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The pulsing in his head grew in size the more lost he became. He pulled at his scarf and dragged down the zipper on his over-sized jacket. The heat was heavy, pushing down on his mind, pressing in on all sides, until the pain would flare up whenever he so much as turned his head. Roderich didn't know where the fuck he was going. The obvious answer was to go to the help desk, but how was he supposed to do that when he couldn't figure out what the little blocks on his map were? Buildings, he was sure, but there were no rooms marked out, no landmarks, nothing much to find his way around. One of his friends had suggested making his own landmarks out of things, but that only worked if he saw them again. Or remembered them.
Every hallway was the same off-white color decorated with boards full of brightly colored papers, advertisements, awards – basic school stuff, he supposed. He stopped caring after the first dozen. One would think he should ask someone, but he had already done so: the first person wasn't a student, the second just gave him a set of convoluted directions. If this was how the next year would be, he wasn't even sure he wanted to go to school there.
As he huffed and turned around for what felt like the millionth time, prepared to go down the hallway that didn't look any more familiar than it did going up it, he stepped to the side to get out of someone's way. But that person just stepped right back in his way and offered him a smile that did not put his worries to rest.
“Hey,” the man said. Was that judgment in his weird eyes or something friendlier? “Are you lost? That's kind of a dumb question. You passed by here like, five times.”
Roderich didn't think he could frown any deeper, but he could try.
“I just have one question for you,” the man said. “How?”
Roderich could definitely still glare. Without a single word to the man, he kept walking.
“No, seriously, this place is set up so easy and shit. I mean, walking around you have had to have gotten a better sense of where things are.”
Roderich didn't know who this guy was, but he sure wasn't making the idea of going to school there any more enticing. And somehow he reasoned that silence was the key to getting him to go away, but as they walked, it became clear that that wasn't the case.
“I'm gonna guess that you're new here,” the man said. Roderich was trying not to look at him, but it was difficult to not notice those red eyes. Were they even real? They looked too dark to be fake and the startling pale quality of his skin and hair could explain them away. But still; he did not want to look at him. “But man, that's really no excuse. The doors are labeled, it's all ordered numerically. The only way you'd get it wrong at all would be if it wasn't the right building.”
Roderich knew he was now walking without a destination, without trying to find the right room, but if silence wasn't going to make this man go away, then maybe walking away entirely would. He couldn't follow him forever, right?
“And you should definitely try asking for directions,” the man continued. “It seriously wouldn't hurt your chances. Unless you get more lost that way. Oh man, then you need a tour guide. Aren't you supposed to get one? Being a new student and all?”
“That is where I'm trying to go,” Roderich said through his teeth. If this continued, he would have serious dental problems later on in life.
The other man burst out laughing. Not the polite, somewhat awkward chuckle or the very brief outburst, but full on laughter, to the point he was almost doubled over. It definitely made him walk slower, so Roderich tried picking up his own pace, but the other man simply caught up to him. What a waste of effort. Then, without warning, the man threw an arm around Roderich's shoulders.
“You really are incredible.”
“You really are obnoxious,” Roderich retorted, trying to shrug off the arm. This guy clearly had no respect for personal boundaries.
The man paused for a moment before laughing again. “Well,” he said. “We're here.”
Roderich looked up and adjusted his glasses. Right there in front of them was the help desk.
“I can't help you find the thing you were looking for, as I've got things to do, but these guys can,” the man said with a tilt of his head. He looked so smug, so absolutely proud of himself, that Roderich was having a hard time coming up with a thanks. And then the man's face lit up like he just remembered something. He leaned over the desk, much to the annoyance of the people sitting behind it, and grabbed a pen and paper.
“Thank you,” Roderich finally managed, his tongue stiff, his tone formal. He was almost embarrassed. The man was certainly aggravating, but he had helped him out.
“Sure thing,” the man replied, far too smooth for Roderich. “You almost went the wrong way, there at the end.” And suddenly being grabbed by the shoulders wasn't all that strange an idea. Roderich still wanted to punch him at least once, though. “And considering all that walking you did, I'm sure you're beat. So after the new kid seminar or whatever the fuck it's called,” he continued and pressed a slip of paper in Roderich's hand, “give me a call and I can show you a really good ice cream place near here.”
Roderich looked down at the piece of paper, folded up perfectly – corner to corner. “Thank you,” he said again, his voice still the same thick, bumbling quality it was before. He really doubted he wanted to get ice cream with a total stranger – a total annoying stranger – but as the man walked away, hands stuffed in the pockets of his jeans, Roderich couldn't help but unfold the piece of paper.
“Gilbert Beilschmidt,” he mumbled to himself. Huh. What a surprisingly normal, non-douchey name. The handwriting was small and tidy, too. Roderich wasn't sure what it was – that he wasn't lost anymore or the douche turned not-douche – but he felt a lot better about attending school the following semester.