"Do you think," Leo starts, and Takumi looks up just in time to see Leo's tongue swipe over his red bottom lip, soothing the aggravation that came with hours of gnawing and anxious biting. "Do you want to exchange phone numbers?" He asks, and the nervousness hidden in Leo's eyes is only amplified by the way his eyes dart over the papers on his desk, only meeting Takumi's for a brief second before Leo looks away.
And it takes him a moment, but Takumi suddenly realizes that he doesn't have his roommate's phone number. How could he not have his roommate's phone number?
"Yeah, I think we should." Takumi says, taking his headphones out of his phone and holding out it out to Leo. He watches as Leo's eyes light up. "It's gonna be weird not seeing you for a couple days." He says as he places the headphones on his desk before turning to take Leo's phone from his outstretched hand.
"Aww, are you going to miss me?" Leo teases.
Takumi scoffs. "As if." He says, but he instantly regrets it, watching as Leo's shoulders slump, and he tries his best to verbally backpedal. "I'm just joking." He says hurriedly, but it does nothing to alleviate Leo's hunched shoulders or the way his leg bounces against the chair anxiously.
"Yeah." Leo responds, but his voice sounds distant, like he's not all there, and when they exchange phones once more, Takumi looks down to see Leo's full name in his phone.
"Leo Astarot?" He reads aloud, and Leo scrunches his nose as Takumi reads out his own last name. He looks so unbearably uncomfortable that Takumi himself feels anxious. "You can, uh, text me anytime you want." He stumbles through the words, searching desperately for a sign that Leo understands.
When a smile finally breaks on Leo's lips, Takumi lets himself relax. "I'll keep that in mind when I drunk text you at three in the morning."
Takumi's about to complain, to tell him off for making such a bad joke, but his phone starts to ring before he can. When he looks, he's surprised to see that it's Mikoto, and he answers it with an eyebrow raised.
"Hey mom." He says, watching woefully as Leo turns back to his desk to study his open notes. "What's up?"
"Hello sweetie." She greets him, and Takumi can hear the sigh in her voice and the sound of cars in the background. "I'm almost there, but Kamui isn't answering his phone. Can you make sure he's ready to go for me?"
"Sure, I'll do that." Takumi says, and he notices the way Leo perks up at his desk. "I'll see you in a bit." Leo turns to face him as he hangs up the call, one eyebrow raised questioningly, and Takumi sighs. "Kamui isn't answering his phone, so I have to go find him."
Leo's brazen smirk makes Takumi gulp, forcing down feelings he knows he shouldn't be having. "I bet I know what he's doing. In his room. With Niles." His voice is low, deep with feigned intrigue, but that growl should not be sending shivers down his spine like this. Takumi can't help it, gods, he's so gay.
And for your straight roommate too. A shame really.
He forces those thoughts out of his head as quickly as he can, turning, instead, to glare at Leo.
"If you're implying what I think you're implying, you better hope for Niles' sake that you're wrong." Takumi smirks back at Leo. "If that rat bastard has even one hand on my brother, he's a dead man."
But Leo doesn't look fazed in the slightest. "I'll bet you ten bucks they're doing it right now." He says, digging into his desk drawer to find a ten dollar bill.
Takumi waits a couple seconds just to see if Leo is bluffing, but when the offer isn't rescinded and the ten dollar bill is flashed in his face again, he relents. "You're on." He says, and Leo's smile brightens even further as Takumi rummages around his bag to pull out his wallet. But the look of confusion that passes over Leo's face when Takumi extends his hand amuses him to no end. "You have to shake on it for it to be a real bet right? So shake."
With his ear pressed against the door, all Takumi can hear are creaking noises coming from Kamui's room, like someone's rocking a bed with slow, purposeful thrusts, and Takumi suddenly fears for both his brother and his sanity. He takes a moment to just rest his forehead against the door and pray for his own mental wellbeing, but Leo is poking and prodding his side, urging him to open it.
Takumi bats his hands away. "Stop." He hisses, but when he turns his back to Kamui's door, Leo's standing over him with that same wide smirk, one hand resting on the door beside his head in a way that makes Takumi shrink. He's so much taller that Takumi, and so close too. His eyes are dark when Takumi finally meets them.
"Are you going to open it, or should I?" Leo says, and Takumi takes a moment to blink, reveling in the sheer closeness before he turns back to the door with a grimace.
"I'll do it, but do you think I should I just knock?" He whispers, trying to ignore the heat at his back as he presses his ear against the door once more. The creaking has stopped, and the only thing Takumi can hear are muffled voices and soft footsteps.
The door Takumi's leaning against opens suddenly, and Takumi falls face first into Niles' chest. The flush on his cheeks grows as Niles holds him for a moment, just as surprised as Takumi. It takes him a moment, but then Niles sets him upright, and Takumi finally has a chance to look around.
One side of the room is immaculate, with not a single thing out of place. Papers are organized, stacked, and neat on the desk, and the floor is clean and mopped so well that Takumi can see his face in the reflection.
Even Niles himself smells nice, like cologne and something distinctly earthy. He's still fully dressed, much to Takumi's relief, but when he chances a peek at Niles' expression, he's taken aback by a smirk so similar to Leo's that it makes his stomach twist.
"And what are you two doing outside my room? I hope you aren't having too much fun." Niles purrs, but Takumi peeks over his shoulder to see the other side of the room. It's trashed, with clothes Takumi recognizes strewn all over the floor, and, in the middle of it all is Kamui, hurriedly folding and stuffing clothes into a laundry bag, so lost in his own mind that he doesn't seem to realize Takumi is there.
"Kamui." He calls, and when his brother looks at him, he seems frazzled, but he acknowledges him all the same.
"What's up?" Kamui says as he raises an eyebrow, and Takumi frowns.
"Mom said she tried to call you, but you weren't picking up." Takumi says, and Kamui's face drops quite suddenly.
"She did?" He asks worriedly, and Takumi nods, watching as Kamui quickly folds the rest of his sheets up and stuffs them into the laundry bag. "Is she almost here?"
"Yeah, did you not pack yesterday?" Takumi asks, and Kamui shakes his head quickly, fitting a couple of textbooks into the same laundry bag he'd been putting his dirty clothes into, and Takumi grimaces.
"Sorry, I was.. Preoccupied." Kamui says, and Takumi tries his hardest to ignore Niles' stifled laugh. "Just help me please, I'm begging you!"
"Alright, alright, you're such an airhead." He says, In the background, Takumi's faintly aware of Niles whispering something and Leo's soft chuckle, but he's more focused on helping his brother pack up the rest of his stuff to bother with them.
But then he remembers the bet and grins. "Hey Leo." He calls over his shoulder, and Leo stops laughing with Niles in order to focus on Takumi. "I won the bet." He says, and Leo pales, eyes widening at the realization before he groans, fishing his own ten dollar bill out of his pocket, placing it gently into Takumi's outstretched hand.
Mikoto picks them up in front of the dorm, just like she'd dropped them off the first day, and Takumi is quick to call shotgun, only to be met with Kamui's groans of protest and a dainty laugh from his stepmom. But it's only as he settles in the front seat that he realizes his headphones are nowhere to be found.
"Hold up." He says, searching around the floorboards of the car. "I think I left my headphones in my room. Can I go grab them?"
Mikoto sighs slightly, before she nods. "Of course, just please hurry. Sakura has dinner going at home." Mikoto says, turning away from him to start the car. Takumi jumps out of the car and rushes back into the dorm building.
He takes the stairs two at a time until he's at the top, standing right outside the door to the third floor hallway, but he freezes up as soon as he hears it.
There's shouting from behind the door, but not like the shouting from before. This shouting reeks of anger and tension, nothing like the genuine loudness of Owain or the excitability of Lissa. No, this is pure rage.
"I don't need your pity, Xander!" It's Leo shouting, and Takumi takes a step away from the door just in time for it to fly open.
There Leo stands, and the anger is so evident on his face, between the furrowed eyebrows and the snarl gracing his lips. But there's something else there too, some emotion Takumi can't decipher all twisted up with the anger, but his expression morphs into surprise before Takumi can get a read on it, and his eyes widen in shock.
"Don't run away from me, Leo!" Someone shouts from the hallway, voice deep and masculine as his footsteps reverberate in the stairwell around Takumi. Leo glances back into the hallway quickly before he steps forward, pushing past Takumi and rushing to the stairs.
The other man, Xander , is in the doorway now, blond hair tousled, but all Takumi can see is the plain hurt there as he tries to follow Leo. But before he knows it, Takumi's arm shoots out to block Xander, holding him back from Leo as best he can. When Takumi glances back, Leo looks like he's about ready to cry, standing at the top of the steps.
'Go.' He mouths, and Leo gives him a ghost of a smile before he bolts, stumbling down the stairs as Xander stays put behind Takumi's arm. Takumi takes this time to look up at him, taking in the near permanent frown lines, and blond hair that seems just lighter than Leo's own. He's tall, even taller than Leo, and Takumi doesn't even reach his shoulder.
Xander sighs against his arm, pushing it down until it's resting against Takumi's side. He looks broken and annoyed all at the same time, and Takumi can only watch as he strides towards the stairs.
"This is a family matter." He says pointedly, and Takumi can only watch the back of his head as he descends down the stairs after Leo. That's really all he can do, and he curses as he turns back towards the hallway to grab his headphones.
And when Takumi finally makes it back to the car with his headphones in tow, Mikoto is still waiting patiently for him and Kamui is playing a game on his phone in the back of the car. As they begin to drive away, Takumi realizes something with a start.
When Leo had opened the door to the stairs, he'd had that twisted expression that Takumi can never seem to decipher, but now he knows. That emotion, the one that Takumi never seems to understand, was insecurity. Leo had looked just as broken as Xander, but it was for a completely different reason. He'd looked so distraught when he looked at Takumi, and now Takumi can't get that image out of his head, and it eats at him the whole ride home.
"I'm finally home!" Takumi exclaims as he bursts through the front door, collapsing onto the genkan and spreading out like a cat in the sun. Mikoto gives another dainty laugh, stifled by her hand as she moves past Takumi's lying form.
Kamui moves past him as well, giving him a smile as he nudges Takumi's head with his foot. "Come on, lazy bones, you can't sit here all day." He says, but Takumi smiles back up at him mischievously.
"And what are you going to do about it?" Takumi asks, watching in delight as Kamui rolls his eyes. His brother plops his laundry bag, packed tight with clothes and books and other miscellaneous items, down onto the floor before he slides down next to him, petting through his long hair.
But the smell of spices and the incescent pattering of feet draws him to stand just in time to see Sakura barreling through the hallway in her pajamas.
"Kamui!" She cries as she jumps into Kamui's arms. He spins her around just the way she likes it before setting her down. Then she jumps into Takumi's arms crying, "Takumi!" He squeezes her tight, spinning her around as well, before he puts her down. "Welcome back! Dinner's almost ready, and Mom let me make it all by myself!" She gushes, turning to head towards the kitchen. Kamui follows close behind, the both of them chattering happily about the amazing smell.
Takumi moves to follow, but he's stopped in his tracks as a furry tail wraps around his leg and a purr comes from beneath him. When he looks down, his sweet calico cat is arching against his leg, begging for a petting session.
"Fujin!" He exclaims as he swoops down to pick up his crabby old cat. Fujin had to be at least twelve by now, all grumpy grumbles and half-assed protests, but he was also one of the cuddliest calicos Takumi had ever met.
Takumi happily lays in the genkan with Fujin until dinner is ready, petting his cat as the furball lays curled on his chest. The smell of curry and the warmth of his home relax him. He's so glad to be home even if it's only for a week.
He wakes up that night in a panic, complete with a sinking feeling in his gut that's only overshadowed by the sheer terror that laces itself through his veins and constricts around his lungs like a squeezing snake. The clock on his nightstand says 3:46 AM, but the light is blinding and his phone buzzes quietly, and Takumi somehow knows he won't be able to sleep much longer anyways.
So he gets up and turns on the light, startling a sleepy Fujin as he does so. He takes the time to pet down the bristled fur of his poor cat as he gets dressed, slowly waking up to the sound of early bird songs and insects cricketing. The panic is leaving him, pushed far enough away so that it might spring up some other time.
His phone buzzes against his nightstand once again, and Takumi picks it up to see that he has four unread texts. He unlocks his phone hurriedly, secretly hoping some of those texts are from Leo.
But none of them are, and Takumi can't help but be disappointed. The sinking feeling in his stomach returns as he thinks about his roommate, but he forces it down in order to read the texts.
Sexy Setsy (3:03 AM): heard ur back in town
Sexy Setsy (3:27 AM): i get off of work soon wanna hang
Sexy Setsy (3:43 AM): ?
Sexy Setsy (3:49 AM): i know ur awake come hang the gangs all at the barcade hurry up so you dont miss subaki ;))))
Takumi sighs to himself, typing out a reply quickly.
Takumi (3:56 AM): alright alright i'm omw
Takumi (3:56 AM): your name is still sexy setsy in my phone btw
Sexy Setsy (3:56 AM): mornin sunshine, get ur ass over here
Sexy Setsy (3:57 AM): also hin would be proud :DDD
Takumi half smiles at Setsuna's antics, but the mention of his sister makes his heart clench. Fujin, as if he can sense Takumi's discomfort, jumps into his lap, and he feels a little better as his cat snuggles up into his neck. It's not enough to make his grief disappear, but each nuzzle and purr makes him feel like a weight has been lifted from his chest. He's missed his cat, and his home.
A/N: apparently there are no block quotes on :/ anyways I hope you guys liked this chapter, and im glad you seemed to like lissa, cuz shes my girl and shes coming back at some point later on in the story.