Chapter Text
At eight years old Oscar had been shipped off to England to go to some boarding school in the middle of nowhere.
There weren’t many kids his age who were unfortunate enough to have their parents care so little about them that they ended up in a school halfway across the world. But his parents were busy people with jobs that tipped over into their personal lives, so much so that in the end they had none.
Although there had been no reason for him to be so far away from home. He was sure that the schools near where he lived in Australia were perfectly good enough and it’s not like his parents were the ones dealing with him anyways. He had been looked after by a long line of nannies since he had practically popped out of his mothers womb.
Oscar never held any animosity towards his parents until this moment, standing, surrounded by suitcases in a place he has never been. Next to him, a mousy young woman telling him that this would be his ‘home’ for the year.
He hated them.
He hated them for never being around. He hated them for just dropping him in the lap of some nanny. And most of all he hated the them for sending him here.
He stood in the room, gut tight with bubbling anxiety. Behind him he heard a voice and then the click of a door shutting.
Suddenly all the tension drained from his little shoulders as he slumped onto the handle of one of the several suitcases and tried with all his might to not start bawling at nine in the morning.
He sniffed and wiped his nose with his hand, before he closed his eyes and imagined for a moment that he was back in his own room.
Any minute his current nanny, Julia, would come knocking on the door with her square frame glasses and knitted cardigans telling him it was breakfast time. His stomach grumbled in anticipation, but when he finally opened his eyes the illusion was shattered.
Rather he was left with an ugly beige carpet, surrounded by ugly beige walls and an ugly beige ceiling. The morning sunlight from behind the dark red curtains had only just started to shine through the lead grid windows.
He glanced to the side where a large tattered wooden cabinet stood, supposedly where all his clothes from within the suitcases would go. But, being eight Oscar didn’t know much about tidying clothes away.
So instead he pushed himself off the suitcase he was leaning on and walked over to the nearest bed. It looked almost like a cradle, all sides surrounded by a wooden guard apart from a small slot in the middle. He hoisted himself through it and proceeded to flop across the awful springy mattress. As he lay there the metal springs dug into his back like a bed of nails.
“I might as well get used to it” he thought to himself as he lazed on the bed.
Oscar didn’t know how long it had been, when all of a sudden there was a commotion outside of the door as it was swung open by the same mousy lady that had left him there.
He sat up and craned his neck to see an older woman in a fur coat conversing with a stern looking man with a mustache and a black suit. They were so engaged in their squabble to notice Oscar already in the room.
“Ah, Oscar” the young lady cooed as she shifted her gaze from the couple, “I have someone for you to meet. He’s going to be your roommate for the year.”
Oscar sat up in surprise as his brain started whirring in wonder.
“A roommate! What would he be like? Would they get along? God I hope we get along…”
Oscar’s eyes darted over to the small hand gripping the grey fur coat and a flushed pink face peeking out from behind. His gaze was met by bright awe filled eyes staring right back at him.
“This is Lando.” the lady stated as she gestured for the group to step into the room. The cloaked woman, who Oscar assumed was Lando’s mother, broke from her discussion to scan her eyes across the room, fixing on the figure of Oscar in the bed. She broke out into a polite smile and announced that it was nice to meet him.
In his shock Oscar only nodded as he looked down at the floor avoiding her gaze.
When he glanced back up at the group, the boy, Lando, had pushed in front of his mother and was shifting slowly over to where Oscar was sitting.
He looked to be a little shorter than himself, darker hair as well and his eyes, he just couldn’t quite tell what colour they were; grey, blue, green?
However he didn’t want to seem rude so after a second or so of staring him in the face he focused on his hands which had started to fidget nervously with the bottom of his t-shirt.
“We will leave you to it then.” announced the lady as a bolt of fear struck Oscar.
He wanted to protest but the couple were already being ushered away and he was being left with this strange new boy.
He swallowed trying to calm his nerves as he once again glanced back up to see that the boy, Lando, was but an arms width away from him, examining him unabashedly.
“My name’s Lando.” He said, eyes still trained on him.
Oscar swallowed again, “I know.” he replied.
“What! How?” Lando questioned in wonder as he gestured erratically.
Oscar was somewhat taken aback by Lando’s outburst as he recoiled from the boy.
Before Oscar could answer Lando began to speak again.
“I can’t believe I am going to have a roommate! I thought it would only be me here, I mean this is going to be like one massive sleepover over! Do you like sleepovers? I’ve only had a few sleepovers with my friends but they were all very fun. Are you going to be my friend?” He looked expectantly over at Oscar.
“Umm…”
Lando moved to stand right in front of Oscar’s legs, hands grasping either side of the bed as he blabbed on.
“I promise I’m a really good friend! I’m very nice and kind and all of the other things a good friend is. Please say yes!” He pleaded as he pouted his trembling lip.
Oscar tilted his head as he considered the proposition, at least he wouldn’t be alone in the dorm this year, he would have this strange loudmouth boy here to keep him company.
He decided that Lando would be his friend.
A smile stretched across his face as he answered with a simple and shy,
“Yeah, okay.”
Lando giddy with joy, pulled him from where he was sitting on the bed into a big bear hug. His arms wrapped around Oscar’s body as he squeezed him tightly. Oscar finally felt his body relax a little as he closed his eyes and settled into the embrace.
Maybe this wouldn’t be as bad as he thought after all…