Sleeping in Chuuya's apartment, Dazai had grown accustomed to waking up with the harsh rays of sunlight peeking through the window or the cat pawing at him.

Those wake-up greetings were rather peaceful compared to a fist connecting with his face with a bruising amount of force, sending him sprawling out on the wooden floor.

Dazai's mind snapped into wakefulness as he caught himself on his hands and knees, landing on all fours like a cat.

He should have expected to wake up like this, he had fallen asleep next to the Chibi and Dazai knew that he evaded touch as much as humanly possible...

Though the force of that punch felt horrifying familiar...

Dazai brought a hand up to rub at his red cheek, eyes slowly trailing up to meet the all too familiar defiant blue eyes staring down at him with a mixture of disgust and confusion.

Ah, Dazai knew it was too hopeful to cling to the prospect of Chuuya remaining young.

He just didn't think he would ever be prepared to face the satan incarnate himself ever again.

Chuuya- fifteen years old- stood on top of the couch and jabbed an accusing finger at Dazai. It was only then that the adult tuned in on his yelling once his head finally stopped ringing.

"I don't know who the fuck you are or where the fuck I am, but you better start talkin' you bandaged frea-" Chuuya's eyes narrowed "idiot Dazai...?" The last part came out as a mumble, but Dazai sensed the question on Chuuya's lips.

He felt honored that he had recognized him.

Dazai clambered to his feet, holding his hands up in surrender should the fowl beast attack him. "My my Chibi, such harsh words. Though I suppose I cannot blame you for your limited vocabulary-"

Chuuya punched him again.

And well, Dazai supposed he hadn't been making the situation any easier by egging him on.

"Ow stop hitting me!" Dazai complained, cradling his swollen cheek. Nothing that a few bandages couldn't fix, though.

"Then tell me what's going on here!"

Dazai could see the rising panic in Chuuya, he had always been the type to hit first and ask questions later. All of those closed defenses when he was a child had turned to standoffish and brashness in Chuuya's teenage years.

He still had those feelings, but Chuuya had (intentionally or unintentionally, Dazai didn't know) now masked it with his attitude.

He had a soft tongue yet sharp teeth.

And Dazai realized that now that the puzzle had been put together.

He calmly sat down on the couch and Chuuya quickly scrambled away from it "stop yelling and I'll inform you on what's happening."

Dazai could see the red hue of Chuuya's power activating along with the suspicious gaze he held. He knew the tactic well, Chuuya was about to incapacitate him with his ability then make him talk.

It would be successful with anyone but Dazai.

As soon as Chuuya lunged forward at a breakneck pace, Dazai already sidestepped and put a hand out to grab Chuuya by the scruff of his shirt, knuckles brushing against the back of his neck, nullifying his ability.

Chuuya scrambled for a few moments, making sputtering noises before giving up.

"Are you done fighting now?" Dazai asked, unimpressed.

Chuuya nodded, and Dazai could only imagine the expression he had on his face when he set him down.

The redhead quickly turned to him "so you are the idiot Dazai. How?"

"Well you see I was born and out of a woman's womb-"

Chuuya flushed, gritting his teeth "no time for funny business right now! Just tell me!"

Dazai was getting tired of pressing on the slug's nerves, so he sat back down and briefly thought of the best excuse to feed Chuuya's mind.

Or at least a lie mixed with some truth.

"You're in the future," he finally decided, sitting back and watching as Chuuya's face contorted through a multitude of expressions before landing on confusion.

"Assuming I that I even believed you... how? An ability user? That's some insane ability."

"It's an ability, and we're still looking into it..."

Chuuya thought for a long moment, his tiny mind trying to comprehend the situation before it did the natural thing and denied it.

"No, this is just one of your elaborate tricks."

Dazai didn't really see a way he could convince Chuuya that it was not, in fact, one of his schemes. Younger him had tricked younger Chuuya a lot, making this a 'boy who cried wolf' situation.

Well, it seemed that Chuuya would have to see for himself.

"I need proof," Chuuya announced through gritted teeth.

"Typical Chibi, I am the proof," Dazai spread his arms out. He would want proof too if he ended up in a situation such as this one, but he would be able to adapt quickly, unlike his ex-partner.

Chuuya scrutinized him, and Dazai took a moment to do the same now that he wasn't just a blur of action. He wore the same worn jacket he did when he was first inducted into the port Mafia, so he was most definitely fifteen. He was familiar enough with Dazai, so he assumed that they had worked together perhaps for a few months.

Chuuya's eyes lingered on the uncovered side of Dazai's face, his lips twitching in disdain before he turned back to the window, the best exit strategy for him to get out of there.

"Ah- refrain from jumping from the window, I don't feel like paying for it." (He would just make Chuuya pay for it, but he didn't want to have to go through the hassle of relocating them during the winter season. The heat at Dazai's apartment didn't work.)

Chuuya seemed a bit surprised that Dazai predicted his actions, but the redhead was an open book. Well, at least to Dazai.

Chuuya looked somewhat like a trapped animal as his eyes landed on the door "I'm leaving, this shit is weird."

Dazai knew that technically he could stop the fifteen-year-old, he was barely pushing five feet and now Dazai was almost six feet himself.

But it would be more trouble than it was worth, and he would never accomplish gaining Chuuya's trust if he just trapped him here.

He needed to see for himself.

"Alright, the doors over there. Take the elevator down the hall to the last floor."

Chuuya halted, eyes widening slightly "wha- you're just letting me leave?"

"Yes, but be back by dinner~"

Chuuya was out of the door before Dazai could even finish his sentence.

Dazai sighed, sinking back into the couch cushions to stare vacantly out the window. Well, he didn't have any children to watch out for now, just a headstrong teen with unresolved issues.

What ever would he do now?

Life was so boring.

Chuuya wondered how in the fuck he always managed to get himself in these situations. He was like a magnet, his gravitational force bidding trouble closer.

One normal day.

One normal damn day was all he asked for.

Just yesterday he remembered going on a mission with Dazai- his Dazai, not this weird reformed one- and blew up a whole warehouse.

Now he was wherever this was.

There was a strong possibility that this was sleep paralysis or a fevered dream, but Chuuya had already pinched the skin of his arms raw and had yet to wake up.

It looked like he was alone here in this very much real Yokohama, though it wasn't the Yokohama he knew, he quickly discovered.

Just like the Dazai he had just met, they were similar but not the same.

Chuuya inhaled deeply once he escaped the admittedly fancy apartment building. He didn't know much about idiot Dazai but he did know that he didn't have his life together enough to live in a place like that. He probably used all of his allowances up on bandages.

Chuuya groaned, tugging at his hair frustratedly as he ducked his head and shouldered past the crowd that lingered outside of the apartment building.

There were too many questions and not enough answers.

Once Chuuya finally managed to shoulder past the crowd he realized that he didn't recognize... any of these buildings.

This was strange because the sheep knew most parts of Yokohama when he was a part of their 'pack.'

Even if they didn't go to the port mafia territory much, they would still know where a section just as big as this one was. And Chuuya figured he would be introduced when he was inducted in the port mafia and yet the place was completely unfamiliar.

The more he eyed the buildings, fancy-looking complexes, and restaurants. People bustled around in suits or just normal clothes, and Chuuya assumed that it was lunchtime rush.

The more he walked, his pace quickening as his head whipped back and forth looking for something he would recognize.

"Kid, are you lost?" A random man asked, noticing Chuuya's distress. The man grabbed his elbow, whether it be a threatening touch or a friendly one, Chuuya yanked his arm from the man's grasp.

"Piss off," he spat, letting the man sit slack-jawed as he shouldered past him.

Confusion festered in Chuuya's gut, frustration threatening to bubble to the surface.

He was in an unknown place with only that idiot Dazai's look-alikes words to trust. (Not that he actually looked like the idiot, the eye uncovered was slightly unnerving.)

And then Chuuya spotted it, a tray on the side of the store, a tattoo parlor by the looks of it. He slipped through the thinning crowd of people to reach the tray and fumbled for a newspaper.

His eyes desperately scanned over it before they landed on the date in the far corner.

That wasn't right.

It was six years off, six years too many.

Chuuya whipped around to face someone who had just walked out of the tattoo parlor. Without giving them the chance to leave, Chuuya shoved the newspaper in his face.

"Tell me, is this recent?"

The man stared at Chuuya, then the paper, his pierced eyebrows slowly inching upwards. "Yeah kid, released just yesterday. You the type to look at the newspaper dailey?"

No, no he wasn't. But Chuuya didn't have the time to answer his question, crumbling the paper between his hands and continuing on his path of destruction.

Not that he was panicking, he truly wasn't. Chuuya wasn't one to linger on situations like this, he had never been much of a 'think about it before I punch my way through it' kind of guy, but he had to be for this situation.

He was just angry.

Just a bit.

So he would keep walking until he found what he wanted, because once he found it then it would be undeniable proof and the situation would definitely sink in.

Though Chuuya mourned the thought of having to work with this Dazai. He was annoying.

So instead of focusing his thoughts on what he couldn't control, he pondered on just where he could be. Chuuya did recall a section of the slums being rebuilt a while ago, though the idea of the slums being turned into... this, was shocking.

Well, it wasn't the most surprising thing to happen today.

Chuuya continued to walk until the streets grew familiar, and he took the proper twists and turns before finally arriving to the destination he had been searching for.

The dark building loomed over the city like a foreboding watchdog. Chuuya had never had a proper home between his memory being skewed and constantly changing location with the sheep, but the port mafia was the one constant in his life.

It would always be there and here it was now, apparently six years in the future.

Though there were some renovations made, Chuuya could tell it was the same building.  He stepped up to the large double doors, fingers reaching out to twist over the handles to swing them open, but a strange force stopped his feet from walking forward.

Yokohama had changed, Dazai had changed... what if this place changed too? Realistically, if Idiot Dazai was right (he always was) then everyone would be much older than him and even look down on him.

They may take advantage of Chuuya's new state.

It wasn't that Chuuya didn't trust his comrades, he just... didn't want to be seen as different.

Chuuya stepped away with a curse, fingernails digging crescents into his palms. The stinging grounded him as he turned away.

Dazai probably predicted he wouldn't walk into the building. He foresaw Chuuya's struggle which was why he let him go outside in the first place

Chuuya hated how well he could read him.

Despite that, at least he now knew that Dazai hadn't been lying about the future. He also knew that the idiot was the same manipulative bastard, bandaged eye or not.

Chuuya shivered against the cold wind, though his skin felt all too hot.

And he did, in fact, get back to the apartment by dinner time.

Dazai was sitting on the kitchen counter talking on his phone when Chuuya returned. Just as Dazai suspected he would. The chibi didn't work in a mysterious way, he was always easy to read for Dazai. He kept his feelings (of anger and disgust) on his sleeves, making his intentions very visible.

Though he may be emotional, Chuuya had still never allowed Dazai to see him vulnerable. It was quite contradictory. It made Dazai curious but he would look into it later.

"How was your trip?" Dazai smirked, hanging up on Kunikida. (They weren't having much of a conversation, mostly just yelling on Kunikida's part.)

Chuuya kicked the door shut with his foot, hands shoved into the pockets of his jacket. Dazai would definitely have to convince him to get rid of that thing.

The fifteen year old furrowed his eyebrows, the way he always did when he didn't want to admit that Dazai was right about something. (He did it a lot.) "It was fine old man."

Dazai gasped dramatically, clutching his heart as if he had been shot. "I'm only twenty-two chibi! This means i can call you a little kid." The fact that Chuuya had called Dazai old man proved that at least now he believed the situation was actually happening.

But it didn't mean that Dazai had to enjoy being called 'old man.'

"Did you get lost?" Dazai pressed, and judging by the way that Chuuya tensed slightly, he did. Well, Dazai did suppose that he had never seen this section of Yokohama before, especially not with all of its buildings and stores.

Instead of answering Dazai's question, Chuuya turned his attention to Mackerel, watching them from her perch on top of the refrigerator. Dazai could see the way his gaze held surprise in it, and knew where his thoughts were leading too...

No, Dazai would shut that down before he even got the chance-

"I'm not a cat owner, Chuuya." He said seriously, because Dazai would much rather die than the Chibi assuming he would ever own a cat in his life.

Chuuya's eyebrow quirked up, "then whose cat is it?"

Dazai took a moment to analyze his response. If he told Chuuya about everything now then there was no telling how it would affect his future self... but If Dazai was correct about a theory involving the dart that had hit Chuuya the night he was chibified...

Well, taking the risk would be more interesting.

"It's yours," Dazai answered simply, gauging Chuuya's reaction as he looked around the apartment.

"Then that means.. that this isn't your apartment. It's mine. you were always too damn lazy to get a place like this." It was more of a statement than a question, and Dazai nodded.

"Aww look, his mind is finally starting to work."

If Chuuya wasn't so in shock then he probably would have punched Dazai straight through the wall. "What's the cat's name?" Chuuya suddenly asked, and of course, Chuuya's question would be a useless one. At least Dazai knew he would always be the same.

"Mackerel."

Chuuya opened his mouth, looking like he was about to say something, but decided against it. Instead, he pulled out a bar chair and hopped up onto it, Dazai turned around from his place on the counter to face him.

Chuuya sneered "stop sitting on my counters."

"No," Dazai dismissed, ah, he had missed the way Chuuya shook with anger when he was annoyed.

"Why are you even telling me this stuff anyway?" Chuuya asked through bared teeth, "Can't it affect my future if I know stuff like this?"

"Yes, it certainly would. Though it's not like you would trust me if I left you with no information."

Chuuya shrugged "Like i would trust you anyways."

Dully noted.

Dazai would tell Chuuya the information he needed, but not enough to change his life. It wasn't like he would remember any of the memories when he grew up anyways...

Dazai was in a position of power right now. He could feed Chuuya lies and withhold information from him. It was a position he had always wanted to be in because he knew everything, though the thought of enjoying the manipulation made him slightly backtrack.

He could do it to anyone, but not Chuuya.

"So tell me," Chuuya leaned forward, face resting on his palm, "why in the hell do you look so different. You're not a skeleton anymore and..." Dazai understood that from Chuuya's viewpoint he must have looked like a different man, just as he had been trying to achieve.

He no longer wore the same attire he did during his time in the mafia, he had abandoned the dark colors for lighter ones. The bandages around his eye were gone, and that coupled with the growth spurt and his... slightly better eating habits helped him become unrecognizable.

Though Dazai could sense the silent question 'Your appearance changed, but has your mind?'

Well, he truly couldn't answer that himself.

"Improved lifestyle," Dazai decided after a long stretch of silence.

"...Okay, fine, be like that. You never gave straight answers anyways." Chuuya huffed, leaning back into the chair, jumping slightly when Mackerel hopped up onto his lap. He absentmindedly brushed his fingers through her fur as the interrogation continued.

"Do we know when I can go back to the present?"

"Hmm," When Chuuya was younger it took him a week or two to age up. "Perhaps half a month."

Chuuya groaned "Great, so what do I do now? Do I continue on missions with the Port Mafia? I guess you can do my work for me."

"I'm not in the Port Mafia anymore," Dazai said simply.

It felt as if the air had turned to ice.

Chuuya's fingers halted their petting motions as his head slowly turned to face Dazai. His face was devoid of emotion, though Dazai didn't miss the anger and hurt flashing in his eyes. Chuuya could hide his emotion, but his eyes always gave him away.

Of course, his first suspicion would be that Dazai had betrayed the organization and left him to deal with all of the paperwork. (Which was technically what he had done, plus a blown-up car, but he didn't need to tell Chuuya the details.)

Though Dazai could tell that if he didn't speak soon then he would be launched into the atmosphere.

"I moved to a different branch," Dazai constructed the white lie slowly. "You see, the Port Mafia formed an alliance with the armed detective agency. A legal branch, because of a larger threat to Yokohama. We haven't broken ties since and I was transferred to watch over their movements."

A simple lie like 'I'm babysitting you for the week' wouldn't cut it. And technically what Dazai had just told Chuuya wasn't a complete lie... He just left out a few minor details.

The temperature in the room returned and Dazai no longer felt as if he was going to be a victim of gravity.

Chuuya nodded slowly, scowling on his face. "So... I will go back to the Port Mafia then." He seemed hesitant. Dazai knew that Chuuya was loyal to a fault, to his own demise, and would be with the port mafia until he could not be any longer, so the fact that he didn't sound too invested in the idea of returning back there...

Either Chuuya had just joined the port mafia months ago or he didn't want the members to see him as a kid. Probably both reasons, though it worked in Dazai's favour.

The situation couldn't get any better for him, really.

"Well, not necessarily... there's a small chance you'll actually remember this, as it is more like instead of traveling through time your body has been replaced with your present one." Also a half-lie. His body was being replaced, but he would remember.

He would remember, that is, if Dazai's theory was wrong.

And Dazai had never been wrong before.

"It would be best to keep you away from the Port Mafia for the time being."

Of course, his ulterior motive was simply to keep Chuuya away from Mori and the port mafia, especially with how Mori was digging for information. Information was dangerous, a weapon to use against Chuuya. So Dazai would keep an eye on their movements and Chuuya would stay away from their prying eyes.

Chuuya nodded at the information, accepting his fate and probably pretending that he had any idea of what Dazai was talking about.

"So what do I do? Sit in this miserable apartment for the next few weeks?"

"You do remember that this is your apartment, yes?"

Chuuya rubbed at his eyes with the heels of his palms. "Do me a favor and shut up."

Dazai didn't exactly trust Chuuya to stay out of trouble if he stayed on his own. "Hmm, how about you come help at the agency?"

Chuuya didn't jump at the opportunity, but they both figured it would be better than sitting at the apartment with only each other for company. That was never good and would probably end in Chuuya crushing the place or for a full-out prank war would ensue. Chuuya didn't feel like his hair being dyed green again and Dazai didn't want his bandages to be replaced with duct tape again, A mutual agreement.

"Fine, but only because I have nothing better to do." Chuuya crossed his arms, scaring Mackerel and making her jump from his lap. "And what happened to me?... The old me." He clarified, and Dazai had seen the question coming from a mile away.

"For now he's missing, we don't know the full extent of the ability and where it took him, though once you return back to your time we'll find that out." Dazai purposefully left out the information that he had seen the younger versions of Chuuya.

If Chuuya knew that then he would be curious about his past and press Dazai for answers, since he didn't know that he had grown up in a lab for the first part of his life.

He really didn't need to know that information, and Dazai didn't know if he would be able to answer the question with anything except for 'You were a happy kid.'

And they both knew it would be a lie.

Chuuya himself seemed to be thinking about something deeply, but Dazai didn't ask. His plan, whatever it was, would probably be a thorn in his side. But Chuuya would go along with Dazai for now because Dazai knew he wanted to collect more information before he tried anything.

Though Chuuya would also figure out that there was nothing he could do but wait to return to his time.

"My turn," Dazai said, interrupting Chuuya's silent contemplation. The words 'silent' and 'Chuuya' did not belong in the same sentence.

Chuuya's eyes shifted to Dazai's face suspiciously "What?"

"What made you realize you were actually in the future?"

Of course Chuuya didn't trust Dazai when he first told him, and he most definitely was apprehensive of the information he had handed to him. Though Dazai didn't particularly blame him, during the beginning of their partnership Chuuya had issues with trusting Dazai after he attacked the sheep and Chuuya played into his hands like a pawn on a chessboard.

Perhaps Dazai could have been a bit more... gentle... with his approach in recruiting Chuuya, though that was years ago and he couldn't change his master plans of the past.

And once Chuuya did start to trust him, they had become an unstoppable force, he risked his life like the good sheepdog he was and Dazai hatched the plans.

Dazai tried not to reminisce on their past missions too much, because it always led him to wonder if he would get the opportunity to partner with Chuuya again.

Crinkling sounds broke Dazai from his train of thought, and Chuuya reached into the pockets of his jacket and threw a balled-up piece of paper at him. Dazai caught it before it could nail him in the face, unfolding it slowly.

Through the creases of the ruined paper, he made out the date and nodded. "Ah, so you believed a newspaper?"

Chuuya rolled his eyes "Well that and when I asked a man what year it was he gave me a crazy look."

Dazai was about to remark with something snide, but his eyes caught on the grainy picture on the bottom right side of the newspaper. If Dazai recalled correctly, it was a new section that was recently added in the newspaper called 'Strange sightings' (Most of the time it was either a picture of the Armed detective agency members saving a life or a Port Mafia member being nice. Once someone had caught a picture of Chuuya helping an old woman across the street and he hadn't lived it down.)

This week's picture seemed to be a child jumping from a window ledge. A child who looked awfully like Chuuya during his last age.

The text next to it was short, but enough to sell out Chuuya's identity to anyone with ill intentions.

'A boy was spotted scaling the side of the building to the floor from multiple stories up. Onlookers reported that he had a strange red haze around him, and when he landed on the ground he proceeded on as normal. Yokohama citizens, what do we have to say to this strange sighting?'

The paper crumbled between Dazai's fists as he made a low noise under his breath, Chuuya looked a bit surprised at Dazai's sudden show of emotion.

And it seemed that the only appropriate response to the article was...

"Well shit."