Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The rain outside pours down. Pitter patter, pitter patter. It’s calming, and Eijun could, admittedly, go for some soup and maybe a nice warm fire, but he doesn’t currently have that luxury. Why might that be? Well, finals are coming up next week and it would be more than idiotic to not at least study a little bit. So here he sits, a student in college and doing his best. His hand twitches to go pitch; he hasn’t since high school. Not regularly anyway. He has a while to go before he makes first string. Hell, not even Kazuya has made first string yet, as surprising as that is.

Eijun lets a sigh slide past his chapped lips, eyes slipping closed as he leans the full weight of his head on his fist. He can hear the clock tick, added to the sound of the rain, plus the sound of feet scooting past his door from various people. He does live in rather busy school dorms, it’s finals starting Monday and most students just want to get one last night of drinking in before cramming.

Eijun doesn’t drink, he doesn’t enjoy the way beer tastes -- doesn’t enjoy any alcoholic beverage really. It all tastes like bear piss and he really doesn’t enjoy the pounding headaches that are promised afterward. So he usually plays responsible mother with Haruichi, silently watching and making sure no one is in real danger. Eijun is surprisingly, fairly quiet when everyone gets wasted -- mainly because if he’s loud, all the attention is automatically on him and a bunch of drunk college student’s attention isn’t the best.

A spout of lightning flashes Eijun’s dorm room with light, followed by the crackling of thunder and it’s enough to get the boy to finally open his eyes. A bit drowsy, and not entirely willing to continue studying, he folds his arms across the table and allows his head to fall forward. He lets his heavy eyes slide shut again, ignoring a few loud shouts from a couple dorms down, and slowly drifts off into a dreamless sleep.

---

“Sa-wa-mu-ra,” a familiar, high pitched voice whispering into Eijun’s ear is more than enough to get him to shoot up. His hand launches out from under his head in reflex, waving and swatting at any possible threat near him.

His wrist gets caught in a death grip, though, followed by a shrill cry of ‘Kyahaha!!’ Eijun visibly deflates at this, his free hand reaching up to rub away the tiredness from his eyes. He’s a little groggy, pretty out of it, and he really just wants to fall back asleep. Though that doesn't seem to be happening. The rain seems to have stopped, no more loud roars from the sky, no more pounding of the rain, just silence. He looks out the window, eyes scanning over the evening sky. His dorm is washed in purples and oranges, mainly from the setting sun. It adds a nice hue to the room, a warm feeling making itself known in Eijun’s chest.

“Aren’t you supposed to be studying? You can’t go falling asleep.,” a familiar voice says casually, followed by the click of a door shutting. The sound of a toilet flushing echoes throughout the dorm.

So they let Eijun sleep a little, that becomes a bit more clear as he sees the stuff spewn across his dorm floor without a care. That and it appears that the T.V’s been on, which means they let him sleep longer than just a little. Eijun sighs. Youichi had long since freed his wrist.

“What are you even doing here, Miyuki Kazuya?” Eijun grumbles, before a cocky grin slides across his lips. “What? You miss me? Want to catch my pitches? Bahaha! I knew you’d come around one day!” Eijun is about to let out another obnoxious roar of laughter when a hand comes chopping down on his head, enough to make him bite his tongue and let out a yelp akin to that of a dog

Youichi breaks out in laughter, as does Kazuya. They both seem equally amused by the display that Eijun was unwillingly a part of. His tan cheeks dusted in a ruby red, orange eyes flickering with clear embarrassment.

Eijun huffs, telling them to leave. The rest of the night is filled with loud cackles and shouts of ‘Go away!’

In the end, Eijun gets zero studying done.

---

When you’re in college, any source of income is amazing. So it goes without saying, Eijun has a job. It’s at a cute cafè in the middle of a rundown neighborhood; one that’s mainly known for the amount of robberies that happen here. One could say that Eijun is a bit paranoid. So of course, in fear of someone stealing his phone, he leaves it back at his dorm. Completely forgetting that if someone were to attack him--or worse, kidnap him--he has no means of calling for help. He does, however, have a can of pepper spray sitting in his backpack. That would  still take a while to dig through, so he is completely vulnerable.

So of course, he stayed late at work. Late enough to close and finish cleaning up the mess of the day. Late enough that it’s three am. His hair tousled from a long day of running around, taking orders and delivering as requested. And of course, it’s dark outside and Eijun curses out loud about not having his phone. How dingy can this poor boy be? And of course, he stayed late enough that he missed the last train back into Tokyo. So now he is stranded lacking any sort of way to engage in phone call to ask for a ride.

With a sigh, he did the classic pat down, only to freak out as he could not feel his wallet in it’s usual place. He let out a sort of ‘Gah’ noise as he retraced his steps, crawling on all fours as he scanned the ground. It was dark, and the streetlight had burnt out. This really was the farthest thing from an ideal situation.

As he was patting about the ground like a crazed man, he realized that inside that wallet was a very treasured pin from a certain bastard catcher. This resulted in his hands more aggressively patting about the ground, nicking his thumb on a shard of glass. He winced and let out a low hiss, retracting his hand a little too quickly and causing him to topple over onto his side. This just got worse.

---

Kazuya knows he can get a little overprotective, especially over Eijun even when he knows murderers and the like tend to leave the crazies alone. Yet, he still can’t shake the feeling that Eijun is in some sort of mess, so he does the one respectable thing any upperclassman would do. He pounds on Eijun’s dorm room, with a sense of casualness to it just in case nothing is truly wrong.

Eijun’s roommate, a boy with red hair and green eyes, answers the door. He’s an American transfer student so his Japanese is a little rough around the edges. Kazuya simply smiles, lifting a hand in a way of greeting. The boy somewhat grins, returning the favor.

“Eijun?” The boy asks, quirking a brow. Ah, Americans, not knowing proper honorifics. It doesn’t matter though, the two of them have managed to grow close over the months they’ve spent cramped up in the same, small dorm room.

“Yeah, is he here?” Kazuya asks, a sense of urgency boiling in his gut. He’s not quite sure why actually.

“I thought he was with you, he hasn’t even sent a text. Then again his phone is also in here, plugged in. He said something about being paranoid and how he was just going to leave his important items here just in case? He even left his wallet.”

Kazuya could physically feel the color drain from his face, Eijun usually only worked to about midnight and arrived home around one. It’s almost four in the morning. A strange sense of fear entirely washes over him.

Kazuya, ready to call the cops, finds his phone ringing before he can even type a single number. It’s from an unknown caller ID, but he still answers.

“Hello?”

“Ah! Miyuki Kazuya! You answered! Why’re you up this late? That’s bad for your health, y’know.” Eijun. Of course it’s Eijun. His voice sounds a bit awkward, like he’s just been caught doing something completely immoral or stupid. Kazuya can’t manage to fight down the grin surfacing on his face.

“Says the one who hasn’t even returned home yet. Your roommate’s worried about you.” Even though that fact wasn’t established, Kazuya is fairly good at reading moods and he caught the tiniest bit of worry flash across his eyes. Besides, it’s a good coverup for why Kazuya knows Eijun isn’t home.

“Brandon? What a worry wart!” Eijun laughs, though it sounds extremely tight and forced. “Hey, you have a car right?”

“Yeah, why?” Kazuya knows why, he just likes to drag embarrassing situations out longer than really necessary.

“I’m maybe, kinda stranded at a supermarket by my work. I totally lost my wallet! Also, this weird guy felt me up!! If I hadn’t gone to Seidou I--”

“What?” Kazuya huffed out, a little on the dangerous side as his eyes hardened. Okay, yes he was overprotective but, hey, that’s his pitcher. He has a right to be that way about everyone’s favorite moron.

“Yeah, I know. He grabbed my butt and stuff, he had a nice voice though! He practically purred out every word he said. I recognize him a little actually, not sure from where but I booked it, anyway, can you come get me?” Eijun whined in the phone, Kazuya could practically envision the red trailing across his cheeks.

---

Eijun forgot his notes in his room. Now, this wouldn’t have been such a bad thing if he didn’t have such a poor memory when it came to math. The students around him were easily writing out their answers, flipping through their notebooks with zero effort while Eijun was chewing away at the eraser of his pencil. In a fit of panic, and maybe a dab of idiocy, Eijun foolishly types out a text to Kazuya as fast as he can. Sure Kazuya isn’t usually his go to person, but Youichi has class and Brandon is at work. His classes were during the evening.

So, swallowing his pride, he presses send.

Me: Miyuki, you bastard ( *~* )/ Help me out??? (what do you mean? @Jd)

Dickyuki Shitzuya: What does my ever loving kohai need from me this time?

Me: I left my notes in my room, and it’s a really important test and if I fail I’ll lose everything I hold dear!! I left them on my desk!! All I need you to do is grab them and leave them outside of the room. I’ll say I have to pee or something and stuff them up my shirt. Wait a second, and return. Brilliant right? ( ^ u ^ ) ?????

Dickyuki Shitzuya: What do I get in return? A kiss~??

Me: Never mind go die.

Dickyuki Shitzuya: But Sawamura-kun, can’t you see? We’re meant to be!

Me: Stop. You’re awful. Worst senpai. Why couldn’t you be Chris instead?? ( ; n ; )

Dickyuki Shitzuya: Oi, oi, oi. That’s a little rude isn’t it? Besides, I would go grab your notes but I’m a little busy. Good luck Sawamoron.



Eijun ended up failing and having to retake the test on one of his days off.

Chapter Text

Even when you’re in college and have a source of income, you’re still usually broke. “Why?” Someone might find themselves asking, the very answer to that question is: On top of paying tuition, one also has to pay for books and pencils and all sorts of utensils. College dorms also cost money and are the exact opposite of free.

So when your budget is a dollar a day, things can get a little tricky. A prime example being, having to eat fifty cent burgers. (Which taste like paper, grossly enough).

Yes, you guessed right. Eijun is sick and tired of eating paper burgers. They’re nasty and there’s not even an ounce of flavor no matter how much ketchup you drench it in. The worst part of this all has to be the fact Eijun thought they’d still feed you food after practice, but this isn’t high school anymore. Everything seems to cost money now. With disgust rolling up in his stomach, he takes a bite and inwardly cringes.

Kazuya on the other hand, sitting across from Eijun with a delighted little smile, bites into a bean bun. Eyes practically lighting up the whole cafeteria of college students. He pulls the treat from his mouth, lifting up a black coffee to his lips and swallowing. Kazuya is living the high life, as evident in the way his grin slowly becomes more cat-like.

Next to Eijun, Youichi is also enjoying some top quality dining. He has curry, probably the spiciest one possible, and he’s in love. Drinking from a can of green tea, his eyes sparkling like he won first place in some video game he has yet to beat.

Eijun hates them. He hates them and their seemingly never ending piles of money. With black aura seeping off him like smoke, he takes the last bite of literal paper, eyes fuming with pure anger.

Those two dipshits didn’t even offer Eijun any, those assholes.

---

Rooming with an American transfer student is interesting. Mainly because everything Brandon does is mildly interesting. Starting from the way he forgets honorifics, to the way his bow is awkward, stiff. Like he isn’t used to it. Plus the added bonus of hearing him mess up on words, making him sound illiterate.

It’s also not interesting either, it can very much lead up to a bad experience. Like the way he eats one rice grain at a time, ignoring the heavy glares of the cook. Or the way he sometimes boasts and accepts compliments, despite the fact that it’s more socially acceptable to do the opposite. (Of course, who is Eijun kidding? He’s like that too, but it’s irrelevant).

That, and Brandon does not seem to host any manners when it comes to a public bathhouse. He jumps straight for the bath, a relaxed expression taking up his features -- there’s a problem with that though. He skipped the most important part and has now angered plenty of people who are accustomed to the Japanese ways. Always, always shower before mindlessly jumping into the bath.

Then, there’s that thing he does where he tells everyone, everyone else's business. Such as, right now.

Eijun had invited Youichi, who had of course dragged Kazuya along too -- or maybe Kazuya had just decided to come out of the blue. (Youichi and Kazuya share an apartment, a cute two bedroom down the street from the college).

They were playing games or whatnot, Eijun crying out about how much he hates Kazuya when Brandon, that little shit, decided to open his big fat mouth.

“I have theory that you don’t actually hate Miyuki-senpai.” Brandon mumbled, his Japanese grammar causing scowls to form across all three of their faces. Though Kazuya, he is now very much okay with Brandon’s inability to speak Japanese.

“Ohoho? And why is that?” Kazuya leans back, raising a brow at the ginger, who swallows around a bite of pasta.

“He moaned your name last night,” Brandon stated, ever-so-nonchalantly. His eyes shimmering with something close to humor. Don’t get Eijun wrong, there are times Brandon’s Japanese is flawless, enough that some actually think he’s native to the country.

Eijun thinks he can admire Brandon’s Japanese later though, he sputters, cheeks heating up like a red rose. His hands flailing as he struggles to come up with a snappy reply.

“I most certainly did not!” Eijun croaks, hands launching up somewhat defensively.

“Oh? Is that so, Sawamura?” Kazuya purrs, a sick grin sliding across his rather beautiful face.

Youichi is dying, laughing hard enough that tears are leaking from his eyes like a broken faucet.

That night, Kazuya left with several hand prints on his face, Brandon was tossed outside of his own dorm room, and Youichi was pretty sure he needed new pants from laughing so hard.
---

The one day a college student will ever rejoice is a day off. Eijun l o v e s days off, mainly because he absolutely loathes the entire idea of school.

And what a better day to spend a break, annoying the ever living shit out of Youichi. Youichi looks ready to kill Eijun, Eijun chanting ‘Don’t die!’ Over and over like a stupid mantra.

Finally, Youichi hits his breaking point. Aggressively hitting the pause button as he moves in on his prey, an arm wrapping around Eijun’s neck and cutting off the flow of oxygen. His hands reached up, tugging at Youichi’s own fleshy grippers with a vengeance.

“M-Mochi!! I can’t breathe!! I’m gonna die! I’m gonna die for reals this time!” Eijun feebly calls out, one of his hands reaching for the ceiling as the other still tugs at Youichi’s grossly buff arm.

In fact, Eijun might’ve passed out. Actually, he doesn’t recall much of what happened. All he knows is that he’s waking up squished right against a sleeping Youichi, and it causes his cheeks to flush a brilliant shade of red. Eyes averting until he finally closes them, he drifts off to sleep as well.



BONUS -



After a long, grueling day of work, Kazuya could not wait to go to bed. Eyes tired and hair messy and sticking up in certain places. He stuck his key into the keyhole, only to be surprised that the door was still unlocked. With a shrug, he walks in, faintly hearing some sort of game battle music. Really? That green haired idiot is still playing that stupid game?

Kazuya tosses his shit around the living room, tugging off his socks as fast as he can. (He doesn’t like feet or the way socks sound/feel rubbing against carpet or skin).

After shedding his clothes until he’s just in his boxers, plus the normal stuff one does to get ready to sleep it up. He, in a moment of curiosity, peaks into Youichi’s room.

Eyes widening as he sees his two (favorite people) friends spooning. It’s cute, they both have adorable red blushes on their cheeks, Eijun’s trailing all the way down to his neck. Youichi’s lighting up his ears.

Making sure they’re not awake by whispering ‘hey,’ he takes a picture. A small grin on his lips. These two idiots are so cute. With his own small flush, he grabs the comforter off Youichi’s bed and tosses it over the two. He takes a few more pictures and grins to himself, he can practically feel the soft expression he’s wearing.

With a shake of his head, he shuts Youichi’s door and heads to his own room, grinning like a dumb idiot in love.

Which he is.

Very much so is.

Chapter Text

The one upside about college is that the teachers are fairly lenient. All you have to do is manage to get the teachers to like you, if you don’t show up to your classes they’ll still pass you. College is widely dependent on that single factor alone. It’s how most of Eijun’s friends actually manage to pass their classes, seeing as all of them are old enough to drink and get invited to parties and the like.

Though Eijun… well he is rather unfortunate, he’s too loud and most of his teachers find him more of a nuisance than anything else. Tragically, everyone else is off having the time of their lives and Eijun is… well, he’s sitting in math learning about some complex form of squares -- he’s not entirely paying attention. He lets out a sigh, eyebrows knitting together as his teacher rambles on and on. Eijun wants to die.

No, it’s not because (somehow) he has class with Miyuki Kazuya of all people, no it’s because he has class with Miyuki Kazuya AND Kuramochi Youichi. Those two are never brash, usually nice and overly polite to the teachers. Hell, they’re practically best friends with the whole damn faculty. Eijun wishes he never crammed with Haruichi. If he hadn’t he wouldn’t be viewed as overly smart, he’d be viewed as a good for nothing.

Kazuya and Youichi are the two worst people to have class with, from their largely stupid puns that make the teacher laugh so hard she doubles over, to their annoying whispered jokes in Eijun’s ear -- causing him to yell and get in trouble in most cases.

Eijun is fairly sure he wants to die, like for reals this time.

---

Despite being an adult, the fear of breaking the rules even a little bit makes Eijun feel sick to his stomach. Something about creeping around the school at midnight -- even when there are still classes going -- makes Eijun want to hurl. He’s peaking into every classroom with the eyes of someone who just killed. It’s awkward and all eyes are on him as he tries to find his destination.

Brandon is sitting outside of a classroom, sipping at a cup of coffee. There are black splotches under his eyes like he hasn’t slept in a week and he looks dead. Brutally so.

“Psst…” Eijun sort of speed walks past the ginger’s class, plopping down onto the ground next to said boy. Brandon turns to him with the face of someone who just found out their mother died.

“Hmm?” He replies, his eyes look dull and dead, like his will has been completely shattered by the fists of a demon.

Eijun shudders at that thought.

“Have you seen Miyuki?” Eijun asks, bright orange eyes scanning Brandon’s face for any slight change. Brandon simply shakes his head though, shrugging.

“Mm-mm. Though think he go to art.” Brandon half mumbles half slurs, his Japanese is awful when he’s tired. Though he raises a hand, pressing it to Eijun’s shoulder before leaning real close and whispering with flawless Japanese.

“This school is haunted, be careful Ei.”

Then without further ado, Brandon stands up, adjusts his tie some, and disappears into his classroom like he didn’t just leave Eijun with a traumatized expression.

Eijun slaps his face with both hands, shaking his head. That’s ridiculous! There’s no way that’s true!

Meanwhile…

“Oi, oi, oi! What’re ya doin’?!” Youichi half whispers half yells as Kazuya snorts, shoving a sheet of Youichi’s head. He then proceeds to take scissors, cutting wholes for eyes. He snorts again.

“Perfect.” Kazuya adds, admiring from a distance with a shit (sheet) eating grin.

Youichi isn’t having it though, the sheet gets pulled off him faster than Eijun talks. He glares at Kazuya before shaking his head, clear disappointment in his eyes.

“If you’re trying to scare him, there’s a much better approach to this.” Youichi grins a grin that is so sinister it gives Ryousuke a run for his money.

Back to…

Eijun continues to walk down the school halls, deeper and deeper until everything is bathed in darkness. Chills running up his spine. He’s going to have a heart attack and fall over, meeting a brutal end. Then someone’s going to find his body and scream and then everyone’s going to be sad!

Something falls, it sounds like a bunch of books or papers and Eijun books it. His feet launching out in front of him faster than when Youichi aims for base. Within his mad dash for the exit, he trips as about as graceful as someone stubbing their toe, stepping in gum, dropping a bottle of sprite, and tumbling backwards into a bus and dying. He falls face first, hitting the ground hard enough to black out.

He comes to seconds later, nose hurting like someone just kicked the shit out of him. He reaches upz touching it to find blood. He even looks down to see blood. So much blood. There’s like a pool of it.

Eijun doesn’t move. He just sits there on his knees as his white t-shirt gets drenched in red. He realizes that he should probably stop bleeding all of the floor, doing his best to shift up to his feet. Unaware that he should’ve plugged his nose because now there’s a couple of bloody splotches leading to the bathroom.

While this is happening…

Kazuya stops abruptly, cringing a little. There’s a puddle of red liquid in the middle of the tile hallway, plus foot prints leading to the bathroom. There’s a lot of splotches, and it looks like someone was dragged to their knees. Kazuya grabs Youichi’s arm, grabs it hard and points at the bloody mess.

Youichi cringes.

“We shouldn’t follow it,” Youichi starts, turning to face Kazuya with an indescribable look. “We’ll die. It always happens in the American horror movies Brandon shows us.”

Kazuya nods his head in agreement, arms crossing. Though before they really know what they’re doing they’re following bloody footprints into the males bathroom.

Once they get in there, the find a bloody mess. The sink is coated, footprints leading to the biggest bathroom stall which is currently open. One of the waters is still running and the light is flickering above them.

Youichi screams like a little girl.

Kazuya also screams like a little girl.

Eijun too, screams like a little girl.

“Sawamura?!” Youichi and Kazuya shout at the same time, their eyes widening as they look at the bloody mess of a boy. He has papertowels shoved up his nose and he’s on his hands and knees, wiping up blood.

“Senpai…?” He asks, an incredible look on his face.

That night ended with two wet pants and one bloody boy, Youichi thinks that the whole night could’ve gone a lot better.

---

The one absolutely disgusting thing about dorms is when someone clogs up their toilet. Mainly because the whole damn place starts stinking like a dead skunk. It’s really shitty.

Eijun is ready to cry, the stench is so bad that he has to go outside to keep from throwing up. The breeze is cool and it still, somehow, smells like the definition of rotting flesh. Why’re boys’ so damn disgusting? Eijun plugs his nose and starts walking, walking far away from the abomination that is an all male dorm section. He keeps walking until he’s outside of Youichi’s and Kazuya’s apartment. He doesn’t even knock, just walks in.

Youichi is too involved with his game to even look up, he’s playing Zelda? Talking to tiny red things with tails? Ah, never mind he doesn’t care.

Kazuya is at the kitchen table, scribbling down stuff for what looks like science. He looked up when Eijun first walked in but then looked back down, raising a hand in greeting.

Eijun shuts the door behind him, plopping down on the couch in utter silence. Youichi dies and only then, does he spare a glance at Eijun. He looks back to his game before looking behind him again, and then he hits pause.

Youichi stretches, shifting to his feet where he proceeds to plop down next to Eijun. He eyes the boy long and hard before speaking.

“What’s with that look?”

“Clogged. Toilet.” Is all Eijun says, an actual tear falling down his cheek. Youichi hugs the younger because no one should ever have to go through that horror, especially in an all male dorm.

Kazuya even comes over and joins the hug.

---

Going in large trips to the store with a bunch of college students is fun, mainly because it’s literally the only source of entertainment aside from brutal finals. In fact, when you’re in college all you have are trips to the store and crying.

Eijun can sympathize with wanting to stay at the store all day, but he can also sympathize with wanting to stay curled up in a ball of blankets forever. Yet, he can also say, college isn’t too bad. Sure it’s tough, and sure it’s sorta really lame, but these major store trips with Kazuya and Youichi become majorly fun.

It usually starts with throwing random object that don’t break (usually fabric or balls), then it escalates to intense wars from the otherside of the store. Kinda like right now.

Eijun is regrettably, not involved with this war though. It’s the closest store to his dorm and he’s not about to get kicked out forever because of those two. So, he sadly picks a couple packets of ramen, a box of pocky, a couple baseball magazines, and a carton on milk and heads to the checkout stand.

Just as the final item is being stuck into a plastic bag, the store falls silent.

“Can Sawamura Eijun come to the pharmacy? You’re parents are looking for you. Sawamura Eijun, thank you.”

Eijun grabs his bags, bowing to the cash register as he heads to the pharmacy. He’s being surprisingly quiet, and right as he’s ready to shove a piece of bread down Kazuya’s throat, Youichi shoves a puppy at the younger.

It’s just a stuffed animal, but it’s cute and it’s the nicest thing these two insufferable pricks have ever done for him.

So yes, being a college student and crying when someone hands you a stuffed animal is completely normal.

---

Looking back on college, Eijun can honestly state that it wasn't too bad. Even if it was fairly hard and even if it was completely unfair, it was worth every single struggle, every single tear.

Now that Eijun is an adult, living with Kazuya and Youichi, it's not too bad. College was an experience and he recommends everyone do it. Why wouldn't you? You get the world amount of new opportunities and you get to enjoy things you never would have viewed as important beforehand.

Eijun grins and shuts the book, the one with all their college photos in it and laughs. It's loud and genuine and he proceeds to scoot it back onto the bookshelf where it belongs. He makes his journey into the living room, where he then plops down between his two favorite people.

He's going to roast them at Mario Kart.