Catnapping (Lani, Jared.)

[Odion Martins]

Odion wasn’t sure when he had decided that this was a good idea. Somewhere between the stress of moving and how things were going with Lani, Odion, while under the influence, had decided to continue sharing with Jared. Somehow the cats had been mentioned and after much convincing, they were going to be rescued from Lani. It hadn’t taken much for Odion to get it in his head that they were technically his cats, and he wanted them back. He also vaguely remembered Jared saying something about ‘proper custody’, and it all seemed to make sense.

Now that Odion and Jared had settled in to their new apartment, it only made sense that they have the felines around. Lani’s place had a dog, cats and dogs simply didn’t mix well, Odion didn’t care how many people wanted to argue with him, he was still right. And even though he had been gone for some time, they were still his. It didn’t matter that he and Jared had phased into Lani’s apartment, and it didn’t matter that this was not going to help Odion get into Lani’s better graces. Sometimes, what seemed like a good idea just wasn’t.

“Just be quiet in here, we don’t need to wake up the whole bloody complex,” Odion said in hushed tones once he and Jared were inside. Once they had phased into Lani/Adam’s apartment, the redhead started to panic. “Jared, I don’t know if I can do this,” he admitted, looking around for the brunet. It was one thing to talk about stealing the cats back, another to actually do it. Odion thought he wanted the cats back, but now...

Odion promptly lost his train of thought as LJ came trotting into the common living space. “Shit...” Odion said to himself. Hadn’t Lani said something about how he and Adam kept their respective animals in their rooms? That meant Lani’s bedroom door was open which meant... Lani was awake. “Shitshitshitshit,” Odion muttered to himself, groping around in the dark for Jared. “LJ, don’t come here,” he warned the cat, pushing the feline away with his foot. “Stop purring!” He also demanded in a hushed whisper. “I’m trying to rescue you.”

[Lani Hunter]

All was quiet. It was nice and quiet, Adam had gone to bed not too long ago and with him went the dog and all was quiet. It was perhaps the most quiet it had been since Odion had returned and turned Lani’s whole world upside down. For tonight he didn’t want to talk to anyone, he wanted to be alone with his thoughts and have a minute to process all that had been going on. Caroline was speaking to him again, if snide comments in reply to his ‘Are we still not talking?’ texts counted as speaking. Everything was a mess, about as messy as things could get. He couldn’t get the kiss out of his head, or more accurately, he couldn’t get his reaction to it out of his mind. It had felt natural and his heart yearned for it but then he’d panicked. When he’d left Odion Lani had very nearly had a panic attack. He was really getting frustrated, he hadn’t had one of those since he was little and before Odion had been able to calm them before they started, but now, now everything was up in the air.

When he rose from the couch the kittens followed him as he went into his room, he was far too awake to sleep so he’d left the door ajar for the kittens to wander in and out if they so pleased. Shadow settled himself on Lani’s desk chair and when he had changed into basketball shorts and a loose concert tee and settled himself on his bed Darshay followed and crawled into his lap and bumped his hand with her head. He scratched her head and whispered softly to the kitten. Then he shifted so he was sitting cross-legged with his back leaning against the wall. With his power he flipped the light, he didn’t need it and it wouldn’t bother the cats to have it off. When Lani slipped his eyes closed he retreated into himself concentrating only on his breathing and trying to clear his mind of all distractions. Unknown to him Darshay sat and watched his face with an unwavering gaze.

As Lani slipped into a meditative trance, for a moment he was only aware of his own breathing and his heartbeat then he opened his mind and his power spilled out settling itself softly over the floor and Lani could have navigated the apartment blind for the details he was given. There were small changes as the cats moved or batted at something. With Lani’s power relaxed and just being a present force Lani could think, he used this meditative state to detach himself emotionally and look at things logically so that his power didn’t do anything crazy. It was here that Lani could be with his power and control it as he thought because he was purposely forgetting his body. Tentatively he touched the subject of Odion and his power stirred like a breeze and Shadow went chasing after a stray paper, his paws snapping like lights over the floor as Lani’s power felt the pressure on the carpet. How was this so hard? There was so much anger, Lani could see it lurking like a red monster, there was also love that was soft and blue urging him to move forward. After he broke Odion’s nose and they kissed Lani also saw fear and it was black, all consuming.

His mental self shivered as it turned and beheld the ice on his heart and Lani’s hands and feet started to chill, but he was unaware of the feeling. Odion voice echoed in his mind. ‘What do you want?’ ‘Please, let me be strong for you.’ As those thoughts came first that came was love, he wanted Odion, he wanted to love him. The blue hit the ice and it cracked and threatened to shatter it. But at the latter thought anger rose. He didn’t need someone to protect him. With the anger the ice strengthened again and Lani’s whole body shivered as he closed off his heart. There was a change in the air and the telekinetic’s power stilled and with no more than a breeze painted the strangers. One was just a person but the other lit up like a beacon in his mind, warm and blue to his power. Lani’s eyes snapped open and Darshay for a moment was the only witness to the pale glow of his eyes before he blinked and came back to his body. Immediately he felt chilled and wondered if Adam had upped the air conditioning on him. It wasn’t that warm out yet! His power still hovered in the area and he saw LJ’s paws light up the floor as he went to the two people in his living room.

Lani suppressed a sigh and listened hearing a soft whisper. He couldn’t make it out but he knew who whispered. He raised a brow and his eyes watched the corner of his room as if he could see through the drywall. Well, this was bound to be interesting, he couldn’t wait to hear why Odion was in his apartment in the middle of the night. He was torn between pretending he didn’t know they were there and simply going and saying hello. Lani used his power to steady the surfaces as he moved and only the breath in the air gave a sign that he was moving. They didn’t call him a shadow for nothing. He knew his apartment better than anyone, hell he had broken in a few times to test how it was best done and what his best defense was. Lani didn’t know whether to be angry or amused, because really, Odion was sneaking into his house? No. Lani silently emerged and he didn’t need his eyes to see the intruders but it was dark and unless their eyes adjusted to the slight light from the digital clock they wouldn’t be able to see him. Lani’s power loosely looped around the soles of their shoes, they weren’t going anywhere. A pair of long sleeved shirts rose to wrap themselves around Odion and who Lani could only assume was Jared from behind with force that it would feel like there were actual people grabbing them. Only then did Lani speak, “You have ten seconds.”

[Jared Bell]

After an evening of heavy drinking and celebrating their new home Jared and Odion had naturally grown restless with being in one location. It had all started innocently enough, with a simple walk outside. Everyone knows that the devil can only play nice for so long though. It was clear that any common sense that they had been using earlier had disappeared just as quickly as the booze in their bottles. A little running, and a few smokes on a bench later and they had already begun planning their next crime.

Convincing Odion to do something stupid when he was drunk had always been a specialty of Jared’s. He loved the redhead enough to realize quite quickly that the cat’s that Jared had been hearing about didn’t really rightfully belong to the Hunter fellow. Honestly, breaking into Lani’s apartment hadn’t been hard, although breaking into anything wasn’t hard for Jared unless there was somebody with power suppression nearby. He vaguely remembered explaining to Odion that they needed to be with their proper guardian or something similar. Besides everyone knew that cats hated dogs.

He heard the plea from Odion. He turned and grabbed his shoulders. “Mate, you’ve come this far. Besides those cats belong with their mom. Not some jackass step parent. We’ve done so many jobs, and besides, time is always on our side.” Jared said with a wide grin. He turned when he heard the soft pitter patter of padded paws on the floor. Then he heard the letters L and J. He wouldn’t say anything now, but he thought it was damn sweet of Odion to name one of the kittens Little Jared. He supposed that the redhead did a better job showing affection when people weren’t directly looking for it.

Before he could tell what was going on Jared very quickly found himself wrapped up. Whoever had him had quite the grip, and when he tried to kick he found his feet cemented to the floor. “Fucking hell…” He muttered as he turned his head to try to see his assailant. Apparently he had been duped by a sweater. Then he heard the warning. Grinning ear to ear he knew he was ready to do battle with the telekinetic. The way he saw it, if he did it right it wouldn’t even come to blows. “Don’t worry mate, I’ve got this.” He whispered over to Odion.

Thinking on his feet had always been something that Jared excelled at. “See he’s good with time, so we might have more than that.” He said smugly as he phased himself through the fibres of the sweater and let his feet out of his shoes. He took a step closer to be sure that it was actually Lani who had caught them. He didn’t know the voice well enough to be sure. Either way he had a wise crack for every situation. “We only came for the little pussies.”

[Odion Martins]

If anyone could convince Odion to do anything, it was Jared. They had gone skinny dipping, pretty much all over Europe, and if you wanted to forget what common sense meant, then you wanted to befriend Jared. It was moments like these that Odion knew he could be fun, he just couldn’t really be fun on his own. He had a special kind of humor that most people didn’t get, but that was while he was sober. He simply stopped caring once he started drinking, and everything seemed possible. In this case, it hadn’t taken much to convince Odion to break into Lani’s apartment to take back what was rightfully his, apparently.

Odion just nodded along, remembering someone saying he was momma Odi once or twice, or maybe that was just in his head. Giggling a little bit at the time comment, Odi covered his mouth and his eyes went wide. They were extremely dilated from all the alcohol in his system. “Lani’s gonna kill me!” He announced, not very quietly either. It was really too bad Odion couldn’t read minds, because he wouldn’t have the heart to tell Jared he was wrong about what LJ stood for.

“I can’t do it,” Odi repeated, trying to turn around to leave, but he found his shoes were stuck to the floor. When the shirts sprang up from nowhere, Odion could only giggle. He wasn’t sure what was funny, but he only had ten seconds. “It tickles,” he said between giggles, not sure how he was going to get out of this one, but he vaguely remembered that Jared could phase through anything that wasn’t alive. And Lani could move anything that wasn’t alive. Huh. Maybe they would be okay after all?

“I wan tha cats buck,” he said, his voice muffled by the sweater. Time control always got messy when Odion was drunk, so he wasn’t touching it just yet. At least he was happy. Happy, and on a mission. What were they doing again? Oh right, cats. Stealing them. Odion started giggling again at the joke, and then he remembered that Lani was going to kill him. “Oh god,” Odi said, trying to escape the sweater. But having a panic attack wasn’t helping. “Why’s it so dark?”

Maybe Jared could phase through and be free, but that came with the price of nudity, because Jared’s feet were bare now. “You give the caz back or I’ll... do somethin’ stupid,” Odion slurred slowly, his brain unable to decide if he should go through with the plan or not.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani stood with his arms crossed over his chest and waited. His power was roaming freely and Lani knew that was dangerous but if he pulled to back, he’d be hit with a backlash and he didn’t have time to withdraw his power carefully. Odion was the one being foolish here and Lani was half of a mind to let him reap the consequences. But then he’d already broken Odion’s nose and Lani really didn’t want to hurt Odion. Jared on the other hand, Jared was fair game. The pair were caught in his trap and Lani smirked in the dark. Odion was halfway correct, Lani was fighting intensely against the desire to throttle him. What was he thinking? Hearing Odion giggle was doing nothing to improve Lani’s mood. Lani shifted uncomfortably his power swirling in the room where Jared had been as the phaser temporarily ceased to exist in Lani’s plane.

Lani normally wouldn’t have been able to feel anything alive, but he made do with touching clothing and it was suddenly just gone. Then it was back. Lani shook his head as his power reacted in kind, it didn’t like this. Rolling his eyes Lani let out a sigh and in the darkness he moved as he felt Jared’s feet put pressure on the ground. He was not going to let either of them get the better of him. Otherwise ignoring Jared for the moment, Lani’s mental eyes were on Jared, but his focus was on Odion. Lani’s jaw dropped and with a thought the lamp in the corner of the room flipped on. “Are you drunk?” Lani asked in exasperation as the light gave a little bit of reality to the scene. It was dim, and Lani was in control here, this was his domain, he didn’t need the lights but if Jared was going to vanish from his power Lani wanted to be able to see him.

It wasn’t in Lani’s knowledge database that Jared’s power could phase him through living things, that could be convenient, but he was lacking that. “Okay, guys,” Lani said raising his hands and waving them downward as if he were trying to calm the situation. “It’s time for you to leave. Your ten seconds are well up.” Lani looked specifically at Jared, “You can take the door or I’m sending you out the window.” This was getting far less amusing by the minute and Lani’s power unconsciously attacked the only person it could, which consequently was Odion. It recoiled at the touch and instead of attacking like he wanted it to it simply wrapped the other sweater around Odion’s torso.

Soft bitter laughter slipped through Lani’s teeth. “Or you’ll do something stupid? Odion, that ship has sailed.” Lani looked at the two thieves before him and glared like a demon. They wanted the cats back? What damn right did they have? Lani’s power waved a toy in front of LJ and the cat quickly became distracted. Lani tossed it back into his room and when the cat chased after it Lani closed the door. He wasn’t going to let them have the cats, at least not in this drunk state. His eyes flickered between Odion and Jared. “I’m sorry they’re staying. Now, get the fuck out of my house.” His voice was low, they were not dealing with a docile telekinetic. Lani’s fists opened and closed, he’d already fought once with Odion, he wouldn’t do it again, but if Odion really wanted to start something he would be happy to oblige, but he wasn’t sure that Odion was going to be his main problem. His icy stare was on Jared and he waited in a mock relaxed stance for Jared to make his move.

[Jared Bell]

“He’s not capable of killing you. That’s my job. Now shut the hell up and start grabbing the cats.” Jared said. Apparently Odion had lost his ability to be competent at his job after the seventh drink. As far as he knew Lani wasn’t up and about, and he would love to keep it that way. A simple in and out, assuming they could grab all the cats and shove them in a bag or something.

Before he could tell Odion that he could in fact do it Jared found himself unable to move. It definitely didn’t tickle the way that the redhead seemed to think. If anything it was annoying and uncomfortable. He was not going to stand for that, even if it came at the expense of his clothes. Freedom of movement was the most important part about making a great exit. Even if they had been caught he wasn’t going to go out with Lani thinking he was some half-witted thief. One of the first rules was to always have a way out. “Drunk? No, we were drunk a few hours ago, by now everything else should be well in effect.” Jared said with a laugh.

By now Jared wasn’t really paying much attention to the mess that was Odion. Lani had his attention, and he wasn’t speaking anything that hinted at friendship. “I think you mean to say that you’ll try. I’ve always been a window type of bloke, but are you sure you really want to wrestle with me? I’ve no problem doing it naked.” Jared said, his clothes falling to the floor as he started at Lani crossly. He wasn’t going to move forward any farther unless provoked, but in his current state it wouldn’t take much.

“Quiet! We’ve already done something stupid!” Jared said firmly to Odion. Trying to keep a level head and enjoy the chemicals within his body was proving to be difficult this time. It had been obvious to him since the get go that they weren’t welcome, but he had always had a tendency to overstay his welcomes. “Odion, get ready to chase some cats.” He said levelly. He wasn’t going to leave empty handed today. Odi deserved to feel like he had a home with Jared too.

He was sure that the time turner had heard him, and if he hadn’t it really wasn’t a big deal. They both knew how to plan on the go. He wasn’t sure if he intended to hit the blonde or not yet, but he started running towards him. Before he could find his stride his foot slipped on the t-shirt that he had dropped on the floor moments before. Now he was stumbling straight towards someone that was probably very ready for a fight. “Shit!” He exclaimed as he tried to find his balance to no avail. Either Lani would stop him or the wall would. He felt a hard impact and immediately took a step back to see just what he was dealing with.

[Odion Martins]

“Grab the cats?” Odion slurred, wondering why they were in a dark room. He could barely make out Jared’s silhouette, and he was being asked to grab cats? “I really don’t think I can do that mate,” Odi added, reaching around for something sturdy to hold on to. Luckily, the nearest thing was the phaser himself. Hopefully he didn’t mind a little Irish weight to support.

Currently, considering himself a half-witted thief would be wholly impossible, since he was already half gone, there was only one half left, and that was full of paranoia. And Lani certainly wasn’t helping. His reprimand made Odion feel bad, and the redhead was pretty sure he hadn’t gotten drunk to feel bad. He was here to feel better. Why wasn’t he feeling better? He didn’t have time to answer, as one, Jared answered for him, and two, Lani had flicked on the lights. “Oh wow, no, now I’m blind,” Odion said, clearly amused by what was going on around him. Everything was clear, and yet, nonsensical.

Perhaps the tickling sensation Odion was feeling was Lani’s power trying and failing to attack him. Of course, Odi wouldn’t realize that was what was happening, and all he could half trust was what he saw before him. And honestly, he wasn’t sure if he was actually seeing Jared’s naked arse, or a nasty trick of the light. Odion stared wide eyed from Jared to Lani. “He’s serious about the windows,” he whispered, and then nodded his head.

Odion frowned deeply as both Lani and Jared reprimanded him. He covered his ears as best as he could with the sweaters entangled his already laboured movements. “Don’t yell at me!” He shouted, his eyes squinting shut. He was too busy trying not to cry and laugh all at once, and thus could only hear the buzzing inside his head. Feeling inebriated and unappreciated were not good combinations for the time turner, and seeing Jared naked and running towards Lani made Odi feel a mix of emotions he didn’t know how to deal with.

Rather than go after the cats, Odion tried to manipulate time. He was going for some kind of escape plan, but who was he fooling really? The best he could do was try and protect Lani from naked Jared, since neither of them could use telekinesis or phasing on biological creatures. Well, at least in his mind he was protecting Lani by appearing in front of the blond just in time to have Jared run straight into him. Yup, this was the best catnapping plan ever.

Odi knew he was on the ground, he just wasn’t sure how he had gotten there, staring across the floor at Jared. “This is why, I don’t... plan anythin’,” he said, knowing his chest should be hurting where Lani had hit him previously, but he was just too numb. And then he started laughing again. “Jared, you’re funny, I love you mate.” Odion took a deep breath, trying not to laugh, but he couldn’t stop. The tears came with the laughter, and at this rate, Lani would just be better off sending the two Brits out the window.

[Lani Hunter]

“Right,” Lani mock agreed, yep they were most certainly drunk. The only other explanation was that they were idiots, which admittedly Lani was halfway certain of now, too. Lani planted a hand on his forehead, he couldn’t deal with this version of Odion right now. He was being ridiculous, the lights weren’t that bright! Lani looked at Odion and just shook his head a slight smile appearing on his face as his power and he both couldn’t help but find the redhead and his antics endearing. Being in touch with his power made things hazy and hard to decipher but that was as clear as day. He was angry, no doubt, but with Odion acting the way he was it was making it very hard for Lani to stay mad at Odion. Jared on the other hand, he was the subject of Lani’s annoyance and his power felt like a gradient, sort of teasing around Odion to sharp and frustrated around Jared.

“Why are you naked?” Lani heard himself ask in exasperation before he realized he didn’t really want to know. “Really Jared? You couldn’t take me sober.” The telekinetic boasted confidently. He didn’t need his power to win against Jared. Lani’s power was paying attention to Odion as Lani himself was focused on Jared and he was calculating how he was going to win this one. He didn’t know if he could hit Jared or if he could phase right through Lani, but it did create a problem. He couldn’t very well wrap him in something and send him out the window, not if Jared could just phase right through it. “Odion, no one is yelling at you,” Lani said to the time turner, no less snappishly than he had before, Odion was acting like an idiot and worse he was acting like a drunken idiot who was trying to steal the cats and do what with them in this drunk state, Lani didn’t know. So, Lani wasn’t inclined to be nice to him while he was in this state.

Lani braced himself as he heard Jared’s order to Odion. The telekinetic really didn’t want to wrestle with a naked Jared, but honestly drunk and naked Jared was not as intimidating as he probably thought he was and Lani just couldn’t take him seriously. Lani raised a brow and balanced on his toes, he intended to just dodge and let Jared take a forehead into the wall. Lani’s power drifted through Jared and then seemed to stumble as the hands of time touched it. “Odion!” Lani cried in surprise as things went sideways for a moment and Odion appeared in front of him taking the brunt of Jared’s attack. Jared had fallen into Odion and Odion had been knocked on the floor at Lani’s feet and despite everything Lani couldn’t help but feel a very strong flash of… something. He didn’t want a naked man running into his boyfriend, Lani’s mind didn’t even take the moment to correct itself as Lani crouched and put a hand on Odion’s shoulder.

“You alright?” He asked putting his arms under Odion’s armpits and pulled the giggling time turner to his feet. He was definitely going to throw them out the window. Lani’s mind and heart did a flip the connection to his power making it hard to control and he unconsciously held Odion tightly as he used the ‘L’ word with the naked man in Lani’s living room before letting him go and take a moment to look menacingly at Jared. Lani’s heart hammered and for a brief moment his power flashed in jealousy so potent his vision blurred as his power reared up to strike, but fell through Jared and skidded across the floor tossing the clothes on the floor here and there and slamming into the wall and make it shiver a bit. It was a very good thing that Adam wasn’t home, this was no longer a quiet exchange. The instant later he rationalized that that was a very common thing to say to a friend, but his heart would not hear reason and he still had the intense desire to kick Jared in the groin and kick him out of his apartment. A yipping bark came from his roommate’s room but Lani ignored it.

Lani didn’t know who was on whose side anymore. Honestly, he didn’t trust either of them, despite how far he could probably throw them, not in this state. What he wanted was to not feel so jealous and confused and get Odion and Jared out of his apartment so he could control his power and go to bed. This was more emotion and more confusion than Lani had had to deal with in a very long time. And Lani didn’t want to deal with it, it made his power unruly and it made his heart sore as the wounds were opened up and bleeding. Lani’s eyes went back to Jared. Raising his hands Lani forced a smile the mask fitting nicely over his features. “Alright guys, this has been fun, but c’mon I’m tired. So please, leave.” This was the last time Lani was going to say so nicely. Now the telekinetic was starting to get a strain headache from using his power and it was doing nothing to improve his mood. If these were any other thieves Lani would have no problem sending them out the window or chasing them out with flying knives, but this was Odion and Jared, one whom he cared for deeply and another who he still owed for what he’d done in Boston.