"iwa-chaaan!" the voice of hanamaki's roommate rang through their dorm. he giggled as his boyfriend, iwaizumi kissed at his neck playfully. "stop! that tickles!" oikawa chimed, laughing as the other boy continued to kiss and nip at his neck and shoulders.

hanamaki sat there, in a bed which was no less than seven feet away from them. straight-faced and wearing earbuds, which he wished were noise-cancelling. he was trying to listen to music and do his homework but he found himself distracted by his roommates annoying noises. he huffed, removing an earbud and looking over at oikawa and iwaizumi, "dudes!" he called out. they both paused what they were doing to look over at him. "can't you guys go make out somewhere else?" he complained.

"but maakkiii," oikawa whined, "i haven't seen my iwa-chan in, like, a whole week,"

oh my god. that's it. i'm committing murder.

"don't you have an apartment, iwaizumi?" hanamaki asked.

"well, yeah, but i have a roommate," he spoke up.

"oh yeah, and oikawa doesn't," he said sarcastically, tilting his head slightly.

"but my roommate isn't a big fan of oikawa," hajime stated.

"which is understandable," makki replied bluntly.

"hey!" oikawa yapped, his brows furrowed and bottom lip pouted. then the brunet narrowed his eyes, "i admire your honesty," he admitted sarcastically. "now, go,"

"eh?"

"go, go," oikawa waved hanamaki away, shooing him. "go to tetsu-chan's dorm," he said. hanamaki stared at the two blankly for a moment.

"i hate you both," he said before getting up without protest and grabbing a pencil, his phone and a notebook. he made his way towards the door then stopped, "when exactly am i allowed to come back?"

"preferably never but i'd say maybe twelve," he suggested. it was currently nine. hanamaki let out a groan before opening up the door and walking out. he walked through the dorm halls, nearly every doorknob had some sort of garment on it. some doorknobs had a heel hanging from it, some a sock, some even hung underwear on their doorknobs. the amount of doorknobs with something hanging from them outweighed the amount of doorknobs without something hanging from them. i hope kuroo isn't busy...like, busy. he thought as he rounded the corner and walked towards kuroo's dorm. luckily, there was nothing atop his doorknob. hanamaki celebrated internally as he knocked twice onto the door before walking in, without thinking.

"AH!" kuroo yelped and jumped up from his knees as makki swung the door open. bokuto scrambled for something to cover himself, he tossed a pillow over his junk. both boys were wide-eyed, faces red as a tomato as they looked at makki.

"oh- GOD! SORRY!" hanamaki slammed the door shut. his own cheeks were on fire as he quickly decided whether he should stay and apologize, or should flee the scene. he heard a bit of bickering, and some shuffling around behind the door so he decided to leave. he started walking away, quickly. then he heard the door swing open.

"makki!" kuroo called out. hanamaki looked back at the raven haired boy who was leaning on his door frame, a hand raised up, waving the boy over. "come back, dude!" he exclaimed. hanamaki made his way back over to kuroo's dorm, approaching the tall boy who's face was still red. "i'm...super, super sorry about that," kuroo said with an awkward laugh, placing a hand onto the back of his neck.

"no way, i'm sorry, i just walked in without waiting for a response," hanamaki said, laughing sheepishly as well.

"well, bokuto was supposed to lock the door," he said, in a sort of scolding manner.

"i thought i did!" bokuto chirped from inside the dorm. kuroo scoffed, shaking his head a few times.

"anyways..." kuroo said, awkwardly. "what's up, bro?" he asked, running a hand through his messy hair.

"er-...i was just coming to hang out," he said, "since oikawa has iwaizumi over, he kinda told me to hit the road," makki said lightheartedly.

"ooh, yeah, totally," kuroo said, "come in," he walked into his dorm, makki hesitantly followed. their dorm smelled heavily of weed and scented candles. bokuto was sat awkwardly on the bed, wearing sweatpants and a tshirt, which he must've thrown on in a rush, since it was backwards.

"hi!" bokuto greeted the boy as he walked in.

"yo," he replied then looked over at kuroo, "dude, you guys were clearly in the zone, so..." hanamaki began, gesturing towards the lit candles, waving his hands defensively in a sarcastic manner. "i'm gonna just let y'all get back to it," he said, walking backwards. he picked up a hat from kuroo's nightstand, "and i'll help make sure no one else makes the same traumatizing mistake i made," he joked.

"dude, you can stay if you want," kuroo insisted.

"no, no, get back to work, don't let me ruin your fun," he replied, opening the door back up.

"my dick's soft anyways," bokuto bluntly admitted, earning a blurted laugh from kuroo.

"i'm pretty sure he can fix that," hanamaki joked, walking out and shutting the door. he dropped the hat onto the doorknob then began to walk away. so many hormonal idiots. he thought to himself, laughing at his own joke.

he understood why this side of the dorms were like this, these dorms were where the queer kids stayed. queer kids who never really had their lovers over their house before. owning your own space, for the first time, feels a thousand times more liberating for gay kids than for straight kids. no matter how accepting your family is, it feels awkward to show any type of affection towards your partner around your family. again, this is true for most kids, but becomes much more real and scary when you're gay. hanamaki could speak from personal experience. when he came out to his family, they kicked him out, at the age of seventeen, and he had been living with oikawa ever since.

oikawa and him were always together, and now they were at college together. college did exactly what he would've expected it'd do to oikawa, it turned oikawa into a sexually free-spirited maniac. when school first started, oikawa had different boys over their dorm constantly. then he met iwaizumi, they got into a serious relationship and hanamaki turned into a major third wheel. he didn't mind, for the most part, but it made him feel lonely. he wasn't very good at meeting boy's himself.

hanamaki stepped out of the building, the sharp autumn air crept under his sweater causing him to shiver. he walked over to a nearby bench, and took a seat. he opened up his notebook and started working on revising his notes then he heard footsteps approaching. he looked up to see a pale, brunet boy with warm brown eyes and a cute nose. simply put, he was hot.

"hey, uh-" the boy began as he approached makki. "my phone died, could you tell me what time it is?" he asked. hanamaki stopped staring at the boy to pull out his phone and check the time.

"it's almost nine twenty," he informed the brunet.

"damnit," he said, plopping onto the bench. "i missed my class," he said. he looked up at the sky for a moment before looking over at hanamaki. "i'm futakuchi, by the way," he said then paused, makki looked over at him. "but i kind of hate my name, you can just call me kenji," he said.

"i'm hanamaki, but you can call me makki," he said.

"makki." he repeated, "a beautiful name for a beautiful person," he replied slyly.

"oh," hanamaki said letting out a light laugh, "thank you," he said. he smiled slightly at the boy.

"which dorms do you belong to?" he asked, bringing his arm onto the back of the bench. they were sat merely two feet away from each other and it felt as though kenji was trying to get closer.

"er-, aoba hall," he answered, gesturing towards the doors behind them.

"are youu...-"

"gay?"

"yeah,"

"i am," hanamaki replied truthfully, "did you ask because i'm staying in aoba hall?" he inquired. the brunet nodded.

"isn't that whole dorm...mostly gay people?" he asked. it was makki's turn to nod.

"yeah," he replied, then paused. "wait," he thought for a moment about how the boy had called him beautiful and is now acting odd about gay people. "you're straight?" he asked.

"nah,"

"oh," makki shut his notebook and turned his body subtly towards the other boy. "why haven't i seen you around?" he asked.

"cause i don't stay in the dorms," he informed the pink haired boy. "i've got my own place," he said.

*

the two of them chatted about their lives, opening up to each other quite easily. hanamaki was someone who opened up to nearly anyone, he didn't care if people knew his business and he could tell that kenji felt the same. eventually kenji suggested they go back to his apartment, hanamaki politely denied then offered him his phone number. they exchanged information, then went their separate ways. makki walked back into the building, waving one last time at the brunet as the door shut. then he pivoted on his heel, leaning back against the door. wow...that guy was so hot. i'm meltinnngg. he thought as he pulled out his phone to check the time. it was eleven, he had one last hour to kill before he could head back to the dorm. so he made his way to another friends dorm. he knocked on the door a few times, waiting for a response, refusing to push his luck. "it's me, makki," he called out through the door. the door swung open and he smiled brightly as he laid eyes on one of his closest friends, akaashi.

"hello makki," he greeted the pink haired boy with a single wave. he let him into his dorm and shut the door behind him. "what's up," he said simply.

"i'm just killing time until i can go back to my dorm, oikawa has his boyfriend over," he filled him in, then perked up a bit. "oh! but i'm glad oikawa kicked me out, i met this super cute guy outside," he said.

"ooouh~ do tell," akaashi mused as he sat onto his bed, patting the empty bed next to him. hanamaki took a seat and took a dramatically deep breath.

"so-!" he said, raising his hands to begin telling the story, far more dramatically than it had happened.

"wait, don't be too loud," akaashi said lazily pointing over to the bed on the other side of the room. "yamaguchi's sleeping," he said.

"well, i'm trying," yamaguchi piped up, flipping over to face the two boys. "but i wanna hear the story!" he chimed.

"well, gather 'round!" he joked, "no, but, okay," he stammered. "i was just looking for somewhere to do my homework...which i still have to do..." he paused then piped up, "so! i went to kuroo's dorm but he was...busy," he said.

"with bokuto," akaashi assumed, "and i didn't receive an invite?" he joked in a tone which would seem serious if hanamaki didn't know any better. "that bastard..."

"and then!" makki chimed, "i went outside, to sit on that one bench, we all know the bench right," he said sarcastically.

"yeaaaaah, the bench!" yamaguchi played along jokingly, nodding his head and wagging his finger at the boy.

"so there i was," he said, "sitting at the bench, about to start homework," he said, "when suddenly!" the other two boys gasped dramatically. "out of the shadows, emerged an angel!" he said.

"wow," akaashi stated, "amazing storytelling,"

"details! details!" yamaguchi chanted, "what did he look like?"

"oh boy, let me teeelllll you," makki said, "he was tall, brunet, skin almost as pale as mine," he said, "his eyes, were so kind and inviting," he went on dreamily. "the way his hair kept falling in his face, and he just kept eye contact with me," hanamaki swooned.

"sounds like oikawa," yams pointed out.

"don't ruin this for me!" hanamaki retaliated.