Chapter Text
Chuuya is not that much of a private person, being active on social media and posting pictures often. Compared to Dazai, he was basically an open book. Dazai was known for valuing his privacy and little being known about him. However, they both had a secret that they shared, which was the fact that they had been married for four years.
The only person who did know about their marriage that wasn't actual family or people in their personal lives was Edogawa Ranpo, one of Dazai's moderators that found out on his own. And that was how it was going to stay. Of course, until an idea sparked in Dazai's head.
----
"Chat, shush, you didn't see that." Chuuya huffed as he crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. It was a rare occasion of him actually getting killed in a game, which was probably going to be added to another compilation somewhere. Scanning through some messages in the chat for a moment, a knock sounded at the door of his office which snapped him out of his annoyance.
"Chuuya, are you streaming?" A muffled voice sounded through the door. Dazai had done this a few times before coming into his room previously, but other times, he was never actually live. Chuuya's chat didn't even know that he lived with anyone else, let alone Dazai.
After a moment of hesitation, Chuuya managed to say a quick "Yea" through his concealed panic. He had put the headphones he wears around his neck, not bothering to look at the chat, knowing their speculation would only make him panic more.
"Kay, one sec." Dazai said through the door. Chuuya's mind started racing even more. One sec? Was he planning to come in the room? He knew that Dazai was big on privacy, and didn't want to reveal their relationship that easily. There was no way he would just-
A buzz from his pocket snapped the ginger out from his mind. Lifting the phone out almost immediately, a text highlighted the bright screen.
'dont worry ik what im doing js dont freak out pretty pls! play cool' Chuuya scoffed a little at the poor grammar and abbreviations his partner used. Sometimes, Chuuya would struggle to understand the texts just from the amount of slang used.
The creak of the doorknob turning caught Chuuya's attention yet again, revealing Dazai standing there with his hoodie and sweatpants, along with..
Chuuya's motorcycle helmet. Of course.
"Well thats new." Chuuya snorted. He hadn't seen Dazai in a motorcycle helmet since they were teenagers. The last and first time being when he had ridden Dazai to school as he practically clung onto Chuuya. Ever since then, he was too scared to go on it again (and to admit that it frightened him). Which was, yes, an extraordinary instance of Dazai being scared of something, but Chuuya also purposely drove more unstably in hope that he wouldn't ask for a ride again.
"I know, I look amazing." Dazai said, putting a hand on his hip and flipping imaginary hair. "Anyway, your load of laundry just finished so I thought I would bring it up." He said, stepping out of the doorway to pick up a basket of neat, folded clothes. Dazai set them down right in front of the dresser, stretching his arms out after.
"Y'know I was already gonna make crab for dinner," Chuuya said, seeing through the facade of niceness Dazai had put up. His head turned to face Chuuya, visibly swaying from the weight of the helmet.
The taller's head fell back, sighing, "So I folded all these clothes for nothing?" Chuuya just snickered at the comment, Dazai stepping closer to peck him on the cheek, startling the ginger slightly. "Well, I'll be on the couch, love you Chibi." He said, walking to the door.
"Okay, I'll be down soon-" He hesitated. "Love you too, Mackerel." Chuuya said, watching the door close. He finally let out a long awaited sigh, hesitating to even turn back to the chat, which was probably teeming with questions. He could even feel the phone on his thigh vibrating, likely with confused texts from his moderators.
His eyes finally met the computer screen, the 'You Died' message from the previous game still on display. The chat was flying, at least a few messages appearing every second. Chuuya's view darted around, looking at the various, 'love?????' and 'WHO IS THAT' messages.
He knew that his audience held a prominent interest in his love life, theories and ships being made constantly. Of course, he never confirmed anything, even with half of the theories being him and Dazai. Or, as they were known, 'Soukoku' after the team name they were forced to make in a random competition years ago.
Letting out another sigh, Chuuya finally opened his mouth to talk. "Relax guys, it's just my boyfriend." They didn't need to know that he was actually his husband for now. Even so, this realization only made the chat fly by even more. Mostly reading things like, 'I KNEW HE WAS GAY'.
Chuuya never confirmed that he liked men either, but, to his audience, it seemed rather obvious. There was only a small percentage of his viewers who still believed he actually liked women, and even then, most were satirical.
Brushing off the chat, Chuuya decided to play one last game before ending stream and going to make dinner. This time, of course, he won. The knowledge that in all those clips of people finding out about his relationship, there was a 'You Died' message taking up the screen was enough motivation to make him win.
----
As Chuuya finally walked downstairs and into the kitchen, Dazai smiled, the smile that told Chuuya he was planning something. The brunette laid on the couch, giggling a little at his phone screen.
"Chuuya, you should see twitter, it is such a mess." He said, snickering a little more as he talked. Chuuya nodded his head in a sort of knowing way, already assuming that his fanbase was going insane on social media. "Does this mean Soukoku isn't canon," Dazai read off one tweet. "If only they knew." He said mischievously in an almost whisper tone, smiling wide at his phone.
Chuuya opened the fridge and grabbed out some of the crab he had bought a few days prior, setting it on the counter as he looked for the other ingredients. He could only imagine what he would open his phone to next. He hadn't even replied to all of his confused mods yet.
Dazai's quiet giggles were more than enough reason to tell that he was extremely amused by all of this, occasionally reading a tweet he sees out to Chuuya. "Oh my god, they're calling me mackerel. Of course." He whined a little, pretending to be annoyed at the nickname even though Chuuya could tell he felt cool having a new 'alter ego.'
"Maybe I could be a recurring character." Dazai said after a moment, a hint of excitement in his tone.
"Maybe." Chuuya scoffed, trying to mask that fact that it would be nice to have Dazai on stream as his partner, rather than rival. Maybe they could even start posting together as a couple.
----
Dazai and Chuuya both laid in bed, Dazai curled up with his head on the other's chest. Chuuya laid straight, one arm holding up his phone with the other wrapped around Dazai. It was well past 3am already, which Chuuya hadn't realized until looking up to the corner of his phone screen. Dazai's breathing told him that he was fast asleep. Living together for years made Chuuya able to differentiate his real sleeping versus fake sleeping, which was a common problem.
He had been scrolling through different platforms for hours, constantly seeing different opinions and judgements about his relationship. 'Chuuya' and 'Mackerel' were already trending on twitter, new things being posted by the minute.
Chuuya made sure to reply to his moderators after finishing up dinner, letting them know that everything is fine and that he does actually have a boyfriend. He still didn't want to inform people that they were married, knowing that it would only cause more conflict, especially because he was only 22.
Many of the tweets he saw were about him and Dazai, being sad that they aren't together. There are some moments he doesn't even realize how much people there are invested in his life, which now shows to be many.
lana (met chuuya 5/3) @lanas_sorrow
WDYM CHUUYA HAS A BOYFRIEND AND ITS NOT DAZAI??
3.6k Replies 54.1k Retweets 197.4k Likes
The scrolling only proved that the fanbase seemed to be more affected by the fact that Dazai and Chuuya 'weren't' together than the fact that Chuuya has a boyfriend. Of course, it wasn't too bothersome, as that boyfriend is Dazai. He just never realized really how much they cared about the relationship.
skk denial @skk_is_canon
wdym they literally went to the same high school, started streaming at the same time, fight like a married couple, collab all the time, are polar opposites, but they AREN'T together???
853 Replies 1.8k Retweets 47.5k Likes
macy (skk #1 fan) @soukokulover
literally no one talk to me for like the rest of the month im grieving them
[picture of Dazai and Chuuya]
1.1k Replies 26.9k Retweets 163k Likes
Chuuya just sighed. He didn't even realize the fans knew that they went to school together. Hell, someone in their grade probably put the yearbook out for the world to see in a TikTok or something. It wasn't much of a surprise.
star is going insane @starzforchuu
AM I THE ONLY ONE REALIZING THAT MACKEREL KINDA SOUNDS LIKE DAZAI THO?? LIKE YKWIM? PLS
274 Replies 3.7k Retweets 22.5k Likes
ally :3 @tainted_a11y
Replying to @starzforchuu
UR FUELING MY DELUSIONS
7 Replies 19 Retweets 318 Likes
aj is seeing conan 9/24 @nolongeraj
Replying to @starzforchuu
NO HONEST I GET IT LIKE HE EVEN MADE A SHORT JOKE TOO
21 Replies 29 Retweets 405 Likes
Chuuya let out a small huff of laughter, not significant enough to wake up Dazai. It was only natural that some people were onto them already. You can't exactly just make Dazai stop being Dazai.
tachihara @midwintermemento
if one more person tries to ask me whats going on i think ill crashout cuz IDK EITHER
12.9k Replies 32k Retweets 254.7k Likes
Tachihara was one of Chuuya's most active mods, and also one of the most well known, having a platform himself with about a few hundred thousand followers. They even streamed together occasionally. Naturally, he was freaking out the most with the amount of spamming he did to Chuuya's phone. The time on when the tweet was posted also told him that it was before he told Tachihara that everything was fine.
All Chuuya knew was that next stream would probably be hell.