The Sneezy Roommate (M OCs)

[RipleyToo]

This is such a cute story!! Please continue

[Alex Hemmings]

awwww this is so cute

[phoenix]

This is wonderful! I don't always find it easy to jump into a new magical world, but you've made it effortless. Looking forward to more. Also, I loved this bit: 

On 10/11/2018 at 6:19 AM, Yuurei said:

What kind of demon just attends academia and buys fridge magnets?

Ha! What kind indeed. 

[graydarkness]

Love it so far! Your designs of both of them are so cute. Poor Demetri D8 Ariel is such a great caretaker

[Yuurei]

SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT! I've been super inactive as of late, I know. But I managed to write another short update to the story. I haven't forgotten! Thanks for all the nice comments, it's what encourages me to keep writing.

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At every commercial break, Ariel took a glance at his sickly roommate sitting on the opposite side of the couch. Too stubborn to admit defeat, Demetri sat bundled in the comforter that had originally laid on his bed. Even with eyes on the television, Ariel could see him shivering with fever in his peripheral vision.

Then, Demetri descended into a coughing fit. He turned his head away and brought the comforter over his mouth. From Ariel’s point of view he looked like a heaving blanket slug; a quilted mass that embodied Ariel’s wrongdoing, weighing more heavily on the sorcerer’s conscience with every cough. What was he going to do?

Part of him told him to simply wait for Demetri recover, hopefully leading to both of them going on with their lives and forgetting anything ever happened. But another part of him, the part inconveniently rife with humanity and empathy for others (ugh) had a chokehold on his stomach. The growing knot in his stomach threatened him to come clean.

“Hey, uh, Demetri…” Ariel started.

He swallowed thickly as the blanket slug turned in his direction, now recovered from his fit. There was still a chance to turn back. He didn’t have to say anything. Ariel couldn’t even imagine how to phrase his confession. Hey dude, just wanted to tell you I lowkey poisoned you! Put something in your body without your knowledge or consent! But, it’s not like it was something serious or anything, right? It was just a fluworm! That’s never killed anyone. At least, he didn’t think it had. Oh, god.

“...can I tell you something?”

Demetri didn’t say anything as usual, but he continued to stare in Ariel’s direction. That was his way of showing he was listening. A little unsettling. How was a guy like this going to react? That was the most unnerving part of the confession.

Come on, Ariel… just get it over with!

“You’ll feel better if you take some medicine and go to bed.”

Not what we were looking for.

Demetri turned his head forward and didn’t respond. His silver curls perfectly framed his pink, slender nose. Ariel tried to backtrack.

“I mean, what I meant was--”

“I have not been ill in 700 years.”

Oh cool. Cool, cool, cool. That’s a very cool and normal thing to say. Ariel let out a chuckle, but Demetri didn’t look or sound like he was kidding. The sorcerer was at a loss.

“You-- I’m sorry. Can we start over?”

“It is clear you are concerned for me, and it is foolish for me to risk infecting you just to preserve my own pride. So, I feel I must apologize to you.”

NOW WAIT JUST A MINUTE. This was supposed to be ARIEL’S moment to come clean. But now it was thrown in a whole other direction that the sorcerer couldn’t have predicted.

“H-hold on, I--”

“I had been thinking about my own actions, and how they might have affected you.”

“That’s great and everything, but--”

“You have been trying to help me since the first sign of my illness--”

“Demetri, shut up!”

A silence followed the outburst. Ariel took a moment to compose himself.

“You… should not be the one apologizing.”

Demetri continued to stare. He was listening.

“I have something to tell you. But, just… just let me explain everything, okay?”

[caramelfuzz]

Ahhhhhh I'm so excited!!!! Can't wait to see what happens next!!! 

[Guest]

Omg! I'm so glad you are still writing this! How will Demetri react? Ahhhh! The suspense! 

[Yuurei]

Time for my monthly update! Thanks for being so patient, and I hope you're enjoying the story!!

---

“Hmmch!”

Demetri muffled a sneeze into the thick comforter wrapped around him. In that moment, tissues fluttered into his peripherals; a gift from Ariel. His pale hand emerged to collect the much needed tissues, then slipped back into the warmth of the blanket.

“So, listen. Demetri.” Ariel started.

He watched Demetri dab at his leaking nose.

“Your, uhm… illness.” He paused, thinking how to phrase what he wanted to say.

“...it’s my fault.”

Demetri tilted his head, curious as to what he meant. Ariel then explained everything; the weird suspicion he had, the flu worm, the whiskey. The words tumbled out of the sorcerer clumsily and with many detours. It was clear he was trying to make a case for himself while confessing to his crimes. When he was done, there was a moment of tense silence.

“You thought I was a demon?”

“I know you’re probably mad. I know it was shitty of me and I’m really sorry. I totally crossed a line and--”

“You are not the first to poison me.”

“I-I-I wouldn’t say I poisoned you really, I mean, wait… hold on. What?”

Demetri’s slender hand re-emerged from the cocoon of blankets and rested on the back of Ariel’s neck. It was freezing.

“A man once gave me beer he brewed himself. Unbeknownst to me, it contained a lethal dosage of snake venom.”

“Demetri you can’t just say these things.” Ariel muttered and averted his gaze.

“Ah, Well.”

Demetri inhaled suddenly as the urge to sneeze overcame him. He turned away from his roommate and released a loud “--RRTSCH!” that seemed to come from his chest. The forcefulness of the sneeze caused him to tense the hand on the back of Ariel’s neck.

“I am not a demon.” He sniffled.

Ariel couldn’t figure out how to respond. There were a lot of ways he figured this conversation could have gone and this wasn’t one of them. He couldn’t gauge at all how Demetri was currently feeling. Was he mad? Did he forgive him? Was he going to take his hand off his neck anytime soon?

“If you were curious, you could have just asked.” Demetri continued.

“Isn’t that a bit… taboo?” Ariel asked.

“I was never one to care about taboos.”

That was the most self-aware thing the man had said all day.

Ariel cleared his throat.

“So you’re not a demon,” he chuckled uncomfortably. “...I see that. Do I have to play 20 questions?”

“What is that?”

“Nevermind. Just…” Ariel sighed. “...what are you then?”

“Have you heard of shapeshifting?”

The sorcerer nodded. Of course he had. However, his professors had always said it’s an extremely difficult ability to master; not many people could successfully do it.

“I am what most would call a ‘shapeshifter’... though I don’t think we have any official name.”

Demetri pulled off the comforter and let it fall around his waist. He shivered at the sudden cold.

“This body you see before you… it’s not my true form. That being said, it is the form I most constantly take.”

Ariel, for once, was speechless. He tried to process this information.

“Being human-- or rather, taking the form of a human-- has many benefits. I quite like it. Eyes are difficult to replicate, though.”

Demetri coyly tugged at the curls that obscured his eyes from view. He almost seemed embarrassed as he brushed his silver curls away from his face to reveal a jarring pair of eyes. There seemed to be no pupils, no irises-- just two orbs in his sockets, black as night. They were framed by long eyelashes as silver as the hair on his head. Ariel noted the dark bags under his eyes. Being able to see his roommate’s full face really made his illness clear. He looked exhausted.

“Shapeshifter…” Ariel managed to spit out.

Suddenly everything was making sense and nothing was making sense. He had so many questions they all scrambled together in his head before he could fully form them. His golden eyes could only stare into the deep black of Demetri’s.

[caramelfuzz]

OHHH MY GOSHHHHHH!!!!!!!! I DON'T KNOW IF I CAN WAIT UNTIL NEXT MONTH THIS IS SO GOOD!!!!!! (I am joking, please take your time I know life is busy and quality work takes time, but holy cow this is amazing <3) 

[AngelEyes]

This keeps being brilliant! I love it!

On 3/10/2019 at 8:00 AM, Yuurei said:

“I-I-I wouldn’t say I poisoned you really, I mean, wait… hold on. What?”

LOL!

 

On 3/10/2019 at 8:00 AM, Yuurei said:

He had so many questions they all scrambled together in his head before he could fully form them.

Me too!

[peach_princess]

OMG I've just found it and I'M IN LOVE!!! Please, please-please-please, continue!!!! 

[Bisc]

OH MY GOSH!!!!

this story is amazing and your art is INCREDIBLE!!!!