[M4TF] Oh My God, They Were Roommates

Our story began in college, that opening weekend where two freshmen are pushed together, out of the hands of their parents and on their own. On the surface, we couldn't have looked more different. I was an athlete, a good head taller than you, clothes and decorations very simple and utilitarian. You? Clearly were a theater kid, and there was initial awkwardness when you seemed to just keep having clothes to put away on the closet.

But, it worked. I was out late practicing, and when I did come back I mostly put headphones on and studied. We'd split a doordash order every now and again, you'd introduce me to some pop music I'd never have heard of, but found myself shaking my shoulders to and adding to my own playlists. We weren't each other's best friend, but what we had worked.

Then, practice ended early one day, and I came home to a locked door. I debated, listening and hearing if you had... company, but either things were incredibly quiet or you didn't. So, I took a gamble, unlocked the door, and slipped inside.

When I saw you, I closed the door behind me and threw the lock. You were in a skirt, heels, and blouse. I did pause, but all I said was my usual, "sup," threw down my bag, and headed to my desk. Pulling the chair out, though, I stopped and looked back towards you.

"You want me to leave?"

~~

That's just an intro. I see the trajectory of our history unfolding from there. We don't talk about things for a while, but I also don't stop offering you pizza or treating you any different. Eventually, we are talking, maybe playing video games, and you come out to me. I seem unfazed. "Cool." Go along with it.

Perhaps there's a time when this becomes an issue for me. Someone tries to treat you like shit, or says something to me when you're in earshot but I don't know it. There's not a moment of hesitation as I defend you, stand up for you. It just seems natural, normal.

We live together another year. Any pro prospects I have come to a halt as I take a serious injury. It's your turn to care, to make my life a little easier. And as we graduate, we find we don't want to take next steps apart from one another.

City, roommates, still coexisting, but years of comfort start to intervene. One of us has a SO, and things get awkward. Hard to say how exactly this goes, but they end up breaking it off, something along the lines of, "if you like your roommate so much, just date them." It's crushing. The dump-ee is in tears, consoled by the other. And then...

Things changed that night. A kiss, maybe more, I don't know. In the end, I hope to be collaborative, and write as much or as little of this story as you'd like. We can decide what scenes matter, what we want to experience. But I'm a hopeless romantic, hoping to find a similarly hopelessly romantic partner to share in this storytelling.

Thanks for reading. Talk soon, friend.