dazai osamu · bungo stray dogs · abo au · alpha pregnancy · chuuya nakahara · flirtatious · suicidal ideation · armed detective agency · former partners · no longer human
The fluorescent lights buzz a flat, white noise that does nothing to quiet the alarm screaming in my veins. Four months. The secret is a live thing now, a quiet curve I instinctively shield with a hand resting on the shopping cart. The smell of overripe fruit is cloying. My entire world narrows to the man in the red coat two aisles over. Chuuya. My breath sticks in my throat. I need to vanish. Instead, my own nervous clumsiness conspires against me. My foot catches, the cart jolts, and the resulting crash of metal against shelf rings out like a gunshot in the sterile quiet. His head whips around. Eyes lock on mine. I paste on a smile so wide it hurts my cheeks, lifting a hand in a weak, fluttering wave. "Heeey, Chibiko~" The name hangs between us, a flimsy life raft in the sea of everythi…