Work Text:
You were so grateful to have a friend like Thoma in times like these.
It was finals season, and you were losing your mind, as every college student tends to. Between the assignments piling up and the exams right around the corner, it was only right to be stressed out. Getting good grades seemed important enough to neglect yourself in the process, which was terribly unhealthy, as Thoma continued to remind you.
“Hi!” Thoma loudly greeted you as he walked into your apartment. “You didn’t reply to my texts so I texted Ayaka and she said you were here working on that mythology paper. And also that you probably haven’t eaten all day. So I brought miso soup!”
“You are a god amongst men,” you replied, typing the rest of your sentence before finally looking up to see Thoma beaming at you.
Getting up from your spot on the couch where you sat hunched over your laptop, you walked over to Thoma who was taking out a container of his homemade miso soup.
“How are your finals going?” He asked, as he put the container in the microwave, moving around your space with ease like he’d been there a million times before (which he had. The two of you had been friends even before you became roommates with Ayaka over a year ago, and the two of them had been friends since childhood. Thoma knew your shared apartment inside and out.)
“They’re definitely going,” you responded, “I’m at least halfway through this paper, and then I’ll have two other research papers and then all of my exams are next week. At least then I’ll finally get a break. How are yours going?”
“Mine are going good! Only one paper and then two exams next week, one of which is for culinary - and that I’m more excited for than nervous - the rest I’m exempt from. I’m glad it’s not as packed as usual.”
“I’m so jealous, you have no idea. This has been the only thing occupying my mind, I don’t even remember the last time I left the apartment. How cold is it outside?”
“Very,” he laughed. Only then did you notice the red scarf hanging on a hook next to the door and the fingerless gloves still on his hands.
“I hope you didn’t brave the cold just to come here, I can take care of myself, y’know.” Though, the three cups of coffee being the only thing you consumed all day would say otherwise.
“When’s the last time you’ve eaten?” He countered, your stomach grumbling on cue. He laughed as you pouted, taking the container of miso soup out of the microwave just before it could beep. “Here, eat up.” Pushing the container toward you and settling a spoon down next to it.
You sat down at the little seating area, him taking a seat right across from you. “I figured miso soup was perfect for this weather we’re having, all cold and gloomy, and then it made me think of you, and how you were doing, so when you didn’t answer my texts I decided to stop by,” he said thoughtfully, head resting on his hand as he looked at you.
You could feel your face heat up at his thoughtfulness. “Sorry I didn’t answer, I think my phone’s been on silent ever since I started this paper. My fault for not reading the book that it’s on until the day before it’s due,” you cringed. “Thank you for the soup though, I really appreciate it. And miso soup makes you think of me?” You raised your eyebrows as you took a sip from your spoon, looking at him questioningly.
“Well, a lot of things make me think of you. And it’s winter now, and you’re always cold during winter, so…” he trailed off, looking bashful.
You smiled, and the two of you continued to talk until you had finished your miso soup, now looking more alive than before. “Thank you so much, really. If your culinary final involves making miso soup, you’re gonna pass with flying colors.” He smiled as you stretched and stood up, taking the container to the sink to wash it.
“I’m glad I could provide.” He had a soft smile on his face, moving to hug you the second you finished washing the tupperware.
You tensed before relaxing into his embrace, putting your arms around him as well. “I’m not complaining,” you started, voice muffled by his clothing, “but what brought this on?”
“You looked like you needed a hug,” he simply stated, wrapping his arms around you even tighter.
After what felt like hours, the two of you broke away, Thoma patting you on the head as you looked up at him. “I know you want to get back to your paper,” he said, as you forlornly glanced towards your laptop still on the coffee table.
You sighed, wanting the paper to be over already despite knowing afterward you would just have more work to do. Glancing back up at him again, you smiled, seeing his kind green eyes gazing back at you. Everything was so simple with Thoma, so manageable. You often felt like you could do anything with him around. Well, anything except confess your ever-growing crush on him, which felt obvious to have with how warmhearted and helpful he always was.
“How’s Ayato doing with his finals?” You asked him, wanting him to stay just a little longer but also curious about your friend, who was also his roommate. You also took great humor in watching how Thoma rolled his eyes just thinking about the workaholic.
“Worse than you, I can guarantee.” He laughed. “He put salt in his coffee this morning and he was so tired that it took him ten minutes to realize what was wrong. Then he begged me to go get boba for him because he didn’t want to leave the apartment. Even Itto has paused his usual stopping-by.”
You grimaced, knowing how Ayato values having the boisterous, carefree student around much more than he lets on. As the two of you talked more, Thoma’s phone rang, making him pause mid-sentence to see what was a text from Ayato.
Ayato
hey
when ur done kissing y/n
can u pick me up some boba🥺
please🥺
Thoma quickly put his phone away so you wouldn’t see the text, a blush slowly creeping up his neck and to his ears at the thought of his feelings nearly being outed to his crush via a text from his roommate asking for boba. “Speak of the devil and he will appear, I guess,” Thoma chuckled. “And he wants boba, who would’ve guessed.”
You laughed, moving to grab the now dry tupperware to return it to Thoma, who was walking towards your door, not wanting to leave but knowing you both had things to do. After thanking him again for the nth time that afternoon, he replied, “It’s no problem, I like doing nice things for you. If you hit a roadblock on your paper, just give me a call. If I can’t help on the topic I can at least lend an ear.” He smiled, wrapping his scarf around his neck and stepping out the door.
You felt warmer now after Thoma stopped by. You picked up your phone, finally seeing all the missed texts from Thoma, shooting out a message that read:
text me when u get home!!
You sat back down in front of your laptop, more invigorated after sunshine personified briefly lit up your life, giving you the motivation needed to continue your work.
<3
It was now night again, the winter chill becoming more prominent even with the heat going on inside. You had dinner with Ayaka and Yoimiya after Yoimiya practically dragged the blue haired girl from the library, stating that she needed another break. Being a workaholic seemed to be in the Kamisato DNA. Luckily after dinner, you and Ayaka continued your break from your respective studies.
“I swear, I had turned the paper in on time, but because the professor only accepts paper copies he somehow lost it, and then I had to stop writing my other paper to trek all the way across campus to give him a second copy,” Ayaka lamented. “It took me a whole hour and a half! So much time wasted.” She pouted and leaned on your shoulder.
“At least you ran into Yoimiya on your way back,” you smiled at her, watching as her face turned pink at the mention of the persistent blonde, who also happened to be the subject of Ayaka’s recent pining.
“Oh my god, she’s so kind! She saw that I was looking down and offered to walk me back to the library and then just stayed with me the whole time! And it took hours!” She became bashful at the thought before she noticed you smirking at her. “Oh don’t give me that look,” she playfully shoved you away. “I heard that Thoma stopped by,” she tried, eyes dancing with mirth, but you didn’t give in.
“Oh don’t try to change the subject on me now! What happened to ‘Yoimiya’s so pretty, I want to braid her hair! Yoimiya bought me coffee! Yoimiya’s so beautiful I want to kiss her tattoos-’” You were stopped by Ayaka’s hand covering your mouth, a blush on her face as she giggled.
“Ok, ok! I get it!” She laughed, you laughed with her.
“Thoma did text me earlier,” she started after a moment, smile still high on her face. “It had probably been a few hours since he had texted you with no response, and he texted me asking if I had heard from you. Compared to how fast you usually respond to his texts, I imagine he was going through withdrawal.” Her smile grew wider as you nudged her.
“He brought me miso soup. It was nice,” you replied, the warmth reminiscent from earlier returning to your body.
“Just nice?”
“Very nice.”
She smiled at you knowingly. The two of you chatted for a little longer, enjoying your brief reprieve from the world of academics before your work called you into your respective rooms.
After making sure the living space was clean from any food, and cleaning yourself up for the night, you laid in your bed with your laptop once again, trying to power through the last stretch of your paper before realizing you had hit a roadblock. You looked at the time at the right hand of the screen, seeing that it was not yet midnight at least, but you wanted to get the paper out of the way.
You sighed, moving your laptop to the side before texting Thoma.
hey
Your response came within the next minute.
hey
done with that paper yet?
sadly not
what r u up to?
watching the great british bake off
what’s up?
i’m stuck on this paper
it’s not even due tonight but i just want to be done with it😭
you poor thing
wanna call?
yes pls
The second your message was marked as delivered, your phone rang, Thoma’s profile picture popping up as you slid your finger across the screen to answer the call.
“Hey,” you answered, taking care to keep your voice relatively quiet, lest you disturb Ayaka in her room.
“Hey,” he responded, smile evident in the way he spoke. “So, do you wanna walk me through that paper?”
“I mean, I don’t wanna bore you but I think it might help,” you chuckled.
“You never bore me, I’m all ears.”
“I have only 300 words left and I’m all out of ideas…” You began explaining the premise of your paper, how you needed to connect the topic to a particular event in history and make certain inferences while using evidence from the book and so on.
Thoma chimed in here and there about things you could add, and you started typing while still on the phone with him. Time flew by and you could hear him yawn through the phone.
“You should go to sleep, you know. I don’t want to keep you up,” you said, eyes focused on your screen but still concerned about your friend.
“You’re not keeping me up. I’ll stay on until you feel like hanging up. Sometimes just talking through your paper helps enough, so really I’m not doing anything,” he laughed, voice noticeably a little more gravelly.
After almost an hour of talking, Thoma could feel himself beginning to drift off. He was comfortable in his bed, the heat on, and hearing your voice through his phone that was sitting on his pillow brought him peace. Your voice was becoming slightly hoarse, likely from speaking so much all at once, but Thoma loved the sound of it all the same. He liked how your voice sounded - was a bit obsessed with it, even. Especially with how husky your voice could sound due to overuse. Really, calling you to have you talk about your paper served two purposes, one of which was more selfish than the other. He wanted to help you of course, but he also just adored hearing your voice. He wished he could hear you talking in such a low, soft tone everyday.
The cadence of your words was comforting, and became a pleasant hum in his mind. He undeniably wished you were there next to him; daydreaming of you sitting in his bed, working on your paper while he laid with his arms wrapped around your waist. How he would coax you to lay down and sleep once he saw you getting exhausted, maybe even giving you a kiss on the forehead before wrapping his arms around you once more. He smiled at the thought.
His eyes began to close unintentionally as the irregular clicking of your keyboard and your soothing voice lulled him to sleep.
After a few minutes of not hearing anything on his end, you paused your typing. Bringing your phone speaker up to your ear, you could hear that Thoma’s breathing evened out, indicating that he was asleep. You smiled to yourself as you kept typing with the call still going, no longer talking as you were. Thanks to Thoma’s help, the last bit of your paper went by rather quickly. After finishing up the citations, you immediately submitted it, glad to be done. It was well past midnight and you were exhausted, stretching and hearing your back crack and pop from being hunched over all day.
You put your laptop away and crawled under your covers, but not before whispering a quiet, “Thank you, goodnight,” to Thoma. Knowing that it wouldn’t wake him up, nor would he hear it, but you share the sentiment all the same.