“Come on! We’re gonna be late!”
“Geez, why are we”-yawn- “running?”
“Because you slept in!”
“I’ll make it up alright? Sheesh!”
“You’re the worst mentor ever.”
The spectacle of a harried orc dragging a human along caused quite a stir in the early morning hours that Monday. Dodging students still burdened with late-night classes, and the occasional carrier phoenix, the two barely got to the campus tram on time.
Breathing heavy, and lightly sweaty from the short marathon of that morning’s rush, Adit barely managed to flop their head over to pointedly look at the jerk responsible for dragging them out of bed at an ungodly 3:00 in the morning.
“Next time,” panted Adit. “You do this yourself. Don’t drag me out of bed at the asscrack of dawn for this.”
To illustrate their point, they slumped further in the cold, blue seat.
“We’ve got an hour till they open, anyways.”
“Maybe you should get used to waking up early,” came the breathy reply.
“Maybe you should shove that idea up your pretty little arse,” spat Adit
***
“Three…two… one… open!”
Adit and Dhurgan rushed inside, eager to get their hands on the first fresh baked desserts.
“I’m never doing this with you again,” grouched the human as they sipped some morning aether.
“That’s fine, I’ll just get lost around the campus again and fail this semester,” lamented Dhurgan.
“Fucking drama queen.”
The early spring chill settled on the two friends as they headed to their first class. Swinging open the first teakwood door, they entered the General Studies building.
“Have fun wooing your omega, Dhurgan.”
“There’s no wooing, you blockhead,” Dhurgan sighed tiredly.
“Sure, there isn’t,” called Adit as they sauntered down the hallway to General Biology
Dhurgan shook her head as she pushed open the door to Calculus. Adit had teased her all night about the temerity of pursuing a friendship with a prick like Homraz.
“He can’t be that bad, can he?”
“Sure, he isn’t: if you’re into edgelords times infinity.”
“No one’s into anyone, sheesh.”
She’d find out for herself once she opened that door.
***
The empty classroom, save for a slumped over elf and a human two rows down from him seemed to shrink in comparison to Dhurgan.
‘Bestos, was she always that tall?’ wondered Homraz. He hadn’t noticed her size due to the mostly confrontational nature of their interactions.
She towered in the small space. At least eight-feet, which was tall even for an alpha. And that wasn’t just height. The obnoxious carmine tee (which proudly proclaimed ‘Hunk’) seemed stretched past capacity, deftly hugging her chest and abs. She had a black bombers jacket that clung to her biceps and stopped just above her waist and river blue ripped jeans caressing those powerful thighs. A necklace of red siriam bear fangs adorned her neck, alternated with khol square pendants. Her curly, ginger hair hung over her broad shoulders.
“Hey, dude!”
“It’s fucking 3:45. What’re you doing up so early?”
“I had a surprise for you!”
“What is this, a birthday party?”
“Aw, lighten up,” she pouted, sliding a box over to him.
“The palikos is this?” Homraz growled, peeking inside. A sweet aroma wafted from the box.
“Fresh snufftoads with iggyberry filing and caramelized bushboar pieces on top!”
“How’d you-”
“I just thought you’d have a sweet tooth,” she beamed.
“Why?”
“Consider it a peace offering!”
The charming deserts were still warm. Did she wake up that early just to get him some pastries?
“They’re too hot,” Homraz groused, tearing into the largest snufftoad.
“Sure they are,” laughed Dhurgan.
The two settled into an awkward silence until a small growl, once again, ripped through the quiet.
“Bestos, did’ ya swallow a direwolf or something?”
“Nah, just forgot to eat this morning.” She checked her phone. “And the class is about to start. Joy.”
“Here,” he mumbled, pushing the box across the desk. “You bought too much.”
“You don’t have to-Mnf!”
She was cut off by a burst of sweetness in her mouth.
“Shut up. It’s still too damn early.”
Just then, the bell rang.
Dhurgan quickly swallowed the half-eaten snufftoad and slid the box under the double desk.
"Good morning students. Welcome to the first math class of this semester, also known as Palikos itself. Feel free to groan at the pause," droned the professor, sounding not quite alive.
Judging by the moan of despair that rose from the disconsolate classroom, the professor wasn't lying.
***
The next class of the day had been Natural History. Dhurgan was completely shocked when she found out Falonde didn't teach the subject due to "controversial nature". Or, as Homraz put it, "utter and total bull."
After that was Alchemy, World Religions, and World history. Out of the six classes they had, half of them were Homraz's favorites. Dhurgan didn't particularly enjoy Alchemy and Calculus if her low marks on the placement assessments were anything to go by.
But the last class, physical education, was a fitting end to the draining day. Here, she was completely in her element as the coach went through a couple of pacer exercises and some agility training.
She got many compliments from the coach and some other classmates as the classes were dismissed for the day. Turning to Homraz, she checked on him to see how much fun he was having. The omega had run laps around some ogre and was in a verbal, turned physical altercation, with the jerk.
“Say that to my face, I dare you!”
"It ain't my fault you tripped over your own shoelace for Bestos sake," snickered the ogre.
“You fucking tripped me! It’s your fault you ain’t fast enough to outrun me!”
"You wanna go, tiny?!"
Dhurgan really didn't want that great first day to end with her new friend having died trying to fight a dude three times his size.
“Hey, Homraz!” called Dhurgan jogging up to him. She must’ve had more sway than she thought because Homraz immediately stopped with his fist inches away from the oni’s nose.
“The heck do you want?” he shouted gruffly.
“Just came to see how you were doing! The pacers were pretty hard, huh?”
“If you can’t tell, I’m about to kick some arse over here!” Homraz snarled
“Aren’t you tired from running though?” Dhurgan laughed. “I don’t know about you, but those first two tests took a lot out of me!”
That seemed to disarm Homraz a bit. Turning back to the jerk that started the fight, Homraz yelled, "Hope ya choke on a snufftoad. "
As Dhurgan laughed at Homraz's antics, she flashed a small growl at the ogre. She wasn't above baring her tusks to a troublemaker.
"Your shirts shrink in the wash or something?"
Dhurgan looked down at the fitted black tank top and red basketball shorts.
"Nope, just hard to find things in my size."
Pausing a bit, Homraz growled, “I didn’t need your help back there.”
“I didn’t say you did.”
Amber-yellow eyes, constricted by rings of black, locked onto wooden brown ones with an awkward pause.
“Yeah, well don’t interfere next time,” he huffed.
“So I can watch you get torn apart by another person you pissed off?”
“I would’ve decked him!”
“And probably died in the process.”
“I’m not some weak omega in need of saving! The sooner you get that into your head, the better!” Homraz yelled, pushing Dhurgan, though it did little to move her.
Silence strangled whatever life the conversation had left, and lasted till the two got to the dorms.
"Night, Homraz."
"Whatever, " he called back tiredly.
Dhurgan’s heart sank at that a little bit.
‘It’s okay,’ she reminded herself. ‘As long as I make an effort, I’ll get through to him.’
Adit was in the dorm commons playing Warlock’s Warden when Dhurgan tiredly trudged inside.
“She lives another day!”
“Har-de-har har,” sighed Dhurgan.
“Can’t I celebrate? My new charge went to school with a sociopath, and came back in one piece!”
“He isn’t a sociopath. Just, well, cranky!”
As the words left her mouth, Durgan hoped she’d grow to believe them.
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