in which they're not so enemies
The campus library was an innocuous brick building that seemed way smaller than it actually was, and relatively empty, at that : Atsushi blamed that on the fact that it was, for most people, the first day back, and realistically, only med or law students would work on the first day back. Thus, the two story building was pretty empty.
Following Akutagawa, Atsushi gazed at the rows of books neatly organized in alphabetical order in the metal shelves of the first floor.
Unlike some people, the smell of books was not something Atsushi particularly cared about, he wasn’t fond of reading in the first place, having learned to do so very late in his childhood, but the overall aesthetic of the old books that were displayed in the poetry section, along with the faint smell of Akutagawa’s cologne made Atsushi thoroughly enjoy the discovery of the library. Akutagawa carefully traced the backs of the lined books until he hit the ‘B’ section, and slowly pulled out an battered red leather bound book that couldn’t have been less than 500 pages. Isn’t it poetry? Why is it so big? Atsushi had previously thought, in all honesty, that poetry books were just, maybe, like, 40 pages at best? He genuinely wondered how much stuff poets had to say, and with his limited knowledge of the subject, he was somehow surprised that some people found a way to write so many sonnets without always coming back to the same subjects. Atsushi hadn’t really paid attention in his literature class in high school, what with having to hold up a night job and all.
“Is it for class?” he asked Akutagawa,
“Not really, I mean I could use it for a comparative essay, but Baudelaire is more for the modern lit people, I just like his work.
-Oh. Cool.” Atsushi replied, not really knowing what to answer, “So what is it about? It’s poetry, so… romance?”
Atsushi felt somehow dumb asking this question, as if he should’ve known the answer before even asking it, and by the split second Akutagawa looked at him in complete disbelief, he really felt like he had made a fool of himself. This quick second of embarrassment was quickly overrun by a slight giddy feeling when he saw Akutagawa not only crack a smile but also let out a chuckle, “Sure, if you consider a longing for the beauty in morbidity romance. Have you never read Les Fleurs du Mal?
-I literally did not understand that last part, so, probably not.
-It’s, uh, it’s french…?” Akutagawa seemed finally uncomfortable with the interaction, waiting for a reply from the white haired man, and a reply he got, from a pleasantly surprised Atsushi : “Do you speak French?” he asked in clear surprise, “that’s actually really cool,
-I don’t, one of my friends does, though” Akutagawa answered as he made his way to the self checkout, swiping his library card while he talked,
“One of the friends you were with at lunch? Don’t say “the ginger one” because there were, like, three of them there.”
At this comment, the older man briefly chuckled again, which made Atsushi unconsciously smile, “The one with the hat, longest hair? His name’s Chuuya?”
Atsushi briefly remembered that name from Dazai’s earlier fight with a small ginger in the lunch line, but did not comment on it, not wanting to bring the subject of his friend to the table. “You’re surrounded by cool people, clearly, he remarked to Akutagawa who followed the statement with an awkward, meditative pause,
-You know… you can just come say hello next time, at lunch, or any time, really.”
The dark haired man had delivered this last statement with far less poise than he usually carried himself with, almost, embarrassed?
They made their way out of the library, the cold air hitting them in stark contrast to the inside’s comfortable heat. “Uh, yeah, sure,” now that you seem embarrassed, I'm embarrassed!, “I just didn’t want my friends to bother me with the fact that I made a new friend, I guess ; they’re really nosy…
-Tell me about it…Akutagawa sighed. But if you ever get bored, you can come by, I wouldn’t mind.”
The two men navigated the streets at an unhurried pace to get to their common apartment complex ; and while they kept a comfortable silence, Atsushi’s mind was starting to figure some things he didn’t particularly want to figure out, like my neighbor is kind of cute, actually or he’s actually not so much of a dick or he invited me to have lunch with him, right? In a corner of his brain, he knew that most people would qualify thinking like this after hanging out once with someoneas a crush, but he also knew that he was the kind of person to quickly admire just about anyone who was slightly nice to him, so he kept that… aesthetic admiration in the back of his head for later, or never.
Atsushi and Akutagawa arrived at their opposite doors, holding each other’s gaze for a lingering second before entering their respective flats.
It’s only when Atsushi closed the door that he realized he had been holding his breath.
Tiger claw:
19:37pm:
Bestie I am but slightly fucked
Don’t tell the others though
Bestie <3:
22:58pm
Sorry bro Naomi was having a Moment™
Oh shit class sucked? People are boring?
Atsushi blinked as he got flashbanged again by his phone’s white background when he opened it, finally receiving a text from Jun’ichiro while he had resigned himself to finally go to sleep,
Tiger claw
23:03pm:
Nah nothing about class, I’ll tell you later, you must be tired lol
Go to sleep, nerd, and drink something love ya
00:48am:
Dropping this so you’ll wake up with insane news
Don’t tell the others though but I think my neighbor likes me and I think he’s kinda cute????
Anw sweet dreams junjun
Bestie <3:
07:16am:
AYO????? FR????
The guy you said was a prick???
Omg Atsushi in his crush era
Tiger claw:
08:01am:
SHUT UP IT’S NOT LIKE THAT
But also what like what fr
Also we have a really similar schedule apparently so we’re walking to class together now apparently???
I’m with him right now so i wont text much
“You’re gonna break your phone if you type like that” ; Atsushi turned his attention from his phone to the man he was currently walking with, who seemed to be watching him text with patient curiosity, “trouble?
-Oh, no, just my friend Jun’ichiro asking me for something, aha” the younger quickly replied, shutting his phone at an alarming speed before Akutagawa could lean to see his messages, although Atsushi didn’t really peg him as the kind of person who would invade someone’s privacy like that.
“Already late on class work?” The dark haired man tentatively asked, “No, he’s getting an AV degree so, pretty far from anthropology. He was just asking about the new Boba place that’s gonna open near.
-A boba place near? Haven’t heard of it.”
Now, Atsushi Nakajima would consider himself a relatively good person ; he was definitely not the best, and had his fair share of assholery, but he liked to think that he was at least easy to get along with, and this all stemmed from one thing : although he wasn’t particularly extroverted, he also liked to always do something in his spare time, which usually involved inviting his friends to grab some food or watch a movie ; so having met no resistance to the fact that he had called Akutagawa his ‘friend’ the day before, Atsushi instinctively categorized him as such before categorizing him as something more. So before he could realize how it sounded, he blurted the following question :
“You wanna go check it out someday?”
For a second, Atsushi registered it as we should hang out because he is my friend, and then he remembered oh crap I kind of like him and he seems to be interested in me as well, this totally sounds like a date, and before he could go back to his logical reasoning, Akutagawa replied an excited (or at least as excited as his permanently jaded face would allow him to look) “Sure, just tell me the time and date, I’ll probably be available.”
And so they (at last) exchanged numbers before going to their respective classes of the day.
The next days were filled with almost exclusively electives, most of them which he shared with the red haired American girl he had learnt was called Lucy, who, just as Atsushi had also taken a Chinese class on top of an English class, had taken English for free points. In the little time they had shared through their common classes, Atsushi had learned that she was originally here for an Architecture degree but had switched to Anthropology, that she was, like Atsushi, on a scholarship, and that she had found it funny to see that they had common friends ; “Ranpo’s really weird, but Edgar is like, obsessed with him, it’s kinda funny.
-Yeah, and I'm assuming it’s enough obsession for Ranpo to get his fix of attention.
-Are all your friends like that? Loud and abrasive, I mean?
-Have you met others ?
-Uh yeah, the sad guy and his angry boyfriend?” Atsushi automatically pictured Dazai as “the sad guy” that had been mentioned, and he assumed, since most people thought they made a pretty funny husband and nagging wife duo, that his “angry boyfriend” was none other than their shared friend Kunikida. Though he wondered in what context Lucy would’ve met Kunikida who was a famously wet blanket on top of an RA for his dorm, and thus did not often go to parties. Sure, he was down for a drink once every blue moon, but not with people or in a place where he would make the acquaintances with exchange students who, according to Lucy, “had money and stamina to spare”.
The conversation flowed easily as they got to know each other instead of focusing on their courses which wouldn’t become important until a few weeks anyway, when they’d finally start to actually put in the effort and regret not having followed the previous lessons. Their last shared class for the day was an optional tutoring class, which Atsushi had opted for while Lucy had been dragged by his first year enthusiasm. The man didn’t think he really needed the tutoring, but figured it could only do him some good : he wasn’t behind on the program, but he wasn’t exactly a prodigy when it came to oral presentations or The Annoying Stuff in general.
The tutor was a tired man who couldn’t have been that much older than Kunikida or Dazai, which meant not much older than Atsushi himself ; and yet already looked like he had gone through 5 divorces and 7 lawsuits, tired eyes looking somewhat glassy and sharp behind his big round glasses. The man also (and Atsushi desperately wished for him to not dress like that everyday because holy shit you’re motivated) wore dress pants and a dress shirt, all very tight and neat with no wrinkle at all ??? Atsushi was somewhat impressed and somewhat concerned that the tutor would spend his night ironing his clothes instead of actually sleeping.
As tired as the man looked, he was actually quite energetic and even a bit bossy, ordering around the other 5 students that had taken this class in a rush of good faith. Well, he was just doing his job anyway, and Atsushi thought he was doing it relatively correctly, and also he kind of liked him because around the end of class he got to talk with him about his semester in malaysia and gave him tips about studying abroad, which Atsushi was very grateful for. As Atsushi and Sakaguchi (he had just remembered was his name) left the classroom, the two were ambushed by a familiar face which seemed to pop up everywhere Atsushi went, “Oh hi, Dazai” Atsushi and Sakaguchi said in a flat tone, thus looking at each other in curiosity.
“Atsushi? What are you doing here?
-What are you doing here, Dazai?
-I’m picking up Ango!
-Ango?”
Dazai pointed at Atsushi’s tutor, standing right next to him in an uncomfortable stance, “I’m Ango, he sighed, don’t look so surprised, i’m only your tutor i’m not like a teacher or something- he swatted Dazai’s hand away- you didn’t have to come all the way to the classroom, idiot” (he sighed again)
“But clearly it was a good idea because I saw my good friend Atsushi !
-Yeah, yeah, I’m sure he’s ecstatic to see you, let’s go” Ango cut him as he waved Atsushi a polite goodbye and dragged Dazai by the neck, “Wait wait wait wait wait! Atsushi can come with us, right?” He looked at Ango like a small child asking for a new toy, then at Atsushi, “Up to hang out, Atsushi?”.
Of course, Atsushi had accepted a proposition to hang out, he wasn’t exactly in a rush and had texted Akutagawa that he was being held up by his friend. Despite Ango’s perplexed look at the invite extended to Atsushi, he had accepted to let the man come to their “study session”, which was just an excuse for Dazai to act like he was working while the others actually worked their asses off to get a passing grade. In the study room they had booked, the “others” consisted of none other than Ango, Dazai, Kunikida, the red head Atsushi knew as Chuuya, along with two men he didn’t know the name of, one wearing earmuffs (inside?) and the other sporting a hat (inside too?). “Welcome to upperclassmen hell, Atsushi ! Behold : your bright future”, Dazai enthusiastically said as he opened the door to the study room, extending in an arm to show his underclassman a bunch of sleep deprived and frankly unserious looking students (well, excluding Ango and Kunikida, who seemed both as uptight as ever). Just as Atsushi muttered a small Yikes, a louder groan came from a corner of the room, “Osamu, can you not speak this loud, I’m nursing a hangover here!” Osamu? Atsushi looked at the corner to see Chuuya in a bean bag, hat on his eyes, arms extended on the ground where his two unknown friends were also laying,, “Sorry, tiny,” Dazai whispered, then came back to his loud voice when he addressed Kunikida, “Are y’all working well ? I brought Atsushi !
-Hi Atsushi,” said the room in unison
“Ango, you just got out of tutoring, are you gonna go right back to studying here ? He asked
-Well I am triple majoring, I don’t exactly have time to relax…”
Taken aback, Atsushi simply stepped back, “Well I studied plenty so, I’m gonna go, wouldn’t want to bother y-
-Nooo stay, Atsushi !” The plea had not come, for once, from Dazai, but from the small ginger bean bag in the corner of the room, “Come hang with us cool kids, I’ve heard about you !” Atsushi put down his bag next to where Chuuya was laying and sat on the ground next in front of him, trying to keep his voice at a low level, “you’re all hungover here?
-Nah, not me, the ear muffs guy answered, Chuuya and Paul are, though.
-And yet I still tried to study… The man Atsushi understood was Paul whined
-And I didn’t, aha! Chuuya fistbumped his friend, not like I need to be here anyway, i’m not studying anything remotely related to all of you…” Atsushi made a face, which Chuuya seemed to catch on under his hat. “I'm in advanced Physics, so no international, no anthro or socio or literature or education or… all that… he cringed, I tried studying with Kunikida but, well,
-I know how he is”, Atsushi joked, hoping his friend didn’t hear him over his studying.
The tiny ginger man suddenly straightened himself, taking his hat off to look intently at Atsushi through his heterochromic eyes. The younger man felt his face grow hot from being so close to Chuuya’s face, which he now noticed was really pretty, “Anyway, Nakajima, I’ve heard about you a lot, what are your intentions with my daughter?” he chuckled, “I- uh- what?” Atsushi answered in confusion, making Chuuya laugh a little bit louder, “Sorry, sorry I’m joking, I just heard about you from Ryuu ; and him I guess (him being Dazai, which he pointed with a disgusted face)...
-Uh, that’s nice…?
-You invited him on a date, right?” Atsushi choked at the interrogation under Chuuya's scrutinizing gaze ; getting his breathing back, he looked at the older man, who seemed genuinely serious behind his teasing smile.
“There’s no good answer to that question, is it ?
-There’s an answer that’ll give me money.
-You’re betting on Akutagawa’s dating life?
-So it is a date!” Chuuya exclaimed in victory, forgetting for a split second his hangover and instantly regretting his oversight with a hand brought to his temple. “I won! The others owe me moneyyy…”
He’s almost as bad as Dazai, Jesus, Atsushi thought as he looked at the victorious man, “It’s not supposed to be a date, though, I just wanted to get to know my neighbor…
-Right, yeah, sure.” Chuuya arched an eyebrow in a knowing smile, as if withholding information, “so you didn’t get to know him for the last five days in which, a little birdie told me, you’ve been going and leaving campus with him… interesting…
-Interesting indeed, Dazai interjected,
-Shut your trap, smellbank.”
A pause. Dazai frowned at Chuuya, returning to his previous activity of bothering Kunikida.
Atsushi sighed, gathering his things and picking up his bag, “Look, I’m gonna go, I don’t have much to do in here anyway…
-Wait, let me come with you ! I have to go to Ryuu’s anyways.” Talk about overstaying your welcome, “Sure, let’s go.”
Atsushi and Chuuya made their way out of the brick building, Atsushi walking at a slower pace to allow the shorter man to follow him, “Hey, Chuuya?
-Yes, Nakajima ?
-You can call me Atsushi- uh, is there something going on between you and Dazai?”
Chuuya arched an eyebrow, startled for a split second, “What do you mean?
-Well you seem to dislike each other for some reason… I mean, I get that he’s quite difficult but he’s not-
-I’m gonna cut you right there, Atsushi, you don’t need to make an apology for his existence, he and I have known each other since we were 15. This is just how we talk.”
Well that would explain the ‘Osamu’, Atsushi thought, finally uncovering some kind of actual information about his friend that isn’t just the name of a new fling. “Yeah, I know, woe is me for real…
-He’s…always been like that?
-An insufferable prick? Yeah, he was even worse before, you’re lucky he likes you.
-He likes me?
-Oh yeah, he’s so annoying about it, you’re like a little brother to him or something- ah, wait you didn’t have a crush on him or something, that’d be awkward telling you that…
-I really don’t, I…” The two men had arrived at Atsushi's (and to that extent, Akutagawa’s) building door, “Well you know…” Atsushi pointed up. Hope he gets it, Chuuya chuckled, “Yeah I know, you’re in for Ryuu.
-I don’t really know, actually.
-Oh trust me, he’s a catch!” Chuuya laughed as he went up the stairs 2 by 2, outstripping Atsushi.