Drip, drip, drip.

Clay woke up on his first full day at University to the sound of water dripping onto…his bed!?

He quickly got up and saw that the crack on the ceiling he observed earlier was now leaking water right onto the pillow next to him. His bed was completely soaked. Clay pulled out his phone to see a message from his RA SapNap:

"Hello my fellow sussy bakas of the sus dorms! The showers aren't working in some of the rooms and there was some light flooding when one of the residents tried it out last night. We've already submitted an emergency maintenance request, but if you see that your showers aren't working or if you have any other problems with your new rooms, let me know! UwU"

Clay, putting down his phone, realized that the room above him must have flooded and caused the leak. He grabbed his crutches and hobbled over to the sleeping George. It was early in the morning, so it wasn't a surprise that he wasn't up. Clay peeked at his resting figure to see him snoring lightly, facing away from him. Nervous to wake up his new roommate, he gently tapped George on the face to see if he would respond.

George, eyes still closed, simply rolled over to face Clay. Clay looked down to see a tent in George's shorts. He blushed hard, seeing how well-endowed his roommate was.

"He supports Dreamsexuals and is packing!? Holy moly what a catch!" Clay thought to himself. He shook his lewd thoughts from his mind and turned his attention back to trying to wake George up.

"George!" Clay whispered loudly into his ear, still nervous about waking him up.

"Zzzz-Huh?" George muttered, finally waking up. His eyes opened to see Clay's face right in front of him. He smiled and began to speak.

"Blimey, mate—" George suddenly started coughing. Oddly, his initially British words were replaced by a very American accent: "Sorry about that, what's up Clay? Is your foot still bothering you?"

Clay simply gestured up to the leaking ceiling above his bed. George's eyes opened slowly as he realized why he had been woken up.

"Shoot! Is that a leak? We'll need to tell SapNap about this!"

Clay replied, "Yeah, I got a message from him saying that there was some light flooding from some broken showers. I think the room above us probably had that problem."

The dripping sound seemed to confirm Clay's theory.

George responded, "Well, I'll go call him and see if there's anything he can do. In the meantime, Clay, stay put. I don't want you putting any pressure on your broken foot." George got off his bed and he finally noticed the tent in his shorts. He looked up at Clay to his face reddening.

Clay tried to play off the moment by joking: "Well, it seems that at least one of us is excited to be up this morning." George, usually the cheekier of the two, blushed.

"Uh, gotta go! I'll be back with SapNap in a bit!" George left the room quickly with his hands covering his shorts. Clay, still a little red from that interaction, plopped himself on George's bed. With nothing to do, he laid his head down on George's pillow. He noticed that it was comfortable and…smelled good? He was on George's pillow for so long that he lost track of time. When the doors finally swung open, he lifted his head up to hide the fact he was smelling his roommate's scent.

George, entering the room to see Clay lift his head up quickly with a red face, misunderstood his embarrassment: "Clay! Don't worry about resting on my bed, it's early and your foot's broken. You're welcome to get on there whenever you want."

Clay only sighed in relief as his embarrassment was misunderstood. Behind George was their RA SapNap. He walked past George, took one look at the ceiling, and said: "Yep. It seems that the flooding in the floor above y'all is what caused the leak. I have some duct tape to stop the leak, and we can submit an emergency maintenance request to get that crack filled out by the end of the day. However…" SapNap paused to take a look at the puddle that had formed on Clay's bed. "...It seems there's water damage on the mattress."

SapNap then turned to face Clay and George: "I'm not sure how to say this, but Clay's bed is basically unusable for the next few days. He'll either have to find another bed or use yours." SapNap gestured to George, who raised his eyebrows in surprise at the news.

Clay, seeing George's reaction, suddenly started to speak up: "Oh no, that's not necessary at all. The beds here are too small, I can just sleep on the floor—"

"Absolutely not!" Clay's words were interrupted by an interjection from George. "Your foot is broken, I am not going to let you sleep on the floor."

SapNap, yawning, clapped his hands together to dismiss the two. It was early in the morning and he clearly wanted to go back to bed. "You two can work out whatever arrangement you want and I'll get everything settled regarding the leak. I'll get some duct tape from my room and plug it up while the maintenance request processes." He left the room briskly, leaving Clay and George alone in silence. After a few seconds, the silence created an awkward atmosphere between the two.

"So–" "Well—" The two interrupted each other and Clay gestured to let George speak first.

"I'm responsible for breaking your foot, so you can take my bed. I'd feel awful if I let you sleep on the floor with a cast while I hog the bed," George started.

"Well, I'd feel bad if I just took your bed while you slept on the floor. It's not even your fault that I dropped the fridge on my foot. You saved me from falling but it was completely my fault that my hand slipped," Clay replied.

"It wasn't your fault at all! I should have been more careful with you. If I had just held you tighter–" George seemed to automatically grab Clay's hand to emphasize his point. As the two boys touched, however, George suddenly realized what he was doing and ripped his hand back in reaction. The two looked up at one another and their faces started to turn red.

"D-don't worry about it. I'll just take the floor and you'll have your bed. It's not your problem," Clay responded, not making eye contact with George.

The two must have been having this back-and-forth for a while because they were suddenly interrupted by SapNap barging into their room. He opened his mouth, responding to the two's argument: "Why don't y'all just share beds until everything's fixed up?" The two shut up and looked at each other as SapNap nonchalantly mounted Clay's bed to duct tape the ceiling. They maintained a tense eye contact until SapNap let out a satisfied sigh, "Got it! It's all fixed up now." He got up, looked at the two, and clapped his hands again to ease the silence.

"Alright, if you two have any more problems, let me know! Otherwise, I'm heading off to bed." SapNap impatiently exited the room, leaving the two boys alone for a second time.

They looked to one another and George tilted his head in consideration: "Y'know, SapNap's not wrong. If neither of us is willing to let the other sleep on the floor, we can always share beds."

Clay gulped, "B-but–" He let the sentence hang in the air, not having the words to finish his sentence.

"Do you hate me that much?" George asked, pouting to Clay. Clay, unable to respond, finally relaxed his shoulders and sighed.

"I–I'm not against sharing a bed with you for a couple nights."

"Alright! That settles it!" George said, smiling at Clay, "We'll be sleeping together for the next few nights." He winked cheekily at Clay, who only looked away in slight embarrassment. Clay, eager to change the subject, started to speak:

"Now that we've got that settled out, I'm too awake to go back to sleep. Wanna go get some food?"

George knew that Clay was trying to change the subject, but he was hungry as well and wanted breakfast.

"Sure! I'll help you walk and we can get breakfast together." He grabbed Clay's hands, without hesitation this time, and helped him off his bed. The two boys headed off to get food, Clay occasionally leaning on George for support. They walked for a few minutes to the Reitz Union, a center of restaurants in the University of Florida, and wandered around for a bit.

"Nice! I didn't know we had a Wendy's!" Clay said, pleasantly surprised.

"More like Wen-deez nuts!" George replied, eager to take the bait Clay had laid out. Clay rolled his eyes, but George was already moving to Wendy's. "I love the hamburgers they have here!" George said somewhat robotically, "It's so oily and…filled with calories."

Clay squinted his eyes in suspicion. He felt that something was off about George. Sometimes, like when he was surprised, he would speak in a British accent. Almost as if…he was pretending to be American. But why? His speculations, however, were cut short as George dragged him to order food.

Time seemed to fly by as the two boys ate and spent the day together. When they arrived back at their dorm, they finished moving everything to their room. George, still feeling guilty about Clay's foot, helped him move almost everything.

After Clay checked his car one final time to make sure nothing was left, he went back to their room. He saw George chuckling at his phone, swiping through what seemed to be old discord messages.

"What's up?" Clay asked curiously.

George quickly looked up and turned off his phone. He dismissed Clay's concerns, "Oh it's nothing. I'm just reading some old messages between me and a friend."

Clay couldn't stop a strange feeling from bubbling into his heart. Pushing it away, he asked casually, "A friend? What are they like?"

"Oh, he's a friend I only know online. I like him a lot but he seems to always pull away whenever I try to get close to him—Are you okay?" George suddenly stopped speaking, concerned about Clay.

"Oh yeah, don't worry, I just need to use the bathroom." Clay rushed out and locked the door. He looked at the mirror to see his face: he looked queasy. It wasn't just his face, however, he felt sick to his stomach. A million thoughts were running through his head:

'A friend? A male friend? Of course he already liked someone, you idiot! He's a hot, sexy, tall bisexual! He's probably got a hundred people lined up. A hundred people before me, at least. Even if he did treat me well, it's only because he feels bad. Once my foot is better and my bed is fixed, he'll probably treat me like a stranger.'

Negative thoughts swirling through his head, Clay washed his face and brushed his teeth. He looked back into the mirror, with a new determined look in his eyes.

'I'm not going to fall for my roommate. He may be charming, but he's only that way because he pities me. I'll get through the next few days and things will go back to normal. I've got to keep the mask on.' With his determination sealed, he went back to their room.

Clay looked at George, who was now changed into his pajamas. He got dressed into his nightwear as well, not looking or acknowledging George's existence. George, still concerned, couldn't help but speak up, "Are you alright, Clay? You looked a little sick? Do you need any help?"

"No, don't worry about it." Clay said dismissively. His voice was much quieter. George, picking up something was wrong, tried to get his mood up. He hopped onto his bed and patted the space beside him.

"Okay, Mr. Debby-Downer. Get over here and let's sleep together!" George gave his signature cheeky wink, but Clay wasn't affected. He just nodded his head and silently got on his side of the bed. He faced away from George, closing his eyes without a word.

George, feeling that something was off, ended his attempts to lighten the mood. 'Something's up with Clay tonight,' he mused to himself. He got up and turned off the lights beside his bed. The room was suddenly filled with darkness. He heard Clay's soft breathing beside him. Even though Clay was mad, that didn't stop George from whispering "Good night, grumpy pants" into his ear.

Even though Clay was facing away from him, George could still see the tips of his ears turn slightly red. Satisfied at having sufficiently teased his new roommate, George laid down and turned away from Clay.

'Maybe he's uncomfortable sharing a bed. I ought to give him some space,' George thought to himself. He maneuvered his body so there was more room between the two. Their breaths became softer as they drifted off to sleep.

And so the two boys, although they shared a bed, felt a great distance between each other.