Here’s a snippet of Chater 8 of my ADA!Chūya AU For The Tainted Human! This chapter is heavier because there are major Stormbringer spoilers in it.
I have a massive hangover.
I guess it’s to be expected, considering how drunk I got last night. I think Kunikida said my total drink count came out to around ten or something. I know Shinji has a tab for me, and I will get around to paying for this round soon, but it definitely isn’t happening today. I grumble and press the heels of my hands into my eyes, groaning quietly to myself as I bury myself deeper into my blankets. I just want to go back to sleep.
My head hurts though, too much to let me fall asleep again. So I’m just left to lie here, groaning in pain, pressing the heels of my hands against my eyes for some relief. Not that it does anything, but I’m desperate.
There’s a little rustle by my window, and when I look, it’s open. I know I closed all of my windows last night before I left for the bar with Kunikida, so this is new. I frown and stare at the offending window, but I don’t get a clue as to what happened for a while. I yawn and turn to go back to sleep when I hear the rustling again. I shift to look at my succulents near the window, frowning. After a moment I notice the piece of paper that’s now tucked under the leaves of my winthrop lithops. I frown and drag myself up and over to it, picking up the note. I unfold it and start reading.
You said we could meet up at some point, right? How about next week, at that hotel you like? You can wear one of your dresses again, I miss those.
I snort to myself and roll my eyes. Silly Dazai. He probably sent Gin to deliver this, since she was probably the one who delivered my collar - which is still hidden away in the box of other items of that nature - but the thought of us passing notes like we’re children in school is a little entertaining. I can almost read the tone of the boy he used to be in the writing, and I realize that his kanji is a lot neater than it used to be. I smile to myself and shake my head. True, his handwriting is still quite bad, but it’s definitely more “befitting” of a Port Mafia boss. I still remember when he used to make me write a lot of his more professional and official documents because my kanji were always far neater and smoother than his.
I smile to myself as I fold the note up and tuck it somewhere someone won’t just randomly find it if they decide to come into my dorm and move back over to the bed. Maybe I can text Yosano to bring me a painkiller or two. I could really use it, my head is fucking killing me right now.
I’m about to curl up in my bed when there’s an annoying knock at my door. I grumble and glare at it before getting up and going over, opening the door and glaring at the person who dared to disturb me. “What?”
“I brought you something,” Kunikida says as he pushes a small pill bottle in my hands. “Painkillers. For your migraine-level headache.” I look down at the bottle and run my thumb over the label before sighing. “Thanks,” I say as I run my hand through my hair. “Is this everything? You just wanted to drop off some painkillers?”
“I also brought some food,” he says as he lifts the plastic bag in his hands. It looks like he just went to a convenience store. “I’ll be honest, I don’t really know how to cook, and I don’t want you in the kitchen right now. So I went and bought us something. It’s not going to be healthy, but I…I suppose one morning won’t be a big deal.”
I stare at Kunikida for a while, silent. He stands in my doorway and opens his mouth to say something, but I beat him to it. “Have you had five cups of coffee this morning?”
“I’ve only had one so far,” Kunikida says as he adjusts his glasses. “I just didn’t get black-out drunk last night.”
“Point taken,” I mutter and step aside for him to come in. I close the door behind him and he goes over to the table, setting everything down before tossing the bag in the appropriate bin. “Wow you really meant it when you said it was shitty.”
Instant ramen. I’m not surprised, Kunikida has probably never actually been in a convenience store before, but I’m sure that the one near the agency has some decent breakfast options. So either he completely missed them or he went for the ramen on purpose. Still, I pick up one of the packets and start getting everything ready, yawning and wincing from the pain in my head. I have to pause what I’m doing for a moment to take a pill, but then I go back to getting my ramen all set up.
It doesn’t take long, and I move to the table to let Kunikida start working on his. I sit down and say thanks before starting to eat, blowing on the still very hot noodles before starting to eat them, using the chopsticks to help them into my mouth as I chew.
Kunikida comes over and sits down to start eating his own as well, and silence falls over the two of us as we just eat our instant ramen breakfast, the painkiller slowly kicking in to cancel out the effects of the hangover. I still definitely have a hangover, but the symptoms can at least be manageable.
“I’m sorry about your friends,” Kunikida says after a bit and I look up at him. “The ones that you lost at your former job. I’m sure it hurt you.”
“...yeah,” I whisper before blowing on my noodles again and taking a bite. I chew on them for a bit before swallowing. “It was years ago, so it’s really not a big deal right now. I’ve come to terms with it.”
I had two years to do so.