Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sousuke knew this would be painful, but in his short life he'd endured far worse than this.

He stood outside a block of flats, it was a pleasant building, it was in a nice neighbourhood, and it was going to be his new home. Unfortunately, he was going to be sharing it; he was, after all, just a collage student. It had been the result of the collage's 'cohabitation program'. They'd set you up with someone taking a similar course in the same area, apparently giving the student 'both financial support and the opportunity to consult a friend as they pursued their goals'.  Well, that was how that put it, and now... Now he was stuck with Haruka Nanase.  

They had both turned up at the assigned time, probably hoping the other didn't, and were now waiting for their keys and luggage, they only had small travel bags for their more important possessions. It had been half an hour already. Half an hour just staring off with Nanase. They were meant to meet at 5pm, right? well, if they were going to live together, he might as well break the ice.

"So..."

"So."

Yeah, this was going to be painful. Just when he thought it impossible, a man turned up with their keys.

"Hi there! Been waiting long?" Sousuke and Haru glared in unison. "Ah! My apologies." The man smiled kindly, becoming awkward when the gesture wasn't returned. "Well... I've got your keys here, one moment..." He frantically rummaged through  his bag, eventually retrieving a brown envelope. "Here you go!" Sousuke stepped forward to accept the keys, but something was still missing.

"What about our stuff?"

"What? Hasn't it arrived yet?" Sousuke was tempted to let the question hang in the air and let the guy stew a little longer, but he really wanted to lie down as far as he could get from his new roommate.

"Can you see any boxes?"

"No?" Sousuke continued to stare at the man judgingly.

"Could you contact someone?" Monotone as ever, at least Haru had contributed to the conversation.

"Oh, yeah. Don't worry about it," Hard not to. "You two go inside, I'll find out about your luggage!." Unconvinced, the two walked inside and made their way to the elevator. They stood as far apart as possible in the confined space and Haru pressed the button, floor 3. The accent was brief and the pair quickly left the compartment, Sousuke glanced at the envelope.

"3b, huh?"

"It's this one..." Haru muttered, walking over a door. It did have '3b' written in ornate figures on the door... Sousuke opened the envelope, retrieving one of the two keys inside to quickly and efficiently open the door.  Despite the company, the apartment looked good.

A surprisingly roomy living room with an open kitchen with two doors on one side, most likely the bedrooms, and another opposite, probably a bathroom. Sousuke shoved the envelope into Haru's hands grumbling 'your key' before walking over to the bedrooms. Both identical; empty, save for a wooden bed frame and desk. Why no mattresses? Well, when the pay is cheap... They were going to have to get a whole load of IKEA furniture.

"It has a bath." Sousuke turned around to the voice behind him. Of course Nanase had gone to the bathroom first. Ignoring him, Sousuke walked away from the bedrooms to inspect the kitchen. Searching through the cupboard doors, he listed what they'd need to buy.

"Cutlery, plates, bowls, pans, pots... At least it has a fridge... Tins, trays..." There was a small voice behind him.

"Why aren't there any mattresses?"

"Did you pack one?"

"No, only sheets. You?"

"Same." Both sighed, this would be an uncomfortable night. "Shit."

There was a knock at the door. Haru, being closest, answered the door to reveal Mr... He never got the guy' name... To reveal the man from earlier.

"So... About your luggage..." This is going to be bad. "It won't be arriving until tomorrow... Earliest..."

"What? But what about tonight?" Sousuke was somewhat more verbal than Haru with his outrage

"I would recommend a hotel... I'm sorry about this, but I really must get going. Have a good night, boys!" The two stared after the man long after he left, dumbstruck.

"Have you got any money?" Sousuke was to tired to be anything but blunt.

"No, you?" Apparently Nanase was too.

"No." Haru shut the door.

Sousuke flicked out his phone and speed dialled Rin.

"Sousuke? How's the new apartment?"

"Hey Rin," Haru looked over. "No mattresses."

"That bad, huh? I have an air mattress if you want it... Oh yeah, who's your new roommate?"

"Nanase." He heard laughter on the other end.

"Haru?" Sousuke muttered a yes and just listened as Rin's laughter continued. "Are you two okay over there?"

"Shut up. Could you just bring the mattress."

"Of course, of course. But I only have one, you'll have to..." Rin was interrupted by his own laughter. "Share!"

"Save the hysterics."

"Sorry," He was obviously not. "I'll bring it round. See you then, Sou."

"Later." Sousuke sighed and put his phone away.

"Rin?" When did Haru get in front of him?

"Yeah, he's got a lilo. See if Makoto has another." Haru, getting the implications, flicked out his own, quickly dialling his friend. After a little while, he shoved his phone into his pocket and looked over to Sousuke.

"Makoto says no." Sousuke started contemplating the effects of sleeping on the floor for his shoulder, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

Eventually, Rin turned up.

"Brought some blankets and pillows too, thought you'd need them."

"Thanks, Rin" Rin handed the supplies over to Haru, who started to set it up in the living room. The newcomer inspected the empty apartment.

"Nice place you got here, very... spacious."

"Do you want to stick around?"

"Nah, I need to get back. See you guys around, maybe when you have more furniture." Rin smiled, waved and finally left. Haru had finished setting up the lilo, thankfully self inflating, and had begun to carefully make the bed using the few blankets available. Sousuke avoided the responsibility, pretending to be busy on his phone. After everything was ready, Haru walked over to the bathroom, emerging a little later in pyjamas.

"Yamazaki." Sousuke looked up, meeting Haru's eyes. He was probably indirectly asking him to get his ass of the lilo.

"Nanase." Normally, he would have stayed and tried to annoy the guy, but he was just as tired. He stood up, glaring down at Haru for a few moments before grabbing his things and leaving to change. He must have taken a long time, when he came back the lights were already out and Haru was already snuggled up in bed, looking remarkably like a contented cat. Sousuke shuffled over, his sleepiness turning his limbs to lead. Unable to do anything else for the day, he collapsed onto the lilo. Reflecting on his action, it had been a bad idea. As soon as his body hit the air mattress, Haru's was launched into the air earning a surprisingly undignified yelp and a pillow thrown at his face. Nanase would be a pain to deal with the next morning too.

He was right. Haru was scowling more than usual. As soon as he got up, his roommate had left for the bathroom; that had been 2 hours ago. Other than the occasional sloshing of water, he'd heard nothing from the guy since. He needed to use the bathroom, he hadn't even brushed his teeth yet. Sousuke stormed over to the door.

"Hey, Nanase!" No reply, he knocked as hard as he could. "Get outta there!" Silence. It continued for another couple of minutes before Sousuke decided to go to his last resort. The one person that knew how to deal with Nanase.

"Makoto."

"Sousuke?" The reply was muffled by the phone but he sounded pretty tired. "Hi, I heard you're living with Haru now, how is it?"

"Yeah, he's not coming out of the bathroom..."

"Oh... oh. I'm sorry, I should have warned you when he called last night..."

"Told me what?"

"See, Haru has this habit... He really likes swimming," He didn't have to him that. "Water in general, really, and so... Well, he likes taking long baths."

"Okay, how do I get him out?"

"That might be a little hard, have you tried the door?"

"The door? He is taking a bath, right?"

"Yeah, but normally we wears his swimsuit."

"What? In the bath?"

"Yeah... Could you put me on speaker phone for a bit?"

"Sure..." Sousuke fiddled with his phone until Makoto's muffled voice filled the apartment.

"...lo? Hello?"

"You're on." Sousuke

"Okay, Haru? You need to get out of the bath, Sousuke's coming in!" Then in a quitter voice. "Good luck, Sousuke." Yeah, he'd be needing all the luck he could get. He lightly pressed on the door, he really did leave it open, as soon as Haru saw him, he submerged himself entirely in the water. Was he sulking?

"Oh, come on." He walked over to the bath and pulled Haru out by his arms. "Not all people are inhuman, Nanase. Get out the goddamn bath." Haru scowled. Sousuke scowled back. Grudgingly, Haru left the bathroom; Sousuke gave his thanks to Makoto and started to clean himself up. Half way through brushing his teeth he heard a call.

"The stuff's arrived." Shortly followed by footsteps walking out of the apartment and the ding of the elevator. He finished up and walked out to collect his own things, quickly grabbing his keys before leaving the room. At the elevator, Haru slid past him carrying a large cardboard box; he was obviously still angry after the previous events. He hoped this attitude would stop soon; they still had to go shopping for furniture, food, kitchenware... Everything... This was going to be a long day.

By the time Sousuke had brought up all his boxes to the apartment, Haru was already pulling on a coat.

"Not staying?"

"I'm getting some mackerel. I haven't eaten since yesterday." Rin had told him before about Nanase's infamous love of Mackerel, apparently he wasn't lying.

"What are you going to cook it on?"

"What?"

"Haven't you checked the kitchen?" Sarcasm wouldn't help their situation but with Haru, it was second nature for Sousuke. Haru, walked over and inspected the cupboards with the same results as Sousuke before, absolutely nothing. 

"We need kitchen wear."

"We need everything." Sousuke pulled on his jacket. "Coming?"

"Where?"

"IKEA."

 The pair stood outside of a large, blue and yellow store; IKEA.

Somehow they had come to an agreement, communal area shopping first then they could split and shop for themselves. It had been alright in theory, but with each other's constant contradiction of their choice it had taken 2 hours to sort out the living room. Sousuke let Haru choose most of the kitchen equipment while he sought out appliances; the smaller guy seemed to know his way around a kitchen, probably the result of living on his own for so long. They ended up choosing white plates and bowls and simple cutlery to save themselves from another argument before they finally had the chance to leave each others' company.

"Don't get lost." Sousuke spared a glance at Haru.

"Why would I? Same applies to you."

"Don't think I've forgotten." And with that retort, Haru left to look at mattress. Irked  that he could no longer go in the same direction, Sousuke turned left to find a new chair.

They both wondered around the shop, adding furniture and decorations to their order list as they went. Then came their time to meet up again, and Sousuke was irrevocably lost.

"Shit." He needed to find an assistant or someone to get directions, no way in hell was he asking Nanase. He tried following the signs and retracing his steps to no avail, only succeeding in becoming more lost. "Shit." He heard his phone beep and shoved his hand into his pocket to retrieve it. A text from... Rin?"

Matsuoka Rin [15:47] Haru's been nagging, asking where you are. Apparently you're late.

Yamazaki Sousuke [15:48] Tell him to wait.

There was a second text from Rin with Nanase's number and a polite not that he wasn't 'a fucking messenger pigeon'.

Number Unknown [15:48]: Wait.

Nanase Haruka [15:49]: Who is this?

Number Unknown [15:49]: Sousuke.

Nanase Haruka [15:50]: You're late.

Yamazaki [15:50]: Wait.

Nanase Haruka [15:50]: You're lost.

Nanase Haruka [15:51]: Where are you?

Yamazaki [15:52]: By the frames.

Nanase Haruka [15:52]: Idiot.

5 minutes later, Haru showed up looking entirely unimpressed.

"Shut up." Sousuke attempted to look as dignified as possible.

"I didn't say anything." Apparently it wasn't working.

"Lets just go get something to eat..."

"Okay, do you want me to hold your hand?" This was the closest to a smirk he'd ever seen Nanase reach.

"Shut up."

Chapter Text

After another night on the lilo, the furniture arrived. It took half an hour to take all the boxes upstairs; Haru had taken most of the large boxes up himself without being asked, it gave Sousuke the sneaking suspicion that he was being pitied. Taking up the last package, Sousuke stepped into the apartment to find Haru lying on the boxes.

"Hey, Nanase. You're meant to assemble the bed before sleeping in it." Sousuke dumped the box in the kitchen and turned to face his roommate. In response to Sousuke's comment, Haru idly waved a sheet of paper at him, still lying down. Instructions?

"Too much effort." Was this guy going to make him say it? For now, he'd have to swallow his pride.

"I can't exactly do it all on my own..." Haru looked up, his eyes immediately darting to Sousuke's shoulder. Sighing, he sat up.

"Don't go getting soft now..."

"I'm not getting soft." Despite his comment, Haru was already unpacking their new coffee table. Idiot.

"Okay, number one. 'Attachment of leg to headboard'. Slide A into 1, B into 2, C into 3 and D into 4 then screw in using the 4mm Allen key provided."

"What?" They had decided to set up Sousuke's bed first. Sousuke held the instructions while Haru scrutinised the various parts in his hands. "This is worse than the coffee table."

"Shut up, you just have to follow the instructions."

"How? What is A? Where is B?" Sousuke shuffled over to hold the instructions in front of his roommate's face.

"There." He gestured to the leg. "There is B" Haru's mouth formed an 'o' before retorting.

"You could have made it clearer..."

"IKEA could have made it clearer, okay? We all make mistakes!" It had been like this for the last 5 pieces of furniture. It had been hell for the last 5 pieces of furniture. Luckily, most of the furniture came in one piece and a few more were easy to assemble. It still took them the rest of the day and half of the night to get everything done; they hadn't even sorted out the kitchen, but at least they had food. By the time they had finished they were too tired to argue, quickly finding themselves fast asleep.

Sousuke woke up to the smell of fish. Frying fish. It smelt good. Still half asleep, he stumbled out of his room to stare into the kitchen. It was Nanase, of course, standing in the kitchen, wearing only an apron and a swimsuit. Was he even meant to be surprised anymore?

"Fish?" He asked, continuing his course to their new dining table.

"Mackerel."

"Same thing." Sousuke wasn't in the mood to argue, they both had classes today and he wasn't going to start his first day badly. Haru plated his up meal and moved to sit down at the table. "Only one serving?" 

"Were you expecting any?" Rude. Sousuke groaned, leaving the table to fix himself some cereal, grabbing some fruit before re-joining Haru. They both ate in silence.

Eventually, the meal was over and the two left the table; Haru glowering at Sousuke when he put his bowl on the side, not in the dishwasher. Ignoring this, he retired to his room to get dressed. When he returned, Haru was already dressed and was heading for the door.

"Don't forget your keys." Haru glanced back at him.

"Don't get lost." Touché, Nanase. His roommate left, Sousuke, quickly retrieving his coat and bag, followed soon after.

After asking for directions, Sousuke reached the lecture hall. He spied Haru off to the side, a cup of coffee in his hand. He really should have thought of that, it was an 8:30 lecture. Then again, if he'd also tried to find a coffee shop he'd have been late. At last, at 8:50, their lecturer arrived and continued to drone on about the various aquadynamic effects of the swimmer's form and the suit's effect to their drag; they already knew this. It was pretty basic, but he supposed the guy was just laying the basics down before moving on to the real stuff. Never the less, he took notes; he didn't intend to fail.

After the class, he ran into Nanase.

"Good lecture for you?"

"No." For once they had the same opinion.

"Same here, see you at the apartment."

"I'll be late." Sousuke looked at the other questioningly. "Swim practice."

"Okay, you can make your own dinner."

"I do anyway." The two nodded at each other awkwardly and split ways.

 Later, at the apartment, Sousuke sat with a book on the sofa.

"You guys really need a TV" For some reason, Rin had decided to visit. Apparently he wanted to see their place with their new furniture and pick up the lilo; he had probably just turned up to confirm they had in fact worked together successfully. He grabbed a drink before vaulting the sofa to join Sousuke.

"Unnecessary." Sousuke noted, glancing at his friend.

"I had to do it. Someone has to put some life into this apartment, otherwise you two will just sit in silence indefinitely."

"Silence is fine."

"You don't mean that."

"It's better than arguing." Rin grinned.

"True... I guess you guys will just have to get along then."

"Silence is fine." This time, Rin laughed.

"Now you're just avoiding the problem, Haru's not that bad."

"He spends too much time in the bath, how would I even get to know him in the first place?"

"Well, he really loves Mackerel... You can always draw him out with that..."

"I think it's all he eats, have you seen the fridge? It's just fish, everywhere. Fish, milk and vegetables."

"According to Makoto, if he had his way, it would be." He laughed again. "Look after him, okay? I won't get to race him if he makes a mess of himself."

"Fine, just don't expect me to spoil him or anything."

"I wouldn't expect you to."

Around 9pm, Haru came back home.

"Back early?"

"They wouldn't let me stay any longer." Of course not. It was already way past closing time. He headed for the kitchen, presumably for Mackerel.

"If you had it for breakfast and, if I'm not mistaken, lunch too... You're not having it for dinner too."

"What?"

"No Mackerel."

"What?"

"Rin's orders."

"...What?" Sousuke had the feeling this would go on too long.

"Just eat something other than fish, okay? If you don't I'm going to have to burn your Mackerel." Haru's expression didn't change but his eyes looked horrified. That night, under Sousuke's supervision, he had eggs.

Later in the week, Sousuke didn't have any morning lessons so he decided to go to the library. Unfortunately, he didn't have all the textbooks. He'd seen Nanase carrying a few of the ones he'd needed before; maybe he'd lend him some.

"Hey, Nanase!" Haru looked over. "Can I borrow your textbook, Topic 2?" His roommate looked sheepish for a few moments, probably deciding whether to lend him the book, before curtly nodding.

"Sure..." He rummaged through his bag to procure the book, quickly passing it to Sousuke and turning back to his work.

"I didn't think you'd be so dedicated this early on in the term; I would have thought you'd be off swimming somewhere."

"I would if I had the chance, Makoto keeps texting me." Ah, that explained it. At least someone was keeping him in line.

The library was quiet and mostly empty. Most people were probably in lectures or relaxing. When did he forget that was an option? That would have been a better, unproductive option. Since there weren't many people, he chose a seat near the front. Opening the book, he started taking notes. A couple of pages in however, he noticed a scrawl in the corner, probably Haru's writing.

I don't sea the point.

"Sea." He had to confirm it out loud, despite the look he got from the librarian nearby. Was that just a water pun? Really? Sousuke sighed an attempted to read on.

Water these people talking about?

Sousuke kept reading.

They'll have to be more pacific.

No wonder Nanase was conflicted over giving this bloody book to him.

Studying water science comes from a great thirst for knowledge.

Sousuke threw the book. He was done. He barely reacted when the librarian (ironically) shouted at him, 'asking' him to leave. Picking up the book he'd thrown, Sousuke left the library. He was not going to admit defeat to Nanase's puns. No, he'd get revenge.

Chapter Text

Walking back to the apartment, Sousuke pondered his revenge. He wasn't going to use any puns against Nanase; he wouldn't drop down to his level. He was limited for choice of revenge though. He couldn't do any of the easy pranks related to water, the guy would probably enjoy it, he couldn't mess with anything in the apartment either, he'd have to clean it up too... It'd have to be something else, something original. Lost in his thoughts, the journey back was a lot faster than Sousuke had expected and he soon found himself outside their front door. Sighing, he unlocked the door and stepped inside. Haru was still were he left him that morning, sitting at the table, crossed between reading a scribbling down notes. He looked up after hearing the door slam.

"You're back early." He commented, trying to look as innocent as possible.

"Any guesses why?" Sousuke asked, dumping his bag by the door to shrug off his jacket.

"Boredom?"

"No." Haru contemplated his answer.

"Hunger?"

"Disruption, apparently..." His roommate continued to look up at him, a falsely questioning expression crossing his face. Sousuke adverted his gaze before mumbling, "It's none of your business."

"It's not good to bottle up your emotions." Says him.

"You don't need to know."

"I leant you my book," That bastard already knew, he just wanted the satisfaction.

"I threw the book."

"Sousuke," He looked at his name, confused by Haru's serious tone. "That's disrespectful," Like he was one to talk. "I lent you that book... The library isn't the plaice for that kind of behaviour." Of course.

"Shut up. I'll throw a book at you." His expression barely changed, but Nanase looked far too smug for Sousuke's liking.

"You've done enough damage." He held out his hand expectantly. Sousuke pulled out the book and shoved it into his roommate's hand before returning to his room. Nanase simply put the book away and went back to work.

After a while of working at his desk, a glint at the corner of his eye caught Sousuke's attention.

"A screw?" Getting up, he wondered over to the object in question, quickly verifying it was, in fact, a screw. "What in the...?" He grabbed it and headed back out into the living room and over to the table.

"Hey Nanase, do you know where this came from?" Haru glanced at the screw and turned back to his work.

"No."

"You sure? It looks pretty important."

"Maybe it's from the furniture."

"Did you mess it up or something?"

"I only followed your instructions."

"But what if it's important?"

"I guess you'll find out." Sousuke scowled; cramming the screw into his pocket, he looked over at Haru's work. He'd only written maybe two sentences since he'd last been through. That had been over an hour ago.

"I thought Makoto was making you work."

"I am working."

"Slowly."

"Shut up."  Sousuke noted the sketch book nearby, it had obviously just been tossed away.

"Don't tell me you were drawing."

"Shut up."

"You were." Before Haru could say shut up one more time, Sousuke reached over for the sketch book. Haru snatched it away before he got it, he had faster reflexes than he'd thought.

"No."

"No?" What was he drawing to be so secretive?

"No."

Look after him, okay?

"Fine." Sousuke sighed. "Just get some work done, or at least choose one activity."

"Fine." Haru closed his text book and moved over to the sofa, presumably to continue whatever sketch he was working on. Sousuke also sat down, grabbing the remote to turn on the TV. There wasn't much on, he just ended up watching a documentary. 'Creatures of the Ocean'. Even Nanase became distracted a couple of times. 

Eventually, it was time for dinner. It was pretty late and, if Haru's growling stomach was any indication,  they were pretty hungry. Haru got up, off the sofa, and headed for the kitchen.

"Mackerel again?"

"Maybe."

"No."

"You said that this morning."

"You ate Mackerel anyway."

"You said that yesterday."

"That was yesterday. Just eat something else." He looked over to find Haru scowling at him.

"What am I supposed to eat then?"

"You're going to give me a headache at this rate." Sousuke strode into the kitchen. "Move." Haru scowled for a few moments before obliging. Noticing that Haru was still glaring at him from the corner of the kitchen. "Just go sketch or something." Haru was still glaring. "Fine, you can have Mackerel tomorrow." The glare was replaced by mild confusion. "But you'll have to buy some more... You've already run out."

Goddamn it. Didn't he say he wasn't going to spoil him?

 Lying in bed, Sousuke continued thinking about revenge. He could always do serve him some mutilated Mackerel, but that might be a little too cruel. The only other option was messing up his water time; that or some mundane prank. Mid-thought he was cut of with a loud creak.

"What?" Before he could say anymore, the top of the bed collapsed and Sousuke rolled of onto the floor. This was going to leave a bruise. "NANASE!" No, mutilated Mackerel would be fine for him.

A short while later, the two sat at the table; Sousuke glaring, Haru concealing his enjoyment of the situation.

"I told you it looked important."

"I told you only followed your instructions. What happened?"

"The top of the bed collapsed, it seems the screw from the top left corner gave out. It's probably been unstable this whole time."

"You've probably woken all the neighbours."

"That's what you're worried about?"

"We've probably going to get a bad reputation now."

"Again, that's what you're worried about? I thought you never cared about your reputation anyway..." They eventually lapsed into silence, it was already the early hours of the morning and they had both gotten pretty tired.

"Is your shoulder okay?" Sousuke hadn't been expecting that. So Nanase could care.

"Yeah, it's fine. I landed on the other one..."

"Then I'm going back to bed." Haru stood up, pushing himself away from the table.

"Hey!"

"I'm sure you'll be fine on the sofa tonight."

"Bastard." He had already left. Sousuke groaned, fetching his cover and pillow before falling asleep again on the sofa. It was surprisingly comfy, he ended up sleeping in.

When he woke up, Haru had already left, but he hadn't taken his bag. Maybe he had gone shopping, someone needed to. After half an hour, Haru returned, plastic bags in hand. 

"We didn't have any Mackerel."

"Yeah, hand it over. I'll make breakfast."

"You made dinner last night too."

"Maybe I'm just a kind person." Haru looked him over with a suspicious gaze. "Is that really so hard to accept?"

"Fine..." Haru passed the bags over to Sousuke and turned away to walk to the sofa; he pushed away the cover and sat down picking up his sketch pad. At least he wasn't loitering in the kitchen again.  It was 10 minutes before Sousuke called him for breakfast. When he plated up the food, Haru was already at the table. He served him his fish and sat down with his own. Haru looked down at his plate.

"What is this?"

"Breakfast."

"Are you sure?" Sousuke looked over to see his roommate scrutinising the dish. It was charred and deformed and exactly how he had wanted it to be.

"Yeah, It's Mackerel." Haru turned to him, horrified.

"What have you done..."

"You could also call it revenge. I heard it's best served cold, but I think hot is just as fine." Realisation creped into Haru's expression.

"How could you? To Mackerel..." As soon as Sousuke started laughing, he was met with a fish to the face.

Haru vowed to never let Sousuke touch his Mackerel again.

"Just have mine, okay?" He was smirking as he wiped the remains of Mackerel, or what passed for it, off his face. "I'll have cereal." Half horrified and half disgusted, Haru snatched the other plate, glaring all the time.

Chapter Text

It had been a normal Friday for Sousuke. At least, what had become normal. Waking up early to even get a chance at the bathroom before attending several boring lectures with the occasional stare off with his roommate at a doorway. Then, at the end of the day, Nanase would silently depart for a swimming session and Sousuke would head back to their apartment. He was used to the communication deficit but he was sure the guy was still salty over the burnt Mackerel.   When he got back however, something wasn't normal. Something was in fact very, very wrong. In his room, there was a cat.

A cat... On his bed...

Sousuke could only blink rapidly at the intrusion; waiting for it to prove an illusion or trick of the light. The cat simply blinked lazily back at him before stretching out on his bed, adjusting it's position to be centred in the light from his window. He couldn't tell if it was a stray or a pet; it had short, glossy black fur and seemed well groomed but the block enforced a no-pets policy so it couldn't have been from the building... At any rate, it needed to go. A quick examination found his window to be ajar, there was a fire escape out there. He could probably dump the cat out there and close the window. It had found it's way here so it should be able to find it's way back. What was it people always said? Cats were flexible... They always land of their feet... It'd probably be fine. Sousuke stepped over to his bed and picked to cat up with a firm grip, it mewed in protest, squirming a little but thankfully it didn't try scratching him. Nudging the window a little wider, Sousuke placed the cat outside with all the gentleness he could manage.

"Out you go..." The cat looked up at him resentfully. Sighing, he stepped back and closed his window. Intent to rid his bed of cat fur, Sousuke turned around to find the cat walking up to his bed, away from the window. "When did you...?" The cat jumped up on top of the sheets to look back at him. He'd never seen a cat have a more arrogant expression. It stretched languidly before settling back on his bed. Oh hell  no. Frowning, Sousuke picked up the cat, opened the window and tried to put it outside. But the second he opened his hand, it jumped right back into his room. He spun around ready to pick to the cat up again; it wasn't on the bed this time. It sprung across to the open door, glancing back before slinking through to the living room. There was a challenge in it's eyes, and Sousuke wasn't going to back down. This was war.

His first step was to close every door and isolate the cat; it was a large space, but he couldn't have it running amuck. Next, he had to corner it. He'd heard herding cats was an impossible task, but right then, Sousuke didn't care about the impossible. In war, nothing was impossible. After all, he had a longer reach than other people, more stamina, more speed. Never the less, the cat eluded all of his attempts. If anything it was persistent.

After half an hour, Sousuke realised he'd more than brute strength to catch the cat, he'd need a plan. His plan came in the form of a trap. It was common knowledge that cats love fish and for once, Sousuke appreciated the fact that his roommate was a fish freak; he had plenty of bait. Pulling out a plate, he grabbed some Mackerel out of the fridge, there was so much in there he doubted Nanase would even notice. He placed the plate in one corner and stepped back to a safe distance, waiting for the cat to move in. He was forced to wait 10 minutes before the cat saw fit to approach the mackerel. From his position, Sousuke watched the cat prowl towards the fish. Closer... Closer... The Cat was within his reach.

Sousuke wasted no time in jumping forward, towards the cat. It's head whipped towards him, realising an attack was imminent. It snatched the fish and leapt away, leaving Sousuke to collide with the wall.

Turning around, Sousuke found himself eye to eye with the cat, the entire fish in it's mouth. His urge to kill the cat was growing.

Hours passes and the cat stayed out of his reach. The living room even looked like a war ground now. Scattered pillows, fish remains and ornaments littered the floor. The cat had been determined to knock anything in reach of it's perch after each of Sousuke's capture attempts; in retaliation, Sousuke threw pillows. Due to the lack of any decoration in the apartment, they had both rapidly run out of arsenal. Now Sousuke was just lying face down on the sofa, surrounded by tipped furniture and cat hair. He was just about ready to admit defeat.

 As per his schedule, Haru returned to the apartment around 9pm. He wasn't ready for the scene inside. It was a mess. An absolute train wreck. His first thought was theft, but then his eyes drifted over to the sofa. Sousuke was sprawled, face down, on the sofa, now askew and missing it's pillows. But he wasn't the only one on it. Curled up on his back was a small black cat. What had happened here? Dumping his bag by the door, Haru shrugged off his jacket.

"Clearly I'm interrupting something here." His comment earned a muffled 'Shut up'. "Is there any reason for the cat? You know the block doesn't allow any..."

"I know!" The response was still muffled but much angrier. "It won't leave..." Sousuke shifted, trying to brush the cat of his back. Irritated, the cat jumped off, prancing to another chair.

"Yamazaki..."

"What?" Sousuke rolled onto his back to find Haru holding the now perfectly docile cat. "What!"

"How was the cat a problem?"

"It was literally... It was..."

"I'm taking the cat outside. Clean up this mess." Haru looked at him critically before turning back on his heel, towards the door. Confused, Sousuke just followed, curious to see if Nanase could actually get rid of the cat.

He followed him, to the elevator and then to the front door. How was this happening? He had spent hours chasing that cat. Hours.  He could only watch as Haru calmly placed the cat outside, it gave him a regretful glance before wondering away.

"Have you been feeding it? Are you related?" Haru looked unimpressed.

"Just because I did something you couldn't doesn't mean you have to get angry over it."

"I'm not getting angry over it." Sousuke replied angrily.

"Sure, Yamazaki." Haru was already walking back inside. "You brought the keys right?"

"Wait... I thought you... Hey, Nanase!" Haru was already inside the elevator.

By the time Sousuke had climbed the stairs, Haru was already waiting outside of the apartment, leaning against the door.

"I thought you had your keys on you."

"I was holding a cat."

"You just came through the door."

"My keys were in my pocket."

"...Neither of us have our keys..."

"What now?"

"My window is open."

"A window on the third floor? That's all we have?"

"I'm guessing your phone is also in your jacket."

"Yes..."

"Okay, yes. That's all we have. There's a fire escape..." They shared a glance before simultaneously walking over to the elevator, riding in silence on the way down.

A few minutes later, they both found themselves 3 floors below Sousuke's window, the fire escape above them.

"I can't reach that..." Haru wasn't wrong. The bottom ladder was jammed up higher than Sousuke could reach on his own. Even with that said, he'd hardly be able to climb with his shoulder still in need of physical therapy. He looked over to Haru; he'd have to be the one. Haru noticed the other's gaze.

"Why are looking at me?"

"I can't climb that."

"I can't reach that."

"It's not like I can either..." They were at an impasse. They continued to stare up at the ladder for a while.

"You know Makoto is meant to be coming over tomorrow morning..."

"Okay, I get it. I have an idea."

A few minutes later, Haru was perched precariously on a fence.

"You okay there?"

"Shut up."

"Ready?"

"Just get this over with." Sousuke positioned himself in front of the fence letting Haru climb onto his back.

"Hey, quit struggling."

"You're not exactly making this easy." Sousuke grunted in reply, staggering over to the fire escape. Somehow, Haru had gotten hold of the ladder, and lifted himself off his roommate's shoulders. Sousuke watched, rubbing his shoulder, as Haru scrambled up the fire escape. He couldn't quite tell from the distance but he seemed to be frowning, probably from the forced show of effort. When he reached the third floor he looked out over the railing and shouted down.

"Is this how the cat got in?"

"Shut up!" Sousuke was sick of cats.

"You can come up now!" Grumbling, Sousuke walked back around to the front door and took the elevator back up. The door was already open when he reached the third floor, the sounds of banging crockery emanating from the apartment. Haru was probably already making dinner, it was almost 10 now after all.

They ate curry in bitter silence before Haru stood up, retreating to his room.

"Aren't you going to help clean up this mess?"

"Hey, the cat made it. Anyway, don't you want the place to look clean for Makoto tomorrow?" He'd hit his target, Haru froze in his tracks looking conflicted.

"Fine." They still weren't finished by 1am, Haru had already fallen asleep on the sofa. Eventually, with the job still unfinished, Sousuke found himself collapsing on the sofa too.

Chapter Text

The next day, Makoto arrived at his friend's new apartment for the first time. He'd spoken to both Haru and Sousuke on the phone before, but he hadn't quite known what to expect. He hoped they were getting along but he still prepared himself for some form of chaos. He walked into the building and rode the elevator up to apartment 3b. He knocked on the door to wait patiently. Normally he would call out to Haru or walk in if there was no reply, but being the morning he didn't want to disturb Sousuke or the neighbours. To his surprise, it was Sousuke that answered the door, if slightly dishevelled, not Haru.

"Makoto." Clearly he'd been expecting him, at least there was some communication between him and Haru. Judging by his tone he was clearly tired, he'd probably just woken up.

"Hey, Sousuke. Is Haru there?"

"Yeah, he's inside." Sousuke shuffled away from the door yawning, moving towards the kitchen. Walking inside, the first thing Makoto noticed was the mess, the second thing was Haru sleeping on the sofa. It was pretty unusual for him, not only was he usually neat but also an early riser. Sousuke glanced over before busying himself in cupboards. "Just wake him up, he doesn't look like he'll get up on his own." Although he looked like he needed the rest, Makoto lightly shook Haru's shoulder. He would get annoyed if he found out Makoto let him sleep.

"Haru..." He coaxed, continuing to shake his friend gently. Haru hazily blinked up at him.

"Makoto?" He sat up rubbing at his eyes. Sensing Haru's next question, Makoto answered in advance.

"It's okay, I haven't been waiting long. Sousuke just let me in." Haru groggily looked around to find Sousuke in the kitchen.

"Yamazaki, stay away from the Mackerel." Sousuke snorted.

"Why would I touch your fish?" 

Makoto smiled, it was better than he expected, but they definitely needed to work at communication; then again, both of them were pretty quiet. Haru turned back to him, giving him a questioning look. Probably inquiring about his smile.

"Nothing, it's just nice to see you again." His friend's expression softened.

"Same here."

"You should probably eat breakfast too, I'll help clean up." Haru noted the continued state of the room.

"It was worse. There's an explanation."

"Really?" Makoto returned, humouring him, already starting to pick up various book of the floors.

"Yes. Sousuke can explain."

"Hey!" Haru glanced at him and shrugged. "Don't throw me under the bus..." Makoto laughed softly.

"I'm sure you have a good reason."

"A cat. An obnoxious, arrogant... It was a pain."

"Was it that bad? Haru," Makoto turned to the person in subject. "I thought you were good with animals."

"It was just Sousuke he hated." Haru replied nonchalantly. Makoto returned to cleaning up, backed by the bickering of his two friends. It didn't seem serious though, maybe it'd just become routine, something familiar from the past. Still,

"You guys still have to get better at this." The pair stopped arguing, Sousuke took the initiative.

"What do you mean?" He asked, confusion ebbing into his voice, replacing the anger.

"Well... At getting along, I guess." Haru looked at him as if what he'd just said was crazy, not common sense. Sousuke on the other hand looked perplexed, but not as offended. Makoto couldn't guess why, normally the two roommates were off the same mind, although they'd never admit it.

"Weird, Rin said the same thing..." Anyone who saw the two would think the same thing.

"Well I'm sure if you work at it..." Sousuke and Haru shared a glance.

"I don't think that's going to happen." Although it was Haru that said it, the thought seemed unanimous.

"Whatever you say, Haru-chan."

"Drop the chan." Same as always, Makoto found himself smiling.

 Makoto's presence had been able to stop Haru from taking one of his usual hours long baths, he hadn't wanted to waste any time after all, so he got dressed quickly and smoothed down his ruffled hair before returning to the living room. When he came back, it was almost clean. Being full off energy probably made a big difference. He'd been told before that hours of sleep before midnight were a blessing; whoever that person was, they were right. Even after breakfast and coffee, Haru was still drowsy; the excitement from Makoto's visit barley fighting back the exhaustion.

"So..." Makoto sat at the table with them, he'd already eaten but he'd been convinced to accept a cup of coffee. Haru was still as good a host as ever, all the surprise visits from everyone, exclusively Nagisa led, had trained him into a near expert. Near. "How's school been going? You guys share some classes, right?"

"Yeah, some." Makoto fumbled as Haru continued to uninformative.

"Do you get to swim more now? You should have access to a indoor pool now you're on the course."

"We have sessions every couple of days, they're making sure we have all the correct techniques before we can have free sessions. Apparently 'practice alone imbeds mistakes'" By the way he recited it, Makoto knew Haru must have been told that a lot.

"Just don't spend all your time at the pool, you still need to get your school work done after all." Makoto smiled to reinforce his point, considering Haru turned his head away, it was probably his silent admittance that he would just spend all his time with water.

Sousuke knew he did already on a daily basis, just on a smaller scale; he could sware the guy was already in a committed relationship.

After coffee, Haru and Makoto got up to leave, they had planned to go into the city, so Sousuke was left alone in the apartment. He wasn't sure what to do. He had already tired after the cat incident, too tired to do any work, but he couldn't fall asleep with the buzz of coffee running through his system. He was pretty sure Nanase had taken his keys so it would be safe for Sousuke to leave the apartment for the day. He could always take a trip to visit Rin, but he was pretty sure the other had lessons on Saturdays so he'd probably just mess up his friend's schedule if he visited now. In the end, Sousuke just grabbed his own keys and a jacket and went into the city himself.

He wondered around for a while, mindlessly ambling down the streets before he found himself in front of a small coffee shop. With nothing better to do, he walked inside. If he couldn't have sleep, he'd have more caffeine. Walking up to the counter, he was immediately greeted.

"Hello! What can I get for you?" She chirped, a wide smile on her face. Sousuke felt somewhat guilty from his grumpy expression and tried to lighten his tone.

"Can I have a large double espresso." The barista nodded, entering a few keys on the till.

"Are you eating in or out?"

"Eating I..." A loud call interrupted Sousuke's order.

"Sousuke!" He didn't have to turn to know who it belonged to.

"Eating out. I'm eating out." The barista nodded once more after he paid before turning to make his drink. In that short time, the owner of the voice caught up to him.

"Hey, Sousuke!" Regretfully, Sousuke turned to the voice, stiffly replying.

"Kisumi."

"Geez, you don't have to sound so cold! I haven't seen you since the festival!" Kisumi moved to put his arm around Sousuke before realising the height difference, settling on just patting him on the arm which the recipient endured awkwardly.

"What are you doing in Tokyo?" Kisumi grinned as if he's just said something stupid.

"I go to collage here, you must do to, right?"

"Obviously." Much to Sousuke's relief, it was the barista's turn to interrupt.

"Excuse me, your drink's ready."

"Thanks," He grabbed his drink of the counter. "Well, it was nice seeing you Kisumi but I've got my coffee so..."

"It's fine, it's been so long since I've seen you, I'll come with you."

"Don't you want to get something?"

"No, I only came in because I saw you, I'm not getting anything!" There was only one way out now.

"I won't be good company, I'm just going to study." Sousuke lied.

"Then were are your books?"

"I forgot them, I'll just go back to my apartment and..."

"So you lie nearby? I'll come with you!" He'd made a mistake, a terrible mistake. If he went back then Kisumi would know where he lived, that meant surprise 'visits' every time he was in the area. If he stayed... Well, he'd be stuck with Kisumi for the day. He was trapped. Sousuke realised nightmares could come true. Sousuke left the shop, Kisumi close behind.

"It's fine, I don't need them..." A brilliant idea crossed Sousuke's mind. "I guess I'll have to go to the library instead, Goodb.."

"We can't talk in the library,  come this way." Without waiting for an answer, Kisumi grabbed the other's arm and startled to drag him away, Sousuke didn't even have enough energy left to resist.

Kisumi wasn't a bad guy, nor was he particularly annoying. He was just over-bearing, a constantly friendly ray of sunshine that accidentally insulted people. Sousuke didn't mind him in a group, but he was sure he couldn't bear all of the attention.

He wasn't wrong. Kisumi dragged him around half of Tokyo, pulling him in and out of shops and cafés without consideration. By the end of the day, an already tired Sousuke was completely exhausted and Kisumi finally left, allowing him to slink back home. At some point in the afternoon it had started to rain, now it was dark and rainwater was running down the sides of the pavements and into various drains. As Sousuke walked home, keeping under the cover of buildings, he absently hoped Nanase wasn't stuck out in the rain.

Despite the cold sting of the rain, Haru had enjoyed his day with Makoto. He didn't mind the rain, he actually enjoyed it, but Makoto had forced him to stay under an umbrella. He didn't want to get sick after all. When the other had to leave, Haru managed to convince him to take the cover with him with the reminder that it was actually Makoto's umbrella. After his friend's reminder to look after himself they parted ways and left for home.

Haru enjoyed the pitter of rain against the pavement as he walked; he paid no mind to his soaked clothes or the chill sinking in. After all, Sousuke would be at the apartment so he could get in and get changed in no time; maybe take a long bath before dinner. When he arrived outside 3b however, there was no-one to answer his knock. After waiting for a few moments, he knocked again with no reply; he tried searching his bag and pockets for a set of keys to no avail. He was far too used to unlocked doors, it'd be a pain to remember his keys but it seemed to be necessary at the end of the day. He didn't think Yamazaki had any plans though today, hopefully he'd be back soon and let him in.

 When Sousuke arrived back at 3b, he found Haru sleeping against the door. Apparently he hadn't remembered his keys.

"Hey, Nanase." Sousuke nudged him with his foot. "Wake up, I want to get into the apartment." When he paid more attention to the small body on the floor, he noticed Haru was looking pale, feverish even. "For fuck's sake..." He lifted up Haru awkwardly, supporting the other as he unlocked the door with his free hand. "Come on..." Closing the door behind him, Sousuke half carried, half dragged the other to Haru's room, placing him on the bed. He tried to cover him with the blanket before leaving, giving a few comforting words before he left. "Don't throw up on the carpet, Nanase."

Chapter Text

Sousuke had left in the morning to get medicine; when he returned, Haru was still sick in bed. He hadn't expected anything different, but the silence that hung over the apartment was discomforting. Despite the usual lack of communication between the two, Sousuke had to admit the room was a whole lot emptier without it's other usual inhabitant. He walked over to Haru's room, knocking quickly before striding in.

"Got you're medicine." Haru frowned up at him from his bed, Sousuke was almost impressed considering the guy looked hardly lucid. "Stop complaining." Sousuke placed the medicine bag on Haru's desk, briefly rummaging in it to retrieve the contents he needed.

"Didn't say anything..." Haru barely choked out his words but maintained his frown, clearly displeased with his predicament. In return, Sousuke threw the medicine at him. Groggily, Haru slowly reached out for the bottle, holding it up in front of his face to read the directions. "I need water."

"Don't you always?" Haru's frown deepened.

"Shut up, I'm sick."

"I noticed, just wait there." Sousuke left to fetch a glass of water, shortly returning to place one beside Haru, who was already attempting to sit up. "Slow down there, Nanase." Unable to tell if his roommate was concerned or mocking him, Haru chose the safe response and glared. Sousuke raised an eyebrow but stepped back to lean against the desk, allowing Haru to take his medicine. Haru placed the glass back on the table, settling back into his bed with a groan. "Better?"

"Guess." Haru croaked, making himself comfortable. Leaving his roommate without an answer, Sousuke left the room to sit down in the living room. He opened one of his textbooks and tried to study, skimming the pages without absorbing any information. Rin was right, they needed a TV. After an hour of silence, Haru emerged from his room, wrapped in a blanket.

"Meds kicking in? You look like a burrito."

"Shut up." Haru relaxed onto the sofa, he wasn't as pale as before but just as grumpy. A few minutes passed in silence before they reached the mutual agreement to buy a TV soon. Soon, Haru left to take a bath while he was still lucid; naturally, Sousuke still checked up on him. It wasn't bellow him to fall asleep in the bath, especially in his state. Mostly from the annoyance of constant interruption, Haru left the bath to return to his blanket and the sofa. Cuddling back up on himself.

During Haru's temporary recovery, he had been able to eat a little food and drink some more water, but he didn't even touch his textbooks. Sousuke neglected his textbooks too, using the excuse that Haru had been distracting him. Soon the meds wore off, with the time needed within dosages, Haru's fever soon returned.

"I want to swim." Haru had returned to his burrito blanket mode, shivering despite the blanket's warmth.

"I've said no, what, 8 times now?" Sousuke's frustration only grew as Haru's foul mood worsened. "Stop scowling, you can't go swimming when your sick."

"I want to swim."

"For fuck's sake Nanase, just go to bed."

"No."

"Why?"

"I'm not tired." Sousuke looked at the smaller guy with disbelief.

"You are literally fighting of sleep, Haru."

"I'm not t... Did you just call me Haru?" Sousuke hesitated.

"No..."

"You're lying."

"You're delirious."

"Just let me swim."

"Just restrain yourself for once, I'm sure the water won't mind." Just as Haru was about to speak again, Sousuke continued. "Come on, I haven't swum for months and I'm fine!" When Haru paused, Sousuke thought he'd managed to shut him up and maybe earn some rest, but when he glanced at his roommate, despite his feverish appearance, he looked oddly focused.

"You're lying." Under Haru's scrutiny, Sousuke looked away. He'd had enough conversations on this with Rin.

"Look, I'm fine." He rubbed his shoulder, focussing his gaze on the table. "I've gotten used to life like this so it's..."

"It's not fine." Haru interrupted. "Stop acting like you've been broken." At the word 'broken', Sousuke turned back around to Haru, defiance in his eyes.

"Well maybe I am." Haru didn't back down.

"You're not broken, you're just hurt." Sousuke sighed, deciding it was just the fever talking, he probably wouldn't remember this tomorrow. Probably.

"You're just delirious."

"Shut up, Sousuke."

 After Sousuke had half dragged Haru back to his bed, he thought about their convocation.

You're not broken.

"Goddammit, Nanase." He sighed, sitting back down on the sofa. Haru had obviously been hysterical, but his words stuck. "Goddammit, Haru." Sousuke wasn't sure if the guy was conscious enough to know what he'd been saying, but he must have spent too much time with Rin. The next thing he knew, Haru would be telling him 'you'll swim with us all again, don't worry' like some closet romantic. Pushing aside thoughts of an over-enthusiastic Haru, Sousuke resigned himself to small tasks in the hope of distraction. When he'd finished doing just about any small task possible in the kitchen, Haru re-emerged, still looking painfully sick. Without paying Sousuke any attention, he headed straight to the kitchen and procured a mug.

"Don't make a mess, I just cleaned up this place." Sousuke gestured to the clean kitchen to reinforce his point.

"I won't" Haru replied, his voice strained. "Want some tea?"

"Sure, milk and sugar."

"What's the magic word?" Sousuke looked over at his roommate condescendingly.

"Please?" Haru nodded, bussing himself with the kettle. Sousuke moved over to the table, receiving his cup shortly after. As soon as he took a sip however, he almost spat it back out. "What did you put in this?" Sousuke spluttered, his eyes wide. Haru had the same look on his face, having only just taken a drink himself.

"Apparently..." Haru slowly turned round to face his roommate. "I used salt..."

"Tell me that was an accident..."

"You put them both in pots, how was I meant to tell which one to use?"

"Obviously, sugar is in the blue jar!" Haru would have thrown his hands up, but he guessed Sousuke was already pretty angry, he was hardly in the right condition to argue back. When he looked up at his roommate however, he hardly looked above mildly irritated. Sousuke sighed. "Look, it's fine. You're still sick, I'll make some more." He stood up. "Here, pass me your cup." Half frozen in shock, Haru numbly passed Sousuke his cup, still staring as he made them tea. They sipped their drinks in silence, Sousuke awkwardly trying to ignore Haru's constant stare. "Is it really that surprising for me to do something nice?" Sousuke was almost offended. His roommate's silence gave him his answer. They didn't talk right up until they went to bed.

"Night, Haru."

"Night, Yamazaki."

The next morning, despite Sousuke's suspicion, Haru claimed he was well enough to go to classes. Despite his experience from Saturday, Sousuke still had to remind him to take his keys with him, ensuring Haru had collected them before he left himself. The day had been regular enough for them both, even though Sousuke still kept an eye on the other in the classes they shared. When he came home however, Haru was there too.

"Don't you have swim practice?" Sousuke asked, shrugging off his jacket.

"Apparently 'I looked ill and my performance proved it'." Haru said bitterly, he turned to his roommate scowling. "So I was told to go home." He couldn't have made it clearer that he resented the decision.

"You still look pretty ill..." Haru glared as Sousuke moved to sit down on the sofa. Neither spoke as Haru collected his sketch book and began to mindlessly draw; lacking the same artistic talent, Sousuke left to collect a book from his room. He considered opening a window to let in some fresh air, ever since the incident he'd kept it closed. Just as he was about to however, he noticed it sitting on a fence nearby. The cat. Instead he flipped the latch, locking it before picking up a book at random and leaving the room. He didn't want a repeat of Friday, even if the cat was obedient with Haru, the guy would start mocking him all over again; he'd suffered through enough cat jokes and puns already. When he returned to the living room, he attempted a glace at Haru's sketching with the other held protectively to his chest as he passed. He sat down and flipped open the book. Sousuke's face was already contorting into an expression of confusion when Haru spoke up.

"A romance novel? I didn't know you were the type." Sousuke almost threw the book but he knew there was only two people that'd own that book, and only one had visited. Rin. If he threw the book he'd never hear the end of it.

"It's not mine."

"You're reading it." Haru retorted, his focus shifted from his sketch book.

"I picked up the wrong book..."

"It was in your room, Yamazaki."

"It's not mine."

"The more you say that the harder it is to believe."

"Obviously it's Rin's."

"So you went as far as to borrow it." Sousuke almost slammed the book down on the coffee table.

"Shut up, I'm making dinner." Getting up, Sousuke walked over to the kitchen to rummage through the fridge.

"I thought I told you to stay away from the Mackerel."

"Again, why would I touch your fish?"

"Because, obviously we're having Mackerel for dinner."

"Why?"

"You're meant to spoil the sick."

"I thought you said you weren't sick anymore." Haru paused.

"I'm not... I just didn't get to eat anything yesterday..." Looking pack the obvious lie, Sousuke retrieved the Mackerel.

"I thought I told you..." Sousuke looked over in his direction, unwilling to give up any more ground. "Just let me cook."

"No matter what you say, you're still ill. You're practically falling asleep over there." It had been half of the reason he'd decided to make dinner early, that and embarrassment. Although Haru frowned, preparing his own reply, Sousuke continued. "I won't burn it, I'm not that bad a cook." Begrudgingly, Haru backed down; watching in silence as his roommate cooked.

Eventually, Sousuke produced two plates of fried Mackerel. They both ate quietly, only the scraping of cutlery sounding in the room. He had to admit his own cooking wasn't as good as Haru's, but he didn't think it tasted bad either; he was almost proud.

"Thanks." They had finished the meal, and put the plates in the dishwasher when Haru thanked Sousuke. He definitely wasn't expecting.

"You really must still be sick."

"It tasted good." From all their time living together, it was the highest praise Sousuke had received.

"You look tired, Nanase. Go to bed. Haru shrugged as if he wasn't near to falling asleep where he was sitting.

"Fine." He pushed himself away from the table and walked to his room.

"Night, Haru." Sousuke called, heading to his own room.

"Night, Sousuke."

Chapter Text

There was nothing different about this morning, it was the same as ever, and to Sousuke, it felt the same as ever. Admittedly, he'd noticed Haru's baths had been getting shorter as he was able to spend more time in the pool training, but nothing else was out of place. They greeted each other passively in the kitchen, made their breakfast separately, then ate together as usual. Yet Sousuke still thought something was off. Only a couple of minutes after Haru left for classes, Sousuke's phone started ringing. He picked up and answered the call, quickly checking the caller ID just before.

"Hello?"

"Ah, Sousuke?"

"Makoto." It wasn't much of a greeting, but it was all Sousuke could manage in the morning.

"Sorry to bother you so early in the morning." Sousuke repressed a yawn.

"It's fine, I'm wide awake already."

"Oh, good."

"So, what do you need?"

"Well, I wondered if you could make sure Haru stays at home instead of going to practice today..."

"That's... That's impossible isn't it?"

"You can probably do it... It's just, Rei and Nagisa are coming over, Rin too."

"Wait, shouldn't that pair still be in school?"

"They're coming over for Haru's birthday. So we're organising a..."

"His what?" Sousuke interrupted.

"His birthday,,, It's today." Ah.

"Ah..."

"So we were all coming over to take him out, you should come too, but we need you to keep him at the apartment."

"Okay..."

"Thank you, Sousuke! I knew we could count on you!"

"Okay..."

"Bye, then. I'll see you later!"

"Bye..." Makoto's muffled voice ended with a click, leaving Sousuke standing dumbfounded, the phone still to his ear.

"Okay..." He'd definitely been right, something was off. He couldn't believe the guy didn't tell him, most people became excitable balls of energy before their birthdays; Haru always was different, he supposed. He checked the clock. His next lesson was in an hour, after that, he had another hour and a half long session with Haru, then they'd spilt and Haru would go to practice. He had less than an hour to find Haru a present. Great. Sousuke got changed out of his pyjamas quickly and grabbed his coat and wallet, checking he had his keys before leaving the apartment.

He walked quickly through the streets, his eyes scanning for any shop that could interest Haru. He found that even that boundary narrowed it down significantly. He thought about calling Makoto, to try and find out some of Haru's other interests, but he was sure the guy would be preoccupied with his own lessons, if not then he'd be checking plans for Haru's birthday. As loathe as Sousuke was to admit it, Rin was right. They needed more communication. Panicked, with his time running out, Sousuke tried to think back on his roommate's interests. Water, Mackerel, swimming... Water... Rin really was right. Silently making the promise to try and talk to Haru more, he realised the one thing he missed. When ever he was reading or doing work or even just sitting on the sofa, Haru would join him and start sketching. He'd never seen what he drew, and he'd never sunk low enough to steal the sketch book and rifle through it, but he knew that whatever Haru was doing in it, he was enjoying. With a renewed burst of determination, Sousuke bought the gift and weaved his way through the streets to his class; he'd barely sat down before it started. An hour later, and the lesson was over. Finding his was to the next lecture hall, he soon ran into Haru and fell into pace with his friend, casually starting the miniscule conversation both parties were used to. He tried to keep his act nonchalant, feigning a continued ignorance of Haru's birthday. Fortunately for him, Haru didn't seemed to notice, and passed the lesson comfortably, completely unaware of Sousuke's unnerve.

When the lesson was over, Haru casually uttered a goodbye and turned away to head to his session. He started walking, but was abruptly stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"Sousuke?" He asked, waiting for an explanation.

"You can't go today." Sousuke told him, with a blank expression.

"What?"

"You can't go."

"Why not?"

"It's not on today."

"Of course it's on, what do you mean?"

"I was called, after you left. It's been cancelled." Haru furrowed his eye brows slightly in annoyance.

"Why?" Sousuke paused.

"Sickness." Haru gave him a deadpan look.

"Really? Who's sick?" Haru ask, completely monotone, obviously sick himself of Sousuke's excuses.

"Your trainer."

"Name?" Sousuke hesitated before replying.

"Can't remember."

"Who called?"

"Didn't say." Haru looked at him with a flat expression for a few seconds before turning back around.

"You're lying. I'm leaving." Sousuke panicked, trying to find a reason to make the other come home, he could practically hear Rin's voice in his head, reminding him that he should try and communicate more with his roommate.

I knew we could count on you, Sousuke.

Now that... That wasn't Rin's voice. Naturally Makoto's words would spring to mind, he couldn't let him down now; knowing the guy, he probably been planning this weeks in advance.

"Fine." Haru turned around at Sousuke's comment. "I'll tell you the truth." Sousuke looked Haru in the eyes with a serious expression. "The cat's back."

"What?" His roommate looked seriously confused by Sousuke's mention of the small furry devil. It wasn't a normal conversation starter.

"The cat's back, it came in after you left. Now it won't leave."

"Then I'll get it out of the apartment after my session."

"You can't do that."

"Why not."

"The manager is checking the apartments today."

"So, it's not like... Oh. No pets."

"We can't afford a merit against us. You need to come back to the apartment and I'll take you there even if I have to drag you through the streets."

"Fine, I'll come back."

Haru's first words upon re-entering the apartment were simply: "Where's the cat?"

"I don't know, I've been out for 2 hours now, help me find it."

"Fine." Haru sighed. "Why isn't it a mess like last time?"

"The manager is coming, I couldn't exactly make a mess," Sousuke went immediately to his room, a little un-subtly and opened the window to strengthen his lie, hoping the clawed fiend wouldn't find it's way back inside. He was able to prolong the extend the search to last for half an hour, but eventually, Haru loudly claimed that the cat had obviously already left.

"Right, I'm leaving." Haru started towards the door before Sousuke stopped him again.

"It's too late now, you might as well call in sick and wait for the manager to come. Haru glared at him, silently seething. 

"Fine." He huffed, snatching his sketchbook, Haru let himself collapse on the Sofa. Sousuke had never seen him draw so aggressively. He felt a little bad considering it was the guy's birthday, but hopefully the evening's events would make up for the day.

Eventually, Haru cooled down and seemed more contented to just sketch. Everything must have been slightly odd today, although Sousuke was usually fast to get angry and fast to cool down, Haru let his anger build over time and eventually calm down over long periods of time. Sousuke didn't want to think much into it though, it was nice just to sit together calmly, he knew the rest of the group would be round soon, but until then he'd enjoy the moment.

At some point in the day, Haru realised Sousuke had been acting a little strangely. He couldn't guess why though. He was happy he hadn't told anyone about his birthday; he'd been angry at first, when he'd been made to miss his swimming session, but he found himself contented just sitting in their apartment. Happy to share Sousuke's company. Then came the knock at the door.

"The block manager?" Haru asked, he gave a quick glance around the room to check everything was in order.

"...Probably, you can get it." Haru swung himself of the sofa and walked over to the door to calmly open it. The greeting he received was less than calm.

Shouts of 'Happy birthday!' and the sound party poppers assaulted Haru the instant he opened the door; just when he thought he'd made it through the day without anyone noticing. When he snapped out of his shock, he registered the 4 people standing in front of him.

"Makoto, Rin, Nagisa, Rei... What?" He had planned to say more, but he couldn't find the right words. What are you all doing here? What's going on? He had a lot of questions, but considering the majority started with 'what', he hoped his friends would fill in the rest.

"It's your birthday! Of course we came over to celebrate!" Nagisa cheered, patting Haru on the shoulder.

"Come on, we had to do something!" Rin grinned, already pulling Haru out the door.

"Isn't it a little late?" Haru asked, in search of an escape.

"Wha? Late? It's only 6, Haru!" Nagisa replied, determined to drag his friend out of his comfort zone. "Hey, Sousuke!" Nagisa moved over to his next target. "You need to come too!" As much as Sousuke liked spending time with everyone, what they had planned wasn't exactly his forte.

"Well..."

"You have to come." Nagisa latched himself onto Sousuke's arm and started tugging him through the door. He was only able to get a glimpse of Haru's worried eyes before he was dragged outside and into the streets.

It was late when they returned to the apartment, or early depending on how you look at it. Either way, both Haru and Sousuke were exhausted, mentally and physically.

"If I look at another bottle of alcohol..." Sousuke started. "I think I might vomit."

"I think you already have."

"Shut up, Haru."

"I'm going to sleep on the sofa."

"Your room is a metre away."

"So close and yet so far." 

"You're not sleeping on the sofa."

"You're on the sofa too." Haru pointed out, already closing his eyes.

"I'm resting."

"You're falling asleep."

"I'm not, before you fall asleep..."

"I'm not falling asleep." Haru interrupted.

"Before you fall asleep I have something to give you." Haru opened his eyes to see Sousuke draw something out of his jacket. "Here." He passed a small tin over to Haru, who tiredly inspected the object. "Art pencils?"

"Happy birthday, Haru." Haru's eyes were slowly drifting shut as he tried to fight of sleep, but he still smiled, if only slightly.

"Thank you, Sousuke."

Sousuke couldn't remember falling asleep, but when he woke up, Haru was leaning against him shoulder, fast asleep. Sousuke couldn't decide what to do, Haru had to have been cold, but if he left to get a blanket he'd wake the other up. Still weary, Sousuke simply let himself drift back to sleep, his roommate still against his good shoulder.

"Morning, Haru." He'd fallen asleep too soon to hear the muttered reply.

"Morning, Sousuke."

Chapter Text

There were two voices behind the apartment door, one hushed and the other louder but both unheard by the residents.

"Hey, you can't just go into their apartment." The first voice whined.

"It's fine! We're still here for a few more days! Anyway, I'm sure they won't mind." The second voice replied.

"I'm sure they will!" After it's little outburst the first voice quietened again. "They're probably still asleep, wait! NAGISA!" The owner of the second voice burst through the door.

"Hey guys! Did you miss..." Having just entered the room, Nagisa was more than a little shocked to find the scene in front of him. Haru and Sousuke, sleeping on the sofa, leaning against each other peacfully. "Are you...?" It wasn't long until Rei followed through the door, muttering about proper conduct.

"Oh." With the intimate scene in front of him burned into his mind, Rei hauled Nagisa back through the door. "Ah, sorry. I didn't... We didn't mean to intrude..." He mumbled with the embarrassment following the feeling of having interrupted something intimate. With another bang, the door closed again, leaving a tired Sousuke and Haru to slowly wake up on the sofa.

"The only time the door doesn't lock..." Sousuke murmured.

"What happened?" Haru asked, his eyes screwed shut.

"Apparently it's morning."

"Ignore it, maybe it'll go away." Haru mumbled, making himself comfortable again on the sofa. A whole 10 seconds passes before he realised what he was doing, the realisation prompted by Sousuke's half hearted comment.

"If you're that tired you should just go to bed." He regretted it almost immediately. Haru's eyes snapped open and he shot up off the sofa, away from Sousuke. Suddenly aware of the empty space beside him and the absence of the warm presence that had previously been resting on him, Sousuke groaned relaxing into his seat. "It was Nagisa and Rei." He admitted, "I'm surprised we didn't expect it coming." Haru glared at the door, as if blaming it for the intrusion.

"Not going to hijack my day again?" Haru asked after a pause as he started moving to the kitchen in search of food.

"Not today, today's my lazy day." Haru snorted at the other's attitude. "You've still got swimming practice though, don't you?"

"Only properly in the afternoon today. Although I should be able to use the facilities freely now" Haru seemed to consider his options before speaking again. "The second pool shouldn't be in official school use today, although it's a little busier it's better than no pool." By that answer, Sousuke decided he could safely assume Haru's day was already planned. In one of his rare show's of variety, Haru started on fried eggs for breakfast rather than Mackerel, thoughtfully adding two extra eggs and a couple more rashes of bacon for Sousuke. After a few minutes, he noticed Sousuke had made no effort to get up off the sofa or even move. "Are you just going to sit around here all day, shouldn't you try to do some work?"

"This is good."

"You're results won't agree."

"Screw them."  Sousuke stated, the after effects of drinking the previous night overpowering his desire to pay any attention to school work. Haru dished up their breakfast, appearing near unaffected by his surprise party, and sat down to eat overlooking the obvious fact that Sousuke wasn't going to join him at the table. Half way through his meal, Haru sighed.

"Your eggs will get cold."

"I can eat cold eggs." Haru considered this before responding.

"Your bacon will get cold."

"Why are you so concerned about my breakfast?"

"It's going to get cold." Sousuke groaned as he got to his feet, spurred by Haru's pestering, he begrudgingly took his seat at the table, muttering under his breath all the while. Haru stayed quiet, feigning nonchalance to conceal the simple desire to eat breakfast with the other, something that had become a habit over the past weeks. Sousuke ate his breakfast with almost extravagant movements, making a show of the action before showing his empty plate to his roommate, who had already finished eating long ago. Presented with the plate Haru sighed, it was forced but Sousuke didn't notice.

"I shouldn't have made you breakfast."

"Your mistake." Sousuke grumbled, Haru hesitated for a moment before speaking to the other again.

"You didn't do much work yesterday either," Haru glazed past the small 'there's a reason for that' from Sousuke and continued. "I should probably stick around to make sure you get something done."

"You don't have to" His roommate told him, pulling his chair away from the table to stand up and collect their plates.

"Will you get any work done if I leave?" Sousuke answered with silence. "Then I'm staying. Someone has to get you through university" Haru sighed. "If it's not going to be Rin then I'm guessing it's going to have to be me." Haru decided he'd elaborated on his excuse to stay at home enough, nodding after his deliberation for extra effect. Sousuke ignored it, his attention focused elsewhere.

"You're talkative today." He pointed out. If Haru had any inward reaction he didn't show it, instead taking a moment to choose his words carefully.

"I'm always like this." He decided on, meeting Sousuke's inquisitive gaze. To his response the other sighed. Sousuke dumped the plates in the sink before leaving to change, still blinking the sleep out of his eyes groggily. Haru scowled at the plates in the sink before aiming his frown at the perpetrator himself. As he shoved the dirty plates in the dishwasher Haru wondered whether he'd made the right decision staying at home. He couldn't quite tell if it was a good idea to try and get closer to his roommate or not, he was only following a whim, but he wanted to try regardless.  

 The weeks rolled by into months and the seasons bled into winter. The ground was hidden by a layer of frost, rendering the grass crisp and disguising the underlying black ice. The sky was clear but the persisting tinge of grey it held left the landscape blank and in want of the snow December promised.

Haru left the warm lecture hall only to be met with the bite of the frigid air, the wind that cut to the bone. He pulled his coat a little tighter before zipping it up, it was colder than he'd expected, he was almost impressed that it'd become worse than it was in the morning; by the time he returned to the apartment his nose was dusted with red, the proof of the disagreeable weather outside.

"I'm back!" He called, unsure whether Sousuke was home or not, it had become strange not to see the other in the living room, it was practically a rarity to catch him in his room awake.

"Cold outside?"

"Freezing." Sousuke shuffled out of his room and crashed onto the sofa.

"Then why didn't you bring a scarf?"

"Forgot." Haru mumbled.

"What about a hat?" Haru hesitated a moment too long and Sousuke answered before him. "Let me guess. Forgot?" Haru pressed his lips into a firm line, unwilling to confirm Sousuke's correct assumption.

"Did you get any work done?" Haru asked, hastily changing the subject from his own ignorance. After the ensuing silence he continued. "Let me guess..."

"Don't." Sousuke quickly interrupted. Haru was right, finding Sousuke awake in his room was a rarity. "Hey, it's almost Christmas right."

"As if you haven't been getting countdown texts from Nagisa everyday..."

"I was just thinking... Well, we don't have any decorations."

"Didn't take you as the festive type."

"I'm not."

"Then why decorations?"

"... It's Christmas."

"That's not an answer."

"Who are you? The Grinch?"

"Shut up, Sousuke." There was a following silence, filled only by the shuffling of clothing as Haru shed his coat and moved to sit on the sofa, Sousuke moved his feet accommodatingly only to let them flop back down on Haru's lap. "Excuse me?" Haru said, with no small amount of indignation.

"You're excused." Haru huffed at the response, but didn't complain further, When he considered the position, it wasn't too bad.

"If you really want to decorate we could get a tree..." Haru suggested thoughtfully, a tree shouldn't be too garish.

"Too expensive."

"Everything is too expensive." Sousuke nodded, but face down on a cushion it looked more like he was just squirming.

"I'll go out and try to find something, wanna come with?" Haru let himself relax into the sofa.

"I just got back."

"Great, then you're half ready, let's go." Haru groaned,  but he still tugged his coat back on after the legs pinning him down left. "Where first?" He asked.

"I don't mind... We could just wonder around."

"Sounds good." Without any kind of solid plan himself, Sousuke wasn't about to argue with the other's lax attitude. Sousuke shrugged on his own coat, making sure to shove a key in his pocket before leading their way out the door. As they walked the streets their breath clouded in white puffs.

"Still no snow, huh?" Sousuke absently commented, his gaze wondering curiously over their environment taking in the effects of winter. Haru hummed in agreement, casually sneaking glances at the various window displays. "Find the tree first then?"

"Sure."

The pair drifted from shop to shop, fruitlessly searching for affordable decorations. Eventually they meandered into a park, finding a empty bench to settle on. The pair slumped in their seats, letting out a sigh after their weight was taken off their feet.

"What can we get then?" Sousuke asked after a small while, turning to Haru.

"Tinsel."

"Nothing else?"

"Cheap baubles..."

"Really that's all?"

"Yeah, well... That is if you still want Christmas dinner." Sousuke groaned, leaning back into the hard surface of the bench.

No tree then..." Haru tilted his head in thought before he stood up, shocking Sousuke with the sudden movement although the other would be reluctant to admit it. "Hey, Haru?" Haru didn't pay Sousuke any heed and walked to the nearest copse of trees, searching the ground for something the other couldn't see.

Eventually, Haru returned to the other, something in hand. With his usual deadpan expression, Haru presented a barren stick to his roommate. In response, the other simply blinked at him.

"What?" To have said 'stick', might have been an understatement. Somewhere between a twig and a branch, Haru held what seemed to be a miniature version of a tree.

"Here." He offered.

"Gee... Thanks." Haru scowled at the other as Sousuke reluctantly accepted the stick. "Is this meant to be our Christmas tree...?"

"Well, if you don't have any other ideas..." Sousuke gave the other a questioning look, but didn't throw the stick away. In fact, he still carried it around as they walked back through the streets to their apartment. Eventually, after they returned home,  Sousuke finally put the stick down in the city room only to find Haru shuffle over with a coffee mug in his hands. Resting the stick haphazardly in the mug, Sousuke decorated it carelessly with the cheap baubles they  bought on the way back. It was a pitiful sight to be sure, resting in the corner of the room.

"Could be worse..." Haru commented, glancing at Sousuke.

"Really?"

"Not too sure."

As Christmas grew closer, presents gathered underneath the make-shift 'tree'. Most were obviously food although the grand total only came to five small gifts. Soon the big day arrived, and Sousuke and Haru found themselves sitting in front of the small feature, groggily rubbing at their eyes after the joyful shrieks and loudly given affections from the nearby rooms had woken them up.

"Yours" Haru told his roommate, passing him an immaculately wrapped present, it bent a little in Sousuke's hands as he inspected it. "Just open it." Tearing off the paper Sousuke found himself holding a small planner for the next year. "You can plan your studies now...  Maybe even actually study."

"No need for the sarca..." Sousuke stopped mid sentence. He'd turned his head to thank Haru, but had been unaware that the other had moved closer as he'd opened the present, with the unexpected close  proximity of the other, his lips had ghosted the other's cheek in an chance kiss, even lighter than a peck. The pressure behind it didn't matter, they both jumped away from each other quickly in a panicked state, Sousuke's face had become flushed as he realised what he'd done, Haru's embarrassment on the other hand was lessen present. His eyes were wide open and a light pink dusted his face, but he didn't jump as much as Sousuke.

After he'd regained some semblance of composure Sousuke looked away, focussing his gaze back on their excuse of a tree as if it'd never happened. After a pause, Haru did the same, something unreadable flashing in his eyes as he turned away. It was a while before the larger spoke again, leaving them in a few moments of awkward silence.

"H-Here, yours." Sousuke told the other as calmly as he could, although his cheeks were still tinted with a red, inelegant blush He handed him a soft-looking, badly wrapped present, appearing as if it'd only been pieced together at the last minute.

"Right..." With more delicate actions than Sousuke, Haru carefully opened the present. "A scarf?"

"Yeah, you never wear one when you go out. You're going to catch a cold that way..." It was long and navy blue, it was probably cheap, considering their budget, but to Haru it felt indescribably soft.

"Thank you."

"No problem..."

Although Sousuke had expected for them to lapse back into silence after... What he did. But when the long night fell in they found themselves talking for hours about nothing in particular, speaking about the simplest thoughts as they occurred through the evening and into the early morning, having drunk too much to remember what they'd said when they woke up.

It wasn't much, but it was a good Christmas.

Chapter Text

He'd been counting down the days, and then counting down the hours. Haru knew the holidays were drawing to a close and he felt himself slipping into a restless idleness, unwilling to do extra work but just a little too agitated to stay completely still. He'd been that way for some time, and his apprehensiveness had been getting on Sousuke's nerves for some time too. Haru was sprawled over the sofa when the other finally spoke up about it.

"I understand that it's the holidays... but I'm pretty sure you've been lying there for an hour doing nothing but sigh."

"I'm bored." Haru stated.

"That's a little obvious." It was Sousuke's turn to sigh then Haru gazed blankly into the distance without really thinking about anything specific. However, instead of turning back to his work and continuing with what he was doing, Sousuke let his eyes linger on the back on Haru's head for just a few seconds longer. Eventually, when he did pretend to focus back on the book in his hands, Sousuke decided to speak again. "Why don't you do something then?"

"If I could think of something to do right now I wouldn't be bored."

"What about swimming?" Sousuke asked, conscious of the other's love of the activity.

"The practice pool is closed today." Before the other could ask another question, Haru continued. "The nearest public pool is holding some kind of children's training day in the afternoon so it's closed this morning.

"It shouldn't be too hard to figure something out." Sousuke decided.

"Weren't you doing work?"

"I got bored."

"Fine, what do you suggest then?"

"Well... We do need to go out and get some more food," Sousuke pointed out thoughtfully, "it'd probably be better if we got that done before the term starts."

"Fine, let's do it." Haru pulled himself up from the sofa and one poorly scribbled shopping list later the two were on their way to the shops, surrounded by a comfortable silence.

They were at the doors of their usual store when Haru finally spoke up.

"So, what do we need?" He asked.

"Haven't you been paying attention?"

"Not really..."

"I thought you would have been more independent." Sousuke commented, he could have sworn that the other had lived on his own for years.

"I got stuff when I needed it."

"Let's just go in."Sousuke sighed. He managed to grab the back of Haru's shirt just before the other made a beeline to the fish counter. "Important stuff first."

"Mackerel is important."

"You could at least try a different kid of fish!" Haru huffed at the taller man's complaint.

"Fine, you get what you want and I'll get what I need." The smaller of the two decided.

"We don't have enough money for that." Sousuke stated, ignoring Haru's scowl. "Okay, two fillets." Haru perked up at the promise as Sousuke rummaged in his pocket for the list he'd drawn up earlier before handing it over to Haru. "Just get half the stuff on this list, I'll get the bottom half..."

"You know, that still sounds pretty boring..."

"It's better than what you were doing before!" Sousuke chided the other, grabbing a basket.

"I have an idea." Haru declared. Sousuke narrowed his eyes at the other, obviously suspicious. "Race you."

"What?" Before Sousuke had even finished his question Haru had grabbed a basket and run down the nearest isle. "Wait a second!" Despite his exclamation, Sousuke had already bolted down another isle. If Haru wanted a race, he was going to get one. 

With a fiery determination Sousuke grabbed a carton of milk of a shelf before sprinting on. Next on his list: vegetables. It was going to be the toughest task yet. Racing towards the vegetable section he passed Haru who was impatiently waiting in possibly the longest queue Sousuke had ever seen for the fish counter.

"See you on the other side!" He called to his roommate in passing. If it annoyed Haru, he hid it well.

When he finally got the vegetable section every isle was packed full. Dodging various mothers and other students, Sousuke weaved his way through the crowd to skilfully collect all the vegetables he knew they'd need. It didn't take long for him to get the last item on his part of the list, as soon as he was finished he raced to pay for his items. Just as soon as he arrived, Haru reached the check out too. With a shared thought they both picked and isle quickly unloaded their baskets. And then they waited. They waited a while. Actually they waited for quite some time. But it was Sousuke that reached the cashier first.

They looked almost nervous as they scanned the items in. It was then Sousuke had a worrying revelation. It was a new employee. He waited as they struggled to find and straighten out barcodes, as they attempted to screen the items in.

"Sorry for the delay." The cashier managed to get out after he'd gotten through all the items.

"Don't worry about it." Sousuke reassured them, spotting Haru on the other side of the tills. "Fine, you win." He admitted to Haru. "Let's just go home."

 As far as Sousuke and Haru were concerned, the new term rolled in far too quickly.

"I'm not ready for this." Sousuke had released 8:00am lecture was a bad idea after the first sermon, but after an impressive 3 hours of sleep and multiple cups of coffee it was even worse.

"None of us are." Haru returned, the bags under his eyes a testament of his exhaustion. Sousuke groaned.

"I'm not going through this without more coffee, or at least an energy drink..." He stated.

"Then get something." Haru whined.

"The nearest café is too far away to get back in time for the lecture."

"Then go to a store." Sousuke started to move away when Haru spoke again. "Actually, I'm coming with you." The taller of the two raised an eyebrow at the other. "What? I'm tired too."

The small convenience store was quiet that morning and the pair were easily able to get to the drinks isle. They scanned the shelves for their normal energy drink but all they saw were the poor tasting alternatives to their standard brand.

"Can you see it?" Haru asked, still searching.

"No... Wait, yeah!" Sousuke replied, "It's just right at the back and..." He turned to face his roommate with a serious expression, "There's only one left."

"What?" With an equally sombre expression, Haru joined the other to check the shelf. Sousuke was right. There was only one. "No... What about the other flavours?"

"No good. It's just not the same." The taller of the two sighed out.

"We could always... Share." Sousuke and Haru shared a glace.

"Are you that desperate?" Sousuke asked.

"About as desperate as you."

 "Fine." Sousuke was beyond exhausted and completely unwilling to argue. "Let's just make it through the morning."

Chapter Text

Sousuke had woken up tired; correction: he'd woken up exhausted. He was fruitlessly rubbing at his eyes even as he left his room, walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge to get out the milk. He almost missed the post-it note on the fridge and if it were not for the small slip of paper's obnoxiously bright colour he would have ignored it entirely.

'toilet paper'

Sousuke blinked sleepily at the note, too tired to deal with something so cryptic so early in the morning. Against his better sense, he ignored it as he continued the chore of his morning routine. Haru had already left for an early swimming practice and the apartment seemed a little too empty, a little too quiet; not that Sousuke would voice such thoughts out load, especially to a vacant room. It wasn't until he reached the bathroom that he realised, with a great amount of dread, what Haru's note meant. There was a single, empty dull brown cardboard roll in the usual place of the toilet paper.

"Oh shi...." Sousuke ran his fingers through his hair. He had two choices: 1. Use a public bathroom then get toilet paper or 2. Run down to the shop, buy toilet paper and return to the apartment as fast as possible. Deciding on option 1, Sousuke pulled on his jacket over his pyjama and tugged on a pair of jeans before grabbing his keys and leaving the apartment.

His pace was hurried as he walked down the street, keeping a watchful eye out for any public toilet. After what Sousuke considered to be far too long, he found a public toilet; unfortunately it was everything he hadn't even dared to imagine. From the outside, it looked somewhat dreary but clean with faded white tiles; but as he stared into the men's cubicle he feared for the worst. The smell alone was enough to repel anyone and the mess... He didn't know where to start. Resolving himself to wait a little longer, Sousuke decided on option 2.

When he'd finally rushed to the shop and found the toilet paper, he was certain nothing could distract him from his goal; emphasis on 'was'. On his way to the till something caught his eye. It was a movie, one he had seen quite a lot of advertising, and he had to admit it looked good. Good enough to tempt him to buy it. He stood in front of the movie rack for far too long considering he was not only a broke university student, but also a man in desperate need of the toilet. He did have some money saved up, he'd actually had it saved up for some time, waiting for something good enough to actually dish out on and spending it on a movie night didn't sound too bad to him. He'd never considered himself an impulse buyer but he picked up a copy regardless, tucking the toilet paper under his arm as he hurried to a till.

When Sousuke got home he wasted no time in rushing to the toilet, sighing contently as the taxing problem was over. He spent the remainder of the morning and the afternoon lazing around the apartment, occasionally picking up a work book only to put it down again a few minutes later out of frustration. He'd considered watching the movie he'd bought a few times only to reconsider at the last moment, resolved to wait until Haru got back home. He had bought it for a movie night after all. In a moment of extreme boredom, he picked up the DVD and started imaging what the movie would be like.

It was a horror movie, and although Sousuke wasn't prone to getting scared easily he had high expectations for it. He'd briefly wondered how Haru would react. He didn't even know if the other liked horror movies. Sousuke imagined him sitting with a dead pan expression through the whole thing, maybe trying to hide a smile if Sousuke jumped at something; but a smaller, more creative side of him imagined something very different. Haru getting scared, maybe cuddling up to him...

His train of thought was cut off quickly by the quiet click of the door opened and the shuffling of footsteps. Haru was home.

"You're pretty late back," Sousuke commented, trying to sound casual.

"The coach was trying to encourage team morale. We all had to go out for a meal after the meet."

"You make it sound like a chore." Haru sighed at Sousuke's before collapsing beside the other on the sofa.

"What's that?" he asked, eying the movie.

"Just a movie that came out recently; I was planning on watching it." Sousuke passed the other the DVD so he could see it more clearly.  

"A horror?" Haru said on closer examination, "didn't take you for the type to watch them."

"I'm not... usually," he shrugged, "this one looked good."

Trusting Sousuke's choice, it didn't take long for Haru to turn off the lights, slide the disk into one of their laptops, collapse back onto the sofa and press play.

Sousuke didn't want to admit it, in fact he was adamant that he wouldn't admit it, but the movie was good. The atmospheric music; the carefully planned camera angles; and the delicately constructed tension and suspense led to Sousuke's fingers gripping a little too tightly onto the sofa, waiting for his next scare.

"Scared, Sousuke?" Haru whispered. A glance over at the other showed Haru looking fairly relaxed despite the horror movie. A second glance revealed that his knuckles were white as he twisted his hands into the fabric of his jeans in the dim shifting light of the laptop's screen.

"No," Sousuke replied, his voice just as quiet, "you?"

"Of course not."

It wasn't much further into the movie by the time that both of them had drawn their limbs up onto the sofa and closer to themselves; just a few centimetres away from huddling against each other. They'd progressively inched closer together as the movie developed both at the precipice of jumping at the next slightest movement or noise. By the time the movie had ended they were right beside each other, spending a few moments stock still just to make sure it was really over.

"Not that scary," Sousuke declared, trying his best to stop his voice from shaking.

"Yeah, could've been better..." Haru added, sounding a lot more sure than he looked, "it's pretty late, I'm going to go to bed; night."

"Night." After Haru had left, Sousuke had stiffly walked to his room and changed into his pyjama's almost automatically before crawling into his bed. For some reason, the room seemed a little darker than usual, a little colder. After half an hour of lying in bed, completely unable to sleep in the dark room, Sousuke turned on his lights and against all his expectations managed to drift into a light sleep.

Chapter Text

Sousuke had assumed it'd be another uneventful Saturday, with little but studying in the daytime and a movie at night if he could convince Haru. What he hadn't expected was someone knocking at their door at 11 that morning, before he could even pull himself of the sofa and away from his books, Haru had emerged from his room, fully dressed, and answered the door.

"Glad I got the right door!" the stranger burst out as soon as their eyes fell on Haru and they struck up a conversation while they stood in the doorway. The voice was definitely unfamiliar and a glance behind his roommate revealed a tall, young man, probably another student, with a sharply handsome face. He seemed to break out of the conversation when he noticed Sousuke. "Hey! You're Haru's roommate, Yamakage right?"

"It's Yamazaki," Sousuke corrected.

"Well it was nice to meet you, Yamazaki. Haru you ready to get going?" Haru nodded in response.

"I'll be back so you don't need to wait up for dinner," he said simply before turned out the door, shutting it behind him. As infuriatingly concise as always.

"Bye!" Sousuke called after him, somewhat put out. He sighed, resigning himself to a day alone. It wasn't a bad thing, he would undoubtedly get more work done this way, and it wasn't as if he had made any actual plans with Haru; there was always next week.

As it turned out, Haru was busy on Sunday, the next Saturday too. Yet Sousuke still couldn't bring himself to sacrifice his pride and actually ask if Haru just wanted to stay in and watch a movie. He'd started to see the stranger around college more too, he even managed to get a name for them too after he attempted to casually ask Haru who his new friend was. Daiki. From what he could gather, the man was a flirt, joking around with girls in corridors and attending clubs in the evening. When he tried to picture what he and Haru would do when they went out together, he was stumped with the image of Haru at a night club. He didn't have the same easy energy as Daiki that'd allow him to stay up late dancing and drinking. Sousuke always missed him when he dragged himself back to their apartment in the early morning, he never knew if he was drunk when he returned and the mornings weren't telling either; he was too slow and grumpy in the mornings to tell if he was hung over or not. He hated to think that he was being overprotective when Haru was just trying to have some fun, but getting drunk every weekend with approaching exams wasn't the best plan, especially with so much riding on his results. For a few weeks he ignored it, it wasn't his business after all, but he couldn't help but get concerned when the next Saturday came.  

Haru had claimed he'd be back late again, but in time for dinner, Sousuke only realised later that he was in real need of a far more definite time than Haru had given. It was long past the time they'd usually eat and darkness had swept over the city early as it always did in the winter months, and with it harsh, cold wind rolled in; the kind that could cut straight through your clothes. Sousuke didn't want to panic. It would be completely irrational if he did. Haru was a fully grown adult that could take care of himself, but he was also an idiot that had left home with only a light hoodie thrown on.

Sousuke sent his gaze out of the window and let his eyes roam over the increasingly snowy city landscape, it had to be freezing outside. He couldn't help it, his panic was only building and his thoughts were full of concern. With a curse, he grabbed a heavy jacket and threw it on, grabbing his keys before leaving the apartment and rushing down the stairs. Once he'd left the safety and warmth of the building however, he realised he had no idea where to start looking. Sure Haru had been planning to go swimming that morning, but he wouldn't still be at the pool. The man was unnatural, but not inhuman. Besides, the pools would have already shut for the night long ago. Sousuke wrapped his jacket tighter around himself as the winter chill set into his bones.

He decided on walking the streets near their apartment,  jittery from both anxiety and the cold. It felt like ages before he caught sight of a small, shivering figure making it's way up the road. Haru.

"Sousuke?" Up close, he could see that Haru's nose and cheeks were dusted with pink; but there were no tell-tale rumpled clothes and no reek of alcohol,

"You should have known you'd need more than just a hoodie, you idiot." Sousuke quipped, trying to hide his concern. "You're late too."

"Didn't know I'd be out so long... Sousuke what are you doing?" As Haru spoke, he stripped of his heavy jacket and passed it to the other. "Aren't you going to be cold?"

"Just take it before you catch hypothermia."

"...Thanks." Haru shrugged on the jacket, pointedly ignoring how oversized it was for his frame and shoving his numb hands into the pockets to hide how far down the sleeves came.

They walked back in silence for some time, but the question weighing on Sousuke's mind wouldn't rest and he couldn't help but voice it.

"So what have you been up to?" as soon as he said it he realised he hated the way he phrased it, "I just mean..." he was cut short when Haru snorted, his shouldn't shaking as he tried to conceal his laughter.

"You sound like a mother."

"If you're walking around at night in the cold dressed like that you might still need one." Haru chuckled again.

"Daiki had been organising a study group. He figured unless he had people to force him to study he wouldn't get anything done; for the rest of us... I guess it was just easier to study together."

"Ah, right..." Sousuke felt guilty for getting so concerned, for jumping to conclusions, and they lapsed back into silence.

When they got back into their apartment, Sousuke was more thankful than ever that he had good circulation or he was sure his fingers would have already fallen off. Haru, on the other hand, wasn't blessed with the same generics and was clinging even tighter to the jacket despite already being inside.

"Here," Sousuke reached for Haru's hands, pressing his own against them. Compared to the warmth he emitted, Haru's fingers felt like ice as he warmed them up, missing the flash of shock that crossed the other's face. Haru murmured another 'thanks' in return. "Guessing you haven't had much to eat... There's probably still some leftovers in the fridge," he said, acting as if he hadn't deliberately set out another portion for him.

"Sorry if I worried you."

"I wasn't worried... Just next time, maybe call when you're going to be late." A small smile tugged at Haru's lips.

"Will do."