Sengoku/Kirihara , 8
Sengoku was tired of having good-looking roommates. Whether they were male or female, if he was physically attracted to someone, he was going to build a relationship with them. There were always problems with that. Fighting over who kept the apartment, how they split shared possessions and, even once, who kept the cat (it was the only time Sengoku cried after he broke up with someone. He loved that cat, damn it! Charlie had been his son!).
So, when Sengoku went roommate shopping on Craigslist, he searched for the nerdiest person possible. He wanted a shut-in: someone who would only escape from their room for food, water, and a walk around the park every Saturday at 2.
After a few weeks of searching, he found the perfect one.
Name: Kirihara AkayaAge: 21Sex: MaleHobbies: Video games, tennis on weekendsOther: We don’t need to meet. Just pay the rent, keep quiet, and we’ll get along.
Kirihara needed a subleaser until the end of October, when the lease was up. Resigning for both parties was a possibility.
It was as if the gods were sending Sengoku a sign. This is your destined roommate! You will not fall in love or sleep with this person. It was perfect.
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He should have found a studio apartment.
For the first month of living in his new place, Sengoku never saw his roommate. He heard his roommate shuffling around his room from time to time, mostly at night to get food, but never a face to face meeting.
Honestly? It’s what Sengoku was expecting. It didn’t bother him, especially since his roommate never touched Sengoku’s food. They were living in harmony with one another.
Until that fated day: September 25th. Sengoku knew it well.
Sengoku had been in the kitchen, eating breakfast, when his roommate magically appeared. The boy was practically naked, wearing underwear that was a size too small and barely covered his bottom. His hair looked like he hadn’t brushed it for weeks and there were bags under his eyes either from sleep deprivation or…..well, Sengoku didn’t want to think of what else.
Still, the kid’s body was in shape, and Sengoku was caught staring.
"Fuck off," Kirihara said. "I can do whatever the fuck I want." He grabbed a beer from the fridge and opened it by using the side of the counter. "It’s my fucking birthday, after all."
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Sengoku didn’t start falling for Kirihara because his body was amazing (Sengoku had in the past, and it was a recipe for disaster). It was because he made more of an effort to try and talk to his roommate as November drew nearer.
It mostly involved Sengoku sitting in the living room at odd hours of the night and catching Kirihara’s attention for a few minutes. He learned a few things about the seaweed headed boy.
One, Kirihara hated pants. If he had to wear something, tennis or basketball shorts were his go to. Two, he worked for a graphic design company, so he could work from home. He didn’t like loud environments because he couldn’t concentrate. Three, he sucked at English. Four, carrots frightened him and were banned from the apartment.
Kirihara was quirky and sometimes violent (he had thrown an entire bag of vegetables out the window because the bag wouldn’t open. Part of their deposit was taken to fix the window, and it had been awkward to explain how the window had broke), but he was a good kid.
A really, really good kid, and Sengoku didn’t want to destroy the relationship he was building with Kirihara. He didn’t want to scare him away talking about feelings and love when a simple change in wording could send Kirihara scurrying back to his room.
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When time came around for resign, Sengoku went ahead and signed the lease for another year. He had no idea what Kirihara was doing. He didn’t know how to bring up the subject to the younger boy. Didn’t want to scare him.
On October 31st, the apartment was filled with noise. Kirihara’s tennis friends had come over. Together, they were moving out all of Kirihara’s old furniture piece by piece.
He should have known this would happen. Kirihara would eventually move and their friendship, if you could call it that, would disappear.
When Kirihara and his things were gone, everything was quiet. Too quiet.
Sengoku went to sleep dreaming of his roommate’s voice.
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November 1st, Sengoku was woken by loud cursing and yelling by voices he could only recognize as Kirihara’s friends from yesterday.
He watched, from the living room, as the team of boys moved in new furniture and helped their friend rearrange everything to fit.
"I thought you were leaving," Sengoku said once Kirihara’s friends left.
"Nah," Kirihara said. "Got a pay raise and decided I needed new stuff. And it was fucking Halloween. Niou got me drunk as shit, and I crashed and his and Yagyuu’s place last night. I wasn’t gunna fucking leave cause, well," his voice because quieter and he scratched the back of his head, "you’re the first dude I actually like."
"Aww, that’s cute," Sengoku said. "You’ve got a crush on me."
W-what? No!” Kirihara shouted. “That’s not what I meant. I mean I like you as a roommate.”
"Sure you do." Sengoku began to sing. "Kiyosumi and Akaya sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-"
Kirihara stormed out of the kitchen and locked himself in his room. Sengoku didn’t hear from him for four days, but he prided himself in being the cause of Kirihara’s face-filling blush that day.
