Chapter Text
Asriel counted himself among the lucky few in college to be assigned a roommate who wasn't total chaos. When he first met the human known as Chara, of course he was worried! First time away from his hometown for more than a day AND he was going to have to be roommates for the next year at minimum! He had nightmares for weeks leading up to moving in day of his roommate being a total slob who left the entire room trashed or someone who would hate him for doing his music homework in the dorm room. It would be a brand-new experience to live with someone who wasn’t his family because at least he could count on Kris to launch a pillow at the back of his head when his humming was too distracting, or shooting his legs with a rubber band gun when his fidgeting started shaking the room. On top of all that, the stress of coordinating his recently divorced parents to help him move into the dorm meant a car ride that had tensions so high he half hoped it would break the car in half. Family turmoil aside, it would be an understatement to say that moving day was stressful. Luckily, everyone survived with all their limbs attached and in a short 4 hours, he was finally left alone to contemplate what kind of person or monster his roommate would be. He chose to have gender and species-neutral housing because that was half the reason he chose this college in the first place! It had almost a perfect ratio of half-human and half-monster students and staff. Growing up with Kris made Asriel more curious to learn about human culture, which was severely lacking in their small hometown, with there being approximately one book in the library about them.
Looking at the other side of the shared room reminded him a lot of being back home. His roommate apparently lives much like Kris, no little trinkets on the shelves or anything personalized other than the green bedsheets and one pillow without a case. They appeared to have a fast-food cup as their pencil holder on the desk with 2 pens, one red and one black, and 3 halfway used wood pencils. There were a couple of clothes hanging up in the closet when he started to hang up his own, a couple of well-worn sweaters, 2 pairs of pants, a long skirt, and a hoodie. The contrast between his plentiful colorful wardrobe and theirs made his heart ache for a moment before he turned his attention to finish unpacking. After around 4 hours of work, he finally heard the door unlock behind him. It was them! His roommate!! Tugging at his ears nervously for a moment, he steeled himself to confidently give them a super-friendly and welcoming greeting.
For a split second, he thought he may have jumped through an interdimensional wormhole because the human standing at the door kind of almost exactly looked like Kris??? Did humans just default look like this???
They had brown hair that was a little choppy at the ends and straight across bangs that hung a tad over their eyes. Not nearly as long as Kris’s, whose bangs basically covered their entire expression, but enough that he almost missed the bright crimson color of their eyes. The human wore a very worn oversized sweater that he could faintly see the outlines of where some stripes used to be, but had faded through heavy use. His momentary buffering must have spooked the human a tad as they instantly moved their head down and to the side to break eye contact. After an awkward minute of internal screaming, Asriel finally got introductions out of the way. Everyone knows how it goes: exchange names, majors, some hobbies, etc. It was an entirely too quick conversation that left him feeling like he failed his first quick time action that had irreversibly placed him on another character's bad side for the rest of the game.
For about 3 weeks, Chara pretty much ignored his existence by constantly having headphones on or spending all their time in the library. It stung for sure, but he really didn't want to overstep their boundaries! It was a Sunday night when things finally changed. He sat on his bed listening to some random mecha anime’s ost, trying to piece the chord progression, when he saw Chara approach his bed with their arms crossed and a critical stare down at him.
“Ok, spill it, what’s your game here? The goody-two-shoes gimmick is getting old and I don’t plan on being a part of whatever your scheme is.” Suspicion and a mocking tone accompanied these harsh words. Asriel couldn't help but feel like he was being seriously interrogated right now, but he was an innocent officer! Please believe him!
“Um… I’m sorry? I really have no idea what you are talking about…” His voice stuttered a bit as he collected his courage to fully look up and face his interrogator.
“I’ve been observing you for the last 3 weeks, and not once have I seen you even COMPLAIN about anything here. No professors that suck? No fellow students who drive you insane? No arguments with family on the phone? I even saw you drop your entire bowl of cereal straight onto your laptop, and you said ‘Oh gosh oh no!’ like excuse me, what are you 5 years old??” Ok, well, that was kinda rude. Asriel found himself almost about to laugh at the apparent injustice that his roommate felt about his personality.
“Oh, I’m really sorry if I guess I made you uncomfortable??? I can start complaining if it would make you feel better! I mean, sure some of my professors have already assigned some assignments that don’t really seem relevant right now, but I’m sure it's to establish some building blocks that’ll be helpful for more advanced courses! I get along just fine with my parents and sibling but I’ll be sure to email Kris that they are NOT allowed to take the $5 i left in my dresser, however between you and me I think that money has been lost to a convenience store chocolate bar by now hahaha…” his nervous chuckling trailed off as Chara’s face looked almost nauseous.
“You didn’t answer my question about other students. So, there is someone who annoys you, huh? I refused to believe someone could be this much of a nice idiot and be cursed by the gods to have the unfortunate fate of being my roommate.” Asriel mentally put a pin in that last self-deprecating statement to come back to later. He had one chance to play his cards right if he wanted to be friends with Chara, so he couldn’t let anything distract him!
“Well, I guess there is ONE thing I can complain about…” Asriel slowly tilted his head and held his chin in his paw as he feigned contemplation. He closed his eyes and spoke with as much bravery as he could muster, “I have noticed that my roommate kindaaaaa sucks at their super smashing fighters main because they keep trying the same attack over and over and getting frustrated that nothing is changing. If only they had someone to help practice with who got into the top 10 of the school’s orientation smash tournament!! It's a real shame because I hear that he’s actually their roommate hahaha…” He dramatically sighed and looked back up to give a soft chuckle. Chara’s face was frozen as they processed this information, how dare this guy fucking call them out like that??? And in such a sincerely kind but joking way!! Against their will, a little chuckle also arose from their chest.
“You really fucking got me there, I’ll hand you that. I can’t believe you made fun of me in such a stupidly nice way.” Chara’s smirk and piercing red stare typically would cause most people to be creeped out but to Asriel, it brought a familiar level of nostalgia.
“Haha, I’ll take that as a compliment, I think. I’m still very sorry if I made you uncomfortable with being so nice I just have always been like this, I guess. It comes as no surprise I bet that I’ve always been told that I'm too compassionate and kind. Like to the point where I kinda just ignore it?? Sorry, that sounds like I’m shamelessly bragging doesn’t it?” Rubbing the back of his neck with his paw, Asriel felt an embarrassed blush overtake his cheeks. The human simply stared him down for what felt like hours, but in reality, it was probably no more than 30 seconds before seemingly relaxing from their previously defensive pose. After all that intense staring, Asriel was surprised to watch as Chara seemed keen to avoid any more eye contact as they muttered towards his direction.
“So were you serious about playing Smash together or…” Asriel mentally fist pumped so hard he had to rein in his triumph urge to ‘Woohoo!’ He immediately scooted over on his bed to make room for Chara and eagerly patted the space right beside himself.
“Yes absolutely!! Make yourself comfy while I grab my game” Asriel quickly leapt to his desk and grabbed his charging game console (totally not a Nintendo switch). Chara at first seemed hesitant to really get comfortable but his bed was so full of various pillows and plushies, anyone would find it hard not to relax into the piles of fluff.
As the day turned to night, the roommates found themselves gaming for hours. Asriel learned that Chara was a VERY sore loser and relished in rubbing their victories into his face. This didn’t bother him though. In fact, Asriel felt almost so happy he could cry if he was being honest. Their rage and viciousness were refreshing because it brought such life to their being. At one point, Chara was determined to win the match so badly that they flung themselves across his body to block the screen, and Asriel started laughing so hard he DID lose. Their gaming night ended well past midnight after both their controllers ran out of battery. When they both decided to head to bed, Asriel couldn’t help but send a prayer to the Angel thanking them for sending him Chara as a roommate because around them, he felt this overwhelming joy at being close. It was almost like a long-awaited homecoming from a family you didn’t even remember you had. Asriel fell asleep to the hope that Chara felt the same.