It's Like Running Away

Aiden shook his head as Dodge set about following his advice. Grabbing his letter from the table and folding it precisely, he put it in his pocket, paying no mind to the food smears that Dodge's fingers had gotten on it. Then he walked over, quite boldly for him, and plucked a small sandwich from Dodge's to-go box, fighting a grin as he bit into it.

Dodge was mildly astonished for a moment before he put on a fake stern face and shook his fist. "Oh, now you're hungry. It must taste so much better when it's my food you're eating." Even so, he loaded up on extras of the sandwiches so that both he and Aiden could chow down while they tried to blow zombies to pieces. He grabbed a couple of sodas, too, and nodded to the exit questioningly, wondering if Aiden was ready.

"It definitely tastes better that way," Ai agreed still smiling. Then he nodded at Dodge's questioning motion and headed in the direction of the exit to the room, stopping once he got to the door to check if Dodge was behind him or not.

Luckily, it wasn't too tricky to balance everything he'd grabbed and he followed Aiden over to the exit. He felt an urge to kick it open but instead shouldered it open and scrambled past Aiden, hoping the door might slam in his face. Now that he was lightening up, it'd be a lot more fun to mess with him the way that he did with all of his friends.

Raising an eyebrow at Dodge as he scrambled through the exit, Aiden barely missed running into the closing door. Luckily, he didn't. "Oy, come back here. I want another sandwich for the trip to zombie world. A hero's gotta eat after all," he said following behind.

"Then you better save the sandwiches for the hero instead!" Dodge called over his shoulder, breaking into a run toward his dorm. He'd have to pause for Aiden at the door, but until then he was going to have his bit of fun.

Aiden blinked a couple times, wondering to himself if he should reply and/or if chasing after Dodge was the best course of action. They were headed to the same place and he had no hopes of actually catching him, so Ai decided to just tough out the walk alone.

Dodge was slightly out of breath by the time he reached the building, so he leaned his shoulder up against the building to rest a bit. He was just catching his breath when he realized two things: 1) one of the sodas was missing and the other was undoubtedly all shaken up and 2) Aiden had not chased him, so he now looked like a fool. Neither was all that troubling though; he'd done worse for even less reasons, and at least it had been fun. The fact that he was happy enough again to be flailing around as usual was actually a good thing. He waited patiently for Aiden to catch up to him.

Slightly jogging the last bit of the way, Aiden stopped in front of Dodge, holding the rescued and only slightly damaged second soda in his hand. "Sorry about that," he said as greeting. "But I have a habit of not chasing things I can't catch, so it took me a little longer to get here."

"Technically, you already caught me," Dodge noted, handing over the other soda so he could easily get them into the dorm. "But that's a different kind of catching altogether." He held the door open for Aiden, smiling and feeling better for having run a little. There was nothing better than breaking a sweat for lifting his mood. Except maybe making out, and that had a good chance of being in his near future too, so he was content for the moment.

"Yeah, the is a completely different kind," Ai agreed as he walked in the building. "At least I had a shot at that one?" The statement came out like a question, as if he weren't sure about it. "What was the point of coming here again? It's completely slipped my mind."

"More than a shot," Dodge admitted as he began to climb the stairs. "Not that I would've waited around for you too long, just...once I knew you were up for it, it was a done deal." He shrugged and bounded up several of the steps two at a time, glancing down over his shoulder. "We're here for kissing. That's absolutely what we agreed on and I'll take no arguments."

"Wait, I thought it was zombies?" Aiden questioned as he remembered. "Zombies and finger foods." He nodded once, as if assuring himself that that was what it actually was. "Although, I wouldn't mind if it were to change to kissing, so let's just go with that one."

"I said absolutely nothing about zombies, you're lying. It was definitely kissing. So you'd better be okay with that. Though food sounds good. Mmm." Dodge shouldered the door open and held it there for Aiden, feeling a little too much like a gentleman for it. "But no, no zombies. Zombies have nothing to do with kissing. I would never kiss a zombie. So don't turn into a zombie."

"I won't turn into a zombie ever. I promise." Ai smiled as he walked in the building, turning to Dodge and waiting for him to follow.

"Are you sure?" asked Dodge, brushing right past Aiden and laying himself out on his bed. He immediately began tracing patterns on the comforter with his feet, not the type to keep still even when being lazy. "I mean, you'd be dead, it's not like you'd be a zombie on purpose. And I'd see you, and I'd be like, why does Aiden look particularly slow today? And I'd run to kiss you, and you'd eat my brain. I don't like this story, I'm quitting, come tell me another one."

"If zombie me ate your brain would that make you into a zombie, too? Or would you just be dead?" Aiden asked as he walked farther into the room and sat in the desk chair. "I'm no good at storytelling, though."

Dodge paused a moment, toe stopping mid-triangle as he thought. "I think I would just be dead, if you went for the brain. I'd be a zombie if you got me anywhere else though. That might be fun....zombie partners in crime. We'd be the kind of zombies with flamethrowers." Dodge patted the spot on the bed beside him impatiently. "You can't tell a story from a desk anyways, you know. And you're very far away."

"I wouldn't trust you with a flamethrower." Aiden removed himself from the desk chair and relocated to the bed. "You'd probably end up catching yourself on fire instead of the stuff you were actually meant to be catching on fire. Then things would be really nasty, because I don't think burning, decaying flesh smells all that good."

"Zombies don't trust, Aiden, that's just silly. They eat brains, and they kill people, and they get shot in the head. Except we won't because we're clever. At least you are, and you'll keep the humans from killing me." Dodge smiled contentedly as he found himself with company on the bed. He rolled onto his side and grinned at Ai. "Hello, there."

"Hi." Ai smiled. "Are you quite happy now? I am no longer far away. Although, I don't know that I'll be any much better at thinking of a story to tell over than I was over there." He shrugged and leaned against the headboard.

"Everyone makes a better storyteller in bed. It's a fact. I was an awful storyteller, but when my sister wouldn't sleep, I'd crawl into her bed and tell as many as she needed. It's like a magic law." With a wry grin, Dodge poked Aiden in the chest. "There's other stuff you can do with your mouth if you don't like story-telling."

"I think I know what other stuff you're talking about." Ai thought for a moment. "I could be okay with that, I think. If it got me out of storytelling, at least. Any story of mine would be horribly dull."

"Oh, so you're just going to use it as an escape? I'm not sure I'm okay with that." Dodge leaned away playfully with a disappointed face. "Also, I'm almost certain anything that has to do with those lips couldn't be entirely disappointing."

"I'm not telling you a story." That statement was said as though it were the absolute final decision.