Relationship: Dazai Osamu/Nakahara Chuuya

Tag: Fluff, I don't know if this could be called fluff or not, I'm just a sucker for watches in general, Established relationship, Domestic, Mechanical watch, Digital Quartz watch, ABC watch, Automatic watch, Tourbillon

Notes: AU where Dazai is the Port Mafia's boss and Chuuya is his right hand man. Not Beast. Established relationship. They're a happy married couple.

Gift for An. Thank you for making my life more colorful with all your fangirling =)))))))), ...and for your beta as well.

-O-

It was probably not the way Chuuya brought his hand up to tug away a loose strand of red hair out of his eye that Dazai became particularly interested in his wrist; nor should it be the way Chuuya's cuff was pulled up a little, when a glint drew his attention to a round device attached to a slender arm. Dazai knew he shouldn't be distracted while working, especially when Chuuya was around to make sure he was actually not slacking off, but the curiosity in Dazai's mind had become too much for him to care, so against his better judgement, Dazai grabbed Chuuya's arm, bringing it up to his eyes and pushing back the wristband to reveal the object that was drawing his attention for the last few minutes.

It was a black digital watch with round dial and black rubber band. The contour is smooth as Dazai traced his finger along the case, admiring the details of engraved crisp lines that looked sporty but not too much to make the piece feel over decorated. He flipped Chuuya's wrist up to get a better look of the rubber band, which, as he suspected, fit perfectly to Chuuya's arm. Then he flipped it back again to study the three crowns attached to the side. A press on the top crown made the dial come alive with time and date appearing in bright color, contrasted against the dark background with just a wisp of fire as an artistic touch - definitely customized to Chuuya's liking. Then, when Dazai was fumbling with the crowns to see which one handled which functions, he heard a faint chuckle of suppressed laughter above his head.

"What? Are you into watches now?"

Chuuya pulled back his wrist from Dazai's hold, giving him an amused smile. Dazai stared back at his second in command. Sure, that watch was classy enough to go with Chuuya's usual attire despite it not being a dress watch - the type with hands and traditional clock face which Dazai was more familiar with. But that rubber band alone already diminished any favor Dazai had for said device.

Dazai swirled on his chair, hand waving as he hummed. "I'm just curious. But just now it's confirmed that your taste in watches is just as lousy as your taste in fashion."

"What?! You-!"

And Dazai tuned out the rest of Chuuya's berating.

For the next several days, whenever Dazai laid eyes on Chuuya's wrist, it was the consistent reappearing of the watch that Dazai had studied the other day, or some other that looked similar to the first one: electronic dial, sporty, a bit chunky, and always, Dazai couldn't fathom why, rubber straps.

Alright, he had to admit, with those kinds of watches, rubber was the best suited material, it's sporty after all. But if anything, Dazai preferred leather straps. Surely a man with such exquisite taste as Chuuya understood this perfectly, because, just look at how Chuuya dressed for work. Dazai wasn't sure why he was so adamant with those smart watches that did nothing to compliment a vintage look - if Chuuya's hat and suit were any indication.

It was not until one day when Dazai finally set foot into one of Chuuya's many dressing rooms he didn't bother to take a look before, that he finally understood why rubber straps and sporty watches were always the first choice to go for Chuuya.

The room he just stepped into felt totally different from any other room he just passed by. To say it was a dressing room was kind of incorrect, because it looked more like a study, with dozens of wooden bookcases covering the whole room that somehow made Dazai feel at ease immediately - the place was just like his favourite library he always found his way into for silent comfort when he was young. But the thing that made Dazai's eyes went wide was not the number of books filling the cases, for there were no books at all, but the sheer number of watches, dress watches, vintage watches, watches with numeric number and hands Dazai commonly saw, and seriously, Dazai didn't know the specific names for these pieces, because he was not into watches in the least, but Chuuya's collection was admirable! His lover even set up decorative lights for every watch so that each part of the collection was highlighted in their best angle, neither standalone watches nor cases of several watches put together-to create a dynamic look-out of place. And did he mention? Dazai hadn't turned on any switch since he stepped foot into this place, but the light reflected from dozens of glass dials on the shelves already made him feel as though he just opened a door to an otherworldly dimension. Chuuya even had the ceiling glowing with the stunning milky way! Honestly, his lover must have aimed at a jaw-dropping reaction when he designed this room.

Stepping further into the room and taking a closer look at one of the shelves, Dazai noticed these watches were put on boxes that could rotate the objects they held slowly. Interesting. Was it also another fanciful thing for displaying purpose? Dazai couldn't figure it out, so he moved on to another shelf, and another shelf, and finally came to the conclusion that more than half of the watches in this room were attached to leather straps, not rubber bands. Then why the heck didn't he see Chuuya wear these even once? He owned more than enough to wear one each day in at least two months without the fear of duplication.

Gradually, Dazai moved to the center of the room where a wooden desk stood. Some paper and pens were on it, so Dazai suspected Chuuya must have used this place for work sometimes. But the thing that drew his attention was this object in the middle of the table, a bell-like glass dome covering a steel winding gyroscope system that kept rotating a watch it held, much like those other self-winding boxes he just saw on the shelves. However, the device here kept moving at a slightly higher speed, and the gyroscope harness meant the timepiece was being rotated in all directions. Look dizzying, if you ask him, like the exercise those astronauts had to go through before going into space, but the circles overlapping each other while moving created quite an impressive feat to the eyes. Dazai had to stop for several seconds to admire how much work went into creating this machine. No doubt its value was even more than some of the watches displayed in this room.

When he'd had enough, Dazai pressed the button to stop the rotating motion. Three two-tone circles inside the glass dorm gradually came to a stop, presenting to him what kind of watch deserved to be in the best display case Chuuya had.

The result surprised him.

The see-through case, silver skeleton watch with purple jewels making a bold statement in the gleaming aerial view was none other than the timepiece Chuuya personally put on his wrist last month, with a non-stop reminder that if he smashed this one-of-the-18-pieces-of-its-kind-in-the-world, Chuuya would smashed Dazai's head himself. Well, such a threat had long passed them and Dazai was sure even if he broke the watch, Chuuya would do none other than giving him a cold shoulder for months until Dazai somehow managed to snatch a similar watch to give back to him as compensation. In truth, at the time, Dazai had only thought that Chuuya borrowed this watch from the manufacturer and would return it after an one night use, so he didn't pay the threat any mind and pay attention to the watch even less. He only glanced at it once to decide, yeah, kind of impressive with all the see-through glass and motor movements (is that tiny part even rotating itself?), but that was all and Dazai bypassed it as one of the numerous glitzy watches he had worn ever since becoming the boss of Port Mafia.

So it was kind of a surprise and funny to see it again here, in Chuuya's collection. Dazai was suddenly glad that night he only entertained conversation, not battle.

Then again, if this watch was what he used to wear…

Dazai previously had doubts when he first scanned through Chuuya's collection, but now when he moved to take a look at the shelves along the wall again, he was sure that he himself had worn these watches before. Maybe not all of them, but definitely the majority of those with leather straps.

Dazai removed one of the plainest one in his view - a white dial with Arabic numbers and a small window at 3 o'clock position indicating the date (wrong date). He popped out the crown and tried to turn it counter clockwise, attempting to set the date right. Oh, it stuck. So turned clockwise, wasn't it? But before Dazai could try further, a hand came from besides stopped him.

"No, Dazai, you will break the mechanism."

That was when Dazai noticed Chuuya had been in this room, maybe for as long as Dazai had started looking at the wall shelves again.

Chuuya, hair still a bit wild from sleep, removed the watch from his hands, carefully pointed to the time, and said, "It's two in the morning, near the changing time set by the manufacturer. You will never change the date so near midnight if you don't want to damage your automatic watch. The right way is this..."

And Chuuya adjusted the hour hand to somewhere in the bottom half of the dial, pushed the crown back, changed the date (to yesterday?!), then pulled the crown out again and moved the hands forward until yesterday turned to today and the time was right. Finally, he pushed the crown all the way back in. Chuuya presented the newly adjusted watch to Dazai with a smirk.

"I guess even a mafia prodigy like you couldn't know everything huh?"

Dazai pouted, "I've never paid that much attention to fashion like you, hat rack."

"Yeah, yeah, say all you want." Chuuya hummed, definitely in a good mood at Dazai's expenses. He put the watch back to its original position. The timepiece slowly rotated again before their eyes.

"Hey, if you own this many leather watches, why didn't I see you wear them even once?"

Dazai asked what had been bugging his mind ever since seeing the collection. Chuuya cast an incredulous look at him, as if he never did realize Dazai lacked that much information about a thing he wore on a weekly basis.

"You didn't know a thing about watches, did you?"

As if it was not painfully clear already. Dazai fixed Chuuya with a miffed look, making said man laugh with delight.

Usually, Chuuya was the one who always had to put accessories on Dazai to complete his look whenever they needed to attend parties or social events. By that, he meant, Chuuya would just give Dazai a watch and Dazai just strapped it on his wrist with no further thought of how this tiny piece operated or which brand name it came from (he was sure that at least none of the watches he had worn were cheap, he was the Port Mafia's boss, after all). But more than that, well, Dazai just never cared before.

As if to save Dazai's face, even though still chuckling to himself, Chuuya moved to take a rubber band watch out of its box (oh, that was not a rotating box) and held it up.

"To put it simply, watches are divided into two categories: quartz," Chuuya gave the rubber band watch on his hand one firm shake, "and mechanical." He pointed to the white plain watch with leather strap he just adjusted. "Quartz means those watches most people know as running by battery, always accurate, but in need of a battery change every three years."

"Mechanical watches, on the other hand, are those made up by hundreds of tiny components working together to power the timepiece. They draw energy from manual-winding or natural motion of a wearer's wrist. These watches are like the cream of the crop, luxurious items worthy of the sheer amount of skillful craftsmanship and technologies that goes into them."

Dazai could only nod, though a bit lost at why Chuuya was educating him about watches now. He just needed to answer his question, no?

"Since those mechanical watches are such intricate creations, some very delicate, they are not suited for battle. Imagine if I increase my mass and break the watch at the same time? What a disaster."

"That reason I could figure."

Chuuya fixed Dazai a deathly glare, as if saying 'how dare you talk before I finish'. Of course Chuuya's reason for not wearing leather watches was not only that. He still wore his rubber watches to battle, and broke them, so it should not because of the material of the straps or the price, it seemed.

"And I hate to say this, but in terms of time, a quartz watch is always more accurate."

Oh, new information.

"And the last reason," Chuuya's expression was a mix between 'should I humiliate you or not' and 'how could you didn't know something this simple'. He dropped the bombshell. "Magnetism affected all those with motors inside, which I don't know why you associated them with leather straps. I could change them to rubber or metal straps all the time. And the ones I usually wear," he shaked the rubber band watch on his hand again, "these digital quartz are not affected since they have no motors, they are gloved-friendly, and they looked better with rubber straps, that's why, genius."

Oh yes, Chuuya's ability.

Dazai froze on the spot, but then again, he didn't know watches had so many kinds… then again, Chuuya always wore his stupid rubber watches to battle so he just assumed any watch was fine as long as he didn't break it…

Chuuya looked at his dispirited face for a while, then let out a soft chuckle. A hand came up to cup at Dazai's cheek, directing his gaze to fond blue eyes.

"It's alright, it's not like I know everything about the different bandage brands you use everyday, so it's alright, okay?"

Overwhelmed with loving emotions, Dazai hugged his Chuuya, whining to hide his embarrassment.

"Chuuuuuuya, that doesn't make me feel better."

"Hm," Chuuya huffed in his arms, but still returned the embrace. "Then you will feel better to know that you have worn almost every single piece I ever wanted to wear in public, but could not."

Dazai loosened his hold to look at Chuuya. His beloved raised an eyebrow at him, then reached one arm out to caress the leather watches rotating ever slowly, voice even.

"Yeah, it's like I bought them for you to wear."

Dazai grinned, hugging Chuuya even tighter the other man let out a startled choke. Then Dazai released Chuuya but still kept him at arm length, voice sing-song.

"You know, Chuuya, I can't give you a leather watch you could bring into the battlefield, I'm not an inventor." He dismissed Chuuya correcting his choice of word by murmuring 'mechanical watch' and continued. "But I am one heck of a strategist, and this infamous strategist predicts that next week, you can wear your leather watches in public without fear of breaking them, and by the end of the week you will give me a kiss to thank me for that."

Chuuya leaned back a bit in surprise, but then that lovely grin Dazai loved so much was back, and Dazai wondered if Chuuya knew that he just needed to smile like this always and Dazai would give him the world.

"You just implied that I'll have to do none of the fighting next week, am I right?" The grin on Chuuya's lips are wider now.

"Exactly."

"And what if that prediction won't come true?"

"Hmm, unlikely, but let's see…" Dazai pretended to be in deep thought. "I will just buy back the limited edition watches you accidentally destroy, and attach to them myself as a compensation gift, how about that?"

Chuuya's laughter resonated throughout the room, that even Dazai couldn't suppress his smile anymore.

"I accept that, but in any case," Chuuya winced mischievously at him, "It looks like a win-win situation for me."

-end-

\^O^/

P.S: I should name this fic 'Dazai in Wonder(watch)land' lol

P.S 2:

The first watch is Suunto 9 Baro Black.

The second watch is Girard-Perregaux Quasar Light Tourbillon 300,000 £ (Yes, Chuuya ought to own one of those ridiculously overpriced timepieces, hands down).

P.S 3: Mechanical watches must be recharged by manual-winding (by hand) or by wearing the piece at least a couple hours a day (8 hours is ideal). Most mechanical watches only last up to 3 days without winding, so for those who have a large collection of these but don't want to pick up a dead timepiece everytime they need them, Automatic Watch Winder is a choice. These cases or boxes rotate the watches slowly, imitating the motion of our swinging wrist and in turn, activate the whole power-supply mechanism inside the watch.

In the fic, all the watches that were put on 'a rotating box' - Dazai's definition, are mechanical watches.

To have a better idea of how the gyroscope winding case looks like, google Dottling Gyrowinder Watch Winder. And Dazai is not wrong to think this winder is even more expensive than some of the watches Chuuya owns =))))))) The price starts at 11,800 € =))))))))

P.S 4: Thank you for reading all the way down here. This might be an information dump fic, and really, the relation between magnetism and gravity is still debatable, but the idea of Chuuya and luxurious watches is too much for me to bypass. Of course a man with such exquisite taste like Chuuya must have an eye for watches as well, but we have never seen any watches on him so there must be a reason why… and that's how this fic was born.

Thanks again for reading it till the end. (≧◡≦)