Chapter Text
There was nothing like the sound of your roommates moaning in the morning. Chikara genuinely couldn’t wait to move out and find a new roommate, but at least he was only stuck with Kinnoshita and Narita for the last week of the holiday.
When the dean had asked them whether they wanted to stay in the same place or move rooms, Chikara had never answered a question so fast. He loved his friends more than words could describe, but trying to study with them meeting up in the room was like trying to complete an essay at a theme park. They would start with screaming over video games, watching a volleyball match in the background, and one thing would lead to another and Chikara was not staying around for that ride.
This is how he often found himself in the study area, his Friday Free pizza on the table amongst his various textbooks and work notes. This is what he was driven to, this is what he was forced to become; a man studying physical therapy and health sciences eating pizza for the third time that week.
There was a small benefit though.
At this time in the lower levels of the library, the sun set hours ago, the small hanging lights set the perfect atmosphere. And there were barely any people to bother him and yell about how Zelda was an androgenous icon; no matter how true it is, Chikara enjoyed his quiet time.
So, lo and behold, when someone struts into the study so loudly, their music thudding and audible even from the other end of the room (that had to be hurting their ears…), Chikara was basically at the end of his rope.
He sighed, bookmarking his textbooks and collecting his piles of notes, ready to throw a mini tantrum and possibly buy himself a box of well-deserved donuts on the way home.
But a gentle, deep voice broke him out of his huff;
“Hey,” they said, pulling their headphones off their beanie clad head, “I’ll turn it down, you’re all good.”
Their smile could only be described as blinding, and the ambience of the library sure helped to highlight the strong bone structure the other had, the tiny freckles on his cheeks dancing with their smile. Their lip piercing glinted in the low light, dancing as they smiled even wider while Chikara sat back down.
“I can even take off my boots if they’re being too loud,” they said, plopping down at a desk on the opposite side of the study hall, sitting cross legged as they pulled off their shoes. “I’m not used to anyone being in here.”
Maybe it was because he was tired, or maybe he just hadn’t talked to someone with an idea of how to be mindful of others' social batteries, but Chikara couldn’t deny the way his heart clenched, butterflies erupting in his stomach. He frowned to himself. Sure, this person was incredibly attractive, but even Chikara, your local gay disaster, was surprised by his strong reaction to a person he hadn’t spoken a word to.
Had he just not interacted with real people in ages, or was this leather and piercing clad hottie just incredibly sweet?
They put their jacket on the back of their chair, turning their seat around to lean their head against the backrest while they set out their study books. Their beanie had tiny little embroidered patches, and Chikara wondered what they all meant, wanting to run his fingers along the small threads. He had to literally slap his hand against his leg, stopping his train of thought before he imagined marrying the dude. What was up with him today?
He knew he needed to study, that was literally the whole point of coming to the library at 10pm on a Friday; but this person was so enrapturing, Chikara found it a little hard to focus.
After a while, their comfortable silence and the white noise of another pen scrawling, pages being flipped through, brought his mind back to his studies. Heck, he hadn’t been able to focus this well the entire holiday. He had never gotten so many readings done in the space of an hour, writing his notes and studying more efficiently than he had all year.
He almost wished he’d done this for his final exams, and not for writing his yearly revision notes. He felt so zoned in, so focused and in the moment that he barely registered the library clerk coming into the room.
“Fellas,” she chimed, hand on her hip and looking at her trim golden watch. “The library is closed.”
Chikara looked up, stunned.
How was it 2am already?
He looked over at his study mate who, as respectful as ever, was bowing and apologising, collecting their notes and books in hurried motions. Chikara quickly followed, putting his books in his bag.
“Sorry, Kiyoko,” Chikara responded weakly, clutching his pizza box to his chest and slinging his bag over his shoulder.
He bowed as he shuffled through the exit, entering into autopilot to get him home. He glanced over his shoulder, his secret study buddy nowhere to be seen. Chikara had to crush the small spike of sadness in his gut; he didn’t even know their name.
He sighed, walking along the path to the dorms. Surely his roommates would be done by now.
Chikara was enraptured, wondering if there was some way he could avoid seeing his two best friends curled lovingly on a single bed while he was out studying on a fine Friday, when he felt a light tap on the shoulder.
“Hey! I’m the guy from the library,” they greeted, falling into stride alongside Chikara easily. “That was one heck of a study session, huh.”
He turned to the man beside him, his eyes bugging from their sockets.
“Oh sorry,” they whisper-shouted, “I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m Tanaka, they/he pronouns. What had you studying at midnight?”
Chikara could only giggle at the man’s softness, especially considering his starkly rough exterior. Their soft eyes shouldn’t fit so well among their carved face and his sculpted muscle, but they gleamed at him nonetheless. They almost looked like pools of hot chocolate, sweet and deep brown.
“You’re all good, Tanaka,” Chikara mumbled, smiling down at his pizza box. “I’m Ennoshita by the way, I use he/him pronouns. I was just doing some note finalising to get ready for the new year.”
Tanaka let out the softest, goofiest laugh beside him, fiddling with the silver eyebrow bar that sat in their arched brow. “I wish I had my shit together like that,” he giggled, smiling at Chikara.
He felt his heartbeat rise with the compliment, his breath catching in his throat
The bar is on the floor. A dude compliments me and I’m swooning.
“Well, you must have your shit together in some way cause you were studying too,” he replied, arching his eyebrow as he looked into Tanaka’s eyes.
Tanaka’s smile only widened, showing the deep dimples on both his tan cheeks. His hand came to scruff the short hairs at the back of his neck with a small laugh.
“Yeah well,” he started, kicking at the stones on the pathway as they walked, “I study cause if I don’t, I’ll barely pass.”
“Well, at least you have the conviction to study at all, I think that’s pretty cool.”
They walked in comfortable silence, the grounding noise of Tanaka’s boots on the concrete keeping Chikara from sleeping as he walked. Before long, they neared the campus living blocks.
“Well,” Chikara started, hugging his now stone cold pizza box to his chest. He motioned towards his building with his head. “This is me.”
“Okay,” Tanaka laughed, bringing their hand to the back of their neck, “see you around, Enno!”
As Chikara shuffled up the stairs to his dorm, he couldn’t help but feel kinda happy his friends wanted the place to themselves tonight, Tanaka’s laugh playing over in his head. He opened the door to find the two of them tangled together on his bed, a few empty bottles cluttering their small living room table.
Okay, maybe he wasn’t quite happy for them.
-
He really didn’t know why he found himself trudging to the library again the next night; he’d gotten almost all of his notes finalised and ready to start the new year. The others weren’t even in his dorm today, he just wanted to be out.
He definitely didn’t want to sit in the library and waste time on his laptop hoping Tanaka would waltz in wearing another assortment of leather and black denim. Of course not.
When he got to the library, though, and there was no sight of the beanie clad man, his heart sank just a little.
He plopped himself into his usual desk, pulling out his laptop. Maybe now was a good time to work on dorm applications. They were closing soon.
As he scrolled through the different dorm options still available, he barely registered anyone’s presence until he heard the chair at the other end of the desk being pulled out.
Chikara couldn’t help but jump, his eyes blowing wide at the sudden noise. He looked up, shocked that he didn’t hear any footsteps, and was met with the deep, chocolate eyes from yesterday.
“Gods, I’m so sorry,” Tanaka mumbled, pulling his beanie off to scruff his shaven head. “I really didn’t want to scare you.”
Chikara giggled, letting himself relax back into his seat.
“You looked really focused,” Tanaka noted, shuffling around with their own bag and books. “Whatcha working on?”
Chikara sighed, ruffling the hairs at the back of his neck and staring back at his screen.
“I have to sort out all this dorm shit before next week,” he grumbled, continuing to scroll through the application document. “That new dorm building is opening but I don’t have anyone to room with.”
“What’s wrong with your current roommate?” Tanaka looked up at him, their head resting steadily in their hand. Were all guys this effortlessly gorgeous?
“Well, he’s in a grossly adorable relationship with a friend of ours,” Chikara sighed lightly, lifting the back of his hand to rest against his forehead in a dramatic act of pain. “Woe is me, I don’t wanna be reminded of my loneliness any longer.”
He let himself giggle at his own antics when he heard Tanaka try to mask an incredibly boisterous laugh. He was quickly distracted, though, by a pizza box.
“Ah, you were smart enough to bring food.”
Tanaka laughed half-heartedly, a deep blush rising on their tan cheeks.
“Ya see,” they started, fiddling with the edge of his discarded notebook. “I was kinda hoping you’d be here tonight.”
Chikara couldn’t help the way his heart jumped from his throat, a blush of his own blossoming.
“I thought we could have dinner together while we studied? I even wore my vans so you wouldn’t get annoyed by the stomping, see!”
Tanaka continued to pull their foot up onto the table, showing his well worn vans, covered in what looked like hand embroidered shapes and coloured patches. Tanaka groaned, letting his foot fall back to the floor.
“God, I am not flexible enough for that,” they whispered to themself, looking down at his feet as he shuffled back into a comfortable position.
“Well, anyway, feel free to eat as much as you like,” he said, gesturing to the box of pizza before opening their laptop and throwing themselves into their work.
They continued like that for a while, scrolling through their respective laptops and munching on the pizza in comfortable silence. As they sat together, Chikara thought idly that he hadn’t felt this level of peace in a long time, let alone with a stranger.
“So, I was thinking,” Tanaka started, lifting his attention from his laptop.
“Oh, don’t hurt yourself,” Chikara replied, quirking an eyebrow at Tanaka from over his books.
“Yeah whatever,” Tanaka laughed, rolling their eyes. “What I was going to say was, I could be your roommate.”
Chikara felt his eyes widen, his mouth hanging open a little. “You wanna room with me?”
“Well,” they said, motioning between them with their hands. “Neither of us have a roommate, and I don’t think either of us want a randomised pick.”
Chikara’s lip curled in disgust as he imagined his randomised roommate; he had only heard bad things from his other friends about them. Kinnoshita had gotten stuck with a dude who threw parties in their tiny dorm every other night.
“Sounds like a good plan,” Chikara replied, looking up at Tanaka who was already smiling ear to ear. Chikara wondered what it would feel like to run his fingers across those smooth, tan cheeks while they were smiling.
They quickly filled out their applications, swapping laptops to put their own details in. And as they submitted the final document, Chikara didn’t know whether he should be relieved that he finally had a roommate, or scared at the prospect of sharing a room with someone he considered generally distracting. Maybe a bit of both.
-
The new building on campus was right near the science and medicine buildings, making it the perfect location for Chikara. It was barely a two minute walk to the physical therapy lecture theatre and maybe five minutes to his morning coffee joint. The building itself had an entire floor decked out with study spaces and a quiet chatting lounge, so he would never have to venture far to study in peace, and maybe even a bit of a rest from his studies. It was far enough from the main roads, was close to the grocery store, and he even had a private kitchen and shower. It was almost perfect.
As he walked into the dorm, the small kitchen off to the right immediately stole his attention, the gas oven and smooth island bench basically begging to be used to make stress cookies. Off to the left was a quaint bathroom before the hallway opened up to a larger lounge area, complete with a television no bigger than his laptop and a couch that could probably seat less than two people. He couldn’t help but think as he turned to the bedroom that this dorm was almost perfect.
Almost.
A few of the deans had mentioned they were still furnishing some of the rooms, and a few small pieces were missing. And when Chikara unlocked the door to his new room, he couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh.
There was only one bed.
“Small pieces missing, huh,” Chikara mumbled to himself, dragging his luggage over to the shared room.
Chikara quickly made his way back into the hallway, catching the familiar staff member as they walked down the hall.
“Hey, Ushijima,” he called, stopping the brown haired dean in his tracks. He almost looked pained having to turn around, barely lifting his attention from his clipboard.
“Respectfully, sir, I wouldn’t consider a bed a minor lack in furnishing,” Chikara began, trying his hardest to keep his voice neutral. “Especially for a room with two people.”
“To be frank with you Ennoshita,” the dean began, looking up from his clipboard. “You second years have your own lounge, kitchen and bathroom. I don’t think you’re in a position to complain.”
Chikara wanted to be upset, he wanted to be angry that they hadn’t planned their furnishing before letting students apply; but Ushijima had a point. And he was genuinely excited to live in this new place; a while on the couch wasn’t going to kill him.
A gentle hand came to rest on his shoulder, bringing him out of his thoughts.
“How long until the next furniture delivery?” Tanaka’s voice was butter smooth and, unfortunately for Chikara’s rather active imagination, much deeper in the early hours of the morning.
“Well, it shouldn’t be over a week,” Ushijima answered, eyes back on his clipboard as he stepped away, waving at them dismissively. “Now, go set yourselves up.”
-
Unpacking their dorm was a relatively uneventful experience, the most awkward part being that neither of them wanted to address their sleeping arrangement. They chose their sides of the shared room, and took turns unpacking their belongings into their bathroom. Chikara could feel his excitement bubbling at the prospect of getting to know Tanaka, at the idea of getting actual peace and quiet in his dorm.
As his classes actually started, he was easily frustrated; how could they even consider these classes? Every lecture he went to, every lab he turned up to was riddled with introductory activities, names thrown at each other only to be forgotten seconds later. This was easily the worst part of the start of the semester, the needless meddling and guidance through the syllabus they were already meant to have read. He couldn’t help but feel like it was a waste of a day, dragging himself from class to class only to cover everything in the prerequisites (why are they called prerequisites if the lecturer is going to cover it anyway?). He was suddenly incredibly aware of the decreased distance between the lecture theatre and his dorm, shuffling easily to his sparkly new kitchen to make cookies that surely wouldn’t disappoint him.
He’d been in such a rush to start up his cookies that he didn’t realise Tanaka shuffling around the lounge room, neatly setting up the frankly tiny couch in efforts to create something mildly bedlike. Chikara just watched, plate of fresh cookies in hand, as Tanaka fluffed up his pillow and arranged it on the armrest, probably in a futile attempt to make it less agonising on the neck.
Chikara couldn’t help the pang of disappointment he felt; it’s not like he’d even thought about them sleeping in the same bed, but now that he knew it wasn’t happening he can’t say he was very happy to have received bed privileges.
“You know,” Chikara interrupts, talking further into the room, “I’m a bit shorter, so I could take the couch. Don’t want you hurting your neck.”
“I couldn’t have you sleeping on the couch though,” Tanaka replies, eyes still trained on fixing up the makeshift bed. “Wouldn’t be very nice of me, would it?”
Chikara scoffs, smiling softly as he rolls his eyes and sits on the arm of the couch. He stretches the plate out to Tanaka, offering them a cookie. “So does that make me rude then?”
Tanaka whips their head up to face him, their cookie all but forgotten as he waves his hands in denial. They quickly calm as they watch Chikara’s cheeky smile grow, a small smile of their own forming before bringing the cookie back to their mouth. Chikara shyly admits to himself that he missed seeing those little dimples throughout his day.
“There’s no way you could be rude making cookies like that,” Tanaka replies, taking another cookie from the plate.
“You know, it might be more comfortable to just share the bed,” Chikara offers, suddenly shy at even mentioning it.
“As if a single bed with two grown men will be any better,” Tanaka argues with a laugh. “Honestly, I’ll be fine. My sister used to make me sleep on the floor whenever a guest came over, a small couch is a luxury.”
Chikara sat on the arm of the couch for a while, enjoying the calm quietness that he quickly associated with Tanaka. There was no pressure to talk as they sat and mindlessly ate the freshly baked cookies, both lost in their own thoughts. Chikara felt himself drift, the day of hard, and arguably useless, work was finally taking its toll. He had half a mind to rest his head, accidentally placing it on Tanaka’s shoulder instead of the back of the couch. Tanaka didn’t seem to mind though, lifting their hand to mindlessly card their hands through Chikara’s hair.
It took Chikara a few moments to collect himself, letting his eyes drift shut as he thought through his night routine. He was suddenly very aware of Tanaka’s body, pressed up along his side and their thick fingers rubbing soothing circles into his scalp. Chikara felt himself tense, suddenly much more awake, and sat upright, whipping his head around to look at his roommate, his own shocked expression no doubt mirroring theirs as their hand hovered mid air.
“Ah,” Tanaka mumbled, looking at his own hand as if it were a traitor. “Sorry, habit.”
Chikara felt his eyebrow raise on its own accord. Did Tanaka have a partner? And he was just curled up to them? What would his partner think? Oh no, what if-
“I used to give my sister head massages when she got back from work,” Tanaka mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck as a soft smile broke his worried expression. “She always worked long hours and then went straight to band practice.”
Chikara felt himself melt back into the couch, curling up against the backrest and watching as Tanaka talked about his sister, Saeko, and their crazy sibling rivalry. He felt himself start to drift off again while Tanaka was talking him through the summer of Saeko’s last year of uni, and the Night of the Ice Cream Incident.
He was shaken awake and he was suddenly aware of the fact that it was much darker, Tanaka leaning over him with the softest smile on their face.
“Off to bed, sleepyhead,” Tanaka mumbled, helping Chikara up and off the couch.
He bid a quick goodnight before shuffling towards the room and seeing that the bed was already all set up for him. As he tucked himself in and got comfy, he looked up at the ceiling of his new place and couldn’t help but think about how he wouldn’t mind every night being like tonight.