It's Okay, Really

Chapter 3

The next day, Chuuya went to The Curve again with Tachihara. This time, they weren't here for work, just for a drink.

As soon as they walked in, Tachihara pulled Chuuya to sit right in front of the counter instead of the table at the corner. ''What are you doing?'' Chuuya asked as he was pulled by the arm by his friend. ''Sitting closer you idiot!'' Tachihara whispered not so softly.

As soon as they sat down, Chuuya's eyes met with Dazai's. ''Hey,'' Chuuya smiled. ''Hi,'' and Dazai returned the favour. ''Hi~'' Tachihara joined them. ''Vodka please, red wine for Chuuya,'' he said while pointing at his friend. Dazai nodded and started pouring their drinks.

Seeing the chance, Chuuya pulled Tachihara close and whispered, also not so softly, ''What are you doing? 'Hi~', you sounded like a highschool slut!''

''I'm juz excited to meet my bro's future husband!'' Then Dazai put their drinks before them. ''Thanks,'' Chuuya said, then immediately turning back to Tachihara. ''It's weird, bro. You're weird!''

Tachihara casually looked at Dazai and stared at him. Dazai, who was working, sensed his stare and looked at him. ''Dazai, you free at dinner time?'' Chuuya looked at the brunet nod. ''Let's eat together then, do you mind?'' Tachihara was straightforward, and Chuuya wasn't slapping him in the face only because there were many people around.

Dazai hesitated, the two saw that. ''Or... you have other friends to eat with?'' Chuuya asked. Dazai shook his head. ''I don't have friends.''

The air grew heavy for a second, then Tachihara said with a smile, ''Then we'll be your friends from now on.''

At first, Dazai was making drinks for the other customers, then hearing this, he stopped what he was doing and said, ''Really?'' Tachihara kept his smile, it was an honest smile. ''Yeah, why not?''

Beside him, Chuuya had been looking at Dazai throughout their conversation. He saw happiness and excitement in the brunet's eyes when Tachihara offered to be his friend, but something was holding that excitement back. What was it?

About twenty minutes passed, and Dazai changed his clothes and went to a restaurant near the bar with the two. They sat at a booth as the waitress handed them the menu.

''Steak.'' ''Steak?'' ''Steak.'' ''Two plates of steak please,'' Chuuya said, then he looked at Dazai, whom said, ''Make it three, thank you.'' They started chatting. It started from a conversation between Chuuya and Tachihara, then Chuuya bringing Dazai into the topic.

With that, the three became friends. At first, Chuuya thought that Dazai would be the quiet and shy type, the kind that would always need people to talk to him first. Now thanks to Tachihara's enthusiasm, he got to know the brunet better, and realized that he was actually pretty friendly and willing to interact with others, it got him wondering why he had no friends.

Since then, as long as Chuuya and Tachihara were free during dinner time, they would drag Dazai out of the bar and eat together, they became a trio. Basically, Tachihara was having so much fun being a trio with them two that he almost forgot that Chuuya had a crush on Dazai.

Two weeks later, they went to have a meal together, as usual.

''Hey let's give that cafe a try tomorrow.'' Tachihara was excited to try out the newly opened cafe down the street.

''Sorry to disappoint you bro but I saw their menu this morning, their food is expensive, very,'' Chuuya said, sitting beside him, accross Dazai. Then Dazai smiled excitedly too, he said, ''But we can at least have a try, we'll know if it's worth it then.'' Tachihara nodded frantically, the nineteen-year old looked like a child eager to have a taste of a new flavour of candies.