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Chuuya looks good asleep. Peaceful, as if he couldn’t harm a fly. No-one would assume he kills people. No-one would know how much blood truly stains his hands.
Not that anyone gets to see him like this. It’s a privilege that Dazai would hold close to his heart, if he had one that is. If his heart wasn’t just an incessantly beating muscle that keeps him alive against his will.
He loves watching the Chibi sleep. He would be furious if he knew, of course, but he never was the smart one between them. He is plenty smart on his own; he has street smarts and self-preservation skills that Dazai could hardly claim for himself. He is probably smarter than most in the Mafia. But just between the two of them, Dazai is the brains.
He takes great care that Chuuya never finds out about this. He might get the wrong idea.
He’s not here to check on the Chibi, he’s here to make sure he keeps his body working. His Ability is important to the Mafia and his body is the vessel. It would be a shame if something permanent happened to it.
That’s why Dazai checks in on him. Not every night, far from it, but often enough that Mori would chide him for letting it become a pattern. He doesn’t sleep either way. Why not use it for something useful?
And it is useful to know that Chibi sleeps on his stomach and drools on his pillow and scrunches his nose when dreaming. Those things are tells and they could be exploited by the enemy. He should tell Chuuya to work on it, but then he would know Dazai is watching him while he sleeps and then he’d get all righteous about it.
They’d fight about it – not play-fight or bicker like they normally do – and it would be a thing. To Dazai’s estimates, Chuuya would need a solid month to get over it and that month could be spend more productively. Besides, Mori would be upset if he couldn’t use Double Black for some time.
That would be the only thing, though. Dazai wouldn’t miss annoying the little Chibi while he got the silent treatment. He especially wouldn’t miss how Chuuya gave as good as he got and how he was the only person aside from Mori that touched him, even if it was only to leave bruises, and Mori made his skin crawl, while Chuuya was fine, he supposes.
It would be unfortunate that he would lose the one person apart from Mori that could keep up with him – with him and his everchanging plans and especially someone that trusted him enough to execute them immediately with only verbal push-back – if he found out. But that’s all.
It would just be inconvenient, so he tries to avoid a fight, especially over something so inconsequential.
So, he makes sure not to leave any evidence of his break-in behind. Even if Chuuya noticed anything amiss – which he wouldn’t – he would never assume it was Dazai, since he always messes up the apartment when he comes to visit during the day. He always leaves a footprint when he comes over.
Officially, it is just to keep his cover to keep being able to sneak in at night. It is also pretty funny to mess with things and let Chuuya figure out what’s wrong on his own. But something in him feels weirdly pleased when he breaks into the apartment to find sticky notes left for him that warn him of doing anything. He tries to supress the feeling of course, because feelings have no place in the Mafia. But still, something in him preens at the evidence, that the Chibi thought of him.
The nightly visits feel different. More intimate. A secret between him and Chuuya that only he knows about.
Today’s visit is mostly motivated by the brutal fight they had last week with some group that thought they could rival the Port Mafia. They had gotten in a pretty tight spot for a second there, considering the strong Ability Users that had been there.
Dazai had seen no other choice but to use Corruption.
It’s one of the only things that make him feel needed, feel truly alive and present in the moment. It’s one of the things he loves about Chuuya Nakahara. This wild untamed beast that is leashed tightly in that tiny body. A godlike being that wreaks havoc the second it’s let out.
Dazai is unaffected by it, physically, but he’s always in awe of the raw power, the destruction that comes with it. He never feels the pressure that weighs their opponents down, doesn’t feel the soul-crushing agony of being ripped apart by an ancient force.
But he sees it, really looks at it, takes it all in and it is glorious every time.
The only thing that can compare to the beast inside, is Chuuya himself.
It’s in the way this tiny Chibi holds one of the most powerful Ability in himself and he knows it. He’s confident and brash and most importantly clever. Way too many Ability Users rely on their Ability, instead of honing their body and mind. As the one currently on his way to become the best martial artist in the Port Mafia, Chuuya doesn’t have that problem.
The Chibi is annoying and vain and way too loyal to Mori and he hates Dazai’s gut. But when Dazai asks him to unleash Corruption, he does it without questioning it. He might complain, might insult him but he always listens.
The results are so destructive and so painful that Dazai would never do it himself. Just for that, Dazai has to admire his partner. The way he doesn’t hesitate to speak the chant, how he barely shows the amount of pain he’s in is incredible.
The bruises and blood Corruption leaves behind aren’t restricted to the environment. They appear on Chuuya’s body, winding along his torso, his arms and legs, his neck. They’re prove that Chuuya is strong and that he might hate Dazai but trusts him like no-one else.
The bruises and injuries are a reminder to everyone that knows of his Ability that he’s Dazai’s. His to control, his to safe, his to hurt, his. They’re Dazai’s claim on his partner. He wants them to cover Chuuya just as much as he doesn’t want him hurt at all.
Something makes a noise from the kitchen and Chuuya starts to stir. His nose crunches, his eyes flicker and his fingers twitch. Dazai knows his partner’s tells like the back of his hand.
Dazai is gone before he can be spotted by him; Chuuya’s broken whisper of his name and a strange feeling in a heart that doesn’t exist follow him out the door.