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When Chuuya opened the group chat and asked for help he didn´t expected the help to arrive so fast and so ready for anything. Sure, he had said that it was urgent but, as he opened the door to find four pair of eyes staring at him barely thirty minutes after the message, Chuuya can´t help but get a little surprised.
“So, what´s today meting about?” Pianoman asks, already walking into the house so he can leave his shoes by the door. “We need to hide a body?”
“Better be quick, I don´t want to miss the prom,” Albatross kicks his own boots next to their friend fancy shoes and Chuuya doesn´t have time to dodge before his arm is locked around his shoulders. “What´s the emergency?”
“Are you sick or something?” Chuuya rolls his eyes, like Doc wasn´t the one always sick, he should check his own notes some time. A future doctor should have a better health. “Did you really get sick right before prom?”
“No... it´s not that,” with a sight Chuuya´s hand rest on his own neck, fingers tangling on wet hair. He had called his friends before stepping in the shower and they arrived so soon that he´s still dripping. Paul would kill him for walking around the house like this and... thinking about his brother they´ll better not annoy him too much.
“Let´s go to my room before Paul kicks you out,” Chuuya drags his feet across the carpet, getting ready to face his friends. “I really need help with this.”
“Chuuya, is something wrong?” Iceman voice is cold as ever or at least it is for someone who doesn´t know him like Chuuya does. He can hear the worry under the raspy tone. “Everything´s fine?”
“Yes, sure don´t worry is just that... well,” once the door is closed before him Chuuya takes a deep breath, back resting against the door.
In the few seconds it takes for him to put himself together Pianoman is already sitting in Chuuya´s bed without waiting for an invitation to do so, and Albatross throws himself in the fluffy carpet. Doc and Iceman are a little more polite, taking the chair by the desk and the windowsill.
“Dude, you look like shit right now,” Albatross, nice and ever, says. “You´re a nervous wreck.”
Maybe he´s fidgeting a little.
Maybe.
Just maybe.
But he´s doing a fantastic job at containing himself from biting his nails. The black nail polish is still perfect so, mini point for Chuuya or something.
“It´s the prom I...” fuck, these are his friends. Why is he so nervous? This doesn´t make any sense.
“You´re nervous about the prom?”
“You´re date chickened out?”
“His date is Dazai please, they would never chicken out,” Iceman says for everyone surprise. “What´s the problem?”
“Yeah like, are you nervous? Because it´s Dazai, or something? Please everything is going to be okay, it´s just like any other date.”
Well, they´re right, it´s not like Chuuya hasn´t known Dazai for their whole fucking lives.
Sure, Chuuya had transferred schools a few times, but they had always kept in touch and, in top of that, Dazai was his fucking neighbor, there´s no way he could get rid of the annoying waste of bandages.
Please, he was probably listening this conversation right now.
Dazai´s room was just in front of his, a fence and a stupid big tree the only thing between their homes. A tree that didn´t kept Dazai from jumping from their home into Chuuya´s anytime he was bored and wanted to avoid Paul or Arthur opening the door.
“Did you fight with your brother again?”
“We can´t sneak you out, he´ll skin us alive.”
“Paul is not that bad,” just a little bit dramatic. “He won´t hurt my friends and we´re okay.”
Fights are the usual thing in their home.
Not fights like in real fights. But they´re both loud and their temper is short. So, they yell at each other instead of talk about everything. Both serious things and calling the other when the food is ready.
“And he hates Osamu more than he hates you and he allows me to date them so...”
“Being above Dazai in Pual Verlaine most hated people list is not the achievement you think it is my dear Chuuya,” Pianoman says with a smile. “He hates pretty much everyone.”
“He likes Arthur and me.”
“Arthur is his boyfriend and you´re his brother, you barely count,” Doc laughs, a little snort scaping his lips. “Your brother is terrible, but that´s not the reason we´re here, what´s wrong kid?”
“I´m not a kid!”
He may be the youngest member of the Flags but he´s not a kid.
Albatross is just one year older, and Iceman is the oldest and he´s just four years older.
“Then stop acting like one and tell us what´s wrong.”
Okay.
He can do it.
He can trust the people who helped him when he got transferred into the school. They're his friends, they won´t laugh...
“I don´t know what to wear.”
They do laugh.
First silence, just for a few seconds and the next one Albatross is bursting into that annoying laugh of his, followed by Pianoman and Doc chuckle. Even Iceman smiles, not even trying to be subtle about it.
“I hate you all.”
Chuuya throws himself into the bed, hiding his face in one of the pillows.
“I shouldn´t have called.”
He´s regretting every single choice that leaded him there.
“Chuuya you´re wardrove is bigger than my fucking apartment.”
“Since when you don´t know what to fucking wear to a date?”
Sure, they have helped him before. But when they come over is more like Chuuya trying everything in his closet just to flip them off in the end. In Lipman words: never listening to their opinions and just wearing the horrendous outfit of his choice that day.
“I´m... I don´t know, okay? It´s prom! It´s supposed to be special or something and I don´t know what to do,” face still pressed against the pillow he turns around to lay on his back. “I don´t know what Osamu is wearing, but aren´t we supposed to be matching or something? What if I overdress? Or the other way around?”
“Bro I can see his fucking window from here, you can sneak in and ask what they´re wearing if you want to be all sappy and disgusting.”
Albatross says and Chuuya can hear how he walks to the window. If he tries to climb the tree and sneak into Dazai´s house himself Chuuya is going to commit a murder. But he tries to breathe, arriving to the prom covered in blood would be a little dramatic, even for him.
“Osamu wants it to be a surprise,” and he can feel his face going red. “I don´t know why, but he was all happy and excited about it.”
“Not even a clue?”
“I just know he´s wearing blue.”
“Okay,” and this time Albatross walks to the wardrove and, before Chuuya can complain, he pulls the door open. “Let´s search for something wearable.”
Pianoman is soon on his feet too, joining Albatross while the other two just share their brutally honest thoughts with the room.
He doesn't really know what is making him so nervous. Dazai and he have been dating for almost two years now and this... this is just prom. But Chuuya just wants to crawl under his bed and die as his friends look at his wardrove, horror painted in their faces.
“Chuuya I´m worried about the number of chains here.”
“I´m more worried about the animal print.”
“Verlaine allows you to step out dressed like this?”
“It´s not that bad!” he tries, pressing a pillow against his face again. “Just help me pick up something and leave!”
Chuuya is glad about the few bad decisions –apart from dating Dazai Osamu- he has made in high school. If he had been dummier or something he could have ended being called a stupid name his whole life.
Pianoman had dyed his hair once before changing the course of his life forever for example. Poor fool. The Cruella hair had been his demise. Same way singing Ice Ice Baby in a karaoke once had been Iceman one.
The last thing he needs is to mess up his last week, showing up at prom dressed like an idiot. Chuuya would rather die than ended up being remembered as the clown of the school for the next twenty-five years.
And then, the door slams open and Chuuya screams so high that it drowns Albatross terrible singing.
“Sorry for the delay,” Lippman says, leaning against the doorframe. There´s a bag over his shoulder and Chuuya has a terrible feeling about it.
“Fashionable late as always,” Painoman laughs as the last member of the Flags walks into the room. “Welcome to the prom date emergency continence plan.”
Chuuya looks at his friends, all the eyes are on him, and he knows that his face is redder than his hair right now.
Fucking great.
They resume Lipman the situation and his friend smiles, not his usual one no, it´s the kind of smile that sends a shiver down Chuuya´s spine.
“Thanks god I´m here,” he says, dropping the bag next to Chuuya in the bed. “Go to put you binder if you want, we have,” as soon as he checks his phone a frown grows on his face, “one hour to get you and Albatross ready for prom.”
“I´m all dressed up already!”
His friends complains and well, he´s dressed nicer than usual. But Chuuya thought that he would be leaving earlier or something to get ready for prom. Albatross messy hair is tied up like always, but instead of the usual thing he calls a braid, he´s wearing it in high ponytail. The suit he´s wearing is an ugly and bright shade of pink, together with the bad shirt and the boots that he leaved by the door he´s not dressed what Chuuya would call elegant.
But he´s not the one to talk to be honest, he would rather show at prom un ripped jeans and one of his crop tops than being dolled up by Lipman or, even worst, his brother.
“I hope you choke on a canape and die,” Lipman says when Albatross pulls a heart shaped sunglasses from the front pocket of jacket, putting the final touch to the outfit. “Okay no more chatting,” Lipman claps before starting to put clothes out of the bag. “You two put all than trash back into the closet, Chuuya I want you here in five minutes, Iceman makeup, Albatross hair.”
He gives orders like he´s in one of the films he works in and Chuuya knows better than disobeying.
Chuuya is quick to put on his black binder, dropping the rest of the clothes in the hamper before getting ready for the rush he´s about to face.
American films that talk about girls' makeup nights doesn´t know a thing about Lipman and how terrific that kind of situations can end up being.
“Okay, what do you think?”
Lipman is pointing to the outfit he had lied in the bed and well... it can work.
Black pants and a pale-blue shirt, it´s one of his favorite's ones, but it always ends in the back of his wardrove. The sleeves are short, and the back is gauze with a dragon sewn in black thread. Iceman adds a leather black jacket and Lipman one of those fake waist corsets out of the bag.
Okay, it can really work.
“We know that Dazai is wearing blue so... let´s give it a try, I have more ideas if you don´t like this one.”
“Sure...”
Chuuya feels almost shy is he dresses up. He´s down this so many times in front of the Flags, always before dates, but today it feels a little different.
He must admit that Lipman knows what he´s doing when he´s dealing with clothes. When Chuuya looks at himself in the mirror he likes what he´s seeing.
He looks good.
The blue is a nice touch, Chuuya tends to wear more warm colors, but he likes the outfit. Sure he´s missing his own touch. Accessories and all that... but with that final touch's he thinks that it would be perfect.
“I like it...” he admits a little shy and Chuuya finds his friend eyes in the mirror.
“Nice, you can breathe? It is too tight?” he´s zipping the fake corset thing. “Or it feels to constricting with the binder? I wasn´t sure about the size.”
“It´s fine,” and it looks so fucking good with the shirt and the leather pants. It´s not a real corset after all, it doesn´t make him uncomfortable. “Wait you bought it for me?”
Lipman words sink in as the man steps away from him, hands back into the pockets of his white coat.
“A small gift, it's nothing,” he says and before Chuuya can say more, there´s hands on his shoulders pulling him down. “Now let us finish what we started.”
Albatross tugs on his hair softly, untangling the long strands of red hair at the same time Iceman starts applying the concealer with surgical precision.
They´re a weird group.
No one had ever believed them if they told them that Iceman was the one good at makeup between them. Maybe it was because he had three older sisters or just because he was good at almost everything he tried. But well, Chuuya allowed his friend to hide the dark circles under his eyes and closed them when he started to apply the eyeliner.
Behind him Albatross was twisting his hair in some kind of updo. For a guy who always wore his own hair in the most horrible braid ever, Chuuya could trust him with this.
They have fifteen minutes left when they both step away from Chuuya, Iceman with a nod and Albatross still singing along to a Night to remember.
Before looking at himself in the mirror Chuuya walks to the little box where he puts his jewels and accessories. He puts the long earrings Dazai got him for his birthday, adds a chain to the pants and claps a few bracelets around his wrists. With the black chocker around his neck, he feels almost ready to face the night.
“Okay, I think that the prom date emergency continence plan has been a succeed,” Pianoman announces when Chuuya looks at his friends again. “You´re stunning Chuuya.”
“If Dazai doesn´t like it then they´re an idiot.”
“Oh, please Dazai would love him in a trash bag,” Chuuya rolls his eyes. Dazai is not that head over heels for him. “Come on! Look at yourself!”
“Guys I´m sure it´s not that g-,” oh.
Oh...
“I look fucking good!”
He wasn´t expecting this much, but the hair and the makeup, along with the final touches, really make a difference.
The eyeliner makes his dark eyes look sharper, almost in a dangerous way that he really enjoys, and the upper part of his hair is tied in a tiny bun, hold back by two small braids. The rest of his falls a little down his shoulders, wavy and pretty.
“Told you.”
“You like it then?”
“Yeah...” he looks at his friends...
When Lippman first invited him to this messy group for transferred students, he wasn´t expecting to end up like this. He was a mess, still dealing with his last group stabbing him (figuratively) on the back.
Trusting them with so simple problems like not knowing what to wear to prom night.... for once, he had chosen the right people.
“Thanks.”
“No need!” Doc says, patting his back. “You´ll do the same for us.”
“We just want you to enjoy the night, after this all changes,” Pianoman is about to ruffle his hair, but Lipman slaps his hand away, mumbling something about not messing up the kid. “Enjoy the last week of high school Nakahara.”
The last week of high school...
After this Dazai and he´ll move out to another city, luckily to the same one. After graduation nothing is going to be the same....
“I-”
Then the bell rings and his brother-tired yell reaches the room before he can finish what he was saying.
“Dazai is here!” Verlaine screams in French and Chuuya rolls his eyes before answering.
“Going!” he screams back, because that´s the only way they communicate in that house. “Okay, let´s go, I´m ready.”
Chuuya grabs the old doc martens and the fingerless gloves and heads downstairs, followed by his friends.
“Hi...”
“Oh god I´m leaving,” Verlaine shivers when he sees all the people at his door, not even waving goodbye before heading back to the kitchen. “As long as the police doesn´t call me, do whatever you want.”
“Caring as ever,” Dazai laughs, combing a lose strand of hair behind his hair. They always look better with that messy hair of his tucked away from their face.
“Always, you know it,” and then Chuuya really looks at them and it´s a terrible idea. He can feel himself blushing.
Dazai smiles when they notice it, twirling around with a giggle.
“You like it?” he´s wearing a long skirt. One of those they like but almost never wear. "It has pockets!" they say, the deep blue fabric dancing around them. "Odasaku bought it for me!"
Behind them Chuuya can feel too many eyes watching. He knows the Flags are there and that they're going to annoy him forever after this but right now he doesn't care. Chuuya holds into Dazai's shirt and pulls them down. It's not gentle but Dazai smiles against his lips when he kisses them.
“You look pretty,” he whispers against his lips. Dazai lips taste like the vanilla lip balm he uses. “I... I really like it.”
“Chuuya looks pretty too,” they said, pulling from Chuuya´s hair softly. “And we´re matching!”
The blue is not the same shade, but it´s close enough.
Chuuya must step away from Dazai to put on his shoes, sitting by the door to tie the laces and pray for the blush to go away.
As soon as he stands again someone push him back into Dazai´s arms, his partner is quick to wrap an arm around Chuuya´s waist.
“Okay, smile!” Chuuya is still confused when the first flash hits them, blinking slowly to make the white dots disappear. “For real this time Chuuya!”
“What-” but then he sees the camara in Lipman´s hands. An old polaroid thing, he´s really been into photography these days. “We´re going to be late.”
“Verlaine should be the one doing this, I´m just doing his job,” his friend smiles and Chuuya can feel Dazai pulling him closer, leaning in to whisper a soft smile hat rack against his ear. “Pose for me!”
With Dazai´s long arms around him, there´s not a lot he can do expect resting his own gloved hands over theirs, a soft smile growing on his face.
Lipman shakes the photo as soon as it is done, letting it rest in the desk by the entrance, so the light won´t ruin it, “okay now a few more, give me a kiss or something!”
Now he´s holding his phone to them, a wicked smile on his face. Somehow that leads to all the Flags grabbing their phones and Chuuya feels like a kid in a school recital, checks red as they take more and more pics.
The last one they take, is a selfie with Iceman phone with everyone on it and Chuuya feels like he´s about to explode from how red his face is when Dazai presses a kiss against his check for the photo.
“Well, I´ll be going,” Albatross announces, grabbing his own shoes too. “I still have to pick my date, see you there!”
He´s gone one second after that, Chuuya is not done with his boots before Albatross´s already on his bike, driving away from the house. He hadn´t even realized that the laces were undone when the photoshoot started.
“Whose poor girl is his victim this year?” Dazai asks, crouching down to finish tying Chuuya´s boots. Fuck, he didn´t wanted Dazai to notice how bad his hands were trembling.
“This year is a guy I think, he wanted to keep the secret or something,” Chuuya explains. “We´ll discover it soon, we´ve been dying to know since he announced that he had a date.”
Dazai stands in his full heigh and Chuuya is glad enough that his partner is nice enough to not wear heels to their date. He takes Dazai hand, and they pull Chuuya into his feet, leaving a soft kiss over his hand as he does it.
“Ready then?”
“Sure...” and he looks over his shoulder. “So, tomorrow at the bar, no?" Chuuya asks now that Albatross is gone. "Six?"
“Yep,” Lipman says, clicking his tongue. They´re all grabbing their respective shoes and coats. “Dazai care to join?”
Dazai looks confused at Chuuya, for once he doesn´t know what´s going on.
“We´re throwing him a surprise party to celebrate that he graduated,” Chuuya says with a soft smile. “You know... after having to take the year again and almost dropping... we think he deserves it.”
Albatross was a good friend, loud and annoying sure, but caring and gentle. It had been ugly seeing him struggling so much with school and now he had passed with good grades. The whole group was so fucking proud of him.
“I... I can go. It´s does not like...a Flags thing?”
“Well, you´re an honorary Flag,” Doc pats Dazai´s shoulder.
“And I would love you being there,” Chuuya adds, standing on his tiptoes to kiss Dazai´s check. “But we can talk about it in the morning.”
“You need a ride?” Iceman asks and Dazai shakes his head.
“Odasaku is dropping us at school don´t worry guys!” they say, hand already holding Chuuya one. “We should be going by the way...”
“Oh... sure...”
“We´ll leave you to it then,” and his friends walk with them to the car. Oda´s waiting by the well already. “Bye!”
“Enjoy the night!”
“Have fun!”
Everyone gets in Iceman car and that leaves Chuuya alone with Dazai in the middle of their street. Still blushing like an idiot.
“So... you were nervous about tonight?” Dazai asks and Chuuya´s ears must as well be on fire. “You´re so cute.”
“Dig a hole and die.”
But then Dazai kisses him again and he finds himself smiling against those soft lips.
Yeah... it´s going to be a good night.