Morning arrived far too loudly. Sunlight cut through the unfamiliar curtains, and Tenya Iida woke with a dull ache behind his eyes and the disorienting awareness that something was wrong. This was not his apartment. This was not his bed. And the quiet, steady breathing beside him was very much not his own.

Memories came back in fragments—laughter over a hard-won victory, clinking glasses with former classmates, the rare, reckless decision to stay out just a little longer than propriety allowed. He remembered relaxing, for once. Letting his guard down. Letting himself down, apparently.

Carefully, stiff with both a hangover and creeping dread, Tenya turned his head.

There, tangled in the sheets beside him, was his old school rival—someone he had clashed with, competed against, and sworn he had nothing in common with beyond ambition and pride. The room was quiet, intimate in a way that made his face heat instantly, his mind racing through questions he wasn’t prepared to answer yet.

Tenya lay very still, heart pounding, realizing that one uncharacteristic night had led him somewhere rules, routines, and regulations had never prepared him for.