"Ah, i'm exhausted" Tamao said before letting fall his face over the table. He had spent all the afternoon explaining their math homework to Seiji, which wasn't easy, but he did it after spending the cold afternoon at his bedroom's desk.
"Are you going to sleep there?" Seiji asked, putting his elbows over the desk, apparently indifferent to the other's effort. "We have been studying for more than three hours… my brain feels like it's going to explode…"
"I'm not going to sleep, I'll just…" Tamao closed his eyes for a moent, but suddenly he opened them again. "We should keep studying… the exams are coming closer".
"Konno, you'll pass out if you continue forcing yourself too much. I'll rest in my bed, and I suggest you come with me if you don't want muscle pains" he added, slowly standing up from his chair and walking to his bed. "Both of us fit".
"If you don't mind" he answered, also walking there and accommodating himself netx to Seiji. "Are you cozy, Shitara?"
"D-don't get so close, Konno!" he exclaimed. Tamao had taken his glasses off, and he could see his face and facial features closely. "He looks better without his glasses…" he thought, looking away. "T-this is a double bed! You have all the space you want!"
"Does it bother you…?" he asked.
"W-well, eh, I… I-it makes me uncomfortable, right?" Seiji answered, trying to explain himself.
"Why?"
"You're too close…"
"Just a bit more…"
"H-huh?"
"N-nothing. I hadn't said anything" Tamao answered before moving away from him. "Although it's a bit cold…"
"You have all the blankets you want here, Konno" Seiji commented, covering his face with the bedcover.
"Do you have to cover up your nose?" he asked, covering himself too.
"I-it's not as if I was embarrassed of sleeping in the same bed with you trying to sleep. That's a sure thing" he answered after turning around.
"A suspiciously specific denial…" Konno said to himself. "And even if I wanted to, I couldn't see you well".
"Y-you don't look handsome at all without your glasses" Seiji spitted.
"Nobody asked you that" he answered, sounding bored, leaning a bit more. "It'd be a bit more practical if you were closer to me, to maintain corporal warm."
"Or maybe I could get up and turn on the heat" he said moodily, hugging himself. "But I'm too tired and cozy… K-konno, could you wrap your arms around me…?"
"Didn't you just push me away?" Tamao answered, smiling.
"S-shut up and hug me, idiot…"
"Sure, sure, as you wish" he said, wrapping his arms around Shitara. Seiji could feel how his face turned redder, but luckily he could still cover him with the blanket. "Stupid Konno…" he thought. "why does he have to be right in everything?! I'd like not to be so close to him… I can't focus well when this guy is so close to me and even less when we're so near because of the cold… what is supposed to be happening to me?!"
"Shitara, you're trembling. Do you want to come closer?" Tamao asked, impterrumping his thoughts.
"What…? N-no! I'm OK!" Seiji answered, exaggerating a bit.
"Shitara, you're more irritable than the usual" he commented. He sounded a bit worried. "Is something the matter?"
"N-no! i-its just…," the pianist was looking for an excuse not to admit what happened to him. "I think I'm just a bit stressed..."
"If I can do something to help you relax, tell me" Konno said. "You could start backing away a bit, idiot…," Seiji thought.
"I-it's ok…," he answered. "Why the hell is he so kind with me?! He has such patience! This man is nuts…," he thought again. "But why can't I hate him?! I thought I was better than this…"
"Are you ok?" Tamao asked again. "You look quite introvert."
"H-hell, Konno! W-worry more about not dying of hypothermia than the stupid thing I think!" Shitara yelled. "What was I thinking when I told him to lay here with me?! This seems to be my finale!"
"Shitara, really. You're red, your body is really hot, you're trembling, you're stuttering, it seems you're in some kind of rave…," he counted. "Are you sure you are not sick?"
"N-no! I'm not sick, I'm not hit b-because we're in the same bed and I'm not in any kind of rave!" he yelled again. "Now s-shut up for once and let me sleep!"
"…" Tamao took a deep breath and tried to gather all the patience he had left. "One last question."
"A-ask it and shut up!"
"Did I mishear something, or you said 'I'm not hot because we're in the same bed'?" he asked, skeptical.
"…" Seiji froze. "Crap. Why did I guard down?! Why do I ask myself so many things?! Crap, Konno… I just have to think a way to make him not to suspect…" He took another deep breath, and thought. "N-no! I-I don't like you, Konno!"
"Great, brain. Very well. Just deny it; he'll think anything but that. Wait, do I like Konno?!" Seiji thought, sarcastically and then with surprise. "This is complicated…"
"Oh… I see," Tamao answered. He seemed quite upset, but the pianist couldn't see it. "I won't ask anything else".
"Y-you idiot, Konno!" he exclaimed. "I-I don't even understand myself…"
"What are you talking about…?" he asked.
"I-I don't know if I like you… or if I hate you… or if I don't hate you… i-it's complicated…" Shitara sighted. "B-but I don't know if I like boys!"
"Shitara, you are saying too much" Konno said, a bit cheerier than before.
"…" Seiji froze. "Damn it."
"Besides, I know it's not time… but…" he added, looking at his eyes and smiling awkwardly. "Uhm, how to say this… if you were interested in dating me… uh… as a couple…"
"I-I'd accept!"
"AGH! SEIJI, DO A FAVOR TO YOURSELF AND HUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH! KONNO BEING HERE DOESN'T MAKE YOU NOT THINKING WITH CLARITY! … maybe he does… BUT SHUT UP!"
"You really think so, Shitara…?" he asked, smiling a bit.
"…" The only thing the pianist could do was shutting up. Seeing his silent expression, Konno's smile faded slowly, turning again into a confusion expression.
"Shitara…?"
"Breath… think well before answering… wait, does Konno like me?!" he thought, just noticing what had happened. "Uh… eh… well…" He closed his eyes. "I suppose so…"
"You don't have to answer me now… I shouldn't have asked…" Tamao sighted. He was upset again. "I think I'll try to sleep for a while".
"Konno…" Shitara said, firmly.
"Huh?"
"It's… complicated to say this. But I think… you… eh… how to say this… I like you" he finally spitted. "I think…"
"Shitara, you don't have to feel forced. I shouldn't have said that in the first place… what was I thinking…"
"I-I'm not saying this to please you, Konno! Have it clear!" he suddenly yelled. "I like you because I think that way! Not because you told me you like me!
"… are you saying it seriously…?" he asked.
"I just said so. Don't make me repeat myself because I will regret it" Seiji answered.
"That's great…". He sighted in relief. "Do you mind if I hug you tighter?"
"N-no…" He hugged him tighter, and his forehead hit Seiji's, who couldn't help blushing. In an impulse, Tamao leaned a bit closer and kissed the pianist shortly.
"I'm sorry…" Tamao said, noticing what he just did. "I couldn't help it…"
"Konno, forget your stupid TPO for a moment…" Seiji answered, moodily. "Relax for a while and stop thinking about the situation for a while..:."
"… Fine" he said. "I'll just think about you."