SadCoffeeSkeleton

  With two clicks the briefcase opened, inside he saw his clothes all neatly folded; he searched through them to grab something to wear the next day, choosing a light brown t-shirt much simir to the one he was wearing now. He pced it on the bed and then picked his briefcase up again, putting it at the feet of his wardrobe. He opened it once more and started storing his clothes inside; it was a very open space but not nearly enough to fit comfortably into, Luca thought he made the right choice by choosing the raining closet.

  After finishing, he crouched down and, on the floor of the wardrobe, put the Zenith documents bag there, then he stood up, however, before leaving he grabbed the small flier with the history of the city that he had read so many times before. As he closed the wardrobe door, the main door of the dorm opened.

  “AAGH! FINALLYYYY!!!” In walked a lean figure, shorter than Luca, pale and with white hair in a side shave, delicate features and bck lipstick, as well as eyeshadow and eyeliner. The clothes of the person were equally dark, with a bck crop top and dark gray short jeans, the back of which were hugging the top of the supposed roommate’s legs, finally, they wore chunky bck boots; they stretched as they entered the room, satisfaction clear as they closed their eyes and moaned from the satisfaction of the stretching. “Lecture over! Party STARTI-” They stopped in their tracks as they opened their eyes and saw Luca, who, seeing the attire and way of presenting themselves recognized as a woman, the roommate system was mixed?

  Even after having ejacuted mere minutes ago, he still felt his throat get in a knot; his nervousness towards attractive people clearly didn’t come from sexual arousal but elsewhere. After a few seconds of staring at each other in silence, Luca felt his cheeks warm up, so he shook his head, closed the wardrobe fully, and offered a handshake to his new roommate.

  “H-Hi, I’m Luca; I-I also stay in this room.” He tried to control his breathing, a task that got harder as the woman in front of him grabbed his hand back and shook it carefully, examining him up and down.

  “... Aha…” She squinted. “I’ve asked around my year course and… apparently no one else got this room so.” She released his hand and leaned her head forward, suspicious. “How does that work then mmm? Are you sure you got the right one dude?”

  “Oh! Y-Yeah 216, I-I just-” Before he could expin, she was already walking forward and poking his chest with her index finger; her fingernails also bck; clearly she had a theme.

  “Because I was kinda excited to have the room to myself, you know? So if you are a perv or a dumbass, please crify before I lose my patience.” She backed him into the bed; he stumbled and fell sitting on it, she leaned forward, towering over him. “So tell me, guy-I-haven’t-seen-around-before… What are you doing here, and why didn’t I hear of you?” Luca gulped at the closeness and the intimidation; the girl’s height reached his eyes, and she was thinner than him by a lot, still, her confidence was too much for Luca, who couldn’t help but slur his words, after a few failed attempts he cleared his throat.

  “I-I am not from the university, I-I’m in the guild.“ She reeled back slightly, her eyes opening wide for a second. ”I just joined after they assigned the rooms so-”

  “Wait…” She straightened, then crossed her arms, and after a while opened her eyes wide, gasping in realization. “You’re that guy?! The one who didn’t ask to come?” She started gesturing and snapping her fingers as she remembered. “Yeah yeah! The one who the st director invited, no? Is that you? Did you get my room?!” Her frown turned into an excited smile, which helped Luca less in recuperating than he thought. She was kind of cute when she was so excited… also when she was mad… what was happening to him?

  “Y-Yeah, direct- ex-director Kreaspell invited me a couple months back and-” She ughed out loud, not at him but in celebration.

  “No waaaay!! That’s awesome dude! And I got you?! They gave you to me?!” She gestured to herself before starting to jump excitedly, ughing, as if she got a new toy, which she also spoke about him as.

  “Y-Yeah, director Caushmar told me this was my room an-” She snapped at him shocked.

  “The director herself?! Oh right, you are in the guild, so she tours- WAIT and she knew it was me?! And she still let me get you?”

  “...I mean, you didn’t get me, w-we just share a room I don’-”

  “NO WAAAAAY!!! A HAHA HAHAHA!” She was loud, and also he felt like he couldn’t get a word in, but he was too tired to care. Feeling the soft bed under him, he felt the tension slowly disappear and be repced with exhaustion. “Dude! You know what that means?!”

  “Uuh, wel-”

  “It means they trust me dude! O-Or they see me as mature or some shit!” She pumped her fists, relishing in her victory. “Yes!!” He thought of saying something but gave up after realizing it was fruitless, after a while she slumped on her bed, spreading her arms satisfied. “Aaaaah, good first day, awesome first day…” After a few seconds of silence, he dared make his move.

  “... So, a-are csses starting today as well?”

  “Aha, the guild and uni work pretty synchronized.” He was slightly in awe at being able to talk to her and getting a response. “Oh, sorry I kinda ignored you; what did you say your name was? Luke?”

  “Ah, L-Luca, nice to meet you.” He nodded as he stood up and started taking off the covers of his bed; she nodded smiling.

  “Yeah Luca!” She pushed herself forward and sat cross-legged on her bed, her arms in between her legs. “I’m Cory, pleasure!” She offered her hand forward again, which Luca accepted, this time shaking hands properly. “Dude, it’s so awesome I get to room with a guild member; I mean they told us one of us would get you but I didn’t think- what are you doing?” Her tone changed drastically as she asked, which made Luca turn around as he was preparing his bed for the night.

  “Um, g-getting ready for bed?”

  “Why?” She looked genuinely as confused as he felt.

  “... Cause I wanna go to sleep.”

  “Oh no no no, no my friend.” She stood up and walked over to him. “You are coming with me to the first party of the school year.” Luca chuckled, tired.

  “I’m sorry but I really need to sleep.” She scoffed in return.

  “Wha- then how am I going to show you off?!” She put her hands on her hips. “I mean, I can tell them, but the attention I’ll get from you being there will be ten times rger! You have to come, dude!” Luca felt like he was getting insulted with all the I got you and I’ll show you off, but be it tiredness or the girl's innate charisma, he giggled at the comments.

  “Well, sorry, but I’m not going.” He gnced at her and grinned. “Buy a dog on the way to the party, that you can show off easily.” She rolled her eyes, smiling pyfully.

  “Oh c’mon I didn’t mean it like that! Just… you are a cool guy! You got accepted without asking, you know? Like the stories.” She looked down, pouted, unserious. “And I really wanted to look cool.” He chuckled, which brought a grin out of her. “So what do you say huh? I can’t allow my roommate to be the kinda guy that stays always inside and never goes to parties!” Luca shook his head, but she continued determined. “Broooo, it’ll be fun! Even guild members show up to these parties; don’t be excluded on the first day!” She punched him pyfully in the back, after which she grabbed the t-shirt’s back and clenched her hand, opening her eyes wide. “Holy shit man, this is drenched!”

  Luca looked at her as she took her hand back, imitating her motion, he grabbed the back of his t-shirt and confirmed it; looking down, most of the front was also wet; had he been sweating so much? From the arousal, the tiredness, the moving up and down, the running and the self-pleasure, it made sense that this would happen when he thought about it. How had he not noticed? Too preoccupied with other things probably, he even put it on after the cleaning.

  “Told you I was tired.” He giggled. “It’s been a long day, you know? I apologize, but I have to decline.” She sighed, closed her eyes and leaned back looking upwards.

  “Ugh, fiiiiiiiiiine. But you are coming to the next one, Lulu!” He looked forward and turned to face her. “No? No Lulu?” He shook his head silently in a negative. “Alright, I’ll workshop it.” He chuckled, then she left his side, going to her wardrobe and leaning over to grab something.

  As Luca finished making his bed and preparing it for the night, he gnced at Cory, seeing her firm rear being proudly presented. Her extra-short shorts hugged the back of her tightly, presenting a good view to Luca, who tore his gaze away but couldn’t help stealing gnces. Her back was arched, and she was moving her hips to the sides as she moved the very messy bottom of her wardrobe’s contents, trying to find something.

  “Aaagh! Where’s my purse?! I left it here before!” She kept rummaging, Luca shook his head and breathed deeply—too much in one day—at least that helped him control himself. “Well, shame you aren’t coming dude, but I’m definitely going, ooo! Found it!” She grabbed it and hung it on her shoulder, then took out a small mirror from it and started messing with her hair while looking in it. “I mean, a boy like me needs excitement, you know?”

  Luca was crouched, setting his briefcase and the clothes for tomorrow under his bed. He froze before getting up, boy… a boy like him… not again. He looked back at Cory with confusion on his face; at least he probably had confusion on his face because when she(?) looked at him she smirked, then got a frown, snapping her small mirror shut.

  “Wait, you didn’t think I was a girl, did you?” He sounded offended, Luca got nervous, he didn’t like making people uncomfortable, so he stood up and stammered a response.

  “W-Well I mean, t-the crop top an-and like, make-up, I mean I know i-it’s not a woman’s thing ecs-exclusively bu-” He got interrupted by the sound of his ughter, he dropped his arms after realizing his game.

  “Rex dude, I’m messing with ya, most people think that at first.” He put the small mirror case back in his purse and faced him, smiling. “I mean, I know what I look like; I just need you to remember, I’m a guy, alright? Don’t go calling me ‘she’ or ‘gurl’ or anything.”

  “R-Right, sorry.” He thought of asking why he dressed like that, but it wasn’t any of his business.

  “You wondering why I dress this way?” Cory tilted his head slightly and grinned, Luca thought about consulting some professional on how to appear less obvious. “Ask yourself this: why do people dress the way they dress?” He started thinking about it but got interrupted pretty quickly. “Cause they like how they look! So that applies to me, mystery over, you get it?” Luca looked bnk at the wall for a few seconds, then at him. After a few more seconds of silence, he nodded without saying anything still. “Not too complex, is it?”

  “Not really…” He giggled to himself and looked at Cory in the eye, determined to not get too nervous to not talk to him. “Happy to be your roommate, Cory, hopeful we’ll get along.” Cory smiled gently at Luca, then closed his eyes and nodded.

  “Ditto.” He walked to the door and opened it, then pointed to a ntern in the ceiling. “By the by since you are new here, to turn that off just flick the circle thing over the tube over there, and don’t worry, it’ll ignite itself again when it opens.” Luca directed his eyes to a little tube that stood next to the shelf at the head of Cory’s bed; it had a circle attached above it, almost like a peephole structure. “It like, cuts air off or something, I dunno. Anyways I’ll be te, don't stay up for me, nice to meet you, g’night!”

  And with that, Cory shut the door, leaving Luca again alone to his thoughts. Perhaps another day when he isn’t so tired he’ll find his loudness and cheeriness annoying, but for now? His charisma and friendliness more than made up for it, he also wasn’t hard to look at, for a man. Luca sighed; he’d address it; he would, just not that day, not yet. He sat on his bed and grabbed the Zenith’s history pamphlet. He read it again, like he had done so many times since he first got it.

  Since the first adventurer arose, it has been the w of nature for them to want to go into a dungeon. One day, a group found the st dungeon they’d see, before coming out and succumbing to the remnants of a war. But at st, their sacrifice fueled the spirit of adventures of others and inspired them to settle to the front of the dungeon, which showed them the truth—it was infinite.

  Now you, you are coming to Zenith, following the steps of heroes of myth and such. Since it’s foundation, Zenith has been a pce for the people, forger of adventurers who save burning cities, raiser of healers whose medical achievements will heal diseases eons old, instructor of explorers who’ll find mysteries buried deep under history, maker of schors who help unravel the fabric of our world, and most importantly, home of the guild, where dungeon mappers, delvers and collectors work to gather the resources which find themselves deep within the infinity and who put their lives at danger’s door to bring the world the commodities only monsters can give. So prepare yourself for Zenith and be warned, your life will never be the same.

  Luca smiled, the pamphlet was one of the few things that helped him calm down about coming to Zenith, reading it, it helped put the city into the perspective of a city and less of a pce of myth, mostly because of the cheesiness in which it presented the city. He stood up, walked over to the tube on the wall and flicked it close, then walked over to his wardrobe and stored the pamphlet into his bag again, just as the light dimmed down.

  Once in the darkness, Luca removed his t-shirt and tossed it under the bed; his pants he took off and pced them gently next to his clothes for tomorrow. He realized too te he didn’t grab any pajamas from the wardrobe, but it was dark and the bed’s allure could no longer be resisted. As he settled into it, he groaned in satisfaction, finally some comfort, he took a deep breath and id on it, putting his hands behind his head as he rexed and started to easily drift off to sleep.

  “G’night ma… g’night La-” He caught himself, as consciousness left him, his body acted on impulse and repeated the routine he spoke every night of his life; just st night he said it, but he wouldn’t anymore.

  And as Luca id in bed, muscles sore in desperate need of rest, he found himself unable to close his eyes, for even in the darkness without a sound he could tell, he was no longer in his bed, and he might never be again. It wasn’t that comfortable.