Chapter Text
Camille didn’t understand Dazai and Chuuya’s relationship. She thought they hated each other; the two always played jokes on each other in an attempt to piss the other off, but sometimes they walked together home together and the jokes grew softer.
Dazai was known for being very antisocial; he clearly disliked most people. He wasn’t necessarily a rude person—unless, of course, someone tried to touch him or get in his personal space—but he rarely made an effort to speak to new people and had a general apathetic and bored air around him at all times.
Dazai only ever spent time with the white-haired freshman that Camille could never remember the name of, and of course, Chuuya. Dazai, being one of the highest scoring students in the school, objectively handsome, and charming (if he wanted to be), attracted attention from boys and girls alike even though Dazai seemed to have no interest in even interacting with anyone other than his closest friends.
Chuuya, however, was a social butterfly. He knew everyone's names and their birthdays; he greeted everyone he passed in the school with a smile, and he always indulged the many people who approached with confessions, before politely turning them down every time. Everyone seemed to think Chuuya was their friend, which, in a way, was true, but Chuuya really only had a small group of close friends, and Camille counted herself lucky to be a part of it.
They had met a few days after Chuuya transferred to the school and bonded over both being French, Chuuya being half, and Camille being all French and moving when she was young. They had only grown closer since.
But then, there was Dazai.
Camille didn’t hate Dazai, she just really disliked him. Chuuya always seemed to eat lunch with him and walk home with him, and they always looked at each other when the teacher said to pick partners, while Camille always looked at Chuuya. This is why Camille was ecstatic to hear the news that there would be a group project in English and she would get to work with Chuuya. She was less ecstatic to hear it was a three-person project and that she would also have to work with Dazai Osamu
Camille knew, in the back of her mind, that she was jealous but she tried to ignore it, just like she tried to ignore the small crush she had on Chuuya that very quickly turned into a not-so-small crush.
The day they were assigned the project, Chuuya invited her to eat lunch with him. Extremely excited about the proposition, she accepted and followed after Chuuya as he walked up to the roof where he normally ate. The roof used to be off-limits to students. She didn’t know why the rule changed but she heard something about it being proposed by Kunikida-sensei.
Of course, when the door swung open and the bright sky came into view, she noticed Dazai sitting against the fence ahead of them, holding two lunches. Of course.
Chuuya genuinely smiled and waved at him and Dazai seemed to smile back but the expression quickly changed to a smug grin at the both of them.
“Hey Mackerel, I hope we kept you waiting long,” Chuuya shouted as they approached.
“You did, Slug. And it's a good thing, too, feel free to never come back next time.” Dazai shot back. Here they were, back at it with the bickering. Yeah, Dazai and Chuuya’s relationship confused Camille.
The teasing back and forth continued as they started eating, and only once Camille was about halfway through her food did Chuuya bring up the project.
“Okay, so, we have to pick a classical poet or short-story writer and research them, then work together on a piece that emulates their style,” Chuuya explained. “I think it's a good idea for us to at least get started on it today. We can meet at Dazai’s house after school if that works for you, Camille.”
Camille nodded hesitantly. It sort of struck her as weird, the fact that Chuuya so easily invited her over to a house that isn’t his. It was even stranger that Dazai didn’t even seem to care. He heard the statement but didn’t look up, too focused on his current task of sneaking all of the vegetables in his lunch onto Chuuya’s bento.
“Yes, that works fine.”
“Great!” Chuuya exclaimed, he gathered his things and stood up, “Well, I’ll see you after school.” He turned around and left the roof. Dazai was still sitting in front of her silently. She noticed him watching her and it sent a shiver down her spine. He didn’t look angry. He didn’t seem to have any emotion at all; he just stared for a few seconds then followed Chuuya’s lead and left the roof.
--
Camille meet up with Chuuya outside the school gates, and as per usual, Dazai stood a few feet away. If she didn’t know any better, she would think the two of them were constantly connected by an invisible thread.
Dazai was leaning against the wall, face turned down to his phone. Chuuya greeted her when she approached. Dazai didn’t acknowledge her but he did push off the wall and start walking. Chuuya beckoned to Camille with his hand and followed after Dazai.
Camille and Chuuya laughed and talked with each other along the way, Dazai didn’t participate, as expected. He hovered just beside Chuuya, walking with purposeful short steps to keep pace with him. That was another peculiar action. Dazai walked around the school all the time with Chuuya and he always moved as fast as possible to irritate Chuuya. She really didn’t understand their relationship.
Camille couldn’t help but gasp in surprise at the sight once they reached Dazai’s house. She knew Dazai was rich, everyone did. It's not like he purposely told anyone, but it became pretty obvious the seventh time a limo came to pick him up from school.
Chuuya pulled out a key ring when they reached the grand entrance and unlocked the door. “Is Oda home?” The question was directed at Dazai
“Yeah, but we don’t need to tell him we have someone over, he’ll probably stay up in his room.” Chuuya nodded at the answer.
The interior of the mansion was even grander than the exterior, boasting high arching walls with glamorous carvings and chandeliers. It was gorgeous. Being an architect was Camille’s dream and this house was her paradise.
Chuuya, still in front, led them to the living room, a large room with a real fireplace and extravagant furniture. “We don’t generally do our homework down here but since there’s three of us I thought it might work better,” Chuuya explained as he walked over and dropped his. Oh, so this is a common event for them. Do they always do homework together? The questions kept piling up but Camille kept her mouth shut.
“Would you like anything to eat?” Dazai’s voice shocked Camille, she had barely heard him speak the whole day and it had only been directed at Chuuya. He had quite a nice voice , she thought.
“No, no thank you, I mean, um-” She stuttered out. Dazai chuckled a bit.
“Okay, well if you get hungry let me know.” Chuuya was smiling at their interaction. It was strange to see how quickly the two’s personalities shifted when they weren’t at school.
“Alright, if you guys could start setting up, I’m going to go change quickly,” Chuuya said and he turned to leave.
“Yeah, about that-” Dazai began, “I sort of didn’t do the laundry.” He rushed through the last part of the sentence. Chuuya’s shoulders tightened visibly and he slowly turned the frustration clear on his face.
“Dazai. Osamu.” He gritted out. Dazai winced at the tone. “You know I hate staying in my uniform and I did the laundry last week.” Camille just stared at the two amazed by the conversation.
“I know, I know. I’ve been having an…” Dazai hesitated, looking at Camille as if her presence was cause for him to censor his words. “ interesting week. I still have some clean clothes left.”
Chuuya took a deep breath. “Okay, that's fine. I’ll find something from that. Thanks.” Chuuya said with a soft smile before he turned and walked off.
Dazai started getting out some materials, a laptop, some scratch paper, and a book written by the poet they were going to study that he had picked up from the school library earlier that day. Camille just watched for a few moments before snapping out of it and going to assist him.
They finished organizing everything by the time Chuuya returned and Camille was, for what felt like the millionth time today, shocked and confused.
Now, it's not like Camille hadn’t seen Chuuya in casual clothes before. They had hung out outside of school all the time but this was different, Dazai and Chuuya’s last conversation made quite a bit more sense now. Chuuya was clearly wearing Dazai’s clothes, it was an oversized white tee shirt and baggy sweatpants that had to be rolled up at the ends. Chuuya however seemed entirely unbothered by any of this and looked perfectly comfortable and content.
Camille was pretty sure she knew what was going on now and felt pretty damn stupid for not realizing earlier. Camille had never seen two people as comfortable around each other as she saw Chuuya and Dazai. It was incredible to see how Dazai softened in his presence and how Chuuya’s smiles had a genuine quality that rarely existed in school.
Camille sighed in resignation and turned her full attention to the project. She may have liked Chuuya romantically, but she loved him like a friend, which was good enough for her.
And when Chuuya came to school the next day with his collar pulled up a little higher, and a hickey that peeked out every once in a while, Camile didn’t mention it.
And when Dazai walked into English class later that day, she smiled at him, and he nodded back at her.
They got an A on the project.