Changes (Turn and face the strange)
Chapter Title: Changes (2015 Remaster) By David Bowie.
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"Yes! Finally, we have arrived at my new home!" Charlie cheered, dragging his suitcase to the front door of his dorm. Surprisingly, considering he had run up 3 flights of stairs, carrying a rather large suitcase, he wasn't out of breath, merely a bit red in the face. Knox, huffing and exhausted from running after his boyfriend,turned to look at him, arching an eyebrow "I think you mean our new home, thank you very much."
Charlie waved him off passingly, turning back to the door. "Yes my dear Knoxious, our new home. Dorm 315." He put the key in, and turned it before noticing it was already unlocked. Shrugging his shoulders, he took his key out and slammed the door open. "Hello Poets!" he exclaimed, grinning cheeking at Neil, whose head whipped around to stare at him in surprise, and Todd, who has flinched and hunched his shoulders up in fear from the loud noise. "Your favourite person in the whole universe has arrived! I'm sure you've been lost without me. Oh, Knox is here too." He waltzed into the living room of their dorm, putting his suitcase by the door.
Looking around, Charlie and Knox noticed how Neil and Todd had already started filling the many bookshelves in their dorm with poetry books, fiction, true crime, fantasy, and filling some of the empty spaces with the many group photos Todd had spent far too much time printing out and finding the perfect frames for. There was a large round top mirror mounted onto the wall, surrounded by fairy lights which gently lit the room in a soft amber glow, accompanied by the many lamps scattered throughout the room on the bookshelves, couch-side tables, and the other strings of fairy lights hanging from the walls. Charlie could only assume this was due to everyone's refusal of the ceiling light, commonly referred to as the 'Evil big light' by the poets. They all preferred the soft lighting of lamps compared to the harsh blinding ceiling light.
On the shorter bookshelf sat Todd's record player, with plenty of the poets personal vinyl's stored on the shelf beneath it, noticeably Taylor Swift, The Smiths, Oasis, Blur, Laufey, Lana Del Rey, Arctic Monkeys, Hozier, Adrianne Lenker, and Chappell Roan. He noted how Taylor's albums had been organised in order of release, appreciating it. The middle of the cold wooden floor was covered by a large fluffy pale blue rug, with a decent sized coffee table on top of it. He recognised the coffee table, as the poets had been charity shopping for some of their dorm furniture, mostly the coffee table and the desks in the poets rooms, to save money rather than spend a fortune at IKEA.
Charlie looked back at Todd, noticing how he looked frightened, immediately feeling bad for the boy. "Shit, I'm sorry Todd. I didn't know it was you to in here, I figured it was Meeks and Pitts since they like being early to these sorts of things. If i knew it was you, I wouldn't have slammed the door. Swear down on my life. I'm so so sorry" he quickly walked to the boy, hugging him gently, knowing he didn't like deep pressure hugs unless it was Neil (Todd would always claim Neil gave the best deep pressure hugs, but Charlie always thought it was just because he wanted to hug Neil). Todd shrugged, smiling as he relaxed and hugged Charlie back before quickly pulling away, looking at Charlie and Knox "It's fine, honestly. I should've expected it. Besides, Meeks and Pitts are already here. They arrived yesterday like us, but they got here at like 10 in the morning to get the 'best rooms', even though they're all the same size. And Cameron got here at like 8:30 yesterday morning, which is even worse if you ask me. Neil and I have chosen our rooms, so yours are the furthest on the right, and they're opposite each other."
Charlie cheered at that, quickly running to claim his room, Knox following close behind, but at a normal walking pace. The quiet bickering of Charlie and Knox playing rock paper scissors for the room with a bigger window filtered into background noise, blending with Laufey's 'Let you break my heart again' playing from Todd's record player, which he decided all the poets could use. Neil hummed along to the music, holding Todd close to him as he gently rocked them both back and forth. "What are the odds that Charlie will sneak into Knox's room in the middle of the night?" Todd laughed quietly at Neil's question, thinking to himself before answering, "Easily like a 99% chance. He wont even last an hour in his own room tonight." He looked around, listening to the quiet chatter of Meeks, Pitts, and Cameron, coming from the left hallway, smiling to himself. Neil looked down at him, tilting his head. "What's you smiling like that?" Todd looked up at him slightly, answering Neil. "It feels like home now. Everyone's here, it feels right."
Meeks walked into the room, spotting the door to the shared dorm open. He frowned and swiftly moved to close it. "We heard Charlie and Knox arrive. Damn, he didn't leave a dent in the wall." he pouted. Charlie strutted down the hallway, Knox following closely behind, complaining about being shoved into a wall. "Honestly Charlie, there was no need for that! Now my arm hurts." Charlie cackled, looking at Knox before replying sarcastically "Oh poor baby, do you want me to kiss it better?" Knox flushed pink, staring at him. "Well, I wouldn't mind a kiss if you're offering it?" Charlie slowly leaned in, holding Knox's jaw, before letting go and turning around, grinning slyly. "Anyways! Why does Dick look so proud of himself?" he looked towards Pitts, ignoring Cameron's frustrated cry of "Just because I'm called Richard does not mean you can call me Dick!" Pitts laughed, looking at Charlie "Meeks bet Cameron 10 quid you left a dent in the wall from slamming the door open. Cameron's just happy he saved himself £10." He patted Meeks' head gently, holding him close to his chest as he kissed his head gently, playing with the copper curls on Meeks head.
Neil looked around the room, humming as he looked at the time. "Christ, it's like 6pm already. We've got no food in the fridge, and I'm not living another meal on beige food again. Sorry love." he looked at Todd, who pouted. "what do you mean? Beige food is supreme, you love beige food." Neil laughed, shaking his head. "There's only so much plain pasta i can take. How about we try that diner around the corner?"
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After waiting for maybe 10 minutes, the poets had managed to find a quiet booth in the corner of the busy diner, as contrary to what Charlie would probably tell people, he in fact did not argue with a Karen for a table. Todd sat next to Neil in the furthest corner from other people in the diner, with Cameron on the other side of Neil, and Charlie, Knox, Meeks, and Pitts sat on the other side. They were quietly mumbling to each other as they glanced over their menus. Todd, immediately fixing his eyes on the chicken nuggets and fries option, pointing at it for Neil to see. "Could you order for me, please?" he mumbled quietly, keeping his headphones fixed on his head to block out the noise of the rest of the diner. Typically, he would order for himself but he knew it would be too much as he was now trying to avoid becoming overstimulated. Neil nodded in understanding. "Diet Pepsi too?" Todd nodded in confirmation, looking at the other poets at the table as he gently held and squeezed Neil's hand.
Knox had his hand on Charlie's chest, keeping him sat down so he didn't lunge across the table while arguing with Cameron about which milkshake flavour was the best. "It's clearly strawberry." Cameron stated matter-of-factly. Charlie made a disgusted face, shaking his head quickly as he tried standing up, Knox's hand keeping him in place. "What the fuck are you on about?! It's obviously banana that's the best!"
Todd's face quickly scrunched up hearing Cameron likes strawberry milkshakes. He decided to add his own input. "You're both wrong. Charlie, I respect your opinion, Cameron I can't say the same for you though-"
Charlie laughed, wheezing into Knox's shoulder.
Todd looked at Charlie before continuing, staring at the table, mumbling "Vanilla is the best milkshake. Plain but still sweet. Everyone likes vanilla."
Meeks looked at Todd, nodding in agreement. "I've gotta agree with Todd there. Vanilla is amazing."
Neil shrugged, listening to the conversation happening amongst the table. "I prefer chocolate." Todd nodded, showing a silent sign of respect for his boyfriend, leaning his head against his shoulder.
Their waitress came to the table taking everyone's orders. Charlie and Neil ordering double cheeseburgers with fried and milkshakes (banana and chocolate respectively), Cameron ordering a chicken and lettuce wrap with fries and a strawberry milkshake, Neil ordered Todd's chicken nuggets, fries and diet Pepsi (knowing he'd want to stick with his safe foods), Meeks stuck to simple food, keeping in the theme of beige food like Todd by ordering mac and cheese with a side of fries and a Vanilla milkshake. Pitts looked up at the waitress "I'll have a double cheeseburger with sweet potato fries and a strawberry milkshake please. Thank you." The waitress nodded, walking away to the kitchen to hand the chefs the order.
Meeks' and Charlie's heads slowly turned to look at Pitts in betrayal and disgust.
Meeks shook his head. "Pitts, babe, how could you do this to us? Strawberry milkshake and sweet potato fries?"
Charlie looked horrified. "Meeks, what the fuck is wrong with your boyfriend. Pittsie, did you smack your head on a door frame again?"
Pitts sat back and laughed shaking his head, resting his arm behind Meeks' shoulders as he looked at them both. "Nothing is wrong with me. I'm making sure you two don't steal my fries or milkshake anymore."
Meeks sat there and pouted, resting into his boyfriends side as he closed his eyes, listening to his friends bickering around the table.
They were all happy and relaxed for now, ignoring the fact that classes started tomorrow. They didn't want to focus on that, instead they focused on the moment.
Charlie took his phone out of his pocket, angling the camera perfectly on selfie mode to get all the poets in. "Smile bitches!"
Everyone quickly turned to look at Charlies camera, Todd, Meeks, Cameron, and Knox smiling as Charlie, Neil and Pitts pulled funny faces, sticking their tongues out at the camera as Charlie took the photo. He put his phone down after sending everyone the photo. "I'm going to get one of those huge grid boards from IKEA and add string and little pegs to it to put on the wall in the living room."
Neil looked at him, confused. "Why? You don't like making things."
Charlie smiled proudly. "To add photos of the many memories we will make at college. The new places we will visit, the new friends we'll make."