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Odasaku's blood is still warm in his hands, where Dazai clutches at the steering wheel.
He couldn't stay there, staring at his unmoving chest, praying for a twitch, a gasp, anything to prove this all was a big misunderstanding.
It didn't happen.
And the Special Division would show up eventually, to clean the mess they had started and take the bodies. The normal ones, to be dropped in unmarked graves somewhere, while the ones who used to carry an ability would be most likely studied in some facility. He despised the thought of that being Odasaku's future, so despite the burning flare of betrayal and resentment, he fired a text to Ango- claiming Oda and burying him somewhere was the least that snake could do.
He still didn't turn on the car, not ready yet. Where would he go? To Lupin, where he'd no longer have his drinking buddies? No, the empty stools on either side of his own would be too much to handle without putting a blade to his wrist. Home, where his kids probably waited anxiously by the door, like they had ever since this mess started? Yeah, and then he'd have to explain the blood on his hands and emptiness in his eyes- he couldn't do that to them. To Chuuya's? He was probably with the Flags, celebrating their latest successful mission- if he entered a room with so many smiles he might go crazy right now.
Back to Headquarters, then, to report to Mori, lower his head and wait for another loved one to die? No. Never again.
What had Odasaku said? Protect the weak, save some orphans. Side of the light.
He couldn't go there, though, could he? If an executive defected, all resources were used to hunt them down. He'd have to go to ground, and he couldn't take his children if he did so. And leaving them with Mori, with no protection? Chuuya alone wasn't smart enough to overture all of Mori's plots, and everyone and their mother knew the Akutagawas were his weak spot, despite his desperate attempts at hiding it (Mori's doing, no doubt)- they'd be exploited to drag him out of hiding. Even if he tried some grand gesture to make it seem like he didn't care for them, Mori would know, and so it wouldn't work.
Orphans. Light.
Safe .
He raises his head (when had he rested it on the steering wheel?) with a tenuous spark of hope lighting inside him. Oda had said to save some orphans. Gin and Ryuu were orphans. They would be safest in the side that saves people- and having his children there, wouldn't it be like he, himself, was saving innocents indirectly? By giving the good guys some serious powerhouses?
Mori wouldn't let that happen, though. To lose Gin and Ryuunosuke would be like losing the two leashes he still had around Dazai- Chuuya was a soft spot, too, but he had his own teeth to protect himself with, and to go after his people was a death sentence. The kids, while strong, were vulnerable in their kindness, their love. Dazai had sacrificed strength for happiness more than once with them, and the consequences were these.
Clarity suddenly overcame him, and he turned on the car, carelessly speeding towards the highway.
He now knew what to do.
The Boss of the Port Mafia would never let them go.
So it was just a matter of putting someone else on the chair.
And- well. Chuuya had once drunkenly said Dazai looked good in red.
.
On his way there, a plan halfway formed, he decided it was time to see just with which resources he counted.
He dialed a number he knew by heart and refused to let his hands twitch from nerves.
"Shitty Dazai? Where the fuck are you? I just got a call from Gin, they said you haven't gone home in days and that you were dealing with that Mimic bullshit -"
"Chuuya", he cuts off, voice tight, the slightest trembling there.
Maybe it was the waver, or the use of his first name, but he could almost feel through the line how the shorter man straightened in place.
"Where are you? What 's going on?"
'Are you going to try to kill yourself? ', he doesn't ask. Dazai hears it anyway. The backdrop of chatter on his side of the line dies out, the Flags catching in on his sudden panic.
The option of just dying and not having to deal with this, the chance of not starting himself on this path, was almost blindingly tempting. He tightened his grip on the gear shift, the phone's speaker catching the screeching of wheels as he sped to pass a slower commuter.
If he dies, he fails Odasaku, and Mori gets his kids. Both eventualities are just as appalling.
"Are you fucking- driving? You know you're not allowed to drive, what the fuck is going on-?"
"Chuuya", he bites out again. Headquarters are in sight now. He needs to ask.
"What the fuck, why are you -? What-?"
"Chuuya, I'm going to do something - stupid" he starts, because there's no other way to put it.
His partner clearly doesn't understand.
"If you're speeding towards a pier or something I swear to god-"
Sometimes, it amuses Dazai how Chuuya could come up with suicide scenarios that hadn't even occured to Dazai himself before. Something about his (friend?) Slug worrying so much for him that he probably has sat down sometime in the past and listed all ways he could try to off himself, so he'd be ready…
It's not enough to make him smile, not with Oda's blood drying on his palms, but it does make something cold uncurl and turn slightly warmer inside his chest.
"I'm going to do something stupid, and dangerous, and final", he says again, past the knot on his throat. "And I need to know if you'll stand with me when I do. If you'll help me live with the consequences of it."
Live. He's going to live. That's probably what has Chuuya's breath catching on his side of the phone, because for all that Dazai is a schemer at heart, he's never outright shared a plan where his survival is not only guaranteed but a must. He always leaves a chance for error in his plots, in hopes a stray bullet or scorned enemy might give him his desired end. He can't do that now, and the rarity of it all (of Dazai resigned to stay around) is what shows just how earnest he's being.
Chuuya's voice is less frantic, at ease now that Dazai isn't apparently in inminente danger, but it's adopted that seriousness that makes him feel steadier than a rock. Firm and reliable, when Dazai needs him most.
"Always", he says. Final, sure, confident- loyal.
Dazai can't keep the sob in- but the tears stay at bay. He hadn't cried with Oda's last breath, he can't break now, not entirely.
The sound drags a pained, concerned one from his partner. Pain for pain. Twin black.
"Dazai, come on, tell me what's going on. I can't help you if you don't."
That's blatantly untrue- he has kept him in the dark on multiple occasions, sometimes for the good of the plan, sometimes just to mess with him, and Chuuya always comes through. He's reliable like that.
Dazai's tiny mountain.
He sighs as he parks.
"I'm at headquarters. Send the Flags to my place, tell them they are on babysitting duty. Then come as fast as you can- straight to the Boss's office. I'm going to need a witness."
Silence.
"Dazai, you-"
He stops again. Undoubtedly, he comprehends the gravity of what he's said, even though it probably makes no sense to him. Despite having been told on multiple occasions that he's the preferred successor, how business partners sometimes refer to him as the Prince of the Mafia, Dazai has never coveted the throne himself; too big of a commitment for someone always yearning for his end. Too troublesome, with not enough payoff for him to bother with. As someone smart enough to get whatever he wants with minimum effort, he never had a motivation to be greedy, to grow power hungry.
But this is not about the might of the Boss, or the money, or the influence.
"It's about the people", he says, knowing his best friend will understand. "About your flags. Ane-san and Hirotsu. My kids ."
Their family.
He doesn't include Chuuya, because he's never needed Dazai's protection like this, and probably never would, if things go his way. He's asking him to be his right hand man after all; can't do that and on the same breath insinuate Chuuya is somehow weaker than him.
A beat.
"...Not Ango, or Oda and his children?"
He swallows hard. A subordinate is approaching his car, wet towels at the ready for him to clean his hands. No one suspects - good.
"Ango is a traitor, and Oda- he and his kids aren't - they aren't. Here. Anymore."
"... fuck. Fuck!"
The silence after that outburst is deafening. The grunt waits patiently for Dazai to exit the car. He probably should ask her name- he'll need to start paying attention to that sort of thing, right?
"... Chuuya?"
This is the moment of truth. The one that marks whether he lives or dies after killing Mori - that part is non negotiable. Without him, someone else takes the seat after taking down the traitor, him, to avenge the previous Boss. With Chuuya's support, on the other hand, he has three executives in his pocket; the redhead himself, and his older brother and sister figures. Verlaine and Kouyou would follow him. The Flags, too, and they have enough influence of their own to be a nice plus. Black lizard… probably. Hirotsu likes Dazai enough to support him as long as he has the minimum credibility that having a witness would provide. If they don't, he knows Gin enough to guess that she'll probably just kill all the commanders, assume leadership on her own and help him.
But, no, that's not part of the plan. Gin and Ryuu they-
Oda had said-
Fuck, why was this so hard, emotions are a bitch, he never asked to feel them so why is this happening -
"If you don't want-"
"I'm on my way."
Oh- he hadn't noticed the wind in the background. There's no engine, so no bike- Chuuya is probably flying. He'll be here before Dazai even gets to the elevator, if he doesn't move. He has to hurry.
Turning off the speakerphone, he readies himself. Gets out of the car, accepts the towel from the blond girl and waves her away. Strides towards the building.
Everyone on the ground floor parts for him, and the ones about to step into the lift vacate it, avoiding eye contact but not more so than usual. No one even blinks at the blood staining the towel, or the remnants of it on his hands. It's a normal fucking Wednesday.
Not even Mori would suspect. He knows Dazai hates the idea of being boss, and probably thinks he's coming to tell him to fuck off to his face before defecting (his plan all along, probably, to rid himself of the danger of having the Demon Prodigy breathing down his neck forever), or to work a deal between them and make the most of the situation.
He doesn't know he's going to die today.
Unless-
"To kill me?" Chuuya is loyal to a fault, the only question is to who he is loyal to first .
"To protect the Boss."
Something bitter drops on his stomach. He still presses the top button, because if Chuuya's going to try and stop him, he needs to hurry even more.
"Chu-"
"So don't do anything too dangerous until I get there. I'll be damned if I fail at my job as right hand man on the first fucking day."
Oh. Oh .
Oh, I love him , he thinks. What a weird time to figure that out.
With no one to witness it, he smiles. His first one since Oda died hours ago, and probably the last one for a while.
"I'll see you soon then, partner."
_______________
He's right- Mori never saw him coming. The surprise on his face, in the second between Dazai raising his arm and a bullet lodging itself on his forehead (Elise not having time to be summoned, having been dismissed when Dazai had entered the office, as she always was to avoid the uncomfortable feeling of No Longer Human should he accidentally touch her or Mori), was real. He'd believed nothing was stronger than Dazai's apathy, or his grief; hadn't thought his love for the small family he'd regretfully let him build would be enough to push him this hard.
Mori's first, and now last, miscalculation.
He doesn't need to turn around and face the slow-reacting bodyguards- they are dead before even having the chance to point their guns at him.
Dazai stays still, back to the room and facing the desk, Yokohama's rising sun bathing everything in a light too soft for the gory scene. He breathes in. Puzzle pieces falling in place, he enjoys the silence death brought into this office- things will become very noisy, very soon.
It's Chuuya, in the end, who walks to the bleeding corpse of their previous Boss to retrieve the red scarf, not a hair out of place after killing four bodyguards in half a second. He's also the one who winds it around Dazai's neck. He makes eye contact as he does, and Dazai reads entirely too much there for someone dissociating as hard as he's doing. You better be a good Boss, he says. I'll kill you myself if you aren't, he threatens.
I'll always be by your side, he promises
The new Boss of the Port Mafia nods to his right hand man (his best friend, his partner and, as he's just learned, the love of his life) and pushes Mori's cooling body off the chair, sitting himself in a throne he never wanted.
The blood on his pants is warm, but Oda's had been warmer on his hands.
"Call the Executives, and Hirotsu. We have so much work to do."
_______________
Five days later, he manages to give his protection detail the slip for the first time since wearing the red scarf. Chuuya wouldn't have lost sight of him, but he's currently busy putting down the last of the resistance. The small group was dumb enough to try and wrestle power back from him, even when half the Mafia had supported his claim and another quarter had bent the knee out of sheer fear; they won't be a challenge to him. And with that taken care of, the most urgent threat on his life is gone as well- he can be left alone for a few minutes, he thinks.
His partner will probably have a few choice of words, when his subordinates find him and escort him back to his office. He'll wait until it's the two of them alone- nowadays, that's the only time when he yells at him, smart enough to understand the need for Dazai to remain unchallenged and for Double Black to be an united front.
Dazai smiles. He can't wait. But, alas, his fatherly duties must come first.
He finds Taneda at the steak house, just as he predicted. If the man is surprised to see him, he doesn't show it, merely bowing his head to the new King of the underworld.
"Dazai-dono, what an honor. Please, have a seat."
He sits, smile fake and perfect. Someone appears out of nowhere, bringing him a cup of tea. He smells the aromatic herbs, but doesn't put it to his mouth- he'd promised to live, after all. And poison wouldn't be a nice way to go, in any case.
"Director. I have a request, as payment for the Mimic incident and the role the Mafia had in it."
Taneda tilts his head.
"Wasn't the supernatural business permit enough?"
"That was your bribe to Mori, Director. Haven't you heard? He retired, after trusting the permit to me. But I haven't been given my pound of flesh, considering the losses I, myself, endured thanks to the government."
He's not being specially subtle, but he doesn't have to. It's weird, having enough power to not need to bother himself with that, but he'll get used to it. He's already getting the hang of things; Hirotsu says he was born a Boss. Chuuya had muttered he was just a control freak who found pleasure in seeing his enemies scuttle around like ants on his desk, knowing he didn't even need to put a mask for them, being such a non issue.
Both are right. He is enjoying watching the head of such an important government division squirm.
"I see. Well, I'm not of the same mind, but I'll hear you out. As long as it's not out of our possibilities, I guess we could make a concession, as a promotion gift for you."
He smiles again. This one has hints of blood.
Well. He'd never make it as a good man, in any case.
"I need two clean records, and a job interview. I'm looking for a part time job for my children, you see. Away from the family business, if you will- on the side that saves people."
"Oh…?"
Oda- would you be proud?
"I want Gin and Ryuunosuke to be on the side of the light."