Chapter Text
Charlie sat on the edge of his new bed, pressing his toe over on a certain floorboard, eliciting the same creaking sound each time he put pressure on the plank of wood.
creak, creak, creak.
His new ‘dorm’ room at Truham University had plenty of quirks besides a creaky floor. The ceiling slopped low on one side, giving itself away as a former attic space. There was a patch of stained glass in the only window of the room and the brick chimney that fed the fireplace in the common room came right through Charlie’s space on its journey to the rooftop.
“Wouldn’t you rather go somewhere a little more modern?” Jane had pressed when he’d shown his mother pictures of the Truham residences online.
Charlie had scoffed at his mother, unexcited by the idea of an ultra-modern high-rise dorm with white walls and sharp corners. That style reminded him too much of a hospital, the sterility of it all. He’d spent enough time in a hospital in the past to know he’d had his fill of it for a lifetime.
“I like it!” Charlie had informed his mum, pulling his laptop back over to himself and staring at the photos he’d pulled up of the affectionately named ‘Truham Houses’.
Charlie had first fumbled across a photo of a room in a Truham House on Tumblr in year nine. The image of the cozy room with old wood floors and heavy brass door knobs had plucked at Charlie’s heartstrings. He’d searched up as much information about the uni as he could get his hands on. Read about the Traditions and the campus, the courses and the faculty.
You could be happy there
A small voice in his head had whispered to him as he poured over a student testimony of third-year art studying at Truham. As a 14-year-old boy who had just been outed and was being severely bullied as a result, the idea of a future that contained any kind of happiness was something he desperately wanted to hold on to.
So he’d tacked up a small photo of the Truham campus on the bulletin board by his desk,
“Which is NOT a dream board!” he’d remind his sister, Victoria, whenever she wandered into his room and poked fun at the photos he’d stuck up there.
He’d studied his ass off during sixth form channelling all his energy and anxiety into his course work, focused on the fixed point in his future where he could get out of the village he’d lived in his entire life and start over fresh, somewhere he could hopefully be himself. Somewhere where he wouldn't need to be afraid to be himself.
Compared to some of the other massive Unis scattered around the UK, Truham was definitely on the smaller side, with fewer than five thousand students collective of undergraduates and postgrad students.
There were a few new build dormitories set up to house mass amounts of students with floors and floors stuffed with double occupancy chubby holes that passed for rooms and communal bathrooms where there was a fairly decent chance of picking up an unpleasant fungus from the shower floors, but the more desirable accommodations were the ‘Truham Houses’ that Charlie had become enamoured with online.
The rows of brick Edwardian houses lined stretches of road along the campus, footpaths curving in and out of the houses and woods spattered throughout the grounds and leading to the lecture halls and other facilities.
The houses ranged in size, some housing as many as 18 students to spaces that held as few as 6. Fresher students would bid on Truham accommodation, between a house, a hall, or one of the off-campus buildings of flats that the school owned in town, ranking their preferences and hoping their number got pulled for their top choice.
The day that Charlie had opened the email with his accommodation assignment and saw the word House he’d nearly fallen over with relief. It was happening.
And finally, he was there.
Charlie, his parents and his siblings trekked up and down the two flights of stairs that lead to his dorm room as they carried his boxes into his new space.
“Of course, he’d be on the top floor” Jane had muttered as she huffed under the weight of a box filled with her eldest son's jumpers.
“This is amazing!” Oliver had gushed, sliding down the banister of one of the staircases.
“I want to come to uni here”
“We’ll see about that” Jane grabbed onto her youngest arm and yanked him off the banister and back onto solid ground.
“You’re eleven Olly. You’ve got a few years to decide yet. Explore your options” Julio joked, ruffling Oliver's mop of dark hair.
As he walked down the halls for the first time, lugging his things in the direction of his room, he took note of the pieces of paper taped to each door.
Tao and Issac
Elle and Tara
Darcy and Imogen
These were the names of the people Charlie would be living with. The people he’d hoped would become something like his family.
That was part of the lore of a Truham house. Part of the magic of the experience is people finding their best friends in houses, and wedding parties filled with ex-housemates.
It was exactly what Charlie wanted after spending a lot of lonely years in grammar school. There was an anxious feeling in the pit of his stomach, a worry lingering over his head like smoke. He wanted that so desperately, what if it didn’t happen? What if he ended up in a house full of people like those he’d gone to school with before? He wasn’t sure he could survive that.
When he’d reached the top floor, the ceilings slanting lower than the floors below, he found the door with his name on it.
Across the hall from his own, another door had the name, Nick .
“Looks like you lucked out with a single Charlie” Julio clapped his son on the back as he pushed open the door, maneuvering the stand for his electric drum kit into the room.
“Trying to make up for those stairs” Jane mused, dropping the box she had been carrying onto the floor.
“Wow! You can see the river from here!” Oliver had jumped up onto the single bed and was gawking out the window.
“Get down from there!” Jane rushed over and lifted Oliver off the bed.
“If you break the springs your brother won't get a single night's sleep this whole term”
They made a few more trips up and down the stairs, getting all of Charlie's belongings up to his room.
“Where did you disappear to?” Charlie asked as his sister came wandering into the room after vanishing after the first trip up the stairs.
Tori shrugged.
“Was talking with your Residence advisor” she stated, taking a long drink from the straw sticking out of the bottle of diet lemonade in her hand.
“Bit of an odd guy”
Charlie swallowed the lump in his throat, wondering just what his sister could mean by that.
“Do you want me to unpack your wardrobe darling”? Jane asked, already yanking on the zipper of one of Charlie's duffel bags.
“I’ll do that”
“Your desk?”
“I can do that too”
“And your”
“Jane love” Julio put his hand on his wife's shoulder.
“I think Charlies is ready for us to go”
“It’s not that!” Charlie rushed to say, not wanting to hurt his family's feelings but also a little ready to get settled in.
“It’s ok son” Julio continued to rub slow circles into Jane's shoulder.
“I remember when my parents dropped me off for Uni. I couldn’t get them out the door fast enough.”
Jane stepped away from Julio and wrapped his arms tightly around her son.
“Be good, ok?” She whispered in his ear.
Please take care of yourself
Please ask for help if you need it
Please eat
Please don’t hurt yourself again
Please don’t take yourself away from me
All words that Jane didn’t say out loud but that Charlie could feel her willing him to hear as he held him tight against her.
“I will mum” he hugged her tightly before accepting a hug from his father and his little brother in turn.
“Have fun” Tori winked at him before hugging him tightly to her.
“Call me, ok? Even to just say hello. Home is going to suck without you” She muttered into his chest.
“You still have Olly” He pointed out.
“Olly is too normal” Tori objected.
“Must have been adopted” Charlie and Tori had joked before that if Olly wasn’t a mini of Charlie in appearance they would think their parents had brought the wrong baby home from the hospital. How could such a bubbly vibrant sunshine little boy be related to the two of them, who had been called the embodiment of misery on more than one occasion?
“Don’t worry. There's still time to fuck him up”
“Love you, Charles”
“Love you Victoria”
And then they were gone.
Charlie wasted no time making the tiny room his home. He unpacked his impressive collection of converse and knit sweaters away in the little wardrobe. Set up his drum kit in the corner opposite his bed and spent a considerable amount of time making sure the posters he hung up on the wall were completely level.
When he sat down on his bed, his duvet swallowing him a bit as he sank into the fluff, he was satisfied with his work. The room should feel claustrophobic with the sloping ceiling and jammed-in furniture but to Charlie it was perfect. Cozy.
His phone buzzed in his pocket.
Tao: Are you there yet?
Charlie quickly typed out a response.
Charlie: Just finished unpacking
Tao: Still 20 mins away. Will need your help getting my weeping mother out of my room. She’s cried twice already.
Charlie smiled down at his phone, the knot of anxiety in his stomach easing a bit.
At the beginning of summer, Charlie had gotten an email with the names of his housemates listed. He’d forced himself not to look any of them up on social media, not wanting to go into the house share with any preconceived notions about the people he’d be living with.
A few days after the email had appeared in his inbox he’d received a DM on his Instagram from a profile called
Tao.Xu
Did you ever do model UN?
A bit of an unconventional way to start a conversation.
Charlie had considered ignoring the message, only he had done model UN once upon a time.
Charlie_Spring
Um yeah…..in year 8.
Charlie used to do all types of extracurricular activities before the disaster that had been year 9 and the fallout from such.
He’d run track, been in the orchestra, and yes done model UN.
Tao.Xu
Did you go to the convention in Liverpool?
Charlie_Spring
Yes?!?
Tao.Xu
I thought I recognized you. I was Australia.
Charlie_Spring
I was Germany!
Tao.Xu
I'm going to Truham in the fall. Your name was on my house roaster and I may have done some light internet stalking…..
Charlie_Spring
Light?
Tao.Xu
Or fairly extensive research.
The two boys had easily fallen into an online friendship, messaging back and forth all summer. They had quite a bit in common.
Tao had the potential to be a good friend. The type of friend Charlie had never really had. The few friends he’d had growing up had fallen away over the years, especially when the bullying became so intense, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire.
creak, creak, creak
The floorboard continued to ease under the pressure of his foot.
He could hear some commotion going on on the lower floors. His other housemates must be arriving. He should go down and introduce himself. He should make the effort. Be social. But he stayed glued to the edge of his bed.
creak, creak, creak.
click click click
Charlie froze.
Click click click
The sound was entirely unfamiliar to Charlie but it seemed to be getting closer. Until it sounded like it was right outside his door.
The door to his room eased open, and a small white and brown snout poked into his room, sniffing wildly.
The dog pushed further into the room.
Click click click the sound of her nails against the wood floor.
Charlie melted.
“Hello there,” he slid off his bed, sinking to the floor as the dog approached him.
“Where did you come from?” He asked softly, scratching the dog behind its ears.
The dog wagged its tail before its tongue darted out of its mouth and lapped across Charlie’s face.
“Thanks for that” He laughed. For the millionth time, he’d wished he’d been allowed a pet growing up. A lot of lonely nights would have been made better with the comfort of a dog or cat sleeping at the foot of his bed.
“Nellie!” Called a voice from somewhere below.
The dog wagged its tail a little harder at the sound but made no move to follow the voice.
“I’m guessing that you?” Charlie asked the dog, still scratching behind her ear with one hand and using the other to check the tag on the dog's collar.
Sure enough the words Nellie Nelson was etched on the little piece of metal, followed by a phone number.
The sound of a relieved voice came from Charlie’s doorway.
“Nellie! There you are”
Charlie looked up at the figure standing in his doorway and felt his heart drop out of his chest and into his stomach.
The boy in front of him was tall. At least a few inches taller than Charlie, with broad shoulders and reddish-blond hair. He was undoubtedly attractive but it was the energy radiating off him that struck Charlie the most. As if just the smile on his face was enough to put a person at ease.
“Sorry about her” The boy began, slapping the side of his leg in an effort to get the dog to come to him.
“She doesn’t have any personal boundaries”
“It’s ok” Charlie rushed to say, grateful that his voice didn’t wobble.
“Hello, Nellie. You’re so adorable” He coo’ed focusing on the dog's sweet face to stop himself from staring at the boy in his doorway.
“She likes you” the boy commented, watching his dog press her soft head into Charlie's side.
“I like her”
“Nicky! Have you got Nellie with you?” A voice called from somewhere below them.
“Got her mum!” The boy called over his shoulder.
“I better sneak her out of here before the advisor finds out. I had to beg mum to let me bring her to say goodbye in the first place”
Charlie gave Nellie another pat, wishing she could stay longer.
“It’s not just my dog that’s been rude. I didn’t even introduce myself before barging in here. I’m Nick”
Charlie swallowed again, this boy was one of his housemates? He supposed he should have worked that out before, but he’d been too blinded by his mere presence.
“I’m just across the hall” Nick gestured over his shoulder to where the door to his own room was.
“Charlie” he got up off the floor, unsure what to do next. Were they supposed to shake hands? His awkwardness overwhelmed him and he found himself raising his hand in a half-wave.
“Hi”
God, he was stupid. Why would he say hello when they’d already been speaking for well over a minute?
Nick didn’t seem to mind, another soft smile spreading across his face.
“Hi”
Nick glanced over his shoulder again.
“I better get Nellie back to mum, say our goodbyes and all that. But um,” Nick scratched the back of his neck.
“I think there’s supposed to be a house meeting later. Maybe we could go down together?”
“Sure” Charlie hoped he didn’t sound too eager.
You look desperate a nasty voice hissed in the back of his mind.
Shut up, shut up, shut up he chanted back at himself. He didn’t want to completely muck up his first impression with Nick.
“Cool. Knock on my door when you’re ready to go down, yeah?”
“Sounds good”
“Come on Nel” Nick slapped his thigh and gestured past him to encourage the dog to leave Charlie's thigh and head back downstairs.
“See you in a bit, Charlie” Nick called over his shoulder as he headed out of the room.
Shit, Charlie thought as he stared at the point on the floor where Nick had stood a second ago.
He might be in trouble.