Roomies

Kir was a bit sleepy during the welcoming speech for the new students. He vaguely caught that amongst the three hundred or so people that arrived, all but a handful had been accepted. A full quarter had been deemed knowledgeable or powerful enough to skip a year, provided they took an extra course each semester for subjects they had proven weak in.

His moms wouldn't been allowed to attend, despite Brigit being a former student and Darlae having snuck on campus enough to have a reputation. He'd given them a tearful hug goodbye before leaving for the campus, hiring a cab like they did yesterday.

The fact his moms hadn't gotten to attend was good, since halfway through the speech, Kir got smacked awake by a stern-looking teacher who seemed to feel no qualms about using wind magic to hit students.

He managed to stay awake until the end of the speech, and then it was time to take the elevator up to the dorms.

After his showing yesterday, Kir's reputation combined with the sour face he wore from lack of sleep made getting into the elevator an exercise in loneliness. No one near him wanted to approach, that is until Kordia squeaked her way out of the crowd.

"Hi Kir," she said as soon as she got in.

"Hi Kordia," Kir returned the greeting. When no one else was forthcoming, he decided to stop wasting time and pulled the lever with his tail just to get the elevator moving.

"You look tired," Kordia said... "And, um... I noticed you don't have your wings..."

"I am tired. Stayed up all night getting a magic tattoo to keep them out of the way," he leaned against the glass of the elevator. "What floor?"

"Oh, um... fifty-one," Kordia blushed a bit. "I, um... got something new yesterday too," she admitted.

Kir looked her over. It took a bit for his mind to finally focus as he ratcheted the lever to the correct number.

"Uh... new earrings?" he asked, looking at the little gold hoops glinting at the base of her ears.

"Mhm! I had a little extra after I exchanged what you gave me... so I took it to a jeweler and he made me these!" She flicked her ears happily.

Kir smiled. "I'm just glad I got you out of that bad situation." He yawned.

To his surprise, Kordia hugged him, right as the elevator came open.

As soon as it did, Kir felt an odd sensation. A weird, hungry longing that brought a blush to his cheeks.

He started petting Kordia's ears and felt her shiver at his hot touch.

Right before...

"Hey, you two! Knock it off!" A squeaky little voice said.

Kir looked up in the direction of the voice, only to find Stella in her bat form, circling around to land in Kir's hair.

"Oh... um... I gotta go!" Kordia blushed red as she fled the elevator.

As soon as the doors closed, Kir rounded on Stella. "What the heck was that?" he asked, wondering why his body felt somewhat warmer now.

"You left me here! I can't believe you just abandoned your familiar in an unfamiliar place! What if I'd gotten eaten?" Stella shouted. "A little cockblocking is the least of what you deserve!"

"No, I meant... what is this I'm feeling?" he asked.

"Oh that! Hehehe," Stella flew down as the doors to the elevator closed, taking up her impish humanoid form. "I have dined on the errant lusts of youth! See how I've grown!" She cackled.

"Umm... I don't really... No I don't see it," Kir admitted.

"In power you dolt! I still don't have enough to bring my body to its full glory. But you should be feeling a bit more of a connection between us. I certainly felt it when you blew up the harbor," she quivered, her face almost drooling with desire. "And to think, you and I are connected... If you were to share more of that mana with me, I could make it feel really good for you..."

"No," Kir said, wielding his tiredness against the lustful warmth to try to push it aside. With a wrenching of his tail, he pulled the lever for the fifty-ninth floor. "You're not my type."

"Oh, so he has a type now," Stella grumbled.

"I have multiple types, and you aren't one of them. Let's just keep our relationship professional," Kir didn't know if he was ordering or pleading.

"You're the boss," Stella said with a huff, transforming back into a bat as the doors opened.

Kir had already been to the boys' dorm to drop off his things, all of which had fit in the storage cloth. The boy's dorms were sorted by year, with the sixtieth floor being for first years and declining in number as one ascended in grade. Thus, Kir's room was on the fifty-ninth floor. Lasting more years meant moving closer to the fifty-fifth floor, which was a shared cafeteria and lounge for both girls and boys.

The stories were large enough that there was technically two floors worth of space for each floor, so even with a sudden influx of new "second" years, there was more than enough housing space.

Kir made his way to his room, intent on sleeping away the couple of hours he had until lunch, after which he had orientation. He'd already unpacked his possessions. A handful of heavily marked-up books on magic decorated the windowsill. His old clothes were stored away in his dresser, and he would be allowed to wear them after school hours and on rest days. The ingredient cabinet that he'd acquired from Corlwin's sat next to his dresser, its small drawers hiding all sorts of goodies, including the unlabeled potions.

As he lay down, he saw signs that someone else had entered. He had yet to meet his roommate, but he suspected whoever it was likely didn't want to interact much with a demonkin.

Against his better judgement, he asked Stella to tell him about what she saw when exploring the campus.

She was just telling him about a hidden library the girls had, one where the books were lascivious in nature and often involved stories about other students, when the door opened with a bang.

"A little help here?" the boy on the other side said as Kir stood up, trying to shove in what looked to be a very heavy chest.

It was caught on the corner of the door frame.

Kir took the handle on his side and tugged it free after backing out of the way and letting the other boy push the chest to the foot of the bed, Kir blinked in surprise as he realized who his roommate was going to be.

"Thanks buddy!" Rain smiled, his blue-pink hair glistening as he reached out and clasped arms with Kir. He was covered in sweat. "My strength kinda gave out when I got to this floor. Phew those stairs..."

Kir's jaw dropped. "You carried this thing up the stairs? How are you not dead right now?"

Rain closed the door, tugging off his uniform right in front of Kir without a moment of shame. "Oh, you know, work out every day. Endurance training. Enhancement magic. Happens when you grow up with a warrior sibling."

Kir found himself nodding along as he remembered the day he turned ten, when Darlae had woken him up to go running in the early hours of the morning, before putting him through her grueling training regimen for the next six years.

Then Rain's pants came off and Kir turned away, putting his back between him and the sight of his roommate's more than considerable "inheritance." For the second time he felt his body start to glow with warmth.

"Oh, sorry, didn't know you were shy," Rain apologized. "Lemme just put these clothes in the cleaning drawer and I'll be out of your way, hehe."

While Kir didn't look, he could feel Stella parting his hair to sneak a peek.

The sound of a door closing announced that Rain had gone to the bathroom to use the shower.

Kir sighed in relief, holding his chest and feeling his heart grow as warm as it did when Kordia hugged him.

He was feeling a lot of mixed feelings right now, and Stella didn't help as she climbed onto his shoulder and shouted in his ear.

"That's one of your types?!"