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“Chuuya, what is that?” Dazai immediately questioned as soon as he walked through the door of Chuuya’s apartment. Why he was there and how he got in is out of the question, because just why is there some big furry lump in the middle of Chuuya’s living room? That was never there before, Dazai should know! He sneaks into Chuuya’s apartment all the time, like he practically lives there at this point, and never has he seen this thing that—oh my god it has a head.
“Dazai, what the hell?” Chuuya immediately questioned, snapping his head towards Dazai in the doorway—clearly he wasn’t expecting the brunet to show up, all the more evident in his next question. “What are you doing here?”
(Dazai knew that Chuuya didn't ask how he got in because they’re both accustomed to Dazai just randomly showing up in Chuuya's apartment at this point, much to Chuuya’s dismay.)
“I’ll tell only if Chuuya tells me what that is,” Dazai said again, this time pointing to the furry lump on the floor. Looking around now, Dazai notices quite a few things that’s now there that Chuuya didn’t have before. Two silver bowls on the floor, a giant bag of what looks to be kibble, scattered plushies and tennis balls lying about, and a new leash that’s hanging on the coat rack right next to Chuuya’s hat that just looks out of place. Truthfully, Dazai already knows what that thing is, he just doesn’t want it to be true.
Chuuya rolled his eyes, clearly fed up with Dazai’s shenanigans already. He leaned back on the couch, crossing his arms and silently allowing Dazai to come further into the apartment. There’s no use in fighting it, Dazai had come over way too many times unannounced before that both of them already know the drill; Dazai waltzes in, Chuuya says something along the lines of “What the hell?,” then Chuuya wordlessly invites Dazai to sit with him on the couch or at the table or wherever he’s currently stationed at. Right now, it’s the couch, but honestly Dazai doesn’t want to go near that furball.
“It’s a dog,” Chuuya stated plainly, narrowing his eyes as he noticed Dazai isn’t coming over. He sobered up quickly though, his expression returning back to normal as he explained more. “Tachihara’s. He asked me to dog-sit while he’s out on a job.”
“I didn’t know Tachihara had a dog,” Dazai said, and ew, he wants to shudder at the mere word coming out of his mouth. He hates those furballs, they just get hair everywhere and overall are way too annoying and loud for his tastes—“how ironic,” some would say (“some” being Chuuya). How the Chibi can like them, Dazai has no idea. Yet, despite himself, he decided to humor Chuuya by walking over and joining him on the couch, warily eyeing the dog along the way as it followed Dazai with its head, tongue out and panting like it ran a marathon despite it literally just lying on the floor.
Chuuya saw the way Dazai was acting and let out an exasperated sigh, before almost immediately slotting himself into Dazai’s side once he sat down, looking down at Tachihara’s dog with a calm expression. When he snuggled up against Dazai, head leaning against his shoulder, Dazai just wrapped his arm around the Chibi and held him closer, momentarily forgetting about the furry lump that was staring its demonic beady little eyes into Dazai’s soul. Emphasis on “momentarily” however, because there’s no way Dazai could block out the elephant—or should he say, dog—in the room.
“I didn’t either,” he heard Chuuya agree, referring back to Dazai’s previous statement. He sounded indifferent and tranquil, as if Dazai being here with him is soothing for Chuuya. “Apparently, it’s a new development.”
“And you agreed to this, why?”
“Because,” Chuuya started, turning so his head was better facing Dazai’s. “I like dogs, Dazai,” he gave the brunet a pointed look, before shrugging and leaning into Dazai’s hold once more, looking back at the dog. “And because I felt it was a nice thing to do. It won’t be that long anyway, Tachihara’s only gone for a week.”
Dazai pouted. “A week? Chibi, that’s so long!” He complained, whining as he plopped his head onto Chuuya’s. He closed his eyes, willing for the image of that furry muzzle to just go away, but alas, he cannot escape the beady gaze of the dog.
“You could still visit, y’know? It’s not like you have to avoid my apartment,” Chuuya countered, slight confusion laced in his tone. Dazai opened his eyes to see that the dog has stood up and went to go get water, so it took a little while for Dazai to respond, since he was tracking the creature with disturbed eyes.
“Yeah, but I don’t like it Chuuya!” Dazai whined again, wrapping his other tentacle-like arm around Chuuya, effectively trapping him in some kind of weird hug that he could predict Chuuya would describe as like an octopus. “My dog shouldn’t have a dog, it’s unnatural!”
“I’m not a dog, you damn octopus,” Chuuya retorted, yet despite the hostility in his words, he didn’t move a muscle. He stayed cuddled with Dazai, and Dazai could only smirk at the fact that not only did Chuuya indeed call him an octopus, but he also didn’t even shrug Dazai off as he did so. Yet Dazai’s joy only lasted for a moment, as the topic quickly went back to the actual dog in the room. “But I guess if you don’t like her, then you’re just gonna have to avoid my place for a week,” Chuuya taunted, moving to get up from the couch and out of Dazai’s hold. Dazai immediately whined his protests and pulled the Chibi back down, wrapping Chuuya in a tight hug while burying his face into his hair so he couldn’t escape.
“No, I wanna stay!” Dazai murmured, upset at the idea of avoiding Chuuya’s apartment for an entire week. “Just throw the dog away, simple!”
“I can’t do that, Shitty Dazai,” Chuuya responded, shifting a bit in Dazai’s hold. Dazai got the message and loosened his grip, pulling away slightly so Chuuya could properly look at his face. And besides, Dazai was a bit offended at the statement. He pouted.
“Chuuya’s choosing a dog over me?” Dazai said, half-heartedly teasing Chuuya. He was fully expecting Chuuya to say “No,” that a dog didn’t even hold a candle to Dazai, but instead, the response he got was Chuuya flashing him a wide, taunting grin, eyes gleaming with mischief as he said:
“Yes.”
Dazai’s jaw dropped in shock, he couldn’t believe it! How dare he, that stupid Slug! Choosing a dog over him, how could Chuuya betray him like that? Dazai huffed, looking off to the side in feigned offense, which got Chuuya to chuckle and the ginger placed his hands on both sides of Dazai’s cheeks, turning his head so he was facing Chuuya’s again. It took everything in Dazai to just not smile at that and still look upset, even if he usually hides his emotions quite well.
“I’m kidding,” Chuuya said with a chuckle. He rubbed his thumbs against Dazai’s cheekbones. “Of course I’d choose you over a dog.”
Dazai smiled. Honestly, he really only acted so appalled so he could hear the words come out of Chuuya’s mouth directly—he always loved hearing things like that from the Chibi. It makes him feel all warm inside, something that makes him forget about the struggles of things like work or a furry, four-legged demon with black beady eyes.
“But . . .” Chuuya started to say, and Dazai’s smile instantly faded into another frown. Yet, he decided to hear Chuuya out, just to see what he has to say. “I promised Tachihara I’d take good care of her, so for now, you’re just gonna have to deal with it.”
It was clear Chuuya wasn’t going to let up on this, if the pointed look he was giving Dazai was anything to go by. Then as if to make up for his “just deal with it” statement, Chuuya brought Dazai’s face closer to his and pressed a small kiss to his lips, but it wasn’t lasting, and Chuuya got up immediately afterwards, clearly using Dazai’s subtle frozen shock at the slight unexpected gesture as an opportunity to slip away. It wasn’t until Chuuya got to where the bowls were stationed at, picking one up—Tachihara’s dog was just looked at him the entire way—when Dazai regained his senses enough to respond back with another whine. “But Chuuya—”
“No ‘buts,’ Dazai. You’re just lucky I’m not asking you to help me with her this week,” Chuuya stated, clear that this was his final stance on the situation. Dazai huffed, frowning as his gaze followed Chuuya as he made his way to the kitchen counter, where the bag of kibble was stationed at. (Side note, those things don’t taste very good. Just another reason why Dazai can’t stand dogs—their taste in food is just horrible!) Dazai watched as Chuuya scooped some kibble out of the bag and into the bowl, all the while, animatedly interacting with the dog, talking in some weird baby voice to it. If Dazai was being honest with himself, it was an endearing sight. Weird, sure, but that’s just because he doesn’t get pets. Even if he judges most who talks to their pet like a baby, weirdly enough, he didn’t seem to mind when Chuuya did it. He watched as Chuuya pet Tachihara’s dog behind the ears, smiling as he did so. He watched as the dog licked his face—which, gross—yet Chuuya laughed as she did. He watched as Chuuya told the dog to sit, and when she complied, he pet her again before setting the bowl on the ground, in which the dog immediately shoved her muzzle into the bowl to eat. He watched as Chuuya pet the dog once more before he turned and smiled when he saw Dazai staring. And despite everything, despite his hatred for the big, furry creature Chuuya was crouching next to, despite Dazai not understanding Chuuya’s love for the animal, despite him disliking the idea of Chuuya caring for this thing for a whole week . . . Dazai found himself smiling back.
It was a weird thing, how he liked watching the Chibi care for the dog. It was something he wouldn’t expect, and even so, Dazai only had one thought in mind:
He was looking forward to visiting Chuuya this week.