Redo at past mistakes

Chapter 4- Doing better the second time round

The phone glared at Dazai from the coffee table. Its ominous presence taunting the other but Dazai knew he had to make the call. Chuuya had already gone off to work and Akutagawa was fortunately still asleep, if he was going to make the call, now would be the opportune time but he wasn't ready. The grandfather clock was ticking behind him, reminding Dazai he couldn't wait long before it was too late to call. Time didn't care if he was ready or not. He had until Akutagawa woke up which can give a varying amount of time but his heart was still racing as he stared at the phone. The problem was he'd never done something like this before... asking for advice. He may have occasionally asked Odasaku stuff in the past but none of that was ever serious; it was nothing like today and though he's been married to Chuuya for a while now, he's never requested huge amounts of things, and it was already too late to ask. His husband was working and though the redhead was the person who could help him the most, he didn't want to disrupt his work. He could do this alone plus he wanted to try doing this without his husband's aid. However, Dazai was one hundred percent certain that he wasn't prepared to do this- training Akutagawa- but he knew he couldn't prolong it any longer. If he couldn't do it alone, it was ok to go to someone with more experience so they could give pointers on where to start. Hopefully this will go well. At last noticing the time on the clock, Dazai admitted he had waited long enough and snatched his phone off the table, quickly dialling the number.

"Dazai? What do you want?" Kunikida groaned down the line,

"Kunikida, my good old partner, i just need a little favour." Dazai bluffed, his anxiety starting to get the better of him.

"I haven't got time for your dramatics today. We have a lot of cases to deal with, alongside the Port Mafia matter, so there's loads of paperwork to do and i have a tight schedule to keep to. I can't be playing around like some people, who are supposedly meant to be caring for a kid currently." Kunikida grumbled, while furious sounds of typing could be heard in the background.

"Wait! Don't hang up... I need your help." Dazai begged, desperation and vulnerability clear in his voice which shocked Kunikida momentarily, leaving an empty silence on the other end of the line which didn't help Dazai's fears.

"Five minutes." Kunikida abruptly stated,

"What?" Dazai gasped,

"You have five minutes. Explain to me what you need in five minutes and if i think it's worth my time- i will help." Kunikida elaborated, an open kindness present in his voice,

"Thank you." Dazai choked back tears he didn't know he was holding in then started to explain, "Akutagawa wants me to train him and i've pushed it off for as long as i can, but now I can't because it's starting to cause him harm so i'm going to train him today but i don't want to hurt him like i did in the past. You trained Atsushi. Give me some advice, please. Please Kunikida, i want to do better this time round."

Dazai dripped all his emotions into his words and pleaded for his friend to help him out. Hope clinging onto the phone. For a while there was a long silence on the other end of the line and for a minute Dazai thought Kunikida had hung up. He was just about to give up and deal with it alone when a saving grace sounded out.

"Ok, so listen closely...." Kunikida's voice echoed out from the receiver.

⚪⚪⚪

Energy bounced off the boy as he jumped around with exhilaration. He raced around the room with his arms held out wide as if he was flying off his happiness. A vibrant smile radiated from his face and ready eagerness moved inside him. Akutagawa hopped on his feet ready and waiting for what was to come. He had just spent a few minutes running around, burning off some of his energy, but no amount of running could be done to erase the excitement raging inside him, because at last Dazai was going to train him and Akutagawa was certain to make sure he was the best student his mentor ever had. A hundred and ten percent of his effort was going to go into his training, putting his best foot forward, and determined to not give up no matter how much he failed. By the time he had fully completed his training, Dazai would be proud of him and he'd be able to finally give back to the man he owes so much to. Just as he was thinking that, the very man on his thoughts strolled over.