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It was too late to be getting text messages.
Even if Chris was still up grading papers.
Tetsu and Jun had agreed to keep him company. The three of them taking up a corner booth at a coffee shop close to campus that was open late for just this purpose. Chris always appreciated Tetsu’s quiet but incredibly focused studying style. Even Jun’s more boisterous but no less intense method was weirdly comforting and encouraging.
All three of them look up at the sound of Chris’ phone dinging.
Jun scoffed. “Who’s texting you now?”
Chris shrugged as he picked up his phone. The two people most likely to text him late at night were sitting in this cafe with him. Tanba was probably sleeping. Takako was definitely already sleeping. Who knew what Ryosuke got up to late at night, but he rarely texted. Tooru worked most nights at his parents' convenience store.
So that left—
“Miyuki Kazuya.”
“Wait,” said Jun and for a moment he looked genuinely too stunned for words. “Wait. You have Miyuki Kazuya’s phone number?”
“Ah, yeah. Though he’s never texted me before and…” Chris trailed off and he turned his phone around for Jun and Tetsu to see the screen. “What does this mean?”
The text message was a single question mark.
And nothing else.
Jun threw back his head and laughed. “Oooh! You’ve been blessed with one of Miyuki’s infamous question mark texts.”
Chris frowned. “What does it mean?”
“It’s a ‘You up?’ text,” replied Jun unhelpfully.
Chris’ frown deepened. “What does that mean?”
“He’s asking you for sex.”
The simple statement was somehow made so much worse with Tetsu’s deadpan delivery.
“We’re not…” Chris cleared his throat. “Like that?”
“You sure about that?” asked Jun. “Because Miyuki Kazuya kind of has a reputation.”
“I’m pretty sure I would remember if I was in a friends with benefits situation with Miyuki.”
Jun dismissed that with a wave of his hand. “Who said anything about friends? Miyuki Kazuya doesn’t have friends.”
“He…doesn’t?” Chris looked at Jun and then Tetsu and then back at Jun. “Then…what’s this text message?”
Tetsu reached across the table in order to clap Chris on the shoulder. “There’s only one way to find out.”
And Chris decided that his friends were pretty useless…
But right.
—
It took some further prompting but Chris was eventually able to get Miyuki to tell him his location. And Chris had suspected from all of the typos in his texts that Miyuki was a little tipsy—Chris was, however, completely unprepared for just how tipsy he really was.
Because the last thing he expected was to walk through the door and for Miyuki Kazuya to immediately shout, “Senpai!”
And Chris had just enough time to wonder what Miyuki was doing here in this house, at this party, drunk off his ass—before Miyuki bounded up all smiles as he reached up and placed his hands on Chris’ shoulders—probably to steady himself.
It didn’t leave much room between them. Miyuki didn’t seem to notice. Chris did. He really did.
“Hi, senpai!”
“Hi, Miyuki,” replied Chris, amused despite himself. “You enjoying yourself?”
“No,” said Miyuki, sagging against Chris in a way that made Chris grip him a little tighter in the hopes that they both didn’t topple over. “Can you take me home, senpai?”
“Yeah. I can do that.”
Except it turned out that Chris couldn’t, in fact, do that. Mostly because Miyuki practically passed out the moment he was seatbelted into the passenger seat of Chris’ car. Chris attempted to wake him in order to wrangle his apartment address out of him. When that didn’t work Chris let out a long breath—and then just started driving home.
It wasn’t until Chris had deposited Miyuki on to his own bed and took a step back that he let himself really wonder…
How in the world had his life ended up like this?
—
It had still been early in the school year when Chris heard the first rumor about Miyuki Kazuya.
And it was one he wasn’t supposed to overhear.
“He’s totally slept with half the student body.”
“That’s hardly news. Everyone knows that Miyuki Kazuya is trouble.”
Chris blinked as he came to a halt in the hallway. That...was not something he was expecting to hear first thing in the morning.
There were two girls waiting outside of his office. Though ‘office’ was a relative term. It was little more than a closet with a desk in it. Given to Chris when he agreed to TA an English Literature undergraduate class. It was a decision that he had yet to regret.
Even if sometimes his mornings started like this.
Chris cleared his throat and the two girls jumped. “Morning.”
“Good morning!” chimed both of the girls hurriedly. Each looked flustered at having been caught gossiping.
Chris smiled as he unlocked his office and flicked on the lights. He set down his thermos of coffee. The two girls settled into the chairs as they waited for Chris to unpack his bag. Normally Chris wouldn’t have bothered but he needed a little more time to work through his thoughts.
Miyuki Kazuya was not a name he had heard in awhile.
His memory conjured up a kid too confident for his size and age.
Now that Chris thought about it Miyuki was only a year younger than him. It wasn’t as if time had frozen him forever at eleven years old. Of course he would have grown up and gone to college.
The part about Miyuki being trouble...that sounded true.
Chris had no idea what to think about the ‘slept with half the student body’ comment. Regardless, it didn’t matter. It wasn’t any of his business. Besides, he had gone years without seeing Miyuki and he didn’t see that changing any time soon.
Convinced that was that, Chris sat down behind his desk and smiled.
“How can I help you two?”
—
Except there really was no escaping Miyuki Kazuya’s reputation on campus.
“I’m not kidding,” said Jun in between bites of his lunch. “The guy was hustling everyone at pool—and not just naive Freshmen. I’ve heard he took money from a Professor once.”
“That seems unlikely,” replied Tetsu.
“You’ve never met Miyuki Kazuya.”
“You know Miyuki Kazuya?” asked Chris as he absently picked at his own lunch.
“Everyone knows Miyuki Kazuya—” started Jun before he cut himself off and looked Chris up and down. “Wait. Do you know know Miyuki Kazuya?”
“I…” Chris trailed off because he didn’t know what that meant. “If it’s the same Miyuki Kazuya then I went to Middle School with him.”
Jun frowned, clearly suspicious. “Was he hustling pool back then too?”
Chris only had a few memories of Miyuki from Middle School. Back then he had been a kid who’s knees and elbows and hands were often covered in bandaids because his mouth was bigger than the rest of him.
Chris shrugged. “He did get beat up a lot.”
“Was he an asshole back then?” asked Jun.
“He was eleven?”
“So…” Jun trailed off before nodding to himself. “Probably.”
Chris shrugged again.
—
Tanba tossed the essay he was grading aside as he grumbled, “What an asshole.”
Chris looked up from his own stack of essays curious despite himself. Tanba normally didn’t have an opinion about the students he was TAing and if he did he never had such a strong opinion.
“What’s wrong?” asked Chris.
“Have you heard of Miyuki Kazuya?”
Chris blinked back at Tanba and it took him a moment but eventually he admitted, “I have.” He resettled into his chair before adding, “Hasn’t everyone?”
Tanba scoffed. “He’s in my class. Apparently he missed a general ed credit and needs this class to graduate.”
“And he’s not doing well?”
Tanba’s eyes narrowed. “No.”
“Ah,” said Chris. “So…he’s doing…well?”
Tanba continued to glare at the essay he set aside. “Yes.”
“And that’s…bad?”
“He’s just…annoying and arrogant and…” Tanba let out a frustrated sigh as he picked up the next essay in the stack. “And he’s doing really well—and deliberately being an asshole about it.”
And Chris nodded, figuring it was a neutral enough gesture. The truth was he wasn’t sure what to think about this new bit of information concerning Miyuki Kazuya.
He wasn’t sure how to explain to Tanba that that actually sounded a lot like the Miyuki Kazuya he remembered.
An undisputed genius…and ruthlessly competitive.
And Chris definitely didn’t know how to explain how—more than any rumor—this small, seemingly insignificant piece of information, intrigued him.
—
The last place Chris expected to run into Miyuki—almost literally—was at a random house party that Jun and Tetsu had dragged him to.
Chris had just turned a corner and there he was. Miyuki stumbled a little as he tried not to crash into Chris and somehow managed not to spill his beer and stood back up with a triumphant smile on his face and—
Damn.
Miyuki had always been a cute kid—all knees and elbows and chubby cheeks.
Miyuki, the college student, had grown up to be unfairly good looking.
Chris barely recognized him and he found himself blurting out, “Miyuki Kazuya?”
Recognition was apparently not a problem Miyuki shared because his smile widened as he said, “Hi, Chris-senpai.”
They ended up catching up over beers. Migrating into the kitchen. Chris leaning up against one of the counters and Miyuki sitting on the island. A small bubble of calm surrounded by the chaos of the party.
And it was…nice. Surprisingly nice.
Chris learned that Miyuki was an Engineering major. He was considering going for his post graduate degree but wasn’t sure if that was something he wanted to commit to yet especially since it didn’t seem necessary for the job he was aiming for.
And Chris found himself talking about his own experience going for his masters. He found himself admitting that he wasn’t sure what he was going to do with a Masters in English Language.
“Teach, I guess,” said Chris with a shrug. “But…ah…I don’t know if I’d be good at that either.”
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” Miyuki cracked open another beer and took a quick sip. “Though I’m sure you’d be great at teaching if that’s what you decided.”
Chris ran a hand across the back of his neck. “Yeah. I don’t know. I’m TAing right now and I always feel like I’m making it up as I go.”
Miyuki laughed. “That describes every teacher's assistant I’ve ever met.”
“Ah, right,” said Chris as he helped himself to another beer. “You’re in Tanba’s class.”
This time Miyuki laughed so hard he almost fell off the island. “Oh no. How do you know about that?”
“I’m friends with Tanba.”
“Un-huh,” said Miyuki as he righted himself. “And he talks about me?”
Too late Chris realized his mistake because he couldn’t exactly tell Miyuki that Tanba called him an asshole.
“He said you’re doing really well,” replied Chris neutrality and that was technically true.
Miyuki still smirked that he knew that wasn’t the whole story. “I’m sure he did.”
“He’s at this party,” added Chris over the rim of his beer can.
“Oh, I know,” laughed Miyuki. “Why do you think I’ve been hiding?”
And Chris looked down at the beer can in his hand. He wasn’t sure what to do with the small, tiny, absolutely miniscule disappointment that he felt. Because, of course, Miyuki wasn’t sitting in this kitchen in order to just chat with him.
And Chris was about to say something—excuse himself? He wasn’t exactly sure. But in the end it didn’t matter because Miyuki smiled at him and asked,
“Can I get your number?”
And it was probably a line.
But it still worked.
—
After that Miyuki Kazuya became a consistent and yet somehow also inconsistent part of Chris’ life.
Consistent because they started to occasionally hang out. Inconsistent because it never seemed to be on purpose.
They would run into each other on campus and then have lunch or get coffee or sit together in the library and study.
And the more time they spent together the more Chris started to realize that Miyuki wasn’t at all like the rumors said.
Miyuki wouldn’t notice when their waiter was trying to flirt with him. Threw away his coffee cup without even looking at the phone number scribbled on it. Blatantly told the two giggling girls who asked if they could sit with them at the library, “No.”
Chris was pretty sure Miyuki was just bad at reading the room, bad at reading social cues and was extremely blunt.
That being said Chris had to admit that he could see how all of the rumors started.
For all of his social blunders, Miyuki was incredibly witty. Charming without trying. Flirty even when he didn’t mean to be. Magnetic in a way that was hard to explain.
And since Miyuki never noticed, it was fun to flirt with him a little.
Just a little.
It was safe and relatively harmless.
Except…
Except Chris liked hanging out with Miyuki.
And if Chris started to purposely position himself on campus to run into him more often…well…no one really needed to know that.
Besides that Chris thought he was doing pretty well.
Up until they were in the middle of debating something—Chris couldn’t even really remember what—something silly and mundane that they had escalated into a full on debate. And Chris was pretty sure they had only taken opposing sides just to antagonize the other and that neither of them cared to win.
And Miyuki had thrown back his head and laughed, clearly delighted as he said, “Senpai!”
And Chris felt his breath catch.
And he suddenly realized that none of this had been safe or harmless.
Because it turned out learning the truth about Miyuki Kazuya was just as dangerous as the rumors.
—
And then there was the question mark text.
Chris still didn’t know what to make of it. Even after he had picked up Miyuki from the party. Even with Miyuki asleep in his bed.
Setting—all of that—aside Chris stretched to get the kinks out of his back from sleeping on his couch. He went for a morning run. Picked up breakfast. And was half way through grading yet another set of essays—when Miyuki finally stumbled out of his room. Looking a little lost and a lot disheveled and honestly pretty cute as he blinked at Chris in confusion.
“Morning,” greeted Chris before he gestured towards the kitchen. “I picked up breakfast. Though you’ll probably have to heat it up again seeing as though it’s now noon.”
Miyuki nodded, still looking dazed as he made his way into the kitchen. There was the sound of the microwave and the opening and closing of a few drawers and cabinets.
Chris managed to read through a couple more paragraphs of an essay before Miyuki wandered into the living room. Bringing with him his plate and a glass of water. He carefully set down both on the coffee table.
“Do you need a pain reliever?” asked Chris as he watched Miyuki gingerly sit down on the floor to eat.
Miyuki waved off his concern. His voice, however, was a little hoarse as he said, “I just…need some food and water and…time…”
Chris shrugged, trusting Miyuki knew his own limits and turned his attention back to grading papers. They sat in silence for a while. Miyuki concentrating on his breakfast and Chris reading essays.
Chris hadn’t lived with someone since he left home for college. It was a little strange to be suddenly sharing his space with someone. Even stranger that that person was Miyuki Kazuya.
Strange…but not unpleasant.
Chris wasn’t sure how long they sat together like that. He moved three essays into his done pile and leaned back to stretch—and realized that Miyuki was looking at him.
“What?”
Miyuki shook his head and smiled. “You’re nothing like the rumors about you.”
Chris nodded as he picked up the next essay in the pile—
“Wait. What rumors?”
—
Kazuya understood that it wasn’t necessarily normal to remember so much about someone from Middle School. Someone who he had barely interacted with. Someone who had probably already forgotten all about the pathetic kid who used to follow him around.
Someone who Kazuya spotted casually walking across the college campus—looking like a romance lead in a drama. Tall and handsome and well dressed. Put together in a way that normal college kids could only dream of.
Perhaps it had been so shocking because up until that point Kazuya had been having a perfectly normal and pleasant Thursday. He had woken up on time. Even managed to cook himself breakfast. Turned in all of his assignments and was headed to his last class of the day—when out of nowhere completely unprovoked—
Takigawa Chris Yuu.
His first crush.
And Kazuya knew that wasn’t supposed to mean anything. Not in college.
Still didn’t change the fact that Kazuya took one look at him—and immediately ran away. Skipping a class for the first time in his whole college career. Kazuya was willing to write it off as a sick day. He certainly felt a little sick as he flopped onto his bed at the dorms.
Because Takigawa Chris Yuu was not someone Kazuya was ever supposed to run into ever again.
—
Kazuya had taken a day to collect himself. Convincing himself that the campus was large and the odds of him crossing paths with Chris was slim—
But not none.
Kazuya buried that thought deep, deep down.
His memories, however, were a little harder to ignore.
Especially when all of the rumors started.
Takigawa Chris Yuu was rich. He was scouted by a modeling agency. He was the secret love child of a famous actor.
And Kazuya didn’t know about all that, but there were other things he overheard that sounded like the truth.
Takigawa Chris Yuu was smart and witty and clever. He was so confident it was intimidating. He was friendly and approachable—but there was no one who was good enough for him.
And…yeah.
Chris had always been cool—too cool for Kazuya—almost untouchable in his memory of him.
And it seemed like that hadn’t changed.
—
Kazuya didn’t have many friends.
So it was ridiculous to think that his small group of friends somehow knew Chris’ group of friends. But it turned out that Kuramochi knew Ryosuke who knew Tanba who knew Tetsu who knew Jun who knew Chris—and all of them were at this party.
And basically Kazuya was fucked.
Because the house that Kuramochi was renting with Kawakami, Shirasu, Watanabe and Maezono wasn’t big enough to avoid Chris forever. And he was trying to decide if suffering Kuramochi’s wrath was worth hiding out in his room for the rest of the night when he turned the corner—and literally ran into Chris.
And Kazuya was ready to apologize and get the fuck out of there when Chris straighted and finally got a good look at him and—
“Miyuki Kazuya?”
And Kazuya couldn’t exactly run after that. So instead he plastered a smile on his face and said, “Hi, Chris-senpai.”
And for whatever reason Chris seemed surprised that Kazuya remembered him. And for whatever reason he seemed to want to hang out. And so Kazuya found himself in the kitchen, slowly sipping a beer as he chatted with Takigawa Chris Yuu.
And Kazuya was glad that he was a little tipsy. It made him just loose enough to manage to have a normal conversation and pretend to be a normal functioning person.
Which was a damned miracle.
Because Chris had been intimidating as a twelve year old—Chris as an adult…
Kazuya somehow got Chris’ phone number.
Not that he knew what to do with it.
But it was okay because he started to run into Chris on campus and Chris started to invite him to coffee or lunch or the library.
And it was great.
Except Kazuya didn’t know what to do about all of his awkwardness.
Or his big, fat crush on Takigawa Chris Yuu.
“You’re embarrassing and pathetic,” said Kuramochi after witnessing the tail end of one of Kazuya and Chris’ coffee hang outs.
And, for once, Kazuya had to agree.
Kuramochi sighed. “Just ask him out already!”
And just like that they were back to disagreeing again.
—
Kazuya woke up more than a little hungover. That was definitely the last time he played a drinking game with Ryoskue of all people.
He reached for his glasses on the side table and it took a few attempts of flaying his hand around before he realized with a slow drawing horror that this bed was too big to be his bed.
“Fuck,” breathed Kazuya. “Fuck, fuck, fuck…”
Kazuya rolled over. Luckily his glasses and his phone really were on the side table. Though being able to see properly was its own kind of torture. Because Kazuya realized he had sent practically everyone in his contact list a ‘?’ text—including Takigawa Chris Yuu.
Who was the only person who actually texted him back.
“What the fuck,” muttered Kazuya as quickly scanned through their messages. “Shit.”
Kazuya dropped his phone in order to look around the room. The room that must be Chris’ room.
And yeah…
Everything was neat and orderly, but also somehow cozy. It also looked as if everything had been taken from some fancy furniture store magazine. It was like a grown ass adult lived in this room. A far cry from Kazuya’s bare minimum, standard college dorm room.
Chris was the only person who had responded to Kazuya’s text. And then picked him up from the party. And then took care of him. And then let him crash at his place.
Kazuya groaned.
And he hadn’t thought it was possible to be more embarrassed—and then he walked out of the bedroom to find Chris grading paper in the living room. And he smiled and told Kazuya that he had bought him breakfast—and how was Kazuya supposed to flee after that?
And Kazuya was so nervous that he found himself talking about every rumor he had heard about Chris on campus—he was rich, scouted by a modeling agency, the secret love child of a famous actor, never dated because no one was good enough for him—
Chris started laughing and Kazuya found himself laughing along with him.
“I know,” said Kazuya. “It’s ridiculous.”
“Oh,” replied Chris grinning. “Well…most of those are true.”
“What? Which ones?”
Chris was still smiling at him. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”
“Yes,” exclaimed Kazuya. “Obviously!”
—
Miyuki groaned as he collapsed onto the coffee table. He had shoved up his glasses in order to bury his face in his hands. His voice was muffled but Chris could still clearly understand when Miyuki asked, “Why are you bothering to hang out with someone like me?”
And Chris, for whatever reason, found himself admitting, “Because I like you.”
Miyuki lifted his head in order to roll his eyes. “You don’t know me.”
“I know enough.”
“No one knows me,” mumbled Miyuki as he took a moment to readjust his glasses.
Chris shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Well,” said Miyuki as he quickly rose to his feet. “Thank you for taking care of me and for breakfast. This has been extremely embarrassing and—”
Chris reached out. His fingers wrapping around Miyuki’s wrist. Effectively stopping and startling Miyuki. He looked back at Chris—eyes wide.
“I’d like to get to know you,” said Chris quietly. He could feel Miyuki’s pulse beating fast under his fingertips. “And I’d like you to get to know me. Would that…would that be okay?”
Miyuki swallowed…and then nodded.
And Chris felt something bloom, bright and warm in his chest.
And he smiled.
“So, you know, text me normal text messages.”
And it felt like a victory when Miyuki laughed.
—
It took Jun two hours to ask.
Which was honestly longer than Chris thought he would last.
“Okay, seriously,” exclaimed Jun as he tossed down his pencil. “What the hell is up with you two?”
Chris looked at Miyuki and Miyuki looked back at him. “What about us?”
Jun growled in frustration. “That’s what I’m talking about! Why is there even an ‘us’!” He gestured towards Miyuki. “What are you even doing here? No offense.”
Miyuki laughed. “None taken.”
“Miyuki needed to study so I invited him to study with us,” replied Chris with a shrug because that seemed like a natural enough sequence of events.
Not to Jun apparently.
“So, you’re texting now—officially.”
Chris still wasn’t exactly sure what was going on here. “Yes?”
Jun threw his hands up in the air in frustration. “Why is that a question?”
“What Jun is trying to ask is—” cut in Tetsu. “Are any of the rumors surrounding the two of you true?”
“What rumors?” asked Chris and Miyuki at the same time.
Jun looked about ready to call it quits on this whole conversation but Tetsu persevered.
“That you’re rivals that hate each other. That either one of you is blackmailing the other for good and/or services. That you’re childhood friends forced together by your families—”
“No, no, no,” said Jun waving his hand back and forth. “You have to tell them the most ridiculous one.”
Tetsu nodded. “That the two of you are dating.”
Miyuki threw back his head and laughed and even Chris had to smile.
“Ridiculous,” mumbled Chris—
As Miyuki squeezed his hand under the table.