Summary:

“The moon is best enjoyed with a beauty by his side, and wonderful sake in his
cup.”

Dazai and Chuuya have known each other through an online group that plays games
together. This group has decided to meet up for an autumn moon viewing.

[or: online gaming buddies meeting up for the first time. love ensues.]

Notes:
+ for this week's dachuu1h:『月見酒/tsukimi sake』or『待つ/wait』;

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:
Even though he’s reserved about sharing personal details, he’s not particularly shy
about meeting strangers. It’s easy enough, agreeing to a meet-up proposed by the
small group of gamers that he’s joined.

He doesn’t have any pressing work. Even if he has something like that, slipping
under Kunikida’s radar is something he has a wealth of experience on. It also helps
that the proposed location is on a neighborhood that’s both familiar and close in
proximity to his current residence. It’s a couple of meters away from Bar Lupin, so
if they end up unpleasant or boring, he can always take his refuge and whine to
Ango and OdaSaku.

[I’ll go there directly, my brother has business in the area.]

That’s the last line in the group chat, coming from someone that he’s nicknamed as
a dog and a slug. He refuses to think about how many minutes he’s spent staring at
that line, as if it could manifest the other person quicker.

“So that slug has a brother,” he murmurs to his reflection, uncharacteristically

taking time to look himself over in the mirror before leaving his apartment. He
tells himself that it’s just an extension of their rivalry; he doesn’t know what
everyone else looks like, but he wouldn’t be able to stand it if that slug turns up
looking more stylish than him.

When one says ‘online games’ nowadays, bridge isn’t the first thing that would come
into mind. Unexpectedly, there’s quite the crowd for it, and something that he’s
only clicked out of boredom ended up being something that he’s played for several
months. Bridge itself is quite the straightforward card game, but it’s meeting
other players that has him coming back again and again.

In particular, that slug.

The platform where they play games on doesn’t have private chats, so everything
players would say is blasted on a public space. Nevertheless, Dazai has discovered
that the slug—despite his aggressive, but honest playstyle—can understand his hints
even with code that he’s just developed on the spot. There are several games where
they’d just trade punctuations on the public chat, bewildering their opponents and
getting accused of knowing each other in real life and cheating by communicating
outside of the platform.

That’s how the idea of meeting up has blossomed. The group chat is for several
players that they’ve defeated, as well as several players who spectate their games.
Without outright talking about it, Dazai has ended up as a set pair with that slug,
and they’ve risen all the way to the top of the rankings.
It’s an understatement to say that he’s curious about how someone who’d answer
questions honestly—so honestly, that he will respond truthfully when asked about
the contents of his hand—can synchronize with his thoughts and plans so easily.

He stares absentmindedly at his reflection, idly reflecting on the fact that he

hasn’t bothered dressing up for the past several dates and group-dates that he’s
gone to. Well, if they’re going to have a moon viewing, it’d be a shame to ruin it
by not providing any sort of beauty, that’s all.

There’s a spring in his step as he walks down several roads lined with fallen
leaves, the hallmark of autumn. Chill starts to set into the air, as time moves
across seasons.

When he goes inside the designated location, it’s as if he’s transported to a laid-
back afternoon, given the golden ginkgo patterns and the amber ambiance. Despite
being a precious metal, too much gold is tacky in the wrong hands. But, this quaint
café gives off the feeling of being in yellow fields with plentiful harvest,
perfect for the harvest moon viewing.

The café has two floors. The proprietress brings him up to the reserved private
room, complete with a sliding door to the balcony, in order to give the guests an
excellent view of the moon.

Any other day and he’d be more than happy to flirt with such a beautiful lady, but
there’s steel not-even-hiding under all her gorgeous silks. Golden Demon is an
oddly fitting name for this café, and Ozaki Kouyou’s smile is perfectly pleasant as
she tells him that he’s the first guest to arrive.

He sits down on the spot nearest to the sliding doors, one elbow resting on the
long table filled with traditional fare for the harvest moon festival. Exquisite
dango piled up, with one golden ball on top to symbolize the moon. Colorful sweets,
chestnuts, taro and sticky race. There’s chilled sake in the middle of the table,
but he doesn’t reach for it yet.

Nearly half an hour passes before another person joins him.

Dazai is thankful that he’s foregone drinking sake ahead, because he thinks he’s
already buzzing with intoxication upon one look at the new arrival.

Tonight is all about celebrating the moon, but it feels as if the sun itself has
crashed into the party. The golden ambiance makes the person glow, the red of his
hair and the blue of his eyes more vibrant under the lights. He’s not too tall, but
he’s packed with all these details, to the point there’s something that catches his
attention on every available inch.

“You’re very late,” he eventually says, mind full of a million reasons he can use
to explain away the breathlessness in his voice. “Turns out that slugs really like
to slither around slowly, huh?”

The idea for this meet-up has been born from a group chat containing more than
twenty members, but he’s very certain that this person is the one behind the [sheep
song] username, the one that he calls a slug.

Blues burn brightly as they meet his gaze. “Tsk, so you really do radiate of
fishiness even in person, you shitty mackerel.” The other party accepts his
identity being revealed immediately, then fires back to unmask him as
[disqualified].

Leaning heavily against the table, “Fufufu, you should be nicer to me, since I’m
nice enough to sit and not make you feel so small.”

“Aren’t you just too lazy to do anything but directly sit down and eat?”

“But isn’t this meet-up for the purpose of sitting down and eating?” He wiggles his
eyebrows, gestures towards the table full of food with his free hand. “Now that
you’re here, I can finally start eating.”

“Not waiting for others?” Despite the acidity of their first conversation, the
redhead slug does move around so they can sit side by side, both with the best
vantage views of the moon outside.

“It can’t be helped. If they’re even later than a slug, it’d be a waste of the
moon’s beauty and the food’s freshness.” Directly using his fingertips, he plucks
purple taro balls from a plate and starts feasting on them. “It’d be a disgrace to
the harvest moon, wouldn’t it?”

A snort. “All those words, just to say that you’re hungry and eager to eat
already.”

With complete seriousness, “Walking a few blocks to get here from my home is a very
cumbersome task.”

Another snort, louder this time. “Must be because of all the nonsense you’re
carrying, weighing you down.” He takes out his phone, then places the paper bag
that he’s carrying atop the table. “Tsukimi wine, I got it from my brother’s
contacts.”

As someone who likes to pester Ango and OdaSaku to pay for his tab whenever they go
drinking, he hasn’t personally tasted this drink. The intricate logo printed on the
paper bag tells him enough about the expense of this item. Limited-edition
certainly, the types that are specifically brewed to be enjoyed on the night of
harvest moon.

He glances at the phone resting on the redhead’s side of the table, then towards
his own, face-down and on mute. A small smile tugs on his lips as he stretches a
hand. “Dazai Osamu,” he says, ears buzzing with something that could be called
‘excitement’, if it had teeth. “With this expensive wine as offering, I can forgive
your tardiness for making me wait.”

“Shitty Dazai sounds fitting.” He clicks his tongue, and clasps his hand, firm and
warm over the gloves. The handshake feels like something done by someone who’s not
comfortable with having anyone touch his hands. “Nakahara Chuuya.”

He feels his heartbeat rise, in a way that hasn’t happened even when he’s faced
with plenty of beautiful women. “Nakahara Chibi sounds fitting too.”

“Ha?! I’m not that short, oi!”

“Eh, compared to me, you’re just like a tiny ant.”

“Take that back, you—mmph!” The shock at having food suddenly shoved to his mouth
makes Chuuya’s cheeks bulge, a flustered air to him. Once he has chewed the sweets
in his mouth, he gives him a glare, “And stop using your hands to directly pick the
food! Why are you touching the coffee jelly directly!”

Shrugging, “I’m too lazy to pick up chopsticks, that’s why.”

Chuuya gapes at him, obviously floored by his statement. “And you even sound so
proud of that?”

“Well, it’s part of me, and it would hardly change,” he says, solemn, before
picking a piece of sticky dango and placing it against the tip of the other’s nose.

“You bastard—!!! Argh! Stop playing with food, damn it, I’ll just feed you and make
you choke on the chopsticks!!!”

A meeting between two adults has inexplicably devolved to a food fight. Chuuya
fights without reservations, alternating between feeding him food and trying to
stab his throat with wooden chopsticks.

An hour later, his belly hurts from a mixture of laughing too much, and being too
full with food. He ends up half-sprawled on the table, propped up by the wooden top
that has most of its plates emptied.

The only thing that has remained relatively untouched by their fighting is the
bottle of expensive wine. He opens it and languidly pours two cups.

They drink slowly, watching the moon and each other at the same time. Time passes
by in comfortable silence, the rowdiness of their food fight transforming into a
more contemplative moon viewing.

A thought rings in his mind: “The moon is best enjoyed with a beauty by his side,
and wonderful sake in his cup.”

Dazai’s gaze strays towards the other’s eyes, moonshine reflected upon them, as if
the moon hangs over blue waters.

Chuuya clicks his tongue after a few moments, making a face. “You bastard, my
clothes are all sticky now, urgh…”

“My apartment is just a few blocks away, so you can take a shower there,” he
proposes lightly, in sharp contrast to the way his heart thuds against his ribs.
It’s a blatant invitation, and while flirting is something that he’s done countless
times, offering to show his home has never featured in any of his flirtations.

A brief pause, as Chuuya seemingly weighs the pros and cons. It’s a very brief
pause, that it’s almost unnoticeable. “You owe me new clothes,” is his reply,
catching his stare and meeting it head-on. An impatient hand flaps towards his
face, gesturing for him to stand up quickly. “Let’s go already, oi.”

“Such a bossy chibi,” he mutters just loud enough for the other to hear.

Despite the mess that they’ve created, they also move tacitly enough to clean up
the worst of it. There’s still plenty of leftover wine, so they bring that with
them as they leave the private room that’s already been paid-for beforehand.

Both of them don’t mention the fact that it’s just been the two of them the entire
time, not checking their phones so they could contact the rest of the group chat
members to ask whether they’re still coming.

“Your place better have nice windows so we can continue watching the moon while
drinking there,” Chuuya says casually, like it’s a given that they’ll continue to
spend time after this.

If one looks at the message history of his phone now, they’d see that it’s full of
him contacting the other members of the group chat prior to this meet-up,
skillfully persuading them to not show up for today’s outing, all for the sake of
it being a meeting for just the two of them.

More importantly, Chuuya is going along with it. He doesn’t bother looking for the
others’ whereabouts, even agreeing to go back with him to his place.

He smiles, continues down the road, walking side-by-side under the guidance of
streetlights and moonlight.

Tonight is truly one for a bountiful harvest.

(If one looks at the message history of Chuuya’s phone now, they’d see that it’s
full of him making a request to Ane-san that if anyone else arrives after him, for
her to turn them away so that the meeting would only be for him and the mackerel
that he’s been waiting to meet, ever since they’ve first bickered online.)

-
end

Notes:
thanks for reading till the end!
it's the middle of guild wars for gbf, and i'm also working on zine/big bang fics,
so i shall update bit by bit.... hope everyone is doing well!! <3 <3

+ i’ve just finished rereading the danmei [The Earth is Online] for the 500th time;
the “meeting up after playing online card games” is partially inspired by that
novel’s official AU in the extras;

+ when i started writing this, i was planning to write a more straightforward (?)
love story, but… it still ended up like this… asdjksldjsldsjls