BSD: SUNRISE NAVIGATION POST
The day Atsushi and Dazai meet...
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It had been exactly four years since she left, and not a single day has passed without Atsushi's mind wandering back to her.
Even now, as he sat on the damp ground, morning dew seeping into his pants as the crisp September air of Zephyr was biting into his skin, her absence clung to him like a phantom that would not let go.
The river stretched out before him, sun rising above the water illuminating the soft oranges and golds on it's surface. Reminding him of the long dark night where his body ached and his mouth tasted of blood, when the only proof that he was not really in the depths of hell was the rising sun over the horizon. Always indifferent to his suffering.
He was hurt. Other people were hurt. Yet the world kept spinning.
There used to be a time when he watched those sunrises with her. Now however, all he had was an old, mangled phone charm. So worn and disfigured that it was nearly unrecognizable in what it used to be. So loved and cherish that it is no longer the same.
Was this what truly love was?
To be changed by someone, to be left with pieces of them long after they were gone? To be destroyed even in the gentlest of hands?
Nevertheless he batted away the thought, sighing at it. He'd tried his best to live as she asked, to save people, to make a difference, to scrub away the blood on his hands even if it was a rotten work. To live the way she wished him to.
But. No matter how much he did, how much he tried and do what felt right, it was never enough. Not to him at the very least. Leaving him in a state of wonder if she would have liked the life he's leading a lot more then him. If she was here instead of here, she would have been happier.
Atsushi closed his dual colored eyes, focusing his senses on the sounds around him, the whispers of the wind, rhythm of the water, every now and then even a humm of a passing car, loud clatter of a train, eve somewhere behind him a military squad had jobbed by earlier, their boots thudding heavily against the pavement.
And then-
A splash.
His eyes snapped open instantly.
For just a single moment he thought he might have imagined it. Then he saw them…. two legs floating on the waters surface upwards, with the current pulling them under, bit by bit.
Huh?
Atsushi stared.
Someone's…. drowning???
His body moved before his mind caught up.
The shock of cold water hit him as he moved towards the sinking figure. His hands grasping onto the fabric, with sharp pulls he dragged the person back towards the riverbank, forcing them onto the solid ground.
The man looked barely conscious, his dark hair plastered to his bruised face. Atsushi caught his breath, then pressed two fingers against the man’s neck, searching for a pulse. It was weak, but it was there.
A soft buzz spread against his fingers at the skin contact.
Atsushi leaned in, checking for breath, but just as he did so, the man lunched upwards with a sharp gasp, nearly colliding with Atsushi in the process if he had not pushed himself away.
Dark red eyes meet the purple-gold.
They stared at each other for a good while, none of them speaking up.
The man blinked blearily. Then, as if only just processing that he's in-fact alive, a mutter left his cold lips, "Ah."
A beat.
"Ah," he muttered again, slightly louder this time. "I'm alive."
Atsushi, dripping wet and cold, "Yeah. The current must have swept you up," he stated "You should be more careful."
The man turned his head in a jagged way to look at him fully, gaze slow as if trying to piece what had happened. Then, after a long pause, he let out sharp and annoyed "Damn."
"Excuse me?" Atsushi frowned.
The man flopped back onto the grass with a dramatic sigh, crossing his arms over his chest as he glared at the sky. “That was the point.”
"What." He blinked, unsure if he’d heard him correctly.
"I was meant to drown" his tone was lecturing, as if Atsushi was the idiot here.
"Well, congratulations," he said flatly. "You failed."
The other just let our an exaggerated sigh "How tragic" he whined.
Atsushi pushed himself up to his feet wringling out his sleeves. He looked up and down the man, he wasn't anything special, more so reminded him of a drowned cat. He didn't even has any shoes, only mismatched socks. "Look, I don't know what's going on with you and honestly I don't have the tie for this. Just… don't do it again, get a therapist or something."
He was rewarded with a noncommited humm.
"Im serious."
"Im sure you are."
The white haired man already could feel a migraine coming his way "You got a name?"
Black hair titled this head lazily, as if evaluating if he should give his name in the first place." Dazai. Dazai Osamu."
Atushi eyed him, just for a moment before nodding at him "Right. Well, Dazai-kun, I-"
"I suppose that makes me your responsibility now," Dazai cut in without a care. His tone was just as carelss as his posture, one leg stretched out while the other was bent, his smirk couldn't be even descriibed as smug, but more so lazy.
"What." he seemd to be saying that quite a lot when interacting with the youngin.
Dazai stretched his arms over his head, looking completely ar east despite being int the soaked state and being half-drowned a minute ago. "You saved me. That means you've got to take care of me now."
"That's… not how this works," Atsushi stared at him, unblinnkingly, his words said slowly as if he was talking to a child.
"Isn't it?" The other turned to him fully now, a faint smirk gracing his lips. "You pulled me out of that river. You stopped me from dying. Now I have nowhere to go and no one to turn to." amusement was evident in the other "You wouldn't just leave me after all that effort would you?"
Serval different responses ran through his head, sure Atsushi could leave, he probably should. But, a little part of him that was still hung on what he promised was whispering, take him in, she wouldn't want you to abandon someone in need.
And even Atsushi himself was not a man who leaves someone behind. He never had been. Never wanted to leave those in need. He could feel the phantom weight of a worn charm in his hand.
Atsushi rubbed the bridge of his nose "Im not babysitting you." it could have been a rejection "But fine."
Dazai grinned, slow and sharp "Oh, I wouldnt dream of it."
Somehow Atsushi didn't believe him.
