The Year We Had (MCYT AU)

3: Roommates

Wilbur watched his brothers go for a moment before turning and knocking twice on the wooden door that led to his new room. There was a dull thud, as though something had fallen on the other side, and then a voice. "Er- uh, come in!"

Slowly, Wilbur opened the door, taking note of the slight accent to the voice as he did so. Another boy stood on the other side, holding a laptop tightly against his chest. When he saw Wilbur he smiled a nervous smile. "Oh! Hi, I wasn't expecting you."

"Who were you expecting?" Wilbur asked, giving his new roommate an easy smile as he moved his suitcase in behind him and gently pushed the door closed.

"A teacher." He admitted with a sheepish smile that showed off his canines. "You're not a teacher, are you?"

"I'm your new roommate." Wilbur said, glancing around the room. It was nothing special, really. A couple of cots, two desks and two built in wardrobes. One window to share. One side of the room was decorated and looked lived in, while the other very much did not. He decided that he would have to ask Phil to send up some posters or something to cover up the dull walls.

"Oh!" The boy said, nodding as he tossed his laptop onto his bed. "Right. Of course. Welcome to the room, I guess. I'm Fundy." He held out his hand, and Wilbur took it with a small smile.

"Wilbur." There was a brief pause. "Are you Dutch?"

"I'm sorry?"

Wilbur backpedaled quickly. "Your accent. Sorry, I'm a bit of a geography nerd. You sound Dutch, is all."

"No no, it's alright! I am dutch." Fundy confirmed with a nod.

Wilbur hummed, crossing the room and dropping his backpack onto his bed, leaning his guitar case against his desk. "So, what's the go with the rules around here?"

"The rules?" Fundy asked nervously, sitting on his bed and watching as Wilbur unpacked his backpack, dropping the contents onto the bed.

"The rules." Wilbur confirmed, feigning enthusiasm.

"You're not going to-- you're not going to break them, right?" Fundy asked, his nervous tone making Wilbur want to laugh.

"Well I might if I don't know them." The Watson boy said casually. Obviously Fundy wasn't one for bending the rules, and that was fine. Wilbur didn't need a strained relationship with a roommate on top of his other problems.

"Right, right." Fundy laughed it off and tried to hide his nervous tone. "Well today's Monday, and classes are over, so right now it's free time until dinner."

Wilbur nodded for him to continue as he began to put his clothes away in the wardrobe, his nose scrunching at just how many uniforms were in his possession.

"Since it's a school night curfew is ten, lights out is ten fifteen. Uh, you're not allowed to have accessories when you're wearing the uniform. So you'll probably have to get rid of your hat. Breakfast is at seven, lunch is at one thirty and dinner is at six thirty. They don't like swearing, phones aren't allowed unless its free time, you can only use laptops for work. I think that's most of it." He listed, looking at the window thoughtfully as he tried to think of anything he might be missing.

Wilbur nodded along with everything that the Dutch boy said, mentally listing off which of those rules would work for him and which would not. "Right. Sounds like they run a pretty tight ship around here." He put his last item of clothing (another beanie, of course) into the wardrobe and closed the door.

"Yeah, yeah." Fundy said with a light laugh. "It's not too bad, most of the time."

"So why'd you look so panicked when I came in?" Wil asked, his eyebrows perking in interest. "Was it something to do with your computer, Fundy?"