For ninjou.

[tenimuho]

[Tonight, Dazai is really drunk.

This is not different from most other nights in their favorite bar, save for a few things.

1. Ango isn't here.

2. Dazai is really drunk. The kind of drunk that has Odasaku concerned that he might be trying to die through liver failure. That drunk.

And so, it's with hesitation that he speaks up.]

Maybe you should stop drinking for tonight.

Comments

[tenimuho]

[It's a long, lingering kiss, and it's peppers or not it's sweet.]

So will I.

[He'll be here for as long as Dazai wants him.]

[ninjou]

I ahould go. I don't want to.

[Plate set aside, he reaches for his hand.]

Maybe we should "date" anyway. Is it too soon to say?

[tenimuho]

I think we've known each other long enough. It should be okay.

[He clears his throat.]

Dazai Osamu. I'd like to date you.

[ninjou]

[Why does he look stupid and stand there staring at Odasaku for a full thirty seconds? Because he's not good enough for this man, not as caring or capable of affection. Odasaku is foolishly stepping down a rung if he wants this. Dazai was almost kidding, and now he's...

It hurts but he likes it.]

About time.

[tenimuho]

[For those thirty seconds, Odasaku felt a growing sense of unease. He wasn't sure if Dazai would say no - that he'd say 'surprise, just kidding' and Odasaku would make an idiot of himself.

Don't treat Dazai like he's higher than you, he reminds himself. He promised not to.]

I'm glad.

[ninjou]

I...

[He moves in and pulls Odasaku close. He buries his head against his shoulder.]

...I've wanted that for a long time.

[And he's 18.]

Thanks.

[tenimuho]

['How long' would be a good question, but not one Odasaku feels like asking right now. Maybe later. Right now he strokes Dazai's hair instead.]

You don't have to thank me.

[ninjou]

[It doesn't take long to fall for someone like him. So... call it years.]

That's fine for you to think. I don't want to leave now, though.

[tenimuho]

You have to go to work eventually.

[The disappearance of a mafia executive would not be overlooked.]

[ninjou]

You're right.

[He wraps his arms around him.]

Five more minutes?

[tenimuho]

Five more minutes is fine. But then you really have to go.

[Even though he doesn't want to leave Dazai's embrace, either.]

[ninjou]

[Dazai will, in absence of anything from Odasaku, just stand there quietly with his face ducked down for those entire five minutes, one hand running up and down Odasaku's back.]

[tenimuho]

[He's content to just stand there and hug that whole time. It's something he wishes they could do as long as they wanted, but...]

...It's been five minutes.

[ninjou]

[He smiles as he looks up, looking refreshed.]

I'll see you tonight, if not before.

[tenimuho]

Looking forward to it.

[One last kiss before he pulls away.]

[ninjou]

[He sighs into that kiss, and does his best not to look back when he gathers himself and fixes his bandages. Oh. He's missing some. Back to the bedroom.]

[tenimuho]

[As long as Odasaku gets to properly say goodbye before he leaves.

...Need any help with those bandages?]

[ninjou]

[They're kind of falling off...

He stays in the room for a minute, fussing with them, then begins to just pull them off.]

Hey, Odasaku? Do you have any bandages?

[tenimuho]

Yeah. Let me get you some.

[His first aid kit is in the bathroom, and he returns to the bedroom holding a roll of bandages.]

Need help?

[ninjou]

Yeah.

[He sounds sheepish, turned way from Odasaku for a moment. The bandages worth reusing are being deposited in a pile on the bed.

He realizes, belatedly, that Odasaku hasn't seen him like this before. Quietly, he curses.]

You can leave them, actually.

[tenimuho]

Is that what you want?

[Odasaku sets the roll down, but doesn't back off or leave.]

Nothing's going to shock me. Or scare me away.

[ninjou]

If you're sure.

[He's seen Dazai's face without the bandages already this morning, scars along the side but his eye is, strangely, fine. The rest, though... The slashes, the bullet holes, the scrapes and cuts. Self-inflicted, given by the enemy, marks of punishment from his youth. It's all there, a landscape of color and texture on his arms and neck and chest.]

[tenimuho]

[Dazai has so many scars. So many, from so many places - Odasaku doesn't have to ask to guess at where some of them came from.

His eyes don't linger and stare, but they don't avoid looking at him like he's something disgusting either. He's not. He's Dazai, and this is what his body is. It's just a fact of how things are, that won't change.

Odasaku starts unwrapping a roll.]

Which part do you want done first?

[ninjou]

[It's not quite a normal look, and Dazai doesn't expect it to be, but it's still awkward enough that there's an apology on his tongue that never comes out.]

My arms are the hard part to do alone.

[tenimuho]

[It's hard to treat them completely normally - they're still there, he can't ignore that - but Odasaku does his best as he starts wrapping up one of Dazai's arms.]

Let me know if it's too tight.