Chapter Text
- Within the first few years of the Agency's founding, Fukuzawa had already accepted that falling for someone, moreover being in a relationship, was no longer an option for him. Fate had been kind enough to spare him from that trouble - at least until recently.
- You were just another employee to whom he shared little time with. Sometimes you'd ask him for advice regarding certain topics, but most of the time the only interactions you had were limited to serving him tea and updating him about work.
- He doesn't know how or why he suddenly held an affection for you that was far from what was appropriate. All he knew was that one day, his gaze lingered at you for longer than it should have as the echo of your laughter resounded in his head.
- The moment he realized it was the moment he was damned. Aside from you being a mere employee and he your boss, he was far too old to be allowed to harbor romantic feelings for someone much younger than him. It was wrong. If anyone (especially anyone outside the Agency) found out, he would never recover from the fall.
- He should nip the problem in the bud. He shouldn't warm up to you, indulge in the little tenderness you showed him, or take the time to talk to you a bit more. But the more he tries to stop himself, the more he finds himself yearning for you.
- The only consolation he had was that it seemed that you were completely oblivious to it all. Not returning his feelings would make it much easier for him to quietly get over you.
- Until he noticed that you too held a certain fondness for him.
- Were you just thankful someone understood your troubles like how a father does? Or did you enjoy being with him the same way he enjoyed being with you? Or was he just being delusional?
- He should be hoping that you didn't return his feelings, right? Yet here he was hoping that you did, even if only a sliver of it. Sometimes he'd let himself dream and try to pursue you there.
- In the end, no matter how passionate the raging fire was in him, he never found out the answer to any of his questions.
- Dazai offered to set you up with someone - some gentleman who's interested in you, apparently - and while you seemed curious, something was holding you back.
- Fukuzawa's cold, emotionless words betrayed the aching heart that rose all the way to his throat. "Why don't you try it, Y/N? You might find out he's a good match for you."
- He might have been wrong, but he thought that your face darkened slightly at his words. In the silence before you weakly thanked him hung an unspoken pain that he'd never felt from you before.
- Perhaps it confirms everything. Perhaps it confirms nothing. But none of that matters now you've finally melted back into the background as a regular employee - just like how it should have been from the start.