Vergil the Virgin (boyxboy)

[19] Panic at the traffic light.

The tiny monitor showed noisy, glitchy images since it was as old as the college. In it a tiny, awkward, scrawny figure walked down the hall with careful steps, head bowed in order to count them precisely.

When the figure neared the edge of the monitor, with the press of a button the monitor put up the picture from another camera which was located further down the hallway. Now the figure was at the top of the monitor and was still making its was downwards until it reached the bottom of the monitor again. Another press of the button and the image changed to a new angle.

Now it showed the corner of the hallway. The figure was about to take the turn, but didn't know someone else would meet it from around the corner, and so the figure got startled and jumped backwards a little before running ahead awkwardly.

The scenery was blocked for a while by cigarette smoke, but then it faded off, adding to the fog in the room.

"Ay, I can appreciate a man who enjoys his job haha!"

The new janitor that had been hired back when Eirik quit was still there. They couldn't exactly dismiss him after less than a week of work, and there were no other janitor rooms available, so they now had to share...

Roy was a chubby man, filling out his blue jumpsuit to the max as opposed to Eirik on whom the jumpsuit hanged loosely. He had a head full of hair and beard, and had to be around the same age as Eirik. His eyes always sparkled with humor and his cheeks were constantly red from all the talking.

Basically, he was everything that Mr. Janitor was not.

"You've been on the lookout all morning. With these school shootings, you can't bee too careful if you ask me."

Eirik hadn't asked him.

Roy raised his cup of coffee as a toast to his wisdom and took a sip. Eirik pressed the button four more times to follow the figure on the screen, and then the man spoke again.

"Hey what do your tattoos mean? Walk me through them."

The figure had slipped into a bathroom, and so it was no longer reachable. Therefore, Eirik agreed to take his eyes off the monitor at last and look at his new 'roommate'.

"Too many." he replied in a neutral tone. He didn't feel the need to be rude to the man, he didn't like conflicts. He'd just humor him enough to have him off his back.

"Ah well then what's your favorite?"

Eirik rolled up a sleeve and pointed at some tattoo at random. His index landed on a goat skull. It brought back flashes of his rebel 19 years old self, back in 1994, when Norway had the big dispute between libertarian and traditional conservatism. Eirik was one of the rebels who chose neither and wanted out of the system, what better way to prove that than cover yourself in tattoos?

"That's kind of neat! You're not that into Jesus eh?"

Eirik shrugged slowly, as he often times found himself doing impulsively. It was one of his bad habits, such as biting his knuckles. "Can't say I am." he replied factually, bringing his attention back to the monitor.

Either Vergil was taking a particularly long poop, or he was having some trouble in the bathroom, because he wasn't coming out.

"I'll go clean the restrooms."

Roy looked up from his phone. "Man, I've been chatting with the other janitors and we all agree you don't leave us anything to do." as if to prove his point, he placed his feet up on the table one by one. If Eirik would've had the temper of his 19 years old self... but he didn't. He now had the temper of a tortoise.