red evening {Phoenix}

[Erik Stewart]

It was getting dark. Rain clouds had parted to reveal a stunning sunset, its dusky rays glancing off the puddles that littered the sidewalk. It turned them that special bright red that was reserved only for a certain time of day and in a certain type of light.

Erik wasn’t one to notice these sorts of things, even if he’d spent the majority of his young life outdoors. Unless he was bangin’ it, beauty was of no consequence; he mostly avoided the puddles, so he wouldn’t get the soles of his shoes wet.

It was almost curfew and, though Erik was a rule-breaker in many ways, today he wasn’t feeling particularly rebellious. He was tired; his shoulders were slumped and he walked with his head down. It’d been a long day of classes and detentions and all he wanted to do now was smoke a cig and take a nap, maybe watch something on his old shitty laptop. Erik trudged through the path on the way to his dorms, his feet shuffling at the pavement. He tugged his coat over his shoulders; it was getting cold.

The grass had turned black in the low evening light. That was what made Phoenix so noticeable; his skin was a stark white next to it. From what he could tell, the boy wasn’t moving. Erik paused. He craned his neck to see, but the other boy was still a good ways away from him, and he couldn’t make out any particulars.

He waited for a good ten seconds or so. Then he came nearer: cautiously, like an animal, searching for signs of movement. “You dead ‘r what?” he asked.

[Deleted]

Phoenix was way too high to notice the beauty of the sunset; in fact, the colors of it seemed off anyway - all weirdly gold and green and fuzzy. So he chose not to look at it, because he was pretty sure it would give him a headache before long.

And so he was laying on his stomach by the pond, next to the tree where Oriel had (literally) fallen on him a couple months ago. Phen was alone now, though, so he was free to stare into the water, watching as the fish trailed through the pond and left sparkling silver paths in their wake.

Some of them had antennae, and other odd embellishments. He also could have sworn he saw a couple tiny mermaids swimming around and waving at him.

A very faint smile lit up his heavy-lidded face as he watched his little hallucinations at work. He couldn't care less about curfew or rules; he could just fly up to his room and sneak in that way if he needed to. He was happy to stay here and stare until the drugs wore off or he fell asleep. But then again, it was getting chilly, and he would miss Oriel's warmth...

Then, a voice. He snapped out of his daydream and sent a glare in the direction of whoever had rudely interrupted him, not recognizing the voice. It was hard to make the person out in the dark and with his trippy vision, but anyone that knew him would know better than to bother him when he was like this.

"Are you blind?" he huffed, raising himself onto his elbows. "'Course I'm not dead. Is there somethin' wrong with relaxin' next t' the pond?" He squinted, trying to get a better look at the guy. "What's it t' you, anyway?"

[Erik Stewart]

The boy stirred (and he could tell clearly now that it was a boy) and got up on his elbows. Erik’s eyes narrowed at his tone. He stopped halfway down the hill, about three feet away from Phoenix’s prone body. The red-and-black evening made his silhouette stark: he was terribly thin, his fawn-like legs rooted to the ground, his arms lanky and stuck into the waist pockets of his jeans.

He’d never seen anyone of Asiatic descent before he’d come to Hammel. Back in Banks Springs, Louisiana – a town of twenty-six people – there’d been no welcoming mat strung out for anyone who didn’t fit their narrow definition of normalcy. Erik had known about them, of course, but any and all knowledge he had was to be viewed with suspicion. There was not a shred of information he’d assimilated in his head that wasn’t steeped in bigotry. It wasn’t until he’d been thrown into Pilot Ridge that he was forced to acknowledge that there was no true ‘average’ person.

Though Erik was by no means a supremacist, this did mean that he was vastly uninformed. If anything, it was a sort of innocent ignorance.

But he was curious about Phoenix, at least. “Ain’t shit t’me but I was just wonderin’ if I needed t’call someone. Excuse my concern.”

His swampy southern accent might have been surprising at first; it was odd coming out of a face like his, pretty and pale, dark lashes over his blue eyes, hair down to his shoulders, a sprinkling of freckles across his white skin.

[Deleted]

Maybe Phoenix shouldn't have been rude so quickly right off the bat. He just wasn't a very friendly person in general, and Erik had caught him at a bad time, during his personal alone time that he hated to be interrupted from while he zoned out and tried to forget about all of his problems.

But now, even in the dying light, he realized the guy he was talking to was.... Fucking hot.

He had a thinness to him that Phoenix was familiar with, considering his own body structure, though he wasn't sure if it was just the guy's natural weight or if he had issues, too. Obviously, from the way he was looking at Phoenix and just the general air the Korean got from him, he wasn't necessarily a particularly pleasant person.

But then again, first impressions weren't everything....

"Well, I 'ppreciate the concern, but I'm fine." He rolled over onto his side, making no effort to hide the way his eyes scanned over the guy's figure. He was glowing faintly in Phen's eyes, a light snake-ish green that seemed to sort of pulse around him. It was an interesting effect.

Also, the accent DID throw him a bit, but Phoenix didn't think too much of it. He had sort of developed his own accent over the years, but it was more of a slur than anything else.

"What're you doin' here anyway?" he asked with heavy-lidded eyes, finally lifting them to meet Erik's own. "Can't say I've seen your pretty face around before." He spoke apathetically and with little interest, despite his word choice. And he did think he vaguely recognized the guy from around Hammel... But he didn't know his name, or who he was. Then again, he hardly bothered to get to know anyone.

[Erik Stewart]

Erik didn’t know why he was still standing here, his hands shoved in his pockets. He should’ve kicked dirt on the kid the second he started giving him some fuckin’ attitude but he didn’t, just stood there and glared – though its intensity lessened at his half-apology. He didn’t respond to it per se, but his thin, freckled shoulders relaxed.

Phoenix surprised him then. He had weathered a lot of offhand flirtations, seemingly from nowhere; they all just suddenly appeared, when he least expected them, and they never failed to catch him off guard. Whenever the situation arose, Erik responded first with surprise – because some of the boys here really were bold – and then with anger. Compliments were always suspect. Erik was wildly defensive of his orientation and anything targeting it might have been an insult, a jab, because to be honest Erik looked indisputably queer, and he’d been through his fair share of teasing for it.

His irritation colored his response. “What’s that s’posed t’mean? I’m fuckin’ walkin’ home. What’s it look like I’m doin’? ‘Least I ain’t lyin’ around in the dirt like you are, lookin’ like I just fell over an’ died.”

Though the boy seemed tense and unsure, he also seemed a bit curious. This was probably the main reason why he was sticking around. Same with Phoenix, he did note the other boy’s attractiveness. He’d messy hair and a pale face, and his eyes were dark and pleasingly shaped…but he didn’t react the same way Phoenix did, didn’t call him pretty or anything like that. Erik wasn’t the flirty type; this much was obvious.

He shifted, watching him.

“Well I ain’t get out much,” he conceded, finally.

[Deleted]

It wouldn't be the first time someone had kicked dirt on Phen... Literally and figuratively. He would've just stood up and sprayed some dust in the guy's pretty face, or something. But as it was, he stayed put, letting his curiosity about the interesting-looking guy keep him in place as he studied Erik, letting the corner of his mouth curl up slightly as he took in the relaxation of his shoulders.

Not too late to make a better impression, right? Ah, he was such a sucker for attractive faces...

Though the small, flirtatious quip had been spoken so plainly, Phoenix hadn't meant it as anything more than a compliment. Yeah, the guy definitely set off his gaydar, but to be honest he probably would have said it even if he hadn't. And besides, he got called a girl all. the freaking. time. So in a way, he might be able to relate.

He wasn't shy in his attraction to others; you never knew when you could get lucky!

.... But... Oriel... He would be so upset again if Phen did anything... Wouldn't he?

His eyes flicked towards the dorms before landing on Erik once more. "I see," he said plainly, rolling once again as he flipped over to his back, pulling a knee up in a bent position as his hands folded under his head. "Why doncha come over here and join me? It's comfier than it looks," he smirked, patting an empty spot riiiight next to where he was laying.

It wasn't too bad that the guy wasn't flirting back; he was sticking around, and that was enough to put a smug grin on Phen's face. "Or, you could lay here," he added boldly, prodding a finger against his chest. "You don't look like ya weigh much more than I do." He didn't expect Erik to actually do it, but it was fun to play.

Nevertheless, Oriel was still in the back of his mind...

[Erik Stewart]

He didn’t sit next to him. He stood just where he was, eyeing him sideways through his clear blue eyes, from underneath dark lashes and a single strand of black hair. This was odd. He had definitely not expected an encounter like this, just on his way back to his dorm…but Erik wasn’t exactly adverse to what he thought the other boy was suggesting.

That was assuming, of course, that he was serious.

Where Erik had reacted with fury and the threat of violence when – coincidentally – he faced much the same situation with Oriel, this time he only stood rooted on his fawn-like legs and thought, the wheels in his head turning. Phoenix didn’t have any of that teasing edge to him, didn’t have that cruel laughter that sometimes accompanied the word prettyboy. He seemed almost genuine. A little loopy, but genuine.

Erik snorted and turned his head to the side. He crossed his arms. “Cut th’ foreplay,” he said. “You want me t’suck your dick or what? There are easier ways of askin’.”

It was an explicit prod, a way of scoping out what was up with this Phoenix kid – either he reacted with disgust or he reacted favorably, and whichever one would be telling.

[Deleted]

A faint grin still pulled at Phoenix's lips as he watched Erik, waiting for his reaction. Either he would leave with disgust, he assumed, or take up the offer. Most people did the former, of course; especially girls, though he didn't do it as often with them. Men were usually easier to bed anyway, it was just a matter of finding some that were actually into guys themselves.

It took a moment, but when the boy spoke again, Phen's small grin turned into a larger, catlike smile, and he rubbed a hand against his thigh as he looked up with a mixture of desire and uncertainty. Desire, because yes, he would very much like what Erik was offering, but uncertainty because he.... He needed to somehow find out if this would be okay with Oriel before anything happened.

He fingered his phone in his pocket. He could maybe call the guy and ask him... But what to tell Erik now? "D'you give good ones?" he decided to ask with a snide smirk, tilting his head back to Erik. "'Cause I ain't gonna say yes unless y'do."

Already, though, he could feel that tingle begin to crawl down his stomach, as much as he tried to resist its pull...

[Erik Stewart]

Erik looked behind him, once. There was just a sliver of light over the tops of the trees. It was dark now; the red had faded away into an evening blue. The crickets hummed. A koi fish’s fin splashed against the surface.

Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Erik finally approached Phoenix, his footsteps crushing the grass. He looked down at the boy, laying belly-up on the ground. His hair was fanned around his head. For a second Erik considered his face, knowing for certain now that he had never seen him; he couldn’t place his age, either, much less a name. It was a strange time for an introduction and the circumstances – the dark night, the chirp of insects – well, it was less than routine. Erik wasn’t exactly sure what was waiting for him that evening.

He wasn’t so bold as to crawl right on top of him, even though he’d offered. Instead, he settled down on the spot next to him, folding his legs underneath him.

“Only thing I’m good at,” he assured him.

Erik was loose when it came to sex; he was wild. If he was attractive enough then he didn’t see a reason to turn down a guy, and with Erik, they’d get a guarantee of No Strings Attached. He didn’t have a boyfriend, never had, didn’t even know what it entailed or how people got around to a relationship. What he did know was intimacy. Erik was sleek and wicked and, perhaps most of all, confident when things got in the bedroom, and he wasn’t afraid to prove it.

Before he started getting touchy, he observed his face. “You ain’t kiddin’?”

[Deleted]

The visions in Phen's eyes were slowly dying down, both from the dust wearing off and the light dimming down. It helped give him a crisper vision of Erik, especially since the boy was finally walking closer. He really was gorgeous - all dark hair and blue eyes and marble skin. Phoenix gave him a lazy grin. "You look even nicer up close," he told him smoothly. It was a big difference from Oriel's beauty, but beauty all the same.

His gaze followed Erik as he sat down, letting his tongue slide lightly over his lips in anticipation. The hardness of the phone gripped in his fingers sent another wave of uncertainty through him, though, and he sunk his teeth into his bottom lip, ripping his eyes away for a moment to try to ignore the growing pressure in his body. It didn't really help.

"Good," he grunted, amazed by his good fortune. He should come to this spot more often - he was finding sex opportunities left and right! Unlike Erik, he HAD had a boyfriend before, but that was a complex problem that had only gotten more confusing now that his ex had returned to the area.... But, that wasn't important right now. He needed physical comfort, and Erik was here practically offering it on a silver plate.

"Not kiddin' at all," he replied, looking back at Erik. "I love a good suck." He started to smirk again, but it died down as he realized he needed to admit something else. "But, I..." How did he say it? "I kinda gotta ask my, uh... My..." What? "... Partner... If he's alright with me fuckin' with another guy." His cheeks burned in embarrassment. He sounded like such a little owned bitch! But at the same time, he knew he wouldn't be able to enjoy it if Oriel didn't know.

He pulled out his phone with a grimace. "Y'don't happen t'know Oriel, d'ya?" Maybe it would make this less awkward... But he doubted it.

[Erik Stewart]

As soon as he was given assurance, Erik rolled over. He slid one leg over Phoenix’s waist and made himself comfortable. For the first time he smiled; it was dark and sideways and it seemed to suggest that he knew something Phoenix didn’t. “I don’t think y’know what you’re gettin’ into,” he drawled.

He was all set to lean down and get close so their noses almost touched their foreheads pressed together. He was going to get Phoenix to look into his blue eyes, the black pupils punched in the middle, and see how serious and unashamed he was. He’d graze his lips over his cheek and his upper lip but he wouldn’t kiss. He’d never fuckin’ kiss.
Erik was going to do this and more; he was coming down already, his hair falling down the sides of his face, when he halted. Erik blinked. He straightened up, looking down at him, brows furrowed.

“’Scuse me?” he said.

Phoenix stuttered a bit, but Erik thought he got the gist of it. His eyebrows shot up towards his hairline, and he let out a disbelieving, derisive snort. He put his hands on his own hips, and settled backwards, thighs gripping the other boy’s sides.
“Seriously?” he asked. “You’ve gotta ask him?”
It wasn’t the fact he had a boyfriend or whatever – Erik had fucked people in relationships before – but what concerned him was that he was informing said partner.

Then he heard the name ‘Oriel’ and he shut his eyes tight, put his hands up, one finger in the air, and took a deep breath. “Are you - ”

Shitting me, he was about to say, but he stopped himself. “Let me get this straight. You’re gonna call up that fucker, an’ you’re gonna tell ‘im, ‘I’m ‘bout t’get my dick sucked, that alright with you?’” He’d lost that sultry tone. “Is he your fuckin’ boyfriend?”

[Deleted]

Phoenix's breath caught as Erik rolled onto him without further conversation, settling down over his waist with ease as he spoke. Without thinking, Phen lifted his hands up to rest against the sides of Erik's legs, capturing the slim firmness of his thighs in his palms. "I don't doubt it," he smirked faintly. "But I'm sure I've gotten worse."

But now his heart was hammering, and not in the good way, as he watched Erik's face come closer to his own, and now he knew he had gotten in too deep and there wasn't going to be any stopping the guy, and the tightness growing in Phoenix's jeans were urging him to forget about Oriel and just go with whatever came, but-

Erik stopped at Phen's worse, and let let out a hoarse breath, both relieved and horrified about what he had said.

"Er..." he stammered, pressing his fingers unconsciously tighter against Erik's legs as the other boy leaned back. He was such an idiot! How had he ended up like this? He might end up not getting any fix now, although he was sure he could go find Oriel and just hook up with him instead...

But Phoenix wanted a taste of this guy, dammit!

"Well... I-I mean, the last time I... I did somethin' else with someone... He was upset," he grumbled barely loud enough for Erik to hear. He was sure his cheeks looked as crimson as they felt. "I can't... I can't enjoy this without knowin' if I'm gonna do that t' him again or not."

Because he knew he would end up telling Oriel one way or another, even if he didn't want to.

But apparently this guy did know Oriel. Phoenix swallowed hard, looking off to the side. "Uh... B...Basically," he mumbled. When he put it like that, it sounded even dumber than it had before. At the word boyfriend, though, alarm lit up Phen's eyes, and he whipped his gaze back up to Erik.

"N-no!" he exclaimed. "He's...." Ughhh. What? "I mean, I don't think... No, it's more like..." He was at a complete loss for words, and gripped his phone back in his hand, finally managing,"It's complicated," in a quiet, sulky voice. "So can I call him or not?"

[Erik Stewart]

Of course it’d have to be Oriel. That kid seemed at every turn, and, as far as he was concerned, the kid was a smartass and an opportunistic pain in the ass…their last encounter notwithstanding. In fact, sometimes he wasn’t really sure what to think of Oriel and that just made him all the more frustrating. And now this? What were the odds of meeting his “boyfriend” out here, whom he was straddling at this very second? And how did someone like Oriel even have anyone remotely resembling a boyfriend?

Phoenix’s stuttering wasn’t smoothing things over, either. Erik grew increasingly annoyed with his half-explanations and it showed. He stared down at his face, peering. “Well, if he’s not your boyfriend then why’ve y’even got t’tell him shit in th’ first place? Don’t care if he gets mad, it’s his problem, either you’re a fuckin’ thing or y’ain’t,” he said. “An’ what was with all that back there? You’re the one who came onto me, and now you’re sayin’ you gotta call up someone for permission? I mean…”

Erik gestured. “What th’ fuck?”

He swung his leg over his hips and rolled off him. Erik didn’t like indecisiveness, and this deal with Oriel was rubbing him the wrong way. Both of them were powder kegs: he knew that much. All they needed was the right push and there’d be fireworks.

Erik let out an exaggerated sigh. “Have you considered not telling him?” He waited, then: “Y’know, like normal people.”

[Deleted]

Oriel was a pain in the ass indeed... But for Phen, that meant something completely different. Well, he could be a pain too, but Phoenix could put up with it. And now here he was, making what would normally be a great sexual encounter turn into something awkward and pathetic because he was developing too many feelings for the stupid smartass. Fuck!!

He had told himself over and over that Oriel was just a fuckmate, that they were just around each other for physical pleasures and the occasional comfort but that was it. But now... Now, he was forced to realize something else was there, and it scared him shitless.

The way Erik was looking at him stirred a defensiveness in Phoenix, and his eyes narrowed as he spoke. "He's..." Fuck, how did he explain himself without sounding like a huge bitch? "He's one of the only people in this damn school that seems t' like bein' around me, so I'm not too keen t' make him angry." That was the best he could do. "As for comin' onto you... It's habit when I meet a fuckin' attractive person. I couldn't help myself."

He was so fucking pathetic, and he knew it. He bit his lip angrily.

Erik rolled off of him then, and Phoenix continued to lay there, uncomfortably squirming his legs in an attempt to hide his desire. Fuck, he had ruined his chances!

At Erik's question, he let out a frustrated huff. "It'd come out eventually," he mumbled. "An' I'd rather it be before than afterwards when I can't do anythin' about it."

Was he seriously going to have to plead? Phen had apparently reached a new level of pathetic.

He rolled over onto his side, catching Erik's gaze. "It'll only take a sec. Then I promise I c'n give you one of the best fucks of your life." That was, if Oriel agreed... Which Phen desperately hoped he would.

[Erik Stewart]

Erik took out a packet of cigs and flipped a light. He sat next to him, his knees drawn up and his eyes fixed out towards the pond, brows set over his eyes and his shoulders rigid again.

It didn’t surprise him that Oriel hadn’t told him of a boyfriend; they weren’t exactly besties, not even friends, really, so why would he? It was just his luck – his fuckin’ luck – that he’d run into him.
He should’ve known it to be too good to be true; this sort of thing only happened in novels, not real life…a cheesy by-the-pond blow-job novel, maybe, but nonetheless. So did relationships, in his opinion. Erik was well aware why he didn’t have one – he was temperamental and he was rude and crass and he yelled and threw things (he could go on) – but that didn’t stop him from being any less bitter about it.

"He's one of the only people in this damn school that seems t' like bein' around me, so I'm not too keen t' make him angry. As for comin' onto you... It's habit when I meet a fuckin' attractive person. I couldn't help myself."

Erik didn’t answer him, not at first. He put his head down, letting out puffs of smoke that swirled over the side of his left cheek before whittling away in the breeze.

When Phoenix spoke again, though, Erik raised his head to squint at him. “Well it don’t have t’come out eventually, if you’d just keep a lid on it…ain’t that fuckin’ hard.” He rolled his eyes.

Erik sighed heavily. He’d gotten in a lot of trouble with Oriel before, and he wasn’t sure if he was ready to get in with him again. “It for damn sure won’t take a sec. Yeah, I know ‘im. Cussed me out in th’ courtyard one time. I called ‘im an asshole, too. Now I ain’t know what kinda terms we’re on, but…” He looked at Phoenix’s lips. “Don’t know how happy he’ll be if y’tell ‘im I’m gonna suck his loverboy off.”