After school Kop and Pax went to the cafeteria to grab some food. As they sat down over some pasta dishes they decided to get to know each other more. Kop had many questions as did Pax.
Pax took a bite of his pasta and winced. "Ok, so, I'm assuming you lived in Thailand at some point, so when did you move to Brantford?"
Kop took a sip of his drink first. "A few days ago, my mum owns a chain of restaurants in North America so she made sure I studied English while at school." He then pointed at Pax, "tell me about the accident. What happened?"
Pax wasn't ok with talking about it much, so he shared the cliff notes version. "My friend and his mom died because she was driving drunk. I managed to survive, but let's just say swim suit model is no longer in my future." Pax pointed at the pasta, "this is really bad by the way." Then took another bite after making a disgusted face and swallowing it was his turn to ask a question. "How long have you been out?"
Kop's favourite question, people always ask this one. "I've been gay since I can remember. I came out to my friends about 3 years ago and my parents last year." Kop took a bite of the pasta and winced "this is really bad." They laughed over the mistake of trusting school pasta. "Ok, my turn." Kop pointed at Pax again. "What's the story between you and that hunk Corey?"
Pax put his fork down and took a swing of his drink. "We were friends when we were kids, he was practically a brother to me, we even bathed together from time to time when he stayed over night. Then he moved away for several years and came back around the time of the accident. However since everyone was avoiding me so was he."
Kop smiled and cocked an eyebrow. "So do you think you guys will be friends again?"
Pax shook his head. "I doubt it, when we were Kids Corey, Patrick and I we're inseparable. I think Patrick's death ended our friendship for good." They went silent for a moment. "Wait, back up. Handsome? Are you thinking of going after Corey?"
Kop grinned and began shift around like a girl holding a secret. "He's so good looking, and something's there. I can feel it."
Pax pointed back at Kop with a stern expression. "You're feeling delusional, Corey's straight. He's had several girlfriends."
Kop leaned back and crossed his arms. "My gaydar is never wrong, and he is so hot he might turn his unsuspecting roommate gay."
Pax chuckled, "Oh man I pity they guy who's stuck with him." That's when he remembered the names in his door "Shit." Pax looked at Kop feeling gob smacked. "I think he might be my roommate. I didn't think about it this morning but the other name on my door said Letour."
Kop giggled, it was like something out of a bad drama. "OMG, friends turned rivals become lovers. I know this story I've ready it on a fan site once. Only thing missing is if you were king fu warriors."
Pax looked away, because the became too awkward. Kop examined the lack of eye contact. "Waaaaaait. Are you two kung fu warriors?"
"No!" Pax exclaimed loudly. He looked around to see if anyone was staring. "But I'm a red belt in Tae Kwon Do and he studied Jujitsu when we were little."
Kop began to laugh so hard he fell out of his seat. He was winded from laughing rolling on the floor. "Please. I can't. I can't." He said gasping for breath then looked at Pax and laughed again."
Pax just looked away annoyed with Kop making fun of him. "Would you stop already?"
Kop got back into his seat still giggling. "Ok. Ok. Stop being a sour puss." Kop brushed him self off and asked. "So how will you handle living with him?"
Pax thought about it, "Maybe the problem is already solved."
Kop leaned in, he was intrigued. "Oh how so?"
Pax smiled, "he knows Geoff saint-amour, but I'm Pax now. So if he brings up the idea I'm Geoff, I'll just say never heard of him and say My name is Pax." Pax leaned back and smiled. "I just need to be Pax for the rest of my life. Which honestly I'm really loving as my name." Pax pointed at Kop, "You were a genius for picking it for me."
Kop smiled and grabbed ahold of Pax's hands. "I want to thank you, for letting me be a part of your drama. It's always been a dream of mine to be in some kooky BL drama." Kop bowed his head and pressed it against Pax's hands. "Thank you so much."
Pax pulled his hands away and shook his head. "What's a BL anyways?"
Kop smiled. "Oh you'll find out."
Pax didn't want to know what was going on in the twisted mind of his new friend, so he just pointed down at the pasta and said. "I can't do this. It's awful. I'm going to go get changed and jog off all of this." Pax got up and grabbed his tray. "Are you staying in the dorm too?"
Kop stood up and grabbed his tray. "Has anyone every told you, you eat like a diva?"
Pax shot him a stern look. "Stop. That."
Kop laughed and bussed his tray. "Yeah, I'm staying at the dorm too."
The boys left and headed back to the dorms. Pax was staying on the first floor and Kop on the 5th, so they went their separate ways. Pax walked over to his dorm room and opened the door to see his new roommate standing in his underwear. Pax hadn't seen Corey shirtless since they were little kids playing with the sprinkler. It was the first time Pax saw that Corey had developed pecks, abs and biceps. It was such a shock to see that it caused pax to drop his bag and fiddle case on the floor.
Corey looked over and furrowed his brow. "Hey close the door, I'm getting changed."
Pax snapped back to reality. Grabbed his things and closed the door. "Uh, sorry. I just wasn't expecting mild nudity when I walked in." Pax put his things by the his bed and turned away from Corey. "So you must be my roommate, I saw you perform today. You were amazing." Pax glanced around to see if Corey had put on clothes just as Corey put on zipped up his cargo shorts. Pax stuck out his hand. "I'm Pax. You're Corey right?"
Corey paused and looked at Pax, "Pax?" Corey shook his head, threw a shirt on and said. "Whatever dude." He grabbed his keys and wallet then walked out the door. Pax stood there thinking that could have gone better.
Pax began to unpack his stuff and set himself up in the dorm room. It was a small room divided into 2 sides for each student. 2 single beds with a closet at the foot of the bed a desk and shelves at the head and drawers to store clothes under the bed. Since Pax didn't have normal underwear, only jogging tights and leggings, they took up almost all his drawers, he had to improvise a storage system for his socks. By hanging a pillow case on the wall over his bed and rolling up pairs of socks to store in it. After unpacking Pax got changed into his jogging shorts and t-shirt while keeping his tights on underneath. He put his key on a lanyard, grabbed his water bottle and left.
Down at the school track Pax noticed other students hanging out in the bleachers talking, having drinks and playing music. At the top of the bleachers Pax saw a few girls practicing some pop dance choreography. Pax began his stretches feeling out of place with an audience of his peers all watching him be the only one exercising. He shrugged it off as best he could and started his jog. He needed to clear his head of all the big obstacles a head of him. He was made the joke of his class by his teacher, he might not make the class list and then there was Corey. How on earth did 2 kids from the same neighbourhood in the same tiny town in New Brunswick manage to come to the same performing arts school AND end up as roommates. What cosmic forces are conspiring against him in this way? These thoughts rocked back and forth in his mind. How is this his life now?
As he finished his laps and slowed down to take a breath. Pax sat down on the ground to drink when the 3 choreography girls came down to see him. They were beautiful the 3 most beautiful girls Pax had ever seen. The first was a beautiful raven haired Latina, she was the leader of the her little posse. She had bad ass boss vibes all over her, from the fit of her jeans to her white crop top sweater. She owned her attitude and Pax couldn't take his eyes off her. She kept her hair in a ponytail and wore big gold hoop earrings. "Hi, I'm Adrianna."
Adrianna pointed to the girl to her right and said "This is Marcie."
Marcie was a blond Caucasian teen with too much makeup on, some lulu lemon yoga pants and a pink version of Adrianna's cropped sweater. "Hey." Marcie waved.
Adrianna then pointed to the girl in her left and said. "This is Gia."
Gia was an Asian Canadian girl, like Adrianna she kept her hair in a pony tail but she has streaks of red in her hair. She wore a hello kitty tank top and blue track pants. "S'up?"
Pax took a swig of his water while still sitting in the grass. "I'm Pax, sorry for not getting up, I just hit my limit on lap 12."
Adrianna "No, it's ok. We're in the dance program, we know what it's like to get exhausted." Marcie and Gia nodded in agreement. "Are you a freshmen?"
Pax nodded as he took another drink. "Yeah, I'm in the music program. Are you guys freshmen too?"
Marcie and Gia giggled while Adrianna just smiled and said. "No we're sophomores." She then snapped her finger. "Marcie pen." Marcie ran to her book bag and came back with a marker pen and handed it to Adrianna. Adrianna bent down and held out her hand. "Give me your hand." Pax held out his hand and Adrianna wrote down her name and address on his palm. "You're cute and I like a guy with stamina. My folks are gone for week and I'm having a party to celebrate everyone coming back tonight."
Pax was floored, he'd never been invited to a party before. "Uhh, can I bring some friends?"
Adrianna got up "Only if they're as good looking as you." then she turned around and walked off with her posse.
Pax tried to keep his cool, he didn't want her to see him freak out. As soon as she was out of sight Pax got up and started to have his freak out. "Holy crap!" He began to quick march back to the dorm muttering "holy crap." Over and over again. When he got to the Dorm lobby area he spotted Kop and rushed over to him shouting "Kop!"
Kop turned around and saw Pax running to him, covered in sweat. "Oh God!" He put his hand up to say stop stay back. "No! You are not coming near me that sweaty and gross." He looked at Pax's head to toe spandex tights. "And what is with the Superman outfit?"
Pax was panting. "No time to explain, just meet me at my dorm room 126 in 30. I gotta shower and change." Pax then ran off to his dorm room to find a scrap piece of paper to write down the address from his hand.
He then grabbed his shower gear and went to the bathroom.
The Brantford academy dorms had 2 communal bathrooms on each floor. They were at opposite ends of the floor each with showers, urinals sinks and bathroom stalls. However what Pax wasn't expecting was to find that there was no shower stalls, just an area with 10 shower heads on the wall of a round room and a center column with 4 shower heads. Pax felt lucky that he can in while no one was around, but now had to figure out how to time when to get a shower before the rest of the dorm. Pax bought a water proof bag to store his showering supplies before coming to the school, so he could keep his towels and bathrobe dry.
After his shower Pax put on his over sized bathrobe peeked his head out into the corridor to check and see if anyone was there and then ran for his room. When he got back to his room and saw Corey hadn't come back yet he had a sigh of relief. He took off his bathrobe and hung it up and just as he pulled a fresh pair of tights from his drawer heard the door unlock. Pax freaked out ran over and held it shut just as Corey was about to open it.
Corey was upset he just got blocked from his room. "Hey. What the hell man?" He said as he banged on the door.
Pax shouted through the door. "I just got back from the shower and I'm naked?" Corey stopped banging after hearing that, so Pax took a beat to breathe. "Just give me a second to put something on." Pax rushed over to his bed and put his tights on as fast as he could. He then shouted back to Corey. "It's ok now. I'm decent."
Pax was fishing a new pair of socks out of the bag while Corey walked in. Corey saw Pax in the full tights. "What's with the tights you trying to be Superman?"
Pax rolled his eyes. He wanted to keep the charade of he didn't know Corey going, but if he talked about the accident, then Corey would know who he was. "Listen dude, I was attacked by a bear when I was 8, it left some nasty scars that people get grossed out by. So I wear this to hide my skin."
Corey looked at Pax, dumbfounded by his story. "A bear attack at age 8?" Corey shook his head and lifted his bangs to show a scar on the top left hand side of his forehead. "Look, everyone has a scar or 2. Their no big deal as long as you don't make them an big deal."
Pax remembered that scar, Corey, Patrick and Pax were all playing together as kids at Corey's. They got into some trouble and Corey's drunken step dad hurled a beer bottle at his head. It was shortly after that incident when Corey was sent to Edmonton to live with his dad. Patrick and Pax were never the same after he left. "You get to hide your scar under your hair." Pax grabbed some jeans and a hoodie from his closet and put them on.
Corey sat down at his desk and started to paw through some music sheets he was working on. Pax got dressed, and sat down on his bed. He felt bad that he shouted at Corey like that. "Hey so, while I was running earlier I met these really hot girls, and they invited me to a party tonight. I was gonna bring Kop, with me. You wanna come too?"
Cory looked over and cocked his eyebrow. "Wait, run that one by me again. You met hot girls, and they invited YOU to a party?"
Pax felt the shady tone cut through him like a knife. "Hey. I don't know if you noticed, but I have a hot bod. I know maybe 2 guys my age who are this hot, and since they said I can only invite someone good looking as me, I thought I'd invite the only 2 I know." Pax stopped cause he realized that he accidentally just told Corey he thinks that Corey has a hit bod. He quickly turned away from Corey and muttered "shit. Shit. Shit."
Cory was about to make a comment on Pax's slip up, but then someone knocked at the door. Pax opened the door and there was Kop standing there still in his school uniform. Kop saw that Corey was the roommate and let out a loud laugh. Pax was less than happy about that and just grabbed him by the coat and yanked him in the dorm room. He whispered to Kop, "stop laughing and don't tell him anything." Pax looked at Corey and started introductions. "Corey this is Kop." Corey nodded and turned back around.
Kop sat down on the first Bed he saw, "So why did you want me to meet you here?" He then turned to Corey. "Oh by the way, you killed it with your performance today." He then turned back to Pax and gestured with his hands. "Well? Spill it."
Pax started to pace back and forth. "So, while I was jogging these really hot girls came over and asked me to come to their party tonight."
Kop put his hand up at say stop. "Ok 2 things. First, stop pacing you're making me dizzy. 2 hot girls?" Kop gave a what the hell expression. "Why should I care?"
Pax paused and sat down on his desk chair. "They are sophomores from the dance program. So there's bound to be hot dance guys there, probably gay."
Kop smiled, "and I'm back in. Continue." He gestured back to Pax.
Pax dropped his head in frustration. "So, this might be no surprise, but I've never been invited to a party, or gone drinking." Pax ruffled his hair in frustration, "what do I do? Wha do I wear? Do I bring my fiddle?"
Pax and Corey shouted in unison, "No!"
Kop stood up, "Ok, I'll go. Only because you need help." Kop looked over at Corey. "You're going too. For a guy who put his teacher in her place you look like someone shot your puppy." Kop stood up and motioned Pax to stand up too. Pax didn't understand what he was doing so Kop motioned again more flamboyant this time. Pax shrugged unsure what was happening. Kop sighed. "I'm not doing some cool new dance, we're doing queer eye for the straight guy." Kop motioned again. "Now get off your ass and stand up so I can see what I'm dealing with."
Pax stood up and turned around as best he could in the small environment he had. Kop nodded and went "hmm. Ok, ok." Then stopped him. "So don't wear that. Which one is your closet?"
Pax pointed at his closet and Kop immediately started going through everything, saying no, on each shirt he swiped by in his closet. "Pax, I feel like I know the real you and you must have some serious body image issue, because everything you wear screams don't look at me." Pax says down and slumped his head down again. Kop looked at Corey and pointed at his closet. "You mind if I check out the goods Corey?"
Corey just motioned him to check it out. Kop began to look through his closet and spotted some good shirts, nice denims and some cool band tees. "Hey you 2 stand up next to each other."
Pax looked at Corey and Corey looked back. They shrugged and got up and stood side by side, when their shoulders touched, Pax looked away and smiled.
Kop turned around to look at the 2 boys side by side. They were practically the same height, shape. Corey was a tiny bit taller but Pax had slightly wider shoulders. "Oh perfect, you're practically clones."
Corey tilted his head. "Was there a point to this?"
Kop nodded, "Yeah you wear this shirt with those shorts." He pulled a shirt that had light to dark blue vertical stripes running down it and handed it to Corey. He then gave him his black and blue ramones tee-shirt. "Oh and wear it with this shirt." Kop rummaged and grabbed a short sleeve button up shirt that was red up top and went down to a black haze and white country stitching. He handed the shirt to Pax and asked, "This looks amazing. You should wear it."
Pax held it up and shook his head. "No. I don't do short sleeves."
"Spider-Man can't hide his spandex with tee shirts." Chirped Corey.
Kop looked at Corey then back to Pax. "What are you wearing under that hoodie?" He reached over and started tugging at Pax's hoodie trying to pull it off. Pax swatted his hand away, but that didn't deter Kop, he just tried more aggressively to take off Pax's hoodie. Corey thought it was stupid so he helped out and together they got the hoodie off and Pax backed away to the door. It was just one of his white jogging tights. But it hugged him so tight you could see body definition like it was his actual skin, while still hiding the impressions of his scars.
Kop just stared at him for a moment, debating the weirdness that his friend wore this all the time or that it made him look kinda hot. "What is that?"
Pax reached out and grabbed his hoodie. "I told you I don't show skin."
Kop looked at his friend and realized he really did have a self image problem. "Show it to me."
"No." Pax responded, he was tired of people making comments about his body.
Kop walked over and put one hand on Pax's shoulder and the other he lowered the hoodie. "You're my friend. I'm not going to judge you. Show me the scars."
Pax looked at Corey in the background, and pointed to him. "Turn around."
Corey pointed at himself. "What I'm your roommate, I should get to see too."
Pax shook his head. "It's because you're my roommate, I don't want you to look at me every day like I'm some freak." Pax paused and sternly said. "Turn around."
Corey sighed and turned to face the window. Pax took off his shirt to show his scars. There was one that travelled from the top of his abdomen to the bottom, some that came off the abdomen and travelled around his obliques one massive one in the center of his chest with a few scars over his heart. Pax's arms were covered from the shoulder down, and over his left forearm that wrapped all the way around and several that stretched up his right arm. On his back there was more scars some surgical some healed sections of skin that was ripped or torn. Kop saw that the scars on his hips went down below his underwear band. "Are they on your legs too?"
Pax nodded. "They said 63% of my skin is scared tissue. The nerve endings on my right ar are fried and can't feel pain there anymore, same with my left leg." Pax put his tight shirt back on. "After the recovery everyone was disgusted with all the scars, that they began to pick on me, even people I thought were my friends turned on me and called me a freak. That's why I wear these tights."
Kop sat down on the bed, dumbfounded. "how did you survive that?"
Pax sat down with his hoodie in hand. "I never talk about it but I had to get a heart transplant to survive, my fried I was with at the time was dead on arrival, we had the same blood type." Pax put his hand over his heart. "so now his heart keeps me alive."
Corey sat in his chair, the mood in the room had gotten quite depressing. "Wait, you had a heart transplant? Doesn't that mean you can't drink?"
Pax popped out of his own thoughts. "Oh I can't drink in excess. The anti rejection meds can have a back lash if I drink too much." Pax leaned back "I just figured I'd nurse 1 drink."
Kop nodded along. "Good plan, better plan. Don't drink, because your 14 and had a heart transplant." He got up and smacked Pax up side the head and started to curse him out in Thai.
Corey walked over to Pax and tossed him the shirt he was going to wear. "I agree with Kop. Don't drink and wear this shirt. It works with the tights." Corey grabbed his red and black shirt. "This shirt works with black tees anyways.
Kop got up off the bed. "Ok I'm going to get dressed." Kop opened the door. "Let's meet in the lobby. In 2 hours."
Pax was confused, "2 hours? Won't that mean we'll be late to the party?"
Kop smiled before shutting the door and said. "That's the point." The door closed behind him and Kop wandered off to his dorm room