Archive of Our Own ^beta

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The day he heard the news, Chuuya refused to speak to anyone. He locked himself in his room, and despite everyone's attempts to comfort him or get him to come out, he wouldn't budge.

What was the news that had all but broken him? His former partner, Dazai Osamu, had finally done it. He finally got himself killed. From what Chuuya heard, it was quite brutal as well. When the body was discovered, it was covered in dried blood, indicating it had been at least a day since Dazai was murdered. He had a total of four gunshot wounds, one located in his head, near his eye, one in his lower abdomen, one in his wrist, and the final one lodged in his waist. His light brown coat was torn and dirtied, and the bandages always wrapped around his wrists and neck smelled worse than moldy compost. Rumor has it, the person who found Dazai threw up almost instantly after seeing him. Both his legs were broken and feet stabbed through, which would have rendered him unable to walk when he was alive at that point.

Chuuya remembered each detail he was told, the mental image burning itself into his brain as he kept himself buried under a pile of blankets, scrolling through old text threads he had with his dead partner.

A few hours later, there was a knock on the door. Chuuya didn't want to get up, or move, and hardly had the energy to talk. But, when he heard who the knock belonged to his attitude changed completely.

"Nakahara, let me in." Came the familiar voice of none other than Ougai Mori, the boss of the Port Mafia.

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Chuuya managed to drag himself out of bed and over to the door, pulling on a pair of pants on the way. He knew he looked like a bird/spider hybrid on meth, and his apartment looked like an earthquake had a panic attack and then a tornado tried to clean up everything, but did it really matter at this point?

He opened the door and a feeling of 'Ah, sh#t I'm being judged harshly' rolled over him as Mori looked him up and down several times, unable to keep the entertained disappointment off his face. "Chuuya... It's been quite a while since you've come into work. Don't you think that's a bit unacceptable for an executive of the Port Mafia?" He asked, an amused smirk playing on his lips. Chuuya found Mori to look exceptionally punchable when he smiled like that, though he would never tell his boss that, because he still semi-valued his life.

"Well, once your dear Elise dies and never comes back, THEN you can come mouth off." He retorted, hardly able to prevent himself from rolling his eyes, his voice monotone and lifeless. Mori, on theother hand, did roll his eyes. "You're not still upset about the loss of Dazai, are you? You DO remember he betrayed the entire Mafia--Including you, and left to join the ADA, right?" He drawled on, carefully observing Chuuya's facial features and reactions. Hardly anyone else would've noticed the slight scrunch of his nose and tightening of his jaw. "Oh, I see... you ARE still obsessed with him. Shame he died, isn't it~?" Mori continued, a hint of sarcasm could be heard as he taunted. Chuuya exhaled rather forcefully, before looking at Mori. "What did you come here for." He forced out in the politest tone he could mutter.

Mori once again had an amused smirk plastered on his face. "You *do* still have a job." He mused, brushing past Chuuya, as he walked into the shorter's room. He set down a file on the cluttered coffee table, cringing only a small amount at the mess. "We will be having a meeting discussing everything in this file on Monday. Don't be late, and please, for the love of everything that is good, clean up your apartment and take a goddamn shower." The boss said, before turning and walking away. Chuuya grumbled something under his breath before shutting the door and flipping through the file.

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Chuuya flipped through the file. Apparently, Mori and Fukuzawa struck a deal. The Mafia would be working with the Agency from now on. He internally wondered if this had anything to do with the recent death of Dazai... After a few minutes, Chuuya set the file down and took a moment to look around his apartment. "Dammit... I suppose Mori was right. I'm living in a sh#t hole!" He exclaimed to himself before groaning. There was stuff everywhere, empty wine bottles were strewn about in every possible room and closet, "*wait- why was there an empty wine bottle in the bath tub--?*" he thought to himself. "Man, I've really been a wreck these past few days..." Chuuya sighed, before starting to pick up the apartment, starting with the wine bottles.

A few hours later, his current living space looked decent once more. He stretched before dragging himself to the bathroom to shower. As he was washing his hair, he realized he was softly singing the lyrics of Dazai's favorite song. "*You can't do~ a double suicide~ all by yourself~*" he then deliberately proceeded to choke on the shower water, not sure if he wanted to laugh or cry. So, he just focused on washing his nasty hair for the third time during that shower. When he was finally done washing his hair, Chuuya stepped out of the shower, smelling delightfully like eucalyptus. He dried off his body, then his hair, putting product in it for his curls. The time was now 6:30 pm.

Suddenly, the most obnoxious ringtone started blasting from the kitchen. Chuuya jumped, and rushed to answer his phone, still desperately trying to properly wrap a towel around himself. "Hello?!" He asked, frantically, not taking the time to check who called.

"Chuuya! I'm glad you answered dear. I was thinking, since Mori had a talk with you about getting your life together, that you and I could have a nice dinner at my place! Of course, I would have to invite the others, but everyone misses you anyway." Came the familiar voice of Kouyou. Chuuya couldn't help but exude an excited aura. "I mean, I'm down for that! Your cooking is the best! Besides, I think it'd be good to see everyone again." He said, his grin audible over the phone. Kouyou chuckled. "Alright, how does tomorrow at 6 work?" She asked, secretly relieved that he said yes. Chuuya immediately responded with a happy "alright!"

From there, the two talked for a bit before finally saying good byes and hanging up. Chuuya felt himself getting more excited than he had for the past month, even before Dazai's death.

Though his lover had died, Chuuya had become sure that Dazai wouldn't want him to live in sorrow for the rest of his life. Sure, it'd take time to heal, but Chuuya was convinced that with the help of his friends and colleagues, he'd be able to do it.