It takes two to create a whole | Soukoku Au |

Aftermath

Sunlight peeking through the morning of a hangover has never been delightful. The way the light forces its way into the room and forces a person to wake up, much to their displeasure, was the equivalent to hell. For Chuuya, such a day was common, but today he felt worse, his head still felt clouded and his chest was heavy. Batting his eyes open slightly despite how much he wanted them to stay closed, wanting to continue sleeping, he found his vision slightly off. Sitting up became a regretful decision as he pushed from the bed and instantly fell over a can to vomit away the rest of whatever poison was in his system. He had no idea how he got back to the dorm, or how his heater was on, much less how he was relatively comfortable, not a single shiver or sign of a cold. Besides the pounding headache and the repulsed feeling, he truly would have thought he'd just overdid the wine the other night. However, he'd never been hungover enough to wake up still feeling off and vomiting. He'd had headaches before, been sluggish and relatively unmotivated after a long night of wine, but this, this was something new.

Slowly, he managed to remember some part of last night. Everything up to Higuchi pulling him off was crystal clear, like the sunlight. The only foggy memories were the images of his fist against Shirase's face. After That everything was hazy. It had been his first time drinking something other than wine. This was probably a once-and-done situation. He hadn't had that much to drink either, so how he ended up blacking out was a mystery he didn't have the mental power to solve at the moment.

When he was sure his stomach was empty and the dizzy spell had passed, his vision returning to be focused, he forced his legs to push him to stand and walk out to the kitchen area. He was still dressed in yesterday's outfit, which he'd now need to wash several times to remove the smell of alcohol and the red stains that littered parts of the shirt. With a heavy sigh, he opened the cabinets, only to glance to the top with a scowl. He pressed up against the counter, standing on his toes barely reaching the top of the cabinet. His roommate was certainly as ass, placing the Advil all the way on the top shelf and to the back. His temper was on a very short thread, so in a flash of aggravation, he was climbing the counter and muttering swears. Finally, grabbing what he needed, he turned around... and earned the mortifying feeling of embarrassment.

"So short, did you need help with your hangover? Chibi got really drunk last night." Dazai was standing, leaned against the wall with a large mocking smirk. Chuuya hopped from the counter, popping the pain meds into his mouth and grabbing a glass to down them with water. His head quickly snapped to Dazai once he'd taken them.

"Fuck off before I smash your f-ing face in, you blasted, bitchy, ass!" Chuuya set the glass in the dishwasher before pulling out cereal and practically slamming the box on the table. He did the same to the rest of what he needed for his simple breakfast.

Dazai watched with hesitation, it wasn't like Chuuya's temper was new he'd just, never seen Chuuya pissed off from the moment he woke up. "You sent him to the hospital. Thought you may want to know that." Dazai had gotten the call from Higuchi, how that blonde had his number, he'd never know. He expected Chuuya to show something other than the expression that passed the small male's face. It was almost sadistic, the confident smirk-like smile and slight furrow of his brows, along with his narrowed eyes, it wasn't an expression he hadn't expected.

"You say this like I'd give a fuck Dazai. For clarification, I don't care. He's the only person I despise more than you." Chuuya shrugged as he finished his meal. Setting everything inside the sink, he made his way towards his room. Dazai took note of that, Chuuya almost never left a mess inside the sink or missed the chance to shoot back some sort of creative remark. The way he was acting now, it wasn't the Chuuya he'd grown to know over the past week. For the first time in a long line of meeting people, Dazai was confused, stuck, unable to figure out if this was Chuuya or just plainly the after-effects of last night.

Chuuya spent the rest of the day laying in bed, scrolling through his phone.

~

The days after were filled with nasty looks from students, meetings with the counselors, and even getting a warning. Chuuya took it all, it wasn't like he hadn't done all of this before. He had, several times, in fact, sent kids to a hospital for broken jaws, torn muscles, an assortment of other broken bones, dislocations, and other injuries. Back in high school, he'd been the person who people feared upsetting. One wrong word, and he lashed out. That temper had stuck, he'd always been loud, obnoxious, violent. It was after his break-up with Shirase that he'd taken his personality to an extreme. His fists became his way of talking, he argued with his father, his sister, with everybody. If anybody told him he looked like a girl, he sent them packing to the hospital with a dislocated shoulder at best, a broken jaw, and other bones at worst. The way he dressed in high school after what he went through was different from how he dressed now. He'd worn hoodies, jeans, sneakers, never would he have worn such eccentric clothes. His hair had also been short, constantly cut to make him look as masculine as possible. His face constantly sat in a bitchy expression, so people wouldn't be able to call him feminine or soft.

Two weeks into this mess, Chuuya's phone rang with his sister's number. She rarely called him unless it was important, so he decided to answer. "Hey Ane-san, what's up?"

"Chuuya Nakahara, why did dad have to call me to tell me you went out, got drunk, picked a fight, and sent a kid to the hospital. I thought you were done with this behavior! Did something happen? Are you alright? Is somebody picking on you, did you get in another relationship, not tell us, then get dumped? I know you don't-" Chuuya was forced to interrupt his babbling sister with a heavy sigh as he fell back on his bed.

"Ane-san, I'm fine, promise. I should have called you when it happened, I know I should have, I'm sorry I just didn't want you to panic like this. Plus, I wasn't planning on, you know, getting drunk? It won't happen again." There was a long pause before his sister spoke again.

"Chu, you know you can call if you're not feeling good, right?" Chuuya smiled lightly as he nodded.

"Mhm... anyway, how's dad doing? He looked pretty rough when he dropped me off at college, I don't know how to describe it, just, colder?"

"He's back to having his room blasted hot, it's a fricken dessert in there. You know, I'm away with Yosano, planning our life, so I hired somebody to look after the old man. He can be so frustrating, he sucks at monitoring his own fluid intake. The nurse called me to tell me he was so dehydrated she was worried if she'd been a few days later he'd have ended up in the hospital! Oh, and his iron was far below what it should be, no wonder he's been freezing lately. Other than that he's not bedridden, so he's doing fine with work. I still think he works too hard for his age but it's alright. Hey, I'm sorry I can't talk any longer, my love needs me. Stay well chu."

"Yeah, bye Kouyo." Chuuya set the phone on his desk and started his homework for the day, he already had a project due soon, and he needed this design to be perfect.