"Y'know, that test was way easier than I thought it would be." Takumi says, stretching his arms over his head. He lets out a sigh of relief as his back cracks loudly before he looks towards Leo. They'd just taken the first test for the evening lecture, and the last scheduled test before fall break, and Takumi feels like he'd never looked forward to anything more.
The smell of home cooking, the sound of laughter and video games and family- he's just itching to go home, even if it's only for a weekend.
Leo just rolls his eyes, giving Takumi a good-natured nudge. "If you wanted it to be hard, you shouldn't have studied for three days straight." A laugh bursts from Takumi's chest, and Leo smiles in turn.
"Hey, I'm definitely not complaining!" He says as they pass by one of the several small fields on campus. The sky is dark, but, next to Leo, he feels safe. When he looks up, his blond hair is positively glowing in the streetlights, and it only accentuates the roundness of his stupidly adorable face. There's a couple people playing on the field, tossing a ball around, but Leo steals up all his attention.
He's been meaning to ask the blond if he wants to meet his friends, maybe hang out a bit with them just to see if they hit it off as friends. He's just never gotten a chance to ask, between studying for the upcoming tests and hanging out with the Smash Bros group, and now seems like a perfect opportunity to ask, and the night air is cool on his face.
"Hey, Leo?" He says as he twiddles his thumbs together, shuffling his feet as the other turns to face him with a raised eyebrow. "I was wondering-"
"Heads up!" Someone shouts from the field, and Takumi barely has time to blink before a ball pelts Leo right in the nose. He starts to fall backwards, hand clutching his nose, but Takumi is quick to steady him. The group from the field is running towards them, but Takumi is completely focused on Leo.
"Shit, is your nose okay?" Takumi asks quickly, carefully pulling Leo's hand away to examine his nose. "Is it broken?"
"It's not broken." Leo says, sniffing through the small amount of blood that's gathering in his nostrils. He thumbs away some of the blood just as the group comes to a stop before him.
"Sorry Leo, are you good?" Someone says loudly, and when Takumi turns, Owain is beside him, checking on Leo's nose as Takumi keeps him steady. Leo nods, and Takumi's cheeks heat up at Leo leans into him. "Damn, are you bleeding?" He's practically shouting now, but a girl behind him is quick to shush him, and, to Takumi's dismay, he realizes he recognizes her.
Her pink hair and dainty hands and black jacket. It's Felicia, of course it's Felicia. Takumi curses his luck.
Leo groans from his side, pinching his nose shut and tilting his head back so the blood doesn't ruin his clothes. "What kind of ball even was that?" He asks, but he sounds so nasally with his nose pinched and Takumi can't help the small smile that comes to his face.
"Bludger." Owain says, and Takumi watches as Felicia lingers around the two. It seems Leo hasn't noticed her yet, but her hover behavior still annoys him to no end, and he's still not sure why.
"Bludger?" Takumi asks, and Owain nods.
"It's, uh, y'know," Owain starts to say, using his hands to speak. "It's like, from that one game from that book series, with the - the br-broomsticks and -"
"It's quidditch." Leo pipes up from his side, and Owain's mouth instantly snaps shut, a flush that Takumi can only perceive as embarrassment covering his cheeks. "Y'know from Harry Potter? Yeah, it's quidditch."
"Oh." Takumi blinks,
"I-it's fun, okay?" Owain whines, and Felicia chooses that moment to speak.
"It really is fun, you should try it out sometime!" She says as she smiles up at Leo from her place at Owain's side. Leo, in turn, smiles back, though it seems more apologetic.
"I'm sure it is, but I don't really, y'know, play sports." He says. "It's not really my thing." But Felicia pouts, and Takumi feels Leo sigh more than he hears it.
"Sports aren't really my thing either, especially with the whole hands thing." Felicia says, holding up her hands for a second, but it's long enough for Takumi to notice a slight tremble, before she lowers them. "But I really enjoy it, and I think you'd really enjoy it too!"
Leo's smile turns genuine quicker than Takumi can blink, and Owain must notice Takumi's discomfort, because he's quick to grab the bludger from Leo's feet.
"See you later Takumi." He whispers on his way up, winking at him before he stands up straight, holding the bludger over his head. "Alright guys, time to finish up the game! What's the score?" He shouts, and he begins to lead his small group away from Leo and Takumi. Felicia follows close behind, waving at Leo with a bright smile. Leo waves back, and Takumi rolls his eyes as he pulls Leo along, hand still on his waist where he'd had it when he was steadying him.
It's a couple minutes later when Leo bites his lip, and Takumi hears a deep chuckle from him. "Takumi." Leo says, and Takumi can practically hear the smirk in his voice. "Your arm is around my waist."
Without missing a beat, Takumi flushes. "It's a mistake!" He shouts.
".. It's still there." Leo says.
"It's still a mistake!" He jumps away from Leo as if burned, face red hot with a blush, but when he looks up at Leo, the blond is trying his best to hold in his laughter.
They both crack up laughing at the same time, and Takumi has to wipe his tears away before they can keep walking. They keep laughing hysterically the whole way back to their dorm.
The next morning is move out day, the 'get your important and expensive things and don't come back until Monday' day, and Takumi is so ready to go home. A month of dining hall food has made him crave anything with half a pinch of flavor, and although he would never say it to her face, he really misses Sakura. He's ready to go back home.
But Leo isn't like that. He's chewing his lip, and scratching his arm, and shuffling his papers around again and again. It's easy to see just how anxious he is, but Takumi doesn't know what to do. He thinks that maybe he should go get Niles, but then there's shouting from the hallway, and Takumi watches as Leo instantly perks up.
Leo's got a grin on his face as he makes his way towards the door, and Takumi follows behind him, eager to find the source of the shouting, but when Leo opens their door and steps out into the hallway, the shouting stops, replaced by a few short small gasps.
Someone rushes to hug Leo in the doorway, a petite middle aged blond woman in a bright yellow sundress who holds him tight to her. When she pulls back and Takumi can finally see her face, he realizes with a start that he's seen her somewhere before, but he can't quite pinpoint who she is.
"Oh my goodness, you've grown so much!" She says with a smile, and Leo smiles back as she looks him up and down. Her face twists into a worried look, and she grabs his cheek, squeezing between two of her delicate fingers. "Have you been eating enough? You look like you've lost weight."
"I've been eating, I promise. Niles and Takumi make sure of it." Leo says with a forced grin, glancing back at Takumi. The woman looks at him too, eyes widening as she takes him in, and then a smile graces her lips again.
"And you must be Takumi!" She says excitedly, holding out her hand. "It's so great to finally meet you! My son's told me so much about you!" Takumi hesitantly steps from his room, taking her hand. The woman's hand grips tightly to his, giving it an enthusiastic shake.
Admittedly, she looks like Leo. A lot, mostly between the blond hair and the chubby face, but he still has no idea who she is, or how Leo knows her. She did say something about a son so maybe she's Leo's mom?
"It's nice to meet you too, Mrs.." And he trails off, hoping that the woman won't be too offended that she has to fill in the blanks for him.
She doesn't seem concerned in the slightest, which is good for Takumi, and she even smiles sheepishly back at him. "Sorry, I got a bit carried away, huh? My name's Elisabeth Ke'ri, but you can call me Lissa. I'm Owain's mom, and sometimes Leo's when he wants to admit it."
"When he wants to admit it?" Takumi lets go of Lissa's hand to look up at Leo, noting the red cheeks, and when Leo sees him staring, he coughs into his fist.
"I called her mom once when I was a kid, and she won't let it go now." He says, and Lissa laughs, putting her hands on her hips defiantly.
"You were fifteen when you starting calling me mom, don't act like you were a child." She says, and Owain chooses that moment to barge out of his room, carrying a giant desktop computer in his arms. Inigo is right behind him, carrying his own belongings in a bag over his shoulder, and earbuds stuffed tight into his ears.
"Mom!" Owain shouts, and three of them flinch at the volume.
Lissa turns, giving Owain an annoyed look. "Pumpkin." She starts, sighing slightly. "What have I told you about shouting indoors?"
His eyebrows knit together instantly and his mouth snaps shut, shifting the computer uncomfortably in his arms. He rocks forward and back on his heels, looking like a guilty puppy. "Sorry, Mom." He says.
Lissa sighs again, relaxing at the shoulders slightly. "It's okay, honey. Are you both ready to go?" Owain nods, and so does Inigo, who shifts his bag from the right shoulder to the left. She claps her hands together, smiling once again. "Well, why don't you start heading down to the car, okay?" She says as she fishes the key from her purse, handing them to Inigo.
"Thanks Aunt Lissa." He says, and then they both turn, trudging towards the stairwell while Lissa stays behind to hug Leo one last time.
"Remember that you always have a place in my house, okay?" She says, and her eyebrows raise expectantly.
"Yes, I know." He says, but Lissa doesn't look convinced.
"Yes what?" Her eyes twinkle mischievously, and Takumi can't help but chuckle at what comes next.
"Yes mom."
"Why does Owain shout all the time?" Takumi asks once Lissa has left, and Leo looks rather annoyed at the question, but shrugs regardless.
"It's not all the time, but he has trouble controlling his voice because of his ADHD."
"Really? He's got ADHD?" Though it does make sense, with the loud voice and the over-excitable personality. The more Takumi thinks about it, the more it fits into place.
"Yeah, he's got, like, some auditory issues that go along with it too. Trouble processing words sometimes, and stuff like that." Leo says, raising an eyebrow. "He didn't tell you?" Takumi shakes his head, and Leo frowns. "Weird, that's usually the first thing he tells people."
"Guess it never came up?" Takumi says, and Leo shrugs again. They settle into comfortable silence after that, playing on their phones as both anxiously await their trip back home.
A/N: so apparently people still read this and i was unaware of that? uhhhhh sorry, ill try to update more often... also if anyones interested, you can also find this story on ao3, along with some FFXV stuff that I havent posted here for whatever reason.
thanks for all the comments my beautiful readers :3