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Mydei lets out a quiet sigh.
Not far from him and squatting outside the lecture hall that he just exited from is a figure that he knows all too well. Black jeans and black hoodie with the hood pulled up to his head is none other than Khaslana.
Judging from his hunched posture, Mydei can already tell what happened.
He walks towards him, ignoring the conversations and people walking around him before stopping just two steps away from the hunched man. “Got into a fight again?”
Instead of answering, Khaslana gets up on his feet and extends his hand towards him. Mydei passes his sling bag to him, who slings it on his own shoulder and starts walking, not waiting for Mydei to catch up to him.
Mydei, annoyed by the behaviour from the other, crosses his arms and purposely slows down his steps. If he’s going to be difficult, then Mydei has no problem being just as difficult. Just then, his coursemate approaches him with a file clutched to her chest. “Mydeimos, wait!”
Mydei stops and turns to her, patiently waiting for her to catch her breath. He doesn’t even know if Khaslana is still walking or if he has also stopped, but he decides to focus his attention on his coursemate in front of him.
Arielle takes out a piece of paper from her file and hands it to him. “If you don’t mind, I have some questions about our group project.”
Mydei takes the paper and looks at where she’s pointing. As Arielle continues to ask her questions, Mydei feels a presence next to him, so close that their sides are pressed against each other. There's an elbow softly nudging him, but Mydei instead chooses to listen to Arielle.
However, soon, Arielle gradually stutters before falling quiet with an “Um…” .
Confused, Mydei looks up to see Arielle looking down and flustered, fingers clutching tightly to the paper that it crumples from the force. Then, his gaze shifts to the man standing next to him. This close, Mydei can finally see the split lip and the smudge of blood near his nose, and when the wind passes by them, the hood fluttering, Mydei can also see his reddened cheek, almost bruising.
When he looks into his eyes, Khaslana is staring down at Arielle, his gaze cold and terrifying to those who aren’t familiar with him. Mydei clears his throat, breaking whatever tension between them. “Text me the parts that you don’t understand. I'll reply when I get back.”
Arielle nods quickly, squeaking out, “Thank you, Mydeimos,” before hightailing it out of there. Mydei then turns to Khaslana with a raised eyebrow, and it appeases him that Khaslana at least has the decency to look guilty.
“Yes, I got into a fight again…”
“Was that so hard to answer?” Mydei’s expression softens as he finally tilts Khaslana’s face to get a full look at him. Other than the minor wounds he saw earlier, nothing seems to be serious. “Are you hurt elsewhere?”
Khaslana points to his left side. Mydei’s brows are knitted in the middle, and he frowns at him. “And you didn’t get it checked?”
What Mydei gets in return is a slow blink followed by, “Your lecture was almost over.”
Mydei stares at him. Really stares at him for a good few seconds before he pinches the bridge of his nose. This isn’t the first time this has happened—Khaslana getting into a fight and, instead of treating his injuries right away, finding Mydei so he can give him a ride back to the dorm.
“Should I even bother repeating myself?”
“No.” Khaslana simply replies before he continues walking, making his way to the parking lot. But this time, he slows down his pace.
Mydei follows after him, though now he’s observing Khaslana’s back, trying to see if there are any other injuries that he keeps secret. However, his gait as well as his posture are casual, like any other day. In fact, if it weren't for the bruises on his face, Mydei wouldn’t have suspected a thing.
They eventually arrive at the students’ parking lot where Khaslana parked his bike. Wordlessly, he swings his leg over the seat before passing the second helmet—specially reserved for Mydei—to him.
Still, Mydei makes no motion to take it. “You know my dorm is only a fifteen-minute walk, right?”
Khaslana takes back the helmet and puts it on Mydei, fastening the strap. “And yet, here you are.” Then, he motions with a tilt of his head, a small triumphant smirk curling on his lips. “Hop on, princess.”
Even with the visor down, even when Khaslana isn’t looking at him as he revs up the engine, Mydei knows that Khaslana knows that he’s rolling his eyes at him.
-
When they get to his room, Mydei immediately heads to his desk to set down his phone and keys while Khaslana makes himself comfortable on Mydei’s bed, and he deposits Mydei’s bag near his feet. His roommate isn’t there, and Mydei already knows that his roommate won’t return until night. Although Mydei is fine with his roommate, he’s glad that his roommate isn’t there when Khaslana is in their room.
The last time that happened, his roommate cried to him, convinced that Khaslana was out to get him.
Mydei takes out a piece of tissue and wets it with the water bottle that he keeps on his desk, then kneels in front of Khaslana. He takes Khaslana’s hand and gently cleans the blood on his bruised knuckles. “Where did you fight?”
“Not on campus.”
Mydei shoots him an unimpressed look. Khaslana seems like he’s fighting back a smile before adding, “The alley.”
Mydei knows which alley he’s talking about because he’s been there; multiple times, in fact. There’s a stray chimera that lives there—near a convenience store that they always go to—and Mydei always comes by to feed it on mornings and evenings on certain days. On days that he’s busy with classes, either Phainon or Khaslana takes over his duty. They’ve somehow adjusted their schedules to feed the chimera, lovingly named Fig Stew by Mydei.
And today, both Khaslana and Phainon are free.
“What happened?” Mydei grabs another piece of tissue and wets it. He then begins to gently dab it on Khaslana’s lip, wiping away the dried blood. And then he moves to clean the dried blood near his nose.
Khaslana closes his eyes, enjoying the close proximity between them. “Just some assholes throwing Fig Stew around.”
Mydei’s hand pauses. After a moment, he asks again, his voice hollow and strained. “What happened?”
“They dropped him when we arrived. Phainon immediately took him to the vet, and I took care of them.” Khaslana opens his eyes, seeing Mydei falling quiet with a pensive look on his face. He places his finger under Mydei’s chin and tilts his head up. “Fig Stew will be fine. Don’t worry about it.”
The look in Mydei’s eyes softens, and he pulls back his hand from Khaslana’s face. “Are you fine?”
“It does sting a little,” Khaslana says as he gingerly pokes at his split lip, now cleaned, with his tongue. “But I’m fine.”
“How about bruises on your body?”
“If you want me to take off my shirt, just say so.”
Despite himself, Mydei can’t help the small twitch at the corner of his lips, giving way to a smile. He looks at Khaslana, fond yet exasperated at the same time.
“There we go.” Khaslana brushes Mydei’s cheek with his knuckles; the same knuckles that punched and made people bleed and cower in fear, are touching him so tenderly that Mydei can barely feel it. “A smile looks better on you.”
Feeling a sudden rush of warmth rising up to his face, Mydei stands up and throws the tissues into the bin, looking at anywhere but him. Khaslana, on the other hand, is enjoying the view of a flustered Mydei. “Aren’t you going to kiss it better?”
“I thought you said it stings.”
“If it would heal faster, then I don't mind.”
The cheeky reply manages to elicit a smile from him, and instead of kissing him where he wants, Mydei softly presses his lips on Khaslana’s forehead before pulling back to see him half-scowling and half-smiling.
It's an amusing sight.
Mydei gently pats him on the unbruised cheek. “Rest. I'll be at the desk.”
Khaslana acquiesces, laying back on Mydei’s bed and grabbing an orange chimera pillow, hugging it to his chest. “Aren’t you supposed to entertain your guest?”
Mydei hums nonchalantly as he sits at his desk and checks his phone, finding several rows of text from Arielle with her unanswered questions earlier before a certain someone intimidated her with his presence. He begins typing at the same time he replies to him, “You invited yourself in. I didn’t invite you.”
“...aren’t you supposed to take care of your patient?”
“I told you to rest, didn’t I?”
A loud sigh is heard in the room. The corner of Mydei’s lips twitch upwards.
“Mydei…”
“Alright.” Mydei gets up from his chair and goes to his bed with his laptop in hand before lying on his stomach, then opens his laptop. As he waits for the laptop to boot up, he continues typing his reply.
Meanwhile, Khaslana next to him is lying on his side, just quietly observing his face. He then reaches out for his braid, brushing it with a feather-light touch that tickles Mydei’s ear.
“Quit it,” Mydei scolds him with absolutely no heat in his voice.
“Ticklish?”
“Annoying.”
Khaslana doesn’t stop playing with his braid, gently tugging and twirling it around his finger while Mydei replies to his coursemate. Once he has finished answering all her questions, a new notification pops up—a text from Phainon asking him if he’s already in his dorm room. Mydei replies with an affirmative before putting his phone down and turning to his laptop.
He needs to get as much of his assignment done as possible before Phainon gets here. With both twins in the same room, Mydei isn’t sure how long he can focus on his assignment before they start distracting him and convincing him to take a nap with them before their evening class starts.
Mydei lets out a soft snort. That’s on them though. He always arranges his schedule so he doesn’t have late evening classes. He makes sure his classes end before 4.
“Was that Phainon?”
Mydei hums. “He’ll be here soon.”
“That didn’t take long.” Khaslana comments, and then his voice softens. “That means Fig Stew is fine too.”
Mydei turns to him, hand reaching out to ruffle his hair. “Thank you for saving him. I’ll visit the vet tomorrow and pay the bill.”
Khaslana looks up at the hand in his hair, and the faintest hint of pink dusts his cheeks. “I’ll pick you up after your morning class.”
When Mydei takes his hand back, he pretends not to see the frown on Khaslana’s face, though it tickles his heart. “I don’t think I can return Fig Stew back to the alley. It’s too dangerous for him.”
“If you’re reluctant to give him away, why not let us adopt him?”
Mydei raises an eyebrow at him. “Your landlord doesn’t allow pets.”
Khaslana extends his index finger from where he’s playing with Mydei’s braid, poking his cheek. “It’s cute how you think that’s going to stop us.”
Mydei has to admit that it’s a good idea to let the twins take care of Fig Stew temporarily until he can get proper arrangement, or rather, until he can rent his own place that allows pets, which would be more than a year from now when he finally graduates. But then again, he also doesn’t want the twins to get caught breaking the rule and be forced to find a new place to stay.
Come to think of it… he vaguely remembers that Arielle works part-time at a chimera shelter. Perhaps he can ask her if they can take in one chimera temporarily. He doesn't mind paying for his food and his vet bills. Perhaps he can even try to convince his parents to help him take care of Fig Stew... or maybe he should try asking Uncle Krateros first.
“If you’re worried,” Khaslana breaks the silence as his fingers return back to playing with his braid. “Just move out of the dorm. You can afford renting an apartment.”
“Who says I can afford renting an apartment?” Mydei deadpans.
Khaslana motions to his phone lying innocuously next to his laptop. “I’m not blind, Mydeimos. You change your phone every time there’s a new model. I’m pretty sure you’ve already pre-ordered the next one when you attended the launch event last month.”
Mydei’s cheeks flush at that, not knowing how to retort because what Khaslana said is true. He closely follows news about new gadgets and devices, smartphones especially, and doesn’t think twice about buying them, but that’s mostly because—
“Father said I can buy anything I want,” he defends himself, knowing it’s a weak argument. But in his defense, he also sells his previous phone when the new one arrives, and he uses that money to pre-order the next one.
“Yes, yes.” Khaslana nods almost sagely, and he brings the braid to his lips. “Everyone knows Sir Eurypon loves to dote on his precious son. He’d buy a whole company if that’s what his son desires.”
Mydei bats away Khaslana’s hand with a scoff. “Mother also taught me not to waste money. Why would I rent a new place when the dorm is more affordable and convenient?”
When Khaslana opens his mouth, no doubt with a comeback ready on the tip of his tongue, Mydei quickly interrupts him. “Besides, renting a new place means I’ll be living far from campus, which means I will also have to spend more money on car, car maintenance, and fuel.”
After he finishes his sentence, he looks at Khaslana, as if daring him to refute his point. Khaslana lets go of his braid and grazes his cheek with his fingers; the glint in his eyes tells Mydei that, somehow, he just fell into his trap. “We can live together, split the rent and bills. I’ll give you a ride anytime you want.”
A trap that’s laid out in front of him in plain sight, yet one that Mydei fails to see until he’s caught in one.
“Think about it,” Khaslana adds as he moves his hand to card through Mydei’s hair; the nails lightly scratching his scalp almost makes Mydei close his eyes and purr under his touch. “You’ll have more privacy, no curfew. And it will be just you and me, and Fig Stew.”
The implication isn’t lost on Mydei, and he turns to Khaslana with an amused smirk. “And?”
Khaslana’s expression drops now that Mydei saw through him. His hand rests on the back of Mydei’s neck, limp and defeated. “...and Phainon too, I guess.”
“And Phainon too.” Mydei affirms before turning back to his assignment. Then, distantly, he hears the distinct sound of Phainon’s bike, getting louder and louder until it stops just outside his dorm. It takes exactly 45 seconds after that for his door to open, revealing Phainon and his trademark grin.
“What did you guys talk about?” Phainon takes off his shoes before walking in and hanging up his jacket on an empty hanger hung on the handle of the closet. Then, he walks to the bed, kissing the crown of Mydei’s head as a greeting.
“Planning our future.” Khaslana replies, shifting and pressing himself closer to the wall as Mydei, too, shimmies closer to Khaslana.
Without wasting any second, Phainon lies down on whatever space that is left, snuggling next to Mydei. “Are you finally moving in with us?”
Mydei groans at being squished between the twins. He doesn’t even have space to type properly. “This single bed is not made for three grown men.”
Especially when the three grown men regularly go to the gym.
“You should just move in with us, Mydei.” Phainon says instead, pretending to not hear Mydei as he casually slides his hand down Mydei’s spine until it rests on the small dip of his lower back. “And then we’ll get to see each other every morning and every night.”
And then risk not showing up to class? Or worse, showing up late to class with a limp because the twins beg to have a quickie in the early morning? No thanks.
Mydei schools his expression into a neutral expression. “It’s fine. I’ll be busy with my dissertation next year, so I'll be spending most of my time in the library. It's close to my dorm too, so it’s convenient to just keep staying here.”
Phainon gently bumps their heads together. “Consider it anyway?”
“You don't have a third room.”
“You can just sleep with me.” Khaslana’s hand on Mydei’s nape gently nudges him to look his way. “I have a master bedroom large enough for us both.”
Phainon quickly chimes in with, “My room has a better view. It's closer to the kitchen too!”
Mydei pauses, then turns his head slowly to Phainon and stares at him. “Are you expecting me to cook for you both?”
Phainon’s mouth hangs open, his face turning horrifyingly red horrifyingly fast that it makes Mydei feel bad for teasing him. But his expression returns to normal just as fast, and he replies, “Haha, you almost got me there. You’re very sly, Mydeimos.”
Phainon leans in and kisses his cheek with a loud smack. “You don’t have to do anything for us. Having you with us is more than enough.”
Ah… Mydei can almost feel his entire face burning. How can Phainon say these things so openly without feeling embarrassed, he’ll never know.
Mydei clears his throat and turns back to his laptop; the cursor has been blinking there, unmoving, since he received Phainon’s text. He hasn’t typed a single letter.
See? It’s difficult to get things done when he has both twins clinging to him.
To his right, Khaslana softly prods while hugging the chimera pillow. “Well?”
With both twins staring at him expectantly, one twin having his hand on his nape and the other twin having his hand on his lower back, Mydei feels like he’s being pinned down with no way to escape. “If I move out while I’m still studying, my mother will want to know why, and with whom I’m moving in. And if my father finds out who…”
Two dejected sighs are heard from his left and right.
Mydei doesn’t need to explain further; the twins understand why. As the only child and heir to the esteemed Sir Eurypon and Lady Gorgo, not only is Mydeimos extremely doted on, but he’s also extremely protected. Mydei isn’t even supposed to date while he’s still studying. Him dating both of them without his parents’ knowledge is already risky—and if Mydei has to admit, pretty exhilarating too.
But love makes people do crazy things, and who is Mydei if not hopelessly in love with the twins?
“But you’re still sleeping over this weekend like usual, right?” Phainon asks.
Mydei taps his finger on his laptop, unsure how he’s going to break the news. “About that…”
“Mydei…” Phainon whines next to him, one leg slung over his legs, pulling him closer to him, to which Khaslana immediately counters by pulling Mydei in his direction, in case Mydei is pulled down when Phainon inevitably falls off the bed. “Why… It feels like I haven’t seen you at all this week.”
“Company dinner.” Mydei sighs, already thinking about how boring it will be. There’s no doubt that his parents will mingle with the others, and they are expecting him to start building connections too. If not with the board members or the older employees, then with the younger ones, even the interns. If he’s going to take over the company one day, then he needs to know and build connections with everyone—is what his parents keep telling him.
Khaslana’s hand slides up to his hair to massage his scalp, and the soothing movement manages to make tension bleed out of him, and he relaxes under him. “Just know you can always text us for anything.”
“Aren’t you both working on your dissertation?”
“It’s fine, Mydei.” This time, Phainon’s hand moves to massage his back. “We can do both things at once. Don’t hesitate to reach out for us.”
Touched by the care and concern that the two showed him, Mydei feels an overwhelming affection for them, so much so that he can’t help throwing his arms around their necks and pulling them towards him, then kissing their snowy white hair. “Don’t leave me on read for too long.”
“We won’t, we won’t.” Phainon promises, then ducks his head to steal a kiss. “We’ll keep our phones close at all times.”
Smiling, Mydei ruffles their hair one last time before giving his full attention to his assignment. Thankfully, the twins don’t try to make any conversation after that, and Mydei even manages to write a full page without being distracted. Both the twins are quiet—too quiet, in fact, that Mydei is almost curious as to why this happens.
Usually, even when Mydei is doing his assignments with the twins around, the twins will still chat quietly with each other. Or, in the case where they aren’t chatting, their hands will absent-mindedly, casually, touch him, either caressing his back or playing with his hair.
So when both twins are both quiet and still, Mydei looks up from the screen to find that both twins are napping, mouths slightly open and chests rising and falling slowly.
Ah… that explains it.
Warmth blooms in his chest upon seeing the twins’ sleeping face. Even when they’re crammed in this small bed, they still manage to fall asleep. It’s really endearing.
With careful movement, Mydei slithers backwards, just enough until he’s not squished between two broad shoulders, and swings his leg over Phainon’s legs. When his foot touches the floor, he slowly lifts himself up, removing himself from the twins and the bed. Then, he picks up his phone and his laptop, moving them to the desk where he can continue his assignment.
As he sits down on his chair, he glances back at the bed. The twins have adjusted to the extra space he left behind; Khaslana has unpeeled himself from the wall while Phainon moves towards the center, no longer on the verge of falling to the floor. They both curl around each other, one twin hugging a chimera pillow and the other hugging his own hand, their chests moving in tandem with every inhale and exhale.
A soft smile makes its way on Mydei’s face. “Sweet dreams, you two.”