Chapter Text
It is not quite an auspicious beginning to a uni career, but Nick is always one to take things in stride. His mum Sarah looks at him with a quizzical face as he quickly scans the email from the housing office and lets out a groan, so he hands her his phone to take a look. Her frown deepens as she reads down the letter, and suddenly she looks up sharply and bursts out, “They overbooked the housing? Where are you supposed to sleep, exactly?”
“Mum, keep calm. I already read through the attachments, they have a plan. They’ve rented out an entire hotel right by campus for this first month, they’re going to figure things out before reading week I’m sure, we’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure, Nicky? This seems like somewhat robbing you of the whole uni experience!”
“Seriously? It’s still basically the same thing, a bunch of uni kids on the loose together with no parents, with the added benefit of free breakfasts and room cleaning! Literally no complaints from me.”
Nick’s good mood fades somewhat–well, significantly–when he arrives at his assigned room on August 15. The size is decent, with two desks and even a couch, though the couch isn’t fold-out. And that fact becomes somewhat important as he stands there in shock in the doorway, his mum craning her neck to see in and asking why he didn’t move inside already, as he stares at the centerpiece of the room. The large, comfy bed. The ONE and ONLY bed. King-sized, clean, with fluffy pillows…but still.
He drops his duffle bag in front of the closet, and wheels around right into his mum’s surprised face. She backs up quickly and leans around his shoulder to peek into the room.
“One bed! Oh, this must be a mistake, Nicky. Let’s go check with the front desk.”
He rolls his eyes. “This is only getting better. I hope at least my roommate is cool, because this is going to be interesting no matter what…”
His mum pushes the luggage cart closer to the wall, planning to leave it there while they went to speak with the front desk. Suddenly she is interrupted by a loud group coming down the hall, which stops short in front of their door. The one with the kindest smile addresses Nick.
“Hey, any chance you’re Nicholas Nelson?”
“Yeah, that’s me, and please just call me Nick,” he says as he extends his hand.
“Hey, I’m Sai and I’m the TA for this floor.” His smile broadens. “And yes, before you ask, there are TAs in this hotel! We’re trying to make it as much like the normal uni experience as possible. We’re expecting this to last, hopefully, only this semester,” and here he pauses to let Nick and his mum gasp. “Because yes, I know the letter said hopefully only one month but the construction on Heaney Hall got held up once more.” He holds up his hands and speaks quickly, “BUT we’re going to do everything we can to make this place fun! It’s all students on every floor and they’re letting us put together activities, lounge rooms, all the stuff we’d normally have.” Nick’s face relaxes a bit and he thinks to himself that it doesn’t sound so bad. Until he abruptly remembers the other, more pressing question.
“Oh, but what about the bed–”
“Yeah, right, mate??” A ruddy-faced lad standing a bit too close to Nick seems to shout in his ear. “We definitely aren’t sharing, that’s fucking–”
“Harry!” A woman who is clearly the lad’s relative cuts him off. “Language, please!”
Sarah looks quickly towards the two of them and then back at Nick. “Yes, that’s a good question though. What about the bed, Sai?” She turns towards the other two. “I assume you might be Nick’s roommate?
“Yep. My name’s Harry Greene and I’m assigned to this room too, BUT there’s no way we’re sharing a mattress like a freaky couple of–”
This time Sai cuts him off. “Right. Like I was telling Harry, I checked into this before you both arrived and unfortunately it turns out that there isn’t anything we can do, for now. The hotel is fully booked and obviously there aren’t any other housing options, that’s why we’re here now! And we have to figure out the process to request a new bed but we’re not sure if they will approve it, since the current bed is still in good condition.” He gives them all a sympathetic look. “I totally understand that this isn’t a great surprise and you must be apprehensive. But I hope you’ll have some patience for the process while we try to figure things out. And technically,” Sai gives a small grimace, “this fits within the housing policy due to the overall size of the room giving each roommate the minimum required space, and the fact that there is a sofa available. That may be why they’re dragging their feet on doing anything about it.”
*****
Nick and Harry try out the sofa for a few nights each that first week, and it is a dismal failure for both. It is far too short, leaving Nick’s legs so cramped after a night’s sleep that his game is completely off at rugby practice the next day, and causes Harry to be in even more of a pissed off mood than usual, which he takes out on their innocent neighbors next door, screaming at them to get out of his way walking down to breakfast. So that potential solution is out.
The following week out of desperation they try one night on the bed together, hesitantly, but it doesn’t even last three hours before Harry sleepily kicks Nick to the edge of the mattress and he shoots out of bed, mumbling about it not being even remotely worth it. He tries to put extra blankets down on the floor in a sufficient pile to be comfortable but gives up by the next morning, his body weight sinking through them easily and making him feel all the bones of his skeleton pressed against the hard thin carpet. The following couple of nights, attempts are made to create different “blanket nests” with the extra bedding he got from Sai and the hotel, but it doesn’t go well and by the time the second weekend rolled around he is exhausted and bleary-eyed, feeling like he is sleepwalking half the time and honestly not retaining too much from his intro classes. Being the walking zombie that he is also makes it difficult to make new friends, meaning there aren’t a whole lot of people he can hit up for a spot on a comfy couch once in a while.
Saturday night finds him having a decent time at a bar with some of the rugby team, but when they start to peel off to girlfriends’ or Ms. Right Now’s dorm rooms, or back to their own for a good night’s rest that Nick pines over, he finds absolutely no will within himself to go back to his and Harry’s. He eventually stumbles back to the building but can’t make his feet head to the elevator and wanders down the ground floor hallway, halfway wondering if he might be comfortable on one of the pool lounge chairs for a few hours.
It never would have occurred to him to consider sleeping on a pile of old abandoned clothes in the lost and found of the shared laundry room, because that isn’t exactly an appetizing idea. However, he must have crashed into it by accident and found it more comfortable than one would have expected, because that’s where he ends up curled into a ball, snoring away into the wee hours on the Sunday morning of his second week of university.