"Heya, Callie..." came Sam's low drawl over the line. "You finished class?"
Callie was currently walking the corridors of the university with her phone pressed to her ear. Sam had rung her just as she had left her last seminar of the day.
"Yeah, just now." She informed him, smiling at the random phone call. "Why? Something wrong?"
When he hummed in response, she felt her smile waver. "What?"
It turned out, Sam had forgotten to take his key that morning and was currently locked out of the apartment. Russ was out of town playing a game against another University. He wouldn't be back til tomorrow evening.
Sighing down the receiver, Callie told Sam to sit tight. The walk from the School of History to Snowdin Apartments wasn't far.
When the newly repaired elevator chimed as it reached the third floor, she stepped out and looked down the corridor to see Sam leant against the locked door to apartment 6.
"Your knight in shining armour is here," Callie smiled, as she sauntered across the carpeted floor towards him.
"My hero." He grinned back, pushing off the door as she reached into her bag for her key.
It had been almost 3 months since she'd transferred to U.A and moved in with the Gaster brothers. In that time, there hadn't yet been a single hitch in their living arrangements. Well, she'd had to snap at the brothers once or twice when their bickering interrupted her studying, and a few times more when they did things like drink from the milk carton or leave the used butter knife on the chopping board. But other than the little things, no drama had ever taken place.
In fact, she found living them had made her the happiest in a long time. It felt good to maintain a steady routine and actually look forward to crossing the threshold to her home. When she lived with her father back in hometown, she had dreaded the end of her classes knowing she would have to return to the smell of stale booze, cigar smoke and the sound of her dad's slurred ranting. She would lock herself in her room and pray the next day came quickly. Nowadays, she enjoyed lounging on the couch while Sam mumbled over his assignments and Russ lifted weights by the window. She would tickle the nape of Sam's neck when his quiet mumbles turned into frustrated growls. Her gentle touch soon quietened him and made him finish his work rather easily afterwards. And once her tickles sent him off to sleep, she would slip away and help Russ make dinner after having handing him a towel and a glass of water. Russ would smirk at the way her eyes seemed to automatically drift over to Sam's sleeping form whenever she thought his younger sibling wasn't looking. She would play coy when she caught his eye.
"What?" She'd mumbled, turning her face to hide her blush.
"Nothing," he'd chuckle in response. And they'd both exchange a knowing smile while Sam sighed contently in his sleep.
As her fingers scraped the bottom of her handbag as she and Sam briefly shared their day's experience, the familiar sound of her keychain jangling did not greet her ears.
"Sup?" Sam asked, eyeing Callie's furrowed brows as she continued to dig around in her bag.
"I..." she began, swinging her bag around so that she could now use two hands to search it. "I can't find my keys."
Purse, phone, tissues, chapstick, tampons, hand mirror, headphones...
An image of her keys sitting on the end of breakfast bar flashed in her mind. She cursed under her breath.
"Whoops..." Sam breathed as he watched Callie slump her shoulders. "So much for my knight in shining armour."
Callie rolled her eyes at her own sloppiness; she'd been in a rush this morning after having woken up only 30 minutes before class. She and Sam had stayed up late last night watching a movie, the ending of which she didn't remember as she'd fallen asleep on his shoulder. He'd shaken her awake gently and she'd apologised sheepishly for the drool on his hoodie.
"So..." Sam droned, hands in his pockets and chin tilted as he rocked on the balls of his feet. "I suppose we're couch surfing tonight?"
Callie ran a hand through her hair, dropping her hip with a huff. "But everyone we know left to go to the game; Kirishima, Sero, Bakugo, Deku..."
Even her girls Mina and Ochako were away with the cheer squad.
"What about Jirou and Kaminari?" Sam suggested, scratching his chin.
She shook her head and grumbled. "I don't have their numbers." And besides, she thought to herself, although she'd spent a lot of time with the musical duo, she wasn't as close to them as the others. She wouldn't have felt comfortable asking to stay with them.
Sam sucked his teeth. "Welp."
Turning her squinting yellow eyes towards his blue ones, she asked him if he had any bright ideas.
"What about Touya?"
As soon as she suggested this, those blue eyes seemed to slide out of focus as a frown graced Sam's features. She imagined visions of what Touya's house must look like flitting through his mind as he groaned in thought. He practically shuddered when he told her he'd rather sleep on the doormat. Was Touya's place really that bad?
"Have you even been to Touya's place before?" She asked, quirking a brow at his reaction to her suggestion.
"No, and I can't say I'd like to."
She found herself smiling despite herself. They had a funny friendship, Touya and Sam, to say the least. Looking at them, they seemed like a likely pair; if you kinda squinted. Touya was tall and lanky, often dressing in dark clothes that always gave him that typical bad-boy aesthetic; ripped skinny jeans and leather. His piercings and silver jewellery added that extra bit of spice that all the girls, except Mina, seemed to love. Sam, on the contrary, was a whole head shorter, yet broader in the shoulders. He dressed in colours as cool and as laidback as him. He favoured comfort and practicality over bold fashion statements. Callie thought Mina's nickname of 'Geek Chic' wasn't too far from the truth. Although, there was a touch more skater-boy style to him than that. With his fair features and minty scent, Sam was like a chilled breeze to Touya's flames. A recipe for a bad time, you would have thought. But in fact, they balanced each other quite well. In a precarious sort of way.
After debating their options, they decided on calling up a few local locksmiths, as well as their landlady. However, the former quoted them an extortionate amount of money for a call-out, while the latter told them she was on holiday and couldn't help them.
"Well, it's safe to say we both know where this is going." Callie sighed, taking out her purse and flicking through the few notes she found inside.
*
The motel room was okay, considering the small amount of money the had between them to pay for the room. It was just on the outskirts of campus, not too far from the cafe Callie and the girls would sometimes have lunch at. The young, female receptionist had eyed them both curiously when they walked in with no bags or luggage to be seen, other than Callie's handbag.
"Just one night?" She asked, clearly trying to hide her suspicious smile. Callie couldn't help but feel a little insulted that she thought this was some kind of hook-up. But, not wanting to waste her breath on explaining their situation, she'd simply nodded and taken the key from her when she slid it across the desk.
They receptionist hadn't even asked them if they wanted separate beds and had given them a double room on the ground floor. Not that it mattered to either of them, they'd shared a bed before and fallen asleep together on other occasions. However, there was something about the seedy surroundings that made Callie feel a little awkward when the door closed behind them.
The room was small and had a funny smell that she couldn't quite identify but didn't want to dwell any time on guessing. There were holes in carpets and a crack in the mirror which was placed in a questionable angle to the bed. A tiny T.V sat in the corner of the room and an old looking lamp glowed from its spot on top of a coffee-stained side-table.
Luckily, that's where the stains stopped. At least to the naked eye as Callie dropped her bag onto the bed. It was seemingly clean, though a little squeaky, as she flopped onto it and kicked off her boots. When she laid down, she felt the springs poke her spine.
Well, you get what you paid for. And at least it beat sleeping on the doormat like Sam had jokingly suggested.
"How is it?" Sam smirked as he watched her wriggle around with a frown.
"I suppose I'll only really know tomorrow morning," she answered, propping herself up on her elbows and poking at a spring that was threatening to push through the fabric.
Sam chuckled. "Alright. Well, I suppose I'll be the one to brave the bathroom first, hm?"
When he opened the door, Callie took it as a good sign that he hadn't yelled in surprise or snorted in disgust.
"Well..." his voice called over the whir of the extractor fan. "It'll do. But I doubt you'll be wanting to soak for hours in this bathtub like you do in ours."
And when she stuck her head around the doorframe to inspect, she understood what he meant. Their tub back at their apartments wasn't exactly luxurious, yet the motel one made it look that way. It was a ruddy shade of olive green and had a little rust around the edges. The silicone sealant was peeling away in places and the shower head fixed to the wall was small and crooked.
"Yeah. I think I'll pass," she said as her nose crinkled. "You knock yourself out, though."
Less than 10 minutes later, Sam re-emerged from the small, steamy room with a towel in his hand. He was rubbing it over his wet hair as he crossed the room dressed back in the same black and white sweatpants he'd left the apartment in that morning. After all, they had no change of clothes. This made Callie realise that she'd either have to sleep in her underwear or her blouse and jeans, both of which seemed like uncomfortable options. For two very different reasons...
As she debated her options, she hadn't noticed that Sam was stood with his hand out to her, holding something in his fist.
"Here," he quipped, giving the item a little shake.
It was only when she lifted a hand to take it from him and raised her eyes that she understood what it was.
In the entire time she'd lived with the brothers, she'd never once seen Sam out of his oversized, comfy attire. Sure, she'd seen him in boxers and a t-shirt, but even then the latter was never something remotely fitted; nothing at all like the tight shirts Russ liked to wear to show off his muscular build. And only lately had she found herself shamelessly daydreaming about what kind of physique lay beneath Sam's preferred style of clothing. The first time the thought occurred to her, she'd found it difficult to look him in the eye at dinner that same day.
And the same problem faced her now. For stood before her, holding out his t-shirt to her, was a topless Sam.
Before she could catch herself, her eyes had automatically fallen to the large, mean-looking scar that stretched across the majority of his chest. The uneven, pinched skin had a pearlescent shine to it in the places that weren't tinged heavily with purple. Clearly the result of some sort of burn, Callie swallowed loudly and finally managed to raise her eyes to his.
She was thankful to see that he was smiling before he turned away to hang the damp towel back up.
"When I was a kid, I managed to get into my dad's lab and I accidentally knocked over his stuff. Luckily, the acid missed my face..." That same face was grinning that handsome, lazy grin that made her heart beat faster whenever she saw it, and continued in a casual tone, "but it covered me pretty badly from the neck down, as you can see."
She felt her fingers grip the t-shirt he had given her a little more tightly as she imagined the pain of it.
"Dad came running when he heard me screaming. When he rushed to pick me up, he managed to get some on his face though." And Callie remembered Professor Gaster's lopsided face and suddenly felt a rush of pity towards him. How horrific that ordeal must have been for the both of them. Surely that would have brought father and son closer together? Yet, Sam and his dad never seemed to see eye to eye.
"Once he found out I was going to live, he spent the rest of the days that followed blaming me for ruining his experiment." Sam said easily, propping himself on the T.V stand and folding his arms across his bare, heavily scarred chest.
"And you still chose to study physics and chemistry at U.A?" Callie frowned curiously, "despite knowing that your dad taught it?"
Sam gave one of his low, easy chuckles. "Well, there was a reason I snuck into his lab that day..." he stated, lifting one of his broad shoulders, "I really like science."
Callie managed a weak smile, trying not to look too soppy and sympathetic. Then, an idea to lighten the sudden shift in mood popped into her head and the words left her mouth before she could ponder whether or not they were appropriate.
"Well, I'm glad you got that off your chest."
And at the sound of her audacious pun, Sam's face turned from startled to smiling.
"How dare you," he said through a grin and lowered eyelids. And he whipped off his glasses and set them aside as a mischievous glint flashed in his eyes.
Callie shrieked a laugh when he strode over to pick her up and throw her further up the bed.
The play-fight ended with breathless laughter as she and Sam fell back into the pillows.
"I'd like to think I won that round." Callie declared, swinging her legs over the bed and getting to her feet.
"Only because you bit me." Sam retorted, his hands going behind his head.
The bickering continued as Callie made her way to the bathroom to have a quick wash and change into the T-shirt Sam was lending her for the night. It just about covered her butt, so long as she didn't lift her arms too high. This time, when Sam's eyes glanced her bare legs as she walked back into the room, she felt herself flush. And unlike how he had done so often before, this time he didn't.
The bed springs groaned again as Callie got in beside him, pulling the covers over her lower half as she did so.
"That's the sound of luxury right there." Sam joked as the bed squeaked as she shuffled to get comfy. At least the sheets were soft and the pillows relatively fluffy.
"Yeah. That's the sound of a good night's sleep," she smirked back.
"Or countless couples' lack there of."
Callie grimaced deeply. "Ew, Sam." She swatted at his arm as he chuckled.
"Sorry."
Their shared laughter was then interrupted by the low rumble of hungry stomachs. Callie placed her hand over hers and hummed in thought.
"How much money do we have left?" She asked.
It turned out, not much. But Sam reached for his phone and opened his banking app. "Lemme check my account."
With enough money for pizza, Calli wasted no time in ordering some food. They settled on a simple margarita after the unavoidable debate of whether pineapple should go on pizza. Callie was all for the combination while Sam teasingly called her a freak.
When there was nothing left but the odd crust and empty cans of beer, Callie and Sam turned on some music and continued their talk late into the night. Together, they laughed as they messed around with face filters on Callie's phone and scrolled through the hilarious results. They also took some nice photos, one of which was of Callie wearing his glasses with a closed-eyed smile while he grinned his signature grin next to her. After admiring the cute photo, she removed the rounded spectacles and turned to him.
"They look better on you," she told him when she returned them gently to his face.
There was an awkward moment that followed, upon which she found herself with her hand placed lightly at his cheek. She didn't fail to notice the way his tongue poked ever so slightly between his teeth when his gaze dropped to her parted lips.
It wasn't until they were now close enough that she could make out that lone freckle just above his top lip that she realised they'd been slowly closing the distance between them this whole time.
She let her eyes close just as she saw Sam's lips twitch a small smile as he tilted his head...
The abrupt sound of her phone vibrating against the hard surface of the bedside table made her almost jump out of her skin. She turned her head at the same time Sam did, hers towards the incoming call while his faced the opposite wall with a closed-eye sigh.
Muttering nervously about who would be calling at this late hour, she swiped her phone screen to answer and placed the device to her ear just as a loud greeting sounded down the line.
"Hello Calli!" It was Russ. But in the background, she could also make out Kirishima and Sero's loud voices.
"Oh hey, Russ." She replied, causing Sam to turn back to face her at the mention of his sibling's name. "What's up? Did you guys win?" Though she needn't have asked as the chant the rest of the boys were singing clearly stated that they had.
"Of course we did!" He bellowed, causing Callie to pull the phone away from her ear ever so slightly. "I tried to call Sam earlier but it went straight to voice mail!"
Yes, Sam's phone had died not long after he'd transferred some money on his banking app.
"Oh yeah, well his phone is out of battery. I'll remind him to charge it."
As the phone passed from one inebriated friend to the another, Callie chose not the tell them that she and Sam were currently bunked up in a motel room together. She just knew how they'd interpret it.
Then again, they wouldn't have been wrong. Hadn't she just been inches from kissing him before they rang? She shook the thought from her head as Mina bid her goodbye.
As she hung up, Callie glanced the time; It was just gone 2am.
"Oh dear. We should probably get some sleep. I have a lecture at 9am." She was still feeling slightly flustered by the memory of Sam's lips barely brushing hers. He, on the other hand, looked as relaxed as ever as those same, tempting lips pulled into a playful smile.
"I'd probably sleep better in a history lecture than I will in this bed." He teased.
"Har, har, very funny!" She sang, rolling her eyes towards him and finding comfort in his regard. "History is great, I'll have you know."
A flash of even, white teeth. A squint of snake-like eyes.
"If you say so."
And despite the fluttering in her stomach, she managed to finally settle down beside him and sleep through til morning.