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“It seems nice, people look friendly, oh there’s gonna be plenty for you to do here, Boz’!”
“Uh-huh.”
“Looks like a few convenience stores are dotted around, hopefully the prices aren’t too steep, I mean, you’d think they wouldn’t be since this is mostly students set up around here- Oh, Bozzy, look! They’ve got boats on the canals!”
“Uh-huh.”
“Maybe you an’ your new housemates could rent one? I mean, I don’t know how all these work, but- Boz, you look like I held your kitten up to ya face and slit its throat.”
Bozzy’s head whipped around real quick to stare at his mom in shock, mouth agape for a moment before abruptly snapping shut as he struggled to find words for a second.
“Damn, Ma, way to paint a picture,” he settled on spluttering out in surprise.
His mother, Lou-Anne Puckett, rolled her green eyes with an amused smile on her freckled face. Pale red hair, more from age, was done up in a messy bun with several strands tumbling out, and several bangs hung around her face.
“Just making sure you were payin’ attention. Also, language.” She frowned softly, one more of concern. “You doin’ okay? You’ve barely spoken a word, that’s not like you.”
“I just don’t like the idea of being cooped up with random strangers, that’s all,” Bozzy shrugged off, looking back out at the moving streets of the canals, seeing people, other students like him, move into their own houses and apartments. Some had their parents with them like he had his mom, others were there by themselves.
It seemed like a lot of people. A lot of people. All different from different places, he had the window up but he caught various accents. So many people.
He caught his reflection in the mirror, his own freckles weren’t as well pronounced as his mom’s more from him staying inside unless he went out hunting with his crossbow. His hair was a darker shade to his moms, but he unfortunately got the pale blue eyes and face structure of his dad, just slightly softer due to his age. At least he’d marred those features a little, a scar cutting up through his right eyebrow, one going across the bridge of his nose, one just under his chin and another going through his lip. All of them from various hunting mishaps or engineering ones.
Bozzy didn’t mind so much, he liked the look they gave him, made him look like one of them badasses from the movies. Also made him look less like his father, and that was a fucking blessing.
“They’ll start off random strangers, but you’ll get to know ‘em soon, baby, then you’ll have friends.”
“I’d rather be by myself.”
“No, you’d rather be back home hiding out in your bunker.”
Bozzy snorted. “I don’t have a bunker, you won’t let me build one in the backyard.”
Lou-Anne sighed through her nose. “You don’t need a bunker, Boswell.”
“You don’t know that. The world could end tomorrow,” he pointed out.
His mother snorted in amusement. “If the world ended, a bunker sure as hell ain’t gonna do much.”
Bozzy rolled an eyebrow. “Is this the part where I chastised you on ya’ language.”
“It’s different when I do it.”
“Because you're my mom?”
“Bingo. Knew you were a smart cookie.”
“Ha. Ha.”
Bozzy turned back to the window, looking out at the canals again as they left the more built up city areas of the canals, heading out to what he guessed counted as the LA suburbs. Well, the LA suburbs that the not rich and famous could afford.
He knew he should be happy or at least excited, and sure he was plenty excited for his course… For the most part. But he wasn’t looking forward to meeting his so called ‘housemates’.
He’d been given their names of course, but names didn’t tell you anything and you couldn’t trust anyone you didn’t know.
Bozzy could feel his mother’s eyes on him despite her driving them to his new ‘home, sweet, home’.
“Boz, stop over thinkin’, hon. I can feel it from here,” Lou-Anne said, her tone gentle and calm. “You’re okay. You’re gonna be okay. You can’t go judging people before you even meet them.”
“That don’t mean I gotta like ‘em before I meet ‘em.”
“Also doesn’t mean you have to hate them before you meet them.”
Sometimes... Sometimes Bozzy hated how goddamn optimistic his mother was. Always looking on the bright side of things and thinking the best of people. Probably why she overlooked his dear ol’ dad cheatin’ on her when he was six until she actually caught him in the act. Bozzy was surprised his mom was still able to look at people in the best light after that.
Finally, after what felt like hours of city driving hell, they made it to the street he was going to be walking down and no doubt learning intimately.
“Keep an eye out for the house,” his mom said, as she began to drive a little slower, already ducking about in the car as she looked for it.
Bozzy sighed through his nose but did as he was asked, looking around for any sign of the house he was going to be staying in, constantly getting distracted by the amount of people and students he saw already around and moving in. Too many. Too many goddamn people.
“Bozzy! Bozzy, look, there it is!” His mom lightly tugged on his shoulder, drawing his attention and he could feel the excitement in her voice as a smile graced her face. “Oh, Boz, honey, look how nice it is! It’s got a garden too, a big one- Huh, guess you ain’t gettin’ out of mowing the lawn any time soon, huh?”
“Reaaaaallly sellin’ the student dream there, Ma’.”
“Hate to break it to you, baby, but if you own your own place, taking care of it goes hand-in-hand.”
“....Not if you had a bunker-”
“
Boswell
.”
He sighed and let his head rest against the window with a light bang as he gazed grimly ahead, feeling the car slow even more before finally coming to a stop.
He flickered his eyes forward, seeing another car already parked up with the back open and two people getting out bags. One looked like a student, presumably one of his housemates, the other was a parent busy helping her.
“Right,” Lou-Anne turned to him, giving a firm look that basically screamed no nonsense. “Be nice. I know you aren’t too happy about all this-”
“Ya’ kiddin’? I’m as happy as a peach.”
“But,” his mom gritted out before counting to ten in her head and continuing. “I think this will be good for you, baby,” she said, pressing a hand to his cheek and causing Bozzy to look at her properly, his scowl softening. “Bozzy, I worry about you sometimes, alright? You spent so long cooped up in your room, don’t go out except for the garage and the kitchen an’ school. You should be out making friends, I just don’t want you to end up alone.”
“Some people like being alone, Ma’, I’m just- hm,” he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Alright. I’ll give it a try, but I don’t have ta’ like it.”
“That’s all I’m asking,” she smiled, leaning forward and quickly kissing his forehead much to his annoyance as he desperately tried to back away so no one would see. “C’mon. Let’s go meet you roomies.”
“You wanna trade places?” Bozzy asked as he got out of the car. “You seem more psyched up about this than I am.”
Lou-Anne smirked. “That’s not hard, Boz’, now c’mon, let’s go say hello.”
Bozzy sighed once again, god how many times had he done that now, pocketing his hands and sulkily making his way over, keeping behind his mom.
“You really don’t need to be putting yourself out like this, Mister Suzuki, I got it.”
“Dez’, it’s no trouble. I’m just glad you and Hana managed to get a place together.”
“You think I was gonna just let her waltz into VCLA an’ steal my thunder? Hell nah!”
“Haha, she still might try.”
“Oooohh game on in that case! Hey, least that Rav guy seems okay though, and he’s a med student! Gonna be good to have around in case any of us get a splinter.”
Bozzy looked the two over as they chatted, the student had an impressive afro, all perfect curls as she carried two boxes with the name ‘Dez’ written on the side in black sharpie. She was dressed in a simple t-shirt with gym shoes and leggings, practically vibrating with energy.
The other was an older asian man, Bozzy would guess early to mid forties, with his hair neatly swept back, simple white shirt on that had the sleeves rolled up and with sports shoes of his own and simple pants.
Not father and daughter if the conversation was anything to go by, so who was Hana and where was she?
“Hi,” Lou-Anne suddenly spoke up, catching their attention as well as Bozzy’s. “My name’s Lou-Anne, I think you’re gonna be housemates with my son.”
Please don’t give the full name, please don’t give the full name, please don’t give the full name-
“This is Boswell.”
God-fucking-damit.
He couldn’t help the way his eye twitched at the name, especially when the girl looked over at him with amusement sparkling in her eyes.
Great. Now he was going to be the laughing stock.
“Boswell, huh?” She grinned from ear to ear. “I’m Dez, Hana and Rav are inside,” she hooked a thumb towards the house. “They’re trying to decide which room is gonna be boys and which one’s gonna be girls.”
Bozzy blinked, already feeling what little hope he had dwindling, being snuffed out at Dez’s words.
“There’s only two bedrooms?” He spluttered out, his shoulder going rigid and rising up to his ears.
His mom put a hand on his arm, before gently reaching up to push his shoulders down.
“Yeah, but,” Dez’s eyes looked him over and she gave a reassuring smile. “But Rav’s chill, promises he doesn’t snore too loud.”
“Why don’t we go inside and see what it’s like?” His mom suggested, urging Bozzy forward. “Help Dez with some of her boxes-”
“Ah it’s okay, Ma’am,” Dez held her free hand up with a grin. “We got it, just go right on in, you can see if those two have decided yet.”
Bozzy trudged on up the pathway, his mom not far behind him as they got to the door that was still open. He nearly tripped over a pile of boxes left by the doorway, muttering under his breath.
He could hear someone having a loud conversation on the phone, sounded like a guy and then another girl, he was guessing Hana, came into the room from the kitchen.
“Aw man, kitchen is small as shit, Dez, but- oh,” she snapped her mouth shut and gave an awkward smile. “Sorry, oops… Well, this is awkward. I’m Hana,” she pointed to him with a questioning look. “And you must be our other roommate. Rav’s just on the phone to his parents. Turns out they aren’t too pleased with him being here, but eh, oh well, can’t do anything about it now. I'm rambling, ah, what’s your name?”
Bozzy looked Hana up and down, her hair was dyed green, she had a beanie on and big thick glasses, with a hoody that looked several sizes too big. Some shorts and leggings with trainers. The biggest surprise was the fact she was in a wheelchair. He hadn't seen any access when they came in.
Hm. Maybe he could do something about that. Fucking typical that the college don’t give a wheelchair user access to a ramp or a house that had access built in. He could build one... so long as he found the parts.
Shaking his head he turned back to the question at hand.
“Bozzy,” mumbled out, looking to the floor. “Dez said I was sharin’ a room with Rav?”
“Yeah, he lost the Rock Paper Scissors so instead me and Dez get the one with the inbuilt desk.”
“There’s a built-in desk?”
Hana nodded and pointed up “got a little alcove,” she tilted her head to the side with a little coy grin. “I needed it for... my studies.”
“Oh,” Lou-Anne spoke up with a smile. “What are you studying?”
“Journalism,” Hana said proudly and Bozzy felt like he wanted to curl up and die.
Oh great. Trapped in a box with a person studying how to be nosy for a living, just fucking wonderful.
“Oh that sounds interesting,” his mom said, Bozzy didn’t say anything, attention taken when his final roommate came downstairs with a disgruntled look on his face.
Bozzy looked his clothes over and had to wince. They were expensive. Brand labels, his phone was the latest OSK model and everything looked fucking spotless and pristine. Christ his fucking hair looked worth more than Bozzy’s most expensive item.
Great. So his roommates were a hyperactive talkative individual who cared little for personal space, a journalist student and a spoiled elite rich kid. Yee-fucking-haw.
“Earth to Rav!” Hana called, waving to him as he finally seemed to realise where he was. “We have guests! This is Bozzy, ya roommate.”
Rav finally looked at Bozzy and flashed a pearly white grin. Fucking hell, even his teeth were straight and looked more expensive than the fucking gold ring on his Ma’s finger. Not the wedding ring, that got pawned years ago.
“Hi, I’m Rav! Sorry, I… had to deal with my parents,” he looked a little awkward but held his hand out to Bozzy with a grin. “Nice to meet you.”
Bozzy looked at the hand, his own still firmly stuffed in his pockets, but one side glance at his mom indicated that he better pull one out of its solitary confinement right fucking now.
Making a show of effort, because fuck even if his mom was giving him the evil eye he’d still be petty when he wanted to be, he clasped Rav’s hand a little tighter than he needed to. Even saw the guy wince slightly.
“Bozzy,” he introduced simply, pulling his hand back and quickly stuffing it back in his pockets again. “If that’s our room, I’ll grab my stuff.”
“Need any help?” Rav offered.
Bozzy was genuinely surprised that the rich kid offered to help.
“No,” he bit out slightly, ducking his head and ignoring his moms sigh as he quickly evacuated the area just as Dez and who he guessed now was Hana’s dad entered the building.
Fucking fantastic. Oh, this was shaping up to be a great year. Bozzy already felt like wanting to vibrate out of his skin with the amount of physical contact.
He was done. Wanted more then anything to crawl back to Bakersfield. Maybe he could get
some peace when he went out hunting?
Bozzy paused with his hand on the trunk.
Fuck. He hadn’t thought to check if there were any good hunting spots. His mom didn’t even know he’d secretly packed his crossbow and throwing knives, but he’d be damned if he wasn’t taking those with him. Ya never knew what would happen, and it was best to always be prepared.
“Hey, Bozzy.”
“Sweet baby Jesus!” He yelled and slammed himself against the trunk of the car as he spun on his heel to stare at Rav, one hand already raised up to throw a punch.
Rav held his hands up in defence, offering an apologetic smile.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. Your mom just told me to come out and help, said you were being stubborn,” he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “She ah, told me to say that.”
Bozzy curled in on himself. “I’m fine.”
He pulled himself away from the trunk, turning to open it up, noticing Rav didn’t leave and instead stared when the back was revealed.
“Holy shit, man, did you pack for the apocalypse?” He spluttered gesturing to Bozzy’s army backpack that was packed full of supplies, not to mention the boxes he had with it and the small school rucksack he had.
“Ya know, people make that joke a lot,” he bit out pulling the bag out and slipping it on easy. “But ya know what I’ll be when the apocalypse hits and they won’t?” He fixed Rav with an annoyed look. “Breathing.”
Rav stared at him, then something seemed to accrue to him, like an epiphany of some kind.
“Oooohhh, are you some kind of prepper?”
Bozzy narrowed his eyes. “Why? Ya gonna laugh at me if I am?”
“No, no, man, I’m just interested, is all.”
He had to snort at that. “Sure.” He repeated, rolling his eyes as he easily picked up his school rucksack, reaching for the boxes next. Didn’t get very far before he was stumbling towards the curb and misjudged the step, falling backwards.
Bozzy had wanted to prove a point through stubbornness. Gravity wanted to prove a counterpoint; that it was a
bitch
.
He lay on the ground staring at the sky for a moment before Rav’s face came into view looking concerned and also mildly amused.
“Dude, what is your problem?”
“I don’t want to fucking be here!” Bozzy hissed. “There’s too much going on! Everyone’s just,” he waved his hands around his face for a moment, “too much! There’s so many goddamn people and... and fucking noise! And... there’s too much!”
Rav’s annoyed look took on a slightly more sympathetic look and he crouched down to help pick up Bozzy’s boxes.
“Think ya might have spent too long in your bunker, buddy,” Rav said with a small smile, offering a hand out to him.
Bozzy blinked. “Don’t have a bunker, Ma wouldn’t let me build one in the backyard.”
Rav snorted, rolling his eyes good naturedly. “Well, whatever, but c’mon, you don’t have to go into yourself all the time. I’m not the apocalypse. Neither is Dez and Hana.”
Bozzy huffed, batting his hand away and getting up on his own. “Ya’ll wouldn’t last two minutes, I’ve been training my entire life.”
“And you’re the same age as me so...”
“So nothing,” Bozzy snatched his boxes back from Rav, clutching it tightly. “I don’t need help. Just messed up cause you were watching, is all.”
“Uh-huh.”
“It’s true!”
“Right, well, whatever man,” Rav waved him off. “I’ll get out of your hair. Call when you’re ready to socialise.”
“Well, that sure as shit ain’t gonna happen,” Bozzy muttered under his breath as he watched Rav go, before looking back to the trunk.
It would only take a couple of trips... Possibly. Might take four. Fuck, did he pack
enough
stuff? What if the power went out suddenly? Wait, what about an earthquake, those things were prone to happen any given moment in this place, LA was built on fault lines after all. You’d of thought they’d of learnt to fucking move the first time the city shook apart.
Bozzy tapped the side of two boxes he held as he mentally went over everything in his head. He was sure he’d gotten enough stuff, but what if he didn’t? What if there was a tsunami? This place probably didn’t have a backup generator either, so if the power went out they’d not have any either. What if the stock market crashed? What if the government decided to make LA an uninhabitable zone due to some kind of fucked-up plague and Bozzy was trapped?
“Fuck...” he muttered. “Gotta learn the lay of the land… map out the areas, pin point the grocery stores and medical sections. If everything goes up shit creek then that’s the first place people are gonna hit- motherfucker, where were those places Ma mentioned on the way-?”
“Boswell Puckett!”
“Jay-sus!” Bozzy flinched out of his musings finally coming face to face with his mom who did not look happy. “What have I done now?”
“What did you say to that young man who came out here to help you?” she crossed her arms, the expression screamed ‘lie to me if you dare’.
Bozzy dared.
“Nothin’.”
“Boswell.”
“I just... I didn’t need help.”
His mom took a look at the trunk. “Clearly.”
“Mama, it’s fine, I can carry more than- where are you goin’?”
Lou-Anne Puckett, the person he most certainly got his stubbornness from, turned back to him. “I’m going to do the thing you should’ve done. Get help.”
He tried to protest, but the words weren’t coming as he watched her go inside and not two seconds later was she coming outside with Dez and Rav in tow. Great. Fucking great.
Bozzy looked back to the house instead of looking at them as they came over, feeling himself grimace as he took stock of everything.
Shit. That was a lot of entrance points. Didn’t this place have a garage too? What if the government decided that people couldn’t have guns anymore? Come hell or high water, they weren’t gonna get his goddamn crossbow; they could pry it out of his cold dead hands. Either that or Bozzy would send them a nicely worded letter in calligraphy saying ‘Fuck around and find out’, should they request an inventory of his weapons.
“If you both take two, I’ll take two... Should be all of them. Right, Bozzy?” Lou-Anne asked, giving him a look, but her face contorted to one of concern as Bozzy continued to stare at the house as his mind raced from one topic to the next.
Fuck. Then there was Hana, she was gonna need help. He’d have to build ramps on every exit in case they needed to make a quick getaway. Rav and Dez wouldn’t have a fucking clue what to do, but he could keep ‘em safe if he needed to.
“Is he okay?” he vaguely heard Dez ask somewhere in the background as he started to mentally take inventory of what they’d need to fortify the place.
“He’s... in his head,” he heard his mom say. “Bozzy? Boz? Boswell?”
“I gotta… I gotta... Get... stuff...” he blinked. “Ahh... where’s the nearest hardware store?! I gotta get everything patched up and ready incase-”
“Boswell,” his mom shook his shoulder, looking pleadingly at him. “No one is coming. You are fine. The end of the world isn’t going to happen for a long time and by that point I guarantee you will already have passed on.”
Bozzy blinked, then looked to Dez and Rav who were staring at him in concern.
“I ain’t fucking crazy!” Bozzy hissed at them defensively. “Goddamn government’s always pulling shady shit,” he started marching towards the house and heard his mom sigh, making him wince.
Shit. Did he have one of his moments again- that was a lot of entrance points, he really needed to figure out what he was going to do about that.
They managed to get all of his stuff upstairs, Bozzy took the bed furthest from the door, nicely placed so he could see out of the two windows but not be seen from the outside. Perfect.
Then came the thing he was least looking forward to. The time when his mom would leave.
Bozzy kicked at the curb while she put her stuff in the car, only her bag but it seemed she was taking extra long time to do it. Probably because this was gonna be as hard for her as it was for him.
Lou-Anne let out a breath and turned to him, eyes shining with unshed tears. It had been just the two of them for so long. Now she was going to be alone in that house, something she’d hate, while he was going to be up to his eyeballs in people, something he loathed.
“Ya know, offer still stands if ya wanna trade,” he joked, hooking a thumb at the house. He was grateful when she huffed a laugh.
“I’d hate to steal you away from your upcoming busy social life, baby,” she laughed, wiping at her eyes. “And besides we both know I’d embarrass those kids too much.”
“Damn straight. You’d drink ‘em under the table.”
“Damn straight I would.”
“I get a pass for cussin’ this time?”
His mom smiled and held up a finger. “Just this once,” she laughed and then pulled him into a hug. “Oh my little Puckett’s all grown up, look at you. Got ya own place... Oh, Boz, I know it don’t feel like it now but I think you’re gonna love it here.”
“You’ll forgive me if I don’t share the same enthusiasm,” Bozzy mumbled, but still hugged her all the same. He didn’t want to let her go. “Ya’ know I love you, right mom?”
“Of course I know,” she placed her hands either side of his face, smiling softly. “God, I can’t believe you’re here at college already... Time flies. I’m so proud of you Bozzy.”
“I ain’t done anythin’ yet.”
“I’m proud of you for getting here in the first place,” she looked him dead in the eye. “And if you need me, come hell or high water, I will come and get you. You understand?”
“Yeah, mom. I know,” he smiled. “An’ remember to have your phone - an’ your spare - ready for the ride home. Keep it hidden in your shoe, they never check your shoes.”
Lou-Anne laughed, nodding. “It’s safely secured, I promise,” she leaned up and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I’ll send you some texts at my first stop, alright? And I’ll let you know when I’m home.”
“Okay...”
Bozzy let her go, stepping away and putting his hands in his pockets as his mom got in the car. She waved to him as she drove off and he stayed on the sidewalk until her car turned out of sight. He wasn’t going to be seeing it for a while. Hell, he probably wouldn’t see it until Christmas now.
He kicked at some stones, then turned back to the house.
Hm. May as well get this over with. He still had to unpack after all and figure out how he was going to hide his crossbow and knives. Especially since there was a journalist student in the house.
Bozzy sighed and rolled his shoulders. Okay, he’s got this. Time to get to work.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Rav brushed his hands through his hair as he faced the mirror in the bathroom, making sure everything was perfect.
Then he heard a sudden yell, almost scream followed by a string of carefully crafted curses and Dez’s cackling.
Rav poked his head out of the bathroom as he saw the blur that was Dez go shooting past, waving a prized Polaroid in hand as she went.
Slowly Rav’s eyes went to the door to his and Bozzy’s shared room finding what he was kinda expecting; Bozzy, with his red hair stuck all over the place, one eye open, one closed, blinking spots out of his eyes.
His sleep shorts were half hanging loose around his hips and he was holding his T-shirt in hand.
“The hell?” Bozzy grumbled “I just woke up- fucking flash on a goddamn Polaroid- why the fuck do y’all keep taking my picture?!”
Rav stared at him before thinking back to his and the girl's board in Hana’s room that went something along the lines of ‘Bozzy sightings’.
“It’s what roommates do,” Rav added helpfully, smiling at Bozzy who looked even more confused.
“But why, y’all know what I look like.”
Rav paused and thought about the irony being that they took photos because they saw Bozzy so infrequently. It was like a joke, treating Bozzy like a cryptid that they didn’t get to see often, to the point that if Rav wasn’t sleeping in the same room as him he’d honestly question his existence.
“Bozzy, it’s fun,” he shrugged, holding up his phone. “I take photos all the time.”
“An post em online like an idiot. Ya know people can find you by doing that right?”
Rav sighed, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. “Boz, man, you carry a phone too. Government can track you through that- if they wanted to!” He swiftly added, already seeing Bozzy’s face twisting slightly. “But they don’t. Because they’re not that interested in what Boswell Puckett is doing in his day to day life. His friends on the other ha-.”
“We ain’t friends. Acquaintances at best,” Bozzy narrowed his eyes. “Now if ya don’t mind I gotta go check the doors.”
“Bozzy, they’re still locked from last night. You checked them, remember?”
“An’ I just woke up and I’m gonna check ‘em again.”
Rav watched him walk past, standing at the balcony that overlooked the living room where two doors were situated.
Bozzy reached for them, unlocking and locking the door, once, twice, four times a charm before he moved to the next one and did the same thing.
Right this.
Lou-Anne had confirmed this.
“Bozzy you-.”
“Shut it! I
need
ta check the next one.”
Yeah. Rav knew, he knew he did.
He’d talked to Lou-Anne about this, wanting to confirm his suspicions.
“Rav,” she’d said to him when they were walking back to the car after Bozzy seemed to have an episode with the door, unlocking and locking it four times in a row before moving to another one.
He’d asked her about it and she confirmed his suspicions about some of Bozzy’s apparent issues. Then followed up with wanting to understand how Bozzy would be in general.
“There will be days when you’ll find him so very aggravating,” Lou-Anne spoke plainly. “And there'll be days when you want to strangle him, but ya don’t because you know he can’t help himself. Just how his mind works. Believe me, Bozzy finds the rest of us as difficult as we’ll find him. If not more so,” she’d sighed and ran a hand down her face. “World doesn’t treat people like Bozzy very well and he has to play by its rules and the moment he finds it too difficult he’s a freak or a weirdo. An’ listen, I’m not gonna sit and pretend that it’s smooth sailin’ with him, but you’ll find amongst the bad moments the really really good ones outnumber them and that my boy is probably the most overprotective kid in the world. Just.. gotta be patient is all.”
Rav nodded along as they walked back to the house. “Yeah I figured it’s going to take some time to get through that wall.”
“Wall? Singular?” Lou-Anne snorted. “Honey, my Bozzy has his emotions boarded up like fort nox, but trust me, once you get past those… Well, y’all see. There’s a heart of gold under all that stress. Don’t mind him with the doors either,” she’d shrugged. “Oh and don’t mind when you find a crossbow and knives.”
“I’m sorry what?”
Lou-Anne shook her head with a fond yet exasperated smile. “He thinks he’s so sneaky, I raised that boy, I know what he’s like. He goes huntin’, he ain’t gonna hurt anyone with them. Just.. please don’t report him, for Bozzy’s sake.”
“Anything else I should be aware of?”
“Prepare for inventory.”
Rav sighed slightly, but decided to leave Bozzy to it. There was gonna be no talking him out of it, best to just stay out of his way.
“And here we have the wild, Bozzy.”
Rav looked up from his phone at Hana who’s eyes were firmly fixed on a point in the house across from her, as she continued with her poor David Attenborough impression.
“Moving down to the kitchen to graze upon its most common food of its choice, taco chips, before drinking from the spring of fury energy.”
Rav slowly looked over to see Bozzy in the doorway of the kitchen, a bag of taco chips in his mouth, pulling two cans of fury energy from the fridge.
He seemed to be ignoring Hana as he looked in the fridge maybe for more fury energy.
“Later, once the grazing process has taken place, the Bozzy will take note of his food supplies, performing an act called ‘inventory’.”
At that Bozzy did slowly turn his head to throw what would’ve been a menacing glare if not for the bag of taco chips.
Hana just grinned at him, eating some gummy worms.
“Does the wild Bozzy want a gummy worm?” She asked, offering him some from the packet.
Bozzy narrowed his eyes. “N-I-don wan- agh-“ he pulled the bag from his mouth. “I’m fine. Don’t want any… thanks.”
Rav watched him go upstairs, only to get blind sided by Dez snapping a photo with the camera.
Bozzy flinched, didn’t throw any curses this time, vanishing into their shared room with a definite door slam.
Hana hummed, chewing thoughtfully on a gummy worm.
“When threatened, the Bozzy will retreat back into its den, where it will remain until the call of food drives it out into the world once again.”
Rav was working in the kitchen, reading over one of his books, taking notes on the important parts, wishing he had more highlighter pens because at this point he felt he was going to need to highlight everything.
A sudden fury can being placed in front of him, making him jump in place and look up to see Dez grinning at him.
“Yeah?” He gestured to the drink. “Do you know how unhealthy that is-.”
“Isn’t for you!” Dez grinned. “C’mon,” she raised the Polaroid, "time we get some photos of the cryptid in action.”
Rav raised an eyebrow. “Alright, I’m game,” he tossed his pen on the page he’d been on and followed her as they went upstairs to the closed door of his and Bozzy’s shared room, though Rav also brought some chips up to sweeten the deal.
Right. Now all they needed to do was draw him out.
He leaned up and knocked on the door, Rav already taking refuge in her and Hana’s room, with Rav quickly joining her as they stood ready.
The door opened and Bozzy poked his head and then paused as he stared down at the food and drink in clear confusion.
Bozzy blinked then slowly leaned down and picked it up, just as Dez hit the button and took a picture.
Bozzy flinched again, staring at them again.
“What?!” He hissed then gestured to himself. “I ain’t even doing anything?!”
“You left your room!” Dez cheered. “Success!”
Bozzy blinked. “I leave my room all the time.”
“You do…?” Rav blinked. “When?”
Bozzy opened his mouth to say something when Hana interrupted him with yet another poor impression.
“The wild Bozzy will leave his den to graze on its favoured diets of taco chips and fury energy, before later eating leftovers of other meals left by its neighbours who spent the night preparing the food. Then the wild Bozzy will once again return to the sanctity of his room before leaving to maintain his territory every morning and evening before grooming himself.”
Rav glanced over to Bozzy whose face was flushed bright red.
“I come out at other times!” He spluttered indignantly.
“To collect supplies for his den building,” Hana piped up again before she came into view on crutches with a wide grin. “And occasionally interact in social groups when watching a movie.”
Bozzy opened and closed his mouth, finally slammed it shut and then abruptly vanished inside their shared bedroom slamming the door just as hard. He did take his chips and energy drink with him, though.
“Did you get the photo?” Hana asked and Dez nodded, holding the image captured of Bozzy bending down to get the snacks. “Think we can find out what other things he likes if we leave random snacks outside and see what he takes and leaves?”
“Probably,” Rav sighed, looking over to the door with a small frown. How the hell were they supposed to break down Fort Knox?
Another day of reading and taking notes was suddenly interrupted when a sudden thud of something being dropped on the table heavily, sending papers everywhere.
Rav looked up, startled to see a board, a very familiar board with very familiar photos stuck to it as well as the fairy lights still stuck to the board with a few half falling off.
At the top of the board were the words ‘cryptid housemate’ underneath that were several pictures taken of Bozzy, some Rav had been there for and some he hadn’t.
He slowly looked up to Bozzy, he looked caught between confused and annoyed.
“The hell’s this?!” He gestured to the board.
“That… is a side project.”
“Side project?! I ain’t a side project!”
“You’re a work in progress,” Hana piped up as she joined them shuffling on her crutches before sitting down. “I mean it takes us so long to get you out of your room.”
Bozzy narrowed his eyes in clear confusion, gesturing to the pictures. “Ya tryna take me out or something?”
“…like a date?”
“Huh?!” Bozzy flushed red, his freckles becoming more pronounced before rapidly shaking his head. “No! I mean take me out! As in kill me!”
“Dude,” Rav squinted at him. “Why would we do that?”
“People don’t ask
me
out on dates! What other reason could it be?” he gestured to the photos. “Don’t matter anyway you slice it.. it’s fuckin weird!”
Bozzy looked down at the photos again, Rav had also been scanning them, his face lighting up at his favourite of Bozzy in the garden almost mirroring the famous image of Bigfoot perfectly.
“I just… why?”
Hana hummed thoughtfully “sometimes Bozzy, we like to make sure you’re actually real.”
“The hell?! Of course I’m real! I’m standin here aint I?”
Hana stared before silently and slowly poking him in the ribs, making Bozzy flinch and let out an honest to go giggle that had a blush then stretching from his ears down his neck.
Rav raised an eyebrow as Bozzy slapped a hand to his face, desperately covering his mouth as Hana practically grinned with devilish excitement.
“Are you ticklish?” She asked, reaching again and he backed away into a wall.
“N-no! No I ain’t! You just surprised me is all!” Bozzy spluttered. “I ain’t ticklish- ah! Hana! Sto-hahahaha- stop!”
Hana’s face lit up. “Oh my god you are!” She grinned and started to tickle his other side now that she had Bozzy pinned to the wall.
Rav was grinning from ear to ear as he watched Bozzy practically crumple and laugh in hysterics as Hana continued to tickle him, desperately shaking and crying out for her to stop as he struggled to catch his breath.
There was a distinct snap of a camera going off and everyone stopped to look at Dez as a Polaroid of the scene printed out.
“Ain’t that cute!” She grinned, waving the picture around to dry it off. “Bozzy ya look real cute when you blush.”
The blush got worse.
“No I don’t!” Bozzy hissed his face nearly matching his hair. “Also y’all are terrible at documenting sightings. Just sayin’.”
Rav squinted. “How would you do it?”
Bozzy gestured to the photos “chronological order fer a start. Then ya dates an times, situation during sighting…” he frowned as he looked back at the pictures. “Y’all sure you’re not tryna kill me?”
“Damn,” Hana sighed. “Cats out the bag..”
“Huh?!” Bozzy suddenly looked alarmed, hands raising up in a defensive position as Dez readied her camera.
“Yeah.. now it’s gonna be.. death by tickles!” Hana cried as she reached again.
“No- no! Hana! Quit it! Hahaha! Han- Hana! Ha! Stop!” Bozzy had a big grin on his face as he crumpled to the floor and Hana leaned on the table catching her own breath from laughing and to steady herself.
Rav peeked over to see Bozzy’s shaking and giggling form on the floor, desperately trying to protect his sides. “No more! Please no more!” He begged, holding a hand up in surrender. “Getting… getting too much!”
Rav noticed Bozzy hadn’t stopped shaking and his hands were clenching and unclenching.
“Yeah, Hana, think that’s enough,” he said seriously and she took one look at Bozzy nodding in agreement.
“Y’all know what this means though, right?” Dez spoke up. “We finally captured the cryptid! Group photo, squad!”
Rav joined round the other side as Bozzy shakily got to his feet, still a little flushed but he didn’t leave like he expected him to, instead making a gang sign as Dez held the camera out and snapped a picture, printing the image out and holding it up for them all to see with a grin.
Rav smiled as he noticed everyone else was pointing at Bozzy like ‘we found him’ and Bozzy held a small barely noticeable smirk on his face as he made his hand gesture.
Once the pic was taken, Bozzy vanished back to their shared room, but he did come down to help make dinner for the first time in his month long stay, even joining them around the kitchen table to eat it.
He still sat a little off to the side, didn’t speak a word if not for asking for salt, but Rav considered it an improvement.
He even stayed for movie night, something that Rav knew he’d been secretly enjoying from the balcony that overlooked the living room, but this time he actually sat on the beanbag chair with them to watch, casually drinking a beer that Rav had no idea how he managed to get his hands on. Probably best not to ask.
That night as he finished surfing social media for the day, Bozzy lying in his bed next to him, he was surprised when the other spoke up for the first time since they shared a room together.
“Night, Rav.”
Rav blinked several times in surprise, it was the first time that had ever happened, but he couldn’t help but smile.
“Night, Bozzy,” he grinned, counting it as a personal win.
If the cryptid roommate board suddenly became the fridge and started to contain all of them in the photo well, who’s to say?