Chapter Text
The Yokohama skyline was a dazzling sight as the sun rose from the east casting the entire city in a soft light as all of the citizens started stirring from their slumber, except for a certain bandaged man, that had been up all night due to his insomnia mixed with his workaholic tendencies.
Up on the second highest floor of the port mafia building the bandaged man, Dazai was just minding his business looking over some reports from Mori, over the mission he and Chuuya went on this past weekend, “ugggh, I hate my life.” Dazai mumbled, when a familiar petite ginger crashed through his door, “DAZAI!” The frustrated redhead called out as he walked up to his desk glaring at the brunette that was rethinking his statement from earlier.
“Yes, Chuuya?” The brunette said while never once looking up at the angered man above him, still focused on the reports, snickering in his mind, oh how he loved messing with his petit mafioso.
“Did you forget what day it is today?” Chuuya mumbles under his breath with hints of anger still lingering as he sank into the chair behind him, glaring daggers at the younger yet taller man in front of him.
“Of course not, it's Tuesday.” Dazai replied with a flat tone that somehow infuriated the redhead more but before he could say anything the brunette spoke up again, “I’m just joking, of course I wouldn’t forget my little chuuya~. Today marks our second year together, in the love we so desperately cling to, And! I have something very special planned for tonight~.” The taller one said with a wink and a tone that flustered the shorter man.
“Hey! I’m not ‘little’.” Chuuya said snapping back and rising from his seat with a blush that slowly crept on his face dusting him in a bright shade of pink for a man that was just so alluring that his voice died in his throat as he said the last bit of that line.
The shorter man took a breath to compose himself before he asked, “soo~ since it’s such a special surprise why don’t you give me a hint so I can prepare~.” Chuuya said in a flirty tone hinting at what he so desperately hoped the surprise was going to be from the other man as he sat on the other male’s desk, finally earning a look from the man before the other replied.
“My, my Chuuya, aren't you impatient~, but as much as I would like to spill whatever I have planned, but this is a surprise and doesn’t that ruin the fun?” Dazai said with a playful look in his eyes and a matching pout on his face to match it, making the other man’s heart flutter while standing up from his chair inching closer to chuuya before gently lifting his face up with his pointer finger and thumb as he pressed his soft lips on the shorter ones.
The kiss was that of a butterfly, brief and filled with compassion and desire before dazai split their connection while licking his lips and dropping the hand that held the other. Chuuya was stunned by the bold move of his partner, secretly celebrating inside and having a moral dilemma slowly feeling a burning sensation on his cheeks as he pouted, looking away trying to sink into the table never to be seen again. Until dazai gently took his chin again in his hand and-…
Chuuya woke up looking around the armed detective agency’s office with a puzzled expression on his face. This isn’t his office? How is it mid day already? “Wait a second.” He said aloud as he realized he was daydreaming again about none other than his ex lover he missed so dearly.
Those enchanting eyes, the playful smirk he wore anytime he poked fun a the ginger that he slowly grew to love for being the one of the only people that he could express his feelings so rawly around, the hair he wore as if he just woke up from a deep slumber, the way his eyes turned crimson red under the moonlight just made him weak in the knees, all the scars on his body that he used to trace with his finger on the special occasions that they would sleep together knowing that he was the only person that could lull the man to sleep and in the comfort of each other enjoying their warm bodies pressed up on each other under the covers-
Upon realizing that it happened again he plummeted his face into the desk earning stares from his colleagues.
Most of them realized what was happening and decided to continue on with their work, except for his newest colleague Atsushi who just stood there with a puzzled look on his face. Ranpo noticed this and stopped snacking on his imported snacks that he got from his rich American boyfriend for a second to say, “you ok Atsushi?” The white haired male took a second to process that anyone said anything as he was trying to think and with a click in his brain he finally replied with, “yeah I’m fine I just want to know what happened with Chuuya just now?”
With the sound of his name, Chuuya perked up only to register the rest of his answer just to slam his head back down to continue sulking.
With a sigh Kunikida answers “he was just daydreaming about his ex again, he does this every week so get used to it.”
Atsushi was a little shocked at the information that Chuuya actually dated anyone. Seeing his attitude wasn’t the most appealing thing in the world, but Chuuya did have good looks and his long hair did seem to make him more feminine though, how did he have a girlfriend? Atsushi thought to himself.
“You know, with how often it is, makes me wonder why they broke up.” Yosano said glaring at a chuuya that finally lifted his head up and yelled “Oh My God. How Many times do I have to tell you he broke up, With. Me!” He said while glaring back at yosano, almost busting a blood vessel in the process before she said, “Dang chuuya I just wanna know why he broke up with you because every single damn time you talk about him you describe him as a man who was madly in love with you.” Chuuya snapped back at her, “probably because I don’t know why he broke up with me. And I describe him as madly in love with me because it’s true… or at least was.”
“Wait, boyfriend?” Atsushi said after he processed the information he just heard. “Ex boyfriend.” Chuuya immediately corrects. “Ok I don’t care about that right now but, are you gay?” Atsushi questioned while turning to the red head. “Look at me and tell me you thought I was straight, obviously I’m gay.” Chuuya answered with an expression that looked dumbfounded. “HA! You actually legitimately thought he was straight?” Yosano said, trying to conceal her laughter. “Umm yes?” Atsushi replied. “Ohh you’re being serious.” She said with her face dropping in the same dumbfounded expression as the other detective. “Hey, don't bully him too hard. He grew up in an isolated orphanage and obviously he wasn’t exposed to that many gay things.” Ranpo said, finally earning a change in their expressions.
After that side conversation The redhead dropped his head to sulk again from the conversation before that, until Kunikida yelled at him to actually do his work now. Which he complied to after a couple of minutes to clear his thoughts of that tall handsome man.
He really does wonder why they broke up, they were such a happy couple. There is not a day in his life that he doesn’t regret leaving the mafia before dazai could explain why he needed to break up with him.
Realizing he was drifting in his thoughts again he gave himself a hard slap on his face leaving a red mark and the stares of his colleagues yet again, but honestly chuuya didn’t mind the attention, he was just too fed up today and he just needed some fresh air. With that idea in his mind he got up, walking straight to the president’s office to ask for a hands on task to clear his mind.
Chuuya wasn’t the best at reading and writing as all he learned was from dazai and kouyou in the 3 years he was in the mafia, since he grew up on the streets. The agency knows this and tries to customize the documents they give him to accommodate for his lack of skills in that department. But even with that sometimes the redhead is too caught up in dwelling on the past that everything is just too much, so the president permits him to come up and take any hands on tasks to help him blow off some steam.
With all of that reflecting on his past he got so caught up in his head that he didn’t even realize he had already arrived at the president's office and walked straight into the office door.
“Owww” The short detective whimpered while stumbling and eventually falling smack down onto his tush. “Ughh I really need to look where I’m going.” The redhead muttered while massaging the red bruise on his forehead, until he snapped back to reality. Realizing why he was there, picking himself off the floor and cleaning and adjusting a bit.
With that he knocked on the door 3 times until the president responded letting him in. Instinctively as he was trained by the mafia to do with all their formalities towards their boss that dazai just never seemed to follow. Chuuya bowed to the president out of respect earning a little chuckle from the president who always thought that the formalities that Chuuya stuck to, even after leaving the mafia, were a little funny as he never really cared for them.
Chuuya realized that he reverted back to his formalities from his previous boss and stood back up from his half kneeling position, putting his hat back on with an embarrassed expression on his face.
He took a deep breath to calm down his nerves from the embarrassment before he spoke up again.
“Hello president, I was wondering if we have any hands-on tasks at the time being. I need some fresh air.” Chuuya admitted with a sigh slightly fumbling with the chain on his hat, a thing he did every time the red head found himself in a nerve racking situation.
“Ahh yes chuuya I was about to go tell ranpo that there is a case that needs help solving and I don’t see why you and Atsushi can’t tag along seeing as atsushi needs some more field experience.” The president replied while looking over some documents, and with the sound of that chuuya was relieved that he didn’t have to sit at his desk for too long before his work hours were over. “Thank you president!” Chuuya said with a soft smile that stretched across his face and instinctively bowed out of respect before he carried himself out of the president’s office, closing the door behind him and practically skipping over to Ranpo's desk.
Chuuya made his way down the hall humming to himself before opening the door to the office space that the rest of him and his colleagues share.
“Ranpo the president has a case for you and Atsushi and I are tagging along whether you like it or not.” Chuuya said with a smile, as Ranpo jumped out of his chair with a pocky stick on the side of his mouth, “Finally I was waiting for the president to say that, if you ask me the office is getting BORing~.” The detective said with a bright smile as the red headed detective nodded in agreement with that soft smile that just hasn’t seemed to leave his face quite yet.
“Wait, when did I agree to go?” Atsushi questioned with a puzzled expression as he looked up from the documents on his desk.
Spinning around on the back of his heels the red head turned to his where-tiger coworker with the pent up energy that has been building up inside him since the morning .
“Ummm… I thought it was obvious that I decided that for you so, you’re welcome~.” The redhead said in a sing-song manner, “ok ok ok with all the joking aside the president said that it would be a great learning experience for you to see ranpo’s ability in action.”
“I agree with the president. Seeing as you have zero job experiences and zero detective experience, the prerequisites for this job are surprisingly low now that I think about it.” Kunikida said while pushing up his glasses before continuing to type on his laptop. “But you know what would be great?” Kunikida added, “what?” Chuuya questioned even though he already knew where this was going. “IF you did your paper work for once, Chuuya.” The blonde haired ex professor answered. “Yeah I’ll think about it.” The red head replied while the tainted sorrow wrapped around Atsushi picking him up from his chair as he followed Ranpo out of the office.
After 20 minutes of walking through the marvelous city that is Yokohama, they finally got to their destination, the crime scene.
The crime scene was by the Ooka river, which is the main river that passes through yokohama. A dazzling sight no wonder it was a popular place for couples and friends to hang out, the redhead thought trying not to reminisce on all the happy memories he and his ex lover had here, they were such troublesome teens, aside from the fact that they worked for the mafia which definitely added to it.
“Heyooo~” Ranpo said as he practically skipped over to the crime scene. “Ahh hello ranpo.” The policeman said as he greeted him with a bow. “And you two are?” The policeman questioned. “I’m Chuuya Nakahara and this is my apprentice Atsushi Nakajima, we are Ranpo’s co-workers from the armed detective agency.” The redhead replied before taking a breath to elaborate more when a certain detective cut him off.
“So enough with the introductions what’s going on with this case that I, the greatest detective in the world, was called here for?” Ranpo questioned in a cocky attitude and a smirk that flashed across his face.
“Yes, the reason you were called here is that we have virtually no evidence on this case other than finding her body on the shore of this river.” The policeman answered in a stern voice. Soon Ranpo and the policeman started chatting and eventually brought in atsushi into the case, trying to teach him some of the ropes of the job.
You know, teaching him verbally how to scout out evidence and gather information about people by how they act towards you, although this wasn’t the best case for a beginner like atsushi.
But unlike Ranpo, Chuuya isn’t in the conversation at all because he wasn’t really hired for the detective aspect of the job but more so dealing with the cases that come up that need a little more ‘hands on work’ as some may say.
But now moving back over to Ranpo and Atsushi who were now finally going in to actually solving that case now that Ranpo is now being all loud and proud about his ‘ability’ which always amazes Chuuya every single time he gets to witness it because he doesn’t actually have one he is just that intelligent. And every time he does it he gets flashbacks from the past of him and dazai fooling around on missions they were just, to put it bluntly, way too skilled for, damn Mori just assigning missions to overwork them.
The red head was now weakly looking over to the others that were now circled in a group around Ranpo and the detective slid his glasses out from his pocket, sliding them on, and opened his sharp green eyes that not many people had the pleasure of being able to see but chuuya thought his eyes were other worldly in a sense nothing ever came close to the way that dazai’s eyes would immediately soften at the sight of Chuuya’s even for a moment chuuya knew there were no eyes that could ever replace the longing he felt to be wrapped around in his warm embrace.
But as Chuuya felt himself lose his focus on the detective’s ‘ability’ he found himself wrapped in the warm embrace he so longed for as he saw the other man across the river with those eyes that he could stare at for an eternity “Is that Dazai?” Chuuya mumbled under his breath as not to draw too much attention to himself as he crept away from the rest of the group with soft steps that he knew no one else other than Ranpo probably noticed but that detective was definitely way too caught up in the case to care anyway.
Chuuya kept on with the tiptoeing until he made it to the bridge and at that point he didn’t even care about what other people were thinking or if the rest or the detectives even saw him because he will finally get the closure he so longed for after all these years he spent reflecting, blaming, and regretting his actions onto other people and himself but none ever gave him the closure he was looking for. But dazai would, he would give him the answers he needed, he could heal all the sorrow that has been painfully holding him back all these years from being himself instead of a shell of what he once was.
The emotions that he felt while pushing past people screaming his name probably made him look insane as the person he was calling for never even seemed to notice. This brought a frustrated and sorrowful cry out of the red head and he kept running and inching closer and closer to what he wanted desperately with the tears now finally effecting his voice making him fight through his words as the tears never seemed to stop flowing down his face.
The tears that flowed down his face finally started to wither as he stopped and wiped his face with his sleeve to at least look a little put together as he whispered into the other’s ear “osamu.” But there was no reply, no reaction, not anything. This annoyed Chuuya a bit as he knew that the brunette just loved to push Chuuya’s buttons but two could play at that game so Chuuya finally touched him which is one of dazai’s biggest icks. The red head found it weird that not even that got a stir out of him but as he started to focus more he finally realized that Dazai was never there to begin with.
This was the first time Chuuya has ever dealt with hallucinations but the disappointment that he felt right then froze him in place and reunited him with the tears he was familiar with a minute earlier as he stood their reflecting on what just happened, how crazy he must be perceived.
Back with Ranpo and Atsushi who found the culprit in a minute due to Ranpo’s smarts and the detective was basking in the comfort of attention and praise as Atsushi finally noticed that Chuuya was gone. “Umm wait where is chuuya?” Atsushi asked. “You mean him?” Ranpo replied as he pointed over across the bridge to a chuuya that was still frozen in the stance from earlier with his arm stretched out and tears flowing down his face.
Without a second thought in his mind Atsushi started to bolt over to chuuya as Ranpo sighed and walked leisurely behind him knowing that Atsushi would probably need some help to snap chuuya back to reality. “He really is a soft one despite being a tiger.” Ranpo thought as he followed.
“Chuuya are you ok?” Atsushi called out as he caught his breath while walking over to his shorter colleague. “Chuuya?” Atsushi called out again as he walked up to him and a ranpo that was slowly but surely behind him. “Umm? Hello?” Atsushi said as he waved his hand in front of the red head's face.
“Don’t do that idiot.” Ranpo said as he walked over to the other two. “You gotta slap him back to reality, and not figuratively, literally Like this.” Ranpo added as he slapped Chuuya as hard as he could leaving a mark on his face.
“Owww.” Chuuya and ranpo said in unison. “Hey why are you whining you’re the one that slapped me and I deserve an apology because that hurt a bit.” Chuuya said while whining even though he was lying through his teeth. “Ohh come on I did you a favor and I know that didn’t hurt you’re just acting to make me feel bad.” Ranpo snapped back. “Also I deserve to be thanked for that because little miss soft paws over there wouldn't.” The detective added while pointing back at Atsushi who has a slightly annoyed expression on his face. “Ugh fine, you caught me, no more playing Mr. Whinny, but in all seriousness thank you I don’t know what got into me.” Chuuya thanked with the most genuine voice that ranpo has ever heard out for him.
“Yeah ok but you have to buy me some snacks because I just ran out of my stash back at the office which reminds me we should probably head back now.” Ranpo said with a smirk on his face that made Chuuya roll his eyes out of annoyance.
A half an hour later and -2,000¥ from Chuuya’s bank account, they finally made it back to the armed detective agency right before everyone clocked out for the day.
“Seems like you guys are back.” Yosano said with a soft expression on her face that made it clear that she was tired. “You look tired, go home.” Ranpo said while basically pushing her out the door. “Bye I guess.” Chuuya said as he grabbed his bag from the chair of his desk and started to walk back to his apartment. When an idea popped into his head. “Why not go out to a club? You need to blow off some steam, maybe have a few glasses of wine as well. What could be the harm in that.” That was the thought that positioned him in his arms again carrying him back home while he was draped over that man’s shoulder.
“Sweet dreams Chuuya” Dazai said as he tucked chuuya into his tatami mat and placed a kiss on his freckled forehead.