Work Text:
Drip.
Koma stirred, unable to discern the noise’s origin in the inky darkness of his bedroom.
Drrrrrip.
“What in the..?” He had felt a drop of something plunk against his cheek
Drip drip.
Koma felt two more droplets plop onto his face.
“Eugh…”
Koma rubbed his eyes, reaching over to his nightstand and feeling around for the string of his lamp. After a few missed grabs, he finally found it, clicking it up and down to illuminate his surroundings.
Everything in the room was just as he liked it. Neatly folded clothes put away in his drawers, his bedsheets barely wrinkled despite their use, and a poster that Jinpei had gifted him being neatly framed on the wall at a completely level angle. Everything, that was, except for the incessant dripping he saw from the ceiling.
A dark pool of water had gathered right above Koma’s head, steadily dropping every few seconds directly onto him. Rain thumped on the walls from outside, accompanied by the rolling of thunder in the distance.
“Jeez…” Koma shrunk into his blankets, “That ain’t good.”
Komadillo peeked its head out from the foot of Koma’s bed, making a curious squeak at the disturbance to its sleep.
“It’s alright, little guy.” Koma gently patted the creature between its ears. “Just a leak.”
Koma glanced at the clock beside his bed. It was still only 1:30, and he already knew he wouldn’t be getting any more sleep with the leak in the inconvenient spot it was.
So, he scooped Komadillo into his hands, slipped on his shoes, and pocketed his phone and keys. If he couldn’t sleep in his own dorm, he knew one place he could.
Koma shone his phone’s flashlight as he navigated the murky hallway, taking careful steps so as not to jolt Komadillo too much. After passing through a few hallways (taking just two rights and then some), he found the door that he’d been looking for.
He softly knocked on the door a few times, though he already knew there would be no answer.
“Jeez, heavy sleepers…” Koma mumbled.
Koma placed his phone in one pocket, continuing to balance Komadillo as he grabbed his set of keys. On one chain, he had 2 separate attachments.
Now without his phone’s light, he felt around for one key in particular, trying and failing a few times to insert it into the door’s lock before he finally heard it click into place.
He twisted it gently, tiptoeing inside and softly shutting the door behind him. He slipped out of his shoes by the entrance, so as not to get more dirt on any of the clothes piled up over the invisible floor in the room.
A mid-sized bed sat in the corner, soft snoring emitting from the covers within. Koma felt a smile tug at his lips at the sound. He placed Komadillo on a pillow that had found its way to the floor, giving it a pat on the head before he made his way over to the sleeping boy.
“Hey… psst…” Koma whispered.
The snoring continued. Koma laid a hand on the boy’s shoulder, squeezing gently.
“Jinpei…? It’s-“
He didn’t have time to finish the thought, a clap of thunder interrupting him. Koma yelped, louder than he’d intended to sound, hand reeling back to his chest.
“Koma..?”
Jinpei’s eyes opened blearily, squinting at Koma in the darkness.
“Sorry.. I didn’t mean to wake you up like that.”
“What’re you doing here…?” Jinpei slurred his words a bit as he spoke, sleepiness evident in his eyes.
“There’s a leak in my ceiling…” Koma explained, “I couldn’t sleep. Is it ok if I stay here tonight?”
Koma had already begun clearing clothes from a patch of floor, knowing Jinpei well enough to know his answer.
“Yeah…” Jinpei mumbled.
A beat of silence passed between the two, filled by the continued pattering of rain. Koma continued to clear space for himself, with Jinpei opening his eyes curiously at the action.
The boy sat up lazily, questioning Koma with a raised eyebrow. “What’re you doing?”
“Going back to bed.”
Jinpei clasped Koma’s hand with his own, tugging on it lightly.
“Then c’mere…”
Koma felt blood rush to his face, hesitating to move.
“We were a lot smaller the last time we shared space like that. I don’t wanna take up too much room.”
Jinpei’s eyes closed again, but his hand remained on Koma’s, refusing to let go.
“Well… alright then.” Koma let up.
They had already been dating for a few months, but Koma still felt a bit shy about encroaching too much on Jinpei’s personal space too soon, despite Jinpei’s frequent invasion into his own. Jinpei instinctively scooched over, and Koma climbed into the small space created beside him.
Sleeping beside Jinpei when they were younger had been one thing, but now? Koma found himself counting the inches between them, settling his head onto a pillow beside the other. Koma rested on his side, pulling the comforter back over the two of them.
Koma felt his heart stir as the other instinctively moved a bit closer. He felt heat radiating off of Jinpei, and at the same time, the uncontrollable urge to soak a bit more of it in. Thus, he stayed put at his safe distance for now.
Staying put, however, wasn’t nearly enough. Koma wanted more. His heart ached to make contact with Jinpei’s, and to envelop the other in a comfortable embrace right then. He reached an arm forward, nearly wrapping it around the other’s waist, but…
His hand stopped. Something invisible made his heart quiver at the thought of moving, and changing this moment in any way. Jinpei’s face was so perfectly calm, mouth slightly open, a relaxed expression completely washed over him.
Koma admired the look on his face for a moment, and decided that it would be worth it to take the risk. Jinpei had flung himself onto Koma in ways far more forward than this countless times, many of them from before they even began dating.
Koma wrapped his arm around Jinpei’s middle, fitting himself into the crook of the boy’s neck. His heart pounded, desperately hoping he wouldn’t startle Jinpei with the way it was threatening to burst out of his chest and run away.
This is okay. He reassured himself. It’s okay for me to be here.
Koma took a deep inhale, nudging his head further underneath Jinpei’s chin as he let out the breath. He relaxed for a moment, but was interrupted by an arm positioning itself around his shoulders.
Jinpei, as it turned out, still moved around in his sleep. The last time they had shared a bed, Koma had been the victim of multiple sleep-attacks, being kicked and prodded by the sleeping Jinpei. This time, the movement was slower, fingers tracing up and down Koma’s back, sending the boy into a frenzy. His heart sped up again. Jinpei had only been making it harder for him to sleep, and just when he thought it couldn’t get any worse, the boy nuzzled his face into the top of Koma’s head.
“Jeez…” Koma mused, tightening his hold on the boy’s waist. “You’ve gotta stop being so cute. It’s gonna be the end of me, Jinpei…”
Koma’s eyes grew heavier, the butterflies in his stomach beginning to settle down to rest.
“G’night…” Koma yawned, words blurring together in a sleepy haze. “Thank you… for being mine, Jinpei.”.
Unbeknownst to Koma, scarlet had rushed to Jinpei’s cheeks, his own stomach now doing somersaults at the unabashedly sweet words Koma had intended to be secrets.
I’ll tell you in person, too, when I’m brave enough. Jinpei assured himself, Thank you for being mine, Koma.
Jinpei glanced down a few times, before pressing a quick, spontaneous kiss to Koma’s forehead, and hiding his burning face back into the boy’s messily fluffed up hair.
The rain continued to pour, but the cracks of thunder were long gone. It became a comforting white noise, lulling the boys away from reality and into dreams. Jinpei snuck his way into Koma’s, as usual, but tonight the comfortable intrusion into his little world was welcomed with open arms.