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It all starts with a phone call.
They were having a nice relaxing day in the middle of the day with no sort of missions. Doing the usual; talking to each other, talking smack about the ADA, and once in and awhile, Akutagawa will mention the weretiger or Dazai with a fiery passion.
In the middle of their conversations, Chuuya gets a call in and he excuses himself, walking out like he usually would.
The others don’t suspect much and respect the executive’s privacy by continuing their conversations but—
“—Yes, yes, I love you too.”
The door is left ajar and they hear every single word come out of the redhead’s mouth.
Everyone in the room turns silent and their lips are left hanging and are unable to finish their sentences with the person they are talking to.
I LOVE YOU TOO?
The Nakahara Chuuya has a lover?
Tachihara glances over to Gin, Gin turns over to Higuchi, Higuchi looks over to a clueless Akutagawa with her shocked expression, Hirotsu exhales a long stream of smoke from his cigarette. Kaiji is amused with his lemon bombs dropping to the ground.
Chuuya opens the door with his eyes closed, “Sorry about that—”
The room explodes due to Kaiji's recklessness as they cut their hangout short due to the damage in the room. There are no casualties, thankfully, and everyone is perfectly fine.
- - -
“So…”
Tachihara lifts his head from the floor with only a single light bulb shining on the whiteboard full of writings and pictures of Chuuya. He stands in front of the whiteboard with a marker in his hands and looks at the ground staring at him.
“Do we know what we’re doing?” He asks with a serious tone.
Gin raises a brow, questioning the pictures of their executive on the board. Some pictures aren’t even in his work clothes and are more casual, “Where did you find those pictures of Chuuya-san?”
“That is not a part of the matter. We are here to figure out Chuuya-san’s lover, not how I got these pictures. I have my sources.”
“Sounds like what a stalker would say but, please, do continue explaining,” Gin replies.
Tachihara shoots a glare at her before clearing his throat and taps the whiteboard with his marker, “I call this; Operation: Who is Chuuya-san’s lover?”
“You might need a better name for that,” Higuchi comments bluntly.
“Can we please stop judging me and worry about the problem at hand?! You all heard it right?!”
Akutagawa stares at the whiteboard, mainly at the hugely written, ‘Yes, yes, I love you too.’ in the middle of Tachihara’s ‘so called’ operation.
He coughs into his hand, “You’ve written it on the board. It’d be hard to miss that part.”
“Exactly! So we’re on the same page, right, Akutagawa?!” Tachihara exclaims and seems to be desperate to find someone who understands his motive.
“I don’t know why I’m here…” Hirotsu says, leaning against the wall and is further away from the group.
Tachihara turns over to the older man, “That's because you’ve known Chuuya-san the longest, gramps!” he replies.
“I don’t pay attention to his love life, he’s never talked about it to me before.”
“Huh?! Seriously?!”
Gin looks at Tachihara with a judging look, “What did you expect? Chuuya-san likes to keep to himself about his outside life. Why did you expect that Hirotsu-san would know?”
Higuchi clasps her hands together with an idea, “Instead of spying, why can’t we just ask?”
Everyone falls silent once again.
“We weren’t going to spy on him, Higuchi… We were just going to ask Chuuya-san in the first place…” Tachihara replies dumbfounded, “I was just planning what we’ll do to get him to answer the questions and get information.”
Kaiji scoffs, the rest kinda forgot he was there, as he is playing with his lemon bombs. The reason as to why they don’t have a lounging room in the Port Mafia at the moment, “And here we thought I was the crazy one.”
“Can’t we just ask normally?” She questions.
“No, no, no. It’s not as simple. Like we’ve established, Chuuya-san is quite private with his outside life, so, obviously, he wouldn’t answer that question so simple,” Tachihara answers, waving his hand dismissively at her.
She furrows her brows, trying to understand what he means.
“Leave it to the experts, Higuchi.”
“I wouldn’t exactly call you an ‘expert’, they don’t hand out awards for dumbasses,” she muttered under her breath to make sure he didn’t hear it.
- - -
And that’s how it all leads up to here…
Gin strolls into Chuuya’s office, lightly knocking on his door.
She opens the door, knowing that Chuuya doesn’t mind who enters. She notices a fresh bouquet sitting on his table that isn’t usually there but it is a perfect opportunity to ask. She can take this opportunity to get some information about this secret lover of his.
“Something wrong, Gin?” Chuuya asks, eyes laser-focused on the paperwork.
“I didn’t know you had flowers in here, Chuuya-san. Where did you get them from?” She asks back to change the topic.
He looks up and follows her gaze to the flowers she’s looking at.
“Oh. Someone left it in front of my office door before I arrived today. I showed up slightly late and I didn't want the flowers to go to waste so I kept them here…”
Huh… someone from here then…
She mentally notes to herself and finds an excuse as to why she came in.
“And to answer your other question, I was just wondering if you were interested in going out later. You know, like the usual, with Elise and I.”
He clicks his tongue and pushes himself back with his hands on the edge of the table. His chair rolls back as he crosses his arms, “Right, I need to buy something as well. I’ll tag along with you.”
Buy something?
“What do you need to buy, Chuuya-san?”
“Nothing much.”
Gin knows that probably means it’s none of her business in the most subtle way possible.
“Ok then, see you soon then, Chuuya-san,” she turns around with her newly acquired information and slips out of Chuuya’s office.
She scrambles to get her phone out of her pocket while striding down the hallway.
Gin: guys
Gin: its someone in the port mafia
Tachihara: really? i swear i haven’t seen anyone hes been really close with
Gin: it’s a secret for a reason dumbass
Tachihara: wow another insult
Tachihara: you guys are so nice after all the things ive done for you guys
- - -
“What’s that you’ve got there, Chuuya?”
Elise pokes her head to see him staring at desserts displayed through the glass. Her eyes wander towards him and he seems to be concentrated and focused.
“Do you want to buy sweets?”
He snaps out of his thoughts and looks down at her with a small smile, “Yeah but the person I’m buying it for doesn’t really like sweets. I think it’ll just be a waste if I bought them for her.”
Her blue eyes sparkled with ambition, “A girlfriend?”
He lets out a small snort and turns away from her, “Something like that.”
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?!”
“Didn’t see the need to say anything,” he lightly shrugs.
“I’m sure she’ll like anything you give her! Here! Let’s go inside and look!” Elise exclaims, pulling on the redhead’s wrist into the store.
Gin follows behind them, mentally taking notes.
There is only a small portion of women working under the Port Mafia.
That is when something clicks in Gin’s mind, could it be that Chuuya’s lover is perhaps one of Kouyou’s subordinates, who were mostly women?
It would explain a lot because Chuuya does frequently visit Kouyou’s room and drinks tea with her. There would be a big chance that the reason why he visits is that he’s there to see his girlfriend.
She stands a little further away from the others to text the group chat.
Gin: guys I think ive just figured it out
Higuchi: Already??
Gin: yeah it must be one of kouyou-san’s
Tachihara: that makes sense…
Tachihara: but i feel like it’s too easy…
Gin: what do you mean?????
Gin: the answer is literally right there
Higuchi: I mean if it is one of Kouyou-san’s, then… don’t we need to figure out who?
Gin: i dont see you guys trying
Kaiji: you just gotta let science do that work!
Tachihara: what does this have to do with science?
Kaiji: the chemistry obviously
Ryuunosuke: can I go? Leave the group?
Higuchi: AKUTAGAWA-SENPAIII!!!
Tachihara: oh god what have you started man?
Gin: no ryuu you can’t go
Gin: your taking the ship after im finished
Ryuunosuke: who said I was going to join in
Gin: i got dazai-san pictures.
Ryuunosuke: …
Ryuunosuke: where are you now?
Gin: ill send you the location :))
Tachihara: wtf
Chuuya and Elise finish buying sweets, mostly all for Elise as she has a whole bag to herself.
Gin quickly turns off her phone and slips it back inside her pocket, “Ryuu is coming to pick us up,” she tells the others with a small smile. She has to make sure Chuuya doesn’t find out what they’re up to.
“Eh? Why? We can walk back or we can just use my ability to get back?” He suggests instead.
“Don’t worry, Chuuya-san. You must be tired anyway.”
He looks confused but doesn’t say anything else as they stand outside the store, waiting for their ride to arrive. He isn’t paying attention to the two girls standing beside him. He is distracted from staring at the clear blue skies.
Gin and Elise glance at each other with a small nod.
“Say, Chuuya, you said you had a girlfriend! How long have you been together?” The little girl asks out of the blue in their awkward silence.
Chuuya looks down at her and takes a few seconds before answering, “Maybe a year ago?”
“WHAT!? And didn’t bother to tell me?!”
“She's a very reserved person, I didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable about others knowing our relationship.”
Gin joined in, “Does she keep to herself a lot?”
“Yeah.”
“She must be very pretty to be with someone like you, Chuuya!” Elise exclaims.
Gin notices Chuuya's ring finger as he is fiddling with it with his thumb for some reason. She doesn’t know what he’s doing but she only assumes that it’s perhaps itchy?
Maybe he’s nervous or embarrassed talking about his relationship. Although it may be out of character for Chuuya to be embarrassed, she has seen times where he’s been flustered about things with his hard exterior.
“What does she look like?”
Chuuya considers his choice of words upon describing this person.
Gin stares deeply at him, paying attention to every detail he does.
“I think her hair resembles a lot like Elise’s.”
The little girl gasps, “Really?!”
Gin squints her eyes, she doesn’t know anyone that has similar hair like Elise’s.
Does this person go to the Port Mafia—
A black car drives to the side of the road and in front of them, the window lowers down showing Akutagawa and Higuchi in the car. Higuchi's in the driver’s seat and Akutagawa taking the seat beside her and was the one who rolled down the window.
“Sorry, Chuuya-san, did we take too long?” Higuchi asks from the driver’s seat.
Chuuya shakes his head, waving his hand dismissively, “Nah, we weren’t waiting long,” he replies, using his ability to open the door for Elise and Gin to go inside first.
Gin widens her eyes, completely focused on the driver;
Higuchi.
- - -
A dim light shines above Higuchi’s head as she sits at a wooden table with her hands handcuffed when she arrives at the prototype lounge room (it’s still being fixed).
She looks around to see nothing, “Um… why am I here?” she asks, staring at Gin and Tachihara, who is sitting on the opposite side of her.
“What is your relationship with Chuuya-san?” Tachihara starts with a firm slam on the table, “I want every single detail.”
Higuchi raises a brow, “My relationship with Chuuya-san…?”
“Yes.”
“He’s someone I work under? We’re friends? Co-workers?”
“Are you getting this down, Gin—?” A punch is aimed at the back of his head and cuts off his sentence, “OW! What the hell was that for, Gin?!” He shouts, rubbing his head at the throbbing pain.
Gin pushes him off the only seat (aside from Higuchi’s) in the room and sits down.
“We’re asking if you and Chuuya-san are dating? Are you the mystery lover, Higuchi?”
“ABSOLUTELY NOT!” She screams back, how could they ever think that she hooked up with Chuuya.
“I AM ONLY DEVOTED TO AKUTAGAWA-SENPAI!”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Positive! Chuuya-san isn’t my type,” she replies before a small blush appears on her face, “say… Gin, we’re good friends, right? What does Akutagawa-senpai like—?”
Tachihara facepalms, still on the ground and isn’t bothered to get back up; so much for that.
Higuchi is not Chuuya’s mystery lover.
Now they’re back at square one.
- - -
Akutagawa coughs into his hand, sitting across from Chuuya and drinking tea together. It’s a way where Chuuya can make him try different teas to help with his coughs.
“Do you think this tea will help with my throat?” he questions, lifting the cup towards his lips.
“Of course.”
“How… Do you know that?”
Chuuya crosses one leg over the other.
“I have someone who is also fond of drinking tea. They drink coffee as well but honestly if you look at the cabinets, it will just be full of tea bags,” he explains while rolling his eyes.
Akutagawa clears his throat, “Is this about your girlfriend, Chuuya-san?”
“Eh? You know about it as well?”
“I mean… it’s kind of hard to miss…”
The executive leans against the cushioned sofa, “Is it that surprising? Anyway, yeah, it is. Whenever she visits, she always seems to have a new type of tea to try… Sometimes it could be coffee…” he says while shivering.
“If you don’t mind me asking… this isn’t Kouyou-san, right?”
Chuuya nearly spits out the tea.
He coughs and meets eyes with Akutagawa, appalled he would consider them as a couple.
“NO! Why would you think that? Ane-san is just a sister figure to me. Even if we are 4 years apart, I don’t see her that way and neither does she think of me like that.”
Worth a try… Gin would be upset if I didn’t make a guess…
“What else does she like, if you don’t mind me asking, Chuuya-san?”
“She likes playing games.”
“Games?”
“Yeah, like chess, card games, stuff that shitty geniuses play,” he replies with a small pout on his lips and looks to the sidewall, “I never get what is so entertaining about those games.”
Akutagawa finishes the rest of the tea and places it back on the table, “What foods does she like?”
“These are some weird questions… but, she hardly eats anything. I have to sometimes force her to eat and she’s always cooped up doing work and she only lives on coffee and tea. She likes my cooking though so it’s the only way I can get her to eat,” Chuuya mutters something under his breath as Akutagawa doesn't pick it up, “sometimes doesn’t even come to bed with me and I have to use my ability.”
“Oh…”
She barely eats…
And likes to play genius games?
Akutagawa abruptly stands up from his seat, “If you’ll excuse me, Chuuya-san. I need to go.”
“Alright, see you next time, Akutagawa.”
The door closes behind the younger one as Chuuya sighs to himself and sinks into his seat.
He clicks open his phone and has received plenty of messages from a certain someone. He blocks a ray of sunlight aimed towards him with his hand as the gold around his left ring finger shines against it.
A smile cracks through his lips, “I don’t get how he finds this amusing…”
He scrolls through the messages and looks at the monitor set up not too long ago: a group of familiar faces in one of the cameras, conversing with each other, most likely exchanging newly found information about his ‘girlfriend’.
Chuuya gazes back on his new message and grins, “Fucking sadistic.”
- - -
Tachihara shivers and shakes his head at what Akutagawa has informed them all about the mystery lover.
“No. There’s no way that this person is him .”
“It sounds like him,” Gin responds.
“No, no, I believe Chuuya-san has better taste than this…”
She crosses her arms with a frown. “It's the only lead we have. We already established that Higuchi isn’t Chuuya’s lover and neither are the women that work under Kouyou-san or Kouyou-san herself.”
“You don’t seriously think he’s dating…” he gulps in the middle and stares at the looming building they stand in front of. The building isn’t taller than the Port Mafia buildings but something about it and the people in there freaks him out, “Dazai Osamu…?”
Gin facepalms and ditches the redhead and strolls inside the building.
“Gin! Don’t just leave me here!” He exclaims, running to catch up with her inside.
They walk up the stairs, ignoring the receptionist, frantic upon seeing two Port Mafia members, letting themselves in.
An ambush in broad daylight with no other armed men?
The Agency Office door opens with a hard thrash.
The door luckily doesn’t break but it does break the Agency members’ loudness. Their stares turn to the intruders. They don’t act immediately but the man with blonde hair tied into a ponytail does pull a gun at them.
“What do you want, Port Mafia?” he asks with a cold glare.
Dazai, the real reason as to why they’re here, spins around his chair and meets eyes with the two opposing side members.
“If it isn’t Gin-chan and the slug from Wish.com!”
“Slug from Wish.com?” Tachihara mutters under his breath, not getting it.
Gin cuts him off and takes a step forward, addressing the situation.
“We would like to speak to you privately, Dazai-san. It’s important.”
“Important? Me? Don’t tell me it’s one of Mori-san’s ways of getting me back? It’s not going to happen—”
“No. It’s not about the Boss. It’s about Chuuya-san.”
“Eh~? Chuuya? What has the chibi got into this time?”
She firmly stares at him, “His relationship status.”
“Why would I know about the slug’s relationships? He can’t even get a girl to swoon for him because he’s so short~,” he replies in a joking tone, as always, “don’t tell me you’re interested in Chuuya, Gin-chan. I thought you had better taste in men—”
She scratches the idea of trying to get Dazai outside to talk in private. At this rate, she’s not going to get anywhere, oh well, she can always change the original plan.
“We have recently discovered that Chuuya-san has a lover and we’re wondering if it is you.”
Everyone (except for a few) in the room catches something in their throats.
“EH?!”
“Oh~? He’s still with him after all these years? I knew setting them up was a good idea but I almost hate how successful it is…” Dazai murmurs under his breath and distorts his face into disgust, “I would never go out with that chibi. I’m not into wild creatures.”
That somehow got Tachihara’s attention, “Wait, you know who Chuuya-san’s lover is, Dazai-san?”
He puts both of his hands behind his head to support it while he leans against his seat, “Yeah, and I hate that I know,” he replies with a gag.
“Can you tell us who it is?”
Dazai yawns and seems uninterested in the subject, “I would buttttt… I’m bothered to tell you. So you can pack your bags and find out for yourselves.”
“Dazai-san—”
“Ah, ah, I made up my mind.”
The two mafia members exit out of the Agency building after that.
So uncooperative.
Why is their boss so caught up to bring back someone like him into the Port Mafia?
He sounds like the type of person who wouldn’t do anything and make you do all the work but he knows all the answers.
“What are we going to do now?” Tachihara groans, slouching his shoulders forward, “why can’t we just ask Chuuya-san himself?”
“He won’t.”
“You haven’t tried.”
Gin glares at him, “I’d like to see you try something then.”
Tachihara grins, “Watch the expert do it.”
- - -
You know what. On second thought, Tachihara didn’t know if this was a good idea anymore.
He is trembling, he doesn’t know why as he shakily reaches to the door and lightly knocks on the door.
“Chuuya-san…” he calls, poking his head inside.
The executive perks his head up from his computer screen, “Tachihara? What’s up?”
“I was just wondering…”
He raises a brow, “About?”
“I was curious about your relationship.”
Chuuya’s attention is now completely on Tachihara and already feels like backing away, “You also know about it?”
“Ah! W—well you see! You were on the phone—and you—we heard you say—”
“Does that explain the explosion from Kaiji?”
“I—sort of?” Tachihara sees the expression on the redhead’s face and sighs in defeat, “maybe…”
Chuuya pinches the bridge of his nose, “You guys are literally idiots. I was on the phone with my mum.”
“Your… mum?”
“Yes. Did you think it was a lover or something?”
“Kinda…”
“I can’t believe you guys. Being in a relationship is kinda forbidden in the Port Mafia. I can’t go dating someone, I don’t have the time for that.”
“But wait! What about all those things you said?”
“Oh. Those were all made up,” he simply says with no big deal.
Tachihara widens his eyes, shocked, “Wait, you knew?!”
“You guys weren’t exactly subtle about it. Of course, I did,” Chuuya groans, rolling his eyes, “I’m an executive for a reason but you guys seriously didn’t have to go through the trouble like that.”
“I guess that makes some sense…”
No wonder he made it sound like it was someone from the Port Mafia or Higuchi or Dazai Osamu! He was just making up things the whole time.
Did we waste the entire day just for this?
“Is that all you wanted to talk about?”
“Yeah, sorry about that Chuuya-san,” he sheepishly grins and excuses himself out of the executive’s room, rushing to his friends in the makeshift lounge room.
- - -
“HUH?!”
“You mean the stuff Dazai-san said was also a joke!?” Gin exclaims.
Tachihara nods his head, “I bet he was on it too.”
Higuchi tilts her head to the side, “So then who was it he was on the phone with?” She asks.
“Chuuya-san said it was just his mum calling him. Ugh, we’re so stupid and we wasted so much time. We even went to the Agency!” Tachihara complains.
Akutagawa looks sceptical about what Tachihara said.
“But Chuuya-san doesn’t have a mum?”
The groaning and complaining come to a halt.
“What?”
He clears his throat to project his voice louder for them to hear, “Chuuya-san doesn’t have a mum. I think most people in the Port Mafia are orphans.”
“Wait so… Chuuya-san…”
“Lied?” Gin finishes off Tachihara’s sentence because he was speechless.
Of course, he falls for the bait.
“I knew Nakahara was hiding something!” Kaiji snickers, “he doesn’t think on his feet. He would’ve used a reference or someone in particular to describe this ‘fake lover’ of his.”
“You didn’t even help out, man,” Tachihara replies.
“Seriously all of that for nothing…?” Higuchi groans, slumping over the table.
Gin looks around for the old man that is usually in the same room as them but is nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s Hirotsu?”
Tachihara waves his hand and frowns, “Doesn’t matter, you said so yourself, that old gramps doesn’t know anything. He didn’t want to contribute anyway.”
- - -
“Thanks for keeping it a secret, Hirotsu.”
Hirotsu stands in front of the black car that Chuuya gets out of with a small frown, “You don’t need to thank me. It’s better if the others didn’t know about your relationship.”
He softly smiles, “Don’t make it sound like it’s a bad thing.”
“As much as I want to tell you that what you’re doing is a bad idea, Chuuya, you will need to come up with something else to keep this a secret from the others.”
The redhead smiles and shrugs his shoulders, “This wasn’t my idea.”
“But what you’re keeping is nothing good.”
“I knew that before I married him, Hirotsu, it’s fine,” Chuuya replies, striding towards the entrance of his apartment building, “thanks for dropping me off.”
Hirotsu takes out a cigarette and lights it up. He blows a string of smoke and stares at the orange sky, “I don’t think I can even keep this a secret anymore,” he sighs.
He’s known Chuuya for far too long to know about his relationship of four years.
- - -
Chuuya switches on the lights, why was it so dark?
He feels someone’s arms snake around his waist and pulls him into an embrace from the back. He relaxes into the hug and turns to the person behind him.
“Fedya, I’m back.”
The dark-haired man, currently hugging him, hums in acknowledgement and squeezes him, “Welcome back, Chuuya,” he replies with a smile, “I missed you.”
“I missed you too. You’re back early.”
“Just wanted to see Chuuya, is that too much to ask for?”
He tries to pull away to get his hat and coat, that's draped over his shoulders, off but of course, the clingy oversized mouse isn’t going to let go of him anytime soon.
He sighs, “Can you please let me get my work clothes off, Fedya? I feel disgusting.”
“I know a way that can change that,” Fyodor says in a suggestive tone, receiving a light punch from Chuuya’s fist to his chest.
“I brought sweets from a bakery,” Chuuya manages to get out of his hold and places the bag on the table.
Fyodor slightly frowns, not because of the fact Chuuya knows he doesn’t like sweets but because he let go of him, “You know I’m not a big fan of sweets, dorogoy moy.”
“Yeah and that’s exactly why I brought them,” Chuuya answers, poking his chest with his index finger, “a certain someone wanted to stir drama in the Port Mafia. It’s what you fucking get.”
“But Chuuya still listened to me when he kicked me out of our bedroom.”
“That’s only because I like to hug you when I’m sleeping. My 6-foot plushie hasn’t arrived yet, so I don’t have any choice on that. After that, you’re replaced, Dostoyevsky. I was even nice enough to buy you a new couch to sleep on for you.”
The executive stands in the middle of the room with a cunning smirk and his arms crossed. He should be expecting it in a few days, he triumphantly smiles that he bought it without Fyodor knowing.
If the Russian figured it out before he bought it, he would’ve found any means possible to get rid of the product to prevent his husband from hugging anything else but him.
It is Chuuya’s biggest achievement of the year.
Fyodor approaches Chuuya to close the huge gap between them.
“You have hurt my feelings, solnyshko. How could you say hurtful things such as that?” He says while grabbing Chuuya’s left hand, pressing a light kiss on the back of his gloved hand.
Chuuya doesn’t move, Fyodor takes off his black glove to show the gold ring around his ring finger that is clean after all these years. Fyodor’s hand has the same gold ring on his finger as he laces their fingers together.
He lightly kisses the ring on his finger, “This is the declaration of our love in a single object that stays with us forever,” he lifts his head up to meet with Chuuya’s gaze, “you are mine, and I am yours.”
“Fucking sap.”
“Did you forget what today was, Chuuya?”
A small smile forms on Chuuya’s lips as he cups Fyodor’s face in his hands, “Of course not. How could I ever forget?”
The sweets Chuuya lays on the table is a lovely cake on the table with the words spelling out:
Happy 5th Anniversary.
“You know, solnyshko, I might get jealous about the woman you described as your lover to your little friends today,” Fyodor whispers a breath away from his lips as Chuuya chuckles.
He smiles against his lips.
“Just know that I had you in mind the whole time, Fedya.”