Every school has a few rumors floating around. These rumors become even more prevalent within secluded boarding schools because boredom overtakes the confined students causing them to look for some sort of comedic relief. They find pleasure in discussing who’s dating who, who’s failing what class, who’s cheating, who’s sneaking out, and so on. Gossip thrives among boys locked away in a mundane world filled with rules and restrictions and anything new to their world stirs up even more gossip.

          Baekhyun’s new and everyone is talking about him. School has been in for almost a month and it’s rare for the school to receive transfer students, so everyone knows about the cute second year who has more than average grades, comes from an old wealthy family, and has won various singing awards at his previous school. But the biggest gossip surrounding Byun Baekhyun isn’t anything found on his transcript. On the contrary, it’s less about him and more about who his roommate is, Huang Zitao.

          During the previous year, Zitao failed to keep any of his roommates. Those that were assigned to him either dropped out of school or found other rooming arrangements, some even begging the administration to allow them to have three students to a room. Rumor has it that Zitao is vicious and his dark persona doesn’t help stave off any of the unseemly accusations surrounding him. It’s become common knowledge that associating with him will only lead to horrible circumstances. Everyone knows that his third roommate ended up hospitalized with three broken ribs, a fractured femur, and a concussion. He transferred schools as soon as he was released, refusing to step foot on campus again. Zitao wasn’t blamed for his roommates injuries, so no one really knows what happened and all of Zitao’s other roommates refuse to speak about their time rooming with him; it’s become a sort of taboo for them as they live in fear of the consequences of talking about their ex-roommate. The rest of the student body can only speculate over whatever it is that terrifies the past roommates of Zitao and all of the theories created gradually grow even more and more ridiculous.

          Of course, Baekhyun doesn’t know about these rumors and his current guide Yixing is skeptic about telling him. Instead, he is lead through the campus while being told about various school events and clubs that he can join. Yixing’s excited because he’s active in the arts and he knows Baekhyun’s reputation for being a fantastic singer, so he would love to recruit him for the drama club because they could always use another talented singer in the program. Eventually Baekhyun is taken to his room and Yixing leaves him at the door with a rushed farewell. “Well, good luck with your roommate. If you have any problems, the dorm adviser Park Chanyeol lives downstairs in 105.”

          Baekhyun finds Yixing’s actions a bit strange. His tense attitude and sudden desire to flee before Baekhyun even opens his door makes him question whether or not Yixing is all right in the head. Baekhyun is barely able to say thank you when Yixing is already rounding the corner at the end of the hall over ten meters away. Shrugging off the weird vibe suddenly surrounding him, Baekhyun faces his door labeled with 218. He tests the handle before using his new key to let himself in.

          As the door opens, he notices his luggage already situated around the edge of his unmade bed and desk. His possessions had been sent ahead, leaving him only his personal backpack to carry on his trip to school. A folder lies in the middle of his desk, probably containing a school handbook and his class schedule among other bits of information the school thinks he should know about. As he further enters the room, he spots a figure still clothed in a school uniform on the bed opposite his with it’s back turned and chest slowly rising and falling as if the person was in a deep sleep. Deciding not to disturb his new roommate, Baekhyun quietly enters the room, situating himself on his bed while observing the other half of the room.

          The walls are bare and the bed is blanketed with a plain gray comforter. Only a few textbooks and pens cover the desk with a black coat hanging on the back of the desk chair. There are no excessive decorations, nothing to personalize the room or reveal anything about its inhabitant. Everything is spotlessly clean making Baekhyun think the room is more like a prison cell rather than a dorm room.

          As he debates about whether or not to begin unpacking, his roommate groans before rolling over to face him, eyes heavy with sleep. He blinks a few times before sitting up and staring at Baekhyun, who stares back as if entranced by this seemingly mysterious guy. Baekhyun feels caught, like he’s intruded into this guy’s personal space. It takes a few moments before Baekhyun realizes he should probably introduce himself.

          “Umm…hello, I’m Byun Baekhyun. Looks like we’re rooming together.” He mentally smacks himself because the last part is a bit obvious and this guy probably thinks he sounds like an idiot for saying it.

          “Huang Zitao,” he replies with a clipped tongue. His dark hair falls just above his dark, piercing eyes.

          Baekhyun shifts on his bed uncomfortably. “Sorry if I woke you up.”

          Grabbing his cell phone from his nightstand, Zitao glances at the screen before shaking his head, completely ignoring Baekhyun. He stands grabbing his coat from his chair while sliding on his shoes and heading out the door. Baekhyun sits alone in silence wondering what he should think of Zitao and his actions. He thinks maybe his roommate realized he had somewhere to be so he didn’t have time to talk or maybe he’s just not a big talker when he wakes up.

          Instead of contemplating on it for too long, Baekhyun decides to start unpacking, putting away his clothes, stacking his books on his desk, and making his bed. By the time he finishes, it’s dinnertime and he should probably find his way to the cafeteria. He knows it’s close to the gym but he’s still unsure about which building it is because this campus is old and all of the buildings look the same with their tiled, triangular roofs and archways connecting them together. The buildings were built in traditional Korean style architecture, but they’ve been updated over the years to make them compatible with new technology. Baekhyun thinks the reds, oranges, and yellows of the setting sun looks beautiful behind the buildings in the distance and the light casts long shadows from the buildings.

          Various students are milling around in the cool afternoon weather, so Baekhyun follows the flow of students as they migrate towards one particular building at the north end of the campus. By the time he makes it halfway across campus, someone’s calling his name. Looking to his left, he sees Yixing waving eagerly. Baekhyun halts as Yixing makes his way over followed by someone just a tad shorter than him.

          “Going to dinner?” Yixing asks once he’s in earshot and Baekhyun nods. “Want to join us?”

          “Sure. Sounds great.” They start walking again and Yixing introduces his friend as Kyungsoo, another member of the drama club. Once again Baekhyun can feel them trying to recruit him, but he shows no indication that he’s interested. He’s unsure of whether or not he wants to join a club, especially one that involves singing because he doesn’t really feel like singing much anymore. He’s kind of fallen out of love with the act; doesn’t care for it anymore. He knows he has great singing abilities, but he only ever really performed to get his parents’ attention and the fact that they sent him all the way to this remote school only proves that his parents want him out of the picture for a while.

          Kyungsoo deviates from the topic of club activities to the topic of roommates by asking, “Did you meet your roommate yet?”

          Baekhyun shrugs. “Kind of, I mean he told me his name, but that’s about it.”

          “Don’t take it personally. He’s like that with everyone. Besides, you probably won’t be rooming with him for long anyways.” Yixing nudges Kyungsoo as if telling him to stop.

          “What’s that supposed to mean?”

          Kyungsoo frowns at Yixing before answering. “Zitao never keeps a roommate. There’s something strange about that guy and no one wants to talk about it.” He pauses, glancing around with wide searching eyes to check if anyone is listening in on their conversation. “Rumor has it he’s trained to kill and he has his own personal stash of weapons in his room.”

          Baekhyun stares a few moments before bursting into laughter. “Do you know how ridiculous you sound?” He shakes his head. “I admit he looks scary, but a killer? Really? That’s a bit extreme.”

          “No! Seriously! His roommates are always being hospitalized and I can’t count the times he’s showed up to class sporting injuries. The guy’s dangerous.” Kyungsoo clutches both of Baekhyun’s shoulders. “Another rumor says he comes from a family of criminals. I advise you to leave his room as soon as possible before you get hurt as well.”

          Baekhyun places his hands on Kyungsoo’s shoulders and shakes him playfully. “You shouldn’t take much stock in rumors. He can’t be that bad.”

          “Fine,” Kyungsoo drops his hands, pushing Baekhyun away. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

          Yixing steps in, draping his arms around Kyungsoo and Baekhyun’s shoulders. “Okay, okay. That’s enough talk about rumors and killers. Let’s get something to eat before all the good stuff is gone. You know the athletes always get to the cafe early.”

          The thought of missing out on good food catches the guys’ attention and the talk shifts to what the cafeteria is serving for dinner, which turns out to be a choice between shrimp stir-fried rice and grilled chicken with sweet-and-sour noodles. Baekhyun’s glad to see that the quality of food is just as delicious as his cook’s at home. That’s probably the only thing he will miss from his home life. He’s not going to miss his parents, he doesn’t have siblings to miss, and his friends were few, but the family’s cook, Mrs. Jung, was like a second mother to him. For as long as he can remember, she was always there for him when he was tired, hungry, hurt, or upset; she always knew exactly how to fix it.

          Apart from the cook’s company, Baekhyun was usually alone at home, so when he gets back to the dorm after dinner and finds that his roommate is still absent, he feels right at home. Spending time with Kyungsoo and Yixing exhausted Baekhyun, so he’s more than ready to spend some time alone. He uses the rest of the evening to get his room set up and lay out his clothes for the next day. School starts at eight and if he plans on eating breakfast he knows he has to wake up by seven. He’s not a morning person and now that his servants aren’t around to give him a morning wake up call, it’s going to be a guessing game on whether or not his alarm actually does it’s job. If that doesn’t work, Baekhyun hopes that his roommate makes enough noise in the morning to wake him.

          It doesn’t take long for Baekhyun to put everything in place. After he stores his empty suitcases beneath his bed, he plops down for a break. The blank, white walls around the room are too empty for Baekhyun to feel comfortable. He makes a mental note to order some posters before the week is over. While contemplating what kinds of posters to buy, he notices the time. It’s half-past nine and the dorm’s curfew is ten. He wonders if his roommate will make it back by then. In the mean time, he decides to take a shower in their private bathroom; he’s glad the dorm doesn’t have communal baths. Finding that there’s actually a nice-sized bathtub, Baekhyun opts out of the shower for a nice soak. He’s tense and warm bath is the perfect answer to relieve his tired muscles. With all of these luxuries and the possibility of making friends, this school is starting to look better by the minute.

          He soaks longer than he planned, coming out with pruned fingers and toes. The air-conditioned room chills Baekhyun as he steps through the bathroom door toweling his hair dry. There is still no sign of his roommate and it’s already approaching eleven. For a moment, he recalls what Kyungsoo told him earlier and wonders if Zitao ran into trouble.

          Sitting on his bed, Baekhyun studies the other side of the room. He’s unsure about what he’s looking for, but nothing looks out of place, except Zitao’s lack of personalization, but then again he could be a neat freak who doesn’t like clutter. There’s nothing amiss and Baekhyun thinks he’s being ridiculous for buying into the rumors when he’s barely even spoken to his roommate. Shrugging away the negative thoughts, Baekhyun decides it’s time to get some sleep because seven comes early and he doesn’t want to be late on his first day of classes.

          Baekhyun’s a heavy sleeper, but a tapping at the window stirs him awake. It takes him a few moments to register that the sound is getting louder. He sits up, eyes slowly adjusting to the dark room before he gazes at the window suspiciously. A particularly loud clack causes him to jump. He rolls out of bed and spots a dark figure clinging to the tree outside his window. His voice refuses to work as his mouth opens in a silent scream.

          There’s someone outside his window, clearly trying to get inside. The person spots Baekhyun and knocks at the window once more. Baekhyun backs away shaking his head. He’s terrified and his mind isn’t working. He can only think of getting away, but he doesn’t want the person to do anything extreme, like breaking through his window and coming after him. When he finally makes it to the door, he searches for the handle behind his back, keeping his eyes on the figure outside the window. As he’s about to turn the doorknob, he hears something.

          “Wait!”

          Baekhyun pauses.

          “Wait! Baekhyun, it’s me. Open the window.”

          Upon hearing his name, Baekhyun releases of the door.

          “Baekhyun, hurry up!”

          Reaching up, he switches on the light and illuminates the figure outside the window. It’s his roommate, struggling to keep a hold on the tree. Baekhyun rushes forward, unlatching the window and moving aside as Zitao climbs in. Once inside, he falls to the floor, sweaty and breathless. Through further inspection, Baekhyun notices a stain on the front of Zitao’s shirt. It only takes a moment for him to realize there’s something wrong with his roommate and he springs into action.

          He rolls Zitao over to get a better view, finding that the stain is actually blood and there’s a hole roughly the width of a knife. He wonders how someone so hurt could scale a tree and attempt to climb through a second floor window.

          “What happened? We should call for help.”

          Baekhyun reaches for his phone, but Zitao grabs his arm and pulls him back to the floor. “Don’t do anything stupid. This is nothing.”

          Baekhyun gapes. “Nothing? You’re bleeding like crazy!”

          Zitao’s grip tightens as he pulls Baekhyun closer. “You’ll take my advice and keep your mouth shut.” Even with the hint of pain in his voice, he still sounds menacing.

          Baekhyun flinches away, but the grip on his arm has him locked in place. After a moment, he says, “I got it, so let go.”

          There’s a minute of silence as they stare at one another before Zitao let’s go and falls back on the floor. Baekhyun jerks up. “Can you walk?”

          “What?”

          “We need to get you to the bathroom and cleaned up. I think it’s best if you don’t bleed all over the carpet, especially if you want to keep this a secret.” Baekhyun bends down, offering a hand to Zitao who hesitates before taking it.

          They struggle to stand considering Zitao is larger than Baekhyun and pretty much dead weight at this point. Once they make it to the bathroom, Baekhyun settles Zitao on the toilet. He quickly s his roommate’s shirt and pulls his undershirt up, assessing the wound. Baekhyun’s never done this before but he knows he needs to get the blood to stop, so he grabs a towel and presses it against his roommate’s abdomen causing him to lurch in pain. He searches through the cabinets for a first aid kid and finds one tucked away beneath the sink.         

          “We have to stop the bleeding,” Baekhyun mumbles. “And clean the wound.”

          Zitao clutches the towel. “I don’t need your help. I can do this myself.”         

          “Right,” Baekhyun says sarcastically. He opens the first aid kit searching for an antiseptic and something to patch up Zitao’s wound. He finds a box of sterile cloths and butterfly bandages to stitch Zitao together. It’s the best he’s got considering the situation. “You’re barely conscious right now and this isn’t a matter I can ignore.” He says, grabbing a rag and his body wash then turns on the tap to warm it up, plugging the sink so he can have a basin of water. “Can you take your shirt off?”

          Zitao shrugs, struggling to hold the towel to his stomach while pulling off his shirt. Baekhyun steps over to help, pulling off the button up first then the undershirt thinking that this uniform is completely ruined. Zitao hisses when he has to raise his right arm because it stretches the muscles around his wound. As Baekhyun pulls the undershirt up, he ends up standing face to face with Zitao, a bit too close for comfort. They stare at one another for a moment before Baekhyun steps back.

          “Let me check it.” He moves the towel. “Good. You’ve stopped bleeding, but the wound’s deep. You probably need stitches.” Baekhyun turns to the sink, dipping the rag in adding soap. He squats beside Zitao and says, “This may hurt a bit.”

          Trying to be gentle, Baekhyun rubs at the crusted blood on his roommate’s stomach. He never imagined he would be doing something like this after being forced to come here. He remembers the rumor and glances up at his roommate wondering how he came to be in such a situation but he’s too afraid to ask. He doesn’t think Zitao would give him a straight answer anyways. Instead, he focuses on the task at hand hoping his roommate is as bad as everyone thinks.

          As if Zitao can read his mind, he asks, “Aren’t you curious?” He jerks a bit when Baekhyun hits a tender spot.

          Baekhyun hums. Without looking up, he moves to rinse out the rag.

          “Don’t you want to know what happened?”

          Baekhyun shrugs coming back to his roommate’s side. “It’s none of my business.” With a few more swipes, Zitao’s cleared of blood and Baekhyun can assess his damage. Grabbing the box of butterfly bandages, he starts patching Zitao up, making sure the laceration is tightly closed. He adds a bit of antiseptic spray before placing a cloth pad over it. “Hold this,” he says, grabbing an ace bandage preparing to wrap it around Zitao’s waist to hold everything in place.

          As Baekhyun cleans everything up, Zitao watches his moves carefully. He’s trying to figure out what Baekhyun’s motives are because he thinks it’s weird. Baekhyun just patched him up without asking any questions and he doesn’t seem afraid or stunned at all.

          “You’re acting normal.” Zitao stares at Baekhyun. “It’s weird.”

          “Would you rather have me freaking out?”

          “No, not really.”

          Without looking at his roommate, Baekhyun says, “You made it clear that you didn’t want anyone to know about this.” He looks up. “The less I know, the better, so it’s best for me not to ask, right.”

          “True.” Zitao tries to stand and finds he needs help, a bit diszzy from all of the blood loss. With Baekhyun’s assistance he stumbles to his bed. “So, what have you heard about me?”

          “Nothing really. Just a few rumors.” Baekhyun leans down in front of Zitao. Without thinking he places his hand over his roommate’s forehead, taking the other by surprise. In a moment, there’s a hand gripping his wrist just a bit too tightly. “You have a fever,” Baekhyun says trying to act unfazed by Zitao’s excellent reflexes.

          Zitao releases Baekhyun’s arm and apologizes. “Sorry.”

          “It’s fine.” He rubs his wrist trying to stimulate blood flow. Turning away, Baekhyun shuts the window before moving to his side of the room and opening his backpack. Pulling out a small bag of cookies he crosses the room and holds them out to his roommate. “You should probably eat something before you sleep. This is all I’ve got but it’s better than nothing.” The cook had made Baekhyun his favorite peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies. He thinks the sugar will help.

          “Thanks.” Zitao takes the bag and nibbles at a cookie. He’s not really hungry, but he agrees with Baekhyun’s thinking. After a moment, Baekhyun hands him a cup of water to wash the snack down and they end up awkwardly sitting across from one another.

          Eventually, Zitao breaks the silence. “You’re not afraid of me?”

          “I don’t really know you,” Baekhyun answers honestly. “I will admit that you don’t make a good first impression though.”

          “I’m not good with people,” he admits without shame.

          “Is that why you were stabbed?” Baekhyun literally smacks himself on the forehead. “Ignore that, I didn’t ask. Don’t tell me anything.” He panics.

          Zitao laughs, which shocks Baekhyun because he never imagined someone like his roommate was capable of actually laughing. It hurts Zitao though, because he hunches over and clutches at his side. “You’re amusing.” He pauses. “The cookies are good by the way.”

          Baekhyun smiles. “I’m glad you like them. I’ll tell Mrs. Jung to send more when she has time. She makes the best desserts.” Standing, Baekhyun says, “Hold on.” He rushes into the bathroom and comes back with two painkillers.  

          Zitao smiles because he finds Baekhyun fascinating. He finishes off his third cookie and uses the rest of his water to take the pills. Snapping the bag of cookies shut, he passes it back to Baekhyun deciding it’s time for bed. His fever’s weighing down on him and the pain in his side gets worse the longer he’s sitting up.

          “I should probably sleep,” he says, lying down covering himself with what Baekhyun thinks is a tacky comforter. “Hey, Baekhyun.”

          “Yeah.”

          “Thanks for everything.”

          Baekhyun stands at the door. “No problem,” he says, shutting off the light.

          Zitao’s voice sounds through the dark. “I’m sorry if I was rude to you earlier.”

          “Don’t worry about. I didn’t take it personally. Besides, you’re not good with people, right?” He feels his way towards his bed, still unfamiliar with the room.

          Zitao laughs again, startling Baekhyun who stubs his toe on the end of his bed.

          “Are you okay?”

          “Yeah,” Baekhyun huffs, cursing under his breath as he crawls into bed.

          “Goodnight, Baekhyun.”

          “Night,” he replies. “I’ll check on you in the morning, okay.”

          “Looking forward to it,” Zitao chuckles, which causes Baekhyun to feel hot behind the ears, but he’s not sure why.

          He never expected his first day at school to end so strangely. He’s glad to have met a few prospective friends and his roommate may be a bit strange, but at least his dorm life won’t be boring. A part of him is glad that he’s not home alone anymore because he’s tired of being lonely and being around so many people makes him realize just how alone is.

          Considering everything, Baekhyun’s surprised that he’s not more freaked out by his mysterious roommate and even with all of the rumors, he doesn’t think that Zitao’s a bad person, just misunderstood. In time, he’s sure that everything will make sense, but for now it doesn’t really matter. Baekhyun doesn’t mind the crazy atmosphere he’s been into because he thinks Zitao’s interesting and dorm life has proved to be more entertaining than anything he’s ever experienced before. As he’s on the brink of unconsciousness, Baekhyun wonders if tomorrow is going to be as exciting as today was. He drifts off to sleep listening to the sound of Zitao’s heavy breathing, thinking that the presence of someone else is actually quite comforting because it makes him feel less alone than usual.

This is something I started on a while ago and my mind's been all over the place so I felt like working on it.

Not sure where this one is going either, but I hope it was worth your read.

<3 Jae