Work Text:
Nakahara Chuuya does not dream.
No, of course he doesn't. Such luxuries are reserved only for humans. Or... at least, beings that do have a real, beating heart.
His sleep could rather be compared to drowning in nothingness. Darkness.
Endless, complete darkness and deafening silence. Sounds rather... peaceful and harmonic, yet for some reason he'd always wake up in cold sweat, with strands of red hair sticking to his forehead and heavy pants leaving his mouth as he'd nervously glance over the room he woke up in.
This time was no different.
No blinding white walls. No strange men dressed in all white. No muffled screams of agony and unheard cries of children.
No pain—
"Ow, fuck—"
Well, that's a lie.
His body hurt like hell. All of it.
Every single muscle of his ached unimaginably, of course there had to be the irritating pounding in his head that refused to let him actually think and come up with any conclusions, and the unbearable heat radiating from his whole body couldn't be missing as well.
"Fucking hell—"
He struggled to turn on the lamp that was placed on the nighstand, but managed eventually.
"Agh!"
Too fucking bright, damnit.
His eyes squinted, trying to adapt to the sudden burst of light in the room.
So he was in his room, afterall.
"What the fuck happened..?", He muttered to himself, massaging his pounding head with one hand, while the other one struggled to keep him up straight and soon failed, making him fall back on the soft, high-quality mattress with a thump and an annoyed groan from the red-head himself.
Good thing he wasn't exactly short on money.
At least he didn't have to sleep on some rotten, thin piece of cardboard or something.
Like he used to—
Grumble
He groaned in both annoyance and pain, and tried to sit up again in order to stand up(But let's not get the hopes too high up for now, it's going to be an achievement if he even manages to sit up in this state—)
Thump!
....
Crash!
Okay what the fuck was that. Apparently he wasn't the only one in the penthouse.
Oh, he's so fucked.
Or rather, the burglar or whoever is in the house is fucked, that's for sure.
He grabbed a gun from the nightstand(he usually didn't need it, but it was necessary in times like these) and slowly got up.
Honestly, how did they even get in? He had the highest security system possible, who could even manage to break in?
Well, the pounding in his head definitely wasn't helping him in being rational.
He started cautiously and slowly walking towards the kitchen. His body ached with every single step, screaming at him to just turn around and go back to bed.
He turned on the kitchen light and–
"What the fuck?"
Why was there a stinky, bandaged, blue mackerel on the kitchen floor..? And why was there such a mess everywhere?
"Ah, Chuuya—"
"What is your ass doing here, shitty Dazai?", Chuuya cocked an eyebrow at the man, leaning against the door frame, clearly not very happy about any of this.
"...you love my a—"
"Now is NOT the time, dumbass!", He threw the gun at the dumbass in question, but of course he caught it with no issues. Fuck that guy.
"Agh, fuck!", Chuuya yelled, his kness almost giving up on him due to the sharp pain that just went through his ribs.
Dazai's eyes widened for a second, but he quickly got up and stabilized the other man.
"Chuuya should go lay down.", he stated, checking Chuuya's temperature with his palm. Seems quite high.
"Screw you and your shitty advice."
"Chuuya."
"..."
"... Still a no. What are you even doing here?"
Dazai's gaze traveled down. Was that... Guilt...? In his eyes...?
"Oi."
Dazai's facade quickly turned back on.
"Well, my dog passed out mid-fight and leaving it on its own in the middle of nowhere would make me a bad owner, wouldn't it?~", He replied with an innocent smile and Chuuya could feel his headache getting worse.
He tried to fight against the pounding pain, that felt like drilling holes into his brain, and remember whatever the fuck happened before the darkness.
A mission... Strong opponents... Corruption..?
Faint memories started flowing back to his brain.
"Right. I remember now. But- I'm not your damn dog, fuckface?!"
"How does Chuuya manage to have all that anger inside his chibi-sized body? I've always wondered..."
"Be grateful I didn't kick your ass out straight away!— Agh-! "
His vision went almost completely black and he could feel himself falling, even though his brain couldn't exactly register what was happening. Definitely not with the annoying high-pitched ringing that filled his head.
But... Why did he not hit the floor..?
After a few seconds, his vision finally started going back to normal, and that stupid mackerel's face just had to be the first thing he saw(the guy was practically in his face, studying it with a curious expression, how fucking stupid).
"Woah, careful there Chuuya! You almost hit your head a second ago!", He said after deciding Chuuya's back to his senses.
"Ugh... What the hell..."
Dazai stood up and dusted off his clothes.
"Come on, let's get you back to bed, grandpa!", he smiled innocently, extending out a hand for Chuuya to take.
"..."
"HAH??? I'm only two months older than you, damn it!"
He took his hand anyway. I mean, it was Dazai after all. How could he not trust him?
━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━
Dazai helped him get back to bed, brought him some painkillers and was currently fixing the sheets with Chuuya nicely tucked in(seriously, that idiot didn't have to tuck him in like a goddamn child-)
"Ah, by the way, I wanted to make some food but—"
"Oh I am NOT eating anything that comes out of your cooking, not a chance.", Chuuya shook his head in disapproval. Dying from Dazai's food wasn't exactly a nice idea in his opinion.
"Wow, Chuuya's such a meanie! Didn't even let me finish! As I was saying, I wanted to cook you the most delicious meal—"
"Delicious...? Your cooking? "
"Stop interrupting me, stupid chibi! As I was saying, I decided against it because, well... I'm lazy! So we're ordering some take-out!", Dazai clapped his hands excitedly.
Chuuya just stared him up and down, unimpressed.
"Please, you're too broke for that", The latter rolled his eyes.
"Who said anything about my money?", Dazai winked at him, slipping his hand into his iconic beige coat's pocket and pulling out... Chuuya's credit card?! He held it between his index and middle finger, showing it to Chuuya, who just sighed.
"God I hate you..."
Dazai stared at him with pleading eyes(which were obviously fake, Chuuya would know by now)
"..."
"Ugh, Fine! But only because I'm starving, okay?"
Dazai made a little "yippe!" Sound and hopped on the bed right next to Chuuya, pulling out his phone to pick out some restaurant(most likely the most expensive one in Yokohama).
━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━
And... That's how they ended up... Here..?
Invested in some low-budget chinese drama, laughing, making fun of it and eating their noddles, laying together in bed with Chuuya's head resting on Dazai's shoulder.
Dazai would get severely reprimanded by Kunikida tomorrow for not coming to the agency at all, and Chuuya would have to go back to work in a few days(there's no way his body is going to be completely healed by then, but the Port Mafia needs him), yet they found themselves not caring at the moment. The only thing that mattered was them(and their food).
And maybe...
Maybe this is what love meant all along.