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[x-sanfuaiyaa.livejournal.com]

Set Monday afternoon. In an effort to stave off finals-related boredom, Shiro and Alex play a game of Street Fighter. Shiro teases Alex who takes it the wrong way, and they decide to try something new to give Alex more confidence in his abilities.


Shiro was bored of studying for finals. One could only spend so much time reading about the American legislative system before wanting to blow up the Capitol Building. But he had another outlet for his boredom: his PS2. He was in the mood for something retro, something classic. So he popped in Street Fighter Alpha 3, turned it on, and sat down on his bed.

Alex walked into the room, dumped his books on the floor and plopped down on his bed. He was not exactly in the best of moods and didn't notice Shiro. One more mention of calculus and his head would explode. Groaning he buried his face in his pillow, before looking up at the videogame noise he suddenly noticed and smiled grimly at Shiro. "Yo."

"Long day?" Shiro asked without looking away from the television screen. He didn't need to look at Alex to know what he was exhausted too. Damn school.

"Damn straight. Can't wait for all this to be over!" As he spoke, Alex sat up in bed, hugging his pillow in his lap and watching Shiro play. "You too, huh?"

"Yes. Your government does not make any sense, and Ms. Munroe's notes have not helped clarify much." He fell silent for a moment as he pulled off a complex move that would break an ordinary man's thumbs, and smiled when all the seizure-inducing lights lit up the screen.

"Hey it makes more sense then that damn calc Dr. McCoy is pounding into us. I still don't understand what the heck a limit is and what it's supposed to do or when the hell I'll ever need it." Alex waited for Shiro to finish that round, before reaching over to restart the game in two player mode, after picking up the second controller.

Shiro grinned when Alex picked up the second controller, and sat up straighter, seeming to get into a kata for video game. He of course picked Chun Li because she is the ass-kicker of the game, and momentarily glanced at the side of his bed, where a wallscroll poster of her lay rolled-up, because he was too embarrassed to hang it up. "I'm glad I decided not to take math this term. Dr. McCoy looks like he would be a beast in class."

Alex rolled his eyes as he picked Ken at random, still trying out all the characters, though the blond hair was plus. "Tell me about it. At least he's not like the math teacher at my old school. Try learning math from a hyper active little Asian man who can't stand still for two seconds and can't speak English properly. Was so glad to go surfing after a period of that!"

"But we Asians all speak English well!" Shiro protested with a very thick accent, grinning.

"Dude, don't make me break out the Surfer talk on you!" Alex laughed.

"Then neither of us would be able to understand each other," Shiro responded in Japanese, calmly mashing buttons.

"Hey, cheater!" Alex threw an amused glance at Shiro, which gave his character just enough time to die on him. "Ahh crap, not again!"

It was a spectacular Kikou-Shou attack that knocked Ken off his feet and made the TV explode with bright colors. Shiro laughed, both at his victory and at Alex's comments. "Baka na America-jin," he said, barely stopping himself from sticking his tongue out.

Alex response was to stick his tongue out. "Hey, I understood that!" Then he sighed as he looked back at the screen. "Well, I lost to you again. I'm not getting any better at this game am I?"

"So it would seem. You would have better luck replicating Ken's fireball than defeating my Chun Li, I think," he said tauntingly.

Alex sat back in a huff and rolled his eyes. "Thanks for adding insult to injury." His mood had clearly changed from jest to upset.

Shiro frowned at Alex's tone and paused the game. "I didn't mean to upset you, Alex. What did I say?"

"The comment about me replicating Ken's fireball...dude, I know I have no control, you really don't have to remind me, it sucks enough as it is." Alex looked down and fiddled with the controller still in his hands. "Look, let's just play alright..." he added in an attempt to change the subject.

"I didn't . . . That is not what I was referring to." Shiro looked down, embarrassed. "I was just teasing you. I did not mean to insinuate anything."

"Yeah well...I've never been one to take failure lightly and this no control thing is just eating away at me that I can't seem to do anything about it and...yeah, let's just drop it." Alex didn't look up from his lap until he was finished, and even hen he avoided Shiro's gaze.

Shiro unpaused the game when Alex was done, and they played the round in silence. But when Shiro beat Alex again, he turned around on his bed so he faced his roommate. "What have you been doing about it?"

"Working with Tabitha and Scott as much as I can basically...though none of us can figure out how it works. Seems I'm stuck until I get full or..." Alex shuttered uncontrollably, "Or it gets sucked out."

Shiro looked down at his hands again and concentrated. His body started glowing gold faintly, but he turned it off in a few seconds. He had always had remarkable control over his power, but it hurt him to see that he had what Alex sorely lacked. But then he had a thought, and looked up again. "Our abilities are similar," he said slowly. "Maybe I could help you."

Alex had looked away when Shiro started glowing, but his gaze returned at Shiro's comment. "No offense Shiro, but how?"

"I don't know exactly, but maybe I could teach you some of the tricks I was taught. We seem to work in the similar ways, so maybe what I know could benefit you."

Alex shrugged. "I guess it's worth a shot, I'm up for trying anything at this point. But not now alright? My failure at calc is enough for one day." With that, his smile faintly returned.

"I will have you slinging fireballs in no time," Shiro said confidently.

"One can hope, though don't get too cocky...now help me pick a character where I'll have some chance of kicking your ass!"

Shiro turned back to the television, smiling smugly. "No such character exists, Alex. Chun Li is the strongest woman in the world!"

Alex only smirked. "We'll see about that..."