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Gaku knocks on Takumi’s door once, twice, then another five times just to be sure, annoyance building with each knock. It’s not like he didn’t expect this—of course Takumi would prioritize sleep over his good friend Gaku—but it still pisses him off. “Hey!” he yells. “Open up!”
It takes a few minutes of knocking nonstop, but Takumi finally opens the door, visibly blinking sleep out of his eyes. That plus the blanket wrapped around him paint a pretty clear picture—he definitely wasn’t awake before now. Even though he and Gaku had breakfast plans together. “Freaking finally. Y’know, if this is how you want to have your debt paid off, the least you could do is be awake to let me in!”
Takumi grumbles incoherently as he lets Gaku in, but he’s right. Sure, Takumi had done him a major solid by letting him copy his homework. He probably would’ve flunked out of calc 2 without that (and Takumi’s handwriting had been weirdly neat to boot, which had made it easier TO copy). And sure, Gaku had been the one to insist on paying him back. If there’s anything he hates more than rich assholes who soak up the rewards without deserving it, it’s debt, so of course he’s not going to let that just hang over his head unpaid. Takumi had rolled his eyes, sure, but with a little prodding, he had let slip something Gaku could do to make it up to him—make him breakfast.
(Honestly, that was better for him. Less work than the alternative—which is just giving Takumi a big blowout birthday party when the time rolls around. Now, he can relax and just give Takumi a regular blowout birthday party with only some of the frills—the ones he can get on sale.)
He beelines to Takumi’s kitchen to get to work—and judging by Takumi’s current state, first thing to do is make coffee for the both of them. Takumi can’t appreciate his five-star home cooking half asleep, after all. “How do you take your coffee?” Gaku asks as he opens Takumi’s shelves.
“Instant with creamer,” Takumi yawns. “I’m not picky as long as it wakes me up.”
Gaku looks down at the counter only to do a double-take. “Hey, you live alone, right?”
Takumi blinks sleepily at him. “Yeah, why?”
Gaku glares down at the extremely fancy espresso machine taking up half the counter space. “Why do you have a luxury coffee machine if you only do instant?”
Takumi just shrugs, as though it’s perfectly normal. “I dunno. Maybe it came with the apartment? Like the last tenant left it and now it’s mine.”
There’s no way that’s right. If Gaku had a fancy coffee machine and had to ditch it while moving, he’d make sure to pawn it first. He could make, what? 200$ from that? There’s no way he’d ever pass that up. This stupid world’s not fair, he thinks as he gets started, coffee machine almost glaring at him. He can almost hear it calling him too much of a wage-slave to even think of ever being able to afford it, talking in an infuriatingly posh voice.
That’s it—if Takumi isn’t using it, then he’s taking and selling it. Unfortunately, though, he can’t just spend all morning beefing with a coffee machine. Time to check the real damage—how little ingredients is he working with here? He’s watched plenty of Chopped reruns with his siblings—he’s pretty sure he can pull out a miracle with some weird ingredients—but he needs to know just how little Takumi’s giving him to work with—
Only for him to open the refrigerator and find his worries ill-founded. Honestly, they feel kinda stupid now. Takumi’s fridge, against all odds, is stacked. Gaku has worked for restaurants with sparser fridges than this—and that was comparing an industrial fridge to this dinky normal one! Yeah, whatever Gaku could possibly want to make Takumi to pay off his debt is in reach. There’s a ton here to work with—eggs, bacon, potatoes, foie gras…some very neatly packed sandwiches…is that arsenic?
He slowly turns to Takumi. “Dude, why is all of this weird stuff in your fridge?”
Takumi shrugs again, not at all concerned as his blanket falls to the floor. “I dunno. It was like that when I opened it yesterday.”
…What the hell kind of answer is that? “How is stuff getting in there that you don’t know about?”
Despite how blatantly weird this is, Takumi looks unbothered. “It just sort of fills itself. I pin up a list, and then within a week, more food fills in there. Kind of like when you’re a kid.”
Gaku just stares at him. That…is not how anything works. When HE was a kid, he had to help unload the groceries and clip coupons-hell, he still does that now! It’d be a miracle if the fridge just stocked itself, but that’s not how anything works. …For his sanity and to keep from strangling Takumi out of jealousy, he’s just going to assume he’s lying and autopilots in the grocery store so hard he doesn’t remember even going. …Which means he’s not tuned into the world of coupons and savings, but dragging Takumi into that can wait. For now, he just focuses on making Takumi the best damn breakfast he can.
They finally get to eat, and for a moment, Gaku kicks back. Moments like these are what he lives for. Seeing the satisfied smile on someone’s face that he put there is the best feeling in the world. It’s one money can’t buy…though it sure helps. He’d never say no to it, he takes tips, but who can blame him. Cooking breakfast with that many options always feels good. Judging by the contented look on Takumi’s face, he agrees.
Though…huh. There’s something off about him. “Hey, where’d the blanket go?” It isn’t on Takumi, and it’s not on the floor. Takumi didn’t leave while he cooked, either.
Takumi just blinks at him. “Really? You’re worried about that? From Mr. I-don’t-clean-my-room-ever?”
“Hey-that’s how I can notice that. Besides, you’re not any more organized than I am. You’re not better than me, so how the hell is this place so clean?”
Takumi just sighs. “This place cleans itself. I don’t know why yours doesn’t. Maybe because you complain so much.”
There’s no way he heard that right. “Sorry, what?”
Takumi shrugs calmly. “My bed makes itself. When I come back to it after getting up, it’s nice and clean. Haven’t had to vacuum there for months. Just like when I was a kid…I thought that was normal?”
It’d be nice if that were the case and Gaku could spend that time kicking back…which is how he knows it’s not. “Gimme a sec,” he says, before going to check if what Takumi’s saying is true. It’d normally be weird to go into another guy’s room, but it’s for science, so it’s normal. …The room itself isn’t, though. It’s clean-too clean. This kind of cleanliness never lasts back home for more than an hour or two-any living in it would disrupt it. Weirdest, though, is the bed itself—the blanket Takumi was wearing this morning is neatly tucked beneath another comforter and the pillows on the bed.
Uneasiness spreads through him. Takumi didn’t leave the kitchen since he got here—he wouldn’t have time to do all this. There’s no way Takumi put it there, and Gaku himself not only wouldn’t for free, but couldn’t either. Which means…
Well, at the very least, it means Gaku needs to get out of here. He knows he has a terminal case of “dies first in a horror movie”, and that means whenever weird shit is happening, don’t be alone and get out of there.
He slinks back to the kitchen, taking a deep breath before he reports back to Takumi. “Dude, something really weird is going on here. Either you’ve got a very helpful stalker, or you’re being haunted.”
Four days worth of chanting, a lot of incense burnt, and a few anti-ghost mix tapes made and Gaku can say with proud albeit tired certainty that there’s no more ghosts in Takumi’s apartment. He even leaves the leftover incense at Takumi’s place just in case. …Unfortunately, though, that sense of triumph lasts for maybe a day. The next morning, Takumi texts him around 11 that his bed made itself again. God damn it. Plus, the jerk had the audacity to say maybe it does that because he’s pure of heart enough to deserve it!
Just for that, Gaku’s tempted to just leave Takumi to it, but…that stupid sense of responsibility kicks in again. Just as it won’t let him ditch his shift without cleaning his station first, it won’t let him just abandon Takumi to get murdered by some crazy stalker. …Besides, if there’s some horror movie situation brewing, it’s definitely gonna kill him before Takumi. Stopping it early on is just self-preservation.
And the way he’s gonna do that is simple. It takes a few days of bartering and stalking Craigslist, but eventually he gets 3-4 trail cameras, which he sets up in Takumi’s apartment so they can catch whoever’s there in the act.
That doesn’t keep Takumi from giving him weird looks as he mounts one on his bedroom wall, though. “So…let me get this straight,” he starts. “Your solution to having creeps watching me in my apartment is…to install cameras in it.”
He screws in another screw. “Yeah—so we can catch those creeps and make them stop!”
Takumi just stares at him, and the problem slowly dawns on him. “Are you seriously worried about me? Come on—we’re both guys!”
“Solid chance the stalker is too,” Takumi says, looking up at him skeptically.
Which is a fair point, but come on. Takumi should know better than that. “Yeah, but that’d make the stalker gay, and I’m not gay. Trust me, I do not want footage like that of you on my hard drive. How am I supposed to explain it if anyone sees it? All of this is just to catch the guy.”
“If you say so,” Takumi grumbles. “Anyways, run that plan by me again?”
“It’s simple,” Gaku starts, puffing his chest out. “We set up these cameras, which automatically take pictures when there’s motion in front of them. They’ll record whoever’s in your apartment, we take that footage, and we turn that over to the police.”
Takumi slowly nods, but one eyebrow rises. “So, what’s the point of the notes you put on the cameras, then?”
“…Ah. So you noticed that.”
“Hard not to, with how big the lettering is,” Takumi says as he squints at the camera now mounted to his bedroom wall. “‘If you don’t want me going to the police, wire 500$ to Gaku Maruko on Venmo.’ Really?”
“That’s another part of the plan!” Gaku sputters, improvising a bit. “If they do that, they’ll show me their email address in the process, and I can take that to the police. It’s just another part of the plan!”
Takumi nods, but his expression doesn’t lighten. “And then you’ll split the proceeds with me, right?”
He was absolutely not planning on that, but he can tell that this isn’t a time to push his luck. “Sure will! I’m thinking 75-25-“
“Really? You’re making this money off of me-“
“Takumi, you barely need it! You don’t even work. 60-40 or nothing.”
Takumi glares back at him even harder. “50-50 or I’m taking the notes down. You couldn’t make any of this without me.”
God, he’s such a jerk, but fine. Some money is better than no money. “Fine,” Gaku says through gritted teeth. “But if we’re doing that, then you have to pay half for the cameras.”
Takumi rolls his eyes, but at least he acquiesces to that. They get the cameras up without issue after that, and Gaku can’t help but feel a bit of ease. Within a week, everything will be back to normal, and Takumi won’t get the magically refilling fridge or self-cleaning house. He’ll just have to do his chores like everyone else does. Everything will be as it should.
Right?
The first sign that something’s gone wrong in the plan comes two days later, with an arm snaking around Gaku’s shoulder and pulling him close as a sickeningly smooth voice whispers to him. “Can we talk?”
Gaku looks up, only to sigh in displeasure as to whose attention he’s drawn. You know, he tries to be a normal guy, living a normal life—work hard, provide for family, get a girl—okay, admittedly, he hasn’t done that part yet, but he’s working on it. He’s overall a very normal guy living a normal life. Yugamu…does not adhere to that mindset at all, what with his many piercings, more makeup on than most girls wear, and strange fashion. It feels…weird, being remotely close to him. It always has, and that’s why Gaku’s tried to avoid it. Too much time spent around Yugamu risks whatever weird thoughts he has becoming contagious.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem like an option today, what with how close Yugamu is to him. Gaku rolls his eyes, batting his hand away from his shoulder. “Just make it quick, I’ve got places to be.”
“Oh? Then I’ll be straight with you-that’s a lie, let me rephrase that. I’ll get to the point. You’re the one who put up the cameras, right?”
He’s just leading with that? They’re on campus, too! Is he not scared someone will hear and think he’s weird-it’s Yugamu, of course he’s not. This is…good, he guesses? “I am, yeah. Are you ready to pay up?”
Yugamu hums noncommittally. “I don’t think so. First, Takumi told me I could come over anytime. All I’m doing is taking him up on that.”
…Gaku is never, ever going to give Yugamu an inch on anything. “That’s not what he meant. You know that’s not what he meant.”
“Once he says so, I’ll readjust, but I digress. Takumi’s the most fun thing I’ve had since coming here. You’re asking me to just give all of that up cold turkey. That’s cruel, isn’t it?”
Oh, he does not like that look in his eyes as Yugamu continues. “It’d be a far easier deal to agree to if you’d be willing to offer…” He visibly looks Gaku up and down. “Some kind of replacement to tide me over.”
There’s something hypnotic about Yugamu’s tone of voice—that’s why he’s so dangerous to be around. There’s a temptation to listen to what he’s saying, against every bit of Gaku’s better judgment. He’s rich, right? He’s gotta be, with all of those piercings and clothes. “Could you pay me for it?” his mouth says on its own.
Yugamu laughs a bit. “Of course. How much would you want? I’d just love to satisfy you.”
He’s halfway to finding a number when the sensible part of his brain finally boots up. He doesn’t live alone, his foster house doesn’t have room to have a stalker in it, leaving poison in it could endanger the lives of his younger siblings, oh, and he doesn’t want another guy looking at him like that! “Never mind—it doesn’t matter—I am not going to be your chew toy just so you’ll leave Takumi alone! Knock it off!”
Yugamu sighs. Does he really have to look that disappointed? “What a shame. …In that case, I won’t be stopping.”
Gaku raises an eyebrow. “You know that means I’m going to call the police on you, right…?”
That doesn’t seem to bother Yugamu at all—if anything, the threat makes him seem more disappointed than concerned. Like Gaku’s let him down somehow. “I’m an assassin—if there comes a day when I’m not wanted by the police, I’ll be genuinely surprised. Be seeing you,” he says, waving as he walks off.
Huh. That…hadn’t gone how Gaku had hoped it would. He’d sort of thought the threat of police would do more to deter stalkers, but…guess that’s on him. He opens his phone to text Takumi that at least he figured out who it is, but is distracted by an incoming email. Apparently his next class has been moved to another classroom—one on the far end of campus where nobody goes. Great! This day is going great.
It takes about twenty minutes for him to leg it there, crowds thinning out as he goes, leading to a deserted building and an empty hallway Gaku finds himself in as he stares at the room. This…can’t be right, but he double-checks the email, and sure enough, it says this is the place.
Gaku realizes something is wrong the second he walks in the door. The classroom’s windows are closed, leaving it dark inside. Not only that, but it’s empty, aside from a desk in the center of the room and someone he can’t quite make out looming over it. This is bad. This is really bad. His prey instincts flare up, and he tries to run—
Only to hear the door behind him close and lock with a foreboding click! He’s…trapped in here, and he’s not alone.
“Sit down,” The figure orders, voice commanding. Gaku complies without thinking, sitting down at the desk obediently. The presence in front of him feels familiar, but he can barely think straight with how fast his heart is hammering away in his chest. Is this really how he goes out? He tries to do something good for a friend, and this is what he gets? What a crock of shit.
The figure continues speaking, jolting him out of his thoughts. “In front of you, you’ll find a folder containing incontestable proof of every time you’ve committed plagiarism since you came here. Every piece of homework you copied, every exam you cheated on, every essay you found online…each one is documented. If I submitted even half of this to the university, you’d be lucky to last an hour before they expel you.”
Every word makes his stomach sink more and more. He slowly opens the folder with shaking hands, and discovers that unfortunately, the voice isn’t lying. He remembers these—most of these were tests after days where he worked a graveyard shift, or the day after a party, or…something like that. Something where life got in the way. And maybe, had it just been once, his teachers would accept that and let him off easy. But with all of these piled up? Not a chance. He’s doomed.
He slowly looks up at them, at the rough direction in the darkness the voice is coming from. “What…do you want from me? I don’t have any money to give you.”
The figure takes a step closer, and as a tiny bit of light flashes from the window for the briefest of seconds, he gets the slightest glimpse as to who they are. He can just make out light glinting off of a pair of glasses, and just enough of their silhouette to see how sexy their silhouette is. Is that—that can’t be Hiruko, can it? God, he has the worst luck—he wanted her attention once, hard not to for a girl like that, but why did he have to get it like this, now?
She steps closer, towering over him. “You are going to delete the camera footage you’ve taken in the past few days, and then you’re going to take down the cameras themselves. If not, you can kiss your time in college goodbye. And it won’t just be here, either. I’d be surprised if they don’t blacklist you from any higher education in this country.”
…He can’t imagine why she’d ever want that, but he rushes to nod. “Of-of course. Consider that footage already deleted! Just like it was never there to begin with.”
That, at least, seems to satisfy her, and a few seconds later he hears the door to the room unlock. He scrabbles out of his seat, running to the door to leave—he’s not pressing his luck one bit, not when she’s got that much against him. That said, before he leaves, one question does eat away at him. “…Hey, how’d you find out about me taking camera footage? Isn’t Takumi kinda beneath your notice?”
He can’t see the look on her face as she responds. “I don’t expect someone as young as you to possibly understand.”
…Aren’t they the same age? What-you know what? He’s not getting paid enough to try to unpack that. Hell, thanks to this, he’s not getting paid at all. The best thing he can do here is run for the hills before he does something to set her off.
He gets the hell out of there, rushing until he’s finally out of the building entirely. By now, the sun’s started to set-
“Gaku? Is that you?”
He wipes the sun out of his eyes to see…is that Eito? Looking back at him. Eito and no one else, since nobody ever goes to this side of campus. …Maybe that should have tipped him off that he was being messed with. “Eito? What the hell are you doing out here?”
“No one comes over here—it’s the perfect place to get some alone time on campus,” Eito explains, demeanor peaceful and carefree like it always is. He tilts his head. “It’s really not that far away if you know where to go, though. I can show you the shortcut I take, if you want.”
For once, he’s glad to be around Eito—getting home fast would be a godsend. “Please.”
Eito leads the way, showing him the path he takes before they walk it side by side. “So, what were you doing all the way out here? I’d think you’d spend all the time outside of class with your family,” he asks conversationally.
“That’s what I’d like to do,” Gaku groans. “Unfortunately, I tried to help a friend, and it blew up in my face. This is why I just look out for myself—no good deed ever goes unpunished.”
“Sorry—what’d you do? Just curious.” Eito’s voice is eager, almost demanding.
Gaku heaves a sigh. “Takumi was getting stalked, so I set up a trap to try to make them stop. It didn’t work, though.”
Eito stops dead in his tracks. “So that really was you. It wasn’t just someone setting you up as the fall guy—you really are the ringleader there.”
Huh. That’s…odd. Gaku slowly turns to face him. Did he…hear that right? Eito was mumbling a bit—maybe his nerves got in the way? “Sorry, what? What do you mean by that?”
Eito doesn’t respond, face cast in shadow. It’s only by sheer luck that Gaku sees the knife he’s drawing in time. He dodges, just barely avoiding knife hitting skin (but not avoiding it tearing into his jacket). “Dude, what the hell-“
He’s cut off by another slash. The knife nicks his shoulder—he’s able to avoid the worst of it, but it stings. Gaku takes several steps back, trying to put some distance between himself and his attacker. He catches a glimpse of Eito’s face, and-oh, there’s something wrong with it. That dumb smile Eito usually has is gone, and in its place is a hateful glare, one made all the more intense from the harsh shadows falling on it. There’s no way this is a joke. Eito really is trying to kill him.
…Maybe it’s not too late to negotiate? “H-hey, whatever it is, we can talk it out-“
Eito nearly snarls back. “Save it. I’ve been waiting for a chance like this—to get rid of one of you hideous humans. You tried to get between Takumi and I—you brought this on yourself.”
Gaku takes just a second to process, before turning on his heel and bolting. He doesn’t care anymore about what’s going on with Takumi and his stalker—it’s not worth dying over. Unfortunately, this is a route he doesn’t usually take, and he has no idea where he’s going—just that it’s away from Eito and that sharp knife. He runs and runs and runs as fast as he can. Every time he takes a glance back, he sees that hateful look hot on his heels, and he runs even faster. Eventually, the greenery parts, and he finally sees something he recognizes—an apartment complex! He rushes to the first door, throwing it open and darting in—
Only to find Takumi in his kitchen, looking curiously at Gaku, clearly without a care of the world. “Good…evening. You know, you could have knocked.”
Gaku takes several steps in, wanting distance between himself and the door. “Dude, not the time! We need to-“
Behind him, the door opens, Eito coming through it. In all that chase, he hasn’t gotten more than a few seconds of lead time. But as he comes in, something weird happens. The second he sees Takumi, his entire demeanor shifts. The hateful glare he had vanishes, replaced by that same empty smile from earlier. “Oh, Takumi! Good to see you. Sorry about the commotion, Gaku and I were racing each other here. Seeing which one of us could get here from all the way across campus faster.”
He turns to look at Gaku, and if looks could kill—well, he’d already be dead by now, but the look in Eito’s eyes would kill him all over again, smile with it doing nothing to diminish it. “He just barely got away from me, but I’ll get him next time.”
Takumi, oblivious, just nods. “That…sounds about right. To be fair, I’m pretty sure you’d get me too. But sorry, Gaku, you were saying something?”
He’s not testing his luck. No sir. “Actually, it’s getting kinda late, and my family is gonna kill me if I don’t get home soon. You two have a nice night, though!” he waves as he leaves, taking care to give Eito as wide a berth as possible.
He pauses for a second before getting into his car, double checking that Eito didn’t somehow follow him out, before getting in and finally taking a deep breath. It feels bad to leave Takumi with him, but…by the sounds of it, he isn’t interested in stabbing him? Surely Takumi would understand.
…He can find a way to take down the cameras later. For now, he needs to just go home and crash.
Back in his apartment, Takumi sighs. “That was mean, you know.”
Eito tilts his head quizzically. “I don’t know what you’re talking about-“
“You didn’t have to terrorize Gaku like that just because he figured out the truth. …That you were stalking me.”
That surprises Eito, and he looks like he’s considering denying it for just a second, before giving up on it. “…When did you figure it out?”
“Sometime during Gaku’s exorcism era,” Takumi says with a small yawn. “I needed candles, and was looking under my bed, and what I saw there painted a picture. A book on the history of mankind, pillows, a blanket, one of those reading lights…it didn’t take much to put two and two together. Honestly, I would’ve expected more subtlety from you.”
Eito looks away, frustration clear on his face. “I had thought you’d be busy for longer, or that you wouldn’t think to look there…” he sighs, before meeting Takumi’s eyes again, demeanor tense but honest. “Well…now you know. What are you going to do about it?”
That sends Takumi for a loss for words, and he puts a hand to his chin as he thinks. On the one hand, having his apartment and space to himself again. On the other hand, having to actually do his chores. “Well…”
Okay, so maybe the Takumi thing is nagging at Gaku just a little. He tried his best to enjoy his evening, but he couldn’t get the day’s events out of his head. He wishes he could just wash his hands of it, but Takumi doesn’t have that privilege. Sure, his various stalkers hadn’t killed him yet, but there’s no guarantee that they won’t snap one day and do it. Even if threatening the stalkers had completely backfired, he could warn Takumi so he could do something about it.
The drive to Takumi’s apartment is quick and unremarkable, especially compared to his mad rush there yesterday. Luckily for him, Takumi left his door unlocked (though, probably not so lucky for Takumi.) Once Gaku got home yesterday, he locked and nearly barricaded his door. Takumi needs to start taking that level of caution, there are dangerous people around. See, his bedroom door’s also ajar-
Gaku opens it without thinking, only to immediately regret it. He sure found Takumi, alright, just…less clothed than he’d seen him. He doesn’t notice Gaku there at all, far more preoccupied with the pair of hands on his bare hips, second pair on his chest, and person beneath him. His back is arched, face is flushed, and he’s making noises Gaku hasn’t heard outside of some kind of hentai. The image of it flashbangs him, searing itself into Gaku’s mind before he finally comes to his senses, closing the door and gearing up to leave.
You know what? Maybe Takumi has this situation under control after all.