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Mornings.
Nanook hated waking up earlier than what they expected, sleep was precious and valuable, especially for someone nearing the final stretch of college. But having to be up at the crack of dawn the rest of the week for a while has conditioned them to, at times, just continue with the habit during the weekends unintentionally. The complete opposite was Lan, for whom to wake up early was like a blessing and sign to start the day sooner regardless of the weekday.
“Nanook.”
“Lan.”
Being affectionate with the other was not their thing, but courtesy was, their names being mentioned already constituting a proper morning greeting. Despite the time together, they saw no need to be much more expressive, both showed their appreciation in other ways. Even then, Nanook’s tone immediately alerted the other.
“You seem annoyed somehow. You just woke up.”
“Too early…”
No extra explanation was needed from the student, Lan knowing exactly what it meant for the mood of the rest of the morning. They already suspected this would be the outcome when they saw Nanook come out of the room at such an hour, but those 2 words completely cleared any shadow of doubt that could have been in place. Without elaborating any further, Lan starts preparing tea for both of them, completely focused on the preparation while Nanook got closer to observe with curiosity like usual, there was still a bit of drowsiness in their system and it was easily noticeable. Lan felt a pair of firm hands hold onto their waist as they were working on the drink, closing both eyes for a moment and letting out a soft sigh in a futile attempt to hide their embarrassment. A head rests on their shoulder, the student not even attempting to push Nanook away, it wasn't a bother for the drink prep anyway.
“Do we have any paper due next week?”
“You are supposed to have that in your calendar… we talked about this before.”
Nanook was not one to miss any deadlines, but playing dangerous games was part of what apparently kept them going on with the subjects. That while Lan was meticulous in their way of going about the career, at least as much as it was possible, having everything marked down either on a calendar or a set of notes, alarms and reminders. Then there was their other roommate who never shared their method of organization but seemed to waltz through every assignment like a professional.
“One of us has it, it's enough for me.”
After serving the tea, Nanook stayed leaning against the kitchen counter using it as a chair of sorts while the other went to get comfortable at the table. Lan scoffs in protest, giving their partner a disapproving look and shaking their head in slow denial a couple of times.
“Seriously you…”
Nanook snickers and gives the other a teasing smile, they felt proud of tilting Lan since even if it was not a hard task for them, there were certain ways of bothering their partner that were more fun in their eyes. It was only proper to share the annoyed energy early on in the day, at least for the student.
“Me what?”
The slight smugness that came with that response provoked Lan to hold tighter onto their mug, the hotness of the surface thanks to the tea helping them not get overly bothered.
“Just do it, Nanook, it is good to be organized.”
The ‘demand’ was met with a roll of the other's eyes before silently going back to the tea who was, apparently, doing nothing to relax the crankiness of a college student's morning mood. Sure enough, tea alone was not going to settle Nanook's hunger, more like it made them need food even more. Leaning forward they finally stand away from the counter, walking the couple of steps to the small fridge they had to keep all the food.
“Do we have anything else?”
“Meaning… what?”
“Anything that can be served for breakfast and isn't tea.”
Lan's nose wrinkles a bit hearing this, taking offense in the way their partner talked about their most precious beverage. But they end up just letting out a sigh and getting up, coming closer to the fridge to join the search for alternatives.
“We have jam… and Yaoshi's weird plants and natural brews of Aeons know what.”
“Don't even mention it, last time I tried one of those when I was sick per their recommendation, I think I changed realities for a moment.”
A short snort escapes Lan after hearing the story, remembering it perfectly, immediately covering their own mouth to pretend they didn't find it funny. Nanook glares back at them, having been the ‘victim’ of that situation made the memory not at all amusing for them. Lan ignores the death glare, hand taking a hold of the jar of jam before making the first attempt at opening it to no avail in that try.
“Hmmm…”
They humm, pondering on why the attempt was unsuccessful before going at it once more, applying even more force on the jar's cap and feeling their muscles tense up thanks to the seemingly unmovable object between their hands.
“Strange, it does not budge even a bit.”
After a solid minute watching the other do what would have strained any normal person's hand, Nanook reaches an arm their way, signaling to their partner to have a go at opening the jar.
“I do not think that will be needed…”
“You've been trying for a while, don't be stubborn.”
Lan thinks about it for a moment even if the phrase was rather rich coming from Nanook, seeing them tilting their head forward and raising both eyebrows clearly waiting to be handed the glass container. There was an even bigger level of smugness and overconfidence on Nanook's face once the object was handed to them, starting to try with the goal to succeed in where the other failed.
“I can't believe we have been going to the gym for so long and a little jar is giving you all this trouble.”
The fingers slip over the cap a, being a bit difficult to grab it properly for starters. The college student tried to look unbothered by the cap that was as stubborn as both of them combined, finally getting a good grasp on it and attempting to force it open like their partner couldn't. A couple of minutes of clear struggle passed, both of them hearing a disapproving tongue click that came from the way to the rooms, turning around and seeing their third partner, Yaoshi, leaning against the door frame and shaking their head side to side.
“Need some help you two?”
“Since… since when have you been there?”
Yaoshi was very good at being silent while moving around the small apartment, so Lan wanted to verify just how much of the situation was seen by them and for how long.
“Just enough to see my two very strong looking lovers fight against a very… un-formidable foe. It was a fun sight, so I couldn't resist.”
Neither Lan nor Nanook seemed amused by the remark, the former clearing their throat and trying to look dignified when they were the first one to lose against the jar's cap.
“Spare yourself, Lan, the clown makeup is already on.”
“Hey! That is not what happened.”
“Haha, come on, accept your defeat against The Great Jam Cap.”
Nanook doesn't wait even 2 seconds before poking fun at the other, looking at Yaoshi slowly undoing their messy braid, fixing their hair before reaching a hand their way.
“Give.”
“Huh?”
The one holding the jam didn't understand the request at first, not even imagining that Yaoshi would want to also try to open it.
“I said give, since you two can't I guess it'll be on me to open the jar. Come on.”
It takes Nanook a second to look at Yaoshi's frame, being taller than Lan and themselves, but considerably less built. Giving a short look their other partner’s way before sighing and shaking their head a couple of times, Nanook ends up rescinding ‘ownership’ of the jar that has kept them busy for longer than anyone could have imagined.
“Okay so where's the issue here?”
“Well, it seems we will need some extra instruments to be able to-”
As Lan was starting a very long dissertation, Yaoshi held the jar tightly, giving the cap a few firm taps at the top before making their attempt and a clean *pop* sound being heard in the small kitchen where the three of them barely fitted.
“Well, it does seem like the gym membership is working for at least one of us. Do you want me to spread it out for you too?”
The phrasing was clearly on purpose and made the other two get extremely flustered, the now open jar being left on top of the table while Yaoshi got close to both of them, pulling them in one at a time for a peck on the lips.
“Good morning, by the way. It's always good to wake up to the sight of two people that handled me like a puppet last night struggling to open their breakfast.”
“Ehem! Well, we loosened the jar before, so it must have been easy.”
Nanook tried to cover their own mistake, but it was clear they weren't so confident on that, the blonde moving to the fridge and taking out one of their own ‘secret recipes’ bottles to start drinking from it like it was just plain water.
“A few jars do have a child lock, that may have been the issue. I got rid of it with the tap.”
“That was not funny.”
It may not have been for Lan, but Yaoshi couldn't suppress a small laugh. Nanook protests silently, coming closer to the blonde and holding their hips before leaving a bite on their shoulder, receiving a slight slap on their own as a response.
“I just woke up. Give me a few more minutes”
This time Lan was, indeed, amused by the rejection Nanook got, their slightly mocking expression not being easy to hide when they normally emoted very little; but all that was due to the other looking like a startled animal after the fact. But soon after they start preparing the rest of the breakfast with toast and the jam from the infamous jar, each of them having a different kind of chair against the table.
“Yaoshi, you do have your work due next week on check, right?”
“Oh don't worry about that, everything is under control.”
This response was the reason why none of the other two knew exactly in which state were the blonde's assignments. They did everything on their own save from the nights in which all gathered to study together. Despite going for different end goals, they had the capacity of gathering all books and each of them study on their own, having the others as moral support and example but, mainly, company which helped the study session go smoothly and (mostly) uninterrupted.
“I know you are asking because I asked you before… that's low, Lan.”
Nanook protests, shaking their head several times and stealing one of Lan's toasts off their plate to the ‘victim's absolute bewilderment as they saw part of their precious breakfast be bitten by their partner.
“Hey! That is mine!”
The retaliation came in the form of Lan trying to steal a toast back, although not the same one since that one was being actively eaten by the offender. Despite the sneak attack, Nanook could protect their meal, cramming the rest of the bread inside their mouth even if the toast did not precisely have soft edges.
“I can't believe you two are getting your majors next year and are here fighting over a damn toast.”
“ They started! ”
Both speak in unison directly to Yaoshi, even when Nanook’s full mouth of bread made them sound harder to understand. The blonde was a bit surprised before reacting with a soft laugh, shaking their head and holding their own head with a hand that was using the table for support.
“The age difference is really felt. It’s hard being the older one in this place.”
“You are like 4 months older than me. What do you even mean?”
Yaoshi used those 4 months they had over Lan, and a few more on Nanook to act like they were much more mature than the rest But by doing all of that with the sole purpose of annoying them, it just made Yaoshi be almost at the same level of petty.
“Those 4 months are noticeable… I’m not the one fighting over food.”
The other two looked at each other for a second, Nanook letting out a small sigh before moving their hand in a quick motion and stealing away one of Yaoshi’s toasts while Lan took away the other, leaving the blonde one to protest and try to react as little as possible, they did not like to lose after that talk.
“You two…”
“Angry yet Yao?”
Nanook was teasing, knowingly poking the bear and Lan was not going to be the one to stop them from getting into a useless argument.
“Oh I am not falling for it Nunu, you need to try harder to bother me even a bit.”
“You need more anger in you! You are way too calm, where is your rage!? Your fire!?”
It was not a rare occurrence that Nanook got fired up about simple things like that, Yaoshi seeing them devour the other stolen toast. The blonde just shakes the head a couple of times, holding the excited student’s face between their hands and pulling them closer for a kiss. Nanook is rightfully shocked at the action but just caves in, only pulling away after some time has passed and feeling how their partner tapped their nose with the index finger.
“That is my fire, now, relax, it's too early to be this noisy.”
The one on the receiving end of the kiss just covers their face trying to hide the embarrassment, the silencing technique working as intended. While Nanook goes back to eat what was left of the breakfast while still clearly flustered, Yaoshi turns Lan’s way, calling for their attention and stealing a kiss from the unsuspecting one.
“Just some equality.”
“Very funny…”
Lan didn't seem amused by the words, but was not bothered at all by the actions that preceded them, looking down to continue with their breakfast. Using only one of their hands to eat, they end up just wrapping the other around Yaoshi’s waist, bringing them close until they had their lover sitting on their lap.
“Lan… I have things to do now…”
“You embarrassed Nanook so don't expect to just make a run for it. They wouldn't let me hear the end of it.”
“Ow… miss me already? I was just leaving for a bi-”
“Don't you dare to try and tease me too.”
Lan liked to have the upper hand in the situation with Yaoshi and even with Nanook at times, but the blonde didn't seem to mind any of that at all and just got comfortable while grabbing their bottle once more to go back to drinking. Weekends were made for resting, while the rest of the week was almost entirely based around studying. The small break was always welcomed despite Lan’s constant nagging to make use of every single second. Bickering aside, it was clear that all of them were not only used to the situation, but quite content with it, having been together for so long already setting the seemingly complicated throuple in a steady routine and set of habits that very few times got broken.
It wouldn't be wrong to say, mornings like that weren't that bad after all.