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The summer is clinging on to the September morning air and Shihou is honestly annoyed by how bright it is. He couldn’t sleep much on the plane and the sun is going to do fuck-all to help him sleep while he takes a bus or something to his university dormitory.
A lot of people didn’t understand why Shihou would want to pack up and leave for Edmonton. For one, even he didn’t know of its existence until about four months ago when he was applying for universities and considered going abroad. He knew that he wanted to get the fuck out of Tokyo and never had he imagined that his resolve would lead to something as drastic as this.
Baggage claim takes forever, and juggling three massive suitcases is never fun. He uses the shuttle since it’s only eighteen dollars (what’s that in yen?) and the ride only takes about thirty minutes, during which he dozes off once for only a brief period. Driving into the city is nothing close to the scene he was used to in Japan. Are all Canadian cities isolated or is it just Edmonton?
The dorm he is staying at doesn’t look too bad. It’s got a decent appearance and the fact that it’s divided into four towers reminds him of Hogwarts. It’s past the designated move-in time for him (designated by his last name) but since he had to fly in all the way from Japan, he supposes that he gets a free pass.
Unfortunately, his late arrival means that he’s the odd duck out when he arrives in the lounge of his floor. The tower is designed so that when someone gets off the one of the two elevators, they are facing the ‘lounge’, the common area. Twenty pairs of curious eyes follow him around as he locates the wing with his home for the next eight months.
His applied for a double room, mainly for financial reasons. Hopefully, his roommate will be a friendly guy who won’t care that Shihou kind of likes guys more than he likes girls. Actually, he doesn’t like girls in a romantic sense at all.
When he walks in, one half of the room is already cluttered with personal belongings. A few posters are on the message board-type looking section of the wall and the shelves above a small desk is filled with cooking and baking appliances. The roommate in question isn’t here at the moment so Shihou gets started on unpacking without further ado.
He’s halfway through hanging up his only dress shirt on the provided wire hangers when three guys come barreling in through the door. They all look quite attractive and he wonders which one is the guy he’ll be living with for the next eight months.
“Hi,’ the shortest boy out of the three says. “’M Yoichi. Yoichi Saotome. These two are Mika and Yuu, I bumped into them an hour ago. You must be my roommate. Are you from Japan, too? I swear that our floor is like Little Tokyo.”
Shihou holds out his hand and Yoichi shakes it. “Nice to meet you. I’m Shihou Kimizuki. And yeah, I’m from Tokyo, actually.”
Shiho resumes hanging up his dress shirt and takes extra care to hang it up without wrinkles. He supposes the civil thing to do is ask them basic questions “What program are you taking. I’m in engineering, which is the primary reason why I’m here. U of A is renowned for engg programs, right?”
Yuu scoffs. “Only because the sponsors pour their money into engineering programs and make the building look all shiny and modern. If you take a look around the rest of the campus, half of them look like they are definitely from the turn of the twentieth century.”
“I dunno, I think the buildings in the arts quad looks nice, all vintage and old-fashioned,” Mika chimes in.
“And they’re easy to sneak into in the dead of night for a risqué fuck every now and then,” Yuu adds with a devilish smile.
Mika blushes and clamps his hand over Yuu’s mouth. Yuu responds promptly by nibbling at Mika’s fingertips until the blond withdraws his hand.
Yoichi shakes his head. “I can’t believe that you’ve tried that already. Didn’t you move in today like the rest of us?”
Yuu slaps Mika’s hand away. “Yeah. We just did some recon earlier.
“We’ll take our leave now,” Mika announces, replacing his hand on Yuu’s mouth. “Nice meeting you both. We’ll come hang out with you often.”
“If we’re not too busy getting down and dirty, of course,” Yuu says, having freed himself of the restraint somehow.
“Please don’t mind him. I’m still trying to teach him basic manners,” Mika jokes. The happy couple argue about how basic manners should be defined as they walk out of Shihou and Yoichi’s room.
“They’re a lively bunch, aren’t they?” Yoichi comments after a beat of silence. “Mika thought I was checking Yuu out so I had to explain to him thoroughly that I’m not looking for romance right now.”
Something pangs in Shiho’s heart. He’s seen love like Mika and Yuu’s around him but he has never experienced it for himself. And even when love seems to burn brighter than the sun, that doesn’t mean that it lasts forever, does it?
A love that he once thought he shared with an older man.
Shiho has to slap himself—thankfully Yoichi wasn’t looking—lightly so that his thoughts don’t stray to that dark corner. His terrible breakup with his first boyfriend was a major reason as to why he thought moving across the ocean was a good idea. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Here, he could put his broken heart away and try to forget about it by making new friends and busying himself with his studies.
“Hey, you alright?” Yoichi’s voice sounds from Shihou’s shoulder and he startles as he turns around. Yoichi’s wide, inquisitive eyes are all he can see for a moment because there’s maybe two inches of space in between them. They are the kindest eyes that Shihou has ever looked into.
“Ah, yeah. Just a little bit homesick, is all,” he replies, which technically isn’t a lie. He does miss home, as heartbroken as he was back there.
The brunet’s expression softens and he wraps his arms around Shiho without a word. He’s so warm and gives awesome hugs. Shihou quickly finds himself melting into Yoichi’s sincere, warm embrace.
“It’ll get better. I hear that Lister is quite the party house. In just a few hours, we’ll be hammered out of our minds.”
Shihou laughs. “Looking forward to it.”
“Oh,” Yoichi adds, “I’m a bit late but welcome to Canada. Hopefully it’ll be everything you dreamed of it being.”
Yeah, Shihou thinks. Hopefully.
-
The first week at his new dorm is passable. The entire week is dedicated to familiarising the new residents with the university campus as well as trying make them feel like they are at home. The resident assistants have mentioned them being a big family but Shihou seriously doubts it.
Especially right now, when he is lying on Yoichi’s bed with his head in Yoichi’s bony lap. Tomorrow is the first day of classes and there is supposed to be a free pancake breakfast as a part of this Week Of Welcome thing the uni has put on.
“I don’t wanna go to class tomorrow,” Shihou grumbles. Yoichi’s small and soft fingers tangle in Shihou’s short hair and combs through it. The light touches really help Shihou feel at home, which is weird because Shihou usually has his guards up around guys (particularly the good looking ones).
“Hate to play the devil’s advocate but you did sign yourself up for eight months of hell,” Yoichi reminds him.
“I talked to the RAs on Five Mac and they confirmed my fears. I don’t even know which engg I want to go into so that means that I have to study my ass off just to have the luxury of choice.”
Yoichi pats him on the head. “I know you’ll get through it. I talked to our RA, Guren, earlier and he said that most kids in engineering are in the program because they are geniuses. I think you’re just being too hard on yourself.”
Shihou cranes his head to look up at Yoichi. He can’t detect any white lies in Yoichi’s eyes. “We’ll see when midterms come around.”
Yoichi grins. “Atta boy.”
“DODGEBALL!” someone yells down the hallway. Shihou glares at his desk.
“Dodgeball is good for the soul,” Yoichi jokes. “You have seen the banners at Tuckey. ‘Dodgeball is everything to everyone.’ This dorm practically revolves around dodgeball. We’re lucky to have an All-Star as our captain.”
Shihou scoffs. “Our captain also happens to be an asshat of an RA. How does that even work?”
Yoichi shrugs. “There were some issues with the residence council group thing a few years back so someone non-first year had to take over the jobs non-RA first years would have taken. I wish I knew the details but the returners are either hush-hush or super defensive about the whole incident.”
Shihou hops off Yoichi’s bed and reaches into the drawers under his bed. “It’s a good thing I used to be in a baseball team.” He takes out the gym shorts and changes into them without a second thought.
“Oh, they hate baseball players,” Yoichi comments with a chuckle.
“Why? That means I have a good aim.”
“Yeah, but it also means that you probably know how to throw trick balls and people really hate that. You’ll hear people yell out ‘throw straight’ pretty much all the time.”
Shihou smirks. “That’s not going to work seeing how the last thing I am is straight.”
Yoichi bursts out laughing. “That was a good one. C’mon, we don’t wanna be late for practice. I hear Guren is quite the competitive one.”
-
As it turns out, some professors are total assholes who give out weekly assignments and a midterm at the end of September. Gone are the days of partying every night as Shihou is barely staying alive under the piles of schoolwork.
“You gotta eat, y’know,” Yoichi sighs as he puts down a plate of something on Shihou’s cluttered desk.
“Thanks,” he replies without even glancing up from his text book. The examples in the book look nothing like the questions that he is supposed to solve. He can’t believe that his prof is demanding that they do the practice midterms and submit them for marks!
“Hey!” Shihou exclaims when Yoichi’s hand darts in and take away the text. When he does finally look at Yoichi’s face, he met with a stern expression.
“You’re going to collapse if you keep going like that, Shihou-kun,” he warns. “I made enough mac and cheese to feed the whole wing so please do eat it while it’s still warm. Besides, I know that you have a weakness for cheesy food.”
That is utterly true and it’s unfair that Yoichi is the best roommate anyone could have asked for whilst all Shihou does is sleep in the room and occasionally start up conversations.
“Thanks, you really are the best,” he offers. The mac and cheese is perfect and he can tell that it’s not a store-bought one that he tried weeks ago.
“I try. Now finish that up before you go back to studying, got it?” Yoichi orders.
Shihou sighs. “Yes, dad.”
Yoichi shudders. “Do not ever call me that again. Makes me feel old and unnecessarily responsible for too many things. Well, I’m gonna go hang out with the lovebirds. Good luck!”
“Have fun.”
Shihou never said that he was good at keeping promises. As soon as Yoichi leaves, he eats another spoonful before he returns to the problem set. He knows that he can finish the damn thing within the hour if he really tries. He does!
Which is exactly how he ends up waking up in the middle of the night at the desk. He must have dozed up as he was finishing up the last question. He realises that the plate has been put away and there is also a throw blanket wrapped around his shoulder. He tightens it around himself as he pads over to the shared mini fridge and takes out a tub with the leftover mac and cheese. It has even got a note stuck onto it, reading:
‘I knew you weren’t going to finish this. Heat it up for 30s and add some hot sauce if you feel up to it. Good luck! -Y’
He folds the note before he shoves it into his pocket. The walk to the kitchen has never felt so long as he goes to follow the instructions. As expected, the mac and cheese tastes just as good as before.
When he returns to the room, he is greeted by a sleepy Yoichi.
“You ate it!” he beams, rubbing at his eyes.
“Of course I did. Thanks,” Shihou replies.
Yoichi comes up to him and throws his arms around Shihou. “No problem. You know, you’re pretty dense.”
Shihou frowns. His must be Yoichi’s sleepy self talking. “Dense about what?”
Yoichi grins at him. He pulls Shihou’s face down and kisses his cheek dangerously close to the corner of his mouth.
“Good night, Shihou. Unless you want to get sleep in my bed.”
Shihou feels his cheeks heat up. “I—I’ll pass up on that.”
Yoichi pouts. “Another time then.”
And if Shihou cannot get a wink of sleep tonight and show up to class feeling like a zombie, he is going to pin the blame on Yoichi and his kiss.
-
“I can’t drink anymore,” Shihou mumbles.
Yuu cackles and shoves the red plastic cup in front of his mouth. “Them’s the rules, Kimizuki. Bottoms up!”
Yoichi and Mika shake their heads at them. “If the RA on call sees us, we’re all toast,” Mika reminds them.
Yuu snorts. “Yeah. I know Shinya is on call tonight and we all know that he is not he type to write us up. I heard that when he and Guren were on shift together, they joined a game of Sociables and pretty much trumped everyone.”
Mika wrinkles his nose. “It’s easy to forget that you and Guren knew each other before coming here. Calgary isn’t that small of a city.”
“And yet more than half the people here are from C-town,” Yuu retorts. He makes grabby hands towards the blond. “Kiss me, Mika. Kimizuki is being a spoil sport.”
Shihou rolls his eyes. “And that warrants a kiss from your boyfriend how?”
Yuu actually sticks his tongue out at Shihou. Well, if that’s how he is going to play it, then fine.
“Pay attention, will you?” Mitsuba scoffs. “My turn to draw the card.”
Case in point, a round of Sociables is happening right now and Shihou is convinced that there are more than twenty people cramped into Mika and Yuu’s room. The card Mitsuba draws is the king card. She holds it up triumphantly before she licks it and sticks it to her forehead.
“Everyone take a shot then. Not Yuu, though, since you’ve drunk enough.”
Yuu pouts; Mika whispers something into his ear, which makes both of them giggle like idiots as they stumble to their feet. Someone yells, ‘use protection!’, at which Mika flips them the bird.
Yoichi grins as he leans back, his shoulder knocking into Shihou’s. “They seem to have it all, don’t they?”
“Hmm?” Shihou replies oh so intelligently.
“What even are the chances of finding The One when you are off in university? Mika told me that even though Yuu doesn’t remember it, they lived next doors for a brief period before Mika’s family had to move out of the city for four years. Fast forward four years and they met each other again in high school.”
“That sounds like half the manga series I read back home,” Shihou comments.
“It’s still cute though, isn’t it?”
Shihou glances sideways. Yoichi’s eyes are still alert with the alcohol glazing it over yet but his cheeks are a pretty shade of pink from the mystery shots they have been drinking for the past couple of hours. If anyone sees or asks them about what happens next, Shihou knows that it can all boil down to the damned alcohol.
Yoichi’s eyes slip closed slowly and something inside of Shihou urges him to lean in and press their lips together. It shouldn’t even count as a kiss since both of them are buzzed at the least and the ‘kiss’ doesn’t last more than a few seconds.
Whistles and cheers fill up the room. Shihou sighs and stands up with Yoichi in tow. Yoichi staggers on his feet the tiniest best, which is another reason whey they should call it a night.
“We’re going back to my room and no, we’re not going to fuck,” Shihou informs the room. He wonders where Mika and Yuu could have fucked off to. Then he realises that there are plenty of places in Lister for a quick sexcapade.
“Where we goin’?” Yoichi slurs. Oh, the drinks must be catching up to him now.
“Our room,” Shihou answers. He wraps his arm around Yoichi’s waist. “Can you try to walk normally, please? You’re making this more difficult than it should be.”
They only have to go up one storey. Whilst Shihou does not want to be like the lazy assholes who take the elevator from the dungeon level to main, he does have a drunk person on hand. Half-walking, half-carrying Yoichi back to their room is more than enough exercise to last him a year.
“In you go,” Shihou mutters as he shoves Yoichi into his bed. He goes to turn out the lights and climb into his own bed when something wrenches him back. He quickly finds himself on the bed next to a very drunk and red-cheeked Yoichi.
“Sleep with me? Please, Shihou?”
Shihou squeezes his eyes shut. The look of absolute innocence belies the underlying seductive tone in Yoichi’s voice. He was so wrong to have thought that he could focus on just studying for four years. It was inevitable that his heart to go and start falling for someone on its own accord. Especially for someone that he has to live with.
“Okay,” Shihou doesn’t have the heart to say no to Yoichi. Not when Yoichi says his name like that. He shucks off his jeans before he gets into bed with Yoichi, who has done the same without Shihou noticing it.
“Good night,” Yoichi sighs happily, his arms caging Shihou in. For someone his size, he is remarkably strong.
“G-good night.”
Yoichi, the lucky bastard, is out like a light the second after he utters his own good night. Shihou has never been good at sleeping with someone else in the bed. He tries his best to repress the memory and his very first time having sex when he acted all pouty and managed to fall off the bed. Or how he would hog the blanket time and time again.
“No,” he hisses at himself. “Leave the past in the past,” he orders himself.
Only if it were that easy.
-
“Gonna go back to Japan for the holidays?” Yoichi asks, throwing the duvet over his bed into a flat formation. As flat as he can make it, at least.
Shihou shakes his head. Truth is, his parents did invite him back. It’s his personal choice to remain in the freezing cold of Edmonton as Tokyo reminds him too much of that ass-wipe of a boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend.
“It’s too expensive to fly back just for two weeks, especially given that it is the holiday season. I’m going to have to Mar it out for the next few weeks.” He grins to throw off his heavy-trodden feelings.
Yoichi pokes at his side, causing Shihou to jump slightly. “Yet you managed to stay away from Freshman Fifteen or even Lister Forty. And yes, it is a thing. Just ask anyone could not be bothered to give a crap whilst they lived here.”
Shihou frowns. “I do go to the gym, y’know.”
Yoichi raises an eyebrow. “Henday gym? Half the equipment is either out of order or not working properly there. Why not cross the street to go to PAW centre?”
Shihou is still trying his best to wrap his head around the myriad of acronyms that everyone uses around here. “Do I need to remind you that it was negative-twenty-three yesterday? At four in the fucking afternoon?”
“I forget that not everyone is used to the near arctic weather,” Yoichi muses, barely withholding his laughter. “Kids from further up north or the territories have it tougher. My friend from Fort McMurry told me that in elementary school, every one had to go outside for recess unless it was below minus thirty or something like that. I personally think she was exaggerating.”
He nods along. His mind wanders back to the drunken kiss they shared a month ago. Holy shit, it’s been a month and judging by Yoichi’s casual attitude the next day and the following weeks, Shihou has drawn two conclusions.
A Yoichi was so drunk that he forgot about the incident.
B Yoichi is used to kissing just about anyone when he has had a few.
Normally, Shihou isn’t shy about confronting people. However, as Yoichi is his roommate, he doesn’t want to risk unnecessary awkwardness. Yes, he has more than a tiny crush on the adorable little guy but that means nothing. Not when he has six finals plus a couple lab exams that he should be more concerned about.
“Wanna come to my home for the break?” Yoichi asks.
The appropriate answer would be to politely decline or accept. In Shihou’s case, he spews out a tiny portion of the root beer he has been drinking.
“Sorry,” Shihou sputters. Ah, it burns through his nostrils and his eyes are watering.
And since his life is a tragic joke, Yuu and Mika barge in through their door in this precise moment.
“Good afternoon, plebeians,” Mika greets them affectionately. “Guess who just wrote a Classics essay on ancient philosophers and how they predicted the damned future?”
Shihou glowers at him. The blond peers at him curiously, letting Yuu use him as a human shield. “Aww, did someone break Shihou’s widdle, widdered heart?”
“As if,” he scoffs. “You try expelling carbonated drinks through your nose.”
Yuu screws up his face. “Ugh, tell no more. I snorted 7Up once on a dare and I cried like a baby. Of course, Mika was there to cheer me back up.”
The two idiots smile as if they are the only ones in the world for a long moment. Yoichi has to clear his throat for them to break their sickening eye contact.
“Aren’t you here for a reason?” Yoichi reminds them.
Yuu smiles. “Right you are. Me and Mika were about to order from Domino’s and we were wondering if you’d like to be our partners in crime.”
“Like you had to ask,” Shihou grumbles. He wipes at the corners of his eyes. “No one says no to the ‘zza.”
“Huzzah!” Mika cheers. He is met with three questioning stares. “What? It rhymed.”
“Dork,” Shihou and Yoichi cough at the same time.
“But you are my dork,” Mika reassures him, giving him a bear hug.
“Ugh, get a room. And not here, please,” Yoichi says.
“Speaking of rooms, the Mackenzie Library floor is the worst place to get it on,” Yuu quips. “Let’s just say that I got a rug burn from doing a certain exercise on the floor. Maybe the desks might have been a better option.”
“Blech,” Yoichi pretends to run away from the couple. “You and your oversharing habits.”
“Gotta motivate you to get laid somehow, don’t I?” Yuu wiggles his eyebrows. “Mika here used to be quite the grump before we found each other. Now he is the happiest soul on earth!”
Shihou shakes his head. “Have you seen him without you attached to his hip? Oh wait, that has never happened.”
“Just take my word for it,” Yuu shoves at Shihou and Yoichi playfully. “I’m ordering extra large Meat Lover, by the way. Speak now or forever hold your peace. Going once, going twice . . .” None of them bother to speak up. “Gone! The discount code is UNI, right?”
Yoichi nods. “Order the garlic cheesy breads too!”
“Duh,” Mika watches Yuu over on his phone over his shoulder. “Ooh, and a bottle of ginger ale too.”
As they wait for their order to arrive, Shihou flips open one of his texts. The thing weighs a tonne and he has seldom used it, much to his frustration. And to think he has spent more than a thousand dollars solely on text books!
“Uh oh,” Yuu stage whispers. “Kimizuki looks like he wants to set the text on fire. Should we go rescue it?”
Mika gives his boyfriend a stern, yet somehow adoring look. “Yuu-chan, you set the stove on fire frying up bacon and eggs. You are hardly the one to stop the fire.”
Yuu’s face reddens. “Once! And that happened after an amazing night of sex! You can’t blame my brain for not returning to full function five minutes after one of the best blow jobs I’ve gotten in my life.”
Yoichi makes a retching sound. “Help. I’m going to down from secondary love overdose.”
All Shihou can do is pet his head. “There, there. I’m with you on that one. You two! At least pretend to rein it in for our sake.”
They both roll their eyes at the exact same time, at identical speed. Love is so weird.
Yoichi shimmies his way onto Shihou’s lap. “What’re you studying up on?”
Shihou shrugs. “Basic structural engineering. I think the prof mentioned a quiz. If it’s the other Tuesday class, I’m going to actual burn something.”
Yuu glances down at his mobile. “The pizza is being prepared. Wanna play Cards Against Humanity while we wait? I have the Canadian edition!”
And just like that, Shihou forgets about the little issue that is burning a hole in his mind.
-
Shihou blames the finals for forgetting about the invitation.
Seriously. For the past two weeks or so, he has been stuffing his brain full of whatever knowledge could fit in there. He also has been barely betting any sleep, as typical of university students across the world. Memory deficit can’t ben that uncommon for people who don’t sleep enough.
“Shit, sorry,” Shihou says as he dashes to the ‘closet’. The ‘door’ is a worn out fold-out style curtain like thing that falls apart with each push. He throws the luggage out to the floor and rummages through the drawers beneath his bed. “How long are we staying again?”
“Around two weeks. Don’t worry. My parents won’t mind walking around Whyte Ave for a bit. It’s been awfully warm for a winter this year.”
Shihou stares at him with an arched brow. “One week of minus twenties does not count as a proper winter,” Yoichi defends.
“I thought my entire body was going to freeze up every time I stepped outside of a building. If that isn’t winter, I don’t know what is,” Shihou grumbles.
Yoichi waves his hand dismissively. “If someone from up north heard you say that they would have you for breakfast. Anyway, luckily for us, Devon is only forty minutes away. Usually. Then again, there are people who take a plane to Calgary, which I think is ridiculous.”
“Less talking more car finding please,” Shihou grumbles. Despite the ‘mild’ weather they are having, he still feels as though his fingers are going to freeze off from being outdoors.
“I don’t remember which corner I parked it in,” Yoichi counters. He pushes the buttons on his car key. “Ah, there it is!”
The car is an obviously second-hand Honda that smells vaguely of cigarettes. “Sorry about the smell,” Yoichi apologises as they climb in. “My uncle used to drive it and he was a heavy smoker. All those anti-smoking campaigns always flew right over his head.”
Shihou shrugs. “Smoking problem is much bigger in Japan so I don’t mind.”
Confined to a small space does nothing to lessen the awkward tension on Shihou’s part. He keeps thinking back to the drunken kiss and that is not helping with the current situation. How is he supposed to sleep at Yoichi’s place for two weeks when he clearly has more than friendly roommate feelings for the petit boy?
“You okay?” Yoichi asks as they drive out of the parkade.
“Hmm? Yeah. I—I’m just tired,” Shihou stutters.
“There’s a Tim Hortons on the way,” Yoichi points out.
“I could use an Iced Capp,” Shihou mumbles.
Yoichi raises an eyebrow at him. “You were just complaining about it being so cold.”
“I don’t drink coffee and their tea tastes a bit fake. And I swear I can taste and feel the powder in their hot drinks.”
“True. The hot water system doesn’t always dissolve the powder mix perfectly. That’s why you swirl it around with the lid closed.”
Shihou points out the Tim Hortons right before Yoichi would have missed the turn into it. “How do you know so much about it?”
Yoichi shrugs. He pulls up to the line and opens up the window in anticipation. “I’ve had a few friends who worked there. Don’t trust the donuts either because they are all defrosted pre-baked stuff.”
“At least they don’t taste like it.”
“That’s true. What do you want again?”
“I’ll just get a candy cane white hot chocolate and test my luck. And Canadian maple. Here, my treat,” he hands over a ten-dollar bill.
“Fancy. I’ll stick with my double-double then.”
The order takes less than a minute and the person at the drive-through window looks like she wants to be home already.
“This just reminded me,” Shihou comments as he sips his drink. “I would hate to be the sucker working the drive-thru in the dead of winter. How do they deal with the minus-thousand-degree cold?”
“They have jackets and stuff from what I hear,” Yoichi answers. ‘And I also heard that they don’t do much to keep warm so they have to layer up until they look like snowmen.”
Shihou almost shudders at the mental image. “That’s comforting to hear.”
They fall into half-awkward silence after that. Shihou opts to plug in his earphones and somehow ends up dozing off for the rest of the car ride. By the time he wakes up, the empty, spaced-out cityscape has been replaced by even emptier and cozy-feeling scenery of a hallmark small town.
“You missed to ‘Welcome to Devon’ sign,” Yoichi jokes. “But yeah, this is Devon. Not much to do here but it’s still home for me. I’ve told my family about you and they are stoked to meet you.”
Shihou groans in his head. Meeting new people has never been his forte. He is running through the worse-case scenarios as Yoichi pulls up into the driveway and opens up the garage door. Surely enough, the door to the inside of the house slams open when the two of them are busy taking out the bags.
The first ‘person’ to greet them is a small energetic dog who keeps barking at Yoichi and jumping up at him. Yoichi giggles and crouches down to lift him up. Shihou has to admit; watching Yoichi continue to giggle as the dogs licks him everywhere on the face is goddamn adorable.
“Toto, down,” a female voice commands. Shihou looks and sees a girl who looks a lot like Yoichi.
“Hey, Tomoe,” Yoichi greets, a bigger grin lighting up his face. “Leave Toto alone. This is the longest he’s gone without seeing me after all.”
“You spoil him enough as is,” she says with a shake of her head. “Hi, I’m Tomoe, this idiot’s sister. You’re Shihou, right?” She holds out her hand confidently. Shihou is taken aback just the slightly bit as he shakes her hand obediently.
“Nice to meet you,” Shihou defaults.
She pats him on the shoulder. “You’re so stiff. Did Yoichi tell you any weird stories about me? I swear that he is rotten liar.”
“I have not!” Yoichi counters. “We’re poor slaves to the education system, remember? I don’t have time to tell my new friends about my bully of a sister.”
Tomoe pretends to choke Yoichi, which prompts Toto to start barking again.
“Where’s Mom and Dad?” Yoichi asks as soon as he has untangled himself from the headlock.
“Probably grocery shopping at Costco. They want to make sure you’ve had your fill of home-cooked meals before you go back. Mom’s pulling out her special Japanese dishes for this one.” She nudges at Shihou.
“That’s really thoughtful of her,” Shihou blurts out.
Tomoe grins. She looks almost identical to Yoichi when she does that. “Make sure to tell her that in person then.”
-
Dinner is simply amazing. The food is good and Shihou now understands why Yoichi is such a kind-hearted person. There is no way that he could have turned out otherwise with his parents and his sister who dote on him dearly. The nightfall, however, has brought on some issues.
Sleeping arrangements.
“Normally we have a guest room,” Yoichi explains as he sets up the air mattress in his room next to the bed. “But my dad’s been renovating the house so there’s that. I hope you don’t mind.”
Shihou shrugs. “It was either this or the couches. This has got to be get than cramming myself onto a couch.”
Yoichi scratches the back of his head. “True. Ah, I think it’s almost done.” He pokes at the air mattress and grins in satisfaction. “Hold on, I’ll go get the blanket and pillows.”
Shihou waves at him awkwardly and plops down onto the bed. Should he even be doing this? Yoichi’s room resembles more of a child’s room than a university student’s, filled with trivial trinkets, game and movie posters, and even some trophies on the top of a shelf at the head of the bed. Shihou reads the plaques and most of the trophies are inscribed with various archery competitions.
“Ah, you’ve found out my secret,” Yoichi says cheerfully. With his voice so close behind him, Shihou jumps and nearly drops the trophy. “Sorry. I should stop doing this.”
“Archery, huh?” Shihou smirks. He has an absurd image of Yoichi in the traditional Japanese get-up even though that is probably far from truth.
“It’s a hobby I picked up at camp one summer and just grew on me. My coach tried to convince me to try out for junior world championships and stuff but I didn’t want to.”
Shihou frowns. “Why not?”
“I’m not comfortable with being the centre of attention when there are too many people watching,” Yoichi replies with a smile and a shrug.
Yoichi lifts up the corner of the blanket he has brought. “Lemme help you with this, yeah?”
“Thanks.”
Together, they throw the blanket over the mattress and Shihou arranges the pillows into his preferred placement. Around the time they are done, Yoichi’s parents call him downstairs, leaving Shihou alone once again.
“I, uh, I’m going to take a shower,” Shihou announces to Yoichi’s back. He takes the thumbs-up as a sign of affirmation.
Stepping into the bathroom, Shihou realises that he has barely gotten used to the shitty showers back at Lister. It was easier to overlook the moldy grimes in every corner when he was half blind thanks to his eyesight and also due to the lights not working half the time. He keeps the shower brief and hurries back to Yoichi’s room. On his way back, he spots a photograph of Yoichi and Tomoe. Yoichi doesn’t look like he is more than ten years old in the picture and clad in a frilly ‘princess’ dress.
“I cannot believe Tomoe put this out!” Yoichi bursts out. He reaches over to snatch it out of Shihou’s grip but Shihou isn’t having any of it. Holding it above his head and watching Yoichi hop up in vain attempts to grab at it is almost as hilarious as the photo itself.
“You’re so cute in this,” Shihou taunts. “I’m glad that I only have a younger sister who couldn’t do this to me.”
“Well lucky you,” Yoichi pouts. “Seriously, give it back. Or I swear you’re going to regret it.”
Shihou smirks. “I’d like to see you try, Yoichi.”
Yoichi narrows his eyes and lunges at Shihou. Shihou is too focused on keeping the photo out of Yoichi’s reach that when Yoichi grabs his arm and clings to his body, he loses his balance and falls over. Yoichi, of course, goes down with him.
“Oops,” Yoichi says with an innocent grin. He uses Shihou’s disorientation to his advantage and plucks the frame from Shihou’s fingers.
“Yoichi,” Tomoe’s voice rings out from above them. “You didn’t tell us that you brought home your boyfriend.”
Yoichi’s face turns red quickly and Shihou has no doubt that the same is happening to him. “’Cause he isn’t! Why do you assume that every boy I bring home is my boyfriend? You don’t see me doing the same to you.” He climbs off of Shihou and gets up.
Tomoe grins and hugs Yoichi, nearly crushing him. “You’re my little bro, that’s why. I have nothing against Shihou and you being together. I just didn’t know you went for the sexy librarian types.” Seeing Yoichi’s glare, she giggles and ducks into her room.
“I apologise on her behalf,” Yoichi huffs out. “She has no borders when it comes to these things.”
“She acts like a stereotypical Asian mother more than an older sister,” Shihou admits.
Yoichi laughs. “That she does. I don’t even wanna know what types of books she keeps in her room.”
-
A few hours later, Shihou runs into a major problem.
The damned air mattress isn’t as inflatable as it is advertised.
Shihou can feel the air leave the mattress from the moment he lies down. At first he puts it off as a weird illusion but when his ass is nearly on the floor, he scraps that idea quickly.
“I think I’ll have to sleep on the couch,” he tells Yoichi as he gathers up the blanket.
“Why?” Yoichi mumbles, sounding as though he was on the verge of falling asleep.
“The mattress is going flat too fast,” he informs.
Yoichi pats the space next to him. “Sleep ‘ere. Couch’s horrible.”
“I don’t want to—” Further argument is proven to be ineffective when Yoichi jumps out of nowhere and latches onto Shihou. Yoichi’s warm hands tug at Shihou’s shirt and there is honestly no way that Shihou can resist that. He falls into Yoichi’s bed, willing his heart to stop pounding out of control.
“Shihou,” Yoichi whispers. Even in the pitch-dark of the room, Shihou can tell that Yoichi’s face is close to his. “Are you inhumanly oblivious or something?”
“Sorry, I don’t follow,” Shihou answers truthfully.
Yoichi sighs. “Maybe Shi-chan was right.”
“Right about wh—”
For the second time in the last minute, Shihou finds his speech cut off short. Only this time, it’s rewarded with the taste of feel of Yoichi’s lips pressed against his. His immediate instinct is to brush this off as either a dream or a drunken stupor. Except this cannot be either unless the Sprite he had earlier had been spiked with vodka or some shit. Yoichi’s lips are unmistakably touching his own and Yoichi’s small, warm hands are also hovering on either side of Shihou’s face. He folds his hands over Yoichi’s and guides it to his face, wondering if he is doing the right thing.
“You are,” Yoichi mumbles. Shihou feels his cheeks heat up when he realises that he spoke his thoughts.
“Do you still think that I kissed you only because I was drunk that time?” Yoichi asks, curling his fingers into Shihou’s hair.
“Y-you remember that?”
“I don’t kiss just anyone because of alcohol, y’know,” Yoichi giggles. “I’ve got higher standards than that.”
“But the morning after . . . you acted like nothing happened!”
Yoichi sighs quietly. “I only did that because I could see that you were on edge. I didn’t want to push this onto you, especially not after what you told me about your ex.”
“I told you about my ex?” There is no way that Shihou told Yoichi, the guy he’s been crushing on, something like that.
“You spilled the beans first time you got drunk with us. I’m pretty sure the emotional details made Mika cry. I doubt he and Yuu remember, though.”
Now that Yoichi is mentioning it, Shihou can vaguely recall getting fucked over by Everclear and smoking something suspicious not even ten minutes after that incident. While the details are hazy, Shihou knows that Yoichi stuck with him throughout the night.
“You know what they say about a woman’s intuition, right?” Yoichi asks. “My mom and my sister could probably tell that I have more than friendly feelings for you even though I hide them. I’m not good with this stuff. Making friends is easy but a boyfriend . . . I haven’t even experienced first love, much less understand what it’s like to have my heart broken by someone I trust. You made it sound like your douche-bucket ex hurt you. Feeling like you had to physically hold yourself in one piece, blaming yourself, and trying to forget and run away from him in desperation . . . I don’t want you to go through it all over again.”
Shihou flips over in favour of staring at the plain wall. “We can talk about this in the morning. We don’t have to ruin a perfectly good first day at your home with depressing talk.”
Yoichi puts his hand on Shihou’s shoulder. “But I care about you! That’s why I want to know more about you. I’ve waited so long to cross the boundaries and now I’ve done it. Shihou, would rather have us go back to before this? Before the first time I kissed you?”
Shihou jolts upright in the bed. “Of course I don’t want that! Yeah, I ran away for a fresh start and meeting you has always reminded me of the positive sides of being in love all over again. It’s scary and I just don’t know if I’m ready for that yet. Your childhood home hardly seems like the appropriate place to discuss it.”
“By whose standards?” Yoichi all but shouts. Shihou’s eyes have adjusted to the darkness just enough to make out the shape of Yoichi’s hands clamped over his mouth.
“Mine. I really am tired, can we please—”
Shihou quickly finds himself toppled over and pinned to the mattress. “I’ve waited for months, Shihou,” Yoichi says in a shaky voice. “Yes or no: can you see us dating in the near future?”
Nod. “Did you like kissing me?”
Nod. “Can I kiss you again?”
Pause. “Yes.”
-
Four months later
“Shihou, wake up!”
Shihou groans and automatically turns his head away from the source of the noise.
“Don’t you have a final today in a couple hours?”
That manages to rouse Shihou from his bed. As soon as he sits up and promptly falls off the narrow dorm bed, he remembers that his last final exam was last night. He shouldn’t have forgotten that crucial fact, especially given how he and Yoichi celebrated the end of finals for both of them.
“You play dirty,” Shihou grouses, climbing back onto the bed.
Yoichi only smiles angelically. “You mean you’re lucky to have a boyfriend like me.”
The word still catches Shihou off-guard, turning his entire face red like the first time they shared a kiss. “I really am,” he admits. He opens his arms and Yoichi seats himself on Shihou’s lap.
“How would you rate your first year in Canada?” Yoichi asks, playing with the neckline of Shihou’s t-shirt.”
“One smiling Yoichi out of one cold winter,” Shihou replies immediately.
“Who would have guessed that you’d be the biggest sap around,” Yoichi comments with a laugh. “Remember when you cooked me a proper dinner for Valentine’s?”
Shihou scoffs. “It was nothing. I seem to remember a certain someone trying to return the favour over the reading break and evacuating the whole tower.”
Yoichi kisses Shihou. Shihou really can’t keep teasing his boyfriend when, well, when they are kissing. It has easily become one of Shihou’s favourite activities, some days even trumping over sex.
“Maybe you should punish me for it,” Yoichi whispers against Shihou’s lips.
“Or maybe you should brush up on your Japanese,” Shihou reminds him, lightly pinching the bridge of Yoichi’s nose.
“We have a week,” Yoichi pouts. Shihou laughs as he lets go. “I can always ask my parents for help as well.”
“That’s true. Ready to get the hell out of here then?”
Yoichi nods. They both glance at the sorry state of their room and burst out into laughter at the same time. Packing up will take time but that’s alright because this time, Shihou won’t be running away.
This time, he will be stepping into a future that he won’t regret.