Chapter 1: Chapter 1-Prologue
Chapter Text
“Chuuya, will you stop sulking already.”
His sister’s dramatic sigh as he ignored her failed to move him emotionally as she had no doubt hoped it would. Nor did her laser focused glare scare him down in submission.
Rummaging through his wine cabinet in the hopes of finding something worthwhile to consume he withheld his own forlorn sigh as the only drinks that were left in the cabinet were Kouyou’s malt coolers and a single bottle of champagne, as well as that asshole’s dirty, imported beer and tonic water.
Nothing worth mentioning, let along drinking.
In fact, Chuuya felt the urge to pour each and every bottle out to sea, so that at least everyone else would suffer the same agony as him.
Misery loves company after all. Not that he’d want to have anything in common with that dirty bastard.
Still, it would be funny to watch the man throw a hissy fit over it.
“Shit, I’m completely out of wine.”
He bemoaned loudly once he’d gone through the contents a third time to make sure he hadn’t missed anything glaringly obvious.
He started to swear in coarse French before his sister’s manicured claws made a swipe for the back of his head. Luckily for him, he’d been expecting it and was quick to duck out of the way before she could land contact with his curly cues.
Kouyou’s face was twisted into a frown and her eyes were glazed with tears, it was clear she was heavily upset with him and their situation.
A twinge of guilt coursed through him before he burned through it with his anger.
He hated having his sister upset, even more so when it was his fault but this time he knew he was in the right and Kouyou needed to realize that she wouldn’t be able to guilt him into forgiving her like usual.
It was just a few months ago that Kouyou had come to him with the idea of a three-month family cruise, a bonding time to try to reconnect as a family since they’d been so distant to each other lately.
He’d been fragilely hopeful that something like this would actually be good for them and they would grow closer to each other once more, much like they’d been once upon a time.
It had been just the two of them against the world, before the harshness of adulthood and social obligations tore them into different directions.
Of course, it hadn’t started out that way, there was a large eleven-year age gap between them, not to mention that they were only half-siblings with Kouyou being conceived out of wedlock due their father’s rebellious stage of life. Their father hadn’t married Chuuya’s mother yet at the time, which was probably the man’s only saving grace since he’d never cheated on anyone, technically. Still Chuuya hadn’t even known he’d had a sister until his parents had died together in an accident.
After that many distant relatives that he’d never met before began fighting for custody of him and since he was just four years old he hadn’t been able to fully grasp the situation completely.
It had been a week after his parents' passing that his sister had entered his life.
He could still remember their first meeting, as if it was yesterday. He’d been shuffled off into an unused room and was under the care of his nursemaid at the time since no one wanted to deal with him.
He’d been crying non-stop and refused most of the food and drink they’d tried to give him since his crying was causing him to be sick. None of the so-called adults had bothered to check up on him after the first time he threw up, nor did they seem to care about his emotions or well being after hearing that his parents were never coming home.
Kouyou had stormed into the manor that day, bypassing the simpering and boastful relatives that sneered and looked down upon her. She’d just silently sneered back and demanded to see her younger brother, as was her right. It had caused quite a commotion since none of the distant relatives had thought of her as competition in their fight for custody of Chuuya and more importantly to them, Chuuya’s inheritance.
She’d been raised in a moderately comfortable house with her step-father since her mother had died giving birth to her, it was a commonly known secret that her birth-father was a Nakahara who had paid off Kouyou’s mother to disappear with his bastard child once he’d learned of her conception. He’d already been engaged to Chuuya’s mother at the time and hadn’t wanted to lose the wealth that her family was willing to combine with his own.
He’d heard the raised voices and against his nursemaid’s words he’d gone out of the room and followed them until he’d laid eyes on her.
Her hair was very similar to his, something that they shared in common with their late-father.
Although each red-head had different shades of the crimson color it was easy to tell that she had Nakahara blood.
Kouyou’s hair was a beautiful shade of burgundy hair, while their father had supported a more strawberry blond shade.
Chuuya’s own shade resembled a tangerine fruit, an orange-red shade that depending on the light will bleed into a more maroon color.
He’d taken one look at her and her hair, one look at her sorrowful eyes and outreached arms and he’d run full tilt into them without a moment’s hesitation.
His sister had gained custody of him soon after, his screaming and rather violent fits every time someone tried to separate them convinced the rest of the family and retainers that he was a lost cause that they’d have to wait on at a later date.
They probably thought that Kouyou would give him up after too long, after all she was just 15 years old, a mere child without many life experiences, let alone raising a child of his temperament.
He’d worshiped the ground she walked on though and kept his temper from her as much as possible, although she’d been witness to it many times as the years went by.
Most of Chuuya’s family’s servants had ended up quitting before too long, only a few of the more loyal ones stayed behind with the decreased salary.
By loyal he meant only a small handful.
There was the elder butler, Hirotsu Ryuurou who had served the family since Chuuya’s father was in diapers. Then Chuuya’s nursemaid whose three daughters made up three maid positions.
After that there was the head cook, a boastful and large woman whose husband was their head gardener. Their only daughter worked with her mother in the kitchen while their two sons, one of which was a handy-man who fixed anything from a broken cupboard to retiling a bathroom floor, and the other worked with their father as a landscaper.
It wasn’t much, but the family had been very appreciative of the severances.
Kouyou had been given a trust fund when she took guardianship of him, which she used sparingly by paying the servants the minimum while giving them free board inside the mansion instead of the small separative housing they’d all lived in together before. She also sold off a lot of furnishings and decor that wouldn’t be missed much, making them a small nest egg in case something happened. She kept Chuuya mother’s clothing and jewelry as well as their father’s cuff-link and watch collection. Everything else was fair game though.
Since Chuuya was the legitimate heir of two combined wealthy families that had no other heirs to inherit he got the whole thing, complete and utter inheritance of a large amount of money, land and titles.
Of course, almost all of it was inaccessible to him until his twenty-second birthday. Only a small amount was gifted to him due to his parents’ death, he would gain a second trust fund on his sixteenth birthday but Kouyou was adamant that it would go towards his college fund and little else.
It was due to this clause in his inheritance that many of his so-called family had quickly given up on gaining custody of him, he was worthless to them until he could gain access to the money.
It may also have something to do with him screaming profanity in French and calling for their heads to be separated from their necks.
But Chuuya could only speculate that.
The lack of lavishness didn’t really bother Chuuya much, since he was only four at the time and preferred the attention of his sister and Hirotsu to glittery jewels and paper money.
He had his favorite toys and books and never asked for more than any other child his age. He hardly took notice of the lack of ugly paints and uncomfortable furniture.
After a few years the amount of people trying to gain access to the household increased. Either in the form of well-wishing relatives or work seeking servants. Between Kouyou and Hirotsu though they managed to weed out the gawkers and manipulative spies that were just looking for a foothold into the inheritance.
When Kouyou turned eighteen she suddenly received a large number of invites to lavish parties and many marriage proposals. Just more of the same, just in a different format this time. A few letters of coercion even entered the mix, threaten to expose exaggerate lies about child abuse if she didn’t marry so-in-so.
In retaliation Kouyou hired a few security officers that dabbled in special ops and sent them out.
They came back with letters of apologies.
Chuuya had thrown a large temper tantrum when one of the well-meaning maids had explained to him what those pieces of paper had implied. He’d managed to wiggly out of too much punishment after breaking several porcelain plates and breaking down his own door when he’d been sent to his room.
Luckily for them after that the invitations dwelled down into almost nothing.
Kouyou had dropped out of school when she’d gained custody of him. Hirotsu and the others taught her as much as they could, so while she didn’t have a standard education she managed well on her studies.
She of course insisted that Chuuya go to school but after being suspended three times and almost expelled she had given up on private schooling for his grade school years and instead hired tutors that came three times a week and drilled math, English, science, languages and all other manner of learnings into his head.
He’d breezed by all of them without much trouble, if only because Kouyou had promised him that he could pick out his own lessons after he passed those with prodigious marks.
He’d picked martial arts, violin and accounting as his electives. He’d also had to deal with etiquette lessons since his sister insisted but he didn’t mind too much since his sister sat with him during those ones.
It hadn’t been the glamorous, lavish and spoiled rotten lifestyle he would have had growing up if his parents had lived, but it was theirs and they were happy, especially since Chuuya had the dark thought that his father would never have let him meet his sister before adulthood.
Time passed quickly after that and before Chuuya knew it he was hearing about his sister’s acceptance of some random man’s marriage proposal.
Marriage was something that she had denied again and again for years. Chuuya knew that most people in their circle of influence and wealth married young and Kouyou was already in her late-twenties. She must have been feeling the pressure of her years even though she looked no older than a woman in her late-teens due to their exceptional family genes and care of their health and skin.
At the time he had been skeptical of it all, he’d never heard about this man so he knew that Kouyou hadn’t been secretly dating him, she would never have been able to pull the wool over his eyes for long if that was so.
That meant they hadn’t courted each other at all. Something that Chuuya found distasteful and made sure his sister knew it.
Kouyou had of course dismissed his misgivings about the whole thing and wouldn’t answer his questions about the whys and whos.
The wedding happened soon after and that’s when Chuuya learned that his new brother-in-law was the largest asshole in the whole world.
It was this fucker’s fault that his sister’s attitude and spirit had turned an ugly corner.
Suddenly it was like all Chuuya’s faults and habits had gained a spotlight. It would have amazed Chuuya how fast that Kouyou’s husband was able to turn her thoughts against her own brother that she had raised if it didn’t negatively affect him and her.
Kouyou had always been very forgiving about his crass attitude and manners. She may have thought he’d quickly grow out of his temper and somewhat spoiled nature but it was like Francis had shown a spotlight on him that she was unable to deny.
It didn’t help that Kouyou had moved away with him almost as soon as the honeymoon was over. Since Chuuya was still a minor and wasn’t legally able to live by himself he was placed in a boarding school for his last few years of schooling.
He was sure that the name Nakahara Chuuya would be echoing for years to come in that school, like a haunting of horrific proportions.
It got even worse, every time Chuuya managed to visit her on his school breaks it was like watching someone who was once bright and sunny decline into a shivered and deaden flower.
Francis had tried to fire all of their previous help at the old manor since none of them lived there anymore and were technically no longer needed since the manor was mostly closed up, leaving only a small portion of it open for the servants who lived there.
Chuuya had threaten to murder the man if he so much as touched any of their heads, they had his loyalty for sticking with him and his sister for all those years and no way was he going to disseverance them by treating them like yesterday’s garbage.
Chuuya had a bad reputation of treating most people like dirt under his name-brand boots, but Kouyou and those few that had stayed with him were his family and hell has no fury like fucking with Chuuya’s family.
What made it all the worse was Kouyou hadn’t denied Francis’s demands of getting rid of them. It had boggled Chuuya’s mind how she could even think that it would have been okay to throw those people who had helped them for a good decade out in the cold with nothing.
It was like they’d lost that special connection they’d had when they were children. The one that had made it easy for them to talk to each other without worry or concern of the other dismissing or hating them.
Kouyou had always been a very prim and proper young woman, she was courteous and kind but she knew how to have fun and let loose with those she could trust, but it was like nowadays the need to be a prefect woman of high status was more of a compulsion then any kind of virtue.
Years had passed with him trying to bring light into his sister’s dull eyes, dogging Francis’s attempts at sabotaging their interactions. The only saving grace that stayed Chuuya’s hand at murdering the man was that Kouyou wasn’t being physically abused by him.
She never had so much as a bruise on her skin and he made sure to check past her sleeves and got some of his maids to access the rest of her body when they helped her change into something more elaborate.
Francis’s abuse wasn’t physical, but mental and emotional. Chuuya had heard first hand the shit that spewed out of that weasel’s mouth. He was even charming while he brought Kouyou fragile esteem down to nothing. That’s what made him dangerous and why it made it harder to prove that he was harming his wife.
It got worse the older Chuuya got and by the time he’d reached his majority of twenty-two and gained full power over his own money it was like all of that slimy man’s manipulative powers gained traction, and suddenly Kouyou was trying to guilt Chuuya, check after check after check.
Of course, Francis wouldn’t allow Chuuya to know where the money was going, he would pull some bullshit story out of his ass and get his wife to back him up.
The moment he denied them it was suddenly all about Kouyou’s ailing health, which was something that he couldn’t just brush off like he had been doing.
Other than vague commentary and bullshit paperwork he still wasn’t clear on what was ailing his sister, other than depression and periodical breaks from reality. It mostly depended on the medication that her doctor prescribed her that week.
There was only so much protesting he could do without overstepping his bounds and causing his sister more grief. So instead he’d taken a more subtle approach to the whole thing.
If only he had more time to devote to bringing down his brother-in-law, sadly the moment he’d gained control of his estate the other families were finally finding him worth their time.
As a young man who was as beautiful, if more so, then any of their daughters, he was sought after like a starving dog to a T-bone.
He had more wealth that they salivated over as well as someone who’d graduated from one of the top universities of the country with honors.
Chuuya was a precious commodity that was apparently worth fighting over.
It sickened him to such a degree that he had to keep himself suitably numb with alcohol to even sit and listen to each potential interview that his sister practically forced him to sit though.
He’d made more than one girl run away crying and while he tried to keep his actions gentlemanly, it was hard when the parents sat in on the interview and kept the talk about things like where the summer homes would be, how much they will get paid annually for giving away their ‘precious child’ and how many male children he’d sire.
It was fair to say that he had blown up a few times and had made those families run away with their tails tucked between their legs and their tongues wagging in wrathful disgust to others would be suitors.
He’d had more than enough of the rumors going around about him to fuel a cruise ship and only about one-third of them were even vaguely true while the most circulated rumors were the more outrageous and untrue ones that painted him as a brutish, abusive boor of a monster.
He may seem a bit of a brute once he had some liquid courage running through his veins but that was only to the people that treated him or those under his care with disdain.
Although that one rumor that he’d been kicked out of three boarding schools for fighting and hospitalizing other students and on one memorable occasion a teacher was correct.
His looks, attitude and uninterest in the fairer sex had painted a target on his back that he responded to with violence as it was the only way he would have survived some of those attacks on his person.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t be a perfect gentleman, it was just that he saw no one worthy of his efforts.
The mixed martial arts, intermediate self-defense, and fencing clubs that he’d taken part in had been what he truly excelled at, although for some reason economics just came easily to him as well. Due to his sister’s increased insistence that he make that his major and graduated with an economics and political science degree that he had no interest in actually pursuing just caused him to focus more on other pursuits instead.
He’d never gotten along with his schoolmates; since the other children of wealthy families were taught to look down on him and his family. They were all little snot-nose heirs of the same generation as him and were completely intolerable.
So it was safe to say that he’d been ostracized in almost all the social events that occurred in his age group, something that didn’t bother him much.
And if he maybe got more drunk in response to that it was only because he had found a lovely beverage that was just begging to be savored at that very second.
He also knew that Kouyou had these same kinds of issues growing up taking care of him, although in a different format since she wasn’t an heir nor male. She’d been mocked by the adults her own age and treated like she didn’t exist whenever she’d gone out to any of the private clubs and social spots that they had access to.
Chuuya to this day couldn’t say who’d had it worse.
He’d thought this trip would be about them reconnecting. He’d even thought that he might gather up the courage to talk to her about some personal issues that he’d been struggling with ever since he’d reached puberty and realized a few…things about himself.
Tachihara, his personal bodyguard that he’d hired back when he was sixteen and wanted to have someone closer to his own age and Hirotsu were the only two otherwise that knew faintly that something had been bothering him for a while now, which to be fair, they were the only ones that spent any time around him nowadays anyway.
They’d both tried to get him to talk about it but while he trusted them more than the average person he didn’t feel comfortable talking to them about something this important and secret.
But that morning when he walked onto his personally owned yacht he’d bought for this very occasion and saw Francis ordering Chuuya’s servants to rearrange and get rid of Chuuya’s personal furniture or fixtures that he thought were tacky, ugly and boring.
Well…
Chuuya in true fashion, blew up in a fit of fury that had the crew scrambling to quickly replace doors and chairs that he decimated in his rage. He was even more pissed off when he realized that Francis had already predicted his reactions and had placed his own order of furniture ahead of time.
Chuuya knew that Francis didn’t love his sister. Hell, the bastard probably wasn’t even attractive to her, even though Chuuya knew his sister was elegantly beautiful in looks and manners.
He’d caught the man a few times flirting with the hired maids and other young women staff. Most of the time his sister was either drifting off to sleep or spaced out due to the self-medicating habit that her husband encouraged.
If she saw such actions in person she always had some excuse at the ready for his behavior.
Kouyou had become convinced by society and Francis that the only way for them to be accepted as proper members of the community they lived in was to marry into a respectable family and fade into compliance.
Personally, Chuuya didn’t think that Francis was respectable in any respect but any protests he had fell on deaf ears and now apparently it was his turn for a loveless and possibly abusive relationship.
After he had calmed down from his tantrum he had found his sister and gotten in a loud and drawn out argument about Francis' attendance on the yacht.
Kouyou had acted like it had just been common sense that her husband would be coming with them on the months long trip.
It was clear that the thought of the potential blood shed that will probably occur with them in such close quarters hadn’t even crossed her mind. It didn’t matter that the yacht was large enough to comfortably fit a dozen people on board, it was too small a space for them.
There was a reason why Chuuya lived back at the old manor, despite how decrepit it had become, instead of staying closer to his sister. A different household was the only way he could breathe without resorting to murder.
The argument that had resulted that morning over Francis' presence had descended down into insults and screaming and generally avoiding each other.
Currently they’d been at sea for about a week now and in that small frame of time Chuuya had already drunk his favorite stash of wine and while he did have more precious cargo that he could indulge in, he restrained himself.
Those specific bottles were for celebration, not just to dull his emotions and keep him from saying something that couldn’t be taken back, well that or he got so angry that he sank the boat in retaliation.
And here he’d been hoping that he would use this time on sea to work on his usage of alcohol to dull his problems.
“We need to make an emergency stop at the nearest port.”
He could feel his sister’s next sigh more than he heard it.
“Chuuya, we have a scheduled course and we’ll be stopping at a resort in a few days to stock up on fresh produce and the like before we’re out onto open waters.”
“I’m sure you can go without your wine for a while and I’m sure that Francis won’t mind you partaking in one of his drinks if you’d like.”
Chuuya’s face twisted in disgust before turning away silently. This was the first real conversation they’d had since the fight and she still had the gall to bring that bastard’s name into it.
Whatever, he had more important things to do, like order the captain and crew to change course for an unscheduled stop to the nearest port with a town in it.
If he had to be on this boat for a moment more with Francis and his cronies; who’d somehow gotten them onboard without a single mishap and listen to his sister’s lectures as well as having his face pushed into the large amount of profile files she’d brought onboard about every single heiress on the continent then he sure as shit wasn’t going to be sober for it.
He ignored everyone he passed by as he left his sister alone in the gallery, each crew-member made sure to stop what they were doing and sketch a quick bow to him before going back to work.
As he sauntered past closed doors he slowed down once he caught wind of one particular voice that echoed ghastly.
Kouyou and Francis’s personal doctor had decided to come with them.
Ougai Mori.
Chuuya kept his face from any particular expression as he walked past the door he was likely behind.
He disliked the man immensely and for good reason, the good doctor was very quick to prescribe medication versus any other type of therapy or treatment.
He knew that it was Dr. Mori’s fault that his sister had gotten in the habit of self-medicating with antidepressants, sleep aids and who knows what else as he wrote prescriptions like a child with a crayon and white walls.
It also didn’t help that it was Francis that had hired the man in the first place and made sure that it was Chuuya who was fencing the man’s huge expenses and lifestyle. He was not his first choice as a doctor, let alone Kouyou’s primary doctor. He got especially touchy whenever Chuuya tried to convince them that a second opinion might be a good idea.
It was all complete bullshit in Chuuya’s opinion, the only saving grace was that Kouyou seemed to dislike the doctor almost as much as he did, although she still took the prescribed pills that were dished out to her like candy.
Those two bastards were also way too chummy for a supposedly work relationship, they acted more like best friends more than anything, either that or co-conspirators.
Once Chuuya figured out a way to get Francis out of their lives without resorting to murder the first thing he was going to do was fire the doctor and then bill him for the massive headache the man had given him. Maybe find some way to get him arrested because the only thing that Mori deserved more than a slow painful death was being someone’s prison bitch for the next 50 years.
Shaking those depressing thoughts from his head he focused his attention forward, right now he had much more pressing matters to attend too.
Like getting his hands on some quality alcohol.
It didn’t take much to convince the captain of the ship to change course. All Chuuya had to do was stress how much of a problem it would become if he didn’t have anything to drink while dealing with certain people.
Chuuya may or may not have also threatened a reduced paycheck and a few not so subtle threats of bodily harm to him and the crew.
After that the captain was all too happy to make the decision for a course change as well as making a call to the marina and getting the yacht one of the best spaces available.
Chuuya didn’t care to listen to the name of the town they’d be sailing into as the only thing he cared about right now was how long it would take them to get there.
He also figured as soon as he acquired what he needed they would be setting sail again right afterwards.
It would be nice if he could find a way to get Francis and his people stranded behind without it turning out into one massive man-hunt.
That way he would actually be able to have a decent conversation with his sister without the meddling and accusations that would be thrown around if Francis was there.
Now that he’d gotten what he wanted Chuuya made his way to his cabin to change into something more appropriate for sunbathing.
The morning light was quickly turning into a pleasant afternoon sun and he wanted as much peace and quiet he could get before something inevitably pissed him off.
If he had it his way he wouldn’t have to see anyone in person until he got his drinks served to him.
Of course, he would never know that his luck would take a turn for the worse.
And then later…for the best.
Chapter 2: Chapter 2
Notes:
Okay i know what I said, but I already had this written and sitting on it is physically painful. Also I got 6 kudos, and 66 hits and it was too funny not to post a Dazai chapter. 666 the devil arrives. lol
Not beta-ed or proof-read.
Chapter Text
“Dazai, I need your help.”
A tall, lanky brown-haired man turned towards the voice with uncaring slowness. He took heed of the manner his name was spoken in, frantic and rushed, as well as the magic words.
I.Need.Help.
His mocha brown eyes narrowed with a calculating glint and his lips stretched into a lazy smirk.
His boring day had suddenly brightened up unexpectedly.
“Yes?”
Standing in front of him was the day-shift assistant manager of the small bar that Dazai currently worked in. He was new and very young to boot, barely out of his teens and from what Dazai had figured out he was only hired because his uncle was the owner of the building.
He hadn’t had much interaction with the kid, since Dazai usually only worked nights on the weekends stocking the back storage, his Sundays nights were harder since he had to leave a little earlier for his morning weekday job.
Truthfully this kid shouldn’t have been here by himself with only Dazai’s help but there had been several sick call-outs this week. Not to mention that the manager of the bar was out of town.
Because of all these things at once the young assistant manager standing in front of him made the terrible decision to call in Dazai to work on a weekday in the afternoon.
Something that normally he wouldn’t be able to do at all but the kid had sounded so frantic on the phone and it had entertained him enough to agree to come in for a few hours, even though he had precious little time off and would try to hoard that time for himself or with his kids.
Since this kid was so green under the gills Dazai betted that he hadn’t been warned about Dazai’s habits or general personality. It was refreshing to have a new plaything that was unaware of him, although the kid was such a bore that after the first hour of Dazai standing around and serving grumpy old men on the barstools he’d lost all interest in messing with the brat.
Until now that is.
“Umm yea.”
The kid was clearly flushed and upset about something and it piqued his interest, he hadn’t pegged anyone in here as a troublemaker but it would be entertaining if a fight broke out. He might even be able to break a bottle over someone’s head.
As he waited for the kid to spit out what he wanted he looked down at his hands and noticed that he’d been tying a loose noose with the spare rope as his thoughts drifted.
He gently dropped it, it was coarse and nothing that he could use for an elegant death.
How long had he been working at this establishment?
A week? Two?
Dazai came to the dismay realization that it had been that long since his last workplace suicide attempt.
That wouldn’t do.
He didn’t want people to get the wrong idea and think he was becoming compliant about living his dreary life like the faceless masses around him.
Before he could think more on how he was going to die with a beautiful whisper the assistant manager tried to gain his attention again.
“There was a call.”
“…and?”
Dazai prompted as the kid went silent again while paling even more as he regained his thoughts.
“There was a man. On the other end. He…he’s from that city to the west, I don’t think I heard its name correctly but that’s not the important thing.”
“He’s- well he was angry. Uh, I don’t think we were the only place he called today, because every other word was an insult. I’m not sure though, I think most of the conversation on his end was in French.”
“French.” Dazai repeated back to him.
His unimpressed glaze had the kid squirming as he stood his ground.
He wasn’t sure what the kid was aiming for by telling him this, although it was mildly entertaining if it was true.
It probably had to do with Dazai being older than him as well as the general air of wisdom and cunning he eluded when he was bored.
But these were trivial matters and the last thing he cared about was such things.
Like right now, this was sounding like something trivial and boring.
Although with him being already bored maybe he could find something worthwhile in this? Turn it into something a bit more entertaining for himself?
“So, what did this French man want from you?”
The kid startled before blushing heavily as he realized he hadn’t gotten around to the reason for the phone call.
“Oh, well he wanted some wine and not the store boxed wine like the ones we got. He started to drop some names and stuff so I looked them up. The cheapest one he named was a five thousand dollar red! So I told him we don’t have anything like that and the nearest place you could order one was probably the city inland, although it’s a few hours travel from here. That’s when the cussing started I think. He was really angry so I offered some of our Baily’s Irish cream and some of our more priced whiskey but that didn’t cool his temper at all.”
“Yes, I don’t think someone who would drop five grand on a bottle of fermented grapes would appreciate a good whiskey.”
“Right? Anyway, before I knew it I was talking about Uncle Rick’s import bottle. You know, that Japanese drink he got from that friend of his. I can’t remember what kind of drink it is but I think it’s kind of expensive since he keeps it in that locked cabinet. Do you think it’s worth five thousand?”
Dazai knew exactly the bottle the brat was talking about. It was a really nice, smooth bottle of sake that was worth at least 10 grand in inexperienced hands and a good 25 grand in certain circles. He’d been eyeing that bottle for the past week and there wouldn’t be a more perfect opportunity then this.
Thank you suicide gods for looking down on your humble worshipper.
Now how to play this…
Dazai stretched his lips into a small smile and spoke with a gentle authority.
“Well I think it’s good quality, so the guy shouldn’t complain much. But I think it’s only worth 3 thousand; if that. But if you told the guy you’d sell it for five grand then I’m sure the guy doesn’t know it’s worth at all. I’m sure that your uncle would be pleased if you made some money off of this. Since we’re not a high-class parlor like what this city moron clearly is used to I’m sure it wouldn’t be any issue.”
Dazai’s eyes took a sharp glint but he closed them before the brat who was clearly hanging onto his every word could see.
“We may even take some profit for ourselves. If the guy pays five and it's worth 3 then that leaves a good 2 thousand dollars that no one who isn’t in this conversation would know about. So uh-”
Dazai took a quick peek down at the guy’s name-tag that he attached to his shirt.
Which reason was the assistant manager even wearing one? Only the local grocery had those and those were on the high schoolers since it was a big turnout business.
“-Steve, how about this? Since you can’t leave the bar unattended I’ll go in your stead, since you, as our assistant-manager need to be here in case something important happens. I can take it to the guy and if he is desperate- I mean if he is feeling generous enough I can maybe haggle the price up a little higher. How does seven thousand sound to you? If this guy wants to give out his money I can only think it’s fair that we get a nice bonus of 2 grand each. I’m sure you’ve got a few things you’ve been itching to buy.”
“I’m not too sure about this actually. What if Uncle gets really mad that I didn’t ask him first?”
Damn, it looked like little Stevie was getting cold feet.
“I’m sure he wouldn’t be, he must trust your judgement since he left you in charge for the days he’s off in the city. I’m absolutely sure that he wouldn’t get mad at you. But in the off chance he is upset when he gets back you have my permission to place the full blame on me. As I am the one encouraging you right now it only seems fair, right? Also, if I’m not to drive up the price how about this? The two grand that comes out of that five thousand is yours completely. I won’t touch a cent of it.”
“Wow, really Mr. Dazai? Are you sure?”
Hook, line, and sinker. Two thousand dollars was way too much to pass up for a small-town hick like him.
“Of course, I’m also positive that this French man would be grateful for us providing him with this drink. It may not be wine but it’s the Japanese equivalent of it.”
“Really? I didn’t know that.”
“Of course, it’s common knowledge.” Dazai lied through his lips with a crooked smile.
“Okay. The customer is on a boat in the harbor, near the front of the pier. I don’t think they’ll be docked down there for long. Are you sure we shouldn’t check in with Uncle Sid just in case?”
Dazai stared at him with half-lidded eyes, allowing his expression or lack of expression to speak for him.
It was clear that Steve was uncomfortable with Dazai’s nonverbal criticism because not a minute later he was agreeing to go get the bottle and clocking Dazai off on his lunch hour, even if he was five hours too early to do so.
Dazai kept his triumph smirk from unfolding until he was secured into his truck with the expensive sake bottle cradled gently in his hands. That kid, Steve, was so fresh off the press that it was almost criminal to take advantage of it.
If Dazai was a more moral person he would have felt guilt at tricking such a soul.
Luckily for him and his family he had no such morals and had in fact been looking for an opportunity such as this to take this very bottle out from their noses for a while now. This was such a golden ticket situation that Dazai couldn’t help the heap of giggles that erupted from his thin lips as he drove away.
If all went as planned then he’d be getting fired as soon as the owner came back from his whoring city trip, while his wife spent his credit cards at the nicest hair salons in town.
Before applying to the bar Dazai had done his homework on upper management. Just in case.
It was a gold mine of human stupidity and while Dazai could use what he learned to blackmail the owner into keeping his job Dazai felt like it was finally time to move on to bigger and brighter things.
Like the white light at the end of the tunnel; Dazai was sure that he could use something in that dingy bar to commit suicide, even if it would be inelegant. If nothing else he could give Steve a nice heart attack as a parting gift.
Best thing was, he would be incriminating everyone else but himself if it all went well.
It wasn’t like Dazai had gotten this specific job in the first place because his good friends Odasaki and Ango had gotten kicked out of this place months ago due to the manager’s bigotness about how close they had acted when they had all gone out for a drink to celebrate Ango’s promotion at work.
What was it he said?
Oh yes, “They were too faggoty for this place of establishment.” Or something to that effect.
Anyway, it wasn’t because of this that Dazai had dug into his family closet of secrets and made a complete folder of it.
It was just coincidence that Karma’s a bitch and Dazai was the knife she was wielding currently.
He’d gotten the name of the ship and a blank recipient slip before he’d left the bar, there was just one last stop he had to make before he dropped off his package.
Once the expensive bottle was wrapped in his tattered scarf he’d left on his seat for the early morning chill and placed it securely into the small cubby behind the seats where it will be safe without the possibility of breaking or accidently being found ahead of time he drove out of the bar parking lot and made his way quickly to the nearest mini market, in order to buy the cheapest, vilest sake bottle on the shelf.
Like hell he was actually going to hand that bottle away to some rich fat old man, this was a money maker that he was going to hoard, a money ticket for his kids and a way to get good life-insurance policy on himself for when his luck finally takes a turn for the better and lady fate looks away from his repeated attempts on his life and allows death to sweetly embrace him.
This rich rat that had scared Steve probably wouldn’t know good quality liquor if it was thrown on his face; it was probably just the price tags the guy was looking out for.
So as long as Dazai presented a bottle of sake and said it was the good stuff he would get paid.
Kind of like the time when he worked for a café and put tap water in all of the high-priced water bottles and no one could tell he’d done it, he’d made sure to spit in the bottles of people he knew never tipped.
It was the package after all that people were looking at, not the contents.
Kind of like how people reacted to him, actually.
Dazai shook his head at the way his thoughts were drifting, he didn’t have time to cry about his love life or the lack of.
He had the perfect crime to pull off first, after that he’d drop off the promised 2 grand because if there was one thing Dazai was, it was that he was honest about his promises.
After that he’d leave a little early and pick up the kids from daycare.
They could celebrate with some boxed mac’n’cheese and juice boxes. Kyoka was currently obsessed with the stuff lately and luckily for Dazai her brothers were great pushovers whenever she put her foot down on what they were having for dinner.
Breakfast was a whole nother beast entirely.
Humming softly to himself Dazai drove crazily towards the docks after leaving the market.
He wasn’t impressed when he was directed to a large yacht by the dockmaster, nor was he impressed with the silent guards that were stationed around the pier and on the boat itself, he was then pointed towards a small staircase that lead to one of the upper decks once he started to wave around the cheap sake bottle.
There were three that shadowed him silently to make sure he didn’t go anywhere he wasn’t supposed too.
His calm demeanor was shattered though the moment he caught sight of petite, heart shaped buttocks wrapped in a pair of sparkling blue speedo.
He could feel his blood rush under his skin at the vision of creamy, smooth peach skin that was followed by blood-orange hair and a striking pair of corn-flower blue eyes that were quickly darkening into beautiful caerulean the longer they stared into his own eyes.
But everything crashed down the moment those prefect rose bud lips parted and this elfin angel spoke to him.
Chapter 3: Chapter 3
Notes:
Last fully written chapter, now it will be awhile till the next update. I hope everyone's enjoying this and simping just as hard as Dazai is on Chuuya.
Enjoy, not beta-read or proof-read.2/2/2023- So...hi. I'm re-editing and re-writting this story a little one chapter at a time. At this time I have not touched chapters 1 & 2 but I will in the future as I kind of lost those two chapters somewhere in my docs as they were separated from the rest of the story somehow.
I kind of lost interest in this story and I became hyperfixed on other fandoms for the past few years. But I do have several chapters that I have yet to post already written out so hopefully me re-reading my story and notes will get me back into writing this story. Remember I really do adore comments, tell me what you think or if there is something you would like to see and if it works with the story I can maybe write something in.
Chapter Text
“Who the fuck are you? Actually, nevermind that, the real question is why the fuck are you perving on my boat?!”
Chuuya had been lounging on a fluffy towel on his private deck which was directly connected to his sleeping quarters. It allowed the gentle rays of sun to tan his skin without burning his complex pale skin.
He could remember the times when he’d been younger that his sister would drag him out of his room to sunbathe with her out on their property.
Unfortunately because of his pale skin he could only buy the most expensive tanning oils that were advertised for his skin tone in the hopes that he wouldn’t turn into a ball of red, peeling pain.
He’d come to learn over many experiences that those bottles didn’t necessarily come with the much-needed sun-blocking agent, they were just overpriced perfume bottles catered to fuckboys and girls who hoped that the slippery image of their bodies would attract rich clients.
Kouyou had finally taken pity on him after finding him crying in the shower during one particularly bad sunburn that had him peeling down his ears to his ass; it had been bad enough for him to have his doctor make a house visit.
She’d taken his peeling lobster red body and shown him the wonders of one of her own products that she frequently used and while the scent may not be very manly he found that her oils did the trick in tanning him without the pain of having to peel off his own blisters afterwards.
So now, instead of a peeling, bleeding mess his skin was a beautiful, milky-tan that complimented his red hair and blue eyes.
But only if he used a whole bottle of the stuff and stayed out in short bursts instead of staying out for hours like most dedicated tanning women and men did to gain the perfect shade.
Currently he wearing a flashy pair of speedos as he wanted to get as much as a tan on his skin as possible before they made it to the resort where there would no doubt be an audience of suitors that would ogle him without shame, his sister had not been as secrete as she had hoped, he’d seen the scheduled she’d lined up for him.
He’d much rather have gone naked to get a more even tan but he’d rather not flash his dick at Francis or Mori if one of them decided to intrude on his private time.
When the ship had anchored down at the small and shabby pier he’d told the captain to make the necessary calls to the port office in order to find the best place to order a large case of good wine, up to his standards of course.
But after an hour of run-arounds Chuuya had gotten annoyed with the repeated declines of quality products.
Deciding that nothing will be done unless he did something himself he placed a call to the nearest dive bar and demanded their most expensive, quality liquor.
He may also have threatened the stuttering and frightened voice on the phone-line that if they didn’t comply with his wishes that he would send his goons to trash the place.
He’d been sober for hours now and his temper hadn’t approved at all, so verbally flaying the other man was probably the better outcome.
Luckily for everyone involved he’d gotten what he wanted in the end.
He tried to ignore the loud voices of his sister and Francis from the deck below him. The sound was grating on his ears and he was considering drinking one of Kouyou’s watered down wine coolers to see if it would help with the sobriety of having nothing but sparkling water in his system.
Before he’d hung up he’d been assured by the stammering idiot on the phone that one of the bar’s workers would be delivering an expensive bottle of sake within the hour.
Now usually Chuuya would only drink wine, but desperate times called for desperate measures and all that.
The man had at first offered beer, then low quality whiskey and other disgusting liquids. After Chuuya threatened to rip off his balls and stuff them up his ass, the man had then made the offer of a quality bottle of sake that Chuuya actually knew the name of.
Chuuya may prefer wine over other drinks but he wouldn’t turn away from that kind of quality sake, even if it wasn’t his drink of choice.
Sadly, it seemed that the bottle was the only redeeming feature in this small, dead-ass port town.
He would have to try to savor the drink instead of chugging it all down in his desperation to feel the familiar haze take over his body and relax his mind.
They were still a way away from the resort, so he wouldn’t reasonably be able to restock his wine selection until then.
It was just something that made his temper rise in a steady drumming of wrathful thoughts.
Thinking that the sun would help his aching head he’d come out here to wait for the sake, mentally debating to himself on whether he should wait and chill it first or just chug it down at room temperature.
Laying down on his stomach he kept his eyes and breathed slowly as he tried to ignore the voices and his pounding head and just wished for once that something would go his way.
He wasn’t sure how much time passed but it felt like no time at all that the sound of footsteps echoed up the steps leading to the deck.
He’d hoped that the errand boy they’d sent would just hand the bottle to Tachihara and go about their jolly, poverty-stricken way.
Of course, like usual Chuuya’s luck didn’t hold out. So now he’d have to pay this asshole in person.
At least this guy couldn’t possibly know the value of the bottle he held, Chuuya will hand over a few hundreds and merrily kick him overboard before telling the captain to set sail again, the day was getting on and sunset would be here soon.
He could hear the footsteps stop nearby but that was it. No sounds penetrated the air after that, if he hadn’t been able to physically feel the person’s eyes bearing down on him he would think he was alone.
The feeling of being overly warm wasn’t coming from the sun’s rays, but the feeling of a heated gaze on his bare flesh.
Was he being creeped on?
His mouth turning down into a sneer, Chuuya turned his head and peeked up at the asshole whose eyes seemed to be glued to his ass.
His sneer froze the moment his eyes made contact with the perv and his eyes widened in shock.
The asshole was hot; like dreamy, sex vision, erotica hot.
No no no. Chuuya was calling bullshit.
He had the sudden suspicion that Francis had hired a male escort to try to gain blackmail on him. This was a trap, a totally fake and not real at all trap.
Fuck everything.
No matter how good looking this guy was, Chuuya had better control than this. Not to mention that the growing smirk on the man’s face was enough for Chuuya’s blood to start boiling and his face to heat up.
In anger, it was definitely in anger and nothing else.
“What the fuck are you looking at perv-asshole.”
At Chuuya’s growl the smirk grew to even grander proportions, something the red-haired man didn’t think was physically possible.
“Sorry.”
The man, who was clearly not sorry at all, came forward until he was standing only a few feet away from Chuuya.
Suddenly Chuuya wasn’t feeling very safe, as he was laying on the ground while this skinny, tall asshole stood over him.
Although he was lying on a soft plush rug and his privates were covered by the speedo the situation suddenly felt- really indecent.
He could feel a blush spread down his skin and it didn’t help matters when the asshole started to chuckle while never once taking his god-damn fish eyes off his body.
“Hey bastard, my eyes are up here!”
Chuuya spat out and slowly stood up, making sure that the speedo hadn’t slipped and gave the guy a peep-show.
Although if that did happen he’d make the guy pay with his entire savings as well as his life.
He noticed the bottle in the man’s hands and narrowed his eyes. That was certainly not the brand of bottle he’d been promised and a well of anger began to boil under his skin.
This bastard was trying to scam him.
Chuuya also took notice that his bodyguards were staying at the bottom of the stairs, just out of sight and earshot as they waited on his orders.
He recalled that he’d ordered them earlier to stay down there while he was sunbathing but he thought they’d at least realize that he’d prefer them to escort the stranger up instead of just letting him come up alone, who knew what this dickbag had planned out.
When the smirk evolved into a full Cheshire-cat smile, Chuuya felt a shiver of foreboding slide down his back.
“So sorry Chibi, it’s just that the ass hanky clanging onto your cute little ass is such an eye-sore that I became temporarily blind.”
Chuuya blinked, momentarily stunned into silence as his brain tried to reboot itself.
“What the fuck did you just say to me.”
The man sighed, long and drawn out and completely fake. His smarty smirk was practically glued to his face.
This shit-head thought he could one-up him.
Him. Fucking Nakahara Chuuya.
This guy may have the looks of an Adonis but he was clearly a moron of epic proportions.
“Hmm, it seems that the chibi’s ears are as broken as his fashion sense. I said-”
Chuuya didn’t allow him to finish his sentence as he stepped forward and punched the grinning jackass hard across the face.
He paid no mind to the bottle that fell and broke on the deck, scattering cheap glass and foul-smelling liquid all over his lower legs and feet.
Instead, he watched with satisfaction as the man fell to the ground amid the mess, no doubt gaining many cuts and bruises from the fall.
“Shut the fuck up you shit-faced bastard. Like hell that piece of shit bottle is worth 25k. You want to know what is worth that amount though?”
Chuuya allowed the familiar sense of red hot anger to cloud his vision as he stepped away for a second and pointed to one of the décor items that were scattered around the room.
“See this vase? It’s worth ten times your life and oh dear.”
Chuuya reached out and slapped it to the ground with enough force that the palm of his hand stung fiercely.
It had been secured with a pressurized stand, like so many priceless items among them. It was so that a wave wouldn’t have caused it to fall so easily.
Only if a force that was directly applied to it would cause such damage.
“It looks like you broke one of our family heirlooms, no doubt trying to steal it from me while my back was turned to gather the funds for that bottle of shit sake you brought me.”
Swaggering forward, Chuuya stood directly over the prone body of the man, uncaring of where his feet landed.
The smirk which had pissed him off so much had vanished off the man’s face, instead a cold steel gaze was directed at Chuuya, sending a thrill down the redhead’s back.
Now that was a good look.
“I’m sure the local police are enough to deal with such riff-raff as yourself. If I had more time I would just let my security deal with you before sending you off with a few broken bones and a concussion. Sadly, we set sail within the hour and I have no pressing need to bother with garbage like you myself.”
“I’ll be sending the bill to your address of course. I’m sure that the rat-infested workplace of yours will be happy to supply it to me as well as your name once I place that call. Considering the trouble you’ve caused them.”
An ugly smirk grew on Chuuya’s face at the small flash of anger in the dead-fish eyes of the man.
“Forcing them to close due to a sexual harassment and attempted theft charges. Yes, I have no doubt that you will become a social misfit within this town, although looking at you I have no doubt that you already hold such a title.”
“Dazai Osamu.”
The words caused Chuuya to pause, anger giving way to confusion as to why this was the first thing the man said to him after everything that just happened.
“What?”
“My name, it’s Dazai Osamu. Remember it well small-fry. I will be making you wish for the day that you never heard it.”
The man slowly got to his feet, making Chuuya stumble backwards so they wouldn’t collide. The man’s nose was bleeding freely and a lovely bruise was already growing along his chin and mouth. His clothing was drenched in vile smelling alcohol and it looked like some of the glass had shredded it as well along the collar and sleeves.
For a second Chuuya felt guilty of his actions, this poor asshole may have said some truly unforgivable things to him but it wasn’t bad enough for this kind of treatment. He opened his mouth, ready to tell the man that he wouldn’t charge him for the vase.
But the man was faster.
“Your tiny, perk ass will be mine, Chibikko.”
The hot red anger was back with a vengeance and any feeling of guilt burned away under its flames.
Fuck this entitled asshole who thought he could frighten him with his words. Any thought of taking it easy on him was washed away as a fresh wave of anger coursed through his body.
Chuuya unconsciously dismissed the double-standard of calling someone else entitled and how those few words had pumped a second feeling other than anger inside of him.
“Chuuya! What is the meaning of this?”
Trying not to flinch Chuuya turned his attention towards his sister who had come up from the lower deck due to the noise of the shattering vase.
For a second Chuuya floundered for words as his mind blanked, he’d forgotten that there were other people around them as he’d been so intent on the man in front of him.
As he saw the man- Dazai opened his mouth to no doubt sprout some more bullshit but this time it would likely be directed at his sister Chuuya sprang into action.
“Kouyou, send for Hirotsu and Tachihara. I want them to escort this man off my ship at once. I’m tired of looking at this shit-stain, oh also hand me my phone, I’ve got an important call to make.”
The man just stood there.
Staring intently at him.
His gaze seemed to burn a brand into Chuuya’s skin. He could tell this guy, Dazai Osamu, hated him or at least harbored a strong dislike. It was like he could feel the negative emotions emitting from the man’s gaze even if his features showed no such emotions other then boredom and lechery.
Chuuya would even say he admired the way the man’s eyes showed no emotions. If Chuuya wasn’t so well versed in negative emotions he would have been fooled into thinking the man had only become upset in the normal sense and not like he was planning to murder Chuuya and play with his corpse afterwards.
Chuuya wrinkled his nose at the morbid thought, he may have spent too much time listening to Mori’s weird rants if that was the first thing that came to his mind about the man’s so-called revenge plans.
Ignoring his sister’s demands for him to explain himself he ordered her to return to the lower deck, saying that he didn’t want her feet to get glass in them.
Hirotsu, Tachihara and a bunch of Chuuya’s men came at once after hearing Kouyou’s calls for attention.
Chuuya turned around, not watching as they dragged Dazai away, forcing the man off his feet without dignity.
Not another word was spoken between them but Chuuya couldn’t help but feel like so much was left unsaid.
Which was wrong as this would be the last time they would meet.
What everyone failed to see was the shadow of a man standing right out of sight and watching the whole debacle go down. Francis Fitzgerald stared at the scene in front of him with calculation. A glint of dark intent shined in his eyes as the beginning of a plan began to form in his head.
The murder of Nakahara Chuuya, that is.
Chapter 4: Chapter 4
Notes:
Read the tags. Also not beta-read or even given a second glance, so errors will occur.
2/2/2023-Re-read, re-edited.
Chapter Text
Loud shouting echoed on the yacht that night for hours before finally settling down into uneasy silence that left all the staff weary and on edge.
Kouyou had gotten into a hysterical fit after Chuuya had gotten that bastard kicked off his ship. He had stayed true to his words and had placed a call to the man’s place of establishment and filled them in on the partial-fictional story of Dazai breaking something expensive and placing the bill of damages on them solely.
Because it was clear that the man wouldn’t be able to pay the bill, he decided to be gracious and withheld the charges of lechery.
He did have to threaten to call the police if the establishment didn’t bother paying the large fee, he knew the actual bottle of sake he’d been promised would be able to pay off the damages if sold correctly so he didn’t feel bad about pressuring the dive bar employees.
Kouyou going full hysterical was just the cherry on top of a truly ruined evening, at least she’d had the decency to wait until their audience had left before unleashing her fury on him.
So while he was being screamed at he decided he might as well get comfortable. He lounged back on a deck chair away from the mess that the staff didn’t dare yet clean up and sipped delicately on a glass of sparkling water while snacking on weak alcohol drenched dates.
After a while of this he finally gestured for one of Francis’s many servants to quickly mopped up the mess from the broken bottle as he was annoyed that his sister didn’t even bother to check him for damage before venting at him. Luckily Chuuya’s feet hadn’t gotten cut up when he stupidly walked on the mess earlier but it would have still been nice to have an ounce of care shown on him.
Once his sister finally finished screaming at him she went straight into lecture mode, which did nothing to bring down his temper and only increased it as time drilled by.
He chose to ignore most of what she was saying as it was just more of the same old crap. The same subjects and topics that he’d heard multiple times again and again, either from his sister’s mouth or the original instigator, Francis.
Leaning his head back, Chuuya took notice of the setting sun, the cool blues and warm reds painted the sky as a few stars peeked out of the darkening sky. It was a beautiful sight and he was sad he couldn’t even appreciate it right now.
Frowning he realized that he still had nothing notable to drink even after that shitshow, diverting from their set course put them almost a day behind schedule as well and he’d gotten nothing worthwhile out of it.
Well, not nothing, exactly.
The image of Dazai Osamu popped into his head and he couldn’t stop his skin from flushing red, Chuuya hastily drank from his flute in the hopes that his sister wouldn’t ask why he was suddenly blushing, he would have to blame the sun if so and then that would start a whole new lecture of properly putting on suntan lotion.
Trying to disregard those thoughts he turned back into his sister’s rant for a moment, in the hopes that she was winding down and would leave him to peacefully sulk in his soberness.
“-and how the hell will that man be paying for the damages? You kicked him out so fast that we failed to get any contact information off of him except his name and workplace. How ill-responsible could you be to not call the police-”
Chuuya turned his attention inward again and ignored her before his irritation could take traction to greater heights. He could feel a boiling resentment building up inside of him, especially once he took notice of both Francis and Mori standing in the doorway, situated right behind Kouyou and putting in their own two-cents into the conversation whenever she stopped for breath. He hadn’t even realized those two leaches had come in to add their own two cents, most likely for the show, they always seemed to take pleasure in seeing the siblings fight.
Sneering at them he thought about pulling a fuss about them being on his side of the boat but for the moment he allowed his mind to drift off as he thought about Kouyou’s last statement, he could fantasized of other ways for Dazai Osamu to pay him back for the inconvenience he’d wrought onto them.
Not in money since Chuuya could care less about that, nor in other precious antiquities.
A vision of Dazai wearing nothing more than that trashy trench coat and those tacky bandages flashed behind his eyes, along with the man’s hoarse voice calling Chuuya’s name as their bodies intertwined.
Chuuya almost choked as he quickly and rather forcefully vanished the image from his mind.
For one he wasn’t going to fantasize about some asshole in front of his sister and the two money monkeys.
Another reason to banish that man from his thoughts was that his personality had been shit, he’d acted like he expected Chuuya to like his condescending, rude flirting or for Chuuya to submit himself and that was something that Chuuya wouldn’t do for anyone, much less for some scheming but good-looking face.
Chuuya finally had enough of this, he wanted the day to be over and done with and right now it felt like his sister was dragging it on longer.
He was tired, somber and frankly- more than a little bit horny.
“Kouyou, shut the hell up. I have everything under control and I don’t need your input on this or anything else that is going on in my life. What I do or not do with my shit has nothing to do with you or your monkey of a husband so I’d like it if you just fuck off until I come to you, understand?”
He ignored his sister’s gaping mouth and disbelief gaze, he didn’t have the patience to deal with her right now. Even though he knew he would regret what he just said in the morning, that was a problem for future Chuuya while present Chuuya couldn’t give a flying fuck.
He was going to go break into his special cabinet and get wildly drunk then masturbate that man out of his mind and forget him entirely, after that he’d go to sleep on his silk sheets and wake up hungover the next morning and grovel to his sister for a few hours before things cool down enough to go back to normal.
Getting up he went into his rooms, dismissing everyone from his part of the deck. The inside of his rooms looked more like a luxury suite of a high-end hotel than on a yacht. Hoping to lessen the headache that was growing worse and worse as time went on he decided he’d take a bath and relax for a short while before slipping into his bed for the night.
Picking out one of his favorite thongs and grabbing his one and only special, celebration wine bottle that was worth two of the promised sake that was never delivered he made his way to his large tub and filled it before pouring some aromatic oil of sandalwood and rose oil before pouring himself a generous cup and sinking into the water.
This bottle had been intended for consummation between him and his sister after they’d had the sibling heart-to-heart he’d been planning on this trip.
Now it looked like he’d be consuming it all by himself, like he always does while his sister drinks the poison words of her husband instead of trying to reconnect with her only blood relation left in the world.
Leaning back Chuuya forgo a glass and drank straight from the bottle, closing his eyes he tried to figure out a way to salvage the rest of this trip, hopefully without having to resort to breaking all ties with his sister.
Or murder, he wasn’t too picky about that though. If it wouldn’t break his sister’s heart he would throw Francis overboard without a lifejacket and fire Mori while suing him for every penny he had before dumping him in the middle of a country with strict laws against pedophiles.
Not that he’d been able to prove it but after some hard digging Chuuya had unearthed a few disturbing rumors and accusations that sadly didn’t go anywhere due to payoffs.
Breathing in the relaxing scent Chuuya relaxed as most of the tension went out of him.
Leaning back into the scented water Chuuya let his mind wander, he had the lights down low until only a golden light shimmered from above so the atmosphere was almost romantic if he chose to view it that way. Flickering the water gently he allowed his eyes to close as he went even deeper into the water until only his head was afloat.
Sighing he allowed his fingers to wander over his skin, skimming over his collarbone before moving down and rubbing gently over his nipples, once they’d hardened and stood to attention did his hands move downward.
Skimming his stomach and lightly pulling on his red curls that nestled his half-hard cock. He gave it a few halfhearted tugs until it stood at attention much like his nipples which were still begging to be touched, but as he still was holding his drink his body could deal with only one hand.
He had priorities after all.
Since his eyes were closed he could fantasize easier, at first he thought up a generic, no-faced man who was touching him but that quickly began to turn him off so he switched to just enjoying the sensations. Even gripping his cock tightly in his fist while rubbing it just on the side of too much didn’t make that nice liquidity feeling in his lower stomach come.
He was resigned after that.
Opening his eyes, Chuuya drank one last large gulp before setting down the bottle and putting his other hand into play.
He closed his eyes again but this time instead of a stranger he pictured that bandage waste of space Dazai in place above him. He could picture it vividly as he already had the visuals from earlier when the man had been leaning over him.
Dazai would lean over the tub with his coat spread out behind him like a gown, he would make rude but sexually charged quibs to Chuuya as he slowly jerked him off, and despite his harsh words he would ended up using his wet soaked bandaged hand to caress Chuuya’s skin in reverence.
Chuuya was surprised with how fast his orgasm was approaching after that, usually he would have to play with one of his toys to really get a good feeling going.
Just as he was about to come, Dazai’s name a whisper on his lips, a sound disturbed his fantasy, breaking it into a million pieces.
His feeling of relaxed euphoria ended just as abruptly as his approaching orgasm.
It kept repeating, like something was loose and hitting the side of the boat near his room. It wasn’t a very loud noise but annoyingly consistent and drove his temper up.
The feeling from before was gone, breaking his meditative, alcoholic calm and leaving him unsatisfied and horny.
Chuuya tried to let it go but not five minutes later he was out of the water, dripping wet with suds running down his body, he placed his throng on halfheartedly, ignoring his flagging erection and stormed out of his room to the side deck outside, he didn’t take notice that the air was unusually silent and that there was no one around as he immediately saw the suspect of the noise.
A piece of rope with a metal hinge was loosen from the wall and the wind was banging it directly against his bathroom wall. He stalked forward, either to fix it or break it he didn’t know and in his inebriated state he failed to notice the shadow of a man behind him, one who was holding a large wooden oar above his head.
Chuuya only noticed something was wrong the moment something collided with his head, bursts of sharp pain throbbed in his head and he groaned before leaning forward, not quite knocked out but his eyesight was darkening quickly. He tried to turn around to see who had hit him but he was unbalanced and a stray piece of glass that the staff had failed to clean up from earlier cut into his foot which caused him to fall sideways, right over the side of the railing into the dark waters below him.
Chapter 5: Chapter 5
Notes:
Dedicated to my first reviewer! Hugs!
Also fyi, I actually like Francis, I just needed more then one bad guy in this and Mori is almost a cop-out, although he's not a good guy either. So although Francis is probably more then a little ooc I like to think it's still in his character to do something like this. Probably. Maybe. IDK.
Not Beta-read or proofed.
2/2/2023- Edited, re-read.
Chapter Text
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald’s face twisted into a malicious smirk as he swiped his bangs off his sweaty forehead. He hadn’t realized how nervous his body had gotten until now.
Ignoring the flash of bright red blood dripping down the broken piece of wood he discarded it behind one of the sofas on the deck. Not bothering to find a better spot to hide it as he’d be getting rid of all evidence to his deed at a more convenient time once he got his alibi established.
Not to mention it was better to not to throw it overboard as he didn’t want anyone to find the body along with it on the chance the tides kept the two pieces of trash together.
He didn’t want anyone to suspect foul play if the body was discovered, and if the weapon that matched the wound was found nearby…well it would screw with his plans too much to allow the chance of that happening.
The conclusion of the disappearance of the Nakahara heir could go two ways, either the stupid boy fell overboard after drinking too much, which with the empty wine bottle and filled bathtub that had been treated with a highly powered relaxant that Francis had flinched from Mori’s cabinet earlier would attest to that scenario. It was to be noted that the powder substance would disappear within 24 hours and become untraceable.
Either that or the story would go that the stupid boy had gotten himself murdered after the rather public humiliation of a mentally unsound local from some back-watering town. A man who had publicly and with witnesses, threatened Nakahara. Now Francis didn’t really want to go with plan B as there were factors he couldn’t control, but if the first failed he had already planned on being the sole witness to seeing a shadow of a body that resembled the stranger on board the boat this very night, he would say he went to get help which he would have gone to Mori since he will say he didn’t trust Chuuya’s people to not be in on murdering his brother-in-law and that he heard the sound of a splash and a motor from a boat fleeing the scene before he could rescue his brother-in-law. Sad and tragic, the media would eat it up and fall for his ruse.
It was practically flawless, especially since he had already replaced almost all the personnel on the boat with his own people who would collaborate with any story he came up with. Nakahara only had a handful of people on board and it wouldn’t take too much to either silence them or make them a part of the conspiracy.
He just needed his stupid wife to sign the papers that Mori had given him, apparently an old friend of his who was a inheritance lawyer had drafted them up a while ago. He would only make it public once the body was found of course since it would be suspicious if they were signed beforehand.
Then finally he would be free of this farce, almost ten years he’d been playing house with someone he could barely stand and he was losing his patience, especially since he was so close to getting what had been promised him years ago.
This marriage was only supposed to have lasted a year or so, not a decade. But he couldn't even place the blame on anyone else, as it had been his job to research the Nakaharas to see if they would be a suitable family for their plans.
Francis had gotten compliant over the past few jobs and had done his own bare research and relied on gossip and third-party knowledge before immersing himself into the family.
Thankfully Mori had back up plans for a long-con job and while he had been livid at Francis’s fuck up they had salvaged what they could. Not to mention with that delightful brand of cocktails that he prescribed his dear wife Francis hardly had to deal with her on a day to day basis.
The male Nakahara brat on the other hand had almost made him break his cover many times over the past few years. Luckily they didn’t see each other often enough since he had gotten Kouyou to drive him out of the house but the little bastard had made it easy to want to finish him off and this afternoon had been such a perfect opportunity that he couldn't miss it, although he knew Mori would be even more livid that he didn’t consort him first before acting out on the impulse.
It was easy for Francis to dismiss Mori’s careful ten year plan as he couldn’t take another two or three years of playing nice with this fucked up family.
Dismissing the nagging sensation of how much his plans could derail if more then one problem occurred he made his way back to his quarters where Kouyou was sleeping off yet another cocktail after crying herself to sleep.
It hadn’t taken Francis very long to convince her that her little brother hated her guts after their wedding, she’d harbored such fears for years even before he’d come into the picture so when her precious little sibling went off on her she blew everything out of proportion, of course that was due to three things- her meds, mental conditioning and Francis himself.
He was annoyed to learn that Chuuya hadn’t actually gone through with calling the cops or actually billing the man the vase’s true worth, which had been a whopping 150 grand. Instead the stupid idiot only said it was 5 grand to the stranger’s workplace.
Still, the threat that the bill could become increasingly more could be said to be enough for the backwater redneck to snap and take it out on the other man.
The other problem he was seeing was if the man was in a public space with a lot of witnesses tonight then that would become a cause to doubt if the man committed the crime or not.
Still, once his wife had all the Nakahara assets transferred into her name he’d up her meds and send her off to be with her dear brother in the after life, then he could finally move on and enjoy the life that should have been his, even if he had to change his name and appearance on the chance that the authorities wanted to get suspicious about the deaths of the Nakaharas.
As he made his way into the gloom he thought back to his life absently, almost amused when he thought of what led to him doing this in the first place.
For most of his earlier life Francis had more money than he could spend in a lifetime. He not only inherited it from his late-family but he’d found a company that was able to secretly embezzle billions of dollars off his shareholders and customers through the years.
His wife at the time had been a young socialist who had boasted his image and made it easier to hide his dealings, she’d been an idealist and while he knew intelligently that they were incompatible he’d believed that he truly came to love her and her innocence and delicate nature.
But it wasn’t to be as she’d spent almost all of his inheritance and money on living lavishly after miscarrying their first and last child, Scottie. She collapsed into herself and began to live in her controlled environment, believing that their daughter was already a grown child and off at some boarding school and that the only reason they didn’t see her was because she was so busy being a good child. The woman even wrote letters in childish handwriting to show off, that their beloved daughter wrote to them frequently and that’s why she wasn’t around.
Francis hadn’t the energy to break her delusions at the time as he had also been grieving and when he finally realized that his bank accounts were being emptied at an alarming rate it was too late.
Francis scowled as the unpleasant memories rose up in his head before trying to force them back down.
She’d contracted some disease and died before he could squeeze some money out of her family, distant though they were, since he barely had enough on hand for her funeral and to pay off her debts with the house and everything else they owned.
Not to mention that his own board members had kicked him out of his own company and taken his shares, leaving him with nothing.
At the very least he managed to cover up most of her indiscretions with the help of her former lover and now Francis’s co conspirator, Mori Ougai.
Mori became something of a blessing in disguise, Francis had always harbored the suspicion that she was cheating on him in their later years but it was only when Zelda passed away that the doctor had shown up and thrown all of his cards down on the table.
Probably the only reason Francis didn’t right out murdered him for the audacity of sleeping with his now late-wife.
Apparently Mori had been planning to scheme the Fitzgarild’s out of their money by seducing the wife but hadn't realized that Zelda had already spent most, if not all of the fortune, so his plans had to change.
Francis didn’t know to this day why Mori had decided to include him in his schemes but he took full advantage of it once he heard what the job’s perks were.
Soon after they’d drawn up a contract between them, both protecting themselves and their assets in case of partner betrayal. It had been 15 years now that they’d been doing this and Francis wasn’t getting any younger as this job had been supposed to be the last big score before retiring off to an island in the Caribbean.
The past two women they’d con out of their fortunes and staged their suicides had gone so smoothly that Francis hadn’t even entertained the thought of the Nakahara job being anything but. Mori had even married the last one and Francis didn’t know whether to pity the woman or be impressed how easily Mori got into her head, it hadn’t taken very long, barely six months of marriage for her to sign the papers and off herself to please her husband.
The fortunes had been small, barely enough to live semi-comfortable in their preferred social circles, definitely not enough for a retirement but with the Nakahara’s money and holdings they would have more than enough to live twice over and still spend large amounts of money every day.
Once he was off the brat’s private deck and into his own cabin he couldn’t help but wonder what Mori would be saying to the change of plans, more than likely after some grumbling he would probably coincide with Francis' way of things and help along with Francis’s new plan.
Years of semi-friendship and conspiring tend to do that, if not...well Francis wasn’t against placing another body in the water, contact be damned.
It would be voided after death, after all.
Chapter 6: Chapter 6
Notes:
2/3/2023- Re-read, edited.
Chapter Text
Dazai was not having a good day.
After some goons threw him off the angry chibi’s tug boat he had to nurse his own injuries and figure out what he was going to do next after that failure of a plan backfired fantastically on him.
He didn’t bother going back to work or even entertain the thought of having a job to go back to. Instead he drove straight home from the marina and parked haphazardly in front of his house, ignoring the driveway like usual. Leaving a message for Odasaku to pick up his kids and keep them entertained for a few hours away from the house, at least long enough to know if the police are actually going to come after him or not.
He’d rather not have his kids see their daddy get arrested or murder the local cops for coming after him, it was a toss up on his mental state on which way it could go at this point.
He was simmering in both anger and arousal as he laid on top of the old, sagging and torn up couch that took up most of the living room space.
Things had not gone to plan and a Dazai who’s plans didn't go as he liked is a Dazai no one wants to deal with.
He made and discarded about a dozen revenge plans by the time Ango came storming into his house to demand to know what fresh hell Dazai had sprung upon them, apparently after the bar management failed in contacting Dazai they called his emergency contact instead, which regrettably had become Ango since Oda washed his hands of being the one that Dazai’s past bosses called to scream at after Dazai pissed them off before being fired in truly spectacular fashion.
Those phone calls usually came with a hefty bill in either damages or therapy for all those who had to deal with Dazai during that period of time.
Dazai glowered at his friend but his animosity didn’t last long before he fell back into wallowing in a cocktail of misery, self-pity and rage.
“Angggooo! I’ve met my hate-mate today.”
Ango paused in pouring himself a glass of whiskey, it was their unspoken agreement, Ango will listen to Dazai’s rants and Ango won’t have to be sober for it.
“Don’t you mean soul-mate?”
“Whaat? No! Why would that shrimp of a bean be anything close to my soul, or rather lack thereof.”
“That’s true, even your kids joke about you being a soulless demon.”
“Cruel, yet true.”
“Now why don’t you tell me all about this bean-sized hate-mate you meet and why it has to do with me footing a five thousand dollar bill?”
Dazai silently reached out and plucked the glass from Ango’s hands and drained it before slamming it back down on his small coffee table, ignoring how the third leg wobbled enough to upset the whole thing.
He decided to keep it simple, while also making a mental note to confirm that Ango truly only did pay five grand instead of the estimated 25k debt he had figured the chibi would saddle him with as that vase looked like an original and not a fake copy.
“I tried to scheme what I thought was some dumb rich old prick out of a few thousand but the man turned out to be a unbelievably hot but still dumb redhead and maybe got my ass kicked and possibly might have the feds set upon me with a debt of six to seven figures for something I didn’t do but now I’m wondering if this is just chibi’s idea of foreplay, since that vase was a lot more than five thousand.”
“....what.”
“See this is why Odasaku should be the one here, he’d understand.”
Dazai whined and ignored Ango gulping his third glass down like a man who was in the desert with his first glass of water in days.
“So wait let me see if i got this right, you tried something illegal again and instead of everything falling into place someone got the better of you.”
“No!”
“That big bruise on your face says differently.”
“Maybe, but I was just caught off guard, next time I’ll take that chibi down a peg or two.”
Ango felt a forbidding feeling chill up his spine, Dazai’s smile was cruel and Ango knew that he was dwelling on darker thoughts, if only to hide how off center he was feeling.
“...Next time? Why would you be seeing this man again?”
“Well if the chibi changes his mind and presses charges for the vase and maybe harassment charges then I will need his name and address to send the money that I will not be sending.”
Ango decided to not pursue further on why there would be harassment charges against Dazai, some things were better left unsaid.
“And what would you be sending then?”
“Either a grenade or a sex toy, I haven't made up my mind yet.”
“Okay-! I don’t need to know anything else, just sober up right now while I make a few calls to see if anyone’s placed a warrant on you. Sakunosuke will be here soon with the kids and I’d rather not have them see their father wallowing in sexual frustration.”
Dazai wrinkled his nose in disgust and dragged his body off the couch.
“Ew.”
“Thank you, that was my thought process as well. Now come one, go take a shower and bandage that face of yours, gods know that you have enough spares around for the job.”
It didn’t take long for Dazai to get fixed up, at least as much as he could without going to Dr. Yosano and he’d rather not have to deal with her brand of sadism right now.
It didn’t take long for the rest of the ragtag family group to make their way back to the Dazai house. Ango still hadn’t come inside the house so he must still be on the phone, probably pleading Dazai’s case, either that or setting him up in a semi-nice prison where he’d rule over the peons and have many prison husbands to cater to his needs. Sadly he’d still be deprived of three important things, his children, his best friends and starting now, his new hateful yet lustful spank bank material.
The front door slammed open as his children came running inside. He didn’t even flinch as one of his sons came barreling into his legs, holding on with dear life as he strangled-hugged them. Dazai just absently patted his head in amused fondness.
“DAAADD!!! Tell Ryu that the tooth fairy is real! He said that Timmy said that his dad said that the tooth fairy isn’t real and only- wait Kyo what did he say again?- oh right, thanks. His dad said only pussies believe in stuff like that. What does kitties have to do with the tooth fairy?”
If this had been Dazai a year ago he would have frozen with horrified indecision, but he was a much more experienced dad nowadays. He could internalize the horror and lie with a gentle smile on his face, while internally planning Timmy’s father’s humiliation and possible dismemberment.
“Well Atsushi, what Timmy said to you was not very nice and Ryu should know better than to believe other kids over his siblings. Kyoka darling, can you tell daddy what happened while Odasaku gets your brothers cleaned up?”
Dazai picked up his youngest child so that she rested on his hip, both of his sons pouted heavily before being herded by their uncle Oda who had come in behind them, the same Oda who was smirking at him. It was clear he’d already heard the story earlier but failed to resolve it, most likely he had told them to just ask their dad the moment they got home, Odasaku was a shithead like that and Dazai couldn’t be more proud, when it wasn’t directed at him at least.
“So my little one, want to tell me what happened?”
Kyoka was his little girl and a total traitor to her brothers whenever they did something they didn’t want Dazai to know, luckily for her she was too cute for her big brothers to stay mad at her for long and they always forgave her for being unable to keep a secret, not that her brothers weren’t the same.
“Ryu and Sushi got in a fight and Ryu’s baby tooth fell out and then they got excited about how much money the tooth fairy would leave under Ryu’s pillow and Timmy overheard them then called uncle Oda, uncle Ango and daddy fags and said that we would grow up to be trash and a bunch of other mean things and said the tooth fairy, Santa, Easter bunny and the president aren't real. Ryu started to cry so Sushi went to punch Timmy but Miss. Ari saw it and Sushi got in trouble. Uncle Oda came and talked to the teacher and said a few things. Now Ryu says he doesn’t believe in any of the things you said were true and Sushi is upset that Ryu is taking Timmy’s side after he made him cry.”
Dazai proceeded all of that in less than a second before smiling gently at his angel.
“Well I will have a talk with your brothers but first I want you to delete all of those mean things that boy said, okay?”
Kyoka nodded her head solemnly.
“Also the tooth fairy and all of the special people are real, well I’m not too sure about that president, may have to ask uncle Ango about that one, I’m sure he’d love to talk about politics to a six year old. But I’m sure Timmy is on the naughty list and that’s why he doesn’t believe in anything. His father’s the same so of course they don’t get any presents.”
“Oh, makes sense.”
“Yes now why don’t you go wash your hands while I convince your uncles to make dinner.”
Dazai set Kyoka down and watched her skip her way to the upstairs bathroom as the one on the ground floor had...issues that Dazai swore up and down he’d get around to fixing.
Someday of course is not anytime soon, if at all.
He could hear the chaos upstairs as his sons got kicked out of the bathroom by their sister.
He made a note to himself to set a ten dollar bill under Ryu’s pillow tonight, even if the tooth is lost he’d create a small note explaining it was on loan until a tooth was offered up, it will need to have the required amount of glitter on it to be authentic but Ango would be up to the task if Dazai whined loud enough.
Dazai couldn’t help but wonder if his eldest son would have Atsushi punch him in the face to pay the fairy once he got the proof. If he recalled correctly- and he always did, Ryu still had three more baby teeth to lose.
Well it would build character, of course the correct way to go about it would be to steal some other child’s tooth, preferably not his siblings to pay the toll that was placed on him.
But that may be asking too much of Ryu, he was an emotional child who tended not to think outside the box unless prompted.
Dazai had two conflicting feelings on how to deal with this, on one hand he could sit down with his children and do the responsible, parent thing or…
At the moment a shark-like grin grew on Dazai’s face Ango came back into the house. Pausing in the motion of putting his phone away he grimaced when he caught a glimpse of Dazai’s face.
He did not want to know what his friend was thinking about, as he knew whatever was making Dazai smile like that wasn’t anything good.
“I don’t want to know what you have planned, I prefer some plausible deniability of your schemes so make sure to get Sakunosuke to help you if you must.”
“Don’t worry, Odasaku already got started.”
Ango just sighed and made his way into the kitchen, his face twisted in disgust at the dirty counters and piles of dirty dishes marinating in unclean water.
“Maybe we should just order takeout?”
“Why? I’m sure I have at least one pan left that I only used once or twice, it will only have a little bit of stuff on it.”
“How does Italian sound? I can get Kyoka’s mac and cheese and the boys can have spaghetti.”
“Oi Ango can you hear me? I said-”
“ Sakunosuke! What do you want from Angiale’s? I’m ordering now!”
Dazai tried to speak but got interrupted again at Oda’s loud scream from another part of the house.
“I’ll have special number 3! Get Dazai number 6!”
“...I can order my own damned food, you know.”
Ango ignored him and made the call, once he hung up he had to deal with a pouting man-child, while clearing a small area on the dining table he lowered his voice so only Dazai would be able to hear him.
“Once the kids are in bed we need to talk.”
Dazai could hear the seriousness in his friend’s voice and stopped pouting to nod in understanding.
Of course he went right back to pouting when Oda came swinging back in the room with all the kids hanging off him like he was some sort of human jungle gym.
“Oi Odasaku, those are my brats! Get your own!”
Ango sighed again as he watched his best friends begin to fight for the children’s attention while the children just giggled alongside them, absorbing the positive attention much like sun flowers do to the sun.
It had been a year now since the children had been adopted and it was clear that they were all still suffering from events that happened prior.
All the adults could do at this point was shower them with positive attention and give them all the things they would need to grow without any permanent mental or emotional damage. Although Ango had once said right after Dazai had finalized the adoptions that having Dazai as a parent figure was already damaging enough.
He was blocked for three weeks and given the cold shoulder after that careless remark. He learned to tone down his teasing in regards to Dazai’s ability to be a father, at least enough that it wasn’t taken completely maliciously, Dazai could be surprisingly sensitive about the oddest things.
Any kind of talk about his previous kill count and the literal death wish he had and he’d fake a blush at what he perceived was a compliment.
But accuse him of not being able to parent the three orphans that he ended up giving his heart and soul to?
He will fuck you up while at the same time being surprisingly hurt by the comments.
Still…
Ango looked over his friends whose antics had escalated into a full on tug-a-war, somehow this had become his family.
He couldn’t stop the smile nor the look of fond helplessness.
He wouldn’t trade any one of them for anything, life would be endlessly boring after all.
The sound of breaking glass wiped the look on his face.
He could do with a few changes though…
Chapter Text
It was late in the night by the time all three adults finally got a moment to talk in private without young ears eavesdropping.
“Wait, say again what your contacts said?”
“For the third time-! Apparently a red haired young man washed ashore a few hours ago. He was injured, practically naked and hasn’t yet woke up, he matches the descriptions of this hate-mate of yours.”
Dazai blinked a few times as his brain processed the information, he had heard it the first time and had mostly made Ango repeat himself to annoy him.
“Who the fuck hurt my chibikko!”
“...That’s what you're leading with?”
“Well on the other hand, it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.”
Oda took a sip of whiskey before quietly whispering.
“Savage.”
“Bitch.”
Ango pinched his nose delicately as they descended into name-calling, he tried to bring the conversation back around.
“Dazai.”
Dazai hummed to show he was listening as Odasaku and he began a slap war, not too harsh since the noise would wake the little ones but he wanted to get a good one in before he stopped it due to Odasaku’s big ass hands leaving marks, the man was gentle no doubt but sometimes Dazai couldn’t help but wonder if the man didn’t realize his own strength.
“What do you want to do?”
“Well of course I will be visiting my hate-mate in the morning! I assume he’s at the hospital?”
“Well yes, strangely enough there hasn’t yet been any inquiries or any reports of a man being reported missing or falling overboard at sea even though it has been several hours since he was fished out.”
Dazai’s eyes narrowed as he tensed up, the playful atmosphere dissipating and leaving a heavy oppressive feeling in its wake.
“Nothing? No one is with chibikko? I think I remember him talking to a sister before I got thrown off. You’d think there would be some kind of inquiry of his well-being if he fell overboard even if she couldn’t be right by his bedside for some reason.”
“From what little information I got it looks more like someone hit him over the head.”
“...What.”
Oda noticed how tense, unhappy and conflicted Dazai was becoming as more information came out of Ango’s mouth and tried to change the direction of the conversation in order to stop the blowup.
“Well we can visit in the morning to see what’s up. Until then I say we drink up before little Atsushi wets the bed again.”
Dazai half-heartedly protests that Atsushi doesn’t always wet the bed every night but as usual his friends favor the drinking over listening to his whining. Conversation successfully derailed, for the moment at least.
After another hour of drinking and lighthearted banter his friends left for the night, promising to come back in the early morning to help him.
Before heading to bed himself he went to check on the kids.
He patted the paint chipped railing of the staircase fondly, when he’d been younger he could never have predicted that he’d be living such a life like he was right now, even with how prodigal he’d been. Not to say he wasn’t still just as intelligent, but he liked to think he’d grown more as an adult in the past year since becoming a civilian than he had the previous years of his so-called adulthood.
Where once he’d been knee deep in blood and bullets it would have been impossible for such a change in lifestyle to have crossed his mind, that a soft and sweet life of a civilian could be within his grasp.
One with children who called him father and his best friends by his side, willingly at that.
He would even say that on good days that he was happy. Even on his darker days he never once thought uncharitable thoughts to the ones under his protection, at least ones that were actually directed at them and not some self-inflicting cut about himself.
Even with all the light that was in his life now it didn’t stop the severe depression from rearing its head now and again though. The utter hopelessness that was living, it weighed him down and made his attempts of suicide more serious.
Still, nowadays he could go a month or two without any of those serious attempts to take his life, and he now tended to favor suicide attempts that would be painless or slowacting as well.
Things like poison, drowning or strangling and the like. His sweet babies even helped him a time or two before Odasaku and Ango put a hard stop on that.
Although Ryu will still go get his daddy a bottle of rat poison if asked, the others tend to go to their uncles whenever they come upon their father’s body in an attempt to gain eternal sleep.
Looking around his quiet and dark home he couldn’t keep the small smile of pride at what he had built with his children. The house had been a steal, almost quite literally, the house was a two story colonial style home that had been built almost a century ago, it had been possessed by the same family line for decades before Dazai had gotten a hold of it.
They also had an expansive yard space and the nearest neighbor was a quarter mile away, which gave them free reign of a large area to themselves.
Sadly the house hadn’t been in the best of shape when they moved in and it had only gotten worse as time went by, a lot of things needed to either be replaced, fixed, or removed all together. The paint on the outside was peeling and so faded it was hard to imagine it had been originally a cheery light yellow, not to mention the wood part of the porch was rotting in places that made it dangerous to step on.
And that was just the outside, of which had the front yard covered in trash and old broken toys. There was even an old car that Dazai swore up and down wasn’t his and instead swore that some vagabond had dropped it off when he hadn’t been home.
The inside of the house was both worse and better depending on who you were asking.
The first floor contained the living area and kitchen, as well as the washing room with a washer and dryer that worked only half of the time. A small back room that was filled with trash bags, and the broken bathroom that they used to store more junk in.
The wrap-around porch took up a lot of the first floor as well which made it smaller than the second floor of the household.
The second floor had three large bedrooms, one of which was Dazai’s bedroom, the next was the master bedroom in which the kids all shared together, and the last one was empty except for two guest twin beds for Oda and Ango in case they slept over. There was a bathroom attached to the master bedroom that everyone shared, luckily there were three sinks and Kyoka was kind enough to share her space with her dad while Dazai’s sons hoarded their sink space like feral cats. Between the rooms were three small hallway closet spaces that held the majority of objects, linen and odd-ends that they used on a daily basis.
There was also an attic and basement but even Dazai with his suicidal aspirations wouldn’t go into those areas.
He made his way silently into his children’s room, Kyoka had a small part cordoned off that was labeled as only hers, her princess bed and vanity were pressed alongside one wall while his son's bunk beds were against the other. Soft snores echoed in the room and Dazai crossed his fingers, maybe Atsushi won’t have a nightmare tonight and accidentally wet the bed, they’d finally gotten Ryu to stop teasing the poor boy about it.
Which was rather hypocritical of the kid who had his own night terrors and still occasionally pissed his own pjs. Kyoka was more of a silent sufferer who just creeps silently into his bed with tears gently flowing down her face in order to be aggressively cuddled and protected from the nightmares that were half memories and half childish terrors.
Dazai’s smile grew sad as he stared at the unmoving heads of his babies, he had never inspired to be a father, he figured if anyone out of his group of friends would become a parent it would be Odasaku, maybe Ango but only if he accidentally knocked up a hooker.
He never would have believed that he would have this, much less still be alive well into his twenties. He had once made a bet with a subordinate that he would be dead by 18, either by his own hand or another.
He’d left and joined civilian life a year after his predicted time of death and now it had almost been five years since then and he couldn’t be happier.
A flicker of red hair, blue eyes and a temper that would rival Greek gods crossed his mind before he dismissed it rather harshly.
He had better things to do than worry about some short-stack gremlin, like planning young Timmy’s family’s financial ruin.
The early morning rush to get the kids to school and call in sick from his day job at the local factory took longer than Dazai would have liked, but he was mildly grateful that he hadn’t had that job very long and they took his excuses at face value.
Out of all of them Odasaku was the only one approaching sober or at least not hungover so he became the designated driver for them. Both Ango and Dazai were nursing hangovers from the night before, in Ango’s case he had continued drinking in the night and was suffering the worst out of the three, something that Dazai had fun poking at until his friend actually tried to bite him in retaliation.
In retaliation of that though Ango had to foot the large breakfast bill and Dazai was left alone to wrangle his children into some form of acceptability this morning all by himself, which meant that he just needed to make sure all shoes were on the correct feet and pants weren’t inside out.
Anything else Dazai deemed good enough for the public but Ango disagreed once he saw Ryu walk down stairs with his superman underwear on the outside of his pants. Dazai defended himself saying his son wanted to show off the cool undies his dad got him to the rest of the class and that there was nothing wrong with that.
Dazai nursed his wounded cheek after that, since Ango pulled harshly on it in reaction to his perfectly reasonable statement. It was the same cheek the chibi had punched too so his whining got even louder, both his friends and children ignored him.
He went off to sulk in self-pity for the rest of the morning until it was time to leave.
Once the children were squared away safe and sound at the local school the adults made their way to the only hospital in a hundred mile radius to find the so-called wayward redhead. Dazai still hadn’t decided what he was going to do once he got there, he even told his friends that he doubted that the person could be the same redhead who had humiliated him the day before.
Still, something inside of him spoke differently and he was having mixed feelings about seeing the chibi again, if only because he’d rather not remind the man about how angry he had gotten at Dazai the day before and up the debt price.
It was only by some grace that the man hadn’t called the cops on him like he’d threatened to do. He probably had time to calm down after throwing Dazai off his fancy ass boat and decided that he wasn’t worth the call.
Or maybe he gave into how hot he found Dazai and decided to give him a pass, who knows maybe the chibikko will appreciate the visit and...reward him.
While Dazai daydreamed dirty thoughts he walked on autopilot with his friends as they inquired at the nurses station about the red haired man who had been admitted the night before. A nearby man looked up from a chart and stared at them before coming forward.
Dazai couldn’t help but notice how frazzled the man appeared, especially when he asked Odasaku to repeat the appearance of the person they were looking for.
He almost dismissed it as the man’s shift being long but the doctor’s reaction once he realized who they were looking for was something he couldn’t have predicted.
“Oh thank fuck someone is picking that man up. I was this close to asking Dr. Yosano to drug him into a medical coma.”
The doctor seemed to realize what he had just said, possibly to the family of the man he’d just been talking about.
“Ah joke, joke! So in regards to the john doe-”
Dazai interrupted as he stepped forward and glared down at the man, silencing him easily enough. He also took advantage of his height to make himself more intimidating. It was the only way that his friends let him intimidate people nowadays.
Apparently knives, guns and various torturing devices were a no-no for civilian life.
“What do you mean John Doe? Why hasn’t he given his name to you? I assume he’s awake after your tasteless joke about drugging my husband.”
“H-husband?”
“HUSband?!”
“Dazai, what the fuck.”
All three of the other men spoke at once but Dazai made sure his face was bland and unamused. He was starting to suspect something but he would wait for confirmation before inquiring further.
“Yes, I’m Dazai Osamu, husband of Dazai Chuuya and father of three.”
“That….man is a father!?”
“Wow, my chibikko has not been happy here has he?”
“Uhm, sir. I-uh, I’ll bring you to your husband, everything will be explained once we are there.”
The doctor is clearly flushed and uncomfortable, probably believing that he was about to be sued.
The telling way that he was believing Dazai without any proof was questionable and was raising mental red flags.
Luckily Ango and Odasaku both followed Dazai’s lead and didn’t say anything that contradicted what he said which made things easier for him to manipulate the situation to his satisfaction.
They were led by the doctor who was fidgeting as they walked down an empty hallway. He would begin talking but ended up stuttering and following silently whenever his eyes landed on Dazai.
That may have been due to the disdainful frown and glaring eyes but he wouldn’t apologize for it as he found the unprofessionalism of the doctor distasteful and would rather the rat like man be silent.
The doctor mumbled that Dr. Yosano was the doctor who was attending the patient and they would get any and all information from her once they arrived at the correct department wing.
That was the only full sentence the doctor was able to stutter out before he went silent again, hopefully this time for good.
They came upon a nearly deserted corridor in a far off area from the entrance, they had gradually stopped seeing other people and the hallways were almost completely bare with only seeing the odd bed or wheelchair by itself every once in a while.
“What department are we going into again?”
Ango asked, his voice gave way to his wariness of the situation.
“Ah, well sometimes we get long-term patients in this wing.”
“And the others.”
“... the psychotic and unstable.”
All three men stopped to stare wide-eyed at the profoundly sweating man.
Before any of them could ask the doctor to elaborate, or more like demand that he explain himself, Dr. Yosano came out of a nearby door.
“Oh! Dazai, are you finally admitting yourself? No need for the paperwork if so, we can get right to the treatment stage.”
Dazai dryly chuckled before shaking his head, he couldn’t help the cheeky smile and quick wave to the doctor who treated him more often than not in the past year.
“Sorry doc, not today.”
“Pity, I can’t wait to learn what makes that brain of yours tick, preferably post-mortem.”
“Careful doc, someone would say that sounds like premeditated murder.”
“Then that person clearly hasn’t met you.”
The other doctor coughed, unsubtle and clearly uncomfortable with the situation and wanted to hurry things up so he could escape.
“So why are you here then?”
“I’m here for my chibikko.”
“...what?”
Ango sighed and stepped forward, blocking the now pouting man.
“Hello Dr. Yosano, I’d like to confirm with you that the patient that was found in the ocean yesterday was a young man, age 20-24, red hair and small built and a temper the size of mt. pompeii.”
“That does sound like my problem patient.”
“Problem?”
It was Dazai, not Ango who asked, his voice losing its cheery tone and becoming low and dangerous.
Dr. Yosano wasn’t phased though and just glared mildly back.
“Yes, problem. I also can’t just release patient information nilly-willy to any stranger who asks so unless you believe you have a valid reason to know this information and proof I suggest you leave.”
Before Ango could open his mouth, Dazai once again spoke before him.
“Well since I’m his husband I think I have valid concerns.”
Dr. Yosano just stared wide-eyed at him before laughing almost to the point of hysterics.
“Wow okay, so give me one good description of the patient before I believe that nonsense. It's very doubtful that anyone would decide to intertwine their life with yours after all.”
Dazai walked casually forward and leaned towards her ear before whispering something.
Dr. Yosano’s eyes went wide before wary acceptance crossed her face.
The other men were dying to know what Dazai had said to convince her but refrained from asking. Well Oda was curious, Ango would love to die never knowing what perverse words were whispered to the good doctor by that perverted friend of his.
“After this you can explain how you hid a husband from your goddamn friends.”
Dazai nodded, it would have looked solemn if not for the shit-eating grin on his face.
“We’ll go for drinks, I’m sure chibikko will tell the story better than I.”
Dr. Yosano grimaced and to Dazai it looked a lot like pity. Something that he found distasteful but made sure to keep that feeling from showing on his face.
“Last night around eight o’clock a fishing boat pulled what they thought was a body out of the water. Turns out the man was alive and suffering from hypothermia and a large gash on the backside of his head as well as a few other minor injuries, most likely from the rough waters. Once it was established that he was breathing and in need of medical aid the coast guard was called in and he was transported here. We were treating him to the best of our abilities till this morning.”
“And what happened this morning that you couldn’t continue to keep treating him?”
A look of weary amusement was sent Oda’s way after his seemingly innocent question.
“He woke up and hell was unleashed.”
After that they had all moved towards the room that Yosano had just walked out of beforehand. It led to a small room with one other door and a large one-way window, which allowed them to see into the room on the other side of the wall.
There was a single bed and on that single bed was the man that Dazai had come for.
Currently there were two aids in the room with him, who were getting pelted with anything the redhead could grab a hold of to keep them at bay.
“As you can see the patient-”
“His name is Chuuya, Dazai Chuuya.”
“...Right, well the red-haired Dazai is refusing any and all treatment at this point in time. We have already treated the more serious ailments so it’s not too much of a bother at this point. He is also suffering from retrograde amnesia, most likely brought on by the hit on the head.”
“Does he remember anything?”
Ango and Oda took over as Dazai moved over to the window to stare silently at the scene in front of him, although the way his head was cocked to the side told his friends that he was listening intently to the information that was being given to them.
“We asked the man the usual questions once he was awake, but after a few moments it became clear that he didn’t know the answers and that’s when he lost it. We’ve tried to calm him but he’s angry and scared. Understandably considering no one was with him when he was admitted and we hadn’t heard anyone file a missing person report with his description.”
After that Dazai turned around and clearly had his most con-art smile on as he explained the situation, or at least the situation he wanted everyone to believe in.
“Ah that’s my fault, I wasn’t expecting Chuuya till next week after all.”
“Oh?”
“Yes, my darling husband had been working abroad for the past year, in France.”
“France.”
“Yes, in France. Marseille to be exact, a beautiful port city in southern France, it’s famous for its fishing and yachts, among other things. My Chuuya had been working tirelessly to provide for his family and it's only recently that he could come home. The children haven’t even got the chance to interact much with him due to my darling’s work ethic, it’s only been phone calls and lonely nights.”
“Uh huh.”
“He must have come early to surprise us and gotten into some kind of incident while on his boat. I’ll have Ango look into it, I’m sure you remember his job?”
With the shrewd look Dr. Yosano threw at Ango, it was clear she remembered his job clearly.
“I’m not sure how the children will react to learning that their mother has suffered and forgotten them.”
“...Mother?”
“Why yes, I’m dad, chibikko is mommy.”
“Ooookay then, moving on. I can tell you that it is uncertain if he will ever regain his memories, although the likelihood is high if he’s around familiar people and places. Since he wasn’t here when you moved into your house last year I’m not sure if seeing your home will help him remember.”
“Oh don’t worry, I’m sure chibikko will get his memories back soon, we have so many of them after all!”
Odasaku’s coughing fit was not appreciated. At all.
“How soon can I take him home?”
“Well that depends really, there’s no real reason to keep him as his injuries have been treated, we can give you a rundown of the medications he needs to take and I usually would show you how to redress his bandages but I don’t think it will be a problem.”
Dazai ignored everyone’s pointed stares at the massive amount of bandages that were wrapped around 90 percent of his body.
“I’ll need to inform my kids about the situation, but that can wait until after school. How about I go in to tell chibi the good news? then I can get him settled at home.”
Without waiting for permission he strolled to the door and pulled it open. They were able to hear how loud the commotion in the room really was now that there was an opening between the rooms.
Dazai sauntered inside, a wide smirk plastered on his face and his gleaming eyes feasted on the figure in front of him.
“Darling~ please put down the chair, you wouldn’t want to hurt the poor nurse do you?”
Notes:
2/3/2023- Re-read and edited.
Chapter Text
The moment he woke up, he soon came to the realization that he would not be having a good day.
First was waking up to a bunch of strangers staring intently at him from an uncomfortable close range, then realizing that his head and body hurt like he’d been run over again and again, after that came the realization of how dirty and unclean his body currently felt.
Through the fog of fear and uncertainty more intense feelings began to overwhelm him. Rage, unbridled anger. It only got worse once he’d gotten a good look at the situation around him.
He was in some kind of hospital room and the moment he reached consciousness a group of touchy and unfeeling doctors crowded him, all asking him questions, barely giving him enough time to open his mouth to respond, let alone actually think of the answers.
That’s when he came to a realization that filled him with dread, fanning the anger and making it worse.
He didn’t know his name.
In fact as he sat there and ignored the inquisitive talking around him to really think he realized that he couldn’t remember anything about himself at all. Not the fact if he had any family or who he was as a person, or even what he did for a living.
The normal facts of where he currently lived or anything from his childhood remained a blank to him, he didn’t even know how old he was.
Any and all information about who he was and if he had anyone in his life were completely absent from his memories.
If he did have anyone who gave a fuck about him, then why weren’t they here alongside him when he woke up?
What the hell had happened to him that he couldn't remember anything?
Instinctively he knew that he could read and write, so it wasn’t that he got less intelligent or anything like that. He understood the questions being asked of him but that wasn’t the problem he was facing.
It was like he was a blank slate and he didn’t find it acceptable.
At all.
Beyond the sounds of his heart beating relentlessly in his ears and the endless chattering of the peons around him he heard the door slam open.
He kept his eyes closed so he didn’t see who it was, but he could hear a woman’s voice sprouting orders. It was only as he felt hands trying to force him to lay down that he opened his eyes and fought back.
Listening in he heard the doctor- a scary looking young woman talk about how they needed to do a full inspection of his body now that he was awake.
He snarled and refused, his body seemed to move without his input. He harshly pushed and pulled the nurses far away from him, uncaring in the moment if someone else got hurt, his only priority was keeping everyone the hell away from him.
Another doctor, this one a male who had been the loudest in his persistence of questions, ordered the nurses to restrain him with the leather straps connected to the bed.
Like fuck he’d let them do that, he didn’t care that it was ‘for his own good.’ These shitheads were just scared he’d kick their asses across the room, especially since he was sure that asshole had felt a cop on his ass earlier when they had been talking over him earlier.
The lady had been arguing with the guy the moment he had ordered him to be restrained, she must have said something to frighten him as the male doctor ran out not a moment later but he had tuned them out as he was too busy keeping the nurses at arms length.
A short while later another commotion at the door caught his attention, the nurses and orderlies were staying far away from him at this point.
It took him a moment to realize that someone was talking to him directly, as the words became clear he turned his glare at his newest target for his aggression.
A lanky man stood in the doorway where he had expected the lady doctor to be, he didn’t bother to get a good look at him as he took offense. Instead he directed the angle of the plastic chair that had somehow ended up in his hands towards the loudmouth, threateningly he gestured for the man to walk further into the room.
“What the fuck did you say to me you pathetic stringbean? Who the fuck do you think you are?”
It was faint but he took notice of the glimmer of disdain that shadowed the man’s eyes before the smile - fake - widened into a full on cheshire grin and those disdainful eyes closed in the fakest happy expression that he had ever seen.
Not that he had much reference right now, but it was like he knew instinctively that this man wasn’t as cheery as he pretended himself to be. He didn’t know how he knew that but he wasn’t going to question the feeling.
Instinct was the only thing he had going forward right now since his memories were shit.
“Why Chuuya, honey-bee. I’m hurt, how could you forget your own husband and lover?”
“Wha-?”
The man said- wait, was his name Chuuya? that name sounded familiar to him so he figured it probably was.
He took the moment to take in a full look at the man.
The feral anger that had been clouding his mind cleared.
Now that he had a moment without those harpies trying to tie him down he could actually appreciate the aesthetic of the man. Long legs and a lean waist, broad shoulders and a thin neck that was strangely covered up in white bandages and a handsome face with sharp lines and dark brown eyes and...the most fluffiest looking brown mop of hair sat upon his head.
As far as first glance Chuuya wasn’t that impressed by the man’s attire, he was wearing tan pants that had wrinkles all over them and a light blue dress shirt that had the top three buttons undone and no tie in sight, a tan overcoat completed the assembly, giving him a almost sloppy look.
Well...almost everything. Chuuya looked at the man’s hands, which were large with thin, delicate looking fingers.
They looked experienced, Chuuya looked up again and took in the man’s widening smirk as he realized he’d been caught ogling.
Wait, what did the man say again?
Husband?!
“We’re married?!”
Chuuya felt his face flush a vivid pink, this time due to embarrassment and confusion. He could feel the anger draining until it was gone as the other emotions took its place.
Someone had come for him, he wasn’t as alone as he’d first thought.
Gratitude grew quickly overshadowing the embarrassment, Chuuya felt his mouth twitch into a small wobbly smile.
The man- his husband apparently, was practically oozing smugness at his reactions.
“Yes, for three years now.”
“T-three?”
“Although we’ve been together since our early teens, so...seven years. Yes, I believe our anniversary is coming up.”
“S-seven?!”
“Ah~ also we have children, all under the age of ten. You’re the mommy of our happy family.”
Chuuya did the only sensible thing he could think of at that moment.
Vision fading he blacked out.
He didn’t seem to be out for long, it felt like barely a few minutes had passed before he came back to consciousness, unfortunately his head hurt even worse than before, mostly the pain seemed to be raiding from where his skull had impacted hard on the ground.
Looks like his husband was either slow or too weak as it looked like he hadn’t bothered to try to catch him in time before he’d hit the ground.
The sudden memory of what had happened just before he blacked out made him flinch. Looking around he noted absently that he was still on the floor and that there were more people crowding into the room.
No one had bothered to pick him up or seemed to have checked if he was okay.
A feeling of... something welled up inside of him. He wasn’t happy that was for sure but he couldn’t identify what other emotions that were mixing inside of him, threatening to overwhelm him. He dismissed the feelings and promised himself he’d figure it out at a later date, he had more pressing issues to deal with currently.
Looking up he saw that the man who claimed to be his husband was standing right over him, his attention was not on his husband on the ground where it should have been.
No, instead the man who claimed to be his husband was currently occupied with being throttled by another person, this one was weedy looking and had thick black glasses but considering the shade of blue his ‘husband’ was turning he must have had good arm strength.
The only other new person in the room was yet another man, he was tall and very broad in the chest and had chestnut brown hair. A friendly looking face but it seemed contradictory considering he was just watching the other men’s antics with a gentle smile on his face as a possible murder was taking place in front of him.
The lady doctor, who Chuuya finally remembered, had introduced herself as Dr. Yosano, one of the doctors that had been attending him, was standing nearby, overlooking the scene with a tired frown.
The other nurses were no longer in the room, thankfully.
He slowly sat up, not knowing whether to be relieved or not that he was basically being ignored at this point. It all seemed very violent and he wasn’t even the one doing the throttling.
He...felt fucking tired and so done with everything up to this point.
“Oi! Dumbass number one and number two!! Either tell me who the fuck I am and what’s going on or get the hell out of my room!”
Chuuya slowly stood up and made his way to sit on the bed, once there he turned his back to the room so he didn’t have to look at anyone.
He was grateful that his aching body allowed him to do so with what little dignity he had considering the only thing he felt like doing currently was crying angry tears.
Well that and beating someone up, it was a very overwhelming feeling and he didn’t like it nor did he appreciate it.
“Alright everyone, let’s all calm down. If any of you upsets my patient further I will have to take steps.
Dr. Yosano gestured in a menacing but vague manner, still everyone got the memo and took one large step backwards, wary and fearful of the sadist doctor.
What did it say about Chuuya that he liked the doctor treating him more than his supposed husband?
At least he was good looking, but Chuuya had to question his past tastes in men if he had chosen this man to marry and start a family with.
Chuuya still had his back turned but he would hear the shuffling of feet as multiple people exited the room.
Still, he could feel the presence of someone inside the room with him, standing right behind him with laser focused eyes.
“So since you probably don’t remember the love of your life, which is hurtful by the way, here’s some information for you, sweetheart. My name is Dazai Osamu, age 24, birthday June 19 20XX. I’m 181cm, my blood type is AB, I have several things I like in this world. Crab, alcohol, MSG, some people, those being my-I mean our- two friends, Ango and Odasaku, our three children and-”
Chuuya turned around, almost giving himself whiplash as he practically glared at his husband, Osamu? He looked long and hard at the man as the information Osamu was sprouting took root in his head, he made sure to categorize it.
Although he did have to question why Osamu was saying these things instead of telling him what the fuck had happened to him to get him in this state. Still...something he said made a part of Chuuya perk up, it had to be about that one thing and he’d be damned if he went home knowing nothing about his family.
“O-our children?...right. You said we have kids. What are their names? What are they like? Ah, please, any information about them...”
His husband almost seemed to flinch when Chuuya interrupted him but before he could analyze the gesture Dazai continued speaking. His voice switched from what had been an annoyingly, fake cheerful tone that Chuuya had an overwhelming urge to smack, into a monotonous tone.
It would have fooled him if Chuuya hadn’t seen the man’s eyes sparkling at the change of topic. The look had something in Chuuya relaxing, clearly this husband of his loved their children, if his eyes could sparkle with life just talking about them.
That was good, great even.
But... why had there been no sparkle for Chuuya?
“Well, the first thing you need to know Chibi, is that all of our children are adopted. We decided the children could keep their original family names until they requested it differently. As they are really young they haven’t yet made that decision. First there’s Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, our eldest at age 12. He’s...a very impressionable and naive child, he has a younger sister that had been with him when he’d been placed in an orphanage but they’d gone to separate foster homes before we adopted him and I haven’t been able to track her down yet, paperwork and the protection of the children, yada yada yada, I’m working on it.”
“Next there’s Nakajimi Atsushi whose our second son, he’s 10 and a very cheerful child. The kiddo is always smiling nowadays, a big change from before when we first adopted him. Last but certainly not least is our daughter Izumi Kyoka, she’s only 6 but if I do say myself, she's far more intelligent than her brothers and her mother.”
“You dote on her, I take it.”
Chuuya smirked as a light flush crept onto his husband’s cheeks at Chuuya’s interruption.
“Ah you will-I mean you do too.”
“Wait...mother? Is there another-?”
“Ah no, remember what I said earlier?”
“?”
“I’m the dad.”
“Okay? Then that must mean I’m papa, right?”
“No. Your parental moniker is mother, you insisted that’s what you wanted to be called after the adoption papers were finalized.”
“...Really? That doesn’t sound like me.”
“Chibi… you don’t even know what sounds like you.”
“You make a point. Still, ah- I think papa sounds better. I will ask the children if they prefer the change.”
Dazai looked even more flustered as the conversation veered from there. His expression seemed conflicted as he stared hard at Chuuya’s interested and invested questions, it was clear that Chuuya was absorbing the information that Dazai was giving him like some kind of sponge, clearly motivated to know the family that Dazai was dangling in front of him like bait on a hook. It was telling...that Chuuya had interrupted Dazai not to complain that the man wasn’t giving him information about Chuuya himself and the situation that brought him there but instead he wanted to know more about their children first and foremost.
Like they were the priority and not the man’s own information and past.
Interesting.
Not that Dazai himself actually knew much about the man, late last night he’d lied in bed and messing with his phone he’d googled rich, important, red haired young men in the hopes of stumbling upon his chibi’s face and information but he hadn’t been able to find anything substantial.
The only reason that Dazai even knew the man’s name was because the woman on the boat had yelled it before Dazai had been thrown off the boat. Hell, he didn’t even really know if that woman had been Chuuya’s sister, she could have been his wife for all he knew although they had shared faceal markers and both had fiery red hair although different shades. Dazai couldn’t explain it but he felt deep down that the relationship between those two had been famiglia and not romantic or sexual.
Chuuya was definitely foreign though as he had a distinct accent that was European in nature. Most likely he’d lived elsewhere for most of his life and not in his native country.
Although his speech had a very posh lit to it, so it was possible he’d even grown up learning multiple languages. In conclusion Chuuya was most likely some rich bratling, the kind that probably went to boarding schools and fancy dinner parties and those charities that the wealthy liked to show off while not giving a crap about what they were about.
Dazai hadn’t dug too deep in the web as that was Ango’s job but even a surface scan should have had some information articles popping up, either some scandal or an attendance of some big social event of the century or something but…
Nothing, zero zip zilch nada.
Dazai would admit that first impressions tend to leave a large impact that are hard to shake off. Still, if this is what Chuuya was like without his memories then Dazai wasn’t too sure how far he wanted to take this charade.
He was trying to be a better person nowadays, but situations like this made it oh so hard not to be the bad guy.
“The doctor said that I can take you home now, she’s hopeful that the environment and being around familiar people will jump start your memories.”
Dazai lied so easily, burying the uncertainty behind a wall of nonchalantly apathy.
A small crease furrowed between Chuuya’s eyebrows as the man contemplated his situation, as if he was debating with himself on what to do going forward, but nodded his agreement soon enough.
“Let’s go then. Who were those two men with you by the way?”
“Ah those are Ango and Odasaku, I’ll let them introduce themselves again to you. The kiddos are at school right now so we’ll have some privacy for a while so we can talk.”
Chuuya felt subdued as he got up and pulled on the discarded hospital bathroom over his hospital gown, either that or he was just tired after his outburst earlier.
Dazai decided to wait till they were back home before initiating part one of his grand three step plan.
After all, just because the guy was good looking and strangely docile right now didn’t mean that Dazai had given up in making the guy miserable for the foreseeable future.
He wouldn’t have been called the Demon Prodigy by both enemies and allies alike if he’d been the type to let grudges go easily.
Notes:
2/4/2023- Re-read, edited.
Chapter 9: Chapter 9
Notes:
So...hi.
Chapters 3-8 have been edited and some small parts have been reworded. Nothing to big as been changed, I will edit the first two chapters at a later date. I'm writing this as I go so updates will be very random and may have a long time between batches.
This chapter has only been re-read once and editing has been minimum.
PLEASE LEAVE KUDOS AND COMMENT.
Chapter Text
Chuuya couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable in the backseat of the SUV that the man named Oda drove. After leaving the hospital room Dazai had wasted no time in getting everyone in the car to drive home. Chuuya had wanted to talk to the doctor but Dazai had make a truly ugly scene by whining that they’d already gotten all the information from Dr. Yosano and he didn’t want to hear it again.
Before he lost his temper one of the men that had come with Dazai introduced himself as Ango Sakaguchi and informed Chuuya that he had a print out of all the information that the doctor had spoken about and he could read it at his leisure once they got home, it even had the doctor’s phone number on it so he could call if he had any questions. Chuuya decided that this man was going to become his new best friend.
The other man introduced himself afterwards as Sakunosuke Oda and after that they were on their way to the Dazai’s household.
That wasn’t what made him uncomfortable, the fact was unlike who he’d expected to sit beside him it was Ango and not Osamu who had taken shotgun in the front passenger seat so he could chat mindlessly away with the Sakunosuke who was driving them.
Who was whose husband again?
The two family friends were planning on dropping the couple at their home before going about their day and picking up the children for them after school so they could have more time alone together to adjust.
Chuuya turned his attention to the fidgeting man next to him, Ango was sweating slightly and he was gazing out of the window as if his life depended on it.
Yea, Chuuya could smell the bullshit and he wanted answers.
“So, what do I usually call you? Ango? or are we close enough that Sakaguchi is alright? How long have we known each other?”
“Uh, well. Ango is fine for now, we met quite a few years ago, through Dazai.”
“Really? Are you childhood friends or something.”
“No, we meet through work-”
A loud coughing came from the front end of the car and Ango paled, as if he realized he’d said something he shouldn’t have.
Interesting- Chuuya decided to press, he’d already pegged Ango as being the weakest link of the three men.
“Really? Well that’s pretty cool I guess. So you all work together then? What’s your occupation?”
Ango was looking almost frantically to the front of the car, but he got no help. Chuuya didn’t even bother to turn his gaze, instead he kept his eyes squared on Ango, letting the man sweat with his laser focused gaze.
Chuuya wouldn’t deny that he was getting a bit of sadistic pleasure at how uncomfortable the man was.
Was that a bad or good thing? Maybe it was a normal part of their relationship?
“W-we don’t work together, ah. At least not anymore.”
Before Chuuya could continue to press the man, Sakunosuke spoke up from the driver’s seat, making Ango go limp with relief as all attention turned away from him.
Chuuya clicked his tongue in annoyance but allowed his attention to be directed elsewhere.
Information was information after all.
“Years ago we all worked for an international company, although we were all in different departments. I met Dazai through a mutual meeting and Ango got stumbled upon when he passed out in a hallway due to lack of eating from working over 90 hours straight.”
Ango sputtered in indignation at the accusation.
“I had three weeks of paperwork to do in less than 4 days due to someone else’s screwing up in not filling the correct paperwork and then having the audacity to leave without picking up their phone!”
The glare he threw in Dazai’s direction told Chuuya all he needed to know on who the person was that screwed up.
“And you all just became friends?”
“Chibi, there was a complete lack of worthwhile talent at that company. It’s one of the reasons we all got out.”
“Bad HR?”
Ango snorted, trying to smother down a hysterical laugh.
“HR, cute. You can say that. After we left we all decided to move together to a quiet town to retire in.”
Chuuya stared in disbelief.
“Retire...you all can’t be older than your mid-twenties at best.”
“Good guess, Odasaku is the eldest at age 28. He’s an old man now, edging towards that mythical 30.”
“So then…what department did I work at then?”
The three men froze and a quick nonverbal five second conversation seemed to happen before Dazai spoke. If Chuuya had blinked he would have missed it.
“Ah chibi didn’t work for the company, he was too busy being my househusband.”
“House- what now? I may not know my past but I don’t feel like I’d be the kind of person not to have some kind of job.”
Dazai had to keep himself from laughing out loud, it was hard though. This man who no doubt was a trust fund baby who probably had never worked a day in his life was convinced that he was a blue collar regular joe.
The irony of the situation wasn’t lost on him.
“You were studying, chibikko.”
Chuuya made a face at the nickname, he’d have to have a private conversation with his husband later about giving him embarrassing nicknames.
He didn’t mind the sweet stuff, at least not much. But he felt like Dazai meant it as an insult whenever he committed on his height.
“Studying? Was I in college?”
“No, you were a high school drop out and were finishing your GED.”
Oda swore softly under his breath and closed his eyes briefly.
So Dazai had started his game then.
“What? Why the hell would I drop out of school?!”
“Tragic times chibi, you wanted to provide for us after our parents kicked us out for our forbidden love. So you got several jobs and worked to get me through school. Afterwards I found that company job and you decided to take a break to finish your schooling. That’s when we decided we’d start a family.”
Chuuya leaned back in his seat, his mind turning up and down with the new information.
While the thought of not finishing school in a normal manner felt off he couldn’t deny that something about that information felt true. He could feel it deep down that it was the truth that he didn’t go to school. It was almost like a memory but hazy and broken up but he felt like he studied and completed forms in a home like area.
He knew that he would have done that as well, that if he loved this man to be with him for seven years, married and had children with…Chuuya may not know his own history but he liked to think he knew his own heart regardless.
He would do a whole lot for love. Taking a few years off and helping support his lover seemed like small fry in the long term.
He did feel happy that he finished his schooling though, the very thought of not even having a high school diploma seemed deplorable to him. How could he be a good example to his children if he didn’t even have the basics of school learning?
Still a house husband…well if they had three small children it made sense that one of them would be staying home the majority of the time. Maybe once things settle down and everyone got use to their new arrangements Chuuya could get a part-time job? It just felt weird that Dazai would be the bread winner, it felt…really weird because now Chuuya heard the flaw for what it was, because if Dazai was retired then who the fuck was making the money now?
“So then if you are all retired does that mean you don’t work now? Do we have a large savings then?”
All three men froze up again, it was a miracle they haven’t yet crashed.
So no one but Dazai could hear him, Oda spoke under his breath.
“We are really bad at this, this is what happens when you make things up as they go and don’t plan shit.”
Surprisingly it was Ango who spoke up.
“I’m sure you're more interested in Dazai so I’ll skip over the brief of myself and Oda other than to say we both have casual but fulfilling jobs in town. Like Dazai told you earlier you worked a lot to provide for the family and because of that you have a house and such, but that doesn’t really cover three children and day to day living. We did retire from our company but since we are still young we couldn’t cash out our pensions or anything like that. Dazai is…in between jobs I think right now, I know last time we talked he had a few part-time jobs around town but the hours are crazy which is why you made the decision to be a stay-at-home-mom and take care of the family’s daily needs while Dazai works. I don’t want to stress you or anything as I can only imagine that this is all overwhelming but you don’t have to worry too much about money issues as both myself and Oda are here to help any way we can as well.”
The silence in the car was deafening after that, Dazai was staring at his friend in awe and Oda had a small smile perk his lips as he kept his attention on the road.
Chuuya hadn’t turned his attention away since Ango had started to talk. He could feel his lower lip wobble and he had to blink hard to dismiss the moisture that clang to his eyelashes.
“Okay…I think I got an idea of the money situation, thank you Ango.”
Chuuya smiled brightly at the man, Ango blushed a little and stuttered a quick welcome before turning his attention to the front of the car.
Chuuya was confused by the way his face paled rabidly but when Chuuya followed his gaze he didn’t see anything wrong, Osamu was messing with the radio and keeping quiet.
Actually maybe that was what felt off? Since he’d woken up earlier his husband had been talking non-stop even if the conversation hadn’t been directed at him.
“When will you be dropping off the kids? I want to make sure dinner is done around the time they come home. Osamu, do the children know about any of this yet?”
“Ah, nope. They are still under the impression that you are still overseas. Odasaku will be gentle in explaining things when he picks them up so they aren't overwhelmed when they see you.”
“Overseas? Why the fuck would I be-?”
“Let’s wait until we get home chibikko before we have this discussion.”
Chuuya grumbled while crossing his arms but relented, he would rather be in a safe spot before Osamu told him what had happened to make him like this.
At first when they reached the house he thought he’d gone into some delayed shock, but watching Osamu wave his friends off grandly while making his way towards the front door, leaving Chuuya standing in place to stare with dead eyes at the house in front of him.
He realized that no, what he was seeing was actually real and not him having some kind of stroke.
“What the fuck is this!”
Chuuya shrieked as the car spun off like it was under attack, leaving Osamu as the sole recipient of his fury.
“What does the chibi mean? Have you gone blind on the way over? This is our home. Although now that I think about it chibikko hadn’t actually seen it in person since the purchase as he’d been gone. Hmm, well either way, welcome home, shorty.”
Chuuya sputtered in rage-induced shock as his husband left him outside by himself in the middle of the junkyard that made up their front lawn.
“He’s a pig, oh god I married an overgrown man child…and had actual children with him.”
Chuuya sent a prayer and a curse to his past self before squaring his shoulders and walking inside and felt faint as soon as the front room came into view.
“It’s worse, dear gods above, how is it worse?”
“What was that chibikko?”
Chuuya turned his attention to Osamu who was walking back into the room from another room, he had a glass of water and a white paper bag in hand.
“Here’s your medicine, the good doctor said to take the pain killers once every six hours for the first few days.”
“Why do I need painkillers?”
Osamu gave him such a dull look that Chuuya couldn’t help but flush in embarrassment even though he felt it was a valid question.
“Chuuya’s head must be made of concrete if he can’t feel the large wound on the back of it.”
Chuuya bit back an insult and felt the back of his head where he did indeed of a small shaved area and a bandage. Figures the first time his husband said his name was in some kind of insult.
Just what kind of relationship did he have with his husband?
“Fuck, they messed with my hair, this will be a bitch to fix. So I’m guessing it’s been six hours since I had painkillers? Didn’t I just leave the hospital?”
“They took you off the morphine a few hours before discharge, shortstack. So you should in theory be feeling the pain soon enough. I just figured you wouldn’t want to feel any pain while we talk.”
“Makes sense I guess, thanks.”
Chuuya took the offerings and sat on the sagging couch, his skin crawling with the firthness of the room and furniture.
“Now, why don't you tell me what happened to me? Please?”
“Well since chibikko said please how can I resist?”
Osamu sighed dramatically before perching on a nearby stool that was missing one of its legs, somehow he did this without falling on his ass.
“I’m sure you could with ease.”
Chuuya snapped back and drained the water before placing it as gently as he could on the junk covered coffee table.
“Aww, the chibi knows me so well, even without his memories.”
“Stop stalling, you ass and tell me.”
“Now let’s not start the pet names just yet Chuuya, this has to be a serious conversation.”
“How is calling you an ass some kind of pet name!?”
Osamu ignored Chuuya’s vexed screeching and began to talk over him.
“So to start off we’ve only had this house for the past year, the children and I have been settling in while you were finishing getting your school degree.”
“Why couldn’t I just do that here?”
“Ah well you really wanted to graduate from the school where we first met and before you ask I don’t have your papers, you had them with you and didn’t send them ahead of time, the price of shipping was deemed too high.”
“Okay…so what exactly happened to me? I think I heard one of the nurses saying that they found me in the sea?”
“Well I can’t say exactly what happened since I wasn’t there but I figured that you must have purchased a boat and was planning on coming into port that way instead of coming through the mountains.”
“So I can sail?”
“You are…proficient in sailing, I believe you learned this past year while we have been separated as a hobby since this area is mostly a port-town. The boat must have been a surprise for the family. They haven’t found it yet and are unsure how you found yourself in the water with a gash on your head.”
“It could have happened if I fell overboard and hit the boat on the way down, either that or when I fell in the sea a rock knocked me out.”
“Hmm that would be the obvious answer wouldn’t it?”
“Why? You think there could have been another reason?”
“Maybe…~ But let’s not dwell on bad events and focus on the present.”
“Right, uh…so Osamu-”
“Ah right, that reminds me, no one really calls by my given name.”
Chuuya hesitated and tried to reason that out in his head.
“But if we’re married don’t I also have the surname Dazai?”
“Yes and that’s why I call you Chuuya. Try and keep up, chibikko.”
“Okay that’s enough of that nickname if you don’t mind! I’m not even that short, 160cm is perfectly normal.”
“For a prepubescent teen or a small woman, sure it is.”
The painkillers were doing a good enough job at helping with the pain from the head wound, however it was doing nothing to help the throbbing at his temples from dealing with this man.
“What the hell… you know what, no. I’m not going to play your game right now. Can you show me our pictures? I want to see if looking at past events and people will help my memories come back. I feel like I’ll need them, if only to deal with your utter dick energy.”
Osamu- No, he wanted to be addressed by their surname. Dazai didn’t seem offended by the way Chuuya’s tone had taken an annoyed bite, if anything he looked happy.
“Oh right you wouldn’t know.”
“Know what? Of course I wouldn’t know things, that’s the whole point for me asking for the photo albums, Dazai.”
“Well I’m sure you’ve noticed that the house has a few issues-”
“Only a few!? This place looks like it needs to be salted and burned to protect our mortal souls.”
“Aww, you think I have a soul, that’s sweet of you. But what I’m trying to say is that when we moved in most of the photo albums were placed in the basement.”
“Okay? What’s the problem?”
“Well the basement flooded a week into us moving in, most of the boxes were unsalvageable. Everything that you had sent ahead of time, clothing, pictures, and other memorabilia had to be trashed as we didn’t notice in time before it became a toxic wasteland. All the pictures we have are from this past year only.”
Chuuya was gutted, deep down he’d been holding out on the hope that once he was home, surrounded by his family and with items packed with history to sort through his memories would come flooding back in and everything would make sense.
That hope had been broken into pieces.
“I…I think I need to lay down for a while. Can you wake me up a few hours before the kids come home so I can start dinner?”
Chuuya couldn’t read the expression on Dazai’s face and at the moment he didn’t care to figure it out as his own feelings of disappointment made him want to cry.
“I’ll text Ango and have him bring take-out so you don’t have to worry about that. The kitchen…ah needs a little cleaning and you’ll need to do some grocery shopping before we can cook there. I’ll get you a blanket and a spare pillow from the hall closet so you can take a nap.”
Chuuya had been in the middle of standing as Dazai spoke and paused at the odd choice of words.
“Why do I need a spare pillow?”
“Well since I didn’t know you’ll be coming so soon I haven’t prepared our bedroom up to your standards, not to mention my bed is two small for the both of us. This is technically your couch anyway as you're the one who picked it out and I can fondly recall you saying you love falling asleep on it.”
“I picked out this monstrosity!?”
As Chuuya sat there filled with despair he had a strong suspicion that this would only be the beginning of his current woes.
Chapter 10: Chapter 10
Notes:
I'm posting this chapter as I write them so updates will be sporadic at best. Minorly edited.
Please remember to review or at least leave a kudos, positiveity-starved writer here.
Thank you for reading, I hope you all enjoy the story, it will become more fast paced as I go further in, Ive already thrown out two whole arcs as I decided not to make this a long epic but a relatively mid-long story instead.Stay Safe and have a good year.
Chapter Text
Dazai made sure to wait an extra 15 minutes once Chuuya had fallen asleep before he went about clarifying and working on his spontaneous scheme. Pacing outside he made about half-dozen calls, some of them were dedicated to creating a timeline and relationship that didn’t exist in real life, as well as constructing his new ‘husband’ a basic identity that would hopefully hold up to surface inspection.
Ango’s job helped with that tremendously, due to him being still employed with the government, although loosely and more legally nowadays.
Dazai was quick to lay out the paper trail of his and Chuuya’s fictional life, only going back a short few years and keeping it as vague as possible, to make it better he splattered some half-truths amid all the lies. That way he could adapt and change the ‘factions’ on the fly.
He was spinning as much information as he could in case of outside interference. He knew long term it wouldn’t hold up, he didn’t want it to after all. A lifetime with that chibikko was not something he was planning after all.
So far he’d gotten Chuuya an adult education high school diploma, as well as several fake w-2s of boring and generic retail jobs where the turn-out was so high that Chuuya would never be able to track anyone down that had worked with him even if he actually had done so in the past.
He would need to photoshop some pictures of the two of them as well, which was Odasaku’s job considering he was the local art teacher in the town’s only high school. That would have to wait though until they actually got some photos of the chibi to use and alter, but they should be able to unveil a photo album by the end of the week. It could be Odasaku’s surprise for them, something he ‘found’ in his storage unit from their ‘golden years’ together as a couple.
Truthfully Dazai couldn’t remember the last time he’d had so much fun crafting up a mission. Maybe because this time it was something personal, or there was just something about Chuuya that made him react more then all those other dull missions he’d been given back on his old jobs.
Either way this whole charade would be a fun change up, normalcy was overrated after all.
His friends did pressured him on the phone not to go take things too far, that Chuuya was a human being and messing with him until his breaking point could have adverse effects on his family after everything came out to light, in the case of Chuuya getting his memories back or someone from his actual life finding out what was happening. Either could happen and the Dazai family could suffer the consequences of his actions.
Dazai dismissed their concerns while at the same time reassuring them that he wouldn’t go too far, that he was just going to mess with him for a few weeks before letting the man loose from his life with the Dazai family.
It would be funny if his friends believed that, but they wouldn’t have known him if they did, Dazai almost always spoke in half-truths after all. At least they believed him when he reassured them that he wasn’t going to force Chuuya into anything physical and that the man would be sleeping on the couch for the foreseeable future.
Dazai almost felt offended when Ango suggested that he would pull that kind of card.
Almost.
After all, it had been Chuuya’s cute butt that had started this whole ball rolling.
Earlier his friends had also pulled his kids out of school early in order to explain the situation to them. Dazai made sure to also be on the phone to help out in case of any confusion.
Mostly by reassuring them that they were going to get a new ‘fake’ mom who would do the chores and cater to their needs, all they had to do was call Chuuya mom and pretend they knew about him beforehand, easy as pie.
To say the kids were confused but excited would be an understatement. They were also given the green light to mess with their new mom as long as they don’t endanger themselves.
Noticing how late it had gotten he decided to be gracious and woke the chibi up before it got too late as the kiddos would be home soon and as much as he would love to see his kids dogpile on the sleeping beauty he would wait until the following days for that spectacle.
“Oi wake up chibbikko! Our darlings will be coming home soon and Odasaku made sure to order out your favorite foods as a comfort.”
Not that anyone knew what the redhead liked to eat, they mostly had to do a guessing game and ordered a bunch of different items they all liked themselves. Dazai admitted that he had planned to gaslit Chuuya into thinking that crab was his favorite, not only would that be hilarious but in the chance that Chuuya decides to embrace his house husband duties if he believed he liked crab maybe he’d make sure to cook up more crab dishes for the family.
If there was one thing Dazai could say that he loved to eat it would be canned crab, but a fresh meal made up of it would be a close second.
As Dazai stood behind the couch and crooned disgusting endearments he tried to ignore the way his heart felt like it skipped a beat as Chuuya slowly sat up and yawned, his face scrunching up cutely while his hair was a tangled disaster, he also had sleep wrinkles all over his face from the pillow.
It was then and there Dazai decided he would make Chuuya’s stay in this house a literal hell, in retaliation for the imaginary slight that such a vision had given him.
Because how dare that short man make his chest hurt.
Chuuya figured he’d slept a few hours but somehow even with that long nap he still felt more tired than when he went down earlier.
It didn’t help that Dazai seemed to be in a manic mood, far worse than earlier.
“Did you drink some caffeine while I was asleep?”
Chuuya couldn’t help but ask as he watched in amusement as Dazai bounced from one place to another, not picking the place up but just moving the general mess around from one pile to another.
“Silly chibi, I don’t drink caffeine, I use an i.v. drip in the mornings. I find it works better and for longer that way.”
Chuuya choked back a laugh, uncertain if the man was joking or not. From what he had observed of his husband it could be either way.
“Do you have something I can change into? I think I need to shower before I’m presentable enough to the kids and your friends for dinner.”
Chuuya grimaced as he picked at the thin fabric of the hospital gown that he was still wearing. Luckily they had given him a pair of underwear and it was a full gown versus the thin paper sheets he thought patients usually had to wear when they were staying in a hospital. Maybe because he hadn’t been there long they gave him the better version?
“Chibi did you forget what I said earlier? Your stuff was in the basement and has been totally destroyed. Maybe the chibi’s brain was infected with more than memory loss?”
“Oi, shut it you lanky bastard. I meant something of yours I could borrow until I go shopping for my own shit.”
Chuuya froze as the words came out of his mouth, while he was annoyed he didn’t think it was right to be insulting to one’s husband like that. It was odd that the swears felt more natural under his tongue than a polite response to his husband’s words and voice.
Chuuya had noticed that Dazai was purposefully trying to antagonize him; that said he didn't want to cause any arguments as he didn’t know they’re normal routine in response to harsh words spoken between them.
Looking over to his husband, Chuuya felt the tight band of anxiety around his chest give away to the small but genuine smile on his lips, while Dazai’s eyes didn’t look as blank like they normally were. Apparently he found Chuuya’s response amusing or maybe even endearing.
Unfortunately Chuuya only had a moment or two to admire the changes before the blank apathy was back. Chuuya was beginning to think it was his husband's standard mood.
“I see that the nap didn’t calm Chibi's temperament, shame that. If you’d like to head to the bath I’ll set out a pair of clean clothing outside, there should be a clean towel in there somewhere.”
Chuuya left without saying anything else, although he did bump into his husband’s side on purpose. He ignored the man’s exaggerated noise of pain and bent over body, the lanky bastard was just messing with him at this point.
Dazai had tried to get him to go into the broken bathroom downstairs but he’d taken one look before kicking him in the shins as he turned around to leave, Dazai once again went down.
Ignoring his husband’s loud and grand whines of abuse and having to bite back the retort that automatically wanted to come out he decided to hurry out of the room. He’d have to tread carefully until he could safely figure out their dynamics, although if this was the standard way his husband treated him Chuuya knew that he wouldn’t be able to hold back his own words and temper for long.
One of the things he noticed since he had left the hospital was that sometimes his husband would say one thing but seemed to think something entirely different. Like the insulting tone, Chuuya didn’t have a hard time believing that his ass of a lover was a dick and even though they were married it seemed that it didn’t stop Chuuya from being a target, in fact from what he had experienced so far he said it made him more of a target for Dazai’s cutting words.
However…he also took notice of Dazai’s actions and the things he didn’t say out loud.
Chuuya can safely say that he was observant, though he didn't know if he was usually like this or if it was just because he didn’t have anything else rattling inside his head that he paid more attention to the world around him.
Wandering up the stairs he opened the door that led him to the master’s suite that housed the only working bathroom in the house.
Walking into his children’s shared bedroom he took a moment to look around.
A gentle and soft feeling settled in his chest as he gazed at the small beds and accessories that littered the surfaces and floor. You could see the clear divide in where his daughter slept and the boys area. On one side was messy and chaotic, although he figured that there was some order to it, he couldn’t see Dazai disciplining them for the mess. The children must not have had much structure living with the overgrown child they called father.
Luckily their mom-...papa was home and would help them grow and adapt better. A clean house is a happy house after all. It would help their mental states too, maybe even his slip of a husband would lose the dead look in his eyes.
You’d think he would have shown more happiness in being reunited with him but maybe he was internalizing the pain after technically ‘losing’ his husband, after all without his memories was Chuuya still the same Chuuya that Dazai married and had children with?
The bathroom was suited next to the room, which gave him a view of the large sink area covered in miscellaneous items, the toilet even had its own small room at the far end which he appreciated.
He didn’t linger in the shower despite how much he wanted to just relax under the hot water, he didn’t need his memories to know that he would need proper salon hair products to take care of the mess on his head.
There was slim pickings to choose from currently lining the shower cubby, mostly in the form of a lot of 3-1 bottles in different shades of color.
He literally recoiled in distress when he saw them alongside a used bar of soap but as he didn’t have much to choose from he picked up the cherry blossom one that he figured was his daughters and applied it generously to his hair before washing up his body.
Drying off he peeked out of the bathroom and low and behold there was a pile of clothing waiting for him on the floor of the kid’s room, right outside the bathing area. None of them had been folded and it looked like Dazai had literally pulled the wrinkled clothing from one pile and thrown it on the ground to grow another.
“So to sum it up I have ‘four’ children to teach proper manners too.”
The clothing looked…well Chuuya wasn’t going to beat around the bush. They were ugly as fuck.
There was a baggy pair of sweatpants that he had to roll up half a dozen times so they wouldn’t drag over his feet. He had to pull extra hard on the strings to make sure they didn’t fall off his ass as well, he and Dazai might have had different body types but there was no way that these huge pants were his lanky’s husband, more than likely they were Oda’s, which begged the question. Why the hell did that man have his clothes in his house but Chuuya didn’t have anything of his? There was no way that all of his stuff had been in the flooded basement.
As he sorted through the rest of the clothing he held back the urge to yell in frustration.
He had held out hope but it had been in vain as his so-called husband hadn’t included any kind of undergarments.
Not to mention that the t-shirt was huge on him and looked worn down and was so thin in fabric that he was worried it would tear once he moved around in it.
He didn’t bother looking at himself in the mirror, it would only make him cry.
Or actively try to kill his husband.
Seriously, what kind of impression did that idiot think he wanted his kids to have of him?
Leaving the bathroom he tried to ring out his damp hair with the ratty towel as much as possible. He hadn’t spotted anything like a hairdryer in any of the bathroom drawers and he wasn’t going to steal one of his daughter’s many hair ties without permission.
He had class after all, unlike a certain idiot.
Or at least he felt like he did, underneath the uncertainty several feelings became more dominant on and off throughout the day. He’d mostly ignored them as he didn’t find them productive to his situation.
He’d kill for a drink right about now though.
Downstairs he could hear Dazai being loud and singing off-key. Chuuya didn’t notice that his lips quirked into a smile at the noise.
his poor husband had such a terrible singing voice that it had to be on purpose.
Deciding to explore the rest of the rooms he bypassed the stairway and opened a closed door.
Inside was fairly boring, two standard twin beds were pressed against the far wall. The only other furniture in the room was a small desk between them with one lamp and a worn dresser pressed against the wall next to the door. What caught his attention was the nice window nook and the large window that overlooked the front yard. He hadn’t noticed it coming in but there was a rather large tree stationed next to the house and it was situated really close to the window. Hell if he wanted he could jump out the window into the branches without too much trouble.
Not that he would do that, but it was probably something to bring up to Dazai at a later date, they had three small children after all. It wouldn’t be right for them to realize the same thing and decide to do some crazy stunts in the name of childhood bravery.
Chuuya would call it stupidity but as they were small children he knew that children that young had the weird idea that they couldn’t die or get hurt.
Actually Chuuya wondered if Dazai had the same idea spinning in his head, the bandages that covered his husband were suspicious after all.
Was someone abusing his husband?
As the thought crossed his mind he failed to notice that his hands had tightened into fists and a light red haze had entered his vision. The idea that someone is hurting his family…oh. This was a very familiar feeling.
Which worried him, it worried him a lot.
Deciding to shelve the thought for another day he went to explore the other three doors. One led to what he believed to be the attic space, and one was a hallway closet filled with more junk, towels and winter blankets.
Through the last door Chuuya didn’t bother to wait before walking straight in, after all this room was clearly Dazai’s bedroom.
Or to be more precise it was their bedroom.
A very small bed was squashed against one of the walls with a junk covered bedside cabinet next to it, that was all of the furniture in the room. But it wasn’t empty like that spare room, not by a longshot.
The room was disgusting, wrinkled clothing littered the floor alongside opened and empty cans of what smelled like fish food, as well as many miscellaneous items which covered the ground so much that Chuuya couldn’t tell what kind of flooring the room had originally. It looked like Dazai literally was using his room to just throw anything and everything in so he wouldn’t have to place them in their proper places outside his bedroom.
“Oh fuck this. That asshole is cleaning this room before I even think of sleeping in here.”
Storming down the stairs he opened his mouth to start lecturing Dazai about the pigsty of a house he’d festered when the sound of a vehicle parking came from outside.
He froze with one foot still on the steps behind him and one in the air, the words that he’d been about to speak got caught in his throat. The same thought echoed again and again in his head, the children were home.
Luckily for him no one was around to actually see this and he recovered quickly enough.
He had no idea where Dazai had wandered off too, he didn’t see him in the living room and he couldn’t hear him in the kitchen.
Did that bastard run off and leave him to greet the children by himself?!
“Oh I’m going to absolutely murder him later.”
Chuuya mumbled under his breath before taking several deep inhales and long exhales to relax his tensed up body.
Ten seconds later he was walking to the door to open it up and greet his family for the first time in his memories, tentatively hopeful for the future.
Chapter 11: Chapter 11
Notes:
Not beta-ed or heavily edited. Enjoy, remember to review and leave kudos. thank you.
I truthfully have no idea where this story is going, I'm making up plot as I go. wheeee.
Chapter Text
Dazai didn’t actually mean to miss that first meeting between Chuuya and the kids, in fact he’d been looking forward to witnessing that chaotic mess.
Unfortunately reality hit him hard in the spare moments of Chuuya’s bathing of hospital germs. He’d just dropped off some clean-ish clothes for the chibi when his his phone started to ring insistently. He didn’t bothered to double check the number before answering since he figured it was Ango wanting more clarification of his instructions.
“Hello, Dazai.”
As his ears registered the voice Dazai’s throat went bone dry and his mind became terrifyingly blank for three seconds before he gathered himself and blocked off his emotions.
Unfortunately it was three seconds too long as a haunting chuckle echoed along the phone line. The voice had crystal clear amusement at surprising him. Not that he expected anything else from the psychopath in his ear.
“Ah, did I startle you? My apologies.”
Dazai cleared his throat and leaned against the wall behind him, letting it take his weight as his mind raced on the hows and whys. He was on the back porch so at least no one would be stumbling upon him without prior warning.
“Oh I think we’re past apologies, after all we’re just a couple of old friends chatting after years of no contact. I’m just surprised you’ve phoned me after all this time, in such a way.”
“Oh? Did you predict a bomb or something instead?”
Dazai made a noise as if he was thinking when in fact he was trying really hard not to shake, he hated when other people were three steps ahead of him, that was his job.
“Something like that, at least I expected some kind of hit-man.”
The man scoffed on the other end. Dazai tried to hear anything from the background noise but the other man was too good and Dazai too predictable at the moment, other then the voice which was crystal clear there was nothing else he could hear.
“Well that would be redundant, after all why hire subpar to take out the man who’d been best in that field?”
“Why have you contacted me, Dostoevsky?”
“Not going to ask how I found you? Or what i know of your little friends?”
“I don’t ask stupid questions.”
In between his words was what Dazai had not said out loud, clear that he was placing Dostoevsky in that category.
A long, fake sigh of regret echoed down the line.
“Oh Dazai, you have grown soft while out in civilian life. Children? Mercy me, I had a long laugh when that particular report came to my desk. You even took two of my best men with you when you decided to play the good man, such greedy child you are.”
“You're behind a desk now? Why, couldn’t work the field anymore without your trump card in your deck?”
“You know very well how good I am out there, boy. I left you alone not because I couldn’t find you, but because I chose not to engage. But this last stunt of yours is pushing my patience.”
Dazai was actually stumped for a moment, he couldn’t figure out what Dostoevsky meant by that statement as he hadn’t done anything different in the past year that should have tipped Dostoevsky off.
It only clicked when he heard the chibi moving around above him, the shower turning off.
“What do you know about it?”
Dazai’s voice lowered into a growl, the fake lightheartedness he’d been projecting evaporated. With this new information he knew that Dostoevsky wasn’t playing around, he was serious.
“More than you seem to, that's for sure. Don’t worry your pretty head about it, I'll fix your little blunder, free of charge. Well- almost.”
“Stay out of my business Dostoevsky or I will end you and all you hold close.”
“Now…shouldn’t that be my line?”
The line went dead not a second later and Dazai had to hold back a scream of frustration, he hated that man- no, that devil in human flesh. Dazai might not consider himself human but at the least he wasn’t evil incarnate like him.
“What the hell was that all about? Damn it, I need to figure out a way to destroy him right now. That makes the plan K and E obsolete as I don’t have another three years to kill him off slowly. Hmm…and I’d have to factor in the chibi.”
Dazai didn’t like being out of the loop, especially if it had to do with him and those he held dear. He also didn’t appreciate it when his years long plans were disrupted but that was something he was at least familiar with. He could work around it, he always did after all.
He’d need to talk to Ango and Osaku about this as well but not yet, he’d try to figure things out his way first before alerting them to any possible danger. He knew how Dostoevsky ticked after all, the man won’t engage anyone yet. Instead he’d wait until things settled down before attacking, the question though was who would he attack first?
Moving around the porch he got to witness his children all laying on the ground in a pile, screaming bloody murder. He would have been worried if he didn’t see Osaku laughing his ass off a few steps away, Ango wasn’t in sight so the man probably already went inside the house by now.
A loud groaning noise came from the bottom of the pile and it clicked in Dazai’s head just what his children had done while he’d been preoccupied by the phone call.
“Did my chibi-wife really get taken out by three little rugrats?”
“Shut up shitty husband and help me up! They aren't as small as you think!”
Laughing Dazai did no such thing.
Luckily for Chuuya’s spine the kids got bored quickly and got up themselves without assistance. They were all flushed red and had devilish smiles on their faces as they watched Chuuya slowly get up, groaning all the way.
Dazai let out a sigh of fondness, they learned from him so fast.
Chuuya had only gotten up to his knees but strangely didn’t stand up any further, instead he stayed there, kneeling on the ground while staring at the kids in front of him.
There was a general feeling of overwhelming panic about him.
“You all seem to recognize me…I’m sorry I don’t remember.”
Oh, that’s hitting a little too hard.
Chuuya’s voice cracked while speaking the apology. Dazai decided to jump into the conversation, not wanting things to get too sober right now, especially with that phone call still pressing on his mind.
“Hey bratlings, why don’t you properly introduce yourselves to your mother. He’s had a little hit on the head and has the fuzzies. I’m sure Odasaku told you all about it.”
Looking over at Oda Dazai tried not to roll his eyes at the half-hearted shrug his friend gave them.
Atsushi was of course the first to speak. Even with his anxiety issues, he insintively knew his siblings would need the extra push to speak out loud to a virtual stranger.
“Hi mommy, I’m Atsushi. I’m ten and I love chuzuki a whole lot, but not as much as I love Kyoka and Ryu and uncle O and uncle A. Oh and daddy too I guess.”
Dazai whispered the word brat under his breath but couldn’t help but smile at Atsushi’s snark. It had taken so long for that boy to let his personality shine bright enough to talk smack like that. Ryu helped him a lot by challenging him all the time and Atsushi learning that he wouldn’t get beaten for talking back to an adult, or just talking in general.
Kyoka was next, something that actually surprised him and Dazai turned his attention to Ryu who wasn’t looking at anyone anymore. Instead his gaze was on the ground and oh…he was trembling.
Shit.
“...Kyoka, I like rabbits, ‘Sushi and Ryu. Daddy’s oki.”
Kyoka mumbled as she yanked gently on Atsushi’s shirt for comfort. She was always empathtic to her siblings so she was probably picking up Ryu’s general meltdown even without looking at him.
Chuuya’s face was unreadable as he listened carefully to the children's soft words, looking at them with overwhelmed adoration. He turned his attention to the last one and he must have seen what Dazai was seeing because his body became rigid and his eyes focused sharply, all softness melting away.
It wasn’t Ryunosuke who spoke next but Chuuya himself.
“Hi babies, it’s lovely to meet you. Atsushi, Kyoka, why don’t you go to daddy and tell him about your day? We’ll talk a whole lot more at dinner and you can tell me all about your favorite things in the world while we eat what your uncles have brought home.”
All at once Dazai’s throat felt tight, the utterly soft tone of Chuuya’s voice contrasted against his tensed up body. His attention never wavered from Ryu’s small body as the trembling only got worse.
Still he waited patiently for the before spoken kids in question to wander over to Dazai who split his attention between them and the scene in front of him. As luck would have it Odasku showed how much he was paying attention because he too came forward on silent feet and directed Atsushi and Kokya into the house, gently and quietly telling them that he’d help them sneak a spoonful of ice cream before dinner without telling their daddy, ignoring the fact that said daddy was standing right there and heard everything.
He let it go as he knew getting those two away from the scene that would explode at any minute was the smart move. The only thing worse than a crying child would be three crying children.
All three of them were empathetic criers.
“Hey sweetie, can you look up for me? Just for a second, okay?”
Dazai turned his attention back to his son and Chuuya once everyone else was taken care of. Hovering back but ready to do damage control if Chuuya fucked this up he waited.
He didn’t know why he didn’t interfere, after all this was his son, not Chuuya’s. He tried not to acknowledge the yearning black hole in his chest as he watched to see what kind of relationship would grow between his oldest child and his pet project.
Ryu resisted Chuuya’s words and sniffed, snort dripping down unheeded. His small hands went up to roughly rub against his eyes, an obvious play at trying to stop the tears from coming down.
Chuuya scuttled forward until he was right in front of Ryu, only a few inches apart. His knees had to have been hurting by now but he showed none of the discomfort he must have been feeling. Instead he stayed low and reached forward, a hand gently touched Ryu’s head lightly before it began petting softly at the dark locks, while the other hand went to his chin to bring up his face so that they were face-to-face.
Dazai felt his heart break just a little bit more when he got a good look at Ryu’s face.
He hated that look that was being reflected in his eldest’s eyes. A dull, agonized expression. All three of his children had those eyes everyday when he’d first adopted them. Dazai couldn’t lie to himself about this as those eyes were one of the main factors in why he’d adopted those children out of all the dozens of children he’d researched.
They were the same eyes Dazai himself had sported most of his life.
It had taken months of comfort and gentle parenting to mostly wash away that look out of their eyes. Of course even a year later his children still experienced backslides. Trauma would do that to anyone, regardless of how long the trauma had been endured for.
Dazai’s friends had helped him heal as much as he could when he’d been a late teen, but he knew he was forever tainted and messed up and no manner of gentleness would wash it away. But his kids were still young, he hoped that he could give them enough to help heal their physical hurts and wounded souls so that they wouldn’t grow up to be like him.
All three of them manifested different outlets in their trauma and he was still learning the ins and outs of their personalities and traumas.
One thing Dazai had learned early on was that Ryunosuke’s main defense was masking as much as he could until he blew up, not asking for help and enduring silently as much as he could before it was too much. Then he exploded in truly frightening tantrums that further traumatized everyone involved.
Chuuya made a wounded noise and Dazai, who’d gotten lost in his sad memories was brought back to the present. Chuuya was gently rubbing Ryu’s cheek as the tears had finally spilled over and the skin was pinking in genuine upset.
“Oh sweet baby, hey hey. It’s okay, if you need to cry. Come here.”
Chuuya wrapped his arms around the boy and that was it. The breaking point. Ryu wailed and bawled in Chuuya’s arms as the man just held him tightly, not shushing him at all, instead he just whispered comforting words and praises and allowed him to scream out his upset.
Shit shit shit shit.
Chuuya was good at this. Like really good.
Well…Dazai might have to revise his plans, he had only been planning on making this a temporary thing, but looking at the scene in front of him he changed his mind. Again.
He was keeping Chuuya, he would woo this man and have him fall in love with him for real, make him love the children and his life here and even if he did regain his memory he would be too happy with it all to leave them.
He would be sure to still go through with his plans to make the chibi’s life a living hell though, he was still muffled after all. But the change of plans would be that after every prank or jest he would smooth the chibi with whatever he could until he was more fond of Dazai’s antics than hateful like he’d planned. Besides he was pretty sure that Chuuya liked it when he had something to rage about, Dazai would just make himself a loving target.
After a few minutes Ryu’s crying slowed down from waterfall to sniffles. Dazai tried not to grimace at the mess of his son’s face, blotchy with watery snot dripping all over. Chuuya must have had the same thought but had the grace to hold back the flinch of disgust as he pulled up his over-sized t-shirt and whipped as much of the mess as he could with the bottom layer.
Dazai’s brain stopped working as he once again got a glimpse of the pure beauty of the chibi’s abs and nips. Chuuya was whispering something and as much as Dazai strained his ears he couldn’t make out what it was. Chuuya must have realized that he’d done all he could do in cleaning Ryu’s face since he stood up and guided the unresistant boy towards the house.
“Oi, Dazai. Come here and help me get our son cleaned up. The others are probably waiting on us. Can you help Ryu change into something else and wash his face? Ah, also grab me a new shirt, this one is…un-salvageable.”
Dazai allowed the smirk to grow on his face.
“Are you sure? Baby snot is a good look on you.”
“Ha ha, very funny asshole. I mean it. I’ll go check on the others and stall for time. Will Kokya and Atsushi be worried? Should I say anything?”
And there was the uncertainty that Dazai had been expecting, after all Chuuya wasn’t a parent or at least he hadn’t been before this morning. It was normal to be out of his depth, still with what Dazai had just witnessed he knew that once Chuuya let go of his insecurities about parenting then he would become a force of nature.
Dazai really shouldn’t be finding that hot. He was only 24, he shouldn’t be into DILFs yet. Not that Chuuya was old but now Dazai wouldn’t get it out of his head of Chuuya as a father, properly now.
He waved away Chuuya’s concerns, not to help him mind you, but because he didn’t really feel up to playing everything up right now. Ryu was always fragile after his meltdowns and Dazai had learned not to push it for a while after one of them. The others tend to be overly sensitive as well during such times. Ango had been the one to beat him over the head about it over the months.
“No, the kiddos know about Ryu’s…ah ‘attacks’. They probably know something about what triggered it if you want to go talk to them, be gentle though, these three are as thick as thieves and will gut you if they feel threatened.”
“Noted, heh.”
“What’s so funny, chibikko?”
“One, don’t call me that. Two, it seems somehow fitting that our kids would be terrors.”
“Oh chibi-wife you have no idea how right you are.”
Dazai gently directed a silent Ryu into the house and up the stairs to change into something less gross. He pulled out the sink stool for him even though only Kokya needed it to reach the sink, it made it easier for Ryu to dunk his face into the cool water to wash away the flush on his skin.
While Ryu was doing that, and possibly drowning himself- Dazai was so proud - he went and pulled another one of his shirts from his bedroom floor. Giving it a sniff he found it a little more foul then the last one but shrugged and held onto it. If the chibi didn’t like his musk then he could just walk around without a shirt. Win-win in Dazai’s book.
Once he got changed into a comfortable pair of pajamas, Ryu squirmed close and clanged to his dad’s hand, Dazai crouched low and tried to look at his son’s face who was trying to keep it hidden.
“So lil buddy, want to talk about it?”
Ryu shook his head, paused and then nodded but kept quiet. Dazai waited but nothing came after that, looks like he’d be the one to start this.
“Were you feeling overwhelmed?”
“Mh.”
“Was it this whole Chuuya thing? Or did something else happen today?”
“...both. Timmy said mean things again, the teacher wouldn’t believe me. she said she’d call you this week to talk about me and that I’m a liar and liars are sinners and go to hell.”
“Right, hmm. We’ll go in tomorrow without telling anyone and have a nice long chat with Timmy, his dad and your teacher. I think there must be some misunderstanding going on and I promise to have it fixed up and you won’t have to deal with Timmy or that teacher ever again. Also you are not a liar, I’m a liar and I would know.”
“I won’t get in trouble?”
“No of course not, I’ll take care of everything. Once we’re done there, how about we skip class and go get ice cream tomorrow?”
“Yeah!”
And just like that all upset was washed away from Ryu’s consciousness. Thank god for the powers of ice cream and his son’s faith in his father in fixing his issues.
“And about your new mom, just take it easy and don’t feel like you need to talk or interact with him if you don’t want to. If he gets pushy just tell me or uncle Odasaku and we’ll make sure he leaves you be. Just follow Sushi’s lead on this if you're unsure.”
Getting him back downstairs wasn’t a problem thankfully. Dazai spotted Chuuya sitting on the couch, braced between the other two kids who were squeezed in tightly. He was being bombarded with chatter, mostly from Atsushi but Kokya was speaking a little as well. Maybe it was the gentle expression on Chuuya’s face that made it easy for them to talk. God knew that none of the other adults had what you would call a ‘talk to me I’m harmless’ face.
Oda and Ango were setting the rickety table up with the takeout, they both looked up as he gestured that he needed to speak to them alone.
“Hey, how about you both go wash up? You can help mom wash his hands too. Ryu, why don’t you go sit on the couch for a moment and pull out your homework and sort it on the coffee table while I help your uncles finish plating the food. We can work on that after dinner.”
Chuuya looked up and without commentary he followed the children upstairs, but not before giving Dazai a narrow look of suspicion. Looks like the chibi had some pretty good instincts as he’d realized that Dazai wanted him out of the room while he spoke with the only other two adults in the house.
Dazai wasn’t sure if he wanted Chuuya to know about the little school problem they seemed to be having, at least not without having talked to the others first.
While Ryu was occupied Dazai pulled his friends into the kitchen so they wouldn’t be overheard by Ryu.
“What’s up? Did Ryu say something upsetting?”
“Kind of, it wasn’t just that he was overwhelmed by Chuuya, I expected that. Apparently whatever you did about the Timmy situation didn’t resolve it. That little shit said a few more things and apparently Ryu’s teacher is in on it, probably getting paid off by Timbo’s father or fucking him. Either way I’m going in the morning to get a bigger picture of what’s happening and deal with it my own way.”
Oda was frowning, a furrow of unhappiness wrinkled his forehead as he thought over the issue.
“I had talked briefly with that teacher yesterday when I picked them up, while she’d been upset about the fight, she hadn’t given off the impression of unfairness…the other kid’s parents hadn’t arrived yet so I don’t know what happened between the two. I was assured that the matter would be brought up to them about Tim’s words. Although if he was just parroting what his dad said then I can’t see that changing their views on what is acceptable and what isn’t. I didn’t see them at all when I picked them up today.”
“Right that’s what I was thinking, I don’t think I ever met this teacher of theirs, or if I did it must have been only briefly as I have no impression of them. Ango, you did clear them right?”
“Well, since me and Ango are the ones who normally pick up the kids I’m not surprised you haven’t met them. I haven’t even talked to them much myself.”
“Hmmm, Yes I background checked them but since nothing was flagged I didn’t dig any deeper into their life. But now that you mention it I have noticed how distant they are to me compared to the other adults when picking up and dropping off the kids. She was perfectly friendly when I came to drop them off on the first day of school and even stayed around to talk to me. After that I believe that you picked up the kids for a week after that before I became available again. She seemed to avoid me even after I tried to ask her about Ryu’s progress last month too.”
Dazai’s nose wrinkled as it became more clear what he was dealing with. It was partially his fault, he had allowed the others to vet the teacher and school instead of doing it himself. He also hadn’t noticed anything about the kids but considering their past traumas it may be that they thought some social behavior was normal when it was actually unacceptable.
“Oda? Did you at least leave a threatening message with Timbo’s family?”
“Not exactly, Ango was helping me take a look at his dad’s business, behind the books of course. The man owns that used car lot on the other side of town. I was going to deal with it over the weekend but with this whole scheme of yours I’ve been kind of sidetracked.”
“Ew, you mean the one with the large ass statue that shaped suspiciously like a dick?”
“Apparently that’s some high priced piece of art from some fancy artist in the north. But yea that’s the one, I was going to check if there was any shading dealings or cooked books and blackmail in case the man wanted to start things between our families.”
“Isn’t blackmail kind of tame?”
“Dazai…we’re civilians now. Blackmail is kind of big for them.”
Ango sighed and finished plating the food, while the other two squabbled over semantics of civilian life versus their ‘normal’.
“I don’t think it will be much of a problem once we properly deal with it. The school has a non-discriminatory rule and if that teacher is actively breaking it and allowing Tim and his family to spread such disgusting words it won’t be long before certain actions take place. We’ll want to make sure that the kids won’t be in that type of environment, they had enough traumatizing assholes in their life.”
Dazai agreed but couldn’t help but giggle tiredly as he leaned against Oda who was helping Ango pick up the last few plates to set out.
“Some would say that we’re the traumatizing assholes in their lives.”
A loud snort echoed from behind them, and turning around showed Chuuya leaning against the door paneling. All three men were flabbergasted as none of them had realized they’d been eavesdropped on.
“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me at all.”
Dazai hid his surprise under an amused expression and nudged the others with pointy elbows to stop their gaping. His dear chibi husband was quiet when he wanted to be, good to know.
“We’ll talk later tonight about this school issue, don’t think you can squirm out of it.”
Chuuya warned Dazai with a glare, both of them ignoring the amused chuckles from the other two men who’d gone back to a more relaxed status.
“Right now though we should eat and talk about lighter topics. The kids are tired enough and don’t need to hear any more about issues that would upset them.”
Dazai smiled charmingly and walked forward to rub his hand through the red locks, messing them up while enjoying the silky texture. It looked like even the Dazai family's cheap hygiene products hadn’t done any damage to the silky hair.
“Oi! Hands off!”
Chuuya swatted Dazai’s wandering hands, chuckling Dazai raised his hands up in a surrender gesture and they all filed out of the kitchen.
The kids were already seated at the table and chattering amongst themselves. They quieted down when the adults got nearer, which made Dazai’s eyebrows raise in amused confusion, but watching their eyes wander to their new mom as he sat down and fussed over Ryu’s mismatched buttons on his sleep shirt cleared the confusion up.
Looks like the littlest chibis in the family were plotting about their situation around their new mom. If Dazai was a more expressive man he would coo at the cute display of cunning and planning.
His babies were growing up too fast, maybe they would overtake the town within a year or two with how fast they caught onto Dazai’s habits. Too cute, much too cute.
Dazai enjoyed that dinner more than he had imagined he would, eating and talking and laughing more freely then he had thought possible. The side-eyed that his friends gave him throughout the meal told him as much while he ruffled Chuuya’s temper up again and again only for the children to ask an innocent question or remark and defuse the redhead’s temper like a pin to a balloon.
After dinner everyone crowded around the area to help the kids with their homework, luckily none of them had much and between the three adults plus one chibi they had everything done in record time. Now if any of the kids actually learned anything that was a whole other matter, something that Chuuya had fun angrily ranting to his laughing husband about.
Chapter 12: Chapter 12
Notes:
Sorry about the shortness of the chapter but I'm working on like three other projects(that may not go anywhere but I need them out of my head) Remember, not-betaed or such. so errors are rampant.
Also does anyone like the idea of a Bungou Stray Dogs fusion with Squid Game with weird SCP inspired monsters? It's not a total angst fest since I don't think I'm going to kill off any main-main characters? If you want to know more or have any questions about either story(this one or the bsd/sg or are curious about any of the other half dozen stories I have docs on feel free to ask.
Also I am making this a mostly feel-good story with some plot of course, but other then some minor scuffles Chuuya and Dazai will bond a lot faster then originally planned, the kids did it. I will have conflict outside the household happen though, can't forget the murder assholes.
Chapter Text
Chuuya waved off their friends as Dazai left to get the children ready for bed. Chuuya would have liked to be the one to do so but he didn’t know their nightly routine yet.
He wanted too though, he wanted to go upstairs and observe their nightly dance and all the little things they did to wind themselves down. But he knew that the first night of him being here was going to be strenuous and overwhelming for all three of the kids, so the familiarity of their normal nightly routine was best.
They were both older and younger then he could have imagined. Ryu could arguably be called a pre-teen and Atsushi was only a year younger.
But age was just a number and Chuuya had clocked the kids as having difficult issues that he needed to be informed and educated about so he wouldn't cause any harm unnecessarily as he got to know them.
Chuuya hoped that Dazai liked to be interrogated because Chuuya was going to ride him hard tonight on all the information that the bastard had held back in the hours they had been alone together.
The double meaning behind the words was lost to him as he went about cleaning up. Ango had offered to help him clean up but he had waved away the man’s help as he wanted to do it himself. He needed the silence and solitude to think over his whole situation, to truly come to terms with how much had happened to him in such a short amount of time.
It was dizzying and Chuuya was kind of worried about how well he was adjusting, maybe it was because he didn’t have any memories of anything beforehand that he decided to just accept everything told to him, at least for now. It made things easier for him to relax but it all left him feeling a tad uneasy.
The kitchen’s sink had already been filled with dirty dishes, so after a few moments of grumbling at how the only other adult in the house lacked adult responsibilities he got the soap out from under the sink and went to town on the pile, scrubbing the dishware as his thoughts settled down with the repetitive action.
He’d only been able to hear a small bit of the conversation between the three men earlier but enough had been overheard that he’d gotten the gist of the situation.
It wasn’t a surprising situation, considering the children had two dads and two uncles that looked like they might as well be married too- Chuuya couldn’t prove it but those two were too in sync to not be in some type of relationship- still he wouldn’t accept any kind of bigoted idiots messing with their lives.
This felt like something he could do, if Dazai would let him. He may not know his past but the righteous ball of anger felt right in his chest. Like the feeling was something he was familiar with dealing with on the daily.
He could hear Dazai coming down the stairs as he finished rinsing the last of the dishes. He was light-footed but Chuuya had been keeping an ear out so he was able to notice it a lot quicker than he would have normally.
The room was silent even after Chuuya could feel Dazai’s presence behind him, after a moment Chuuya couldn’t take it anymore and turned around, a scathing question on his lips, but before he could voice it Dazai finally decided to speak up.
“The kids want to say goodnight to their mom before going to bed.”
His husband had a bemused expression on his face, as if he hadn’t expected that. Chuuya would have questioned the look but it had already been a crazy day so far, so his husband got away with it for now.
You’d think he would have realized that it was completely normal for kids to want to say goodnight to both of their parents, even ones they had only just met. Chuuya discarded his earlier thoughts on the kids needing their normal routine, their kids probably didn’t count as a statistical normal.
But going back to Dazai’s reaction…maybe the year apart from each other had done more damage than either of them had planned, straining their relationship into something that neither of them knew how to deal with.
Maybe Chuuya wasn’t the only one feeling like their husband was a stranger.
The idea that Dazai might just be feeling the same kind of messed up emotions that Chuuya was experiencing softened him.
Sighing, he flicked the last of the water from his fingers into Dazai’s face, ignoring the undignified whining from the man as he wiped his damp face with his dirty bandaged arms.
“That’s a normal thing, shitty husband. They probably want to test what I do or say to them before they go to bed.”
“My little plotters, also are the rude insults going to continue chibikko?”
Chuuya’s eyebrow raised in an smirk that was only slightly evil looking.
“Will the insults about my height remain, dear husband?”
Dazai met his smirk with his own. This one was…definitely more evil looking.
“I’m just stating facts, my dear little dwarf of a star.”
“You do know that dwarf stars are big right?”
“Ahh~ I think I failed that course.”
“It’s basic science shitty Dazai! Why the hell are you helping the kids with their homework if you don’t even know that?!”
“That would explain their grades…”
“WHAT?!”
“Don’t worry so much, it’ll make you shrink even shorter and then you’ll have to have our daughter carry you around like a doll. Besides you are here now aren't you? And considering you think that knowing about stars and such is basic I think you have the children’s education safely in hand.”
“You-you-”
“Yes? Does the bitty germ have something to say?”
“I’ll show you whose a germ!”
Chuuya stomped up the stairs, leaving his husband bent over and shedding a few real tears due to the harsh kick to the shins and a slightly less harsh kick to the man’s dick.
He relaxed and took a deep breath a few steps away from the kid’s room, he couldn’t hear anything in there but he didn’t want to frighten them if he came in looking angry or upset. It wasn’t their fault their father got on his nerves and seemed to find personal pleasure in setting him off.
Oh…was that their way of flirting before? It could even be a type of foreplay considering…
That…that made to much sense so Chuuya stored that information deep, deep down and forgot about it.
Opening the door he saw that the room’s lights were off, only a soft nightlight shinned in a corner, bathing the room in a soft yellowish glow.
All the kid’s were tucked in but it was clear they were awake, for a moment no one said anything before Chuuya sighed and came fully in the room.
“Hey kiddos, Dazai…I mean dad said you wanted to say goodnight?”
Atsushi was the one who spoke up as the other two continued to watch him in silence.
“Yeah, is that okay?”
Chuuya melted.
“Yes of course it is darling, let’s see- we need to get a small chair or a bean bag.”
For now Chuuya sat cross legged on the carpet between the two sleeping areas.
“Does your dad read to you at night?”
Three head shakes caused him to deflate.
“Okay, well maybe we can start doing that later. For now you all need to get some sleep, do you need me to tuck you in?”
“Can’t you tell us a story?”
Chuuya looked over at Ryu and winced at the request.
“I don’t have many memories sweetheart, I’m not sure I can tell a good story.”
“It doesn’t have to be good. You have a nice voice…sorry.”
Stunned for a moment Chuuya let out a soft chuckle at the compliment.
“No need to say sorry sweetie, thank you. I’m happy my voice is nice.”
Kouyka and Atsushi also rushed to tell him they liked his voice too.
“Okay okay, thank you I appreciate the compliment. Hmm, well how about I hum a tune for now? I’ll try to think of good stories to tell you on another night.”
“...Promise?”
“I promise.”
“Pinky-promise?”
“Yes, pinky-promise.”
“No takebacks.”
“Of course, hush now. Close your eyes and go dream of nice things.”
“But your already here?”
Oh, oh that was…damn.
Chuuya blinked harshly against the wetness leaking from his eyes. This was maybe the first time he felt…well- welcome, I mean sure Dazai and the other adults had told him things, the bare minimum. But to hear that him being here was a good thing, that the kids saw it was a nice event…it made something squeeze in his chest.
Looking over the kids- no, his kids , he knew he would die for them as well as rain destruction on anyone who harmed them.
For the next half hour he sat there in the semi-darkness, humming tunelessly as his mind came up with ways to deal with the school and the assholes that made his kids cry.
As he got up once he was sure they were asleep he finally let a vicious grin, he liked being soft with them but he couldn’t help the thrill in his veins at the very idea of causing chaos to others.
Tomorrow was going to be fun.
Daydreaming_Haitang on Chapter 1 Tue 11 Apr 2023 02:30AM UTC
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AuraWhiteFox on Chapter 1 Wed 12 Apr 2023 09:00PM UTC
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Northern_Hmmmmmm on Chapter 4 Mon 22 Feb 2021 07:40PM UTC
Last Edited Mon 22 Feb 2021 07:42PM UTC
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AuraWhiteFox on Chapter 4 Wed 24 Feb 2021 08:24PM UTC
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Fragmentoftemptation on Chapter 8 Mon 29 Mar 2021 12:26AM UTC
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Rowan_Sloan on Chapter 8 Mon 12 Jul 2021 06:43AM UTC
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Hōchō Haruyuki (Guest) on Chapter 8 Sun 13 Feb 2022 12:27PM UTC
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Bsd_Random_Person on Chapter 8 Tue 31 Jan 2023 05:32AM UTC
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Daydreaming_Haitang on Chapter 11 Tue 11 Apr 2023 08:02AM UTC
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Daydreaming_Haitang on Chapter 12 Sun 07 May 2023 12:08PM UTC
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