Parabiosis - the (anatomical) joining of two individuals.

So, I didn't live in a dorm (but if my summer plans come to fruition, I might for ten weeks at most), but I did share a room with my sister while growing up. So I would say I have some experience for this.

Year One: Parabiosis

Atlantic Residence - 16:32 PM

Group Chat - Clint and His Redheads
Members: Clint, Merida, and Natasha

Clint: You're attending class, right?

Merida: Of course. What else would I be doing?

Merida smiles, chewing on her thumbnail as she watches her father type a response. Her knees come up to her chest as she leans against the wall, anticipating for a list of alternatives for when she skips class. When. She wasn't offended when her father asked because her high school attendance record wasn't exemplary. Besides, she likes what she's learning now … mostly. Introduction to Aviation puts her head in the clouds and she didn't even fly a jet yet. At least it's better than calculus.

The longer it takes for her dad to send the message, the more excited she gets.

But then the typing text bubble disappears. Merida only smiles more. She knows what that means.

Natasha: He's not going to give you any ideas.

Clint: I should've copied that message so I could send it to her privately.

Natasha: Like hell you are.

Merida: Should I leave this chat or -?

Clint: You already left us for university! Our house is empty! Please come home.

Merida: Was that on your list of things I can do to skip class?

Clint: It was the first one before your mother erased it.

Natasha: She just started. She doesn't have to come home yet.

Merida scoffs as the texting bubbles come to a pause. She guesses that her parents are arguing about wanting her at home versus letting her stay and get an education, only coming home when it works with her schedule. So her closest option is Thanksgiving which is two months away. But she doesn't like that because she hasn't been away from home for that long before. Merida goes back to the chat and starts messaging her mother in Russian. She knows that her mom is translating the messages to her dad, which is when he pipes in with a response a few moments later.

Merida looks away from her screen for a moment as Angela walks in. She closes the door behind her and walks over. Angela sees the Russian text but can infer enough about The Barton Family's group chat based on Clint's English responses and Merida's creepy smile aimed at her.

"You're texting in Russian but I know you're telling your parents about me," Angela says.

Merida continues typing. "I'm hoping they pass the word onto your parents."

-o-

Edison Residence - 17:00 PM

Daniel turns in his desk chair when he hears the door open. To his surprise, he sees James wearing his Operations training uniform. That's more shocking to him that the bouquet in his hands. Mistake, it's a bouquet in a bucket. Daniel didn't even think flowers could come in buckets but, apparently, they do. That's the moment he closes his textbook because he's putting way too much thought towards the bucket of flowers when there were more important questions to discuss.

James puts the flowers down on top of Daniel's closed textbook, brushing off the leaves that fell. "The delivery guy handed this to me, shrugged, and said I don't know."

Daniel looks at the card sticking out of the dirt and sees that it's from Emily as a congrats on the first-day gift. His heart warms up when he sees that it's addressed to fiancé and roommate from fiancée. James was happy that he was at least mentioned in the card.

"How do you water a bucket?" Daniel asks him.

"Not sure." James shrugs. "You're the smart one."

"This came without instructions."

James laughs. "Of course, it has no instructions. It's a bucket of flowers from Emily Stark."

"Would you water it if I was in class?"

"No. You're on the bottom bunk."

Daniel gives him a face because that's the weirdest reasoning he could've ever come up with for an argument. And he was going with it.

"What does that have to do with it?" Daniel asks. Might as well try a James debating technique. "You can fly!"

James mimics his earlier expression. "What does that have to do with it?"

"Ask some ants to do it."

"I left them at home."

Daniel almost facepalms. "There are ants in New Jersey!"

"I don't trust them."

-o-

Hudson Residence - 22:41 PM

"What are you doing tomorrow night?" Ashton asks Xavier.

Xavier didn't even have time to process Ashton returning to their dorm, let alone the question. And he seemed really eager too, hoping that Xavier would either have a clear schedule or be anywhere but the dorm room. He's almost scared to answer.

"Not sure," Xavier responds.

Ashton cheers for a bit. Xavier is still clueless about what's going on.

"Can you do me a favour?" Ashton asks.

Xavier hesitates. His gut tells him to say no because if he's starting a favour with two questions, it wasn't good news. But this is his roommate. Ashton would never do anything wrong, hopefully. Whatever. It's college. He could handle himself if worse comes to worst, which it likely won't.

"Sure."

"Great." Ashton takes a seat on the edge of his desk. "Okay, so I've been texting a girl I met in one of my classes. I finally asked her out for tomorrow night. The catch is that she wants it to be a double date since she doesn't know me that well, but I'm cool with that. Anything to make ladies comfortable, right? The problem is that I'm supposed to provide the date for the roommate."

Xavier didn't realize he was shaking his head the moment he heard the word catch. "Nope."

Ashton groans. "Come on, you said you'd do it."

"Before you told me what it was."

"You still said yes."

Xavier can't argue with that. He should've listened to his gut.

Nothing's stopping him from going on this date. He could go. He's single and in college with no plans for tomorrow night. His mind says yes, gut says should've asked first, and heart says no. He still loves Britney, even when they broke up. Their breakup wasn't instant. He saw it coming ever since she told him that she was going to Asgard after graduation. And when that day came, their breakup felt more like a business transaction than the end of their relationship. It was mutual. No one dumped the other. People told him that those are the easiest kinds of breakups but they're not.

And now he's zoned out from the favour and Ashton's notices.

"I think you're lonely," Ashton tells him.

Xavier straightens, suddenly feeling the need to be defensive. "I'm not."

"You have your longtime friends which is amazing, but you're also facing this discrepancy due to the absence of, let's say bro and best girl. Mostly best girl in this case. Studies have shown that it's not good for men to be alone. They need to find someone within two years."

Xavier scoffs, turning his back to his roommate. "It's been a few months. I still have time."

Ashton rolls his eyes and stops Xavier from leaving the room to escape this conversation. "Look, I'm not telling you to move on, but you should at least think about it. It'd be better if you thought quickly because it's tomorrow night."

"I just got out of a relationship. Being single is a time to heal."

"You said it's been months."

Xavier gives him a face and Ashton changes his strategy.

"Look, life's short to miss the chance to go on a date," Ashton reasons. "Or, better yet, it doesn't even have to be a date. Just hang out with her roommate."

"Can't you tell her to go with only the two of you?"

"The girl would only go out with me if she brought someone for her roommate."

Xavier pauses, eventually sighing in defeat. "You should've started with that."

"Damn. I thought I did."

Xavier walks back deeper into the room. He quickly checks the time and thinks that he has about a day to get his act together because he hasn't dated in months. He didn't even think about dating ever since Britney left. Did he and Britney even date when they were together? He only remembered hanging out and being in love with her. They never scheduled dates but they've done things that people would consider as dates. If they were free, they spent it together.

Forget the two-year relationship. He'll be walking into this with essentially no experience.

"Did you really do research for this conversation?" Xavier asks, referring to that mention about studies.

Ashton shrugs. "I heard it somewhere but it seems true based on you."