Chapter Text
“Ougai.” Fukuzawa opens the door of the agency. He had already told everyone to leave temporarily so they wouldn’t be around when the mafia arrived.
“Fukuzawa. It’s been quite some time.” Mori walks into the office and glances around. It’s small, his personal office is bigger.
“You came alone..”
Mori nods. “I’m only here for a simple meeting, no reason to get anyone else involved.”
Fukuzawa sighs and steps back.
“Will it be just us, Fukuzawa?” He takes a step closer to Fukuzawa.
“A few of my detectives will be joining us soon. The rest are on a case.” He steps back and cautiously leads Mori to the meeting room.
Mori has never come to a meet alone. Something has to be going on.
Ten minutes passed, then the door opened.
Ranpo walks in holding a bag of candy that he sets down in front of himself on the table. Kunikida walked in seconds after him and took the spot on Fukuzawa’s other side.
Dazai came in last… wearing the coat Mori had given him.
Mori smiles at Dazai as he walks past him. “It’s been quite some time, Dazai.”
Dazai hums, not even looking at Mori. He takes the seat beside Kunikida and immediately gets scolded by him for sitting like a child at an important meeting. He had pulled his knees to his chest.
Mori snickers softly. “I was told it’d only be Edogawa and Dazai joining us.”
Fukuzawa nods. “There was a change of plans. Kunikida will be sitting in with us.” He glances at Dazai. Ranpo had told him that he shouldn’t be near Mori without someone else, which Ranpo had insisted be Kunikida.
Dazai shifts in his chair and rests his chin in his hand. He hadn’t even wanted to come to this, now he’s stuck next to Kunikida and the stick up his ass.
He fell asleep ten minutes into the meeting. Kunikida had been about to wake him up when Mori was suddenly behind him, draping his own coat over Dazai.
Kunikida glares at him. “I believe you should take your coat back Ougai.” He begins to pull it off Dazai.
Mori sighs and pulls the coat back over Dazai. “It’ll be fine. He needs to stay warm.”
Fukuzawa glances at Kunikida. He knows Mori and Dazai have a history that’s more than boss and employee. Ranpo had even warned him that Mori might get a bit touchy during the meeting.
“Kunikida,” He glances at Ranpo. This is exactly what he was told not to do. “Perhaps you should leave. You still have quite a bit of paperwork to finish.”
Kunikida stands quickly and nods, leaving within seconds. Fukuzawa waits until the door closes behind him to gesture for Mori to sit down in the seat Kunikida had been in.
Dazai shifts and leans onto Mori’s shoulder while Ranpo snickers. Fukuzawa smiles the slightest bit, watching Mori hold Dazai against himself. “How’d you both meet again?”
Mori’s arm around Dazai tightens slightly. “I found him after a suicide attempt.” Dazai shifts and leans onto him more.
“Really?” Ranpo leans forward. This was the whole purpose of this meeting, it just hadn’t been mentioned to anyone else. He pushes a file towards Mori.
Mori grabs it slowly, opening it to a birth certificate. Dazai’s birth certificate, with his name on it in the mother section. “This is fake.”
“We got it from Ango Sakaguichi.” Fukuzawa stands and walks behind Mori, then points at the father section, which has his own name there. “Talk.”
Mori shifts again and pushes the file away. “Osamu is our son. You left by the time he was born.”
“We’re both men, Ougai. It’s impossible for us to both be his father.”
Mori sighs, then pulls out an old photo. A young woman and younger Fukuzawa are in it.
“How’d you get that?”
“That’s me.” Mori points at the woman. He sighs and looks at Dazai. “He has no need for me anymore. He despises me most days.” He runs his hand through Dazai’s hair—he’s still completely asleep. “You left before I found out I was pregnant. I started transitioning after his first year. The mafia has no respect for women until you scare them, and even that won’t work sometimes.”
Dazai presses against Mori, only to now be pushed away.
“I’ll be leaving now, if that’s all.” Mori stands, beginning to walk out of the conference room. “Take care.” He was gone seconds later. Dazai lies in his spot on the chair, limp as Fukuzawa picks him up to carry him.
“Tell everyone they can return to the office. We’ll be gone for quite a while.” Fukuzawa begins walking out, Dazai completely asleep in his arms.
He carries Dazai out of office, holding him slightly tighter than he should as he walks down the stairwell. He pauses at the door leading outside.
It’s cold out, Dazai’s only wearing his regular clothes and Mori’s coat. He hesitates before walking out, holding Dazai tighter against his chest.
Dazai’s still asleep, actually asleep. He’s never actually fallen asleep with anyone in the agency around. Maybe Kunikida, but that’s it. Even his naps in the office, they’re usually just him lying down with his headphones on.
Fukuzawa begins walking slightly faster, a few more minutes and they’d be at the dormitory. He has no idea why he’s doing this, he should’ve just carried Dazai to the couch, not to the dorms.
He still kept walking, not even glancing back. He walks into the dormitory, slowly to Dazai’s room. He felt responsible for him now. He knew the woman in the photo, and it wasn’t often someone would meet anyone with eyes like hers. A deep, blood red, exactly like Mori’s, and exactly like Dazai’s.
He’d seen the bottles of brown dye in the bathroom, Ranpo had even told him Dazai dyes his hair brown. There’s never been any bleach around for anything besides cleaning, meaning his hair is likely white, like Fukuzawa’s.
An hour later, Dazai woke up in his own futon instead of on the agency’s couch or in one of the conference room’s chairs. He lies still, looking around lazily until he spots Fukuzawa sitting beside the futon.
“Fukuzawa…” He sits up slowly, curling into himself the slightest bit.
“You fell asleep during the meeting.” He adjusts the blanket on Dazai.
“Mori told you about me…”
“Yes, he did.” Fukuzawa brushes some loose strands of hair from Dazai’s eyes. “Nothing will change.”