Months pass.

Okay, not really, but it sure felt like it. In reality, it was merely a week or two until the temperature had peaked at 103 degrees and Hinata and Komaeda were sweating buckets in their dorm room. He himself was considering going over to Nanami's (who had several electric fans plugged in at all times for "all-nighter purposes") and it appeared Komaeda was planning on forcing his way through a paperback. Hinata fanned himself with his hand as he started to gather his things.

"I'm going over to Nanami's. Coming with?"

"Oh, I was thinking we could go down to the lounge, since it's air-conditioned down there," Komaeda responded, and then looked up with a apologetic look on his face. "Oh, but you can go over to Nanami-san's if you want. It's okay if you don't want to go with me!"

Hinata blinked. "Sure, I'll go with you."
He hopped off his bed and threw his pillow back on it, always happy to spend time with his roommate. Usually Komaeda was sort of distant with their friends, only loosely hanging out with Hinata and Souda's group of friends sometimes. In fact, he only seemed to spend time around Hinata, and most of the time he was painfully polite toward even him.

Said roommate swiped his bangs out of his eyes and followed Hinata out the door, not taking much concern to shut it quietly. The duo started toward the lounge in silence. Awkward or comfortable, Hinata couldn't really tell. His eyes shifted toward him, but his expression was set straight forward, a thick layer of perspiration still covering his light, pale skin. He looked over when he sensed the weight of Hinata's gaze, and he smiled.

"Are you looking at me, Hinata-kun?"

Shit.

"Y-yes..."

Komaeda snorted somewhat, and turned his cheek. He looked as he got some enjoyment from it, or maybe he was just amused or something...
"Okay."

What? What kind of person just up and accepts they're being stared at?
The hallway was kind of peaceful at night, muffled voices coming from inside dorm rooms, but hallways desolate and empty. Looking out the window, the wind looked calm. Hinata tried to look straight ahead, since they were more or less at the lounge- but someone had already beaten them to it.
Kiyotaka Ishimaru, an underclassman and hall monitor. Eyes brown-red and intense, Ishimaru pointed an accusing finger at the pair.

"Excuse me, gentlemen, but it is precisely ten o' clock! You are supposed to be in your dorm at this hour! Please return to your dorm rooms at once!" he informed them. Hinata's eyebrows raised, and he opened his mouth in protest.
"Of course, Ishimaru-kun. We'll go straight back to our dorm room."
Komaeda responded before Hinata could, but his eyes said something else entirely. Unreadable, but stating to Hinata that what he said was a flat-out lie.

"Very well! Have a nice night, the both of you."

Ishimaru didn't budge an inch from the lounge doors, but his expression told Hinata that he was expecting the duo to go. Obeying the underclassmen, Komaeda grabbed Hinata's hand and calmly led the confused boy away. When Komaeda had dragged him around the corner, Hinata voiced himself.
"H-hey! What about going to the lounge?"
Komaeda's lips curled upwards and ignored him, but he tugged on Hinata's hand and led him through the long, quiet hallway. Eventually he and his roommate reached their dorm room once more. Hinata loosened his grip on Komaeda's hand, anticipating an end to the night, but Komaeda did not let go. He tightened his grip on his hand, and walked right past it.

Hinata tightened his lips, resisting the urge to question his friend, and followed. Shamefully, he couldn't help but relish in the fact that he and Komaeda were holding hands. He cracked a strange, victorious smile before their hands suddenly disconnected. Hinata observed where Komaeda had led him; the small staircase to the rooftop. The students here weren't supposed to come up here, since years before, the principal had supposedly deemed it "unsafe" and therefore off-limits. Hinata guessed that were true to some extent, but it sure didn't stop the students from loitering here after school.
The roof was empty tonight, its fence-less atmosphere giving an edge to the feeling of it.

It was somewhat cooler up here, with the humid breeze giving a small relief from the pounding heat. When Hinata pushed through the doors- which were, strangely, not blocked in any way- he suddenly shivered at the thought being here, alone, with Komaeda. The white-haired boy looked back at him, his green eyes calling Hinata to hurry up and get over to him.
"The roof?"
Komaeda nodded, his natural smile resting on his lips.
"I thought," he explained, "that maybe it would be a bit cooler up here. Since Ishimaru-kun is blocking the lounge."
"Oh, and it's very quiet up here. I like it," he added.

"Well, thank you," Hinata responded, sitting down on the ground. Nagito did the same. It was still very, very hot- but he could try to be able to fight through it with Komaeda.
"There's no need to thank someone like me..."

Hinata's mind twisted, stomach lurched. He did it. He did it again. He was putting himself down. He hadn't done it for almost a month, hadn't had to make himself feel like trash. The fact that he just now broke that streak felt like a huge train crash in Hinata's brain. His scoldings had probably sounded redundant by now, but nonetheless he had no choice but to take care of him.
"Of course I do. You're just the same as everyone else, Komaeda- better even. Now don't put yourself down like that, you know it hurts me as much as it hurts you."

Komaeda laughed. "You say that same thing every time, Hinata-kun..."
He didn't apologize, like he usually did. It left Hinata with a pit in his chest, not being able to bring his roommate up from his fault. It kind of spoiled the feeling of the rooftop; the hot but relieving breeze, the sky above littered with flickering stars that looked like Christmas lights, the blackness of the sky itself looking like a canvas smeared with black and blue paint.

"Sorry," he muttered to Komaeda, not really knowing if he heard totally. The pale boy looked kind of surprised. An uncomfortable silence surrounded the two, Hinata avoiding the gaze of his friend, who tried not to stare at him. Hinata tried staring at the sky instead, collecting stray thoughts as his eyes fixated on the twinkling beacons of light above. The thoughts were foggy, not really speaking but more lingering. Lingering on Komaeda. He found himself leaning onto his back as his mind settled on his roommate.

Komaeda imitated him, laying down next to Hinata. The pair wordlessly gazed above for an unknown length. Although typical, the unawareness of the passage of time was of the few normalities that Hinata could live with, even enjoy. The touch of a cold, pale hand just barely brushed Hinata's. Taking it as an invitation, he boldly but timidly- if that was possible- reached for Komaeda's hand. He slightly inhaled, surprised, and leaned over so that his eyes faced Hinata. Curious, Hinata too adjusted his head to face his roommate. Their faces were dangerously close.

"Komaeda," he murmured his friend's name in disbelief. Komaeda remained mute, but his lashes batted briefly. They both were moving their heads, chins so that their mouths were slowly getting closer and closer with every shift. Hinata cursed himself at how the minuscule the space between their lips was becoming. Komaeda breathed out, and Hinata felt his chest tighten. There wasn't a single inch between their lips now. They were touching, but hadn't truly made contact. Deep down, Hinata wondered if Komaeda really meant for this to happen.
Kiss me.

Of course, a moment so seemingly perfect had to be predictably interrupted. A loud thump sourced from the roof's door, and out burst Souda, Kuzuryuu, and Tanaka. Nanami was also at their side, although a little sleepier than the boys.

"Hey, Hinata!"

The exact moment a single sound escaped from Souda's mouth, Hinata and Komaeda jumped apart like cats with water spilled onto them. Hinata felt his face heat up as his friends gave them a questioning look.
"S-Souda!"

"Yo, where were ya? We've been looking all over for you!"

"You weren't answering your door..." Kuzuryuu grumbled.
"What," Nanami asked drowsily, "are you two doing up here, anyway?"

"O-Oh, nothing really. We just came to cool off a bit," Hinata reassured them nervously.
Komaeda muttered something under his breath. "Just my luck," it sounded like.

Hinata tried to brush aside his friends' interrogations and cocked his head toward Nanami, who was nodding off.
"Why is Nanami here?" he asked. Nanami had a habit of napping in the afternoon; she didn't even bother waking up until at least 11 PM so she could game through the night. Her sleeping schedule was all kinds of weird.
"Nanami had insisted upon joining our search party once we had informed her that both you and Komaeda had disappeared from our sight," Tanaka explained. "But her abnormal resting agenda 'twas nothing but a hinder in helping us search."

Chiaki nodded slowly. "'Mn sorry..."

Hinata couldn't help but smile at his friend's sleepy behavior. Suddenly Kuzuryuu pointed a finger at the space between Komaeda and Hinata, spitting out his words violently just as he normally does.
"So what the fuck have you two been doing for so long?"

"Perhaps they have been observing the heavens?" Tanaka made a spectacle to gesture to the sky. It was nothing special, just white spots against black-blue, yet they all seemed to understand when their eyes reached for the atmosphere. It just had that wistful effect on people. But it was Souda who came up with the suggestion.
"Hey, hey, hey! We should all hang out up here, bring some food and stuff, y'know? Should I go grab Mioda and Sonia-san?"

"Hey, wait-" Hinata began to protest until Komaeda cut him off.
"That sounds wonderful, Souda-kun! See if Koizumi-san will give up Saionji-san, as well."

Hinata shot Komaeda a dubious, questioning look that one might have noticed if observant, but could not have decoded unless psychic. It would have said something like, "Are you really okay with this?"
The look he received in return was a smiling one, as if saying "It's fine."

"Awesome!" Souda gives a thumbs-up and a smile; he runs off to fetch the girls.
Hinata doesn't know how to feel about what just happened.

︎

It doesn't take long for Souda, Ibuki, Sonia, and Saionji to get there. In Souda's hands was chips and pizza- expected- but also a bowl of...
"Is that fruit?" Nanami asked, squinting somewhat at the plastic bowl. Saionji sighed loudly.
"Yeah, yeah. Big sis Mahiru told me I couldn't eat all junk food, so she gave me this stupid thing," she grouched, annoyance in her voice (but notably, not as much as usual since she was speaking of Koizumi). She grinned. "But I got away with snatching a couple bags of gummies from my room."
She pulled the sleeve of her kimono up, revealing three or four packages of gummy candy. She was smirking, so proud of herself- that's our little phycho. Ibuki was eying the food in Souda's arms, and Sonia was already greeting Tanaka cheerily.

The eleven of them just hung out for a while, and though Hinata was enjoying himself, he couldn't help but remain a little bitter over the intrusion. Komaeda didn't seem to worry about it, though, which slightly worried him. He was about to go approach him when a small hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him away. Nanami.

"Hinata-kun," Nanami said softly, but above the laughs and conversations of their friends. Hinata jumped, but relaxed when he saw who it was.
"Oh, hey Nanami. What is it?"
"I wanted to talk to you about Komaeda-kun," she admitted, rubbing her eyes as she said so. Hinata bit his tongue, and prompted Nanami forward anxiously.

"Oh, well," she started, a playful glint in her otherwise still sleep-deprived eyes, "you and Komaeda-kun were doing something before me, Souda-kun and the others arrived. I just wanna apologize on their behalf, I think."
"Oh, that was all? Aw, it's alright, Nanami. It wasn't your guys' fault," Hinata replied, breathing a small sigh of relief.

"No it's not!" The SHSL Gamer insisted. "If something was going to happen, it's our fault for intruding!"
Hinata laughed.
"Even if something did happen..." -his sights rested on the albino in discussion, who was quietly listening in on Sonia, Tanaka, and Souda's conversation- "I don't think anything would have changed."

"That's not true..." Nanami countered unsurely, apparently feeling tired again. "Hinata-kun, something will happen soon, I promise... But you have to go for it, y'know? With Komaeda-kun's luck, there's not a very good chance that it will just happen out of nowhere... I think." Yawn.

"Right..."

I have to make it happen... huh...

︎

They all decided to head back to our dorm rooms around half past midnight. Regrouping with Komaeda, Hinata quietly started to head back to their dorm. Again, someone grabbed his shoulder.
Again?

This time it was Souda. Hinata glanced back toward his roommate, who had stopped short when Hinata stopped moving. Hinata, about to question his soul friend, received a smile from him, and something that was not an explanation.
"You go ahead, Komaeda! I just need to talk to Hinata for a sec," he promised. "He''ll be back in no time, don't you worry!"
Komaeda put on a confused look but obeyed.

"What is it?" Hinata asked, still a little PO'd about what happened but trying to keep it down in danger of hurting his best friend's feelings.
"Oh, nothin' really. I just kinda noticed you were acting strange. Did something happen? Do I need to go beat someone up?" Souda challenged.

Hinata laughed a little, saying, "Souda, I don't think you could beat someone up even if you wanted to."
"Hey!" he whined. "Anyway, so what's up? Ya know you can tell me anything, right?"

"Yeah, it's just..."

Awkward. Talking about it with another boy.

"It doesn't matter."

Souda looked slightly concerned, quirking his eyebrows and straightening his smile. He was clearly surprised his soul friend wouldn't tell him what was bothering him, since Hinata told him everything.
"Well, Hinata, if you ever need someone to talk to about it, I'm here, man. Later."

Hinata stared at the place that Souda had left for a second, then blinked and started making his way back to his dorm. Should he tell Souda? Would that complicate things between them? Would he mock him for it? No, this was his soul friend he was talking about- if anyone did that to him, Souda was be the first at his side. Procrastinating the idea, Hinata turned the knob to his and Komaeda's room. Figuring his t-shirt and jeans was sufficient enough to sleep in- he didn't have much of a taste for fashion, unlike Komaeda- he flopped onto his bed across the one Komaeda had. He was already laying down on his stomach, trying to sleep.

"'Night," he managed. Komaeda smiled, although it was hard to tell in his position and the dim lighting.
"Good night, Hinata-kun. I had fun tonight."

Me too.

︎