Psync by Zile Elliven

Chapter Thirty-Four

Eli

The next morning was not his friend. Waking up was a terrible idea, even if he was having the best cuddle of his life.

“Oh my god, what did I let you do to me? Everything hurts!” Even his toes. Dear god, why did his toes hurt?

“Pretty sure you begged me to do it.” There was a kiss on his head. “You might want to skip class today.”

“I’m not skipping class.”

Shouldn’t Eli not be in pain right now? Like, he was pretty sure being plastered to Haruka meant he shouldn’t be hurting anywhere. And Eli was clinging to him like they were glued together.

But if he didn’t hurt anymore, then maybe the happy little glow in his chest would stop singing as loudly as it was right now. He wouldn’t feel as owned and protected as he did if his body no longer carried the reminder of last night.

Crap, he was supposed to have breakfast with Jace this morning!

“Skip it. No wait, go to breakfast with Jace. I’ll come too.”

Eli could hear the smugness in Haruka’s voice.

“You suck so much.”

“At an expert level, yes.”

Why did he love this jerk so much?

“Don’t know, but I’m not going to complain.”

“Stop reading my thoughts!”

“Nope.” There was another kiss on his head.

Eli tried to sit up, but all he did was flop around weakly for a minute before giving up.

“Do you want me to get you breakfast?”

“No. If I don’t go to breakfast with Jace, I’ll officially be the worst friend in the history of life.” Eli tried to sit up again and met with partial success—he managed to smush himself face-first into Haruka’s broad chest. He was up-ish, but not under his own power.

“You want me to carry you?”

“I will end you.” Eli tried to sound fierce, but his ass was yelling at him for daring to sit on it. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if he was in slightly less pain.

Haruka lifted him onto his lap and cuddled him. Nope. He definitely didn’t manage fierceness, but all of the pain in Eli’s body dropped by fifty percent. The odd quirks of his and Haruka’s bond continued to astound him.

“Try again in a minute. I’m sure you’ll destroy me.” Haruka kissed the top of his head.

Eli nudged his nose against Haruka’s chest and let himself have this moment. “I will. You’ll cry.”

Haruka’s arms tightened around him, causing every inch of Eli’s body to rebel.

“Urk.”

“Sorry, I couldn’t stop myself.” Haruka stroked his back. “Stay here as long as you want.”

Eli nodded and nuzzled Haruka’s chest again. He needed to get up, but none of him wanted to. He just wanted to stay here in bed with Haruka and enjoy the lingering remnants of the soft, hazy place for the rest of the day.

“If we did that, I think you’d be even more sore by the end of the day.” Haruka’s voice rumbled in his chest under Eli’s ear.

“I would murder you and bury you in Jersey,” Eli said with feeling.

“Why does everyone hate Jersey so much? Is it that bad?”

“I’ve never actually been, but I’ve driven through. The traffic is a nightmare.”

“You’re not going to like Tokyo then,” Haruka said, like it was a given Eli would go there with him someday even though they’d never talked about it.

“As long as I’m not driving, I’ll love it.”

Okay, no more procrastinating. It was time to get on his feet like a big boy. He pushed himself off Haruka’s lap and pretended like he didn’t notice the boost his boyfriend gave him.

He was up. He wanted to cry a little, but he was standing. That was better than he’d thought he could do, so he was going to call it a victory.

Breakfast wasn’t as hard on his body as Eli had feared. Once he’d moved around a bit and had a shower, his body seemed to forgive him for what he’d put it through last night—which was good because he definitely wanted to do it again.

Haruka joined him for breakfast and glared at Jace the entire time. One might think after last night, he would have chilled out, but if anything, he’d gotten even more possessive. He’d even had the gall to suggest Eli wear one of his shirts out in public.

Eli had imagined himself wearing the black cashmere V-neck sweater Haruka had offered him and laughed in his face. His hands would get lost in the sleeves, and he’d be lucky if it even managed to stay on his shoulders for a minute before slipping off completely. With his brand-new bruises, he’d look like a battered child.

When he’d said as much, Haruka turned a little green and rescinded the offer.

“You’ve already won, you know. You don’t have to keep looking at me like you’re going to rip my head off,” Jace said to Haruka after the two of them had been engaged in a stare-off for the past five minutes.

Haruka snorted but didn’t respond.

Having decided to ignore how childish both of his tablemates were acting, Eli said, “I’ll clean the rest of my stuff out this evening, and we can let our RA know the room is empty.” He had little more than his comforter and a few random bits of furniture left in the room, so it wouldn’t take long.

“Actually, why don’t we keep the room, in case you end up needing it again.” Jace narrowed his eyes at Haruka.

Haruka bristled at the implication, and Eli squeezed his leg in warning. With the way his ass felt right now, if he had to fish Jace out of the pond later, he was going to kill his boyfriend.

“I’ll keep it for now.” Eli felt Haruka’s leg tense under his hand, and he patted it. “But only so you can come back to it in the spring. It’s a great location, after all.”

Haruka relaxed, but only a little.

On second thought, maybe it would be better if those two didn’t live in the same building.

“That’s what I would have said if you’d asked me,” Haruka answered Eli’s unspoken thought in Japanese.

“Don’t be rude,” Eli responded in English.

Jace flashed Haruka a shit-eating grin.

Haruka told Jace to fuck himself in Japanese.

Eli sighed.

Somehow, they made it through breakfast without anyone being maimed or thrown into the nearest body of water. But by the time they reached Jace’s car, Eli was torn between the overwhelming desire to tear his hair out and the need to crawl back into bed.

Jace decided to fire a final parting shot before he got into his car, because apparently, he thought Eli should get a chance to experience what having an ulcer felt like before he turned nineteen.

“You aren’t good enough for him,” Jace said with one hand on the door frame of his car. “But you’re what he wants, so I won’t get in your way. If that changes—”

“It won’t.” Eli jumped in to assure him.

“If that changes,” Jace repeated. “Or if you ever hurt him, you better believe I will get in your fucking way.”

Instead of getting annoyed like Eli expected, Haruka nodded. “I will never hurt Eli.”

“You’d better not.” Jace got in his car and drove away.

Eli clapped his hands together once. “Excellent, you’re both horrible, and I’m going back to bed.” He turned toward their dorm and left Haruka to follow him or not. He was already done with this day, and it wasn’t even nine thirty.

Eli skipped his morning class but sent Haruka to his since he had an exam. Rather than sleeping, he spent the morning texting with his sister who had suddenly decided now was the perfect time to grill Eli on every aspect of his life.

Berry: You’ve been too damn happy lately. What’s wrong?

Are you failing all your classes or something?

Eli: As if that would happen. Ask a less stupid question

Berry: No question is less stupid than you, love.

So I have to try and accommodate for your extreme disability

Eli smirked and sent her a picture of him flipping her off.

Berry: Seriously, what’s wrong?

Making me act worried isn’t nice

It’ll trick people into thinking I care or something

Eli: I know it’s hard to believe, but have you considered that I might actually be happy?

Berry: Really?

No joke?

Eli: Really.

No joke

There was a long pause before Juniper finally texted back.

Berry: If you’re not fucking with me, then I’m happy for you. If you are then prepare for me to kick the crap out of you when you come home this weekend.

Eli: This weekend?

Berry: It’s Thanksgiving, doofus

Crap. He’d totally forgotten he’d planned to come home during Thanksgiving break. At first, it had been something he wanted so badly he could have cried, but now? What was Haruka supposed to do without him?

Berry: Doofus?

Eli: Sorry, I’ve been caught up with studying, I forgot what week it was

Berry: Just don’t forget to come home, ok?

Eli: Of course not, but . . . I might bring a friend with me

Berry: Ooooooooo

Tell me everything!

Eli: Fuck off

Berry: No way, I want to know!!!!!!!

Eli: Forget it, harpy

He loved his sister, but he wasn’t planning on coming out to her via text. She’d have to find out the old-fashioned way—via video chat from Antarctica because she was going to be the biggest pain in the ass ever about it.

He rolled onto his back and his ass twinged, forcing him to amend. She was now second biggest. Nothing could compare to Haruka.

Juniper had finally been dethroned.