Chapter Text
Mako was already in his room and set up when the sound of the door mechanism clicked and the room flooded with people. It felt like such an invasion of privacy that he felt downright sick to his stomach.
He didn’t want to have a roommate, but the college dorm system made getting a single room out of the price range for many. This was the case for Mako Rutledge and his family that worked really hard to make him the first of their family to go to college. He had actually signed up for a room with three roommates, but due to complications, he got switched last minute for no extra charge, which was lucky for him at least. He and his family had arrived hours earlier to set up his room, help him get settled and take a few photos. However, they didn’t stay long. His father and aunt had night jobs that they couldn’t get time off from and had to make the grueling 3 and a half hour journey back to their hometown.
Mako knew this must’ve been his roommate “Jamison”. He hadn’t gotten a chance for introductions as he was notified about the change the night before. He frowned at the lack of organization within the student housing system.
“Oi! You’re my roomie, yeah?” a distinctly Australian accent directed at him amongst the chatter of everyone else.
Mako nodded and looked back at his book. Maybe he should leave while their family was here, but he didn’t really have anywhere to go.
“Jamison, help us with these bags,” the boy’s mother requested.
Mako was surprised to hear that she didn’t have an Australian accent, and neither did the rest of his family. Adopted perhaps? Mako decided that he didn’t care and didn’t want to spend time thinking about it.
As they pulled Jamison’s things in the room, the claustrophobia from 5 people in one small dorm room set Mako on edge. He didn’t like it at all. The whole family was loud and things were everywhere. With a small, frustrated huff, Mako stood up with his book and walked out the door. He definitely didn’t want anything to do with his loud roommate and his loud family.
“Wait!”
Mako turned to see Jamison poking his head out of the door, blushing a bit.
“Me mum wants to say hi to you first before you go running off. It’s stupid but will you just come over here so she get’s off my back.”
Mako blinked a few times, “Why?’
“I dunno. She’s weird n’ sentimental n’ shit. Just come back right quick.”
He walked back slowly to see the pleasant looking blonde woman extend a hand to him, he took it and shook briefly to be polite.
“Hello, I’m Jamison’s mother, Angela. It’s nice to meet his roommate.”
“Uh, Hi. ‘m Mako,” he mumbled back.
Before he could turn away, the woman gestured to the younger girl in the room.
“And this is our daughter Hana, she’s still a bit young for college, but hopefully she’ll follow her brother’s footsteps.”
“Ok….” Mako said.
There was a loud crash further in the room as Jamison dropped a vase. Mako used it at his excuse to slip out unnoticed. Maybe it was time to find a hiding place for the rest of the year.
-
Mako didn’t come back to the room until after he ate dinner in the dining commons, wanting to allow the family ample time to vacate the premises. Hopefully, the room would be empty, and he would be able to scroll through the internet peacefully. But the moment he got to the dorm floor, and heard the heavy pounding of bass, he knew that this wouldn’t be the case.
“Mark! Hey! C’mere! I invited some friends over! Meet some of them!”
Mako saw his roommate looking right at him. He frowned.
“Mako.” he said.
“What?”
“My name. It’s Mako.”
“Right, sure, whatever. Get in here!”
Mako walked over and peeked in; at least 10 people were all shoved into the tiny room.
“No.” Mako said, barely able to be heard above the music.
“What was that again? You really gotta speak up there mate.”
“
” he practically shouted, “Get them out of here! Turn off that fucking music, it’s awful.”
Mako’s face was red with anger and embarrassment as everyone had turned to look at him, and a few of them were starting to whisper to each other. His legs shook, but he held his ground.
“What’s wrong with you?’ Jamison frowned, “It’s my room too.”
Mako was about to respond but one of the girls in the room spoke up, “Whatever, Jamie, he’s not worth it. Let’s go to my room, I got some beer from my older brother.”
“Yeah fuck it.”
There was a few minutes while people awkwardly got up and shuffled out of the room. The door slammed behind Mako and the loud music faded away as the group walked away. Somehow in a few hours, the whole room was already an absolute disaster. Things were strewn everywhere and the beds were rumpled. Someone had been sitting in his bed. An uncomfortable chill crept up his spine as the invasion of privacy was realized.
Mako felt like he was going to throw up when his hands touched his bed and the comforter was warm. He tore the blanket off and decided to change it before even thinking about sleeping in it. It took him a few minutes to get the bed changed and into his bed, but finally he was able to settle in and fall asleep. Maybe he’ll be able to forget about having the worst roommate ever.
-
Mako stirred a bit before waking up at about 8, and somehow the entire room was even messier than before. Jamison was in his bed, his limbs were sprawled awkwardly and half of him wasn’t even on the bed. It was now that Mako noticed something he hadn’t before. Thrown on the ground was two prosthetics, an arm and a leg. Jamison had two stumps on his right side, Mako was surprised that he hadn’t noticed before. He wondered passively what had happened to him. Sighing, Mako sat up and threw his legs over the edge of the bed and the bed creaked sharply in protest. This was not going to be a fun year, he decided. The ground was covered in things and not one of those things were his. Frustrated, he kicked everything in a pile onto the other side of the room. Maybe that would send the message.
Mako grabbed a change of clothes and trudged off to the bathrooms to change, No way he was going to change in his room when Jamison might wake up and see him. The idea of any situation like that happening left a sick knot in Mako’s stomach.
Yesterday, Mako walked all over campus and found a few quiet places, but they were pretty far away. So once he got dressed, He grabbed his ID card and walked to the dining commons to get breakfast. The novelty of dining commons food ensured that the room was packed. Voices echoed around the high ceiling and amplified the hundreds of shouting conversations to near deafening levels. Mako couldn’t find any tables to himself, but there was a long table with only three people at one end and he had a pair of headphones that he could block out everyone with, so he claimed his spot with his bag and went to stand in the unruly line of freshman who wanted eggs.
Mako had gotten back to his table and ensconced himself in eggs and toast and a Spotify playlist that had been recommended to him by the app’s weird algorithm when he got a tap on his shoulder. He blinked and took off his headphones to look over at an asian girl who was timid yet happy.
“Sorry, but, are these seats taken?” she asked in a little timid voice that matched her stature.
Mako shook his head and looked back down, expecting the chairs to be taken, but instead 4 people sat around him, much to Mako’s distaste.
“Thanks love! This place is absolutely packed! I’m Lena!” one of the girls said, outstretching a hand.
Mako didn't shake her hand and instead just grunted, “Mako.”
Lena’s smile didn’t falter and instead she started to introduce everyone, “Well, this is Mei, Zarya, and Jack. We’re all foreign students, well, except for Jack, he’s American. But I’m from Britain, Zarya’s Russian, and Mei’s Chinese! Isn’t that cool?”
As the little British girl rambled on, Mako noticed how the other people seemed to be less talkative. Maybe these people could be quiet and bearable. Mako nodded softly and let her talk until Jack cut in.
“Lena, you’re talking his ear off.”
“Then you guys say something!”
Zarya sighed and started talking about something mundane and meaningless conversation ensued. Mako listened idly, enjoying the fact that he wasn’t being asked or expected to contribute. After he finished his plate of food, he sat a while and listened to them talk about roommates and anticipated classes and rumors that had been heard by upperclassmen.
“Zarya, I cannot believe you chose a 7am class, I did not even know they were offered that early,” Mei said meekly.
“It is good to wake early and get a start on the day. I woke up at 6 this morning and ran 5 miles. It is good for the body.” Zarya said with a smile, “You should come running with me, Mei.”
“Oh no, I am not one to wake up early,” Mei said quickly, “Also I am not so fast, I would only slow you down.”
“Then maybe another time,” she offered.
“Oh, m-maybe!” Mei stumbled.
Mako grunted softly and checked the time. He stood up with his plate.
“Oh! Where are you off to, love?” Lena asked with a sweetly curious expression.
“Library,” Mako muttered.
“Oh! Well then, we’ll see you around!”
He grunted.
-
Mako stayed for a few hours while he printed out syllabi and used the library copies of his textbooks to read ahead a few chapters for his classes. He couldn’t afford all of the textbooks that he was going to need for his classes. Sometimes a single book could cost over a hundred dollars or only 20 dollars but the class would require 6 or 7 of those books. It was a plight that lots of college students knew too well. So Mako chose instead to just borrow from the library when he could. The only downside was he couldn't take the books out of the library sometimes and the books weren’t guaranteed to be there. Thus the plight of poor college students.
He rode his sturdy bike back to the dorms and walked up the multiple flights of stairs to his room. Mako prayed he would be alone in the room, but this was college, and Nietzsche was right. When Mako entered the room, music was blasting and the place was trashed. Jamison had not taken the hint.
Mako’s roommate in question was sitting on a chair and was spinning around while painting his toenails, only one foot though. His other leg was across the room on the ground.
“It's you.” Jamison groaned, “You here to keep bitching about things? Or are you here to apologize?”
Mako stared at him and started kicking Jamison’s shit to his side of the room.
“Keep your filth off my side, Jamison, and maybe clean up for once.” Mako said.
“Oi! Be careful! ‘S fuckin’ rude to just kick people’s shit!” he shouted whilst jumping up.
What he didn’t take into account was the leg that was on the other side of the room and not attached to his stump, so he was caught off balance and would have caught his chin on the desk if Mako wasn’t there to reach out and grab his arm. A spark passed through Mako’s body and they both recoiled from each other.
“Don’t fuckin’ touch me! Lemme go!” Jamison snapped, “’N don’t call me Jamison, my fuckin’ mum calls me that. It’s Jamie.”
“I don’t care,” Mako huffed. He figured the spark of emotion he felt was some strange mixture of static electricity and pure disgust for this idiot of a roommate.
“You’re a real asshole, ain’t ya? I’ve just been having a good time ‘n you really seem to want to ruin that!”
Jamie had made his way across the room and was now securing his prosthetic leg.
“You have no respect for anyone’s boundaries or any sense of decency.” Mako retorted as he turned his attention to his desk to tidy up.
“Well, with all respect, fuck you, mate. You’re the FUCKING worst.”
With those last words, Jamie grabbed his bag and left, slamming the door behind him.
“Good riddance,” Mako mumbled.
He decided to spend the rest of the day cleaning everything up, or rather cleaning up his side and dumping all of the crap onto Jamie’s bed. From then on, Mako sat at his desk and listened to music while doodling in his sketch book. This was calming and familiar to him. Sketching let him shift all focus from whatever was stressing him out to one task. He did this for a few hours, letting himself calm down before the tell tale grumbling of hunger urged him to go get some dinner before the dining commons closed. As he walked himself to the dining commons, he heard the sound of the zippy british girl from earlier.
“Cheers love, the cavalry's here!” she called in some of strange greeting.
Mei sighed.
“She has been saying that for hours.” she said in small apology.
Mako shrugged and let them join him for the meal. It was pleasant, and each took turns critiquing the different meals they got. Mako even added input about the significant lack of salt on his french fries. Lena started giggling at the ‘salt’ Mako was showing towards the lack of salt. He even chuckled himself.
-
It was hours later when Mako found himself in a particular predicament. He had taken a break from reading a new book that he had gotten for a high school graduation present when he got up to go to the bathroom. It was just a normal trip to the other side of the floor. Mako didn’t notice what was wrong until he had gotten back and tried to open his door again. The problem was that he couldn’t; he didn’t have his ID card to open the door.
he thought and the realization that the services center was closed started to dawn upon him. He was locked out of his room and there was only way for him to get back in. He was going to have to ask for help.
There was a little whiteboard next to each room, and their whiteboard was covered in little doodles and writing already courtesy of Jamie and his friends. Amongst the little drawn bombs with smiley faces and random words was Jamie’s phone number written, frustratingly, in hard-to-read yellow pen. With a frustrated sigh, he typed the number in and called the number. A slurred voice answered after a few rings. The background was very loud, he was obviously at a party.
“Hello? Who’s this?” Jamie asked, slurring.
“It’s….. Mako. Your roommate.” He sighed before continuing, “I’m locked out of the room, and I need some help.”
“Well, sounds like you're fresh out of luck, mate. If you want help, you’re going to have to come to me.”
“Seriously? Fine. Where are you?”
“I’m downstairs, Room 106” he laughed before hanging up.
Mako thought before walking downstairs.
The hallway was filled with smoke and it burned in Mako’s lungs. Quickly he covered his mouth and nose with his shirt. He had bad asthma and his inhaler was still in the room. Where the hell was the Resident Advisors? People looked at him with judging eyes as he pushed his way to the door and knocked hard.
The door was answered and the room was stuffed. Standing at the door was someone Mako didn’t recognize. Mako shook off any anxiety and addressed them.
“I’m looking for my roommate, Jamie.” he said.
The man was smoking, he took a long draw and blew it straight into Mako’s face, leaving Mako light-headed and coughing.
“Oh,
Jamie’s roommate? What did he say your name was? Mike?”
“No….. it’s Mako….”
“Whatever, you’re not welcome here, go the fuck away.” the guy said before starting to close the door, but Mako stuck his foot in the door and it was smashed pretty painfully, but Mako didn’t budge.
“Just let me talk to him, ok? I’m locked out. Jamie!” Mako tried to shout for his roommate, but he got shoved by the guy and thrown back. The air was knocked out of him and Mako was gasping.
“You just don’t know when to leave people alone, do you?” By then, two other guys had joined the first and were starting to corner him.
-
Jamie hadn’t noticed what was going on outside the room until Mako was on the ground and getting kicked by three large guys.
“Oi! Mates! Knock it the fuck off!” he shouted, his buzz killed by the scene before him.
No one stopped however, until Jamie physically grabbed them by the shoulders and shouted into their ears to back off. Once he was free, Mako quietly stood up; he was bruised and had a busted lip that was bleeding. He didn’t say anything but instead turned and started to walk away.
Guilt grabbed Jamie’s heart and he rushed after Mako shouting.
“Hey! Michael! I’m sorry! I-I didn’t tell them to do that! I’ll let you into the room, ok? Just say that you forgive me! It wasn’t my fault anyways. I didn’t tell them to! Those guys did it on their own. You should have called me! Oi! Are you even listening?”
Mako until this point had been silent, but as soon as he got to the door, he spun and glared Jamie straight into the eye.
“YES. I am listening, and I understand that you are the worst roommate ever, You trash the room, curse at me, invite people without asking, talk about me behind my back and in front of me, and you even sicced your friends on me. Never once have you considered my feelings or what I wanted. You’re rude and you’re awful and an absolute prick. I don’t forgive you. And my NAME is MAKO.”
With that, Mako let himself into the room and threw the card back at Jamie before slamming the door shut.