Chapter Text
PROLOGUE
For all his virtues and accomplishments, those of which served as a foundation for how he presents himself in his day to day life, Damon Maitsu still had his less than desirable traits. The utmost example of an elite member of society, as he liked to call himself, was not perfect.
He was human after all.
For one, the man had a temper on him. One that was easily ticked by various circumstances he could never find it in himself to understand. How could so many of the people he has been unfortunate enough to cross paths with have such little substance? It was ridiculous. He almost felt like he was owed something with the amount of wasted breath he had been forced to listen to in his life.
Another one was his less than tactful emotional intelligence. While not an idiot by a large margin, he still found genuine expressions of anything other than logic to be unnecessary at best and downright dangerous at worst. A slip like that in front of the wrong person and he’d fall into scheming hands.
Call him paranoid, call him nihilistic, whatever title fits. He isn’t budging.
But if there was one thing Damon had little to none ever left in his system at any given time, it was patience.
Oh, was he not patient.
He was keenly aware of this. Debates of all kinds as he evolved through his career up until receiving his title made him take a long hard look at the mirror many a time. Biting his tongue and knowing when to strike an argument’s weakness was as patient as he got. Even then, sometimes he still found crescent shaped indents in his palms left behind by nails that were itching to just tear into his opponent. Why should he wait?
Still, that was on stage. That was debating. That was the baseline of his ultimate talent.
But off the stage? Forget about it.
Which is why the second he stepped onto the stone like paths of Eden’s Academy, with its impressive architecture, extensive repertoire of alumni influenced recognitions and its more than healthy reputation amidst the best of the best; the school still found a way to test his patience.
See, he had expected, as mentioned, the true elite to grace the halls and make their presence one of high importance for him as he went through his years learning and expanding upon his crafts. He could almost see the type of people he’d be brushing elbows with and how he had found a place where he truly made a difference.
However, what greeted him that first day was nothing more than a cosmic joke. One he knew whatever being established as his creator was soon to find was his best ruse yet.
Because there, in his Homeroom Class, his classmates were nothing short of a disgrace.
Sure, he could find it in himself in seeing how some of these talents could be useful, impressive even but the grand majority were just mind boggling.
Ultimate Pro Gamer? Seriously?
Ultimate Influencer? Give him a break.
As introductions flew through the air, and people almost began to believe their talents could come close to his own, he let his tongue go and he spoke.
And spoke.
And kept speaking.
The man has no filter either, on top of it all.
Which is how he ended the day as public enemy number one and got enough daggers stared his way, he was sure he was long dead and buried in their eyes. He did not regret what he said in the slightest. He was sure.
The “bargain bin” comment was less than necessary though.
Still, it could get worse and of course it did.
Damon let his dorm room’s door swing close behind him with a soft ‘thud’ as his eyes adjusted to the image before him with a stark clarity of his upcoming situation.
Because of course he had to share his space.
Of course he had no say in the matter.
And of course, it had to be the most annoying person he had met that day. (Wolfgang holding the second place slot since he didn’t actually have to live with the lawyer.)
“That side is yours and this one is mine! No crossing over, okay?!” cried out his roommate while holding a large roll of duct tape in his hand. His other hand pointed down to the middle of the room where a (less than straight) line divided their space. His index finger trembled slightly as he pointed and as Damon stared between the floor and the slight flicker of fear in the man’s expression, he truly lost his last ounce of patience.
“Are you actually twelve?”
“N-no! I’m establishing healthy boundaries! I need to survive the year and your negativity is already causing me hives, man!”
Kai Monteago, the Ultimate Influencer, was his roommate. Once the brightly haired student had introduced himself to his fellow classmates, Damon almost couldn’t believe what he was hearing. An influencer? How did a title like that even make it to this academy?
The man stood slightly taller than him. His hair styled in a trendy way and colored a bubblegum pink. His hands were decorated with jewelry and shiny accessories that made a rhythmic sound as he moved about. He now crossed his arms over his chest where an oversized sweater covered his top half and let out an exasperated sigh.
“Just stay on your side. It’ll be better this way.” he mumbled. His eyebrows furrowed into a frown and light amber eyes slid to the window that also divided the room.
With a deep inhale, and the pinching of the bridge of his nose, Damon shook his head and walked to his side of the room which lay bare besides the luggage that had already been delivered to his dorm. He had been almost excited to meet his classmates so he had decided to wait till later to actually organize his belongings but now as he stood staring at the bed with a set of eyes bored into his back, he wished he could just go home.