The School Idol's Roommate [BL]

Sleepover (2)

As Aki scurried to the door, he mentally checked if everything was in order. He cleaned and dusted every corner of the house before his friends' arrival. This way, he not only managed to get his mind off Liam but also made their house presentable. But he did take a long look over his shoulder as if he could spot a speck of dust from the living room all the way to the front door.

He wanted to laugh at himself for overthinking. And overreacting as he did for Liam's case. Liam. Pensive Liam. Aki sighed and opened the door and was assaulted by Zy's wide grin.

"Good evening," Drew said, who remained stiff and formal beside Zy.

Looking at them like this, Aki could still not believe that these two were dating. They looked exactly how they looked when they used to hang out together. What, where, when, why, and how did Drew fall for Zy? He could not quite wrap his head around that yet.

"Akiiiiiii. Your place is awesome!" Zy whispered, failing to conceal his excitement.

Aki met Drew's eyes who wore the same amuse expression as him. It was Drew who spoke of their thoughts.

"You haven't been on the inside yet."

Zy turned to him, eyes wide. "I know right. But it's just, you know..." He flailed and gesture wildly at the surroundings. "It's going to be awesome inside too."

The other two chuckled at him as Aki opened the door to let them in. The sharp intake of breath told him that Zy was just as taken by the inside as he was outside. Aki knew because he felt just like that when he first came here. He smiled to himself. The Aki back then would not be able to recognize the Aki right now.

Liam poked his head from the kitchen and greeted them in which Aki took the time to formally introduce his old friends to his roommate.

"I'm almost done here," Liam said.

Aki nodded in response as dread filled him again. He was dreading how this sleepover would turn out. What if they did not find anything to talk about or what if it would be nothing but dead air. He was their bridge so would they be expecting him to carry the conversation and be the lively and welcoming host he would never be?

He caught Liam's eyes which contained unspoken questions. He tried to brush the concerns away with a smile though he could tell how constricted that must have looked.

Once Liam was done, they all came to the table and drooled at the sight of the food. Aki waited until his friends took a bite and felt proud of the way they shoved one spoonful after another.

"This is so good!" Zy said. "Did you cook all these?"

Liam confirmed while Aki grinned beside him.

Zy made a face. "Ugh, Aki. Stop looking so smug. You're not the one who cooked these."

"I helped," Aki protested.

Zy rolled his eyes.

Silence. Something clenched in Aki's gut. This was what he was expecting. Should he say something now?

"So," Liam's voice cut through the silence and through Aki's thoughts that made him flinch. "I take it that the three of you are childhood friends?"

"Nope," Zy said. "It was just me and Aki. Then Drew transferred from the country when we were in high school."

Zy then launched to tell Liam about the tales of their teenage years, some Aki wished his roommate never heard of. But then he caught sight of Liam's smile, devoid of any sign of his recent moods and thought that telling those dark pasts might not be bad after all.

Drew, despite being the quietest among them, would fill in Zy's storytelling or offer another interesting misadventure for Zy to tell. Drew would get back to the sidelines, nodding and chuckling (because that was the most laugh anyone can get out of him).

Their topic veered off to the countryside as Liam shared that, unlike Drew, he transferred from the city to the country. With the unexpected commonality between them, Drew and Liam talked about the country with Aki and Zy as the eager audiences.

Their dinner ventured to more varied and lively topics and far from what Aki expected.