Roomies

Posted on Mon Mar 11th, 2024 @ 5:15pm by Theodore (Theo) Winters & Max Herrera

2,966 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Episode 4: The Savage ConneXion
Location: Max's room
Timeline: August 11th 1990

Theo didn't have a lot of material things. His family had done okay. Stryker for all of the bad things he did, was a pretty decent boss to his day. Or to be more precise, he paid better than average. So up until the time that he'd run away, he hadn't worried about material things. Now, everything he owned was in the small duffle bag he was balancing on his shoulder.

He could of course have just teleported into the room. But not knowing what was on the other side was problematic, and dangerous. Not to mention it would have been rude.

So, he just knocked on the door.

Max was sitting cross-legged on his bed, reading a Superman comic book. In Spanish. His papá had found it in a comic book shop back home and sent it to him along with several other comic books. The others were all in English, but his papá had included the Spanish one because he thought it was funny to find a comic book in his mother tongue in Texas. Never mind that Texas was literally right next to Mexico.

When he heard the knock, he glanced up at the door. “It’s open!” he called.

Theo pushed the door open with one hand and stepped inside. "Hi," said with a wide smile. "I'm the new kid. One of them anyway. "I'm Theo. The professor sent me here. I hope I'm not just springing this on you out of the blue, but I'm your new roommate."

“Nah, they told me about it,” said Max, standing to greet him. “I’m Max,” he added, holding out a hand to him.

The bi-racial teen took the hand and shook it. "Theo here. Nice to meet you, Max," he looked past him into the rest of the room. "So, you into comic books?"

“Yeah,” said Max, picking up the one he’d been reading. “My dad found it at a comic book shop back home. A bit useless if you don’t speak Spanish, though.”


"I know enough words to ge me in trouble as they're dirty words, but no, I can't read anything. I speak a little Italian, I grew up in Chicago. But if you're okay with teaching me, I'm willing to learn."

“Yeah, if you wanna learn,” replied Max cheerfully. “It’s pretty easy. There are so few exceptions to the rules. Unlike English.”

"Yeah, I'd like that. And like I said, I do have a little head start, I do speak Italian."

"What else do you do for fun besides comic books?"

He looked around the rest of the decently sized room, his eyes taking in a set of books on what had to be Max's. bed. "Oh, cool you play D&D. My parents said it was evil, a satanic gateway, so I never got a chance to play. But I always wanted to learn. What's your favorite class? Do you run?"

“I’ve been dungeon master before,” he said. “Our party here could use more people if you wanna learn it. I usually play a barbarian. It’s the least like me. It’s fun to be something you’re not sometimes, ya know?”

"I know exactly what you mean. What other classes are there?"

“Oh my goodness, so many,” answered Max. “Paladin, monk, ranger, wizard, cleric, bard, Druid…. Some of them end up being redundant in play, but I’ve been in games that have 10 or more players and there’s some overlap. It gets chaotic with more than five, but it’s a lot of fun if you can keep track of everything.”


So, tell me more about the bard. I read this book a couple of months ago, by this guy named Keith Taylor, called The Bard. It was pretty good. They can cast spells, right? And fight?"

"Oh, and if I wanted to be an archer, kind of like Robin Hood what would I take."

“There are actually a lot of options, but the best is probably Ranger,” replied Max. “They usually use longbows because they can be reloaded during the player's turn and they get a bonus for ranged attacks. There’s more to it, of course, but that’s the short of it.”

"Cool that sounds fun. So, Spanish comic books and D&D. What else are you into?"

“I took up crocheting last summer,” he said, showing Theo the basket of yarn and half-finished
hat he was working on. “Mom taught me. I’ve been making winter hats and scarves and mittens for all the littles- that’s kids under 10. There aren’t many of them, but most of them don’t have warm stuff, either because their parents didn’t care enough to send it or because they’re from like Florida or Arizona.”

"I don't think I could get into crocheting myself. Not really my thing. I think it's cool that you do though And you're helping out the little ones is rad. Gotta say though that I think it's pretty pathetic that parents would send their kids here just to you know, get rid of them."

"How many kids are here altogether?"

“Not a lot,” he replied. “Fifty? Maybe less. Definitely no more than that. Unfortunately, a lot of parents do just that- send them here to get rid of them. Not all of them, though. My parents are cool. They try a little too hard to be supportive, but I’ll take it. B’s parents are good, too. She started here in the middle of February. A few other people have good parents. Professor McCoy’s parents are good. I’m glad he’s back. He’s great.” He stopped and blinked. “What were we talking about?” he asked.

Theo chuckled as he dropped his duffle bag on the floor. "We were talking about some of the things that interested you, and we started talking about the little kids."

"Are you hungry by the way? 'Cause I am and I can make a killer grilled cheese sandwich."

“I’m 14 years old,” said Max with a grin. “I’m always hungry, even when I’m not.”

"I get it. I'm fifteen and it's kinda the same, which is why I suggested it."

"Can, uh, I ask you kind of a personal question?"

“Sure,” replied Max. He tried to be pretty open with people. And if it was something uncomfortable, he could always dodge the question.

"Nothing too out there. I was just wondering what your powers were. My," he paused making air quotes "hero name is Nightshade. I can teleport, disappear, that kind of thing Oh and I can shoot of bolts of dark matter or energy."

“Whoa!” Said Max, halfway between a laugh and a gasp. “That’s awesome. All I do is… well, my ‘hero name’” he said, also adding air quotes “is Doolittle. That might give you a clue.”

"Hmm, what could that possibly mean?" he snorted. "You can juggle fast? No, wait. You can talk to the animals. Right? I assume they talk back right?"

“Of course they do!” Max replied proudly. “The guys used to razz me for it cuz it doesn’t seem very useful, but this mad dude and some minions attacked the school recently and I got some bears and wolves and a bunch of vicious birds to help.”

"I heard something about that. And I think that's pretty cool, you talking to animals I mean."

By this time the two teens were in the kitchen. "They have bacon? Everything tastes better with bacon. Oh, and by the way don't druids talk to animals?"

“They certainly can,” agreed Max, “though it’s not required. But being someone who can actually talk to animals, I always advise it. It’s so useful. Wait. You were talking D&D, right?”

"Yeah," Theo said as he began to gather the ingredients for the sandwich. “I'm talking about D&D"

"So, are there any rules of the house I should know about? Anyone that I should try to avoid or stay away from?"

“Not really,” replied Max, looking through the cupboards for chips or Cheetos or something. “Everyone is pretty nice. I figure we all know what it feels like to be excluded, so they try not to do that. The professors are all easygoing, too. I mean, you can’t get away with stuff, but they’re not uptight or anything.”

"Have you tried to get away with anything?"

“Nothing serious,” replied Max. “Passing notes in class and pretending I have to use the restroom to walk around the halls for a few minutes.”

"A man after my own heart," Theo shot back "I might be a tad more adventurous than you, but not much more"

Theo dropped six slices of bacon into the frying pan and turned up the heat. "I mostly color inside the lines. I can take you to where I used to hang out before I came here, sometime. You know if you'd be up for it."

“Depends on where that is,” replied Max. “But yeah, I’m down. As long as it’s legal.”

A flash of a memory passed through Theo's head and he looked away from Max and down at the pan. "I'm through with the illegal stuff," he said. "So, yeah not illegal. It's kind of a sketchy part of town, Hell's Kitchen, so it may not ge the safest thing in the world, but I promise nothing that crosses the line. Too much."

Max grinned. “Yeah, I don’t need a criminal record,” he half-joked. “Is it far from here?”

"Kinda. I mean, not too far. Probably, I don't know, about thirty or forty-five minutes depending on the subway schedule. We could go there on a Saturdy, or maybe Sunday."

"You go to church by the way?"

“I didn’t when I first got here, but then B found out my family is Catholic and she started dragging me to Mass every Saturday night,” Max replied. “That’s Bianca Mathew. I’ll have to introduce you sometime. She’s pretty cool.”

"Yeah, I'd like to meet her. I'm not great at making friends, so it would be cool to try to get to know each other."

"As far as church goes, well I believe in God and all and I guess I still consider myself to be a Christian, but some of His followers are as...jerks

"These are almost ready by the way. Did you find something to go with them?"

“Cheetos and hostess cupcakes,” announced Max, holding them up. “Part of a complete and balanced lunch.”

Theo chuckled. "Yeah, I think we're covering the four major food groups." He found a couple of paper plates and put two grilled cheese and bacon sandwiches down on them.

"You want to eat in here, or someplace else?"

Max glanced around at the totally empty kitchen. “I dunno, man, it’s pretty crowded in here,” he joked. “The bar stools at the island are comfortable.”

"Island?" Theo started, "there is an is... oh doh I get what you mean now."

They moved the island and took a seat. "Sounds like you have a perfect family, a strong one. Which is cool. How often do you see them?"

“Usually at Christmas and over summer,” Max replied. “The twins like to pretend they’ve got superpowers, too. They’ll find out soon enough. They’re twelve,” he explained, taking a bite of his sandwich. “Oh my god,” he said as he chewed. “Bacon on grilled cheese is brilliant! You’re a genius, dude!”

Theo was grinning from ear to ear at the compliment. "Thanks, man, I have my moments."

He took a bite, closed his eyes, and just savored the combination of tastes running through his mind. "Wow, that is good."

"Not to change the subject, especially since we are talking about my superior intellect, but what kind of classes do they have here?"

“Typical high school stuff,” Max replied. “Algebra, English, biology, you know the sort. There’s a computer lab, but there’s nobody to teach us programming yet. There’s a computer consultant who comes by from time to time, but I don’t think she’s going to teach us. The biology professor is great, though. Professor McCoy. I’m not sure if he’s going to be back teaching already because he just got back, but I hope so. Literally everybody loves him.”

"Yeah I do, I've been on a computer a few times, but I don't know much about them. I think it will be fun to learn."

He belched. Loudly. Then started to laugh.

"Excuse me, that was bad. I'm sorry."

But Max only laughed. “Nah, man, that was epic,” he said. “I’d take it as a challenge, but I don’t think I can do better than that right now.”

Once more Theo laughed. "Cool. I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with. He finished off the rest of the sandwich and licked his fingers. "So when is the next D&D game?"

“Next Saturday,” Max answered. “We keep trying to get B to DM, but she only just learned the game last spring, so…” He shrugged. “If you wanna join, I can check with everyone else. They’re usually pretty easygoing.”

"Yeah, that's cool. Just tell them how cute and charming I am. " he blushed slightly, "wait I think that came out wrong. I'm just being a smartass."

“I dunno, I think that part will definitely convince B,” Max replied with a laugh. “So it’s not useless.”

"Sweet. But now I have to ask is she cute? Are two, you know a thing?"

“Me and B? Nah, we’re just friends,” answered Max, altogether too casually. “But, yeah, she’s cute, I guess.”

Theo's brow rose as he heard what his roommate. but didn't comment further on his assertion that he and B were just friends. "I'm looking forward to meeting her and your other friends. How many people are in your group? What are they playing?"

“There’s four of us,” Max replied. “I’m the Barbarian, as I said earlier. B’s our mage, Dean is the bard, and James is the paladin.”

"Well, if they say yes to my joining, they'd have a ranger. But how do you play a character and run the game at the same time?"

“Usually you don’t,” answered Max. The DM tends to just play the other characters- like the people who give you information or the person you have to fight.”

"Gotcha. So you must take turns then."

"By the way, what kind of powers do Dean and James have?"

“Dean breathes fire,” Max answered. “It’s wicked cool. James can see clearly in the dark and he has heightened senses. No extra reflexes or agility as of yet, but he’s only 13, so that part might come.”

"Wow, those do sound cool and I bet James will gain more skills once he gets older. I couldn't do half the stuff I'm able to do now when I was his age."

"The Professor said that anyone could use the kitchen but they needed to clean up afterward. If you wanna help me, then we can go back to our room, or maybe meet some of the other kids.

“Nah, man,” said Max, gathering the dishes. “You cooked. I’ll clean up.”

"I'm not going to complain about that. I'll hang here while you finish up. What do you want to do next.'

“We could go find B,” suggested Max, running hot water into the sink and squirting dish soap over the dishes. “Or Dean or James. Or all three of them. Have you seen the hedge maze, yet? It’s awesome.”

"I'd like to meet them. And no, I haven't seen it. I never even knew there was one. But, it sounds fun. Let's go."

“As soon as I get the dishes washed,” Max reminded him, rinsing the pan and placing it in the dish strainer. “I don’t need anybody breathing down my neck for leaving a mess behind.”

Theo teleported across the room to the sink, being sure to stay out of Max's personal space, " I can help with those if you want."

“Dude!” laughed Max. “That was awesome!”

The bi-racial teen grinned. "Glad you think so. "You sure you don't need any help? It is easier, or at least faster with two people."

“Nah, man, I’m almost done,” Max replied, quickly rinsing the plates and then grabbing a towel from the handle of the stove. “I’ll bet they’re in the game room. Wait until you see that. There’s a pool and foosball and a Nintendo. It’s great.”

"I love foosball, I'm pretty good at it to. And I love swimming. What kind of Nintendo games do they have?"

“Well, of course, Super Mario Brothers,” answered Max. “And Duck Hunt. B likes Tetris. I know there’s a ton of sports games, too. And Street Fighter! I almost forgot that one.” He placed the clean plates back in the cupboard and turned to replace the pan in its spot, then hung his towel back up. “All right, I think we’re ready. Did we leave any crumbs?”

"We're teenagers, of course, we didn't leave any crumbs," Theo joked. Then he walked back to the table they had sat at and looked around. There were a few remnants of their food which he dumped in his hand. There was a popping sound like from a cap gun and the crumps disappeared.

“Then let’s go!” he declared, leading the way out of the kitchen.

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