If I was a fool..

Or you...

A thief....

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                                                   Dazai had woken up that morning feeling better than normal. He immediately checked his alarm clock and saw that it was 10:13 am. He'd slept through his alarm. Again. Well who cared; it wasn't like Kunikida would yell at him any less. He slowly dragged himself out of his futon and headed to the bathroom. After showering and changing into his regular work clothes, he made a small sandwich for himself and headed out the door.

                                                 Along the way, he observed around him carefully. Someone had been tailing him for the past few days. However, they would only do so when he was going to work. He found it very suspicious and frustrating. Plus, he couldn't figure out who was following him, which frustrated him even more. Cold chills began running up and down his spine by the time he arrived at the Agency. Stuffing the last of his sandwich in his mouth, he headed inside.

                                             He greeted the cafe workers briefly before striding quickly up the steps and barging into the office with a loud 'Good Morning!'. His coworkers stared at him exasperatedly as Kunikida began to yell at him.

                   "Dazai!!! You troublesome waste of bandages you are two hours late!! TWO HOURS!!! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!?!" The bespectacled blond haired man shouted at him.

                   "How mean Kunikida! I was just so tired last night after you made me stay back to do paperwork that I slept through my alarm! So you can't be mad at me when it was your fault!" Dazai exclaimed dramatically, waving his arms and pouting.

                    "Plus, if you keep yelling at me you can eventually go mute, which can then cause the inside of your throat to decay!"

                     "Really?!" Kunikida gasped, horrified.

                    "Yup! You should write that down to not forget."

                    "You... mute...throat...." Kunikida mumbled.

                     "Just kidding," Dazai exclaimed once Kunikida had written down almost everything.

                    "YOU- " Dazai quickly made a run for it as Kunikida tried to strangle him.

                                                         All the others in the office watched on in either amusement or exasperation. This was normal after all. The chase soon came to a halt as Kunikida had given up and had gone back to his desk to continue his schedule. With this, the others turned back to their own work as well. Dazai however, began his 'after harassing Kunikida' office routine. Draping himself all over Atsushi. Of course the 18 year old didn't mind so Dazai continued cuddling his favourite person from behind. Without realizing it, he drifted to sleep; the last things in his line of vision was the pile of paperwork left on his desk and the soft strands of Atsushi's short silver hair.

                                                       His eyelids opened slowly as they adjusted to the light glaring down at them. As more awareness returned to him, he instantly began to realize a few things. Firstly, he was no longer leaning on Atsushi. Someone had moved him to the couch. Secondly, the pile of paperwork that had been on his desk for him to complete was gone. Thirdly, the office was empty. He glanced around until his eyes met the clock on the wall. It was 1:30pm. Strange. He didn't usually sleep that long during the day, much less dreamlessly.

                                                  The door to the office suddenly opened. Atsushi then walked into the office with a large plastic bag holding some styrofoam containers, in his right hand. His left hand was on the doorknob. He automatically spotted Dazai's half awake figure laying on the couch. He quietly shuffled towards the man, holding out the plastic bag.

                     "Here you go Dazai-san. I wasn't sure when you would wake up so I bought you some lunch from that restaurant you liked. I made sure to get some crab dishes too so I hope it's suitable," Atsushi spoke softly to him.

                      "Thank you Atsushi-kun!!!" Dazai exclaimed, all remaining tiredness automatically ejecting from his body at the mention of crab. He quickly sat up, opening out his hands to receive the styrofoam bowl containing his lunch. Atsushi then sat next to him on the couch and handed him his food while taking out his own box. The two men ate in a comfortable silence. Only the occasional scrape of chopsticks against styrofoam could be heard.

                                                        The peaceful atmosphere continued even after they had finished eating. They had long debates about different people and ideologies, even each other. Dazai did his best to avoid talk about suicide as he knew how much it worried Atsushi, and in return, Atsushi tried to lessen his self deprecating comments. The air between them was light with bits of excitement radiating off both parties, betraying how happy they actually were to see the other person. Yosano watched them interacting as she came back to the office after lunch to get some work done. Her eyes softened at their soft and euphoric atmosphere. They were really made for each other, huh?

                                                         Because Atsushi had completed all if his and Dazai's work before lunch, neither had anymore work until it was time for their respective missions. At around 4 o'clock, Kunikida came to pick up Dazai for their assignment. They were taking a request outside of Yokohama so it would take a good few hours to get to and from the assigned destination, as well as do the actual job. Before leaving, Dazai promised to buy Atsushi chazuke once they saw each other the next day. He then quickly pulled the younger into a hug, rubbing their cheeks together affectionately. Atsushi nodded before head bunting him back and nuzzling their noses together in return. The two men then parted ways, heading to their separate assignments.

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                                                     Dazai returned from his mission with Kunikida at around 10pm. Once inside his apartment, he headed straight for the shower, desperately needing to wash all the dirt and grime off his skin. He was exhausted to the bone and wanted nothing more than to drop into his futon and fall dead asleep. It was too much to ask though. With his insomnia, he and sleep were the farthest thing from friends.

                                                Now, medicine isn't really his thing. Especially pills. He had a really bad history with them, and detested ever having to use them (You can blame Mori-san for that). However, he really wasn't in the mood to stay up and his futon was calling so he quickly swallowed some sleeping pills Atsushi had prescribed to him due to his own insomnia. They tasted sweet and he felt his eyes begin to droop. He slowly drifted asleep, wondering if Atsushi had gotten home safe.

                                           Dazai woke up slowly the next morning. It was 8:37 when he checked his phone, and he was honestly shocked. He never woke up this early. Maybe he should invest in those sleeping pills Atsushi have him. Despite his early rising, a foreboding feeling had planted itself into the pit of his stomach. Today wasn't going to be a good day. Feeling unusually rested, Dazai hurriedly finished his morning routine and made his way to work. He arrived at the agency at around ten past nine. He could feel the shocked stares he received as this was a pretty early time for him to reach work. He could tell that Kunikida was especially shocked and, dare he say, kind of proud via his not do subtle staring.

                 "Kunikidaaaa!! If you keep staring your neck might stick in one direction!!" Dazai whined. Kunikida snapped out if his stupor, shook his head and headed back to work. Not before flipping Dazai off though. Dazai quickly skimmed over the office. Atsushi wasn't here, and that set off alarm bells in the back of his head. Atsushi was never late for anything. His anxiety wouldn't allow it. Worry crawled up his spine antagonizingly. He tried his best to shake it off. As Dazai made his way towards his desk, he noticed a package on top of it. He briefly looked over the package making sure it wasn't a bomb or any other dangerous weapon. Once assured that it wasn't, he looked at the tag. It was addressed to the agency though it did state Dazai's name on it specifically. He opened the box carefully and his eyes widened at what he saw inside.

                                                     There were two pictures. One was of Chuuya, tied to a chair by what looked like thick red wires, chains wrapped tightly around his neck, connecting to metal bars in each side of the room. A long metal spike was impaled into each of his arms and legs and he was blindfolded and gagged. But the next picture was what horrified him the most. It was a picture of Atsushi. He was kneeling on the the floor, chains wrapped around his arms holding them up.  A metal collar with long spikes on the inside was attached to his neck digging deeply into his throat and long iron spiked were impaled into his two shoulders and both sides of his hip. His stomach was ripped open, held open only by the spikes impaling him, his organs looking like they'd fall out if he so much as twitched. He was also blindfolded and gagged. Now he knew why today felt like it was going to be a painful day.

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Hope you guys enjoyed!!!