(no subject)
Characters: Ike, Roy
What: Roy gets lost around school and eventually runs into Ike.
Where: School roof, Dorm
When: Backdated, June 18
Rating: G
As awkward as it was for a guy to be thinking about something like smooth skin, Ike definitely didn't want to rough up his hands by playing the guitar after so long. Instead he was using a pick he found wedged between the folds of damaged insulation within the case. He had left it there so long ago, yet still remembered where it was hidden. The guitar itself still had a bit of shine left, but the case definitely had seen better days way back when.
The senior sat with his legs dangling over the ledge of the roof, enjoying how warm the air was even though there were a few ominous looking clouds floating overhead. Classes were done for the day, so he had a bit of time to kill before going back to dorms to study. On windless days, Ike usually enjoyed studying on the roof, but there was a bit of a homework-snatching gust picking up.
His fingers moved slowly across the fretboard, aiming to once again get a feel of each string's individual notes by going up the scale in each different key.
Roy was done with classes for the day. Despite the fact that there were only a few lessons each day and an incredible spanse of time in between them, it was nearly impossible for the redhead to get to them on time. Roy groaned a little as he recounted his embarrassing experience earlier that day when he ended up on the opposite side of the school minutes before Zoology class. It was only with the help of a few kind students that he was able to find his way to class, although by then he had already missed half of the lesson.
Now it was evening and he was wandering through the school again. This time he looking for the classrooms for the lessons he was supposed to attend tomorrow. He may have had no sense of direction, but he did learn from mistakes.
"Astronomy... Astronomy..." he muttered to himself with a wrinkled campus map in hand. Astronomy was the study of the stars; therefore it was only logical that the class would be located somewhere up high. At least, it was logical to Roy.
After some running around, he found himself on the top floor of one of the buildings. At that point, he was undeniably lost again and was trying the doors in an attempt to find someone who knew their way around. There was only one door left that he hadn't tried to open; with a hopeless sigh, Roy took the handle and jiggled it. And to his surprise, it was unlocked.
Finally beginning to get the remnants of an old song strumming, Ike crossed a leg over the other in order to better support the guitar, the higher leg's foot moving up and down to keep a beat. He was humming quietly along to the slow yet still energetic song, taking a breath to start singing to himself, but was spontaneously cut off by the sound of the door being opened.
Thank god that was avoided. Ike never let anyone hear him sing, especially because he wasn't that great at it. His fingers slowed to a halt and the sound drifted away with the wind, his head being turned curiously to stare down whoever it was that was coming through the door. Maybe it was Marth telling him to stop wasting time and get to studying.
As much as he wouldn't mind seeing Marth, Ike was slightly relieved at the fact that he now saw red hair on the figure through the opening door. And very vibrant red hair, at that. Jeez, it was practically blinding, really.
Although Roy had hoped for the door to open, he noticed that his heart was beating a little faster with surprise and anticipation. Upon opening the door, a bright light greeted him nearly blinding the confused boy. When his eyes adjusted to the new setting, Roy gasped as he found himself with a widespread view of the campus laid out before him. He cautiously took a few steps forward letting the door slam behind him in the process. It was then that he noticed that he was not the only one who was occupying the rooftop.
An older-looking boy, with a guitar resting on his lap, was looking at Roy. His hair was a shade of royal blue, not unlike the color that his childhood friend had possessed. A wave of nostalgia washed over Roy, but he quickly shook out of it taking note of the awkward silence between them.
"Er... My name is Roy. I'm new here, so I'm a little lost. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you."
Ike's eyebrows raised into the headband loosely tied around his forehead, his hand leaving the fretboard to scratch curiously at his nose as the other arm held the guitar's body from falling off his lap. Hoisting his legs back over the ledge, the senior spun himself around and laid the guitar into its beat up case. Well, the redhead guy seems innocent enough- wait, did he just say his name was Roy?
"Oh, so you're Roy." He had gotten the letter this morning about his new roommate, and was rather upset about how quickly they replaced Link. But seeing this guy for the first time, it didn't seem like he was much different from Link. Except for... the hair...
Peeling his eyes away from those red locks, Ike cleared his throat and began to close the case's lid, closing the buckles. "I'm Ike. I'm guessing you've already heard about me. Wow, it's like you were meant to get lost and meet me up here." Quite the twist of fate.
The blue-haired boy stood himself up and stretched his back, grabbing the strap attached to the case to hang it over his shoulder. "So... What were you looking for, exactly?"
Ike? Roy knew that his roommate would be a senior, and that he would meet him eventually but this was most unexpected. At a glance, the guitar-toting boy seemed a little rough, perhaps due to his slightly bulky exterior, but a closer look revealed a certain kindness about him.
"So you're my roommate, Ike? Well I'm, uh, looking for the astronomy class. I'm not used to this school yet and I get lost easily, so I was looking for tomorrow's classes."
Although Roy felt a little foolish admitting that he was lost, he couldn't help but notice that Ike was throwing glances at his hair. Was there something in it? Looking away from Ike, Roy tenderly brought his hand up to his head and casually ran it through his hair.
"...Astronomy? Haha." Ike chuckled and shook his head, "Were you holding the map upside-down? Well, you had the right idea, since it's on the other end of the school in the exact same place. You could actually see the glass dome from here, see?" An arm was outstretched to point into the distance.
"Actually, I think I made the same mistake you did at first. But I probably panicked more because I wasn't smart enough look for my classes the day before. So good job with that one."
The senior lowered his arm and stuck his thumbs into the belt loops on his pants. "Need help finding our dorm room, too? I can take you there." He'd start walking slowly to the door.
As Roy followed Ike's finger to the astronomy class, he blushed in embarrassment. He knew that his map-reading skills weren't the greatest, but if anyone at home were to have found out about this he would have never heard the end of it.
As Ike started shuffling toward the door, Roy smiled. He had made one of his first friends! Perhaps the rest of the school year wouldn't be so bad.
"I really appreciate this. Thank you."
"Hey, don't mention it. A lot of people ask me for help finding classes. I don't mind at all." Really, Ike is always the one offering to help. What a nice guy.
"The dorms are in a separate building next to the school. The guys' dorms are on the left. Don't get that mixed up." Ike got that mixed up at first, and it definitely was embarrassing on so many levels. "...Unless you want to purposely go there and PRETEND that you didn't know. Hehe." The senior joked, even though the thought had occurred to him some time ago that it would be fun to sneak into the girls' dorms.
Leading Roy outside, he'd continue walking over to the dormitory building, opening the main door that led into the small lobby and carrying on into the hallway, pointing out the washrooms at the hall's entrance.
"Here. Number six."
"I'll pass on that offer. A woman's intuition is sharper than you probably think," Roy muttered as he looked from the girls' dorms to the dorms on the left. As they walked inside, he peered around the lobby. It was smaller than he had expected, but it wasn't cramped. Still, Roy wondered if the dorm rooms would be the same. He was determined not to be picky or selfish, but what if there came a point where he couldn't stand it anymore?
When they finally came to a stop in front of the door marked with a '6', Roy pulled his key from his pocket. "So we use this to open our room, right?"
Surely the girls wouldn't mind someone like Ike coming in for a visit, right? ...Well, most of these girls know how to pack a punch, so it could get dangerous if anything too risky was attempted.
"Yeah, I wouldn't actually try it. I have to stay focused on studying, so all my attention is currently fixed on the tutor the school assigned for me. It's kind of embarrassing to admit I need a tutor, but if I don't pass this year, my whole life will go down the hole." The senior really has no time to be messing around with relationships. ...Well, most relationships.
Ike's eyes moved to the key in Roy's hand, scanning the subtle teeth to make sure he had the right one. "Yeah, that's it."
"A tutor? Ah, I won't ask if you don't want to talk about it. To be honest, I'm not terribly bright either and my father's depending on me to take his place once he retires. I don't know your situation but maybe we can help each other out."
Roy shrugged before looking away and inserted the key into the lock. After giving the key one good turn, he opened the door. For a room to be shared by two people, it wasn't so bad. There were doubles of everything from bed to closet. Once inside, he tossed his belongings onto the empty desk and sat down heaving a weary sigh.
Ike shrugged his shoulders. "Hey, I'm gonna be living with you for the rest of the year. There's no use hiding anything." The senior moved into the room he'd been familiar with for a while already, settling himself down on the bed that hadn't been made since the morning.
"My father is kind of counting on me, too. ...Well, it's more like everyone is counting on me to be my father. He isn't around anymore, and I'm the only heir to the family business. That's why I really have to step up my grades."
Blue eyes scanned the room lazily as he wondered about how good Roy's organizational skills were. Hopefully better than Ike's, because he really didn't like keeping his side of the room tidy. ...Not like there were empty pizza boxes and smelly socks lying around, things just weren't put in the right place.
"Oh yeah. My tutor... He's a nice guy once you understand that he's very eager to get things done and done right. Kind of like a girly perfectionist. He'd have my head if I don't get some part of my homework done. But I owe a lot to him. I think he's doing the right thing by pressuring me with death threats. ...I'm just kidding. He's really great. Ah, but if you ever meet, don't tell him I called him girly!" Ike gave a short chuckle followed by a heavy sigh, his face melting away into slight concern. "I haven't seen him around lately."
As Ike sat and explained his situation, Roy's eyes widened. Once again, he was reminded of his childhood friend. She too had lost a father, and now the weight of an entire country was resting on her shoulders. Roy suddenly shook his head. No, Ike was completely different from Lilina. How could he even compare them? Ike was a guy, for St. Elimine's sake. He really had to stop comparing the two.
"I'm sorry about your father. I can't say I know how you feel but I understand the kind of pressure you must be feeling."
Although this talk brought back some unpleasant memories, for some reason Roy felt closer to Ike. Here was someone who could understand the stresses of meeting other people's expectation, and the importance of school.
" 'A girly perfectionist?' Haha, your tutor sounds like a really determined person. It must be great having a friend like that." Roy glanced at Ike's face which contained a trace of concern and quickly added "I'm sure he's okay...even though I don't know him... Just keep working hard so you don't disappoint him when you see him again. I mean, um, I'm sorry; here I am, running my mouth giving advice to a senior." Roy got up from his desk and walked over to the unopened cardboard boxes on his side of the room making sure to avoid Ike's face. "I should, uh, probably start unpacking."
Ike's eyes followed Roy as the redhead made his way across the room, his shoulders slouching forward as he settled the guitar case beneath his bed. Roy was completely right. Marth wasn't the type that would give up if he were in trouble. He probably just had some family matters to deal with.
"Don't apologize. I don't think you could define good advice by age. Take me, for example. My tutor is a year younger than me and probably the smartest kid in the school." The senior pushed himself up off the bed and stepped over to his own desk. Last night's homework was scattered on top of it. His hands struggled to try and sort out which paper went in which binder in order to replace the older assignments with today's.
"If anything, I should be the one apologizing for talking so much. I find it a bit easier in the long run if you get these kinds of things out quickly."
Roy turned around and gave away a small smile. "Thanks, Ike. Heh, talking to you has been really... comforting. I think that's the word I'm looking for." He looked back at his boxes and ripped off the tape that bound the opening. One by one, he took out his necessities and valuables. He didn't know about Ike, but this was the first time the young lord had to do everything himself. At home, the servants took care of the cleaning, cooking, and other tasks. As Roy mulled over this, his stomach emitted a noisy gurgle. As if by instinct, his arms quickly covered his stomach. Ah, how embarrassing! And in front of his roommate too. He hung his head in mortification face blushing wildly before daring himself to peer over his shoulder.
Ike had sat down and was getting to the day's homework, shoving his hand into the bag by his chair in order to pull out the bulky math textbook. His fingers skimmed quickly through the pages, trying to find the chapter the class had been working on. The senior stopped and thought for a moment that he should help Roy unpack.
Just as he turned his chair to ask about helping, a sudden earthquake type of noise erupted from the sophomore. Ike couldn't help but start chuckling with a hand over his mouth, the chuckle slowly building up into a loud laugh.
"I'm s-sorry! Haha! I probably wouldn't have laughed, but the timing was just so..." He continued laughing as he stood up, a finger rubbing at a stray tear that had welded in the corner of his eye. The senior's laughter died down, "Let's go get something to eat."
He'd grab his keys and step over to the door, "I'm sure we'll get along great."
What: Roy gets lost around school and eventually runs into Ike.
Where: School roof, Dorm
When: Backdated, June 18
Rating: G
As awkward as it was for a guy to be thinking about something like smooth skin, Ike definitely didn't want to rough up his hands by playing the guitar after so long. Instead he was using a pick he found wedged between the folds of damaged insulation within the case. He had left it there so long ago, yet still remembered where it was hidden. The guitar itself still had a bit of shine left, but the case definitely had seen better days way back when.
The senior sat with his legs dangling over the ledge of the roof, enjoying how warm the air was even though there were a few ominous looking clouds floating overhead. Classes were done for the day, so he had a bit of time to kill before going back to dorms to study. On windless days, Ike usually enjoyed studying on the roof, but there was a bit of a homework-snatching gust picking up.
His fingers moved slowly across the fretboard, aiming to once again get a feel of each string's individual notes by going up the scale in each different key.
Roy was done with classes for the day. Despite the fact that there were only a few lessons each day and an incredible spanse of time in between them, it was nearly impossible for the redhead to get to them on time. Roy groaned a little as he recounted his embarrassing experience earlier that day when he ended up on the opposite side of the school minutes before Zoology class. It was only with the help of a few kind students that he was able to find his way to class, although by then he had already missed half of the lesson.
Now it was evening and he was wandering through the school again. This time he looking for the classrooms for the lessons he was supposed to attend tomorrow. He may have had no sense of direction, but he did learn from mistakes.
"Astronomy... Astronomy..." he muttered to himself with a wrinkled campus map in hand. Astronomy was the study of the stars; therefore it was only logical that the class would be located somewhere up high. At least, it was logical to Roy.
After some running around, he found himself on the top floor of one of the buildings. At that point, he was undeniably lost again and was trying the doors in an attempt to find someone who knew their way around. There was only one door left that he hadn't tried to open; with a hopeless sigh, Roy took the handle and jiggled it. And to his surprise, it was unlocked.
Finally beginning to get the remnants of an old song strumming, Ike crossed a leg over the other in order to better support the guitar, the higher leg's foot moving up and down to keep a beat. He was humming quietly along to the slow yet still energetic song, taking a breath to start singing to himself, but was spontaneously cut off by the sound of the door being opened.
Thank god that was avoided. Ike never let anyone hear him sing, especially because he wasn't that great at it. His fingers slowed to a halt and the sound drifted away with the wind, his head being turned curiously to stare down whoever it was that was coming through the door. Maybe it was Marth telling him to stop wasting time and get to studying.
As much as he wouldn't mind seeing Marth, Ike was slightly relieved at the fact that he now saw red hair on the figure through the opening door. And very vibrant red hair, at that. Jeez, it was practically blinding, really.
Although Roy had hoped for the door to open, he noticed that his heart was beating a little faster with surprise and anticipation. Upon opening the door, a bright light greeted him nearly blinding the confused boy. When his eyes adjusted to the new setting, Roy gasped as he found himself with a widespread view of the campus laid out before him. He cautiously took a few steps forward letting the door slam behind him in the process. It was then that he noticed that he was not the only one who was occupying the rooftop.
An older-looking boy, with a guitar resting on his lap, was looking at Roy. His hair was a shade of royal blue, not unlike the color that his childhood friend had possessed. A wave of nostalgia washed over Roy, but he quickly shook out of it taking note of the awkward silence between them.
"Er... My name is Roy. I'm new here, so I'm a little lost. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you."
Ike's eyebrows raised into the headband loosely tied around his forehead, his hand leaving the fretboard to scratch curiously at his nose as the other arm held the guitar's body from falling off his lap. Hoisting his legs back over the ledge, the senior spun himself around and laid the guitar into its beat up case. Well, the redhead guy seems innocent enough- wait, did he just say his name was Roy?
"Oh, so you're Roy." He had gotten the letter this morning about his new roommate, and was rather upset about how quickly they replaced Link. But seeing this guy for the first time, it didn't seem like he was much different from Link. Except for... the hair...
Peeling his eyes away from those red locks, Ike cleared his throat and began to close the case's lid, closing the buckles. "I'm Ike. I'm guessing you've already heard about me. Wow, it's like you were meant to get lost and meet me up here." Quite the twist of fate.
The blue-haired boy stood himself up and stretched his back, grabbing the strap attached to the case to hang it over his shoulder. "So... What were you looking for, exactly?"
Ike? Roy knew that his roommate would be a senior, and that he would meet him eventually but this was most unexpected. At a glance, the guitar-toting boy seemed a little rough, perhaps due to his slightly bulky exterior, but a closer look revealed a certain kindness about him.
"So you're my roommate, Ike? Well I'm, uh, looking for the astronomy class. I'm not used to this school yet and I get lost easily, so I was looking for tomorrow's classes."
Although Roy felt a little foolish admitting that he was lost, he couldn't help but notice that Ike was throwing glances at his hair. Was there something in it? Looking away from Ike, Roy tenderly brought his hand up to his head and casually ran it through his hair.
"...Astronomy? Haha." Ike chuckled and shook his head, "Were you holding the map upside-down? Well, you had the right idea, since it's on the other end of the school in the exact same place. You could actually see the glass dome from here, see?" An arm was outstretched to point into the distance.
"Actually, I think I made the same mistake you did at first. But I probably panicked more because I wasn't smart enough look for my classes the day before. So good job with that one."
The senior lowered his arm and stuck his thumbs into the belt loops on his pants. "Need help finding our dorm room, too? I can take you there." He'd start walking slowly to the door.
As Roy followed Ike's finger to the astronomy class, he blushed in embarrassment. He knew that his map-reading skills weren't the greatest, but if anyone at home were to have found out about this he would have never heard the end of it.
As Ike started shuffling toward the door, Roy smiled. He had made one of his first friends! Perhaps the rest of the school year wouldn't be so bad.
"I really appreciate this. Thank you."
"Hey, don't mention it. A lot of people ask me for help finding classes. I don't mind at all." Really, Ike is always the one offering to help. What a nice guy.
"The dorms are in a separate building next to the school. The guys' dorms are on the left. Don't get that mixed up." Ike got that mixed up at first, and it definitely was embarrassing on so many levels. "...Unless you want to purposely go there and PRETEND that you didn't know. Hehe." The senior joked, even though the thought had occurred to him some time ago that it would be fun to sneak into the girls' dorms.
Leading Roy outside, he'd continue walking over to the dormitory building, opening the main door that led into the small lobby and carrying on into the hallway, pointing out the washrooms at the hall's entrance.
"Here. Number six."
"I'll pass on that offer. A woman's intuition is sharper than you probably think," Roy muttered as he looked from the girls' dorms to the dorms on the left. As they walked inside, he peered around the lobby. It was smaller than he had expected, but it wasn't cramped. Still, Roy wondered if the dorm rooms would be the same. He was determined not to be picky or selfish, but what if there came a point where he couldn't stand it anymore?
When they finally came to a stop in front of the door marked with a '6', Roy pulled his key from his pocket. "So we use this to open our room, right?"
Surely the girls wouldn't mind someone like Ike coming in for a visit, right? ...Well, most of these girls know how to pack a punch, so it could get dangerous if anything too risky was attempted.
"Yeah, I wouldn't actually try it. I have to stay focused on studying, so all my attention is currently fixed on the tutor the school assigned for me. It's kind of embarrassing to admit I need a tutor, but if I don't pass this year, my whole life will go down the hole." The senior really has no time to be messing around with relationships. ...Well, most relationships.
Ike's eyes moved to the key in Roy's hand, scanning the subtle teeth to make sure he had the right one. "Yeah, that's it."
"A tutor? Ah, I won't ask if you don't want to talk about it. To be honest, I'm not terribly bright either and my father's depending on me to take his place once he retires. I don't know your situation but maybe we can help each other out."
Roy shrugged before looking away and inserted the key into the lock. After giving the key one good turn, he opened the door. For a room to be shared by two people, it wasn't so bad. There were doubles of everything from bed to closet. Once inside, he tossed his belongings onto the empty desk and sat down heaving a weary sigh.
Ike shrugged his shoulders. "Hey, I'm gonna be living with you for the rest of the year. There's no use hiding anything." The senior moved into the room he'd been familiar with for a while already, settling himself down on the bed that hadn't been made since the morning.
"My father is kind of counting on me, too. ...Well, it's more like everyone is counting on me to be my father. He isn't around anymore, and I'm the only heir to the family business. That's why I really have to step up my grades."
Blue eyes scanned the room lazily as he wondered about how good Roy's organizational skills were. Hopefully better than Ike's, because he really didn't like keeping his side of the room tidy. ...Not like there were empty pizza boxes and smelly socks lying around, things just weren't put in the right place.
"Oh yeah. My tutor... He's a nice guy once you understand that he's very eager to get things done and done right. Kind of like a girly perfectionist. He'd have my head if I don't get some part of my homework done. But I owe a lot to him. I think he's doing the right thing by pressuring me with death threats. ...I'm just kidding. He's really great. Ah, but if you ever meet, don't tell him I called him girly!" Ike gave a short chuckle followed by a heavy sigh, his face melting away into slight concern. "I haven't seen him around lately."
As Ike sat and explained his situation, Roy's eyes widened. Once again, he was reminded of his childhood friend. She too had lost a father, and now the weight of an entire country was resting on her shoulders. Roy suddenly shook his head. No, Ike was completely different from Lilina. How could he even compare them? Ike was a guy, for St. Elimine's sake. He really had to stop comparing the two.
"I'm sorry about your father. I can't say I know how you feel but I understand the kind of pressure you must be feeling."
Although this talk brought back some unpleasant memories, for some reason Roy felt closer to Ike. Here was someone who could understand the stresses of meeting other people's expectation, and the importance of school.
" 'A girly perfectionist?' Haha, your tutor sounds like a really determined person. It must be great having a friend like that." Roy glanced at Ike's face which contained a trace of concern and quickly added "I'm sure he's okay...even though I don't know him... Just keep working hard so you don't disappoint him when you see him again. I mean, um, I'm sorry; here I am, running my mouth giving advice to a senior." Roy got up from his desk and walked over to the unopened cardboard boxes on his side of the room making sure to avoid Ike's face. "I should, uh, probably start unpacking."
Ike's eyes followed Roy as the redhead made his way across the room, his shoulders slouching forward as he settled the guitar case beneath his bed. Roy was completely right. Marth wasn't the type that would give up if he were in trouble. He probably just had some family matters to deal with.
"Don't apologize. I don't think you could define good advice by age. Take me, for example. My tutor is a year younger than me and probably the smartest kid in the school." The senior pushed himself up off the bed and stepped over to his own desk. Last night's homework was scattered on top of it. His hands struggled to try and sort out which paper went in which binder in order to replace the older assignments with today's.
"If anything, I should be the one apologizing for talking so much. I find it a bit easier in the long run if you get these kinds of things out quickly."
Roy turned around and gave away a small smile. "Thanks, Ike. Heh, talking to you has been really... comforting. I think that's the word I'm looking for." He looked back at his boxes and ripped off the tape that bound the opening. One by one, he took out his necessities and valuables. He didn't know about Ike, but this was the first time the young lord had to do everything himself. At home, the servants took care of the cleaning, cooking, and other tasks. As Roy mulled over this, his stomach emitted a noisy gurgle. As if by instinct, his arms quickly covered his stomach. Ah, how embarrassing! And in front of his roommate too. He hung his head in mortification face blushing wildly before daring himself to peer over his shoulder.
Ike had sat down and was getting to the day's homework, shoving his hand into the bag by his chair in order to pull out the bulky math textbook. His fingers skimmed quickly through the pages, trying to find the chapter the class had been working on. The senior stopped and thought for a moment that he should help Roy unpack.
Just as he turned his chair to ask about helping, a sudden earthquake type of noise erupted from the sophomore. Ike couldn't help but start chuckling with a hand over his mouth, the chuckle slowly building up into a loud laugh.
"I'm s-sorry! Haha! I probably wouldn't have laughed, but the timing was just so..." He continued laughing as he stood up, a finger rubbing at a stray tear that had welded in the corner of his eye. The senior's laughter died down, "Let's go get something to eat."
He'd grab his keys and step over to the door, "I'm sure we'll get along great."