Chuuya Nakahara sat at the bar, one leg crossed over the other; he tugged on his tie and took another sip of wine.

He twirled a strand of hair around his finger and pulled it over his ear. He was wearing the earrings tonight.

When Chuuya was in the same location as Osamu Dazai, or one was to later come to said area, Chuuya made sure to not wear the earrings. He did not want to mislead Dazai.

He remembered the day: February 14th. Valentine’s Day. Chuuya disliked Valentine’s Day.

What he disliked more was that Dazai got him a gift.

Chuuya had very mixed feelings about Dazai. Sure, they were partners. They were the two halves of Double Black. But they did not always get along. Actually, most of the time they did not get along.

Dazai thrived on Chuuya’s irritation. He did every little thing to get on his nerves. In turn for Dazai hurting Chuuya emotionally, Chuuya hurt him back, physically. Not that Dazai needed any more physical pain, being the waste of bandages that he is.

But despite their mutual suffering in the relationship, neither of them hated the other. They felt strange feelings that they classified as hate, but said feelings were not anything truly definable.

On Valentine’s Day, Dazai had given Chuuya a small box. It was not as if Chuuya suspected it would be anything but insulting, but he opened it anyway. He had no clue in hell as to why he put his trust into Dazai, but he did.

Inside the box were large black earrings. There was a stud with a small circle on it, and on a chain was a larger hoop.

Chuuya was unsure of what to think when he looked at the gift. He could not think of anything insulting to say to Dazai, but he also did not want to thank him. Especially since he could see Dazai laughing softly, for whatever reason.

When he went home that day, he decided to put the earrings in, because why the hell not? Who knows, if they looked bad, perhaps Chuuya could give Dazai a taste of his own medicine.

But as much as Chuuya oh so hated to admit it, they looked good. Great even.

He did not want to like the earrings. He wanted to hate them. He wanted to dispose of them. Throw them aggressively into a fire and watch them burn. But he suddenly did not feel any of those things. He...liked them. He liked a gift from Osamu Dazai.

But he decided not to let the giver of the gift stop him. He liked them, so, dammit, he was gonna wear them. Just not around Dazai. He did not need to be mocked any more than he already was. Because for some god-forsaken reason, no matter how much Chuuya punched Dazai around, Dazai never seemed to want to stop toying with him.

Chuuya clicked back to the present time. He was no longer judging himself after first wearing the earrings. He was now in public, in formal attire, at a celebration.

Every few minutes Chuuya looked in the direction of the door to see if Dazai had entered? Why, though? Why did he care? He didn’t care.

Sure enough, at a moment when Chuuya’s back was turned, Dazai came through the door. He immediately noticed Chuuya sitting at the bar, like classic Chuuya. He put a smile on his face and approached him. He leaned on Chuuya’s shoulder.

“Howdy-do, Nakahara?” he said.

Chuuya leaned out of the way so Dazai’s arm slipped off of him. “Don’t touch me,” he commanded, a frigid tone in his throat as his words came out.

“The polite thing to say is, ‘Hello, Dazai. You look nice,’” Dazai hinted.

“I don’t want to be polite to you,” Chuuya replied. “And you do not look nice.” He took another sip of his wine, and walked away with his cup.

Dazai watched Chuuya walk away. It was a sight he saw frequently. Most of the time with blurred vision, because he will have doubled over from being punched or kicked, but it was still a sight he was used to seeing.

He noticed something catch light as Chuuya pressed further. Something black, and shiny. Was he wearing the earrings he got him months ago? No, it couldn’t be. There’s no way Chuuya would ever keep a gift that Dazai had given him.

But it had caught his attention regardless. And he wanted to know.

Dazai quietly followed behind him to get a closer look. But despite his efforts, Chuuya noticed his nearby presence.

“You know if I start screaming, you could get arrested,” Chuuya threatened.

“Now now, I wouldn’t say that’s necessary right this second, Chibi,” Dazai responded, only continuing to poke Chuuya with his words.

“I thought I walked away from you. Why are you here?”

“I wanted to see something.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that?”

“Do you think you could tuck your hair behind your ear?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Please?”

“No.”

“Pretty please?”

“I’m walking away, Dazai.”

Dazai continued to shadow Chuuya, much to Chuuya’s dismay. Real fast, he took the bit of hair covering Chuuya’s ear and delicately tucked it behind his ear.

Chuuya was offput by how gentle Dazai’s touch was. So offput he forgot why he covered his ears in the first place.

Until Dazai said, “Are those the earrings I got you for Valentine’s Day?”

Shit, Chuuya thought. He slugged another mouthful of wine and turned around, now angry. “I told you not to touch me!” he tried to be careful not to yell, as they were in a public establishment.

“I believe I asked you a question,” Dazai said. He smirked at Chuuya. A smirk that flooded Chuuya with a variety of emotions.

The first one he could name was anger. “It’s none of your fucking business, mackerel,” and he tried to stomp away once more.

“I’m not gonna walk away from you until you answer me,” Dazai warned.

“Why would you think they would be, you idiot?!” Chuuya shouted. “What part of you makes you think I would ever keep a shitty piece of jewelry--hell, a shitty gift from you?! And what part of you made you believe that so goddamn strongly that you had to embarrass yourself--embarrass me in a public place?!”

“The fact that those look exactly like the earrings I bought you,” Dazai responded, unphased by Chuuya’s hollering. He did not expect any response from Chuuya that wasn’t hollering at him.

Chuuya stared for a moment, then sighed and took another sip of wine. “You may be an idiot, but you put up a good word fight.”

“Are you gonna admit I was right now? Or are you going to keep holding up your useless shield?” Dazai taunted.

“I hate admitting defeat to you, but yeah,” Chuuya sighed. “I need another drink.”

Dazai took advantage of this to order a drink himself, too. He watched Chuuya sit at the bar once more, and he sat beside him.

“Still think they’re ‘shitty?’” Dazai teased, doing air quotes as he said “shitty.”

“You can never give me a break can you?” Chuuya groaned.

“Not until you answer my questions when I ask them,” Dazai answered. 

“I never actually thought they were shitty. I tried to force myself to, but I couldn’t get myself to, for some stupid reason. Why does it matter to you?”

Dazai sipped his sake and smiled. This one less sinister than the previous one. “Because you look nice with them.”

Chuuya almost choked on his wine. “Don’t fuck with my feelings like that, Dazai,” he sneered as he swallowed his drink down a second time.

“I’m not this time,” Dazai said. He rested his head on his fist. “I may have not gotten those earrings for the purpose of you actually wearing them and getting enjoyment out of them, but you do look very good with them on. They fit you well.”

Chuuya was not used to receiving compliments like this from Dazai. Typically when he said something nice to him it was a joke or a backhanded compliment. So he had trouble believing that Dazai meant it when he told him he looked nice.

“You’re really not fucking with me?” Chuuya clarified once more.

“I’m really not,” Dazai answered. “Why were you so insistent on hiding them from me, though?”

“Do you really think I’d want you to know that I liked something you did to me or gave to me?” Chuuya answered with another question.

“That is fair, I suppose,” Dazai said.

“But there, you found me out,” Chuuya said, breaking the momentary silence. “I am now exposed to your ridicule.”

“I have none,” Dazai retorted.

“Who are you, and what have you done with Dazai??” Chuuya yelled.

“It’s still me, Chuuya, relax,” Dazai said. He put his arms up. “I have no ridicule for you at this time. There is no need for me to. You like the earrings I got you. You wanted to hide them from me. Just this once, I don’t have to insult you. In fact, there’s something I want to show you in return.”

“I’ll pass,” Chuuya replied.

“Come on,” Dazai nagged. “You can ridicule me, if you want.”

“I’m not taking a free pass,” Chuuya replied, shooting Dazai down again, “I’m not a charity.”

“I’m not gonna leave you alone until you let me.”

“Fine. But you don’t get to use that again for a month.”

Dazai laughed. This laugh unlike the way Chuuya heard him laugh most often. Normally his laugh was mocking, and Chuuya only heard it after a vigorous mocking session. But this laugh was different. It was more pleasant. Less painful to Chuuya’s ears. It gave him a warm feeling in his chest and face. He did not know why this was or why it happened, but it did.

Dazai leaned forward and tucked his hair behind his ear. Now revealed was an earring with a striking resemblance to Chuuya’s. “I got myself a matching pair,” he said. He smiled as if trying to not laugh again. Chuuya wished he would laugh again.

He masked his strange warm feeling by saying, “Great. Now you ruined them.”

And then Dazai laughed again. There was something about Dazai’s laughter that wasn’t at Chuuya’s own expense that gave Chuuya strange feelings. He wasn’t sure why. But he wanted Dazai to keep laughing. He wanted to hear the sound again.

But if he told him that, he would most certainly be exposed to ridicule.

“Stop making that sound,” Chuuya demanded. He was unsure what to do with his emotions other than his usual defense mechanism: lashing out at Dazai. He took another sip of his wine.

“Aww, was my laughing bothering you?” Dazai teased.

“Shut up,” Chuuya answered. He felt the unfamiliar warmth return to his face. “Just because I’m letting myself be vulnerable in front of you doesn’t mean you have the right to keep fucking with me.”

Dazai let out a “Hmph” of laughter. “Really? You’re letting yourself be vulnerable in front of me?”

“I know, I’m an idiot,” Chuuya said, playfully punching Dazai on the shoulder. “But I trust you.”

“Well, you made the right choice,” Dazai said. “If you want to be vulnerable around me, you can.”

“Huh?” Chuuya sputtered. “Seriously?”

“Of course,” Dazai responded. “...Chibi.”

All of the pleasant emotions Chuuya had had just left him. He groaned and took another sip of wine. “I hate you,” he said.

“Love you, too,” Dazai replied.

“What?” Chuuya inquired.

Dazai immediately realized what he said. His eyes widened and his smile vanished. He chugged the rest of his sake, stood up, said, “Gotta go!” and ran out.

Chuuya watched Dazai dash out of the room. He then laughed softly and took one more sip of wine.

He looked pretty good in those earrings, too.