My hands were quivering as I took hold of the door knob to my new room, taking just a moment to breathe as I stood outside the ornate door that bore my name in a black placard with golden trim. The Royal Shepherd’s academy for boys truly was austere, even the dorms exuded a pretentious atmosphere with their ostentatious halls. This was to be my home for the foreseeable future, this gaudy little door the portal to my safe space. In some ways I was relieved, no longer would I have to feel my fathers looming presence constantly looking over my shoulder. In other ways I felt trapped. This school was as much a prison as it was a sanctuary. I would be under close watch by the faculty, for my safety they say, but I knew in my heart that their watch was merely an extension of my fathers control over me. 

Still, the sanctity of my own private room, one of which I alone held the key to, afforded me some comfort. Finally I would be able to do the one thing that made me happy. I clutched my bag and one hand, and returned my other hand to the knob, excited to try on the clothes I snuck inside my luggage. I sighed a hopeful sigh and turned the knob, ready to take my first steps into what I believed would be “my” room, only to see a peculiar sight. 

“Bunk beds?” no, this could not be right, surely they would not put me in a room with another boy. Everything I had hoped for, the small ounces of freedom I thought I would have, suddenly ripped away from me with this realization. I would not be alone. I could feel the color draining from my face, my very lifeforce escaping me. “Why, and who?” were the only words I could muster. My heart felt betrayed by my own expectations. I looked to the door, and in disbelief saw for the first time a name sprawled on the door in marker beneath my own. “Isaiah Snowdrop?” Who in the world was Isaiah Snowdrop, and more importantly why was he sharing a room with me of all people?

In my own home I did not share a room, not even with my own siblings, so then why here? My personal security surely was reason enough to not allow another student to board with me. Unease caused a violent wave in my stomach and I considered contacting my father, knowing he would be outraged by this turn of events. Feeling every bit the drama queen, I fell to my knees defeated by the mere prospect that I would have no privacy for the length of my stay at the academy. All hope is lost, what little good I found in attending this school has been tarnished by this single catastrophe. 

“Yo, you alright?” A rough yet friendly voice interrupted my internal monologue.

I turned to see a boy with silver hair standing over me, a bag slung over his shoulder and an empty hilt hanging from his side.

“Excuse me, but you are interrupting my descent into despair,” I wanted to say, but instead simply answered, “I am fine.”

I suppose that was the truth, I was not in danger, not hurt, not sick. No, I was simply maintaining the status quo of my life, living in a series of disappointment at every new prospect. 

“You uh, you sure? You look pretty pale,” he chuckled, “don’t tell me, you forgot to pack panties and just now realizin it?”

“Do not be crude with me, knave,” I wished to say, but instead I simply shook my head.

“Aight, well guess excuse me while I get passed ya there, I gotta get to my room, ya know?” he took a long step over me into my room.

“Your room, you can not mean?” terror gripped my heart yet again.

“Yep, looks like we’re bunkin together, I bet you're thrilled, can’t blame you. I am pretty damn cool,” he threw his bag on the floor and kicked off his shoes, casting them to the side with reckless abandon. 

“No, please Goddess, please no,” I whispered, though honestly I do not think I cared whether he heard me or not. This boy would be my roommate? I already believed it to be an error that I would have a roommate at all, but surely this is a practical joke the dean has chosen to play on me. Were Dean Marcus to come around the corner with fanfare and say it all a prank, I would join him in a merry guffaw, proclaiming him the finest comic of our time, but sadly this was not to be the case.

“So your highness, you gonna come inside or you gonna make your roost in the threshold there?” 

“I wish to lie on the ground and allow the stampede of students to trample me as they rush to the caffe,” my eye glazed over as I flopped my body onto the ground.

“Little prince is a drama queen huh? Guess that makes sense,” he laughed.

Ah yes, I perhaps failed to mention this before, but I am indeed the prince of the kingdom of Frencetta. Prince Aiden Bonedarte the third to be precise, not named for my father, but for his fathers father. Honestly “the third '' part felt unnecessary, if it was not for Aiden Bonedarte the second being such an important historical figure. 

“Listen, Esa,” I began to say as I corrected my posture, rising from the floor.

“Isaiah, eye--zay-uh, not Esa or eeesaya or whatever other way you're gonna mess it up,” he corrected me. 

“Alright then, Isaiah, let us establish some ground rules if we are to be sharing this living space for the time being,” my voice was a bit shaky, but I steeled myself and attempted a brave face, “for starters you will give me my privacy. Between the hours of Eighteen, to twenty-two, you will remain outside the room. Should you need to enter at all during these hours, you will knock three times, loudly, and wait thirty seconds before knocking three more times. Only when I respond should you enter the room.”

“Oh is that so?” He cocked a brow and gave me a snide grin, “gonna throw around your princely privilege and order me around are ya? Tell me when I can and can’t enter my own room?”

“Yes, well, I mean…” I began to waver under his fierce gaze, “I mean…”

“You mean what? You want to rule with an iron fist like your dear old daddy? Fine, then I’ll sleep in a pit I guess,” he snorted.

“No, I do not…” I did sound like a tyrant, it was our first time meeting and I had certainly left a bad impression already. “No, that will not be necessary.” 

“Change of heart already?” 

“I, I am sorry. I just, I have never had privacy before and honestly was disheartened to find out that I would not be having a room to myself.” Yes, while I may not have shared a room in the castle, I had no lock. My father would come and go in my room as he pleased, he was the king after all. If it was not my father intruding, it was a servant, or a sibling. I simply never had a safe space to myself. 

“Yea, well I’ve never had my own room either so it’s not like you’re alone in disappointment here,” he sighed, “what kinda pressure you think I got, knowin I’m gonna be sleepin with the prince?”

Apples envy the bright red hue that our faces turned.

“Gah, I mean like sleepin with ya in the same room, not the same bed!” He waved his hands frantically as he stammered out his explanation.

“Of course, of course, we are sharing a room, that is what you meant!” I nodded vigorously, my mouth fixed into a crooked grin.

“I’d never be so presumpt… presum…. I’d never be bold enough to try and bed ya, ya know?”

“Yes, clearly you are not so presumptuous as to think I would lay with you!” 

A few passing students stopped and stared at our spectacle as they were on their way to their own rooms. Without hesitation Isaiah slammed the door shut in their snickering faces, stomped over to the corner where he placed his head against the wall, and laughed psychotically.

When the tension died and at last we could muster up the nerve to even look at each other again, I finally took a moment to better observe him. He was tall, this I could tell despite his current hunched over posture. I’d say he was nearly half a foot taller than me. He had a slender frame, but strong arms. His cropped tank top revealed a firm stomach, not quite sixpack abbs, but definitely toned. I had noticed his silver hair immediately upon meeting him, it was hard not to see, as everyone would notice it, but what I had somehow failed to notice is the eyepatch he wore over his right eye. Perhaps having worn an eyepatch over my own right eye my whole life had made such a thing seem normal to me. His other eye, that is the visible eye of course, was a peculiar shade of pink. 

“So, did you lose an eye in an accident?” I had not even thought before the words were out of my mouth.

“Did you?” He mirrored my question.

“I have a rare genetic condition that requires I keep my eye covered,” I answered, not a lie, but also not wholly true. 

“Same…” he said, then smirked, “don’t tell me, you also were born with silver hair?”

“Actually my hair turned silver when I was a child,” I answered, “and you?”

“Who knows, I was an orphan so there’s no one that can tell me what I looked like when I was a baby,” he grinned, “maybe we’re long lost siblins or somethin.”

“I most certainly doubt that, I have three sisters, all of them older, and no other sibling.”

“I was jokin, no way I’m royal in any kinda way.”

“No, I would not think so,” I once more spoke without thought.

“Tch, don’t gotta be all pretentious ‘bout it.”

He sat himself down in a chair in front of a writing desk and kicked back, leaning the chair on its hind legs. 

Reveling in the silence, I finally took a moment to gather my belongings, that is my bag of clothes, and stash them inside a chest at the end of the room. There was but a single key to the chest, tied to the handle on the side, and so it was the perfect place for me to keep my secret I hid within my bag. I tore the key from the string and stowed it inside my vest pocket. Whether I would get my privacy or not, I was dead set on the fact that I would take the secret contents of my bag to my grave with me.

After locking the chest I took off my shoes and placed them neatly beside it, then removed my uniform jacket and brought it to the closet to hang it up.

“Wait,  you're hogging a chest and the closet now?” Isaiah protested.

“My bag must remain under lock and key, if there is but one rule you will follow it is this, that bag is mine and you shall stay away from it.” I spoke solemnly.

“Tch, yea yea I get it, but save me some space in the closet will you?”

“I will not take up too much room, I shall only hang my uniform so as to keep it from wrinkling.” 

“That’s fine then, just like…” he sighed, “fine so then same goes for you with my stuff, no peakin in my bag okay?”

“It is agreed, we shall respect each other's privacy,” I said curtly.

“And like, if you really don’t want me in the room, I’m sure you have your reasons…”

“No, I should be more courteous of you, perhaps then, on the third and fifth day of every week, could you allow me privacy from the hours of Eighteen to twenty two?”

“Yea, sure, I’ll find somethin to do then.” he smiled warmly and I smiled back.

“Thank you, Isaiah. Now, if you would not mind, I wish to retire,” I said sitting down on the bottom bunk.

“Whoa, hey um can you… can you actually take the top? Imma bottom kinda guy ya know?”

“You are a bottom?”

“I mean I… I don’t like heights,” he blushed and turned his gaze away.

“Very well, I will take the top bunk then,” I giggled and climbed the ladder. 

“Oh and um, you sure you wanna sleep like that?” He of course was referring to the fact I had neglected to change fully out of my school uniform. Come to think of it, I had only just then noticed that he himself neglected to even wear his uniform. Despite having studied him earlier I was too distracted by all that had happened to notice he was wearing torn pants and a cropped tank top, a very odd choice of clothing, but more importantly against school regulation.

“Yes, you are right, I should change, would you… would you mind giving me some privacy?” I asked timidly. 

“Privacy? Oh, yeah sure I guess. Like you want me to like go under the blankets or somethin?”

“Could you please leave until I am changed?” I blushed, peaking my head over the rail of my bed. 

“Oh, yeah I guess that makes sense…” He sighed and left the room.

I climbed back down from my bunk, and unlocked the chest I stored my clothes in. While I was alone I decided I should take time to properly fold my clothing so to keep it looking nice. I separated my panties into a neat little pile folded and packed to the side, then made another pile for my thigh high socks, and a third for my regulation uniform socks. Then I folded up the uniform shorts meant for the summertime, which were too long for my own liking, and the pants for the winter. After that I folded my uniform shirts, which were simple collared button-up shirts with the school crest on the collar. And then my secret article of clothing was all that was left to fold. 

I held it in my hands and admired it, the thing of beauty that it was. Adorned with black ribbons, and lace trim, it was truly beautiful. Oh how I loved it, and how I longed to wear it. No, not here, not now. It would have to wait. I took extra care to fold it neatly, and placed it inside the chest, hiding it beneath my bag for extra safe keeping. 

I left my extra pajamas inside my bag, and only took out the pair I’d need for the night. I stripped off my detestable pants and uniform shirt and began to pull the nightgown over my head when I heard the door open

“Hey sorry but the res guy’s tellin me it’s curfew and..” he stopped mid sentence, staring as I still held the garment halfway up my body, then simply said, “cute panties.”