Chapter Text
Eugene Sledge’s and Merriell Shelton’s friendship began with a collision.
Eugene was lost in a map of the new college campus as he tried to find his way to the specific café he was supposed to meet his best friend at. He glanced down again at the map when he slammed into what felt like a brick wall and fell to the ground with a hard thump. He looked up at what he had run into and found that it was not a wall or a poll, but a lean, young man with tan skin, unruly curls, and a sneer of a smile.
“Watch where you’re going, idiot,” the man drawled before he stepped over Eugene and continued on his way in the opposite direction.
Eugene stayed on the ground for a long moment and watched the back of the man disappear. It was something he wasn’t quite used to; rudeness. Sure, there were rude people back home in Alabama, but he had also been raised, as his mother proudly declared to anyone who would listen, as a polite, southern gentleman.
Shaking off the interaction, Eugene got up from the ground and hurried in the direction he thought was right; he’d be late at this rate for lunch with his best friend from home, Sidney. When Eugene recounted the incident to Sidney, his friend laughed at him and told him that he ought to pay attention to where he was going.
“Yeah, it was my fault but he could have helped me up instead of walking over me,” Eugene mumbled into his sandwich while feeling mildly embarrassed.
“Gotta realize not everyone’s as polite as you, Eugene,” Sidney teased.
“Oh shut up, you greaser,” Eugene said as he reached across the table and shoved his friend’s arm.
The two friends stopped talking about the incident, but for whatever reason, Eugene couldn’t stop thinking about it. There was just something about the interaction that stumped him and he didn’t know why.
Forget about it, Eugene told himself hours later as he walked into his dorm building and up the stairwell that led to his floor. School this big? You’ll never see him again.
However, as fate would have it, as Eugene walked down the fourth floor hallway towards his room, someone bumped quite purposely into his shoulder. When he turned and looked to see who had bumped into him, he found himself looking at a similar sneer of a smile, pale eyes, tan skin, and messy, dark curls.
“Watch where you’re going,” he sneered again with a knowing grin.
Eugene stopped and watched at the boy walked confidently down the hallway and into one of the dorm rooms at the end of the hallway. For a moment, Eugene was set to return to his room and relax but after another moment of consideration, he moved down the hallway towards the room the boy had disappeared into. When he glanced inside the room, he found the young man sitting on the window sill, window thrown open, with a lit cigarette between his lips. He stared at Eugene for a long moment before he held out the crumpled pack of cigarettes.
“I don’t smoke,” Eugene said.
“Well how about you close the door behind you before the R.A. comes by and bitches at me for smokin’,” he mumbled around his cigarette.
For a moment, Eugene considered ducking out of the room but in a split second decision he took a step forward and shut the door behind him. He pressed his back against the door which caused another thump for added emphasis. The young man stared with his pale eyes for a long, silent moment, before a wide smile pulled at his mouth and he let out a small chuckle.
“I’m Eugene,” Eugene said, still pressed against the door. “Eugene Sledge.”
“…Snafu.”