Summary: College AU. Kai has a very hostile reaction to his roommate sharing her career plans.

Kai has a very hostile reaction to his roommate of three years sharing her career plans with their mutual friends.

He's angry when she says, 'I think I'd apply for a better place than Bakuten fucking University for a Ph.D.' He's horrified when she adds, 'Maybe I'll start a summer fling with one of my students like Romero did.'

But the final straw is the, 'I love the apartments in West Bakuten but I need, like, five roommates to afford to live there.' – and the words are out of Kai's mouth before he'd realized that they'd even crossed his mind.

He finds himself pointing his glass at Hillary. "You are not living without me." He speaks firmly, decidedly, "You are not moving out."

In retrospect, Kai thinks he should have blamed his candor on the alcohol; he should have fake-slurred out some nonsense right after saying those words. Maybe that would have saved him from seeing Tyson spit into his hand and laughing at Kai throughout the evening or Kenny hiding behind his glass out of secondhand embarrassment.

Maybe it would have kept Max from telling Hillary, 'Just don't break the bed when you fuck him, you really cannot afford new furniture right now.' And Ray wouldn't have patted his back in annoying encouragement, 'You've held out longer than I thought you would buddy - proud of you.'

He should have blamed his candor on the alcohol – but that would be dishonest. And Kai was completely, absolutely and utterly done with appearances.

He wanted his roommate to be more than just a roommate, plain and simple, and he wanted her to know.

He'd been dropping hints for months and it seemed as if everyone was picking up on them except for Hilary fucking Tatibana.

So the words had slipped out when he had been at his wit's end – and he actually gave zero flying fucks that they had.

In fact, he finds that he's a little bit annoyed. Because the brunette, who was always prancing around in the skimpiest clothes, seemed to be entirely unaware of the said candor, the pointed comments, the months of sultry glances –

Hillary closes the door behind their laughing friends and glares at him, before demanding, "What the fuck was that about?"

As if she is shocked.

"You heard me." He shrugs, pouring himself his third drink of the evening before leaning back on their shared couch, feeling the least bit ashamed and bothered.

"Everyone heard you, Kai. And that wasn't the question."

He knows she wants answers. But in that moment, as she stomps across the room to stand indignantly in front of him, all he can think is how absolutely fucking gorgeous she looks with her hands on her ass like that – and how much he wishes that it was his instead.

He takes a sip from his glass to distract himself from her figure. Seeing that she isn't getting any answers, Hillary starts pacing around the room, picking up the empty pizza boxes, ranting about displays of fragile masculinity and I'm living with my father, and how dare you boss me around –

"I'm wasted, Tatibana. Lay the fuck off."

It's an exaggeration; Kai is not a lightweight, and the amount of alcohol he's had was barely enough to make him loose-lipped.

Well, he is only a little loose lipped.

But what in the fuck do all her feminist rants have to do with how desperately in love with her he is –

"You're overthinking this." Kai continues, taking another sip from the glass to block his view of the stomping, raging brunette. He drags himself across the room – it's not the alcohol – and places some dirty dishes into the sink.

He finally begins to list off all the actual reasons he doesn't want her to move out.

"You take out the trash. You do your own dishes. You pay the bills on time. That's all there is to it."

He grabs a rag to clean the counters just as she reaches for the broom closet. She chuckles at him over her shoulders.

"Sounds like you just want a husband around." Suddenly, her eyes light up and she clasps her hand together, "Oh, I know the perfect contender! Tyson."

There she fucking goes again with her theories about Tyson being in love with me.

"You're annoying only 80 percent of the time. Good score." He's pouring himself another glass and she's rolling her eyes at him.

"I'm so flattered, Kai." She bows in mockery. "Thank you so much for keeping me in your good graces."

He slumps back on the sofa with a thud!, and he thinks he's finally drunk – his vision is getting blurry around the edges and his list is getting a bit too personal.

"You don't have loud sex." He points at her with his glass instead. "I thought you and Michael were actually studying when you went back to your room."

He isn't drunk enough to ask why she is so quiet when she has men over, and if Michael actually satisfied her at all, and is that why she dumped him – he doesn't ask her but she sees the implication in his eyes.

"Don't bring up my ex." She snaps, "Stop talking shit."

He smirks at her, loving the beetroot shade of red that her face is turning; he thinks it's his new favorite color.

"Give me that."

She stomps over to him – and he can't look away only because he is too drunk to move. Her attempt to yank the glass out of his hands fails, because he has much better reflexes than her, even if he's drunk - and he's not drunk.

Kai absolutely loves the way Hillary hovers over him when he pulls the glass out of her reach, and behind the sofa – he smirks at her. Hillary has always maintained her physical space, to Kai's misfortune, so he thinks his drink is safe.

He holds her suspicious gaze with a defiant one of his own…until it travels to her full pink lips, down her off-shoulder shirt, and the exposed collarbone –

"You –" he points the glass at her for the tenth time that night, "– are very, very…" He only says the next word because he's drunk, "...convenient."

At this, Hillary throws her head back to laugh at him. And he would glare at her if he wasn't so distracted by the pulse in her neck and the curves in her tank top –

"Charming pick up line, Hiwatari. Does that always work?"

You tell me, beautiful. Did it? He wants to tell her, but instead, he adds one more thing to his motherfucking list of how convenient Hillary is.

"You don't raid the fridge and eat my food or drink my liquor."

"Excuses." Is all she says, and in the next moment, she's leaned in with her arms on either side of him on the couch.

Her bangs tickle his face as she looks down at him, and up so close, her lips are taunting – he follows every shape they make when she speaks.

"I see the way you look at me."

So she knows how I feel? His mouth is dry; from frustration or confused nervousness, he isn't sure.

And all he can think of in that moment is how badly he wants to taste the strawberry mint he smells on her breath. He's not ashamed to admit his attraction to her; he just hopes she would fucking notice –

"Can you blame me? You're barely clothed half the time. I'm still a man, Tatibana."

And as always, she ignores his comment about her short shorts, and crop tops, and midriff dresses, that she wears on purpose to tantalise him -

"Admit it, Kai. You have a crush on me." Her breath sends a tingle down his spine, and he thinks she's leaning in closer.

Kai wants to scoff at the word 'crush' but the alcohol is kicking in and his thoughts are blurring together. Or maybe it's her proximity; it's those fucking lips inches from his face and the fabric of her clothes against his skin and the hair on his neck–

Maybe it's the alcohol or maybe it's her but his face feels as red as the lips he desperately wants to taste.

"Jesus Christ. It's true." Soon enough, she's leaning back to look at him with a mixture of shock and amusement. "I suspected it but...fuck! I just dumped Michael. You know that."

He leans up into her, just enough that their clothes touch and he can whisper next to her ear.

"I'm not asking for anything." He's overcome with an urge to run a hand up and down her sides, but even in his drunken stupor he thinks he's pushing it.

"Well, maybe I'm asking for one thing."

She's laughing at his advances, and he is too drunk to be offended.

"Kai, you're drunk."

"No fucking shit."

She leans in closer to him, a knee between his legs until she's straddling him; his gaze shifts to her lips. He wants to touch her, wants to run a hand down her back –

"Fucking hell."

– before he knows it, she's standing over him with his drink in her hands; leaned fully away and out of his lap, laughing at his confused and betrayed expression.

"Hillary."

He only rarely uses her first name – and it comes out more of a whine than anything else when he slurs it out after a gazillion fucking drinks.

She must know that it would be a few minutes before he's able to leave the couch because there's an extra sway in her hips when she walks away, and the smile she throws at him over her shoulders is devious –

She takes a sip from his fucking glass before saying.

"I'm not looking, Kai, but I'll keep you in mind."

Kai's glad that whatever the fuck is it that he feels for his roommate is finally out there, even if it means he will be reminded of the embarrassing ordeal for ages to come; probably even tormented for it.

He loved a challenge anyways.

For now, though.

"Take out the trash, Tatibana."

A/N:

not me posting fanfics while i'm on the run and in the middle of litigation against an abusive household. anyways.

Was looking for someone to pair tyson with in another fic…..and dude….other than hils and maybe julia….he doesn't have any female interactions? His interactions with hils are v v questionable too, filled with contempt. Ya he's gay sorry, the creators wanted him to be too - ^_^ so, in all of my stories ty is just secretly in love with kai.