"What took you so long? I almost left." Nora chirps when she saw Alex finally joins her in the Java's and immediately he grabbed her cup of coffee and took a sip. "Hey! Get your own." She snapped slapping him on his wrist but he smiled either way. "I met him." He simply says after placing the cup down on the small plates and began eating the croissant that she ordered for her which earned him another slap. "Who?" She asks eagerly and Alex smirked at her.

"The international brood." He says and Nora's eyes widen upon hearing his words. "Tell me! Is he handsome?" She asks and Alex smirked wider leaning against the chair with his arm up on the chair next to him. "Well he is. But, I got the feeling that he is broken on the inside." He can see Nora cocked her head to the side confused at his words. "What do you mean?" The waiter came and took Alex's order interrupting them both from their conversations.

"Hey Alex." The waiter, Miguel smiles sheepishly at him and he returned his smiled equally. "Bueno dias Miguel, como estas?" He asks earning Miguel another grinning smile. "Bien, I miss you." He says earning Nora an eye rolled. "Well I have been busy. You know, classes and all." He replied and Miguel lingered around making Nora annoyed at his presence. She never did like him and she knows that he didn't like her too. Especially when Alex always pretended she is his girlfriend just to make them jealous.

"Are you done? Cause if you want to flirt I might as well leave. Cause it's going to make me actually vomit." She says and was about to pack her stuffs to leave but Alex stops her. "Just a coffee on the go Miguel. The usual. Oh! Make it two. Also wrapped me some croissants and the muffin too." Alex began ordering more than usual and it got Nora suspicious. Miguel on the other hand glared at her before leaving them both alone.

"Why are you being so pissy this morning?" Alex finally asks her and she rolled her eyes at him, "Why are you being cheery this morning?" She asks back and he smiled staring at the people on the side walk. "I think our British friend is gay." He says and Nora eyes grew wider with her mouth gaped apart. "Damn. Why is everyone gay nowadays? It's hard to stay straight and not being single anymore." She cursed grabbing her coffee mug and took a sip.

"You'll meet someone one day, I'm sure." He reassured her and she shook her head at him. "What's your plan for today?" She asks and Alex turned to check on his phone in his hand. "I don't have classes today so I think I'm going to bring our Brits friend for a walk around. You know, show him the ground." Nora raised her eyebrow at him from behind her cup.

"You? The guy who got lost every time they came back from the frat house?" She asks and Alex smirked, "It was different, I am sober now compared to that time." He defended and Nora shook her head in disbelief. "Well I got class, I'll see you tonight?" She asks and Alex nodded, "You bet." Nora peck him a kiss on his temple before took her leave and Alex can't stop smiling. Miguel came by bringing Alex's order and placed the on the table before Alex withdraw some dollars and paid him.

"Keep the change." He says and Miguel smiled wider at his generosity. "Hey if you don't have anything to do today, maybe we can hang out." Miguel tried his luck and truthfully Alex never thought of him that way. Miguel is just a casual hook up for Alex and by the time Alex realized how deeply Miguel into him, he regretted being introduced to him.

"Uhh, sorry Miguel, I have things to do today. Maybe later though." He says grabbing the coffee and the pastry in his hand before he sneaked out from the cafe and rushed out waving him goodbye. He returned the wave although Alex can see how devastated he is at Alex for declining his offer - again.

Alex sprinted back to the dorm with a smile on his face and the moment he stepped into his bedroom, he was bummed when he saw Henry is not there. He sighed placing the coffee and the pastry down on the table by the window and sat himself on the chair leaning his chin over his folded arm and waited.

.

"Mr Fox. Glad you arrived safely." Chancellor Smith greeted him as soon as Henry knocked on his door and entered. He smiled taking his hand in a shake and he didn't exactly let his hand go after instead, he gripped his other hand in Henry's and stares at his face. "My God, you're the spitting image of your father." Henry crooked his eyebrow confused at him. "You know my father?" He asks and Chancellor Smith finally released his hand and offered him a seat.

"I knew him before he was even a father. That guy is the bestest friend anyone can have. So bright, so vibrant. So full of life." He praised Henry's father and somehow it got him feels like a thousand weight was placed on top of his shoulder. The pressure of knowing his father brought so much hope in other people's lives makes him wants to run and hide in a corner somewhere.

"I'm so sorry for your lost." Chancellor Smith continued and Henry finally looked up to see his face and saw the same expression he had seen over the past years whenever anyone talks about his father. "Why did you call me here, sir?" He asks and Chancellor Smith sighed before he walked around the table and grabbed Henry his folder. He took out a piece of paper and handed it to him.

"I know your brother had sorted you in a private accommodation but Henry I think it's best for you to stay with Mr Claremont for now. I want you out from your comfort zone and create memories in this place. Make friends, find a hobby. Join a club. This is the time where you can reset yourself and be someone else. Start a new journey, make every moment counts." Chancellor Smith rambled on about changes that he wants Henry to do and he already regretted himself for coming here.

The more he talks the more Henry's mind linger towards something else. Especially the color of his hair, the salt and pepper hair that reminds him of his grandmothers wig that hanged by the foot of her bed and the way she puts them on every morning. He wonders if the hair on Chancellor Smith's hair is also a wig. Henry eyes travels to Chancellor Smith burnt fingers in between his index and thumb showing that he is a pipe smoker. That kind of burnt only with people who smoked from a pipe, like his Uncle Wes back in London.

Henry didn't care for the smell of the smoke because it brought memories into his mind but the way this guy talks makes him wonder how on earth did he changed people's mind each day.

"Henry? Did you hear me?" He asks and Henry was finally brought back to the room and his eyes widened at him, nodding at his words, albeit he didn't even know what he was talking about. "Great!" He clapped his hand together and stood from leaning against the table. Henry eyebrow crooked into a thin line considering he is not sure what he is agreeing himself into.

"So I hope Mr Claremont would be your best friend, and Henry." He stepped closer to Henry raising his palm over Henry's shoulder, "Welcome to Stanford." He says before he pushed Henry by the door and ended their conversation by closing the door on his face.

Henry stood there dumbfounded at the thought of their conversation was nothing meaningful and it's making him more confuse than ever. He stares at the paper in his hand and read the title on the top with a long sigh.

Housing Relocation.

.

Henry walked back to his dorm finding Alex by his bed typing away on his laptop and the moment he walked in, Alex stopped typing and stares at him standing by the door. "Well are you gonna come in or are you gonna stay there the whole day?" He asks and Henry stepped in closing the door behind him.

He sat by his bed placing the bag down on the side and pulled his laptop over his lap waiting for it to open. Alex eyed his movement and noticed the shakiness of his hand grew stronger. It was more obvious when he was holding on to the paper in his hand and it shakes uncontrollably.

"Hey, I bought you this." He says before standing up and grabbed the coffee and the pastry in a brown paper bag and handed to him. Henry eyed him before he grabbed the bag and coffee from his hand and wonder why Alex bought this for him. "Uhm, thanks." He says and Alex noticed his hand shakes badly and almost dropped the coffee on the floor but Alex caught it in time making it spilt a little in his hand. Luckily for him that the coffee is not that hot anymore just a tad warm but Alex can see how devastated Henry is at his clumsiness.

"I'm s-so sorry." Henry says and was about to stand to grab a towel to wipe the coffee spill on Alex's hand but he accidentally smacked the coffee and it poured all over Alex's chest. They both gasped at the sight of Alex drenched in coffee all over his white shirt and Alex couldn't say anything else but stood there frozen like a statute.

"I'm so sorry." Henry apologized again and Alex saw how he barely controlled his hand from shaking badly and he tried to hide it by gripping into a fist but it got Alex more worried. He was right about one thing, there is something off about Henry and he intended to find out.

"Henry, it's fine. It's okay. It's just coffee." Alex told him and he can see how he tried his best not to look at him in his eyes. Alex pushed his hand away from wiping the coffee over his neck and starts stripping from his wet clothes. Henry eyed him being half naked again and lowered his gaze down on the floor before he saw Alex left the room probably to take a shower - again.

Henry felt the tightness over his chest came back and he was too afraid Alex might sees him having a panic attack in the room so he grabbed his duffle bag and began to look for his pills again. He shakily open the container and took the pills before he swallowed it with water he bought earlier when he was out. He couldn't bear to steal anymore drinks from Alex not knowing what was inside of it.

He gripped his chest in his palm trying to remember the time Phillip told him over and over again each time he had this panic attacks. He breathe through his nose holding it for ten seconds and exhaled through his mouth slowly. "You can do this Henry. Come on." Henry mumbles at himself and tried to talk his way out of this. In his mind, he wanted to call Phillip and listening to his voice might soothe him but he can't do that knowing Alex might come back into the room soon. So instead, he grabbed his phone and ran out of the room.

By the time Alex went back into the room, Henry was no longer there and his laptop is left open with the paper crumbled on the bed and Alex sighed. He grabbed the paper from Henry's bed and saw it was for housing relocation and somehow it got him raging in anger. He tossed the paper back on Henry's bed and sat on his own before putting his headphones on trying to silent his rage.

.

Henry literally ran outside of his dorm building heading some place where he can be on his own. Somewhere he can be alone and no one in sight but to his luck this place is flooded with people and he felt his head began to spin out of control and he doesn't even know where he's supposed to go now. His breathing began rapidly increasing matching his own heartbeats and his vision began to blur seeing all the faces that walked passed him staring at him like he has some deformity over his body.

He didn't even realized when he was pulled away from the crowd towards one of the benches and that person had him sat down while he hunched over with his elbow pressed over his knees. He felt his head is practically buzzing and the noise kept growing louder and louder making Henry cupped his ear with his palm rocking his body back and forth with his knees bounced rapidly.

"Hey, hey, breathe. Breathe. You're safe." The person spoke besides him and her voice is so soothing but Henry can't focus on the person right now. He tried to silence the noise in his mind that made things worst but nothing actually works.

"Hey, hey, listen to me, look up. Look up." The person said again and Henry was too scared to even turned his head but somehow the assuring hand over his shoulder and his palm made him look up to see what she meant. His eyes flutters opened in tears to see the bright blue sky above them. The clouds are puffy white and it was a beautiful day. "Focus on the sky. The clouds, the birds. Listen to them, not your head. Keep focusing on them." Henry stares at the sky trying to do what she told him too and he can feel his breathing began to slow down as he held the person hands next to his like his life depend on it.

Softly and slowly Henry released his death gripped over the person hand and he turned to see her face. She was nothing what Henry had thought she was before. The girl had curly dark hair tied into a high bun and her colored skin is cleared from any imperfections. If Henry isn't gay and attracted to men, he would find her attractive to date.

"Thank you." He mutters softly wiping his tears away and she smiled weakly at him. "Does it happened often?" He asks and Henry turned his gaze back towards the beautiful sky and nods. His tears fell right on his temple as he leaned against the bench. "I don't know how to make it stop." He said softly and the girl sat next to him can hear how his voice broke, almost pleading.

"I'm Nora, Hollaren. You?" She raised her palm over for a handshake and Henry turned his gaze back at her on the side. "Henry, Fox." He introduced himself and grabbed her hand in his and she can still feel his hand shaking in hers. Henry immediately pulls back not wanting Nora to feel his tremors. "Hey, its okay. There is nothing you should be ashamed of." She tried to assure him and Henry shook his head at her words. "Nine therapist had tried, you don't want to be my ten." He says jokingly and she shrugs.

"Why not. I'm already a psychology major, I'll take that as a challenge." She says and Henry was caught in surprised at her acceptance not even a hint of hesitant in her decision. He smiled at her attempt but he stood abruptly with her follows. "I'm headed back to my dorm, thank you again, Nora." He says and Nora nods at him, "Wait, give me your phone." She asks and Henry pulled out his phone from his pocket and handed it to her after unlocked it. She taps in her number and handed back to Henry with her name save together with couple of emojis right next to her name and Henry smiled.

"Just in case you need someone to talk to if it happens again." Nora suggest and he nods placing his phone back into his pocket. Nora waved him goodbye before headed to her next class and Henry headed back to his dorm.

.

When he finally arrives at his dorm room, he can feel the tremors came back but he held it firm in a tight grip. He twisted the doorknob open and saw the room is empty and Alex is no where to be found. He sighed in relief not sure how to face him after what just happened. He grabbed his laptop by his bed and placed them on the table before taking his seat in front of it. He taps on the wifi connection at the place and began to FaceTime Phillip in London.

Henry checked on the time at the bottom of his taskbar and it showed one in the afternoon. London is seven hours ahead of time so he wasn't too late to make his call. He waited for Phillip to answer and finally after five rings, he did.

"Hey, how is it? Are you settling in?" He asks and Henry can see he is at home probably in his study doing his work while talking with him. Henry was about to tell him all the lies he had planned in his head but his words choke in his throat and the only thing that he could do was tearing up.

"Hen? What is it? Is everything okay?" Phillip asks concerned at his little brother especially when he can see his eyes are swollen in tears. "I can't do this Pip." He finally says and Phillip sighed staring at Henry over the screen. "Hen, you promised me you'll try. Its not even a week and you'd already given up." Henry wiped his tears with the back of his palm and inhaled sharply before he exhaled.

"It's getting worst." He says and Phillip's face dropped, "Hen. Listen to me." Henry raised his eyes at the screen before him, "Whatever it is, it will past. You will get through this alright? Now tell me how is the accommodation? Have you finished unpacked yet?" Henry shook his head and turned the laptop over to let him see the room. "My room was trashed so I have to stay in the sharing one with some guy." He can hear Phillip clicked his tongue, "I'm gonna talk to the Chancellor and have you relocated immediately." Phillip starts but Henry stops him, "N-no it's fine." He says and he can see it caught Phillip in a surprise.

"Chancellor Smith told me that I should make more friends. Maybe living with this guy would change that." He can see Phillip tried to hide his smile but failed, "How is it then? Is he treating you alright?" He asks and Henry nods. "I spilt a coffee on him. Triggered everything and I ran." He can hear Phillip sighed rubbing his temple from the screen.

"Oh Henry. I'm sure he is not mad. It's an accident. Don't blame yourself in this." Phillip knows his brother would struggled but never in his life he sees him this miserable. "Give it few months, I'm sure you will adjust. I believe in you." He told him and Henry didn't exactly replied to him but only nods.

They'd talk for a few more minutes before Henry decides to end it and promised Phillip he will try his best in giving this place a chance. He still sat by the window staring at the world on the outside window seeing the people walked by their dormitory and the way the tree brushes against the wind.

Henry sighed turning his head around and starts unpacking his stuffs placing them in his wardrobe right the opposite of Alex by the end of his bed. After he had cleared all his stuffs and hides the luggage under his bed, the room is clear again and he felt relief. He grabbed his towel with his toiletries kit before headed to shower seeing it's the middle of the day, the bathroom might be empty.

To his luck he was right, no one in sight and he felt relieve before he went into one of the stall and began showering. The water felt warm on his skin and he can feel his heart racing slowly and more calm, the tremors are gone and the noise began to diminish by the sound of the water running.

After he is done with his shower, he wrapped the towel around his waist and walked out of the cubicle and headed to the sink area to brush his teeth and applied his facial cream. After he shaved and was almost done putting his cream face on he saw a guy walked in behind him and his eyes lingered on Henry's eyeing him up and down. "New meat." He says and got closer behind Henry and Henry can feel the uncomfortable feeling radiating from this guy and the part where he stood inches away behind him made his heart race again.

"You smell nice." He took a whiff behind Henry's neck and Henry can feel the tremors came back. He gripped his toiletries bag in his hand tight until his knuckles are white. The guy is taller than him, much bigger, more muscular and Henry assumed he is here on football scholarship or something. He brunette hair was highlighted by his attempt to make it blonde and now it looks horribly dry and patchy. Unlike Henry natural blonde hair which he had his eyes on it, it was silky and shines beautifully.

"I like your hair color." He began to brush Henry's hair behind his ear but Henry flinched at his touch and he smirked. "Don't be scared kitty cat, I'm not gonna hurt you." He says but somehow his words doesn't reflect his action. "I'm James. James Warren. You might hear about me before." He still had his eyes at Henry over the mirror and Henry can't shake the eerie feeling he had from him. "None come to mind. You are not that famous anyway. Not even across the pond." Henry snide and he smirked wider at him. "You're the international kid? How's the room?" He whispered closer in Henry's ear and Henry can feel the rage rising inside of him.

"You're the reason my room is destroyed?" Henry asks and he can see him smiled wider nodding at him. "You think you're that privilege? You're in my country now and I'll show you what you deserved." Henry can feel him inching closer and their hips are brushing against each other but when James caged him on each side with his arm gripped on the counter, Henry felt the shakiness returned and he tried to run but James held him in place.

"Not so fast kitten. I'm not done with you yet." He lowered his lips over Henry's shoulder and he can feel his hot breaths running on his skin as he shudders in fear. He can see through the mirror James is eyeing his back and down to his ass with his hand gripped Henry's hips on one side and Henry tried to push him off but he pressed his wrist over the counter hard. Henry eyes began to water and he can't hide his tears from falling. He wished someone would just come and made him disappear so he can run to his bedroom and never leave.

"That's enough James! Let him go." A familiar voice came from behind them and Henry can see it was Alex standing by the door drenched in sweats in his shorts and his pink shirt. His hair ruffled in a mess and Henry assumed he just went to the gym and back. "Don't be jealous Claremont! We can share if you want." He says still gripping Henry's wrist against the counter and Alex can see how hard he tried not to break in tears. "Let-him-go." He orders and James smirked before he backs away from Henry and the moment he did, Henry grabbed his bag and literally ran out of the bathroom leaving these two men alone in heat.

"Don't touch him. Or I will make sure that you and your family will make the biggest headline in the country." Alex warned him and he smirked inching closer to him but they are literally the same heights and Alex is not afraid of him. "Who are you to threatened me or my family?" He clenched his jaw tight and Alex can see the rage in his eyes, he knows James is taking additional supplementary to made his built larger fast but the side effect of it is his raging temper and Alex had witness him on field. But not like they can do anything about it since his family is the richest in America and they paid their son to be accepted here. 

"You don't want mummy to disappoint hearing about his rapist son right? Let's keep it that way." James was not amused by Alex's words and pushed him by his chest but Alex didn't budge, his eyes locked into him and he wanted him to make sure he is serious about this. "You better watch your back Claremont, or else." He threatened him but Alex didn't ever flinch in fear, he knows James is all talk and he won't dare jeopardize his position in this university knowing he would get his reputation destroyed.

James left but not before he bumped Alex's chest with his shoulder and he leave the bathroom. Alex sighed shaking his head before he decides to take his shower. The reason why he was here in the first place anyway before he saw Henry caged in between James. His mind wanders thinking about Henry's crying face and the images won't leave his brain. He felt a burn rising inside of him when he saw James had his gripped over Henry's wrist.

When he was done with his shower, he headed back to his bedroom to find Henry sitting by the bed staring at the window besides him. He was dressed in his plain shirt and his boxer shorts and he was hugging his knees leaning against the wall. He didn't even turned his gaze when Alex stepped into the room.

Alex didn't exactly know what he supposed to say so he went to his wardrobe to place his stuffs away but then he heard the small voice behind him. "Thank you." Henry whispered and Alex shrugs before he closed the wardrobe door and headed to his own bed. He had his EarPods in his hand and was about to place them in his ear before Henry talked again.

"Alex." He called and Alex stopped still not turning his head at him. He was still pissed that despite every attempt he made to be his friend, Henry still decides to leave this dorm room. "I'm sorry for earlier." He apologized and Alex finally turned his head towards him, "Which part? The part where I tried to be a good friend and you stabbed me by signing the form to relocate or the part where you spilled my good deeds on me?"

Henry eyes widen at the part where Alex thought he is leaving this room but little did he knows is that Henry is planning to stay but before he could explained further Alex already covered his ears with his EarPods and blasting music through the max volume. Henry sighed letting him cool down his anger and disappointment not wanting him to get more angrier than he already is.

Henry fell asleep right after and when he woke up, it was dark and his stomach is rumbling in hunger. He felt giddy when he saw the room is dark and Alex is no where near him. The sudden fear creeped up in him and he saw the paper brown bag by the table before he took it and saw the croissant and the muffin still untouched. He sighed before he took a bite and chewed bitterly on the cold pastries before he tossed the bag into the trash can. Later, he went through his schedule for tomorrow seeing his class is starting soon and by the time Henry's done reviewing, Alex still hasn't got back into the room so he decides to sleep.

.

"Why are you moping?" Nora yells through the music and they are currently in one of the frat house party and Alex is staring at the beer bottle in his hand. He sighed straightening his back from crouching over the counter before he leaned back against the countertop. "Did you have fun showing him around?" She asks and Alex glared besides her in annoyance. "We didn't. That asshole spilled the coffee I bought for him on me and left." He explained and Nora snickered a laugh at him. "Then! He had the audacity to relocate himself from our dorm like I'm the one who's hard to live with. That bastard came less than 24 hours and already pissing me off." He took a swift sip over his beer and Nora laughs at his crunched face.

"Aww, don't mind him love. He sounded exhausting. Wanna hear about my day?" She asks still sitting over the countertop with her legs dangled few feet from the ground. "I met someone. He's British too but damage beyond control." She starts and Alex shook his head at her. "I don't care, I don't want to hear anything related to Brit or anything that came from that fucking country. Let's dance." He pulled Nora from the countertop and dragged her to the centre of the house where they all dance till their heart content. Nora knows Alex is trying to hide the pain in him when he was drunk like this and literally hooking up with anyone he met.

.

Alex stumbles into his dorm room with the guy he met at the party and he pulled him back into his room. "Sh, sh my roommate is sleeping. We don't want to wake him up." He says pressing his finger over his lips. "Why? We can ask him to join us." The guy smiles taking off his shirt and pushed Alex back on the bed and straddled him. "He's an obtuse fucking asshole and you don't want him to ruin our night." Alex told him and he laughs at Alex attempt to take out his pants in the dark and drunk.

The guy decides to help him and took his own pants off before he grabbed the condom and starts wrapping it over Alex's hard cock. He squirted some lube over his fingers and starts prepping himself before he lowered himself down on Alex's cock. He can hear Alex exhaled in his breath gripping his hips tighter in his palm before he bounced on top of him.

Alex was too drunk to even know who the guy he is fucking right now or the fact Henry is sleeping or awake next to him. In his mind, if Henry was too determined to change housing, he intended to be the worst fucking roommate to him.