Chapter Text
“What do you mean I’m getting a roommate?” Dan screamed at the suited man standing in front of him.
“I mean exactly that,” The man replied, not at all fazed by the younger man’s loud and angry tone.
“I’m a level five,” Dan stated simply, “I’m not allowed to have a roommate.”
At The Academy for Gifted Individuals, every student is given a level ranking based on how dangerous their individual abilities make them. Level ones aren’t much more dangerous than an average person, and usually they don’t spend much longer than a few months at the academy learning how to control their abilities before being set back into the “real world” again.
Level two and three individuals typically have stronger and more intense powers. Generally, it doesn’t take them more than a year or two to learn how to control their abilities, and after a few tests to make sure that they aren’t going to potentially harm normal people, they get sent back to normal society. Some level threes have to check in with the academy every two years to make sure that they still aren’t a threat to the general public, but that’s only in extreme cases.
Level fours are individuals who have such intense and hard to control powers that more often than not they end up damaging people or property before being sent to The Academy. They are only allowed to live with either other level fours or exceptionally powerful level threes for safety reasons. Only about half of level four individuals are ever cleared as safe enough to return to normal society; the other half typically opt to live at The Academy permanently or work for special teams in the government.
Level Fives are threats to national or global security. Nearly all of them have been involved in serious crimes such as robbery, assault, or murder either because they didn’t know how to control their abilities or on occasion because they knew average people wouldn’t be able to stop them. They aren’t allowed roommates for safety reasons and they rarely have lessons with lower level individuals for the same reasons. Classes to learn to control their abilities are always one on one with their instructors instead of in groups like many of the lower level classes. Minus one or two exceptions, Level Fives don’t return to normal society and either work special government jobs or live at the school forever.
“I am aware of this Mr. Howell,” the suited man said, “but currently there are no more dorms at The Academy. Until we can get the funding and supplies to build a new wing, we are having to pair up the least violent Level Fives and have them live together.”
“Least violent?” Dan scoffed, “Check my file; I have six deaths under my name.”
“Those deaths are labeled as accidental, and you haven’t had any behavioral problems since arriving here. You can’t argue here Daniel. Your new roommate will be arriving later tonight, so I suggest you do whatever you need to do before then.”
With that, the man in the suit left, and Dan groaned in frustration as he fell back onto his sofa. Dan has never really been much of a people person to begin with, and he’s had minimal contact with other people since he joined The Academy nine years ago. He didn’t want to have to deal with a person, and he certainly did not want to be so close to one all the time. It’s exhausting enough having to keep his guard up at all times when he has classes; having to on guard even when he’s in his own home is going to be so much worse.
The clock that’s constantly projected onto the wall above his television reads 19:26 in large red numbers. New students are usually shown to their rooms around 8:30 so that the faculty and staff all have time to eat dinner, so Dan has roughly an hour to get his home ready to be shared with a slightly saner than usual fellow menace to society.
“I fucking hate this!” he yelled loudly to the room around him.
There was no response in the otherwise uninhabited space, so the brown eyed boy huffed and went to his soon to be shared bedroom, moving the pile of laundry that he was always too lazy to put away off of the spare second bed and onto the floor in front of his closet.
~*~*~*~*~
The front door opened without anyone having the courtesy to knock and another vaguely threatening looking man in a suit walked in with a tall, black haired and blue eyed boy following behind with a suitcase.
“This will be your dorm until the new wing is finished,” the man said, “and this is your roommate,” he said pointing to Dan who was playing Mario Kart.
“Thank you,” the blue eyed man said politely to his advisor.
“You’re welcome. Enjoy your night; you have a full day of classes starting tomorrow.”
The man in the suit left, and Dan’s new roommate awkwardly shuffled forward and stood beside the couch.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hi,” Dan replied, showing no interest in anything but his race.
“I’m Phil,” his roommate said when it was clear that Dan wasn’t going to start the introductions.
“So you are.”
Phil realized that the other boy wasn’t going to be much for conversation at the moment, so he skipped over the pleasantries.
“Where’s the bedroom?” he asked.
“End of the hall. Don’t touch any of my stuff,” Dan replied.
Phil nodded and quickly made his way to the bedroom sensing how much his presence wasn’t wanted at the moment. When Dan heard the door close, he paused the game and pulled out his laptop. He clicked on The Academy’s icon and pulled up the student records section.
“Let’s see what kind of freak we’re dealing with,” Dan whispered to himself.
Since he’s been living at the academy for most of his life and with his ability he’ll never be allowed back with the general public, Dan’s teacher Tyler gave Dan access to The Academy’s database so he could get used to the system for when he eventually gets a job with them. Although he does occasionally fiddle around with all of the programing enough to seem like he’s learning, he mostly just uses his security clearance to learn all of the dirty secrets about the new kids that come in.
Dan found Phil’s file and clicked on the general overview. All of the basic boring information popped up; his name is Philip Michael Lester. He’s 6’2’’ black hair and blue eyes. He’s Caucasian, his threat level is 5, and his criminal record is surprisingly empty. His ability, which normally is one of the first things listed in a person’s file, wasn’t showing up. Confused, Dan clicked to open the whole file, and a screen popped up informing him that he would need Level 7 security clearance to view this fine.
“What the fuck are you?” Dan said to his screen.
Dan currently had Level 5 security clearance, which is what the majority of the teachers have. Very rarely is a person’s ability kept confidential from most of the teachers. For the past four years the only person with a dangerous enough ability to need that level of security was Dan, and his file only needed level 6 security clearance for viewing. How could someone without a criminal record have a more dangerous power than Dan? Better yet, how could anyone have a more dangerous power than Dan at all?
He heard the door to his- now their- room opening, so he hastily shut his laptop and restarted his game of Mario Kart. Phil awkwardly walked down the hall to the living room, nervously touching his hair as he did so.
“Could you tell me where the bathroom is?” he asked.
“First door on the right,” Dan said flatly, nodding in that direction.
“Thank you,” Phil said before scurrying back down the hall.
Dan heard a bit of shuffling and, after a few minutes, he heard the shower start. Setting down his game controller again, he pulled out his cell phone and quickly dialed one of the only numbers he had saved in it.
“Sup Danny boy,” Tyler said cheerily from the other line.
“Please stop calling me that,” Dan grumbled in response.
“Never gonna happen,” Tyler said, “So why’re you calling me so late?”
“First off, it’s barely nine o’clock; this isn’t even close to late. Second, I need you to tell me about my new roommate.”
“You really need to find some hobbies outside of stalking every new student we get,” Tyler joked, “And you have your own laptop. Just pull up his file yourself.”
“I need Level 7 clearance to view his ability.”
“Well that sucks for you now doesn’t it?”
“Tyler!” Dan whined.
“Sorry Dan; I can’t give you classified information. It’s against the rules. You’re lucky I managed to get you Level 5 clearance in the first place, since you almost never use it for its actual purpose.”
“Ugh,” Dan groaned.
“Don’t get whiny,” Tyler said, “And besides, you graduate this year anyways. With how things are going you’ll be up on my level in two years easy.”
“Thanks Ty,” Dan said, rolling his eyes, “You’re so much help.”
“Anytime! See you tomorrow,” Tyler said before hanging up.
Dan threw his phone onto the coffee table and spread out on the couch, his freakishly long legs hanging over the end. The idea of living with someone was bad enough, but living with someone who was more dangerous than himself was just an accident waiting to happen.