fandomhighdorms | The Roof, Monday Evening

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The Roof, Monday Evening

Unlike, perhaps, a good chunk of his peers, Topher was not in a good mood today.

He'd hated being seven when he was seven, and he'd hated it last year too when the island had thrown this at everyone, and guess what? He still hated it. Seven-year-old Topher had been whiny and scared of everything and stupidly vulnerable, and the lingering discomfort from having been all of those things for a weekend added up to a pretty unhappy Monday.

Now, he didn't mean to be a cliche or anything, but he figured that he'd earned a little while on the roof to sulk. He wasn't sure why it was tradition, considering that it was chilly and he wasn't a big fan of fresh air, but it seemed to be the thing people did when they were in bad moods, so he thought he'd give it a shot.

So far it wasn't really helping. He'd give it another few minutes.

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"You look like you're right in the middle of a full on brood," Jim said as he pushed his way onto the roof. His reasons for being on the roof were simple: he was bored.

"I think I can feel it getting colder the closer I get to you," he quipped, coming over to lean against the edge of the roof.

"Does that misapplication of thermal conservation laws make me a ghost?" Topher wondered. "That'd be cool. Though would haunting the dorm roof be the best choice?"

...okay then.

Jim tilted his head and gave Topher a look for that one because...Topher was a weird guy, that's why.

"As opposed to haunting somewhere else? Is haunting anywhere gonna be that much fun? You're a ghost, you can't do anything but give someone a cheap scare."

"And make people really cold," Topher reminded him. "But you're right, it would not be the most fun state of being in general. So good thing I'm not actually one. In case you were curious about that."

Yeah, apparently Topher's bad moods led to rambling about nonsense. Who knew?

"...I think I picked up on that when I met you," Jim pointed out, amused. "Unless someone had suddenly bludgeoned you to death in those weeks between, I'm smart enough to pick up that you're not a ghost. Don't worry, I won't call a ghostbuster on you."

He was that nice.

"Hey, it could've happened," Topher countered. That at least had factual basis. "I'm highly annoying. I guarantee people would want to do that."

Like that girl Tomato, maybe.

"You sound like you're taking pride in that," Jim observed. "I approve."

Hey, when you were good at something, take pride in it. "But, I'm pretty sure someone would sooner break your nose than try and wipe you from existence. It's usually quicker and less expensive."

"I'm flattered that you think so," Topher decided. "I have seen a marked decrease in girls punching me lately. Maybe my obnoxiousness is no longer worth the effort of violence."

Hmm.

"Is that a good thing, do you think?"

"Depends on your point of view," Jim said, shrugging. "Do you miss the attention you got when girls punched you? Maybe they're just used to you and your obnoxiousness is just cute now."

"Ew, I hope not." Charming, Topher. "And no, I appreciate the not being punched anymore. Angry girls are weirdly strong."

"No one's tried to deck you after the home movie you showed the other week?" Jim asked, raising an eyebrow. "Interesting. I would have thought there'd be a line or something."

Mostly because he knew Olive knew a lot of people. "Or did the whole turning into a kid thing save you?"

Topher shrugged. "I don't think anyone really cared."

Well okay then, Topher. That was one way of seeing it. If you were delusional.

"You don't think anyone cared?" Well, that was an interesting way of seeing things. It made Jim laugh.

"You sure no one dropped you on your head or something? I think people cared. Maybe they were just giving peace a chance and you were the beneficiary of that."

"...Nope, don't think so," Topher said, like this was perfectly obvious. "Normally people yell in my face when I do something wrong."

Jim couldn't really argue with that. If people tended to get in his face and no one had over the Olive thing, he could see Topher's point of view.

"Well, I'd offer to fix that but I've got no real room to talk," he said, shrugging. "I watched the thing without a care in the world. Still, I think people cared. I just think you're not as big as you might think when it comes to being annoying."

"Yeah, but okay, like a year ago I showed this other girl a video of her on Youtube sitting on a cake, and she punched me and so did her boyfriend," Topher pointed out. "And that was like thirty seconds long and I didn't even show anyone else. So, stands to reason that the whole twenty-minute boring webcast wasn't a big deal by comparison if I haven't gotten any complaints."

That was some pretty special logic right there.

"She sat on a cake?" Okay, Jim was distracted now. "Did she think it was a pillow or something? What a waste of a cake!"

Obviously, Jim was not the best person to try and scold someone. He had a lot of growing up to do himself.

"It was like a porn cake," Topher clarified. "Or a porn sitting. There was spandex."

He decided it would be better not to offer to show Jim the video, though. For one thing, the doppelganger issue might lead to some unpleasant violence from Natalie, and rumor had it that she was pretty strong. Best not to go there.

"How bored are you with your life that you just find this stuff?" Jim asked. "You need some better hobbies, Topher. Go collect some bugs or something."

"...But they might bite me."

Ladies and gentlemen, Christopher Brink.

Jim frowned at him. Did he really have to have a reason? Okay, he had a reason but still. He didn't think he needed a reason.

"So, angry girls that might break your nose don't really bother you anymore but bugs do? You do realize that you outweigh bugs, right? And that if they bite you, it'll heal and you can stomp them dead?"

"Yeah, but normally agitating people has some kind of personal benefit that collecting bugs doesn't," Topher explained earnestly. "I mean, with a limited lab at my disposal, there's only so much I'm gonna learn about bugs, but pissing people off opens a whole world of entertainment opportunities."

"You're a sociopath," Jim observed, only about...a third serious. "You make it sound like the human race is just a giant chess game to you."

And that wouldn't come back to bite him in the ass over and over again, Jim was sure. "You're either gonna die young or become the king of some world."

...Huh.

"Thanks," Topher said, with a certainty that suggested that it didn't even occur to him not to take that as a compliment. "I'd be up for that. That sounds pretty cool."

Jim wasn't really sure Topher just wouldn't be assassinated if he was king but he didn't say that either.

"You're welcome," he said. "But, you find yourself on the wrong side of me, I won't hesitate into helping you get closer to that dying young thing. Just an FYI."

"...Well, what's the wrong side of you? Any important issues to be aware of?"

Just so he could be prepared, see.

Plenty but Jim wasn't really a sharer. He did smile though! He was totally a smiler.

"Sure there are but my fun comes from not telling you," he replied, shrugging. "And then, if you do find something that I don't like, I'd have more fun in illustrating that fact. See, I can have fun too!"

"Aw, man, I thought we were building up a rapport here," Topher whined. "Come on, give me a hint at least. You look like you could probably beat me up."

"Oh, I could definitely beat you up," Jim laughed, "which makes me keeping my secrets all the more exciting."

For him.

"Besides, would you go spewing your issues to me? Doubt it."

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The Roof, Monday Evening

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