Chapter Text
The notification from Eddie’s laptop chimes late in the morning.
He immediately looks up from the shelf he is organizing and drops everything in his hands before heading straight for his desk.
A new email has just appeared in his inbox. The subject line is clear and impossible to miss.
Student Housing Assignment Notice
When he clicks it open, dark green letters stand out on the screen, announcing the house he has been selected to join for his years at the university.
Rowan House.
Below the house name and emblem are the move-in details, his house number, roommate information, and arrival date.
At the very bottom of the email is a link to verify his identity and confirm his place in the student housing program.
After reading every line, every word, every detail three times over, Eddie finally clicks it.
The link leads to a simple but pleasant-looking website.
As he scrolls down, photos of the house appear one after another. Every corner has been photographed so thoroughly that it almost feels like he is shopping for a house rather than moving into a dorm.
And honestly?
It looks pretty nice.
Warmer and more welcoming than he expects.
Eddie has heard that out of all eight houses, Rowan House is considered the quietest one—the best choice for people who prefer their own space.
Hopefully the rumors are true.
He gets House Four, the last house in Rowan. It’s not surprising that Rowan has fewer houses than the others. His university is famous for pushing students toward outdoor activities and parties, not spending their days quietly reading in their rooms.
Of course.
Eddie lets out a breath after finishing the verification process.
A ringtone from the phone beside his laptop immediately steals his attention. The screen lights up with a photo of a brown-haired girl smiling back at him.
“What’s up, Shannon?”
“What house did you get!? Rowan?” He can’t help laughing at the excitement in her voice before answering with a small nod, even though she can’t see it.
“Yeah. Rowan. What about you? Did you get Cedar like you wanted?”
“Of course I did!”
He can practically see her beaming through the phone, and a small smile tugs at his lips.
Eddie considers himself lucky to have his best friend moving halfway across the country to attend the same university. They may be in different programs, but simply knowing Shannon is nearby is enough to put him at ease.
Of course, this is supposed to be the beginning of adulthood—his dad reminds him of that every day. But Eddie isn’t ready to swim across this vast, endless ocean alone.
Shannon is a life preserver.
And Eddie knows he’s one for her, too.
“Should we start packing now?”
“Move-in isn’t for another week, Eddie.”
“Shan.”
“Oh my God.” Her dramatic sigh pulls an amused smile from him. “You’re seriously the most boring person I know, Eddie.”
The long drive finally comes to an end several hours later when their moving truck arrives at the university housing grounds. The place is so large it catches him off guard. It feels more like a small village than part of a university campus.
They decide to stop by Cedar House first so Shannon can get settled as quickly as possible.
A light-colored wooden house comes into view. Small flowers dot the front lawn, and a sage-green flag embroidered with the house name in cream flutters beside the fence.
Yeah.
That is very Shannon.
Unloading doesn’t take long since all four of Shannon’s roommates are already there—two girls and two guys. Everyone eagerly jumps in to help, and before long they’re chatting like they’ve known each other for years.
“It’s nice Shannon’s boyfriend came to help.”
The comment comes from Elicia—Ellie—one of Shannon’s roommates, and Eddie immediately shakes his head.
He’s not surprised. People always assume that.
He and Shannon have known each other since they were kids. They do everything together. Go everywhere together. At one point, even their families joke about marrying them off and getting it over with. Both of them refuse immediately. Eddie doesn’t like Shannon that way. Not even a little. And she feels exactly the same.
“No, no. God, absolutely not.” Shannon groans. “I would never date this guy.”
“Really?” Martin asks, gesturing vaguely around Eddie’s face. “Not even a little? I mean, look at him.”
“Being handsome doesn’t pay the bills.”
Eddie snorts before he can stop himself because that’s actually true.
Honestly, other than being reasonably good-looking, he doesn’t have much going for him.
Eddie isn’t that interesting.
Who would want to spend time with a guy who reads books all day?
Okay—maybe he used to play sports in high school. Sure. But he was never some star athlete. Not even close.
“Alright, enough.” Shannon waves him away. “Go. Go to your own house already.”
“Okay, okay. See you around, everyone. Bye, Shan.”
Eddie nods to Shannon’s roommates before stepping forward and pulling her into a tight hug. He presses a quick kiss to the top of her head before letting go.
“Bye, Eddie.”
She nudges her forehead lightly against his cheek. They exchange one last high-five before finally going their separate ways.
Eddie’s house is quieter than he expects.
Quiet enough that he can hear cardboard boxes scraping against the floor. Quiet enough to hear leaves rustling beside the balcony. Quiet enough to hear distant cars passing along the main road beyond the university grounds.
And he likes it from the very first moment he steps inside this house—Rowan House, Number Four.
But it’s not just the peace and quiet.
The place itself is easy to fall in love with, too.
The two-story brick house, trimmed in white, somehow looks both modern and classic at the same time. Inside, the walls are painted a soft cream, and most of the furniture is made up of light tones accented by dark wood. The whole house feels warm. Homey.
“Not bad at all,” Eddie murmurs to himself as he sets the last box down on the floor. The exhaustion from spending hours in the truck seems to melt away in the comfortable atmosphere of the house.
Once everything has been unloaded, he says goodbye to the movers. Before long, the sound of the engine fades into the distance until the house is quiet once more.
Eddie isn’t sure whether the peace he’s enjoying now will survive once his four housemates return.
A note taped to the front door explains that they’ve gone out to buy supplies for the house. A few of them have continued spending time with their families and won’t be back until later that evening.
Eddie understands.
Honestly, he’s more comfortable not having to meet anyone yet.
His room is on the second floor at the far end of the left hallway. The moment he steps inside, a warm atmosphere settles around him.
The furniture is basic—a bed, a mattress, a wardrobe, a desk, and a chair—but the color palette and curtains keep the room from feeling lonely. If anything, it makes the space feel inviting, like one of the small bookstores Eddie loved visiting when he was younger.
And he falls in love with it immediately.
The room description mentions that his balcony is slightly larger than the others. When he pulls the curtains aside and takes a look, he realizes they aren’t exaggerating.
It really is bigger.
Big enough for a chair, maybe.
All of his boxes have been moved upstairs, leaving the room cluttered despite his best efforts to organize everything into neat categories. Most of them are filled with books, papers, and supplies for school.
And then there’s one more thing he has to haul upstairs.
His drafting table.
Just then, the front door opens.
A slender girl with long black hair steps inside carrying a cup of coffee in one hand and two paper bags in the other. She pauses when she notices him.
Eddie does the same.
“Uh—Eddie Diaz. Just Eddie is fine.” He quickly lets go of the drafting table and raises a hand in a small wave that is… okay, maybe a little awkward.
“Kurosawa Rei. Rei is fine too.” She glances at the drafting table in front of him. “Um… do you need help with that?”
Eddie considers it for a moment before shaking his head with a smile.
“No, it’s okay, Rei. Thanks, though.”
She nods lightly and heads for the couch while he carefully carries the drafting table upstairs to his room.
Knock Knock
“Eddie? Everyone else is back.”
The knock on his door and Rei’s voice pull his attention away from the pile of screws scattered across the floor.
When he looks up, the room is bathed in the reddish-orange glow of the setting sun. In another few minutes, it will be completely dark.
Oh.
When did it get this late?
“Okay, Rei. I’ll be out in a minute.”
“Okay.”
Her footsteps fade down the hallway.
Eddie slowly pushes himself to his feet, groaning quietly as stiffness shoots through his body.
He stretches, working some of the tension from his muscles before switching on the light. A warm vanilla-colored glow fills the room, drawing an unconscious smile from him.
Then he heads downstairs to meet the rest of his housemates.
Rei is sitting on the couch, completely absorbed in her phone. Beside her are two guys deep in conversation about something Eddie can’t quite follow.
Which means one person is still missing.
“Uh, hi. Eddie Diaz. Just Eddie.” He takes a seat beside Rei.
“Oh, hey.” One of the guys grins. “I’m Jacob Jones, but everyone calls me JJ. Here—”
He slides a donut box across the coffee table.
“I got donuts too — grab one if you want, Eddie.”
Inside are several original glazed donuts from a well-known chain. The icing practically sparkles under the light, and Eddie’s mouth waters before he can stop it.
“Thanks, JJ.”
“No problem!”
“I’m Thomas Pierce. You can call me Tom, like JJ does.”
Tom says with a smile. Eddie smiles back before picking up a donut, partly out of politeness.
Honestly—he’s a little hungry too.
And he just so happens to have a sweet tooth.
The house fills with the sound of Tom and JJ chatting back and forth. Even when they drift into an argument, their voices stay soft and easy on the ears.
At first, Eddie doesn’t think either of them seem much like Rowan House material—or at least not from the way Shannon described it. But now he gets it. He understands why they belong here.
Thinking of Shannon, Eddie wipes his hands with a napkin and finally picks up his phone after leaving it untouched for hours. There are a few messages from her and several missed calls from his parents.
He must have turned off his notifications without realizing it.
The moment he sees them, he quickly sends a text home. It doesn’t take long before a lengthy reply comes back.
The short version?
They were worried, and Eddie had made them worry even more.
Something tightens in his chest. His fingers hover over the keyboard, suddenly feeling too heavy to move.
God, Eddie.
He takes a breath, types out a brief apology, and sends it before immediately muting the family chat.
Just today. Only today.
His gaze lingers on the crossed-out bell icon for a moment before he exits the conversation and opens Shannon’s messages instead.
Ten minutes ago, she’d invited him to grab something to eat with her and her roommates. Eddie quickly texts back a polite no.
Truthfully, he doesn’t have the energy to go anywhere right now.
Not just because of the long drive.
But because—
Because of his mother’s message.
“Anyway, what should we do for dinner tonight? I picked up a few things, but I wasn’t sure if anyone has allergies, so I just grabbed some easy stuff.”
JJ’s voice pulls Eddie’s attention back to his housemates, but before anyone can answer, the front door opens.
A petite girl with short, light brown curls and doll-like features steps inside, followed by a middle-aged man and woman.
“Oh—sorry we’re late,” she says politely, dipping her head in greeting. “I’m Park Eunbi. It’s nice to meet you all. And these are my parents.”
Everyone immediately gets to their feet and greets Mr. and Mrs. Park with polite handshakes. Tom and JJ gesture toward the cream-colored couch, inviting them to sit down.
“It’s alright, dear. We just came to drop Eunbi off and bring some dinner,” Mrs. Park says warmly.
Tom, being the closest, quickly takes the many bags from her hands and carries them into the kitchen.
“Thank you so much,” Eddie says with a smile.
“Of course, of course. Please take good care of Eunbi for us.”
“We will,” Rei replies immediately. “Don’t worry.”
Eunbi gives both of her parents a hug before seeing them off.
A few minutes later, the house is left with only the five students.
“We brought Korean fried chicken and pizza,” Eunbi says. “Does anyone have any allergies? We also have salad.”
Eddie shakes his head. So do JJ and Rei.
With that settled, everyone gathers in the kitchen.
Dinner turns into an informal house meeting. They talk about schedules, chores, cooking rotations, dishes, cleaning the shared spaces, and setting aside a shared fund for groceries and household supplies.
Once everyone reaches an arrangement they’re happy with, a clean sheet of paper is used to create a chore chart, which is promptly taped to the refrigerator. Beside it goes everyone’s class schedule.
After everything is sorted out, Eddie volunteers to do the dishes for everyone. Rey stands beside him, waiting to dry them. Tom takes charge of gathering the trash into black bags, while JJ puts together a checklist of additional things they need for the house. As for Eunbi, she’s promptly sent off to take the first shower.
Eddie ends up with the last shower slot, so in the meantime, he heads back to his room to continue unpacking.
A faint murmur of conversation drifts in from the balcony. Looking up from the cardboard box in front of him, he parts the curtain slightly and peeks outside.
As far as he remembers, the house next door isn’t part of Rowan House. It’s a two-story modern building painted navy blue with white trim—cool-looking and oddly polished at the same time. Not that Eddie knows which house it belongs to.
He doesn’t care enough to find out.
The room directly across from his balcony is brightly lit, which probably means someone has already moved in there too.
Still, the noise isn’t loud enough to be annoying, so Eddie goes back to unpacking. He keeps at it until JJ knocks on his door to tell him it’s his turn for the shower.
With a quiet sigh, Eddie finally sets everything aside and rises to his feet, stretching his stiff muscles.
Okay.
At least the people in that house seem to have some manners.
Eddie doesn’t spend long in the shower. Once his hair is dry, he switches off the light, drops onto the bed, and pulls the soft blanket up to his chin.
Between El Paso and the university, he hasn’t gotten a single proper night’s sleep. Excitement and anxiety have kept him awake for days.
Now, exhaustion finally catches up with him. His eyelids grow heavier and heavier until they drift shut.
Sleep comes easily.
At least, it does at first.
Then laughter crashes through the wall.
It’s followed by EDM music, louder than it had been earlier that evening. People shouting over one another. Something hitting the floor with a loud bang.
Eddie jerks awake instantly.
“What the hell…”
He rubs at his eyes and sits up, grabbing his phone to check the time.
10:17 PM
Jesus.
He drags a hand over his face, trying to shake off the sleep, then climbs out of bed and heads straight for the balcony doors. Pulling the curtain aside, he finds the navy-blue house blazing with light.
Three or four people are crowded onto the balcony across from him. Down in the yard, a group is throwing snack bags at each other like elementary school kids.
Amid the chaos, a dark-blond guy stands out from the rest, towering over most of the people around him.
His face crumples into a grimace for a moment before a deep laugh rings out, carrying easily over the music and the chatter.
Eddie finds himself frowning.
Okay.
It’s fine.
It’s just noise.
He lets out a breath, watches the group yell at one another for another moment, then returns to bed and buries himself beneath the blanket once more.
11:30 PM
The music is still going. In fact, it’s somehow even louder now.
Half-asleep, Eddie presses both hands over his ears.
The dessert he’d been about to eat in his dream disappears into the void.
Seriously.
He’d been so close.
1:10 AM
A woman’s high-pitched scream yanks him awake again.
The blanket slips into his lap as he immediately turns toward the navy-blue house, his eyes barely open.
Who—who got hurt?
But instead of a cry for help, it’s followed by several people bursting into laughter.
Then more shouting.
More noise.
More chaos.
God—damn it!
Eddie hates himself.
1:39 AM
“Oh, come on! It was obviously a joke!”
That’s it.
He’s done.
Eddie throws the blanket aside and sits up.
This time he hasn’t even managed to fall properly asleep, so his eyes are already wide open.
He glances around the room before spotting a sheet of printer paper on his desk and a thick black marker sitting in a wooden cup.
Immediately, he grabs both.
The pop of the marker cap does absolutely nothing to improve his mood. He scrawls a message across the paper, pouring every ounce of irritation and sleep deprivation into the words. He presses so hard that the marker ink bleeds slightly through the page.
He doesn’t care.
A few moments later, Eddie storms down the stairs and out of House Number Four.
He heads straight for the navy-blue house. A matching flag flutters outside, embroidered with gleaming gold letters.
BRIGHTON HALL
Even the nice color scheme does nothing to improve his mood, though.
The EDM music continues to pound through the night, mixing with dozens of overlapping conversations. The closer he gets, the more his head hurts.
But he’s already committed.
He’s finishing this.
The paper slaps against the white front door with a loud smack. Pain shoots through his palm before quickly turning numb.
Eddie stares at his handiwork for a moment, still fueled entirely by spite.
Then he turns around and marches back toward Rowan House.
── ⋆⋅𖤓⋅⋆ ──
“Ow… my head.”
Buck groans and drags a pillow over his face. The late-morning sunlight stabs straight through his eyelids as if it’s personally offended by his existence. He stays like that for nearly a minute before laughter drifts up from downstairs, followed by a voice shouting loud enough to echo through the entire house.
“Are you awake yet, house captain!?”
“If you are, get down here! Somebody left you a love letter!”
“Shut up…” he mumbles before slowly pushing himself upright.
One look in the mirror is enough to make him frown. His hair sticks up in every direction. His T-shirt is stained with liquor. Or beer. Or something. When he leans down to sniff it, the smell of alcohol hits him immediately.
Yuck. Gross.
There’s someone asleep on his bedroom floor, too. Face-down. Whoever it is somehow looks even worse than Buck does. A girl he doesn’t recognize is sprawled out beside them. Who even are these people?
And somehow, when he finally makes it downstairs, the house looks even worse.
It looks like a hurricane came through.
Red plastic cups cover every available surface. Actually, scratch that. They’re all over the floor, too. Throw pillows are scattered across a rug that’s definitely been stepped on by far too many people. Several bodies are piled up in front of the TV. Some are sleeping face-down, and Buck honestly can’t tell who any of them are. The only reason he knows they belong here is because they’re wearing Brighton Hall shirts.
Still squinting, he makes his way toward the front door.
Rocky is standing there holding a piece of paper. He looks almost as rough as Buck feels. Melissa stands beside him with her hair tied back in what can only be described as a lazy attempt at a ponytail.
Buck takes the paper.
DO YOU KNOW PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP?
He freezes.
Well.
That wakes him up.
“Damn.”
“Definitely a neighbor.”
“To be fair, we were really loud last night,” Mel says before yawning. “And it was pretty late.”
Buck immediately rolls his eyes. “It wasn’t even midnight.”
“It was one in the morning, asshole,” Rocky replies, shaking his head. The amused smile tugging at his mouth makes it clear he doesn’t feel guilty about it in the slightest.
Buck doesn’t either.
He laughs and glances toward the brick house next door. Then he snatches the paper from Rocky’s hand and heads upstairs. What he needs right now is a marker. A really bold one.
But before he can start digging through his table, something catches his eye.
The curtains on the second-floor balcony across from his are half open.
And someone is sitting there.
A guy with dark brown hair wearing an oversized gray T-shirt. He’s either reading a book or writing something. Buck can’t tell. He looks completely absorbed in whatever he’s doing, like it’s infinitely more interesting than the outside world.
The memory of last night’s party clicks into place immediately.
While he’d been playing a drinking game with Nate, Buck vaguely remembers seeing someone marching toward Brighton Hall looking absolutely furious. Dark hair. A grumpy expression. Something in his hand. He’d been far too tipsy to mention it to anyone.
“Oh.” A grin spreads across his face. “So it’s you.”
He grabs the nearest marker he can find—a red one—flips the paper over, and writes his reply.
SOME PEOPLE SHOULD TRY HAVING FUN :)
Buck beams at his masterpiece before heading downstairs, stepping over the remains of his unconscious friends along the way. The moment he steps outside, the sunlight makes him squint, but the sky is clear and brighter than it’s been in days.
Wow. That’s definitely a sign.
He glances down at the paper in his hand, the corner of his mouth tugging upward as he walks toward the brick house. An ivory-colored flag flutters beside the front fence, dark green lettering embroidered neatly across the fabric.
ROWAN HOUSE
His grin grows wider.
Rowan House, huh?
A quiet hum escapes him as he imagines the look on his grumpy neighbor’s face when he sees it. Carefully—far more carefully than the note deserves—Buck tapes the paper to the cream-colored front door.
He gives it a satisfied nod before turning around and heading back toward Brighton Hall.