Timeless (Dazai X Female Character)

"The Scariest Thing Is Being Perceived"

"Quit trying to be Odasaku."

The words slipped from his lips without a second thought, purposely cracking the carefree outer shield that Asagao always wore in order for the boy to see the hurt that he didn't know existed.

For some reason, that phrase wasn't something she could brush off or use her usual coping mechanism on. No, one look in her eyes and Dazai could tell that it was bigger, that he had touched a spot that broke through her trauma plated armor.

But in the end it had gotten him what he wanted, the girl no longer stopping him as he walked out of Oda's apartment without another word, taking that sick nauseating feeling with him.

She wasn't trying to take the place of Odasaku, he knew that, but in Dazai's mind his projection of his own insecurities basically made the result the same. Asagao wasn't aiming to be Oda but the boy could feel their similarities creeping up his spine even so.

It didn't matter if she had good intentions, because the boy had seen her as his dead friend many times before.

The truth was, Dazai was the one who was searching for Odasaku, he was the one that tried to recreate those feelings with Asagao.

It wasn't her fault, it was his own fucked up brain wishing for those mundane and carefree times back. He wanted to stay at her place for weeks on end and eat dinner with her every time she offered. He wanted to tell her stories about her brother and laugh about them throughout the entire night.

But instead he lashed out, he shoved his own insecurities in her face and caused her to make that heartbreaking expression instead. Guess she was wrong, he couldn't be a good man after all. He bet she regretted that statement now.

What a disappointment he was, hurting the one thing that Odasaku held dearly. He tried to warn her that she would be caught in the crossfire of his own destruction but she didn't listen. And now she had paid the price.

If only she wasn't so clever, if only she didn't see through every single one of his defenses. See, this was why he preferred to be around stupid girls, ones that didn't ask too many questions. It was easier that way, easier to hide in himself.

But with Asagao he couldn't do that, and it terrified a part of him he didn't even know he possessed. She saw him in a way no one else could, she perceived him in a manner that shook him to his very core.

It was a contradiction, to want to be understood and yet not at the same time. To call out into the sea and pray to be rescued but also hope to be drowned. That was the line that Dazai constantly walked, and the boy knew that he would never be happy with either result.

Because to be seen, to be perceived was the scariest he could ever imagine. Just the mere idea of such a concept caused his fingers to wrap around the bandages around his arms with a shiver of alarm.

No, he couldn't do it. It didn't matter how much he craved it, how much he wished for it. He couldn't show anyone these ugly disgusting parts of himself. The walls, the barriers, the armor, they needed to be there forever.

That's why he wore the tightly wound gauze in the first place, to hide. To cover himself in order to be able to stand to look at the sight. They shielded him, coddled him far from his inner self, tucking him away emotionally so that no one could ever truly see the scarred and tainted skin underneath.

They were a necessity, something that Dazai knew he couldn't live without.

And just the mere thought of Asagao seeing underneath his bandages almost spiraled him into a panic attack on the spot. No, he couldn't let her get too close, he couldn't let her figure out this horrible part of him.