Chapter Text
"Hm.. I gotta say, this does kind of look pretty nice. Lively, don't you think so too?"
Chuuya sighed, his friend has had a little too much for drink, and now he was completely wasted. Chuuya was almost a little to grumpy about the fact that he'll again have to be the one to drag him back to his dorm.
I suppose he does deserve at least this much fun after all that he has been through.
Chuuya thought.
It's been three months since Fukuchi was announced a death sentence for going against the government, framing the agency, all the illegal things he's done, etc.
After the kindness which was shown to Sigma by Atsushi, Dazai and others from ADA, he couldn't get himself to follow the orders of Fukuchi anymore. He already felt out of place but now, it was even worse- unbearable even.
Which was the reason that lead him to betray them, ending up helping the ADA, which made a lot of sense but then, Nikolai joined him. Getting over his philosophy of 'Freedom', or maybe that's what others thought. Which once again was a little understandable, but what shocked everyone the most was Fyodor Dostoevsky joining them too.
No one trusted a single word he said, no even his own subordinates. But they went with it as Dazai seemed to know what he was doing when he let Fyodor help him.
Dazai and Fyodor, better known as the Demon prodigy and the devil himself. They were feared by everyone, they all knew the potential they both had, if they truly wished, they could've destroyed this planet without batting an eye. But yet they both had something, stopping them from doing so, from turning towards evil completely.
It was really difficult, but during those dark times no one really had much of a say in it and went along with Fyodor and Dazai working together to save the world. Everyone feared that they may have some ulterior motive but it all turned out just fine.
Eventually, Mori and Fukuzawa decided to end their rivalry and hatred for each other. None of them trusted each other enough, but understood and respected each other enough to know the other won't have any other trick up their sleeve which could sabotage the collaboration.
Which was also the reason, Chuuya was forced to baby sit Tachihara here, as they decided to celebrate the victory as well as for the members of both ADA and PM to -maybe try to- get along with each other.
"Ah don't drool over me, you traitor." Chuuya complained, pushing Tachihara off of himself when he noticed the ginger drooling over his jacket.
He sighed deeply, quiet frustrated from how he couldn't just leave this party yet. He was forced to stay, as Mori wanted to talk to him about something important, he had no idea what it could be, maybe a new mission. He had an idea about it but he ignored it as much as possible, because hell he'll do that.
"Chuuya-san." He turned his head, watching a really beautiful girl standing in front of him. It took him a whole minute to realise whom it was.
"Gin-chan?" Chuuya asked, a little shocked but tried to cover it up. He realised it still was pretty obvious when Gin chuckled.
"A little weird walking around without mask but I suppose it's not the worst thing which could happen." She said, Chuuya nodded to that, still a little shocked.
"Oh, I actually came here to get Tachihara, sorry for him bothering you." She said, wrapping her arm around his torso before pulling him up and balancing him.
"It's fine."
It isn't, my poor jacket.
He watched her walk away while trying not to kill Tachihara from how uncooperative he was being. Eventually, Hirotsu came and helped Gin taking him out as he refused to leave the party this early.
Oh to be you.
Chuuya thought, thinking about how lucky he was to get to leave the party early. He was definitely not in a mood for this shit.
He let his eyes wander around, looking at other people. There were many faces he didn't recognise, probably from ADA. Some people were drinking or talking to their friends while others were dancing with their friends or maybe partners. He noticed two girls, one being Kyoka and other unnamed, were fighting over the weretiger, Atsushi.
Apparantly, the unnamed girl sort of liked him while Kyoka reasoned that he is her friend and should dance with him instead. Chuuya didn't interpret much since they all were a little too young -or at least Kyoka was- for this whole shit.
Although he did notice Akutagawa sighing in frustration -due to how loud they were being- and walking up to them, dragging Atsushi away from them with the poor excuse of 'Jinko should not waste his time with these shits, but instead, train hard for their fight'.
Chuuya smiled in amusement at that, as surely for rivals, they do save each other's asses quite a lot and not to mention their understanding of each other's feelings, emotions and thoughts.
It was a little too funny for him.
"Looking for me?" He heard a familiar voice, fisting his hand in the pocket immediately from how scared he was for a moment as he didn't sense anyone's presence untill he heard the voice really close to his ear.
As he turned around, he saw the smug grin again on his ex partners face, he should get used to it at this point.
"And why would you think that, Dazai?"
"Mhm, maybe because you're glancing around a lot?" He suggested, taking a seat near him and ordering a beer.
"Which makes you think that you could be the only person, i would look for, not to mention, willingly?" Chuuya said, leaning a little back to show his attitude. Dazai smiled amusingly, leaning forward and resting his cheek against his palm while he stared back at Chuuya.
"Obviously. Who else could it be worthy of anyone's -especially your- attention more than me?" He said, taking a sip from his glass.
"Still the narscisst, I see." Chuuya said, trying to sound sassy but he was just as amused. Dazai being Dazai, he caught up on it immediately, letting his amused smile turn into a full grin.
"If you were as brilliant as me, maybe then you'd relate too." He said, dodging just in time to avoid Chuuya's punch. That made both of them laugh, and despite how much Chuuya deny it, he was enjoying Dazai's company a lot. Or maybe it was because of how bored he has been throughout the party -which he knew was a lie.
"You're such a dick, mackerel." Chuuya muttered, gulping down his wine.
"And you're definitely not still addicted to wine." Dazai replied, watching him drink.
Confused, Chuuya raised an eyebrow at him.
"Oh, I thought we were having a lying competition considering you called me a dick, despite knowing how I'm definitely your favourite person." Dazai said, a little too cockily which made Chuuya throw a punch at him again, which again was dodged by him.
"C'mon now Chuuya, how many times do I have to remind you that i am familiar with your attacks, your timings and your thrusts. You'll have to use your little brain a little more if you ever wanna get close to harm me in any way." Dazai said.
"You are so annoying."
"The feelings are mutual, Chibi."
"Oi! Dazai!" Dazai turned his head, hearing the familiar voice of the world's greatest detective.
"Ah Ranpo-san, what are you doing here?" Dazai asked, making Chuuya cock an eyebrow at home Dazai wasn't snarky with Ranpo as he was with everyone else.
"Boss told me to remind you to not to forget about it." Ranpo said.
"Right, I haven't, don't worry. Got trailed away but I'll make sure I get that through." Dazai said, nodding at Ranpo.
"Good, I'm counting on you. Make sure it goes smoothly." Ranpo said and smiles brightly at him.
"Also I'd have to say Kunikida has been a little too happy." He added, pushing back his cap.
"Of course he'd be." Dazai said, rolling his eyes but his tone was playful.
"As if you're not too happy about it yourself." Ranpo said.
"Nothing gets past you, Ranpo-san."
Now that, was extremely alien to Chuuya as he'd never heard Dazai genuinely complimenting anyone before, but noticing how neither of them reacted to it a lot, it must have been very normal for them, which confused him even more.
"Obviously not, after all, I'm the world's-"
"-greatest detective, yes I know." Dazai said, earning a smack from Ranpo which he surprisingly didn't dodge.
"Whatever, I'm leaving now." Ranpo said, about to move when his eyes landed on Chuuya.
"Mr. Fancy hat, ah it's been a while, good to see you made out of the book." Ranpo said, amused by it. Chuuya rolled his eyes on that, resisting to hit him.
"Apparently he started beating everyone untill he was the only person left." Dazai stated, chuckling along with Ranpo.
"Now that's a talent." Ranpo mused, "Anyways, bye."
With that, he finally left, leaving Chuuya to glare behind his back.
"If only looks could kill." Dazai said.
"You sure are suicidal." Chuuya said, which was supposed to be serious but then he realised the irony and ended up bursting out laughing with Dazai.
"You could say that, yeah." Dazai said.
"What was he talking about though? It made no sense to me." Chuuya asked him finally.
"Little Chuuya should not think too much, as his little brain could get exhausted and that could lead to-"
Before Dazai could finish his sentence, he was being attacked by Chuuya who literally threw himself at him.
Chuuya realised, Dazai could dodge his punches but can't dodge if he throw himself.
And yet his plan failed when he saw Dazai, quickly leaning back which ended up with Chuuya falling on his lap, a little too close to his crotch even.
"Nice thinking Slug, but this is not the correct way of throwing yourself at me. For that you first need to at least-"
"Stop, I don't want to hear it." Chuuya said quickly, clearly embarrassed by the suggestive remark by him.
"You're so easy to tease." Dazai said, but spoke up again before Chuuya could reply.
"What Ranpo-san was saying is not important, at least not to us, but i do have another think to tell you." Dazai said.
"And that is?"
"Nakahara Chuuya, my dog, slug, all the weird things i call you, would you do the honor of becoming my partner again?" He said, bowing lightly while extending his arm towards Chuuya, which was a weird position as there wasn't that much space between those two.
"What the fuck."
"Not the reply i expected but understandable."
"What the actual fuck."
"Understandable once again, but hear me out. Mori-san proposed to Fukuzawa-san that it may be for the best if we partner up again."
"Who told you that?"
"Mori-san. He told me that as soon as it was all over, apparently he's been thinking about it since Natsume-san met them during the cannibalism."
"And he decided to tell you that before me, despite knowing you despise him so much? That makes no sense to me." Chuuya said, he tried not to show how he wasn't fine with it -hell saying not fine was such an understatement, he was hurt by it- but it was prominent to Dazai.
"He sucks, forget about him." Dazai said.
"Yeah." Easy for you to say when you're his first priority.
Seeing how he was still affected, Dazai decided to change the subject.
"You know how relieved I am that I won't have to work with Kunikida-kun anymore? God, it was a hell." Dazai said, groaning at that. It seemed to work as Chuuya chuckled at that.
"I could only imagine the things you made him go through, that poor guy." He said.
"What do you mean? It was me dealing with his antiques. "Dazai stop talking', 'You're using the wrong font', 'you're approximately 1.47 minutes late than the estimated time you were supposed to arrive here' and bla bla." Dazai said, mimicking Kunikida perfectly which made Chuuya burst out laughing.
"1.47 minutes late? It's be a miracle if you even showed up. Don't lie, it'd be at least 2 hours late." Chuuya said.
"Well, yeah..." Dazai said, chuckling at how Chuuya was still very aware of his tendencies.
"Fuck off." Chuuya laughed.
"Well the point being is, he was way worse than you." Dazai stated, playing with the ice in his beer.
"What I'm hearing is, you're indirectly stating that you consider me to be better qualified for being your partner than him." Chuuya mused.
"No, I'm directly stating that you're better qualified for being my partner." Dazai said.
Than him or...?
"Are you drunk?" Chuuya asked, not believing Dazai could ever say anything like that even in a drink state.
"That is a brilliant question. Although I'd have to say, even if I was, I'd be smart enough to watch each and every single word of mine leaning my mouth, so to answer your question, no I'm not."
Dazai was just like that, Chuuya knew, the cold and calculative bastard who planned decades ahead in future, taking each step after calculating it thoroughly. Especially with his words, like he'd never let anything slip through his mouth which he doesn't want to say or shouldn't say, no matter the situation, because that's how he is.
"Careful there, I'm starting to doubt and think that you're just trying to manipulate me."
"Whatever you want to interpret from that confession."
"So that was your motive, huh?" Chuuya said, narrowing his eyes.
"As I said, Chibi should not use his little brain too much." Dazai mused, a small, gentle and real smile hiding behind his smirk which Chuuya somehow managed to see past, and was shocked.
Chuuya had a feeling, it was like his gut was telling him that Dazai maybe really meant it. Surely, today was the first time he saw him genuinely compliment someone but could it be possible that Dazai truly didn't think anything bad about Chuuya? Or at least, not enough to consider him his partner after all those years?
Despite what his mind was telling him, Chuuya couldn't fight off the warm feeling engulfing him.
"God I wanna kill you." Chuuya said, not meaning it at all, it's just how they bicker.
"Actually, I've figured it out that dying alone is no fun and one should only commit a double suicide. Now Chuuya, it'd your duty as my former and new partner to find me a beautiful woman who's commit double suicide with me." Dazai stated.
"Sure, will do." Chuuya said sarcastically.
"Wait really? Chuuya, I had no idea how amazing you truly are-"
"As if."
"..."
Chuuya took another sip of his wine, being careful not to drink too much as he's a light weight which means, if he's not careful enough, it could end up in a mess.
"Huh?" He heard Dazai say, probably not to him but he still ended up looking up, there were not a lot of things which shocked him or confused him.
Looking up, he found Dazai looking in the direction where Fyodor Dostoevsky was sitting down on a chair, Nikolai Gogol leaning against the table close to Fyodor and Sigma awkwardly standing near them.
"Oh, boss told me that Fukuzawa-san invited them too as they're technically working for us too. Underground and illegally but yeah." Chuuya explained, watching Nikolai playfully bully Sigma as Fyodor was so done with both of them. He turned back to Dazai when he didn't say anything back.
"Makes sense, I suppose." He said, turning to him too.
"Wouldn't you want to go and say hello to your other demonic half?" Chuuya joked.
"Actually, no you're right. I should go and say hello." Dazai said, and before Chuuya could say anything else, Dazai was on his way to them.
But instead of going towards Fyodor, he approached Sigma.
"Hello there." Dazai said, giving him a smile. Sigma turned to look at him, waving and smiling back.
"Didn't think you'd be a party person, not gonna lie." Sigma said, remembering his psychotic personality.
"I could say the same to you." Dazai remarked, raising his eyebrow.
"All of you, actually." He added, turning towards the others.
"I'm full of surprise, Dazai." Fyodor said.
"Sure you are." Dazai said, chuckling.
"Actually, don't know about these two, but I'm for sure too happy to be invited because, look at all those food." Nikolai said. "Too many people to troll too."
"Ah yes, I've heard clowns are a little too famous at the parties." Dazai said, crossing his arms.
"Ha ha, funny." Nikolai said, but returned to eating the pinky-est ice-cream Dazai has ever seen.
"Besides, I actually came here to ask you something." Dazai said, remembering his main motive as he turned to Sigma.
"And that is?"
"Not much, just wanted to ask you to have a dance with you." Dazai stated, waiting for Sigma to respond.
"Huh? Why me?"
"Remember when you guys came to save Fyodor, only to end up having us compete and I chose you as a weapon? Which lead to me dragging you around like we were dancing. I thought that was pretty funny, so why not do it again?" He reasoned.
The memory made Sigma smile a little, remembering how annoyed he was but it truly was funny. He was also pretty grateful for Dazai to choose him as a weapon, because now he has a new life.
"Absolutely not, I don't wanna get dragged around harshly again. My wrist felt like they were gonna fell off." Sigma said, even though he truly didn't mean to reject Dazai, he was going to dance either way with him.
"Oh c'mon, I'll be gentle and I promise I won't drag you again." Dazai whined.
"You're so annoying."
"I'm not hearing a no."
"Because it isn't a no, you idiot." Sigma said, chuckling as he took Dazai's hand and dragged him to where the people were dancing.
He saw Dazai smirking playfully before he started dragging him around like he did last time. That made both of them laugh pretty hard before eventually, Dazai slowed down enough to be at a comfortable pace.
"So, how do you feel here?" Dazai asked.
"Quite awesome actually. It feels nice to have a purpose, that was all I truly wanted." Sigma replied, getting comfortable with them being so close.
"Also, I've been meaning to ask but, that day, why did you choose me?" Sigma asked, letting Dazai pull away before twirling him and continue dancing.
"Well, at that moment it was more about making the situation most suitable, especially since I didn't want to kill you or Nikolai exactly. And knowing you were totally innocent, I just didn't want you to die like that. Not to mention, you were like, three days old." Dazai said.
Sigma stopped dancing immediately, smacking him hard on his head. Dazai went to rub his head, but instead, Sigma took his hands again, wrapping them on his waist and started dancing as if nothing ever happened.
"Anyways, after getting out of there, like when we were on the elevator, you sort of reminded me of another of my subordinate. Nakajima Atsushi, I think you do know him."
"I do, that idiot totally forgot about his plan to prove ADA innocent and ended up jumping to save me in front of those dogs, which made them think we're actually working together." Sigma said, remembering about that day and how he felt, for the first time, happy.
"Yeah, he's quite the good person. Innocent too. And as I said, you reminded me of him. You both are quite young and completely innocent, just caught up in the shit of those bad people. I felt like it was my responsibility to look after you and to get you out safe." Dazai confessed.
"Wow. I mean, sorry, I just didn't expect you. That day, in the beginning I thought you were like Fyodor but somehow I feel like I could trust you." He said, smiling at him.
"Also, does that mean you're adopting me-"
"Absolutely not. I already have two traumatised kids, i can't afford another one." Dazai said, immediately cuting him off which made both of them laugh.
"You're not half bad." Sigma said, nodding to himself.
"As if you're an angel yourself."
"Am I not?" Sigma asked.
"You probably are." Dazai said, acting really sad which earned him a light shove from Sigma.
"Tell me more about Atsushi." Sigma said, interested in him.
"He's an amazing boy, a really good person. He's really kind and would help anyone, it doesn't matter to him what they've done. He's just, incredible." Dazai said, smiling to himself.
"He sure does sound like it." Sigma agreed. "As I said, he saved me despite knowing how risky it was."
"He's just like that."
"Likable, yes. I could never imagine anyone can hate him." Sigma said, which earned a funny look from Dazai.
"Uh, funny thing. There's this another subordinate of mine, kinda emo and he sort of...."
Chuuya was still watching them. It's been a while but yet he could not look away. Dazai seemed to be at peace with him, not to mention how he was comfortable with all the ADA members.
Chuuya was happy about it, knowing he went through a lot in his childhood and that he truly deserves friends and people caring for him.
Even when they were talking, Dazai seemed more comfortable than back when they were 15. Before, surely he was playful, but now it seems as if he's a whole new person.
Chuuya was happy about that.
But at the same time, i had a weird feeling which made him angry as he watched Dazai dance with Sigma. They've been continuously talking since Dazai approached him, and even though he saw Sigma smack him, they still had a smile over their face.
Chuuya didn't like Dazai romantically, of course not, it was just the fact that he was his first friend after sheep, and even then they were so closed off from each other. Surely, they both trusted each other with their life, probably more than they could ever trust another person, but still, somehow Chuuya felt a little sad about it.
About how their friendship or partnership ended after Dazai left port mafia. He was happy that Dazai was finally content and even had a reason -maybe not big enough- to continue to live.
He was sad about the fact that they both knew, they had no reason to stay with each other. Knowing damn too well, Dazai left him once, he could leave him again. And the thing is, it shouldn't affect Chuuya that much, but sadly, it does.
Now that they are partners again, and will work together again, there was still a little part of him which was drowning in worry, being scared of the idea of Dazai leaving him again.
Before he could realise, his vision became kinda blurry, finally noticing that he had tears in his eyes. Wiping them away and rubbing his eyes, he focused away from Dazai and started looking around the room.
His eyes dropped at Mori, who was indeed walking towards him. Once he approached him, he took a seat next to him, which was previously taken by Dazai.
"Boss." Chuuya nodded in acknowledgement.
"Chuuya-kun, I wanted to talk to you about Dazai. I hope he let you know that you both will be working together again." Mori waited for Chuuya to confirm that, so Chuuya nodded.
"Good, only he could convince you for it. Besides, I actually came to ask you something else.
"Fukuzawa mentioned to me about Dazai's suicidal tendencies which apparently never went away, not as serious as before but they're quite frequent. A but creative even. So, I've been meaning to ask you to kind of, monitor him." Mori said.
"What do you mean?" Chuuya frowned.
Not knowing whether it was because he was asked to monitor him or because he was sad to hear about Dazai's condition.
"You see, it's acknowledged by his co-workers that he seems to trust no one, doesn't talk about himself at all, avoids anything and everything entirely and his condition isn't getting better anytime soon. He's also learned quite the art to put on an act, even I can't see past it."
"What I want to say, is that Chuuya-kun, you know him for a long time and he also seems to trust you the most. It is both mine and Fukuzawa-dono's request to you, to just make sure he stays alive. Nothing more." Mori states.
Chuuya was deep in thought. This was totally not what he expected to hear from Mori. He thought it'd be about keeping an eye on ADA and especially Dazai, maybe even some spy mission but this, it was totally absurd.
Not because it was too much to ask for him to monitor Dazai, but the fact that despite knowing it all, no one really tried to help him out. Not even the great detective who sees past everyone. Or maybe it was Dazai himself who didn't want anyone's help.
If that was the case, there was no way Dazai would let Chuuya help him. It'd be a big deal if Dazai even let Chuuya walk away alive after he says anything like that. No way this would work.
Wait, keeping him alive.
Just keeping him alive?
Chuuya wasn't sure whether he was more relieved that he won't have to do anything crazy or disappointed about the fact that despite everything, no one cared about his well being. Mori just wanted to keep him alive as he was possibly the biggest assets anyone could ever have.
"Chuuya-kun?" He snapped out of his thoughts, looking back at Mori when he realised he zoned out.
"I'll make sure he doesn't kill himself."
"That's what I expect from my subordinate."
How am I supposed to help a person as dense as him? Especially when he doesn't think of himself as a human being.
I've read all those stories about prince kissing the princess awake, solving all their problems, all because of love.
Not when it comes to Dazai, everything was just a calculated move for him. He was far too gone to be saved.
Maybe he truly was incapable of love.