Archive of Our Own ^beta

————

THE DORM ROOMS.

————

"Welcome to Canada, Tsukasa-kun!" Rui chuckled, "How does it feel to be in a land full of english speaking people?"

Tsukasa huffed, grinning proudly as he placed his hands on his hips. "I'm confident in my English skills, Rui!" He exclaimed, "Don't doubt the abilities of this star- besides, I can speak French, too! So even better, I'm pretty sure people also speak that language here.."

Rui nodded, humming in agreement. "Ah yes, the language of love.. I'm surprised you know French better than English- they're pretty similar, I believe."

Tsukasa winced, "Ehhh.. kind of? Well, no matter! Let us move onwards, Rui, to find our dorm room! Where's Miyake and Hayashi?"

"We're here..!"

A voice called out from behind them. Rui and Tsukasa turned around to see an out of breath Miyake, panting heavily with Hayashi beside him, offering the boy a glass of water. In the distance, he could see Taniyama laughing, sending the two boys a thumbs up along with a goofy little grin when he caught their eyes.

"Ah, you guys got held back, huh?" Rui asked, chuckling. "Well, let's go now, shall we?"

Hayashi nodded, taking out a small card from his pocket. "I have the keycard, we're in room.. 109."

"Let's go find it, then!" Tsukasa exclaimed, striking a pose as he turned around dramatically, walking off into the hallway.

"Ah- wait for us..!"

——

There was a long, pregnant pause as the four third years stared at their room, dumbfounded.

They had expected it to be.. larger. But no, it was a tiny kitchen in the corner, a small table, a washroom to the side, and then two small bedrooms. With a desk and a lamp, and a closet. That was literally everything. The kitchen didn't even have an oven, actually. Did it even have a stove?

...

"This is.." Miyake blinked awkwardly, "Um. Small.."

The three boys nodded in agreement. "Is this what all dorms in Canada look like?" Tsukasa mumbled to himself, squinting his eyes as he looked inside each room. He kept switching between each one, the left, then the right, the left, then the right-

"Rui and I are claiming this one!" He exclaimed, pointing to the one on his right (everyone else's left).

Rui snickered, raising a playful eyebrow. "Both of us? But my, Tsukasa-kun, there's only one bed."

Miyake choked on air while Tsukasa's eyes widened, stammering awkwardly. "R- WH- RUI?!!!!"

"You two are dating already, aren't you?" Hayashi pointed out, "Have you not slept in the same bed yet?"

"DO YOU EXPECT US TO?!!!" Tsukasa screeched out. From outside the door, he heard a teacher yell out, "KEEP IT DOWN, TENMA!"

Right. These walls were as thin as paper. They were lucky enough to get a room in the corner, meaning they didn't have to hear anybody else from other rooms, but they themselves could probably still be heard.

'They' is Tsukasa. 

"Well, we have at least another hour here," Hayashi reminded everyone, "Let's get settled in for a bit before we have to go back out."

The other three nodded, and Tsukasa grabbed Rui's arm to drag him inside their room for the next two nights.

"Dibs right side," Tsukasa immediately called out with a large grin, "You're sleeping on the left!"

Rui chuckled, amused with Tsukasa's antics. "Does it really matter?"

"Of course it does!" Tsukasa exclaimed, "I feel more comfortable on the right side of the bed."

"Why?"

Tsukasa shrugged. "I just do! Do I need a reason?"

"Fair," 

Rui set his duffle bag on the ground besides Tsukasa's, who had just proudly whipped out a worn out lamb plushie with a goofy grin.

"You brought your stuffed lamb..?"

Tsukasa nodded pridefully, giving the lamb a little squeeze before gently setting it on his side of the bed and patting it on the head. "Her name is Lamby," He pointed out like a stupid little nerd.

"..You brought Lamby?"

"Yup!"

Rui huffed fondly, smiling at Tsukasa's childish shenanigans. Now that he thought of it, he probably should have brought his own little plush too. A Perry the Platypus one, if you will. It wasn't really childish, he thought. What's wrong with sleeping with a little stuffed animal, after all?

————

THE ART MUSEUM.

————

"Oh, a lot of these actually look good," Miyake muttered, looking around at all the portraits strewn across the hallway. "Look at this one here, it's really big!"

Rui nodded in agreement, looking at the name of the painting. A lot of the paintings here did look very nice. He had already taken a picture of a few of them, actually.

While Rui and Miyake were admiring each of the paintings one by one, Tsukasa and Hayashi were walking around the rooms nearby, with Tsukasa occasionally finding a random painting to stare at for a good 5 minutes before moving on.

But eventually, Miyake and Rui had moved onto the next room, unbeknownst to the other two. So when they came back to see the two gone--

"...Oh, shit."

Turns out, most of their classmates had already also moved on, meaning Hayashi and Tsukasa were left behind everyone else. But the other thing here was, Miyake and Rui weren't following the class either.

Therefore, all four of them were lost. And this was a big ass museum.

"Shit, shit, shit!!" Tsukasa hissed to himself, dragging Hayashi through the halls and rooms in a desperate attempt to find Rui and Miyake. Eventually, they had passed by a few classmates who were doing their own thing, and even found most of the class again- but none of them had spotted Miyake nor Rui. "Hayashi, what if they're lost??!! What if we never find them again?!"

Hayashi put his hands out in front of him. "Tenma, calm down..! We'll find them eventually, I'm sure of it. If we found the rest of the class, I'm sure they can, too."

"But this place is so big!" Tsukasa exclaimed, spreading his arms outwards, "Rui almost got lost last year in Kyoto, well actually he did- and now he's lost again!"

"But he found a way back, didn't he?" Hayashi pointed out, "Miyake and Kamishiro are smart people, I'm sure they'll find a way back. Besides, this place isn't as crowded as Kyoto- it's quiet here. It'll make things much easier."

Tsukasa sighed, folding his arms with a worried expression. "Right.. I'm still worried, though."

"Why," Hayashi chuckled, raising an eyebrow with a smirk. "Do you miss your boyfriend, Tenma?"

"HAYASHI-??!! NOT YOU, TOOOOOOO!!!!"

——

"This is a nice painting,"

"So is this one."

"Yeah.. I like the lighting here."

"Woah, you can see this guys.."

"Let's not look at that."

"R-right..!"

...

The entire time, Miyake and Rui were walking around side by side, admiring each painting and sculpture. Both were blissfully ignorant of the two men a floor above them, concerned about their whereabouts.

Eventually, the two had found Taniyama's class- and eventually met back with a worried Tsukasa and Hayashi. Tsukasa immediately began to scold Rui, while the other three watched.

"They look like a married couple," Taniyama pointed out with a snicker. "You think Tenma would wear a dress at the wedding?"

With a loud gasp, Tsukasa stopped in his tracks to stare at Taniyama with a horrified look.

A silent horrified look. But from behind him, Rui smirked, flashing Taniyama a thumbs up.

They took fake mugshot pictures in front of a shitty modern painting that looked like the background for a mug shot a bit later.

————

THE BLUE CACTUS.

————

"Woah, we get an entire balcony to ourselves?!" Taniyama exclaimed excitedly, leaning over the railing. "I kinda wanna jump onto that chandelier."

"Don't," Hayashi called out from his seat. "Come sit down, the food is going to be here soon."

"Yes, father.."

Hayashi blinked, his lips slightly parted as he processed his words. "...What?"

Rui chuckled, leaning against Tsukasa's shoulder. He could feel the blond bobbing up and down, his legs swinging back and forth, back and forth. "Are you tired?" He asked, "Or are you just bored?"

"Hot and bored," Rui replied with a sigh, "I didn't expect it to be this warm, and we have to walk outside all day,"

Tsukasa groaned, nodding, "That's what I'm saying!" He complained, "I swear, dibs first one to use the washroom when we get back to the dorm,"

"Huh?" Miyake's eyes widened, looking over to Tsukasa. "Well, then I'll claim second..!"

"But I wanna be second," Rui pouted, looking over at Miyake with puppy dog eyes. "Pleaaseee?"

Miyake looked at Rui with an indescribable expression. "I called it first," He pointed out, "Unless you want to do rock paper scissors..?" 

"Fine," Rui held out his hands, "Rock, paper, scissors.."

"Shoot-!"

...

Rui lost. Big L moment for the one and only Rui Kamishiro.

Soon enough, however, their food came, and Rui immediately shot up in his seat, suddenly healed from his Tomodachi life style depression.

"Alright, everyone!" Tsukasa called out, "Let's dig in!"

"Thank you for the food!" Everyone chanted out, before beginning to eat their food. Tsukasa paused as soon as he took the first bite of his alfredo, blinking rapidly and scrunching his face up.

Rui, with his big ass sandwich, looked over at Tsukasa, raising an eyebrow. "What's wrong?"

Tsukasa cringed, gulping the food down his throat and setting his fork down slowly. "It's... not good." He confessed.

"Oh."

Rui reached over to take his fork, trying a bit of the alfredo. His winced, nodding in agreement. "Yeah, that's not good."

Tsukasa hummed, sighing. "How's the sandwich?"

"Not that bad," Rui replied, shrugging. "It's definitely not fresh, though.. what about you three?"

Hayashi, who also had the Alfredo, shook his head. "It's not very good, it looks burnt."

"Eh, this one isn't too bad," Taniyama replied, sticking out his tongue, "But it's kinda bland."

Miyake nodded in agreement, and everyone collectively sighed. "So I guess the food really isn't good."

Tsukasa pouted, "Why'd they make us come here if the food isn't even good?" He complained, taking out his phone. "I wonder what the reviews on this place are.."

A bit later, a server came to give them some water. She had a strangely high skirt, and a bored look on her face as she passed out the glasses. But one of the glasses slipped from her hands, clattering onto the table and shattering in front of Rui and Tsukasa.

"Ah-!"

Tsukasa hissed in pain, wincing as a piece of glass cut his hand.

"Ah, shit." The waitress narrowed her eyes, scoffing. "My bad."

Everyone at the table stared at the waitress, astonished at not only her actions, but her attitude.

"Let me clean that," The waitress took her cloth, wiping the table and gathering the shards of glass. Some of the glass had gotten into their food- mostly Rui and Tsukasa's. Seeing their faces, the waitress rolled her eyes. "It's just water, it's no big deal.."

No big deal my ass, woman.

After leaving, they heard her scoff again and whisper under her breath. "Damn kids..."

Tsukasa huffed, rubbing his hand gently in the place the glass had cut him. "What the hell..?" He muttered to himself, looking over to Rui. "Are you alright?"

Rui nodded, pushing his plate away. It was wet with water and a few shards of glass were on it, too. Tsukasa did the same, and Rui took his hand, looking at the small cut. "Are you okay?"

"It's just a small cut!" Tsukasa exclaimed, "Nothing a small bandaid won't fix, it's okay. It's not even bleeding that much."

"You sure?"

"Of course!"

Rui hummed, leaning forward to kiss the cut gently. "Just in case," He piped up.

Tsukasa's eyes widened, his face going red. "I- Th..aannkkk youuu???"

Taniyama pointed at Tsukasa, cackling. "Dude, look at how red your face is! You look like a tomato!"

"TANIYAMMMAAAAAAA-!!!!!??????"

Of course it had to be Taniyama who kept torturing Tsukasa. He was the closest to matching Tsuaksa's energy, and he just had to use it for evil.. the blond sighed, shaking his head. "Well.. should we tell the teachers about this-?

...

They did not, actually. But Miyake did write a very long google review on The Blue Cactus and how it was not a very good place to eat at. That, and Hayashi had found someone crying in the boys washroom.

It was never built upon after that. Honestly, even I'm still wondering what happened.

————

HORROR STORIES (WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS DOOR).

————

"Aw man, it's not working.." Hayashi sighed. "That means no horror movies."

"Ah," Rui pouted, shaking his head. "Well, we tried. OR- hold on.."

The director dug into Tsukasa's bag, taking out a flashlight. "That doesn't mean we can't tell each other horror stories."

Miyake laughed nervously while Tsukasa cringed, a worried expression on his face. "Oh god.."

"Why, what's the problem, Tsukasa-kun?" Rui asked, flicking the lights off with a mischievous smirk. Both Miyake and Tsukasa let out a little squeak, while Hayashi stayed quiet. Rui turned on Tsukasa's flashlight, holding it under his chin and smiling creepily. "Boo,"

"RUI!" Tsukasa hissed, pouting. Beside him, Miyake squeaked again, latching onto Tsukasa's arm. "We don't.. HAVE to do this, right..?"

"Why, are you scared?" Rui asked, taking a seat in front of the three boys on the bed. He took out his phone, "Hold on, let me find a good one.."

"YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE A STORY IN MIND??!!" Tsukasa whisper-screeched (which ended up being the normal volume of anyone's voice, which really said a lot about how loud he was).

Rui shrugged, chuckling awkwardly. "Well, it's not like I was planning for this," He explained, "I didn't think we wouldn't be able to watch the movies- oh, here's a good one.. 'Footprints in the Snow..'"

Miyake clutched onto Tsukasa, who leaned against Hayashi, who simply looked at the two in confusion. He had heard of this story before, it wasn't all that scary when you thought about it. Unsettling was all it was- to him, at least. But as Rui read the story off his phone (which, mind you, made things even less scarier), his tone low and dull to fit the atmosphere he was trying to procure (and unfortunately failing at, it was honestly the phone's fault), Tsukasa and Miyake continued to clutch onto him. At the end of the story, Rui did a little jumpscare, and Miyake flinched.

The next horror story was told with the lights on. 

After that messy attempt at a horror story telling, Hayashi and Miyake decided to retire into their room for the night, leaving Tsukasa and Rui alone to share a bed. Hayashi had sent Tsukasa a joking eyebrow raise, causing him to flinch and lean back as his face quickly turned red, just as it had when Rui had kissed him at The Blue Cactus.

Man, fuck the blue cactus. Taniyama made a one star review on google just like Miyake, with an alias named 'Johnny Bob'.

"Hehe," Rui turned off the flashlight, handing it back to Tsukasa. "Apologies for the scare."

Tsukasa tossed the flashlight back into his bag, "It didn't scare me."

"Did it?"

Tsukasa hesitated for a moment. "...Nnoo."

Rui chuckled, wrapping his arms around Tsukasa from behind him. "Lights on or off?"

"Mmm.." Tsukasa melted into Rui's touch, leaning back into his chest with an embarrassed expression. "Turn on the lamp."

"Got it,"

While Tsukasa turned off the ceiling light, Rui reached over to the lamp and flicked it on. A warm, dim light bathed the room, and Tsukasa sighed, getting himself situated in his side of the bed. Rui lay down beside him, grinning as he slinked his arm over Tsukasa and pulled him closer.

"Wh- Rui..?!" Tsukasa craned his neck to look at the director, clutching Lamby to his chest. "What are you..?"

"Why, do you not want to cuddle?" Rui asked softly, tilting his head to the side (or trying to, since he was already lying down on his side). "We don't have to if you don't want to,"

Rui let go of Tsukasa, and the blond immediately found himself wanting that warmth again. With a small gasp, Tsukasa shook his head, turning his body over to face Rui. "No, come back."

Rui smiled, pulling Tsukasa closer once more and hugging him, leaning down to plant a kiss on his forehead. "Alright then. Goodnight, my star."

Tsukasa hummed, burying his face into Rui's chest, Lamby stuck between the two boys like a child sleeping in between their parents. "G'night.." He mumbled with a yawn.

Then, everything was quiet. You could only hear the sound of soft bretahing from the two, and Hayashi and Miyake playing Bitlife in the room beside them, and..

thump

thump

thump

Tsukasa looked over to the door, frowning. "What's that noise?" He muttered, "The door's locked, though."

Rui looked up, following Tsukasa's gaze. "Is it coming front the door?"

Tsukasa nodded. He removed Rui's arm, hopping out of bed and walking over to the door to examine it. "Yeah, it is, I think."

Rui narrowed his eyes. "Huh."

The blond shuddered, "I don't like the noise."

"Does it scare you?"

"...No."

"Does it?" Rui repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"...Maybe." Tsukasa changed his answer after hesitating for a moment.

Rui huffed fondly, spreading his arms out and beckoning for Tsukasa to return to the bed. "Come here, my star."

Tsukasa froze for a second at the nickname. He whipped his head around to look at Rui in surprise. "Wh.."

"Did you not like the nickname?"

"No, not that, it just caught me off guard," Tsukasa stammered, looking away awkwardly.

Rui chuckled. "Then can I keep calling you that?"

Slowly, Tsukasa lied back down in the bed, the door still making that strangely rhythmic thump noise. Rui wrapped his arms around Tsukasa once more as the blond snuggled as close to him as possible, Lamby tightly squeezed between the two.

"Yeah, sure."

————

CARLETON COUNTY JAIL.

————

"This place isn't really scary," Tsukasa mumbled to himself, looking around the yard of the jail. "It's just.. old and abandoned."

"You didn't say that last night!" Rui teased, snickering as he pinched Tsukasa's cheek. "I think this place is interesting- look up there!"

Miyake, Hayashi, Taniyama, and Tsukasa all followed Rui's gaze, "..It's a trapdoor."

Rui nodded. "Yes, but what matters is what's above it. That door may be closed, but I'm assuming when it's open, it would be for a public execution via noose."

Silence.

"Like.. death sentence?" Tsukasa asked carefully. Rui nodded in affirmation. "When the trapdoor opens, the victim will be suspended midair by the rope, and suffocate."

Miyake winced, shuddering. "..Oh."

Rui was staring intensely at the trapdoor and the wooden door thing above it, his eyes narrowed.

The four were unsure of what he was thinking. Frankly, none of them really wanted to know.

——

A few pictures into the tour, and the five were climbing a flight of extremely rickety stairs with gaps between each step. Rui, Miyake, Hayashi, and Taniyama seemed to be taking it one step at a time, but Tsukasa pretty much zoomed up the first flight, and looked back at the other four with a prideful grin.

"Why are you guys so slow?"

Taniyama looked up at Tsukasa, his jaw dropped. "Dude, how did you climb these so fast?! Are you not like, afraid of slipping through?"

Tsukasa shrugged, "They're like the ones at my house," He explained, "I'm used to it! Never will you see this star trip over some measly gap!"

...

Yeah, he tripped on the next flight of stairs. That was the scariest thing that happened during that tour. 

Well, it looked like someone got their spooky haunted moment, at least.

————

LAMBY.

————

That night, Tsukasa lost three rounds of rock, paper, scissors- and was therefore the last one to use the bathroom. Really, it sucked, because that entire day, they were all outside in the blazing hot sun of a heatwave. A headache had even began to blossom in the blond's cranium, leaving him exhausted and wanting nothing more but sleep.

While Hayashi was in the washroom, Rui was tossing Lamby up and down, feeling the sandbag inside the worn-out plush.

"Give her back," Tsukasa muttered, making grabby hands at the plush. Honestly, he wanted to just fall asleep right here and now, but it was 10:15 and he needed to take a shower and do his skincare.

Usually, he would be preparing for sleep already, but he had to wait for Rui AND Miyake to use the washroom- and that was AFTER Hayashi finished!

Damn his poor rock paper scissors skills.. he swore he was good at it, too!

But alas, Tsukasa was stuck here, fated to wait an unknown amount time until the other three were done in the washroom.

Shame.

And now, Rui was purposefully throwing Lamby higher, sticking his tongue out playfully. "Nope!"

"Hey..!" Tsukasa stood up, hiding the wince as his head dully pounded. He had to push through, for the sake of his hygiene and Lamby! He had to rescue him!

But unfortunately, Rui was still refusing to give Lamby back. In fact, he had tossed it over to Miyake, who fumbled with it a little before catching it in his hands.

The boy felt the lamb, examining her arms. "It feels like they're about to fall apart.."

"Yeah, so give it back!" Tsukasa exclaimed, walking over to Miyake. "Lamby does not appreciate being toyed with like this!"

But Rui- Rui Kamishiro, the boy he loved so much.. betrayed him without a second thought. "Over here, Miyake-kun!" He called out, holding his hands up.

Miyake stammered, looking at Tsukasa, then to Rui, then back to Tsukasa then back to Rui then back to Tsukasa then back to Rui and then-

"Kamishiro-kun, catch...!"

WHAT

"You've got to be kidding me," Tsukasa found himself muttering under his breath to himself, watching with wide eyes, a dropped jaw, and an expression that could only be described as utter despair and horror as Lamby get tossed into the air again. Why must she be abused like this..?!

And all Tsukasa wanted was some sleep..

Eventually, after an agonizing game of keep away, Hayashi had finished in the washroom. Rui entered next, but Miyake, oh, dear, sweet Miyake, still holding Lamby..

...Oh my God. 

And so, there was yet another round of keep away between Miyake, Hayashi, and Tsukasa. Which mind you, he did not appreciate!! At all! And so did Lamby!

Alas, he was forced to suffer even more as Lamby was tossed back and forth without a care in the world. If only Tsukasa wasn't so tired and he didn't have that throb, throb, throbbing in his head, perhaps he would have been able to actually get Lamby back instead of reaching for her desperately. 

Oh, if only they knew that he felt like he was literally going to pass the fuck out.

When Rui finished in the washroom, in entered Miyake, and with a sly grin and a playful eyebrow raise, round three of keep away began, and Tsukasa wanted to die right then and there.

But finally, finally, the game ended, and Rui tossed Tsukasa his wonderful, precious stuffed lamb, along with a loving forehead kiss for compensation.

Hayashi was lying down on Tsukasa and Rui's bed while the two loverboys talked (read: Tsukasa scolded Rui for hurting Lamby with gritted teeth and a headache that only grew stronger), and eventually, by the time Miyake had came back, he had conked out.

In the middle of Rui and Tsukasa's bed.

So while Tsukasa was finally in the washroom, fucking finally, Miyake and Rui were discussing what to do. 

Neither of them wanted to wake Hayashi up- so either one of them could move to Miyake's room, or they switched rooms for the night.

To Tsukasa's internal dismay when he came back from the washroom at around 11:15, the former had been chosen. It wasn't like he didn't like the idea of sleeping with Hayashi- he didn't really mind at all. But he couldn't help but want Rui, and Rui's warmth, despite his awful betrayal.

...

That night, Miyake had a strange dream about Hayashi waking up as if he was rising from a coffin.

Tsukasa didn't get much hours in. The thumping of the door kept waking him up, and Rui wasn't there to comfort him.

...But at least he had Lamby.

Stop bullying Lamby, guys.

————