Drop of blood (Soukoku)

Big change

As the two separated from the kiss, the ginger pushed himself off the kitchen counter he was leaning on and intertwined his hand with the brunette's.

"First day back to work." Chuuya teased as he saw the younger roll his eyes. "And first day coming to the ADA with me." Dazai's voice was soft, Chuuya was still not used to it. The word 'soft' with Dazai just didn't match.

But what could he say, who knows what happened, it must have took quite a toll on Dazai.

"Not the first time." The ginger retorted.

A raspy chuckle and the brunette let go of Chuuya. The ginger readjusted his hat and checked everything in his pockets before walking to the door. He wore his coat and stepped out, the brunette following close behind.

Dazai didn't waste a second and intertwined his fingers with Chuuya's before leaving for the ADA. It was a silent drive and somehow, the brunette was more clingy than usual. Chuuya didn't mind that at all but he was trying hard to focus on the road before he broke multiple rules.

It wasn't long until they made it to the ADA building. Before the final battle, Chuuya and Dazai agreed to locate their apartment near the ADA office and the port mafia base. That was because they wanted to be close to each other if an emergency happened.

Arriving at the familiar yet strangely distant door, Dazai reached out, his finger relishing the nostalgic smoothness of the door knob, the ginger behind him smiling gently. The brunette's gaze glanced at Chuuya who nodded and gestured to him to go in.

Dazai breathed in deeply as he twisted the door knob and pushed open the wooden door. The white lights from the office were brighter than the outside and it blinded the brunette for a split second. His eyes widened when he saw the ADA members huddled right in front of the door and cheering 'welcome back'.

He was immediately hugged by the weretiger, whose eyes were already red, tears threatening to fall from the happiness of getting his meteor back. Chuuya was about to talk to Fukuzawa about the 'famous' brunette of the day, until he saw the brunette's hand was clenched, stuck to his side.

The ginger quickly rushed in, exclaiming, "Hey kid! Let go-"

He was too late...

Everyone only saw the brunette crash to his knees, he covered his ears with his palms, his eyes shot wide open. Atsushi stared confused at his mentor and tried comforting him only to get pushed away rather roughly by the brunette. The teenager was obviously shocked and sat rooted to the ground, wondering where his once kind and gentle senior went.

Chuuya was quickest to reach Dazai as the ginger hugged the other tightly, feeling the brunette shiver in his grip. He tried calming the younger down by drawing circles on his back. Kunikida supported the still shocked Atsushi to his feet, checking on him as Yasano came running from the back of the crowd, checking on the brunette as well.

The silver-haired man beside the trio on the floor, frowned as he crossed his arms as if thinking deeply about something. As Chuuya was still comforting the brunette, Yasano hastily made the group disperse. She explained to the president her prediction, assumptions and other possible scenarios. The silver-haired man could only nod, concerned in his eyes, despite him not showing it.

After a few more minutes, the ginger succeeded in calming the brunette down as he supported Dazai to the nearby couch. The rest of the members were in the cafe downstairs. All were still a bit surprised at what happened. They were expecting a happy-go-lucky brunette bargain into the office and enjoying the attention that was given to him. Not their usual bright colleague to crumble to the ground.

"Kunikida-san...is it my fault?" The white haired boy asked softly, taking a sip from his coffee.

The red haired girl who had joined in, after listening to what happened commented, "It's not your fault, he probably was...scared of the affection you gave him."

Atsushi nodded after the reassurance, guilt still layering his face, he thanked Lucy who was patting him on the shoulder in a motivating way.

"Do you think Dazai experienced something to make him act like that?" The blonde spoke up.

"Indescribable things..." Emerald slits stared at the rest of the ADA members. Even the greatest detective in the world was frowning.

Looking at the confused and curious looks from the rest, Rampo sighed as he readjusted his hat on his head. "An advice from me, don't act like you used to around Dazai. Don't shout or touch him."

Everyone looked at each other concerningly as Rampo took his leave, still having a frown etched onto his forehead.

"I think we better take the advice." Tanizaki announced with everyone nodding in agreement.

-----

"Okay, you can just rest for today. W
We can slowly give you work. And hopefully, by the end of this month, you can do missions again." The blonde snapped his notebook shut and gave a small smile at the brunette who just nodded. Chuuya had left a few minutes ago, going back to the mafia. He gave his number to all the ADA members to call him if anything happened.

Quiet.

That was the first word that came into everyone's mind. Dazai was qay too quiet. Rampo was eating his chips and muching on them, he did not even leave his eyes away from the brunette. Noticing that, the rest all knew this was serious.

Now, all they could hope for was that Dazai gels back in quickly.