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

Chapter 7: Action

⭐Chapter 7: Action

Oh no.

Oh, no no no.

This wasn't good.

Quickly, Liam glanced around for anywhere he could hide. His eyes first landed on the closet, but at his current height he didn't think he could reach the door handles. Not to mention the fact he didn't know if he'd be able to close it fully. Liam doubted he could make it to the bathroom on time like before, though it could have just been his stress skewering his thoughts. Still paralyzed in fear, Liam racked his brain for a solution. At the moment, his only other thought was attempting to pass off as a normal backpack, which was risky since he couldn't hide his face or limbs.

However, Liam could hear what sounded like footsteps approaching his room, and, out of desperation, went for his option without another thought. His roommate walked into the room seconds later, opening the door and closing it behind him. Liam remained as still as possible, still sitting atop his bed in a slightly limp position. He did his best not to flinch or blink as his roommate immediately turned to look in his direction. Liam saw him squint, as if thinking, before walking over to him and picking him up.

"Did that guy leave his stuff here or something...?" the guy muttered.

He gently reached over towards the zipper on Liam's side and zipped it open. Almost out of instinct, Liam yelped from the sudden action, which in turn caused his roomate to yell as well and fling him back towards the bed. Liam winced as he hit the wall behind it a little, but did his best to look up at his roomate, who had backed up against the opposite wall away from him.

Shoot.

Well...he'd kind of busted his secret already. No take backs now, unless...?

He remained limp and tried not to blink as his roommate stared at him. He had another idea, but he wasn't sure how well he could pass it off as being the truth. The room remained silent for quite some time until his roommate shook his head and approached him again.

"Wait...Liam?" he asked.

Time to play that idea card.

"Uh...I have. No idea. What. You. Are. Talking about, I am. Just a. Robot who-"

"No, no, your voice, it sounds familiar..."

"Oh. Well. Uh. That is just. The voice that. Liam. Used for. M-HEY!"

Liam's roommate picked him up without warning, gently examining his limbs in his hands.

"That's...wow, I didn't know the guy did tech..." his roomate muttered. "This is some advanced stuff right here..."

Liam went to argue, but stopped himself. He'd started digging a hole, and he could either dig himself deeper or get out of it. As stupid as this was, he didn't see much of an escape from not telling the truth. Keeping up the whole "robot" thing would probably require him to weave a complex lie he wasn't prepared to hold up, and...yeah. His roommate was just about to inspect him closer when he spoke up.

"Okay, fine! I'm...not a robot," Liam finally said, causing his roommate to back up a little and set him down. "I'm...me. Liam..."

"Are you, now?"

Liam wasn't sure if that was sarcastic or not.

"Yes, I'm serious...sounds dumb, but here I am..."

"If you're Liam...then what were your first thoughts on me when I moved in?" his roommate asked, squinting at him.

Liam sighed. "I thought you were gonna be a bit of a jerk that would beat me to a pulp, not gonna lie."

"Wow, really?" his roommate blinked. "Eh. Figured as such. But...anyway...what is...this??"

He gestured at the entirety of backpack Liam.

"I...well, you're not gonna believe me so I'll make this short: I have a curse that turns me into a backpack whenever I feel a lot of emotions, alright?" Liam huffed, zipping himself back up.

"...so like...a really lame werewolf?" his roommate asked, mildly amused.

"I guess? Not really, but the point is that it's weird and I don't want you to tell anybody!" Liam exclaimed.

"Yeah. I can do that."

Liam blinked. "Wait, really?"

"I mean, I don't really have anything to get out of knowing your little situation, so...yeah."

Liam sighed in relief, though he was also mildly concerned about the fact the guy "didn't get anything out of it". What, was he gonna blackmail him or something? Regardless, other than the initial reaction, Liam was surprised that the guy had kept his composure for the most part.

"You're...okay with this?" Liam asked. "I mean...this isn't...weird...or anything?"

"Oh, no, I'm totally having a crisis on the inside," his roommate stated in a way that sounded half joking, half serious. "But out of all the things that could've happened, this is probably one of the more tame ones...unless you have some weird, beast-like form that'll kill me or something."

"N-no, I don't..." Liam said.

"Then we shouldn't have a problem," his roommate replied.

Liam sat there, mind reeling over what had just happened in the past minute. Things really could have gone worse, but...now he was here. Still alive, no drama...but yet his heart (if he even had one as a backpack) still pounded. As much as he wanted to think that there was a way he could pass off his object form as something else, he knew he'd already gone too far. He was relying on his roommate to not tell a soul about this, and given how it had been before, Liam still wasn't sure if he could trust the guy fully. However, he was snapped out of his thoughts as the guy turned around to ask him a question.

"So uh...when do you transform back?"

"When the high emotions go back down," Liam responded.

"Ah. What uh...what happened?" his roommate asked.

"Well...I guess I was just really stressed or something," Liam replied.

"Me entering probably didn't make it better," the roommate noted. "You want me to leave?"

"No, no, you're...fine," Liam sighed.

"You're sure?"

"Yeah. I'll just...give it time."

The room went quiet as the guy turned around to his own, inanimate backpack, and laid out some things on his desk.

"I'm gonna do my homework, is that okay?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. I'll try to be quiet, tell me if I should go or...whatever."

Liam could only nod with a "mhm" as the guy got his stuff together and started working at the desk. He watched in silence, still unable to move from where he was despite the feeling of energy bouncing off every wall and corner inside of him. It felt...almost wrong for it to go this way, but...it also didn't. Liam supposed he could always just shut up about it and ignore it until it happened again, passing it off as having bad memory if he had to. That started to calm him down, and he took in a few deep breaths to aid in this as well.

If his roommate was willing to keep it a secret...

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all.

...

It took Liam about 20 or so minutes to realize he was back to being a human again.