Hate | Love

Disgust

All was quiet as soft footsteps walked the halls of the dormitory.

The lights were dimmed as the young man carrying a plastic bag trudged towards his room. All the other rooms were closed. From some, soft snores could be heard, but other than that, all was still.

The tall young man stopped in front of his door, reached into his pockets and took out the keys which he inserted in the knob, turning the door slowly open to bright lights.

On one of the beds, the one that was not his, another young man sat motionlessly, his eyes locked into his every movement. Type, still in his uniform, eyes almost red from sleeplessness were cold.

"Oh, Ai Type, did you just come back? Are you hungry? I brought some snacks with me," Tharn said, a smile immediately broke the tiredness out of his face. He had been out and practicing in the music room and he did not expect his roommate to still be awake when he came back to the room.

Silence met his invitation. Looking at the intense stare that Type was throwing his way, Tharn placed the bag of snacks on a side table that divided their beds into left and right and gingerly took off the backpack that he wore behind his back.

"Is anything wrong?" Tharn asked, his voice full of concern, glancing at his roommate with curiosity.

But Type just still kept on staring and did not speak a single word. He was trying to keep his composure, he wanted to bold, he wanted to scream but he had to be sure first. He just didn't know how to ask.

Stepping towards his side of the room, Tharn took a pair of drumsticks from his back pocket and placed them alongside a few others in a container that was stuck to his side of the wall. He was about to sit down on his bed when Type suddenly blurted out, his voice harsh and gruff.

"Tharn, I need to know something."

"Huh?" Tharn replied in confusion but nodded as he stood straight up again. He heard that tone before, and he could not believe that it was coming out of the kind and cheerful roommate that he have had no problem with since the very start of the year, however short it has been.

"I need you to tell me if it is true that you are gay," Type spat out, his eyes were icy cold and the look that he gave Tharn was accusing.

The drummer stood dumbstruck. He could not answer back although his pride pushed his ego to straighten his back and to lift his chin up a little higher. He was tired, it was almost daylight and he had no strength left to deal with something that he had been dealing with all this life.

"I'm asking you if you were gay!" Type barked, his hands in fists as he stood up from where he was seated, his usually handsome face contorted in a mask of rage.

"What's it to you? Do you have a problem with my sexual preference?" Tharn coolly answered, his voice cold and serious; his eyes locked into Type's own stare.

"Fuck you, you're not even denying it!" Type growled.

"Why should I deny something that I am!" The other young man answered, throwing his backpack on his bed.

"Well, I fucking hate gay people. You disgust me!" Type's voice was a slap in Tharn's composure. It was a blow that felt so much like a punch to the stomach that left him momentarily breathless. There was so much hate in each word that Tharn felt like it was a physical attack.

"Have I ever done anything to make you feel uncomfortable?" Tharn hissed, his words coming out of his gritted teeth as he tried to maintain his cool demeanor.

"No, but that doesn't mean anything."

"What do you want then?" Tharn finally snapped.

"I can't stay in the same room as you. I don't even want to breathe the same air as you do." Type flung his words like arrows straight into the other young man's resolve to maintain his dignity.

"What? How dense can you get? Just because I'm gay?"

"Yes!" Type spat, "Just because you're a filthy gay guy!"

For second they were two men that stood frozen waiting for what was to happen next. Tharn did not know what to say. Type had his hands in fists, his body tensed like he was ready to spring and strike.

Tharn took a deep breath, leered into the reddening face of his roommate, smiled an icy cold smirk and said, "You move then!"

"Fuck! If I could have moved, I would not be here now," Type screamed, his voice rose in pitch a notch. "You know a lot more people in this school because you went to high school here, so you move! You have to move!"

"No!" Tharn said, taking one step forward.

"You asshole, you have to move," Type cried out. His body taut and ready to bolt when he saw the other young man move forward.

SLAM!

Tharn's thick hand slammed into the wooden desk, rattling what was on it as he glared at his roommate who was acting like a complete dumbass. He remembered similar confrontations from bullies and other insensitive dickheads that were all stupidly insensitive to the fact that there were so many gay people out there and that they were just like anyone else, despite their preferences. Tharn felt his ears heat up as his anger took control.

"I did nothing wrong, I am not doing anything wrong so you dick just have to live with it!"

Type sprang forward and grabbed at Tharn's shirt, his eyes glaring and mad.

"You are going to move out of this room!"

"Make me, you fucking homophobe! I don't know what kind of gay people you have met in the past but that does not mean that all gays are like that! So No! You cannot make me move out!" Tharn, his voice hoarse with anger at the insult that was being flung on his character that he also grabbed the uniform of the young man that was grappling him.

"You have to move out!" Type shrieked, his face mere inches from the angry face that was right in front of him.

"You insensitive, ignorant fuck! You are selfish, inconsiderate and I don't know what made me think you were a nice guy. Despite how you look, you are dirt underneath, you are despicable! And even if I have to life the rest of the year with an ignorant homophobe like you, there is nothing you can do to make me move out!" Tharn said, uttering each word with disgust, stepping forward until Type had to step back.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Type cried out, fear suddenly in his eyes as he realized that the gay guy was moving in closer. Trying to get our of the grip that was tightening on his already crumpled uniform, Type panicked and did what he could only think of.

Smack!

The resounding blow of a punch shook them both out of their rage.

Tharn stepped back, his hands rubbing at his jaw where a bruise was slowly darkening.

"Congratulations, Ai Type," Tharn grinned a devious smile, his eyes like steel. "You have to live with me for one whole year!" before he pushed the surprised roommate backwards that he fell on his bed, the back of his head hitting the wall.

"Fuck you, I'll make you move out! You have to move out!" Screamed the stunned Type but his screams were muffled in Tharn's ears who turned, grabbed his towel and slammed the door of the bathroom to drown out the sound of the fuming young man who was struggling to stand up from where he was sprawled on his bed covers.