Work Text:
Rain patters gently against the windows of the Armed Detective Agency offices. The sun has dipped below the horizon, leaving the Yokohama skyline lit only by occasional flashes of lightning, and thunder rumbles low overhead as Kunikida moves quietly back and forth through the office. Almost all of his colleagues have long since clocked out for the evening with the exception of Dazai, who has passed out at his desk once again with his headphones in place. Kunikida can’t bring himself to be annoyed at him, though. They're all exhausted after this last case, after all, and that must go double for Dazai.
(Their target kidnapped him to prove a point, strapping a time bomb to his chest and leaving him to die in an abandoned construction site across town. It was only Ranpo’s quick intervention that allowed Kunikida to rescue him in time.
"I mean, an explosion’s not my preferred way to go," Dazai had laughed as Kunikida frantically worked to disarm the damned thing, "since it seems like it’ll hurt a lot, but death is death, y'know? Better me than someone like Kunikida-kun.")
In any case, he's safe now, sprawled across his desk where Kunikida can keep an eye on him. Most of the office lights are off to allow him to rest properly, although Kunikida has left one or two on so that he can continue his work. Sorting the evidence from the case for storage isn’t an imperative task, per se, and it could likely be left to the morning, but the menial task is calming and Kunikida’s nerves are shot. Besides, as long as he and Dazai are both here, Kunikida can watch over him (and reassure himself that nothing else has gone wrong, childish as such a need is).
He thought he was prepared for the heightened stress he knew would accompany dating Dazai, but it turns out saving your boyfriend from a life-or-death situation is a far more frightening prospect when the danger isn’t self-inflicted.
Lightning illuminates the room for a fraction of a second, immediately followed by a crack of thunder loud enough to rattle the windows and jerk Kunikida violently out of his thoughts. He whirls on instinct to check on Dazai, but Dazai merely shifts to spread further across the desk with a disgruntled mutter. Kunikida wonders briefly how loud the music in his headphones must be to block out the thunder, but dismisses the thought as soon as it occurs to him. Dazai's far more likely to be listening to some odd wiretap or another, or else just wearing them unplugged for comfort's sake. Kunikida had only caught him listening to actual music once, something raw and desperate and angry that Dazai waved off as "an old friend’s awful taste".
Still, out of a lingering sense of curiosity, Kunikida wanders over to where Dazai is sleeping and leans down, careful not to disturb him. As expected, there isn’t even the faintest hint of music playing through the headphones. Kunikida straightens up again and gives Dazai the bemused look that’s become all too common on his face as of late.
Dazai is terribly beautiful when he's sleeping. He's always beautiful, even when sopping wet from an impulse dive into the river, but there's something especially lovely about him when he's not bouncing around and planning his next catastrophe. His breaths come soft and slow, the picture of quiet serenity. Kunikida leans down and presses a kiss into his wavy hair. His eyelashes flutter, but he doesn't seem to wake. "You did very well," Kunikida murmurs to him. "I'm glad you made it back safe."
"Are you concussed, Kunikida-kun?" Dazai asks without opening his eyes. Kunikida jumps in surprise and stumbles backwards.
He lets out a slow breath. "Sorry, did I wake you?"
"No, I wasn't sleeping," Dazai assures him lightly. He sits up and stretches his arms above his head. His back pops loudly, the aftereffects of being tied to a chair for hours, but Dazai doesn't seem to register it even as Kunikida winces. "I'm just very good at pretending.” He looks around the office, as if just noticing his missing coworkers. “Are you still hard at work? It’s gotten pretty late.”
“I figured I’d finish this while I waited for you to wake up,” he says. If he admits to Dazai that he enjoys the mindless tasks that accompany the end of a case, he’ll be teased until the end of time. “...Though that was absolutely pointless.” Dazai smiles at him cheerfully, unrepentant. “Now I guess I’m just waiting out the storm.”
Dazai glances past Kunikida to watch the rain beat steadily onwards. Lightning streaks across the sky behind him, and Dazai makes an appreciative sound. “Night-time storms are fun,” he hums. “It’s nice to watch them while nursing a hot drink, or so I’ve heard.”
“It is,” Kunikida agrees. “...You’ve never tried it?”
“Never bothered.” Dazai hops out of his chair, sending it rolling backwards. “But there’s no time like the present! And since Kunikida-kun is working hard as always, I’ll be the dutiful housewife and make him tea!” He scampers off into the break room before Kunikida can interject. He shakes his head as the light in the break room flicks on, but he can’t quite manage to keep the smile off his face. Dazai seems to be handling things alright, even if he’s making far more noise than could reasonably be expected from someone preparing tea.
A crack of thunder nearly drowns out the commotion and Kunikida sighs, turning back to work with Dazai’s frenetic movement as background noise.
Dazai reappears soon after with two mugs of tea. He sets one down quietly on Kunikida’s desk and the other on his own before plopping down in his desk chair, sending it spinning. Kunikida sits down in his own seat, picking up the mug with both hands and blowing on it quietly.
Dazai scoots back up and takes a sip out of his own, wincing as it burns his tongue. He scrunches his face in pain, and Kunikida is possessed by the immense desire to kiss the tiny wrinkles that form on his nose. “You alright?” he asks instead.
“It’th hot,” Dazai complains, sticking out his burnt tongue. Kunikida chuckles. Dazai tilts his head down slightly, giving Kunikida a smile through his overgrown bangs, and for a moment they can both pretend that there was never any threat to their lives.
Much as Kunikida would like to let the moment last, he figures it’s more important to assuage Dazai’s concerns. He takes a sip of his tea and leans back in his chair. “To answer your earlier question, I’ve already been cleared by Yosano-sensei. No concussion, no major injuries to worry about.” They’d both made it out relatively unharmed, considering the circumstances. Kunikida considers it a blessing.
He expects Dazai to offer him a relieved smile, perhaps, or more likely some sort of odd joke about how tragic it is that they couldn’t die together. Instead Dazai makes a dubious noise over the rim of his mug. “Are you sure?” he asks, tone teasing.
“I…yes? I’m fairly sure I don’t have a concussion that Yosano-sensei missed, Dazai.” Kunikida frowns at Dazai. “What’s this about?”
“Oh, nothing,” Dazai hums, as another flash of lightning dances across his eyes. “Kunikida-kun was just saying some terribly strange things earlier, that’s all.”
Ah, so Dazai is just teasing him. Kunikida feels heat creeping up his neck, and he presses his mug of tea to his lips. “I thought you were asleep,” he mutters defensively.
“That’s exactly it!” Dazai exclaims, startling Kunikida. He reaches across the desk to tap Kunikida’s nose with his finger, and Kunikida nearly goes cross-eyed trying to follow it. “That’s what’s so strange! Kunikida-kun, you’re not going to get any benefit out of saying nice things to me if I’m not awake to hear them!” He sounds amused, like a parent telling their child something that should be obvious.
Kunikida frowns at him. “I’m not looking for any sort of benefit, though?” he questions. “I just love you and think you deserve to be told nice things sometimes.”
Dazai ducks his head, eyes hidden behind his bangs once more, and Kunikida realizes a moment too late that this is a capital-T Thing. “Like I said, it’s weird,” Dazai mutters.
Kunikida can’t think of anything to say. The idea that Dazai might find honest compliments strange — certainly, he can be annoying, but he’s clever and witty and beautiful – it’s such a difficult thing for Kunikida to wrap his head around. His brows knit together, pity and concern and confusion all tied up in a knot in his chest. “Dazai...”
Dazai reaches forward with both hands towards Kunikida and plucks the glasses from his face before he can protest. He folds them up neatly and sets them on his own desk before spinning his chair to watch the storm, back to Kunikida.
Kunikida sighs and picks up his tea again. “Why.”
“You’re prettier without your glasses.”
“But you’re not even looking at me,” Kunikida argues. “You’re staring out the window.”
“Because you’re too pretty!” Dazai insists. “If I look directly at you I might be purified!”
Kunikida squints at him. “Purified of what, exactly?”
“My laziness!” Dazai whirls his chair back around, though Kunikida can’t really see him in the dark without his glasses. “It’s my charm point, you know.”
“Oh, go to hell,” Kunikida huffs, but there’s no bite in it.
They fall into a comfortable silence, drinking their tea as the storm blows on. The thunder has begun to fade into a distant rumble, the windows ceasing to rattle with the force of it. Kunikida realizes after a few moments of silence – always too late, when it’s important – that Dazai has successfully distracted him from Talking About It. He knows he should have expected this result, since Dazai would rather bleed to death than be honest about his feelings. Still, it’s frustrating. Kunikida wants to help somehow, but he can’t even begin to pinpoint the source of the problem, even less how to do anything about it.
Dazai catches him brooding as he finishes the last of his tea and leans forward, elbows on the desk. “Are we going to stay here all night?” he prods. “It might ruin your perfect sleep schedule.”
Kunikida sighs and sets his own mug down. “With everything that happened today, I doubt I’ll be getting much sleep anyway. But yes,” he stands, taking his own mug as well as Dazai’s, “I’ll be leaving soon. I can finish this in the morning.” After a moment of pause, he remembers Dazai still has his glasses and swipes those back too.
“You’re such a hard worker,” Dazai teases Kunikida’s back as Kunikida carries the mugs to the break room. “My brain doesn’t function until noon at the earliest. I can’t get anything done in the morning.”
Kunikida turns in the doorway to glare at Dazai. “Believe me,” he says drily, “I know.” He turns into the break room, washing out the mugs so he can put them back where they belong. It doesn’t take long, and when he returns, Dazai is right where Kunikida left him.
However, while he was gone, all the evidence he had yet to sort seems to have mysteriously been cleaned up and locked away in its proper place, ready to be continued in the morning. Kunikida glances at Dazai, who is sprawled out on his desk again, and smiles softly. “Let’s go,” he calls. “You were the one complaining about spending the night here, so don’t hold me up.”
“Okaaay,” Dazai sings, hauling himself out of his chair and flouncing over to meet Kunikida.
“I was thinking of seeing if there’s anywhere still open for dinner, if you’d like to come along,” Kunikida offers as they make their way to the door. “I don’t think either of us ate.”
"Are you offering to pay?" There's a spark in Dazai's eyes that Kunikida knows he can't resist.
He rolls his eyes, all feigned reluctance. "Well, I suppose since you did almost die, it couldn't hurt to treat you.”
Dazai throws his arms around Kunikida. "Kunikida-kun's going to celebrate me almost dying!" he cheers. "He really does love me!"
"I'm celebrating that you didn’t die, idiot!" he snaps, but it's a losing battle and he knows it. He sighs and detaches Dazai’s limbs from where they’ve entangled themselves around him. “Here, let’s just go while the storm is still quiet.” He unlocks the office door and holds it open for Dazai, who offers an exaggerated bow in response as he slips through.
Watching Dazai’s back, Kunikida is caught by a sudden impulse once more. He lets this one take hold, catching Dazai by the arm and spinning him back around to face him properly.
Kunikida kisses him on the forehead and Dazai freezes, shock and something Kunikida can’t name taking hold.
Kunikida presses his forehead to Dazai’s. "I did mean what I said before," he murmurs. "I'm glad you made it back safely. I don't know what I would have done otherwise."
There’s a few beats of silence before Dazai steps back, averting his eyes. “Kunikida-kun, that’s dangerous,” he says with a vaguely nervous laugh. When he looks up again, his normal smirk is back in place. “If you’re not careful, I might just fall in love with you.”
Kunikida rolls his eyes as he steps through the door to join Dazai. “God forbid,” he snorts, shutting the door behind him.