Christian Martinez's roommate was a serial killer.
Or a zombie, he supposed.
Or a forensic pathology major, as his girlfriend Aimee liked to point out.
He had bones under his bed ("Animal bones! Forensic pathologists need to know their bones."), he wore all black ("Ooh, beware the emo."), he was antisocial ("That's introvert-ist."), and he was always reading and writing about death ("I repeat – forensic pathology major.") That, coupled with the fact that he never smiled, freaked Christian out. ("Maybe he just doesn't like you." "Shut up.")
The roommate's name was Nico di Angelo. He was, as Aimee just loved to point out, a forensic pathology major. He was hardly ever in their room, and when he was, he was next to silent, just this ghostlike presence that scared the ever-loving bejeezus out of Christian. He was Italian, judging by his last name, or at least partly, because you'd never know it by looking at him. He was thin, and deathly pale, with dark shadows that chased across his face. His hair and eyes were dark. All of this together made him look like a short, Italian, emo ghost with a caffeine addiction. Aimee said he was just malnourished (likely from studying for classes) and emo, but Christian never listened to her (which often boded quite poorly for him).
He tried to believe her, he truly did. But it was hard to keep faith in her when his Google search of various "symptoms" of his roommate's offered him the newest YA paranormal romance novels and the occasional horror story.
Aimee said he was being paranoid.
Christian bought a shotgun (just in case).
xXx
Nico di Angelo's roommate was a hysterical mortal conspiracy theorist.
Or a very, very paranoid demigod, he supposed.
Said roommate, one Christian Martinez from Ainsworth, Iowa, was a complete and total gun freak. He owned a lot of weapons, most of which were bought after he met Nico. He obviously knew something was up with his roommate, though what he thought Nico actually was, said Italian had no clue. It was very possible, however, that he thought the son of Hades was a serial killer. It was hilarious to watch him argue with his girlfriend, Alice or something (he made a mental note to learn her name; the girl was the only person sticking up for him), over whether or not he was plotting to murder the young Hispanic man.
Christian was not burly. He wasn't even close to being muscular. He was lithe, though, like a swimmer. (Or a demigod, Nico's brain gave its two cents.) His skin was tan (not as obnoxiously as Will's, of course, but still pretty tan), and he still had a small splash of acne on his nose. He had dark, curly hair that he liked to dye red and blue eyes (though they weren't, obviously, as blue as Will's. Just an observation). He wore nerdy T-shirts and hated Nico's side of the room (though he did love to search it, Nico noted as he planted small animal bones under his mattress, unable to keep from laughing a little.)
His girlfriend (Allie? Amy?) had long hair that she liked to dye a different color every day and eyes the color of coffee beans. She was very tan and fit and, Nico supposed, attractive. For a girl. (She wasn't as attractive as Will, Nico's brain reminded him helpfully, and he shook his head. Don't go down that path, Nico.) She was a French foreign exchange student. The Italian man thought she must be pretty because half of his O-Chem class drooled in her general direction. (You could practically see the sex drive being activated when she spoke.) All of which made him wonder just what exactly she saw in his roomie.
He was overly paranoid, Christian. He always jumped when Nico was near, stumbled over his words, and shot out of the room like a very red, very sweaty missile. (It was typical behavior for Nico when he liked someone, but he doubted Christian had a crush on the Italian son of Hades.)
It wasn't really like Nico to prank someone, but the look on Martinez's face when he got his search results on Google made him crack up and remain smirking as he paid Leo five gold drachmas.