SUE: I Hate Everything (Open)

[Lani Hunter]

Lani was beginning to feel a little under the weather. No, that wasn’t right at all. Lani was feeling like hell. He couldn’t stop coughing and his nose was running like a faucet. But that was pretty much it as far as he was concerned. And he could survive that. He was ignoring the fact that he had a headache because he was just attributing that to his power, though he hadn’t used it enough to give himself a serious headache, but here it was. He coughed again and shook his head with mild frustration. He must have caught it from Caroline, there was something going around at Hammel, and she must have brought it to him. He didn’t think it was all that bad though. He hadn’t eaten more than toast and crackers as his stomach didn’t seem able to keep down much more. He felt like he was dying and if he wasn’t dying he wished he was.

However, life went on and school went on and this semester was looking to kick his ass if he didn’t stay caught up. For the first time in his life he was in a math class that challenged him, he couldn’t just read the book and get it, this was just too abstract and strange. Then there was physics, he was in electromagnetic now and that wasn’t the kind of thing his power could feel or manipulate and therefore his mind was having a hard time wrapping around it. It was for this reason that Lani was waiting at the bus stop to go to school. Lani hated everything. The sun was shining and he wished it was cloudy and dreary to match his mood and his temper. It was too hot and too cold at the same time, The temperatures were hot and therefore Lani was in jeans and a tee shirt, but he wished it was cold so he could snuggle into his comfort hoodie.

He really should just go back inside and go to bed. But he had things to do. So when the bus arrived he got on and sat away from people and was grumpy. He would have liked to have his headphones in but he couldn’t find a tune he liked. With his mood he would have liked to listen to punk or metal but his headache was so pounding that the thought of the harsh sounds made him cringe and so he sat and he sulked. Lani was perhaps the worst sick person on the face of the planet. He refused to stop moving and doing things when he should be resting and the whole while he was unsympathetic and vicious in his moods. So not only was Lani miserable but everyone else had to be miserable as well. Even those bluebirds in the tree. Fuck the bluebirds. He glared at nothing and wrapped his arms around himself and tried his best to curl up in his seat. The motion of the bus was making his stomach woozy and his head pound. The thought of sitting through class made him want to get out and then jump in front of the bus.

He wavered dizzily as the bus came to a stop. He looked out the window and realized with a groan that he’d missed his stop. Fuck the bus. He hated the bus. He got off and was intent on walking back, since it would be faster than taking the bus back around the loop. He crossed his arms his eyes glaring at whoever was unlucky enough to catch his gaze. He kept his eyes down and he worked on not teetering too much. It would be really nice if the world would stop it’s drunken wobble. Lani felt his gut churn and he gritted his teeth. His face was flushed with his fever and he looked up and almost lost his balance as his head wavered. God, he hated the sun and walking and the outside. He was so focused on how much he hated feeling miserable that he didn’t even notice when the light was reading ‘Don’t walk’ and he started across the crosswalk anyways, grumbling all the way.

[Greg Mackenzie]

Today was a great day, Greg had decided.

He’d been sick all weekend, but finally when he woke up, everything was fine. The ache in his body was gone, his sinuses were cleared and there was no dizziness or nausea that came over him (aside from the usual that stemmed from telepathy overuse). He also – miraculously – did not have any after school work to do, so the boy grabbed his penny board and decided to have a quick trip downtown to celebrate. Nothing like a half dozen red velvet cupcakes to celebrate his triumph over whatever came over him, right?

Greg was on his second cupcake, box tucked to his side, when he saw the bus that he was supposed to catch to get back to the Institute run past him. He didn’t bother hiding the look of surprise on his face; his phone app said it wasn’t supposed to come until the next five minutes! He was a little disappointed, but he remembered that Julian Moore told him three days ago there was another bus that’ll stop by a little further away from the Institute (but totes walking distance) and its stop was like a good two blocks from where the telepath was. Who knew the ditzy blonde loudmouth would be useful one day?

The “Don’t Walk” sign just turned into “Walk” when he saw a guy, not much older than him, on the other side of the road, stupidly walk across the intersection. Across the road that totes did say “Don’t Walk”. “Yo dude!” Greg shouted as he sped across the road, “That’s dangerous.” Shit. He didn’t hear him. And there’s no way he’ll make it in time to pull him back, no matter how fast he boarded.

/You. Blonde man walking. Stop! ‘Don’t Walk’ the sign says dumbo. And there’s a car approaching!/. There. Exposed himself. Karma better give him something great in return.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani’s eyes were like old and tired daggers, like everyone he looked at he thought about impaling, but decided it was too much effort to put forth and so he’d be over here passing along from person to person deciding which poor human was going to be his next grumpy victim. Luckily for Lani, and for them, people stayed out of his way. The telekinetic kept his head down and wondered if his power was even working. His power acted dizzy and disoriented when he was drunk and so now it was acting slow and to motivate it to lift anything, well Lani hadn’t had the motivation to try, but it was still making his head ache, he hated this power. Really the fact that it was just about as useless as he was right now was infuriating. It would make his life so much easier if he could just lay somewhere and his power bring him things, but it was like holding a needle and thread and trying to put the thread through after having chugged a few beers. Not really a thing that was happening. That was if he could get it to move at all.

If there was someone shouting at him Lani was pointedly ignoring them. He didn’t hear a thing, but he also didn’t care about what a few people thought, he could take care of himself and it was just a street, not a field of lasers. What’s the worst that could happen. He watched his feet as he stepped from a white strip to pavement and he narrowed his eyes. He was trying to avoid the sun, but the fucking white paint was just reflecting it back into his eyes and Lani hated it. He closed his eyes and trusted that he could more or less keep a straight line. People probably thought he was either high out of his mind or drunk to the gutter. And he was still going to class! He’d better get an ‘A’ in these classes or he was gonna have to throw something.

Unfortunately, Karma had decided that Greg had done something bad recently and therefore Karma delivered Lani. At first Lani thought he was starting to breakdown the walls of his sanity because as much as he conversed with himself this was not what he recognized as his mind voice. And then he realized the recognized the voice. Lani’s viper eyes found the kid on his skateboard. Lani groaned in disbelief of his bad luck. This kid. Lani hated this kid. This entitled, ‘you should feel like shit for stealing’ kid. The warning about the car fell on deaf ears (deaf mind ears?).

It wasn’t until he heard someone honk at him that Lani woke up momentarily. He turned his eyes wide and they flashed as Lani’s power came to the rescue. Sick and miserable adrenaline shot through Lani’s body and his tired power kicked into action. Lani crouched and his hands extended half protecting himself for an impact and half to ward off the car as if his hands could do that. His power grabbed the car and lifted it letting it’s spin it’s wheels while Lani pressed the brake. All happened without too much thought at all but the extension of his power through his feverish and aching head struck him like a hammer to the head and Lani dropped the car a few inches back to the ground. He was already formulating an apology when the man put his car in park and got out. “What the fuck is your problem?” the driver bellowed and Lani was starting to have trouble seeing straight and when he tried to take a step he teetered but that wasn’t going to say he was going down easy.

Adrenaline raced through his veins and he lazily flipped the man the bird. “’Ay! Why don’t yah watch where yah fuckin’ goin’,” he would have liked to say that he shouted it but his voice was hoarse and his throat sore and it came out more of a whispered complaint. Careful Lani, your Boston is showing. Lani had a fairly soft accent most of the time, but when he was sick and pissed off his tongue got lazy and it started to creep back into his speech. Still not as thick as his father’s on a normal day but it was much stronger than his regular, unclogged voice. Fact of the matter was, Lani was mouthing off and he couldn’t see straight and taking a step back more he would probably land on his ass and then this guy would beat him to a pulp. Almost as soon as he’d spoken the adrenaline ran out and Lani crossed his arms and sniffled. He was so cold despite the fire burning in his head. He was overwhelmingly tired and he was seriously considering laying down here on the ground. Instead he just continued across the street and his eyes saw the kid racing toward him on a little skateboard. Lani grumbled, maybe he could pretend he didn’t hear him…

[Greg Mackenzie]

Of course he’d bitch about it.

Just when he thought the blonde couldn’t get any worst, he hissed at him when Greg was just trying to help. Well, not really hissed, but his stare and his emotions were more than venomous. He was just about to send another mental message when he saw the scene unfold in front of him.

The car stopping in its tracks. Not just stopping, but being lifted a few inches off the ground. Not too high that the ignorant driver didn’t notice it, but enough that a bystander such as him did. Lani was lucky it was just him who was around. He’s heard that Pilot Ridge was fairly accepting of the meta community (even if they didn’t know that Hammel was a meta training facility) but he hasn’t encountered a meta who’s openly practicing his powers around town so there’s still no telling how these townspeople react to powerful metas. Especially those as powerful as this blonde over here holy shit.

Greg sped to get closer to Lani when he saw the man get out of his car. There was nothing but angry thoughts in his mind and the Canadian didn’t want him to get hurt; if his thoughts were any indication, Lani himself was in no mood to talk as well and with his powers, well, it wouldn’t even be a fair fight for the man with the car. Oh god first stealing now car fights? It’s so hard to believe men who’re followed by trouble wherever they go exist outside of the TV screen, but apparently they do.

“Hey bro! God sheesh wait up!” he shouted, trying to project as much worry and concern in his voice. Oh how he wished he listened to Mr. Bond’s acting tips a little more. It wasn’t Greg’s fault his class was just the most boring class ever. “I’m so sorry,” he said, turning to the man, turning his apologetic Canadian smile on as much as he could, “My brother’s a little sick-“ –he made the cuckoo hand gesture to emphasize what he meant, hoping to gain more sympathy– “–So huge apologies. He was my responsibility and I just threw my ice cream away one moment and the next thing I know he’s gone.” He even gave a little bow as he stopped in front of the man and tucked his penny board under his arms.

He ran-jogged towards Lani, casually slung an arm over his shoulder, then gave the man one last smile as he got back to his car (who said a few more obscenities, and called Greg a number of slurs for being an irresponsible brother and Lani some disability slurs). “Don’t mind him. Wasn’t the best excuse I could think of, but he wouldn’t dare beat someone who’s a few screws too lose in the head,” he whispered as they neared the other side of the road, “Not in the mood to call 9-1-1 for an asshole like him ok.” He shot Lani a stare that meant that he knew Lani would win in a fight, just in case the blonde thought Greg underestimated him. “What the fuck is wrong with you anyway? Walking around town when you’re like sick like this?”

[Lani Hunter]

Lani might have found the kid’s determination to make him feel bad about being a thief humorous under normal circumstances, and he had initially but he had never actually imagined that he would see this kid again. He wasn’t looking to be a nice person today, especially not to someone he already found incredibly annoying. And he was invading his mind again! It made Lani’s skin crawl and his fever brain starting imagining if throwing things would help get him out of his head. Lani couldn’t stand telepaths, well that was a lie, he actually was sort of kind of starting to warm up to Dr. Neville, not that he’d ever admit to such a thing. But the difference between Dr. Neville and this kid was that the older telepath didn’t invade his mind, this kid decided he was going to jump in and have a field day. If Lani had some way to throw him out of his mind he would do so.

Picking up the car had been a bad idea. On a normal basis, he would have been in pain but it would take no more than a few pills to give him relief, besides lifting a car and putting it back down was a strain but it was like someone lifting their max weight, it was something that could be done for a little while before everything shut down. This guy was out of the car and Lani’s head was being split open by a jack hammer and the mind voice of the kid that hovered in his thought rattled and banged against Lani’s skull. Being sick had hit his power hard, it was essentially a head cold, at least that was what he was calling it, and it was making his power fumbling and weak, just like his limbs that normally would have been able to leap easily out of the way were moving slow and his bones just hurt. Basically, Lani would have had trouble making himself lift a pencil and adrenaline had made him lift a car and now he was paying for it.

It did nothing to improve his mood and he waited to see if this guy was going to kill him. Lani’s mind was distracted and he and the driver both looked over in surprise at the person speeding toward them on the skateboard. Lani raised a brow and crossed his arms as he watched the boy make his gestures and apologize for him. A little sick in the head was he? Lani’s mind was moving slow and for a moment he was incredibly insulted and he was about to turn on his ‘brother’ apparently. Lani clued in and when the man shouted something after them Lani turned a pointed. “I got yah numbah, yah govahnment robot!” He called making himself look well, sick in the head. Lani stiffened when the kid put his arm over his shoulder. He was definitely looking to have a broken nose here in a minute.

Lani was sick but he wasn’t stupid, he kept up the ruse until he could no longer hear the man’s slurs. Then Lani elbowed the kid in the stomach. “Get off me,” he said darkly, “I don’t need yah help.” Lani coughed into his fist. Lani raised a brow and glared dangerously. He hoped he looked at least a little terrifying but he wasn’t sure how well that worked when his eyes were bleary and his face flushed and tired. He stopped and looked at this kid, he’d show him a few screws loose! Wait… he narrowed his eyes and grunted, he’d take that. So long as the kid knew he would have won, no one needed to know that he was at less than one hundred percent. Moving on, deciding he wouldn’t kill the telepath right now. Now, which way was the school now? He tried to look up and when he did his head swam and for a moment there Lani was curious if he didn’t actually lose a few marbles due to the heat. Why was it so hot all of the sudden?

“Me?!” Lani yelped and the effort it took to raise his voice scratched his sore throat and he fell into a coughing fit and it took him a while to recover enough to hiss at the boy, “He almost hit me, remember.” He picked an arbitrary direction and started walking. “I’m fine. It’s just a little cold,” Lani lied and tossed a venomous look back, “I’m not gonna let some stupid cold stop me.” Now that he wasn’t shouting his voice was move level, just clogged. He shook his head and teetered a few steps, extremely frustrated that his head was deciding to get light and airy while he was around someone he needed to not show weakness to. Well, that was everyone, but especially this kid. Lani was concentrating very hard on walking forward but he was wavering like a drunken man and dragging his feet like someone pacing the desert. He hated this day. This was one of the days he just wanted to go back to bed and start over.

[Greg Mackenzie]

If Greg knew how Lani revered, in his own weird way, Dr. Neville, he would’ve mentioned that he’s been seeing the old man to figure out how to really deal with the things he learns from his powers, among other things. But knowing about it meant digging through Lani’s mind, and that would defeat the entire thing thus both men would just have to live with hating each other for the time being.

A wave of relief washed over the Canadian when the blonde simply followed suit. At least the blonde wasn’t dumb, or stubborn. Greg would’ve totally spoken inside Lani’s head again just to tell him to fall in line for just a minute ‘cause a fight with the driver wasn’t anything either of them wanted at this point, but considering how much vitriol he’s already getting from the boy, he’d rather not project anytime soon. If Lani’s thoughts could kill, he so would’ve been dead half a minute ago.

“Ouch!” His hands instinctively went to his sides and a small growl escaped his lips as they continued to walk away from the car driver. “Way to show gratitude dude.” He put his board down and decided to coast slowly beside the blonde. “Umm, yeah, you so would’ve needed an ambulance. I mean come on, you just lifted a half-ton car or something and you don’t even look so hot right now. That guy would’ve been toast.” He shivered a bit to think that some metas were just that powerful. Maybe someday he could join their ranks. Someday.

And then in true tough guy fashion, Lani tried to tell him that he’s just down with the cold. Like how many times has he heard a guy say that only for it to actually be five hundred times worse? Oh guys and their egos. If Lani wasn’t such an asshole (in Greg’s eyes), he would’ve totally found him hot right about now. “Looks like you caught the cold that’s been coming around. I’ve had it a few days ago, not fun. First time in six years I skipped class.” But he spent all day with Dem so it wasn’t half bad. He just wished he had his mom to make food for him. “As much as it pains me to say this, I’m going to have to walk you home sir.”

This should work as enough good karma for a least a decade, shouldn’t it?

[Lani Hunter]

Telepathy was a tricky subject, especially since at the beginning it had to be one of the hardest to control. In many ways it was worse than the difficult to control telekinesis. At least he could stay in his own head, people were crazy, Lani himself had no illusions of his own sanity, but he at least didn't have to deal with other people's crazy. Lani wouldn’t want their burdens to become his. There was also the matter of secrets. Lani was a man of many secrets and he didn’t like his shell to be breached. It also then begged the question, if some telepath accidentally over heard a thought did it count as eavesdropping if they couldn’t control it? Lani didn’t even like sharing his secrets with Odion, it was little wonder he was not a happy telekinetic when his privacy was invaded. And this kid had already proved himself to be one of those ‘goodie two shoes’, annoying, self proclaimed 'good person', who wanted to make sure everyone was riding the moral high ground. Lani was riding the moral low ground, it was easier, not to mention much more fun.

Lani snorted rudely. It hadn’t hurt that badly, or so he told himself, this kid was just overreacting. Lani shrugged, “I never asked for your help, so don’t expect a thank you.” But he did have a point, damn, if Lani thought about this later and figured out that he did owe this kid Lani was gonna kill him. If there was one person Lani didn’t want to be indebted to it was this boy scout. Lani really didn’t care if this kid didn’t like him, he wasn’t feeling very likable today and he wasn’t even in the mood to pretend to be a good person. Lani grunted and gave the boy a scowl. He was stepping on a sensitive area for Lani and he didn’t even realize it. Bastard. If he hadn’t heard that a million times. ‘Lani, you’re dangerous, you could kill someone if you’re not careful.’ Then it had become ‘If you don’t train you’re going to lose control and you’re going to hurt someone’. Well, Lani didn’t want to hurt anyone! He didn’t want this goddamn power! They could have it back. Lani closed his eyes and his head throbbed in agony. He was sick of everyone telling him how dangerous he was, it wasn't like he had chosen to be a walking time bomb!

“I wasn’t gonna hurt him,” Lani grumbled his eyes glaring daggers at the boy scout. Lani was very much like a bird in his physical condition. If he was showing signs at all in public it was probably pretty bad. Lani didn’t show weakness, weakness was death. Weakness meant something that could be used against him. Could Lani not have a bad day? No he had to have a horrible day. Stupid kid, why was he following him? He sighed and nodded his head a little bit, not like it was going to do any use denying it. He was sick, just not as bad as this kid thought it was, or rather it was worse, Lani was just ignoring that fact. It must have been Caroline, or Odion, either way he wasn’t going to get any better by figuring out who gave it to him, they were both better now. He’d get better, in the mean time the world didn’t stop turning because wasn’t feeling well.

Lani blinked at the boy scout in surprise and stood there for a good while in shock. It took Lani’s brain a little while to work through and process what was going on. This kid was going to walk him home? Walk him home, sir?? Lani shook his head. “Listen, Boy Scout, as wonderful as that sounds, you really don’t have to do that. Besides, I’m not going home. I’ve got shit to do, I can’t have a sick day.” He said glanced at the Boy Scout looking him up and down as if he had any right to judge Boy Scout for skipping class. “So why don’t you…” He started and had to turn away to sneeze. Whatever, it didn’t even matter anyways. Lani grumbled a little looking for street signs, never finishing telling what Boy Scout should do. Shit, he must have really missed his stop. It looked like he was downtown, no where close to the school. He was suddenly and irrationally angry at the people on the bus, he must have fallen asleep and no one thought to wake him. God, he hated people. Lani grumbled something unintelligible, tossed a glare at the Boy Scout and reversed directions. Hoping the whole time that it didn't look like he had no idea where he was going.

[Greg Mackenzie]

Lani wasn’t the first one to refer to Greg as ‘the boy scout’, and from the way things were going, he certainly won’t be the last. Funny thing was, Greg never really saw himself as one. Well, from his perspective, ‘boy scout’ was for Superman or Captain America (from the few comics that he read from his best friend’s room, that was), and he was nowhere near them. Well, if he could look half as good as Henry Cavill or Chris Evans, he’d be happy though.

On that note, whenever someone calls him that, he wasn’t sure if he should be insulted or not. Since when did being the good guy become so bad?

Greg merely rolled his eyes when the blonde said he couldn’t – and wouldn’t – even thank him. Like that was a surprise. “Well you’re welcome,” he said with a snort. Not that saying ‘you’re welcome’ would instantly make him win the argument, but in the Canadian’s book, that was a small victory. Maybe he really was ‘a boy scout’ with that attitude after all. “Yeah right. What if you suddenly lost control and wasn’t able to put that car back down gently? Or that you suddenly sneezed and sent that car rolling fifteen feet back?” From the looks of the boy and the fact that Greg hasn’t seen him on campus at all told the Canadian that the boy’s already graduated from Hammel. Either that or he’s a runaway, something that he’s only heard rumours about but never really confirmed for sure. And it’s not like a powerful telekinetic such as the blonde could really hide from Big Brother Hammel right? “Wasn’t that Power Training 101? How the hell did they let you out of the nuthouse?”

He had to bite his lip for a bit. Either the blonde’s sickness was making his thoughts more scattered or there’s something wrong with Greg’s own walls, ‘cause he’s getting quite a lot from the blonde. Names. Rants. Emotions. He hated it.

“Tone the snark down will you? I’ve been well for a few days now but that doesn’t mean my mental walls are already up to par.” With his concentration gone because of how bad his sickness was, his walls and defenses got washed away as if a tsunami his the seaside village that was his mind.

He let out a loud laugh when Lani turned around. “Really now? Do you even know where you are right now? Do you even know who you are? What if you’re really asleep and this was all just a dream?” He continued to coast on his penny board a good foot or so away from the blonde, keeping his distance just in case Lani decided it’s high time to surprise him with a sudden uppercut. “Being stubborn stopped being sexy the moment you got sick Odion.”

[Lani Hunter]

If Superman and Captain America were setting the bar for boy scouts, well no one would be a boy scout. Lani had never been a boy scout, he known a few people who were and he found them incredibly annoying. Always that good boy who made everyone else look bad, always that one person like this stupid kid who decided Lani didn’t understand right from wrong when he chose to do wrong. No, he was fully aware of what he was doing, he just didn’t care. Well, this kid fit right into that annoying category. Couldn’t he just leave Lani alone and go annoy someone else? If Lani had the energy he would enjoy nothing more than to mess with this kid, maybe when he was feeling better he would, it would certainly give him something to look forward to.

Lani narrowed his eyes at this kid suspiciously. The telekinetic couldn’t figure out why this kid had gone out of his way to make sure that Lani didn’t hurt someone or get hurt himself. It didn’t make sense, why would he go out of his way when Lani had been nothing but an ass to him before? In Lani’s world no one did things for other people without the ability to call favors. There were few friends and especially when this kid didn’t know him, he’d met him once, it would have been easy and expected for him to turn a blind eye and walk the other way. Lani didn’t trust this Boy Scout, he was too kind, too moral, he was either hiding something or he wanted something. Lani scowled baring his teeth in a feral manner when his non-thank you was correctly returned. Definitely didn’t trust this kid, but what exactly was it that he wanted?

A weary laugh broke from Lani’s throat and he shook his head. “What are you the Hammel police?” He spat the familiarity of the words ringing like clashing metal against the raw patches of his mind. Anger and frustration flowed through his veins and Lani instinctively reached for his center to calm his power. Lani’s power was tired but it was also irritated and that made it’s temper and Lani’s all the more short. Lani's eyes flashed and, be it the illness that made his temper thin or not, his temper shattered like glass. “I could sneeze and throw you fifteen feet, I could take that little board and throw you into the stratosphere.” Lani’s hands clenched in front of him in emphasis. “But I haven’t, so give me a bit of goddamn credit you fucking entitled smartass.” Lani’s power huffed, he wanted to throw this kid into the stratosphere, but he refrained he was so sick and tired of people telling him how dangerous he could be, like he had no fucking idea. He hadn’t forgotten when his power manifested or any of the accidents since then, he would never forget that. Honestly if he wanted someone out of his way he could flatten them. If Boy Scout was afraid of that kind of power, he had no idea. Lani didn’t want to hold this much power, it was terrifying.

Tone it down? You’ve gotta be kidding me, Lani though in disbelief. And this kid wanted to mouth off about Lani’s power? Boy Scout was messing with the wrong telekinetic at the wrong time. He took on a mocking confused look and mimicked Boy Scout’s voice. “Wasn’t that Power Training 101?” He would have smirked if his throat hadn’t decided it was scratchy and unpleasant. Maybe he could be purely unpleasant and Boy Scout would just leave him alone. Lani was done with this shit, sick or not, lost or not he was not going to be patronized by some child. If Lani wasn’t feeling so terrible and shaky he’d have swiped Boy Scout’s wallet just to teach him a lesson. He ignored the boy and tried to blink the blur away from his eyes. How could it possibly be so hot and cold at the same time?

Lani shook his head and immediately regretted it, everything was blurry and he wasn’t doing a very good job of walking away in a huff when he couldn’t even be sure that the ground he put his foot down on was in the same place it was the second before. “Quit following me,” he snapped. He stopped in his tracks and turned so fast he nearly made himself faint from the way the blood flowed around his head. His first instinct was the look for the redhead. Things were moving too fast and nothing would focus and he glared as best he could at Boy Scout his hand reaching out for the wall of the storefront to steady himself and give himself a point of reference his feet were failing at giving him. He felt nauseous, he should have turned so fast it was making him extremely dizzy. “What did you just say?” Lani forced out in a breathless croak, he must have been hearing things. He hadn’t actually heard Boy Scout say ‘Odion’. No, Odion was nowhere around, unless Lani was very sick and his power was simply missing the time turner. In that case why was he lurking somewhere and letting this kid harass Lani? And how the hell did Boy Scout know Odion? There was also the high possibility that Lani was hearing things, he was sick after all, and he’d missed Odion so much, Odion was a constant on his mind. He must have been hearing things.

[Greg Mackenzie]

“Shit. You’ve got me figured out,” replied Greg with the most sarcastic, unimpressed tone he could muster, “I told them you’d be able to sniff out undercover cops a mile away, with your numerous run-ins with the law and all.” Not that he believed the boy’s been in prison a number of times. Or, well, maybe he does. To be honest, now that Greg’s thought about it, he wasn’t actually sure. On one hand, he believed criminals should be locked up, but if they’re teens who had no control of their powers (regardless of whether their crime was related to their power or not), would they be locked up as well? He heard that Hammel used special laws to override and win custody battles, at least when it comes to parents who’re reluctant to send their child away, but did it work over the correctional system as well?

He shook his head once or twice to get the thoughts out of his head. Way too serious thinking for an afternoon like this, he told himself.

The Canadian rolled his eyes and tried to pretend that Lani’s threats didn’t faze him. “You could, but you won’t. Not if I mess with your mind first, Mr. Brad Pitt on meth.” He tapped the side of his temple a few times and gave the blonde a wink. Not that he could actually mess with people’s heads anyway. But the telekinetic didn’t need to know that. When his little insult was brought back to him though, Greg decided not to say anything but instead give a very meaningful reply in a gesture known as flipping the blonde the finger.

“I would, but my conscience wouldn’t let me.” He let out a loud snort soon after. “A conscience, I know. Couldn’t believe it myself. Not towards you though, but to the poor little sap who manages to brush off you the wrong way.” He might not like the boy, but for some reason he just knew that he’d feel a little responsible if he watched the late night news and heard about an incident that might involve the blonde in some way or another. “I said stubborn stopped being sexy when you got sick,” repeated Greg in a monotone, “Oh Odion, Odion, Odion. I didn’t know being sick made you stupid too?”

[Lani Hunter]

Lani rolled his eyes, he was working really hard on not letting this kid get under his skin but it was not working very well. It was because he was sick, he told himself, he just couldn’t separate his emotions from himself, it was a damn good thing his power was tired or he’d probably be throwing things everywhere. The fact that he not only had a hard to control insanely powerful telekinesis but had a telekinesis that was so deeply engrained in his emotions made his training hard and control was still difficult in high emotion situations. He was glad he’d finally gotten the hang of the whole meditation thing, he couldn’t afford to feel strong emotions, at least not without shutting down his power. Which was what he was doing now, partially because using his power right now hurt and he was already dizzy and passing out in front of this kid was not how he wanted to end this confrontation.

Lani wasn’t too sick to forget himself and so when Boy Scout declared he had a lot of run ins in the law Lani gave him a perplexed look. “What makes you think I’ve ever been in trouble with the law?” He cocked his head as if completely confused. Lani’s training had been so deeply engrained in him that even sick and half out of his mind he would never admit to anything. Lani could be drugged up and half out of his mind and he’d never say a word. This telepath was so blind to the world, in his eyes Lani was evil and that was that. Black and white. He had access to Lani’s entire consciousness but never did he look to really see. Not that Lani was upset by that, he rather preferred it to Dr. Neville’s tactics. Dr. Neville was powerful in his own way which was why Lani had come to him initially. Lani had a wary sort of trust of the older telepath, he was still waiting to hear what the telepath wanted from him, but thus far Dr. Neville’s help had been generous. Overly generous.

Boy Scout was just like everyone else. Never thought about the why only about what was. He didn’t know that the world wasn’t painted in monochrome. His moral high ground didn’t allow for him to fall from the light into the darkness, Lani would like to know what he would do if he were forced to actually make a hard decision. Lani didn’t know anything about this kid, but since Boy Scout was fine making assumptions about Lani, Lani was fine making assumptions about him. He was a good looking and good kid, probably popular, never in trouble, and if he was it was for something innocent and ‘fun’. People like this Boy Scout had been given all they needed, they met people like Lani and assumed them to be horrible and lazy no good thieves. And the thieves didn’t disagree, because they had no illusions about their own moral ground. They all knew what they did was bad, but they all had their reasons. Some for fun, some for necessity, some for compulsion. Over time those initial situations blurred and may turn into one another or blend all into one.

Lani looked at the kid and raised a brow. Well that was new. He actually laughed, it was an interesting image for certain, he wasn’t sure that this kid would survive a minute in his mind. “Oh really?” Lani raised a brow a little off his center at the wink. Why did he keep doing that? It was highly distracting. Lani would have liked to step forward, shoulders squared and his head raised to his full height, pulling himself up so he’d look confident and intimidating but that was hard when he needed to lean against the side of a building to stay upright. What he couldn’t understand was why he was being horrible to this kid and he wasn’t leaving. What did he have to do? Physically move him? He considered it for a split second before swiping it from the table, bad idea. He gave a ‘harumph’ and shrugged. He really didn’t want his mind to be more messed up than it already was. Lani honestly doubted that Boy Scout would last very long in his mind. It wasn’t a very pleasant place and probably the duty to stay sane was the only reason he was.

Lani snorted, “A conscience,” he muttered in disbelief shaking his head. Boy Scout had to be kidding. Lani scowled and he really, really wanted to throw this kid, but considering he’d wasted whatever controlled power he had lifting the truck and not launching that into next week he couldn’t, not without knocking himself out. “You know you’re that pool little sap whose really rubbing me the wrong way.” He pointed out and his eyes flashed dangerously. Boy Scout should really learn when it was okay to bother someone and when it was best to just let everything go. Lani’s brows rose, well he’d heard that part and he really just hoped that his face was flushed enough that the increased color wasn’t noticeable, he liked to think he only liked it when Odion complimented his looks, but it wasn’t like he was mentally stable at the moment, so that was the excuse he was making.

Gray eyes widening in surprise Lani realized he needed to make a split second decision. He could either correct this kid, and probably give him a fake name, which at this point he’d probably have trouble keeping track of. Or he could let this kid think his name was Odion and risk the future wrath of the redhead. His eyes blurred as the memories came back painful and strong. No, he couldn’t be called Odion. That wasn’t right. He blinked his eyes clear and forced out a laugh. “Oh Boy Scout, for a telepath you’re really not that smart.” He smirked and decided he would do none of the above. It was a little bit unnerving that Boy Scout had picked up on his thought on Odion so prominently that he thought it was his name. “I don’t think I trust you to walk me home.” He said and started to turn then pointed a finger at Boy Scout. “You know it’s really rude to get some name from a head and start using it. Especially when you haven’t introduced yourself.” Maybe that would strike on his moral high ground. Good thing too because he got another attack of those body shaking coughs. Lani was dying, he had to be dying there was no other explanation for this hell. Or maybe he was already dead and hell was made of goddamn annoying telepaths. Why did the fates hate him?

[Greg Mackenzie]

Ok so maybe in retrospect lumping the blonde with hardened criminals (and all their supposed stereotypical traits) ‘cause he showed no remorse whatsoever when he took that sales associate’s wallet was a huge mistake on Greg’s part. After all, if Orange is the New Black taught him anything, these people were more than – way more than – just the crimes they may or may not have committed. That in judging the telekinetic with just one facet of his personality made the telepath like those people he hated, those that make seemingly false assumptions because it’s the easy way out. That as much as he’d like to think he’s very progressive and open to people in all walks of life, his very sheltered upbringing – because yes, he was one of those popular, never-malicious-if-I-ever-caused-trouble kids back in Banff – still made it a little hard for him to see how incredibly grey everything was really.

Not that he’d admit it out loud. Just ‘cause he had that realization didn’t mean he’s obligated to immediately atone for his ill gestures. Especially not to the blonde who’s currently still very rude to him despite only having the telekinetic’s best interest in mind.

Or at least that’s what Greg thought “Odion’s” best interest was anyway.

“Oh yeah, right. You’re Mr. Cool Renegade who always gets away. Does that mean you have a dorky, incompetent and annoying police detective arch enemy? Think you can let me meet him some time?” He made sure to up the sarcasm as he said the words, so much so that they almost seem venomous.

Was that a threat? On another day he’d genuinely been scared, but considering he saw – or at least, in a weird twisted sense of the word, felt – what lifting the car did so to the blonde, he’s fairly sure it was just a bluff. At least hopefully it was still just a bluff. ‘Cause stubborn little Greg had no plans of stopping just yet. “Yeah, threaten me again when you’re not feeling like a thousand jackhammers are hammering on your head and maybe then I’d feel shit my pants, even just a little.”

Part of him felt like he should’ve just let the blonde go after getting him out of the kerfuffle he got himself in with the car driver – since you know, he did have other plans when he went out of town for the day – but then it’d mean the blonde won and he can’t have that. Just. Can’t.

The smug expression did vanish from his face when the blonde began sounding so cocky and said that for a telepath, he wasn’t that smart. Just what did he mean by that? “Don’t worry, that’s what I have my looks for,” he said plainly, rolling his eyes and resisting the urge to peer in the boy’s head to know just what the sudden change in behaviour was all about. But he wouldn’t. He was just calling the telekinetic out on the unnecessary use of powers; peeking in the blonde’s mind would be an example of such and a small victory for the telekinetic. So no. “I’d rather be rude than sorry this time. I mean, who knows what you could do with my name. Rather not give you the knowledge sweetie.” He gave himself a mental high five for using ‘sweetie’ so seamlessly in a sentence. In a condescending way at that even. Oh how long had he waited for this. “Don’t worry, ‘walking you home’ is so not a euphemism for anything. Just ‘cause I said ‘stubborn ain’t sexy when you’re sick’ don’t mean I want to bump uglies.”

[Lani Hunter]

Though it was true that Lani was a far cry from what one might call a ‘hardened criminal’ but there was a certain extent to which Lani would probably be rather flattered. He was no Bill Mason, that was for certain, but on Lani’s credit he hadn’t been caught. Lani liked to think of himself as untouchable, as he supposed most thieves did. That was a dangerous thought and it got more people in trouble than not. Lani wasn’t exempt, he was cocky and he knew it, which sometimes made him take big risks and sometimes he was extremely lucky. If Lani was going to be famous he wanted it to be within the secret underground. Lani wasn’t used to people knowing that he was a thief, he blamed this telepath for the knowledge he possessed now. It was stolen information, not like Lani hadn’t traded in information before, but it felt so violating when his thoughts were taken. He supposed that made him a little hypocritical, but he really couldn’t care.

Just because Lani might like to think of himself as a hardened criminal it was frustrating when people looked at him as nothing but a criminal. Boy Scout was being a boy scout and he was pretending to be morally superior, at least in Lani’s mind he was acting about it. Lani knew better, he knew that everyone had secrets and he knew that even the most morally superior had their horrible flaws. He mentally swore, he was a brilliant actor, and this kid would never know if he hadn’t invaded Lani’s mind. The telekinetic narrowed his eyes at the thought and he wasn’t sure what was more sad; that he was brilliant at pretending he wasn’t a horrible person or that there were so few people who knew his true face that it required a telepath to break through his masks.

Lani’s expression was blank and bored as he looked at Boy Scout as if he was a silly child making up stories. Unfazed by the viciousness in the words Lani couldn’t help but feel like he was getting to the boy and that gave sick Lani a little pleasure. “Right. Someone’s been watching too many movies.” Admit to nothing, give nothing away for free. In so many ways how could Boy Scout say that he was any better, he was a thief in a very different and very intimate way to everyone around him. In his defense he didn’t have an enemy, he’d never officially been arrested for theft. He supposed that one could say the entirety of the Boston PD was his enemy, but then again he’d given them his boss and Lani’d gotten himself cleared. It had been the right move, he knew, but it make his life harder, he wasn’t an anonymous witness.

The telekinetic’s eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. If there was one thing that Lani hated it was his weaknesses being thrown back in his face. If Lani could have it his way, no one would ever know anything was bothering him but sickness was a little harder to hide. “You only get one warning, take it or leave it,” Lani replied with a nonchalant shrug. Lani might like to put up a front but he wasn’t normally a violent person, there were a few people who had gotten it out of him, but Lani knew that as a rule he was a much better flee-er than he was a fighter. It was decided, Lani was going to flatten Boy Scout when he got better. He was going to teach him how to pick his battles. He might have the upper hands now, but he was a fool in picking at Lani’s wounds when he was down because he’d remember and he didn’t much like his wounds being bothered. This illness wouldn’t last forever.

Lani made a show of looking Boy Scout up and down before giving his eyes a roll as he made an unimpressed face. In all honesty if he wasn’t being such an ass-hat he would be attractive, very in fact. He wasn’t Odion, and that was a definite mark against him, but he was definitely attractive. Lani wasn’t quite sure exactly how to deal with the situation he was in right now. Odion was here, but he’d shattered Lani’s heart and as much as Lani loved him he was terrified of being hurt again, by anyone. Sometimes Lani wanted to strangle the redhead, how dare he show back up here when Lani was getting better and dealing with what had happened between them. Other times Lani just wanted to hold him long into the night and thank whoever was listening upstairs that Odion was back. Lani’s casual raise of a brow quickly became a shooting up of both brows toward his hairline. And accompanying that a coughing attack. Sweetie? Oh, Lani was gonna kill him. Lani recovered quickly, using the coughing as a way to give himself a second to think. He recovered and shook his head, the swimming motion in his mind was getting a little hard to deal with. God, he hated this kid.

“Well,” he swallowed in an attempt to sooth his hoarse throat, he didn't want Lani to know his name, that was something Lani could respect, didn't mean he wouldn't find alternative ways of finding out, but he could respect that, he was after all using Odion's name as a shield. “You see we’ve reached an impasse. You don’t trust me, I don’t trust you. So you're gonna go on your own way now.” He said so as strongly as his sore throat let him, which was, much to Lani’s annoyance, not very strong at all. The explanation threw the telekinetic for a loop and he stared shocked at the douche nozzle for a moment. Lani wasn’t exactly sure how to deal with a statement like that. Lani wasn’t one of those people who was comfortable with blatant innuendoes, be they mocking or not. Shifting uncomfortably, Lani’s power reached out, his intention was to keep the kid in one place while he made a quick escape but those jackhammers started up all the worse and Lani’s head throbbed. “You…” Lani paused he wasn’t really sure what he wanted to say, he wanted to knock this kid on his ass, but his power had checked out. He couldn’t even see straight and it was getting really frustrating. Lani didn’t want this kid to know where he lived, Lani was a good actor, perhaps Boy Scout was as well and Lani didn’t trust him. “Listen you’ve done your good deed of the day, Boy Scout. Now, leave me the hell alone,” he snarled. He took a few steps back and turned, his arms crossed over his chest as he shivered with that strange hot and cold feverish feeling. All the while projecting venomous thoughts, not sure if Boy Scout was picking them up or not but feeling better for it anyways.

[Greg Mackenzie]

“Totally.” Greg responded to the telekinetic’s deadpan expression with one of his own, at least for a second or so, before winking and skating a good ten or so paces ahead of the blonde. “I also set the fire alarm whenever I fry eggs and I almost always forget to separate my colours and whites when I do my laundry. Definition of a total catch, if I can say so myself.” He stopped when he reached an intersection, turning to the blonde and putting his hands on his hips – his definition of a smug expression planted firmly on his face.

The telekinetic sending him daggers with his stare did nothing to break down Greg’s resolve. If anything, it only made him more determined to stick around until the boy got home. Or wherever he was heading, since he figured the telekinetic would at least be smart enough to realize that Greg’s not going anywhere so might as well mislead him. “I think I’ll leave it. No offense, but death threats just don’t work with my outfit.”

It’s probably best that Greg didn’t know that, well, Lani was planning on doing true to his promise. ‘Cause the only fight Greg’s been at was way back in kindergarten, when Susie Chapman wouldn’t share the alphabet blocks and he pulled her pigtails. Hard.

Sure he played lacrosse and it was pretty physical, but he almost always managed to evade a kerfuffle. Nobody really wanted to pick on the openly gay guy ‘cause they’d be branded a homophobe. Call his teammates – and opponents – surprisingly progressive, but that’s just how it was.

The blonde seemed to take his time to catch up to him, and in his boredom his mental tendrils unconsciously spread themselves out and a few of them latched onto the telekinetic. The thoughts weren’t exactly complete or coherent, but he picked up ‘asshat’, ‘attractive’, the image of a redhead and feelings of heartbreak. Typical teenage stuff, so he didn’t really give it much thought. There was a faint thought regarding a name, but he didn’t really catch it save for the last syllable. ‘Ni’. It said.

Eh. Probably something else.

“N’aww. Don’t think an impasse works that way,” he shrugged, absentmindedly checking his phone to see what time it was and saw a text message, “And unless you have something better in mind, I’m not going anywhere. I don’t have homework, and my roommate just told me that he’d be having someone over so if it wasn’t too much to ask, we shouldn’t go back until it was late. Last time I checked, it was still early.”

[Lani Hunter]

Lani inhaled sharply counting to ten and trying to reason with himself why he didn’t destroy this kid. He couldn’t think fast enough with his brain baking in this fever dream. The pain and discomfort had rid him of any ounce of patience he had and now Lani was starting to wonder if he shouldn’t have taught this kid a lesson way back when. Then again, the telekinetic had had no intention of ever having to see this kid again. Lani scoffed giving a roll of his eyes and muttering darkly under his breath as he kid skated out ahead. Lani really wished he had his hoodie now, at least then he could cover his head and face and glare from the safety of the darkened hood. Lani dragged his feet wondering if the kid would keep going but to his great misfortune Boy Scout stopped. How was it even possible to be this unlucky?

“Sounds like you’re pretty pathetic on your own,” he commented with a mocking smile. Not that Lani was a good cook. Not at all. Lani could survive on his own. He didn’t need anyone. He narrowed his eyes, not even Odion. He’d always taught himself to do things on his own, Odion had shown him it was okay to need help, but then they’d broken up and Lani’d crashed and reverted back to his former ideas. Odion was back now and Lani was so confused and hurt and happy, he didn’t want to need help. He couldn’t rely on anyone. Least of all this smartass with that dumb expression on his face. By this point in time, Lani figured he was late for class anyways, he only wanted to go home now, he was sure his professors would understand, this had been going around. However, Lani wouldn’t let this kid know where he lived and that made his life really horrible. ‘Mr. Helpful’ was actually preventing Lani from doing the only thing he really wanted to right now, which was crawl into bed and hibernate.

Giving Boy Scout a look that showed Lani couldn’t comprehend what was going on in this kid’s head, the telekinetic shook his head, “Idiot.” It was almost sad, Lani thought, this kid really had no idea what he was getting into. Lani’d already decided, it would be easy. He’d be subtle at first. This kid was young, a telepath, therefore he must go to Hammel. Well, part of Lani’s deal here was that he was working on his power still, he wasn’t technically in complete control, it was just good enough that Hammel had let him graduate with the promise that he’d keep training. Which he had, and he had been doing very well, since with Odion gone he’d had no need for emotions. He’d gotten very good control. But damn it all, Odion was back and all of the emotions would not be swallowed down and he was back to square one. It turned out, shutting out his emotions was only a temporary control fix. However, that wasn’t the point, the point was that he was still going to Hammel every few weeks or so, it would be extremely easy to get into the records, find a name and a room and then Lani could start having some real fun.

Knowing he was facing a telepath Lani carefully skirted the details of the plan, deciding to think more on it later, just in case the Boy Scout was listening in. He couldn’t have his plans being ruined. “Really?” Lani drawled, did this kid just make up in his head how the world worked? He saw an opening when the boy checked his phone. Lani groaned dramatically. “What did I do to deserve this?” He growled rolling his eyes skyward. If there was a God he had a horrible sense of humor. “I have something better. Why don’t you and you’re little—” Lani sneezed unexpectedly and groaned unhappily as it made his whole body ache and his cough start anew. It took a few moment for him to recover but he was intent on finishing that statement. “Why don’t you take your little board and go play in traffic?” There had to be some way of getting away from this kid. Lani looked up at the street sign and an idea struck him. He looked to the left and a plan formulated in his mind. And no one thought he was good at improvising. He rolled his eyes and groaned. “You’re really not going to leave me alone are you?” He asked figuring he already knew the answer.

With a sigh that made it look like sick Lani was tiring of fighting and giving up, he turned down the street. Fine, two could play at this game. Lani knew the location of all of the abandoned buildings in Pilot Ridge and the name of this street reminded him of the abandoned building his boss used to use. They had cleared out a year or so ago and no one had ever taken it back up. If the kid was going to be satisfied with Lani entering a building then that was what Lani would do, if not, well Lani always had backup plans in place. Boy Scout already didn’t trust him, so why give him any reason to do so at all. It was probably best, safer for everyone if they maintained this level of distrust between them, and also a great deal of mutual dislike.