Chapter Text
The date is August 31st or as the color gang would call it, move-in day. The sky was clear with no clouds within sight and there was a crisp cool air that was a nice complement to the summer heat with the threat of the incoming autumnal chill that was to come and be the norm for the semester. The air itself seemed to ripple above the asphalt from the sheer heat of the midday sun rays. The classes were to start after just one day on the first day of September.
Red was the first to burst out of his coveted position of being passenger princess of the car shared between him, TSC, and Blue, having practically kicked the door open, jumped out, stretched while letting out a screech that rivaled that of a banshee. “Cursors, that was a long drive!” The youngest exclaimed in the parking lot. TSC was next to step out, “Well that’s only part of the day… We still have to take our stuff to our dorms and unpack…” he said while rubbing an eye of sleep, having kept consciousness from chugging coffee that would’ve sent an elephant into a coma from the amount he had consumed, the response having induced a disappointed groan from the red stick figure.
Blue was the final to step out of that car, walking to the trunk of the car to get one of the three plastic bins that has the stuff that everyone in the shared dorm room would need, electing to save his wheeled suitcase for last as it’s the easiest. “Well regardless we still need to carry our stuff to our dorm, it’s on the third floor so we should use the elevator.” TSC nodded and picked up one of the crates while Red gave a sigh through his nose and started dragging his suitcase, not thinking ahead.
As the three chromatic sticks entered the dormitory lobby they were met with a humble room of carpet with fairly neutral or desaturated colors, navy colored lobby chairs, cream colored pillars to keep the structure of the room, a front desk open 24/7 and two elevators on the far end of the room. After checking in with their student IDs the three approached the elevators, which also had Purple, Green, and Yellow standing in front of them. Green gestured to the paper taped over the elevator buttons, “The elevator is down.” He said simply, and practically verbatim, with Yellow nodding solemnly, and Purple looking down at the floor.
“What?!” the other three exclaimed in shock from the news which was met with an “It would seem so” from Yellow. Red groaned “Of course we need to haul our shit up three floors with no elevator…” his voice dripping with a vague whiney bitterness, as if the world suddenly decided it hated him in this instant. Blue broke the further stunned silence with “Well… no time like the present…” his voice mildly irritated but admittedly less so than most of the color gang.
One by one the color gang began the ascent, one of three. After a while the group made their ways to their specific dorm rooms. Red, Blue, and TSC would be sharing one room, Green and Yellow another, and Purple got his own. After the other two trips were made the six began unpacking their things and other personal belongings.
The rooms themselves were unremarkable to say the least. Barren beige walls, navy blue mattresses with no coverings or pillows to speak of, and empty wooden desks with similarly empty nightstands populated by a single lamp for each were the consistent details across all the rooms.
Following about two hours unpacking and getting everything into place Green asks Yellow, who’s halfway through setting up his laptop on his desk, “Hey, do you think we should order some food? It’s getting kinda late… It’s what?” Green double taps his phone on the nearby nightstand as he unzips a vacuum sealed bag of clothes, “Cursors, it’s already 7:45.” Yellow pauses for a moment, he hadn’t even noticed his stomach was protesting the lack of food, "Definitely, the dining hall is most likely closed at this hour… What were you thinking?”
“I dunno.” Green admitted simply, giving a shrug, “Haven’t thought that far yet. You?” Yellow puts his hand to his chin and ponders for a second, “Chinese food sounds nice. It is move-in day so why not indulge a bit?” Green chuckles a bit, “Can’t fault that logic. I’ll ask what the others want.” He says as he pulls out his cellphone and opens the group chat for the color gang.
Green) hey guys, thoughts on chinese food?
Red) yes plz :3
TSC) Sure
Purple) That would be great if you don’t mind.
Blue) That sounds good…
Yellow) Fine by me.
Red) u can come over if you want btw, I brought smash bros!
Red) i have all the dlc too!
With that, Green dials the number for the local Chinese restaurant and orders, already aware of the food the color gang tends to order. “Yeah, hi can I get one sesame chicken, one half sweet and sour chicken with lo mein, one half sweet and sour chicken with white rice, two half fried chicken with pork fried rice, and one half fried chicken with lo mein.” Green orders slowly so as to give the person on the other end time to write the order down. The worker replies “Okay…” she starts before repeating the order to confirm it and after hearing the price, the call ends.
Green places his phone back onto his nightstand and pulls out the fitted bedsheets. He gives a sigh, realizing that he has a herculean task ahead of him and starts the struggle, with Yellow looking over to see his roommate partway through giving a sly “Good luck.” Green met the Yellow stick figure’s words with a piercing glare and a “Thanks.” from behind his teeth.
Meanwhile, Purple was in his single room setting up his desk after successfully making his bed with minimal hassle. Purple gives a quiet chuckle while covering his mouth politely with his right hand despite nobody being in the room from hearing the very mild tension in the room next to him via the paper thin walls and equally thin soundproofing between them.
At the same time, the remaining three colors were surprisingly quiet, with TSC having finished his unpacking and started helping Red not too long ago with his sheets as blue was cleaning the dust of the seemingly unused desks. Around 30 minutes later and after Red had gotten the fitted sheets on with the help of his older sibling (TSC did all the work), Green texts in the group chat.
Green) can one of ya’ll get the food? The guy is by the door to the lobby
Green) I’m a bit busy with unpacking, I’ll pay you back
TSC) Fine…
Green) thx bro
TSC) Np
After TSC is told the price he counts out the money plus the tip and starts heading down, giving Red a teasing head pat on his way out with a slight smirk. TSC walks down to retrieve the food at the lobby door and hands the money over in exchange for the money with a “thank you” as he and the driver depart for their spaces. TSC pulls out his phone and briefly texts in the group chat.
TSC) Got the food. I’ll be in our dorm.
Red) okay!! loading up smash bros now! :p
After a few minutes of walking back up the stairs with added weight, TSC makes it back to his floor and takes a turn into the dorm he shares with Red and Blue. Inside, Red has indeed already loaded the game with the controllers paired to the switch and the rest of the colors are on the carpeted floor sitting cross-legged or in other ways. Red was the first to turn his head as he heard the door open and immediately his eyes lit up with excitement and raised his hands into the air with the same energy as a puppy as he exclaimed “We’re saved! The food is here!”
TSC gave a slightly tired grimace as he walked over and sat down on the ground next to them and started looking through the orders. “Orange chicken?” he asked. “That’s mine!” the red stick figure announces and happily takes it as it’s passed to him. TSC continues, “Sweet and sour with lo mein?”. Purple raises his hand and states “That would be mine” and takes it gratefully with both hands and a small nod.
The next order is called out, “Half fried chicken with lo mein?”. “That’s mine.” Green says causally, taking it with one hand as he uses his other hand to navigate the menus of Smash Bros. to the ‘smash’ game mode. Continuing after Blue gets his sweet and sour chicken with white rice and the remaining two get their identical orders Green selects the game rules for the casual rounds of smash.
“Green…” Blue starts after swallowing his first bite of his meal, “...try to wait until after we finish eating until we play. I highly doubt Red wants his controllers to be oily and covered in rice.” At the mention of his name, Red pokes his head up from his laser focus on his food, his lips lightly coated in the sauce from the sesame chicken, and gives a curious chirp of a “Mm?”
The resulting sound caused the sound of light laughter to flow about the room. Red, still confused and having gulped down his bite of food, still oblivious to what was said and what everyone was laughing about, asked “What? Was it something I said? Is there something on my face? What did I do?!”, his voice rising in a mildly embarrassed panic.
Yellow, fighting for his life to contain his laughter, casually flicked his hand in a dismissive motion “It’s quite alright. You didn’t do anything.” Red seemed to contemplate for a moment scanning his face for any sort of deception before giving an indifferent shrug and going immediately back to his food with a voracity similar to a person who had been fasting.
After about 30 minutes spent eating the color gang throws away the empty packaging and stows away the leftovers in the minifridge with the microwave to ‘stand guard’ as Red would put it. Following the meal the group then starts selecting their characters.
Following around 4 rounds of Smash Bros. Red makes a confused face, wondering as to why the rest of the gang wasn’t moving to grab the ledge after being hit offstage and why they aren’t pressing buttons to continue to the stage select. “Uhh… guys…?” he says looking at the TV curiously, assuming the rest have just simply had an episode of brain fog. This idea was immediately thrown out the window when he heard it, snoring, not just one person either. He looked behind to see that the rest of the group had fallen asleep, Green and TSC being the only ones who consistently snore.
Red, seeing this scene, gives a small, sly smile before getting up, turning off the TV and switch before going to the bathroom attached to the room after grabbing his toothbrush and toothpaste. After brushing his teeth, Red then approaches his bed, his gaze resting briefly on the mass that was his fellow stick figures on the floor. TSC was on his side on the floor, Yellow’s glasses were slightly askew on his face as he was on the floor and Blue was hugging a pillow he was holding while leaning forward slightly. Alongside this, Green and Purple were laying their heads on each other with Purple hugging a pillow tightly, occasionally squeezing it. After a few seconds of staring, Red shook his head to regain his concentration before turning to face his bed and collapsing into bed, grabbing his pig plush and pulling it to his chest.
The scene was peaceful and serene, and when the color gang wakes the following morning they’ll realize they aren’t just in dorms, but homes away from home.