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"What are your plans for Sunday?" Chuuya asks one day in the middle of December. Ryuunosuke doesn't answer, staring idly at his paperwork, until he realizes that they're the only two in the room, so Chuuya must be talking to him.
"Sunday? I have yet to be scheduled to do anything, so, uh, resting I suppose?" He offers uncertainly. Chuuya looks at him.
"Really? It's your first Christmas with the Port Mafia! You aren't going to celebrate it?" He asks incredulously. Ryuunosuke looks at the small calendar he keeps on his desk, and sure enough, the Sunday was Christmas.
"I've never celebrated Christmas before, so I don't know why I would start now," Ryuunosuke says, looking back down to finish his paperwork. It wasn't his, it was actually Dazai's, he was just filling it out on his request. And he needed it done as soon as possible.
"But you get paid! Well! You can buy all sorts of decorations and presents!" Chuuya argues.
"I have bought decorations. Kind of. Gin and I built a gingerbread house," Ryuunosuke says. It's very hard to work on paperwork when his superior is talking to him.
"That's sweet, but totally doesn't count! You need the whole nine yards! Tree, decor, all of it," Chuuya insists.
"Nakahara-san, I really need to finish this paperwork. I wouldn't want to make plans anyways, in case Dazai should need me," He says, furrowing his eyebrows slightly.
"I've told you Chuuya is fine," Chuuya sits on his desks. Ryuunosuke's nose scrunches slightly. "That paperwork is Dazai's anyways, he should be the one doing it, not you."
"I offered to do it for him," Ryuunosuke lies. He was actually exhausted from the last mission he'd been on, and he would love nothing more than to go home and rest, but Dazai had stopped him on his way out, and ordered him to do the work. If Dazai made an order, Ryuunosuke complied. Chuuya looks at him as if he can tell he's full of shit, but doesn't comment in it.
"I've just had the most brilliant idea," Chuuya says. Ryuunosuke hopes it's shutting up and leaving him alone, but he doubts it is. "You and Gin come to celebrate Christmas with me!" He proposes. Ryuunosuke looks at him blankly.
"Celebrate with you?" He asks. Chuuya nods.
"It will be great!" He says. Ryuunosuke sets his pen down.
"But we've never celebrated it before." He crosses his arms over his chest.
"Yeah, so your first time with me will be the best you've ever had. Duh," Chuuya says. He wraps an arm around Ryuunosuke's shoulders much too tightly, and Ryuunosuke briefly wonders if this is a threat. He's quiet for a long period of time (Chuuya briefly considers rescinding the offer) but finally he speaks up.
"Alright. We'll celebrate with you then," he complies. Chuuya's grip loosens, and Ryuunosuke is left believing it was, in fact, a threat.
"Great! This is going to be the best Christmas of your life," Chuuya promises. Considering he'd never celebrated a Christmas before, Ryuunosuke couldn't exactly disagree.
-
Christmas shopping was never something Ryuunosuke thought he would find himself doing, considering his life less than a year ago would never even allow him to dream of such a luxury, but now he finds himself with his sister, staring at the crowd that was Yokohama in mid-December in the shopping district. A terrifyingly busy sight, and he would much rather be at home, but thanks to the situation being so last minute, nothing he would order online would come in time for Christmas. Gin had insisted that they needed to bring Chuuya something as a sign of gratitude, so they stood right at the corner. Waiting.
"Brother, the longer we aimlessly stand here, the worse it'll get," Gin says, and Ryuunosuke hates that they're right.
"There are so many people," he says uncertainly.
"I know, but if we go faster, then we can get out as soon as possible," she points out. He sighs, but Gin grabs his hand, and he suddenly feels much more confident. He gives a very slight squeeze, and she squeezes back. Together, the Akutagawa's make their way into the crowd.
Chuuya is surprisingly hard to shop for. Ryuunosuke was Dazai's protege, and Gin worked under the likes of Hirotsu ajd Verlaine (who mainly bitched and performed boring soliloquies to anyonr who'd listen to his sob stories) so neither of them were really close to the man. A hat was a safe bet, and one that Gin had managed to snatch up before Ryuunosuke had the chance too. They insisted that they both couldn't bring the same thing, so Ryuunosuke continued to search. Wine was off the table, because neither of them were stupid enough to think that their mafia issued fake I.D.s would actually work on anyone, given that they were fifteen. So a hat, and wine were now out.
A scarf was lame, and gloves or socks felt like a gift from an out of touch old relative. Ryuunosuke was on the brink of having a breakdown when he spotted a silver chain in some way too expensive jewelry store. He doesn't know why exactly it caught his eye, and he doesn't even know if Chuuya is a jewelry person, but Gin being ever the hypeman assures him that the best Christmas gift was one that made you think of the person being gifted. He grabs some fancy looking lapel pin for Dazai as well, just in case, and when their pockets are considerably lighter, the Akutagawa's leave the busy district. (On their way home, they stop at a cheap liquor store that doesn't even bother checking their fake I.D.s, and buy some gross looking wine as a back up present.) Christmas would be fine.
-
Ryuunosuke knocks three times on Chuuya's door, presents in one hand, and the other wrapped very tightly around Gin's. He wasn't scared of Chuuya, exactly. He knew the man to be generally kind to his subordinates, and he had been the one to invite them both, after all, but he knew better than to trust anyone in the Port Mafia. He had his coat on, wrapped tightly around him. Just in case.
Chuuya opens the door, already slightly pink in the face, and smelling of wine. It smells cheap though, which makes Ryuunosuke feel better about the cheap crap he'd bought.
"You guys are just so darling," Chuuya says, and it may be teasing, or it may be alcohol tinting his brain. Either way, Ryuunosuke gives a very polite smile. Well, it's meant to be a smile, but it comes off more a grimace.
"Merry Christmas," Gin says. Chuuya looks at her with his eyebrows raised in surprise that she could actually speak, but nods.
"Merry Christmas!" He replies, then slides over to let them in. "Please come in, and make yourself at home," he says. Ryuunosuke swallows, but releases his sister's hand and enters the house. He kicks his shoes off, and Gin follows suit.
Inside smells like expensive candles, and, well, Christmas, Ryuunosuke supposes, he doesn't know how better to describe it. Chuuya closes the door and leads them to the living room, where a candle that smells like sugar cookies, and a Christmas tree that must have been an absolute pain in the ass to get there sits. Along with a shit ton of presents on the floor. There's little decorations that looks cheap and hastily thrown up all around.
"Tada!" He says.
"It looks very nice," Gin says politely. "The tree is pretty." Chuuya grins at them.
"Thanks, I tried to find the coolest one I could. I like being able to spend so much money on such useless stuff, if that makes sense," he explains. This doesn't surprise Ryuunosuke, given the state of his apartment, because Christmas decor aside, there's all kinds of pointless knickknacks and stuff shoved pretty much anywhere they could fit. (Ryuunosuke can't judge - he had done the same before Gin decided that she was more suited for doing the shopping and banned him from going.)
"The decorations are nice. Perhaps we'll get some next year too." Ryuunosuke says. "These are for you," he holds out his poorly wrapped chain and wine, and Gin holds out their much better wrapped box with a hat in it.
"You guys didn't have to get me anything," Chuuya says as he accepts the presents carefully.
"It was to show our gratitude. We are very thankful that you invited us over to celebrate with you, Nakahara-san." Gin says with a slight bow of her head. Chuuya makes a face at them.
"You guys don't need to be so formal, you know. This isn't as a superior. This is as friends. We're celebrating Christmas together as friends." He says.
Ryuunosuke was skeptical. He looked at Gin to see if she felt the same, only to see that she was already looking at him.
"Is this some weird twin ESP or something?" Chuuya asks as a half joke.
"No," the Akutagawa's say at the same time, which makes Chuuya burst out laughing. Ryuunosuke feels the tension in his shoulders slowly dwindling.
"Well, twin ESP aside, I got you guys these!" He gestures toeards the presents that were on the floor. There were a lot. Like, a LOT. Ryuunosuke had never really watched Christmas movies, but he could only imagine this amount would be equal to a rich kid in a cartoons stack of presents, or maybe a kid who'd gotten ahold of his parents credit card.
"Nakahara-san, we can't accept all of this," Gin says, stepping back.
"Oh, you will," it sounds almost like a threat. "It's your very first Christmas! It has to be amazing! Though, sorry Gin, but a lot of your presents are definitely more geared towards boys," he apologizes.
"We appreciate it truly, but this is obscene. We only got you these in return, we cannot accept everything," Ryuunosuke echoes his sister.
"Kids, look at me," he bends so that they're eye level, but both of the Akutagawa's are already almost surpassing him in height, so he doesn't have to bend much. "You guys deserve a fun Christmas. I bought you this stuff because I wanted to. Because you're my friends," he says. Akutagawa thinks he looks very young in this moment, and remembers that he's really only two years older than them. Seventeen years old and managing to sound like a main character or something.
"Nakahara-san..." Gin says uncertainly.
"Anything you don't want, I can always return, but I insist you open everything," he says, a tone of finality in his voice. "And that's an order." He adds on. Ah, so he knew Ryuunosuke's weak point.
"Well, if you're certain." Ryuunosuke mutters.
"I am. Please, help yourselves," he gestures for them to go. "They all have one of your names on them, and don't worry, I made sure there's equal for both. I didn't choose a favorite," he jokes.
It's awkward, but Chuuya didn't seem to have nearly as hard a time shopping for them as they did for him. Not everything is quite to their tastes, but it's evident that thought went into everything chosen. For a moment, Ryuunosuke forgot that they were in the mafia. He forgot about the hardships of his life, and he forgot about how miserable he was. He focused on the joy surrounding him. Gin's delighted squeals, and Chuuya's drunk giggles.
Chuuya taught them about hot chocolate, which he learned was just warmed up milk with chocolate sauce added in. He showed them how to bake cookies (they failed, but Chuuya had bought backup just in case). Ryuunosuke foolishly wished things could be this way forever.
Alas, all good things must come to an end. They were eating cookies, and watching some shitty Christmas movie, way too caught up in the terrible effects to have heard the door open, and footsteps stomo their way to the livingroom. It was only when someone spoke that they were snapped back into the reality that was their lives.
"Tsk tsk. Chibi invited me over to celebrate Christmas with him, and this is the welcome? No one to answer the door, and two little pests already here?" He asks. Ryuunosuke freezes, and he feels Gin tense up beside him.
"You told me you had better things to do," Chuuya immediately defends, standing up quickly, but wobbling. "And they aren't pests. They're your protege and his sibling, mackeral." He says.
"Same difference. I didn't expect you to replace me so easily, especially with the likes of them." Dazai replies, sounding more bored than offended.
"Don't be an asshole, YOU are the one who claimed to be busy!" Chuuya repeats. Ryuunosuke stands abruptly.
"I apologize, Dazai-san." He says. "We'll be taking our leave now."
Gin stands up as well. Dazai strides towards them both, and whilst Ryuunosuke had already been standing between Gin and Chuuya, he steps even closer between them. He seems to have no interest in Gin, however, raising a hand up, and striking Ryuunosuke across the face. Gin gives a slight gasp of surprise, but knows better not to say anything.
"See? You can't be soft on him, chibi. Ryuunosuke is a very slow learner, and even a day of being too kind will leave him unable to defend himself." Dazai shakes his head in disappointment. Ryuunosuke stands a but straighter.
"Chuuya was-" he begins, only to be abruptly cut off by another slap.
"Chuuya? Do you speak to your superiors in such a way?" Dazai asks shortly.
"No sir," He quickly ammends. "Nakahara-san was simply trying to be nice- we just-"
"Allow me to clear something up for you," Dazai begins.
"You can't clear up shit, mummy boy," Chuuya intervenes. Dazai shoots him a cold glare, and he falls quiet again. Ryuunosuke wishes things didn't have to be this way.
"Chuuya is not your friend, and he will never be your friend," Dazai states as if this is a fact. "He is nothing more than your superior. And if you think your superior is kind to you, or that he is your friend, you are much more willing to bend at his will." He says. Ryuunosuke looks to Chuuya, who seems just as surprised at this statement. Had this entire thing been a ploy? Why would he have gone through all this effort.
"Dazai-san-" Ryuunosuke tries, but he's smacked for the third time that night. His cheeks sting, and his eyes sting.
"You clearly have much to learn, Ryuunosuke," Dazai says, his tone a sickeningly sweet tone. "Come. You and I will spend the rest of the evening training. Maybe you'll learn how to defend yourself again. Three slaps, and not one of them did you manage to defend. Disappointing as ever." He says, before turning on his heel, and stomping out of the room. Ryuunosuke wordlessly follows, not looking back at his sister, or Chuuya as he does. After all, of Dazai gives an order, he complies.