The next few weeks were filled with easy, basic material, but with the first tests of the semester coming up, Takumi couldn't help but feel a little anxious. Nothing that couldn't be cured with some rigorous studying, but he was anxious none-the-less.
On the other hand, his relationship with Leo seemed tense ever since that whole 'crying because of Hinoka' incident. They rarely ever saw each other, with Takumi's early morning schedule keeping him out of the room, and Leo's late night class schedule paired with late mornings. They rarely saw each other and talked even less (not that Takumi was complaining), but the lack of communication was brutal, and the only time they actually spent together was in silence as they studied.
Speaking of studying, he really needed to, and now was a perfect time. It was only around seven, but that should give him plently of time to study before he got too tired and went to bed. He was coming back from one of his evening seminars too, meaning Leo was probably studying in their room too. A nice quiet comfortable atmosphere for the both of them would be nice.
Once he opened the door to his dorm, prepared to study diligently, he was met with a new face, a woman with pink hair and dark clothes. And she was sitting in his desk chair, talking animatedly with Leo. This mystery woman had yet to realize his presence in the doorway, and only jolted up when he closed the door, albeit rather loudly.
"Ah sorry- I was just- My name is-" She jumped to her feet, pushing some of her pink hair behind her ear and fidgeting with the bottom of her black blouse. "I mean- I'm not.." There was a large exhale of breath, and Leo stood as well, placing a calm hand on the woman's shoulder.
"This is my classmate Felicia." Leo said, smiling gently at the way she relaxed into his touch, placing her own hand lightly over his. Takumi felt the slightest bit irked by her presence, but he couldn't place why. Leo continued nonetheless, "She and I went to the same high school together, though we never did have any classes together did we?" Leo dropped his hand from her shoulder, but Takumi could see their hands were close enough to brush against each other, and, boy, did that make him feel uncomfortable.
"Yep." Her smile was blinding for just a moment, before she checked the time on her phone. "Oh gods, it's so late! When did it get this late?" Leo chuckled softly, and Takumi could barely contain his growl. "I've got to get back to my dorm!" Felicia began to scramble to pick up her stuff.
"Let me walk you back." Leo offered, handing one of her notebooks, and Takumi could almost see the relief fill in her chest.
"Thank you Leo. You always were such a gentleman." Takumi just watched the two dance around each other in a sickening swirl of pining and busied glances, before he fished the mace out of his pocket and held it out towards Leo.
"Take this." Leo glanced at him, confusion written all over his face. He reached for the mace, but Felicia's dainty hand stopped him from taking it from Takumi.
"Oh, don't worry about that Taco Meat, I've got my own." Felicia held up her own canister of mace, and Takumi frowned deeply as he noticed Leo trying his best not to burst out in laughter.
"My name is Takumi." He ground out, placing the mace on his desk. "Ta-ku-mi. Not Taco Meat." He gave Felicia a forced smile, and Leo's cheeks were turning a bright red in the background from the effort of holding back his own laughs. There was a moment of silence, Takumi looking particularly displeased, Felicia's face rapidly coloring in her own embarrassment, and Leo in the background, heaving deep breaths with his hand over his own mouth as he tried not to crack up.
"Oh gods, I've done it again!" Felicia wailed, both hands covering her bright red face. "I'm so sorry!" She dashed towards the door and slammed it shut behind her as quickly as she could manage, and as soon as she was gone, Leo burst into laughter, turning away from Takumi as if that would hide the fact that he was getting a kick out of this.
"I can't believe she called you Taco Meat!" He wheezed out between laughs, covering his mouth in a sad attempt to stifle his laughter.
"Yeah, real funny. Hilarious." His voice was deadpan, and he crossed his arms. "You better hurry up at go if you're going to walk her back. She's probably already down the stairs by now."
"Fuck you're right." Leo grabbed his jacket but stopped short of the door. "Mind if I..?" He trailed off, nodding towards the mace. Takumi just scoffed and tossed it at Leo.
"Thanks, Taco Meat!" And Leo was gone before Takumi could yell at him.
This whole situation sucked, and now he was just angry. Fuck studying, he really needed some comfort food right now.
"Holy shit!" Hinata's laugh grated on his ears. "I can't believe she actually called you Taco Meat!" He doubled over in his chair, clutching his belly as he laughed. "That's so fucking funny, holy shit!" Takumi huffed as he crossed his arms, picking lazily at the vanilla ice cream in front of him. He came here to get ice cream, not get laughed at even more.
"Honestly Hinata, I came here to have a good time, and you're kinda ruining it for me." Hinata's shit-eating grin was slowly replaced by a much warmer, almost apologetic smile.
"Sorry, sorry, I'll stop. I can tell you're in a bad mood." Takumi growled, arms tightening over the expanse of his chest. "I gotta ask though: Why is this bothering you so much?"
Takumi glared daggers into his cup of ice cream. "She called me Taco Meat, and then he called me Taco Meat. Why wouldn't I be upset?"
"That's not it. There's something else you're upset about." Hinata snapped his fingers a bit as he tried to get Takumi's eyes on him, but Takumi's eyes were trained on the ice cream alone. "You know you can tell me." His voice was soft, and Takumi's furrowed brown lessened slightly.
"There's nothing else bothering me. She called me Taco Meat."
"Grades?"
"No."
"Tests?"
"No."
"Stress?"
"No." There was a pause, a moment of silence, before Hinata sighed, placing both elbows on the table and resting his chin in his hands. The spoon to his ice cream was hanging precariously in his mouth.
"Is it Hinoka?" Takumi's furrowed brow deepened tenfold, and Hinata sighed once more, placing a hand on Takumi's head. "How is she? Doing well I hope?"
"I don't want to talk about it." Takumi's eyes shifted from the ice cream to the floor next to the table, tracing along the patterned tile. Hinata ruffled Takumi's hair slightly before backing off.
"We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. Just know that I'm here for you when you do."
"Thanks Hinata, you're a good friend." Takumi takes a decently sized bite of vanilla ice cream in silence, relishing in the simple flavor before a blue head of hair popped into his view.
"Hello there!" Morgan's voice was chipper and light, and Takumi couldn't help but smile. The petite man had bent himself over their table to get a good view of Takumi's face. "Sorry if I'm interrupting your date, but I thought I should come over and say hi!" Morgan straightened up, delicately resting his hands behind his back. Takumi's face went red with the implication of a date, while Hinata just cracks an amused grin.
"We aren't on a date or anything like that." Takumi clarified quickly. Morgan looks slightly confused, but Takumi swings the subject away from Morgan's assumption with ease. "What are you doing here anyways? Are you by yourself?"
"Nope!" Morgan's smile returns, and he points to the ice cream store where Takumi can see Lucina looking through the display case. Owain is also present, ordering ice cream from the register. "My sister and cousin wanted ice cream," Morgan starts. "So I came with them to make it a family event and also take some selfies."
"Cousin?"
"Yeah, Owain is my dad's sister's son."
"Really? You guys look nothing alike."
"Yep! I'll show you!" Morgan chirps, pulling out his phone and pulling up a picture. He hands the phone to Takumi. The picture that he chose looks like a family picture from Christmas, with three people in the photo. "This," He points to the blue haired man in the middle, with hair just a shade darker than Morgan's own. He's wearing a tacky sweater with green text on a red background, and he's got his arms around both of the other two figures in the photo. "Is my dad, Chrom. And this," He points to a silver haired man who's wearing a significantly less tacky sweater and a santa hat. He's sitting snug underneath the Chrom's arm, with one hand disappearing behind Chrom and the other holding up a Christmas ornament. "Is my papa, Robin. And this lady right here," He points to a blonde woman, dressed in a fancy Christmas dress. She's holding some sort of fake bug or something, and she looks about ready to unleash it on any unsuspecting person that crosses her path. "Is Owain's mom, Aunt Lissa."
Takumi looks between Owain and the photo of his mother before he hands Morgan's phone back to him.
"I still don't really see a family resemblance…" Takumi trailed off as Owain approached with Lucina in tow. The black haired man had one arm slung around Lucina, and the other carefully holding two cones of strawberry ice cream in one hand.
"Fear not, cousin of mine!" Owain's booming voice made its way over to Takumi's table, and Morgan visibly tensed. When he was close enough, Owain threw his other arm around Morgan's shoulder, offering him one of the two cones. "I bought you ice cream, my dearest Morgan." Owain's smile was bright and contagious, and Morgan couldn't help but laugh.
As Morgan took the ice cream, Takumi watched the scene unfold. He realized, with a start, that this looked exactly like the cheesy christmas photo that Morgan had shown him. One rambunctious, over-the-top man, sidled by two people dear to him, one refined and one mischievous. The family resemblance was astounding now that he could see it in action.
"Ah, Takumi." Lucina gave a slight wave from under Owain's arm, still nibbling at her own cone of ice cream. Owain's head perked up at the mention of Takumi's name.
"Oh, hey my dude. I didn't even see you there." He gave a wide grin, releasing his two cousins so he could eat his own ice cream cone as he turned to Hinata. "'Sup bro?" The question was enunciated with a head nod, and Hinata grinned back, flashing a peace sign up at Owain.
"Wait wait," Takumi cut in, looking between the two. "How do you two know each other?" Hinata looked up at Owain from his seat.
"Owain saved me," Hinata crooned, clasping his hands together and batting his long eyelashes. "My hero."
"That's right!" Owain shouted, and Takumi watched in fascination as both Lucina and Morgan simultaneously covered their ears. "I, Owain Dark, helped my comrade escape the clutches of the sorceress of the kendo room."
"Sorceress?" Takumi raised an eyebrow, noting how Lucina was pinching the bridge of her nose. Morgan was licking at his ice cream absentmindedly, having drowned the noise out by putting some ear plugs in.
"Severa was going to beat me up, so Owain distracted her while I ran."
"Oh boy, she was so mad at you." Owain was still shouting, and Lucina flinched once more.
"Owain, volume please."
"Right, sorry Luci." He smiled sheepishly at her before he turned back to Hinata, taking the volume down a notch before continuing. "You should really just leave her alone, my bro. If you keep going for her, she's going to nail you."
"What if I want her to nail me?" Takumi rolled his eyes, noting with amusement that Morgan did the same.
"No, bro, that came out wrong. I meant she's going to kick your ass."
"Yeah, honestly, just leave Severa alone." Morgan piped up, taking out both ear plugs now that his obnoxious cousin had calmed down. Owain just nodded, rubbing his chin before he pointed at Takumi.
"By the way, me and some other buddies are gonna make this whole smash thing a regular thing. Would you be in?"
"Honestly, it depends."
"On what?"
"Is Eliwood going to play too?" Owain laughed loudly, squaring his shoulders.
"You don't have to worry about Eliwood, he's banned for a while. Or at least until he renounces his Roy ways."
"Dates and times?" Takumi asked, but Owain just shrugged.
"Not sure yet, but I'll come by and let you know when we play." And with that Owain turned back to Lucina with a cheeky smile and an outstretched hand. "Shall we be off then, my dear cousin?" Lucina nodded and slipped her way under Owain's arm. Owain stretched his other arm towards Morgan. "And my dearest Morgan, do you wish to depart?"
Morgan shook his head slightly. "You guys go ahead, I'll catch up in just a moment." He waited for Lucina and Owain to begin walking before he turned back towards Hinata. He bent over, making sure to be out of hearing range of his sister and cousin before he started to whisper. "Severa," He started, but paused, checking over his shoulder one more time to make sure they couldn't hear him. "Severa is gay."
Hinata pursed his lips, nodding slightly. "That.. makes a lot of sense." Morgan straightened up with his characteristic smile.
"Well, I'll see you guys later!" And with that, Morgan turned to leave, brushing his hand against Takumi's shoulder and giving it a slight squeeze. A wave of heat pitted itself in Takumi's stomach, and he could feel his face starting to flush.
It was a couple moments of silence after Morgan left, and Hinata's smirk got more and more prominent the further away Morgan was.
"Takumi, your face is all red." Hinata swooned, resting his chin in his hands. "You really are too touch-starved."
"Quiet Hinata." Takumi whined, covering his red face in embarrassment.
"Y'know, there's always room for one more in me and Oboro's cuddle puddles if you want to join."
"I know, you've only offered it a dozen times." Takumi wiped at his eyes, sighing once he felt his face cool off.
"Why don't you just ask him out? He's kinda your type, and he seems to like you." Hinata shrugged, and Takumi's face flushed red once again.
"He's not.." Takumi sighed raggedly, wiping his hand down his face. "What exactly do you think my type is?" Hinata tapped his chin in thought for a second before he snapped his fingers with a grin.
"Bookish, round face, may or may not like-slash-be good at strategy games, et cetera, et cetera." He pulled Takumi's hands away from his face. "Am I right or am I right?"
Through his blush Takumi managed to say silent before he looked down at his empty ice cream bowl. He stood to throw it away, and Hinata followed obediently.
"I'm right aren't I? Takumi? Takumi?"
"Shut up Hinata." He just sounded so proud of himself. Takumi didn't have the heart to tell him that he liked his men tall.
A/N: Well this is a long one, and im slowly but surely trying to progress this story so bear with me while i try to figure out the process of this whole thing!
And thanks for all the favs follows and reviews!