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Atsushi was terrified.
His hands were chained above his head, the metal cold on his wrists the same it was on his back that was pressed uncomfortably against a wall covered in grime. Awareness of his limbs was the first thing that came back to him as he awoke, the numbness in his hands, the tingling that ran down his arms and legs, it was awful.
Atsushi dared to try and open one of his heavy eyelids, peeking out to scan the small and cramped grey room he was in before both of his eyes flew open.
“Now that you’re awake,” A rough voice came from beside him, “Gonna warn ya’, they’re about to do some fucked up shit.”
He swung his head to the side to see Chuuya sitting next to him, arms bound around his body with thick rope, a metal collar around his neck, bleeding from an open wound on his forehead. Aside from their current predicament, he looked completely at ease, face relaxed, body showing no tension as if they weren’t locked together in a literal torture room.
All the events from their mission together flooded his mind the second his eyes locked with Chuuya’s mismatched ones.
They had been paired up because of their differing abilities, how they’d work well together when faced with a rogue group of ability-users that were hard to track down. It had also been tossed around that Chuuya was going to be needed on this case, Ranpo muttered something about gravity being their only advantage.
Atsushi hadn’t been formally acquainted with his mentor’s former partner, only hearing stories about the man he was currently chained next to. Stories that had changed over time, how he was a ruthless Port Mafia Executive who everyone should fear, how he could bring the city down with a flick of his wrist, how he saved Yosano from being executed, how he jumped out of a plane and pretended to be a vampire to save Dazai.
Chuuya was an enigma to him, and Atsushi wasn’t comfortable with things he couldn’t figure out. In honesty, Atsushi was quite terrified of the man next to him; he was confident in his abilities and strength but Chuuya was on a completely different level, the only person who could actually be a threat to the Agency all put together. He silently was grateful it had never come to that, Chuuya disappearing or the game changing when he would be the one to front the Mafia in their earlier hatred towards the Agency.
Atsushi shook himself from his thoughts and focused on the situation at hand- held hostage with a Port Mafia Executive.
“What happened?” Atsushi asked, trying to hide his nervousness.
Chuuya huffed, “Fifth member came outta nowhere, knocked you down and well… here we are.”
“So how’d you get captured then?” Atsushi questioned because being able to get hands on an Executive was almost unheard of unless it was part of a greater plan the Mafia had concocted.
Footsteps shuffled outside of the door and Chuuya didn’t respond to his question, instead changing the conversation, “Look kid, this might get ugly, let me do the talking.”
“What? Why? I can handle myself.” Atsushi hissed, keeping his voice low now that there were confirmed people outside the room.
“Don’t doubt it,” Chuuya commented easily before refocusing his gaze on the door, “But this has the potential to get real fucked up.”
Before Atsushi could respond, the door swung open to reveal a burly man, dressed in an awful suit with a crowbar in his hand. He was huge, a smug look on his face as he approached with a pungent smell that engulfed the room.
“What a time this is gonna be,” He smiled, leaning down to smash the crowbar across Chuuya’s face, “Too bad I didn’t find you with your pathetic little partner, but he’ll do.”
Chuuya’s head snapped to the side, Atsushi watching with wide eyes as the man barely even flinched, spitting out a glob of blood before turning his head to face the man, “Satoshi.”
“Don’t bother trying to ‘crush me with gravity’ or whatever it is you say,” The man’s- Satoshi’s, voice dropped an octave, “That collar ‘round your neck cancels out your ability, both of them.”
“Who said I need ‘em for a bitch like you?” Chuuya spit.
Satoshi smiled and gripped Chuuya’s jaw before he harshly tugged his face away, “Aw, so confident now that you’re an Executive, I can’t wait to destroy you.”
The crowbar was slamming back into Chuuya’s face before Atsushi could even see the blow coming, “Did you forget what happened in that warehouse all those years ago?” Satoshi taunted, driving a knee up into Chuuya’s stomach, “You and that freak demolished my team, and now you have to pay for it.”
“Fuck you.” Chuuya spoke, his voice steady and angry as if he wasn’t actively being hit.
“And you,” Satoshi averted his gaze to meet Atsushi’s, “I’ve heard about you, the tiger with a bounty on its head,” He contemplated for a moment before a smile broke out on his face, “I could use you as the perfect bargaining chip.”
Atsushi’s blood ran cold, body doused in ice.
“That all you got?” Chuuya chuckled, licking the blood from his lips, “You’ve gotten weak.”
Satoshi grabbed Chuuya’s shoulders and tossed him on the floor, landing a hard kick into his spine. Chuuya, true to his nature, didn’t even flinch. Atsushi struggled against his cuffs, body instinctively trying to escape, but they wouldn’t budge.
“The game has changed, Executive,” Satoshi taunted, his shoe connecting with Chuuya’s face, “You belong to me now.”
Chuuya had been right, this was about to get fucked up.
—
Hours had passed, Atsushi assumed, he couldn’t really tell.
Satoshi had finally left the room with promises of returning with a fun activity, Atsushi was not looking forward to whatever it was if their time locked in here hadn’t been proof enough of what a monster the man was.
He tried not to look down at Chuuya, but it was almost impossible not to. He was laying in a pool of his own blood, face red and beginning to bruise, a stab wound on his thigh wouldn’t stop flowing and his hair was matted and clinging to his hidden face. Atsushi couldn’t help but feel awful for the Executive, someone who thrived in the power he held, now being reduced to a pile of bones and blood in front of him.
Throughout the torture Satoshi had put Chuuya through, every time he got close to Atsushi, Chuuya would somehow redirect his attention to him. Through taunting, quips, reminders of whatever had happened in that warehouse years ago. Atsushi had pieced it together, sometime during Dazai and Chuuya’s partnership they took down their organization and Satoshi was able to escape at some point.
Now, he wanted revenge.
“Kid,” Chuuya’s hoarse voice cut through the fog in his mind, “You see a pair of keys on his pants?”
Truthfully, Atsushi hadn’t even been looking. The torture Chuuya had just endured was brutal, he was surprised the man was even talking.
“I didn’t,” Atsushi sucked in a breath, “Nakahara-san… are you alright?”
Chuuya snorted and cough, spitting more blood on the floor before responding, “Feelin’ fuckin’ amazing,” He lifted his head to look at Atsushi, “Don’t let him get to ya’, he’s a piece of work.”
“What’s his goal with this?” Atsushi asked.
“Revenge,” Chuuya dropped his head back down and struggled against his own restraints, “Shoulda killed him when I had the chance.”
“How are we going to get out of here?”
“We’re not,” Chuuya breathed, shifting onto his back, “I’m sure that crafty mentor of yours is thinkin’ of ways to get us outta this, we just gotta trust him.”
“You still trust him?” Atsushi found himself asking, eyes wide.
Chuuya leveled him, his brown eye covered in blood and his blue one hazy from a torn iris. His face showed no pain, looking almost relaxed and at ease in the situation if Atsushi didn’t look hard enough. He could see the white-knuckle grip Chuuya had on his arms, bound against his chest in an uncomfortable position, his legs that were spasming slightly, the sheer amount of blood he’d lost.
“‘Course,” Chuuya responded, refocusing his eyes on the ceiling, “He wouldn’t leave ya’ to die like this.”
“Me?”
The door swung open before Chuuya could respond, this time Satoshi wasn’t alone, accompanied by another man who wheeled in a medical cart. Atsushi saw Chuuya’s body go rigid as he sat up, hopping off the floor with newfound energy.
Chuuya landed a kick on Satoshi in an instant, the other man crumpling to the ground as Chuuya jumped towards the newcomer. Satoshi fumbled with his pants pocket and Chuuya dropped to the ground, seizing and grabbing at the collar around his neck, electricity popping loudly in the air.
“Headstrong,” Satoshi commented as he stood, “But you’ll submit to that.”
“What are you doing to him?” Atsushi yelled, voice raw as he struggled against the cuffs.
“That collar doesn’t just cancel out abilities,” Satoshi waved a small device in his hand with a smile, wiping his mouth with his sleeve, “Enough volts to kill a normal human, too bad he isn’t either of those things.”
“What?” Atsushi screamed. Chuuya had looked like he could handle the torture from before, taking each kick, hit, punch and smack with the crowbar like he’d done it a thousand times over, but this was different.
He was still seizing on the ground, eyes blown wide and mouth stuck open as his hands gripped the collar around his neck, red fizzling out over his skin as he tried and failed to activate Tainted.
“You wanna try it next?” Satoshi smiled as he shut off the collar around Chuuya’s neck.
Chuuya sputtered, sucking in a breath as he collapsed back into his pool of blood, chest rapidly expanding and contracting.
“Don’t you fuckin’ dare,” Chuuya bit, teeth chattering from the adrenaline drop.
“Your wish is my command.”
Electricity jolted through Atsushi instantaneously.
—
“-ushi.”
“Can you hear me?”
“Atsushi!”
Atsushi could barely feel his limbs, awareness of his body completely gone as he tried to focus on the familiar voice. He couldn’t tell where he was, or why he was in so much pain, his arms numb as they sat in what he assumed was his lap.
He tried to open his eyes but there was a ringing in his ears that was making it impossible to do so.
“C’mon, Atsushi,” Someone was shaking his shoulders, head falling forward without a spine to hold it up, “Wake up!”
Atsushi was underwater and there was no swimming upward. Bits and pieces of the events came back slowly, being sent on an assignment with Chuuya, the nervousness of working with him, getting ambushed by a member of the group they didn’t know existed, Chuuya getting beaten down, shocked, electricity infecting his system, drugs being pumped into Chuuya’s system, more electricity.
Finally, Atsushi was able to peel open his eyes, vision hazy as he tried to look around. Someone was in his face, a person he recognized but a name he couldn’t remember. Through the blurriness, he could see two figures kneeling on the ground where Chuuya had been laying in his own blood. The last time he remembered seeing the Executive, he had been shaking uncontrollably from the shock collar being turned on for a ridiculous amount of time.
The ringing in his ears didn’t stop as hands started grabbing at him, lifting him from his seated position. His legs gave out from under him and the strong being held him up, letting Atsushi rest all his weight on him.
They were probably taking him to his death.
—
Kunikida propped Atsushi up, the boy dead weight against him as his body went completely lax.
“C’mon, Chuuya,” Dazai was trying to hold it together on the floor, “Wake up!”
He’d never seen his partner act this way, practically tearing down the Agency trying to work with Ranpo on how to find Chuuya and Atsushi’s whereabouts. They hadn’t reported back and Dazai had gotten a bad feeling, Ranpo busting into the office at the same time, and nine hours later, they had stood in front of the abandoned medical facility to run a rescue mission.
“We need to move him,” Yosano commented, her voice knowledgeable and rushed, “Get this thing off his neck first.”
Dazai pulled one of his pins from his bandages and tried to pick the lock on the collar, a frustrated look overtaking his face when he realized it wasn’t working, “Satoshi knew I used this trick,” he continued trying, “It won’t come off.”
“We need to find the controller,” Yosano looked around the room, “Where’d they take him?”
“He’s being apprehended in the hallway.” Kunikida supplied and Yosano shot up to find him.
Kunikida took in the room for a moment, the sheer amount of blood that was drenching the floor, the Executive lifeless on the ground, his coworker limp in his arms. It was grotesque and disgusting, a vile feeling snaking its way into his chest. He’d seen terrible things but this was high up on the list. Regret was sour in his mouth- he should’ve pushed harder to come on this assignment, should’ve scheduled himself in so they’d have another person to help.
But Chuuya was unbelievably strong- for him to take the brunt of this didn’t make any sense.
“Why didn’t Nakahara…” Kunikida tried to find the right words, “Destroy this place?”
“Ability cancelling collar,” Dazai replied without looking up, “Bound arms, being shocked like a dog, you do the math.”
“Still, Nakahara is untouchable.” Kunikida thought out loud, watching as Dazai’s shoulders tensed at his wording.
“And someone who foolishly puts protection over his own safety,” Dazai’s eyes didn’t leave his former partner, “Probably why Atsushi is alive.”
“You’re telling me a Port Mafia Executive put himself on the line so Atsushi wouldn’t be in his position?” Kunikida asked, “I don’t believe that.”
“You don’t have to,” Dazai turned to look at him slowly, “But you’re looking at the aftermath.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.” Kunikida shifted Atsushi’s weight so the boy was fully leaning against him.
“Satoshi had history with Chuuya,” Dazai’s eyes were cold, “And Chuuya is frustrating.”
Yosano rushed back into the room with a small device in her hands. She knelt back down next to Dazai and fumbled with the device, trying to find a way to get it off of him.
“There should be a button on here that’ll disable the lock,” She said, flipping it over in her hands.
“I’m going to move Atsushi outside,” Kunikida stated as he began moving, “I’ll contact the Mafia to retrieve Nakahara.”
“Don’t,” Dazai ordered, giving no further explanation.
“You’re busy,” Kunikida explained, “They’ll want to know why their Executive has been missing.”
“I said don’t,” Dazai barked, head whipping around to meet Kunikida’s eyes, “I’ll contact them.”
“But-”
“I’m more acquainted with them, remember?” Dazai’s face was dark, cunning, “I’ll contact them, worry about Atsushi.”
Kunikida didn’t want to relent but he sighed, “Fine.”
He tried to maneuver them out of the room before loud sounds of electricity popping filled the space. Kunikida quickly looked over to see Chuuya convulsing on the floor, hands weakly grabbing at the collar around his neck as his coworkers frantically messed with the control device.
“Fuck!” Yosano cursed, “This thing is goddamn impossible.”
“It’s programmed to shock before shutting off,” Dazai explained as he took the device from her hands. He looked down at his partner and grabbed his upper arm, trying to steady him; it didn’t work.
“Stabalize his head,” Yosano ordered, but Dazai was already on it. She moved quickly down to his legs to secure them, having to put her full body weight into it. Dazai lifted Chuuya’s head and placed it on his lap, hands reaching down to steady his shoulders.
Chuuya choked, eyes blown wide as the electricity finally died off and the collar clicked to unlock, popping open with a hiss. Dazai wasted no time snatching it off of Chuuya’s neck and tossing it across the room, bending over the man as his eyes unconsciously shut again.
“Chuuya?” Dazai asked, trying to keep his voice even, “Can you hear me?”
There was no indication Chuuya had heard him, body completely boneless on the ground.
“We need to move him,” Yosano released his legs, “Kunikida get Atsushi back to the Agency, I’ll stay with Dazai.”
“They’ll send someone to retrieve him,” Kunikida pointed out, “Are you sure you want to be here when they do?”
“I’m fine,” She assured, voice becoming anxious, “Go, now.”
Kunikida listened and pulled Atsushi out of the room.
“I’m not going to pretend you’ll contact Mori,” Yosano whispered once Kunikida was out of earshot, “So don’t try and lie to me.”
Dazai didn’t outright respond to her statement, “What did they give him?”
“A paralytic,” She said, “Hopefully vercuronium and not roc.”
Dazai nodded as she moved away from Chuuya and put hands under his arms, pulling him up as he stood. It was difficult- Chuuya was pure muscle, but the adrenaline coursing through Dazai’s body was enough to get them standing.
He was full of unadulterated anger, a dangerous protectiveness swirling around in his chest as he held his partner up. Chuuya was untouchable, ruthless and way too strong for his own good, the fact he was practically lifeless against Dazai’s chest was awful. Dazai wanted to put a bullet through Satoshi’s skull, right between the eyes, just like he should have all those years ago.
Chuuya had no doubt provoked him, able to deduce their situation faster than Atsushi and understand neither of them were getting out without a fight. With the ability disabling collar and bound arms, it would’ve been impossible for him to even put up a good fight.
From the looks of Satoshi’s face though, it looked like he had tried.
There was no universe where someone as powerful as his partner should be bloodied and unconscious on the floor, no timeline where his coworkers should’ve ever seen him like this.
“Dazai,” Yosano pulled him from his head, “We’re taking him back to the Agency.”
“He’d prefer-”
“Shut the hell up,” She narrowed her eyes at him, “Drop the act and let’s go.”
Dazai wanted to respond but Chuuya began convulsing in his arms, head lolling to the side as he vibrated against his chest. Dazai dropped to the ground within an instant, keeping Chuuya’s head in his lap as the man shook.
“Seizure,” Yosano stated, “Gotta ride this out.”
He looked down to the man in his lap, bringing his arms forward to lightly rest on his chest. Chuuya was pale, blood coating his face, neck, body, god it was everywhere. Dazai had seen people look like this and usually they were already dead, to see it now on the man he committed his life to was devastating. There was nothing on his body that was redeemable, no amount of stain remover would cure this if they even got that far. Chuuya was resilient, but Dazai wasn’t naive- he knew just how bad this was.
“Talk to him,” Yosano spoke as she came to kneel by Chuuya’s chest, eyes locking with Dazai’s.
“I’m not going to do that,” Dazai tried to act nonchalantly to save face, but his hands twitched on Chuuya’s chest, “He’ll pull through.”
“I’m serious,” She kept her voice even, not letting any emotion seep into it, “It might help.”
“He’s hard to kill,” Dazai replied, his body betraying him as he smoothed a hand down Chuuya’s chest, “Plus there’s something in him that wants him to stay alive.”
“I don’t give a shit about that right now,” Yosano was frustrated now, flicking her eyes down to the man who once stood in the open hatch of a helicopter and saved her life, “He needs someone he can recognize.”
Dazai looked back down to Chuuya, who was seizing uncontrollably on the ground. In any other circumstance, he’d already have them out of here, the exposure too vulnerable to either of them. He’d seen Chuuya bloody and beaten like this before, and he had quickly gotten him to safety. Now, he didn’t have that kind of luxury.
They were private, the fact he had shown so much raw emotion to his coworkers already while worried about Chuuya and Atsushi’s whereabouts was already too much for him. It had taken an extreme amount of caution and care to keep their personal partnership out of their organizations, saving face was becoming more and more difficult.
“He wouldn’t recognize me.” Dazai stated.
“You’re impossible,” Yosano sighed as she moved to steady Chuuya’s legs again, the seizure still keeping him in a chokehold.
It took another thirty seconds before the seizure died off and left Chuuya twitching on the floor, Dazai’s hardened face staring down at him as his breathing returned to somewhat normal. Dazai lifted him again and the rest was a blur, he couldn’t remember getting to the car, the winding hallways of the building nothing but a mapped memory.
Dazai’s only thought was getting Chuuya to safety.
The man was small in his arms, smaller than usual. Chuuya was usually a bright and burning fire, taking up space with his personality alone and now, unconscious and injured, Dazai couldn’t help but become even more protective of the man in his arms.
Yosano sped through the streets, uncaring for any traffic laws as she did so. Dazai didn’t have the mind to think through it, just why his coworker was so hellbent on trying to get them to the Agency, why she wasn’t turning her back on Chuuya and leaving him for the Mafia to collect.
“Hu-” Chuuya made a noise, eyes struggling against his lids as he writhed in pain.
“Chuuya,” Dazai tried again, keeping his voice steady, “Can you hear me?”
“D-” Chuuya went lax again and began shaking, the whites of his eyes visible from where his eyelids were parted.
“Yosano!” Dazai couldn’t keep his panic down now as Chuuya started fully seizing again.
“Keep him steady,” She ordered, not looking back at them as she continued weaving through the streets, “Hold his head and neck.”
Dazai did as he was told, trying to keep Chuuya from rolling onto the floor of the car as he continued to shake. He could feel Chuuya stop breathing only to suck more air in and continue the cycle, chest clenching and unclenching.
For someone with a plan for every plan’s plan, Dazai was falling short of the mark here.
“C’mon Chuuya,” Dazai tried, remembering Yosano’s words from earlier, “You’ve got to break into that jail and kill Satoshi for yourself, you need to stop.”
Yosano flicked her eyes from the road to the rearview mirror where she could see her coworker bent over his former partner, body emitting a kind of anxiety she’d never seen before.
Dazai’s gaze didn’t leave Chuuya’s face as he spoke, “C’mon.”
Chuuya didn’t stop convulsing, his body jerking upward only to fall back down onto Dazai’s lap. His gloved hands were permanently flexed by his side, muscles unable to relax as the seizure rocked through him.
“Chuuya,” Dazai breathed, brushing a few strands of hair out of Chuuya’s face, “You’ve gotta pull through this.”
It took another minute for Chuuya’s body to relent and collapse, chest heaving from the lack of oxygen he’d had. Dazai wanted to punch through the window; his partner should not be in this state. He should’ve been on the assignment, he should’ve known something would go wrong, should’ve been quicker with finding their location.
Yosano swerved into the Agency parking lot and practically threw the car into park, not bothering to shut it off as she exited and rounded the vehicle to open the back door. Dazai gathered Chuuya in his arms and ran inside, uncaring that he was leaving Yosano high and dry.
It had gotten worse and keeping his bravado was getting more difficult. He needed to get them to his dorm, needed to get them back to Chuuya’s apartment, anywhere where there weren’t eyes prying into Chuuya’s vulnerable state.
Dazai was accustomed to his own paranoia but now it was tenfold. Without Chuuya conscious, anyone could get to them, anyone could get to Chuuya. Nobody else was allowed around his partner while he was out cold, Dazai was the only person alive granted such a power.
“Infirmary, now.” Yosano ran after him, heels slamming against the ground with vigor.
“No,” Dazai bit, voice dipping back into something he hadn’t used in quite some time.
“Dazai, he needs emergency care,” She fought as she caught up with him, “I need to stop that bleeding and assess him.”
“You don’t need to do anything,” Dazai clutched Chuuya closer to his chest, hiding the man’s face in his neck.
“Nothing will happen to him,” Yosano’s voice dropped an octave, understanding the situation here, “Without medical attention and the addition of seizures, he could die.”
She watched Dazai’s hand grip harder on Chuuya’s waist and understood it- protectiveness. Not in a cute or sought after way but in a fashion that was drenched in bloodshed and trust, a bond that ran so deep nobody could penetrate it. Dazai wasn’t trying to be difficult, he was trying to protect, a job that was most likely always given to Chuuya.
Now, it seemed he wasn’t going to let his partner fall. Yosano could grasp that they'd never stopped being in each other’s corners but she’d be damned if the man who saved her from the Hunting Dogs bled out in Dazai’s dorm when she could stop it.
“Don’t let him down, Dazai,” Yosano stared him down, picking her words carefully, “Bring him to the infirmary, nobody will know.”
Dazai contemplated for a moment, looking down at Chuuya’s face before responding with a hesitant nod, “Fine.”
—
“Atsushi is recovering well.”
Dazai wasn’t moved by the words, although he was grateful the boy was doing good. It was obvious the most that had happened to him was getting shocked a few times, it didn’t hold a candle to the atrocities Chuuya had gone through in that room. Dazai chalked it up to being basic triage, but in reality he knew his selfish thoughts and willed them out of his mind.
“I’m glad,” Dazai spoke, voice monotone and eyes unmoving from the lump of his partner in the bed.
“He said Nakahara kept Satoshi away from him,” Yosano sat on the opposite side of the bed, staring at the top of Dazai’s hair, “Asked how he was doing.”
“Do they know he’s here?” Dazai asked.
“No,” Yosano assured, “I told him we’d get the Mafia report soon, do they know he’s here?”
“The people who need to know, know he’s safe.”
“Got it,” Yosano didn’t pry.
Dazai was silently appreciative of his coworker, the way she actively chose to understand the situation at hand, even if she didn’t know the full picture. Yosano had always been like that though, a little more introspective, able to look past the black and white of the world, seeing the grey area for what it was.
But Yosano, inwardly, wanted to ask a million questions. Dazai looked troubled, stiff in the plastic infirmary chair, elbows on his knees and hands laced in front of his mouth, eyes unmoving from Chuuya’s body. She wanted to know the details of their partnership, something that obviously hadn’t been long forgotten; she’d never seen Dazai look so wrecked.
“Any more seizures?” She asked instead of what she wanted to.
“Two,” Dazai admitted, refocusing his eyes to meet hers.
Yosano saw the depths of hell in them.
“Keep him here overnight,” She averted her gaze to the man lying in the cot, “Call me if anything happens, you can escape with him tomorrow just let me know how his vision is.”
“You’re funny.” Dazai replied, his tone of voice reserved.
Yosano stood to make her exit, “I’m serious.”
“I know.”
She gathered a few things from the cabinet, her hand stilling as she took in a breath. She looked over her shoulder at the Executive lying lifeless on the bed, blood dried and caked to his face, hands naked against the stark white sheets, her coworker staring through a ghost she couldn’t see.
It was difficult to grapple with Dazai, a man of theatrics, of very rare vulnerability, of plans and calculations, looking so lost under his facade of nothingness.
Yosano closed the cabinet and moved to leave, a hushed voice stopping her in her tracks.
“Thank you.”
—
Dazai stayed motionless for hours, the setting sun turning dark out of consequence rather than necessity.
Chuuya hadn’t moved, had barely shown any indication he was alive aside from the rise and fall of his chest. Dazai didn’t mind, he’d sit here for years if that’s what it took to watch his partner’s unconscious form when he couldn’t protect himself. He tried to will away the thoughts of self-hatred and regret, but it hadn’t worked.
He tried opening his mouth multiple times after Yosano left to just talk to Chuuya, but the words always fell short, getting caught somewhere between his throat and tongue, clenched between his teeth. It wasn’t a refusal- Dazai wanted to talk to Chuuya, but he wanted his partner to speak back, and it seemed he wasn’t going to get that.
The plastic chair was uncomfortable, Chuuya’s blood still clinging to his clothes but he wouldn’t dare move.
It was nearing one in the morning when Chuuya’s chest started to rattle and he shifted in the bed. Dazai shot up and was at his side within an instant.
“Chuuya?” Dazai allowed himself the tone he usually used when they were alone, something steady yet gentle.
Chuuya didn’t respond, but his eyes tried to open, face scrunching up in discomfort as he attempted to get a grip on his surroundings. He finally opened his eyes and stared through Dazai, one of his iris’ bleeding into the white of his eye, the other eye bloodshot. Chuuya tried to push himself up but Dazai placed a hand on his chest.
“You’re in the Agency’s infirmary,” Dazai explained, hoping his partner could hear him, “You’re safe.”
It didn’t seem like Chuuya had fully come back to his senses, eyes lazily moving around the room as he tried to ground himself.
Chuuya moved like lightning.
He was on his feet before Dazai could stop him, the only thing between them was the infirmary cot, which was encased in a red glow from Chuuya’s hand gripping the railing. Dazai raised his palms, showing that he had nothing to hurt his partner as the man stared back at him with wild and crazed eyes. Chuuya was using Tainted to hold himself up, the paralytic obviously hadn’t worn off if the shake in his legs was proof enough.
A dead man standing, a dead man who could reduce the building to ash if provoked.
“Chuuya,” Dazai said carefully, “It’s me, you’re alright.”
“Get the hell away from me!” Chuuya’s voice was hoarse, but the point was made nonetheless. He sounded vile and threatening, but Dazai knew what this was- Chuuya was afraid.
It took Dazai an embarrassing minute to realize Chuuya wasn’t even looking at him, but behind him, eyes shifted slightly to see through Dazai. The gears clicked in Dazai’s mind; Chuuya was hallucinating. It made sense, Yosano had given him a high dosage of painkillers, and that mixed with whatever paralytic he’d been given was enough to have this kind of side effect.
Dazai usually refused to take power away from Chuuya during any situation that wasn’t Corruption, but he was going to have to break that boundary for both of their sakes.
If he could get to him.
“What do you want from me?” Chuuya’s voice was strangled in his throat, the yell coming out all wrong.
“I don’t want anything from you, Chuuya,” Dazai tried, “There’s nobody else here but us.”
“Stop fuckin’ staring!” Chuuya roared, “Say something!”
The bed creaked under the amount of pressure Chuuya’s gravitational pull was putting on it.
“Hey,” Dazai took a step closer to his partner, “It’s just us.”
Chuuya didn’t move like he’d even seen him, continuing to stare directly into the space behind Dazai’s head, eyes narrowed on something that didn’t exist.
“There’s nobody else here.”
“Come at me, then!” Chuuya barked, body rigid.
Dazai moved with haste, lunging forward to grip onto Chuuya’s arm and disable his ability, taking both of them down in the process. Chuuya fought against him, writhing in his hold while practically snarling before he recognized the cool wash of No Longer Human in his body.
Chuuya panicked, “Dazai, we need to get out of here.”
“N-”
“They’re here, he’s here,” Chuuya twisted around in his hold, “Dazai…”
“Right here, Chuuya”
“Why can’t I see you?”
Before Dazai could stop him, Chuuya pulled himself from Dazai’s grip and stood, wobbly on his legs as he once again stared through Dazai. His busted iris seemed to have caused altered vision and Dazai couldn’t think of a worse combination of events to have happened. Held hostage, tortured for hours, shocked half to death, paralytic drugs injected in his system, seizures, and now hallucinations and missing pieces of vision.
“Your iris is torn,” Dazai tried to explain as he stood, “It-”
“He’s here, we need to go!”
“Chuuya,” Dazai pleaded, “Nobody is here except us.”
“Now, asshole! Or do you want to die like this?” Chuuya tried to grab him but his legs gave out underneath him, falling rapidly downwards until Dazai caught up.
Dazai took the opportunity to spin Chuuya and trap him, Chuuya’s back against Dazai’s chest as he brought heavy arms down across him, right where the restraints had been earlier.
“We need to go Dazai he’s fuckin’ coming!”
“Nobody is here.” Dazai repeated, holding down his restless partner.
Any other day, Dazai would not have been able to hold Chuuya down like this; Chuuya was stronger than him by a longshot. Dazai wasn’t weak per se but compared to the sheer physical strength of his partner, he didn’t stand a chance. But Chuuya was in a weakened state, full of pain and drugs, putting up a terrible fight against Dazai.
“Fuck!” Chuuya kept trying to get himself out of the grasp, “He’s right there.”
“It’s just us, Chuuya,” Dazai breathed, feeling his own chest constrict at the open anxiety in his partner’s voice, “What you’re seeing isn’t real.”
“Osamu.”
Dazai couldn’t hold back at that, he needed this to end, now. Chuuya was scared, body flinging against Dazai’s chest as he tried to escape and get both of them to a safety that wasn’t necessary.
“Why are you letting him get to me?” Chuuya asked as he continued trying to fight his way out.
Dazai bit his cheek at the words.
“Osamu why are you doing this?” Chuuya’s voice turned pained rather than panicked, staring blankly at a monster Dazai couldn’t fight off, “Please don’t do this to me.”
“I’m not doing anything to you, Chuuya,” Dazai sighed into his hair, breathing in the metallic scent, “I’m here with you.”
“You’re holding me down for him,” Chuuya was breathless, “Osamu, why?”
“Chuuya come back to me.”
“Please,” Chuuya sounded gone, “Please no, Osamu don’t do this to me.”
Dazai’s breath hitched, “Chuuya, please come back to me.”
“He’s right there!”
This was truly the worst case scenario and he wanted this to be over, he wanted his partner back. Dazai held onto his partner until his fight gave out as he laid boneless in Dazai’s arms again, head falling to the side with a string of pleas coming out until his eyes closed, peaceful under the moonlight finally.
Dazai let out a shaky breath as he readjusted the man in his arms. They couldn’t be here anymore, he didn’t care what medical advice he was about to go against. He waited a few more minutes before pulling Chuuya up into his arms and leaving the infirmary.
The office was pitch black, a stale scent in the air as Dazai carried Chuuya out of the Agency. It was a short walk back to his dorm, they couldn’t go to Chuuya’s apartment, no matter how badly Dazai wanted to, all he needed was to clean up his partner and wait out the night. Chuuya should return to normal after twenty four hours, hopefully, the drugs would be completely out of his system.
Knowing his singularity, they’d be out of his system quicker if he stayed asleep.
Dazai was quick to get them to his dorm, hidden under the cover of darkness, keen eyes on their surroundings at all times. He pushed his key into the door and closed it behind them with haste, flicking on the soft light by the door as he took in his surroundings.
He spent most of his time at Chuuya’s apartment, but this would have to do.
—
Chuuya shaking on top of him was the first warning that this was far from over.
Dazai had gotten him bathed and changed, whispering words into the still air as he took care of his partner the only way he knew how; it was usually Chuuya taking care of him. He’d selfishly held onto his partner in the cramped tub and washed his hair twice just so he wouldn’t wake up to the metallic smell. Dazai prayed to a lot of things- things that obviously hadn’t heard him.
“Chuu?” Dazai asked in a low voice, pulling on the lamp next to his tatami mat to illuminate the small space.
Chuuya was unresponsive, shaking just enough for worry to bloom in Dazai’s chest. He’d do anything to hear his partner’s voice, his only anchor in the world.
“Hey,” Dazai brushed back his hair and shifted them so Chuuya was lying on his back, “Wake up.”
There was still no response except Chuuya shaking harder, his eyes shooting open just to roll back into his head as he started convulsing. At this point, Dazai had seen Chuuya go through four seizures and he couldn’t handle it anymore. Satoshi needed to die, by Chuuya’s hands or his, it didn't matter.
“C’mon,” Dazai whispered as he moved to stabilize Chuuya’s head.
The seizure was worse than the rest, Chuuya’s breathing stopping completely only to come back a few moments later. Dazai knew he should text Yosano, Chuuya needed real medical attention, which wasn’t exactly something Dazai could give him.
“Come back to me, Chuuya.” Dazai openly pleaded, eyes fixed on his partner’s shaking form.
If the seizing continued for another full minute, Dazai would contact Yosano, so he counted and begged anything listening to make it stop.
—
Atsushi woke up to commotion from outside his dorm.
He turned to see the clock showing a little past three in the morning, his entire body on fire from the events of the day. Fear ran through him and forced him to stumble to his feet, whatever was causing the noise might be a threat, it could be Satoshi’s men or Satoshi himself, coming to follow through on his promise to use him as some lousy bargaining chip.
The Agency could need his help, someone could be injured and Atsushi would be damned if he let his exhaustion and pain stop him from helping the group that practically gave him life. He stumbled to the door and straightened himself before pushing it open.
Outside, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. There wasn’t a glow of light or an ability user, no screams of innocent people, just the cool air and rusted railing. Atsushi looked around, spotting the door to Dazai’s dorm propped open, looking as if someone had run in without closing it behind themselves.
He could hear voices coming from inside Dazai’s dorm and was hesitant to see what the ruckus was about. Still, Atsushi cared, and he wanted to help if it was a situation that called for it. Atsushi crept forward closer to Dazai’s dorm, trying to stay as quiet as possible in case it was an ambush situation of sorts.
“-just like that,” He heard Dazai’s muffled voice speak from inside, “Keep breathing.”
The sound of retching and something hitting the floor followed the words. Atsushi stood in front of the door and peered in through the crack.
Inside he could see straight into the small bathroom Dazai had, the door wide open, where his mentor’s back was visible, another figure leaning heavily into him. Atsushi recognized him immediately as Chuuya, the man who had taken the brunt of the torture, shaking uncontrollably, head tipped to the side with unseeing eyes, gripping onto Dazai’s pant leg like it was a lifeline.
He looked terrible, hair everywhere, face sweaty, body strangely small as it was braced against Dazai’s.
“You’ve got it, Chuuya,” Dazai leaned down against Chuuya’s head, “Breathe.”
Atsushi couldn’t believe the voice belonged to his mentor, a man who he assumed couldn’t sound gentle to save his life. Dazai had been steady, guiding even, but never gentle, hushed in the quiet space of his dorm bathroom with the enemy in his arms.
Chuuya moved unconsciously towards the toilet and another round of retching sounds flooded Atsushi’s ears. Atsushi could see the Executive’s back tense as he heaved into the toilet, arms shaking around the bowl as Dazai gathered his hair to hold it above his head with one hand, the other coming to run down Chuuya’s back. The sight had Atsushi’s head spinning, the care in Dazai’s form wasn’t something easily deduced as friendship or camaraderie, there was something else in it that he couldn’t place.
“‘Samu,” Chuuya’s voice was crushed in his windpipe, body still shaking.
Dazai perked up at the tone, the tension fleeing from his body the moment the other spoke. He moved fast then, bringing both hands down on Chuuya’s shoulders, rubbing circles into them.
“Yes,” Dazai breathed in relief, “Right here, Chuuya, been here the whole time.”
“Can’t-” Chuuya dry heaved and sucked in a breath before continuing, “Fuck, I can’t fuckin’ see.”
“Your iris is torn,” Dazai explained as he reached to flush the toilet, “It’ll get better.”
Chuuya collapsed and Dazai pulled him back down into his chest, wrapping his arms around the powerhouse of the Mafia like he was something he needed to protect.
“Here,” Yosano’s voice was a new addition to the group as she came in from the left with a cup of water in her hand, “Any luck?”
“He’s conscious,” Dazai nodded, “Lucid.”
“Thank god,” Yosano let out a long sigh, “I was seriously starting to think he wouldn’t pull through.”
“I told you, he’s resilient.”
“You tell me a lot of things,” Yosano shook her head but the relief was obvious on her body, “Think you’ll stay here or go back to his place?”
“Stay for the night,” Dazai replied, “I think he’d appreciate the rest of this being somewhere safe.”
Yosano nodded in understanding, “Fair enough,” she paused before speaking again, “Dazai?”
Dazai looked up at her, his expression unreadable.
“This is safe with me,” It sounded like a promise, a devotional.
“Thank you,” Dazai said honestly, his face morphing into one of gratitude.
“He saved my life,” Yosano admitted as she bowed, “I-”
“Damn right I did.” Chuuya croaked, turning his head into Dazai’s chest.
It tore a type of laughter from both Dazai and Yosano that Atsushi could only chalk up to absolute relief, the kind that forces its way out of you after realizing you’ve made it through purgatory.
Yosano knelt down beside the pair and handed the cup of water to Chuuya and suddenly Atsushi became insanely aware of just what he was witnessing. He shouldn’t be prying into this, shouldn’t be perched outside of Dazai’s dorm, sneaking into a scene that he wasn’t meant to see.
Atsushi turned on his heel and privately agreed to the same sentiment as Yosano.