On the first day of class, Chanyeol was sure that he was going to get lost and end up late to every single one of his classes. He’d arrived at the dorms several days before the first day of class just so that he could explore campus and figure out the best ways to get to his classes on time. Of course as soon as he’d gotten there, he’d proceeded to lay in his bed and mope for the next three days because of his unfortunate roommate situation. It didn’t do much to make him feel better, considering that the alien mostly stayed inside, too.

He sat at his desk for hours, reading from his textbooks. Chanyeol wondered if that was normal. Did most college students read through their entire textbooks before class? It concerned him, so he found himself picking up his history textbook and trying to work his way through it. He’d gotten to the middle of the first chapter before he’d given up. It was so dry and boring that there was no way he could possibly read the whole thing.

He glanced down at his map of campus again and wondered if he was even reading the damn thing right. According to the map, his classroom should be down the hall in from of him, so he squared his shoulders and marched inside the room.

By some lucky happenstance, it did appear to be the right room, so he sat down somewhere in the middle. He didn’t want to look like a loser by sitting in the front row, and he didn’t want the teacher to think he was a slacker for sitting in the very back.

He took out a tablet and a pencil and flipped to a random page. He began a rough pencil sketch to pass the time until the class was full and the professor was ready to begin. He started the outline of an oval face and big, dark shaded eyes.

“That’s cool how you just pull that out of nowhere,” a sudden voice muttered. “I always wished I could draw.”

Chanyeol glanced over his shoulder at the boy sitting there. He smiled. “My mom always wanted me to be able to do anything so she made me take art classes.” The boy laughed. “I’m Chanyeol.”

“Tao,” the boy replied, slipping out of his chair and moving forward a row to sit next to Chanyeol. “I’m so glad I made a friend, I hate sitting alone.” He smiled brightly. “Are you a freshman, too?”

“Yeah, this is my first class,” Chanyeol replied. Further conversation was interrupted by the professor coming into the classroom, ending all side conversation.

Tao would serve as a good college friend, and after class they headed together to the cafeteria to get lunch, since they both a few hours before their next classes. Along the way they met up with Kris, who punched Chanyeol for ignoring his texts. Chanyeol’s new friend was more than amused by their rough friendship.

“I’m Kris,” he introduced himself, using that suave tone that he thought made him look y. Chanyeol, safe behind Tao’s back, made gagging motions.

“Tao,” the boy replied, eyes sparkling.

The three of them found an empty table in the corner of the cafeteria and claimed it by setting their backpacks down in the seats, hoping that would be enough to keep people away from it until they returned with food.

As they were waiting in line, it became increasingly obvious that Kris was interested in Tao. He listened intently as Tao spoke, hanging onto every word like it was the most important thing he’d ever heard. Chanyeol figured that Tao was pretty attractive, so he wasn’t at all surprised his Casanova of a best friend would lay claim to him after just one meeting.

“I’m majoring in Elementary education, actually,” Tao said, smiling brightly. “I love kids.”

“So do I!” Kris replied enthusiastically. Chanyeol refrained from mentioning that Kris had always hated children, ever since the time when Chanyeol’s mom and aunt had been forced to leave them alone with his two year old cousin and they’d proceeded to run around the house after the toddler for the entire weekend.

“I have five siblings,” Tao said. “The youngest is just a few months old, and I miss her so much.” He pouted in the most adorable way, and Kris grinned as he ruffled Tao’s hair. Maybe for the right person, Chanyeol figured, anybody could start liking kids.

“That must be kind of creepy, though, to know your parent still have when you’re in college,” Chanyeol butted in as he followed behind them with his tray full of food. “I mean, gross, I hope my parents don’t still do that.”

“They do it in your bed when you’re not home,” Kris replied, glaring at him as though he’d ruined the cute moment. Tao blushed.

“My parents are very much in love,” he said. “They’re very affectionate and cute together.”

“And they have y times,” Chanyeol said, waggling his eyebrows with a grin. Tao covered his face with his hands and laughed.

“Okay you’re right, it’s a little bit gross,” he gave in with a nod.

They ate their lunches in a companionable silence after that, Kris sneaking glances at Tao out of the corners of his eyes, and if Tao didn’t realize he was doing it, he was extremely unobservant. Chanyeol tossed a piece of pork at Kris, and he didn’t even notice it as it stuck in his hair.

“I have class in half an hour,” Chanyeol said an hour later. Really, he didn’t have class for two hours, but he was tired of watching Kris making googly-eyes at Tao and figured he could go back to his room and have a nap for an hour or so. “Nice meeting you, Tao. Hope this is the start of a great lunch-time friendship.”

Tao chuckled as he shook Chanyeol’s extended hand. “It was nice meeting you, too, Chanyeol. But you should learn to take neater notes so when I skip class I know I can rely on you for whatever I’ve missed.”

 “My notes are beautiful!” Chanyeol picked his bag up and glanced down at Kris. “He’s too good for you, man, just let it go.”

Kris had the decency to blush, but Tao didn’t even seem to realize when had been said. He was distracted, peering at Kris’ hair. He reached over and plucked the forgotten piece of meat out and held it up with a smile.

“This was in your hair,” he teased. “Were you saving it for later?”

Chanyeol was still on a happy high when he arrived back in his empty dorm. The alien wasn’t there anymore. Hopefully he’d have class until late and Chanyeol would have some free time before he felt the need to watch his back and be wary of some alien probe up his or a ray gun blowing his brains out. So far the aliens hadn’t showed any sort of hostility, but Chanyeol didn’t understand what they hoped to gain by coming here. What did their little planet have to offer them that they couldn’t get elsewhere in the universe?

He went into the adjoining bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth, leaving the door open a little bit. If he had closed the door, when Baekhyun had come in a few minutes later, he wouldn’t have heard the conversation he was having on his phone when he came in.

“Oh, good, he’s not here,” Baekhyun breathed, and Chanyeol creeped quietly toward the doorway so he could listen without being seen. “I’m serious, Lu, you have no idea how awkward it is. He doesn’t like me at all. I met his mom, though, and she’s so sweet.” He heard Baekhyun drop himself onto the couch in the middle of the living area of the room. “Why does that even matter? Yes, he’s cute. No, I doubt he’d want to meet you. People here aren’t like us. Boys don’t usually like other boys.” Oh great, and the alien was gay too. probing seemed a more likely happenstance every minute. “I’m telling you, he hates us because we’re not human. I’m not stupid. As soon as I told them I was from Exo, he got all tense and tried to take his mom away from me, like I was going to eat her or something.”

He hadn’t thought he would eat her. Chanyeol almost scoffed, but caught himself in time. He’d just been worried that he would try to take her back to the mothership and keep her forever.

“I talked to the RA, actually. Yeah, I might be able to move in a few weeks, as soon as the fuss from the beginning of the semester dies down,” Baekhyun said. “It , I really wanted to get along with my roommate, but I don’t feel safe here.” Chanyeol frowned at the words. How could Baekhyun not feel safe when he was the one who was potentially dangerous? “I barely slept at all last night. I had one eye open the whole time. I had a nightmare that I woke up and he was holding a knife over me and I didn’t sleep at all after that.”

That was just stupid, Chanyeol thought. He didn’t even have a knife.

“No, I’m not going to do report it. I don’t want to get him in trouble or something. It’s not his fault. A lot of people are scared,” Baekhyun replied. “My father would be so mad at me if I started some kind of scandal here. If I can’t handle this, he’ll make me come home.”

Would that really be so bad?

“It’s nice, Luhan, it really is.” Chanyeol could hear the smile in his tone. “It’s great to be able to go for a walk outside and not have people gawking at me.” Why the would people gawk at Baekhyun? He was cute, yeah, but he wasn’t that great. “So when are you coming to see me? I miss your hot body.” Baekhyun laughed at the response that Chanyeol didn’t want to hear. “I know, it’s so weird not seeing you every day.” Was he talking to his boyfriend? “How’s your mom doing?”

Something bad was about to happen, and Chanyeol scrambled desperately in his mind for something, anything to save him. There was nothing that could be done, and he sneezed, the loud sound reverberating in the tiny bathroom.

“, hang on,” Baekhyun said. There were loud footsteps and the bathroom door was flung open. Baekhyun stood there with his fists on his hips, glaring at Chanyeol. “Park Chanyeol are you eavesdropping on me?”

“You’re the one that assumed nobody was here, I was just standing here minding my own business,” Chanyeol replied, trying to look like he hadn’t been doing just that.

“With your ear against the wall?”

“I was listening to the sound of the building. It’s a common human practice,” Chanyeol said argumentatively.

“You’re full of .”

“And so are you. Standing over you with a knife? Are you serious?” Baekhyun turned and stormed back to the phone, grabbing it, and his backpack.

“I’m gonna go, Luhan, sorry. I’m going to the library, I’ll email you.”

Without looking back at him, Baekhyun left the room, slamming the door behind him. Chanyeol just rolled his eyes. “What a drama queen.”

When he got back from his final class for the day, the dorm was empty. He made sure to check the bathroom, just in case, and was relieved to find nobody there. He’d been thinking about the conversation he’d overheard all day, and to be honest, it was bothering him. His mother would be ashamed of him. She’d raised him to be considerate, and making the alien fear that he was going to killed in his sleep wasn’t exactly considerate.

So he brought out his bags of gourmet hot chocolate and some mugs. Whenever he’d been upset, his mom had made him cocoa, so he figured he’d do the same for the alien, and maybe it would forgive him and be at least able to sleep in peace. He put the burner onto warm and kept the cocoa over the heat, waiting until his roommate got back.

It was dark when that finally happened, but as soon as the alien came in, Chanyeol stood up and turned toward him.

“Look. I’m not going to stab you in your sleep,” he said. The alien crossed his arms across his chest and looked down at the floor.  “No, really, you can search my , I don’t have a knife.”

“Whatever, fine,” he replied. “It doesn’t matter. Just forget it.”

“Alright. Here, I made something,” Chanyeol grabbed the mugs off the coffee table and ladled some hot cocoa into them. “My mom makes me this when I’m upset.”

“I’m not upset,” the alien denied in a soft voice.

“Still, here, I made enough for two.” Chanyeol handed the mug of steaming hot chocolate to Baekhyun and cradled his own in his big palms. He watched Baekhyun as he stared at the brown contents of the cup in suspicion.

“What is it?”

“It’s poison, what do you think it is,” Chanyeol replied dryly. Baekhyun just glared. “Fine, I’ll drink it first so you can see it’s not poisonous.” He took a careful sip of it, testing for temperature. “It’s a little bit hot, so don’t drink it too fast.” He took a larger swig and looked back at Baekhyun.

Baekhyun tentatively brought the cup to his lips and sipped. He the foam off his lip and glanced up at Chanyeol. “It’s good,” he said, taking another drink. Chanyeol sat on the sofa and brought the mug back up to his lips. His mother would be proud. He’d done something nice.

“It’s my favorite,” Chanyeol replied. Baekhyun sat down on the opposite side of the sofa, and Chanyeol noticed that his cocoa was nearly halfway gone already. “I make kick hot chocolate, right?”

Baekhyun nodded. “Really good,” he replied. “I’ve never had anything like this before.” 

Having grown up with hot chocolate in his life, Chanyeol could scarcely imagine what it would be like to drinking it for the first time. The alien reached out and set the mug down on the table, and Chanyeol glanced over at him. His face was pale white, and he was shaking a little bit.

“I don’t feel so good,” he said.

“I think you drank it too fast,” Chanyeol replied.

Baekhyun stood up and headed toward his bed. He made it halfway there before he collapsed, falling to the ground with a sickening thud. Chanyeol sat frozen for a few seconds before he realized that his roommate was shaking on the floor, gasping for breath as he curled up in the fetal position.

“, I killed it,” he said, spilling his cocoa on himself as he ran for the door to get help.

Five hours later, Chanyeol was relieved that he had not killed his roommate. Baekhyun, however, was convinced that he’d tried to. Chanyeol argued that how the hell was he supposed to know that Baekhyun was allergic to chocolate.

Baekhyun’d had to get shot of some alien medicine in his , and he’d assured Chanyeol that was about to let him forget it any time soon. They’d been driven back to their dorm from the clinic on campus in a little golf cart, and then he’d been forced to give the alien a piggy back ride all the way up the stairs to their room.

Finally in bed for the night, he laid there and stared up at the bottom of the loft above him, this thighs burning from carrying Baekhyun.

“I’m telling your mom you tried to kill me,” Baekhyun said softly.