#mik dribble drabble

[mikaelcipher]

“what do you hate OR like most about your roomie?”

misumi flips the card around in his hand, humming to himself in thought. across the circle, kumon looks at him expectantly, knowing the answer will be about him.

it's a cute little homemade card game where they all just wrote down questions and depending on who the (plastic coke) bottle lands on, they have to answer. this time, it's misumi's turn.

the question is simple!! if it were tenma and yuki, they would have a LOT to say about each other. if it were muku and kazunari, they would have a LOT to say about each other, but in a nicer sense! now, misumi, surprisingly, seems to be thinking deeply.

“which one?” he then asks, to everyone else's surprise.

“y'know,” kazunari tells him, “kumoppi? like, your roomie? you don't have other roomies do you?”

“i mean, yeah, we do!” misumi pipes up, turning to kumon with a grin. kumon, on the other hand, has eyes going wide.

“... uh, w- what do you mean, misumi-san? ah, tenma-san—”

“quit joking around!!” tenma interjects, one- no, two hands gripping onto kumon's jacket. “w-w-what are you saying you do? there's only two of you in there!!”

“nooo, we have a third roommate!” misumi says, brandishing three of his fingers. “they're a little shy but they've been there ever since i first moved in!”

“which was ages ago...” yuki notes.

“a- ah, yeah... misumi-san tells me about them, but i've never seen them!!” kumon says, looking earnestly sincere. “apparently, they didn't show much presence since i moved in but got a bit more active once they got used to me!!”

“wait, i'm confused, huh?” kazunari looks between misumi and kumon. “a third roomie?”

“yeah, we're triangular roommates!!”

“c- could it be... a- are you talking about a ghost?” muku guesses, to which tenma shrieks.

“there's no damn way!!” he claims, “w- why the hell are we just finding out about this now and since when!? and that's just not true, there's no way!!”

“yes, way!” kumon says, turning to tenma with determination to convince him. “sometimes, my stuff goes missing and i just know it's them pulling pranks on me and taking my things!”

“isn't it possible that that's just you misplacing things?” yuki says, avoiding the way tenma tries to grab onto him next when tenma realizes kumon isn't going to protect him from this ghost they're talking about.

“sometimes, the ghost takes our triangles, and sometimes brings us new ones too,” misumi adds on, “also turns lights on and off, opens the door, unlocks it too, tips things over—”

“is it a ghost cat?” yuki raises an eyebrow.

muku leans into his ear. “can ghost cats open doors?”

“they can if you believe hard enough,” yuki responds.

“that's like... totes scary though. you two aren't scared?” asks kazunari.

“at first, yeah!!” kumon nods. “but eventually, i got used to it too!! i think maybe they were as scared of me as i was of them!”

“they welcomed me from the start~ so nope, not scared at all! △△△”

“did you-” kazunari starts but stops himself, “nevermind! ☆”

“ ? ” muku makes a worried expression. “oh no... i feel bad for the ghost. they've been here for such a long time and we haven't acknowledged them at all...”

“it's fine by them, i think!! but if you wanna meet them, we can ask them in advance and let you know if they wanna talk!” misumi says with a grin.

“only misumi-san can see and hear them though,” kumon says.

“isn't this story familiar?” asks yuki, “wait...”

“that's enough!! i swear, this prank has gone on long enough! there's no way ghosts are real!”

yuki snorts. “you're trembling, though.”

“tenten, be nice!” kazunari says, “the ghost is afraid of people!!”

“I'M MORE AFRAID OF IT THAN—”

“go to sleep.”

... sakyo stands in the doorway to the living room, where they were all settled playing their game under dim lights. he's frowning, arms crossed, in his nightwear. the group apologizes before asking to stay up a bit more just to clean up and Sakyo sighs and lets them. misumi grins.

“i do like something about them, though.

“... sometimes, they say they would visit all of you too, when it's sure you cannot see them, in the morning at two...”

tenma shrieks and they're not allowed another slumber party until sakyo forgets in a month or so.

[mikaelcipher]

“Utsuki.”

He blinks. Once. Twice. And then responds with slight surprise, “Tasuku. Isn't it late?”

“That's what I meant to tell you. I just finished grabbing a drink of water, so I'm heading back to my room.” Tasuku looks him up and down, taking in his business attire and his briefcase, where his laptop is kept. “Overtime?” he guesses.

“Mhm.” Chikage nods, leaving his shoes at the door.

“... Would you like me to carry you?”

“Huh?”

“...”

They stare at each other for a good long minute until Chikage realizes that Tasuku is serious. “Is it because—...” That one time he joked about letting Tasuku carry him? “I wasn't serious at that time, you know.”

“Still, you're probably very tired, right?”

In the darkness of the singular light in the living room, it's hard to tell whether Tasuku is wearing a sincere expression or what. “I'm not that tired,” Chikage tells him but despite that, he does bring his briefcase close to his chest. “But if you insist.”

And he meant to joke about that too but somehow, he's in Tasuku's arms, being carried through the halls of the dorm. He wasn't sure what to expect at first, maybe for Tasuku to throw him over his shoulder or to carry him on his back but — a bridal carry? Really?

They're both mostly quiet as Tasuku makes the short trip from the living room to Chikage's shared room with Chigasaki. It's an odd situation, he thinks... It's strangely calming. Usually, when his feet are off the ground, he wouldn't feel very safe.

It's a trip too short when Chikage's back on his feet again.

“See you tomorrow, Utsuki,” Tasuku says and Chikage doesn't make it show that his mind has wandered.

“Yes, thank you, Tasuku. I should make jokes like these more often if it means you'll give in to my whimsies.” He smiles a little.

“Give in to your whimsies?” echoes Tasuku, confused. “You just have to ask, really. If you want me to carry you to bed again tomorrow, just let me know.”

“... That won't be necessary, thank you.”

“Alright, well... Goodnight, Utsuki.”

“Goodnight, Tasuku.”

Maybe he'll go overtime again tomorrow.