(A/Ns: look. it's another fic swap! aha but this one is with nualie on tumblr because hey why not switch things up? xD sorry if new fics/updates on nepenthe are slow, i started my new college this week.

please drop a review if you can!

contant warnings: some light internalized homophobia, probably swearing, mentions of drinking.

disclaimer: i do not own pandora hearts)

Satisfied

It was only his first day on campus, and Elliot was already lost.

In all fairness, it wasn't his fault. The stupid teacher he'd enrolled with had done nothing but give the name of his room, and a terribly drawn, disproportionate map of the campus. Great help that was, of course.

Now, he was left wandering aimlessly in search of the building he presumed he was searching for.

"Elliot!"

Brilliant.

"What do you want?" he grumbled, glancing down at the blonde beside him bursting with energy.

"You didn't tell me you were coming here!"

"Yeah, well…." Elliot stammered for a moment, trying to put his next comment as nicely as possible. "I didn't know you'd be coming here. I didn't think you'd even be accepted at this place!"

"Aw…" Oz pouted, but not for long. "Well… surprise!"

"It's hardly a nice surprise…"

The two continued walking in silence, exchanging the odd glance. It was awkward, to put it bluntly; they hadn't seen each other in over a year, albeit neither of them had really changed.

"So…" Oz promptly put an end to that silence. "How have things been, since… you know…"

Elliot nearly froze. "Tch, since what?"

Oz averted his gaze, his usual energy abruptly dying. "You know what I'm talking about, Elliot."

Of course he knew what he was talking about. He just didn't want to talk about it.

About a year ago, under Oz's prompting before he moved away, Elliot came out to his parents.

The first person he'd told had been Oz, when he'd just turned 15 and found himself hopelessly crushing on the smart yet unpopular kid, like every other high-school cliché romance. Except, at the end of their GCSEs, he moved away. Elliot had never even learnt his name, but the disappointment was painfully evident that Oz stuck with him – much against Elliot's will.

About a year after that, Oz moved away too. But, not before he told Elliot to tell his parents; yes, he was still depressed about it.

His parent's reaction wasn't really one he'd wanted. They spewed the usual bullshit at him, like most upper-class, lowkey Christian households would: that it was a "phase", that it was unnatural. That wasn't even the start of it, and Elliot was sure Oz would be glad he'd moved away so he didn't have to hear about any of it.

The first thing his parents had done was send him to bible camp, in some sort of pathetic attempt to "cure" his homosexuality. It was tragically cliché, but as expected, it had done nothing productive. After that, they tried blanking him. However, considering his older adopted brothers – Vincent and Gilbert – were still at home at the time, and were living in the 21st century, he wasn't exactly restricted much.

Eventually, they caved, but only after a very painful year of arguments (mainly with a very defensive Vincent). It also helped Elliot's cause when he got accepted at the top University in the country to study Literature, and they could finally say he was worth something.

"It's… alright now," Elliot answered hesitantly, after a very long pause. "Vincent is more defensive than me, so… the arguments that got pretty ugly never really involved me…"

"Well… you're free now!"

"Fantastic," Elliot muttered unenthusiastically, as he remembered how his parents had oh-so-coincidently cut him off before he left.

"So… where's your dorm?" Oz said.

Elliot rolled his eyes and sighed heavily. "I have no idea."

"Hehe, great…" Oz chuckled, a hint of nervousness woven into his laugh. "Neither do I."

After wandering aimlessly for another half hour, Elliot and Oz eventually found the halls of residence, only to discover their rooms were opposite each other. And when Oz was studying Literature as well, and was still in Elliot's bad-books, that wasn't a good thing.

However, when Elliot took that first step into his dorm and spotted who his roommate was, his heart dropped; he was almost left wishing that Oz was his roommate. The thought of roommate swapping even crossed his mind briefly.

"Is there something you want to say?"

Elliot hadn't realised he was staring, until he was abruptly pulled from his trance by the hauntingly familiar voice.

There was no way this could be the same kid he'd hopelessly crushed on. But, nonetheless, it was. He still recognised the scruffy hair, the unpresentable clothes; the far-too-large glasses and the biting voice which still hadn't quite dropped, it seemed.

"N-No, never mind…" Elliot stuttered, tripping over his words. "Is this… er, room 208?"

The other stared at him, with an unimpressed expression spread across his otherwise nonchalant features. "Can't you read?"

Elliot blinked, dumbfounded. "What?"

"There's a rather large sign on the door," he said, chuckling to himself. "Interesting that you're doing a course in Literature. It's all about reading."

"Tch, it's not all about reading…"

"Isn't it?" The other pouted, and Elliot tried so hard (and failed miserably) not to find it cute. "What a shame. That's the only reason I'm taking it."

"R-Right…" Elliot found himself stammering again. "I'm, er… Elliot, your roommate, it seems…"

"Ah, I see," he chimed, leaving the bed and walking straight over to Elliot. Once he was there, he glanced up, seemingly inspecting him, before extending a hand out. "You can call me Leo."

I know, Elliot answered mentally, shaking his hand in response. He distinctly felt his heart skip a beat, but ignored it.

"Touch any of my stuff, and I don't give a shit," Leo said casually, briefly gesturing to the mess of belongings flung around his bed which could hardly be excused as unpacking. "If you touch my books, however," his tone suddenly turned… sinister, you could say, "I'll kill you."

Speechless, Elliot simply nodded.

When Leo picked up the book, he chose to remain silent; for some reason, his gut told him not to disturb the other when he was reading. Instead, he chose to begin unpacking his own belongings. After lugging that suitcase and trunk around for all that time, it was the first thing on his mind anyway.

Well, the second thing on his mind.

Before he started that though, first, he picked up his phone, and scrolled through his contacts until he found the one he was after.

[To Oz, 16:34]
Oi, shorty. You'll never guess who my roommate is.

Thankfully, after their rather awkward first encounter earlier, Elliot had been left alone all evening. Leo hadn't actually said where he was going. Rather, at about 8pm, after reading for about 4 hours straight without even a break for food, he'd finally put the book down, looked at his phone, and abruptly announced that he was going out.

Not that Elliot cared, or anything. At least he'd get a bit of alone time.

To make matters worse, apparently, the blonde across the hall thought that Leo's absence was an invitation to come over to 'keep him company'. Elliot was not impressed, especially when it was now gone midnight, and Oz had only just left.

So much to alone time…

With an audible huff, Elliot flopped down onto his bed. He hadn't even gotten the chance to look at his phone in the last few hours, but a tad disappointingly, he didn't have many notifications awaiting him.

Oh well. Might as well check Instagram whilst he was here.

The app took a while to load (he hadn't logged on in a while), but when it did, Elliot visibly spluttered at the sight of the first post.

At face value, it was only really a picture of one of his 'friends', Lottie, who spend a considerable amount of time out drinking. Needless to say, she'd already gone through the entire university experience whilst in college, so her even going to university seemed redundant to Elliot.

To be blunt, though, Elliot couldn't give less of a crap about Lottie and her one billionth selfie at a bar.

It was what was in the background which captivated his attention.

Leo, and another guy (so it seemed); with their tongues down each other's throat.

Great. Really fucking great.

Elliot felt his heart drop, the feeling of rejection instantly overwhelming him. And he felt jealous. Because, clearly, after 2 years, he still wasn't over Leo.

Leo, who just so happened to stagger back into his – their – dorm as that thought crossed his mind. Lagging, he blinked at Elliot, before closing the door without a single word.

"Y-You're back," Elliot said, swallowing down the lump which arose in his throat. Surprisingly, and contrary to his delayed reactions, Leo's aura didn't seem that drunk. In fact, he couldn't smell any alcohol at all. "Where the hell did you go?! A-And why are you back so late?"

"Drinking," Leo answered simply, dropping his keys and phone of the dresser and immediately proceeded to his bed, where his book still sat open on the same page he'd left it on earlier. "But… I don't drink, so it was a fairly redundant outing."

And then, within seconds, his attention was captured by the book, and Elliot's presence was once again irrelevant.

With a roll of the eyes, Elliot eventually mustered up the courage sit up, leaning against the wall. One arm stretched out across the window ledge behind his bed, he quickly reverted his eyes to his phone. Looking at Leo was too painful.

An awkward silence befell the two, but only for a minute or so.

"Just so you know, I do remember you."

Elliot froze the very second those words left the noirette's mouth.

… what?

Taking Elliot's silence as his cue, Leo promptly dropped the book. Then, without a word, he traipsed over to Elliot, curling up beside him.

And then he lulled his head onto Elliot's shoulder, and asked, "Did you hear me?"

"U-Uh, yeah…" Elliot stammered. Once again, he found himself unable to for a coherent reply. "I don't… understand, though…"

"Hm," Leo hummed, not moving a muscle. And Elliot didn't see to mind, either. So, he stayed there.

"How do you even remember who I am?!" Elliot blurted out, breaking the silence, much before he could stop himself. "Y-You didn't even know my name!"

"Of course I did," Leo countered, fiddling with a loose thread on the hem of Elliot's shirt. "You were my 'cliché-high-school crush', after all."

When he heard those words, Elliot was fairly certain he died inside a little.

He hadn't even realised that he was crying until he felt Leo's arms snake around his stomach; one around the back, and one around the front. It felt warm, despite the tears seeping from and stinging behind his eyelids.

Subtly, the arm which was previously on the window ledge fell to Leo's waist. And when Leo didn't even shift, he was sure something clicked between them, despite the nonchalant expression spread across his face which was nestled into his chest.

Words could not convey the atmosphere between them. The fluttering in Elliot's chest was undeniable, and if he weren't so flustered, he'd probably think that Leo's increasing heartbeat wasn't actually his imagination.

"So what…" Elliot sniffed, wiping his eyes partially dry. "What h-happens, um, now?"

Leo, keeping his gaze fixed on the wall opposite them, merely laughed. "Woah, slow down. We only just moved in together, heh."

His laugh made Elliot's heart skip a beat. He knew that, whatever his thoughts were supposed to mean, right now, he was being so, so cringy. But, that didn't matter.

Because, at the end of the day, for all the shit he'd gone through – both internally and externally – trying to come to terms with his crush, Elliot thought he deserved to be cringy, just this once.

Two weeks later…

"So, um… this is Leo," Elliot introduced, gesturing to the noirette beside him. "My, er… boyfriend."

Everyone in Elliot's admittedly small social circle was instantly intrigued. To not much of a surprise, Elliot had never been in a relationship before. Instead, he'd spent too much time wallowing about his crush.

Who… also happened to be standing right next to him, with his fingers laced within his.

"Congratulations!" Oz was the first to react verbally. "So, errr, did you remember who…?"

Before Oz managed to finish the question, both Elliot and Leo simultaneously gave the blonde a rather awkward, almost sheepish nod.

"So~" Lottie hummed, winking at Leo. "How'd you two come to be, hm~?"

"Hmm, it was complicated…" Leo tapped a finger to his lower lip, before a smirk began tugging at his face. "To put things simply, Elliot found a few pictures of me and some other guys, and got insanely jealous and started talking about his feelings a lot. And then, hm… yeah. I stopped rejecting him after about… a week."

"Oi," Elliot hissed, shooting a sidelong glance at his boyfriend. "You and I need to talk."

Fin.