"Now, Ludwig," Gilbert chided, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips, "just remember, if you hook up with some hot chick, make sure to bring her home and show her off to me."

Ludwig scoffed as he popped open the car door. "Please. I'm not going to get involved with any girls. I'm not going to let something as dumb as a girlfriend interfere with my plans."

Gilbert rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, brother. Just be sure to call me every once in a while! And visit sometimes, will ya? Don't leave your amazing older brother to die slowly and painfully out of loneliness."

"You'll be fine," Ludwig grumbled. Gilbert looked a bit hurt by his simple response, so he added, "You'll have Liz and your alcoholic friends to look after you. You'll be well off without me."

"It still won't be the same," Gilbert muttered, his voice gravely serious. A disheartened frown replaced his usual teasing grin, and he spread open his arms in an invitation for a hug.

Normally, Ludwig rejected any attempts at affection that Gilbert could offer. But it was rare for him to display any serious emotions, including sadness. And as cold of a person as Ludwig was, the look on Gilbert's face definitely tugged on a few heartstrings.

So, after a moment's hesitation, Ludwig shuffled forward, allowing his older brother to pull him into a hug. Though Gilbert was older, Ludwig was taller, and he had to lean down a bit in order to murmur to his brother, "Don't worry, I won't forget about you. I'll make sure to call you whenever I have free time, and I'll try to visit at least once a month."

"Once a month?" Gilbert echoed, sounding bewildered.

"At least," Ludwig repeated before breaking away. "Anyway, I'd better get going now," he muttered awkwardly, clearing his throat and stepping towards his vehicle. "Be on your best behavior while I'm gone."

Gilbert feigned shock, putting a hand to his chest and backing away slightly, as if Ludwig had deeply wounded him. "Are you implying that I'm usually not on my best behavior?"

Ludwig managed a small smile before getting into the drivers' seat and pulling the door shut behind him. He rolled down the passenger window in order to call out, "Goodbye, brother!"

As he pulled out of the driveway and started down the road, he could just barely make out his brother's voice. He could only really catch a few words, but he was pretty sure that what he heard was "Bring home a girl!"

"Room 252," Ludwig muttered to himself as he wandered through the hallways, glancing up frequently from the paper he was holding, scanning the plaques on the walls that were inscribed with numbers.

Finally, he found it: 252. A whiteboard hung dead-center on the door, and a dry erase marker sat precariously on top of the board. On the whiteboard, there were multiple doodles of cats, and a name was sloppily written in between a couple of the cat drawings.

Ludwig hesitated before taking the marker and writing his name too. He tried to make it look neat but, despite being a neat guy, he'd never had the best handwriting. Ah, well. At least his lines were straight, whereas his roommate's was curlier looking. Though, he had to admit, his roommate's letters seemed to flow together nicely. They still were sloppy looking though.

Placing the marker back on top of the whiteboard, Ludwig reached for the doorknob. However, as soon as his fingers brushed against the metallic surface of the doorknob, he froze. What if his roommate was getting changed? He certainly didn't want to walk in to that, and plus, it would be quite rude to just barge right in, even if it was both of their room.

So, he rapped lightly on the door. He stood silently for a moment, shifting the laptop case he held in his left hand so that he wouldn't drop it. When there was no answer from inside the room, he knocked again, this time a bit harder.

Still nothing.

Maybe he isn't in there, Ludwig thought to himself before slowly cracking open the door. He peered in, and immediately recognized his side of the room. There was simply a bed stripped of a sheet, and a bare shelf towering behind it.

He swung the door open the rest of the way; however, before he could even take a single step into the room, he froze. His eyes widened, his jaw dropped, and he nearly dropped his laptop case.

His roommate's side of the room was a complete and utter pigsty. Cardboard boxes were strewn across the floor, some lying on their sides, their contents spilling onto the carpet. A laundry basket sat in the middle of a crowd of boxes, a mountain of wrinkled clothes carelessly piled on top of each other. Stuffed animals seemed to have been randomly thrown about, most flocking beside the bed. On the bed was the creator of the mayhem, buried beneath his comforter, a stuffed animal snuggled against his face. The only part of him that was visible was his tousled light brown hair.

Ludwig had half a mind to storm right on over to his roommate and heartlessly rouse him from his slumber. However, he couldn't bring himself to do it. Maybe it was the stuffed animals, causing him to picture his roommate as a naïve child who hadn't meant to do any harm. Maybe it was because the mess was contained within his roommate's side of the room, so it wasn't really his problem.

Whatever the reason, he couldn't bring himself to wake him… and yet, he was inexplicably furious at him. How dare he make our room look like a tornado hit it! Ludwig snarled inwardly, dumping his laptop case on his bed. He's lucky he's sleeping!

Ludwig carried on that way, silently venting to himself as he as he hurried in and out of the dorm room, grabbing the boxes from his car and dropping them off into his room. When he finally finished moving his possessions into the room, he began to unpack, carefully stacking the notebooks on his shelf; making sure he sharpened each and every pencil before placing them in a little mug he had, the tips facing upward; making sure the front of his alarm clock was directly facing the front of his bed; etc.

When his side of the room was fit to his needs, he finally allowed himself to relax. At this point, it was getting pretty late. He glanced at his sleeping roommate, who must've slept right past dinner.

Thinking about dinner made Ludwig's stomach growl. "I guess I'm hungry," he muttered to himself, checking the time once more. The alarm clock read 9:23. "Curfew's at 11, right?" he wondered aloud, making his way over to the door. He opened it just enough so that he could peer out. He didn't see anyone in nearby, but he could hear a few voices echoing from further down the hallway.

He silently slipped out into the hallway, shutting the door behind him. He started down the hallway, not really knowing where he was going. He probably should have brought his map. He scoffed at his own thought; he didn't need a map to figure out where he was going. He was absolutely certain that he would soon know this school like the back of his hand. In fact, it would probably only take a few days before he could help other freshmen get to their classrooms.

He emerged from the hallway into one of the lobbies. A circle of people were standing around, talking loudly and laughing obnoxiously. Ludwig openly cringed at them before heading down another hallway, hoping that it led to the cafeteria. Thankfully, his sense of direction seemed to be outstanding, because the hallway led straight into the cafeteria.

He purchased a bag of potato chips, a soft pretzel, and a bottle of water. There were only a couple of other students in the cafeteria, sitting at a table in the far corner. Ludwig contemplated just taking his food back to his dorm and eating it there. But then he'd get either his bed or his floor covered in salt and crumbs! And what if he accidentally spilled the bag of chips all over the floor?

"I don't want to make a mess in my brand new dorm room," Ludwig grumbled. "I'll eat here." His decision made, Ludwig planted himself into the seat nearest to him. He popped open his chip bag and began to shove handfuls of chips into his mouth.

Halfway through his snack, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that the people on the other side of the cafeteria kept staring at him.

Feeling anxious under their gazes, he hastily finished the bag of chips. He crumpled the bag up and got up to throw it out. Honestly, he should've thought his actions through more. He should've waited until the group of staring students had left. However, it was too late. As he neared the trash can, his eyes accidentally locked upon a pair of green ones. It was all over.

"What are you looking at?" snapped the green-eyed boy, leaping to his feet so suddenly that Ludwig stumbled backwards in surprise.

He felt his eyebrows crinkle, partly in irritation and partly in confusion. "Me? You were the one staring at me!"

The boy stomped over to Ludwig, anger etched in his face. As he got closer, the first thing Ludwig noticed was the boy's thick, dark eyebrows. It was a comical sight, considering the boy's messy hair appeared to be naturally blonde. "You listen here, sideburns," spat the boy, jabbing a finger into Ludwig's chest. "I won't care for any of your funny business! If you're in any of my classes, you'd better keep well away from me. You probably won't be, though," he scoffed, before adding, "I'm guessing you're a big-shot football player. Hm? Am I right?"

Ludwig raised an eyebrow. As irritating as this boy was, he had to give him credit for bravery. He was a fairly short young man; the top of his head reached Ludwig's elbow. And he appeared quite frail as well, especially when standing beside Ludwig, whom was much more muscular. "Actually, I'm majoring in science," he answered simply, tossing his chip bag into the trash can. The shocked look on the boy's face somehow irritated Ludwig even more. So he quickly turned to walk away, not wanting to continue this unpleasant conversation.

Unfortunately, the boy quickly grabbed ahold of his sleeve, tugging him back towards him. "I'm not done talking yet," he growled.

That was it. Ludwig had had enough. He shoved the boy backwards, causing him to lose his grip and stumble towards the trash can. He nearly fell in, but luckily, he managed to catch his balance. "Don't touch me again," Ludwig ordered harshly. "And don't talk to me as if I'm lower than you. I'm taller than you, stronger than you, and, oh yeah, smarter than you. So you stay out of my way, and there won't be any trouble, alright?"

With that, Ludwig turned and stormed away. He snatched his pretzel and bottle of water off the table, making a quick and angry exit out of the cafeteria.

"Dumbass… I don't even know his name…" he grumbled to himself as he made his way through the hallways, shoving past other students, who would shoot him a bewildered look before carrying on as they were.

He soon reached his dorm room once more. He nearly threw the door open, but quickly remembered that his roommate was still sound asleep. So, he sighed loudly and deeply, trying to dispel the worst of his anger before entering the room quietly.

His roommate was sleeping soundly still. Ludwig guessed he would sleep through the night. Maybe the kid had been smart; if his classes were early the next day, then he was definitely getting a decent amount of sleep. More than decent, really.

I should get to bed too, Ludwig thought to himself, yanking his shirt off and stepping out of his pants. He changed into his pajamas and then climbed into his bed. He watched his roommate for a long moment, eased by the way the stranger's chest moved with each quiet snore. Eventually he drifted to sleep as well.