Archie stirred first. It was the kind of waking that happened slowly, in layers. He registered the warmth first—the heat of someone beside him, the slow rise and fall of their chest. Then the scratchy dorm sheets. The dim gray light filtering through the cheap blinds. His limbs were tangled, sore in the way that only came from sleeping in a strange position... or after a night of dancing and rooftop revelations.
Then it hit him.
William.
He opened his eyes fully and turned his head, heart thudding.
There he was—William Connor—his muscular body fast asleep beside him, one arm curled loosely over Archie's stomach, hair a perfect mess, his face relaxed in a way Archie had never seen before. Like peace had finally caught up to him.
Archie's chest ached with something he didn't have a word for.
He shifted slightly, trying not to wake him.
From the far corner of the room, Elliot, his roommate, sat hunched over his laptop like some kind of goblin on a coding bender, earbuds in, wide-eyed but utterly frozen. Clearly, he had woken up earlier and made a decision to not get involved. He caught Archie's eye and slowly, solemnly gave a thumbs-up.
Archie flushed scarlet and mouthed a mortified "SORRY", but before Elliot could shrug it off. Suddenly, the door slammed open.
"WHAT THE FUCK, ARCHIE?" Anne's voice exploded into the room like a Molotov cocktail. "WE ARE SO—SO—LATE! YOU HAVEN'T BEEN ANSWERING MY CALLS, I'VE TEXTED YOU, EMAILED YOU, I ALMOST SET OFF A MISSING PERSON ALERT AND—"
She gasped.
Her gaze landed on the bed.
On both of them.
On the pile of blankets and limbs and disheveled hair and shirtless chaos.
Archie sat bolt upright.
William groaned awake and instinctively pulled the blanket tighter around himself, blinking in confusion as he registered the presence of a screaming woman and a very pale, very still guy in the corner.
Anne stared.
Archie stared back, mouth open like a trout.
Then Anne blinked. "WILLIAM?!"
William rubbed his eyes, confused and groggy. "Is this... happening?"
"IS THIS MIDTERM DAY?" Anne barked, turning to Archie like a drill sergeant possessed.
Archie's soul left his body.
"Oh my god."
"OH MY GOD!" Anne echoed. "Midterms started forty-five minutes ago! We were supposed to review at 7:30! It is now—" she whipped out her phone, "—8:12! YOU'RE IN YOUR BOXERS AND HE IS IN YOUR BED AND ELLIOT IS—"
"I'm not involved!" Elliot called from the corner, yanking out one earbud in panic.
"ARCHIE!" Anne clutched her head. "WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS?"
"I—I forgot—"
"YOU FORGOT MIDTERMS?!"
"Technically, I forgot the time after the rooftop kiss and before the cuddling," Archie muttered, shoving his face into a pillow and screaming into it.
William, looking as if he had just been dropped into a sitcom without a script, blinked and offered, "I could speak to the professor? Tell him I talked to you for a private business that's why you're late".
Anne turned on William like an avenging angel. "Yes. You will. You're the only one here who looks like they could legally operate a mission impossible. ARCHIE, CLOTHES. SHOES. TEETH. NOW."
Archie scrambled off the bed, tripping over his jeans and trying to pull a hoodie over his head while hopping on one foot.
William stood too, rumpled and shirtless, revealing an array of scratch marks down his muscular body. Archie nearly tripped again when he saw them, blushing furiously.
"Jesus," Anne muttered, covering her eyes. "I'm happy for your sexual awakening, but this is not the time."
"I—I don't even think we—"
"Not the point!"
William finally threw on his jacket and smoothed his hair back, regaining a bit of his usual composure. "Okay, ready. Let's get you to that exam."
As they all rushed toward the door in a flurry of panic and caffeine-starved adrenaline, Anne paused, doubled back, and looked Elliot dead in the eye.
"Delete your memories," she ordered.
"I was never here," Elliot whispered solemnly.
"Good."
And with that, the chaos squad sprinted out of the dorm and into the sharp morning sun, headed for campus like fugitives running from both academic failure and the emotional hangover of the most significant night of Archie's life.
One thing was certain: the test would be brutal.
But whatever was happening with William? That was something Archie would never forget.
Not even if he failed Econ.