Bandages and Salt (PJO X BSD AU)

Chapter twenty-one

A/N: Some of the information in this chapter is not canon for the bad series, but made up to go along with the mission. Thought I'd go ahead and tell you guys this so no one gets confused thinking that they forgot something that never happened. 

Dazai POV

Skill Singularity, a natural phenomenon that the Japanese government has been looking into as of late since the rise in the number of skill users. Now that more skill users seem to be interacting, especially in cities like Yokohama that seem to draw ability users to them, the government has started to notice the way that skills interact with one another.

In some rare cases when multiple skills interact with each other, they'll act in a completely different way from how they're normally supposed to. The Japanese government has been looking into what happens when these interactions occur, at the phenomenon that takes place that isn't initiated by either party.

Chuuya shook his head lightly, just ruffling his slightly grown out hair as he tried not to draw attention to the conversation. "No, but I can guess," the boy replied easily, his voice holding its normal cocky tone. "Interactions between abilities, right?" He guessed. "Are you saying we're going to see whatever that is now?"

I leaned down, whispering into the other boy's ear like I was telling him something supposedly seductive. "Not likely," I told him quietly, "but it should be fun to try, right?"

The other boy jerked lightly at my sudden action, seemingly caught off guard at how close I was to him. I didn't feel too bad about making the other boy uncomfortable as I could still taste the blood in my mouth from biting my tongue when he dug into my hip. It was an action that'd been done to me before under u h different circumstances, but the memories still arose all the same at the other teen's actions.

But the satisfaction was short-lived.

The smaller teen lifted himself up on his tip-toes, putting his lips at my ear just like I'd done to him. "Pity," the boy said in a falsely upset tone, "I wanted to see a light show."

You might still.

I guided our still connected hands down to our sides, basically holding the other's hand. The shorter teen grumbled as he tried to pull his hand away from mine, but one word stopped him short:

"Bracelet," I whispered softly, pacifying the other boy as best as I could.

Chuuya stopped resisting as fast as he started, seeming to remember the situation at hand and deciding to bear with the discomfort for a few moments longer.

I led the other teen away from the crowd, moving like we were a couple looking for somewhere private. People always avoid public displays of affection, finding them nauseating and uncomfortable to look at or be in the presence of back in the states. It's the same for Japan, more so even because the Japanese people are still much more conservative than most of the countries in the western hemisphere.

There was a stage at the back of the ballroom with four pillars around it and a dark blue curtain behind it, separating the goods being sold at the auction from the anticipating audience on the other side. Walking over to one of the large pillars, trailing the other boy behind me through our joined hands, I smiled like a love sick teen, something I was much too tired at the moment to be. I made sure to carefully hide us in the marble pillar's shadows before finally letting go of the smaller teen.

I chuckled lowly at the sight of Chuuya wiping the hand that'd been holding mine on his pants, seemingly forgetting the fact that he'd been wearing gloves the entire time.

"Let's get this over with," he grumbled, still wiping off his precious leather gloves.

I held out my hand, making a silent grabby motion at the other teen, motioning for the boy to give me his wrist. The older teen rolled up his sleeve again, slowly showing off the small metal device for all to see once more. He held his arm out, meeting me halfway between the two of us. I stretched my own hand out to meet the other boy, but right before the device brushed against my skin, Chuuya jerked his arm back, holding it protectively against his chest.