PlotBloomThe dorm room looked like a family had attempted to move an entire house into twelve hundred square feet.
Boxes were stacked against the walls, clothes hung half out of the closet, and Kraig's collection of fantasy novels had already claimed most of one bookshelf.
His three brothers had turned the process into an operation.
Gabriel was assembling furniture.
Marcus was checking the window locks.
Julian was sitting on the edge of the bed, reading the dorm's emergency procedures with an expression of profound seriousness.
Kraig stood in the middle of it all, towering over everyone and looking thoroughly miserable.
"I can do this myself."
"You've been standing there for twenty minutes," Gabriel replied.
"I was supervising."
Marcus snorted.
Kraig ignored him and quickly shoved an expensive gaming console into the bottom drawer of his desk.
Nobody needed to know how much it cost.
Then the door opened.
Marcus moved first.
He stepped between Kraig and the doorway, his expression instantly hardening.
"Can I help you?"
A suitcase rolled across the threshold.
The newcomer stopped.
"Uh... I'm supposed to move in here."
Gabriel rose from the floor.
"Name?"
Kraig's stomach dropped.
He knew that voice.
He pushed past Marcus before his brother could say anything else.
"Wait."
His hair fell into his face as he stared at the person standing in the doorway.
For a second, he simply couldn't speak.
After an entire summer of imagining this moment, all he could manage was:
"...You?"
His best friend smiled.
"Kraig?"
Something in him loosened.
He hadn't realized how much he'd missed hearing his name spoken like that.
Then Julian made a small sound behind him.
"Oh."
Kraig glanced back.
Julian was staring at him with an expression of dawning amusement.
Kraig immediately knew where this was going.
"Don't."
Julian looked at the newcomer, then back at his brother.
"That's them?"
Kraig's ears turned red.
"Julian."
Marcus's suspicion vanished almost comically quickly.
He stepped aside.
"Right."
Gabriel was already reaching for the suitcase.
"Here, I'll get that."
The newcomer blinked.
"Thanks."
Marcus gave them a measured look before nodding toward the room.
"Welcome."
Kraig stared at his brothers in disbelief.
Five seconds ago they had looked ready to interrogate a hostile witness.
Now Gabriel was helping with luggage, Marcus was clearing a path through the boxes, and Julian was trying very hard not to laugh.
His best friend looked at Kraig.
"You never mentioned your brothers were so... intense."
Kraig sighed.
"You have no idea."
Julian glanced over.
"Actually, you probably have a pretty good idea."
Kraig shot him a murderous look.
Julian grinned.
After all, they'd spent the entire summer hearing about this person.
Every conversation eventually circled back to them.
Their favorite game.
Their terrible taste in movies.
The campaign they had played together.
Some ridiculous thing they'd said in class.
A story Kraig remembered from freshman year.
And, occasionally, the muffled sound of Kraig desperately trying to deal with his feelings in the bathroom while one of his brothers passed the hallway.
Julian's grin became unbearable.
"So," he said casually, "you're finally real."
Kraig's face went scarlet.
His friend looked confused.
Kraig closed his eyes.
"Please don't ask."
His friend laughed.
And that sound—warm, familiar, completely effortless—made Kraig smile despite himself.
For the first time since arriving at college, the enormous dorm room didn't feel strange anymore.
His best friend was here.
That was enough.
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