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Neither of them had ever thought they would experience mutual love at any point in their lives at NRC—much less with someone who was almost entirely their opposite.
Their love had grown from simple games; trust slowly deepened as time passed. Idia found himself comfortable enough to speak while maintaining eye contact, and Azul allowed himself to be vulnerable every now and then with that boy with enchanting eyes.
A nickname he would never dare to say out loud.
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Idia clearly had no idea how to manage his sleep schedule. It was so broken that he simply couldn’t fall asleep before midnight.
Azul, at first, didn’t really mind during the first nights they slept together. Waking up was harder, sure—but that was nothing new. At least in the beginning.
Eventually, though, Azul grew tired of arriving late to class every time he stayed over with his boyfriend. He didn’t deny that he loved him, nor that he loved the gentle warmth that Idia’s hair radiated whenever they slept together.
But seeing those ugly dark circles forming under Idia’s eyes wore down his patience more than he would like to admit.
His academic performance had begun to drop as well. He couldn’t stand the thought of Rosehearts pulling even further ahead of him.
Idia tried to fall asleep earlier, if only because he kept catching Azul nodding off during club meetings.
At one point, he even considered giving him one of his energy drinks—but after a conversation with his best friend (ChatGPT), he concluded that it probably wasn’t a good idea.
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The clock read 1:30 a.m.—quite early for Idia, but already late for Azul.
Azul lay with his back turned to him while Idia was fully focused on his rhythm game.
He could see how quickly Idia’s fingers moved across the screen, hitting notes with precision. Most of them registered as Perfect, but Azul noticed the way Idia tensed or sighed in frustration whenever a Great appeared. When he missed a note and the screen showed Good, Bad, or Miss, he would keep playing for a few seconds before restarting the song.
Azul had no idea how many times he almost drifted off before hearing Idia complain about losing his Full Combo, muttering words he could barely understand as he struggled to fall asleep.
“Idia…”
Almost instantly, Idia paused the game. Azul rubbed his eyes with the sleeves of Idia’s hoodie, trying—and failing—to open them properly due to the harsh glow of the phone screen.
“What’s wrong, Zuzul?” Idia’s voice was soft against his ear, making his skin prickle slightly. He loved how Idia sounded when he whispered like that—but not this time.
“Go to sleep already… the brightness is burning my retinas.”
His voice faltered a bit as he turned around, settling against Idia’s chest.
“First of all, do you even know what time it is?”
He lifted his head slightly, resting it on Idia’s arm, pulling away just a bit. He seemed to be searching for something in the darkness, but the reflection of the phone had left him disoriented, unable to properly adjust.
“It’s 1 a.m., but I can lower the brightness if that bothers you!”
Azul didn’t know whether he wanted to kiss or kill his boyfriend. Instead, he gently squished Idia’s cheeks between his hands.
“Hey! Zuzul, that hurts!”
They both let out a quiet laugh when Azul finally let go. His fingers traced Idia’s face, completely absorbed in the way his hair softly illuminated the room—a gentle glow that allowed him to see those beautiful eyes even in the dark.
“I have things to do tomorrow, Idia,” he began softly, killing what little brain power Idia had left. “I need to bring my grades back up. I don’t want Rosehearts beating me for first place again…”
His voice grew weaker with each word, his eyelids growing heavier.
“The Mostro Lounge is doing well, but it’s more work every day… and it’s exhausting…”
His fingers curled into the collar of Idia’s hoodie as he lazily pulled him closer, settling into the hollow of his neck. His soft breaths sent a ticklish sensation down Idia’s skin.
“On top of that, I have to look after Jade and Floyd… they’re good, but sometimes they’re just so—”
His voice faded out, leaving only the sound of slow, steady breathing. One of Idia’s hands gently pulled Azul closer, drawing small, soothing circles along his waist.
“Idia…” he murmured.
“Zuzul,” Idia replied as gently as he could.
“I love you…”
Idia felt his heart skip. His hands stilled completely as he tried to respond—only to realize that Azul had already fallen asleep against him.
Part of him melted on the spot.
The other part felt confident enough to keep playing.
Without even lowering the volume of his phone.
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He didn’t know how much time had passed. He was so close to getting another multi—just one more Full Combo and he’d finally get the Mizuki card he’d saved up for. He had thought the event ended tomorrow.
Not tonight.
He only had minutes left.
He was so close. Just the spam section left. Then he could—
“Idia!”
Azul shouted near his ear, startling him and making him lose the FC by a hair.
“Ah! Azul, don’t worry, I’m almost done!” he rushed out. “Just keep sleeping, rest, Zuzul, okay?”
The spam section began. All that could be heard was the tap tap of his fingers against the screen, along with the satisfying sound of nearly every note being hit perfectly.
“Turn off the phone, Shroud.”
“You never call me that…”
“TURN OFF THE DAMN PHONE, SHROUD!”
Idia froze for a second, letting the phone slip from his hands as Azul pulled away from him.
He didn’t want to hear anything else. He simply turned the phone off and placed it on the nightstand.
“Better?” he asked timidly, his voice sounding just like it had back when they first met.
“SHUT UP AND GO TO SLEEP, IDIA SHROUD.”
You don’t have to scold me like a dog, Idia thought as Azul turned his back to him again. If it weren’t for the fact that he’d have to walk who knows how far to get back to his dorm, he probably would’ve left right then and there.