Chapter Text
Akane huffed as he dragged himself up an endless staircase towards his new dorm, a heavy box (unfortunately one of many) in his arms.
He cursed himself inwardly, wishing he’d paid more attention to the room numbers when he’d applied… however he wasn’t sure it would’ve made much of a difference given how late he had finally gotten around to it.
The whole process had been done late, to be honest. He’d flown through the whole thing so fast he didn’t even have time to go through the roommate selection process and entered a ‘lottery’ instead.
Akane took so long just applying to every college he could think of for his future law degree that he’d ended up using all summer just trying to select a single one to commit to. He ended up settling for a good college just a few hours outside of Kamome—close to home and to his friends, who were going to various trade schools, colleges, and work nearby.
With that out of the way, Akane was able to move in a week before his classes would start—leaving the actual act of moving in as the only pressing issue in his mind.
Thankfully, the light at the end of the tunnel neared faster than he’d expected, with the fourth floor gracing his feet solidly at the top of the stairs. Akane exhaled, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead and using his foot to heave the door in front of him open.
Akane couldn’t stop the butterflies knocking around in his ribcage as he set his sights on the hallway in front of him, doors seemingly stretching endlessly on either side. He wondered, as he walked on autopilot, who his roommate would be.
Maybe they’ll be a law major too. He ventured optimistically, trying to keep his thoughts positive so as not to psych himself out or make a bad first impression. Most of all he just hoped, no matter who his roommate was, they were tolerable.
A little selfishly, he hoped he was there first, so he could get first dibs on every space. He walked a little faster at the thought, anticipation growing as he watched the numbers eagerly for his own.
424… 425… 426…
427.
Akane stood in front of the closed door, standing up a little straighter and righting himself before he entered, awkwardly trying to balance his huge box while twisting the door handle open.
Upon his first inspection, the dorm seemed to be empty. The dorm had a main hallway entrance with a small kitchen to one side and closets and a bathroom to the other side, leading to a shared sleeping space where Akane could just see the foot of two beds.
Akane let out a sigh of relief and he walked forward, his arms sagging a little as he set his target on setting the box down on—and picking—his bed.
WHAM!
Akane reeled as the door next to him in the narrow hallway swung open abruptly, smacking him squarely and sending him reeling backwards. His box dropped onto the ground with a concerning crash and Akane barely had time to react before he was face to face with his assailant.
No way.
No FUCKING way.
“Oh, hey Aoi. I was wondering when you’d get here.”
Teru Minamoto looked down at him, the look of absolute revelry clear on his face as he took in Akane, flabbergasted, knocked on his ass, and looking as if he was contemplating murder, death, or both.
Worst of all—there wasn’t a hint of suprise or shock in the blonde’s voice. Hell—it sounded like the asshole had somehow orchestrated this all himself!
That was when, unexpectedly, Teru reached down and lifted Akane’s box off the floor, lumbering toward the shared bed space.
”Hey! What’re you doing-“
”Helping you?” Teru turned slightly and raised an eyebrow like a curious seal. He set the box down at the foot of one bed on the far end of the room. Aparently he had decided that bed would be Akane’s.
”I don’t need help, I need not to be bowled over in my own dorm—shit!” Akane suddenly yelped as he nearly tripped, foot caught on something near Teru’s bed. He turned, was that his sword!? That bastard still has the audacity to bring that thing on campus—even after highschool!?
Akane had enough after that. He couldn’t do this for a year—or hell—another four years if Teru ended up being on campus with him at all, much less in his personal space 24/7.
“Ah—that’s a family heirloom, try not to break it.” Teru hummed as he turned back toward Akane, snatching up the sword and carefully placing it on a shelf instead.
“Maybe don’t leave your heirlooms in the hallway! Or—I don’t know—don’t bring weapons to scho—!?” Akane nearly screeched, near his breaking point—or maybe he’d already broken. This situation was too ridiculous to deal with.
Suddenly a hand was clamped over his mouth, eliciting a angry bark from Akane and halting his speech, “Shh—Aoi. I’m not supposed to have it here… sneaking it in was a lot easier than explaining the whole exorcist thing.”
“So you can’t say anything. Got it?”
The look that Teru gave him was nothing short of a threat. A threat of… what…? well Akane wasn’t sure, given Teru didn’t have the justification to shock him or tie him up now that he wasn’t a “supernatural cockroach” anymore…
However that look sure did seem to suggest otherwise.
“Eugh—“ Akane shoved Teru’s hand away harshly, not letting this go on for a second more. He glowered at Teru, “Look I don’t care about your stupid sword! Play the hero and exorcise all the supernaturals you want—I don’t care! I want to know just why the HELL I got roomed with YOU!?”
“Oh. That? Well I managed to apply early, got first pick of my dorms… I thought it’d make the experience more like in the movies… you know?” Teru drawled on with a sort of vacant look in his eye as he spoke, not explaining himself in the slightest.
“Anyway, by the time it came to pick Roomates, I saw your name on the list and thought it’d make things more fun…”
“What the hell is fun about this!” Akane snapped, still fuming.
“Seriously Aoi….” Teru deadpanned, although he was holding back a smile of contempt, “How did you not know? Did you even look twice at the room assignment? My name is there in that little box marked roomate.”
Teru made a point to tap the paper in Akane’s hand—a printed out slip with his room number, location, and low and behold, just beneath Teru’s index finger, the name “Teru Minamoto”.
Akane’s face warmed a little and he didn’t respond, giving Teru all the ammunition he needed to fire right back at him.
“Oh. You didn’t even look? Did you?”
“No I didn’t look! Or else I wouldn’t be roomed with you! Or in a dorm at all! Hell id go to a different school!” Akane might’ve been speaking a bit of a hyperbole there. He didn’t really hate Teru that much, he wasn’t sure he hated him at all… but that didn’t mean Teru didn’t annoy the hell out of him, enough to not want to be in his constant vicinity.
Teru just chuckled in return, however.
Watching Akane get more flustered and angry always seemed to just make the older boy laugh—like watching Akane’s short fuse was some kind of entertainment. Maybe it was also kind of cute the way his face got all red and his nose scrunched up like that.
Teru might never admit it, but there was seldom a thing the ginger boy did that wasn’t cute to him.
“Well there’s no changing things now, so I guess you’ll just have to deal with it, Aoi.” Teru hummed, moving aside to begin picking through and placing his own things around the room, hanging up some atrocious pineapple string lights. Akane made a mental note to rip those down at the soonest moment possible.
“Like hell there’s not! I’ll just—file an order for a room replacement!” Akane pointed, as if it were a ‘gotcha!’ Moment, pleased with himself. To which Teru didn’t even bother turning around, still preoccupied with his lights.
“Alright, go ahead then,” Teru hummed, shooing him off with one hand, acting way too casual to the point it was a little suspicious.
Maybe Akane had a right to be suspicious, because upon speaking with the campus’ housing coordinator, he was flat out denied. Aparently there was ‘lack of substantial reason’ for a housing reassignment, and the guy had basically told him to suck it up!
Akane was fuming by the time he got back to his dorm nearly 3 hours later… only to realize it had morphed into something unrecognizable.
All his boxes—which had somehow teleported into the room and disappeared in the time he was gone—had been emptied. Everything he’d brought with him—posters, keepsakes, and even his calendar and cork board full of pictures, were meticulously placed on his side of the room.
Akane was nearly struck silent, until he saw the culprit of this reverse-robbery, adjusting a Lego flower figurine from Ao-Chan on Akane’s nightstand. Akane’s heart twanged painfully. But he couldn’t dwell on that right now—he pushed her out of his mind for the present.
Teru jumped a little and looked up when he heard Akane’s footsteps. He looked like he’d just been caught in the act of a crime—which Akane guessed this wasn’t… even if not everything was exactly where he would’ve placed it, the effort put into everything was shocking.
It was odd too, Teru’s side of the room had barely anything. Save for an old Lobster plush next to Teru’s pillow—which Akane vaguely remembered him winning after dragging he and Ao-Chan around town—and those abhorrent pineapple string lights.
“Ah, you came back, Aoi.” Teru stood, dusting his hands off on his pants, acting surprised as if Akane wasn’t going to have to come back sometime.
Akane’s arms had been crossed, as he slowly gazed around the room at the work Teru had done, “Did you do all this so I would stay?” He nearly scoffed, disbelief overtaking his voice.
Teru just cocked his head like a confused puppy, “No—I—“ he frowned then looked around with narrowed eyes, hand perched on his chin. “…I got bored and I guess I was tired of looking at that box after unpacking all my things…”
He let out a soft ‘heh’ to himself, gazing off into space, “I suppose I did think it would be a little funny if you did end up switching rooms, Yknow… watching you have to take everything down.”
What an ass!
“But I’m guessing with that look of dread on your face, it didn’t work out so well for you, did it, Aoi?” Teru raised an eyebrow, side eyeing him with an almost hopeful glint.
“No. It didn’t.” Akane admitted through gritted teeth, before stalking over to his desk chair—the farthest he could get away from Teru in the small space, and dropping down into it so he could glower in relative peace.
Relative peace that was short lived. With a lifespan of 5 seconds to be exact.
“So… Aoi,” Teru had gotten dangerously close to his personal space, in his own desk chair but sitting backwards. His head was resting on his arms, crossed over the top as he scooted ever so closer.
“I saw those civil law books in your things… are you studying law?” Teru nodded toward where he had placed the study material, on the desk right in front of Akane.
Akane decided he could humor the conversation a little, although using his foot to push Teru a little farther out of his bubble.
“Yeah… I’m looking to become a judge.” He leaned back in his chair, arms crossed and guarded.
Teru’s eyes widened a fraction of a degree, before they squinted back into a sly smile. That was so Akane. After the mess he’d had with the clockkeepers—the whole judicial nature of the way they ran things… it did make sense.
“I see… it suits you.” He commented, with a certain, unexpected glint in his eye and a genuine revelry in the way the corners of his eyes crinkled a little.
“What about you? I’m guessing you’ve had your major picked since your first year, right?” Akane continued, snatching up a pen col to fidget with it absently and eyeing it instead of the blonde.
“This is my first year.” Teru interjected, lying his head further to the side atop his arms. He could understand why Akane was confused—which was obvious from the puzzled stare he got—since Teru had graduated highschool two years earlier. So he continued, “I took a gap year off. To focus on exorcist training—for my replacements—since I wasn’t going to be living in Kamome anymore.”
“Ah.”
Was all Akane could get out. Teru had always been so diligent to the family business. Hell, that much was obvious by the fact he brought a sword on campus just so he could continue those familial duties even hours away. He wondered if maybe, after so many years, Teru just didn’t know any other kind of lifestyle outside of being an exorcist… even if he went on and did normal people things, he still had to carry a part of that life with him.
It was experience he and Akane unfortunately shared—since, even though Akane had been relinquished of his duties as a clockkeeper as per his graduation, he still had some unsavory side effects. Such as still being able to see supernaturals and also being a rather easy target for them.
Akane adjusted his glasses uncomfortably. There was no question that Teru had noticed he still wore the enchanted glasses despite not having this supernatural position anymore—and there went the next line of questioning.
“I can’t sense any supernatural energy from you anymore, by the way—so The Clockkeepers finally let you go?” Teru commented, lolling his head to the other side.
“Well—that was the agreement.” Akane scoffed, blank faced, “I can’t exactly do my duties outside of High School.”
“Hm…” Teru leaned closer, insisting on being in Akane’s personal space despite his constant pushback. “But I see you still wear those-“ Teru made a point to flick Akane’s glasses further down on his nose, eliciting a slap on the wrist from him.
“Hah—did you like my gift that much? Or just get used to them?” Teru continued, not perturbed at all by the smack.
“No. Unfortunately, I can still see supernaturals.” Akane sighed, taking off his glasses to be jumpscared by at least three mokke around the room, one trying to sneak off with something in the desk drawer. “I’d hoped these things wouldn’t be a problem here too.”
“The mokke? Princess always loved those… otherwise I’d have exorcised them already. They make me think of her.” He smiled, picking one up and squishing it around as if it were a stress toy.
Akane shivered a little, remembering Teru’s nasty habit of toying with any supernatural nearby. He even resorted to taking his stress out on Akane sometimes, poking him incessantly, twirling his hair, or worst of all, tying him to the ceiling simply because it amused him.
As Teru continued to squish and squeeze away at the pink creature, he hummed, “to be honest, I’m glad it’s you.”
“My roomate, I mean. I’m glad you didn’t switch.” Teru corrected himself quickly, setting the Mokke down on the desk between them and watching it warily teeter away.
“I…”
Akane wanted to remark something starkly like ‘well that makes one of us’, but something in him didn’t have the heart to say something with such bite.
It took Akane a second to find the words, scratching idly at his pant leg with scraggly, chewed nails.
“I guess… this is less time consuming than trying to meet a whole new person.”
and that was the best Akane could do, but Teru accepted it with a small smile and stood from the chair.
Akane always did love having more time.
Later that night, after all the ridiculousness of having to go all across campus for orientation business and getting lost along the way, Teru lie, staring up at the ceiling.
His hair was slightly damp, soaking into the plush surroundings of his pillow. He didn’t care much—it wasn’t his but the college’s—since Teru found out it wasn’t normal to sleep with only a comforter and stuffed lobster.
Oh well. It worked out in the end.
But despite his, now more comfortable, bedding situation, he still couldn’t get sleep.
He felt this strange, ugly feeling in his chest. He tried to rationalize it as homesickness, given he was away from Kou and Tiara for the night for the first time in years. But something deep down told him that wasn’t the whole reason.
Teru heard a slight shift nearby, sheets moving and turning slightly, he saw Akane shifting in bed in the dark. His roommate seemed to still be sleeping, evident by his content expression and the light snores from his mouth.
And as Teru stared at him across the room, he quite literally was face to face with his real problem—Akane.
Akane’s problem was always time—never enough time for this or that, or being on time, or simply the fact he was a human, wrapped up in dealings of time he never should have been.
Teru surprisingly had the same problem, and yet it worked the exact opposite. He always found himself with too much time. Constantly alone, constantly with his thoughts, he never truly had that peace. And maybe he did it to himself at times, in his effort to keep busy and do his duty he would isolate and bottle things in. Making the sheer idea of being alone with his thoughts quite hard.
But Akane was a foil in that… he’d been the only person Teru had truly felt at ease with. It was so easy to just be with him and maybe Teru had taken that for granted over the year they’d been away.
He never expected Akane to call, or care, or even see him again after graduation. Teru would be lying if he said he hadn’t created such a dynamic between them—causing Akane to be pushed away.
But he’d also be lying if he said he didn’t wish, on nights he spent like this, alone and staring up at his ceiling, he didn’t wish the ginger boy was right there next to him, bantering again in the way they always had.
And now that it was true and happening and right there in front of him… Teru couldn’t feel more conflicted. He’d known for years what that twisting, sickeningly sweet feeling in his chest was—the only feeling he’d wished for years could be replaced by someone else—when he looked at Akane.
It had been “curiousity” first, then “frustration”, then somewhere over the years… had trickled down into a fondness that Teru could never seem to shake. No matter the fact Akane would never look his way—Teru had told himself he was content the way they were.
But now that it was in fact real, and Akane didn’t seem to completely loathe him, Teru wasn’t sure he was content anymore.
While he didn’t know the details of Akane and Aoi’s relationship as of late, he was sure the ginger still had his sights set on her, as he seemed he would for the rest of his days. And it wasn’t like Teru could just out and tell him—tell him what? That he’s had a crush on him for years—? That he wishes there was more?
Absolutely not. At best, the other man might be confused—awkward—and politely explain that they should remain the status quo. At worst... Teru felt a jolt of anxiety at the thought.
This was exactly the reason he’d never said anything before. He didn’t want to lose him—no matter how much he wished things could change. He didn’t want to lose the only person—no—the only people, he cared about other than family.
Given, if he and Akane had a falling out like that, something that couldn’t be laughed at or charmed away, how could he face Akane-San either?
While Teru could admit he wasn’t the best friend to either after graduation (if Akane even considered him that), they talked, and when they had, Teru felt more at ease than ever before. They weren’t a kind of “friend group” in a normal sense, but they had their group chats, sporadic hangouts spaces out between the months, and for he and Aoi, their occasional midnight chats on nights when neither could sleep.
Teru sat up, running a hand down his face. There was no use trying to sleep when his mind was like this. His eyes dragged up toward his sword, still on the shelf where he’d left it earlier. This train of thought was always dangerous… He needed to burn energy to forcefully silence all the thoughts that coursed through his mind and—
Brrrt brrrt brrrt
Like a prayer that’d just been answered, however, his phone suddenly started to vibrate and light up on his nightstand.
He was startled by the noise but quickly reached to grab it. Teru flipped the screen toward him, rubbing an eye to see clearly what was on it.
Call From Aoi Akane
The knot in his stomach, pulled tight like in a game of tug-of-war, slowly started to release.
He let out a soft breath, then pushed himself up and slid on some house slippers.
Teru could finally breathe once he was out of that dorm room, sliding the button to “accept”.
“Hey, Minamoto-senpai,” Aoi’s voice came evenly from the other end, but Teru could tell there was a tense edge to her voice.
Teru tried to make his own voice more smooth in return, outside the dormitories now and leaning against it’s brick outer wall.
“Hello Akane-san… I suppose you couldn’t sleep either?”
There was a soft, breathy laugh from the other end.
“I suppose you could say that.”
Teru pushed off the brick behind him, catching himself as he fell forward and beginning a slow walk aimlessly around campus.
“How have you been, Akane-san? I know we haven’t spoken much since my graduation…” Teru offered a starting point, tiptoeing around any questions pertaining to the call itself.
“It’s been good. I’ve been taking some time off since school ended…” she sighed then, and there was a soft rustling as if she were moving positions, “Nene-Chan and I are thinking of going into a flower business together.”
“A flower business?” Teru ventured. He knew Aoi was in the gardening club with Nene—and that the girl was her best friend. It was so outside of the high achieving, scholarly pursuits everyone must’ve expected her to follow.
Still, the idea of Aoi going out into the world and instead of trying to prove herself to everyone, settling into a smaller, more comfortable role, felt right. It amazed him in a way. The thought that she could break from what was expected like that. It was almost admirable.
“You must trust Yashiro-San a lot—to put your livelihoods together like that.”
There was silence on the other line for a few moments—uncharacteristic and loud. For a heartbeat, Teru wasn’t sure what he’d said wrong, while simply just trying to make conversation.
“Yeah I—we—sorry,” Aoi tripped over her words a little, almost like a kid caught in the act of something wrong, “I trust her a lot—probably more than I should.”
Teru wasn’t sure what to do with that cryptic tidbit of information. Aoi never was the best at being transparent—but she didn’t usually talk like this either.
Teru decided not to pry.
“I’m glad you have her then, I’m sure Aoi is glad you have someone back home too,” Teru chuckled lightly to himself, getting loopier from lack of sleep, “I’m certain if he thought you were in any kind of distress without him, he’d drive hours back there.”
“You know we ended up being roommates—I’ll be sure to take lots of unpleasant photos of Aoi for us both to laugh at.”
Another pause, this one longer and tugging Teru’s heart a little harder. This call wasn’t turning out to be nearly as stress relieving as he’d hoped.
When Aoi’s voice returned, it was more strained than ever, “Minamoto… can you… keep a secret?”
“Of course.” Teru replied without hesitation. He was unsure where this conversation was going… it had taken a turn so quickly.
“I really mean it, Minamoto-senpai.”
“So do I.”
Aoi muttered something under her breath that couldn’t even be deciphered, although it sounded like a curse of some kind, almost misconstrued as static if one wasn’t listening hard enough.
“Nene-Chan and I… we’re not just friends—not anymore.”
“Ah.”
Teru was sitting now on a bench, overlooking a small pond on campus. That… revelation… should have shocked him more than it did.
Aoi stammered to continue her train of thoughts, “We’ve been—together—since the beginning of last school year but—obviously we didn’t tell anyone.”
Ah… so it was that kind of a secret then.
Teru had to admit he’d had his… suspicions. He didn’t know if it was the way Aoi had never accepted Akane’s advances, or perhaps the fact they shared a way of thinking—a wavelength—that could never really be explained.
Teru wondered if Aoi had told anyone at all, or if this had been festering so long. It couldn’t feel good, to hide such a huge part of herself from everyone—friends? Family? Definitely.
In the world he and Aoi lived in, there was no place for people like either of them. Teru had come to accept that a long time ago… but he had to admit she had a lot more bravery than he did.
“Did you tell Aoi?” Teru uttered after another silence developed between them.
“… yes.” Aoi sounded like she was on the verge of tears with that single syllable, voice cracking at the tail end.
Teru could infer what that meant, whispering, “and it didn’t go well, I assume…?”
“Ye—No… it….” She tripped over her words, sniffling now over the phone, “… When I finally told him, just before graduation, he just… stared.”
There was another sniffle as she tried to compose herself further. Aoi never did like to cry in front of other people—even if technically, Teru couldn’t see her.
“It wasn’t how I wanted to tell him—I just—blurted it out.” She sighed regretfully, “I was just so fed up, with the constant lovebombing, the confessions—everything.”
“I know I should’ve told him earlier—I really should’ve but—I just didn’t know how… after so many years I was so scared I might break him,”
Teru sighed. It was a hard one to get right, he supposed. He never thought Aoi liked Akane in the slightest—maybe she played along occasionally to placate him—but there was never anything tangibly there. It seemed the only one between the three of them who couldn’t see it was Akane himself.
“I understand,” Teru interjected softly, so Aoi could feel a little more at ease, “…and now?”
“Now I’m worried about him, Minamoto.” Aoi admitted, “I mean—we talked about it a few weeks afterwards—I don’t think he’s going to die or anything but… he’s just different.”
Aoi groaned after that, and the line cut out for a moment with a loud flop and ruffle sound coming from the other end.
“I was his drive and obsession for years, and now he’s trying to change that so we can stay friends but respect my space.” She echoed, “But he needs someone to be there for him and…”
Aoi went quiet and Teru listened for her next words. Anxieously he looped a finger around his hair to keep busy, noticing only now how much it had grown nearly down to his shoulders.
Aoi took a small breath, “can you just promise me you won’t abandon him, Minamoto?”
“Why would I—“
“Please.” Aoi stopped him from interrupting, “I know he never acted particularly… fond of you.”
That’s the understatement of the century.
“—But I think he needs you a lot more than he lets on.” Teru’s heart did a whole circus acrobat’s worth of flips, for which he scolded himself for internally.
“…and I think you do too.” Aoi’s voice was soft, almost… knowing. But she didn’t let it slip for too long.
“So, please just try to be a friend to him. okay? Don’t kill eachother!” Aoi scolded, eliciting a strained laugh. Teru could almost see her shaking her head like a fed up mother wrangling two toddlers.
His throat felt a little dry as he spoke, “I’ll try not to… but it’s a little tempting sometimes, don’t you think?”
“ Minamoto…”
“Joking , joking—I’m serious, Akane-San, I’ll do my best.” Teru assured, although… the task she set him to would be harder said than done.
“Thank you.” Aoi breathed like the whole world had been lifted off her shoulders.
From there, the conversation dissolved. Teru congratulated her on her relationship, which turned into Aoi’s (so uncharacteristic, but welcome) giggly rant about her girlfriend, from there somehow to music tastes, and finally ending off when Aoi realized it was nearing 3 AM and practically forced Teru to march back to the dorms for sleep.
On the way back and once Teru was finally in bed, he processed their whole conversation. He definitely felt more at ease, as he always did after talking to her, but… there was that one thing, that one request from Aoi, nagging him like a hangnail.
Implicitly, Aoi had told him to go, get close to Akane. That wasn’t exactly compatible with their current…dynamic. Given he, Akane, and feelings (or anything more than teasing, annoyance, and bickering) were three things that hadn’t really been mixed well.
Teru yawned, eyes drifting to Akane, now snoring much louder than before but still asleep. His eyes drooped a little, eyelids fluttering with sleep.
If what Aoi said was true—if she believed some part of Akane, beneath that hardened exterior—needed him (a laughable, but heart-racing, idea) he might as well try.
What was the harm?