"Sometimes, the best things in life are the comforting ones. Like the smell of home."

⛓

"End my suffering," Skylar whines quietly, choking back a small sob. "Please."

"'Fraid I can't do that," the student beside her shakes his head before groaning loudly and erasing the last few sentences on his paper. "I kinda need ya for this."

She mumbles softly, burying her head in her hands. If you had asked last week about whether or not she liked Romans, she would've said yes, no hesitation. But not now.

Her archaeology professor had assigned a project, a group project at that. The requirements were simple; pick an ancient civilization and do all the research you could. But there's a catch. No Googling. Every piece of information has to come from a reliable database or book. Not very easy now, huh?

"This is how I die."

"Stop being so dramatic and get to work," the student, Connor, snaps. Really, he's a nice man, but with only two days left to complete this project and an absent group member, his stress level is through the roof.

Skylar breathes deeply, swallowing all of her distress. She's reluctant, but not because she wants to procrastinate. This time, it's because she needs to escape the weight on her shoulders.

It's been years since she was this overwhelmed, the last time being during her final year of highschool. Even then, that was only the days leading up to final exams.

"Sky," a book bangs on the table in front of her, startling her slightly.

Instead of obliging immediately like she would under normal circumstances, she glares at him. She doesn't know anything about her classmate, nor does he know anything about her. He hasn't earnt the right to use that nickname.

"Don't call me that."

Connor looks at her over the top of his book, glasses sliding down his nose, "What? Sky?"

"My name's Skylar, only family get to call me Sky," she huffs, pulling the book closer to her face.

"Alright then, Skylar," he quirks, delving back into his chapter. "See if you can find anything about Roman culture."

"Ugh," she moans, taking a sip of her Starbucks coffee before following suit. It's going to be a long two days.

⛓

"No, no, no, no!" Skylar screams at her work, snatching the papers from the puddle of coffee, "No!"

Every single paper, hand written and printed, is completely soaked with coffee. There's no possible way to save them now.

Still in shock, she stares in horror at the dining table. Everything has been ruined by a simple mug of coffee. Not only that, but the due date's tomorrow and it's already 11:52pm.

"No!" She cries, feeling tears roll down her cheeks as she searches desperately for something salvageable. Nothing.

It's too much, and she slams her papers down before promptly collapsing into her chair, sobbing into her arms.

A pair of footsteps walk over to the bawling woman, the owner obviously quite concerned for her. Though they don't wander over to the dining table, instead guiding the person over to the record player.

A record is placed on the player, and the needle finds its place on the vinyl. Music starts playing at a quiet and soothing pace, the familiar tune catching Skylar's attention.

"I-I thought you-hic!-hate-d vinyls," she mumbles, struggling to regain her breath.

"Only when I'm working," Rae responds, pulling up a chair beside her.

A warm hand places itself on her back, rubbing small circles across her shoulder blades. She allows it to remain where it is, using the sensation to ground herself.

As she continues to cry, her roommate hushes her gently, letting her cry out all of her frustration and stress. Despite what she thinks, he understands quite a lot, and knows from experience that sometimes it's better to release it all.

"Now," he says when she's stopped crying enough to be able to speak, "tell me what happened."

It all splurges out in one, shaky breath, the woman's words merging together as she repeats herself several times. Her voice cracks and each word sounds choked—no surprise with how distraught she is. She starts stammering, unable to continue further into her story without breaking down again.

His arms wrap around her shoulders, delicately restraining her from getting too animated. He pulls her to his chest, softly cupping her head in his hand as he hushes her.

Skylar freezes at the all too sudden contact, and takes a moment to register what's actually happening. It hits her harder than it should, but she accepts the hug, burying her face in his shoulder.

He smells like warm metal—like he sat over a heating vent not moments ago—and his arms are firm, entrapping her in comforting warmth. Everything about him just screams 'safe', and she's perfectly happy to just stay like for as long as possible.

"Try again," he soothes, his chest rumbling as he speaks.

She takes a shaky breath, inhaling his warmth before starting slowly, "I've been working on a big project for the past week; doing tons of research on the Romans. I was just finishing it off before putting it all on the slide show, and—"

"You knocked over your coffee," he concludes, humming softly.

"Y-yeah."

There's no way she'll complete it all by the morning, the man knows this. But he ignores the thought, rubbing Skylar's back once more before moving away, much to her displeasure.

As she grumbles to herself, he places a light grey GAP hoodie in her hands, causing her to look up at him in confusion. But he's already gone, busying himself in the kitchen as the kettle boils.

She frowns slightly, rubbing her bloodshot eyes with the back of her hand. Given the fact that he literally gave to her, she comes to a little conclusion, and though still confused, she pulls it over her head.

The inside is unbelievably soft and warm, and the arms go way past her hands. The hood is big enough to cover half of her face, and she uses it to her advantage as she cuddles up in it. It smells just like Rae, but with the additional scent of antiseptic that fills hospitals. If she truly wanted to, she could tuck her entire body inside his hoodie.

While she occupies herself by curling up on the chair, Rae pours milk into two mugs of steaming tea. Soon, one's placed in front of her and the young man cleans up the mess with a tea towel.

"Sorry," Skylar mumbles, resting her head on her knees.

He looks at her as though she's grown a second head, slowly dabbing up any stray splashes, "Why are you sorry?"

"I made a mess," she looks away from him, watching her feet with sudden interest.

He scowls, standing straight as he examines the dining table. His eyes briefly sweep over the mess of papers before landing on the small woman. The crease between his brows softens, and his frown lessens.

"It's just a mess," Rae gestures to the coffee stained wood. "You didn't intend to cause it."

She hums disbelievingly, wrapping her arms around her legs.

"Look," he sighs, sitting back in his own chair again. "I'll do what I can to help you."

She raises her head to look at him, "You will?"

He hums lowly, resting his elbows on his legs to try and see his roommate's eyes, "But it's nearly midnight, and I happen to know that the human body requires at least 7 hours of sleep a night."

"Yeah," Skylar murmurs, looking away again.

"And you've been getting less than 3 for nearly a week."

Guilt adorns her features, a sure sign that she knows he's right. The dark bags under her eyes are a dead give away as well.

"How about this," Rae offers softly, gently tugging the hood off her head. "I'll help you for an hour and then you go to sleep. I'll wake you up at 8, and you can finish up before your class starts at 10:30. Deal?"

The young woman remains silent for a minute, thinking about his offer. She'd rather have it done before the morning, but her drooping eyes make the decision for her.

"Deal," she agrees, nodding a bit. "But don't wake me any later."

"I wouldn't dream of it," he scoffs lightly, picking up a small pile of paper. "Let's get to work then, shall we?"

⛓

Skylar had never thanked somebody so much in her life.

She had woken up in the morning and stumbled out of bed—still wearing Rae's hoodie—and entered the main living space, expecting to still see the pile of damaged papers from the previous night. But instead, the dining table was littered with clean, handwritten note pages that had never seen a drop of coffee.

She had ambushed her roommate with a massive bear hug when he came out of his own room at 8. To say it surprised him would be an understatement.

He had stiffened the moment he felt her arms around his neck, and slipped on the hardwood. They both fell to the floor with an 'oof', and she narrowly avoided accidentally kissing his nose.

The rest of the morning was spent in a rush as she put together the slides on the computer while munching on a piece of burnt toast. As usual, she arrived at the university 30 minutes early, and personally handed her USB to the professor.

That was yesterday.

Skylar grins to herself, unlocking the door with one hand while the other holds a graded paper and a USB. Her hands tremble in joy, making the whole process a lot long than it should be.

When the lock clicks, she pushes the door open, stepping inside the apartment with a light skip. Rae sits at the breakfast bar, frowning at his laptop screen as he types, an empty plate sitting next to him.

He looks up at the young woman as she shuts the door behind her, a questioning glimmer in his eyes. But upon seeing her broad grin, he smiles slightly, shutting his laptop with a hand.

"I take it that went well," he hums triumphantly.

She nods vigorously, placing her mark on the counter top for him to see before engulfing him in a hug.

"An A-," he rumbles softly, his warm breath on her neck making Skylar shudder. "Not too bad."

"Thank you," she pipes, squeaking slightly. "Thank you so much."

"It's no issue. But don't make a habit of it," he orders, squirming out of the hug.

Skylar nods, smiling at him, "I won't."

"Good," he draws his attention back to the laptop, switching it on again. "Don't forget that it's your turn for laundry, Sky."

She shakes her head, grabbing her marks and skipping off to her room to deposit her bag. Thanks are not something she gives very lightly, but this man has earnt so many more than he thinks. Maybe some brownie points too.

⛓

Two chapters in two days, not too shabby if I do say so myself.

Tell me guys what you think! Next time, Skylar's family comes to visit for Christmas!