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Night was a velvety black web when even the universe had no light to offer.
Since the world had ceased to breathe, there settled a stillness so complete save for the solitary glow of the cigarette nestled between the crooks of Chuuya’s glove, like a fleeting star in the vastness.
Chuuya leaned forward, elbows sharp on the baluster ledge. The cold bite of the night breeze tugged at his wet locks and loose silken robe, allowing the coolness of the stone to seep through his sleeves to his arms as he stole a few breaths from his cigarette.
Ash filled his lungs and burned deeply bitter, but warmed the throat and staved off the night’s cold. As imperceptibly as a snowflake, breaths of smoke fell from his dry lips like wind brushing over a bottle rim, spiraling around him and drifting aimlessly before dissipating like a nocturne’s last note.
A low whistle cut through the night. With his arms crossed, Dazai’s dark figure blinked at the edge of Chuuya’s vision.
“What.”
Dazai came to a perch next to him.
“Did you know that smoking makes you shorter?”
Chuuya turned his head to breathe a puff of white, smothering Dazai’s annoyingly smug face.
“I deserve a lot more than just one cigarette after getting someone like you off.”
“Touche.”
Night wrapped around them like a thick blanket as Chuuya took slow drags from his cigarette. The faint hiss of the cigarette burning down the filter weaved around Dazai, who had blended into the brink of the dead of night beside him. Chuuya’s hairs pricked up at the simmering pressure from beneath Dazai’s lashes, brushing through his skin, but also pulling him towards the shadows. The acrid aftertaste draped the heavy air like the ash that stubbornly clung to the end of Chuuya’s cigarette. Until finally, it fell like first snow.
Without warning, Dazai reached around Chuuya’s shoulders and snatched the cigarette from his hand.
“What the hell!”
From the cigarette pinched between his fingers, Dazai inhaled quickly, and immediately doubled over in a wheeze so violent it echoed off the buildings, all red-faced and watery eyes.
“Oh my god, you’re a fucking idiot.” Chuuya muffed his snorts behind the curling smoke, but lost himself hunched over in a fit of laughter. “What- made you think- your weak ass lungs could handle all that?”
Dazai waved a dismissive hand in the remnants of smoke he hacked from his hoarse throat.
“Ugh, it’s not my fault chibi has such tacky taste in cigars. Why are they so bitter?” Dazai gagged dramatically, scrubbing at his tongue with his hands.
“All cigars taste like that.” Chuuya reached inside his robe for his lighter and another cigar. Weak sparks of the metallic scrape of the wheel casted shadows on his face. The inhale that followed the sizzle of flame catching lazily wove smoke from Chuuya’s cigarette through his smirk.
And just like that, Dazai lunged forward, palm outstretched like a menace.
“Get your grubby hands away from me, bastard!”
“Those very same hands have been inside you! Saliva included!”
Screeching, he shoved Dazai to the side. Dazai stumbled back against the railing, swaying like a puppet on a string.
The darkness stretched out beneath him. Open arms and violently flapping coat too broken to take flight against the harsh winds, embraced the night one last time before he was swallowed by the black abyss with a gently tilted smile. The image slammed into Chuuya with the weight of a body hitting the Jordan river far below.
Chuuya almost heard the final silence that followed.
“-Aw, the slug doesn't want a taste?-”
“Try that again and I’ll shove the whole pack down your throat.”
Dazai said nothing, but stuck out his bottom lip and puffed up his cheeks. “You’re so mean to me.”
Every muscle in Chuuya may have twitched at that. “That’s what you get for putting things in your mouth without thinking!”
“Nuh-uh!”
“Yuh-uh!”
“Nuh-uh!” Dazai yelled.
“Ugh, I can’t believe I’m doing this with you.”
Grinning sharply, Dazai leaned back against the rails. “Just you wait, Chuuya. I’m going to take it all in and blow it like an expert.”
Chuuya raised an eyebrow. “Sure, I won’t be stopping even if you pass out though.”
Dazai took every inch of ground like the night tides, the hem of his coat whispering static along Chuuya’s hip. As the shadows folded around them, one hand splayed across the curve of Chuuya’s back and glided between the parted lapels of Chuuya’s robe. Knuckles lingered on the hollow of his damp chest, sliding where the box resided, and drew a single cigarette from beneath Chuuya’s breath.
Dipping his head, Dazai rested the cigarette on his lips with a flick of his fingertips that then found their way to Chuuya’s blood-warmed nape. It was reflected in the narrow shot of Dazai’s eye.
Chuuya’s ember pulsed brighter as it kissed the fresh tobacco, dancing across the edges of Dazai’s dark lashes like the smoke that unfurled into delicate silk ribbons. In the next languid sigh, a hush of heat and tendrils of burning nicotine mingled in the still air between them, blurring into a hazy fog that hung the night in a picture frame.
Dazai’s solar eclipsed gaze sank into Chuuya like the smoke velour that he drank into his very core. It pierced the veil through to Chuuya, unravelling him as the shimmering coils exhaled from Dazai’s lips curled around Chuuya’s cheek.
The cigarettes burnt between them.