"Please Lucina, there has to be a way." Takumi whined. The desk chair he'd been sitting in for half an hour was starting to make his back sore, and his initial sour attitude was only worsened by the apparent lack of action that his RA could take.
"I'm sorry Takumi, but there are no open rooms available. If one opens up, I will let you know." It was the third time she'd given that excuse, and Takumi could almost feel the annoyance radiating from her. Takumi deflated at the idea of spending an entire semester with Leo as his roommate. There had to be a way.
"Kamui," Takumi startled in realization. His brother would have no qualms with becoming his roommate, and then they could just throw Leo with whoever Kamui's old roommate was. Perfect.
"What about Kamui, Lucina?" Takumi couldn't contain his grin of success. This was perfect, the best plan he'd ever come up with. No loopholes. Lucina was checking her floor list quietly, before frowning.
"I'm sorry Takumi, but your brother already agreed to become the floor representative for the semester, so he is contractually obliged to room with the RM." Takumi's grin faded quickly, replaced by a confused look. Kamui never said anything about being the floor representative to him.
"The RM? Who's the RM?" Takumi asked, dreading that he already knew the answer. Lucina looked over her floor list again.
"I'm pretty sure it's Niles." Takumi's heart dropped into his stomach when Lucina spoke, even more so when she continued. "Yep, it's Niles."
"Fuck." So his brother was lost to Niles, and he was stuck with Leo for the semester, with no way out it seemed.
Fan-fucking-tastic.
"I truly am sorry about your roommate situation though, Takumi." Lucina looked apologetic enough, and Takumi rubbed his face tiredly. "If you would like, I can arrange an appointment with the dorm counselor to get some sessions for you and Leo."
"That won't be necessary." Takumi sighed. "But thank you for the offer."
"I can't believe you didn't tell me about any of this!" Takumi cried, head resting on the cafe table and meeting his brother's eyes. Across from him, Kamui smiled, reaching out to grasp a few strands of Takumi's hair from his ponytail. "I thought you trusted me, Kamui. I thought you loved me, but I guess I was wrong." Takumi whined in betrayal.
Kamui chuckled. "You're just a big dork, y'know that." His fingers were weaving small braids in Takumi's hair, a habit that Takumi had picked up on years ago. It meant Kamui had something on his mind, and it wasn't necessarily good. Something was bothering his brother, but Takumi didn't know if he could convince Kamui to tell him. Kamui had this weird complex where he just let whatever it was eat at him because he didn't want anyone to worry.
"What's wrong Kamui?" Takumi piped up from the table, eyes steeling themselves on his brother. He was going to say nothing was wrong when Takumi knew better.
"Nothing's wrong Takumi." And there it was. Kamui looked uncomfortably concerned, and he grabbed at some more of Takumi's hair to put into his makeshift braid. Takumi could feel his hands shake slightly as he did so.
"Kamui." Takumi frowned, pulling his hair away from Kamui as he sat up.
"Nothing's wrong I promise. Now give me your hair back so I can finish!" Kamui looked agitated as he made grabby hands at Takumi.
"You only braid my hair when something's wrong! I know that much about you!" Takumi growled. His brother made a face as he lowered his hands.
"Alright, fine. Something is wrong." Finally. Takumi finally got him to tell the truth. The relief must've crossed his features because Kamui was instantly trying to backpedal verbally."But I can't tell you what is wrong." Takumi's face twisted into a frown once more.
"Why can't you tell me? I'm your brother, you can tell me anything! You tell me everything!"
"Look, Takumi, it's not that I don't trust you. It's just that," Kamui sighed. "It's kind of a secret and it's, uh, very personal. So I can't just tell you. I made a promise." Kamui looked rather miserable, but Takumi wasn't satisfied with that answer.
"If I guess who it's about will you tell me?"
"No." Kamui's negative response came at the same time that Takumi shouted "Niles!" at him. Kamui's ragged sigh reached Takumi's ears, and he knew that this whole thing had something to do with his brother's roommate.
"What did he do Kamui?" Takumi instantly scowled at the thought of Niles ever touching his brother, no matter the circumstances. "Did he hurt you or something?" Kamui's laugh broke the tension.
"Of course not, dear brother. You forget that I can fend for myself it seems." Kamui's grin eased Takumi's worry.
"Then what-"
"Takumi." Kamui's grin fell from his face. There was pain in those irises, something he never wanted to see in his brother's red eyes. "Just drop it, okay? Forget I said anything."
"But-"
"No. Stop." Kamui's face had hardened, leaving little room for argument. "I told you to drop it. I shouldn't have even told you that much." Kamui looked at his phone with furrowed eyebrows and grimaced. "Damn, it's already three o'clock. I have to get going."
"What? Where are you going? It's not like you have any work! Classes haven't even started yet!" Takumi frowned. "Stay here with me."
"Takumi, I have things that need to be done. Niles and I have some planning to do for this semester." Kamui stood to leave, ruffling his brother's hair as a goodbye gesture. "It's going to be a fun year, I promise you that much." Kamui turned towards the door, but stopped himself short of leaving to perk up. "You should also, um, give Leo a second chance." Takumi looked up at his brother questioningly, but Kamui was already gone as the bell jingled at the top of the door.
Takumi stood as well, except, instead of leaving, he headed towards the bakery register. There, a woman was wiping down the counter, her purple hair pulled back into a bun at the back of her head. The nametag on her shirt read 'Camilla' and she smiled at him as he approached.
"What can I get for you darling." She crooned, resting her chin on the display case. "Perhaps seconds of the apple-cardamom pie?" Takumi flushed as his stomach rumbled happily at the thought, and Camilla's face lit up in pride.
"Yes, please, and can I get it to go?" Takumi asked quickly, keeping his hungry gaze on the slice of pie Camilla had retrieved from the display case. He didn't know how they achieved such a perfect pie, but Takumi had never tasted anything better in his life. It was a shame this was a local place, because that meant he couldn't get their wonderful desserts when he went home for break. All the confections and pastries, not to mention the cakes, were perfect. He'd really never tasted better dessert in his life.
"Of course, sweet stuff." Camilla smiled as she slipped the pie into a styrofoam box and handed it to Takumi. "Now, will that be all for you today, honey?"
"Yeah, how much do I owe?"
"Three dollars and seventy five cents," Camilla said, but turned away Takumi's outstretched hand that held his five dollar bill. Takumi's eyebrow raised slightly as Camilla smiled. "On the house. For coming so regularly."
"Oh, no, I couldn't possibly-"
"I insist, darling." Camilla smiled once more, and Takumi huffed as his face flushed. While it was very much appreciated, he felt bad accepting this for free. And his guilt was starting to catch up with him between his roommate troubles and bothering Kamui.
His eyes found the half-filled tip jar resting beside the register, and he hastily stuffed his five dollar bill into the open mason jar.
"You're quite the stubborn young man aren't you." Camilla's praise reached his ears and Takumi could feel the flush burn down his neck and through the tips of his ears. Her smile was kind and warm. "I think you and my brother would get along swimmingly. He's about your age. Goes to school here too." There was a twinkle buried somewhere beneath her strong irises as Takumi turned to leave.
"I guess I'll meet him one day if I stick around long enough. Thank you again!" With his pie in hand, Takumi slipped out the door to the jingle of the bells above.
"Oh darling." Camilla started as she watched Takumi walk away from her storefront. "You've already met."
The sun was warm as Takumi traversed through campus. It really was a beautiful campus, older than most, with brick buildings hundreds of years old, and trees older. It was a quick walk through the quad to get back to his room. It was relaxing like this, no rush, nowhere to be. Just Takumi and his pie. But what Kamui said to him was confusing him. Second chances? For Leo in particular? Why?
When he returned to his dorm, he wasn't expecting to come face to face with his roommate laying a line of bright red tape over the floor. When Leo noticed him, he stood quickly and grinned almost menacingly, like he was proud. Takumi's frown returned.
"What is this, and why?" Takumi asked, and Leo stood beside him, admiring his handiwork from afar. Leo pointed towards his bed and the sink.
"My side," Leo started, then pointed at Takumi's bed and the mini fridge. "Your side. You stay on your side with your friends, and I'll stay on mine." Second chances be damned, Leo was just an asshole.
"You're insufferable." Takumi hissed. "What about the sink? I suddenly can't use that?" Leo shrugged.
"There's a bathroom right down the hall that you can use. It has sinks."
"This is ridiculous." Takumi growled, then remembered something. He had the fridge. Leo had stuff in the fridge. Perfect.
He opened said fridge and grabbed one of Leo's many energy drinks from inside, tossing it at him. "If I can't use the sink, you can't use the fridge." The face of pure betrayal was almost enough to make Takumi laugh, if he wasn't already seething with rage at the stupidity of the entire situation.
"Wait, no, but-" Takumi grinned. Checkmate.
"No buts. These are your own rules. Now either retract them, or lose access to the box of coldness." Leo's face twisted in anger as he shoved the energy drink into Takumi's hands. He leaned down to pick the tape off the ground.
"Just put it back in the fridge." Leo growled from his knees.
Well, Leo might hate him more now, but at least he had the upper hand.
A/N: happy holidays everyone, and thanks for reading!