Realistic or Modern Roomies [Caffiene Freak & d a n g e r]

[Caffeine Freak]

"Truly an emergency." Jack rolled his eyes, taking Imogen's hand and shouldering through the front door. The evening air outside was chill enough to make Jack regret not bringing a jacket, but his fast-pacing heart compensated pretty quickly. Walking back towards the place that had drained him over the past few hours wasn't exactly a pleasant feeling, but he managed to find reconciliation in the fact that this time he wouldn't be lectured at. Unless Todd decided to bug him about commitment.

Todd's dorm wasn't particularly hard to find when they got there, aided by the fact that lights and bassy music were blaring out of it. Jack began to wonder how the party wasn't being shut down by noise complaints, a mystery that was solved when he pushed open the door - as it seemed every possible neighbor was already at the party. The dorm room was just shy of a penthouse suite, another reason to be salty that he hadn't ended up in one - although Jack supposed that if he did, he wouldn't have met Imogen. Brushing the existential question of fate aside, Jack straightened to address Todd, who expertly weaved through his crowd of guests to greet the duo.

"Hey-hey! You guys made it! Wanna drink?" He presented two beer cans.

Jack shook his head hesitantly, managing to speak over the slightly deafening sound of pop music. "Uh, no thanks, To-"

"Great, there ya go. Now go mingle!" Todd turned around and dissolved back into the crowd, somehow putting the can Jack's hand when he quite clearly had no memory of extending it.

 

[d a n g e r]

Imogen smiled lightly as the two walked into the noise-filled environment, the occasional bump of her shoulder with another or an exchange of smiles to a friend or classmate. Todd sure knew a lot of people, although, for all she knew, Todd probably only knew half of the people at that party. And that's how things would get out of control. Oh well, she'd enjoy it for the time being.

With this thought, Gen took the can of beer the blonde offered to the two, thanking him after. She felt a smirk betray her lips as she watched Jack handle the beer situation with timidness. "Ok, so it may not be an energy drink, but pretend like it is--" Suddenly, a familiar voice interrupted Gen and to her amusement, it was Christina. Great.

"There you love birds are! I was looking for you everywhere." Huffing, Gen cracked her can open before taking a lastly sip of the bitter liquid. "Well, you've found us now." She pointed out, evidently disappointed at that fact. "Great... okay, Jack? Can I borrow your girlfriend For a couple of
Minutes?" Christina asked, pulling her classic puppy dog face to Jack.

 

[Caffeine Freak]

"Energy drink. Right." Jack stared blankly at the can in his hand. When Christina hovered over, Jack tried his best to not crack a smile at her predicament. He gave a mock look of contemplation upon her request, deliberately avoiding her puppy eyes. "I suppose." Was his eventual answer, unsuppressed grin in its wake. "Don't tarry." He raised his beer can slightly by way of waving them off before staring down at it. One beer couldn't hurt... right?

Jack was already getting his second drink by the time he bumped into Todd again. "Oh, hey To-"
"Bro, I need your help."
Jack blinked. "...What?"
"This... this girl just keeps looking at me expectantly, but she keeps acting all shy-like when I try talking to her. How do I tell her to not worry about hiding her feelings?" Todd, for once, looked genuinely worried.
Jack had a rather vague idea he knew who Todd was talking about, but decided that he was too out of it to get into it. "Todd, she can't hide them if she ain't got any." He clapped him on the back before stumbling back through the crowd for that drink, leaving behind a very confused Todd.

 

[d a n g e r]

Dragging Gen by her arm over to a more secluded part of the room, Christina at times peered around at the crowd, supposedly trying to find her creep. "Christina, you need to calm down. It's only a guy." Imogen reasoned, gulping down her beer once more as she was finally relieved to be away from the raging speakers. "But that's the problem, Gen! He's a guy, and he's, uh... kind of attractive." She mumbled the last bit, even so, Gen had a good ear so she could only barely unscramble her words. "So what's the problem then? Go speak to him and ask him if he wants a drink or something." She shrugged, already making her way back over to where she had last seen Jack, however Christina grabbed her arm once again.

Her friend pointed towards the direction Gen was heading - which also happened to be where Todd was standing. Oh, wow. Well that was awkward. "That's him, over there." Christina whispered into her ear before lowering her arm. "That's Todd. This is his party. That's Jack's bestfriend." Gen uttered, this time taking Christina's arm and dragging her over to where Todd was standing. Sure, he looked quite confused, but what the heck, it was a first time for everything. "Todd, this is Christina. Christina, this is Todd. Have fun." She winked to the two before looking around for Jack who was by the drinks table. The girl made her way through the crowd, weaving herself throughout the sea of bodies until she reached the boy. She tapped him on the shoulder. "Now I thought you didn't drink." She smirked, taking a sip from her can.

 

[Caffeine Freak]

"I don't." Jack muttered, swishing his now empty can. "This is probably a bad idea or something." He plucked another one up from a nearby cooler. His gaze hitched on Todd, who Jack couldn't help but chuckle when he saw. "Todd looks traumatized, what did you do to him?" Finally Jack had some ammunition of his own after being teased from day one. He took a long sip from his drink. Something that sounded like his conscience seemed to be telling him to put the beer down, but Jack couldn't quite hear it over this much louder voice in his head chanting for him to drink. He shrugged.

The music playing was still vibrant, and against his better judgement, Jack found himself shuffling to the beat - a movement that seemed much more dance-worthy in his head.

 

[d a n g e r]

Looking back over at Todd, the girl shrugged whilst a light grin betrayed her lips. She turned back to Jack,and found herself chuckling lightly, "Okay, so it turns out that the guy stalking Christina is Todd... and maybe, I might've just maybe shoved and introduced them together." The girl took her last sip from the can, its contents finally empty before she chucked in a nearby trash can. Vaguely, the girl spotted a rhythm in Jack's step, and with that, she took his arm into her grip and began to drag him towards a crowd of people dancing. "C'mon, let's dance." She stated, not waiting for his reply or permission.

Normally, the girl wouldn't usually go into crowds like this at a party as she was slightly afraid of being snatched up by a guy, but with Jack, that fear left her mind. Nonetheless, there were still the occasional squeezes of her ass or touches on her waist at other parties, so she had to hope that it wouldn't occur at that one. Once her and Jack were at a less crowded position, the girl raised her arms up in the air before swaying her hips and her head tilted slightly back but eyes still on Jack. "Let loose!"

 

[Caffeine Freak]

Jack couldn't help it. His body was moving without his permission. The beat flowed like electricity through his body, bouncing up his heels, jerking along his knees, twisting around his arms, pumping through his neck... it was a sensation he'd never quite felt before.

His dancing paused, however, as Jack spotted a slender masculine figure curling his hand around Imogen's waist.
"Why hello there beau-"

Jack didn't realise that he'd lurched forward until he had the guy's collar scrunched in his fists. "Back off, punk." He found himself hissing, shoving the guy backwards into a table. Unfortunately, this happened to be the same table that held up the music stereo, which inadvertently toppled over and splintered on the floor.

"You psycho-" The creep brought himself up to full height, and Jack began to wonder if he'd just dug his own grave. Before anything happened though, someone slipped inbetween Jack and his newfound nemesis.

"Goddammit, Dean, you broke the music player!"

Indeed, the room was no longer filled with music, but more just distraught groans.

"Yeah, nice one, Dean"
"Who invited this guy?"
"Dean, you suck!"
"Just fuck off, Dean."

'Dean' glared around at the newly gathered lynch mob before finally pinning his death stare on Jack. With a slight gulp, Jack realised the guy he'd shoved just so happened to be Dean Doherty, the school myth who was expelled from Oxbridge after being arrested.

"You're going to regret this, kiddo." He said coldly, before shoving past the gathering crowd of jeers to the door.

Jack stared after him, drunk bravado quickly fading.

Todd swooped to the crowd's rescue, and was met with no shortage of cheers as he simply placed another stereo atop the table.
"Hey-ay, let the party continue! Anyway, so I'm basically the most ripped kid on campus-" He continued whatever butchered conversation he struck up with Christine as Jack stared at the door.

 

[d a n g e r]

Before Gen even had a chance of pushing Dean's arrogant hands off of her waist, an instant scene of violence had erupted, and to the girl's shock, the volcano was Jack. Calm, disinterested Jack was now a guy of fury, gripping the university drop out by his collar. The girl cupped her hands over her mouth, half wanting to intervene, yet half wanting to back away and watch from the sidelines alike any other bystander at the party. She did the latter, as much as she wanted to stop it, she knew she couldn't. Jack probably wouldn't have let her.

The girl hated the idea of not being able to do somethiShe ng, it was cowardice in her eyes - something that Jack evidently failed to show at the party so far. She wondered if the alcohol was the cause for his actions, surely it was. The Jack she new was brave, but as brave as the one before her? That was questionable.

Whilst everyone else was drawing their attention to Todd, Gen, however, found her eyes still upon Jack as he stared at Dean's exit, emotionless. Exhaling a deep breath, she cautiously made her way towards the boy. Instinctively, her hand slipped into Jack's, giving it a light squeeze as she stood at his side. "Are you okay? That was some seriously rage there..." she trailed off glancing at the door but then looking back at Jack. "Thanks, I wasn't expecting that to happen, but, thanks." Shyly, the girl gave him a quick peck on the cheek, her cheeks turning an urgent shade of red.

After, she instantly retracted her hand away from his and distanced herself slightly. "Anyway, don't worry about him. He's a jerk and had it coming." Gen said, desperate to change the mood and distract Jack as fast as possible.

 

[Caffeine Freak]

Imogen's lips on his cheek was about all Jack needed to forget his own name. "Y-Yeah, you're right." He managed to tear his eyes off the door. Perhaps there could've been a way to diffuse the situation without ending up on a sociopath's hit-list, but Jack suddenly didn't care.

"Alright, lovebirds! Partners to the center of the floor for a slow dance." Todd dragged out those last two words, winking at Jack through the crowd.

Jack, again, was past caring. "Guess that's our cue. Wanna dance?" He met Imogen's eyes, just wanting to forget what had just transpired.
It took some effort to not roll his eyes at Todd's particular choice of slow song, but asking Todd to not be cheesy would be like asking a snail to run. Miraculously, Jack managed to keep stumbling to a minimum as he placed his hands on Imogen's waist. Even his unsure motor function couldn't damper their familiarity of the movement gained from their earlier practice.

 

[d a n g e r]

Tucking a loose strand of her hair behind her ear was an excuse for the girl to peer over to where Christina was. Her friend fluttered her hands forward as if to magically push Gen closer to Jack, though from what she could tell, she didn't exactly need to do so as the boy was way ahead of her. Before she could even respond to his question, his hands were at her waist, and unlike Dean's, they were gentle - soothing even. The moment was tranquil and shortly the crowds around them appeared to fade away into the abyss.

Her arms rested upon his shoulders and her hands crossed over, her eyes attentively looking up into Jack's pair. "This is... nice." Were the only useless words she could get out. After all, she was to nervous to say anything that vaguely made sense. "So, uh I was thinking. That uh, lately we've been - um - getting closer. And I j-just wanted t-to know your thoughts on that before I d-do something that may not necessarily be a good thing." Gen stuttered, her eyes avoiding Jack's to prevent her from blushing.

 

[Caffeine Freak]

Jack grinned over Imogen's shoulder. "What could this not-necessarily-good-thing could you possibly be talking about?" He asked innocently, managing to wipe the smile of his face and conjure a look of curiosity as he moved his head back to meet her face. "I also believe this is the first time you've cared about what I think. I sure hope you're not going soft on me." He did smile then, unable to contain it. In the background, it looked like Todd was arguing with someone, but Jack was too lost in the moment to care.

"What the hell, Todd? You said there'd be drinks!"
Todd scratched the back of his neck. "They're technically drinks-"
"Alcohol, Todd! Not plain malt beverages! Nobody can get drunk off this stuff!"
Todd gestured with his hands to keep it down. "You'd think I'd have alcohol at a party with Jack in it? Don't you remember New Year's Eve?"
The boy's incredulous expression instantly melted. "Oh. Nevermind, smart move, T."

 

[d a n g e r]

Imogen shortly frowned as Jack moved his face closer to hers, his teasing tone only causing her to roll her eyes. "I-I'm not going soft. If anything you're the one going soft," She attempted to change the subject, knowing perfectly well that he wasn't the only one who could tease the other to the point of blushing. "You really seemed angry at Dean for touching my waist..." Then, the girl had to go on her tiptoes so her lips were close to Jack's ear. "Now tell me, if you didn't care then why would you do that?" She whispered before lowering her heels to the ground and trying her ultimate best to not burst out laughing.

She could feel Christina, from somewhat a distance, nodding her head at Gen's success to keep her cool and not give into Jack completely.

 

[Caffeine Freak]

Jack bristled at Imogen's warm whispering in his ear, but managed to steel himself against it well enough. He put on his smoothest dramatic voice. "I would never leave a damsel in the hands of such savages." Then dropped it. "Although if I actually knew it was Dean beforehand, maybe I'd have made an exception." A jest, although Jack wondered if he'd have still lashed out had he known Dangerous Dean was the guy he'd been about to hit - or stood by, too scared to do anything about it. Must've been the alcohol, he told himself. "Though I don't recall telling you that I don't care. I'm here now, aren't I?"

The outside world was a blur to Jack at this point. Just an endless mosaic of hollow sounds and flashing lights. Only Imogen seemed to be in focus.

 

[d a n g e r]

Imogen chuckled slightly as Jack implied to her as a damsel but gave him a sour smile as he told
her that she would've been the exception - when really, the two of them both knew that she could take care of herself perfectly well. If anything, Jack was really the damsel now that Dean was gunning for him, but Gen wouldn't let that thought ruin the night. "Oh, so you care now? Is that why you came with me? Because you care?" She emphasised the word 'care', trying to get on his nerves.

Perhaps he did care. But all this time, the girl thought that he only thought of her as 'some annoying roommate' who had no consideration for his privacy. Which was slightly true, she wasn't about to deny that. "... Thank you for coming by the way." She mumbled, her eyes glancing down to their feet moving at a rhythm together. It felt as if they were the only ones in the room dancing. Dancing as if they had done it thousands of times before.

 

[Caffeine Freak]

Jack only nodded, his thoughts completely lost in the rhythm.

How much time had passed before there was a rough knock at the door could've been seconds or centuries.

The music stopped, and as reality returned, Jack could make out Todd poised atop the stereo, looking nervously at the door. The rapid knock came again.

"Everyone play it cool." Todd muttered, stepping toward the door. As he opened it, Jack realised it wasn't the police.

It was much, much worse.

Vice Chancellor Leto was at the door.

"I've been informed of this... this noisy place, Mr Iscariot." Professor Leto had been rumored to never break character for upcoming film roles, even outside of the studio. It appeared this wasn't about to change any time soon.

Todd was quite visibly horrified. "Oh... um, sorry about-"

Leto held up a finger. "Yes... you will be sorry." His eyes slid to the frozen party-goers behind Todd. "Party's over. Everyone back to your own domains."

Jack rolled his eyes, stalking toward the door. "There goes our night out." He sighed. As Jack passed Todd, he clapped his shoulder. "Hey- uh, thanks for the beer. It really helped my confidence."

Todd chuckled nervously. "Yeah, uh- sure thing man."

Leto was by the doorway, and actually managed to break character long enough to say. "Have a safe night." Before instantly dropping right back in. "Won't be so safe while I prowl these streets."

 

[d a n g e r]

Imogen released a huff as she realised that everyone had to evacuate the party already. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. Pulling away from Jack, the girl followed him closely as they exited, not wanting to somehow be lost upon the sea of people. Although, she did attempt to search for Christina who supposedly was in the crowd as well, considering she was no where near Todd. But alas, the girl had no luck, unfortunately. She was probably fine... Well, that's what Gen hoped for at least.

Now outside of the building, the brunette turned to Jack, her eyes thoroughly analysing him. It was clear that the boy wasn't ready for the party to end so soon, and lucky for him, neither was she. "Come with me, we're going somewhere." She stated, tugging forcefully at his arm and dragging him towards a couple of visible streetlights littered in a row. They illuminated the dark abyss, from which they were about to walk through.

"The night isn't over, and I'm not letting some cousin of Jared Leto end it." Gen let her fingers drag through a strand of hair to which had toppled over. She knew just the place where her and Jack could go, plus it happened to be utterly breath taking at night. He would just have to find out till they arrived.

 

[Caffeine Freak]

"Hey- whoa-" Imogen's grip on Jack's arm was iron, there was no escape from whatever fate she was dragging him into. Whichever street they were currently heading down was alien to Jack, and he had to wonder just where Imogen was planning to take him. "You, uh, gonna tell me where we're going?" His humidified breath curled from his cold lips as he glanced around the vacant street. Jack began to wonder if Imogen was so appalled by his dance moves that she had decided to take him to some remote corner and murder him. He quietly chuckled, but couldn't quite put the idea past her.

 

[d a n g e r]

"Not yet... you'll have to wait and see." Gen shrugged before letting go of his arm and beginning to walk beside him. The majority of the walk was peacefully silent, but partially that had to do with her and her big mouth not wanting to 'accidentally' give a detail away. Instead, her hand sneakily slipped into Jack's whilst they were only a couple of seconds away from their destination.

From what the girl could make out, none of the public were to be seen and its surrounding was pretty secluded. She could only hope that Jack hadn't sobered up quite yet, because what he was about to endure might've been the craziest thing he had taken part in. A large water fountain was at the centre to which had circles of blue lights in a circle itself. "I'm crazy, I know." Gen mumbled to him before letting go of his hand and stripping off her dress and kicking off her heels. Without hesitation, she ran towards the water fountain and stood under a spout of water. "If you don't come in, I'll barge into your room every day!"

 

[Caffeine Freak]

"You drive a hard bargain." Jack grinned, losing his clothes as if he were just shedding a towel. The water was freezing as he crashed into it, which only gave Jack more incentive to splash Imogen. Eventually, the cold water cooled his hot blood, and Jack elected to simply lay down and float atop the surface, trying his best not to get hit by the water spouts. The dim city lights failed to obscure the flickering stars hovering in the void above. Jack stared at them. "This place is... pretty cool. Thanks."

I'm runnin late, sorry for the short reply ;-;

 

[d a n g e r]

Imogen gasped lightly as Jack splashed her. The water was freezing, after all and she had more than enough bare skin uncovered. As soon as he began to drift along the liquid surface, she waded her way towards him, a look of mischief bestowing her facial expression. "No problem. You know how much I adore fountains." She chuckled to herself before her hands dipped into the water and swooped forward to cause a burst of water to wash of Jack's face. She giggled playfully. "Payback is a bitch!" Exclaimed the girl.

(Don't worry about it)

 

[Caffeine Freak]

Jack spluttered, giving Imogen a look as if he had done nothing to warrant her reaction. After looking at her for a long moment, however, Jack realised he still hadn't said what he'd been meaning to say. "Hey, uh- that thing I was going to tell you earlier." He idly rubbed the back of his neck. "I..." Then sighed. "I'm going into town tomorrow to buy some stuff. Clothes, food, nothing interesting - but I was wondering if maybe you wanted to come along?" Okay, so it wasn't quite what he had planned on saying, but something about standing in a fountain with minimal clothing didn't give him much chance to build up confidence.

It was a pretty rare occurrence in itself that Jack would want to tag along with Imogen around clothing stores, since they both had polar opposite tastes in fashion.

 

[d a n g e r]

Imogen wasn't all that convinced that shopping was what Jack wanted to ask her about. The only giveaway was his hesitation, even so, she wasn't about to embarrass the boy by pointing this out. "Sure...? I mean, I need to get some new clothes as well." Gen stated, deciding to stand above a beam of light whilst a spout of water rained down on top of her. It was refreshing, unlike the party that they had attended only a matter of minutes ago. Sweaty people and a musky room, she could normally handle, but once in a while she would want a break.

Glancing over to Jack, the brunette stepped out of both the spout and beam. Droplets of water gleamed upon her dark eyelashes along with droplets rolling continuesly down her face. Gen neared Jack so that she was standing beside him as he floated. "A-and since we're on the subject of inviting each other to things. I-I was wondering if y-you could come with me to this family dinner this weekend?" She asked, "There's homemade food - no pot noodles - but I do have annoying siblings so..."

 

[Caffeine Freak]

"No pot noodles?" Jack acted shocked, pretending to go into long deliberation. "I suppose a change in cuisine couldn't hurt. Thanks." He grinned, emerging from the water. He tried not to look directly at the glistening Imogen as he also announced, "But right now it's pitch black and I'm soaked with no towel. I wonder whose fault that was." He rolled his eyes, shaking himself dry like a wet dog and re-applying his clothes. "Tonight was... pretty cool." -Perhaps not the deepest thing he could've said at the moment, but it conveyed his thoughts well enough. "I mean... really cool- no, wait..." After trying to think of a way to describe the night without the word 'cool', Jack subsequently gave up. "I enjoyed it, alright? So... I guess thank you for forcing me to go to that party."

Jack laced up his shoes, after which he went to the extreme lengths of collecting Imogen's strewn heels for her.

 

[d a n g e r]

Childishly, the girl stuck her tongue out at Jack as he complained to her. It was a successful night, that's all she could say. Not only had she spent that night with Jack and had fun, but now she had persuaded him to join her at a family dinner. Something that she would rarely do to her - uhm - friends. Wading her way to the edge of the fountain, she jumped out before shaking her head to rid her hair of its soaked state. She tied her hair up into a messy bun before slipping her dress back onto her body, its fabric sticking to her skin uncomfortably.

She watched as Jack collected her heels, genuinely smiling at this action because it was undeniably a sweet thing for a guy to do. "Thank you kind sir." She said, taking the heels with a smile. The girl turned around, her back facing him. "Mind zipping me up? I could do it before but my hands are numb from the coldness." She explained, waiting for his answer.

 

[Caffeine Freak]

"Oh, I'm suurre they are." Jack tutted, zipping up Imogen's dress with a flick of the wrist. His already tight clothes where now glued to him in wet patches, for which reason he decided to leave his waistcoat unbuttoned. Walking home looking like he'd drunkenly stumbled into a pool wasn't quite what he had planned for the evening, but having someone to walk home with was comforting enough to smooth his fretting.

The wind wasn't helping the whole 'warming up' thing Jack was previously going for, but the flat wasn't too far from Imogen's detour, so he managed to cope until they returned home.

As soon as the key turned in the lock, Jack couldn't handle wearing his sticky shirt much longer, and practically tore it off as he burst through the front door. He'd considered waiting until he had reached his room to begin undressing, but then Jack remembered that the two of them had just spent a good few minutes barely clothed and splashing eachother in a fountain, and suddenly felt less self conscious. Jack regarded Imogen, shirt and waistcoat bunched in his hands. "I'm... gonna do that sleep thing now. See you tomorrow." He smiled, a genuine one this time, not his usual sly or mischievous expressions.