Chapter Text
Winter’s POV:
The Gang
Kinkajou: GUYS YKNOW WHAT I JUST REALISED?!?!
Moon: what is it, kink?
Kinkajou: WE HAVENT HAD A SLEEPOVER IN AGESSSSZ
Kinkajou: OMG YES THHIS IS PERFECT!!!!!!!! ME AND TURTLES DORM ROOM!!!!!! WHOS DOWN???
Moon: count me in!!
Turtle: Obviously me
Qibli: hell yeah!!!
Qibli: winter? wbu??
fine ig
Kinkajou: YESSSS!!!!!!!! 🥳
Turtle: Meet at our dorm at 4:00pm?
Moon: sure
Kinkajou: SEE YALL AT COLLEGE TODAYYYY
Winter set his phone down. What had he just agreed to?
Sleepovers with his friends always turned into disasters. Kinkajou would insist on some ridiculous game, Qibli would encourage her, Moon would somehow end up in the middle of it, and Turtle would quietly watch the chaos unfold like he'd expected it all along.
Groaning, Winter rolled over and sat up in his bed, untangling himself from the bedsheets and dangling his feet over the edge of the bed. He blinked blearily at the pale light filtrating in through the windows. Dust particles drifted lazily through the air, glowing in the early morning sunbeams. Slowly, gingerly, he placed his feet on the marble floor, the cold seeping through his fuzzy socks.
Winter rubbed his eyes and glared at the alarm clock.
Seven. Wonderful.
Whoever decided times should exist deserved to be arrested.
After staring at the alarm clock some more, Winter ultimately decided he should be getting up now or else he’d be late for his first class.
Stumbling sleepily towards his ensuite, he went to the bathroom and brushed his teeth before heading to his closet and rummaging through multiple shirts, flannels, jeans and socks. He pulled out three different shirts before settling on a plain white one. Nothing too bright. Nothing that stood out.
The oversized blue jacket was warm enough for the chilly morning, and besides, it hid the fact that he'd barely slept.
He paused for a moment to straighten up his outfit and scanned the room for his earbuds.
His room was almost unnervingly tidy. The desk was clear except for a neatly stacked pile of textbooks, every pen lined up beside them. His shelves were arranged by subject, then alphabetically - not because anyone else cared, but because Winter did.
Qibli constantly teased him about it, to which Winter said, “It’s called being organised!”
Winter grabbed his phone off his nightstand and realized his earbuds were right next to it, because he had been using them last night.
Stupid Winter.
Shoving his earbuds into his ears, he scrolled through his playlist and chose “Found Heaven” by Conan Gray.
Music always helped.
Not because it magically fixed everything, but because it drowned out everything else.
It’s so peaceful without anyone in here, he thought. Qibli is out having breakfast this morning, which is rare. Normally I’m the one to get ready before him.
Qibli and Winter were roommates, and had been for a while, so it was kind of weird being alone in the dorm room. Thorn, Qibli’s adopted mother, also came to check in on them occasionally.
Winter’s parents mostly travel around the world for work. Sometimes they visit, although Winter would prefer them not to.
Not after what they used to do to me.
Expelling the depressing thought from his mind, Winter made his way downstairs and to the kitchen, where he made a breakfast of yoghurt and fruit. He checked the time.
7:30am.
Good. He wasn’t late for class. Winter’s parents had always made a statement of being early everywhere.
Winter sank into the couch and ate his breakfast while scrolling absentmindedly through his phone. The yogurt was cold against the spoon, and the strawberries were sweeter than he'd expected. Somewhere outside, birds argued noisily in the trees while the coffee machine in someone else's apartment hissed to life. Then his phone buzzed in his hand as a notification appeared across the top of the screen. It was from Qibli.
sand snorter
heyyyyyy winterrrr
wsup??
what do u want qibli
so I wasssss gonna go to the café near our campus with kinkajou
but she slept in too late according to moon sooo now im alone
and?
you should come!!
im so lonely :(
qibl u are literally the most popular person ever
and i just had breakfast already
please winterrrrrr
moon can come too if u want
fine
:PP
I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist my charm
shut up or else i aint coming
🤐
A café.
Great.
Crowds.
People.
Small talk.
Why couldn't Qibli have picked somewhere peaceful?
...Then again, if Winter said no, Qibli would probably cry.
Qibli was insufferable – loud, messy, smart. Chronically incapable of answering a question without making at least one terrible joke.
Winter had absolutely no idea why spending time with him was the highlight of his day.
He tried to ignore the stupid fluttering his heart did at the prospect of going out to a café with Qibli. It was stupid; he’d been to cafes with him many times. Nothing new.
Sighing, Winter got to his feet and grabbed his backpack from the table near the entrance and grabbed his keys from the bowl next to it.
He checked his backpack twice before leaving. Laptop. Charger. Wallet. Notebook. Pens.
Winter was very organised, in fear that he would forget something. Another thing his parents drilled into him.
Qibli, however, was not.
His side of the room looked like a tornado had developed a personal vendetta against organization.
Clothes hung from the desk chair. Books were stacked on the floor. There were at least three empty coffee cups that Winter had distinctly told him to throw away.
And yet somehow, Qibli still managed to find everything immediately.
It was infuriatingly admirable.
Winter stabbed his key into the lock on the front door and hurried through the hallway of dorm rooms to his car. The hallway smelled faintly of laundry detergent and burnt toast. Someone had abandoned a pair of sneakers outside their door again and Winter resisted the urge to move them into a straighter line.
I am not going because Qibli asked.
I'm going because he'd never stop texting otherwise.
Those were completely different reasons.
The leather seats of his car were freezing against his back, and the steering wheel was still cold from the coming autumn air. His engine rumbled to life after a moment, filling the quiet with a familiar hum. He restarted his music glanced in the rear-view mirror. His hair was fine. His jacket looked fine.
...
Would Qibli-
No.
Absolutely not.
Since when did I care what Qibli thought?
He adjusted his jacket anyway.
What the fuck is wrong with you, Winter?
The rest of the drive, Winter tried to relax and listen to the music filling his car. But he still felt slightly antsy thinking about Qibli. Which, again, was stupid, because 1. Winter had been his friend for years now and 2. Qibli would never feel the same way.
Feel the same way? You don’t even know how YOU feel. Don’t get ahead of yourself. Now shut up and listen to the music.
The last song that played, just as Winter was parking, was “we fell in love in october” by girl in red.
Smoking cigarettes on the roof~