Chapter Text
Akutagawa let out a pained, shuddering groan and pressed his hands against the most serious slash on his side, blood sluggishly leaking through his fingers. Pressing his head into the cold concrete below him allowed him to try and keep his focus through the exhaustion and mind-numbing pain. The boy turned his head to the side and pressed his cheek against the rain soaked pavement of the alley, taking shallow, sobering breaths before he blearily looked up at the two other people in the alley.
Him and the weretiger had been sent on a joint mission, something that’s been happening far too often in Akutagawa’s opinion. Since the truce between the agency and the mafia, it seems like Akutagawa is the one always dragged into helping the jinko when one of their cases requires access to port mafia territory. They had been sent after a particularly troublesome ability user who’d been causing issues for both organisations, using port mafia trademarks to try and cover up his crimes, so it was important to take him down quickly and efficiently. Dazai-San had come along to observe the duo and keep them on the right track. They usually had to have a third party monitor them on missions since they were prone to getting distracted and fighting each other instead.
Unfortunately, the ability user had proven to be a lot more troublesome than anticipated proven by how Akutagawa and the weretiger were currently incapacitated after a rough battle. Both of them collapsing to the ground and nursing wounds after the adrenaline wore off.
Akutagawa watched with dark, glazed-over eyes as Dazai-San walked over to the jinko and started checking him over, assessing his wounds with a gentleness completely foreign to the ravenette. He hadn’t noticed until now that the weretiger was actually unconscious and he almost felt jealous of the other for feeling comfortable enough to pass out. Akutagawa had to desperately hold his eyes open because he knew that if his eyes slipped shut, he’d be left to bleed out in this alley. He had no allies here and he wasn’t even conscious enough to feel the usual pang of hurt at his ex mentor’s complete disregard for him.
Turning his dark gaze from the
hurtful
bizarre sight of Dazai-san fussing over his new protégé, the mafioso forced himself to pull himself together. Knowing he wouldn’t be able to walk in this state, he shakily pulled a hand away from the steadily bleeding wound and fumbled for his phone. Letting his muscle memory guide his fingers as he desperately tried to fight against the blinding pain lulling him into unconsciousness, the boy didn’t need to try hard to find the emergency contact of his current mentor.
He let the phone fall to his chest as soon as he heard the ringing, his arm losing all strength and flopping to the pavement below. The phone resting on his chest barely rung once before being promptly answered and Akutagawa felt relief run through him.
“Ryuu-Kun, you ok?” Chuuya’s worried voice came from the phone impatiently, muffled against his chest. The ravenette gathered all his remaining strength to respond.
“Chuuya-San…” Akutagawa cringed at how awful his own voice sounded as he croaked out his mentor’s name, unaware of the pair of chestnut eyes that snapped to him upon uttering the name.
Akutagawa knew that Chuuya-San had been tracking his phone’s location since he’d received a call from him on his emergency number so he didn’t need to worry about the redhead being able to find him.
“Two minutes,” Chuuya-san said promptly and the ravenette could hear the wind rushing past his mentor’s phone as he rushed to get to his protégé. The line went dead a second later and Akutagawa felt all the tension leave his body knowing that the redhead was on his way and he closed his aching eyes in relief.
‘Chuuya-San is so reliable’
As if to prove his thought, barely even a minute later, Akutagawa felt a presence next to him as Chuuya-San skidded to his side on his knees. A warm hand pushed his bangs out of his clammy face, the other gently patting his cheeks to get his attention and Akutagawa absentmindedly pressed his face into the comfort of his mentor’s palm. The ravenette heard his mentor quietly mutter curses as he took in his current state.
“Ryunosuke-Kun! Ryuu-Kun, hey! Look at me kid,” The ginger said worriedly, still patting the boy’s cheeks to try and bring him back to reality from his current cloudy headspace. Akutagawa groaned painfully but obediently pried his eyes open to look at his mentor.
Chuuya-San must have had a day off, as he was clearly in lounge clothes or pyjamas; loose black shorts stopping mid-thigh, a very obviously oversized grey t-shirt and sliders on his feet. The redhead had clearly rushed out the door the second he got the call, unbothered by how he looked. That thought almost made Akutagawa want to smile as he looked at his mentor’s worried face, even his hair was In an absentminded ponytail, bangs pushed back with a black headband. His hazy brain had completely forgotten about the other two people in the alley with them.
“Good job brat,” Chuuya-San said fondly as the ravenette’s dark, unfocused gaze met his. “Ryuu-kun, is the slash on your side the worst one?” he asked impatiently as he unbuttoned the boy’s shirt, taking notice of the shaky nod he got in response. “Ok, you did a great job of keeping pressure on it,” he muttered and gently pried the boy’s hand off the wound so he could take a look.
The redhead winced at how deep the wound was as it bled onto the floor steadily, then decidedly took hold of the bottom of his shirt. He quickly ripped it into strips, using his ability to lift Akutagawa into the air so he could tightly wrap the strips around the boy’s waist. The ravenette relaxed in the familiar embrace of his mentor’s ability, the weightless sensation taking the pressure off all his wounds and the boy let out a relieved sigh as his waist was tightly bound.
The next time Akutagawa is roused from his fuzzy headspace, he’s being hoisted onto the shorter redhead’s back, his head resting on Chuuya-san’s shoulder. The comforting red glow of tainted still surrounded him, protecting his wound’s from further jostling and keeping his body feeling pleasantly weightless, a massive improvement from how heavy and and useless his body felt previously.
Akutagawa was clearly not in the correct state of mind, definitely thanks to the pain and blood loss, as he nuzzled his head into the juncture between the redhead’s neck and shoulder in an attempt to clear his head.
“Chuuya-San…” he mumbled croakily against his mentor’s exposed shoulder and clear blue eyes snapped to look at the boy.
“Yeah kid? You good? What hurts” the redhead fretted, using one hand to steady the boy on his back as he ran his other hand through the charcoal hair in an attempt to keep his protégé awake. Akutagawa mumbles incoherently in response, muffled against his mentor’s shoulder. “What was that Ryuu-Kun?” Bleary, dark eyes slowly looked up from where they were hidden against the grey shirt, a worried furrow In his brow.
“..Your shirt… is ruined,” the boy choked out regretfully, looking at his mentor with shame and slightly wobbling lips. Blue eyes widened in shock at the boy’s words.
“Pfft-“ the redhead choked on a laugh, continuing to chuckle lightly at the unusual expression on his protégé’s face. “How uncharacteristically cute of you,” Chuuya snickered, grinning toothily at the ravenette who drops his head back onto his mentor’s shoulder heavily. “The bloodloss is really doing a number on you, huh kid?” Akutagawa only responded with a muffled groan and the shorter chuckled a little more.
The two were so preoccupied, they didn’t notice the intense burning gaze of a certain bandaged detective.
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“Chuuya-San”
Dazai’s sharp gaze immediately snapped over to his former protégé , who was gazing blearily at nothing whilst a small pool of blood accumulated at his side.
The brunette had not been expecting Akutagawa to mumble his ex partner’s name and his old mentee doesn’t usually surprise him so this immediately got his attention. He noticed the phone resting on Akutagawa’s chest, but surely he hadn’t called the slug of all people? Dazai would be surprised if the boy had managed to call anyone at all considering his current stare, it was a miracle he was still awake after that gruelling battle.
Dazai had been taking his time, waiting for the boy to inevitably pass out before he called Hirotsu-San and asked him to send a retrieval team. He was quite happy to make the boy sweat whilst he struggled to stay awake, not knowing if he’d be left in this alley to bleed out. Miraculously, the boy had managed to force himself to stay awake seemingly through stubbornness alone, apparently he had absolutely zero faith that his old mentor would get him any help.
The brunette watched as the boy’s head flopped back in relief, apparently succeeding in securing mafia assistance. Akutagawa had probably clicked the first contact he came across but If he had spoken to the chibi, a retrieval team would certainly be here soon.
However, Dazai was not expecting a blur of glowing red to come barrelling into the alleyway, skidding to an abrupt stop on his bare knees next to Akutagawa. The brunette froze as he looked at his partner in casual clothes, he’d clearly just jumped out of his apartment window the second he’d gotten a call from the ravenette considering how unbelievably quickly he’d gotten here. Dazai had not prepared himself for the sight of his former partner’s bare legs today, chestnut gaze locked on the redhead’s creamy, exposed thighs.
The chibi’s eyes never even glanced his way as he worriedly knelt over Akutagawa and tenderly brushed the charcoal hair out of the boy’s face. A dark feeling crawled it’s way up Dazai’s throat, a familiar possessiveness flaring to life as he watched his dog paw at someone else’s face. Never in a million years did the brunette ever think he’d feel anything close to jealousy when it came to his old protégé, but as he watches his chibi unbutton the boy’s shirt to address the wound, he thinks he might have to take a swift break from the light as his fingers itch for a gun. He’s sure Oda would understand his temporary relapse.
It's a step too far when the redhead rips the bottom of his shirt into strips to wrap around the levitating boy’s bleeding abdomen. Each strip reveals another sliver of the slug’s toned, slim waist and Dazai’s eyes are dilated and manically tracking the shorter man’s every movement. The Brunette’s usually iron clad control over his body slips as a scarlet flush climbs up his neck. The Executive keeps tearing away layers until the his ribs are completely exposed, the grey fabric barely covering the defined pecs.
Dazai Osamu is definitely a prodigy, a strategic genius who can predict most circumstances, always two steps ahead of the competition. But can someone tell him how the hell he was supposed to predict his ethereal chibi partner showing up to save his former protégé in what is essentially a crop top!?
Dazai felt his blood bubbling beneath his skin as the redhead delicately lowered the boy onto his back like he was incredibly precious, still not even sparing the brunette a glance. His mouth twitched as he considered forcefully ripping the boy’s head away from where it buried into Chuuya’s shoulder. When the hell did his former charge get so comfortable with his dog. He’ll definitely be needing to sanitize his dogs hand since he keeps insisting on burying it into the boys raven hair.
The detective considers ripping his ears off and returning them when he hears the chibi call Akutagawa cute , because how the hell could anyone find the creepy little demon boy Dazai personally trained cute!? His dog shouldn’t even be looking at anyone other than his master! And he certainly shouldn’t be calling anyone else cute!
Chuuya adjusts the boy on his back who seems to have finally passed out, head lulling like dead weight against his shoulder.
“C’mon kid, lets get you back to my place,” The redhead mutters mostly to himself, turning to leave the alley. The Detective shoots up from where he’s kneeled next to his unconscious protégé at those words.
“Your place!? Has the slug’s hat finally absorbed all of his remaining brain cells!?” the brunette yelled, slightly unhinged. “Why would my dog bring Akutagawa-Kun back to his place?!” He asked, not having the the foresight to be embarrassed about his tantrum.
Blue eyes finally slid over to him but Chuuya was looking at him like he was completely stupid.
“I can’t exactly take a mafia member to the hospital, can I?” the redhead’s tone suggested he was questioning Dazai’s sanity. “I’ll take him to mine and patch up what I can until a mafia doctor can come and check him over. You know how this works?”
“But why is the chibi here for Akutagawa-kun instead of a retrieval team?” the brunette asked, eyes narrowing further.
“Ryuu-kun is my protégé, therefore he’s my responsibility,” Chuuya replied, still scrutinising Dazai. The cute nickname is really bothering the detective, every time he hears it, it feels like its burrowing under his skin uncomfortably.
“They’re letting slugs train people at the mafia now? What a drastic drop in standards~” Dazai sings but Chuuya just glares frustratedly.
“I don’t have time for this,” The redhead huffs before running out of the alleyway, careful to keep the boy on his back steady.
Dazai watches him leave the alleyway darkly, chestnut eyes practically glowing red with his silent rage. How dare anyone else be so touchy with his dog. His slug. His chibi. It’s completely unacceptable.
Dazai had enjoyed making Akutagawa-Kun compete with Atsushi-Kun for his approval, taking advantage of the boy’s devotion to him. The brunette had actively used Akutagawa’s respect for him as his former mentor and his competitiveness to bring out the best in him in his partnership with Atsushi. The more devious side of him liked making the raven haired boy run pointless errands for him and enjoyed witnessing his emotional outbursts caused by jealousy over Dazai’s relationship with his new protégé.
However…
Maybe he’d trained Akutagawa-Kun better than he realised, because the boy had completely flipped the script and given Dazai a taste of his own medicine and the detective detested the taste. He could feel his own wretched jealousy burning and tearing at his insides. Akutagawa had used the only person that could get under Dazai’s skin and it had succeeded so beautifully he was almost proud.
However, Dazai’s possessiveness over Chuuya was not something to be trifled with, it was not something so trivial that it could be compared to a silly devotion to a former mentor. Chuuya belonged to Dazai and Dazai belonged to Chuuya. Their lives were so thoroughly entwined and the knots cannot be undone, even when on different sides of the law, they’ll always fall back into their place right next to each other. Chuuya was the only person who knew Dazai’s tells, his scars, his secrets, the only person the detective let see him without bandages. The redhead was the only person Dazai had ever fallen into bed with, the only person Dazai would let himself fall asleep next to. Four years apart would not destroy what they once had if Dazai could help it and he has been slowly trying to pry his way back into his Chibi’s life.
Watching his hatrack take such lovely care of his protégé lit a fire under Dazai, he wanted Chuuya to run his fingers through his hair like that once again and speak to him with that soft tone in the mornings. He wanted it so desperately. He stared at the place Chuuya and Akutagawa disappeared and let a sinister smile grow slowly across his face.
“Well played Akutagawa-kun, but I hope you know what you’ve started~ This is war Akutagawa-kun~” he muttered to himself sunnily, smiling far too wide to be genuine. He made his way back over to Atsushi-kun, throwing his protégé’s arm over his shoulder and standing back up shakily. Luckily Kunikida-Kun was on his way with the car so they could get Atsushi-Kun to Yosano Sensei easier.
As they drove back to the agency, Dazai was still thinking about how cute Chuuya looked with his pumpkin hair pushed out of his face with that black headband.