Roommates

Charles Lee

WARNING! Slight Alexander x Charles in this chapter

Alexander looked over from his laptop to see his phone buzz. A text from Lafayette.

LargeBaguette: Yo, who did you get as your roommate?

Alexander sighed and replied.

SmolBean: I got this cute boy called John

LargeBaguette: I see, already got a crush >:D

SmolBean: Whatever Laf. Who did you get?

LargeBaguette: I got this pretty cool guy named Thomas Paine and an amazing guy called Hercules. je suis amoureux

SmolBean: Bien pour vous

LargeBaguette: Pas besoin d'attitude

Alexander rolled his eyes and put his phone back on his desk. It was the second day of college on a Monday, but classes don't start until the second week. Alexander had been quite bored all day. John had been out with his friends, Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy.

Alexander got up and looked at the time. 4:00 in the afternoon. John would be back by 4:30. Alexander sighed, eager for John to be back right now.

Alexander walked out the dorm door, deciding to do something in the meantime. He was walking down the hall to the elevator when he bumped into someone familiar.

"Charles Lee?!" Alexander said in disbelief. "What are you doing here?" Charles smiled.

"This is my dorm building," Charles said. Alexander gave him a harsh glare.

"I hope you're not my other roommate," Alexander said, his words laced with venom. Charles's smile dropped.

"Yeesh, someone's in a bad mood. What's your room number?"

"1776," Alexander said. (Yes, my friends. 1776) He silently prayed that Charles wouldn't say the same.

"You're out of luck," Charles said with a devilish smirk and pushed past him, only to stop in front of the door that Alexander had just walked out of. Alexander's heart sank. Dread filled him. Alexander couldn't believe it. He had hoped for a good year at college, only to be assigned in a dorm with Charles Lee. Alexander mentally screamed, wanting to storm up to the front desk and yell at them for placing the two enemies in the same dorm.

"You've got to be kidding me," was all that Alexander could say. His face turned red with anger. Charles disappeared into the dorm and Alexander stomped after him, just to make sure that he didn't cause any trouble or snoop around in his stuff.

Charles glanced around. He went into the empty room and Alexander stood at the door, watching him as he unpacked. Alexander leaned against the frame.

"Woohoo, I have to share a dorm with a fricking idiot!" Alexander said. Charles turned around, looking offended.

"Alexander, I did nothing to you, and this is how you treat me?" Charles said, his voice full of irritation. Alexander rolled his eyes.

"You walked into my life. That's enough. Oh, and let's not forget, you ruined my life in high school," he shot back and crossed his arms. Charles squinted and continued to unpack. Ok, yes, there is a reason that Alexander is being so mean to Charles. Alexander was being bullied by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, way back in high school. Charles Lee found out about this and joined in on the 'fun'. Thomas was the most brutal out of all of them, then came James. Charles didn't do much more than a few blows every once in a while, but Alexander still hadn't gotten over it.

"Look, Alexander. I'm sorry that I did that, but that was so long ago. Just get over it, ok?"

"You think I can get over it?" Alexander said, his voice becoming shaky. "James beat me until I nearly died. You punched me and threw me around. Thomas cut me and left scars on my wrists. I can TOTALLY just get over that. Pretend like it never happened."

"I'm sorry-"

"NO! You can't apologize now," Alexander said, "It's too late." Charles looked at him, shocked from the sudden snap. Alexander could feel tears brim his eyes as he remembered what happened.

"Come on, Alex, get up! You're no fun!" Thomas said, a blade clutched in his hand. "No one likes a quitter." Tears streamed down Alexander's face as Thomas cut into his wrists. The pain jolted all through his body and the corners of his vision were going dark. The blood pooled around him, still leaking from the series of slashes running across his arms. Thomas laughed and kicked Alexander in the stomach, who coughed up blood from the impact. Thomas left Alexander there, bleeding and half-dead. Thomas made sure to leave the blade next to him, to make it look like Alexander was doing self-harm. The last thing Alexander could remember was the bright lights shining down on him and the faint sound of footsteps rushing into the bathroom before he blacked out.

Alexander was crying now. On the floor. In tears, pulling up his sleeves to look at the scars that lined his arms. Charles rushed over to him.

"Alexander! Are you ok? Talk to me!" Charles said, shaking Alexander's shoulders. Alexander looked at him lifelessly, tears still falling down his cheeks. Charles wiped the tears away, frantically trying to get him to stop.

"Alex, please, I don't like seeing you like this," Charles said, regret filling him. The tears stopped streaming down and Alexander's breathes became longer and steadier as Charles ran his fingers through his hair soothingly.

"I-I'm sorry, I guess I just kind of broke down," Alexander said, enjoying the feeling of his hair being played with.

"It's ok," Charles said, his gaze softening. Alexander felt Charles's hands leave his hair and almost wanted to whine protest. Charles pulled Alexander up off the floor and then walked over to his bed and kept unpacking.

"I'm also sorry for being mean," Alexander said sheepishly. Charles smiled back at him.

"It's ok, I understand. I was such a jerk back then. I should be the one apologizing."

"A new side to Charles? Never thought that I'd see something like this," Alexander said with a small chuckle.

"Well, I guess I just want to start over. Friends?" Charles asked.

"Friends."