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Kieran’s teeth worked idly at the tip of his pencil, staring at what felt like his hundredth sheet of paper that day. Most of its predecessors laid crumpled in the nearby wastebin, some of the not so lucky ones laying crumbled just outside of it.
For just a moment graphite hit page, the Kitakamian’s hand moving rapidly as he thought he finally had that ‘aha’ moment—
Only to frown when he looked down at what he wrote. It wasn’t good enough, nothing he was coming up with was good enough but this especially wasn’t good enough!
In one single fluid motion black struck across the carefully written words, marking them just as discarded as his pencil when Kieran slammed it down on the table.
“Aurgh! Why is this so hard!” He barked to himself, scratching his nails roughly into his skull until it hurt. Relenting with a sigh he lowered his chin to the table in defeat. The sheets that had so far been spared by Kieran’s harsh culling seemed to stare up at him, almost mockingly. Each one had two things in common, each elaborate plans written out in meticulous detail, just like the battle strategies he used to pour countless grueling hours over, noted down to the weather, to the very direction of the wind in some cases.
The other thing that they had in common was that they all had exactly one goal in mind, having Kieran confess to Florian how he made him feel. With the bonus goal of maximising the chance Florian would be receptive to it, of course.
Dragging himself up Kieran grabbed one of the papers, his best plan so far, and by far the grandest. It was a picnic, Kieran would make sure to get all of Florian’s favourite foods- they did say the fastest way to the heart was through the stomach after all. He planned to get flowers, and to have it on a Thursday, cause Florian always complained about his shoulders hurting when it was Thursday so Kieran could offer to help rub them. And he even planned to get flowers.
It was the best plan so far, and— It was still garbage.
Kieran huffed, his grip on the paper crinkling it at the edges until finally he crumpled it in his hands, tossing it to join the carnage of paper that was his rubbish bin with a snarl, allowing his forehead to connect harshly with the desk in front of him. It just didn’t feel right, none of them felt right, felt good enough. If he didn’t get this just right Florian would say no, he was sure of it.
“Twelve hours and I’ve still got nothing.” Lamenting, he let his head fall to the side until his cheek was smooshed against the blank paper beneath him. It seemed absolutely hopeless. This wasn’t even the first time he sat down to try and come up with a plan. In fact the first time he can remember sitting down to try and brainstorm was no less than a day after he met Florian.
Back then though he was way too nervous about it, and the few times he was in a mood to try when Florian had first transferred to Blueberry he would always realise how stupid it would look considering half the time he was too busy hating him instead, and then when they first made up he felt too awkward about having almost just gotten them both killed.
And then he had finally come up with a plan he liked when everyone came to visit Kitakami, but Pecharunt happened. He almost improvised after the wretched thing got caught in one of Florian’s Pokeballs, but everyone came too and that would have been way too embarrassing.
And now that they had been friends again for a while— he guessed he was way too nervous about it.
With a sigh Kieran pushed himself up, tapping the untarnished papers on the desk to straighten them before returning them to their spot in the desk drawer. The pen followed suit as it was put back in its own spot in a small mesh cup beside the wall.
Kieran stared up at the ceiling, hands behind his head as he leaned back in his chair. There had to be some way to tell Florian. Well, yes, there was, go up and tell him. But that would end in disaster and a very broken hearted Kieran. Kieran simply wasn’t good enough on his own, he had to do something to woo Florian first. Had to prove he was good enough to give Florian his affections.
Suddenly he kicked his feet against the wall, his chair spinning across the room with him in it until he collided into the side of his bed with a soft thunk. It only took one slogging motion for him to drag himself out of the chair and flop down onto the bed inside, bouncing slightly before sinking further down into the soft plush embrace.
He needed to figure this out. He couldn’t spend another day mulling and fretting over this again, he just couldn’t.
That was a lie and he knew it, he would spend every day thinking about Florian for the rest of his life no matter what the outcome was, he was sure of it. But one thing was for sure, if he didn’t say something it would keep eating at him like a horrid decay until it swallowed him down to the marrow.
“Oh, Florian, what am I going to do?” Voice muffled against the pillows, Kieran whined into the empty darkness of his dorm room before rolling to his back, dragging one of his pillows along with him as he stared up at the ceiling.
Someone like Florian who had all the confidence in the world could say anything on his mind without ever having to think about it first. That was how Kieran knew he had to do his best to try and wow him, if he liked him he would have told him already, he was sure of it. Exhaling loudly through his nose, Kieran allowed himself to drift off, thoughts filled with the chestnut-haired boy he lived rent free in his mind as he mumbled into the darkness. “I bet you wouldn’t be having any trouble with something like this.”
Florian was having so much trouble with this. He grunted as he tossed for what felt like the dozenth time that night. Visions of the day playing over and over again in his mind on loop. He had almost done it. Almost, but not quite.
He thought he had finally gotten the perfect opportunity at lunch, it was kind of quiet, and he and Kieran had managed to secure a table in the corner away from most of the people eating at the time anyway. The way Kieran’s eyes turned up at the bottom as he laughed at something he had said, the sparkle in his eyes so dazzling and enchanting it had almost coaxed the words he had been dying to say for so long out of Florian’s mouth.
And then the intercom rang, and the two of them were called to help stop an agitated terastallized Tauros. Granted, it was fun getting to wrangle it and battle alongside Kieran, but it didn’t exactly create the best environment for a heartfelt love confession.
He should have just bit the bullet and told him what he was thinking the moment he got handed that candy apple way back, or better yet, back the first time he had been enraptured by shimmering light swirling in those yellow eyes as Kieran first told him about his childhood idol. But then again, maybe that would have just made the whole situation with Ogerpon worse in the end.
And besides, wouldn’t have that been too early? Florian hadn’t even known Kieran for a day at that point. Honestly he couldn’t even remember how exactly he had felt about him, memories of feelings now overwritten by the bursting of his heart that came about whenever he thought about the boy now. It didn’t really matter how he felt back then anyway, that initial puppy crush having evolved into a full blown Lycanroc at this point, no, an Arcanine, no, Zamazenta itself. Even that didn’t hold a candle to how Florian felt, he decided.
Florian let out a growl, squeezing his pillow tightly in his hands, like a coil wound too tight it finally gave way in the form of him hurling the pillow across the room. The resounding thud might’ve been more impactful if it wasn’t made out of feathers.
He stared at the limp pillow with a glare that might’ve killed something that was alive. Cogs long since rusted over turned in his mind, “Fuck it.” Finally he hissed, throwing the blankets off of himself and standing up with a little too much force against the hardwood floor.
Picking up his pillow was his only stop on the way to the door, shoving through with a one tracked focus and a determined glint in his eye.
Florian stared at the door in front of him. The door stared back.
He had been so determined on the way there he hadn’t stopped to actually think about what he was actually doing. It was the middle of the night, he didn’t check to see what time it was. He didn’t even think to bring his Rotom phone, and now here he was. Standing in his pajamas holding nothing but his pillow in front of Kieran’s room. He should just go back to his room and—
His breath hitched, realisation dawning that he didn’t have his room key either, having forgotten it in his haste.
Immediately hand connected with face, dragging it down with a groan. What was he supposed to do now? He was not about to go up to the front desk and ask for a new key in the middle of the night. In terms of options… Yeah, no way, he was not about to let any of the BB E4 know of his blunder, maybe Crispin, but Crispin sleeps like a rock. Florian recalled distinctly a time he invited everyone over for a movie night and Crispin fell asleep and didn’t wake up until the next day.
The more he thought about it the more he realised there was only one person he would feel alright confiding this mistake to.
And he was standing in front of their dorm room.
With a sigh and newly slumped shoulders he relented, fist hesitating a hair’s breadth away from the door before at last letting his knuckles rasp against the wood. When there was no response he knocked just a little harder, finally allowing himself to knock properly on the third attempt.
Pulling the pillow up to his chest for moral support he waited, what was probably only a few seconds felt like an excruciating eternity, especially when Florian’s ears picked up on the distant sound of shuffling in the otherwise eerily silent hallway.
Florian’s heart stuttered in anticipation in rhythm of the mechanical clinking and clunking that came from the door as it was unlocked. The door swung open faster than Florian had been expecting, and from the way yellow eyes blinked rapidly, narrowed into a squint, faster than Kieran had expected too, the poor Kitakamian looking like he just flashbanged himself. With how dark the inside of his dorm looked he might just’ve.
“Florian?” Kieran questioned once his eyes had adjusted, his face softening significantly from the former frightfully irritated one. “What ARe—” The Kitakamian’s voice cracked and he paused, taking the time to brush disheveled strands of purple and black hair out of his face; most of it even managed not to immediately fall back in the way again. “What’re you doin’ here?”
“I-I uhm—” Words failed to form on Florian’s tongue as he struggled to produce something to say, getting locked out of his room was one thing, he could even explain being in pajamas if he tried hard enough, but the fact he had his pillow with him wasn’t quite so easy.
After an awkward pause of silence he finally decided on the truth, well, some of it anyway. Lies had never gotten him any bonus points with Kieran after all. “W-well, um, I was having trouble sleeping—” Not a lie. “So I was um… I wanted to ask if I could, maybe, stay over?” Also technically not a lie, even if it was something he decided mere moments ago. “Aannnd um… I maybe kinda sorta accidentally left my room key uh… back in my room. So…”
Kieran’s eyes closed, and remained that way far too long to be a blink. Right before Florian could start to get fidgety though yellow orbs were on him once more. “Yeah, yeah of course you can stay over, come in.” One weight on Florian’s shoulders lifted when Kieran stepped aside and gestured in, another weight replaced it when he crossed the threshold.
He was in Kieran’s dorm.
He had of course been in Kieran’s dorm before, but never to spend the night. Somehow in all the months of knowing each other, and on being on good terms, they had never spent the night— well, not alone anyway, everyone kinda ended up staying at his own dorm when Crispin had fallen asleep that one time, but that was like, seven people, so that didn’t count.
“We can worry ‘bout gettin’ your key back t’morrow.” Kieran murmured before stifling a yawn. “You should try an’ an get some sleep for now though, too late to do anything ‘bout it anyway I’d think.”
Florian found himself nodding, yawning in turn as he followed Kieran deeper into the darkness, forced to tail pretty close to avoid straying and bumping into anyway. “Thank you.”
He heard a hum in response as they finally reached the bed. Florian was prompted to get on by Kieran’s gesturing hand. His brow furrowed when the black haired boy grabbed one of the many pillows already situated on the surface.
It took him a moment to realise Kieran was heading towards the floor, eyes widening in alarm. “Hey, wait a minute. I don’t want to kick you out of your own bed.” The Galarian bolted up, swinging his legs over the side. “Let me sleep on the floor, or there’s enough room up here, we could both sleep on the bed.”
The suggestion came out before he could stop it, a flush imperceivable— hopefully— in the darkness spread across his face, and all he could do was wait for a response.
A gentle knocking sound stirred Kieran from his slumber. At first he wasn’t even sure if what he had heard was something real and tangible, but then another noise resounded from the hallway and he set about pushing himself up with a groan.
One look over to his alarm clock told him it was— way too late for this. The simulated sun wasn’t even up yet, who the hell wanted him at this Arceus forsaken hour?
His irritation only spread as his feet hit the cold wooden floor, sending a chill up his legs.
Why couldn’t whatever this was wait until a reasonable hour to come bother him? Whoever it was he was just going to have to tell them to—
Light from the hallway flooded Kieran’s eyes as he swung the door open, recoiling instinctively at the white overtaking his vision, blinking away the gleam until finally his eyes adjusted to the brightness setting a stern look to whoever he would find standing before him.
The person he saw caught Kieran far more off guard than the light ever could.
Florian was at his door.
Why was Florian at his door?
At like, two in the morning.
Right after Kieran had spent all day thinking about him.
Alright so that was every day, but he had spent all day actively thinking, and writing about him.
And he was here now.
At his door.
Okay.
That’s fine.
This is fine.
Kieran opened his mouth to speak, and to make matters worse, his voice cracked almost immediately, fidgeting with his hair gave him the distraction he needed to ground himself as he tried again to ask Florian what was going on.
He tried to keep his expression neutral as Florian explained himself, biting down his knee jerk reaction of ‘you locked your key in your dorm??’ or ‘you couldn’t sleep and your first thought was to come here?’ He was flattered, of course, but he couldn’t come off too eager, that was something he had decided was a bad idea a long time ago, plan or no plan.
He couldn’t just let Florian stand out there though, no matter what the circumstances may be around it. Besides, he couldn’t lie that the thought of Florian staying in his dorm tickled him. “Of course you can stay over,” You can always stay over, he added in his head. “Come in.”
Kieran grabbed his pillow as Florian got situated, fluffing it slightly between his hands as he moved to the floor. Sure, the floor was hard, and cold, and uncomfortable. But he wasn’t about to make Florian uncomfortable, and he could wait. After all, surely if he could come up with the perfect plan and execute it he and Florian would sleep next to each other one day.
And then Florian was talking, and then his legs swung over the bed, and then, “there’s enough room up here, we could both sleep on the bed.”
Kieran froze, eyes locking onto where he could barely see honey-brown in the shadows. It seemed like one day turned out to be this day.
“Are you sure?” Still, he had to double check, barely holding himself back from bolting back up onto the warmth and safety of his sheets, now filled with the comforting presence of more than just his linens.
“Yeah! I mean, um—” The Galarian coughed and Kieran could hear the pads of his feet sticking to the floor as he shuffled them. “Well the floor can’t be comfy, and I’d feel bad coming to your dorm and kicking you out of your bed. It’s not like I don’t want to s—”
Florian cleared his throat again before continuing. “There’s plenty of room, so yeah. I think you should get to sleep on your bed too.”
“Okay.” Kieran didn’t need to be told twice— well, three times, as he scrambled back up onto the bed, situating himself on the outside facing in as he curled up on his side. “Here um, sorry I’ve only got one blanket… we can share though, it’s big.”
Without waiting for an answer he pulled his bright yellow duvet over the both of them cocooning them under the same softness.
“This is nice.” Florian’s voice whispered from the covers, his hands pillowed under his head. His eyes had almost been closed but flung open as he sputtered, voice coming out significantly louder than the quiet murmur of before. “Y-your duvet, I mean, it’s very soft, you’ll have to tell me where you got it some time.”
“S-sorry.” Kieran bit his lip as he replied. “I don’t— my grandma got it for me… I dunno where it’s from.”
“Ah, thanks alright.”
Silence overtook the room for a long while, but Kieran could tell from the rhythm of his breathing Florian hadn’t fallen asleep yet, and by the fact Kieran could tell Florian was still awake, he was still awake to be able to tell that.
He studied the resting boy’s face, features soft as his eyelids rested gently together.
He was right there. Right in front of him. A treacherous part of his mind was telling him to just go for it, to screw the plans he worked so hard on, and it was getting louder every moment. He opened his mouth to speak and—
“Hey Kieran?” Florian’s voice came soft and fragile from the darkness. Honey-brown eyes fluttering open to meet yellow. “I um—”
Kieran’s mouth closed and he exhaled through his mouth, part of him glad for the interruption, the larger part of him felt disappointed he didn’t get to go for it. “Yeah?”
“I just wanted to say um—” There was a long pause of silence and Florian’s eyes disappeared once more under his lids, a quiet exhale escaping his lips and tickling against Kieran’s neck. “Um, goodnight.”
A smile curved at Kieran’s lips, although he couldn’t help but sigh. “G’night, Florian. Sweet dreams.”
It took a while for Kieran to finally fall into the shadows of sleep, far too distracted by the object of his affections laying no more than a foot in front of him, but eventually sleep did come, impossible not to sink into thoroughly lulled by the warmth of a familiar body nearby.
Florian stirred slightly, squeezing his eyes closed. It was far too warm to drag himself out of bed now, even as light tickled at his eyelids. He pulled his arms closer inward, softness pressing up against his chest. He blinked, just slightly, to see what exactly he had his arms around.
Ah, it was Kieran. He must be having that dream again, wrapped in each other's arms and legs tangled together. Among his dreams it was one of his favourites. He just hoped it would be real one day.
For now he indulged himself, just like he did each time he had this dream, lifting up his head and opening up his eyes just enough to see yellow staring back at him.
“I love you.” Florian murmured groggily, planting a kiss on the soft skin of Kieran’s cheek. He let his head fall back to the pillow again and closed his eyes. It was strange, usually dream Kieran would have responded by now, but that was alright, dreams are always a little bit different, after all.
Kieran laid stunned, unmoving. He and Florian must’ve shifted in their sleep, infinitely closer than when they had laid down. But not only did he wake up, limbs tangled with the smaller boy’s— not only that, but Florian had said that, Florian had said ‘I love you’ mumbled, voice rough by sleep, but there was no doubt in his mind he had said it.
And not only only that, if his suspicions weren’t confirmed before, Florian had kissed him. Had put his lips right up against his cheek. And not just in a way that may have been an accidental brush, the muscles had been moved, he had been a kiss.
If Kieran hadn’t already been wide awake from the position he found himself in, he would be now, heart beating like a Yanma’s wings in his chest as he stared down wide eyed.
Did Florian have any idea what he had done? Was he still caught up in whatever dream he was having? If so, who was it he thought he was kissing? Who was it he thought he was telling he loved them?
Still, it was too much, and Kieran found tears welling in his eyes that he couldn't hold back, chin quivering as he tried keeping his mouth from clenching into an open frown. His hand flew to the back of Florian’s head, pulling it forward until his own lips met his forehead, speaking against the soft chestnut strands. “I love you, Florian.” He whimpered, kissing the Galarian’s forehead. “I love you so much.”
He sniffed as he planted another kiss against Florian’s head, squeezing his eyes closed and sending stray tears trickling down his cheeks.
He hoped Florian was awake, he hoped at the same time he was asleep, that he wouldn’t hear any of this at all, fear gripping at his heart as he held on just a little bit closer.
“Kieran?”
Kieran blinked his eyes rapidly, willing away the tears as he pulled back, distancing himself as much as possible while trying to stay as close as possible.
“Why are you crying?” Florian’s head tilted to the side, honey-brown eyes busy studying Kieran in a way that made him feel as though a Joltik under a microscope.
“I—I um—” Kieran stammered, failing to call anything comprehensible from his mouth.
“Wait a minute…” Florian’s eyes widened, and a hand reached up, feeling over his own face like it was the first time it had touched his fingers before abruptly reaching over and rubbing at Kieran’s cheek, gentle but lacking tenderness as it prodded and squeezed.
And then the smaller boy’s face paled, pulling away suddenly with wide eyes. “Oh Arceus, this is real.”
Before Kieran could blink Florian had scrambled backwards, untangling the two of them and sitting haphazardly against the wall. “This is real.” He covered his face with his hands, hiding away any expression he might be making. “I came here last night and— I’m actually— I’m so sorry, I didn’t— I— I thought I was dreaming.”
“You dream of me?” The words escaped unbidden, Kieran couldn’t help it, it was the only thing his mind honed in on.
“Often.” Florian finally admitted, biting his lip. “I’d have that dream every night if I could… Sorry, that’s probably weird, but it’s just the way it is.”
The dorm was still, a million thoughts running through Kieran’s head as he stared at Florian. All those tens of thousands of thoughts running through his head seemed to equate to functionally the exact same as zero as he sat up, leaning forwards.
“I love you, Florian.” Kieran confessed around the heart throbbing in his throat. “I love you.”
The flush that he was sure had spread across his cheeks was quickly mirrored on Florian’s face before those delicate features twisted up, and for a moment Kieran was scared he had said the wrong thing, that he had messed it all up. He was such an idiot, all of his well thought out plans he should have waited for, he didn’t even look at them he didn’t—
And then Florian’s arms were around him, pulling him into the tightest hug he had ever experienced, a squeak pulled from his lungs in response.
“Kieran, I, fuck.” Florian’s voice wavered before falling off, pulling back just enough to kiss Kieran on his cheek again, this time much more lucidly than before and then laughed. “I, that’s why I came here last night, um. If I’m being honest.”
“What?” Kieran blinked as, locking gazes with the Galarian boy wrapped around his neck, trying to search for answers, Florian had come here for what?
“I got so uh, determined to come here I forgot to grab anything at all and uh… well when I got here I was too embarrassed about forgetting my key.” Removing one of his hands from Kieran Florian rubbed the back of his head instead.
“I love you, and I wanted to tell you for a long time but whenever I worked up enough courage something would always—”
A yelp tore from Florian as Kieran dragged him forwards, he couldn’t wait any longer, screw the plans, screw the paper, screw waiting, Florian had said he loved him.
He connected their lips together and melted into oblivion. He didn’t care any more.
Florian was as sweet as he looked as Kieran’s curious tongue flicked out to taste. Somewhere in the back of his mind he was pretty sure that was considered improper. He didn’t care, he had wanted so long to touch and to taste.
Luckily Florian didn’t seem to mind the way Kieran was practically trying to encompass every inch of him, hugging and groping at arms and back with a desperation that betrayed wholly the way he felt.
At last he pulled away with a gasp, panting through his mouth as he realised what he had just done. “Florian—” He breathed, watching the Galarian’s movements down to the minute way his eyelid trembled as the orb beneath shifted just slightly as he looked at a point that was not quite singular.
“I—I’m sorry. I meant to, I was planning to— I had this whole plan, I wanted to go on a picnic with you, o-or go into unova, or, or I had a bunch of plans. I wanted to make sure everything was perfect and now I just—”
Kieran’s panicked rambling was interrupted, washed over by a blissful wave when Florian pulled him forward, and suddenly there was a tongue in his mouth this time.
He wasn’t immune to the freeze wrought from surprise that Florian had experienced moments prior, but he recovered just as quickly, fluttering his eyes closed and relaxing into the affections, although he was no more still with his hands this time as the last.
“Kieran.” Florian’s voice came out rough when he pulled away, trying to catch his breath at the same time. “In my dreams you belong to me. And I belong to you. If that can be real instead of just a dream, I don’t care how that happens.”
A shiver tore through Kieran’s body, followed by a laugh bubbling up from his chest, joyous and full, and mimicked genuinely by the chestnut haired boy beside him.
“I love you.” He murmured without fear, nuzzling against Florian’s temple.
“I love you too.” Reverberated against the skin of his collar bone as Florian decided to nestle there.
It was comfortable as Kieran guided them both down to the bed, replacing the duvet over the both of them.
“I’ve still gotta figure out how to get my key unstuck.” Florian mumbled, although he made no effort to move.
“Or you could just stay with me forever and forget about your key.” The suggestion was spoken through a smile, light and while not entirely serious, carried a hint of hope that was never truly expected to be fulfilled.
“My Pokemon are in there.” With a sigh Florian wriggled in closer, and this time his eyes drifted closed. “But after I’ve rescued them and the rest of my stuff, maybe I can accidently lock my key in there again.”
Kieran chuckled. “You don’t have to lose your key to stay over, you know. Any time you want to, you can come over. No matter what time it is, s’long as I’m here to open the door I s’pose.”
“Every night then.” Florian yawned. “You said it, you can’t take it back now.”
“Like I would ever take it back.”
A dramatic sigh came from the smaller boy’s lips. “I really don’t want to have to ask for another key. Maybe one of your Pokemon would be able to help.”
“Maybe.” Kieran agreed with a yawn. “We can worry about that later. It’s still early, and well, I want to stay like this.”
“Me too.”
A soft smile formed on Kieran’s lips and he yawned again as he drifted off. “You too…”