"𝙃𝙚𝙮 𝙗𝙖𝙗𝙮, 𝙬𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙢𝙮 𝙬𝙖𝙮?
𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙖𝙙𝙙𝙞𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣
𝙃𝙚𝙮 𝙗𝙖𝙗𝙮, 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙜𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙖 𝙨𝙖𝙮?
𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙮𝙤𝙪'𝙧𝙚 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣
𝙄'𝙢 𝙖 𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙮 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚
𝙄 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙠𝙨
𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙠𝙨, 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙠𝙨"

-ˏ͛⑅　‧̥̥͙‧̥̥ ̥ ̮ ̥ ⊹ ‧̫‧ ⊹ ̥ ̮ ̥ ‧̥̥‧̥̥͙　⑅ˏ͛-

5:32 pm

Mickey marched out of the boy's dormitory, taking a moment to adjust his eyes to the light outside before heading over to the girl's dormitory a few buildings away. He didn't see the reason why they couldn't just put the buildings side by side....if their goal was to try and keep the ladies out of the boy's dorms and vice versa, then they should probably put some extra security measures up.

The only thing keeping the two groups away from each other at this point were the Room Advisors...and the RA's didn't care enough half the time to actually enforce the rules.

Mickey dialed a number on his phone, holding it up to his ear as he strolled into the Ladies dormitory casually, not making eye contact with any of the girls who glanced at him curiously. The call never went through, and he snapped his phone shut in annoyance.

Some of the girls who were lazing about the common room barely spared him a glance anyway, assuming that he was there for a specific girl. That was the main reason that boys and girls snuck into each other's dorms, after all. For uh...nasty reasons. Many came into the other's dorms, ran to a room, and left ten minutes later. It wasn't uncommon.

Mickey debated briefly on taking the elevator to the third floor before deciding against it and taking the stairs instead.

Alright, room 304...room 300...302....304.

Yup. It still had the tacky flowers on it. The handmade paper mache flowers that (Y/N)'s roommate had made whenever she moved in. Or so Mickey had heard from (Y/N) during one of their late-night coffee dates. Well, not dates- hang-outs, moreso.

Dangit. Now the words of his friends kept darting through his mind. Teases, jests, they had began as soon as Mickey and (Y/N) began hanging out as friends. But it never really affected either one of them before. So why- why was Mickey starting to stew over this? Just let it go, man. Just let it go.

He lifted a fist up to knock on the door, before letting it fall. He stared at one of the tacky flowers...off-handedly thinking that it looks like it's about to fall apart.

"You need help?"

Mickey looked up to see a rather tall blonde girl staring at him with a look of intense sternness. Like a librarian. She peered at him through narrowed eyes, her hands preoccupied with a small basket of folded clothes.

"Uh- no- sorry." Mickey stammered out "I'm just here-"

"Look, if you're trying to get in there to bang some chick, I suggest you leave. Like, now. The RA's about to start searching rooms."

Geez, why did everyone assume that?! Probably because it happened quite a bit...but couldn't she obviously see that Mickey was not here for that? He was dressed in sweatpants and a hoodie. Wouldn't-....ah. Yeah, that was a pretty basic guy outfit to wear for those purposes.

"No- no, that's not what I'm doing..." He cleared his throat "I'm just here to pick up (Y/N) for a party."

"How romantic. And chivalrous," she added as an afterthought, rolling her eyes and continuing to walk past Mickey, muttering a "don't say I didn't warn you" under her breath.

Mickey frowned, wondering in the back of his mind why on earth he cared so much that some stranger thought he was trying to sneak in and out of (Y/N)'s room for...nefarious reasons.

Before he could overthink it, his fist raised up and pounded on the door.

"Yeah- one second!" A voice called from the room. Stumbling was heard for a few seconds before an out-of-breath (Y/N) opened the door, her face twisted in a look of exhausted annoyance. Once she saw Mickey, she only raised a brow.

"What, no hello?" He asked with a slight smile "I thought you liked me."

"Pfft-" (Y/N) snorted "I hate your guts, you can go suck a big fat co-"

"(Y/N)!" A voice interrupted her, a redhead peering out from behind (Y/N). Her face broke out into a wide grin "Ohhh, it's you!"

"Do I know you?" Mickey asked politely.

"No, but I know you!" She giggled "Make sure to have fun, but not too much fun, okay, (N/N)?" The strange girl vanished again, and (Y/N) rolled her eyes and opened the door wider, letting Mickey see all of the room.

"That's my roommate, Jessica," (Y/N) explained as she turned around and started rummaging through a pile of stuff on her bed "She's a stalker."

Mickey stepped into the room, leaning against the wall while he waited for (Y/N) to finish getting ready. Her room was split in half, from the two different styles he could see. The side (Y/N) was fiddling on looked like it was kept well-clean, with a bit of an "organized" mess on her desk, and a pile of assorted knickknacks and clothes piled up onto her bed. Jessica's side of the room looked like it was straight out of a college catalogue, with nothing out of place, and a neatly-arranged line of makeup on a dresser.

"I'm no stalker, I just like to keep tabs on my roommate!" Jessica called out from her bed, crossing her legs and making a face.

"Stalker." (Y/N) insisted, grabbing a set of keys out of her pocket before stuffing them in the pockets of her official Windsor hoodie. Hah. A school hoodie and leggings. She sure knew how to dress up, didn't she?

(Y/N) put her hands on Mickey's shoulders and started pushing him out the door, muttering under her breath about how she'd like to get out of the room before Jessica started asking invasive questions.

"Geez, geez, watch the hands!" Mickey cried, grabbing (Y/N)'s hands and using the momentum to shove her out the door, giving Jessica a nod before walking out of the room and closing the door shut behind the two.

"Well, look at you, all dolled up and fancy," He whistled, starting to make his way to the stairwell.

(Y/N), after regaining her balance from Mickey's little shove, only glared at him, hesitating for a moment before jogging to catch up with him and punched his shoulder lightly "We're wearing practically the same thing, idiot."

"I know. And I am the shit, aren't I? You're lucky to be associated with someone like me."

"Shut up, Mick."

⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅

6:35 pm

The party was kicked into high gear surprisingly quickly. Even for college students. Not even five minutes after 6, and drunk guys were already leading tipsy girls back to their rooms. A thriller movie was blasted out of a speaker, projected onto a wall so everyone in the common room could see it.

Not that it really mattered. Only three or four people were actively watching the film. All geeks who had most likely never felt the touch of a woman and could not care less about the promiscuous activities surrounding them

(Y/N) had kept to the side of the party, for the most part. Playing it safe, keeping close watch over her red solo cup and occasionally filling it back up with whatever booze was closest by. She was never one to actively drink, but the dark room, the pounding sounds of screams and suspenseful music pouring from the speakers, and a tightly-packed room of rowdy students almost seemed to drive her to the drinking point.

Occasionally, if she could catch a glimpse of Mickey, or if Mickey could coerce her into joining him, she would duck into the crowd to socialize with her fellow drunks, always making sure to keep a hand on Mickey at all times. Sometimes she would touch his shoulder, sometimes his back, or his arm. Once she grabbed his hand by mistake, desperate not to lose him in the room. This caused quite a shock to the boy, who yanked his hand out of her grip in surprise, before flashing an apologetic smile and grabbing her wrist.

Both of them would have been lying if they said they weren't just a little on edge that night. After all, (Y/N)'s roommate had made suggestive remarks about what might happen...Randy had laid out a whole goddamn script, too! They were both tiptoeing around each other, perhaps laying on the platonic nicknames like "Bud" or "Pal" a bit too much for comfort. 

Randy, like the creep he was, forced himself to slink around the room rather than pay attention to the movie, an undrunk soda in his hand as he kept his sights focused on the "friends". After all, this was better than a movie! This was real life! What could happen? He could only guess! But Randy...maybe he was a tad too invested in his friend's love life.
He even nicked Mickey's camera, and was trying his best to keep the video on and rolling, focused on the two. He wasn't the best cameraman, but he was trying...and that's what really counted, wasn't it? Besides, if something were to happen between the two, then Randy wanted it on video! Not only to share with their friend group, but also to slap a giant I told you so, right in Mickey's face! Mickey would most likely beat him up if that happened, Randy knew, but at least Randy would be right! Haha!

Focusing back on the main two...they were currently next to the tables that were lined with snacks, the fold-able cheap tables looking as if they were about to break. But up they stayed, and the snacks were nearly untouched, save for a few of the chips and cookies.

Mickey grabbed a cookie, trying to discern what kind it was...but to no avail. The lights were too dim to even make out what shape it was in. Was it round? Or in the shape of an animal?? He would never know.
He shrugged and popped the entire dessert into his mouth, pleasantly surprised to find that it was a peanut butter cookie.

"Man, shouldn't this shit be labelled?" He said, mainly to himself, but also to (Y/N), who was busy peering over the tops of people's heads to catch a glimpse of the movie.

"What?" She asked, turning back to face Mickey.

"This food. I just ate something with peanut butter- what if I were fucking allergic?" He yelled, trying to be heard over a particularly loud suspenseful musical cue.

"Then I guess you would die. It was nice knowing you, I guess." (Y/N) gave a small salute "I'm not coming to your funeral, though. Just remember that next time you stuff a random thing into your mouth," She paused before letting out a low giggle "hehe, stuffing something into your mouth...there's a joke there."

"Are you drunk?" Mickey asked with a smile, grabbing another cookie- one he assumed was another peanut butter since it was right next to the one he just ate- and grimacing as he tasted a regular oatmeal raisin cookie. Fuck. Who even buys those things?

"Mmmm-" (Y/N) held up her cup with a dopey grin, tilting her head side to side as she hummed "Well, I've filled up this cup about 5 times...wait, 6? Somewhere around there...heh. I think I miiiiiight be a little tipsy." Her smile faded, and she wore a worried frown "Awh, man, I have classes tomorrow! I don't wanna be hungover for my classes!"

Micky shook his head, gently prying the cup out of her hand and peering into it. A foul-smelling substance was inside, barely more than a sip left. "Tomorrow's Saturday. You don't have any classes tomorrow." He snorted, turning around and grabbing a fresh beer bottle, popping open the top before handing it to (Y/N) and grabbing his own "Here, drink this. You probably shouldn't be drinking whatever you were drinking."

"Ooh, thanks-" she cooed, taking a sip of the beer "And heyyy, how do you know I don't have Saturday classes?"

"Because I still have your schedule from the first day we met." Mickey explained, swirling the beer around in the glass before chugging half of it "Mm- plus, Windsor only has a theater class on Saturdays. And I know you're not taking theater."

(Y/N) moved a little closer to Mickey, the same dopey grin on her face as she put a hand on his arm, stopping him from taking another sip of beer.

"...what?" He asked after a moment of silence between the two, (Y/N) staring at him, and he waiting for her to speak.

"Stalker." She giggled, before letting go of his arm, taking another step closer to him.

Mickey frowned as her shoulder pressed into his upper arm, a concerned look on his face. (Y/N) was unbothered, and only continued to give the same look of blissful happiness that only intoxication seemed to be able to bring out in people. "Stupid happy", Mickey's mother called it when he was younger.

"Okay, (Y/N)," Mickey started "I have a personal bubble, and I know you don't recognize that, but-" his voice slowly got softer and softer with each word as his friend got slowly closer "but uh...but you gotta respect the bubble, and you...."

The girl only got closer, giving no sense of hearing Mickey speak. He couldn't entirely blame her for what happened next, as he found himself leaning down to meet her halfway.

In the crowd of people, half in the darkness, no one seemed to notice the two friends sharing a kiss.

Except for Randy Meeks, staring at the two with a disgusted, yet proud expression. He double-checked the camera, making sure he got the footage.
"Holy shit, I was right," He whispered in awe.