Chase the Morning (Odion)

[Odion Martins]

If Lani preferred hiding behind his masks, Odi would understand. He would be there when Lani was ready. But would Lani be there for him? He knew they cared for one another, and he hoped that would be enough to carry their friendship through. Odion desperately held onto the hope that Lani would be someone who stuck around.

Right now, Lani was seriously popping Odion’s bubble. But the ginger laughed anyways, knowing Lani had been teasing the whole time. Odion held Lani’s eyes with confidence. “Just remember, I can handle you.” It was a small statement with a lot of meaning, and even though Odi knew what he said might freak Lani out, that wouldn’t stop him from telling the truth. So long as it was appropriate and wouldn’t come back to haunt him. And even then, Odion had given a lot that Lani could haunt him with. The teddy bears were the first thing to come to mind.

Odion hadn’t meant to get lost in his own little world. “Huh?” Way to sound intelligent... Odion shook his head. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just sort of zoned out there, sorry.” He forced a smile and didn’t let his eyes meet with Lani’s. “My power does that sometimes. Forgets about time...” Odi chanced a glance at Lani, and resisted the urge to freeze frame it. Lani looked so worried, and genuinely concerned. Odion was starting to understand more and more why Adrianna had fallen for the boy sitting across from him. “It’s not that I don’t want to go. It’s...” Odion was falling for Lani too, and he just didn’t feel safe falling for someone who wouldn’t catch him. That’s why he left, or tried to at least.

Odion was just about to leave the place, when his shoe froze to the ground. Odi resisted the urge to scream at Lani. He took a couple deep breaths as Lani rushed after him. Clearly he was over thinking this whole thing. So what if Lani wanted him to visit, that was normal between friends, right? So why was he freaking out? Lani wasn’t in the business of breaking hearts. And at this point, Odi certainly wasn’t giving his away. “Will you let me go now?” He asked, his voice calm but not without a slight sting. It was going to be an awkward walk back to the school.

[Lani Hunter]

If Lani had whispered what he really felt would that make things easier? Not for Odion and certainly not for Lani. It would only hurt Adrianna and he would be pressed to make a choice. But if Odion stretched his hand out he had to know he would always find Lani’s there. Lani’s eyes focused on Odion as the redhead was lost in his thoughts and wished he could press that knowledge on him because Lani already knew that whether it was friendship where their relationship ended or not he would always come if Odion called. But would Odion call? Lani’s mouth dried up and he knew that he would only damage things if he spoke so honestly. It seemed to scare Odion a little bit when he let his masks down fully.

Lani’s head jerked up and his eyes took on a wild challenge as if he were a wild animal set to be tamed. No Lani was the kind of person it would take a lot to break but at the same time there was that weak spot that should a straw fall would break. Lani had already almost lost the thing most precious to him and he had fought to keep his sister. His eyes flashed with a feral light as he smirked at Odion’s challenge. “WhaHe had to admit that that scared him a little because Odion had already proved that. Not even Lani’s wild power had knocked Odion off his feet. Well metaphorically at least. But even when Lani had flung him Odion had been laughing and not screaming. That was different. He narrowed his eyes. “Are you so sure about that?” His lips twisted into a smirk.

Lani’s relief was clear for a moment when Odion said he was alright. He had never experienced an Odion who wasn’t on his feet and one step ahead, if not a leap ahead. Lani scratched his head, now it made sense why Rhett would give him a watch, it must be annoying to forget that time moves around even if he didn’t. “That’s…” he paused searching for the right word, “awful,” he finally decided on. How could Odion stand it? The constant stream of time that he swam in and forget about time altogether. Lani raised a brow not convinced by Odion’s weak protest. Well if the redhead wanted to come he could come but Lani wouldn’t be holding his breath for it. Odion was a man that was hard pressed to do something he didn’t want to do. It had been a wonder that he had agreed to this new taste at all, even more surprising when he had suggested it himself.

For once in his life it would have been better if he had left it alone. But Lani couldn’t do that. Lani’s brow was creased again but this time there was a mixture of annoyance and confusion in his eyes. “Why do you always do that?” Lani demanded the question coming out a little more harshly than he intended. Odion did that often enough for Lani to finally get annoyed with it. Things got tense and he ran away. Or kicked Lani out. It had happened when they found the kittens and it was happening again now. Lani looked at Odion for a moment realizing that when he let Odion go he could run. The thief was seriously tempted to ask the redhead to make him let him go. But that was a fight he wasn’t looking for today. Lani raised his hands in yielding and the pressure on the shoe came loose and free of his power. If Odion started running Lani wasn’t sure if he would follow or not.

[Odion Martins]

Maybe what Lani needed was to be pressed. Making choices wasn’t always easy, but they were still necessary. Lani couldn’t have both, and maybe he would be better off having no one and just figuring things out on his own without anyone influencing him. But Odion didn’t want to let him go, and he doubted Adrianna would either. Odion swore he felt a connection between them, him and Lani, during training. No one had let their masks down around Odi before, and he was afraid of discovering something so precious, that he would only end up losing it or hurting it. He didn’t want to hurt Lani, that was honesty in a nutshell.

“I am,” he concluded with a nod. Odion watched Lani carefully. Really, did Odi seem like someone who couldn’t handle Lani Hunter? He crossed his arms in front of him and matched Lani smirk for smirk. Odion knew a few of Lani’s weak spots, but he chose to protect them and not harm them. If he needed help, Odi would do his best to rise to the occasion. He couldn’t promise to be perfect, but he would still try. “If you can handle time travelling, I can handle you.”

There were many sides to Odion, and if Lani stuck around long enough, he might see them all. Odi shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal, even though it was to him. “Awful or not, comes with the territory.” He extended his hand to Lani. “You have crazy outbursts, I get lost in time.” And that was all he had to say about that. Lani just wasn’t seeing that when Odion did something that wasn’t for himself, it was for him, his friend. Odion did want to go, but he also wanted to know what it would mean to go.

It was nice to have Lani chase after him, but Odion wasn’t acknowledging that at the moment. Lani let him go and Odion followed after him. “Wait,” he caught up to Lani, catching his forearm, “wait.” Odi sighed, releasing Lani almost immediately. Why did Lani want to be let in so desperately? Odion wasn’t anything special. “It just wasn’t what I was expecting. People don’t care about me.” He gave Lani a once over. Odion didn't want to get hurt. Why did Lani care? “And you stole my thunder,” he said in a grumpy voice. Oh, and I’m falling for you. Odion was sort of trying to be romantic and Lani had ruined the surprise.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani would have loved for this all to be easy. But unfortunately that didn’t seem to be the way the world worked. The worst thing for a friend to do was force his hand. That was the thing he liked most about Odion. He was sure open about telling Lani he was being cruel for lying to Adrianna but he had never come out and told Lani he needed to tell her or else. It was those kind of people the ‘choose them or me’ people that showed who they really were. For a real friend would never make him choose, but a real friend would be the one to give advice. There was something to be said for that. And there was something to be said for Odion not wanting to hurt him. But Lani wasn’t fragile. Or hadn’t he proven that?

Lani snorted as if he didn’t believe it. But truth be told he did. He just didn’t like it. He had always prided himself on being a free spirit. Well a free spirit inside of an imprisoned man. Lani finally decided to nod in response to that comment. “I think you already proved that.” He replied. No one had ever been able to touch his power before and that made him uneasy but at the same time Odion had done what he said he would which was stop the ball. Even when Lani put his strength into it Odion had stopped it. Granted it had been an inch from his chest when he had done so but the point was that he had done it. Anyone else and that ball would have been through the wall. Maybe another telekinetic could hold him, but then he had not met someone quite as strong as he was. Most with much more control but Lani could make up for that with brute strength.

Odion seemed to not care so much about zoning out. But really what would happen if he zoned out and he had to take medicine or if he were driving and drove right past his exit or through a light. Lani was glad that if anything his power forced him to be focused all the time. He shrugged relenting that truth. “Eh, I suppose that’s right. These powers really suck don’t they?” He asked rhetorically. Really if someone came to him when he first got them and said they could take away his power he would have jumped at the chance. Now the idea made him cringe. The one time someone had blocked his power he had felt slow and disabled. Like someone had cut off his arms or he was blind or deaf. Things just weren’t right. He couldn’t quite explain it. At least not in a way that would make sense.

Odion’s hands closed on his arm and Lani’s first thought was to jerk away but he couldn’t do that. Not when Odion had had the opportunity to walk away from him and had instead followed him. So Lani turned and looked across the short distance to Odion’s eyes. When he was released his arms reflexively crossed over his chest and he found himself leaning relaxed with most of his weight on his dominate foot. “So you decided to jump up and leave?” He asked. That didn’t make much sense. Lani couldn’t help himself; he reached out and flicked Odion gently on the ear. “Odion Martins, are you even listening to yourself right now?” He scolded. “People do care about you, or at least they would if you let them once in a while.” I care about you. He smiled a little to take the sting out of that but if Odion was going to attack Lani’s actions Lani was full willing to return the favor. Now Lani was knocked off his guard again. “What? How did I steal your thunder?” He shook his head not comprehending.

[Odion Martins]

“I think so too,” Odion said with a nod of his head. There was no doubt in his mind that he couldn’t handle a second round of power training with Lani. In fact, he was looking forward to it. Odion was now confident that if something went wrong, his powers could just sidestep everything and pause everything, including Lani inside. So long as the blonde kept thinking of his power as a part of him, not separate, there wouldn’t be any glitches. Odion would have to test his theory out some other time. They had different powers, had different ways of stealing, but were no less equal.

Being dubbed a space case wasn’t in Odi’s best interest. He was just glad Lani was letting it go, and hopefully keeping an eye out for it. Usually a time bubble didn’t happen when Odion was completely focused. When there was something to hold his attention, he remained in step with time. But when his mind took over and he got lost in thought, he literally got lost. Really the worst thing about it was that Odion found it socially embarrassing and awkward. “No, they don’t suck. Not really. They’re just a bit of work,” Odion smiled slightly at Lani. They both knew their powers were among the more powerful, and really required quite a lot of work.

Odion’s hands hung at his side. “I...” he was about to explain himself, but Lani flicked him in the ear. The ginger frowned. What the hell was that? “That seems to only get me into trouble and heartache,” he said. There, that was pretty much admitting that he didn’t want to get hurt. Odion sighed and rolled his eyes. “Honestly Lani, you are the most oblivious man I’ve ever met.” And with that, he made his way towards the school, but not without looking behind him to make sure Lani was coming.

[Lani Hunter]

It was certainly a strange thing these two had. Lani couldn’t help but make a face at Odion for that one. So what if Odion deserved the right to be arrogant, he was still Lani’s equal. If things worked both ways than Lani could also handle Odion. Not that one he wasn’t so sure about. Sometimes with Odion he felt rather like he was dancing on embers. Understanding that he and his power were one in the same was far easier said than done. Lani hadn’t even accepted it and probably would take a while to understand that. “Well, only time will really tell,” he commented smiling a little. Yes time would tell. And who among them controlled time?

Lani decided then and there that if Odion spaced on him he would try to snap him out of it. Oh sure he might have a little bit of fun with it… but that was beside the point. Now he knew it happened. He vaguely recalled Odion saying something about that happening but he had not really understood how easily he slipped out of time. Lani matched Odion’s smile. “They do suck sometimes,” he pressed. There had to be a time when Odion hated his power just as much as Lani hated his. “I think a bit of work is a little bit of an understatement,” Lani said sourly, “More like training for the Olympics.” Were metas excluded from the Olympics? It almost seemed unfair. Anyone with super strength or speed would be at an unfair advantage. Maybe they would have Meta Olympics like they had paraOlympics and such. Though that did seem very discriminatory.

Lani looked at Odion understanding where he was coming from. Everyone was afraid of getting hurt, that was why they both kept their masks at least close to hand if not on when they were together. Lani’s eyes softened when Odion admitted this and he wanted to reach out to the redhead. “Well trouble isn’t always a bad thing,” Lani reasoned carefully, “but heartache… If you live in fear of heartache you will not live a life at all and heartache will be all you have.” He was only half quoting that time. Paraphrasing. “Besides wasn’t it you who said that it was better to have loved and lost then to not loved at all?” Lani was sure that Odion was going to swat him for that one. This was hardly the time for Lani to be using his words against him. But Lani wanted to prove a point.

Odion shocked him. Stunned into silence he watched Odion start to leave and he stood there for a moment really not sure what he had missed. It wasn’t until Odion’s eyes snapped back that he realized he was standing there catching flies. “Whaaaat?” He drawled trotting after Odion. He extended his hand in a helpless manner. “What did I miss?” He had a feeling that Odion was not going to tell him. “I’m not oblivious,” he muttered under his breath matching his stride with Odion’s.