Summary: It's neither a quick nor clean getaway for Double Black. Platonic!Soukoku, pre-Dark Era, oneshot.
Age 17
Chuuya parked on the street, a few blocks away from the building. He was dressed in casual black clothes. Although he forsook most of the staples of his usual outfit, his black fedora remained. He pulled the keys out of the ignition.
Dazai grinned and held his hands out for the keys. He didn't have anything to do with the break in, and therefore just wore his regular work clothes. His black trenchcoat kept him warm against the cool night air that slipped through the open windows.
"No."
"Chuuya," Dazai whined. "I have to. There's no one else, it's just us."
Chuuya groaned. That was true, but that didn't mean he had to like it. "Fine. But if you get a scratch on my car I will hurt you."
Dazai smiled but made no promises.
XXX
Dazai sat in the car. He had parked in the forest and sent his location to Chuuya's phone.
That was five minutes again, now he was bored, staring at the ceiling had grown old. He regretted not bringing his gameboy.
With a sigh, he sat up and took the keys out. He slipped then in his pocket and walked out into the forest.
His shoes squelched in the wet grass. He avoided the mud and made his way under a tree. The reason it was wet was because Dazai had chosen to park near a lake. The water was lit by the half full moon, coloring it black and blue.
Dazai sighed, mourning the loss of opportunity for an attempted suicide. "If only I wasn't on a mission." He hummed, a sour look on his face. "And Chibi is going to be here sometime, he always interrupts me. Then I'll have to bear being wet for a while. It's too cold to be wet."
He brightened up at his next thought, "I could catch ill and die!" Dazai clicked his tongue, a grimace on his face. "Or, I'll just get a cold and have to stay in bed. I don't get to do anything when I'm sick." Dazai stared at the lake, hands in his pockets, pessimistically considering his options.
He stiffened slightly, paranoia hitting him. The hair on his neck stood up. He moved his head slowly, eyes straining to catch a flicker of movement, a sign of someone or something being here.
Sound-the 'slick' of clothes that brushed against a tree.
Dazai almost froze at the sound. He tried to pinpoint the exact area where it came from. Unease creeped into his stomach.
He smirked. Relief poured through him, unknotting the tangle of worry in his stomach. "Hey," Dazai cheerfully greeted, turning to face the direction the sound came from. He immediately moved to the right, shielding himself behind the tree, dodging a projectile that came from the dark.
Dazai cocked his head. That was unusual. It was a blow dart, probably tipped with poison since that's how things often went.
Gunfire followed quickly after. The bullets rammed into the tree, scrapping off bark and embedding themselves in the wood. Now that was a lot more common.
He sent a one word text to Chuuya while his mind ran through possibilities.
Mackerel: SOS
What to do? What to do?
He hummed thoughtfully.
His attackers would realize the futility of standing there and would be moving soon.
Climb the tree? He would be too exposed among the branches. Enter the forest? He couldn't enter the forest where his attackers were.
Several half formed plans were thought up and discarded. He finally hit on his best bet for getting out of this situation.
Dazai quickly shrugged off his trenchcoat and jacket. He left his phone too, it would just get ruined, he didn't want to buy a new one.
The gunfire stopped.
He grinned, a dark expression that lacked all warmth. As soon as he heard movement in the forest, he sprinted for the lake. He dove in at an angle, breaking the surface with a splash.
The lake was cold and deep, Dazai couldn't feel the bottom. He didn't want to think about what else could be swimming in the pond with him, like snakes, turtles, and leeches; instead he focused on where he was going. He wanted to come out near where a stony rock jutted out. He could used it to hide behind as he entered the forest.
He only had about twenty five seconds of air, which meant he should hurry. But Dazai didn't want where he was to be obvious. Then he would get shot, he might not even die, just have to go through the pain of getting shot.
He crept out of the water, sound hitting his ears once again. He shivered as the cold air hit him.
Dazai halted, trying to figure out where the thugs who had attacked him were. It wasn't that hard. The attackers had given up on being quiet after their sneak attack. They shouted to each other-questions and 'all clear' reports-with no care of being overheard. They were spaced out around the lake, waiting to cut him off when he came out.
He slipped around the rock, keeping low to the ground.
Dazai took slow silent breaths, inhaling the musty scent of the underbrush. He circled around, getting behind his attackers. He had a pocket knife in his pant pocket, but that was it for weapons. He had left his guns behind, and so had no way to fight long range.
On top of his clothes, his phone rang, playing the ringtone he had set for it. The noise progressively got louder. The sound stopped.
His phone rang again. The strong notes of Ravel's Tzigane ringing across the lake once again. The music stopped.
Dazai smirked. He crouched inside some bushes to wait. It was Chuuya's ringtone, he was calling Dazai.
Chuuya was on his way.
A few minutes passed.
Dazai was bored, but stuck. He propped his chin on his hand, watching the lake and his still searching attackers.
He brightened up at hint of red he caught flying over the treetops.
The thugs didn't know what hit them. Pretty much all they saw in the dim moonlight was a blur of red before they died.
Dazai waltzed out into the open again, a grin on his face. "Chuuya," he called out cheerfully. He picked up his jacket and trenchcoat from beneath the tree. "How dishonorable, you didn't even give them a chance to fight back," he joked.
Chuuya rolled his eyes. He flicked his wrist, blood splattered the wet grass. He had to use his knife to kill them. Smashing someone's face in or twisting guns into pieces of useless metal was a bit of a tip off that the person was an ability user. This mission was supposed to be...discreet. They seemed to have failed a bit on that part, but at least people wouldn't suspect ability users.
Dazai grinned. "Guess what happened to your car?"
"Dazai," Chuuya growled. He clenched a fist, holding it up threateningly. He was tired. His muscles were sore. He did not want to deal with his partner's shenanigans.
"Nothing," Dazai chirped. "At least, nothing you can blame me for."
XXX
Thankfully for Dazai's health and his much desired lack of pain, Chuuya's car had not been harmed by the attackers.
Dazai, being soaked, sat on his trenchcoat so that he wouldn't ruin the car seats-more so forced to by an irate Chuuya, rather than willingly.
The drive back was quiet. Chuuya was bone tired, his eyes dull. Dazai was bored, but was fighting off sleep himself. It was an unusual set of actions for them, they usually were at each other's throats, practically jumping at the chance to go for the jugular whenever they could.
The purr of the engine lulled them into a dreamlike feeling. It was dark, and they were in the woods. It made the drive feel...unreal.
There was a tension still, even with that dreamlike feeling. It was the paranoia that had crept up on Dazai earlier, the feeling one often got when in the woods at night.
But for them, it was even worse. For the fear of a suprise attack was not just a random thought, but a certain possibility that could happen. The dreamlike feeling was like a heavy blanket, but the tension was a constant buzz of electricity that they could feel in the air around them. They mingled together, not allowing them to speak nor fall asleep.
The engine coughed. Chuuya jumped slightly, scowling at his reaction. "G*d, this is so weird. You being quiet makes me feel like the world is ending," he grumbled.
The relief at hearing the sound of a voice, it didn't matter who's it was, broke the nervous tension.
"You being calm makes me feel like the world is ending," Dazai replied, the retort half-hearted.
"What's that supposed to me?" Chuuya asked, his tone sharp.
"You're usually angry."
Chuuya snorted. "You usually annoy, so when I'm stuck with you, yeah. Otherwise, pretty much not at all. You're really annoying. Compared to you, everyone is practically a saint."
Dazai gasped in mock horror. "Chuuya, how could you be so harsh? You hurt my feelings?"
"What feelings?" Chuuya dryly retorted.
Dazai laughed.
XXX
Dazai took a shower and collapsed on the couch, unwilling to make to the effort to walk to his room.
He woke up to the smell of eggs. A plate of eggs was on the coffee table, along with a fork.
Chuuya was sitting in the arm chair, yawning. He was watching the news on the tv. "They didn't report it," he noted.
Dazai yawned as well. "Nah, they want to keep everything quiet, even if someone broke into a business front for their illegal activities. And since they're the government, it's not like it's hard for them to do that."
Chuuya shrugged.
The brewing machine in the kitchen started to gurgle, in a similar manner to the way kettles whistled. Chuuya got up and went into the kitchen. The sound stopped. He came back with a cup of tea.
The aroma of the tea was pleasant and cool.
"Mint?" Dazai guessed. He dug into the eggs after quickly checking them, some poisons left you in agonizing pain before death, he wanted to avoid that. Although he doubted Chuuya would poison him, it wouldn't really be the hardest thing to break into their apartment and poison their pantry.
Chuuya hummed an affimative. As he sipped at the tea, his groggy eyes sharpened. His relaxed posture changed to something that'd be easier to respond to a sudden danger-sitting on the edge of the armchair cushion, always having a free hand near his knife.
"What are you, paranoid?" Dazai asked. He dismissed his own conduct- like how he checked his eggs for poison, how he ate with his left hand so that he had his dominant right near his gun, and how he constantly kept checking the door in his peripheral vision.
Chuuya shrugged. "Just a bit on edge after last night."
Dazai hummed. "You usually are."
Chuuya fixed Dazai with a stare, hoping to get a straight answer about last night. "Who were those guys?"
"Just some of their grunts. They must have noticed you, seen your car driving off, and decided to follow it." Dazai shrugged and went back to shoveling eggs in his mouth.
"But...doesn't that sound odd to you?" Chuuya hesitantly asked.
Dazai hummed, half not listening. "What?"
Chuuya raised an eyebrow. "To put it bluntly, few people think like you and Mori," he dryly pointed out. "So, to me, it makes me think we have a spy."
Dazai glanced over at his partner, pausing. "A spy for the government? That's an interesting idea." He had briefly entertained it and had dismissed shortly. But perhaps Chuuya was right, he might have been overestimating their intelligence. He put his hand on his chin. "Thing is...I have no idea who it could be, unfortunately."
"And we can't exactly start an investigation into all of our intelligence officers on a hunch," Chuuya concluded. He scowled, the idea of a traitor with access to classified information like their missions was...unsettling. He frowned.
Dazai nodded at his partner in agreement. "We should report it to Mori though."
"You mean I'll report it to Mori," Chuuya contradicted with a roll of his eyes. "You never write our mission reports, a*shole."
Dazai smirked.
A/N
Dazai's ringtone for Chuuya was a section of a classical French song, Tzigane by Maurice Ravel.
This oneshot was inspired by one night drive I was on a while ago. There's a certain sense of paranoia that can creep up on you, especially when you're in a forest and it's silent.
I'm happy I managed to find the artist! So, credit to vveonnee98 for the image I used to make the story cover.
-Silver