Room 401, Friday Morning

[nottrivial]

Just like every Friday, Alec had work to get to today and training drills to run. But unlike every Friday, by as late as ten o'clock in the morning, he was sitting in his room, eating cereal and staring at a Christmas tree.

The sitting-around-eating-cereal aspect of it was actually probably the stranger one, and had a bit to do with the fact that yesterday had been... kind of a new experience for him. It also had something to do with the fact that the aforementioned Christmas tree was kind of in the way of the door, and he was feeling loose and relaxed enough for once in his life to not actively put in the effort to get rid of it.

Meanwhile, it wasn't really a huge surprise that a tree was there -- like Alec and Sparkle had talked about last night, all kinds of Christmas things had been popping up lately, and acknowleding them had probably contributed in some way to making them show up in his room. Even though he knew Victor was kind of religious, Alec doubted his roommate had gone so far as to bring a giant tree up four flights of stairs, so he was content pinning the blame on Fandom.

He didn't know what to think of Fandom's apparent decision to shower the tree in glitter, but he wasn't going to argue. He just wasn't going to get too close, either.

[[open door, open post! beware glittery pine needle showers should you enter, la la la.]]

Comments

[ultron_junior]

"There's a tree in our room."

Yes, yes, most likely millions of dollars worth of technology and expertise had gone into making him, and that was the best Victor could come up with when he returned from class. "...Alec, why is there a tree in our room?"

[nottrivial]

"So you didn't have anything to do with it either." Not to worry, Victor, Alec was just as perceptive and intelligent as you were, apparently! "Probably the island, then. I guess at least it isn't more mistletoe?"

Okay, he'd appreciated the mistletoe. But that didn't mean he wanted it in his room.

[ultron_junior]

"Island thing. At least the tree's not as pushy," Victor agreed with a small nod. He brought a hand up, hesitated before actually touching any branches. "But it is going to cover everything in here in needles and glitter."

[nottrivial]

"Probably," Alec agreed. "I thought about trying to move it, but..."

He didn't actually want to be covered in needles and glitter for the rest of his life, was the thing.

"Maybe it'll just disappear at the end of the day."

[ultron_junior]

"Most of this stuff does," Victor said. "And, hey, holiday spirit. That's kind of nice, right? Don't worry about moving it, I'll chuck it out the window if it's still here Sunday."

[nottrivial]

"That works for me," Alec decided. "Just let me know if you need any help." Because this was the room of superpowered show-offs, it seemed.

"How are you doing apart from the, uh, random plants?"

[ultron_junior]

Really, it was a waste of superpowers if you didn't show them off once in a while. Victor nodded appreciatively at Alec's offer, then quirked a smile.

"I'm good," he said. "Glad the semester's over, mostly. I'm going out to California for at least part of break. What about you?"

[nottrivial]

"I might go home for a while too," Alec said with a nod. "Depending on what my brother wants to do. It seems like a lot of people are planning on it, so you shouldn't miss much, I don't think."

...

"Except... possibly more Christmas things."

[ultron_junior]

"Probably in two weeks or so it'll switch over to New Year's things?" Victor offered. "Honestly, I'll be happy if we all stay in our right minds for a while."

[nottrivial]

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind the reduction in drumming noise," Alec agreed a little wryly. Living with beatnik Victor had been a special experience, okay. "Unless the island decides that what we really need is to all be suddenly convinced we have a burning desire to stage a loud New Years' parade."

[ultron_junior]

"I hope not," Victor said fervently. "I did about all the drumming I want to do, like, ever last week. Plus, marching is lame."

[nottrivial]

[[YOU ARE SO MEAN FOR TAKING AWAY THE TINY POSEY ICON. SO MEAN.]]

"It is," Alec agreed. "I prefer the tree. Actually, I should let Sparkle know; he was talking about never having had a Christmas tree before..."

That was said more to himself than to Victor, but it resulted in a tiny blush all the same.

[ultron_junior]

Victor eyed him. "Hold on, are you blushy about Sparkle?"

[nottrivial]

"Um." 'Aaaaaaaah' might be a more appropriate answer, but Alec had some self-control, dammit. "I mean, I was talking about him, yes."

[ultron_junior]

"Uh-huh." Victor raised an eyebrow, but asked no more. "This is probably nice for him, then. If he never got to have a tree."

[nottrivial]

Alec nodded. Awkwardly, because if anyone could manage to do something as simple as nodding in an awkward way, it was Alec. "Hopefully he got one in his own room, but if not, I can let him know to come, um, look at ours." Awkward nod, awkward nod... "Are you friends with him?"

[ultron_junior]

"We're cooking buddies," Victor explained. "He lets me do things like make pickle-chocolate chip cookies and doesn't bitch about it. Cool guy. You know him?"

[nottrivial]

"Yeah, we... went to a club one time." Note how totally Alec-esque that sounded, Victor. Except that it didn't at all. "And I was showing him how to shoot a little while ago. Did you say pickle-chocolate chip?"

Yeah, those sounded like the worst things ever.

[ultron_junior]

"They were good!" Victor said defensively. "Like ... salted caramel, except with pickle for the salt and chocolate chips for the caramel."

No one but Sparkle appreciated robot taste buds. It was tragic.

And yeah, the club didn't much sound like Alec. "And that's cool. You're kind of getting each other out of your comfort zones, I guess."

[nottrivial]

"...Yeah, I guess so." The resulting smile spreading across Alec's face was just a tiny bit larger than the situation strictly called for, so he wound up looking like a bit of a dork. "You -- I mean, you're dating someone, aren't you?"

[ultron_junior]

"Olive, yeah," Victor said, and now it was his turn for a dorky little smile. "You and Sparkle?"

It wasn't the relationship that made the most sense on its surface, but compared to Gert and Chase it was practically logical.

[nottrivial]

"I guess," Alec said, scratching the side of his neck a bit, and there was that blush again. "I mean, I wasn't planning on telling the whole school or anything--" and by that he mostly meant Jace, because come on, like Alec even knew more than three people-- "But, uh, it looks like it."

[ultron_junior]

Victor held up his hands. "It's your thing, Alec. Yours and Sparkle's. I'm not going to run around telling people. Just stick a sock on the door if you need the room, okay?"

He might have added that last part to see if he could get Alec to blush even more.

[nottrivial]

Sadly, he didn't blush so much as blink once or twice. Tragic. Victor would clearly have to step up his game.

"I... don't think that should be an issue," he said, partly just not understanding what he would need the room for. It would probably hit him in about twenty minutes and the blushing would start in full force. "But, uh, the same to you."