Work Text:
Chuuya really wasn’t sure what Dazai was planning when he’d agreed to “going for a walk”. All that he knew was that the bastard was planning something. “You’ll see”, he’d said. He could only huff at the thought. “You’ll see.” My ass.
It was his birthday, for goodness’ sake. If anything, he should be the one bossing him around for once, and it made him realize that he had no idea why he’d actually agreed to this in the first place. They could be at his place trying out the new video game he got this morning, but instead, he’d let himself be dragged around some stupidly boring part of town for seemingly no purpose. The more he thought about it, he could already hear Dazai making jokes about him being a good dog, or some other shit like that.
“So you still don’t care to tell me where the fuck we’re going?,” he asked after a while, hands in his pocket.
“Oh, but I really can’t,” Dazai replied, voice coated in fake empathy. “It would ruin the surprise~”
Chuuya sighed. “Are we at least gonna be there soon?”
“My, why so impatient? I know your legs are short, but I thought you had a little more stami-”
Dazai jumped back in a yelp when Chuuya spun around kicked the air right where his shin had been just a mere second ago. “Because it’s my fucking birthday and I’m not up for senselessly strolling around with you for the better half of the day!” He was lucky enough that he turned 16 on a Saturday, or else this could have turned out to be even more of a waste of time. “Plus, you know damn well that I’m better at P.E. than you!” That much was true, even if Dazai wasn’t bad, either.
“Chibi is so mean,” Dazai whined.
“Well, yeah,” he said, frowning at his friend. Friend. Somewhere along the last few months, that stinky mackerel had actually managed to make Chuuya think of him as his friend. He hadn’t even noticed it at first, but he guessed that the idiot was just sneaky like that. “Paul and Arthur still want to eat cake with us, remember? Imagine how pissed Verlaine will be at both of us if we show up that late.”
Dazai simply shrugged. “I imagine he’d forgive you quicker than me.”
“Yeah. As if you care about that or a single thing he says, anyway,” he grumbled, absentmindedly kicking a small stone on the sidewalk.
“Exactly.” The other smiled. “Though, he might actually get angrier if we’re arriving late at the thing. So stop barking at me and come along now, it’s not far.”
“For the last time, I’m not your dog!,” he snapped. But even he had to admit that he had gotten curious at the notion of his brother and brother-in-law being seemingly involved. After a short moment, he relented. “Fine, whatever. Let’s get going.”
Apparently, Dazai hadn’t been lying when he said it wasn’t far. It was only about five minutes later when they were standing right in front of…
“An animal shelter?! Dazai, what the actual fuck?”
His friend simply gave him a lopsided smirk, but, oddly enough, didn’t say a single word. Chuuya quietly wished for him to be so quiet every day – although if he was being serious, he wouldn’t want that in the long run, – but he had other, more pressing concerns right now.
“Did you seriously bring me here just to make one of your sick dog jokes?!” When Dazai only kept looking at him silently with the same, smug expression, Chuuya stepped closer and pointed a finger right in his face. “If you mutter a single word about me being a disobedient dog and leaving me at the shelter, I’ll-”
“Actually, that’s not why I brought you here,” Dazai interrupted, and Chuuya quickly closed his mouth to look less like an idiot while staring at the other with a dumbfounded expression. “Though it flatters me that your first idea had something to do with you being my dog…” His grin grew wider, and now he, too, took a step forward, his voice dropping a little. “I’ve trained you well. Why would I ever leave you at the shelter?”
The only reason why Chuuya didn’t immediately kick him was merely because Dazai’s tone was slightly off – less teasing, somehow; despite the obvious bullshit he seemed to be talking about if you didn’t know him.
However, he quickly shook the thought off and went for another kick much like the one earlier again, but Dazai dodged him. Again. Fuck, he really needed to hesitate less, or that bastard would never learn his lesson – although he doubted he would, anyway. You could probably cut his arm off and he’d still give you that shit-eating grin that made you want to punch him in the face. It was like you could bring him down as much as you want to, but he’d keep standing up again – an annoying trait he shared with cockroaches, even if he was more of a mackerel in general.
Now standing a good meter farther away, Dazai raised his hands innocently. “Now now, Chuuya, don’t make me overthink what I just said.”
“Don’t make me overthink kicking you again,” he warned in response. “And this time, you wouldn’t be so lucky.”
Dazai… Dazai laughed. Normally, he would really make good on his threat now, but not when his friend was laughing like this. It was more of a giggle, really, and sounded so strangely sincere, and warm, considering it was coming out of Dazai’s mouth. Quite frankly, it startled him, and his cheeks flushed for some weird reason, so he quickly tore his gaze away from the other boy. “According to you, there’s some actual reason we’re here,” he muttered, trying – and failing – to sound as annoyed as possible. “So?”
“Right,” Dazai said, a small smile on his face as he stepped closer again and nudged Chuuya. “Let’s go. I promise you’ll like it.”
So when Dazai went inside, Chuuya quickly followed suit.
Now, he knew that the other had said something about his brother and the latter’s husband, but he had still not been expecting to see them standing there as soon as they entered the building, nonetheless.
“What are you two doing here?,” Chuuya asked, and Verlaine crossed his arms.
“What are you two doing here so late?,” he demanded, unsubtly shooting a glare at Dazai. “You were supposed to be here already about 10 minutes ago.”
The boy walked toward the two men, taking Chuuya’s arm and pulling him alongside with him before letting him go again. “Sorry, much traffic,” he chirped.
Verlaine raised a brow judgingly. “On the sidewalk?”
“Yeah,” Dazai insisted cheerily, fully aware that the other didn’t believe him a single word. Chuuya simply rolled his eyes.
“Paul,” Rimbaud now cut in before Verlaine could take this any further, settling a hand on his husband’s arm. “It’s Chuuya’s birthday.”
The other took a deep breath before nodding. When he looked at Chuuya, a genuine smile played at his lips. “We’ve arranged something for you,” he explained, and Rimbaud nodded.
“Come along,” his brother-in-law said softly, and so he followed them past some customers looking to adopt a cat to some other part of the shelter. Beside him, he could see Dazai grinning confidently. So nothing odd.
To be honest, he’d never been in an animal shelter, despite always having harbored a great love for animals, especially dogs. He’d even once called this very shelter and asked whether he could apply for a job, but they had kindly declined, saying they don’t take people under 18. They had, however, said that he could perhaps try and look for someone who needed help walking their dog; but upon looking into it, he hadn’t found anyone.
It wasn’t even that he needed the money… he’d just really wanted to spend time with dogs, since he already couldn’t have one of his own. Or multiple. It was silly, but whenever he saw puppies or whatever, he felt like he would gladly adopt ten all at once… or perhaps nine. Ten might be one too many.
So why were they here? Paul and Arthur couldn’t have convinced them to let him work here, could they?
Just then he noticed that they were in some kind of empty room. It was kept relatively neutral with little furniture, simply a small couch and some toys scattered on the ground.
“Excited?,” he heard Dazai whisper next to him.
“For what?,” he whispered back, confused.
His friend looked at him, searching his face. “Oh, so you’re not kidding. You’re just really that slow. Like a slu-”
“Shut up!,” he hissed back and, surprisingly, Dazai really did shut up. Perhaps it had just been because in that moment, a young woman entered the room, and, behind her…
“A puppy?!,” Chuuya asked incredulously, barely holding back an excited squeal. Now this really couldn’t be. He’d asked before, and Verlaine had always told him that their income wasn’t stable enough yet to afford a dog. At some point two or so years ago, he’d just given up.
The woman chuckled. “Actually, he’s almost an adolescent. And a quite energetic one at that, too – well, once he warms up to you. He’s a little shy.”
Chuuya immediately let himself drop to his knees in wonder. “Hi,” he tried, holding his hand out toward the pup, which sniffed carefully from the safe distance.
As he slowly emerged behind the other’s legs, she went on to explain, “He’s a Shep-”
“A Shepsky,” Chuuya said without looking up, eyes still steadily on the puppy in front of him. “A Giberian Shepsky, I’m familiar.” He recognized it from how he was built mostly like a shepherd, but with thicker fur the color black, except for a small, white throat patch and some brown at his legs and inner ears.
“He made his research,” Verlaine explained to the woman. “Ever since he’s been a kid, actually. If my husband and me weren’t completely sure that he’d take good and proper care of it, we would have never gotten him a puppy for his birthday without discussing it with him beforehand.”
Chuuya turned his head. “So he’s really mine?” He didn’t even try to keep all the emotion out of his voice. Usually, he wasn’t quick to cry – he just sucked up all the negative stuff and learned to deal with it somewhere along the way. But right now, he felt as if he might tear up.
Rimbaud smiled at him and nodded. “Yes. Yes, he is.”
Okay, now he was sure he could feel tears prick at his eyes. Fuck. He would not start crying right now, or else Dazai would never let him live this down. “But… but what about what you two always told me? That our income-”
“Chuuya,” his brother-in-law cut him off gently. “That was two years ago. Paul and I weren’t teachers yet. We were still in college – as you know, – but, now…”
“Oh,” he said softly and blinked. Right. After his wish being turned down so many times, he’d just kind of started to accept it and, well – suck it up as one of many other issues in his life, even though it gnawed at him.
He saw Rimbaud shoot Verlaine an admonishing glare, after which the latter cleared his throat. “Chuuya, well, we weren’t completely sure whether you still wanted a dog at first, so…” His husband had to give him yet another look before he continued. “…so we asked Dazai, who very kindly,” he now shot the boy in question a glare, “informed us that that was, in fact, still the case.”
“Actually,” Dazai started, “I said that naturally, of course the Chibi-”
A whine. They all turned their heads just in time to see the puppy finally coming up close to Chuuya, sniffing his hand. Apparently, he had decided that he was no threat, as he wagged his tail happily, playfully nudging his hand over and over again. He quickly encouraged it, petting him between his ears.
Now, up close, he could also finally see the little one’s eyes properly, pulling a gasp out of him. “He-”
“Yes,” the woman said. “He has heterochromia, his left eye is brown, his right one is blue, as you can see. His mother was found pregnant with him and his siblings on the street, abandoned, so she was taken here. Her and all the other pups have been adopted already, he’s the last one.” Her voice became a little spiteful when she added, “He’s also the only one with heterochromia out of all of them. Nobody wanted him so far because they found it irritating to look at.”
A few years back, he would have felt ashamed at this. His own eyes were two different colors, the right one brown, the left one blue – though more of an azure blue, not icy like the pup’s. Thinking about it now, his even mirrored the puppy’s, and in his life, many people had told him exactly the same. That it was hard to look at, distracting, or confusing. But now, at 16, it simply made him angry to think about. He’d grown to like his own eyes, and he already felt incredibly protective of this puppy. From now on, nobody would be allowed to say that.
“Well, that’s just stupid,” Dazai said. “Heterochromia is beautiful.”
Despite knowing that the other had meant the pup, and not him – he must have, – he couldn’t help but feel a blush creeping up his neck all the way to his cheeks.
“Well, do you like him?,” Verlaine asked carefully. Chuuya gave the pup a final pat before standing up and striding toward his older brother in two quick steps and embracing him. Hard. The other seemed startled for a moment before settling his hands on the redhead’s back. “Happy birthday, brother.”
“Thank you, Paul,” he murmured. “Thank you so, so much.” He gave him another squeeze before leaving his arms to embrace Rimbaud. “You too, Arthur. I couldn’t imagine a better gift, seriously.”
“I think I can speak for both Paul and me when I say that you’re more than welcome,” the man replied with a smile, hugging him securely, but not too tight. “And we know that you’ll take good care of him. Happy birthday, Chuuya.”
Rimbaud let him go, and Verlaine nodded. “Just make sure to train him properly, be consequent and don’t let your grades drop. Though I’m positive you’ll manage all that just fine without us having to remind you.”
“Although,” Rimbaud said, “there is someone else you might want to thank.”
Upon following the man’s gaze, Chuuya’s eyes landed on Dazai, who had been watching them intently. For a moment, all he could do was look at his friend speechlessly, unsure of what to say.
“Alright,” the woman interrupted before he could think of anything. “I think you two should follow me to fill out the form and discuss some last details, since you are the guardians. The boys can stay here with the pup.”
After the three adults had left the room, Chuuya was still looking at Dazai, only now realizing he’s been staring the entire time. Fuck. “So…,” he tried, but couldn’t particularly conjure up any words. A simple thank you felt wrong somehow – things were never that simple between them. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the pup starting to play with some chewing toy on the ground.
“I told them that you’d probably want to pick him up with them instead of just receiving him at home,” Dazai said, first to break the silence. His voice had this rare, genuine tone again. “It’s why I brought you here.”
Chuuya fiddled with his sleep. “Yeah. I figured.” From the moment they first met – even though that had been just less than a year before, – some kind of mutual understanding had been between them. Dazai was an asshole, but not only an asshole. He wasn’t really surprised he’d done this for him, yet knowing that the other boy had thought of him like that made him feel oddly warm for reasons he could not name.
Suddenly, Dazai smirked. “But I have to admit that part of the reason I agreed to this was so that A), I would have a gift for you, and B),” his grin widened, “I was planning to make a dog comment before you took the words right out of my mouth.”
“I fucking knew it!,” he exclaimed, but couldn’t bring himself to lash out any further at him, instead just punching him the arm without any real force at all. “You’re such a piece of shit, you know that?”
“I’ve been called worse. Of course I know,” he grinned before whining dramatically. “Though I gotta say, it wounds me deeply that you think so lowly of me.”
“Fuck you,” was all he said before pulling his friend into an embrace. Shit, if the others came back now, this would be fucking embarrassing, but they’ve only been gone for two minutes, so, what were the chances?
Dazai held his breath at first, but then slowly exhaled and put his arms around Chuuya. “Happy birthday, Chibi.” They stayed like this for a moment, longer than his embrace with his family had been.
“So,” Dazai murmured against his red hair, “what are you going to name him?”
“Hm,” Chuuya hummed, “don’t know yet. Any ideas?”
When Dazai pulled back, he was grinning in that lopsided way of his again. “How about Chibi? Or Slug? Or-”
He groaned loudly. “Forget it. Actually, why did I even ask?”
“Dunno,” the other smirked.
Chuuya looked at the pup, observing him as he had now moved on to play with some plastic ball that rattled when it moved. “What about Kuro?”
Dazai tilted his head in a way that was almost cute. “That’s Japanese for what?”
He smiled to himself. Of course Dazai knew it was Japanese. It certainly wasn’t an English name, and was too clearly spoken to be a French word. While Dazai could only speak English, Chuuya was fluent in both languages, just like Paul and Arthur. But they – mostly him – had also picked up some Japanese from Kouyou. He’d estimate he could read, speak and write it on a B2 niveau, or something like that.
Well, it could also have just been a word or name from literally any other language that he randomly knew, but their understanding of each other worked in weird ways.
“Black,” he simply replied.
His friend raised an eyebrow at that. “Oh? A little simple, don’t you think?”
“Nothing’s wrong with simple,” he muttered. “And, well, I mean, black…”
Dazai’s eyes widened barely noticeably. “Oh.”
Chuuya quickly looked away as his face reddened. He hadn’t really consciously thought about it, the idea had just hit him. Double Black. Soukoku. It’s what they’d become known for in school, after their principal Mori had continuously paired him in projects throughout all possible subjects.
He considered it for another moment, sitting down on the floor in front of his new puppy, who promptly climbed into his lap with a happy huff, earning himself some absentminded ear scratches. “Yeah. Kuro sounds nice.”
Dazai nodded before grinning at him. “Sooo… cake?”
He grinned back. “You bet.”