Chapter Text
Dazai Osamu was a child of emptiness. His eyes were a black void with no sight of warmth in them. This was how everyone he had met described him like.
‘A soulless child,’ they called him. Rumor was that his parent’s death wasn’t an accident, that Dazai had killed them.
But as Oda Sakunosuke looked at this lost, tiny child, he saw no murderer. Just a 14 year old that had been through too much.
Dazai would regularly show up to his cafe, ordering the same latte every time. While other kids his age would sometimes walk in with their friends and go on their cellphones, Dazai just sat there alone and stared out the window.
Although the red-head has wanted to talk to this boy for a while now, neither he or Dazai could muster up a conversation.
Oda didn’t get many customers, resulting in him having to work other night jobs to earn money. It was a hard life, but as long as he had enough to take care of the orphans he had taken in, he was content.
When it started to get dark, he began to close up the cafe. He packed some of the food there into a bag for the kids and headed home.
On the way to his apartment, he saw a familiar face on the side of the road. He recognised the face as Dazai’s, and he was surrounded by four boys twice his size.
Dazai looked bloody, his head was dripping with the crimson red liquid. He had a glare on his face, one that said, if you don’t back off right now someone is getting hurt, they didn’t seem to be getting the message though.
Oda decided enough was enough and went over to the situation. “Excuse me, what business do you have with this boy?” The older boys faced him with a menacing look on their face.
“None of your fucking business. Move along now, you don’t want to end up like him as well.” One of them growled. Oda narrowed his eyes, flicking between Dazai and the idiots who had hurt him.
“This boy is my nephew, I suggest you move out of the way so I can take him home.” He stated.
The older one of the boys started laughing, “Yeah right! This kid has no family.”
“Yeah, he killed them all!” The smaller boy jumped in.
“I didn’t kill them.” Said a small voice, which he realised had come from Dazai. Oda’s gaze softened at him, he looked so fragile up close. Almost like a lost kitten.
“If you’re not going to move, I’m going to have to use force.” He warned them, but they didn’t seem to be taking it seriously.
“Oh yeah, old man? Now you’re just asking for it!” The older one yelled. Oda walked past them and towards Dazai, but it seems the boys didn’t like that. One threw a punch, aiming at his head but ended up hitting air as he dodged it.
Oda turned around and kicked the one that had attempted to hurt him. Not hard enough to be a problem, but firm enough to stun him for a bit.
He picked up Dazai and lifted him onto his back, dodging a kick while he did it.
“I’ll be leaving now.” Oda then walked off with the young boy, away from the bullies.
~~~
He dropped Dazai at his house and cleaned him up. The bandaged boy was silent while he worked, not resisting or even flinching when he bandaged him up.
Suddenly, a small voice came from the boy. “Why did you save me?”
Oda looked at the boy, observing him as he considered what Dazai had asked. It sounded more like a statement than a question, like he had expected the man to just ignore Dazai.
“You were hurt.” He said simply. It wasn’t a complicated answer, but the bandaged boy just looked up at him with confusion.
“I wasn’t just going to leave you there to get beaten half to death by a couple of kids.” Oda said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world but something like this had never happened to Dazai.
The red head just sighed and finished wrapping the brown haired boy’s injuries and went to prepare some food for dinner.
“Do you have a preferred food that you like to eat?” Oda asked.
“What?”
“I said, do you have a preferred food-”
“No, I heard you the first time. I mean why are you giving me food?”
Oda gave him a quizzical look. “Are you not hungry? We could go out to eat if you like, I know a good restaurant.”
Dazai stared at him.
“Do I have something on my face?”
For a second, the boy smiled. A real smile, not one of those fake, polite smiles.
“Nah. I like crab by the way.”
Oda also smiled. “Well, you’re in luck, I recently bought some crab.”
“I don’t believe I have gotten your name.” Dazai said quietly.
Oda turned around to face Dazai, treating him with respect as he introduced himself.
“Ah, how rude of me. My name is Sakunosuke Oda.” He bowed to Dazai, showing politeness.
“Sakunosuke Oda…..” Dazai repeated quietly.
“I think i’ll call you Odasaku!”