Work Text:
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Sodachi’s front door burst open.
Or rather, it wasn’t out of nowhere. In fact, Sodachi had been expecting that for a while by that point. That’s why she had left the door unlocked.
The walls between apartments were thick enough to not cause issues most of the time, but when multiple people were arguing on the other side, it was hard to ignore. Sodachi had long since learned to recognize that. It wasn’t exactly pleasant, having to listen in on their couple’s drama, but she was able to drone it out once she knew it wasn’t her problem.
Or at least, it wasn’t her problem until the argument was over. That was when Hitagi stormed in through her door.
At least she locked it behind herself.
It wasn’t the first time this had happened. In fact, Sodachi was beginning to feel like this was a routine.
She was halfway through taking her headphones off when Hitagi started ranting. “Can you believe the shit that Koyomi was saying? The nerve of that man…”
Sodachi blushed, nervously. “I’m sure you’re in the right here, but you’ll need to give me a second.” Hitagi pouted a little, but nodded. Sodachi turned back to her desk, saved her work, then closed the word processor she had been working in. Homework would have to wait until later to be completed.
More realistically, she would finish it tomorrow. She knew she wouldn’t be having much time to work on that for the rest of the night.
Sodachi walked across the room and dropped down on the couch next to Hitagi. The other woman still had tears in her eyes. The moment she could, she wrapped herself around Sodachi.
“What were you arguing about?” Sodachi left out a ‘this time’ at the end. She didn’t want to come across as too cynical about these arguments. Even if that was how she felt, she understood that it wasn’t polite.
“Koyomi and I have been talking about moving in together.” Sodachi sometimes forgot that they didn’t already live together. With the amount of time Hitagi spent in his apartment, she might as well be living there. “We’ve been talking about what kind of apartment we want and which part of town, but we couldn’t decide. That led to arguing about some related things, and before we knew it, we were shouting.”
That didn’t give Sodachi a good idea of what the argument was actually about, but she didn’t care to push deeper. It was couples’ drama, the kind she heard about from all of her friends. She didn’t need to understand the intimate details to comfort her friend.
“Should we order food?” They usually did. In fact, Sodachi was already grabbing her phone. Hitagi was still clinging tightly to her, but as Sodachi opened the delivery app, she peeked over her shoulder.
“Can we do Italian? I’ll pay.”
Sodachi shrugged. “If you’re paying, whatever is fine.”
A few minutes later, the order was placed. That gave them time to kill until it arrived.
“I’m glad you’re already feeling better.”
“You know how it is. I want him to die until that feeling burns out. Then I hate him in a normal way.”
“I don’t know what it’s like to hate Araragi in a normal way,” Sodachi murmured into her tea.
“I’m irritated at all the small things he does, instead of the big things that caused our breakup. You know, like the way he leaves his toothbrush sitting in the wrong position on the bathroom sink or the way he puts leftovers in the fridge. Normal things like that.”
“I’m not sure those are normal things…”
“They are.”
“Oh, okay.”
“These are the kinds of small things that build up, but are never worth talking about. I can ignore them, but if given the chance, I certainly don’t mind airing them out. Of course, telling Koyokoyo these things wouldn’t be helpful, which is why you’re hearing about them instead.” As if to prove a point, Hitagi leaned against Sodachi, nuzzling her. “Even if you’ve never been in a long-term relationship, surely you can understand.”
“I’m not sure I can…” Sodachi sighed. “But maybe you’re right. Maybe I’m better off without that. It sounds like a pain.”
“It is, but it’s worth it.”
From there, the conversation petered out. Eventually, Hitagi grabbed Sodachi’s laptop and pulled up a streaming service. She began browsing for something they could watch together. By the time food arrived, however, she was still searching.
“Is it that hard to find something?”
Hitagi shrugged. “I don’t know what you like. I assume you’re not a person for banal romance.”
“Not really, no. I don’t watch much TV to begin with.”
“That’s the problem.”
“I don’t think so. Do we need to watch something?”
“We don’t need to do anything. All of the human experience is merely whims of fancy.”
“So that’s a no.”
“I like to watch things while I eat.”
“So that’s a yes?”
Hitagi shrugged. “I don’t know. We can just talk.”
So they did. Hitagi still had plenty to say about Koyomi, after all, and Sodachi was happy to respond with barbed remarks. Saying cruel things about Koyomi was one of Sodachi’s favorite hobbies. A breakup only gave her more reason to drag him.
“I don’t know why you keep going back to that dirtbag. He doesn’t appreciate you.”
“You’d be surprised. He loves me dearly. We have conflicts sometimes, but he loves me dearly and I love him back. You wouldn’t understand.”
“Maybe I wouldn’t. I think what you’re describing sounds stupid. That can’t be worth it.”
“It is. It’s worth a lot more than one-off flings.”
Sodachi rolled her eyes. “And yet the first thing you did was flee here.”
“Can you blame me?” Hitagi flashed Sodachi her best puppydog eyes expression. Sodachi didn’t find it particularly compelling.
“Whatever.” Sodachi glanced over at the bedroom. “But on that note…” They had finished dinner several minutes ago.
“Wow,” Hitagi giggled. “You’re as much a sex fiend as Koyokoyo, aren’t you?”
“Shut up. That’s why you’re here, right? You always do this every time you break up with him. You run to me, crying, and treat me as a rebound. I’m just an outlet for your heterosexual frustration.”
“Even if that’s the case, you don’t mind, right?”
“You’re not denying it?”
Hitagi grinned.
“Whatever,” Sodachi sighed. “Let’s just get started.”