Chapter Text
It wasn't as if you weren't used to seeing them around by now. Monsters had been back for around five years by this point. But sometimes you couldn't help but be surprised by seeing them around, most often when you were travelling and saw new types of monsters that you hadn't seen before.
That had certainly been the case when you had moved to the city of Ebott, situated around the now-famous mountain with the same name. Moving had been tough, and you certainly hadn't wanted to leave your hometown, and everyone that you knew.
But that was a long time ago now. Now, you had new friends; and with your mother pregnant, would soon have a larger family. Things were great, you even admitted to yourself at times that you were probably happier here than where you once lived.
Things got a whole lot more complicated, however, when you graduated from high school and moved up to college. Ebott Liberal Arts College was an impressive place, and one that you'd never even dream of affording if not for the promotion that your father got; which in itself was the very reason you were here.
You couldn't help but feel a little overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the place the first time you came here, and felt the exact same weight in your chest now that you were here again, The high ceilings, open spaces and the sheer amount of people easily brought you out of your comfort zone, but your fascination kept you grounded.
Keeping a tight grip on the strap of your bag, you walk deeper into the campus, carefully avoiding getting too close to people, human or monster. There were people here you’d never seen before, but given the size of the city, that wasn’t much of a surprise.
The walk to your first classroom, while not particularly long, felt like a marathon. As you got closer to the room you needed to go to, 37-A if your memory served, the sudden weight of just how important today was started gathering on your shoulders.
Today was your first day at college, and as such, the first day of your adult life.
Suddenly feeling immensely pressured, you check your wristwatch, finding yourself to be ever so slightly early, and push the door open. And, in doing so, immediately realise that you somehow managed to end up in a monster-dominated class. Apparently creative writing was something that captured them more than it caught humans?
Honestly, you weren’t sure. You were glad nobody turned to look at you or anything like that, but you couldn’t exactly stop yourself from looking around at the various types of monsters that were in the room. It seemed that you were the only human in this class, at least so far. You also couldn’t help but realise that the other students had entirely left one part of the room empty. Taking it as a small blessing, and hoping that it would give you the chance to sit by yourself, you walk through the room, taking your seat at a desk chosen simply because it was close to the window, something you always preferred.
The next few minutes felt uncomfortably long as you sat restlessly at your desk, fidgeting and doing what you could to ignore the other students who seemed to be talking about you. Considering you most definitely were the only human in the class, and that they were talking about that particular topic, it was hard to hope it was someone else that they were gossiping about.
Already feeling somewhat dejected, you barely register that the entire class has fallen silent. It’s only when you feel a heavy paw on your shoulder that you realise something had happened.
Finally dragging yourself out of your stupor, you look up to the monster that had touched you, and suddenly feel as if your day couldn’t get any worse. Why the Prince of all Monsterkind was studying at a college like this was beyond you, as was how you could possibly have attracted his attention.
Before your mind settles enough to speak, he does so. His voice isn’t at all as you’ve heard it over TV; it’s much richer and makes you feel much more comfortable than you had up until now.
“Do you mind if I take the seat beside you?”
It isn’t even a long sentence, and certainly nothing of importance, but you feel drawn to allow him the seat. Something about him immediately brightens up your day; although given that you’ve had physical contact with literal royalty, that didn’t come as much of a surprise.
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The class itself passes in kind of a blur, the information given to you barely registering as you feel constantly and intensely aware of the fact that the seat beside you is taken up by a Prince. It felt so intensely surreal that you weren’t able to focus much.
You only hoped he didn’t notice you glancing at him. You had done everything you possibly could to appear as perfect as possible around him; and couldn’t even bring yourself to think of what would become of you if you had been caught staring at him.
Still feeling somewhat dazed, you pack your things back into your bag and sling it over your shoulder, the weight feeling much more alien than it did an hour prior. Your mind racing with the fact that you’d been so close to someone like him. You knew his name, of course. But now he also knew yours, now.
It was a hard fact to swallow, that Asriel Dreemurr, the prince of monsters, knew your name. And was sat next to you in your first class. You felt like you were likely dwelling on it too much, but you couldn’t help feeling a little overwhelmed by it.
Shaking your head a little to re-focus, you grab your timetable from your pocket and set off toward your next class. Your first one might have been more than a little unusual, but you still had to get through the rest of the day. All you could hope for was that nothing else too interesting would happen.
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“You have to be kidding.”
Your voice is soft, whispered under your breath as you look at the nameplate on the door to your appointed dorm room. And, sure enough and much to your immediate panic, your name is right there. Beneath the name Asriel Dreemurr.
Today had been much calmer for you after the first period, but this? This was a little more than you were willing to deal with, to put it politely. There was no way you could possibly be roommates with him of all people.
Entirely convinced that there was some kind of mistake, you turn on your heel and start making your way toward the office that you hoped woud be able to help out with this. There was no way that you could possibly be paired with him. He was royalty, it couldn’t make sense for him to even be amongst the dorms, let alone in a paired one with you.
That was what you had convinced yourself of, at least. Not that you were hard to convince, but that wasn’t the point. He was royalty, so it made no sense for him to be in the normal dorms. Or paired with a human like yourself. Hell, you hadn’t even realised that ‘co-ed’ apparently meant interspecies dorms as well as it’s more traditional meaning.
But, apparently that didn’t matter. It was as if nobody else noticed that he was royal. Sure, they acted a little differently around him, but that was as far as it seemed to go. They acted more weirdly around you than him, which would have offended you if you weren’t used to that kind of thing.
And yet somehow, as if things hadn’t already been difficult enough for you, you were now apparently saddled with being dorm-mates with the one person you were hoping to avoid.
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A short, frustrating visit to the dorm office later, you began walking back toward your assigned dorm, your bag feeling heavy on your shoulder. There was, apparently, no way out of your room assignment. The woman who you had asked about it even had the gall to look personally offended that you would try to have your room changed.
You weren’t even sure why you were so against the idea. After all, you were going to be dorm-mates with royalty, which was something you couldn’t imagine very few people could ever claim. But yet, it wasn’t a good idea, for you. There was so much about you that you were fine with, but you couldn’t imagine someone like him would be.
You were more than a little disheartened that your first day at college had already caused you this much concern. If things kept up this pace, you weren’t entirely sure how you’d make it through the rest of the year.
Perhaps, if you were lucky, things would get better. You didn’t want anything to go sour, not here. Especially not this early.
The thought of having someone so important as Asriel being both your classmate and now, apparent dorm-mate, was likely the most significant part of all this, and you just couldn’t figure out what kind of impact it would have. It gave you a long list of things you never thought you’d need to deal with, to deal with.
You decided you hated college already.