Parental Struggles ~Daddy!Dazai Osamu X Mommy!Reader~

⏳ Twenty-Nine: The Past and the Future - P.t 1 ⏳

"You know, I sometimes do wonder whether our relationship is that of two lovers or mother and son." you heard Dazai cried out from behind the closed bathroom door, causing you to sigh and shake your head.

"Just shut up and get dressed." you replied as you finished making the bed.

Once satisfied with your handiwork, you made your way towards the wardrobe to pick out clothes for your lunch meeting later. However, before you could find the perfect top to match your pants and blazer, your boyfriend's voice called out to you again through the bathroom door.

"(Y/ N)-san, I forgot my towel. Would you please be a nice girlfriend and get it for me?" Dazai called out, his tone sweet and pleading. "Or would you prefer it if I just came out in all my wet and naked glory? I honestly wouldn't mind if you decide on the latter."

You resisted the urge to facepalm at your boyfriend's words. "Just keep your naked ass still while I get you your towel, you pervert!"

You rolled your eyes as you heard Dazai laugh from the bathroom. Setting the clothes in your arms on the bed, you went over to the drawers next to your boyfriend's bed. Pulling open the first drawer, a light blush spread across your cheeks upon seeing Dazai's boxers. Wrong drawer then.

You quickly closed the first drawer and went for the second which revealed to be where he stored his white shirts. You breathed out a frustrated sigh as you closed that drawer and reached for the third one. Your face brightened slightly as you caught sight of the towels folded neatly in the drawer. Without another thought, you grabbed one and pushed back the drawer.

Just as it fell shut, you heard a light 'thump' which sounded like something falling onto the floor. Looking down, you spotted a tiny black box resting next to one of the corners of the drawers. Curious, you picked it up to examine the little box in your hands. Your heart began to race and hammer within your chest as realization sank in.

With a shaky hand, you opened the box and you felt your breath catch in your throat as you stared at the beautiful diamond ring sitting in its small black velvet casing. The ring was a delicate, thin silver band with a small yet scintillating clear diamond embellished at its center. You didn't have to be a detective to deduce that this was undoubtedly a wedding ring. Your wedding ring as a matter-of-fact.

A myriad of thoughts raced through your mind as you stared at the tiny piece of jewelry that had suddenly felt like it weighed a ton in your hands. Dazai was planning to propose to you, and as much as you loved childish yet witty detective, the mere thought of getting married to him terrified you.

It wasn't that you weren't able to see a future together with him. On the contrary, if you could get a dollar for every daydream that you had had during work about starting a family with Dazai, you would be filthy rich. It wasn't the future that you were concerned of but rather the past, or his past to be more specific. You personally didn't feel that one's past play that big of a factor in determining the future of their relationship, but... you seriously didn't even know a single thing about Dazai's. In every conversation where you had tried to bring up the subject, your boyfriend was hasty to change the topic.

Hell, you didn't even know how or why he joined the Armed Detective Agency!

The only thing that you could conclude of his past from your flimsy hints and clues was that it wasn't a pleasant one. From Dazai's heavy reluctance to mention even a sliver of his past to the countless brutal scars that adorned his skin underneath all the bandages... which you had the opportunity to see during your late-night activities... he didn't live a good life, nor was he as cheerful and carefree as he was now.

"(Y/ N)-san, what are you doing?" Dazai's abrupt voice tore you away from your thoughts and caused you to jump and your hands to drop the ring and its box. Panicked, you hurriedly grabbed for fallen ring in its box, pulled out the third drawer, shoved it between two towels, and practically slammed it back shut.

"Dazai-san! I thought you were in the bathroom- Oh my god!" you started but your sentence ended in a scream as you turned around and caught the sight of the dark-haired male's wet and naked body standing casually at the bathroom's doorway.

You swiftly held up your hands to shield your eyes as a furious blush spread all the way from your face down to the base of your neck. Even after all the nights the two of you had spent together under the sheets (and sometimes against the wall), you would still get embarrassed at seeing your partner completely exposed.

"Oh my god, oh my god! Why are you standing there naked, Dazai?!" you cried, still covering your eyes from your boyfriend's indecent display of his body. "I thought you asked me to get you a towel?!"

"Well, you were taking an awfully long time that I decided to just go with the second option." he replied coolly.

"Here!" you grabbed the towel that had fallen to the floor and threw it at the dark-haired male. "Now cover yourself up, you idiot!"

Your breaths were rapid and shallow and your heart was beating wildly in your chest as you were still trying to calm down from both the panic of being possibly caught snooping into Dazai's stuff and the embarrassment from seeing your boyfriend nude and fresh out of the shower.

You took a slow and deep inhale once your heartrate had returned to normal and the prominent flush on your face had begun to fade. You then glanced towards the drawers. Although the ring was out of sight, it definitely wasn't out of mind as your stubborn brain held onto the image of the damn thing and kept flashing it like neon signboards during a tedious road trip.

***

Letting out a sigh, you placed the hairbrush down on your dresser after you'd finished brushing through and mildly taming your formidable bedhead. While you were looking up at your reflection in the mirror, your mind was entirely elsewhere and you kept getting frequent urges to go dig back up the little black box hidden between towels in Dazai's drawers.

You eventually shook your head, snapping out of the endless cycle of questions and more questions. Sucking in a deep breath, you gave yourself one last glance in the mirror to make sure that there were no outfit malfunctions before grabbing your bag and keys from the bed and heading towards the door.

Dazai had already left to the Agency a while ago which was mostly thanks to your constant prodding. He gave you a kiss on the head before leaving that made your heart flutter slightly but wasn't enough to calm the anxiety bubbling within you.

After slipping off your house shoes and into your work flats, you stepped outside. You breathed out a faint sigh of relief as you were greeted by fresh air and the pleasant sound of birds chirping from a nearby tree. As you were locking the door, you noticed the nasty smell of cigarette smoke suddenly wafting through the air in the corridor. You turned towards the source of the smell and found a middle-aged man with grey, swept-back hair, a mustache, and a short, pointed beard standing barely two feet from you next to the railing with a lit cigarette in one of his hands. He was wearing what seemed to be formal wear underneath a long, black coat with a long brown scarf and even a monocle as accessories. The man looked like he was ready to attend a mafia sit-down or something.

"Um, I'm sorry but can I help you?" you asked the man who was staring at you intently as though you were something of his interest.

"Indeed, you can." His lips quirked into a slight smile and he took a whiff of his cigarette.

Before you could inquire further, an unknown pair of arms appeared out of nowhere and grabbed you from behind and you barely even had the chance to struggle before a black piece of cloth was wrapped over your nose and mouth and pulled and tugged harshly behind your head. Within moments, the overwhelming smell of chemicals filled your senses and tears sprang to your eyes. Your vision began to blur and you were hit with a sudden wave of drowsiness.

"Don't take it personally, Ms., you're merely just a pawn in the game." you heard the voice of the man say before you ultimately lost consciousness and were consumed by complete and utter darkness.