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The demon prodigy was home alone in his container when his phone started going off. A high pitched, yet, buzzing noise came from the rectangular device. At first, Dazai tried to ignore it, hoping it would stop on its own, but it didn't. It kept going off until the brunette picked it up and read the notification.
National Weather Service: SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING in effect for this area until 10:00PM for DESTRUCTIVE 95 MPH WINDS. Take shelter in sturdy building, away from windows. Flying debris may be deadly to those caught without shelter.
The noise emitting itself from his phone ceased as he read the message, he took a screenshot of the notification and stared at the photo.
'Deadly to those without shelter,' was the only thing that was repeating itself in the brunettes mind. He lived in a shitty ass container for gods sake. It could be ripped out of the ground and be thrown into the air any minute with winds as strong as those. He could die and it wouldn't be suicide... He could die due to something that was out of his control. He could die in this cold, crummy container alone.
These negative unwanted thoughts swirled the brunettes mind, seeping themselves into every single crevice of his mind; nothing was left untouched. He was breaking down at the thought of dying to the weather.
A loud thump occurred on the side of his container, causing him to scurry over to the opposite side.
BANG.
Another noise made itself audible, the weather was teasing him, it knew what an afraid, pathetic little baby the demon prodigy of the Port Mafia really was. Hails of rain stormed themselves on top of his rotting container, getting louder and louder with each individual drop. Bangs of thunder coaxed themselves around him, he felt as though they were getting closer to him with each thud.
The brunette curled himself up in fetal position, his arms shielding his head and his hands pressing hard against his ears, muffling the sound of the thunder. His knees were nearly touching his chin as his whole body shivered in fear. He forced his eyes closed, keeping them shut as if there was glue on his eyelids. He whimpered and pleaded. Dazai wanted Chuuya—no,—he needed Chuuya to calm him down and protect him from this bully of a storm.
Someone opened his poor excuse of a door.
"Mackerel?" The person asked, taking down their hood and revealing bright orange hair and shiny blue eyes.
Chuuya looked around the container and holy shit it was loud. This was no place for anyone to be at a time like this. The redhead landed his gaze on a curled up ball of black cloth that was shivering so vigorously that it must've contributed to the instability of the container.
"Dazai? It's me, Chuuya," the redhead said as he slowly walked his way towards Dazai, being careful to watch his step as the container was very unstable and Dazai never cleaned the place, leaving things to be scattered across the floor.
"Hey... Hey, sweet love," Chuuya cooed as he gently sat down on his knees next to the shivering body, Dazai appeared to be in fight or flight mode, but he seemed to be in neither. He was in freeze, his body numbed itself, making it impossible for him to move or comprehend what to do given the circumstances.
Whimpers and sobs escaped the brunettes lips, Chuuya grabbed ahold of the severity of the situation.
The storm had started ten minutes ago at this point, five of those minutes Chuuya had spent getting to the container and entering it, and, amidst those ten minutes, Dazai had gotten frightened to the point where he had involuntarily regressed out of fear. His container was no place to drop, so he was most likely in between headspace's right now, the fear of the thunderstorm being the only thing he could grasp onto and understand.
"Mackerel..." Chuuya was stumped, he didn't want to touch Dazai without his permission, but the younger wasn't responding or even acknowledging Chuuya's presence. Perhaps he didn't even know he was there. Was his teetering between headspace to that extent? Or was he dissociating to preserve what was left of his sanity?
The redhead picked up Dazai, laying his head between his neck and shoulders and wrapped his legs around his waist. He slowly stood up, cradling his arms around Dazai's head and walked out of the container.
The two got to the apartment fifteen minutes later, Chuuya was relatively soaked as his used his jacket to shield Dazai's head from the rain. The brunette still wasn't responding to anything Chuuya said. He was lost in his mind; trapped in the dungeon that he had created for himself.
Chuuya sat Dazai on the couch and went to go change clothes so he wouldn't catch a cold, he also grabbed a change of clothes for Dazai in case he snapped out of this dissociative state.
Amidst his departure, Dazai took in his new surroundings. He looked around the apartment that he recognized to be Chuuya's, blinking twice to make sure it was real. And then, his bottom lip started wobbling as he took his pointer and middle finger to it.
A strain of tears escaped his eyes, leaving him to pick at the dead skin that was flaking off his dehydrated lips. He whimpered and curled his knees back up to his chest, resting his chin between the middle.
"Chuu... Chuu," the silent elegy of whimpers developed into wails and pleas. His heart hurt so much, his chest hitched and heaved in fear; it sought protection and comfort, perhaps a bit of love.
Chuuya heard all of this from his bedroom and immediately ceased his activities to go tend to the crying demon prodigy.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Osamu, look at me," Chuuya coaxed, sitting himself next to Dazai. The brunette tipped over from the side and leaned into his partners shoulder. "You're okay, see? You will be okay..."
"Chi'siii!" Dazai used his unoccupied arm to grab a fistful of Chuuya's plain white shirt. His wails grew louder, surely he'd beat the thunderstorm in a singing battle with his sorrowful cries.
"It's okay, baby. I'm here—"
BANG, BANG, BANG.
The loud thunderstorms thuds made Dazai jump and for a second, he uncurled his hand from Chuuya's shirt, quickly grabbing a tighter fistful of the cloth again.
The brunettes wails turned into screams, he started hyperventilating amidst this scary panic. The thunder was being so mean and the rain had turned into big golf ball sized chunks of hail. Sticks and leaves were flying around in the air, occasionally hitting the windows, you could hear tree branches tearing off of trees in the near distance, adding another type of intense spook to the thunderstorm. It all felt so real, like they could die.
Instinctively, Chuuya picked Dazai up and sat him on his hip, cradling him to his chest. His hyperventilating felt even fast now that he could feel it on him. The redhead had to do something before Dazai made himself pass out.
Clearly, the living room wasn't a good place for Dazai right now. It had the most open space and the most windows, you could see what was happening outside; adding to the intensity of the situation. It was not the place for a baby to be during a loud and scary thunderstorm.
'I could take him to my room, yeah. It has a TV in there and most of his things are there. There's only one window, but I could also close the curtains to make it darker and less scary? I could show him the new night light I got... Yeah, that could work.'
Chuuya sat up with Dazai in his arms, the brunette was showing no signs of ever letting go as walked to his bedroom. Chuuya walked to his dresser where a pretty nightlight was located. He felt Dazai bury himself deeper into his safe spot, keeping a firm grip on the redheads shirt, sniffling quietly along with incoherent mumbles.
The nightlight was sea themed, it had multiple clown fish and a silly octopus and a very cute crab. There was seaweed and coral in the background, and if you wanted too, the nightlight could produce ocean noises to add an extra soothing effect.
Chuuya looked down to see that Dazai's face was firmly planted between his neck and shoulders, two fingers were in his mouth to muffle his sad baby cries.
The redhead took his thumb and caressed it on the brunettes cheek, wiping away any leftover tears.
"Dazai, can you look over here for me, baby? I promise you'll like it," Chuuya's voice sounded extra soft and gentle. He was sure to not have any type of judgement tone in his voice, no indication of irritation was viable either.
Dazai slightly nudged his head out of the safe space that was Chuuya's neck and shoulders.
"Look at this," Chuuya chuckled, as he pressed two buttons that allowed the sea themed light shine on the ceiling in his bedroom. Dazai looked up at all the pretty creatures, his eyes that were once soaked in despair and sorrow were now glistening in awe.
"Chi'sii," the brunette blurted out, taking his fingers out of his mouth to point at the silly clownfish.
"Yeah, that's me," Chuuya chuckled and played along with a soft smile on his face.
The nightlight filled the room, not an inch of his ceiling was coated in a dark shadow. Chuuya walked over to close the noise canceling and blackout curtains, further enhancing the glow of the nightlight.
The thunder stood no chance in Chuuya's room, his curtains blocked out most of the noise and the rest of his room was wall. He had a TV to watch shows on and a mini fridge filled with late night snacks and drinks in case he got hungry. (He had snacks in there for Dazai, too.)
All he needed to leave the room for was to make Dazai a bottle to help him fall asleep. He hoped that the nightlight accompanied by a movie or show of Dazai's choosing would keep the younger distracted enough to perform such a task.
"How about we get out of those wet and icky clothes, Mackerel, hmm?" Chuuya's tone sounded welcoming and convincing. Dazai nodded in response, never taking his eyes off of the pretty scenery displayed on the ceiling.
Chuuya had put Dazai's change of clothes on the bed earlier before he started crying. He undressed Mackerel out of his work clothes and Mori's heavy jacket and put on some lighter clothes. He had bought the younger an oversized weighted hoodie to soothe his anxiety; he had gotten the hoodie customized to be a communication hoodie for when Dazai was nonverbal or had trouble verbalizing his feelings. The hoodie was shark themed; each shark displayed a different emotion, the sleeves said 'yes' and 'no.' The hoodie itself had a shark fin and a mini tail attached to the back of it. The general color of the hoodie was a pretty light blue and he dressed Dazai in two toned colored shorts; a pale yellow and a soft lavender.
"Does that feel better?" Chuuya asked and Dazai hummed in response.
"Okay, now, here's the hard question. Do you know how old you are? Can you count for me, baby? You can use your fingers."
Dazai kicked his feet on the edge of the bed, scrunching his nose in the process. It was his signature thinking face, both in and out of little space.
The brunette lifted up one finger after giving it some thought.
"Oh, so you're my baby boy today, aren't you?" Chuuya teased. Dazai hummed again and shoved his pointer and middle finger back into his mouth.
"Ah, ah. No fingers, they're yucky," Chuuya coaxed as he gently tugged Dazai's wrist to nudge his fingers out of his mouth.
"How about... Mr. Crab Pacifier?" The redhead leaned over into the nearby nightstand and pulled out said pacifier, dancing it to Dazai's mouth to earn a giggle. He pressed it against the younger's bottom lip until it slipped into his mouth. He held it in place until he saw it gently bobbing up and down.
"Hmm, now..." Chuuya spoke. "We need to pick a movie to watch for tonight... Would you like to help me choose?" Dazai rapidly nodded in response as he took one of his balled up fists to rub his eye.
'Perfect, he's already tired,' Chuuya thought contently. "I'm torn between Ponyo, Spirited Away, and Elemental..."
Dazai raised up one finger.
"Ponyo? That sounds perfect," Chuuya chuckled.
Chuuya got up and inserted the Ponyo movie disc into his DVD player, he watched the credits roll as Dazai crawled underneath the bedsheets to get comfortable, never taking his eyes off of the magical sea that was displayed on the ceiling.
"Mackerel... Do you mind staying here while I go get some snacks for us?" Chuuya asked nicely. "I'll be back before the movie starts, I pinky promise." Chuuya held up his pinky finger to Dazai.
Dazai, torn, hesitantly nodded his head yes, lacing his pinky finger with Chuuya's. Chibi hadn't failed him yet tonight, he may as well trust him just this once.
"Okay, I'll be right back!" The redhead scurried out of the room, he was on a time hunch and did not want a fussy baby on his hands again.
Just before the advertisements ended, Chuuya returned with a bottle of warm formula and a plate of brownies that had a thin layer of frosting along with sprinkles. He sat himself next to Dazai and the brunette crawled onto his chest.
"Awe, are you my clingy tired baby today?" Chuuya teased for the second time today, but Dazai simply nudged his head deeper into Chuuya's chest.
"Baby... sit up for your bottle, see?" The redhead showed the younger the bottle and he adjusted himself accordingly.
'Either he's really deep into headspace or really tired because he's never this compliant. Should I take his temperature or something?' Chuuya contemplated.
The older nudged the bottle into Dazai's mouth, holding it up, angled just right so Dazai could drink it with hardly any struggle. Chuuya took a bite of a brownie whilst they both laid comfortable in bed watching the movie.
Twenty minutes into the movie, Dazai was passed out and halfway done with the bottle. Chuuya swapped the nip of the bottle out in exchange for the crab pacifier.
He scurried his hands under the covers for the remote to pause the movie so that Dazai wouldn't miss what was left.
It was already 12AM the next day and Dazai had just fallen asleep. The storm had passed two hours prior, the two will see the damage outside in the morning.
Chuuya turned off the TV and slid his body lay down on the bed, keeping Dazai on his chest.
He will always protect his baby and he will never stop loving him.