Cogsworth had always felt like he was drowning.

Being social was never one of his strong suits; simply the thought of spending time with people he wasn't close to was enough to send him spiraling into a deep, dark pool of panic. As a child, he could get over himself long enough to make it through a school day, but even that exhausted him. He would have loved to join clubs and extracurriculars that pertained to his interests, but the idea of spending even more time with people kept him from doing so. His parents had figured at the time that he simply had a shy, introverted personality. Perhaps he would simply grow out of it as he got older.

But as the years passed, it became clear that if anything, he was only getting worse.

Cogsworth hated being the center of attention, feared it even. Every embarrassing moment he had ever experienced constantly played on repeat in his head, interrupted every now and then by imagined situations of him making a fool of himself in front of his peers. He constantly felt like he was drowning in his own sorrow, like a brick attached to his foot was pulling him further down into the pool of despair, leaving him gasping for air and struggling to survive.

The boy who had once been so keen on calling out an answer to a teacher's question and even attempting conversation with some of the students most like him sunk into himself. He sat in the back of class, kept his head down, kept his mouth shut. He didn't speak unless spoken to, and even then, he still feared he would do something wrong and everyone would laugh at him.

If he had had his way, he would have gone back to being home-schooled, but his parents wouldn't allow it. He had to learn to be social, they said, and what better way to do that than at school?

He was a sophomore when he had his first panic attack at school. A weight in his chest made breathing difficult, and he was drowning down, down, down. Mr. Allen, the only teacher Cogsworth had ever really liked, had been kind enough to allow the boy to hide out in his classroom through the lunch hour. After that day, it became a ritual for them to eat lunch together and simply talk. It did wonders for Cogsworth, and it became the one thing he looked forward to during the day.

Despite that, between the constant bullying and frequent, mid-day panic attacks, he really wasn't sure how he had made it through high school without completely falling apart, and with such amazing grades for that matter. He had made up his mind already that he would take his college classes online from the comfort of a solitary apartment. However, that changed when he received a full-ride scholarship to a school of his choice for his outstanding grades. He had been so elated and honored, that he had not given it a second thought when he accepted it. What happened next seemed like a blur: there was celebrating, deciding what college to go to, getting everything prepared to move in.

It wasn't until shortly after he had settled into his dorm room on move-in day after his parents left how crazy and stupid this all was. The campus, which he had a great view of from his room, was huge! There were so many people here! How could he function knowing that there were so many people who would surely hate him, that the classes would be huge and he would be forced to spend all day with so many people. He could feel the walls of the now too-small room closing in on him and sweet blackness licking at the corners of his vision as panic enveloped him. He was slipping, drowning, falling further and further back until…

...until his body collided into something warm and soothing and pulled him back up to the surface of consciousness.

"Woah, there, mon ami! That could have been a nasty fall! Are you okay?"

Cogsworth should have felt panicked, but for the first time in his life, he felt relaxed in the arms of a complete stranger. For a moment, he could only peer up into those sparkling amber eyes. The man was undeniably handsome, from his glowing eyes and curly ginger hair to his soft features and gentle smile. Cogsworth blushed. They both stood there in silence for a long while before Cogsworth finally managed to regain control of his body and pulled himself away from the stranger.

"F-fine, thank you," he eventually answered while brushing himself off and decidedly not looking at the person he assumed to be his new roomie. It hadn't even been a day, and he had already embarrassed himself in front of the one person he would have to socialize with.

"Well, I suppose if we'll be living together for at least the semester, we should establish some ground rules first and foremost. I have already taken the liberty of writing down some that to me seem to be the most important." Here, Cogsworth pulled the list he had come up with last week when he learned that he would have to share a dorm with someone else. He was prepared to present the list when the other, who had stood smiling pleasantly at him the whole time, began to laugh; not cruel or malicious, simply… entertained. Cogsworth instinctively blushed, but he did not feel panicked surprisingly. He only felt confused. "What are you laughing at?"

"Pardon, pardon," came the response through fits of giggles, "it is just… we do not even know each other's' names yet!"

The shorter of the two realized that was fair. "Cogsworth," he said simply, not feeling it necessary to share his full name to someone he had only just met. He stuck his hand out more out of obligation than anything and was mildly surprised when his roommate happily accepted the handshake.

"Lumiere," the taller one grinned, and for a moment, the two of them stood in silence again. It wasn't awkward, Cogsworth observed with surprise, but pleasant. It was Lumiere who finally broke the silence.

"Well, Cogsworth, do you wanna go grab some lunch and discuss those rules you were talking about? It would be my treat."

Cogsworth had always hated eating in public and would have normally preferred to stay indoors and away from all of those judging eyes. However, he feels so safe in the presence of Lumiere, a man who he didn't know at all. It went against all logic, really, but his constant apprehension now faded into a growing sense of pleasantness the longer he gazed up at the smiling man. Gone was his sense of drowning as for once, someone had finally dived in after him and pulled him out of the pool. He felt light as a feather, like he could take on the world.

"That would be lovely."