Psync by Zile Elliven

Chapter Eleven

Eli

Sunday was a sleepy day for Eli. All the excitement and stress of the past week caught up to him and said stay the fuck put. So, he did.

He didn’t even bother stirring from his bed until the sun was high in the sky and when he did, his head felt light and floaty, so while he did technically get up, Eli decided the bed was really the best place for him today. He got out for exactly as long as it took to use the bathroom and procure snacks from the tiny fridge he and Jace shared, then he got back in bed.

Jace had left already, or else Eli might have created a tent over his bed.

Actually, that wasn’t a bad idea—Jace or no.

He set to work, draping sheets around his bed. It was touch and go for a while, but eventually he chose against his classic Voltron sheets for a nice neutral blue. Besides, what if he tore the Voltron sheets while making the tent? Perish the thought.

By the time he was settled into his fortress with his laptop—not his phone, today was also a no-phone day, and he could deal with the repercussions of that later—Jace came back.

His roommate took one look at the new setup and smiled. “Is there room in there for two? Or do you want to be alone?”

“That depends on your feelings about Stargate SG-1.”

“Extremely pro. Scoot over.”

It was a good day. No one asked him about his feelings or treated him oddly. It was just junk food and 90s sci-fi until way too late in the night.

The next morning, something was terribly, terribly wrong. The worst noise Eli had ever heard was blaring through the room. It was like a dying whale giving birth to a minivan. He jolted up, causing his laptop, his roommate, and a pile of discarded snack wrappers to go flying.

“What the hell is that?”

“It’s the fricking fire alarm.” Jace moaned from the floor. He tried to get up but slipped on an empty Dorito bag and crashed down onto the bed, narrowly missing Eli’s leg.

Stumbling and half asleep, the two of them managed to get down all ten flights of stairs to the meeting place outside the building where various RAs were doing headcounts.

“You have something on your face.” Jace reached out and peeled a Warheads wrapper from Eli’s cheek. And then snatched his hand back. “Shit, sorry man, I wasn’t thinking.”

“It’s okay.” Eli yawned and stretched. “I think my issues are still asleep. Plus, I think you sleeping on top of me for half the night has made me immune.” Though chances were good his defense system would count Jace as an intruder before the end of the day.

Jace’s eye’s flicked to something over Eli’s shoulder, and his eyes widened momentarily. Then his face became cool and watchful.

“Where were you yesterday?” Haruka’s deep voice rumbled behind Eli.

Eli jumped. “Christ! Warn a guy next time.” His hand clutched his chest, trying to keep his heart from escaping.

“You didn’t answer your phone.” Was Haruka annoyed? Or just sleepy? It was hard for Eli to tell.

“I was taking a me-day. No phones.” Eli was incredibly proud of how steady his voice sounded considering the party going on inside his chest.

“With him?” Haruka looked Jace up and down, eyes lingering at his feet. A scowl began to form on his face.

“Well, he’s my roommate, so, yes?” What was up with all the questions?

A gust of wind reminded Eli it was early morning, and that he was only wearing a pair of thin shorts and unfamiliar flip-flops. He shivered and wrapped his arms around himself. Going inside would be wonderful right about now.

Haruka’s eyes narrowed. Then he shrugged off the black hoodie he was wearing and held it out to Eli wordlessly.

“Um . . .”

“Take it. Even without it, I’m still wearing more than you.” Haruka gestured to the tight black T-shirt and sweatpants he was wearing.

Eli looked at Jace, who shrugged. Haruka’s scowl deepened.

Another shiver helped Eli make up his mind. “Okay, then. Thanks. I’ll bring it back to you in class.”

The hoodie was far too big for Eli, but it was warm and soft and smelled amazing.

“I need it back before Friday.”

“Oh.” It made sense. If Haruka lived in Japan, he probably went back and forth a lot, which would mean having a lot of stuff would be a pain. Maybe he only had one hoodie. “I can wash it today and give it back to you this evening.”

“Don’t bother washing it, give it back to me at lunch. I’ll text you where.” Haruka turned and walked away without giving Eli a chance to answer.

Jace whistled. “That guy is intense. Did we do something to piss him off?”

“I honestly have no idea. He always looks a little irritated.”

“Hey, switch back with me. These things are tiny.” Jace pointed at Eli’s sandals on his feet. He grunted as he worked to peel them off. He wasn’t much taller than Eli, but his feet were way bigger.

“That’s because you have giant monster feet.” Eli slipped off the flip-flops and stepped into his own sandals. “I nearly killed myself coming down the stairs in these.”

Eli’s shoulder blades prickled.

“Your friend is giving us the stink-eye right now.”

“Maybe he needs coffee? I know I do. Hey, the RAs are letting people back in. Come on.”

✽✽✽

After a nice hot shower—on his own floor, thank god—Eli got dressed and made for the nearest coffee cart. Since his laptop told him it would be in the 90s that afternoon, Eli decided to wear Haruka’s hoodie over a long T-shirt, so he didn’t have to lug it and his own hoodie around in his backpack when it got hot.

After his first class finished, he fished his phone out of his pocket. He hadn’t turned it on yet, and he really didn’t want to, either. But yesterday had been his no-phone day and that was his limit. He couldn't have two no-phone days in a row, it was against the rules he’d agreed to with his mom and sister. If he didn’t answer after twenty-four hours to a phone call or text from his family, they had the right to make him come home.

It was the only way they’d agreed to let him go to school so far away. Which was a bit excessive in Eli’s opinion, but he’d agreed to it to keep them from worrying. He did wonder what they were they going to do when he got a job and left the country, though.

He shook his head at his overprotective family. Then he steeled his nerve and turned on his phone. He was past the agreed upon twenty-four hours, but hopefully no one had thought to message him until last night.

Once his phone booted up, his lock screen lit up with notifications. Ten missed calls and thirty-seven texts.

Eli pulled his hoodie up, and his spiking anxiety ratcheted down several notches—something that didn’t usually happen when he used his own hoodie. He was lucky if it calmed him down at all. Maybe it was the smell. He should ask Haruka what laundry detergent he used.

Taking a deep breath, he checked the thing he was most afraid of first—the missed phone calls. The first had been from Haruka. He hadn’t left a message, but Eli could see from the time stamp that it had been Haruka who had called him last night right before Eli had turned off his phone. The rest of the calls were from Alice and Nate, none from his family. He breathed a sigh of relief.

No matter what his text messages had in store for him, at least he didn’t have to deal with needing to convince his mom not to drag him home.

The spike of adrenaline in his gut told him avoiding the voicemails from Nate and Alice was in his best interests. Instead, he’d read their texts. It would be easier to be friend-dumped by text.

mAlice: I’m so sorry Eli, forgive me! I got carried away. Nate will apologize too when he stops freaking out.

NateTheGreat: I’m not freaking out, just worried. We don’t even know that guy, Eli. I’m just trying to look out for you

mAlice: He really does mean well, Eli. He just gets overprotective sometimes

Eli hit his head on his desk softly. He was the one who had overreacted and now they were apologizing to him. He forced himself to keep going, even though most of his brain was telling him that the end of the chat would be them telling him to go fuck himself after ignoring them all day. He tugged absently at a hoodie string.

mAlice: Eli?

Eli?

Eli?

Eli?

Eli?

NateTheGreat: You should answer her, man. She can get way more annoying.

mAlice: I caaaaaaaan. And I will

Instead of the feared friend dumping, the rest of the messages were Alice spamming his phone.

Huh.

As soon as he’d finished reading everything, another message popped up from Alice.

mAlice: He read it!!!!! Ok, talk to us Eli, or I’ll spam your phone until you cry

Eli’s fingers hesitated over the screen. What was he supposed to say? Apologize for having a broken brain? That was such an old and tired exercise, and he was done apologizing for being himself. But that didn’t mean he shouldn’t apologize for his actions.

Eli: Um

I overacted

I’m sorry for turning off my phone

I needed a day off from thinking

I’m sorry for ignoring you, that was super shitty

mAlice: Only because you scared me! I thought you hated us now!

Eli: Actually I thought you’d hate me for yelling and leaving.

NateTheGreat: Alice and I would have split long ago if that was our style. My last class is at 3:30. Can we meet after that?

mAlice: Yes please!

Eli: 4:00? By the duck?

mAlice: I’ll be there!

NateTheGreat: Me too.

Eli breathed a sigh of relief and ran his hands through his hair, knocking his hood back. He still had friends.

Though Haruka had been acting oddly this morning. He should read his texts next. There were only two. One asking, Are you ok? And then another several hours later saying, Just don’t forget to eat something.

Huh. Maybe Eli was overthinking things.

His sister had sent him a single text the night before, and it was a pirate meme. He gave the picture a heart, and then he was done.

So much buildup over nothing.

Stupid brain.

He shoved himself out of his desk. If he hurried, he could hit up another coffee cart before his next class.

✽✽✽

“Jesus, you’re pretty. Are you a boy or a girl under those layers?”

Eli had been seconds away from shedding Haruka’s hoodie on his way out of class. Now he found one of his hands reaching for the hood to pull it up, but it was caught midmotion.

Wrongwrongwrong

He tried to snatch it back, but it was held fast. Eli gritted his teeth and looked up. Not one, but two Chads loomed over him. Fan-fucking-tastic.

Wrongwrongwrong

Eli twisted his wrist and yanked down, freeing his hand. “None of your business.”

“I don’t care what you are, I’d like to make it my business.” Chad number one, all blonde hair and blue eyes, leaned in close, forcing Eli to back away.

“Pass.” Eli tried to go around, but Chad number two stepped in his way.

“I’d still like to know what’s under the hood first, personally.”

Gross.

Eli’s phone rang, and he clicked answer without checking who it was.

“Where are you?” Haruka’s voice was clipped, and he sounded pissed.

“Um, by the Old Chapel, near the main pond.” An irritable Haruka was better than two touchy-feely Chads any day.

“I’m almost there.” Haruka hung up.

Eli stood staring at his phone for a second until he realized he still had to ditch the Chads. He turned his attention back to his harassers, but they seemed to have lost interest. Maybe they heard both sides of the conversation and preferred easy prey over prey with imminent backup.

“Some other time, pretty.” Chad number one said, pulling his friend’s arm to get him to follow.

Eli let out a sigh of relief. That problem was sorted out, but depending on how far Haruka had been from him when he hung up, Eli might only have seconds to compose himself. He didn’t have time for his normal methods, so he went for an old, not entirely healthy, but tried-and-true method for feigning normality.

He dug a metal pencil sharpener out of his bag and squeezed it in his palm. Not hard enough to pierce the skin, but enough to give him something else to focus on other than the fantastic bit of evil his brain chemistry was concocting.