Who's Who {Kodiak, Gryphon}

[Erik Stewart]

Usually, the only reason one would find Erik up and wandering about outdoors was for a daily smoking ritual. Today was no exception. He was leaning up against a wall besides the stairs, puffing away, staring out into the distance in thought, a familiar coil of scales collected around his neck and shoulders like a living scarf. Gray smoke coiled around them both at intervals.

He had not seen Kodiak in a while – not since the Valentines dance, at the LGBT center. He hadn’t asked of his absence; he supposed that, like him, Kodiak was busy doing his own thing, with his own problems to deal with. Erik did not quite miss him – or, if he did, he did not realize – but he sometimes caught himself wondering what he was up to.

Regardless, Erik had not thought to pursue it. He figured that, eventually, they’d contact each other again when one or both of them were in the right mood.

Passersby usually ignored him as he smoked, which suited him just fine. This time he recognized them – or, rather, one of them – and he straightened up, alert. His thoughts hadn’t been on Kodiak a moment ago but they were now, and he looked at him with his sharp little eyes, then at the boy at his side (who may or may not have been hand in hand).

Now it made sense. “Who’s that?” he asked – demanded, even – skipping all semblance of social niceties.

[Deleted]

That had been... Nice. Surprisingly so, given the recent event of Kodi beating the living daylights out of some asshole kid, but the dentokinetic should have known that Gryphon could manage to make him feel a whole lot better even several days after the incident. Kodi was still upset about the thing that had set it off, and he could get a little snappy at times, but never at Gryphon. The winged boy was becoming far too important for him to risk that.

Anyway, their little outing had been very pleasant, and Kodi was buzzing with a pleasant warmth as they headed back to Hammel, even allowing himself to hold his hand lightly in the taller boy's while they strolled through the grounds. He still didn't know what exactly to label them as - he was far too terrified and paranoid to mention the word 'boyfriend' at all - but there was obviously something between them that was more special than just a normal friendship. A big something.

He did think about Erik on occasion - what he was up to, how he was doing, who he was banging. He couldn't help it - Kodi was itching to get some more... Physical action, since it had been so long since his last time, but he was so far managing to hold out for Gryphon's sake. Somehow. It wasn't easy, but... Kodi thought it was worth it.

But when he saw the dark-haired, blue-eyed boy leaning by the stairs, memories shot through Kodi's mind, and he halted in his steps like a deer caught in the headlights. His fingers subtly slipped away from Gryphon's, and he stuck his hand in his pocket, though he didn't move to step away from the winged guy. "Nice t'see you too," he drawled sarcastically, a small smile touching his lips. "It's... Been a while."

He glanced over at Gryphon, then back at Erik. "Uh, this's Gryph. He's my-" Oh, fuck, why did he even try to start that sentence? Now he was stuck fumbling, having no idea what to label the boy as. "... We're just hangin' out," he finally mumbled, scuffing a shoe against the ground. "S'that a problem?"

[Gryphon Matsuoka]

Kodi seemed alright. Especially now, he seemed very happy, which Gryphon was glad of, considering. He had bad days and good days like everyone else, and Gryph was there for him as much as he could be.

Their relationship... definitely wasn't just a friendship. Gryphon knew that. There was... it was... something. They weren't boyfriends, but... but they weren't just really good mates. Friends didn't go out on dates. He knew that much as well. So he avoided labelling them as anything but together. They were together.

When Kodi sharply came to a halt, Gryph did too, concerned... and then confused. Who was... that? He looked down and their hands were no longer around each other... he mimicked Kodi and his hand fell into his own pocket.

Gryphon listened to the conversation, silent and blinking. This guy seemed weird... and Gryph didn't like smoking.

"He's my -"

Wait what? Gryphon looked across at Kodi, was he going to say - nope, he replaced it. Phew. He didn't know how he would react to that being said. And why would this be a problem? Questions, questions, questions... he sent the other guy a kind of warm-ish smile, because he really wasn't certain what else to do. He looked at Kodi and spoke kind of quietly, "So, uh... who's this?"

[Erik Stewart]

Erik didn’t react to Gryphon’s warm smile like a normal person would. Instead, it seemed to gravely offend him. He shot him a glance, borderline furious, lips pulled up, nose wrinkled briefly in disgust, and then sent those blue eyes raking up and down the boy’s figure in a barely covert size-up. Despite standing some feet away (and being shorter than him), Erik’s stance and bristling aura made him blatantly aggressive.

“Shut it,” he said, holding his palm out towards him.

He didn’t look at Kodi in quite the same way, but there was still a squint there. Erik was a jealous person, there was no denying that, and he supposed what he was feeling was jealousy, in a sense; he didn’t have many friends, after all. He would have been fine if Kodi’s absence had been without Gryphon – or anyone, really – in the picture. It was unreasonable, surely. It was childish and pointless. But he wasn’t the type to care about any of that.

“Quit yer bullshittin’.” Erik sucked in some more smoke. Kodi should know better than that, and he let that thought show clear in his gaze. “I caught ya holdin’ hands, tough guy. I can’t believe I sat through months of you tellin’ me how you thought everyone else was pussies for doin’ it.”

Shit, there’d been Oriel and now there was Kodi, too. Seemed like everyone around him was getting domesticated and he was sure that, by the end of this year, he wouldn’t have anyone to fool around with anymore.

[Deleted]

Kodi straightened a little, watching the way Erik's eyes scanned over his companion, obvious disdain in his features. What the fuck? It wasn't like... Like Kodi had been out cheating on him, or something. For one, they hadn't seen each other in a while, and they hadn't been anything more than fuck buddies anyway. Well... Okay, Kodi had to admit he saw Erik as more than that, as maybe more of a... Friend...? But that didn't give the dark-haired boy any excuse to look at Gryphon like he was some kind of... Distasteful object.

He let his face turn slightly towards Gryph as he asked about the pale, blue-eyed boy, but Kodi's gaze remained on Erik. "He's a.... Friend," he said slowly, loud enough for Erik to hear. "At least, I thought so."

Kodi did not, however, appreciate how Erik was treating either of them at all.

His face visibly tightened as Erik addressed him, resisting the urge to rip the cigarette out of his thin-lipped mouth and instead just clenched his fist in his pocket. "Well, sorry for not tellin' ya 'bout it sooner," he growled; his accent seemed to thicken being around the fellow southerner. "I didn't realize I had t'let you know if I found a new catch." He tried not to visibly grimace at calling Gryph such; Erik didn't know they weren't even fucking yet, that this relationship so far was actually built on things like... Trust and dependence. Kodi had never seen it coming until it hit him like a bullet.

He was also sort of alarmed at this encounter. Gryph didn't know much about Kodi's past intimate relationships with people like Erik; he had wanted to keep it that way as long as he could. "What's the matter, you jealous or somethin'?" he had to ask. "I ain't seen you in weeks, an' this is how you act?" Out of... Spite?... And also to hopefully give Gryphon some reassurance, Kodi's hand fell out of his pocket and snatched onto Gryph's again.

[Gryphon Matsuoka]

Oh... okay.

Gryph stood awkwardly, avoiding the urge to sway on his heels or something, as he felt the smoking boy's eyes scrape over him. He didn't like this, he didn't like this one bit. Why couldn't they just leave? They'd barely been talking for a minute and already Gryph wanted to go someplace, anyplace else. Because he didn't like the looks of this guy. And the way the guy looked at him made him feel... small. Even though he was taller.

Gryphon had to repress a long strung out 'riiiiiight' at that statement. This... person was making him wary to even speak. He hated it.

Catch? What? Gryph's face contorted in confusion, why would he... say that? It seemed wrong - this whole conversation seemed wrong. And Kodi looked like he was about to get more aggressive, which he didn't want either. Gryphon was more than just a... a "catch" to him, right?

Jealousy talk... this whole thing was just twisting Gryphon uncomfortably. He was beginning to hate every second that that smoking boy was in his vision. He didn't even know his name, but he was almost... afraid to ask. Kodi's hand gripped his and he tugged his hand a little at first, before just letting him. That didn't mean he was happy about this by any terms. He stayed quiet.

[Erik Stewart]

He was watching them. Erik could tell right off the bat there was something up. One didn’t need to be particularly insightful to see it, and Kodiak’s bumbling excuses and half-hearted attempts at covering it up only fanned the flames. His eyes narrowed when he told Gryphon he was a ‘friend’; he kept that stare on him, his blue eyes searching his face, finding new hesitation and softness there that he had rarely seen before. He wondered what it was about Gryphon that brought it out. Erik grit his teeth.

“I haven’t seen you in weeks an’ here you are, hand n’ hand – and you’re askin’ me how I act? I’m not an idiot,” he said, crossing his arms. “You slapped me right in the face during detention, remember? You told me you weren’t up for this crap. So what’s goin’ on? This your boyfriend?”

He had already determined that, obviously. There was little Kodiak could say (and Gryphon even less) to change his mind on the matter. There was hurt there, obviously. He hated knowing that the reason Kodiak had dropped contact was because he’d found someone else to traipse around with, and had even come to prefer his company over his own. Not that he could blame him. Depending on their brief interaction now, Gryphon had already proved himself to be the more composed out of the two. Kodiak seemed subdued around him; with Erik, it was like throwing gas and a lighter at each other.

He looked at Gryphon next. “Well?” Then at Kodi. “You might as well tell me now,” he said. “So I ain’t wastin’ any more time.”

People who got into relationships didn’t want to screw around anymore; that was usually how it went. Oriel had been somewhat of an exception, but he was on that path now.

[Deleted]

Kodi wasn't ready for this. He wasn't ready to be interrogated about his relationship with Gryph, about what he was supposed to label it as, especially not by one of his past hookups. The entire situation was uncomfortable beyond belief; Kodi never thought he'd be in this sort of position, but here he was, trying to both save face in front of Erik while trying not to offend Gryph at the same time. So far, it seemed he was failing at both.

"He ain't my-" he began to snap, and it trailed off into a growl; he didn't think Erik would believe him even if he continued. He seemed to have already made up his mind about the situation. "We ain't like that yet," he grumbled. "And it ain't your business anyway." Erik had just been a hookup. Right? He had no ground to be... Jealous, or upset, or anything about this. So why did Kodi feel almost... Guilty?

Fuck... He just wanted to get out of this situation so he didn't make things worse between both of the other boys. Couldn't he just... See Gryph, and still interact with Erik too? As much as they exploded around each other, Kodi enjoyed his company.

"Wastin' time what?" he drawled, brow furrowing. "Waitin' t'hook up again? If you'd wanted that, you coulda, I dunno, asked instead of bein' MIA for so long." Although, knowing Erik, he was too proud to just ask for sex; it had always been a sort of game with him. Kodi shot a look at Gryph. He didn't want the older boy to hear this stuff. Not like this.

".... I ain't doin' that anymore, though," he confirmed. So, really, Gryphon might as well be his boyfriend. The thought was a strange one. "Doesn't mean I don't like you, though." Damn.... Gryph really was making him soft. "So... Can't we just... Fuck, I dunno, be normal around each other?"

[Gryphon Matsuoka]

This conversation was just getting better and better. Gryphon could tell that Kodi was struggling, but he didn't know or understand why that was the case. In other words, what the fuck was going on?

He agreed with that, though. He had never labelled Kodi as his... boyfriend, because it never felt like they were at that point. And he was alright with that, really. He just... wished there was a decent thing to call him.

Aaaaand he'd had sex with this smoking snakey idiot. Gryph was beginning to reach his limit of tolerance, that fact especially turning his insides. It wasn't that he was... jealous... but he was allowed to be unhappy about it. He pulled his hand out of Kodi's. And then he said that he wasn't doing that anymore. He had... said about one night stands when they'd been playing that truth game... but he'd also said that the last one he'd had was before their first date. So... it didn't stop Gryph from being annoyed and stuff.

The winged not really didn't know what to say. With everything he thought of, either Kodi had said it for him, or he knew it would tick one or both of them off. When the shorter boy announced his question, Gryph looked at him, and then at snake boy. Gryphon wasn't saying a word about anything.

Well, not yet, anyway. Once this whole conversation was over, he had questions himself that needed answering. But for now, he stood, and watched attentively, trying not to let himself feel too much of anything.

[Erik Stewart]

”Waitin’ t’hook up again? If you’d wanted that, you coulda, I dunno, asked instead of bein’ MIA for so long.”

“It takes two to tango, asshole,” he shot back. He could have contacted him, of course, but he wasn’t about to give Kodi an inch; besides, it wasn’t he who was running around with a brand new boyfriend.

That he suggested he wanted Erik to be ‘normal’ around him grievously offended him; it made his brows dig in and his blue eyes turn bright and furious. Erik would not have been threatening under usual circumstances. He was too small for that, and too wiry, and his limbs were like reeds.
But he was vicious when angry and, if nothing else, determined. Despite his stature, Erik had a reputation for being dangerous, thanks to the hemotoxic venom packed in a pair of needle-like fangs; he was loud, too, and getting him to calm was a bit like defusing a bomb: complicated, difficult, rarely successful. Erik adapted a threatening stance. His shoulders were tight. He leaned in some, teeth nearly bared. He was close enough to Kodi and it was clear he was inches away from lashing out.

“Normal?” he snarled. “What’s normal? I wasn’t ever fuckin’ normal ‘round you and neither were you. We fucked n’ sucked n’ you carried on and on about how tough you were. Well,” he said, “just look at this shit. The Kodi I knew wouldn’t gave a single fuck whether he liked me or not.”

Erik snapped. “I don’t.”

[Deleted]

Kodi looked down as he felt Gryph’s hand slip out of his own, and his face went slack, terrified that he’d been too harsh and this entire interaction was going to ruin what they had. He didn’t dare look the winged boy in the face – not yet, not when this was still going on. Kodi wished he could do or say something that would reassure him that he wasn’t like that anymore, that it had been a long time since the two of them had even seen each other, let alone hooked up, and that he wasn’t interested in anyone but Gryph…

But he couldn’t say that now, with Erik still spitting obscenely at him. He glowered at the freckled boy, wondering how the hell he’d gotten along with him before. He supposed he hadn’t really – nothing about their relationship had been healthy, Kodi knew that. The dentokinetic saw the fury light up in Erik’s eyes, and he stood his ground, a low growl emitting from his own throat when the boy leaned in close. His whole body was telling him to lash out, to knock Erik down a few pegs, but he kept himself back, if only for Gryphon’s sake. The older boy had seen him explode once recently already, he didn’t need to see it again.

His teeth still sharpened of their own accord, though; the pointed tips slipped out to peek over his lower lip.

Kodi’s voice was cold when he finally spoke. “If you’re that fuckin’ angry about the entire thing, then there’s no reason t’keep seein’ each other at all,” he said lowly. “If it means anythin’, I enjoyed it while it lasted.” He glanced away, hardening his eyes before he looked back. “Goodbye, Erik.”

With that, he turned his back on the other southerner, reaching for Gryphon’s hand again and only letting his sorrow show when he knew Erik couldn’t see.

[Gryphon Matsuoka]

Gryph was worried. And scared. And still confused. Mostly scared though. Erik was... intimidating, in simple terms. And Gryphon's first instinct was to keep Kodi from getting in harm's way. He'd done so too much in the past.

All this... detailed information was smacking the winged boy in the face, though. He didn't want to hear this, or see hints of Kodi becoming violent again. And he was furious, honestly, but it was a kind of... jealous anger. Along with the fact he hadn't expected to run into someone today who was bluntly going to tell him that they fucked Kodi. He didn't want to think of the dentokinetic being with anyone else.

Gryphon was a few seconds away from pulling Kodi out of the situation and legging it or something, but... the blonde boy did it for him. He... had been blocking out most of the conversation, only catching anything that was important and not about to send him off the deep end. Kodi turned and Gryph followed silently, crossing his arms.

He still had an eye on Erik though. That snake seemed dangerously on edge. His vision flicked back to him before returning to Kodi for a second. Gryphon sighed - he didn't want to get angry, but... this had poked him in more places than he'd care to be prodded.

[Erik Stewart]

To his credit the words showed no signs of affecting him. He merely narrowed his eyes at Kodi, curled up his lip and disengaged, letting him turn his back if he wanted to. Erik may have been an instigator but he was not an aggressor. Acts of violence committed was made purely on the defensive (which he sometimes encouraged in the first place but that was neither here nor there).

“Fine,” he spat, the word echoing somewhat, and after that all he could do was watch them leave hand in hand.

Erik muttered and lit up another flame, and another cigarette.

(ha ha u guys waited like 2 months for this shitty post. Anyways DONE??)