Tainted Blues

Chuuya Nakahara

"Chibi" Dazai whined annoyingly "Stop trying to punch me all the time"

I yanked my hand away "Then quit sneaking up on me, stupid"

I walked down the hall, and he followed still holding my wrist.

He shrugged "I like catching you off guard"

"Whatever, what do you want?"

He smiled and grabbed my bag, slinging it on his shoulder.

"Come on" he said, pulling on my wrist "I'm taking you out"

"Out?" I asked, stopping "Out where?"

"It's a surprise~" he cooed, his smile shifting to a mischievous smirk.

"I don't like that look on your face"

He took a step closer, tugging me toward himself. I slammed right into his chest, reeling back afterward.

"What look?" he asked, tilting my chin up with his other hand.

I felt my cheeks rise in temperature at the sudden boldness. I roughly pushed him away from me, taking a small step back to create some distance. The previous actions didn't make me uncomfortable per se, but they made me feel something. I don't know what it was, and therefore I don't ever want to feel it again.

"Aaww" he whined.

"The hell was that?!" I asked, still feeling the flush of my cheeks.

Dazai crossed his arms and leaned back a bit.

"What was what?" he asked innocently.

"Th-the touching! The holding!" I said, sputtering and stumbling over my words "The face! What was with the face?!"

Dazai placed a finger on his chin and sort of looked to the side. Like he was trying to recall the events that literally took place thirteen seconds ago.

"Oh that?" he asked "I just wanted to see my Chuuya all flustered"

"Your Chuuya?"

"Yes" he replied, moving a piece of hair behind my ear "My Chuuya"

Weird feeling again! I don't like this feeling!

Dazai turned on his heels and walked away. I stood there completely flabbergasted until I remembered: That bastard has my bag!

"Hey!"

I ran after him, finally catching up to his stupid ling strides.

"You have my bag, bastard" I sneered.

He nodded "So?"

"So" I said "Give it back"

"Have you forgotten already?" he complained "I'm taking you out"

"I have to get home moron!"

"Come on~" he said, leaning close to me "It'll be fun I promise"

I growled under my breath and lightly shoved his face away.

"Okay fine!" I relented "Just keep to yourself alright? Stay out of my personal space"

He nodded, but I knew that he wasn't going to respect my bubble. Because I knew that he knew that I don't dislike it.

He took me to the arcade that I went to a few days ago with Shirase and Yuan. Dazai pulled me over to the token machine and inserted a few bills. He then dropped a small handful into my hand and dragged me over to a fighting game.

We played several rounds, and he beat me ever single time. I was starting to get frustrated and began snapping at him.

"You have to be using some kind of cheat code!" I yelled after losing for the nineth time "There's no way you keep beating me this easily!"

"No need for a cheat when my opponent doesn't know how to think strategically" he said.

I growled in frustration "One more! I'll beat you for sure this time!"

"Wanna bet on it?" he asked, a smug smirk growing on his face.

"Fine"

He stood up and brought his face closer to mine "Very well" he said "The winner of this next round gets to ask the loser any question they want, and the loser has to answer truthfully no matter what"

"That's a strange request" I said "How will we know whether or not we answered truthfully?"

He shrugged "I guess we'll just have to trust eachother"

I thought about it for a minute. This is probably a very bad idea. It's just one question though. It shouldn't be too bad. Right?

"Fine" I said "Best outta three?"

He nodded "Perfect"

He won all three.

"Dammit!" I groaned "I was so certain I had you!"

Dazai laughed his stupid little laugh and leaned in toward me "I win!" he said "So I get to ask you whatever I want"

"Very well" I grumbled "What's your question"

He sat back down "Why did you get so nervous when Mr. Hirotsu asked you to read? You got stage fright or something?"

"That's two questions"

"Then answer the first one"

Do I really wanna tell him this?

He'll make fun of me for sure.

And what if this leads to follow up questions?

No, he said only one.

But what if he-

"Oi! Chuuya!" Dazai snapped his fingers in front of my face "No thinking! Honest answers only"

Fuck it.

I took a deep breath and prepared myself for the ridicule I was bound to get.

"I can't read" I said, only loud enough for him to hear.

Dazai's mouth fell open. He shut it quickly, but continued to stare at me, completely baffled. I waited for him to make fun of me. To call me stupid or childish. But he didn't.

Instead, he smiled and pointed to his chest.

"I'll teach you"

"Huh?!"