The School Idol's Roommate [BL]

Hill (2)

Aki almost grabbed Liam, only to stop a few inches away from the other's arm. He had no right to keep Liam with him nor did he have any reason to prevent his roommate from talking with his ex.

But that did not stop him from feeling animosity towards her.

Zy elbowed him, and Aki ignored his friend, not wanting to see the question or realization that Zy might have on his face. Aki trudged towards a makeshift bench, facing Liam and Nancy, as he stared out at the town below them. He tried to tune out their voices yet he kept on hearing her irritating giggles. Liam's serious appreciation of her work did not help either.

Aki huffed and focused on the view below them instead.

"Did I make things awkward between you and Liam?"

Aki flinched. He did not realize that Zy had already settled beside him. When he did not respond, Zy dropped his head low.

"Sorry," he whispered. He gazed off into space, and Aki did the same until Zy spoke again. "I've been turning over Drew's words in my mind."

Zy sounded miserable -- something Aki never thought he would hear from his friend. It prompted him to ask the question that had been nagging at the back of his mind. "What really happened?"

"I might have overreacted," Zy smiled sheepishly, then proceeded to tell what happened.

The two of them had agreed to have a date, and Zy had been looking forward to that. But Drew canceled at the last minute because he still had things to do. It was okay at first since it was not the first time that Drew did that.

On the fifth time that Drew canceled their date, Zy had an unexpected free time so he thought of visiting Drew in his department. Despite living together, his boyfriend kept on going home late and leaving early. Zy went to Drew's class after they finished only to see him hanging out with a girl. She was an older student from what Zy could gather.

He did not think much about her until he kept on seeing them together around the campus. Even on the rare occasion that Zy and Drew are together, the girl would drop by and chat with Drew. At one point she said something along the lines about thanking Drew for lunch.

Zy went on and asked Drew about her. "I only meant to ask, okay. Not interrogate him."

But Zy being Zy, wanted to know every detail so he asked a lot of things which perhaps, grated Drew's nerves. "Until he just... exploded," he said as he splayed his hands in front of him.

"The problem with you is that you think the world revolves around you! You expect people to function around your whims!" Drew had said.

With this outburst, Zy got heated up too and told Drew that maybe he really was cheating that was why he got so defensive. They threw hurtful words with each other until finally, the truth came out.

"I asked her to help me with my paper because if I don't, I'll have to repeat this class! If I don't pass then I won't be able to take the required class after that. If I can't do that then I won't graduate on time. If I don't graduate on time, there would be another addition to my loan! God knows when I will be able to pay all of my debt!" Drew pushed a hand up to his hair and smirked at Zy's shocked face. "Of course you didn't know that. You never bothered. You asked if I want a break-up, then yes. Let's do that."

Zy sniffled as he finished recounting their argument. "Do you think..."

Aki sighed. He guessed sugar-coating his words would not help right now. "Honestly? I'm with Drew in this one."

Zy shut his eyes and nodded. "Thank you. I needed honesty right now." Then he turned to face Aki. "I guess you spoiled me too much Aki. Thank you for putting up with me."

Aki drew out a long breath. "I'm not a good friend either. I should have nagged you till I ripped your ears off."

Aki watched the misery on his friend's face and realized how much of a coward he was. He was afraid that Zy would hate him so he never tried to raise an argument against his friend. He had a part in turning Zy like this. If Aki was a real friend, he should have been more honest and let his friend know he was wrong and not try to shield him.

In choosing to cocoon Zy, Aki hurt Liam too. And that was the worst thing he had done.