Chapter Text
It was early autumn, the leaves were just becoming colorful, the air was crispy and it was starting to get colder. For Jayce, it was the day he was moving into dorms and 5 days until school.
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After he picked up his keys at the desk, and talked to the nice lady sitting there, he went to his new 'home'. It was in the 4th floor, quite a walk to get there, but he always like a small workout and stairs were great for this. After he found the door with the same number that was on his keys he opened them to revel what will be for now his home.
It actually didn't look that bad, there was a small entrance room and after that the living room. There was a brown couch with a blanket and 2 small pillows opposite to a coffee table and quite big TV for a dorm, there was also a shelf to put thing away. Then there was a small kitchen, nothing really special, just the regular counter, that looked like it was made from wood, fridge, microwave and some shelves, that matches with the counter. Then he went to check out the bedrooms.
The first one was quite spacious, with a queen size bed against a big window, a basic wooden desk, a closet with one of the doors being a mirror. There was also another door that led to a bathroom, that was, again, basic but there was a bathtub, so at least that was good.
When he opened the door to the other bedroom, he soon realised that his roommate already took this one. It was way smaller than the first one but had the same Equipment, a queen size bed, a desk, a closet, but everything was a bit smaller than in the other room. He also noticed there was another door next to the desk, leading to a small balcony. He also noticed the desk was already covered with some books and notes. He was really curious what was on the notes, but he didn't want to intrude his roommates privacy. Speaking of the roommate, where was he? He didn't notice anybody there, hell if he wouldn't walked inside that bedroom he wouldn't even know someone was there. While he was waiting for his roommate to arrive, he decided to unpack his stuff to the first bedroom.
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Once he was finished, and went to the kitchen to get himself something to drink, he heard the door open.
"Hey, you must be my new roommate-" he went to introduce himself to his new roommate, but stopped midway through after he saw him. A Zaunite with brown messy hair, pale skin and a cane? Yeah, that was the last thing he expected. What was he even doing here? This wasn't a place for people like this.
"Hm.." the other guy just hummed, as he took of his shoes, confirming that he was in fact his roommate.
Jayce couldn't believe his eyes, what was this, a prank or something? What the hell is going on.
"So a Zaunite huh? What is such person doing here? Or just, how did you even got here?" Jayce said, not holding back his obvious frustration and hatred for the shorter guy.
"I'm here to study, and got here by studying." The other explain, with a heavy accent. Was it Russian accent? He wasn't exactly sure but it was surely some kind of Slavic one. Not that he cared, especially since he's probably going to get kicked out, sooner or later anyway.
While Jayce was still deep in though, the other walked by him and went to kitchen to put away some groceries that he bought, probably why he wasn't there when Jayce entered. Before Jayce could say more, the Zaunite was already in his room, locking it.
"Great, just fucking great" Jayce thought "this is going to be hell"
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He stayed in the living room on the couch, texting and calling his friends, trying to forget about the other, but with no use. He absolutely hated him, I mean, what was he doing here? He bet he didn't got here the same way everyone else does, but rather some horrible way, like a Bribe or threatening them or something like that. And not to mention the cane, what was it even for? For sure he did something while committing some kind of crime and now had to deal with the consequences.
Speaking of the devil, the other, that he just now realised he didn't know the name of, finally left his room and Jayce could get a better look at him. He was shorter than Jayce, probably up to his shoulders, and had super pale skin, almost like a vampire, he actually didn't even know that human skin can reach such white colour. His face was, and he hated to admit it, unique. He had sharp features, chapped lips, eyes that looked like honey with eye bags under them, and there were two moles. His hair was pretty messy, going to all directions. His clothes seemed simple, dark brown trousers and dark brown shirt with beige vest over it. This is when he finally noticed the knee brace around his right knee, assuming that there was probably something wrong with his knee and because of that needed the cane.
The guy walked into kitchen, probably didn't even notice Jayce was on the couch. He decided to use that opportunity to get more informations out of his roommate.
"You never told me your name, didn't you?" He asked him when he entered, startling the shorter one, making him almost drop the mug he was holding. He took a note of the boiling water for coffee, being the reason why the Zaunite left his room.
"It's Viktor." the other said silently, barely above whisper, not looking up at the taller one. His accent was still strong, definitely a Slavic one, and his voice was actually pretty nice, but it was obvious that he hadn't spoke for few hours,days? Based of how raspy his voice sounded like.
"Well, I'm Jayce. Jayce Talis" Jayce said, offering the other his hand, but all he got was a single "Hm" from Viktor, that didn't even looked up at him throughout the whole conversation.
"Soo, what happened to your leg?" Jayce asked, not sure how to continue the conversation. This time he did get a reaction from Viktor, but not exactly a pleasant one. His eyes widen a bit and his brows furrowed, but he still didn't looked up at him, instead glaring at the wooden counter of the kitchen.
"Nothing." He said with a poison in his voice. Before he could asked more the Slav again left to his room with the coffee he made for himself.
"Well, at least I know his name now?" Jayce tried to find something positive about it. Then he finally noticed the time. "Who the hell makes themselves coffee at 1am?" He thought, but brushed it off, maybe caffeine didn't give him the kick and he could fall asleep after drinking it? Then he finally also left to his room to finally give himself some good sleep.
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He woke up around 11 am the next day. He still had 4 more days till the semester starts. He had planned with his friends to go to the coffee shop nearby for this afternoon. When he left his room to get breakfast, he noticed Viktor was preparing coffee for himself again. When he got closer he noticed what a mess is the other guy. His hair was even more messy than yesterday, the bags under his eyes seemed bigger and his hands were shaking slightly. Did he even slept that night?
"Morning Viktor" he said as he approached his roommate, startling him once again, but this time he actually got a response "morning" it wasn't much but it was at least something. But neither did this conversation lasted very long, since Viktor once again immediately left to his room.
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After the meetup with his friends, he got back at 10 pm. He wasn't exactly expecting to stay for so long but it didn't suprise him. When he got back he noticed the only light that was in the dorm was coming from Viktor's room. "Does that guy ever sleep?" He asked himself before going to his bathroom for a shower. When he walked by the others room he heard few words but didn't understood them.
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In the shower he thought about how he said about his roommate to his friends, to which all of them understood why he wasn't thrilled about it. A cripple from Zaun wasn't exactly the best roommate material, but when he tried to talk with the lady at the desk, if there's a possibility to change rooms, he got told no and that whole 'its good to have such experience' thing