Bandages and Salt (PJO X BSD AU)

Chapter sixty-four

A/N:  "Canon does not exist from here on out" the author said in an excited gremlin voice because they had planned out the entire book a year ago when it still seemed like Chuuya was a vampire, and they were not going anywhere near that.

Also because I wrote this so long ago, there was so much editing involved.

Dazai POV

Anxious energy poured through my skin as I sat at my desk, Riptide still hidden away neatly in its pen form between my fingers as I fiddled with it like I once had during meetings when I was younger, waiting impatiently for the work day to be over. Normally I would just pull myself to my feet and leave with cheerful lies on my lips of meeting a beautiful woman for a double suicide, but Kunikida was somehow managing to stare daggers into my soul as I watched the clock above the door, my legs dragged uo to my chest like I was still a small child.

Today sometimes made me feel like one.

Ranpo, seeming to have noticed that the queer mood that I had been in all week was actively worsening by the moment, lifted his head and opened his piercing eyes as his gaze settled on me. Studying me like I was some sort of experiment that wasn't acting quite the right way.

Dropping one of my legs to the ground, I leaned down and reached into the bottom drawer of my desk for the emergency bag of chips that I kept there for days like this. The bag was the other man's favorite kind, and gave an almost satisfying sight as I tossed it into the air at the other detective across the room, waiting to see what the older man would do.

If Ranpo opened the bag, then he would be agreeing to leave the situation be, trusting that it wasn't so bad that he would need to intervene. If the older man threw it back, then he wouldn't and I would likely be dragged to his apartment for the night as it meant that the other didn't trust me on my own at the moment.

The other detective hesitated for a long moment before turning away from my side of the office and looking out the window at the port city, popping a chip into his mouth.

Safe.

My phone rang dully through the room, dread pooling in my gut at the familiar ringtone that I had set.

Today wasn't the day for this.

"Dazai, I swear-" the blond detective started in, only to be cut off by the whine of Ranpo's voice, a sound that I cherished in that moment.

"Leave him be Kunikida," the eldest detective said boredly, not even bothering to glance at the scene that was unfolding, he didn't need to.

It could almost be seen as thinking when the older man tapped the steadily emptying chip bad with his index finger twice, if it wasn't so deliberate a movement. I rolled my eyes like a teenager and pulled out another of the chip bags that I had stashed away, passing it to the other man on my way out of the office to take the call. Ranpo only smiled deeper and nodded slightly, amused by the information that he held.

Sucking in a breadth as if it held all of the oxygen in the world, I glanced wearily at the contact name before answering.

Slug.

My heart plummeted in my chest, if this had been any other night...

If it had been the beginning of any other night, then Chuuya wouldn't be calling.

"Dazai!" The other started, his voice filled with too much cheer as it spoke my name. "You should come over here," the other suggested and I knew then from the way that the other's voice slurred that the Hatrack was drunk.

He always has been a lightweight.

"I don't even know where 'here' is, Chibi," I reminded the older man and was met with a drunken giggle and what sounded like a glass settling on a table, placed there by careless hands.