A/N: *__*; So many reviews...we appreciate it a lot, we really do. XD Also, constructive criticism is welcome. In fact, it is adored. It makes us work harder on writing this and making it better. :P
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"Mmmm...." Horo Horo's mouth watered as he looked around in the cafeteria.
"No more Pilica's cooking!" He smiled widely and headed to the frozen section. The painter looked at the different flavors of ice cream, a vague thought reminding him that he was in sunny California now, not snowy Canada. He wanted a taste of something cold. A bit homesick, perhaps.
"Hrm....Ma'am?" He waved at the old lady, her graying black hair tucked back in a hairnet. She came over briskly, smiling at him.
"Oh! A new face! What can I get for you, dear?" She asked, sounding sweet and gentle. Horo smiled back at her.
"One scoop of chocolate ice cream on a sugar cone, please." The lady quickly scooped out an almost sphere of ice cream, proving that she had most likely had worked in the cafeteria for a long time.
"That'll come to...2.50," she stated, chuckling a bit as the boy fished in his pockets for change. "I'll pay for the tax, it's your first day here, right?" She handed him the cone,
"Thank you. And yes, it is my first day." He added cheerfully with another grin.
"Excited?"
"Yes'm!"
The old lady's smile widened and she handed Horo a napkin.
"Well if you're ever hungry for ice cream or somethin' else, just come on over here. Ol' Barbara will help you."
Horo smiled to himself. The people seemed nice around here, which probably meant that his roommate wouldn't turn out to be a grouch...
"I'll be sure to remember that," He paused slightly, and then cheerfully introduced himself.
"My name's Horo Horo." He saluted her good naturedly, and started walking back to the dorm, licking his ice cream absently.
The blue-haired teen walked slowly, savoring the taste of the ice cream on his way back to the freshly painted room. The hustle and bustle from the cafeteria slowly died down as he walked down the halls leading to the dormitories. He went up a flight of stairs, placing a hand on the metal handbar as he ascended the staircase. The metal was cold to the touch, but not as cold as the sweet taste of chocolate lingering in his mouth.
Horo Horo reached top of the spiral staircase, and for the first time, looked around the halls. He had been too busy rushing down the stairs earlier to notice all the paintings in the numerous hallways. Right next to the arrow sign with cafeteria written on it, to the left of the stairs, was a painting of a hill. The hill was littered with flowers and life forms of every color, every shape. He smiled at it and touched the cool glass that protected the beautiful piece. He felt a little homesick of Canada... just a bit.
He missed the summers where he and Pilica would go camping in a forest they'd always gone to. Missed the fishing, and the fields that seemed to go on forever..but that forest had been torn down a year ago. Horohoro was definitely a naturalist, and was destroyed when one of his favorite places in the world to visit was turned into some damned amusement park. He continued to walk again, moping, but only a little.
About halfway down the empty hall, a figure came into view.
"Hrm." Horo blinked, continuing down the hall slowly. He watched as the person came closer, watching him as he stopped a young man who was walking by. The boy seemed to question him quite roughly, clearly infuriated at someone. After a while of staring, Horo began to wonder if the person was wearing some kind of weird hat, for, for some reason, his hair was styled up into a large spike at the back of his head.
The person growled loudly, whirling around, and then stomped down the hall. He paused slightly, looking at Horo. Spike-head seemed to have noticed him. Horo stiffened instinctively, but continued to lick his ice cream.
"YOU."
Horo could see that up close, it was a teen around his age. He wore some odd Asian-style clothing...Chinese, maybe? Black puffy pants, tied together with a messy golden ribbon. Two small slits down the sides of the waist. He also wore a top that showed his stomach and arms.
"Weird guy..." Horo thought, as he studied the teen. His spiked hair was a deep violet, and the boy had cat-like golden eyes that were flaring angrily at him.
"Name yourself," The Asian demanded as he stood right in front of Horo, glaring at him while leaning forward towards him in a sort of "in-your-face" fashion.
Horo coughed lightly, staring at the smaller teen. It didn't have much of an effect on him...he was much taller than him, almost a head's worth.
"Me? My name is Horo Horo. But isn't it more polite to intro-"
"YOU!" His eyes flared, and he growled deep in his throat. "I was LOOKING for YOU."
He was abruptly cut off.
"...What?"
"WHAT. HAVE. YOU. DONE. TO. MY. ROOM?!" The boy clenched his fist, pausing to let the effect of every single word sink in.
Horo screwed his face up slightly. He hadn't done anything to ANYONE else's dorm. All he had done today was paint his own, unless this was his roomie...
"OH!"
"OH WHAT?!" The Chinese boy roared in anger.
"You're my roomie!"
Horo Horo watched as the shorter one nodded, not taking his stare off of the boy for even a second.
"Well... I painted it!" He smiled sheepishly, scratching his head with one hand.
"I KNOW that you painted it."
"So why'd you ask what I did with the room?"
"...Argh. Well, forget that. WHY DID YOU PAINT THE ROOM?!"
"It looked too empty, boring, and bland. Doesn't the blue look nice though?"
"NO, the blue does NOT look NICE." He fumed at Horo, looking all the more furious by the second. "The white was SO much better with that...that...that HORRIBLE paint job!" The Chinese yelled, scowling.
"Well, EXCUSE ME," said Horo, feeling quite offended. "It's my dorm too. I can do what I want." He smiled proudly at this, thinking he'd gotten the upper hand in the argument
"That means it's ALSO mine." The new roomie smirked all of a sudden, as if a thought occured to him. He suddenly seemed calmer now than before. "SO. I command you to paint it back."
"Paint it back?! But that took me HOURS." Horo groaned loudly in protest.
"Well I want you to paint it back. Or else."
"Or else WHAT?"
"Or else you'll wish you never got Tao Ren as your new roommate." The Chinese, apparently named Tao Ren, said with a smirk.
"...Oh? Well, Ren, I got news for you. I'm NOT going to paint it back. And there's NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING you can do about it." He smirked back.
Ren's smirk turned into a dark frown almost instantly.
"You're going to so regret that."
"So what if I re- AUGH! COLD!!" He shrieked, now on the floor, rubbing at where Ren had just shoved the chocolate ice cream into his face. He had ice cream dripping off his chin and a shattered cone in his shirt. He moaned childishly, leaning his hands back to glare up at the young man.
"Ow... What the hell was that for?!" He choked out angrily, his face flushing a dark red.
Ren stood above him, a smirk set firmly in place on his face.
"I TOLD you that you'd regret it."
And with that, he descended the spiral staircase, leaving the ice cream splattered Horo on the floor.
"Grr... 'I told you that you'd regret it'...BAH." Horo got up slowly, mimicking Ren's words repeatedly with disgust.
"Well, Tao Ren. I have a surprise for YOU when you come back." Horo limped back to 'his' room, his backside feeling sore from when he'd been pushed down. Pieces of the soaked sugar cone fell out of his shirt as he walked.
So much for his roommate not being a grouch.
But he had a surprise for Ren... a surprise indeed. All he had to do now is decide on a color to paint the new decorations in...
