Stubbornly Solo (Odion)

[Odion Martins]

Once upon a time, Odion didn’t care to hear about other people’s problems. Everyone had problems, and your problems were no more or less important than anybody else’s – mostly, they were petty. Naturally, given the relationship he was in now, that was changing. Slowly, but surely it was changing so that Odion cared more and more about Lani and his various happenings no matter how mundane they might seem. What Lani had to offer wasn’t always pretty, and he wasn’t the perfect boyfriend, but had he been Odion wouldn’t have bothered with the blond to begin with. Odion had seen a similar weakness in himself which was in Lani, even though he couldn’t name that weakness, it was that which spurred him onwards into being around Lani more often.

Odion knew he wasn’t answering Lani’s question, and he wouldn’t. Eventually they would have to talk about his involvement with Lani’s old boss, but not tonight. However Odion could handle the raw truth, and maybe if Lani swallowed it now, it could permeate somewhere in the back of his mind while he healed. Lani didn’t always think he could keep up mentally with Odion, but if already he knew that his anger wouldn’t be justified once he found out Odion’s plan, then he was actually a step ahead.

Odion didn’t flinch away as Lani seemed to turn a shade darker. Odion stared blankly at Lani, and all he asked was, “Full control?” Odion had only been able to see Lani’s back, maybe if he had seen his face... He would’ve just watched Lani destroy the entire place. Something about that outcome told Odion that that wasn’t what Lani truly wanted. Odi understood that he had hurt Lani, it was a risk, but he hadn’t known Lani was having some kind of telekinetic breakthrough. So he had assumed tonight, just as Lani had. “Because,” Odion said sharply, finally snapping, his accent strong, “I can’t drive.” He stared at Lani, feeling something between anger and regret. This was the thanks he received? Odion didn’t forgive Lani or refuse him.

He didn’t leave. He stayed right next to Lani as he had been moments before. Acting like a statue had its benefits. It’s why he was so poise – so people wouldn’t notice very much if time skipped by. Odion let Lani think he was in the stars. It didn’t make any sense unless you thought of it abstractly. Lani loved the stars, he loved Odion, they were the same for the time being in his muddled brain. Odion was a logical person, so this nonsense... nothing could be made of it. If anything, he just wanted to speed up the healing process as much as possible. It was partly because he missed the old, argumentative Lani, and was getting annoyed with this new, bipolar one. Odion didn’t say anything, his breathing was heavy and rhythmic. No, he wasn’t asleep, but he was hoping Lani would think he was. He wanted to hear that when Lani was aware of himself, not when Odion could so easily take advantage of his mind when he himself was at a disadvantage. It was best if Lani simply went to sleep.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani’s eyes narrowed then widened. He didn’t know how much Odion had seen before he had been knocked senseless but Lani was hoping Odion would believe him. Apparently not. Full control? More or less. Lani ground his teeth and was finding it very hard to be grateful. Hadn’t he just vowed not to lie to Odion. And now that Odion had called it out Lani felt a need to answer. “You know what I mean.” Lani snapped. What Lani meant by full control was basically not complete loss of control. He hadn’t controlled it, he had been controlled. His power was acting and he was a vessel of his internal anger. Odion was right, Lani probably would have destroyed the whole place. Killed everyone inside, even Odion and Jared if he didn’t know they were there. Lani could still live with himself. If he had done that he wasn’t sure he could. But no, he hated Odion for pointing it out.

Another time Lani would probably have made some crack about Odion not being able to drive but at the moment he was stunned and he was furious and he couldn’t figure out if he should be angry anymore. Either way it shut Lani up. His teeth clenched and he looked away swallowing his anger and telling himself that this wasn’t him. This wasn’t the kind of person he was. He was overcompensating for the broken weak creature he was in the car with this new stubborn, furious and what Lani hoped was at least a little frightening man. He knew he would regret this later. He just wanted to have his power working again and he wanted to have things back to normal. Luckily for both of them Lani felt weariness taking hold of him and the next sentence he tried to form failed miserably. He needed more medicine. Part of him knew that was a terrible idea the other part wished he could move to get some.

Lani wasn’t sure why he was fighting against it. He wanted to be stubborn for something. Fight against something. And since it didn’t seem like Odion would fight him, at least not when he was like this. When he was well again he wouldn’t be surprised if Odion smacked him around a bit. Lani honestly hoped he would. It would make him feel a little better about his failure. Lani’s grip on Odion’s hand loosened as sleep took him in its hold. It wasn’t taking no for an answer either. Lani might as well have been hibernating at this point, his dreams were featureless. Streaks of colors and emotions and then darkness. It wasn’t a cold thing it was warm and comforting.

[Odion Martins]

“Progress is progress,” Odion said, even though he didn’t know what Lani meant. Full control should mean full control, but apparently it didn’t. Still, Odi was glad Lani was getting a better hold of his power, even though it may not be perfect. A hand passed over Odion’s face as he looked past Lani’s shoulder. How would they continue training when the only thing that seemed to get Lani’s power completely initiated was a terrible situation? Odion couldn’t replicate that in a training situation, and he certainly wasn’t going to fake a situation just to get Lani revved up. Odion wasn’t trying to make Lani feel stupid, he was interested in what Lani had accomplished tonight, even though Lani probably wasn’t seeing it that way.

In his haste to get to Lani, and not being extremely skilled with his powers when his head was injured, Odion had done the only rational thing. He had called a friend, someone he had always trusted and who was indebted in him. And most importantly, someone who could drive fast, and well. Jared was bloody brilliant, but no one would hear Odion praising his friend. It was taking all of Odion’s energy to imply ignore Lani, and whatever energy was left Odion was trying not to respond with smart remarks. Despite how much he wanted to throttle the blond, Lani was in more than enough pain at the moment.

With silence enveloping the room, Odion concentrated the remainder of his power on Lani. The next day was going to feel like hell, no matter Odi did, but he hoped it would help the healing process at least a little bit. Odion wasn’t sure how Lani would react to him upon waking up from this stupor. Odion imagined it would be a mix of relief, anger, gladness, gratitude, and hatred. Odion had his fingers crossed behind his back. Hopefully homicidal thoughts wouldn’t come back to Lani’s mind tomorrow, Odion might not be so forgiving then.

[Lani Hunter]

“Hmmm,” Lani hummed not really sure if he was sure that it was progress. He didn’t want progress to be every time he lost his mind. He might as well be a weapon if that was how it was going to be. Put him to sleep until the next time they needed him, piss him off and let him go. He didn’t want to be that kind of person. That was the kind of person that hurt people on accident. He had read once that if one didn’t learn to control their power offensively as well as defensively they would always be a slave to it. Him and his telekinesis. Lani had never really thought of himself as a telekinetic for this reason. It was him and then it was his power. He was a telekinetic, he called it that but he never really thought of it himself. It was just a word from his tongue, not an idea he believed.

Drifting into the vastness of the mind Lani slept a dreamless sleep. One might liken him to a hibernating creature. No earthquake, fire or apocalypse was going to stir him at this point. His hands slackened only slightly in their hold of Odion’s hands, like he was anchoring himself to the world of the living and preventing the pain in his mind from swallowing his entire being. For a long time Lani knew nothing. He knew nothing but the gentle breathing of the world and the painful pulse of his power as it cuddled closer to the warm time lord. Exhaustion took over before dreams had a chance to bloom. It squashed down nightmares and murdered dreams and filled the mind with nothing. Absolute and complete rest.

So when Lani woke up he breathed easier the pain in his head a vicious ache but nothing near the hammer it had been last night. He lay there for a moment with his eyes closed and taking an inventory of his hurts. His limbs didn’t feel achy anymore and all of the pain was centered in his skull. He wondered how many thing he would find once he was able to ignore the dominant pain in his head. Memories slowly started to crawl back from the night before. There were large gaps of blackness in his memory but he remembered with vivid detail leaving his boss with defeat and he remembered getting back to Hammel and breaking down in between. But the details were hazy. Going back to sleep seemed like a good idea but now that his mind was active and moving he didn’t think that would happen. His power was tired and weary as a sore muscle but it moved when pressed. His eyes slid open and he blinked a little in the bright light. Normally he pulled his blackout curtains before bed but it seemed that the sun had risen bright and clear and Lani hadn’t even been bothered.

He stared at Odion for a moment then gently untangled his hands from Odion’s. Assuming that the redhead was still asleep Lani made like a ghost of himself and moved without a sound out of bed and across the room to the bathroom. After relieving himself he looked at himself in the mirror and the scars of the mind seemed to be etched across his face. The edges of his lips were hung down with weights and his brow low and sharp. He should have taken the time last night to clean up. His nose had bled a lot and the remnants stained his upper lip and his cheek. The blood from his temple streaked his face and mingled with the blood from his nose. His shirt, well, his shirt was never going to recover. He shed himself of it tossing it into the wastebasket that still had plastic burned on from when he purged his identities. He filled his hands with water and splashed it on his face and worked on washing the blood away. Looking up to check his work Lani thumped his fist on the glass over his face. Why couldn’t it wash away his sins?