It's Okay, Really

Chapter 13

He kept on cutting the rope. More and more smoke intruded the room, filling the air grey. Chuuya started feeling the struggle to breathe normally, he started coughing as smoke invaded his lungs.

Then the rope snapped, he finally cut it through. ''Daza--'' He coughed again as he rushed to the brunet's side. He quickly untied the rope around Dazai's wrists and took off the blindfold around his head.

At this time, the room was filled with so much smoke that he couldn't even see where the door was. He coughed hard, the smoke was really making it hard for him to breathe. His vision started to appear blurry, but he kept himself conscious and hugged Dazai in his arms, covering the brunet's nose and mouth at his chest from the smoke.

He was barely keeping himself conscious, but his grip on the brunet had never loosened, not even a second. He wanted to stand up, but he couldn't even catch his breath. Coughing hard, he kneeled on the ground with his arm tightly wrapped around the brunet's shoulders and one behind the head. He didn't know if he was still alive, all he wanted was to get him to a hospital, even for just a glimpse of hope that he could be saved.

''Chuuya!'' He could vaguely hear someone calling him from outside the room. ''Chuuya!!'' The voice grew louder. Now Chuuya could hear it better, it was Tachihara. Right before he completely lost consciousness, Chuuya called out, ''Tachihara!! In here!!'' And everything slowly blacked out.

He didn't know if Tachihara heard him, he didn't know if he would make it out alive. He wasn't even sure if Tachihara's voice was just his desperate imagination, all he could do was to hope that it wasn't, that Tachihara actually found them and managed to save them, Dazai, at least.

*

''...bout an hour later.'' Slowly opening his eyes, Chuuya found himself in a white room, a hospital room. It was the doctor talking to a nurse near the room door. ''Doctor,'' Chuuya said in a hoarse voice. Hearing his voice, the doctor paced to his side and asked, ''How are you feeling? Anywhere feeling unwell?''

''How is Dazai?'' Chuuya neglected her question. The doctor kept quiet, she hesitated for a while. ''What is it? How is he?'' Chuuya didn't realize that he was holding his breath when he waited for her answer. Then the doctor spoke, ''Your friend's condition isn't really looking good. His body and brain was severely affected by cocaine, he's still unconscious now. To be frank, it's a miracle he made it alive,'' she said with a slight smile.

Chuuya moved to get up, then the doctor gently pressed him down and said, ''Nakahara-san, you shouldn't be heading out this soon, let me do a check-up first.'' ''Let me go, I need to see him,'' Chuuya shook her hand off his shoulder and got out of bed. Seeing him like this, the doctor was left with no choice but to let him go. ''He's in room B19,'' she said. ''Thanks.''

Walking down the hallway, Chuuya looked around for the room number. His body felt relatively weak compared to his usual self, but walking on his own was no problem. He felt relieved that Dazai made it, but not completely, because he hadn't woken up yet.

Then, he got to the room. From outside of it, he could see through a rectangle of glass that Tachihara was sitting on a chair by the hospital bed. And on it laid the unconscious brunet, breathing with the help of a ventilator.

Chuuya slowly opened the door and went in. The beeping of the monitor filled the quiet room. Tachihara didn't turn to look, he just said, ''You okay?''

There was a pause, then Chuuya said, ''Tachihara.'' ''Don't apologize,'' Tachihara said before Chuuya could continue. ''You don't owe me an apology, keep it for him when he wakes up.''

Chuuya looked at Dazai. His eyes were closed, tubes leading to a ventilator was attached to his mouth and nose, soft breathing could be heard. This was what he left Dazai with, after hurting him for something he didn't do wrong.

''... The doctor said it's a miracle he made it,'' Chuuya said. Tachihara nodded and said, ''He's strong.'' And he stood up and turned to Chuuya. ''We're cool, bro. But make things right with him, he didn't do anything to deserve all this.'' Then he left the room, leaving Chuuya alone with Dazai.

Chuuya sat down on the chair by the bed. He stared at Dazai for a while, then slowly took his hand in his. ''I'm sorry...'' he whispered guiltily.

That night, he slept on the chair leaning on the bedside, tightly holding Dazai's hand in his.

For the next few days, he stubbornly stayed in Dazai's hospital room. The nurses were left with no choice but to just let him stay here instead of in his own room. He stayed there for a whole week, determined to wait for Dazai to wake up. Then he heard someone knock on the door. He went to open it, right before he could, he heard a faint voice. ''Chuuya...''

He turned around. Dazai was awake, looking at him with a weak gaze. ''Dazai,'' Chuuya said as he rushed to him, whom was struggling to sit up. ''Are you okay? I'm sorry, I really am. I shouldn't have left you that day, I shouldn't have avoided you since then. I'm sorry that I ignored your feelings and pretended to love someone else. I'm really sorry...'' He blurted everything on his mind.

''It's my fault that you got hurt, you almost died-- I-- I'm sorry that I hurt you,'' he said and hugged Dazai tightly. ''I don't despise you, it's nothing like that. I was just dumb as hell because of my stupid ego.'' His hug tightened. ''I love you, Dazai, I love you a lot...''

A tear rolled down the brunet's cheek. He was stunned. He thought that Chuuya found him disgusting because of him being intersex, that he would never want anything to do with him anymore. But now, he learnt that that wasn't the truth.

''Will you... will you forgive me?'' Chuuya asked hesitantly, still hugging Dazai in his arms. Slowly hugging him back, Dazai nodded with a smile. He almost couldn't belive that it was all real.

Chuuya didn't hate him, he didn't.

The one standing outside the door was Tachihara. He heard all of it. With a soft smile, he quietly walked away.

Be happy, you two.

*TWO WEEKS LATER*

''Yo, how'd you do that backflip?'' Chuuya and Tachihara just got off work, at a restaurant having their dinner. ''It's easy, I'll teach you how to do it tomorrow,'' Chuuya replied. Tachihara gave him a dramatically cast down face and said, ''What are you doing? You've been looking at your phone since we came here.'' He stretched his neck and tried to get a peep at Chuuya's phone screen.

''I'm choosing a movie,'' said Chuuya. ''Movie night with Dazai?'' Then Chuuya looked at him for a while, that split moment of hesitation was spotted by Tachihara. ''What? Movie nights are nice for couples. That's great! Besides, he's just recovered, he can't go back to work so soon,'' Tachihara said casually, but Chuuya kept quiet, he seemed not to know how he should react.

''Bro, hey, I know I said that I like him too but that doesn't mean that you can't talk to me about anything in your relationship, okay? I'm cool, and I will never get between you two alright? So just chill and act normal, you're weird and that's making me feel uneasy.'' What he said instantly made Chuuya let out a sigh of relief. A minute ago, he was afraid that he would affect Tachihara's mood by talking about Dazai.

So, they were cool, still friends of three, with a couple amongst them. It was true that Tachihara would sometimes feel down when he saw Chuuya and Dazai getting along really well as a couple. But at the same time, he felt relieved and glad that the one he loved got what he deserved, happiness.

~THE END~