It's Okay, Really

Chapter 4

Tachihara chose a comedy movie, they sat on the comfy couch. Dazai sat beside Chuuya with his knees hugged before his chest, Chuuya sat like a normal person would, while Tachihara leaned against Chuuya with his back, his legs hanging off the armrest of the couch as if he had no backbones.

''You-- piece of--'' Chuuya tried pushing Tachihara away, then finally gave up and helplessly scooted over to Dazai. The space between them was gone, because of Tachihara, Chuuya sat right beside Dazai, his arm slighly pressing against the brunet's.

Chuuya held a packet of opened chips. Since he was sitting in the middle, he was basically used as a snack holder. Then when Dazai reached out to take some chips, Chuuya dodged his hand and said, ''No, your hands are hurt.'' Then he took a chip and stopped before Dazai's mouth. Dazai looked at the chip, then at Chuuya, then at the chip again. He then ate the chip that was in between the ginger head's fingers.

Tachihara didn't see that, he was captivated by the show, laughing and chuckling.

Halfway through the movie, Tachihara turned to look at the two. He saw Dazai asleep, leaning against Chuuya's shoulder. He froze, just staring at the sleeping brunet.

It felt strange. He should be feeling happy that his bro's crush fell asleep leaning on his shoulder, but he couldn't bring himself to feel that way. Was it because he was worried about Dazai due to what had happened, or because of something else?

Feeling his stare, Chuuya turned to look. ''What?'' he whispered. Tachihara pointed to Dazai. Chuuya turned to look, and Tachihara slowly raised his hand up chest-level with a ''good'' sign, grinning like a kid.

As they exchanged silly looks, one of Dazai's hands, which was initially hugging his knees, fell and hit Chuuya's knee. It startled him, waking up from the pain of his burnt, swollen hand.

Chuuya turned to look at him. ''Hey, you wanna sleep in the room?'' Dazai didn't respond, he just looked at him with his sleepy eyes. He only responded after a while, saying, ''I'll juz sleep here.'' Then Tachihara said, ''No, the couch is mine, you sleep with Chuuya in the room.'' Hearing that, Chuuya turned to him with a ''stop it'' written on his face, and Tachihara gestured with his lips, ''What?''

While their silent drama went on, Dazai, on the other hand, fell asleep again. ''Hey, Dazai, hey,'' Chuuya woke him up. ''Come on, let's head to the room.'' He treated Dazai like a sleepy toddler, gently pushing him into the bedroom as Dazai dragged his own tired body.

Still sitting on the couch, Tachihara looked at them walking into the room, then the door being closed. He wondered why he felt like that, like he hoped that it wasn't Chuuya to sleep beside Dazai.

Chuuya tugged the brunet into bed. Dazai was like a kid, as soon as he lied down, he fell asleep almost immediately. Chuuya took another pillow from his wardrobe and lied beside him, he turned to face the brunet, whom was sleeping soundly.

The longer he looked at him, the more he realized just how good-looking Dazai was. Long eyelashes, wavy dark brown hair, his sharp jawline, he looked perfect, except for one thing... he was frowning slightly.

Why do you... frown in your sleep?

*

Tachihara woke up early, or to say, he didn't get a good sleep, because he had spent the whole night trying to figure out what was wrong with himself. Lying on the couch, he heard a soft click, and turned around to see what it was.

Chuuya's room door was slowly opened, and someone poked their head out. It was Dazai. ''Morning,'' Tachihara said, ''That old man still sleeping?''

Old man?

Dazai chuckled softly at his terrible joke. ''Yeah.'' Then Tachihara glanced at Dazai's bandaged hands and gestured for him to go to him. ''Come on, let me change your bandages and I'll go get breakfast.'' So Dazai walked over to him and sat down beside him.

After taking out unused bandages from a drawer, Tachihara sat back down and started taking off those on Dazai's hands. His hands were much better than last night, but when the burnt areas get pressured, they still hurt.

''Aren't you mad at all?'' Tachihara suddenly spoke. ''Hm?'' Dazai was confused, it took him a moment to realize what Tachihara was reffering to, then he shook his head.

''You know him, don't you?'' Tachihara didn't look at Dazai, he just stared at his hands while bandaging them. ''... He's my friend,'' Dazai said, then after a pause, he added, ''Was, he was my friend. He hates me now.'' Slightly frowning, Tachihara hesitated for a while, then he decided to ask anyway, ''What happened?''

There was silence, Dazai didn't respond, but Tachihara waited. Then Dazai finally said, ''I don't know.''

That's a lie.

Tachihara was aware that Dazai knew the exact reason why the one whom once was his friend hated him now, but he remained silent and stood up after he was done with the bandages. ''I'll get breakfast, turn on the TV if you're bored,'' he said before he left.

Left alone in the living room, Dazai sat still on the couch, sinking into his memories.

''Don't touch me!!''

''Eww go away, what the hell?!''

''You're not welcomed here you freak! What are you, exactly?!''

Dazai's hands slowly closed up, gripping onto his own jeans.

Why wouldn't they accept me...?

He stood up and walked to the window, looking out at the view from the tenth floor of the block of apartment.

*

''Good morning!'' Chuuya heard Dazai's voice once he woke up. When he opened his eyes, he saw Dazai kneeling by his side of the bed, smiling softly at him. Chuuya stared at him for a while, then his hand moved in a still sleepy way and landed on the brunet's head. ''How are your hands?''

Dazai froze, his cheeks turned pinkish. ''Much-- much better--'' Then he saw the corner of Chuuya's lips curl into a soft smile, and the ginger head chuckled a little. ''Why are you stuttering, silly?''

Half of Chuuya's face was still buried in his pillow as he was facing the side where Dazai was at. His hair was a bit messy, his voice was slightly hoarse because he had just woken up, and he was smiling softly. Everything made Chuuya look charming at this moment.

Dazai stared at him for a while, then blinked his eyes like he was pulling himself back to the world. Then Chuuya pulled out a pen from nowhere and offered his hand. ''Gimme your hand.''

Dazai did what he said, stretching one of his hands to the ginger head. ''They'll heal real fast and you're gonna get to do whatever you want to,'' he said as he drew a smiley face on the bandages on Dazai's palm. ''They will if I say so,'' he continued with a gentle smile while throwing the pen behind him, landing somewhere on his king-sized bed.

Dazai didn't withdraw his hand immediately, he stared at the smiley face at the centre of his palm, then only finally standing up with a soft smile too and said, ''Tachihara went to get us breakfast, you should brush your teeth before he comes back.'' And he walked towards the door, when Chuuya suddenly spoke, ''Dazai.''

Dazai turned back around and looked at him. Then Chuuya said, ''The next time I see him again, I'm breaking his arms.'' He was talking about that stranger from the night before, the one who hurt Dazai.

Dazai froze, there was a feeling that he hadn't felt before. There was warmth surging through his heart, making it skip a beat. He smiled and said, ''I'd rather you not, Mr. Executive of the Port Mafia.'' And Chuuya kept quiet, looking at Dazai walk out of the room, but deep down, he was dead serious.