Chapter Text
Chuuya and Dazai are missing.
Kunikida huffs, closing the door to one of the many gardens around the castle, retreating back to Chuuya’s room to take a breather. Now, the two disappearing aren’t an uncommon problem, as much of a problem as it is, but usually… it doesn’t take an hour to find them.
They’re often hiding somewhere obvious, and are ironically never quiet about it, making it easy to find them even in the most hidden of places. But this time, Kunikida spent over an hour searching around various places in the many floors of the castle— and not a single peep.
Not a snicker or a condescending word to guide him in the slightest, a few minutes close of giving up and just asking other people to help him for the first time. But not in a defeated way, no, more like a state of ever-growing panic for the two’s safety.
Kunikida enters Chuuya’s room hoping that he’ll see the sight of him and Dazai talking like he usually does, but obviously, he doesn’t. He would love to lay on something or take a seat, but to be frank he’s never touched anything in Chuuya’s room without the intention to help or tidy it up… so he just stands instead.
His eyes drag over every inch of the room, taking in the familiar features of the furniture. It’s only when he notices that the balcony door’s cracked open that his eyes widen, walking over to the door to further push it out.
It makes a horribly loud creak sound, something he’ll have to fix later, but for now he steps out, vision immediately cut-off by a solid-wood ladder next to him. He blinks, looking up to notice its slightly odd positioning, eyes widening in realization.
And it’s when he hears a loud voice from the rooftop that he decides he has to be brave and climb up, eyes flicking over the steps as he inhales, mentally preparing himself for the scare of a drop higher than any castle yet. As soon as he reaches the top of the ladder, he realizes it’s slightly too short to reach the roof, having to pull himself up and over the material. Then he spots Chuuya, pausing as he tries to call out for the prince.
“Your-“ Kunikida chokes on his words, groaning as he hauls himself onto the roof of the castle. It’s almost unbearably bright, the sky devoid of any clouds as the sun shines an angelic-like light over the horizon. The scene would be beautiful… but not when he’s trying to get up onto the oven-hot tiles, uniform crinkled and slightly grimy from trying to find the prince and Dazai for an hour straight.
“Hey, Kunikida!” Dazai yells, Kunikida instantly recognizing the voice despite being unable to see him clearly. “How long did it take you to find us?”
“An hour… and… thirty… minutes.” Kunikida huffs through his words, grasping onto the first hand that comes to help him, glancing up to find that it’s not Dazai, but Chuuya instead. His eyes widen in embarrassment, hand pulling back at an instant only for him to fumble his balance on the tiles and force the prince to grab ahold of his shoulders for support.
“Woah, Kunikida.” Chuuya says, a nervous expression on his face as he pulls the butler forward. Kunikida really hopes that he doesn’t look like too much of a mess, especially now that he’s under the eyes of one of the royals.
“Sorry, your highness.” He replies, which only seems to annoy the prince. He can hear Chuuya mutter a ‘don’t call me that’ as Dazai talks over him, sitting on the tile next to them.
“You took a lot longer this time. Didn’t think to check the outside?” He teases with a smile, a serious expression coming over Kunikida’s face as he responds without much hesitation.
“No. This is just… insane. Do you two have any self- preservation?” His eyes flick over where he had climbed up, from a ladder slightly too small to reach the roof, over a luxurious balcony that would definitely be able to crack a head open if someone fell.
“Well, you’re up here, too, so I guess that makes all three of us.” Dazai smiles, standing up to walk over to where the sun is shining. Kunikida wants to run over and drag the boy back down, but his own fear stops him from moving an inch. He really hopes Chuuya doesn’t let go, or else he thinks he’d fall to the tiles of the roof at an instant.
“Be careful, Dazai.” Chuuya warns, dropping his hands from Kunikida’s shoulders. It takes everything in Kunikida to keep standing, only doing so to not look like a fool in front of the prince.
“Sorry about him. Just don’t move if you’re too scared, yeah?” Chuuya grins like he can see the anxiety etched into Kunikida’s face, toothy and much too persuasive for the likes of the butler… enough that before he knows it, he’s following Chuuya over to where Dazai’s facing the sunset, internally praying to whatever god is out in the world to let them live another day.
He stumbles over to where Dazai’s standing, short hair ruffled by the wind as a gust makes him stumble, making the other two people behind him panic for a second before the brunette turns to give them a nervous laugh and a thumbs up, sitting down to keep still.
It’s almost irrelevant for anything but this situation, but Kunikida doesn’t know how close to sit to Chuuya and Dazai. He doesn’t want to invade in their space despite being practically friends with them, but doesn’t want to be too far to be rude, choosing to stop a few feet away to sit down.
Able to finally admire the scenery in front of them, including the sight of Chuuya and Dazai staring out to the sun, he turns around for a few minutes to gaze at the moon, bright in the sky as the clouds frame it’s circular shape. Since they’re so far from the city, Kunikida can even notice a few stars in the ever changing sky, darkening as the minutes pass and a purple-blue hue separates the night from the day.
It’s only that when he turns to find both Chuuya and Dazai looking at him that embarrassment creeps up his neck, awkwardly waving at the two with a nervous smile. Dazai responds with his own smile before turning back to the sun, Chuuya doing the same, only with an added wave.
“…We need to go back. This is extremely dangerous.” Kunikida says, eventually. As much as the view distracts him, the more than 100 meter drop down is just as obvious.
“Yeah, it’s kinda boring up here.” Dazai replies, to which Chuuya gives him a look.
“It was your idea to come up here. I’m only still here because Kunikida is.” He accuses, to which Dazai dramatically gasps.
“What?! You don’t care about my wellbeing?”
“Uh, no.” Chuuya pauses, “OF COURSE I DO. You just happen to have a much less chance of dying, with how casually you walk on this thing… Kunikida looks so nervous that even a gust of wind could knock him off the edge. If we leave him here, he’s never moving.”
“And you don’t trust me to get him back on the ground?” Dazai crosses his arms, clearly playing up this argument much more than he needs to just to get Chuuya to argue back. And it works. Every single time.
Kunikida watches the two bicker back and forth, choosing to ignore Chuuya’s comment about his fear for the height of the roof they’re on (he doesn’t look that afraid… right?) and look towards the sun. It’s almost completely disappeared into the sky, and he stares at the scenery for a few minutes, only interrupted by Dazai’s loud voice.
“Kunikida trusts me! You trust me, right Kunikida?” Dazai exclaims, turning to find the butler staring out at the scenery. “I wouldn’t let you fall to your death.”
“…We need to get off this roof before something bad happens. You’re not even allowed to be up here, anyway.” Kunikida says instead of answering, his eyes darting from the tiles to the drop from the roof as he tries to psyche himself up before standing. Dazai glares at Chuuya, standing up with a nonchalance that has Chuuya’s statement holding true.
“See,” Chuuya says towards Dazai, the smug expression on his face disappearing when he stands to cautiously walk towards Kunikida and offer a hand to help him up. (Which he gladly takes, by the way. He’s not rude.)
“Why did the king tell you to come find us anyway?” Dazai asks, falling back on Chuuya’s bed as if he isn’t in a castle full of royals. His nonchalance always fascinates and slightly annoys Kunikida, but he’s sure the prince appreciates it.
“It’s gotta be something important right? Or did you just miss us?” He teases, wide smile returning to his face as he puts his arms behind his head. Chuuya throws a candle at him, causing the man to choke on his next words as he sits up in anger.
“Oops,” Chuuya smiles, clearly not apologetic in the least to turn back and run his fingers through his wardrobe. Kunikida is just thankful for the two seconds of time he gets to dissipate his blush off of his face, eyes following the candle that falls from the soft sheets to the hard floor.
“…No. I was going to tell Prince Nakahara that he had to go eat dinner or tell me to get it for him, but it might be cold now that it’s been an hour.” Kunikida answers, the mention of dinner making Chuuya perk up at the words. A wave of panic flashes over his face, Dazai’s eyes widening slightly as he watches the man panic.
“Oh, crap. I forgot. Uh…” He says, quickly shuffling through his clothes before pausing, sighing in defeat. He closes the closet door, turning to Kunikida. “Just get the food. If it’s cold, could you warm it up for me? I’ll just apologize to my family later.”
“And I’ll come with you!” Dazai adds, earning a glare from Chuuya as he stands. “It’s gotta be boring walking around in this place so much, right? Especially since it’s so quiet…”
He rambles on, Kunikida giving Chuuya a small, firm nod before leaving with Dazai by his side, aimlessly talking on about the castle and able to switch topics in mere seconds. If anything, he at least knows that the two won’t cause trouble while he’s gone.