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The sun shone through the windows of Komaba Sushi, gently lulling Bird out of a peaceful sleep. Bird lay there, eyes closed, taking in the warmth of the moment. But something was different. The weight on his chest was certainly not there when he fell asleep. Bird’s eyes flew open, looking down at what was weighing him down. On Bird’s chest was Ekusu, fast asleep. Ekusu was wrapped around Bird, preventing the blader from getting up. Bird took a deep breath and exhaled, Ekusu’s warmth both comforting and too much. If he had to guess, the time would be around 8:00 AM, meaning that they would have to be up soon.
Gazing up at the ceiling, then back down at Ekusu. Bird shifted to wrap his arms around the other boy, wanting to live in this moment of trapped peace forever. Bird heard something shift in the faint distance, indicating Multi was getting ready. Multi always got up at 8:20 sharp, saying how routine is the best thing they could implement. She would check on them in about 15 minutes if they weren’t up, giving Bird a sense that he would have to get up soon. His hold tightened around Ekusu, mildly enough not to disturb the other boy.
What he wouldn’t give to lie there eternally, Ekusu in Bird’s arms. Multi had asked them to be up earlier than normal the night before, cutting Bird’s time even shorter. Bird was self-aware, sometimes to a painful extent. He was crushing hard on Ekusu, and there's a chance that Ekusu didn’t like him back. He sighed, resigning himself to a life of eternal pining. He hoped Multi never caught wind of his feelings, knowing she would think his crush was problematic to Team Persona. Bird let himself lie with the other blader for a minute beforetrying to rouse the other boy. “Ekusu..” Bird poked Ekusu’s cheek, watching as the blader grumbled and burrowed into Bird’s chest.
“Ekusu, we need to get up. Multi wanted us to be up earlier.”
“Multi can wait. I’m comfortable.” Ekusu attempted to swat Bird’s hand away, but ended up lightly smacking Bird’s face. That seemed to wake the blader, as he abruptly rolled off Bird onto his own futon.
“Coldd…” He mumbled into the comforter, reaching out to Bird with one hand.
“Come on. Multi’s gonna be fuming if we get up late.” Bird’s words seemed to have more of an effect that time, as Ekusu stumbled up. He reached for Bird, who got up and let Ekusu lean on him, arms around his neck, head buried in Bird’s shoulder. They staggered around their room for a few minutes, going through their shared morning routines. It would’ve been faster if Ekusu actually got off of Bird, but he didn’t object to the physical contact.
The duo stumbled down the hallway, Ekusu still clinging to Bird as if he’d die if he let go. When they got down to the main restaurant of Komaba Sushi, Multi was there, ready for the day. She was scrolling through something on her phone, looking up when Bird and Ekusu walked towards her. Ekusu had let go of Bird around halfway down the stairs, appearing to Multi that no physical interaction had occurred.
“Okay, so, you know,” She stopped mid-sentence, looking down at her phone before looking up again at the boys. “There's no good way to put this. We’re going to attend an event at the request of B4, right?”
“We know this already. We have a hotel booked and everything.” Bird shifted his weight around minusculely, anxious about what Multi was going to say next.
“Right, about the hotel. Something happened at the hotel, and the rooms we booked were changed. They haven't told me exactly what went wrong yet, but I don’t know what our rooms look like.” Multi sighed, bothered at what was supposed to be an easy event, now becoming a predicament.
“What? Why?” Bird knew that their room would still be quite nice, as Team Persona was a big deal.
“It’ll be fine! It can’t be that bad!” Ekusu waved off Multi’s concerns, knowing that everything would probably be okay. Probably.
“The PROBLEM is that I can’t find any photos of our rooms. None. The hotel had a new wing added on recently, and construction just finished. No one knows what our room will be like. I don’t know what floor we’re on either.” That would be a problem. What if the hotel rooms were really small? Or really cold, and there was no thermostat, so they had to huddle for warmth? What if it were really minimalistic in a sad and boring way?
“Well, it’ll be okay! As long as we get to battle everything will turn out okay!” Ekusu was as confident as ever. Bird and Multi stared at Ekusu, doubting his confident claims.
“We need to get going. I would prefer to see our room sooner then later, and I presume you two haven’t packed yet.”
.·´¯`·.·★·.·`¯´·.
It was late when they checked into the hotel, finally able to see their room. The room was very nice, all things considered. The color scheme was of different shades of blue, reminding Bird of the ocean. There was a thermostat, so that wouldn’t be a problem. The Bey Stadium wasn’t too far from their hotel room, which was another major concern Multi held. There was a problem, though. For Bird, it was a very big problem. There were only two beds. Multi would take on one room to herself, leaving Bird and Ekusu to the other. Ekusu seemed fine, even delighted with this arrangement, but Bird was panicked. Before the fact that they would be sharing a bed really settled in, Ekusu dragged Bird out to go battle with him. The walk between their hotel room and the practice stadiums the hotel had was about 10 minutes, while the event would be held 20 minutes away.
“Bird?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I tell you something?” Bird’s blood ran cold. He fought to maintain a neutral look on his face to stop the fear from radiating off him in waves. Bird looked to Ekusu, who was uncharacteristically serious. The duo came to a stop right outside the room with the stadiums, facing each other. Preparing himself for the worst, he waited for Ekusu to continue on with what he was saying.
“...I really like spending time with you. You’re ambitious, and kind, and persistent.” Where this was starting to go was beyond Bird, as he was so sure the worst was yet to come.
“I want you to go out with me.” Bird shut down. All thoughts, gone, as soon as those words exited Ekusu’s mouth. Ekusu stared at Bird, Bird stared at Ekusu. “Yeah-I’ll… I’ll date you.” Bird stuttered out, mouth running before his mind could register what he was saying. The battles they had with each other were a blur, along with the walk back to their hotel room.
The duo walked into their room, closed the door, and Ekusu was on Bird faster than he could blink. Just leaning on him, like the very same morning. They went through their routine to get ready for bed and climbed into the queen-sized bed. Ekusu tucked his head into the nook between Bird’s head and shoulder, as they lay there. “Goodnight, sweetheart.” Bird heard Ekusu mutter into his shoulder, both of them barely hanging onto consciousness. Bird didn’t respond, but simply clung tighter to the boy next to him as they both drifted off to sleep