Gift Fic For yomimashou

[santa_johnny]

To: yomimashou
From: santa_johnny

Title: come on silly love what happened here
Pairing/Group: Yabu Kota/Takaki Yuya
Rating: PG
Warnings: slight swearing?
Notes: Happy Holidays, yomimashou, I haven’t written this pairing in a long while but I really hope you enjoy it!
Summary: Turns out, Takaki Yuya was being honest. Yabu’s roommate is almost as useless as he is.



Freshman year

Yabu Kota is determined to pass this year. He’s never been that good at studying, but that sports scholarship got him into a fantastic school, and he doesn’t want to screw it up.

Yabu doesn’t need girls; his grades are more important. He’s been repeating this to himself like a daily mantra, at least two months before school started. He thinks he’s already starting to believe it.

But maybe it’s probably okay to make an exception if he meets this totally cool chick with pretty hair. He’d have to break up with her before finals though. He hopes his future girlfriend is an understanding one.

But really, he doesn’t need girls. His grades are more important.

Yabu nods, he’s got this.

Two hours later, Yabu is pretty sure he does not ‘got this’.

He’s had multiple mini heart attacks because he thought he lost his phone, only to find it right beside him. It’s not really his fault-he’s in a new environment and Yabu’s just not used to it. He forgets his keys, and Hikaru does not seem pleased when he has to unlock Yabu’s door for him. If not for Hikaru’s foresight with regards to Yabu’s eternal amnesia, he would really have been locked out for good.

“Kou-chan.”

“Yeah?” Yabu replies, his throat feeling a little dry with the intensity of Hikaru’s glare.

“We just got here! Can you stop forgetting things? I don’t want to have to open your door for you every single time you forget to bring your keys.” Hikaru grumbles.

“You could always pass me your spare keys?” Yabu suggests.

“No!” Hikaru squawks, poking a finger at Yabu’s chest for emphasis. “You’re just going to forget it and then you will be locked out forever without a spare!”

“I’m not that bad!” Yabu attempts to protest, but that earns him a pointed look from Hikaru.

“Yeah, and I don’t want Kamenashi Kazuya’s autograph.”

He pouts.

“No, don't use that face on me it doesn’t wo-” Hikaru starts to say, but then the door swings open with a rough bang, revealing a very disheveled-looking man.

The newcomer has a phone sandwiched in between his shoulder and his cheek as he drags his battered luggage into the room.

“Look, I’m eighteen now.” Yabu thinks the man sounds like he’s almost yelling. Frustration paints the man’s face as he frowns, letting his luggage fall to the ground with a thud. “You can’t control my life!” With that, he flips his phone shut.

“Girlfriend?” Hikaru mouths, and Yabu shrugs.

It is only then that the newcomer notices the both of them and stops short, giving an awkward bow.

“Uhm, hi. I’m Takaki Yuya, and I’m guessing one of you is my room mate?”

Hikaru laughs, and Yabu finds himself being tugged along. “That’ll be this idiot here. I’m just his best friend.” Hikaru even bows, “please take care of him, he’s a little bit useless.”

“Hey!” Yabu protests shoving at Hikaru, but accompanies his best friend’s bow with an awkward wave of his own.

Takaki grins in return, and Yabu can’t help but think about how amazing he looks with that smile.

Yabu finds himself grinning back.

“That’s okay, I’m a little useless myself.”

Turns out, Takaki Yuya was being honest. Yabu’s roommate is almost as useless as he is.

“Yabu-kun, can you show me to the public bathroom?”

Yabu pauses from organising his desk and turns to Takaki with a confused look. “Huh?”

“You know, the public bathroom. The one where we bathe?” Takaki tries, this time with wild hand gestures Yabu doesn’t understand. The latter was never very good at charades. Takaki starts doing a weird sidestep thing, and Yabu finally gets it.

“You need to pee?” Yabu asks, giggling when all Takaki does is nod. He points to the door at the end of the mini corridor in their room, “That’s our bathroom Takaki-san, please go.”

Takaki doesn’t need to be told twice.

“This isn’t the nineties, we don’t stuff our belongings in a basin and queue for public baths anymore,” Yabu teases when Takaki is finally done.

Takaki sighs, running his hand through his hair in exasperation. “I’m from the countryside, okay? Don’t pick on the country bumpkin!”

Takaki’s hair looks really nice, and Yabu is suddenly distracted by thoughts of wanting to reach out to touch it.

Takaki laughs, shoving Yabu a little, but the action is mostly playful, breaking Yabu out of his trance.

Yabu can only grin sheepishly, hoping that Takaki didn’t catch him spacing out.

The look on Hikaru’s face, coupled by the salad in his hand gives it away. Hikaru never eats salad unless he’s in a bad mood. Hikaru was more of a ramen and udon kind of guy.

“So how was your first day with Yamaguchi-sensei?” Yabu asks, shifting his tray a little to make space for Hikaru.

“Horrid,” Hikaru groans. “The man called me out for this,” he pauses to point at his blond hair, frowning. “Said it was inappropriate for his class. I’m not even breaking any school rules!” Hikaru grunts, stabbing at his lunch with his disposable plastic fork.

“But you’re out here alive, aren’t you?” Yabu chuckles.

“Ahh,” Hikaru’s face looks visibly brighter, but is interrupted by someone who unceremoniously forces his way onto the same bench Hikaru is sitting on. “This kid in my class-”

“Hello!”

Yabu can only blink at the person in front of him who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

“What the-” Hikaru is visibly disgruntled from being shoved, but a look of recognition flashes across his face. “It’s you!”

“I saved you from Yelling Yamaguchi, you should be more thankful to your saviour. You can start by calling me Inoo-sama.” The man grins, and Yabu wants to laugh at the scandalised look on Hikaru’s face.

“Dude, all you did was tell him that hair colour has no effect on one’s understanding of design philosophy. I could do that too!”

“But did you see the look on his face? I totally showed him,” Inoo beams proudly, and Hikaru only shakes his head.

Yabu thinks he’s losing track of their conversation as he detects a whiff of flirtatious banter, choosing instead to poke at the suspicious contents of his soup.

He looks up again when Inoo clears his throat, only to hear the latter declare loudly, “I have made it my duty to protect you, Yaotome-sama.” Yabu winces a little as a loud smack echoes through the cafeteria.

Yabu knows how much Hikaru hates being called by his family name.

“A piece of advice, Inoo-kun. If you would like to live, keep in mind to never, ever call him by his family name, ever again.”

Soon, Yabu learns that despite being roommates with Takaki, they don’t see each other often due to their conflicting schedules.

But somehow, Takaki finds a way to squirm himself into Yabu’s life, be it by waking him up almost every morning before his alarm can, or by leaving post-it notes all over their room. Yabu appreciates it, because being the forgetful person he is, the post it note at the back of their door with “DID YOU BRING YOUR KEYS” in Takaki’s sketchy writing is more than helpful.

Yabu tries to make up for it by trying keeping his side of the room clean so that Takaki doesn’t have to return to a room full of filth. The cleanliness of his side of the room never really lasts for more than three days each time it happens, but Yabu tries, he really does. He knows how much of a neat freak Takaki is, despite the messy contents of his school bag. The latter had made it clear when he spent ten whole minutes trying to straighten the quilt on his bed, before he lay on top of it and messed it all up.

“Fifteen minutes before class starts and you’re eating now? Not a good way to start the day, Kota.” Hikaru muses, barely looking up from his coffee.

“I’m setting a good example for you, my friend!” Yabu grumbles, pointing an accusing finger at Hikaru before pulling away when the steaming bowl of hot soup in front of him almost scalds his poor finger. He pauses when he spots another mop of blond hair in the cafeteria. “Why is Inoo sporting blond hair like yours?”

Hikaru only groans. “It’s a long story. He wanted to make a point to Yamaguchi or something, after the incident with my hair. I told him to dye it back but he doesn’t want to listen, because apparently he pledged to do it for a week,” he sighs, before continuing. “It’s actually bloody annoying as well, some idiot actually came to ask me if couple hair colours were the new trend.”

“Awww, people think you guys are a couple?” Yabu coos in the most disgusting way possible, and Hikaru scowls.

“There is a bowl of hot soup in front of you and I am not afraid to pour it down your pants,” he deadpans.

Yabu stage-gasps, “I’m going to call your mother to complain.”

“How’s Takaki-kun? I haven’t seen him around lately.”

“Busy, but really bright, especially when he smiles. I feel like I might get blind just by looking at him,” Yabu sighs.

“Then don’t look,” Hikaru replies flatly.

“I can’t just not look at him when he’s right in front of me!” Yabu blinks, and Takaki materialises before him in his daydream. Takaki looks awfully tired, his hair tousled, slightly wet and sticking to his face, but he is smiling slightly through his bangs, and Yabu really wants to keep him. “I mean, look at him!”

“Kota, Takaki-kun isn’t here. Stop fantasising about him.” Hikaru doesn’t hesitate to hit him on his head with his very thick textbook, breaking his thoughts about Takaki. “Damn, you’ve got it bad,” Hikaru sighs, shaking his head.

Yabu turns back to Hikaru, wincing. “Shut up. He’s kind of weird as well, but the good kind. I don’t know why, but lately he has taken to waking me up before my alarm goes off.”

“How?” This time, Hikaru actually looks up from his coffee.

“By sitting on me,” Yabu mumbles, internally groaning at his big mouth. Hikaru is just too easy to talk to, even though it always ends with him getting made fun of. He has never been able to keep anything from Hikaru, which explains why last year’s surprise birthday party was a complete failure.

“You aren’t exactly that bad at mornings, Kou-chan. Do you just enjoy the feeling of his ass on your ribs? You’re a weird one.”

“Says the one sporting a matching hair colour with Inoo.”

“Hot soup, Kota, hot soup.”

“Do you think I can mix my coffee and rice into the soup and feel full and energised at the same time? I think I’m going to be late for my next class.”

Hikaru only blinks, before replying, “Block D only has two toilets, Kota. One of them is under renovation, and the other one is home to Dickless Dan.” Yabu shudders at the mention of Dickless Dan.

Rumour has it that Dickless Dan cheated on his girlfriend, which resulted in said ex-girlfriend coming back to cut off his dick, causing him to bleed to death in that very toilet. It was said that if you met with Dickless Dan, you’d be saying goodbye to yours, since the ghost apparently collected dicks in his spare time, probably with the hope of restoring his. Dickless Dan might have just been a rumour, a fib to scare freshmen from using the cleaner and less foul-smelling toilets in Block D, but Yabu doesn’t want to take his chances.

“I’ll eat my food like a normal person,” Yabu grumbles, shoving the last mouthful of rice into his mouth and pushing the bowl of soup towards Hikaru. Of course, by eating his food like a normal person, Yabu meant that Hikaru was going to finish his food for him.

“Thanks again!” Yabu calls out, quickly darting towards the hallway in case he meets Hikaru’s death glare.

With midterms approaching, Yabu finds himself learning more about Takaki. For example, the latter goes on a Hannah Montana binge everytime he studies.

“YOU GET THE BEEEEST OF BOTH WORLDS,” sings Takaki, completely oblivious to Yabu who had just entered their room.

Yabu has no idea why Takaki has to sing along to Hannah Montana, but it’s obvious that he can't study in their room, so he packs his things and heads to the library instead.

Yabu likes studying in the library. It’s a little lonely, because there’s no one around to check his progress, but maybe that’s better so he has lesser distractions. Besides, there are other people studying too, and that sets his competitiveness on overdrive and makes him want to study more. It's an effective plan, if Yabu had to say so.

He returns to their dorm a little before dinnertime, planning to janken with Takaki for who gets to choose where they have their dinner. He’s craving curry rice, so when he wins that’s what they’ll eat.

“A TRUUUUUE FRIEND,” Takaki is still belting out songs, that weirdo.

“Takaki,” Yabu doesn’t think his roommate will be able to hear him over the sound of his music as well as his own voice, but he still tries.

“YOU’RE HERE TILL THE END.”

“Takaki?” He tries again, a little closer and a little louder this time.

Still no response, as Takaki continues to sing.

“Yuya!”

This seems to get Takaki’s attention, as the man removes his headphones, turning to look at Yabu. “Did you just call me Yuya?”

“Uhh, yeah?” Yabu replies, a little unsure of where this conversation is going. “That’s your name, isn’t it?”

“This means we’re one step closer in our friendship!” Takaki beams with a fist in the air, “and that I get to call you ‘Kota’ from now on!”

“Kota,” he hears Takaki calling him, but he ignores it in favour of staring at his rather blank document.

“Kou-chan.” Takaki is very persistent today, Yabu muses as he feels a poke on his right cheek.

“Hmm?” is Yabu’s distracted response as he types words on his almost blank document and backspaces it all away, groaning.

“You’re still writing your essay?” This is followed by a poke on his left cheek. Yabu doesn’t know if Takaki is trying to be cute, but alternate pokes are not cute at all. Even for Takaki.

“Yeah, I’m done with my research but I just can’t seem to…” Yabu sighs, running his hands through his hair and fighting the urge to yank it out of pure frustration. Someone once told him that if he kept pulling at his hair he’d go bald. Yabu doesn’t want to be bald, so he tells his hands to behave.

“Do you want to go to someplace else?”

“Will there be coffee?” Yabu turns from the screen, blinking more to keep himself from falling asleep.

Takaki nods, grinning. Yabu thinks he is entirely too bright for a Monday morning, a Monday morning a week before a deadline no less.

“Are you bringing me to a café?”

“Sort of.”

“Like a date?” Yabu asks, confused. Is he supposed to dress up? But what about his essay?

“Kou-chan.”

“Yeah?”

“You’re asking too many questions.”

He blinks blearily, taking in the scenery outside. He must have been so tired he fell asleep halfway during their bus journey. They are along the outskirts of town, and by the looks of it they aren’t reaching their destination any soon.

Yabu then realises he’s been sleeping on Takaki’s shoulder and snaps his head away so quickly it hits the window.

“Damn.”

“Ah, you’re awake?” The sudden movement surprises the both of them, and Yabu nods as he massages the side of his head in embarrassment.

“Are you okay?” Yabu half-heartedly nods as he massages his head, too distracted by the sudden overwhelming awkwardness.

Oh dear, he had been sleeping on Takaki’s shoulder. This is so awkward.

“Sorry about,” Yabu pauses to point at Takaki’s shoulder. “Is it like numb or something?”

“Yeah,” Takaki pouts, giving Yabu a look. “You’ll have to give me a shoulder massage after this,” he whines.

Yabu panics, feeling extremely guilty for falling asleep on Takaki and does the first thing that comes to mind, which is to apologise profusely. “I’m so sorry oh my god I’ve always been told my head was heavy I’m just really sorry-”

“Hey. Kou-chan. I was kidding, I’m fine.” Takaki flashes Yabu a grin, and Yabu feels his insides lurch at the odd combination of relief and shock. “You can sleep on my shoulder anytime~” He adds with a wink.

“You’re not going to drag me into some forest and murder me, are you? I wanted to end my pain, not my life,” Yabu half-mumbles as he sees the city slowly fade into a mass of trees.

“Stop ruining the surprise, Kou-chan.” Takaki mutters, but Yabu doesn’t stop jabbing his side and he finally relents. “I’m taking you to the beach, you moron!”

“My battery won’t last that long!” Yabu all but protests, he has an essay to finish after all.

“There’s a beach café nearby. We could go there.”

“Will there be coffee?” Yabu thinks he sounds like a caffeine addict, but to his credit it is a very important question.

“Yes, Kota, yes.”

It is barely noon when they hop off the bus, and Yabu pauses for a moment to marvel at how the air is cooling, but not entirely too cold, even at this time of the year. No wonder Takaki enjoys coming here.

Takaki leads the way to a large but old looking hut, judging by the already fading paint on the sides. Needless to say, Yabu is more than pleasantly surprised to find the insides of the hut not only furnished, but heated as well.

“Yuuuuuuuto~” Takaki calls when they enter, leading Yabu to a seat by the window. The view is amazing, and the calm motions of the waves seem to help. The café’s furniture is kept simple, with oak chairs and black and white coffee tables scattered all over. Yabu notices how the owner has taken lots of pictures, and hung them up on strings, decorating the place. The pictures seem to mostly be of a particular man, and Yabu fights a smile at the devotion of the photographer.

“Takaki-kun!” Another chirpy voice calls back. Oh my god, Yabu thinks, more morning people.

The owner of the voice is a tall young boy by the name of Yuto, who apparently owns this café.

“Yuto!” Takaki smiles at the young boy, and Yabu suddenly feels very, very uncomfortable. “This is Kou-chan, my roommate.” Another smile.

Yabu smiles back, “you can just call me Yabu. You own this place by yourself?”

Just before Yuto can answer, a voice calls from the back of the kitchen. “Yutorin, stop flirting with Takaki-kun come over and help me already!”

Yuto looks mildly annoyed as he calls back, “Takaki-kun’s here with his boyfriend, how am I supposed to flirt with him!”

“Boyfriend?” A head peeks through from the kitchen just as Yabu turns to the source of the voice. Yabu meets a pair of curious eyes, recognising him as the man from the pictures. The man’s eyes grow wide, before ducking his head back into the kitchen.

“I’m not-” Yabu starts to say, but Yuto unwittingly cuts him off with a grin.

“That’s Keito, my partner. We own this place together.” Yabu can hear the pride in his voice when he says this. “I better go to the back to calm him down, I think he’s having a mini meltdown because he’s afraid you won’t like his coffee.”

“So?” Takaki’s eyes are hopeful as he stares intently at Yabu. “How do you like this place?”

“I think it’s amazing,” Yabu beams, but then he remembers what Yuto said earlier. “Why didn't you tell them that we aren’t together?”

Yabu hardly catches the look in Takaki’s eyes when he says this, before he dismisses it with a wave. “Yuto’s a little delusional like that. He still refuses to believe that Keito likes him back. It’s been like what, three years?”

“Coffee for you~” Yabu swears there’s a bounce in Yuto’s step as he brings the coffee out, but somehow the boy manages it without spilling anything.

He gets a paragraph into his essay before Takaki disappears, probably to the kitchen to talk to Keito and Yuto, and another paragraph before he comes back.

Another two paragraphs, or what Yabu thinks can pass off as two paragraphs, before he catches Takaki staring out of the window longingly.

“You can go outside, y’know.” Yabu looks up from his laptop, smiling at Takaki. Besides, if Takaki stays, he won’t have anything to do.

“You’ll be okay?” Takaki is hesitant but Yabu nods and his roommate finally leaves the café to take a stroll along the beach.

It’s a few more hours before Yabu thinks he’s done for the day. He stretches in his seat as discreetly as possible, but Yuto sees it and lets out a giggle.

The tall boy plants himself in front of Yabu, in Takaki’s seat and puts two cans of soda down. “Bring this out to him, I think he’ll like that.”

Takaki is sitting by the beach, watching the waves and looking like he walked out of a television commercial.

“Do you think we’ll get to watch the sunset?” Takaki asks, but his voice is much quieter than usual.

Yabu shrugs, plopping himself next to Takaki and wordlessly hands him a can of soda.

“How did you-”

“Yuto.”

Yabu usually hates silences, but this is different. It’s nice in a peaceful way, to sit and wait for the sunset together.

Yabu has seen many sunsets in his life - the perks of having his middle school situated on top of a hill, but none of them were this beautiful. Part of him wants to say it’s also due to how deserted the beach is today, but most of him knows it’s because Takaki’s sitting next to him, their knees almost brushing, watching the sunset together with him.

The end of midterms marks the start of soccer season for Yabu, and this means ending soccer practice only when it’s dark.

Yabu isn’t used to seeing Takaki already there when he gets back to their dorm, the latter being the campus socialite he is. It is more surprising when Takaki doesn’t even see him enter, since Takaki always greets Yabu when he comes back, one way or another. Mostly because Yabu’s usually already in their dorm by the time he arrives, and because Takaki is just extremely sociable.

And nice. Takaki is a great person, Yabu muses.

A deep chuckle breaks Yabu’s thoughts as his attention gets drawn to the freshly showered Takaki in his line of sight. His towel is still draped over his head, and Yabu thinks it makes him look extremely endearing.

Takaki lets out another bark of laughter, and returns to typing on his phone. Yabu squints at this. He takes a moment to consider the possibility of the latter being in a relationship, pushing up his non-existent pair of glasses on the bridge of his nose.

“Hey,” A nudge, as he plops himself next to the man, “who’s that you’re texting?”

Yabu feels like a detective already.

Takaki doesn’t hesitate to reply, “Dai-chan.”

Yabu pouts. So much for a Sherlock moment.

The phone chooses this exact moment to buzz again, and Takaki’s smile only grows wider. Yabu has always liked Takaki’s smile, but something about this smile irks him to no end. It looks like a mixture of nostalgia and contentment, both familiar emotions to Yabu.

Except that Yabu really doesn’t want to see these emotions on Takaki’s face, not when these emotions aren’t for him.

Takaki hasn’t even shoved him off the bed or ushered him into the shower, and Yabu feels his eye twitch at the sparkly heart emojis Takaki types into the mail.

Yabu doesn’t even get any heart emojis, let alone sparkly heart emojis.

He barely spots a “goodnight, baka~” in the message ridden with emojis before Takaki snaps his phone shut and falls backwards onto the bed. A moment later, Takaki notices Yabu’s stinking presence and kicks him off the bed.

“Kota! What the hell, you’re supposed to shower before sitting on this bed!”

Yabu wants to protest, wants to ask more, but Takaki has literally dragged him to the bathroom, and he doesn’t want to deal with a pissed off Takaki. That happened once, and Yabu isn’t planning on going through hell again.

When he finally steps out of the shower, Yabu contemplates asking Takaki if he has a girlfriend, but the latter is fast asleep, with his phone still clutched in his hand. Chuckling to himself, Yabu carefully uncurls Takaki’s fingers from around his phone and places the phone on the bedside table.

As if on cue, the phone vibrates, and before Yabu can stop himself, he reads the message flashing across the screen.

“I’ll be there to keep you company soon, don’t miss me too much! Love you, goodnight!”

Yabu blinks, and goes to get his hair dried.

He doesn't have a good feeling about this.

Meeting Arioka Daiki is a surprise for Yabu, but almost everything about Takaki surprises him.

“Kou-chan, this is Daiki, but we all call him Dai-chan because he’s still so small,” Takaki laughs, reaching out to ruffle the newcomer’s hair affectionately. “He was my junior.”

Ah.

“Shut it, Bakaki.”

The newcomer’s reactions are scarily fast - Takaki’s hand had just barely grazed his head when he graced the latter with a thwack on his head.

Yabu’s people-face freezes for a split second at that action, but quickly regains his composure, extending a hand. “Nice to meet you, Arioka-san.”

“Please, just call me Daiki,” the man replies, taking his hand with a warm smile on his face. Yabu doesn’t really buy it though, with how Daiki’s grip seems a lot tighter than necessary.

He finally understands when he looks back up at Daiki, who had just happened to glance at Takaki.

Yabu is admittedly not the most observant person on the planet, but he somehow recognises the emotions that flash in Daiki’s eyes when he sees it.

It mirrors his own.

It’s a mixture of adoration and something he can’t really place, but it feels like an emotion that he can empathise with.

To Daiki, Takaki is more than a friend.

It hurts a lot more than Yabu has dared himself to imagine, to watch the two of them in their own happy bubble. Yabu blinks, trying to keep up with their conversation as the two easily slip into Kansai-ben, speaking faster than a shinkansen. Yabu only blinks more, as if it will help him understand better, but then Takaki smiles and he gives up trying to keep up with their conversation altogether.

It’s not like Takaki hasn’t mentioned the boy at all, but Yabu thinks that Takaki might have forgotten to mention how close they are, or how much Daiki is infatuated with him.

Then again, Takaki is too oblivious to feelings around him, which is why Yabu’s feelings remain unknown to the younger man. It’s not like Yabu minds watching Takaki from afar; or up close, since they are roommates after all, but the cutesy couple banter is driving Yabu up the wall. He wants to punch the wall.

Yabu doesn’t remember feeling this violent.

Or this jealous.

He texts Hikaru under the table for advice, but the brat only sends him replies with the word “jealous?” and a million winky emojis. Yabu just sulks more.

Of course he is jealous.

Just to spite him, he sends back, “go make out with Inoo.”

It isn’t like Takaki to be later than Yabu, especially during soccer season. It worries him, so he calls Takaki’s cellphone; just to be sure the campus socialite is alright.

The line doesn’t connect.

Yabu panics, and darts out of the door.

At the back of his head, Yabu is immensely thankful for all the hell he’s been through during their soccer trainings, as he sprints from the bus stop all the way to the beach café Takaki brought him to. He is also thankful for the fact that he doesn’t have any matches in the next three days, only hell practice, so Kitayama-san can’t give him too much shit for overworking his muscles.

The ‘closed’ sign on the door only makes Yabu even more paranoid, but he turns just in time to see a figure sitting alone by the shore. Hoping it’s Takaki, he jogs over.

“Yuya,” he breathes, recognising a very familiar pair of ugly slippers as well as a even more familiar mop of hair.

“Kota?” Takaki finally looks up, his voice sounding awfully sad and a little shaky.

Before Yabu can decide whether or not it is a good idea to hug Takaki, the latter stumbles forward, throwing his arms around Yabu’s neck. Yabu’s arms seem to have a mind of their own, as they shoot towards Takaki’s waist, stabilising him.

Yabu is still telling his arms off for the inappropriate behaviour when he feels a wet patch starting to form at the collar of his shirt and stills - Takaki is crying.

Takaki never cries.

Yabu swallows. He knows he’s bad at comforting people; Hikaru used to tell him that a lot. He really doesn’t know what to say, his hand hovering above Takaki’s head before it comes to rest on the crown on his head, as he pulls Takaki closer to him.

Takaki’s hair feels just as soft as it looks, and it makes Yabu’s insides feel warm to know that Takaki relaxes at his touch.

Soon, Takaki’s sobs turn into muffled sniffles, but the hand fisting the edge of Yabu’s shirt hasn’t let go.

And Yabu’s hand hasn’t left Takaki’s hair.

Neither of them has spoken a word since Takaki stopped sniffling, but Yabu is determined to break the silence, or at least, in some way, comfort Takaki.

“I-I” Yabu can’t help but stutter, “don’t really understand what’s going on,” he begins, whispering into Takaki’s hair. “But I’m here, okay? I’m here. If you want to, whenever you feel like it, you can tell me.”

After what feels like forever, Takaki finally nods, and Yabu lets out the breath he’s been holding.

He really hopes Takaki feels better.

It comes as a surprise when Daiki texts him, wanting to meet him somewhere.

From: Unknown Number
To: Yabu Kota

Hi Yabu-kun, can we meet? --Daiki

“Yuya, since when did Daiki have my number?”

“Ah, I gave it to him. He wanted to ask you stuff about your course and I got too lazy to relay the information?” Takaki trails off, a little sheepishly if Yabu had to add.

It surprises him even more that Daiki actually shows up.

“I heard you were there for him when I couldn’t be. Thank you, Yabu-kun, I think I’ll leave Yuya in your care,” Daiki smiles, and for the first time since Yabu has met him, it seems like a real smile.

“What? You’re going to give up on Yuya just like that?” Yabu doesn’t understand. From the looks of it, Daiki cared for Takaki a whole lot more than Yabu did.

Daiki only laughs, “Yuya is a very important person to me. I love him a lot, but not the way you do.”

“But I’ve seen the way you look at him, friends don’t look at each other like-”

“Yuya is the closest thing I have to an actual family. Please take care of him.”

“Wait, so does this mean I brought all these for nothing?” Yabu groans, gesturing to the large file he brought along. Yabu wasn’t very happy to lug the whole file of documents he printed all the way from campus, and learning that he has to lug it back makes him even more unhappy.

“No wait! I do want them!” Daiki scrambles to stop Yabu from taking the file back. “I’m really considering taking up sport sciences in the future, Yabu-kun.”

Yabu huffs, clutching the file towards his chest.

“Uhh, I think you guys will make a cute couple?”

That has Yabu dropping the file in Daiki’s arms in a second.

“Let’s drink!” are the first words Yabu greets Takaki with when he returns to their room. After the incident Takaki refused to speak about, he’d still been rather off sometimes, and Yabu felt that it was his duty as a caring roommate and a very good friend who wants to be more, to cheer him up.

He gets a raised eyebrow from the other man, but Takaki quickly shuts his notebook and scrambles to the floor.

Along the way, Takaki gets bored of simply drinking while playing sad music (his iPod was on shuffle and a sudden Hannah Montana song ruined the mood) and so they end up playing some weird game he came up with.

“What if you turned into a girl for a day?”

“I’d want to be kabedon-ed!” Yabu is quick to answer, raising his hand like a student in class, seemingly very dazed by the alcohol in his system. His sudden outburst comes as a surprise to even him, as he ends up tipping backwards onto the carpeted floor.

“Oof.”

“I could do it now,” Takaki whispers, inching closer towards Yabu and swiftly pinning him to the ground.

“I like you,” Takaki whispers, it’s a voice Yabu doesn’t recognise, but he doesn’t think too much about it, clouded by his drunken haze.

“Bu bu buuuuu!” Yabu singsongs, wagging his finger at Takaki as he promptly shoves him off. “Yuya, it’s called a kabedon for a reason. There has to be a wall,” explains Yabu, flailing his arms as wildly as he can. “Not just any surface would do! Also, I’m not a girl!”

Takaki huffs, his bottom lip jutting out to form the perfect pout. “So picky.”

“What if you had a carrot?” Yabu asks as he shifts, trying to sit upright.

He looks up just in time to see Takaki’s nose crinkle cutely in disgust. “I’d feed it to a starving rabbit!”

“Don’t you like orange? Carrots are orange.”

“Just because I like orange doesn’t mean I have to eat carrots. You don’t see me eating traffic cones do you?” Takaki deadpans, reaching over to knock his beer can on Yabu’s forehead. “And my favourite colour is clear, stupid!”

Yabu scoffs. Even as a rather drunk person, he knows that clear isn’t a colour.

“Are you-” Yabu blinks, trying to get his eyes to focus, before continuing, “drunk yet?”

“What’s a Kansai man if he can’t hold his liquor!” Takaki proclaims loudly with a smack to his chest, but sways a little when Yabu pokes his side. “Hey! That’s not a ‘what if’ question!”

“What if,” Yabu begins, his words slowly slurring as he begins to feel the world tilt, “I told you,” a hiccup, when his head meets the carpet with a thud. “That I loved you?”

He doesn’t know if he imagined it, but he feels fingers in his hair, and a soft whisper of “I would be the happiest man on earth.”

Then, it all turns black.

“Seriously Kou-chan, waiting for you to confess to him is like waiting for Inoo-chan to grow a beard.” Hikaru comments dryly, reaching a hand out to casually stroke Inoo’s bare chin. “See? Nothing.”

Yabu grunts, “I’ll do it soon, okay? Stop bothering me about it, geez.”

“Awww, Yabu-kun is embarrassed,” Inoo singsongs and Yabu head-desks.

Yabu is halfway through practicing what to say when Takaki returns.

“Is this from one of your shopping sprees again?” Takaki asks, gesturing to the balloons filling their room. Takaki’s voice startles him so much he falls off the bed, landing on the carpet in a heap of limbs. Yabu internally curses at himself for being so uncool.

“What’s going on?” Takaki’s voice is questioning, as he notices Yabu’s tuxedo.

Yabu takes a deep breath and clears his throat. Here goes.

“I don’t know when or how it happened, but I started to have feelings for you. With every passing day, I fall more in love with you. I don’t know if I’m asking for too much, for someone like you to like someone like me. I don’t know if you were being serious that day when you tried to kabedon me, but that’s fine. I’m being serious now.”

Yabu burns a deep shade of crimson when he says this, looking into Takaki’s eyes. “I want to be your reason for happiness.”

It starts of as a deep chuckle, then it becomes a fit of giggles, and all of a sudden Yabu is standing in their room awkwardly with a bouquet of flowers while Takaki keels over with laughter, clapping his hands like a seal.

Yabu groans. This is really awkward.

“You are the reason I smile, Yuya. But for some reason, lately you haven’t been smiling a lot and that bothers me, okay?” Yabu sighs, putting the bouquet away as he steps closer to grab Takaki’s hand.

“I want you to know that you’re not alone, Yuya. You have me; you have all your friends from your course. Heck, you even have Daiki. You don’t have to keep all your feelings bottled up; it’s really not good for you. You can tell anyone of us, really. Except if you were to tell Daiki I would get quite jealous but that’s okay, at least you’re not keeping it all in, y’know?”

“Ahh, so that’s what the little shit was talking about.” Takaki muses out loud, completely missing the point.

“You see? You call him a little shit with so much affection!” Yabu finds himself whining as he frowns at Takaki.

“You want me to call you a little shit?”

“No! That’s not the point!” Yabu groans, unconsciously stamping his foot on the ground.

“I get it, I get it, don’t get mad at me okay? You’re ruining the whole confession mood,” Takaki chuckles, but Yabu feels Takaki’s grip on their connected hands tighten. “I’ll let you know soon. Don’t worry, okay?”

“So is that a yes?” Yabu grins, his voice eager.

“If you clear all of this up, yeah.”

Yabu beams, throwing his arms around Takaki. Unprepared, the latter lets out a rather girly squeal and the both of them tumble onto his bed.

Yabu should be embarrassed with how they are both giggling like schoolgirls as he wraps himself around Takaki, but he abandons this thought in favour of pressing a light kiss on the latter’s forehead. It doesn’t last long, as Takaki isn’t having any of it, yanking Yabu’s head down so that their lips can meet for a searing kiss.

Their kisses feel even hotter with the fluttery feeling Yabu gets in his chest, like he’s kissing for the first time, even though he knows it isn’t. He can’t remember his first kiss now, with Takaki’s lips on his. He can’t remember anything else.

That should bother him, but right now he’s too busy kissing Takaki.

Suddenly Takaki pulls away with a strange look on his face, and Yabu has to bite back a whine at the loss.

“What is it?” Yabu tries not to sound annoyed, distracting himself with brushing away Takaki’s bangs that are sticking to his forehead.

“I need a shower,” Takaki grumbles, promptly shoving Yabu off the bed.

Still on the ground, Yabu can’t resist the urge to poke fun at Takaki. “Is it going to be a cold shower?”

Takaki flips him the bird.

Yabu can’t help but beam at how the heater was never switched on.

“Kou-chan,” Takaki begins, his voice hesitant. “I should probably call home, right?”

When the line finally connects, Yabu passes the phone to Takaki with a reassuring smile.

Yabu feels Takaki’s grip on his hand tighten as a female voice filters through the speakers.

“Mama?”