"Chuuya, Wake up~"

Chuuya growled at the chipper voice that belonged to his partner, digging his face deeper into his pillow.

Dazai, never one to be put down by Chuuya's sour mood, continued to poke at his cheek and coo at him gently. The redhead swat the pesky hand away, only for the poking to stop for two seconds and come back to annoy him.

"Chuuya~"

He meant to ignore him, he really did, but the childlike pout he was greeted with was enough for him to rub the sleep from his eyes just so that he could return the favor with a scowl.

"Get out of my room!" Chuuya yelled while his hand grabbed the closest thing to him on his nightstand. Dazai ducked in time just as a book sailed towards the closet.

"My my, look at angry, little Chuuya. I haven't seen you this upset since the time I caught you cuddling with your hat!" A taunting smile replaced the sulking expression on Dazai's face. He could feel his cheeks getting hotter and hotter as he continued to stare down the brunette. "That was two years ago! You don't need to keep bringing it up!" He screeched, only to his partner's amusement. Why was he even in his room? How did he even get into his apartment?

Dazai giggled, loud and merry, before putting his hands up in surrender. "Anything for you, Chuuya. But I can't make any promises~"

He barely had time to close the door to the hallway just as something was thrown at him again. Dazai leaned onto it for support as he stifled his small laughter. The muttered cursing he could hear from inside wasn't helping his cause.
                             ***
His brown eyes followed his partner as Chuuya walked out of the bedroom into the kitchen, completely ignoring the sprawling mess he had made on the couch.

He bit into a donut as he returned to the living room with a glass of water in the other hand. He went over to the coffee table, completely unaware that he wasn't alone. Setting the water down on the table, he sighed before turning around to sit on the sofa. Chuuya almost screamed when Dazai's cheery face popped up from his face plant on the seat.

"You!" He shook the donut at him in anger. "What are you still doing here?!" He took a deep breath, steadying his nerves. Chuuya looked about ready to chuck the glass at his face.

Deciding to sit properly, he swung his legs off the armrest in one lazy swoop. His eyes no longer shone with bright mischief, being replaced by a more serious look. His partner, noting the sudden change of emotion, took it as his cue to sit on the chair next to him. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Chuuya broke the silence.

"What's the objective of the mission this time?" 

Standing up from the couch, Dazai grabbed his coat hanging on its back. Once secure on his shoulders, he turned back to the redhead to see him already standing up and finishing his pastry.

"Follow me, I'll tell you on the way."

                             ***
Light snow fell from the gray sky, falling on the sidewalks and clouding up the dim lampposts. The morning was young, barely enough to light up their path through the streets of Yokohama. Chuuya drew his coat closer, shivering a bit as his partner looked unaffected by the cold. Their breaths dissipated in the dry winter air with each exhale they released and each step they took forward. Chuuya skimmed the street a second time to make sure. Currently, the two of them were alone.

"Where exactly are you taking me?" He raised an eyebrow at the suicidal maniac, who only bit his lip to hide the smirk he knew wouldn't be appreciated today. Or any other day, Dazai lamented silently.

"What an impatient midget! Can't you see we're in public? As if it would be a good idea to tell you anything now." Chuuya made a face of disbelief at his companion.

"We're the only ones out here, asshole!" He pointed at the cat resting on a nearby bin in exaggeration."Unless you really think a cat can overhear our conversation!" The black cat hissed at the loud noise, which Chuuya gave it a nasty look for. It darted between the dumpsters with astonishing speed, not once letting out a mewl in fear.

Dazai let out a short laugh before continuing to walk past the alleyway. "There you go again acting like rampaging terrorist. You shouldn't be bullying animals, Chuuya."

He rolled his blue eyes in exasperation, sticking his freezing hands in his coat pockets. "Honestly," he muttered to himself. Dazai turned away to smile at something else, anything else but at his partner.

They walked to their destination in a temporary truce. The red head followed the other with blind trust, for which he hated himself for having sometimes. Who knew what kind of mission they'd be taking on today? If he'd need to use Corruption or not? But, Chuuya thought, even if I did need to, Dazai would be there to have my back.

He was disgusted by how much he trusted him, the same man who was humming a quiet tune in front of him with his hands behind his head. Could Dazai even stay serious for at least five minutes?

Chuuya almost bumped into him when he abruptly stopped in front of the entrance to the park with its fancy black archway and polished fencing. The other man turned up to him in confusion then directed his gaze to the tall trees that grew along the path coated by snow. From where he was he could see that the bushes still retained their regal beauty, regardless of being fruitless.

The garden was just the same as it was when he visited it last month, only that it was a frozen replication of the scenery. Before giving himself the right to feel kind of bad that he might destroy the fragile display in a fight, he asked Dazai if this was the right place.

"Yeah," he sighed, taking a step through the arch. "We're here."

He let himself worry that his partner had dropped the cheery act. Did he just look uneasy right now? Not that he was concerned about someone's safety, not at all! He just felt apprehensive about using his ability in broad daylight.

Besides, the two of them were unbeatable together, so the both of them shouldn't be worked up over nothing.

                              ***
His nerves waned down into anticipation that slowly crept up to infuriation the longer they sat on the wooden bench under a tree. It was cold as hell and Dazai didn't seem to be in a hurry to do what they came here to do, much less actually tell him what they were here for. He certainly wasn't getting any younger waiting for god knows what.

His partner sat- no, lounged- peacefully on the other side of the bench, staring up at the sky and occasionally giving him unreadable looks from the corner of his eye.

It felt like he had wanted to say something each time he fixed his attention on Chuuya, but deciding against it he would focus on a distant tree. If the mission was to drive him out of his mind, then it was going to be a flawless success.

And no, during this stretch of quietude, Chuuya did not stare at the snowflakes that dotted his brown hair with white. He didn't notice how it pooled around them or how he looked cuter with the tiny bit of snow on his nose.

He didn't pay attention to how timeless this scene was.

When Dazai turned to him with parted lips and eyes telling him I have something to say, Chuuya snapped.

"Spit it out! You look like a dumbass with your mouth opening and closing like a dying goldfish!"

The reaction was immediate. He jumped at the words- almost unnoticeably, but Chuuya didn't miss his shoulders jerk upwards- and did he scoot away from him a little bit?

Much to his distaste, his infamous fake smile was taped onto his face a millisecond after his eyes widened with shock and something else. Dazai closed his eyes and leaned back into the bench, appearing as the epitome of comfort.

He cracked one eye open to study the redhead, then once deciding that he wasn't in the clear he let out a forced laugh. It was so hollow that he almost cringed.

"Sorry! Sorry~" Dazai frantically waved his hands in front of him in a desperate attempt to swat away the awkwardness that suffocated the both of them. "I didn't mean to frighten little Chuuya," he chuckled under his hand. He was so tense that it was beginning to get painful to look at him.

"Dazai, stop it!"

"Stop what?" The lopsided smile was practically straining his face. His jaw was going to lock if he didn't stop smiling at him like that.

"You're not fooling anyone here."

Dazai froze on the spot, smile waning until it wasn't there at all.

The facade washed away so easily, Chuuya thought, too easily. He watched as the brunette collapsed into himself. He had given up. With his head bent down, Chuuya saw the slight tremble of his frame. So the cold did affect him. He wasn't unreachable, wasn't indestructible, wasn't untouchable. With the way he carried himself, it was easy to forget that Dazai was a person too.

"It was the only way," he softly explained, eyes never leaving the ground.

"The mis-"

"There is no mission." His voice was devoid of emotion. It sounded so empty.

The snow swirled around them then, so he had to inch closer to the other man to properly hear what he was saying. It was so, so cold, but nothing could be colder than Dazai's voice now.

"What the fuck are you going on about?"

He hesitated once realizing that he was expected to continue. Hours, possibly days passed before he said anything. "This was the only way," he heaved,"I could ever get you to spend time with me." He curled into a more vulnerable position than he was already in, expecting hurtful insults and heartless amusement headed his way.

Chuuya's eyes widened in surprise, and to his embarrassment, he blushed a ferocious red. Stuttering over his words, the admission was said before he even made the choice to say it.

"Y-You're wrong."

Shit, why the hell did I say that?

Sunken brown eyes lifted themselves from their staring competition with the ground, complementing his humorless smile. "You don't have to lie, Chuuya. You don't have to lie."

If he noticed my pink cheeks, he must have written it off as caused by the cold-

"Just kidding! As if I'd want to waste more of my precious time with someone like you."He had a pathetic smile that was too forced to be even somewhat genuine. "Let's go back before the petit prince freezes to death. Unless you want to commit a double suicide with me here and now?" The teasing lilt in his voice had returned. Slowly, but surely,
Dazai was piecing himself back together again. He stood up from the bench as gracefully as possible and began to walk
with hands tucked into his pockets.

No, I won't let you run away like you always do, you fucker, Chuuya growled to himself. He wasn't even as angry as he thought he would be when he learned Dazai didn't take him out to go on a mission but to sit with him under a tree in the park, damn it. The only thing he felt was to the need to prove the other wrong. He reached out and grabbed a fistful of Dazai's coat. His partner stopped, before turning to face him.

The snow was around them, gliding along the branches of the trees and seeping into their clothes. People passed by here and there, a group of friends chattering among themselves, children running around and paying no mind to their mothers trying to get their attention. Chuuya knew the world was moving around them. He just kept staring at the palpable question on Dazai's face, not once blinking or looking away.

All his attention was on how timeless this scene was.

Dazai raised an eyebrow, "So if you don't want me 'running away', you do want to commit a double suicide with me after all?" Chuuya squeaked -a sound he didn't know was possible for him to make- at the realization that he said what he was thinking out loud. 

"No, Shitty Dazai. Will you just listen to what I have to say?" He puffed, drawing his hand back.

"Aww," he cooed, "does the little kitten want to roar?"

In a swift movement, he was suddenly centimeters away from Chuuya's face. The bandages on his right hand felt constricting, and he glanced at a gloved hand gripping his wrist in a vice. Blue eyes ablaze with thinly controlled irritation glared black holes back at him.

"One more thing out of your mouth and I'm punching you." The threat hung in the air alongside the light snow, there but only part of the scenery. He smirked at this, but at least having the decency to shut up.

He let his grip relax, although not letting go of the bandaged hand. Instead, he cradled it gently with both hands, careful not to shatter fragile glass. Those damned brown eyes were clearer than a pond in springtime, waiting to listen to the words that he had to bite down to keep them from spilling out like water.

The snow didn't stop its descent from the sky even when the warmth of the pair should have melted it. The world didn't stop going about its course even when it should have froze in place seeing them freezing time itself. Dazai didn't stop breathing in gasps even when his heart should have stopped beating seconds ago in surprise. He was so close, so close-

Chuuya didn't stop- no, has never stopped chasing after him even when he already has him in his embrace. He doesn't think he ever will. So with a deep breath, he said,

"I care about you, asshole. Now do you still think I wouldn't spend the rest of my life with you if you asked or not?"

Not in control of his actions, Dazai leaned forward to steal a kiss on his cheek before ducking away to avoid any slaps that he knew were coming. This time a genuine smile, a smile brighter than the morning glow in the air of dawn, made its way to Dazai's face. He was elated, giddier than a child on Christmas. Chuuya's skin was so soft against his lips and he wished he could kiss him again and again and again-

Said man hadn't moved an inch. It was almost like he hadn't been aware when it happened, poker faced and all. The creeping blush was the only tell.

"What the fuck."

"So you're the one who's surprised after that heartfelt confession?"

"It isn't a c-confession, you freak. Don't take it as something it's not!"

"So what should I interpret it as? An assurance between friends? A promise between pals?" His eyebrows wiggled playfully.

Chuuya glared in reply, a hand raised and unconsciously touching his cheek.
He stood up from the bench, walking away from the other in swift strides. "Wait up! Is this how you treat your loves? If it is, then I'm touched~" Dazai sang as he skipped to reach the redhead's side.

"You've been the only one, idiot."

He didn't have any time to suppress his gasp. Damn it, if Chuuya didn't stop saying things like that, he was sure his heart would burst. So he tried to cover it up with an "If you felt this way the entire time, why did you keep me waiting?"

He stopped walking to punch Dazai square on the shoulder, even if it was closer to a tap than a punch. He was so flustered that it made his hair stand out less in the snow, as impossible at it sounded.

"I hate you so much right now."

"I love you too, Chuu."

********

Hi guys!

I wanna thank y'all for reading. Sorry if there are any mistakes, I feel like I didn't edit as much as I should have. Also, I have no beta >.>

Dunno if I'll make this an ongoing thing or not. I write slower than a new season of Sherlock coming out tbh so don't expect so much haha

Still, I do hope you enjoyed! Criticism is appreciated, but please be gentle. This is my first fic !