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Finally, the end of the day was here. All of the soon-to-grow academic stresses, the hour of absolute torture that was gym class, being woken up at an ungodly hour by a Franz waiting at his bedside and the botched practice that followed was done for now, another set of events Simon could gently tuck away in the back of his mind for the rest of the afternoon before they started up all over again tomorrow. It was a bit a breathing room he was always grateful for, and breathe he did.

His dorm was empty save for himself. Samson and Seymour had gone off to... well, probably get themselves into trouble, if how they could act when he wasn't around was any indication. It bothered him he hadn't been around to talk them out of whatever it was they were doing, but figured there was no helping them now.

Besides, he had to finish unpacking before a dorm inspector came by and roasted him for it!

He started out by neatly creasing and tucking his bedsheets back where they were supposed to go (he was probably very lucky he hadn't gotten a demerit for leaving them in such a mess that morning), then deftly kicked open his briefcase and started throwing his belongings up on the bed into haphazardly sorted piles. Simon tended to get a little bit into chores like this. Whether it was just to break through the monotony or because he genuinely enjoyed doing them was a mystery. That didn't really matter, though - dude was dancing while folding his clothes.

He'd also neglected to close the door all the way, and yes he did just moonwalk over to his dresser drawer.

The effect of being called to in such a way was instantaneous. It would be more of an understatement than an exaggeration to say he froze like a deer in headlights, eyes wide and snapped in the direction of the other boy, looking absolutely petrified. He stayed like that for a few seconds, standing, staring, stuck in mid-moonwalk, a pair of socks gripped in one of his hands.

"W......w-w-what do you mean b-by that?" he finally responded, jerkily pulling his body into a slightly more normal standing position. All of that smooth moving he was just doing seemed to have vanished down some invisible drain in the floor below him. Now, there was only a nervewracked, awkward boy standing behind that door. "And w-why are you even w-w-watching me unpack?!"

After calming down a little, Simon blinked in mild surprise at Elzo's explanation. "R-really? I never thought it was that big a deal..." From his tone, it was clear he wasn't being arrogant or anything along those lines, he was being honest. He really never thought that dancing could be more difficult than just watching and copying.

But there was no avoiding it now; this other student had seen him dance and was now reviewing his performance. That was one more secret out of the bag... Simon sighed and sagged on the spot, resigning himself to unpacking a little more while he listened so it wouldn't be obvious that it was upsetting him. No need to make a stranger uncomfortable.

"N-n-no, no d-dance team," he replied, shaking his head. Then, very, very hesitantly, he added, "ButIamonthecheerleadingteam-- only s-suh-since yesterday, though..."

"N-n-no, no, no, I am not gay!" Simon replied a little too loudly, waving his hands in front of him in the universal gesture of vehement denial. There was a reason he was reacting so violently to such a question, and it wasn't because he was actually gay - no, this guy was perfectly straight. He was just trying to shoo away one bad thought before it lead to worse ones. He had no problem against homosexuality and honestly believed they deserved their place in society, but... the cheerleading team, and, oh god, if they were gay, if Franz was...

Okay Simon, time to stop before you give yourself uncomfortable nightmares for the next week. Auuugh. Bad thoughts, bad thoughts!

He returned the handshake, and Elzo would find it to more or less be in-between on the side of girly. An extension of his obvious confidence issues, really. "S-Simon. I'd introduce you to my r-roommates, but they're not around."

When Elzo started talking again, Simon first took on a look of confusion... but as he continued, and as the poor boy was able to put two and two together, his expression slowly became one of growing horror. No, no, this wasn't right at all! He clenched his teeth and bit his lip, trying to work his jaw into a response that wouldn't dig him deeper into the hole he'd made for himself.

"But that d-doesn't... I m-m-mean, I-I-I..."

He kept stammering beginnings of sentences, but got nowhere fast, utterly crushed by the barrage of accusations Elzo was making. He just stood there, looking helpless and defeated, at the next question - probably looking very much like he'd just been exposed. Simon had known this guy for all of three minutes and had already decided there was no winning against him.

True or false, secret or not... saying that it was "safe" was probably very inaccurate, seeing as they had both been exchanging considerably loud words about Simon's sexual orientation, while his door was open, during a time of day when a lot of boys tended to mill about the hallways or bum around in their rooms, also with their doors open. There was even an open door right across the hall from him - a few underclassmen behind it had probably heard most, if not all of the words that had just been exchanged.

So, no, his "secret" was not safe, and it was never meant to be. But that had been suddenly and violently shoved to the basement of his mind when Elzo decided to talk about the cheer squad.

One story is that he stalks his favorite boys and watches them sleep...

Simon's whole form bristled in a large, grand mal shiver, dropping a small stack of shirts to the floor - he couldn't have reacted any less if someone had poured a cup of liquid nitrogen the back of his shirt. How could he possibly say that he had experienced that very thing earlier this morning? No. He couldn't. Never. He could only stare in blatant fear as Elzo's words doomed him to disturbing, exaggerated nightmares for the rest of the week.

He made a small, weak noise, something halfway between a squeak and a groan.

Jeering and sneering in Simon's direction was something he was pretty accustomed to. He could handle that just fine, with little more than a slight downturn in his mood. He'd been through worse, after all. Really, his reaction would have been exactly the same as it was if he weren't busy being petrified, which meant no reaction at all.

At Elzo's concerned inquiry, the poor boy could only give a slow, jerky nod before he slumped to a sitting position on the edge of his bed, inadvertently undoing the folding he had done on a patched-up pair of slacks. "M-m-m-maybe..." he stammered in a barely audible tone, staring helplessly at his hands. "I-I-I mean, i-i-it sounded m-more like it w-w-was because I'm new... I think..."

By the sound of things, though, it didn't seem like there'd be any more new members of the squad for a good while. Which meant he was stuck being the new kid for who knew how long...

While Elzo talked, Simon shakily pulled back himself into a standing position and tried to continue unpacking, re-folding his slacks notably more messily than they were before and handling the shirts he dropped like they were oversized leaves of rotten cabbage. He was far from focused on the task at this point, but hey, he was still trying - at this point, though, his only motivation was the quiet fear of getting a black mark on his record for poor upkeep. There was one thing about this school he let himself take some pride in, and that was that his behavior record was almost entirely perfect.

"I dunno..." he replied weakly, creasing the sleeves on a weathered plaid button shirt, "I-I mean... sorry, b-but I really need to finish putting everything away before the inspectors start cracking down..."

Not only that, but the gym hall was the last place he ever wanted to be ever unless it was out of pure necessity. If they went over to 'mess with the lockers' and it happened to be time for an unscheduled search or inspection or something, they wouldn't just be losing their weekend privileges. No, Simon was sure that if that happened, they would be dead. Very. Dead.

"Th-thanks for offering, though. Maybe s-s-some other time if I see you around again."