Work Text:
"Goodnight, sweetheart," Chuuya crooned softly, shutting the door to Atshushi's nursery.
He could feel, rather than hear, Dazai approach.
"Why are you closing the door? I wanted to see the baby." Dazai pouted, as if he was the one put out by this whole ordeal.
The only reason Chuuya was in the nursery this late was because Atsushi was having a hard time falling asleep and finally, blessedly, he’d gone to bed.
Dazai came and went as he pleased, meaning conforming to the strict schedule Chuuya had set for the baby simply wasn't in the cards for him.
And that was fine, Chuuya understood. Dazai was a busy mafia boss, he had places to be, people to kill. But Chuuya also understood that Atsushi was a growing boy and needed several naps a day, as well as a full night of rest, to facilitate proper physical and mental growth.
So, Dazai's little 'float on the breeze' antics, 'come home at one am and expect to see the child' shtick, just wasn't working.
And Chuuya finally decided to put his foot down.
"No." He hissed, keeping his voice low, so as not to disturb Atsushi.
"What do you mean no?" Dazai huffed, crossing his arms. "He's my kid!"
"He'll be your," Punctuated with a sharp jab to the chest. "Kid when you start fucking raising him you, ass."
Dazai looked offended at that, opening his mouth to speak, before Chuuya cut him off.
"Paying the bills is much appreciated but that does not make you a parent." He snarled. "And if you want to spend time with him, you can come when he's not been put down for the night, or doesn't have a nap time. For fuck's sake, did you not realize that?"
"Well, I'm terribly sorry I never had a stunning example of a father figure to look up to for this, Chuuya!" Dazai snapped back.
"No, nu-huh," Chuuya put his hands on his hips, with a sharp frown on his face. "You do not blame your shitty parenting on other people. It's all you. You could've seen Mori and decided to do better, just like I did."
That shut Dazai up, and Chuuya only felt a little bad about it, because yeah, comparing him to, probably, the worst ‘parent’ in the history of parents wasn’t great and was a little bit of a low blow, but
jesus,
it was like that was the only thing that could get through to him!
“You’re no saint yourself, Chuuya.” Dazai murmured, his eyes almost turned black in the low lighting.
“Yeah, I’m
sickeningly
aware of that, Dazai. But at least I try.” He turned on his heel, preparing to go down the hall to his own room. As a parting remark, over his shoulder, he said, “If you try and go in there to bug him while he’s sleeping, I
will
know.”
And with that, he left, with Dazai staring after him.
+++
The day Atsushi developed his skill was the day Chuuya realized they needed to fucking leave.
It seemed that Chuuya yelling at Dazai had changed the frequency of his visits from ‘once in a blue moon’ to ‘never’ and he needed to take advantage of that opportunity before Dazai found out about ‘Beast Beneath the Moonlight’ and decided Atsushi was useful once again.
He began the slow, tedious process of siphoning off some money into a new account that wasn’t attached to him at all.
As soon as he had the money, they would leave.
Honestly, he wasn’t entirely sure where they would go so that Dazai wouldn’t be able to catch them, but he could at least buy himself some time to figure it out.
Chuuya began keeping a few extra items packed in Atsushi’s diaper bag. Just, extra changes of clothes, extra formula, things like that, just in case he needed to leave fast.
Better to be prepared than caught off-guard.
+++
Dazai had caved.
He was going to see Chuuya and the baby.
It felt weird, being at odds with his second-in-command over a child, and, despite how much it pained Dazai to say this, Chuuya was sort of right.
Dazai had taken in that child and taken on the commitment of raising him, only to shirk his responsibilities onto someone else, and that wasn’t right.
He couldn’t guarantee he would get it right all the time, but he wanted to make an effort.
He wanted to try.
Because before this, he hadn’t been trying. He’d been too scared of turning out like Mori to actually put in the effort and he’d ended up like… Well, like Mori.
As he walked down the hall to where the nursery was, he noticed the door was slightly ajar. Which wasn’t too odd, sometimes Chuuya would leave it open when he was only going in for a few minutes, but as he pushed it open the rest of the way he realized…
Chuuya wasn’t there. And neither was the baby.
Which, again, wouldn’t be too odd, except…
Atsushi’s closet had been cleaned out, some of his toys and books were missing, as well as the majority of his diapers and other essentials.
Now, even if Chuuya was pissed at Dazai, he would’ve gone to Dazai for help if somebody had taken the baby.
Which meant…
Chuuya took the baby.
Dazai’s first instinct was to be mad, to be so pissed off, but that deflated in a heartbeat because he realized why Chuuya did it.
Dazai fucked up, he wasn’t taking care of the kid properly, and Chuuya didn’t want the kid to grow up unloved.
Well.
Fuck that.
Dazai was going to make an effort, he was going to change.
But he could only do that if Chuuya and the baby were here. So, he grabbed his phone, and dialed in a number.
“Yeah, I want everyone on this. We’re looking for Chuuya.” He listened to the response. “Alive and unharmed. If anything happens to him, so help me god, you are dead.”
+++
Chuuya stood in front of Dazai, Atsushi in his arms, diaper bag dropped off in the nursery.
“Resorting to running away, are we?” Dazai asked, pleasantly.
“You can kill me, but please, just do not hurt the baby.” Chuuya pleaded, pulling Atsushi a little closer to his chest.
“I don’t intend to do anything to either of you, except,” Dazai took a deep breath and pressed his face into his hands. “Be better. I am willing to acknowledge I… Dropped the ball on raising the child, but I would like to be better.”
Chuuya blinked.
Atsushi, mimicking him, blinked as well, then,
“Chuu?” He babbled, reaching up to tug on Chuuya’s ponytail.
Dazai’s heart melted a little bit as Chuuya immediately shifted his focus to the baby, muttering soft platitudes, combing his fingers through the soft, fine silver hair on Atsushi’s head.
He turned his attention back to Dazai, still glaring harshly.
“I have a few rules,” Chuuya began.
“Which I will follow to the best of my ability.” Dazai replied.
“The only times you’ll be allowed to come in, at night, is for his nightly feedings. And if you do, you have to feed him. You need to spend at least an hour with him, everyday, and establish a healthy relationship with him,” Chuuya showed no signs of stopping, and while it seemed a little daunting, Dazai did say he was going to step up and be more responsible. “I love Atsushi, he’s my everything, but sometimes I want time off, it won’t be all the time, but I will ask you to step up and look after him for a day.”
“All right, I-” Chuuya cut Dazai off before he could even truly get started speaking.
“I am not done yet.” Chuuya hissed. “Atsushi needs a bigger nursery, preferably near your room so you can hear him at night, but I will also need a room near wherever you move him. He also needs to be going outside of the base more often. He should probably be going to playgrounds and the like, however I wouldn’t feel comfortable taking him to a public playground, so you should probably use your Port Mafia money to build one.”
At this point Dazai’s pretty sure Chuuya’s adding the extra conditions to make him squirm, but if he doesn’t conform, he’s totally fucked.
So instead, he simply nodded along, as Chuuya tacked on more and more demands.
Once Chuuya was finished, and Dazai was sure his neck hurt from all the nodding he was doing, Chuuya finally seemed placated.
And once Chuuya was placated, Dazai felt comfortable making the request that kick-started this whole shitshow in the first place.
He crossed around to the front of the desk to stand in front of Chuuya.
Carefully, almost hesitantly, Dazai reached out towards Atsushi, softly poking a tiny, chubby cheek.
Atsushi blinked up at him, then, with as much motor-control as he had in his tiny baby body, grabbed onto Dazai’s finger and shoved it in his mouth.
Dazai couldn’t help but laugh, as Atsushi used his gums to gnaw on Dazai’s finger.
He looked up, making eye contact with Chuuya.
“Can I hold him?”
Chuuya seemed slightly taken-aback by this.
Honestly, he figured he’d have to force Dazai to spend time with Atsushi, but here he was, willingly asking, in the softest tone Chuuya has heard Dazai use, ever, to hold the baby.
At a loss for words, Chuuya nodded, slowly, almost like it was causing him pain to be separated from Atsushi, holding him out for Dazai to take.
Dazai, to his credit, was incredibly gentle as he took Atsushi from Chuuya, even supporting the baby’s head properly.
However, it was a little clumsy, and not as secure as it could be, because Dazai was still letting Atsushi gnaw on his finger.
Chuuya didn’t seem able to let Atsushi go entirely, as he fussed over his blanket and his clothes, adjusting them.
Dazai couldn’t help but smile at the soft expression on Chuuya’s face as he looked at Atsushi.
“It’s almost the full moon, huh, baby,” Chuuya cooed, reaching around Dazai’s hand to tap Atsushi on the nose.
“What’s that mean?” Dazai asked, softly, trying not to break the gentle air.
Chuuya tensed up.
“So… Funny story…”
Chuuya explained Atsushi’s skill to Dazai, and, as politely as possible, explained that that was the reason he had taken Atsushi and ran away.
“I didn’t… I didn’t want you to see the potential of his gift and raise him into a soldier.”
Dazai said nothing, for a long time, merely looking down at Atsushi.
“I… Understand why you’d be afraid of me doing that but…” Dazai bit his lip, then continued. “I believe it’s what I even adopted him for in the first place, but looking at him now, all I can think is, he’s a precious little child, and he’s precious to you, so…”
Chuuya inhaled sharply.
He tipped his forehead forward to rest against Dazai’s.
“Thank you.” He said, softly.
“I don’t deserve your thanks,” Dazai replied.