The mid-autumn days were seeping into the embrace of a much colder time. The sun had started to set whilst Slaine made his way home from a long day of Grad school. Studying was hard, but what was harder was not having time to grab something to eat throughout the entire day. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his red wool jacket, snuggling into the white scarf to shield himself from stinging breeze.
He entered the building and hurried up the stairs of it, hoping to get into his apartment before his stomach growled a third time. Pushing the door open, he stormed through to the bathroom, stripping his winter attire on the way there. "I hope you made something to eat, Orange!"
Orange, as he called his frienemy and roommate, was usually the one to prepare food since he was a genius and somehow knew everything without studying.
He heard Inaho call back, "Nothing. We have guests over, I hope you realized."
Slaine narrowed his eyes, realizing he had over looked the two unknown pairs of shoes at the door. After washing his face and hands, he let his hair fall from the ponytail it was held back in. Ever since he left high school he had decided to grow his hair, obviously not very long; just a little past his shoulders—many had complimented him on the new look, including his childhood crush (and that meant a damn lot to him). Albeit, to his disappointment even if he looked stunning, Asseylum had still chosen Inaho over him.
Already aware of who was over, he glanced at himself one last time in the mirror and prepared to face a broken heart. Bitterness plastered on his face, he made his way out of the washroom and towards the tiny living room.
"Hey," he greeted, his eyes on the two girls and his stomach thinking abut the lingering scent of the Pizza that sat promptly upon the coffee table. "What brings you two here?"
"Milady wished to go on a date with her boyfriend." The short first-year brunette blinked up at him. Eddelrittuo was her name to be exact. She had big indigo eyes and her hair was—as per usual—up in a bun with a braid adorning it, bangs over her face; she had not changed much since high school and it somewhat made him glad.
"I told you that you could call me Asseylum." The blonde sighed, playing with the hem of her skirt. "And we are all just having a get together."
"Pizza." The deadpan voice of the young emotionless boy caught the attention of everyone in the room.
"Agreed." Slaine nodded sitting down on the floor before his stomach could whine again.
They agreed upon a movie and it began to play as they all stuffed the delicious treat in their mouths, not caring about anything else.
But Slaine cared; a little too much, unfortunately. From the corner of his eye, he could see Asseylum holding unto his roommate, leaning her head on his shoulder and it bothered him and rightly so. After the pizza had disappeared, he stood in irritation and stormed off to the bathroom saying something about brushing his teeth and the time.
He stomped into his room, shutting the door behind himself and plopping down on his bed, disappointed to say the least. What seemed like hours passed by and he heard a soft knock on the door.
"What do you want?" He barked, pulling out his phone and pretending to be busy.
The door creaked open and in walked the short brunette, "So this is your room. Fascinating." She looked around, not even perceiving that she was intruding. His room was decorated with plane posters and a few chemistry and biology ones. A periodic table was placed above his desk and there were galaxy curtains covering the windows. "Peculiar."
"And how does your room look, huh? A blank slate with a single bed with white covers?"
"Precisely."
"You sound like a robot."
"Have you ever braided your hair?" She asked.
The question shocked the white-haired boy, his teal-eyes growing. "What?" He coughed.
"To braid? Do you not know what it means? It is when—"
"I'm not an idiot. I know what it means."
"You are a Terran, therefore I wouldn't know how smart you could be."
Terra was the poor side of town with basically most of the town's population but everyone knew that Vers was in charge. On the other hand, Vers was the rich side where prestigious families nested and profited off those who barely had any food to eat; they were known as Martians (of which happened to include his beautiful crush and her 'lady-in-waiting').
He rolled his eyes. "No, I haven't."
"Mind if I braid it for you." It was not a question, he took it more as a demand than anything.
"Yes, in fact, I would mind." He answered.
She only gave a smile and approached him, sitting on the bed next to him. "Milady likes braids."
Slaine's eyes caught hers and he blinked, "Really?"
Eddelrittuo nodded, "Would you like one now?"
Slaine clenched his jaw, thinking about it for a bit. He shrugged, "Fine, but this isn't for my princess." He offered his hair to her and she began to work with it.
The brunette would admit that his hair was soft and much more cooperative than many of the girls' she had worked with before; even Asseylum herself. She was amazed and surprised with how smooth his locks were and she was definitely satisfied with her end result.
"This looks ridiculous. I look so…girly." He looked at himself in the small mirror in his room, "Are you certain she likes braids?"
"Oh, she loves them!"