Everything or Nothing

Does it Mean Everything or Nothing?

Tw/Tags in fic tags. So read them.
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Chuuya spent every day after graduation counting down the days to orientation on a sticky note pad in his room, watching the scribbled numbers go down into the single digits. Eighty-seven days until he gets to see his new school . Forty-nine days before he gets to hop on a plane to the other side of the country . Twenty-six days, and then his life as a fully-fledged little adult gets to start. His Dad, on the other hand? Not quite as thrilled .

"Tokyo..." Arthur Rimbaud frowns, his arms crossed over his chest as he glances around campus. "It's a big place."

Chuuya shrugs, his duffle bag slung over his shoulder, "I mean--sure," he glances up at his father over his shoulder, pushing up his sunglasses, "but so was Paris."

"We lived there together ." Rimbaud mutters, unable to shirk his growing sense that his son isn't taking this quite as seriously as he could be.

"And orientation is just one night," Chuuya reminds his father, reaching over to squeeze his hand. "I don't actually start school for another month ." Small comforts.

"...And you'll be responsible?" Chuuya nods, not verbalizing it.

Obviously, Rimbaud doesn't trust it. But what choice does he have?

Already on campus, there's a small, somewhat banal argument. "I don't need a babysitter," Dazai whines , glaring over at his older brother. Well. Half-brother.

Odasaku shrugs, "Gotta earn my keep somehow."

Dazai huffs, picking a piece of lint off of the edge of his cardigan, a picture of irritated boredom. "It's only forty-five minutes away from home."

Odasaku snorts, slinging an arm around his baby brother's shoulders, "I know that, I rode with you." He nudges him along the pathway towards the student union, where they're passing out assignments. "Look, I know you're pissed that Dad..." Odasaku trails off, trying to find a delicate way to phrase it. "... pushed for college-"

Pushed. Strong armed. Basically blackmailed.

"But you might like it here." Oda offers. "And if you don't, I dunno..." He ruffles Dazai's hair, snorting when his brother reaches up to swat his hands away and adjust it, his eyes flickering over to a pair of girls giggling from nearby. "You can always join me in the 'family disappointment' club?"

Dazai loves the family disappointment club. There aren't any expectations there. You get a tiny apartment in the city, you get to work some crummy job--and you're banished from most family gatherings. Which, in Dazai's mind, is kind of ideal . "Can I drop out now?"

Oda snorts, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, sure. Go ahead." Dazai is sulking, perfectly aware that Oda isn't offering a genuine all clear. "Really, there is an upside," Oda murmurs, looking up at the looming columns as they step inside. "You don't live with Dad anymore." That's true . "And," Oda adds, nudging Dazai towards the sign in table, "you got to keep the credit cards."

And that , if you ask Dazai, is exactly why Oda is such a good big brother. He's always helping him look on the bright side.

For Chuuya, orientation itself is a breeze .

He's always done well with social events. It doesn't take him long to befriend two of the kids in his peer group-Shirase and Yuan-and they spend most of the practice lectures giggling on the back row, exchanging social media information, texting sarcastic commentary during the Campus safety lecture. And by the end of the day, Shirase is bemoaning their fates.