Chapter Text
Step 1
It was quiet in California. The sun hadn’t quite set; it hugged the ocean like a child before its bedtime.
Osamu sat outside, curled up on the side of the road, knees to his chest. He watched the sun sink reluctantly into the sea just behind the rows of condos, shivering like it was waving goodbye. He waved back, a smile lifting the corner of his lips.
Then, there was a noise behind him. He turned, expecting to see his father show up with the usual soft smile and gentle hands to guide him home.
And instead, it was someone he’d never seen before. They were slouched on the ground against the door of the condo next to his. Their head was down, ashy blonde hair covering their face, so he couldn’t see what they looked like. Everything else about them was… still strange.
Osamu stood up, not feeling comfortable anymore. He should go inside, maybe that person would be gone-
“Hey, kid!” He heard a voice behind him and turned slowly to see the person looking up this time. Right at him. He turned slowly on his heels, the little squeaks of his sneaker on the wet pavement making him flinch.
There stood the man, towering over his poor eight year old height with a terrible smile that was probably supposed to be friendly but was just more scary. To him, at least. Osamu smiled back weakly.
“Do you live around here? What’s your name?” The blonde asked with that same smile. He had his hands behind his back and a little silver necklace dangling in front of Osamu’s eyes. He focused on that instead of the man’s blue eyes.
But either way, he slowly nodded. “Mhm. I live right there.” He murmured, pointing a small finger towards the door behind them. This guy was weird looking, sure, but he didn’t seem bad enough to steal his home stuff. Maybe.
The man seemed delighted by this news, beaming a brighter smile. Osamu almost wanted to cover his eyes. “That’s great! You must be, ah… Osamu Dazai, then, right? I just moved in right here, my name is Paul Verlaine. You can call me Paul,” He placed his hands in his pockets as Osamu eyed him. He would most definitely not call him Paul.
After this introduction, Verlaine seemed to hesitate for a minute before reaching into the pocket of his pants and pulling out a twenty dollar bill.
Osamu blinked, surprised. Verlaine must’ve seen the questioning look or was about to answer it anyway, cause he let his smile soften. His smile moved too much. “Would you mind doing me a favor, Osamu?”
The poor child must have looked dumbfounded, because again, Verlaine explained hastily. “Well, I mean, you see, I have a brother. He’s about your age, eight years old, his name is Chuuya. Can you try to be friends with him? You can keep this if you do! You’ll like him, I promise.”
Osamu bit the inside of his cheek, unsure what to do. Normally kids don’t have friends because of bribes, right…?
“Oh, and when you find him, cause I don’t know where he is, would ya keep it a little secret for me? It wouldn’t be all that friendly to say his brother sent you,” Verlaine shook the bill a bit, enticing Osamu to grab it. But he didn’t.
Instead, he turned on his heels once more and fled. “No thanks, old man!”
Verlaine seemed shocked, and from behind Osamu heard him shout. “Wait, come back! I’m sorry if I scared you, I didn’t know how else to ask…!”
Eventually, Osamu found himself in the middle of the grassy hill behind his house. He placed his hands on his knees, staring at the shimmering grass under his feet while he caught his breath. By now, the sun had fully set, the sky a dark blue and the sea beyond the hill almost an inky black, save for the blue sheen.
Osamu glanced around the dark to see if maybe Verlaine had followed him, because he felt like he wasn’t alone, but…
Instead he saw a spark, contrasting the dark sky and wet grass. A flame.
There was a child with fiery ginger hair hidden in the long grass and the flowers, head tucked between their knees. They didn’t seem to be looking at anything particular, but they definitely hadn’t noticed Osamu yet. And they had such a sad frown on his face, Osamu could almost feel the misery.
Slowly, as if approaching a deer, he crept towards the stranger. He finally caught the attention of the kid. They just stared at first, and Osamu fiddled with his thumbs in front of them. “Hi,” Osamu murmured, unsure what to do with the eyes on him. He nearly fell over from shock when the kid shot up suddenly as if broken out of a trance.
Their heterochromatic eyes, one brown, one blue, were filled with tears. Their short hair was almost floating around their face, that’s how angry they looked. Nearly their entire body was covered in dirt almost as if they’d been digging a hole or rolling around in the grass. The beige shorts and black t-shirt they wore were also covered in dirt.
Osamu looked down at his own clothes, a pristine blue sweater and black shorts peeking out from under. Not to mention the little yellow hat Akiko had shoved onto their head that morning. They looked like complete opposites. Neither of them said a word for a good minute, just… looking at each other.
Then the kid stuck out his hand. “I’m Chuuya,” He said with a flat expression, wiping away the tears and snot. Which only smeared gross dirt all over his face. Osamu lightly shook his hand, muttering his own name under his breath. Chuuya must have been able to hear it though, because he nodded.
They sat down on the grass together and Osamu plucked the blades under him. “Um… why are you here?” He murmured, watching Chuuya wipe his hands on his shorts.
Tears pricked at the boy’s eyes again, but they were blinked away. Chuuya turned his head to face Osamu with a frown, looking angry again. But not at him. “My brother and me just moved here. My parents are gone,” He growled, moving his hand down to pick at scabs on his arm.
Oh. Chuuya must be Verlaine’s brother. Osamu tried to smile lightly, because that seemed sad, right? “I’m sorry…” He whispered, placing a few grass blades on Chuuyas calf.
“S fine. You didn’t do anything.” Chuuya sighed, flopping back onto the grass. “I just don’t know why we had to move even if our parents are gone. My sister stayed, so why did we move? I just don’t get it! I don’t get why my parents left either, they didn’t even say bye to me! Didn’t tell me where they went! The last time I saw them, they were in these boxes and everyone seemed so sad.” Chuuya rambled, seeming to grow more frustrated as he went on. “Paul said he’d tell me when I’m older, so I could understand! But I want to understand now! He’s being so unfair, I hate him!”
Osamu just listened, making a little cat from the grass blades on Chuuya’s leg. “Oh… Did your parents die?” He looked at Chuuya, who was glaring at the sky.
The boy seemed to consider this before shaking his head. “Nah, I don’t think so. They would’ve told me if they were gonna die,” Chuuya concludes, a light smile on his face now. He seemed to have spent all his anger now, which left them in silence for a moment.
“Ok.” Osamu nodded, moving to lay down on his stomach next to Chuuya. He continued plucking grass blades when the ginger boy suddenly sprang up, almost knocking Osamu over from the shock.
“I’m bored!” Chuuya announces, his hands on his hips. The moon was directly behind his head when Osamu looked up at him, and it was like a halo of confidence because of that bright grin. “There’s a beach. Let's go down there.”
Osamu blinked and got on his knees instead, tilting his head. “But it’s bedtime.” He looked down at the beach that was at the bottom of the hills, squinting slightly.
Chuuya smirked and opened his mouth to respond, but there were loud shouts
from above them.
“Chuuya! Where are you?!”
“Osamu, come home!”
The two boys looked at each other for exactly two seconds before Chuuya flopped onto the grass and let out an angry sigh. “I don’t wanna go home.” He lamented in a whiny tone.
Fidgeting with his thumbs, Osamu gnawed on his lip as he thought up a response. “… Don’t worry so much, um… Well, I mean, it’s really dark out and even though you’re mad at your brother, he’s still your brother,” He murmured, looking back up at Chuuya with slightly furrowed brows.
But the only response he got was Chuuya staring down at him with an unreadable expression, his mismatched eyes searching him in a curious way. It would’ve made Osamu nervous, were it not for the tiny, tiny smile on Chuuya’s face.
And then the grass behind them crunched, and Osamu shot up to his feet. There stood his father, Yukichi, and Verlaine. Both looked relieved to find them at last. Verlaine came forward first, wrapping up Chuuya in his arms and letting out a soft sigh. “There you are, kiddo…” Chuuya only grumbled in response, face squished against his brother’s chest.
Now, Osamu’s father crouched in front of him and patted his shoulder. “Glad you’re ok,” He murmured softly. Osamu smiled and wrapped his arms around his dad’s neck, the gray hairs gently tickling his cheeks.
“What were you doing out here?” Yukichi asked him after a minute of affection, wrapping his own arms around the child’s back. Osamu seemed to consider the question for a moment before pulling away from the hug and nodding decisively. “I met Chuuya. He didn’t wanna go home.”
Yukichi laughed softly and tilted his head. “Yeah? But why’d you stay?”
“Cause he’s my friend.”
“You like him, then?”
“Mhm. He’s good. I think I’ll marry him,” Osamu chirped, looking over to Chuuya and Verlaine, who were now quietly whispering to each other as well.
There was a soft laugh from his father, but he patted Osamu’s shoulder once more anyway. “Alright, then. I invited them to come over tomorrow to get to know you, but it looks like you did that yourself. Are you still ok with that happening?”
Osamu immediately perked up from his reverie, grinning wide. “Yeah!” He said excitedly, flapping his hands against his thighs. Yukichi let out a little laugh at the excitement from his child, standing up and holding his hand.
Verlaine had finally turned towards them as well, Chuuya sat on his hip, still adorning the little scowl. “Thank you both for helping me find him. I still don’t know this are very well,” The blonde man laughed, but it had a sort of strange twinge to it.
“Of course,” Yukichi replied fondly, smiling down at his son. “I’m glad they met.”
Verlaine was quiet for a moment, and the two adults shared an almost affectionate smile. Then he cleared his throat and pinched Chuuya’s cheek, who squeaked and swatted his hand away. “Well, we better be heading home. This lil’ guy needs some rest after all this excitement, huh?” Verlaine teased his brother, who pouted and puffed his cheeks out like a chipmunk.
Osamu gave a small wave to Chuuya, who grinned brightly back; a full 180 from his previous attitude. Verlaine patted his back and, with a little goodbye from the both of them, they walked away towards the condos once more.
Yukichi looked down at his son once more and ruffled his hair, eliciting a little unhappy squeal from him. “Well, Osamu, it’s time to go now.” He patted Osamu’s head and held onto his hand.
“Three?”
Osamu giggled and held on tight to his father’s hand. “Two!”
“One,” Yukichi laughed and hopped forward, then began to jog back to the condos with a bouncing, joyous Osamu clinging to his arm.
The hill behind them were left alone, with only the echoes of laughter and the light rustling of the grass,
and two little child-sized imprints in the grass.