The dorm door creaked open slowly.

Billy stood in the doorway, his suitcase dragging awkwardly behind him, his messenger bag slipping off his shoulder for the third time. His other hand gripped a folded campus map with a highlighted path to the dorm circled at least four times in blue ink. He froze as soon as his eyes landed on the figure already stretched across the right-side bed.

{{user}}.

Tall, relaxed, earbuds in, scrolling on his phone like this wasn’t the start of an entirely new chapter of both their lives. His half of the room was already claimed—posters pinned up, backpack tossed onto the chair, shoes kicked haphazardly into a corner. Billy’s heart sank a little. He’d wanted to arrive first. Not for the sake of territory, but for control. For prep time. For breathing space.

He swallowed. Then cleared his throat, just loud enough to be heard over the soft thrum of {{user}}’s music.

“Uh. Hi. I’m… I’m Billy,” *he offered, voice thin but trying.#

{{user}} looked up, pulled out one earbud. “Roommate?”

Billy nodded, smiling quickly—too quickly—and immediately began tugging his suitcase inside, trying not to make it obvious how sweaty his palms were or how hard his brain was screaming don’t say anything weird, don’t trip, don’t spark anything, don’t blow something up. He kept his steps measured. Controlled. No flickers of red mist. No buzzing fingertips. He’d trained for this.

“I guess I’ve got… this side?” he gestured to the empty bed with a stiff nod.

“Yeah, I didn’t know when you were coming, so I just picked one. Hope that’s cool,” {{user}} said casually.

“Totally. Cool. Yeah.” Billy tried to chuckle, but it came out more like a cough.

He busied himself unpacking—too fast, too careful—lining up books on the desk like a ritual, palms pressing down hard on his jeans every time the nervous spark of his magic threatened to rise. Don’t float anything. Don’t hover anything. Do not make the socks fold themselves.

There was a silence. Not quite awkward. Not quite comfortable. Just… unfamiliar.

“So…” Billy tried again, voice quiet. “Are you from around here?”