Oakwell Abbey's church tower didn't look any less impressive the second time Quinn saw it. In fact, it was so much more this time, its peak disappearing into the mist that hung over the land this Saturday morning.

The gravel parking lot in front of the school had filled a little more with horribly expensive cars that James was eyeing as he stepped out, leaving Grace to open the trunk of their own car to help Quinn unload his suitcases.

"This looks insane," she breathed as she stared up the main building's ivy covered walls. Neither of them were strangers to stunning architecture, being able to see places like the fucking Buckingham Palace on a regular Tuesday, but this just hit different. Fantastical. Magical. So far removed from London, from home, from their reality,

"Right? And I haven't even seen anything beyond the entrance hall yet." Quinn grabbed one of his suitcases, then followed Grace's gaze, taking the place in once again. This was home now. Home adjacent, at least. He couldn't help but wonder when these buildings would turn from whimsical to the usual.

"I'm almost jealous," Grace hummed, side eyeing James. "Almost. Not as much as him, though."

James sighed, and for a second he almost, almost looked sad, then his face went back to that stupid resting bitch 'I don't care and I hate you all' expression when he turned towards the twins.

"So," he said, then he didn't say anything for a couple of seconds, then: "That's it then."

"It is."

"Well." He pressed his lips together, eyes cast to the ground, then to the sky. Quinn had never been good at reading his older brother's expressions. "Do you need us to go in with you, or...?"

"I'll be fine, I think." Quinn grabbed his bags, then stayed still, waiting for something. He couldn't say goodbye yet. Something else had to happen. It couldn't be this- quick.

"Great. Then, I guess- Bye."

"Yeah." Come on, asshole, at least say it properly.

"Right." James sighed again, then actually stepped towards Quinn and- holy shit? Gave him a hug. Like a proper one. A tight and genuine and almost loving one. And Grace joined in.

Was that it? Was that a real hug, with all three Harvey siblings, a real actual tight hug? When was the last time this happened? Ages ago, right? At the funeral, probably.

James was the first to pull away though, maybe that was a little too much love for him. Grace patted Quinn's back a couple of times, horribly violently, before also taking a step back.

"Take care, bud," James hummed, his eyes already fixed into something else.

"And don't be bullied by the rich kids," Grace added.

"I'll try." Quinn inhaled, held his breath for a few seconds just to check if maybe he was dreaming after all. Then, he took a step back, and another one, backwards, step after step. "See you guys."

"Love you," Grace called, followed by James mumbling something like "Don't fuck up."

Quinn hesitated before nodding, he waved, then turned around and walked towards the entrance. Now all he had to do was to not turn back. All he had to do was to keep on walking forward, open the door, keep walking, and hold back the tears welling up in his eyes for just a second. The last thing he wanted to do now was to cry about finally getting away.

"It's an honour to have you here again, Quinton Harvey." Now that James wasn't here to say the right adult things that adults wanted to hear, Mister Osborne was so much more intimidating. The man leaned back in his leather chair, hands folded, placed on his stomach.

"Thank you for having me."

"Thank you for coming."

How many times were they supposed to thank each other, now?

"I see that you listened to my request?" Mister Osborne nodded towards Quinn's hair, one corner of his mouth twitching up. "Though it's still... an unusual look."

"It's the best I could do. And, uh, black is a natural hair colour, so-"

The man let out a loud huff that sounded a little like an old tired dog.

"No, you're... correct. I suppose you're correct, even though I would've liked to see something less obvious. Though, I am no expert on hair dye. If this is the best you could do, then I'll have to be content with it."

A lot of words just to say 'This is ugly as hell but I guess I'll have to live with it'. The headmaster now leaned forward, placing his hands on the table as his face changed into something that was supposed to be friendly.

"Your timetable along with any other supplies are already in your room. If you need something specific, do not be afraid to ask. Also, you will have to choose at least one extracurricular activity. These take place in three different time slots, so you're permitted to take up to three. You'll find a list along with your regular timetable, so please sign up for them in time. We offer plenty of activities that lalala, this and that, etcetera..."

Quinn really, genuinely, tried to listen to the man speak. Like he really used every single one of his brain cells to follow him. But god, his voice was so horribly unengaging. He could've started reading a manual for a rocket ship and Quin wouldn't have noticed.

Something something assembly, something something independent study time, something something departments. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, free time, bed time, breaks, food restrictions, cats, lake, forest, room. There was a fold in the man's blazer that needed smoothing.

"Are there any questions?"

Quinn blinked, pretended to think.

"No, sir. Thank you."

"Wonderful." Mister Osborne leaned back, looked happy with himself and his speech about lots of interesting things. "In this case, I'll let you go off to your room. You'll be living in Penrose house, room eighteen. The house on the right when you step into the courtyard, second floor, at the end of the hallway. Your roommate will be waiting for you outside in the hall, Ciel Moseki, a very friendly gentleman. He'll show you around."

"Great. Good. Thank you." Quinn hesitated before getting up, waiting for a sign.

"Have a pleasant day. Breakfast is served at nine tomorrow and at eight during the week. And don't hesitate to come by if you're in need of something, I'm in my office until six."

Quinn thanked Mister Osborne again, then finally dared to get up, grabbing his suitcases and, after yet another thank you and goodbye, left the office.

Okay. Alright. Quinn walked down the impossibly long hallway back to the main hall, his luggage rolling behind him and echoing off the high walls and vaulted ceilings.

House on the right, room eighteen, roommate was waiting for him- What was his name again? Something with C. How exciting. Quinn got to have a roommate. He'd shared a room with Grace for almost all of his life, but never with a stranger.

Quinn now realised that that new roommate would be the very first Oakwell student he'd meet. Which meant, he had to make a good first impression, didn't he? He straightened his back, lifted his chin. Surely that'd make him look super proper and smart and rich.

Quinn pushed open the glass door leading to the main hall, looking around. Ah. Oh. Ooh. Over there, leaning against the railings of those huge stairs, leaned a guy, his arms crossed, eyes fixed on the large stained glass window above the entrance.

Quinn pressed his lips together, then his steps quickened as he approached the boy. He was pretty from afar. The definition of 'tall, dark and handsome'. And the closer Quinn got, the better he looked.

"Hi," Quinn said, putting on his nicest, best, most proper looking smile. "I'm-"

"Quinton Harvey?" The boy's voice sounded smooth and light, somehow effortless.

"Quinn, yeah. Call me Quinn."

He nodded, his eyes narrow, then he let out a quiet sigh, stretching out his hand for a rather weak handshake.

"I'm Ciel. Your roommate."

Ciel was- Had Quinn mentioned that he was good looking? His skin was dark, warm, his eyes were brown, or maybe greenish, Quinn couldn't quite tell behind Ciel's thin framed glasses, his coily hair was shaved short. He pressed his lips together as he scanned Quinn, clenching his defined jaw.

"It's, uh, super cool to meet you! It's an honour-"

"Yeah, sure. I'm here to show you the- our room." Oh, why did the prettiest people always have to be unfriendly? Not that Quinn minded too much. He enjoyed a little sass.

Ciel pushed himself away from the handrail to open the large door between the two staircases. Behind it laid a huge empty room with fancy wooden floors, chairs and tables stacked and pushed back towards the high white walls, big enough to fit a whole ball reception. Which probably was indeed its purpose.

"Dining hall and occasionally ballroom. Usually with more tables, though. Kitchen's to the right, and the courtyard's just outside."

Ciel's legs were long, his steps fast, his voice disinterested as he gestured side to side, then towards the door leading outside, opening it, and only now stopping to wait for Quinn to catch up. He'd crossed that huge room way too quickly even for Quinn's caffeinated, long limbed self.

"Campus is pretty big but the layout's simple, before you start worrying about getting lost. Any idiot finds their way around."

"You overestimate me, I can and will get lost anywhere."

"I'd love it if you didn't, because Mister Osborne assigned me as your babysitter, and I'm not about to go looking for you every time you go missing." Ah, the snarkiness, just like home.

Quinn followed Ciel outside to the loggia leading to the courtyard. The midmorning sun cast golden rays onto the stone benches placed in front of glassless arched windows. On one of them, right next to the big archway opening up towards the courtyard, laid a cat.

A small one, an orange tabby, almost melting into the golden bench underneath it. When the door behind Quinn and Ceil closed with a click, the cat lifted its head, staring right at the two.

"Mercury," Ciel said, his voice kept lower now. "He's friendly but a bit shy. Might run off if you're getting too close."

"Meow!" Surely there could've been something more intellectual to say. Maybe Quinn could've asked about Mercury, where he was from, who owned him, what he liked to do in his free time. However, his instincts told him to simply speak the kitties language.

Mercury stared at Quinn, judging him for his miserable attempt of communication, then let his head fall back onto the stone to continue his nap.

"We've got a couple of cats here. Mercury has a brother, Mars, looks almost the same but is horribly mean and gives you nasty scars if you piss him off."

Bit like him and Grace, Quinn thought. Except that he wasn't quite sure which of the two was the nasty one. Probably Grace, she was more likely to bite and scratch. Neither of the twins was shy like Mercury, but Quinn was certainly more socially awkward.

Or Mercury wasn't shy in the first place. Maybe he just wanted his peace and not to be bothered by people, just enjoying being on his own and sitting on a stone bench basking in the sun with no interruptions. Quinn couldn't blame him. Perhaps the two were similar after all.

"Left is the Abbott's house, the art kids got their dorms there. There's also a gallery if you're into that sort of stuff." Ciel continued his tour, gesturing to the buildings that surrounded the courtyard. "On the right's the Penrose house, our dorms. And if you go straight, you'll eventually get to the athletic field and tennis courts."

"Tennis courts? You just have that?" Quinn caught up with Ciel, who'd been unbothered by Quinn's pause to ponder a cat's life. "What else, a golf course?"

"Are tennis courts that uncommon? Did your old school not have one?"

"My old school didn't even have a central heating system and you think we had tennis courts?"

Ciel finally stopped in his tracks, furrowed his brows before something shifted in his eyes. Was that pity? Quinn really didn't need any pity, especially not from Oakwell rich kids.

"Well," Ciel continued, the gravel underneath crunching with every step which he now attempted to slow down. "We've got tennis courts. And further downhill we have the greenhouses, then the forest. Very pretty but very creepy."

"Seems to be the overall vibe of this school, huh?"

Quinn let his eyes wander towards the middle of the courtyard, a large oak tree planted where four paths met, it's shape distinct enough to be used in the school's very own logo.

"Oakwell's beautiful, no doubt. But you kinda stop appreciating it after some time. Enjoy your first impression while it lasts."

"I'm enjoying it," Quinn mumbled as he stared up into the crown of the giant oak tree. How old was that thing? Its trunk was thick, uneven, its heavy branches growing into every direction like biney arms reaching out.

"That old beauty caught your eye?" Ciel stopped once more, and for the first time he had a smile on his face as he tilted his head back to observe the tree. "It's lovely, isn't it? One of the few things in this cursed school that'll never lose its beauty to me."

"So you're like, a tree hugging kind of guy?"

"I'm a nature kind of person, yes." Ciel's smile turned from gentle to annoyed, his lips pressed into a thin line. Whooo, good job, Quinn, for winning that social interaction.

"That's cool," Quinn quickly added, nodding with respect as though enjoying nature was somehow a service Ciel was doing for this world. Then again, it kind of was, at least in today's climate-

"Let's keep going." Ciel turned, walking into Penrose house's direction with threateningly large steps, and Quinn quickly followed before he'd lost his roommate to the Oakwell back rooms.

      Actually, Penrose house was quite inviting. If you were a serious student, or interested in the dark academia aesthetic, or a vampire. The theme of dark wood and arched windows continued in the dormitory's common room and hallways, dark sage carpets laid out on the wooden floor to muffle Ciel's heavy and quick steps.

"We've got a small kitchen over there, water cooker, microwave, dishwasher. There's a TV but the only channels we get are news and tele shopping for some fucking reason so barely anyone uses it."

Ciel continued with his wide gestures and pointing into vague directions while explaining, and excellently avoiding actually looking at Quinn in the process. He talked as quickly as he walked, an apathy in his voice that grew stronger the closer the two got to their room.

Oil paintings and old photographs of professors and headmasters and scientists lined the walls of the stairwell, every step creaking and almost vibrating through the house. What a fantastic setting for a horror novel, but no, this haunting place was wasted on housing STEM students out of all people, the ones that loved debunking every scary noise as the wind or science or any such things. Granted, Quinn was one of those people.

"Dorm rooms upstairs all have their own small bathroom, that's a luxury that the one's on the ground floor don't have. We also got a balcony at the end of this hallway, with a telescope set up there. This way is the laundry-"

"A telescope?" Quinn interrupted as something in his brain activated that'd been completely shut off for this entire tour. "Like a big one?"

Ciel shrugged. "Not sure what the average telescope size is supposed to be. You wanna go see it?"

"Absolutely!" Thoughts tumbled over one another in Quinn's head now. A proper telescope. How long had he begged his parents for one, when all they'd say was, 'We're in London, what are you hoping to see?', but Quinn had done his research. He could've set it up on the rooftop of their apartment building, angled away from the street, he absolutely could've made it work!

Ciel shrugged, turned on his heel to go to the balcony instead, every step filling Quinn with more excitement. Oakwell was somewhere in the middle of the woods, so light pollution shouldn't be an issue. The balcony seemed to be facing east, so great to watch the sun - or the moon, which Quinn actually preferred - rise.

Ciel pushed open a glass door, holding it open for Quinn to step out. He gasped, then squealed, then giggled, and probably would've kicked his feet and jumped around if he hadn't put years into forcing that exact behaviour out of his system whenever he got excited.

"Is that a Sky-Watcher 350P 14'' Dobsonian? No fucking way, these are like... £3,000 or something!"

"I mean, sure, whatever that means, mate."

"And you just have that? Standing around? Is it free to use?"

"Yeah, at least I've never seen anyone pay for it."

"That's so so fucking cool. You just have that here, waiting for me-"

"I take you like the sky and shit?" Ciel furrowed his brows, leaned against the balcony door as Quinn danced around the telescope.

"A normal amount, yes." His cheeks started to hurt, and only then he noticed how much he must've been grinning without a break. But, like, how was he supposed to not freak out! Honestly, the view into the night sky would've already been amazing if it wasn't for that amazing, high quality, expensive thing standing right next to him! "I have, like, a minor obsession with the stars and all that celestial stuff."

Ciel sighed, and his features softened. His eyes were fixed on something in the distance, and for a split second his voice sounded gentler when he spoke again.

"Well, can't blame you. Me too, sometimes." He inhaled, cleared his throat. "Anyways. You've been dragging your luggage around with you for long enough. I'll show you my room. Our room, apologies."

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WC: 3042

oh! woah! welcome to oakwell, quinky! what do we think about the new roommate👀? 

im glad we finally got to meet one of the most important characters of this story: the cat. there are many cats in this story. im not even sure if all of them will get actual screentime, but just know that in every chapters, there's probably a cat hanging out somewhere in the background.

thank you for reading, please do comments your thoughts and vote on the chapter if you enjoyed it! <3