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— PLATE NO. 1
He was a looker.
That was Alver’s first thought when he saw his new roommate that moved in that day.
He was stunning, was his next thought when the guy walked in pulling in a trolley bag. He had shoulder length hair, and it was red. It wasn’t vibrant, nor orangey where he could’ve passed as a ginger. It was really red, like wine had spilled on his hair and it never went away. It was deep, it was dark.
At that time, Alver was just sitting in his swivel chair, staring at the ceiling as he swayed his seat. He could’ve done something better, but he knew that students were moving into the dorms that day. So like a good senior he was, he decided to wait for his new roommate.
The dorm landlord did provide a name, but he didn’t expect to see such a handsome guy—
“You’re my new roommate? Good day, and welcome to Rowoon U’s dorm!” He fumbled on his greetings, though only subtly. It took him at least a few seconds to stand up from his chair, and look as presentable as he could. The guy probably didn’t notice it, though (thankfully).
The freshman nodded towards him, and greeted him back. “Good day, too. And thanks.” And his voice, even his damn voice was handsome too.
But that was it.
Alver was still standing there when the redhead started opening his bags, then his cabinet, and he watched him place his stuff in one by one. Alver blinked. What about the introduction part? He read his name, but he wanted to hear him say it!
“By the way, my name’s Alver. Alver Crossman, a 4th year. I think you could pretty much guess that I’m your chosen roommate, which is pretty amazing in itself. How about you, what’s your name?” He spoke again, beamingly, giving the redhead the prettiest smile he could muster.
The redhead only glanced at him, then continued on what he was doing. “Cale Henituse. Freshman.” He briefly said, eyes on his hand piling clothes one after another.
Alver’s eyebrow twitched.
He asked him again, “So what’s your program?”
“Architecture.” He answered shortly again.
“Oh?” It was short, but that caught Alver’s attention now. Alver sat on the corner of his roommate’s bed, and seeing how the redhead lacked any major reaction about it, he probably didn’t mind. Alver continued speaking, “I’m from Architecture too! You got pretty lucky, huh? You just need to look at your neighboring bed for questions.”
The redhead looked towards him again, a folded shirt on his hand, then glanced towards the drafting table on Alver’s side of the room, then returned to what he was doing. “I guess.”
Man, he was dry to talk with.
Alver guessed that a pretty face needed flaws.
— PLATE NO. 13
The cafeteria was rowdy, with university students catching up within breaks that matched with each other’s schedules, and despite those, they were spending their vacants there. As a matter of course, Alver and his friends from, pretty much, the same department were spending their time there, eating, as well.
But for some reason, their course of topic had been about Alver, and his tweets on his social media account. And the subject of Alver’s tweets from a distant table, which was a certain redhead.
His friends, Whitira, Choi Han and Mary had been huddled together, stalking Alver’s twitter account like he wasn’t even there. Alver grumpily munched on his food, rolling his eyes towards them.
“What does this tweet even mean?” Whitira scrunched her face, her gaze still looking towards the phone on Choi Han’s hand.
“Is it the same boy you texted me about?” Mary asked, as she turned towards Alver.
There was a grin on his face, and he looked towards him as well, his fingers still scrolling on his touch screen for their other friend who was still looking. “He’s fooling around the freshmen, it seems.” Choi Han teased.
Whitira raised an eyebrow, her gaze turning back to the blonde. “You’re going for the kids, Alver?”
“What the fuck? I’m not!” Alver choked on his food, well, that was just him being exaggerated. He definitely looked offendedly surprised, though. “And he’s my roommate, okay?”
“I think he ’s actually here.”
“Where?”
“Just find a head with red hair!”
It didn’t take them long, and they spotted him immediately with what seemed to be his group of friends too. Alver also followed their trail of sight, even though he had long noticed the guy a few minutes ago, before they even bought their food, before they sat there and talked, before the topic even went to him. He was already stealing glances towards his redhead roommate with a handsome face.
“Shoot, he’s actually really attractive.” Choi Han said, with all of them sneaking glimpses.
(They weren’t. With all four of them looking, would one think they weren’t being obvious?)
Alver frowned, and maybe warned. “Hey.”
The black haired boy raised both of his hands, like a surrender, with a cheeky grin plastered on his face. Probably to further tease the blonde. “Whoops, lover boy’s mad.”
“He’s calling dibs to someone who just got out of high school, Choi Han. Let him be.” Whitira remarked, also making fun of Alver.
“Shut up, Tira.”
“Well, I’m calling dibs to the green haired gal.”
They kept on whispering among themselves, cackling, and looking when one of Cale’s friends noticed them (it was the one with the glasses) and told the others. Cale and his friends all looked back, and the redhead immediately met eyes with Alver. He evaded his gaze before he could even see the redhead’s small smile towards him. And of course, his own friends also looked away in embarrassment, with Choi Han excessively covering his face with a spoon. Obviously, that didn’t help.
It happened so fast, they would have broken their own necks. It made Mary giggle.
“What the hell? What are you guys, 17?” Whitira asked, preventing herself from looking back again, but failed. The redhead and his other friends waved their hands towards them.
“Then why are you also looking away?”
“Shut up, Choi Han! Also, stop waving your hand to them, Mary!”
Mary pouted. “Why? I’m being friendly.”
— PLATE NO. 22
He didn’t talk much, and was pretty much silent the whole time the both of them were left together.
During the redhead’s first week in the dorms, during the adjustment period that didn’t have classes yet, Alver thought he was sick. He barely stood up from his own bed, and Alver would find him in the same position he had left him in the day. Sometimes, his roommate would sleep through meal times and Alver hesitated in even waking him up.
By his fourth day there though, Alver did. It had been concerning. To his surprise, the redhead didn’t get mad or reacted negatively to it. He even said his thanks to the blonde for reminding him to eat, as he yawned cutely. Ah, but how could someone stay pretty with saliva marks and bed hair?
After that, the both of them ate their lunch inside their room. Together.
Alver talked to him about a lot of things, and the redhead replied every once in a while. It was like that, but it wasn’t awkward, for some reason. Alver had decided that maybe his roommate was just a shy boy.
The adjustment classes started, and their routine stayed the same. Alver talking to him, Cale listening. Alver greeted him, Cale nodding towards him. But there was a day that week where Cale finally, finally looked like he was on his way out to move his bones, and Alver could guess what it was about. He was out to buy architecture materials, for sure, and like the good senior that he was, he offered him his company and tips.
No, that wasn’t Alver’s ploy to go somewhere with the redhead.
The redhead did agree, with his usual expression of either interest or boredom. Alver beamed as he told him to wait, then the redhead said, ‘Sure. I’ll wait for you’ and boy, did that make Alver’s heart skip a few beats and bricks.
Now, they were shopping together at the art shop.
“You should get this. A t-square, mostly used for mechanical drawings. You’d depend on this bad boy a lot. These triangle rulers too,” Alver grabbed several ones, then handed them to the redhead. He was handing different types of rulers to Cale, and he was explaining what they were for. “Oh, would you prefer the plastic ones… and a cheaper t-square?”
“Nope. This is fine.”
“Okay. That ruler’s Staedler, by the way. If you’ve seen it from my stuff, I have the same one. For the pens… We should probably grab Staedler’s too, their shades are pretty good, in my preferences it’s way better than Derwent. But for colored pens… I actually prefer Prismacolor.” Alver took glances towards him every now and then, and he would always catch the redhead looking straight at his face.
He cleared his throat, then grabbed more stuff and continued talking. “You would also need this rasoplast eraser, anddd , this vellum paper right here, for tracing. Grab the A3 for now, unless instructed with another size. What do you think?”
He didn’t talk much, but Alver didn’t know how to react to the redhead’s attentiveness to him either. He could practically feel Cale staring at his face the whole time.
The corner of Cale’s eyes crinkled as he offered him a small smile. “I’ll get what you think was the best.”
“...Okay, uhm, then. Great choice? That’s right, you should listen to the good me and my good opinions because I am your senior, and I am good at everything,” Alver rambled, turning around to evade the redhead’s eyes and grabbing whatever he could grab and give him.
He was barely registering what was in his hand because his mind was squealing and his cheeks were threatening to burn, but he was at least pretty sure he was grabbing the right tracing papers.
This junior of his wasn’t good for the heart, was he?
— PLATE NO. 107
It was really hard to communicate with his roommate.
He thought their relationship was getting better. He thought they were getting closer. Closer, as in, to something else . But Cale had really been sending him signals so mixed it puts a broken traffic light to shame.
They had indeed gotten closer, when he first saw the redhead broke into tears at three in the morning because he wrote the wrong word on his schoolwork. Alver could relate, as he made the same mistake back when he was new to architecture too due to exhaustion, and he would’ve wanted to help him but Cale was learning so he had to do it all over again, all by himself, and Alver could only support him.
Alver could only pull him into a hug. The redhead relaxed on his arms, and it didn’t even take long before he fell asleep, and he could only look fondly at the redhead on his arms. But he was an architecture major too and he knew Cale didn’t have the luxury to sleep right now… he let him sleep for at least 30 minutes, though. And since he had more time to deal with his own plates, he spent the morning watching Cale working, to help him prevent possible mistakes too.
They had gotten closer, didn’t they? Then what the hell was this now?
Alver had been staring at his roommate’s two-word (‘not now’) reply to him, which had been rather cold. Okay but, Cale had always been like that in their messages, even in person, and Alver was used to it by now. But seeing what had happened… Cale, what was that?
They had gotten closer to the point that they had been buying each other food and delivering it to each other’s class, even when not asked anymore, and honestly Alver liked it so much. It was such a small thing, but it had been very thoughtful.
It started when he asked Cale to fetch something from their room, and it took Cale a while. It almost pissed him off, because he needed it as soon as possible, but when Cale got to his class, he was carrying a bottle of water and a sandwich bought from the nearest shop.
He didn’t have to, and Alver told him that even with his flustered tone, but all Cale did as a response was a thin smile, and it was boyish, it made him feel like he was young and having a crush for the very first time. His roommate told him that ‘food is food’, and that he needed to have a full stomach to have fun learning in his class.
Caleeeeee, what was thaaaaaat??
Since then, they had been delivering food to each other’s classes when they had the time. Sometimes, the both of them would even catch each other in between breaks and eat together. Not that Alver didn’t get teased over it by his friends, though.
So flashback to what had happened from the day before, it was Alver’s turn to buy the redhead his snacks since he was free at that time. He had gotten him a burger, and they looked so delicious, but he knew that burgers might feel too greasy for Cale, so he accompanied it with lemon water.
With how lazy his roommate was, he needed those electrolytes. He thought of it with a smile on his face.
But then, he didn’t expect the frown from the redhead’s face when he handed it to him.
“Is something wrong? Is the burger not to your liking?” Alver worriedly asked.
“That’s not it.” Cale was still frowning somehow, holding the burger and the lemon water bottle against his chest. He then held out and gripped on the bottle, staring daggers towards it. “...I don’t like lemon.”
“Oh.” He brought something that Cale didn’t like. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know… I’ll just get you something else to drink, tell me what you want–”
“It’s fine.” Cale cut him off.
The both of them stood by the door awkwardly, with Cale still forming creases on his forehead. Alver almost wanted to tell the water bottle to say sorry to him… or should he apologize again?
“Are you upset?”
The redhead shook his head. “I told you, it’s fine. Thanks.”
His roommate then left him there, unsure on what to feel.
Cale, what the hell was that? Alver, did you just make a blunder?
Back to the present time, Alver grumpily put back his phone in his pocket.
Cale said it was fine, and that it didn’t upset him, but what if he lied? Alver literally just asked him out, wait, Alver meant that he was asking him to go out , and eat, like the usual. Not only did his red haired roommate leave him on read for who knows how long (approximately an hour and 36 minutes long, plus 13 seconds), he told him a very, very short reply of ‘not now’ too.
They hadn’t been able to interact later that day too (it was yesterday) after that lemon drink mistake, because Alver went home late because one of his professors decided to extend their class, and he got dragged by his friends after. When he came home, the redhead was already sound asleep.
When he woke up this morning, a lot later than usual since he didn’t have a morning class anyway, his roommate wasn’t there anymore.
It was still bothering Alver, so to make it up to him he decided to ask him to eat out… He didn’t want to buy food that he might not end up liking again, so maybe it could be a good chance to get to know more about his likes and dislikes.
But Cale? Was Cale avoiding him? Because of lemon water?
Cale, what the hell.
Later that day, Alver realized that it was just a moment of weakness.
It wasn’t like they were anything more than friends. Why would he be bothered? He had more things to think about, like his Revit that wasn’t loading, damn it. He couldn’t blame the thing, since there were too many layers to load, like how a weak human like him would need to stop thinking if he had too many what ifs, right?
His red haired roommate had gotten home a few hours ago, and since Alver was busy on his own plate, he wasn’t able to greet him. The redhead didn’t even bother to do so, though. He just went and did his own thing too, like the usual, changing clothes and starting his own set of projects too.
Alver groaned in frustration. No, it wasn’t because of his roommate, and the elephant in the room left unaddressed. It was totally because of his stupid laptop and this Autofuckingdesk Revit why aren’t you working holy shit—
“Do you need help?”
Alver turned to look towards the redhead, and he was very pleasing to the eye, wasn’t he?
“A first year? Offering his senior help?”
“Why not? You can use my laptop. I have a good processor too.” His roommate walked towards him, then peaked at what he was working on. “That’s Revit, right? You can use mine, I’m not using it right now.”
Alver thought that was the longest he had ever heard him talk. He nodded, not feeling the urge to talk at that moment. No, he wasn’t upset or anything. He was just too busy. The redhead then left him be.
He transferred over his files, and was pretty amazed at the redhead’s software. All of it was on the latest versions. Even his laptop. He started working again, and the process had been easy. Revit still stops responding from time to time, it happens because of the layers, but it was smoother. He yawned, stretched his back, checked his notes, stretched his fingers too, then continued on what he was doing.
Hours passed, and it was already night time when he felt a gentle nudge on his shoulder. It was Cale.
“Are you hungry?” The redhead asked in a soft tone.
Alver could swear that his heart wanted to jump out of mouth, so he could only hum in response, to keep it down his throat. “Hm?”
“I’ll get us food.”
Alver wanted to laugh. Cale, why are you like this?
“Stop messing around with me, please.” The heart, and the fast beating that puts his blood on his cheeks, he had to cover them up with his hand.
Cale blinked towards him. “I’m not?”
“You’re driving me crazy.” Muffled, flustered, and exhausted, Alver told him that. He peaked in between his fingers. “...You’re not mad with me right? Or avoiding me? Because… yesterday… You…” What will he say? What should Alver even say?
All of it was just a small misunderstanding, tangled lines in plates. It wasn’t like the redhead was at fault at anything, what was Alver even so worried for? Alver was the only one who liked the redhead, anyway. This was just a happy crush, a fleeting rush.
It was probably something insignificant to him, why would he even get upset towards Alver because of lemon water ? And if he did, why should Alver be bothered? And if he did, why would he even deliberately avoid Alver when it was just lemon water ? But he was indeed… way younger. Maybe it was that. He was a freshman. But how could he even pull the strings just like that? Up and low, high and down. How could he let someone younger than him play him like this? Jesus Christ–
His roommate pulled on his own chair and placed it beside the blonde, on his study table. His face was forming a question mark.
“Avoiding you..? Ah,” The redhead then wore the most smug and biggest grin he had ever seen from him, and he was sure that he was being teased as his roommate lazily put a shoulder on the table, his own chin cupped by his own palm. “I told you, it was fine. I also had something going on yesterday. And, how could I be mad at you? I rather like you a lot.”
Alver could practically feel the warmth of his cheeks, both from his palm and with how the room suddenly felt warmer than it had been before.
“You!”
“Yes?”
“You’re making fun of me.”
“I’m not.”
He removed his hands from his face, then looked towards his cheeky roommate. His roommate, who had turned his amused smile into a gentler one, like Alver was a sight to see, like he was also pleasing to the eye.
He opened his mouth and said, “I like you too. Like, I like like you.”
— PLATE NO. 143
Things had started to become a little more interesting in between them. What was two beds in one room for, when they were sleeping together more often now. What were morning alarms for, when he could just wake him up with a lover’s whisper on his forehead? His grumbles, and his leg around Alver’s thigh, a laughter from the groan of not wanting to wake up yet. Five minutes more, he said. He would indulge him, and there would be soft kisses on his cheek and neck.
He liked their study dates, the kiss on the nose when Alver was focused, and how he would return it back when it was Cale who was working hard. Their little moments, the words that only them could understand, the topics that the both of them could understand.
It had been almost a month and a half since they confessed, and now, the both of them were lazing around because Cale just finished a plate he was working on. He used Alver’s drafting table, just for the sake of using his ‘boyfriend’s stuff’, he said.
“Where did you buy yours? Seems sturdy.” Cale asked.
“Oh, that? This is custom-made. Just… personal preferences at that time. Also, a gift from my aunt.”
“I see.” Cale knocked on the table. “What wood is this?”
Alver traced his hand over it. “It’s mahogany.”
Cale reached for his own that was on the table, giving it a little squeeze. “The one usually used for instruments?”
“Yes, that one. They’re used for a lot of wooden furniture too. It’s got a nice color to it,” Cale was looking right at his face, so he looked back at him too. That made their eyes meet, and his boyfriend’s eyes, they were a pretty color of reddish-brown , weren’t they? Like mahogany. “And it’s strong enough to last a couple years. It’s pretty expensive, though.”
Cale walked closer to him, cupping his cheeks. “Are they really strong?”
“Yes, they are.” He leaned in to his touch.
There was a pause, and there was want in the space that Cale had taken just so they could be closer, and Alver breathed it in.
They hadn’t really kissed on the lips yet, did they?
Slowly, Cale’s hand reached for his waist, and it was a volt that sent his knees buckling, that he had to lean back to his drafting table. The redhead’s voice was just as handsome as the first time he had heard it, but this time it sounded like a command to keep his heart beating.
He said, “Let’s test that out.” And Alver’s lips had been his for the taking.