hfjONE: Back, But At What Cost? (College AU)

Chapter 3: Attempt

⭐Chapter 3: Attempt

It was now, officially, the first day of college.

Liam had woken up to his alarm while his roommate slept in, as he had an earlier class schedule that ended in the afternoon...at least, for today. Some of the other days he had were different schedules, but he was fine with how they were organized. He'd gotten ready for his classes, grabbing his stuff and a quick breakfast before making his way out the door and towards his class building. The sky was still partially dark out, but there were other students wandering around campus at this time that assured Liam that he wasn't alone. Which reminded him...he kinda needed to make friends.

Liam still hadn't introduced himself to his roommate, and his roommate hadn't said anything either. For the most part, they'd both been staying out of each other's way, and continued to do so throughout the day. Most of the classes were just introductory material on Liam's end, something he didn't mind at all if it meant no work and only notes or simple "look at the syllabus and submit a thing so I know you looked at it" assignments. Once he'd gotten back to his dorm around noon, he had time to grab lunch with Owen, who conveniently also had a gap in his schedule that gave him enough time to do so. The two chatted for a while as they ate before Owen had to head back to his dorm before his next class.

As Liam left to go back to his own dorm, he spotted his roommate walking by himself with his backpack on, likely going to his next class. Liam made a small attempt to wave at the guy but found that he didn't see it from where he was, as he was too far away. Liam supposed that wasn't the best attempt at friendly gestures anyway, and continued back to his dorm without another word. Once he got back, Liam basically spent the rest of his free time messing around after he'd completed the easy syllabus assignments. He didn't bother to check out the campus more or anything, even when dinner rolled around.

Owen unfortunately had a late class and couldn't meet up with him, but Liam was fine with that. He sat alone in the cafeteria while he ate, going over the day he'd had in his head as he did so. There were surprisingly little to no times when Liam thought he'd transform during class or something, which eased him up a bit since...the less stressors the better. Hopefully it would continue to be like this, or at least if it happened he wouldn't get caught. Once Liam was done with his food, he headed back to his dorm alone.

Upon getting back, he noticed his roommate wasn't back either. That was fine, he supposed, and he prepared to wind down for the evening. Liam went to bed at a decent time that night, without the stress of too much homework or any tests coming up. His roommate hadn't said anything about it either, in fact, he wasn't back until Liam was already about to pass out. Everything faded around him as Liam drifted off to sleep, ready to call it a day and start again tomorrow...

...

It was dark.

Liam looked around, but couldn't see where the rest of his body was. For some reason though, it felt like he was...standing on something? But what? The whole area around him was pitch black.

And then he started to lower.

Lower into what? He couldn't tell. But by the way his body was moving, it felt like he was being lowered towards something. No, it wasn't one of those feelings where your body suddenly decided to simulate you dropping off the side of something, but it was definitely along the lines of that...just...slower. Liam tried to move, attempting to get out by seeing if any of his limbs would respond to his attempts to shift them. His worries only increased when nothing happened, as if he had no limbs at all...though it still felt like they were there. He felt like he was in a glitched game where no matter how much you moved your controller, the character wouldn't respond.

And then he looked down.

He was sinking towards water. And there was nothing he could do about it.

No...

No, not this challenge again...

Not this, anything but this...

He wasn't ready to feel that pain again.

He didn't WANT to feel that pain again.

He wasn't ready to-

Liam woke up in a cold sweat, sitting up out of bed with a quickened breath. He felt...well, other than terrified, weird as he sat up though, which was odd. He looked down at his hands and arms, only to find they'd turned into small, skinny, black ones.

He'd turned into a backpack.

Immediately, Liam turned to look at his roommate across from him, who was luckily still asleep and facing the wall. Liam quietly sighed before shuffling under the covers entirely, shoving one of his pillows under as well in hopes it'd pass as convincing enough if he didn't wake up in time to change back. He then went to go back to sleep, only to be startled as he heard movement from the other side of the room. Liam remained absolutely frozen in place as he heard his roommate get up (not bothering to peep out of the covers) and shuffle towards the bathroom. Although his heart was racing, Liam did his best to remain as quiet as possible as best as he could.

The whole ordeal didn't take too long though, and before he knew it, his roommate was done and shuffling back towards his bed without flicking any lights on. His roommate never once glanced at Liam's bed for too long either, and soon made it back to his own before facing the wall again and going to sleep. Liam was internally screaming at the close call he'd had, praying that he wouldn't have another nightmare that would keep him in this form when he woke up in the morning.

Great, first day in and he'd nearly lost it in one go.