"Is that the last of everything?" Deacon asked, shoving a mini-fridge against the wall at the foot of Rory's bed.

"I think so. Mom went downstairs to check if there was anything else," Rory said, surveying the mess of the room. There were boxes everywhere and he was dreading having to unpack. "Do I have to go to the stupid freshmen welcome?" Rory asked, checking to make sure that his RA wasn't lurking behind him to hear him call it stupid.

"Not really. They tour you around campus some more, and then maybe do a walk to all your classes, but you've got me for that." Deacon hung his arm around Rory's shoulders and pulled him in for a side hug. Neither of them were quite used to the growth spurt that Rory had had in his last year of high school; now he was only a few inches shorter than Deacon.

"Has Aaron shown up yet?" Deacon questioned tentatively.

"Not yet. I think he and his dad are showing up later." Rory knew that Deacon didn't like the idea of Rory having a roommate—nothing against Aaron, but Rory had never had to share a room with someone before, and neither of them were sure how some of his tendencies might act up again. Aaron had been given a run down about it all though, so they could only hope it would work out for the best.

"When your mom leaves, I'll take you off campus to eat," Deacon said. "There's a good Thai restaurant a little north of campus."

Rory's mom came running back in with a small open-top box of a few miscellaneous items. "I think this is the last of it," she announced, setting it on the bed. "I don't think there's much else for me here, unless you want some help unpacking?"

"No, I'm good," Rory grumbled. He had all weekend to be working on that. Carrying everything up three flights of stairs to his floor had been enough for the day.

"Okay," she huffed quietly before yanking him into a hug. "I'll come up and see you again next weekend, okay? And call me after your first day of classes. Now I've got to go side-track to Kristen's place on my way back down before it gets too late in the day." She took another minute to let go of Rory though. "Ugh, it was hard enough with Kristen, but now you're off too," she finally whined at the end, sniffing and holding back tears.

Rory sent a panicked look to Deacon, who then pried Rory's mom away. "He'll call, and I'll drive him down on some of the weekends when we don't have too much homework," Deacon promised. "Kristen's probably waiting for you, so we'll see you next time, okay?"

With that Deacon had successfully walked her out of Rory's room. Rory flopped back onto his bed, and Deacon came back to slide some of Rory's boxes to his one side of the room. "Let's get some food while we wait for Aaron," Deacon declared.

They had to dodge around people carrying boxes and other things up to the dorm floor as they made it downstairs and out into the parking lot. Deacon had managed to get his hands on a cheap car that got him from point A to point B, but didn't have much else to it. The radio, heater and air conditioning were all broken, and one of the windows wouldn't roll down, but it had wheels.

Deacon took them out to eat and Rory eyed him suspiciously. "Do you actually have money for all of this?"

"I've been saving, and I can eat out every once and a while," Deacon protested. "I just got a raise at work anyways. Dollar more an hour."

It didn't sound like much to Rory, but he had to guess it all added up. Rory wasn't impressed by the restaurant; it was small and dingy, but Deacon assured him that it was good food. "Just don't think about it," Deacon insisted, grabbing his hand over the table. "Are you excited for your classes?"

"Some of my classes are three hours long," Rory muttered sourly.

"Jeez, why?" Deacon asked.

"Something to do with studio art classes. And I don't think there's a watercolor-based painting class, I think it's just oil and acrylic, which is disappointing," Rory sighed, tilting his cup of water around and watching the ice move.

The restaurant owner came to take their order, though his English was terrible, Deacon could understand him well enough to get their food. Deacon paid for it all, even though Rory's mom had given him a small allowance. Deacon showed him around the downtown area until they got a call from Aaron saying that he was there.

"This is a terrible idea," Aaron's dad complained. "Rooming two introverts together—neither of you are ever going to leave this room, are you?"

"Of course we are," Aaron protested. "We're going to go to classes."

Aaron's dad rolled his eyes. "That's not what I meant."

"I'll get them out," Deacon promised as he grinned mischievously. That seemed to appease Aaron's dad as they did the rest of Aaron's moving in before his dad had to leave.

"Are you even going to be sleeping here that often?" Aaron asked, giving Deacon a suspicious look.

"Yes, he will," Deacon promised on Rory's behalf, who groaned. "You have to suffer like the rest of us. You can maybe stay at my place on weekends, and maybe once during the week. You're paying to be in the dorms, you might as well be here."

"I like your place better," Rory grumbled defensively.

"You haven't even seen my new place. I just moved in last week. And I have a roommate there too," Deacon reminded him. "Just thankfully his room is on the other side of the hall."

"Can I come over tonight?" Rory asked, raising his eyebrows hopefully.

Aaron let out a groan of complaint, even though it wasn't any of his business. Rory shot him a defensive look. "Don't give me that."

"Whatever," Aaron sighed as he knelt down in front of some boxes and started going through them.

"That's fine, but you're not staying the night," Deacon reminded him. "You must suffer through the dorms like the rest of us."

Rory agreed, and so he said later to Aaron before following Deacon out to his car. He was at least familiar with some parts of campus and the city after his visits to see Deacon over the three years, though he wouldn't say he could find his way anywhere.

Deacon's apartment was straight up from campus, in a building that looked worse for wear. The inside of the apartment was actually nice, much to Rory's relief. "They're condos, so some are in better shape than others, depending on the owner," Deacon informed, taking his shoes off at the door. "Pretty big bathroom here too. And not too expensive; my roommate's uncle owns the place and we rent from him at a good deal."

"That's nice." Rory just knew he wasn't going to have to worry about any of that until next year.

The living room and the kitchen were openly connected, though their excuse for a kitchen table was already covered in a mess of unclaimed things. Deacon showed him back to the rooms. Deacon had gotten the smaller of the two though he said he didn't mind. It was enough to fit a bed, desk, and small dresser.

Rory sat back on the bed, glancing around the room. He was familiar with most of the posters from Deacon's last apartment, so there wasn't much of anything new to see.

Deacon sat next to him on the bed and gave him a light kiss on the cheek. "I'm glad you're up here," he said.

Rory just shrugged awkwardly. There had been a number of rough patches before hand—like the one where it turned out his anxiety ended up getting worse after Deacon left for college. It had taken counseling and setting regular visits of being able to see Deacon to work most of it out. He didn't like the idea of being so dependent on one person either, so he'd tried exceptionally hard to work it out on his own.

Now it would just be weird now that they were going to school again—just this time on a larger scale of students and the size of the campus. Deacon swore up and down no one would really care if they were dating, because it wasn't likely anyone would be paying enough attention to care. And on a large campus, chances are they wouldn't see many faces more than once.

It had been a silent mantra that Rory had to keep telling himself to keep calm. That, and he was getting distracted by Deacon now trying to steal a few more kisses. Rory finally shifted his mind off his worrying and let Deacon kiss him on the lips.

That was all it took for the moment for Rory to fully get his mind off of everything. He felt Deacon's hands taking off his shirt and easing him back into the clean bed sheets. He could smell the detergent, and from his memory, also realized he hadn't seen these color of sheets on Deacon's bed before. "Did you get new sheets?" Rory asked suspiciously. Not that it actually bothered him, but he didn't want Deacon buying new sheets just for him, either.

"Maybe," Deacon answered vaguely, as he was far more invested in placing soft kisses down Rory's chest. "I washed them before I put them on," he added.

"That's not what I meant," Rory groaned in frustration as he rolled his eyes back. "You don't have to do those things."

Deacon just shrugged. "But it doesn't hurt."

"Doesn't help," Rory quipped right back, enough to get Deacon to glance up at him.

"Alright," Deacon paused. "I won't. But you have to let me know if anything ends up bothering you."

"I haven't had a problem with bed sheets before," Rory grumbled.

"You just haven't noticed when I get new ones," Deacon corrected him. "I guess switching from greys and blacks to purple was my mistake. You noticed this time," he chuckled.

It certainly didn't make Rory feel any better then. Deacon just laughed it off and worked the scowl off Rory's face with a longer kiss. Deacon's hands helped Rory and himself out of their pants as well, and meticulously rutted himself against Rory.

Rory was just waiting for it to go further, but Deacon seemed content on holding it there, until Rory gave him a smack on the arm. "What are you doing?" Rory complained, feeling more than heated.

"Taking my time," Deacon replied with feigned innocence.

"Well stop it," Rory huffed. "We have all semester and so on."

Deacon gave in with another crooked smile and pulled out the condom and lube. Rory had to watch the ceiling as Deacon helped him get ready—that was still never really something he could get his head around doing or watching.

Deacon cleaned his hands afterwards and then put the condom on. He wrapped Rory up in another kiss as he slid his shaft in, and Rory couldn't help but groan into the kiss. It felt like it had been too long, especially with the distance while Deacon had been at college alone.

Deacon still tried to keep it slow at the start, teasing Rory along with it. Rory pinched him enough that Deacon gave in again and began to put more vigor into it. Rory held on tightly, not wanting to let go of him.

Rory tried to hold out on the orgasm that he could feel climbing. He didn't want it to be over just yet, but his body gave him away. He dug his fingers into Deacon's shoulders as he came, and Deacon was right there along with him.

Deacon lounged back into the bed as he tried to catch his breath, while Rory snuck to the bathroom to do a quick clean up. He joined Deacon back in bed afterwards and curled up at his side with a long sigh.

Deacon chuckled to himself and stroked Rory's hair. "You still have to sleep in your own bed tonight."

"Fuck," Rory hissed.