you can take my Soul, but never my Heart (omegaverse)

Chapter 19: there's always free cheddar in a mousetrap

If you had told Dazai even sixteen hours ago that he would be in the back of a box truck with pallets and empty steel crates, literally holding a seething Akutagawa by the scruff of his coat as Atsushi sat at the other side with his arms and legs wrapped around a giggling Koko like she's the queen's crown jewels, he would have laughed in your face.

But...

Well.

"Please stop fighting. You'll make my boo-boo hurt."

Atsushi makes a face as Akutagawa immediately stops squirming. "Please don't call a bullet wound a boo-boo."

He gives an exaggerated huff at him. The air reeks of iron and leather and citrus. His own scent is completely drowned out by the hostility of the younger occupants, and frankly, it's about to make him start sneezing. "My tummy hurts, Atsushi. Feel bad for me."

Atsushi just sighs. He was thankful Dazai was out of the hospital when he saw him yesterday evening until all of twenty minutes ago, when their unmarked truck parked in the loading docks of the Port Mafia and Dazai told him to just wait, because the exact man they needed would come to investigate soon. And sure enough, he did, and Akutagawa, no matter his hang-ups or trauma, no matter what was said in that basement, can still never say no to Dazai.

"I'm not working with Jinko," he mutters, crossing his arms. "I'll do what you say, but I'm not working with him."

"And if I tell you to work with him?"

His scowl deepens. At this rate, his face might just freeze like that.

"You don't have to, but you two are the best for this mission, and if it fails, then Yokohama is going to burn to the ground," Dazai reiterates, bracing himself for a moment as they make a turn, because even though he took those painkillers the doctor gave him yesterday, his stomach does hurt.

He leans towards Akutagawa a bit. "It's been four years since you've been under my command, huh? Surely you've become more capable now." When Akutagawa does nothing but tense with even more focus at the praise, he grins. "Prove me right?"

He recognizes that look on his face. He would rather die than prove Dazai wrong. He would do anything for a shred of praise. "Yes, sir."

(And Dazai does admit that he feels a bit like Mori right now, trying to force two young men that hate each other to at least cooperate again. They did it once with Francis; they can do it again.)

Atsushi still looks skeptical. "You're actually Akutagawa, right?"

Akutagawa slumps, arms stiffly folded across his chest. Now he's just pouting. His smell has, at the very least, stopped being too horribly overwhelming. "Yes."

Atsushi's eyes narrow. "Are you actually going to cooperate with me in battle?"

A beat, and then he speaks again, as if saying the word is like pulling teeth. "Yes."

Dazai hums, pleased. "Are you going to let me finish explaining?"

"Yes."

Atsushi squints as Koko giggles. "What did you have for dinner last night?"

"Yes."

"Dude..."

Koko squeals.

Dazai laughs too, finally letting go of the pouting mafioso when he decides he won't be trying anything. Akutagawa might be a feral dog, an alpha desperate for violence, but he won't use his ability when there's a toddler around. "Now that that's out of the way, listen to me closely." And so he uses the rest of the drive to explain.