Archive of Our Own ^beta

Another day, another exhausting meeting.

For months, both members of the infamous Double Black worked really hard on getting promoted to Executive. Now that they both finally had the titles they wanted, wasn't their new job description just lots of meetings?!

Sure, being an Executive came with more money, and special access to extra-confidential files and records. But was it really worth sitting in a room with the boss and the other three executives for hours on an end? Especially considering Ace was one of the executives? In respectful seriousness, that man was just uncomfortable to be around.

While neither of the duo particularly enjoyed these meetings, Chuuya definitely complained far less than Dazai. Meetings rarely appealed to the former, purely because he'd rather be on the field 'kicking ass' as he so eloquently puts it. On the other hand, Dazai was just lazy and didn't like doing any work in general. It was a miracle that he was promoted at all, really.

Today was just another one of those god-awful days, which were scheduled with Executive-only meetings with the boss, and no actual missions.

It was unfortunate and unwanted, but nevertheless, Chuuya managed to drag his shitty partner to the extravagant meeting room. Needless to say, Dazai whined continuously as he followed the other, complaining about how such stupid meetings deserved to rot in hell.

Minutes later, both of the young Executives were in Mori's meeting room, the boss of Port Mafia seated at the head of the long table, Elise standing next to him. The other executives were there as well, seated at their usual designated positions.

As usual, Dazai and Chuuya had adjacent seats, which fortunately happened to be the ones farthest from the boss himself. Once both the teenagers were seated as well, the meeting proceedings began immediately, but not before Kouyou managed to spare a few seconds to nod at Chuuya. Meanwhile, Ace was staring at the duo, eyes suspiciously glinting.

Chuuya didn't even have to look at his partner to know that Dazai definitely sent a nastier glare towards the other executive.

A few minutes after the meeting had started, as expected, Dazai promptly fell asleep, head subtly resting on Chuuya's shoulder. Either the boss hadn't noticed this new development, or he was choosing to ignore them. But it was most likely the latter.

For most of the meeting, Chuuya simply stared at anything and everything possible, occasionally paying attention to whatever the other higher-ups were talking about. He'd have liked to finish the rest of the meeting doing so too, but of course, that was too much to ask for.

Soon enough, his shitty, asleep partner was addressed by the boss, "Dazai-kun. What do you think?"

For some reason, it was Chuuya who panicked. It didn't have anything to do with him! The boss clearly asked Dazai and wasn't it fine if Chuuya just threw that asshole under the bus anyway? There was no reason as to why Chuuya should help the bastard out.

Defying all logic, Chuuya sighed to himself before nudging his partner and speaking in a whisper, "Wake up, shithead. Boss is talking to you."

Fortunately (and somewhat annoyingly), Dazai was up and about immediately, "Eh?"

Mori raised his eyebrows, "I asked what you think of this situation, Dazai-kun."

Shamelessly, Dazai turned to Chuuya and asked in a whisper, "What are we talking about?"

Controlling the urge to snicker and smack his partner at the same time, Chuuya murmured, "Not sure, but I think it's about some new small organisation."

Dazai pinched the other's leg under the table before turning back to the group, "I think it's fine if unchecked right now. They can't do much anyway."

Despite being a sharp woman, somehow Kouyou managed to miss the fact that the teen executive was completely clueless as to what was going on, "Is that so? But they are using our name to operate and dictate a slum area. It's best we get rid of them immediately."

This time, Ace spoke up, "Is that so. Chuuya-kun, what do you think?"

For a few seconds, Chuuya panicked. He wasn't listening to the discussion, damn it! He had better things to do, like not paying attention and daydreaming about punching a certain mackerel fish.

But since an answer was expected of him, he just waved his hand, "Oh that? I agree with what Dazai said."

Interlacing his fingers, the boss spoke, his eyes glinting, "Ah, is that so? How wonderful, that the two of you get along so perfectly."

Because Dazai had no idea as to how to behave professionally, he actually scoffed out loud, "Eh? I could never get along with such a silly chibi of all people!"

Needless to say, Chuuya punched him under the table before sighing at the boss, "Don't mind him. Ah, you were saying? About the important matter at hand?"

With that, everyone else successfully managed to divert their attention back to the topic of their meeting. Of course, now that Dazai was awake, he would no longer leave Chuuya alone to be in peace. 

He murmured under his breath, "Why are they talking about dealing with an organisation anyway?"

Chuuya sighed to himself. His peaceful daydreaming was clearly interrupted now, and there was no other choice than to entertain this bastard's conversational attempts unless he wanted the whole meeting to be disrupted.

He whispered back, "I don't know, but why the fuck does Ace always have it out for me?!"

His partner had the nerve to declare teasingly, "It's because he likes you so much, of course~"

Chuuya smacked his thigh, "That's literally disgusting. Shut the fuck up."

"But isn't it true?"

"No, it isn't, you asshole."

At this point, the other actually professional executives in the room were still discussing about how to deal with the small organisation that were impersonating as the Mafia. In fact, apparently they were suddenly discussing strategies as to how to take them down?

Dazai turned to his partner, "Isn't this conversation pointless? They could just send us; Devastating Rivals and all that."

Chuuya snorted, "Right? We could take them down in like two hours tops."

The other raised his eyebrows, "Aren't you selling yourself a little too short? An hour is more than enough; including travel time."

Of course, Chuuya was riled up now, "You-! Stop calling me short!"

Dazai snickered behind as hand, "Eh?! I did no such thing! I was just complimenting your fighting ability, Chuuya."

"Don't you try to sell me that bullshit, asshole. There was no need for that emphasis on short."

"But that's true. There's no need for you to underestimate yourself and sell yourself short. After all, you're already a tiny brute chibi!"

Of their own accord, Chuuya's hands were entangled with his shitty partner's shirt, "You bastard."

He almost punched that face which so clearly displayed a smirk, but before he could do any of that, he was snapped out of his fury by someone clearing their throat.

Mori looked at the duo questioningly, "Is something the matter, Dazai-kun, Chuuya-kun?"

Chuuya dropped his hands immediately, "Not at all. Our apologies, Boss."

Meanwhile, Dazai shamelessly waved a single hand, "Chuuya was just agreeing how he's too short to be of use to me as my partner on the field."

Now, nobody could possibly expect Chuuya to keep his cool after that. He glared at his partner, "You asshole! I'm still growing, and how dare you-"

He was cut off by Dazai poking his hat, "There, there. It's okay, Chuuya. You'll still have your tacky hat, even if you're too short."

Chuuya didn't bother concealing the kick to the other's leg this time, "Shut the fuck up, shitty Dazai."

From a couple seats over, Kouyou scolded with a glare, "Chuuya. Language, lad."

Oh shit. Chuuya had completely forgotten she was there too. Yikes.

He winced, "Ah... Sorry, Ane-san. My bad."

Before anybody else could say anything, Mori offered a proposition, "If you two are still finding it difficult to work together after two years, I can look into changing your partners. It's not a bad idea to have two executives paired up with subordinates."

The reply from both halves of Double Black was quick and simultaneous;

"No need!"

Then the both of them looked at each other and glared accusingly, clearly blaming the other for saying the same thing at the same time. It was funnier, because three seconds later, they once again started together, 

"What I mean is..."

This was followed by another round of glaring at each other, before they tried again,

"It's unnecessary to-"

Of course, they stopped again once they realised they were speaking at the same time. Finally, after another round of intense glaring, they both started speaking, clearly determined not to repeat the previous occurrences;

"The stores near Yamashita Park sell the best..."

Finally, deciding that he's had enough of this, Dazai reached out to pinch Chuuya's nose to make him shut up before speaking, "Bandages. The best bandages."

Chuuya huffed, swatting his partner's hand away, "Wine, you idiot."

Dazai rolled his eyes dramatically, "Only silly chibis with zero good taste go all the way to Yamashita Park to buy wine of all things."

"What all the way. I can just fly there, or take my bike."

"I refuse to get on that monstrosity of a bike."

"You literally don't need to come with me."

"Yes I do, Chuuya! What if the security guards catch you, and ask for your guardians? It's easy to mistake for you a child, ne?!"

Chuuya reached out both hands to grab his partner by his coat lapels and then shook him then and there, "I. Am. Still. Growing!!"

To nobody's surprise, Dazai was shameless enough to look at Kouyou, "Ane-san! Please tell Chibi here that he'll never grow and that he'll always be a shorty."

Kouyou began, "I'm sure if he tries hard enough, he can-"

Dazai sighed dramatically, "Ah, ah. Now I see where Chuuya gets his delusion from. Mori-san, you're a doctor. Tell the shorty that he'll never grow."

Mori sighed, very clearly exasperated, "More importantly, shall we go back to the meeting?"

Chuuya winced, clearly embarrassed having acted so unprofessionally in front of the boss, "Yes, Boss. My apologies."

Mori was agreeable enough to accept his apologies before proceeding to continue the meeting, moving on to the text topic on the agenda. For some reason, Elise was now sitting on his lap...? None of the present executives wanted to question that, so they just ignored it.

Dazai remained silent for sixteen whole seconds before he poked Chuuya under the table again, "Chuuya, I'm bored."

The redhead sighed, "So am I, but there's nothing we can do."

Dazai pouted for a few seconds before trying something else, "Chuuya, give me a massage."

"Now?! Are you stupid, oi?"

"But there's nothing else to do!"

"I don't know, Dazai. Count sheep or something."

"Sheep, you say? Alright. One Chuuya, two chibis, three shorties, four hatracks, five petit mafias, six small double blacks, seven slugs, eight-"

Chuuya cut him off incredulously, "The fuck are you doing, man?"

Matter-of-factly, Dazai declared, "Counting sheep, like you told me to."

Realisation hit Chuuya seconds later, "You dumbass! I'm not in the Sheep anymore!"'

Dazai shook his head sagely, "Impossible. Once a fluffy sheep, always a fluffy sheep."

His partner groaned, "What fluffy sheep?! You idiot, you make no sense!"

The bandaged boy was clearly bored of this topic now, because he changed tactics, "Chuuya, let's play games on our phones. One on one, me and you."

The other scoffed, "Asshole, we are in a literal meeting. How about you fucking pay attention?"

This was, of course, met with whining, "Eh~? Why do I have to, when Chuuya isn't listening either?"

"At least I'm not being a nuisance, oi!"

"Will you buy me more bandages if I stop being a nuisance?"

"No, the fuck. And you're aware of being a nuisance then?!"

"Don't bark so much, Chuuya. You'll never grow this way!"

Chuuya hissed at his partner a little too loudly, "God, I hate you so much!"

Before Dazai could make it absolutely clear that he shared mutual feelings, and that his feelings of such unfiltered hate was clearly stronger, they were interrupted by the boss once again.

Mori grimaced, "Alright, that's enough. You two can leave now. We'll finish up the meeting by ourselves."

His face flushed with mild embarrassment, Chuuya shook his head, "Err no, it's fine! Sorry , um. We're listening!"

His voice clearly betraying an order, Mori insisted, "No, please. Leave the meeting."

As definitely expected, Dazai stood up way too fast, pulling up Chuuya by the arm, "Alright, then! We shall take our leave~"

Being dragged out of the meeting room, Chuuya yelped behind him right as they stepped out of the doors, "Thank you for having us! Sorry again!"

His sincere feelings were met with very rude, and justified, sighs of relief from the meeting room as the doors closed behind them. Within seconds, Dazai had dragged him over to a nearby room, both of them collapsing on a red couch.

Chuuya sighed, "You are such an asshole. I can't believe you got us kicked out of an Executive meeting."

Dazai snickered, "At least I got us out of there. You don't mean to say you wanted to be there for two more hours, Chuuya?"

Chuuya groaned, "Of course not. I knew you planned this, damn it."

His partner shamelessly draped himself over him, "But, of course~ Now, it's your turn to be nice to me, since I so very kindly got you out of there."

Allowing his hands, to rest around his partner, Chuuya insisted, "I'm not buying you bandages."

The brunet clicked his tongue, "Well, that's a shame. I'll settle for hot beverages then. Fly me to a café, Chuuya!"

Plan decided and the two of them already making their way out of the Port Mafia building, Chuuya snorted, "Idiot. I can literally fly anybody anywhere except you. Dumbass."

Dazai actually pouted, "That's no way to treat your beloved boyfriend, Chuuya! You should fly me to cafés too."

Chuuya rolled his eyes, "In case you forgot, your shitty ability nullifies mine. I physically cannot fly you anywhere. Also! What beloved boyfriend, oi! You're a very shitty boyfriend."

Bickering as they do, the two of them walked to the nearest café, which wasn't too far away at all. As usual, Chuuya walked on the part of the sidewalk that was closer to the road, letting his partner walk the safer path. It was necessary, because that lanky beanpole could be so clumsy sometimes. He could literally trip on air and crash into a car. He almost did once, but Chuuya pulled him back immediately, bless his fast reflexes.

Ever since then, it was customary to let Dazai walked as far away from the road as possible.

Presently, the two of them finally made their way into their regular coffee chop. Queueing up at the counter, Chuuya turned to the brunet next to him, "What do you want? Another one of those over-the-top coffees I assume?"

Dazai clicked his tongue, "Says you, who's probably going to get a black coffee again. It's a crime to have it like that, with no sugar or milk or anything."

Chuuya scoffed, "Untrue. That is the only acceptable way to drink coffee. You can't change my mind."

Scrunching his nose up, Dazai wrapped an arm around one of the other's, "Whatever you say. Anyway, be a good doggie and read my the menu board up there, Chuuya."

Chuuya groaned, "Wear your glasses already, dumbass."

"Don't wanna. They are ugly."

The redhead insisted, "No way! People with glasses are automatically hot, it's a known fact."

Dazai frowned, "But I look ugly with them."

Reaching a hand up to ruffle brown hair, Chuuya sounded firm when he spoke, "You don't, love. I think you look cute."

A very flustered Dazai looked away immediately, "Shut up. Read me the menu already."

Chuuya just grinned at his partner before obliging and reading out the menu board that was propped on the wall. A short while of discussion later, the brunet finally decided on an order, "Hot chocolate."

After having ordered their drinks and walking towards a table, Chuuya asked curiously, "No coffee today?"

His partner shrugged as they took a seat, "Nope. I wanna sleep when we get home."

Frowning, Chuuya raised his hand again to lightly ruffle the other's hair, "Take better care of yourself, idiot."

Dazai brushed him off way too quick, "It's fine, it's fine. Don't worry so much, Chuuya."

"Who's worried about you, oi!"

"You are, aren't you?"

"Well, yes. But no way!!"

Dazai wrinkled his nose, "And you say I don't make any sense."

Laughing, Chuuya insisted, "Because you don't."

"Lies! Chuuya is a liar!"

Chuuya snickered, "Shut up, asshole. Drink your hot chocolate already."

His partner stared him down for a few seconds, "Chuuya. Our drinks literally aren't here yet."

Chuuya nodded wisely, "Well then, drink it when it gets here."

Dazai snorted, "Well, isn't that obvious?"

Before the two of them could bicker any more, Chuuya leaned forward to press a kiss to his awfully annoying partner's mouth, "Shitty Dazai. Shut up."

Cheeks tinted with blush red, Dazai nodded solemnly, making good decisions for a change,

"Shutting up right now."