Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There were people all around him, going in many different directions. They all looked like they at least vaguely knew where they were supposed to be going, unlike him.

Why was he so shit at reading signs?

Marius sighed.

“Hi, Marius!” someone called out from his right.

Oh! It was Ivy!

“Hey, Ivy,” Marius smiled, relieved. “Please tell me you know where we’re supposed to be going to get sorted into dorms.”

Ivy slowed down a bit as she came closer, “You’re supposed to be going that way, down that path that passes the rose bush.”

She gave him a quick hug as a greeting.

“I’d go with you, but I’m really in a hurry, sorry!”

“That’s fine,” Marius chuckled. “Rose bush, you said?”

“Yeah, just over there,” Ivy pointed. “I’ve been sent to dorm four, we can go get coffee in a bit if you’ll be anywhere close by? Or we could meet at the station?”

“I’ll text you when I’m done here, and then get back to me when you’re free?” Marius offered.

“Sounds great,” Ivy nodded. “I really do have to run now, though. See you later, hopefully!”

Marius just chuckled and waved as she speedwalked into the direction of the nearest bus stop.

“Hey, psst,” someone called out quietly, tapping his shoulder.

Marius turned around, finding a guy and a girl standing behind him.

“We saw that girl give you some directions just now,” the guy said. “Mind sharing? We’re kind of lost as well…”

“We’re trying to find the dorm office,” the girl clarified. “We thought you might be in the same pickle.”

“I am, yeah,” Marius chuckled. “Well, was. We’re apparently supposed to be going this way here…”

He led the trio down the path that Ivy had pointed out to him.

“You two also first years?” he asked conversationally.

The girl nodded, “Yeah.”

“And one would think we’d know how to get around campus since we already know some people who live here,” the guy laughed awkwardly.

Turning around the corner, the three stopped, seeing a bunch of lost students milling about in different queues.

And then someone was waving at them. And given that the pair that Marius had just met were smiling and waving back, Marius was fairly certain that these people knew each other.

The person who’d been way behind the desks changed up her waving pattern and it looked like she was inviting them over.

“Guess we’ll see each other around, then?” Marius said in way of an actual goodbye.

“You can come with us?” the guy offered. “I think we might be able to skip some lines like this.” He looked at the girl, “We totally woulda gotten lost on our own. Even if we were only one building away.”

“I don’t think Scuzz will mind,” the girl nodded. “Oh, er.”

She gave an awkward wave, aimed towards Marius.

“Nastya,” she said.

“Right!” the guy jumped. “I’m Jonny,” he grinned.

Marius smiled, “Marius. Nice to meet you.”

“Come on, then, Marius,” Jonny invited.

The three of them made their way over to… Scuzz? This was probably the Scuzz that Jonny and Nastya had mentioned.

“Jonny!” Scuzz grinned, half-tackling the guy and half-squeezing the life out of him with a hug.

“Argh!”

“We can totally skip the line here, right?” Nastya asked.

“What else are friends for?” Scuzz nodded.

“Almost killing ya, apparently,” Jonny grumbled, but he didn’t actually seem too annoyed by the situation.

“Come on,” Scuzz turned around and walked around the desks to the back, still tugging Jonny along.

“We picked up a new friend,” Nastya said, and Marius gave a small wave to indicate himself as the person Nastya was talking about. “He can come, too, right?”

“Just try not to make an actual queue,” Scuzz chuckled. “I’m trying to get as little work done as possible here.”

“You’re just trying to make out with Beta as much as possible while getting paid for a job you’re not really doing,” Jonny rolled his eyes.

“Not so loud, Jimothy,” Scuzz stage-whispered ruffling Jonny’s hair. “I can still send you to the back of that very long line of first years over there.”

Jonny mimed zipping his mouth, making Scuzz laugh.

“Alright,” Scuzz said when she let go of Jonny to rummage through some papers. “I’ll mark you as present and everything. Any preferences for dorms?”

“Whichever’s adjacent to yours, and definitely not so that I can start throwing snowballs at your window at first snowfall,” Jonny smiled innocently.

“Other side of campus from me, then…”

“Hey!”

“Maybe somewhere close to you, Scuzz, but other than that we don’t really have any preferences,” Nastya said. “Marius?”

“Oh, er… Yes, actually?” he nodded. “I’ve got a friend in dorm four, if there’s still any beds free there?”

“Yyyyup,” Scuzz confirmed, looking at her laptop. “Yeah, there’s still a few beds left in dorm four. And I’ll put you two down for dorm three, cool? It’s just the building next to it.”

“And which dorm are you in?” Nastya asked her.

“Dorm four,” she grinned. “This is so that I can throw snowballs back at Jonny.”

Nastya just rolled her eyes, “You two really are both just three toddlers in a trenchcoat, aren’t you?”

“I will neither confirm nor deny that accusation,” Jonny said, sticking his tongue out at her.

“Cool,” Scuzz nodded at her then. “Marius, I’ll ask you for some info to get this filled out, and Jonny, I’ll be getting you that additional paper to sign.”

“Oh, right, thanks!” Jonny called after Scuzz as the older student went about, collecting proper forms.

When Scuzz got back, she handed a form and a pen to Marius, a different form and a pen to Jonny, and she kept two more forms. Marius put the paper on a nearby wall and started filling in his personal details, Jonny and Scuzz getting into similar set-ups.

“Can I, like, help out?” Nastya asked.

“Nah,” Scuzz shook her head. “I think you’ve already had to do enough paperwork just to get a bed.”

Was Nastya perhaps an international student? She did have a bit of an accent…

Jonny was done with his form, and held it out to Scuzz, “So many questions for such a simple thing…”

Scuzz shrugged, “The main office is trying to be as legally transparent as possible so people will hopefully be making less of a fuss.”

“What is it that you were filling out?” Marius asked, now also done with his own form. “If it’s not too personal, of course.”

“Nah, just that I’m cool with sharing a bedroom with someone who’s trans,” Jonny said, giving Marius an almost challenging stare.

Oh. Jonny was a person who’s had to argue with people about trans rights on multiple occasions.

“Jonny,” Scuzz said, more serious now. “Please be nice. We’re not trying to provoke people with these forms. That’s the whole point.”

“You’re not provoking people, I am,” Jonny stated.

“You’re not provoking anyone,” Marius held up his hands. “I’d actually like to sign that, too, if that’s an option?”

“Oh,” Scuzz blinked. “Y-yeah, of course.”

What had the pause been for? Did Marius really look that straight with his jacket closed up?

Scuzz walked over to the same desk as before and came back with another form for Marius.

“We usually deal these out to folks at LGBTQ+ clubs,” Scuzz explained as Marius started reading the fine text and checking boxes. “It’s a quiet kind of way to get beds for first year trans students, so that the people who aren’t quite ready to be out to the whole campus don’t get singled out.

“We also have some… scouts here during these ‘moving in’ days,” she chuckled. “Older students who look for queer-looking first years, chat a bit about Pride activities, and then offer the form only if they deem the first year student likely to sign it. That way trans folks don’t need to wait that much longer than everyone else to get moved in.”

“Not a bad way of staying away from transphobes,” Marius nodded, and handed his filled-out form over to Scuzz. He then looked over to Nastya who hadn’t gotten that form, “I’m guessing you’ve come across one of the scouts, then?”

“Er, no…” Nastya smiled awkwardly. “This was actually automatically signed for me way back. I’m, erm. I’m trans.”

“Oh, okay,” Marius nodded. “Was I right in assuming she/her pronouns, or…?”

“I use she/her, yeah,” Nastya smiled.

Jonny gave Nastya a light, good-natured shove, “And you thought you wouldn’t pass.”

“You thought you wouldn’t pass?” Marius asked, genuinely surprised. “You absolutely pass.”

Nastya gave a small smile, “Thanks.”

“Alright!” Scuzz smiled from behind her laptop. “The forms are done, and I’m going to walk you to your dorms now.”

“Can you… do that?” Nastya asked. “If you’re supposed to be here and working, I mean.”

Scuzz shrugged, “Probably.”

She walked over to another student who was busy with a long queue, and tapped their shoulder.

“I’m going to go show those first years where their dorms are, cool?” she said. “Cool. Bye!”

“Professor Carmilla’s gonna be on your ass again if you’re not back when she comes around!” the student yelled after an already retreating Scuzz.

“We’re helping first years move in, right?” Scuzz laughed, turning around so she was walking backwards towards the trio. “I’m helping them move in!”

She turned back the right way around, and stopped in front of Marius, Jonny, and Nastya.

“Well? Let’s go,” she gestured down one of the many paths.

After Scuzz walked the three of them to the right buildings, she showed Marius where he could find his (both of theirs, actually, since Scuzz lived in that building, too) dorm’s housekeeper. Marius thanked her and waved goodbye to the three new friends he’d already made.

The housekeeper was a nice older gentleman, who quickly went over Marius’ paperwork again, then gave him the key to his dorm room. After receiving directions on how to navigate the hallways and stairways, Marius was sent on his merry way.

So now he was standing in front of his dorm room door, apparently. The number matched what had been written into his file by the housekeeper.

A shuffling noise came from the inside.

Oh, was his roommate there already? … That would at least take away the anxiety of him having to wait for a roommate to show up.

Was he nice? Was he really outgoing, or more relaxed? Was he studying anything related to Marius’ own studies?

(Oh. He’d forgotten to ask Jonny, Nastya, and Scuzz what they all study. Oh, well. He’d exchanged social media accounts with the three of them, so he could ask them later, if he didn’t already randomly run into them while going to and from classes.)

Marius took a deep breath and grabbed the door handle.

Would his roommate also be queer? Would Marius have to hide that part of himself? Would he maybe end up in a relationship with his roommate, like he’d dreamed once, a few months back?

… Maybe it wouldn’t hurt him to reel in his expectations and just open the door.

He should probably also knock first, if he thought someone was already inside. Walking in unannounced like that – especially the first time – was just rude, in Marius’ opinion.

So he knocked. And the shuffling inside stopped. And he opened the door.

“Hi,” Marius said, cautiously walking inside.

There stood a person with long blonde hair, two strands braided from their forehead, going behind their ears, and probably meeting either into a ponytail or a joint braid. It looked very pretty. And the person looked very pretty, too.

(Maybe the relationship thing wasn’t completely out of the question, then?)

“Hi,” Marius said again, taking a step forward. “I’m Marius. I’m guessing we’re going to be roommates?”

“Hi,” the person – guy, most likely, since the rooms were generally same-gender assigned – finally responded. “Lyf,” he added.

“Nice to meet you, Lyf,” Marius smiled. “I mostly just came to pick up the room key today, so I’m just dropping off some light luggage.”

Lyf nodded.

“Nice, erm. Nice backpack,” he said.

Marius blinked as he was taking off said backpack, “Oh, thanks! I really like it because it has a laptop compartment, but the whole thing also isn’t too big to carry around all the time, you know?”

“That… sounds like a good backpack,” Lyf agreed.

Marius set the backpack in question on his bed. He looked over Lyf’s side of the room.

“You study law?” he asked his roommate after glancing over the books that were already stacked on the bookshelf.

“I– Yeah,” Lyf nodded.

He seemed a bit out of it. Probably hadn’t slept much, what with the upcoming classes and all, Marius reasoned.

Marius was kind of nervous about it as well. Nervous and excited, but. Definitely nervous.

“Law enforcement, actually, sorry,” Lyf said then. “But I’ll be doing criminal justice, too.”

“That sounds cool,” Marius nodded, the compliment genuine. “I’m hoping for a major in medicine, but I’m definitely doing music. If medicine doesn’t work out, I’ll just switch to that as my major, I guess.” He paused. “Would it bother you if I practice in the room sometime?”

“Yeah, no,” Lyf shook his head, nodded. “You’re fine.”

“Cool, thanks,” Marius chuckled.

Looking at the time, he saw that he would need to get a move on if he wanted to be at the station in time.

“Feel free to tell me if that changes at any point through the year,” he smiled.

He then looked at Lyf’s desk. Mostly messy, but it seemed more like contained chaos at closer inspection.

Cozy, was the first thing that came to Marius’ mind.

“Do you have any small pieces of paper?” he asked Lyf. “Stick-it note, anything like that? Oh, and a pen, please.”

“Mhm!” Lyf nodded. He got a smaller piece of paper and a pen, and offered the two things to Marius, “Here.”

Marius proceeded to write down his phone number.

He held out the two items for Lyf to take back, “Message me here so we have each other’s contacts?”

Lyf took the pen and paper, “Yeah, course.”

“Cool,” Marius nodded as he walked over to the door. “I need to be off now. See you tomorrow probably.”

“Yeah, see ya,” Lyf said, finally giving a smile of his own.

Marius gave a little wave, then closed the door behind himself.

He took a moment to himself, out in the thankfully empty hallway. That hadn’t been so bad, had it? His roommate seemed nice, if a little distracted – but Marius could totally understand distracted.

(And not just because he found Lyf kind of cute.)

Yeah, Lyf seemed like a pretty chill guy, overall. This was going to be a fun year.

“So?” Loki asked when Lyfrassir sat down at the coffee table. “Where did you leave Prince Charming?”

“Hush,” Lyfrassir said, flushing.

Sigyn raised her eyebrows in amusement, “Prince Charming? Little one, classes haven’t even started yet…”

“Lyf’s been blowing up my phone,” Loki grinned. “They’ve been all ‘he’s so cuteee’ and ‘how do I talk to him when he gets back’ and ‘aaaaaa’ and–”

“I’m a disaster gay, I know,” Lyfrassir interrupted, putting their hands over their face.

Sigyn blinked.

She hummed, “Is there a more masc-alligned equivalent to ‘sapphic’?”

“I’ve heard of the term ‘achillean’,” Loki supplied. “But ‘androphilic’ would likely be the most accurate for this situation.”

“I don’t careee,” Lyfrassir whined. “You keep your correct terminology. I just want to be able to function normally around my roommate…”

“There, there,” Sigyn patted their shoulder.

“Also, it’s not ‘correct terminology’,” Loki said. “That doesn’t exist. These words just carry descriptions that may or may not apply to you. Whether you want to use them or not, and which terms you vibe with and stuff like that, that’s all up to you.”

“I know.”

“Just wanted to make sure.”

Lyf gave a small chuckle, “Thanks.”

“So…” Sigyn started. “The Prince Charming you’ve apparently been blowing up Loki’s phone about is your roommate? Did I understand that correctly?”

Lyf leaned forward and pressed their face into their crossed-over arms, letting out a muffled, “Yeah.”

“You’ve said hi to him, right?” Loki asked.

“I’ve said hi to him, yes,” Lyf said without looking up. “I’m not that dysfunctional.”

They paused.

“And then I told him I liked his backpack. Like an unsocialized mess.”

“Were there at least any patches on it?” Sigyn asked, and Lyfrassir could hear her holding back a laugh.

“No.”

Loki patted their other shoulder, “I’m so sorry…”

“Hi,” Sigyn apparently managed to wave down a waiter. “Can we get a hot chocolate here, please? Extra biscuits if that’s possible, thanks.”

“If it helps,” Loki said to Lyf, “I think you aren’t the only first year with this problem. Saw two girls today who clearly both had a thing for each other, but through their whole walk over campus, neither of them said a word.”

“Ah,” Sigyn audibly smiled. “Baby gays.”

“Going to be lots of them around campus now,” Loki said. “At least you won’t be alone in your gay panic, Lyf.”

“That,” Lyf sighed, then paused. “That does actually help a bit. Thanks.”

They sat up, but kept the slouch in their back.

“Hot chocolate with extra biscuits?” a waiter asked, walking up to the table.

“Right here, thank you,” Sigyn said, patting the part of the table in front of Lyfrassir.

“What?” Lyfrassir asked, but the waiter had already put the drink down and walked away before they could say anything else.

“Our treat,” Sigyn smiled softly. “You look absolutely miserable.”

Lyfrassir looked down at the hot chocolate. It looked delicious. Maybe they could let themself be pampered just for a little bit.

“Look,” Loki said as Lyfrassir started on the drink. “We know that your roommate is at least supportive of trans people. That’s not the worst starting point for a crush, is it?”

Sigyn nodded, “And even if he thinks he’s straight, he might actually not be. College is a time of personal revelations for lots of people.”

Lyfrassir paused, though.

“How do we know he’s supportive of trans people?” they asked.

Loki frowned. Lyfrassir recognised it as a worried frown.

“You…” Loki started slowly, “have told him you use they/them pronouns, right?”

Lyfrassir flushed and looked away, “I… may have, erm, not really… done that yet?”

“Lyf!”

“He was really cute, okay?” they defended. “And it’s kind of scary to ask a complete stranger to use they/them pronouns. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s something that apparently pisses certain people off,” they ended up huffing.

“Valid,” Sigyn nodded.

“It’s also very annoying to have to do it very often,” Lyf went on. “Is it so wrong of me to just want people to be baffled by my gender presentation enough that they automatically land on gender neutral pronouns on their own?”

Loki laughed and let out a quiet, “Mood.”

Lyf paused then. They were such an idiot.

“Suspenders!” they said, pressing their face into their palms once again.

“Suspenders?” Sigyn asked.

“I could have complemented his suspenders,” Lyf explained with a sigh. “They had a pretty design, too. Little colourful squiggles on a really dark blue backdrop.”

“... Lyf,” Loki said.

“What,” they asked, looking at her between their fingers.

“That man is a fruit.”

“What?”

“Loki’s right,” Sigyn nodded. “Unless he seemed just very into the whole retro aesthetic – which, valid, but I don’t think that’s quite your type, given past experiences – then he’s almost certainly queer.”

“You two are just stereotyping now,” they said.

There was no way it was that simple. Right?

“I mean,” Loki shrugged, “stereotypes do often come from somewhere, don’t they? Who have you seen, our age, that wears suspenders?”

Lyf thought for a moment.

“... Thor?” they said. “And Tyr. And that one guy that Sigyn recognised in the shopping centre a week ago.”

“Tyr was a bi disaster with a huge crush on Garm – which was just toxic as fuck, in my opinion,” Sigyn counted off, “that one guy in the shopping centre is trans, and Thor’s aroace.”

“Thor’s aroace?” Lyf asked. “When’d that happen?”

“College,” Loki shrugged. “I mean, he figured it out in college. He says he’s just never known exactly what to call the things he’s been feeling towards people, before.”

“Huh, cool,” Lyf nodded. Then changed the subject back, because this was bugging them, “My roommate, though, could still just be a plant dad with those suspenders, or something. He didn’t really have that much luggage with him today, so we can’t know for certain. He said he just came to pick up the room key today.”

“Plant dad just means he’s either not-straight, some flavour of trans, or both of those things, no other option,” Loki said with a fond roll of her eyes. “You’re making this easier, not more difficult.”

“Next you’re going to tell us he was wearing a yellow beanie,” Sigyn chuckled.

“No,” Lyf said. Then they thought about it, “He was wearing a partly yellow neckerchief, though. It was mostly dark red, but parts of it were yellow. Some swirls and dots and stuff.”

Loki and Sigyn stared at them.

“What?” they huffed. “He was. I’m not making this up.”

“We believe you, sweetie,” Loki said, patting their shoulder once more. “We believe you.”

Chapter Text

“She’s quite nice to talk to, actually,” Ivy said as the pair walked up the stairs. “Does political science, but she’s a huge bookworm, so we’re getting along real nice.”

Marius chuckled.

“And her name’s so cool, too,” Ivy went on. “Snow. Just, so cool, come on.”

“That is a cool name, damn,” Marius nodded.

“What about your roommate?” Ivy asked, when they reached the top of the staircase.

Marius couldn’t help but smile at the thought of Lyf.

“That good an outcome, huh?” Ivy teased, then opened the door for the two of them.

“Hey, no, it’s not–” Marius started.

A pause. A sigh.

He walked after Ivy, when she’d walked into the back of the classroom-slash-auditorium.

“Okay, yeah,” he admitted, “I like him. Like that. But he is really cool, really! He studies law enforcement and criminal justice, but he’s actually super chill. And he’s kinda into that eldritch, spooky type of fiction.”

“Lovecraft and such, then?”

“There was a creepy squid on the cover of one really thick book?”

Ivy nodded to herself, “Lovecraftian horror. Good taste in fiction.”

Then Marius saw Nastya and Jonny sitting about halfway down towards the blackboard. And Jonny – who’d just started laughing over something – locked eyes with him and waved him over.

Huh. Marius honestly hadn’t expected to find these two in a music theory class, yet here they were.

“Ivy, we can go sit next to those two over there,” Marius pointed. “They’re the ones I met when I came to move in.”

“Yeah, sure,” Ivy nodded.

Marius went into the row of seats first, taking a seat next to Nastya, who was slumped over the table, her face pressed into her palms.

“Hi, guys,” Marius greeted. He pointed at Ivy, “This is Ivy. She’s a friend from high school.”

“And the one who got all three of us to Scuzz, right?” Jonny remembered.

“Yup!” Marius nodded. He then turned to Ivy and gestured towards the other two, “Ivy, Jonny and Nastya. We ran into each other that one time I already told you about.”

Marius then looked down at Nastya. And then up at Jonny.

“Is she okay?”

Jonny nodded, “Eventually. Gay panic.”

“Ah,” Marius nodded. “Understandable.”

“No, you don’t understand,” Nastya whined from behind her hands. “She’s so pretty. And smart. And funny. And ughhhhh…”

Jonny patted her head, “You’ve got a long time to win her over, it’s gonna be fine.”

Nastya sat up straight, but kept staring down at the desk.

“You know those astrology lesbians?” she decided to start with, for some reason.

Ivy nodded, “Gotta appreciate the astrology lesbians…”

“Well she’s got that vibe,” Nastya went on. “Except that all the starcharts and whatnot that she has taped all over the walls are legit, because she’s here to study astrophysics. And she’s doing programming, too, so we even have some classes together, and I just–”

She slumped forward again.

“She’s so out of my league,” she mumbled.

After a moment of silence for Nastya, Ivy tapped Marius’ shoulder.

“At least you’re not the only one with ‘hot roommate’ problems,” she said to him.

“You, too?” Jonny asked, snorting.

Marius felt a flush spreading over his cheeks.

“It’s not as bad as with Nastya here,” he said. “But I think I might be developing a bit of a crush, yeah…”

Ivy chuckled, “A bit? You looked completely smitten when I asked about him.”

“Guess the breaks won’t be boring today, at least,” Jonny grinned as the main doors to the classroom opened. “You can tell us all about your roommate then.”

Instead of a professor coming through, though, it was a pair of students.

“Well…” the slightly shorter of the men said. “This one at least looks like it could be the right classroom.”

“Hello, everybody!” the other called out.

Marius gave a little wave.

“Thank you for that one singular interaction,” the same guy said, pointing at Marius. “Is this Music Theory 101?”

Every single person in the room turned to look at Marius.

… It was at least good to know that everyone felt as lost as he did.

“I– I hope so?” he stuttered.

“Cool, thanks,” the slightly taller guy said with a grin.

He took the hand of the quieter guy, and walked the two of them up the not very steep stairs to the row of seats right in front of Marius’ row.

“I’m Tim, hi,” the louder one introduced himself. He pointed at the other, “And this is Brian.”

“Hi,” Marius smiled. “Marius.” He then pointed at the people sitting next to him, “and Ivy, Nastya, and Jonny.”

Brian gave a little wave, “Nice to meet ya.” He looked at Tim, “Are we sitting here?”

Tim shrugged, “Yeah, sure, why not.”

Tim walked into the empty row first, skipping a few seats, then sitting down in the one in front of Jonny. Brian took the seat next to him, sitting in front of Nastya.

“Erm,” Jonny raised an eyebrow, “excuse you?”

Tim turned around, “What?”

… Marius couldn’t quite tell whether the guy was genuinely confused or just being cheeky.

Either way, Jonny glared at him. Then got up, walked out of the row of seats, walked down the stairs, walked into the row of seats in front of the pair, and sat down on the chair directly in front of Tim.

Tim, who was absolutely tall enough to see past Jonny, glared at the other student, much like Jonny had glared at him only seconds ago. It… didn’t seem very serious. More goofy than anything, really.

That was what Marius hoped, at least. Wouldn’t be a very good omen to have bad blood on the first actual day of classes.

“Brian,” Tim said without looking away from Jonny, “can you please give me some space? I’d like to get out of this row.”

Brian did not look convinced. But with a sigh and a chuckle, the man turned to the side to give some walking room.

“Thank you, love,” Tim said, getting up and walking out of the row of seats.

Tim then walked down the stairs two rows, and Marius could see Jonny’s head moving along with Tim’s motion. The taller man then walked into the row of seats in front of Jonny, made his way past the seats that would not have disturbed anyone–

“No you fucking don’t,” Jonny huffed, half-offended half-laughing.

Before Tim had even sat down, Jonny was already off the seat, power walking back to the stairs. This didn’t escape Tim, who decided to turn around to run to the stairs. The two of them reached the stairs at mostly the same time and started shoving each other with shoulders, probably to see who will be sitting in front of whom.

“What’s happening?” asked a student who seemed to have just appeared out of thin air on the seat next to Nastya.

They wore a “they/it” pin on their backpack strap.

Nastya shrugged, “Jonny’s embarrassing himself. The usual.”

“Oh, okay,” the new student nodded. “And who’s the other one?”

“That would be my idiot of a boyfriend, Tim,” Brian explained with a chuckle. He waved at the student, “Hi, Brian, by the way.”

“TS, nice to meet you,” TS smiled wide.

The back door opened once again, two more students hurrying down the stairs. The one that looked much more femme than the other slowed down as the two passed Marius’ small group of students, and she waved.

Marius was just about to wave back, when Ivy beat him to it. Also, he noticed, it was Ivy specifically who the girl on the stairs was waving at.

“Friend of yours from somewhere?” Marius asked when the two students passed.

And Ivy blushed, and oh, this was going to be fun payback for her teasing about Lyf.

Before Marius could say anything, though, the door at the front of the classroom-slash-auditorium opened, and this time, it was actually a professor (-looking person. They looked quite young, in Marius’ opinion, but skill was skill, he supposed) who walked inside.

This sent Tim and Jonny scurrying back to their original spots, but with TS sitting in Jonny’s previous seat, Jonny just decided to go sit next to Tim.

Marius couldn’t help but smile at the antics.

… He was kind of starting to like these chaotic classmates of his.

🦈 Group chat 🦈

Loki
Lyf
Lyf
Lyfrassir
Lyf

Lyf
What

Loki sent a picture.

Lyf
Wtf is that
“Gay Panic Support Group” lmfao

Sigyn
…

Loki
…

Lyf
Oh it’s like that huh
Besides
Aren’t we already set for coffee for literally that exact time?

Sigyn
We can postpone
You live only a few minutes’ walk from here now

Loki
Does it help if I tell you one of my friends organised the thing?

Lyf
Was it because you asked them to?

Loki
No, actually /gen
She has her own little ducklings who have the same roommate problems

Lyf
Wait really

Sigyn
Do you even know how many queer kids end up in relationships during their first year of college because of their roommates

Lyf
… Not really?

Sigyn
Me neither
But so far it’s been at least a few

Loki
Come on, you’ll get to vent to new people
It’s going to be ✨exciting✨

“Hi hi,” Marius greeted with a smile as he walked into the room. “How’s your day been?”

Lyf turned away from their desk where they’d been scrolling on their phone and then talking to their friends in front of a closed laptop.

“Hi,” they said. Then they remembered that Marius had asked them a question, “It wasn’t too bad, actually.”

And it was definitely better now that their favourite roommate was home.

“We mostly only had introductory lectures,” Lyf went on. “Where to get study materials, some general dates for the practicals we’ll be doing, stuff like that. You?”

Marius let his backpack slide to the ground next to his desk.

He sat down onto the bed, “The music stuff was fine. Met some new people and found out that a few of my classmates are also doing something completely different from music as a second study.”

Marius slumped forward, leaning his elbows on his knees.

“Had two med classes after that, and I have… so much work to do already.”

Lyf cringed, “Sorry to hear that.”

“Eh, I knew what I was signing up for,” Marius waved with one hand. “... I think.”

The man blinked like he’d just gotten an idea. He sat up straighter.

“How opposed,” Marius started, “would you be to helping me study anatomy?”

What.

Was that… Was Marius trying to flirt?

“Not right now, of course,” Marius went on, probably when he saw Lyf bluescreening. “Just, probably in a week or so? Or, well, starting in a week or so. Just, like, pointing at bones or muscle groups on your body for me to name, just simple stuff like that.”

Not… flirting… then…?

… Probably not flirting. Lyf did not have the luck that they would need for their roommate – who they may or may not have a nigh-debilitating crush on – to simply like them back.

So. Verdict: not flirting.

Still, crush or no crush, flirting or no flirting, their roommate had asked them for a favour.

“Yeah, sure,” Lyf nodded, like a good roommate, “I can help you with that. You’re going to need to give me some more detailed instructions on what exactly it is that you’ll want me to do once we get there, but sure.”

Marius grinned, “Thanks!”

Lyf couldn’t fight off their own smile, “Course.”

The silence stretched on for a few seconds.

“Of course I can also help you if you ever need anything,” Marius said, and it sounded somewhat hurried. “Quizzing, lying on the ground so you can practice drawing shapes with chalk, just… If I’m here, feel free to ask. And you can write to me, too, when I’m not. Here, I mean.” Marius paused, then frowned, half-talking to himself, “Is chalk around a dead body just a movie thing?”

Lyf had to (subtly) take a deep breath before reacting in any way – Marius was just too cute when he started his little tangents and they didn’t want to start blushing, after all.

“I’ll keep it in mind for the quizzing and such,” Lyf nodded, “thanks. But the chalk is just a movie thing at this moment in time, I’m afraid.”

“Yeah,” Marius chuckled. “Yeah, makes-makes sense.”

Marius then stared at the ground for a little bit, kicking his feet back and forth.

(Cute.)

Lyf slowly turned their gaze back to their phone. They would much prefer to keep looking at their adorable roommate doing literally nothing at the moment, but they had to let their friends know of the change in plans.

🦈 Group chat 🦈

Lyf
After some careful consideration, I have made the decision to go to this meet-up

Sigyn
Prince Charming came home?

Lyf
😭😭💜

Loki
*nods* Prince Charming came home

When Lyfrassir walked into the room, there weren’t very many people there. About ten? Less, probably.

There were a few chairs in the… “circle” still free and didn’t have people on neighbouring seats, but Lyfrassir decided to try to be sociable and sit down next to someone.

“Hi,” they said, giving a small wave.

The girl with blue-tipped hair looked up at them, almost surprised that someone she didn’t know had sat next to her.

“Hi!” she greeted back, still looking caught off-guard.

“Got problems with a huge crush, too?” they asked her.

“Do not get me started,” she whined, looking somewhat more comfortable now. “Roommate. You?”

Lyf gave a sympathetic smile, “Roommate, too.”

Lyf looked around the room. There were some snacks on the desks in the middle of the chair circle, some paper and colour pencils, and some board games, too.

“Do you…” they started, “know what we’re supposed to be doing here?”

The girl shrugged, “Anything we want, I guess? A friend of mine organised this, Scuzz,” she pointed, “but I don’t think she has any specific activities planned. Oh, erm,” she paused, offering a hand, “Nastya.”

“Right, sorry!” Lyf chuckled. “Lyf,” they said, shaking her hand. “Er, and they/them, please.”

This was supposed to be a queer event, so they expected people to be cool with gender stuff. Introducing themself with their name and preferred pronouns still sounded awkward to their own ears, though.

“She/her,” Nastya simply smiled.

Lyf barely managed to nod before the door to the classroom opened.

“Yeah, no, you’re good,” the guy who’d walked in said, turned backwards, seemingly talking to someone behind him. “I think everyone that’s come so far is here because of their roommates. It’s totally understandable – we don’t really choose who we’re attracted to, after all.”

A girl walked in after him, her hair fiery red and cut short. As she glanced over the classroom, her eyes locked with another girl inside.

And the two stared at each other.

The guy looked at one, at the other, then decided to carefully step away. He sat down on the other side of Nastya.

“H-hi, Cinders,” the girl still standing in the doorway said, looking so very nervous.

What…?

Oh!

Were these two roommates? And both here because they had a crush on each other?

“Hey, Rose,” the other one said, looking at the floor as a dark blush spread over her face.

Lyf realised that everyone in the room was trying to subtly stare at the pair.

(Them included, of course. It was a literal gay soap opera in real life, sue them!)

The one standing – Rose – then took a deep breath. She walked towards Cinders, and stopped right in front of her.

“Do you also…” Rose started.

Cinders awkwardly nodded, “Mhm.”

Rose looked at her feet, took a deep breath, then looked back at Cinders again, gesturing towards the door with her head.

“D’you wanna…?” Rose asked and offered a hand.

Cinders just nodded again and took Rose’s hand. And off they went.

And the soap opera’s story was done. And they lived happily ever after, the end.

… Lyf kept looking in the direction of the now closed door.

“Why can’t that be me?” Nastya sighed, accurately surmising their feelings.

“Because your beloved is a hardworking student, who is going through her material in the library,” the guy next to Nastya said. “Or, that’s what you told me, anyway. Like, two minutes ago.”

“More like five,” Nastya corrected.

The guy looked at his phone, “Six.”

“I will push you off that chair.”

Lyf couldn’t hold back a laugh at that.

“Oh, hi, sorry,” the guy greeted them with a smile. “You two friends from class?”

“Nope,” Lyf shook their head. “Just met.”

The guy kept looking at Lyf for a few seconds.

“Sorry, what pronouns do you use?” he asked. “Because your gender expression says they/them, but I also know that lots of people like going for more androgynous looks without it being connected to their gender.”

… Yup, that had felt awesome.

“They/them,” Lyf nodded happily.

“Cool,” the guy said with a nod. “I use he/him.”

“And you, Nastya?” Lyf asked, just in case.

But Nastya was busy looking at her phone.

“Oh, er, sorry,” she said, distractedly lifting her head (but not her gaze) up. “She/her.”

“Okay, what’s going on?” the guy asked, leaning towards her phone screen. “Is Aurora texting you or something?”

Nastya went red in the face but didn’t move the phone away.

The two of them were likely very close friends, then. Siblings, maybe? Either that, or best friends; Lyf didn’t really see any other option. And Aurora was probably Nastya’s roommate, what with the immediate blush and all.

“Shut.”

“This is literally why you’re here,” the guy laughed at her.

“Aurora’s your roommate?” Lyf asked.

Nastya nodded, “Yeah. And she texted me that she went on a little side-quest on her way back from the library and somehow got into an arts and crafts store, and now she’s asking for my permission to buy glow-in-the-dark star-shaped stickers for our room…”

“Sounds adorable,” Lyf smiled.

Nastya just melted in her chair, “She does, doesn’t she…”

Lyf couldn’t help but laugh. They really were all in the same boat, weren’t they?