Chapter Text
Random roommate assignment in freshman year didn’t turn out so great for Zanka. He hadn’t thought to make sure that the dorm he was assigned to would be gender neutral, and as a result the school decided to pair him with a girl who didn’t understand or frankly care for his identity. He spent his first semester in hell as the girl silently stared at him putting on a binder and making sure he had angled the fabric of his shirt just right to avoid showing off any curves that might betray him. He heard her through the door between their bedroom and the common area.
“I got paired up with this weird chick,” the girl mumbled into her phone, “She dresses like a guy and keeps insisting I call her ‘Zanka’ or something. Plus she keeps talking about wanting to go on hormone therapy or something.” She spoke like Zanka wasn’t able to hear her, but both of them know he was stuck listening, there wasn’t much else to do, “Whatever, her grades are good, I’ll just keep studying with her and never see her again next term.”
One semester of hell, apathy from the person who made his second home feel extremely unwelcome. Then after winter break, nothing. Without a word she left and took everything with her. He refreshed the housing portal a hundred times to make sure it wasn’t a mistake, but he only saw his own deadname looking back at him. He didn’t know how to feel. On one hand she was gone and his semester was infinitely better already. On the other hand, he had scared someone off just by being himself. Somewhere on campus is a girl who’s telling everyone she knows she was paired with a freaky cross-dresser. It was an almost empty feeling, wondering if it was really worth it to keep being himself if it meant continuing to be a freak in the eyes of every stranger he did and didn’t meet.
Every time an email went around campus for potential room switches he would hug his phone and pray the housing portal would still only say his own forgotten name. He couldn’t handle the thought of ruining his perfect second semester with yet another random girl watching his every move. Some near perfect stranger watching him force a binder over his head and try to look more masculine while she lived with the reality of what he looked like under those layers.
Well, this term would be different! As soon as that housing application opened up he took the first available gender neutral dorm. Sophomore year would be different! He’d already gotten an email chain going with his new roommate. He had informed them of his proper name and pronouns and what amenities he was prepared to bring to their new life together. In response he got a lot of reaction images that all had poorly cropped watermarks and caused Zanka to feel a range of humored to thoroughly confused. In response to telling his new roommate that he wouldn’t be able to bring the case of diet Dr. Pepper he originally promised to he was met with an image of a cat standing on it’s hind legs with poorly scribbled on furrowed eyebrows.
Zanka stared at the door in front of him hesitantly, a cart of all his essentials in tow. So many things still hung in the air. What was this person like? Would they think he’s weird? Would they judge him just like the girl before him did? Would he come home to an empty dorm halfway through the semester? Would he have to worry about his reputation getting worse on campus? Hell he didn’t even know this person’s actual name. For all he knew this was a cis girl that was trying to live with her boyfriend that Zanka was getting in the way of.
He took a deep breath and shook it off. No, he had nothing to worry about. The person behind this door would be someone just as strange as him, and once he opened this door he’d finally experience a good semester.
Taking a deep breath, he opened the door, “Uhm, hi! Hope I’m not interupting anything, my name’s-”
“Yo! Get down quick!” Before Zanka could even get a good look at the room he was being tackled to the ground. Behind this person was a loud boom, followed by several crashing sounds, “Damn! Must’ve added too much juice. Ain’t gonna let me raid the chem lab after hours after this huh?”
“Mm, ow…” Zanka rubbed the back of his head, trying to sit up only to be sent right back down to the ground after bumping foreheads with the person on top of him.
“Oh shit, my bad man,” Zanka finally got to get a good look at the person sitting over him, also rubbing the back of their head. A man with thick locs pulled pack in an extra strength hairtie and red eyes, wearing a black t-shirt and purple sweatpants, “You alright?”
“No I’m not alright! The hell was that?!” Zanka spat, “And get off of me!”
“Hm? Look’s like we got Mr. Bad Attitude here, what’s got your panties all in a bunch?” The boy on top of him chuckled as he scrambled off. Zanka growled slightly as if threatening to kill this stranger as he helped him up, “You’re right, my bad man. Need an ice pack or somethin’?”
“No I don’-!” Zanka was about to chew out this person for daring to kick him to the ground but quickly caught himself. This was NOT how to make a good impression. Even though it wouldn’t matter to this guy, it would make him the bigger person here, “Apologies, allow me to start over.”
“Nah it’s cool man,” the stranger put up a hand, “Didn’t want you caught in the crossfire.” The stranger used the hand he was making to mimic an explosion, making a pow noise as he did.
“I’m Zanka Nijiku,” Zanka held out a hand, “I’m your roommate for the term. You must be Mothrame.”
“Hmm? Oh you’re talkin’ about the name on my profile!” The boy snapped his fingers before waving at the air, “Nah, sorry man, I’m going by a different alias these days.” He took Zanka’s hand, shaking it firmly. Zanka suppressed a snork as he gripped slightly tighter than the boy in front of him, “The name’s Jabber, Sophomore Chem major. What you just walked in on is my latest experiment. Sorry for tackling you, but I had to make sure you weren’t at ground zero when she blew. My baby’s spicy today!”
“Sophomore Bio major,” Zanka introduced himself, “Could I ask you not to do your experiments in the dorm?”
“Heh, nope,” Jabber chuckled, turning to clean up the sludge all over his desk. It had become an almost fascinating orange color with how nuclear it appeared. Zanka hoped that Jabber’s lax attitude towards the bubbling stew was a result of a lack of perceived threat and not a testament to how little time he should spend in the dorm.
“Great,” Zanka’s eye twitched, “Real chill man.”
“Need a hand moving in?” Jabber looked over at the boy’s cart, “You look like you got everything you own in there.”
“I do,” Zanka huffed, forcing the cart through the door, losing his footing as it bumped into Jabber’s desk, knocking over a vial right onto a paper that Jabber quickly lifted up and started blowing on while the liquid ate straight through the page.
“C’mon man!” Jabber whined, “Y’know you could’ve left some of that with your folks back home, don’t gotta carry the whole circus when you travel.”
Zanka huffed, looking up at Jabber with an argument prepared, but quickly realized it wasn’t worth it. He shook his head and hauled the cart to his side of the room.
“Oh shit, my bad dude,” Jabber looked at him with a serious expression for the first time in their meeting, “Hey! If it makes you feel better I’m in good cahoots with my folks! I could hook us up with everything we need, just say the word!”
“Thanks, but I ain’t interested,” Zanka sighed, pulling his storage containers out of the cart, “I don’t have any interest in being some pity case.”
“Aw go easy on me, you know I didn’t mean it like that,” Jabber chuckled, wrapping anything spilled with his chemicals in plastic wrap and chucking it in his desk side trash can, “Word of advice, try not to get a whiff of the garbage.”
“What?” Zanka raised an eyebrow, emptying the storage container he had filled with whatever snacks the man now sniffing the trash had requested, along with snacks for himself.
“Hey, I don’t know what you’re into,” Jabber shrugged, snatching one of the protein bars off Zanka’s nightstand.
“Those have to last the semester you know,” Zanka chastised to deaf ears that were chewing with a half open mouth.
“I just wanna make sure my new roomie doesn’t get a nostril full of cyanide next time he partakes in his weird hobby,” Jabber spoke through a mouthful of chocolate chips and granola.
“C-cyanide?!” Zanka stopped, staring slack jawed at the man who appeared way too comfortable playing with poisons sitting with his granola bar in his mouth.
“They let you take anything from the lab when they don’t know you’re takin’ it,” Jabber shrugged, holding out the rest of the protein bar to Zanka, “You can relax, I’ve been doin’ this since I was six. You ever made one of those elephant toothpastes? Nucleophilic substitution is just a step up from that, y’know?”
“No I don’t,” Zanka sighed, taking the end of the protein bar in his teeth and ripping off a bite.
Jabber looked down at Zanka with an ear to ear grin, if Zanka didn’t know any better he might have thought the man was drunk with the way his cheeks were darkening to a slightly redder shade, “Nice.”
“Just how many pet projects do you plan on blowing up on my bed?” Zanka rolled his eyes, dropping the container on the ground with a loud thunk and kicking it under the raised mattress.
“Easy! I don’t plan on blowing anything up in your bed,” Jabber held his hands up in surrender, leaning closer to the one with the protein bar to take another bite, “I have too much respect for the scientific method to let something blow up on me twice.”
Zanka looked at him for a moment, trying to inspect the boy for any signs of lying before returning to unpacking silently. Jabber just shrugged, cleaning off the rest of the chemical graveyard.
“So, what made you go with bio?” Jabber asked, wiping down the desk.
“Healthcare,” Zanka responded coldly, throwing his sheets over his new bed. He grumbled to himself as the fitted sheet plopped free of it’s mattress confines, to which he finally kicked off his shoes and climbed on the mattress, shoving the ends under until his fingers hurt.
“Ah, future doctor huh?” Jabber hummed, crumpling the empty wrapper as tossing it across the room at his trash can. Zanka wasn’t too fond of how willing Jabber was to ignore the hiss from whatever acidic substances he should not have been mixing with cyanide outside of the lab, “Y’know, I’d rethink that if I was you, they tend to avoid hiring guys with snark. You could join me in the lab though, mix up some nasty shit! I’m talkin’ major cell killers!” It didn’t seem necessary to Jabber to expound on the fact that he meant cancer cells in particular.
Zanka ignored the boy’s teasing as he shoved his pillow into it’s case. He looked over at his band posters, pausing for a moment before ripping open a pack of sticky tac and forcing them onto the wall, “Just trying to get a good job.”
“Aw lighten up, it’s all in good fun,” Jabber waved his hand around, laying back on his pillow with his arms behind his head, “You been to the dining hall yet today?”
“Nah, just got here,” Zanka hummed, making sure his band poster was even before pulling out the next one.
“You ain’t missing out on much, they cooked up some real shit today,” Jabber chuckled, folding his hands over his chest, “I’m talking hella nasty, you ever ate out of a trash can?”
“No? What?” Zanka looked over at the boy in his own world with a raised, yet still furrowed brow.
“Yeah, that type of nasty,” Jabber chuckled to himself. He pulled out his phone, looking at some message on the screen before letting out a noise somewhere between a growl and a sigh, “Hey, you know what classes you’ve got for the semester?”
“Of course I do, do I look like an idiot to you?” Zanka narrowed his eyes as he looked straight through the man, kicking his suitcase full of clothes onto the bed, hesitantly unpacking a teddy bear with a chewed off ear and placing it on his pillow. Lucky for him Jabber could hardly judge as he was laying next to a wall of stuffed animals, “I always make sure I’m the first on the registration portal! Never will I let someone take a section from me!”
“Damn, you’re way ahead of the game my boy,” Jabber clicked his tongue before chuckling softly. A part of Zanka wondered if there was anything that actually could sour the attitude of this roommate of his, “My advisor’s kickin’ down my door begging me to register yesterday.”
Zanka froze, letting out a choked noise before turning and grabbing his roommate by the shirt and lifting him into a sitting position, “You didn’t register for your classes?!”
“Easy time bomb,” Jabber held up his hands in surrender, letting his head lull back as he grinned at his fuming roommate, “It’ll all come together nicely. I got a habit of making things work out in the end.”
“How are you even living here?!” Zanka shook the man by the balled up fabric of his shirt. Jabber just let his head rock back and forth as he pouted, “You need to be registered with at least twelve credits to move in! You’re sitting on an astounding zero!”
“Mm?” Jabber opened his eyes before grinning again, “Hey look at that! I didn’t know you were rocking a septum ring! My man!”
Zanka let go of Jabber’s shirt to cover the lower half of his face, grumbling in annoyance and trying desperately not to get flushed in embarrassment, “Not the topic at hand.”
“Hey nothin’ to be shy about, you’re lookin’ fresh!” Jabber was all too loud and way too eager about everything for Zanka’s tastes, “I got some done over the break! Check it out!” He pushed a loc that had been covering the sides of his face aside to show off the piercing set up behind his ear, several of said piercings coming with a swollen red bump indicating they couldn’t be more than a few weeks old. An industrial bar stuck through his ear, three rings at the bottom of his lobe, one in his tragus, one in the daith, and a spiked ring around the helix all making him a complete hazard to any MRI machine within a thirty mile radius, “Plus! I’ve had this bad boy since middle school, check it, blehh!” Jabber stuck out his tongue till it touched the bottom of his chin to show off a metal ball permanently locked into his mouth, slurring his words as he refused to put his tongue back in his mouth to speak, “Prithy siik riihh?”
“Back up,” Zanka grumbled, pushing Jabber back onto his pillow by the forehead, “I don’t understand having that many piercings, I still regret my ear piercings to this day.”
“Aw c’mon don’t be like that,” Jabber purred, sitting back up, “I’ll tell you why I get ‘em, they look fresh! Thinking of getting some snake bites, couple of little biters that’ll make kissing a real treat. Any other piercings in your future?”
“No,” Zanka spat, “I’m not sticking any more needles through my face. It’ll just make me look more like a girl anyways.”
“Nah, I think a couple more bars and studs will make you look like a smoke show, get what I’m saying?” Jabber chuckled, “Guys with facial piercings are totally hot, got that edge to ‘em that let’s you know they’re hard to fuck with.”
“Whatever man,” Zanka just sighed. He dug through his box of decorations only to immediately shove the item back in the box, causing a loud clatter that definitely caused Jabber’s ears to prick. (Though it was pretty easy to tell Jabber was perking his ears, all those piercings made a million clinking noises.)
“Whazzit?” Jabber stretched to look around Zanka’s shoulder, falling off the bed and landing in a heap on the floor, “Whatcha got in there Zanza?”
“Nothing!” Zanka squeaked, forcing the box closed immediately. He NEEDED to keep that thing hidden. He thought his roommate was weird about him now, wait until he found out about this! He cleared his throat and forced his voice down an octave, “It’s nothing to concern yourself with. Also, Zanza?”
“Tryin’ out nicknames,” Jabber shrugged as he stood, “Like it?”
“No,” Zanka grit his teeth, looking the boy up and down before turning back to the box.
“Boo, you’re no fun,” Jabber pouted, leaning on Zanka’s shoulder, “I wanna see, I think I recognize those colors.”
“You will do no such thing!” Zanka threatened, glaring daggers into his roommate, who was already reaching for the box, “It was something I meant to leave with my friends. Nothing you should be worried about.”
“Zanka,” Jabber cooed, his tongue stuck a quarter out of his mouth as he looked down at his roommate, “You know you wanna show me whatever you’re hiding~”
“Absolutely not!” Zanka huffed, “Drop it Wonger!”
“Too late!” In the brief second Zanka took his hands off the box to scold Jabber he had grabbed the box, using his own body as a shield to prevent him from taking back the box, “Lemme see lemme see lemme see!”
“Let go dammit! That ain’t yours!” Zanka shouted, jumping on the boy’s shoulders to try and stop him.
Jabber eagerly tore through the box, pulling out a blue pink and white flag. Zanka crumbled to the ground, covering his face in embarrassment. It was over, it was all over. His roommate knew. He was in for yet another semester of hell. He reached up, ready to take the flag back from Jabber, especially prepared for him to lash out, “Look, I can explain.”
“Yo! That’s sick as hell!” Jabber held up the flag like it was a trophy, a grin once again spreading from ear to ear, “We gotta put this in the common area, let everyone who comes over know we mean business! You’ve got command strips right?”
“You’re...not disgusted?” Zanka looked up, still curled up on the floor, balancing on his toes, “It doesn’t bother you that I’m...trans?”
“Why would that bother me?” Jabber tilted his head back to look down at Zanka. The two sat there silently for a beat before Jabber smirked, “Wait, you didn’t seriously think I was cis, did you?”
“I-...you’re not?” Zanka tilted his head.
“Ha! Testosterone is working great!” Jabber teased, spinning around and kneeling to look Zanka in the eyes, “I’ve been transitioning since I was sixteen. I’ve got some crazy fast acting genetics. Super flattered you couldn’t tell.”
“I- you- I-” Zanka was in a state of confliction. There wasn’t anything to be upset about but a part of him felt...betrayed? Jealous? He wasn’t sure. He was absolutely ecstatic that his roommate was also trans and completely understood what he was going through in life, he just wished that was all he felt. A piece of him was angry. Angry that Jabber could pass with about a million piercings and he couldn’t pass with one. That Jabber’s long hair didn’t get him called out while he couldn’t let his own mullet grow past his shoulders lest he wanted someone to call him “ma’am” just a little too loudly in a lecture hall. That Jabber makes it all look so easy while he’s had to struggle with every step of the process.
“Look I hate to beat on you while you’re down, but did you really think I was goin’ by a different name for kicks?” Jabber raised a brow, “Bet it’s your first time hearing a name like mine. It’s all good, my parents were just goofy like that. Even though it’s technically not a girl or boy name, it’s still dorky. Also only two types of people pick gender neutral housing. Trans people and cissies trying to live with their partner, and I’m not all that into girls if you catch my drift.”
“You’re gay too?” Zanka really was at a loss. Everything really did just come so naturally for this boy.
“Who isn’t?” Jabber hummed, “Ain’t nothing to be ashamed of, I’ve been gayer than a rabid hyena at a pride parade since middle school. ‘That Jabber kid’s always getting himself into some faggy shit.’ At least that’s what everyone else said.”
“So you...you’re not gonna...you don’t think I’m…” Zanka was still reeling from being outed as trans he couldn’t quite process that this roommate of his was comfortable with calling himself a fag and not mean it degradingly.
“Easy Zanka, I don’t think you’re weird, you’ve got a right to be scared,” Jabber bumped Zanka’s shoulder with his, trans flag still in hand, “It’s normal to be scared shitless when you’ve got your big secret on the line and all.”
“Okay,” Zanka nodded, his eyes clouded in an anxiety riddled daze.
“Uh oh, we’re losing him,” Jabber pouted, tapping on Zanka’s forehead, “Yello? Earth to Zan-zan, come in command center.” Jabber put his ear against the boy’s head and gently knocked on his skull, “Anyone home?”
“Get off!” Zanka huffed, shoving Jabber aside, “I have work to do, now let me finish unpacking before I staple you to the walls.”
“Touchy, easy man, just tryin’ to joke around,” Jabber chuckled, “Lemme help you with a couple of those boxes, no point in unpacking alone.”
“I’ve got it!” Zanka hissed, twisting in one sharp motion to keep Jabber from so much as glancing at his boxes. He unpacked the rest of his boxes in complete silence, dutifully ignoring the poking and prodding from his new highly obnoxious roommate. It was when he finally managed to hang his LED lights, a bright green in contrast to Jabber’s blinding purple, that he finally responded to the boy rolling around with seemingly nothing better to do than bother him.
“So like, are you one of those stingy bio majors that thinks they’re better than everyone?” Jabber hung over the edge of his bed, his locs nearly touching the floor. Zanka figured it was a miracle he was able to get into the bed considering how high up it was, “Cause if you come back every day in that wimpy looking lab coat-”
“Do you ever shut up?” Zanka spat, falling onto his bed and resting an arm over his forehead.
“I’m just excited man, aren’t you?” Jabber chuckled, heaving himself up before turning to Zanka, “Not everyday your new roommate is the same as you.”
“We are not the same,” Zanka huffed, “We could share a hundred identities and still not be remotely the same, don’t try to pretend you share anything in common with me besides a couple color patterns.”
“Yeesh, stuck somethin’ real far up your as this morning,” Jabber crossed his arms, looking up at the ceiling with a pout He tilted his head before putting on a baby voice as he cooed at his roommate, “Still rubbin’ around up there Zan-zan?”
“Shut the fuck up,” Zanka rolled his eyes, “I can’t deal with you right now.”
“Alright, if you insist,” Jabber whined, laying upside down over the side of his bed, sighing loudly.
“Doesn’t that hurt?” Zanka raised a brow, sitting up just enough to glower at his roommate.
“Not enough,” Jabber mumbled, his arms hanging limply by the sides of his head.
Unfortunately, Zanka wasn’t lying when he said he had work to do. The school’s financial aid systems had crashed over the summer and his scholarship that was supposed to be paying for his education kept disappearing and reappearing on his profile, and he had to make sure the school wasn’t going to kick him out the next day because of their awful system. Not to mention the stupid government unsubsidized loans he had gotten last year were less than he expected, and he did not have the cash on hand for anything that defined itself as “less.” All while he was writing strongly worded emails to various different people with varying degrees of uselessness, his new roommate was very content with doomscrolling at seemingly full volume facing the wall. Zanka couldn’t be fucked to tell him to turn it down or go to the other room. The sounds of whatever weird niche drama was screaming out of Jabber’s phone between videos of text-to-speech voiced brainrot was calming amid the chaos of emailing idiots left and right begging them to do the jobs his tuition was paying for.
“Fucking whatever,” Zanka sighed, slamming his laptop shut and putting it on his desk, “I’ll go down there myself tomorrow and figure it out.”
“Ohh little daytrip?” Jabber asked, sitting up. The dorm had grown dark over the passing hours, which Zanka didn’t notice too well between slamming his head against the wall (metaphorically), “We could go together! I’ll buy us some lunch, then we can-”
“No,” Zanka stared straight through Jabber, who had melted into a pitiful frown the moment heard the first syllable, “Don’t you have to register for classes tomorrow?”
“Aw, you remembered!” Sometimes Zanka wished he had the ability to not open his mouth ever, but Jabber would probably still try to talk to him anyways, “I got plenty of time! Classes don’t start for a week.”
“You don’t have any classes to start,” Zanka raised a brow, his face still sunken in resignation, “What time is it anyways?”
“Probably close to midnight,” Jabber hummed, “Why, you got a hot date?”
“Only with a shower,” Zanka turned to stand up, that was until Jabber slid across the room, digging through his closet, aimlessly throwing about clothes.
“Dibs on going first!” Jabber cheered, already dashing around the door with arms full of clothes and soaps.
“What the- hey!” It was too late, Jabber had already locked himself in the bathroom. Deciding to just shower in the morning, Zanka settled for using the temporarily empty space to change for bed.
He was very particular about his pajamas. One never knew when the fire alarm would go off at two in the morning, nor when his genius roommate would bring over guests without thinking to ask him. Even when sleeping he needed to be perceived as masculine. So as he changed into a double oversized blue hoodie with the school logo stitched to the front and grey sweatpants his heart sank wondering if Jabber would laugh at him. No binder, no packer, nothing to hide what hid underneath the cloth.
“Woo! That water is boiling!” Upon seeing Jabber exit the bathroom surrounded by a could of steam Zanka no longer held onto those fears, “All yours Zanka, but I gotta warn ya, that water’s got a kick!”
“Uh...forget about it, I’ll shower in the morning,” Zanka waved it off, trying not to be impolite, but he would admit, it was hard not to stare at his roommate, “...interesting outfit.”
Jabber had been wearing a purple crop-top, “ALL THE GOOD CHEMISTRY PUNS ARGON” printed on the front of it, and a pair of black pajama pants covered in Kuromi. His prior socks had been discarded in exchange for a pair of fuzzy black slippers with rabbits ears, the eyes, nose and inner ear accentuated by purple felt. Zanka wasn’t sure how to feel about this development, nor the fact that he was now discovering his roommate had a very poorly healed navel piercing, “You totally have something stupid to say about it.”
“I do not,” Zanka looked away, pouting, “I ain’t gonna beat down on you, you’re doing that enough to yourself already.”
“Pfft, you’re good,” Jabber smirked, not letting Zanka tear him down, “Hey, ain’t my fault the room’s sweltering. About a million degrees in here.”
“What are you talking about? It’s warm at best,” Zanka raised a brow, “Hell I’m practically freezing.”
“Mm, guess I’m just more used to the colder weather,” Jabber shrugged, “Ready for winter already, that cold was biting last year!”
“I think I can hold off,” Zanka mumbled looking away, “Doesn’t that outfit make you like...super dysphoric?”
“Nah, I’m not giving up a good pair of pants just cause someone else can’t use their eyes,” Jabber waved it off, clearly not realizing the Sanrio pants were the least strange garment in Zanka’s eyes.
“Doesn’t the t-shirt make you feel stupid though?” Zanka kept running his eyes over the text, which was inconveniently right over Jabber’s chest. As much as he was growing to dislike his new roommate, he wasn’t too fond of oogling people without consent.
Jabber blinked before looking down at the shirt. He then looked back up at Zanka, his lips mildly pursed in a pout, “You’re not rocking with the chemistry puns?”
“I ain’t rockin’ with how corny it is,” Zanka sighed, kicking his blankets so he could pull them over himself, “I’m going to bed, you should too.”
“Oh, yes sir,” Jabber teased, jumping onto his bed, “Fair warning, I like a little lo-fi playing when I’m trying to sleep. That alright with you?”
“At this rate I’m lucky if you don’t use scream metal to fall asleep,” Zanka grumbled, settling into his blankets begrudgingly.
“Whazzat?” Jabber looked over, his locs spreading out over the mattress.
“I don’t care, do what you want,” in reality Zanka cared a lot. He had been told he slept like a rock when he was out but the issue stems from needing to actually fall asleep first. Now his roommate was adding an extra element of turmoil to that struggle. Whatever, he’ll just put on headphones and listen to some podcast.
Unsurprisingly, the first night in the new dorm Zanka slept like shit. He was in a new place with a person he’s only just met with a million fears still rattling around in his brain. And among all these fears his stupid roommate’s stupid playlist had decided to shuffle the same song six times in a row even long after Jabber was asleep. Zanka occasionally looked over at Jabber as he tossed and turned, wondering how a man who slept like he had broken every bone in his body barely made a sound as he slept. Occasionally he wondered if Jabber was still breathing. When he had managed to settle for good for the night he could only dream of his millions of worries. Emailing his professors about the name change, chewing out financial aid, word of his grades somehow finding their way back to his parents, learning to live with his new roommate, his mind was clouded with millions of worries.
In the end he was being shaken awake, the sounds of morning-fried grumbling and his own alarm simultaneously filling his ears. He grunted as he ignored both, turning onto his side.
“Zanka, Zan-zan, grouchy-pants, hey,” Jabber moaned, nudging Zanka’s shoulder, “Would you turn that stupid thing off? Making it hard to get a good 8 hours in.”
“Mm, get over it,” Zanka pushed Jabber’s face away, his hand roughly covering the poor man’s face as he was shoved aside. He tapped and pushed around his phone until the monotonous ringing came to an abrupt halt, “When’re you meeting with your advisor?”
“Hmm? Oh, like...9 or something?” Jabber yawned. As he finally opened his eyes Zanka couldn’t help but compare the sight of his roommate—his eyes barely making and effort to stay open and his features drooped, too tired to put energy into the same obnoxious demeanor he wore all the way to bed yesterday—to a sopping wet cat. He scratched at the back of his neck as he grunted, “You know you snore right?”
“Shut up,” Zanka rubbed his eyes, “What time is it now?”
“Do you want me to shut up or not?” Jabber looked at Zanka through half-opened eyelids, slowly closing them again at the sight of Zanka’s glower, “It’s 8:50.”
“Mm, 8:50,” Zanka nodded, about to turn over before the time actually hit him, throwing the blankets across the mattress as he sat bolt upright, “8:50! What are you still doing here?!”
“Nymm? Oh, I got plenty of time,” Jabber hummed, stretching his back then slowly plugging his ears, knowing he was going to get chewed out.
“It’s a fifteen minute walk to the advisory building alone! How do you expect to make it on time!” Zanka jumped out of bed to shake his roommate by the shoulders. Jabber just accepted his fate, going limp knowing it’d be easier to be shaken around than fight it and make his attitude worse, “You even listening to me?! Hey!”
“It’ll be fine,” Jabber waved a hand in the air, “I told you didn’t I? Things have a habit of working out when it comes to me. I’ve got a talent for it, and also five more minutes of sleep.”
“Go get dressed!” Zanka let him go, pointing at the door with a harsh glare.
“You’re no fun,” Jabber pouted, digging through his dresser before trudging into the bathroom.
Zanka sat on his bed, rubbing between his brows and taking deep breaths. It looked like he was going to have more than just assignments to stress him out this semester. First thing’s first, check him emails, surely there would be at least one email acknowledging the piss poor management of the financial aid department. Similarly to how Jabber can’t attend the classes he’s paying for without classes, he can’t attend the classes he’s paying for without the payment.
A email in his inbox seemed to answer his prayers almost immediately. A woman named Semiu Grier had responded to him at 7 on the dot that morning. In hindsight, maybe emailing a department that closes at 7 at 11 at night wasn’t a wise decision, but then again neither was revoking half of his financial aid two days before the semester started and still excepting him to be able to pay for the tuition on time.
“Mr. Nijuku,” the email already started off pretty cold, but the fact this woman had actually cared to read the pronoun card attached to the email indicated that her tone was most likely a result of skipping a cup of coffee that morning or talking with a particularly inept coworker, “I understand your concerns, and you have every right to be frustrated. However, due to budget cuts in the department our offices have been overworked and many students have found that their financial aid packages are being canceled by our systems. Please give the system another 24 hours to reset and add your financial aid package. If you do not see it within the next 48 hours please ask to meet with me personally in office and I’ll help sort the issue out right away. Regards, Semiu Grier.”
The weight that had been tightening in Zanka’s chest fell immediately. All he needed to hear was that his classes would still be there, he wouldn’t be kicked off campus, and he wouldn’t have to go home to his parents. Only for the anxiety to immediately rebuild when he was struck with a non-zero chance of having to see this woman in person and look her in the eyes while she tells him no one is going to help fund him through college. Along with that, his life was still plagued with one problem after another. Classes, part-time jobs, internships, housing.
“What do we think?” Problem number 5 came sliding back into the bedroom, wearing some band t-shirt Zanka didn’t recognize over fishnet sleeves, skeletal shaped rings adorning this fingers. Black and white Tripp NYC pants hung loose around his legs, the doodled over ends of his converse poking out from under the fabric. He did a quick spin, showing off his backpack with approximately a million pins and key-chains, the suspenders of his pants, and something clipped to the back belt loop of his pants. Each of his locks were carefully adorned with gold (or at least gold colored) bands, clinking against his key-chains when he spun too fast, “Like the fit?”
“...nice rings,” Zanka noted, trying to take in how much his roomate had smudged the eyeliner under his eyes.
“Thanks! I call them my mankira!” Jabber grinned, holding up the cuff of bony rings attached to metal carpals, “I can even attach claws to ‘em! Wanna see?”
“No not particularly,” Zanka tried not to let how annoyed he already was with his roommate become evident in his tone, “Is that a tail?”
“Pretty sweet right?” Jabber turned slightly, moving his hips to make the vibrantly purple fake tail swish side to side.
“That how we’re describing it?” Zanka’s eye twitched.
“Well, I gotta bounce, my advisor’s gonna kill me if I’m more than twenty minutes late, but if I run I should only be a good ten!” Jabber took off his bag to shove his laptop, which had been littered in stickers, and two or three books inside before throwing it right back over his shoulder, “Catch you later!”
“You’re hopeless,” Zanka sighed, “Taking a board would be faster y’know.”
“You’re crazy man, I don’t skate,” Jabber grinned, already halfway out the door, “Be back later, gonna go get my classes then tear up a few plates at the dining hall!”
Zanka rubbed between his brow as Jabber flew out the front door, his jingling backpack still audible all the way to the elevator. A part of him wondered if it’d be too late to beg reslife for a new room assignment. Starting off the year strong with a roommate he can’t stand.
He was about to open the housing portal before he stopped himself. His roommate was a man, a fellow transgender man who understood what it was like to be in his shoes. Sure Zanka’s shoes were a pair of Vans slip-ons and Jabber’s were Converse Chuck Taylor’s, but the soles still fit the same. His late roommate was a girl that couldn’t tell the difference between him and a piece of trash on the street. Not to mention as much as he makes it exceedingly clear he holds no regards for Jabber, Jabber seems to like his presence. There’s plenty of third-spaces he can go when he needs to get away from his roommate. Why risk moving again after setting everything up and unpacking all his clothes when the roommate he has is infinitely better than the last one.
He laid back down, looking up at the ceiling. Maybe this semester wouldn’t be so bad. He looked to his right at what was supposed to be the empty space of Jabber’s bed, only to find his face one inch away from a giant stuffed bear that had been gutted and refilled, stappled together across the mouth and covered in paint. He yelped, killing it off, the damned thing slowly deflating on the ground as lavender scented beads spilled out of the side. No doubt about it, one of Jabber’s.
On second thought, maybe this year would be a bit of a learning curve.