Ludwig's and Roderich's Room

Ludwig had been assigned a room at the end of a hallway that seemed quiet, for now. As students would be moving in over the next few days, he didn't know how busy or hectic the other students would be, but he had hopes that things would stay just as peaceful.

He had hopes his roommate would be as well. He didn't want to have to put up with someone who would only cause him problems.

A serious young man, he didn't have any expectations of making a lifelong friend, but he hoped at least that it wouldn't make his next few years painful.

He chose the bed furthest from the door and, consequently, furthest from the window. He decided that first come, first served as far as selection. Especially since there was the "benefit" of the window. Depending on noise levels and how it would affect his work, he wasn't sure if it was necessarily a good thing.

He stretched and began unpacking his things and making his bed with perfect military corners.

Studying the floor plan he'd been given carefully- very carefully- Roderich made his way slowly along the corridor. He was positive he had the right dorm, the right floor...and according to the map, he wasn't too far from his room. He glanced up ahead, and was rather glad when he didn't see or hear any other students. Perhaps he'd gotten lucky, and there weren't many others assigned to this dormitory. Perfect conditions for composing.

'Now then...what was the number?' he muttered to himself, dragging a wheeled suitcase along rather half-heartedly behind him. Taking in his somewhat dandyish appearance, and the lack of urgency in his movements, you'd be forgiven for thinking he was just a rich boy who did as he pleased. In fact, you wouldn't be far off.

'Aha.' Finally coming to the right door, Roderich tucked the map away and pulled out his key, unlocking the door and throwing it open. He turned to haul his case in. Then he stopped. Then he turned back to the room. There, blinking at him, was another young man, clearly in the middle of moving in. Roderich sighed, brushing stray hair out of his face.

'Damn. I was sure this was the right one. Sorry about that...' He peered at the number on the door, asking himself under his breath, 'How do I keep managing to do this?'

Ludwig looked up at the darker-haired young man who just walked in. "It's a simple enough mistake. I am still waiting for my roommate." He finished with the upper right corner of his bed and stood up straight. "Though I don't know who he is just yet."

"This is room 230. What one are you looking for?" he asked. Though he was dressed in a black t-shirt and olive cargo pants at the moment. He knew he would be moving in and hauling a lot of his belongings it had seemed silly to wear anything too nice and risk getting it dirty. This other young man did not seem to have the same common sense, either that or he'd expected someone else would do this for him.

Ludwig grabbed the cardboard tube which contained a poster of Rammstein, his favorite band of the moment. He popped off the white plastic end as he waited for the other man's answer. "I'm Ludwig, by the way."

'I'm sorry, did you say 230?' Roderich looked a little disappointed, sighing as he checked the tag hanging off his key. 'No, I was right after all. I suppose I'm who you've been waiting for.' He would have preferred a room to himself, but at least this Lugwig didn't seem particularly loud, although he did have a slightly alarming military air about him. Roderich shrugged, pulling off his (secretly superfluous) glasses, adjusting the grey Ascot around his neck and offering a hand to the other young man in one swift series of movements.

'Roderich Edelstein. Pleased to meet you, Ludwig.' There was the merest flash of smile, easily missed. 'I must say I wasn't expecting a roommate, but as long as you're not like some of the people I saw on my way up...I didn't know it was possible to make such a racket.'

Ludwig put the poster tube under his left arm as he shook Roderich's hand firmly. "Nice to meet you," he said as he shook the hand and then resumed to getting his side of the room ready. "I hope you don't mind having the side closest to the door and window." He hoped the other man did, because he didn't really have any intention of taking it. He toed off his boots and slid them under the bed partially, getting the chair to the pressed-wood desk that sat on his side of the room, mirroring the one on the other (though Ludwig noted his own was a bit more, well, used). He tested the chair to see if it would support his weight.

"Do you need help with any of your things?" Ludwig asked as he went about dealing with his own with his usual precision. Some absurdly blue poster putty was placed at the top two corners of his poster so it would stick to the wall without puncturing it with nails or the like. He pressed the poster to the wall, adding more of the putty where needed, then stepped back to make sure it was straight.

It wasn't and he went back up on the chair to adjust it twice more before he was satisfied. He glanced at his new roommate. "I'm afraid I'm a bit of a perfectionist." Type A personality was more like it, but he didn't want to make a terrible impression on the first day.

'Yes, I can see that...' Roderich replied, sounded very faintly amused. 'I'm much the same way, you know. And the window is fine. I like to be able to see the grounds...' He stepped over to the window, checking the ledge. 'Do you think I could get a window box in here?' He carried on without waiting for an answer, now inspecting the bed.

'Hmm. Well, it'll do. The room's on the small side, though, isn't it? I'd be hard pressed to get a cello in here, let alone a piano. What am I supposed to do now?' He shook his head, exasperated. 'I expect the closet's tiny, as well. With the tuition they charge, you'd think...oh, never mind. And thank you, but I think I'll be alright with my bags.' Roderich stepped out into the corridor, retrieving his suitcase- or rather, he tried to. As it turned out, it was a little big for the doorway, and he found himself losing his grip on the handle and stumbling back to bump into his desk. He smiled rather sheepishly.

'Ah. Well, perhaps you could help after all.'

Ludwig was in the process of setting out his laptop and other things on his desk. "They do have music practice rooms for that. I think you just reserve them. My mother insists I keep up on my lessons, but I am tempted to finally admit defeat when it comes to music."

He watched the other man leave to get his suitcase, then watched him struggle with it. This would be interesting if the other man wasn't capable of even carrying his own belongings. Before the other man could even suggest Ludwig could help him out, the blond was over to the door. The words were no sooner out of Roderich's mouth and Ludwig was putting the heavy luggage over his shoulder at an angle the handle wouldn't allow. A few twists and turns of the suitcase and his own muscular body had both Ludwig and the suitcase in the room.

"Have you considered using this as a coffee table? It's certainly big enough. And I don't see how it will fit into a closet."

There was room enough to let it sit between their two beds. "Or you could rent a storage locker from somewhere." Though to Ludwig it seemed incredibly ridiculous to have to rent a storage locker for something that was designed to store items itself.

'...Well. Thank you. That was quite impressive,' Roderich said, eyebrows raised. He couldn't help feeling that Ludwig would be rather useful to have around. 'I suppose it could be quite a good table, couldn't it? But then it'd get those rings all over it, I can't stand those. I keep telling people, use a coaster...' He trailed off, sitting on his bed and crossing his legs; eyeing his roommate carefully, he found himself wondering what the other man was thinking. He certainly had a very stoic manner.

'And as for music rooms...well, that's not much good to me. I need to be near my instruments at all times, what if something came to me in the middle of the night? Inspiration doesn't call in advance.' He absent-mindedly tugged at a single, untameable hair sticking up from his head. 'I suppose you prefer physical activities to the arts, hm?'

"I can appreciate the arts, but I'll never be some kind of maestro when it comes to music. I see no point in applying myself to something that, despite my best efforts, I can't excel at. Give me physical training, math, engineering, science, even economics. Make me write a sonnet and I might be in serious trouble." He looked down at the suitcase, which seemed to be his latest engineering feat to overcome. Something needed to be done with it, and if it was going to take up space, he wanted it to be functional.

"We could go to town and find some plexiglass to put on top of it. That stuff is pretty cheap, and the rings would just be on it, not your luggage."

He turned back to his own suitcase. "But that is up to you, since it is your suitcase." He began putting his belongings in the drawers of the desk and the tiny closet on his side of the room. He tried to be very discreet with his magazines, shoving his private ones between two video game magazines. The first introduction to a roommate wouldn't be a good one if the other man realized that Ludwig had a bit of a penchant for BDSM.

Roderich shuddered. 'I can't say I've any love for sports. I've never been very physical. The sciences are all well and good, but where's the soul?' He turned to the window, hand held up in some dramatic gesture. ''A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life.' Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.' Roderich glanced back at Ludwig, hoping for a reaction, but still unable to gauge the quiet man's thoughts. He gave up.

'Well, in any case, I suppose I'll empty it out and see if I can't store it somewhere. It's going to get in the way.' He slid off the bed, kneeling next to the case and fiddling with the locks. As he did so, he noted Ludwig putting away his things; sharp eyes, used to staring at tiny notes on endless staves, took in the hasty shuffling of several magazines. It didn't take a vast leap of logic to work that one out, but Roderich decided to forgo commenting. Instead he threw his suitcase open, and proceeded to pull out one exquisitely tailored- i.e., rather flamboyant- shirt after another, tossing them haphazardly over his shoulder onto the bed. For all his claims of perfectionism, it really only extended to his music.

'So, what are you studying, Ludwig?' Roderich decided he'd better make conversation, to compensate for the lack of common interest. He was more than a little wary of the prospect of rooming with someone so different, but there was still something quite appealing about Ludwig. It was probably his lack of the ever-irritating 'youthful high spirits'.

Ludwig pulled out some no-frills clothing much like he was wearing at the moment, plus a black jacket in a military cut that he'd always been rather fond of. "Mechanical engineering. I am guessing you are majoring in the arts?" He began hanging up his belongings, keeping everything neat and orderly as he did so. His clothing soon resembled soldiers in a row rather than pieces of fabric with the care he took in putting them in their places.

He returned to the suitcase and pulled out several black tank tops and an actual army coat, this one green, which he also hung up or put in the drawers inside the closet. He would wait until he knew Roderich's back was turned to actually put his underwear away.

Instead, he pulled out a basket full of shower supplies and toiletries. "I wish private bathrooms had been available in these dorms, but they only have suites in the female dorms, as of yet."

He set the toiletries on top of the small chest of drawers inside the closet.

'Music and the performing arts, yes.' Roderich smiled at the precise arrangement of Ludwigs clothes, before pulling a black waistcoat out of his case and stopping to admire it. 'Nice coat,' he added, referring to the green military jacket. He wondered if Ludwig might come from an army family, and inwardly shuddered at the idea; early mornings and shouted orders made him feel ill. He got to his feet, and began half-heartedly hanging things in his closet.

'How many people are we sharing them with? I can't stand the...communal shower thing so many sporting types seem to love...' Roderich leaned against the wall, inspecting a truly magnificent cravat that would take a great deal of bravery to wear in public. 'I'll have to get some connections in the ladies' dorms and sneak in there. Speaking of which, are there rules about that sort of thing? I didn't check.'

"My grandfather got it for me because I always liked his from the war," Ludwig said.

"I don't know much about the bathrooms. I'd guess it's probably our section of this floor. So... at least six rooms, twelve men." Ludwig pulled out a picture of himself and his brother Gilbert, setting it on the desk. "You might be able to get into the girls' dorms within certain hours if you're dating one of them or if you can convince their resident director you aren't interested in girls at all."

Ludwig glanced at the man's clothing, that cravat in particular and thought to himself that if the other man wore that, it wouldn't take much to convince anyone that he batted for the other team, so to speak.

"We could roam the halls and campus once we've unpacked if you would like. We could ask around, maybe find out who the other people will be we will share the bathroom and laundry room with."

Roderich smiled to himself, knowing exactly what his roommate was thinking. 'That's not a bad idea,' he replied, neglecting to mention which option he was referring to. No point in revealing too much this early on.

'And I'm up for a wander around, I'd like to get to know the place better...you know, I have a dreadful sense of direction. I've been known to get lost in my own gardens. I've been dreading having to get around this place by myself, so it's just as well you're here, isn't it?' Roderich hung the last of his clothes haphazardly in his closet, closing the door with some difficulty. Noticing the photo Ludwig had placed on the desk, he moved closer to get a look. 'Is that a relative? It's a good picture of you.'




(OOC: I'm starting to think we'll need a Prussia. ^^; )

Ludwig finished with the last of his things. "That's my brother, Gilbert," he said, looking at the photo. "He... is a character, to say the least."

He looked around at his side of the room. "I think I'm done if you wanted to roam around the campus for a bit. I could probably pick up some of the last of my textbooks, get started on some of my classwork. Not to mention find out a little more about where things are around here."

He closed his suitcase and put it into the closet, then grabbed his keys and wallet from the top of his desk. "I'm ready whenever you are."

(OOC: I agree. I think a Prussia would be entertaining. I meant to ask, that fic of yours, was it Germany/Austria or something else?)

'Not much family resemblance?' Roderich glanced at his own side of the room; quite a mess, considering he'd hardly touched it, but he didn't particularly care. 'Yes, let's go. Just don't let me get lost, mm?' He stepped out into the corridor, not bothering to take anything with him.

'And classwork, already? Aren't you eager. I just want to see what kind of instruments they have...I suppose I can't really have a piano shipped over, but I'll have to see about my violin, at least...do you ever feel wrong, somehow, when you're separated from things like that? I'm pining for Haydn already.'



(OOC: Another LJ ad, maybe? And yeah, it's Germany/Austria...they, uh, bake. >>; )

Ludwig shrugged. "I've always been that way about classwork," he said, holding the door open for the other man. "I'd rather be ahead than behind."

He thought over the other man's words. "I don't know about things, but I do miss my dogs. Blackie, Berlitz and Aster. If I could have them shipped here, I would in a heartbeat." He was closer to them than he ever had been with any human. "I promise that I'll do my best not to get us lost. My sense of direction isn't perfect, but I like to think it's relatively good."

He walked out into the corridor with Roderich. "Are there any strange habits I should know about you? Other than you will be playing the violin from time to time?"

(do you want to start a new section for them?)

'Oh, dogs?' Roderich accompanied Ludwig out of the room, a little surprised that the serious man was an animal lover. 'I've never kept pets, my father wouldn't let me, but I wouldn't have minded a dog. But I suppose you could say I treat plants a bit like pets.' He gave Ludwig his usual small, slightly sharp smile. 'That's one of my strange habits. I play for them. I sing, sometimes, but I'll restrain myself in company...what about you? What are your...specialist interests?' He wondered how Ludwig would react to that; something about fixing cars, or what have you, most likely.



(Sure thing. Where are we headed? And on that note, are we in the same building as the Italies?)

(I put a post for the school grounds section. i figure they can start out on the courtyard or quad, since they'll be wandering for a bit.)

(Yessir. Seeya there.)

Roderich watched Ludwig attempt to open the door with a smile. It was secretly quite gratifying to have this effect on someone, but he thought he'd better say something to reassure him.

'Let me, Ludwig.' He reached out and gently removed Ludwig's hand from the key, turning it himself and opening the door. 'There. Now, careful not to trip over my suitcase...' He gave the still-obstructive case a look and a sigh.

Ludwig nodded and moved into the room. "Once you've finished unpacking, let me know. I'll move the suitcase somewhere it won't be too in the way."

He turned around to see Roderich was still close, not unusually close, not even so close he'd have noticed it before, but enough that now, after the few comments they'd passed from one to the other, he could just sense the other man's presence.

"Roderich, about the hallway. I really wasn't trying to proposition you. I mean, I like you and I'm glad you're my roommate, but I wasn't trying to suggest anything about you and me. Really. I don't want you to think I'm so forward or anything."

He blushed again.

'Don't worry. I was only teasing you.' Roderich gave a tiny shrug, and a smile. 'Not that I'd have minded.'

He turned to his case, dropping carefully to his knees next to it. 'Better get this thing emptied.' He set about removing the rest of his clothes, attention still quite fixed on Ludwig, though he didn't look at him. He found it rather charming that Ludwig had felt the need to clarify; he was more used to shameless flirting and no apologies for it. Perhaps that was a sign he needed to choose his company more carefully, now that he came to think about it.

Ludwig knelt down beside him. "Do you need any help with anything or I could..." He caught sight of some of Roderich's underwear and turned his face away. "Um, I could help with something if you needed me too."

He hated feeling so awkward all the time. "Just so you know, though. I wouldn't have minded either."

He was close enough to kiss the man if he wanted to. He was also a few inches from his underwear , which made the blond's brain stop somewhere between just sitting there and trying to kiss him. Now, he found his face very close to Roderich's, but without the willpower to close the distance.

Roderich suppressed a shiver as he felt Ludwig kneel next to him. 'No, it's alright, there's not much left...' He trailed off as he turned around, finding himself face to face with the other man. '...Oh.'

He was tempted- very, very tempted- to close the gap between them, but something, some sense of propriety, maybe, stopped him. He spoke instead, voice slightly strained. 'You wouldn't have minded?'