Work Text:
The 23rd.
A man with glasses as round as the moon sits down at a bar.
A man whose hair looks as red as a dying sun sits next to him.
It’s kind of their birthday, today.
Ango orders something special.
Oda brought curry from his favorite shop and orders as usual.
Bourbon and whiskey.
Ango will regret it in the morning.
Oda probably won’t.
He takes a drink.
Oda sips his own.
It burns their throats.
Ango coughs.
Oda does not.
They celebrate.
Or at least, he tries.
Oda’s never been big on celebrations.
It’s just another year passing.
Another year without Oda.
(Because Ango is at Bar Lupin alone, pretending he’s still here.)
They never got to celebrate together for very long.
But how could he not cherish that time anyway?
It’s not like he has much else to cherish in his life.
Definitely not his broken friendship with Dazai.
Or his regrets over how it all happened.
But more recently he’s met someone else.
Mushitaro is loud, annoying.
Exactly the kind of person Ango would hardly want to talk to.
But here he is, getting fussed over and preened by the man on his not–quite-birthday.
Because Mushitaro has dignity to share and care to give, not that he says it so bluntly.
And apparently Ango has done something to warrant generosity; he sits and simply lets Mushitaro do as he wants.
All he wishes for this year is to not regret him.
Mushitaro makes sure he drinks water, brushes his hair, even has bought him shampoo and various other products for his birthday.
It is a strange, foreign concept for Ango Sakaguchi to be cared about.
It is not one that Mushitaro allows him to reject.
It is very, very wonderful for both of them.
To be cared for–
And to care.