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Chuuya has always admired Ranpo.
Not for her wits, they usually made him irritated because Ranpo liked using them to manipulate Chuuya into buying her more snacks or pranking him. Not like Chuuya minded buying snacks, but he certainly didn't like getting pranked. Of course there were moments when he admired Ranpo's brain, but oh well, that was another topic.
No, what he admired the most about Ranpo was the confidence she had on every aspect of her personality.
Now, Chuuya was a confident person. He always presented himself with pride, although there were moments when he felt self-conscious of his looks he was usually pleased with the way he looked (might've been because of how much care he put into his hair) and he was pretty confident with the way he stood and spoke. He was a loved student in the school, he had friends, his friends loved him and he loved them. Even if his grades weren't that good, not many students his age got gold medals in martial arts, and god forbid Chuuya knew some people drooled after his biceps. Even if he wasn't too fond of it - he was taken and not by one, but two people, damn it, - he was aware of the way he was, overall, someone who was loved and respected among the other students in their high school.
So of course it was a confidence boost. He would call himself a confident person most of the time.
Except...
Except days like these, when he laid in the bed of his dorm room with his hair disheveled over the pillows because he couldn't find it in himself to go over and look at his reflection in the mirror. Because the person in the mirror was someone he didn't know, or at least, someone he wished he didn't know.
His face was a little too round, his eyelashes were a little too long, his facial features were a little too soft and he didn't even want to look down at his body because he knew he would explode if he did.
He usually forgot about it, forgot about how his mind was in a constant fight with his body and just carried on with his day. It's been like this for so long, and Chuuya was used to it by now.
At least, he thought he should've been used to it, but it was really not that easy when he had to look at the mirror and stare back at himself when his mind was in a let's fuck up Chuuya's day mood.
And so he laid on his bed lazily, not enjoying the saturday morning like people his age did. His bastard of a roommate - who also happened to be his boyfriend, he guesses? - had extra morning classes that day, so he had left earlier on an ungodly hour when Chuuya was still dragged down to the depths of his slumber, having a nice dream about dancing spaghetti conquering the Eiffel Tower. So he was all alone in the room now, left alone with his thoughts to play with him.
Dysphoria didn't hit him much. But when it did, it hit hard.
And - that's what he admired about Ranpo.
Because, to put it literally, forget about her suffering dysphoria; dysphoria feared Edogawa Ranpo.
Why?
Because—
"I HEARD MY LITTLE POTATO BOY NEEDS SOME SUPPORT FROM HIS PITTY PATTY PRETTY GIRLFRIEND!"
And there she was, the door slamming open.
Somehow, Ranpo always seemed to sense it whenever it was one of those days. It was probably because Chuuya passed a certain hour without getting out of his room, but Chuuya was convinced that the girl had mind reading powers, anyways.
Chuuya sighed.
"I'm not a potato, Ranpo."
"AND I ALSO HEARD HIS EMOTIONAL SUPPORT COMMUNIST LEFT HIM FOR CLASSES! OH, HOW HORRIBLE!"
"And Dazai's not a communist. Plus, stop talking about him like he's only my boyfriend! You're dating him too!"
Ranpo cooed, palm slapping against her forehead in a dramatic gesture.
Despite her antics being mostly annoying, she made Chuuya smile.
And he was grateful for that. No matter how many times Ranpo called him a potato. If the girl wanted to call him a potato, let her call him a potato, damn it.
"Aw, my little potato is going through another existential crisis... Don't worry, Chuuya! I'm here to light up your day with my endless light, nothing less than actual sun—"
"Okay, okay, whatever!" Chuuya huffed.
No matter how annoying Ranpo was, she was always the best at shoeing dysphoria away. So Chuuya would bear with it.
That, and he liked Ranpo a little bit too much to send her away.
He really didn't understand how Ranpo dealed with her own thoughts - did she even have them? She once told Chuuya that she used to think about her body not feeling right a couple of years ago, but then she literally said fuck off to her mind and it shutted up. She also told Chuuya to try it as well, and Chuuya did, really - it just didn't work on him.
Yeah, that's why earlier he said - dysphoria feared Edogawa Ranpo.
In a second, hands were in his, getting him to sit upright on the bed before pulling him out of it. Chuuya groaned, his head was pounding and he wanted to lay back down, but—
"We're going out!" Ranpo exclaimed, throwing his binder and a hoodie at him. "Change, quick! You're paying for breakfast!"
"Wha— Aren't you here to cheer me up?! Why am I the one paying—"
"Because I spent all of my money on that enormous birthday cake last week!"
"That's your own fault—"
Then Ranpo smacked his shoulder lightly, causing him to groan. "Bathroom!" she said, furrowing her eyebrows and pointing at the bathroom. "Now! Go change quickly, I'm giving you two minutes!"
That was what he admired about Ranpo.
Because near her, no matter what he did, dysphoria couldn't even get close to him.
He smiled as he went to change.
"Ninety seconds!" he exclaimed as he shutted the bathroom door close.
He sighed as he looked at the mirror. The person stared at him from the other side, and Chuuya got to examine his face.
Yeah, his features were a little too soft for his liking maybe, but—
He was pretty, god damn.
He huffed, hands finding their way on both sides of the sink. He looked at his reflection's eyes in the mirror with furrowed eyebrows, a serious expression taking up his face.
"I'm a boy." he said. "I'm a boy. I'm a boy. Boys can be pretty, okay? Huh. Stare at me like that, you will not change my mind. I'm a boy. And you," he pointed at the mirror, "are a boy too. A beautiful boy. And you like it so stop pestering me about how I should be less pretty because I'm—"
"Chuuya! Fifty seconds left!"
"AND I'M GETTING DRESSED NOW!" he shouted, fumbling with his t-shirt and taking it off. He sent angry stares at the mirror every once in a while as he put on his binder, then quickly put on the black hoodie Ranpo had tossed at him. Great.
He made a gesture at the mirror, pointing at it with his index and middle fingers, silently saying I see you. He whispered "You. Are. A. Boy." one last time before opening the door and rushing out of the bathroom.
"Exactly eighty-seven seconds! How punctual of you, Chuuya!" Ranpo exclaimed, smiling at him and patting his shoulder. "But you forgot your pants!"
Chuuya looked down and saw he was still wearing his dog patterned pajamas, sighing. "You shoed me away into the bathroom without giving me pants, what could I do?!"
"Hmm... Right~" Ranpo hummed, smiling, her eyes vibrant green as she stared right into Chuuya's. "Whatever!" she said, "You want lipstick?"
Chuuya rocked back and forth on his feet as he stared at the lipstick Ranpo was holding up. It probably wasn't too visible, and he usually liked it, still— "I think... I'm not in the mood today."
Ranpo tilted her head, looking straight into his eyes and searching for something. Chuuya gulped.
But then she sighed, leaving the lipstick on the table and slumping forward, wrapping her arms around Chuuya.
Chuuya stilled for a moment, hands limp at his sides. He just let himself get adjusted to the embrace for a moment before raising his arms slowly, putting them on Ranpo's shoulders and hugging her back.
"It's okay if you just don't want to put it on," Ranpo said against his ear in a kind voice, "And it's okay if you do. You're my favourite pretty potato boy, no matter what you do or how you choose to look like."
The boy only wrapped his arms around her a little tighter, burying his face on her shoulder. "Thank you," he said, "But I'm not—"
"No, you are pretty!" Ranpo exclaimed, backing away a little, hands still on Chuuya's waist. "And you like being called that! Don't listen to whatever your mind tells you, it's just babbling nonsense, I'll shut it away—"
"No, no, I don't mean that," he chuckled, "I'm not a potato."
Ranpo blinked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh? I thought we were clear that you are."
Chuuya sighed.
He wasn't actually annoyed at being called a 'potato', he knew Ranpo did that because she found him... Endearing? Whatever.
But, yes, even if she wasn't exactly right at the potato thing, Ranpo was right at how Chuuya liked being called pretty. And she was absolutely right at how he should just ignore those in his head that kept babbling nonsense and making him feel like shit.
He had other things he should've been focusing on at the moment, okay? Like how his girlfriend's hands on his waist sent a wave of warmth over his spine and to his face, or how the said girlfriend was now leaning down onto his face with her signature mischievous smile on her face.
"I'll sweep you off of your feet, pretty potato boy."
And indeed, she did. Literally.
Because she took them to ice skating later, and damn Chuuya for refusing to take skating lessons when he was younger.
But also, bless the little Chuuya for refusing the ice skating lessons, because after he fell two times, he got to skate hand in hand with Ranpo, the girl catching him by the waist whenever he came close to falling face first again.
"I love potatos!" Ranpo screamed.
And their other beloved partner Dazai?
Oh he was about to die from solving too many questions, writing too many essays, having too many homeworks and...
And the most annoying person on the world sitting by his side in the library despite his countless attempts at shoeing him away, eating potato.
"FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY, STOP MUNCHING ON THAT POTATO TOO FUCKING LOUDLY FOR GOD'S SAKE—"
"Shh."
God damn his life.