Chapter Text
The dorm room was strangely quiet, save for the sporadic thumps of a small ball against the ceiling. Well, silence doesn’t tend to last in there, so it was inevitably cut short.
”Jesus Christ —Logico, cut it off!” A woman’s voice almost echoed through the silence, a notable Aussie accent coating her words.
”Right, right. Sorry,” he responded, voice sounding like he woke up from some trance. Crimson could already tell what that tone meant; the idiot was daydreaming again. It was rather uncommon, but always amusing when it happened. You could never really guess what was going on in his mind.
”What are you even thinking about that got you so out of it?”
”Nothing, just silly fantasizing. It’s nothing noteworthy.”
”Shame, cause you were being proper annoying about it...Surprises me how you can actually fantasize, though. Didn’t reckon you had an imagination,” she added snarkily; a remark met with a quick “Fuck off” by her roommate.
”Come on, now I’m curious. Just tell me!”
Logico paused for a bit, as if trying to find a way to ensure Crimson wouldn’t completely ridicule him for what he was about to say.
“Well, I was thinking about starting a band.”
His words were met with even more silence, which slightly worried him. What kind of insult was she coming up with now?
“Mate…are you feelin’ crook or something?”
“What, is it that bad of an idea?”, he sounded equally as confused as her.
“I mean, it’s just way too illogical to be coming out of your mouth. There’s no way in hell you’re in your right mind right now.”
“Oh come on, don’t knock it ‘til you try it, right? Do we even have that much to lose?”, he sat up straight on the bed.
”Yeah, you’re definitely crook,” she responded, sounding annoyed now. “How about the precious time, money and energy that would be better spent —I don’t know— trying to survive uni?”
”It’s not like we’re going to dedicate our lives to it! It’s just going to be some side hustle or something similar. Best case scenario, we make some bucks out of it too!”
“My God, do you just have to be right all the time-“
Their bickering was quickly interrupted by their other roommate opening the door, a packet of cigarettes in hand. “What is going on here?” he asked in a confused yet simultaneously indifferent tone, paired with a thick Slavic accent.
”I’m trying to understand if the ratbag over here has lost it, that’s all,” Crimson remarked annoyed.
”Champagne! Please tell me you can play an instrument!”
“…Why?” He asked, slightly scrunching his face and squinting his eyes.
”Told ya, he’s a whacker.”
”Don’t listen to her, just answer me!”
”Uhh well, father taught me drums when I was a small boy. I can still play, I believe,” he finally answered, the confused look still lingering.
Logico flashed a quick, small smile. Well, it looked more like a frown, but his eyes gave away his excitement, carrying a strange mix of mischief and joy that was completely unlike his usual self. “Perfect! How ‘bout you, Crimson?”
”I can sort of play the bass but ‘m quite rusty. Need a bit of a refresher but I’m good enough,” she responded matter-of-factly, having calmed down from the previous back-and-fourth. “Can you even do anything, eh?” She added with a mocking, lopsided smirk.
”I’m…disgustingly good at the piano…but I can also play the guitar. Lots of things these hands can do.”
”Yeah, except satisfy woman.” Champagne chimed in, a ghost of a smile on his lips.
”Or men!” Crimson snickered.
”You like both yet are still single? You are like magnet that doesn’t work either way.” Champagne added, fully smiling now. Crimson burst out laughing, raising her hand to high-five him.
The whole back and forth didn’t fail to earn a really pissed-off look from Logico, even though he had mostly gotten used to his peers’ teasing. “Ha ha, very funny —look, can we just focus on this rather than my orientation?”
“Well, all this is grouse but who’s gonna sing? We kind of need a singer, Sherlock,” Crimson added with her usual sass.
“Oh uh…err…we’ll figure it out, won’t we? No need to immediately find something. It’s just an idea, nothing serious.”
They stayed quiet for a bit, alternating between staring at each other and staring at nothing at all. The atmosphere was rather tense and unusually awkward. They weren’t strangers to silence but it was never so…uncomfortable. The seconds stretched into hours, until Champagne spoke. “I don’t think it’s bad idea. Could be fun. I’m in,” he concluded.
“See? That’s the spirit!” Logico exclaimed. “How ‘bout you, Crimson? You wanna bite?”
She shrugged in response. “Can’t hurt to give it a burl. Why not?”
Just as she got the words out, the sound of a phone ringing filled the dorm. It was her phone, surprisingly enough —at least surprising for her. Who could be calling now?
”Hey Cathy!” The voice sounded through the phone. The woman on the other line sounded quite a bit like Crimson, but her voice seemed more high-pitched. “I’m at a house party. Wanna come?”
”What do I have to do with your sophomore mates? I’ll be bored out of my mind in there.”
“It’s not just sophomores! There are probably some people your age here, just come on!” The other line went silent for a bit, right after saying these words. Then, she sighed. “You can bring your mates over if you want to soooooo bad,” she added, mildly cranky.
Crimson turned to the other two in the room. “Are you lot in?”
”Ehh. Nothing to gain here. I dunno,” Champagne replied.
She turned back to the phone. “Say, is it a BYO?”
”Well, you can bring a bottle if you’d like but all alcohol is free here.”
”Wait, isn’t it ill-“
”Don’t ask.”
”Ok, at least it works…ok then, that’s good! Right, give me the address and I’ll see ya in a bit,” she said, hanging up the phone.
“So…uh…are you going or what?” Logico turned to her, rather puzzled by the little he heard of the previous interaction. Crimson merely just smiled.
_____________________________________
”God, this party is shit. Why are we even here?” Logico asked rather loudly, trying to be heard over whatever stupid song was blasting through some speakers.
”’Cause we got nothin’ else to do. And also ‘cause Champ would rather die than pass on the chance to get free drinks.”
They both turned to Champagne, who was happily chugging some cheap vodka. Any sort of competition had basically passed out by now but he still kept going, occasionally stopping to comment on how the flavor sucks; a fact that didn’t really deter him, actually.
Logico turned back to Crimson, who had an amused look on her face. ”Shouldn’t you stop him? I mean, there’s no way this is good for his liver, right?”
”Eh, if something goes south, I’ll just fix ‘im. Might as well make good use of my PhD.”
Logico just shrugged, not quite sure how to respond to that, and turned to analyze the room he was in. Faces, bodies, lights, all blurring into one. The noises of all the idiots talking blended with the music, turning into an ugly symphony of mediocrity. He was no social guy so naturally, he hated every second of it. It was all just such a bore; so overwhelming and yet simultaneously still so tedious. His eyes kept scanning the room in desperate search of something at least half intriguing when they locked with a pair of emerald eyes from across the room. Those emerald eyes switched between staring right at him and looking at some other, unrecognizable person. That intense stare gave him a strange gut feeling that something was going to happen, but then he remembered how stupid gut feelings are so he brushed it off.
Meanwhile, the green-eyed man kept staring with an extraordinary interest. He seemed to be completely focused, blocking out everything happening around him.
”Oi boss!” An androgynous voice spoke, swiftly snapping him back to reality.
”Night, I told you to stop calling me that.”
”Yeah yeah, whatever. What’re you lookin’ at?”
”Nothin’, just scanning the room.”
”Yeah right, so you weren’t looking at the bloke over there, eh? You got a crush or summat?”
”That’s none of your fucking business mate!”, the green-eyed man exclaimed, his voice getting slightly higher.
Night stifled a laugh at that. Getting a rise out of him always satisfied them. “Say, d’ya think you could take him in a fight?”
”Are you daft? Why would I pick fights with some guy?”
“Cause I’m daring ya. Come on, do it if you ain’t a pussy,” Night remarked with a smirk. Only response they got was a simple “Sod off”, but they weren’t backing down. “Tell ya what; if you do it, I’ll do all your coursework for the whole semester. How’s that?”
The green-eyed man seemed to hesitate for a bit. He couldn’t deny how appealing the deal was. “Fine,” he mumbled as he took a deep breath and started walking forward.
“Oi shithead!” He yelled as he slowly approached Logico. “Yeah you, the bloke with the black hair!”
Logico turned to face him, quickly realizing it was the same guy who was eying him previously. He was tall —just a couple inches taller than him— but also notably lean. His emerald eyes were an obvious feature that stood out but what really caught Logico’s attention was his long brown hair. He wore a smug expression; but when their eyes met, it was almost like it faltered for a moment, getting replaced by a flicker of doubt, before returning back to its initial form.
“Fuck do you want?”
“Tell you what, I bet I can knock yer teeth out no problem, eh? You seem like more of a prat to me,” the long haired man snarked, a shit-eating grin plastered on his face.
Faces had turned to look at the two of them, forming a small crowd that was monitoring them and waiting to see what the next move would be.
“You want a fight, huh?”
”Oh I don’t know, maybe you’re too much of a wuss to fight me.”
Logico felt his blood boil at every word. Who the hell did this scumbag think he was? He couldn’t let that idiot just talk to him like that. He instantly swung at him, getting him right in the nose.
The long haired man’s head spun and he could feel the blood trickle down his face. He felt his heart beating out of his chest but it was too late to back down now. He swiftly tackled Logico to the floor, momentarily earning the upper hand as he was on him.
Logico kept punching but the green eyed man was almost inhumanly fast in dodging, kicking and scratching more like a cat rather than a person. The man managed to land some punches, as Logico felt his eye swelling. He kept moving swiftly, his long hair flowing right behind him; Logico quickly grabbed a chunk and yanked down as hard as possible, pulling him down and getting on top before giving him a headbutt.
The scrap quickly caught the attention of most attendees as around the duo grew larger and louder, cheering and chanting them on —among them none other but Logico’s roommates.
”Oi Champ! Have a gander at this!” Crimson yelled, a big lopsided grin forming. “Our boy’s fighting some bloke! Quick, come quick!”
Champagne immediately turned to her as they moved closer to the front to get a better view of the fight. “They have…strange ways of fighting, do they not?”
Crimson just shrugged and took a sip of her drink. “Looks a bit gay to me but eh, at least there’s something entertaining in this bore of a party.”
They sat in silence, staring amazed at the fight as the two men were groaning and moving around on the floor, blood pouring everywhere. “Hey, you want to bet?” Champagne finally turned to ask her.
”Reckon! I’ll take our guy.”
”Fine, I trust long haired guy. How much money?”
”Can’t be worth more than ten bucks, can it?”
”Right, ten it is.”
Logico seemed to have the upper hand in the fight as he kept the punches up until he suddenly felt the man’s slender hands grab his shirt and pick him up before his head was slammed down on the floor. One of those hands quickly found its way on his throat and he quickly slammed his eyes shut, having already accepted defeat and waiting for the final blow. But it didn’t come, as much as he waited. He even so slightly opened one of his eyes and his gaze quickly met the man’s, who was frankly…too close to his face, almost like he was studying him. There was this strange glimmer in his eyes, which could only make Logico hold his breath as he was desperately trying to understand what the hell this idiot was doing. The crowd seemed equally confused, especially the roommate duo. The atmosphere felt much quieter and tense, even tenser than the fight.
”Y’ know…you’re actually quite the charming lad…” The man spoke in an almost low, flirty tone. He removed the tight grip he had on other man’s throat, letting the hand remove some tufts of hair from his face. “Now that I’m looking at you better…I’d say you’re rather handsome.”
“Is…is this some way to distract me? I-I really don’t g-“
”What?” The man got even closer, making the other’s breathing even more shallow and his face glow red. “No one’s ever told you how pretty you are?” He let himself have a small chuckle at that.
The crowd had started to outwardly express their confusion, turning to each other and speculating on what the next move could be. Some were yelling at the duo to just finish the fight, but it seemed like the universe had other plans.
Maybe it was the shitty booze or something about the man’s whole demeanor, but something completely irrational took over Logico. He grabbed the stranger’s collar and pulled him closer, letting their lips collide. The other man was caught off guard but quickly melted into the kiss, his hands falling into the other’s black hair. The stranger tasted mostly of alcohol —some random, fruity cocktail that was probably offered at some table— with a hint of blood, probably from the nosebleed. His hair and forehead was wet, covered in sweat with some blood, but neither of them cared. The crowd watching had erupted into gasps, screams and cheers, creating a new ruckus all over again; but the duo had completely filtered it all out as they drowned in each other.
The kiss was broken soon enough, with the man getting close to Logico’s ear instead.
”How about we go somewhere with a few less idiots, huh?”
The other man, still dazed from the fight/kiss and trying to catch his breath, could only nod in agreement. What did he just get himself into?