*This is James/OC, there's some homoerotic undertones, don't like it, don't read it, blah blah. Please comment, I'm not sure what I'm gonna do with this yet…*

As I walked up to the old wooden door, I doubled checked the address I had scrawled down on a piece of paper. The little house looked a less cheery than it had looked on the grainy picture in the corner of the flyer. I saw this flyer on a bulletin board in a coffee shop, advertising a house with a room for rent. It was in a decent part of town, only a short walk from most of the college buildings, and, most important of all, it was cheap. The downside was that, according to the flyer, I'd be sharing the room with four roommates. Four. But I figured that was the trade-off for a cheap, decent place to live.

The flyer said that it was a three-bedroom house with two and a half bathrooms, and all of the necessities. I was very excited to find a place that ended up being cheaper than the dorms at the college. There was no way that I could afford to almost double the cost of tuition; I was already taking out enough loans to keep me in debt until the day that I die. I knocked on the door, hopeful and nervous at the same Rainere.

It felt like I'd been waiting for hours before someone finally came to the door. A boy in his mid-twenties with blonde hair and dark brown eyebrows, wearing a grey t-shirt and flannel pajama bottoms looked at me and asked "Can I help you?"

"Uh, yeah, hi. Uhm, I saw this flyer that said that you have a room for rent here, but all of the little tags with the phone number were ripped off, so I figured I'd just come over and see- if there's a better Rainere that I could come over, I'd be happy to…" I stumbled awkwardly before trailing off into an awkward silence.

The boy seemed to think for a minute before sticking out his hand. "I'm Kendall," he said.

"Oh, I'm Rainer," I said with some relief.

"Do you want to see the place? It's kinda dirty right now, but if that's okay with you…"Kendall said.

"Sure! Yes, that'd be great," I said, a bit too enthusiastically.

He showed me around the little yellow house. All of the floors were wood, except for the kitchen and bathroom, which had tiles. It had a big living room with a large TV, a couch, a little table, and some chairs, none of which seemed to match. The kitchen was similar, and the half bathroom. He showed me up a creaky set of steps to the upstairs, which had a sunny little open room on the left with a little green loveseat and an almost empty bookcase. A long hallway ran from the stairs, and past the sunny library, beyond which were two doors on the left, a door on the right, and a door at the end of the hall. "There are two bedrooms on the left, a bathroom at the end, and the master bedroom on the right, which has a connected bathroom," Kendall explained. "We still haven't quite worked out which room is for rent."

We walked back downstairs, and Kendall flopped down on the sofa before motioning for me to join him. "So, what do you think?" he asked.

"It's great! I'm surprised it's so cheap," I said, probably hurting any chance I had of lowering the price.

"Well, four roommates is a big consideration. I mean, that takes up a lot of space," Kendall said.

"I definitely wouldn't mind. I grew up with a brother, and there were always lots of people in and out of our house, so I'm used to sharing space," I said, further damaging my chances of getting a better price. I just couldn't stop myself from talking, because I was so excited.

Kendall went on to explain some of the technicalities about food, electric, water, and who pays for what. I got a little overwhelmed with all of the things I hadn't considered about renting a house. "So, do you have any questions?" Kendall asked, stretching his arms behind his head. I couldn't help but take notice of his flexed muscles, and the few little hairs sticking out from his sleeves. I tried to focus.

"Uhm, can you tell me anything about the other roommates?" I asked, focusing on his face.

"Yeah, they all go to the college as well. It's kind of nice having the college integrated as part of the city, 'cause then you can live in the city for cheaper. They're all guys, too," Kendall said.

"Uhm, okay…"I said, unsure of what to do. I suddenly felt like I had no idea what I was doing, and realized how big of a step I had just taken.

"So, how do you feel? Do you want some Rainere, or…" Kendall asked.

"I…I think that I could see myself here," I said, hopefully.

"Great!" Kendall said. "So, you okay with the price and everything?"

"I guess," I said. "I work at one of the stores in the city, and I usually make enough to cover rent and food and everything, and I've got a little saved up in case I can't make ends meet."

"Alright! So can you stay for just a little bit, and wait for the others to get back so we can decide which room you'll be renting?" Kendall asked, seeming a bit cheerier.

"Uhm, yeah," I said, glancing at my watch. I did some mental calculations and figured that I'd have to take a later bus to the suburbs.

We waited and talked together for a few minutes. Kendall said that the other two roommates should be back in just a few minutes, because their classes would have just let out. He called up the stairs for the one roommate that was already in the house. Another boy in his mid-twenties came bounding down the stairs. He was much shorter than Kendall, who was about half a head taller than me. This boy was even shorter than me, with short brown hair and a Hispanic look about him. He had excited brown eyes and seemed to be full of energy.

"Carlos, this is Rainer. Rainer, this is Carlos," Kendall said, gesturing appropriately.

"Hi!" I said, smiling brightly and giving a little wave.

"Oh, hey," Carlos said, also smiling.

"Rainer is gonna be the new renter," Kendall said.

"Good, we almost couldn't pay next month's rent!" Carlos said.

Kendall threw a pillow at him. "Shut up!" he said, obviously trying to keep his position of power.

Carlos dodged the pillow and went into the kitchen. "Does anyone want anything while I'm up?" he asked politely.

"Nah," Kendall yelled back.

"Uhm, no thanks," I said, trying to sound polite.

The three of us sat around talking for a little while before someone else walked in through the door. He was also in his mid-thirties, with spiky dark hair and pale skin. He had dark eyes and looked tired. He noticed me and waved. "Hey, I'm Logan."

"I'm Rainer," I said, trying to seem polite yet casual.

"Oh, Logan, this is Rainer. He's gonna be renting a room," Kendall said, twisting to look at Logan without moving too much.

"Good, we were almost going to be evicted," Logan said nonchalantly as he set down his backpack and flopped down into a chair.

Kendall shot him a look. Apparently I could have still asked for a lower price, but I didn't dare. However, it was nice to know that they wouldn't throw me out, and that they needed me as much as I needed them. We all continued to talk and I got to know each of the guys better. Kendall seemed somewhat lazy, and very relaxed and chill. Still, it seemed like he could be easily motivated to get into a project. Logan seemed smart and carried himself with a certain uptight quality. Carlos appeared to be more active and energetic; the type that gets into trouble and would end up on youtube. I felt kind of awkward, because I'd never lived away from home before, and I felt kind of attracted to each of these guys. I wasn't sure if they'd be okay with a gay roommate, but I figured that it was pretty obvious by now that I was gay. I definitely took no measures to hide my flamboyancy. I figured I could keep myself under control around them, and hopefully get to see them more as family, thereby no longer feeling attracted. Finally, after a few more minutes, the final renter walked through the door.

The minute he walked in I could feel my face turn bright red and my head got light. He was gorgeous. He had long, light brown hair which was perfectly arranged on top of his perfect head. His face was angelic, with perfect, masculine features that had a gentle and perfect quality to them. He was quite tall, perfectly dressed, and had a big, perfect frame with bulging, tanned muscles. He was…perfect.

I felt stupid for thinking that. I didn't even know him, how the hell can I tell that he's perfect? For all I know, he could be a serial killer, just waiting for me to look away so he could kill me and stuff my body into the fridge.

I kept telling myself that he was a deranged killer as I watched him take off his jacket and put down his backpack. He looked around and noticed me sitting in his living room. I blushed even deeper, feeling very lightheaded as I felt his eyes on me. I had to remind myself how stupid it is to feel like this about a total stranger. Still, I looked away.

"Oh, this is Rainer," Kendall said. "He's our new roommate."

"Hi Rainer," this angel said to me. His voice was soft, yet approachably sweet, like seraphim. "I'm James."

I looked up to where he was sitting. I felt embarrassed while looking at his face. I reminded myself once again how ridiculous it was to feel so strongly about someone I've never met before. Still, I could feel all of the blood in my body rushing to my face. "I-I'm Rainer."

James laughed. "So I heard."

If it were possible, I would have blushed even more. I diverted my gaze, trying to do so without making it obvious. I realized then that I must look pretty ridiculous. I tried to compose myself. I took a deep breath to clear my head. I inhaled the aroma of James. It was almost sweet, with a masculine edge to it. It made me even dizzier.

"So, we have to work out the living situation," Kendall said. "Only one person can have their own room now. At the moment, James and Logan have their own rooms, and Carlos and I share the master room," Kendall clarified for me.

"So, which one of you is gonna take a roommate?" Carlos asked, eyeing Logan and James. My shoulder hunched and I got self-conscious as I realized that I was an imposition. I had to remind myself that they also needed the money.

I glanced up and saw that James seemed to have noticed how I was feeling. "I'll take him," he volunteered cheerily. I could feel my heartbeat quicken at the thought of living with him. In the same room as him. Sharing a bathroom. And a bedroom. With him.

Everyone looked at Logan. "Well, I don't know if I could fit another person in my room," he said. "I've got all of my books and my stuff for my dissertation."

"Alright, it's settled," Kendall said, sitting up. "Rainer will move into James' room."

Everyone seemed to break off then, going to do their own thing. James stood up and leaned over me. "Do you wanna come see where you'll be staying?" he asked, obviously reading my lack of confidence.

"Uhm, sure" I said, feeling like I wanted to cry. For a brief second as I followed him up the stairs, I felt as if I wanted to leave. Like I could just turn around and run, and become a funny story for the four of them to tell. I felt like I didn't want to deal with it. Or like I couldn't. But I figured I'd see where it went. In the back of my mind, something was hoping for a dramatic love story. I shoved that thought away and tried to focus on the more present goal of getting everyone to like me.

"So, this is my-er, our room," James said. He opened the second door on the left of the hallway to reveal a quaint little room with a semi-lofted bed, a desk, and a little dresser. He had minimal decorations. "Just give me a second." He opened the closet to reveal a huge line of clothes and shoes and accessories. He pulled a hamper out from it and began throwing clothes into it, and organizing everything that seemed out of place. He then rearranged the furniture so that it only took up half of the room. "There, do you think all of your stuff will fit into this area? There's another closet over there. I'll do some more arranging to empty it out for you.

"Okay, thank you very much. I really appreciate it," I said. I had a bad tendency to over exaggerate my gratitude, especially when I was nervous.

"So when do you think you'll be moving in?" James asked.

"Uh, Kendall said that I could move in as early as possible, so probably tomorrow," I said.

"Sweet," James said casually.

We stood around a little bit before I made my excuses and let myself out, telling Kendall when I'd be back the next day to move in. I left the house and made my way to the bus stop with my head full of hopes and awkward dreams.