Chapter Text
Travis lugged his bags up the stairs to his brand new dorm room. He was far from excited to meet his new roommate. He shouldn't have hoped that he wouldn't have a roommate, that he was going to be all alone in his room without anyone to share it with, as very few people are lucky to have, but it seems that he was not one of those few. And, of course, just to add to his fantastic luck, his dorm room happened to be on the 6th floor. This means that he had to carry his luggage up six flights of stairs because this idiotic college didn't think to put a damn elevator in this entire building. his college career was off to a great start.
"Hey, need some help with that?"
"No, I think I got it, I should be..." Travis trailed off as he looked up at the man standing before him. "Fine."
Larry looked entirely different than he had in high school. His hair was shorter, but still quite long, for a guy, he supposed. He had some added fringe bangs at the front, and his hair was pulled up into a half-up-half-down ponytail. The hairstyle changed his face entirely. He had a small black ink tattoo on his collarbone, which was definitely new. Not that Travis spent a lot of time looking at him in high school, but he knew what the guy looked like, generally. He was a bit less scrawny than he had been, but still pretty thin, as if he worked out casually. He got a few new piercings to add to his ‘grunge’ look. He had braces, which had already done wonders for his crooked teeth. His style was still the same as before, Sanity's Fall band tees and skinny jeans. Overall, he looked like a completely different person stuffed into Larry's old clothes.
And Travis could do nothing but stare at the man whom he thought he would never see again in his life.
"You look different. I didn't even recognize you at first. Your hair is a bit longer, right? Plus you actually have some form of style."
Travis glanced down at his clothes uncertainly. It hadn't changed much, he just bought colors that looked better together, and that flattered him more. He didn't think he looked that different, really.
"Uh," He replied. Wow, smart move, Travis. Way to make yourself look like even more of an idiot than you already do. "Um, yeah it is. It is longer. Why are you here?"
Larry scoffed. "Wow, straight to the point, eh? Why do you think, dipshit? I live here."
Travis stared back at him blankly. "You... live here? As in you go to college here?"
"Right-o."
"You. You got into Duke."
"I did indeed. Why, thought the gay stoner art student couldn't get into a good college like Duke?"
He decided to bypass the gay comment, rather than leaving a rude remark like he would have before. He was trying to be better than that these days, even though he still didn't really want to be around people like Larry. Although Larry was never explicitly 'out' in high school, it was a common suspicion that Larry liked men, whether if that meant he was gay, bi, or anything else, the guy clearly liked dudes. The level of flirting he did with the other guys in their grade was a bit too much for it to just be casual flirting and joking around.
"How did you even get into this school?"
"I have a 4.0 GPA, and I did for all four years of high school. Plus I got a scholarship from being in theater class, which looked good. I've volunteered a lot, at shelters and trash pickups and whatnot. I don't have a dad, either, and we both know schools pick people who have been able to 'persevere through their difficult childhoods.' So yeah, all of that probably looked good on my college application. I got into a few others, but I ended up choosing Duke. Now that you know my entire educational and personal history, are you done asking questions?"
Travis stared back down at his suitcase. "Yeah, I guess I am. Anyways, guess I'll be going now, not really much use in sticking around."
"Wheres your dorm? I could still help you bring your stuff up if you want." Why did he keep offering?
"Why are you being nice to me? I've been nothing but a dick to you ever since we met, you have no reason to treat me with any sense of respect at all." Travis was genuinely confused, if he were in Larry's shoes he wouldn't have been nice to him at all. Some of the things he did in high school were just plain unforgivable.
"Just trying to make amends, I guess. Where's your dorm?"
Travis sighed. If Larry wanted to help, he could help. It wasn't Travis's problem that he was wasting his time trying to 'make amends'. "Sixt floor, room 624. You can help if you want, it's not my problem."
"Sorry, what was that?"
"Huh?"
"The room number. What was it?"
"624?"
"Show me the slip."
Travis dug the slip out of his pocket and handed it to Larry. When he went up to the front office to get his room key, they gave him a small piece of paper with his room number written on it, along with a printout map of the campus so he didn't get lost. Travis knew that he'd probably get lost anyways. He never did well finding his way around new places, especially at a school campus this big.
Larry took it with hesitance. "What a fucking coincidence, eh?"
"What do you mean?"
"You're my new roommate. What are the odds?" Larry didn't exactly look pleased with this, no matter how calm his words sounded.
~
Larry turned the keys in the door and turned his head towards Travis. "Don't expect the cleanest room in the world. They only told me that you were coming within the week, not exactly when, so I didn't have much time to prepare."
"It's fine, I don't really care. It's probably better than my room at home, anyways. I've never been able to keep it clean."
Larry pointed to one side of the room. "That's your side, just put your stuff wherever it doesn't matter. And that's your bed, obviously. As long as you don't burn the place down I don't really give a shit what you do, but then again I don't own the place, so it doesn't matter what I want. Just don't bother me with your Christian gospel shit and I probably won't even acknowledge your existence, so don't worry about me being bothersome."
Travis silently set his stuff down next to his bed and laid down. It wasn't late, but for some reason, he was still tired. He decided that laying in bed doing nothing was a waste of time, so he decided to start unpacking. He started with folding and putting up all his clothes. Larry was on his side of the room, sitting with his back propped up against the edge of his bed, his phone in one hand and the other one resting on his knee. He was staring wordlessly at Travis.
"You're nicer."
Travis turned around and sat facing Larry, mirroring his position by putting his back up to the side of his bed. "Am I?"
"Yeah, absolutely. It's been like, what, 30 minutes? And not once have you called me a slur. It's incredible."
"Shut up, it's not a big deal. Besides, I'm trying to antagonize people less. Y'know, new school and all." Travis quipped back.
Larry scoffed. "Yeah, well let's just hope you're actually less of a dick and this isn't just a one-time experience. Who would have thought that Travis Phelps, the infamous bully, could be so kindhearted?" Travis could already tell that he was a big fan of sarcasm.
"I'm gonna finish packing. Try not to be too annoying, alright? I'm trying to actually get shit done over here."
Larry hummed a bit. "Alright, I guess. I'll try not to be a bother. Wouldn't want to disturb you while you're unpacking, what a crime that would be."
Travis glared back. "Just shut up, would you?"
"Yeah, yeah. I will."
Travis turned back to his clothes. He could already tell that he wasn't going to enjoy his living situation much.