midnight ghost (UniteUp - Daiki/Akira)
In which Akira short-circuits Daiki's brain for 1.4k words.
***
Takao Daiki is beginning to think that his dorm room is haunted.
Granted he’s been pretty sleep-deprived these past two weeks between practice and study sessions, but he’s confident that this one is definitely not just his imagination!
It started a few days after he decided to stay up just a little bit later than usual for the next few weeks as his college workload began to pick up toward the last few months of the semester. He noticed shadows creeping under his door, shuffling noises, and sometimes the sound of heavy breathing. At first, he’d thought that it was just his mind growing tired from the lack of sleep but after he noticed it happening again and again throughout the next two weeks, it became clear to him that it was not just a trick of the light.
He’s never been good at dealing with ghosts, and now there’s one waiting for him outside his door every other night? Yeah, he would like to get nope of there now.
Now, every night, he's become overly wary of his door, worried that the shadows are going to turn into something creeping up his walls and watching him from the corner. Yeah, nope. He never wished he could leave his body and just…go away more than he does right now.
That's why, today, when he spots a few shadows under his door, he prepares himself to fight his way through the spirit before running away as his life depends on it. He isn't about to become its next victim. But, unfortunately for Daiki, what happens next is the sound of a knock on the door that makes him jump off his skin so hard that he manages to bump into his chair and fall to the ground with a loud thump. So much for having good control of his balance like the dancer that he is.
Fortunately, the voice that speaks from behind the door sends all his concerns of a college student-eating ghost flying away like it never existed.
“Daiki-kun, are you okay? I heard a loud noise,”
Oh. It's Akira. Just Akira. Not a ghost. Thank god.
Daiki lets out a relieved sigh and manages to get up and unlock the door, rubbing the part of his forehead that he bumped against the floor. When he opens the door, Akira smiles with a note of relief, although it's quickly replaced with a concerned look over the fresh bruise on Daiki’s temple.
“It’s not a big deal.” Daiki opens the door wider, inviting the red-haired idol inside his dorm without a word.
Akira frowns, shuffling closer to him. He examines Daiki’s forehead closely until their faces are inches away from one another. Daiki blinks, feeling his breath hitch in his throat. As usual, the close proximity gets Daiki blushing pathetically. He just has to wonder at that point. When will Akira stop having such an effect on him?
The two of them are now halfway through their first year in college, having gotten into the same university by some pure coincidence. Although both of them also live in the campus dorms, they don’t see each other as often as one would think. For one, their majors were completely different and their classes were usually in separate buildings. Not to mention their idol activities. It doesn’t just take a backseat just because their academic workload has increased, both are still extremely passionate about their jobs. Despite all that, campus life has been relatively peaceful save for some rumors here and there, and they do make it work as best as they can.
That being said, it has been a few weeks now since they last saw each other face to face, so maybe it was worth it for Daiki to get this bruise just so he could see Akira.
“Not so close, geez,” Daiki mutters, though he doesn’t actually mind being this close to Akira. “It’s fine, it’ll go away in a few days.”
Akira frowns. “But I see blood.”
“It barely scratched me.”
In the end, it’s not like Daiki is very strong when it comes to Akira, especially when he’s looking at him like that.
That’s how they end up sitting on his dorm room bed, Akira’s hands opening up a piece of band-aid and applying it to the (very tiny) scar on Daiki’s forehead. “Why did you use this one?!”
Akira laughs softly. “Why? It’s cute!”
The band-aid in question that’s now stuck to Daiki’s forehead is one that’s covered in little red hearts. It looks absolutely ridiculous. Well, no point in taking it off at this point, he thinks with a small sigh. At least one of them is happy.
“How’re your studies going?” Akira asks, glancing at the stack of books on Daiki’s desk.
He shrugs. “I was about to finish for the day.”
Oh. There’s now a small mischievous glint in Akira’s eyes, that little rebellious and teasing side of him rearing its head. Though the redhead is mostly bright and cheerful to everyone around him, he has a gremlin-like teasing side that he unleashes on people he considers close. Daiki can’t count how many times Akira has made him turn into a mess through his mischievous streak.
And he’s about to do it again.
Akira straightens his legs and pats his thighs. “Why not take a little break then?”
“Ha-?!” Daiki almost jumps back in shock. He’d been thinking of what Akira was going to say, but this was something else.
The redhead laughs. “Come on, it’s just you and me here! I want to try it~!”
Daiki’s face is completely red at that point. He’s still looking at Akira as if he’s said some outrageous, out-of-pocket declaration. It’s not that he’s against using Akira’s lap as a pillow (Oh, far from it if he’s being honest), but just the thought of it makes him want to cover his face in absolute embarrassment.
“You, I, you, huh?! No way! I don’t think-”
“Daiki-kun, please?”
It takes only a few seconds before Daiki wilts under Akira’s request. The redhead’s lips curl into a satisfied smile as Daiki lies down with Akira’s lap under his head. As he looks up, cheeks still very red, all he sees is Akira’s pleased expression and he finds himself feeling just a slightly less bit embarrassed than before. They stay like that for a while, Akira’s hand coming up to gently brush the strands of hair Daiki didn’t manage to brush. His hair has grown slightly longer than it used to be, reaching the base of his neck, and it seems like Akira liked to run his hand through it.
“But really, how’s everything going? Anything eventful happened?”
“Hmm…not really. Though I thought my dorm room was haunted for a second.”
Akira’s hand stops its movement. “Haunted?”
Daiki shifts uncomfortably in his spot from being reminded of his previous dilemma. “Y-yeah. I think it’s just because I’ve been sleeping late, but sometimes I think there’s someone in front of my dorm room at night. Shuffling around, breathing and sighing, that kind of thing.”
“Oh.” Akira leans back slightly, an unreadable expression on his face. “Uhm…Daiki-kun…did this ghost happens to be there last night….?”
“Yeah,” Daiki looks back at Akira who’s avoiding his gaze. “How did you know?”
Suddenly, it’s Akira’s turn to blush heavily, his eyes flicking back at Daiki before looking away almost immediately as if he’s too embarrassed to look at him. It hits him at that very moment. The truth behind his little haunting.
“That was you?!” Daiki slowly sits back and gives Akira a questioning look. “What the hell, Akira?”
“I’m sorry! I didn’t know it would spook you,” Akira gives him an apologetic look, his lips pouting slightly.
“But what were you doing…?”
“Well you’ve been busy with your studies for the exams so I thought I would invite you to relax in between as like a refresher.” Akira sighs, looking away again with a blush. “I got to your door but didn’t know how to ask…so I just didn’t.”
“You could’ve just knocked….but, well, I am glad that it wasn’t a ghost after all.” Daiki exhales with relief. At least now he’ll sleep better during the night.
“Sorry…I just really missed you this past few weeks so I-” Akira lets out a gasp, cutting off his words immediately as he scrambles to get up from the bed. Embarrassed and incoherent noises leave his lips. It takes a long time for Daiki’s mind to finally process what Akira had just said and when his brain.exe finally starts working again, Akira has run out of the room.
Really. Akira is just too much for his heart sometimes.