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Chuuya never realised how hard it was to carry someone around while powering through multiple gunshot wounds. Especially when that person was a 5’11 maniac who cancelled out his abilities just by his touch, forcing Chuuya to use his actual body strength to drag him around.
In all honesty, he had no idea how the two managed to get away like this.
The battle had dragged on for way too long, with way too many casualties on the Mafia’s side. The Agency eventually arrived to help, but it seemed like their abilities were unable to turn the battle around.
Even after Chuuya’s corruption, which he was only able to use thanks to Dazai’s timely arrival, the battle could still be heard in the distance. Was there even anyone left to fight? While dragging Dazai away, he saw most of his peers laying on the ground, unsure of they were still alive or not.
He wanted to be sad for them, to pray for their safety to whatever God that was listening, but it wasn’t like he was going to live to see them anyways.
His breath was ragged and uneven, the blood in his mouth making it all even harder. Dazai’s weight was pressing on his lungs as well. Fuck, where was he even going? Chuuya had dragged the two away from the main streets, where the fighting was taking place. Was he trying to get to the hospital? No, it was too far away, no way he would get Dazai there before passing out himself.
Right now, he found himself in a park. Chuuya had probably been here before many times before, but the multiple concussions he was suffering from were scrambling up his memory.
“Chuuya....” Dazai whispered. Chuuya hadn’t realised the brunette had regained consciousness already. “Shut.... up...” He mumbled back, feeling every step he took drag him further and further to the ground. The exhaustion from the corruption, combined with his all his wounds were not being kind to him. In this exact moment, the grass beneath his looked more comfortable than any bed he has slept in. “Chu⁓ya..” Dazai whispered again and lifted his hand to very weakly slap Chuuya’s face.
“What do you... want, asshole..”
The talking seemed to drain his energy even more.
He felt Dazai’s weight slowly shift to one side, then suddenly, Chuuya’s back was completely free from the weight. Chuuya stopped in his steps and saw Dazai lay face down on the grass beneath them. Just the sight was enough for Chuuya to collapse right next to him. He lifted his arm, which was stained in blood and whatever gravel he had been thrown in and moved Dazai’s body to face upward.
“You still alive?” Chuuya asked, the blood in his mouth leaving behind a metallic taste. Dazai’s head fell to the side, facing Chuuya. It was hard to tell which one of them looked worse. His eyes were just barely open, but he looked to still be conscious. “The sun... is so warm..” Dazai mumbled, then a cough took over, leaving specks of blood on his hand.
He was right, the sun was really warm right now. In the heat of the battle, he did not really notice the weather today. Even though it was setting rather than rising, its light was covering the two of them, a warm residue pulling them into a comforting sleep.
No, wait, they can’t sleep yet. Chuuya knew that if they did, there was no waking up from this. It was still a little too early.
Looking around them, he noticed the stains of blood that had followed them along their path. Turning back to Dazai, Chuuya saw how pale the other looked. The blood loss combined with his multiple traumas were draining the life from him. He did not have much time left. Not like Chuuya did either, though.
“We’re dying, aren’t we?” Dazai whispered, leaning in slightly closer to Chuuya. He threw his hand loosely around Chuuya’s shoulders, a stupid smile plastered on his face. Chuuya leaned his head in, resting their foreheads against each other. “Don’t die on me yet, dickhead. I still want to be the one to kill you.”
Dazai laughed, adoring Chuuya’s anger even at death’s door.
“You still have the chance, if you have any energy left in you.” Dazai lifted his other hand, revealing Chuuya’s knife, which he laid down between the two. “When the hell did you swipe that off of me, asshole?” Dazai laughed again, a faint blush covering his cheeks now.
“I will do my best to always annoy you, even in death.”
“Save your energy, maybe you’ll make it out of here alive.” Chuuya knew he wouldn’t, but maybe those words would help keep them awake a little while longer.
Dazai moved his free hand down to his stomach, then lifted it up again, revealing all the blood staining his hand, even from a soft and quick touch like that. “I don’t think so, Chibi..” With the sun setting behind him, Dazai looked so peaceful; so beautiful. Chuuya wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out they were dead already, and this was simply the afterlife.
The two of them, together.
Thinking about it now, it didn’t sound like the worst place to spend eternity.
“Chuuya.”
His eyes shot up. Shit, was he falling asleep? No, not yet. It was still too early.
“How do you think...” Dazai began, the wounds making it hard to keep up a conversation. “.. we would have ended up if we met under different circumstances?” Chuuya let out a weak laugh, and grabbed Dazai’s free hand, which he had completely forgotten was stained with his blood. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Like, imagine if we weren’t involved in the Mafia.”
Chuuya laughed again, feeling every bone in his body cry out in pain from the movement.
“What did you have in mind, then?” He asked.
Dazai hummed a melody, smiling sweetly. “Hmm... let’s say we were just normal kids when we met, with no death or crime around us...” He moved his arm away from Chuuya, turning to look up at the sky. “Maybe we would have met because we were sat next to each other in math class, and not because you attacked me in Suribachi.” Dazai lifted his bloody hand up to the sky, the bandages barely hanging on at this point.
“You would probably have annoyed me anyways. I wouldn’t have been friends with you.” Chuuya said, moving the dagger between them away and leaning in even closer to Dazai, closing the distance between them.
“And I would have done anything to catch your attention. The amount of crumbled up papers I’d throw at your head until you would agree to go out with me...”
“Go out with you, huh?”
It was weird to imagine that now.
Back in their Mafia days, they would never talk about their feelings for each other. Sometimes they’d spend the nights together, or hold hands under the table during their meetings, but nothing was ever official. Chuuya did not know what Dazai thought, but he knew himself that he was always too scared to say anything, just in case one of them ever died. He thought it would be easier to forget if he could pretend there was never anything there to begin with.
So, when Dazai disappeared from the Mafia, he let himself pretend he never missed him. That he was in fact, glad that he was gone. Because there was never anything between them to miss.
“We could go on dates, buy each other stupid anniversary gifts, wear matching keychains on our backpacks...” Dazai said softly. His voice was clearly growing weaker with the setting sun. “.. and not worry about dying in each other’s arms every day.”
Chuuya lifted his hand in the air as well, grabbing Dazai’s arm. “What types of dates would we go on?” He asked.
He felt Dazai lean his head against his own. “They could be just like this. Laying down in a park, holding hands, enjoying the setting sun...” He leaned in head in even closer and placed a soft kiss on Chuuya’s cheek. “Except for the part where we are bleeding out to death, of course.” Dazai finished.
Waking both of them up ever so slightly was the sound of a ringing phone, coming from Dazai’s pocket. He loosely grabbed it out of his pocket and stared at the name plastered on his screen.
Nakajima Atsushi
“You should probably take it.” Chuuya mumbled.
Dazai let out a weak sigh, and clicked to answer the call, putting it on speaker and letting it rest against his chest.
“Atsushi!” Chuuya was surprised at how awake Dazai managed to make his voice sound.
“Dazai! Oh, thank God you’re okay! Where are you?! I have no idea where anyone is, Akutagawa passed out and I...“
“Don’t worry, I’m okay. I got away from the worst of it. I’ll find you eventually.” He answered, his voice much weaker now.
“Are you sure?! You don’t sound-“
Dazai hung up the phone, not letting Atsushi finishing his sentence. Pushing through his immense pain, he sat up, and threw the phone away, Chuuya hearing it land somewhere in the river not too far from them. Dazai turned to look back at Chuuya, and collapsed on his chest, making Chuuya groan in pain. “Fuck, you’re so heavy...” He complained and wrapped his arm around Dazai.
“Don’t you feel bad for hanging up on the kid?” Chuuya saw Dazai open his eyes and look at Chuuya, then shake his head.
“No, he’s interrupting our date. He’ll be fine.”
Chuuya moved one of his hands on top of Dazai’s head and began lazily playing around with his hair. “A date where we are dying in each other’s arms... how romantic.” He mumbled and heard Dazai hum again. “Shh, we aren’t dying, stupid. We are skipping geography class because neither of us did the homework, remember?” Chuuya rolled his eyes. “Oh yeah, of course, how could I forget.”
The pain from all his wounds began to fade away, and Chuuya was sure breathing came easier as well. The sky above them was now painted in hues of pink and purple, and the sun was almost gone as well.
“Dazai.” He mumbled.
No response.
“Oi, Dazai.”
He looked down and saw Dazai peacefully laying on his chest with his eyes closed. Chuuya ruffled his hair, hoping to wake him up. He felt panic build up inside of him. No, no, it was still too early, he wasn’t supposed to die just yet. “Hey, dickhead, wake up.” He said, louder this time.
The sun still hadn’t set yet.
Chuuya tried to gather the little energy he had left to get up, but his body was not budging. There was nothing he could no for either of them now.
He had seen Dazai sleep next to him a lot of times back in the Mafia, but he had never seen him look so incredibly peaceful. There were no more nightmares or terrors that could haunt him now; only an endless, free rest. Perhaps this was good for him. If he was being honest though, Chuuya had never expected him to actually die before him.
Chuuya wanted to hug him closer, to hold onto him just a bit tighter before he had to go himself. His body was completely immovable now though, and his pathetic, loose grip around Dazai was the only touch he could feel.
“You... bastard...” He whispered, and let his head fall back on the ground, the dark purple sky being the only thing in his sight.
He was unsure why he was fighting against death now. There was no one next to him to keep the conversation going; there was no real reason to try so hard now.
Maybe he was scared. Dazai had never feared death; and Chuuya always envied that in him. He was able to let go and fade away so easily and peacefully, presumably with little regrets in his life, knowing how often he tried to kill himself to begin with. Chuuya had a lot of regrets, he knew that.
One of them being the fact that he was never able to actually skip class with Dazai.
Well, maybe in their next life.
With the sun now completely gone, and the stars slowly appearing above him, Chuuya finally closed his eyes, letting his consciousness slowly fade into the night sky.