Fragments, (Closed, Alec)

[Vakarian]

Roman Draune sat by himself near the window, staring into a black cup of coffee. The aroma relaxed his senses, but the anger did not fade. He felt it coiled in his shoulders, like a boxer waiting for an opportunity to strike. Necessity. That is why I am here. Keaton may not be able to support my research any longer, but that does not mean I have to stop. I can work under my own auspices. At home. And to that end, I have acquired another job. Now, I have to eliminate all unnecessary expenses.

His thin lips pressed together,and he raised the cup to his lips, taking a sip. The bitter liquid was refreshing. Jetzt. A roommate. There would be a way to ameliorate the situation. This need not be as bad as I imagine. Awkward teenage years had been left behind, but memories resurfaced, hated emotions. I will be good. This is unavoidable. Unavoidable situation! I will make the best of it. I will--be--good.

He looked up from his coffee, willing himself into good posture, a presentable appearance. He passed his hands over his face, as if to rip away his unhappiness and replace it with a neutral mask. And with his mask in place, Roman awaited Alec, his potential roommate.

Make it work. You have no other choice.

[mouse]

Like his potential roommate, Alec is in somewhat dire straits. He's been doing a post-grad degree at KU and he's been living entirely off money provided by the University. Unfortunately it's now summer, so there's no uni allowance and no money to fly home. Alec's stranded in Bayfield, high, dry, and barely capable of paying his rent. He's moonlighting as a research assistant and bartender but that's barely paying his bills, so he figured a roommate is the best solution. He's pretty sure he's tough enough to deal with it. After Kelly - the crazed hippie girl who he shared a room with for the first four years of college, who played Nirvana all the time - he figures he can take anyone.

He saunters into the Half-Baked Bean, an acceptable five minutes late, and takes a look around. Spotting someone who looks like he might be a single man in need of a flat, he gives the dude a stellar smile and a jaunty wave.

Going over to the man's table, he takes off his sunglasses (square, frameless, mirrored). It's a smooth gesture.

"Roman Draune?"

He hopes he's not butchering the pronunciation here.

[Vakarian]

“Yes,” Roman replied, looking up at a young man of medium height with short, almost close shaven hair. Either light brown or blonde. Too short to tell. Metal in the ears. He may be a punk gentleman, pretending there is consolation in nihilism. Sometimes even fashion. I don’t understand these children. History is unmoved by agony and that is a greater tragedy. Look at anyone past forty and the suffering is written across their face.

“Alexander Swan, I assume. Please, have a seat,” Roman continued, motioning to the empty chair across from him. Draune did not smile, but his earnest eyes caught hold of Alec’s and did not let go.

Most people would have begun with small talk, but Draune never understood that form of courtesy. Roman went right to the point of the meeting. “We have much to discuss. You are already familiar with the rent. What are your expectations coming into this arrangement?”

[mouse]

Alec won't pretend he's not a little thrown by the man's abrupt manners and total lack of contractions. It's disconcerting. He sits down anyway. "Alec, please," he tells Draune. No one ever calls him Alexander. There's not a particular reason for this, it's just how it turned out.

"Lucky for you I'm both flawless and easygoing," Alec tells him, flashing a winning smile. It's hard to tell if he's joking. "Basically if you pay your half of the rent I'm pretty unlikely to complain." Even as he's talking he's twisting one of the rings in his ear, totally unable to sit still.

[Vakarian]

Draune sits completely still, his only movement to take another sip of coffee. The smile Alec gives him Draune cannot comprehend, and he wonders if Alec is being condescending or genuinely finds something amusing about the situation. I would blame it on my age, but the truth is that even when I was his age I did not understand. He doesn’t smile back.

“Alec, then,” Roman affirms. “Let’s continue. I don’t want to lecture but I feel it best to say this right now. From my experience most living arrangement problems result from two things: insufficient boundaries and a lack of communication. What’s mine is mine. What’s yours is yours. I am private, and I will accord you the same privacy. I am not concerned about messes or noise, but don’t throw a party every night. Communication—if you are having a problem, you need to tell me about it. And vice versa. Otherwise the situation will only get worse. That’s everything, unless there is something you would like to add.”

He takes another sip of his coffee, and notes that the mug is now half empty. The urge to be somewhere else begins to crawl inside of him, but Roman keeps the uneasiness off of his face. Don’t screw it up.

[mouse]

Alec is already getting the overwhelming impression that this guy is an asshole and that this venture is a bad idea. The guy not only comes off as a jerk but also as a creep. And while Alec is a fairly nice person, he'd rather not have to worry about his room mate sticking arsenic in his coffee. And he'd also honestly rather not have to worry about them flipping out because he borrowed half a cup of their milk.

But the rent's due this week and he doesn't exactly have the money, so he supposes he'll have to deal with it. And then ditch this guy at the first possible moment. Unless of course Draune turns out to be nice and cuddly on the inside. Which is possible, but doesn't seem likely.

"That sounds fine," he tells Draune, still sounded perfectly jovial.