Me? Avoiding You? Pfft. (Closed)

[Mason McQueen]

Mason insists that it’s not about him avoiding Sam on purpose, no; he claims that he was never that type of person and it’d be crazy to think that he’d be doing that to anyone, much less his best friend. Instead, he says, that life just got a bit too busy for him lately. Midterms are just around the corner so not only did he have to make the tests, he had to make sure they covered all the topics that had to be covered, as well as giving his students their marks early so they kind of know where they stand before doing the midterms.

And considering how much of a crammer he is, well, life did get a little too hard for comfort.

He could’ve actually endured hiding from not seeing Sam for a little while had something not came up. Or rather, had someone not came up. Heaven knows he’s really not the best guy when it comes to things like these (he believes Flo was just nice enough to let him have a go; an ego boost, as it was). He could’ve easily asked some of his coworkers (John, Evgeny, Tim even) but he’s not quite sure it’d be the best course of action, considering she was part of the faculty. (Not that he thinks they’d spread rumours, but more along the lines of he’d feel a bit awkward since he’s not really that close to them). Levi would’ve been a good candidate, but the man’s been somewhat in the dumps lately and he’s not sure he’s well enough for Mason to dump something this big on him.

So Wednesday night he invited the man over (Levi said he’d be out doing some repairs again, so he can’t come) for his self-defence classes, driving by his house to pick him up. “Hey Sam!” he grinned as he honked, hoping his enthusiasm would mask the small guilt he’s feeling inside, “Done looking pretty? You’d be sweating so hard at the end anyway, so believe me when I say it’s no use. Josef’s good that way.” And no, he didn’t realize what people might infer from what he just said.

It’s been almost two months anyway. Surely Sam would’ve forgiven him for sleeping with his little sister, right?

ooc:
Eeep. A little crappeh. Sorry. =P.
- Jam

[Sam Caraway]

Sam knew exactly why he hadn’t seen Mason recently – he had made a few lucky guesses during a conversation with Kali about why she had been so smiley one morning, and had come to a rather disturbing conclusion: his best friend had seduced his little sister.

Sure, he knew that Kali was a grown-up. But there were some things a man never stopped doing, and one of those was looking out for the safety of one’s smallest relative – Sam had done his fair share of putting strange and unlucky curses on other people during their school years, all because they had done something horrible to Kali. Luckily, they had never associated upsetting her and suddenly losing every scrap of their homework.

So even though Sam knew that Kali was old enough now to look after herself, there was still something inside him which couldn’t help but want to punch Mason in the face. Irrational, he knew, but it was there – no matter how much Mason meant to him, he couldn’t help but feel that the other man had crossed some sort of line. There was no reason at all for him to feel this, but it was still there, niggling away. In sweat pants and a t-shirt (Sam, being the under-exercised man he was, had been required to buy sports’ clothes just for this session), he walked up to Mason’s car, pulled open the passenger door, and sat himself down.

Disregarding Mason’s little speech (he hadn’t even yet succeeded in connecting the name ‘Josef’ with the words ‘self-defence class’) Sam fixed him with as serious a gaze as he could manage. ‘Mason,’ he began, guessing that his best friend had been hoping that Sam hadn’t heard about what had happened. ‘I just want to make something clear to you.’ His tone was conversational. ‘If you ever take advantage of my baby sister again, I will make sure that you trip over every kerb you walk up to, for the rest of your life. All the food you eat will give you salmonella poisoning. Your car will break down. Your credit cards will be refused in every store. There will be a power cut whenever you walk into a room. I can make your life really crappy, Mason, so you better behave yourself from now on.’

Sam had been inching closer to Mason all the way through this monologue, and by the time he was finished they were almost nose to nose. But, threatening completed, he suddenly smiled and moved away, leaning back in the car seat. ‘I hope you understand why I had to do that,’ he told Mason, his easy grin back on his face. ‘And I’ll probably do it again sometime. But on the plus side, I think this does show that you’re making progress – it’s healthy behaviour, dude.’ He smirked. ‘And I’m proud of you: you managed to pull a girl all by yourself.’

When people talk about unpredictable mood swings, they’re talking about Sammy Caraway.

(Oi, stop apologising. )

[Mason McQueen]

Mason knew it was coming. He was hoping it wouldn’t, but really, how can it not happen? It was his sister after all. Sam might be a little too carefree for Mason’s comfort, but heaven knows he cares for Kali more than anything. That, and Mason feels like he did somehow cross that unspoken line that comes with being best friends with someone. So all in all, he knows he’s been a jerk (for once in his life, an achievement really) and he does deserve to be scolded.

So Mason simply kept a low head as Sam talked, even though his tone was surprisingly none threatening.

At least until Sam’s voice changed to the familiar you-broke-the-rules?-oh-I’m-so-proud-of-you tone. With which Mason replied with an obviously confused and completely baffled stare.

“Wait, so you’re not mad at me? You mean we’re still friends?” Well, Sam wouldn’t exactly agree if they weren’t wouldn’t he? But then again, the man just needs confirmation that there is still redemption in what he did. “Oh god! I’m so sorry Sam!” Without much thought he threw himself around his best friend, hugging him tight. “And I said sorry to Kali already. I shouldn’t have gone drinking in the first place. I’m so sorry.” He realized that he might’ve been squishing his best friend too tightly a few minutes after, so he did release the man from his grasp, giving him a pat on the shoulder as he went back to his seat. “This is why you shouldn’t let me go drinking alone. Remember that time in Chicago when we were 21?”

It wasn’t as bad as sleeping with Kali, but in Mason’s eyes, it was just as bad (or even worse). ‘Cause really, it’s rather hard deciding which is worse – sex with another man or sleeping with your best friend’s sister (and forgetting to use, or even bring, a condom).

With his engine already going, Mason stepped on the gas and began driving through the town. “But yeah, hopefully you won’t be vanishing anytime soon so you can join me and Levi on a regular basis.” The man’s unfortunately feeling under the weather so he can’t join him and Sam. “And I think you’ll like Josef. He’s really a nice guy. Though I think he doesn’t appreciate me and Levi asking him to spar with either of us almost every week.” Which meant that two men have bets almost every time.

ooc:
Please feel free to make Sam elaborate (if he wants to) on the said Chicago incident. Or even make him think of something even worse. XD.
- Jam

[Sam Caraway]

At Mason’s questions, Sam just rolled his eyes and gave a mock-exasperated sigh. ‘Of course not,’ he replied sarcastically, a smirk twitching at the corner of his mouth. ‘We can never be friends again. I hate you.’ Years of practise had helped Sam get exactly the right tone for deadpan – even someone like Mason, who didn’t always seem to be able to work out when Sam was joking, would be able to guess that he was making fun. He patted the other man on the back during the hug, unable to stifle his laughter. ‘You know, I considered sleeping with your little brother to get my own back – fortunately for you, he’s not my type,’ Sam made a face. ‘Besides, the wings would get in the way.’ Because Mason needed that particular image in his head – Sam hadn’t quite decided to go easy on his friend. Not just yet.

Apologies only made Sam sigh again. ‘You need to get over this guilt about having sex, bro,’ he confided in his friend after the hug was over (Sam had learned after a few years that the only thing to do when Mason wanted to hug you was to sit back and hope he wouldn’t crush all the air out of you – as a result, he was able to continue with a conversation as if nothing had happened). ‘I blame the religiosity in your upbringing. There’s nothing wrong with it, OK?’

They had had ‘The Talk’ in Sam and Mason’s days at school, and Sam had some particularly amusing memories of Mason’s expressions during the lecture on the facts of life. The other boy hadn’t been able to breathe, he’d been so embarrassed.

It probably hadn’t helped that Sam had decided to be of assistance to his best friend by drawing little diagrams of whatever was being talked about – for Mason’s benefit, of course. If Sam’d been told about the recent prank pulled during a Talk at Hammel, he would only have been irritated that he hadn’t had the wherewithal to put that one together himself.

‘Uh-uh,’ Sam held up a hand to forestall any further comments on the topic of Chicago. ‘What happened on that night stays on that night,’ he told his friend with a grin. ‘I don’t need to be reminded.’ It had been a good night – for him, at least. Mason, on the other hand, had needed a month to recover. ‘I guess I’ll just have to make sure you never drink alone again. I’ll always be there, watching you…’ He widened his eyes, before spluttering into laughter.

God, it felt good to be here. Sam had forgotten how it felt to just stop acting for five minutes, and be himself.

‘Josef?’ the name sparked something inside Sam’s brain, and it took only a couple of seconds for him to pair the facts he knew with their outing. ‘Would that be Josef Muller?’ Interesting. Sam had wondered if they would bump into each other any time soon, and here they were – or were about to be, at any rate.

[Mason McQueen]

“Screw you,” Mason whined, sticking his tongue out to his best friend as he punched him in the arm. He couldn’t just let Sam get away with that one after all, even though he knows Sam’s completely kidding (he’d always insisted that it was his naïveté that helped Sam perfect that tone). “Hasn’t it been established already that you’ll be receiving the shorter end of the stick should we decide to break up?”

At the mention of Sam sleeping with his brother however (or at least when he started saying something about Paul’s wings), the man flailed in his seat, covering his ears and sending Sam the most ferocious glare he could ever do (which translates to totally not scary). “Eff you-“ -because that’s the closest Mason can get when it comes to cursing- “-I’ve already heard enough from him when he brings someone home, now you have to give me an image to go along with it?” If only his housing situation’s reversed, he would totally insist his brother install soundproof padding in his room; Paul’s such a screamer. “Though I doubt you’d be able to bed him. He has relatively high standards after all,” he said with a smug grin.

Since he already received forgiveness from Sam, trying to snark back at him would be a lot easier now. (That doesn’t mean his quips would be witty enough though).

“Yeah, I should, I think.” And while he’s already rebelled about a number of things his parents’ brainwashed him with (Paul’s orientation, for one; tattoos and piercings are another), casual sex is just something he can’t get himself to be at ease with. He’s got nothing against it when it comes to other people, but when it involves him, it suddenly transforms into some kind of taboo. “But it’s not just that. To be honest, I think I took, err, advantage of your sister.” Boy was that hard to say in front of Sam or what. “I mean, I was so wasted and she just let me crash the night. I…yeah.”

There are no words, as they say.

Drinking with Sam doesn’t seem like such a bad idea really. With someone to look out for, Mason thinks he’d be able to remember his limit more, and learn how to say no. And besides, Sam’s not really that bad of a drinking partner. Maybe he could even pull Levi with them some time. “Just as long as you don’t start any unnecessary bar fights,” he nodded as he made a right turn.

“Yeah, you know him?” That’s oddly amazing. If Sam knew Levi too, then he’d be damned. “Where’d you met him? I would say why didn’t you mention it before, but I didn’t really ask, so,” the man said with a shrug.

A few minutes later and they finally arrived in front of Josef’s building. “Ready to have your butt kicked Caraway?”

[Sam Caraway]

‘Aw, c’mon Stevie,’ (and that’s Stevie as in Steve, as in McQueen. Remember? Keep up!), Sam grinned at his friend. ‘We’ll never break up. We’re the perfect couple.’ He reached over to ruffle his friend’s hair, doing his best to mess it up as much as he could in the short time they had before they would need to park. Mason’s reactions to the rather unfortunate image of Sam sleeping with his brother made Sam laugh, before fixing Mason with a mock-offended gaze. ‘Of course I could get into bed with him,’ Sam told the other man, looking upset that Mason had even implied that such a thing was beyond his power. ‘I’m irresistible. Don’t you know that? After all the times I’ve shown you my considerable skills of seduction…’ It was, Sam considered, his major fault as a friend: he was perfectly willing to ditch someone if he found a girl to go off with.

Sam tilted his head on one side, regarding Mason with inquisitive blue eyes. It was true that casual wasn’t for everyone: ‘Well, I guess some people just aren’t made for it,’ he postulated. He must be going soft if he was saying things like this, but he did know it was true. A lot of people Sam knew always seemed fine, and then ended up crying about the ‘emotions’ a few nights later.

Sam had very little time for that kind of thing.

‘Mason,’ Sam turned around in his seat until he was facing his friend. ‘Do you remember the first rule I taught you about pulling pranks? Get You Story Straight. That applies here, bro.’ Sometimes he wondered if Mason would ever learn. ‘You either did seduce her, or you didn’t.’ He paused for a moment, and then his eyes took on a curious expression. ‘And did you tell my sister that I’m gay? Because I’ve been with more girls than you, L’Oreal.’ Kali had made a few comments recently, and Sam needed to know exactly what Mason had told her.

Ah, Josef Muller… ‘We met last week,’ Sam told Mason, smiling a little ruefully at the memory. The black eye had faded, although he still had a large plaster on his hand. ‘I was having a Bad Luck Day, and I ended up spilling his beer all over myself.’ All things considered, it had been a good meeting. Or at least, an interesting one. Sam didn’t usually run into self-defence gurus in the normal course of things, and this would give him another chance to work out exactly what Josef’s little theory about him was. The older man definitely seemed to think something was strange the last time they had seen each other.

When they had parked the car, Sam opened the door and threw his friend a bright, amused grin. ‘I think you’ll be the one walking away from this with bruises…’

[Mason McQueen]

Once upon a time (i.e. when he was still a teenager), Mason would definitely have minded having his hair ruffled. Ever since knowing that his power was in his hair, he has taken extra good care of it, spending about two-thirds of his bathroom time just on shampooing and conditioning it (despite what Sam had insisted a thousand times over when they’re still roommates). But then as he grew older, he knew that simple grunts wouldn’t really deter his best friend away so he’s developed a new technique to get his filthy hands off his locks: have them move to counteract whatever Sam was doing.

So when the probability manipulator ruffled his hair, he willed a few strands to extend a bit and hold Sam’s hand in place, while a few went on to try and tickle his palm. Not quite sure if it’ll work, but hey, he can try.

“It never worked on me,” said the man with a smug grin. That is, if one ignores the fact that Mason couldn’t really stay angry at Sam for a day no matter how grave the man’s sin against him is, or that despite claiming he’s disappointed in the Caraway boy, he’d still stand up for him should the need arise. “And those girls were way too easy anyway. Even I could pick them up in a bad day.”

Mason learns, but apparently not in that respect. Which is probably why when they’re already old and forgetful, living in nursing homes and needing someone to wiped their drool off their mouths after speaking, the man would still need Sam to remind him that hitting on that blonde nurse less than half their age isn’t really all that bad. “Fine, I didn’t,” he said with a huff. Living without blame is better after all. But then he’d be putting in on Kali’s shoulders, and well, he’s not quite sure he’s ok with that either.

Why does life have to be so complicated?

“What? No,” he snapped back, obviously lying, “Well, not exactly.” He turned to give Sam his biggest, sweetest and most idiotic please-don’t-kill-me smile. “I may have told her you’ve had boyfriends before. But I was drunk!” Not that it changes anything. “And I didn’t tell her a number anyway. It could be just one, two, twenty-five for all she cares.” Also when he told Kali ‘boyfriend’ by that time, he might’ve used it to be an umbrella word for romantic and simply carnal relationships.

“Hey, I thought we stopped counting when you reached thirty and I’m still at five?” Last time he checked though, Sam’s number had almost doubled and his was barely reaching ten.

“Bad Luck Day? Oooh. Glad I wasn’t around you then.” He’s suffered enough during their time in Hammel after all, when Sam’s power was more sporadic and totally out of control. He can still remember that particular Bad Luck Day when his pillows burst spontaneously, his pen squirted black ink on his favourite white shirt and he tripped, face-first, while talking to his then-crush Victoria. All because he was in Sam’s vicinity. “Though something tells me you don’t actually think it was a particularly bad day, was it?” he asked with a smirk.

“Pfft. Don’t flatter yourself Caraway. Who do you turn to again whenever an angry boyfriend chases after you?” And with a tongue stuck out, Mason decided to finally leave it at that.

He dragged Sam over to the guy on his desk, grinning widely as he waved. “Hey Josef, I brought a friend over. I’d introduce him, but seems you already knew each other. That, and Levi’s sorry he can’t come. House repairs, he said.”

ooc:
Sorry if it's laaate. And rather crappy. D;.
- Jam

[Josef Muller]

It was quiet. Really quiet.

Josef loved it.

There were no students for the class today. Normally, that would be a bad sign. It meant students weren’t coming in, and Josef’s carefully-budgeted income could take a dip. But with the extra lessons with Sloane, still no help, and the delightful discovery that assumed muscle memory could even be used for sewing purposes, Josef wasn’t worried about money.

He was worried about sleep. Oh, and general health. A sturdy man who had always eaten well, he’d dropped ten pounds since he’d left William. Muscle had turned to lean, and although he was more fit than he thought he’d ever been (even counting his college football experience), he didn’t care. His sleep hours had been cut, he’d been living off of ramen and meals he prepped on Sunday (his only day off), and all in all, Josef thought he was completing phase two of the American Dream: working himself to death.

There was a bell attached to the door. It was loud enough to wake him up. So he’d decided to doze for his hour break, or until students ended up coming in. And that was how Mason and Sam would have found him—feet propped on the desk, slouched down in his chair, and his chin tucked onto his chest.

To his credit, he didn’t start awake as they entered. He didn’t tumble out of the chair, although judging by the way he gripped the edges, it was a close thing. Instead, his head jerked up, and he stared at the two, blinking the fogginess from his eyes, before moving slowly to his feet.

“Ah, Mason.” He even managed to sound fairly awake. He mentally congratulated himself for awake to functioning in the shortest time over, then took that back as the other man’s words went right in one ear and out the other. And the other one looked awfully familiar…

“Oh, Sam Caraway!” He flashed a grin before he realized that was Not Done to students and regained his Zen, guru-like composure that was really sleepiness masked with a healthy layer of mysticism. Josef had never believed in the lifestyle that went with karate. After you learned more than one form and made a business of it, it was kind of hard to. Sam looked different from the night they’d met—it was the general, better appearance. He hadn’t forgotten his original theory, and was encouraged to see him there. Maybe he was willing to start doing something about his situation. Or maybe he wasn’t even abused. He’d never really managed to figure that one out…

“I’m sorry to hear that Levente couldn’t make it,” he added, looking back at Mason. “I hope he’s doing all right, and let him know that I can adjust times for you two to come in to adjust to his schedule, if needed.” Which just meant less sleep and more ramen, but on the plus, once he balanced his schedule, he could afford to eat out every night of the week…God. “But does this mean that I won’t have any more shenanigans in my class this time?” He glanced back at Sam. “Or are you just as bad?”

A faint smile indicated he was teasing. Teaching Mason and Levente had really eroded the formalities he’d tried to cultivate at first.

[Sam Caraway]

Despite the fact that Sam had a very high tolerance for ‘strange’ things (you had to, when you came from a family of meta-humans), one thing he had never been able to come to grips with was the idea of Mason’s power. Hair was not something Sam was overly keen on – he was fine when it was on a person, but when it was independent of a body he suddenly regarded it as something to be feared and avoided. The idea of having to share a bathroom with someone was one which struck terror into his heart: stray hairs on the side of the sink were Sam’s idea of a nightmare. So when Mason made his hair start to move, Sam gave a very undignified yelp of anxiety.

Well, it wasn’t so much a yelp…more a girly scream.

‘Let me go! Let go!’ Sam tugged his hand, forgetting for a moment that he could hurt his friend. ‘That’s disgusting! Bro, let me go!’ When he was released, Sam gave several full-body shudders of horror, wiping his hand on his sweat pants in the hope of forgetting the sensation. Sam regarded Mason with a mixture of terror and threatening laughter. ‘No social skills.’ He told the other man. ‘You’re weird. Weird. I don’t like you any more.’

But, as usual, it wasn’t long before he was smiling again. His charm had never worked on Mason? ‘That’s just ‘cause I never turned on the charm with you.’ Sam replied smugly. ‘If I really tried, you’d be violently in love with me.’ But then again, Sam was pretty much convinced that most people he met were violently in love with him after having known him for just a few hours at most.

He decided to ignore the fact that Mason had mentioned ‘boyfriends’ to Kali for now, although he didn’t let his friend off the hook without a raised eyebrow – his disappointed expression. Sam liked women more than men, for the most part, but he was very secure with the fact that he did like men. He just hadn’t planned on letting his family know that until they really needed to, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about Kali knowing. Loss of control over a situation was not something Sam enjoyed.

Sam gave Mason a coy smile in reply to his insinuations about Josef, busying himself with getting out of the car. ‘Hi,’ he said to the older man as Mason introduced him, offering a faintly self-mocking salute by way of greeting. He couldn’t help it: there was a calculated amount of humour in his smile, the smile he used when he wanted to flirt. Josef was fun to flirt with, from what he remembered, and he wanted to enjoy himself. The instructor’s welcome was actually quite reassuring, although Sam would be the first to admit that he didn’t know anything about the way people were supposed to act when teaching karate: for a moment he was thrown mentally off-balance by Josef’s sudden composure.

Then he grinned. ‘I taught Mason everything he knows,’ he informed Josef in reply to his question, trying to keep innuendo to a minimum. He was on his best behaviour, after all. ‘Except his bad manners,’ Sam added, resisting the urge to shudder as he recalled the feeling of Mason’s hair against his hand. He shot Mason a dirty look, just to remind him that he didn’t play fair. For a moment he was tempted to ask if using one’s hair was an illegal move in karate, but he didn’t know if this man knew that Mason was a meta – and as he himself was so careful about telling people, he didn’t want to give anyone else away.

[Mason McQueen]

Mason insists that the tugging wasn’t really all that painful. Sure it was a bit irritating, but it wasn’t debilitating at any level. His scalp’s used to it; while his power only involves the hair on his head, his scalp had to develop and become stronger and more resilient than an average person’s scalp to enable him to do feats with his hair after all. Very much like the reason why he has no hair (aside from the normal amount) anywhere else in his body.

And besides, the uneasy look on his best friend’s face made everything worth it.

“That should keep those filthy, slimy hands of yours off my hair,” he chuckled as he continued to drive, turning right when they passed the Elaine’s store. He simply shook his head when Sam told him he had no social skills, happily saying, “Don’t blame me. Not my fault your lessons weren’t as effective as you thought they were.”

“And besides, if having no social skills means being able to score a third date with my co-teacher (that is not Flo), then I’d happily be a cranky old hermit all my life.” He insists his dates/summer fling with Flo counts. No matter what Sam says. (It was not a series of pity dates! D;)

Once in, he noticed the sudden change in Sam’s demeanour. Gone was rowdy, loud and overall rambunctious Sam but instead, the guy with him now seems a bit more refined and smooth while retaining that signature cocky flair. (Or at least that’s how Mason sees it). He’s been with the Caraway man to know what it means – the man’s flirting.

Which made Mason suddenly snort laugh, covering his mouth with his hands to control and calm himself down.

“No, no, the current schedule’s fine,” Mason smiled, waving off Josef’s offer, “It’s Levi. Said the repair was urgent and all that.” Mason was pretty much set on how his week goes and would rather not it be changed for the foreseeable future. Heaven knows how long the ‘conditioning’ period will last this time. “Nope. No shenanigans for me this time.” How many times had he and Levi said that to Josef again? “I can’t say the same for Sam though.” He leaned in closer to whisper, “He’s a bit too…excitable. Sorry.” Maybe Levi should start banning Mason from bringing anyone over next time.

“Yeah. ‘Cause clearly those pranks were all me,” chuckled the taller man, rolling his eyes as he took a step back, excusing himself to change. “I’ll leave you two for a bit then?”

ooc:
Late and crappy. I apologize. >.<
- Jam

[Josef Muller]

Josef wouldn’t have known that Sam’s smile was special in any way. He probably would have been skeptical that it was, and especially that it was directed specifically at him. Although he did return it. Just a slight upturning of the corners of his mouth, but he was definitely smiling. It widened at the salute, and he offered the other man another nod. “Nice to see you here, Sam.”

Yeah. He’d given up on the last name thing pretty fast.

“And are you sure that’s a good thing?” Now he grinned, but only briefly before regaining his somewhat aloof composure. He had to try to maintain some semblance of order after all. It was only the three of them now, but what about later? No, best to be careful on this one.

He turned his attention back to Mason quickly. “Ah, well, I’m sorry to hear that. I hope he manages to come later.” He smiled again at Mason’s response to the shenanigans question, but like always, the little arched brow indicated he didn’t believe him. And what sane man would? They always said they weren’t up to any shenanigans, but there was no way he was going to trust them. Not yet at least. “Is he now?” he said, brows moving higher up at the whispered comment. He eyed Sam for a moment, then winked at him before looking back at Mason. “I think it takes one to know one, Mason.”

It wasn’t good policy to tease the students, but Josef didn’t know another way to manage it. They were close enough in age where pretending to be an authority figure didn’t work for him. Still…

“I’m just kidding,” he said. “You’re not a bad student at all, and you’re learning fast. Go ahead.” It was also true. Josef was sparing with his praise for exactly that reason. He nodded back to the locker rooms, trying to ignore the implications that Mason sounded like he had just set him up.

Okay, he couldn’t ignore it. Leave them alone? So Sam was not seeing anyone and so was therefore likely not abused? And how old was he, five?

Clearly, he no longer knew what to do with being single. Instead of overthinking it, as he thought he was really likely to do, he turned to look at the other man and offered him another smile, resisting the urge to say Not subtle, is he?

“It’s nice to see you again,” he said. “How’s your hand? You’re looking better, too—bad luck finally clear out?” He thought it would. Men like Sam Caraway wouldn’t stay unlucky for long.

((It is awesome, as always Jam.xD))

[Sam Caraway]

‘I’m just impressed that she didn’t run away screaming on your first date, Hairy Mary,’ Sam looked over at Mason in mock-pity. ‘She must have a very strong stomach. Are you sure there’s nothing wrong with her? Maybe she’s blind…’ But he kept his hands very firmly away from the reach of Mason’s hair. Teasing was all very well, but he didn’t want another traumatizing experience.

But once inside, it seemed like Mason was going to be able to get his own back – by behaving exactly as Sam would have behaved in the same situation.

See, this was the only problem with someone knowing you as well as Mason knew Sam – after a while, you had to work twice as hard to conceal things from them. Sam could pull the wool over anyone’s eyes, but when it came to doing the same to Mason it was at least five times more difficult. The other man could simply read him like a book. It was the main reason Sam had always refused to play poker against his best friend – Sam would win, of course, but if he ever attempted to bluff then Mason would see through him in a minute.

So when Mason hardly bothered to conceal his snort of amusement, Sam could only give him what he hoped was a well-hidden nudge in the ribs with his elbow.

He had attempted while at school – through a detailed program of lectures and practical lessons – to instil a sense of subtlety in Mason. Unfortunately for Sam, Mason had either refused to take any of the advice on board, or just had no gift for something like that. Sam could see that he was going to need to resume the education. He watched his friend leave with a raised eyebrow, before turning to Josef with a distinctly amused expression. For a moment he was tempted to shout something after Mason (something like, say, ‘You still slept with my sister, so I’m still going to kick your ass!’) but he decided that to do such a thing would be immature, and greatly diminish his chances with Josef. And Sam was surprised to realise that he really didn’t want to do that.

Instead, he settled for: ‘Subtlety has never been Mason’s strong suit,’ unaware that he was echoing Josef’s own thoughts. Then his smile became warmer. ‘Good to see you too,’ he replied, holding up his injured hand to show Josef how well it was healing. ‘Thanks again for patching me up.’ He felt much more comfortable this time around – probably because he didn’t currently have to worry about knocking over another drink, or accidentally starting a fire.

‘My luck’s returned,’ Sam told Josef with a smirk. ‘I hope it stays with me. Mason is determined that he’s God’s gift to martial arts – should I be scared?’ He looked around, regarding the building with interest. ‘So once Rapunzel gets back from the locker room, what are we going to do?’ Sam tried not to let his inexperience show – and realised too late that he had used one of his hair-related nicknames for Mason.

Oops.

[Mason McQueen]

Maybe she’s blind?

Why does everyone keep on asking if Summer’s blind? Mason knows it’s only just his best friends jesting, but he finds it odd that they both say the same thing. Were they talking behind his back?

Just thinking about it scares him a bit.

“Pfft. You’re just jealous ‘cause I have better luck than you,” he said with a huff, “Sloane mentioned you bumped into each other a few days ago. Reverted back to your seventeen year-old self back then?” A weak comeback, but it works. At least in the man’s mind it does.

As it was though, the whole discussion about Sam’s supposed tryst with Sloane has to wait. Especially since Sam has another fling to focus on.

“Like Sam said, he did teach me everything,” smirked the man, winking at the two guys as he headed off to the locker rooms. He found it oddly amusing being able to use Sam’s words against him. Is Sam just being sloppy because he’s around Josef, or is he becoming good at the whole witty retort thing? Either way, he’s not complaining. He just hopes his ‘luck’ will continue ‘till the end. “Be back real quick!”

No matter how hard he tries though, Mason would always be a little child inside. Which is why despite the fact that he’s already being tagged as Captain Obvious by both Josef and Sam, he still thinks he’s still being sneaky, snickering to himself as he changed. And yes, he did take a whole lot longer than he usually does. As if Josef or Sam won’t notice.

Coming out of the room with a little skip to his step and a big wide grin (he thinks he’s helped the two settle things while he’s gone, as if), he casually put his arm over his best friend’s shoulder and put the other on his waist. “Sam hasn’t been talking bad about me, wasn’t he?”

[Josef Muller]

As he stared after Mason’s retreating back, he couldn’t help wonder if those words were supposed to be less awkwardly meant than they sounded. Probably. Because the thought of Sam teaching Mason everything was terrifying.

But his brows climbed at the unconscious echo of his own thoughts, but then he smiled wryly instead and shook his head. “No. I’d agree with that one. But he’s a good man. I guess subtlety isn’t always required for that.” But judging by the warm smile, the other man didn’t seem to mind. His own mouth, treacherously leaning toward a grin, seemed to indicate the same He eyed the injured hand with the critical eye of an expert, then met Sam’s gaze again. “It wasn’t a problem. Glad to hear it’s healing up well. And that your good luck returns.” A flash of a grin again. “I didn’t doubt that it would.” But he was quickly suppressed back into the Zen-guru-composure. Calm. He was supposed to be a teacher, right? Well, he was currently failing at acting like one. And continued to do so as he laughed at the thought of Mason being god’s gift to karate. That wasn’t fair to the other man. Really.

“Nah. I think you’ll be fine. He’s not bad, but I wouldn’t go that far. Uh, Rapunzel?”

Josef went under the assumption that everyone in Pilot Ridge was meta, so it wouldn’t have surprised him about Mason’s gift. But he couldn’t figure out why Mason would be named after the long-haired princess with a gruesome backstory, of all people. Still, he dismissed it with a shrug and continued.

“Well, we’ll start out with some stretches. Then some basic moves so I can figure out where you’re at, training wise. And then Mason likes to spar sometimes.” Josef looked like he wasn’t so thrilled about this, but it had been a quiet day. And customers were always right.

It took Mason an unusually long time to return, and the instructor gave him a look that said, I know what you did, and I will get back at you for that, then smiled. “A lot of things. I think some might be summed up as bad. You’ll have to ask him.” He grinned at Sam, then moved back to the mat. “Shall we start with stretching, then? Sam, have any experience with self-defense or karate at all? If so, what did you want to work on?”

[Sam Caraway]

‘Long story,’ Sam offered in return to Josef’s query about his rather odd nickname for Mason. If Josef knew what Mason’s meta ability was, he would probably have put two and two together – so he probably wasn’t aware. Sam realised that he hadn’t reminded Mason not to blow his cover. He probably didn’t even need to be this paranoid about it, but there was always the possibility that something could be overheard.

The smile Sam gave to Mason as the other man returned was a completely sweet one, the smug smirk Sam had perfected after a lifetime of smiling at people when he had succeeded in something they hadn’t. It was the smile Sam used when he was letting someone know that he had one up on them, or when he had pulled a prank and they were punished for it. It was a smile that Mason should, by all accounts, fear – but he would hopefully know that it referred to Sam’s success at talking to Josef without doing something stupid. It was a ‘see? I told you so’ expression, and Sam took great pleasure in using it when Josef replied to Mason.

At Josef’s question, Sam couldn’t help but grin. ‘The closest I get to self-defence is running very fast in the opposite direction,’ he confessed with a wry smile. ‘I can throw a punch, but I’ve never had any real training.’ When Sam had first gone to Vegas, he had been involved in more than his fair share of fights over card games (this was before he had learned the fine art of misdirection, and people had spotted that he was often fixing the deck), but that had been enough years ago that his skills had been going rusty.

For the last six years, Sam had been cheating people who were definitely not the kind of people to have a fight with you – if they had a problem, it would be sorted out by the fists of paid people, who could hurt you in as many places as they wanted to. Luckily for Sam, he had never pissed anyone off that much. The fighting he had done since he’d moved on to bigger fish had been all verbal, and that was definitely the way he liked it.

‘I’m just here to learn,’ he told Josef as they began stretching. Sam had no idea of how to stretch properly, and he was sure that Mason was laughing silently at him as he surreptitiously glanced at him every thirty seconds to make sure he knew what to do.

He probably looked like something out a comedy sketch.