Proofread by XenoSaiyan. Thanks!

"Hey, Dan, whatcha doing?"

"Just rearranging my deck," the 15-year-old shrugged while placing the cards in order.

"Ah, that sorta makes sense," Ajit hummed as he did the same for his deck. "Any new Action cards from the stores?"

"No new Bakugan to roll out at the moment," he answered. "Ugh, this is ridiculous. This pandemic thing really messed things up."

"I feel you too much," Ajit agreed while getting the Bakuballs out to place them in their usual box. "Anyway, though, we have a new tenant coming in. He's sharing with us apparently. Helps cut costs and all that, y'know. He also plays cards too!"

"Wait really?! Does he play Bakugan!?"

"I don't think he does," he said. "I think it was Digimon?"

"Oh that one, it's actually kinda cool!" Dan remarked.
"You collect the cards, I'm not even surprised," Ajit said drily.

"You don't complain when your boyfriend collects Tomphy cards," he snarked back.

"Why are you even surprised? It's Shun."

"... Point taken."

Dan snorted at that, but said, "It's actually really fun. You guys should get into it as well." "Maybe," Ajit said. "But either way, let's go clear up your mess, Dan."

"HEY! It's not just my mess! Who's the one who keeps hoarding Aurelus Bakugan!?"

"I mean, you're not wrong-" Ajit smirked just as the doorbell rang, making both of them stop as they shared a panicked look. He was here already!?

"Oh no oh no oh no!!!!!" Dan immediately sprinted to the spare room, which the two had somehow managed to keep clean over the few years of sharing an apartment while out of his parents' house, grabbing the extra stuff they had kept there for storage before rushing back to his room to drop them off, Ajit doing the same thing because of their Bakuhunting all the time.

Once they were done Dan quickly dusted himself and headed to the door, praying that he looked somewhat presentable. He didn't want his future roommate to think he made a mess of the room! ... Well, most of the time at least. 50% of the time, the other 50% was Ajit.

As he opened the door, though, he froze up at how... how cute this kid was.

They seemed to be younger than him, but their eyes shone with a maturity he had never seen before in anyone, not even Magnus. They even carried a tired aura around them.

He knew that their apartment was for those who couldn't return home too, so maybe...

It was rude too, so he decided to start the conversation, "Hi! Are you our new roommate?"

"Yeah, I'm Amanokawa Hiro," the other answered.

"Pronouns?" Dan asked.

"He/they."

"Nice! I can use both he and she," he smiled. "But he is preferred. Nice to meet you, Hiro. Are you Japanese-American as well?'

"Yeah," Hiro nodded, seeming surprised. "How did you know?"

"A guess," She shrugged. "I'm one too, to be honest. Your name is quite easy to distinguish as a Japanese name but considering your English sounds native I'm guessing you're used to English as a default language."

"That's cool!" Hiro smiled a bit."Although I do hope that you don't mind my younger brother staying with us here."

Younger brother?

"Hiiiii!" a cute white-haired kid then poked his head from behind Hiro. "I'm Hiro's younger brother, Gamma!"

"My dad adopted him after my mom divorced him," he explained. "So I've been taking care of Gamma ever since."

"We weren't told that you had a brother, though," Ajit showed up at long last with a frown.

"Yeah, about that... can you please not tell anyone? I swear I can't afford to pay for the extra fees," he pleaded quietly, his emerald eyes shining.

Dan and Ajit shared a look before Dan offered, "Ajit and I can take on the extra burden of paying for his place here."

"Yeah, we needed to clear up this place anyway," the other shrugged.

"Cause you hoard all the Aurelus Bakugan in the mart."

"I do NOT!"

"You so do," Dan deadpanned. "Why else would we need a storage room?"

"Cause you hoard stuff too!"

".... Ajit, think about what you're saying, since when did I hoard stuff?"

".... Good point."

Hiro snorted at that, and as he laughed, Dan offhandedly thought, 'That sounds so adorable- WAIT.'

The last time he had said that, he had ended up with a crush.

No way... It couldn't be.

LOVE?! After his unrequited crush on Magnus?

Seriously, Dan had the worst luck! He had just met Hiro too!

But hey, at least he had a new playing buddy! He could get Hiro into Bakugan as well! And maybe get Ajit into Digimon so they could play as much as they could.

Just ignore the crush! That's how a Brawler rolls!

****

A few weeks into Hiro and Gamma's moving in and Dan felt like dying. Not because of Gamma or Hiro, no, mainly himself. He was going mad with all the protocols that were now in place. Being in the same apartment as someone he liked was also driving him NUTS. And he wished he was exaggerating but no he wasn't.

"Dan, you should learn to just accept it," Wynton gave him the look as the Awesome Brawlers, as their group of friends called themselves, had a video chat with Ajit beside Dan in Ajit's room. Wynton's girlfriend, Lia, and Ajit's boyfriend, Shun, were by Wynton's side, not to mention their officially adopted pet dog, Lightning.

"Accept what?" he shot back with a scowl on his face.

"You know exactly what we mean," Lia sighed. "Stop acting as if you didn't fall for Hiro the moment you met them."

"HEY!"

He couldn't exactly deny it though. Dan had a weird tendency to act out in front of his crushes. And he had done that a lot around his new roommate. The reason they were in Ajit's room was that he was way too embarrassed to go out. Gosh this was so weird.

"Let's just change the subject," Ajit cut in with a smirk. "Dan might die of embarrassment-"

"AJIT STORM YOU TAKE THOSE WORDS BACK!"

"No way~~"

The others snorted at this, but while they did let it go, Dan's mind couldn't. He was well aware he had been too rough on Hiro when playing the Bakugan TCG. Choosing Darkus Viloch wasn't a bad thing, but he had completely slaughtered Hiro on his first try in a bid to impress him. Even in the Digimon TCG he had won, which frustrated Hiro enough that the two had had a shouting match.

Ugh, feelings were so complicated! He really hated it when it became like this!

"-n? DAN!"

He jumped, "W-What happened?!"

"Aroo?" Lightning looked worried from his end.

"Hey, are you okay?" Shun asked.

"We've been talking for a while now, and you only realised?" Lia frowned. "Dan-"
"I guess I-I haven't rested much lately!" he forced a laugh. "It's okay, I'm fine! Don't worry about it!"

"You sure-"

"I'm going to get some water! See ya!" he dodged Ajit's hand and walked out, nearly bumping into Gamma as he walked to his room and slammed the door close, collapsing onto the bed and tossing his phone to the sofa nearby while groaning into the pillow. He was really the worst... It was a wonder his friends still put up with him.

Ring ring!!

"H-Huh?" He got up, and looked at his phone, which had a familiar profile picture. "Magnus?"

What was the occasion? The dude rarely called.

He sighed and answered the call, "What's up?"

"Don't 'What's up' me like that," the other growled.

"I don't think I've beaten you since this pandemic started, so what?"

"Heard from Ajit what had happened," his rival said. "I have a few choice words for you, but that's not important."

"Yeah I know. You can tell me cause I know I deserve it," he sat down on his chair while massaging his forehead as his muscles loosened.

".... Your confidence issues are showing Dan," he warned despite the concern in his tone. "Wanna talk about it?"

"I'm fine," he dismissed it despite the itchiness of his throat. He was all too aware that he had to face the results of his actions, so he wouldn't ask for help-

"You should talk to Hiro about it."

"H-HUH?"

"You do know that wallowing alone won't solve the problem right?" Magnus reminded him. "You're not exactly subtle Dan."

"S-Shut up!" he blushed. Gosh, this was embarrassing! Being called out by his former crush of all people!!!

"Yeah, yeah," Magnus chuckled. "But seriously, you can never know when you die, so best to do everything right away y'know?"

"I-I guess," Dan sighed. He was right; this pandemic was so unstable... Maybe he could do that. "I'll keep it in mind, thanks Magnus."

"We're friends, Dan. Plus, I can't have my rival being down. I need you in tiptop shape for our next brawl."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, I know you care, Mag."

"Whatever, then, see you."

"See ya."

As the call ended, Dan closed his eyes before getting up. He had to make things right.

Alright, time to talk to them.

****

".... What do you want?" Hiro looked a bit curious as Dan gave them some tea.

He rubbed his neck awkwardly. Damn, he really sucked at this, but here goes... "Look, I'm... I'm sorry for what I did. I was out of hand and didn't consider your feelings."

"Oh... that... I'm sorry too, I was out of hand too," they admitted. "It's just that... the Card Game means a lot to me."

"How so?" Dan asked, and immediately covered his mouth, a red tint overtaking his face. There his big mouth went! Not again! Was he an idiot?!

But this actually elicited a chuckle from Hiro, "You're pretty straightforward and I like it."

"T-Thanks?" Dan was confused now. Did he like that? No one had liked him being honest. Even his friends sometimes hated it. How could Hiro like it instead of hate it? "Why?"

"Why?" they asked. "Because you're not a bad person? Everyone has their flaws. Plus, I'm not exactly a saint but you put up with me."

"You putting up with me is a miracle," Dan snorted.

Hiro laughed," You being patient with me is a miracle too."
The two then burst out into quiet laughter, the atmosphere becoming comfortable before Hiro rubbed their neck, "So erm... We cool?"

"Of course we're cool!" Dan smiled, but soon he fiddled with his fingers as he remembered something else, "And I do want to say something. I-I was really hoping to impress you with my skills, but I hurt you instead... S-Sorry..."

"Impress me? But we're sorta friends already right?"

"I-I guess?" he flushed. Gosh he hated himself at times!

Hiro chuckled, but offered, "Friends?"

"F-Friends!" Dan smiled and hugged Hiro. Maybe this pandemic wasn't so bad after all!

(He never saw Hiro's face of realisation as it finally hit them that they liked Dan.)