Work Text:
“I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”
Skylar swiveled around in his desk chair when he heard the voice and looked at the despondent boy sitting in his bed.
“Exams are next week,” he reminded Cirrus, although he was starting to feel a wave of fatigue himself. It was only something like six in the evening, but he’d been doing calculus for hours. Each next review problem was feeling like more of an uphill battle.
“Shouldn’t you want me to fail?” the silver-haired boy grinned, closing the workbook in his lap. “Quickly, sabotage me so that you can get the top score in the class and be crowned king of the exams.”
Skylar rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, don’t tempt me.”
He put his pencil down on his desk with a heavy sigh, raising his arms above his head and stretching. His back was aching from sitting in the chair all day.
“C’mere, join me,” Cirrus lightly said, patting the bed beside him. “There’s tons of space here.”
Looking at Cirrus now, it was amusing to Skylar how this boy had a way of casually, effortlessly establishing a claim on things that weren’t even his to begin with. He could lounge around comfortably on someone else’s bed and then offer a spot on it with that charming smile, as though he were being generous.
Oddly enough, Skylar didn’t actually hate it. It was just one of the many things he’d filed away in the catalog of Cirrus quirks that he had gotten used to.
At this point, as final exams approached, he was accustomed to the other boy hanging out in his room. Cirrus had even slept over on multiple occasions.
Several times, it had just gotten too late for it to make sense for him to go all the way back to his house. That, or Cirrus would just fall asleep and Skylar couldn’t muster the will to shake him awake and demand that he leave. A couple of times, however, it was the quiet, haunted look on other boy’s face. The one that Skylar always picked up on, the unspoken signal that something had happened and he didn’t want to go home.
Thankfully, this wasn’t one of those nights. Not that Skylar could tell, at least, crossing the room with his literature textbook and climbing onto his bed beside the other boy. He sat beside him, their knees brushing.
“No, stop, you can’t take it away from me,” Cirrus said in a flat voice, dropping his workbook into Skylar’s lap as soon as he sat down. “You wicked thief, stealing my most valuable possession.”
Skylar exasperatedly watched as the silver-haired boy sighed.
“I guess I’ll have to carry on without it. But I’ll be so devastated.”
Cirrus leaned over, resting his head on Skylar’s shoulder.
There was a moment of silence as the dark-haired boy picked up the workbook he’d apparently stolen and set it down beside him. Then he opened his own book and started reading where he left off.
“You’re supposed to be comforting me right now,” Cirrus whined, his hand gently wrapping around Skylar’s wrist.
Skylar snorted. “So sorry for your loss. If you stay silent for the next hour, I’m sure you’ll recover.”
He returned his attention to the page of his book. Cirrus’ fingers were still warm against his skin, his head heavy on his shoulder.
To his surprise, for the next few minutes, Cirrus actually stayed quiet. He kept expecting that the other boy would suddenly chime in with a needy comment, or try to scare him, or mess with him in some other way. Instead, he just leaned silently on Skylar, unmoving.
Trying to get through the chapter of the textbook was a slog. It was getting late and he didn’t personally care that much about the lore behind specific literary tropes at that moment.
He startled a little as the hand on his arm suddenly squeezed.
“What’s up?” he asked, turning his head.
There was no response.
“Hey, you’re allowed to talk now,” Skylar said.
Nothing.
He could’ve sworn he heard Cirrus mutter something quietly, but he couldn’t make the words out. A moment later, his grip loosened, his hand just resting on top of Skylar’s arm.
Ah, he realized, sighing. The other boy must be asleep.
It was a challenge not to smile and succumb to complete distraction as he tried to turn the pages of his book without shifting around too much, his back pressed against the wall.
Before they’d started spending so much time together, Skylar had been pretty positive that Cirrus struggled to fall asleep. Or, if he did, it wasn’t consistent. He’d often woken up to texts the other boy had sent him in the middle of the night. Responding with go to sleep didn’t change that, either.
He wondered if he’d been completely incorrect about his earlier assessment. Now, it seemed like every time Cirrus visited him when it was late, he passed out almost instantly the moment that he got too relaxed. Or, maybe sometimes it was just a self-preservation tactic to get him out of studying, Skylar amusedly thought to himself.
The fact that he could reflect this much on Cirrus was still surreal to think about.
So much had changed between them. He could say that they were good friends now, but…that didn’t feel quite right. He wasn’t sure what did feel correct, though. It was like they were in some nebulous category outside of friends, strangers, enemies, or lovers.
They’d become more honest and open with each other about a lot of things. Yet, for some reason, it felt especially difficult to express what the chaotic swirl of feelings inside of him was.
Every time they grabbed the other person’s hand to get their attention, leaned in close simply because they were in proximity to each other, stayed up late laughing at ridiculous things, shared their food with each other, or did any of the countless other things they did, Skylar felt this undeniable, fierce longing.
He wanted to be around Cirrus. That was the one, simple thing he knew was absolutely true.
His mind kept wandering. It must’ve continued to stray away, eventually sinking into a warm tranquility.
“I think we did a good job, don’t you?” Min-jun crossed her arms as she looked down at the assortment of food on the table, a satisfied look on her face.
Ha-yeon nodded at her mother, wearing a similar expression. “We totally did. Next time, it’s Skylar’s turn to make dinner though.”
Min-jun sighed. “Don’t worry, I didn’t forget. Speaking of Skylar, where is he? Can you go ask him and Cirrus if they want dinner?”
Making a face, Ha-yeon nodded and started walking.
It wasn’t that she didn’t like encountering Cirrus and Skylar together. Actually, since getting to know the silver-haired boy and getting less nervous around him, she had started to appreciate just how much he perfectly balanced out Skylar’s energy. She was glad that he was in her brother’s life. He was funny and considerate too.
The one thing was that recently…stuff had gotten a little weird. Not in a bad way at all, but the vibes between those two had gotten intense. Just last week, she’d walked into the living room to ask either Skylar or Cirrus to help her reach something stored on a shelf.
They hadn’t even noticed when she’d stood there awkwardly in plain view.
The two of them had been sitting together on the couch, leaning so close together that their hair was brushing. Skylar had a video game controller in his hands and was rapidly pressing buttons, looking at the TV. Cirrus’ arm was wrapped around his shoulder, his fingers tracing a pattern into her brother’s shoulder. He was barely looking at the screen, staring intently at the side of Skylar’s face as they talked about the game.
Ha-yeon never thought she’d have to process the absurdity of someone chuckling softly and gazing at another with a burning intensity as they said in a low, gentle voice, “Aspect of Guan Yu with the Eternal Spear is the superior build,” but Cirrus had somehow managed to manifest it.
That boy could’ve been saying anything, but when he was looking at her brother like that and using that tone, it would convey the same sentiment every single time.
She realized that perhaps she was lucky to witness adoration in its purest form.
It came at the price of having to be the person super awkwardly interrupting a moment like that, though. She had felt so guilty about it. And that hadn’t been the only time she’d walked straight into a similar situation.
Would it be bad to just ask point blank if those two were dating now? She knew she should probably wait for one of them to share that information themselves, but the suspense of it all was making her a little stressed.
All of that was running through her mind as she knocked on Skylar’s bedroom door. There wasn’t an answer, but the desk light was on. She knocked again, but still nothing. It almost sounded like the room was empty.
Nervously, she reached out and turned the doorknob, praying that she wasn’t about to scorch her eyeballs with something she’d rather not see.
Her eyes widened as she peered into the softly lit room.
Cirrus’ head rested on Skylar’s shoulder. He was clearly asleep, breathing slowly, his eyes closed. Similarly, her brother’s head was pressed against the other boy’s and he was sleeping too. Both of their faces were completely tranquil.
It looked like there was an open textbook in Skylar’s lap. Her brother’s hand rested on top of Cirrus’, crinkling the pages of his book.
Quietly, she backed out of the room and slowly closed the door.
Dinner could wait.
Right now, those two were drifting in their own little world, sharing some lovely, ephemeral dream.