Chapter Text
“I brought you a coffee!”
The door slammed shut as Kaminari called out to him. His roommate had a brutal, two-hour linear algebra lecture at 8 AM on Thursdays that he never failed to complain about. That’s what you get for leaving course selection to the last possible minute, Shinsou guesses. Unlike Kaminari, the 8 AM lecture is Shinsou’s favourite of Kaminari’s classes. It means he gets to wake up to a quiet apartment and a cup of coffee from the cafe in the basement of the small art gallery next to campus. The boys had wound up in the gallery only a week and a half after the start of their first year while desperately searching for an anniversary gift for Kaminari’s parents. They discovered the little shop while there. The coffee was inexpensive and the lines were never long. It quickly became their regular spot.
For some reason Shinsou couldn’t understand, Kaminari had made it his personal mission to find all the menu items Shinsou actually liked. If it was up to him, he would stick with his regular black coffee, maybe with a splash of cream on occasion, but Kaminari wouldn’t hear of it. He was determined to make Shinsou try all sorts of sugary lattes and drinks that could barely be counted as coffee. Shinsou didn’t know exactly what his goal was, honestly.
It had started off alright because the menu wasn’t too extensive and they would be able to get through the full menu in a matter of 2 and a half months. That was, until the regular barista, Jirou, caught on. She regularly came up with new drink ideas for Shinsou to try, joining in on Kaminari’s expand-Shinsou’s-coffee-taste mission.
As much as he complained and rolled his eyes, he loved Kaminari’s laugh when his face crinkled up in disgust at Jirou’s latest coffee creation or his pleased smile when Shinsou admitted that the drink of the week wasn’t terrible.
Kaminari set the drink down next to Shinsou on their kitchen table.
“Here you go! Are you working on that research paper still? How’s it going?”
“Thanks. Yeah, I’m still working on it, almost done though. What revolting drink have you brought me today?”
Kaminari laughed, bright and exuberant as always.
God, I love his laugh.
“I actually think you’ll like this one!”
“You always say that, and I rarely do.”
“Come on, just try it!” Kaminari urged.
Shinsou gave an exaggerated sigh and took a sip. He blinked in surprise at the taste. It was cold, an iced coffee, Shinsou guessed, and it wasn’t too sweet. It definitely had some kind of cream or milk and there was another flavour there, something floral he couldn’t identify.
“Hm, it’s actually not terrible.”
“Well, that’s high praise coming from you!”
Shinsou glared at Kaminari and continued, “It’s similar to that vanilla sweet cream cold brew you like, but not so sweet and a little lighter. I don’t think it’s cream, maybe regular milk. And there’s a floral undertone.”
Denki nodded encouragingly. This was a little game they always ended up playing, Shinsou would try to get as close as possible to identifying the drink.
“I’m going to guess a cold brew with some kind of floral flavoured milk? I’m not super sure about this one.”
Kaminari was practically bouncing with excitement.
“Close, super close! So you’re right that it’s a cold brew with milk, but it’s almond milk, not regular milk! I’m impressed you picked up on the floral notes! Jirou made a special lavender simple syrup and added a little. I thought it was a weird combination, but it kinda works, right? So what's the consensus? How do you feel about this one?”
Shinsou took another sip, considering.
“I think you can add this to the safe list,” he admitted.
Kaminari lit up and punched the air.
“YES! I knew it!”
He bounded off in the direction of the front entrance to add it to the list. When they first started this little experiment, Kaminari tacked two sheets of paper onto their shared bulletin board in the entranceway, one titled Safe List, the other titled Shit List. He added a new drink to one of the lists every week.
The bulletin board had been Shinsou’s idea, a place, he told Kaminari, to put a shared calendar so they could plan around each other’s schedules. Really, he hoped having access to the calendar would ease his anxiety. He always got anxious if Kaminari was out of the apartment and he didn’t know where he’d gone or when he’d be back. His brain always decided to come up with the worst possible scenario and he feared Denki would find him too clingy if he was texting him to ask where he was every other day.
Eventually, the calendar fell into disuse, both because the pages of the safe and shit lists had covered it and because Kaminari texted Shinsou near constantly anyway. Shinsou quickly discovered that Denki would always answer his texts within ten minutes unless he was in the middle of a test or lab. Even then, he would often text Shinsou right before tests or labs to let him know why he wouldn’t be answering his phone for a while.
Shinsou could hear the pencil scratch on paper when Kaminari called out from the front, “Oh yeah! So I was thinking, after your psych lecture today, wanna study at the library together? I ran into Momo after class and she invited us. Mostly, I think she’s looking for an excuse to invite Jirou to something, honestly. Either way, I don’t understand determinants at all and I desperately need her help.”
“Yeah, okay sure. That’d be nice.”
“Great, I’ll text her and let her know!”
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Shinsou was practically wiped out by the time he got to the library. He had back to back physiology and psychology lectures on Thursday. He was always exhausted after.
He found his friend’s table easily, hearing Denki before seeing him. Shinsou trudged over to the group, immediately dropped his bag, and slumped into a chair.
Momo gave him a sympathetic smile and asked, “Long day?”
Shinsou just nodded and sat up to start taking his books out of his bag.
They studied together quietly for a while, Momo coaching Kaminari through sample problems and Jirou furiously typing on her laptop.
Shinsou was perfectly fine until he wasn’t.
It started as irritation at the incessant noise of pencils scratching. Then someone was chewing gum one table over, and it felt like they were doing it right beside his ear. He recognized the beginnings of sensory overload and shot to his feet to escape.
As soon as he was up, his friends’ eyes were all on him. He was shoving stuff into his bag when Jirou’s voice came questioningly.
“Shinsou?”
Shinsou flashed a pleading look to Denki whose eyes widened briefly in understanding.
“You’ve reached your social limit for today, huh? Alright, text me when you get to the apartment so I know you made it back safely, please?”
Shinsou nodded and disappeared out the door.
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Shinsou was grateful once again for their apartment’s proximity to the campus as he walked in the door. They’d been lucky to find this place, only able to afford it because they split the rent.
He poured himself a huge glass of water and drank it between deep breaths. Once he was a little calmer, he texted Kaminari to let him know he’d made it back alright, and to explain and say thanks.
Denki replied immediately, ever-reliable, to say that it’d been no problem and ask if he was alright.
Better now, Shinsou sent him in response.
Shinsou knew just how personally acquainted Kaminari was with sensory overload. It was a symptom of his ADHD, and having Denki explain it to him was the first time he’d ever been able to place a name on his experience.
They had a system. Usually, Denki would talk Shinsou down from panic attacks, and Shinsou would justify Denki’s sudden disappearances during parties. This was the first time in a while Denki had needed to explain Shinsou’s disappearance instead of the other way around.
Shinsou pulled himself from his thoughts and buckled down to finish his paper.
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The sun had set when Kaminari returned to the apartment, takeout bags in hand. Shinsou watched from the couch as he kicked off his shoes in the front entrance.
“Hey Toshi, I bought dinner. Wanna take a break and join me?”
“Of course. Thank you.”
Kaminari gave him one of his electric smiles and started to put the takeout containers on the table. Shinsou hopped up to take out some forks.
“Oh my god, did you go to the Vietnamese place?”
“Yeah!”
Shinsou fell into his seat and inhaled the scent of warm Bun Bo Nam Bo from this tiny, hole-in-the-wall spot. He and Kaminari had been obsessed with it since Jirou had taken them three months ago.
“Kami it takes half an hour to get there and back! You didn’t have to.”
“I know, but I wanted to. Besides, you can’t tell me it doesn’t make you feel better.”
“... it does.”
Kaminari pumped his fist.
“Yeah! Mission accomplished!”
Shinsou laughed a little at that. He reached across the table and grabbed Kaminari’s hand for a moment
“Thank you, Denki.”
“‘Course! Go on, dig in!”
With that, Kaminari launched into a story about how the city’s infamously narrow sidewalks and one particularly slow old woman had tacked an extra 10 minutes on to his trip.
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Shinsou woke up the next morning to the sounds of Kaminari climbing down the ladder to cook breakfast. Their apartment was, technically speaking, a studio apartment. It had a separate room for the bathroom, of course, and a partitioned space that Shinsou’s bed was tucked into, but otherwise, all the rooms were combined into one room. The small studio was all they could afford. They both relied on money from their respective minimum wage jobs, scholarships, and what little savings Kaminari’s parents had given him to pay for university. Luckily, they had a small loft space above their kitchen that was likely meant to be for storage, but it was also big enough for a bed to be tucked up there.
It had been a bone of contention between them, who would sleep where, when they’d first purchased their lease. The two self-sacrificial idiots that they were, they both claimed to want the loft. Eventually, they just gave up and rock-paper-scissored for it. The loser got the loft.
He’d never seen someone smile because they’d lost before Kaminari that day.
The condition was that they’d switch when they renewed the lease next year. Shinsou always felt incredibly lucky to be sharing an apartment with Denki, not only because it meant he could actually afford to complete the psych degree he’d always dreamed of, but because Denki was his favourite person on the planet. He’d never forget the day Kaminari asked him if he wanted to search for apartments together.
Shinsou had been taking the bus home from school when his phone had started buzzing frantically. He saw Denki’s name on the screen and frowned. He never called, always texted. Shinsou quickly picked up the phone.
“Kaminari-kun?”
“SHINSOU, SHINSOU I GOT IN! I GOT IN!”
“WHAT?!”
“YEAH, YEAH I JUST GOT THE EMAIL!”
“Holy shit, Kami! I’m so proud! You did it!”
“Hell yeah, I did!”
Shinsou had gotten accepted to Osaka University two weeks prior and had been waiting anxiously to hear from Kaminari about his acceptance.
The two boys lived in different cities; Shinsou in Kyoto and Kaminari in Nagoya. They had met years prior and built a long-distance friendship. And because fate said so, both of them had set their sights on Osaka University. They had tried not to get their hopes up too much, but the prospect of being able to see each other for more than a weekend every 2 months or so was admittedly exciting.
“Okay Kami, I’m on the bus. Can I call you back when I’m home? My phone’s about to die.”
“Oh shit, sorry I should’ve texted first, but I was so excited! Okay, bye! I gotta go tell my parents!”
Did that mean Kaminari had thought of him before his own parents? That thought made Shinsou's heart swell a little.
He plugged in his phone as soon as he was home. When it finally turned back on, a notification from Kaminari appeared on the screen.
It read, “Wanna get an apartment together?”
Shinsou didn’t bother replying, he just dialed Denki’s number. When Denki picked up, he said, “Yes, yes, yes. I really do.”
They were on the phone until nearly 3 AM that night, excitedly discussing their futures in the way only high school seniors can.
It had been the second-best day of Shinsou’s life.