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Y/n yawned and blinked up at the ceiling, tired beyond belief but unable to sleep, which was, you know, the usual. Y/n hadn't always had trouble sleeping, it was something that snuck up on her in her late teens. She hadn't slept in two days, but she felt dead on her feet as she went through the motions. She could barely study or get through her assignments because the insomnia was getting so bad.
Y/n had tried a few different over the counter medications, but nothing worked. Then, she tried to get a prescription from her doctor for a medication that would help her sleep, but that was a bust. They said that they didn't want her to become dependent and then gave her some shitty tips on how to help her fall asleep.
Spoiler alert, they didn't work.
She'd already had a pretty terrible sleep schedule to begin with, so the insomnia was really screwing her over.
Y/n was finally out of ideas, and she needed sleep so badly she was about ready to try anything. She recalled a conversation she'd had with a classmate of hers about the campus dealer, some guy named Choso. She had never seen him before, but he was pretty well known. Y/n had never been so desperate before, but she really couldn't take it anymore.
When she did sleep, it was terrible and not restful at all, and when she didn't sleep she thought she was losing her mind. She needed to graduate, preferably with her sanity intact, because college was important for her future career path.
With a groan, y/n rolled over and grabbed her phone from the charger, scrolling through her contacts until she landed on her classmates. She shot off a quick text asking for Choso's number, and received a reply a few minutes later. Y/n sat up and rubbed her blurry eyes before texting him. She had never texted someone for drugs before, so it took her a few minutes to figure out what to say.
She shook her head and decided to just ask it was him first, to make sure. The reply was almost instantaneous, which was surprising, given how late it was.
The number was indeed his, so she saved it in her contacts.
Choso
What do u need? Aoki told me abt u
Y/n
Something that'll help me sleep
After that, they exchanged a few more texts before agreeing to meet up outside his dorm building. Y/n was a little bit nervous, but that was being overridden by her need to sleep. She hopped off her bed and grabbed her glasses, sliding them onto her nose. She pulled a hoodie over her shirt and tied the drawstring of her hello kitty pyjama pants before sliding on her shoes.
Y/n grabbed her wallet and tucked it into her pocket before grabbing her keys and heading out. It was late, almost 2am on a Tuesday, so campus was pretty quiet. Y/n pulled the hood of her sweater up and over her head, walking quickly to where he said to meet.
As she approached, she saw a figure leaning against the wall, and a skunky smell reached her nose. She scrunched up her nose slightly and quickened her pace, soon finding herself standing a few feet from the man. She peered up slowly, and blinked a few times in surprise. The campus dealer looked like that? She'd expected some weirdo, but he was hot. Dark hair styled in two spiky buns, pale skin, slightly darker under-eyes, eyes that seemed to see right through a person.
She could see a tattoo on his hand that crept down his arm and was hidden by the sleeve of his crewneck. There was a half smoked joint nestled between his slender fingers that were covered in silver rings. Y/n lifted her head a little more, and in the dull overhead lighting she saw that he had a few piercings. Nostril, snake bites, eyebrow and a few others decorating his ears, and a thin black line tattooed across his nose.
Oh no, he's hot.
"Y/n?" he asked, pressing the cherry of the joint into the brick wall behind him before pushing off of it.
"Uh, yeah," she said, looking away.
Choso eyed her, but he couldn't really see her face in this position. The hood from her sweater and the shitty lighting was obscuring most of her face, so he could only see the outline of her jaw, lips, and nose. He could faintly see the way she was worrying her bottom lip between her teeth.
His eyes trailed down, tracing the outline of her oversized hoodie and fuzzy hello kitty pyjama pants. His lips twitched up slightly before he pulled a small bag out of his pocket.
Y/n's eyes immediately caught the hand movement, and she scrambled to pull the money from her own pocket.
"Only take one, 'kay?" he said as they made the exchange.
"Is that even going to be enough?" she grumbled to herself as she stuffed the bag in her pocket.
"Yes," he replied, even knowing it was rhetorical. "I'm serious."
Y/n went still for a second before turning around and starting to walk away. "Yeah, I know."
And with that, she was gone, leaving Choso alone. He rubbed his jaw and watched her go, slowly shaking his head as he turned to go back to his dorm.
~
In a shocking turn of events for y/n, one pill was enough. She had probably the best sleep she'd had in years and woke up feeling well rested. She'd just stared at the wall in shock at first, but soon had to get up to get ready for her classes.
With the help of the sleeping pills, whatever the hell they were (y/n did not want to know) she could finally sleep. You function much better when you're not sleep deprived, who knew?
A little over a week later, y/n ran out, so she texted him again. They agreed to meet up in the same place, and since y/n wasn't as nervous this time, she didn't feel the need to pull her hood up.
Choso looked up when he heard the crunch of leaves under someone's foot, seeing someone approach. He was surprised when she got close enough, only standing a few feet away. He hadn't expected y/n to be so... pretty. He'd seen a lot of attractive people before, but never someone who was exactly his type.
They made the exchange, and Choso watched her go with his bottom lip caught between his teeth.
Ah, this is bad, he thought.
~
Y/n rolled her shoulders and stuck her tongue out a little bit as she glued down another piece to her model. She was majoring in architecture, and sometimes, the insomnia came in handy. Like now, she'd been awake for 26 hours and was still going. She had spent most of those in the studio with her sleep deprived classmates, who were also pulling all-nighters to finish their models.
The smell of coffee and cheap vending machine snacks was permeating the room, but it had become a sort of comfort for the girl. She liked being surrounded by people who had a similar goal to her, it was nice, even if they all looked dead on their feet. It was kind of silly, but it also brought y/n a small sense of comfort to see others in a similar situation to hers, even if theirs was only temporary.
Y/n grabbed her cup of coffee without looking, but groaned when she felt how empty the cup was. The caffeine was a bad idea, it'd only make her insomnia worse, but she needed to somewhat keep her sanity as she stayed awake for 24 more hours, and coffee was the only way to go.
She sighed and rubbed her eyes under her glasses before placing the superglue down next to her half finished model. Her finger pads were covered in dry glue, so when she typed on her phone to order a new drink, it made a light tapping noise.
"I'm ordering more coffee, want one?" y/n asked, looking over at her friend.
"Yes, please," Aoki said with a groan.
"Noo," y/n whined and dropped her head back.
"What's up?" Aoki asked, looking over at y/n with equally tired eyes.
"It's too late for mobile orders." She pouted slightly.
"Oh, I'll just ask someone to go get us some," Aoki said, pulling her phone out.
"Isn't every other person asleep?" y/n asked, rubbing her eyes.
"Nah, this loser's always up late," Aoki assured her. "What do you want?"
Y/n told Aoki what she wanted and stretched before getting back to work. Aoki asked the others if they wanted something, and everyone scrambled to say their orders, desperately needing the caffeine.
~
Half an hour later, the door to the studio was pushed in and a man in an oversized hoodie and baggy jeans walked in, carrying two handled cardboard coffee cup holders. He put the coffees down on an empty table and pulled his hood off, revealing that it was Choso.
"Your friend was Choso?" Y/n asked quietly.
"Hm? Oh, yeah. Why?" Aoki asked, standing up.
"Nothing." She shook her head, moving to stand up to grab her coffee, but was quickly stopped when there was suddenly a drink dangling in front of her face.
"This is yours, right?" Choso asked with a lazy smile.
Y/n read the sticker on the side of the cup, seeing that it was, indeed, her order.
"Oh, um, thanks," she said, taking the drink from his fingers.
Choso put his hands in his hoodie pocket and leaned over, eyes roaming the model she was building. "This yours?"
Y/n nodded and took a sip of her drink. Choso found an empty chair and dragged it over between y/n and Aoki, sitting down on it backwards with his arms draped over the backrest.
"You staying?" Aoki asked, raising a brow, clearly surprised.
"Am I not allowed?" he asked, resting his chin on his arms.
"Do whatever you want, but don't distract me," she warned before going back to her project.
Oh, she didn't have to worry, Choso was much more focused on y/n. He had to admit to himself that he found y/n unfairly cute, and he wanted to get to know her better, but he didn't really know how to go about that. It wasn't like she would jump at the chance to get to know her dealer, so when Aoki texted and demanded he get them coffee, he'd practically jumped off the couch and ignored the fact he'd almost slipped on a shirt he'd left on the floor.
Y/n ignored the way Choso's eyes followed every movement she made with her hands, practically tracing the curves of her fingers. She felt a little weird with the way he was watching her, but he seemed harmless, so she just kept working on her project.
At some point, Aoki finished her model and declared she was going back to her dorm to try and sleep for as long as she could. Their first class was in six hours, seeing as it was already 3am.
Choso lifted his head and rested it on his palm. "That looks pretty cool."
Y/n spared him a quick glance before getting back to her model. "It better," she grumbled.
Choso grinned a little. "It does," he assured her before leaning closer, making y/n tense up. "did they help?" he asked suddenly.
Y/n quickly looked around to make sure nobody heard him, but everyone was too engrossed in their own project to pay them any mind.
"Yeah, thanks," she said quietly, gluing down a fake tiny tree.
He tapped his own cheek as his eyes traced her pretty face. "You aren't my usual clientele,"
"I assumed," she said, tilting her head to the side as she held the tree down until the glue tried.
"Aoki said you have pretty bad insomnia," he continued.
"I do," she sighed, glasses slipping down her nose slightly.
Choso reached over and gently pushed them back into place, lips twitching up at the pretty pink colour that dusted her cheeks.
"Anytime you need more, just let me know," he murmured.
Y/n gave a jerky nod, not used to the kind of attention Choso was giving her. It wasn't like she thought she was ugly, but she knew she wasn't anything special, she considered herself average.
Choso didn't, he thought she was the cutest thing he'd ever seen.
After that, they didn't talk again, but he stayed there until y/n finished her project. With a short wave and a little grin, Choso left first. Y/n rubbed her chest and glanced over at the closing door before shaking her head.
~
Y/n became a regular, after that. She'd show up once every one to two weeks and get the same thing every time, and she wasn't interested in anything else.
It was only a little bit of a surprise when Choso started to make small conversation with y/n before she could run off with the pills after paying him. It was only a little bit shocking because after the day in the studio, she'd had a sneaking suspicion that Choso was interested in her. He'd even started giving her little discounts here and there under thinly veiled attempts at flirting.
Midterms came and went, so did Christmas, then spring came, too. Y/n got her end of year assignment for her architecture class in March, and she'd been stressing over endless nights of work for weeks.
It was now mid April, and y/n had been working nonstop on her final for weeks, barely sleeping, surviving off of coffee and shitty sandwiches. The nights and days blended together in the studio, and her other classmates were in no better shape than she was.
Y/n hadn't seen or spoken to Choso since she got her assignment, but she barely registered it, too hyper focused on creating the best piece she could for her final.
Y/n, with her eyes wide open and bloodshot, was staring at pictures of concepts on her laptop that was perched on her lap. She was sitting in bed, in her usual pyjamas, leaning up against her stuffed animals for comfort. She was exhausted, but her mind was racing and she couldn't turn it the hell off.
~
Choso bit the sides of his thumb, staring down at his phone, frowning. Y/n hadn't texted him for weeks, and he was worried about his favourite little customer. If she hadn't been coming to him, she must not have been sleeping. It had to be because of her final project, that was his assumption. He knew Aoki pretty well, so he'd heard from her how awful and difficult final projects were for people majoring in architecture.
He shoved his phone in his pocket and walked over to a loose ceiling panel, shimmying it open as he stood atop his bed. He dug around the bags of product he had and pulled out two rolled joints. He put them in his pocket and fixed the ceiling before hopping off the bed and grabbing his keys.
Choso texted Aoki and asked for y/n's dorm number, heading out when he received the answer.
~
Y/n shook her head and groaned before pushing her laptop away and rubbing her tired eyes. Since she hadn't seen Choso in almost a month, she didn't have anything to help her sleep. It'd been a big help in working on her project, but now, it was not so welcome.
As she was contemplating texting Choso, there was a knock on her door. Y/n pushed some hair out of her face and slid off the bed, feet hitting the floor with a dull thud. She dragged herself over to the door and opened it.
"You look terrible," was the first thing Choso said, frowning slightly.
Y/n blinked a few times before rubbing her eyes under her glasses. "That's mean."
Choso looked over her head to get a peek inside her dorm. He was surprised to see it absolutely covered in pink and hello kitty, he'd expected it to be... less pink?
"When was the last time you slept more than three hours?" he asked.
"Uh, I don't know?" she said, scrunching her nose up in a way that melted Choso's heart.
Choso pulled the two joints out of his pockets and held them between his fingers. "Wanna smoke?"
She eyed the joints. "I don't know," she said hesitantly.
"It'll help you sleep," he said, leaning against the doorframe.
"How much?" she asked.
"Free of charge." He gave a soft grin. "Only catch is you have to it smoke with me."
Y/n sighed and pulled the door open further in a silent invitation. Choso pushed off the doorframe and stepped inside, toeing off his shoes as y/n closed the door behind him. She walked over to her bed and closed the lid of her laptop, pushing it aside to make room on the bed. Although, there wasn't much room to begin with since most of it was taken up by her stuffed animals.
Choso jumped up on her bed and settled back against her plushies. Y/n opened the window and yawned.
"Should probably put a towel between the doorframe and the floor," he said as he pulled a red lighter out of his pocket.
Y/n stuffed her pink towel under the door and crawled into the bed, settling in next to him as he lit the first joint. He took the first hit before handing it over to y/n, who watched him.
"Never done this before?" he asked as she took the joint from his outstretched fingers.
"No," she mumbled.
Choso's head rested back against the wall, lolling to the side to look at her. "Inhale and hold it for a few seconds," he told her.
Y/n nodded and did as she was told, but started to cough hard after a couple seconds, smoke leaving her mouth in white puffs. Choso reached out and rubbed her back with one hand, using the other to grab the joint before she dropped it on her blanket.
"God, how do you do this?" y/n asked after catching her breath, making Choso laugh.
"I'm used to it," he said, hand coming up to brush some hair behind her ear.
Y/n nodded, barely registering the tender action. As y/n calmed down, Choso kept smoking, waiting. He didn't know if she'd stop there or if she wanted to keep trying, but the decision was hers. He had no problem smoking the rest himself.
"Okay," she said after a minute. "I'm good now." She turned to him, holding her hand out expectantly.
Choso gave her the half smoked joint with a lazy grin. The next puff was better, she only coughed twice.
"Why haven't I seen you in almost a month?" he asked, trying not to sound sour about it.
Y/n exhaled a large cloud of smoke, drawing her knees up to her chest and resting an arm over them.
"Been working on my final project for my architecture class," she said.
Choso plucked the finished joint from her fingers and put it out on his tongue, making y/n grimace.
"Ew," she said, making him laugh.
Choso lit the second joint and took a long drag. "I missed seeing your pretty face."
Y/n looked away, blushing. "Shut up," she mumbled, a little caught off guard.
Choso's grin softened, and he passed her the joint.
~
By the time both of the joints were finished, y/n was already blinking slower and feeling warm all over. Her mind wasn't running nearly as fast, and she was feeling much better.
"Tired?" Choso asked, watching as she rubbed her face into the arms that were crossed over her knees.
"Mhm," she hummed, turning to face him and resting her cheek on her arms.
"Want me to go?" he asked.
Y/n stared at him for a few seconds before turning her head. "No,"
Choso nodded and rubbed her back for a few minutes.
"I'm hungry," she said.
"Want me to get something?" he asked, thanking whatever god was listening, because he was hungry too.
"Will you?" She peeked up at him.
"Yeah." He ruffled her hair with a smile. "I'll be back."
Choso got off the bed and left her dorm to get some snacks at a nearby convenience store. In the meantime, y/n pulled her phone out to scroll through some reels. She giggled to herself and kept scrolling while she waited.
~
Choso came back twenty minutes later, the plastic bag rustling as he opened and closed the door. Y/n perked up and set her phone down as Choso climbed back up on the bed.
"Gimmie," y/n demanded.
Choso laughed and dumped the snacks out on the bed. Y/n immediately snatched up her favourite snack and dug in.
"Good?" Choso asked, ripping open the package of twizzlers.
"Mhm." She nodded, settling back against the wall.
Choso grabbed her discarded laptop and pulled the lid open, coming face to face with her hello kitty background. He quickly opened one of her streaming apps and put on step brothers, arguably one of the best movies to watch when you're high.
He propped her laptop up and leaned back against the wall as the movie started playing. Y/n split her focus on the movie and the snacks.
~
Y/n laughed so hard she was almost crying, face shoved into Choso's shoulder as she heaved for air. Choso wasn't in much better shape, choked off laughs leaving his mouth as he tried to calm down, his face buried in y/n's hair. Y/n was gripping the front of his hoodie tight, trying to calm herself down.
The stupid movie had never been funnier than it was in that moment.
They finally calmed down a few minutes later, but y/n stayed close for the rest of the movie. Choso ended up sliding his arm around her shoulders, thumb brushing over the soft material of her sweater.
Y/n's eyes were drooping, and by the time the credits rolled, she was finally asleep. Choso turned off her laptop and set it aside, gently maneuvering y/n into a lying position. He took her glasses off and folded them closed, setting them down on her bedside table. Choso pulled the blanket over her and made a move to leave, only for his eyes to widen as he felt two arms wrap around his middle. He tried to pry her arms off, but froze when y/n groaned and rubbed her face against his back.
Choso scrubbed a hand over his face and let out a quiet sigh. He managed to turn around and lay down next to her without waking her up. He sighed and wrapped an arm around her back, getting as comfortable as he could with y/n latched onto him.
~
In the morning, y/n wished she was confused as to why Choso was in her bed, but she knew why. Y/n tended to latch onto the closest person or object when she fell asleep, a bad habit she'd always had.
Choso was still asleep, hair splayed out on the pillow and mouth slightly open. His features looked softer when he slept, and y/n found it... insanely attractive. She hesitated before tracing the tattoo over his nose, smiling a little when his face scrunched up.
Cute, she thought.
"What're you doin?" he grunted, eyes opening slowly, but he squinted at the sudden light.
"Nothing," she said, covering his eyes with her hand. "sorry for holding you hostage,"
"At least you know," he grumbled, lips twitching up.
"It's a bad habit," she sighed.
Choso reached up and pulled her hand off of his eyes, linking their fingers. "Don't do it to anyone else,"
Y/n turned a pretty shade of pink. "W-why?"
"Because, I don't want anyone else in your bed," he replied. "I like you,"
Y/n's eyes widened and she half sat up, using her arms to stay upright after pulling her hand from his. "You like me?"
She'd suspected it, but it was a completely different thing to hear it out loud.
"That's what I just said," he replied, turning over onto his back, lacing his fingers behind his head.
Y/n slowly leaned over him, putting her hands on either side of him near his shoulders. Choso flicked his eyes up to meet hers, his gaze intense. Y/n slowly lowered her head down, their noses brushing together. Before she could change her mind, she pecked his lips quickly and backed off, face very red.
Choso's eyes went wide and ears tipped pink. He hadn't expected her to do that. He sat up quickly, making y/n jump and turn her head away from him.
"You can't just do that and- and not even look at me after," he said, putting his hand on her shoulder.
"Th-that's all you get," she said.
Choso whined and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her against his chest as he rubbed his cheek on the top of her head. Y/n froze up, face and neck absolutely burning at the sudden affection and whining from the man.
"Oh, come on!"