Beaten

The first snow in years buried the city of Yokohama under its silvery coat. It was nearly 11 o'clock when a door of a street pub was suddenly swung open with force from the inside, and a figure walked out.

Chuuya Nakahara threw down the cigarette he was smoking on the ground and stamped on it hard with his heels to extinguish its last glow. Though he's warm inside, it did not stop him from shivering slightly in the cold. He's only wearing a thin suit with shirt and tie—a plain business look. His glowing orange hair was tied into a neat ponytail below his hat.

Chuuya had just gone back from a mission, disguised as a local businessman to finish off a foreign gang leader, whose subordinates had been suspected of planning to attack the mafia headquarter. According to his boss, he didn't want to ruin the mood of his precious Alice because of a few idiots interrupting their leisure time.

'Time for a little exercise, Nakahara.' Ougai had said absent-mindedly to Chuuya while trying to persuade Alice to put on a dress that looked just like a huge pink cake.

His boss's weirdly obsessed with little girls. Chuya had to admit.

Shaking his head, he decided to walk back to the headquarter to sober up a bit—He drank a lot tonight, as always after his mission's completed. But then his eyes caught a man walking towards him from across the street, and he froze.

A man in a long brown coat. He couldn't be mistaken.

Dazai Osamu.

He looked at his former partner as he approached, who then recognized him as well, and a surprised look appeared on his face.

'Why, Chuuya-chan.

'It's been a while.'

'Take that 'chan' off when you call me. And I'm not at all hoping to see you here, Dazai.'

'You've drunk?'

'f' course I did.'

'And smoked. Too bad. You are stinking of tobacco and alcohol.' Dazai broke into a wide, mischievous smile.

Chuya's eyebrow gave a twitch. The man in front of him smelled faintly of cologne and woman perfume. He's not surprised.

'And so do you with that disgusting smell of perfume' He growled.

'Alas, you never understand how nice it smelled on a lady, Chuuya-chan—'

But Chuuya did not bother to listen to him any longer and simply walked off. But after a few seconds he discovered that Dazai's following him.

Like a stray dog. Chuuya snorted.

'Get your ass off here, Dazai. I don't have time to faff around like you do.'

'Where are you going?'

'To the headquarter. You can come with me if you dare, but you know what Mori would do to a traitor.' Said Chuuya, coldly.

Dazai was silent, but he didn't stop and walk away. Chuuya ignored him and walked faster, the snow screeching and creaking under his boots.

But it was not long before Chuuya lost his patience. As they went, one behind the other, into a dim alleyway, he came to an abrupt halt.

Turning around, he grabbed Dazai by the shirt collar that was sticking out from his open coat, and thrust him, single-handed, onto the wall of the alley.

'What the hell's wrong with you today?' He hissed. They were only inches apart.

'Do you know that the sweet aroma of peaches turned into that of a cream cake before its last lingering trace is gone from your hands?'

Dazai's free hand had moved up to his neck and chin before he could stop him, his index finger slowly caressing his skin, making small round circles that sent a sudden thrill down his spine.

His fingers—long, slender and pale, looked strangely beautiful under the dim light, nearly...

Seducing.

Fuck. Chuuya's eyes widened at the thought as he swiftly took Dazai's hand off his chin, clenching those fingers so tightly that Dazai frowned at the pain. Yet a smile formed on his face just as quickly as the frown had faded.

'I was eating one just before I spotted you. And you always loved cakes. So I thought—'

'Enough for such childish nonsense, Dazai. If your intelligence and suicidal interest and everything else remained as a 16-year-old kid well—I'm not. And if you need the information: I've long gone sick of sweets.' Chuuya's face was expressionless.

'Now. What's on your mind.' The tone is dry and straightforward as always.

The opposite of your words. You haven't changed a bit…Chuuya-chan. But Dazai didn't say it. Instead he answered, quite honestly.

'Don't sound so cruel Chuuya-chan. I was considering having a drink with you.'

'Ha?'

Chuuya's face went distorted for a second.

'Didn't you see me walking out? I never return to the same pub on the same night and I hate drinking with others. Especially. With. You.'

'Who says we are going to the pub?' Dazai ignored the last sentence.

He took out a pair of tall glasses from the leather rucksack that he was carrying inside his coat, and handed Chuuya one of them.

'I bought them and the wine from an old friend…this was meant to be a gift, but then I thought you'd probably like it more than the president would.'

'This was for Yukichi?'

That President of the A.D.A. Chuuya had only seen him once, along with Ozaki and Mori. Back then he's no older than 20. And Dazai was still a mafia member.

'Yep. But not anymore. I'm sure the President wouldn't mind.' Dazai said cheerfully, shaking the small delicate wine bottle that he also took out from the rucksack. He unplugged the bottle and filled their glasses with dark red liquid—even from the colour Chuuya could tell it must cost a fortune.

'Take a sip.' Dazai raised his glass with an idle grace.

Eventually Chuuya did, silently and cautiously. The wine's strong mellow flavour exploded on his taste buds. His eyes narrowed in content.

'Since when did you start to have a taste for red wine.' Chuuya grumbled.

Dazai laughed hard, the wine in his cup swinging violently.

Chuuya stared at him, closely for the first time.

The brunette' eyes were of a shade of light hazel. When they shone the colour became deeper, almost brown like his messy, parted hair.

That kind of eyes that can make girls blush when being gazed upon.

He didn't know how it all started. Maybe he had focused too long on those eyes and lost himself in them.

The cup fell onto the snow-covered ground with a dull thud. The remaining liquid slowly stained the snow red.

Dazai's lips were a lot softer than he had thought, and wet and…tasted maddeningly sweet.

A combination of peaches and red wine. Chuuya thought uncontrollably as he felt Dazai's fingers running through his hair with tenderness.

Part of his brain was screaming to get rid of Dazai's grip on his waist, yet every single cell on his now sensitive body yearned for the grip to get tighter…and for him to drown deeper into the kiss.

Mad. Mad. Mad.

His head was dizzy. He was drunk. It was the damn wine. Dazai did it on purpose. He shouldn't be—

He gave up and opened his mouth, and let Dazai's tongue intertwine with his. The wild action stirred up his desire almost immediately. He could feel the heat rising from below his belt. Their position had switched without he realizing it—he moaned as Dazai lightly pressed him onto the wall and started kissing down his neck, and tried, in vain, to push him away.

His legs are failing him. They trembled hard and he nearly couldn't support himself.

This was too much.

His heels found a firm ground at last, and it almost took him all his strength to pull Dazai away from him. The latter looked at him, slightly confused.

The kiss felt like ages.

'You bastard..don't think I will forgive you' Chuuya panted.

'For what?'

'Everything. You should damn well go kill yourself in that damn river over there or I'll kill you right on spot!'

'Do you admit that I'm a better kisser than you now?' Dazai tilted his head.

'I could beat you in everything, Dazai.' Chuuya stood triumphly over his hunched figure.

'Everything? Is that a bet?'

'Why not be?'

'What if I win?'

'No you won't.'

'Yes I can.'

'No that's impossible.'

Chuuya's eyes widened in disbelief. The alcohol inside him burned, so did his face.

'You damned-' But the rest of the words were muffled.

You are definitely, definitely beaten this time. Chuuya.

As he leaned in, Dazai thought to himself.

(End)

(from the author)

First time writing a BSD fanfic lol it's definitely my favorite anime! so sad that I cannot watch the Dead Apple in a local movie theatre...

Anyways, thanks for reading! #KEEPCALMANDLOVESOUKOKU