So several ideas in the works: One is Rex in college, another is an ambitious Valentine's Day project like I did two years ago, and the last is a mature fic featuring Six, Holiday, and the Numbers. I think I'm probably over extending myself. I don't know how it will go but with a little encouragement I hope to finish the mature fic by the summer so I can start season 8. I'm almost a 100% sure that will be my last season. Then again I thought season 4 would be my last season, so who knows. Nothing in life is definite. That's why it's so interesting. Enough rambling... on to college…
My kids use to read a book series called Dinosaur vs. (Like Dinosaur vs. Bedtime) It's cute. And I thought I'd set up Rex's college experience like that... Let me know what you think.
I do not own.
Rex vs. His Dorm Room
Rex dropped his luggage onto the floor of his room.
"Isn't it great?" He gushed, surveying the tiny room.
Bobo looked in from behind him. "Yeech, this room is smaller than your first one in Providence. What's so good about it?"
"It's mine." Rex said as he jumped onto one of the beds in the room. Immediately, the mattress sagged until it almost touched the floor.
"The one at Providence was yours too." Bobo reminded him as he dragged in a carton full of Rex's knick knacks.
"Put it on that desk over there." Rex directed him.
Bobo snorted. "I'm not your maid. I only agreed to come and see what they consider higher education these days."
"I'm not asking you to clean the room, just to get the box out of the doorway." Rex looked up from his crevice.
"Do it yourself. You can't even fit a monkey-sized hammock in here." Bobo wandered around the room, examining.
"You're not staying here!" Noah said from the door.
"Don't worry your pretty blond head." Bobo scoffed. "I wouldn't stay here if you paid me."
Noah with his arms loaded with his belongings couldn't see where he was going. Suddenly, he fell over spilling his stuff all over the floor. "Who left this box in the middle of the room?" He demanded angrily.
Rex and Bobo pointed at each other. Noah groaned. Picking himself up, he picked up one of his dropped items.
"Aww, man. The lamp broke." He glared at Bobo and Rex.
Rex shrugged. "We'll get a new one."
"It's my lucky lamp!" Noah declared.
"We'll get you a new lucky lamp." Rex rolled his eyes. "Seriously, there's no such thing as a lucky lamp."
"How about your lucky underwear?" Bobo pulled out a pair of motorcycle underpants from his suitcase.
"Bobo!" Rex had never moved so fast in his life as he lunged for Bobo. Fortunately for Bobo, he not only can move faster but he was more agile. Rex found himself kissing linoleum as Bobo stood on one the desks the school provided for the room.
Noah sat down on the other unoccupied bed. He sunk straight down the middle. "Ugh, the bed's a little… too soft."
"Get some plywood and stick it under the box spring." Bobo told him.
"That… actually is a good idea." Noah admitted.
"Yeah, we can buy you a new lamp while we're out." Rex said as he got off the floor. "Got you!" Rex lunged again at the chimp. Bobo leapt out of his way and was hanging from the meager light figure in the middle of the room.
"Too slow, chief." He grinned. He let go and landed nimbly on the floor. He tossed Rex's underwear on the bed. "Well, this has been fun, but I'm getting bad flashbacks from my university days."
"You were in a university?" Noah asked curious.
"Let's just say I was helping students discover if their hypotheses were true." Bobo said bitterly.
"Bobo's had a bad experience as a lab animal." Rex whispered to Noah.
"I prefer experimental specialist." Bobo sniffed.
"Well let's go." Noah interrupted them. "I need a new lamp and I can't sleep on this bed."
The three left the dormitory.
"Um, where are we going to go?" Noah asked Rex.
"Well, there has to be a place that sells lumber and lamps." Rex replied.
"You mean like Hardware Harry's?" Bobo suggested.
"Sure, let's go there." Rex agreed.
"Bobo?" Noah looked at the chimp.
"What? Me? No, I ain't no chauffer. I already got you here." He complained.
"Come on, what's a few more miles?" Noah pleaded.
"What's in it for me?" Bobo pouted.
"I hear there's a sausage shack next to the store." Noah replied.
"You're buying." Bobo said as he walked to the van.
"Aren't I always?" Noah sighed.
"Shotgun!" Rex yelled as he ran past Noah.
"Hey, no fair. You got shotgun riding here!" Noah chased after him.
0o0
"This place is huge!" Rex looked around wide-eyed. "Where do you think they keep the plywood?"
"I'm guessing where it says lumber." Noah said wryly.
Rex looked to where Noah was pointing. "Well, yeah, it's easy if you look at the signs." He sauntered off.
Noah sighed and walked after him.
They stood in front of the display.
"Darn, it! We forgot to measure how big the bed is!" Noah slapped his forehead.
"Don't worry. We'll just pick a piece and lie down on it. We can measure that way." Rex said confidently pulling a piece from the display case.
"I don't know." Noah muttered.
"Oh come on, what's the worse that can happen?" Rex asked.
Thirty minutes later, part of Noah's hair was duct taped onto the board.
"Owww, owww, owww. Dude, I'm going to kill you!" Noah yelled as Rex tried to pull the board off his head.
"Well, hold still. You're not helping!" Rex yelled back.
"I'm not helping? I'm not helping?" Noah yelped. "I have a board taped to my head!"
"That's your fault." Rex argued.
"My fault? You're the one who can't tape straight!" Noah complained.
Bobo sat eating a hot dog and slurping a soda. "Most entertaining trip to the hardware store ever." He commented gleefully as he took a bite of his food.
An hour later Noah and Rex sat in the van as Bobo drove them back to the dorm. Noah had a bald spot across one side of his head. Rex kept giving him side long glances.
"They said it should grow back…" Rex started saying but Noah held a hand up to stop him. His face was fixed in a scowl.
Bobo pulled up to the front of the dorm. "This is your stop, gents." He said cheerfully. Noah and Rex got out. They pulled out pieces of cut up plywood and a new lamp. When they had unloaded their stuff, Bobo drove away laughing.
They went up to their room. Noah placed the lamp carefully on his desk but dropped the boards on the floor.
"How are we supposed to use this?" He finally broke the silence. He glared at Rex.
"What happened here?" Circe asked. She and Claire stood in their doorway.
"And what happened to your hair?" Claire gasped when she saw Noah.
"Don't ask." Noah groaned.
"I'll grow back in three to four week." Rex insisted.
"What? You're a barber now?" Circe asked him.
"No, the lady at the hardware store said so." Rex told her.
Circe thought a moment. "You know what? I don't want to know."
"What are you doing with all these pieces of plywood?" Claire asked using her shoe to push at one of the irregularly cut pieces.
"Originally, we were going to buy one piece to place under the bed so it wouldn't sag so much…" Noah explained eyeing Rex. "But then someone duct taped my head to the board and tried to get it off with his stupid sword."
"Your head wouldn't have been taped if you weren't moving around so much." Rex defended himself.
"You can't tape straight!" Noah growled.
"Not when you keep shifting around!" Rex countered.
"The store made us buy the piece Rex cut up so we didn't have enough money to get a new one." Noah finished in an accusatory tone.
"Again, you're the one who was bouncing around so I couldn't get a good shot!" Rex pointed out.
"Yeah, I really don't want to know." Circe shook her head.
"You can still use these pieces." Claire said as she pulled one of the pieces out from the pile. "You're just going to have to be creative."
A few minutes later Claire and Circe had manage to get the mismatched pieces of plywood to form a sturdy support for the mattresses.
"How's that?" Claire asked Noah.
Noah tested his bed. "It's… not bad. Not home but usable."
"See? And you thought I ruined everything." Rex gloated.
"You did!" Noah snapped.
"Come on guys. Let's get your room set up." Claire coaxed them.
"Yes, then we can finally go to dinner." Circe said.
"Ahh, that's me rubbing off on you." Rex batted his eyes at her.
"Puh-lease…" Circe rolled her eyes but she had a small smirk on her face.
With the four of them working they managed to get the room into decent shape in an hour.
"Ah, dorm, sweet dorm." Rex crowed as he pushed a poster over his bed in place.
"At least we're unpacked." Noah said as he straightened the lamp and laptop on his desk.
"We're more than unpacked! We are officially moved in!" Rex said as he dumped a box of his junk onto his desk. A ball bounced off and rolled under the bed. "Ahh, now it's home."
"You just need a pile of clothes in the middle of the room." Circe observed.
"Give me a few days." Rex assured her.
"No, that's what a hamper is for!" Noah grabbed a flat disc. He gave it a flip and a cylinder unfolded. He handed it to Rex. "The red one is yours and the black one is mine."
Rex eyed his hamper disdainfully. "What's the point of a hamper?"
"So you can carry your clothes down to the laundry room?" Noah said.
When Rex just looked at him, he continued, "You know? To do laundry?"
"I have to wash my own clothes?" Realization dawned on Rex.
"Yes, as well as keep your side of the room neat. You're not rooming with a chimp anymore" Noah pointed out.
Rex looked stunned for a second. Then he raised his arms triumphantly. "Yes! I'm going to be doing my own laundry, like a normal person!"
"Believe me, Rex. Nothing about you is normal… even without the powers." Circe said dryly. "Now come on, let's go eat."
"I get to do laundry. I get to do laundry. I get to do laundry." Rex sang as he left the room. Claire giggled as Noah shook his head. Circe smirked as she closed the door to the dorm room. As soon as the door closed, the desk on Rex's side collapsed, spilling everything on it. The poster that he had hung up over his bed peeled off and floated onto the mattress. As soon as the poster hit the bed all four legs collapsed.
Dorm Room 1: Rex: 0
So what do you think Rex should vs next?