Work Text:
Leaving a trail of water behind him, Dazai stepped into one of the many storage corners of Meursault.
He'd parted ways with Sigma shortly before, claiming he had some important things to attend to personally. The casino owner had seemed curious and perplexed, but he appeared to be clever, for he'd already learnt that Dazai did not answer questions he didn't want to.
Having assessed the prisoner's expression, Sigma had chosen against asking the question that poked at his brain. After all, what could possibly be more important than continuing with the plan? More important than making their escape, and going ahead to save the other Agency members at the airport?
As far as Sigma knew, Dazai wasn't even aware of the statuses of the other members. He wasn't sure if they were still, okay, in the first place. Yet a practical, sly man like Dazai claimed he had something else to focus on before going ahead to do any of that?
To be fair, if Dazai assessed it to be important, it probably was. It was probably yet another one of his countless, intertwined schemes. Something that Sigma was a part of; and it didn't matter if it was voluntarily or not.
So, after they managed their escape from the flooded room, they parted ways.
As for their escape, that was something Sigma still couldn't wrap his brain around. One moment, they were staring up towards the direction of Fyodor's voice; panicked, even if it was just a little, as the room they stood in slowly but surely welcomed the water pouring in.
One moment, the water was above their heads and they were struggling to breathe. The very next moment, Sigma was woken up to breathable air all around him. The way he choked back to life was a sign enough that he'd definitely passed out back in the flooded room.
When he came to, the first thing he noticed was that he could breathe again. Second, his eyes fell on Dazai's figure standing in front of him. Completely drenched, and out of breathe, he didn't look like he'd taken any injury. When inquired about how they'd managed to get out of there, he simply said something about how explaining it all would be bother and how he had an urgent matter to attend to.
As soon as Dazai had ensured that Sigma was okay, he left the place immediately. It was only after his departure that Sigma noticed where he actually was. At the very least, he could deduce that he was a few floors down from where they were originally trapped. Now how that came to be, that's something he doubted he'd know anytime soon.
Back in a storage room on the same floor, Dazai had finally taken a seat on the floor, allowing himself to catch his breath and focus on his thoughts. Piecing it all together was effort, no matter what was said by whoever.
Fyodor wasn't dead. There went the plan of extracting information from his corpse using Sigma's ability. Fyodor wasn't dead, and he had control over Meursault. The time-stopping ability-user was killed. She wasn't there to do Dazai's bidding anymore. What an unfortunate trade, really.
Fyodor had managed to escape. And he did so with his aide.
...
More importantly, Chuuya wasn't dead. It was because Dazai had "underestimated" his skills as a gravity manipulator that he failed to take proper precautions to prevent the survival of the very two people he was trying to kill.
Chuuya wasn't dead, and-
His thought process was interrupted by a gloved hand smacking him right in the shoulder. This was followed by the owner of the hand taking a seat right next to him. Curses were muttered in a raspy voice, "Fuck this shit. I am so tired."
Dazai laughed softly, "Ah, welcome. Good work today, Chuuya~"
The gravity manipulator bared his fangs at him, "Oh fuck you. Was there a need to decide this place is a rendezvous point? It's like five more floors down from where you were before!"
Dazai pressed his hand against the other's cheek, "Now, now. Don't be like that. Isn't it just so pleasant here?"
Chuuya rolled his eyes, "I liked it better outside. Where there were none of you absolute genius idiots to deal with."
Then, his eyes narrowed as they fell on the cold hand touching his face, "What are you doing?"
The prisoner blinked innocently, "Making sure you haven't turned into a vampire?"
A rather indignant scoff, "I'll have you know I'm perfectly un-vampirified, thank you very much."
Resting his head against his partner's shoulder, Dazai hummed, "That's not a word."
"Doesn't matter. It sounds appropriate."
"Are you sure? It doesn't sound very grammatically appropriate either."
Chuuya let his arm slip around the other's waist as he sighed, "Dazai. We have more important thinks to worry about than such semantics."
Dazai looked up at him, eyes twinkling, "Oh, right! How was your day, Slug?"
The gravity manipulator snorted, "Just fine. First, I had to save a fucking Rat from getting drowned. Then I had to aid the murder of a fucking furry ability user. Ah and then, the most important part; I had to make arrangements to ensure a fucking Mackerel didn't drown. Did I mention I did all of this while pretending to be a mindless vampire?"
A hum, "That sounds exhausting."
Chuuya snorted again, "No thanks to you. Bastard."
For a while, neither of them said anything. It was Chuuya who spoke again next, "Where's that friend of yours?"
Dazai stared at his hand, now suddenly intertwined with gloved ones, "Sigma? Wouldn't call him a friend, really. He's, ah, somewhere on this floor. He's resting."
Chuuya's fingers caressed against familiar bandaged ones as he spoke, "You're not worried he might find Dostoevsky?"
The detective spoke thoughtfully, "I don't think that'll happen. Plus, isn't Dos-kun like ten floors above us or something? And the elevator is damaged. Ah right, thank you for doing that."
"Sure. I can't believe you planned to escape through the freaking elevator shaft. That has to be one of the top ten dumbest things you've ever planned!"
Dazai grinned, "Does it beat the time I got poisoned on purpose so you could punch me back to life?"
Chuuya huffed, "It doesn't top that. That was ridiculous."
Dazai raised his free hand to poke his partner in the cheek, "But it's okay because it's Chuuya I'm relying on, ne?"
A wry laugh, "Sure. Get an overworked man like me to do your bidding. And it's all so dumb too!"
Dazai protested, "Hey, the elevator shaft wasn't a bad idea! Sure I knew that Dostoevsky would escape that room through the door. But I can do the same, you know? Even if the doors were already closed, you'd already opened up the shaft for me."
Chuuya grumbled, "You are fucking lucky that I managed to do that without Fyodor noticing, damn it."
His partner shook his head, "It's not luck. It's mere calculation."
Chuuya declared passively, "You're stupid."
"Hm, but you love me."
"Untrue. False. Incorrect."
For a good while, Dazai said nothing. Which was too uncharacteristic of him in the first place. Naturally, because Chuuya was a perfectly good, concerned partner, he started, "Hey, I'm obviously joking-"
He was cut off with a solemn question, "So, do you think Dostoevsky was right?"
Chuuya blinked, his hand tightening hold on the other's, "About what?"
Dazai let out a forceful laugh, "About our bond being shallow? Even after being partners for seven years-"
This time, it was the mafioso's turn to cut him off, "Oh my god. You're not seriously hung up on that, are you? He said that because he thought you didn't realize I could stop a measly flood. But it was literally all part of the plan. So why the fuck do you have a complex about this?"
Dazai whined, "Chuuya is so mean! It's because he said that, you know! Shallow?! What does he even know about us!"
Chuuya burst out laughing, "You're so dumb. Does it matter what that greasy rat said about you and I? It's irrelevant. Besides, that guy is really old, you know. I wouldn't be surprised if he's been keeping tabs on us since before we met each other."
Dazai recoiled in disgust, "That's so creepy."
Chuuya laughed some more, his tone teasing, "You're the one who's best friends with that man."
The detective gasped in offense, "Best- Chuuya! I am not. That's offensive, you know."
Finally giving in to his urges, the gravity manipulator leaned in and pressed a kiss to his rival's mouth, "Sure."
And well, if Dazai blushed furiously even after having seven years of time to get used to this, that was just his business. Pulling back, he declared, "All I'm hearing is Chuuya does in fact love me."
Chuuya miraculously failed to hide the fond smile that adored his face, "You wouldn't be wrong. Say, shouldn't you go find Sigma now?"
Dazai raised his eyebrows, "Eager to get rid of me, are we?"
His rival nodded immediately, "Absolutely. That's exactly why I saved your ass from drowning."
Dazai rolled his eyes, "Chuuya isn't as clever as he thinks he is."
The other groaned as he stretched leisurely, "Leave already. You're an annoyance, I hope you know that."
For a few minutes, there was complete silence. Then, Dazai finally stood up with a sigh, "Fine. I'll just go then."
Before he could make his leave, however, he was stopped by a familiar hand grabbing his arm. Chuuya looked at him with teasing eyes and a fond smile for a few seconds, before his expression morphed into something more serious. Sliding his hand down so he could hold his partner's, the gravity manipulator spoke,
"Home. I'll see you at home. Eventually. At some point. Right?"
Dazai tilted his head in confusion, before his lips settled into a decisive smile, "Yeah. Of course~"
Chuuya rolled his eyes before continuing, "And we agree that Fyodor is stupid, and that our bond is certainly not shallow?"
Dazai hesitated briefly, before nodding in affirmation, "Right."
Chuuya insisted, "We wouldn't make it through the Dead Apple incident if it was shallow. You'd have died of poisoning ages ago, and I would be dead trying to save you. Hell, we wouldn't even have made it past Verlaine and Guivre if that was the case."
Dazai added, testing out the words on his tongue, "And Rimbaud. That time when we were fifteen. You'd have died under the former boss' scythe. And I wouldn't live to see age sixteen without you."
Chuuya nodded in agreement, "Yep. You're the absolute fucking worst, and I'm nowhere near an angel. That's why we work well together. Even if put against each other like just now, we'd still make it through."
Dazai bit his lip, before smiling softly, "And besides, Chuuya is too short to be without me anyway~"
Naturally, the mafioso lost his shit at that. Their hands still joined together, he angrily stomped his foot on his partner's, "Call me short again, I dare you! You sit wand watch if I ever rescue your stupid ass ever again!"
Dazai burst into genuine laughter for the first time in ages. Leaning down, he pressed a kiss to the top of Chuuya's head, hat moved aside, "But you would rescue me. As many times required. Would you not?"
Chuuya frowned, "I would, but let me pretend otherwise, oi! Besides, how about you just stop putting yourself in such situations in the first place!"
Dazai shrugged, "Not gonna happen. As the Agency's resident genius detective, I need to be in the middle of all schemes, you know?"
Chuuya grumbled some more, "It's unnecessary. Speaking of the Agency, don't you need to wrap things up here as soon as possible? They're awaiting your help, no?"
Dazai's face darkened at that, his feet moving away slowly of their own accord, "Yeah. I'll get going. The next time I see you, we'll probably be standing on opposite sides again."
Chuuya frowned, reluctantly separating their hands, "I don't quite like that. But it is what is. See you on the other side, asshole."
Dazai beamed at him, "Will do. Don't shrink too much in the meanwhile!"
Naturally, Chuuya flipped him off before turning around and walking right away. In the distance, he could hear Dazai laughing in amusement as he walked away in the opposite direction. As tempted as he was to look back, Chuuya wouldn't.
It wasn't worth it. He'd be seeing that bastard soon anyway.
And well, if Dazai took his sweet time faced around, his eyes focused on the a familiar, short retreating figure, that was just his business.
-
Omake
Back after he again met up with Sigma;
"Dazai-kun, where did you disappear to!"
"Ah that? A little fairy wanted my thanks for saving us."
"A little...? So, it was somebody else who got us out of that room?"
"Well. Yes. But that's hardly important. Let's talk about how about we'll try to kill Dos-kun again, shall we? Maybe we should crush him under one of those auto-activating gates this time?"
"...."
"Hm? You don't like the idea?"
"...I'll leave planning of such sorts to you."
"Ah, understood! Maybe we should try drowning Dostoevsky without Chuuya around? Perhaps you could entertain the shorty while Dos-kun breathes his last? You two would get along, methinks. Or, maybe we could..."