Chapter Text
The ceiling was staring at me.
Or maybe I was staring at it. Hard to tell at 3 a.m. when your brain decides sleep is optional and feelings are mandatory.
I rolled over, cocooned in my blanket, but the room felt too quiet. Too still. Too… lonely. I didn’t want to be alone. Not tonight.
So I got up.
Blanket still wrapped around me like a cape, hair sticking up in every direction, socks mismatched, the full aesthetic. I shuffled into the hallway, blinking at the dim light.
Shirabu’s door was closed.
I hovered in front of it, swaying slightly. Normally I’d never bother him this late. But something tugged at me a need for company, for someone familiar, for someone who wouldn’t ask too many questions.
I knocked.
Barely a tap.
“Shirabu…? You awake…?”
Silence.
I pressed my forehead to the door, blanket slipping off one shoulder. “I just… didn’t want to be alone.”
Still nothing.
I sighed, turning away and nearly collided with Tendou.
He froze.
I froze harder.
Then he whispered, “Taichi… why do you look like a sad baby penguin.”
“I’m not sad,” I mumbled. “I’m clingy.”
Tendou clutched his chest dramatically. “OH MY GOD. YOU’RE SO CUTE. COME HERE.”
He tried to hug me.
I dodged like a ninja. “No. I want Shirabu.”
Tendou’s jaw dropped. “You want SHIRABU? At THREE A.M.? For HUGS?”
I nodded, blanket dragging behind me like a defeated ghost.
Tendou melted into a puddle on the floor. “This is the best night of my life.”
Before I could stop him, he marched to Shirabu’s door and knocked like he was summoning a demon.
“Tendou—!”
The door cracked open.
Shirabu stood there, hair messy, eyes half‑open, wearing an oversized hoodie like he’d been dragged out of sleep by force.
He blinked at me.
I blinked back.
Silence.
Then I whispered, “Can I sit with you.”
Shirabu stared at me like I’d just confessed to murder. “It’s three in the morning.”
“I know.”
“You never want to sit with me.”
“I know.”
“You look like you’re about to cry.”
“I know.”
Shirabu’s expression softened so fast it was almost scary. “Oh my god. Come here.”
He grabbed my wrist and pulled me inside before Tendou could start narrating.
I sat on the edge of his bed, blanket wrapped around me, staring at the floor. Shirabu sat beside me, awkward but trying.
“What happened,” he asked quietly.
“Nothing,” I said. “I just… didn’t want to be alone.”
Shirabu sighed, rubbing his face. “You could’ve just said that.”
“I did.”
“Yeah, but you said it like a ghost haunting my door.”
I shrugged.
He nudged my shoulder. “You’re warm.”
“You’re cold.”
“Shut up.”
We sat there in comfortable silence for a moment.
Then the door slammed open.
Tendou burst in. “IS EVERYTHING OKAY—”
Shirabu and I both screamed.
Tendou screamed because we screamed.
Semi appeared from Shirabu’s bathroom, confused. “Ken? Why is everyone screaming? Oh...”
Everyone's jaws dropped as Shirabu groaned and Semi froze." No wonder your hairs messy!"
"TENDOU!"
Yamagata appeared behind Tendou, holding a bottle of bleach and a armful of snacks. “Taichi texted me.”
I stared at him. “Why did you bring bleach.”
“You said it was an emergency.”
Shirabu groaned into his hands. “I hate all of you.”
Tendou pointed at me. “Taichi got clingy and it’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Semi blinked. “He got what.”
Yamagata melted. “Aw, buddy.”
I buried my face in my blanket. “I hate this dorm.”
Shirabu patted my back. “No you don’t.”
I didn’t.
But I wasn’t admitting that out loud.