Clarity (Lani.)

[Lani Hunter]

“You sure?” Lani asked a significant level of concern in his voice. His eyes flickered over Odion’s body just to check visually. He looked alright, but who knew if he was bruised or if there was anything that he was hiding. Lani’s brows creased a little and his eyes caught Odion’s, the redhead better not by lying to him. Lani couldn’t figure out why his own head wasn’t making him want to pass out. It didn’t make sense, normally when he snapped his power back it was blinding headaches for the rest of the day. But in a sense he didn’t quick snap it back, it had just happened, probably because he was partially all together and wholly apart. He shook his head a little bit, this was too strange. Too strange indeed, he almost was tempted to get some help on this. He couldn’t say if what happened was progress or regress.

Finding comfort in Odion’s hand Lani tried to focus on what happened and not too much on what it might mean, but he was terrified of both. He looked down at Odion their eyes connecting but Lani’s far away. Why couldn’t things just magically work? Like if that strangeness had happened and Lani knew everything about his power he might not feel so unsettled. But it seemed like it had flashed the answer at him and he was nowhere closer for it and worse it had caused him to cut off his power and possibly hurt Odion. Up to this point Lani had never actually, knowingly at least, hurt someone with his power. Little did he know an incident with a pyrokinetic was going to change all of that.

He jumped a little out of his own thoughts and his eyes caught Odion’s again. He shrugged and his eyes drifted a little as he assessed the internal damage. His head didn’t hurt per say, it hurt in the constant throb like it normally did, but the splitting headache was missing. He braced himself almost feeling as if thinking about it was going to bring it on. “Strange,” he answered again. Strange because it didn’t hurt. Maybe that last pulse he had actually lost his power, maybe it had finally left him. It surprised him how disappointed he felt at the thought. Stranger and stranger. Lani couldn’t quite decide how to feel about what just happened. If anything he felt as though he had missed something important. Absently Lani reached up with his free hand and fixed Odion’s hair. “It hurt a lot when I fell but now it’s like it never happened.” Lani shrugged, “Maybe its cause I let out more power? Maybe cause I wasn’t trying to do more with less?” Lani sounded about as unsure about this as he was unsure about a higher being existing.

As a test to make sure his power was still there Lani reached for it. Lani gently touched his power another strange sensation passing through him. It was not pleased and when he touched it he felt like he breached a wall and a wave of pain caused him to wince. Oh, there it is. Brilliant. But, with the pain came a good dose of normalcy and Lani relaxed a little, his hand digging for a few pills. “I didn’t mean to drop you,” Lani continued changing the subject so he could enjoy the normal pain of a power backlash. Maybe because he hadn’t told it to stop directly it hadn’t back lashed directly into him like it normally did, maybe that’s why he had fallen? His mind was just trying to find something that made sense. Nothing was.

[Odion Martins]

“For now,” Odion said. They both knew that something might get worse after the fact. The redhead had seemingly walked away unharmed after Leiken had tried to seduce him. But the next day was hell after Odion realized he couldn’t move because he was a human bruise. This fall wouldn’t be even close in severity, so by comparison, Odion was too concerned. They could compare battle scars another day.

Odion hadn’t even had to use his power for this session. That wasn’t to say he wasn’t disappointed by that, but it was something he made note of. Odion wished Lani would really use his power, but it was safe to say that the blond wouldn’t unless the situation was desperate. If Odion didn’t need to stop time for any reason, then that meant Lani either had more control than he thought, or was holding back.

Lani hesitated, as though taking a mental inventory of anything that might be amiss. Odion waited patiently, but all Lani seemed to conclude was how strange everything was or had been. Lani was fixing his hair and it made shivers run down his spine. Lani looked so lost in himself... “What did it feel like?” Odion probed, because to him, the telekinesis felt... freeing. Odion had to wonder if perhaps they had been given the wrong powers, and what it would be like to swap for a day. The thought made him grin, though Lani playing with his hair was also partly to blame for the reaction.

Lani winced and, finally, reached for his pills. But Odion knew, for that brief piece of time, Lani didn’t need the pills. Not immediately. “I know,” Odion said, “it’s pretty clear you care for me.” He smiled at his own words. Lani was shying away from the situation again, and Odion was about to try steering them back. “So how did you get your power?” He constantly craved some kind of intimacy from the blond, and it didn’t have to be physical. It wouldn't be love if it was simply physical.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani frowned unhappy with the answer. Though he too knew the brutality of the morning after. Sleep tended to allow for things to stiffen. Adrenaline still pumped through their veins for long enough to keep them moving, especially if they got wounded at some point during a heist. It was best to ignore hurts when in the middle of something. Lani winced a little for Odion, chances were he was going to have bruises. Lani was responsible for that. Lani felt terribly guilty, if he had more control, more understanding this wouldn’t have happened. He should have put his foot down and kept this from happening. But he couldn’t turn back time. Only Odion could, and he doubted the redhead would no matter how much Lani nagged him. And even if it was strange he at least had that understanding over the complete cluelessness he normally had.

“Why did you use your power?” Lani asked suddenly as his mind was on powers. Odion had said if anything went wrong he’d use his power. And yet the time traveler had decided to hit the ground rather than to go back and keep himself from face planting. Lani tended to disagree, he thought he used his power all the time. Sure he never quite used it as powerful as he could but he never found a need to lift heavy objects on a regular basis. Lani heard the question but he was more interested in toying with Odion’s hair. So he ignored it for a moment as he organized his thoughts. Odion’s hair was soft and shone in the sun like a flame. Lani found himself moving it this way and that making an excuse of it not being quiet right to keep running his fingers through Odion’s hair.

Lani looked into Odion’s eyes and narrowed his own in thought. “I don’t know,” he said before deciding he should probably elaborate. If he couldn’t trust Odion not to laugh at him as he muddled through the problem, who could he? That and he was pretty sure if he said it was strange again Odion might slug him. “I was happy,” Lani said, “It was overpowering and then it was gone and there was nothing. It’s like…” Lani freed his hands to gesture use them. Putting each and apart from each other he cupped them like they held something precious. “It was like things were here and their opposites were here and I was in the middle. You know?” Lani didn’t know why he asked, perhaps just to feel like he wasn’t crazy. “But it was also like I was here,” he moved his right hand and then his left, “And I was also here. But I lost myself here.” He now gestured to himself and shook his head. Well if that didn’t get him institutionalized he didn’t know what would. He shrugged and slipped his hand back to take Odion’s. He looked at the redhead waiting for him to either tell him he was crazy or to tell him what it meant. Maybe he rested a little too much confidence in Odion to dissect Lani’s own crazy.

A smile crossed his face, a sweet creature coloring his features. He reached out and touched Odion’s face before sneaking his hand up to ruffle his hair back into disarray. He just wanted to fix it again. “I do.” He agreed and he leaned forward a little to give Odion a kiss on the cheek. Lani ran his thumb over Odion’s fingers and cocked his head. He was bad at being intimate but this was just like recounting a story. “I mean you know I got my power really late. Not unheard of but later than normal. I was being cocky,” Lani said starting in, “I got caught in a trap set by the Boston PD. I panicked. Next thing I knew my head’s on fire and everything is flying.” Lani’s eyes became unfocused as he recounted the memory. It wasn’t a happy one and he’d never told anyone. Hammel knew, but that was mostly because it was their business to know. “It wasn’t just like a car or two, it was several and everything was shaking. I don’t even know if anyone got hurt.” He shrugged to himself and sighed. “I was in so much pain I don’t even remember the next couple hours I just know that I was freaking out and the next moment I was banging on my own door. I think I scared the wits out of my parents.” He laughed a little bit shaking his head. “Anyways, Hammel found me shortly after I tried to throw a table at my dad.” He left out the part about Caroline being terrified of him. That was still too painful a memory. “Some guy, I guess he had some sort of mental power,” Lani waved a hand dismissively, “but he told me I’d been blasted open. I guess it happened sometime when I panicked and well… that’s it. Odion, I don’t think I’m even supposed to have a power. I keep thinking if I hadn’t panicked I wouldn’t have gotten my brains blown out, I wouldn’t have had to leave home.” He paused and lowered his eyes to Odion. “Then I think if I hadn’t panicked I never would have met you, or anyone else here.” He wasn’t going to get all sappy and tell Odion he’d never had a true friend until he came here, even if it was true, he’d certainly never heard from anyone from home since he left. But, it was enough putting his emotions on a board by just telling Odion his thoughts.

[Odion Martins]

“I didn’t have to,” Odion said simply. He hadn’t even been ten feet off the ground, the board hadn’t been going the speed of light, and Odion knew how to catch himself from a fall. And he trusted Lani, and if this would continue, and he hoped it would, Lani needed to trust himself. It hadn’t been out of control, merely sketchy. It wasn’t anything Odion couldn’t handle with his own strength. “Besides, I’ve been training,” he said, “practicing parkour and all that.” Odion didn’t need time control to stop himself.

Odion nodded along at the explanation. “So it’s like you were everywhere and you were becoming your power.” It was merely an observation, not necessarily accurate. Lani could mean something else entirely. At least he was able to think properly, now that Lani wasn’t distracting him. He hadn’t expected a perfect, eloquent explanation from Lani for something that had literally just happened. There was no time to rehearse the perfect lines, for this was the time to brainstorm. “What took away the happiness?” Odion wondered, staring through Lani’s eyes. He was willing to wager that Lani had taken it away himself.

God Lani could make Odi’s heart soar... This kind of excitement wasn’t normal for such a small kiss, but then again, nothing was normal for them, but it always felt right.

Ah, so that’s why he had been so afraid that night they had had a little too much to drink... It pained Odion to see Lani trying to laugh something off when even now, the thought of hurting anyone with his powers caused him so much grief. Odion felt his heart drop as Lani wondered what would have happened if his powers never manifested. Odion managed a smile. “You’d still be you,” he said softly, giving Lani a serious look. “I don’t care if you have telekinesis or not, that’s not what I fell in love with.” Nobody got to choose their power, but Odion wasn’t sure what Lani was so worried about. He tightened his grip on the hand in Lani’s and pulled the blond closer to him so they were nose to nose. “I don’t know why you worry for nothing...” Really, Lani just needed to take a chance.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani cocked his head at Odion confused at why he would take the pain and end results instead of giving himself a little bit of time to fix it. “Ah,” Lani uttered nodding along. “You’ve gotta teach me some of that.” He was still extremely impressed with Odion’s performance when they had raced along the docs. If he was going to have to throw Odion in the air he wanted to be able to learn something again. Another time, his mind was still a little muddled and confused, perhaps he did need to meditate. He hated meditating, it was so boring. Besides his pain medication was barely starting to kick in, but his mind wasn’t nearly as painful as it usually was when he did something like this. That was wonder in and of itself.

Watching Odion, Lani bobbed his head a little. “Yeah,” he said glad he had Odion to bounce ideas off of. “I don’t know how to become my power without losing myself in the process.” It was close enough. Maybe not everywhere, he had been more split, like in two clear defined pieces but they kept changing and trading things from each other. Perhaps Lani’s error was that he was observing the separation at all. He shrugged to himself. He really had no idea at this point what he was supposed to learn. “I-uh,” Lani started his mouth hanging open a little bit as if his brain had short circuited. It had been too strong, Lani didn’t trust it. It didn’t feel real. “I guess… maybe… it, it just went away.” It was a weak excuse but what kind of person admitted to not trusting their own happiness? Lani just wasn’t used to feeling such strong emotions. Odion was changing that and it was making Lani go out of his mind. Sometimes his heart felt so full it felt it should burst.

Lani almost opened his mouth to protest but the look in Odion’s eyes stopped him. He shut his mouth and listened. This was one of those heart swelling times. When he just wanted to snatch Odion up and snuggle for all of eternity. And even that felt as if it wouldn’t be enough. Was that a normal feeling? He shrugged it off because Odion was still speaking. Lani let himself be drawn closer and with them so close his breath caught and he felt almost swallowed by those beautiful blues. The ‘what if’s were one of Lani’s weaknesses. He knew he shouldn’t worry about things like that but he couldn’t help but wonder. “It passes the time,” Lani gave a little joking smile before he sobered again. “I love you,” Lani said softly and rested his forehead against Odion’s and felt as if he could gaze into those eyes forever. “You know you’ve got the most beautiful eyes, right?” They were full and expressive. Electric, Lani had not yet been able to look into them without feeling like he had been struck by lightning. They put the sky to shame and were depthless as the ocean.

[Odion Martins]

“Any time,” Odion agreed quickly. He needed to save his powers for something bigger and better, and if this was all Lani had, Odion would be sorely disappointed. But he looked forward to showing Lani how to parkour, it was just a few steps short of learning how to dance. Lani had agility, speed, cunning, he could learn how to dance, Odion was sure of it. But they were working on flying today, and that was enough for one day.

“Maybe you didn’t lose yourself,” Odion suggested, “maybe it’s just a part of who you are.” After all, why couldn’t Lani be happy once in a while? There was plenty of reason to be happy, and maybe it wouldn’t last forever, and it didn’t mean Lani would never feel any other emotion, but perhaps Mr. Hunter was afraid of emotions altogether. Odion smirked, letting the lie hang in the air. “I don’t believe that.” There had to be more to it than that. Especially when working with such a strong power, it didn’t just come and go. Odion may be more likely to believe that if one, Lani had just received his power, or two, Lani’s power didn’t work the way he believed it did.

But Odion had closed his eyes, trying to control his breathing. “I love you too.” This was disgustingly romantic, and what was even more disgusting, was that he liked it. He sighed, his thoughts on Lani alone. It was like the training had happened a lifetime ago. “And you know, there are better ways to pass the time,” he encouraged suggestively, opening them once more.

His eyes, right. Where had he heard that before? Odion cleared his throat, his face reddening as he glanced at the grass beneath them, although the colour wasn’t completely from embarrassment. He wanted to stop talking about it, wanted to run away from the comment and the memories haunting him now. But he didn’t want to lose this moment, the here and now. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Lani saying that it was just that... Fuck, he was over thinking this again. “Rhett used to say that...” he said, but he wasn’t about to let Lani be put off, “it sounds better coming from you.”

Seeing something out of the corner of his eye, Odion snapped his neck in the direction of the movement. Not a day passed where he didn’t think he was being watched. Where he wasn’t worried that Lani would suddenly disappear because the worst had happened. But it wasn’t anything to be afraid of, merely a few younger teenagers playing freeze tag, which involved actually freezing people. Odion let out a sigh, closing his eyes once more and falling backwards dramatically into the grass in relief. Sometimes he wished he knew how to be something other than a mood killer and a drama queen.

[Lani Hunter]

A broader smile crossed Lani’s face. “We could always work on that a bit now,” Lani suggested wondering if Odion was willing to leave flying alone for the day. A good switch of gears, Lani could get it to stretch out long enough that it wouldn’t happen again today. Besides he kind of thought they might need a new board. It was a little… worse for wear. Even Lani realized how sad it was that he was so desperately looking for an excuse to not have to do that again. But it had been a tough day already. Couldn’t they just stay here on the ground caught up in each other? He supposed it wasn’t right that he should be able to get out of this. He actually found Odion quite kind as to only nagging him as much as he did. Lani knew that when something happened Odion didn’t let it go. He should know by now that anything said or done would be remembered, Odion was just like that. And if it bothered him that went doubly so.

Lani shook his head. He wanted to outright dismiss Odion’s assumption. Odion didn’t know what it felt like. Lani found himself getting a little angry about the assumption Odion had. He swallowed it. How would Odion understand if Lani didn’t tell him? This honesty thing was still hard! “Believe what you want,” Lani said without thinking. He shook his head a little and gave a little smile in apology for the snippy statement. “I don’t know what it’s supposed to feel like. But all I know is that when I’m like that it doesn’t matter what’s going on it I want to do something I’ll do it. It doesn’t matter who’s in the way.” Lani frowned clearly unhappy about the feeling. Feeling that powerful would make most anyone unbelievably happy. But it just terrified Lani. He didn’t know how to make himself be aware that he wasn’t just an object himself but a person and he needed to look out for people. He supposed it was probably a good thing his power couldn’t grab living things.

The blonde’s heart fluttered like a butterfly. Was this how everyone felt when they were in love. All of those quotes and lines that one groaned at in the movies suddenly became unbelievably touching. Lani couldn’t even believe he had as well fallen into the romantic trap. Lani smiled a little and raised a brow at Odion startled by the comment but excited by it at the same time. These strange stirrings had started coming through his body and he couldn’t quite say they were unpleasant. “Oh?” Lani asked cocking his head a little so it was tilted a little off centered from Odion’s face. He could see Odion just a tad better from his angle and he had a goofy grin on his face. “What did you have in mind?” Lani asked in a low voice curiosity and desire slipping between the cracks of his voice.

Lani smiled at first feeling like he had finally succeeded in making Odion blush. He almost said something about it but Odion beat him to the punch. Lani was grateful for that a few moments later. Lani mouthed out an ‘oh’ of understanding. He wasn’t convinced that that was completely true. He wasn’t the only one in this relationship with a history of being a skilled liar. Lani was willing to let this one slide. Sometimes Lani forgot that Odion had been in a bad relationship with Rhett. Well, at least Lani thought it was bad, but that was mostly based on what he heard from Odion and his own personal hatred for the other blond. “Sorry,” Lani said softly reaching up a hand to brush Odion’s cheek with his fingers.

Jerking back at the sudden motion Lani felt a twinge of sadness. It had been something he had said… He followed Odion’s gaze and frowned. He unfolded and stretched out his legs and leaned back on his hands. When they distanced Lani distanced himself a little mentally as well. He knew he shouldn’t but something was up that startled Odion. Lani tilted his face back and closed his eyes just soaking up the sun and the pleasant weather. He started humming a tune that could be recognized as ‘Do you hear the people sing’. It was when it was a pleasant thoughtlessness that he consciously hummed a tune. It was just absentminded noise when he thought. He poked Odion’s leg with his foot and smiled a little bit. “You’ve been rather jumpy lately.” Lani commented not opening his eyes. If someone was still following Odion Lani wanted to know about it. And there was still some crazy after Jared as well. If he targeted Odion as well he was going to have a very personal problem with Lani. Just because Lani didn’t want to use his power mindlessly around Odion didn’t mean he wouldn’t when he faced his boss or someone threatening Odion.

[Odion Martins]

“I believe you shut yourself down before anything can happen, good or bad.” Lani was right, Odion wasn’t going to let this go if he could help it. Maybe they wouldn’t train like this ever again, and Odion wanted to dissect Lani’s power as much as possible before he tried stowing it away again. But just like Odion could believe what he wanted, so could Lani, and if the telekinetic thought his power was bad, wrong, unruly, and harmful, it would remain locked up for good. Odion was hoping to change that opinion, even if Lani was being snarky about the subject.

Odion ripped a few blades of grass out from below them, distracting himself. “Nothing suitable for the public eye.” The desire to be close to Lani had always been there, first it was small, and now it was rampant. Lani was the light, and he was the fly, ever attracted to things that shone in the dark. Lately the desire had increased, but that was to be expected he supposed, though it was becoming harder to control. He didn’t know what Lani wanted, or really, how much he wanted of Odion.

Odion looked up from Lani from where he lay on the ground, the angle making Lani appear larger than life. “Your worried nature is rubbing off on me,” he said, lifting a pale hand to shield his eyes. He hadn’t heard from Jared in so long, it was entirely possible the brunet had vanished forever. One thing was for sure though, and that was that their moment was gone.

“So, what is it about parkour you’d like to know?” There were different ways of going about it, and Odion suspected that Lani would want to do his research first and the only reason why he was willing to do it off the seat of his pants was because he was willing to do just about anything to get out of power training.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani frowned and turned is eyes away from Odion. A lot of the time he was glad for Odion being blunt and speaking his mind but Lani still would like it a tad bit more if he had softened the blow a little bit. “Harumph,” Lani grumbled a little bit as he tried to figure out just what he was going to say to that. No he was not going to let that go. “Well would you rather that or would you rather I just go blasting people whenever I feel the need? The desire. You don’t understand.” Lani concluded using the standard excuse that had gotten him far enough with people demanding answers. Somehow Lani felt that that wasn’t going to go down well with Odion. He suppressed a sigh, why did they keep training together all it had ever gotten them was into a fight. And Lani couldn’t directly point a finger at the at the one who started it. Odion pushed a pushed and Lani snapped back when he was pushed far enough. Could Lani do most of what he did without Odion’s pushing, probably not.

That brought intense heat to Lani’s face and he was glad Odion was looking away. That would give him a little bit of time to recover. He felt the words that would give Odion a go ahead, well not in public but Lani felt stirrings and he felt the need to be close to Odion strongly. He wondered if it would come on its own or if he would have to bring it up. That was a topic he wasn’t quite sure how to bring up. And he wasn’t exactly sure that he was ready for what a conversation like that might lead to. He thought he was when he was with Adrianna but this was a whole different ballpark. Besides what would Odion think if Lani had to tell him he’d never actually done anything like that with Adrianna. Lani was, yet again, over thinking. Lani opened his mouth again to tell Odion that they should take this moment and run with it. Then Rhett came up. Rhett, even when not around had a certain skill of making Lani grumpy.

Lani couldn’t help himself, he laughed. “Oh dear, what a couple of worry warts we make.” He smiled into the sun and gave a sigh letting the warmth of the sun sooth his muscles. He bounced his foot against Odion’s leg absently and when the conversation subsided for a little he cracked open an eye and looked down at Odion. “Penny for your thoughts?” He asked. Odion was good at figuring out what was wrong and what worried Lani. Lani was not, if Odion was upset about something, more often than not Odion had to tell him. The more Lani was learning that the more he was making sure to ask. If something was bothering Odion he wanted to know about it.

“Uh,” Lani uttered startled by the suddenness of the question. The pondered it for a moment humming the tune a little more before breaking in to speak. “I want to know how to make split second decisions.” He glanced at Odion. If Odion wanted to learn how to plan to break into a large scale place Lani wanted to learn what to do if something went wrong. Now Lani wasn’t under any illusions that he was going to never worry and never plan. No he just wanted to know how to make a quick decision that didn’t require planning every minute detail of every possible outcome. Granted he would probably still do that too, but it was a start. “And teach me to do that cool flip thing you did.” He grinned. Odion had done all sorts of flipping things when they had been racing rooftops at Christmas time.

[Odion Martins]

“No, I don’t understand,” Odion said, his eyes never leaving Lani, “but I’m trying to.” He wanted to, he had wanted to know Lani ever since he met the bloke, but damn it all, it was hard to get past those walls! He glanced down at the pill bottle in Lani’s hands, and back to Lani. “I’d rather you blow things to smithereens than constantly hold yourself back,” he paused, then sighed, “but there’s no point in saying so, you’ll just offer some other excuse of how you don’t want to hurt anyone. Well my friend, a power unbidden is a power unused. How do you expect to control the blasts when you don’t even try willingly?” Odion tried not to rant when it could be helped, but he was going to get Lani to talk, and if he had to be angry to do so, so be it.

“Worry warts?” Odion asked, a smirk on his lips. “That sounds like a terrible fungus.” Again, Lani was jabbing him with his foot, so Odion didn’t hesitate to smack the offending body part. Honestly, Lani was such a child sometimes. Fidgeting slightly, Odion wasn’t sure how to answer the question.

“If you keep offering me money for my thoughts, you’ll run out of pennies.” There was always something on his mind, even though he didn’t often have that faraway look which Lani often wore.

Nodding in understanding, Odion thought that was a good place to start. “That shouldn’t be too complicated, assuming you know the area well.” Perhaps he would get the chance to show off a little during their heist of the watch shop. Odion knew Lani had a plan; Lani knew that Odion probably wasn’t going to follow it exactly. Not planning every outcome was Odion’s specialty despite that said option was at his disposal. Giggling, Odion reached over and pinched Lani’s bicep. “You’ll have some major work to do then,” he teased, rolling onto his side, his head propped in his hand. “Here as well,” he added, patting his outer thigh a couple times. Back flips were impossible on weak legs.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani ignored Odion’s gaze on him as he spoke. He could hear the frustration in Odion’s voice and found the feeling mutual. It was frustrating to be shut out but it was also frustrating to have to find answers that he didn’t even want. He turned his eyes to give the excuse but Odion had beat him to the punch and Lani’s eyes got locked in with Odion’s. Lani’s jaw clamped shut to avoid proving Odion right. What was he supposed to say? Alright, let me not pull my power when it’s going to hurt someone. Never. “What am I supposed to do? Let it happen?” Lani shook his head, how could he put this in a way Odion might understand. “I’m sorry Odion that’s not going to happen. I’m not going to let that kind of power out, especially not with you or anyone else for that matter!” Lani stopped himself as he realized he was raising his voice. “What’s wrong with just using it when I need it?” Odion was starting to sound just like all of the other people here. How many times had he heard that before. Countless. He needed to use his power or it was going to use him, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Lani was more than ready for the power conversation to drop. This happened every time. They trained and Lani’s power proved him right that it wasn’t meant to be used around people. He made a small step forward and wanted to call it a day so he could dissect what he could about it. Maybe he needed to meditate on this one. That was so much stranger than what he was used to. But Odion wanted to talk it out. Lani liked having someone to bounce ideas off but Odion pushed and pushed until Lani felt he would snap and often times that was what happened. Like today. He looked off into the sky and gave a sigh. Fighting was all that it accomplished. That was it. Damn power. Why couldn’t it just be like a normal power, where he could trigger it like a formula and use it and put it away when he was done. Maybe that was the problem. There was nothing mathematical or even systematical about his power. It was and is him. And there was nothing formulaic about that.

The conversation shifted and Lani felt tension in his neck start to ease. He hadn’t realized he’d been tensing. “A terrible affliction,” Lani agreed and chuckled a little the swat only serving to egg him on. Lani gave Odion an impish grin and reached out a hand. “Well then,” he poked Odion’s temple, “I’ll be a poor man.” Lani smiled thoughtfully. Not too complicated. That was still asking a lot of the telekinetic. But so long as it wasn’t a really important decision it should be alright. Lani looked around and was in the process of planning out if he at this moment without Odion’s parkour if he had to get out of here which path he would take. Already planning and they hadn’t even gotten off the ground yet.

Lani wriggled out of Odion’s grip and rubbed his arm a pout on his lips being ruined by his own laughter. Lani was willing to give Odion his arms but his legs, on no. That was where Lani had the muscle. He thought he had muscles in his arms as well they were just slender and didn’t look like much. He thought he could take Odion though. Between speed and them being around the same size. “Oh-hoh! Is that a challenge?” Lani declared and without waiting for an answer launched himself sideways and sat on Odion. He turned a little and wrapped his arms around Odion’s neck from behind and locking them around Odion’s shoulders. Being so close to Odion made Lani’s heart hammer and he was glad Odion couldn’t see him because this little act of spontaneous play was making him blush crimson. It wasn’t too often Lani was bold enough to tackle his boyfriend but it also wasn’t too often he got the chance. Sometimes Odion was just irresistible. “I’ll race you anytime and I’ll win.” Lani boasted.

[Odion Martins]

“Let it happen in a safe place,” Odion insisted, unable to see the problem. Sighing, Odion couldn’t do anything but shake his head. “You know, for someone who plans so much, you really don’t plan with your power in mind.” It was like someone who had lost all control in their life and so had an eating disorder to try and cope with the loss. Lani was doing this to himself, and Odion was having a hard time being sympathetic. Odion’s gaze hardened. “You don’t really want to hear what I have to say.” And honestly, he didn’t feel like saying it if Lani was only going to continue to argue. Progress had been made today, but Lani chose to be blind to it like he chose to be blind by so many other things. If Lani only used his power when he needed it, it would consume him the rest of the time.

It was time to let the conversation go. Lani wasn’t ready and Odion decided to simply accept that. For today.

“Sounds uncomfortable really,” Odion said, a contemplative smile on his face. Worry warts – they were walking warts. He blinked and cautiously looked at Lani directly. “How will you be poor when money is free?” Well, for them it was at least. “Surely my thoughts are worth more than that.” He didn’t really think so, it was all a simple ploy. Silly bantering. Tough conversations, arguing, and banter, which had become flirting. It was their relationship, along with insane escapades of thievery.

Odion didn’t really talk about his physique, but he was rather proud of his washboard abdominal muscles. Although he would disagree with Lani’s arms not being muscular, they simply weren’t broad. The redhead just smiled when Lani pushed himself off the ground onto him. Odion laughed and shook his head. “That didn’t go very well last time, or don’t you recall?” Honestly, sometimes Odion wondered at Lani’s choice memory. But other things pressed against him and his hands immediately went to the ground as he pivoted, his toes underneath him. He could probably do pushups with Lani on his back, but instead, he stood up, his arms lacing under Lani’s legs while the blond clutched at his shoulders. He wasn’t planning on essentially giving Lani a piggyback ride, but he wasn’t going to let Lani win. If he did win, it was because he deserved it. “You know,” Odion said, turning his head a little, catching an orb of grey, “I could just fall over right now and seriously injure you.” Of course, it was all exaggerated bluff.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani shook his head in return denying the truth in Odion’s words. “There’s no safe place,” Lani shook his head against as if trying to shake out the words Odion had said that were no bouncing around his mind. Lani shot a glare at Odion the blow falling rather low. He gritted his teeth and decided it would be best for the both of them if he didn’t respond to that. It would only bring harsh words and attacks from both of them. It was the same every time. He loved Odion and training with Odion had gotten him leaps and bounds ahead of where he had been but Odion seemed to always want something more from him and Lani didn’t know what. He shot Odion a sharp glance and his intention was to let his silence do the speaking but he could never really control his tongue. “You know that’s not true.” He told the redhead unsure if he was saying it to be bitter or out of truth. He did appreciate what Odion had to say, most of the time.

“Terribly,” Lani tilted his head toward Odion a smile crossing his face again as they left the conversation behind. He poked Odion with his toe again and smirked a little bit. He considered Odion for a moment. It was this part of their relationship that he loved. He supposed everyone loved the good parts of the relationship, it was the hard parts that could make or break two people. Lani had learned that the hard way with Adrianna. They never faced the hard parts and it had broken them. Lani cocked his head thoughtfully and smiled a little laughter coming from his throat. His grin grew into a smile and he nodded. “You see with pennies cycling through I have infinite pennies for your infinite thoughts. In a sense your thoughts are priceless.” Lani glanced at Odion his smile stretching from one ear to the other.

Lani too was rather fond of Odion’s muscles. Something about the firmness of the muscle beneath the smooth skin was terribly alluring. It also gave Lani a little incentive to keep himself fit. He didn’t quite have the abs that Odion did but they were there if he flexed them. They were similar in size but with Lani’s extra few inches came a leanness. Lani rather liked it, a lot of times it came with a certain amount of underestimation. And granted if he went up against someone who did lift weights and focused on those muscles chances were he would be overpowered. Lani’s arm strength was limited to his lifting his own body. “Well, maybe next time someone won’t cheat and step out in front of someone, hmmm?” Lani chuckled remembered the nice goose egg he had given Odion. Lani was still of the opinion that he would have won given the flat ground they had had left to cross.

“Whoa,” Lani uttered in surprise as Odion started moving. He shifted getting a better grip on Odion as he rose. Lani again felt something stirring as he felt Odion’s muscles shift. He shook his head a little bit and leaned against Odion his arms gripped a little more loosely around Odion’s neck. Resting his chin against the redhead’s shoulder and smiled. This was certainly a different perspective. More often than Lani could count he had given Caroline a lift in this manner. Lani laughed and his eyes flashed with mischief. “Good thing I know you’re not clumsy.” Lani commented unconcerned. But just in case Lani tightened his hold a little bit. If Odion fell over they both knew that Lani could catch them and probably would. He’d been seriously injured enough in the past few months he was not going to let a simple fall bring him down. “You, sir, are also underestimating my ability to get out of the way.” He teased leaning his head against Odion’s. His feet swayed a little as if unaccustomed to the distance from solid ground they were.

[Odion Martins]

Odion didn’t know what he wanted from Lani either, and that was perhaps why he kept on pushing his boyfriend. “Not even with me?” Odion asked. He didn’t know how many times he had to say he could handle it. Telekinesis hadn’t gone through time with him and Odion didn’t see how it could, and if it did, well, he’d like to see it happen. But Lani wasn’t as reckless as he was, and Odion supposed he was rather reckless... “Why would you only want to use it when you need it? Your power isn’t a tool Lani, it’s a part of who you are.” Odion sighed, wondering if he simply understood differently and would never be able to convey it. “I think you misunderstand your power. It may be a bear sometimes, but it’s capable of more than destruction.” Odion didn’t just use his power to steal, he also used it to sneak into bars, or relive memories. And once or twice he would jump ahead.

Odion let out a bark of laughter. “You think you’re awfully clever, don’t you?” He teased. “And yet, the pennies are without value, so the thoughts are worthless. It’s a very mysterious thing...” He mused, his eyes lowering before flying back up. “And it wasn’t anything important, what I was thinking before. I was just hoping Jared is doing alright, I haven’t spoken to him for a while.” If Odion didn’t just say what was on his mind when Lani noticed something was there, Lani would keep poking at it. Like he was poking Odion now. “If I didn’t think what you were doing with your foot was cute, I’d call you a nuisance."

Odion often admired Lani, hence all the staring. He moved with a quick agility, even when he was just goofing around and acting silly. The redhead tended to notice these things about people, and he said to admit, Lani was quite easy on the eyes. “I’ll have you know, that wasn’t cheating,” Odion said, “that was... playing.” Really, he couldn’t think of a better word? But Lani was on top of him, beside him, everywhere at once and it was seriously affecting his thought process. Otherwise, he might suggest they go back to that moment and have a re-do, just to see who would’ve won. Perhaps another time.

“How do you know I’m not clumsy with all this extra weight,” he paused for effect, “from all the rocks in my pockets of course.” He had begun walking, so he had something to focus on rather than just craning his neck to try and look at Lani. No, the blond was at a vantage point now. “Can you imagine being on that board like this?” He laughed lightly. “I’d probably die.” Perhaps not right away, but it would be a giant mess. Planting that image in Lani’s mind might incline him in the right direction for a later date, but Odion hadn’t thought of it being manipulative until after the fact. He wasn’t trying to be manipulative... “How would you get out of the way if I held onto you?” Now he was curious. “It’s not a very good plan Lani.” Lani wouldn’t have to be looking at him to hear the grin in his voice.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani frowned at Odion. He couldn’t answer that question. Anywhere Lani was it was unsafe. Odion made it easy to relax and he had crossed the line to understanding his power and he did feel safe with Odion, because he knew that Odion could handle it. At least when he wanted to and didn’t want to go flying off of a board. He shook his head a little bit he felt like Odion was back him into a corner. Anything he said now could and most likely would be used against him at a future point in time. “You didn’t use your power when mine failed.” Lani pointed out, “So I don’t know.” He looked up at the sky remember how it had felt when he had had wings. Why couldn’t he have kept them? “Maybe it is. Maybe it’s different for me. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to have this power so maybe it’s not a part of me. Maybe it’s like a third limb.” There but relatively useless in all ways save getting in the way. Lani shrugged and ignored the last part. He knew it was capable, but he just didn’t think he was capable of making it be capable of anything else. His emotions were too irregular.

“’Ey!” Lani held up a hand to stop Odion. He pointed a finger at Odion. “I don’t think. I know.” He joked back. But Odion’s comment had a sobering effect on Lani. “Who said the pennies are without value?” Lani watched Odion and had a peculiar thought. Maybe they should start trading pennies when they gave a thought. Pay the other person for the effort they took to get them to say their thoughts. He shook his head. Hopefully this would get easier with time. “Ah, I’m sure he’s fine. He’s rather resilient. Did you ever end up telling him about you and the whole ‘getting kicked out of the gang’ thing?” Lani gave Odion an innocent grin and pulled his foot away as his face colored. He supposed he had the same reaction to the term ‘cute’ that Odion had had. Though at least Lani didn’t pull the redhead into a snow mound.

Lani used the fact that he needed to hold onto Odion for balance as an excuse to pull himself close to Odion. “Uh-huh,” Lani said and let out a laugh that was suspiciously close to a giggle. “Call it what you want.” Perhaps if Lani hadn’t been going full speed trying to beat Odion home he would have had a better reaction time when Odion popped out at him. Admittedly if he hadn’t walled up his power his power very easily could have stopped or at least diverted him. But he wasn’t going to tell Odion that, it was just going to prove Odion’s point. Lani shifted and enjoying the closeness of Odion to him at the moment. He was hyperaware of Odion at the moment as he rested his chin on his shoulder and smiled to himself and his private thoughts as he was given a moment to watch Odion without the redhead having a very good view of himself.

Odion’s pause worked and Lani was sorely tempted to shift all of his weight back and see if he couldn’t get Odion to fall on purpose. “Right.” Lani commented dryly and moved one of his hands to mime punching Odion. The fist stopped short and ended up tapping lightly on Odion’s cheek. Lani pressed his hands against Odion’s chest as he adjusted his balance to Odion’s motion. Lani gave a forced laugh, why did they had to keep talking about this. “Yeah, let’s not.” He shook his head and looked at Odion as he walked wondering what was going on in that glorious head of his. “Where—” Lani started but Odion was speaking again. He laughed and hung onto Odion as he walked. “Is this our first thinking on our feet lesson?” He asked teasingly before answering, “Then I’d just keep you from falling.” His eyes turned forward and he repeated the question he had meant to ask earlier. “Where are we headed?”