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Haruka awakens to an unfamiliar sight.
Or, it’s unfamiliar at first. Between the glow-in-the-dark stars plastered on the ceiling and the gentle sunlight seeping in through the slight crack of the blackout curtains he knows he doesn’t own, it’s a bit baffling to wake up to such a place. Haruka is still halfway in dreamland, yet when he attempts to go back to sleep, he feels something hard nudge into his cheek.
He groans in annoyance, trying to roll away and over to his other side, but the mattress disappears from under his body and he almost falls off. Haruka tightens his fingers into the sheets, gripping them like they’re a lifeline, and forces his eyes open with another groan.
From here, he can piece things together.
He’s not in his own dorm room. Instead, he’s over at Akihiko’s, and the thing that poked into his cheek earlier must’ve been one of Hayato’s many pointy joints. The three of them gathered together last night for a sleepover, a rare occasion, since Akihiko’s roommate is usually there too. But Sugishita visits his grandparents’ house every other weekend, so they had the dorm to themselves. And despite Akihiko’s bed definitely not being made for three people, they piled onto it together anyway. Well, they had to drag Hayato on, but the consensus remains.
Haruka lifts his head, trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes. Indeed, his partners are laying next to him, both of them still sound asleep.
…At least he thinks. Akihiko certainly is—his limbs are sprawled out in some poor mimicry of a starfish, one of his legs wrapped around Hayato’s, and one of his hands hanging off the ledge above. Soft snores escape his lips here and there. Haruka feels a smile pulling at his lips just at the mere sight.
Hayato, on the other hand, is a little more suspicious. He remains with his back ramrod straight and his arms folded across his chest, and his expression gives the impression of utter peace, but between the three of them, Hayato is always the one who wakes up first. It’s a bit weird that Haruka is up before him.
Is he even asleep? Or is the bastard just faking it? It’s not like he can get up anyway, since he’s stuck in the middle—Haruka has been told that he’s a bit of a cuddler, much to his embarrassment. And Akihiko has an iron grip even when he’s asleep, so if he gets a limb around you, it’s over.
Leaning closer, Haruka inspects Hayato’s face, searching for any sign of consciousness. Just a muscle twitch, or the ghost of a smile…
When he finds none of that, Haruka relaxes back into his original position, pressing his face into Hayato’s shoulder. Good. They all should sleep in—college has been especially tough on all of their asses, so on the rare day where none of them have classes or anything to study for, they should utilise it well. And Haruka would never complain about getting more sleep.
Before he can truly drift off and go back into his slumber, he feels Hayato shifting next to him. He twists, an arm coming up to give Haruka more space. When gentle fingers start running through his hair, Haruka stiffens in surprise, a warm sensation crawling down his spine.
Hayato, ever perceptive, notices. “Haruka-kun?” he whispers, fingers stilling. “Are you awake?”
Haruka remains stubbornly quiet. He doesn’t want to have been caught enjoying this, or something equally embarrassing.
Unfortunately, he’s never quite been able to get anything past his partners. Hayato chuckles softly, and even the shake of his chest against Haruka’s face is enough to get him blushing. He knows his ruse is blown.
“Go back to sleep,” Hayato says, resuming his ministrations. Haruka barely manages to stop himself from pushing up into his fingers, seeking for more. “Aki-kun isn’t awake yet, either.”
Yeah, because Akihiko sleeps like a log. Haruka once watched him sleep through three alarms and a thunderstorm. He sleeps especially well when Haruka or Hayato are around.
Haruka brings one of his own hands up, curling into the front of Hayato’s sleep shirt and clutching the fabric. It’s stupid, but he doesn’t want Hayato to go just yet. He always feels like he has to hold onto him extra tight, or he’ll get up and disappear into the forest one day.
“Haruka-kun?” Hayato asks. Curious, but not exactly flinching from Haruka’s grasp just yet. He counts his blessings.
With a burst of impulsivity that Haruka will later blame on his tiredness, he mutters, “Stay here.”
He feels the way Hayato tenses, muscles growing rigid for just a millisecond. Then he relaxes, and Haruka breathes out a sigh of relief. “Okay.”
He slips in and out of consciousness after that, to the sound of Akihiko’s soft snores and the feel of Hayato’s fingers in his hair. By the time Akihiko’s alarm rings, Haruka feels like a puddle of goo.
He doesn’t want to get up. Judging by the groan Akihiko just let out, he’s not the only one.
Unfortunately, they have one partner that somehow seems to rise with the sun. Hayato reaches over to turn the alarm off, and then he’s shaking the both of them awake, much to Haruka’s chagrin. “Aki-kun, Haruka-kun. It’s time to get up.”
“Five more minutes,” Haruka shoots back. Akihiko lets out a muffled noise of agreement.
“It’s already nine.”
“It’s only nine.” Haruka buries his face into the pillow. God, his eyes hurt. Can too much sleep do that to you? Hayato pokes his shoulder a little harder, and he mutters a curse. “No… Go bother Akihiko.”
Akihiko rolls over to face the wall, tugging the blanket with him, a silent but loud way of saying hell no. Hayato sighs.
“Fine,” he agrees. “Five minutes.”
Five turns into ten, and ten turns into thirty. By the time Haruka is finally dragging his feet out of bed, it’s nearing a quarter to the next hour. Hayato is shooting them dirty looks about it, but they dissipate when Akihiko plants a kiss on his cheek as an apology.
Sap. Haruka would make fun of him for it if he didn’t immediately melt after receiving a kiss of his own.
After all three of them have gotten ready for the day, Akihiko is dragging them out to run errands. He has a grocery list for all of them in his notebook, personalised based on their tastes and what they currently have in their respective dorms. Haruka takes his and frowns when he notices a significantly greater amount of vegetables on his list than Hayato’s or Akihiko’s.
“Because you don’t eat enough,” Akihiko replies seriously after he complains.
“Shouldn’t I have more in my fridge if I’m not eating them? Why would I need to buy more?”
“Because Momijikawa-san ends up eating them before they go bad! He told me himself!”
Haruka grumbles under his breath. His roommate is a damn traitor.
The walk to the supermarket is relatively short, but with the current weather, it’s still enough to get Haruka sweating. He breathes out a sigh of relief the moment they enter the store and he’s blasted with a wave of air conditioning.
Hayato is making a beeline for the tea leaves already, leaving them to their own devices. Akihiko nudges Haruka pointedly towards the vegetables aisle, saying, “I promised Sugishita-san that I’d stock up on milk, so I’m going to get that first. I’ll find you again later?”
Haruka nods in agreement, so Akihiko sets off too. That leaves him alone.
He clutches the grocery list in his hand, huffing at the little doodle Akihiko added in the corner. It’s a black and white kitten telling him to eat his greens. Haruka better listen to it.
Just as Haruka is about to go to the cashier and pay for his things, his eyes hover over the florist’s display stand, and he pauses.
Haruka doesn’t make it a habit to take care of plants, but Momijikawa brings some to the dorm to liven up the place sometimes. He hasn’t done it in a while, though, and their dining table has been looking a little empty…
Haruka walks closer, looking at the selection. There’s flowers in all sorts of colours and sizes, some of them yet to bloom fully in their paper bags. His finger brushes over some of the purple ones… Lavender? Are they in season? Hayato would probably know something like this better, so maybe Haruka should ask him.
His eyes continue to drift over the other options, and he ends up grabbing a bunch of sunflowers. They’re tall and a ridiculously bright shade of yellow, almost blinding when under the supermarket’s fluorescent lights, but Haruka kind of likes them—they seem like Akihiko’s mimosa hair.
“Those flowers sure remind me of someone.”
Haruka nearly jumps out of his skin. He whips his head around to see Hayato leaning over his shoulder with an innocent smile, though the bastard definitely knows what he’s doing—has seen through Haruka’s stupid gooey thoughts and is subtly making fun of him for it.
With a slight blush, he raises a leg, trying to kick Hayato’s shins, and curses when he’s expertly dodged. “Shut up. You don’t need to say it.”
“Oh, but I haven’t said anything yet.”
“Your face is saying it.” Haruka rolls his eyes, forcing the sunflowers into Hayato’s hands. Then he turns back around, looking through the display again, and after a bit of thought, also picks out some peach blossoms. A sweet shade of pink and clustered together adorably.
“I’m surprised those are still in season,” Hayato notes absentmindedly. He raises an eyebrow when Haruka pushes them into his hands as well. “Since when were you an appreciator of nature?”
“…Just ‘cause they remind me of you,” Haruka mutters, stalking away before he can see Hayato’s expression. He might combust on the spot if Hayato so much as breathes another word.
Luckily, Hayato has decided to spare him the embarrassment today and just follows after him with a pleased hum. Dumbass.
They reunite with Akihiko once they’ve all paid for their respective things. Then it becomes a debate on whether they should get lunch before returning (which means continuing to lug their groceries around, which Akihiko is reluctant to do), or returning to the dorms first and coming back out for lunch (which means two more trips in this heat, and Haruka would rather tear his skin off).
Both of them glance at Hayato to try and gauge his opinion. Hayato blinks back at them, surprised, before he says, “Why don’t I carry all your things back, and you two head on to have lunch?”
“Fuck no,” Haruka replies immediately, while Akihiko lets out a sigh. “You’re not escaping that easily!”
They end up going for lunch first, dragging Hayato with them. Haruka carries Akihiko’s things for him as compensation.
Haruka slams his hands on the table, pointing aggressively at Hayato. “There’s no way! You’re cheating!”
In response, Hayato raises his empty hands before pushing the messy stack of cards in the centre over to Haruka. “Don’t be a sore loser, Haruka-kun. I’ve been winning fair and square.”
“You had three cards in your hand just five seconds ago! I counted!”
“You must be seeing things. Maybe it’s time you visit the optometrist?”
Haruka’s teeth grind together as he plants himself back down on the ground, gathering the cards grumpily. He should’ve known better than to play UNO with his horrible bastard of a partner. And he’s not actually convinced that Hayato hasn’t been stuffing his extra cards into his pockets when they’re not looking. Maybe he should enlist Akihiko’s help and check him right now. Or maybe he should start hiding the cards to win. He’ll eat them or something.
“One more round,” Haruka mutters darkly. “I’m gonna win this time.”
(He loses the next round. And the round after that.)
After an excessive afternoon of card games, Akihiko has stepped back in the utter form of betrayal and decided to start working on some of his assignments.
Not that Haruka can really blame him—Akihiko always has so many reports and essays to write for his degree, which is something he knows he enjoys, but still. They’re so time-consuming. Haruka might die if he had to do the same.
Currently, Akihiko is seated by his desk, typing away at his laptop. Haruka is lounging on the floor, resting his chin on one of Akihiko’s throw pillows and playing some cat puzzle game that Kiryu recommended to him a while ago—why is this level so damn difficult, anyway? And Hayato is next to him, reading a book.
It’s pretty peaceful, all things considered. Haruka likes hanging out like this, with just the three of them all doing their own thing. And he gets to sneak glances at his partners every now and then without them noticing too. He’ll stare at Akihiko’s focused expression or the pretty shade of Hayato’s eye and quietly admire them for simply existing.
Even then, he gets kind of restless if there’s nothing to do for too long. Haruka gives up on his puzzle game and rolls over, laying on his back instead. His eyes drop to Hayato’s earrings, glinting subtly when he shifts his head, and without really thinking, Haruka reaches out to bat at them.
The tassels flutter and fly before settling back on Hayato’s shoulder. Hayato barely budges.
Ugh. What’s the point if there’s no reaction? Stubbornly, Haruka does it again, adding a little more force behind his hit.
This time, Hayato pulls his eyes away from his book, raising an eyebrow as a silent gesture.
Haruka shrugs back. He’s bored out of his mind, and Hayato is free. Surely there’s something more interesting to do.
Suddenly, Hayato’s eye lights up, mischief forming and swirling around in his iris. He slides a bookmark between the pages he was reading, gently shutting the book and setting it by his side. Then he crawls over, and Haruka tenses like a coiled snake waiting to strike when Hayato rests his arms by his head, hovering over him.
“Ha-ru-ka-kun!” he says, punctuating each cheerful syllable with a little poke to Haruka’s cheeks. His eye flickers to Akihiko, who hasn’t paid them any attention yet, and a smile grows on his face. It has evil intentions, Haruka thinks. Dangerous.
“What?” he hisses back, glancing at Akihiko as well. Akihiko hasn’t turned around—he has his earpieces on, so he likely didn’t hear them at all.
Hayato uses his fingertip and tilts Haruka’s chin up. Immediately, a hot blush blooms over his cheeks, and he scowls when Hayato leans in closer.
“You want Aki-kun to pay attention to you, right?” Hayato whispers, his lips mere inches away from Haruka’s own ones.
He doesn’t know what he should focus on—the nearly nonexistent distance between their lips, or the extremely false accusation that Hayato just threw at him. Haruka does not want attention. What the fuck? Hayato’s just projecting!
“You want Akihiko’s attention,” he huffs, refusing to be painted by this narrative. He’ll hold his ground stubbornly until Hayato tells him the truth. Surely. “And we shouldn’t… He’s studying…”
It’s almost comedic, this intense discussion happening while Akihiko is only a few metres away. What would he say, if he turned around and caught the two of them sprawled onto the ground like idiots, staring each other down?
Hayato hums, pretending to think. “I don’t know… He really ought to pay more attention to you, since you’re so needy…”
Needy?! An affronted gasp bursts past Haruka’s lips as he shoves at Hayato, trying to flip their positions. Hayato just laughs and settles his legs around Haruka’s waist, caging him there, and Haruka drags him forward by the front of his shirt in retaliation. Fucking asshole.
“Liar,” he mutters, and pushes their lips together with a furious blush.
They continue scuffling around a bit more, and Haruka curses his stupidly dodgy, evasive partner a thousand times in his head as he fails to really kick Hayato off of him. Hayato bites at his lips with every foul word that leaves his mouth, and Haruka wraps his hands around Hayato’s neck, trying to keep him still.
They get so caught up in it that they don’t realise Akihiko has noticed them messing around until they get a pillow thrown at their faces.
“I’m studying!” Akihiko scolds, though there’s no heat behind his words. In fact, he looks like he’s trying not to laugh. “Do that somewhere else!”
Hayato immediately straightens back up, his face the picture-perfect example of innocence. He points a sharp finger at Haruka. “Haruka-kun started it.”
“What?!”
“I doubt that,” Akihiko mutters with an eye roll. “Go back to your own dorm if you want to make out.”
Ouch. A rejection. But it’s not enough for Hayato to let up, who bats his eyelashes, giving Akihiko a look like a kicked puppy. Haruka almost falls for it too.
“Oh, but Aki-kun, how could we make out without you in between us?”
At the suggestive tone, Akihiko’s eyebrows pinch together, a slight shade of pink smattering across his cheeks. Haruka covers his own burning face in his hands. He’s going to kill someone. Maybe himself.
“…Just let me finish this paragraph,” Akihiko relents, turning back to his laptop.
Hayato bursts out laughing, not even bothering to dodge the swipe that Haruka gives him this time. Conniving little bastard.
“Haruka-san, Hayato-san,” Akihiko says with a teary expression. He spreads his arms out as far as possible and his fingers narrowly avoid hitting the doorway. “I loooove you!”
Haruka thinks this whole exchange is entirely unnecessary, but whenever they part ways, Akihiko always has to do this. He doesn’t really get it—they see each other almost every day, so what’s the point?
Alas, no one can escape one of Akihiko’s hugs, so he lets himself be pulled in alongside Hayato, huffing when Akihiko squeals in delight. Even if he doesn’t get it, as long as it makes Akihiko happy…
“You’re supposed to say it back,” Akihiko whines when there’s no response from either of them.
Haruka buries a groan into Akihiko’s shoulder. Hayato is already saying it, with a little sing-song tone that implies he’s joking around, but Haruka knows there’s sincerity behind that laugh. He and Akihiko used to spend ages digging that genuineness out of him.
“…Love ya,” Haruka pushes out after an expectant silence. He’s pretty sure his ears are blushing too. Fuck, he needs to drown in a river.
Akihiko does an excited little jump, nearly choking them both with his ridiculously strong arms. “Okay! Bye bye! I’ll see you both tomorrow!”
That casual assurance makes Haruka smile. He won’t say it, but he likes hearing the confirmation that they’ll still be together tomorrow. And the day after that, with hopefully many more days to come.
“See you,” Haruka agrees, and he and Hayato leave Akihiko’s dorm together, making their way back to their own rooms.