Chapter Text
Dazai woke groggily, moving his arm before a jolt of pain quickly reminded him of his injured shoulder; now with his other arm he reached among the empty bottles that littered his table for his phone that had shrieked him awake. Half-lidded eyes blurrily looking at the alarm screen as he quickly switched it off. He turned away from it as he closed his eyes once more for an undetermined amount of time, but he wasn’t blessed with the temporary death of sleep once more.
He pulled himself into a sitting position with a groan of annoyance. Deciding to start his day by checking his phone. Noting with little surprise the many updates he had received from Atushi, along with a wish for a speedy recovery from his old mafia mentee. He would deny it if anyone saw him but he couldn’t help but smile at the affection the two younger men showed towards him.
He stood with a slight stumble as he grabbed his crutches, it still was taking some use to, suicide attempts may be a common pastime for the ex-mafioso but they almost never involved leg injuries. The sun was already peeking over the tops of the buildings littering the city that meant it would be the perfect time to go annoy his coworkers on his day-off!
The thought of being a nuisance to those he loved filled him with the drive he needed to dress himself and before he realized he was opening the doors of the agency once more-
“Goooood Morningggggg~” Dazai drawled in a bright cheery tone that bordered on shrill, everyone turned to the brunette with mixed reactions.
“Dazai! It’s great to see you again! How are you?” Atushi asked eagerly, as Dazai grinned widely.
“I am doing better. At this rate I’ll be back to killing himself in no time!” He smiled brightly with enthusiasm as Atushi gave a small concerned smile of his own in return.
Ranpo looked up from Poe’s latest novel to his friend. “You mean you are able to walk and were bored so you came here to annoy us.” Ranpo correctly pointed out, making Dazai throwed himself dramatically against a wall with his forearm over his forehead.
“you mean our own Ranpo-San didn’t miss me at all!?” He whined as Ranpo rolled his eyes before returning to his novel. It was best not to entertain the man-child's antics.
“DAZAI, STOP ANNOYING AND DISTRACTING EVERYONE!” yelled Kunikida as Ranpo silently resisted the urge to facepalm as Dazai practically began glowing at the attention. Grabbing his crutches to dramatically coo and tease his friend.
“I’m glad everything is back to normal, whatever that is here.” Sigma observed, making Dazai perk up at his familiar voice.
“Ah my favorite three year old! You’re sticking around here?” He asked as Sigma shrugged. “Might as well, I can’t exactly go back to the casino.” He explained but the two understood the meaning behind the casual exchange.
“Plus with everyone working together at the moment it makes sense to join.” Sigma noted as Dazai nodded in agreement. Despite their disputes with the Port Mafia in the end they were both sides of the same coin; Sides that often had to work in harmony with one another when bigger threats such as the ones that have plagued Japan recently come to raise chaos.
Speaking of chaos, Sigma’s arrival to the ADA just meant another toy for Dazai-
“I guess we’ll have to finish our little dance won’t we~” Dazai moved the crutch to his arm as he reached out to grab Sigma’s hand who pulled it away with an irritated look.
“I would rather not have you falling on me.” He explained plainly as Dazai childishly turned away from him.
“That’s fine. I like my dance-partners to be off-age anyways~” He teased as Sigma quickly began a stream of mumbled curses towards the brunette who was still turned away.
The doors he stared at soon split open with a whoosh as his ex-partner stomped through. His messy flaming locks being the only thing visible over the mountain of papers the petit Mafioso carried.
“Ooh is that a tiny slug I see! It’s so small the paper smothers it!” He teased as Chuuya looked his way to snarl at him.
Dazai paused for a second that he knows most would miss. He knows his partner arguably better than the man knew himself. Within those few seconds of seeing his face he noted the subtle differences in that face he had stared at so many times over the years, in both life and in dreams.
His cerulean eyes were a touch duller, though that could just look that way thanks to the purple shadows creeping out from underneath the Mafiosos eyes. Those eyes were framed by slightly frizzy ends of orange hair that had clearly not been given their overly-luxurious work that the Mafioso often took pride in doing. He also appeared almost ever so slightly thinner.
As he snarled the sound missed that fiery edge that he annoyed (adored) most, his reaction to the tease being a touch slower than what was normal for him…
Dazai replaced his teasing mask before anyone could finish blinking as he poked at the Mafioso’s now in-range cheek.
“Move it asshole, or I will move you.” Chuuya growled at him as Dazai only prodded at him further, both literally and physically.
“You wouldn’t dare push a poor injured man would you!” Dazai dramatized, noting the unusual pressure in Chuuya’s jaw as his teeth clenched behind his snarl. Predictably he felt himself become weightless as Tainted Sorrow moved him upwards out of the way.
Chuuya rolled his eyes as he dropped the paper stack onto Fukazawa’s desk with an impressive thunk. “I believe this is everything.” Chuuya stated as Fukazawa nodded.
“Yes, I will inform Mori if there is anything else we require. Thank you.” Fukazawa gave a small bow of politeness as he took up the papers and Chuuya began leaving just as quickly and dramatically as he entered.
Dazai felt himself be lowered once more, not missing the slow release of the gravity allowing him to stand once more without risking injury.
“See you soooon chibiiiiiii~” Dazai called out to him.
“No you won’t you son of a bitch!” Chuuya barked back, slamming the door with a swoosh of his cloak and a bang of the doors for dramatic effect.
“Oh you will…” Dazai murmured to the space between as he felt that thing deep inside began to burn in the way only Chuuya could ignite.
“Uh Dazai? What was that about?” Atushi asked curiously as Dazai quickly remembered where he was.
“Nothing besides Chibi being a barky little dog!” Dazai replied his cheerful attitude returning as everyone besides one rolled their eyes.
Ranpo eyed the Detective with a suspicious look that Dazai quickly shot down with a look of his own. He silently thanked Ranpo as he didn’t bring up his deductions and understood not to.
“Well I have to go make a call~ lot’s of people want to see me to make me feel all better~” Dazai singed as he exited without another sound aside from the clinking of his crutches.
The second he was out of the agency his hand flew to his phone as he messaged his old protégé-
- Heyyyyy, keep an eye on that grumpy hat-rack
- That is an order.
Within under a minute his phone vibrated once more.
Akutagawa “The Emo”
- Of course Dazai-San, I will report any suspicious behavior immediately
He didn’t know what was up with his Petit Mafioso, but he won’t stop until he has found out and resolved it, by any means necessary.
.
.
.
After all, this interruption to his supply of attention was inexcusable.