Chapter Text
Denji yawned as he woke up, pulling himself from Power's exhaustive sleepy embrace and pushing her head away from his face so her horn would stop stabbing into his cheek. He felt a bit of that morning crust he gets in his eyes sometimes fall away when he rubbed at his eyes. He saw through those same eyes, his vision a little blurry as he adjusted to the dimly lit room as he looked around with a soft huff.
Denji nearly fell out of his bed when he looked over the side of the bed, seeing the dark, black eyes of the Depression Devil staring at him with a bored expression on their face. The white symbols within their eyes glowing the dark, and nearly giving him a heart attack as he went rolling off of the bed and landing on the back of his head.
"Fuck!" Denji cursed, rubbing his head in pain. "Dee, what the fuck!? Did you watch me sleep all night?"
"It's my job to be your personal bodyguard." Dee told him, tilting their head to the side as if he was the one in the wrong and they were the confused ones wondering why he was acting so strangely. "Makima told me I'd start getting paid if I took my job seriously, so I have to watch you 24/7. Don't worry though, I won't be interfering in your day to day life. Just pretend like I'm not even here."
"That doesn't mean you've gotta watch me sleep!" Denji exclaimed, pointing a finger at the blue skinned devil. "It's weird! Don't do that!"
"Unfortunately, I won't get paid if I don't," Dee shrugged their shoulders in response. "So imma keep doing it whether you like it or not."
Denji growled in frustration, reached over to his pillow — which Power was now using, as she was somehow sleeping through all of this ruckus — and threw it at Dee.
The pillow passed right through Dee's body.
Oh, right, Dee can become intangible like a ghost.
"Really?" Dee raised an eyebrow at him. "That was immature."
Denji groaned, but ultimately gave up. In the end, Dee was just protecting him, right?
I guess I can't be too mad at them… they're just doing their job, or whatever.
"Fine, I'm gonna go piss." Denji said, sighing exasperatedly as he pushed himself up from the floor and exited the room. He walked down the hall into the bathroom, the early morning light of the sun beaming through the windows as he made his way through Aki's apartment. When he was done relieving himself, he figured that he may as well brush his teeth too.
Partway through brushing his teeth, he heard a rustling behind the shower curtains.
"Ain't no way," Denji said, spitting out the toothpaste and swinging the curtains open, only to see Dee looking up at him with that weird little tilt in their neck that they always had now. "Ain't no fucking way you just watched me piss just now."
"I didn't." Dee told him. "I was behind the shower curtain. I didn't see you do anything."
"Like that makes it any better!" Denji exclaimed, before swinging the curtains back over to block the devils view.
Denji was tempted to start pulling his hair out of frustration when Dee passed through the shower curtain as if it wasn't even there.
"Toothpaste could be poisoned, be careful." Dee told him, and Denji swore he saw that the devil was trying not to smile or laugh with the way they're lips were trembling a little. "I'll be ready to give you blood, just in case."
Denji stared at him, feeling a vein start popping out of his forehead.
"You're just fucking with me, aren't you?" Denji asked. "You don't gotta do any of this, and you know it, don't you?"
"I would never do such a thing," Dee told him, maintaining a straight face. "I am but a humble servant doing they're best to protect the human they've been assigned to as a guard."
"You are fucking with me!" Denji accused, dropping his toothbrush and shoving a finger into the blue devils chest.
"Pft." Dee looked away, they're cheeks puffing out for an instant. "No. I don't know why you'd think that. I would never do such a thing, didn't I say that already?"
"Fuck off!" Denji angrily picked up his toothbrush again, and angrily brushed his teeth, doing his best to ignore the shit eating grin that the Depression Devil had on their face as they became intangible and left the bathroom. Well, at least he was given some damn privacy finally, so he was able to relax a little and finished brushing his teeth. When he was done, he opened the bathroom door, and poked his head left, and then right, looking for Dee just in case the hilarious devil tried pranking him again out of boredom or something. He sighed a sigh of relief when he didn't see them, and entered the kitchen to see that Aki had woken up as well and was already making them breakfast.
"Good morning," Aki greeted him, looking at him from the corner of his eyes. "I woke up Power today, so don't worry about having to do it yourself this time. She's getting dressed as we speak, when you're done eating make sure she gets something too."
"Alright, dude." Denji said, sitting down and licking his lips in anticipation of this next meal. He picked up the chopsticks, and picked up the first piece of eggs, before bringing it up to his mouth and-
"Oh wow, that looks yummy." Dee's voice said into his ear all of a sudden, the devil appearing with their chin resting on his shoulder as he looked at the food on the table.
"GAH!?" Denji jumped in surprise, accidentally throwing his food into the wall behind him. "Seriously!? Are you that fucking bored!?"
"Stop being mean to your bodyguard, Denji." Aki scolded him. "Dee's here to protect you and by extension, everyone else. The least we can do is accommodate them and their… antics."
"See? Aki understands," Dee said, picking a piece of sausage right out of his plate, and throwing it right into their mouth. "Be more like Aki, Denji."
Denji's face went red with an unyielding rage.
Then, he relaxed, and just sighed. Accepting his lot in life.
"If you're going to watch me all the time, you don't have to do it all sneakily and creepily," Denji told the devil, gesturing to the empty spot beside him. "Sit down at least, and just be normal."
Dee raised an eyebrow, widening their eyes a little. They seemed surprised at his willingness to bear with this. Wordlessly, the blue skinned devil sat down beside Denji, and they were given their own plate at the table to eat alongside him.
"This is good food," Dee said as he ate what Aki cooked for breakfast.
"Thank you," Aki smiled at them. "I hope you continue to enjoy my hospitality."
"GRRAAAAAH!" Power threw something against the wall in rage when the brand new alarm clock blared. All three of them figured that they would need to buy another new one after this. "I AM SO HUNGRY FOR BLOOD! GIVE ME BLOOOOOOD!"
"Looks like Power is cranky again," Aki sighed. "I bet she didn't even get dressed like I told her too…"
"Dee, why don't you just give her a bit of your blood again?" Denji asked, genuinely curious. "She got real strong when you did it before, and honestly more manageable."
"Makima told me not too," Dee said, keeping their gaze on the food in front of them.
"She did?" Denji blinked, confused. "Why?"
"Dunno," Dee shrugged. "I guess she doesn't want Power getting too strong that she won't listen to anyone anymore."
But when she was stronger, she still risked her life to save me. Denji thought, remembering what happened after Reze stabbed him in the stomach. She doesn't act that differently when she's all amped up on super-blood, or whatever. So what gives?
Denji remembered something Reze said during their fight, when he was trying to calm her down.
"Makima…" Reze mumbled into his chest. Her devilish teeth scraping against his skin. "She wouldn't let me… even if I wanted too."
What did Reze mean by that…?
Remembering Reze — and knowing that he'd have to go feed Power some blood himself now — made Denji lose his appetite. He was still going to eat it, because he hated wasting food, but these thoughts definitely made the food taste less good.
Is Miss Makima… not a good person? Denji asked himself mentally, trying to wrap his head around the possibility.
He looked up at Dee again, and found that they were staring at him with those glowing white eyes again.
Ah, shit, can they hear my thoughts? Denji winced at himself, hoping that Dee wouldn't go telling Makima he just thought that.
Dee shrugged and went back to his food.
Denji shrugged too, and finished his meal too.
Denji is smarter than everyone gives him credit for.
The Depression Devil had been spending a lot of time with Denji lately, ever since Reze exposed his identity and location on international television. Even before that, they'd spent a lot of time observing the boy from afar. Dee felt that they had a pretty good grasp on Denji as a person, and felt that they understood him pretty well, too. It was only a matter of time before they did, honestly, it's been their job to look after him ever since they first walked into Public Safety's Special Division Headquarters all that time ago, and accepted a job under the divisions captain, Makima herself.
They were feeling just a little silly that morning, but after looking into his thoughts a little at the end of the breakfast. It wasn't something that they did often, unless they had a good reason too. But today's reason was just because they wanted to know what he was thinking. Usually, at least a few days ago, it was a lot of depressing thoughts, as Denji really missed Reze despite everything she did to him. After Makima offered the trip to Enoshima to them, his mood has improved significantly.
However, that didn't mean that Denji was stupid.
Or, well, he was stupid, but not stupid in the way most would expect from him.
Denji was thinking a lot about what Reze told him before their fight came to an end. Dee never heard it themselves, as they were still recovering from their own injuries at the time and also eating the portion of the Gun Devil's flesh that Fami gave them. But they knew that she said something to him, and Denji did confide in them about it too.
Dee felt a little conflicted about that. Because they knew what Makima planned to do with Denji, how she wanted to break his spirit and make it so that the real Chainsaw Man can re-emerge so she could use him to create this perfect world.
In the beginning, they were okay with that idea. Even supportive of it.
But as they've died, come back, and regained some of their memories time and time again, in addition to what they learned from Kishibe during their private talk, they didn't really want to…
Dee sighed, shaking their head as they watched Denji move to a fence, lean against it, while eating a rice bun. Power leaned against him, still tired and recovering from her exhaustion. Dee watched her as well, even as the other hired protectors of Denji scolded him about eating food off the floor.
Dee didn't have much to add to the current conversation, and watched as the tall, blonde man with glasses called Kusakabe continued to scold Denji about his mannerisms, and try to tell him how he should be acting. Little did he know, he was barking up the very wrong tree. Denji was going to be Denji no matter who told him to change to fulfill their version of what Denji should be. The blue devil respected him for that, which was why they proved to become so fond of him thus far.
The Depression Devil looked up toward the sky, sensing that the resolve of themselves, and many others involved in the conflicts to come was going to be tested.
Denji, who's heart has been made a target by the world, a boy who just wants to achieve simple but fulfilling dreams.
Power, who they promised to help become a full fledged devil again, struggling to handle her exhaustion and burnout after the battle against Reze and Typhoon.
Aki, who deep down wanted to protect them both, his familial love for them slowly but steadily overcoming his hatred and resolve to bring down the Gun Devil.
Then of course, the Depression Devil themselves would be tested as well. They had grown stronger in this short time that they'd worked for Public Safety, wiser as well. They've regained memories that has once been lost to them, and yet there were still so much to uncover.
But they couldn't focus on their past and protect Denji at the same time.
They couldn't be Dee, and Depression simultaneously.
Because they knew that Makima, one of their four mothers, wanted Denji's heart as well, and she had the greatest probability to succeed in that goal out of all the assassins in the world who would come to Japan to attempt to steal Denji's heart.
There would only be one victor in the battles to come, and Dee had a feeling who that victor was going to be.
Denji picked up his rice bun off the ground and ate it right in front of Kusakabe, sticking his tongue out at the older, irate man as he did so.
Okay, maybe Denji wouldn't be smart about it, but Dee was rather certain that he'd come out of all this somehow.
But wether or not his bodyguard would, has yet to be decided.
Dee smiled a rueful smile. They still weren't one hundred percent certain about why they started this journey, but they'd found that they've enjoyed the time that they had spent with these people thus far.
They've made mistakes, and done things they aren't sure they would do again had time re-winded to offer them a second chance at certain points in time.
But as they told Denji several times, you couldn't have only the good without any of the bad. There always needed to be a balance, and perhaps it was time for them to take their own advice.
The Depression Devil turned intangible, and watched as their charge continued about their day.
Whatever came next, and if there was a choice to be made, Dee was certain that they'd do the right thing.