As The Dust Of Stars

3

As he expected, his roommate was there already.
But unexpectedly, the other young man was standing in the middle of the small living room. He was facing the door, with a box full of books in his arms and with a small smile, that he repressed by tightening his lips as soon as Eliam opened the door.

The young man had changed from the military academy uniform to more relaxed clothes.
All their outfits were provided by the academy, so even leisure clothes were a type of uniform.
So what he was wearing right now was a simple white shirt and long black athletic pants.
Seeing him with casual clothes was just as surprising as his sudden appearance in the middle of the room.

"Who would've thought that the Sargeant General's son was a shy one"
He spoke, his deep black eyes shinning.
Eliam was taken back, closing the door behind him.

"What?"
It was the only thing he was able to muster. Not realizing that his conversation with his mecha had been heard.

The other young man laughed, his laugh light and almost contagious.

Eliam was not shy, but he had little experience interacting normally with other kids his age, as he was often isolated. Especially infront of someone he had only observed in secret, he found himself frozen as soon as those shinny black eyes landed on him.

"I heard you, is your heart rate okay?"
The other boy didn't sound malicious, he just found the whole thing funny.

Eliam blushed. Trying to hide his embarrassment, he lowered his gaze and walked nervously a couple of steps forward.

"I..."
Eliam seemed like a lost puppet, so the other young man took a pity on him and restrained his teasing a little.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. To be fair, I am also a little nervous"
The young man's seemed unable to fake shyness. He was like a naughty cat, looking with amusement in his eyes at his poor victim. He was also a lot like a cat, a beautiful cat like creature with paper white skin, long straight hair that reached his shoulders, and eyes that seemed to be able to see straight through him.

Eliam pursed his lips slightly. Feeling a little cornered.
"You don't seemed nervous"

"I am. Having heard great things about the Generals son would make any future acquaintances nervous. Besides, I'm sure your disappointed at having such unremarkable roommate like me"
As he was talking, the other boy walked towards the other side of the room, where there was a storage area. He started organizing the books from the box, almost proving his own words wrong. He moved with no care in the world.

But for Eliam, this was expected. He knew that this beta was hard to make nervous, having nerves of steel.
Also having more space between them made Eliam able to breathe, the knot on his stomach loosened a little. He found the other young man's casual demeanor refreshing to his own nerves.

"I am not disappointed. I don't mind"
Eliam said as casually as possible, adding he last sentence as a way to save face. Deep inside he felt guilty, as he was keeping a secret that just made his nervousness worsen.

The other boy didn't notice, but found his words surprising. He had crouched down to use the lowest storage area, and stoped midway, a book tightly held in his hand.
"I'm glad then, we'll be stuck together for a year, so let's at least be civil"
The young man turned his head slightly to look up at the other young man. Making his eyes slightly bigger, and his long eyelashes cast a shadow over his cheeks.

His friendly demeanor had gone down lightly, but Eliam didn't mind.
He nodded once, feeling a little overwhelmed. He had been facing the other young man, but now felt too embarrassed so he turned slightly, in order to stop staring at the other boy.

"Im Silas, by the way. I know your name so don't bother"
The other young man, Silas, smiled. Going back to arranging his books. His words were now cold and casual, like putting an end to their interaction.
"Your things arrived already, they were left on the room to the right"

"Right, thanks"

Not wanting to make him uncomfortable, Eliam turned around and walked toward his room. His heart beating fast again.
Annoyingly enough, his mecha vibrated twice, as a silent warning.
It wasn't that he was in danger, it was more than his mecha was not used to his sudden jump in heart rate.
This made Eliam even more embarrassed, but he was good at keeping his facial expressions neutral. Even if no one was watching and more for his own sake.

There was only a hallways separating the two bedrooms, the doors facing each others.
Realizing the closeness, Eliam started to regret his decision.
But it was too late to back down now. He entered his room with a heavy heart, but also reinforced will to protect his own secret.

——-

Otherworld (and apologies for short chapter):

Military rankings.

To get into the military there are two ways.
Normal recruitment (happens right after secondary school) and it's six months.
The new cadets are called secondary cadets, and are the lowest of the low in the military. They are sent to military training.

The second way is through the Military Academy.
To apply, one has to pass medical exams, a physical trial and if one wants to go to the pilot program, a trial with a scenario where one has to prove high compatibility with mechas and piloting skills in active combat.
It is similar to university, as its three years.
The cadets are technically still students, and are called first cadets. They are still low in the overall military, but at graduation, they are privates first class.
While the graduates of military training are called privates second class.

After that, there are 10 other status. With Sargent Major at the top (Eliams father), Command Sargent second (Jaspers father, we'll meet him soon) and four Sargent majors all of equal rank.

Eliam and Silas will not go thought each of them, as they is a big time jump coming up the middle of the story, so don't worry too much is you don't understand.
This are the important ones, and yes I mostly did my own thing. This is a fantasy barely science fiction book, please don't take anything too seriously.