Survival Of The Fittest

Ohmygod. Ohmygod. Ohmygod. Morgan Dragosavich's mind repeated the one, excited phrase over and over as he raced down the hotel hallway, counting the numbers on the doors as he went. He'd left everyone behind - raced off the bus in order to be the first one there. This was it. This was the moment he'd been waiting for. He'd suffered through nine hours of agonizing bus-ride, and - aha! Here it was!

They'd arrived in DC, Room 716 at your service!

((MORGAN DRAGOSAVICH - TRIP START))

Throwing his suitcase duffel bag down on the ground as he fumbled with the hotel keycard, Morgan's heart was racing, likely thanks to his sprint. He loved vacations, and this trip had been the apex of his whole year. Prom had been great, class was great, but getting a whole week to explore a whole city with his friends? That was awesome.

"Open sesame!" Slipping the card into the card lock, he grinned as the light turned green and clicked to allow him access. With a flourish, he threw the door open and looked inside. The window was open, and a beam of light fell out into the room through the partially closed curtains. It was glorious. It was clean.

It was a hotel room, the same as any other he'd stayed in.

Of course, even though the hotel room didn't look any different, for the next week it would be his domain. Free of teachers, free of parents, free of anyone except for three of his friends that he'd had the good fortune to end up rooming with. Some people had faced the wrath of the random rooming selection, but he'd gotten a few of the guys together quickly, so as not to have to room with some miscreant or wayward cannibalistic football player. Michael had been quick to agree - much quicker than he'd expected, and Henry seemed all for it, so filling it out with Toby had been a really easy choice. All four of them had similar interests, and if they didn't spend at least half a day in the various science and technology Smithsonians, Morgan would consider the trip an abject failure.

Turning to flip the interior door lock to catch on the frame of the door, Morgan entered the room and flung his duffel bag on the far bed, claiming it for his own. They hadn't specifically worked out sleeping arrangements, but Morgan didn't care. For the first time... almost ever, he had what seemed like genuine freedom. No parents, no responsibilities. Just get settled in and then hang about until dinnertime.

This was awesome.

Running into the room, Morgan jumped backwards onto the bed, bouncing up with a satisfying amount of bounce. His energy was still through the roof, but he figured that after the nine-hour bus trip, that was bound to be everyone's instinct. Looking at the now-ajar door, he called out into the hallway.

"Hey guys! Guys, this is our room! This is AWESOME!"

His friends had been behind him, but in his haste, he had left them behind. They all had their own door cards, so they knew where it was, but Morgan? He'd wanted to be first.

So first, he was.

((Toby Underwood trip is a go in T-...))

"Jesus, man, slow down." Toby's tone was cheerful as he followed his friend into the room. 'Their' room. To be fair, while he wasn't the type to get as hyped-up as Morgan, Toby was really excited, too. They actually ended up with a good group of guys, and they had a whole week off in DC. There was a lot of stuff they could do, but it seemed like with the four of them as they were, it wouldn't be hard to squeeze everything in. They had energy to spare.

Toby slipped off his shoes in the corner-he had to have some manners after all-and noted that Morgan had grabbed the furthest bed. Honestly, fine by Toby. That one would get hit by the sun first, and he wasn't much of a morning person; he'd get up on time for stuff, sure. Just, on his own time. Toby set his stuff on the floor near the bed furthest from the window. He'd prefer it sure, but if someone else wanted it, they were welcome; getting into an argument over something dumb like that was such a waste here.

Admittedly, Toby had almost never been outside of Chattanooga, and probably never out of Tennessee. It was kind of funny being in a hotel room like this, since they were all kind of alike. It was both familiar and not at the same time. He walked across the room and sat down on the couch. They'd been seated on buses for a long time, but a couch was a more welcome place to plop down than a semi-padded bench.

The other guys were way more into science and stuff than Toby, but that was fine. He'd have fun hanging out and seeing them get excited about dinosaur skeletons and spaceships and whatnot. He didn't have much else he wanted to to; God only knew he had no interest in going anywhere near the political side. He had his opinions, but his opinions were mostly that people got too worked up over stuff and he didn't want to be around anyone who wanted to get into it.

Toby reclined on the couch, leaning back and crossing his sock-adorned feet on the table. Sloppy, sure, but if someone else wanted to sit down he didn't want to take up the extra space. "Well," he said, "I like it. You think it could be our forever home?" Fake HTV people looking at houses they already owned, eat your heart out.

He chucked to himself. "Yeah, no, but what do you think we should do first? Unpack?" It was said half-jokingly. Truth be told, Toby wasn't too keen on just leaving everything in his bag and digging for it when he needed it. Where he grew up, there were some expectations about keeping things organized. He wasn't going to be a nag about it though; if they didn't want to do it a certain way, who was he to decide that his was the right call?

Morgan bounced on the bed and used the momentum to catapult himself to his feet. He nodded at Toby, and walked over to where his bag had landed. Hand going to his pocket, his expression paled as he felt nothing against his leg. Slapping the other pocket, he also felt nothing.

"Shit, where did I-"

Grabbing his bag, he quickly unzipped it and rifled around inside. The missing item was nowhere to be found. He'd had it on the last stop they'd made, and had definitely had it when he'd gotten back on the bus, so-

"Fuck! I left my wallet on the bus! I'll be back!"

Dropping his bag with reckless abandon, Morgan ran over to the door, flung it open, and sprinted back the other way down the hall.

((Morgan Dragosavich will be back, but will be continued in Something Better for now))

Good God, Morgan. How did he even manage that? They literally hadn't even unpacked before he had a minor crisis. "Uh, good luck?" Toby laughed quietly to himself after his friend left. It was funny, unless they drove off and took his ID and whatever else with them. Then it was a lot more serious. The only logical response, therefore, was for Toby to treat it as funny and hope that it worked out like that.

"Uegh." Toby made a noise like a soggy balloon deflating and laid his head back on the couch cushion. He had to admit it, he was a little worn out. Sitting in a vehicle for so long was surprisingly exhausting. Maybe the vibration of the engine burned calories or something. Toby figured he'd just rest for a couple of minutes, then start unpacking. Maybe he'd wait until Morgan and the other guys got back. Not that he expected them to unpack his shit. But tedious stuff like that always went better with friends, right?

"Hmm..." Toby closed his eyes relaxed. The couch was actually pretty comfortable, too. Slowly, inevitably, he slid to the side, pulling his legs off the table until he was curled up comfortably on the pillow.

All said, he dozed off after less than a minute, leaving the door wide open in the process.