[Dazatsu Week 2017, Day Two] The Space Between Words [Fic]

[Dazatsu Week 2017, Day Two] the space between words [Fic]

Dazatsu Week 2017 Day Two

Title: the space between words Summary: At twelve, he sank into a sea of words, the characters twining round and round him, until he was breathing in another world and living two, or three, or five, or ten or more lives. Or, where a writer touches a boy’s life, and where it takes six years for the favour to be paid in turn. Prompt Used: “A good book is always good, no matter how many times you’ve already read it.”

Pairing: Dazai Osamu/Nakajima Atsushi Characters: Nakajima Atsushi, Tanizaki Junichirou, Dazai Osamu Rating: PG-13 Word Count: 8,325

Warning: Non-graphic depiction of a suicide attempt

Notes: This is set in the same verse as ‘the tale we spin between us’. It is not necessary to read that piece before this. All you need to know is this was inspired by this official art.

…he is…a veritable prodigy. Few can compare to Tsushima’s effortless skill at bringing out the foibles of humanity, the silly and hopeless pride we take in our own sorry existence, and the quiet melancholy that dogs our every step as we go through this senseless world…

- Daily Japan, Review of Farewell

“Atsushi-kun…are you alright?”

The words drifted to him like they were part of his dream, blending with the low, droning tone that he struggled to make sense of. He felt a rocking sensation, like he was sitting on a ship in the gentle waves, in the harbour this town was known for. Then the rocking became sharper, and he jerked his head up.

In the center row of a cavernous lecture hall, Nakajima Atsushi, first-year university student, blinked rapidly, staring at the front and forgetting where he was. The rows and rows of wooden tables and chairs in front of him on tiers, leading down to the podium where the professor continued in the low, droning tone that had seeped into his dreams, didn’t make sense to his fuzzy head. He turned slowly to look into Tanizaki’s concerned face, and when his eyes fell on the book in front of Tanizaki, the very same book he had a copy of in front of him, it clicked.

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