jaxton | (no subject)

The night class routine was the product of what had become an extremely unhealthy sleeping schedule. Truth be told, that was about all it came down to. It wasn't like he had to work long hours or had to manage a family during the day. Nope. Stan just. Didn't sleep a whole lot. And when he did, it tended to be when the sun was up.

He's taking his time making his way to his next class, half tempted to hit up the vending machines before he goes there. Maybe grab a coke. Maybe show up fashionably late. He does in fact hear someone calling out in his direction. Shockingly, he initially doesn't reply. Because Stacy's definitely that chick in the front with the unibrow, right?

Except that voice is getting closer and maybe it's just instinct, but Stan's pretty sure who-the-fuck-ever is talking to him. He chances a glance behind him, only to see that One Guy from last class approaching him. First impression of said guy reeked of keg parties with a dash of really-terrible-indie band. Probably the bassist. Likely hadn't reached Prestige Mode in Blops 3 yet.

"Yeah. That's me. Stacy." And he's back to looking straight ahead of him. "Seriously, dude?"

Stacy was a gender-neutral name, right? He's pretty sure Stacy is a gender neutral name. It's really not meant to be an insult, which is why Leo looks a little confused when he catches up with Stan, that same sort of lopsided grin on his face.

Look: Leo is used to a certain type of treatment from his peers, and so far? This guy is literally - and inexplicably - the only person in the entire class who hasn't been giving him moon eyes. Honestly, it rankles him a little bit. So, not that he's particularly interested in tapping that... he just wants to make a point of the fact that he could, you know. If he wanted to.

Stan's lackluster response isn't inspiring much confidence, though, so he redoubles his effort.

"You busy? Thought we could grab a bite and go over the homework together."

He's noticed it. The seemingly magnetic personality that Leo apparently has on his peers. Truth be told, Stan just sort of shrugs it off as Leo being that One Kid. There's one in every class, right? Someone that soaks up the limelight. Frankly, he doesn't see it or get it. Passes it off as just another cocky college dude. Perks of majoring in the fine arts or something. You get the Premium Douchebaggery of the campus.

Stan stops in front of one of the vending machines, fishing around in his pocket for a few crumpled up bills (undoubtedly covered in Dorito dust) and some change.

"Is anything even open right now? Unless you're jonesing for stale bagels and day old coffee sludge at the Union." It wasn't really a no per se, but it probably wasn't the enthusiastic yes that Leo was used to.

What in the world. While Stan is busy digging through his pockets for gross gamer money, Leo is just left squinting at him in complete bafflement. The expression evaporates the moment that he looks up, though; no need to let this guy in on the fact that he's currently confused as hell.

"There's a Waffle House a few blocks from campus," he attempts cheerfully. "I'll buy."

Goddamn. Is he seriously offering to set foot inside a Waffle House? Volunteering it, even? Jesus he must be desperate, and he cringes internally at himself.

Stan's literally miliseconds away from shoving sweaty dollar bills into the machine for an obligatory midnight snack of Cheetos when--Waffle House. He pauses. Slowly turns to face the other man as if to say really?

Because even Stan's intuitive enough to realize that Leo isn't exactly a Waffle House kind of guy. Looks more like the EINSTEIN BAGELS or Starbucks type. But still, he acknowledges the offer with half a smirk. "Free blueberry waffles? You that desperate to figure out how Joseph Campbell parallels Tolkien?" Yes, they have one of those new hip teachers that put Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter in their curriculum.

"Fine. But for future reference, it's Stan. Hell, I was trying to make it easier on you guys."

He'd been witnessed to too many times at Einstein's. He tended to avoided them, if only because Jesus wasn't really his Thing.

But Leo shrugs slightly, one palmed upturned in an 'eh' gesture. It's true: he hates Waffle House. Honestly, he wouldn't even be giving Stan a second look here if Stan hadn't been playing Hard to Get. It was a pride thing, okay.

"So I'm having a little trouble with the Campbell reading. Sue me, Stan. Actually - what's your real name?"

Stan, meet the whitest half-Asian vampire dude you will ever encounter.

Ignorantly playing Hard to Get, mind you. Stan always brushed off the fact that he seemed to be in the minority when it came to ogling Leo because--he was a rebel? Didn't roll with the newest trends? Hell, he didn't know. His types tended to be fictional people with impossible standards.

"Shen Zhao Zilong." Stan retorted before giving Leo a firm pat on the shoulder. Because yes dude, your whiteness is blinding. "But stick with Stan. Only my dad uses my real name, and it's typically when he's pissed."

With that, he shoved the crumpled up money back in his pocket and hiked his bag over his shoulder. "As for Campbell, he's really pretty straight forward. His formula's the same crap any decent author has been regurgitating for centuries. You just gotta break it down."

He was starting to suspect that maybe there was more to the other guy than he was leading on. Maybe he had some kind of protection charm, or ... or what? Or something.

His eyebrows flash up at the pat on the shoulder, but the money returning to his pocket is a good sign. Leo nods toward the door, indicating that he'll lead the way as he starts talking.

"You really know what you're talking about, huh." Smooth. Always compliment them. That should win him over, right??

There probably was some genetic family lineage that Stan wasn't currently aware of. Hell, as far as he knew, vampires and werewolves were exclusive to tabletop gaming and Kate Beckinsale. Also Gary Oldman. God Keanu needed to stick to Wachowski films.

Anyway, Stan followed Leo out the door, miraculously out of his own free will and craving for free midnight munchies. Shocking what tempting a 20 year old college student will do.

"It's called Sparknotes." Yes. He still used Sparknotes. "But yeah, it tends to make you sound smarter than you actually are."

"What the hell is Sparknotes?"

Look: he's a vampire, and he's like sixty years old, and looking like you're twenty doesn't immediately give you the aptitude of a twenty year old when it comes to technology. He has a laptop, just because it's the best way to keep yourself entertained when you're stuck inside literally all day, but he mostly only uses it for Netflix and Hulu.

He doesn't even have adblock enabled.

That question is enough to stall him.

Stan stops in his tracks, his hand instantly digging into the pocket of his (Modern Warfare 3) hoodie to fetch his phone. "Okay, so by getting in this school, I'm assuming you graduated from high school. My only question is..."

He pulls up Sparknotes and promptly jabs the phone into Leo's chest. "... how the hell did you pass any of your English classes without this? There was no way in hell I was gonna have time for both raids and sex if I actually read the entirety of Great Expectations."

Leo takes the phone, a little startled, flipping through some of the links. Huh. Neat. Totally cheating, but neat at the same time. He'd have to keep this site in mind in case he ran into a book that he didn't love.

Casually, he pulls up the contacts menu, starting to walk again as he keys his own number into Stan's phone.

"What the hell is a raid?" Said lightly, casually. He didn't normally have to talk to people this much, okay; he's learning a lot here.

"Early days. Small potatoes gaming. Caverns of Time, Onyxia's Lair--" Stan cuts himself off, glancing over at Leo's somewhat... bewildered expression. Christ, what the hell did this guy do back in those days? Maybe he was a theater nerd. He looked like the type.

Then, he allowed his gaze to slowly drift down to register that yeah, Leo was sniping his phone number. "World of Warcraft. I'm recovering. Three years clean now." Not really. He'd just graduated from MMOs to military shooters. "But it's like a thing where you get online with a bunch of friends and you all go take down a super powerful enemy or handfuls of them."

Talking about his embarrassingly neckbeardy hobby here like it ain't even a thing. Maybe this is why Leo's charms don't work. Because from what Stan's saying here, it sounds like he doesn't get a helluva lot of actual human interaction.

"Oh. Video games," Leo says, as a veil has been lifted and suddenly everything makes sense. Which isn't to say he understands Stan at all, but it explains why all of that was so goddamn incomprehensible to him.

He passes the phone back, rounding the corner and slipping his hands into his pockets. Hey there, buddy. He's walking awfully close to you here.

"Are they fun? I've played, uh - Mario." Like Mario 2. A long-ass time ago.

Leo was giving off all kinds of weird vibes. Granted, Stan just deducts that maybe the guy isn't as socially savvy as he'd assumed. Maybe there's some pent up social anxiety there and the poor guy doesn't have a whole lotta' friends. Not knowing Sparknotes, living in the Golden Age of Nintendo.

"Mario's cool." Stan casually tosses out, not even registering that whole physical closeness thing. "I'm gonna take a shot in the dark here and say that you haven't played Super Smash Bros." Calling it before Leo even has a chance to cover his ass.

"But hey, you uh--just kinda' sniped my number, so if you ever wanna come over to my place an jam, I can totally introduce you." You can even play AS Mario. Leo's fav.

He has friends. He totally has friends. They're just the kind of friends that roll their eyes at the whole "taking classes" thing, so, you know. It's whatever. He doesn't typically befriend humans, just because it was pretty much impossible to get past the part where they tend to end up kind of immediately infatuated with him. Flattering and fun in the short term, but pretty fucking annoying when it came to long-term relationships.

"That an invite?" He asks casually, pulling out his own phone (a. flip!!! phone!!!!!!) to check the time. "Maybe you should show me tonight. I'm free."

Good to know. Stan doesn't tend to befriend humans either. Like. Real live humans in person. Guildmates and clans don't count. Two socially awkward individuals on different sides of the spectrum. It's meant to be.

Stan does eye that flip phone though. Holy shit. What century does this guy live in? Granted, he's a tech junkie when it comes to phones but really? Maybe it's some kind of retro fashion statement or something.

"I got tomorrow off so sure. I can grease up your training wheels a bit and squeeze in a few rounds." Probably sounded dirtier than it was supposed to. But hey, nerdspeak. "You still owe me those waffles though."

"How about I order a pizza for us tonight and we'll get waffles after class next week?" Smooth, right? He was pretty sure he was being smooth. Also, he can't exactly tell if that's innuendo or not - grease up your training wheels? Did people actually talk like that?

He shakes it off, slipping his phone and his hands back into his pockets.

"You want me to drive?"

It doesn't actually occur to him that the guy might live in a dorm.

"So long as we aren't talking Hot n' Readies, I'm down." Hey, if the guy was offering to splurge on Waffle House for him, he might as well try and milk him out of cheap pizza.

But that second part... about driving? The fuck?

"You commute or something? 'Cuz I mean, you're welcome to drive but it's about a two minute walk to Mackey hall." He jabs his thumb behind them, gesturing in the general direction of the alleged dormitories. "My roomie's probably out anyway. He tends to spend the night at his girlfriend's. I think. Honestly, I haven't seen the guy since classes started."

Huh. He remembers when Mackey Hall was being built. Weird.

Regardless, he's never actually been inside any of the dorms - this is actually a pretty interesting opportunity for him. "Oh. Yeah. I'm a commuter. No way I'm living on campus." He pauses, then shoots Stan a mock-apologetic look. "No offense. Lead the way?"

"None taken," he replied, opting to cut across the grass instead of, you know, taking the actual path. Slacker habits die hard. "I'd ditch this shithole if I wasn't running on a scholarship too." Truth be told, Stan's dorm was the textbook definition of said "shithole."

Arriving at the steps of the building, he flashed his card in front of the reader. The doors unlocked with a click and they were in. "Whereabouts do you live, anyway? I wanna get a general idea of an escape plan for next year."

"Uh-" He glanced at the door, as if wondering if he was gonna need to flash some sort of key of his own, and seemed vaguely relieved when he was just able to follow Stan inside. "About fifteen miles out, I guess? Old family house with my sisters."

He shrugged once, the expression dismissive as he tried not to seem as interested in the shitty architecture of the dorm as he was.

"I don't really recommend it."

"Sisters," he repeated, putting emphasis on the plural. "Damn, you must be good. I know for a fact I'd go insane holed up with mine and I only have one of 'em." He shuddered a bit at the thought. Don't get him wrong. He loved the kid, but between that and an uptight cop of a dad, college was a nice vacation.

After meandering down a couple halls, he stopped in front of one of the dorm rooms. The door was plastered in various quippy edge-lord bumper stickers, superhero posters, and Call of Duty magazine clippings. God help everyone. Stan fumbled around in his pocket, procured a key and jammed it in the door knob. He had to put a bit of shoulder into opening it. Fucking humidity in these old buildings didn't really help.

And upon entering, there was an abrupt whiff of... manstink. B.O., Axe, ramen noodles, weed and old laundry. Stan didn't explain himself. No apologies. He just entered the cluttered room, kicking aside some clothes and books to make something of a pathway for Leo.

(no subject)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

SORRY I HAD AN RP DRY SPELL FOR LIKE A WEEK