ᴀ ʟɪᴛᴛʟᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ || ꜱᴏᴜᴋᴏᴋᴜ

• 7 •

"My darling slug!" Chuuya groaned at the delighted tone in Dazai's voice as he strutted into the store. He was in a cream sweater vest with a white shirt underneath, he looked very put together compared to his rushed fashion style this morning. One thing that was very different were the spectacles sitting atop his face, thin rimmed, round and golden. They slid down his nose as he spoke. Behind him was Atsushi, red and flustered like he always was.

"What's with the glasses, four eyes?" Chuuya snorted at his own, wry comment. Dazai consciously touched the frame of the glasses and pushed them further up his nose.

"Someone kept me up at night and I didn't have time to put in my contact lenses." Atsushi locked eyes with Chuuya and his mouth formed an "o".

"It's not what you think sweaty pits, I found him trying to kill himself."

"So that's why you didn't answer my calls!" Atsushi lightly punched Dazai's shoulder. "No wonder Yosano and Ranpo didn't want to accompany you today."

"Despite my ninety-seventh attempt failing, I believe Chuuya here will aid me!" Atsushi pulled a face of annoyance and peered over Chuuya's shoulder.

"He's in the kitchen, would you like me to get him for you?" Chuuya asked with forced sweetness, Atsushi's eyes lit up (from either fear or excitement, Chuuya couldn't tell). Chuuya called for Ryuunosuke and the dark haired individual popped his head around the corner. His confused expression morphed to fury and he stormed over to the three.

"What do you want Nakajima?" He hissed, and Atsushi pointed to a hazelnut muffin.

"Can I have a hazelnut muffin?" The others were stunned into silence. Atsushi never ordered a drink, let alone food! He was fully composed as well, the redness in his face had died down and he asked with confidence. Ryuunosuke's eyes widened, and went to say something but choked on a splutter. He wordlessly handed Atsushi the muffin and the white haired man paid with a credit card no one had seen before. Dazai had a knowing smirk as Atsushi thanked Ryuunosuke and went to sit at a nearby table. He was excitedly kicking his legs as he bit into the muffin. Ryuunosuke mumbled something about baking more muffins and disappeared into the kitchen. Dazai was still smiling when he had gone. Chuuya knew he had something to do with it.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing! Atsushi recently got a job as a journalist and I told him confidence is key to wooing Ryuunosuke." Chuuya couldn't point out that Ryuunosuke was, in fact, a grim reaper and couldn't reciprocate feelings. Instead of replying, Chuuya tutted and input the exact order Dazai always had. "Now that we're alone, what's the plan for today?"

"We're going to the cliffs, figured you could jump."

"Oh, how original." Dazai sulked, and Chuuya rolled his eyes.

"Bring camping gear, we're going to try a few things."

"Who the fuck has camping gear lying around?" Dazai's eyes lit up as his brain produced a flirty comment. "Try a few things sexually or?"

"It's bad enough that if this fails I have to kiss you, don't make me vomit." Chuuya scrunched his nose up, pouring the milk into the glass. Dazai had been adamant he was going to stay until the end of Chuuya's shift, much to the ginger's dismay.

"Rude! Women and men alike flock to get a bit of Dazai Osamu!"

"Yeah right, I'm sure they love you."

"I don't like your tone."

"That'll be ¥693."

-

Atsushi had left two hours ago, however Dazai was still sticking around. He seemed elated at the idea of sharing a tent with Chuuya. It was against Chuuya's wishes, but Dazai refused to buy another tent just for one use. He also refused to go back to his apartment to fetch a sleeping bag, so it seemed they were sharing that too. The brunet patiently waited until three in the afternoon, when Gin came in to take over Ryuunosuke's role as baker and Higuchi arrived to take over Chuuya (she was incredibly happy to be stuck with Gin in the shop until closing time). Higuchi waved Chuuya goodbye and Gin gave him a weird look when he left with Dazai.