*Beep, beep, beep…*
At 4:30 AM, the bedroom alarm clock began ringing out over and over, rousing the room's occupants from their slumber.
Alexandre, Marlon, and William woke up groggily, their heads still heavy from lack of sleep. Though Hunters usually regenerated quickly, and they needed far less sleep than normal humans did, the recent and unfamiliar expenditure of Hunter energy had exhausted two of the pair.
And as for Alexandre… Well, he had his own reasons for needing a little extra rest and recuperation! Regardless, none of them had time to dawdle. Professor Blades had given them a 6 AM appointment and he'd already made it clear that he wasn't tolerant of latecomers.
The three men began making their way to the dorm's communal showers. The halls were already full of students who, like them, didn't want to be late. But as the men followed the dorm signs pointing the direction to the showers, they realized something unexpected: there was no sign on the outside of the changing rooms indicating whether they were for men or women.
William turned to another student and asked, "Hey, is this the men's or women's shower?"
The student smirked and said, "Go in and find out for yourself," then left.
William turned anxiously to Alexandre. "What should we do? We can't just go without a shower, and I'm not going to risk getting in trouble by going into the women's shower!"
Alexandre rolled his eyes, then grabbed his towel and entered the narrow walkway into the combination changing room and shower. He immediately saw a dozen men scrubbing down under the wall-mounted faucets, so he turned back to the entrance and called out, "Come on, you pussy. It's the men's shower."
William winced, then said to Marlon as the two walked in, "I don't know why that guy couldn't have just told us…"
But before Marlon could reply, a female voice said from behind them, "Excuse me, I'm in a hurry! Can you let me by?" A young woman pushed past them, then started disrobing in the changing area right in front of the three men.
William's face turned as red as a beet. "W-what!?"
Alexandre rolled his eyes again. He found himself doing that a lot around William. "Since the concept apparently hasn't gotten through your head yet, these are mixed showers." He began to take his own clothes off and put them into a nearby locker. "Come on. We don't have much time."
Marlon laughed as he began to disrobe. "Damn! I guess this place has a few perks after all…"
Meanwhile, William was getting redder by the moment and still hadn't moved. He muttered to himself, "A shared shower wasn't bad enough and it has to be a mixed one, too? Seriously, I might as well just wash in the sea!"
Alexandre snapped, "Stop being difficult, WIlliam, and come and take your damn shower!"
Even though William hated being naked in front of other people, let alone in front of women, he finally caved in and got into the shower.
Alexandre and Marlon couldn't help themselves from childishly looking at each others' crotches and snickering, though both made efforts to not offend William by laughing at the worm between his legs.
"This water's ice cold!" William snarled. "It's shrinkage!"
Marlon and Alexandre finally burst into laughter and Alexandre said with a good-natured grin, "Of course, man. Not a doubt in my mind."
Marlon added, "Special discount on Vienna sausages!!"
William was mortified at their laughing, especially in front of the naked woman nearby, but somehow the situation was so surreal that he found himself relaxing a little as he scrubbed off the dried-on sweat of the previous day's labor. He didn't crack a smile himself, but in the end even he gave a tiny and secret chuckle.
***
After finishing their shower, the three men went to the mess hall for a quick breakfast. As Marlon wolfed down sausages and oatmeal, he asked, "When exactly did you get back last night, Alexandre? I know you mentioned that you left, but I didn't hear you when you came back."
Alexandre shrugged and chewed on an overcooked sausage of his own. "Not that late. You guys just went to bed stupidly early."
William was the only one of the three who hadn't taken any breakfast meat. He seemed to have lost all appetite for sausage for some reason. "Come on," he said nervously, "we don't have time to talk! We're going to be late!"
Marlon added, "You're joking! I can hear the birds chirp!
Alexandre "You're spying on me again!?"
Marlon interrupted them and said, "Guys, we don't have time to talk about our evening! We're going to be late!"
And so they finished their meal and returned to their room to change into fresh exercise clothes for the coming morning.