Chapter Text
Very few times does Dazai Osamu find himself feeling regret.
The Black Wraith wasn’t a title given lightly, however silly Dazai found the name. It was his intellect and ability to predict his opponents that garnered him the title of the youngest executive in all of Port Mafia history. Of course he rarely lends himself to unguarded emotions like anguish. Most of the time his predictions follow through smoothly, and his emotions stay under his control.
This, however, is not one of those times.
The brunet had made a minor miscalculation in his speech, leading to major discrepancy in his life. It all started in a warehouse, shortly after being promoted to an executive. Dazai had tried to banter with Chuuya during a mission, offhandedly complaining about having to work with a slug of a lower status. Not that he was being serious.
“It just doesn’t make sense! Mori obviously agrees that I’m better than Chuuya! Why else would he promote me instead? I wouldn’t be surprised if he thinks it appropriate to find me a partner matching my intelligence!” Dazai crosses his arms, trying to gauge a reaction out of the redhead.
“Hah?! You got promoted because you’re a slimy, manipulative asshole! I could’ve gotten that title if I really wanted! Tsk. Whatever. Stop being a jerk and help me clean up. If you keep slacking off, then Boss might really think about separating us..” Chuuya huffs, crouching down to examine the corpse of the man he had just killed. A lackey without useful information.
Behind him, Dazai’s face lights up, suddenly being struck with an amazing idea.
“That’s it! If I refuse to help you, Mori will have no choice but to pair me up with someone else! I guess even hatracks can form smart thoughts sometimes..” He unceremoniously drops to the ground, crossing legs and pulling out his 3DS.
“What the fuck is your issue? Fine. Go complain to Mori! I don’t give a shit. Just let him know you don’t deserve to be paid for this mission,” Chuuya spits out, unusually quick to give in. He levitates the corpse and turns on his heel, ready to finish the job – with or without Dazai – and go home.
“Silly Chuuya! With my new executive salary, I can skip the next 10 missions and still make more money than you.” Dazai calls out after him, suddenly losing any interest in his handheld gaming device. He squints at Chuuya, who seems more heated than usual. They argue all the time, what makes this one different from any other?
The next time the newly-formed Soukoku make an appearance together, is on a mission to infiltrate the base of a gang giving the mafia trouble. The objective was simple: sneak in – preferably without alerting grunts – and look through their files for any important information. Typically, a mission like this would be a breeze for them.
Dazai, however, had other plans.
From the moment they made it on enemy ground, Chuuya could tell something was up. The brunet seemed lazier than usual, opting to read his guide to suicide on the stairs of the entrance rather than actually help Chuuya map out the perimeter. It was dark, anyway. No way this bonehead was actually reading.
The property was fairly empty, set aside this one big building off to the edge. This unsuspecting base would seem almost abandoned to the average citizen. However, the layout itself seemed fairly average. It shouldn't take much for Dazai to figure it out.
The redhead lightly kicks him. “Can you get your shit together for once? I can’t use my gravity manipulation until I’m sure there’s nobody nearby. You’re not even actually reading that piece of trash, asshole.”
“Whaaat? Is that a little fairy I hear? Sorry, Chibi, but you’re on your own for this one. And I don’t need to see to know what the book says! I know it by heart!” Dazai makes no attempt to keep his voice down.
“Of course you do” – to that remark, Dazai lets out a petulant whine – “but that doesn’t give you the right to leave me doing all the dirty work. Get your ass up or I’m going to knock your teeth out,” Chuuya growls.
“Only a brute like Chuuya would resort to such brash threats! Alas, I am frozen in fear and cannot be of much use!” Dazai dramatically throws himself backwards, laying down on the stairs with his book on his face.
Chuuya hastily grabs onto the collar of Dazai’s shirt. “Keep your voice down, dammit! Get the fuck up right now or I swear to-” Two loud sets of footsteps catch them both teens off guard. Their heads snap in unison to the direction of the sound. Both boys are frozen still, holding their breaths.
“I swear I heard someone over here! There’s no way I would mistake it for an animal,” a young voice says, evidently a bit nervous.
A gruffer voice appears. “I swear, kid, if you made us walk all the way over here over some rodents, you’re gonna pay.” Both seem to be getting closer to their hiding spot.
Chuuya turns his head to look at Dazai, who was obviously planning something. ‘Don’t think about pulling any funny shit, mackerel,’ Chuuya’s eyes all but scream. Dazai looks dead at Chuuya, smiling. Before he can do anything, however, the voices get farther. The redhead lets out a sigh of relief.
“Chuuyaaa!! Get off me already!! Bad doggy, grabbing your master like that!” Dazai purposefully makes his voice loud, no doubt grabbing the attention of the two grunts.
Chuuya feels rage boil inside him and slaps his hand over Dazai’s mouth. “You idiot! Can’t you shut the fuck up for five sec-”
“Hey!! What are two mafia members doing here?! Naoki, get ready!” In front of the entrance to the stairwell, the two grunts appear, readying themselves for a fight.
“Right! Let’s make this quick!” The younger one, Naoki, charges towards both Dazai and Chuuya. Chuuya makes a narrow escape, running up the stairs while still dragging Dazai by the collar with one hand.
“Look what you did, dumbass! I swear, when we get out of this, I’m going to make you wish you were never born!” The redhead breaks down the door to the third floor, letting go of the brunet to turn around and position himself to battle.
“I already do, everyday!” Dazai leans against the wall and catches his breath.
Right after, the two enemies make it up the stairs. The older pulls out a gun, while the younger manifests a katana. Chuuya gets ready to fly at them, however, his ability suddenly dissipates.
The redhead snaps his head towards Dazai, who seems all but too content to have his hand on Chuuya’s neck. “What the fuck?!” Chuuya slaps Dazai’s hand off of him, and steps to the side. “Don’t fucking touch me! Be useful and look for their data room while I hold them off!” He turns back to face the two attackers, already running towards them.
“Ehh? But I wanna stay and watch my dog take out the trash! Entertain your owner!” Dazai claps his hand and flashes a grin.
“Eat shit!” Chuuya speaks to both parties. He quickly deflects bullets while kicking the other one into a wall. Naoki gets up without a scratch – no doubt a regeneration ability – and slashes straight at Chuuya. The redhead’s caught off guard but recovers just as fast. He gets ready to drag them both into the ground with his ability when he sees the older one aim at Dazai out of the corner of his eye.
“Say goodbye!” The man pulls the trigger at Dazai, who must have gotten hurt on the way up, leaving him sluggish.
“Move out of the fucking way!” Chuuya pushes off the ground and throws himself into the man, tackling him to the ground. He has no time to react to the young man aiming his weapon behind him. Chuuya tries to move, but his shoulder gets caught. This can’t be good.
“Shit! Dazai, do something, you asshole!” Chuuya grunts in pain before delivering a lethal blow to the kid. He hears the sound of another gun. This time, from Dazai, who had shot the old man dead.
“Are you okay?” The brunet drops his gun and crouches down next to Chuuya, putting pressure on his wound.
Chuuya pushes him away and uses his ability to keep himself from bleeding out. “I told you not to fucking touch me, dickhead. Seriously, what has gotten into you? Go retrieve the fucking files before someone else realizes we’re here. I’ll be fine.” He assesses the two bodies next to him, making sure that they’re dead. “I’m going to keep watch for you. The sooner you snoop, the sooner I can get home and take a nice, long bath.”
Feeling a twinge of guilt, Dazai finally complies without a complaint. “..Right. Don’t die, slug.”
Which is how they find themselves in Mori’s office the next day.
Chuuya, ever the loyal subordinate, bows his head and apologizes first. “I’m sorry, boss. We had some... issues, and needed to adapt.”
“Mm. I take it Dazai is at fault then? Well, I’m afraid it can’t be helped.” Mori sighs before turning his attention to Dazai. “What, tell me, is your issue with Nakahara, now? Having an executive constantly arguing with another high ranking member doesn’t look very good for the Port Mafia. I’m sure you are aware of this.”
Unfortunately, the gang had been smart enough to implement a failsafe system. The moment it had detected intruders, the information was sent to another database before self-destructing. Anything encrypted was gone long before Dazai made it into the room. Had they not gotten caught, they likely would have been able to complete their mission smoothly.
So now Chuuya was out of commission for the next week and the Port Mafia gained nothing from this mission but more headaches.
“I admit, the mission was unnecessarily compromised. But this wouldn’t have happened if I had been assigned to another partner!” Dazai pouts, not very concerned with the consequences of his actions.
“What?! That’s what this is all about?! You genuinely think you’re better than me now that you’re an executive?! You put me out of work for the next fucking week just because you’re immature! You’re not fucking special, Dazai.” Chuuya was visibly upset now, more than he usually was with Dazai. He feels a bit hurt that the brunet would go this far to not be around him (not that he’d ever admit it outloud, or even to himself).
“Oh? I see..” Mori mumbles to himself, reeling both of the teenagers’ attentions again. “Very well. If that is the case, then I will assign you two to different tasks. I’m not much of a fool as to let the Port Mafia suffer over two insolent children. You two will receive new instructions tomorrow morning. Any more issues, and I will not be so lenient. The Port has no need for dead weight. Understood?” The boss’ voice left no room for discussion.
“What?! Fine! I don’t need a partner, anyways!” Chuuya explodes, mostly towards Dazai.
“Ahh! I can’t believe I’m finally free from Chuuya! Thank you, Mori.” The brunet beams with excitement.
“Hm. Yes. I expect no complaints. You two are dismissed.”
Both young boys walk out of the office. One more ecstatic than the other. It wouldn’t be until they saw their new details that their feelings about this would change.