Everything or Nothing
CatacylsmicEvents
Chapter 27: headlines
Notes:
the art included on one of the headlines on this chapter is by @taintedsolstice ! (used with her permission, please do not reproduce or repost in any way unless you have her permission) She's a very talented artist, and if you aren't following her on twitter (or her fics on AO3) you're missing out!
But, by the time he wakes up in the morning, that is no longer an issue.
He turns his head, blinking blearily—because it really was his first full night's sleep since Chuuya collapsed—and when he sees his phone—he has 29 missed calls, 82 text messages, and 13 voicemails. He reaches for his phone, and the minute he does, it starts ringing again, and it's...Fyodor, of all people.
Dazai blinks, staring at his friend's contact curiously--because it isn't like they don't talk, but he can't figure out why he would be calling him in an emergency. Dazai picks up, lifting the phone to his ear, clearing his throat to get the sleep out of his voice. "Fyodor? What happened?"
"Where are you?"
Dazai glances around, trying to think of an excuse, before realizing that he's an idiot and he has one built in. "Dad's work—why?"
"You might want to talk to him before you leave," Fyodor sounds oddly delicate, which is weird, because his friend is normally pretty blunt. "Or hell, just sneak out the back door--
"Why?"
"...I just sent you something, check your texts."
Dazai does, opening it up, and... His eyes nearly bug out of his head as he stares at the screenshot on the screen.
How the hell did they...?
"I don't..." Dazai swallows hard, trying to process the headline. "It's just a gossip piece, it's not—"
"It's the Times, Dazai. It's going to stick."
Oh god.
And it isn't the only one. Now that Dazai is looking at his texts, there are more, and more--not just from political newspapers, but gossip columns, international publications--and when he goes to check twitter—
His name is actually trending.
And when he goes to check his DMs—he has to scroll for almost a minute, because they're packed with messages from journalists asking for a comment, and he wouldn't be shocked if Chuuya's social media was the same.
"I'm sorry, Dazai—" Fyodor sighs, "I know this isn't how anyone wants this to happen—"
Dazai stares, trying to wrap his head around it.
Nobody knew. Not anyone who could sell them out, anyway. Just his father, his grandfather, and Yuan. That was it.
And how did they get pictures?
Ones of him, sure, he can understand that, but Chuuya?
How the hell did they get their hands on that so fast? And why were they even looking to begin with?
And then—
His eyes drift down to the next story, and his stomach drops, because it's exactly what Dazai was worried about from the moment he found out.
Next, there's a headline that starts to make it all come together.
Honestly, he didn't even realize that there was a video from that night--and when he clicks the link in the description—it already has over a million views.
But why is it all coming up right now? And then, finally, Dazai finds the headline that started it all.
The two of them, pressed together, clothes clinging to their bodies in the rain, with Chuuya clutched against him—in what has to be one of the more intimate moments Dazai has ever seen captured on camera.
