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“Sounds like you had a good first day.”
Ohta smiled and ducked his head, knowing it wouldn’t be noticed but unable to stop himself. He was sitting on a bench at a park in between his university and his apartment. He’d sent a message after his classes had finished, and the call back had come 15 minutes later. He’d been sitting there ever since, excitedly sharing everything that had happened.
“Yeah, though it’s not as interesting as yours.”
Tanaka laughed, the sound trickling over to him from across the ocean.
“You sound excited enough. Besides, I’d rather have the less interesting one.”
“I know, I know...How’re your classes going? I’ve only been talking about mine but you’re already close to the end of your first year.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me.
”
Ohta laughed happily, sitting back as he coaxed out how his boyfriend’s day went. It was another 30 minutes before they were saying goodbye.
“I have to go, I’m falling asleep.”
“Oh! Sorry, I didn’t mean to keep you up.”
“It’s okay, I like talking to you.”
Ohta smiled, standing up and stretching.
“I’m glad you do. Sleep well, dear.”
“I will, goodnight.”
Ohta put the phone back in his pocket as he hung up, picking up his bag as he made his way to his apartment. It was a short walk at this point, and Ohta was ready to get there and relax. He and Miyano had ended up going to the same culinary university, about half a day’s train ride away from their hometown. Over the three years of highschool the two had become close enough friends that sharing an apartment was an easy choice, though they both missed their partners.
As he opened the door and took his shoes off, he heard his friend chatting happily on the phone with Echizen. His childhood friend was taking a ‘gap year’, something Tanaka had told them about when it had been explained to him. Her family hadn’t been that happy with it, but they hadn’t really been happy when she’d said she was genderfluid, either. That had all added up to her sort of living with Ohta’s family for the last half of senior year and working to save up money for herself. She still wanted to go to college, but she said she had other things to do first. Miyano had tried to go along, but they’d all convinced her not to- she’d got stunning scores on the entrance exams and none of them, especially Echizen, wanted those to go to waste.
He was hanging his backpack on his desk chair in the middle room that was every room that wasn’t a bedroom, bathroom, or kitchen. The apartment had one small bedroom and office, a sitting room, a kitchen, and a bathroom. They’d converted the office into another bedroom, and so they were left to make the only room left function as everything. It wasn’t that hard, though, since the university had plenty of places to study or just hang out.
“Bye bye~! Come visit soon!”
Ohta looked over as Miyano skipped in, smiling at him.
“Hi! First day is done, we’re college students now!”
Ohta smiled, the small girl’s enthusiasm infectious.
“Yeah, guess we really are.”
“So, wanna go out to eat in celebration?”
“We don’t have any food here yet.”
“That too but we can still celebrate!”
Ohta grinned as Miyano dragged him to some restaurant she’d seen on her way home, chattering about how her classes had gone and the people she was already friends with that he ‘absolutely had to meet’. Ohta was happy to hear about her day, which was good because she managed to regale him with stories for the walk there and for the wait until they got their food.
They were eating quietly for a few moments before Ohta spoke.
“So how’s Echizen doing?”
Miyano swallowed the food she was eating then beamed at him.
“Great! She finished the course, so now she’s able to take actual jobs driving the trucks. She says she’ll have some downtime between shipments where she can explore wherever she’s stopped.”
“Oh, that’s good- so is that why you told her to visit?”
“Yeah! Well, I would have said it anyway, but this definitely makes it easier!”
Ohta nodded, swallowing another mouthful of food.
“Then we can cook her something nice whenever she comes into town.”
“Right!”
By the time they had finished they’d chatted about what they were looking forward to in college, places they should try for other dinners, and other small talk. It was cool when they were walking back, a companionable silence accompanying them.
There wasn’t much work to do the first day. Ohta mainly just reviewed some material then went to his room (the former office, though both ‘bedrooms’ were equally cramped). He was reading a book for a bit but stopped himself, glancing at his phone. It wasn’t too late, but for Tanaka it would be four in the morning. The blond sighed, another call would be out of the question. He settled with sending a text.
I miss you
He put the phone down and tried to get back to reading but couldn’t get back into without sending another.
I love you
He put the phone down with a gentle smile on his face, deciding to stretch his legs a bit and go do some grocery shopping so he wouldn’t have to buy lunch.
When Ohta woke up the next day he saw his phone blinking languidly, letting him know he’d gotten a text while he was asleep. He checked it and grinned, putting it back down and whistling as he got ready for another day.
Miss you too
Love you more