Cross posted to ao3

Introducing Ludwig

Ludwig hadn't known what to expect from starting college a year early but he'd certainly hadn't expected the housing program they offered to place him in the same flat as two entirely insufferable art students.

By the time he'd arrived at the unit the others were already there; standing in the doorway, bickering over something. The taller one with wavy hair tied messily with a ribbon responded first when Ludwig cleared his throat.

'I told you we weren't in the wrong place,' he said condescendingly to the student he'd been arguing with. 'Three beds, three people.'

He tilted his head slightly towards Ludwig to prove his point.

'Oh shut up,' the shorter student snapped, brushing a strand of his perfectly straight chin length hair behind his ear, before turning to Ludwig. 'I'm Feliks, and this is Francis.'

It took Ludwig an awkward moment to realise that was his cue to introduce himself.

'Ah right, I'm Ludwig,'

He attempted to hold out a hand to shake, forgetting about the box of belongings he was carrying and almost dropping it.

'Nice to meet you, Ludwig,' Feliks responded diplomatically as Francis snorted. 'What's your course? I'm guessing you're arts like us.'

Already embarrassed by his lack of social skills, Ludwig was hit by another surge of panic at the question.

'Err actually, my course is engineering, maybe I'm in the wrong place…'

Feliks frowned slightly, but Francis merely laughed.

'Relax, both of you. The department always likes to mix the type of students in the housing program.'

Felix accepted this and turned back to Ludwig.

'You see, Francis here took a year off after high school and now he has a superiority complex and thinks he knows so much more than the rest of us mere mortals,'

'I don't just think that, I do,' Francis said before disappearing through the door.

'See?' Feliks hissed as he entered as well. 'See what I mean?'

Ludwig just nodded mutely as he followed suit.

The flat was small but neatly arranged; a kitchen, a bathroom, a laundry, and two bedrooms. Francis claimed the smaller room with the single bed.

'I got here first,' he declared, pointing out the belongings he'd already scattered across the desk.

Ludwig shrugged and accepted the logical argument, going over to the other room with a disgruntled Feliks in tow.

'I'm calling dibs on the window,' Feliks called as they entered the room, he looked like he would have argued further, but Ludwig simply nodded and placed his box down on the other bed.

'Well you're going to be easier to live with than Francis,' Feliks commented as he flopped down where the light of the window hit on his bed.

As he began to unpack Ludwig wondered if trying to get along with his new roommates was giving them the impression he would be overly accommodating, he hoped not, but wasn't sure. From the corner of his eye he saw Feliks throw most of his own belongings under his bed then hanging up a few items if clothing in their shared wardrobe before leaving the room.

By the time Ludwig had unpacked and arranged everything into an order he was happy with, Feliks and Francis were already sitting at the kitchen table, happily discussing something to do with fashion or photography.

'He's done,' Feliks said as he saw Ludwig.

'Took him long enough,' Francis slid off the stool he was on and stretched. 'We need to take a group selfie in here.'

'To post on Instagram,' Feliks clarified

'Exactly,'

'I have more followers than you,'

'Not for long you won't,' Francis spoke condescendingly before remembering Ludwig was in the room. 'But first we need to take the photo. Ludwig, get in the middle and everyone smile.'

'Say cheese,' quipped Feliks as both he and Francis held up their phones on either side of Ludwig.

Ludwig decided he'd try and give it a week before he applied for a change of residence

Having bought groceries the previous afternoon, Ludwig finished his cereal and washed the bowl, confident that he would get to his first lecture with time to spare. Picking up his book bag, he was ready to leave when a door creaked open.

'Morning,' Feliks yawned cheerily, ambling out of the room he shared with Ludwig. 'Oh nice, cereal!'

Without asking he poured himself a bowl of Ludwig's cereal, poured the milk Ludwig had also bought on it. Ludwig frowned, but didn't say anything, the time it would take him to get to the lecture being the most important thing on his mind.

'You've got class already?' Feliks asked with his mouth full.

Ludwig nodded.

'That's a shame,' Feliks swallowed and wiped at his mouth with his pyjama sleeve. 'I was thinking of getting another photo together. You know, first day of classes.'

'I'm sure that's the only reason,' another voice spoke dryly from the opposite direction.

Feliks glared daggers at Francis, who'd just emerged from his own room, also clad in pyjamas. Ludwig looked between them in confusion, still painfully aware that the time he had to get a good seat in the lecture theatre was ticking away by the second.

'Congratulations on your new follower count,' Feliks snapped. 'I'll make sure to take a better photo next time.'

Francis looked like he wanted to retort, and Ludwig interjected before any more arguing could be done.

'I really should go now, I don't want to be late for my lecture,'

Francis shrugged, also reaching for Ludwig's cereal.

'Suit yourself, I guess we'll see you after classes,'

By the time Ludwig reached the theatre, it was already mostly full. Give it a week, he muttered to himself before searching for a seat.

Both Francis and Feliks had classes in the afternoon, which suited Ludwig fine as it meant he had the flat to himself to study in during this time. That was, after he'd washed the pile of dishes that had already piled up in the sink. He probably should have left them for his roommates to clean up themselves, but Ludwig just couldn't stand the sight of them and decided something had to be done. Apart from that, his day had been fairly good, and he settled down to rewrite his lecture notes.

Francis returned an hour or so later, carrying bags of groceries. He left Ludwig alone and out them away before disappearing into his room. Ludwig paid him no heed, continuing with his notes and thinking that things would probably work themselves out with his roommates after all. That idea went out the window when Feliks let himself into the apartment, carrying a large folio that he dropped on the kitchen table next to Ludwig.

'Hey, can I take a photo with you?'

Ludwig, looked up from his work in puzzlement, wondering why Feliks kept pressing on this topic. Feliks sighed, then shot a look at the closed door of Francis' room.

'Look, both Francis and I gained a lot of Instagram followers after posting that picture with you in it yesterday. So basically, we think it's because of you, but also Francis has more followers than me now, so I'm going to put to theory to the test by posting another photo with you. Think of it as a scientific experiement, you do that in engineering right?'

Ludwig was sure there was something wrong with Feliks' reasoning, but figured it couldn't hurt.

'Alright,' he conceded, dropping his pen. 'But only if you stop eating my cereal, and do your own dishes.'

'Deal,' Feliks agreed fervently, not seeming to have listened to the conditions at all. 'You're like totally cool.'

Feliks not only had not stopped eating Ludwig's cereal, but also argued frequently with Francis about who should do their mutual daily pile up of dishes. More often than not, it was Ludwig would finally have enough of the mess and clean up as they argued. Feliks liked to study on his bed, and often ate as he did, which Ludwig wouldn't have minded if he'd thrown out the snack wrappers, or at least made sure they didn't end up under Ludwig's bed. He was willing to bet that Francis' room wasn't much better, but Francis didn't let anyone in there so he would never find out. To make matters worse it seemed Feliks' theory did, in fact, hold water and Ludwig was often pestered by both of his roommates for photos.

On Thursday, Ludwig opened the bathroom cupboard for his hair gel only to find it wasn't there. Searching the rest of the bathroom yielded no results, so he woke Feliks up to ask him if he'd seen it. Feliks did not take kindly to having his sleep interrupted.

'Ask Francis,' he grumbled, throwing his extra pillow at Ludwig. 'He said something about having a bad hair day yesterday, not that it's not bad every day.'

With a snort at that last comment Feliks turned over and pulled his blanket over his head, instantly falling back asleep.

Ludwig crossed the apartment, ready to knock on Francis' door when he noticed his jar of hair gel sitting on the kitchen sink. Groaning internally he picked it up and returned to the bathroom to gel his hair off of his face.

Before he left, Ludwig left a note on the kitchen table asking for any borrowed items to be replaced where they had been found. When he returned the note was still there, with a reply written on it with pink gel pen – "we'll try, but no promises" in loopy handwriting, finished with a smiley face.

Frustrated, Ludwig scrunched up the note, threw it out, and decided it was time to do some stress baking.

He was feeling significantly happier as he carefully pulled trays of pastries out of the oven, inspecting the crust and putting them out on racks to cool. Admiring his handiwork he didn't even hear the door open until both of his flatmates were commenting on the smell.

'That smells delicious!' Feliks exclaimed, leaning over to peer at the cooling racks.

Francis murmured an agreement.

'I'm sure you don't mind sharing with us,' he said as he reached for a pastry.

'Well, I did make more than can person can eat,' Ludwig acquiesced, taking one for himself.

Somehow, by the next morning, when Ludwig intended to heat a pastry for breakfast, they were all gone.

'Oh my god, you're a baby!' Feliks laughed as he read the birthdate on Ludwig's student card.

'Give my wallet back,' Ludwig groaned, attempting to grab it off Feliks, who merely darted out of the way.

'Hey Francis!' Feliks called. 'Ludwig here is a year younger than me.'

'That's interesting,' Francis didn't appear to have listened to what he'd said, busying highlighting a textbook.

'Feliks, stop messing around, I'm late to class,'

Francis looked up from his book at this point and smiled devilishly.

'Hi, "Late To Class", I'm Francis,'

Ludwig resisted the urge to throw something heavy as Feliks burst into howls of laughter.

The Student Services office was near empty. Half of the harsh fluorescent lights were either blown or flickering and the entire place screamed that it was in need of some seriously funding.

'Hello, how can I help you today,' the assistant at the window wearing a name tag that said "Eduard" asked.

'Err, I have some inquiries about the residential program. You see, I'm currently residing in one of the college subsidised units and—'

'Oh wow, you're so lucky! I applied for those two years in a row and didn't get one… Sorry please continue,'

'And I'd like to transfer to one of the dorms if possible—'

'Why on earth would you want to do that?' Eduard almost exclaimed.

'Roommate problems,' Ludwig replied flatly.

Eduard looked sympathetic.

'Look, I know this isn't what you wanted to hear but; you should probably try to get along with them,' he looked around his desk and put together a sizeable amount of paper. 'This is all the paperwork you'll need to fill out if you want a transfer, and even then it could take months because the department doesn't give two shits about us. They'll also keep your deposit on the unit and make you pay the dorm fees at the same time. You can have the paperwork, but it's not worth it if you ask me.'

'Thanks,' Ludwig muttered as he took the stack of paper. 'I'll need to have a think about this,'

'Don't rush it,' Eduard called after him as he walked away.