A/N: Hello again, everyone! I'm back again with a new chapter of The Raven!

Before we get started, I would like to thank everyone that read last chapter! I would also like to give a huge thank you to winterschild11, Guest, Side1ways, and RainbowDiamonds for reviewing!

I hope you all enjoy!

Tuesday evening, I came home to the delicious smell of stew and James draped over the couch chatting with Kendall over the phone.

He wagged his eyebrows in hello and pointed to the stove.

"Help yourself." He mouthed. He switched the phone to his other hand. Into the mouthpiece, he said, "No shit? Seriously?"

I peeled off my parka-

Wait. What was with the bandage peeking out from under James' sleeve? I tried to get a better look as I shuffled into the kitchen, but I banged into the corner of the bar.

"Ouch!" I yelped, quickly steering around the sharp corner and into the actual kitchen.

"Gotta go, Ken. Lunch tomorrow?...Sweet."

I rubbed my side and took one of the clean bowls from the dish rack.

"You okay?" James asked, coming up to the stove and stirring the stew with a ladle.

"Swell."

With a snort, James grabbed my bowl and filled it with stew. "Eat up."

I took it to the table, grabbed a spoon and dug in. The hot, meaty gravy hit my tongue with an explosion of flavor and comfort. James was perched on the end of the table, fiddling with his thumbs.

I pointed my spoon toward him. "What happened to your wrist?"

James yanked his sleeve further down.

"Nothing much. Light sprain is all. Happens teaching self-defense sometimes. It'll be fine in a day or so." He slid off the table, grabbed his laptop from the glass coffee table in front of the couch and settled on the couch to work.

As soon as I'd licked my bowl clean, I rinsed it and quietly snuck into my bedroom. It was strange constantly sharing the same space with someone, and I wasn't yet sure where the line was drawn when it came to encroaching on James' privacy.

I tucked myself into bed with my laptop and emailed a student named Garrett, who'd been rescued by The Raven last year. After that, I sent Mom a quick update on my roommate, and then I swapped the laptop for my English Literature readings.

Alone in my room was fine. It was normal, and it...well, there was something comforting about knowing there was someone in the next room.

There was a knock at my door.

I straightened. "Yes?"

James opened the door and let himself in, swinging his arms into a clap.

"See, the thing is…" He said before jumping onto the bed, pinning one of my feet. I wedged it free. "You don't have a TV."

"It's not really my thing." I said, slipping a bookmark into my book and resting it on the second pillow.

"I've been bored out of my mind the last few nights." He said as he laid himself on his side and propped his head up with his elbow.

"Don't you have studying to do?"

"I can't be studying all the time, I'd go nuts."

I glanced at my required reading. "You could invite someone over if you like. I won't disturb you."

"Don't have anyone I want to invite over right now."

"Not Lucy? Kendall?"

"Nope." He shook his head sadly. "Lucy is taking Kendall out to dinner tonight."

"Is there something wrong with that?" I asked.

"No. It's just...she tries too hard sometimes. Not that she'd ever listen to me when it comes to Kendall."

I thought back to the moment at Crazy Mocha Coffee.

"She's very protective of him. I'm sure that's normal for a sibling."

James plucked at the blankets close to my toes.

"Yeah, sometimes." He pinched my foot. "Let's play some cards or something. That sound good?"

I hesitated a moment and then pointed toward the small bookshelf I had in the corner next to the dresser.

"Third shelf from the top. And James?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm really good at cards."

XxX

Chief Henderson leaned back in his chair and gazed at each of us sitting around the oval table. I sat at the perfect angle-the Cathedral of Learning looked like an extension of his prominence.

I shifted on the hard seat, my fingers gripping my pen, poised to take more notes. . After an hour in the room, surely we were close to winding down.

"Last delegations." Chief said, focusing on Beau, who sat next to Jett with crossed arms. He jerked a thumb behind him toward the cathedral. "Write a report on the reopening of the 32nd floor. The rest of you, BCA placements twenty-five through fifty come out the beginning of November. I'll hang a list on the noticeboard."

Chief stroked the spine of his frayed leather binder before continuing.

"One last thing before you go." He cleared his throat. "I am pleased at the results I'm getting from you. I'm proud of this team, and I look forward to reading more of your skilled work. Thank you."

Jett slumped further in his seat, and both he and Beau sent me a withering glance-one I happily reciprocated.

"Well? What are you all sitting here for? Get back to work. Logan, hang on a moment?"

I waited until the others left before I approached Chief Henderson.

"Yes, chief?"

He stood from his chair, coming to a stand in front of me.

"How's it going?"

"As well as can be expected. I'm assuming you held me back for a reason?"

He let out an amused huff. "About your party page pieces…"

My fingers itched for my pen as I waited for him to continue.

Chief stroked his beard. "They're solid, and they'll do, but I think you might be missing the point."

I folded my arms. "And what point is that?"

"To diversify your style. To get you to jump into the shoes of others." The chief glanced over my shoulder at the thrum of the office behind us. "What you are giving me is the same in tone as your politics articles. I want to see you challenge yourself by pitching your writing to your target audience."

I had nothing to say to that, so I gave him a sharp nod. I wasn't expecting his hand to clasp my shoulder, but when it did, the awful tightness in my throat made it difficult to swallow.

"I truly just want to help you become a better writer." He said. "That's all."

"Yes, sir. I want that position we talked about."

"You know it won't be the end of your career if you don't get it, right?"

I did know that. There would be other jobs out there for me, but I wanted the apprenticeship, and maybe...maybe there was a part that wondered what it would be like to have my father's approval.

"I'm going to land the position."

The chief dropped his hand. "I like your focus, but be prepared for me to say you're not ready."

Dismissed, I went back to my desk and finished jotting down the names from past Scribe issues that had anything to do with The Raven.

Camille looked over her desk at me and gave a shy smile as she picked up an eraser and fiddled with it.

"You seem like you want to say something." I said, leaning back in my chair to focus on her.

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she cleared her throat. "Sunday's only a few days away now…"

I grabbed my pen and started clicking. "Yes, it is."

Click. Click. Click.

"Logan?" Camille asked.

"Yeah, I still need time to think. We work together. Things could get awkward-"

Two things interrupted me at the same time.

The first was Dylan-clad in a fitted brown T-shirt, jeans, and cowboy boots-strolling through the door and scanning the room for me.

The second was my phone ringing. I let it shrill two times as I waved to catch Dylan's attention before answering it. I mouthed an apology to Camille, who shrugged and ducked her head.

"Logan Mitchell, Scribe."

"Hi, this is Garrett. I'm calling about the email."

"Garrett? Yes, yes. I'm looking for any information I can get on The Raven." Just that morning, an anonymous thank you letter arrived at Scribe, addressed to The Raven. He'd saved again, and at no small cost. The victim worried The Raven had a torn wing.

Camille's head snapped up and she gave me a quizzical look. At the same time, Dylan slowed to a stop at my desk.

Garrett breathed heavily down the line. "I don't remember much. I was in the hospital for a few days afterward."

"Anything you know might help me piece things together."

"You want to find him?"

"Yes."

Dylan looked curiously at my stapler, and more specifically at the eyes-and-mouth stickers decorating it. A Jett and Beau prank. Seeing I had no real friends, they'd stuck faces on all my office supplies-coffee cup, paper tray, tape holder. My 'office friends,' they'd said.

It hadn't bothered me much.

Until Dylan jokingly pressed against the end of the stapler as if it could speak. I swallowed an angry lump.

Dylan would want to know why I'd done it, and when I explained, he might just think of me as pathetic and laughable as the rest of the campus sniggering over my party page columns.

"Why?" Garrett asked, bringing me back to the call. "This guy saved me, I don't want to get him into trouble."

"I don't want that either."

I might have initially wanted to expose him just so I could feel better about myself and secure the features editor position, but my incentive changed the moment I read that threat at Camille's desk.

The Raven's gonna lose his wings

We'll smile while he sings and sings

Then we'd love to watch him fly

Through a deep, dark, angry sky

I stared at the stack of Scribe magazines on the corner of my desk. From the swirls of colors, the haunting memory of Freddy's fingers surfaced. I shivered.

"I only remember his shoes." Garrett said. "They were black and sort of fitting, and they sort of made me think the guy was gay. Which, hell, I know is a stereotype, but...Anyway, I wouldn't mind knowing who he is."

"Thank you, Garrett." I said before ending the call.

Dylan frowned. "Interesting call?"

I snapped out of my chair. "Yes. Come with me." I pulled my jacket off the back of my chair and slipped it on. "Let's go someplace we can talk."

Dylan followed after me.

"So...what's up with all the stickers?"

XxX

"I'm going to get right to the point." I said, taking a seat outside with an excellent view of the spot where I'd banged into Kendall the first time. Dylan sat beside me and handed over half the sandwich we'd bought from the cafeteria to share. A light breeze rustled the leaves.

The sun peeking through the clouds highlighted the copper in Dylan's hair, which shone perfectly in the early shades of fall. He nibbled on his bread crust, staring toward a pair of squirrels scampering at the base of an oak.

"I have Improv Theatre soon, so to the point is good."

I bit into the sandwich, and a blob of mayonnaise splattered onto the thigh of my tan slacks.

Wiping it off, I said, "Are you interested in dating Kendall?"

Dylan spluttered, and crumbs flew everywhere. The squirrels stopped and took notice.

Dylan studied me, biting his bottom lip.

"I want to. I really want to." He finally said. "But...I mean, he's...wow, he's a charmer."

"So what bothers you?"

His cheeks bloomed the color of the leaves. "It wouldn't be right. I shouldn't."

Wouldn't be right? I could honestly say I didn't know what that meant, let alone how to respond.

"Can you explain?"

"I mean, I...I have no idea how to date a guy, let alone one in a wheelchair."

"Yes. That's a pickle." Kendall had made a bad decision employing me of all people as his mole. How was I supposed to help when I barely knew how to date a girl, let alone a guy, let alone one in a wheelchair?

"It's just.., you know," He said, "I question myself over everything. What if I say the wrong thing, like 'let's go for a walk' or something stupid and I offend him?"

"Okay, stop right there." I said, swiveling more in his direction. At least I could help on this point. "Granted I've only known Kendall a short while, but one thing I'm pretty sure about is that he's not easily offended. Besides, 'going for a walk' is a common expression. He'll get that."

"I'm scared. What if I do something wrong?"

"And what if you do something right?"

That had him thinking, and a smallish smile tugged at his mouth.

"I do want to see him again. It's just-"

"Good. I'll tell him you said so."

"Along with everything else?" He asked, finally taking a proper bite of his sandwich.

"Yes." I leaned back and stared at the slightly-clouded sky. Just maybe Kendall was right; I had to make my own luck.

And I would.

I'd make real friends.

I'd wow chief with the best feature article.

And I'd write the best party page column Scribe had ever seen.

XxX

I was on my third tea.

The chamomile and honey running down my throat soothed me, and it sparked just the right energy in me to concentrate on the essay I had to write on the most influential villains in literature.

I slurped up the last of the tea, catching the gooey honey on my tongue, and got up from the table.

James, lying on the couch with his knees up, peered over his book, Muscular System.

"Sneaking off to your room now?"

"That was the plan." I said, setting my cup in the dishwasher. "Like every other evening."

He lowered the book to his chest.

"Exactly. Like every evening. Don't you want to spend one evening in the living room with me?"

"Why? You'd just be a distraction."

He grinned, and I was reminded of Bram Stoker's Dracula.

"Oh, would I?"

I wiped my hands on my jeans before picking up the laptop at the end of the table.

"Yes, James, you would. And I'd just distract you, too."

His gaze skipped down the length of my dark flannel pajamas.

"Somehow I think I can handle it. C'mon." He sat up and patted the spot in front of his feet. "Work here for a bit. Hard as it might be, I promise I'll do my best not to distract you."

I allowed a small smile at the waggle of his brows. Well now, I wanted real friends, didn't I? This was the perfect opportunity to work on that.

I stepped around the table toward the James-dominated couch. The air was thick with warmth and I had the tingly heat in my cheeks to prove it.

Darting to the air-conditioning unit for the first time since the end of August, I turned it on. Cooler. That was better.

When I returned to the couch, James raised his brow gently, as if to ask about the sudden detour. I ignored it and planted myself at the end of the couch, far too close to his navy-socked feet to be entirely comfortable. But it was a small price to pay in the name of friendship.

James waited until I started my laptop before he resumed his reading. True to his word, he did his best not to distract me. His toes sometimes wiggled and slid against my thigh, but other than that, there was just the sound of my fingers clacking over the keyboard, the sound of him turning a page, and our quiet breathing.

For half an hour, James said nothing, and I barely made a dent in my essay.

Ten minutes later, I gave up, closing my laptop and laying it on the glass coffee table in front of the couch. Elbows on my knees, I scrubbed my face as I thought of something to say. We were roommates after all, yet I didn't know much about him.

I sneaked a peek at him from the corner of my eye and jumped when I found him looking at me.

"Gah!"

He calmly shoved a bookmark into his book, shut it, and laid it next to the laptop.

"What's up, Logan?" He asked, tucking his arms behind his head.

Obviously I hadn't adjusted the temperature low enough. The air in the room was positively smothering. Or maybe trying to make friends did that to someone.

My glasses were slipping with the sweat beading out of me. I pushed them up. It was a simple question, so it shouldn't have been a bother. And yet, somehow this time was much harder than any other time.

"Do you want to play cards?"

I carefully watched every nuance of James' reaction, the bobbing of his Adam's apple, the quiver of his lips, the slight angling of his head in my direction, the jiggle of his foot at my side.

Without realizing it, I'd held my breath, which was now very noticable as I expelled it and gasped for more.

James unlocked his hands from behind his head and pushed himself into a sitting position, pulling his feet closer to himself.

"No." He said slowly. "I'd rather not lose again."

"Oh. Okay." Suddenly my bedroom seemed to be calling me. It promised that the air was cooler and I wouldn't have any problems concentrating on work. And work was better than cards, anyway.

I sprang up off the couch.

But I didn't make it a step before James grabbed my hips and tackled me onto the couch. To be more accurate, he landed on the couch, and I landed in his lap. His arms tightened around my waist.

"Why on earth are you running away?" He growled in my ear.

"You didn't want to play cards!" I replied, twisting for freedom to no avail.

"No, I don't. One, because you'd just win again. And two, I just want an opportunity to chat. Shoot the shit. Share a little." He released his grip just enough to smooth his hands over my T-shirt and shift me to the couch cushion next to him.

James rubbed his forehead with the knuckle of his thumb.

"You're not easy, Logan. You're always so serious. Blunt. Busy. Unaffected...except, strangely not just now. Now you actually felt something, didn't you?"

I swallowed a thick lump in my throat and kept my gaze on my arms, prickling with goosebumps. Jett was spot-on. I couldn't make a friend if my life depended on it.

"I...yes. I felt something, okay? It was disappointment."

"Good." James said, and the couch dipped as he swiveled more in my direction. "I like when you show your feelings. Otherwise, you're too much of a puzzle for me. We're...roommates. I want to understand what makes you tick."

He shrugged. "And, maybe you want to know a little more about me, too?" He gestured to his textbook. "Like the fact that I'm studying to be a physiotherapist. That I scrape by as a C student. That I absolutely hate onions." He squished up his nose and ran his hands over the edge of the couch.

"That I think you have the most comfortable couch ever. That I can be quite a sarcastic son-of-a-bitch. That I still jerk off to the thought of my ex even though he cheated on me. That I love Lucy, but never in the way I know she really wishes I would. That I hate seeing Kendall, because every time I do, I want to fucking cry."

That was more information than roommates usually shared, wasn't it? I tried to formulate an appropriate answer.

As a reporter, I'd learned to tamper down my feelings so I could focus on delivering facts. And I was good at it, because emotion didn't come easily to me.

I lowered my gaze from his, concentrating on his chin and firm lips instead.

"I already knew you could be a sarcastic son-of-a-bitch."

James leaned against the back of the couch, and when he turned his head toward me, his breath tickled against my temple.

"And what about you? Do you ever relax? Jerk off? Because I just can't for the life of me imagine you doing that."

I pushed up my glasses again. "Of course I do. I schedule that in at shower time."

James paused for a moment, his hazel eyes clouding in confusion. He bit his lip to smother a smile.

His voice lowered. "Schedule?" He hummed. "That sounds far too practical to be any fun."

"It works for me."

"And do you have a girlfriend that you think about-"

"You know by now I don't have a girlfriend."

"Fine. Favorite model? Actress?"

"You are extremely curious about this."

He sat up, tucking one leg under him and folding his arms. His gaze could only be described as greedy.

"Oh hell yes, I'm curious. It might help me solve this Logan puzzle."

I knew what he was trying to get at, but he was barking up the wrong tree.

"I fantasize. Okay? Now, excuse me, but I have to get some work done. You've distracted me all evening."

"I distracted you? I was quiet as a button, man."

"It had nothing to do with you being quiet."

"Then, pray tell," He said with an arch of his brow, "how did I distract you?"

"I'll have to think about it." I leaned forward to grab my laptop, but I never made it because a cushion hit the side of my face.

"Christ." James chuckled. "What do I have to do to get details out of you?"

I twisted toward him. His white T-shirt wasn't thick enough. I could make out his muscles beneath it.

"Is this the sort of stuff friends-I mean, roommates-usually talk about? Because it seems like a strange discussion to me." I fiddled with the corners of the cushion.

"Yeah." James said softly. "Friend thing. At least, that'd be...okay. Nice."

His sudden shyness had me rubbing my arms. I could-would-do this friend thing.

"Seeing Kendall really makes you want to cry?" I asked.

He looked guiltily at his knees and picked at a loose thread. "Yeah."

"That's it?" I arched my brow. "What do I have to do to get details out of you?"

A soft laugh. "It's just…" He said. "I remember him before the chair, and"-he gestured toward his chest-"stuff gets stuck inside when I think of all the things he said he wanted to do that he can't anymore. And...and sometimes I'm relieved that I got lucky. That something like that never happened to me, and then I feel like crap."

"Is that why you're studying to be a physiotherapist?" I asked, stunned by his admission.

He nodded, a sad smile tugging at his lips.

"Yeah. I just felt so...helpless, watching Kendall go through that. To this day, I still look back on that and wish there was more I could do to help him. At least this way...maybe I can help others."

Speechless, I just nodded. The silence held, but this tentative...openness we were having was drawing thinner and thinner. Afraid it would snap, afraid I would fail, I groped for something to share, something that might show him that this friend thing would be okay and nice by me, too.

I scratched the back of my head. "So lately, when I'm in the shower, I fantasize about winning the BCA competition for best article of the year."

James blinked and looked at me, his gaze running over my lips as if expecting me to say something else.

"The what now?"

I shrugged. "It's a competition I submitted three of my articles to. The results come out next month."

"Are you saying," James rested his head on the back of the couch and stared toward the ceiling, the side of his mouth curling, "that you literally get off on work?"

I hadn't thought about it like that before. But, I guess…

"Yes. It seems I do."

I stood, because I couldn't figure out what to do with myself. I needed to focus on something constructive so I wouldn't feel so...exposed.

James didn't pull me back, but he touched the side of my knee.

"You're something else, Logan." He said softly. "And I'm going to figure out exactly what that something is."

Done! So, you all got a look into the life of James and Logan as roommates!

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the chapter, as well as if you happened to have a favorite part/moment!

Again, I hope you all enjoyed! There's another chapter coming soon, and by soon, I mean sometime this weekend. :P Not too long of a wait.

Until then! :D

-Epically Obsessed