Kedrick Suwa's Estate

[x_Ultra_Panda_Luver_x]

Arielle Shore

"Oh just shut it," Maria muttered with a gentle scowl. She just had to give him the ammo to pick with her. But what was even worse was that she had put herself into that situation for him to mess with her. She would get him back, especially since she had the upper hand, though she tried to get her mind to focus on something else.

When they entered his room, Maria once again wondered how he was able to live in that and let alone for two years. It seemed like the mystery that was her boyfriend would never end. She watched him with careful eyes, just as confused as he was about where to start. Her eyes widened at the amount of stuff that was littered on his bed and shook her head gently, a soft smirk beginning to appear.

She paid close attention and watched as he started to put things in piles. It was definitely a great way to start and to be organized. Walking over to his bed, she touched up and redid it, mentally adding that she probably would need to teach him how to properly fix his bed before continuing with their recent task.

Maria would ask Dimitri a few times about what to do with some of the things that she was unsure about. With it being his stuff and his room, she knew he'd knew more about what he wanted to do with it than she did. She noticed the drawing she placed something in the 'Keep' pile and picked it up, looking at it before smiling admirably at it.

"I didn't know you could draw, Dimitri," she said somewhat distantly as her eyes left the image and looked up at him. "You need to stop hiding things from me silly boy."  

[Tobi-chan Lissesul]

♟♞ ♝ ♜ ♛ Ďȋɱȋŧʁȋ Ĵ. ᾟűηŧȇʁ
Can you keep a secret?...

Dimitri answered Maria's questions as she needed to know what pile things went on. Some things were obviously trash, that she could get rid of without a problem, but others needed Dimitri's input. It was hard at first, the trash was no problem, but deciding what to keep and what to give away was a little more difficult. But after a while Dimitri fell into a pattern, and things moved along a bit faster.

The young man looked up, tossing his hair out of his eyes with a smirk as she commented on his doodle. "I can't, that's why I didn't tell you." He said with a laugh, honestly knowing that the drawing wasn't that good, but at least it was recognizable. Inside, Dimitri was glad Maria had found the drawing, he had hoped she would like it even though it wasn't the best.

He looked back down at his work uncertainly as he started cleaning again, but the last part of Maria's sentence lingered in his mind. He wondered if it still bothered her that he had hidden the truth about his past from her. He knew that she had forgiven him for it, but did it still eat at her thoughts? Did she still wonder why he hadn't trusted her enough? Maybe she couldn't trust him after all...

He shook the thoughts away as he often did, dismissing them. It wasn't worth thinking about now, Maria might get concerned. Dimitri continued on his work on the desk, getting the main part of the desk cleaned, and moving to the top part. Dimitri stopped suddenly, a soft laugh escaping him. Buried under a lot of other stuff, Dimitri found several picture frames, most of them were photos taken early in he and Kedrick's friendship. He picked up the first, scrubbing the dust and grime off of the glass. The boys were probably only a little older then thirteen in the picture, it must have been just after Dimitri had moved in. Kedrick had his arm around his friend and was smiling for the camera, two fingers held up in the 'peace' sign. Dimitri meanwhile was looking over at Kedrick, frowning uncomfortably, and trying to squirm away. At the time, it hadn't been very funny, Dimitri remembered, but looking at the picture now, it was quite entertaining. Snickering, Dimitri set the picture aside, looking at the others, a picture from a school field trip, the two boys stilling on the porch railing of an ice cream shop, the friends laughing so hard Kedrick looked like he was going to cry and Dimitri gripping his shoulder for support. Dimitri smiled, carefully setting up all of the pictures, arranging them neatly were he could see them. He noted that he'd have to get a picture of the four of them up there, just he, Kedrick, Maria and Arielle.

Dimitri overturned a book that had been lying on the top shelf, and spotted a photo he had missed. He picked it up, eager to see which it was. He scrubbed off the dust, and stared at the photo. The first person he recognized was his mother, but looking like he had never seen her in his memory. She looked younger, happier, her hair a touch darker and a littler shorter. For the first time, Dimitri realized that there was almost always a trace of sadness in his mother's face, there was no such trace in this picture. In her arms, she held a tiny, squirming dark hair baby, himself, Dimitri realized. And beside her, a man, a man Dimitri only vaguely remembered. He was taller then his mother, and handsome, with light brown hair and a wide, easy smile. Dimitri looked almost uncannily like his mother, he had her eyes, her dark hair, and her sight stature. But Dimitri's face was shaped the same as his father's, his skin was the same pale coloring.

The young man smiled faintly, just staring at the photo, losing track of how long he had stood there. He reached up, brushing his finger across the glass over his father's face, his eye's lingering on him.

 

[x_Ultra_Panda_Luver_x]

Arielle Shore

"What do you mean that you can't?" Maria asked incredulously, walking over to Dimitri and placing her hand on his head, moving it from side to side. "So what if you aren't some Picasso or Frida Kahlo or even a Diego Rivera. Every artist has a different style and a different way to express their artistic ability. There is no set norm or art today would be so boring and unoriginal. Plus, practice never hurts either." She smiled and took her hand off his head. "Who knows, this might even be a useful side hobby in the future."

Before she had a chance to return back to what she was working on, she noticed something different about Dimitri. Had what she said troubled him? She didn't mean it like that, especially since she was joking, but she had to make sure that he wasn't all that bothered. She kissed him on the cheek and squeezed his fingers gently before going back over to the 'Keep' pile and putting the picture away. She wasn't sure if he got the secret message of her gestures, but still wanted him to know regardless.

While Dimitri was looking at different pictures, Maria went through his things and put items that were easily recognizable as 'Trash' and put them in the pile. Her mind couldn't help but compare his room at his old home to the room she was in now. She knew his old room held onto many horrible memories of his abuse, but she wondered what memories were in this room. Once this is all clean, I think I'm going to try and see if I can help make his room look a little more...alive, she thought with a soft smile before picking up something that she wasn't one hundred percent sure about.

She lifted it up and looked over at Dimitri, noticing that he had been silent for awhile and hadn't picked up too much. She walked over to him and finally noticed some of the pictures, most of them were of him and Kedrick. Another gentle smile was on her face before she noticed the picture that Dimitri's attention was now focused on. She took in the picture and immediately recognized his mother and the small infant Dimitri. She had to resist the urge to start d'awing the picture, even though she wondered how he'd react to that. However, her mind was more transfixed on the image of the man in the picture, who Maria could already tell was his father.

"You have your father's face," Maria said gently as she leaned her head against him. "It's a pity... A pity that I'll never get a chance to meet him. I can already tell that I'd like him... Someone who can make any smile like that, or bring so much happiness to another... I can tell is a good person. Even if your mother is happy with that lecherous man.... The happiness in her eyes are completely different than what I see in this picture. There are only certain people who can show out that much light and happiness in another."

She knew that she was rambling and she didn't know where she was getting the words from, but somehow, they just seemed to click properly. Maybe she had been watching too many romance movies or read a lot of mushy love stories, but whatever the reason was, she couldn't say she regretted what came out of her mouth.

Maria sat her head up and looked over at Dimitri, holding up what she wanted to ask him about. "Sorry for distracting you, but, what do you want to do with this?"  

[Tobi-chan Lissesul]

♟♞ ♝ ♜ ♛ Ďȋɱȋŧʁȋ Ĵ. ᾟűηŧȇʁ
Can you keep a secret?...

Dimitri laughed slightly as Maria still protested that he was better then he had made himself sound. "Well, Practice wouldn't hurt I'm sure." He said, shaking his head. It didn't bother Dimitri in the least that he wasn't the best artist in the world, it was just something he did to pass the time when he was board. Or, Dimitri thought with a slight smirk, if he wasn't paying attention in class. Kedrick had often reached over to smack his shoulder to try and get him to pay attention, and, had it not been for those reminders from his friend, Dimitri probably would have failed a shameful amount of classes by now.

The gentle kiss on the cheek surprised Dimitri, and he blinked, looking over at her. He got the feeling that she had noticed his laps of negativity, and he gave her a quick, reassuring smile to put her at ease. It wasn't a big deal. He released her fingers, and watched curiously as she placed the doodle back on the top of the 'keep' pile. Dimitri smiled, and turned back to his work, making his way to the photos.

The young man glanced back over his shoulder at her, before turning his eye's back to the man in the picture. For some reason, he didn't feel like looking away from him. He just wanted to stare for a while, and try to remember things about him that he had let slip from his mind. Dimitri's only clear memory of his father had been only weeks before he had died. At the time, he had been confused and lost about what was actually going on. His father had tried to gently explain to him what was happening, but Dimitri had been barely three at the time, he didn't understand death, or cancer, or how it would feel to have a broken heart. It was also the first time Dimitri had seen his mother cry.

The boy vividly remembered seeing her sitting on the edge of his fathers hospital bed, crying into his shoulder while his father murmured quietly to her under his breath. After some time, his mother had come over, and managed to choke out that daddy wanted to talk to him. Dimitri, obediently, had trotted over, and crawled onto the hospital bed, sitting down. He didn't understand why daddy had looked so bad, he looked frail, and gray, older then he really was. His father had tried to quietly explain to him, telling him that he had to leave, and he wouldn't be able to come back, but he would still be thinking of him every day, and even though he was gone, he wouldn't stop loving him. Dimitri remembered asking him if it would be okay for him to come and visit soon. He fathered had laughed, and took Dimitri's face in his hands. His words stuck in the boy's memory. 'No, I don't think so Dimitri, not soon....But some day...someday when you're very, very old, and you've lived out your whole life, and done everything you want to do, then it'll be okay for you to come and see me, do you understand?' Dimitri hadn't but he nodded, and said he did anyways. The his father had kissed his forehead, holding there for some time. It seemed different, more sad that daddy's usual kisses. There was no trace of a smile in the kiss, no laugh, no tussling or tickling accompanied it. Dimitri had known then that something was wrong, but he was still too young to understand what.

Dimitri blinked in surprise, brought back to the present as Maria spoke. He smiled slightly, looking back down. "Yeah..." He said quietly, feeling a touch of pride. He was glad there was a part of him that was like his father. "I'm sure you would have....I don't remember much about him, but he was wonderful..." He trailed off thoughtfully, listening as she finished her sentence. The young man's stomach twisted slightly as she mentioned Jared, and he sighed, looking down slightly. "I've wanted to tell her my whole life...what he's really like...It kills me to lie to her...to see how much she loves him....But I can't risk her getting hurt, so I keep my mouth shut." 'Just like Jared wants...' He added in his thoughts. 'Like a puppet...I can't do anything without it going though him first...'

Dimitri smiled faintly. "They really did love each other..." He said softly, looking at the happiness that seemed to radiate from his mother, and the way his father looked at he with that soft, loving expression on his face. He looked up as Maria asked him about yet another object from his room. "Oh, uhh..." He fumbled for a second, looking at it and then came a decision. "You can put that on the give away pile okay?" He said, smiling. Dimitri gently placed the picture of his parents on the top of the desk along with the one's of he and Kedrick. Once again, he knew he'd have to get something of Maria, Kedrick, Arielle, and he.

Dimitri continued cleaning for a few minute, moving towards the messy closet as he finished the desk. The young boy frowned thoughtfully, his hands brushing along the clothing hanging in the closet. "Hey Maria..." He said softly, a thought coming back to him that had been on his mind for a while. "That night we stayed at my mom's.....if you had known then what Jared had done....w-what he made me do...would you have done anything differently?" It was a pointless question, there was no changing the past, but for some reason, he wanted to know. It was like when he asked himself what would have happened if his father hadn't died, or if his mother knew about Jared, if he had never met Kedrick...That last one was hard to swallow, if he hadn't met Kedrick , he would still be living in his parent's house, with Jared. He never would have meant Maria either.... Dimitri quietly continued his cleaning, waiting for her answer.

 

[x_Ultra_Panda_Luver_x]

Arielle Shore

Maria felt like she could say something back, anything back to his comment, but refrained from doing so. At the thought of practice, however, she wondered if the two of them should continue with their little shooting lesson. Even if he had gotten the basics, he still had to get used to shooting and practice. Plus, it would be fun having a shooting partner when she went to practice. She knew she would ask him that later after they reached a decent milestone in the cleaning before bringing it up.

She noticed his reassuring smile and was glad that he seemed fine. If she knew just how much his thoughts had bugged him about it, she still would've been concerned, but if he was fine, then she'd believe him. It didn't help that sometimes she worried about some of the thoughts that were in his head, and it made her think of after they were out of Jared's reach before they had reunited with Kedrick and Arielle. She knew it was a bit normal for some people to think that they didn't deserve the other in relationships, she's heard her parents say that all the time, but just thinking about Dimitri's reasons and the closeness they were to being apart formed a knot in her stomach and a pain in her chest.

Stop thinking about it before he notices that there's something wrong, Maria thought, blinking some as she willed the thoughts and memories away. All she knew was that she had a lot of work to do to change Dimitri's thought process from how Jared had tainted it. It was almost the same as Arielle, but she saw that her friend wasn't so low in her self-esteem or self-confidence anymore, which was always a good thing. She knew it had to be from her staying with Kedrick for so long, and Maria only hoped that she would be able to do the same with Dimitri.

Maria looked at the ground sadly, trying to picture herself in both Mrs. Emma's and Dimitri's shoes. She could understand the notion of not wanting to hurt someone you loved, especially when they were so happy. And if she was Mrs. Emma, would she want to learn something so devastating as that? That the man that you loved and trusted had hurt someone so precious to you? She could already tell it would upset her gravely, but more so of the fact that she hadn't been able to protect her only child. That was at least how Maria would feel if that was the case for her, but she couldn't even think about the thought of losing Dimitri to death so early like his mother did for his father. It was almost more heartbreaking than the idea of breaking up with him.

"Even if it hurts her," Maria said subtly, her voice a mixture of sadness and understanding, as much understanding as a sixteen year old could muster, "She has to know someday. It'll hurt... And for your mother, I know it will devastate her, but she needs to know." She looked at him, a soft smile and a confident gleam in her eyes. "We'll find some way to break it to her gently. We won't do it now, obviously, but you know, just as well as myself, Arielle, and Kedrick, that your secret needs to be known someday. And no matter what the outcome is, we're going to be there for you and help you get through it. It still hurts me not being able to let my dad know... So that at least if he pulled anything, we could protect your mother... But... I'll be patient... It all takes time of course... But still..."

She knew that at that point, she was just rambling on and on and was barely even sure that she was even helping at all. Maria knew that Dimitri wasn't ready to tell his mother yet or even her own family. Over time, maybe that view would change, but as long as she'd let him know that he wasn't alone on this, it might change his view just a bit. Maria then tried to picture her parent's reaction to knowing about Dimitri's past. She knew they wouldn't shun him, they already accepted him into the family, but she couldn't help but feel that it would probably be the same way that they reacted to knowing the truth about Arielle. Am I even ready for that? she asked herself before Dimitri answered her question about the item and she nodded, going over to the 'Give Away' pile.

After placing the item in the 'Give Away' pile, Maria turned her head to face Dimitri when he called her name. She looked at him curiously before she heard his question, letting it sink in. "What would I do...?" Maria asked herself gently, looking away from him for a bit before turning to face him, her arms crossed in the front of her chest in a contemplative manner. She had pictured it so many times; the things she could've said to Jared, her actions, everything, but she knew it all honesty that she wouldn't do something so daring and bold.

"As much... As much as I would be entertained with the idea of confronting him alone and letting him know how he's in a lot of trouble now that I'm around," Maria said with a small, dark smile before sighing some and pushing her bangs back only for them to fall back in place. "I probably wouldn't do anything drastically different. I'd probably drop more cryptic messages that he could figure out, but... I wouldn't do anything reckless.... Well... Not yet..."

She was silent for a bit before looking at the floor, her fingers clenching tightly to her arms. "You better believe I won't be so merciful next time," there was a noticeable change in her tone, how cold and dark it had become. Even the look in her eyes were different, bringing out the sheer hatred and rage she felt for that man. Kedrick and Dimitri may hate and dislike him more, but for her, it was completely different. Maria had the ability to make someone who crossed her path suffer, but normally she wouldn't do anything extreme because of certain reasons. But for Jared, she wouldn't be afraid to release the more sinister side of herself. He's not going to get away with this any longer... I'll make sure of it.  

[Tobi-chan Lissesul]

♟♞ ♝ ♜ ♛ Ďȋɱȋŧʁȋ Ĵ. ᾟűηŧȇʁ
Can you keep a secret?...

Dimitri looked up as Maria replied to his statement about his mother, and his heart sunk a little. He knew if there was any way he was ever going to truly escape from Jared, then his mother would have to know. He wished it didn't have to be this way, if there were some way to spare her, any way, he would do it. But he knew the longer he kept the secret, the more it would hurt his mother when she eventually found out. 'Why her?...' Dimitri thought with a sinking heart. ' My mother has been though enough, she's already been though death, depression, and heartbreak.....She's too delicate to take something like this.....She loves Jared...I hate that, but she does, and she has no idea....' Dimitri breathed a soft sigh, hardly looking at what he was doing as he worked on the closet.

The young man closed his eyes, looking slightly pained, but nodding his head none the less. "I know..." He said quietly, "I understand that it'll have to get out someday...I just wish that not everybody would have to know....People I know, and trust...yes, the will have to know, but strangers, people I've never met....They're the ones I'm afraid of...." He said in a lowered tone.

He tried to imagine the reaction if word got around the school, the brutal teasing, the hateful, barbed comments, poisonous stares, speculative whispers. The thought made Dimitri's skin prickle, and he wished that there was some other way to tell Maria's father without the rest of the police, and inevitably, the media getting involved.

He was lost in theses thoughts as Maria pondered the answer to his last question, and he blinked rapidly to clear his head as she spoke. The dark haired boy turned to look at her, hanging on her every word. It a way, it was relieving to know that that she wouldn't have done anything to hasty, it insured that she would have been safe regardless.

Dimitri looked over at her, seeing the tension in her body, the dark, slightly frightening expression on her face. He dropped what he was doing and walked over to her hesitantly. He placed his hands on her arms, touching his forehead to her's. "Maria," He said softly, a note of concern his his eyes. "You're scaring me." The boy let a small smile touch his lips, just so she knew that she wasn't honestly upsetting him. With a soft sigh, Dimitri tipped her chin down and kissed her forehead. "No more scary thoughts of revenge or whatever now, I'm sorry I brought it up." He pulled back, his hands still resting on her upper arms. "Let's finish this, see if we can make a dent in the living room, and then we eat lunch, maybe we can watch a movie afterwards, okay." He said with a small smile, not wanting to think about Jared, or his mother, or his past any more just now.

He pulled back, and turned to the closet, finishing it before to long. Maria had done a fantastic job with tackling the floor, and Dimitri walked over to the bed, kneeling down and beginning to pull the junk out from under it. It took some time to sort all of it, but it was mostly junk. Dimitri sighed, rubbing the back of his neck and looking down at the increasingly smaller pile. He blinked, looking down and pulling out a shoe that was far too big to be his. "Oh," He said, looking pleasantly surprised. "that's where that went." Dimitri stood up and walked to the bedroom door, looking back at Maria. "I'll be right back," He said with a smile and stepped out.

Dimitri rounded the corner, and stepped into the second bedroom, the only place in the entire house that was truly clean. He glanced around at where a few objects were still in place, he yanked a wrinkle out of the comforter, and knelt down to lift the bed skirt. His eyes scanned under the bed, and once his eyes adjusted, he gave a triumphant "Ah!" Reaching under, Dimitri placed the single shoe next to it's slightly dustier mate. "There we go." Dimitri said, straightening, and walking back into his own room.

The boy stopped in the doorway, looking around. "Wow..." He said quietly, studying their handiwork. "I can actually see the floor, that's a first...." He laughed slightly, and flopped down on his bed, glad that he could do so without laying down on something hard, a book, or a pen. Dimitri propped himself up on his elbows, grinning at Maria. "Well, one down, about....three-ish to go, I won't make you clean the bathroom, I can take care of that later." The boy smiled and jumped to his feet, stetting aside the last few objects on the now rather large sorting piles. "Check this off the list..." He said quietly, looking over at Maria, a smirk on his face.

 

[x_Ultra_Panda_Luver_x]

Arielle Shore

She could understand why Dimitri was worried about more people knowing, remembering how some of the kids acted towards her and Arielle at school after the whole Jonesy ordeal. But, wouldn't it be different? It wasn't like Jared ran an underground sex selling operation. Well, at least she hoped, even though if that had been the case, Dimitri would've already told her.

"We'll make sure that it's more a private issue," Maria said, her voice still in that surprisingly cold tone of hers. There was no way the world needed to know all of it, especially their town. She knew that a case like this would be a lot better if it was handled with discretion, for the sake of Dimitri and his mother. Plus, she would also make sure that her father keep it as quiet as he possibly could with whatever power he had.

She blinked slightly in surprise when she felt Dimitri's forehead against hers, her mind escaping from their dark vengeful thoughts. Her breathing slowed, barely even realizing how worked up she was about it, how all her mind thought was how she would cause him the most pain and make him squirm. It was the ugly side of Maria, a side she wasn't too fond of and barely had to think on, but for people like Jonesy and Jared, there was no need to steer away her thoughts.

"O-O-Okay...," Maria responded slowly, her tone returning back to normal. "You don't have to apologize though... It's honestly not your fault..." She didn't know why she sounded so lame right then. Maybe it was all in her head? She unclenched her arms and noticed the faint fingernail marks there. Her eyes glanced back at Dimitri as she nodded at his suggestion.

She resumed with what was left of what she could handle, marveling at how much the two of them were able to accomplish. It still would've helped if Dimitri had a better control of his mess, but somethings could barely be helped. She tried to imagine a younger Dimitri with his messy room and how his mother would react. Would there have been some smiles and laughter? Or would it have been the time when his life was plagued with the nightmare of Jared?

Maria barely even noticed that Dimitri had left for a bit before she left her thoughts again. She wondered where he had gone off to and for why, but realized it probably wasn't that important, or something she really needed to concern herself about.

"It's a good thing the floor still exists too," Maria teased gently as Dimitri returned back. She was glad that had made an improvement from when they first entered the room. Sure, it would probably still need some more work, but it was better than nothing. Her eyes followed him and she just nodded, appreciative that he volunteered to take care of his bathroom. "So, where do we start off next, captain?"  

[Tobi-chan Lissesul]

♟♞ ♝ ♜ ♛ Ďȋɱȋŧʁȋ Ĵ. ᾟűηŧȇʁ
Can you keep a secret?...

Dimitri nodded at Maria's response, his eyes still flickering with worry for a moment. He knew that he shouldn't blame himself from bringing the subject up, but still, it seemed thinking about Jared bothered Maria just like it bothered him. Of course, there was a major difference too, Maria hated him because of what he had done to Dimitri, and she wanted to make him pay for it, Dimitri's hatred and fear of Jared was on an entirely different level. He had had his childhood stolen from him. Dimitri's couldn't look back on his childhood without thinking of what Jared had done, he couldn't sleep even one night without disturbing dreams of him. Even looking at himself in the mirror brought back flashes of the vicious and twisted form of abuse he had suffered though for eight years. And Dimitri hated him for it, the young boy hated having to live a life where everything reminded him of the person he hated most.

And then there were the times that he was too terrified to even hate Jared, where the fear would freeze him and he could do nothing against him. That was by far the worst place to be, frozen, held back from fighting and escaping by his own body. The time when all he could do was stare, and cry as Jared hurt him.

Dimitri blinked away his thoughts, seeing that Maria had gotten back to her cleaning. He hoped he'd be alright, hoped that the talk of Jared hadn't upset her too badly.

As he came back from returning the shoe to the other room, he glanced over at her, flashing her a quick grin. "I think there'd be trouble if I didn't have a floor, all though after all those years of having it buried under junk I almost forgot what it looked like. " He teased back, although part of it was true, sometime he had forgotten the color of his own carpet, or weather he even had a carpet, or if it was wood flooring. He shook his head slightly, a small grin still touching his lips, he really was a slob, and it was a good thing he had Maria to straighten his place out.

Dimitri rested his hands on his hips, looking around the now clean room. "Well..." He said thoughtfully, resting his chin in his hand, his elbow in his other hand. "I think the living room will next, it bigger, but I don't think it's half as bad as my room was." He said with a smirk, and took Maria hand, turning her towards the door. The two of them stepped out into Dimitri's living room, and he was right, it was messy, but not the worst, and certainly not as bad as his bedroom. Giving her hand a squeeze Dimitri released her fingers. "Well, let's get down to business." He said, and set to work on the floor.

 

[x_Ultra_Panda_Luver_x]

Arielle Shore

"And this is why you need to keep your place decently clean on a regular basis," Maria scolded gently with a soft smile. "So at least you can always remember that a floor actually exists. I'm going to start feeling sorry for you college roommate. Unless he's just as bad as you, then there'd be no hope for you at all."

She laughed lightly, enjoying the fact that she could mess with him like this. It also helped distract her mind further from their dark revenge seeking plans. Maria listened to him and nodded her head gently when he answered, saying that they would start with the living room next. She let him lead her to the room and found herself nodding again.

"Thank goodness that it's not as bad as your room," Maria commented with a smirk, "It still amazes me how you've managed to live in all this. And I always thought my brothers' mess was a nightmare. Although, they'd probably enjoy wanting to live in this." Her voice, at this point, was dripping with more sarcasm than usual.

She squeezed his fingers back gently and nodded, finding some clothes thrown about on the floor and picked them up. "Alright. Time to figure out what's remotely clean and what's dirty," Maria said with a gentle sigh, taking her pile of clothes and plopping right down next to Dimitri. "Do you even have a hamper? Or a laundry basket?"  

[Tobi-chan Lissesul]

♟♞ ♝ ♜ ♛ Ďȋɱȋŧʁȋ Ĵ. ᾟűηŧȇʁ
Can you keep a secret?...

Dimitri laughed, rubbing the back of his neck in slight embarrassment. He was being to see how truly terrible his place looked, it hadn't bothered him in the least before, but now that he saw how socially acceptable it could look, he decided that it wouldn't be hard to get used to. Of course, learning to clean on a regular basis was a different story entirely. In the back of his mind, Dimitri had always assumed that Kedrick would be his roommate in college, but he had to accept the fact that that may not happen. The two boys could very well end up in different colleges, they'd be lucky to end up in the same campus, much less the same dorm, and almost certainly not the same room. It was a bit disheartening, but that was life.

With this on the brain, Dimitri wondered what his own roommate would end up being like? He hoped he didn't end up with some touchy-feely guy who didn't mind talking about deep personal matters, Dimitri could foresee that going very badly.

Dimitri dropped to his knees, beginning to sort a pile that was mostly junk. The young man looked back up at her, grinning at the mention of her brother's. "Pity that they'll never see it in it's full messy glory huh?" He teased back, his eyes gleaming with mischief. "After all, you probably won't rest until it's completely clean."

He hesitated slightly at her next question. It had been so long since he had used his laundry hamper he didn't even really remember anymore. Usually, whenever Dimitri found that he no longer had any clean cloths whatsoever to wear, he would cancel any plans he had for the day and scoop up anything that he found on the floor and run it though the laundry. Once it was clean and dry, he cram it into whatever space was available in his drawers. When he thought about the whole process, it made sense why his clothing was always a wrinkled mess.

"Uhhh..."Dimitri fumbled slightly, looking around and rising to his feet. "Hang on a sec, I'll figure that out for you...." The boy stepped out of the living room and round the corner to the small, cramped bathroom. The mirror was foggy with grim, and everything else in the room was just as bad. This would definitely have to be cleaned. Breathing a sigh, and shaking his head, Dimitri pulled the laundry basket out from between the sink and the toilet. He returned to the livingroom, the empty hamper in tow. "Here you go." He said with a grin, setting it down next to Maria and looking back to his own pile. Most of the laundry was unfolded, and weather it was clean or not, it had probably all bee sitting on his floor for at least a week. It could all use a washing. Dimitri began scooping it up, putting most of it in the hamper.

As he worked, Maria's comment about his future college roommate came back to him and he smiled faintly, wondering if he would still be as messy by that time, or if he would have learned to keep a room clean. "You know," He said thoughtfully, glancing over at Maria. "It was kind of a weird situation, but I did used to have a roommate, I double rented this place." He wasn't entirely sure why he brought it up, the whole thing had unraveled before he had even met Maria, but it seemed like a good thing to bring up.

 

[x_Ultra_Panda_Luver_x]

Arielle Shore

Maria playfully scoffed and rolled her eyes, gently nudging him with her elbow. "You've got that right, love boy," Maria answered with a playful grin, "There's no way I'm going to let Ulises and Eneas think I'm letting you get away with a messy room because I love you and get on their backs about theirs because I'm an 'evil bratty little sister'. They always joke of course, because mom is always so much worse when she catches their room in a horrified mess."

She watched him, waiting for him to answer and began to fear that he didn't even have one around. If that was the case, which she hoped it wasn't, then they would need to go back out and buy one. She nodded when he said that he would go look to see if he had one, and the young Hispanic teen only hoped that he could find one in his ridiculously messy home.

Maria sighed in a happy relief when Dimitri returned with a laundry basket, glad that he actually owned one. She smiled at him and placed a few of the clothes in the basket. She did what she normally did when it came to finding out if clothes were dirty, checking for stains, and smelling to see if there was any kind of odor. If she was still unsure about it, she would just wash it anyway to be on the safe side. "Thank goodness," she said with a small smile, "I was beginning to fear you didn't have one."

Brown eyes looked away from their current task as they glanced at Dimitri. Maria blinked in surprise when he mentioned that he used to have a roommate. She never would have guessed that someone else had lived with Dimitri before she came to visit. "You double-rented this place?" she asked in surprise, turning her body to face him. "Okay, okay. You have to explain now because you've gotten my interest yet again." She smiled warmly at him, her voice already ringing with a childish curiosity and excitement.  

[Tobi-chan Lissesul]

♟♞ ♝ ♜ ♛ Ďȋɱȋŧʁȋ Ĵ. ᾟűηŧȇʁ
Can you keep a secret?...

Dimitri looked up at her ans smirked as she expressed her curiosity. Of course, it was completely understandable for her to be surprised, this was him they were talking about! Skittish, jumpy, no-contact-whatsoever, him. He shook his head slightly, holding up his hands in a surrendering gesture. "Alright, alright," The dark hair boy said, his eyes gleaming slightly as he looked up at her. "Since you're so interested, I'll tell you."

The boy sat back a bit, studying another piece of laundry he had found on the floor for a moment before continuing. "When I was fifteen, I decided it was about time I try and handle things on my own, I had been living with Kedrick for a little more then two years then and I was starting to feel like a bit of a deadweight." He said, flashing her a quick grin and brush a strand of dark hair out of his face. The smirk faded a bit as he continued. "Unfortunately, I didn't have a ton of money on hand, I had picked up a part time job, but it wasn't enough for me to be able to support an apartment by myself. Much as it scared me, I knew I'd have to find someone who was willing to double rent a place with me."

The young man laughed slightly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I must admit, I didn't look very hard....half of me didn't even want to find a roommate. What I really wanted was to look long enough to say I tried, and then admit defeat and go on staying with Kedrick...but that didn't happen, the whole thing kind of...fell into my lap."

Dimitri stood up, scooping up and armload of stuff and moving it over to were Maria was, beginning to sort it. He figured it'd be best to keep cleaning while he talked or else he'd never get the job done. "There was this guy named Eric, he was probably a good four years older then me, maybe five, he was in his last year of college, and he was also looking for someone to cover half-rent. Apparently someone I mentioned the idea to was a friend of his and he passed the idea along." The dark hair boy snorted slightly. "You can imagine I was pretty freaked out. I didn't even really want to do this, and yet here with this college senior asking me if I was still looking for a roommate."

Dimitri tried to remember exactly how he had felt that day. He pictured himself looking up at Eric, the other young man was tall, broad shouldered, and very strong looking. He had stood and intimidating 6.2. and had close cut brown hair. Dimitri had been petrified. The boy brought his thought back to the present, continuing with his story. "I kind of black out a little, I honestly don't remember much of what I said to his that first time we met, but apparently I worked out some kind of a deal with him. We worked out that we would try it for like...two week, and if I thought I couldn't do it, if I wanted to back out, I could."

"After the first two weeks, I had gotten a pretty good feel for what kind of a guy Eric was. Frankly, he didn't talk much. He was quiet, he had a day job so he was out of the house most of the time, and when he was there in the evenings, he was mainly working on his online courses. The nice thing was, he wasn't the touchy-feely type, not at all." Dimitri said emphatically, remembering the wave of relief when he had figured that much out. "I think the only time there was any physical contact, was when he shook my hand when we first met, and then, once again...when we were saying goodbye..." His voice became thoughtful for a second. "Eric left the join the army about six months ago now..." Dimitri said softly, realizing that in the past six months, he hadn't even spared much time to think about Eric. How was he? Was he alright? Had he been injured or even killed?

Guilt stabbed into the boy for a moment, causing a flash of almost physical discomfort. Things had been a bit hectic recently, he hadn't even spared him a thought. Dimitri was surprised that along with the guilt he actually felt a touch of loneliness. He missed Eric. Distant as he had been, and ideal as that distance was for Dimitri, he had honestly begun thinking of Eric as a friend. Of course, it was nowhere near the close friendship he had developed with Kedrick, but still, a friend was a friend none the less, and now that friend was across enemy lines, in constant danger. Dimitri resolved at that second that he'd write Eric a letter, check in on him, and hope he could get an answer in reply.

Dimitri looked back up, almost having forgotten that Maria was there. He gave a wane smile. "It's been different without him here, I was having...some trouble maintaining the place on my own, but Kedrick started helping out with that." The boy smirked dryly. "And so I'm back to the deadweight stage." He joked with a grin, picking up the now full laundry basket and taking it over to the bathroom door where he'd work on getting it washed later.

He returned to the living room, gently scooping up a tattered copy of 'Oliver Twist' from the floor and placing it gently on the bookshelf among the others by Charles Dickens. He traced his fingers of the spines and then turned back to Maria, sitting down on the floor next to her again.

 

[x_Ultra_Panda_Luver_x]

Arielle Shore

Maria had to do her best to contain her giddy excitement. She wasn't sure why she was so excited about learning about this mysterious person that Dimitri let live with him. She knew that he'd had to be something special if he of all people was willing to live in close quarters with this guy.

She listened to him intently, pausing from her task as she gave Dimitri her undivided attention. It was interesting for her to hear about this Eric guy and was glad that Dimitri didn't have too much to worry about. It seemed like the two of them had a decent friendly relationship though and found herself a bit surprised when he mentioned that Eric joined the army six months ago. She didn't know of anyone close to her that was in the army and wondered how Dimitri was taking it, as a friend of Eric.

When he sat finished, Maria was silent, not knowing what to say as she found herself returning back to her task. She wondered what life was like before Eric left. Did Dimitri feel safe enough with him? Sure Eric wasn't around that much, but it still made her wonder. Did they ever have any bonding moments that brought them closer together as friends?

She blinked some and looked over at Dimitri with a small smile as he sat down again. "Well, when he comes back, I want to meet him," Maria stated confidently. "And we'll celebrate. It's not every day that this happens. And I bet he's an interesting guy to have a conversation with." She smiled and placed the last article of clothing in the basket before sighing and leaning against Dimitri. "I feel like I need to buy you more of these..."  

[Tobi-chan Lissesul]

♟♞ ♝ ♜ ♛ Ďȋɱȋŧʁȋ Ĵ. ᾟűηŧȇʁ
Can you keep a secret?...

Dimitri let the story trail off uncertainly, looking over at Maria, a little embarrassed by the look of undivided attention on her face. He was sure she was surprised that he had had a roommate in the first place, after all, he was....well, him. Dimitri remembered the first few day's of the two week trial period, he had never taken his eyes off Eric, watching the young man's every moving, flinching if he came even remotely close to him. He hadn't slept at all for the first four or five nights, and had kept his bedroom door lock from the inside. The young man remembered feeling a surge of terror every time there was a small noise in the night, even if it was the usual noises, a cricket chirping outside, the heating system starting, the slight creak and groan as the house settled. Every one of these small noises had made him jump, and he would look up to make sure the door was still locked, that the handle wasn't moving as someone tried to come in.

After the first week, Dimitri had gradually begun to calm down, and become less jumpy. He could be in the same room as Eric without flinching away, and they could have a conversation without Dimitri weighing the young man's every word for some hidden meaning, a threat, a suggestion. The thing that really cemented that fact that Eric wasn't someone he had to be afraid of was the fact that he never once mentioned Dimitri's questionable behavior over the first few days. He never asked why he would nearly jump out of his skin when he entered the room, or flinch away if he walked passed him too close.

What Dimitri didn't know, was that Eric had often heard him quietly crying on the first few nights, too terrified to sleep. Eric had played with the idea of going in and seeing if his new roommate was alright, but, after a moment's though, rejected the idea. He had seen enough of Dimitri's behavior to know that the boy was uncertain, if not scared of him. He didn't know why, but that was Dimitri's personal business, it was not his place, and it was not his right to ask. He had only just met him, but already, the boy, quiet, jumpy, and vulnerable, had been somewhat endeared to him. In Eric's mind, he had begun to think of Dimitri's as his buddy, a potential friend, someone to be protected. But if the boy was scared of him then that was no way to start, he knew he'd have to give Dimitri's space until he became more comfortable, only then was it the appropriate time to try and form a friendship.

Dimitri looked up as Maria spoke and smiled slightly at the confidence in her tone. If Maria knew what she wanted, he figured she'd stop at nothing to get it, and if she wanted to meet his former roommate then there was no escape for Eric. He grinned slightly at this thought. Eric was quiet, not the talkative type, he wondered how he'd do with meeting Maria. "I'm sure he'd love to meet you," Dimitri said with a slight laugh. "He doesn't talk too much but if you get him on a topic he enjoys then you can get something out of him." The dark hair boy joked, nudging her gently as she leaned against him. He listened as she spoke again, a look of comic confusion on his face. "More of what? Clothing, or laundry baskets?" He asked, his eyes flashing with mischief.

 

[x_Ultra_Panda_Luver_x]

Arielle Shore

Maria just gave him this look before nudging him back and sitting back up. "Laundry baskets, you dork," she teasingly responded with a grin. "And maybe a reasonable hamper. How Eric was able to deal with your mess, I'll never know. Unless you just went full tale wild once he left. Like a true bachelor. Unless I can train you to be reasonably clean. Then there may be hope for us all."

She giggled gently before a thought approached her mind. She knew they had dropped the topic, but she wondered if Dimitri would ever tell Eric the reason why he had been so jumpy. Knowing him, he would be almost as against the idea like he was for telling his mother and for her to tell her own family. Maria knew it wouldn't be easy, having to deal with the same thing with Arielle, but still thought that it'd be a good idea so that he could understand. There was no need to bring it up now. She would just let it settle and wait. She wished she could say she had a lot of time, but in all honestly, she was unsure of that and it scared her too. Not that she would let Dimitri know.

"I'm sure I can find something that we have in common," Maria said with a small grin, as if she was accepting the challenge, which was basically true. "But I'll think of something later." She stood up and bent down to pick up the laundry basket, holding it to her side to let it rest on her hip while she looked back at Dimitri. "Where's your washing machine and detergent?"