Mitch left the living room and grabbed his bags making his way up the stairs to his new room. The dorms looked pretty much like Credence described them, not changing much in the last 4 years.
On one of the bedroom doors was a little paper sign with the names, Deryn and Mitch. He opened the door. Someone had left a cat carrier on one of the beds and a calico kitten roamed about it. Mitch dropped his bag and came closer, “Heyyy buddy, you belong to my roommate?” he held out a hand for the kitten to smell but after a brief whiff, it went back inside the carrier to hide.
“Awww little buddy you don’t wanna hang out?” Mitch looked sadly at Hermes’ carrier.
The door opened behind him and someone called, “Hey roomie!”
“Hey!” Mitch stood up from his crouch and turned back towards the door, immediately seeing two people. A normal-looking slender, feminine teen with golden-brown hair tied up in a bun and a strange-looking bird person, “oh uh,” he pointed at Deryn, making a quick guess based on the voice, “you’re the one who called me roomie right? Cause I don’t think I had two roommates listed.”
The bird person’s wings stretched out slightly and he bounced on his heels, “I just came to say hi to Deryn’s kitty.”
“This is Onez,” Deryn said, they came forward and looked at Hermes hiding in his carrier, “Oh you okay boy?” They asked, coming closer. The cat looked agitated for a second and then relaxed.
Mitch rubbed the back of his head and laughed a tiny bit, “Sorry I probably smell like a big dog, got a Doberman at home.” He already missed Diablo a bit but since he wasn’t a service dog he couldn’t bring him. Besides that, he was technically Credence’s dog, not that they ever made a distinction about what belonged to who.
Deryn scratched the cat and brought him out to show Onez, “This is Hermes, he’s a kitten a female stray at the local shelter I volunteer at gave birth to,”
Onez came up and scratches Hermes gently on the head with his bird claw hand
“He’s a cute little guy,” Mitch says, knowing he’d be living with the kitten he gave him and Onez some space to pet him and instead started unpacking his things. Was it too early to text Credence? Was he being a little clingy to feel so desperate to talk to him when it’s only been a few hours?
“I’m Deryn,” Mitch’s new roommate extended a hand.
“Mitch,” he paused his unpacking to shake their hand with a friendly, slightly crooked smile.
Deryn smiled, “Alright, we should give Hermes some space.”
“Awww,” Onez whined, disappointed.
Deryn patted his shoulder, “You’ll get to see him another day, right now he’s overwhelmed and only keeping still because I’m influencing him.”
“Mmmmmm okay, see you tomorrow Hermes!” Onez gave Hermes another little head scratch and started to leave, he waved at Mitch, “Bye Mitch! If you wanna text your boyfriend you should just do it. I’m sure he won’t think you’re being too clingy!” He said with sincerity before leaving the room, “bye Deryn!”
Deryn facepalmed, “Forgive Onez, he’s not exactly on the upside of telepathic etiquette.”
Mitch mentally ran back through every thought he had since Onez stepped in. How deep did the kid probe? He didn’t seem to think there was anything off about Mitch but he could have learned something he shouldn’t have about Credence. Mitch would have to avoid him in the future. Taking a deep breath, Mitch forced himself to compartmentalize and get back to normal.
“Sorry, I’ll have a talk with him about privacy tomorrow,” Deryn added.
Mitch chuckled, shaking his head. He shouldn’t act too put off about it, “so what about you? What can you do?”
“I’m an Empath,” Deryn said, “Mind if I get comfortable?”
So also psychic? But they wouldn’t be able to get too much from just emotions… Hopefully, can’t exactly avoid his roommate. Mitch shrugged, “go ahead.”
Deryn sat down, removing their shoes, then they reached into their sweater and removed their bra. “I’m a little surprised I’m rooming with a boy, but then again I did write no preference on my application form.”
“Same” he laughed.
“Pronouns are they/them,” Deryn informed him and laid down half on their bed with legs dangling off the edge, feet still on the floor.
“He/him” Mitch replied, he finished getting a good chunk of his stuff away and sat down, pulling his phone out to text Credence, agonizing over how to tell him he missed him already and not get an eye-rolling emoji back.
“Where are you from?” Deryn asked, drawing his attention back to them.
“Grew up in Arizona, moved to the New York area when I was like 8 though.”
“Do you like it?” Deryn asked, sitting up to undo their hair, letting it fall down.
“Arizona or New York? Either place is fine I guess. I don’t remember much of my friends from Arizona or anything, just how hot it always was and how close Abuela lived, how easy it was to go to her house every evening and just watch her cook.”
Deryn smiled nostalgically, “Sounds nice, and New York, how is the big city?”
“Nice, met a lot of other cape kids, and my boyfriend, here in New York and it’s definitely my hometown now.”
“You’re a cape kid?”
“Yeah…”
“Cool, my parents are mutants but they aren’t capes or anything,” Deryn said, “Now what was that about a boyfriend?” they asked with a teasing note, “Does he have a name?”
“Yeah, Credence.” Mitch showed them his home screen photo. The ‘best’ photo he had of him; in which Credence was barely visible, wearing a hoodie and his long black hair obscuring most of his face as he hugged Diablo.
Deryn gave it a look, arching a brow. “Camera shy?” they asked.
“Yeah, he hates having his picture taken, absolutely refuses to believe he’s handsome.”
“Awww,” Deryn smirked softly, “I’m glad you found someone you love.”
“Thanks! Do you have anyone?”
Deryn paused, looking uncomfortable, “Not… anymore…”
“Ahh sorry, I’ve stepped in it,” Mitch said sheepishly.
“No, no, it’s a fair question,” Deryn said, “I… I messed up, and it’s still fresh.”
“I’m sorry…”
“Thanks,” Deryn smiled sadly, “Ugh, you get back to gushing about your boyfriend so I can feel that contact-high empath feels,” they teased.
Mitch laughed, he dropped down on his bed and started typing out his “I love you”s and “I miss you”s giving up on playing it cool while he answered Deryn. “He’s super cute but refuses to listen to me. Believe it or not, that is the most complete pic I have of him. Most of them He’s running away so it’s all blurry.”
“That’s the feeling,” Deryn said, lying down and smiling. “Oh, silly boy.”
“He only sat still for that one cause I said I wanted one of Diablo so he had to hold him still and I would for sure crop him out.”
“You sneaky bastard,” Deryn said, “Smart.”
“He’s hard to trick. I was proud of myself for that one… now if only I could get his face.”
“You ever tried stealing his school photo album? Or was he too cool to sit in for a class picture?”
“He doesn’t keep any of that old nostalgia stuff around.” He threw it all out after the Tzari war.
“Damn,” Deryn stretches, Hermes has calmed down and started exploring a little.
Hermes had come out of his carrier but was intimidated at the height of the bed. “We’ll need to make you a ramp in the morning,” Deryn said, petting him.
“He looks young, how old is he?”
“About twenty weeks.”
“Just a little baby huh.”
“Yeah,” Deryn opened a bag and retrieved clothes and bathing products, “I should hit the shower.”
Mitch saluted, “I will guard your cat with my life in the meantime.”
“I’m sure you will,” Deryn smirked and went out with a wave, “Bye.”
Mitch focused back on his message to Credence. Once Deryn was gone he started typing out his actual report about what he had seen, learned, and who he had met so far, including, of course, the strange alien from some unknown planet. He received a quick reply of an eye roll emoji, an ‘understood’, and after a long time of watching a … pulse, he got an ‘I miss you too’.
Ravenhold Academy 