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When Oikawa finally moved into his dorm for his first year of university, he hadn’t known what to expect. He had gone in blind so while he eventually had found out that his roommate’s name was Sugawara Koushi and had a pretty face and a thing for dark clothes and weird music, that was about all he knew. Of course there was the fact that his roommate had moved in early (something about getting a job on campus that allowed him to do so), and had therefore very clearly defined his space in the room.
Oikawa arrived while the other was out so he was free to get situated without much disturbance. Sugawara’s bed was lofted with dark grey bedding and there was a lighter grey throw blanket draped across. The pillows were grey and black. Oikawa held back a snicker when the first thought to cross his mind was: wow, this Sugawara guy must be into some kinky things since his side is fifty shades of grey. Then Oikawa examined the posters. Most of them were for artists that he’d never heard of- The Black Keys, Band of Horses, Agnes Obel, and Soap&Skin- but there were also a few familiar ones. Oikawa had immediately recognized Arctic Monkeys and The xx, and then he had seen a Lana Del Rey poster too. So Sugawara’s music taste couldn’t be that bad if he listened to Lana.
Oikawa began to set up his own things. His bedding was grey like Sugawara’s- but a lighter shade- and unlike Sugawara, he had some yellow throw pillows and a yellow blanket as an accent color. He hadn’t brought any posters with him, just a few postcards and motivational prints. He wanted his space to be clean and organised so that he would have a clear mind when studying. He sat up his desk, putting a flip clock in the corner with a couple of cups for pens, pencils, and erasers. Oikawa had a thing for neat study spaces and cute stationery. He was one of those people that went on study dates and actually studied, kept a studyblr, and had notes that were so neat that it was uncomfortable.
After he spent an unholy amount of time organizing and reorganizing his desk until he deemed it perfect, he began to unpack the rest of his things. He hung cardigans and shirts in the closet and folded his pants, underwear, and pyjamas, placing them in his dresser. That was about as far as he got when the door swung open. “Get the hell out of my face, man! I told you I’m not interested anymore, do I have to spell it out for you?” A voice said, and then the door slammed. Oikawa looked up to see his roommate throw himself onto a beanbag and sigh.
“Uh… hello?”
Sugawara mumbled something from his beanbag, but Oikawa couldn’t understand a single word. Instead of asking him to repeat himself, the brunet just shrugged and continued unpacking his things. He thought it best to leave the other alone. After another moment he heard a tired, “you didn’t understand a word I said did you?”
Oikawa frowned at having been caught and shrugged, “No, but I thought it best to leave you alone. You seemed upset about whatever just happened…” he trailed off. He didn’t look over at Sugawara until he started snickering. “What’s so funny?”
Sugawara shook his head, “Daichi? He didn’t upset me at all if that’s what you thought. Sorry if I worried you!” then he gave Oikawa a smile that made his heart stop. The brunet gulped.
“Well then what was that back there?”
“I was just being melodramatic. You see, in high school…” and then Sugawara went into a long winded story about how in their final year of high school he had asked this hot guy named Daichi out and had been rejected, but then of course Daichi had also moved in early and he’d run into Sugawara and immediately started hitting on him and trying to ask him out. Oikawa laughed- it was a true teenage tragedy: Person A likes Person B but Person B doesn’t like Person A yet, and then by the time that Person B starts to finally like Person A, Person A has already moved on.
“Well… that’s interesting…” Oikawa finally replied after a moment of silence.
“So what about you? Ever have any weird drama? I gave you a slice of my life so now it’s your turn!” Sugawara said, and then to make his point, he practically bounced across the room until his face was inches from Oikawa’s. It was at that point that Oikawa’s brain decided to notice the choker necklace that Sugawara wore, the septum piercing that was incredibly hot, the eyeliner that was winged perfectly. He gulped.
“I wasn’t aware that was how it worked,” he said, his voice coming out strained as he fished for something interesting about himself in his mind. He came up with nothing. Absolutely nothing. God, he had to be possibly the most boring person in the world. “I’m not really that interesting though… sorry to disappoint.”
“Aw! That has to be a lie!” Sugawara said dropping to the ground and pouting. Oikawa stared at the beauty mark my his eye and shrugged.
“You’re telling me nothing cool or strange has ever happened to you? You’ve never ever had even an ounce of drama?”
“Not exactly-”
“Then something’s happened! Is it some sort of dark secret? Did you commit a crime?” Sugawara was back in his face in record times.
“No! God no! I’m about as unadventurous as they come,” Oikawa rubbed the back of his neck, laughing nervously. The truth was that he had had drama before, and had plenty of secrets. He didn’t want to unearth them yet, not to this random kid who he just met.
“Well, Mr. Boring, I’ll get whatever you’re hiding out of ya eventually, just you wait!” Sugawara finally said, standing up and winking at Oikawa before wandering over to his desk and opening his laptop. He didn’t bother pulling out his chair and sitting down, instead bending over so that his butt stuck out (and it was a very nice butt) and his shirt rode up a little, revealing pale skin. Oikawa raised an eyebrow, wondering if the behavior was intentional or not, before looking away with a blush before he was caught checking the other out.
In the few minutes that Oikawa had been in the same room as Sugawara Koushi, he realised that this was going to be an interesting year.
-
As it turned out, they both had the same primary major: arts and humanities. Sugawara had paired his up with a major in something having to do with the fine arts as well, whereas Oikawa had paired his up with a major in astrophysics. To say Oikawa’s time would be jam-packed with studying was a huge understatement.
The two of them didn’t have any classes together first semester, save for one of their classes that was required as an arts and humanities major. They studied together for that class and Oikawa quickly found that Sugawara had never studied in his life. He was very smart and understood the topics, but he said that he didn’t have the attention span to study. He’d gotten through high school with as little ‘studying’ as possible with all A’s, but Oikawa warned him that college would be different.
Another thing that Oikawa quickly found out was that their methods of studying were very different. While Oikawa preferred a quiet environment and listened to calming classical music to help clear his mind, Sugawara would listen to the hardest rock music he could find. He claimed that it got him pumped. Oikawa decided to leave it alone, though he questioned how much studying Sugawara actually did. It was Sugawara’s business- not his- afterall. Oikawa wasn’t his mom.
It was around halloween that Sugawara decided that they needed to get to know each other more.
“We live together… what are you talking about?”
“You’re coming to a halloween party with me! Or a haunted house… Both! Let’s do both!”
Oikawa stared at the other, who was draped across his bed with his head hanging off the edge. “I-I’m not really sure a party is the best idea… I have anxiety about that kind of thing…” he finally stammered, smiling and rubbing the back of his neck. He hoped that that was a good enough excuse for Sugawara.
It wasn’t and when Halloween came around Sugawara spontaneously dragged Oikawa away from his desk and down the street. He was wearing baggy black jeans that rested on his hips and a pink crop top that showed a decent amount of his toned stomach. Today, his nails were painted orange.
Oikawa struggled to keep up with the other. He was practically running and the sidewalk was cracked in many places so Oikawa kept tripping and stumbling. The fact that it was windy certainly didn’t help his balance. It was overcast and chilly- appropriate weather for Halloween- and Oikawa shivered, wishing that Sugawara had at least given him time to grab a sweater.
“Are you gonna tell me where we’re going?” Oikawa stammered after a few minutes, pushing his glasses up for what had to have been the millionth time. He could tell that they were headed in the general direction of town. The street that separated the campus from the rest of the city had a decent amount on it: clothes shops, restaurants, bookshops, bars, and tattoo parlors. Oikawa frowned because he doubted that Sugawara was taking him to the nearest bookstore or to get pastries.
“It’s a surprise!” the other cried in a singsong voice, beginning to skip down the street.
“I hate surprises,” Oikawa muttered. By this point, Sugawara had let go of his hand, so he felt much more balanced. It was a relief not to be being dragged down the street anymore. He looked around as he followed after Sugawara. Most of the leaves had already fallen from the trees, decorating the ground with vibrant shades of red, orange, and yellow. Oikawa was once again reminded of why autumn was his favorite season. The crisp air. The crunch of leaves. Pumpkin spice everything. He never felt more alive than he did in autumn.
Once they were on the main stretch of road, Sugawara reached for Oikawa’s hand again, and Oikawa found out why when he was quickly pulled into a tattoo parlor. Of course. “Why are we here” he whispered sharply, shooting Sugawara a panicked look.
“We’re getting tattoos!” the other chirped.
“I’m broke and I don’t even know what I want!”
“Well I’m not broke, and you could get a piercing if you’re too afraid to get a tattoo!”
“That’s not even what I mean!” Oikawa’s voice cracked. Sugawara stared at him with the most smug expression and Oikawa almost wanted to slap him. The other continued to stare at him expectantly. After the stares became too much Oikawa threw his arms in the air and gave an exasperated sigh. “Fine!” he snapped. Sugawara grinned, victorious.
“So what’re ya gonna do?” He asked, getting uncomfortably close to Oikawa’s face. Oikawa gently pushed the other away.
“I still need to think about it!” He had to be certain that it was something that he wouldn’t regret. He decided a tattoo was probably the way to go, but he didn’t want it to be something stupid or too deep. Maybe something that had to do with his interests. He’d always loved space, and he wanted to be an astronomer. That seemed the right direction to go. He continued to think and then a thought occurred to him. He pulled his bag off of his shoulders and began going through it. He heard Sugawara sigh from next to him.
“What are you doing? Do you really think now’s the best time to study?”
“That’s not what I’m doing!” Oikawa said, finally pulling the notebook he was looking for out. It had a lot of notes he had taken over the summer, complete with detailed diagrams. He flipped to a page with notes about the life cycles of massive stars and scanned it until he finally found what he was looking for. It was a diagram of a black hole. “This,” he said, pointing to the sketch. “This is what I want a tattoo of!” he declared. Sugawara followed his finger and stared at the diagram for a moment.
“Dude… you’re such a nerd…” was all he said at first. Oikawa looked up to say something in his defence and saw that Sugawara’s face was pink. The other looked away quickly, but before Oikawa had the time to ask what was the matter, the other had turned back and was kissing him on the lips. His mind went into overdrive. Why was his roommate kissing him in a tattoo parlor on Halloween? Why was his roommate kissing him in the first place? Why was it so mind numbingly amazing. Oikawa began to relax into the kiss but then he remembered that they were in public. He pulled away, staring at the ground.
“I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have done that!” Sugawara whispered and Oikawa shook his head.
“No no no! Don’t apologize, it was fine!” He began to stammer, trying to think of the right way to articulate his thoughts. He was sure that his face was red by now. “I-it’s just… we’re in public a-and I really wasn’t expecting that… a-and what will people say!” Oikawa cursed himself for sounding like a complete idiot, burying his face in his hands.
Sugawara laughed. “Fuck what people say. They don’t matter,” his voice was smooth and beautiful and Oikawa felt dizzy with emotion. “But…” he began, and Oikawa looked up to meet his eyes, “does that mean it’s fine when we’re alone?”
All Oikawa could do was nod, breathless. Was he really agreeing to whatever this was? He decided that now wasn’t the time to worry about Sugawara or whatever relationship they had. Now was the time to worry about getting a tattoo, going to a party, and most likely a haunted house as well. He’d make the most of it and hopefully it would be a grand time. He deserved a day off, after all.
Two tattoos later and Sugawara was pulling Oikawa down the street again. It was much later at night now and Oikawa held a crumpled up sheet of paper towel to his eyes, which were still watering. The pain in his arm had faded for the most part but it still stung. He liked the way his own diagram looked on his skin. Sugawara had gotten a crow- and not a small one either. Its wings arced across his shoulder blades gracefully. It was stunning, to say the least.
This time, he lead Oikawa to a house in one of the neighborhoods that branched off of campus. From outside, Oikawa could hear the music. It didn’t sound horrible, and he could swear he recognized it. Once they stepped inside he identified it as a song by Tame Impala . The atmosphere of the room was pretty relaxed and a guy with dark hair greeted them at the door.
“H-hey guys!” He shouted over the music. He was clearly drunk if his posture and the way he spoke was any indication.
“Hey Keith,” Sugawara said, and although he spoke softly, Oikawa could hear him clearly. “I see you guys didn’t hesitate in getting the party started.”
The guy who was apparently named Keith began laughing hysterically. Oikawa glanced at Sugawara out of the corner of his eye and the other just shrugged as if this was a regular occurrence. “Oh! And if you’re lookin’ for King Crybaby, he’s in the next room having an existential crisis,” Keith said once he finally contained his laughter. Sugawara nodded and pushed past the dark haired boy, gently pulling Oikawa after him.
“So who are these people? And what exactly are we doing here?”
“Keith is in my math class. He’s not exactly a genius but he’s been able to help me out here and there. As for ‘King Crybaby’,” Sugawara laughed at the nickname, “that’s his boyfriend. The two of them basically switch personalities if they get drunk. It’s kinda hilarious. And we’re here because I’m the designated sober friend,”
“So basically you’re babysitting them?”
“Yeah but it’s more fun than you think. While they can’t remember a thing, we get to see it all and therefore get tons of blackmail material!” Sugawara grinned and Oikawa laughed, shaking his head.
“Suga?”
“Hm?”
“Has anybody told you that you may as well be a Slytherin?”
“Oh, millions of times!” the other replied, laughing like it was a well-known fact. Oikawa just rolled his eyes, following Sugawara through the house. He recognized a few faces. There was Kuroo Tetsurou and Bokuto Koutarou. Kuroo was an astrophysics major as well and Bokuto was one of those people who everybody knew. Kuroo was sitting on Bokuto’s lap and screaming the Star Spangled Banner extremely off key. Oikawa wondered why he had it memorized, but then again he didn’t know the lyrics of the song so Kuroo could have easily been making everything up.
One of the students who worked in Oikawa’s dining hall was there as well. He couldn’t remember his name and he’d only talked to him a handful of times, but he wasn’t surprised to see him raiding the fridge. He watched the two as they passed through the kitchen, but didn’t say anything to them.
Finally, Sugawara stopped them at a door. “This is where he is…” he whispered as if it was a big secret.
“Who? King Crybaby?” He asked. Sugawara shushed him.
“If he hears you call him that he’ll throw a tantrum.”
“It sounds like he’s already throwing one.” Oikawa deadpanned. It was true though- he could hear loud sobbing on the other side of the door, as well as a couple of crashes. He wondered what was about to happen. Slowly, Sugawara pushed open the door. The crying stopped when the sole occupier of the room saw people enter.
“What do you waaaannttt?” came a wail. Oikawa debated whether or not the drunkenness was responsible for how garbled his words sounded, or if he had an accent.
“Keith wants to talk to you!” Sugawara lied with a sweet smile.
“He does?” Oikawa could see ‘King Crybaby’ better now: he had a lean build and naturally tanned skin and blue eyes that were absolutely gorgeous. To say that he was attractive was an understatement. Those blue eyes lit up at the mention of Keith and he pushed past the pair to go and find Keith.
“Why did you lie to him?” Oikawa asked with a raised eyebrow.
Sugawara just shrugged and then pulled Oikawa into the room and slammed the door behind them. As soon as the door was shut he began kissing Oikawa. He pulled back after a moment to see a stunned Oikawa. “This is fine right?” he asked nonchalantly. All Oikawa could do in response was nod quickly. Then Sugawara’s lips were on his again, kissing him hungrily as if it was the only chance he would have. Maybe that was what he believed, Oikawa thought, that this was his only chance and that if he waited any longer Oikawa would no longer be interested. That was about as far from the truth that he could get though. He’d caught Oikawa’s eye on day one and Oikawa was just too afraid to ever act on any feelings he had.
He didn’t want a replay of high school. He’d lost his best friend by acting on his feelings. In fact he had been punched in the face after kissing him because the other had not been expecting it at all. Of course he apologized a million times and helped Oikawa stop his nose from bleeding, but then that was it. Before he left, he had told Oikawa not to tell anybody that anything had happened and to not talk to him ever again. Of course people found out, as they always did, and one day he was surrounded in the parking lot while walking to his car. He didn’t go home on his own that day. A random girl he’d never talked to before found him lying in the parking lot and pulled him up, helping him into the bathroom and cleaning him up. Oikawa remembered her asking what had happened, but he said nothing. She understood though, and she pulled him into her car and drove her home, saying it was better safe than sorry.
Oikawa told his parents a lie- that he had no reason why the guys in the parking lot had targeted him. He didn’t want them to know the truth because he didn’t know how they would react.
But now here he was with Sugawara and none of that pain mattered anymore. It still hurt, but at least for now he had somebody else who understood.
Part of Oikawa wanted to just let things escalate from there but he knew that that wouldn’t be the wisest of ideas currently, considering the fact that they were in a house full of drunk college students currently. So instead he pulled away. Sugawara took the hint and stepped back with a smirk. “We’re not finished, just you wait,” he murmured, winking. Oikawa felt his face turn red, but instead of saying anything he just nodded in agreement. He had no doubt that Sugawara had already mapped out the rest of the night in his head.
They exited the room and Sugawara explained that after everybody was sober enough to function like normal human beings, they would be off to the haunted house. The amount of time it took for everybody to ‘function like normal human beings’ proved to be about two hours and thirty-six minutes. It was almost two am. Oikawa couldn’t tell whether or not he was tired or awake anymore and he would have been content with curling up in the nearest corner, but Sugawara insisted that they still had to go to the haunted house.
The haunted house turned out to be the university’s auditorium. Apparently every year the acting students put on a spectacular haunted house and it was very realistic and scary. The way Sugawara talked about it made it seem like they were going to an amusement park or a carnival, but no. They were going to a haunted house at 1:40 am. Despite the late time, there was still a decent line of people outside, and more people continued to wander over there.
When they finally were let inside, it was with a small group consisting of four other students that Oikawa vaguely recognized. There was a girl from his writing course and one of the guys was in his physics class. The other two he had just seen around. He was pretty positive that one of them was in the drumline.
Everybody joked amongst themselves as they began to wander down the corridor, but Oikawa could hear the nervousness in their laughs and notice the tension grow as they passed every doorway without anything happening. Somebody started screaming from behind them and to Oikawa’s horror, he turned to see a dark shape running towards them.
He let out a string of curses, hating himself for ending up at the back of the pack, and began pushing everybody and the group began to run forwards. They turned a corner to be met with another person with the most realistically gory makeup that Oikawa had ever seen. It looked like half of their face was missing and they held up a knife with a cruel grin. The girl who had been pushed to the front of the group shrieked and then ducked under the figure’s arms, sprinting forward and not waiting for the rest of the group. Everybody else took that as the hint to follow suit.
Sugawara had been right for the most part. Everything was realistic and terrifying at first. It’s not that it got any less scary, but as they got deeper into the haunted house, Oikawa grew more used to the jump scares and the people following him. Sugawara kept cracking jokes and flirting with the actors which also helped to ease his mind. It was almost hilarious, wandering around an old auditorium done up as a haunted house at two am with a bunch of other college students.
They were finally pushed into a room that Oikawa recognized as one of the lobbies. He almost sighed with relief. By the looks of it, they were headed outside and everything would finally be over. That was not the case. They were pushed into the night and everybody rejoiced at the fresh air and everything was wonderful until they heard a noise from the courtyard: the unmistakable sound of a chainsaw starting. A figure leapt out from one of the bushes and the entire group began screaming, running out towards the street, turning around only to find that the person had retreated back to their hiding spot. Oikawa didn’t know what he expected. He lay on the pavement, his chest heaving and his heart pounding against his rib cage.
“Suga?”
“Yeah?
“I’m never fucking doing that again,” he breathed. The other began laughing hysterically and when Oikawa sat up to meet his eyes, he saw that the other was laughing to the point of having to hold his stomach, streaming down his face.
“Stop laughing at my fear you idiot,” Oikawa whined and Sugawara nodded. He didn’t stop laughing though. Oikawa had the feeling that it was one of those ‘I stayed up too late and now I can’t stop laughing’ type of things. So instead of telling him to stop laughing again, he chose the most effective method: kissing Sugawara right there.
He stopped laughing and leaned into Oikawa’s lips, before pulling him up and winking. “I think it’s time to go home now, Tooru~” he whispered. Oikawa simply nodded and followed Sugawara down the street, knowing that their night was just beginning.