Early Mornings and Late Nights

Chapitre 1

"You have got to be kidding me."

Jiang Cheng assessed the room again. Albeit small, it was fairly well lit as the afternoon sunlight shone through the window.

The furniture seemed relatively new and each item could be found twice. Two chairs, two desks, two trash cans, and one bed.

One bed.

A big one but still.

"Everything all right ?" Jiang Cheng's assigned roommate's voice –what was his name again– snapped him out of his thoughts. Said roommate was peeking curiously over his shoulder and Jiang Cheng realized he'd been standing in the doorway far too long.

"Definitely not." Jiang Cheng stepped aside to let the guy see for himself. "I think they gave us the wrong room."

His roommate carefully placed the box with his belongings on one desk, and his eyes traveled across the room.

"Oh I see." the guy considered the bed thoughtfully. "However It does seem fit for two people..." He slowly ventured "Maybe it would be best– "

"No." Jiang Cheng didn't like where this was going. At all. "you're not actually suggesting what I think you are suggesting."

What's-his-name chuckled and continued "Our lectures are starting early tomorrow. It would be best not to trifle over matters such as these right now, don't you think?"

Jiang Cheng wanted to protest, really. But what the other said made sense. It was already late afternoon, and he didn't want to spend the rest of it trying to explain the problem to somebody's superior.

He massaged his eyebrows."I can't believe this. Tomorrow we're going to the Assignment office." He stapled his own boxes onto the other desk and very pointedly did not look at his roommate. His eyes however caught sight of the name written on the other one.

"Lan Xichen. Well "he thought dryly "this should be fun."

Xichen had very little stuff and it was soon neatly organized on his desk. In the meantime, Jiang Cheng had barely unpacked half his luggage and somehow he kept finding random objects –various rocks, one stuffed bear, empty beer cans the list went on– that definitely didn't belong to him.

Damn Wei Wuxian.

Focusing on tidying his desk again, Jiang Cheng couldn't help but notice an overabundance of blue in Xichen's pens, notebooks–of which he had plenty–and clothes.

Silence was very nice and Jiang Cheng wasn't very keen on making small talk. However, it would quickly become unbearable if he spent all his time ignoring the guy.

He glanced over at Xichen who was comfortably sitting on the bed in–what a surprise–a blue dressing gown. It was silky with intricate patterns, and despite his damp hair from the shower he took earlier, he looked way too elegant for a student dorm.

Jiang Cheng cleared his throat.

"Tell me, how the fuck do you plan on surviving the year?"

Nice one. Not rude at all. He didn't understand how his mouth worked sometimes.

Xichen looked up from his book and raised a questioning eyebrow. Jiang Cheng gestured towards Xichen's desk and wardrobe. "You barely took enough clothes to last the week."

"I don't need to. My family practically lives here."

Well, that explained it.

"You however seem to be from quite far away" Xichen continued, looking at the piles of luggage on Jiang Cheng's side of the room.