inherentsun

[inherentsun]

heyyy if it’s okay could we please get a part 2 of the stalker dazai fic? i can’t stop reading it🥹

i'm working on it now !

[inherentsun]

also on ao3 and wattpad as inherentsun ♡

Osamu Dazai was never the type to love someone. So it's no surprise that once it occurred, it was nothing short of an ugly rusted cage, looking for it's bird.

What better victim for his rough, blunt fingers, than a reserved bookworm with a part-time job that they just happened to take up at the wrong time?

- dazai never left the pm after oda's death

"This is it I 'spose.."

You held your phone, looking up at the small building of the address between you and your employer's texts. The cold air made the anxious breaths you let out visible, your fingertips red.

You never really were one for alcohol, the smell and effects of it only irked you. However, to your dismay, the only short-notice part-time job you could get was a bartender. Hell, it was so short-noticed that you hadn't even gotten interviewed. You had just turned eighteen, and the cash you got from your mother overseas wasn't enough to fund you completely.

So there you were, standing in front of a bar in the run-down part of Yokohama with little to no experience, a freshly employed bartender. Yokohama wasn't particularly safe, and you weren't the strongest either, being a non-combative ability user. But it's not like beggars can't be choosers, can they? 

You perched yourself onto a stool chair, texting your boss that you were there, ready to be introduced to your station. Instead, even 30 minutes later you got no text back. Suddenly, a man who looked to be in his twenties towered over you, looking you up and down, as if he were sizing you up. Not in an interested way, more judgmental than that. He handed you a rag, keys, and a bartender's uniform. Confused, you tilted your head, "I'm sorry, are you my boss..?"

He only deadpanned you up until that point, when he finally spoke to you, a tone of annoyance lacing his voice. "No, I'm your co-worker, and I'm clocking out. This is the stuff the boss said you needed." He put his hand out, trying to give you some courtesy by introducing himself, but his degrading stare told you he'd rather be at home than even speaking to you.

"S-sorry, what about training, or showing me around the building? How do I know what to do exactly?" God, the look on this guy's face as you ask more questions that sounded reasonable in your head just makes you wish you could crumple up into a ball on the spot. "What am I, your nanny? Figure it out by yourself, I'm sure you're not completely incompetent." He spat. And with that, he turned away and left through the door. 

You furrowed your eyebrows and scowled. Whatever, you'd just 'figure it out' as he said. Once you changed into your uniform, a long-sleeved blouse, paired with a sleek black tie and typical working slacks, which was surprisingly comfortable- you restocked the bar and reopened. 9 PM, great. You assumed your messy co-worker who left you to restock worked 12 PM - 7 PM, which left you with 8 PM - 4 AM. It didn't take long for customers to come in, tired from work, outing with friends, or just people who simply wanted to drink. The job wasn't as hard as your head made it out to be, and you managed. Luckily, a lot of the customers could tell you were new and bared with your less than experienced work.

Hours passed, it was now 2 AM and most of the drunkards had gone home. While the smell of alcohol and the energy of the people who drank it disgusted you, it was tolerable. Now the only people that remained in the bar were groups of friends, or singles sipping on their drink as they thought to themselves. 

But after all these hours, no matter how much time passed, no matter how occupied you were-

You could feel one pair of eyes glued onto you, a pair that never faltered their vision off of you.

Aside from the bandages and cold look plastered onto his face, he didn't look creepy. Even so, something about him was off-putting. You decided to keep shoving the thought off, even if the only way he would ask for a refill was by tapping the side of his glass as if you were a housemaid. 

You kept looking at him, taking note of his appearance. He had medium-length hair for a guy, thick and dark too. His eyes were a deep auburn and they burned into yours, as he made eye contact once he noticed you looking him up and down. Breaking eye contact, you came to notice he was quite tall, standing at a good 5'11 off of what you could tell. He often played with the ice in his drink, still not tearing his eyes off you as he did it. If only you knew what he was thinking about you, maybe you wouldn't be so careless with how much you looked at him. 

You decided to stop paying him any mind, as it would only keep you nervous for the rest of your shift.

The rest of the night was mellow, and the people who were there didn’t give you too much trouble. In your spare time, you’d write to yourself about your job in a pocket journal you kept. 

It was finally 4 AM, your shift had felt like it would never last, and you could hardly believe you'd be doing this for 5 days a week. Everyone had left by then, including the lump of bandages that wouldn't stop looking your way. You walked out of the establishment after restocking and locked the door. You sighed and spoke to yourself, "Finally... I can rest." As you were opening your car door, you heard something, and your head snapped behind you immediately.

..Yet you saw nothing.

"Must be the paranoia of working in the sketchy part of Yokohama.. I’ll get used to it." You rationalized to yourself, unlocking your door. However you did fail to hear one thing, and that was the sound of the air tag on your car turning on.

It had been about two weeks since you had started your part-time job, and things had gotten better for you. Your cold coworker was slightly nicer to you, the job had gotten easier overall, and that unsettling man from your first day didn't show up too often- though you dreaded when he did. Other than that, your work had gotten nicer, and being employed gave you a sense of purpose. 

Today was your day off, so you decided to treat yourself. It had been a while since you had done so anyway, and you felt good about yourself for once! First, you decided to head to the bakery, to pick up a croissant for yourself. You were well acquainted with the woman who owned the shop, and you had a nice chat with her before you went on your way.

Once you had gotten your treat, you headed to the library where you sat and wrote for a while. Journaling was your personal therapy, a way to keep tabs on your emotions. Being honest with yourself about your emotions is what kept you running, because even with the uncertain path your life was on, at least you knew yourself.

It was around 7 PM when you had finally up and left, the only people in the bookstore with you being older people reading, or those working on the computers. Tired and fatigued, you closed your journal and left for home. As you finally returned home, an ache-y but familiar feeling sunk in, and your chest felt heavy.

Something felt off the entire day- no, the entire month. 

You had been trying to ignore it but you felt as if you were being watched, your clothes were disappearing when you knew you hadn't misplaced them, and you swore you could hear noises outside your room at night. Yet when you went to check, there wasn't a trace of anyone being there.

Truth be told, if you wanted to be completely transparent with yourself, you hadn't been treating yourself for this very reason. Whenever you went out, a looming feeling of weariness came over you, much stronger than the normal amount of anxiety a person gets. 

You decided to get some sleep, to ease your nerves. Just to ignore the lump in your throat that formed whenever you felt like this.

The next day was miserable, you had an anxious feeling surrounding you at all times, and it didn't help that you worked at night. Before your shift you spent your time nervously pacing around the house, you couldn’t even read or write with how sweaty your palms were and the constant chatter of thoughts running through your mind.

Once you clocked in, it didn’t get any better either. The alcohol's smell going into your nose as you poured it or as a customer asked you for a nth glass filled your nose, and you felt even more queasy than you did before. It didn’t help that tonight’s groups were especially rowdy, and it seemed as if they took a sort of sadistic pleasure in pestering you. You were able to push through though, and when you were home you felt a bit of relief.

That relief was short-lived though when you checked your phone to see an unknown number text you. Your breath was short, your palm covered your mouth, your vision getting blurry. "Oh my god..." Your hunch was spot on, your stalker had sent you a photo of you cooking. 

That wasn't all though.

There were photos of you eating, changing, showering, sleeping, writing, working. You felt sick, they knew where you worked, how to get into your house, what you did throughout the day... 

That was your last straw, you threw on some pants and bolted to the police station, hot tears running down your face. When you arrived, you could barely form a coherent sentence. "P-pl-pleah.. h..help m-me I- they kn- live... I can't-" you were cut off by the officer that was unfortunate enough to catch you in your panicked state, as you tried your best to explain the situation.

"Hey, hey, let's calm down okay? I'm here to help, so you can just give me the information you have, and I promised we'd help you." He put his hand on your waist and pulled you closer, trying his best to reassure you. “Just walk me through it step by step. Can you do that for me?”

You nodded, still distraught. But you felt better, knowing he was there reassuring you. “I- my clothes have been disappearing, and recently I felt like I was being watched.” You continued, the thought of those pictures gave you a nauseous feeling.

“Just twenty minutes ago I was sent these..” You turned your phone toward him, and a terrified look washed over his face. You could tell he was scared, too.

It felt as if he was choosing to be careful how he worded things, taking a pause before he spoke. “I’ll be on this immediately. Do you have a safe place to stay for now?” You looked down and scratched your chin. “Only my home..”

He only frowned, but then it looked like he thought of something. He took out a notepad and a pen and handed it to you before scribbling something down. “Here, this is my number. I’m genuinely concerned, but as we have no evidence right now the best I can do is offer you emotional help.” He grasped your hands to his. “If you ever need help, please text me.”

His soft expression gave you a warm feeling, it was nice to have someone there for you.

”O-okay. I can do that..” You said, holding his hand tighter, returning the gesture. He only softly smiled at you, before writing down what you had told him before, and taking physical copies of the photos that were sent to you as evidence. 

He walked you to the exit of the station and placed a hand on your shoulder. “Before you leave, do you need anything?” You shook your head, “I’m okay. Thank you for helping me, please tell me anything you find out.” 

He sent you off, and you felt slightly better. You drifted off to sleep, and for the first time in a while, it was easy.

The next day you woke up, hair disheveled, eyes droopy, and your shirt slanting off your shoulder. This was the first night you were able to actually sleep decently since you got your own place. But you had one person on your mind when you woke up, which was the sweet policeman you had spoken to. Since last night, you had already set your mind on asking the guy to share an afternoon with you, a coffee date if you will. After all, you didn't even know the guy's name, and he did make you feel sane, even if for only a bit.

You grabbed your phone and sent him a lengthy text that you kept retyping in your head, like an anxious high school girl texting her crush. It read, 

'hi, it's me, the girl from last night. i was wondering if you wanted to get a coffee or something. just to get to know you, i appreciate how you handled the situation, even with my panicked state and my slurred speech. i have work at eight today, so if you wanna meet up before then i'd love to :)'

You clicked send, and almost immediately you got a text back.

'sounds great, i'll see you at (location) at 4 PM then? and btw, what's your name? i'm tanizaki junichiro.'

You smiled giddily at the response time and texted back accordingly.

'good to hear, and my name is (y/n). ill see you at 4!!'

He hearted your message, and you smiled at the gesture. You promptly got up from your bed to brush your teeth, do your hair, and pick out your outfit for the occasion of course. However, you weren't as careless as you usually were when it came to picking out what you'd be wearing for the day. You mostly just went with what was comfortable, but today you wore a knee-length dress and paired it with some mary-janes and a loose sweater.

You headed to the coffee shop after about 2 hours of playing around with your appearance and arrived right on time. Your eyes scanned the shop for Tanizaki to see him waving at you, a smile spread across his face. "Hey, I ordered you a coffee!" You sat down in the chair in front of him and took ahold of the latte he had ordered you. "Thanks, I really appreciate that! Here, take this." You fished 6 bucks out of your pocket, but he was quick to decline, pushing your hand away. "No, I insist! It's on me." You shrugged and pocketed your money. "If you say so, but the next one's on me." He only rolled his eyes at you, not taking you seriously.

Talking to Tanizaki felt natural to you, not in a romantic way, it just felt nice to have someone there to listen to you. You hadn't had a friend in a while, and although you weren't even looking for one actively, it felt nice to have a relationship of any sort. Hours turned to minutes, and minutes to seconds over your ‘date’ with Tanizaki.

”I’m really glad I met you, Tanizaki.” Your remark made a red hue spread across his face and he twiddled with his fingers a bit. “I am too…” He broke eye contact with you but quickly realized how distraught he looked due to your compliment. “T-that I met you that is!” He said, quick to correct his flustered look. 

You only chuckled in response, and you two continued talking to each other over the next few hours.

“I had a great time with you today Tanizaki, but it’s seven so I’ll have to walk to work now.” His eyes lit up, and he grasped your hands to his. “I can drive you! You shouldn’t have to walk.” His abrupt and overly-forward movement made you move your head back a bit, and raise your eyebrows. He noticed this, and let go of your hands. 

“Ah.. sorry, but my offer still stands.” He gave you a small smile and you thought for a bit. You didn’t see why not, it’d be much better than the 30-minute walk you’d have to take. “Okay, sure!” You nodded at him, and he gave you a thumbs up. “Alright, let’s go.”

On the way to work, you chatted as he drove. Albeit.. your naïveté took the best of you as you failed to pick up the intentions behind his questions. 

“So, (y/n).. are you dating anyone right now?” You shook your head, and put your hand to your chin. “No.. and I don’t think I have since middle school actually.” The realization hits you like a truck. Wow, you really hadn’t dated anyone for a while.

”Ah is that so..” He paused before continuing.

”Interested in anyone?” You perked up at the question. No, you weren’t really. You hadn’t been talking to anyone even as friends as of late. 

“I don’t think so, I haven’t had the opportunity to talk to anyone.” You shrugged.

The rest of the drive was quiet, not because it felt awkward, but because it looked as if Tanizaki had something on his mind that he wasn’t telling you. Not wanting to interrupt his train of thought, you stayed silent. 

You two had finally pulled up to your workplace, and you unbuckled your seatbelt before making eye contact and beaming at him. “Thank you a lot for the ride, Tanizaki!” You were about to turn away till he grabbed your hand.

”(y/n)…” He looked at your lips, and suddenly cold sweat had washed over your body. You stumbled over your words and tilted your head. “Tanizaki…?” 

He abruptly pulled your face to his, slamming his lips into yours. “Mhfmm!” You turned your head to the side, as he kept trying to pry hungry for more, his fingers digging into your cheeks so hard you'd swear it'd leave a bruise. You stumbled out of the car quickly after flinging the door open, a distraught look painting your face. “(y/n).. I- I thought you- I’m so-“ 

You were quick to cut him off in your ruffled state of mind.

”I- Tanizaki I think you got the wrong idea, I’m sorry.” And before he could answer, you had already bolted inside of the building.

The only thing that was on your mind that shift was your little ‘encounter’ with Tanizaki. Just what was he thinking? Why would he do that? Did you give him the wrong idea? Was that your fault? I mean, you had barely known him for a day. 

Maybe you were too harsh, you thought. “I’ll send him a text after work, maybe I can try to reconcile over brunch..” You murmured to yourself. “Yeah, that’d be good.”

Something strange that you noticed was that the eerie bunch of bandages that had shown up four days in a row wasn’t here today, which was good for your nerves, although his existence alone gave you an unsettling feeling whenever you knew you had work that day. 

It finally hit 4 AM, and you changed out of your work uniform and clocked out. “I’ll send him a text, hopefully he responds in a timely matter..” 

‘hey tanizaki, i know i left things off on a bad foot. i’m sorry, i was just taken off  guard from your advance. i wouldn't want this to ruin our friendship so if u wanna talk it over a meal i’d really appreciate that. again, so so sorry.’ 

Hopefully, that’d suffice as a good enough apology for him to at least talk it out with you. After all, he was the one you reported your stalker to. Wouldn’t help to have tension between you two, if you wanted your problem worked on cleanly.

It had been a two days since you had seen Tanizaki, two days you had texted. He hadn’t replied, or even read your message, which surprised you, as you thought you’d at least get your message read if not a rejection to fix things.

This was practically all you could think about from the moment you woke up, to the moment you clocked out of your shift. What snapped you away from your disarrayed thoughts was abruptly interrupted when you felt a tight squeeze on your shoulder. Oh god, was it your stalker? Were you getting kidnapped? All you could do was plead for your life, anyway. You could feel them towering over you, breathing down on your neck and their grip was nothing short of rough, at least rough enough to contuse your skin. 

"Someone didn't feel their best today." An irreverent tone laced this person's voice, yet they didn't sound threatening at all. If anything, it was more friendly. Their hand removed itself from your shoulder, and you turned around, your eyes being met with the bandaged man who gazed at you, yet again at work. Your eyes widened, and you stepped back a bit. Wow, now that he was in front of you it was much more apparent how much taller he was, his figure looming over you and the very discernible difference in strength between you two becoming more and more visible as you really realized how much strength had been removed once his hand was removed off of your shoulder.

"Ah- no, I'm just fine. What are you doing here, mister...?"

"Dazai, Dazai Osamu." He stated softly, placing his hand on his hip. "Nice to officially meet you mister Dazai, what did you need that was so important to wait till.." You quickly glanced down at your watch. "4:13 AM..?"

He smiled at you, bending down slightly and squinting his eyes a bit. "Thought I'd make myself acquainted with my favorite bartender." A mischievous, yet playful look spread across his face.

'Your only bartender.' you thought. He didn't seem as threatening as he was originally, his ghostly demeanor sent chills throughout your body whenever he shot you a look during your shift. "Well, nice to meet you mister Dazai. I'm (y/n)." You put your hand out accordingly for him to shake. He shook your hand, the coldness of his fingers spreading throughout your hand, his smile becoming a bit softer each time he spoke. "Nice to meet you, (y/n). You can drop the formalities by the way." 

"Ah, yeah. Sorry, nice to meet you too Dazai. I should be heading home now though." As you were turning away, he grabbed your hand, the cold sensation of his palm shocking you for a split second. "You don't work friday, do you? How about you drink a bit with me, we can get closer." You couldn't help but still be weirded out. Sure, his face didn't hold any malice, but you still had a bad feeling about the guy. "I dunno.. besides, I've never drank before. Only sips here and there of my mom's beer when I was a kid." You scratched your chin and broke eye contact with him by glancing to the side.

His eyes lit up, and he grasped both hands and leaned into your face. "That's great, I can help introduce you to some. C'mon, I'm sure you barely have time to speak to anyone, since you work at night and sleep through most of your morning." His tone dripped with persuasion, as he coaxed you with his oh-so desperate-looking expression and you had to admit, the attention from a handsome guy was nice.

You rationalized in your head, thinking about the possibility of either you or him getting hurt. You were awfully lonely, though. No friends at eighteen, only working then reading once you had downtime. One drink couldn't hurt, right? "Maybe, I guess. Give me your phone, I'll put my number in. I'll think about the whole drink thing though." You sighed, putting your open palm out toward him. He smirked and let out a little chuckle as he placed his phone in your hand. You entered your contact and texted yourself. "Cool, I'll text you then." You nodded, and the two of you parted ways. Though you couldn't but help think to yourself..

How’d he know you didn’t work Friday?

Another day without Tanizaki texting you, or even reading yours. He really was avoiding you, wasn’t he? No matter how many times you checked your phone there was no notification popping up, and it only made you even more stressed. Why was he so set on not fixing this? “UGH..” You groaned as you unlocked your car, and plopped yourself on the seat. 

Once you arrived at your apartment you smelt something odd, gross smelling even. It brought a nasty scent to your nose, and your nose scrunched as a result. “Jeez, what are my neighbors cooking?” You checked your watch. Why would someone be cooking at 4:30 AM?

ping!

You fished your phone out of your pocket and checked the notification, your eyes were a bit blurry out of exhaustion and not having adjusted to your phone's bright light — in comparison to your dark apartment that is.

unknown number.

You swallowed, a lump in your throat forming almost immediately as you saw the text. 

unknown number 4:32 AM - ‘check the side of your apartment ♡’

Oh god, they were there outside your apartment waiting for you, weren’t they? You pulled out a pocket knife you had always kept with you, and sheepishly inched yourself out the door. You bit the bullet and darted down to the alley, and god you wish that they were there, instead of the horrors that met your eyes as you rushed down in a cold sweat, heaving and panting at the sight in front of you.

Tanizaki’s body was pinned to the alleyway’s wall, his entrails surrounding him in the shape of a heart. And it wasn’t just him either, it was six officers you had never even seen either. 

Your ears rang, and the tears escaped your eyes, streaming down your cheeks. You wheezed and coughed, feeling vomit in your throat, a bile-inducing sensation harboring your stomach. Vision blurry, eyes heavy.

“I- hafta.. call.. Police- I-“ You grabbed your phone out of your pocket, nearly dropping it with your much your hands shook, juggling it in the air for a moment.

ping! 

unknown number 4:37 AM - ‘i wouldn’t report that if i were you, might get accused of a crime you didn’t even do.’

Sick fuck. They were watching you? Threatening you by implying you'd be framed for this? Your head moved every which way, trying to look for your stalker frantically. Your expression was worth more than a costly painting to them, you knew that much. Were they doing this to get back at you? Had you wronged someone? Why you? It's not like you'd ever been a sociable person, let alone one to meddle in other people's lives or affairs.

unknown number 4:38 AM - ‘you’re cute when you look for me like that you know, just go back inside and that’ll be gone by morning.’

Was this freak getting off on this? Your stomach felt like it was twisting in on itself. What happened? You were just talking to him a few days ago, and yet there he was, hanging in front of you surrounded by his organs, the smell of his innards invading your nose and making your head dizzy with disgust. Whoever did this could rot in hell for all you cared, you wanted nothing more than to replace the gory sight of Tanizaki in front of you with the perpetrator. The nauseating smell contaminated every inch of your nose, the rotting of Tanizaki’s body making you feel sick to your stomach. He must’ve been dead for a couple of days at this point, explains the smell and the unread text you’ve had on your mind.

But all you could do was put your phone in your pocket and hurriedly run back inside, still panting like a dog as you did so. What more could you do? This person clearly had the skills to kill you at any given time, and you still weren’t sure of their motive for stalking you either. All you could do was oblige the best you could.

You didn’t receive any more texts that night, but after recalling the horrid things you saw in the alley, trying to sleep was futile. You couldn’t help but think it was your fault he was murdered, him and the other six officers.

The day after the incident was dreadful. Your stalker had told the truth, Tanizaki’s body had disappeared by morning. You were exhausted, running on no sleep whatsoever, a scratchy feeling lingering in your eyes the entire day. The thought of arriving back at your apartment after work used to be a comforting warmness, one that took the alcohol's acrid stench out of your nose, but it had been replaced with a gut-wrenching feeling and a vile tang coating your mouth. 

Despite the unsettling thought that you'd have to return home once your shift ended in a few minutes, you started closing the bar, wiping down the tables, and eventually changing out of your work uniform. Walking out the backdoor oblivious to what was to come next, you checked the time on your phone. 4 AM. Oh well, you couldn't avoid your own house. Finally closing the bar, the idea of going home overwhelmed you even more as the time to leave the establishment was just a few minutes away. Was your stalker going to be there? Another body accompanying them, and more things of yours stolen? Would they force themselves on you? All of these concepts just made you all the more nervous to return home, and you were unsure you'd even be able to sleep tonight, still thinking of the horrors that had met your eyes the night before.

You came home to a white note on your bed, thankful it wasn’t another body, but also drowned in an upset thought that your stalker was able to get in your house, not that it was surprising, seeing their capabilities with law enforcement. Why would your average apartment lock be a match for them? The note read, “i apologize for my little theatric last night, i just needed to express how i felt ♡ i hope you have a good idea now. it took a bit to set up which is what the rotting was about,, i have work too. nonetheless... i hope you enjoyed your shift. count on me visiting you sometime soon, except this time i’ll make it known that i’m there. hope you're as excited as i am.” 

Make it known? Does this mean they’ve been near you in your house without you knowing? Everything you learned about this person has only made you more and more sick. Were they also really saying they hoped you enjoyed your shift? How could you after what you'd had seen, it was practically printed onto your eyelids, flashing in front of you whenever you blinked. You only furrowed your eyebrows and angrily threw a pillow at your window. "Fuck you! If you're watching me!" 

You looked at yourself for a second in the mirror and sighed to yourself. "What am I doing..." You facepalmed and laid back on your bed, hoping to get some rest.

Despite the rough night you had, you were able to slip 2 hours of sleep in before you were woken up by a night terror, in which you relived the events of the night you found Tanizaki in vivid detail. Well, you could barely call it a night terror, as it was at 11 AM, 2 hours after you were able to finally get some rest at 9 AM. Truth be told, the last thing you wanted to do was go out drinking. Not only did you hate alcohol, but you still had the nagging voice in the back of your head constantly reminding you of what you had seen by your apartment the other night. You had been too scared to even go to the station to check up on your report with the stalker, not like it would matter anyway. Your little secret admirer had already displayed their capabilities. Killing seven trained armed officers wasn't easy, and you were sure they wouldn't hesitate to do more harm, maybe even to you. You were in desperate need of company, loneliness stacked on top of your work and your stalker going MIA at random and popping up whenever they wanted only added to your stress. So you'd take any time to unwind with anyone you could find, maybe that is why you found yourself so quickly in a friendship with Tanizaki and Dazai.

Time had passed to when you should get ready to drive to the spot Dazai told you to go to in texts earlier that day, your conversation reading as such.

(xxx)-xxx-xxxx 2:52 PM - ‘hello!!! this is dazai!! r u still up 4 drinks? (∩╹□╹∩)'

you changed his contact to dazai.

me 2:54 PM - ‘i guess so, no promise ill be doing any drinking tho.'

dazai 2:56 PM - ‘meet me @ (address) by 5:30 pm, kay?'

me 2:57 PM - ‘okay, see u then 👍'

For a moment, you almost declined. However, seeing as you lost the person who was working on your case and offering you some sliver of emotional support, you thought 'fuck it.' 

Your first impression of him didn't fit how he spoke to you at all, he was cheerful and charismatic, in contrast to his uninterested and cold air that had clouded you originally. It rolled around to 5:00 PM, which was your queue to get ready for your hangout with Dazai later. You wore a skirt that stopped at your lower thighs, paired with pantyhose and a sweater, simple but not bummy or anything. You wore your hair down, put on a simple makeup look, and looked at your watch. 5:15 PM, perfect timing. You walked over to the meeting spot, which was just a local park about 10 minutes away, and plopped yourself on the bench, scrolling through your phone as you waited for Dazai to arrive. As you waited, you were left alone with your thoughts. Was this a mistake? What if your stalker hurt this guy too? What if your stalker ended up hurting you out of anger? Thoughts of Tanizaki's body invaded your head, his pale skin and the image of his eyes white, rolled back into his skull making you dizzy.

Thankfully, you were able to postpone these thoughts for later when Dazai arrived. Yet this time, instead of a sharp pain on your shoulder, he greeted you with a ruffle of your hair. "Hey, you ready? You look a bit distraught."

"H-huh? Oh, yeah sorry." You said while standing up. "If you say so! The bars close, just a 5-minute walk." He said, grabbing your hand and tugging you along, you nearly tripped over your own feet at the sudden movement. You looked down, letting him string you along when you noticed he wasn't wearing his usual suit and instead a black turtleneck with black pants. However, his bandages never seemed to part from him, making you question if it was really just an accessory. You found it a bit hard to talk around Dazai, likely because you had just officially met the dude less than a day ago. You didn't have this issue with Tanizaki though, something about Dazai just intimidated you, and kept you on your toes. 

"So.. Dazai.. Is your usual outfit that I see you in.. the suit and tie I mean- is that for work..?" You said, finally breaking the silence, trailing behind him and drilling your eyes into the back of his head. "Yeah, I usually just wear what I'm wearing now out of work." 

You piped up, genuinely curious. "So what do you do for work?" You noticed he ever so slightly paused in his tracks for a moment, before continuing to walk again. "Secret!" He looked back at you as he said this, making a 'shh' signal on his lips and winking at you. A bit weird but who were you to judge? You doubt it was anything special anyway. You let out a little 'pfft' and simply stayed quiet for the rest of the walk.

When you two arrived, the bar was nearly empty, with only a few groups and singles sitting at tables. The bar was quiet, which was surprising for well, a bar. The quiet, unintelligible chatters of what tables were filled were the only sound you heard, besides the clinking of glasses whenever the bartender cleaned dishes. You hadn't ever been here, which wasn't much of a shocker, you hadn't ever drunk before.

"So you've never drunk, huh? How about a classic like... whiskey!" He said, landing his hand on your shoulder and bringing you to a stool, pushing you on it a bit before you plopped yourself onto the bolstered seat. "Ah- Dazai I don't.." He was quick to cut you off. "Don't worry your pretty little head, (y/n). I've got you covered." He beamed. "Bartender, get us about 7 shots of whiskey, 52% please. 3 for her, 4 for me." You weren't even able to contest against the notion, so you just sighed and let it happen. You couldn't help but think to yourself, were you moving too fast into this friendship? Sure you were desperate, but you would hate to let this person get hurt too. Maybe this was a bad idea, you should leave now-

"Hey, drinks are here. Don't get too zoned out on me!" Snaps of Dazai's fingers in front of your face brought you back to reality, and he swished a whiskey shot around in your face, the ice cube clanking against the shot glass. "Here, try it." He said, handing it to you. 

Whatever, you'd deal with your problems later. You deserved a break after all you'd been through. You snatched the glass out of his hands and wasted no time in downing it in one go, quickly grabbing another shot from his hand and downing that one, too. "Woah, calm down I wont steal your drink!" He glanced at the bartender and held up 5 fingers, signaling for 5 more shots. He turned back to you, resting his head on his chin and smiling at you. "Getting a bit tipsy already? You're hiccupping so much off just two shots." You only moved your hand up and down, dismissing the possibility. "Nah... I'm good.." He chuckled and took the glasses the bartender had prepared for you two, taking one to his lips. "Relax, it's all on me. I'll make sure you get home safe too." You were comforted by that, even if you had only known him for so little the gesture meant a good deal to you. 

An hour into the night you were slumped on your stool hands on the table and 6 shots in, which for a lightweight and a first-time drinker, was A LOT. Dazai took the opportunity to ask you a couple of questions, while you were in a drunken state you were sure to be honest. You were also vulnerable, he wanted you to open up to him to get you right where he needed you to be, and he didn't care about the things he had to do for that; even if it were to break your boundaries. "Got an ability?" He said, making the mood jump from 0 to 100.

"Well, I-" He cut you off, a fake tone of regret in his voice.

"Ah, wait. My bad, you don't have to answer that if you don't want to." This was just his way of making you feel like you could be safe around him, a shoulder to lean on if you will. "No, it's cool.." You slurred your words a bit when you spoke, moving your head on your arms that were resting on the table. "I can heal those I touch, doesn't apply to me though. Kinda sucks since I don't have a way to defend myself." You paused and looked up at him. "You?" He chuckled and moved his hair to the side, scratching his chin. "No.. unfortunately not, lame I know." It went quiet for just a few seconds before he piped up again. "Here, try this shot." He said, handing you a glass you didn't even recall him ordering. "Uhm.. what is it?" He tapped the glass and swished it around. "Just some whiskey mixed with gin." He said, lying through his teeth. Not like you could tell though. "Mmmm.. alright." You said, letting the shot travel down your throat. Didn't taste like whiskey, but you brushed it off.

It had turned to 1 AM, hours passed quickly due to the two of you talking nonsense over drinks; if you could even call your barely comprehensible drabble 'speaking.' "Dazai.. it was really nice speakin' t'ya but I've gotta go home now.." You stumbled off the stool, nearly tripping till he caught you. "Not in this state you're not, I'll take you home." You pushed his chest away weakly, the alcohol in your system making it hard for you to even lift a finger. "No... I don't wanna go home-" You hiccupped and wiped a small tear away. "They're gonna be there.. and hurt me and you.." He smiled at your honest demeanor and inability to keep your composure. You were too easy, he had you right where he needed you. Dependent, anxious, completely honest with him.

"Hey, what's up? You can speak to me about it you know." He said, brushing your hair out of your face and cupping your cheek, his rough bandages giving you a blunt itchy sensation to your face. "Mmmm... 'ts nothing... I don't want you to be worried or scared. I can't lose another friend.." He tilted his head and smiled softly. "Let's get you home, then you can let your troubles onto me, kay?" He said squeezing your hand and standing up, lending you a shoulder. 

Shortly, the two of you arrived at your house. Your drunk mind brushed over the fact that he knew the address and he placed you on the couch, seating himself next to you. "What's on your mind? You've been worried all night." You shook your head and frowned. "Can't tell, you'll get hurt." He sighed and placed his hand on your shoulder. "C'mon, I assure you I'll be fine. I know you just met me, but we're friends, aren't we? Unless that is.. you don't trust me?" He cooed to you, tilting his head as he said that last part. His faux sympathy won you over and your body untensed, and you caved. You ended up telling him everything, showing him the texts, telling him about Tanizaki's body, and your stolen dispensaries and clothes. He only held you and listened, as you two sat on the edge of your bed, and as you foolishly cried your worries into his chest. 

"It's okay love, take your time. It's been hard for you yeah?" He palmed your cheek, his sultry tone of voice dancing around you. "But you've done so well, haven't you?" He continued, though this wasn't the Dazai that you had met. He was completely different, and you were torn on whether to depend on him or not, fearful of being hurt.

"I'm here for you, got that?" 

It felt nice. Nice to be cared for, given attention to, and loved. Oddly enough, you found yourself drawn to him, even if you knew nothing about him.

Yeah, you'd put your faith in him. 

"Th..thank you.. Dazai.." You whimpered out through sobs, voice muffled as you shimmied your head even closer to his chest, your hands gripping his back a bit harder.

So just for tonight, you'd depend on him.