twisted devotion || Yandere!DAZAI/READER

[8] The Second Corpse

"I'm so full," You whine as you exit the restaurant, "That was good."

"It was." Dazai replies; he too was happily rubbing his stomach before noticing a coffee stand nearby. He tugs at your sleeve like an excited child, pointing to the stand's menu  with a grin on his face. The menu was promoting a myriad of new seasonal drinks: colourful drinks with fruits and syrupy sweetness oozing from the promotional pictures, alongside drinks that were the same shade of Dazai's eyes.

You blink, "You want to get a drink?"

"Let's get a drink and walk around the park," Dazai says, pulling you to the coffee stand. You struggle to get your wallet out your bag as he hums, observing the menu with his perceptive eyes.

"I'll just get a black coffee," He says, pulling out his black wallet and imitating you by opening it the same time you open yours.

"I'll get the...um..." You peruse the stand's menu, "(favourite drink)."

"Paying separately?" The cashier asks. You nod while Dazai shakes his head.

"Paying together. My treat." He hands over a wad of bills and pays despite your complaints, begrudgingly accepting his act of generosity with a dismayed yet grateful smile.

"I never pegged you as a gentleman," You gently tease, piercing the top of your drink with the straw. Dazai gasps as though seriously offended, though the grin on his face says otherwise; he places the back of his hand on his forehead.

"Have I mistreated you so bad you don't consider me as a gentleman, belladonna?"

"Belladonna? That's new," You take a sip of your drink, "Isn't that a plant?"

"A poisonous one," He winks, and says it with his voice holding a singing compulsion, a whispered promise that he had done exciting things for centuries and that there were more exciting things hovering in the next minute, "Perfect for a love suicide!"

"But it also has healing elements." You say. The park was teeming with children and exasperated parents, with some baby strollers filled with dogs instead of a baby; birds above singing in a monotone cry in the wake of summer, dappled shadows from the leaves above falling languorously onto the pavement in the weight of the sun.

Dazai smiles in the sunlight, his eyes like burnt honey when sun-strained, "You heal me, (First name)."

"I heal you?"

"Yes."

You let out a strained laugh, "You talk like you've known me for centuries."

"Maybe that's just the effect you have on people," He takes a sip of his drink, "It's an innate talent some people just have."

"I don't think so," You say, "I'm just a normal person."

His voice drops and his eyes twinkle mischievously, "Not in this world."

He then turns away and walks towards an empty, unattended park bench, and you wordlessly follow, intrigued by his words. He sits down and crosses his legs, "Are you curious about what I just said?"

"Of course I am," You say, sitting next to him. There were no armrests on his bench, so that this time there was no barrier between you and him, "What are you saying? You've been hinting at that for some time now, but you've never really told me."

"Well, tell me about your world first," He proposes, the ice in his drink clinking harmoniously together, "Let's set the foundations first."
You suck in your cheeks and purse your lips in deep thought, hesitant at first. But upon seeing Dazai's kind understanding smile, devoid of any shadows but his dimples, you let out a sigh and lower your drink onto your lap. Your right arm was hooked behind the park bench, the other hand cradling your drink; the sunlight filtered through the ice like spotted shadows that nestled on your lap like a cat; the summer breeze unable to help the perspiration that slid down the side of your cup, a diaphanous, diluted drink now swirling in the palm of your heated hand,