Chapter Text
Dazai had always been careful. He was an alpha, a really strong one at that, and after all his years in the mafia he learned how to be hyper alert all the time.
Sure, he was not in the Port anymore, but some life lessons stuck to people, right? That’s why his training had been so strict, and he was not gonna throw it all away. Even if he didn’t stand with those criminals anymore, that didn’t mean he was gonna turn his methods weak just because of their origins.
Okay, saying that the Ada didn’t soften him a little was probably a lie. But hey, he was still the youngest executive in the PM's history, no matter where he went.
Or, at least that was what he thought before committing such a rookie mistake.
It was a normal morning, normal sky, normal air. Nothing different from usual.
Dazai obviously arrived late at work, but fortunately for him, Kunikida was too busy writing reports to notice.
“Hey everybody!! Guess the celebrity present today for y’all entertainment-!”
“Shut the actual fuck up Dazai, your desk is already full with paperwork.” Kunikida cut short, already frustrated at that early hour.
“And he wouldn’t mind filling it with your bones too!” Ranpo added to the remark, earning a low growl from the alpha.
“Awww, aren’t you so romantic Kunikida-kun?”
“Huh-hu, not this shit already, it’s too early.”
Dazai strolled to his seat in front of his partner casually, while slipping his coat out of the way to drag himself comfortably on his chair.
He even noticed Atsushi scrunching his nose a little, but he didn’t ask why.
But as he was flipping through the papers just to decide which one had to burn first, his neck began to pickle: the white-haired boy was observing him from his own seat, looking absorbed by his own thoughts. He was staring shamelessly, but his expression didn’t falter nor betrayed his neutrality. Well, it’s not like Atsushi never looked at him of course, it was just that persuaded face that scared him a little.
Dazai just tried to ignore it, opting on pulling his headphones out instead.
He played his popular sucide-song, hoping it would have distracted him at least a little, but with the tail of his right eye he could still see those purple gold eyes piercing through him. He was now a little preoccupied, but he thought that the best way to calm Atsushi down was to act innocent. Was blood leaking through his bandages? Or maybe the boy finally found out about his mentor and Akutagawa history? His brain was panicking, but he’d rather be dead than show vulnerability while being stared at. So instead, he acted like nothing was bothering him, already pulling out his suicide guide from wherever the heck he kept it in his coat. Maybe if he ignored him Atsushi would stop, so that’s what he did.
Fortunately, shortly after the kid did stop, focusing on whatever paper he was filling before his mentor came in.
That’s when he finally relaxed, and stopped trying to even comprehend whatever the pages said. Obviously, he fell face on the wood and started napping.
The rest of the day was quiet. Without counting Kunikida’s shouting of course.
After they had lunch, Dazai was back in his office feeling even more relaxed. He sat back down and picked up a red marker from Atsushi’s desk on his right, just to doodle whatever bullshit was going on in his head. Clearly, that was a new suicide plan he had been thinking about for some days to the end. While the tip scratched the paper, he couldn’t help but let his thoughts wander back to that morning. It was nice, he thought. Great breakfast as usual, sleeping in as much as he could, walking to the agency already relaxed and fresh was a fantastic start. But that scene from his albino kid kinda did ruin his mood. Well, he was not gonna let that get to him tho.
“Dazai, what are you doing…” Just then he finally realised Kunikida was standing behind him, arms crossed and blood vessels already popping from his temple.
“Oh hi Kunikida! I was just sketching your idea for the plan to you know… stimulate…the creative process?” The other man did not drink it tho.
“The only thing stimulating in here-“ but he suddenly stopped. Huh? What just happened?
Kunikida scratched his nose, looking a bit confused. His eyes were pensive, but he was not uttering a word about it.
Okay, now Dazai was indeed scared. Why was everybody acting like that around him? Looking back at Kunikida though, he noticed his stare was not being returned. Why was the alpha observing the air? Maybe this was a vivid dream. Dazai looked at the closer lamp in the corner between the office and sofa area, but as much as he squinted, that lamp looked completely normal. Okay, no hallucinations then.
He leaned back in the chair, and Kunikida snapped back at him. Even more confused than before, he finally spoke:
“Dazai…are there any clients in this office you’re hiding?”
Huh?
Was his partner finally admitting that all his ideals were making him crazy? Wait no, he was actually blaming him. Crap Dazai, get a hold of these people!
“Eh? Of course not?”
Kunikida was about to add something else, but just then Haruno and Naomi entered the room, hand in hand and yapping as usual. Those two betas were always together, but who were they to judge?
“Hey Kunikida-kun! These are the informations you asked for, we just contacted the client to get them sent. They’re organised in this folder, when you finish looking over it please hand it back?” Naomi handed the papers, and the blond stiffened, a little unsure of what to say and still rigid as wood. But then he finally sighed, his tense shoulders falling down as he stretched his hand out for the blue cardboard.
“Yeah, sure, thank you girls.” The two then walked over to Ranpo, who was calling them over to hand them a grocery list, suspiciously long and written in coloured glittery pens.
Kunikida sat back down at his seat, looking a bit more relaxed while leafing through the pages.
The time passed quietly, the sky still blue but you could sense the warm afternoon’s air.
Dazai was still drawing, but this time on Atsushi’s reports, and Kunikida was actually pretty concentrated on his case. Sometimes he did stop, lifted his head again, and muttered something under his breath, but he quickly got back to his monitor. He didn’t even scream at Dazai’s for his laziness, and that was a bit out of character. But his head was already full enough, and Dazai would be seeking a painful suicide if he tried to overthink more, and that was not on his year bingo.
After a couple of hours, Atsushi and Kyoka finally returned from their interview with a client they had at the cafe earlier in the day. Kenji was with them too, claiming he had just come back from his monthly trip to his village. That kid had really too much energy for such a small body.
The door opened, soft thumps following right after. Atsushi was explaining something to both of them, and Kenji was cheerful as always with his yapping.
Kyoka though, she stopped the second she entered: her frame visibly tensed, crouching on her legs in a defensive position. Her eyes were dark, and the usual boba shape everybody always complimented had turned into squinted triangles.
She looked around, but when she finally convinced herself of no danger, she just let it go with a soft whisper. Her gaze was still sharp and scanning, but at least she moved out of the doorway.
“Port mafia defense.” Dazai thought, recognizing the patterns. He tensed a little too, just to be careful. Even though Kyoka was very young indeed, her abilities were extremely developed, and she had been trained under the best assassin in the world…
“Kyoka-chan? Are you okay?” Atsushi asked, always ready to stand up for the younger.
Even though they had met only months ago, they had grown close very quickly, and recently Dazai had picked up the cute habit of teasing them for acting like siblings. It was kind of sweet to think about, and everybody in the Agency had noticed their strong bond too.
A couple of months prior Kyoka had presented as an alpha, and that was another episode that had helped develop their friendship even further : even though Atsushi was not an alpha himself, he still cared and tried his best to help his lil sister dealing with it. Buying her favorite foods, doing her work when she wasn’t able to, cooking and taking care of the house…
When her first rut arrived, Atsushi had immediately called Yosano-sensei to visit poor Kyoka. Dazai and Kunikida, the only other two alphas not counting the president, had joined too, helping the scared girl to take the big information in. It had always been pretty common to reject presenting, and with Kyoka’s previous history, even Dazai agreed that it was best to assist her.
In the end they kept her in the infirmary for 8 hours, leaving her alone for most of the time to let her relax. Kyoka had never been the type to express strong emotions, but this time, with all the alter effects of the rut and the first suppressants, even her usually unreadable behaviour turned her into passive aggressive.
Atsushi had spent the whole time outside of the door, declaring he was gonna surveil the room if she needed anything.
Back to the present, Atsushi was worried for the younger again.
Kyoka didn’t answer, nodding only to calm the boy. She then surpassed him cautiously and sharpened her gaze to look around. She seemed very suspicious, but she didn’t dare to speak a word about it.
Even Kunikida had noticed, and was now tense again.
Seriously, Dazai was even more confused than Atsushi.
Why was everybody so alert today? Was there poison in the air? Sure, he was immune to any kind of toxic food or liquid, with how many times he had intentionally digested some, but that didn’t mean his body couldn’t recognize them anymore, right? He tried sniffing the air too, hoping he could smell any suspicious scent, but just as he almost picked up something, the door of the hallway for the infirmary flew open.
“Ughhh, Kunikida, I hope you weren’t lying about that raise or I swear-” Yosano-sensei stepped out from the dark room, her coat still on and hair tied up in a short ponytail. But just as she reached the tables she stopped too, putting her hand down on her own desk before throwing a confused look at Ranpo.
They looked at each other, the doctor piercing him with squinted eyes, looking like she was asking for answers, while the detective just snickered before reaching out for more candies.
Dazai was fed up with all his colleagues, hating the feeling of not understanding something everybody else obviously could. Even Kenji seemed to know!
Well, asking has never hurt anybody, right?
“Okay- can somebody just-?”
“Who the fuck is the owner of this scent??”
…
Scent?
What scent?
Dazai smelled the air again, still not understanding shit, until-
Oh.
Fuck.
He had forgotten his scent blockers that morning.
Such a rookie mistake for the ‘youngest boss in history’.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out too, I just guessed it was your air diffuser or something.” Kunikida nodded, knowing what she was referring to.
“No? That thing is rose-scented,not… this!” Yosano remarked, looking even more irritated.
“...so it’s coming from a human being?”
“It’s sure as hell not coming from my lamp.”
Kunikida turned pale, and even Kenji looked slightly uneven.
And Dazai was panicking. Like sweating.
It’s not like he was disgusted by the idea of somebody smelling him, okay? That was not it. He smelt good and he knew it, so it had nothing to do with insecurities.
No, the problem was that he was mated.
And his partner’s scent had always been pretty strong too,and when they mated it mixed together into an even stronger scent, resulting in their bond being impossible to hide.
That’s why he always wore blockers. They were like his bandages, just not visible, and he always remembered to change them at lunch breaks too.
But that day he had obviously forgotten, and now everybody was smelling him for the first time.
Ouch, he was so fucked.
“Is it possible that somebody entered the building?” Atsushi asked, worried and scared like never before.
“I checked the windows earlier, I don’t think it’s possible.” Kunikida said.
“Is the president okay?” Kyoka spoke, determination running behind her dark eyes.
“I heard him while coming here, he should be fine.”
“Maybe it’s a distractive ability?”
“Maybe-”
“Oh my gosh you guys worry too much!” Everybody turned around, hearing the giggle from the detective.
“It’s nothing like that, everyone’s safe.” Ranpo continued, smiling even more.
“Except for a certain someone…Oh well it’s their problem to deal with, am I wrong?” He opened his eyes, and lifted his gaze to look at the brunette, who returned the grin with a similar sarcastic smile. After all the candies he had given him to keep his mouth shut, this is what he gets in return? Ranpo really was a difficult customer.
“Dazai? What does he have to do with…” Yosano started, before Atsushi interrupted her by reaching the tall man in quick spaces.
Everybody looked at him, unsure of what to say. It was so obvious there was something wrong, like he was hiding something, but even though everybody came to the same conclusion, that was just not possible, wasn’t it?
Something at the table was missing, and nobody could put down a finger on it.
Purple eyes met with amber, and Dazai felt a drop of sweat run down his neck.
He had always been so careful, there was no way they could have told, right?
Dazai didn’t smell.
That’s what he always said when they asked.
“Dazai-san, I’ve been meaning to ask you something, but I’m not sure if I should…” Atsushi leaned back in his chair, hands joined between his spread legs and gaze glued to the floor.
“Well, as long as you don’t want money, I guess there’s no harm in trying, right?” The older encouraged, small smile on his lips as he closed his book.
He laid his head down, looking up from the walls that were his arms, and patiently waited for the other to continue
“Well you see…umh, you said you were an alpha right? A-And I’m not questioning it! That’s not what I meant! I just- I noticed you don’t have a scent and was just wondering if maybe you wore blockers or something like that!”
Dazai's eyes softened, and Atsushi couldn’t help but notice that under the rays of the sunset Dazai-san really looked very beautiful. Pale skin and sharp features were washed out by long bangs, and his eyes a contrast to everything else: soft shape under thick and naturally straight eyebrows. As he looked even harder, he noticed he could see a faint scar a bit higher than his jawline the dimension of a tooth.
Diverting back to the conversation, he noticed how his mentor was taking his time to answer, warming his heart. He usually did that only before saying something emotional, a habit Atsushi had picked up on only a couple of weeks ago during the fireworks celebration of the last of the year.
“Ahh Atsushi-kun, always giving me a hard time, huh?” the alpha smirked, and he couldn’t help but blush from embarrassment.
“You don’t have to answer if-”
“No, it’s fine.” the brunette brushed it off with a light sway of his hand, before turning to his apprentice and looking at him properly.
“I don’t have a scent. Never did. When I presented it just didn’t come. Maybe it has to do with my nullification ability.” Dazai sighed, and Atsushi felt extremely guilty. Not having a scent is just something he couldn’t even imagine, and he couldn’t help but feeling sorry for his friend.
“Oh I’m- I’m sorry for asking Dazai-san… I should’ve known better.”
“Don’t.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t blame yourself, you didn’t know, and I don’t want you to worry. I’m fine, okay? So don’t even try to pity me, because just know that I won’t like it.”
He then smiled, probably to validate what he just said, and Atsushi smiled too.
“Okay, I won’t pity you if that’s what you want!”
“Good-boy!” Dazai teased, and Atsushi just rolled his eyes before turning back to his own desk.
But now Atsushi was in front of him, and in his eyes he saw a desperate request.
Well, guess there was no escaping from here now, right?
The older closed his eyes, before admitting his defeat and nodding gently.
Atsushi took that as a yes, and immediately scooted closer to smell. He sniffed once, starting small, before trying harder after the third time. Dazai didn’t feel very comfortable by the sudden excessive amount of attention, and had to fight the urge to push the guy away.
But then, the omega’s eyes suddenly sparkled, and he turned around to look at the rest of his colleagues. All of them seemed very impatient, and after one last check, he finally stepped back.
As everybody looked at him for answers, Dazai couldn’t help but feel his entire lunch turn around in his tummy. Why did he even bother going to work again? If he knew this would have been the outcome he would have just spent the whole day at home cuddling with his partner…
Given the fact his partner would have totally skipped work to stay with him by the way.
Let a guy dream a little once in a while.
As the man prepared for his execution, he prayed the punishment would not have been too painful, until-
“Dazai-san your…mated?”
Silence.
You could have heard the sound of Kunikida’s jaw falling.
Out of all the possible things his student could have said, he really chose the worst possible outcome.
How the fuck was he supposed to explain this now.
“Umh…No?”
“FUCKING LIAR YES YOU ARE!” Yosano-sensei shouted, looking as angry as ever. The Tanizaki siblings looked like they were still processing, Kunikida was broken, Even Kenji and Haruno looked confused! Oh well, at least Kyoka seemed unbothered. But Ranpo? Oh, that little sly dog… he was bent in half holding his stomach from laughter! Never trust a guy like him. He’ll throw you away at the first opportunity.
“Move out of my way.” Yosano said, before pushing everybody out of her path. She took Dazai’s wrist, before pulling it close and smelling it herself. After a couple of seconds, she let go looking even more surprised.
“Holy shit it’s true. It’s even a good smell, how the fuck…” she muttered as she held her chin with two fingers, seemingly lost in thoughts. Kyoka-chan stepped closer too, and sniffed the air around too. After her came Naomi, and then Tanizaki, and in a mere ten seconds everybody was smelling the poor guy. Who took his wrist, who opted for the area around his neck, he had basically formed a crowd.
“Ohh!! This is truly a nice scent Dazai-san! I’d say you and your mate were meant to be!” Kenji happily exclaimed, softly clapping his hands to ‘congratulate’ him.
Even Kunikida seemed to enjoy the smell, almost forgetting about personal space and dragging Dazai’s wrist closer.
“Well, I guess I am quite proud of-”
“Why did you lie?”
Kunikida suddenly asked, his nice expression from seconds earlier now returned to his usual pissed one.
“Huh? Lied about what? I don’t know what you’re talking about…” well, gaslighting always worked, right?
“Don’t play right now, You know exactly what I mean” the other alpha remarked, clenching his teeth together.
“Yeah Dazai-san…you said you didn’t have any scent!” Atsushi finally spoke, and he looked sadly disappointed too.
The brunette felt kind of guilty for lying to them, he knew he could have just talked about his relationship sincerely, but he just felt like opening up would have meant danger.
Back in the mafia, nobody cared because he was said to be the next in command, and people were actually happy to know he already had a mate. They used to say that for cold-hearted people like him Mori must have paid money to find him a partner, but that was obviously not true. Dazai loved his mate very much, more than anybody could have ever understood, and people always saying shit like that started to become kind of annoying after a while.
But now, he wasn’t in the Port anymore, and he wasn’t sure what people would have thought of his relationship. That’s why he never told anyone.
Sure, sometimes he did wish he could just let his pheromones out, and declare to the world he was a taken man. And how frustrating it was to spend hours scenting his partner just for him to cover it up!
But Dazai still knew that risk was not an option, at least for the current moment, and that was his reason for lying!
Even if he did admit the scent blockers, then it would have been even more suspicious. So that’s why the correlation with his ability worked perfectly.
But now that everybody knew, he did feel a little bad for lying.
“Well, I guess I just didn’t want you guys to know.” he shrugged, knowing that his attempts of keeping it vague wouldn’t have worked this time.
“That’s no reason to trick all of us Dazai!” Yosano exclaimed, back to her previous angry self
“Do you know how much time I’ve spent wasted on you trying to understand why you couldn’t produce pheromones?” He now felt a little better, thinking about his friend struggling to solve a problem that never existed in the first place.
“Well, at least it was fun, right?”
“Don’t even try me right now.”
Okay, he wished he could take it back, yosano-sensei was scary as fuck.
“But still, why didn’t you tell us?” Atsushi pleaded this time, eyes almost glossy.
“From your guys' mixed scent we can tell that you really care about them, so why did you never speak of them? Maybe you don’t feel comfortable enough with us?...” he observed, obviously getting on Dazai’s nerves. He didn’t want his colleagues to resent him, or think he didn’t trust them. But now it was gonna get harder to deny without revealing much about his relationship.
“It’s not that I don’t trust you guys…” He started, trying to sound as apologetically as he could.
“It’s just that I believed that it was best to keep my personal ‘alpha things’ outside from work space.”
Everybody’s face lit up a little, and Atsushi regained that little sparkle he had. Maybe it was actually easy like that, he thought.
But of course they wouldn’t let him get away with such a short explanation.
“Wait, you’re actually saying that you left your mate out of your work life, renouncing the feeling of scenting, which by the way is the most natural desire of this world, just to appear professional?”
Ops, got caught right in the act.
“Then of course Kunikida-kun! Isn’t that what good employees do?” the blond sighed, debating if punching him would have gotten anything else out of the man.
“As if you could refer to yourself as one…” Yosano teased, starting to gain her playful behaviour back.
“Well, if that was the case you could have just said that from the beginning!” Atsushi added, breathing out all of the worries he had.
Seeing everybody getting fooled again by his tricky saying wasn’t really satisfying as Dazai thought it would have been, but again that was not far from the truth either, right? It’s not like he actually lied this time, just rephrased the sentence to make it as less telling as possible.
Finally Naomi spoke, poking out from her brother’s arm which she was tightly holding on:
“So! Who’s the lucky person?”
This day he was seriously gonna get a heart attack.
“Umh…which…person?”
“Your mate Dazai! Don’t be silly now! You weren’t really thinking of getting away without telling us about them, right?”
Yeah okay so um yeah that was literally the plan.
“Well actually…”
“Oh don’t even try that.” Yosano slurred, looking more tired than what a doctor can already look like.
“Try what?”
“Deverting from the topic just like you’re trying to do right now!”
God HAD to hold a grudge against him.
“But I serious-”
“Don’t.”
That was enough to crack his mask.
“Okay okay you caught me.” he huffed, looking more like a pouty child than a functional adult.
“Continue…”
“I won’t tell y’all anything because this is between me and my privacy, so I expect everybody here to respect my decision.”
There was silence again. Everybody looked annoyed, even Kunikida didn’t seem alright with the declaration, probably curious too as who would have signed their life away to somebody like his partner, and especially ENJOYED being with the man.
“Sure! We totally understand Dazai-san and we respect your request!” the only one who didn’t seem bothered was Kenji, the guy was a ray of sunshine and really bad at reading rooms.
But Dazai just smiled softly at him, thanking gently for his kindness, before going back to his usual teasing smirk:
“Aw, everybody should learn from you Kenji-kun! Your determination to fulfil my wish is really inspiring, thanks to you I now am relaxed enough to go home and feel at peace with myself! I’ll leave you guys the rest of my paperworks, they’re on my desk, please ask Kunikida for when they are because I do not remember! Now if you excuse me-”
And just like that Dazai finally left the office, running out after slipping his coat on before anybody could have stopped.
What a long day it had been!
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Andd he’s gone.” Yosano said, her hand rubbing her forehead as she tried to catch the imminent headache she was totally gonna get.
“Well, what did you expect?” Ranpo said, reaching the crowd with a lollipop in hand.
“Oh, you don’t have the right to talk, you knew about this and you didn’t say anything!” she added, looking desperately close to punching her best friend.
“You’re right , I’ve been waiting for this day for years.”
It was now Atsushi’s turn to talk, who was still a little confused from earlier.
“Years? You mean Dazai-san has been mated for years?”
“Yup!”
Everybody's shocked faces returned.
“But- he joined when he was only twenty?” Kunikida asked.
“Yes, and he was already bonded.” Ranpo snickered, knowing the best was just about to come.
“Who the fuck would mate with Dazai that early? It just doesn’t make any sense…” Tanizaki finally spoke, rubbing his chin with his hand as he tried to piece everything together.
“Some damned soul.”
“Kunikida!” Yosano scolded the blond, even though her thoughts were even worse.
“B-but, his scent was very good! I don’t think I’ve ever smelled anything like that before…I don’t think anybody would have a similar scent if they were unhappy with their bond…O-Oh! I’m sorry, maybe I’m wrong…” Haruno said, basically pointing out what everybody was thinking but didn’t have the energy to admit.
Kyoka nodded, and Kunikida spoke again.
“No, you're right, that was a very…healty relationship. I’m just surprised somebody like Dazai could ever be a good mate.
“Maybe it was a prank? He could have used a spray to troll us all…” Atsushi suggested
“As much as that’s something he would do, I’m sure that was not an artificial scent.” Yosano answered, having already suspected that earlier.
“...Maybe he was just very lucky?” Kenji offered, still a stranger to what everybody was implying with all their suspicions.
“Too lucky…” the woman said.
“Or his mate could just be someone very annoying like him.” Kunikida processed, looking like a lamp just lit up in his mind.
That was the moment Yosano decided.
“We’ll find out who this mysterious mate is.”
“EH?”
Everybody exclaimed.
“Yeah! Does he really think he can just do that? Then he might be damned! He thinks he can lie to our faces like that and get away with it? No, we’ll make him pay.”
Silence fell down the room, before Kunikida broke the tension, saying what everybody was thinking.
“But he asked us to not invade his privacy.”
“Yeah, but how many times has he respected our privacy?” She asked, smirking as everybody realized exactly what she meant.
In the end, Kunikida nodded.
“I see your point. I usually wouldn’t agree to this kind of behaviour, but, for this specific case, I understand your point of view and join you on this.”
The whole office cheered, and that’s when they decided on their plan of action.
“Okay, so, remember guys, every little detail is worth notice of: tangled hair, ‘bruises’ in places where they shouldn’t be, weird nicknames for saved numbers, the route he takes when he exits the building…We’re detectives, we can do this!”
That was Yosano’s last reminder, before dismissing the meeting and sending everybody home.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chuuya had spent his whole day working around, helping subordinates, filling paperworks and having meetings about the next missions…
His shift had started the night prior, with an overnight mission and doing extra during the day
To put it short, he had a long and productive turn.
So of course, the moment he stepped back around five, the exhaustion finally hit him like crazy.
He entered his own house, after fidgeting with his keys for twenty seconds at least, searching the metal between all his keychains, and stripped himself of everything the moment he stepped in. Bags, laptop, coat, shoes, all on the floor.
He reached the kitchen, dragging himself like a zombie and shivering from the cold on his nude skin, before pouring himself a glass of tab water and drinking it in one sitting.
After standing around for another awkward minute, he finally walked towards the bedroom, entering his closet and looking around for something in particular.
He pulled out some vests, pajamas, tank tops, but nothing satisfied him.
He got out of the closet room and looked around the bedroom to find the shirt he was looking for, before locating it sitting on one of the puff chairs next to the window-wall.
Picking it up with both hands, he brought it close to his nose before exhaling a deep breath.
Relaxing with the strong scent of cigarettes and dark wood his house already reeked of, he brought the grey cloth with him as he walked towards the bathroom on the other side of the room.
As he entered he didn’t even bother to close the door behind him, opting for turning the water tab on as fast he could.
He debated about bath bombs, but ended up realising he was too lazy to even search for them, so he took a quick bath instead.
As the warm water soothed his body, relaxing his sore muscles, he closed his eyes and leaned back on the tub.
He hummed a quiet tune, before opening his eyes again and lifting his gaze to look at the lamp’s light.
He was totally going to bed after this.
He got out ten minutes later, spilling some water on the carpet while stepping out trying to not slip, and dried himself in a fluffy towel before turning on the hairdrier. Thankfully, his hair wasn’t too long, and it didn’t take much before he was ready to slip in the oversized t-shirt he had brought with him.
He slid out of the bathroom quietly, turning on the vintage floor lamps that casted a warm low light in the room.
Even though it was still only six pm, it was already sunset, casting red and pink sun rays on the room.
Chuuya opened his drawer next to the bed to get a pair of socks, before lifting the covers and sinking in the mattress.
It didn’t take too long before he fell asleep, snoring softly as his breath calmed down.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While Dazai was walking home, after leaving his office with that stupid excuse, he remembered that there was nothing in the fridge to eat.
So while he was strolling around, he decided for a quick diversion to Chukagai.
As he walked through the Chinatown, he lifted his gaze to look around: tall Chinese style buildings on every side of the street, yellow lights and a lot of people. He was unsure of what to get, with all the options he had, but in the end he decided to opt for some rice noodles.
He reached a small stand, blocked between a restaurant and a fried chicken stand, before greeting an old lady.
“Hello! What can I get for you?” She asked, smiling under her face mask.
“Yes, umh… could you do a shrimp noodle and a veggie one?”
“Sure, rice pasta right?”
“Yes that’d be good.”
The lady nodded and reached the cashier, before scribbling something on a piece of paper and handing him a receipt.
“It’s 900¥, cash?”
“Yeah, here you go.” He slipped out his leather wallet, before taking out 1000 and handing it to her.
After getting the rest and laying on a wall outside, he took his phone out for a quick text:
“Don’t bother with dinner (๑>•̀๑) !” he sent, but soon noticed that the second arrow wasn’t appearing.
But before he could worry further, the old lady reached him outside with a plastic bag.
“Here you go lad, hope you and your mate enjoy!” she winked at him, and Dazai looked at her with a confused look before clicking it and smiling back.
“Oh right, scent, well thank you! Have a good day too.” he smiled, before turning around and walking away.
When he finally reached his home and opened the door, he was met with an interesting sight: “Guess he got a little impatient…” he thought, all his worry from earlier dissipating when he saw the clothes and bags on the floor.
He positioned the plastic bag on the counter, before bending down and gathering his omega's owning and throwing them on the sofa.
“Well, I did my part.” he muttered, before walking back to the kitchen and searching through the drawer to find the tablecloth they usually used when eating on the bed.
After getting everything he needed, he reached the bedroom and nudged the already ajar door.
“Hey I got dinner-” he started, but as he turned around he found Chuuya laying in bed, his chest rising and filling in a calming rhythm, looking as cute as ever.
“Guess my suspicions were wrong:(“ he muttered, smiling sincerely as he approached the omega and sat down next to him.
He caressed his cheek, earning a soft smile from him, before reaching down and plantating a light peck on his temple.
“Chu-chu…wake up…”
The man stirred, groaning as he unconsciously hid his face in the pillow below.
“Chuuya…” the alpha tugged at his shoulder a little more.
“Mh…Dazai?...” the ginger muttered, his hooded blue eyes meeting with brown.
“You’re back?...”
Dazai grinned, amused by his little partner.
“Of course I am, it’s already eight am…”
“Really?” the omega sat up, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand.
“Yeah…for how long have you been sleeping?”
“Like three hours?...”
“Have you eaten?”
“No…shiit.”
Dazai chuckled, bringing the other closer between his legs.
“I’ve bought some noodles you can eat, then we can go back to sleep, alright?”
The ginger visibly complained, before agreeing and laying on his partner's chest.
“You’re still wearing your work clothes?” Chuuya asked, while eating one of his shrimps with his chopsticks.
The sea food almost fell, and he had to bring his other hand under it in case.
“I’ll change later.” Dazai explained, before reaching out and grabbing more bambu seeds.
“Aren’t you uncomfortable?”
“If Chuuya wants me to change, I guess I can.”
“That’s not what I said, bastard.”
Dazai snickered and rubbed his cheek on the ginger’s hair.
“How was work?” the omega asked, seemingly unbothered by the other caresses.
But Dazai physically tensed, and Chuuya felt him go rock hard against his back.
The man wasn’t answering, so that left him no other choice but turning around, moving to sit in front of his alpha.
“Oi? Dazai?”
The brunette was smiling, even though it was obvious it was more an uncomfortable grin than anything else.
“Is everything alright?” Chuuya asked, his french accent that usually slipped out when worried not missing a chance.
“It was fine.”
“No it wasn’t”
The brunette nervously chuckled.
“How do you know?”
“Don’t bitch around, you know I read you better than anyone.”
And that was true, Chuuya really was the best at understanding him better than anyone.
“it’s nothing…”
“Dazai…” the omega grabbed his jaw and brought it closer so they could be on the same level.
The brunette sighed, knowing he couldn’t escape his demanding omega.
“I just…you know how my coworkers think I don’t have a scent, right?”
Chuuya was getting preoccupied, what was he trying to say?
“Yes?”
“Well umh…now they know!” the brunette exclaimed, with his usual mocking tone he abused when defending himself.
“What do you mean they know??” Chuuya panicked and dropped his gaze down. He was squinting his eyebrows, and Dazai couldn’t help but think how cute he was with that pensive expression.
“Did the blockers fail? Did they broke? Should we sue the company?”
“What? No! We’re not suing anyone darling, just- relax.”
“Relax?? How could I relax right now! You are very serious about keeping your scent a secret, this is not something I can take lightly!”
“No Chuuya- you don’t understand-”
“Understand what?” his blue eyes finally lifted again, determination sparkling behind them.
“It was…it was my fault.”
“Your fault?”
“Yeah.”
“How could it have been your fault?” Chuuya seemed very confused now and it was clear his feelings were very controversial.
Dazai took a deep breath in, remembering he was the reason for all this chaos.
“I forgot my scent blockers.”
Chuuya turned white.
“You…what the fuck?”
The brunette sighed,
“I know, sometimes I commit mistakes too, you know?”
“Yeah, forgetting where you booked our reservation, wash white and colored together, throw a can in the paper bin, but nothing like this!” Chuuya exploded, his hands moving to bury in his hair.
Dazai was panicking as well, biting the skin around his fingers.
“I’m…I’m sorry.”
That seemed to calm his omega down.
“Osamu, you don’t…have to feel sorry for me. You should feel sorry for yourself. You know it’s not a problem for me, as long as they don’t catch us together they’ll never know that I’m your mate, but you have always been so strict and secretive about our relationship, and I don’t want you to feel like we are an obstacle in your work life.”
“Chuuya you are not!” Dazai pleaded, his hand reaching down to hold the other’s wrist.
“But you said-”
“I didn’t say shit, okay? All the blockers I took were to protect you, because I didn’t want them to be dangerous for you and make you feel anxious. I don’t care what they say, if there’s an obstacle in all this it’s them, not us.”
Chuuya’s eyes sparkled and a soft smile crept on his face.
“Are you sure?...”
“Of course! I am serious, you, us… You’ll always be my first priority.”
The omega winced, and Dazai took that as an opportunity to continue.
“I love you, and…I don’t think anything else will ever be more important than your health, mentally or physically." he then tugged the other’s wrist even closer, bringing it to his lips before leaving a tender kiss.
Dried roses with burnt matches undertone filled his nose, and before he could realize he brought the glands to his neck, rubbing gently in a circular movement.
Chuuya freezed at first, but then he chuckled and moved closer to his mate.
He moved the dinner out of the way, before sitting in the brunette’s lap and ducking his head under the other’s neck and inhaling his scent.
Even though after mating their phoromens had mixed in an unique scent, leaving a strong trail of dead flowers and smoke with undertones of fresh cherries everywhere they went, their original scents already mixed back to the age of fifteen, when they first met, probably because of the similarities or something they didn’t want to admit at the time.
But now, cuddled to each other, the only sound you could hear was their mingled breaths, as they both inhaled the other.
The tension from earlier had dissipated completely, leaving the tenderness and affection only two lovers meant to be can share.
As Dazai brushed Chuuya’s hair, the omega broke the silence:
“So…do you plan on stopping using blockers from now on?”
“Mh.”
“Is that a yes?” Chuuya smirked as he turned around to meet the other’s face.
“I guess. I don’t have any other reason to hide it anymore, I’ll just use a tone down spray.”
“Yeah, you probably wouldn't want everybody else smell you from buildings away.” he chuckled
“Hey! It is not that strong…”
“It totally is.”
Dazai smiled, bending down for a quick peck.
“Well, this means you can scent me how much you want tonight.” he then added.
“Of course I can, but first go change and take the leftovers back to the kitchen, wouldn’t want them to get in the way.” the ginger added smirking, before moving from the envelope of his partner’s arms and slipping back under the covers.
Half an hour later, after a shower and getting changed into comfortable pajama bottoms, Dazai slid back in bed, immediately reaching for his mate’s waist.
“Mh, now that I’m all clean, would you mind keeping that promise from earlier?” he asked smugly, rubbing his temple against the other’s hair.
Chuuya hummed, before turning around and looking at the other.
His hair sprawled around the pillow, like an orange halo, and his blue hooded eyes looking into the depth of his soul. Small freckles like stars adorned his face, and his lips pressed together in a thin curve, showing his faded dimples from when they were teenagers.
He then threw his arms around the brunette’s neck before bringing him closer and making him lose his balance, falling with his forearms on either side of him.
That was probably Dazai’s favorite sight ever, yes, totally.
“You look…etheral.”
Chuuya smiled, teeth barely showing, and blushed a little.
The brunette leaned in, brushing their lips together as to test the waters, before deepening the kiss, pressing their mouths together harder.
Chuuya hummed, his hands slowly reaching higher and tangling his fingers in chocolate locks, while Dazai held his waist tighter.
Their movements were in perfect sync from years of doing this, and the second they parted to breath the alpha took his opportunity:
“Is that my shirt you’re wearing?” he smirked, remembering just then the question he had been meaning to ask for the last two hours.
“Shut up.” Chuuya said, diverting his gaze, before pulling him back in.
“Don’t be ashamed Chuuya~ you can admit you miss me once in a while.”
“The only thing I miss right now is how silent you were ten seconds ago.”
“Well you sure as hell weren-”
“Shut up!” Chuuya threw his pillow at the brunette, who was laughing like a child, and who unfortunately catched it too.
“Mh, a pillow huh?...”
“What, never seen one before?” Chuuya remarked, his patience getting thinner.
But then, Dazai lifted his waist with the arm he was holding it with, and before Chuuya could understand, his waist fell back on something soft, arching his spine involuntarily.
“E-eh?”
“Relax, it’s just to keep you comfortable.”
“That does not sound convincing.”
Dazai smirked, before leaning down and kissing him again.
“Mhh…” Chuuya hummed, as the alpha bit down on his lower lips, before sliding his tongue inside.
After another couple of minutes of shamelessly making out, the brunette ended trailing kisses on his lover's neck, reaching his collarbone.
Chuuya was instead caressing his back, before ending with combing his hair with his fingers.
In the end, the alpha ended up rubbing his neck with his mates, scenting both of them before falling asleep tangled together like children.