Work Text:
Niko knew his life was cursed the minute he walked into his living room. He had just finished his homework from his physics class when he wanted to play a game on his xbox. It wasn’t hooked up in his room, but rather his living room. All he wanted to do was relax, but no–he really should’ve expected the unexpected.
Unlike other boys his age, he wasn’t particularly a big fan of tiny living creatures—especially not in his house, his “safe space.” Even the feeling of an ant on him was enough to reduce him to tears.
It was something he was tormented with in his youth; his classmates loved to hide bugs in his desk after returning from recess. More often than not he pulled his chair out to find a worm or beetle chilling on it. Children were cruel.
He was able to hide his fear during his adolescence. When he dormed with Isagi during high school, not once had they had any bugs sneak into their rooms. Niko was surprised that nothing hid under his Noel Noa posters, or the countless pictures he had of his boyfriend, Bachira (he was incredibly delighted when Isagi graduated–freak much?).
The only other person to know his fear other than himself (and his parents) was his coworker, who had experienced him screaming after seeing a roach while they were cleaning up after closing. It was the worst experience of his life and he had made even more of a mess than they were tasked to deal with. The two had to stay an hour after their shifts ended, all because Niko spilled milkshake all over the floor after jumping.
It was just his luck that one of the damn little mother-fuckers ended up on his living room floor. He nearly pissed his pants at the sight of it. It wasn’t all that big, maybe a baby, but it was still horrifying nonetheless. No matter what size it was, he wouldn’t go anywhere near it.
It was only during moments like these did Niko regret not accepting his coworker’s, Sendou, offer of exchanging numbers—hell, he’d even take Sendou’s boyfriend, Aiku; that man looked like he wasn’t afraid to kill bugs. As far as Niko knew, he wasn’t afraid of anything—not even Rin when he wanted him to stop holding the line up when he was flirting with his boyfriend at the counter (which happened far too often for Niko to count it on ten fingers).
The roach had looked at him, and he looked back at it. Maintaining eye contact with the roach, Niko slowly backed away into the kitchen to grab a knife just in case it charged at him. The second he was out of its sight, he started to hyperventilate.
There was a roach in his dorm.
It took him a few minutes of calming himself down to realize that he had a phone. He yanked it from his pocket, scrambling to put in his passcode. Opening his phone app, he clicked on the first (and his favorite) contact he saw.
It took two rings for his dear emergency contact to pick up. As soon as he did, Niko nearly cried in relief.
“Mmh, what’s up, Neeks?” Charles mumbled, his speech slurred. Niko must’ve woken him up from his 16:00 nap.
Niko will apologize later—his sanity was on the line.
“Charles, come quick, please,” Niko cried out, “there’s a wretched demon in my living room!”
Charles went silent for a second before responding. “Um, why is Mr. Shidou in your living room?”
Niko groaned, gripping his knife tighter. He’d rather have Shidou in his living room than a bug.
“Please, Charles, just come—I’ll do anything!”
Charles giggled, and Niko absolutely loved how it sounded with him being sleepy. He heard movement in the background as the other boy moved to get out of bed. “Y’know, I’d come no matter what you say, there’s no need to beg.”
Niko sighed, resting his head on the wall. He didn’t want that disgusting creature to stay in his dorm any longer.
After hearing his sigh, Charles spoke up again.
“Okay, okay,” he hummed. “I’m on my way now, I shouldn’t take too long.”
Niko nearly cried in relief once again. He loved his boyfriend.
Fortunately, Charles stayed true to his word, arriving in no less than seven minutes–only because his own dorm building was a few minutes away, and their elevators were broken. The entire time, Niko stood in his kitchen, clutching his knife as he hid from the disgusting creature.
The sound of Charles knocking on his door was what snapped him out of his pity party. He ran to the door, hardly opening it before yanking his boyfriend inside.
Charles stumbled in behind him, wincing at the sound of Niko slamming the door. The shorter boy turned around to clutch his hand with the one that wasn’t holding the knife.
“Woah, did you bring me here just to kill me?” Charles asked, his eyebrows furrowed (which didn’t help his sleepy look–Niko wanted to kiss him awake).
Niko blinked, looking down at the knife before looking back up. “Um, no, sorry. I do need you to kill something, though.”
With his hand still holding the blond’s, Niko turned around, pulling him through the kitchen and into the living room. With his knife pointed at the spot the bug sat before, he started to explain. “I need you to kill that–,”
He froze.
It was gone.
It was gone.
The roach was hiding in his dorm.
The fucking roach was hiding in his dorm. What if it had found his room, or his bathroom? What if he woke up one night to find it sitting on his chest, waiting to torment him? What if he brought Charles home to hang out and it appeared out of nowhere, absolutely terrifying him?
He would never feel safe again.
With horror evident all over his face, Niko slowly pivoted around, jaw dropped. He met Charles’s yellow eyes. The other boy watched him with concern. After a few seconds of collecting himself, he stuttered. “It’s-it’s gone. It’s gone!”
Charles frowned, his free hand cupping his face as his eyebrows knit together. “Hey, calm down, what’s gone? Are you okay?”
Niko bit his trembling lip, averting his eyes.
This was the most embarrassing part. Screw screaming while working with Sendou–crying in front of his boyfriend because of a roach was sure to leave him six feet under.
“The… the roach.”
Niko watched as the color drained from Charles’s usually bright face. His boyfriend started shaking, joining the dark haired boy in trembling.
“The roach…? And i-it’s gone?”
Niko’s eyes teared up as he nodded. Charles let go of his chin, gripping his wrists. He leaned into his personal space as he cried out, “I’m terrified of those chiennes too!”
Niko cursed out loud, dropping his knife on the floor. He shook off Charles’s hands before wrapping his arms around the other, sobbing into his shoulder. “We’re doomed, we’re all gonna die…”
Charles hugged him back, shaking as he clutched the back of his shirt. “What do we do? We-we have to move you out! It’s his dorm now.”
Niko nodded, looking up with teary eyes. “I’m gonna have to move in with you, I can’t ever sleep here again.”
He was completely ready to pack up his stuff and get the hell out. Hell, he didn't even care about taking his stuff. Just as long as he got the hell out.
He prepared to pull his boyfriend along with him during his route of escape, but was stopped before he could even move.
He saw a dark spot on the wall. A tiny, insect-like dark spot.
Except, it wasn’t a dark spot. No, it was worse; the roach was on the wall, and it looked like it was preparing to… fly at them?
Niko yanked Charles back as the roach descended from the wall. He screamed, nearly tripping over the coffee table, but fortunately, Charles steadied both of them. The blond turned his head to find the source of Niko’s terror, and the moment he spotted it, he started screaming as well.
They sprinted around the couch, hand in hand, and to their luck (or lack thereof), the roach followed them. For the next five minutes, the boys ran from a creature not even an eighth of their size as they screamed. It was ridiculous, two boys nearing 5’10 being afraid of a bug.
Around the couch, over and over, they ran until Charles pulled him into the kitchen, breaking the cat-and-mouse chase. They scrambled onto the counter, the roach somewhere on the floor beneath him–God, Niko prayed it wouldn’t climb.
“I wish Aiku was here,” Niko hiccuped, staring at the ground. “I really wish he was here. We’re trapped.”
Charles pulled his phone out from his pocket, nearly dropping it as he speed ran his pass code. Niko watched as he started spamming one of his contacts. “I’m texting Mr. Shidou, he’s usually the bug killer… no arguing against it.”
Niko nodded, too desperate to disagree.
Out of all people, he didn’t expect Charles to be afraid of anything; he always acted strong and brave (but that might’ve been because the other boy hated it when people understood his feelings).
He wasn’t mad or disappointed, however. He was just glad he wasn’t alone in this absolute reign of terror.
“He’s on his way now,” Charles muttered, relaxing into Niko’s hold. It felt too awkward for two grown boys to be huddled together on a tiny dorm kitchen counter. Hell, he felt ridiculous because they were both hiding from a roach. Being scared of one in front of Shidou was going to be so embarrassing too! He felt that as long as he had his boyfriend by his side, he could face anything (except for roaches, of course).
They waited a few minutes, every so often peeking at the floor to make sure the bug didn't move. It never did, and Niko watched it's antennas move around as if it were searching for them. He was debating dropping his cutting board on it--but he didn't want to risk it missing and the roach being scared off into hiding--before the door slowly inched open. Shidou walked in, eyeliner halfway done on one eye–Charles must’ve texted him while he was getting ready for a date or something–and the other blank. At the same time, the roach took its chance to run past him and out the door.
However, Shidou didn’t let it escape so easily. He stomped on it a few times to make sure it was dead. When he was confident, he stopped and looked up at the couple (who were still on the counter). A teasing grin slowly slid on his face as he pulled out his phone to take a photo. “Just know I’m holding this against you two.”
He turned to the bathroom door, walking in so he could get some toilet paper to flush it with.
While he did that, Niko looked at Charles. For a second, they stared at each other, but then busted into laughter, clutching each other tightly.
Charles pulled away, cupping Niko’s face. “As horrible as this experience was, it was cute that you trusted me enough to call me for something like this.”
Niko pouted. “You were scared, too, though.”
“Yeah, well, it’s a roach. Who wouldn’t?” Charles rolled his eyes before pressing a kiss to his lips. “Sorry for sharing the same fear, I guess."
Niko snorted, shaking his head. He knew he couldn't tease his boyfriend for it, though, because his own reaction was far much more worse--he literally cried.
As if sensing his inner monologue, Charles kissed him again before speaking. "I love you, Niko.”
Niko smiled, tilting his face to kiss him better.
“I love you, too.”
Shidou returned to pick up the roach with the toilet paper. Once the corpse was gone, the two descended from the kitchen counter. For once in his life, Niko wasn’t afraid to think, thank God for Shidou.