The first thing Wolf noticed about the boy was the freckle. Just beneath the corner of his left eye, one solitary mark on an otherwise bright and unblemished face. The spot was so distinctive, yet Wolf felt as if he had seen it somewhere before, though he could not think of anyone else he'd met with a face like that. Two sky blue eyes under a shock of blonde hair that lanced out in almost every direction, with a single earring to match the single freckle. His cheeks had nearly turned the same color as his red jacket in the frosty morning air, and his breath made shivery clouds around him as he glanced up from the map in his hands to study the campus with a look of pure confusion.

"New here?" Wolf was surprised to hear his own voice blurt out the question. He wasn't typically inclined to initiate conversations.

Two blue eyes fixed on his, and Wolf felt a punch of embarrassment. Pretty was the only word to describe that gaze, but Wolf wanted to kick himself at the mere thought. To make matters worse, the boy's face broke into a smile capable of demolishing a small village, and a sunny voice rang out, "Yeah! How'd you know?"

Wolf raised an eyebrow as nonchalantly as he could. "Lucky guess."

"I'm looking for the registration place, but I can't find it on this map." He flipped the paper to show Wolf. "Can you take me there? Sorry to bother you."

"No, that's fine." Wolf cleared his throat and looked down at the map. "Um, you've got it upside-down. And what are all these scribbles about? Looks like someone gave you a weird map."

"Oh, those are mine. I was trying to mark all the places I've been, so I wouldn't get lost. But I think I got lost anyway." A nebulous shrug. "I'm pretty bad with directions."

No kidding, Wolf thought as he eyed the page. "The administration building is right behind us."

The boy laughed one of the most annoying laughs Wolf had ever heard. It startled him so badly that the paper shook out of his hands and fluttered to the sidewalk. As he reached down to retrieve it, the boy slapped his back so hard that he dropped it again.

"You're awesome. Thanks. What's your name?"

His nerves barely had time to settle. "Nicholas Wolfwood," he replied, handing the map back.

The boy crumpled the paper and seized Wolf's hand instead. "Nice to meet you, Wolf! My name's Vash."

A gust of wind stirred up the leaves on the sidewalk and circled Wolf as the boy named Vash hurried toward the administration building with a final shout, "Thanks again!" and it wasn't until the door slammed shut that Wolf realized the boy had guessed his nickname without even being told. He stared at the door for a long time before the chill of the wind shook him alert and he turned toward the dormitories with his hands in his pockets and tried not to think about which one Vash had held. What am I, twelve?

The truth was that he hadn't felt like smiling for months, but for a moment just now it didn't seem so hard.

Chapel Hall was swarming with second-year students, their cars parked around the perimeter and their families helping tote luggage through the large double doors. Wolf set his own few bags down on the curb and unpacked a cigarette as he watched the families walk back and forth. A few of the students he recognized from last year's classes, none of them more than acquaintances. Between his job on the weekdays and volunteer work on the weekends, Wolf hadn't had much time to make new friends. Not that he had ever been particularly good at it.

By the time he finished his cigarette, a couple of the cars had pulled away, parents hugging their kids goodbye, and the double doors weren't swinging so frequently. Wolf took one last look at the towering stone walls and stained glass windows before he headed for the doors himself. He'd heard that some of the structures on Augusta's campus had been converted from an old monastery. It was obvious which building Chapel Hall had been. The fact that Wolf was going to be living here for the next two semesters made him more anxious than he cared to admit.

He isn't here, Wolf reminded himself. It's just a name. It's just a building. But even as the sun climbed higher in the sky, the old church cast a shadow that chilled him to the bone.

Behind the tall wooden doors, a warmer scene greeted him. Under the vaulted ceiling of what had once been the atrium, groups of people stood around talking, catching up on each other's stories, locating old friends, swapping schedules. The noise of their voices was one big, watery echo in the enormous chamber. Wolf made his way to the desk at the back of the room and waved to the R.A. shuffling papers behind it.

"Just a minute!" The girl pushed a strand of shoulder-length brown hair behind her ear as she rummaged through a drawer. After a moment she tilted her head and smiled at Wolf. "I'm sorry, I literally put my pen down for one second and it's gone. Do you have a pen I could borrow?"

Wolf automatically searched his pockets, then stopped and reached over the desk. "Right under your nose," he said with a slight smile as he held the pen out to her.

"No way! I swear it wasn't there a second ago." The girl giggled, and Wolf thought the situation bore a strange resemblance to the one that had occurred earlier that morning. At least the girl's laughter wasn't obnoxious.

"I just need my room key," Wolf prompted. He gave her his name and showed her his ID, and she unlocked a cabinet on the wall.

"Let's see, Mr. Wolfwood. You're on the second floor, up the stairs and to the left. Room 206." She handed him the key. "That's a really nice room! You're lucky."

He felt like she might be exaggerating, but he managed another polite smile.

"If you need anything, Meryl and I will be here all year long. There are rules and phone numbers and stuff in the room. And…what am I forgetting? Oh, I never told you my name! I'm Millie. Millie Thompson."

"Thanks." Wolf nodded as he shouldered his luggage. "See you later, Millie."

An archway led out of the atrium into the dorms, and a creaky wooden staircase took Wolf up to a narrow hallway lined with numbered doors. He found Room 206 and turned the key in the lock.

There was more light than he expected. A tall window looked down on the lawn below, soft sunlight dampened by clouds filtering in from above. Blue curtains and painted blue walls lent a calm glow to the stained wooden furniture. Wolf set his bag of clothes beside the dresser and laid his school satchel on the desk. He hefted the last small suitcase onto the bed and sat down to open it.

The cross had been the last thing that he packed. He'd almost left it at the hostel, but something made him turn back and put it in the suitcase. Wolf couldn't think of a single reasonable explanation for keeping the thing. He hadn't attended Mass since he left his hometown two years ago, and although he was working toward a religious studies degree, he didn't practice any faith on a regular basis. Still, he'd hung the simple white cross over his bed in the hostel, and in the last dormitory, just as it had hung over his bed at home for as long as he could remember. It had never once saved him from his father's fist, never once answered his prayers for his mother to return, so why this inexplicable comfort? Why had the walls felt bare without it?

He left the suitcase open on the bed and headed for the door. He would go down to the refectory, find something to eat. Have another cigarette maybe. Save the unpacking for later. It could wait. There was another whole year ahead of him.

The sky was dark when Wolf came back. One cigarette had turned to three or four, and his walk around the campus had turned to a walk downtown and back, then an hour or two in the library, a cup of coffee, a book that kept him distracted until he looked out the window to see the sunset crawling in and decided it was time to leave. He burrowed his hands in his pockets as the red sky deepened to purple, and he returned to Chapel Hall to find the atrium quiet and empty except for Millie at the desk with another girl beside her. They were speaking in low voices, their hands entwined. When they noticed Wolf, they released each other quickly.

"Hi, Mr. Wolfwood!" Millie chirped, her face pink. The other girl, who had short dark hair and was about half the height of her friend, averted her eyes and made a show of straightening the papers on the desk.

Wolf, not wanting to make the situation any more awkward, gave her a noncommittal wave and hurried out of the room. He had to admit he was surprised, though he found nothing wrong with their innocent display of affection. But he couldn't think of a way to tell them not to worry about it without making himself sound intrusive, so he gave up and hoped Millie didn't think he was just being rude.

He climbed the stairs with tired legs and resolved to take a shower before attempting to unpack. The room was outfitted with some essential things, bed linens and usually towels, but when Wolf searched the closet and the dresser, he couldn't find any. Great. He heaved a sigh. There was nothing to do but go back downstairs and disrupt the two girls again. Wolf walked back to the atrium as slowly as he could. He coughed loudly as he approached the desk.

Millie and the short girl were preoccupied with eating dinner, Wolf was relieved to notice. Apparently off-duty, Milly had taken a seat near the TV and was spooning pudding out of a plastic cup, while her friend managed the desk. The dark-haired girl had a mug of tea and a plate of sweets in front of her, and she looked much less flustered.

"Can I help you?" she asked Wolf.

"Yeah, I just need a towel. There weren't any in the room."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "That's weird. We stocked all the rooms yesterday. Right, Millie?"

The tall girl looked up from her pudding and smiled when she saw Wolf. "Oh, it's you again! Meryl, this is Nicholas Wolfwood. I met him this morning."

"Meryl Strife." She shook his hand briefly, looking a bit annoyed that Millie hadn't answered her question.

"Um, you can call me Wolf if you want. I don't really use my full name anymore."

"Okay, then…Wolf. I'll bring you a new towel in a minute."

"Take your time." He thanked them both, feeling somehow more embarrassed than before, and left again.

He stopped when he reached the door to his room. It wasn't shut all the way. He was fairly certain he had closed it, but he hadn't bothered locking up. He nudged the door open slowly, peering inside with caution.

"What the—!" Wolf choked on his own words, the blood rushing from his face. There was somebody else in the room. Somebody dripping wet and wearing nothing but a…

Oh. I guess that's where my towel went.

"Sorry," Wolf stammered, much too loudly. "Wrong room."

He spun around and slammed the door shut, sweat beading on his forehead. But when he turned to look at the number on the door, there was no mistaking it: Room 206. Not a sound came from the person inside. Wolf sat down on the stairs and tried to catch his breath. Was that who he thought it was?

Meryl appeared at the foot of the stairs with a folded towel in her arms. "Something wrong?"

"Yes, actually." Wolf hoped the shadowy stairwell was dark enough to conceal his unsettled expression. "I think Millie may have given me the wrong room key. There's someone else in there."

The girl's monotone voice hardly registered shock. "Oh, dear. Well, it wouldn't be the first time that's happened. Follow me, we'll double check the file."

Wolf shuffled after her, watched as she opened the same cabinet Millie had opened that morning, and unearthed his ID again.

"No, that's right. You're in 206 with Vash."

His stomach flopped. So it was him. "But I'm supposed to be in a single."

Meryl took out a file folder, her eyebrows scrunching up again. She put on a pair of reading glasses and skimmed over the pages. "It looks like we had a last minute change of room assignment. There was a transfer student whose name got overlooked, but all the rooms were full. Since 206 is the largest single, we converted it to a double and assigned him as your roommate." Her brown eyes flicked up to his. "But someone should have told you about that. Didn't you receive a letter?"

Wolf shook his head, dumbfounded.

"Strange. I'm going to have a word with Millie when she gets back from her break. In the meantime, please accept our apologies and settle in as best as you can."

She returned the file to the cabinet and began to lock it up. Then something occurred to Wolf. "Wait a minute. There has to be some kind of mistake. That room only has one bed."

Meryl stared at him, both of them confused now. Then a door opened and Millie reappeared.

"Millie!" Meryl's tone was furious. "This had better not be your fault."

Her green eyes widening in fear, Millie swiveled around to leave, but Meryl grabbed her sleeve and hauled her over to the desk. She opened the file and displayed it for Millie to see. "Were you aware that Room 206 was supposed to be converted to a double?"

Millie scanned the file and looked up happily at Wolf. "Yes! Did you meet Mr. Vash yet? He's really sweet, isn't he? I'm sure you two will be good friends."

Wolf didn't know how to react. Fortunately, Meryl did.

"Ow! Meryl, don't!" Millie swatted at the hand pinching her cheek until Meryl let go. "Why'd you do that?" the tall girl demanded with tears in her eyes.

"This young man was not informed about the fact that he had a new roommate. Furthermore, nobody bothered to move a second set of furniture into the room. Now, tell me this fiasco doesn't have Stun Gun Millie written all over it."

"I'm sorry! I had no idea!"

"You've got to quit spacing out all the time! Your job's already on the line. Don't you want to make it to graduation? At this rate, we'll never get a place of our own! Our careers will bottom out and we'll never start that business together and you'll be stuck in your mom's house forever with your eight billion cousins! Is that the life you want, Millie?"

"Hey!" Wolf raised both hands, startled by the outburst. "Hey, it's okay. It's really not that big of a deal. I won't tell anyone, so don't worry about…uh, your future being shattered, or anything."

Her temper receding, Meryl bowed low and said, "I'm so sorry about this. Please forgive her stupidity."

"I'm sorry, too, Mr. Wolfwood!" Millie cried. "You must really hate my guts. I wouldn't blame you. I'm such a forgetful loser. She doesn't call me Stun Gun Millie for nothing."

The tears were threatening to burst out of her eyes, so Wolf interrupted her. "I'm not mad at you. I promise. You've been very nice. Please don't worry about the furniture or anything tonight, I'll be fine. Just…is there a futon or something I could borrow?"

When Wolf returned to Room 206, his arms loaded down with blankets and pillows and extra towels that the R.A. girls had bestowed on him, he hesitated before opening the door. Shifting the pile to one arm, he knocked a few times and waited.

"Come in," a small voice said.

Wolf stepped inside and dropped the pile on the floor, trying not to look up. He could see a pair of socked feet out of the corner of his eye.

"Sorry I startled you," Vash said. "I thought you knew I was here."

"They never told me I had a roommate," Wolf said as he unfolded one of the fluffy comforters and spread it out on the floor.

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine. I didn't realize, that's all." God. Can everyone stop apologizing to me tonight?

He finally lifted his head to look at the other boy. Vash was sitting on the edge of the bed, wearing pajamas and wrapped in his red hoodie. Looking at the long sleeves, Wolf remembered the bare skin and realized that he'd seen something that disturbed him a little. Vash's left arm had been traced all over with scars. At least, that's what he thought he saw. It had happened pretty fast.

Wolf didn't want to ask about it. From his downcast face, Vash looked even more embarrassed than he felt.

"Are you cold?" Wolf asked, breaking the silence. "We've got a space heater over here. I'll turn it on."

"Thanks." His voice lightened a bit.

As Wolf turned the dial on the heater, he noticed that his suitcase had been moved and the cross inside it was gone. He looked up to see it hanging in its place on the wall over the bed, as if he'd put it there himself. Had he?

"I hung it up," Vash said, noticing Wolf's bewilderment. He chanced a smile. "I wouldn't have guessed you were religious."

Wolf shrugged. "I'm not." Then he laughed. It wasn't forced. He couldn't stop. It was all just too ridiculous. Vash joined in, though he didn't seem sure what they were laughing about. When Wolf finally calmed down, he had to mop at his eyes with his sleeve.

"Nice to meet you again, unexpected roommate." Wolf shook Vash's hand the way Vash had shaken his earlier that day. "Millie thinks we'll be great friends."

Vash's true smile surfaced. It was the kind of smile that wasn't aware of itself. Pure and honest. Unafraid.

The unpacking process didn't feel so foreboding now. Neither of them had many clothes to worry about, so there was room for everything in the dresser. Wolf retrieved his toothbrush and soap and threw a towel over his shoulder. On his way out, he told Vash, "I'm going to sleep on the floor, so make yourself comfortable."

"But you were here first," Vash protested.

Wolf closed the door before he could argue further. It wasn't very late, but he felt exhausted. Vash must have been tired, too, because when Wolf came back from the bathroom down the hall, the lights were out in their room. He felt around with his toes for the comforter on the floor, and his foot bumped into something. Wolf fished in his pocket for his phone and pressed a button to light up the screen. In the faint blue beam of light, he could see Vash asleep on top of the comforter. Wolf sighed. He prodded the boy's shoulder with his foot again.

"I told you I was going to take the floor," he said. Vash didn't respond. His breathing was deep. Only a sliver of his face showed between his shoulder and the crook of his arm, but Wolf could see the single freckle underneath his left eye, the earring he hadn't bothered to take out. He didn't realize he was staring until the phone screen flickered off and the darkness pricked at his eyes. He turned the light back on and pulled a blanket from the pile beside the door. "You're gonna freeze, stupid," he muttered, draping the covers over Vash. He turned the heater up a notch and climbed into the bed. Moments ago, he could barely keep his eyes open, but now he felt wide awake. He turned his head toward the figure on the floor, and although he couldn't see a thing, he could feel the other boy's presence as strongly as the heavy blanket on his chest. It wasn't a bad feeling. But damned if he was going to get any sleep tonight.

By midnight, Wolf had given up trying. It was too cold and he was too lazy to go outside, so he'd opened the window and leaned out smoking with his elbows on the windowsill. He heard Vash mumbling something in his sleep. Then he heard a choking gasp, and he whirled around to see Vash sitting up in a square of moonlight, shaking.

"You okay?"

Vash searched around sightlessly for a minute, then froze when he saw Wolf at the window. "Could you…not do that, please?"

Wolf raised his eyebrows. "Whatever, princess." He crushed the stub on the sill and flicked it out into the night. The lack of sleep had put his temper on edge. Lighten up, jerk, he scolded himself. "So who's Rem? Your girlfriend?"

"Rem?" Vash repeated quietly. Were those tears in his eyes?

"You kept saying that name in your sleep," Wolf said, his voice softening. He already regretted saying anything.

Vash looked down at his hands gripping the blanket. "Whatever you think it is, it's not," he said slowly, each word an effort. He sat still for a long time, and Wolf could tell he was trying not to cry. He wasn't very good at hiding it. God, this kid is delicate.

Wolf closed the window and sat on the floor beside him. He felt like he should say something, but he didn't know what. Vash pulled his knees up to his chin and buried his face in his arms. Wolf reached out a hand to place it on his shoulder, then stopped himself. Touching people was never a good idea.

He stood up, and Vash grabbed his hand. Wolf's entire body tensed. He didn't know what to do. Vash wasn't saying anything, but he wasn't letting go, either. One by one Wolf's muscles relaxed until he felt the warmth in his veins and his pulse slowed down. The more he focused on keeping his hand absolutely still, the more he felt Vash's grip tighten. Stay, a voice told him. He wants you here. Was it a voice he could trust, though? Had it ever been?

Vash released Wolf's hand and wiped his face on his sleeve, forcing out an unconvincing laugh. "Sorry. I must look pretty pathetic, huh? Don't go telling the R.A. girls about me, okay?"

It hurt Wolf to look at his smile, so he turned away. "Not a word," he promised.

Vash didn't have any more dreams that night. Wolf knew because he listened. But he must have fallen asleep at some point, because when he woke up the sun was out and Vash was gone.