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“Here.” Kei tossed a pillow across the room, and Tadashi caught it against his chest, yawning.
“Thanks Tsukki,” He said, a sweet sound, sinking his body onto the bed and settling the pillow behind himself. He squirmed into better position. Blowing out a breath, he finally sighed as Kei drew to the bed as well, carrying his laptop, having changed out of his sweater and into a t-shirt and shorts. He raised a brow at him, kicked him with his leg to scoot over.
“Comfortable, are we?” He muttered, fixing his glasses as he brought his laptop toward him, typing at the keys.
“Extremely.” Tadashi watched his fingers tap away.
“Don’t get too relaxed. You’re watching this if I have to tape your eyes open.”
Tadashi made a dramatic sigh at his strict tone. “Okay, okay, I promise.”
Kei only glanced at him and Tadashi grinned back. He continued to search for a good website. Tadashi hummed, stretching his legs.
“But, one question.”
“What?”
“… How long is it?”
“Not long.”
“Okay, but by your definition? Or by standard movie time, maybe one and a half hours in the theater long?”
Kei pressed the enter button and raised his brows as he finally found it.
“Okay time to shut up.” He fixed his position so that the laptop sat between them. He looked over to Tadashi, who squirmed further into the nest of blankets surrounding them, narrowing his gaze. “And don’t fall asleep this time.”
“I said I promised!” Tadashi huffed out in defensive laughter.
“Shh!”
The movie lasted for two hours and five minutes. Tadashi fought against heavy lidded sleep for the second half of it, only motivated to stay awake by the threat of ice water down his shirt if he closed his eyes one more time.
When the credits rolled, Kei paused the screen, exit out of the window, and turned his head to Tadashi. Tadashi looked back at him, sitting up a little and fighting a yawn.
“So?”
“Hm?”
Kei rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “What did you think?”
“Oh, um, it was good. Pretty cool! The… uh, the-- the…” Tadashi made gestures with his hands. “Words! You know, the one that jumped out of the big water tank and took down the copycat T-rex?”
Kei paused, eyeing the ceiling and taking his glasses off to clean them. “The mosasaurus. And they called it the Indominus Rex.”
Tadashi snapped his fingers, grin wide. “Yeah! That was awesome.”
Kei placed back on his glasses, took his laptop from between them to place on his desk.
“And, uh, let’s see… the guy who trained the raptors was pretty badass.”
“Honestly, they could’ve done a lot of things better if they’d done their homework.” Kei said, switching off the light at his desk and taking off his glasses. Tadashi felt much more sleepy in the darkness, and sunk deep into the covers, nuzzling into his pillow.
“Hm? Thought you liked it…,” He said, eyes half closed as Kei laid back down. Tadashi saw him shrug in the darkness, hardly made out anything other than the shadowed frame of his head and shoulders.
“I did.”
“But it wasn’t good?”
“It’s a matter of accuracy. Honestly, a film can be good, but be entirely inaccurate and horrible for other reasons.”
Tadashi tried to follow his line of logic, but could only make sense of every other word. “Oh… alright. Gotcha.”
The room fell into a comfortable silence, and Tadashi could feel his breathing grow even.
Kei, on the other hand, was keenly aware of every movement, even his own short breathes. He tried to make them longer, held his breath as to not send a blaring signal that his heart was trying too hard to make plain. Shut your eyes, go to sleep, he told his body, but the reply seemed a betrayal as he felt a shiver every time he heard Tadashi shift.
Why did they still sleep in the same bed? He should bring that up at the next sleepover. Of course, he made that note to self last time and look how wonderfully he played that out. He decided to lay on his back, face the ceiling and all it’s blurred glory.
Then, Tadashi suddenly breathed in, sharp, beside him. Kei flinched back, watching as the other chuckled into his pillow, reaching out with fumbling limbs to touch Kei’s shoulder.
“You’d think they would learn though.”
“You scared the hell out of me. I thought you were asleep,” Kei whispered in accusation, feeling Tadashi’s hand clutch his shoulder, then proceeded to point at him.
“But I just started thinking,” Tadashi yawned, moved his body to better see the silhouette of Kei’s head in the darkness. He withdrew his hand and grinned. “They shouldn’t have opened a park… when they should’ve known-- already knew, in fact-- that it was a pretty dumb idea…”
Kei smirked, then turned on his side to face him, closing off that tingly feeling in his chest like a floodgate. Tadashi yawned again, this time into his shoulder and Kei buried the side of his face into his pillow. Yeah, it was getting increasingly harder to close it all off.
“They must be... the biggest idiots...”
“You sound delirious right now. You should hear yourself.”
“How much do you think all the damage cost? Was it worth it?”
“Well, people died. I’d say not.” Kei shifted back again, pushing a hand over his face.
Tadashi, on the verge of another thought, waved his hand. “Do you think they stayed together?”
Kei scrunched his brows. “What?”
“The woman with heels and raptor guy?”
“I don’t know. Does that part even matter?”
“I’d like to know.”
Kei shook his head, face turned to the ceiling once more. “Just go to sleep, Yamaguchi.”
“I can’t, though,” Tadashi huffed out, rubbing his eyes. “Got too many thoughts…” Kei heard a muffled chuckle.
“Well, I’m not staying up until four in the morning again talking about nonsensical things that pop in your head--”
“No, but listen-- don’t-- don’t turn around! Listen! Okay, now, I’m just, I had a thought just now and I really need you to hear it. It’s really important, Tsukki, please.” Tadashi prodded. Kei closed his eyes, finding an inner strength, and nodded for the other to continue.
“What?” He asked, drawing out the word.
Tadashi paused, waited for a bit, tried to hold his breath, but a snort released. And then, in the tiniest voice: “Would you fuck an alien?”
“Go to sleep!” Kei chunked his pillow at Tadashi’s head and Tadashi laughed against it.
“But would you? Answer the question Tsukki! The people need to know!”
“Why am I friends with you?”
Tadashi only shrugged, his dying laughter turned into bubbling chuckles. Kei shook his head at him, knew the exact answer to his own rhetorical question, and shifted to place his pillow behind his head again. He looked at the ceiling, because even as a blur, looking to his side caused his heart to race just a little too quick and his nerves spark in a weird way where there was probably no spark at all, just something he thought up from an overexposure to someone he cared about for so long. He was probably only hungry if he really thought about it. So he lay on his back, saying nothing for a while, hoping the other had fallen asleep.
“I think I would,” Tadashi whispered.
But of course he hadn’t.
“Are you still talking?” Kei whispered back, peeking one eye open.
“I mean, we can’t pre-judge an alien species based on looks, right? They could be the love of your life if you gave them a chance. Or, you know, they could kill you, but to them, you are the alien, so we should just cut them some theoretical slack--”
“Please calm yourself.” Kei huffed out a short laugh. Tadashi followed, until the small huffs had drawn out into silence that fell on them like a thin blanket. Then, Kei scrunched his face at himself, because, try as he might, he wasn’t going to be able to sleep now.
“What about a werewolf?”
“Huh?” Tadashi shifted.
“A werewolf. Would you or would you not fuck a werewolf?”
Tadashi snorted. “Tsukki. Werewolves aren’t real. Come on.”
Kei looked at him, turning himself on his side and raising a brow. “Oh? And aliens are?”
Tadashi flitted his eyes like it were obvious. “Uh, yeah. They are. The evidence is out there.”
Kei let out a small laugh and Tadashi followed, scrunching his brows.
Kei closed his eyes, feeling a languid comfort seize his body with the sound of their dying laughter. “I’m going to sleep," he lied. "Kindly leave any more of your weird rants for the morning, thanks.”
Tadashi smiled with closed lids. “They’re not weird. They’re enlightening.”
“Eccentric.”
“Tsukki, the walking thesaurus.”
“If you don’t shut up right now, I’m kicking you out of my house--”
“Shh! Some people are trying to sleep and you just keep running your mouth-- Ow! No, please!” Tadashi shrieked as Kei flung another pillow at him. Laughter muffled against it, Tadashi pushed back and took a sharp breath. Kei snickered.
“Your mom raised a bully.”
“Your mom raised a baby.”
The two were silent for a moment, before breathes of laughter escaped their lips and Kei shook his head at himself.
“That was terrible.” Tadashi held his stomach, curled into the blanket.
“It’s almost two in the morning.”
“Excuses, excuses.”
Smiles lit the dark, slowly dissipating. Breathing slowed, heart beats in chests fading in their glow, and suddenly, or maybe it wasn’t so sudden, maybe the question was premeditated, but in the morning, he would be glad to have asked it, glad to have stolen a few more hours awake.
“You want cereal?”
Tadashi looked up at him, eyes slowly creasing and mouth contorted into a lopsided smile. “Cereal?”
“Yeah,” Kei glanced over at him, saw how his eyebrows quirked in baffled confusion. He sat up, flinging the covers from himself and over Tadashi, climbing off the bed.
“What? Right now?”
Kei shrugged. “I’m hungry.”
Tadashi slipped off the bed as well, silently following behind him. “Won’t your mom hear us?” He whispered, wrapping his arms around himself and ducking his head a little, as if hiding from the darkness and the potentially, irritable awoken mother.
“She’s fine,” Kei said under his breath, peeking out into the darkened hallway.
“It’s 2:30 in the morning.” Tadashi stifled a laugh, holding onto Kei’s shoulder as they navigated the hall.
They tiptoed past the other bedrooms and made it to the stairs when Tadashi nearly slipped, but caught himself, Kei putting a hand over his mouth and helping him up. The two looked over their shoulders toward a small sound in the hallway. Tadashi held his breath, Kei squinting his eyes into the dark. Then, after a few moments, Kei ushered them down the stairs, quickly and quietly. Tadashi bit back tears of laughter as the two scurried downstairs into the kitchen area, closing the door behind them. Kei flicked on a light as Tadashi came in, spilling his laughter onto the kitchen counter and inhaling a large breath.
“Oh god, I could have died,” Tadashi breathed out.
Kei put a finger over his lips and pointed up. “You could still wake them.”
“Sorry, sorry!” Tadashi said, placing a hand over his mouth, but not even lessening the volume of his voice.
Kei went to the pantry, scanning his eyes over shelves. Tadashi came up behind him, peering over Kei’s shoulder.
“Oh! You have cake mix!” Tadashi reached out his arm, pointing at the strawberry cake on the box.
“We’re not making a cake.” Kei shoved his arm back.
“Why not? You were up for making cereal in the middle of the night.” Tadashi said, attempting to reach for the box again. “Three a.m. cake isn’t weird.”
“Cereal is appropriate for midnight cravings. Since when is cake?”
“Please? We can even do an all-nighter!”
Kei stiffened. “Oh, god no.”
“Come on, we’ve never done an all-nighter!”
“That’s because you always fall asleep too early,” Kei said, but sighed in defeat, taking out the cake box and flipping it around to read the directions.
“We can put on one of those b-rated horror movies while we eat the cake-- oh oh, and we can play truth or dare." Tadashi moved around Kei excitedly, pulling up his shirt sleeves.
Kei smirked as he started to fetch ingredients from the fridge. “Yeah. Let’s see how long you last.”
One broken egg and two cak mix spills later, the two finished mixing and preparing the cake. As Kei pushed it into the oven, Tadashi took to the living room, flicking through channels and standing in front of the television, blue screen illuminating his hair. Kei wiped his hands on a dish towel, then cleared the counters of their mess, gazing over at him.
“Truth or dare? Really?”
Tadashi made a small, corner smile, still watching the T.V.
“Yeah. That’s the ultimate sleepover game.”
“I’m not drinking a mystery milkshake even if you dared me to.”
“Well, you don’t have to pick Dare, then.”
“What, so I pick Truth, and get to tell you my favorite color?”
“Oh come on, I’m not gonna ask you something I already know.” Tadashi sat down on the sofa, cross-legged, as Kei finished wiping the counters and checked the oven timer, leaning against the sink.
“So, what would you ask?”
“Something I don’t know,” Tadashi said, finally settling on the SyFy network, where a showing of FireFly played on screen. He gave Kei an innocent grin as Kei rolled his eyes.
“But, I guess there isn’t much, to be honest,” Tadashi said, eyebrows furrowed in a thinking expression. Kei rose a brow. “Aside from the cliche questions...”
“Hm,” Kei replied, opening the oven to check on the cake.
“So, who goes first?”
“You. Truth or Dare?” Kei said, pushing the oven door closed. Tadashi sighed, accepting his fate, then tapped his fingers against the edge of the couch.
“Mmm… Dare!”
“Final answer?”
“Yes.”
Kei let out a long sigh, turning his eyes to the ceiling.
“I dare you to…,” He had nothing.
Then, he shrugged, remembering when he'd played the game with his brother when they were younger. “Pat your stomach, rub your head, and recite the alphabet backwards.”
Tadashi tapped his fingers on the couch, pursing his lips, then nodded.
“Okay, I got this… uh,” He stood, fiddled around with himself, deciding which hand should go where, and looked at Kei with a laugh. “Alright. Here goes.”
“Any day now.”
“Um… z, y, x, w… v, u, t--”
“No, pat your stomach. Rub your head.”
“Oh. Right,” Tadashi fixed himself. “T…”
“Start over.”
“Huh?”
“You messed up. Start over.”
“What? Tsukki, that’s not fair.”
“It’s part of the dare.”
“You just added that!”
“Start over.”
Tadashi grumbled and repositioned himself, fumbling and chuckling. “It’s harder than it looks, you know!”
“Oh, then I guess you’d also like to run in a circle while doing it--”
“Z, Y, X, W…” Tadashi started, rubbing his head and patting his stomach in robotic motions. Kei snickered at him as he finished, watched as he flung his arms in the air.
“I did it!”
“Congratulations.”
Tadashi shook his head, then came to sit on the counter, as the sound of explosions and dramatic music played softly in the background from the television.
“Okay. Your turn. Truth or Dare?”
“Truth.” Kei replied instantly, as if it were the obvious answer.
“Alright…,” Tadashi hugged himself, pausing in thought. He sniffed the air. “Oh, I think the cake’s done!”
Not a moment later, the oven timer beeped and Kei quickly pressed Off. He reached to take it out and let it cool on the counter.
“Weirdo.”
“It’s my spidey senses.”
“Give me a truth.”
Tadashi hummed. “Okay… truth, truth…”
“Can’t think of anything?”
“There’s just nothing I don’t know about you! Well, at least I think so. I mean… you aren’t a murderer, right?”
Kei gave him a deadpanned stare. “Is that your question?”
Tadashi thought for a moment. “Mmm… no. I think I’d know if you were a murderer.”
“Would you?”
“Yeah. I figure I’d either be a partner in crime or dead already.”
“I wouldn’t kill you.”
Tadashi put a hand over his heart. “Oh, thank you. That’s really kind of you.”
“Just give me a question already.” Kei rolled his eyes.
“Okay, okay,” Tadashi chuckled, swinging his legs. He gazed at him out of the corner of his eye, then to the ceiling in thought. “Whaaat’s your favorite thing about me?”
“Really?”
Tadashi threw up his arms. “Well, I don’t know.”
Kei looked up at him, heard that little voice in his heart prodding at him, but he bolted that door closed so fast.
“You want something specific?”
“Answer the question,” Tadashi shrugged, fiddling with the counter drawer.
Kei rolled his eyes, then busied himself with getting the icing and two offset spatulas, handing one to Tadashi.
“That you’re a great help,” He said, earning a grimace from his friend until he showed him the icing color. Tadashi laughed.
“Confetti icing?” He hopped off the counter.
“Frost this half.” Kei instructed, placing the cake in a perfect position on the counter.
“Are we gonna add real strawberries?”
“I don’t know. Do I have real strawberries?”
Tadashi, eager, checked the fridge as Kei frosted the cake. He turned toward Kei with a grin, a spring in his step as he placed the fruit on the counter. “Jackpot!”
It was nearly four in the morning when the two had finished decorating, eating, cleaning (and sword fighting with the spatulas). They sat on the couch, eyes glued to the blaring television screen, fighting back sleep.
“I think it was my turn again…,” Tadashi said, eyes sliding closed then blinking open every few seconds as he nudged Kei’s side, whose cheek rested in his hand.
“We’re still playing?” Kei murmured.
“The game doesn’t end until one of us does.” Tadashi pointed at him, making a ‘pew’ noise of a gun.
“Okay, it’s not a fight to the death here,” Kei said, pushing his arm down.
Tadashi nudged him again. "Ask me Truth or Dare."
Kei blinked several times, head resting against the couch cushion. “Okay. Truth or Dare?”
“Truuuth!” Tadashi said with a yawn.
Kei thought, then snickered. “I don’t know. Do you have a crush on someone?” He said mockingly, yawning himself, too tired to think.
Tadashi stilled for a moment.
"Wow, there's a cliche question, huh..."
Tadashi curled into the side of the couch, inching away from Kei. Kei scrunched his brows, then gazed over at him, ignoring that racing thing his heart did.
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.”
“What’s that tone? That's not a friendly tone-- I didn’t even say anything!” Tadashi blurted, face flush.
Kei sighed out. “Who?” He didn't want or need to know, but the question surfaced anyway.
Tadashi barked a laugh that seemed too hard for comfort. “Come on, that’s two questions.”
“I didn’t hear an answer to the first one.” Okay, but really, he didn't even care.
“Uh, okay, well, it’s a-- uh, a yes. There, yeah, alright, that’s out there-- so truth or--”
“Who?” Kei mentally kicked himself for asking again. It shouldn't bother him.
Tadashi put a hand over his face. “It’s your turn! Truth or Dare, Tsukki?”
Kei settled with it begrudgingly, even though his head scanned a number of possibilites. “Truth.”
“Hm… Oh! Would you fuck an alien? You never answered.”
“Not unless I loved them. Truth or Dare?”
“Uh, Dare.”
“I dare you to tell me who.” Wow, I love pain, he thought.
Tadashi laughed. “That’s cheating.”
“It completely follows the rules.” He felt a heat flood inside him.
"Come on, I don't want to tell you."
"Why?"
Tadashi blew out a large breath. "We don't have to tell each other everything."
Kei narrowed his gaze. "You tell me what you ate for breakfast in your dreams."
"That's one thing. And this is another. So... please?" Tadashi peered at him for a moment, then looked back to the couch pillow clutched in his arms.
Kei felt a pang. It didn't cut, didn't bruise. It wasn't a hurt or an ache, but it was a pang. It clashed against the thick floodgate in his chest.
"Okay. Sure."
"Sorry..."
"Why are you sorry?"
Tadashi clutched the pillow tighter. "Secrets are messy... Let's just kinda forget it..."
Kei looked at him a long moment, then nodded.
It was five in the morning when they finished watching a documentary on the nature channel.
"Tsukki...," Tadashi said, soft, head leaned on Kei's shoulder.
"Hm?"
"Oh, you're still up..."
"You're still up."
"I told you... all-nighter..."
Kei muffled a short huff. Was it a laugh? Was it a response? As tired as he was, he wasn't even sure he made a sound.
"I like you."
Both stilled.
...
Oh fuck, who said it?
Kei felt himself think it, knew it was a fragile thing he kept at bay, but he wasn't even sure he could talk at this point of delirious sleep deprivation, let alone say those three words.
"I told you I hate secrets..."
Kei's eyes widened a fraction. His heart sped up. He was either grateful the words hadn't been his or regretful they weren't. He had no response, he felt Tadashi lift his head, then looked at him with half lidded eyes. He had no response, and yet his mouth always betrayed him.
"Well, that secret lasted about an hour."
Tadashi looked as if he were holding on to every bit of courage he had. He laughed without humor. "More like a couple of years, but I mean, it's cool, it's fine, it's... what time is it?"
"Five. A couple of years?"
"I know, even through your middle school stage. I think some can call that commitment, but I don't know what I'm saying. Wow, this is probably a dream, isn't it? Welp, I'm just-- you can just-- take that as you will and I'm probably gonna meet that goo monster from the other night again, he lives in my closet--"
Kei leaned forward, drawn. He placed a messy kiss at his cheek, completely missing the mark, but he'd later say he'd meant to place it there.
Tadashi breathed in and out a few times. Kei shouted 'fuck' a few times in his head, holding his breath.
"Yeah, I'm not asleep."
Kei, already feeling embarrassed, rolled his eyes at Tadashi.
"You're helpless."
"You said I was a great help-- no, wait, don't look at me right now. Stop. I'm gonna throw up."
"That's flattering."
Tadashi covered his face. "I'm just dizzy and feel weird and-- wait, does that mean you like me too?"
Kei blinked at him.
Tadashi stared back, eyes flitting around, then blurted out a laugh. "How tired am I?" He laughed again and rubbed at his eyes. Kei reached out his hand and stared at him, feeling that pang strike at him over and over again.
"Go to sleep."
Tadashi looked to the ceiling in contemplation. "Yeah. Sleep sounds nice." He looked down at Kei, finally rested his eyes around his face. "But I kinda want to do something... you know, before the courageness runs out..."
Kei held his gaze.
"Courageness isn't a word--"
Tadashi nudged forward, hitting their noses before pressing a quick kiss to Kei's lips. It felt foreign, unchartered territory, but a light fluttering, oh how it batted his its wings against his insides, scuttled within him. He quickly receded, looked down at himself, and chuckled to wash away the strange new feeling neither knew what to do with.
"So. Sleep..." Tadashi whispered, an inch away. Kei could barely move.
Then, they heard footsteps upstairs. The living room seemed just a bit brighter as the windows filtered in the morning sun.
Both stared out of it over the couch.
"Are you kidding me...," Tadashi moaned, pressing himself into the couch, hiding his head under a pillow.
Kei snickered.
"You're gonna die at practice tomorrow."
"Bite me, Tsukki."