Note: I am English and have no idea how American universities or colleges work, so this is all based off of visiting one american college about a year ago, a bit of research and reading other fanfictions.
Kevin Price was perfect. He never had a strand of hair out of place, his teeth were shining white, he breezed through school with the best grades his high school had ever seen, and now he was sailing through college without a hitch. Truly, he was meant for incredible things, and was determined on his way to getting them. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Kevin was perfect. Out of his siblings he was the eldest, the smartest, and, if he was being honest, the most attractive. He never missed church, and he prayed every morning and every evening, just like he was supposed to. He carried the Book with him wherever he went. So then how could a boy so perfect, suddenly feel so broken.
Connor McKinley was far from perfect. He knew it, and wasn't ashamed of it. He was a mess in the mornings, barely scraped by in his exams, and the only thing he excelled at was drama. It came as no surprised to his parents that their far-from-perfect son was gay. His confession was met only with disappointment and silence. Although he was raised Christian, he always made an excuse to miss church services, and he threw out his Bible the first opportunity he got. Connor was used to being the odd one out. He only had a few close friends, but they were all he needed. Connor was content, and happy just being himself.
Kevin made his way to his room on the first day of college. His parents had dropped him off outside, and now he was alone. Well, alone, until he met his roommate. They had spoken only a bit, over text, after finding out they were sharing a room together. Kevin knew that his name was Connor, he enjoyed theater productions, and that he was planning to major in drama. To his relief, Kevin found that he was the first one out of the two to reach their room. He set his bags down on the one of the beds and started to unpack. He filled less than half of the shared wardrobe with his clothes, before sitting down, just to think. Here he was, far away from home, surrounded by strangers. Kevin couldn't be any further out of his comfort zone, but he hoped that he would slowly get used to it. After all, he had to last four years there. Standing up to look out of the window, he saw one of the many campus gardens. There were groups of people, sitting or standing around. They all looked like they were enjoying themselves. Seeing other people happy always seemed to boost Kevin's mood, and soon he was back to quietly unpacking, now starting on his books. He didn't have many books, as every book he read had to be approved by his parents, to make sure it wasn't blasphemous in any way. He stacked the books in several small piles under his bed, making sure he kept the Book on his bedside table. It was at this point that the door opened, and a boy, who Kevin could only assume to be Connor McKinley walked in. Connor looked out of breath, and his light brown hair was a little messy. He smiled at Kevin, and Kevin smiled back before sticking out his hand.
"I'm Kevin, Kevin Price"
"I guessed," Connor chuckled, before shaking Kevin's hand, "I'm Connor McKinley, in case you didn't know."
There was no denying it, Connor looked like a mess. He knew it, and he didn't care. He had been rushing around the campus trying to find his room, and now that he had, he just happened to have the most attractive boy he had ever seen as his roommate. It was going to be a long four years. He put his bags down and decided to follow Kevin's example and unpack.
"So what time did you get here?" He asked, in a desperate attempt to break the silence, and start a conversation. Kevin looked at his watch before returning to his bags, now unpacking the odd things that he'd bought with him,
"About half an hour ago, I think." He replied, seeming more interested in unpacking than talking. Connor started putting his clothes away, while glimpsing at Kevin's choices of clothing. They were plain t-shirts or button downs mostly, nothing of interest really caught his eye. It seemed that the two boys were as different as they could be. While taking in his surroundings, Connor noticed a book on Kevin's bedside table. He picked it up to look at it,
"What's this?" Connor asked, as Kevin looked up, "You're a Mormon?"
"Yeah," Kevin said nonchalantly, not wanting to bring much attention to the fact. He felt it might not be as great a thing as it was back home. Connor nodded, as if to merely acknowledge the fact before placing the Book where he'd found it, and returning to his unpacking. It was going to be a very long four years.
The rest of the evening went by swiftly. There wasn't much conversation, usually just questions about certain objects, or what classes they had signed up for. After comparing timetables, they found out that they had English literature class and psychology class together. It wasn't much, but it was comforting for each of them to know that they weren't entirely alone for their classes, even if they didn't seem to have much in common. They both went to bed at about the same time, although Connor fell asleep almost instantly, whilst Kevin lay awake. It wasn't usual for him to not be able to sleep, but for some reason he was being kept awake. There was a nagging feeling in his chest. He couldn't quite understand it; he was basically never nervous, so that wasn't likely. He turned to look at Connor, who had fallen asleep on his back, his arms stretched above his head. His hair was fanned out onto his pillow and his feet were just about sticking out from the end of the duvet. It was then that Kevin's stomach lurched, making him look straight up at the ceiling. No, he thought, definitely not.
Connor's dreams were filled with the image of the black-haired boy lying on the bed just a few feet away. Sure, he'd had dreams about boys before, but this felt different. In his dreams, he was holding Kevin's hand and just walking around campus. Occasionally he would wake up and look over at Kevin. Sometimes Kevin was also awake, muttering to himself, but sometimes he was asleep. He looked so peaceful then. Comparing awake Kevin to asleep Kevin, Connor had noticed that when he was awake, Kevin looked focused and stressed almost constantly, but when he was asleep the trouble left his face, and he was left like a blank canvas. Connor took note of the way Kevin's hair started to get messy and fall in his face, and the way Kevin slept on his side, holding the pillow in his arms. Connor lay back, trying to think about anything but the perfect Mormon boy sleeping across the room. Instead, he managed to fall asleep with thoughts of the next day in his head. He had decided he would try and talk to Kevin more.