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Chuuya Nakahara is a new kid in the class. He was born to Japanese parents, but raised in France, so his japanese is still a little shaky. He only moved recently. He has blue eyes and red hair and fair skin and no right to be as pretty as he is.
Everyone in the school knows about him, and everyone has an opinion. It’s always either love or envy. They either want to be him or be with him. It’s not hard to understand why, with all his pretty looks and his charming accent and his skin that looks so soft and-
Ugh.
Ranpo’s a smart kid. He’s constantly hearing from his teachers how he’s so talented - usually accompanied by he’d be so much farther along if he just did his work, but he tunes that part out. He doesn’t have many friends, but the ones he has are good. Unfortunately, one of these friends, one Osamu Dazai, has rather taken a shine to messing around with Chuuya. And to make matters worse Chuuya reciprocates . Dazai has, somehow, managed to become one of the few people Chuuya actually seeks out. No one understands how, or why. They’re constantly bickering, but they’re friends.
He’s not jealous of Chuuya and Dazai spending time together, but them spending time together also means he spends more time around Chuuya than you’d expect. And every time he’s around Chuuya he notices something new. The first time it was the way his hair seems to move like he’s in a movie every time he takes a step, and then it was how soft his laugh is, and then it was how long his eyelashes are, so on and so forth.
Chuuya has absolutely no right to be as pretty as he is.
Chuuya, in his defense, hasn’t really done anything wrong, but Ranpo must take action. Don’t ask what he’s taking action against. Or why he’s doing it. He doesn’t know. He’s not going to think about it.
His plan was to actually think of a plan. He had to do something. He’s smart, he should be able to think of suitable retribution easily, but he can’t. Nothing seems right. When he walks into math class that day, he’s thinking about it. Chuuya’s in this class with him, so Ranpo thinks actually seeing him might give him some ideas.
Sadly, this is not how it works out.
Ranpo ends up spending most of the class staring at Chuuya - who sits in the row in front of him, one desk to the right - with furrowed brows and his eyes, for once, actually opened while in class. Chuuya spends most of the class writing notes and asking questions every now and again, but then - then he idly reaches up and runs a hand through his hair and Ranpo must have lost control of his body because, while he’s present for it, he doesn’t understand why he suddenly takes out a piece of paper and scribbles some words on it before passing it to Chuuya in a huff.
“Get out of my school”
Chuuya stares at the paper for a good minute - whether he’s having trouble translating, reading Ranpo’s handwriting, or just doubts what he’s reading, Ranpo doesn’t know. Then Chuuya turns his head so he can look at Ranpo, who’s staring at him with puffed cheeks and arms crossed on his desk. Chuuya’s making a face, mostly confusion with hints of mild irritation, but he’s a good student so he puts the paper off to the side and doesn’t respond.
Ranpo notes, duly, that he didn’t crumble the note up or otherwise discard it.
When class ends, Ranpo is out the door before Chuuya’s even done packing up. He does not hurry out because he’s embarrassed about what he did, he just happens to really dislike math so he wants to leave as soon as possible.
He doesn’t see Chuuya again until school ends. When he does see him, he’s talking to Dazai in hushed words and he’s making a face again, but this time he looks sort of embarrassed. Dazai is smiling at him, like he knows something, which he probably does. Whatever it is, he’s obviously not sharing if the look Chuuya is giving him is anything to go by.
Ranpo means to walk by them without getting spotted, but Dazai, God damn him, notices him and calls out to him with a smile.
“Hey, Ranpo-kun!”
And that plan goes out the window.
He could just ignore him and keep walking, but he ends up walking towards the pair anyway.
Chuuya doesn’t say anything at first, and Ranpo doesn’t know if that’s good or bad. They just kind of stare at each other while Dazai chatters on. Then Dazai whacks Chuuya playfully on the back, winks at Ranpo, and walks off, and Ranpo kind of wishes he’d been listening to what he had said because now he might be, maybe, at just little bit of a loss.
“You want me to get out of your school?” It’s partially a question, but also a little bit not a question. Chuuya’s japanese is still improving and he still has that.
“Yes,” and he means to just stop it there but apparently today is not his day for things he means to do. “Because I want you to go out with me.”
Okay. It surprises both of them, but Chuuya shows it much more. His face flushes suddenly, and he’s pale so it shows very clearly, so add that to the list of things Ranpo has noticed about him without meaning to.
Maybe Ranpo is nervous, but he tells himself he’s not - and so he’s not - as he waits for Chuuya to say something.
“That would…” Chuuya starts, trails off, continues. “Be nice.”
Ranpo smiles despite himself, claps his hands together, and then links his arm with Chuuya to drag him off somewhere. Maybe he doesn’t know where they’re going. He’ll figure it out.
Chuuya Nakahara has no right to be as pretty as he is. So they’re gonna go on a date and Ranpo’s going to spend a lot of time thinking about it. Just for investigative purposes, of course.