Chase the Morning (Odion)

[Odion Martins]

Hopefully Lani wouldn’t ask Odion what he thought of his relationship with Adrianna. Of course Odion could lie, but why bother when he had given tidbits of the truth on that subject before? Adrianna was all wrong for someone like Lani. She just wasn’t his equal, she was someone he felt bound and determined to protect. She may have been nice, maybe she had given him her heart and now he felt like he couldn’t leave her because he had a complex to prove absolutely everyone wrong. Lani worried about hurting Odion too, at least when it came to practicing his powers, but Odion had convinced him to at least try. Go ahead, just try and hurt me. It was a dare Lani just couldn’t pass up, couldn’t resist wiping that smug look off Odion’s face. Lani pushed the subject of dating, and whether Odion was a player or not and Odi mustered a smirk. “You haven’t asked anyone.” Odi let Lani think he was ahead of the game this time. Lani could believe whatever he wanted to about Odion, it wouldn’t make things any clearer.

Odion was never really taught what was ‘right’ in terms of who to like and who to find attractive. In the end, Odi found himself liking someone based on their mind, because in time, looks faded, but personality usually remained. He also liked someone he could play games with, just to see if they could compete. Lani wasn’t consistent in anything, including his own fibs, so the confusion Odion felt really wouldn’t come as a surprise, if only Odi could put those pieces together. It was possible to like more than one person at the same time, so really, would things be any clearer for the blonde if Odi were female? It probably wasn’t something Lani wanted to think about. Odion ran a hand over his hair, and then pouted. “But I like my hair,” he sighed, “I guess I’ll have to remain soulless.” He smiled alongside Lani. Souls were overrated anyways.

Either of these boys could use their power in a totalitarian way, instead, they decided to sneak around with their abilities. Probably because they were cowards, and being a true villain took some risks neither of them were willing to take. Better safe than sorry, stick to the shadows and remain unknown. They didn’t want glory, they just wanted to live. And for that, Odion would continue to push Lani’s buttons and bother him, if only to see his reaction – even if that meant being flung over a rooftop. Odion let the topic slip. If Lani wasn’t struggling with his powers, they wouldn’t even be here right now. Odi wasn’t sure why he was granting Lani so much mercy lately, but maybe that was a consequence of friendship. He would have to keep an eye on that.

Didn’t Lani do what he did to help people already? Wasn’t he sticking to his life of crime to help his family? Odion thought there must’ve been a connection because unlike him, Lani didn’t seem to be doing it for selfish reasons, other than the sheer thrill of stealing. That was a different story. Odion caught the smile and filed it into his memory blank. Did Lani forget that Odi spent a lot of unlimited time going back and reliving memories? The ginger would later spend countless hours repeating that smile. It said so much more than Lani thought, revealed bits of his soul.

Laughing at Lani’s unimpressed reaction, Odion was reveling in the banter. It was amusing to see someone react this way to his words. Indeed, he never would have predicted getting to know Lani Hunter, but somewhere deep inside of him, he was glad he had. Lani could be so animated sometimes, and if he was good at the fun and games, well, he must’ve been a damn good liar as well. But Odion knew that already, didn’t he? What if this was all a mind game? Odi’s eyes travelled down to where Lani’s heart would be, and he smirked, a puff of air escaping his nostrils in amusement. And then the puppy dog eyes, and Odion bit his bottom lip. He averted his gaze completely, damning his thoughts and how they were going straight to Rhett. Rhett, with almost the same eyes as Lani’s... almost. Rhett, who used him and bent Odion for his own agenda. Rhett, and his little finger – that’s where Odion was wrapped around. At least he was, once upon a time. “I would never abandon you,” he said, hating that he sounded much more serious than Lani was pretending to be. Odion’s gaze at the floor became very hard. The subject better drop. Now.

Odion smiled. “Right. Exactly.” They seemed to be on the same page now, Lani even seemed more at ease. He wasn’t that good at pretending, right? As soon as Lani thought about them being a team, he turned to joking. It was definitely a defense mechanism. Truth was, he didn’t want to need someone else to get a hold of his powers. Odi raised an eyebrow at the questioning. “No...” That wasn’t random at all. Lani was so, different. “Well Miss Priss, if you don’t like it, you can leave whenever you like.” If Lani didn’t want to be here, he didn’t have to be. Odion convinced him yes, but he hadn’t walked Lani to the training room.

It was Odion’s turn to laugh. It was almost too easy to make Lani blush. It only egged Odion further, because he really thought Lani was adorable when he was embarrassed. Really, how could he even stand Odion? Part of Lani must’ve liked being embarrassed by him. This thought only made Odi feel a little smug. He was glad he hadn’t missed seeing that. “I wouldn’t say old. Wise maybe,” he shrugged. He had never really spent time adding attributes and adjectives to his power. Lani seemed to be at peace with the fact that he wouldn’t have total control, and Odi smiled at this. Lani wasn’t saying it, but he really did trust Odion, even if his power had to be tricked into it. Now the two were tricking their own powers – who knew such fun mind games would be played. “We’ll see, only time will tell.” Yes, he had to advertise how clever he was.

Lani may have been trying to keep his reactions and emotions hidden, but Odion wasn’t even paying attention to Lani’s facial expressions. They could’ve very well been in two different rooms, talking on the phone. Odi was the type of person to keep scratching, keep digging to find all the mysteries. Lani suppressed his desire to keep looking if it meant more trouble. Lani had been trying to get away from reality while Odion had found it and shoved it into Lani’s hands. Well, the blonde wanted to progress didn’t he? Odion wasn’t sorry for what he said, not when Lani had asked. Odion gave Lani time to swallow the facts, and was surprised to find Lani asking another question. It was so sincere, Odion was glad he wasn’t looking at Lani – he could feel it just from his voice. On the verge of rambling, Odion felt himself sympathizing with the blonde. Lani was so worried, and Odion could grasp that now. Lani worried about whether his power would ever be under his control, if he’d ever be able to be the person he wanted to be through that. Odion wanted to hold Lani, to protect him, but that wasn’t going to happen. Lani needed to understand this on his own. “No,” his lips twitched into a slight smile, “there’s a lot of hostility in there too. Along with playfulness and happiness.” Odion was telling the truth, he just wasn’t telling Lani that anger and frustration trumped over everything else, because Lani probably already knew that.

It wasn’t that Odion wanted to stop training with Lani forever, just for today. Besides, it was nice to be lighthearted with the telekinetic once in a while. Things didn’t always have to be so serious, and Odi just didn’t want to jinx the good luck they were having today. It must’ve been due to Lani. Odion groaned a wee bit at Lani’s enthusiasm. “If you say McDonalds, I am not getting up.” Those things from that place didn’t even count as meat, never mind burgers, and the latter was bad enough. Odion watched Lani rise, and reacted almost instantly. Lani looked like he was about to fall, and Odion had shot to his feet so fast, even the time stopper was surprised. Had he really been that ready to catch Lani if he fell? But Lani didn’t seem to notice and Odion wasn’t going to draw attention to himself.

“What do you mean, document?” He asked, taking the gym’s key out of his pocket so they could lock up before they left the school. Odi grinned at Lani, remembering how the blonde got into the room to begin with. “Can I change first?” There was no way he was going out in public like this. Even if it was just burgers. He really couldn’t figure out why he wanted them at all. Was it just to please Lani? Odion grabbed his water bottle and went towards the exit. He changed his mind about needing Lani’s permission to change. He would change if he damn well pleased.

He turned to look at Lani over his shoulder, a lopsided grin on his freckled face. “I think you trust me,” he said, responding only now to Lani’s question, “since I’m the only one you’ve let help with your powers and all.” Odion had needed a moment to think over what Lani was asking. He needed to decide whether Lani really wanted to know what he was thinking, and if the blonde needed to know, and if he could be trusted. There were so many variables, Odion had to wonder if trusting Lani was a good idea at all. Hadn’t previous actions spoke louder than words? Odion had helped Lani out of a tight spot and how did he repay the ginger? By running away. Odion couldn’t help but think that that would happen again, but he wasn’t giving himself away here. He was accusing Lani of trusting him, and Lani just couldn’t deny that. There might’ve been mentors and teachers trying to help Lani, but Lani actually wanted Odion’s help, even if it was only a little bit. Sometimes a little went a long way.

Odion stepped into the hallway and readied the key, poking his head through the door’s small window, just above the knob. Lani could leave any second now, really.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani had an absent look on his face as his thoughts ran away. Adrianna had been studying so much lately he was going to have to steal her for a little while. He really wasn’t sure what the big deal was about with exams and the like. But oh well, it was good that someone cared about their grades. He liked being able to be himself here. Even if that was a little dangerous and he wasn’t sure it was safe. But despite everything Odion essentially knew his greatest secret and that made for a lot of freedom. Lani had thought about telling her a million times but he wanted to tell her because he wanted to not because some blond demoness was blackmailing him. A grin grew on his face and he shook his head. “I’m asking you,” he replied, “But as far as I know you seem like a pretty faithful guy.” He shrugged. Odion could be a player but he certainly wasn’t willing to be unfaithful. After all he followed that Rhett across the ocean and that took a certain amount of dedication.

If anything the confusion would be something Lani would ignore. If he didn’t allow himself to think about it then he wouldn’t have to deal with the challenges it presented. After all, Lani was content with Adrianna. She made him smile and chased all his worries out the door. He knew what Odion thought about their relationship and it was there that he had to disagree with the redhead. Lani couldn’t really define the feelings bubbling up in him but he knew that he wanted to let the feelings grow between him and Adrianna. She made his heart race and his skin heat but he hadn’t quite had that fictional feeling of love at first sight. He liked to think he was growing toward that though. He did like her an awful lot. He snickered at Odion’s pout. He had quite a few skills in that area as well it seemed. He leaned back on his hands and grinned at him. “Eh, there are worse things,” he shrugged, “Besides red is a good look for you.” So he was flirting again, he really needed to stop doing that.

Perhaps it wasn’t such a good thing that they were working together. Lani’s mind sparked a little. They could be unlimited. Completely unlimited. Together no one would be able to stop them. Because despite better judgment and their mutual fear of trust if they did break down those walls they could be great. It was something Lani knew he had a problem with and he wondered if Odion had the same problem. After all the only time he had really been able to get inside Odion’s mind had been when he was drunk. Perhaps he should get him drunk again. Though he doubted that Odion would let him sit out of that and by the time they were both hammered enough neither would remember what they wanted to ask. Either way, they both were still careful around each other.

To Lani his reasons didn’t matter anymore. It was what he had done and what he had done alone. No one had made him steal, no one had made him become this. Foolish Lani thinking he had the upper hand. More often than not he didn’t realize that what he let slip was far greater than what he initially had thought. Of course he was used to the average person. Well, Odion was about as far from the average person as one could get. For the time being Lani was going to let that slip and focus on trying to get the upper hand. Lani knew he was going to either be successful or crash and burn when Odion abruptly averted his eyes. Lani knew that this little skill of his worked amazingly with Adrianna but he wasn’t quite so sure that Odion would fall for it. Lani’s eyebrows jumped as Odion answered. He was expecting some snide comment about how his face was contorted or something, not this. It took him by surprise and for a moment he just looked at Odion his eyes wide. He saw past Odion’s mask and smiled softly. The honesty struck him and he felt a flash of warmth toward the time traveler. He was indeed the truest friend Lani had ever had. His eyes softened and he wished Odion would look him in the eye. “I only hope I can return the favor,” he said before letting it drop.

Lani bobbed his head. “You know if we’re a team we could really do something amazing.” He shrugged, “But I suppose first we’ll have to get this stuff done first. Lani laughed at Odion’s misunderstanding and simply waved his hand as if he were waving the thought away. “Never mind,” he said with a shake of his head. Odion had missed that memo, well at least he could be sure that Odion didn’t read his mind. “I was doing that thing where I expect you to know what happens in my mind,” he said with a chuckle. Lani gaped at the man across from him in utter disbelief completely ignoring the meat of the statement. He crossed his arms. “Miss Priss? Really?” Yes, that was all he had caught out of that sentence. “How about I come over there and then we’ll see who ‘Miss Priss’ is?” Lani’s manhood was now being threatened and he was going to go with the primal solution and duke it out.

Lani snorted unable to stop himself. “A wise man would have known to let sleeping dragons lie.” He pointed out. Lani chuckled behind a hand. It was really interesting that a small man could come to the dragon and the dragon with a bat of its claw could toss him aside but instead listened. Maybe the dragon was foolish. It would make sense. Besides whenever Lani thought of time he always thought of the old Father Time figure. But his power he didn’t see it even as human. It was an animal led only by emotion and instinct. Lani gave him an amused look. He was all about the word play today. “Good thing if we don’t like the result we can go back and try again.” He shook his head. He really had never realized that time was really a nonlinear equation. In fact it was almost a plane for all the paths it could take. “Do you know something I don’t?” He asked suddenly, “I mean have you gone into the future and seen something I don’t know about?”

Blinking his eyes a few times Lani turned his thoughts inward. How had this happened to him? Why? If he had never gotten angry would he never have gotten these powers? Was anger all that was there? The questions poured through his mind and his power was roused by the sudden activity. Reaching out his power poked around the room as if to seek the source of his distress. Lani bit his tongue and squeezed his eyes shut. His power shifted the dust on the ground and found the source of the distress in Odion. Well not in Odion but in the truth he had revealed. Lani grabbed it back and tasted blood as his teeth clenched. If what Odion was saying was true then it wasn’t his power acting out. It was Lani. He closed his eyes this meant something. He didn’t like what he was hearing and even though Lani wanted to hear it subconsciously he really didn’t want to know the answer and so his power was trying to push away the source of the information. Lani blinked and looked at Odion again. He frowned when he followed up with saying it was hostile as well. Wonderful. But his brow raised and a little bit of hope trickled in. So it wasn’t just anger. Not just hatred that fed his power. It was everything. Hope calmed his power and Lani almost felt it coming into him like a hug. “I see,” Lani said to fill the silence that had grown as he contemplated what he had just been told. He didn’t quite see, not yet, he really needed to think this over. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully and smiled. Well he wouldn’t have to figure it out today at least. He sighed, well he wasn’t going to know what Odion thought about it anyways.

Lani let the thoughts he had had wash over his shoulders but bitterly now he was aware of it. It was just as Odion had said, he was suppressing it. That wasn’t fair, now there was an imbalance of information. Lani laughed. “Are you kidding, that’s cardboard.” It took Lani a moment for his mind to catch up with his eyes. When had Odion gotten to his feet? Oh well, he must have just been a little more dizzy than he thought. Oh well, food would cure that. He shrugged it off and smiled back at his friend as he went to gather the items that had been displaced. He shifted things around with his hands and finally got to the ball tossing it a few times in his hand before trying to make a basket into the bin. He missed and he huffed a little stalking over to toss it in at point blank. “I mean, I want pictures.” He teased with a grin, how was he supposed to prove that it happened if he didn’t make hard evidence?

“How did you…” he gestured at the key before shaking his head. He crossed his arms and gave Odion a half amused half annoyed face. He should have known better Odion wanted to be certain he didn’t skip out. “Do what you want,” Lani replied with a grin. It really didn’t matter to him whether Odion went in sweats or in a suit so long as he didn’t chicken out on him. He followed Odion toward the door and paused for a moment going back to collect his pills and his water bottle. He really was forgetful. A smile passed across Lani’s face and he took two more pills to sooth his dizziness and headache. The headache faded almost to nothing, it was actually the best he had felt in a long time. Granted he couldn’t always be popping pills. He knew that and he didn’t have a problem, he just needed to work his power until he built up the muscle that was all.

“What?” Lani blurted in disbelief. That wasn’t the answer he had been expecting, not after it had been previously ignored. There was that clever little smile Odion always got when he had struck gold and knew it. Yes, Lani wanted to say, he wanted to crumble and tell Odion everything but at the same time stubbornness took over and his lips became thin lines. Now Lani was trying to downplay it. He shook his head with a little impish grin on his face. He chuckled a little bit playing off how freaked out he was that Odion had picked that up. “Did you ever stop to think that…” He cut himself off. He was going to get himself in trouble if he finished that sentence. No he didn’t want to get into this. So instead he decided to downplay it. He unconsciously shut down his heart and set himself to back off from Odion. Give himself the space he needed. How was it that Lani could hardly trust his family and his girlfriend and here was Odion. He was just standing there with the gall to tell Lani who he did and did not trust. Regardless of truth Lani wasn’t going to let Odion simply walk away with this assumption. He was getting to close to this redheaded thief. So Lani’s eyes chilled and that cool smile took place of the warm one and the mask started to come up but Lani stopped it. He warmed his smile again and softened his eyes. And so Lani gave his answer in silence and an open expression.

Lani rolled his eyes and smiled at Odion poking his head through the door. “I’m coming,” he said with exaggerated annoyance. Now his mind was on something else. If Odion knew that Lani trusted him, could Lani assume it was a two way street? Odion had let him in more than he had for anyone else. He had showed Lani his memories. So. Odion trusted him? It made sense, but then it could all be a lie. Not the memories, but the trust, it could be a trick. He stepped past Odion and paced down the hall slowly waiting for Odion to catch up. “You know,” Lani said conversationally avoiding speaking of trust, “I never would have thought that training like that could make you crave a burger. That’s a good thing to know.” He teased Odion. “By the way, how are the little monsters?” He asked as they made their way to the dorms. He hadn’t seen the kittens in a while. This weekend he was supposed to take them but due to unplanned absences he would have to inevitably ask if Odion could keep them until Monday. Not a conversation he was looking forward to, he hadn’t been as involved as he wanted to be.

[Odion Martins]

Odion watched Lani carefully, a bit of a smirk on his face. “You could have said so to begin with,” he said, wondering why Lani was interested in whether he was a player or not. Lani knew as well as he did that life was a game of masks and lies. Odi could be anyone. He could even be sweet and innocent if he pulled the mask tight enough. But Lani wouldn’t believe that one, not now, not when he knew better. His eyes locked onto Lani’s. “Rhett was my first...” what? First boyfriend, first kiss, first lover, first everything really. But that had nothing to do with being faithful, which Odion was. He clamped his jaw shut. Lani didn’t need to know more than he did about Rhett. But at least Lani could rest, reassured that Odion, despite his facade, was no more experienced than he was.

Lani seemed to avoid challenges instead of rising to the occasion; he’d rather turn his back and run away, something Odion would normally do. But not today, and lately, not when Lani was on his mind. He let those thoughts run their course, and decided what to do with them after, not before they occurred. There had to be more to life than being content though, that was something Odion knew before he ever fell in love with anyone. And it was something he’d hold onto before ever falling in love again. Content was never good enough. Why did everything have to be challenging to be worthwhile to him? If something or someone would be easy to walk away from, then what was their value? “I know,” he said in a cocky voice. He did like his hair, and the rest of the way he looked. It wasn’t something he thought about often, and he was by no means vain, it was just fun to pretend to be. Even if his jokester’s smile gave him away. “What’s worse than not having a soul?” He inquired, half pondering the question himself.

Odion hadn’t thought about how they could affect the world if this little experiment were successful. He was thinking merely of the here and now and how he might help Lani. Not that Odion would mind ruling the world with his new favorite blonde – what would Adrianna think about that? Lani finding Odion in a state of drunken stupor was sheer dumb luck. Odion had been watching his back ever since that night. He was, however, mildly happy that it happened at all. He didn’t feel like he owed Lani as much as he wanted to continue thanking him for that night. Odion was determined to pick Lani’s brain without the extra leverage of substance abuse.

Odion had began his life of a crime at a young age, first out of necessity which quickly turned into a thrill. He really didn’t have to steal anymore, but he did it anyways. Everything he owned had been stolen, either brand new or someone else’s beforehand. Odion hadn’t been looking at Lani, hadn’t been seeking a reaction. He wasn’t even paying attention to the dumbstruck look on Lani’s face, because he was too busy thinking about how awful it felt to be honest with someone who really didn’t want you the same way you wanted them. His mind was screaming at him, angry that he was repeating his mistakes of the past. No one was supposed to know he was so committed, stubborn maybe, but not this. It was something Lani would surely take advantage of, and although Odion wanted to trust Lani and was starting to do so, that didn’t mean it was wise. Lani spoke and Odion kept looking at the ground, his face flushing brightly. Oh if only his power allowed him to slip through the floor right now! He didn’t want to know if Lani was being serious or not, it was just too much. But just in case he was, Odi smiled.

“There’s no ifs, we’re still a team even if this doesn’t work,” he said, because Lani needed to know that even if this whole power training day didn’t work out, that didn’t mean they had to stop being friends. They could still do something amazing. Odion raised an eyebrow, before laughing a bit. Once it was over, his smile remained. “Oh no. You can’t just say something and then change your mind,” Odi frowned, looking down at both of his hands, “did I miss something?” His accent was thick, his eyebrows furrowed together. It really felt like he had missed something there, and now he wanted, no he needed to know what it was, even if it was stupid. He glanced back at Lani, smirking again. He wouldn’t let up until he knew what Lani was getting at. Odion laughed again. How easily they went from serious to jesting. He raised his hands in mock surrender. “Hey! I’m just trying to help you out mate, besides,” he grinned broadly, “by the time you get over here, I’ll be over there,” he nodded to the other end of the room. Catch me if you can.


Odion nodded a couple times, appreciating the fact that Lani was right. “Right, well, the dragon didn’t seem to be asleep when I found him,” he challenged. Besides, what was a dragon if it couldn’t fly? Odion never really thought about his power, or what it looked like or represented. It was just something he could manipulate, like almost anything or anyone else. Often he thought his power was manipulation, or control through speech, or something like that. Odion could be very convincing at times. It was only when he found himself in a paused world that he knew what his power truly was. “Uh,” Odi scratched the back of his head, looking down, “if we went back in time and began again, you might be sick.” The boy glanced back at Lani with a sheepish smile. Lani really didn’t want to go through headaches and vomiting did he? Not that his own power wouldn’t cause that. Odion blinked at Lani’s last question, and shook his head ‘no’. Odi could very well do what Lani was describing, but it would be tricky. That’s why going back in time was always easier. Any small event could rearrange the future. Hadn’t Lani seen any of those sci-fi movies?

It wasn’t really anger that drove Lani’s power, but that’s what Lani believed, so that’s what made it true, like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Odion had spent some time thinking about Lani and his power, but after today, he would have a lot more to think about. Maybe he would share his revelations with Lani if he thought it was a good idea. Lani’s power slipped beside Odion, but the ginger couldn’t feel it. If Lani’s power decided it would be best to throw him through a window, Odion wouldn’t notice until he was in the freefall. He did however, notice the air shift around Lani, who was thinking hard. At least, Odion assumed he was. If hope had calmed his power, why hadn’t Lani used it to his advantage before? It was really too bad Odion couldn’t point this out, he really had no idea what was going on in Lani’s mind, because he wasn’t trying to stop it any more. Judging by Lani’s tone of voice, Odion knew the telekinetic didn’t ‘see’ anything. If he did, that would change everything Lani believed about his powers.

Odion laughed, glad Lani didn’t want to go for fast food. “No, it’s pure rubbish,” he said, cringing at just the thought of those golden arches. Burgers my ass. Odi didn’t comment on Lani’s lack of basketball skills, but he did raise a finger at him. “You are not bringing a camera along, and” he extended his hand towards the blonde, “you’re giving me your phone. No one needs to see me eating anything.” Okay, maybe he was being a little bit defensive, but why did Lani need pictures of him eating cooked meat? Really? Was that really necessary? He tossed the keys in the air and caught them again. “I have my ways,” he said, and by that he meant he simply booked the room for them. It wasn’t even illegal.

Odi simply couldn’t take his eyes off Lani. “It’s like you’re going through the stages of denial,” he said as Lani’s face contorted in many different ways: disbelief, surprise, denial, bargaining, but there would ultimately be acceptance. “Go on,” Odi said, a fair bit of teasing in his voice. Odion had stopped, and he had thought, and he concluded that Lani trusted him. But Lani had stopped, and Odi also decided Lani was afraid to trust him. The ginger gulped, but held onto his winner’s grin. Lani felt exactly the same as Odi did, but neither wanted to admit it. Whether they publicly expressed their trust for one another though, didn’t matter as much as the fact that they did. Odion shrugged, looking back towards the door. “Don’t ask me what I’m thinking if you don’t really want to know,” he shot into the air, a smile on his face. Their team was already amazing, Lani just didn’t want to acknowledge it.

Locking up behind Lani, Odion pocketed the keys and took long strides to catch up to the blonde. “So rude, couldn’t of waited?” He teased, glad the subject was off of trust. He frowned, before nudging Lani’s side. “I could tell you were dying for one, it’s not always about me.” He smirked, playing off the sentiment as a joke. Odion was very glad to be seeing the inside of his room shortly. He was a sweaty mess and would be happy to get out of his clothes as soon as possible. Odion chuckled a little bit, glad to see Lani wasn’t eager to forget the so called monsters. “I think they’re alright, I mean, they’re developing normally,” he shrugged. He really did like spending time with those animals, who pretty much mauled him as soon as he set foot into his room.

Reaching the dorms, Odion bee lined for his and opened the door. “You want to see them?” He asked, wondering if it would be odd to have Lani in his room while he changed. Odi made his way to his room, unsure if Lani was following of not. Well, he could always bring the kittens into the living room, but he seriously doubted his roommates would like that. Maybe he could just change in the bathroom. That seemed to make the most sense. But, didn’t guys change in front of each other all the time? Was he over thinking this again? This wasn’t a date. They were just friends. Okay. Odion shoved that feeling of nervousness aside and opened his room door. The kittens, as promised, leaped all over him, helping him forget about what was and was not appropriate with Lani. He laughed happily and scooped them up in his arms, their mews filling the room. “Shh, you want to get us caught?” He cooed, setting them on the bed as he closed the door. He set the kittens on his bed and went straight to his closet, deciding what to wear, and then how to put it on.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani shrugged really not all too concerned with his lack of straight questions. Odion was just lucky that Lani had those most of the time. Considering his mind didn’t move in straight lines. He didn’t reply and instead waited to see if Odion would give him an answer or tell him to mind his own business. But then if the redhead did that that almost opened the door for Lani to pick and choose which questions he would answer because he could always come back to this. “Ah,” Lani said with a little nod. Well they were on the same level then. He looked at Odion unaware that his mind had wondered while his eyes were locked into those blue eyes. It wasn’t fair how he could get lost in those deep blue eyes. It almost seemed like Odion knew everything about him and at the same time was letting Lani look into the depths of Odion’s complexity. No answers but merely the concept of depth. Lani smiled and decided to let Odion off the hook with this one. Rhett must still be a sensitive topic, judging from his reaction.

A challenge was something that should only be undertaken when the end results could be known. For example the challenge of telling his boss he was quitting would have the end results of either death or success. He couldn’t verify which would be the end result and so he hesitated but they were known none the less. It was the same with this challenge. Which was strange as to why he agreed to it at all. He couldn’t guarantee that he wouldn’t throw Odion out a window. The end results were unknown. There were too many variables and Lani wasn’t the type of person to meditate on things like this. He would think about them but usually just about the bad things that could happen. Lani grinned a laugh coming out of him. “And so modest!” He teased brightly. He looked over Odion his eyes measuring. Odion’s fiery hair complimented his freckles and added intensity to his eyes as if the ocean were burning. And there was that cocky smile that he had grown to love. Lani shrugged. “I don’t really know, perhaps being innocent. Being innocent is no fun,” he said with a suggestive eyebrow raise and an impish grin.

They did complement each other very well. Where Lani thought of the future and the past Odion focused on the present. Lani would have thought it would be the opposite. Odion was so focused on finding the truth whereas Lani was more inclined to avoid it if it might be too painful. Lani was more inclined to help people in trouble where Odion would avoid then, though Lani had seen that this had been changing. Ever since those kittens. Yes they were both changing. But more importantly they were changing each other. For that Lani wasn’t sure whether he was grateful or not. He felt like he knew himself better than he had before but he also felt that he wasn’t someone that he knew. Or rather that the Lani that he put up around other people was starting to become a stranger instead of the well fitted glove it had been before.

There was a difference in the way they stole. Lani stole and sold getting money so that he couldn’t be traced. Odion stole and kept things. That’s not to say that Lani never did that, after all he was a fan of shiny things. It was like that necklace he had stolen a few days ago. He really hadn’t needed it, he had just wanted it. So he took it. It was like that with the ornamental notebooks he had. He liked the way they looked. He really didn’t write in them because most of the time when he wrote something he tore it out and threw it out. And so these blank books would not be touched because he didn’t want to tear out the pages. He smiled when his mind came back to the present and found Odion blushing fiercely. He had just taken the advantage here but he liked it more so because he had gotten the truth. One thing that was interesting with Odion was that unlike most people it was hard to tell when he was being honest. But Lani had found that he always either averted his gaze and pretended he wasn’t there or looked him straight in the eye. He wasn’t sure if Odion was being serious but if he was he wasn’t about to ruin their fragile friendship and trust be abusing this. After all Odion could have easily abused his information about Lani and he hadn’t. Perhaps Lani could return the favor.

Lani smiled brightly obviously pleased by this bit of news. “Watch out world,” he said, “Hide your valuables.” He added with a sly smile and his face broke out into that impish smile. Lani was going to let that slip but Odion didn’t let him. He gave Odion his impish smile now, the one that said ‘why yes you missed something but I’m not going to tell you’. “Why yes I can,” he said indignantly, he would change his mind whenever he so chose. “And you did, Lieutenant Clueless,” he said with a grin still not supplying an answer. After all once Odion figured it out he would know that Lani thought this might be a good idea. Odion was a smart guy. He would figure it out eventually but for now Lani had the strange desire to tease Odion and make him suffer. He had that concentrating look on his face and Lani was loving watching Odion try to muddle his way through Lani’s cryptic explanation. Besides it was really not important and Odion would probably kick himself if Lani told him what it was. Lani raised a brow now enticed by the challenge. “You think you’re faster than me?” He asked with a smile.

“Always sleep with one eye open and you’ll never miss a sunrise,” he commented repeating advice he had heard once from an old man. Yes, Lani was a fount of useless information and strange advice that really had nothing to do with life. He figured that one had something to do with keeping an eye out for opportunities but he had never been sure for the man who had told him had been so far gone after he had said that insightful sentence he had asked Lani where he was. Lani wrinkled his nose at the idea and remembered the gut wrenching feeling he had had the first time he had time traveled with Odion. It wasn’t something he was ecstatic about repeating. “Eh, true facts, let not do that.” He agreed a hand going to his stomach as if the memory of being sick was making him sick. He shrugged and looked closely at Odion. “Why not?” He pressed curiously.

The more Lani sat and thought about it the more clear it became that he would have to really sit down and think about it. When he had hours to dedicate to such a pondering. Not now, now he had other things to do. Lani very much just felt like a vessel for this power so it was a hard pill for him to swallow thinking that it was himself. He was the power and the power was him. There was no separation. But that also meant that he had to take responsibility for everything his power had done, or rather he had done. Lani turned his eyes on Odion and pondered if he ever felt this detachment. It was like two beings had been one and had been separated and now were trying to again be one. As if a second Lani had been created and was now trying to come back. It wasn’t going to be a smooth transition, not at all, Lani could tell. He would be grateful if his mind didn’t just completely reject the idea and blast everyone in this forsaken school to hell. He wasn’t sure if he was quite so powerful but who knew what he could do if he stopped limiting himself.

Lani laughed. “Rubbish,” he repeated, “You Europeans really do have the strangest descriptions.” He really liked how Odion occasionally let his accent slip out and his terminology slip out. It made Lani wonder if he had an accent. He didn’t think so but occasionally that Boston accent snuck in. Born and raised in the city it was only natural. Lani grinned and shrugged innocently. He guffawed at Odion’s outstretched hand. He put a protective hand over his phone in his pocket and shook his head. “I am not giving you my phone.” Besides it would be blatantly obvious if he tried to take a picture on his phone. And there was no way he was going to give over his cell phone. After all, what if his boss called, that would be a nice can of worms. He laughed, “Geez, ok no pictures.” He said holding up his right hand, “I promise,” he said childishly crossing his fingers behind his back. He rolled his eyes and muttered something about cryptic answers.

Now Lani was staring down the barrel of a gun. Lani huffed and crossed his arms leaning on one foot unconsciously shifting his weight to make bolting easier. He really was a flight risk. He realized though that Odion was right. He was going through the stages. He had already accepted it deep down, but he didn’t want to. This was terrifying. If Lani trusted him that was one thing, but if Odion knew that Lani trusted him that was completely different. That could give Odion an advantage but it could also create an imbalance. Lani set his jaw and glared at Odion. Odion was having too much fun with this, he knew he held a victory and now he was gloating. Not that Lani could blame him, hell he would be doing exactly the same thing. “It doesn’t matter,” Lani replied. Lani took the next sentence to heart. Perhaps he wouldn’t ask those questions anymore. But there was something in Odion smile that made him squirm and he felt again like he was being forced to look in the mirror. Yes, he trusted Odion, but now Lani was sure Odion trusted him as well. After all, they had established that, considering Odion had let Lani’s power get close to him like that. Lani snorted a little his good humor coming back slowly, “You know I have a feeling you would have said something anyways,” he teased lightly but the light tone was just a little forced.

He smiled back at the redhead and shrugged. “You were moving too slow,” he said with an innocent look on his face. Lani shifted a little his feet dangerously close to tangling as he swayed but he used this off balance swing to fake a stunned expression. “Egad!” he exclaimed before dissolving into giggles. As much as he hated it he really couldn’t think of a better way to describe the noise that came from his throat. Lani smiled regaining his composure and falling back into pace with Odion. “That’s good,” he said sad that he had missed out a lot of their short lives, “At least they’re not developing mutant powers or anything. Meta-cats are literally the last thing the world needs.” Lani followed Odion planning on loitering in the hallways while he waited but the offer was too good to refuse. “Of course! I love those little beasties.” So he followed Odion into his room completely distracted by the thought of kittens and not thinking about how Odion was going to change with him there.

Lani grinned as the kittens swarmed their Mamma Odion. Only Darshay paused fawning over the redhead to bonk Lani’s foot with her head. Lani chuckled and reached out to scratch their ears. These guys were too cute. Lani followed and took a seat on Odion’s bed where the kittens started crawling all over him. LJ romped over his lap to tackle Shadow and Lani laughed. Darshay used her sharp claws and demanded Lani’s attention. “They’ve gotten so big,” Lani commented happily. He gathered the other two and slid down onto the floor where he could sit cross legged. They cuddled in his lap and Lani realized with a harsh swallow how little he had seen them. It wasn’t fair for Odion to have to take care of them. If only he hadn’t promised to go home this weekend, or if he could take the kittens to Boston. He glanced up at Odion and paused, what would his explanation be? For some strange reason he didn’t want Odion to know it was going to be his birthday. But then another part of him wanted to say ‘Hey wanna go to Boston?’ But he really didn’t want to expose Odion to the fighting that would inevitably happen, nor did he like the attention that usually happened around the anniversary of one’s birthday. He looked up at Odion and settled on, “I’m hungry, hurry up.”

[Odion Martins]

It would be a long time before Odion told Lani to mind his own business. As far as Odi was concerned, Lani had delved quite far into the ginger’s business and there would be no going back now. Yes sometimes Lani struck an unknown nerve, but Odion did his best to keep things under control. And yet, Lani had seen the worst Odion’s personality had to offer, and here he was. Lani just didn’t rub Odi the wrong way. Huh, imagine if he did. Lani’s lack of reaction was a blessing to Odi, and he would take it and run. Odion blinked a couple times as Lani continued to stare at him, into him. Odion didn’t shy away, he didn’t play around with matters of the heart. He came here ready to tell Rhett exactly how he felt but then Rhett had kissed him first. It was like a dream come true, and now it was a nightmare. He may have been young, but Odion was far from stupid to know that he had been tricked, and never wanted to be again.

Death or success were on completely opposite ends of the spectrum. Still, that was Lani’s battle, one that Odion didn’t know was going on. Assuming the ginger ever found out, Lani was going to suddenly know what it felt like to rub Odion the wrong way. Odion was hoping to teach Lani a little something about living in the moment, about being spontaneous and pliable. Most things didn’t go as planned and you needed to think on your feet when the time called for it. And time, was always calling. Odion laughed at Lani’s teasing, unable to come up with another reply. If only he could read Lani’s thoughts, then maybe he would tease the blonde about coming off of it already and just writing him a love ballad. He hummed a bit to himself. “Innocence no fun? I don’t really believe that. It could be fun being naive.” He checked back to Lani, whose opinion mattered.

The present was hard to time travel in, and perhaps this explained why Odion found purchase in living in moments. He also had the privilege of going back and reviewing things, learn from past behaviours to predict future ones. Odi often found truth in what people did in the very moments they wanted to avoid. He had learned much about Lani in this way. Going back to review said things was merely icing on the cake. Without making good moments in the present though, there was no point in going back for a visit. Odion liked challenging Lani and honestly wondered if he would continue to do so, or if Lani would eventually figure him out and become bored. Still, there was something unpleasing about going back to the masks and facades with Lani. Odi simply didn’t want to.

Put something shiny not too far from Odion and it was bound to go missing. That, or teddy bears. Odion liked keeping a nice stash of jewelry, but he did sell some of it from time to time. In his mind, it was just easier to steal a wallet and use whatever was inside. Like drawing all the cash from a credit card on an ATM. It was like a rush he couldn’t explain. Odion was sure he’d become a hoarder if he wasn’t so stingy in what he stole.

But as Odion had insinuated before, if Lani wanted to continue to get truth from him, he would have to give truth in return. Neither of them were comfortable with that because they were used to stealing. It was so odd, so strange to have someone freely give you something that was of value, whether in words or objects didn’t matter as much as the intent. Odion was tongue tied after spilling this bit of truth upon Lani, and he didn’t want to talk about it more than what had been given. He wasn’t in the business of spilling his heart out, but Lani seemed to feed off of this, these moments of vulnerability. Odion didn’t want to be another Adrianna.

Odion watched Lani’s clever grin stretch across the blonde’s face. Lani just wouldn’t be Lani without it. “The world doesn’t stand a chance,” Odion said, glad they were agreeing on something. Who knew, it could be fun, stealing things together and being happy about it. Odion had never really thought his life would be happy ever again. It really hadn’t been to begin with, but now, things seemed to be slowly getting better. Still, his skepticism told him it was too good to be true and to stay vigilant. He didn’t need to be told twice. Odi groaned, very tempted to give Lani a good shove into the floor. “You’re an ass,” he said without reserve. Of course Odion still wanted to win, but so did Lani, so he settled with name calling like a good, mature eighteen year old would do. It couldn’t have been something good to say anyways, otherwise Lani would be proud to repeat it. Say that thought, however, would tip Lani off, and Odion wasn’t going to bother listening to Lani gloat about how he could play mind games too. Odi scoffed loudly, an impish grin of his own replacing his displeasure. “I know I am, especially against the likes of Miss Priss.” He gave Lani a challenge accepted look. When time was on your side, you were faster than a speeding bullet. Lani would be hard pressed to beat Odion at this game.

Odion smirked, amused. “Alright, enough with the quotes already, god.” The ginger chuckled to himself. Lani was just full of wisdom, wasn’t he? Odi knew it wouldn’t beat street smarts though. Shakespeare wasn’t bullet proof. Odion shrugged. “Time travelling isn’t so bad once you get used to it, very strange though,” he said, nodding a bit. Yes, strange indeed. It wasn’t normal to be able to go through time like it was a pool of water. Hence why Odi was here to begin with. Well, it was a backup reason to be here, to stay. Odion sighed. “Would you want to go into the future?” He answered the question with another question. He didn’t want to explain why, it was boring. Besides, he could barely travel forward more than a few minutes, but he could go days, months, even years back in time. Going into the future wasn’t something he delved in. Mostly because he was afraid of what he would see, or if he could come back.

If only Lani could view his power as another limb. Odion saw his power as an extension of himself, like a different reality he could press into. His power was him, and he knew and accepted that. Lani seemed to think his power was there to taunt him and create chaos, and maybe it was, but only if Lani wanted it to. Being limitless was exactly what Odion thought Lani should view himself as. Maybe then he could stop his power when he wanted to, disconnect it from his emotions. Granted, Odion’s powers had gone off the deep end when Rhett left. Odion still couldn’t explain how their powers started to connect, but he didn’t want to know why it had happened anymore. It could’ve been because time was all encompassing, but Odion didn’t want to go through that ever again.

Odion frowned. “It’s not strange, it just means garbage. Do you not speak English?” He asked. Slang or not, it essentially meant the same thing. Besides, it was easier to revert back into his old slang every once in a while. Then it was Odion’s turn to laugh again. “Who said anything about giving it?” His hand lowered, but his gaze did not. “I swear Lani Hunter, I catch you taking one picture, there will be no record of said picture.” Lani had to keep in mind he was trying to double cross a double crosser who would stop time. And then walk through it. Odion didn’t catch what Lani said next, but he guessed it didn’t matter. When Lani wanted to be heard, he was heard loud and clear. “I wasn’t going to spy on your texts to your girlfriend,” he said innocently, tilting his head to the side as he observed Lani. Odion was just concerned about having his picture taken. He had actually never been in a single picture, other than a few with Rhett once he got to America, and he just didn’t want to be in one ever again. Yes it was stupid, but he simply did not care.

Regardless of how Lani felt, Odion was still right, and they both knew it. So why wasn’t Lani asking if Odion trusted him as well? Was that too much for the blonde to handle? Odi wouldn’t stop Lani if he decided to leave, because the boy was really tired of always chasing down the people he cared about. So Odion decided to save Lani the trouble of another guessing game, because this, their teamwork, mattered to Odi. “You really think I’d announce that if I didn’t trust you as well?” Really Lani, you are quite thick. If Odion wanted to use Lani’s trust, he wouldn’t tell Lani that he knew the telekinetic trusted him. It would put the blonde on edge like he was right now, cause him to retreat. But Odion was trying to be honest, and let the pieces fall where they may. At least Lani had all the more reason to trust Odion now. That fact made Odion happy. He tried to smile softly after Lani’s forced grin. “You’ll never know. I’m the one with time control here.”

Odion rolled his eyes, “I was locking up, thank you.” The redhead’s eyebrow twitched up in interest as Lani fumbled about. It made Odion smile, despite how silly Lani was being. He nudged Lani only to be rude in return, something Lani had only himself to blame for really. Odion thought about meta-animals. There really couldn’t be such a thing, could there? They’d have to have consciences, right? He wasn’t sure, it wasn’t something he’d ever thought about before or looked into. “I don’t know, it might be fun to see a flying cat,” he shrugged as they reached his dormitory. Odi grinned slightly before his thoughts haunted him. Love was a strong word to use for a couple of kittens they had rescued.

Darshay flitted around Lani, and Odion chuckled, shaking his head. “They obviously miss you,” he said, only subtly reminding Lani that he wasn’t upholding his end of the bargain. In fact, Odi felt a little ripped off that he was often stuck with the kittens. It wasn’t that he didn’t like being around them, he just didn’t want to be around them all the time. Surely whatever Lani was stealing could wait. Odion’s attention was on his closet as Lani commented on how big the kittens had become, his eyes drawing along the different things he owned. What was appropriate for a friend outing? Lani’s searching eyes didn’t go unnoticed as Odi plucked a pair of dark jeans and a black button up shirt. “What?” He asked, glancing down at Lani sitting on the floor. Honestly, considering what he had it was pretty low key. It wasn’t too much, was it? Without hesitation, and without looking at Lani, Odion let his sweats fall to the floor and slipped into his jeans. He really wasn’t so modest. That was the hardest part and now it was over, so Odi chanced a look at his friend again (definitely friend) and smirked. “Alright alright, just relax,” he said, pulling his dirty t-shirt over his head, he let it fall to the floor. He slipped his arms into his new shirt and drew up the buttons bottom up. It didn’t really matter that he was half exposed right now, right? Lani didn’t really give a damn did he? Part of Odion sort of hoped Lani would.

LJ escaped over to Odion and pawed his bare foot, and Odi flinched and picked up the small feline. “Okay you little devil, don’t make too much of a mess while I’m gone.”He gave the kitten a stern look and LJ mewed in his face. Odion rolled his eyes. Reminds me of someone I know. He put the kitten somewhere where it wouldn’t get hurt once they left. “Ready?” He asked Lani, stealing a look at the blonde’s handsome grey eyes before sneaking through the door. They had to hurry if they didn’t want the kittens to follow.

[Lani Hunter]

It was good that Odion didn’t tell Lani to mind his own business because that stopped him from doing his own spying and his own investigation that would possibly get him into trouble either from discovering more than he wanted or needed to know or just having Odion catch him. He smiled a little that was not a situation he would like to be in, in the near future. Lani had one thing on Odion, when he knew he hit a nerve he backed off most of the time Lani still had it fresh in his mind how the last time Odion had found a nerve he had dug in. Now Lani wasn’t too terribly upset about it but it had made him more careful about the things that he let slip. Which was ironic considering his trust of the redhead was leading him to being more careless. Though Odion seemed to be letting him off the hook a lot recently and of that Lani was privately grateful. It took a few more moments but Lani was the one that couldn’t stand the harsh soul delving gaze anymore and dropped his eyes.

Death and success weren’t so far apart. In some cases they were one in the same. After all what hero ever lost the fight when his death came only after he had smote the bad guy with the last of his powers. Lani liked to think that if he were to go he would go out fighting and take whomever he was fighting with him. A strange desire and one he didn’t dare voice. If he couldn’t get away from his boss he would rather have himself unable to be manipulated. But that was not going to be at the expense of his sister and family and perhaps his friends having to deal with the aftermath. He had a feeling that if it came down to that his power would take the last strike and then there would be two to bury. Lani shook his head. “No it is fun for people like us,” he waved his finger between them, “To mess with someone innocent. No, innocence leads to nothing but harsh realities and disillusionment. I’m almost glad. It’s better to know the world than to paint a picture and have it shattered.” He shrugged. It wasn’t insight, it was fact.

Lani frowned as he thought more about the past. He wouldn’t say that that was exactly what had happened to him but it was close enough. If he could grow up like his sister believing the world was made of good people and trusting without a thoughts he wouldn’t trade his life for it. He liked knowing when people were trying to con him, and personally it really was the innocent people who were easy to con. He wondered why Odion if he said something wrong didn’t go back and redo it. Perhaps he did, Lani would never know. But then Lani knew the feeling now well enough to think that he could feel when Odion used his power around Lani. After all he wasn’t kidding when sickness came along with it. As much as Lani wanted to be mask less around Odion he still wasn’t completely sure he liked it. There was something close about it, intimate. It was strange because he didn’t let Adrianna in like this. Perhaps he would. But hopefully not until after he wouldn’t be lying to her anymore.

Odion’s teddy bears. He had spent a little time thinking about it. Lani smiled a little at his private thoughts. It really was very nice to see the softer sides behind that porcupine exterior. Now Lani wasn’t about to cuddle with him but it was nice to know that he was human and had human comforts. Not Lani didn’t have stuffed animals but he had other things that did just about the same thing. He wanted to start working with Odion. Teaching him the rules of the big scale trade. How exciting would it be for Lani to have Odion with him on his next major heist. He already had a few things in mind. Some banks and he was collecting money now. He was paying off his debt. Paying it off fast. He was very focused on this and already had quite an amount accumulated.

Everything was a fight with Odion. Not always a bad thing, but sometimes Lani would like to have just a straightforward conversation. Though he had to admit that without the twists and turns and the points when each turned a mirror on the other the conversations wouldn’t be hardly as engaging. It was true, Lani fed off vulnerability because that mean that he could help with something. The day his sister no longer needed him would be a very sad day for Lani. Not that she would never need him again but when she started thinking for herself and making her own independent decisions Lani wouldn’t know what to do. Perhaps he latched onto people and tried to solve their problems because he felt he needed to atone for something. Whether that was true or not Lani wasn’t sure but he was sure that if Odion needed him all he ever needed to do was ask and Lani would be at his side, not as a protector but like Odion said, as partners.

Lani laughed out loud and thrust his fist into the air in a gesture of triumph. Yes with the pair of them standing side by side nothing could stop them. They really could defy gravity. Lani lowered his hand and his smile grew. He had never worked with a partner before and he had always thought people who did were foolish but now he knew. He trusted Odion and on the basis of fact Odion trusted him. Besides when one was at war with the world one needed allies. Lani’s only response to Odion groan was to smile brightly. Oh yes he was having fun with this. He gave Odion a mock bow. “Why thank you,” he grinned up at Odion showing that he had won this battle and name calling was not going to change that. Lani knew it was silly, it really wasn’t anything impressive but he was going to hold onto it. “Oh-ho!” Lani exclaimed crossing his arms across his chest and scowling his best at Odion when really he was struggling not to smile. He made a sudden movement as if he were going to go after Odion but it was all a fake out and after one step he stopped and straightened hoping to at least get Odion to flinch.

“You know, one of these days I’m going to hit you with a genuine Lani original and you’re not going to know what to do with yourself.” He teased back though he was flushing he really didn’t realize he quoted quite so much. He just liked to sound smart especially around Odion. He wasn’t sure why but he wanted to impress Odion as much as he wanted to show him up. Lani shivered shaking out his limbs. “I don’t know about that, I think I’ll leave that to you.” So the ginger pulled his normal dodging questions trick. Lani pretended to be annoyed but the amused light in his eyes shone through. He shrugged, “I don’t know,” he said honestly, “I guess if I knew what my decisions now would create than yes, but then anything can change the future so it’s really no use.” He sometimes wondered how the precognists handled it. Someone he had talked to once said it was easier to tell what he didn’t see than what he did.

Meditation, dammit, he was going to have to break down and mediate. His trainer had suggested it and Lani had never been very good at staying still long enough or just plain not falling asleep. But it was really the only way to really get a clear image of the internal world without the muddling of the physical world. But that again raised the question: Did Lani’s mind and power reside in the mental or physical world and if it resided in the mental world how did it touch the physical world. Lani’s head started to throb again and he decided he was not going to think about that again. Lani wondered what Odion was going to do when he left Hammel. After all it seemed like he had a rather good grasp on his power but then he had implied that he would be here the following year. Lani smiled, they would be a pair of troublesome super seniors indeed. At least Lani would only have to take a few classes. He wasn’t failing all of them. Just the boring ones. His advisor had more than once asked with exasperation how he had an A in physics when he was failing history. It was simple. Physics was interesting, it was his power. History was just a bunch of old people. Yeah he knew history was important and all of that but really did they have to make it so boring?

“I speak English just fine,” he said, “But we say ‘it’s gahbidge’.” He said over emphasizing his Boston accent on the word. He laughed at himself he really never had a heavy accent and it was actually strange to hear it. Sure he occasionally made a syllable long here or forgot his r’s but they say it was ingrained in the natives no matter how far away they got. So maybe Lani wasn’t the most beautiful of speakers and he certainly rarely followed grammar rules but eh who needed to when you got your point across just as well. Besides no one ever said a criminal had to be well versed. Lani raised his brows and tapped his fingers over his phone. “You won’t find it so easy now that I’m conscious,” he informed the ginger, no, the fact that the pickpocketer had gotten him had not been forgotten. He raised his hands in mock surrender. “Alright, alright, I get it. No pictures. You’re no fun.” Lani knew he was trying his luck but he really hoped Odion would find it a better plan to not take his phone. There were too many chances that something bad could happen. What if he missed a call from his boss or worse. Lani laughed out loud at that and gave the ginger a skeptical look. “Sure,” he said not really believing him. It really was too bad that Lani’s texts with Adrianna were rather mundane. Stuff that the redhead probably wouldn’t care about.

Startled by the question Lani looked at the redhead suddenly at a lack of words. He knew that Odion trusted him but hearing it aloud was another thing entirely. Lani observed Odion carefully wondering if there was a trick to this or if it really was that simple. He looked into Odion’s eyes and realized with a little thrill that it really was that simple. His smile slowly crawled its way onto his face and it warmed his face. Sure people trusted him, Adrianna trusted him but it wasn’t the same. Not really. He had never thought he would hear those words out of Odion’s mouth. He wished he had time travel so he could go back and make sure he had heard him right. He found himself holding in a laugh his shoulders shaking and his eyes alight with bright fire. How strange. He didn’t know how else to react. “I’m sorry,” he said shaking his head and sobering. Now he looked back up into Odion’s eyes and met them with sureness. “But thanks.” He wasn’t sure how to act now. Had something changed? He raised a brow at Odion and raised his hands giving Odion that one. After all he really couldn’t argue with that one.

“Uh-huh,” Lani uttered dismissively as if the reason for the slowness didn’t matter only the fact that he had been slow. Of course Lani was smiling and it was all in good humor. Really he just loved their back and forth bickering. Lani’s eyes became wide and his head snapped at Odion. “In what world would that be a good thing?” He demanded, “If we have flying cats chances are we’ll have telekinetic cats and time traveling cats and then the world will be ruled by cats and we’ll all be slaves to their power.” Yes, Lani was keeping a straight face as he spelled out this completely ridiculous and apocalyptic theory. He didn’t register Odion’s discomfort at the word and merely enjoyed the presence of the cats.

“Oh, hello,” he said to the cats not ignoring Odion’s comment but figuring out how to answer. “I’m really sorry Odion, I’ve been so busy.” He implored Odion to understand without knowing all of the details. Odion had said he trusted him, right? Would the redhead still feel the same if he knew Lani was lying? He chewed his lip and let the worry cross his face as Odion turned his back. A meow caught his attention and Shadow rubbed his hand trying to get him to rub his ears. He obliged and glanced up repeating Odion’s “What?” back at him. Now he was looking at Odion a strange interest as he realized Odion was going to change. He knew he should look away, it would only be polite but it wasn’t until after the jeans were on that this thought crossed Lani’s mind. He dropped his eyes toward the cats and performed his well trained cooling exercise. His mind and body chilled and whatever color had risen in his face faded away. Lani grinned back up at Odion and shook his head like he couldn’t believe he had to wait. Now Odion was bare-chested and Lani swallowed. Odion wasn’t bad looking. He wasn’t overly muscled nor was he flabby. It was strange, this hot feeling, it was the same whenever he saw Adrianna. This couldn’t be right. No. No, this wasn’t right. He would ignore this.

He rose to his feet cradling Shadow and Darshay just like the day they had found them. Though they were much more active now. He set them on the bed, or rather tried too. Shadow plotted down satisfied with a scratch on the head. Darshay however meowed unhappily and attached herself to Lani’s shirt. He smiled, “As soon as I get this growth removed.” He grabbed at the kittens feet prying the claws out of his shirt. “Come on, lemme go, I’ll bring you something back, I promise.” The cat meowed indignantly as he placed her on the bed where she pouted. “Alright,” he followed Odion out the door giving LJ and gentle push with his foot as he closed the door. He turned and practically ran straight into Odion. He jumped as if he were afraid Odion would read his mix of emotions. “Geez,” he said putting a hand on his friend’s shoulder, “Don’t do that.” He moved away and beckoned for Odion to follow. He was very excited to bear witness to Odion’s first exposure to a hamburger.

[Odion Martins]

Odion hadn’t been trying to trick Lani out of more information, he just didn’t see why Lani would be interested in knowing about his relationship with Rhett at all. He had seen quite a bit of it already, and Odi really did want to spare Lani any more detail. He had been a wee bit drunk that night, and he might not have shown Lani so much if he hadn’t been in such emotional turmoil. But was done was done, and he didn’t want to mess with Lani’s mind, not in this way at least. Odion could really dish things out, like prying mercilessly for information, but he didn’t know how to take a hit. As soon as someone even peeked into his house of skeletons, he swatted them away. He wanted to know about everyone, but no one was allowed to get close to him. Lani dropped his eyes, and Odi was sad to see the moment fade. Lani had taken more than a few peeks into his life, and the more it happened, the more Odi started to grow accustomed to it.

Secretly, Odion hoped he would die of old age. At the rate he was going, this wouldn’t be possible. But he really did want to just go peacefully. He wasn’t looking for a fight, but one always seemed to find him. Death seemed more like a peaceful subject, and although the ginger knew it could be quite violent, he just didn’t see it like that, for him at least. He hadn’t taken a peak into the future or anything, he just had a good feeling about it.

Odion thought hard about what Lani said. It was fun for people like them. Just what kind of people were they? “Innocent like Adrianna?” He couldn’t help it, Lani had laid it all out so nicely for Odi. She was innocence in human form. She trusted Lani unconditionally. She had learned a lot of hard lessons by having that innocence broken. Odion wondered how much of her picture Lani was shattering. He supposed trusting someone and then having your heart broken, was worse than having no soul. Odion was Lani’s friend, but he couldn’t ignore the elephant in the room, even if Lani’s power lashed out. He wasn’t about to be afraid of it. He wasn’t Lani.

Lani really was quite the con artist. Odion manipulated people almost on a day to day basis. It was that, or avoid them completely. He didn’t think people were worth his time, and usually didn’t bother with human interaction. He used people, stole from them, blackmailed them, annoyed them. It was rare that someone capture his interest, and then for him to actually treat them well? Sometimes that was asking for too much. He had even stolen something from Avi. He had discovered long ago and that he wasn’t a very good friend, probably because he himself had never had one. What was a good friend supposed to be like? He knew in essence, but people always came back to hurt you. It was like their ultimate goal. Odion thought he and Lani had a connection. He hoped that Lani would be a good friend.

The teddy bears were nothing really, at least that’s what Odion had told himself after Lani had seen them. They weren’t anything Lani needed to give much thought to, that’s what Odi hoped had happened. Odion didn’t like being so exposed, but Lani did seem to be opening up more. He knew it had to be a two way street if he was going to see the deeper side of Lani. He just wasn’t aware of how deep it would be. He really didn’t want to cuddle Lani either, he just didn’t seem like the type. Odion didn’t want to do big tricks, just stick to his petty crime. Crimes that most people would be too embarrassed to report. He didn’t need a big payoff to be happy. He didn’t want the potential attention. He also didn’t think he had the skills for something bigger than what he already did, and he wasn’t stupid enough to try without some guidance.

When the going got tough, you simply needed to change the game. Change the game into something you could win and that’s all that mattered. The rules didn’t have to be clear. That’s what made it so hard to understand Odion. You’d really have to pay attention to get to the bottom of things. Lani seemed to be slowly catching on, and Odi knew that if Lani was starting to get to close, he would have to change his behavioural patterns. There was no such thing as a straightforward conversation, even if it was one. Odion would read more into the conversation, even if there wasn’t any more. The only point at which he took words at face value, was when they were presented in a nugget of truth amongst the mess of twists and turns. And when someone was trying to get to know a person like Lani, it would take more than simple straightforwardness to get the truth out. Besides, being blunt and straightforward every once in a while made those moments more memorable. So what if the rest was all in code?

Back in Europe, Rhett had been Odion’s partner for years. At first Rhett was annoyed with the rookie, but soon the student had become the teacher. Odion looked small and weak, but he was the best of the bunch, literally. He just played the underdog card so his group of pickpockets would leave him alone. Slowly he started to get closer to Rhett. They knew each other inside and out, knew each other’s habits, and of course, treated each other like shit because they were too afraid to admit their true feelings. But Odi didn’t really want another Rhett, even though old habits did die hard. “Ass,” Odion hissed, making sure the blonde knew it wasn’t a lighthearted compliment. No, Lani was just a hard and true ass. He won, but he was still an ass. Odion only watched Lani, his eyes never breaking contact or flinching as Lani tried to psych him out. Odi smirked, glad to have won this one, but now he wanted to play. In what would seem like a nanosecond, Odion was directly behind Lani, about to whisper in his ear. “Boo.”

“Yeah, and one of these days I’ll find women attractive,” he rolled his eyes. In other words, the day Lani impressed Odion with a quote of his own would never come. Odion thought Lani was smart for what he could do, not really for what came out of the blonde’s mouth. Yes he could keep up with word wars, but Odion always seemed to win in that area. Hadn’t he just completely cut Lani down by pointing out the overuse of quotes? The first one was good, the second one was just too much. Lani just needed to learn to be more refined with his words. Odion didn’t really want to help with that, because he always wanted to have the upper hand. Odion simply watched the blonde. “Well you answered your own question,” he stated the obvious. Going into the future, to five minutes from now, not a lot would change. But even in that much of a short time span, things could change. It was a waste of energy Odion thought. He had gotten lost in the future a couple times. It missed an entire week because he jumped ahead, and some loophole made it so that he couldn’t go back. It wasn’t a lot of lost time, and Odi wasn’t willing to risk losing years of his life without actually living them. He liked manipulating time, he really wasn’t going to try and lord over it though.

If anyone saw Odion spaced out, they would probably say he was pretty good at meditating. He often lost track of time, staring at the same spot on the way until his stomach told him what time it was. It was why he usually didn’t have a problem staring people in the eye. It was also why he thought about things, thoroughly. He couldn’t predict every variable in the future, so maybe he tried to compensate for that by trying anyways. Thinking about complicated things eventually turned them into simple matters. Like how thinking about Lani was slowly starting to help Odi see the blonde in a clearer light. He decided that at some point, he would know more about Lani than Lani knew about himself. It was a good skill Odion had.

Odion was a master at staying just at average in school. His classes weren’t keeping him back, his power was. His GPA wasn’t very good, but he was passing, and since fifty percent was good enough, his grades were usually exactly that: fifty percent. Good enough, a passing mark. He would take some classes to keep himself from getting bored, but he would be doing more training next year. He just wanted to get it over with. He didn’t want to time travel into the future, but he wouldn’t have to think about that until September.

He laughed with Lani at the fake accent. “Saying it like that doesn’t suit you a’tall.” He grinned. At least they were having fun again. Odion was usually a grammar nut, something that came naturally when you studied language. Speech and words were beautiful things, and he hated it when someone used them improperly, including himself. Odion wasn’t most criminals. He was rather smart, having learned most of the Romantic languages on his own, and teaching himself to read and write. School just hadn’t been an option when he was young. It wasn’t until he manifested that he attended.

The ginger smirked. “I didn’t use my power last time.” He was just giving Lani fair warning. One flash, one snapshot, and Lani would quickly find himself without a phone. No, last time Odion had slipped past Lani from pure skill. Odi was just beaming from the memory. That had been one of the worst days, emotionally, in his life, and he was still great at what he did. Lani was really on stoking the fire. Odion scoffed. “I am so fun!” He crossed his arms in front of him like a small child. They both knew he was fun, there was no point in arguing about it. Odi shrugged at Lani’s disbelief. Maybe the blonde wasn’t the only one crossing his fingers.

The look on Lani’s face wasn’t something Odion would forget. It made the mind games worthwhile. These were the nuggets he was talking about. Yes he had to reveal information first, but Lani’s reaction was information too, wrapped in unabashed truth. Lani’s face contained a mix of emotions, and it was only when that happened did Odion know he had really hit Lani’s core. Lani could switch masks flawlessly, not ever revealing what was underneath, the only exception being Odi. Lani’s cool demeanour slipped off as soon as Odion gave anything of relevance, importance. The ginger was glad to know that his trusting Lani, really did mean something to the telekinetic. Odi smiled back at Lani, his gut wrenching, but in a good way. Lani seemed to be feeling the same thing, just expressing it through trying not to laugh. Lani was holding in his emotions again instead of letting them flourish, but Odion could tell: Lani was absolutely ecstatic over this kernel of truth. Odion only held his smile. The point had already been made, they didn’t need to have any cutesy moments.

“Doesn’t make you any less rude,” Odion shot back at Lani. Odi was smiling just as much. He just loved rehashing their old memories. But he loved making new ones even more. The ginger just started laughing as Lani tried to rationalize a world of flying cats. “Oh come off it Lani, lighten up.” He rubbed one of his elbows. “A world ruled by cats,” he looked up at the ceiling, trying to picture a cat whizzing by. The picture just wasn’t coming to life. A picture of LJ however, did. “It wouldn’t be such a bad world, cats would keep the place clean at least. Could be fun.” He said this in all seriousness. They had the best conversations really. He glanced at Lani, not even a smirk on his face. Odion thought any world could be bearable if Lani was in it.

Odion shrugged as Lani claimed to be busy. He really didn’t know what to say, because it wasn’t like he could say he had plans. Odion didn’t have a social life, didn’t have friends; in fact, he should be thanking Lani for leaving the kittens here, because Odi would literally have nothing else to do when they weren’t around. At least he could take care of them, play with them, and keep his mind off of things he exhausted himself thinking about. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe Lani was busy, he just felt a bit hurt than Lani was so busy that he didn’t have time to keep his promises. At least the blonde’s true colors were coming out. “Nothing,” Odion said right before changing. He couldn’t be positive, but he was pretty sure Lani hadn’t looked away. And for once, he didn’t mind that Lani was being rude. And although Odion had more self-confidence than the average person, he had to admit he felt rather shy around Lani. So maybe this was for the best. They were friends, so this wasn’t weird. So then, why did it feel like more?

Odion waited in the hallway, just outside of his room. “Monsters, growths,” he smirked at the adorable sight before him, “you do still like them don’t you?” Lani struggled a little more with the kittens until he was out of Odi’s room. The ginger had been watching with a half smile on his face, but when Lani turned around to nearly run into him, Odi full on smiled, and then laughed. It was like Lani had seen a ghost or something. Was that supposed to mean anything? Probably, almost everything had a reason. Lani was usually so agile, so aware of his surroundings. Something had put him on edge, distracted him. Odion knew it wasn’t the kittens preoccupying the blonde’s mind. And the touching? Lani seemed to avoid that at all costs. Odion glanced down quickly without moving his head, to where Lani’s hand had gone. Odion obliged silently, following Lani out of the dorm.

“So where are we going?” Odion asked, slipping his hands into his front pockets. He smiled slightly. This was going to be a long walk.

[Lani Hunter]

Curiosity often times drove Lani more than anything else. Lani only wished it was always that simple. He really wasn’t sure why he was sp interested in Odion’s relationship. But really Odion had started it and Lani was just challenging him. After all now that he knew they were on the same level he didn’t feel quite so silly. He smiled a little realizing that he had gotten into Odion’s life a little more. It really was nice to occasionally get ahead but having learned his lesson in the past Lani shut his trap and took his information and stowed it away in his memory. It really was too bad that Odion’s eyes intimidated him because he really would have liked to look into them for a while. It was strange how much eyes could tell about a person. Adrianna’s were soft and warm. Open and welcoming. Odion’s eyes were depthless and mysterious. Very calm and unreadable.

Death was a sad and early topic for the young men and Lani shook it out of his head. Despite his delusion of grandeur and desire to make an impact he really wasn’t ready to run off and get himself killed. No thank you. Now he wasn’t sure he wanted to live to a hundred but he certainly didn’t want to die young. But really, if the old saying was right he wasn’t going to go any time soon. Death was something that Lani had never come close to but his sister had and he was pretty sure that she was the kindest person on the planet at the moment. Lani tried his best to keep her from being innocent but mostly he got a reply about how cynical he was.

The smile ran away from his face as Lani’s eyes snapped up and glared at Odion knowing precisely what Odion was implying. “It’s not like that,” Lani practically hissed. He wasn’t deceiving her, he really liked her. Sure she was innocent and he wasn’t but really he was trying to help her see the real world. He wasn’t trying to trick her and he certain wasn’t in it to build her up to watch her fall. No he was trying to do the opposite. He was trying to build her a backbone and get her to be able to stand on her own feet. Sure Lani would be there for her but there was a fundamental difference between his relationship with Adrianna and his one with Odion, ignoring the romantics Odion could say that Lani trusted him and in that Lani wasn’t so afraid to share his burden with Odion, he wouldn’t share his burden with Adrianna. She couldn’t handle it. But he was not going to sit here and be accused of using his girlfriend. “Adrianna is a wonderful person and I would never do something to hurt her.” He assured Odion as if Odion was the one he needed to justify himself with. His power stirred but he held it at bay. If his power reacted he could hurt Odion and that was the last thing he wanted to do. Especially after the success they had had.

Was that really it? Had Lani actually succeeded in conning himself into something. He shook his head a fraction, no he was too good for that. Sure he could con other people into anything but so could Odion. The words rang in his ears, he was no better than the rest of them. Just a slippery no good thief. It really was Lani who was delusional and that was dangerous. Had Odion asked Lani he probably would have joked about it but really Odion was proving to be the best friend he had ever had and he could only hope that he could return the favor. But then Odion did things like that where he made Lani look at himself in the mirror and see the demon under his skin. But then they did say that a good friend was the one that wasn’t afraid to earn his hatred in order to keep him from doing something foolish. So he frowned at Odion not happy with what he had heard but rather that just lashing out he was listening and that was a start. Lani ground his teeth and held his peace.

Poor Odion, Lani hadn’t forgotten about the stuffed animals. He had thought about them a lot actually. Seeing a softer side of Odion was a relief but at the same time it made Lani strive to be a protector. He had just always been this way. It was hard to now stop himself and think that instead of standing between Odion and whatever it was that was endangering him, he had to start thinking about how they could work at each other’s side. It was a different way of thinking and not an easy switch. Though Lani liked it the more that he was thinking about it. Lani lived for the big stuff. There was nothing he loved more than to hear on the news the next day about the heist he just pulled. And to hear the interviewed cops getting pissed off because they had no leads, would never get any leads but they knew exactly who it was because no one had the same skill. Lani happened to like messing with cameras so he taunted them with long shadows and strange shapes and no one could ever see who it was. It was brilliant and it came Lani a smug sense of superiority.

Lani hadn’t even realized what Odion was doing mixing the long twisting phrases with bluntness. He was getting used to thinking ahead to what he would answer to dodge having to answer so when the questions went straight to the core it shook him and kept him on his toes. It wasn’t fair that Lani was bad at this. Odion would always be his superior in mind game and Lani just needed to accept that. But the chances of that happening… slim to none. Lani was terrible about admitting things that he was bad at. Lani’s foolish grin widened as Odion hissed. No the redhead was not going to take this away from him. He shrugged as if he didn’t care. “You know, there are some very admiral qualities in an ass,” he said with a random gesture before counting things off on his fingers, “Stubborn, patient, and ruggedly handsome,” he added the last giving Odion a charming smile. He was rubbing it in now he knew but really he couldn’t help it. He was just being himself.

On the high of his win Lani had been expecting to come out on top again. Poor foolish Lani. He blinked and uttered a pathetic “Huh?” as he looked for barely a second where Odion had been. The hair on the back of his neck rose and Lani swore he heard the words before he even felt the breath on his ear. Lani yelped and was ashamed to admit that for a moment he was sure he had literally jumped out of his skin. Reacting without thinking Lani’s power took the enemy and pushed him away. Which was probably a good and a bad thing. A good thing because to tossed Odion out of range of Lani’s flailing elbows. Bad because Odion had for the first time experienced what it would be like if Lani decided to launch him out a window. His heart still racing he placed a hand over it as if he could slow it. It was only then that released Odion from where he power had flattened him against the wall. “Sorry,” he said genuinely but with a little smile. “And this is why you shouldn’t sneak up on me,” he said sullenly his face flushing.

Lani laughed and was very glad that the pace their conversations moved he was hardly going to have to dwell on things unpleasant for very long. “Anything could happen,” Lani said with a shrug. It was strange to be able to joke about sexuality openly. Lani had of course known people who were homosexual but aside from a few who really would more likely kick his ass than whine about it he had never been able to joke without offending someone. Really in Lani’s opinion gay or not if he had wanted to date a man he wouldn’t want one of those guys who was more feminine than his sister. After all if he had wanted to date women he would. And was. But now with that said it really wasn’t fair that attraction was working in both directions. At least Odion could say that with sureness. If Lani had joked about finding a man attractive it would have been a lie, but no one needed to know that. Lani gave Odion a mock glare and shook his head a smile dancing across his face. “I hate it when you do that.”

It seemed a flawed way that Lani had been able to deceive himself in such a way that he didn’t know himself very well at all. He really wasn’t sure if other telekinetics had to stop and thinking about their power as they thought about themselves. But in reality it made sense that if his power fed off what he suppressed it would in turn make Lani look himself in the face. He didn’t even know Odion all that well. He could tell that Odion cared, at least he trusted Lani enough not to flatten him. Which admittedly he had accomplished until a few moments ago but really his power reacted faster than Lani could think. It was too bad that when frightened Lani tended to run or fight and it really was chosen at random though he was hardwired to run from anyone dressed in blue. The future had so many variables, Lani was even surprised they had accomplished weather forecasts as well as they had.

Lani really wouldn’t mind staying back a year because besides the embarrassment of having been held back he really did need the training and it gave him another year to find himself and think about what he was going to do with his life. Who knew, perhaps things would be very different next year. At least Lani was sure of it. With Odion at his side they really could twist that thorn in Hammel’s side and by the time graduation rolled around the staff would be shoving them out the door. At least that was how Lani imagined it, but who knew maybe he would eventually find his niche here and not want to leave. He sighed though to think about all of his old friends who had called to brag about their college choice and practically laughed at Lani when he lied about staying in the town and working to gain money. Yeah even his failure friends though he was a failure.

With a grin Lani continued, “Oh yeah, well ya come inta mah city talkin’ all Irish like that and you gonna get shot,” he said making a gun with his fingers. He laughed and shook his head, “You should hear my dad, you would have thought he grew up in a different country. Believe it or not after a few weeks back over summer and I’ll come to visit and you’ll wonder who I was replaced with,” he snickered. His friends always laughed at his ‘hick’ accent when he came back from Vermont but always if he spent more than a few days his Boston accent was back with a vengeance. Lani had never really picked up the quick talk of northerners so the accent was a little strange and not so noticeable at least to outsiders. It did make Lani come across slow and stupid sometimes he knew but anyone who really knew him knew that if you got him talking about something he could buzz through it as well as anyone. It really came from his mother’s southern origins.

Lani snorted and returned with, “And I was sleeping.” He tapped his phone in his pocket to assure himself that Odion hadn’t Houdini-ed his way into Lani’s pocket. Lani gestured his fingers to his eyes and then pointed at Odion in a ‘I’m watching you’ way. Lani shrugged looking very skeptical. “Eeehh…. No.” He decided. “You’re the opposite of fun.” His smile grew to encompass his unbridled humor, it was really only a few times when he felt truly comfortable enough to let all his shields fall away temporarily to allow this display. Odion was too cute when he was trying to be upset. Lani sobered slightly and realized that that was not a normal though. It was really very much like when he was hanging out with Shapiro and she had laughed when he put his hands on his hips.

Lani would have really done anything to keep from having been exposed like this. He was rattled and Odion being observant as he was wouldn’t miss that. So Lani let his masks slip and watched Odion for signs that he was feeling the same. It was really the smile that did it. It was comforting. Lani grinned happy to be moving on. He shrugged at the rude comment and told him, “So sue me.” It was strange that the more that Lani spoke about crazy cat apocalypses the more freaked out by the idea he was. He wasn’t taking it seriously of course but the ‘what ifs’ were just as unsettling. “You know when the cats take over I’m going to go all out with my ‘I told you so’s,” he said a smile flashing on his face for a moment. “Are you secretly a clean freak?” He asked with a raised eyebrow. Only Odion when faced with a possible cat ruled future would comment on the cleanliness of the world. The best part of this was that both men had utterly serious expression on and if someone walked by they would probably wondered for days why the two were talking so seriously about cats taking over.

Busy, yeah, busy keeping secrets. Lani winced inwardly. It really wasn’t fair but he was busy. Working himself to the bone actually. Most of the days he was here he was sleeping through his classes or hanging out with people. It really was just too bad that Pilot Ridge didn’t have a huge amount of stored that were worthy of big robberies. Though he had cleaned out the jeweler once and the bank. The only problem was that things like that just didn’t happen in small towns so they had been far in between and apparently isolated incidents. However, being Pilot Ridge the police were looking to Hammel for answers because it was obviously a meta doing it. Much to Lani’s relief and luck Hammel hadn’t done much. He shrugged and dismissed the comment as nothing important. For some reason Lani felt the need to rationalize that Odion had just gotten out of a relationship. And not a very good one either. Thought that had been what a few weeks maybe a couple months ago? Odion seemed to be trudging forward, perhaps not forgetting Rhett but Lani liked to think he was taking his advice and taking care of himself. After all the redhead looked a lot better now than that sickly he had been.

Lani gaped at Odion and huffed as if insulted. “Odion, I’m hurt,” he said putting a hand over his heart, “Of course I still love them.” He smiled throwing around that word again. It was a word he hadn’t even said to his girlfriend and yet here he was giving it to kittens. Lani pouted and straightened his shirt trying to recollect himself. He was a mess. Why? He shook his head and bared his teeth at Odion as he laughed. At least Lani’s power didn’t throw him this time. So with that thought and ignoring why he was startled Lani started away glancing back for a moment making sure Odion was following. He trotted down the stairs again checking his phone. Still there. Good. He smiled a little and pushed the door open holding it open for Odion. Out in the sunlight Lani mused, “It’s going to be fun getting through the gate.” It always was, they always tried their very best to stop him but if Lani couldn’t charm his way out he would find another way. Besides he had Odion with him today and he would like to see how the gate guard would handle that.

With a sly grin Lani turned so he was walking backward as he spoke. “It’s a back alley place. It’s really good I think you’ll really like it. Not a lot of people go there so the cook takes pride in his work.” Besides he knew a guy who knew a guy who knew the cook. Having connections was wonderful. He turned back so he was walking in step with Odion. He was very fidgety today and he wasn’t sure if that was because his body had been neglected in training or what but he was itching to do something today. When they reached the gate the guard was talking to someone and Lani was smiling thinking they were going to be home free for a moment but then the voice called asking if they had permission to leave. “Geez, is this place a prison or what?” Lani muttered to Odion before looking toward the man with innocence written all over his face.

[Odion Martins]

Again, Odion could dish it out. He could make comments on Lani’s relationship, but when Lani wanted to know more about his, he really didn’t want to indulge his friend. Sure Odi had started it, had let Lani see bits and pieces of just what Rhett meant to him. But somewhere along the way, Odi realized that by doing this, Lani got to see what kind of lover Odion was, and shouldn’t that be reserved for someone actually interested in him? If Lani wanted to know more, he’d have to take a passenger seat. Maybe then Lani would see just how soft and protecting Odi’s eyes could be.

“Do you often lie to yourself?” Odion asked. He was out for a vengeance, especially after Lani had pried into his love life. It was only fair. That, and Odi really didn’t want to see Adrianna hurt again. What Lani was doing, would only hurt her more. Why didn’t he see that? He may have been new to dating, but he couldn’t be this stupid. Sometimes Odion thought Lani really was that oblivious about other people’s feelings. Odion knew what it was like to be hurt and deceived, lied to. Had Lani taken even one moment of his time to put himself into her shoes? How would he feel if she turned out to be some wild woman and just wasn’t telling him about it? If by tearing her down further, then yes, he certainly would be building her. But then that wasn’t a real relationship, was it? It was just a project. If she couldn’t handle him, then why be with her? “Doesn’t mean it won’t happen,” Odion said, “have you even told her?” They both knew damn right what he was talking about.

Only the future would tell what kind of friend Lani would be to Odion. The redhead was starting to let himself trust the telekinetic more and more, and although that was a very dangerous thing to do, he knew that that’s what it would take to trust again. So far Lani was a great friend. He was fun and could keep up with the mind games. And he was pretty adorable, which was just a bonus and not really a requirement for friendship. Odi knew he wasn’t the best of the bunch, but he did try to help people he was fond of. And he would help in every way possible.

Lani had protected Odion more than the time controller wanted to admit. Who knew what would have happened that night had Lani not arrived just in time. Odi didn’t want to go back and time to see what might’ve happened if Lani had fallen asleep that night. It was okay that someone wanted to fight for him, as long as he could fight for them as well. And maybe this time, it wasn’t just about repayment. Odi wouldn’t mind doing bigger heists, it might give him that next high. But at what point would he be content with what he did?

Odion smirked at Lani’s description of an ass. “Don’t forget smelly.” Lani would have to read between the lines on that one. The redhead wasn’t disagreeing to the rest, but he didn’t want to admit he agreed. Especially to the last part. It was a good thing they started to play, instead of delve into the nitty gritty of what Odion really thought of Lani, good or bad. Odion doubled over in laughter, peels and peels of the sound escaping his lips. Of course, due to Lani’s powers, Odion was doubled over on the wall. The blonde’s telekinesis had tipped him over, but that wasn’t as much of a win as Lani’s reaction had been. Lani eventually released him and apologize, but what had happened to Odi wasn’t as bad as what could have happened, and he knew that. Odi shrugged, “Apology accepted, though, that doesn’t mean I’ll stop sneaking up on you.” He sent a wink in Lani’s direction. He was smiling like an idiot. That had been more fun than dangerous.

Odion could only smile as Lani said anything could happen. Good, then there was still hope, but Odi wasn’t thinking about himself. Odion didn’t really have a lot of sexual thoughts, it was probably the farthest thing on his mind, but that didn’t mean he was an exception to humanity. Again, he tended to like people for who they were, their gender was only an asset. Odion didn’t lean towards feminine men either, it was just a personal preference. Everyone had some feminine and masculine characteristics though, Odi included. If Odion had known what Lani was thinking, he’d say the obvious: that Lani was bisexual. He tilted his head to the side, what was Lani talking about? “What are you talking about?”

When Odi went back in time to study memories, it wasn’t always to watch others. He liked to see what he did, what worked and what hadn’t. But if Lani was avoiding mirrors at all cost, then he was never going to learn. The only point where Odi had stopped studying himself and those around him, was when Rhett left. He really hadn’t known what he had become until it was almost too late. And Lani was right, Odi couldn’t let that other blonde take that away from him. Odion was partially sorry for showing Lani the truth, but he was only being vigilant. His eyebrows furrowed in worry despite his best efforts. He was worried about Lani. They only just begun, and if he had a meltdown... Well, that wouldn’t end well. Odion could feel the space of time they were in, and in that, he could feel exactly where Lani was against the rushing barriers of seconds. Would they ever train again?

Thinking about the future wasn’t something Odi liked to do and actually tended to avoid. He didn’t know what he was going to do with his life, and that didn’t really matter at the moment. Unless Lani happened to ask him a question based on this, no one had to know he didn’t have it altogether. And even if his friend did ask, Odi didn’t have to tell the truth. Shoved out the door or walking through it, Odi would be glad to get out of here.

“All Irish like?” Odion grinned before laughing again. He had nothing to say to this nonsense bantering. Odion’s smile slowly faded as Lani started to talk about his dad. It was a conversation Odi had always hoped would never come up. Any conversation having to do with family that is. A pang of jealousy always managed to find its way into Odi’s heart, even if the person was complaining about their family, because at least they had one. Odion kept his gaze steady. He had grown up in a different country. He smiled politely, the walls going up a little again. “You’ll still be the same,” he said. It would take more than a different accent to freak Odion out. Besides, he was trying to take all of this very calmly. He had half a mind to sneak up on Lani in Boston during the summer. Of course he wasn’t going to tell Lani that, it was sort of a, surprise. Odion grinned at his own thoughts. Getting there would be tricky, but he was trickier.

“I noticed,” Odion said in a bored tone of voice, “not really the best place to sleep, was it?” The ginger smirked at his comrade. Lani was truly comical at times. He also had quite the striking smile. It left Odi a little speechless, even though he swore he had had a good comeback just a few seconds ago. “Uh, right,” he said feebly, scratching at his ear. Maybe next time he should just hang out with the kittens, and leave the mind games for a day he hadn’t trained his arse off. What was opposite of fun anyway? He knew he wasn’t boring, so Lani must’ve just been teasing him. Ass.

Maybe next time, Lani wouldn’t be so eager to ask Odion what he thought. Ah well, at least Lani knew that Odion was trying to be honest. He was just reminding the ginger why honesty wasn’t always the best policy. What Odi had to say was often harsh reality, and most people couldn’t handle his observations. It was why he stuck to surface conversations and acquaintance-like relationships. Or maybe, he was just afraid that no one would ever understand him, but that wasn’t something he wanted to worry about or change about himself. If people couldn’t handle him at his worst, they didn’t deserve his best. Lani was someone who had seen the good, bad, and the ugly, and still stuck around for more. It was why Odion felt good about being truthful around him. It was a two-way street of trust.

“I don’t think so,” Odion said. Cats weren’t going to take over, so Lani wasn’t going to get his ‘I told you so’ hay day. “You’ve seen my room,” Odi said in reply. He was never one to give direct answers, and Lani should know not to expect one by now. Odion demanded Lani be smarter, to think on his feet. Odion’s room was immaculate, but it was pretty neat. He had a bit of OCD over where things should be kept, but the cleanliness of said things wasn’t as important.

Odion offered a not so apologetic smirk in reply to Lani’s apparent hurt. “You have a strange way of showing love,” he pointed out. If love meant not seeing someone, then yes, he supposed Lani really did love the kittens. He didn’t think that’s what Lani was getting at. Odion usually took things quite literally, unless it was said in a joking or sarcastic way. So Lani really must have love for the kittens, and Odi didn’t doubt that. He did question why Lani’s actions didn’t match his intentions though. Odion was really relishing in how Lani was reacting to his half-nudity. Because really, nothing else was in the room to have made Lani freak out so suddenly.

Following Lani out of the dorms, Odi glanced down at the phone in the blonde’s hand. “I’m not going to steal it unless I have to,” he stated, as though reading the blonde’s thoughts as he walked through the open door. At least Lani was trying to absolve his rude behaviour. “Why, you can’t get it open?” He teased with a smirk. Just how much about Lani’s night prowling did the school know about? Odion had no problem coming and going as he pleased. No one questioned the fly on the wall, they just accepted it.

Odion watched Lani walking backwards. Curiouser and curiouser. A smile played on his lips as he did his best to pay attention to what Lani was saying, and not just stare at him. “He takes pride in something not a lot of people enjoy?” Odion really did question everything, didn’t he? He frowned at this realization of always have to make things more complicated. He didn’t want to insult his friend though, so he nodded a couple times. “Sounds good.” He had agreed to this hadn’t he? Part of him felt like he owed Lani, because he had twisted the blonde’s arm into training together. He could muster up the gusto to eat a burger, right? His gut twisted. This was why he didn’t want any pictures. No one needed to have a memory of him throwing up. Lani was practically skipping as they walked. Odion was feeling quite the opposite, feeling rather tired. His power really hadn’t been worked like this in a while. Maybe Lani had more endurance.

The guard at the gate was already hassling them, and Odi cast a grin towards Lani. It wouldn’t be Hammel if it wasn’t also a prison. The ginger smiled politely, not charmingly. There was only a slight difference between looking innocent, and trying to kiss ass. “Of course, it’s the weekend. There aren’t any classes at this time,” he said, the guard looking mildly unimpressed. Odion stopped in front of him. He wasn’t going to let them pass. Not yet anyways. “If we weren’t allowed to leave, we wouldn’t be going right through the front door,” he said, raising an eyebrow at the man. Now Odion was acting annoyed. Because anyone on their way to a lunch date that was being delayed would be annoyed, not anxious. The guard seemed to be buying this, but still, he cast a hesitant glance at Lani. Odion looked at the guard, waiting. Just what had Lani done to make coming and going so difficult?

[Lani Hunter]

Lani found himself gaping at Odion for a moment unable to believe the harshness in his voice. What did the redhead care anyways? It wasn’t like he was Adrianna’s friend. Stunned into silence and hurt that Odion thought so low of him. Lani’s wide eyes narrowed and his mood flipped like someone had hit a switch. His heart became steel and it took all of his self control to not fling Odion across the room. Sure Odion had seen Lani snappy and worried and agitated but he had never seen the telekinetic angry. No that was not a good thing. His face was set in stone and his fists clenched. “How dare you,” he was finally able to get out. He wasn’t yelling, no when Lani was on the edge of rage he got rather quiet. So his accusation came out barely above a whisper but it cut cold and deadly as a knife. He didn’t want to talk about his relationship anymore. After all who was Odion to go and accuse him of that. Perhaps what hurt the most was that deep down Lani knew he was right and hated him for it.

With a scoff Lani threw his hands up in the air unwittingly lifting everything not human in the room and dropping it in his frustration. “No I haven’t,” he snapped, “And maybe I will and maybe I won’t but if I tell her it will be because I want to. Not because anyone else wants me to. It’s my decision to make, not anyone else’s.” He cut himself off and took a sharp breath inward realizing that had just delivered his frustrated speech in one breath. Now perhaps had it not been for the heckling of that blond demonness he would have let the comments slip like he usually did but he really was sick of people telling him what he should and should not do. The rant had allowed his anger an outlet and what was left of it he pushed back to avoid his power getting a hold of it. He muttered a curse realizing he was doing just what Odion had said he always did. Why did he have to be right? He felt bad for lashing out at Odion because he had miss stepped into something that had been digging into Lani. Now that anger was not clouding his mind he realized Odion was just trying to help. But Lani was not going to apologize for that. He had said his piece and he was willing to leave it at that.

But there was one last thing on his mind. Why was Odion always so ready to pick fights? He knew very well that talking about lying to Adrianna would get a snap out of Lani, just like he knew that pointing out his flaws would force Lani to defend himself, and just like he knew that Lani couldn’t back down from a challenge. So why was it that Odion sought these things out? Or perhaps the real question was why Lani hadn’t just punched his lights out already? Oh sure, the argument could be made that Lani just wasn’t that kind of person but it had happened before. If Lani could see through defending himself he might be able to see that Odion didn’t want Adrianna going through what he went through. Lani’s anger melted away quickly as his mind started to come back to him. Damn. He closed his eyes and scratched the back of his neck. He felt the need to explain now. To justify himself. But didn’t only people who were guilty do that? Too late, he was already speaking. “Look I know I should tell her. I just… I can’t. Not yet,” he said his voice much softer and it was almost as if the hard anger had never been there at all.

Things would be easy if Odion was just like everyone else. Someone he could protect, someone he could help. But it wasn’t so, already Odion was showing to be more of someone that Lani could rely on. It wasn’t something Lani was used to and he certainly wasn’t used to anyone making him face his mistakes like that. Every meeting with Odion held lessons. Things Lani had learned or had yet to have drilled through his thick skull. Every time they met they alternatively bickered and teased, argued and laughed, built each other up and tore each other down. Granted Odion was better at the latter than Lani was, but Lani really wasn’t very good at being motivational, rather he was blunt and rather tactless. One thing that Lani really was grateful for was that despite Odion’s advice usually being met with anger he had not washed his hands of Lani, at least not yet.

The mood lightened significantly after the prolonged silence in which Lani got himself lost in Odion’s eyes again. Lani’s smile slowly returned like a skittish deer entering a clearing. He twisted his head and smelled his shirt. “You sure it’s me you’re smelling?” He asked glad to be joking again. Joking was much easier for the blonde than being serious. So Lani was unprepared for the moment of terror when Odion appeared behind him. After all, who would have thought that someone would have the guts to sneak up on a telekinetic? He held his hand over his heart which seemed to refuse to slow down. Slowly he regained his composure, at least enough to give Odion a glare. “It’s not that funny,” he said sullenly crossing his arms across his chest. Lani gave Odion a mock smile in response to his wink. “Yeah, yeah well next time how about I put you on the ceiling and leave you there,” he suggested. It was an empty threat, Lani wouldn’t even be able to hold Odion once he was out of range. And his range generally tended to be the size of whatever room he was in or so. Also they both knew that Lani being Lani simply wouldn’t do it. He would get two steps out of the door before he would come back feeling bad about leaving Odion stuck to the ceiling.

Yeah, anything could happen. He and Adrianna could break up, hopefully not! But he could also die in a car crash tomorrow or suddenly snap and the next thing Hammel knew they had a telekinetic talking backward and trying to point out invisible creatures. Either way Lani was good with just ignoring the strange thoughts. It really wasn’t fair that it was so confusing. He supposed that if he had had some sort of relationship experience before it wouldn’t be so strange. But Adrianna was his first… well everything. First kiss, first girlfriend. He was still learning and he still didn’t know what was going on in his own head or heart. “I’m talking about that answering questions with questions and making me figure it out myself,” he replied, “Wouldn’t it be easier just to tell me?” He feinted exasperation, as if it had been extremely laborious for Lani to examine the answer.

Lani was glad he couldn’t go back and look at himself. Then he would be able to realize as the slightly older slightly wiser Lani that this Lani was going to say something stupid and try to stop him. Had Lani known Odion was worrying he would have to figure out what it was. So that he could worry about it. After all he was supposed to be the one that worried, right? Lani was now set on training. He had been given a nibble of what it would be like if they could really work at their powers and succeed and now Lani wanted to whole carrot. After all, Lani really liked that warm feeling from Odion’s power, even if his power was still very much raging against it. Lani smiled a little he was going to hold onto that feeling and for once not dissect it. It was the feeling of a friend, he told himself and so he was going to hold that in his memory.

It was stealing that Lani had been good at. He had always been good at it. So if he really wanted to get a job that would be it. After all it was fun. But was there something else he could do with it? He wasn’t sure. And he certainly wasn’t going to go out of his way to point out that he had these skills. That would certainly raise questions that he did not want to answer. It really wasn’t something he ever wanted to have to do. Getting arrested wasn’t on his list of things to do. Though he had to say that he was pretty sure that unless they had some way of keeping him from using his powers there really wasn’t much they could do about his walking out the front door. Granted a fugitive life wouldn’t be all too glamorous but hey freedom was better than living in a cage. He smiled a little he liked to think that if he really was in a tight spot Odion would bail him out, Lani knew he would with Odion. Besides, messing with cops was one of the best perks of his job.

He nodded, “Yep,” he said and offered no more explanation than that. Lani’s brow creased as Odion’s smile faded and he tried to think of what he had said. He could have smacked himself in the forehead. He hadn’t even thought about it. “Oh, Odion, I’m sorry.” He said honestly. He really was a thoughtless friend just throwing stuff like that around. He didn’t want to admit that he had forgotten that Odion had a sensitive spot there. Though honestly if Odion wanted his father he could have him. Lani laughed his face lighting with a smile. “Of course, I’ll just have a more gangster accent,” he laughed at himself. Yes he was perhaps one of the whitest guys around and most of his old friends would have been unable to contain their laughter if Lani claimed he was a gangster. Though, partially that was true. After all he did work for a crime lord. His boss had no dealings with the violent gangs, he wasn’t a fan of unnecessary death, it brought too much police attention he had said and his job was to make money not war.

“Haha,” Lani said in a flat tone, “No, you made sure I learned my lesson. Now I just don’t sleep.” Lani joked sending a smile Odion’s direction and laughed at his own joke. He was really bad at this whole clever come back thing. He was glad that Odion gave him a little slack here, though why he wasn’t sure. He knew better than to think that his little comment had really stunned the redhead into silence so what had gotten his friend tongue tied? He couldn’t keep that goofy smile off his face. Odion really was fun, Lani just had to deny him the knowledge that Lani thought so. Odion certainly wasn’t boring, and he wasn’t someone who Lani disliked being around. Quite the contrary Lani found himself glad to be spending more time with Odion. Their adventures were never uneventful. Even if all they did was talk there was always something rather dynamic about it. More often than not Lani left feeling more uncertain, more thoughtful or just more joyful than he had been before their meeting.

Lani was rather thick but he really wasn’t ready to repeat that kind of revelation. He really could only deal with so many revelations before he just needed to stop and ponder all of them. Lani might not be the brightest light but given enough time he always came to a logical answer. Or an illogical one if the question so desired one. Though Lani had found that more often than not when Lani got into it with someone with philosophy Lani could really excel because he did ask those questions and think about those strange things that normal people don’t think about. Perhaps not Odion, but others, Odion was pretty good at keeping up and or telling Lani when he wasn’t making any sense. Which consequently was a lot. He really needed to fix his brain mouth interaction. Lani was a strange person. Most people enjoyed others when they were pleasant, Lani couldn’t leave when someone was hurting. And it was really because of that that he and Odion were friends at all. He would always be secretly grateful that he had had a bad dose of insomnia that night.

With a shrug he dismissed the topic. After all, who would believe such a thing were possible… but what if there was a world out there where cats were meta and had taken over the world. Oh well now that was done, Lani no had to consider that possible universe. But thankfully Odion was speaking again and so he didn’t have much time to dwell on the possibility of litter boxes instead of bathrooms. Lani laughed grinning broadly. “Oh yes, you know one day I’m going to sneak in and just move everything.” He said giving Odion a wink. He didn’t think Odion would really freak out, maybe be extremely annoyed. He would have an easy time too, he wouldn’t even have to go inside. He would simply switch things places and shift something.

Lani shrugged and scratched the kitten’s heads. “I wish I could see them more,” he admitted, “Besides the redheaded one is rather entertaining,” he said tossing Odion a smile, “Or sorry, the catupine.” He corrected with a sly smile. If Lani had the choice he would spend more time with all three of the kittens and his cat-porcupine themed friend. But he didn’t and so he didn’t spend time with them. At least he was working toward and end goal now. He had officially created a card for the bank account he had created and started pouring money into. It was really the easiest way. He had been clever, using a Boston bank and adding money in small amount like paychecks. Now all he had to do was get the final amount to match his debt and then some and give the account information over to his boss and leave. He wished he could assure Odion that he was working on it. That he was going to have more time soon.

With that comment Lani hummed a little and pocketed the phone. “I’m a man of my word,” Lani said only half lying. That was a rather… situational statement. Lani delivered another spectacular fake laugh as Odion’s clever come back struck home. It really wasn’t the physical gate that Lani was worried about, but of course Odion knew that. He just had to dig in that little jab. But at least Odion was coming with him. He couldn’t get the smile off of his face; there was a small sense of triumph in his expression. Now Lani gave a real laugh. “Odion I really think you’re the only human being in America that doesn’t enjoy a hamburger.” Lani felt the need to bolt to do something, why his energy level was suddenly so high he really couldn’t explain. It really was a strange jubilation spreading through him. “Oh lighten up, you’re not going before the firing squad!” He teased; Odion really looked like he was walking toward the hangman’s noose.

Lani crossed his arms and looked at Odion just the perfect mix of sly intentions and innocence that had worked in the past. He nodded to emphasize Odion’s points. Odion was good at this. It was interesting to see the mind games from a different view. The man seemed to want to let Odion pass without much effort but his eyes fell on Lani and he knew it was his cue to play innocent. Odion might be good at logic but Lani was a good story teller and he knew just how to get out of this one. “Sir,” he leaned just a little forward. Lani changed his body language to be somewhat slouched and broken. Right now Lani was sending the message that he was weak, harmless. He was no threat, letting him through would not cause any disasters. “Please, this is important; our boss just called us in and we’re so late! If I’m late one more time he says he’s gonna fire me!” Lani expertly added the correct amount of panic into his voice that would convey real worry at being fired. After a moment of Lani giving him pleading eyes and fidgeting like he was about to break into a run to get to work on time the man waved them through.

He gestured at Odion as if they were in an utmost hurry and rushed down the drive. At least until they were out of sight. He turned to grin at Odion and once they were out of earshot let out a low laugh. “They really post the poorest saps at the gate.” He snickered. Once in the town Lani led Odion down a side road and then down another clearly less traveled street. He hadn’t been kidding when he had said it was back alley. This really was the best old diner he had found in a long time. It had an old sign on the front door that was practically unreadable. He pushed open the door and motioned for Odion to follow him into the dim lighting. So perhaps this place didn’t cater to the nicest crowd but the manager was good at keeping things quiet. The smell of fresh burgers hit his nose and he smiled before taking a seat at a corner table. A server made her way over and plopped menus in front of them inquiring of their drink choice. Lani requested water with a please and a thank you and a charming smile. He was so going to get a picture when Odion least expected it. “So…” He started curious to see what sort of opinions Odion had about the place.

[Odion Martins]

Odion could feel Lani’s anger now more than ever. It was interesting, to see just how well contained Lani’s emotions could be. While Odi had spoken what was on his heart, and only the truth, his plan had also worked. He couldn’t really tell Lani that he was testing the emotional waters, but Lani was much better at controlling his power than he thought he was. Odion smiled, but only slightly. Lani was going to think something very strange was going on, but so be it. He wasn’t going to explain what he had been trying to do, but he was glad it had been successful. “You don’t want her to end up like someone like me.” There, that was fair. His voice was softer, not as accusing. People like Odi were broken, and definitely not innocent. He was done testing the limits now. Odion already knew that Lani didn’t respond well to direct accusation, but Odion didn’t really care. Odion was trying to wipe away some of that rage seeping off Lani, after all, he did want to come out friends after this.

How was it that Lani could lift everything in the room at once, but not just one thing? Odion watched in fascination, taking mental notes. This just kept getting better, and there was excitement in his eyes. “I was only asking,” he said, his eyes never leaving Lani. Obviously this had been bothering him for quite some time. It was good for him to let it out, to tell someone and get his mind cleared up. Odi was smiling now, because even though Lani was seething, he was talking to Odion. Maybe next time Odi wouldn’t have to get Lani angry to get to the heart of things. After all, it wasn’t the only emotion Lani was capable of, just the strongest one. “I told you I could handle you.” Odion wasn’t trying to trick Lani, he just wanted the blonde to see what had just happened here.

And it would seem that Lani understood completely. It had been Odi’s intentions all along, and he felt quite pleased with himself. But oddly, he was more pleased with Lani. It had been an obscure way to teach someone, but it was working. He only half-listened to Lani, because he knew the blonde was going to defend himself. Whatever was holding Lani back, must be worthwhile if he couldn’t let his girlfriend in. Lani could also handle himself. Odion knew that, but only friends interfered. Hopefully Lani knew that. But in case he didn’t, Odi raised his hands, taking a mental step away from Lani. Odion just wanted to help Lani, even if that meant being a punching bag, or a sound board. It was something new, to feel that way, to be willing to be yelled at and not yell back. Really, he just wanted to be a friend. Lani knew more than he let on, he had just been playing pretend for so long that he was beginning to think it was reality.

Odion was someone Lani could protect, but Odi wanted to protect in return. There wasn’t pity in his eyes, nor was there weakness. He viewed himself and Lani as being on the same playing field. If he couldn’t show Lani his mistakes, who would? If there was anything Odion wished he had, it would be someone to tell him where his faults were, and maybe how to fix them. Someone worth fighting for, to keep up with him. Someone who made him the best version of himself that he could be. But those were all wishes wasted on unspoken thoughts. Lani may be stubborn, but Odion could match him. And the more Odi thought about it, the more he thought they were a good match. Together. He gulped at his thoughts as he felt stuck in Lani’s deep eyes. The mood lightened before he could dwell on it further.

Joking wasn’t something Odion was very good at, though he did try his best. He nodded, almost politely. “Yes, I’m sure. Since you’re the ass and all.” He smiled brightly. Yes, it was good to go back to joking, back to pretending like there was nothing more here than friendship and learning. Maybe Odion didn’t have guts, maybe he just wanted to play. Maybe it didn’t matter whether Lani had telekinesis or not, because that wasn’t the first thing Odi saw. Odion shook his head, his shoulders still bobbing up in down as he laughed. At least he was upright now. “You’d have to catch me first,” he said, pursuing the old agreement, since it still held merit. He tilted his head to the side, smiling softly. “I think you rather enjoy the idea of me sneaking up on you.” Wait for Lani’s blush.

“Oh,” Odion said, mustering up his best coy smile. “Seems like you’ve picked up on some of my bad habits as well.” Of course he answered questions with more questions. People could only keep up with so much, and that usually confused them into forgetting what their question was to begin with. Odi nodded. Of course it would be easier. But hadn’t Lani once said before that that would make Odion like everyone else? “I don’t really think that’s what you want.” It didn’t explain why Odion did it, but Lani hadn’t really asked about that. It seemed like the telekinetic wanted to know more about the inner workings of Odion’s mind, but a master didn’t just give out his secrets. Lani should spend more time examining words.

Odion had never been arrested, or in jail. If he could help it, neither of those things would happen. Ever. Besides, he couldn’t help Lani from a jail cell. And maybe he wanted the warm fuzzy feelings from training with the telekinetic to continue as well.

Odion shrugged. “It’s fine.” Because what else could it be? There was nothing he could about not having a family, adopted or biological. Odi didn’t really want to talk about family, ever. He may know more about dating relationships, but he didn’t know the first thing about family, and it wasn’t something he wanted to dwell on. It only led to drinking binges and the redhead decided he was done with that for a bit. It was hard for someone to know only what country they reigned from, and that they were unwanted. Now deep in thought, Odion lost track of time and didn’t respond to Lani’s comment about being more gangster. It was an irrelevant comment.

Hadn’t sleep eluded the telekinetic before he met Odion? The redhead wasn’t sure, but someone who slept on public benches in the middle of the day, must not be getting adequate sleep at night. It was just another thing he had in common with Lani. Lani was admitting to not getting sleep because of him, so Odion just dwelled on that instead of tripping over his own words. He knew it just wouldn’t work right now, to speak. Not about what he was thinking anyways. “What’s with the grin?” He asked. Lani was really happy, and Odion couldn’t figure out why. This bothered him, especially when he could pinpoint people so easily. It never occurred to him to think that Lani was happy because of him.

Odi had a pretty good memory, even without the ability to review said memory. Still, he was surprised that more people didn’t catch Lani in his lies. Maybe they simply weren’t as observant. Humans were selfish, and didn’t really see past their own noses. But despite Lani’s shortcomings, there was a lot more good in the teenager than bad. Something about Lani was hope itself, it was something Odion wanted to cling to.

“I’d rather you not move anything, thank you,” Odi said as they finally reached the dorms, glad this conversation could come to an end. Didn’t Lani have better things to do with his time, especially if he couldn’t watch the kittens more often? “You can see them whenever you’d like,” Odion offered with a coy smile So much had been said in that statement. He wasn’t sure what was so entertaining about him, he was just being himself. But if Lani found him interesting enough to keep coming back for more, Odi wasn’t going to complain. “Maybe not when I’m sleeping,” he added with a short laugh. Why Lani would be visiting while he slept was just strange to think about.

Odion sighed, as though annoyed. “Oh really? What about all the vegetarians, or vegans? I don’t think they’d like hamburgers either.” Lani really didn’t think about what he said, did he? He thought about the meal he was about to have and sighed. “What’s so special about ground beef made into a circle anyway?” He asked. He really was just going for Lani. He would never go on his own accord. He never should have said anything. But part of him just wanted to spend more time with the blonde, and this seemed like it would work well. Maybe it worked a little too well. He smiled only slightly at Lani. “If I die from this food...” He didn’t finish the sentence. Fate, or the guard, had arrived.

Watching Lani from the corner of his eye, Odion was having a hard time not laughing. It was great to see Lani in the middle of a mind game, though he played the game very differently, it was no less well done. Odion was starting to feel a higher appreciation for his friend. Between the two of them, they could probably get out of anything. Hell, they could probably steal right in front of people, and just talk their way out of their actions. No sneaking around necessary. It didn’t mean Odi wasn’t going to make fun of Lani for this later. He let Lani take the spotlight almost begrudgingly, but at least the guard seemed to be softening up. Odion hurried right next to Lani. It was a good thing their backs were to the guard now, because Odion couldn’t stop smiling. The giggle fit brewing inside of him would have to wait ‘til later.

“That was truly pathetic,” he said with a nod, praising his friend. It was a job well done. Odion followed Lani blindly, but he was aware of his surroundings. He had been here before, when he was mapping out the city in his mind. Why hadn’t he noticed the burger joint then? Oh right, because he hated burgers. Odi’s eyes were a little bigger than usual as he stepped into the dinky restaurant, wary of his surroundings. He had a bad feeling about this place, and paranoia was creeping up on him quickly. Oh well, he was here already, and flight was not an option. And then the smell, and Odion’s fingers curled into fists. Odion was too thankful to sit down across from Lani. He smiled hesitantly at the server, who smiled right back at him. She could sense how uncomfortable he was, he just knew it. He settled for water as well. He assumed whatever came out of the tap would never be as bad as some of the water he had had to drink. After she left, Odion sighed and slipped a finger through the menu, as though picking something to order was a life or death decision. He really did view it as such. He frowned at it, before staring at Lani. “What am I supposed to get?” He asked. Obviously going out to eat wasn’t something he did often. “Maybe just a hamburger... That should taste the least... horrible.”

[Lani Hunter]

It was probably a very good idea that Odion had elected to not to tell him that it was a test. Lani probably would have leveled him. Not that he didn’t want to do so now. But at least he had some sort of control. Lani winced visibly when Odion stated that so bluntly. It might not have come out as an accusation but Lani took it as one all the same. He wasn’t being like Rhett was he? He hated the man for all that he had put Odion through. For that alone Lani had taken a dislike for this mysterious man. Lani finally shook his head and looked at Odion trying in vain to read him. “Is that what you think of me?” He asked in return and shook his head. “No, I would never do that to her or…” He cut himself off realizing that he had just been about to admit that he wouldn’t abandon Odion. No if he abandoned them with no explanation and left a broken heart with Adrianna he would be no different than the man he hated but had never met.

Lani felt rather deflated after his show of power. Odion didn’t dig, he didn’t argue and he didn’t tease him. He had been really prepared for an all out battle and now it really seemed like his anger was empty and so it fell away more quickly than he would have liked. Well at least he knew Odion wasn’t going to make this one of those times when Lani really would wonder later why he didn’t just throw him out a window. Though the calm wasn’t very long lasted as Odion started to smile Lani settled on a simmer. He didn’t find anything amusing about this and he knew he wasn’t funny when he was angry, after all he had made quite a few people back off with just a look. At least when it came to his sister. Lani blinked, not comprehending at first. His mind had to rewind quite a bit through his memory to recall that particular bet. He narrowed his eyes and now a little smile of his own formed. “Cheater,” he stated simply. Really in the mind games Odion and Lani played there really was no cheating. Lani found himself not as angry as he thought he would be for that. Really had anyone else said the same thing he would have punched their lights out. And who knew if Odion kept this up he might really be seeing stars.

Odion, thankfully had not pressed the subject. Lani breathed a little sigh of relief and found it all very strange how things were going. None of his other friends had ever spoken to him like this. Most of them were superficial and would care only about the fact that he had gotten a pretty girl on his arm. And maybe that was where he was confused. He was doing everything right, well as right as his job would let him, but his future was a bleak and foreboding place. He was half tempted to ask Odion to go into the future and see what would happen after he at the end of this school year called it quits on organized crime. But then he would have to tell Odion about his boss and that certainly wasn’t going to happen. No whatever happened would happen and Lani would deal with it then. But already he had been working on ways to keep his family safe, and those in Pilot Ridge would mostly be fine since his boss didn’t really look so far away for hostages. But what really sucked was they could get some random person off the street and hold a gun to their head and Lani would be stuck.

Lani was grateful that Odion wasn’t like everyone else. Hadn’t he already said that? He had also been found to trust Odion and then the trust was mutual. It gave him a warm feeling and he shrugged it away. No, getting close to Odion was dangerous. He knew that, just how he was sure Odion knew getting close to Lani was dangerous. But they were both taking the risk. Their relationship was perhaps the most mutual he had ever had. It was a strange thing to admit that he couldn’t do everything on his own. And to think Odion had enough influence in him to get him to change his mind about that. He just hoped that if Odion wanted to defend him he was prepared for what he was going to face. But then, he would never know because Lani was too much of a coward to admit when he needed help. Sure he had taken the small step in accepting help when offered but he wasn’t really ready to ask for help. A strange feeling overcame him. As if he were going to be proved wrong in the near future.

With a roll of his eyes Lani laughed. “You sure it’s not a good smell then?” He asked slyly blinking slowly. It was easy to laugh with Odion. It was different though, Adrianna was easy to laugh with but Odion was just as easy to be serious and honest. He felt a pang of guilt. Adrianna was a wonderful woman and his feeling for her were not false but why did he feel like he had to keep things from her that he would tell Odion. Especially since their façade of acquaintances was working well. It was true that they spoke in the hallways and such but nothing more than pleasantries. Though they did tease each other relentlessly which had led a few people to ask Lani why he hated Odion so much. He had merely smiled and shrugged. It was really funny how the jabs that they made at each other could be seen by outside viewers as actual anger. He supposed the fact that they both knew it was a joke made it leave then unruffled. “Alright, but this time don’t use your powers,” Lani challenged looking over Odion. His intention was to assess him for physical battle but he found himself admiring a little bit. Physically they were both similar, deceptively lean but neither would win at brute strength, unless of course Odion was stronger than he appeared. But no he and Odion were built for more of the evasiveness and tricks. So Lani assumed. “What?!” Lani sputtered caught off guard by the comment his face flushing. No Lani didn’t disappoint. “I’m going to throw you out the window,” he said dryly.

Lani crossed his arms and nodded at Odion. “Didn’t think you were the only one, huh?” He raised a brow and tried his best to ignore the cute face Odion was making. He really needed to be careful not to let that show. After all what kind of reaction would he get out of Odion if he started to be affected by stuff like that? He would probably laugh at him. He shrugged to himself and pushed the thoughts out of his mind even though he didn’t take his eyes off of Odion. A sly smile crossed Lani’s face and he gave Odion a lopsided smile and shifted so he could lean against the wall and crossed his arms. A laugh snuck its way out of his throat. “Fine, assuming you’re right,” he a cocky grin on his face, “What is it that I want?” He raised his brows extremely interested in what Odion would come up with for an answer to that.

He could really challenge Odion as much as Odion challenged him, but he had a different way of doing that. Odion did it through mind games and watching people. Lani did it by questioning him. He realized he might not get a good answer out of Odion and he really should have learned his lesson from when he asked him what he thought. But Lani wasn’t very good at learning his lesson. He was rather thick that way. He smiled a little at Odion but feeling bad all the same. It wasn’t fair for him to just bring stuff up like this. Sometimes he knew that Odion was better off, Lani wasn’t jealous but at least Odion couldn’t lose them. Lani pushed the thought away, he loved his family more than anything even if they fought all the time. He shouldn’t have been so tactless. He partially wanted to tell Odion to come with him to visit his family. The other part of him didn’t want Odion to see how dysfunctional it was.

Lani didn’t realize he had tripped himself into admitting that Odion was on his mind a lot. Well rather he wasn’t so much staying awake because of him but rather when he slept some strange dreams had been reoccurring. It didn’t deal with Odion specifically but rather just hundreds and hundreds of eyes. He never woke up able to interpret it. It left him with a mix of guilt, fear, and uncertainty. Lani merely grinned wider at Odion. There was something in that simple question. So he stayed silent for a moment letting the redhead sweat it out. Finally he snickered. “Oh, Red, what fun would it be if I told you?” He gave him a sly grin and a wink. Odion whether or not he liked to admit it really liked the puzzle of it, Lani had found. If Lani gave him the answer it wouldn’t be nearly as fun as it could be. He pushed himself off the wall and strode so he was facing Odion only a few feet away. Now he was just staring into Odion’s eyes as if in competition to see who would break their eyes first. “Besides,” he added, “I think you know the answer.”

It was probably a mixture of close minded people and luck that kept Lani out of the dog house. Lani couldn’t help himself he smiled at Odion as he followed him to his room and visited with the kittens. He laughed, “Come on, Red, you need a little chaos in your life.” He was so tempted to just take the books on the desk and shift them to the other side. Odion really was a little bit obsessive. It wasn’t like Lani was any different, but then now thinking about it Odion had never been in his room. At least not that he knew of. His secrets were well hidden in the folds of the neat exterior. His room itself was neat, nothing really but a few stacks of papers, books and notebooks on the floor. Really his closet held most of the danger. The exterior of his room looked neat, well besides the usually unmade bed, and the mess was in his closet. He usually advised people against going in there.

Lani’s smile widened because that also meant that he could see Odion more often. Odion had really become his best friend and he really wanted to spend more time with him. “Good, so random visitations are a go?” He verified with a sly grin. Oh this could be fun, Lani loved to drop in on people unexpectedly. That was how he really knew what people were like. He had done this to Adrianna and she was none too happy with him but he had gotten a chance to see her for once in disarray and he had loved it. Lani laughed as Odion felt the need to point out the obvious. He snapped his fingers as if in disappointment, “Awe, so no drawing on your face in the middle of the night?” He almost pouted but he couldn’t hold the act and his façade crumbled under giggles. Oh how he wished there was a better way to describe the sound that came out of him, but there wasn’t.

“They have made veggie burgers especially for that purpose. You see those vegans and whatever for whatever their reason for their fast they really can’t do without the wonderful burger. Even if it isn’t really a burger without the beef.” He countered with a smile. No Odion was not going to win this one and Lani was loving that he was going to be the one to introduce him to the wonders of American food. Lani shook his head at Odion as if he wasn’t getting it. “No, no, no. It’s not just about the circle of beef. It’s the perfect mixture of everything between buns.” He said with a little laugh. He really was trying to sell this burger. He was sure that Odion would never be convinced until he had actually experienced the mixture beef with vegetables and sauces. Lani nudged Odion and winked at him. “If you die I shall make sure to extract revenge.” He promised mostly as a joke but partially in truth.

Lani was very glad that his little fib had worked. This poor guy was going to get a good tongue lashing later if they weren’t back in time. Lani was sure that all of security knew at least of him. But he had never seen this guy so he must have been new. Well he would learn. In a twisted way Lani was doing him a favor because he would be back. If he was going out on one of his adventures the guard would probably not get off so easily. Well now he would know. He glanced back at Odion who was smiling like a loon and he found himself matching the smile. They had done it. He felt a strong sense of pride wash over him. They really did make a good team. Between Odion’s biting logic and Lani’s skill at appealing to the good nature of the average citizen they were going to be the greatest team there had ever been.

When Odion spoke Lani glanced back to make sure they were out of slight and swept into a dramatic bow. “I try,” he said giving him a wink as he straightened. It was actually really nice to have someone in on his game. Someone that he could conspire with and trade those secret looks with. Lani kept an eye on Odion as they walked in and he could almost imagine that Odion would take a napkin and wipe down the seat and table before he became seated. “So I have to say that I’m still beyond amazed that… thank you,” he said as the woman handed them water, “you’ve never had a burger before. I mean you’ve lived in America for how many years?” He took a sip of water as he waited for the answer. He really hadn’t realized how thirsty he was as the water was quickly vanishing down his throat. Lani glanced through the menu but he knew what he wanted. To humor Odion though he smiled and flipped through. “The hamburger is safe enough, for the first time. The bacon burger is deliciously heart attacky, and but the cheese burger is cool cause the cheese is inside the beef.” He pointed to one of the items.

The waitress came back around and placed two beers on their table. “On the house,” she said with a wink toward Odion, “what can I get you boys?” Lani raised a brow at Odion and his teeth showed in a grin. This girl was leaning so far toward Odion that it was clear who of the two she found most attractive. So Lani waited patiently for Odion to make his choice. It was interesting. He knew the waitress enough to know that she was one who was not the most subtle. A strange sense of jealousy rose in him, not because she wasn’t looking at him, but because she was looking at Odion. Odion was calling her attention and for some strange reason, even knowing that Odion liked men, he felt as if he might fall for this girl. After Odion ordered she finally turned to Lani and just asked “Usual?” And he nodded adding, “Tell Hugo I said thanks.” He said raising the beer in a toast. And away she went. Now Lani simply looked at Odion his brows raise and barely hiding a snicker behind his teeth.

[Odion Martins]

What Odi thought of Lani was true. If he continued down the selfish path he was on, he really was no better than Rhett. The fact that he couldn’t even finish his uncollected thought was proof enough of that. Odion knew the world needed more Lani’s, not Rhett’s. He just had to rise to the occasion. And who knew? Maybe they were both wrong. Maybe Adrianna could handle more than either of them were giving her credit for. Maybe she wasn’t such a damsel in distress. But Odi couldn’t say for sure one way or another. He shrugged, glad to see that Lani was getting back to being happy. “The end justifies the means.” Lani was fond of quotes, so, this particular one seemed fitting. The day Lani actually tried to punch Odion in the face, would be the day that Odion knew he had really and truly crossed the line. But he was glad Lani was taking this little trick as aid, meant to strip Lani of his anger.

Odion embraced their two way street of trust. It was nice, to have that with someone. Yes he still had some concerns about Lani, over everything he didn’t know about the blonde, but hopefully as their friendship grew, that wouldn’t be an issue in the future. Odion didn’t want to be friends with people who were easy to come by, people with small interests and no personalities. No. Lani would now be hard pressed to get rid of Odion. It would take something very major to make Odi angry enough to call acquits to everything both of them had worked so hard on.

Cringing, Odion shook his head quickly side to side in a definite ‘no’. “That’s awful,” he laughed, “explain to me how an ass smells good. No, don’t.” Odi was shaking his head again. That was a story Lani could keep to himself. Odion had done a number of things with Lani that he had never done with Rhett, like time travelling. Even just joking around like this, while still being able to discuss hard topics, that’s what made this special and amazing. Even worth fighting for. Rhett only left a bad taste in Odion’s mouth – there were too many bad memories, and not enough wins to make up for the losses. Odion would do a lot for Lani now, even though they didn’t know each other as well as he thought they could. But if playing acquaintance was going to make his relationship with Adrianna better, so be it. It made him an accomplice in Lani’s web of lies (poor Adrianna) but Lani seemed to be that special exception to the rule. Odion never felt offended in their acting escapades. The school didn’t need to know more than it needed to, that included its students.

“I won’t if you won’t,” he said with a shrug. All’s fair in love and war. And then, if Odion didn’t know any better, he would say that Lani was checking him out. He grinned at Lani. “Should I flex for you or something?” He asked, showing off his biceps. It was all a joke of course. Odion didn’t think he was bad looking, in fact he was in shape, but he really wasn’t anything to gawk at. And then as if on cue, Lani blushed after Odion’s previous statement. Odi tsked. “Another empty threat from the man who’s oh so easy to tease.” Odion was enjoying this, maybe a little too much. “So you do like the idea of me sneaking up on you then?” Just how much would Lani blush before Odion really was sent through the window?

“I’ve never underestimated you Lani,” he said, but two could play at being cute and getting their way. And just because neither of them let on, didn’t mean they weren’t affected by the other. Though if Odion knew Lani thought he was cute, well, he would have a lot to say about something like that. Odion watched Lani with interest, as always. In a way, Odi was always playing. Everything and everyone was a game of cat and mouse to him. It was most interesting to see how long the mice lasted, Lani being the most resilient of course. Odi grinned, and shrugged. “You want me, to keep being me, to see where this,” he waved between the two of them,” goes.” If knew he was right because it was he was thinking, and what he wanted. He would never want to see Lani turn into everyone else, become boring and uninteresting. No, Lani was unique and fun and Odion would hate to see those elements change, though the blonde’s temper could use some tweaking. Not to mention his manners.

Odion liked being challenged in different ways he couldn’t anticipate. It was part of the reason why he liked being around Lani so much. There were many reasons as to why he liked being around Lani though. He certainly didn’t want to know about Lani’s family. That should be something he did with Adrianna. Odi was highly uninteresting in delving into familial things.

When Lani grinned even more, it was on the verge of creepy. Especially the way he was just staring at him now, making Odion fidget and grow red in the face. What was going on? This wasn’t normal human interaction. And just before Odi felt like he was going to burst, Lani spoke. Red, it was so affectionate coming from Lani. Odion wasn’t sure if thinking of Lani as an affectionate being was the best idea, but the thought couldn’t be un-thought. Odi rolled his eyes at Lani’s flirting, recognizing it for what it was. “At least I answer your questions, so rude.” He chided, but it was all in fun. His laughing eyes said so. He shrugged again. “I guess I’ll just have to assume it’s something really embarrassing, too embarrassing for you to admit.” Odion raised an eyebrow at Lani. He was tempted to question the sudden closeness, but he thought he knew why already. Odi gulped. Did Lani really want Odion to spell out the answer? What was he playing at? Odion made Lani happy, and in return, Lani was attracted to Odion. Odi dropped Lani’s eyes first this time. Lani was making him nervous – the butterfly kind.

There it was, the pet name again. Odion smiled, his eyes downcast. “I think I’ve had enough chaos to last a lifetime.” It was another truth-nugget that Odi imparted on Lani for safe keeping. Odion had gone to hell and back more than once in his life, and he really thought he owed it to himself to keep things in order when he could. He didn’t think life was an orderly thing itself, but at least keeping some things in check would balance out with the rest. Odion wasn’t really interested in going to Lani’s room, not unless he really needed the blonde. He had scoped out Lani’s room, became a makeshift watchdog when Lani wasn’t around, to make sure people didn’t snoop on his things, all while never setting foot inside the room. It was a favour he did for Lani without telling the telekinetic.

If Lani really wanted to pop in at any time, that was at his discretion. Odion smirked. “I wouldn’t complain too much if I were you,” he looked around as though someone were listening, and lowered his voice to a whisper, “I sleep in the nude.” It was a total and complete lie, but it just might be enough to keep Lani out of his room at ungodly hours of the night. Really if Lani showed up around three or four in the morning, Odion would be lounging about in his pajama pants, reading a book, or practicing his card tricks. Or, if he was really lucky, asleep. Odion wasn’t as exciting as he pretended to be. Odion laughed gently with Lani. “Well I guess you could, I’m a heavy sleeper.” That was true at least. Once Odion was in the sleeping zone, it would take nothing short of an earthquake to wake him. It was a good thing too, since cats it turns out, are more of a nocturnal animal. He can sleep through their playing and flitting about no problem.

Odion literally face-palmed. “What is wrong with people here?!” He asked, like it was the end of the world. It wasn’t really, Odion was just a bit of a drama queen sometimes. The ginger burst out laughing, his mind going straight to the gutter. He held his sides, wiping at his eyes he was laughing so hard. “The perfect mixture of everything between buns? I’ll have to remember that line.” Oh, this was too good not to remember! He caught his breath finally, making no further comment on the sexual burgers Lani was unwittingly selling. “You are most obliging,” Odion said, half-bowing in Lani’s general direction. Teammates one second, simple friends the next.

Yes, secret looks were all sorts of things. They were inspiring, personal, and such fun. Especially given their current situation. Lani was really good at what he did. “Is there a reason they’re trying to keep you under lock and key?” He asked curiously, not trying to pretty up his question. He was too tired for that. He was also too tired to wipe down the entire restaurant, though not too tired to notice that the waitress hadn’t done a very good job of cleaning. It was a service industry for God’s sake. Didn’t Lani say something about pride in this place? Pride seemed to be lacking, though dust and grime were bountiful. Odi blushed a little in the dim light. “I haven’t even been here for a year Lani.” Odion grimaced at the menu, following along as Lani tried to sell his favorite food. Too bad Odi wasn’t really buying. Everything sounded disgusting. It was all wrong. The preparation, the type of cheese. Odion sighed, giving up and giving in. “Whatever, it’s all the same to me.”

Odion smiled back at the waitress, raising his beer in a toast to her. “I think we’ll be fast friends,” he said to her, which only made her smile more. He was a flirt to the bitter end. He caught Lani’s grin and sent a wink to his friend. It was as though his earlier point was no being proven in real life. At least there was something sweet about being here. Odion blatantly ignored the waitress’s advances, which Odi knew would only drive her crazy. Honestly he was enjoying the attention Lani was giving him more than this strange girl. “Just a hamburger love, plain.” She seemed to eat up his every word. He smiled at her as he handed back the menu. Must be the accent, it got them every time. Odion’s gaze went to Lani. Wow, he really did come here often.

“Old girlfriend of yours?” Odion teased in reply to Lani’s knowing glance. “Don’t be jealous mate, but I think she likes me,” he took a sip of his beer quite seriously, “might even get her cell number at the end of lunch.” Honestly, it wouldn’t surprise him if that did happen, but it wouldn’t lead anywhere. Poor girl, she was definitely barking up the wrong tree. “Have you told her about the perfect mixture of everything between buns too?” He smirked. This was almost too easy. Odion drummed his fingers over the dirty table. “How long does the food take to get ready, Mr. Usual?” He needed to do something to keep his mind off of what he was about to put into his mouth.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani looked at Odion and for a moment judged how good of a friend Odion really was. Could Lani really be honest about this? Or would he reach out his hand and pull it back burned. Lani was being selfish. He couldn’t help it, he was scared. But the thought that he might be being like Rhett to Adrianna was enough to push through that mask. Lani’s face turned thoughtful and his brow creased as he realized he didn’t like the direction that he was headed. It would hurt Adrianna so much to know that he lied but the longer he waited the worse it would be. He just had to hold onto the hope that once he bought his freedom he wouldn’t have to tell her. “Hmmm,” Lani hummed in response to the quote. Odion was right. “And the road to Hell is paved with good intentions,” he replied with a little nod of his head. “But…” he hesitated, “Odion I’m… What if she hates me?” Lani looked at his friend hoping for advice and something that he wanted to hear.

Adrianna thought so highly of him, he knew that. He had talked to her about it. She thought he was strong and cool and generally not rattled by anything. So besides the obvious fear that she would turn him in he was also afraid that she would be disappointed in him. Once his façade was broken would she still like him. So that was partially the reason why Lani had dodged admitting to Odion that he was afraid. He was afraid of prison, afraid to hurt her, afraid to fight with her if he couldn’t get out of his hole. He was pretty sure that he knew Odion well enough to know that Odion would probably read between the lines here but he also expected a blunt answer that Lani needed to hear. Lani wasn’t afraid that Odion would tease him, he was simply afraid to be afraid. It was a weakness and Lani wanted no one to know about it. That was why he had gotten very good at hiding his terror whenever he was around the pond or something. He would rather simply avoid stuff like that all together.

Lani stuck his tongue out at the redhead and laughed a little. His lips twisted into a sly smile before his laugh came out more enthusiastic that before. He hugged his sides and tried to get himself to stop laughing but he just couldn’t. Odion had almost made things very awkward but fixed it. That certainly wasn’t going to be something that Lani answered but it was probably best to know that Odion didn’t want to know either. Lani really wished that they didn’t have to be secret, he really liked Odion, he was a good friend and he wanted to be able to defend him if someone said something. But had that situation ever occurred Lani had a feeling that anything he said would pale in comparison to what Odion would say. He was just so much better at twisting words. Lani was terrible if he couldn’t fight his way out with words he would fight his way out with fists. Or at least that was what he liked other people to believe. Really Lani wouldn’t hurt someone that wasn’t really asking for it. Though that could be a very big thing or just a small thing to set him off.

Lani’s eyes flashed with a dangerous sort of mischief. He held out his hand for Odion to shake. “Fair enough. Alright it’s a deal, but expect it when you least expect it.” He advised a dangerous twinkle in his eye. This was why most people claimed he was really an imp. Because with the sly smile and the spark in his eyes he really did look like he had something big up his sleeve. Though really all that was going through his head was how he was going to get Odion into a headlock and get him to admit that Lani was intimidating. Though that was also Lani assuming that he would win the little bout. Lani flushed a little and shook his head before covering his action with a laugh. “What with your little cartoon arms?” He teased. Really Lani wasn’t any better. They both thrived in a life where being slender was practically a job requirement. It really was a good thing that Lani’s metabolism was so high because he ate a ton of food. Lani’s face heated as the advantage turned against him again. “What’s an empty threat,” he challenged knowing full well that Odion knew him a little too well to fall for that. His face was burning, was he really that easy to tease? His eyes became hooded as he adopted an annoyed look. “You really wanna fly today don’t you?”

Lani raised a brow and a little smile grew on his face. It was a pleasant sound in his ears to hear his name. Even if Odion’s accent made it sound a little funny. “Alright, then the feeling is mutual,” he said honestly. In fact after that time Odion had chased him down over the rooftops he had stopped underestimating the redhead. After all anyone who could keep up with him and shame him for being rude afterwards was not someone to be underestimated. Lani shifted his weight onto one leg and considered Odion as he spoke again. Well that was impressive. Pretty much spot on. He wanted to ask Odion now what he wanted but he was afraid of the answer. Sure that it would have something to do with them being outstanding partners and Lani listening to Odion and heeding his advice. He nodded a little one side of his mouth lifting. “Well, that was impressive.” His brow did rise a little bit when Odion gestured between the two of them. “You mean should we turn out to partners?” He asked with a smile. He was now on board with that. Together they could be the greatest team there had ever been.

Lani’s grin never faltered and the only thing threatening it was the fact that he was about to start laughing. Odion was slowly turning the shade of his hair and Lani was loving it. It was funny that Lani could be affectionate but teasing at the same time. He hadn’t even realized he had slipped into flirting again, geez he really was clueless. Lani laughed and shook his head. “That’s a lie,” he pointed out, waving his hand randomly referring to the instance not ten minutes ago when Odion had questioned his question. He shrugged innocently. “I don’t learn very well. Manners just never seemed to catch on.” He said taking a jab at himself. What was life if one couldn’t tease themselves. Lani flushed and shook his head at Odion his face breaking into a laugh. “Uh-huh, so I see I’m not the only ass in the room, after all you know what they say about assuming.” Odion dropped his eyes and Lani backed off a little taking a subtle step back getting the distance back. He didn’t dislike the feeling bubbling in his gut but he couldn’t name it either. Oh this wasn’t fair! Right when he had finally gotten a girlfriend. Not to mention one that was beautiful, smart and kind and all of the sudden his feelings were all muddled. He pushed the thoughts away frustrated with them.

Lani smiled sympathetically. Not pitying, no never pitying, but just a little bit of sadness that it had had to happen to Odion. Lani caught the words and filed them away. Lani paused looking down at his hands and wondering what he could do. Finally he settled on making a gentle observation. “That explains it,” he said softly, “Time is orderly… but not really, is it?” Lani looked at Odion and his smile became thoughtful. Oh yes it made so much sense. Telekinesis, at least Lani’s telekinesis was chaos defined, so Odion wanted to help Lani organize it, so to speak. But there was more. Odion hadn’t had a stable person in his life. Not really. His parents were nowhere to be found, and Rhett certainly wasn’t stable or in fact here at the moment. “It has to be a balance though,” he said after a few moments, “Like yin and yang, you can’t have order without chaos just like you can’t have light without darkness.” He shrugged not really feeling like he had pointed out something profound. Odion might be overcompensating a little bit, but Lani couldn’t blame him.

It must have been Odion’s goal of the day to get Lani to go red as many times as he could. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end and his ears heated. Maybe he was getting a fever. “Oh no! Too much information!” Lani cried but a laugh breaking through the mock terrified face. He waved his hands as if to ward off further information. Why did the thought to Odion sleeping nude make him so uncomfortable. Lani couldn’t stop laughing and he realized it was a nervous laugh. He really couldn’t think of a clever response for that and so he just laughed to cover it up. So when Odion spoke about drawing on his face Lani simply shook his head. “A heavy sleeper, who sleeps in the nude,” Lani summed up with a grin oh it would be all too easy to pull a prank on Odion. That was in fact if he really did sleep naked. He shook his head. “Well, don’t get too mad if you find artistry on your face one morning,” he teased. Really Lani wasn’t beyond doing something like that. But really it was the retaliation from Odion that he feared.

“What?” Lani demanded innocently unsure of why he was getting the ‘I can’t believe you just said that’ vibe from Odion. Well it wasn’t so much a vibe as a fact. He put his hands on his hips indigently and glared at Odion. What on earth was so funny? Yep, Lani really was clueless. It wasn’t until Odion repeated his line back to him that Lani realized why it was so funny. He was silent for a moment slightly shocked that he had missed that. Well, this would have been one of those times when a filter would come in handy. His hands dropped from his hips and he mimed a blow at Odion. “Get your dirty mind out of the gutter!” He huffed a little and gave Odion a glare waiting impatiently for him to regain control.

Lani laughed a little his eyes closing a little as he remembered what particular moment they had started to keep tabs on him. “Oh, it’s a really funny story actually,” he began his eyes sparkling, “It was before I met you, there was this security guard named Taitum. He came across me in a training room once and after that he started watching me and adding all of this stuff to my file. He really started it all, he was such a hardass, it was always a challenge. I mean this guy was vigilant.” He shook his head at the memory. “But he’s gone. But there’s this other guy. Malcom, we ran into each other and he made sure to point out to the higher ups that I’ve been getting out a lot and so they’ve been really tight.” He laughed a little and gave Odion a sly look. “Obviously it hasn’t worked.” Lani smiled, he really was dying to go into the details about how he had battled the other telekinetic but then he would have to say that he got his butt kicked. Not for overpowering but Malcom’s control was so much better. Odion would probably get a kick out of the annoyed notes he got on his door. Lani blinked in surprise. “Oh, well then we’re not too far behind.” He teased, “So did you go to a meta school in Europe?” He asked curiously hoping he wasn’t getting too deep.

An annoyed expression crossed Lani’s face and he tried to ignore Odion’s flirting with the woman. Lani really had to hand it to him, Odion was really good at this. Lani took another sip of his beer and pretended to be extremely interested in something out the window. Lani watched their exchange out of the corner of his eye his eyes snapping to Odion’s blue ones when he ordered. Lani realized Odion’s eyes were on him when she asked him about the usual. Sure he was a regular here. But for so many more reasons. Hugo, the cook was a worker at Hammel sometimes when the head cook was sick. He was a nice man, but he was also a good connection. He wasn’t meta but he knew quite a bit about everyone. He was a great information source and was very willing to buy the information that Lani would be selling. “What? No,” he shook his head as the woman left.

He laughed a little. “Didn’t we already established that Adrianna is my first girlfriend?” He said dryly. Lani drank a little more beer and roll his eyes at Odion. “Alright, Prince Charming, and when you don’t call I’m not going to be the one to explain why.” Now it was Lani’s turn to drop his face in his palms. He sighed and shook his head. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re evil?” He inquired pleasantly, as if he were asking him if it was going to be cloudy tomorrow. He looked back up at Odion and shook his head a little. “Not as usual as you think,” he protested wanting to defend himself, “I just never change my order…” He shrugged and smirked at Odion. “You see, once you’ve tasted burger heaven you will also become a regular.” Lani steepled his hands and rested his elbows on the table. The table was rather small but it would do. He drank a little of his water to offset the alcohol he was consuming. He really wasn’t sure if it helped or not. “Not too long, but if you want a good burger you’ve got to wait. So have you got any summer plans, when you’re not watching the three musketeers?” He asked interested.

[Odion Martins]

Odion was worried about Adrianna being lied to, but he didn’t doubt that she would still adore Lani afterwards. Odi knew this only because if Rhett came back, he would still love him, even though he’d left him for dead. That was just how it worked when you liked someone. It was like your heart decided for you and it didn’t matter what they did so long as they were generally good to you. In fact, Adrianna would probably forgive Lani and be proud of him for leaving his life of crime at all. But Odion didn’t know about that. And once Adrianna forgave Lani, where did that leave Odion? It was selfish to think, but part of Odion secretly hoped that Adrianna would leave Lani for lying to her. But she wasn’t that strong. And the other part of him didn’t want to see Lani upset over Adrianna leaving him, though he did deserve it for lying to her. And yet, if he wanted Lani all to himself (more or less), why was he about to say all of this? “She won’t hate you. She’ll be hurt, but she won’t leave you.” He said it in a sort of defeated tone. This wasn’t going to be more than a friendship, was it? But if the end was hell, why go there at all?

Odion was afraid of being afraid too.

Running his hands through his hair, Odion tried to stop grinning like a mad man. Seriously, why had he said something so stupid? Smelling asses, that would be a great memory. He watched Lani in all his mirth and fed off of it, even though Lani was laughing at him. Odion was used to being a punching bag after all. Odion liked having secrets, and for some reason, having Lani be one of them was just another thing he really liked about Lani. Another similarity between them was the tossup between using words and using fists. Odion preferred words but physical aggression had been used many times as well. Lani knew about that. Well, maybe throwing a pocket watch wasn’t that violent, but pausing time to spit in someone’s face and kick them in the groin, that was violent and dirty. Oh, wait, Lani didn’t know about that. Odion could be quite the little scrapper.

Odion shook Lani’s hand, and more of that warm feeling flooded through him. Their eyes connected and Odi made sure not to linger too long. “Or, always be expecting,” he said, grinning broadly because he was more excited about whatever this would turn into. Odion was enjoying the look in Lani’s eyes though, like the blonde was finally opening up to him and letting him in. It was nice to see the various sides of Lani Hunter. Not so much intimidating though. Odion let his mouth hang open, his arms dropping to his side. “I am seriously offended, I’ll have you know I practice parkour.” He obviously wasn’t offended, Lani was just defending himself and Odi liked to think he knew why. “You won’t throw me through the window.” It was a statement of fact, and therefore, Lani’s threats were empty. Odion laughed lightly, his voice filling the room. “Not really, just counting how many times I make you blush in a day.” Odion decided it was best not to voice his observations on how Lani was looking more and more like a tomato.

“Good,” Odion said, because sometimes simplicity stated was all that was required. It was a very stupid idea to underestimate your... what was Lani now? At one point he had been an opponent, enemy was too strong a word. And now? What was he? A friend, competition? More than anything, they were nearly the same, with just enough differences and chemistry to keep things interesting. Odion knew he could be unpredictable, but that was the spice of life. Hopefully Lani wouldn’t end up being boring in the end. Maybe Odi thought Lani had something to hide when he was really just as common and usual as Odion was. At least, when criminal activity wasn’t taking place. Odion did find it odd that Lani didn’t ask what he wanted. Did the blonde already know? Was it fair that Lani’s wants had been vocalized by Odion? And did that matter? “Good to know your own thoughts you,” Odion challenged, crossing his arms in front of him. Odi smiled right back at Lani. At least the blonde was speaking his mind all by himself this time. “I thought we were already.” Now Lani could clarify whether he meant power training together, or stealing together. Both would be the best.

Frowning, Odion wondered if this was how Lani felt every time he lost. “Okay fine, I answer you most of the time, happy?” He asked, as though Lani’s happiness and full understanding were the most important things in the world to him. Odi finally found himself grinning again. “Just because you’re stubborn like an ass, doesn’t mean you can’t learn new tricks.” He raised both eyebrows after his statement. Lani had done well today in training, so could learning to have manners be any more difficult. Besides, Odion had learned, despite not having anyone to teach him. Lani should be thanking his lucky stars. Odion’s eyes took on a more serious look, glancing up to see Lani take a step back. “Do you want me to spell out what that grin meant?” Because although Odi didn’t get it before, it was certainly making itself loud and clear in his mind. He doubted Lani could handle that piece of truth. Odion didn’t fidget on the spot like he wanted to. Lani needed to know that those feelings he was experiencing, were real and returned.

Unsure about what he had been trying to explain exactly, Odion did his best to keep up with the conversation. “Time is orderly, just, not for me.” It was the easiest way to get around it. Lani had seen what Odion could do to time. Something that was a normal phenomenon for everyone, became like an object for Odi. Sure it was different for every time turner, but the side effects must’ve been similar. Odion was just trying to help someone he liked, someone who had helped him. And yes maybe he was turning Lani’s problems into his own, but as least he wasn’t half-assing it like he did the rest of the things in his life. Odion smiled at Lani’s observation. “Balance doesn’t always happen.” He didn’t want to come off sounding cocky, or philosophical, but things had never been balanced for Odion. At least in terms of light and darkness.

“I’m just warning you,” he said, as though sleeping in the nude were the most natural thing of all. On a side note, most straight guys wouldn’t be so bothered by another male’s nudity. Odion smiled at this piece of information Lani didn’t know he was giving. The ginger was so good at playing mind games, he didn’t even know he was doing it until it happened. And that nervous laughter. It only confirmed what Odi was thinking as he simply stared at Lani. “Don’t get too mad when I come at you,” he retorted, hopefully reinforcing that nude image of him into Lani’s mind. Odion only laughed at Lani. “You know, you get really bent out of shape for nothing,” he gave Lani a twitch of a smile, “you’re the one saying dirty things after all.” It really was cute, how Lani overreacted to nearly anything the ginger said. Now was he that way with everyone? Or was Odion somehow receiving special treatment? Lani also looked particularly cute with his hands on his hips the way he’d had them.

Odion did his best to smile. It was a funny story that he was apparently going to hear. Not that Odi didn’t like listening, he just always envied people who could get their stories out in one linear frame of sentence work. Odion just wasn’t a good story teller, hence why he had simply shown Lani his memories. “Maybe you should stop running into people, might make getting out a little easier,” he said, though he did like hearing about Lani’s happenings. The ginger smiled at his friend. Was it really so hard to believe he hadn’t been here that long? Hell, they hadn’t even known each other for longer than a couple months. Odi nodded once. “Kocher,” he said. But enough about that.

Odion giggled a bit to himself, the beer in his hand partially hiding his face. “I was just joking Lani, come off it.” He shrugged, taking a sip, still grinning from ear to ear as he set the beer back on the table. “Well I guess someone will have to explain it to her, and since you’re the regular around here, it seems best you should explain to her why.” It was probably why she had taken such a liking to Odion to begin with. She was simply tired of looking at Lani constantly. Odion gave a mock evil chuckle. “I’ve been told I don’t have a soul,” he said, as though telling Lani the rest of the week looked bright and sunny. “So then yes, you’re Mr. Usual.” Amongst many other pet names, but it was nice to add a new one into the mix every once in a while. One beer wasn’t going to push Odion over the edge, though it might take some of the edge off. “No, I have no set plans,” he said, smiling devilishly as he reached into his pants pocket. His old deck of cards hadn’t been left in his room. A slight of hand had slipped them into his pocket when Lani had his back turned.

“I want to show you a card trick,” he said, handing the tattered stack of cards to Lani, “and you can shuffle them, since I know you can’t trust someone who’s evil and has no soul.” Odion smile crookedly at Lani.