Chapter Text
Warren huffed as he reached the top of the stairs. The initial scheduling of the Blackwell University Anime Society had just concluded, and it took way longer for everyone to wrap things up than he'd expected. He was supposed to meet his friends for movie night at 4:00; his watch read 4:13. Man, Chloe’s gonna tease me again. Warren thought, as he let out a soft groan.
Despite his urgency, Warren paused at the door to the girls' hall. Something always felt…wrong when he stepped through these doors. No matter how many times he did it, no matter how many friends were quite literally waiting for him on the other side, Warren always felt like an intruder. When he'd first suggested movie night, it was in his dorm, but the majority vote on location had never been in his favor.
Warren shook himself from his anxieties, and pushed through the doors. The dorms were still bustling this soon after class; students just settling down were mingling with those getting ready to go out. He hunched his shoulders, hoping if he kept his gaze on the floor, it would somehow make him invisible. It wouldn't, but then again, he could never actually keep his gaze down.
He glanced at a pair of girls talking by an open dorm; the taller of the two (Dana? He never was good with names) gave him a smile and a wave. Her companion glanced at him quizzically. Warren shrank at that; it was hard for him to ignore the question in her gaze. The phrase "what are you doing here?" rang in his mind like a funeral bell.
He picked up the pace of his walk to Max's room, thankfully not drawing anyone else’s attention on the way. He spared a glance to the bathroom as he passed; it annoyed him that he needed to go to the next floor when nature called. He assumed that single-sex communal bathrooms were some small discouragement against co-ed sleepovers. If they were, they didn’t work, not by a long shot.
Once, Chloe and Rachel had told him to just sneak into a stall while nobody was looking. They even offered to scout it for him, to make sure nobody was in there to catch him. Chloe’s words still rang in his memory. “Come on, dude,” she’d said, “what’s the worst that could happen? If someone tries to say something, just tell them it was an emergency.” Warren knew they meant well, but he still chose to walk.
Max's door was cracked open, and he could hear idle chatter from within. Warren sighed as he opened it, already prepared for a verbal lashing. "Okay, I know what you're going to say," he began, ready to defend himself. Inside, Max, Rachel, and Chloe lay spread across the couch, as well as each other. Kate sat adjacent to the other three, in a folding chair Chloe had salvaged a while back.
"You've betrayed us for the weeaboos. How could you?" Chloe asked, jokingly offended. "You've officially forfeited your couch privileges for the evening."
Warren rolled his eyes. If Chloe was going to razz him, he may as well play along. "Fine, the floor works. I'll do my best to avoid my responsibilities as club secretary in the future."
"Very well, King of the Nerds." Chloe replied. "For that, I'll refrain from using you as a footrest." She wiggled her eyebrows in a suggestive manner.
Kate interjected. "Chloe, be nice! Warren, I think it's lovely that you joined the Japanimation club!" Warren managed not to cringe at Kate's anachronistic phrasing; her enthusiasm was more important than her accuracy.
"We can always start later if you need, Warren." Max piped up. "It's probably a lot of work." She smiled apologetically, as if she was the one who'd inconvenienced the group, not him.
Warren shrugged. "Nah, don't worry about it! Today's meeting just ran over due to a…minor argument." He found a seat in front of the couch, on Max's throw rug. "Someone asked if we could watch Avatar: the Last Airbender, so we had to stop a riot from breaking out." Anime fans and verbal disagreements, Warren mused silently, name a more iconic duo!
Rachel grabbed the remote as Warren found his seat. "Alright," she declared, "it was my turn to pick this week, so we'll be watching…" she paused for dramatic effect, reaching into her bag beside the couch. " Jennifer's Body! " she proclaimed, presenting a transparent disc case with the title written in sharpie.
Rachel loaded the disc into Max's laptop, plugged into a small flatscreen TV by her bed. As she did so, Warren struggled to remember anything he'd heard about the film. "What is it, some kind of murder mystery?" he asked.
"Sort of," Rachel giggled. "You'll like it, Warren. Megan Fox is in rare form." She turned to Chloe and Max. "And she's insanely hot. Just in case that wasn't obvious."
Warren felt a blush rising in his cheeks. The scene on screen was of two girls, one blonde, one dark-haired, making out on a bed. He felt like he should be enjoying himself, but, for some reason, it just felt awkward.
He was eerily aware of the three girls behind him. Max, Chloe, and Rachel were the first queer girls he'd ever met. They were also the first polyamorous people he'd met, a term he wasn't even aware of before they started dating. To think, I thought I had a chance with Max .
Warren's thoughts flew back to his first meeting with her. I was so shocked when I met a girl playing video games, he thought with a small chuckle. Of course, to his teenage mind, this was an impossibly fortunate encounter, and surely they were destined to be married! Except, no, definitely not. Not anywhere close to that. At most, they just tended to party together whenever they needed to farm some raids. Warren contented himself with having a new friend, and privately nursed a crush on her for years.
In fact, he hadn't really been able to take the hint about her until he met Chloe and Rachel. Max had mentioned Chloe first, right after the two reconnected near the end of high school. A couple of weeks after that, she mentioned meeting Chloe’s girlfriend, Rachel. Warren remembered her being offline more often after that. The next time Warren ventured to ask about Max’s friends, she very nervously told him that they were her girlfriends now.
Warren was happy for them, of course. It had taken him an embarrassingly long time to get used to the idea, not that he’d ever let Max know. His lack of social skills notwithstanding, he understood enough to be respectful of his new friends' relationship. The problem was, even now, he always felt like he was doing it wrong.
His mind went to recurring thoughts that cropped up when he spent time with the girls. Wouldn't they rather be alone right now? Why do they even invite me, they already have each other. Who knows, maybe they're trying to recruit Kate, and I'm the only thing holding them back.
He frowned at that last thought; of course they weren't doing anything like that, and of course they must enjoy his presence. At the very least, they showed no desire to exclude him; so why couldn't he shake the feeling of not belonging? "I've gotta take a leak," Warren declared, using the thinnest of excuses to beat a hasty exit. A chorus of "Okays" followed him out the door, along with Chloe chiding, "Don't fall in." The girls could enjoy the movie; he just needed a minute.
The hallway was much darker now, night having fallen while they were watching the movie. As he began making his way to the stairs, he stopped in his tracks. An unforeseen obstacle, in the form of a bespectacled girl, was standing just near the door, chatting with a girl Warren didn't recognize. Shit, it's Brooke.
Out of all the people Warren had met thus far at Blackwell University, Brooke Scott was one of the few who had actually introduced herself to him of their own accord. Notably, she was also the only girl who had done so. At first, Warren hadn't considered that this could mean anything; he was mainly just happy to have a friend. However, recently, Brooke had let slip that she was single, and Warren worried that she'd be interested in something more with him.
Unfortunately, his failures at romance had convinced Warren of one thing; that it was an absolutely terrible idea for him to be in a relationship with anyone . If Brooke disagreed, it was only because she didn't really know him yet. He hadn't given her the chance to look beneath the surface of his personality. What she would find underneath, he wasn't certain, but he knew it wouldn't be good. At best, he'd reveal himself to be utterly uninteresting. At worst...
Warren glanced at the restroom in the hall. The door was ajar, and he couldn't hear any running water coming from within. He had three options, then. First, return to his friends, and watch a movie. No, it hasn't been long enough. They'll ask why I'm back so soon. Second, he could continue his path, taking him right past Brooke. No dice. She'll start talking to me, I'll say something stupid, and I'll beat myself up over it all week. Lastly, he could risk the restroom. Where, if I get caught, I'll probably be dragged in front of the disciplinary board and shunned by all the girls on campus.
The consequences were a bit slanted in favor of the first two choices; but the third was the only way he could get off scott-free. Oh my god, Scott -free? That's such a bad pun , he thought, tiptoeing his way into the restroom. Thankfully, it was as empty as he hoped. He supposed it was obvious, but he was surprised to see there were no urinals.
Warren slipped into a stall, locking the door behind him. As he lowered himself onto the toilet, he pulled his knees up to his chin, and breathed a slow sigh of relief. Okay. You should be good. Just take a minute, collect yourself, and when you go back to your friends, nobody will be the wiser.
At that exact moment, the door to the restroom squealed, signaling it had opened. Warren tensed. The footsteps that followed were soft, but not deliberately so. Warren heard them trot into the stall next to his. Oh, crapbaskets, he thought.
"Ugh, really?" came a voice from the next stall, "They're out of TP again. Fuckin' cut-rate art school." Warren heard the telltale flick of a lighter's flint. Just as he was about to start his exit, the girl next door blew a cloud of smoke under the stall divider. Warren got one good whiff of tobacco before he sneezed.
He heard a jolt from the other stall. "Shit, is there somebody in here?" Warren could detect a hint of nerves in her voice.
Warren took a slow breath. Okay. You just have to talk like a girl, and she'll never know. Shit, how do girls talk? Warren tried his best to picture a woman who he could reasonably imitate. He settled on somewhere between Xena and Seven of Nine. "Ah, sorry." he intoned, "I was, uh, avoiding someone." A little honesty never hurt when selling a lie.
There was a moment of silence before he got any response; just long enough to make Warren sweat. "Huh." came the noncommittal response. "I get that, I guess. Listen, do you think you could hand me a spare roll? Mine's out over here."
Warren's gaze flicked next to his stall. He couldn't believe his luck, but he wouldn't even think about questioning it now. He removed a roll from its holder, and extended his hand under the stall divider.
A hand with a well-manicured set of nails grabbed it from him. "Fuck, I owe you one," she breathed.
Warren allowed himself a chuckle. "No, forget about it." Seriously, please forget about this , he added silently. He peeked through the crack in the stall door before carefully exiting.
He had just stepped out when the voice spoke again. "What's your name, by the way? I don't think we've met."
Warren stopped. Shit, just think of a name! He looked around, as if inspiration would fly to him if he could just detect it in the air. His gaze eventually settled on his reflection in a mirror. "...Lauren. My name is Lauren." he managed. Maybe obvious, but it'll have to do.
There was another pause from the stall. "Well, for what it's worth, it was nice to meet you, Lauren. My name's Victoria. Feel free to say hi next time you're in the hall."
Warren's eyes were wide as saucers as he exited the bathroom. No way, he thought, There is no fucking way I got away with that. Victoria Chase? God, I'd have been ruined if she knew.
As he reached Max's door, he glanced across the hall, where the door to Victoria's room stood. He had never considered the girl much. Rachel said she was bad news in high school, and that was enough for him. Certainly he wouldn't have expected to talk to her on even terms like that. Briefly, he wondered if maybe she had more to her than just being the popular mean girl.
These thoughts flew from Warren as soon as he opened the door. Chloe teased him for taking too long, while Rachel started explaining what he missed. Things went back to normal. At least she's someone I won't talk to much , he thought. And hopefully that's the last time I ever need to be in a girls' bathroom.