Chapter Nine
#10 of The Roommate
With Oscuro gone from the apartment, Xaver was left to his own devices and couldn't help being curious about his new surroundings. He wandered into each room, pausing a moment to see all the details. He didn't feel comfortable with touching anything until he got to the kitchen and realized how hungry he was. Surely Oscuro wouldn't mind if he fed himself, since it was necessary for survival after all.
When Oscuro first left, Xaver's first instinct had been to pick up all his stuff and run away. His own pride prevented him from doing so when he realized that that was the cowardly way out. If he wanted to keep his dignity and prove that he could handle anything, he wouldn't resort to pathetically sneaking out when he was unsupervised.
He rummaged around in the kitchen, putting everything back exactly where he found it, and got himself something to eat. He was still standing in the middle of the kitchen with a plate in his paw when he unexpectedly heard the front door open. It startled Xaver so much that he dropped his plate and it shattered on the floor in several pieces.
"Oh shit," he muttered.
Oscuro heard the crash just as he walked through the door. Great. He left Xaver alone and the other man was already breaking things. "Xaver? Was that you?" He walked towards the kitchen, where the noise had come from.
Xaver knew it was too late to dispose of the evidence and try to deny his crime. He remained where he was and stood there stupidly as Oscuro entered the room. The grey-haired buck took one look at the mess on the floor and then focused his sight on Xaver's embarrassed face. "How the hell did that happen?"
Xaver definitely wasn't going to say it was because Oscuro startled him. He needed to appear strong. He took on a defiant stance and stared down the other man, hoping he looked more confident than he felt. "That's what happens when you leave me unsupervised. You piss me off, so I'm going to do the same thing to you."
Oscuro shrugged indifferently. "I never liked that plate very much anyway. You're cleaning everything up though, and I'm going to watch you to make sure you don't destroy anything else."
"That's fair enough." Xaver sighed and bent over several times to pick up the broken plate pieces and spilled food. Oscuro observed him, watching his ass and flicking tail go up and then down as he performed his task. Oscuro was tempted to reach out for Xaver's enticing rear, but he had already traumatized the poor catwith a similar maneuver. He would have to wait a day or two.
Xaver finished throwing everything away and glared at Oscuro. "There, I'm done. Are you still sure you want to keep me around here?"
Oscuro smiled happily. "Yeah, I'm sure. You're pretty good at cleaning things up. You could be my housemaid!"
Xaver wasn't in the mood for any jokes. "I'm actually looking forward to going to work on Monday. There are all sorts of ways to avoid you at work."
"I'm really not that bad of a person," Oscuro said, dropping his smile. "I don't know how to prove it to you since you're so convinced that I'm going to torture you when you let your guard down."
"Well you've already taken advantage of my inattentiveness once," Xaver pointed out. "It's your own fault I don't trust you."
Oscuro's patience was quickly running low. "The month will go by faster if you try to be a little happier. I know you don't like me and hate being here, but you wouldn't be so miserable if you didn't have such a bad attitude." Hiro had said that Xaver would be a challenge, but Oscuro hadn't expected it to be so difficult. "I think this is a good experience because I'm having a roommate for the first time and you can learn to be more social through living with me." His smile returned. "You're also attractive as an added bonus."
"I need to use your bathroom," Xaver said, inventing an excuse for escaping the buck.
"Don't stay too long in there or I'll know you're hiding and will make fun of you," Oscuro said.
Xaver ignored that comment and headed for the bathroom, eager for some peace and quiet. He didn't want to admit that Oscuro was right, even though he knew his situation would be easier to bear if he tried to be more positive. But that would be giving in. Being difficult was an act of defiance towards Hiro, proof that the short canine couldn't control him.
Xaver figured he might as well actually use the bathroom so he wouldn't be considered a liar. He stood in front of the toilet and pushed his pants down. His eyes were drawn down to his cock and he noticed it as if seeing it for the first time. He never paid much attention to the region below his waist. He always knew his cock was there, but he didn't look at it or take an interest in it. It was always just that thing that he pissed out of.
Oscuro had certainly noticed it though. Xaver didn't understand the buck's desire to touch him and his ignorance made him feel stupid. His cock rested innocently between his legs, not hurting anything, and Xaver reached down and gently touched the tip of it. Nothing happened of course. Xaver held his breath and didn't move his paw, surprised at his own daring move.
Suddenly paranoid, he took his paw off himself and checked to make sure the door was locked. It was, and he slowly put a finger on the head of his sex organ again. He moved his finger down the entire length of it and a tiny spark excitement erupted in his body unexpectedly.
"Xaver? Are you still in there?" Oscuro knocked on the door, interrupting.
His heart pounding fast, Xaver instantly halted his self-touching. "I'm almost out." He pulled his pants back up and flushed the toilet so it would sound like he had been using the room properly. He washed his paws, dried them on a towel, and opened the door.
"I guess you weren't trying to hide after all," Oscuro said, standing outside of the bathroom.
"Hiding is for cowards," Xaver replied. "I'm a lot stronger than you think I am."
Oscuro poked one of Xaver's arms. "You don't look like it."
"Why are you hanging around here anyway?" Xaver demanded. "Don't I get any privacy when I'm trying to relieve myself?"
"I just wanted to ask you what you wanted for dinner. Don't throw a fit."
"Chinese take-out," Xaver decided promptly. "And you're going to go fetch it alone so I can have another break from you."
Oscuro looked at the cougar suspiciously. "How do I know you won't do something crazy while I'm gone? You could run off, or set the apartment on fire, or wreck my stuff. I think you should come along with me."
"I'm starting to scare you," Xaver said, pleased with himself.
"No you're not. You're short, you have no muscles, and you've got emotional problems. I feel sorry for you more than I fear you." Oscuro quickly thought of a compromise, sick and tired of the arguing. "I'll go get the food by myself and I'll leave you alone for the rest of the day if you stop being a freak of nature for fifteen minutes and behave yourself when I'm gone."
The promise of being left alone was too good to turn down. "Fine, I agree," Xaver said. "I'll sit by myself in a corner and won't touch anything. No more broken plates."
"Good. I'll see you later then." Acting quickly and stealthily, Oscuro briefly hugged Xaver, knowing it would fluster the big cat. He just couldn't help himself.
Xaver rapidly squirmed away, his fur standing on end from the action. "I swear you have no self-control, you crazy bastard. Just because I pledged to be good doesn't mean I'm suddenly your friend and you can do things like that." He brushed at his clothes where Oscuro had touched him. "I'm going to have to bathe now."
"Stop complaining, Xaver. I'm leaving now, so relax." Oscuro grabbed his wallet from out of his bedroom and left the apartment.
Xaver wandered into the living room and sat down on the couch, not doing anything. He was left with nothing to do again and didn't want to meddle into anything for fear or breaking something. He didn't know solitude could be so boring.
Damn it, it was only Saturday. There was still one more entire day stuck in Oscuro's apartment. After that, Xaver would have five days of seeing Oscuro only part of the time, which would be a major relief.
It didn't take long for Oscuro to come back, and fortunately Xaver wasn't startled senseless when the deer opened the front door. Oscuro set the Chinese food on the kitchen table and found Xaver on the couch. "Nothing broke this time?"
"I've been in this same spot the whole time you were gone," Xaver replied. He glanced in the direction of the kitchen. "Do I have to eat with you?"
"It would only make you complain more," Oscuro said. "You can eat where you want as long as you clean up anything you spill. And no eating in the bathroom. That's weird."
"I don't spend all my time in the bathroom," Xaver retorted. He followed Oscuro into the kitchen and took what he wanted from the take-out boxes. "Thank you," he said awkwardly. He was tired, hungry, and felt he had argued enough. He quickly hurried off into the living room so that Oscuro wouldn't think he was being nice.
Xaver quickly felt better once he started eating. Due to his little agreement with Oscuro, he wouldn't be pestered again for the remainder of the day. If he could keep manipulating the buck like that, then maybe his stay wouldn't be so terrible after all. When he finished eating, he took his garbage into the kitchen, where Oscuro sat at the table finishing his own meal. Xaver smiled for the first time as he threw his waste into the trashcan. "I get to have a nice evening in which you're not allowed to bother me or even talk to me." He was quite proud of the arrangement.
Oscuro said nothing and looked down at the table, pretending to ignore the cougar. If having his way made Xaver happy, then Oscuro figured he could give in for the first few days. After that, though, Xaver would have to get used to abiding other people's rules.
Xaver triumphantly left the kitchen, surprisingly in a fairly good mood. He went back to the couch he had claimed as his bedroom and brought his luggage over so he could look through it. He had nothing better to do and often resorted to obsessive compulsive organizing and sorting when he got bored. He once organized his closet by what colors his clothes were, and then categorized it again by what country each garment had been made in.
He unpacked all of his belongings, sorted them out, and then packed them back up again. It was a pointless exercise, but it was successful in helping him forget all the turmoil plaguing him. Most people would consider it merely psychotic and would alert a therapist.
Xaver then pulled a notepad and a pencil out of one of his bags and began randomly doodling. He drew Oscuro falling off a cliff and getting pecked apart by cannibals, and then sketched Hiro getting raped by a group of thugs. He decided that was too harsh and on a new piece of paper, drew Hiro skipping around in a field of flowers, dressed like Snow White. It was accompanied by a picture of Oscuro getting thrown in jail for excessive penis grabbing.
Xaver actually laughed out loud as he busily drew. He hadn't expected to have any fun at all, but being left alone had done him a large amount of good. He carefully ripped his drawings out of the notepad and put them inside a book so they wouldn't get damaged. He would save them for something to cheer him up.
Looking at the clock on the wall, he saw that it was far too early to go to bed yet. There was a television right in front of him so he turned it on and leaned against a couch pillow for comfort. He tried to forget about the last time the television was on and forced himself not to touch the remote, for it would remind him of something he'd rather not think about.
There was nothing good on TV and Xaver looked at the screen without really paying attention to it. He overcame his unease and grabbed the remote to change the channel. He flicked through the channels for several minutes, but couldn't find anything he wanted to watch. He figured that pushing the remote buttons was good exercise and kept on jumping from channel to channel until his eyes grew tired and he couldn't sit upright any longer.
"It's so hard!" somebody randomly said on the television. Mildly disturbed, Xaver shut the TV off. It had gotten dark by then, increasing his desire to shut his eyes and go to bed. He didn't feel like brushing his teeth and chose not to change into his pajamas. With Oscuro under the same roof, he felt more comfortable with a belt tightly securing his pants.
There was one problem though. Xaver hadn't thought about it at all previously, but he realized that sleeping on the couch wouldn't be very enjoyable since he had no blanket.
He couldn't ask Oscuro for one. It would make him feel stupid and he didn't want to initiate a conversation with the deer when he was supposed to be left in peace. It wasn't cold in the room and just because Xaver had no blanket, it didn't mean he couldn't fall asleep. He laid one of the couch pillows down flat and rested his head upon it as he situated himself on the couch.
He closed his eyes, but he was still starkly aware that he was sleeping on a strange couch in a strange home. He hoped Oscuro was safely in his bed for the night and would remain there until the morning. There was the chance that Oscuro could come out in the middle of the night and scare him, or do something worse.
Frustrated with himself, Xaver smacked his head against the pillow. The crazy thoughts had to stop. He would never get any rest and would drive himself mad by the end of the night. Everything was going to be perfectly fine and he had nothing to worry about.
After some restless tossing and turning, Xaver eventually fell asleep. He dreamed that he was a nun and therefore could never have sex with Oscuro or anyone else. Oscuro was disappointed and left him alone, and Xaver went off to play video games with a group of other nuns.
Sometime in the middle of the night, Oscuro woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. Xaver was on his mind, and it felt like the cougar had been in his thoughts even while he slept. He thought spending a month with Xaver would be fun, but he only felt guilty because it was mostly his fault that Xaver was so unhappy. It was partially Xaver's own fault of course, as well as Hiro's, but Oscuro felt the most responsible.
He had already gotten off on too many bad starts with Xaver and it would be impossible to make a new beginning with such a stubborn fur. The best solution was to part with Xaver and never speak to him again.
In the morning, Oscuro would call up Hiro and tell him that he wanted to end the agreement and send Xaver home. He doubted his boss would understand, but he would try anyway. It just wasn't worth it when he couldn't even say one word to Xaver without offending the cat somehow.
He decided to check on Xaver real quick, just to make sure he had a suitable place to sleep and hadn't escaped during the night.
Oscuro got out of bed and checked the living room first, where he discovered Xaver asleep on the couch with no coverage, his arms wrapped tightly around his tail. Oscuro sighed. Xaver could have just asked for a blanket, but was determined not to speak to his host that evening. It was late and the air had gotten colder, and Oscuro decided he wanted to do one right thing without screwing up. Xaver would most likely be gone soon and Oscuro wanted to do something positive for the poor guy.
He went into the linen closet where there was a spare blanket. He pulled it out of the closet, took it to the couch, and covered Xaver up with it. Xaver didn't move and continued to sleep.
It was weird to see Xaver at peace for once. Oscuro had actually touched Xaver while covering him up and hadn't gotten yelled at or smacked. He could easily take advantage of the cougar while he slept, but it wouldn't mean anything since he would be saying goodbye to Xaver in a day or two. It would be extremely creepy besides.
Oscuro had been wandering out of his bed long enough and had accomplished his task. He left Xaver alone and went to his bedroom to go back to sleep.