My Room? (Fletcher)

[Aaron Walker]

AJ had a habit of walking into the wrong dorm room. Usually he at least made it to the right dorm, although there had been a few times when he’d opened what he thought was his door only to be greeted by some screaming girl. He tried explaining to them that sometimes his feet had their own mind when his was busy thinking of something else, but they never seemed to buy it

So when he was greeted by a screaming female as he walked through the door to room 506, he wasn’t immediately aware of the fact that he was in the wrong room. He sank down on a chair, trying to work out in his head how he could build a hang-glider for him and Sam to try out, when he looked up to see Fletcher sitting in the room with him.

“Are you my new roommate or something?” he asked, still believing this was his dorm room. “I sure hope you know how to make wings, cuz I don’t have the slightest idea.”

“Oh yeah,” he said. “And welcome to Hammel! It’s a pretty cool place if you know where they keep the ice cream, which I do.” After all, new students were the reason for new roommates, right?

[Fletcher Walsh]

Fletcher was tucked up in a chair in his own dorm, reading a book and debating how long he could hide from humanity in here before they dragged him out by force. With one look at his face, anyone could tell the boy was stressed.

They'd taken the power blocker off of him yesterday. He'd been here a week and was no longer allowed to use it as a crutch, since he hadn't exactly been learning anything. His training sessions had been unproductive at best as he'd proved to be an increasingly unwilling pupil. He wanted nothing to do with his power, plain and simple.

The single saving grace for Fletcher's sanity was that his abilities were not as strong now as they had been at first. He wasn't catching anything from most people. Only from the trainer who'd touched him to show him something, and that girl who'd passed him in the halls in tears. So it seemed it was only by touch, or from people experiencing extremely powerful surges in emotion.

Still, it was more than he wanted.

He felt rubbed raw and exhausted still, despite all the extra sleep he'd been getting. He hadn't been going to classes regularly yet, and they'd excused him for now, but how long?

He'd have given anything for his life back.

Fletcher was deep in these thoughts when the door opened and a guy walked in and sat down. Fletcher ignored him at first, assuming it was either Aiden or Michael, but looked up when he was addressed to find that it wasn't either boy. They still had one free room in here, maybe this guy was new to the school...

Or not.

"Uh. Maybe? This has been my dorm for a week, though, so unless you've changed dorms recently..."

Fletcher folded down the corner of the page he'd been reading and set the book down on the arm rest of the chair he was in, and blinked at the random tangents that were thrown at him.

"Wings? Like... chicken wings?"

Who didn't know how to make those? They were about as idiot proof a meal as there was. Cover wings in sauce, put wings in the oven in a pan and cook them. But they had a cafeteria, so what did this guy need to cook wings for?

"I... uh, thanks."

He would reserve judgement on the coolness of the school, ice cream or no ice cream. He hated it here so far and wasn't sure how likely that was to change.

[Aaron Walker]

“You’ve been here a week?” AJ asked, scratching the side of his head. He may not have been the best a remembering people, but even he usually noticed when someone moved into his room. Well after a day or so maybe, but a week was pushing it even for AJ.

“I don’t think I’ve changed rooms…” he started. The wheels were turning fast in his head trying to work this out. He was on his way to check the number on the door when the boy asked him about chicken wings.

“Chicken wings?” he said. “Nah, not nearly big enough. Unless it’s like chicken-zilla or something. More like…what’s that flying dinosaur? Pterodactyl? Yea…that might work.” He sat back down trying to picture how it would work in his head.

AJ grinned when the boy thanked him, always happy to help. “You’re welcome. I’m AJ, by the way. Welcome to room 502!”

[Fletcher Walsh]

Chicken-zilla? Pterodactyl? What the hell was this kid on? Better yet, where could Fletcher get some?

"Dude, what are you talking about?"

Maybe it was just because Fletcher was the kind of bone deep exhausted that caused nothing to make sense, but he wasn't following this kid at all. With a sigh, he let one of his legs drop from the chair, shifting into a more relaxed position.

This kid's hyper-activity and disjointedness would have been prime material for Fletcher's torment only a week ago. A week that seemed like an entire lifetime. How did everything change so completely and so quickly, and without giving him the slightest bit of warning? It wasn't fair. He hadn't warmed to the idea yet in the slightest, and he wanted to rage and scream and lash out, just take out his frustration and anger and most of all, fear, on the nearest target. It didn't matter who.

But that had all been robbed from him. Maybe this was karma, or the universe's idea of a sick joke, but it sure as hell wasn't funny to Fletcher.

He quirked an eyebrow when the boy welcomed him to a room he wasn't in, and shook his head.

"Thanks, AJ, but I've never been in room 502. This is room 506."

This kid really was out to lunch. However... he seemed genuine, sweet, and naive. All things that could make a person extremely useful if they were played right. Fletcher didn't have a social leg to stand on, but perhaps, if he played his cards right with this kid, he could manage to get one.

[Aaron Walker]

AJ laughed at boy’s question, thinking he was trying to make a joke. It was a few second’s later when he realized the boy was actually serious. “Oh,” he said, looking a little sheepish. “Wings…you know…like to fly with?” He flapped his arms a couple of times to get his point across further. “I wanna make a hang glider. Wanna help? It’s gonna be awesome.” He grinned like the boy had already said yes.

He could already see himself, swooping down off the roof like an eagle and gliding over everyone’s heads. He started giggling in excitement and anticipation about the idea.

The giggle died when his brain finally processed what the other boy had said. “What?” he yelled, running towards the door to check out the number written on it. “Oh man, not again.” He walked back inside flopping back down on a chair, his head in his hands. “Why does this always happen? I need one of those…whatyamacallits…a GPS thingy.”