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Everything was quiet, only the small sounds of the prison lights filled the silence.
He laid there so silently. So… lifeless.
“Good job, Chuuya” Fyodor’s voice spoke through the intercom. “You're not needed anymore. Goodbye.” Shortly after, the intercom switched off.
Chuuya waited for a moment before he stepped closer to the supposed corpse of his ex-partner. He nudged it with his foot. “Wake up, mackerel.” He furrowed his eyebrows slightly while tucking his gun in the back of his pants. Another nudge of Chuuya’s foot followed after getting no response. “That anemic lunatic is gone. Wake up.”
Chuuya didn’t get a response. Not even a sign of life could be seen. He starred Dazai down for a few seconds longer before his nerves got the better of him. He kneeled down and shook his shoulders, trying to shake his partner awake.
“Wake up! Stop fucking around, asshole!” His voice was angry with a hint of desperation. No way this plan failed. No way he killed his friend, not like this. “Hey, come on now!” His voice sounded all the more desperate now.
A moment or so later, a snort then a laugh could be heard. It was Dazai that was laughing, startling Chuuya. The ginger’s fury returned in full force, holding the other’s shoulders even tighter. “What's so funny, bastard?!”
“Mhhh, nothing nothing...” Dazai tried to calm down, but he kept on bursting out into laughing fits. Chuuya conceded and sighed, loosening his grip on Dazai's shoulders, he sat down in front of him. Dazai groaned at the loss of pressure and pulled both of his shoulders up, since both of them are still injured. He tried to relax them. “You're a terrible shot, slug.”
“Shut up, I can't fucking see with these things.”
“Then take them off, red isn't your colour, sluggy dearest~.” He teased, a vein popping up on Chuuya's temple in response.
Yet, Dazai's right, for the first part at least. He should take them off. His hand reached up to his eye and he removed one of the contacts. His eye blinked a few times before he looked back to Dazai. A small smile is the first thing he saw, blood still trickled from his forehead down pass the corners of his mouth. Chuuya’s gaze lingered on him for a moment before he looked to the ground. “Still as ugly as ever, Vagabond.”
“Says the fake vampire.” Dazai laughed again, then winced as pain shot back into his shoulders. The adrenaline rush in him suddenly vanished and all the injuries felt so much more real to him.
The ginger noticed it, while he took out his other contact, putting them into a contact lens case he had with him and sliding it back into his jacket pocket before focusing back on Dazai. “Let’s get that bullet out first.” He leaned closer and reached his hand out to Dazai's forehead. The latter winced yet again at the touch and a moment later Chuuya held a small piece of metal in his hand that he dropped to the floor.
“You were too rough with me, shorty…” He whined, forcing a chuckle out of Chuuya.
“Well, I needed to be convincing, no? At this point, I know how to deal with stupidly smart people like you. I couldn't afford messing up.” He took a handkerchief out of his other pocket while talking and pressed up it against Dazai's forehead. The latter jumped slightly at the sensation and winced again. Dazai replaced Chuuya’s hand with his own and continued to press it against his forehead.
“Still… you cou-”
“I know, I know!” With one swift motion, Chuuya lifted Dazai off the ground and held him bridal style. He made sure to not press the other’s shoulders too hard, having Dazai’s stomach injury faced away from him.
“Now stop whining and shut up.” He snaped. “…I know where to get new clothes for you.” He strode down the hallway with Dazai in his arms. The latter couldn't help but stare up at him. A moment later, he smiled again.
“Good dog.”
“I’m dropping you.”
They arrived in a small room near the upper floors quickly enough. Chuuya set him down on a nearby chair and got the clothes for him. The blood flow to Dazai's forehead slowed down, but it would occasionally start bleeding again. He whined in his blood drenched misery. “Chhuuyyaaa it hurttsss…”
“Yeah, yeah I know.” Chuuya came back with a change of clothes and some bandage rolls. He set them down on a table next to them and reached out to Dazai's lower shirt.
The brunet caught on and started to remove his sleeves by himself, carefully pulling his injured arms out and letting Chuuya pull off the rest of the shirt. Underneath, Dazai still had some bandages wrapped around his torse that were now blood stained. The bullet wounds looked all very deep, but no vitals vital organs were hit, Chuuya made sure of that. Still, a lot of blood was flowing, and it better get treated now, otherwise Dazai might bleed out and they wouldn't be able to catch up to Dostoevsky anymore.
The ginger gently removed the bloodied bandages before taking one of the bandage rolls and re-mummifying Dazai. The latter winced and whined once again. “Be gentle…”
“What do you think I'm doing, asshole??” He snapped back, accidentally pulling the bandages to hard, making Dazai yelp in pain. Immediately Chuuya softened his grip. “…I'm trying alright.”
Dazai let out a breath. Gosh, pain really is his least favourite thing in the world. But what came right after is losing in a fight of mind. So, he'll try and complain less, for both his and Chuuya's sake, but it seemed like the conversation wasn't over yet.
“You wanna explain what you meant with your little speech?” Ah, there it was. Dazai should have dreaded this moment. He let out another breath, making Chuuya raise an eyebrow as he continued to wrap the others torse.
“Do I have too?” He whined yet again.
“Yeah, let’s hear what the great Osamu Dazai thought were the moments where our hearts reached out to each other.” Chuuya smirked, his words laced with sarcasm, as he finished up on wrapping his torso.
Dazai let the words echo in his mind. Though it only happened 10 minutes ago, he couldn’t really remember a single thing. His mind went blank, yet somehow, words come out. “You want me to be honest, Chuuya?” The question caught Chuuya off-guard, who was cutting of the bandage roll from the rest of the wrapped bandages. He looked to Dazai for a moment, his eyebrows slightly raised.
“Would you be honest with me?” Dazai averted his eyes a moment later, his arm getting taken by the ginger, who then started to wrap it. Chuuya, too, looked away, down to the arm he was currently holding, his expression softening slightly. “Let’s hear it, shitty Dazai.”
A few seconds of silence went by, only the soft noises of bandages rubbing up against skin could be heard before Dazai spoke again. “I think it was the times where we had this… trust in each other.” Chuuya immediately looked up to him again, still wrapping the arm.
“This trust that was somehow always there, since the start too.” Dazai's face was a face of something Chuuya could only guess was nostalgia, a small smile sprouting on his face. “When we fought Randou, when you jumped in to battle to fight that demonic beast Guivre. You put as much trust into me as I did into you. Our cooperation was, and still is, perfect. Evidently so.” He chuckled softly, a slight pained expression on his face afterwards, prompting him to close his eyes. He accidently pushed one of his injuries, but a smile stuck by. “And you put enough trust into me to always be there when you used corruption. And I always was.” He opened his eyes meet Chuuya's gaze. The latter had stepped closer to wrap the bandages around his shoulder. Dazai’s small smile was still there as they studied each other’s faces.
Chuuya's focus returned to the bandages as he cut them off again to switch to his other arm. “And… you trusted me enough to shot you in the head again.”
“We did do it a couple of times before, didn’t we?” He chuckled lightly, careful enough to not strain his injures again. Chuuya replayed in kind, smiling as well while starting to wrap the other arm.
“Only because of your stupid plans, that always seemed to work out.” Dazai shrugged to the best of his capabilities.
“Well, this time, it would be your stupid plan, wouldn't it be?” He smirked now, making Chuuya roll his eyes.
“Yeah, yeah.” His voice had a hint of annoyance, but he was still maintaining that small smile. “I might as well ask this too.” Dazai could definitely see where this was going.
“No.” Chuuya couldn't help but crack into a bigger smile.
“What are we-”
“No.”
“What are we destined to-”
“No!” Chuuya laughed.
“What are we destined to be, Dazai??” He raised his voice before he laughed again. He couldn't take this seriously anymore.
Meanwhile, Dazai turned all but away from him. His body, except for his currently half bandaged arm, was facing away from Chuuya. “I'm not answering that.”
“Were they really words to ‘snap’ me out of vampirism or is there somet-”
“Nope, nothing at all.” Chuuya snorted.
“Thought you weren’t answering me~.” Smugness is laced all over his words as Dazai lost his composure more and more. “Perfect black mailing material.” The other sighed in exasperation.
“Just hurry up, slug. We need to catch up anyways.”
“Mhm, mhm, yeah I didn't forget that.” Just as he was talking, Chuuya finished up on the second arm and cut of the bandage roll again. “Not a shabby job.
“Mhhh, a little bit too tight.” Dazai commented like a critic, who is certified in bandage wrapping.
“Well sorry for not knowing how to mummify someone.” Chuuya rolled his eyes again while setting the bandage roll away. “Now, take off your pants.” Dazai blinked at him a few times before smirking mischievously, making Chuuya raise an eyebrow again. “What?”
“Mhhh, you're so forward with me, sluggy-poo~.” Dazai eyed him up and down while continuing to smirk. It only takes a few moments before realization hit Chuuya and he flushed slightly.
“Shut up, bastard! You know I didn't mean it like that!” He snapped, making Dazai chuckle softly again.
“I know.” He smiles innocently, pissing off Chuuya even more.
“Just…!” He huffed and crossed his arms, looking away from the brunet. “Just take those bloodied pants off and change to the new ones.” Dazai obliged, although still chuckling. He took off his pants gently and let Chuuya help him put on the new ones. Afterwards, Chuuya quickly pieced together a makeshift leg brace. A lot of whining and complaining followed while it was placed onto the other, nothing that was not the usual.
“You knoooww… you should put the contact lenses back on.” Dazai suddenly proposed the idea, stopping his whining all together.
“Hah? Why?” Chuuya raised an eyebrow while finishing up the leg brace. “I can’t see shit with those. You want me to run in a wall or something?” He stood up from the floor, looking at his ex-partner with annoyance.
“Well yeah, that too, but we’d also we show how you tricked Dostoevsky. Wouldn’t it be nice to see his face of surprise while he’s in misery?” Dazai smiled all innocently again, Chuuya narrowing his eyebrows slightly.
“What misery? You mean that poison taking affect?” The brunet didn’t answer him, making the ginger sigh. “Fine I’ll wear them.”
“Yes!” Dazai celebrated victoriously while looking up to Chuuya, who took his contact lens case out and was about to put the contacts back in. “Ah, wait! Put only one in and while I’m outside first, you’ll come out second while taking off the one you’ll be wearing. That would be perfect!” He sounded like a little kid, explaining how they’ll do a prank on some unfortunate victim.
“…Gosh that’s so elaborate.” Chuuya took out one of the contacts and continued to have the other one in. “I feel stupid.” He deadpanned.
“You do look stupid.” The brunet commented while chuckling, earning a “hah!” from his partner. “You said it first, slug.” Chuuya sighed and helped Dazai up back on his feet.
“Asshole, we’re going to miss him if we don’t leave now.” And so, they started to leave quickly to the exit. The complaining from before started up again while they were walking. “You don't need me to carry you all the time! You're not a fucking baby, even if you like to act like one.” The ginger snapped at him while they speed walked down the corridors of the prison.
“It's a want, not a need, Chuuya! Come on!” The brunet continued on, but quickly got shushed by the other.
“Lower your voice dammit!” He whisper-shouted. “That bastard's up ahead.” Dazai didn't even realize that they were that close to the exit already. He let out a small breath, like one of relief, before smiling slightly.
“Right. Let’s get to it then.”