Cynical_Strawberry

Note: Volume 1 and 2 are two separate stories happening to different people in the same university. The characters intersect in one chapter. Then, volume 3 involves all three. 

Volume 1:
Twenty two year old Ram has got it all, he's intelligent, athletic, social, and he's just been hired by a well known consulting firm. Life would be perfect...if his grandmother weren't ill and if his mother didn't think she'd be miraculously cured by him getting an Indian girlfriend on the premise of marriage. Still, Ram trudges on...until he meets Chen. Whimsical, openly gay, and following his dreams of being a novelist, Chen is the complete opposite of Ram. Yet, he has nothing to do with Ram until a sudden accident brings them together.
Volume 2:
"I'll be your eyes." Ever since elementary school when the soft spoken brunette said that to him, looking very like the model of a super hero in a comic book, Jason hasn't been able to forget it. And as the seasons changed and everyone faced the inevitable phenomenon of "growing up" Jason kept his slowly failing eyes desperately trained on his hero, following him through high school and onto college. Now, a senior about to graduate, will Jason possibly be noticed by his hero? Or will his love life fail just like his eyes slowly turning blind...
Volume 3
Chen isn't crazy. At least he doesn't think he is. But he considers the characters he writes about real, very much so. He wants his boyfriend to understand this but it's harder than he expects until he and Ram join the literary club for their annual camping trip and...he, Ram, Jason, and Arev are sucked into the world of his books.

You Are My Protagonist (BL)

"This is my friend, you know the one I was telling you about whose apartment just burned down? Well weren't you telling me that you were thinking about finding a roommate? I've got you the perfect guy. His name is Chen, he's nice, quiet, and won't bother you at all. Chen, this is Ram. We've been best buddies since our freshman year and I can tell you with confidence that he's a really good guy..."


It's a week later and I'm back at the bagel shop listening as Josh rambles on. I rub the wrinkle above my eyebrow and sigh. You've got to be kidding me. Chen sits opposite of me, his gaze downcast, fingers twisting and almost tearing a hole in his cloth bag. Of all the times I've had to cover for Josh or help him in his pursuit of some girl, this has got to be the worst.


"So Ram, what do you think? Isn't Chen better than some random noisy stranger?"


I give him a deadpan look, then my gaze turns to Chen. If I'm honest, he looks pitiful, with just a single baby blue backpack. His silver blonde strands are all mussed up, falling into his downcast gaze and almost reaching his slightly pink nose and pursed lips. I exasperatedly sigh. 


"Well, you know how I live with two other guys and we don't really have another bed. We could put him up on the couch but it'd be pretty cramped and it's not really...you know..." he glances towards Chen's slender and pale frame. I do know. Chen, with his quiet temperament and delicate features, would be like a swan in a pigsty if he lived in their noisy, cramped apartment. "Jason and Eric don't have space either and everyone else in the literature club is a girl. And he can't live with the girls, definitely not Mimi." I internally groan, so this is what it's about. 


"It-it's fine." We look towards Chen. "I can find somewhere else to live. I'll just-" His mouth opens and closes twice as he flounders for an excuse.


"You'll what?" I look directly at him. "Sleep on the streets?" 


"Josh is right, this is the best solution. Josh, see you in class, I'll take him over there now."


Josh beams. "I knew you were my best bud!" I roll my eyes, grab Chen's suitcase, and wheel it out the door, leaving Chen to catch up with me. As soon as he does, I start speaking. 


"Josh is right, my apartment's fairly large and it has two bedrooms so it's convenient in that sense. The rent also isn't bad so if we split, it's about..."


"Wait!" He grabs the edge of my shirt, I turn to face him.


"You don't really have anywhere else to go?"


"Well then what other choice do we have?"


"Well I'm a human being, not some cold robot who can just-oh I give up, just come on." I pull the suitcase to my car, stuff it in the trunk, and stuff its owner in the passenger seat. 


"No-no, not that! I mean, weren't you going to New York?" I sigh exasperatedly. 


"They may be based on New York but they have an office here, that's where I'll be working."


"...oh." His face is beet red, I quirk a smile. 


Chapter 5