Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"How much did you spend today?" is the first sentence Sori utters once he enters the check-up room.

Sori stands menacingly in the doorway. One hand holding a writing pad with a health assessment paper clipped to it, another hand still gripping the door knob. Eyes locking on Supra’s figure.

The guy’s face is unreadable. The lack of his usual grin and mischievous spark in his eyes, plus the extra sigh after finishing his words are weirding Supra out. 

But the fact that Sori is currently wearing a visor clears everything. Because there can be only one logical reason why: Sori had just left the lab before coming here, he didn’t get the chance to put it off. Judging from his battered lab coat and the prominent eye bags under the medic’s eyes, Supra is positive that his partner has been stuck in the lab for at least 12 hours. 2 days at most, if his superior is a rule abiding researcher. 3 days or more if his superior is a ‘rules are made to be broken’ researcher. 

‘Senior went all in on him huh… poor guy…’ Supra says to himself.

Feeling that he waited long enough for Supra to at least say something, Sori spoke, “Did you hit your head or something?” Sori walks closer to Supra to immediately check his head.

Sori’s actions managed to surprise Supra. Jolting him awake from his thoughts.

“I didn’t spend much,” Supra answers sheepishly as he gives Sori a look. “Was just a bunch of leaderless small critters. I could’ve taken care of them on my own. Frostfire handled most of them out of worry, as usual.”

“Feel any pain?”

“No.”

“Did you by chance come into contact with Gentar or Sopan the past few days?”

“Can’t remember.”

Sori scribbles something on his paper.

Supra himself is sitting on a chair all alone in the check-up room. Well, at least before his designated medical practitioner came. 

He wasn’t alone, um, around half an hour—or was it an hour—ago. There was Frostfire with him. They were paired up to clean the horde of monsters together earlier this morning, but since Glacier had apparently been waiting for his partner beforehand, the two were able to quickly finish up whatever they needed to do and left Supra on his own.

“Welcome back,” Glacier greeted. Spinning lazily on one of the many wheeled-chairs in the room, his writing pad discarded somewhere on the table near the window.

Glacier’s sudden appearance made Supra and Frostfire halt in the doorway. Interrupting their previous conversation—or just Frostfire’s monologue—regarding the storm clouds that have been occupying the sky for some days. Glacier is well known for being late in conducting check-ups due to the amount of work he has on his plate.

“Glace!” Frostfire exclaimed as he lurched toward Glacier’s seat. If Frostfire had a tail, Supra bet it would be wagging like crazy right now. 

Glacier, seemingly unfazed with Frostfire’s hyperactive antics, opened his arms for a hug. Frostfire, ever so open for hugs, dove right to Glacier’s lap, latching onto his partner like a newborn koala sticking to its mother.

Supra shivered at that.

Here’s the thing. Frostfire’s body temperature is simply ridiculous. That includes his tolerance toward extreme temperatures too. Highly possible that it’s some kind of side effect from his powers. 

In conclusion, Frostfire is not your best buddy to hug. One second he’s as hot as Supra’s old computer’s engine while used, the next second he’s as cold as a corpse. So yeah, he’s not really comfortable to hug. Glacier would beg to differ, though.

As Frostfire continued clinging and babbling nonsense to Glacier, the latter had somehow picked up his writing pad and started doing what he should be doing. Glacier moved his pen with such ease it looks like he’s just scribbling bullshit on the paper. It is, in fact, not bullshit, though.

The longer Supra watched the scene in front of him, the more he felt like he’s watching something he shouldn’t be watching. Goodness gracious, Supra really wished to ban PDA in working hours. Being a third wheel is way worse than having to fend off a horde of monsters himself. So he turned his back towards them and pretended to observe the door like there’s something interesting about it. Yep, the nearly invisible scratches on the door is definitely more interesting than whatever Frostfire and Glacier have going on.

“Alright,” Glacier finally spoke after a while. Supra took it as a cue that it’s safe for him to turn his back. 

When he came face to face with the two, Frostfire had already detached himself from Glacier’s body. Both of them are standing. Glacier stretching himself with a muffled groan, Frostfire jumping around like he’s ready to break the ceilings with the combined force of his legs powers and frontal lobe hardness.

“Come on, Frost. Let’s grab lunch.”

“Let’s go!” Frostfire said, accompanied by yet another jump. “What ya feel like getting, Glacy?”

“Hmm. Shrimp fried rice.” Glacier answered shortly, making his way toward the door.

“Sounds good! I’ll get that too. Plus a scoop of chocolate ice cream. Scratch that, Imma get two!”

When Glacier passed him, he patted Supra’s shoulder, “I’ll call Sori for you. Don’t be so tense, go take a seat.”

Supra gladly obliged. He took the chair that Glacier used earlier and waited patiently for Sori to come as he pondered on what he just witnessed.

Yeah, that’s about what happened.

Without Supra realizing, Sori had pulled himself another chair and sat right in front of him.

He looks straight into Supra's eyes. His looks filled with questions, his eyebrows quirking in confusion before firing his question, “You really REALLY didn’t hit your head on anything, right? You’re acting kinda weird. You’re looking at me weird.”

For the nth time that day Supra lagged behind. Wasting a few seconds of silence looking at nothingness before forming a response, “No, I didn’t. You can ask Frostfire to make sure. I just had… something occupying my mind. Mhm.”

“Suuure,” Sori says. He doesn’t sound convinced at all. 

Some minutes passed. Sori finished asking all the questions he needed to ask Supra and took note of anything noteworthy—Supra doubts there’s any.

“That’s all!” Sori finishes up by drawing his signature sunflower on the paper. “So, what’s been occupying your mind, Mr.Smartypants?” he asks. Tone gradually coming back to the usual cheery one.

Supra doesn’t fancy the nickname much, but he’ll let that slide this time. He got a more pressing matter to attend to, after all. The said event is asking Sori about one very important thing that has plagued him since earlier.

“Do you think Frostfire and Glacier have something going on between them?” Supra genuinely asks. 

Sori only looks at him funny then bursts into laughter as a response. Very polite of him, truly. He doesn’t even try to hide his laugh, instead he laughs harder and harder to the point he runs out of breath.

“Oh, God,” Sori says between pants, trying to even out his breathing. Supra is about to say something when Sori lifts his hand. Signing a ‘shush’ to him. “Good God… Glacier did tell me that you can be slow at times. I didn’t think you’d take this long, though.”

“So?”

“Yes. Yes, Supra. Glacier and Frost are dating.”

Supra is shocked, maybe. Well, to be honest, not quite surprised. Or, uh, yeah, yep. Not surprised. Childhood friends and all. Wait, what isn’t he included in the childhood friends thing? Alright, nevermind. The two of them had been together before Supra even knew them. But still, WHAT?!

Supra gapes as he thought.

“You’ll want to close your mouth~ A little fly can come in anytime you know~” Sori puts his index finger in Supra’s mouth, only hovering in the gaping mouth, not touching anything. “Like this one.” He smiles. Naughty glint in his yellow-green eyes. 

Supra jolts, hand reflexively slapping away Sori’s hand as he breaks out of his trance.“Wh- why would you do that?” Supra exclaimed in panic. He jerks his head backwards a tad too fast that his body follows suit. Resulting in him falling off not-so-gracefully from the chair and a crispy laugh from yours truly, Sori.

“You’re too fun not to tease. Hehe. Here,” Sori offers his hand as a leverage for Supra. Not that he needs it, but the sentiment is all that matters. Supra accepts Sori’s hand and stands up.

“Since when, though,” Supra asks further, going back to his agenda. “They’ve never told me about it.”

“Here’s the thing, Sup,” Sori grips Supra’s shoulders firmly, looking the man straight in his eyes. “They never told anyone about it.”

“Then how do you know?” Supra tilts his head.

“Supra, dear. If you’d take a moment away from your reports and journal reading and start paying attention to the world around you, I’m sure you’ll be able to find wonderful things. 

Like figuring out that Glacier and Frost have been dating for the past six months or so. Before you ask anything, yes, they’ve only been official six months ago. But if anyone told me that they’re dating, or even married, two years ago. I’d believe it.” Sori explains. Lengthily. 

Supra is quite sure Sori said another sentence or two near the end of his speech but he said it in such a hurry and in an extremely low volume that Supra couldn't catch what the medic was saying.

“Well, sorry for finding journals more interesting than my friends’ love life. Unlike a certain someone, I’m not nosy,” Supra says, accompanied with a scoff.

“Hmm~ It doesn’t sound like that five minutes ago~” Sori teases.

“T-that was an important thing for my own journal on human psych and behavior!” Supra tries to reason.

Sori puts up a questioning look. Hand under his chin as he lifts his right eyebrows, “Really? Isn’t that Lil’ Sopan’s subject?”

“It’s not like two people can’t make a journal on the same subjects, right?” Supra retorts.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” Sori shrugs. 

Supra scoffs. 

“Anyways~ Strip.”

The abrupt tone shift and the suddenness of Sori’s order earns him a “huh” from Supra.

“Excuse me, what?” Supra makes sure. Just in case his ears are getting worse and he misheard what Sori had said.

“Strip, Supra. Now.”

As much as Supra wants to retort or fight or decline with a quick ‘no thank you’ and escape from the crime scene. He doesn't think Sori will let him go this time. 

After deliberately thinking, Supra decided to resign his fate to God’s hands. He decided to comply.

Not without a sigh, Supra stands up to take off his clothes. The cap comes off first, seeing a half naked dude with a cap will be, uh, odd. Then he starts peeling off the clothes covering his body. The outer vest comes off first, Supra throws it to the chair he sat on. Next the shirt, and lastly the innershirt.

(“What’s with the layers? Don’t you feel hot under those many?” Glacier chided

“Says the man who wears long sleeves and cape everyday,” Supra argues. Effectively shutting Glacier down.)

“See, there’s nothing wrong,” Supra tries to convince Sori. To be fair, he didn’t feel any pain throughout the day. That’s what makes him so sure about not being hurt.

On the other hand, Sori still looks very skeptical. “Turn around,” Sori orders once more.

Supra exhales but does what Sori told him to anyway.

The medic doesn’t say anything and keeps staring at his back, leaving Supra utterly confused.

“Is something wrong with my back?” Supra asks, head turning back to look at Sori’s expression.

“Nope. Just a slight bruise on your left shoulder,” Sori calmly says.

“Ah, that was probably Frostfire hitting me a bit too hard,” Supra guesses. “You know how often he loses control while excited, right? He did ‘pat’ my back on our way here…” Supra shrugs.

Sori sighs in defeat. He slides away to a shelf, opening it and pulls out a heat pack. As he slides back to Supra’s seat, Sori rips open the packaging and slaps the pack to Supra’s back.

“Ouch,” Supra yelps. “Now that hurts,” he rubs the heat pack.

“Good. Means that you can still actually feel pain,” Sori sneers.

“Besides, why don't you just use your healing?”

“No way I’m spending my precious energy and highly demanded healing ability on something trivial like that.”

“Bullshit. It wouldn’t even take you a minute to heal that simple bruise,” Supra puts on his black inner shirt back.

“But I don't wanna,” Sori stands up, taking Supra’s excess clothings and throws it to the man. Supra, not prepared for the sudden attack, fumbled a bit, yet still managed to catch his clothes. 

Supra sighs, “Why are you my partner again?”

“Because I’m the best healer around and you're a terminally stupid fighter who loves to jump into dangers and get himself hurt. Easy,” Sori sing-songs.

“Yeah, yeah,” Supra gives up. He wouldn’t win in a silly argument against Sori. “Let’s get out of here. It’s getting suffocating,” Supra walks towards the door.

“Wait up!” Sori follows him. “Where are you going?”

“Dunno. Back to my room. Read a book or write or help Glacier with his reports. His reports are getting out of hand. One of these days we’re gonna start sleeping on top of the papers.”

“Hahahah! Good luck, Glacy’s roommate~”

“Hahh… Who arranged the rooms again?” 

“Someone from the main branch. Can’t recall their name, it's kinda hard to pronounce.”

“Why won’t they room me with you if you’re my partner? Glacier can go with Frostfire and I believe the both of them would be more than happy.”

“Not sure either,” Sori shrugs. “I wouldn’t want Frost and Glace rooming together, though.”

“Hm?” Supra tilts his head in confusion as he looks at Sori.

Sori halts. He looks back at Supra, blinks twice in utter disbelief, “Aishhh! Figure that out on your own! You don’t need to learn more about Astrophysics, Metallurgy, and whatnot. You need to learn more about humans and society as a whole!”

“Okay…?” Supra reluctantly speaks.

“You know what? Bye, I’m gonna grab a snack and visit my babies!” Sori says as he leaves Supra. Heading to the Cafeteria.

“Uh, yeah,” Supra isn’t sure what to say in this situation. “Enjoy your meal!” he adds.

Sori doesn't reply verbally. He only waves his hands without looking back.

As Sori’s figure gets further and further, Supra continues his walk back to his room. Still in utter confusion. He’s thinking of reading more journals on the topic Sori recommended to him.

Chapter Text

The very first thing that catches Sori’s eyes once he stepped foot in the Cafeteria’s grounds is a pair of lovebirds happily chattering.

Just great! 

His exhaustion from days of being locked up in the lab, combined with having to deal with Supra’s stupidity—this one is somewhat endearing but still infuriates him in one way another—is dissipating his sanity at an alarming rate. 

Sori does NOT need to see Frostfire and Glacier being all lovey-dovey on his lunch break. They give him additional headaches. He might go insane for real this time.

Thank the Gods from the seventh heaven, Sopan manages to divert Sori’s attention. The younger waves his hands as he stares at Sori.

Good. An equally sane company may be good to help him recover his sanity.

Sori strides to the counter to get himself a nice bowl of jellies and a glass of milkshake. Some would criticize his awful source of nutrients but Sori really doesn't wanna think about a balanced diet right now. He’ll eat better next time, tomorrow, maybe.

Food acquired! Sori then walks to the table where Sopan is sitting all alone by himself and a halfway finished soup. 

“Soup on a hot afternoon? Really, Panpan?” Sori chides jokingly as he sits down across Sopan. Taking off the visor from his face and putting it away on the table.

“I sincerely do not want to hear that from someone who decided that having jellies for lunch after days of working non-stop is a good idea, senior,” Sopan says mockingly. His usual smile never leaves his face. It was unsettling at first but Sori has come to terms with his junior’s habit.

“Shush.” Sori stuffs a spoonful of jellies into his mouth. Tastes awesome. Well, normal. Better than whatever nutrients amalgam his supervisor provided in the lab, though.

They eat in silence after that. Only after Glacier and Frostfire leave the cafeteria does they start conversing.

“So,” Sopan starts, “Any progress with your crush, senior?”

Sopan’s sudden question makes Sori chokes on his jelly. He was not expecting that question.

Sori spends a few minutes coughing and hitting his chest before deliberately answering Sopan’s question, “Nope. Dude’s dense as heck. I kept dropping hints but he didn't even faze.” 

As much as he hates to admit it, yes. Sori has a big fat crush on his partner and he honestly doesn't understand why—and how. Maybe it's his eyes or how he dresses or the way he fights. (or the way he writhes in pain while Sori is treating his injuries.) 

Sori can’t remember. One day he woke up and suddenly Supra kept popping in his mind. Sori thought it’s just gonna be a one time thing! That the next day he’ll be back to thinking about something else more productive than his partner. That Supra’s annoyingly distracting image will stop plaguing his mind and leave him alone for good.

Oh, how wrong he was.

Instead of getting better, the symptoms got worse. He gets butterflies when Supra talks to him outside of work. Every little touch starts to feel a bit too warm, leaving Sori all tingly. Check-ups become more torturous for Sori not because Supra gets injured a lot but because he’s so damn cute, he acts cute so naturally. So oblivious to what he does and how people may react, and Gods, please Sori is but a man.

“Have you considered simply confessing your feelings to him?” Sopan’s question yanks back Sori’s mind to reality.

“It’s not that easy, yanno.” Sori sighs, stirring his milkshake with a straw, not planning to drink it.

“Why is that? I have my own experience with what you would call ‘dense as heck’ people. In my case, outright confessing does wonders.” Sopan takes a sip of his tea.

“Yah, well. Lil’ Gen is a different case. Yes, he’s dense. But at the same time he’s not that dense, considering he’s a feeler. Feels a lot.

You know what? No. Gentar isn’t even dense. He’s straight up stupid—don’t get me wrong, I’m saying he’s stupid, affectionately—and is full of insecurities even though he isn’t actually lacking. He’s more Frostfire than anything. They’re wild and infuriating most of the time (“Are you not like that too, senior” “No, I’m just cheerful and fun. Wipe that look from your face before I bite your cheeks.”) but they have this calm button that can turn them into a properly functioning adult when pressed.

Supra, on the other hand, is a completely different species from those two. He’s calm and composed. He's not stupid, no. He’s smart, too intelligent to the point he becomes stupid.

Do you get it?” Sori gives a long, long explanation. He might have repeated the word ‘stupid’ too many times in his explanation, but he couldn't care less.

Sopan finally opens his eyes. Staring at Sori with utter confusion, “Pardon me. But I do not quite understand what you are trying to imply, senior.”

“What I'm trying to say is he’s slow. Extremely slow.” 

“Ah, I see.”

“Wanna know what he asked me earlier?” Sori asks. Scooping the remaining jellies from the bowl in a sweep and plopping them in his mouth.

“Yes?”

Sori grabs his visor from somewhere across the table, wears it, and puts up a serious look. Quoting Supra :“Do you think Frostfire and Glacier have something going on between them?” 

“I am sorry-” Sopan snorts. 

Even if Sopan starts laughing loudly Sori wouldn't be surprised. I mean, that was Sori’s exact reaction.

“See!” Sori smacks the table in enthusiasm. “Anyone ANYONE who knows Frost and Glacy would laugh when faced with Supra’s dumb question!”

“Most definitely.” Sopan takes another sip.

“Now what should I do,” Sori cries. Slumping his head to the table, stretching his hands. 

He almost knocks over his own drink but thankfully Sopan moves it away before he hits it. “Careful there, senior.”

“Nice save.” Sori draws out a long groan. “Panpan… What should I do…”

“As I have said before, you should try confessing, senior.”

“Drop the ‘senior’ would you? Feels weird,” Sori says, voice muffled. “Again, no. Even if I confessed he would think that It’s something platonic. I don't wanna keep getting partner-zoned by this guy, I've honestly had enough.”

“Hmm. How about making your intention of courting him clearer?”

“Like?”

“Like actually doing something! I do not know whether you have realized this or not, but senior—Sori, you have never, and I mean Never actually did something about your very obvious crush on him, haven't you?”

Sori takes a moment to think, “Uh… Is dropping hints not enough?”

Sopan doesn't reply. The younger puts his smiley face back on and pinches Sori’s hand hard.

“Owowow! Ouch!” Sori exclaims. He quickly withdraws his hand from the table, from Sopan’s unforgiving grip.

“Reasoning.” Sopan folds his hands. “Please,” he adds.

“Uh, swear you won't laugh or mock me…”

“Yes, yes I swear. There is no reason for me to laugh at you anyways. Unless it is something overly silly.”

“Well- It’s sorta stupid. To think about it. I'm scared. Scared that he’d realize and- I don't know. Gets weirded out,” Sori answers halfheartedly, confusion and desperation apparent.

“Then just skip everything and go back to the first option I gave you: Confess,” Sopan replied with a slightly higher voice, the nerves on his temples threatening to pop. Sopan is so not dealing with anyone’s—especially his seniors—love life ever again.

“That’s- Urgh- I’m also scared that he’d reject me. Okay? 

He doesn't seem like the type of guy who would date someone, after all. If he can choose to date anyone it wouldn't be anyone. It would be his 12 years old dying laptop!

I can handle rejection pretty well. I think, I suppose. I’m not really sure, actually. The thing that scared me the most is if something were to change between us after the rejection. Like him getting uncomfortable around me and pushing me away. I don't think I’ll be able to recover from the mental damage caused by that.

I like us now. Could be better, but I like it nevertheless. We’re on good terms, ‘partners’ he’d say—oh, how sickening. He’s carefree enough to show me his back, his vulnerability. Ask me for help in trivial matters. It’s endearing, truly. And that should be more than enough. I should be more than satisfied being able to get so close to someone as distant as him.

Yet again, I’m only a human. Not some kind of otherworldly saint. It is a part of humans’ nature to always want more, to always reap more than they can sow, is it not?

But in the end I’m still just, scared. I guess. I'd choose five years of pining rather than having to risk what we have right now, what we’ve built this far for silly confession,” Sori says. Voice filled with uncertainty and a tint of sadness and maybe anger. Yet there’s an unmistakable fondness in it.

Sopan can’t find the right words to say to his senior. He understands what his senior is feeling, but—of course—not entirely. Everyone feels an emotion differently, after all. That's Humans’ feelings for you. Such intricate, complicated matters.

“Hah,” Sori sighs. He drinks his milkshake. “I’m sorry that was kinda… Uh, yeah.” Sori rubs his neck.

“No, it is quite understandable, honestly. It is not weird at all to feel scared, doubtful, in this kind of situation.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes! Maybe you should take more time figuring out what to do with your feelings.” Sopan stands up and tidies up the utensils he used. “If you ever feel like talking about your feelings you can always talk to me!”

“Yeah, thanks, Sopan,” Sori says with a tired smile. What a nice junior he has here.

“Anytime, senior. Now, I shall take my leave.” Sopan bows. “Have a good afternoon.” Sopan leaves Sori alone with his remaining food.

“Sopan,” Sori calls out. 

The younger halts, turning to face his senior, “Yes?”

“Next time tell me- No, ask for my permission before you inject anything into my partner’s body, would you? It would be very sad if you lose your lab permit, wouldn't it?” Sori warns—threatens—his junior. Voice filled with ire.

“Ah, nothing gets past you, eh, senior?” Sopan smiles. Oh how Sori wants to wipe that smile off his face with a nice beating up. “I can not promise you anything, senior. After all, your partner's body is way too interesting not to experiment on.” 

Sori glares at his junior for a long while, even after the man leaves the cafeteria. The younger shows no remorse whatsoever, it irritates Sori even more. What a nice junior he has here.

He stays sitting down for the sake of cooling his head off. He rubs his hair violently in order to do so. It doesn't work, obviously. Sori is seriously thinking of dumping his milkshake on his head, thankfully the urge doesn't get the better of him.

After some time, Sori feels like his head is cleared. Well, not fully but clear enough to think rationally. He decides to quickly wrap up his business in the cafeteria and leaves the vicinity. 

Sori himself isn't actually sure where to go after lunch. As much as he wants to visit his babies in the greenhouse, he isn't a hundred percent sure that he won't collapse from exhaustion.

Alright! Sori made up his mind! He’s gonna hibernate in his room for the time being. His babies won't run away anywhere, so he can always see them tomorrow. He got three days worth of break after the hell he had endured before. 

Mhm. Having decided, Sori sets course to his room.

Sori’s walk to his and Frostfire’s shared room is normal. Everything is nice and silent in the corridor since everyone else would be either patrolling or training. There aren't many staff in this branch compared to the others in the first place. To say it bluntly this branch is understaffed. Hence why Glacier always has extra paperworks.

Frankly speaking, Sori has been getting this weird bad feeling since he entered the rooms’ corridor. He can't pinpoint where it came from, but something feels off. Sori can’t shake off the feeling either. Something bad might occur around here soon. He’s dead serious.

When Sori finally arrives in front of his room, the feeling gets ten times worse. He does not want to open the door. So Sori stands petrified there. Thinking, thinking, and thinking. He’s really contemplating running back to the cafeteria and just sleep there—that would only make his already sore back more sore, though.

Sori gives up. He needs that rest more than anything right now. With a trembling hand, he fishes out his key from the lab coat’s pocket. 

He hesitantly unlocks the door…

And instantly slams it back closed.

Alright! Sori is filing a room exchange request!

Boy, Supra was right about letting Glacier and Frostfire room together. Loud noises are nothing compared to the trauma Sori had just gotten. The image of Frostfire and Glacier in an, uh, intriguing position is now seared in his pure, pure mind. It’s gonna leave a permanent scar on his mental.

All this time he thought that they were doing it in Glacier and Supra’s room—because he has never been to the scene of the crime. Hence why he laughed at Supra earlier. But apparently, they have always done the deed in Sori’s room. When he’s busy being a slave in the laboratory. On his bed, at that.

Sori sighs.

Halfheartedly, he walks to Supra’s room and knocks the door gently. “Supra, you in there?”

“Yes?” a muffled voice behind the door answers. “Wait a second.”

Exactly one second later, a very disheveled Supra appears from behind the door. Supra’s usual visor is replaced with normal reading glasses, his hair messy from laying down on the bed. 

Unconsciously, Sori’s hands had traveled to the back of Supra’s head. Tucking in the naughty strands of hair back to their supposed place.

Sori feels Supra slaps his hands away—not in an angry or offensive way—brushing and tidying up his hair with his own hands. 

“Uh, what do you need?” Supra asks, hands still fiddling with his unruly hair.

“Sleep,” Sori says simply as he enters the room with no permission. Supra lets him pass, anyways.

“Why here?” Supra closes the door behind him.

Sori drops himself on a bed and closes his eyes almost immediately. He doesn't care whose bed it is at this point. “My room was, um, occupied. By Glace and Frost.”

“Oh, I see!” Supra innocently says. Sori bets that the guy doesn't suspect anything horrible happening there in his room. “Go on and sleep then.”

“Mmm.” Sori snuggles to a random pillow he grabbed. Smells nice, warm and familiar. Oddly reminds him of home. “G’night,” Sori says. Words slurred.

“Good night.” Supra’s slightly late reply being the last words Sori’s ears caught before he finally drifts off.

“Don’t you think this is too much, Glace?” Frostfire asks. 

He and Glacier are still in the position they carefully, intentionally set up to scare Sori off. Frostfire’s hands caging Glacier’s head. His knees are lodged between Glacier’s legs. 

“Hm? Nope. Things will never move forward if we don't do a thing,” Glacier replies lazily. “Besides,” Glacier puts his hands around Frostfire’s neck and pulls him down. Making their initially close face closer. “It’s been a while.” He planted a light peck on Frostfire’s lips.

And Frostfire gives in.

Chapter Text

Supra is first confused, second perplexed, and third concerned because of the abruptness of everything that just happened in less than 3 minutes time.

One second he was tossing and turning all over his bed trying to find the perfect position to read his freshly opened book—it’s not a journal this time—relaxing with his rarely used shorts since Glacier said that he has work and won't be back until later on around eight or nine in the evening. The next second he’s scrambling away all across his room to put on a more proper sweatpants and opening the door for a completely unexpected visitor on an ungodly hour in the afternoon. He didn't even get the chance to fix his hair or wear his visor.

Then the said visitor started mumbling nonsense, casually toying with his unkempt hair, and ended up passing out on his bed, snuggling his pillow like it’s his own. Leaving Supra sitting dumbfounded on his desk, head in hands. Repeatedly blinking as he stares at Sori’s carefreely sleeping figure on his bed. Gods, it was very embarrassing…

The man looks unusually exhausted. He hasn’t left the facility to directly absorb the sunlight at all so it’s not that surprising. He should stop over exerting himself, he’s making Supra worry.

Sori is, to put it simply, a Sunflower. He needs sunlight to keep himself up. Sori’s healing and magic in general comes directly from the light, a blessing from above, truly. It affects his energy level too, somehow. So yeah, keep him in a dark place with the eerie white light of the lab and he’ll become out of character for as long as he’s there. Wilting. But give him just a tiny bit of sunlight and he’ll be back to the usual Sori with full vigor and all. As Supra said, a Sunflower. 

Supra looks at the clock on top of his desk. 1.23 PM. The sun is still high. If he takes Sori outside right now, Sori will be able to absorb some sunlights! And who knows, who knows he’ll feel better.

Supra is about to wake the sleeping beauty when something suddenly strikes him. He remembers what Frostfire said about the weather. Storm clouds haunting the sky.

That won’t do.

He sits still on his desk for a while before changing his reading glasses to his visor, dresses up, takes out the spare key from his drawer, and leaves his room. He’ll check the situation outside before dragging Sori out for fresh sunlight. Oh, he did wrap Sori in a warm blanket before he left. The air conditioner in his room can be quite unforgiving. Considering Glacier—The Polar Bear—was the one who set the thing and Supra doesn’t have enough courage to change it. It might incur an even worse temperature drop in the room. (It won’t be caused by the AC.)

Sure enough that the door is locked, Supra makes a beeline to the corridor’s gate. Stepping out and making his way to the greenhouse, the closest place in the facility where members can see the outside world. 

There are doors leading outside, patrollers like him come and go through those doors. The thing is; they are too far away from where the sleeping quarters are located.

The hangar is a place, too. But unless you’re the branch leader or anyone super important, special permits or summons are strictly required to enter that place. 

The greenhouse, on the other hand, is not located as far as the gates. Permits and whatnot are also unnecessary. Free entry for everyone! Not that anyone—but Sori, maybe—visits the greenhouse often, though.

Busied by his own mind, Supra didn’t realize that he passed through the greenhouse. The walk was nice, though. He could’ve sworn he saw some co-workers he doesn't get to see everyday passing through the hallway. He didn't pay enough attention, though.

Supra takes a few steps back, pushes a button, and enters the greenhouse.

Nope. No sunlight. The sky is as gray as ever. 

Supra gazes at the sky as he through the glass window. He wonders, “Just when will the rain pour down. The faster it does, the faster the sun will appear.” He sighs.

Now Supra feels kinda lazy to go back to his room. He rarely ever leaves the room for non work related things, but once he leaves he always thinks that it’s a waste to go back so quickly. Not like he has any important duty to do anyways.

Supra decided to look around the greenhouse. He would often call this place Sori’s second bedroom due to the amount of time the younger spent here. 

Looking for Sori? He’s not in the lab? Not in his room either? Go to the greenhouse! Maybe you’ll find him talking to one of the flowers or tending them like the passionate gardener that he is. Or rolling around on the floor—enjoying the bright sunlight, he proclaimed—dirtying his own clothes. Supra witnessed this once, 0/10 experience he’d rather not see that at all.

The last time Supra visited the greenhouse was around 4 months ago. Supra remembers helping Sori bring a huge bag filled with new flowers, seedlings and gardening necessities he got from their trip to the town. He even helped Sori organize his tools and plant some of the seedlings.

“Sori, where do I put these fertilizers?” Supra asked. 5 sacks of freshly bought fertilizers stacked on his hands, he can barely see anything but sand coloured sacks. Those were the last batch of stuff Supra had to carry from the dropzone.

“Hold up!” Sori’s voice is muffled from the entrance, he’s probably in the greenhouse storage making some space for the things he got today.

Not long after, Supra heard Sori scream. He instantly put down the fertilizers near the greenhouse entrance and run to where Sori’s voice came from.

The first thing that came into Supra’s view is Sori’s miserable self. He’s lying down on the floor, stuck under a myriad of gardening tools, a bucket atop his head. Supra can’t help but let out a sigh.

“What in the world just happened?” Supra squats, removing the tools that immobilized his partner, putting them aside.

Sori smiles sheepishly as he rubs his not itchy head. “I thought I saw a rat around here earlier.”

“So?”

“So I panicked and tried to catch it!”

“And?”

“And tripped down because of that pot over there.” Sori points at the guilty pot. “Then my hands knocked off this plank over here.” He pets the plank underneath him. “And, yeah! Everything fell off!” Sori removed the bucket from his head and stood up. He cleaned the back of his pants, dust staining the almost fully white pants. “Now I have to re-organize this whole place.”

“Right. Good luck then, I’ll take my leave.” Supra turned around. Waving his hand, signing ‘goodbye’.

“Wow. So cold, Supra,” Sori jeered, rolling his eyes.

“Just kidding,” Supra said with a playful smile. “Let’s get this ove r with quick, shall we?”

An enthusiastic nod is all Supra got as an answer. 

The two of them worked together to replace the fallen planks. Supra almost hammered his own hands multiple times while attempting to nail the plank supporters to the wall that Sori ultimately decided that it’s best for him to do it himself. (“Lords, how are you so bad at this?” “Bad eyesight..?” “Fair.”) Leaving Supra to arrange the messed up tools back to where they belong and putting the things they bought earlier inside the storage room.

They worked in silence most of the time. Not the uncomfortable type that leaves a horrible ringing in Supra’s ears, though. Sori still spoke from time to time. Commented on things here and there, in which Supra replied with a way too simple “oh” and “yes” because that’s just how awkward he was—is.

Doing everything by just the two of them took a longer time than what Supra had anticipated. He didn’t even realize when the sun had set, leaving an orange-purple hue on the sky. 

Supra wanted to help Sori more with planting the flowers and herbs—he wanted to stay with him a bit longer—but he ran out of time. Alas, he was assigned to accompany a group of juniors on patrol this evening.

“Sori,” Supra called.

“Yes?” Sori looks up. He was in a crouching position, cleaning something off the wall.

“I’ll be leaving first. Work calls.”

Sori blinked multiple times before sheepishly answered, “Oh, right. You did say that before we went out.” 

Supra gave out a small “mhm” as a response. He still feels bad for leaving Sori alone to finish up. 

Suddenly, Sori stood up and scanned the room. “There’s not much left to do, anyways. I’m sure I can handle them on my own!” He seemed to catch what’s going on in Supra’s mind.

“If you say so. Bye,” Supra bids his farewell.

“Byebyeee~! Also, thanks!” Sori said with a sweet, sweet smile.

“Anytime.”

The memory makes him smile unconsciously. It’s a disappointment that he didn’t get to help Sori with the planting personally, but hey, look at them now. The greenhouse is filled with flowers and herbs of many kinds!

Supra is no gardening enthusiast nor botanical expert, he doesn’t even know the name of most of these flowers except for the obvious ones like the myriad of snapdragon flowers crammed on the right side, the heap of marigolds in different colors beside it, and pink roses next to them. 

There are also some small sunflowers facing upwards. That piqued Supra’s interest. Supra crouches to view them closer.

“Are they looking for the sun?” he asks out loud even though there’s no one else to answer.

Supra stares at the yellow flowers intently. He raises his hand and hovers his fingers atop one of the tiny sunflowers. Slowly, he draws his power. Focusing it to drop only from the tip of his index finger, so he doesn't go too far and accidentally blasts the poor flowers.

Red light starts emanating from Supra’s fingertips. Glowing soft and warm. Somehow, the sunflowers start facing his hand. Perking up at the sight of an artificial light.

Supra keeps the light steady. The little sunflowers blooming brings a smile to Supra’s face. He didn't actually expect his power to work on them. 

He never tried it before since whenever he’s about to use his power there are little flies in his ears telling him where and when to use it.

“Save it up for later!” One of the flies said.

“Don’t use it on mundane things!” Another fly said.

“You’re wasting them away!” Oh, shut up.

Ah, what bullshit. Every single one of those words are said not because the speakers truly care about Supra. They only need—wants—his powers.

It’s his power he’s spending, and they have the audacity to tell him where to spend it? At some point in his life, Supra realized that. From that point on, he started using his powers for what he condemned as right. Not too carelessly, but more freely. And he never feels better.

Supra spent a long while giving light to the sunflowers. He doesn’t want to leave them but he can’t be their growing light forever, can he?

Supra stands up. He said to himself that he’ll go back to his room after this, but of course, he just has to get distracted. This time is the rows of plants near the storage room. Supra heads there and peeks a little on what’s growing there.

Oh, Sori also grew herbs. Now it makes sense why the cafeteria auntie seems to like Sori very much (She always gives him extras). 

Supra can not identify them, though. All he cooks are fried eggs and pan-fried meats, he never bothers using herbs he’s not familiar with in his way too simple cooking. It would be a waste. Besides, the food in the cafeteria is really good!

“Alright, Supra, that’s enough getting distracted today,” Supra scolds himself.

This time, Supra leaves the greenhouse for real. Going back to his room. 

Supra arrived sooner than he expected. He unlocks the door and enters the room the way he does everyday. He changes back to a comfortable fit and… uh thinks. 

Earlier he thought about taking a nap, since he did the night shift and will do the night shift. Again. Yet someone is occupying his bed. What should he do now?

Glacier’s bed? No. Just, no.

Take a look at the bed. Papers scattered all over the surface that the bed looks black and white despite the blue bed sheets. Supra doesn't know the importance and how he should organize those documents so he'd rather not touch them at all. Official things are complicated.

Supra’s train of thoughts is abruptly cut off by a painful groan coming from none other than Sori. The man is currently thrashing on the bed, face disgruntled, clearly uncomfortable. One hand gripping the blanket on top of his chest, another scrunching the bed sheets till his knuckles turn white.

“Nightmare?” Supra thinks.

Supra approaches the bed and sits beside Sori. Face full of concern. He puts his hand on Sori’s head and starts petting it, murmuring calming words—for himself and for Sori. 

The nightmare doesn't seem to get better, though.

Then he tries waking Sori up. Shaking the younger’s body, tapping his shoulder, calling his name, but nothing works out. 

If Supra is being honest, Sori looks even worse now. His breathing gets more and more erratic, cold sweats trickling down his temple down to his chin, tears start forming at the corner of his eyes.

In a spur of panic, Supra thought of a way. He starts calling forth his power in a low intensity, causing his hands to glow red. 

Yes, he’s trying to apply the thing he did to the dwarf sunflowers earlier to Sori. Who knows it’ll work?

Supra thought right. It works!

After a solid 20 minutes of shining Sori with the light, he does seem slightly better, his grip on both the blanket and sheets are loosing up.

Supra exhaled a relieved sigh.

He believes he’s going to have to do this for a long while for Sori to recover. So Supra positions himself better on the bed. A bit upwards circling Sori’s head, folding himself so he fits in the bed, hands resting on Sori’s body.

Supra fell asleep not long after. The light remains, though. Dim red light warming up Sori’s sleeping figure

Chapter Text

He was first greeted with the sight of a normal classroom. His highschool classroom, to be precise. The desk arrangement, the announcement board full of pamphlets, the oddly creepy painting hanging on the wall. Everything is the same as back then. Nothing out of the usual.

He looks out to his left. Through the glass window, he could see snow gracefully descending from the usual gray sky. Piling up on a dead tree’s branch and the tall fence that leads to the school’s courtyard.

Ah, winter. How gloomy.

Students—his classmates, in this case—sitting behind their desks. Some were paying attention to whatever the teacher is explaining; taking notes, highlighting their modules. Some others were playing around with anything they can get their hands on at their tables, spinning pens, grating erasers.

The teacher was standing in the front of the class. Explaining, writing formulas. Ugh, physics. He never bothered to pay any attention during physics class.

In a glance, nothing seems wrong in the dream classroom.

That changed when he turn his head to the back of the classroom. All he intended was to see the clock, to tell the time. But the clock is unreadable.

Blurred, warped into a spiral of black and white. He rubbed his eyes. Cleaning them up in case there is something that bothers his eyesight.

Once, twice, thrice. Huh, maybe he needed to make an appointment with the optometrist.

He rubbed his eyes once more, the fourth time. Oh, 11.44. Lunchtime soon.

He looked down and saw one of his classmate’s face, the one sitting right behind him. He gasped silently at the sight.

The girl’s face is exactly like the clock earlier. Warped. Her face seems liquefied, twisted to some extent. Like a pool of monochromatic goo sloshing around inside a clear glass container.

Nauseating.

He turned around, back to staring blankly at the blackboard. Feels safer that way, considering the face of those around him.

He exhaled, dropping his head to the table. Laying down, he decided to face the window again. It’s much more interesting than watching your goo-faced teacher going non stop about vector application in real—dream?—life and whatnot.

His eyes widened when he saw a vase full of blooming flowers on the table right beside the window. A bundle of small blue petals messily sticking out from the vase. Some of them fell down, littering the table.

A vase of myosotis. In winter. Myosotis does not bloom in winter.

“...ri. Sori!” Miss Goo-face called him—how does she speak? Along with the shout a small piece of chalk landed on his head.

Wow, the impact hurts like shit.

“Yes?”

“Pay attention, please.”

He blinks slowly, definitely wasn’t paying any attention. “But I am, ma’am” Why did he say that? He’s gonna be in so much trouble.

“Come forward and solve this problem for me then,” Miss Goo-face said to him in a tone that was so sickeningly sweet. He couldn't see her face but he bets she’s smiling sarcastically at him.

See! You should've shut your mouth!

He took a quick glance at the question on the blackboard. It’s a load of bullcrap. The numbers and equations are not even written in any language known to man nor is it readable by human eyes.

He sighed in defeat. He just gotta go forward and, uh, write the same gibberish, right? It’s not like anyone is gonna kill him if he got the answer wrong or something… right?

With tons of hesitation, he rose from his seat.

Only to find himself in an entirely different place.

“Huh,” the word spills out from his mouth on its own volition.

He’s completely, absolutely, utterly confused.

What in the world just happened? A mere second ago he was still sitting not so comfortably behind a school desk in a bland winter afternoon. Now he found himself standing in a barren field somewhere atop a hill foreseeing a functioning city at nighttime, where the warm wind is blowing gently.

The sight is truly breathtaking. Something you don't get to see often nowadays.

The city is bright, brighter than any cities have ever been for the past decade. Lights, lights, lights. There are lights everywhere.

Tall buildings and skyscrapers are fully lit with white to yellow light. Red, green, and blue of the light boards on the streets. The colorful shine of the ferris wheel that goes up to the sky. Sparkling amidst the dark night.

Everything is so vibrant, too vibrant that it scares him a little. The area around him is not really well lit, though. No lamps and whatnot. This place is considerably far from the city, after all.

He fell to his back, falling to the grass below him. Felt itchy but it’s fine, something he expected beforehand. He gazed at the sky. It’s cloudy. The stars and the moons covered up perfectly by the clouds. That's sad. He had hoped he’ll be able to see them at least in his dream.

He kept staring at the sky. Watching as the clouds move to the west for another batch of them to flow in from the east right after, not leaving even a small crack for him to view the sky. Foul.

He laughed at that. Even dreams are as bitter as the reality they’re living in.

He closes his eyes. Feeling oddly tired. How did he get tired in dreams anyways? He didn't even move that much.

Nothing makes sense anymore. It’s a dream, but he can move freely, his body is his own. He’s inside a dream, but he can hear his thoughts loud and clear. Damn, he can even feel tired. Now he wonders, what if he falls asleep here? Will he wake up from this odd dream?

A ghastly touch on his left arm prompted him to open his eyes. There he saw a little bug, a firefly, perched on his arm. He did nothing about it. After all, it will fly away sooner or later.

Not even a minute has passed since he said it in his head, the firefly flew away. He sat up, wanting to know where it might go. Right after, a bunch of them started flying away too. Flying round and round the barren field, glowing in their signature yellow-green light.

The fireflies flew further and further. Going down the hill, not so far from where he sat. They dance, flicker, sending signals to their kin soon covering the whole field that it seems like a sea of light is formed there.

They almost looked like stars. He smiled fondly at the swarm of fireflies. He folds his legs to his chest and hugs them, making himself comfortable. He wants to stay here for a while. Maybe staying a bit longer in this dream is not so bad.

Distant sound of a train’s sirens broke the comfortable silence. The sound got closer by the second and the train passed in a sudden, leaving a light trail in its wake.

It went fast and blinding and noisy. He reflexively shut his eyes and covered his ears. When he recovered the fireflies were gone. Not even a single bud of light can be seen in the field.

Well, that's a bummer… He plops back to the grass.

And the dream teleported him again. His back never felt the untrimmed grass again. Instead he’s met with an unending void. He fell, fell, and fell through an endless black tunnel.

He is panicking. But the stupid body won't listen to his brain anymore, he’s suddenly paralyzed. He can’t even put a proper panicked expression.

He continues to fall until he lands on something wobbly and damp. A heap of sticky black goo. Ew.

A small hole at the ceiling can be seen from where he laid. Is it the hole that’s small or the ceiling that’s too high? Either way, this sucks. When can he leave?

He tried sitting up. Oh, he can move again.

What is this place… There’s nothing at all here. Pitch black darkness covering the whole space. Nothing can be seen. Nothing can be heard aside from his own breathing—since when did it get so erratic?

With a lot of effort, he managed to stand up. The ground other than where he landed is surprisingly solid.

He took a step forward. He doesn't know where he’s heading to what’s waiting for him there. He just needs to move till he eventually wakes up. Staying in a hollow place for too long is bad for his mental wellbeing.

He walked for what seems to be an eternity when a green light appears from nowhere right in front of his eyes. His hands flew to cover his eyes at the light’s sudden appearance. It’s so strikingly bright against the dark surroundings.

Through the gap of his fingers he peeped to see what’s the light all about. It’s like a green screen: rectangular, two-dimensional.

Then it morphs. The edges got cut off, dispersing to thin air. The rest of it folds and cuts and twists. Forming a shape akin to a human.

Not funny.

Not funny at all. The green-man moved. It opened its eyes and smiled at him, waving its hand. “Hi,” it greets, voice static. The green-man is still morphing. Apparently not satisfied with how human it already looks like.

The green-man took a step forward. He took a step back.

It’s getting more and more uncanny. Green-man looks more like someone by the second. More like… himself.

Green-man smiled again, now with teeth visible. It raised its right hand and pointed to him.

“Pew!” Something bright shot out from green-man’s fingertips. He thought it was going to hit him right on the head. Thankfully for him, it only grazes his hair.

“Pewpew!” Two more shots fired. Again, none of those hit him.

“The heck you’re shooting at?”

No reply. Green-man just stood still while smiling. It lifts its head, gesturing to him to see behind him.

Reluctantly, he turned his head to see where the shot landed.

The shots left a green light on the ground, illuminating certain areas around them. It seems that some objects are laid on the illuminated area. They’re too far away for him to see them clearly, but he got a bad feeling about them.

He took one last glance at the green-man, making sure that it wouldn't go anywhere, and ran as fast as he could to the lights. He still checks on the green-man at times, looking back every now and then.

Eh, this is weird. Green-man got further as he ran, but the green lights stayed at the same distance since he began running. Upon realizing this, he slowed down till he eventually stopped. Gasping out of breath.

Green-man—now no longer fully green—suddenly slides between his legs, still with its signature grin.

“Need help?”

He didn't get any time to answer nor react. Green-man pulled his legs into the ground. Both of them fell down to another space.

Somewhere gray. Like the sky in winter. Not something he favors.

“This is fun! Is it not?” Green-man said while still falling. Its voice now has more character. Getting closer to Sori as a whole when he couldn't even call out his name.

“It’s no- Urgh…” They crashed down as he was speaking. His back hitting the solid ground beneath. Sori didn't seem to feel any pain, though. To be fair Sori landed on top of him.

“Hehehe~” This little shit still had the audacity to giggle.

“Get off me.” He shoved Sori aside then sat up just to feel his entire body hurt. Must be the impact of the fall.

“Did it hurt?”

“Of course it hurts.” Seriously, what’s this guy’s deal?

“Forgive me for that. Can I sit down beside you?” Huft, sure. Do whatever you want to do. Just don’t bother me.

“Are you looking for something?” No.

“Hmm, you kinda look like you are. Oh, are you waiting for something?” Yeah. I think.

“What are you waiting for?” Waking up.

“Hmm, well it’s gonna be a long, long wait then. It might even not happen.” Huh?

“Just wait for it to happen.” Huh??? Can you speak right to the point? Also, stop smiling like that. You're scaring me.

“Oh, look! It's happening!”

The ground, it’s the ground. The gray surface turns into some kind of invisible whirlpool, sucking me into its eye.

SHOOT, I GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE!

I struggled to get out. I tried holding a part of the ground that seemed solid. It liquefied the second I touched it.

DAMN IT!

HEY! Give me a hand!

“Me? Why should I? With the sky finally eating you, I’m going to finally leave this miserable place.” That jerk, how psychopathic can you be to say those words with such ease and no remorse at all.

Geh! This thing is pulling me deeper. I need to- ugh- get out!

“Hahaha~ Don't waste your energy, this place won’t let you go. All I can say is good night~ Hope you enjoy the emptiness.”

Ah… I got careless, didn’t I? Got so absorbed in my own business that I forgot about the stupid agreement. I guess this is it…

“No. NO. NO!”

Damn jerk, can't even let me die in peace. Keep it low, won't you?

“Why must you appear right now! I was almost there! ALMOST! Just a little more!”

Is this dude speaking to someone else or did he finally lose his marbles? Who could it be, I wonder.

Eh? Is it just me or am I getting out of the invisible sucker thing? Ehh? Did that guy get more non-human again? Haha, eat that!

“Oh, wow,” he inspected his hands and body and looked at Sori—no, now it's back to the green-man again.

The space is now much brighter, much warmer. Red light spread, wrapping the whole space in its warmth. It’s from somewhere distant yet so familiar. Reminds him of a certain someone.

“Try harder next time, green-man.” Sori teased—mocked—the green-man who's slowly losing its form. This time he is the one who said something with a smile.

Sori kept smiling as the space around him crumbled and the scenery changed. All the grays vanished. Replaced by the red summer sky extending to the edge of this dream and strawflowers blooming all over the ground.

He breathed in the feel of everything that surrounded him. “Now this feels good.”

Something nice for him at last.

Sori woke up feeling oddly refreshed.

He just got a sweet sweet dream earlier in his sleep! Something that happens in a one out of ten thousands chances.

He is more than used to seeing pitch black nothingness in his sleep. Dream is something that rarely comes by. And even if it did come, it would usually be very vague. Sori is pretty sure he would forget the details a few seconds after he woke up.

This time, though, he remembers it well. It’s not complicated or scary or anything. Just a quiet and peaceful dream.

Sori feels something moving on his side. Lazily, he took a peek. Oh, it’s just Supra snuggling against him.

Uhh….

‘WHY IS SUPRA SLEEPING BESIDE ME?!?!?!’

Yeah.

Sori almost shrieked at the realization. He immediately flipped to his side so he doesn't have to see Supra’s insanely adorable sleeping face. His heart is NOT ready for this. He even goes as far as cupping his hands on his mouth in case he unconsciously screams out loud and wakes the peacefully sleeping guy beside him who also happens to be his long-time crush.

Sori kicks the air in excitement. If Supra isn't sleeping beside him he would already roll around and mess up the bed. And maybe jump around in glee like a young maiden in love.

After multiple instances of taking a deep breath and failing miserably on exhaling them properly, Sori finally calmed down a little. Calm enough that he dares to flip back his lying position and stares directly at Supra’s face. Okay, maybe he wasn't all that prepared, his heart is still beating stupidly loud, but hey at least he restrained his squeal.

Supra’s sleeping face looks so… soft, so unguarded. Complete opposite of what people said about his expression. Many said that Supra looks scary because of the serious look that’s plastered on his pale face all the time.

Maybe it's his eyes that make him look scary, so with them closed he doesn't look as scary. Oh, it can possibly be his eyebrows, though, how he unconsciously scrunches and furrows them that he looks mad. Or it could be his always pouting mouth?

Bleh, none of those are important right now. All that matters is how Supra looks right now. Relaxed eyebrows, lax jaws, completely shut eyes.

Cute, cute, cute. Sori can't find another word to describe it. He's so cute it should be illegal.

Sori can't help but to stare. Stare so deeply he accidentally got closer and closer to the point the tips of their noses met.

The tiny touch causes Supra to stir up from his sleep, letting out a little groan. Ack, he got too hasty. Sori reflexively pulled back, he didn't mean to do that.

Supra shuffles around for a bit. Turning left, right, left, back to right again. In the end he settles down with the same pose he did earlier, curling up like a fetus.

Sori let out a long exhale. Phew, thank goodness Supra didn't wake up. Now that the target is back asleep, Sori is able to continue his activity. Which is observing Supra’s sleeping face.

Sori is completely lost in thought. The time he became aware of his surroundings, Supra had already halfway opened his eyes, still looking so out of it.

Ah, cute…

Sori’s body once again moves without his volition, it slowly moves forward and plants a tiny peck on Supra’s lips.

Soft…

Eh…

EH.

Sori jerks his head backward almost immediately, staring at Supra’s face in horror. He can’t believe he just did that.

Supra’s eyes, previously still half closed and bleary, are now open wide in shock. Heat creeping up Supra’s cheeks and ears, painting his face red.

“I- I’m-” Sori’s defense is abruptly cut off by Supra’s alarm clock ringing.

Supra quite literally jumps out of bed and smacks the clock before grabbing some clothes from the closet and running off to the bathroom.

He left Sori alone with unfinished words and mixed up emotion. Currently, there are multiple thoughts running simultaneously in Sori’s head: thinking on what to say so he can fix this situation, cheering because he get to kiss his crush, cursing at his stupid impulsive self for pulling that thing earlier.

Sori can’t take this anymore, he caved. He grabs the closest pillow to him and mashes it to his face, hoping that the pillow would muffle the loud scream he’s gonna let out so Supra wouldn't have to hear him.

“AAAAAAA!!!!!!!!” he screams into the pillow. Sori threw the pillow back to its place after he felt like he screamed enough.

Just as he was fixing the pillow, Supra steps out from the bathroom, not sparing him even a glance. Supra takes some items from his table and wears his visor, on his way to meet up his night patrol partners.

“Supra,” Sori manages to call right before Supra opens the door and leaves the room, “about earlier…” Sori fiddles with his fingers, trying to make himself less anxious.

“Save it for later. It’s almost time to go,” Supra says in a neutral tone.

“Ah, okay. See ya later,” Sori sheepishly answers.

Supra utters a small ‘hm’ before leaving the room.

Sori sits still on the bed for a few minutes. Thinking, thinking, thinking. He doesn't wanna think anymore! He rolls down the bed and drops to the floor with a loud thud.

Again, he screamed. This time without the pillow absorbing 50% of his voice.

Welp. There's nothing Sori can do but to wait.

“Are you okay? I heard a loud noise from here.” Glacier enters the room unannounced, bringing an empty box. He didn't even bother to knock. Wait, this IS Glacier’s room.

Sori, still lying down on the floor, weakly answers. “No. Life is not okay.”

“Good,” Glacier lightly says as he steps over Sori to get to his bed, putting the box on top of the bed and starts inserting the mountains of papers into the box. “Anyways, pack up. We’re switching rooms starting tomorrow.”

“Haha. What?” Sori sits up.

“Don’t ‘What?’ me. Get back to your room and pack up.” Glacier kicks Sori’s sides.

“No, cuz what?” Sori asks again, still in utter confusion—combined with plenty of disbelief.

Glacier sighs, this is why he doesn't like talking to someone who just woke up. “I filed a room exchange request two weeks ago, the affirmation mail came in today. The faster we get to switch, the better.”

“So you planned all of this?”

“Not just me.”

“I- I have no words.”

“Everyone is sick of your miserable pining. They were the one who came up with the idea of making you and mister crush roomies. I was against it because he’s honestly a really helpful roommate, but eh you two keep getting on my nerves so I approved. You better get yourself together and profess your undying love to him.”

Done speaking, Glacier gets the box off his now clean bed. He went to take another box to put his stuff in, paying no attention to Sori.

Sori is shocked but okay fair enough he admits that he can be real annoying about his crush at times. Especially these last few weeks.

Sori sighs.

He will be a happy man if he resolves the problem and get Supra to at least not hate him, but if Supra doesn't forgive him uh maybe Glacier should be prepared to hold a funeral for him.

Chapter Text

Something is wrong with Supra today. 

Something is wrong with Sori today. 

Something is especially wrong with Supra today.

That’s how it feels to Supra, at least. 

Look, from the events this morning Supra thought that today will be one of the usual days: Breakfast by himself at 5, waking Glacier up and making sure he doesn't fall asleep again at 6, and finally getting something to do as he waits for his shift to start—things he does every day. 

A message came in, popping a notification bubble on his phone monitor. A newbie patrol member called in sick so he had to replace the kid on the morning shift with Frostfire since he’s the only one available—still normal, happened often considering how understaffed they are.

The patrol went smoothly. A small horde of monsters were nothing hard to handle, moreover he was fighting them with number one monster cleaner: Frostfire. Supra barely even had to do anything with how well Frostfire dealt with them. They should’ve let Frostfire go alone, but well, regulations are regulations.

An overkill, really. Management team should have known better not to put Frostfire and Supra together unless they identified something huge and they had to go against it. Not that Supra wanted something huge to actually appear. He just never really liked patrolling with Frostfire, it makes Supra feel useless because the guy would always tell him to stand back. Supra gets where the sentiment came from but hey, he wants to help too!

They should really try recruiting more magic users here.

To no one’s surprise, Frostfire and Supra came back unscathed. At first Frostfire tried to convince Supra to not go to the check-up room. But Supra, the rule-abiding personnel that he is, rejected him and dragged him by the collar to the room. Mid-way Frostfire gave up and decided to walk like a normal person. Talking while continuously smacking Supra’s back—that somehow caused a bruise, weirdly enough Supra didn’t feel any pain.

Then they finally got to the room. Here is oddity number one: Glacier arrived before them. But that’s about it. Not something really out of place. Maybe Glacier is not too busy today! That is most definitely a lie because Glacier is NEVER not too busy. 

Everything went smoothly as usual afterward.

Supra secluded himself in his room. Glacier sent him some files, asking for help. He quickly finished them up. Just as he was about to enjoy his book, oddity number two appeared: Sori knocking at his door. Continued by oddity number three and four: Sori playing with his hair and Sori sleeping on his bed.

The peak oddity that caused Supra to think that there’s something inherently wrong with him today is the fact that Sori suddenly kissed him. And well, the fact that Supra did not feel any anger or disgust or any negative emotion in general is what bothered him the most.

That was his first kiss. Stolen from him when he was still half awake. He should be angry, at the very least a little angry. But he didn’t. It confused Supra himself up to now.

“Sup, Supra. Hello?” Gentar, his junior and also his current partner, tries to get his attention. Waving his gloved hands in front of Supra’s face. 

Right. He’s on patrol right now.

“Yes?” Supra finally responds to Gentar’s words. “What were you talking about?” Supra stops on their track, causing Gentar to halt too.

Gentar squints his eyes, one hand under his chin as he stares into Supra’s eyes through his visor. Their faces are very close to each other. Reminds Supra of what just happened less than two hours ago. His face burned at that, making Supra look away.

“Um.” Supra puts his hands on Gentar’s shoulders and pushes him away as gently as he can.

Thank Goodness Gentar decided to pull back on his own. Supra feels like he can breathe again.

“Forget ‘bout what I was saying. What’s up with you today?” he asks.

“Me?” Supra points to himself surprised. “Nothing.”

Almost immediately, Gentar retorts, “Lies. You were zoning out.” Gentar gets closer and lifts Supra’s visor. “And Supra does not zone out.” He puts the visor back on Supra’s shocked face and distances himself again.

“Haha, as expected of you, Gentar! Nothing gets past you, eh,” Supra nervously says, one hand scratching his hair.

Great… Now that Gentar suspects him, the over-energetic guy will question him relentlessly till he gets to the very bottom of what’s bothering Supra. Which means Supra will have to explain everything down to the last detail to Gentar. But, eh, who knows speaking out what’s on his mind can help him.

“Of course! I’m the almighty Gentar, after all!” The younger proudly declares, fist hitting his puffed out chest.

Supra checks the watch on his left hand. 4 hours left. Supra can’t help but to let a sigh escape his lips. This is going to be a long night.

“So, what’s been bothering you?” Gentar jumps straight to his first question.

“Nothing in particular, really.” Supra still tries to avoid the question only to be met with Gentar’s ‘don’t joke with me’ expression 2 inches away from his own face. Which, again, triggered the memory of what happened between him and Sori earlier, causing Supra to reflexively yanks himself backward.

“Ah, I knew it!” Supra can practically see the light bulb light up on Gentar’s head. “It’s about love isn’t it!”

Supra chokes on his own spit. ‘Couldn't you be more obvious, Supra???’

“Uh-”

“Say no one more time and I’m telling the whole branch that Supra is madly in love with someone right after we get back,” Gentar threatens. “Or— I can do it right now!” He pulls out his communication device while grinning devilishly. 

Supra reaches out to Gentar in an attempt to grab the device, which the latter easily avoids by vaulting over his oversized hammer. “Okay, okay,” Supra says without even trying to hide his sigh, both hands up in the air gesturing an ‘I give up’. “I’ll tell you about it. Just- don't tell anyone else. It's kind of… embarrassing.”

Gentar, still with his shit-eating grin, coos, “Ooo, apparently the very stoic and neutral Senior Supra can fall in love too, ooo.”

Goodness Gracious. This child is a really potent headache inducer.

“Gentar, can you please stop for a second?” Supra pleads, accidentally raising his voice. His hand is busy massaging his temples, hoping to ease the stress boiling up in his head.

“Sorry-” Gentar rashly apologized. He didn't mean to give Supra extra headaches. His expression almost looks like a dog who got kicked out of the house for biting the owner’s sofa. 

Supra, realizing that he did something wrong, immediately consoles the younger guy, “It’s fine, Gentar. Sorry for raising my voice,” He takes off the younger’s cap and ruffles his brown locks.

“You’re not angry?”

“No.” Supra smiles softly at the younger. “Why don’t you start asking me your questions?” A diversion. 

Supra would rather Gentar be his usual boisterous noisy self than being silent and all droopy. The night is dark and gloomy and all, he doesn’t need his little junior being sad as well.

“Can I ask anything? Like- Anything?” Gentar asks—too—enthusiastically, eyes brimming with something that would instantly activate Supra’s flight instincts in normal occasions.

“Sure,” Supra replies, holding himself not to sigh as much as he can.

“Who’s the lucky guy? Hehehe.”

Right away with a hard question.

“Hm… Guess,” Supra manages to sound playful with his remark. Great job, Supra!

“Sori,” Gentar answers with so much surety in his voice. “Who else could it be?”

Supra stays quiet after that. He know he shouldn't, staying quiet will only confirm Gentar that what he said is indeed true, but Supra just can’t help but to question where does Gentar’s absolute surety came from. 

Yes, Gentar is confident. Yes, Supra is well aware of that. 

Being confident about someone else’s relationship is really something though.

“Haha! It seems that I hit Jackpot!” Gentar grins as he points finger guns at Supra.

Supra lets out that sigh he held since earlier.

“Did anything happen between you two?” the younger inquires yet again.

“Yes, something did happen.” Supra stops his words. Taking some precious seconds to think deliberately about how he should approach this matter. Sadly, it’s no use. Whenever his brain tries to formulate a legible answer, his heart—still in absolute chaos—would butt in and ruin everything.

“Is it something really personal? Do you not wanna talk about it?” 

“Ah, no. I don't think… so?”

“Hm?”

Supra thinks and thinks and thinks, imaginary steam going off from his head from how hard he does it.

“He… Sori, he—” Supra hesitates, taking some deep breaths before finally blurting out: “hekissedmeonthelipsbutidontthinkhesintherightmind!”

Gentar quirked his eyebrows. “Come again.”

“He— hekissedm—” Supra’s words was cut short by Gentar’s shushing.

“Deep breaths, Supra. Deep breaths,” Gentar calmly said as he patted his senior’s back softly. 

To Gentar, this situation is interesting, for the lack of words he can use to describe his feelings. It’s kinda funny getting to see Supra like this: a total garbled mess, a whole 180° degrees from how he usually is. All because of a crush. To be fair, Gentar was no better back then when he had, um, similar predicament but let the past stay in the past.

Gentar’s acts do help Supra compose himself. A few rounds of breathing slowly, he can feel a bit of the weight in his mind lifted.

“Alright. Sorry for the delay.”

“It’s fineee! Happens all the time to me,” Gentar gave Supra a thumbs up. The latter is not actually impressed but he appreciates the gesture.

“Uh, Sori… He kissed me earlier. On the lips.”

“Damn,” Gentar covers his mouth with one of his hands. “I never thought he would be the type to just dive in like that… I wasn’t familiar with your game, Sori.”

“Um. I think-”

“How does it feel?” Gentar cocks his head, looking enthusiastically at Supra, “Did you enjoy it?”

Supra flushes bright red at that. “I couldn't properly feel it! It was more of an accident than anything!” Supra stammered out. “I think. Maybe…,” he added in a more hushed tone.

“Still, you gotta feel something, right?” Gentar insisted.

Honestly it was such a surprise for Supra that he couldn’t really get the time to comprehend the kiss itself—or he refused to comprehend it. It was light, very light, as if a dove’s feather landed on his lips. It’s definitely not perfect. It was rushed, yet the lingering touch of Sori’s chapped lips against his own stays. It doesn't remotely taste like anything, but it sent Supra’s mind racing and his heart fluttering. He thought he’s past the age for these kinds of ridiculous feelings.

“It’s light. Like a feather touch,” Supra absentmindedly answers.

“Ehh? Just like that???”

“Yeah? What were you expecting?” Now it’s Supra’s turn to cock his head in confusion.

“I dunno!” Gentar dramatically shrugs, “Something more??? A deep kiss with tongue, the kind that makes your head spin and leaves you breathless???”

The words earned Gentar an earnest slap on his head by his favorite senior.

“Sorry, a force of habit,” Supra apologized—lies, he thinks Gentar lowkey deserved it for being too vulgar (for Supra’s standards).

Gentar pats the part of his head that Supra had hit. No dent, no bump. Good. It still hurts though. “Gee, no need to hit me that hard!”

“Deserved.”

“ANYWAYS! Are you okay with it?” Gentar’s tone shifted from playful to a little bit more serious, “If you’re not then I can beat up Sori for you.”

“I feel fine. And please don’t beat him up,” Supra said with a long exhale.

“And here I was already expecting squashed sunflower salad for dinner.” The younger laments.

“You won’t even eat veggies. Let alone flowers,” Supra chided, rolling his eyes.

“I’m ready to make an exception for this one!” He puffed his chest.

“Then why don’t you start from eating the little cherry tomato on the cafeteria's pasta later? I’ll treat you.”

Gentar moves 5 meters away from Supra. “Nuh uh uh. No thank you! I’ll have an extra meatball instead!”

“Not so easy, it seems.” Supra points to the smoke forming on the hilltop.

“Maaan.” Gentar whines, he readies his hammer. Twisting some tubes and inputting some modules so the hammer is ready for the horde of monsters coming their way. “Supra, you can sit back and watch. This almighty Gentar is gonna beat these critters up in no time.”

“Don’t get so full of yourself, you dweeb,” Supra jabs back. But then he remembers something. “If you want that so badly, though, you can strike forward. I’ll support you from the back.”

Gentar’s lips upturned, forming a grin that made Supra almost want to punch him. “Heh, countin’ on you then!” The younger half-shouted as he dashed forward, breaking the monsters’ formation.

Gentar is not by any means weak. He’s strong enough to fend off by himself, yet Supra still feels that as a senior, he must make sure his junior doesn’t get awfully beaten up.

Supra observes the fight from a distance. Shooting some beams of light to help out cleaning up the rears.

By the time he realised there’s something abnormal about these monsters, it was a tad too late.

Gentar is struggling really badly against the horde. The boy looks worn out. His swings aren’t as fierce and steady as usual. Even with his ability on, Gentar would still crumble.

The waves of monsters showed no sign of stopping even after Gentar had taken down almost hundreds of them.

If he called the base right now, no one would be able to get to this place fast enough. Supra has been warned, reprimanded multiple times about his own situations, but this time, he just had to do it. 

Supra took in a deep breath before activating his powers. Jumping forward with lightning speed to get to Gentar, immediately grabbing the younger and pulling him back, distancing them both from the horde.

That’s one task done. Gentar is in a safe position.

Next on—he’ll apologize to Sori, Glacier, and Frostfire later—Supra condensed a huge amount of energy from inside him then fires them off, wiping one-third of the incoming monsters.

His intimidation worked. The rest of the monsters retreated to where they came from.

“What the heck was that?!” Gentar shouted from beside him.

“I’ll second that,” Supra lightly replied, “For now we should get back and report. Sori won’t be happy when he sees any of us.” Supra glanced at Gentar’s bruised figure and his own palm.

“Right. Shucks…” Gentar laments. “Seems that I still can’t beat you, huh…” he sulked as he got up on his feet.

A small smile creeped to Supra’s face, his mood lightened up immediately, “Hahah. You still have a long way to go, lil’ Gen.” He patted Gentar’s back.

“Aaaargh, stop with the nickname! You’re starting to sound like Sori!”

“Is that so?”

Both of them continued the banter until they reached the base. Mostly Gentar speaking and sparking conversation but Supra wouldn’t say he hates it. It’s one of the not-so-much forms of solace he could find in a ruined world such as this one. 

And he’ll cherish it while he still can.