Flanked(Benton, later Kodi)

[Deleted]

Was this confrontation? Noooooooo, not at all, what would give anyone that impression?

This was just a mere visit between lab partners, when one has a question that he's positive the other knows the answer to. Questions that might possibly, involve glares, threats, and fists.

Because certainly, Oriel was not above copying someone else's homework, or actually working together with someone who was apparently a lot smarter than he let on, and then handing said answers over to someone else to copy. Hey, you had to do what you had to do in order to pass classes sometimes. Hell, if Oriel could just get(read: force) the fucker to read him the assignment and the rest of the shit he wanted to know, Oriel was pretty sure he could get by on the rest of it with just Phen's help(especially since Phen did not look happy about Kodi and Oriel spending any measure of time together, which Oriel was perfectly happy to oblige with as much as possible).

Not that Oriel had anything against Kodi, just that...there was just something about him that bugged him. He reminded Oriel just a liiittle bit too much of himself. Which was seriously unnerving. Which meant a lot coming from someone like Oriel.

The boy didn't bother knocking upon entering the dorm room. He simply waltzed in like he owned the place, darted across the common room, and started pounding away on Kodi's bedroom door. "Oy, Steve, open up you ass-fucker! STEEVE!!" Oriel had no intention of being polite. Or quiet. He felt no amount of remorse for anybody else who might have been bothered by Oriel's sudden, brash entrance. Hell, he didn't even know if Kodi(or anyone else) was even there. Which meant that if nobody responded quickly, doors were going to be broken down(probably not).

[Benton Barrett]

He was busy typing away, trying to organize his thoughts into something far more coherent than he was feeling. But it was supposed to help him focus, or something - keep him grounded. So yes, Benton Barrett was writing his very own journal. Describing the ups and downs he'd experienced so far, detailing the few people he'd met. He was not exactly sure how to do this, so mostly, it just involved smashing the keyboard until words came out. 

Not the most effective method of recording his thoughts, but hey, he wasn't exactly a writer. 

He nearly jumped out of his bed as a pounding began outside his room. It wasn't exactly unusual - he was coming to find that despite there being clearly defined 'dorms', no one seemed to acknowledge that fact. Common rooms were common rooms, even though there was a 'big' common room. It was probably some aspect of the boarding school life that Benny just didn't get, yet.

Sighing, the youth pushed his laptop onto the bed next to him, and pushed himself up. His room ( heated up to a much warmer temperature ) was his safe place. So why, exactly, was he leaving his safe place?

Shaking his head, he unlocked his door ( thanks for the paranoia, Kodi ) and popped his head out into the hall. There was someone banging on Kodi's door, yelling for 'Steve.' As far as he knew, there was supposed to be a 'no getting drunk' policy in the school - clearly that didn't apply to everyone. He let out a breath, and said: 

"Uh, dude, I think you've got the wrong dorm. There's no one named Steve in this area." Because clearly, he was either drunk and thought he was in the wrong room, or maybe he knew the person who lived here before him. He didn't know - all he knew that was this guy was being pretty obnoxious, and he was pretty much done with obnoxious people for the next eighty years.

[Deleted]

Oriel was starting to get really irritated…no, scratch that. Oriel was already irritated. Just for the fact that he had to come all the way over here because Kodi was being a lazy ass muther-fucker but was unfortunately the only fucker he could ask anything about because the rest of the retards in the class were either 1. stupider than Oriel was, or 2. too busy removing the sticks from their asses to bother helping the boy…bunch of assholes.

The pounding only got louder the longer Oriel was ignored. No, he didn't care if Kodi was actually out at the moment, Oriel would do the whole stalking thing and stay there until he got back…and make a racket until he did.

Or until one of the other occupants decided they'd had enough and emerged from their own rooms to complain.

Oriel snapped his head towards the voice that had suddenly come from down the hall and shot him a cold, icy glare as if to say, "how dare you question me?".

No, Oriel, it's just the roommate. Just look at the poor fucker, you're scaring him shitless. Seeelllf-controoolll.

"Yeah, whatever," he said, dismissing what the boy just told him with a scowl. Oriel jabbed a finger at Kodi's door. "You know where that psycho bitch is?" They were roommates, right. So he must've heard whether or not Kodi have come or gone recently or at all ever.

[Benton Barrett]

The look he was given was the kind of look Cruella deVille gave puppies.

Okay. So. Maybe he could just put his headphones in and retreat quietly into his room again and completely pretend this never happened. He was wearing a simple white wifebeater and a pair of shorts ( god he missed shorts ) and he knew he was letting the heat out of his room, but he wasn't about to slam his door in this guy's face. Maybe he really needed something? Other than Steve, who was not here any more ( or had never been here to begin with. Honestly, in this school, it could go either way. )

Something told him that the answer 'I'm looking at a psycho bitch' would not go over too well.

So he shook his head. 

"Not a clue. I don't typically keep tabs on him, what with the fact that he is, as you so pleasantly called him, 'a psycho bitch.' If you mean Kodi. If you don't, then... well, I still don't have a clue." What kind of person called someone else a psycho bitch when they were the ones trying to beat down doors?

Curling his fingers around his doorknob, he let out a sigh. No, he wasn't a jerk, and no, he wasn't the type to just dismiss people out of hand. His mom would be mortified at the thoughts going through his head now, anyways, so he set them to the side, and shrugged.

"Do you need help with something?" He asked, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. So far, he wasn't entirely sure if he'd phrased that right - mister 'Steve' probably needed help, but definitely not the type that Benny would be able to provide. He tugged his door a little closer to cracked, so the other guy wouldn't think it was an invitation in. After all, it was his safe place. 

"I think Kodi's out." He added, carefully. At least, he hadn't heard from him all day ( the growly noises, or sounds of his door, at least. )

[Deleted]

Retreat probably would have been Benny's best option. Oriel was the kind of psycho best left alone, you stay out of his way, he stayed out of yours. The phrase that came to mind was "let sleeping lions lie", and that rang true for Oriel in the most accurate way. But now that he'd been engaged, especially by this kid that was just begging to be played with, Oriel figured he at least had something to do while he waited for "Steve".

Kodi. Shit, he couldn't stand that fucker's name. It was like he was rubbing all the shit that had gone down between Oriel and Kodah right in this "psycho's" face.

Oriel's scowl deepened. "Yeah, 'course I mean him. And "Steve" is a good enough name for that cock-sucker."

His eyes scanned over the other boy, taking note of his fingers still gripping the doorknob as he spoke, the scratching of his head, the pulling of the door to his room shut. Even the cadence to his speech gave it away. This kid was just oozing nervousness, the smell of fear just seeping out of his pores. Like a shivering mouse he was, trying to be bigger, braver than he really was. Oriel had to admire that. And he wondered just how much more he could push before the kid finally broke.

But unlike Kodi, Oriel didn't do it all at once. Oriel was faar more subtle than that, he liked to stalk his prey, catch them unsuspecting, make them think he was harmless, and then push them over the edge ever so slightly until they realized they couldn't possibly escape. And that's when he pounced.

Oriel smirked, something between friendly and annoyed. "Yeah, looks like it," he agreed with the kid, looking back at the door he'd just been pounding. "But whatever, you offered right?" Oriel sighed and shrugged, turning back to the kid. "And you look pretty smart. Maybe you can help?" Oriel held up a notebook he'd almost forgotten he'd been holding, pointing at it with his other hand.

[Benton Barrett]

Wow. What had Kodi done to piss this guy off so badly? He could see that it had to be something. He wouldn’t be flipping out for no reason.

His eyebrow lifted curiously as the other guy even went so far as to call him a ‘cock-sucker.’ Did people really… call other people that? In serious conversation? That was probably the least used phrase Benny had ever heard. He didn’t get the ‘Steve’ thing, nor would he question it ( but how awesome would it be if Kodi’s real name was Steve? He’d probably tease him about it for a while. )

Finally, though, the other guy seemed to key down a little bit, and Benny was clearly relieved by that fact. His shoulders had been quite tense, up until that point. When the other guy relented, Benny even let out a little sigh. He nodded, gently, at his question – he had, indeed, offered. He was glad that the guy was apparently not psycho, just upset.

He could see how Kodi might bring that out in other people.

“Hey, so long as it’s not math, I might be able to. I suck at math.” He replied, easily, pushing his door back open again. “C’mon in. I’m Benny.” He offered, the fact that he was using his nickname an almost immediate indicator that he’d relaxed just a bit. It wasn’t as though he had a huge amount of space, but he was comfortable in here – even though the thermostat was set to about 85, and might be considered ‘stupidly hot’ to the other guy.

“So what do you need help with?” He asked, as he turned to face the guy – or the door, if the guy hadn’t come in, yet.

[Deleted]

Kodi had, unfortunately, done nothing but exist with his stupid name and his attitude what was a little bit too strong for Oriel to push down. He was, if it could even be considered this, a rival, and Oriel had no obligation to treat the guy other than like the twisted fuck he was, with disrespect and scorn(hence the re-naming of "Steve"....and he expected no less from the other guy towards himself.

Oriel's stomach did a little flip in celebration, seeing how the kid lowered his defenses as soon as he perceived Oriel to no longer be a threat. How cute. Oriel's smile couldn't quite be called friendly and bubbly like some of the students at this school, but it might been seen as calm and charming. Ok, maybe charming was pushing it. Calculated maybe.

But it was enough to gain entry into this kid's personal space, a feat that was probably only possible through force by "Steve". The freak was a rampaging lunatic. There were far easier ways to get a good meal.

"I'm Oriel," he offered his name in return, mentally gagging at giving that information out for free. The Evil Overlord, he said silently, making him feel all the much better and twisting his face into a fox-like smirk. "Just some chemistry questions, Psycho over there is my lab partner."

As he entered the room, Oriel noted the temperature was vastly warmer than the common room. "Wow, it's kind of like a sauna in here." He liked it. "That have something to do with your power?" Oriel turned and glanced at Benny once all the way in, his eye barely narrowing at the distaste of doing the whole "So what's you're power?" exchange. He still hated that.

[Benton Barrett]

Oriel? Well that was an interesting name. There were a few obvious 'Ariel' jokes that he avoided saying out of sheer 'let's not piss him off too'-ness. He'd seen what happened when he got all upset, and so he didn't want to push anything. The guy had probably heard them all anyways, so he wasn't going to go there. He wasn't the kind of guy to be boring with the same old jokes!

"Chemistry? Okay, I can see why getting partnered up with Kodi might be a bit weird." What chemistry did Kodi have, really? Nibbling slightly on his lower lip, he paused, as the older boy commented on the temperature. Inwardly, he whined - yes, it was hotter in here than out there, but he didn't feel it as such. He felt comfortable, which was more than he usually did. He nodded, quickly.

"Yeah - sorry." He went over to the window, and undid the latch so he could lift it, letting the cool fall air race in. It made him shiver as the first gust of cool air ran over his arms. "I'm hotter than most people, and when I start getting cold, my power goes a little wonky." So, sauna-room. But whatever, he didn't mind cooling it off if he was going to have a guest. 

He even went so far as to hit the buttons necessary to lower the temperature in his room. It wouldn't be immediate, but between the AC and the window, it wouldn't take too long to be more 'normal people' temperatures. 

"So... chemistry. I only know the basics - this is my first year doing anything remotely chemistry related. But! I'm pretty good at the whole 'hunting down answers' thing - so what's the first question?" Yep, he just jumped straight on to business, because it was totally safer going down that road than any other.

[Deleted]

Oriel had definitely heard them all and if he had to pick he pick….Oriel. Strange as it sounded, he liked his name and didn't often appreciate nicknames, especially not those that would mistake him for a girl or a cookie. Oriel's little act would definitely have slipped a moment in the face of being teased by this tiny little guy.

The little lion rolled his eyes, wondering just how stupid this kid could get. "Weird is putting it kindly," was all he said. But Oriel had already figured that between the two of them, one who could read and one who could brain, they might actually have a chance at passing this stupid class. Hence the visit. But that certainly didn't mean that Oriel was going to play nice, no, he'd tie the psycho up and force him into submission if it came down to it(not going to be an easy feat, Oriel predicted).

"Nah, it's cool. I like it warm." In his bed. But he had to hold back a growl at Benny's vague description towards Oriel's probing. Having been thwarted by his victims in the past from knowing about their powers, Oriel had become just a little bit more wary in that area. "How'zat work?" he probed even further, hoping to get a more concrete answer. "Is just interesting, is all. I like knowing that kind of shit." Oriel tried to brush it off with a shrug and convincing words that still made him gag. He was going to have to be an extra dick to someone later just to get the taste out of his mouth. Maybe Lux would oblige?

"Fuck, you don't have to do all that on my account," he rolled his eyes at how accommodating Benny was trying to be just as he flopped onto the edge of the bed. Man, he could fall asleep in here easy. "I ain't gonna melt."

Oriel paused a moment, giving Benny something of a pouting-scowl, before he snorted and opened up the notebook. "It ain't much, really. I just can't read that dick-waffle's crappy handwriting." Because Oriel certainly wasn't the one who copied down the data. "Aside from that…alright, fuck, I ain't good at the whole hunting down answers bit either, so if you just start from the beginning…" Oriel pointed at the first question, which happened to have a section number listed next to it on where the answer could be found in the notebook. Of course, Oriel, being completely illiterate, wouldn't have caught that.

Fuck, something needed to happen before Oriel got too bored. At least the kid was nice to look at. Oriel mentally licked his lips.

[Benton Barrett]

He tried - and failed - not to snicker. Oriel making fun of Kodi? Instant friends. Or at least, something along those lines - he was at least friendly, which made things work out a lot better than a lot of people. The fact that Oriel said he liked it warm - well, no one liked it that warm. Well, except him, of course. Still, if the other guy was okay - he turned it to 75, so it wasn't going to be too nippy for him, and it'd still be pretty warm.

As to the question, Benny kind of bit his lip, and glanced at the other guy.

"Oh. Uh... Well, it's..." Uncomfortable? No, he just hated saying out loud that he was different. "I'm extra hot, because my body absorbs heat. Like... maliciously. It's not so bad if I'm comfortable, but if I'm cold, I just start taking the heat out of the air. If I touch people, I take heat out of them. It doesn't always happen - it's kind of panic related---" Something he learned thanks to Kodi. "But it's just bad when I'm cold." He shrugged.

He wouldn't be cold for a while, so he wasn't worried about it. He could be accommodating for a bit, until Oriel left, then he could crank the heat back up. Oriel said he wasn't going to melt, and Benny just smiled back at him. "No, but thinking sucks when you're hot." At least, it always was before he stopped getting uncomfortably hot. So hey, advantage!

Dick-waffle? 

Okay, boarding school had some really weird slang. 

He accepted the notes, looking down at them. The handwriting wasn't exceptionally terrible... but hey, some people had a harder time with hand-written notes. He rubbed his chin, looking at the notes. "Oh, hey, it's not that bad. Looks like it's open-notebook." He flipped the book open, jumping with a few extra page-turns to the right location. The question was simple, and the answer was in the couple of paragraphs of information there. 

"I can point you to the right locations, and you can write down the answers as you find them." Again, friendly smile. Seemed like a good sort of partnership to the younger of the two.

[Deleted]

Oriel was friendly all right. And Benny-ben was going to see just how friendly he can be, mwa ha ha ha ha ha!!

But wow. What an interesting power. Oriel was going to have to be careful with this kid, at least pay attention to how much physical contact they had….because there was going to be physical contact if Oriel had anything to say about it.

Of course, as usual, Oriel did and said nothing to indicate what his own power was.

"Meh, had to do it before." NYC summers were sticky and hot, while the winters were freezing cold. Oriel liked to think he had developed a certain amount of endurance against the elements.

Oriel scooted in, not enough to be noticeable, but definitely closer to Benny. Oriel crossed one leg over the other and rested his head in his palm, his fingers playing idly with his dark mane of hair. "I see…" At least Oriel was getting some homework help out of this. "Here, let me mark it real quick." Leaning forward deliberately, Oriel reached over in front of Benny tracing his finger along the edge of the paragraph he indicated to gently smear the ink. Turning his head up slightly to meet Benny's eyes with his own, Oriel spread his lips into a thin, sultry smile, batting lashes in single blink. "You're really good at this. Think you can go two for two?"

All in all, Benny wasn't completely unattractive to Oriel. A little young, but Oriel had a good sense of these things, the kid was going to get bigger. And that made him interesting enough even if he wasn't just something to play with while he waited for Kodi to return. Of course now, Oriel had finally initiated the game he wanted to play. He laughed silently. So what are you going to do now, my little Bunny?

[Benton Barrett]

It was surprisingly easy. It was almost like being back home, when he and his friend Casey did the same sort of thing - though Casey was typically far more interested in the games than the work, but that never bothered him. "Live where it's hot?" He asked, curiously - he would have had to, to be functional when it was hot. Benny had met a lot of people that simply became sleepy robots when it was exceptionally warm. 

With the indication made, Oriel seemed to be perfectly okay with the arrangement. He'd been about to hand over the book so that Oriel could read, when instead, Oriel reached a hand in front of him, tracing his finger along the edge of the book in his lap. When his finger came away, the ink looked a little different - like it had bled a little into the page. 

He looked surprised, glancing over to Oriel, who was smiling at him - a very subtle smile. 

"Thanks... yeah... I'll - I mean, I'm glad to help." He said, not entirely sure why he was stumbling over his words. Because there was no reason he would be, right? Right. Benny paused. "Uh, okay, yeah. Definitely." He let out a breath, glancing down at the sheet - away from eyes that were surprisingly dark. Not the dark of makeup, but a natural one.

His eyes went over the second question twice before it snagged in his brain. He grabbed the page number, and again, began to flip through book pages.

"So - you can mess with books? Or is it any kind of ink on any kind of paper?" He asked, softly, clearly not minding that Oriel seemed to have leaned a bit closer to him. It was just innocent study help, and some people just were't great at it. He was no genius by any stretch, but when he didn't know stuff, it was just a matter of studying - which he was actually not terrible at. 

"Or am I just shooting in the dark and completely off base?" He asked, as he found the right paragraph for the next question's answer, and indicated it with a finger, for Oriel to mark again.

[Deleted]

"New York," Oriel replied with a shrug. "Ain't all that hot, really, but gets mucky in the summer." Which he didn't mind in the least because it made it easier to sleep outside. Oriel rarely ever slept in the rooms his fosters provided.

The great thing about this encounter was that Oriel was actually getting a bit of help with his homework, which Oriel wasn't above swindling out of this kid in the least. So long as he paid back his little Bunny…somehow. And he would.

Oriel continued to smile at Bunny(his new toy's new nickname), with all the grace of a kitty about to enjoy a delightful meal.

"So - you can mess with books? Or is it any kind of ink on any kind of paper?"

The teasing boy glanced away slightly, though keeping himself no farther yet no closer than before, whilst putting on a mask of mock embarrassment. "It's kind of hard to explain," he said quietly, his voice hiding a subtle laugh as he marked the next paragraph, stealing the ink to smudge it into a faded number 2. "But that's the basic gist of it, ink on paper."

He turned back, his grin just a slight big wider. "You know…" Oriel leaned in just a little bit more. Anyone else this close would have started leaning back by now, taken aback by Oriel white hot gaze. "Has anyone told you you have really nice eyes? They're actually quite," he flit his eyes off to the side for a moment, as if to ponder the correct adjective, "exquisite."

[Benton Barrett]

He watched in fascination as the other boy again, as casually as wiping an errant eyelash from the page, changed the ink's configuration again, manipulating it into a simple number 2. A really effective marking strategy, actually! Especially since he could put the ink back in place, and it wouldn't damage the book in the least. Benny was clearly impressed. 

"That's... actually really cool." He said, being completely sincere. He was turning his attention back to the next paragraph, hunting for where the next bit of information would be, when Oriel started to speak again.

The younger boy looked up at him - and he realized how close Oriel really was. Had he come even closer? Of course he had, that's how things got closer. His brain was clearly spazzing out just a little bit - though thankfully he was able to recognize that. His eyes were caught in a gaze that could only be described as smoldering - heat that had nothing to do with temperature caught him. He looked a little taken aback, and completely uncertain. 

"I..." Okay, so, no, no one had ever told him he had exquisite eyes. They were a dark gray affair, and frankly, he'd always thought they were kind of boring. He'd seen some amazing blue and green eyes before, but never exquisite gray ones. Benton's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed a little uncomfortably, shaking his head.

"Uh... no..." He spoke with clear hesitation in his voice. The homework was temporarily forgotten - he felt like he was caught in some kind of intangible haze. He bit his lower lip, face warming just a little - a slight reddening to his otherwise tanned features. There was something about this that was all-too familiar about this situation. It wasn't quite as terrifying as with Kodi - but there was a reason he wasn't sleeping in his room any more.

"I... uh... found the - um..." Damn. "The third paragraph." He said, flipping the pages again, forcing his gaze away from the brilliantly hot focus that he was being subjected to. Hopefully Oriel wouldn't notice the slight tremble in his hand as he shuffled the pages. 

[Deleted]

It was Oriel's favorite trick with his power, manipulating the ink in books. However usually he just slid his finger across the page to muss up the lettering so that it became illegible. After all, if he can't read it, why should anyone else be able to?

He'd never once thought about how to put it back. Especially not since the side effects of reversing his manipulation were more severe than actually doing it.

"Thank you," Oriel replied to the compliment with a grin that might have been a little too kind to anyone who actually knew the mischievous boy. But while he looked relaxed, his mind was working, calculating, his eyes taking in the subtle changes in behavior that his little Bunny was exhibiting. He was nervous, flustered, a bit jittery as he stumbled over his words. However, it was true enough, Oriel thought as he peered into Bunny's eyes, close enough to see his own cat-like reflection. They were actually very nice.

Despite Bunny trying to return the focus back to the notebook, Oriel refused to waver from his stare-down, noticeably leaning in closer now so that even Oriel's unsuspecting prey would be made aware. In fact, Oriel had already rested his hand on the bed on the opposite side of Benny's lap with one of his legs propped up beneath him, as if he were going to clamber over the other boy. "I have an idea," he said, his Cheshire cat smile starting to break through, "Why don't we just forget about the note book and just...have some fun." Oriel flirtatiously raised an eyebrow with obvious intent.