Disclaimer : I do not own X-MEN.
So I've decided that this story will be not more than 10 chapters :) I will focus more on Hank/Alex now and the story will stay on Hank's POV until the last few chapters, where we shall go and explore Alex's xD
Thanks so much for editing this chapter, Captaingeek xD
Anonymous Review's Reply :
WithLoveFromTorchwood : Ahaha, that scene was rather intimidating for Hank, isn't it? :D Sadly we got no E/C/S in this chapter o.o But there shall be a lot of Hank/Alex xD Thanks for reading this anyway, bb! :D (hugs)
Learning that your roommates were the combinations of your lecturer's younger brother, one of the top students in your academy and the Principal's son was not all that intimidating. It was the fact that one night, when you were sleeping alone in your room – unlocked door because you forgot to – one of your roommates actually had the tendency to sleepwalk.
This happened for the first time after Hank's first month staying in the dorm.
Charles always reminded him to lock his door in case if something or someone wanted to break in and he remembered how he gave the older boy a blank look. It was not that he was ungrateful that Charles cared but really, the academy was secured enough that nobody could ever get passed the main gate without student card.
He fell asleep on his desk, few hours later blinking his eyes open and sleepily went to adjust his clothes. He got into his bed and proceeded with his sleep. Then he heard the sound of his door being opened, at first Hank thought it was just an imagination but when a body slumped to lay beside him, his blue eyes snapped open.
Hank could felt it. The body was smaller than his. Definitely not Sebastian – he sighed gratefully – and the body was slightly built – not Charles then – but it didn't help him at all. He felt himself sweating despite his air conditioner was on and he slowly turned to look at the intruder.
Alex was sleeping peacefully beside him. Blue eyes hidden underneath his eyelids, his pretty long eyelashes almost touched his cheeks. His face was faintly flushed and his lips parted for soft snores to escape. Hank blinked his eyes, captivated by the sight and unable to mutter a word.
It wasn't his fault that Alex was the biggest bully that had ever lived but if only Alex behaved like a good, civilized roommate, Hank would think that he was indeed… perfect. It was disturbing but then again, it was a disturbing truth. Alex was a fine young man, handsome, beautiful, too, courtesy of his curvy hips and white skin and blue eyes and blond hair and Hank thought that he should shut up by now.
Hank groaned into his pillow as he tried his best to ignore the man beside him.
The next morning when he woke up, his bed was only occupied by him. He wasn't sure how Alex woke up in the morning, how he reacted to everything but he knew that when he woke up, he was alone.
It happened again after that, when Hank accidentally fell asleep on the couch in the living room. He found Alex sleeping next to him on the small couch but he didn't have the heart to wake him. He woke up alone too. After that, Hank decided to not lock his door. So the incidents expectantly happened at least once in a week. There was only one fact that made him curious. It was that Alex sleepwalked to him, not into his room but if he voiced the question to Alex, it would either cause him to get a broken nose or a dismissal. Both were out of question.
And Hank would sometimes watch as Alex entered his room, body swaying and eyes closed before landed on his bed. When Hank had the courage, he would ran his fingers gingerly through Alex's blond hair, feeling the silky texture of his hair – no matter if Alex had spilled his coffee on his pants that morning – and it was outrageous, because Hank simply thought Alex looked wonderful when he was sleeping. It did help a lot that Alex never mentioned anything about his sleepwalking and even if he did realized he did it, he looked like he didn't care at all.
But for Hank, the feeling of waking up alone - when he knew someone was sleeping so close to him the night before – wasn't all that good.
"Hank?"
Hank blinked his eyes when Charles called out his name. He titled up his head and his eyes met with Charles' concerned ones. Currently they were having their breakfast in the kitchen, with Sebastian sitting next to Charles and Hank opposite of him. Alex was absence, probably still in his dreamland. Hank smiled when Charles gave him a glass of orange juice.
"You don't look very well, my friend… are you feeling all right?" Charles asked worriedly and Hank felt a little bit of himself touched by his friend's concern.
"I'm fine, Charles… I'm just sleep deprived…" he murmured, closing his eyes and rubbing one of them with his fist. Sleep deprived out of a certain blond boy, he inwardly snorted at himself. Charles sighed while Sebastian just raised an eyebrow. Then the young Xavier turned to look at their older roommate and poured him more coffee.
"My class ends around three today. Do you want to grab late lunch together?" Charles asked him and Hank watched as Sebastian smiled, his black eyes observing Charles' movement with interested eyes.
"Why, of course I want to." He replied with a small smile. Hank quietly sipped on his juice. Sometimes he wondered if Charles was ignoring it or he obviously did not care when Sebastian was looking at him in such way. Hank doubted that Sebastian actually liked him like how Erik did; maybe it was because of his wealth or because he was Erik's. Hank believed it was more to the latter.
But who know? Sebastian was a secretive man and he enjoyed having Charles around him. Maybe he was indeed in love with him?
"Morning, Bozo."
Hank twitched before he looked at his left. His bully just woken up from sleep, hair tousled, eyes half lidded and body swaying, and his first sentence was 'Morning, Bozo.'.
Charles scolded the young blond whilst he rolled his eyes at him. Sebastian just chuckled before continued to read his newspapers.
"Morning, Charles, Sebastian." He mumbled next, heading toward the refrigerator and opened the door. He took a carton of milk out from it and undone the cap. Hank watched with wary eyes when Alex drank it from the carton, some spilled from his mouth and dripped down to his neck. Somehow Hank could not tear his eyes away from him.
Alex ignored him, clumsily wiped away the dripping liquid by the back of his palm and casually returned to them. He pulled a chair and sat beside Hank. Hank only looked down on his toast and silently spread some peanut butter on it.
"I'm going out for a movie with Darwin today," Alex stated, taking his own plate and some toasts from the mountain of toasts that Charles had made. They could feed the whole academy with those toasts, Hank mused.
"Please call me if you decide to sleep somewhere else tonight." Charles gave him a look and Alex rolled his eyes again at him. Sebastian downed his cup of coffee before he folded back the newspapers. He went to put his cup in the sink – it was Alex's turn to do dishes this week – and went back to envelope Charles in one armed hug.
Hank stared at them.
"I'll be in the library if you ever need me." He told Charles who smiled friendlily at him, darted his later blank eyes to Alex and Hank before he left. Hank bit his lip, mentally preparing himself with his question.
"Charles, what is exactly your relation with Sebastian?" he murmured quietly, his voice turned out to be smaller than he intended. Alex looked at him, disbelief visible on his face while Charles smiled, as if he had been expecting that question from him. The brunette then stood up from his chair, smoothen the crinkles on his white apron before he proceeded to place the other dishes into the sink.
"Sebastian is a very good friend." He answered with much tenderness in his words but Hank was not satisfied.
"I don't think Erik appreciate it when he treats you like you're his… boyfriend instead of his." Hank uttered his thought out loud and Alex huffed beside him.
"Sebastian and Erik are cousins, Bozo. They had been racing against each other in almost everything. That includes Charles Xavier." Alex responded instead, both of them earning a disapproving look from said brunette for that. Charles rubbed his hands on a clean towel and undone his apron, retreating back to his seat afterward.
"There is nothing between us but friendship. I've known Sebastian even longer than I knew Erik."
Hank blinked his eyes at those words whilst Alex leaned against his seat, his arms on his chest.
"We're roommates. Erik knows that I love him and all of you too, so please don't bring any of these questions up again. Please, Hank?" Charles turned to look at him, face pleading and Hank heaved a sigh. He still felt that Charles was not being completely honest and no matter how much Erik scared him, Hank was sure than Erik trusted him and Alex to look for Charles. Hank was just worried.
"Fine, Charles…" He nodded his head submissively before he left the kitchen, barely sparing any glance back.
But he did realize that Alex's eyes followed him until he disappeared into his own room.
It was weird.
Well, it had been weird ever since Hank first knew Alex but now, it was weirder. Sometimes when Hank occupied the kitchen late at night, Alex would come in too to get some drink. When both were feeling tired and sleepy, they usually wouldn't even look at each other.
Hank never paid attention much to it, those two months earlier but perhaps ever since he accepted Alex to be his night guest, he started to realize Alex. To realize his every motion, the words he chose to speak and the way his eyes would show his real intention.
Alex was a man of action. He couldn't, didn't know how to deal with words sometimes and Hank was fascinated at the way his eyes would gleam when he saw something exciting - the lab rat got cut into half -, fading into darker blue when he was feeling down - his exam result was slightly lower than Hank's - and dilated when he saw Hank. Eyes would only dilate when someone saw the person they loved - and the person that they hated. Hank didn't know what to comment.
And Alex seemed to be losing his interest in Hank as days passed but he still did it on occasions. Sometimes when Hank sat down alone in the dark corner of the library, he would muse about all those things. He somehow became suspicious, and doubtful. Hank wasn't sure if it was him or Alex actually started to treat him better. Perhaps Alex had matched two with two, about their night occurrences and was feeling bad about it?
Aside from Alex, Hank had accepted the fact that he wouldn't get any clear picture of his other roommates. Erik looked frustrated sometimes, when Sebastian was all over Charles and Charles, no matter how much he tried to prove to Erik that nothing was ever going to change – Hank accidentally overheard them one night, he wasn't eavesdropping, mind you – Erik seemed to be very unconvinced. Hank didn't have the heart to ask Raven about it, she was busy with her study these few weeks and Hank rarely saw her came for dinner any more.
"Oi, Bozo, daydreaming, aren't you?" Hank snapped out from his reverie, turning his head to look at Alex who already took an empty seat opposite of him. The mahogany table separated them and Hank frowned a little bit at the presence of Darwin.
Darwin smiled jovially at him.
"Hey, man."
"Hey." Hank faked a smile before proceeding with his book. He realized that Alex was frowning at him and felt a kick underneath the table.
"What?" He snapped unintentionally at the young blond, causing him to jolt a little. Alex threw a mini dictionary on his head, probably mad for being snapped at and Darwin hastily took his role as the peacekeeper.
"Alex-"
"I just want to ask him whether he was feeling all right or not!" Alex barked at both of them. Darwin startled at his words and Hank was equally taken back. But they couldn't manage to do anything as Alex grabbed his bag, muttering curses under his nose and stood up.
"But I guess Bozo can take care of himself." He spitted bitterly before he took quick paces out from the library. Hank was grateful that there weren't many students – there were only him, Darwin and a nerdy redhead somewhere close to them – at this hour but he couldn't shake the sudden feeling that overwhelm him.
Alex cared for him?
"What's wrong with him?" he found himself asking the black man when he couldn't find any other words to fit in. Darwin looked at him, looking bewildered as well.
"I don't know. I'll go get him." Darwin smiled apologetically at him before he ran off to the same direction that Alex took. Hank was left behind, all alone except for the little redhead that could be dismissed as the wall decoration.
But really, Alex cared?
On Monday, Hank was late for his morning class. He forgot to put his alarm, courtesy to his distraction on Alex's scent that once again sleepwalked into his room. He ran to his Biology class, came into an abrupt stop and quickly entered the classroom. It was fortunate that Miss Jean was late too and he scanned the classroom for an empty seat.
His eyes caught Alex, who was sitting on the third row and second last to the left. Alex met his eyes for the briefest moment before he looked away. Hank was dumbstruck. When did they become this awkward without even trying to be awkward, actually?
He quietly took a seat beside an Asian guy – Chinese, perhaps? – and took out his notes and utensil as Miss Jean finally made her appearance. It was two days ago, the incident at the library and ever since then, Alex only glared and frowned at him when they met or having meals together, not saying anything instead of those and Hank felt a little bit off. That was because Alex stopped bullying him for a good two days.
He should be happy that his bully had turned into a civilized human being but he was not. Hank twitched his eyes at his own thought, perhaps it was because he didn't know why did Alex stopped. That must be it, he mused with a frown. He should go and confront Alex later on. Why Alex was acting like a weirdo – or a moody teen – at the first place anyway?
Hank was surprised later on when Miss Jean told them that she was going to give them their first assignment for pair-work today. The gist of the assignment turned out to be 'Hormones' and she would be the one that chose the partners. Some students groaned and others clapping happily. Hank just smiled when she laughed and pointed out the brighter note of the assignment.
The students were given the liberty to choose what type of hormones they wanted to study.
But when she started to call out the names, Hank felt his body turn cold.
"Laurie Landon and Jenny Clintons…"
A loud high-five was heard and Hank gulped as the names passed by his hearing-
"John Allerdyce and Robert Louis Drake…"
Groans and some curses but Hank could care less-
"Hank McCoy and Alexander…" she stopped halfway, eyes scrunching as if she was making a decision. Hank felt his breath hitch, unable to look and see Alex's reaction so instead, he turned to the Chinese guy beside him. The Chinese smiled at him and Hank realized that on his notebook, the name written there was 'Alexander Chong'. His blue eyes widened and his mind screamed-
'There's two Alexs in this class? Chong, please, Chong! Chong Chong Chong Chong CHONG CHONG CHONGCHONGCHONG- '
"… Summers." Miss Jean smiled and Hank promptly banged his head against the table.
Welcome to the Universe, people, where life wasn't all that bloody rainbows and fucking ponies.
A/N : Quite long, eh? :) I want to repent my sin for unable to update yesterday, I hope that this chapter is satisfying enough :) I'll update again around tomorrow or the day after :)
Thanks toWithLoveFromTorchwood, japanesehon1, Utena-Puchiko-nyu, onecoldn'tsee, Demitea, DrowPrincess, Ms. Unusual-in-Groovy-Ways, DeathTrapDaisy and XxxxXRoseXxxxX for all those reviews! Fuh, I don't know what I'm going to do without all those reviews! :O
Review please.