Dazai definitely did eat his words, as it turned out because the next day was not a peaceful one.
It started off with an elbow to his gut.
Dazai moaned at the sudden jabbing sensation, twisting around in surprise, eyes cracking open only to be blinded by the sunlight streaming through the curtains.
Chuuya should invest in some blackout curtains, though it wasn't like the executive slept in anyways.
Dazai ignored the outside world and let his eyes flutter shut.
It was peaceful.
Until there was yet another jab at his gut.
Well, it was impossible to ignore now. Dazai felt around for the fist clenched to around nightshirt and extracted it.
He was about to drift off again when he realized with a jolt that there should be absolutely no one punching him this bright and early in the morning. (Twelve O'clock was early.)
His eyes flew open only to be assaulted with the sight of not an intruder or the cat on top of him, but it was little Chuuya... the same Chuuya who absolutely refused to touch him or anyone else.
Chuuya hadn't aged any, which was more likely than what Dazai was seeing right now. Really, he could have been dreaming because the redhead wasn't tense.
Half of his body hung off of the bed as if he had just plopped his upper body face down after a long day of work, his arm's spread out where one happened to hit Dazai in the chest.
...huh?
Dazai couldn't tell much from his expression with him being facedown on the bed, but he could tell by the steady rise and fall of his back that he was asleep.
That explained why he wasn't tense. He must have sleepwalked into his room out of unconscious habit.
"Silly chibi," Dazai chided under his breath, shooing Mackerel away when she tried to lay on top of Chuuya's head. "And you, you should have stayed out on the streets." He told the cat, Mackerel just stared up at him innocently.
Chuuya stirred on the bed, body slowly sliding off, and if Dazai were a meaner person then he would have let Chuuya slide right off and onto the floor, but instead he hooked his arms under the boys armpits and hefted him up until he wasn't going to fall off.
At least he didn't wake up and attack him, Chuuya must have been drained from his city adventure yesterday if he was still asleep.
Dazai would need to keep a closer eye on him and the port mafia's movements.
Mackerel settled down next to Chuuya and Dazai slipped out of the room, losing the will to sleep. Blankets piled to the floor at the base of the couch haphazardly. Chuuya refused to sleep in the room, though he had always been up before Dazai so by the time Dazai had awoken there was never any evidence that he had slept on the couch.
Dazai would normally leave the blankets on the floor but it felt right to scoop them up and throw them in the laundry.
Dazai would never clean up after himself or do his own laundry, but Chuuya would no doubt hang his head on his wall if Dazai left his apartment a mess.
It wasn't that Dazai cared for the prospect of the Chibi barking at him, his annoying voice always buzzed in the back of his mind no matter what he did anyways.
Dazai didn't feel the urge for caffeine since he had actually been getting more sleep lately (surprising, he should look into that to be sure he didn't have a life-threatening disease. Sickness was such a slow way to die.) But he brewed it out of habit anyway.
And now that caffeine was aiding in kick-starting his thoughts, he realized something else he had promised. It was an empty promise at the time, but now when Chuuya had woken up and dragged himself out of Dazai's- Chuuya's- room, with a determined look in his eyes, it was impossible to forget.
The first thing that left CHuuya's mouth that morning was "When are we going to see the animals?"
It was an empty promise with repercussions. Dazai honestly wouldn't have made it if he thought that Chuuya's mind would cling to the topic, but here he was staring into the hopeful eyes that had never seen animals besides test subjects. He couldn't bring himself to say no.
Dazai's one weakness was those azure eyes, and if anyone found out the information then he would surely die. Luckily he would keep it hidden away just as the rest of his emotions were.
Dazai swallowed down the lump in his throat (He had never felt so much emotion as he did with Chuuya. He supposed that the redhead made him feel just a tad bit more human, though he realized that too late to do anything about it.)
"Alright," Dazai gave in, sighing exasperatedly. "We leave in an hour." Then he spotted the bandages around Chuuya's neck, tearing at the corners from his night of wild sleep. "Come here, let me rewrap your bandages."
Dazai had also taken many pictures of him and Chuuya with matching bandages whenever he got the chance. He could practically hear Chuuya nagging at the back of his mind 'It isn't fucking Halloween, get me out of that getup.'
Dazai was also reminded that he should give Kunikida a call and tell him that he had found Chuuya. He made his partner scour the Northern part of Yokohama yesterday when Chuuya had turned up missing.
He was probably still searching.
Oops.
Dazai would call him later.
"Thanks," Chuuya grumbled when Dazai had coiled that last bandage around his wrist. He had started becoming a bit more vocal about his feelings, yes, even the gratitude.
Dazai nodded, not finding any other words to say, he knew Chuuya was embarrassed about asking for help so he didn't put much emphasis on it. The first time Chuuya had asked for his assistance and actually said thank you (After a panic attack that he actually allowed Dazai to witness) it had been a big step for Osamu and a huge leap for Dazai kind.
It didn't take long for them to get ready, Dazai never cared for appearances and Chuuya seemed hyper-focused on just getting out of the apartment. He supposed that Chuuya hadn't gotten the chance to go to many other places besides the agency.
Speaking of the agency, there were many unread messages from his coworkers on his phone, namely Kunikida cursing him out for missing another day, but Dazai ignored them as he always did.
"Is this the place?" Chuuya asked, eyes wide as they took in the scene. It was so similar to how younger Chuuya looked when they introduced him to a carnival that Dazai had to do a double-take to make sure he didn't age backward.
"Yes, I believe so" Dazai answered, stepping out of the car, walking over to Chuuya's side to lead him to the entrance.
As soon as Chuuya stepped out of the car he pulled his jacket closer to himself but didn't let the chilly weather deter him from observing the large entrance held up by pillars. A cold front was predicted to come with a storm later that night, though the coldness seemed to be hitting much sooner.
The zoo was for the most part, empty. It was a Monday, most adults were working at the moment and children were in school. Better for them, Dazai was sure their trip would be cut short if there were large crowds.
Chuuya still silently marveled at the place as Dazai got them tickets (another expense from Chuuya's large wallet. Dazai wondered if he should buy ten more child leashes with it.)
"This place looks cool," Chuuya finally deduced. Even if he was being more open, lines of tension still held his shoulders captive. Dazia wondered if he would ever truly relax.
"We haven't even seen any of the animals yet. Chibi." Dazai smirked and Chuuya shrugged.
"It's very... colorful."
Dazai was once again reminded that Chuuya had lived a life of bland whites, greys, and silvers. He had never been exposed to such a diverse color palette before until just recently. It must be very strange being introduced to the color teal at the age of...
Well, no one truly knew his age at this point.
Perhaps ten or twelve?
So Dazai allowed Chuuya to linger and take in the scene, ushering him in the right direction so they could reach the first exhibit.
The reptiles.
Dazai wasn't an animal person, and that much was evident in the way he and Chuuya's cat had a new argument every other day. They just didn't like him, most avoided him like a plague, and Dazai was perfectly fine with that because he avoided them too.
But reptiles were just plain horrendous. The way they looked into Dazai's eyes with those slit pupils of theirs...
Dazai pointedly looked away from them, resisting the urge to cover Chuuya's eyes.
The redhead seemed fine with the animals though, staring intently at every exhibit they passed. That was until he turned to Dazai. "...They're all in cages." Despite the simple statement, there were emotions swirling in Chuuya's eyes.
"Yes well... that is what they tend to do to animals in zoos. Did you expect them to run wild?"
Chuuya's face flushed as he looked to his feet, "Yeah... but it's not right."
Oh.
Chuuya had resided in cages for a good portion of his life too... of course, he would feel for the animals. Dazai looked around the room (cleverly decorated as a jungle habitat, vines hung from the ceiling and little chirping noises played in the background.) It was empty with an exception of the worker dozing off in the corner.
Dazai bent down to Chuuya's height to seem less dictating. He knew that when trying to explain things to the redhead he had to get to his level so they could see eye to eye. Both mentally and physically.
"Chuuya... How do you believe these animals got here?"
Chuuya pulled a thinking face, fiddling with the edges of his jacket sleeve. "Were they..." Despite him not finishing his sentence, Dazai understood it well enough.
'Were they taken from their families? Kidnapped unwillingly and forced into captivity?'
"No," Dazai assured, suddenly standing up. If Chuuya was apprehensive then he would have to show him. "Look here," he pointed to one of the informational signs under the glass casing, finger resting right below the bold letter.
'Endangered.'
Chuuya's eyes scanned over the writing and nothing changed on his face. Dazai decided to help him out with the unfamiliar word "It says endangered, you know what that means?"
That's when Chuuya's face lit up with understanding and slight embarrassment.
"Majority of the animals here are endangered, keeping them here is a way to preserve their species and let them live a healthy life. And those that are not endangered are injured or not able to go back into the wild. Do you see what I'm getting at?"
Chuuya slowly nodded, "they're protected here." Something in his tone was slightly bitter, but Dazai found himself... shocked that Chuuya was being so open.
Also that he himself was being so... patient.
He had never thought of himself to be responsible or patient, but it seemed that Chuuya could bring out different sides of him.
Ugh, he should just grow old again so Dazai could stop experiencing strange emotions.
They moved on wordlessly, though Dazai could still see the shadow of doubt lingering in Chuuya's movements. It looks like he would need to further prove his statement.
Chuuya stubbornly looked at every sign in the reptile exhibit to make sure the word 'Endangered' was written below their names and scientific names. When the redhead silently pointed at a certain word Dazai didn't need the question to be vocalized.
"That says 'Aspidites ramsayi,' commonly known as the Woma Python." Chuuya's curious look edged Dazai to continue reading the animal's description.
Dazai had never met a kid so thirsty for knowledge because every time they passed a new sign he would read it out and Chuuya would soak up the information like some kind of sponge.
Once Chuuya even lifted a finger to touch the glass, on the other side was a snake. Its forked tongue flicked out and touched the glass where Chuuya's finger was, and at the redheads look Dazai just about died.
He hated reptiles, he truly did, but if Chuuya asked him to keep that snake then he wasn't sure if he could refrain from using Chuuya's card then and there. Maybe the Woma python would eat Mackrel and they would all live happily ever after.
Eventually, they left the peace of the reptile exhibit to explore the other habitats. Chuuya was not like Dazai and liked every animal they had stumbled across, whether it be an old ugly unfortunate thing or a small cute one.
He seemed to enjoy looking for them, then pointing them out to Dazai even though Dazai himself had immediately spotted them in the shrubbery.
This was the most child-like and excited Dazai had ever seen Chuuya at this age.
Dazai wondered if he would ever be able to take Chuuya back to this place when this whole debacle was over. Wondered if he would tug Dazai's sleeve and point to the next exhibit.
Well, he probably wouldn't but it was nice to imagine.
Their adventure continued across the zoo, luckily the only people present were old people or extremely young children and parents, no rowdy teenagers.
And despite how energetic Chuuya seemed at the moment, Dazai never failed to notice how he started to walk slower and slower, legs shaking ever so slightly. Chuuya obviously wasn't going to ask to stop for a break, so Dazai started to drag his legs. "Chibi you're going too fast~ my legs hurt."
Chuuya frowned, studying him. They both knew that Dazai wasn't being serious but Chuuya ignored it for his own sake.
"Fine," he huffed, breaths slightly labored "let's sit down for a while."
So they did.
Despite Chuuya's attitude towards showing weakness (which was why Dazai had to force them to sit in the first place), he was still a kid who had just gotten out of a lab. He was still slightly underweight and slightly (very) short.
Dazai would make sure to make him eat extra food. Not because he was worried about the Chibi's health, certainly not.
Of course, it was so that he wouldn't have to carry him when he passed out.
Totally.
After the break, they headed to the Tundra section, which was a mistake.
Really, if Dazai knew how infatuated with penguins Chuuya was then he would have steered them towards the parking lot and called it a day.
Dazai would have figured that Chuuya would like tigers like every other boy his age, or meerkats because they're both short.
But penguins of all things?
As soon as Chuuya's eyes fixated on the black and white animals Dazai could tell that they were going to be inside the chilled exhibit for a while.
And if Dazai thought it was cold outside then it was like a blizzard in this place.
Chuuya was practically against the glass, staring at the penguins in wonder. Dazai looked on at his reaction, amused.
Well, that was until Chuuya turned to him with those eyes, "Read it for me?"
It was a question, but Dazai felt like he had no choice but to comply because it was more of a silent order. Dazai cleared his throat before reading off the information, there were three types of penguins in the large enclosure, and Chuuya seemed to gravitate towards the one in the far corner that was separated from the rest of the group.
Dazai sighed again, "Apparently that one's name is Patrica, she's closed off but also... pregnant? Not a very good mix," Dubai murmured the last part under his breath, squinting at the sign. It looks like he had the right penguin though because Patrica stared into his soul, the depths of hell in those beady eyes of hers.
What the fuck.
Well, she was definitely closed off. In fact, Dazai would go as far as to say she was downright-
"Cool," Chuuya said as he watched her dive into the water.
Well, that was certainly not the word in Dazai's artillery he would use to describe the she-beast.
And as Chuuya's eyes tracked the penguin, he could just smell the trouble brewing.
"Let's take her home," Chuuya decided, right as Dazai cut him off with a small but firm 'no.'
It didn't sway him, in fact, Chuuya looked up to him with fiery determination in his eyes. "Patrica can be friends with Mackerel, they're both lonely!"
Dazai shivered, he could imagine it now.
The two animals would plot his death together in their strange animal language, and late at night, deep into the depths of Dazai's despair, they would strike and finally kill him off. Wipe him off of the face of this planet.
Dazai may want suicide, but being killed by his mortal enemies was not the way to go.
"No," Dazai denied again.
"Why not?"
Of course, Dazai was not about to tell Chuuya exactly why he wouldn't. He knew that Chuuya could buy this whole exhibit easily, but if older Chuuya aged up and found out he was a 'proud' father of five penguins then he would surely never talk to Dazai again.
"The penguins need this environment to survive, they'll die if they leave their home." Dazai settled on the sensible answer.
The gears in Chuuya's brain tuned but he finally nodded, looking just a bit crestfallen. This was the most emotion Dazai had ever seen out of the kid, maybe he should take him to the zoo more often.
"Don't be down about it, we can visit Patrica later. And besides, I do not want her demon spawn anywhere near my apartment. Little penguins running around would not be good for the wood floor." Though it would certainly be good for Dazai's mental health if he saw Chuuya's reaction to his ruined apartment.
"I guess," Chuuya said, still looking as the penguin shoved a whole fish down her mouth.
And well... Dazai couldn't live if Chuuya was in a mood for the rest of the day.
It didn't take long for a plan to formulate in his mind. It didn't involve letting the animals out of their enclosure, so Dazia could say that they had successfully dulled down the illegal agenda.
Well, slightly.
Dazai bent down, leaning closer so he could whisper into the boy's ear, "I have an idea, but it's not completely legal. Are you in?"
Chuuya scrunched up his nose in distaste and Dazai wiggled his eyebrows.
"...Will I get to see Patrica?"
"Yes, yes you will."
At that, Chuuya gave in.
———
It wasn't some master scheme that would get them in trouble. (Well, maybe a little.) But it would allow Chuuya to see that Patrica wasn't lonely and that she was treated well at the zoo.
Plus it added a bit of spice to Dazai's day, so he wasn't complaining.
It wasn't a busy day at the zoo, meaning that even the staff was scarce.
That fact made it easy to slip past the exhibit and into the employee-only entrance. The hallway was empty as they casually trudged down it, Chuuya looked a bit put off by the stark white scenery, but he didn't vocalize his uneasiness or have a panic attack, so it was okay to power ahead.
Well, that was until a young Woman rounded the corner, nearly colliding with Dazai. "Ah-" she would have fallen to the floor if Dazai had not studied her by the shoulders.
She quickly placed her tan cap back on. It looked like it was time to work his charms.
"Ah, I am sincerely sorry my dear~"
Dazai didn't miss the way Chuuya had a clear look of disgust on his face.
The girl shook her head "no it's okay... who are you?" Her tone was more curious than accusing, and Dazai knew they were in luck.
"I'm the new employee," Dazai smiled, the lie rolling off his tongue easily. "And this," he gently nudged Chuuya forward, "is my kid."
Yes, another day of Chuuya acting like his child. The redhead never liked it but he went along with it for the sake of their plan.
The woman pulled a thinking face before a smile broke across her face "I never looked at the new employee files but I'm sure you'll be a great one to teach!" Then she bent down, uncomfortably close to Chuuya's face.
The redhead backpedals, looking like he wanted to either bite the finger that poked at his nose or hide in a hole somewhere.
"This is your son?"
"Yes," Dazai nodded, putting a hand on the small of Chuuya's back. "It is hard being a single father sometimes."
The sympathy card.
The girl's eyebrows immediately furrowed in pity "that must be so tough, employees are welcome to bring their children to work if they have no... alternatives."
Dazai smiled appreciatively "how kind of the staff. I'm still in training but this would be my first official day..."
"Ah, we need to take you on a tour, you were assigned to the tundra section, correct?"
Dazai nodded, everything was going according to plan.
As long as Chuuya got to see that his new animal obsession known as Patrica the Penguin was not getting mistreated... like he once was... then Dazai's job would be complete.
"Well, you can follow me," the girl smiled, and Dazai could tell that she was on his hook. She didn't question his bandages, meaning that they were probably in dress code. (Maybe Dazai would abandon the armed detective agency and live out the rest of his days as a zookeeper and Patrica the penguins arch enemy.)
"This is the lounge room, we can get you a uniform later. But for now, you can leave the little one here and I can show you the ropes."
This was where Chuuya needed to take things into his own hands.
Chuuya dug his feet into the ground when Dazai started to step into the empty lounge room, violently shaking his head. Dazai honestly couldn't tell if he was acting or not, and well... the room was pretty constricting.
They stopped at the entrance and the girl awkwardly shuffled her feet "Is... there something wrong?"
Dazai looked into Chuuya's eyes and could practically see them yelling 'just get this over with.'
"Ah yes," Dazai rubbed the back of his head, "you see my son has a bit of separation anxiety so..."
The woman's face lit up, "well, that's okay. He can come along, it's not like he's gonna sell out the most top-secret information of the zoo to his friends."
If Dazai and Chuuya weren't in character at the moment then they would both be laughing.
They made it to the behind-scenes of the exhibit fairly easy, and Dazai watched as Chuuya paid close attention to how the girl treated the animals with gentle hands. Something flashed across his face when the girl started talking to them.
Like they were humans.
And then Chuuya tugged on his sleeve and nodded.
He had seen enough.
So Dazai pretends to look surprised, holding up a finger to put his phone up to his ear. The woman stops talking and lets Dazai have a 'conversation' over his phone, and when he was finally done he slid it into his pocket with a sheepish expression.
"I'm sorry miss, is there any chance we can reschedule? There has been an emergency."
The woman somehow manages to look concerned. How she could be genuinely worried for someone she just met, Dazai didn't know.
"Of course," she was already slipping her rubber gloves off after she threw the last fish to Patrica. She briefly washed her hands before reaching for her clipboard. "Can I get a name and number so I can contact you on another date to come back?"
A sly grin (that would look charming to the woman) stretched across his lips as he rattled off Kunikida's contact information.
All in all, it was an accomplished day and Chuuya didn't manage to convince Dazai to buy the whole zoo.
——-
The overcast clouds made way for even more overcast clouds, but this time accompanied with thunder and lightning.
They made it back to the apartment just before it started raining down, hard.
The rain slammed against the large windows of Chuuya's apartment, bettering the glass relentlessly. Dazai didn't realize just how much time they had spent at the zoo until he looked at the time and found that it was nearly dinner time.
Dazai normally didn't have a scheduled 'dinner time' or 'lunch time' but he had learned to keep the times in mind ever since Chuuya had been chibified. The schedule had grown in place and... it seemed that Dazai himself had been benefiting his plan to 'get the chibi un-malnourished' because he too gained a couple of pounds.
Chuuya was oddly quiet when they returned, and Dazai would have thought he was downtrodden with not being able to kidnap the herd of penguins and take them home if it wasn't for the slight shakiness in his hands.
And as the storm continued to grow bigger later into the night... he had started to jerk violently when the rumbling of thunder could be heard.
Ah, so he was afraid of storms. Or perhaps just the loud noises that accompanied them.
Maybe it triggered unwanted memories in the back of his mind.
Dazai acted casually as he microwaved the ramen and handed it off for Chuuya to eat. A method to get him to not treat the storm as seriously was to act like nothing was going to happen- and nothing would.
Another tactic was to get his mind off of things.
"Did you like the zoo?"
Chuuya raised an eyebrow, immediately on the defensive. They both knew that Dazai wasn't one for small talk unless it was charming a woman, but he answered for his own sake. "Yeah, it was... fun."
Chuuya had never uttered those words from his lips before, they sounded foreign to even Chuuya himself when it rolled off of his tongue, just as the animal's names had. "But I didn't like lying to that lady."
Dazai shrugged "not much we can do about that, it made things interesting anyway."
Chuuya idly poked at his noodles "well... we didn't have to sneak in like that."
"But you wanted to see the penguin correct?"
Chuuya nodded, and Dazai could successfully say he was no longer focused on the raging storm outside.
"I'm assuming those arctic birds are your favorite animal then?"
Chuuya pulled a thoughtful face, "Mackerel and Patrica are my favorite animals," he corrected.
Dazai raised an eyebrow "Oh? So what's your favorite species then?"
Chuuya huffed and Dazai could tell that he would want to hear this information.
"I think... that the Woma python was cool."
And Dazai does not feel touched because it was the first animal he had read the bio to Chuuya.
He totally does not.
——
Unfortunately, the storm rages on and Dazai can only keep Chuuya's mind off of it for so long.
It was later into the night when Chuuya had finally cracked, he had spent the time before that with amazing fortitude.
He took a shower as if nothing was happening, he let Dazai rewrap the bandages as if nothing was happening. (The bandages weren't needed anymore, but Dazai had the sneaking suspicion that Chuuya liked to keep them on to hide the scars.) And he even went to his usual place on the couch and huddled under the blankets.
Dazai had allowed him to act normal, well, that was until it was twelve o'clock- midnight- and the storm impossibly grew worse. It seemed that the whole complex was shaking under the wrath of the wind as the rain-turned-hail battered the building.
And when Dazai heard the labored breathing in the other room he mindlessly slipped from his- Chuuya's- bed and made his way to the couch.
Chuuya, as predicted, was huddled under the many blankets he had dragged to the couch with him that night, shielding himself from the elements. Or just the shame he always seemed to feel when anyone saw him being remotely vulnerable.
"Hey," Dazai said, loud enough for Chuuya to be alerted of his presence but not loud enough to frighten him even more.
The blanket lump shifted slightly "...I'm fine."
Dazai snorted "you don't sound fine. Can I request entrance into your fortress of blankets?"
"...Denied."
The thunder outside rolled on and a bright flash illuminated the room. Chuuya jumped and his breathing quickened.
He was spiraling.
"Well I'm breaking in anyways," Dazai lifted the edge of the weighted blanket (Dazai didn't even know Chuuya owned one) and revealed Chuuya curled up in the protective ball of his, head in between his knees.
"Hey," Dazai said again, tone heavy but light at the same time, "sit up."
Chuuya slowly did so and Dazai sat next to him.
Chuuya looked worse for wear, the bandages around his neck had been loosened significantly, meaning Chuuya had been tugging on them nervously. It was a reaction that Dazai sometimes saw Chuuya do with his choker.
His eyes were red-rimmed, cheeks tear-stained.
Dazai despised that he had grown somewhat accustomed to the sight.
But it also meant that he knew what to do. They fell back into their similar routine, Dazai telegraphing his movements as he removed Chuuya's hands from his neck and placed one on his own chest, letting the redhead feel the rise and fall of it.
They continued like that until Chuuya's hitched breaths became more fluid.
Well, until another onslaught of thunder roared and Chuuya was once again, left shaking intensely.
But Dazai had discovered that with Chuuya, he had the capabilities of being patient. He didn't comment on the twitches when lightning struck, simply keeping Chuuya anchored with a hand around his wrist.
"Can you hum?" The question was asked out of the blue, and Chuuya's voice sounds strained, but who was Dazai to demand a request like that?
So he hummed the first melody he had hummed to Chuuya before, letting him feel the vibrations of his chest until the redhead was lulled into an unrestful sleep.
It seemed that Dazai had finally attained his trust.
Then the storm worsened early in the morning, and Chuuya was once again woken up in a panic.
They repeated the process over. And over. And over again.
"Do you want me to turn on the TV?" Dazai offered at four O'clock in the morning. He did not feel tired at all.
Chuuya sluggishly shook his head, and he looked so frustrated at not being able to sleep. But that was when the perfect solution appeared before his very eyes.
"I have an idea."
Chuuya shot him an apprehensive look and Dazai was quick to add on "it's not illegal, no."
Chuuya reluctantly agreed, which led to Dazai fitting the large headphones over his ears. The sounds of the outside world were completely drowned out by them. Chuuya eyed them, confused and slightly tense, but simply stared at Dazai weirdly as he thumbed through his playlist.
Once he had finally found the one he was looking for, he adjusted the volume and gave Chuuya a thumbs up when he started the music.
And Chuuya... seemed baffled by the soft piano that flooded his senses even more than the thunder, lightning, or hail ever could.
To Dazai's surprise, he was out within a matter of minutes. It looked like his idea had been a good one. (And it was legal too, which was just more points to him.)
And when Dazai tried to move off of the couch after he was absolutely certain that Chuuya was in deep slumber, he was anchored down by arms around his waist.
It would be the first and last time that this version of Chuuya would cling to Dazai (not that he knew at the time) so he didn't dare move a muscle. Ingraining the scene before him in his memory before allowing himself to drift off soon after.
It was an uncomfortable position and Dazai would surely have a crick in his neck when he woke up the next morning, but Dazai was going to let the redhead continue to sleep undisturbed.
And it wasn't like he hated Chuuya, Dazai had already established that Chuuya would always be the exception to any rule.
Even if he hated children, he could never truly bring himself to hate the chibi.
And his patients would certainly be tested by fifteen-year-old Chuuya.