“So, you’ve managed to get out of Poe’s book it seems.”
Upon hearing his voice, the executive turned; annoyance clear as day on his face. Sticking his hands into his pockets, Chuuya clicked his tongue.
“Tch. No thanks to you, you bastard. Do you know how long it took me to get out of there???”
Dazai laughed at the clearly expressed irritation directed at him.
“Oh don’t tell me you’re still mad over that, Chuuya. In the end, you got out just fine even without me intervening.”
Sapphire rolled towards the sky as he walked over. Red hair blew around the shorter man’s face, bringing the smell of familiar shampoo in Dazai’s direction.
“You better make up for it, shitty mackerel. I wasted so much time in there.”
Finally beside the other, he snickered behind his hand and braced himself for the well-placed kick soon to attack his side.
“Well, if you had just used that brain of yours- Ah, I forgot.“
Chuuya glanced over at the sudden pause; eyebrows narrowed at the look of mischief on his face. Eyes twinkling, Dazai grinned.
“Chibi’s intelligence’s been eaten up by that tacky hat of his.”
Two seconds later he found himself nursing a growing bruise on his side while trying to keep himself from kneeling over from having the air forcefully ripped from his lungs.
Chuuya loomed over him, radiating an aura that could only be read as ‘pissed off’.
He weakly smiled despite the extremely high chance of him receiving more than just one kick.
How very much like old times.
Reorienting himself, Dazai lifted his head with a groan.
“You didn’t have to kick so hard, you know.”
Smirking at his pitiful posture, Chuuya merely shrugged.
“You knew what you were getting into mackerel. Could’ve easily dodged it too since you’re always bragging about how well you can read me, and yet, you still got hit.”
Mimicking Dazai’s earlier position, the executive brought his hand to his mouth and snickered.
“Who’s the dumb one now.”
He caught himself staring a moment too long at those bright blue eyes as a familiar sensation swelled up in his chest. Forcing down the blush, Dazai smiled.
“I see you’re still as delightful as ever. Would’ve thought being stuck in Poe’s book for several weeks would’ve given you time to become less of a brute, but clearly I was wrong.”
Stretching out his arms in an exaggerated manner, he faced the city.
“I guess idiot sheepdogs never change.”
The executive shot him another glare and forced his arms down.
“As if you can talk, shitty Dazai. You disappear for four years but show up again as the same annoying asshole you always were.”
He laughed at the insulting comment given how he couldn’t deny it. Despite being apart, his relationship with the shorter man hadn’t changed much, if it had at all. Chuuya was still easily rilled up, and in being the person he was, Dazai would use that to his advantage, drawing out precisely pinpointed reactions.
In the end, their dynamic hadn’t changed even after all those years.
It was like he’d never left.
Taking his arms out of Chuuya’s hands, Dazai listened to the wind passing by his ears.
Light brown irises caught the orange light, turning them into a shade of burnt gold.
The answer came right after the last word had left his lips.
“That goes without saying.”
Chuuya pulled out a cigarette with an exasperated sigh.
“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be here right now, would I?”
The executive turned to look at him; all traces of their previous bickering gone from his eyes and face.
“Isn’t it the same for you?”
Taken by surprise, Dazai momentarily paused as if someone had thrown ice water over him but quickly recovered.
Mahogany filled with warmth.
Of course, Chuuya would see through his masks and manage to pinpoint his concern with terrifying accuracy.
“I suppose you’re right,” he said in a light-heartened tone in attempts to conceal the relief sinking into his bones while the creeping uncertainty faded into the back of his mind.
Linking their arms, he lifted his eyes to the light reflecting off the clouds as a gentle breeze passed through his hair.
“It’s exactly the same for me too.”
