Sleeping at last.

@flawlessuser​​!

         there was a lot of noise. the sound of lots of footsteps and voices. something was happening —and he hoped being near it could put him at ease a little.

he scampered towards the sounds, making out as he got closer moving shapes in the rain. but he didn’t quite reach them before bumping into someone. with a squeak, he bounced back and then hopped back onto all four paws, having to almost close his eyes when looking up at the human so that the rain didn’t hurt them. “pika, pipi?” his tail stood up, trying to get a better idea of their surroundings.

          Feeling the slightest nudge to his leg, Oda glanced down at the slippery ground, just about able to discern a bright yellow, fuzzy blur balancing on its hind legs up at him. Even with low visibility, he could tell it was unlike any creature he’d encountered before. Trying to contain his surprise when it opened it’s tiny maw to communicate with, Oda slowly lowered himself until his knee soaked in muddy rainwater, stretching one arm out to shield the rodent from the pelting deluge with his jacket. 

❝The power in the ward suddenly went out, a lot of people are stuck here.❞

“Sure, sure, Odasaku.”

Dazai looked like a vampire a moment ago. Some hollow, empty, thing desperate to fill himself up with Odasaku. Now it seemed like he was alive again. He had never eaten the chocolate, never bitten into the dead apple. 

Dazai was smiling as happy as a child. 

“You’ll do whatever, right?” 

He teased in a sing song voice. 

“Then lose your job, abandon everybody else, and come cling to me. I’ll take care of you like a dog, Odasaku. You’ll get three meals a day, and we can go on walks, and I’ll make sure nobody in this world can harm you again.” 

Dazai had been completely poisoned by the chocolate. He said terrible things, the absolute worst possible words he could say, to his one and only friend. 

❝Yes, whatever you want.❞ Oda reprised for emphasis, fingers curling tighter and tighter into Dazai’s bandages. The aim no to cause harm, but to bind himself to those white strips permanently wound around the man’s spindly frame. Dazai’s demands, ludicrous as they should have sounded, made all the sense in the world to Oda. He could do all of those things, he would do all of those things and more, if bidden.

❝I accept.❞ He wished things had always been like this between them. No Port Mafia, No Ango, no one.

           FIBONACCI INSTITUTE FOR SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, MAGIC AND ENERGY’S LAZERZ OF LEGEND. He’d vowed never to have his palm weighed down by another firearm again unless circumstances were so dire it left him no other choice. A toy laser though, something he couldn’t kill or wound with, was a different kettle of fish altogether. Oda was a good shot, he knew it, of all the activities sprouting up around the island recently, this was one he knew he’d excel at, sparking the embers of his competitive streak. 

          For better or worse, he’d ended up on the purple team, the holster and gun he’d been given identical to the real thing in everything but damage power. Laser pocketed for now, his eyes tracked other members in the vicinity, turning to address the nearest one.

❝I guess we’re on the same team?❞

          [DANCE PARTY PUN]. Not a great lover of bustling social gatherings and loud noises, the promise of a bargain booze up and somewhere he’d be allowed to smoke was all the convincing Oda required in order to let himself get whisked away to a City sized party by a man he hardly knew. Weak willed, that’s what he was, and with Viktor seemingly being the type who could charm the scales off a fish, the former assassin was absolutely no match for him. 

          Standing at the bar, fingers clamped around his whiskey glass, Oda radiated awkwardness out of every pore. He couldn’t help but feel like an excruciatingly dull drinking partner for his current company, though his mood lifted for the better once a familiar song at last began drifting out of the speakers.

“Hm? Hmmm? You suddenly care so much about how I feel? I told you not to die, if you cared so much back then you would have listened.”

Dazai taunted him and made petty arguments like a child. That was what he was reduced to in front of Odasaku. A child who did not know what it meant to have a friend. A lonely boy who grew up to murder people for the mafia. 

Dazai felt like he had just drunk a fairy’s elixir. For the first time in his life, it felt wonderful to be alive. Dazai picked up several more pieces of chocolate and stuffed them in his face.

He plucked on piece out, and closed the distance between him and Oda. He pressed the chocolate to Oda’s lips. Dazai held it there with two intimate fingers, and then leaned in to whisper into the man’s ear. 

“I don’t want to be friends with you anymore. Let’s be more than friends.” 

A breath. 

“Let’s be enemies.” 

          Oda didn’t want any chocolate. After that jarring revelation he just wanted to leave the box with Dazai to scoff as he pleased and return to his apartment sans company. His mood for any kind of festivity had been curbed completely. But with Dazai practically forcing a candy into his mouth, Oda slowly opened up and let the piece tumble in, chewing reluctantly. It tasted like ash in his mouth, he couldn’t feel any sweetness of the filling leaking onto his tongue at all. 

          Only once he swallowed did the taste of chocolate finally seep through and out of the blue, he felt light again. As if Dazai’s gutting comments had fluttered out of his mind, more meaningless than trash surfing on a gust of wind. The other man hadn’t meant what he’d said, it was impossible. They couldn’t ever, ever hate each other.

❝Surely...❞ He all but purred, hand climbing up the front seam of Dazai’s tan jacket, curling into a loose bandage end.

❝There’s some way I could make it up to you?❞

“I prefer handmade chocolates to store bought ones. Especially if the woman preparing them adds  a personal touch. The absolute best flavor is poison added by a jealous lover.” 

Dazai considered both love and death to be the two most compelling forces. He loved women, he loved dying, and he especially loved women who wanted to kill him. That was why valentines day was one of his favorite days of the year. He really was scum.

Of course Odasaku did not want to kill him. He was just a friend. His feelings could never go that deep, because the man in front of him had chosen to die with a stranger instead of live with Dazai. Dazai took the chocolate nonchalantly and ate it. The tall and thin man built like a scarecrow in a long brown overcoat looked somehow like a scrawny child standing next to Oda. He was suddenly a child again, and Odasaku was his only friend.  The eighteen year old who knew everything, and the only person who could understand him. No, it was more like, Odasaku was the only person on earth. 

“Odasaku, you died…” Dazai’s eyes narrowed. “You died with someone else, instead of dying with me. I hate you Odasaku.” 

          Oda didn’t expect a thank you, so the retort to his offer is taken with a grain of salt as with most things when it came down to Dazai. He still smiled when the other took the chocolate and popped it into his mouth, because Oda was happy he’d done so, simply. However, his smile was short lived, vanishing sharply as though it had been slapped off his face by his companion’s bandaged hands.

          He knew Dazai resented him for dying under the conditions that he had. It wouldn’t be the first time the very same topic became a point of contention between them. But never before had Dazai claimed to hate him for it and Oda was uncertain how to counter the heated profession.

❝W-what...?❞ 

          His usually cool, even tone comes out baffled. Dazai, an empty man, a man who couldn’t feel like the rest of the humans around him, was suddenly experiencing raw emotion and it was directed straight towards him. Hate. It felt worse than being punched in the gut by ten fists at once. Even the wounds tearing through his body as he’d bled out in Dazai’s arms didn’t sting as badly as those three words just had.

❝Is that how you really feel then, Dazai?❞

          Originally, it’d felt odd proposing they attend a festival named ‘Hearts Wake’ together. Oda wouldn’t have been surprised if Dazai already had plans with someone more appropriate for a holiday themed around romantic love. But after hearing claims that Hearts Wake was meant for celebrating relationships of all kinds, deepening bonds, he figured it might not be a bad idea. 

          It’s not that they had bad blood to resolve between them, at least Oda didn’t think so, or much to deepen in the first place. They were friends and regardless of anything, it was a nice day out and the array of treats and incense permeating the air was...pleasant. Oda can’t remember the last time ( if ever ) he’d visited something like this and it wasn’t long before he was tempted by some DevoLine candy hearts of which he purchased a modest sized box to share. 

❝Dazai.❞