Painted Red (Dazai Osamu x Reader)

02 | Sake and an Old Friend

"It's you, Dazai."

Brown locks bounced as the bandaged man jumped up to turn and kneel on your couch, his arms rested on the head of it, a sly smile on his lips. "It's been a while."

You mentally rolled your eyes, a sigh escaped your lips as you put your gun down and tucked it back in your jeans. "No."

"But, I haven't said anything yet!" He used his child like tone to complain as he huffed.

"I'm not gonna do a double suicide with you right now." Shrugging noncholantly, you turned and went to the kitchen, you opened the fridge and grab 2 bottles of sake. Then you went back to the living room. "You ask me that everytime you come here, so I made sure to turn you down before you ask."

"Ah, now my heart hurts. You're the only angel I ever asked to commit a double suicide and you reject it. I never felt such heartbreak!" He dramatized while waving his arms in the air as you sat beside him on the couch.

"I trusted you with my whereabouts so you can give me updates, not to ask me on a double suicide."

"Well, maybe I'll die alone."

A day after you left the mafia, Dazai had found you and you accepted the fact that no one can escape Dazai Osamu. He's a coy and an intelligent man, too smart for his own good. When he found you, you did not feel any fear. No thoughts of him possibly giving your whereabouts to Mori haunted you, nor any thoughts of him possibly being sent to kill you. You didn't even try to change your location to avoid him, you just knew that he wouldn't betray you.

You think the reason you trust him is because he was the one who saved you, or because you've been at each other's side for two years. But you're wrong, the time you've spent with Dazai made you realize that he's turning into the same person as you. A person who's trying to find the purpose of life by entering a world of violence, only to deem that it was not the right thing to do. You have come to realize that being in the Port Mafia won't help you ease your nightmares.

It won't help you erase your sins, your guilt, and the blood of your victims on your hands. The more time you spent in the mafia, you felt suffocated, and as you look at your hands, you could sometimes see blood on it. The blood never vanish, it was a small droplet at first, and then it would turn into a splatter, then it would expand until it overflows and formed a small puddle on the ground. And eventually, you would drown.

You want out.

You wanted to see outside the undergound world, you wanted to see different things. You want to do different things, and maybe, try to understand the purpose of your life.

Even for just a while. And Dazai seemed to have know your reason when you left, his visits told you he liked the way you live right now. A day without killing someone, a day without putting a gun on your enemey's head while threatening them, a day without guilt.

He wanted out, too.

That's why you trust him. You never trust anyone, but if you do, it will be Dazai.

"Ah, thank you (F/N)-chan." He smiled as you gave him the other bottle, he opened it and took a sip. "Do you have any crabs?"

"I'll give you some in exhange of information."

Dazai pouted and lean back on the couch. "That's not fair." He dragged out.

You can't help but chuckle at his childish behaviour. It was adorable and sad to look at the same time, Dazai was in the mafia before you at the age of 15 or maybe earlier than that. You reckon his act of childishness is the cause of not having normal childhood days.

Dazai drowned another shot of sake and he sighed when the liquid went down his throat. "I have some good news and bad news. What do you want to hear first?"

"Bad news."

"As expected," he sighed. "Well Mori-san had knew your location after he got a notice that someone had access to port mafia files. He then traced it and it lead him to your location, so he sent me here."

"Ah shit." You clicked your tongue. "So he knew and let me have access to it. He didn't even try to stop it."

"Oh, so you got it then. You knew."

You look down at the ground, the grip on your sake bottle becoming unusually tight. It was silent and then you heard Dazai placing his bottle on the ground, he shifted on his seat to face you. "Well," he placed his arms on the head of the couch and leaned on it. "What did you find?"

Dazai was no stranger to your goal of leaving the port mafia, he knew it was not to only leave your miserable life, but to also learn anything from your past. The time he rescued you, he wasn't allowed to talk anything about your past. Mori had forbid it. So when you told him you're going to recover your memories, he let you.

You told him everything, from the Mizushima Incorporated and The Red Leaf Project. How you discovered you were really experimented and made an assassin, and that your memories are oftentimes wiped to make sure you function as an emotionless assassin.

By the end of it, you already finished your sake and decided to discard it. Upon looking at Dazai, you saw he was looking anywhere but you. His eyes hazy and he had a far-away-look, as if he's thinking deeply. No, he really is thinking deeply. So you decided to snap him out of it.

"Dazai, Dazai!"

You decided to kick his foot and he slowly look at you, his mouth curved into a small smile as he closed his eyes. He opened them as his hands lifted to tuck a strand of your hair behind your ear, it went down and his palms are now placed on your cheeks. You leaned on it without thinking, his palm felt cold and the slight edges of his bandages managed to tickle you. No words were exchanged between you but you could tell he was trying to tell you something.

You had to go through that, I'm sorry.

"So what's the good news?" You went back to the topic, Dazai retracted his hand.

"You get to work with me again
(F/N)-chan!"

"What do you mean?" Although, Dazai is smiling and seems giddy with that idea, you couldn't help but feel dread.

"Boss wants you back."

--x

Note:

This chap is short, I'm so sorry!