Chapter Text
Sans stood in the currently empty dorm, struggling to put the sheets on his bed. He had already done all his unpacking, though, his clothing for the year in the dresser that also happened to be a part of his bed. The dorm was decently sized, with four beds total, one in each corner, four drawers were built into the frame. There was also a desk accompanying each bed, just far enough away that they were still able to open the drawers.
There was also a door to the bathroom between Sans’s bed and the bed across from his, the door to the room itself being on the opposite side of the room.
Sans knew there was a kitchen in the common area of this floor, but hadn’t seen it yet. As far as he knew, he was the first one to arrive at the dorms, having been dropped off by his parents early in the morning the day before school was set to start.
He had entered dorm number 254, expecting pretty much anything, but not this. He figured he would have one roommate, not three. Oh well, it was too late to change that.
Finally the sheets were on the bed, the clothes were in their drawers, his old violin stashed between the side of his bed and his desk, and his new laptop that he got with the money from his summer job was now sitting in the middle of his desk, currently charging. Sans sighed, placing his backpack for school on his bed, and going through his school supplies for the year.
A few minutes had gone by, Sans unable to figure out exactly what he should leave in his dorm for the first day of school and what he should leave. Having a small frame and not a lot of physical strength ment that carrying everything in his backpack at once was pretty much out of the question.
“You alright there hun?” A voice asked, making Sans jump with a yelp.
“angel above you scared me!” He said in an exasperated tone, turning to face the new voice. Just behind him was another skeleton, who was maybe half a foot taller than him. They looked similar to him, though his clothing style was quite different, wearing tight pants and a crop top with a loose purple sweater left unzipped over the top. Despite the unique fashion choice, Sans had to admit that the guy looked good.
“Sorry love, I was just wondering why you were staring at your bed without moving.” They said, taking a step back. “Anywho, I’m Lust but everyone calls me Vio. He/they.” They said, holding out a hand.
Sans wondered for a moment if he wanted to introduce himself by his first name or his middle name. He liked his middle name, but also wanted a change. Making an abrupt decision, he took Vio’s hand and shook it.
“call me comic. uh, he/him i guess.” The newly named Comic introduced himself.
“Nice name. I think we’ll get along.” Vio said.
—
“Who are you?” A skeleton asked, staring at the other skeleton in their room.
“Your… roommate?” The other skeleton, one dressed in only black and white, answered. They decided that this new roommate had pretty eyes, with one of them being a plain white eyelight, while the other was the same shade of red as the little red scar on his cheek.
“No, I mean what’s your name?” They asked again.
“Oh, my name is Cross.” He said, shifting around uncomfortably.
“Neat name, I’m Ink.” They exclaimed, holding their hand out for the other to shake, which the other seemed to do reluctantly. “Oh, I almost forgot, I use they/them pronouns.”
“I’ll try to remember. I use he/him.” Cross said, now sounding a lot more comfortable for some reason.
Ink grinned, “So, can I call you Criss-Cross?”
“I-”
The door opened once more, and a pair of tired-looking skeletons walked in, one clad in purple, the other in gold.
“Oh! More people! What are your names?” Ink bounced around excitedly, forgetting all about his previous question to Cross, who was now just kind of standing there.
The purple one just stared down at them, but the golden one seemed to take pity, humoring the shorter skeleton.
“Well I am Dream, and this is my brother Nightmare.” He said, offering a warm yet tired smile. “It is very nice to meet you.”
“I go by Night.” The purple one, apparently Night, said, sounding just as exhausted as the other.
Ink felt another rush of excitement, the feeling from meeting so many new and interesting people making them feel more than they had in a while. “Well nice to meet both of you! I’m Ink!”
“I- uh, I’m Cross.” The other student said awkwardly, having been momentarily forgotten.
“Well, Ink, Cross, it was nice to meet you. I hope you don’t mind, but Nighty and I have been traveling for a really long time. I think the two of us are going to try and catch up on some sleep once we get unpacked.” Dream explained, Night shooting the other a look at the nickname “Nighty.”
“Sure thing, I think Ink and I will be exploring campus, so you don’t have to worry about us waking you.” Cross said, nudging Ink.
“Yeah, we wanted to see the gardens.” Ink said, thinking of something on the spot. They remembered seeing something that looked like gardens on the way into the dorm building, but hadn’t gotten a really close look at it.
“Thank you, but you don’t need to leave just because of us.” Dream told them with another warm smile and a giggle. Ink liked his laugh, it made him feel warm.
“Are you two siblings?” They asked before they could think about the question.
The two skeletons looked at each other, then laughed gently. Night had a nice warm laugh too, but it didn’t make him feel as warm as Dream’s. “Yes, Dreamy and I are twins.” Night said, swinging an arm over his shorter twin’s shoulders. Night stood at about five foot ten, with Dream being about three inches shorter. Dream gave him the side eye at the nickname.
“Anywho, Ink, gardens.” Cross said, reaching into his bag. Ink watched as the taller skeleton pulled out a sketchbook.
“Oh, right. Lemme just-” Ink mumbled, grabbing their own little art bag out of their backpack, slinking it over one shoulder.
—
“Well, this is great timing.” Geno said as he stared at the other three people who were standing just outside his dorm. There was sarcasm dripping from his voice.
“Impeccable.” Another, somewhat edgier student agreed with equal sarcasm. The dude looked like he was born in a hot topic and raised at a My Chemical Romance concert.
The four stood at the door, no one making a move for the handle. The other two students glanced to each other, but neither said anything, one being somehow shorter than him by an inch, which was impressive seeing as Geno himself was only five feet tall, and the other looking like both a college student and a middle schooler at the same time with that blue bandana tied around his neck.
Suddenly, the door to the room next to theirs opened, revealing yet another skeleton, this one with thick black tearmarks running down their cheekbones. They looked exasperated as they closed the door behind them, then looked over to the group.
“am a interrupting something?” He asked, cocking his head to the side.
“No.” The hot topic student said, leaving no room for context.
“alright, i’m just trying to escape my roommates for a bit, they’re both nice, but they’re complete opposites personality wise.” Black Tear student explained.
“What do you mean?” The blue bandana student asked. He sounded younger than he looked.
“i mean, one of them is a fruity party animal and the other is a paranoid, no-nonsense perfectionist!” He groaned. “aw man i forgot to introduce myself, i’m killer.”
“That’s a killer name you got there.” Hot Topic replied with a light chuckle. Killer stared for a moment before laughing himself.
“i see what you did there.” Killer laughed, leaning against the door.
“Nice, I’m Red, by the way.” Hot Topic, apparently and appropriately named Red, replied.
“well you look red-y to… to… yeah i can’t think of anything.” Killer laughed, absolutely failing to make a pun out of Red’s name. Red chuckled.
“Oh, I’m Blue!” Bandana Boy said, “Red, and Blue. that’s a cool combo!”
“You guys can call me Geno.” Geno said, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
“U-uh, I go by Tone.” The shortest skele said, stammering a little in the beginning. They seemed nervous, probably a little anxious from meeting so many people at once.
“well nice to meet you all, i’m going to excuse myself. i’ll see you later?” He asked.
“Sure, you seem cool.” Geno replied, sticking his key into his dorm’s door and opening it.
“thanks buddy, welp, bye!” He said before running off in the opposite direction.
Geno went into the room, throwing his bags down on a random bed, then lying on it faced down.
“Tired already?” Blue asked him. Geno looked up to see that the bandana boy was standing at the end of his bed.
“Kinda. It was a six hour drive to get here.” Geno sighed, at least his brother tried to keep him company, but since he was the one driving, he couldn’t really do all that much. Still, Geno was grateful.
“Oh jeez, that’s a long drive.” Blue said, sitting down on the bed. Geno rolled onto his back.
“Yep. I think I’m going to take a nap.” Geno groaned, exhaustion finally catching up to him. He idly wondered how Paps was doing on the road.
“Oh, I’ll try to keep it quiet in here then.” Blue smiled, glancing at the other two, presumably to see if they had heard their conversation.
“You don’t have to worry about me, I was going to go somewhere else anyways.” Tone told him. Geno looked up to see the shorter skeleton had somehow already unpacked everything and was holding a folder and a key to their dorm.
“Yeah, I’ll leave too. Need to figure out where all my classes are anyways.” Red said, standing up from his own bed and stretching.
“Can I join you?” Blue asked.
“Sure why not.” Red replied, walking over to the other.
“Thanks guys.” Geno sighed, moving his bags to the floor and laying down face first on his pillow.
He heard the door open and the sound of three people leaving, then the sound of the door closing.
Geno sighed again, letting himself rest.
—
“Who-Who the he-he-hell brings a-a-a big ass pri-pride flag to-to-to sch-school?” The glitchy student asked from the opposite side of the room. Dust paid them no mind, continuing to hang one up, the other still sitting on his bed, waiting to join its partner in crime.
“i do. you got a problem with that?” He asked accusingly, glancing over his shoulder to the other student, who for some reason had set up a hammock above their bed.
“No-No, just wondering-ing-ing. I’m ace too-oo, by the-the-the way.” They said. Dust finished adjusting the first flag, the purple stripe finally aligning perfectly with the corner of the wall. The green strips of the aromantic flag would have to match up perfectly, but Dust was willing to get it aligned.
“nice. so how many people have told you that you’re just making it up?” Dust sighed, already knowing the answer.
“Too-too-too many to cou-count.” Glitchy dude replied. “How-how-how many people ha-have told you-you-you that they ca-can f-f-fix you?”
“ugh, don’t remind me of that.” He groaned, the flag was finally aligned. Dust laughed inside, “god damn it, my flags are straight.”
The glitch in the other corner stopped talking for a moment, then burst out laughing. “That-that was a g-g-good one-one.”
“great, because i just thought of that one off the top of my head.” Dust laughed when the glitchy boy finished laughing.
“Ok how-how-how about th-this-”
“um… am i in the right place?” A much deeper voice asked, startling the other two students.
“angel above…” Dust murmured, not knowing how the other student had managed to get into the closed dorm without making any noise.
“...sorry.” The other student said. Dust took a closer look at the guy, and he had to admit, he looked pretty intimidating. For one, the guy looked to be a solid six feet tall, a he wasn’t exactly a skinny guy either. The other thing was the massive hole in his head, though it appeared to be an old wound.
“You-you-you’re looking fo-for room two-two-two fourty-ni-nine?” The glitch asked. The taller monster looked down at the key in his hand, then looked back up and nodded. Dust, who was still standing on his bed, kicked both his legs out in front of him and dropped down to sit on the mattress. The taller monster looked at him, likely due to the noise he had just made.
“i… i’m the same.” He said. Dust looked at him confused, then glanced over at his shoulder. Was it the flags?
“I-I-I’m ace too. N-Not aro tho-though.” Error said, confirming Dust’s suspicions. “I-I-I’m Error, by-by the way.”
“oh yeah, i’m dust.” He said, unsure of how he had forgotten to introduce himself.
“‘m horror.” The tallest skeleton said.
“And I’m Reaper.” A new voice said just behind Error, causing the glitch to… scream? It sounded like a static tv and a dozen computer error messages overtop the sound of glitched out yelling as he fell out of his hammock and onto the floor.
“how the hell?!” Dust shouted at the fourth skeleton who had somehow gotten into the room, standing up from his bed. Horror seemed worried, but not surprised, simply setting his bags down on the bed before going over to Error.
“... you alright?” He asked the now-quiet glitch.
“N-n-n-no-no.” He said, his voice looping and glitching more than before.
“Oh come on, I didn’t scare you that bad, did I?” The new kid, Reaper apparently, asked. Dust looked him up and down, the guy looked like your classic emo kid with the all black clothing.
Dust hooked a finger on his scarf, rubbing the fabric between his fingers, anxiety spiking. Damn it, he couldn’t have a panic attack now. The only thing that could have triggered it was this guy’s sudden appearance, but he didn’t even scare him that badly.
“... you alright dusty?” Horror asked, the nickname setting off alarm bells in his head, the panic spiking even more.
“i- i have to go.” Dust muttered, rushing out of the room. He let the door slam behind him, running somewhere, anywhere but here.