Room 503, Saturday Evening

[exspeedydotcom]

Roy was having a weird day. It started out with some girl calling him about a coat. He'd returned her call, but then Bobby called about secret identities, and what was wrong with people in this place? Really. He'd called him back, but then Karla decided he needed her help or whatever, and possibly Roy was a little rude in telling her he didn't need or want her help right now. You know. Maybe just a little.

He'd promised Dinah, his Dinah, he'd call her today, but he was in no mood to do so whatsoever. Later, he would realize this had probably been a good thing.

((Establishy, but can be open!))

Comments

[longislandiceme]

Okay, so next to Roy's phone number in the student directory was his room number, and so after giving it some thought Bobby found himself going upstairs and knocking on the guy's door.

[exspeedydotcom]

Roy opened the door and almost said, 'what,' but then realized that was freaking rude and instead went for, "Bobby, hey. Come on in, man. What the heck was that about?"

[longislandiceme]

"Um, excuse me? That's what I was just about to ask you. More specifically: who said anything about me and mojo?"

[exspeedydotcom]

"I didn't say anything about you and mojo," Roy said. Although that was kind of a specific word... "That was--I called--someone else," he said kind of lamely. "You got that?"

[longislandiceme]

"Oh," Bobby looked immensely relieved by that admission. "So it was, um... a wrong number sort of deal, then?"

[exspeedydotcom]

"I guess," Roy said. "Why did you call me earlier, though?" No, he wasn't saying about what. Come on.

[longislandiceme]

Which meant he was at least slightly better at the whole 'secret identity' deal than Bobby was.

"What, you mean when I called you back about the message that you left for me that wasn't really for me?"

[exspeedydotcom]

"No, when you called me the first time. Something about how I should know you?" Despite the thing they weren't talking about.

[longislandiceme]

"Oh, oh, nononono!" Bobby said hurriedly. "That wasn't for you, that was for..." he trailed off. "Someone else."

[exspeedydotcom]

"Oh," Roy said. "Well...okay then. Good. I guess?" He grinned. "Guess you're having wrong number problems too, huh, man?"

[longislandiceme]

"Must be," Bobby said with a slight frown as things began to piece together. Bibby Drake was not, generally speaking, known for being especially observant at the best of times. There was one notable exception to this rule: he was particularly good at pranking people, a talent which led itself to being able to recognize a prank when he saw one. Two confirmed wrong numbers, combined with the other strange messages, definitely had the earmarks of a very elaborate prank.

And given what he knew of Fandom, he wouldn't put it past the island itself to be the perpetrator, here.

"I think," he said slowly, "that it's not just us." And oh dear, was that a plan beginning to form in Bobby's mind? Why yes, yes it was.

[exspeedydotcom]

Roy wasn't exactly a slouch, but he was no World's Greatest Detective, and he didn't have as much of a penchant for pranks as Bobby.

Also, as far as he knew, that message from Karla had actually been meant for him.

"What do you mean?" And why is there an evil glint in your eyes?

[longislandiceme]

Fear the evil glint. Feeeear.

"I got a message from you meant for someone else, you got a message from me meant for someone else, and I got at least, assuming there are no more pings two other messages that didn't make any sense whatsoever. I think somebody's messing with the phones."

[exspeedydotcom]

"Yeah, that would--that would make a lot of sense. I mean, I got one call I'm pretty sure was for me, but I got two more that--well, one of 'em was yours, and the other one didn't make any sense at all," Roy said. "Huh."

[longislandiceme]

"Clearly," Bobby said, "we should take advantage of this."

[exspeedydotcom]

Roy thought about this for a moment. Then his eyes lit up. "I like the way you think, 'mano."

[longislandiceme]

And so out came Bobby's Blackberry, and the dialing of a completely random number from the school directory.

"I have no idea whose number I actually dialed. Or who I ended up with. I think it's better that way."

[exspeedydotcom]

Roy laughed a bit, then pulled out his phone and did his own version. "This is kind of fun."

[longislandiceme]

In the meantime, Bobby had received another voicemail. So of course, he had to leave a reply.

Yeah, there's no way he would've had the courage to do that if he hadn't known the phones were being weird. "That's the spirit, man. We're helping keep people on their toes, here. It is practically a public service."

[exspeedydotcom]

Roy had also gotten another voicemail, and was now scarred for life. "Uhhhh...yeah."

[longislandiceme]

"You okay, dude? You look like someone just told you Santa Claus is a myth."

[exspeedydotcom]

"I--I just. I." Roy did not need to be thinking about Dinah kissing girls. He just didn't. He shook himself. "Yeah, man, what were we talking about?"

[longislandiceme]

"Taking advantage of this golden opportunity someone has seen fit to hand us," Bobby said solemnly.

[exspeedydotcom]

"Right," Roy said. "Hang on, I got another one." His eyes lit up as he listened to the message, then he punched in a number at random and passed the joy on.

That one had been awesome.

[longislandiceme]

And that just made Bobby crack right up.

"Oh my god, that was perfect!" he crowed.

[exspeedydotcom]

"It was like fate," Roy said, practically glowing with glee. "Oh my God."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack decided it was a good time to check in with his little brother, so he found his way to Roy's room. So far, he'd only gotten one unusual message, and that was easily written off as an odd, if annoying, aftershock of having kissed the young man in question.

"Hello, Roy," he said from the doorway. "How was your first week?"

[Ugh. Someday I will post this with no typos.]

[exspeedydotcom]

"Hey, Jack," Roy said. "It's been...uh. It's been a heck of a week?" That was one way of putting it.

[bitten_notshy]

"You mean it only got better after we talked," Jack said sarcastically. "I'm sorry. Mind if I come in?"

[exspeedydotcom]

Roy hadn't tracked down the local drug dealer and spent the money Dinah had given him on a hit. He was calling the week a win, despite the ridiculous levels of crazy involved.

"Sure, man, come on in," Roy said. "This place doesn't really let you catch your breath, does it?"

[bitten_notshy]

"Sometimes it does," Jack said thoughtfully as he found a place on Roy's side of the room to sit where he could see his 'brother.' "Sometimes ... not really. I went from being out of my head to meeting a lost sister to a love spell early last month. Are you having a week like that?"

[exspeedydotcom]

"Not quite that bad?" Roy said as he sat down. "There haven't been any love spells yet, anyway. Just...a lot of unexpected stuff, and a lot of new stuff, and I've been a jerk to a couple of people I shouldn't have been a jerk to?" He shook his head. "I was dealing with some stuff before I got here, though, that's a lot of it."

[bitten_notshy]

"I noticed you don't look well," Jack admitted. "My apologies if that's too personal. I'm not asking, just commenting."

He shrugged at the rest of it. "I think people know it's overwhelming here sometimes. I wouldn't worry too much about having been a jerk."

[exspeedydotcom]

"No, it's okay, it's true. I know I don't look great. I don't feel great, but--I'm getting better. I fucked up for a long time but I'm getting better," he said, sounding determined. He looked down at his hands for a moment, then back up at Jack.

"But I don't like being a jerk, you know? And then you have to apologize for being a jerk and that means admitting you were a jerk and it's like a whole big thing." He snorted. "Guess I have to, though, I mean, I'm not Ollie."

[bitten_notshy]

And now Jack was wildly curious what Roy was getting better from, which had him trying to decide if he wanted to be asked, or wanted to be nodding at.

He went for the mushy center.

"If you want to talk, I'm here," he said. "Who were you a jerk to? Dinah's usually forgiving, as far as I can tell."

"And who's Ollie?"

[exspeedydotcom]

"No, not Dinah. Someone named Tony, and--well, I would have been a jerk to someone else if I hadn't gotten the wrong number.

"Ollie's the guy who adopted me. My guardian, I guess, since he hasn't gotten around to legally washing his hands of me or whatever." Roy said. "He kicked me out." There was more to this story, of course.

[bitten_notshy]

"Tony mentioned that to me," Jack commented. "He's a friend -- we used to go out. He asked you something about secret identities?"

He was testing, yes. Mostly because he didn't know what Dinah and secret identities had to do with each other and he very much wanted to.

His face darkened at the rest of what Roy had said. "He shouldn't do that," he said. "I have a guardian, too. They made promises to us. We aren't kittens you drop in an alley when you're sick of us."

[exspeedydotcom]

"Yeah, it was--you know what, I'm not going to freak out at you, too," Roy decided, and forcibly restrained himself from doing so. "It was just one more thing on top of a lot of shocks and I flipped out, and I should probably call him and apologize or something." Some day when the phones weren't spazzed out.

"I can't really blame him that much," He said with a shrug. "I screwed up. I was--uh. I was on heroin." He paused, remembering something Jack had said about being a universe over. "Do you...know what that is?"

[bitten_notshy]

"At home it's a new opiate they're giving it to morphine addicts," Jack said. "It's in our cough syrups, the good ones at least."

... Victorian drug laws were special.

"I know it's not quite the same here." He'd picked up enough odd references to understand it had been criminalized, which he didn't really feel one way or the other about. It was too far outside his experience. "You were -- dependent on it?"

[exspeedydotcom]

"No, it's--not the same at all. And yes. I was dependent on it. I spent every dime I had, and then I did stupid, stupid things for a hit. And when Ollie found out he flipped and threw me out." Roy was leaving out the part where Ollie punched him out, because people flipped out about that and Roy wasn't looking for pity. "I'm clean now. And I'm gonna stay clean." He shoved his hands in his pockets and lifted his chin.

[bitten_notshy]

"I believe you," Jack said evenly, noticing Roy's determination. "He still shouldn't have thrown you out, not unless he'd been through every other option, but that's --" he gestured, vaguely. "Bygones. Fresh start here, isn't it?"

[exspeedydotcom]

No, that had been Ollie's first reaction, actually. Because he was Ollie. "Right. Fresh start. That's the idea."

[bitten_notshy]

"I know it hasn't been an easy one," Jack said.

Somehow, he hoped this was vaguely encouraging. He just forgot to say encouraging words.

[exspeedydotcom]

"I don't--I don't think anything worth having is," Roy said, then laughed, short and harsh. "Look at me trying to be philosophical. Sorry, man, I know it's heavy."

[bitten_notshy]

"It's life," Jack said. "I'm glad you told me, and if there's anything I can do, that is why I'm here - and I will lock you in your room, if you need it."

He said it lightly, but he wasn't joking.

[exspeedydotcom]

"Yeah, I already did that part," Roy said, trying to be wry about it and mostly getting there. "I'm doing my best to not wind up back there, but--thanks, man."

[bitten_notshy]

"I figure it goes with being a sibling," Jack said. "I'll be checking in with you, though. I promise."

[exspeedydotcom]

"I don't know much about siblings, but...thanks, man."