hfjONE: Back, But At What Cost? (College AU)

Chapter 6: Zany

⭐Chapter 6: Zany

Another day, another sequence of events...

But oh, how it just seemed to repeat over and over again, almost to the point it felt like nothing was being accomplished. Even with his cafeteria friends, Liam felt like he was left out in some way, even if he was fairly sure he wasn't. He never said anything to Owen, because Owen was having a good time and he didn't want to ruin that. He just let it all play out as it went for now, not making any big moves until he had a plan. On top of that though, it felt like he'd hardly made any progress with the one person he felt like he was supposed to befriend by now.

Liam had tried multiple times to interact with his roommate already, even ask for his name again. Yet somehow, every single time he'd tried, something conveniently happened to occur before he could, and he failed. His roommate wasn't actually hostile or anything, in contrast to what Liam had originally thought about him. In fact, as the days went on, he seemed to be more "neutral" towards things, taking them as they came. Sure, he could get frustrated at times over assignments or inconveniences, but who didn't?

At the moment, he was wandering around campus, with time to spare since his classes had ended for the day. The sky was starting to darken a little from the clouds and the sun setting, but there was enough light to see around campus still. Liam hadn't run into anyone on his walk, as he was mostly just figuring out which buildings were where. He'd found a few places that he wouldn't be going to because it wasn't in his major, but still contained classrooms and/or resources he could use later. Nobody ever stopped to interact with him or ask him if he needed anything, which was nice since Liam didn't want to come off as weird or lost.

As he was walking back towards his dorm building, Liam heard the sound of a group of people approaching and turned to look at what was going on. In the distance, he could see several students exiting a building all at once, carrying things or talking to one another. One was wearing mostly dark blues and purples, one had dark greens, they all almost blended in with the dark scene of the campus. In addition though, Liam also spotted a lone student carrying what looked like a large binder or book labeled "portfolio", a container of what was likely supplies, and much more while also having his backpack nearly weighing him down as well.

That was a lot of stuff to carry for one guy, heh. Even reminded him of someone, though Liam couldn't quite pin down who. Had he seen them before somewhere, in a class or down a hall? Liam shrugged, turning around to continue down his path and ignore the guy...but why did he look so familiar? Liam paused for a second and turned around to get a closer look at the guy, just in case. As he squinted towards the figure's direction, his eyes widened a little as he realized...

It was his roommate.

Naturally he wanted to go over and help, but should he? Maybe his roommate had everything figured out already? It was an initiative to ask, and although Liam started to think about the outcomes of a possible simple interaction, he shook his head. No, he wouldn't accomplish anything by standing here. Worst case scenario the guy would be rude, maybe injure him a little, but there were other students walking around that'd surely notice and help, right? Liam believed he could take that, and made a move to walk over.

His roommate didn't seem to notice, but that just made things a little less stressful. Liam could not, WOULD NOT backpack in front of people here, not this time. He did his best to not sound too awkward as he approached the guy.

"Hey, you ah...need help with carrying that?" he offered, anticipating a negative response.

Upon hearing his voice, Liam could see his roommate pause where he was, still carrying everything. He hoped he hadn't struck a nerve or anything like that...

"Uh...I mean I guess?" he heard his roommate reply. "You don't have to though, it's not-"

Liam was over in seconds, and taking stuff off the guy as he finished his sentence.

"That...bad..."

"What's all this stuff for, anyway?" Liam asked, though he didn't look at anything in particular.

"Art class. Don't ask, it was a class I got assigned somehow when I wasn't looking or something," his roomate grumbled.

"Are you...headed back to the dorm room for today?"

"Yup. You could probably just...run it up there and come back or something, I dunno," his roommate shrugged. "I'll probably be able to manage carrying the rest on my own, though."

Despite being such a minor statement, Liam couldn't help but feel...excited. His roommate trusted him! Sure, he...probably would have in the first place if Liam just asked, but now he knew! Even if it was for one small task, Liam brightened up a little and nodded.

"Sure, I can do that. I'll try not to mess with anything, where should I set it?" he asked.

"On my desk is fine. I'll catch up in a few, alright?" his roommate replied.

"Okay!"

Liam started speedwalking off with the supplies, careful not to trip and fall with any of it. As he reached his dorm room and opened the door, he could hardly contain himself. It was weird, and yet he felt so happy for accomplishing something simple. As he closed the door behind him, he carefully dropped his roommate's stuff off on his desk, like he asked. Once he was sure that none of it was damaged in any way, he backed up to give himself a breather.

Liam had finally interacted with his roommate after all this time! It felt so silly, but it was genuine.

He threw himself onto his own bed as an exclamation of excitement, happy for himself...

But the sound of cloth-on-cloth snapped him out of his trance.

Liam froze where he was for a few seconds before getting up and looking down at himself.

He was a backpack again.

And to make matters worse...

He could hear something coming from down the hall.