Chapter Text
For the love of the Archons! All Gorou wanted was to relax without any single thought about his unfinished assignments! But, as much as he wished for that every single day, there were always papers to write and presentations to prepare.
So that night, while he was busy working on a presentation that was supposed to be due tomorrow, his roommate came home.
“Huh? Have you been home all day?” he asked.
“I have assignments, okay?” he told his roommate, turning away from his laptop to get a look at the other.
Kazuha sat down on their shared ugly couch. He sighed as if letting go of a breath he'd been holding for a while. Kazuha was quite pretty—in Gorou's eyes, at least. He was short, but cute. Though now, his jacket was covered in dried tiny leaves and his blonde pigtail was messy. The scarlet streak on his head was tangled.
"You look like a mess," Gorou commented.
"The wind wasn't very nice today. I stayed on the rooftop of the campus to get some inspiration for my new poem this afternoon. The wind blew my notebook, and I think it fell somewhere." The blonde ran his bony fingers through the messy hair.
“Uh… Did it fall on someone’s head?”
“I dunno. I hope not.” There wasn’t any worry at all in his voice. Instead, Kazuha giggled innocently like the chill guy he was. “If it did, that wouldn't be nice.”
“Uh, yeah.” Gorou snickered.
“How did your assignments go?”
“Bad.” Gorou could care less. This one assignment he was working on right now wouldn’t finish itself by any means. If he couldn’t finish it on time, his score would be at stake. Prof. Zhongli would not just let him live freely with choppy work. After this one was done, Gorou still had to do another one! If only his brain and body were like computers, maybe all would be done in no time.
“What’s wrong?” Kazuha asked.
“Ah, yeah. You see, these assignments are due tomorrow. Unlike your department, mine is merciless.” Gorou explained while his focus was back on the screen. His fingers were busy typing, making loud click-clacks filling the room. “Prof. Zhongli wants the perfect presentation, or he’ll give free Fs like an old man giving free candies to children. You know Ms. Ningguang? She hates papers written poorly. How many times have I gotten my papers returned by her? Uncountable. Gah! I wish I had joined the military instead of this. I work with my muscles better, you know.”
“General, you’ve done well!” Kazuha giggled softly while calling his roommate that particular nickname. “You’re just being too perfectionist!”
“Yeah. Say that to my professors.” Gorou ignored him and was still as busy as a bee. The screen looked a bit too bright now–or maybe his eyes were getting tired. He’d been working on this assignment since this morning nonstop.
“Now that you mention it, I think I know this Ms. Ningguang because she often hangs out with my cousin. What if I try persuading—”
“Wait! I didn’t really mean that!” Gorou shifted to his roommate who was still sitting on the couch. “I know you do weird stuff when I’m not looking.”
Kazuha cackled. “Of course. I won’t do such a thing.”
Gorou groaned loudly and returned to his assignment. Okay, where was he? A collection of ambers found in Hanguang Stone Forest was created…
When he was deep in thoughts, Gorou heard the sound of a chair being dragged on the floor. It was squeaking loudly and his ears hated it so much that he wanted to growl at whatever created the sound in the first place.
“I’ll sit here if you don’t mind.” Kazuha was suddenly on his left, sitting on a plastic chair.
“Oh?” Being this close to his crush, Gorou’s brain decided to stop working normally. His fingers were floating above the keys and the back of his neck grew cold. Kazuha had this chilly air going around him. One time, he can make anyone feel breezy and calm just by being near him. The other time, he makes anyone scared for their life. But to Gorou, there is always serenity and a racing heart.
Kazuha leaned to reach the laptop, and tapped on the button. The screen changed into another window that wasn’t Gorou’s assignment.
“Hey!” Gorou finally gained back his consciousness. “That’s my work! I’ve spent hours on it!”
“Relax! I didn’t delete it, okay?” The blonde clicked on the screen, and a video started playing.
The video was of very bad quality as if the cameraman hated his job and wished to be fired right away. It was shaking and trembling so bad Gorou’s head hurt just by looking at it. A beach was shown on the screen. It was morning and empty. The sound of rolling waves and the cries of gulls were heard in low quality. Then someone was running past the camera—it was Gorou! He was dressed in a blue open dress shirt with flower patterns over a black tank top and shorts. Gorou remembered that it was a video taken a few months ago when they went to visit a beach.
“C’mon! It’s on! Say something!” The cameraman said.
Gorou on the video posed like a stern general—hands folded behind the back and his body was straight like a pole. “Good day, soldiers! I am General Gorou of the Watatsumi Army. Pleased to make your acquaintance. I hope you’re ready for today’s training because it’s going to be extra hard.”
“You make a great general,” said the cameraman.
The so-called general lost his composure. His pointy ears perked up and his tail was wagging behind his body. “I do?”
“Yeah! Now, try to do something else. Ah! How about this? Act as if you are scolding a new recruit.”
"Alright! Listen here, soldier! You are not playing a game here. Millions of lives are in your hands!” The video-Gorou walked in a small circle with hands still behind his back, then he turned at the camera and grinned. “Hey, Kazuha! Show yourself! I can’t be the only main character here!”
Watching the old video, Gorou couldn’t help but snort at how cringed he looked in it. “Why are we watching this weird video?”
“I’ve heard that,” Kazuha replied casually as he clicked on the pause button, “watching an old video like this brings back the good memories of the past. It also helps one relax. I see that you’ve been stressed out by those assignments, so I thought we could watch this video so you could relax. I also heard that being a perfectionist and being extra careful are two different things. You should take some time to pause and rest. Don’t push yourself too hard. Only then, you can continue your work to achieve the best—that’s called being extra careful. If you force yourself to present the best, doubting your own ability and losing your confidence little by little, forcing yourself in the process, you’re being a perfectionist. You won’t finish things on time if you keep being perfectionist.”
Gorou looked at his roommate for a good few seconds, then snuggled closer and held his right hand. “You always know me better than myself.”
“Gorou, don’t say that. You’re the best version of yourself. You are the only one who knows what you really want. I merely do this because we are very close friends.” He looked away and mumbled, “Maybe… even more than that.”
The back of his eyes was hot. Gorou pulled the other male into a hug, sniffing his fragrant long hair. “I love you so much!”
Kazuha patted his back. “Glad to know.”
“Agh!” As if he was just being slapped right on the face, the brunette pulled away. Ears were flattened on top of his brown-haired head. “So-sorry… I was being carried away…”
His roommate’s face was as red as the hoodie he was wearing. “It’s okay.”
Gorou rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. “W-well, maybe… Um… Can I hold your hand and watch the video together? Holding hands is supposed to make one relax, too, right? O-of course, after the video ends, I’m going to let go…”
“Even after the video ends, I’ll still let you hold my hand.”
They continued watching the video and laughed at their past selves in it. Their past selves played in the sand, in the water, and the past Gorou got the tip of his bushy tail pinched by a crab—then Kazuha left the camera on the sand, facing the clear blue sky, to help him. Gorou’s scream could be heard in the distance along with Kazuha’s panicked voice.
His racing mind was calm now. Gorou traced Kazuha’s fingers, feeling his delicate skin and clasping their palms together. No one had ever told him that their hands matched each other, but Gorou wanted to believe this. Gorou wanted to believe that this relaxing and carefree moment with Kazuha would last forever.