Sweaty Jocks (Devyn)

[Xun Jinsong]

Xun didn't particularly like the gymnasium locker rooms.  Oftentimes they were filled with smelly, rowdy, rude boys that were far too loud for his comfort, and he liked to avoid them when he could. However, today when he passed by the entrance to the room after a long, strenuous workout in one of the training rooms on his martial arts forms, he discovered that it sounded quiet for once and decided to take the risk and wash up inside rather than going all the way back to his dorm.

It seemed pretty much empty when he entered, so he darted over to the showers and quickly washed himself off, using his ability to make the process even quicker so within a few minutes he was clean and dressed in fresh clothes that he'd had in his duffel bag.  He took the opportunity of being alone to curiously examine the place, wondering what it was about locker rooms that seemed to make teenage boys so rowdy and noisy.  

He was so lost in his own head that he didn't realize there was someone else in the room until he turned a corner and bumped right into him, literally.  Xun stumbled back in surprise and stammered out an apology, half-expecting some giant brute of a man to be glaring at him for his fumble.  But once he actually looked, the Chinese boy realized he recognized the boy.  "... D-Devyn, right...?" he squeaked, looking (down) at the other student.  "Ah... I am so sorry... I should have been paying m-more attention to where I was going..."

[Devyn Dell]

Basketball season had ended, but baseball practices had already started by the time they played their last game. It left little downtime, but he was fine with that, he liked having games to play and practices to attend. He filled any other time left over with workouts and studying.


Even with the games for the season being over he enjoyed setting up a few scrimmage games against other students, which was what he was leaving as he entered the locker room. His shower was brief, as he planned to take a better shower when he was back safe in his dorm room. After his brief rinse under the shower, more to simply get the sweat off his skin he changed into the clothes he had brought along. It was just as he was gathering his things to leave that he was bumped into.


"Oh, Hey!" his slight look of surprise vanished and was replaced by a warm smile as he recognized the uncertain voice of one (tall) Chinese boy. "Xun? I didn't think you'd be here." Devyn had to look up to see him, but luckily he wasn't very bothered by his height.

[Xun Jinsong]

Xun had a habit of getting so lost in his own head sometimes that he sort of lost track of what was going on around him. It wasn’t uncommon for it to lead to awkward and uncomfortable situations such as this, but somehow he hadn’t yet learned his lesson and still managed to do it frequently.

At least this was someone he knew, sort of, and not some big scary guy with a bad temper or something. “I-I do not come here very often,” he agreed with a slight dip of his head. His faint accent did nothing to hide the slight stammering of his English. “I was just, ahh, practicing in the training room, and when I was done I noticed the, ah, locker r-room was empty, so I took a shower.” He rubbed the back of his damp hair, feeling his cheeks flush with self-consciousness.

It only grew hotter when he suddenly realized – he didn’t have his contacts in. Since he always trained alone, and didn’t plan on talking to anyone between leaving and returning to his dorm room, he never bothered to wear them since they were a bit of a pain to wear for practice anyway. Xun jerked his face to the side as his cheeks bloomed a deeper shade of pink and he kept his pale eyes averted. “A-ah, what brings you in here?” he asked, grasping for something to talk about in hopes that it would distract Dev too much to notice his eyes.

[Devyn Dell]

Devyn interacted with his roommate whenever he could, the taller male was a bit shy and quiet which made it a bit harder to do, but he still made the effort to try. What he knew of him was rather interesting, though, he'd always thought the fact that he was involved in martial arts to be pretty cool honestly. And unexpected when taking his general meekness into consideration.

He smiled a bit wider as the older boy responded, "Yeah? That's cool I wish I would have known, I still haven't seen you in action." He slung his bag over his shoulder, chuckling slightly, he doubted Xun waited for the locker rooms to empty out for the same reasons but he was amused at the similarity nonetheless. Of course, Devyn noticed the blush, he would have known he was embarrassed to even without it, he was good at noticing those kinds of details. He, also, of course, noticed his eyes, after all, there was such a stark difference in the color.

"Oh, ah," he hooked a finger over his shoulder in the general direction of the gym, "I just had a pick up game with some of the guys and was about to head back to the room," he stared up at his eyes as he talked before relenting and pointing to his own, "Hey, uh, are you wearing contacts right now? I thought your eyes were darker..."

[Xun Jinsong]

Xun was definitely the type to keep to himself, so any interaction between him and his roommate were usually initiated by the other boy, unless circumstances (such as this) just happened randomly for them to talk to each other. It wasn’t that he disliked Dev – in fact, he seemed very nice, from all that Xun had seen of him so far – just that he wasn’t really good at interacting with people in general.

He returned Dev’s smile with an uncertain one of his own, unsure how to respond to that comment. “A-ah… You… You can watch sometime if you would like… I did not realize you wanted to…” He trailed off, still rubbing the back of his neck self-consciously. He didn’t realize that with Dev’s ability, the other boy could probably mimic his moves like a pro. “Would… Would you like me to tell you the next time I practice?” Which would be tomorrow afternoon at the same time, because Xun kept a schedule as much as he could.

He fidgeted with his duffel bag as a distraction, pulling out his water bottle and taking some nervous sips as the other boy spoke. “Pick-up game?” Xun asked, not entirely certain what that meant. “Is that, ah… Basketball?” He didn’t know much about team sports despite being very athletic, as he’d never done any sport besides wushu, but he did think he recalled Devyn mentioning he played. Xun could feel the boy’s eyes on his own, though, and that was all he could (uncomfortably) think about, just waiting for him to blurt out some comment about them… But what he said wasn’t what Xun expected. “H-huh?” he stammered. “No, I… I am not wearing them right now…” He winced and looked away again – Xun hadn’t intended to so easily admit something he hated people knowing. “… I know they are strange…” he mumbled, pale eyes downcast. “That is why I wear dark contacts…”

[Devyn Dell]

Devyn didn't mind his roommate's reserved personality, it took the edge off and made him feel like he didn't have to be constantly interacting with him. Not that he disliked it, but it was nice to feel like he wasn't boring his roommate or ignoring him when he got caught up in his studies. "Really?" he perked up at the offer, adjusting the strap of his bag on his arm, "Yeah! Definitely! It'd be awesome to see you in action." Even if he could mimic it, it made it no less impressive to Devyn.


Devyn nodded, "Ah, yeah, sorry," he apologized for not being very clear on what he meant, "Just a random game with some guys." He shook his head, waving off any further explanation of it. He felt bad when he noticed his wince, maybe he shouldn't have mentioned them... he should have been more sensitive and thought that he might not like to have his eyes mentioned. "I'm sorry," he apologized quickly, backing up a bit. He shook his head, eyebrows scrunched in concern, "No! No, they aren't
strange. I think they look really pretty--" he cut himself off and blushed when he realized what he said.


"A-a-anyway," he scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "I should go... I'm sorry... For the record I don't think your eyes are weird. They're different... but they're not bad."

[Xun Jinsong]

Xun always felt just a tad bit uncomfortable when the two of them happened to end up on the common room couch together watching television, but he blamed it on him just being an awkward uncomfortable person in general and not…. Specifically because it was Dev. He didn’t really know why he always seemed to blush around the other boy, but tried to ignore it. “S-sure,” he stammered, a bit surprised by his roommate’s enthusiasm. “Okay, um… I-I use the last training room on the right down the hallway,” he explained shyly, pointing towards the right direction. “I start at five… ah… I guess if you’re at the dorm, we can, um, walk together.” That made sense, so why did he feel nervous suggesting it?

“Ahh… I am not good at team sports,” Xun admitted, although that was probably obvious by his reserved nature. That was one of the many reasons why he’d chosen wushu as his sport of choice – you had no one to rely on or blame but yourself depending on how things went. But he wasn’t thinking about that as Dev apologized for asking about his eyes, and Xun shrugged meekly with a soft,”It is okay.” He was just glad the boy hadn’t made fun. In fact… Xun’s gaze snapped up and finally landed fully on the other boy at his compliment, lips parting in shock. “You…. You do?” he stammered, feeling that familiar flush rising on his pale cheeks. “I…. I, ah…” The Chinese boy didn’t know what to say. “You, ahhhh… have pretty eyes too…” he finally managed to stammer out, although he regretted it quickly because what would Devyn think??

Xun’s knuckles were white from how hard he was gripping onto his duffle bag in his mortification. “Right! Yes! I should go too,” he agreed, glad for an excuse to get out of the awkward situation. “You… You are too kind. Thank… you.” Xun dipped his head in his gratitude, then started heading towards the exit… which Dev was likely now walking towards too. Awkward.