, the game was rigged anyway. And Dazai was the one with the advantage because Chuuya was certain he knew how to get around the rigging, given the way that even the teenager working the booth’s eyes had popped out of her head when Dazai landed every single ring on one bottle. Three times in a row.

Dazai had turned to Chuuya then with a smug ease, looking pointedly at the measly two rings Chuuya had managed to land on the bottles, the rest scattered around on the ground.

“What was that the chibi had said about me being scared to lose~?” He teased, and Chuuya forcibly did not punch the smug look off his stupid face.

“Was Chuuya perhaps projecting?”

“Oh, fuck off, Osamu. I’ll get you back for this, fucker.” He growled, gripping the table of the booth so hard he thought it might crack. Dazai’s amusement didn’t waver.

“Ah, I’m sure you will. Just like last time~”

Chuuya was about to retort when something caught his eye over Dazai’s shoulder.

He felt a grin creeping up on his face at the sight, and he released the table of the booth to flex his fingers in anticipation. He could practically taste his vengeance.

Dazai must’ve caught his eye, because he turned to peek over his own shoulder at the game Chuuya had been looking at.

It was one of those tests of strength games, an oversized rubber hammer leaned up against the scale, complete with a large bell at the top that would only be rung if someone was strong enough to send the puck all the way to the top.

Chuuya knew Dazai’s noodle arms wouldn’t stand a chance against him.

Dazai turned back to face him with a pout, and Chuuya felt his anticipation grow.

“That’s hardly fair, chibi,” Dazai complained, but Chuuya couldn’t care less. It wasn’t as if Dazai had gone into any of the carnival games he’d ever played against Chuuya with the mindset that he was being fair.

So Chuuya breezed past Dazai, taking a hold of the back of his collar as he went in order to drag him to the game.

Dazai made a noise of protest, but Chuuya paid him no mind, only letting him go when they were standing in front of the game.

Another bored-looking teenager was running the game, and he hardly glanced up from his phone as he drawled out an unenthusiastic, “Step right up to test your strength.”

Dazai turned back around to send the game an apprehensive look, and Chuuya’s enthusiasm only grew.

He paid the kid this time, knowing it would be a hassle to try to get Dazai to pay for it—given he even had any money left. Then, he was being handed the hammer, and he eyed it for a moment before holding it out toward Dazai.

“You first,” He ordered, grinning. Dazai looked between him and the hammer a couple times before sighing dramatically and muttering something about Chuuya being the worst, before he finally took the hammer and approached the scale.

Chuuya watched intently as he awaited his partner's inevitable, embarrassing failure, and Dazai did not disappoint.

He raised the hammer and brought it down on the lever that would send the puck up.

The puck raised to just past halfway up the scale, though Chuuya was pretty certain that most of the height had been due to the momentum of the hammer falling from gravity, rather than Dazai’s actual physical strength.

“Aw,” He mocked, and Dazai turned to send him an unimpressed look. “Good try mackerel! I think you tied with the eight year old I saw playing this earlier!”

Dazai’s insensible expression didn’t last long, though, because his eyes widened into saucers and he stared at Chuuya like he’d grown a second head.

“Since when did the slug learn to joke?” He asked, sounding incredulous. Chuuya felt a familiar annoyance fester in his gut.

“Did he pick it up from his lovely, caring, considerate boyfriend, perhaps? Ah, I’m such a good influence~” 

Chuuya cut him off by stomping up to him and practically ripping the hammer out of his hands, turning to the scale. He stepped toward it and glared at Dazai over his shoulder.

“Watch and learn, shitty Dazai.” 

And with that, he hefted the hammer over his head, bringing it down with all of the strength he could muster as he pictured the lever as Dazai’s stupid face.

The puck flung upwards, hitting the bell at the top with a loud ring.

The triumphant feeling in Chuuya’s gut only intensified when he saw the way the teenager running the game was gaping at him, glancing between the scale and Chuuya as if he was looking for some kind of cheat.

“...Congrats, man. You’re the first person to hit the bell since we opened this year.” He got out after a long moment, and Chuuya turned around to shove his victory in Dazai’s pathetic face.

He put the hammer down and approached Dazai, grinning widely. Dazai was being uncharacteristically quiet, instead just staring blankly at Chuuya.

Maybe he was in shock.

“Now that,” Chuuya announced, leaning into Dazai’s space, “is how it’s done. Maybe you should start taking notes, Osam—”

Chuuya’s taunts were cut short when Dazai abruptly closed the space between them, his arms wrapping around Chuuya’s waist in order to pull him closer as he leaned down to press his lips against Chuuya’s victorious smirk.

Chuuya went still, because he’d been expecting a lot from Dazai in return for his victory, but it sure as hell hadn’t been for the bastard to kiss him in the middle of a damn festival.

“Oi, what are—” He started when Dazai pulled back after a moment, but he was hardly able to get a word out before Dazai was leaning back in, this time peppering kisses all over Chuuya’s face.

He felt himself going red—one part in anger and another embarrassment—and by the time Dazai leaned back, finally giving him his space, Chuuya realized what his motive had been.

“You do not have the upper hand here, fuck you.” Chuuya hissed, and Dazai just grinned, his arms falling from Chuuya’s waist.

“Hm, who ever said I was trying to get the upper hand?” He asked innocently, though Chuuya knew he was far from it. 

“Maybe I was just entranced by Chuuya’s enthusiasm.” Dazai offered, which just made Chuuya scoff. There was no way he’d let Dazai have the last laugh.

“Yeah right.” He muttered, but before Dazai turned to walk to whatever game he was undoubtedly planning on trying to demolish Chuuya at next, Chuuya’s hand grabbed around his bandaged wrist and he tugged him back around and—annoyingly—down, his other hand coming up to the back of his neck to pull Dazai’s head towards his own as their lips met for the second time.

Dazai made a surprised sound in the back of his throat—one that Chuuya knew he tried to swallow, but managed to escape anyways—and Chuuya felt that familiar triumph again.

The kiss didn’t last long, Chuuya pulling back after only a moment of their lips moving against each other’s, and Dazai tried to chase his lips, but Chuuya stepped back from him completely, putting a good amount of space between them as he sent Dazai a smirk.

“Who has the upper hand now?” He asked past his grin, and Dazai’s expression went through several shifts, before eventually landing on a half-annoyed, half-affectionate one.

“The upper hand, hm?” Dazai repeated, turning to fall into step with Chuuya as they started walking again. It wasn’t until Chuuya felt Dazai’s hand slip into his that he glanced over at his partner, who had an almost unfamiliar softness in his eyes.

“I’d like to think it was because you were so entranced by my enthusiasm.”

About a half an hour later found them outside of a cotton candy stand. Chuuya had never had cotton candy, because when would he have? And when Dazai recalled this fact, he hadn’t hesitated to drag Chuuya by their entwined hands toward the first cotton candy vendor he’d laid his eyes on.

“Really, chibi, you haven’t lived until you’ve had cotton candy,” Dazai was saying, and Chuuya rolled his eyes with a halfhearted scoff.

“You probably just like it because it disappears the moment you put it in your mouth.” He muttered, and Dazai ignored the jab at his less-than-adequate eating habits as leaned toward him with a grin and a familiar gleam in his eye that had Chuuya knowing he was about to say something gross.

“Don’t say it.” He muttered, and Dazai looked tempted to make whatever nasty reference was on his mind regardless, but he eventually relented, still looking overly amused.

“Blue or pink?” The man working the stand asked them the moment the people in the line ahead of them cleared out, and Dazai turned to him with a fake smile.

“Two blue ones, please.” He replied, and the man just nodded as he turned to make their cotton candy.

“Why blue?” Chuuya asked, reaching for his wallet. However, Dazai stopped the movement with his hand, instead pulling out his own wallet which—much to Chuuya’s surprise—still had money in it.

“Blue tastes better.” Dazai told him, and Chuuya raised an eyebrow at him.

“They’re literally just fluffed sugar with coloured dye on them. There’s not even different flavours—”

“Shush, chibi. Have some imagination, hm?” Dazai shushed him, and Chuuya rolled his eyes, only stopped from replying by the vendor returning with one of the cotton candys, passing it off to Dazai as he paid him.

Dazai then handed it to Chuuya, watching him expectantly.

Chuuya eyed the cotton candy, raising an eyebrow at Dazai’s overexaggerated excitement.

“Go on, chibi, it doesn’t bite~” Dazai cooed, and Chuuya sent him an unimpressed glare.

“It’s just cotton candy, Osamu.” He muttered, ripping off a chunk of the fluffy sugar with his teeth.

Sure, the way it dissolved nearly the moment it entered his mouth wasn’t terrible, but he still didn’t understand how this was supposed to be something outstanding. Then again, Dazai had a tendency to play things up more than he needed to.

“Well?” Dazai asked expectantly, and Chuuya rolled his eyes.

“It’s alright.” He told him flatly, and Dazai pouted at him. “I probably would’ve been more excited about it if I was a little kid.”

“Aw, but I figured that since chibi is the same size as a little kid, he would be—”

“Fuck off, shitty Dazai!” Chuuya interrupted, half tempted to shove his cotton candy into his partner’s face.

However, before he could decide whether or not to go through with the action, the vendor turned back to them with the second cotton candy, handing it to Dazai with a smile and a nod.

Dazai paid the vendor for it as he took it graciously, before reaching back out toward Chuuya’s unoccupied hand in order to link their fingers together again as he led the way toward the boardwalk.

When Chuuya realized where they were headed, he stopped in his tracks.

“Dazai,” He said, a serious note to his voice. Dazai sent him a curious look.

“No one’s getting shoved in the water tonight, got it?” His voice lowered to what he hoped was threatening. Dazai just grinned, clearly amused.

“I think I should be the one saying that, no?” He teased, trying to continue pulling Chuuya along, but Chuuya didn’t budge.

“I’m serious, Osamu.” Chuuya said, and Dazai huffed out a sigh, turning back toward Chuuya again.

“I know, chibi. No one’s getting shoved in the water.” He relented, and Chuuya finally let himself relax as they continued toward the boardwalk.

However, they hadn’t been walking along the boardwalk for more than three minutes when Dazai suddenly untangled their hands to yank Chuuya’s cotton candy out of his hand. Chuuya sent him a threatening look, but Dazai just grinned innocently.

“Chibi, do you know what happens to cotton candy if it gets wet?” He asked, and Chuuya felt his eye twitch with annoyance.

“Don’t you dare—”

He wasn’t even able to finish his sentence before Dazai was tossing the cotton candy into the water with a tiny splash, and Chuuya watched in frustration as it inevitably dissolved until there was nothing left but the paper cone.

“...You’re a real asshole, you know that?” Chuuya told him, and Dazai just laughed, but he handed his own cotton candy over to Chuuya as some sort of apology.

“Well, I was getting sick of mine anyway, so I figured I should pass it off to you before you finished your own~” He explained, though Chuuya saw the many flaws in his logic clear enough to know that Dazai had wanted nothing more than to piss Chuuya off.

He still took the cotton candy Dazai offered him, glaring at him all the way.

“You’re damn lucky I don’t shove you in the water, asshat.” He muttered, and Dazai just gasped in mock betrayal.

“Chuuya would do that to me? Even after he promised not to?” Dazai bemoaned, and Chuuya sent him a look.

“Don’t test me, mackerel.”

By the time they reached the end of the boardwalk—which they hadn’t the first time they’d been here, given the water incident—it was getting late, and Chuuya figured they’d start heading back to their apartment soon, given the fact that they still had to walk all the way back.

Maybe they could get a taxi…

“Ah, and here we are~!” Dazai announced, causing Chuuya to look up from where he’d been fiddling with the now-empty paper cone that had his cotton candy on it to see what Dazai was talking about now.

Oh. A ferris wheel.

Chuuya stared at it blankly for a moment, watching as it spun lazily, lit up in fluorescent colours against the black of the night sky. It wasn’t very big, considering the fact that this was a moving carnival, but it still reached fairly high into the sky.

Chuuya had always loved heights, and he felt a thrill thrumming through his veins at the thought of being at the top of the ferris wheel.

Then, he remembered himself—rather, he remembered Dazai—because he sent his partner a skeptical look.

“You’re out of money, aren’t you?”

“Perhaps.”

Chuuya held back a sigh.

“I’m gonna have to pay for this, aren’t I?” He asked, rhetorically.

“...Perhaps.” 

Oh well, Chuuya didn’t really mind. Dazai had likely spent all of the money he had that wasn’t in the bank by now, and Chuuya wanted to go on the ferris wheel, so at least he’d be spending his money on something he actually enjoyed.

...And maybe that was exactly why he’d pay for Dazai’s ticket as well.

They approached the woman standing in a booth near the bottom of the ferris wheel, grateful to see there was hardly any line. Chuuya purchased their tickets, and the woman told them that the current ride would end within five more minutes, so they didn’t have to wait long either.

They got in line and Chuuya did his best to stop Dazai from being a public nuisance, but it didn’t take long for the five minutes to pass. 

However, when Chuuya stepped forward to load onto the cart, Dazai held him back with a hand wrapping around his wrist, and he let the people behind them go ahead. Chuuya raised an eyebrow in confusion at him, but Dazai just replied with a murmured “trust me” as he let two more carts be filled ahead of them.

And, really, Chuuya didn’t have much of a choice but to do exactly that. The trust he and Dazai had for each other had always been almost blind in that sense.

When Dazai finally nodded at him to get on the ferris wheel, they’d must have let at least six carts be filled before them. Chuuya wasted no time climbing into the cart, and Dazai followed him, sitting on the bench across from him.

Chuuya raised an eyebrow at Dazai when the cart started it’s slow descent upward, unable to quell his excitement as they reached higher and higher into the sky.

Dazai just watched him in silence, a small but genuine smile titling up his lips as his eyes gleamed with an emotion that Chuuya had been seeing on him a lot more frequently, as of late.

He looked at Chuuya like he was in love.

It wasn’t something that Chuuya was entirely used to seeing yet, in fact, he didn’t know if he’d ever be used to seeing it. It made something warm unfurl in his chest, a feeling that he’d only ever learned to associate with Dazai.

“Chuuya,” Dazai murmured after a moment, leaning slightly closer to him, something warm and amused dancing in his eyes. 

“You’re gonna miss it.”

Chuuya frowned, but before he could even open his mouth to ask what exactly he was going to miss, he heard a telltale clap of not-quite-thunder coming from outside the cart, and his head swiveled over toward the sound.

Chuuya hadn’t even realized that their cart had creeped to the top of the ferris wheel, where it came to a slow halt in order to let more passengers on below them. It gave them the perfect window of time to see the fireworks display begin—something that Chuuya had almost completely forgotten about.

The fireworks were just as enthralling as they had been the last time Chuuya had seen them, all those years ago when they’d just been kids sneaking out of their boys’ home. The way the colours exploded across the sky, streaks of light dancing across the stars, leaving barely-there lines of smoke as they faded away into nothingness.

Chuuya watched the fireworks in awed silence for a long time—and the ferris wheel must’ve spun them at least three full times by then—, until he recognized the feeling of Dazai’s eyes on him, and he glanced toward him, their eyes meeting for an electrifying moment.

The colours from the sky reflected dimly on Dazai’s face, residing in his eyes with the emotions that danced in them, and Chuuya found he couldn’t look away.

A particularly loud sequence of explosions pulled Chuuya’s attention back to the sky, just for a moment. He hardly noticed Dazai shifting closer across the space between them as he watched the end of the fireworks display.

“The grand finale,” Dazai murmured, and Chuuya snapped his attention back to him when he realized how close he’d gotten. 

Dazai had moved onto his side of the cart, somehow without Chuuya noticing, and now he was sitting nose to nose with him.

Oh, Chuuya realized, as he closed the distance between them to brush their lips together. 

Chuuya wanted to spend the rest of his life with Dazai.

By the time they’d been let off the ferris wheel, the fireworks display had just come to an end, and Chuuya’s hand felt heavy in Dazai’s as they started walking back.

The velvet box that he had his fingers curled around in his pocket felt heavier, though.

The nervousness was back, so strong that Dazai took a moment to mentally curse himself for feeling such an overwhelming, pointless emotion. And over a situation that he already knew how it would—hopefully—end.

...Hopefully.

Chuuya was quiet beside him, as he’d been since they got off the ferris wheel. Dazai could practically hear the gears in his brain turning, and he wasn’t entirely sure what was on the chibi’s mind, but he knew he was thinking hard about it.

He would’ve made a jab at him about it if he wasn’t so in his own head at the moment.

He knew that now was the time, knew that it would be less than three minutes before they got to the edge of the small park they were currently walking through, and he certainly didn’t want to do this on the sidewalk next to the street. So, logically, now was the time.

His fingers twitched around the box, but he didn’t remove it from his pocket.

Curse these stupid nerves, Dazai would not let all his planning of this night go to waste. Not when everything had gone so well, so perfectly to plan.

So, he steeled his offputting nerves, and opened his mouth to speak.

Chuuya beat him to it.

“Osamu,” Dazai nearly jolted at Chuuya’s voice, suddenly being snapped out of his head and into the present. Chuuya paused in his step, and Dazai stopped just a step ahead of him, glancing back at him with a curious confusion.

He’d sounded serious.

“Chuuya?” He asked, and Chuuya frowned, his eyes falling to their joined hands as he started speaking.

“I don’t… I don’t really have anything prepared for this, and honestly, I wasn’t even gonna ask this for at least a bit longer, but, right now… it just feels right.” He said, his eyes finally meeting Dazai’s with a determination that had Dazai’s brain momentarily pausing.

“So, will you—” And then his mind went from utter stillness to working overtime, because he realized much later than he should’ve just what Chuuya was getting at.

“No!” Dazai interrupted, nearly sounding panicked. Because of course Chuuya would do this. Of course he’d always be an unknown variable in Dazai’s perfect plans. 

He should’ve known.

At his outburst, Chuuya’s eyes narrowed and he frowned, clearly confused. In fact, Dazai thought he saw a flash of hurt in the chibi’s eyes, and he immediately spoke to amend what had just sounded like a harsh rejection.

“Well, not no, I mean, yes, but—” Dazai cut off his own rambling with a dramatic sigh, sending Chuuya a halfhearted glare. His partner just looked confused.

“Ugh, chibi, do you only exist to meddle with my perfect plans?” He got out, exasperated. It was then that something clicked in Chuuya’s head, and his lips parted in shock.

“Oh.” He said dumbly, and Dazai took it as his cue to reach into his pocket, his hand finding the velvet box again easily.

“Sigh, I should’ve expected that Chuuya would be unpredictable in my wonderfully executed plans. He has a tendency to be, after all.” He complained, but his actions contradict his somewhat annoyed words as he pulled out the box.

“I, for one, happened to actually prepare for this, so here goes.” 

Chuuya watched him with wide eyes as Dazai went through the whole ordeal, even getting down on one knee, like some grovelling dog. Oh, how the tables have turned.

“So, chibi, Chuuya, the infamously worst-dressed hatrack and my one and only sheepdog,” Dazai listed off, Chuuya’s eyebrow only twitching slightly in his annoyance. Dazai only found the gesture endearing.

“Will you do me the honours of being my official dog for life~?” And that must’ve been the last straw for Chuuya, because he snorted out an annoyed laugh, but Dazai could see the other emotions swimming around in his eyes, and really, that made it all worth it.

“Really?” Chuuya scoffed, “You interrupted my proposal for that? Mine would’ve been infinitely better.”

Dazai just grinned up at him, and Chuuya’s annoyance flickered away to practically nothing as quickly as it had been there, the air around them growing thick with a strange, peaceful emotion that Dazai wasn’t entirely used to feeling yet.

“Well?” Dazai mused, sending a pointed glance between the velvet box—that had remained suspiciously closed, really, Dazai had to question Chuuya’s detective skills if he hadn’t even mentioned that yet—and his partner.

Chuuya watched him for a moment, before rolling his eyes with a warm amusement that completely took away from the annoyed action.

“Obviously I’ll marry you, now stop kneeling like an idiot.” 

Dazai felt a ridiculous warmth flow through him at Chuuya’s words, causing a childish giddiness to set in. He couldn’t help but grin stupidly at Chuuya.

“But I wanted to be at eye level with the chibi for such an important conversation~”

Chuuya reached toward him menacingly, and Dazai was half expecting to get punched—that, or thrown across the park—but Chuuya, once again, went against his expectations.

Because the next thing Dazai knew, his coat lapels were being grasped in a near death grip as Chuuya dragged him up and toward himself, to seal their engagement with a crushing kiss.

Dazai stood slowly, making sure not to break contact with Chuuya as he pulled him impossibly closer, needing something to do with all of the emotions swirling around in his chest. Much more than he was used to, but Chuuya had a tendency to make him feel more than anyone ever should, in his opinion.

Chuuya shoved him back after a long moment, sending Dazai a look that seemed like he was trying to come off as stern, but he just looked... 

Well, happy. Maybe that was the word for the mess of giddiness Dazai felt clogging up his chest right now, too.

“Alright, let’s see what’s in that stupid box.” Chuuya ordered, and Dazai just grinned slyly at him, bringing the box back to the space between them to open it for Chuuya.

Chuuya peered inside with a curious look, one that quickly faded into annoyance, then amusement, and he glanced back up at Dazai with a raised eyebrow.

“You’re a cheapskate.” He told him flatly, but he reached into the box anyway, pulling out the ring pop.

Dazai grinned, discarding the box back in his pocket as he took the candied ring from Chuuya’s hand before maneuvering it to slide it onto Chuuya’s ring finger while his partner watched him, one part in annoyance, but another, larger part in fondness. It did something funny to Dazai’s chest.

“You wouldn’t have me any other way~” He teased, and Chuuya looked at the ring with an unreadable expression before he turned his eyes back to Dazai with an almost exasperated sigh, wrapping his arms around Dazai’s neck to lean back into his partner’s space regardless, his expression impossibly fond, in the way that made Dazai’s heart beat in his throat.

“In your dreams, shitty Dazai.”