"Come on!" Brad drawled, whining.
"Just a short party! We'll help clean up afterward!"

Olivander sighed, spinning his chair around to face Brad, who was upside down and dangling half off the bed.
"Have I said yes to this at all in the last 20 minutes?"

Brad paused, pouting.
"Well, no, but-"

"Then what makes you think I'm going to say yes now?"

Brad gave a petulant groan. Without another word, he rolled off the bed and crawled to sit in front of Ollivander.

"Hey, what are you-"

"No, Ollie. I get to interrupt you this time." Brad grinned, shimmying slightly out of exhilaration, "Damn, that felt good."

Ollivander irritatedly sighed.
"Brad, get on with it."

"Yes, yes, okay. Anyway..." Brad sat on his knees, hands together in praying form.
"Please, please, please, please, please, please-"

"I swear to g- If I say yes, will you leave me alone?" He looked down at his best friend in exasperation, nearly ready to pick Brad up and toss him out of the room. There was only so much of his best friend he could stand before he gave in out of self preservation.

Brad grinned with a nod, before bolting out of the room and shouting something into his phone. Shaking his head, Ollivander turned back to his desk and continued where he left off on his paperwork.

----

It was almost 8 P.M. before Ollivander was disturbed again. The downstairs door had slammed harshly, a multitude of voices sounding from the living room. Begrudgingly, Ollivander stood up from the black leather rolly chair and, with a reluctant grunt, made his way downstairs to greet them.

"Ollie...." Bradley grinned, holding a bottle of Jack Daniel's up.
"Ready to partayyy?" He gestured to the collection of alcoholic beverages on the coffee table, and a moment later Callan came back with a case of shot glasses. Ollivander didn't bother asking where he got them.

"So, everyone take a drink of their choice, down it, then help me set up shots." Brad directed, pouring the golden liquid into one of the red solo cups on the end of the table.

Without a word, Ollivander grabbed a luke-warm beer and popped the cap off of it, taking a swig while watching Callan and two unfamiliar females make cocktails of different putrid liquids.

A couple minutes later, everyone sat around the coffee table, Ollivander and Brad sitting on the ground on either side, while Callan and the two girls took up the surrounding couches.

The collection of bottles had been replaced with shots, each filled nearly halfway with liquor.

"Alright, in honor of these two new roommates, we should get to know each other better, right?" A murmur of agreement sounded around Ollivander.

"Well, first off, ladies," he gestured towards the brunette and blonde, "These two handsome men are Ollivander and Callan, and boys, these two gorgeous women are Harper, " the brunette waved," and Natalie. Now that we're all introduced, time for the timeless game. Never Have I Ever."

Harper scoffed, "Timeless game? Brad, we're in college, not middle school." Brad shot a glare towards her.

"Harp, we're playing Never Have I Ever. There's no discussion here."

Harper rolled her eyes, shrugging.

"Now," Brad's grin was back in a split second, "I'm going first! Never Have I ever..." He paused, pressing a finger to his chin in thought, "Gotten black-out drunk."

Ollivander, along with every other person, reached out and grabbed a shot, shooting it back. Ollivander raised an eyebrow at Jared when he took a shot.

"What?!" Brad laughed, "Am I not allowed to wanna drink? Don't judge me, Ollie!" Ollivander narrowed his name at the nickname, but once again, said nothing.

"Okay, Okay." Harper began, setting her empty glass near her corner of the table. "My turn. Never Have I Ever woken up in bed with a stranger."

Everyone but Harper and Ollivander took a shot. Brad and Callan looked at him in surprise, eyebrows raised skyward.

"Damn, Ollie's such an innocent!" Brad gasped mockingly, hand held over his mouth in exaggerated shock.

"Don't call me that." Ollivander said with a grumble, leaning forward to smack the side of Brad's head.
In response, Brad whined loudly, pouting.

"Come on kiddos, play nice." Natalie cooed, petting Brad's head as you would a small child.

Callan watched in amusement, before giving a smirk towards the girls.
"Never have I ever slept with a guy." He said, his goal for the girls to get drunk sooner than the rest of them.

What Callan was surprised to see, though, was Ollivander take a shot with the girls. Everyone held the same expression as Ollivander gulped down the burning liquid, all eyes on him.

"I take back my previous statement, Ollivander. Not so innocent after all. So..." Brad began wiggling his eyebrows, "Top or bottom?"

Ollivander gave Brad a look that threatened another smack to his head, and Jared leaned over to stage whisper to Harp, "Definitely a top..." before shutting up with a smirk.

Callan watched Ollivander in curiosity. Callan may have only known his roommate for a week now, but he should know him better than he did.  Hopefully, Callan thought to himself, that's what tonight is for.

Natalie cleared her throat, seemingly ignoring the awkward tension in the air.

"Well, on that awkward note, Never Have I Ever been arrested." She smirked, leaning back against the couch as Brad and Ollivander took another shot.

Callan snorted, "Whatchu get arrested for, Ollivander, being too rude? Did you tell the police officer that you didn't mean it, it's just you have a resting bitch face? For that matter, a resting bitch attitude."

Brad fidgeted, glancing at Ollivander who shrugged in return. "Actually," Brad cleared his throat, handing himself and Ollivander another shot, even though no one else had gone in the minute and a half it's been since Natalie took her turn.

"No, Callan, It wasn't anything like that." Brad seemed as though he'd changed what he was about to say, but nonetheless, Ollivander seemed unaffected by his statement.

"Than what happened? That's what tonight is for, right? 'Getting to know each other'?" Callan repeated, scooting closer to the edge of the couch.

Ollivander shifted slightly, avoiding Callan's eyes.
"It doesn't matter, now." He said eventually, glancing up, "It was a while ago."

"Anyway, Ollie, it's your turn!" Brad said, apparently attempting to shift the conversation as his eyes flitted nervously between Callan and Ollivander. He head inclined toward the male sitted across from him, and Ollivander sighed, before sitting up, a hand raised as if to run through his hair, yet it stopped halfway as he reminded himself not to. He had been trying to break that habit for years.

"Never Have I ever.." He began gruffly, eyebrows furrowed slightly in thought. "Been in an open relationship." Harper and Brad reached for a shot.
"Knowingly. Knowingly been in an open relationship." Ollivander clarified, and Harper and Brad continued to take a shot.

Brad arched his back and a series of cracks ran down his spine, Harper scrunching her nose in disgust. Brad let out a small groan in relief, before straightening back out to face the others.

"That's disgusting, Brad."

Brad stuck his tongue out at Harper, watching her reaction as he slowly cracked his knuckles.

"Brad!" She moaned at the ear assault, then grabbed a pillow and smacked him with it.

Brad glared at her, grabbing the pillow out of her hands and whacking her back.
"Now, Harp, I'm going to let that slide because it's my turn."

"Anyway, Never Have I Ever jumped out of the window on the third floor or higher." Brad asked, and Ollivander's hand hesitantly reached out to take a shot, jaw clenched tight as everyone stared at him.

He seems to be surprising us tonight. Callan thought.

Ollivander was quickly becoming uncomfortable under the eyes of everyone else. He wasn't a liar, and he didn't care if people judged him, but that still didn't make the penetrating eyes of the people around him any more comforting. He fidgeted slightly, shoulders tensing as his hands fiddled around with the empty glass.

Brad raised an eyebrow at Ollivander, who gave him a half smile in return.

"Oh my god, was that what I thought it was? A smile? The world must be ending!" Callan gasped loudly, leading to the immediate frown of Ollivander who pursed his lips as if he'd been called out on a mistake he made.

Brad sent a disapproving glance towards Callan, but didn't mention anything to the dirty blonde.
"Anyway, Harper, it's your turn."

Harper hummed in thought, before slapping her palms against her thighs, grinning.

"Never Have I ever been in love."

Ollivander and Harper were the only two who didn't drink, everyone else grabbing a shot.

Callan leaned back, throwing an arm around Natalie's shoulders.

"Never have I ever..." Callan looked straight at his roommate, "Been a complete asshole to someone, for no reason, in the last two weeks."

Ollivander clenched his jaw tighter, not able to look at Callan as he picked up two shots and downed them. The girls looked between the two with confusion, but seemed to shrug it off. Meanwhile, Brad seemed bothered by this obvious display of annoyance.
"Hey, Ollie, is it okay if I stay the night?"

Ollivander nodded, standing up to shake the girls' hands.
"Anyways, I'm going to go shower." He looked towards Brad, "First door on the left is my bedroom, just come up when everything down here is done.
"It was nice meeting you two." He said quietly, shaking Natalie's hand then having a separate silent conversation with Harper. She pulled out her phone and handed it to Ollivander, who typed in something before handing it back.

Callan, glancing between the two as he ignored whatever Brad was saying, was beyond irritated that Ollivander wasn't rude to this new girl, unlike he was to Callan.

"-and so that's why it's always better to choose Jack Daniels or bourbon over something like a horse if you're ever in that situation." Brad finished, seeming proud of himself.

"Wait- what?" Callan's eyebrows drew together as he tried to figure out what he missed.

Brad groaned, taking a long drink of a bottle that somehow appeared in his hand.

Ollivander grabbed a to-go beer, which he drank while in the shower. It wasn't long before he was out, and tugged on a random hoodie and sweatpants. All in all, he spent more time brushing his teeth than his actual shower as he attempted to rid himself of the alcohol smell. Well, the alcohol smell, or the bitterness that seemed to take place after speaking to Callan. He didn't blame his roommate for viewing him how he did, but it didn't make his comments any less detestable.

Soon, he was in bed reading stats reports from his company. As much as he wanted to go to bed now, he figured he should probably wait for his drunk best friend, alas he passes out before making it to his room.
Less than two hours after he'd originally gone up, Brad stumbled in and shut the door behind him, sitting on the bed with a *thump*.

"Ollie..." Brad drawled, reeking of liquor. He moved so his back was against the headboard, legs straightened in front of him as he pat his lap.
"Please, Ollie? I think both you and I need a moment of peace."

Ollivander almost refuted him, but it had been a rough first week with the new roommate. Slowly, he moved to lay down on the bed, leaning his heading Brad's lap as he faced the door. As a significantly larger man, he had to curl his legs to keep them from dangling precariously off the side. 
Being tall had way too many disadvantages. Of course, an upside is his ability to intimidate people without trying. Though, in the long run, that may not be the best skill he could have under his belt.

Brad grinned, gently twisting some strands of Ollivander's hair into tiny braids throughout the dark mess.

"So... why're you being so hard on Callan?"
——————
A/N
Hi! Here's the promised chapter, and chapter 4 will be published on the next update day (Tuesday) early in the morning.
Have a wonderful day!🙂
Word count (excluding author's note): 2029 words