Disclaimer: I don't own Geneshaft or any of it's characters!
AN: This chapter took a lot of revising. Sorry for the wait! I really had to put some serious thought into this chapter.
Chapter 4: Add On: Embarrassment
The quiet darkness ebbed, Jean groaning in annoyance as the harsh morning sunlight hit his face. 'I must have forgotten to close the drapes,' he muttered, his still half sleeping mind refusing to give it up just yet. Twisting the sheets further, he managed to squirm against the wall, just out of the reach of the offending light. 'I don't have to get up just yet... my alarm hasn't even gone off.' Pressing his face defiantly into the plush of the pillow he refused to look at the clock. If he looked he'd just have to get up that much sooner.
The room was completely silent for a few moments before the gentle swish of air tickled his sensitive ears. The muffled padding of footsteps followed by the soft click of the bathroom door took a little time to register in Jean's sleep dulled brain. 'There is someone in my room...?' Finally opening his ruby eyes, Jean stared across the room at the unkempt bed on the far side. 'There is someone in my room!' Pushing himself up on his elbows, Jean forced his sluggish body to move and sleep fogged mind to clear. The hiss of the shower joined the background noise as he sat up in the bed, still unable to tell who it was.
The cry of his alarm made him nearly jump out of his skin. Its annoying bleating abruptly cut short by a purposeful fist. Taking a deep breath, Jean tried to calm his rattled nerves. Running his hand absently through his ruffled hair, he swung his legs off the bed to rest on the floor. Standing, Jean set about his daily routine of stretching. His rested muscles warming up with the practiced movements. His slim build gracefully moved to the beat of an internal rhythm, the long sweeping motions of his limbs stretching out his sleep stiffened body.
Noticing the steady drown of the shower was no longer present, Jean quickly yanked a pair of nondescript grey sweat pants from his dresser. Pulling them on just in time to hear the door swing open, Jean collected himself before casually turning around. It didn't really matter who it was did it? Everyone was scum anyway. Brazenly looking upon his room mate, Jean found himself gazing into a pair of chocolate eyes, their deep color could have easily been mistaken for black.
"Good morning," unmistakably voice of Mario greeted him. Jean stood speechless. How was this possible? Out of all the students to get for a room mate, Jean was stuck with the most irritating of all the scum. The water still dripping from his ebony hair, Mario stood bare chested, a white towel over his shoulders and a baggy pair of pajama shorts resting on his hips. Suddenly becoming aware he was staring, Jean mentally slapped himself.
"How did I get stuck with scum for a room mate?" he replied to cover his surprise. Quickly putting on his arrogant air, Jean placed a hand on his slim hip to emphasize his question. "Even the best of the scum are still scum I suppose. Since Jean 's the best, I guess you couldn't help being scum," he continued, a smirk tipping the corner of his mouth. Jean waited for a reaction, only to find his bait left untouched. Mario stood unfazed, his even temperament shining through. Frustrated, Jean busied himself by selecting a clean shirt and pants for the day.
Watching Mario out of the corner of his eye, Jean clench his fists as Mario continued seemingly without any inclination of defending himself. Setting aside his clothes, Jean paused to think. Feeling like someone was watching, Jean glanced toward the other as he picked up the small pile of clean clothes from the dresser. Unable to tell if he was being paranoid or if Mario was really watching him, Jean self-consciously decided he would get dressed in the bathroom after his shower. Walking past Mario into the relative safety of the bathroom, Jean venomously cursed the other for getting under his skin, for being scum, and just for being there in general. As the door clicked shut, Jean let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. His chest tight from holding in his frustration, he closed his eyes to take in slow, deliberate breaths, a technique he had used a few times during particularly stressful tests.
Upon opening his blood colored eyes, he stared at his reflection, his opposite-identical twin. As he started to strip in preparation of his shower, he scrutinized his lean form in the mirror. His milky skin, although flawless was pale in comparison to Musicanova's. A tactical disadvantage in extreme heat and sun. His small frame, although strong in itself, couldn't match the other's either. A hand to hand fight would be a statistical fluke at best. 'He's just scum! He's not even close to Jean!' Gnashing his teeth together, he jerked the shower door open he paused to take one last search of his reflection, to find some redeeming quality he had missed. Only finding more flaws he hastily stepped through the portal. The air within, still moist and warm from the previous shower, momentarily seemed suffocating. 'Jean 's the best!' He turned the knob of the shower with a less than gentle twist. The steaming water which pelted him was nearly scolding his fair skin, flushing as it was exposed to the intense temperature.
His red and white hair lay plastered to his drenched skin as he stood under the shower. The water rained down upon him, wishing it would wash away his imperfections. Racking his hands through his water logged hair, Jean tried to think of nothing. 'Nothing, just focus on perfect nothingness.' The sting of the water grew more intense as he lingered in its onslaught. Finally relenting, he turned the shower off, his skin throbbing as it radiated heat. Stepping from the shower, he snatched a towel from its place on the rack and fastidiously scrubbed at his tender skin. Working his way up, the dampened towel finally came to rest a top of head. The mirror, now fogged by the extended period of steaming, was no longer a source of agitation. The fuzzy images its reflected could not point that the water had effectively washed away his flaws or not. He preferred to think it had.
Letting his trade mark smirk tip of the corner of his mouth, Jean dressed himself in silence, his ears straining to hear his room mate. Buttoning the last button on his white shirt, Jean gave his damp hair one last rub with the towel before opening the door. The wild tufts of hair sticking up in some places, down in others, and curiously out in odd directions framing his face. Letting his ruby eyes sweep the room, his gaze came to rest on his source of irritation.
Mario lay, seemingly asleep, upon his freshly made bed. His hands folded comfortably behind his head, his knees were bent and legs crossed, one leg casually crossed on top, the foot left to hang in mid air. Headphones over his ears, the only indication that he was awake was the casual sway of his foot to some inaudible beat. Peering down at him, Jean pondered his gene type. Was it possible they were the same gene type? Is that what was so irritating? Jean searched his memory for Mario's gene type. The recent memory came back to him; Mario was orange, Jean himself was red. Despite that fact Mario had decided to waste time listening to music, Jean tried to rationalize his behavior. 'What is he smiling about?' Jean arch an eye brow and inquisitively leaned closer, trying to hear the music Mario was listening to.
The tiny smile and lightly closed eyes of Mario was nothing less than radiant, the kind of smile Jean couldn't place. It had been a long time since Jean had had an opportunity to observe anyone so closely. The shadow of a bruise which marred the tanned skin of his rival drew Jean's attention. The darkened area seemed to point an accusation toward Jean. Best or not, he was not in complete control of himself. He hadn't entirely meant to strike Mario, but it made him feel better at first.
The up beat music which barley reach Jean's ears picked up its pace into a frenzied rhythm. Feeling his heart speed up as though in reply, Jean drew in slow, quiet breaths to try and calm himself. The fascinating nature of the expression drummed up numerous explanations on Jean's part to the cause. The music's beat drew to a close, Jean finding himself a bit closer than he had originally intended to Mario. A moment's hesitation was all fate needed to intervene. Mario's alarm clock burst the silence like a balloon. In an instantaneous adrenaline rush, Mario had tried to sit up, Jean was caught.
Despite the annoying ring of the alarm, both stood frozen. Their lips touched but bodies frozen, they remained like Pompeii's statutes. Jean was first to recover. Withdrawing as though burned, his face flushed and chest heaved as he stood in the middle of the room. Mario turned off the alarm, the room quickly returning back to its silence. The side long glance Jean received was that of a unflustered Mario, but the tense muscles of his shoulders and blush strained cheeks seemed to point in the opposite direction.
"Disgusting!" Jean turned away, whipping his mouth on the back of his sleeve. "Who knows what kind of illnesses I might contract!" Avoiding look directly at the other, Jean tried perhaps a little too hard to act repulsed, his words dripped with over exaggeration. 'Why is my body reacting like this?' Jean tried to fill the silence so that Mario would not think to ask why exactly he had been standing so close in the first place. 'Why isn't he saying anything?' When Mario didn't answer, Jean pieced together the nerve to look at him. 'That smile. He is smiling again!' Doing his best to glare, Jean narrowed his eyes at the other youth. Letting himself fall back in the bed with a thump, Mario returned to listening to his music, the mysterious smile still on his face. 'That's it? No comment... Of corse, what was Jean expecting from scum like him?' Jean watched as the other relax, his own heart pounding against his rib cage.
Slipping into the chair of his desk, Jean busied himself by open the text file he had been reading the day before. Feeling the heat leave his face, Jean focused on reading as more of a distraction then actually learning anything from it. Occasionally looking back Mario again became a source of annoyance. 'That smile, what is he smiling about!?' His curiosity mixed with new emotions to come full circle to one he knew well. His temper slipped away, the narrow grasp he had on it doing little to wrestle control back. Memories of being teased flooded back into Jean's mind. His early childhood had been something he had tried to forget.
His mood swings and undergoing of evaluation by the government and administration had always been something that started rumors of insanity around the school. He was one or the experimental elites and was monitored as such. His high skill level had been the target of the experiments, he was not the only one that was specifically altered for the purpose. The mocking smiles of his tormentors flashed before his eyes. He had been too small, too shy they to do anything. They smiled at him, mocking him, hurting him.
Knocking the chair to the ground, Jean glared at Mario who now sat up on his elbows. In one fluid motion pouncing upon Mario was more of a reaction than a conscious move. Unmatched speed and agility tensed his muscles and readied him to fight as his wrathful scarlet gaze bore down into his prey. Poised straddling the confused youth, Jean's fist balled and ready to strike. Caught by surprise, Mario lay perfectly still, flush against the bed, his headphones had slipped sideways when Jean had attacked. 'Is he really mentally unstable?' Mario questioned, the fleeting rumors seemed closer to fact now more than they had when he had originally heard them.
Mario's self defense mechanisms slapped into place. Twisting violently away from the wall, Mario sent them both over the edge of the bed, tumbling onto the floor, Jean's head glancing off the bed frame on the way down. Mario's powerful grip already had hold of Jean's shoulders before they hit the ground, leaving him no opening to escape. Slamming into the carpet with the added weight of Mario on top of him, Jean gasp a breathless cry of pain. The air knocked from his lungs, Jean lay dazed his vision swirling. Mario's hair fell forward, shadowing his eyes. Wriggling, but unable to free even one of his hands, Jean was pinned completely helpless against the floor.
"What is your problem?" Mario was first to speak. The calm voice had turned harsh gaining a deeper more threatening tone.
"Get off me!" Jean avoided the question, redoubling his efforts to get free. 'I don't have to explain myself to you!' He thought rebelliously. Bearing down on him with all his weight, Mario could see the twinge of pain flicker across the Gedoux's face. "Its none of your business! I said get off!" Struggling until he was nearly gasping for air, Jean glared up at his captor. His gut twisted suddenly, a sickening feeling like he had done this before. The line of blood which started to make its way down his face sent a chill down his spine as it started to cool. 'Is he going to just sit there?'
Jean's imagination started to run worst case scenarios. Beatings and severe retribution, was death a possibility? Though not in Mario's initial nature, it seemed easily feasible in Jean's mind. Though held down by Mario's weight advantage fear started to paralyze his body. His breathing seemed chocked, although he would not admit it was sobbing, he held his breath to stifle the noise. Willing himself not to let a tear fall he failed as tried to find his fate in the bronzed depths of Mario's eyes.
A smile touched the corners of Mario's lips. Like a smile you would give a scolded child which shied away. His eyes softened, although not sure why he could forgive the psychotic boy beneath him. Perhaps it was part of his nature, in his genes, that he could forgive. Standing, he could hear the first bell toll across the campus.
"We should hurry up, or we'll be late." Mario offered a hand, only to have it slapped away. Jean stood, his back ridged, face turned down and away to hide the trails of tears. Shrugging it off, Mario walked to the door and casually opened it. For only being room mates for less than a day, they certainly had their share of problems to work out...
To be continued...
AN: What did you think? I hope no one is too OOC. Please review!