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Ah yes. The time of year where students are united by fatigue, burnout and depression; finals season. At the ripe age of seventeen, students are expected to gamble their futures, completely dependent on a few questions on a stupid text paper.
Dazai’s alarm had been snoozed… once… twice… maybe three times before he was able to roll out of bed, reach for his glasses and smack the ‘STOP’ button on his phone. Hazily, his eyes adjusted to the blaring brightness of his home screen (an image of him and Chuuya eating ice cream at the beach). His phone was as barren as a desert, no other notifications awaited him except the seven missed calls, twenty text messages and four voice notes from Chuuya Nakahara.
Well, fuck.
With his phone balanced between his ear and his shoulder, Dazai darted out of bed. His hands were preoccupied with trying to pull on his socks which were being awfully uncooperative today.
“CHUUYA. I SWEAR I HAD THE INTENTION OF BEING UP ON TIME!” He shouted, before turning his volume down a little when he realised his father might be in the other room. “It’s FINE, I have ten whole minutes to get there! You see, you talking to me right now is in fact slowing down that process, so I’ll kindly hang up-”
Before Dazai could utter another word, Chuuya had already hung up, his phone returning to their text message page. It didn’t seem like the universe was going to be on his side today. His hairbrush was nowhere to be found. The tube of toothpaste in the bathroom was running on empty, Dazai having to use all of his strength to squeeze the remnants out onto his brush. The dismantled sharpeners lay discarded on the shelf. With a great sigh, Dazai gazed at himself in the mirror. He was greeted with his pale complexion, messy brown curls and the eye bags that were growing more prominent everyday. It’s fine, he thought. He pulled down his crumpled, white shirt sleeves so they would (hopefully) cover the bandages that plagued his body underneath. Dazai had no problem concealing his thighs; the tapered, brown pants that his school uniform required him to wear were full-length. But, summer was approaching, he had to be extremely careful when it came to what he wore. A suffocating sun and long sleeves wasn’t really the best of pairings.
His phone buzzed again, Chuuya sending another “HURRY UP BASTARD” message no doubt. Cautiously, he exited his room, taking extra care when shutting his bedroom door so it wouldn’t make too much noise. However, Mori was nowhere to be seen, thankfully. Dazai concluded that he must have worked overtime again at the hospital, which was always welcome. That was one less nuisance he had to deal with. Dazai slipped on his shoes, grabbed his bag and headed for the front door. He backtracked, remembering that he should probably bring his Chemistry textbook as that is the exam he has today. Breakfast would have to wait, besides he was sure that Chuuya would have some food he could steal.
Normally, Dazai wasn’t much of a runner. Today, he had no choice but to run to the train station. Chuuya had been waiting at the platform for him for God-knows-how-long, and he braced himself for the anguish that would come with their meeting, Chuuya was definitely going to scold him again about his punctuality. He could bet his life on it.
The scenery made up for the abruptness of his morning. Flowers were still blossoming, lining the normally dull street with colour. The impermanence of the flowers intrigued Dazai, one day they were at their best, the next they were dead and the petals shriveled, slowly descending on to the ground. Life was like that, too, he thought. A fleeting moment.
From the other side of the bridge, Dazai spotted Chuuya. His bright, orange head of hair wasn’t easy to miss. It was side-parted, the ends gathered into a messy ponytail which sat on his collar. Even from such a distance, Dazai could see Chuuya aggressively tapping on his phone, a mob of new notifications appearing on Dazai’s own phone after a few seconds. After contemplating calling him again just to piss him off a little more before his impending lecture anyway, the sound of the train screeching against the tracks made him snap out of it. He ran – he ran as fast as his legs could take him. Luckily, the train halted on the platform for a few minutes, leaving just enough time for Dazai to make it. He approached the ginger, panting.
“You fucking bastard, what time do you call this?!” Chuuya snapped, dragging Dazai by the collar onto the train before Dazai even had a chance to respond. He couldn’t respond even if he wanted to, he was too out of breath.
The pair managed to acquire seats on the train, which usually never happened, leaving Dazai to contemplate whether the Gods really had cursed him after all. Chuuya shoved his bottle of water into Dazai’s hands rather abruptly. “Drink this. Slowly. Don’t choke like last time and end up spitting all of the water out on me.”
Dazai accepted the bottle gratefully, fiddling with the plastic label before opening the cap and drinking it. “I really am sorry, Chuuya.” He mumbled, in between sips. “I could’ve sworn I turned my alarm off when it first went off, maybe that was part of my dream..” He giggled nervously, placing the water back into Chuuya’s schoolbag. “So.. are you prepared? Did our study calls help?” Dazai began to laugh. Chuuya covered the brunette’s mouth with his hand when he realised how obnoxious he was being on a packed train at 7:30 AM in the morning.
“Study calls my ass. Not a fucking textbook was opened on that call. So, to answer your question, Dazai, no. I am not prepared.”
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Disbanding the train, the pair walked with purpose. Chuuya checked his phone every few minutes and sped up each time he did so. Dazai was the complete opposite, he didn’t care what time they got to school, hell, he didn’t care if they didn’t make it to school at all.
“You’re so slow, Dazai, I bet in your past life you were a snail. No, wait, a slug. They’re uglier. Comparing you to a snail would be too much of a compliment.” Chuuya teased, now multiple paces in front of Dazai.
“How rude! Like you can say anything, short arse. Drank any milk today?” Dazai stuck his tongue out, even with the knowledge that Chuuya wouldn’t see him because he was so far behind.
“Oh, fuck this.” Chuuya stopped for a moment, waiting for Dazai to catch up, before intertwining their fingers and pulling him along. “We’ll get there quicker even if I have to drag you at this point.”
Dazai felt his face grow warm. For a body which was usually so cold, the blush that swept across his face was uncomfortable. He squeezed Chuuya’s fingers a little bit more. They continued in silence, until it was broken by Chuuya again.
“Idiot, have you eaten? Your stomach can’t be rumbling in the exam, I’ll kill you. Actually, I’ll die of second hand embarrassment first and then I’ll drag you to the underworld with me!” He was already reaching into his bag with his free hand to take out a granola bar he had so obviously packed just for Dazai.
“You’re not my mother, Chuuya.” Dazai pouted, with no real bite in his words. He accepted the granola bar and nibbled it. “Thanks.” He mumbled.
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Nearing the school gates, a large crowd was gathered. They spotted their friend group immediately, sat on a patch of grass, looking to be having what looked like a last minute study session. Kunikida was teaching them all – obviously – whilst the others weren’t really listening, but pretended like they were. Kunikida was scary when he was mad. Ranpo was sucking a lollipop, Yosano was sneakily making daisy chains and picking at the grass, Kenji was doodling on his textbook. The only person who was paying the slightest bit of attention was Atsushi, making somewhat coherent notes as Kunikida spoke.
“Oh shit.” Muttered Chuuya, letting go of Dazai’s hand as they moved closer to the group. “I’m actually fucked. Like, actually.” Terror appeared in his eyes, Dazai pulled at his sleeve, stopping in the middle of the grass for a second.
“It’s okay, Chuuya, I mean, Chemistry is your best one out of all of the sciences, right? It can’t go that badly.”
“Oh, yeah, thanks Dazai. Have you forgotten that the bar is on the fucking floor for my science grades? Yeah I get D’s in Physics and Biology, I’m only getting a C in Chemistry! That’s not really a comforting thought!”
A gust of wind cut off Chuuya’s speech, Dazai not catching every word. Instead of responding, he simply tucked a strand of Chuuya’s hair that had strayed away in the gale, behind his ear. And then he smiled. That stupid, adorable smile which made all of Chuuya’s thoughts muddle together. This was Dazai’s way of reassuring him. Nothing he could’ve said would’ve made the same impact.
“Hey! You two! Get over here! We only have ten minutes before the exam starts!” Kunikida bellowed. And so, they joined their friends on the grass whilst Kunikida explained something about chemical reactions… something that Dazai and Chuuya could not have been less interested in if they tried.
They stole glances at each other the entire time.
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“That was so hard!” Atsushi exclaimed, brushing shoulders with Ranpo and Chuuya as they walked out of the classroom.
“Yeah, even for me with my absolute insane intelligence, I won’t lie, I struggled a little.” Ranpo replied, reaching into his trouser’s pocket for another lollipop to unwrap.
Chuuya stayed quiet as his classmates spoke. He didn’t think it went awful, but he knew he probably didn’t get a grade he could be proud of either. He twirled his hair absentmindedly. “Guys, I’m going to go and find Dazai, see you at lunch?” Although it was technically a question, he didn’t care for their replies, he was already moving down the corridor in search of Dazai’s classroom.
Dazai found him before Chuuya had to search. The brunette had pen all down the sides of his hands and a mischievous expression on his face. “Chuuya! You came to find me?”
“Jackass, you look like you’ve just bathed in ink, not sat a test.”
“Oopsies, my pen exploded halfway through the paper. It’s fine, though. The paper had it coming.” Dazai’s eyes flickered up and down Chuuya’s body, before taking his hand again. “You, on the other hand, look like the paper sucked the life out of you!” He giggled.
“It was hard,” was all Chuuya replied with.
“Yeah. It was.” Dazai lied. He had breezed through the paper. Mori had drilled every scientific fact there was to know about into his brain. “At least it’s over now. Well, the first exam is over… heh…” He rubbed his head. Dazai was never one for comforting people. “Dwelling on it won’t do us any good. How about we get ice cream when we walk home?” Dazai’s smile – although Chuuya knew it was mostly a facade – brightened the corridor. To Chuuya, Dazai was a ray of sunlight, even though Dazai would never know this himself. And, looking up at Dazai’s brown eyes, Chuuya’s worries melted away instantly.
“Ice cream. Sounds good.” He agreed, before slouching his school bag back over his shoulder. “But, before we go and chat to the others, let’s get your hands cleaned up first…” He pointed down the hall towards the bathroom.
“Okay. Let’s. Lead the way, Chuuya.”
Clutching each other's hands, the pair traversed the corridor and made their way to the bathroom.
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