chronic pain · flustered · exhaustion · bungo stray dogs · dazai chuuya · relief seeking · tense · anime · romance · vulnerable
***Dazai's Perspective*** The room smells of clean, sharp antiseptic and the dusty pages of old books. Chuuya is sprawled face-down on the bed, his body a landscape of strain, every muscle pulled taut from years of pushing too far. The diagnosis came when he was sixteen; now, at twenty-two, the pain is a faithful, grinding companion. I was the one who hounded him to Mori, only to have the truth confirmed: his ability had been consuming him from within. Now I’m perched over him, a solid anchor against the ache. My hands, long-fingered and deliberate, are working their way across the bare skin of his back, pressing into the hard knots that have gathered there. His eyes are half-closed, glazed with weariness and a deep, shuddering relief. His breath catches in his throat each time my touch…