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Since they were five years old until now at seventeen, everyone knew how inseparable the two girls were. Nakahara Chuuya and Dazai Osamu, Chuuya and Dazai, never one without the other. They always went to the same school and did everything together. Some called them best friends, some called them partners, and some even shipped them together even though they had explained that they weren’t going out.
You see, these dating allegations did not just come from nothing. It was already famous in their high school how affectionate the two girls were to each other, especially on Chuuya’s side. Everyone had suspected that the smaller one of the two’s love language is the act of service. Well, it was quite obvious from how Chuuya basically always treated Dazai like her princess with how she did everything for her from waking up Dazai every school morning, doing Dazai’s famous fishtail braid before school hour started, opening and holding the door for her, even offering to carry her bag when Dazai complained how heavy her bag was. Those actions made Dazai call Chuuya her dog but the latter didn’t seem to mind.
Quite the contrary to Dazai, girls from their school always considered how gentlemanly Chuuya was. Moreover, the pretty redhead was also smart and exceptional at sports which resulted in the girls being head over heels for her and eventually made a fan club for her where they called her Prince Charming. Every Valentine, Chuuya also always received tons of chocolate from her fangirls which she ate together with Dazai. Numerous girls—and some brave guys—have tried to confess to her only to be rejected so they just assume Chuuya was in a secret relationship with Dazai—or a secret third thing, whatever they were—and ended up shipping the two together. Since the two always wore matching satin black ribbons on their hair—with Chuuya wearing it on her half ponytail and Dazai on her fishtail braid—people started calling them double black or soukoku (双黒) as a pun from rivalry, also soukoku (相克), because they have the same reading but with different kanji.
Why rivalry, you may ask. Well, other than being physically inseparable, the two girls were also inseparable on the scoreboard as the two were the school’s best students. Chuuya was best in the science departments such as physics, biology, chemistry, and mathematics, whereas Dazai excelled more at social studies such as geography, history, economics, and sociology. During every final exam, they usually exchange the first and second place hence born the academic rivals title for the two.
Everything went normal for them until today’s lunch break where on a rare time Chuuya wasn’t seen with Dazai because the teacher needed her help so now Dazai was eating her lunch with Yosano Akiko, the head of the health committee, in the infirmary. They ate together in silence before Yosano decided to break the silence with a question that started the mayhem, “Dazai, are you and Chuuya really just friends?” Dazai put down her chopstick on top of her bento box—that was made by Chuuya—and calmly replied, “Of course we are. We’re best friends.” Yosano squinted her eyes, looking at Dazai suspiciously, “Are you sure? What a shame because that girl is such a gentleman! If I were you I’d probably fall head over heels for her already like literally thousands of girls in this school. You better watch out Dazai, someone might snatch her away from you!” she said jokingly. Dazai stared at Yosano, “What do you mean snatch her away?” Yosano raised her right eyebrow, “Well, you know if she decided to accept one of those love confessions, she wouldn’t be by your side most of the time anymore, right?” before Dazai managed to answer Yosano, she heard the bell ring so she packed her lunch and went back to her class.
Chuuya won’t be by my side anymore? Is that even legal?
With that, Dazai lost in her thoughts until the school was finished.
—
“Hey, Dazai! Are you there? I’ve been calling for you forever!”
Dazai looked up and saw Chuuya’s red shoulder-length hair hanging in front of her with the owner wearing an annoyed face. “Oh, the school finished already?” she nonchalantly asked Chuuya. The redhead stared at her in disbelief, “What is wrong with you? Why have you seemed so off since lunch?” Dazai then put on her best fake smile and said, “Nothing! Anyway, it’s October 26th so we’re going to my place, right? To have 1989 TV listening party?” Chuuya sensed something was definitely off with her best friend but decided to scoff it off. “Yeah, sure. Let’s go.” like it was auto-pilot, Chuuya carried Dazai’s bag for her.
Thump.
Dazai put her hand on her chest. What was that?
“Hm? Is something wrong with your chest?” Chuuya worriedly asked her. Before Chuuya managed to put her hand on Dazai’s chest, she swatted her hand away and dramatically gasped, “Did Chuuya just try to touch my chest? Oh my, how perverted of her!” she said as she hurriedly walked past Chuuya. “Ugh! Wait for me, you slippery mackerel!” Chuuya screamed at Dazai who was getting further and further away from her. Damn, why is she so fast all of a sudden? “It’s not my fault Chuuya’s tiny legs can’t keep up with my long and lean ones!” the brunette replied.
Suddenly, they were already in front of the shoe locker. As always, Chuuya took Dazai’s before hers and she also kneeled to help Dazai wear her shoes. Dazai looked down to see Chuuya. Is her eyelashes always that long? And why does her button nose look cute from this angle? While Dazai was still confusedly staring at Chuuya, the redhead suddenly lifted her head and their eyes met. “There,” Chuuya said while gently tapping Dazai’s shoes.
Thump. Thump.
Still very confused about what was happening to her, Dazai did the most reasonable thing she could think of right now which was to run away from Chuuya.
“You stupid mackerel stop randomly starting a race!” Chuuya screamed while speedily putting on her shoes and trying to catch up to Dazai.
Dazai’s house was about 10 minutes walk from their school so they arrived even faster while running. They both bent down and put their hands on the house fence, trying to catch their breaths.
“I– gasped –win!” Chuuya said smugly with a smirk on her face, her hair was all messy and some of it even stuck to her face, also sweat dripping on her neck. Dazai’s eyes widen at the view.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
She immediately turned her head away from Chuuya and attempted to steady her racing heartbeat. Must be from all the running. Yeah. From the corner of her eyes, she could see Chuuya offering her a hand to help her walk. She was embarrassed but she took it and let Chuuya guide her to her front door. Chuuya then opened the door for her and closed it when they were both inside.
“Mother, I’m home! I’m with Chuuya and please don’t disturb us we’re going to listen to Taylor Swift's new album!” Dazai loudly announced.
“Sure, dear! Also, hello Chuuya-chan! I’ll call you two when it’s time for dinner!” Dazai’s mother said from the kitchen.
“Good afternoon, oba-san! Thanks for having me!” Chuuya replied.
They both changed their shoes to indoor slippers and went up to Dazai’s room. As the only child, Dazai was always spoiled rotten by her parents, and that explains the massive room she has for herself. Her room was mostly pastel blue and white, with a huge fluffy cinnamoroll carpet and her enormous collection of plushies.
“I’ll clean up first. Chuuya can grab whatever she wants from my closet, you know the drill.” Dazai said before she disappeared to the bathroom.
Chuuya went into Dazai’s walk-in closet, and picked a white crop top with a seagull embroidery— since when did Dazai even have this? —and some blue and white dolphin shorts in honor of 1989 TV, and then proceeded to wait in front of the bathroom. Dazai emerged from the bathroom not long after with her wavy waist-length hair let down while wearing her reading glasses she only wore at home, a cropped white tank top with a blue cardigan, gray training pants, and fresh bandages wrapped on her neck and forearms.
“It’s Chuuya’s turn now,” Dazai said while sitting down in front of her TV and proceeded to open Spotify.
The redhead went to the bathroom, then emerged back to Dazai’s room around 20 minutes later and joined Dazai in front of the TV.
“Does Chuuya want to start from the beginning or go straight to the vault tracks?” Dazai asked Chuuya. The latter rolled her eyes, “Of course from the beginning!” and Dazai did just that. The two girls sing along to the entire original album songs excitedly. They were dancing, jumping around, and dueting until finally it was time for the vault tracks. “Wait! Chuuya pause it hurry!” Dazai said and Chuuya quickly grabbed the remote to pause it before the song started. “What?” Chuuya asked her. Dazai grinned at her, “Nothing, I just want to prepare myself!”
They both calmed down and sat in front of the TV. “Ready?” Dazai answered it with a nod. Chuuya then pressed play and finally, they could hear a synth-pop intro from the first vault track titled “Slut!”
“Oh! Isn’t this the lyrics she posted?” Chuuya excitedly asked Dazai.
“Yeah! It was on that Google puzzle thingy too! By the way, I didn’t expect this song would sound like this at all! I thought it was going to be like Vigilante Shit type of song.” Dazai answered.
“I know right?”
Everyone wants him, that was my crime
Dazai’s head instantly snapped toward Chuuya’s direction. The redhead looked like she was vibing to this song. Does she always look this pretty? She could barely make out the lyrics after that but then,
In a world of boys, he's a gentleman
Dazai immediately went beet red. She grabbed her long hair with both of her hands, crossed it across her face, and buried her face into her knees. Damn you, Yosano-san. Dazai was no longer paying attention to the rest of the song before Chuuya realized and paused it. Chuuya then lightly touched Dazai’s left shoulder resulting in the brunette jolting. “You good?” she asked. Ugh! why must she always be this attentive?! With her face still buried, she slowly turned to the right, leaving Chuuya to face her back. “Yeah. Just continue.” Dazai could hear Chuuya click her tongue and now she felt the redhead slouched over her back.
“Damn it slug, you’re heavy!”
“Oh come on! Tell me why are you suddenly being weird!”
Chuuya started to pull Dazai’s cardigan to make Dazai face her, exposing her bare skin to the cold. “Chuuya! Down! Stop pulling my clothes it’s cold!” Dazai protested.
“Stop treating me like a damn dog!” Chuuya said before she grabbed Dazai’s shoulder and turned her around to face her. Chuuya then moved her grasp to both of Dazai’s wrists and pulled them toward her. “Let go of me you brute!” Dazai yelled. Chuuya yelled back, “Then tell me what’s wrong!” and started to shake Dazai like a rattle toy. Chuuya kept pulling Dazai’s hands and Dazai used this to her advantage and snatched a handful of Chuuya’s hair. Chuuya screamed and now she let go of her hold on Dazai’s wrists and moved her hands to grab Dazai’s hair.
“AAAAHHHHH”
“AAAARRGHH”
They kept on screaming and pulling each other’s hair before they got tired and stopped screaming. With both of their breath ragged and hands still in each other’s hair, Chuuya was the one who started to speak, “On the count of three we both should let go.” she could feel Dazai nod under her grasp. “Okay, one… two… three!”
None of them let go.
“YOU BITCH I TOLD YOU TO LET GO ON THREE!”
“BUT CHUUYA DIDN’T LET GO EITHER!”
“BECAUSE I DON’T TRUST YOU! I WAS PLANNING TO LET GO IF YOU LET GO!”
“UGH, FINE! I’M THE ONE COUNTING NOW. ONE… TWO…THREE!”
They both finally let go this time and they’re facing each other at last. When their eyes met, Dazai could hear Yosano and Taylor’s voices echoing in her head and she turned red once again. Dazai tried to look away from Chuuya and won’t meet her eyes but it was too late. Chuuya had seen her face.
“Oh my gosh, Dazai you’re so red! Are you sick?” Chuuya worriedly asked her then she reached her hands to gently cup Dazai’s cheeks and proceeded to bring her forehead to Dazai’s to check her temperature. “It’s a bit warm,” Chuuya said.
And it is way too close!
With all of the strength from her skinny arms, Dazai pushed Chuuya away. “Chuuya you bad dog!” she yelled at Chuuya.
Confused, Chuuya dumbly asked her, “Huh? What the fuck did I do?”
Dazai pouted her lips and buried her face to her knees before she started saying, “Everything! Chuuya did everything for me! Chuuya does my hair, paints my nails, makes me lunch, puts on my shoes, holds the door for me, carries my bag, heck— Chuuya even carries me on her back when it just rained because I don’t want to get my shoes dirty! What does Chuuya think those would make me feel?”
“But we’ve been like since we were kids?”
“Well, maybe it’s different now because I just realized that I have fallen in love with Chuuya!” Dazai blurted out in frustration.
After she realized what she just said, She looked away from Chuuya and tried to crawl away but Chuuya managed to catch her ankle and pinned her to the wall.
“Dazai, look at me.” Chuuya softly said.
Still flustered, Dazai braced herself and then slowly turned her head to look at Chuuya’s face. There she could see her best friend slash crush looking at her with the same flustered expression. Dazai stared at Chuuya’s bright, ocean-blue eyes as they got closer and closer so she closed her eyes.
This is it, she’s finally going to kiss me.
Dazai waited to feel how Chuuya’s pretty lips would be against hers. Her first kiss. Would it be as heavenly and perfect as Taylor Swift’s song? She’ll find out soon. She waited and waited but the kiss didn’t come. Curious, Dazai peeked open one of her eyes to see Chuuya smirking at her, “Aww, did Dazai think Chuuya was going to kiss her?” she mockingly asked her with Dazai’s way of speaking. Embarrassed, Dazai kicked Chuuya off her and screamed, “BAD DOGGY! BAD BAD DOGGY!” while Chuuya laughed at her.
After a while, Chuuya’s laughter died down, and she stared at Dazai fondly. She took Dazai’s hand and stood up, “Come on you big baby, let’s go to your bed.” Dazai stared at Chuuya wide-eyed and tried to cover her chest with her free hand, “Nooo Chuuya I’m not ready!” she whined. Chuuya let go of her arm dan squatted down in front of the brunette, “Not that, you pervert.” she said as she tenderly flicked Dazai’s forehead.
“Oh,” silence and then, “...carry me there?” Dazai added shyly.
Chuuya faintly scoffed then dropped down to her knees and opened her arms so Dazai could cling onto her like an octopus as they moved to the bed.
Before putting her down, Chuuya made sure to arrange the pillows, and after Dazai was placed comfortably surrounded by her plushies and pillows, Chuuya proceeded to sit in front of her. “Now what?” Dazai asked while hugging one of her plushies of a blue mackerel that Chuuya gave her on her 15th birthday. Without wasting any more time, Chuuya delicately took Dazai’s right hand and said, “Can I kiss you, princess?” which resulted in a mackerel plushie thrown straight into her face. Chuuya put the plushie aside and continued to search for an answer from a pair of beautiful brown eyes locking with her blue ones. "You may," Dazai finally replied. Chuuya then leaned down and gently kissed the top of Dazai's hand. She moved closer, slightly hovering above Dazai, and asked once again, "Can I kiss you again, princess?" After that, they repeated the gesture multiple times which resulted in a kiss on Dazai's hair, forehead, and cheeks.
Now, Chuuya moved even closer to the point where they could feel the warmth of each other's breath. She gently took off Dazai’s glasses, put them on the bedside table, and before Chuuya could ask the same question, Dazai pulled her in and crashed their lips together. The moment their lips tenderly touched, suddenly everything made sense.
Their first kiss.
It was a simple gesture but the anticipation, the excitement, and the nervousness that led them into this made Dazai feel like she was going to burst. She could hear her racing heartbeat and feel the curious fluttering in her stomach. The air suddenly sucked out of her system and she finally got it. This was perfect, this was flawless, and this truly lived up to all the hype around it. Dazai hesitantly circled her arms around Chuuya’s neck and she could feel the redhead’s arm slowly rest on her waist. They were both still unsure of what to do and it might not be perfect but it was theirs.
Parted away with the feeling of contentment yet also longing, the two girls then shared a loving gaze followed by soft smiles and a silent promise of more kisses to come.
—
On the softness of the brunette’s bed, Chuuya and Dazai now tangled with each other in an embrace. Dazai rested her head on Chuuya’s chest and nuzzled, “Hehe, boobies~” she said while burying her face into one and groping the other one. Chuuya caressed Dazai’s hair and softly said, “Pervert.” Dazai then looked up to meet Chuuya's eyes "How did they grow this big anyway? Does all of Chuuya's grow sprout go here instead of her height?" She said while groping both of Chuuya's breasts. Chuuya rolled her eyes, "You annoying bitch, I'm average height, okay? You're the one that's too tall!"
"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Chuuya." She said before continuing to rest her head on Chuuya's chest and wrapping her arms around Chuuya's waist.
"So," Chuuya suddenly spoke. "What are we?" Chuuya heard a sigh, "We're the same. Just put "girl" in front of it now." Dazai answered.
"Girl best friends?" Chuuya asked teasingly. Dazai lifted herself and looked at Chuuya with an are-you-kidding-me-right-now look and Chuuya just raised her right brow in lieu of a what. Dazai then leaned down to give Chuuya a shy kiss on the lips, "We're girlfriends, Chuuya. We kissed so whether you like it or not I'm your girlfriend right now."
"Oh, yeah?"
"Uh-huh."
"Do you seriously want us to officially be girlfriends on 1989 TV release day?"
"Doesn't that make it even more special?" Dazai looked up to her girlfriend with sparkly eyes.
Chuuya leaned down to kiss Dazai’s forehead, "Whatever you say, princess."
After that, they continued to cuddle on the bed while listening to 1989 TV playing in the background.