NO. 1 PARTY ANTHEM feat. MYDEIMOS [1/3]
it’s difficult trying to juggle your college life, a minimum wage cafe job, and the emotional chaos of falling a little bit in love with people you definitely shouldn’t be falling for: the guy who takes the same train as you every morning without fail, the golden-retriever boy with a pretty smile who keeps on buying coffee just to talk to you, and your sarcastic nerd of a roommate who “swears he could care less about your wellbeing” (he is in fact lying).
it’s fine, right? you’re totally fine.
(yeah, no. you are absolutely not.)
other parts: phainon and anaxa (to be added)
content: female reader, modern + college au, reverse harem trope, fluff, hurt/comfort & crack overload, mydei is balls deep in love with you (all three of them Highkey are), reader gets harassed by a weird customer in phainon’s part and has a panic attack, mentions of reader being sick and experiencing the canon event of burnout in anaxa’s, reader overall struggles with the College Experience™ but gradually learns how to navigate it, very self-indulgent and based off of my personal experiences
author’s note: ignore how my most recent fic was posted MOONTHS AGO. im back!! with a newfound love for amphoreus (clearly). i had so much fun writing this hehe <3 my love for these 3 silly little guys is insane. this is just mydei's part and i will post phainon's and anaxa's segment soon so stay tuned!! think of this as a pilot episode if you will :3
wc: 3.5k
masterlist
MYDEI – COMMUTE BUDDIES (OR MAYBE … MORE) ?!
there’s this guy you always see on the train every morning, and it doesn’t take long for you to find out that you both go to the same school. he’s quiet and kind of unfairly attractive and you’re totally normal about it. except–spoiler alert–you’re not. like, at all. (but neither is he!)
You always catch the 7:00 train. Sharp.
At least, on the days when you’re not scrambling out of bed and throwing on the most presentable outfit your closet has to offer, with approximately three minutes to spare before you miss the last early train and get stuck in the disaster known as rush hour. Thankfully, days like that haven’t been coming too often for you lately.
It’s always been the 7:00 one. Always the same train car, and sometimes even the same seat—if it’s vacant. Any train earlier than that gets you to campus way too early. Any later and you’re stuck in a shitty crowded car with an onset headache to plague you for the rest of the morning, and that’s the very last thing you want.
The thing about your life lately is that it has you in a damn frenzy most of the time. And weirdly enough, it's routines like this—even something as simple as setting a designated seat for yourself—that keep you sane. A little pocket of normalcy that you think is nice, because it's familiar, and something to expect.
And then there’s him.
You’ve seen him every morning for weeks now, down to the same train car, even. You’ve seen people from your campus come and go on the 7:00 train, but he’s always in the same one as you. Or at least, most of the time. You almost expect him to be here nowadays (for no particular reason–it’s not like he’s really pretty or anything), and get a little bit disappointed whenever he’s not. He always has that quiet energy to him–hood up, headphones in, and leaning slightly against the window with a huge duffel bag in between his legs that you’re pretty sure would kill you if you ever had to carry it across campus.
He doesn’t talk. You sometimes wonder what he’s listening to, but never dare to actually ask. Other times, you see him doomscrolling on his phone and laughing (at what, you don’t even want to know—Instagram reels are becoming extremely questionable nowadays), yet you feel yourself unconsciously smiling too.
You swear you’re not a stalker. He’s just a friend crush (that’s definitely all there is to it), and you’re just extremely observant.
You’re not totally sure when you realized that you both go to the same school, but one day, you noticed him get off the same stop as you, and watched him disappear into the general direction of your campus building. Now, it just feels like common knowledge. Of course you go to the same school as him. Of course he almost always takes the same train as you. He’s practically a part of your morning routine at this point, which is… weird. But oddly comforting, in a way. You’ve never actually spoken to each other, but you’ve noticed how he glances up at you whenever you board. Just once, brief and subtle. It makes you wonder if he recognizes you, too.
It gets to a point where it starts feeling less of a coincidence and more like a pattern that you’ve started to look forward to.
The day that you finally talk to him for the first time, it’s raining.
You stayed up far too late finishing a paper that’s already past due, and it shows–everyone on board could see that you’re only running on fumes. You manage to sit down onto the nearest seat with heavy eyes, pulling your hood down with splatters of rainwater all over it. With your earbuds loosely in, you don’t even have the energy to check if he’s on the train, and just let the sound of the rain pitter-pattering against the window gently lull you to sleep.
You fall into a dreamless slumber for the entire train ride. You don’t notice the train eventually slowing at your campus stop. Don’t notice the other students gathering their things, already making their way to leave.
Oh, but Mydei does.
Ever since you stepped on the train this morning, he’s been a little bit concerned for you. You didn’t even stare out the window like you usually do. Didn’t spare a second glance at your phone, or bother to look in his direction at all. You just closed your eyes and slept like you hadn’t in days (and judging by the way you practically melted in your seat the second you had the chance, maybe he was right).
So when he glances over his shoulder, just as he’s about to leave, and still sees you completely knocked out?
He freezes. And then almost lets out a laugh, not because it’s funny (well, maybe it is a little funny), but because he’d never truly admit it out loud, but you looked a little… cute like that. Which is not a thought he should be having about a complete stranger that he’s never even talked to. What the hell is wrong with him?
The train jerks, and the doors begin to open, and Mydei realizes he needs to act fast–both for his sake and yours. He steps toward you quickly, traversing everyone that’s still shuffling out the doors, and hesitates for only a fraction of a second before gently tapping your shoulder. “Hey.”
Nothing. He’s almost amused. You sleep like a rock.
So he tries again, tapping a little more incessantly this time as the speaker overhead begins to announce the next station, which is in a completely different city from your campus location… so Mydei’s growing concern starts to become a little bit more warranted. Taking the train back was not about to be a part of his morning, and he’s certain that you don’t want it to be a part of yours, too. “Hey, this is our stop.”
He almost considers shaking you awake, but your eyes finally flutter open, just in time. You blink repeatedly to try and ground yourself. “...Huh?”
“You’re gonna miss the station,” says the mysterious guy standing over you. He almost… looks a little familiar. If only you could see. “Come on.”
Your vision begins to clear, albeit still fogged with exhaustion. He’s… tall, blonde, and wearing a dark hoodie. He also has a nice voice. And he’s kind of–
Wait.
Wait a minute.
You finally register who’s standing in front of you.
Holy shit. Did I die? Is this heaven?
You don’t actually say that out loud, by some miracle. He’s even more attractive when you’re not staring at him from across the train car, and better yet, he’s right in front of you. It’s certainly a pretty sight–there’s warmth in his voice, the same calmness in his expression, and your wildly beating heart is still trying to figure out why he’s talking to you, of all people.
And then—all of a sudden—his words finally catch up to you, and so does the terrifying realization that the train is still very much at your stop, and it will not wait for you to finish gawking at the man in front of you like he’s some sort of eye-candy (well, he certainly is—but that’s besides the point).
“Shit–” you say, immediately getting up on your feet and grabbing your bag from the floor, avoiding the questionable gazes of the other passengers. You hear him laugh beside you, and that’s when you decide that even if you aren’t a dead man yet, you’re certainly about to meet your end now. “Holy shit–thank you so much,”
You step off the train with him in a daze, just barely missing the doors closing behind you. The rain’s stopped, and you heavily consider jumping off the station, or maybe even lying down on the tracks. Any plan works, so long as you never resurface on Earth ever again.
You don’t know what to say as you gradually regain your composure, and you almost want the ground to swallow you whole at this point.
But then he looks over as you both start walking across the platform towards campus, and finally breaks the unbearable silence. “You looked so comfortable, I almost didn’t wake you.”
You blink up at him, face caught somewhere between amusement and lingering embarrassment. “You really considered leaving me behind? It’s a pain in the ass to get all the way back here.”
“I know. And I thought about it,” he says with a genuine straight face, so deadpan that you almost do a double-take. For a moment, it seemed like he wasn’t joking, but the way his eyes soften–just so very slightly–says otherwise. “But then I figured I’d save you all the trouble, you know? You looked like you had enough going on.”
His words make you laugh, startling you with how easily it comes out. You can’t help it. He’s funny, in an almost unintentional way, and suddenly, he doesn’t feel so distant anymore. He lets out a small smile too, just barely, and there’s a strange warmth blooming in your chest. It’s almost like his gaze (which holds something akin to that of the sun), is slowly cracking through the clouds and deciding to settle there, right under the crevices of your ribcage.
It feels… nice.
“Seriously, though,” you mumble, a little quieter this time. “Thanks. For waking me up. I, uh–didn’t catch your name?”
“Mydei,” he says, and maybe it’s the way he says it, or maybe even the way he’s looking at you–like you’re familiar to him–it makes you feel like a little kid getting their favorite toy on Christmas Day. You say your name in return, and he nods, repeating it under his breath as if he were already familiarizing himself with it. Absolutely priceless. “I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess?”
You pause at that. You weren’t even sure if he’d noticed you after all this time. But now? He’s looking directly at you and waiting, like this little routine of yours was something you really did share this entire time, and it’s something to expect for both of you now. “Yeah, of course. See you tomorrow.”
And for the first time since you started taking the 7:00 train, you’re actually looking forward to it.
It’s silly, maybe. But that’s where it all begins, your little friendship with Mydei, and it's also when things start to change. Your designated seat shifts to the one right next to his. He starts saving it with his duffle bag before you finally board the train, and it becomes another part of your routine that neither of you has to talk about. And you also never miss the way his eyes light up when he sees you every morning, like you’re the one piece of the day that he’s been waiting for.
With Mydei, there’s never any pressure to fill the space with words–the silence is actually something you find comfort in. Some days, you talk the whole ride to campus about anything and everything, until, much to your dismay, you have to part ways for class (those are the days you love the most). On other days, you rarely talk at all. Instead, you exchange a few words and sooner or later find yourself asleep right next to him, while he makes sure that you don’t miss your stop (like what almost happened before).
But that never happens anymore. Not when you’re with him.
And then there’s the day it happens–the day you’re running on 2 hours of sleep again (unfortunately, days like that have been finding you more often recently, regardless of how much you try and take care of yourself), a vending machine granola bar, and a prayer that you’ll actually make it home without collapsing.
It’s past 8 p.m. when you finally drag yourself onto the train.
The fluorescent lights faintly hum overhead, and the seats are half-empty. It’s currently the awkward in-between hour, but you’re just glad that the evening rush period is winding down, and you’re granted a little bit of peace. Your bag feels far heavier than it should be, your hoodie’s too thin, and for a second, you seriously consider lying down on the seats. Thankfully, the sanitation risks of doing that, as well as your remaining decorum, both outweigh just how tired you are.
For a moment, you’re too tired to scan your surroundings. Your body moves on autopilot–one step after the other–and you don’t even register the familiar tuft of blonde hair sitting in the corner until he lifts his head. “Mydei?”
He blinks. Then, lets out a smile–soft and easy, and you think that sight is perhaps the only good thing to come out of today. You rarely ever see Mydei on the train back from campus, since you have conflicting schedules that never overlap with each other. Sometimes, you work overtime at the cafe if you ever need extra money. On other days—days that you literally have to pray for, your roommate Anaxa graciously offers you a ride home whenever the damn stars align and his schedule allows it (although it rarely does, much to your chagrin). And finally, there are days—grueling days like today, when there are far too many things to do after classes, even though there’s nothing more you want to do than go home.
You think that seeing him for the second time today is exactly what you needed right now. Like for once, the universe had finally granted you a cosmic favor.
“Oh. Hey,” he says, and he moves his duffle bag to make room for you, just like what he always does in the mornings. “Didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Me too,” you mumble, sitting down next to him with a huff. You rub your eyes, which are already thick with exhaustion, and the familiar tiredness almost feels verbatim to that one day when he woke you up. At least the chair gives you a little bit of respite. And his presence–steady and familiar–does more to ground you than you expect. “What’re you doing out this late?”
“Just finished up at the gym,” he replies coolly, and you notice the way his hair is still slightly damp and smells slightly of cedarwood shampoo, clean and warm and way too good for your current mental state. (He’s swapped out his usual hoodie for a black compression shirt, and… Okay. How the hell is he not more popular with the girls?)
You’re no fool, you wish you could ogle a bit more at the way that tight shirt hugs his muscles for a little bit longer, if only you weren’t running on sheer willpower right now. But still, you make the effort to stay awake. All so you could talk to him. “What about you?”
“Stayed after class. Had to finish a project, and time got away from me.” He nods at your words, doing a once-over at your appearance. It’s not in a judgemental way, it’s never judgemental with Mydei–it’s just in that quiet, observant way that he always seems to do things.
The train car hums. You notice that you’re not exactly brushing arms with him, but your hoodie sleeve is close enough that it’s touching his whenever the train bumps. The proximity is enough for you to feel safe. Familiar.
“You okay?” he asks after a beat, a little quieter this time. “You… need to learn to take care of yourself better.”
“I know,” you say, and you certainly do. And that’s the thing. It’s hard to take care of yourself when you’re simultaneously learning how to juggle fifty things at once, when at most, you were only ever equipped to juggle five. But it’s also challenges like these that help you grow a little more as a person. You’re trying. Even when it feels like you’re on your wits' end sometimes, like how tonight has you, you’re still trying your best. And hopefully, it’ll all pay off someday. “I just haven’t been able to sleep much. I’ll be okay.”
Mydei doesn’t push it. He just shifts slightly, letting his shoulder tilt a little towards you as if it were a silent offer. You glance at him, and he doesn’t look back, but you know that he sees you anyway. Really sees you, even though this entire day, you‘ve been feeling nothing more than completely see-through.
You two fall into silence after that, his soft, quiet breathing filling your senses. It’s familiar—the one you’re used to with Mydei, the kind of silence you get when you’re too tired to talk, but want to be there for each other anyway. And it's enough for both of you. It always has been.
You’re not exactly sure when your eyes flutter shut, but at some point in the train ride, the world feels a little fuzzier and a little quieter. The culmination of everything exhausting you’ve felt today finally hits you all at once, and you can’t help but fall asleep.
Then it happens–somewhere in your unconsciousness, your head tips to the side and lands softly against his shoulder.
And he freezes.
You don’t see it–how his breath hitches, how his jaw tenses and then quickly softens. How he’s afraid to move a single inch, in fear that he’ll wake you. How he swallows hard, like maybe if he pretends to be calm, he can stop his heart from racing. But damn, it’s racing like hell, and he’s anything but calm.
Because here’s the thing: If you’ve started falling for Mydei after all those shared mornings with him, he’s already a step ahead because he’s definitely fallen harder. He’s had a teensy little crush on you… for a while. It’s the easy, slow kind—the kind where you’ve begun to bury a little hole in his heart, and he doesn’t notice until you've already sunk your teeth in and he’s too far gone to just back out. You’ve carved such a special place within him without even trying… and now he’s got you asleep on his shoulder, like it’s nothing?
And maybe to you, it truly is nothing. But to him? It feels like everything right now, and more.
He has one hand hesitating in the air before carefully resting it on the seat behind you–not quite touching (no matter how much he wants to put his arm around your shoulder), but enough to shield you if the train ever sways. He’s so careful with you. Like you’ll break if he does something wrong. Like this moment matters, and that it’s far more than just you being exhausted. A part of his mind is trying to convince him that this was purely accidental, and that you didn’t mean to fall asleep on his shoulder. But then another part of him says that you trust him enough to be in this close proximity with him, regardless of whether you meant to do that or not.
And yet, he can’t help but take this opportunity to really look at you—as if you hung the stars yourself, because he knows that he’ll keep looking at you that way, even if you didn’t mean to do any of this. Even if you don’t know just exactly what you’re doing to him.
And then you shift.
You nuzzle in a little closer, nose brushing the edge of his sleeve, and mumble something into his shirt that sounds a little something like, “...You’re really comfy.”
Fuck.
Mydei literally forgets how to breathe.
Because now, his suspicions were just confirmed–this was, in fact, not accidental, and he doesn’t know how long he can keep pretending that this is all casual to him anymore. Because this is anything but casual. You mean something to him, and that something is deep, even though he's only known you through these shared mornings and train rides. Moments like these are so simple, yet he wouldn’t trade them for the world.
And this is also the moment where he has his second realization: He needs to tell you how he feels, and soon, before he completely loses it. Before being your shoulder rest on the train is the closest thing he ever gets to holding you. To ever being truly yours.
Because if this keeps happening—and you keep looking at him the way you do, keep dozing off against him like this, mumbling half-asleep about how comfy he is to lie on…
Yeah, he’s gonna be a complete goner.
And the worst part? Mydei doesn’t think he minds all too much.
