REI
It was bad enough that her grandfather had forced her to bring Yuuichirou along when she moved in, but now Rei suddenly had to deal with this bubbly family of blondes that couldn't seem to take a hint.
She'd hoped that her grandfather would accompany her to move in, but he'd made excuses that he was needed on the farm and that Yuuichirou would be much more helpful.
Yuuichirou had arrived at her apartment downtown with one of the farm's old pickup trucks and a loaf of her grandpa's banana bread to collect her and her meager array of belongings.
As much as she hated her father, she was suddenly grateful he'd gifted her a car for her graduation so she wouldn't have to suffer two hours in the car with Yuuichirou.
The man was nice enough – he'd worked on her grandfather's farm since she was in middle school, but he was always calling after her familiarly and far too eager to please.
She appreciated that he made her grandfather's life easier, but in return, her grandfather had seemingly revealed too many personal details about her to this man. Although Yuuichirou assured her it was never anything more than a doting grandfather would share, she still had no desire to make conversation with him.
Rei hadn't expected anyone else to be in the suite when they arrived, and she found it difficult to hide her disappointment that she'd have to share space right off the bat.
The other girl seemed friendly enough, though perhaps a bit ditzy.
Rei decidedly ignored that she was also extremely pretty.
She'd tried to decline the family's offers to help, but Keiko had given her a look that made no room for arguments and the others, Yuuichirou included, had fallen into line behind her.
Between the five of them, it only took 15 minutes to get the rest of Rei's belongings into the suite.
Minako's father, Adonis, as he'd introduced himself, clapped a hand on her shoulder.
Rei bristled at the familiar touch, but the man was beaming at her.
"Well you're certainly an efficient packer, Rei," he said with a hearty laugh, "I wish I could say the same about our daughter – took us all damn morning to get all her junk in here."
"Dad," Minako glowered, "I have a perfectly reasonable amount of stuff and you were the one who insisted on carrying the mattress alone." A single bead of sweat trickled down her forehead and traced the sharp line of her jaw.
Rei shook her head, chasing away thoughts of running her thumb across that same line.
"Thank you for your help." Rei gave the family of blondes a quick nod before picking up the nearest box and carrying it toward the hallway on the right.
She settled her gaze on Yuuichirou. "Did you bring the toolbox from the truck?"
With a start, his eyes darted around until they found what she'd requested. "Yeah, do you need help with anything?" He was giving her that overly eager look again, like a puppy dog waiting for validation.
Usually his hair obscured his eyes, but the fact they were visible today made the look even more ridiculous.
Rei pressed her lips into a thin line. "No, just bring it."
The apartment was set up with relative symmetry. To the right of the entrance was a small kitchen area that came complete with a refrigerator, stovetop oven, sink, and a dishwasher. The kitchen was separated from the hallway to the right by a bartop counter. To the left of the entrance was an empty space that was likely meant to be a dining area. Straight ahead of everything was the common area that was empty save for two small couches that the university provided.
Between the common area and the other areas were two hallways leading to the bedrooms and bathrooms. The bedrooms were set up on either side of each hallway and the bathrooms sat at the very end of each hall.
From the floor plan the university had sent her, each bedroom was roughly 10 by 11 ft. with a walk-in closet space on the far side that shared a wall with the bathroom.
Rei was about to turn to the room adjacent to the kitchen when someone cleared their throat awkwardly behind her. She turned to see Minako combing a hand through her hair and pointedly not making eye contact. Rei arched an eyebrow at her, waiting.
"If you don't mind, I've sort of been in contact with our other roommates and we kind of decided who gets what room already…" The blonde offered her a sheepish smile. "None of us had a phone number or email for you and we couldn't find any social media accounts to reach out and–"
"–Which room?" Rei cut the blonde off before she could spiral. She'd figured something of the sort would happen, she had just assumed that she would move in first and the others would have to adapt whatever plan they had when they arrived.
She knew her lack of digital presence was at odds with most people her own age, but she'd always felt it was more of a burden than it was worth. It was bad enough that the occasional reporter would track her down and try to pry into the details of her personal life; she had no desire to hand them more information of her own free will.
The tension appeared to leave Minako's shoulders and she bowed dramatically, "It's a pleasure to officially meet you, dear neighbor." She turned on her heel toward the left side hallway.
Rei frowned, but followed her nonetheless.
Yuuichirou was gaping at her as if he'd never seen Rei be so conscious of others and she glowered at him. He ducked his head, but not before she saw the grin tugging at the corners of his lips.
Minako leaned her shoulder next to the door on the left and ushered Rei in.
The raven caught sight of the mountains of boxes and furniture pieces in the room across the hall and wondered how Minako planned to fit everything.
Rei took a quick survey of the room to decide where she wanted things and directed Yuuichirou to leave the toolkit by the door. "Help me carry the mattress in and then you can go." She kept her tone short.
Minako had returned to the entryway and was saying goodbye to her family as Rei and Yuuichirou approached to grab the mattress.
Keiko caught sight of Rei and breezed toward her, scooping up Rei's hands in her own. "It was so nice to meet you, dear, you girls have fun and be safe."
Taken aback at the woman's proximity, Rei could only nod.
As quickly as she had entered her space, the blonde woman was back at her husband's side, shooing him out the door and demanding Minako call her every week all in one breath.
Rei bit her lip as Minako laughed, a light, musical sound that filled the empty apartment.
"I promise I'll call you guys."
Before Minako could look at her, Rei pivoted and grabbed one end of the mattress.
Yuuichirou helped Rei slide her mattress down the hallway and lean it against one of the walls of her room. He lingered awkwardly in the doorway, as if waiting for her to dismiss him formally.
Rei rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help the small smile she gave him. "Look after Grandpa. Make sure he doesn't overwork himself."
The older boy (for she was loath to call him a man) grinned brightly at her. "He wanted me to tell you to enjoy school and actually make friends this time."
Rei scowled. "If he wanted me to make friends, he shouldn't have let my father send me to that prissy school." Despite her words, her tone held no malice.
She knew her grandfather worried about her constantly. Although he had been the one to raise her, he hadn't had legal custody of her, and he'd been unable to prevent Rei's father from buying her an apartment downtown and forcing her to attend the hoity toity academy in the city.
Her grandfather had still made sure to send Yuuichirou into the city every other weekend with a fresh haul of produce from the farm or some kind of baked goods he'd whipped up just for her.
"Thank you…" Rei looked away from the man's eyes that were shining with a cheesy mix of warmth and pride, "for everything all these years."
Yuuichirou stepped toward her and, to her horror, mussed the hair at the top of her head.
"Good luck, Rei." He laughed as she fumed and hastened toward the door. "I'll tell your grandpa you love him, too."
She heard the door to the apartment click shut behind him.
Rei glanced across the hallway and found Minako hunched over a few of her boxes, gazing at her with a curious expression.
"What?" Rei snapped, suddenly very aware of Minako's tank top hanging loosely from her shoulders.
The blonde grinned, shrugged, and returned to unsealing boxes with a set of car keys.
Rei took this chance to figure out where she wanted to start with her own room. She decided it would be better to put her bed frame together before moving the rest of her boxes in. If more roommates showed up, she could reassess.
She grabbed the power drill from the toolbox and bag of bolts and screws, neatly labeled 'bed' that she had tucked into the box. Rei set the drill and bag near her work area and started to organize the pieces of frame from the slats.
Both her bed frame and her desk were crafted from a Japanese maple that used to stand on her grandfather's property and the polish was made from beeswax from a neighboring farm.
Her grandfather had gifted her the decor when her father decided to move her to the city. "So you always have a piece of home with you," he had said.
It was relatively easy to assemble and disassemble - Rei had a suspicion that Yuuichirou had helped her grandfather and construct everything. Her grandfather was certainly handy enough on his own, but his back didn't quite allow for hunched over work like this.
That and the desk was just a couple inches taller than she would have preferred. Rei was by no means short, but Yuuichirou was frustratingly tall.
Unfortunately for Rei, both were relatively easy to reassemble with help.
She wiped a bead of sweat from her brow. The apartment vents were wheezing in an attempt to cool the place down, but the high ceilings and the fact it probably hadn't been on until Minako arrived was making slow work of it.
Rei straightened her legs and strode over to Minako's room. She stopped dead in her tracks at the doorway and dropped her eyes to the floor. Clearly she hadn't been the only one overheating.
The blonde was an ADHD whirlwind of posters and clothes strewn over the floor and draped over her mattress. A very shirtless whirlwind. The tank top she'd been wearing when Rei arrived was dangling out of one of her various boxes.
Minako danced around the room in a sports bra and biker shorts, humming along to the music Rei could hear blasting through her earbuds.
Rei hovered in the doorway, internally debating if she should just try to piece the frame together on her own than subject herself to the blonde.
Before she could change her mind, Minako spun and caught her lurking in the doorway.
She tapped an earbud and beamed at her, chest rising and falling in quick breaths from either the dancing around or the heat. Not that Rei noticed her chest.
"Can I help you?" Minako asked, blue eyes obviously looking her up and down.
Rei tried to keep her expression neutral. "Need someone to hold things together while I drill," she said quickly, angling her body back toward her room. She ignored the way Minako licked her lips and glided to her side.
"Oh I'm excellent at holding things." She said with a wiggle of her eyebrows.
Rei rolled her eyes. Minako was definitely an idiot. A really hot, shirtless idiot.
A/N: This story was originally published on AO3, but I'll be updating it on here when I get the chance. For the most timely updates, check out my profile there (Redb0w). I just figured this site is the origin of my Reinako addiction, so naturally I HAD to publish it here.