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The first thing Nicholas heard when he walked back into Room 108 was a series of French curses being exclaimed by Seiji.
Thankfully, they weren’t directed towards Nick, for once.
The first thing he saw was a plastic bottle of tea spilling on Seiji’s bed.
The second thing he saw was Seiji himself, picking said bottle up and shutting it.
Nicholas walked over towards his roommate with a smirk. “What happened here?” He placed a hand on his hip.
“I spilled my tea. Don’t you have eyes?” Seiji passed by him and walked to the bathroom with a frown. He came back with some towels, and an even darker expression. “The mattress is soaked. It was barely any tea.”
Nick crossed his arms. “I passed by the laundry room- they’re closed. Plus, even if they weren’t, it wouldn’t be enough time before curfew to get the sheets in and out of the wash. Not to mention the time to dry it all.” He dropped the smirk, only to replace it with a sympathetic smile.
Seiji was furious. “It’s soaked, Nicholas.” His voice cracked at the end, and he cleared his throat, blushing red.
An idea popped into Nick’s head. One that could surely benefit both of them.
“Why don’t you just stay in my bed? I’ll be in it, but I think we’ll be fine.” He grinned, and Seiji couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. The way to figure something out was to test it, right? Basic science.
Why not play along?
It wasn’t the perfect arrangement, but where else would he sleep? He took a deep breath in. “Sure. Thank you, Nicholas.” Seiji smiled; a rare occurrence that was growing to be more common around Nicholas than anyone else.
Nicholas turned a bright crimson red, then turned around to start his own nighttime routine of… getting shorts on and flopping into bed. Not much, but it was a routine nevertheless.
Seiji’s routine was more complex- it had a lot more steps that Nicholas couldn’t count, so instead he decided to scroll through social media. Before he knew it, Seiji was standing over him.
“Scoot over.”
They were really doing this. Nick realized he had been serious, but he didn’t expect Seiji to be serious either.
Looking back, it wasn’t that surprising.
He moved over to let Seiji under the covers, and they slept on the very edges of the bed, trying to avoid each other at all costs.
“You’re breathing too loud,” Nick complained.
“What am I supposed to do about that?”
“I don’t know, just.. fix it?”
One problem:
You can’t control your body when you’re sleeping. That was realized when they woke up and realized they were tangled together.
Seiji leapt behind the duck curtain faster than a lightning strike when he woke up, blushing a light pink. Nicholas was bleary-eyed, but did the same thing, running to the bathroom and getting changed into their school uniform.
Another problem:
They both liked being curled up. This would’ve been fine, had it been anyone else, but it was a bit weird to be cuddling with a rival. Even though that was true, they both were hoping it’d happen again.
———
The day went relatively easy, barring the fact that Seiji kept replaying the warmth that he felt that morning; during class, walking into the gym- he wasn’t safe from it. He would then subsequently feel his ears grow warm for nearly the same reason.
It was all Nick’s fault.
———
Nick’s day went well, too, minus the whole “turning beet red for no reason” thing during class- which really screwed up his focus, but honestly, you couldn’t really notice. Right?
It was all Seiji’s fault.
———
At dinner, Nick was talking to Eugene about Latin homework (homework that Seiji had already done), and then started speaking in hushed tones, turning away from Seiji. Suddenly, Eugene started wheezing, nearly crying as he laughed.
“Sure, bro.” He smirked at a blushing Nicholas.
“Shut-!”
If Nicholas had been a cartoon character, he would’ve had steam blowing out of his ears; he was bright red, and looked embarrassed past the point of no return.
Seiji didn’t care for whatever they were talking about; it was certainly an unwanted distraction. He got even more confused, though, as Nicholas handed a dollar to Eugene with a pained expression.
“Do I have to pay you?” Nick cringed as Eugene took the money.
“I have to get something out of this- otherwise, it’s just a suicide mission. So yes, you do have to pay me,” Eugene said with a grin.
Now Seiji was interested.
“Why is whatever you’re doing a suicide mission? That sounds dangerous,” he added as he watched the boys’ faces grow panicked.
“Nothing! It’s nothing,” they chorused.
“Sure,” Seiji said, not believing a word of it. He got up, having finished his meal, and walked back to their room.
He would be seeing Eugene again very soon.
———
Seiji sat on his bed working on an essay for English, when Nick and Eugene walked in, talking about some video game. Seiji was confused- it was an hour to curfew.
Shouldn’t he be going to bed?
“Last time I checked, Eugene didn’t share the room with us, Nick.”
Nick looked up, apparently noticing Seiji was there, finally. “Oh- yeah, we were just gonna talk about an assignment. He’ll be out before curfew, though.” He smiled, and Seiji’s heart beat a little faster. Nick’s easygoing smile was like a well-placed flick- surprising, but great when it landed.
Seiji’s heart was going to hell in a handbasket, it seemed.
———
What shocked Seiji the most out of all the things during this impromptu hangout was that they were actually being relatively quiet.
That was the most surprising aspect- right up until Eugene somehow managed to get Mountain Dew (who drinks that before sleeping?) on Seiji’s bed.
One thing about being a fencer was that you weren’t supposed to be clumsy. That wasn’t the case for Eugene- or Nick, for that matter.
As he got up and started walking out, he slipped on what seemed to be thin air, and his Mountain Dew can sloshed not only on the duck curtain, but on Seiji’s blankets. Somehow, he didn’t get it on Seiji.
This was not infuriating, for some reason unknown to either of them. In fact, it lightened Nick’s mood, and even lifted a heavy feeling (it felt suspiciously like disappointment) that was in Seiji’s chest.
Eugene gave Nick a small wink before apologizing profusely, and telling Seiji that he would never do it again. He then walked out with a smug grin on his face and a dollar in his pocket.
———
Nick was incredibly warm, and Seiji was incredibly cold. This applied to not only their body temperatures, but their personalities; a fact that stayed true throughout the year.
Hot and cold are naturally attracted to each other, though. When you’re hot after exercise, for example, you would want cold water. When you go out in the snow, you want hot chocolate after.
It made perfect sense that since Nick was incredibly warm, Seiji would naturally gravitate towards him.
This fact alone made it clear as to why Seiji was curled into Nicholas, who was currently…
…spooning him?
It didn’t feel terrible, though. In fact, it felt pretty nice. And… it was Seiji’s day off. No need to go to practice.
Why not stay a little longer? The clock read 6:32 AM. Seiji had almost two hours till breakfast; it’s not like they would care what they did before breakfast- as long as you were there on time.
He quietly turned away from the window, whose open blinds let light stream in, towards Nick’s body.
It was comfortable. And before he knew it, he was drifting asleep.
———
Nick woke up an hour later, realizing Seiji was still asleep, and strangely, was curled up very close to him. It was cute, though, seeing Seiji look peaceful. His face was relaxed for once, his hair wasn’t gelled into perfection- in fact, it was all over the place. He looked like… a teenage boy. It was nice. Nick wanted to keep it to himself; to have it completely his own.
He couldn’t do that forever because they had breakfast in an hour-ish, but he could certainly do it for now.
He pressed his lips to Seiji’s messy hair draped over his forehead, and held him close. Seiji’s hair was soft, Nick now knew, as it brushed against his cheek.
Soon, he had nodded off as well, drifting back into sleep.
———
The alarm woke them up much too soon, but alas, they had to be at breakfast.
They both climbed out of bed much slower than they had the previous morning, trying to savor every last moment of warmth.
When they finally came down to the breakfast hall, Eugene gave Nick a knowing look. Nick glared, as if telling him to shut up. Thankfully, he did.
After getting their trays, Seiji and Nick sat down beside each other, something that was becoming more frequent as of late.
Then, something… odd happened.
Their hands started inching towards each others. By the end of breakfast, their fingers were interlocked beneath the table, and neither of them planned to move it until the bell rang.
When the bell rang, their fingers hesitantly separated, and after they got up and walked out, the team burst into conversation.
“The fetuses weren’t fighting. That’s weird,” Aiden remarked.
“Aiden, don’t call them fetuses. That’s not nice. It is weird though, that they weren’t fighting,” Harvard replied.
“I know why,” Eugene said with a smirk.
They all shot quizzical glances at him.
“Can’t tell you though. Gotta respect bro code.” He thumbs-upped the group and walked out, leaving the seniors wondering what exactly had happened. They knew a ship had sailed, though. They weren’t that oblivious, unlike the freshmen themselves.
Speaking of, the freshmen were now stealing glances at each other during classes, smiling, and blushing. On repeat. It was infuriating. At least, it was to all of the people who weren’t lovesick.
———
Later that night, they didn’t need any unfortunate spills- orchestrated or not. Seiji just silently climbed into Nick’s bed.
Nick smiled, seeing Seiji.
“Hey. It seems you came to my bed. Any specific reason?” He crossed his arms and grinned wider, watching as Seiji sat up with a smirk.
“I like it over here.”
As Nick settled into the bed, Seiji put his hands on Nick’s shoulders. He then pressed his lips to Nick’s.
“That’s better. Now, It’s late. Why don’t we go to bed?” He looked satisfied, staring at Nick, who seemed like he was malfunctioning.
Nick finally regained his composure, just long enough to stutter a “yes”.
As they fell asleep, their hands slotted together, a perfect fit.
They held each other just like rivals would.