I Prefer the Mind Control Rewrite - Chapter 15
This is Chapter 15 of I Prefer the Mind Control. Feedback would be nifty, but I know that might be difficult as this is already on Chapter 15, haha.
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I was grateful Preston wasn’t in the room when my phone rang, because it was Xan on the other end.
“Hey, Xan? Uh, what’s up?” I said, trying to keep my voice from getting overexcited.
I sat down on my bed and waited for him to reply. He murmured, “I was -- wondering if I might come over tonight.”
I raised an eyebrow, even though Xan couldn’t see it. “You wanna come over to my crappy dorm when you have an apartment fit for, well, space royalty?”
Xan chuckled. “Yes, I want to visit your place. It’s only fair, isn’t it?”
“I’m not sure ‘fair’ really counts when the discrepancy is so fucking huge.” I rested my free hand on the bed, grabbing the sheets.
Do you think it’s “only fair,” author? Should Xan come over to my place in order to make the relationship more equal or whatever? You’re not an expert on relationships? Then why are you writing about them?
“I still want to come over to your place, if you don’t mind,” Xan murmured.
I shifted the phone to the other ear and scooted backwards a little. Damn, was I fidgety, totally messing up my sheets as I listened to Xan speak. Something else occurred to me; what about Preston? Was it even okay to have Xan over when it had been only, like, a week since I had split with my former best friend? Do you know, author? Oh, you’re not sure? Damn, do you know anything?
“Okay, you -- you can come over,” I said. If Preston wanted the room, Xan and I could hang out at SynthBrew, which is where we fucking met, anyway.
“Excellent. I’ll see you soon. Is 8PM good for you?” he asked.
My heart fluttered at the possibility he would come over. I stammered, “Y-yeah, eight is fine. See you soon.”
Why the fuck did my heart have to flutter like that over Xan? Honestly, author? I’m still not sure I like him all that much. Thanks so very much for giving me this borked brain. I love you, too.
* * *
When I met Xan in Parking Lot C, Preston had just left the room to “go out.” I had almost asked him where he was going but had decided against it because, after all, what business was it of mine where my ex chose to hang out? It probably wasn’t my business even if we were together, since I didn’t want to be Creepy Stalker Boy.
Xan got out of his car, looking fucking radiant as ever. Yes, radiant. Xan is radiant, okay? Even when he’s wearing human clothes. Even in jeans and a t-shirt on this ridiculously warm day.
I waved to him and almost ran to the car. “Hey, Xan. Nice to see you.”
He didn’t answer me, with words anyway. Instead, Xan wrapped an arm around my back and pulled me to him. He kissed me so intensely, a little moan escaped my lips as I wrapped my own arms around him.
Xan broke the kiss. “We should head back to your room.” His arm never left my waist as we returned to the dorm building.
His body heat distracted me as I fumbled with the key to my room. Why did he have to stand so close? He was melting my brain or something. The mind control, still on me, could not have been fucking helping.
Finally, I got the door open. “Welcome to my, uh, home, I guess,” I mumbled.
Xan’s eyes widened as he peered around the doorframe. “You -- live in this little room? With someone else?”
Right, Xan didn’t exactly come from a normal background with normal-people things like a room that barely fit one person, let alone two.
“Yeah, I live here. With -- Preston.” I choked on Preston’s name, still feeling awful about how things worked out between us.
“Here’s not here, is he?” Xan asked, running a hand through his hair. “I didn’t -- didn’t think about that.”
I closed the door behind us and leaned against it. “He went out. I don’t know where or for how long.”
Surveying the room with the two cheap wooden beds and matching desks and nightstands, I felt my cheeks flush. This -- it was not fucking impressive, especially with the dirty laundry I had somehow neglected to clean up. At least my bed was made? Yay?
“So we have time to enjoy ourselves, at least a little.” Xan smirked before pushing me against the door and kissing me again. I couldn’t help myself; as I kissed him back, I slipped a hand under his shirt. He laughed. “Eager, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, just a little,” I muttered, not moving my hand.
“In that case, let’s get you out of that t-shirt of yours,” he purred. “You don’t need it.”
Xan grabbed the edges of my shirt, making my body quiver in anticipation. I finally removed my hand from under his shirt when the door flew open, slamming us into the wall. Xan and I fell to the floor; we were totally fucking unbalanced, our limbs all tangled up in each other.
What the fuck?
“Dylan? You -- you got a m-moment?” a strange voice slurred from somewhere above my head. I wrinkled my nose. What was that smell?
Then it hit me: it was fucking Preston. And he was -- he was drunk. On something cheap and rancid, if my nose were any indication. I guessed he didn’t want to piss away his money on the good stuff? Wait, why was I even caring about how he got drunk? Since when did my roommate drink? Oh right, that would be my fault, too. Breakups? Perfectly good reason to get shitfaced.
“Should have known he was here, you little whore,” he muttered. He loomed over us. Xan and I had been too startled to move, so we were fucking cornered.
Preston wobbled on his feet as he crossed his arms in front of his chest “You -- do you even know what feelings are?”
“What?” I asked, moving into a sitting position. That didn’t make any sense.
“Ever thought about my feelings, huh?” he spat, eyes flashing.
Xan stood up and got a little too close to Preston. “I think you’ve had too much to drink.”
That wasn’t fucking helpful, Xan. I was sure Preston already knew he had overindulged.
“I’ve had -- just the right amount to tell you how much you suck. Don’t -- don’t care you’re royalty; you still suck. Got no emotions,” Preston growled, glaring up at Xan.
“Don’t tell me I’ve got no emotions,” Xan cried. His hands shook and clenched; it looked like he was trying not to ball his fists.
The air fucking crackled with all the tension. I could almost feel electricity radiating from the two of them. As for me? I barely managed to stand up in the little space between the wardrobe and my bed. Positioned behind Xan and Preston, my heart raced; I was definitely fucking trapped.
“I-I’ll tell you that you’ve got no emotions if you don’t got any,” Preston hissed, wavering on his feet.
“Does my voice sound like it doesn’t have emotions?” Xan growled. He gave in and balled his fists. His whole fucking body shook.
Preston tried to step forward, but he stumbled and crashed into the wall. Leaning against it for support, he muttered, “You still suck, bastard.”
I realized I wasn’t entirely trapped because I could climb onto my bed. Discreetly, I did this, needing to get some air.
“Your -- your fault I feel sick,” Preston slurred. He made some funny noises. Shit, was he gonna be sick?
Xan raised an eyebrow, which looked odd on his angry face. Preston leaned forward, kind of doubling over.
He puked, spaying chunks all over Xan, who froze in horror.
Once he had thrown up everything on the frozen Xan, Preston collapsed into the fetal position.. He hid his face in his knees as he began sobbing, and I -- what the fuck was I supposed to do? Hey, author, you got any idea how to handle a drunk roommate and a boyfriend covered in puke? No? Didn’t fucking think so.
I did the only thing I could think of; I got off the bed and grabbed Xan’s hand, attempting to ignore how fucking bad the puke smelled. “Hey, we should get you cleaned up, okay?” I tugged at him. Xan finally moved. He managed to step around the sobbing Preston. I didn’t want to abandon my roommate, but I also thought he might need to let himself cry things out. Besides, would he want help from me?
After Xan had stepped around Preston, I let go of his hand long enough to grab my toiletries. I held them up in front of Xan. “Um, you can borrow my stuff if you need to shower?”
“I -- I have my own stuff in my car. But -- I think I’ll use yours. I really don’t like being covered in puke,” he said, shuddering.
“Who fucking would?” I asked, handing him the plastic basket. I paused. “Wait, would human shampoo, like, poison you or something?”
Xan actually smiled. “You’ve used my toiletries before, and they haven’t poisoned you.”
I nodded. “Good point.”
I gave Xan a towel as well, and we headed to the showers. Why was I even following him? I didn’t know, but I waited outside the bathroom while he cleaned himself up. To pass the time, I stared at the doors and their construction paper stars with the names in glitter telling who lived in each room.
When Xan emerged from the bathroom in just a towel around his waist, I had to gawk for a moment. Despite the inappropriateness of the timing, he was just fucking gorgeous. I may or may not have said this before, but his lightly muscled body was almost exactly like that of a human, only there was something different that made it especially captivating.
He caught me staring and smirked. “Like what you see, hmm?”
“Well, yeah,” I said, fidgeting with my hands because it was terrible timing and thus fucking uncomfortable. “But what are we going to do about clothes? I don’t think any of mine are gonna fit you.”
Xan leaned against the wall. “I’ll have one of my bodyguards fetch the change of clothes I left in the car.”
“Your bodyguards will do that?” I raised an eyebrow.
Indeed they did. It was fucking weird to watch Xan talk to someone invisible. Apparently he knew where the bodyguards would be by magic or something because when we got back to my dorm room, he said to a spot next to the door fram, “Can you please get me my change of clothes?”
Even weirder? When clothes seemed to fucking materialize out of nowhere into Xan’s hands. How in the fuck did that work? I looked at Xan, baffled.
He shrugged in a ridiculous casual manner. “It’s just average Zimaran technology. The tech that lets the guards be invisible covers anything they’re holding, too.”
“That’s what you would call average?” I felt my eyes widen. Then something else occurred to me. “Maybe you should change in the bathroom. I doubt Preston wants to see you naked.”
Xan nodded his agreement and headed back to the bathroom. I had to admit, I was almost kinda sad when he emerged fully clothed because he was that hot. Hey, don’t look at me like that. You’re the one who wrote him to be so damn gorgeous.
When we entered my dorm room again, Preston was still in the fetal position, more or less right where we left him. He glared at us, eyes flashing. “Leave,” he growled. “This is my room. Find somewhere else to sleep tonight.”
“You can stay at my place,” Xan murmured. He reached out for me but seemed to decide against it at the last moment, glancing at Preston.
Quickly, I packed up my things. I had to crawl over my bed to get to my wardrobe. Once, everything was packed, I spared a look at my roommate, who had buried his face in his knees again. From the way his body shook, I could tell he was sobbing.
“Bye, Preston,” I said, feeling my heart sink as I watched him. “Feel better.”
Xan and I exited the room. I felt like such crap. My boyfriend -- wait, was Xan my boyfriend? -- looked at me in concern. Now that Preston could no longer see us, he did reach for me, wrapping me in his arms. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“Me too,” I muttered, the words catching in my throat.
And I was truly sorry. I felt so awful about how things worked out with Preston, and I wished I could do something to cheer him up, even if we couldn’t be together. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything I could do, except give him his space. I would do that, despite knowing it wouldn’t be enough. I didn’t think anything would be enough after how things had ended between us.
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written for writerverse Challenge #22: TV Tropes
next chapter
previous chapter
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I was grateful Preston wasn’t in the room when my phone rang, because it was Xan on the other end.
“Hey, Xan? Uh, what’s up?” I said, trying to keep my voice from getting overexcited.
I sat down on my bed and waited for him to reply. He murmured, “I was -- wondering if I might come over tonight.”
I raised an eyebrow, even though Xan couldn’t see it. “You wanna come over to my crappy dorm when you have an apartment fit for, well, space royalty?”
Xan chuckled. “Yes, I want to visit your place. It’s only fair, isn’t it?”
“I’m not sure ‘fair’ really counts when the discrepancy is so fucking huge.” I rested my free hand on the bed, grabbing the sheets.
Do you think it’s “only fair,” author? Should Xan come over to my place in order to make the relationship more equal or whatever? You’re not an expert on relationships? Then why are you writing about them?
“I still want to come over to your place, if you don’t mind,” Xan murmured.
I shifted the phone to the other ear and scooted backwards a little. Damn, was I fidgety, totally messing up my sheets as I listened to Xan speak. Something else occurred to me; what about Preston? Was it even okay to have Xan over when it had been only, like, a week since I had split with my former best friend? Do you know, author? Oh, you’re not sure? Damn, do you know anything?
“Okay, you -- you can come over,” I said. If Preston wanted the room, Xan and I could hang out at SynthBrew, which is where we fucking met, anyway.
“Excellent. I’ll see you soon. Is 8PM good for you?” he asked.
My heart fluttered at the possibility he would come over. I stammered, “Y-yeah, eight is fine. See you soon.”
Why the fuck did my heart have to flutter like that over Xan? Honestly, author? I’m still not sure I like him all that much. Thanks so very much for giving me this borked brain. I love you, too.
* * *
When I met Xan in Parking Lot C, Preston had just left the room to “go out.” I had almost asked him where he was going but had decided against it because, after all, what business was it of mine where my ex chose to hang out? It probably wasn’t my business even if we were together, since I didn’t want to be Creepy Stalker Boy.
Xan got out of his car, looking fucking radiant as ever. Yes, radiant. Xan is radiant, okay? Even when he’s wearing human clothes. Even in jeans and a t-shirt on this ridiculously warm day.
I waved to him and almost ran to the car. “Hey, Xan. Nice to see you.”
He didn’t answer me, with words anyway. Instead, Xan wrapped an arm around my back and pulled me to him. He kissed me so intensely, a little moan escaped my lips as I wrapped my own arms around him.
Xan broke the kiss. “We should head back to your room.” His arm never left my waist as we returned to the dorm building.
His body heat distracted me as I fumbled with the key to my room. Why did he have to stand so close? He was melting my brain or something. The mind control, still on me, could not have been fucking helping.
Finally, I got the door open. “Welcome to my, uh, home, I guess,” I mumbled.
Xan’s eyes widened as he peered around the doorframe. “You -- live in this little room? With someone else?”
Right, Xan didn’t exactly come from a normal background with normal-people things like a room that barely fit one person, let alone two.
“Yeah, I live here. With -- Preston.” I choked on Preston’s name, still feeling awful about how things worked out between us.
“Here’s not here, is he?” Xan asked, running a hand through his hair. “I didn’t -- didn’t think about that.”
I closed the door behind us and leaned against it. “He went out. I don’t know where or for how long.”
Surveying the room with the two cheap wooden beds and matching desks and nightstands, I felt my cheeks flush. This -- it was not fucking impressive, especially with the dirty laundry I had somehow neglected to clean up. At least my bed was made? Yay?
“So we have time to enjoy ourselves, at least a little.” Xan smirked before pushing me against the door and kissing me again. I couldn’t help myself; as I kissed him back, I slipped a hand under his shirt. He laughed. “Eager, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, just a little,” I muttered, not moving my hand.
“In that case, let’s get you out of that t-shirt of yours,” he purred. “You don’t need it.”
Xan grabbed the edges of my shirt, making my body quiver in anticipation. I finally removed my hand from under his shirt when the door flew open, slamming us into the wall. Xan and I fell to the floor; we were totally fucking unbalanced, our limbs all tangled up in each other.
What the fuck?
“Dylan? You -- you got a m-moment?” a strange voice slurred from somewhere above my head. I wrinkled my nose. What was that smell?
Then it hit me: it was fucking Preston. And he was -- he was drunk. On something cheap and rancid, if my nose were any indication. I guessed he didn’t want to piss away his money on the good stuff? Wait, why was I even caring about how he got drunk? Since when did my roommate drink? Oh right, that would be my fault, too. Breakups? Perfectly good reason to get shitfaced.
“Should have known he was here, you little whore,” he muttered. He loomed over us. Xan and I had been too startled to move, so we were fucking cornered.
Preston wobbled on his feet as he crossed his arms in front of his chest “You -- do you even know what feelings are?”
“What?” I asked, moving into a sitting position. That didn’t make any sense.
“Ever thought about my feelings, huh?” he spat, eyes flashing.
Xan stood up and got a little too close to Preston. “I think you’ve had too much to drink.”
That wasn’t fucking helpful, Xan. I was sure Preston already knew he had overindulged.
“I’ve had -- just the right amount to tell you how much you suck. Don’t -- don’t care you’re royalty; you still suck. Got no emotions,” Preston growled, glaring up at Xan.
“Don’t tell me I’ve got no emotions,” Xan cried. His hands shook and clenched; it looked like he was trying not to ball his fists.
The air fucking crackled with all the tension. I could almost feel electricity radiating from the two of them. As for me? I barely managed to stand up in the little space between the wardrobe and my bed. Positioned behind Xan and Preston, my heart raced; I was definitely fucking trapped.
“I-I’ll tell you that you’ve got no emotions if you don’t got any,” Preston hissed, wavering on his feet.
“Does my voice sound like it doesn’t have emotions?” Xan growled. He gave in and balled his fists. His whole fucking body shook.
Preston tried to step forward, but he stumbled and crashed into the wall. Leaning against it for support, he muttered, “You still suck, bastard.”
I realized I wasn’t entirely trapped because I could climb onto my bed. Discreetly, I did this, needing to get some air.
“Your -- your fault I feel sick,” Preston slurred. He made some funny noises. Shit, was he gonna be sick?
Xan raised an eyebrow, which looked odd on his angry face. Preston leaned forward, kind of doubling over.
He puked, spaying chunks all over Xan, who froze in horror.
Once he had thrown up everything on the frozen Xan, Preston collapsed into the fetal position.. He hid his face in his knees as he began sobbing, and I -- what the fuck was I supposed to do? Hey, author, you got any idea how to handle a drunk roommate and a boyfriend covered in puke? No? Didn’t fucking think so.
I did the only thing I could think of; I got off the bed and grabbed Xan’s hand, attempting to ignore how fucking bad the puke smelled. “Hey, we should get you cleaned up, okay?” I tugged at him. Xan finally moved. He managed to step around the sobbing Preston. I didn’t want to abandon my roommate, but I also thought he might need to let himself cry things out. Besides, would he want help from me?
After Xan had stepped around Preston, I let go of his hand long enough to grab my toiletries. I held them up in front of Xan. “Um, you can borrow my stuff if you need to shower?”
“I -- I have my own stuff in my car. But -- I think I’ll use yours. I really don’t like being covered in puke,” he said, shuddering.
“Who fucking would?” I asked, handing him the plastic basket. I paused. “Wait, would human shampoo, like, poison you or something?”
Xan actually smiled. “You’ve used my toiletries before, and they haven’t poisoned you.”
I nodded. “Good point.”
I gave Xan a towel as well, and we headed to the showers. Why was I even following him? I didn’t know, but I waited outside the bathroom while he cleaned himself up. To pass the time, I stared at the doors and their construction paper stars with the names in glitter telling who lived in each room.
When Xan emerged from the bathroom in just a towel around his waist, I had to gawk for a moment. Despite the inappropriateness of the timing, he was just fucking gorgeous. I may or may not have said this before, but his lightly muscled body was almost exactly like that of a human, only there was something different that made it especially captivating.
He caught me staring and smirked. “Like what you see, hmm?”
“Well, yeah,” I said, fidgeting with my hands because it was terrible timing and thus fucking uncomfortable. “But what are we going to do about clothes? I don’t think any of mine are gonna fit you.”
Xan leaned against the wall. “I’ll have one of my bodyguards fetch the change of clothes I left in the car.”
“Your bodyguards will do that?” I raised an eyebrow.
Indeed they did. It was fucking weird to watch Xan talk to someone invisible. Apparently he knew where the bodyguards would be by magic or something because when we got back to my dorm room, he said to a spot next to the door fram, “Can you please get me my change of clothes?”
Even weirder? When clothes seemed to fucking materialize out of nowhere into Xan’s hands. How in the fuck did that work? I looked at Xan, baffled.
He shrugged in a ridiculous casual manner. “It’s just average Zimaran technology. The tech that lets the guards be invisible covers anything they’re holding, too.”
“That’s what you would call average?” I felt my eyes widen. Then something else occurred to me. “Maybe you should change in the bathroom. I doubt Preston wants to see you naked.”
Xan nodded his agreement and headed back to the bathroom. I had to admit, I was almost kinda sad when he emerged fully clothed because he was that hot. Hey, don’t look at me like that. You’re the one who wrote him to be so damn gorgeous.
When we entered my dorm room again, Preston was still in the fetal position, more or less right where we left him. He glared at us, eyes flashing. “Leave,” he growled. “This is my room. Find somewhere else to sleep tonight.”
“You can stay at my place,” Xan murmured. He reached out for me but seemed to decide against it at the last moment, glancing at Preston.
Quickly, I packed up my things. I had to crawl over my bed to get to my wardrobe. Once, everything was packed, I spared a look at my roommate, who had buried his face in his knees again. From the way his body shook, I could tell he was sobbing.
“Bye, Preston,” I said, feeling my heart sink as I watched him. “Feel better.”
Xan and I exited the room. I felt like such crap. My boyfriend -- wait, was Xan my boyfriend? -- looked at me in concern. Now that Preston could no longer see us, he did reach for me, wrapping me in his arms. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“Me too,” I muttered, the words catching in my throat.
And I was truly sorry. I felt so awful about how things worked out with Preston, and I wished I could do something to cheer him up, even if we couldn’t be together. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything I could do, except give him his space. I would do that, despite knowing it wouldn’t be enough. I didn’t think anything would be enough after how things had ended between us.
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written for writerverse Challenge #22: TV Tropes
next chapter