You're my Dog in Life and Death

When the Dead Walk

Chuuya isn't sure how he feels about Dazai anymore. 

He'd healed from the trauma of Dazai's suicide, or so he'd thought. The nightmares induced by Rannah and the river of death had brought it all back to the surface, and the way Dazai had just abandoned him at the reservoir... that definitely didn't help matters. 

What does help is the way Dazai is holding him now. Chuuya had tried to stay mad, but the infuriating mackerel had apologized so many times and brought him so many little gifts that he'd eventually caved and accepted. He didn't know how he'd found his way to Dazai's lap, but he didn't really mind the feeling of his asshole lovers tail wrapped around his waist, or the feeling of his hands playing with his hair and ears. It felt comforting and familiar, yet so strange at the same time. 

 "Is my Chibi feeling better?"

His chibi? 

"I'm fine," Chuuya replied shortly, pretending that he didn't like the attention. "Are you trying to butter me up after your catastrophic fuck up?" 

"Maybe~" Dazai replied, reaching to pet Chuuya's tail, which he flicked away in annoyance. 

"I told you, my tail is off limits," Chuuya growled, glaring up at Dazai. 

"But it's so cute and fluffy~!" Dazai whined.

"I said hands off. I'm not cute, damn it!" 

Even after over a month of living in hell, he still wasn't used to his fox features. He was incredibly insecure about his tail and ears, and wanted as little attention drawn to them as possible. The only reason he let Dazai even scratch behind his ears was because it felt so damn good... 

"Shouldn't you be tracking down the fucking necromancer instead of bothering me?"

"You are my top priority, not some bag of bones!" Dazai proclaimed proudly, hugging his little boyfriend closer, "and besides, you're always cold now. Someone needs to keep you warm!"

"Cut the crap, Dazai. Why have you been spending so much time with me instead of chasing after Nix?"

"Because you're important to me... and I can't find them. I have a feeling we won't find them until they want to be found." 

"I know you could if you actually tried, shitty mackerel. We can't underestimate them again," Chuuya said resentfully.

"I'm more prepared to handle it now; I have the book and I have you. We understand how his ability works now."

"Stupid fucking overpowered ability, somehow making them immortal-"

"Not quite," Dazai cut in with a grim smile.

"What do you mean? You stabbed him through the heart with angelic steel and he survived. Pray tell, how do we kill the motherfucker?" Chuuya asked, trying to feign nonchalance, but the way his ears pricked up betrayed his interest. 

"We beat him at his own game. The ninth gate in his river is the final death; anyone who crosses it will die for good, including a necromancer."

Chuuya's ears drooped again at the news, his memories of the first precinct far from pleasant. From what little Dazai had told him about the rest of the river, he knew that things just got better and better the farther into death you went. 

"So you're proposing I drag him through his own home territory, shove him through the gate, and somehow not die myself?" Chuuya asked sarcastically. "Sounds like a piece of cake."

"Not just you. I'll be there this time, as well as Atsushi and Akutagawa. It'll be Soukoku and Shin Soukoku's first mission together!"

"As if I can trust your ass; you can't even follow us into the damn river, and last time-"