And They Were Roommates

Maybe Like Him (Bean)

"So you mean to tell me you're leaving me? Cutting me off just like that? After everything we've been through?"

"Come on, Bean, you sound like I'm breaking up with you, and that's not what's happening. It's really not that complicated."

Bean let out a dramatic sigh. "Yeah, I get that. It's just that I thought we were forever, you know?"

Manny smirked and stirred his drink. The two of them were at a bar just off of campus, drinking cheap margaritas while they waited for the two people that were supposed to join them soon.

At least, Bean hoped it would be soon.

Manny was allowed to be here and drinking. He had turned twenty-one in mid-August, about a week prior to their meeting. Bean was here and drinking, too, but his fake ID said he had been born a year earlier than he actually had been. He was reasonably nervous that the man that had scanned over the ID for at least a minute would come back and arrest him or something.

But Bean was also nervous because of the reason Manny had dragged him out here. After living with him for two years, Bean knew that Manny would never actually put him in a situation where he could be hurt. After coming to the University of Pittsburgh as a nervous, introverted eighteen year old, Manny Turner (a native Pittsburgher, his assigned roommate, and a natural born sweetheart) had swept right in and decided to make Bean feel as welcome as he could in a place across the country from his real home. Manny had become his first real best friend, and Bean didn't necessarily want to let him go. But he knew that eventually, they would have to go their separate ways. He also knew that there was a very good chance that it would be before they had graduated from undergrad.

And he was completely and unfortunately right.

"I understand that you're absolutely whipped for Delilah, and I'm certainly stoked that I won't have to listen to you two banging anymore, but I can't believe that you're just going to throw me into an apartment with some random dude and hope that we get along." Bean put his elbows on the table and fiddled with one of the cuffs of his sweatshirt.

Manny unconsciously mimicked Bean's pose, but folded his hands, lacking the sweatshirt to fiddle with. "It's not some 'random dude,' it's Delilah's cousin. And I think you'll probably, maybe like him? He seems cool."

Bean raised an eyebrow. "Your whack, hetero sense of cool or mine?"

Manny laughed, but didn't answer, which was answer enough for Bean.

Before he could protest being thrown into a one bedroom, one bathroom shithole apartment with a guy that wasn't even cool, Manny's face was covered by another kissing his own, and their guests had arrived.

Bean had seen Delilah before. Too much, in fact. Her and Manny had only been dating for about a year and a half, but they talked or met up most days, and they were both living in the Pittsburgh area, so they could easily meet up over the summer when Bean (who was from Seattle) didn't have to witness them sucking face and being adorable so much (being single and watching them made you feel so much more single). Bean knew he was very gay. But Delilah was objectively stunning, whether you were straight or not. She was Latina, with golden skin and long brown hair that hit her hips. Her eyes sparkled with ferocity and vigor, which was reflected in the way she worked against the discrimination she faced as a woman in an engineering field. Although she was a computer science major at Carnegie Mellon University, she was often mistaken for a model, given her looks and height.

So Bean shouldn't have been so surprised that her cousin was just as, if not more, attractive.

Bean didn't know a whole lot about this guy (hence why he couldn't be comfortable living with him, yet), but he looked like some Australian dream. He was probably 5'10" or so, with dirty blonde hair that hung a bit above his jaw, and hazel eyes framed by long, dark lashes. His skin was the same golden tan that Delilah's was, and Bean could have easily mistaken them for siblings.

Bean looked down when he hopped off of his bar-chair and noticed that Chris Hemsworth's jeans were cuffed.

Ah. A bisexual. Good.

"Hi, I'm Allan. Gardner. I mean, I'm not a gardener, that's my last name." Bean stuck his hand out for an awkward handshake. The man's rings were warm on his hand.

"Call him Bean!" Manny called from the seat next to Bean.

Australian demigod laughed. "I'm Lucas Crawford. I assume you're the guy Delilah's shoving me in with?" He did not have an Australian accent, which Bean was grateful for. If he had to deal with his new roommate being this good looking and Australian, he might have to move out before they'd even moved in.

"Yep," Delilah said, and sat next to Manny. She motioned for the other two to sit as the bartender came to take their orders.

"Should I really call you Bean?" Lucas asked.

Bean laughed, but it was Manny that answered.

"Yes," he said, "because he's an adorable bean. A precious little bean, and he should be reminded of how precious he is."

"And that's it? No other reason? You don't have like, a thing for beans or something?"

"No," Bean answered, smirking in Manny's direction, "Manny's just weird."

It was quiet for a minute after that.

"So," Lucas said, breaking the silence, "um. You also go to Pitt?"

Bean nodded. "I'm a chemistry major. Started in bio-engineering, moved to just biology, then loved organic chemistry enough to switch to just chemistry."

Lucas hummed. "I'm a photography major. I'm going to be a sophomore, so I haven't really had time to change my major at all." Bean smiled. Pitt didn't allow its students to declare a major until after their freshman year, but he had still managed to switch his major twice in the year since he had first declared his as bio-engineering.

"You'll get to eventually," he assured Lucas.

Lucas laughed. "Oh, I don't think I will. I've liked photography since I was in high school, it's my passion. I worked on the newspaper there, and I work on the newspaper here."

"So, you're saying that you're actually Peter Parker, right? That's what I'm hearing you tell me."

Manny jumped in from where he had been listening to the conversation, lightly linking his pinky with Delilah's. "It's weird 'cause that's also exactly what I'm hearing him say."

Lucas blushed. "No, I don't really like heights."

"Ah, shame," Bean tutted, "you were just about to be cool enough for me to actually want to live with you without really knowing you."

Delilah chimed in from the other side of Manny. "No, he's great, Bean. Don't be a baby about this. I know you guys will be fine."

"I just don't understand your logic. Why didn't you let us meet before we have to move in?" Lucas said.

"This is your chance to meet," Delilah clarified. "You two have to figure out how to move in by Wednesday."

"Wednesday?" Lucas asked. "I thought it was Sunday."

"They changed it," Bean said. "Since classes start next Monday, Pitt wants us to have enough time to settle in before the semester officially starts."

"Even if it's our apartment?"

"Yep." Bean took another drink of his margarita. "So we should probably start moving in our stuff by tomorrow. That gives us one day to get everything in place before they force us into a dorm."

Lucas groaned, then addressed Manny and Delilah. "And are you guys going to help us, since you're the reason we're in this situation?"

"Nope," Delilah said, "we have to move in, too. You two are on your own, Sweetheart.