It takes two to create a whole | Soukoku Au |

Not So Bad

It had been weeks since Chuuya had been kept awake by Dazai. In fact, the brunette appeared to be in the dorm less and less. He came back at night to sleep and left before Chuuya in the morning. There were a few days when Dazai was around, those days were filled with petty arguments and useless snickers. If there was anything weird about it, Chuuya had noticed. Dazai didn't make remarks on his build, his small, very minor drinking issue, or his temper. Chuuya found himself relaxed more often than angered. The extra time in his classes did seem to be helping him keep a lid on his outbursts.

Winter was slowly approaching, the winter's breeze starting to settle in. Chuuya had an end-of-term project in just over a week. It was early for a semester project to be done, but he figured his professor wanted to have the winter break to himself and not spend it grading projects. Chuuya sighed as he set his notebook down, they had four weeks to work on this, with just over one week left. For once, he was glad he hadn't shoved this off, as he was now peacefully at three quarters finished. He hadn't seen Shirace since the last run-in when Dazai stepped in either. Maybe, by the time break actually appeared, he'd be rather comfortable in his life.

When he leaned back on his palms to look up at the sky and take a break from his sketch, he couldn't help but notice the women whose hair lay pink leaning over him. "Let me guess, Shirace chickened out, so he sent you to torment me?" Yuan rolled her eyes at Chuuya's snotty remark.

"Whatever makes you feel better about yourself, bitch." Chuuya rolled his eyes, he'd been called worse by people. He went back to work before his sketchpad was ripped from his hands. "You went from suits to skirts? Since when did you design girls' clothing?" slightly embarrassed Chuuya shot up trying to reach the sketchbook.

He used to have a few inches on her, but he hadn't hit his growth spurt yet. This resulted in his height still being 160 cm. So he was indeed shorter than most of the people he knew. "It's not like I was designing it for me! I took inspiration from a friend Jackass! Give it back before I send you off to a hospital! That's a school project you dumbass." Chuuya stopped reaching for it, his eyes glared till he spotted Shirace just off in the distance leaned against a wall. Freezing he clicked his tongue before grabbing his bag and leaving whilst sticking his middle finger up.

That night Chuuya sat at the small table with his things spread out, having to restart the entire design. He continuously crumpled papers and tossed them to the side as he worked. When the door opened, he glanced at it for a moment before turning back to his work. "Hey, aren't you supposed to be hanging out with that blond right now?" Dazai slipped his shoes off at the door before walking towards the cabinets to find a snack.

"Had to cancel your plans. I have a bunch of things to get done for class." Chuuya shrugged as he continued working.

Within minutes, Dazai was teasing him without reason. Chuuya managed to get back to where he was on the drawing after many erasers were tossed, pillows, a few insults were added to the mix. It helped him unwind as he worked, it was weird, but he was getting used to Dazai's way of interacting with him. It could get on his nerves, but he'd stopped being a complete jerk. He still insulted Chuuya, but in a more light-hearted manner. Eventually, Chuuya shut his notebook and took it with him to his room for a small nap.

When Chuuya walked off, Dazai decided to grab one of the discarded papers. He uncrumpled it before looking over the page. He'd never actually seen any of Chuuya's works before, so it was a shock. "Not half bad..." Dazai mumbled, but couldn't get past what it was. "Jeez, does he only sketch tacky hats?" Dazai rolled his eyes before returning the discarded paper to the floor.

The small peace didn't last very long. Eventually, Dazai went back to ruthlessly teasing Chuuya. That led to Chuuya using his headphones to focus on studying. Contrary to Dazai, he needed to study if he planned on passing the semester. Like any "sane" person, Dazai disliked being ignored by Chuuya.