Work Text:
November 12, 1973
Robert Aileron sat at a table at his favorite coffee shop on campus. His suitcase lay on the ground next to him, and he frowned at it in distaste, hating all the things it reminded him of. In some ways, he mused, it was a visual representation of the current state of his soul.
Battered. Torn. Ugly bits exposed for everyone to see.
Every single time he dug it out from underneath his bed, it signaled a defeat of some kind, starting when his father had sent him to that godforsaken place. The things he had endured in the name of pleasing a God that Bob was pretty sure had abandoned him a long time ago had been both painful and humiliating. Just thinking about it was enough to make him shudder.
None of them had changed a single thing inside him. All it had managed was to make him fear what new terrors would be unleashed upon him once his father realized their best efforts had done nothing to turn him into the kind of son he desired.
As soon as he was allowed to return home, Bob had started walking and never looked back, dragging that stupid suitcase through town after town, encounter after encounter, doing anything that would get him money to keep going.
He’d ended up in Magnolia, arguably one of the more liberal towns in Fiore beside Crocus, hoping that things would be different for him there.
But it turned out being more liberal didn’t mean shit, it was just more of the same. The ridicule, the threats, the attacks that he’d experienced in Clover? Happened there as well.
So Bob decided that if no one would embrace him as he was, he would just have to embrace himself. He lived on the streets most of that first summer, earning enough money in dark alleys to rent a dank room the size of a closet.
He graduated high school, made it through four years of college, and now he was in medical school, trying very hard not to dwell on the things he’d had to do to get there. Or on the fact that no matter how educated the people he met were, the way they responded to him never changed.
Which is why he was getting ready to meet yet another roommate. Each time he was forced out of his room and into another for reasons that were never quite made clear to him, the housing advisor assured him that this one would be the perfect one for him. Despite this, he’d lost track of how many times he’d switched rooms since he’d started medical school the previous year.
He’d hoped this year would be different, but this was already his third room assignment in as many months. Was it too much to ask that for once he’d find someone who could see past his little quirks? It was ridiculous in his opinion, these people were training to be doctors for fuck’s sake.
He sighed into his coffee. Whatever, he’d tried changing in the past, adapting to what some of these people’s expectations had been, but not only had it made him miserable, it hadn’t really made any difference whatsoever, so why bother?
The truth was Bob was tired, beaten down from the constant barrage of insults and rejection. Every single one had chewed off a piece of his soul, and just like his poor suitcase, he was starting to fall apart. He really wasn’t sure how much more he could take before there wouldn’t be anything left.
Besides, why should he have to change? He was fabulous just the way he was. Just a bit ahead of his time, that’s all.
He grinned for a moment, allowing that thought to seep in as he eyed his reflection in the window. That blush he’d picked out this morning matched the bright pink of his sweater perfectly, and his mascara was on point.
He didn’t always primp this much, but he figured if this guy wasn’t going to work out, he might as well know from the beginning. He studied the slip of paper where the housing advisor had scribbled down the location of his new room, Fairy Hills, as well as the name of his new roommate, Weisslogia Eucliffe.
Fairy Hills was one of the quieter dorms on campus, but he could live with that. It would be useful for studying, and he tended to go out for his other interests.
On a whim, he decided to buy some muffins to bring along as a gesture of good faith. It probably wouldn’t make any difference, but at the very least, he could stress eat them later.
Loaded up with his backpack, suitcase, and a box of muffins, he made his way to Fairy Hills, trying his hardest to ignore the tiny flame of hope in his heart that refused to be doused, no matter how many times he was rejected.
He entered the building hoping for an elevator as his room was on the third floor, and he wasn’t looking forward to lugging all his shit up the stairs. The lobby was quiet, which wasn’t all that surprising as classes were still in session. He was happy to see an elevator and immediately rode it up to his floor. He got off, looking at the numbers on the doors as he searched for his room. Bob could feel his hands getting sweatier the closer he got to room 302.
Finally arriving in front of it, he put his suitcase down and fumbled in his pocket for the key. He knocked twice before opening the door, finding the room empty, although one side was clearly occupied.
He moved to what would be his side of the room and dropped his suitcase on top of the mattress, stopping a moment to examine what he could see of his roommate’s belongings and chuckling to himself.
There were no personal belongings anywhere, no family pictures or knickknacks of any kind. Instead, textbooks and notebooks were neatly organized on the desk’s shelf, along with a dictionary. The desk itself was bare except for writing supplies. The bed was nicely made, the dirty clothes were all gathered in a hamper.
Rather than the pinups of big breasted women that he’d become accustomed to living with there were anatomy posters, one detailing the skeletal system, another the muscles, and one of the female reproductive system. This guy was serious, but Bob also had to smile at the last poster that had been meticulously pinned up. It was one he’d seen a few times at stores, showing a picture of a cat dangling from a tree branch, the words Hang in there, Baby written underneath.
He’d begun to unpack his belongings when he heard the sound of the door opening behind him. Bob turned to greet his new roommate, a smile already plastered on his lips only to freeze when he found himself face to face with the most gorgeous man he had ever laid eyes on.
Longish blond hair stood up in unruly spikes with some tendrils framing his face, bringing attention to his eyes, which were a beautiful shade of green. They reminded Bob of the ocean, and just like that great body of water, they made him want to swim in their depths.
“Oh, I completely forgot you were moving in today! Sorry about that, I would have cleaned up.”
Damn it, he had an accent too! His biggest weakness.
”I’m Weisslogia Eucliffe, nice to meet you,” Weisslogia stretched his hand out in greeting, and Bob had to resist the urge to bring it up to his lips to kiss. He forced himself to shake it instead, although the formality of the gesture amused him. This guy was definitely not from around here.
“Bob Aileron,” Bob replied, “Nice to meet you as well.”
He could see Weisslogia looking him over and waited for the inevitable moment when he would frown or look away in disgust, but it never came. In fact, Weisslogia seemed to have no reaction at all. Not to the blush, the mascara, or the bright colors of his clothing. Not even to his painted fingernails. Bob had gone out of his way to paint a picture, and the lack of response to his efforts was disconcerting. He was so confused by it that he didn’t even feel relief.
“Hey, are those muffins?” Weiss asked excitedly as his eyes moved to the box of muffins Bob had placed on his desk. “Could I have one? I was running late this morning and didn’t get a chance to eat breakfast.”
“Yeah, knock yourself out,” Bob muttered, still bewildered.
Weisslogia raised an eyebrow at the comment but shrugged it off, opening the box and moaning happily at the sight. He shoved an entire muffin into his mouth, barely stopping to remove the wrapper.
“Whoa, slow down! There’s plenty more, you’re gonna choke!” Bob watched worriedly, trying to reconcile that this man, who was quite obviously a neat freak, was also the messiest eater Bob had ever seen. Crumbs flew out of his mouth at an alarming rate and damn if the juxtaposition of the two things didn’t make him seem even more interesting. He grabbed a napkin from the box and handed it over.
Weiss gave him a crumbly grin, and Bob felt his heart skip a few beats. He finally managed to swallow the muffin and used the napkin to clean himself up, swiftly putting it in the trash.
“Do you need any help moving in?”
“Nah, I’ve got it down to a science by now,” Bob retorted as he went back to unpacking his suitcase. “So you’re not from Fiore, are you?”
“Nope, I’m from a place called Edolas, it’s an-”
“Oh yeah, that’s an island to the east of here, right?” Bob interrupted, remembering it from his geography class in high school.
“Wow, you’ve heard of it, that’s a first!” Weisslogia’s eyes sparkled at his recognition.
“I used to like maps a lot,” Bob admitted shyly, not bothering to add how he used to dream he could just take off to one of those places and start over.
Weisslogia nodded, grabbing another muffin and wolfing it down in much the same graceless way as before. “Oh, I’m sorry, I’m eating all your muffins,” he apologized with his mouth full, crumbs falling into the collar of his shirt and down on the floor. “Let me make it up to you, I’ll buy you lunch tomorrow!”
Bob found himself nodding along, not the least bit sure of what to make of his new roommate, but excited at the prospect of lunch with a handsome man the following day.
He turned back to his suitcase, attempting to hide his shit-eating grin from his roommate. He’d come in expecting to be rejected, and he’d somehow come out of it with a date.
And even though he knew it wasn’t a real date, it still hinted at a genuine interest on Weisslogia’s part in being his friend, something Bob hadn’t had for a long time.
He pushed the now empty suitcase under the bed, out of sight, daring to believe that maybe he wouldn’t need it again any time soon. That perhaps for once, things would work out in his favor, and this one moment finally marked the beginning of something good in his life.