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

Chapter 5: Irritation

⭐Chapter 5: Irritation

Liam's roommate wound up renting the minifridge over the course of a few days, but only used half of it. As much as Liam wanted to ask if he could also use it for leftovers and whatnot, he wasn't sure if there was a specific..."thing" going on that prevented him from that. So he kept quiet about it and went on with his days, not bothering to ask about it from there on out. Sounded stupid, but social anxiety was a thing some people had nowadays. At least he was doing a little better talking with OTHER people, though.

Liam's classes were alright, he got to see Owen more on occasion, he explored campus a little more, and everything was working out in its own little ways. In fact, Owen's little friend group had even invited him to go out somewhere as a whole for fun. Liam unfortunately couldn't make it because he had a test to study for on that day, but he told them he'd be down for it some other time. Liam himself never offered any suggestions to anyone, mostly because he hadn't really had the experience of doing so. His roommate didn't offer him anything much either, so that was that.

The amount of stress Liam had experienced overall was a lot lower than when he first arrived at the college, he personally believed. He'd be willing to visit this college again if he could, and would probably be doing so for the Spring semester anyway. He just hoped no weird "show" business would happen during his winter break, as the last thing Liam wanted was to be enjoying Christmas with his friends one moment and teleported to a blank, non-festive grassy field the next. In fact, he kinda wished he'd found a way to stop the show from running entirely, but...he didn't really have anything to go off of, and he didn't plan anything out past just "stopping the show", so he was left stuck. It didn't matter though, and the least he could do was forget about it so he could focus on continuing the life he had without worry.

Things were otherwise alright for the most part, up until a certain week where Liam found himself "backpacking" a bit more often due to more assignments and quizzes. Luckily it was mostly during times in the dorm when his roommate wasn't there, but there were a few close calls on occasion. One time in particular was during a lunch break with Owen and the group, where Liam had forgotten that he had an assignment due literally the next day that he hadn't started at all. He quickly excused himself and left in a rush, trying not to backpack for as long as possible while he ran. He then escaped into the nearest bathroom, and hid in one of the stalls by locking the door and keeping his feet up off the ground.

Lucky him, the boys' bathrooms in here weren't those "no stall doors in an open space" kinds.

Liam spent some time in there attempting to calm himself down, thinking of ways he could manage the situation. About a minute or so later, Owen entered the bathroom while asking for him. Liam told him he would be okay and that he was just panicking about an assignment, hoping Owen wouldn't get to close to finding out about his whole "curse" thing. Though...he couldn't help but smile to himself a little when Owen offered to help him with it since he was free later. After an agreement and final reassurance that he just needed to de-stress, Liam heard Owen leave the bathroom so he could calm down.

He actually managed to get that assignment in on time with Owen's help, which was a great relief to him. Owen reminded him that he "could've just asked" to which Liam replied with a "oh, you know me!" and a chuckle. He kept that in mind though, because a study group with other people would really be a nice thing to have. He had like 1 tutor in his previous college, and that barely helped, it was only enough to prevent him from failing his classes. But that was besides the fact, Liam was just glad he'd dodged a bullet then and there.

Another close call of his was in his dorm room, where he got so excited over the release of several of his favorite shows on a site that he "backpacked" right then and there. His roommate wasn't in the room at the moment, but it was during a time that Liam knew he could walk in from his classes at any second. In a panic, he'd hidden himself in the room's bathroom and locked the door (thank god they had stepping stools), attempting to calm down before his roommate came back so he wouldn't be seen as suspicious for hogging the bathroom for a really long time. As expected, his roommate came in while he was still a backpack (Liam could hear the main door open through the bathroom's door), something that made Liam glad he'd thought of this sooner. He'd eventually calmed down by telling himself that his roommate would think it weird that he watched shows like that and wasn't interested, so he'd have to hold his excitement for later.

Liam was then able to walk out of the bathroom as a human again, his roommate doing work at his desk and not bothering to look up from it. 'He's probably already seen my stuff laying around' Liam thought to himself as he shuffled over to his own desk to do his work as well. The room was quiet as the two worked without an exchange of words, the whirring of laptops and ventilation filling the space instead. Liam hardly noticed the sky getting darker outside as he worked, only bothering to look when he was done everything else. He sighed as he put his stuff away to get ready for the night, wondering what the next day would bring...

His roommate never did tell him his name, by the way.