Archive of Our Own ^beta

*Wednesday, June 3rd*

Chuuya Nakahara unlocked the door to his apartment after a long and tiresome day of tying up loose ends for his latest assignment in the mafia, wanting nothing more than to collapse on his couch after opening a nice bottle of wine and maybe watch the latest shitty movie that had been trending recently. 

Of course, nothing could ever be that simple for Chuuya, because as soon as he opened his door, he could immediately sense that something was off. Letting out a sigh, Chuuya took his hat off his head, hanging it on the actual hat rack by the door as he took off his coat too and hanging it alongside his hat. This time last year, he'd have been worried that the hat rack by the door had been replaced by a cardboard cut out of himself as a certain someone's idea of a practical joke.

Fortunately for Chuuya, he was now on better terms with the shitty mackerel that had somehow wormed his way into his life, seeing as how they were now engaged.

Unfortunately for Chuuya, this now meant that he had to deal with said shitty mackerel on a near daily basis. And on the rare occasion Chuuya was so busy at work he went a couple of days without devoting some quality time to the bandage wasting bastard, well, it meant he came home to a sight like this. Or rather, should he say, a smell like this.

The unmistakable scent of something burning filled the air as Chuuya took a deep breath in and did his best to assess the damage. At least for now, it seemed as though neither Chuuya's apartment nor his kitchen had been burned down, and so he was counting that as a win.

"Oi!" He called out, closing the door behind him and heading deeper into the apartment so he could find the source of the smell.

Rounding the corner, Chuuya found Dazai standing in the kitchen, tan overcoat still on but with a pink frilly apron tied overtop of his normal work clothes as if he'd decided to commit to the doting housewife bit in the most ridiculous way imaginable, oven mitts on his hands, holding a lasagna dish full of something that neither looked or smelled like lasagna was supposed to. "You do know there's a reason I haven't given you a key yet, right?"

Dazai just pouted at him, but Chuuya could see the hidden smirk underneath that told Chuuya he knew exactly what he was doing and had decided to cause problems on purpose anyways. "Because you're a big meanie-pants that denies the love of your life things like entry to your home? How rude of you Chuuya, didn't anyone ever bother to teach you manners?"

"Because," Chuuya said, as he made his way across the room to open a window and air out his home. "Every time you manage to break into this place you leave it a bigger mess than it was before."

"That hasn't exactly stopped me from breaking in though," Dazai pointed out. 

"I'm aware," Chuuya replied, eyeing the dish Dazai held in his hands. "Now is that safe to throw away in the trash, or do I need to call a biohazard removal unit to dispose of that monstrosity you made in my kitchen?"

"First of all, my lasagna is not a monstrosity and I am offended that you would ever call it such, I spent a lot of dedicated time and effort into making you a meal to eat when you came home after work like a good trophy husband, and you want to just throw it away?"

As Dazai spoke the 'lasagna', if it could even be called that, suddenly deflated in the middle like a failed soufflé, and Chuuya had to hold a gloved hand up to his mouth to stifle his laughter.

"And second of all, I would have made dinner at my apartment, but the last time I tried, Kunikida threatened to call the cops on me for violating numerous health codes, so here I am," Dazai finished, looking down at the dish with a sigh.

Quickly and gently tapping the edge of the pan, Chuuya activated Upon the Tainted Sorrow to float the ruined dish directly above the trash before leaning forward to kiss his dear fiancé's cheek causing the faint red glow around the dish to disappear, sending the whole thing careening into the trash bin as No Longer Human canceled out Chuuya's own ability.

"I really do appreciate you making me dinner darling," Chuuya said, doing his best to sound earnest and not let any of the sarcasm he was itching to use seep into his tone. "I know how hard it must be to sit around and look beautiful all day-" he burst into laughter at the end of the sentence, leaving Dazai in an angry pout that only made Chuuya laugh harder.

"It's not as if you're all that pleasant to look at either," Dazai shot back, folding his arms over his chest and looking away from Chuuya, looking miffed.

Chuuya snorted. "And yet, you accepted my proposal anyways."

"Hm, but for some reason, we're still not married, even though it's been five whole months since you proposed!"

Chuuya sobered at that comment, feeling a small stab of guilt shoot through him. He knew Dazai was just teasing, but it didn't stop him from feeling guilty at the fact that he still hadn't managed to even begin to come up with a plan to get married. Despite the fact that he'd planned for an entire year about how he was going to surprise Dazai with a proposal, he hadn't exactly thought much further ahead than that.

If he was being totally honest, Chuuya hadn't really expected Dazai to even agree to marry him in the first place. It had been a gamble that Dazai would agree to marry him, that Dazai would want to tell anyone else about their relationship, because part of them had always feared being a liability to the other. It wasn't lost on Chuuya that Dazai agreeing to marry him had to have taken not just a lot of love, but a lot of courage to, to admit that he was still with someone from an enemy organization, and while he knew that weddings almost always took time to plan, he'd expected that they'd be farther along in the planning process instead of still being stuck at ground zero.

"Hey," Dazai said, tilting Chuuya's head up to look at him, and Chuuya realized he'd been silent for too long.

Although, Dazai still probably would have noticed that something was wrong with Chuuya even if he'd responded, because Dazai was just like that. He picked up on everything, or at least the things that mattered most. It was one of the things that Chuuya loved most about Dazai, that even when he was being an annoying asshole that tended to cause more problems than he actually solved, he never made a mess he wasn't capable of cleaning up, and he never pushed Chuuya too far, despite the way they bickered with one another. 

"You know I'm not actually mad," Dazai said, although it was more of a statement than a question, because of course Dazai knew how Chuuya was feeling, just like Chuuya always knew how Dazai was feeling. "Yokohama hasn't exactly been easy to deal with these past few months."

Chuuya snorted. "That's putting it lightly."

It was as though the city had a trouble magnet attached to it, a beacon to any and all groups with Special Abilities, signaling them all to gather in one place and attempt to fight for the city Chuuya had spent most of his life in. And on the rare occasion there wasn't some outside group trying to attack the city, there were of course the matters of dealing with the internal conflicts that tended to pop up when dealing with the criminal underground, or making sure relations between the mafia and the agency didn't explode again the way they'd came so close to doing on numerous occasions.

"Which is exactly why I think we should get out of the city for a while," Dazai suggested, as if he had been reading Chuuya's thoughts. At this point, it would be the least surprising thing Chuuya had learned about Dazai. 

Chuuya rolled his eyes. "You wanna go on vacation? It's not exactly like either of us can slip away to the point where no one would be able to follow."

Dazai waved a hand at that, "Pshhh, my dear chibi, we're Double Black, if we wanted to disappear off the grid they'd never be able to find us." As he spoke, Dazai took Chuuya's hand in his own, intertwining their fingers so that the matching titanium rings with double black diamond bands clinked together before Dazai gently brought Chuuya's hand up to his lips to kiss the spot over his engagement ring gently. "And of course, we don't exactly have to stay in the same spot."

"Taking a vacation while being on the run from our coworkers seems to take the fun out of a vacation shitty mackerel."

Dazai's eyes lit up at that, which really should have been the first sign that something was up. But unfortunately, Chuuya had never been quite as observant as his fiancé was, and the idea that Dazai might have been planning something didn't even cross his mind. Really, getting engaged to the only man he could ever see himself staying with had made him let his guard down. 

"Don't think of it as being on the run, think of it as... A road trip," Dazai suggested with a grin.

Chuuya shot him a look. "Really? A road trip?"

"Yes a road trip," Dazai repeated, putting the same distain on the words 'road trip' as Chuuya had when he'd said it. "Think about it, just you and me, we fly out to New York, spend a week or so there, explore the city when it's not trying to freeze us to death, and then we set out across the country, stopping in random cities wherever we think it looks fun."

"You want to do a road trip across America?"

"Why not? America is... Scarily big, we could spend a whole month, just me and you, away from everyone else, in the country where we first fell in love~"

"Oh shut up," Chuuya said, smacking Dazai's arm and making a face like he wanted to gag at the sheer sappiness of that statement.

"But wouldn't it be such a romantic honeymoon?"

"Honeymoons come after the wedding dumbass," Chuuya told him, pushing past Dazai and into the kitchen in order to make them some food that was actually edible, because Chuuya was starting to get hungry. 

"And when have we ever done anything the typical way?" Dazai asked, pushing himself up to sit on the counter, right where Chuuya had been about to set the ingredients he'd pulled out of the fridge. "Or you could think of it as a birthday present for me," Dazai suggested, giving Chuuya his most innocent and convincing smile.

"Your birthday isn't until the end of the month you tacky bastard, what are you talking about?"

"I already said, we could spend a whole month traveling across America! It'd be a fun birthday present for me, and you wouldn't have to deal with work stressing you out, and honestly, we could both use a break from the troubles this city goes through all the time."

Chuuya snorted. "You really think we wouldn't end up murdering each other if we spent a whole month with just the two of us on the road?"

"Chuuya!" Dazai said, putting a hand over his chest, looking at his fiancé as though he had just said the most offensive thing in the history of language. "I would never murder the love of my life unless we were committing a double suicide!"

Said love of Dazai's life just rolled his eyes in response, starting on a lasagna that would actually be edible for a change. "Besides, I don't even think you can name three cities in America that would be worth visiting."

"I'm so hurt, Chuuya doesn't think I know things about the country where we fell in love?" Dazai pouted. "Well there's New York of course."

"New York doesn't count bastard, we've been going to New York for forever, and we will continue to go to New York for forever, it's hardly honeymoon/birthday present material."

A small smile twitched at the edge of Dazai's lips. Now he had him.

"Well there's.... Uh... Portland," Dazai said, staring off into space as he tried to come up with three cities that Chuuya couldn't veto. "Austin, and... Anaheim?"

Chuuya set down the dish he was holding on the side of the sink, staring at Dazai with a look of bewilderment that usually meant he was in shock about how someone as smart as Dazai could be so stupid at the same time. "Anaheim? Is that the fucking city Disneyland is in? You want to flee the city and the work that comes with it, to go on a fucking road trip across America to visit fucking Disneyland?"

Dazai tilted back his head and laughed, and in that moment, Chuuya couldn't help but appreciate the beauty of the man in front of him. It was still hard to believe that Dazai had actually agreed to marry him at times like these, when he was allowed to see his future husband enjoying life for once instead of planning ways to cut it short. 

"Okay, okay, we don't have to go to Disneyland, but my point is that there's plenty to do in America that could keep us entertained for a month."

Chuuya pretended to consider it as he started to alternate layers of the lasagna, enjoying making Dazai come up with ways to convince him to run away with him on a romantic roadtrip.

Sighing, Dazai played the final card he had left. "You can even bring that fancy bike you love oh so much."

Immediately, Chuuya stopped what he was doing, turning to look at Dazai with wide eyes. "You'll actually let me take you for a spin on it?"

"If that's what it takes for you to agree to flee the country with me... Then I suppose I can stomach the idea of riding on that death trap."

"I always thought you were fond of death," Chuuya teased, grin on his face that looked rather sadistic in Dazai's opinion. 

"Not when death means hurtling off of a moving vehicle at 160 kilometers an hour," Dazai countered. "Just because I'm fond of death does not mean I'm fond of the pain that would come with all my limbs being mutilated as I'm thrown off of a death trap waiting for the blood loss to kill me as I bleed out on the ground."

"Like I would ever crash my bike," Chuuya said.

"Accidents happen all the time Chuuya! It's a dangerous game you're playing, getting on that thing!"

"Well Osamu, if you haven't noticed, I quite enjoy danger, I proposed to you, didn't I?"

Dazai felt his cheeks flush against his will, which was fine by him. After all, if he let Chuuya think he'd won, then it would be all that much easier to convince him to go along with his idea. "That you did."

Chuuya had all but forgotten about making dinner now, instead his face mere inches away from his fiancé's, grinning as though he was the luckiest man in the world. "So... America, hm? Next week?"

"Tomorrow," Dazai countered.

"Five days."

"Three."

"Deal."

And then Chuuya's hands were buried in Dazai's collar, pulling him closer as their lips connected, and Dazai was reminded of how much he'd missed Chuuya these past few days he'd been busy with work.

He pulled back after a few moments, smiling softly at Chuuya and cupping his future husband's face in his hands, seeing the same adoration that he knew was present in his own eyes reflected back at him in Chuuya's. And then of course, Dazai had to open his mouth. "Are you standing on your tippy toes to be tall enough to kiss me all the way up here?"

Dazai deserved the resulting punch that came after.

*Saturday, June 6th*

"This is unnerving," Chuuya said as him and his fiancé made their way down the busy New York streets, taking the winding but familiar path to their penthouse suite, to plan out some semblance of a route they'd take across the country on their road trip. "For once the city isn't trying to freeze us to death."

"See?" Dazai replied, nudging Chuuya with his shoulder. "I told you this trip would be a good idea, isn't it nice to visit when it's not freezing cold outside?"

"But it looks weird," Chuuya reiterated. "New York isn't supposed to look like this."

Dazai tilted his head back and laughed, the sun peaking out from behind the clouds in such a way that made his typically dark brown hair shine with a golden tint and Chuuya's heart surged with a burst of love that a younger him would have immediately shoved down and repressed for the rest of eternity. Now though, Chuuya allowed himself to revel in the feeling, of loving and knowing that he was loved in return, before smacking Dazai's shoulder with his hand.

"Shut up shitty mackerel, it's not that funny," Chuuya said, rolling his eyes as he opened the door to their building and made his way over to the elevators.

When the doors dinged open once again to their penthouse suite, it was Chuuya's turn to laugh as the two of them took in the leftover Christmas decorations they'd never actually taken down.

"... Right," Dazai said, looking around at all the out of place mistletoe and garland that was hung up around the place. "I forgot about all that."

"Because it's weird that New York looks like this and isn't covered in snow?" Chuuya asked, the corner of his lips twitching up in a smirk, arms folded over his chest because he knew he'd won.

Dazai just shot him a glare from the corner of his eye, not saying a word because he knew he couldn't refute Chuuya's point anymore, and the two began to take down the decorations they left up year round in anticipation of their next visit to the city in tandem, until the penthouse had everything neatly packed up and ready to be put on display in a few months when they returned that November or December for their next Christmas in the city.

By the time they actually managed to get everything put away though, it was late, and both of them had begun to feel the effects of jet lag kicking in.

"What are you doing?" Chuuya said, having changed into clothes more suitable for falling asleep in, rubbing the tiredness out of his eyes as he stood in the doorway to their living room, trying to figure out what his fiancé was doing standing in front of the couch looking incredibly mellow dramatic.

Dazai turned to face him, and Chuuya saw his hands drop to his side, a small smile on his face, but with a look in his eyes that told a much deeper story. "It's nothing, I'm just..." Dazai turned to face the window overlooking the city, the night sky illuminated by the city streets below that remained busy no matter how late in the night it got. "I like being here with you is all."

Chuuya paused for a second, taking in the living room without all its Christmas decorations, glancing at the city that while it looked different without snow, was still the same at its core, and how he was here, in New York, with Dazai now in the middle of the year, matching rings on their fingers and the two of them standing together proudly, despite all that had happened between them, despite the fact that they were supposed to be on opposite sides because they were partners. That's what they'd always been and what they'd continue to be.

"C'mere," Chuuya said, and as Dazai walked over and wrapped Chuuya up in a hug that was just short of being bone crushing, Chuuya let himself relax as he realized that this was what it felt like to be home.

***

The next morning, Dazai woke to an empty bed, a dark room and the smell of pancakes. 

Ordinarily, he would have been upset at the concept of waking up alone, but as the smell of an assortment of other breakfast foods slowly wafted their way into the bedroom, he figured that perhaps he didn't have to be too pouty if there was such an elaborate breakfast waiting for him.

After mustering up the courage to get up and out of bed, Dazai made his way to the kitchen, where Chuuya had what seemed to be an entire feast laid out on the table already. All the lights were on in the kitchen, which only served to draw Dazai's attention to the fact that it was still completely dark outside the windows.

"Chuuya," Dazai said, attempting to blink the sleep out of his eyes, as he pulled the blanket he'd stolen off of their bed tighter around himself. "Why are you up so early?"

His fiancé turned to him and grinned as he flipped the last of the pancakes on the griddle before turning off the heat. "Well, someone promised me that if we came to New York, I'd get to take him on a joyride."

Dazai's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "And even if someone did agree to this, what exactly does that have to do with waking up before dawn??"

Chuuya's eyes sparkled with mischief, a look that Dazai hadn't regularly seen in his partner's eyes since they were teenagers, and was mildly afraid of whatever was about to come out of Chuuya's mouth next. "I figured what better way to start off our road trip than with a motorcycle ride at sunrise?"

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no," Dazai insisted, taking a step back from the delicious food laid out that was clearly a bribe to get him to agree to whatever death trap Chuuya had in mind for the two of them. "That bike is dangerous enough as it is, and you want me to ride it in the dark?? At night??"

"Technically, it's early morning," Chuuya countered, looking like he'd already won the argument somehow. 

"Night, early morning, it doesn't make a difference, that godforsaken vehicle is already terrifying enough as it is! I don't need to be forced on it when it's dark and harder to see!"

Chuuya laughed, and the corner of Dazai's lips quirked up despite himself and his unwillingness to get on such a dangerous vehicle.

"C'mon scaredy cat, I'll keep you safe, okay? And you did say that you'd be willing to let me take you for a ride... Unless you're going back on your word?"

Dazai made a face, weighing his options before deciding that it was in his best overall interest to let Chuuya win this one, and reluctantly plopped down in a chair at the table.

Grinning triumphantly, Chuuya sat across from him, carrying the plate of pancakes to the table with him, and the two dug in to eat, getting changed and dressed after they finished their breakfast, Chuuya dragging a stubborn Dazai out of their room and to the elevator before they eventually arrived at the parking garage where Chuuya's bike had been shipped over from Japan a few days earlier.

"Are you absolutely sure there's nothing else you'd rather me do for you instead?" Dazai asked, on the verge of pleading for Chuuya to ask literally anything else of him than this as Chuuya straddled the bike, offering the singular helmet to Dazai.

Chuuya snorted. "I'm sure, now put on the helmet and lets get going mackerel, we have a sunrise to catch."

"I'll do the dishes for a week! A month even!" Dazai insisted, even as he put the helmet on and slowly approached the bike, more like he was walking towards a wild animal than anything else.

"And I'm sure you'd find a way to weasel out of that deal too you waste of bandages, now c'mon, all you have to do is step over it like you would a normal bicycle, and just keep your legs close to the body of the bike and hold on to me tight."

Hesitantly, Dazai did as he was instructed, sitting as close as humanely possible to Chuuya to where there was no space at all in between them, Dazai's chest completely flush against Chuuya's back as he wrapped his arms around his partner's waist, gripping him tightly.

"You don't need to hold on quite that tight 'samu," Chuuya told him, his tone gentle and understanding as a loving partner should be, but Dazai could hear the barely restrained teasing hiding underneath Chuuya's tone despite it all. 

Dazai loosened his grip ever so slightly, half wishing that he had opted not to wear a helmet like Chuuya had that way it'd be easier for him to bury his face in Chuuya's shoulder as they rode on this instrument of death, and then, as Chuuya revved the engine a couple of times, Dazai was hit with the violent imagery of him going flying off the bike without the helmet to protect him, and was infinitely grateful for its presence.

And with that, the two of them were off, Chuuya speeding down and out of the parking ramp and onto the streets of New York, which were much more sparse this time of night despite the fact that there were still a much larger number of people out than one would have expected for the hour. Thankfully, they couldn't go too fast without risk of running into other cars on the road, though that didn't seem to stop Chuuya from going as fast as he possibly could given the constraints of the road.

No, the real issue came when the two made it out of the city, and began the trek from the much more urban areas of the state into cities and towns where the houses began to get farther and farther apart, no longer stacked on top of each other to make up for the lack of land offered in such a small area. 

Sooner, rather than later, as the sky started to lighten and Dazai dared to actually take a look at their surroundings, they had made it out into the country-scape, where the roads were long and winding, sending them flying through at speeds Dazai didn't even want to imagine.

And as the sun broke the crest of the horizon before them as they traveled east down roads they'd never actually been before, illuminating their ride with a beauty beyond Dazai's imagination, he could see the look of pure joy etched on Chuuya's face as they flew down the road.

"This is... Actually kind of fun," Dazai reluctantly admitted as the two of them watched the sun rise, driving alongside it's path as it charted its way across the sky.

Chuuya grinned. "See? What'd I tell you?"

Dazai's hands gripped Chuuya's waist just a little bit tighter as they went around a particularly sharp corner. "I still think this thing has way too much potential to give us a really horrible and painful death if you made one wrong move."

"So could just about anything else if someone didn't know what they were doing," Chuuya countered, "but you have to admit, the view is unbeatable isn't it?"

"Yeah," Dazai said, not paying attention to the sunrise on the open road in the slightest. Instead, he was focused on how the sun managed to ignite the fiery red of Chuuya's hair. Focused on the way Chuuya's smile lit up his whole face, even if Dazai could only see parts of it from his angle behind Chuuya. "It really is a priceless view."

And maybe, just maybe, it was a tiny bit worth it to subject himself to riding on such a death trap for just that view alone.

***

"No."

"Yes."

"No, no, no, absolutely hell not."

"But Chuuya, after all I endured in riding that hell trap with you? You can't do me one teensy tiny itty bitty little favor?"

After their early morning ride, Chuuya had parked the bike somewhere in the middle of nowhere so they could walk around a little bit and explore the New York country-side. It was a far different experience from the typical bustle of NYC they were used to experiencing in America, and after a short while of exploring the state that was so familiar and yet so new to them at the same time, Chuuya eventually drove the two of them back to their penthouse in the city, where Dazai unveiled the stunt he'd been waiting for so long to pull.

"I agreed to come to America on a honeymoon with you in exchange for you going on a bike ride with me, this was absolutely nowhere in the deal," Chuuya spat, crossing his arms over his chest, his gaze flickering between Dazai and the absolutely atrocious outfit Dazai had purchased for him.

"But Chuuya, it's pride month, aren't you proud of our relationship?" Dazai asked, giving Chuuya his best puppy dog eyes.

The outfit in question, that Chuuya was so opposed to wearing, was practically an identical copy to the outfit Chuuya usually wore, with the exception being that it was seemingly made entirely out of the mlm pride flag, from head to toe. Dazai was already dressed in a matching one made of the bisexual flag that mimicked his own clothing and grinning at Chuuya.

"You call my fashion sense horrible, and expect me to dress in that??" Chuuya said, gesturing to the suit without even looking at it now as though simply being forced to look at such a garment was offending his fashion capabilities.

"But Chuuya, my dear, you haven't even seen the best part!" Dazai exclaimed, a smile that was only partly mischievous crossing his face as he revealed what seemed to be an exact copy of the hat Chuuya wore upon his head except matching the same color scheme as the suit Dazai had already presented him with.

"Absolutely not," Chuuya said immediately, the disgust on his face imminent as he stared at the hat in horror.

"But isn't it fitting?" Dazai asked, grinning. "A matching hat for my darling little hat rack, I think you should try it on at the very least."

"I'd rather die."

"Hey that's supposed to be my line!"

Chuuya just shot him a glare, and Dazai couldn't help but laugh, reaching forward to try and snatch Chuuya's hat off his head.

Of course, Chuuya saw the attack coming from a mile away and reacted accordingly, ducking out of reach before Dazai could actually get close enough to steal the hat from him, taking a step back to put himself out of arm's reach. "There is absolutely no way in hell that you're getting me to wear that."

"Oh we'll see about that."

***

No less than four hours later, a very angry looking Chuuya stood beside a very smug looking Dazai in a bar for pride themed trivia night, the two of them dressed in the pride flag outfits Dazai had somehow managed to procure for the two of them.

"I hope you know I'm going to murder you in your sleep," Chuuya muttered to Dazai under his breath. "Just because we're engaged does not give you immunity from murder. In fact, it's probably better to murder you now before we're married that way I don't have to take on any of your debts. God only knows how fast you've managed to waste all the money you had saved up from your Port Mafia days with how often you insist on mooching off of me."

"What was that?" Dazai asked, cupping a hand to his ear and leaning down as though he couldn't understand the threats Chuuya was making. "Chibi is so short, I can't hear him when he mumbles under his breath like that, the sound has to travel so far to reach my ears it's all gone by the time it'd reach my eardrums, you'll have to be louder."

Chuuya smacked Dazai in the back of the head for being so ridiculous, because he absolutely deserved it, feeling a sort of smug satisfaction in the way Dazai had to rub the back of his head for a few seconds in order to get the sting of the pain to go away.

"Dogs aren't supposed to be so mean to their owners," Dazai pouted, having the nerve to look at Chuuya with puppy dog eyes of all things.

"Yeah, well, fiancés aren't supposed to dress their fiancés in such horrible clothing, and considering I have never been and will never be your dog, only one of us really has the right to feel cheated out of a deal right now," Chuuya fired back, still glaring at his husband to be.

Dazai rolled his eyes, wrapping an arm around Chuuya's shoulders and Chuuya would be lying if he said the gesture was completely unwelcome. "Awww, c'mon slug, loosen up a little bit! It's our last night in New York, and besides, you agreed to come dressed in that outfit - which I spent so long trying to buy for you, honestly, I can't believe you don't appreciate it more - so really, you shouldn't feel cheated out of a deal either!"

"And besides," Dazai continued, his eyes gleaming with a competitive look in his eyes that usually meant that whoever was competing against him needed to back down. "Don't you want to prove to the rest of the bar that Double Black is the best at trivia, even in another country?"

Chuuya had to admit that Dazai did have a point there. There was much that could be said about their relationship and in particular the ways that they struggled with cooperation before they figured out how to play to each other's strengths rather than focusing on each other's weaknesses. However, there was one habit that was still hard for both of them to break out of, which was the sheer amount of competitiveness that swelled through each of them any time a challenge was issued.

Normally it was fine. Almost everyone back in Yokohama had heard of the infamous Double Black or faced off against one of them individually in a challenge of sorts, and therefore was terrified of challenging the two of them together.

It was also fine when they challenged each other. After all, when you went into battle with a worthy adversary, you had to be willing to admit defeat some of the time - as long as you were admitting defeat a significantly less amount of times than your rival did. So normally, it was fine. Double Black remained unchallenged as a group because everyone knew not to enter into any sort of bet or challenge against them, and when they challenged each other, it was usually clear who the winner was.

But here, in America, in New York, where no one knew their name, knew who they were or what the two of them had been through together, no one had yet banned them from things such as community trivial in a local bar. Because surely, if they had, the two of them would have been kicked out from the bar without hesitation, because no one, no one wanted to go up against Double Black in any sort of competition, regardless of whether or not the two were expected to be good at whatever competition they were holding.

Chuuya cracked his knuckles, allowing a small grin to spread across his face despite his unhappiness with the outfit situation. "Of course I am! Like I'd ever let us lose at gay trivia."

Two hours after that, a very drunk Double Black was kicked out of the bar, both of them laughing their asses off as Chuuya triumphantly held the trivia cup above his head, grinning from ear to ear in victory.

"I told you I wouldn't let us lose!" Chuuya boasted as they made their way down the street, now cradling the trophy to his chest as though any of the people that passed them by on the sidewalk might potentially try and steal the trivia cup from him. 

Dazai slung his arm around his fiancé as they walked down the street. "Did we really win if we had to fight off like four other couples for that trivia cup through?"

"We only had to fight them off because they accused us of cheating!"

Raising an eyebrow, Dazai shot him a look.

"What? It's not our fault none of the other couples came prepared with a way of almost telepathically communicating with each other, that's on them, not on us, and besides, it's not like we were 'cheating' in any way they could prove, all of them were too stupid to figure it out, so really no matter how good at trivia they were, we're the ones that deserve the cup."

Dazai snorted, pulling Chuuya in closer to kiss him softly on the forehead, the faint buzz from the alcohol making him more physically affectionate than usual while they were out in public. "... I love you Chuuya."

Chuuya turned to look at Dazai as they walked, his cheeks reddened slightly, though whether that was from the drinks or from Dazai's words he'd never admit. "I love you too Osamu."

*Monday, June 8th*

While their time in New York had been a nice break from all that was going on in their day to day lives back in Yokohama, both of them were excited to hit the road and begin to head towards their first destination, picked courtesy of Chuuya as repayment for wearing the pride outfit Dazai had picked out for him the night before.

"Why, of all places, would you pick here to go?" Dazai asked, his legs shaky as he got off of Chuuya's bike. It had been a long argument between the two of them the previous night as to how exactly they would be road tripping across the country that had been quickly settled when Chuuya had faced Dazai with the ultimatum of paying for a car to rent himself, or trusting Chuuya to safely get them from one place to the next on his bike, which was free.

Dazai reluctantly chose the latter option, and so the two of them made the nearly 200 mile trek from New York to Baltimore on Chuuya's bike alone.

Next time, I'm going to have to come up with a better excuse to not ride that death trap across the country, Dazai thought to himself. Although he did have to admit that spending the past 3 hours pressed up against Chuuya wasn't the absolute worst way to spend his time, especially since driving with Chuuya for three hours in a car most likely would have resulted in Dazai saying or doing something that annoyed Chuuya enough to distract Chuuya from driving and led to several almost car accidents, so perhaps it was for the best that Chuuya had convinced him to take the bike instead.

"Actually," Dazai said, squinting up at the building Chuuya had taken them to, not having asked any questions about where they were going other than to confirm that they were headed west. "where the hell is here?"

Chuuya snorted. "Tch, judging the place before you even know where we are? Typical."

Without waiting for a response, or looking like he was at all affected by the fact that he'd been riding on a motorcycle for the past three hours, Chuuya turned and headed for the entrance of the large building that sat on the edge of the waterfront. 

Dazai rushed to catch up, surprised at how quickly Chuuya had managed to get away, actually having to hurry to catch his stride. "Chuuuuuyaaaa, aren't you sore from the bike ride? How can you walk so fast?"

Rolling his eyes, a small grin of smug satisfaction spread across Chuuya's face. "Just hurry up you shitty mackerel, I wanna get there as soon as it opens."

By the time they made it to the front of the building and Chuuya had bought their admission tickets, Dazai had finally figured out where they were. 

"Chuuya," he began, fighting off a laugh and a smile. "Why are we at the National Aquarium?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Chuuya asked, grinning triumphantly. "I figured a shitty mackerel like you deserved to come home to his people."

Dazai burst into laughter, attracting the stares of several other guests around them, holding his sides as he let the laughs shake his body, feeling happier than he had in a long time. While he never regret his decision to leave the Port Mafia and join the Armed Detective Agency, he did miss all the time he got to spend with Chuuya when they'd been partners and seeing each other all day. The subtle jabs and odd sense of humor that only the other half of Double Black got felt isolating at times, especially when there were so few people that could match Dazai's level of intelligence and annoyance in particular.

It was part of the reason he'd suggested they get away for a while in the first place, as he missed getting to spend time with Chuuya the way they used to when they were younger, and this, a joke he should have seen coming from miles away, the fact that Chuuya had agreed to wear the ridiculous outfit he'd picked out for him just to bring Dazai to an aquarium and call him a mackerel, well. Dazai had said yes for a reason.

Chuuya's eyes softened as he watched Dazai laugh, glad to see the other brighten at such a stupid joke they'd driven three hours for, offering his fiancé a hand as he eventually calmed down from his fit of laughter. "C'mon you tacky bastard, let's go look at some fish."

Smiling, Dazai took Chuuya's hand in his own, squeezing it softly as the two of them wandered around the aquarium, enjoying time just spent in the other's presence, and Chuuya pointing at every single fish tank and rating them based off of how good of an insult its name would make.

Dazai couldn't have asked for a better date.

***

While the two spent a few more days wandering around the city and exploring, most of their time was spend debating where exactly they wanted to go next.

"We are not riding 8 hours on your bike to Dollywood."

"We wouldn't have to ride 8 hours on my bike to Dollywood if we just... Didn't go to Dollywood, why do you insist we go to Dollywood?"

"Excuse you, what do you have against Dolly Parton?! She's a national treasure!"

"NOT OF OUR NATION!"

"You're telling me you don't like Dolly Parton?"

"Not enough to make an 8 hour trek to Dollywood."

"I want a divorce."

"We're not fucking married yet asshole."

"I don't care, I want a divorce."

"I have literally never heard you listen to Dolly Parton music at all in your life ever, and I have arguably spent more time around you than literally anyone else in the history of existence."

Dazai shot Chuuya a glare before clearing his throat before starting to sing the most god awful rendition of "9 to 5" known to man, because while Dazai was good at many things, singing was most definetly not one of them.

"Stop, stop, stop!" Chuuya said, already rubbing his temples to stop the oncoming headache he knew would follow if Dazai went on singing for much longer.

Grudgingly, Dazai shut his mouth, arms folded over his chest like a petulant toddler who was threatening to start crying again if he didn't get his way.

"I... Suppose we can stop by Dollywood, but I am not spending more than a day in that godforsaken theme park dedicated to a woman that sings country music," Chuuya relented, saying country music as though it was so putrid he couldn't even stand the thought of such a genre of music.

Dazai grinned, his whole face lighting up and clapping his hands. "I knew you'd see reason! Now, I was thinking that we can ditch the bike and send it on a boat back home and rent a ca-"

"We are not sending the bike back to Yokohama because you can't handle an 8 hour bike ride to a place that you insisted on going to in the first place!"

"But Chuuuuuyaaa," Dazai whined, slouching in on himself from where he was sitting on the counter of their hotel room. "Eight hours is sooooo loooooooooong to be stuck on that death trap! The three hours it took to get from New York to Baltimore was bad enough! You wouldn't be able to handle 8 hours on the bike either!"

There was a chance that they could have resolved the issue without pointless violence before then, but Dazai had already stoked the flames of competition in Chuuya and now there was no going back.

"Oh? Is that so? I think you're just being a baby about it, because I know I could ride the whole 8 hours in a single sitting!"

*Thursday, June 11th*

Twenty two hours later, both Chuuya and Dazai were holed up in a hotel room in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, each suffering from an acute case of saddle sores, and neither one wanting to move in the slightest at risk of agitating their wounds any further. 

"This is all your fault you know," Dazai grumbled, rolling over on the bed they now shared without hesitation to glare at Chuuya's back. "If you hadn't turned it into a competition-"

"If I hadn't turned it into a competition?" Chuuya said, also rolling over to face Dazai, putting as much heat into a glare as one could when they were also suffering from incredibly sore thighs and ass from riding a motorcycle for 8 hours in a single sitting after already riding the motorcycle for 3 hours in one go just a few days before. "You're the one that said I couldn't handle it! I think you're the one that turned it into a competition! I never would have insisted we make the drive all in one go if you hadn't insulted my bike riding endurance!"

"And yet, look who's in just as bad a state as I am from all that bike riding, hm?" Dazai shot back, which initiated an increasingly loud bout of bickering back and forth between the two of them until whoever was staying in the room next to them banged on the wall and yelled at them to quiet down.

Chuuya and Dazai both instantly froze, looking from each other to the wall where the other hotel guest had banged on, then back to each other before bursting into laughter.

While in the past their argument might have continued until neither of them were on speaking terms with the other for a week or so, they'd both grown up enough to admit that neither of them wanted to get into a real fight over who's fault it was that they were both sore from too much travel in a single sitting.

"I... Probably shouldn't have insisted we make the whole drive in one trip," Chuuya admitted.

"No, you're right, I shouldn't have goaded you into insisting we take the bike either, no matter how much fun it was to see you try and act like you were totally fine once we arrived," Dazai said.

Chuuya smiled softly, leaning in to kiss Dazai softly on the lips, letting out a breath as the two of them laid there, side by side, grateful for the fact that if nothing else they were suffering through their poor decisions together instead of apart the way they had for so many years.

"You know, next time we take an impromptu road trip across America, one of us should probably plan out where we're going and how we're going to get there ahead of time so we don't run into this issue," Chuuya said a few moments later.

"Next time?" Dazai asked, his eyes sparkling with mischief as he stared into his future husband's eyes. "You plan on taking another road trip across America in the future?"

Chuuya shrugged, or at least, shrugged as much as he could given that he was still laying in bed on his side. "I never know what's coming next when I'm with you, so I figure it's best to lay the ground rules out now. Maybe we'll come back next June for your birthday too, make it a yearly trip or something. Or we can travel in November or something, and end in New York instead of starting there."

Dazai smiled softly, ignoring the way tears prickled threateningly at the corners of his eyes. "Yeah, that'd be nice."

After studying his face for a moment, Chuuya spoke up again. "What's going on in your head right now?"

"Nothing," Dazai insisted, bringing his arm up to wipe away the unshed tears from his eyes. "It's just..." He hesitated for a moment, trying to figure out the best way to articulate what it was he wanted to say. "Before New York with you, when we were 15, I never actually really planned on what I wanted to do for the future. Most of the time it was just figuring out ways to get through the next couple of hours, or the day even. Sometimes as far as the next week or month, but only rarely was it more than a day or two that I'd account for."

"And then...?" Chuuya prompted for Dazai to continue after he'd been silent for a few beats longer than he would have expected.

"And then New York happened, and all of a sudden I was teasing you about coming back next year, and the year after that, and the year after that, and it became... Well, it became a promise really, to make it through to the next year because I had to be in New York with you for December. That was... The farthest into the future I had ever pictured myself, and it's just nice sometimes to be able to talk about what we'll be doing this time next year without having to worry about making it to next year, you know?"

Wordlessly, Chuuya moved over on the bed until he was close enough to wrap his arms around Dazai, holding him tightly in his arms as if to remind them both that they were both still there. 

Dazai buried his face in Chuuya's shoulder and allowed the tears to well up in his eyes again before he shut them tightly, content in the feeling of being loved.

*Monday, June 15th*

The two spent the entire weekend lounging about the hotel room and recovering from their injuries and just enjoying each other's company before venturing out to Dollywood that Monday.

"Why the fuck is this like an actual theme park?" Chuuya asked, staring at the map of the park they'd been handed as they made their way through the gates. "Is that- There's an actual goddamn waterslide?? In Dollywood? Multiple waterslides?? And rollercoasters??"

Dazai just stared at the look of astonishment on Chuuya's face and did his best not to laugh. "Yeah? You didn't know this?"

"No! I thought Dollywood was just like... A museum or something dedicated to Dolly Parton with like, I dunno, a Small World-esque ride capturing the details of her life and plays country music or something??"

Covering the back of his mouth with his hand, Dazai tried and failed to stifle his laugh.

"Shuddup," Chuuya said, smacking Dazai's shoulder even as his face flushed red.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," Dazai said, once he'd gotten control of himself again, grinning from ear to ear. "You drove 8 hours on that bike of yours, suffered the worst case of saddle sores known to man with me, to get to Dollywood, which this entire time you thought was just a boring museum dedicated to Dolly Parton, a woman who sings country music, which is your least favorite genre of music, all because I said I wanted to go?"

"Well... Yeah," Chuuya said, pointedly not looking in Dazai's direction. "You insisted on coming, and what else was I going to do, just... Not take you to Dollywood because I didn't want to go?"

Unable to resist the urge for another second, Dazai scooped Chuuya up in his arms, spinning him around in joy and peppering kisses all over his face.

"Hey- HEY!" Chuuya protested, face now BRIGHT red in embarrassment at such bold and public displays of affection before Dazai set him back down again, keeping his arms wrapped around Chuuya's waist, and grinning widely.

"Have I ever mentioned that I love you Chuuya Nakahara?" Dazai asked, still grinning like the lovesick idiot he was.

"What in the world has gotten into you? Have you been eating mushrooms again? I really thought those would have gotten confiscated when we went through customs, but then again, you have always been prone to finding ways around stuff like that-" Chuuya muttered, more to himself than Dazai at that point.

"No, I haven't been eating mushrooms again," Dazai promised, laughing softly to himself. "I'm just... You did all that for me, despite the fact that you thought this place would be boring as hell, because you love me."

Chuuya flushed red again as he looked up at Dazai, still somehow managing to look annoyed despite his flustered-ness as though he was in shock that it hadn't gotten through Dazai's thick skull yet. "Of course I would, I'd die for you Osamu."

Dazai smiled, taking Chuuya's hand in his own and dragging him deeper into the theme park. "And I'd live for you Chuuya."

***

Dollywood was admittedly more fun than Chuuya had been expecting, and so they stayed for an additional day to have the chance to explore the full extent of the theme park, although both the lifeguards and Chuuya had gotten incredibly concerned at how long Dazai was capable of holding his breath for underwater while remaining completely motionless on the surface. But like all good things, their time in Pigeon Forge eventually came to an end, and then it was off to the next city.

"Las Vegas?" Dazai asked, looking incredulous. "You want to go all the way from Dollywood to Las Vegas? There's nothing in between here and Vegas you want to do?? Do you see how much map is between here and Vegas?? And you don't want to stop to explore any of it??"

"I'm not suggesting we ride straight through to Vegas, that's like a 29 hour drive, and we'd get saddle sores that were like ten times worse than the ones we got on our way to Dollywood if we did it all in one go, but you got to pick Dollywood, and so I'm choosing Vegas for my next pick on the road trip," Chuuya insisted. "And besides, I thought you didn't care where we went as long as we headed west. Vegas is west of Dollywood."

Dazai made a face. "I mean... Technically you're not wrong, that just feels like a very long stretch of trip to go without stopping for anything in between, which seems like it'd make for a very boring road trip."

Chuuya raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think we're capable of having a boring road trip? We'll find a way to make it interesting, that's hardly the part we need to be concerned with."

"That... Is true," Dazai said with a laugh, smiling slightly. 

"So... Vegas?" Chuuya prompted.

Dazai contemplated for a moment before coming up with a counter offer. "Well... You know what's awfully close to Vegas?"

Chuuya raised an eyebrow in response.

"Anaheim."

The raised eyebrow on Chuuya's face immediately dropped, his lips falling into a thin, unimpressed line. "We are not going to Disneyland."

"But Chuuuyaaa, by the time we get all the way from here to Vegas it'll already be my birthday... So if we just take a liiiiitle teeny tiny detour and go to Disneyland first, just for my birthday, and then we can head back up to Vegas the very next day instead? It's only a four hour drive, I promise, don't you want me to spend my birthday in the happiest place on earth?"

Chuuya's eyes narrowed and he glared at Dazai before giving in with a sigh. "Alright, fine, we can detour to Disneyland before we go to Vegas, but only because it's your birthday."

Dazai grinned, wrapping his arms around Chuuya and pulling him into a hug. "Thank you Chuuya! I promise, you definetly won't regret it!"

*Friday, June 19th*

Almost immediately upon arriving at Disneyland, Chuuya began to regret his decision to grant Dazai his birthday wish.

It started innocent enough, with Dazai insisting they get matching Mickey Mouse ears and then it turned into Dazai insisting they take pictures together EVERYWHERE with the matching ears on, and Dazai dragging Chuuya on all the rides and eating at all the little Disney shops that were way too overpriced for Chuuya's taste, and then buying souvenirs that somehow were even more economically draining than the food.

"Dazai," Chuuya interrupted as they stood in the center of one of the many many giftshops in Disneyland. "What in the world are you planning on doing with that many snow globes?"

The man in question had no fewer than three snow globes bundled up in his arms as he attempted to scoop them all off the shelf and put them in the basket they'd been using to carry their purchases in one fell swoop. 

"I thought they'd make good decorations for the penthouse," Dazai insisted, somehow managing to gently drop them all into the basket without a single one of them breaking.

"We don't need-" Chuuya began, and then he saw the puppy dog eyes that Dazai was giving him that practically screamed "But it's my birthday!" and Chuuya cut himself off before he could get any further through his sentence.

If Dazai wanted to go a little overboard on his birthday shopping who was Chuuya to judge?

The two made their way through the park, Chuuya letting himself be pulled every which way depending on whatever had caught Dazai's eye and slowly but surely, he had to admit that it was fun being in a place that was so bright and cheery, and it was impossible not to be happy when he got to see the lover of his life acting like a kid in a candy store as he got to experience all the lighthearted joy that Disneyland had to offer. 

However, just as Chuuya was starting to enjoy himself, despite the bags of merchandise he'd been lugging around with Upon The Tainted Sorrow, Dazai spotted a kid walk up to one of the cast members, and hand them a book to sign.

"... What was that?" Dazai asked, and though Chuuya didn't yet know how this was going to go wrong, he had a sinking feeling that it would in fact go wrong in some way shape or form. 

"The autograph books?" Chuuya asked. "They sell them in like every shop, people buy them and collect a bunch of different character's autographs as they go around the park as like a souvenir."

The light in Dazai's eyes never meant anything good, but for some reason, Chuuya hadn't yet learned how to put a stop to whatever absurd plot or scheme was going to come out of Dazai's mouth next.

"I bet I could fill up an autograph book faster than you could," Dazai said with a smirk.

"No, no, no, I'm not falling for this again," Chuuya said. "That's how you got me to do trivia in New York and why we drove for 8 hours straight on my bike from Baltimore to Pigeon Forge, we are not doing this again here, it's not going to end well for either of us."

But of course, despite the fact that Dazai was normally the smartest and most intelligent person in the room, there were other times where his child-like tendencies won out and he had no choice but to get on everyone's nerves and prove his superiority to everyone via a challenge of the most ridiculous nature. Such as filling up an autograph book faster than Chuuya did.

"Sounds like you're scared you won't be able to beat me," Dazai teased, purposefully goading Chuuya on to convince him to agree to such a ridiculous bet. "I think it'd be easy, but if you can't do it..."

"Tch, I could wipe the floor with you any time, any place, in any competition ever, but you're plotting something right now and I don't like the look of it, so I'm not falling for your teasing. This time, I'm going to be the bigger man."

Dazai raised an eyebrow, "The bigger man? How could you be the bigger man when you're so-"

"Shut. Up," Chuuya spat out through gritted teeth.

"Please Chuuya?" Dazai said, suppressing his chuckle at Chuuya's annoyance. "I swear on my supply of canned crab I won't let it get out of hand, but it would be a really, really cool birthday present if I could get two whole autograph books filled with Disney character signatures, and I think having a little birthday competition wouldn't hurt anybody."

It definetly could, and almost certainly would, but it was Dazai's birthday after all, and Chuuya did love him, so he supposed that perhaps, just this once, agreeing to a little competition couldn't possibly be that bad of an ordeal.

"... Fine," Chuuya said, letting out a breath. "But when I win, I want to pick the next stop after Vegas too."

Dazai grinned. "Oh Chuuya, Chuuya, Chuuya, you can have whatever you want if you win, because there's absolutely no chance of you winning!"

***

The rules were simple, each of them had to get a picture with a cast member and their signature. There were no duplicate signatures allowed, which meant that each of them had to collect an autograph book of entirely different signatures in it, and they had to inform the other of who's signatures they'd already gotten.

After dropping all their souvenirs off at the hotel Dazai had insisted they get, because it was "part of the full Disney experience", the two returned to the park with freshly bought autograph books in hand, and set off on a race to see who could fill their book the fastest.

Unsurprisingly, it took both of them a lot longer to get signatures than they would have thought, as racing around the park to find a unique signature was exhausting, though more so for Dazai than it was for Chuuya, as Chuuya was used to doing the grunt work of having to run around everywhere, and used Upon the Tainted Sorrow to help speed things up just the tiniest bit.

What was surprising though, was how rapidly Chuuya's phone began to blow up with pictures from Dazai of every single cast member he just so happened to run into and get signatures of, his phone buzzing with a new notification from Dazai once every five minutes, while it was taking Chuuya at least ten to find the next person and get their signature despite the fact that by all means, Chuuya should have been getting there faster.

"He's cheating, I'm sure of it," Chuuya muttered under his breath as he checked his phone to see a selfie Dazai had taken with Peter Pan, the most triumphant asshole-ish smirk he'd ever seen.

By the time the park closed, they'd both only filled up their autograph books a little more than halfway, and so Chuuya had reluctantly agreed to stay in Disneyland for another day so they could finish the bet.

Somehow, the two managed to go the whole day without causing too much trouble. Sure, seeing two grown men rush through the park at breakneck speeds in order to ask a person dressed in a Disney character costume was a little odd, but in terms of Double Black antics, that was hardly anything. 

No, the real issue came when the two ran up to the same cast member at the exact same time, in the middle of New Orleans Square to obtain the very last signature they needed in order to fill their book.

And really, they hadn't meant to get into an argument about who technically had gotten their first, and they didn't mean to accidentally pull the cast member dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow into their argument, and they really didn't mean for Dazai to cancel Chuuya's ability at the exact wrong moment, and send all three of them careening backwards into the fountain that sat in the center of New Orleans Square and get them all soaking wet.

It just sort of... Happened, and the next thing they knew, they were both drenched and thrown out of the parks with the kind warning to never ever show their faces in Disneyland again.

"DID YOU JUST GET US THROWN OUT OF FUCKING DISNEYLAND???" Chuuya asked as they made their way through the parking lot back to the truck they had rented to avoid making the trek to California on the back of Chuuya's bike, instead storing the bike in the truck bed and making the day and a half drive in that.

"I... Think I did?" Dazai asked, still looking in disbelief himself. His bandages were soaked through and they'd have to stop somewhere to change them, but Dazai seemed more caught up in the fact that he'd pulled off such a feat than in his own discomfort at such a feeling. "Oh Kunikida is going to have a heart attack when he hears about this one."

"Maybe it's just me, but I get the feeling that your first reaction to being banned from Disneyland for life is not supposed to be about how your coworker is going to die when he hears what you did."

Dazai laughed as they finally made their way to the car, grinning from ear to ear. "I'm sorry for getting us banned from Disneyland Chuuya," he said as sincerely as he could possibly manage in that moment. "But you have to admit it was kinda funny."

Chuuya just turned to stare at Dazai for a few moments, at the darkening spot on the pavement as the water slowly began to drip off of them, and the fact that they'd gotten thrown out of Disneyland of all places, because they were fighting over who could get more signatures in an autograph book meant for children, and couldn't help but laugh too.

"Happy birthday you tacky bastard," Chuuya said, throwing the autograph book that had miraculously managed to survive their fall into the fountain at Dazai's chest before climbing in the driver's seat of the truck, shaking his head in a fond sense of disbelief that he had ended up here, in this moment with the person he loved more than anyone or anything else in the world. "Sometimes, I can't believe the things I do for you."

Dazai laughed as he got in on the other side. "I mean, they do say that love makes you do crazy things."

Chuuya snorted. "Oh trust me, I'm aware. After all I do you, don't I?"

Dazai choked on air.

***

"Chuuya, look, there's a sign for Little Tokyo!" Dazai pointed out the window as they drove through LA to find a place to change clothes and get on the road to Vegas.

"No, no, absolutely not."

"But wouldn't it be fun to see how accurate it is?"

"Dazai, we are soaking wet and I personally am freezing, I am not making a detour in Little Tokyo so we can walk around soaking wet and freezing cold just to see how accurate it is."

There was blissful silence in the car for a few moments, and then-

"Chuuya, is it gay if we're in Japan but Japan is in America?"

"Who cares if it's gay? As long as I'm with you, I'm sure you'll find some way to to turn it gay anyways."

"Aww, Chuuya, I love you too."

*Monday, June 22nd*

They arrived in Vegas a little after noon the next day, having found a hotel to stay in just outside LA's city limits so that they could get changed and rest for the night before making the journey to Vegas, and Dazai would swear that he had never seen Chuuya in a happier mood. 

Granted, it could have been the fact that he was so excited to get the hell away from Disneyland after the two had been kicked out, but there was something more to it than just that.

It was comforting for both of them, to be in Vegas in comparison to Baltimore or Pigeon Forge. While Dazai and Chuuya had been coming to America for years now, they'd really only experienced the hustle and bustle of New York City, that was always alive no matter what time of night it was, still bright with people laughing and talking as they made their way up and down the streets, heading out to start their fun or coming home from a night full of it. And though both of them considered New York to be their home away from home, neither of them had considered that they'd miss the night life of New York City as much as they did, so in a way, seeing how Las Vegas was bustling with people just like New York was... Well, it felt a bit like coming home.

"I'd like to be clear from the start, that for the rest of this road trip, I would very much like to not get kicked out of any more places, okay?" Chuuya said after they had checked into their hotel room and gotten everything settled in.

Dazai laughed. "I make no promises, but I will try my best," he said, leaning over to kiss Chuuya's cheek. "I will be on my best behavior from here on out."

Chuuya raised an eyebrow at that, as if to say he wasn't sure how much he truly believed that, but didn't comment on it.

"So, what do you want to do first?" Dazai asked.

Chuuya checked the time on his watch before grinning up at Dazai. "Well, I think we have just enough time to shop for the right attire, because tonight, we have dinner reservations.

Of all the places they could have gone to in Vegas first, Dazai should not have been surprised that Chuuya wanted to spend their first night dining at Hell's Kitchen.

They were seated close enough to the kitchens that they had an excellent view of both the kitchens and were within earshot of all the yelling going on between Chuuya's favorite celebrity chef and all the contestants who were supposed to be providing an excellent dinner service for the two of them.

"We're here, we're actually here, I can't believe it," Chuuya said, looking around the restaurant as they waited for their appetizers to be served, practically vibrating out of his seat in excitement. 

Dazai smiled softly. "If I had known you'd be so excited to come here of all places, I would have suggested we come here sooner."

"Shuddup, you can't tell me you don't think this is insanely cool too," Chuuya said. "I mean the chance to have dinner made in the same kitchen that the G-"

"Good afternoon sirs, are you two ready to order?" the waiter said, interrupting Chuuya's sentence.

Rather than being annoyed by the interruption though, Chuuya only looked more excited, quickly spitting off both his own order and Dazai's, having known the other for so long that he was well accustomed to things that Dazai's picky pallet would and wouldn't enjoy.

Dazai just smiled as the waiter took their order back to the kitchens, enjoying the way Chuuya's face lit up as their appetizer order and table number was called out to the kitchens so they could start working on their food.

"Has anyone ever told you how adorable you are when you're excited about something?" Dazai asked.

"You say that as though your possessive ass would let anyone else tell me that, even if the thought had ever crossed their mind," Chuuya said, chuckling slightly. "And besides, you should have seen yourself when we were first wandering around Disneyland. You looked like the most excited five year old ever."

Dazai rolled his eyes, but was grinning nonetheless. "It was fun to get to explore, although it was arguably more fun to get kicked out. Anyone can walk around Disneyland, but it takes a very special skill to manage to get banned for life."

"I don't think you're supposed to want whatever special skills it takes to get banned for life, but I'm glad at least one of us is enthused about that whole ordeal."

It was a nice meal for both of them, and while the food wasn't necessarily Dazai's favorite, he had to admit that Chuuya had chosen well for him. And the expressions he got to see on Chuuya's face any time there was even the slightest hint of a commotion in the kitchens more than made up for the lack of taste in the food.

After dinner, the two took the long route back to their hotel, enjoying the way the city was lit up at night, and the lights and the commotion all around them, walking around the strip and just taking in all the sights before eventually going to sleep for the night, getting up the next day to explore more of the city all over again.

In total, they spent about a week in Vegas, going back to Hell's Kitchen each night for dinner because Dazai could never deny Chuuya the chance to see one of his idols again, not when he got so enthused each time they sat down for dinner. They made a fortune at the various casinos that lined the strip, leaving each one before the dealers could get too suspicious of how much they were winning, but between Dazai's ability to count cards, and their combined ability to read the dealers or other players, it was practically too easy for them to walk away with the biggest jackpots.

It was Sunday night, on their final day in Vegas that they'd decided to go bar hopping, and both of them had seen more than a few people stumble out before them, loudly declaring they were going to get married.

"Sometimes... I wish that could be us," Chuuya said, squeezing Dazai's hand tightly as they walked back to their hotel that evening.

"... What do you mean?" Dazai asked, before following Chuuya's gaze across the street to a group of people celebrating either a drunken marriage. "... Ah"

"I'm... Sorry that everything has been so busy, back home, that we haven't had time to plan anything," Chuuya said, the ends of his words slurred a little despite the tolerance he'd built up from his somewhat extreme wine drinking hobby. "I just... I want it to be perfect, y'know? You... You deserve perfect, after all the shit you've been through."

Dazai felt his cheeks flush slightly, his heartbeat speeding up despite how much he prided himself on being able to control basic bodily functions like that. "Chuuya, you don't have to worry about that, I promise."

"No, no, I know, it's just... I've really enjoyed getting to spend this month with you, despite... Everything that went wrong, and I, I promise when we get home soon, 'm.... 'm gonna give you a key to my apartment."

Dazai opened his mouth to speak but Chuuya cut him off again before he could.

"Or, we should pick a new one or something, like we did in New York. Find someplace between Port Mafia headquarters and the Agency, that way you can't use the distance as an excuse to be late every day," Chuuya snorted, before looking up at Dazai. "...We can buy another couch together, for our second apartment together."

Tears welled up in Dazai's eyes and he hurriedly wiped them away before Chuuya could notice.

But of course, Chuuya still noticed anyways, and brought Dazai's hand up to his lips to place a kiss over where his ring lay on his finger.

"I love you 'samu... And I can't wait to marry you one day."

Dazai leaned down to press a soft kiss to Chuuya's lips, smiling softly, his heart overflowing with love for the man in his arms. "I love you more than anything Chuuya, and I can't wait to marry you too."

*Monday, June 29th*

"I am not letting you drive the car," Chuuya said as they packed up the last of their things from the hotel room and got ready to leave. 

"You've driven this entire trip, can I pleeeease drive us to our final destination?"

"I've driven the entire time because you would crash the car if you were allowed behind the wheel," Chuuya countered. "Just tell me where we're headed and I'll get us there."

"But that would ruin the surprise!" Dazai insisted, trying and failing to subtly steal the keys to the truck from Chuuya's pocket. "I promise I won't crash the car if you let me drive."

Chuuya's eyes narrowed and he gave his fiancé a look. "How long exactly is this drive to our final stop?"

"Psshh, it's not that long," Dazai said, muttering the rest of his sentence under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing... I just said it's kinda maybe sorta a 16 hour drive is all."

"Nope, no, no, no, no way, not at all, I am not letting you sit behind the wheel for 16 hours, we'd both end up dead."

"Would not!"

"Dazai, have you ever actually driven a car?"

"Yes."

"Have you driven a car in America before?"

"... No," Dazai admitted. "But that's only because you haven't let me!"

"Yeah, no, I'm not letting you drive for the first time on foreign soil on a 16 hour trip."

"But Chuuuuyaaa!"

"No buts, if you really want our destination to be a surprise then you can tell me which way to turn, and then I won't know where we're going until we actually get there."

Dazai sighed. "Fine, I suppose that works."

What Chuuya had not taken into account however, was that Dazai was just as bad a navigator as he was a driver, and what should have taken them only a singular, very long day, actually ended up taking them three whole days to complete, after they accounted for the fact that they had to stop and find a hotel for two nights so Chuuya could get some rest after dealing with the stress that was Dazai trying to navigate without giving away where they were headed.

"Portland?" Chuuya asked, sounding incredulous as they pulled into the city late on Wednesday night. "You got us lost no less than 14 different times just for us to end up in Portland of all places? What the hell is so important about Portland that we had to end our trip here!?"

Dazai just yawned in response, stretching his arms out as they got out of the car and headed in to the hotel. "I'll explain more tomorrow, right now I'm-" another yawn "-really tired, and I think we should head to bed."

"You've been sleeping in the car for the past two hours, I had to wake you up to make sure I was getting off on the right exit."

"Sleeping in the car doesn't count as real sleep, it's too uncomfortable, and I'm sure you're tired from all that driving too, lets get some rest and then we can explore the city tomorrow," Dazai said, eyes already half closed from tiredness as he grabbed Chuuya's face with both his hands, squishing his cheeks slightly before giving him a sleepy kiss. 

Dazai yawned for a third time as he pulled back and Chuuya had to resist the urge to yawn as well, the tiredness from the past three days hitting him all at once. "... Alright fine, we can go to bed, but tomorrow, you're bringing me the hotel's complimentary breakfast in bed and you're going to explain why the hell it was so important to keep Portland a secret."

Dazai just smiled. "Of course my dear, whatever you ask for." 

And though he said it in a joking tone, both of them could hear the pure devotion hidden behind Dazai's words.

The next morning, true to his word, Dazai woke up first, venturing down to the hotel lobby to bring breakfast up for him and Chuuya, not trusting himself to go anywhere near the kitchen that was included in their hotel suite for fear of burning down the building.

"Mmm, thank you," Chuuya said as Dazai crawled back into bed, pushing himself to sit upright and use Dazai's shoulder as a headrest as he allowed himself to gradually wake up in the coziness of their bed. The two ate in silence for a while as Chuuya slowly came to his senses before he finally spoke up.

"So, what's the surprise in Portland hm?" Chuuya asked, looking at Dazai.

Dazai smiled softly in response, a mischievous glint in his eyes that Chuuya was no longer afraid of. "Well if I told you now, that would ruin the surprise wouldn't it?"

Chuuya chuckled. "Well how long exactly am I supposed to wait for this surprise then hm?"

"Just a few more days," Dazai reassured him. "And I swear it'll be worth it."

"So what's the agenda for today then?" Chuuya asked as he finished the last of his breakfast and slid out of bed, ready to get tackle whatever Dazai had planned for the day.

"Today, I don't actually have anything planned, I just thought we could explore the city a little bit together."

And so that was what they did. They wandered around the city, exploring the various things Portland had to offer, visiting the International Rose Test Garden and wandering around the Portland Art Museum before Chuuya realized the Willamette Valley held wine tastings just 20 minutes outside the city, and then the rest of their day was spent tasting the various wines Portland had to offer.

"Was that the surprise?" Chuuya asked as they made their way back to the hotel that evening. "Because I'll say Portland is looking like my favorite city in America so far... Do you think they have wine tastings in New York?"

Dazai laughed, "I'm sure we can find some to attend in December, but no, that wasn't the surprise."

However, Dazai was talking to empty air beside him, as Chuuya had stopped walking alongside him a while back, and Dazai turned to go see what was the matter.

"... Chibi?" Dazai prompted.

For once Chuuya didn't get upset at the nickname, too focused on looking at... Something.

"Is that-?" Chuuya began, staring too intensely through the window of a restaurant, brows furrowed. "No, but that wouldn't make any sense, why would Akutagawa be here?"

Dazai's eyes went wide as he turned to look in the direction Chuuya was facing, cursing every god in existence at his misfortune, his brain momentarily short circuiting as he tried to figure out an excuse for what Chuuya was seeing.

Luckily for him though, Chuuya let it go on his own without Dazai having to say anything.

"I must just be homesick or something is all," Chuuya said as he turned back towards Dazai. "Lets go back."

Dazai nodded, grateful he didn't have to come up with a plausible lie as they headed the rest of the way to the hotel.

After all, he'd come so far, he couldn't afford to have the surprise be spoiled now.

*Friday, July 3rd*

The next morning, Chuuya was essentially pulled out of bed, handed painkillers and glass of water for his faint hangover from the night before, and then shoved out the door by Dazai.

"I assume this has something to do with the surprise?" Chuuya asked groggily as Dazai led him through the streets of Portland.

"Maybe," Dazai said cryptically, as he held open the door to a seemingly random shop for Chuuya to head through.

Dutifully, Chuuya made his way inside, surprised to find himself inside a tailor shop. "Now I'm really worried, you don't like getting dressed up for anything."

Dazai grinned. "Don't worry about it, I promise it's for a good cause."

Chuuya shot him a look. "We have very different ideas of good causes, but I'll take your word for it."

It seemed that whatever Dazai had been planning, he'd been planning it for a while, as the tailor was already ready for them to be fitted, Chuuya going first, getting measured and consulting Dazai for the more specific details that Chuuya apparantly wasn't supposed to be privy to.

"If this is another pride suit I'm going to murder you," Chuuya said as Dazai walked off to discuss details with the tailor.

Dazai laughed. "I wouldn't dream of it my darling hat rack, don't worry about it."

He disappeared into the back, leaving Chuuya sitting out in the front lobby of the tailor, watching the people walk by on the street go about their day to day lives. He hadn't been people watching for long though when he spotted a familiar face walk past the front of the shop.

"Was that-" this time, Chuuya no longer had the faint buzz from the wine tasting to convince him he was seeing things, and he pushed open the door to the tailor shop, heading out onto the street to see none other than Atsushi making his way down the street.

Thinking he'd seen Akutagawa late at night in a restaurant after a day of wine tasting was one thing, but for him to see Atsushi the very next day in broad daylight walking down the street when he should have been in an entirely different country was far too much of a coincidence for Chuuya's liking.

"Oi!" Chuuya called, heading in Atsushi's direction. "Nakajima!"

Atsushi froze on the spot at the sound of his name, hesitantly turning around to face the Port Mafia executive, the two meeting up on the street corner just a little ways away from the tailor shop.

"Oh, h-hi Nakahara-san, that's so weird seeing you here in America, aren't you supposed to be on vacation with Dazai-san right now?" Atsushi stuttered out, pointedly avoiding making eye contact with Chuuya as though he'd literally rather be anywhere else in the world in that moment.

"I am on vacation with that shitty mackerel right now, the question is, what are you doing here today of all days? Shouldn't you be back in Yokohama?" Chuuya questioned. 

"O-oh, well you see, that's actually, um, well you see that's actually a very funny story because the Agency actually had a um-"

"Jinko what the hell are you doing taking so long? Dazai-san said that we needed to be-" a familiar voice said from around the other side of the corner before none other than Akutagawa Ryuunosuke came into view, freezing when he saw Chuuya.

Any doubt Chuuya had that Dazai was plotting something instantly disappeared in that moment, his eyes narrowing as he turned to Atsushi. He would be the easiest to get information out of. Despite the fact that Akutagawa was technically his own subordinate, he was loyal to Dazai to a fault, and if Dazai had indeed put the two of them up to something, it would be near impossible to get Akutagawa to spill the plans.

"I thought you said the Agency had business here, not the Port Mafia," Chuuya said accusingly.

"Well that's the funny part about it, the um, well the Agency has a joint mission that needs the Port Mafia's help actually, and so they sent the two of us overseas together to fix the problem-"

"If there was a problem in Portland that needed both the Agency's and Port Mafia's help then why wouldn't they have just called me and Dazai in to take care of it?"

Akutagawa cleared his throat, suppressing a cough. "The boss was very clear on the fact that you said you didn't want to be disturbed at all during your vacation Chuuya-san, so he decided it would be best not to bother you until you officially arrived in Yokohama again."

Chuuya looked at both of them in suspicion, but luckily for Atsushi and Akutagawa, Dazai had just finished up his conversation with the tailor and located the three of them standing on the street corner, swooping in to fix things before Shin Soukoku could somehow mess things up even more.

"Atsushi! Akutagawa! What a lovely surprise to see you two here!" Dazai said, wrapping an arm around Chuuya's shoulders, and though his tone sounded friendly, anyone with half a braincell could hear the thinly veiled threat behind such a statement.

"Dazai-san!" Atsushi exclaimed. "We were just going actually, so sorry to disturb you and Nakahara-san's day, Akutagawa and I will be going now."

And before Chuuya could get another word in, Atsushi was pulling Akutagawa down the street and far far away from the two of them.

"I know you're planning something," Chuuya said, turning to look at his fiancé. "Why were the two of them really here? And why didn't you say anything last night when I said I thought I saw Akutagawa?"

Dazai just grinned, all traces of annoyance he'd shown earlier with Atsushi and Akutagawa now gone. "Don't worry, you'll see soon Chuuya."

The rest of the day passed in a blur as Dazai whisked Chuuya to an assortment of places around the city, some of which Chuuya assumed weren't related to the surprise at all, but merely just there to throw him off. They went on nature walks and a food tour of the city, exploring bookshops and farmers markets, Dazai keeping a close eye on Chuuya's reactions to the various things they did, making Chuuya even more suspicious of whatever it was Dazai had planned.

By the time they made their way back to the hotel Chuuya was absolutely exhausted.

"Are you going to tell me what exactly Akutagawa and Atsushi have to do with all this yet?" Chuuya asked, as he collapsed on their bed, curled up in a set of Dazai's pajamas that were just every so slightly too big on him and a fuzzy robe, too tired to go searching for his own clothes.

Dazai smiled as he moved to sit on the bed next to Chuuya, kissing his forehead. "They're helping me set up for the surprise tomorrow, I promise, you'll see what all the secrecy has been for by this time tomorrow evening."

"I'm holding you to that," Chuuya said as he curled into Dazai's chest. "And please... Don't be too frustrated with Akutagawa and Atsushi, they're doing their best to help you with whatever crazy scheme you have hidden up your sleeve."

Dazai chuckled as he laid the two of them back on the bed, pulling the blankets over them. "... Alright then, I won't chastise them too much."

"Mm, good," Chuuya said before he slowly drifted off to sleep.

*Saturday, July 4th*

With all the chaos that had gone on the previous day, the last thing Chuuya had expected was to wake up in bed alone. He was sure that whatever surprise Dazai had planned actually involved Dazai, so to wake up in an empty hotel room was the last thing he'd expected. 

And that was the second thing he'd hadn't been expecting, was that he was not in fact alone in their hotel room, but rather there was someone else in the room with him.

"Chuuya dear, I know you need your beauty rest, but if you sleep in for much longer, I'm afraid we're going to be late for the day's proceedings."

Chuuya's eyes flew open to see none other than Kouyou walking in to the bedroom, a dry cleaning bag hung over one arm.

He rubbed at his eyes as if to guarantee he wasn't actually still asleep and just having a very hyper realistic dream. "Kouyou?" he asked, pushing himself up to sit in bed. "Wh-What are you doing here? Where is Dazai? What's going on?"

Kouyou just smiled softly at Chuuya's confusion, gently explaining as she pulled an all white tailored tuxedo out of the dry cleaning bag. "Well, I'm here because Dazai called me here to be your best man, Dazai is gone because it's apparently a superstition that it's bad for the grooms to see each other on the day of the wedding, and well... What's going on is that you're getting married tonight."

"I- I'm sorry, what? I must have misheard you, I thought you said I was getting married tonight, but surely I must have been hearing things because there's no way-"

"You heard me right the first time," Kouyou said, smiling as she laid the all white tuxedo down on the bed, leaving Chuuya to stare at it in shock. "It does seem like a very Dazai thing to do to plan an entire wedding without actually telling the person he was getting married to that the wedding was today, but he said to tell you this was the surprise he'd been planning for you and that you'd understand."

Chuuya felt tears well up in his eyes. "Oh my god, that bastard planned a wedding without fucking telling me, I'm going to murder him."

"You might want to wait until after the ceremony dear, I'm afraid there's a great number of people that have flown in from Yokohama today in order to support the two of you."

He quickly wiped at his eyes, before getting up and out of bed. 

"I'll leave you to get changed now, you have quite the busy day ahead of you," Kouyou said before leaving the room.

"I'm getting married today," Chuuya said quietly to himself, staring at the tux laid out on the bed before him in shock, a wide smile fighting its way onto his face as he found a hat to match hanging in their closet.

He quickly got changed into the tux that he presumed had been tailored for him after his outing with Dazai the previous day before meeting Kouyou out in the living room of their hotel suite. "So what's next?" he asked, adjusting the jacket as he stepped out of the room.

"Lunch with the rest of the Port Mafia before we meet up with the Agency for a surprise tour that even Dazai had refused to tell even me about," Kouyou reported, seemingly reading a schedule from her phone.

Chuuya nodded and the two headed to the restaurant Dazai had made reservations at for lunch, smiling when he realized that it had been booked at his favorite of the restaurants they'd sampled from on the food tour the previous day. 

When they arrived, Chuuya teared up all over again as he saw the entire Port Mafia already there and waiting for him, all of them dressed up in formal wear and bickering over the menus, the room temporarily going quiet as he walked in with Kouyou.

"Congratulations Chuuya!!" Elise said, breaking the silence and running up to him to give him a hug. "You look very nice in your tuxedo."

Chuuya chuckled, giving the small girl a hug back. "Thank you Elise, your dress looks very nice today too."

She beamed up at him before taking her seat again, leaving Chuuya to sit at the head of the table, allowing everyone to finally place their orders and for the food to be served.

As Chuuya surveyed the people at the table before him, the people closest to him that he'd counted as family all this time, his heart swelled with warmth and affection for both the fact that the Port Mafia, his family had come all this way to attend his surprise wedding, and at the fact that Dazai had somehow managed to plan all this out without him ever finding out. 

"Kouyou," Chuuya said, his brow furrowing as he looked up and down the table. "... Where is Akutagawa?"

As far as Chuuya could tell, he was the only member off the Port Mafia that was missing from the table. 

"Oh, with Dazai most likely, that fiancé of yours surprised everyone and chose Akutagawa to be his best man for the ceremony, so I would assume he's at the Agency lunch right now, we'll meet up with him for the mystery tour," Kouyou replied.

Chuuya nodded, smiling slightly to himself, glad that Dazai had made enough repairs to his relationship with Akutagawa that they'd gotten to the point where he could ask Akutagawa to be his best man at their wedding. He better not be overworking that poor kid though, Akutagawa is stressed enough as it is when it comes to pleasing Dazai, I can only imagine how worried he must be right now, Chuuya thought to himself, shaking his head slightly as he sent his thoughts and prayers before digging in to the lunch he'd ordered.

After they had all finished, Kouyou's phone buzzed with an address, and the Port Mafia made their way to stand in front of... What seemed to be a normal house on a normal street.

"Are you sure this is where we're supposed to be?" Kajii asked, looking around them for a different place they possibly should have gone to instead. 

"That's what the text Dazai sent me said," Kouyou confirmed, looking at the address to make sure they were in the right spot.

Just then, a large heard of people made their way down the sidewalk, led by none other than Dazai himself, the rest of the Armed Detective Agency trailing behind him.

"There's my dear husband to be!" Dazai crooned once he was within earshot, reaching out to take both of Chuuya's hands in his own. "Looking as gorgeous as the day I met you."

Chuuya snorted, but leaned forward to kiss Dazai's cheek nonetheless. "Are you going to tell us what we're all doing here yet?" he asked. 

Dazai grinned, gesturing to the house they stood in front of. "My dear friends, and beloved fiancé, it is my great pleasure to present to you the reason we have all gathered in Portland today, apart from the obvious," He chuckled slightly at the elaborate scheme he had concocted. "Welcome to the National Hat Museum, which has so graciously agreed to give us a tour of America's largest hat museum!"

There was silence for a few beats before Chuuya burst out into laughter. 

"The National Hat Museum? You did all this, brought everyone out to Portland, had us take an entire road trip across America, just so that we could get married at the National Hat Museum?" Chuuya asked, grinning from ear to ear. 

"Of course," Dazai said matter of factly, "I had to plan the best wedding for my most favorite hat rack."

Chuuya cupped Dazai's face in his hands and kissed him for a bit longer than strictly necessary considering the fact that they had an audience. "God I fucking love you so much."

Dazai just winked at him. "I know."

"Now let's go learn about some fucking hats."

***

The National Hat Museum, despite it's name, was less of a museum and more so the house of a singular person that was very very dedicated to collecting, displaying, and providing information about hats. It was in no way shape or form meant to be a wedding venue of any sort, but that only made the entire experience that much more incredible.

The entire time they were there, Chuuya kept hold of Dazai's hand, dutifully taking in the information provided about the history of hats, and grinning the entire time, because he was about to get married to a man that had gone through all of this, just to follow through on the stupid joke they'd had since they were 15.

Chuuya could cry he was so in love.

After the tour concluded, the group made their way just down the street to a small circular plot of land in the center of a roundabout that boasted the name Ladd Circle Park & Rose Gardens, despite not at all looking like a park should. However, it was clear that effort had gone into transforming the so called park into a wedding venue fitting of double black, the grass trimmed and looking greener than ever, chairs set up in rows facing a small makeshift platform that looked like it had been brought in for the sake of their wedding. Flowers lined the venue that Chuuya recognized as the ones he'd made a comment about liking the smell of at the farmer's market. 

Kunikida stood at the center of the platform, his book of ideals held out in front of him as he pushed up his glasses, ready to officiate the ceremony, and Chuuya couldn't help but be in awe of the detail that had been put into planning the entire event.

Sure it was far from the perfect storybook wedding that most people dreamed of, but it was filled with Dazai's antics and jokes, and his family was there for him through it all, and Chuuya honestly couldn't think of a better way to get married to the man of his dreams.

"Dearly beloved," Kunikida began after everyone had gotten settled in their seats, the Port Mafia on one side, and the Agency on the other, Dazai and Chuuya standing before Kunikida and Akutagawa and Kouyou standing behind them. "We are gathered here today to join these two men together in holy matrimony. If anyone has any objections to the union of Dazai Osamu and Nakahara Chuuya, please speak now or forever hold your peace."

Kunikida let a beat or two of silence pass before he continued on, clearing his throat before he continued to read his script from his book of ideals, turning to look at Dazai before he began to speak.

"Do you, Dazai Osamu, take this man to be your husband, to live together in holy matrimony, to love him, to honor him, to comfort him, and to keep him in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, for as long as you both shall live?"

Dazai gave Chuuya's hands a squeeze, staring into the deep blue of Chuuya's eyes, his own shining with nothing but love and adoration for the man that stood before him, his partner, the other half of Double Black, his soul in another body, and smiled. "I do."

Tears welled up in Chuuya's eyes as Kunikida turned to him now and continued on.

"And do you, Nakahara Chuuya, take this man to to be your husband, to live together in holy matrimony, to love him, to honor him, to comfort him, and to keep him in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, for as long as you both shall live?"

Chuuya squeezed Dazai's hands back, staring at the man that had been part of his life for almost as long as he could remember, that had seen him through the good times and the bad and had stood by him no matter what, and there was not a sliver of a doubt in his mind as he replied. "I do."

Kunikida nodded, and took a step back, closing his book of ideals. "You may now recite your own vows if you so wish."

Chuuya laughed slightly, taking the opportunity to wipe at his eyes before any tears could fall. "Well, if I had known I was getting married today, I might have taken the time to put a little more thought into these vows, but luckily for me, when it comes to Dazai I've never really had any trouble speaking from the heart."

There was a faint smattering of laughter from the crowd as Chuuya took a deep breath, smiling softly at the man that would become his husband within the hour.

"Dazai-" he began before amending his statement, "Osamu, from the day that I met you, I thought that you were crazy. But the past eight years I've spent with you have been the best eight years of my life. Sure there are times where we've gotten on each other's nerves, but you've shown me a life that is filled with so much more joy than I ever thought possible. I love getting to wake up to you every morning, and fall asleep next to you every night. I love knowing that there is someone out there that will always have my back, that understands me as easy as it is to breathe, and pushes me to be at my best each and every day. I love you Osamu, and I can't wait to spend the rest of our lives together."

Their guests clapped as Chuuya finished, and Dazai wiped the unshed tears from his eyes before they could fall, waiting for things to quiet down again before he began.

"Well, despite the fact that I had plenty of time to prepare, I still don't think there's anything I could say that will be quite as beautiful as that, but I'll do my best to try," Dazai took a deep breath before continuing on. "Chuuya, from the day that I met you, I knew there was something special about you. My life before you was empty and boring and dull, monotonous with nothing to look forward to, and then all of a sudden, it was like my world burst into color when I met you. I couldn't ask for a better partner to stand by my side, or for someone who reassures me that I'm not alone in this crazy world where it seems as though someone is always trying to kill us. You've shown me the things in life that are worth living for Chuuya, and for that, I will always love you."

The crowd clapped once more and now it was Chuuya's turn to tear up, as Kunikida gestured for Akutagawa and Kouyou to present them with the rings, sliding the new bands to rest on top of their engagement rings, causing both Chuuya and Dazai's vision to go ever so slightly blurry with tears.

"Now if you two will join hands," Kunikida said, opening his book of ideals again as Dazai and Chuuya held each others hands and did their best to pretend as though they weren't crying. "By virtue of the authority vested in me under the laws of the state, I now pronounce you husband and husband. You may now kiss the groom."

And just like that, they were married, Dazai surging forward to wrap his arms around Chuuya's waist, Chuuya's arms reaching upward to wrap around Dazai's shoulders as they pulled each other into their first kiss as married men.

They pulled back after a few moments or so, tears streaming down both their faces as they rested their foreheads against each other, holding each other close, before fireworks began to burst in the background.

Chuuya gasped, turning to look as the fireworks went off, the same way they had when he'd proposed on the rooftop of their penthouse on New Year's Eve, and the tears began to fall down his face faster as he pulled his husband in for the second of many many kisses yet to come. 

"I love you Chuuya," Dazai murmured against his lips.

"And I love you too Osamu."

***

"Was all of this really just a plot to get me to marry you in the National Hat Museum?" Chuuya asked that night as he lay beside his husband, his husband he was still in disbelief about all that had happened in the past 24 hours. He'd known that Dazai had been planning something when he suggested the two of them take a road trip across America, but a wedding he had never seen coming. 

Dazai grinned, placing a soft kiss to the top of Chuuya's head. "... Maybe?"

"And everything with the fireworks, that was part of your plan too?"

"Well to get them to set off fireworks that big they had to be approved by the government, and somehow I doubted you'd appreciate the trouble that would come with me sneaking enough explosives to set off a show like that into another country so... I may have had to stall for time in order to make sure we arrived in Portland on time since I knew the city would be putting on a fireworks show to celebrate American Independence Day," Dazai admitted.

"You know that wouldn't have been a problem if we had just left later like I had originally suggested, but noooo, you just had to insist we leave for New York so soon," Chuuya teased.

"In my defense, I didn't think you'd want to cut straight from Dollywood to Vegas of all places, that took us way too close to Portland way too soon, so I had to improvise on the fly. Besides, I don't think getting lost on the way from Vegas to Portland was that bad."

Chuuya sat up in bed, smacking his husband in the shoulder - he was never going to get tired of referring to Dazai like that, whether in his head or out loud - "You mean to tell me that you made a 16 hour trip last three days because you misplanned how much time it would take us to get from New York to Portland?"

A pause, and then-

"Wait, was the Disneyland fiasco because you couldn't time our trip properly too?" 

Holding back a snicker, Dazai put his hand over his mouth. "I didn't exactly mean for it to take three days for us to get to Portland... And I didn't plan for us to get banned for life either."

"Oh my god, you are so stupid sometimes," Chuuya said, laughing softly himself as he collapsed back down into the pillow and wrapped his arms around Dazai and settled into place. "You are so lucky I love you Osamu."

"Yeah... I really am," Dazai said with a smile, holding Chuuya closer and closing his eyes as he slowly began to drift off to sleep.

And as the two newlyweds fell asleep in each other's arms as man and husband for the first time, they knew that they'd built a relationship that would last forever.