IshiMondo Collection

‣ starry night

NOTE: this story is a sequel to my multi-chapter fic, "with a little
help from my friends". it will make more sense if you read that first!

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Mondo had wondered just what his boyfriend was up to, but he hadn't expected what he found.

Kiyotaka fell with an awkward squeak when he heard his dorm room door open, landing flat on the mattress of his bed. Mondo took a moment to stare at the ceiling and blink in surprise.

"You're supposed to knock," the prefect chided as he pulled himself up. His face was nearly as red as his eyes. Mondo chuckled self-consciously.

"S-sorry. You weren't responding to my text messages. I thought maybe somethin' happened..."

He hadn't removed his gaze from the ceiling, and Kiyotaka gulped. Mondo looked down as he heard the smaller boy pat the mattress beside him. He smiled, and then leapt onto the bed, sending Kiyotaka into the air for a brief moment.

As usual, he propped his head up on an elbow and laid on his side. He waited for Kiyotaka to start talking, as he usually did about now.

Being so busy with schoolwork, and seeing as they saw each other just about every day, the two had hardly had any real "dates". They did, however, make a point of meeting like this every night, of spending their last hour or so of the day with one another, just cuddling and talking about whatever had happened that day, or politics, or dogs, or motorcycles, or anything, really.

Being together was easy. Spending time together was simple and comforting and fun. They didn't need all the niceties and candlelight dinners that other couples did.

Tonight, however, Kiyotaka was quiet, and his gaze kept flickering back up to the ceiling. Mondo sighed and reached forward to ruffle his hair, gesturing upwards with his eyes.

"So, uh... Any particular reason ya stuck glow-in-the-dark stars to yer ceiling?"

"Eep," Kiyotaka said. Or, he didn't say that, but it sounded like it.

Mondo remembered having glow stars in his room, but he'd been ten at the time. It was a bit unusual for a teenager, especially one as academically serious as Kiyotaka. He had them in many sizes and sprawled all over, as if he was trying to replicate the sky. As best one could with little pieces of plastic, anyway.

"...It's silly," the red-eyed boy finally said after a short silence. Mondo made a noise somewhere between a laugh and a sigh. It was probably both. Even when he was being frustrating, Kiyotaka was endearing.

"C'mon, you can tell me. I won't laugh," the biker insisted.

I'll probably think it's cute.

Kiyotaka sighed, stretching his arms out and not noticing that one of them smacked against the side of Mondo's head. He didn't say anything. Collisions between the two of them were much less common now that Mondo no longer sported a bulky pompadour, but Kiyotaka was generally unconcerned with personal space.

It was intimate, in a way. They touched each other often, even when they did not intend to, like the other person being in that space was as normal as breathing. Mondo wondered briefly if this was what it was like to be married, to so freely share space, and he quickly avoided the train of thought.

"Well, okay," Kiyotaka began, and Mondo shook his head to remind himself to pay attention. "You see, my home is small and old, and it's not in the center of the city. It's on the outskirts, where city meets forest, so there is not as much light pollution there. Sometimes, when I'm home, I like to sit on the roof and look at the stars."