Work Text:
Walking into the Armed Detective Agency on a Monday morning should not have been the event that it was, but Kunikida Doppo was used to the chaos that came with working at this establishment.
Right as the man opened the door he was hit in the face with a white coloured paper airplane made from printer paper, thrown directly at his shadow in the thin door window. He didn't even have to look up to know who was the offender who constructed the object, and after shutting his eyes and readjusting his glasses he let out a sigh and an angry huff of the name "Dazai".
Said Dazai just giggled and high-fived Nakajima Atsushi, the unwilling sidekick in his antics. Atsushi just sighed and apologized hastily to Kunikida, responding with another sigh and a shove past to his desk. He promptly opened his computer and pulled up his notes for the day, opting to ignore the whines coming from his work partner who was sitting next to him. It was going to be a busy day, and he had no time to waste on anyone.
Today was the day that they had to carry out a very important mission; a field day. A newly found gifted emerged out of seemingly nowhere with the threat to bomb a local elementary school if he didn't get a ransom. The threat was completely anonymous, save for an address to leave the suitcase full of money. Determined to apprehend the offender, Kunikida had been teaming up with the agency's detective, Edogawa Ranpo, to try and figure out the identity of the ability user.
With no success so far, Kunikida was getting very frustrated with himself, as he should have been able to identify a suspect two days ago due to his ideal schedule. Nonetheless, since no progress has been made he just needs to work twice as hard from now on, especially since today is supposed to be the day where he and Dazai go out to actually apprehend the person they suspect.
Zoning out for a minute, Kunikida turned around to sneak a peek at what his partner was doing to help the case at the moment, but was only greeted with a snoozing man laying on the agency's green couch. If there wasn't such a time crunch to find out this anonymous man's identity he would have gone over and given Dazai a piece of his mind, yelling at him for slacking off again at such an important time in their mission, but after giving his schedule a glance he concluded that there wasn't any time for that type of behavior.
Suddenly, Kunikida's phone went off, and thankfully it wasn't the annoying ringtone Dazai had programmed his phone to when his partner's number calls. Instead, it was the ringtone he set for himself for the agency members, and this specific call was from his friend Ranpo.
Picking up immediately, Kunikida brought the phone up to his ear and listened intently to what the detective had to say.
Cringing and pulling the phone away from his ear, all he could hear was aggressive chewing from his work affiliate's end of the line. This wasn't unexpected from Ranpo, as the man was almost always snacking on some sort of sweet, but Kunikida couldn't help but get annoyed at the timing of this particular snack break.
Suddenly, he could hear the other clear his throat before speaking in a slightly energetic and excited voice. "Hiiiii Kunikida!" Was the first thing he said, the man he was addressing only humming in response. "I found out who it was. A woman named Miyabe Miyuki. Her father was killed by the Port mafia in false identification of a murderer, and she has been resentful of any relating groups ever since. Looks like she chose to go after the agency first."
"Great work as always Ranpo," Kunikida spoke, relieved to finally have a lead in the case. "I'll get to work right away with this information."
Hanging up the phone, he placed it next to him on his desk, right where it was before Ranpo called.
Typing the woman's name into his computer, immediately jumping on the information in hopes of furthering the lead. He clicked search, starting to scroll through the search results for the suspect.
A primary re-occurrence he saw in the articles that came up under her name was that of being part of an organized attack on the Port Mafia, presumably because of her father's line of work. While it was unclear whether or not her inclusion in the battle her father was killed in was voluntary or not, she was clearly showing the agency what she wanted now so it was irrelevant.
Scrolling down an article that furthered the explanation for the attack on the mafia, Kunikida raised his eyebrow at the inclusion of the identification of the suspect, the same Miyabe Miyuki that Ranpo had told him over the phone. Listed next to her sex was a bold M, something Kunikida was not expecting to see at all.
Of course, he was aware of people that had chosen to change their gender identity, he had just never really interacted with anyone who felt this way. It seemed like a whole other world to him, but he wasn't here to judge, just observe. If anyone around him would ever confess to them feeling this way to him, he would do his best to support them.
Letting his confused thoughts on the matter rattle around his brain for a second too long, he abruptly slammed his computer lid shut and stood up so quickly that his office chair almost fell backward.
"Everything okay Kunikida?" Atsushi asked, peering over at him from behind a stack of paperwork that sat at his respective workstation.
"Yes, I just need a little fresh air is all," was all that the young man got in response before Kunikida walked through the frosted glass door of the agency and down the building's staircase.
Taking a deep breath to slow his racing heartbeat when he finally reached the large double doors that mark the exit of the building, he used both hands to open them widely and stepped outside.
It was busy outside, as always, as he took another step out. If he weren't feeling the need for distraction, as he was now, he would much prefer the quiet of the small cafe that sat on the ground floor of the building the agency was tucked away in. However now what he needed was the bustle of the city.
He continued to walk down the semi-crowded sidewalk that clung to the edge of the brick buildings that lined the wide road, taking the time to appreciate all the little details in life. He looked to the tall trees that stood proud around the buildings above, and would almost call them delicious if they weren't inedible plants. He then looked towards the harbor horizon, which he could just barely see down the road. He had always been a fan of the sea, from fishing to simply relaxing he could be found on the shores of that water almost every week. It was a nice relaxing break for him.
He almost wanted to go there now, to just feel the nice cool breeze the shore had to offer, but he knew he still had work to do when he got off his self-appointed 15-minute break.
Instead, he just enjoyed the feeling of being surrounded by the city, all the people brushing past him in a hurry. All the cars zooming past to get to their destinations, far away.
It was a large black limo that flew past him, getting exhaust all over him and forcing him to cough that brought him back to reality.
Once he was done coughing he pulled up his sleeve to check his watch, Kunikida felt the hair on his neck rise as he saw what time it was. Quarter to two, which meant it was almost time for him and Dazai to depart for the mission. Subtracting the ten minutes it will take to drag Dazai off the couch and into the car, it left him with only five minutes to retreat back to his desk and pack for the event.
Had his 15 minutes really passed that quickly? Nonetheless, he immediately turned on his heels and started walking quickly towards the entrance to the offices.
Pulling open the door to the agency, Kunikida expected to walk into a telling-off for leaving only seven minutes to departure, but when he entered the small one-floor establishment he was faced with the same mostly-quiet sub-hectic environment it had always been. After cleaning up all the loose papers on his desk and tucking them neatly into his personal filing cabinet under his desk, Kunikida finished packing up for the day and turned to his next big mission: getting Dazai out of bed.
Hightailing it to where the small cutout for the agency couch lay, Kunikida could almost hear Dazai snoring as he approached the folding wall.
"And what do you think you're doing in bed right before a mission?" Kunikida said as he raised his voice at Dazai.
"Hmm, I wonder if Kunikida-kun could tell me?" Came the response, sarcastic as ever coming from the man who never spoke earnestly.
"Shut your ass up and get in the car with me, we have approximately two minutes till we have to leave for our mission.
"Kunikida-kun is always so mean to me" Dazai spoke with a pout, pulling himself up before promptly falling off the couch and onto his head.
Kunikida reached a hand down to pull the other up, and the two embarked on their mission to the community parking lot. Quickly identifying the large black car the agency uses for group transportation, they hopped in (Kunikida driving and Dazai shotgun of course).
Pulling out of the lot, the two of them immediately took off for the destination where the money was to be left, with the intention of apprehending their suspect before the bomb could be placed.
The pair sped down the roads, almost swerving at the turns with how distracting Dazai was to Kunikida. After what seemed like forever, Kunikida pulled into the parking lot of a local dive bar, parking right next to a maroon minivan that looked as if it hadn't been touched in years.
Manifesting a shotgun with his "Ideals" notebook, he readied his gun before quickly kicking the door open and swinging his gun out.
Dazai almost mirrored his actions, with all the time they had spent fighting alongside each other they had learned to predict and make the same moves as each other. The only difference is that instead of making a gun out of seemingly nothing, the man instead pulled out of his waistband as if it was as normal as pulling out a wallet.
Now exiting the car, the pair was faced with... nothing. No gun-wielding soldiers, no cars coming barreling toward theirs, and not even any cameras that they could see from their angle.
The dusty dirt driveway was completely void of all life, save for a few dying weeds that sprouted along the edges of the property.
Keeping his gun raised, Kunikida took a walk around the property to get a feel for what they were working with. He came across nothing in the parking lot itself but found different results when he moved around to the side entrances. There were disturbances in the dirt leading to a door in the back.
Signaling for Dazai to come over and approach him, Kunikida showed him the tracks and Dazai nodded towards the front entrance of the bar.
The inside of the bar was almost certainly going to be more protected than the outside, with the back room of the kitchen being the exact destination of the trade deal.
Keeping their weapons wielded, the detective pair ran towards the shattered double doors of the now-abandoned establishment, Kunikida hastily tucking his notebook back into the fold of his waistcoat. As they stepped over the shattered remains of the once-intact glass doors, Kunikida quickly flung his head around and threw his body against the closest wall. Seeing his partner seemingly dodge the air, Dazai quickly took notice of what was happening and mirrored the other's actions,
Just as he moved out of the way, a rainstorm of bullets threw themselves against the opposing wall of the bar, from the exact location of the laser target the pair had noticed and only nearly dodged.
Kunikida took a peek at the attacker from outside, who for some reason had only just appeared in their line of sight. It was a hooded man, who wielded a large gun with both hands as he took a defensive stance.
Kunikida weighed his options, he could shoot back, trying to de-arm his target. He could alternatively run out and restrain the man, trying to get information out of him at the cost of opening himself up for attack. He ended up going with the second option, as it had the least casualties and the best reward.
Nodding to Dazai to cover him in case anyone decided to come at him as he was working on apprehending the shooter, Kunikida promptly ran out and threw his arm around said person's neck.
The hooded man gasped and dropped his gun in favor of gripping the arm currently choking him, which Kunikida quickly kicked to the side and out of his reach.
The man continued to struggle in Kunikida's grasp but soon fell to his knees with a cry of pain. Kunikida let go of his neck as soon as he was sure that the man was passed out, and gently set him onto the ground. This wasn't the outcome he had wanted but it was what he had to work with.
"Wow Kunikida, knocking out the soldiers already? Usually, you wait till act 3 for that kind of action"
"Shut it Dazai," Kunikida shouted at the other man, vigilance staying high as he looked over his shoulder at anyone who may be trying to ambush him from behind. Now that the pair knew that there were troops sent out to try and stop them from preventing the bomb, they could never know where they were until they show themselves.
"Let's go," Kunikida whispered to Dazai as they ran into the building, expecting to find someone, anything inside to indicate the location of a ransom trade. Instead, the detectives walked inside to face...
Nothing.
There wasn't a single thing out of place in the abandoned bar, just a few overgrown bar stools covered with musk and dust laying on their sides on the floor in front of them.
The more they looked around the room, the more run down it appeared to them as they noticed more and more broken or missing items that, in the establishment's prime, would have been polished to a shine every morning.
Kunikida stepped forward, making sure to not trip over one of the many bar stools that had fallen over in their rot. He ran a finger down the countertop, examining the dust he had picked up in its travels.
There were no signs that people had been in the building waiting for him, the ground and counters showed no evidence of residence before they had arrived. Unlike the thick footprints in the dust they had left, there was nothing in front of them.
Feeling Dazai putting his hand on his shoulder, suddenly he was very roughly shoved down onto the ground by said man, a hail of bullets flying above them where they once stood.
Not even going to question how Dazai knew the firing was coming, Kunikida wasted no time in turning around and firing back, only to be shocked at how many soldiers faced the mere pair.
Without even noticing it, Dazai had run and taken cover behind the countertop's support, waiting to fire back for when they had run out of bullets. Kunikida took similar action at his partner's prompt, and waited for the shooting out.
A few seconds had passed, and surprisingly no one had run out to get a better position to shoot them since they had moved. In fact, the firing had stopped. Glancing back behind him, he let out a yell as the figure of a young woman appeared on top of the bar. Having no idea where she had come from, Kunikida could only assume that she came from a back entrance of some sort that they had missed in their perimeter check.
"Now, now, boys, no need to waste all your bullets on empty threats." The similarly hooded woman spoke loudly, a smile creeping onto her face as she jumped down from the bar table and onto the floor, making the dust fly from where her bright red heels landed.
Now this must be Miyabe, Kunikida thought to himself as he redirected his gun in her direction.
"You too, kind sir," The woman spoke again in Kunikida's direction, wagging her finger at him to lower his gun.
Kunikida obliged, but was still at the ready to fire or use his notebook if anything were to go south.
"Have you come with the money we requested or is this going to have to get ugly?" The lady spoke, her red lips twisting into an evil grin, erupting into a distorted laugh within no time.
Dazai shot Kunikida a glance over the bar, a matching smirk on his face as well as if to say let me handle this.
"It's such a shame nowadays that all girls want is money, what happened to a good old-fashioned diamond ring to please the ladies?" Dazai said with romance in his voice, giving the lady a bow, though carefully blocking the view of his right hand with his trenchcoat.
"Well you can't blame us, now can you? There's no shame in gain" The girl faux-flirted back at his partner, stepping forward to stand in front of the man.
"Well excuse me for appreciating the finer things in romance," Dazai spoke before swinging his right hand out from his pocket, wielding a gun.
Right as he aimed for Miyabe's chest, the girl swung her leg up and kicked the gun out of his hand, and pinning his arm behind his back.
"KUNIKIDA" Dazai shouted before his gun was picked up by Miyabe. Dazai had successfully swindled his way out of her arms before she could fire at him but was tripped onto the ground before he could run outside of the bar.
With Dazai on the ground, all the men outside picking between him and Dazai's body to aim at, and the girl holding a gun to Dazai's head, this mission could not be going more poorly.
Kunikida looked between the men outside and the hooded girl perched upon Dazai, before running out to his partner in an attempt to push the girl away before she could hurt him. He had successfully made it to her, pushing her from her side over until she was falling, but he was too late.
In the struggle to get her off his partner, she had pulled the trigger, but instead of hitting Dazai's head, the gun had been aimed at his higher back. Hearing Dazai groan, Kunikida immediately realized his failure in judgment and went back to pull Miyabe off before she could do any further damage.
With Dazai bleeding out on the ground, the only thing Kunikida could do to aid the situation at the moment was to prevent the girl from doing any damage. The soldiers outside had still held from firing at her command.
Grabbing her by the underside of her arms and pulling, the gun fell out of the girl's hands and onto the floor, clattering as it slid under the bar's counter.
Kunikida fell to the ground, Miyabe in tow as he pulled the girl off of his partner. In the process, however, his gun fell, in the opposite direction of the girl's
His notebook was still tucked into his waistcoat, but the struggle he was currently in it left him with no time to manifest any new tools to aid him. With all weapons out of the way, the brawl turned into a struggle of pure strength, with Kunikida quickly overpowering the girl below him.
Pinning her hands behind her back, Kunikida's attention turned back to Dazai now that the primary threat had been taken care of. Blood was slowly pooling under the man, and the hole in the back of his trench coat had a wide circle of dark maroon around it. He didn't look to be in good shape and didn't seem to be fully conscious anymore either.
"Dazai!" He shouted out, in an attempt to awaken the man on the ground but he got no answer.
Meanwhile, the woman under him took the chance while he was distracted to throw Kunikida off of her and onto the ground roughly. Running out of the open glass doors to the bar, she surrounded herself with the hooded men that had stationed themselves outside for the majority of the brawl. One final remark came out of the frustrated woman's mouth before she took a gun from one of the soldiers and ran off.
"This won't be the last time you hear from me!" Was the line, before she exited the property and ran into the parking lot behind the long-forgotten building. It wasn't long before she heard a car revving and swerve back into view. It was a long black SUV, with an extension added to the trunk to fit more cargo. The whole crew seemed to be packed inside, and it took no time in circling in front of Kunikida before speeding off.
Had he been in any other situation Kunikida would have run into their respective black car and followed them back to wherever their base was, but he had more important matters to turn to.
He kneeled back up, wasting no time in running over to Dazai, flipping him onto his bleeding back and examining his facial features.
his eyes were mostly shut, not all the way closed but also not all the way open. His lips were parted slightly, but when Kunikida hovered his hand over his mouth he felt a reliving puff of air.
Good, he thought to himself. He was still alive, but he had to get back up as soon as possible.
Sitting Dazai up whilst supporting his back, Kunikida checked under his bandaged wrist for a pulse, double-checking his living status. It was there, not that weak either but the amount of blood loss could not be good.
"Dazai?" Kunikida spoke again, this time in a softer voice than the yell he had let out before.
Dazai just groaned in response, before letting out a weak chuckle and commenting on the shot.
"Ah Kunikida-kun, you really think her bullet could have taken me out? Don't tell me you forgot about my one life goal," he said with a smirk.
"Of course," Kunikida said with a soft smile and a roll of his eyes. He was relieved at Dazai's words, even if they were his typical suicidal rambling.
Helping Dazai stand up, he put his arms under the other's armpits and assisted him in walking to his car. "Once we get back to the agency I'll have Yosano check you out, okay? The damage from that shot looks pretty bad."
All of a sudden Dazai stopped in his tracks and roughly pulled away from Kunikida's arms.
"No. I'll deal with this wound by myself," He stubbornly stated, struggling to walk by himself back to the car.
"I know you were reckless but this is crazy Dazai." Kunikida stated before jogging back over to the limping man.
"I said no. You have no control over me Kunikida." Dazai restated, surprisingly serious for his usually sarcastic personality.
"Why don't you want her helping you? She assists everyone else in the agency, she's excellent at her job."
"Drop it Kunikida, I'm not going to repeat myself one more time." Was all he got out of the man before he wobbled his way back to their shared agency car.
Kunikida followed him, hopping into the driver's seat before Dazai's distorted body could take his spot and crash the car.
"Kunikida-kun is so mean to me," Dazai said with a pout, his defensive walls already back up from the surprisingly serious argument they just got out of. "All I want to do is drive our car back to the office one time."
"The day I let you drive this car is the day I die." Kunikida retorted with a snort before hitting the gas and quickly speeding back to the agency.
"I was serious earlier. I'm going to handle this wound by myself so take me back to my place instead."
"That is the worst plan I've heard all day, no way I'm doing that." Wad the response Kunikida gave before turning a corner. "If it helps I can be the one to treat you but I can absolutely not give the okay for you to bleed out on your own."
Dazai just gave a humph to his words, considering Kunikida's offer.
"I don't want you helping me either Kunikida. I'm telling you I got this."
"Fine," Kunikida said, giving up against his stubborn partner. "I'll take you back to your place but I am going to stay there to supervise."
Dazai went to respond but suddenly cried out in pain as he hunched over in the car, gripping his side. Blood was getting all over the just redone seat covers but there were more important things to worry about at the moment.
"Dazai?" Kunikida looked over at Dazai with worry in his eyes, momentarily taking his eyes off the road and having to swerve around a silver car that came out of nowhere.
Waving to the driver to apologize, Kunikida turned back over to Dazai, quickly realizing he was in critical condition. Luckily they were only a block or two away from where Dazai's apartment was housed, offered to him by the agency after finding out what horrible conditions he had lived in before to stay off the grid.
Swerving into the parking lot, Kunikida rushed out of the car, slamming the door behind him. He ran around the front of the car to the passenger's door, throwing it open before checking that Dazai was already unbuckled and pulled him out of the car.
He wasted no time in running up the stairs to floor three, not surprised when he found Dazai's apartment completely unlocked.
Stepping inside, he almost sighed out of pity. The inside was minimally furnished, with almost no furniture or decoration. There was a suspiciously stained couch tucked into a corner, a large T.V. stationed in front of it upon a table. There was a bar-like counter with stools against it, a sink full of dirty paper plates nestled in it. There were piles of boxes everywhere, things ordered online and from the small amount of furniture, he had around. There were two doors leading off from the main room, a bedroom, and a bathroom he assumed.
The most notable thing in the room however was the massive wall-length bookcase, stacked floor to ceiling with literature. It was the only personal possession he could spot in the whole room, and it immediately drew him in. Unfortunately, he had no time to examine the books further, just a quick glance.
He pulled Dazai over to the stained orange couch, propping him up backward and pulling his coat off. The sight under the coat was even worse than the one above, and he cringed when he saw all the blood that had stained his lightly striped white button-down.
"Please don't" Dazai whimpered out as he felt Kunikida pull off the stained shirt.
Kunikida felt bad crossing Dazai's boundaries in such an extreme way, but keeping his partner safe came first. All he wanted was for an alive Dazai to show up to work tomorrow.
All that stood in front of him were bandages, loads of them. Some were discoloured from time or bodily fluid, and the ones towards the middle were stained crimson from Dazai's blood. The bullet that lay in Dazai's flesh was laying under this pile of maroon bandages, so they would have to come off.
First, Kunikida took a towel he found laying next to the couch, cringing at its smell before pressing it to the bleeding wound to soak up the blood. He made a mental note to buy a new one for Dazai later. Lightly padding at the wound, Kunikida watched the towel turn from an off-white to a deep red, sad for the state his partner was in.
Next, the part he was dreading, he took a loosely tucked-in edge of bandage that lay on his lower back and started unraveling. Dazai continued to curl further into himself as Kunikida reached higher up his back.
Soon the wound was exposed, and Kunikida got to work. He had forgotten to grab the first aid kit from the car when they rushed inside so he had to make do with what he could find under Dazai's sink and in the kitchen.
Using a pair of tweezers to pull the bullet out, a gush of red poured out from where the bullet was lodged. Kunikida continued to work on the wound, cleaning and dressing it, but there was one thing about Dazai that he couldn't miss.
The swell of a breast from under where Dazai's arms were hunched.
Kunikida didn't let it get to him as he was cleaning Dazai up, or when he was wrapping new bandages around his chest, taking extra caution to not make them as tight and restricting as before. It was after he had laid Dazai down in bed when he started to ponder.
Wiping down a spot on the couch, and mopping up all the blood from before on the ground, Kunikida sat down. The T.V. was on, but Kunikida couldn't hear it over the sound of his own thoughts.
What did this mean? Was Dazai a girl? Why would he lie about that? He thought to himself as he sat in panic, head in his hands. He had never been in this situation before.
He figured he should just ask Dazai, if that even was their name, about it upfront so he doesn't just sit and assume all day, but for now he was going to let them have their rest.
He flipped channels on the T.V. landing on a documentary about a hidden city that was recently found under the sea, but he still couldn't turn his mind off from the constant stream of questions he had.
A few hours had passed and Kunikida found himself blinking his eyes on the couch. When had he fallen asleep? The T.V. was still playing in the background but the program had long since changed.
The situation he was in slowly came back to him, the mission, the shot, and the discovery. He could already feel his headache from earlier coming back but he rubbed it out and stood up. Was Dazai still asleep? He figured he should check in on them, but a part of him was still scared to look at them after what he found out.
Braving through his anxiety, Kunikida walked over to the first of the two doors and opened it. Inside the small room lay a dingy double bed with one person laying on it, on their side, eyes wide open.
Not knowing how to start the conversation that needed to happen, Kunikida cleared his throat with a humph and started to sway back and forth with his hands at his sides. Dazai rolled over and gave Kunikida a dead-eyed stare, not focusing at all on the other man. Kunikida was convinced that he wasn't fully conscious, but decided to keep prodding to sate the burning anxiety that was building up in his chest.
"Dazai." Kunikida whisper-huffed out, trying to wake the disassociating person from his slumber.
Dazai sat up, exposing his chest that was loosely wrapped in bandages. You could see the small lumps of his chest, which Kunikida opted to stare at anything but.
"What Kunikida." Dazai tiredly mumbled out, clearly emotionally and psychically drained from the previous night.
"I want to talk to you. Now." Kunikida said, completely unable to pick up on how scared the other person seemed to be and therefore forcing a harsh tone on him. This did nothing to soothe Dazai's insecurity or anxiety, worsening it in fact.
Dazai just shrugged and laid back on his side, mumbling something about "Stupid Kunikida always interrogating people." This further frustrated Kunikida, who sighed and pulled the covers off the other.
This was a grave mistake, only succeeding in further angering Dazai, who huffed and fully stood up. He was hunched over, much unlike his normal proud stance that he takes on in day-to-day life.
"Let's go out to the couch," Dazai mumbled, almost dragging himself over to the door and pulling it open, closing it behind him and isolating Kunikida in the bedroom. This proved to be an excellent opportunity for Kunikida to overthink everything that had just happened, but it was too late to back out now, he figured.
Copying Dazai in walking over to the door and swinging it open, he was faced with Dazai laying down on the couch, facing away from him. There was a small spot of red on his back from where the bullet had lodged itself within him, but it wasn't as bad as before so Kunikida considered it a win.
Awkwardly shutting the door behind him and standing across from the person laying on the couch before him, Kunikida again cleared his throat and started talking.
"So... You're a girl?"
Dazai could not have stood up faster, looking at Kunikida with hatred and fear in his eyes before kneeing him in the chest as fast as he could.
Kunikida grunted at the pain, clutching his chest and kneeling over in front of the other man.
"Don't you dare ever say that to me again." He snarled out, before turning to force Kunikida out of his apartment.
"Dazai... Wait." Kunikida choked out in between coughs, reaching out for Dazai and grabbing him by his slacks.
"What more do you have to say to me," Dazai said before pulling his pants away from Kunikida's hands. Kunikida stood up and dusted his knees off, looking up to Dazai with pity in his eyes and mumbling something to himself.
"I- That's not what I meant." Kunikida sighed. "Just help me understand."
Dazai rolled his eyes, turning around to sit back down on the couch and putting his hands on his lap. "What could Kunikida possibly not understand about me." He laughed out sarcastically, throwing his hands up in the air and looking up.
"I don't understand what this means." Kunikida said. "Please just explain this to me."
"I was born a girl but want to be a boy, what else is there to it?" Dazai responded.
"So you're still a boy?" Kunikida asked, raising his eyebrow.
"I've always been a boy." Dazai deadpanned, almost mocking Kunikida with his eyes as he stared him down.
Kunikida took a minute to process this information. Clearly, Dazai wanted to seem like a boy to other people and reacted very negatively to being called a girl. Kunikida figured he should just keep seeing the Dazai he had always seen but he still didn't comprehend why this was.
"I can just see the wheels turning in your head," Dazai joked as he squinted his eyes and looked up. "I'm just trans, there's not much to it."
Suddenly, as if it was the last piece to a puzzle, everything came together within Kunikida's mind. He was trans. Of course, Kunikida didn't know everything about it, in fact, he knew almost nothing, but at least now he had a word to put to the situation.
"Ah," Kunikida mindlessly mumbled out, as Dazai scrutinized his zoned-out expression. He was taking this lack of response as rejection and was close to kicking Kunikida out of his residence and never speaking to him again. He'll quit the agency and go underground. Hell, maybe the Port Mafia would take him back in.
All of a sudden, his thoughts cleared when Kunikida opened his mouth.
"That explains it! Of course, I don't know that much about it but I do know it doesn't change the fact that you're my partner."
Out of everything that Dazai expected to come out of the other's mouth, this was not it. He expected confusion, or maybe even anger or disgust, not whatever this twisted sort of... reassuring speech? Did Kunikida really not care that he was trans? This was great news for him, he wouldn't need to ditch the agency after all.
Suddenly all of his insecurities and anxieties came crashing back down at once, and he stood up quickly and grabbed Kunikida's shoulders.
"You're really okay with this?" He almost yelled at Kunikida, shaking him a small bit for emphasis.
"Of course Dazai, you're just the first transgender person I've ever met so I'm a bit new to this."
This reassured Dazai, but the interrogation was not over.
"You won't tell anyone, right?" Was the second question to leave Dazai's mouth, but Kunikida just smiled.
"Of course not. I may not know much but what I do know is that this is a very personal matter. Of course, I won't tell anyone else."
Dazai sighed and let go of Kunikida's shoulders, falling back down onto the faded orange couch as the whiplash of the situation hit him. He rubbed at his eyes and let the air fill his lungs as he breathed. The adrenaline from the conversation was too much, and he felt like he needed to pass out.
"That's good, I might have just needed to kill myself if you planned to."
"Dazai," Kunikida growled out, before letting go of his momentary anger and breaking out in laughter. "God, what am I going to do with you."
Dazai couldn't help but smile as he leaned back onto the stained cushion of the couch, sighing and closing his eyes. He knew that logically he shouldn't be feeling this relaxed right now but he couldn't help but feel content at the reaction to his first "coming out."
"Well, I should be returning to the agency now, you on the other hand should rest up. it's been a long day."
Dazai just hummed in response and turned to lay down on the couch, shutting his eyes as Kunikida turned to pick up his scattered belongings from around the room.
"Bye now," Kunikida called into the nearly empty living room before exiting the apartment altogether.
As soon as he shut the door behind him, however, the stress of the conversation finally caught up to him and he just had to stop for a breather. Kunikida didn't want to think about what this could possibly entail with their preexisting relationship, but he figured everything would work itself out with time and that he shouldn't dwell on possibilities.
He let his back hit the door as he sighed, hoping that Dazai was asleep enough to not feel the thud against the entryway.
Once he let himself breathe for a few seconds, he let his back lift from the wood and stand up. Walking down the three flights of stairs to the entry hall and exiting through the electronically moving doors, Kunikida walked into the paved parking lot to the large black agency car.
As he neared, he noticed that he had left the passenger door open, and panicked as he ran to the car, placing his hands on the edge of the seat as he looked around the car for stolen belongings. Luckily, nothing seemed to be mission so Kunikida allowed his shoulders to relax and leaned back as he slammed the door shut.
Walking around to the other side of the car, he opened and entered the driver's side. Twisting the key inside the keyhole he allowed himself a breather as the car revved. After a few deep breaths, Kunikida pulled out of his slightly crooked parking spot and swerved onto the road. The agency wasn't far, about ten minutes from where they were parked if he made good time.
His mind cleared as he mindlessly drove down the roads, a path he had driven countless times from his own apartment. Once he pulled onto the side of the road next to the small cafe on the ground floor of the agency's building, the usual parking place for the vehicle, Kunikida stepped out onto the pavement and into the building.
Opting to take the steps all the way up, he opened the frosted agency door to Atsushi standing directly in front of him. He almost stepped right into him but was able to catch himself, though not at the loss of spooking the younger man to the core.
"Um sir, where is Dazai? He isn't hurt is he?"
"Nothing we couldn't handle, Atsushi. He's just resting at home right now. No need to worry."
Kunikida could hear Atsushi sigh in relief, before he turned around and returned to his desk to continue his mission summary from a few days ago.
Kunikida quickly hurried over to his small desk, throwing down his notebook, taking it out of the small pocket within his waistcoat. Setting it down gently, he moved it over to the side of his desk, next to the small yellow lamp he had found in a "free" box on the side of the road.
Now that the mission was over, Kunikida knew it was time to start the last third of the mission report he was to fill out after every out-of-office job he and Dazai carried out together. This was the full mission summary, where he thoroughly summarized everything that happened when they were off-campus. This was something that he and his partner, Dazai, were supposed to be doing together, but Kunikida wasn't going to fight it this time as the other had a more than valid excuse to lay down instead of working. Not that this time excused the other three hundred times Dazai had opted to snooze off, this time was just special.
Turning back to his computer screen, he let his cursor click into the large white box, void of text for now. He started typing, not as fast as he could go but quick enough for his brain to not loose track of what it was doing he typed in the events of the day. He started by exactly entering the distance he and his partner drove to get there and then listing how they found and entered the bar. Visual descriptions were a must as he remembered the exact run down nature of how it had fallen apart.
Right as he began describing the perpetrator's physical characteristics and how the afternoon went down, Kunikida started to lose focus as he zoned out on the screen. His fingers continued typing the report, but his brain was anything but present as he began to think about what happened that day for an infinite time.
It wasn't his fault, he reasoned with himself as he put his, now empty, hands over his face. If anyone else had been in his situation they would have reacted the same way. Or would they? Maybe they would continue on with their days like normal civilians and he's the freak.
No, he's not a freak, just confused. If you're confused look it up! his brain helpfully supplied in his crises, his hand mindlessly going to open a new tab in his browser, leaving the mission report open as to not loose it. But what should he type in? He started with the most obvious thing he could think of before he clicked into the search bar and punched the word "Transgender" in.
He was confronted with endless articles in seconds, everything from coming out stories to informational Q&A articles.
He decided to click on the first result, an interview with a transgender researcher who was explaining the process of trans realization. It looked helpful, and maybe it could help him understand Dazai some.
The article opened with a bit about the researcher, which Kunikida skimmed in favor of the interview itself.
"Here we are with Tanaka Hina, a trans research specialist from Tokyo's city heart. She joins us to share a special interview about the self-discovery process that is realizing you may be trans, a topic many of our readers have reported being interested in."
Kunikida continued to read on, anxious to get to the actual meat of the article. Skimming more of the introductory paragraphs.
"How do you think the young trans person reading this article feels right now?"
"Well sir, Just like I and many others have felt, they may feel extreme discomfort in their physical and mental bodies, wishing they were someone else entirely, usually someone of the opposite gender or lack thereof."
That stumped Kunikida, as he had always felt that way and never associated it with being transgender. He just assumed that it was the normal levels of body dysmorphia that everyone went through.
"This feeling of hatred or disattachment is called 'body dysphoria' and is prevalent among transgender people. Some say it is the driving factor of transness but I think differently."
Hmm, Kunikida thought to himself, opening his desk to remove a notepad and one of his black pens. Marking down "Gender dysphoria" on the paper, he made a mental note to look that up when he was done with the article in front of him.
Continuing to scroll with his mouse, Kunikida dove deeper into the words in front of him, occasionally marking down more terms and definitions that he could use later.
He knew that if he asked Dazai some of the questions he had he would only anger the other man further, so he had to rely on the internet for now.
Finally finishing the first article he read, he next decided to tackle the list of vocabulary words he had marked down from the article, starting with "Gender dysphoria".
Typing the words into the search bar, again he was confronted with thousands of results and again decided to go straight to the first article he saw. Once clicking on it, he saw that it was a list of behaviors and feelings that could be classified under the term. The site seemed interesting enough so he began to scroll.
Halfway through the article, however, Kunikida began to sweat beneath his collar. Sitting back and loosening the top buttons of his shirt he reflected on why he felt this way, and the results were anything but comforting.
This particular list was proving much more relatable than he thought it had been, and it was proving quite stressful to continue reading it. He knew he had to keep striving through though, and promised himself that he would at least make it through this page before he quit.
For Dazai, He repeated to himself verbatim before he finally reached the end of the article, only half reading the rest of its contents over the distressed voice in his head.
He had it in his mind to punch something, to go over to Dazai's pathetic apartment and choke him out for making him feel this strange. Ultimately he knew it would be unhelpful, only serving as a way to work himself up instead of calming down.
While he was leaning back in his chair, however, Kunikida looked back at the final sentence on the word-filled page, and dread filled his body as he understood what it may have meant.
"If you experience many of these symptoms you may be transgender."
If Kunikida was panicking before, he definitely was now as the thought settled into his mind. Him? Transgender? The idea seemed incredibly bizarre, especially as of this morning when he was reflecting on how not-trans he was.
Standing up quickly, Kunikida's chair fell behind him as the backs of his knees pushed it over. He slammed his computer shut and quickly began to tuck all of the day's work into his brown leather briefcase.
By now he had drawn all of the attention in the room onto himself, even Ranpo, who had actually shown up for work later in the day, had opened his eyes to see what all the commotion was about.
Atsushi was the first to speak up, nervously raising his voice over the sound of papers being crinkled. "Uhh... Kunikida? Are you okay? You never leave work early."
Kunikida barely registered that anyone was speaking to him, the drumming in his ears and the thoughts in his head too loud to hear over.
He picked his chair up and placed it back at its spot next to his desk, issuing a quick and rushed apology to everyone in the room before shoving the agency door open and stepping out.
Leaning on the outside brick wall, Kunikida was overrun with regret, he had rarely caused scenes in the agency, much less than Dazai did anyways. But what was done was done, he figured. No point trying to change what had happened when he could be using this time to figure himself out.
He took little to no time in rushing to his neat apartment, quite the contrast from Dazai's disorderly unopened mess. He hung his keys up on the wooden hook next to his door, placing his suitcase on the ground under it. Going to sit on the ground next to his small table, he put his head in his hands and sighed. His head was swimming, and he couldn't stop all the thoughts from racing through his head.
Now that he had something to compare this all to, he was clicking together the puzzle pieces of his life.
That talent show content where he was a little too excited to wear the fairy princess costume. The poetry he would write from a woman's perspective. Hell, even his choice in fashion and history.
As he pieced it all together he couldn't stop himself from shedding a couple of tears, just so overwhelmed. He hated how much sense it was all making, but he still knew this was new to him and that he would need some time to figure it all out.
His mind kept jumping to 'Tell Dazai', but he couldn't help but think that that was a horrible idea at the moment. The other man was probably beyond pissed at him after what happened, and there was essentially no break time in between the incident and right then.
That still didn't stop him from shooting out a text, a simple "I'm coming over to check on you later".
Kunikida knew it was a bad idea to use Dazai's condition to get him to speak, but he couldn't help it. Yes, there were more important things going on but this was all that was at the forefront of his mind.
All of a sudden, right as he placed his phone down, the small cell started ringing loudly and obnoxiously. He was relieved to hear a lack of the annoying ringer Dazai had programmed into his phone for when he calls. Still, it was the agency ringer so he couldn't let himself relax.
Picking up the phone, he looked at the caller ID and almost dropped the phone after seeing who it was. The president of the Armed Detective Agency. Wasting no time he clicked receive and brought the phone up to his ear.
"Mr. President, what can I help you with today."
"Nothing, I was just checking up on the agent who ran out of my office in a frenzy."
Kunikida cringed at Fukuzawa's wording, but figured that what he said was nothing but the truth.
"I'm fine sir, I simply became distressed after some self-discovery."
Kunikida crossed his fingers, hoping that his boss wouldn't press on the issue and force him to reveal more information.
"I see. Take some time for yourself tomorrow, you don't have to come to work. Take care, and remember I'll always be here for you."
It was a surprisingly touching message for a boss to say to an employee, but again the agency was more like a family than a business. Kunikida didn't want to fight his ability to do work the next day because of it, no use in trying to convince the president of anything now when he had already made up his mind.
Kunikida sighed and put his phone down, smiling after the phone call. It was nice to feel supported, even if the other party knew nothing of his struggles.
He wondered if Dazai ever felt this way, the unknowing, comforting, support. He wished that he had, it was a nice feeling and gosh the man needed that.
Walking over to his forgotten briefcase, Kunikida removed his laptop and figured that a little more research couldn't hurt. Clearing all of his tabs, including his ones from work (he could always redo it later) he typed "I think I'm trans" into the search bar.
A couple of the articles that popped up caught his eye, but he decided on one that looked more reassuring than the others. "What to do if you think you're trans"
Scrolling the article, it was mostly recommending research and relaxation. It focused on taking time for yourself as it can be an overwhelming process, which Kunikida more than appreciated after his long day.
He thought that he should just go and lay down, before remembering the text he had sent to Dazai earlier.
A few minutes can't hurt, he thought to himself before wandering into his small bedroom and flopping down on the measly double bed on the ground.
Next thing he knew he was jumping up to the sound of hard knocks on his door.
Shit, he thought to himself as he rubbed his eyes sitting up. How long had he been asleep? certainly not just a couple of minutes.
His thoughts were broken up by several more knocks, to which he replied with a sarcastic "Coming, coming."
Standing up, though not without some swaying, he walked over to the door and lazily opened it to see who was knocking. Standing face to face with a disgruntled Dazai.
"Where have you been?" Dazai sarcastically asked before shoving his way inside, sitting down at the table, and stretching his legs out. "I thought you were coming to check on me."
Shit, Kunikida thought to himself for the second time that night. or morning. what time even was it?
"I... was. Must have fallen asleep."
Dazai just sighed and leaned back to the wall, legs fully reclined under the table at this point.
"I can't believe Kunikida-kun made me walk all the way here just to see if his stupid ass was alive or not. You almost had me worried."
Kunikida smiled at the words, clearly, Dazai still cared for him even after yesterday, which was just what he needed to hear.
"Um. I actually wanted to ask you something." Kunikida spoke before hesitating.
"Go on," Dazai egged.
"Well I was just wondering how you found out you were transgender"
Dazai only threw his head back and laughed in response, not offering anything else.
Kunikida only awkwardly stood there as Dazai's laughter faded out, internally cringing at what he just said. Was what he said that funny? He couldn't process the response he had gotten, but it was no need because Dazai had opened his mouth to speak.
"It's been one day and you're already in the questioning process. Funny," He said before chuckling again.
"I-," Kunikida unhelpfully supplied. He wanted to lash out, to grab Dazai for knowing exactly what was happening right away. It was unfair, for such an uncaring man to know what was going on immediately. But he retrained himself, not letting it get to him as much as it would've.
"Hey now don't look like that," Dazai commented on Kunikida's probably very humorous expression. "I can help you, what's been going on."
Raising an eyebrow at Dazai's uncharacteristic sincereness, Kunikida took a seat on the floor next to Dazai and started to spill.
He described to the other everything that had happened, how he wanted to research to understand Dazai better and how it had spiraled into a confusing mess of relating feelings and mixed emotions.
Dazai just sighed and scooted closer to the other man, le3tting his hands fidget on the table.
"Ok so first we have the I'll always support you bullshit, but just know it's true. Next, I think you need a break from the internet for a while."
Kunikida gave the other man a small smile at the first part, but his expression quickly morphed into one of shocked anger at the second. Dazai must have seen this expression because he decided to continue.
"I know, but there is such a thing as overexertion and I wouldn't want to see my lovely Kunikida-kun turn into a spiraling mess at the hands of his computer."
"I just want an answer" Kunikida mumbled out from in between his hands, which had helpfully covered his flushed embarrassed face.
"And you won't get it in one day. Hell, it took me years to figure myself out."
Kunikida only groaned further. He wanted immediate answers, a schedule for his self-discovery process, but it looked like he wouldn't be getting that anytime soon, probably never.
"What can I do in the meantime?"
"There's loads you can do now, I personally would try out new pronouns and ways of addressing yourself, that's a big thing I went through."
"And how exactly do I do that?" Kunikida questioned the other man.
"Ask your friends to call you they or she, hell I can do it now if you really want."
Kunikida seemed to ponder this over, deciding his exact attack plan for utilizing this new method.
"I think I want to keep this between just us for now, but could you address me as gender-neutral for now?"
"Of course!" Dazai smiled but dropped it when he saw Kunikida's distressed expression.
"Hey, it'll be okay. I mean if you are trans you'll have everyone's support. Including mine."
"Who are you and what have you done to my coworker." Kunikida joked, tears beginning to fall down his face as he became more and more frustrated and overwhelmed.
"Excuse me, I have done nothing to your friend" Dazai smiled back, standing up and walking towards the fridge to dig for food. "Gross, don't you have anything but vegetables in here" Dazai spat out, mocking choking at the idea of eating carrots.
"There's the Dazai I know, constantly freeloading on my apartment."
"Hey, all that genuine talk took a lot out of me. I need something fried."
"Well, I'm afraid you'll have to find that elsewhere, it's the morning and I want nothing but some eggs on rice."
"Looks like we'll have to go out together then, Dazai said with a massive smile, facing Kunikida and giving him a big smile."
"Looks like it," Kunikida smiled in return, letting himself stand up.
"Don't even begin to think that I'm treating you, you will be the one paying for this trip," Dazai spoke, gleam in his eye and smirk on his face as he skipped to the door of the roomy apartment.
"To pay me back you're going to let me clean up your apartment today. President gave me the day off and I fully intend on making the most of it."
"Whatever you say sir", Dazai joked back, following Kunikida's coated figure out the door and into a new era.