Love or Lust [closed]

[Rhett Goddard]

If only Rhett's ESP was easier to work with, he wouldn't need to come to the library ever. The blonde envied the mind-readers sometimes. In some way, his powers worked like theirs, but Rhett's power had broader possibilities, with the terrible advantage of it being more passive and spontaneous than under his total control. He could focus his power, yes, and facts would start to rain to his head, but they were unusually what he was looking for at the moment, so it was of small to no use in his academic life. He had to study and pass exams all alone. No meta-cheating, and it wasn't like he could talk his way out of failing an exam as he did with his social life situations.

Thankfully, the blonde was a quick-learned. Yes, it was hard, very hard, to keep up with the Hammel studies, but aside from a couple of subjects, it wasn't that big of a deal. Namely, his two biggest worries were in fact philosophy and literature. He always found himself giving too much thought to the simplest things, and arriving at quick conclusions to what his teachers proposed had deeper meanings, and most of his logic conclusions did not sit well with his more conservative teacher, like when he told Mr. White that Romeo & Juliet was not a love story, but one of lust.

Now he had to do an essay to broaden his opinion with four thousand words minimum and at least five different authors in the reference list to show proof of research on the subject, which Rhett didn't make sense of.

In anyway, Rhett was in the library doing just that: research. He had already finished three different books on Shakespearean research, well, at least the chapters concerning Romeo & Juliet, and was searching the aisles for a fourth one.

"That's my seat, kid." Rhett said as he arrived to the table where he had left all his other books.

[Patch Diaz]

Math, once again Patch worst enemy. It's not like he was stupid, or didn't fully understand the concept, it just didn't click. From an early age, crunching numbers and breaking down things always bugged him. He never understood as a kid why he would need it when he was older, he knew better now, but it did not make things better for him. In all his other classes, art, english, science, history, especially history, he did pretty good. A's and B's were normal for him, he had a C in math, and that was good in his book. To keep this grade, though, he constantly worked his but off, forcing himself to remember equations, studying for two days before every test, it was hard work.

That was why Patch was there, sitting at a table in the Library, studying from his math textbook. He needed to get at least a 90 percent on his test to boost him up to just barely a B minus, he couldn't pass up the opportunity. Then there was movement behind him, a guy, probably older then him walked up to the table he sat at. "That's my seat, kid." He stated, Patch still didn't know who he was.

"Uhmm.. there are other seats." Patch offered, waving his hand two the four other seats all at the table. His presence did explain the Shakespeare books though.

[Rhett Goddard]

"Look at you, with the rather amazing ability of noticing obvious facts." Rhett crossed his arms while still holding the book strongly. "There are other seats. Go take one of them."

It wasn't like Rhett had bought the seat in some way, of course not, and it wouldn't actually bug him to take one of the other chairs, they were all the same and didn't make any difference, the problem Rhett was having was mainly one of power. For someone who grew up with not many things, money, friends, possessions, Rhett had always conserved his ego by showing and stating a position of power. This he did usually based off of knowledge, either gathered by observation and analysis, or by his meta ability. It allowed him, by talking, to show that he who knows more, can do more, and has more power.

In this particular case, Rhett didn't have any type knowledge-based information against the boy who had accidentally taken his chair, but just because of the fact that said boy asked him to take another, Rhett was definitely not going to do just that a comply. Doing that would mean doing what someone else tell him to do, and Rhett has never been able to do that well enough.

"Come'on, hurry up," He started tapping his feet behind the boy. "As nice as the back of your head is, I weirdly prefer to be looking at my books than at your hair." Not really, though. "You might want to check for lice later as well, I might add."

[Patch Diaz]

"Look at you, with the rather amazing ability of noticing obvious facts. There are other seats. Go take one of them." Said the guy behind him, a sudden shift probably meant a change in posture. What is this guys problem? Patch thought.

Sure, Patch believed in being nice to everyone, but there were always those people who refused to be nice back. He was always told to kill people with kindness, but he never heard of anyone dying from that.. or he just didn't look hard enough. "Come'on, hurry up." Demanded the guy, a tapping on the floor behind him pointed out his impatience. "As nice as the back of your head is, I weirdly prefer to be looking at my books than at your hair. You might want to check for lice later as well, I might add."

His math book sat in front of him on the table, and Patch turned his head back to the guy. His gaze went from the boy, to his book for a paragraph or two, then back to the boy. "Listen. I am trying to study here. I am not looking for trouble, and there are other chairs. I would be glad to have you sit down across from me, and we can pretend this never happened." Patch offered, kindly enough, smiling towards the blond haired boy. He was probably one or two years older then him, that would explain why he had never seen him before.

[Rhett Goddard]

"Well, newsflash," Rhett rolled his eyes. "I am trying to study as well, Zaid."

The most common way in which Rhett's power manifested was by learning other people's name. It was usually the first piece of information about them that landed in Rhett's head, and it usually arrived like this, without the blonde being aware that he had just learned their name. Instead, it was like he always knew, which is why calling Patch "Zaid" flowed so naturally out of him, since after all, it was the boy's middle name, and calling people by their middle name was something that Rhett did far too usually.

"What makes you think I'm looking for trouble?" He wasn't unaware of his jerkness, he was just ignoring it. "I'm just looking for my chair." Rhett laughed slightly at Patch's following statement. "Well, I would not be glad if you moved to another chair, I'd be insanely happy, I'd start skipping and singing and dancing. Heck, I might even give you a candy if you take another chair." Rhett hoped the sarcasm in his voice was clear enough. "Though you shouldn't accept candy from strangers, but hey, I don't really have candy anyway, but still, what if you move nonetheless?"

[Patch Diaz]

"Well, newsflash, I am trying to study as well, Zaid." Said the bond haired boy. What? He wasn't sure how he knew his middle name, or maybe he thought it was his first. Maybe they had met before and he hadn't remembered, or was he some kind of mind reader? Either way, he felt like he had to correct them.

"Actually, everyone calls me Patch. My actual name." Patch offered, with the same small smile on his face that was sincere enough.

"What makes you think I'm looking for trouble? I'm just looking for my chair." Needless to say, he was very persistent. Wow.
"Well, I would not be glad if you moved to another chair, I'd be insanely happy, I'd start skipping and singing and dancing. Heck, I might even give you a candy if you take another chair."

"No." Said Patch, even surprising himself at how easily the words flowed out of his mouth. He even almost apologized to him, but he had work too, and he was not going to move.

[Rhett Goddard]

"Oh, I'm pretty sure both are your actual names." Rhett clarified. "Just because one is middle and the other one is first, well, if can call that a name, doesn't make it less of a name." He sighed. "I still don't understand why are there so many strangely-named people in Hammel."

In any case, this kid was seemingly very stubborn. Rhett shook his head as he wondered what was going to take for him to free Rhett's spot. Then he simply said "no" and Rhett sighed with more strength. He definitely didn't want things to get physical, but if words weren't moving Patch, then actions had to. It's not like Rhett had anything to lose, right?

"Fine," Rhett said. "you win."

The blonde walked to Patch's side, sat on the table and slid to the spot immediately in front of him, pushing the book he was reading away and sitting in the spot it was, giving his back to the other boy. There, Rhett calmly opened his book and started browsing it. If Rhett wasn't going to get his seat, Patch wasn't going to be comfortable in it either.

[Patch Diaz]

"Oh, I'm pretty sure both are your actual names. Just because one is middle and the other one is first, well, if can call that a name, doesn't make it less of a name. I still don't understand why are there so many strangely-named people in Hammel." Either this kid was the most obnoxious person he had ever met, or he had a social disability, maybe a mixture of both.

After a few more sighs, the boy conceded defeat and instead of finding a seat he sat on the table where his math book had just been. Who the hell do you think you are? "Strange? You are the one sitting on the table in front of a kid you do not know for the sole purpose of bothering him." Patch stated, he wanted to study, he needed to study. Without even thinking about it, Patch felt his hand heating up and he placed it up against the blonde guys rear. By the time he realized what he was doing, he realized his hand was pretty hot, he sure had let this guy get under his skin.

[Rhett Goddard]

"Well, if you're bothered, and clearly you are," Rhett said as he continued browsing his book. "you can always just... move to another seat."

Rhett didn't actually think that this was going to secure him a safe win in this little battle against Patch, but the more a person is bothered, the more they are weakened, so from now it was a matter of time.

Well, except of course he was definitely not expecting get burned like that.

"Aaaaa!" The blonde immediately yelled in pain and dropped his book so his hands could reach his burning rear, actually managing to grab the younger boy's hand, which in turn made his own hand burn in pain as well. "Stop it!"

He squirmed in pain and, being so close to the edge of the table, the pain from both his rear and hand made Rhett lose balance and fall backwards on top of Patch. As soon as the blonde fell in top of Patch, the chair leaned back and they both fell to the floor, Rhett on top of the younger boy.

"Fuck..." He said as he hit his head with what he guessed was the other boy's own head.

[Patch Diaz]

"Aaaaa!" Came the pained yelp of the blonde boy as he registered the pain from his heated hand. By this time, Patch was panicking, he wasn't sure how to turn off what he was doing. Then the blonde guy reached back toward his burn and grabbed at his hand, which brunt his hand in turn. "Stop it!" He yelled, but from the shock and pain of what had happened he had fallen back onto Patch.

Patch didn't expect him to fall back on him, and he was moving his hands out of the way in hopes he would not burn him again. He hadn't meant to hurt him, he had just gotten angry, he wasn't sure what had happened. Then the chair tipped back and they both hit the floor, Patch taking the hit on the floor and then getting crushed by the other boy. On top of that, the boys head smashed into Patch's. "YOOOOW" He cried out in pain, trying to push the blonde boy off of him with his free hand. If the situation did not get under control quick, they would attract more then the stares that were now being pointed their way.

[Rhett Goddard]

For a moment there, Rhett thought he had blacked out as he hit his head. He even thought that this was becoming far too often lately, but he couldn't quite remember the last time he hit his head, which he hoped wasn't a bad sign of this fall.

In anyway, being pushed off of Patch made him recover his senses quickly, and he rolled over and stood up in his spot. He saw himself grabbing the table by its edge as the world spun around softly. He was dizzy, which was understandable, so he closed his eyes and focused. He leaned down, grabbed the chair and quickly dragged it out from below Patch, immediately putting it back up and sitting on it.

"Mine." Rhett pointed out to Patch as soon as the other boy was up. "Thank you."

Now, where was that book of him?

[Patch Diaz]

He groaned outwardly at the effort it took to push the blonde boy off of him, and once he was off, Patch lied there in a sort of daze. The blonde boy took advantage of this and sat down in his seat... or their seat.. or what ever it was. "Mine. Thank you." He said as Patch began to pick himself up, he was now seated on the floor by the chair, and it was obvious that he was not happy about it. He did have problems.. but now, Patch wanted to get into his comfort zone. he wanted a good old fashioned argument.

After picking himself up fully, he moved beside Rhett, sat on top of the table and slid in front of him. Instead of putting his back to him, he sat crossed legged, facing him. "What is your problem?" Patch asked, fuming still from the altercation. "You try to get what you want, no matter what, don't you?" He asked, knowing its redundancy. The blonde guy had tried so hard to get this chair. "Also, you know my name, what is yours? Or did you not share it because it was hardly a name, just like mine?"

[Rhett Goddard]

Rhett was still looking for his book when the younger boy did exactly what he had done a few moments ago and sat in the table right in front of him, probably with the same purpose Rhett had: bothering him. He was wrong, however, apparently, Patch wanted to talk. Rhett raised an eyebrow. It was a smart move, talking, which was why Rhett had tried it at first, even if their methods differed significantly: Patch was being more approachable while Rhett was attempting to intimidate.

"My problem?" Rhett scoffed. "My problem is I have a four thousands words essay on whether or not Romeo and Juliet were a lust story instead of a love one, and one pesky kid in the library is not letting me continue my references research." He couldn't have been more honest with that one. "Oh, I always get what I want." Rhett gave off a half-smile. "I did got my chair back, didn't I?" Rhett nodded at the other boy's question. "Yes, see, my name is 'move, I need to study'." Rhett was about to offer his hand for the other boy to shake, but remembered what he had done with it just a moment ago, so instead, he only offered a smile. "Not really nice to meet you, Zaid."

[Patch Diaz]

"My problem? My problem is I have a four thousands words essay on whether or not Romeo and Juliet were a lust story instead of a love one, and one pesky kid in the library is not letting me continue my references research." The boy said, he was rude of course, and Patch was about to get his revenge for him not being able to study.

"Oh, I always get what I want. I did got my chair back, didn't I?" He was asking for it. In fact he had not really gotten the chair, he wouldn't have gotten it if Patch hadn't burnt him. "Yes, see, my name is 'move, I need to study'." Then he smiled toward him, "Not really nice to meet you, Zaid." This guy was seriously asking for it.

"First of all, Romeo and Juliet was a lust filled story." Patch began, choosing to ignore the snide comments from before. "They were two teenagers who barely knew each other for like less then a week. The girl obviously wanted to be rebellious because her father hated him, and the guy.. well.. was a guy. They slept with each other and then got married like the next day. They were 'love drunk' and they both killed themselves." Patch had read the story before for English, and he didn't hate it. He even got to watch a movie about it. "I am also studying for my own test, so next time you feel like being an ass, take it out on someone else." Patch stated, getting off of the table. He grabbed his book and walked over to a table a little bit a way, sat down and started studying again.

[Rhett Goddard]

"It's so cute," Rhett inserted as the other boy gave his thoughts on Rhett's paper's subject. "thinking that alone will make for four thousand words, but I can't blame, you're sixteen, still got a lot to learn and all that."

Indeed, Rhett thought this boy was cute in his own way. In all his initial stubbornness, while at the same time trying to be a nice guy, and then how he repeated Rhett's choice of tactics to solve the chair conundrum. They were all smart moves. Most people would have just either left or got physical, but, like Rhett, Patch was solving fighting the battle more subtly. It was something Rhett appreciated in a person, and always found interesting.

"Sure will do, Zaid." The blonde responded, feeling both a bit sad and a bit happy that Patch had decided to give the victory to him by sitting on another place. "Guess I won." He muttered as he started to look for his book again. "Unsurprising."