(A/Ns: yeah, i haven't posted much. Pfft. ive sort of just been writing loads of stuff but not finishing it. So anyway! This is for PH month, it is for Week 2 Day 5 (The Rainsworth Trio), the theme of AUs.
Content warnings: mentions of drug use, drinking, smoking.
Disclaimer: i do not own Pandora Hearts)
Week 2, Day 5 - The Rainsworth Trio - 'AUs'
"Sharon, my dear, are you positive you have everything?"
With a discreet roll of the eyes, Sharon released a somewhat endearing sigh. "Yes, grandmother. I am sure."
The time had finally come for Sharon to move out: "move out" meaning leave home to attend higher education. Needless to say, her exemplary work ethic combined with her natural intelligence and flawless problem-solving skills had easily gotten her a place studying Medicine at the best university in the country.
She was studious, responsible, and mature, and would surely excel at whatever she chose to do.
"You will do excellently, I am certain of it," Sheryl said earnestly, as they pulled over at the side of the road. The building ahead of them, where her accommodation would be, was nothing short of magnificent. Intricate architecture perfectly complemented its reputation. "If I may also say: I'm sure you'll have the highest A Level grades, as well."
"Yes, I think so too."
Sharon had obtained A*A*A* in Biology, Chemistry and Physics, the highest set of grades she could've possibly gotten, and well above her entry offer of A*AA.
As courteously as usual, Sharon and Sheryl both climbed out of the car, smiling at anyone who walked past as they traipsed around to the trunk of the car, and began unloading her belongings. Somehow, they'd compacted everything she needed into only two (albeit very large) suitcases.
After parting ways with Sheryl, Sharon successfully hauled her things up three flights of stairs, seemingly effortlessly. Easily, once she was on the right floor, she located where her new dorm would be, cracking open the door with the recently acquired room key without a moment of hesitation.
The room which she passed the threshold into was the living room, she presumed, a single three-seater sofa against one of the walls. The room was generously sized, the opposite end of it being the kitchen. There wasn't exactly a dining table, but rather a ledge, you could call it, with three bar stools.
It didn't take a genius to figure out that there would be three of them staying there.
Coming off from the main room, which made up a majority of the flat, was a small corridor, which led off to 3 rooms, each with the door on the right-hand side of the corridor.
Just as her gaze landed on said doors, the first of them, closest to the living room, clicked open. The person who emerged from the room appeared no older than her, with short brown hair and thin-rimmed glasses. Immediately, he halted, straightening up before frantically cleaning his glasses.
"Good afternoon," Sharon greeted, smiling at him with a smile which no one had ever trusted. She could tell he was panicking, and found it rather quite amusing. "And your name is?"
"Uh, R-Reim," he introduced, tripping over his words. "Reim Lunettes. And you…?"
"Sharon," she smiled again. "Am I correct to assume that there will only be three of us here?"
"Yes." Reim swallowed thickly. "Ah, sorry! I-I didn't mean to freely take the first room for myself."
"Do not worry," Sharon reassured him, before pulling her suitcases away from the door at letting it close. "Do you yet know who the third person is?"
"Well, not yet, but-"
The door, instead of slamming shut, was promptly pushed open.
"- I think this might be him."
As expected, there was a person on the other side, dragging a single, half-filled suitcase behind him. His hear appeared bleached, cut intricately into intentionally messy layers, along with a fringe covering his left eye. Focus glued to his phone, he didn't glance up to acknowledge them despite their interrogative stares. And the earphones plugged into his ears definitely weren't helping that.
Sharon and Reim were both staring at him for a good 30 seconds before he finally acknowledged their existence, pulling his headphones off and blinking at them.
Then, a deviant grin tugged at his lips. "Why hello there~"
Reim couldn't find a suitable response initially. Rather, he was still attempting to come to terms with how someone's personality could flip so dramatically across a single second.
Sharon, on the other hand, was evidently better at social interactions than he was. "Ah, you're our third roommate then?"
"Indeed I am," he responded, kicking the door shut behind him and dragging a delicate hand through his fringe. "The name is Kevin, but you can call me Break."
Because that obviously makes loads of sense… Reim facepalmed internally. Did this guy seriously get a place at such a prestigious place?
"You don't appear to have brought much with you," Sharon commented.
"Sharp observation," Break grinned once again, reverting his focus back to his phone for a couple of seconds. "I'm sure I'll make do~"
"Ah, I also smell cannabis."
"That couldn't possibly be me," Break denied instantly. Then, less than a second later, he marched across the room towards the corridor, already guessing that was where the rooms were situated.
"Wait," Reim interjected, right before he could reach the door knob.
Break perked up, although only partially paying attention. His personality had now shifted to moody; maybe Sharon's comment crossed the line.
"Do you, uh… want to go out for a drink with us, a-after we're done unpacking?" he asked. "I-I mean, just the three of us. Since we're, you know, f-flatmates now."
"I like that," Sharon smiled, but with an unsettling, sinister touch, also reflected in her next words. "Albeit I would have preferred if you consulted with me first." She paused, and turned towards the other. "Break?"
Break, now looking towards Sharon, was silent for about five seconds. Then, kicking open the door and flashing the two an unreadable smile, he accepted the offer. "Splendid~"
Surprisingly, Break had stuck to his word from earlier, and so had Sharon, despite not even agreeing to Reim's plan in the first place.
Also to their surprise, when they arrived, shortly after they'd just eaten dinner at around 7pm, the bar wasn't anywhere close to being full. It was strange for the first day of freshers, but it worked for them. Perhaps most people hadn't gone out yet.
Reim himself didn't actually drink, and admittedly felt slightly awkward asking for a lemonade. Both Break and Sharon stared at him judgementally, blinking a few times, before wandering up towards the bar together.
"What would you like, my lady~?" Break said, pulling his wallet out. "First drinks on me~"
"How kind," she said, albeit the next comment came much more savagely. "I do hope this is not an attempt to charm me, though. You are not really my type, I must say."
"Bold of you to assume that," Break narrowed his eyes at her, but continued to smile nonetheless. Then, under his breath (but audibly enough to be heard still), he added: "Bold of you to assume I'm straight, as well."
"Wine, please," Sharon smiled bitterly at him. Well, partially sincere, but mostly bitter. "White, but I'm not fussy."
"Mom-drinker," Break snickered, ordering said drink along with Reim's, and a vodka-and-coke for himself; a classic for a low-key alcoholic student with an emo-hipster kind of vibe, Sharon elaborately noted.
Joining Reim back at the table, they soon found that conversation between the three of them seemed virtually impossible, none of them having anything in particular to say or discuss.
"So, um…" Reim tried. Socialising was his idea, after all. "What are you studying?"
"Medicine," Sharon answered almost immediately. "You?"
"Ah, medicine as well," Reim stuttered. He barely knew her, and was already faltering in his speech whenever she looked at him. "Er, Break?"
At first, Break didn't respond. Instead, he simply swished the drink around in his glass, downing some more of it, and then finally giving a very brief but unexpected answer. "Medicine too." Before either Reim or Sharon could question it, he stood up, rather abruptly, and grabbed his drink. "Please do excuse me, I must go get some air. Don't wait up~"
Sharon and Reim simultaneously watched in total silence as he wandered outside, placed the drink down on one of the tables, and lit a cigarette.
"I… don't want to sound rude or anything, but…" Reim said, raising an eyebrow nothing short of judgementally. "How on earth did he get a place at this university?"
"Whilst I can't give you an answer myself…" Sharon replied, uneasily but still sounding confident somehow. "It's important not to judge him yet. He may not be like us, but he could be very intelligent."
Reim nodded. He barely knew either of them, but he already knew to always value Sharon's words of wisdom, at the very least.
As for Break?
Only time would tell that one.
Despite the initial lingering awkwardness of their conversations, the three managed to make it past midnight.
After a few drinks, that was.
They'd quickly learnt that, even though she clearly liked to drink, Sharon had a fairly weak alcohol tolerance. Within a couple of glasses of wine, she was stumbling over her words and unable to walk in a straight line. Reim, on the other hand, had drunk more than her, and yet remained totally unintoxicated.
And Break… Break fell somewhere in the middle. It seemed like he wanted to be drunk, but couldn't get drunk, so he was sort of pretending. Sharon fell for it. Literally.
Reim, on the other hand: not so much, which is why he had no qualms about Break carrying Sharon home once they discovered she wouldn't be able to use her own two feet.
Although it was nearing 1am, neither Break or Reim were ready to retire to their rooms yet, and when Break returned from taking Sharon to hers, Reim took it upon himself to offer him a de-caff. Without saying anything, Break took up the offer, waiting in silence in the kitchen as the other brewed the coffee.
Then, wordlessly, the two sauntered into the lounge, Reim taking a seat on the sofa whilst Break stepped over to the window at the side of the room, cracked it open, and with his spare hand, slipped a single cigarette and his lighter out of his pocket.
The words "don't smoke in here, idiot" or even "don't smoke at all, idiot" sat temptingly on the tip of his tongue. But for some reason, after watching Break stick the cigarette between his lips, light it, and take a deep inhale, Reim found himself mesmerised by the smoke drifting up in plumes from the tip of it. Mesmerised, and speechless.
"Ah, Reim," Break sighed, tapping the ash off the cigarette, taking another drag, and then holding it back out the window, as he exhaled away from the room. "You really ought to control your staring."
Instead of responding to Break's comment, Reim merely ignored it, and voiced what was on his mind. "Why… did you decide to do Medicine?"
Break, bringing the cigarette back up to his lips, was initially silent. Then, averting his gaze to the cigarette, hung outside the window again, he gave an answer. A brief, but incredibly meaningful and personal answer. "I've seen too many people in my life die, and suffer. I can't let that happen to anyone else I love, as far as I can stop it."
Reim was rendered speechless for the second time in that conversation.
"Ah, you see, I may also mention that I obtained three A*s in my A Levels."
To him, it was a mystery how this… person was able to achieve such an incredible thing. This person, who was totally unserious, irresponsible, and smoked and drank too much.
"What about you, Reim?" Break asked, snorting under his breath and tapping the ash off the cigarette. "Why are you doing Medicine, hm?"
"Well… I've always just… wanted to help people, I suppose," Reim said, adjusting his glasses. "Ultimately though, I'd… like to be a psychiatrist, if I can."
"Hm, interesting." The brief glance Break shot at him was discreet, and indecipherable. "Do you think there's some people who can't be helped?"
"No," Reim gave his answer with full confidence. "Everyone deserves the chance to recover, at the very least."
"Fufu, I suppose they do say opposites attract," Break chuckled idly to himself. Then, flicking the cigarette out the window, he finally devoted his attention to Reim, grinning deviously at him as he spoke. "I think we'll get along just fine~"
