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It was 5 PM on a Saturday afternoon when Tooru messaged out of nowhere.
Golden rays of sunlight spilled through the blinds, its warmth blown away by the fan inside the bedroom of Hajime, who was on the verge of ripping his hair off from studying so much for a test. He had been staring at the same sentence on the same page of his notebook for the past 10 minutes, and his frustration was getting the best of him as he couldn’t even understand his own handwriting.
Ding!
His phone, which he left on his bed, rang once. He ignored it.
Then it rang a second time.
And a third.
And a fourth.
He groaned, placing his head in his hands.
Fine . He needed a break anyway.
After standing and stretching for a bit, he dragged his feet towards the bed and flopped down on it face first, feeling himself sink into the comfort of the cushion before turning to his phone.
Four texts from SHITTYKAWA .
He squinted his eyes at the screen of his phone. Of course.
SHITTYKAWA
iwa-chan
i
wa
chan!!!!!!
guess what i found~
Curious, Hajime pressed on the photo Tooru had sent him.
As soon as it loaded, a gentle wave of nostalgia hit him, right in the heart.
IWA-CHAN POOPY!!!
Is that the tent we used to use years ago?
You still have it?
TRASHYKAWA
yup :D
we were cleaning the storage room when my sister found it
she tried taking it away from me, saying she’ll give it to takeru instead >:T
IWA-CHAN POOPY!!!
You said no?
TRASHYKAWA
what no
i said yes
IWA-CHAN POOPY!!!
Wow
You’re actually considerate for once
TRASHYKAWA
I’VE ALWAYS BEEN CONSIDERATE SHUT UP
anyway
i said yes but in one condition
IWA-CHAN POOPY!!!
And that is?
TRASHYKAWA
hehehe
come over :>
Hajime breathed out a brief laugh. He didn’t even have to ask what Tooru wanted. He already knew what he was up to.
IWA-CHAN POOPY!!!
We have a test on Monday, dumbass
TRASHYKAWA
so?????? it’s just for a night!!!!!! bring your notes if you have to
besides, this is THE tent we’re talking about. she let us sleep in her embrace when we were kids. tent-chan will be very very very upset if you don’t greet her before she goes away!!!!!!
cmoooon iwa-chaaaan
you can’t say no iwa-chan i know you can’t
IWA-CHAN POOPY!!!
You’re the worst.
I’ll be there in 10.
TRASHYKAWA
:D
bring food too :D
And so Hajime hopped off the bed, packed a few things for a night at Tooru’s, and went off.
The person who welcomed him to the all-too-familiar Oikawa residence wasn’t Tooru--instead, it was his sister, who seemed to have expected him to appear at their doorstep.
“He’s at the back,” Tooru’s sister said, smiling with no surprise at all.
Hajime nodded and bowed as a gesture of gratitude, before stepping in and heading straight to the backyard.
And there Tooru was, standing before what was supposed to be a tent, but instead was a pile of disassembled cloth and metal.
Tooru, unsurprised of Hajime’s arrival, said: “It’s been too long since I assembled a tent.”
Hajime dropped his bag on the grass. “Oikawa, you’ve never assembled a tent at all. Not once in your life.”
“That’s not true.”
“It is. Your sister did the work for us.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Really? You’re telling me that?”
“Well, at least I didn’t accidentally break a pole because I pretended it was a sword,” Tooru argued, picking up a metal pole that had layers and layers of duct tape on it. Hajime let out a short laugh, though he felt a part of him wither in embarrassment at the sight of it.
“I almost forgot about that,” he admitted.
Tooru snickered, picking up more poles. Hajime followed, feeling as if he suddenly had no idea how to mobilize his limbs.
“So…” Hajime drawled, looking at Tooru. “How do we do this?”
Tooru looked back at Hajime, as if weirded out. “I thought you knew.”
“What? Do I look like--”
“Uh, yeah? That’s why I invited you?”
Hajime facepalmed. “Oh, my God.”
After an hour and a half of what was 5% actual building and 95% arguing and fooling around, the tent was finally in front of them, up in its full glory.
Upon staring at the assembled tent, the two boys’ first thought was:
“It’s a lot smaller than I thought,” Tooru commented.
“Yeah.”
Tooru and Hajime then exchanged a look.
“What now?” Hajime asked.
“Well,” Tooru blurted out. “We could just… do whatever. Like, eat and sleep?”
Hajime raised an eyebrow. “So no studying?”
Tooru grinned. “Absolutely not.”
He took Hajime’s hand, dragging him as they walked towards the house. “Come on, help me steal Takeru’s stuffed toys.”
As he watched Tooru bicker about Takeru’s toys with his sister and rush out of the house with arms full of plushies and pillows, Hajime wondered if all of this was something 18-year-old almost high school graduates would normally do--
--but when he saw the bubbling excitement on Tooru’s face as he pointed at the stars that started to show one by one in the dimming sky, and when he felt his heart perform a few pirouettes in his chest at the sight, he decided it doesn’t matter.
Hours passed by like a chilly evening breeze. Along with the rustling of leaves resonated the laughter of the two boys, filled with warmth as they sat on the grass, eating and drinking whatever was in the cupboards and the fridge while reminiscing through tidbits of memories they shared together.
Soon enough, the laughter died down, and with yawns, they entered the tent together. There they laid side by side, Tooru lying on Hajime’s arm and snuggling Hajime’s Godzilla plushie ( “What the hell did you steal Takeru’s toys for if you’re stealing mine, anyway?!” ).
Technically, this wasn’t anything new. They spent their time and slept in one bed together more times than their fingers combined could count. If anything, it was part of their routine at this point.
But something about that night just felt different for Hajime; it brought a different kind of warmth, the one that he wished he could keep with him for the rest of his life.
He looked at Tooru, whose eyes were closed--he must have exhausted himself from making a fuss the entire day--and wondered if he felt it, too.
“Iwa-chan?”
“Mm?”
“Can we stay like this forever?”
Hajime stared at Tooru, somewhat surprised.
Tooru opened his eyes, staring back at him, expecting an answer.
Hajime simply let out a laugh.
It was impossible, obviously, for them to be truly there for the rest of their lives, whether Tooru meant the question literally or figuratively. Nevertheless, he brought Tooru closer to him, succumbing in his presence.
Maybe for one night.
“Yeah.”