Work Text:
It was an unusual period of peace in Yokohama. There had not been any major incidents within the last fortnight and Dazai was bored out of his mind. He had tried his best to adopt as many orphans as possible to honour Odasaku’s last request; even trying to mirror his old friend’s charges as closely as possible. (Atsushi-kun had already refused to change his name to Sakura although Dazai was sure that with enough persuasion, he would eventually manage to talk him around.)
And thus, after another day of orphan hunting, Dazai returned to the office empty-handed only to find a someone already occupying his favourite sofa. For a second, Dazai was uncharacteristically at a loss for words before he backed out of the waiting area to find someone who could explain why Nakahara Chuuya was sprawled out asleep on the sofa in enemy territory (even though the Port Mafia and the Armed Detective Agency had already agreed on a truce, it was far less appealing to Dazai’s melodramatic self to describe their relationship in any other way).
The agency was already emptying for the day; Kunikida was the last one in the office. The moment he approached him, Kunikida gave him a look which spoke of a painful death if Dazai was to interrupt his frantic typing. With no other viable option, Dazai pouted and went back into the waiting area to wake Chuuya up. His hand was already halfway to Chuuya’s shoulder before he hesitated, looked over his shoulder to make sure he was not being watched, and sat down on the coffee table to observe his old partner. Chuuya looked very peaceful in sleep, nothing like the permanently annoyed expression he had on his face whenever Dazai was around. A lot of people seemed to have that expression on their faces when he was around, Dazai thought to himself. Perhaps it was time to stop messing with them so much? The thought only lasted for a split second before he remembered Kunikida’s priceless expression when he had stolen his notebook for the 51st time and then the time when Chuuya had woken up only to find Dazai juggling with his wine collection or the time he had braided Chuuya’s hair and it had looked surprisingly good and even though Chuuya had hit him, it was still worth the little smile Chuuya had on his face when he went and looked at it in the mirror later-
Chuuya grumbled a little in his sleep and rolled over with a sigh before settling down into the sofa again. His hair fell in waves down his shoulder and caught a tiny sliver of sunlight filtering in from the window. Without even thinking, Dazai reached out and brushed his hand through the hair. It was as soft as Dazai remembered, if a little longer (although that was to be expected). Dazai combed his fingers through the hair, gently undoing the tangles and smoothing them before separating it and starting to gently twist the hair into a braid. It was awfully done (Dazai only had short hair himself and so had hardly any experience) but he was proud of it all the same. With a sudden flourish of inspiration, Dazai grabbed the plastic flower Atsushi had insisted on adding to the coffee table (“It’ll add character to the office, Dazai-san. The clients will be happier.”) and added it to the end of the braid. He hesitated for a moment before he leant down and brushed a light kiss against Chuuya’s forehead and stood up to leave.
“Not going to stay?” Kunikida asked, not even looking up from his typing. “He was waiting for you all afternoon.”
“Nope! He knows where I live anyway! If he wanted to see me that badly then he should have just come round.” Dazai grinned at his co-worker before closing the door behind him. He hummed happily as he walked back home.
Wow, he thought as he changed his phone wallpaper to the picture he’d quickly snapped before he left. Chuuya needs to wear his hair up more often. Maybe if I got rid of his hat it would motivate him to actually style it?
With that, Dazai nonchalantly disposed of the stolen hat in the next bin he walked past.