Clandestine

If only we could turn back time

Their friendship was long and incompressible, spanning over years -decades even.

Dazai and Chuuya, admittedly, were drawn to each other, at the young age of four, out of curiosity.

Chuuya was the loud, bossy kid who usually ended up the leader in games with the other children, he partook in all the activities the teachers presented; he was the brightest in the room. He was comfortable in the environment as soon he'd started Kindergarten at the very beginning of the year, in April, just like the majority of the other children.

Dazai, on the other hand, had joined later, either in late May or early June. Chuuya had watched curiously, with bright blue intrigued eyes, while the brunet was being introduced to the rest of the class, he was pale and wore a cute little yellow bucket hat, which Chuuya had thought was amazing, he'd never had a hat before, other than a little woolly hat for winter, he wanted a hat too, maybe just not a yellow one.

The little brunet was an intriguing boy, he wore a blue jumper and black shorts, his right eye was bandaged as was his left cheek paired with the entirety of his legs, his bandages even peeked from underneath his jumper sleeve, he was a cute kid, but even so Chuuya could recognize that he always remained in a permanent state of sadness.

The boy didn't draw any attention to himself, he sat quietly in the the book corner and picked out all the books Chuuya struggled to read and sat there the rest of the day. Chuuya couldn't blame him, the book corner was filled with fairy lights and blankets as if it was a little pocket of fantasy in the corner of a loud classroom. Chuuya would have sat there too, if he wasn't so full of energy all the time and could actually read.

The teacher had attempted to get the boy to socialize, to not sit there and simply observe the others, it certainly looked like he wanted to be a part of all the fun, but he never made a move to attempt to join in. Even with the teacher's soft encouragement, he refused. Clearly, he knew he had options, but chose to be alone, she would offer sweetly and he would shake his quietly while murmuring a small and bashful, no thank you'. The teacher, understanding that he wanted to be alone, would nod her head and give him a gentle smile then leave him be. He seemed to like her.

As the days went by, Chuuya spent more and more time, observing this boy from a distance, he found himself growing more and more curious, usually, he liked the rowdy and loud kids, much like himself, but there was something about the young boy with that majestic yellow hat that intrigued him.

So, after much pondering and consideration, Chuuya finally worked up the courage to go and sit next to him, he didn't say anything, just watched him with expectant eyes. The boy just turned with a somewhat unamused expression and looked at him, he didn't say anything either, but by the looks of it, he didn't mind Chuuya's presence because he looked back towards his book and let him sit there.

That's how it was for the next two weeks, Chuuya would waddle over to the boy an hour or so before the end of the day, -once he was tired of playing and of everyone there- and would sit next to him until it was time to go home. They never greeted each other with a hello and never parted with a goodbye.

It wasn't until the middle of the third week that a friendship began to bloom.

Chuuya, being the rowdy kid he was, had spent most of the day splashing in the water with the other children outside. But, as usual, when he got tired of the cold water and his friends, and was beginning to feel the energy seep out of him, he trudged back inside, drenched in water. With tired eyes, he glanced towards the book corner and, as usual, saw the boy sitting in his spot with a book in his tiny bandaged hands. The corner looked very appealing and warm to Chuuya right now, so he rushed to the bathrooms after taking his backpack from his peg and ran into the bathroom to change from his cold wet clothes to some dry and warm ones.