Chapter Text
Apo readjusted her grip on the birdcage in their hand. She sighed, adjusting the back on her back, they’d walk back outside to get the rest of their things. Not that she had much, but what they had, she’d rather keep on them.
The start of this college semester was rapidly approaching, with classes starting in less than a week. Apo would’ve preferred to move in earlier, but ending up in the hospital had rapidly made those plans turn void. She bit the inside of their mouth. Three flatmates in an old building the college had bought. One of them would end up being Apo’s actual roommates. Then there were the dorms next door, Apo did not intend to visit those often.
She grabbed their keys, the RA had given them to her at check in. They took a long breath in, set Morpheus’ cage down, and twisted the key into the door handle. When the door opened, she wasn’t at all impressed. Stained carpets, mismatched furniture, a tv with a shattered screen, and a few spattering items that hinted at human life within the building. A blue blanket laid over a couch that was an obnoxious mustard yellow—Apo did not trust any of the furniture for two seconds. She’d be dead before putting a blanket on one of those.
Morpheus chirped, obviously unhappy at his current rooming situation. The RA hadn’t said anything about the dorms being pet free, and she hadn’t said anything about Apo needing to do anything particular with Morpheus. So they unlocked the cage and Morpheus settled to his usual place on her shoulder.
With the cage set inside, Apo stepped back out to grab their suitcase. It was falling apart at the seems, old, ancient actually. But it was what they had. And it wasn’t like she had much else for a choice. She would need to find a job here rather quickly, they didn’t like the odds of that bitchy secretary being entirely in charge of Apo’s scholarship information. And relying only on their scholarship made Apo’s stomach squirm. Plus, a scholarship for school wouldn’t cover Apo’s medical bills, or her medication costs. Who decided that estrogen and progesterone should be so damn expensive!
“Hello.” A calm voice noted, “I assume.. you’re Apo?” They had shoulder-length black hair, a darker skin tone, and milky eyes that indicated that they were blind. They were wearing a gold colored sweater vest with a white button up beneath.
“I am.” Apo nodded, “And you?”
“Owen.” Owen responded, “I’ll actually be in your room, Pearl and Sausage claimed the other one.”
“Great.” They lied, trying not to show it in her voice.
Owen nodded, “I can show you up there, if you want. I’ve got this building.. mostly memorized by now.”
“That would be great, actually.” Apo admitted, Morpheus chirped on her shoulder.
A feather came loose from the vasa parrot. Apo sighed, bending down to pick it up. It was soft and small in her palm. They started to follow Owen, grabbing Morpheus’ cage before she did. The stairs were damn near straight upward. A death sentence for the blind person walking in front of her.
“Pearl and Sausage live right below us.” Owen explained, using the wall to guide where they were walking, “Both of them are nice. Kitchen is also on the base floor. The bathroom is…”
“Also on the base floor.” Apo guessed.
“Yes.”
“Is there anything else up the death stairs?”
Owen smiled faintly, “Yeah, a closet, and our room.”
Apo snorted. God was that fitting. Owen seemed pretty chill, from what Apo could tell. Their hair was longer than the point of a mullet, which was always a good sign. Because she really didn’t feel like puzzling out a way to cover up their estrogen or progesterone injections. Granted, there were a few other medications the nurses had told them to take, mostly painkillers. Speaking of, the few things that had been unbandaged before Apo left the hospital were starting to light up with pain. Not all encompassing, not yet, anyway.
“Anyway,” Hummed Owen, “I took the left side, hope that’s alright.”
“I had no preference.” Apo assured them, setting Morpheus cage on the desk. The bird in question started flying around the room, “You have no problem with a bird in here, right?”
“Nope.” Owen responded, “Out of curiosity, what kind of bird are they?”
“He’s a vasa parrot.” Apo smiled, “Thanks.” She flicked the feather between their fingers, “Here.” She placed the feather in Owen’s hand, “It’s a feather, Morpheus dropped it earlier.”
Owen’s hand closed around the feather, they seemed genuinely touched, “Thank you.”
“I need to grab my other bag,” Apo said, “I’ll be right back.”
She stepped out of the room, surprised Morpheus hadn’t followed them out. She was glad he seemed to be warming up to Owen. The last thing they needed, was for her bird to despise their roommate. Or flatmates, but that part hadn’t yet come, though it was rapidly approaching. They bit her lip, the two others who shared the house were in the living room. This was fine, they could handle this.
“Hi.” Apo waved, “You two must be Pearl and Sausage.”
“We are.” Confirmed one, they had blue hair with a streak of a lighter blue in their bangs. Brown roots were starting to poke out of the dye. They wore a black turtle neck with a blue vest that resembled a trench coat.
The other looked… Scrappy, was how Apo would put it. They had brown hair and stubble, a light blue hoodie over a wrinkled brown shirt, and brown pants. They had a scar over their eye, which was interesting, to say the least.
“I’m Sausage.” Sausage grinned, “You’re probably Apo, right?”
“That’s me.” Apo confirmed, turning to the other person in the room, “So that means you’re Pearl.”
“I am.” They grinned,
Apo drew in a long breath, “I just need to grab my bag.” They pointed to the suitcase near Sausage.
“Right, sorry.” Sausage apologized.
“It- it’s fine, don’t worry about it.”
Pearl hummed, “So you’re Owen’s roommate, right?”
“Yes.”
“Fantastic, what’s your opinion on birds?”
Apo blinked, “I have one of my own, why?”
Pearl made a sound of relief, Sausage threw up two thumbs up, “I have a violet budgie, I needed to make sure everyone wasn’t allergic, or something. She doesn’t like being cooped up much, and I would hate to lock her in her cage.”
Apo smiled, “Mine’s the same way, he’s a vasa parrot.”
Pearl returned the smile. Okay. Okay, this was going a lot better than Apo had thought it would. Though, she didn’t think it was a crime for them to worry about getting close to, or just talking with people. Given why she had been so late to check in, to begin with. But so far… They were nice. And if Pearl had a bird, that meant common ground. And likely that Sausage was fine with bird’s. Good, Morpheus got pissy when he was in his cage for too long.
Apo pushed a hand into one of her cardigan’s pockets, drawing out two more of Morpheus’ feathers, “Here, to signify friendship, or some shit like that.”
Pearl grinned, not really saying anything. But Sausage had a similar expression to Owen when Apo had done the same thing a few minutes prior. Maybe this would be fine. Maybe everything would go well. Maybe Apo could make friends with these people. Maybe college would go well. Maybe Apo didn’t have to worry.
She went back up to their room, Morpheus had perched on Owen’s head. Owen looked too shocked to move, the sight made Apo laugh as they started to unpack.
Maybe this would be fine.