Man After Midnight (Open.)

[Odion Martins]

One could refuse love as much as they wanted to refuse breathing. It wasn’t something you could force or will, it just happened. Yes there were many forces at work to make it happen, or not, but the choice didn’t belong to the chosen. Odion had never gone looking for love but had managed to find it in the places he was least expecting. When he had met Lani, the blond had been dating someone else, and he had still been pining over Rhett. They weren’t exactly getting together because they knew that at some point they would fall in love. Not even Odion with all of his time skills could have seen this coming, because had he not made the choice to go outside in the snow that fateful day, none of what he was experiencing now would have happened. He didn’t bother questioning why, he only wanted to fight for what he once had.

Odion watched the table as the various lights from the bar made interesting patterns through his empty glass. His dark eyes flicked back to Lani, and he smirked. “We choose what we believe in.” Either you saw something there, or you didn’t. Or if you did see something there, you could choose to ignore it. Proof could only exist if you were looking for it, or looking to disprove it. Information was just – it didn’t have opinion. It was humanity which inflicted itself onto the universe that causes opinion and moral. Odion bit on his bottom lip as his mind went through these thoughts, jumping from one to the next so quickly he was surprised by how he could still function at all in this state of mind. It was also easier to understand why he so often phased out of reality, and became stuck in his own time loops.

“It is so!” Odion insisted, gesturing towards the table as though the proof were right there. “I saw it in a movie once.” He crossed his arms in front of him and closed his eyes, trying to remember where he had heard the saying from. Odi snapped his fingers and his eyes flew open. “Boondock Saints!” And, befittingly, the character who had uttered the phrase was a barkeeper, and also a lunatic. Odion smirked at the irony of what was going on in his mind. Odi scoffed and shook his head. “Pfft, you can’t knight yourself! Then everyone would do it.” And that would totally defeat the purpose of doing it at all. “If anything I’m the red knight, and he was defeated,” Odion said, going off on a tangent about Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Odion shook his head, glancing back at Lani, amused. They shouldn’t have started talking about knights at all!

Odion nodded in agreement. “Time is a tricky mistress.” ‘Here’ was too oblique to define and Odion wasn’t about to try his hand at it, despite how time was often in the palm of his hand. It just went to show that some things were beyond human capacity and could never be entrusted to humans. Only demigods should be allowed such power, but it wasn’t like a human could use it properly anyways – it would take a thousand lifetimes to learn how to use and wield properly.

As much as he was enjoying Lani’s company, something felt terribly wrong. The longer he looked at the stars, the more his mind tried to distance itself from what was truly happening. It was like he was sinking and there was no way to stop. There was a void that he had never known before and wished would go away, but he didn’t know how to be whole anymore. He had experienced similar feelings, and those had been easily tuned out with drugs and alcohol, and even from the help of his power. But he wanted to be here, he wanted to make things right, and that wasn’t going to come for free and it would never be a quick fix. Odion fidgeted with a string on his collar bone and tried to let his mind think of random things once more.

Lani came into view and blocked the stars, and for a moment the fog lifted. Odion couldn’t help but smile back, thankful and curious for the new and preferred view. He extended one hand to Lani if only for the sake of touch, and pushed himself off the ground with his other hand. Odion gave Lani’s hand a squeeze, “Nothing too crazy,” he reminded Lani in a soft voice. Odion’s head rushed as his body adjusted to the new position, and he held Lani a moment longer before stepping back onto the curb. “It can’t be to my place though,” Odion said, suddenly remembering this important detail. “Because, I don’t have a place.” The ginger gave a happy shrug and started laughing to himself, stumbling towards a building near the sidewalk so he wouldn’t fall down completely. It was easier to be amused than afraid. Also, it was better to make a joke out of something he would otherwise take seriously, like why he would even think Lani would want to go to Odion’s place to being with.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani was learning one hard step at a time that love didn’t give a damn what he wanted. Or rather, it knew what he wanted deeper than he even wanted to acknowledge. Looking at the points in the timeline that had lead them together would make someone scratch their head. How had they gone from near enemies to wary friend and then finally to lovers? The transition of events could really only be understood by those who had the whole picture. Falling for Odion had been something Lani’d fought against as soon as the thought crossed his mind, then that wall had been broken on a bathroom floor and Lani realized he didn’t care about what other people thought so long as Odion looked at him favorably. Lani had never been sure of much but he had been sure the first time he’d said the ‘L’ word to Odion.

That was the best part of science and information, it was true whether or not someone believed it. “How then do we know we don’t err?” He asked in response, his question almost hesitant. He had never felt so off with someone. He could only compare what he was feeling with what he knew and he had never felt like this before. Odion was so close and yet Lani felt so alone. Drunk or not being this close to Odion and yet remaining distant was requiring a great deal of effort. It would be so easy, so natural to just give in to his desires. He didn’t know what to believe. He wanted to believe that Odion was here and that they could be something again. He wanted things to be alright again. Nothing felt right without Odion, and if the redhead’s presence had told Lani anything it was that he could only mask what felt wrong.

“Oh?” Lani asked curiously, that phrase it seemed got messed up in a lot of movies and he gave a lopsided grin setting his elbow on the table and rested his head on his hand as he waited for Odion to remember. Lani frowned as he tried to recall the scene from that movie and shrugged accepting what Odion said as fact and raised his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay, you win. But, that’s not the way it’s supposed to go, you know?” Lani shook his head, Odion was making more out of this knight thing than Lani’d initially thought. “What if I knight you? Can I do that? Is that allowed?” He was American, Bostonian in fact and well, there was the whole tea thing way back when. Lani blinked at Odion and shook his head, not understanding. “Okay, you got me. I have no idea what you’re talking about.” And Lani had boasted how much he knew about medieval literature.

Glancing at Odion sidelong as he spoke, Lani couldn’t help but feel a sting of guilt. It was something he hadn’t considered when he left Europe and it was something he hadn’t been willing to accept when Odion had told him. He was ashamed. He knew Odion’s power acted up, he’d seen it happen before, yet he’d balked at the suggestion. He shook his head free of the thoughts in favor of the more fun drunken ones. If he could just force happy thoughts, well he’d be a genius for off, second off he’d be worse off for it. Better protected, perhaps, but not hardly prepared for anything to happen. Lani’s eyes blurred as they moved about and it was easier to view the world in a spectrum then as it actually was. If he were really concerned his power could always give him a clue. But then again, his power was just as drunk as he was and he very nearly laughed out loud when he thought of the last time he’d tried to use his power’s drunk. He literally thought things were going to fall off of the shelves because the shelves were of course perpendicular to the ground.

“No worries,” Lani said with a sly grin. He reached after Odion when the redhead stepped away and Lani carefully picked his way back onto the curb as if he were stepping on uncertain ground. Lani raised a brow and looked curiously at Odion. His jaw dropped and he couldn’t believe Odion was laughing. “What? What do you mean? Where are you sleeping?” He demanded to know. He had no idea, he’d assumed that Odion had found someplace to stay, he’d even narrowed it down to near the school because he hadn’t gotten on the bus with Lani that one night. Unless, Odion lived in a different direction on a different bus, which was completely plausible too. While the chill of the air was giving Lani a little bit of his sobriety back he wasn’t sure it was enough for good decisions, nor coherent thoughts but he wasn’t stumbling as badly as Odion was. “You okay?” He asked concerned and wavering between going to Odion and helping him continue on to their destination or kidnapping the time turner because no matter what they were he couldn’t let Odion be homeless.

[Odion Martins]

Odion had thought he was in love once, and it wasn’t until he started to get to know Lani that he realized he had been wrong the first time around. Strong feelings were not the same as brave choices. It was easy to want someone, it was hard to care so deeply about someone that you would do anything for them. It was hard to think about because Odion knew that Lani was hurting far more than he was when it came to how long they had been apart. It hadn’t been intentional, but something had been broken and he wondered if they were strong enough to move past it. He wondered if they were stronger together than they were apart. And though the world seemed to want them together, fate also seemed to want them to work for what they once had.

Odion shrugged. “Depends on who you are.” He could have settled for the conventional, to err is human, but that didn’t seem to really get to the core of what they were discussing. He wasn’t really sure what they were discussing, it seemed mostly speculation. But nonetheless, you could only err if you had standards and goals. It didn’t matter what stage of their relationship they happened to be in, one thing was for certain – they both yearned for a deeper closeness, to know someone deeply and to be known deeply. It would be easy for Odion to let the alcohol get the better of him, and just go with whatever felt right. But Lani wasn’t a one night stand, so things weren’t going to happen like they did in Europe when Odion was acting like an automaton. Odion believed that they could be something better than who they were before, but that was yet to be determined – he had only just recently returned.

Again, Odion scoffed. “Pshaw, of course I know that. The actual saying is, ‘Why don’t you make like a tree and leaf’.” There, now the score was absolutely settled. Lani could remain basking in the glory that was Odion’s brilliance. Apparently turning twenty was quite the ego boost for the young Irishman. “But saying that wouldn’t have made you laugh as much as you did,” he commented triumphantly. Odion enjoyed making Lani laugh. Every time it happened it was like his heart thawed a little bit more. “That’s fine,” Odion said, dismissing the whole knighting ritual, he was getting bored of it, “just admit that I know more about knights than you do and we’ll be on our way.” He smiled at Lani, just waiting for a cocky retort from the blond.

Odion had been warned about his power a few years ago when he started meta school back in Europe. There was no way to tell the extent of his control or what he would be able to do with his powers. There was no way to tell of the side effects until they were taking control. All he knew was that the more control he had, the more side effects could present themselves. Most powers were manifested through emotions, and though Odion had exceptional control, he had also been through exceptional circumstances. It wasn’t every day that an orphan boy met his birth parents unannounced thanks to his boyfriend and twin brother. Couple that kind of trauma with anger and betrayal and things were not going to be pleasant once the dust settled. Whatever monster he had turned into, he didn’t know that person. It was whatever had taken over so he could be on autopilot so he wouldn’t self-destruct. Lani really had no way of knowing all this, anymore than Odion did.

Odion hadn’t meant to let the cat out of the bag about his living quarters. He wiped a hand over his face, chastising himself for saying things he really should’ve kept private. Lani didn’t need more things to worry about! The more he spoke the more the night would be ruined! Odion pursed his lips together in a thin line to keep himself from laughing more, and he shrugged. “Right as rain,” he insisted. Really, he was only leaning on a cold hard building because it was comfortable. What if he told Lani where he really was staying? Odion shielded his eyes from the streetlamp and waited to feel a bit more balance before standing on his own. He put a hand on Lani’s shoulder, needing the stability. “Don’t worry about me, I hate it when you worry.” He smiled insistently with his eyebrows raised, letting his hand slip lazily back to his side. Honestly, he just wanted Lani to be happy, which was why he hadn’t gotten a place to stay – he wouldn’t stay if Lani didn’t want him. “So, where’s this place or whatever?” He asked, slurring his words only slightly.

[Lani Hunter]

It was hard to compare between Odion and Adrianna, because there was nothing to compare. He loved Adrianna, but he loved and cared for her like he loved and cared for Caroline. It felt like every time he claimed to himself that he didn’t love Odion that he was lying to himself. He had sincerely hoped that he could eventually get over the redhead, and for that he was foolish. Be it the fact that he had never fallen out of love, even when they were fighting tooth and nail. The breakup had been a shock to Lani’s system and Lani had suddenly started to doubt everything he knew, but he never doubted his own feelings. He merely dismissed them. If that was love, it was too painful to endure. He started telling himself things, assuming things to cushion the blow because it was easier to accept that there was an external force and that it wasn’t Lani’s fault. But it was, he knew it.

Lani’s eyes cast downward and he hummed absently along to the music as his mind sifted and processed the statement. They were back at the beginning, how do they know what they know. But Lani wanted to know how he knew anything when his heart and head were embattled so ferociously. Way back at the beginning Lani had wished he could be as sure as Odion was, but when he had been he’d gotten burned and his worst fears realized drove him into the ground. Lani’s mask slipped a little as his thoughts digressed from the topic and his drunk mind took over and threw up any random memory it found that could be triggered by something so small. It was going to be a long road, Lani realized. When he’d started on this path he knew it was laced with thorns but he didn’t realize quite how long it was. Odion here changed everything. His path was again blocked and only then had he realized how far he’d wandered and he couldn’t find his path anywhere.

Grinning, it was too easy to forget the hard topics and things were just happening as they went. “I was just makin’ sure,” he said with a dismissive shrug. He leaned against the bar and his laughter renewed and he had to give that one to the redhead. Lani couldn’t help but smile, it was like for once in his life it was stuck on his face and he couldn’t get it to go away. He remembered when he met Odion, he’d only thought about what a stiff ass he was. Only through spending more time with him did Lani actually realize that Odion had a sense of humor, and a very good one at that. Odion could be silly when he wanted, just like he could be serious. Lani’s smile didn’t fade but his heart gave a little lurch, Odion could be angry too. They could both be so angry it was terrifying. It was Lani’s turn to scoff. “So, you know one thing I don’t, that doesn’t mean you know more,” he quipped but Lani was dying of curiosity. He would have to look this up, because of course he would remember it when he was sober and still care as much as he did now.

At the beginning Lani had gone through a time where he wanted his memory of Odion to be erased to wanting to go back in time and fix it. The first was soon after and in desperation, the latter was after he was forced to accept the fact and he denied it with every fiber of his being. If he could go back, he thought, he would tell Odion, he would ask the redhead how meeting his parents would feel. But he couldn’t do that, because Odion was the only one with time control her knew, and as far as Lani had known he was lost to the telekinetic forever. He refused to keep longing for something he couldn’t have, but his mind had other ideas and thoughts of Odion were never really gone. “M’kay,” Lani said suspiciously as he watched Odion wobbled and waver against the building. Lani snorted and shook his head at Odion. “You also know I’m gonna do it anyways,” he replied matter-of-factly, “Where are you staying?” He demanded an answer. He crossed his arms and did his best to match Odion’s eyes with a stern look. Odion was not going to get away with a vague answer this time.

“You’ll see,” Lani said with a sly grin, “C’mon, this way.” He started to pace in one direction and turned back to Odion and flapped his arm at the time turner, unsure if he was beckoning or trying to grab hold of Odion. For some reason taking his eyes off Odion seemed like a bad idea. Lani wasn’t altogether sure that if he took his eyes off the redhead that he wouldn’t disappear, or get distracted. Therefore, Lani turned and walked backward his eyes on Odion. Because he was drunk and it was definitely a good idea to not pay attention to where he was going. Sooner rather than later, Lani tripped back over a brick and flailed to keep his balance in doing so he reached forward and his hand grabbed what it first came into contact with. Which was Odion. Because that was also a good idea and Odion would keep him from falling, right?

[Odion Martins]

Odion wasn’t one to concern himself with paths. There were so many possible paths that trying to pick just one would be impossible. The only path that was certain was the one behind him. Where others saw paths, Odion saw opportunities and choices. Once Caroline had gotten through to him, he had a choice – to stay in Europe and pretend like everything was okay, or come back to America and try his damndest to get Lani back into his life. And if in the end that could be an option, then he would go through missing another seven months of his life all over again, because Lani was priceless to him. A life without Lani was a world in black and white, and Odion desperately wanted colour in his life.

Odion laughed and shook his head. Lani wasn’t just making sure, he was trying to find something to pick at. Odion didn’t mind, so long as it was Lani doing the teasing. Seeing Lani smile all the more caused Odion to become a little shy all of a sudden. It was interesting remembering how to be with Lani, and all the feelings that went along with what that entailed. The redhead smiled to himself, thinking of how attractive Lani was through the fog of the night. Snapping out of his thoughts, Odion looked as smug as they come. “That’s one more than you,” Odion retorted, his eyebrows shooting up. Did Lani dare to continue challenging Odion when there was a clear winner? At least, for now. If Lani did come back to discuss it with him, Odion would be thrilled because that meant Lani would be talking to him again.

Taking another moment to regain his balance outside, Odion felt like a deer in the headlights. He really wasn’t okay, which was why he was drunk to begin with. His footing would return as the night worn on and the drink wore off, but his heart would be worse for wear. Odion nodded reluctantly, because Lani would do what Lani wanted to do, and worry was one of those things. But at least Odion was on that list rather than off of it. Odion put a hand to his head as though trying to remember, but he was trying to avoid the question so badly. “I may sort of be stayingattheuniversity...” he said, mumbling and jumbling the last few words. It was embarrassing to admit to, and he knew somewhere in the back of his mind that Lani was going to ask why. Another hand ran through his hair – he may as well get it over with. “I just wasn’t sure what was going to happen, so, I didn’t want to make any assumptions and I don’t think it’s a really big deal or worth worrying over really...” Now he was just rambling.

Odion didn’t hesitate for a moment in trusting Lani, and even if he didn’t trust Lani, he would have to oblige – the telekinetic could be very persistent. Following after Lani quickly, Odion was both wondering where they were going, and trying not to giggle for no reason. The latter was proving difficult, and he couldn’t wipe the smile off of his face. He just knew that this whole experience was amusing, and would be even more so once he was sober. Watching Lani falling only amused Odion further, and he was surprised at how quickly he offered his help. The adrenaline surpassed his stupor, and his hands quickly wrapped around Lani’s forearms and they were suddenly quite literally, face to face. His arms were warm in stark contrast to the cold night, and Odion only wanted to be closer. Odion blatantly ignored the close proximity as he tried standing for the both of them, feeling as though he should apologize for coming so close so quickly. “Um, we’re not gonna get there if you get hurt,” Odion chastised, setting Lani right and, finally, let go of him. Odion smirked, wondering if he was red in the face due to alcohol or being so close to Lani. “It’s probably not a good idea to walk backwards.”

[Lani Hunter]

Hearing Odion laughed brought back good memories and even thought it felt like he was walking on uneven ground he could imagine that he could make it through. Lani had changed because of Odion and no matter how he tried to revert there were things that he couldn’t go back to. “Only one,” Lani agreed with a nod and held up a finger, “Doesn’t mean more.” Maybe Lani was rising to the challenge far less prepared than Odion, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to rise. Some things still didn’t change, Lani still couldn’t back away from a challenge and he was more likely than not to make himself look like a fool for it, which should make the telekinetic learn his lesson but he probably wouldn’t.

Lani’s brows climbed toward his hairline in shock as Odion tried to do his best to slur the words and really as drunk as Lani was he almost missed it and had to ask Odion to repeat but he had heard the ‘university’ part. “The university?” He asked half to verify and half because he was shocked. He almost then blurted that Odion should have asked him to stay, but then abruptly he remembered their reunion. Not exactly the heartwarming experience and Lani knew in no way shape or form would he have let Odion into his apartment. Now, well, Lani was still nervous but he didn’t want Odion sleeping somewhere on the hard ground. He hesitated, the words hanging behind his teeth as he considered the consequences. He shook his head and opened his mouth to suggest just that but Odion was speaking again. “But Odion, it’s…” Lani trailed off as he realized what Odion was saying.

Worry mingled with guilt and Lani found himself clenching his fists as he looked at Odion. He was bouncing back and forth between offering Odion a place to stay and rejecting the idea because that would be inviting Odion into his space. A step he wasn’t quite sure he wanted to make. But Odion was drunk and Lani didn’t want him going back to the college and sleeping on the floor drunk, where someone might find him and kick him out. “Odion,” he finally said, after a several moments of thought he diverted from his intention and asked, “Why you don’t you stay with your friend?” His tone was a little harsher than he intended. He narrowed his eyes, the friend who seemed to know so much about Lani. He wanted to offer Odion a place to stay. He wanted to invite Odion in, but he didn’t want Odion in, not yet. Not like this, not while they were drunk. This was challenging enough, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to handle being so close to Odion for that long without either lashing out at him or having a mental break down on him. He chewed his lip, not even realizing how unintentionally cruel he was being with this back and forth desire to be with Odion and fear of being with Odion.

For now, Lani would let the subject drop, but he would file it away and as soon as he was sober he was going to start nagging the hell out of Odion about it. Anything else he was going to say was lost when he had to focus on not falling over. With Odion’s help he regained his balance and Lani’s eyes were locked on Odion’s as the blue eyes started to swallow up his whole world. Nose to nose, his heart rate skyrocketed and Lani’s breath caught. The temptation almost became too much to bear and Odion spoke breaking Lani out of his paralysis. “R-right. Sorry.” He smiled lightly and took a step back. He pointed himself in the right direction with his fingers then started walking. His face just as flamed as Odion’s, Lani watched his feet and stuck his hands in his pockets occasionally stealing a glance at Odion.

With a little wavering and weaving, Lani finally found what he was looking for. He ducked back into an alley glancing back and beckoning Odion to keep following. Now was the question, would this be difficult for two drunk people to do? He paced forward a few steps and stopped abruptly and motioned Odion for quiet. “Cover me,” he said in a whisper and crouched at the door so the knob was at eye level and started working on it with a few picks. After that embarrassing moment when Lani’d been cause without them, power or no power he carried around his lock picks everywhere he went. The door opened with a soft click and Lani opened it long enough for him and Odion to slip through before closing and locking it again. It was pitch black in the hall and Lani only knew where he was going from experience. Lani liked coming here because there were no cameras and no guards, because there was nothing to steal. Lani didn’t think anyone would mind if he came and used this space every now and again.

[Odion Martins]

Odion sighed, shaking his head. It was really quite a sad thing to witness Lani so drunk that he couldn’t even do simple math. “Okay Lani, whatever you say,” Odion said, clearly not convinced. In his mind, one more was more than whatever Lani had, so it didn’t matter, and it did mean more. There was just no point in arguing with someone who would keep arguing to the point where there wasn’t a point anymore. Besides, Odion was in too good of a mood to see the stubborn argument through.

Odion shrugged. He had done far more desperate things than live in a university before – didn’t Lani know that? He had lived in abandoned buildings with far less amenities, and though he didn’t like roughing it, that didn’t mean he didn’t know how. Besides, he wasn’t in the right frame of mind to be stealing enough in order to pay for some kind of apartment. The option he chose seemed well suited for what he needed, this was just all very hard to explain at the moment. There wasn’t anyone Odion could’ve asked to stay with, and he certainly wasn’t going to stay at Hammel. This was what life came to when you were a loner, but he certainly hadn’t chosen the option to get sympathy from anyone. He had had no intentions of telling anyone of his current living arrangement. “It’s fine, really,” Odion said with a happy nod. It was just too hard to settle on anything else when home was where the heart is.

“Well that would be awkward,” Odion said, realizing then that Lani was talking about Caroline. “Uh, well, because she lives at Hammel, so...” Fuck, he hadn’t meant to say ‘she’. He shook his head, trying to get the conversation to stop. He didn’t want to be an open book right now. Lani’s growing ferocity was making Odion nervous and he glanced down, feeling humiliated. He had never meant for any of this to happen, and thinking of Caroline just made him miss Lani’s family that much more. He missed Lani most of all though, and he didn’t like keeping secrets. He was missing all of Lani’s conflicting emotions. “I’ve been through worse...” He said softly. And he was about to realize just how bad it had gotten thanks to Jared coming after him, and after he sifted through his memories. If Jared hadn’t found him the last three months of his time amnesia, he would probably be dead.

Being so close to Lani was killing him, and if life was teasing him, Odion wasn’t finding it very funny. All amusement fell from the moment and he swallowed hard. You couldn’t be this close to someone you loved and not want to be closer still. They had been as close as two people could possibly be, and now everything was a mess. And it was his own mind’s fault. He wanted nothing more than to tackle Lani right then and there, but it would only make things worse. The moment of clarity vanished as the brew pumped through his veins, waiting for instructions from Lani. He wobbled next to the blond, occasionally bumping into him but otherwise trying to keep out of Lani’s personal bubble. At one point he caught Lani’s gaze and for a moment, everything was alright again.

The normal suspicion Odion would feel seemed to not be a problem as he followed Lani like a lost puppy through a dark alley. If he didn’t trust Lani, he wouldn’t be caught drunk with him in the first place. Well, that’s what he told himself anyways, when in reality Odion was quite a gullible drunk. Watching Lani crouch down, Odion nodded. “Oh, shhhh,” he said, turning around to make sure no one was watching. The key was to look nonchalant as possible. They were just hanging out in an alley doing who knew what, but they needn’t worry when no one was paying the thieves any attention. Odion followed after Lani and remained silent and with a smile. It was too dark to see, and it was a nice change from watching the world spinning. Darkness looked like darkness whether it was spinning or still. Fumbling around, Odion finally touched Lani’s back. Hopefully he wouldn’t mind, otherwise Odion was just going to sit right where he stood. “What is this place?” Odion asked in wonder, keeping his voice low. This was exciting!

[Lani Hunter]

Lani nodded despite the fact that Odion sounded skeptical, Lani was going to call this one was win. It was really only in his head that the telekinetic was ever winning it seemed. He could concern himself with the fact that he was fighting a losing war later, the point was for now he had won the battle. Or so he thought. Speaking of nagging Odion, he was going to add knights to the list. After all, Odion did come from England and Ireland, he probably knew more just by that pure fact. Lani was basing all he knew off of novels, he could probably school Odion up and down given the right book series, but when it came to real world examples and legends he was a dunce, and he was even too much of a dunce to realize he was one.

Lani knew, but he had hoped that that part of Odion’s life was over. Of course he was basing this off of what he knew from before they broke up. What happened to Odion over those past seven months was a mystery, and it seemed it was just as much of a mystery to the time turner as it was to the blonde. He would have to wait until Odion figured it out before he could know anything. Lani frowned at Odion and shook his head. “No, Odion, that’s not fine.” He refused to be swayed by Odion’s happy mask. His brow quirked and he willed his drunk mind to focus and to take in this information. Awkward? Lani narrowed his eyes and hummed a bit as he thought. So this friend who knew so much about Lani was a ‘she’ and lived at Hammel. The first two ‘she’s that Lani knew of who lived at Hammel were Caroline and Avinea. He hummed as he racked his brain and tried to think but he was coming up blank.

It was only proper to assume that Odion might still know some people at Hammel that Lani didn’t. After all, he knew Caroline would never do something like that to him, and he assumed that Avinea wouldn’t give away that information, simply because they didn’t talk all that frequently and after that day he picked up the kittens he hoped that she wouldn’t do something like that. He shook his head. No it couldn’t be Caroline or Avi. Lani’s goal wasn’t to humiliate the redhead, it was to get to the bottom of the situation and come up with a solution that didn’t involve Lani doing something stupid like inviting Odion to stay over, despite how much he wanted to. Lani’s brow came together and he put a hand on Odion’s shoulder. “I know,” he acknowledged, “But you don’t have to keep suffering.” Lani swallowed nervously, he felt like he was stepping on dangerous ground and he withdrew his hand.

The flight or fight instinct in Lani had always been high, with a preference for flight. In adverse conditions if he couldn’t run he would often fight for a way to run. They were walking like a pair of pinballs, struck and bouncing randomly off imaginary obstacles and colliding with each other. Lani couldn’t help but smile a little at their blundering. The wind rustled a few stranded pieces of paper and Lani shivered. It was nice that it was getting warm, it was much better to be out and about then stuck inside. Especially when the stars were out. He almost forgot where he was going as he walked his mind focused on Odion and leaving room for little else. Damn redhead was so distracting.

It was so natural to rely on Odion. The trust had been shattered, but yet Odion still trusted Lani in a dark alley and Lani still trusted Odion to watch his back. His telekinesis couldn’t be everywhere, well it could, but if he wanted control it couldn’t, also drunken telekinesis, well they had learned that lesson. Lani jumped a little when Odion touched him, mostly because he hadn’t been expecting it, not because it was unwelcome. Lani glanced back at Odion uselessly, as he was unable to see the redhead in the dark. “You’ll see,” he said again and knowing where Odion’s hand was now Lani twisted and took it. He let out his power to give him a little more awareness. It didn’t help much, to his power there were doorknobs on the floor and soon Lani just closed it down again and felt his way along with his hand until he came to another door. He smiled and opened this one as well and drew Odion inside. He moved straight, or in the best sense of straight, to the middle of the room. “Stay here,” he said giggling with excitement. He let go and moved away, barely able to keep himself from jumping into a million pieces with excitement. He loved this place, he hoped Odion liked it as well.

He fumbled around a bit before he found what he was looking for and then a little more until he was finally able to turn the knobs. A few lights came on, just enough to illuminate his face in a ghostly light, but not enough to give any more sense to the room. He’d stolen the password from a graduate student who worked here and as soon as he was in he pressed a few more buttons and the planetarium came to life. It was a small research based one at the bottom of a museum, but no less spectacular. And the Milky Way appeared in the room, spinning on the ceiling over Odion’s head. He grinned and looked up hoping it would give him enough light to see Odion’s face. Lani honestly had no idea what he was doing and had no idea how the technology actually worked. As he clicked through things suddenly the floor beneath them vanished in favor of a starscape as well. Even Lani was surprised and it felt suddenly very strange suspended in space.

[Odion Martins]

Odion was fairly sure there had been a few knights in his ancestry. That fact hadn’t been hard to figure out. When Declyn had arrived at Hammel and had ‘introduced’ himself, Odion had stolen a family crest from Declyn’s room. The coat of arms had had many familiar symbols, and Odion had spent a week researching in depth information about what it all meant. It was an old crest, and he was certain he had seen it on paintings of knights in museums in Europe. Noble would never be a word he would use to describe himself. A sudden memory of being with Lani in Europe, looking at just such a painting, caused Odion to flinch in the present, a pain stricken look on his face contrasted with the silly mood he had just been in. Even in Europe, he had dropped hints about being fascinated with knights and the like. Odion really did want to know more about himself, but he wanted the information on his own terms. Mixed in with being drunk at the moment, the memory wasn’t as clear as it could be, and Odion didn’t want to go exploring right now. It would have to wait for later.

“It is fine,” Odion repeated, “it’s not forever.” And because he wouldn’t be living at the university forever, he could deal with living there now. Besides, it would become a great story later on. Odion was full of great stories from his crazy young life – Lani didn’t even know the half of it. He didn’t know about running around naked in Venice. He didn’t know about how Odion had been forced to kill someone and never spoke of it, an action which almost caused him to become heartless machinery. And neither he nor Odion knew about what his life had been like three months ago before Jared had found the redhead stranded and out of his mind. Odi stiffened at Lani’s touch, trying to hide like a wounded animal already under attack. “I’m not suffering, I have everything I need.” He didn’t have everything he wanted, but he was working on that.

It was strange to have segmented trust. Perhaps they didn’t trust one another with their hearts, even though in Odion’s opinion, Lani still had his heart. But, they could still trust each other with various thieving tasks. It was in this area of life that the trust had never been broken, so perhaps it was still okay to rely on one another for this sort of thing. Anything heart related seemed strictly off limits for the time being. Odi hadn’t meant to startle Lani, but he refused to fumble around in the dark more than he currently was. Odion knew his drunk self well enough that he could hurt himself in the dark, even in a place he knew well. “Alright,” Odion agreed. He was comforted by Lani, even more so when he held his hand. Odion was just mostly grateful that there weren’t a million little things all over the floor for him to trip on. It wasn’t a surprise that he liked to keep his living quarters clean, so that when he did stumble home on an early morning, he wouldn’t hurt himself. There were perks to being a neat freak beyond what most people thought it entailed. Moving into another room, Odion knew he wouldn’t be able to leave this place on his own. Standing absolutely still, Odion obeyed. There was nothing shiny to distract him from moving here in the middle of the dark. He giggled in response to Lani’s giggles, and felt himself sway in the dark. Hopefully whatever Lani was doing wouldn’t take too long.

Able to hear what Lani was doing, Odi tried to face himself in that general direction, and waited. The comfort of Lani being close disappeared and Odion wanted him back. A little light came on and Odion squinted, trying to see what was happening. But there was no use, everything was blurry. Sighing, Odion resigned himself to sitting on the ground, which was far easier than trying to stand. As soon as he was down, little lights appeared all over the room and at first Odion thought he was losing his mind again. It wasn’t until his head lulled up that he realized the stars were inside. Odion had never seen a planetarium in his life, and his mind wasn’t able to make the connection to how that was what he was seeing now. Odion leaned back into his hands, almost relaxed, until the floor started changing. He sat up straight, wondering what he had done to break the floor. “Oh my god...” He said a little loudly, everything around him was turning into space. “Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod! What’s happening?!” Admittedly he was both excited and afraid, but he didn’t dare move. He didn’t want to break it again.

[Lani Hunter]

If Lani was smart he wouldn’t challenge Odion about medieval knighthood, but Lani wasn’t exactly smart all the time. Lani did a double take at Odion, shocked by the sudden flash of pain on his face. The abrupt change threw Lani for a loop and he was dying to know what was going on in Odion’s head. Lani’s brow creased, “Are you okay?” He asked a little nervous. He couldn’t only imagine that Odion was either lost in thought about something or that he’d stubbed his toe. The latter of which seemed unlikely and Lani despite all Odion’s efforts worried. One would be hard pressed to find something that didn’t worry the blond. Usually he worried about others and it was fine because it gave him a way to ignore his own problems. But with Odion, they became his problems. He never really understood why, maybe it was because if the redhead wasn’t happy then the blonde wasn’t happy.

Lani sighed and shook his head, clearly unhappy with the answer but realizing that in his current state he could do nothing to change the redhead’s mind. Well, nothing that he wouldn’t regret later. Letting his hand drop Lani frowned and turned away. He was not getting through to Odion right now. He’d have to retreat and regroup and figure out a solution. Lani repeated the sigh at Odion and ran his hand through his hair. Why was this so difficult? Admittedly, Lani was the one making it difficult, but he was also going from convincing himself that he didn’t need love in his life to feeling like someone was dragging him underwater and he was refusing any help. He felt he breath catch and very slowly reached up and touched his neck taking a deep breath. He needed to stop comparing things to water and drowning. It wasn’t helping. And having a panic attack right now wouldn’t do anyone any good and only serve to embarrass him, probably scare Odion and ruin their strangely pleasant night.

The status quo was stuck and waving back and forth but so far it hadn’t been broken, merely modified. Lani couldn’t think straight when Odion was around, if he wanted to figure this out he was going to have to do some thinking. He was thinking off the process, he was going to have to figure out if he could handle being so exposed again, Odion was right, they had been as close as two people could be and the trust had been broken and being apart was agony, but the idea of getting so close was equally painful. Lacing his fingers with Odion Lani didn’t want to let go, but he did wonder about the slight changes in Odion’s hands. But at the same time their hands fit together like two pieces of a puzzle and it made Lani smile into the darkness. He was excited to show this to Odion, he didn’t even stop to wonder if it would freak Odion out or not. Rumor had it that this planetarium had been built by a technopath and was more advanced, but whoever had built it was long gone and some of its secrets were lost with its maker.

When Lani looked up and searched for Odion he gave a startled expression because where he’d left Odion was not where he was. He wasn’t expecting Odion to have sat and only when Odion spoke was Lani able to make out his shape on the ground among the stars. Lani’s smile grew and he laughed a little. “I did not know it did that,” Lani admitted as he looked at the floor under his feet. He’d never been in here when it was fully lit and therefore hadn’t been able to determine if it was projection, or computer screens all set up. Either way it was beautiful and Lani watched his feet. Perhaps this fit into the ‘too crazy’ category. He leaned on the module in the corner and buttons were pushed as he did so and soon they were moving. Lani jumped back and moved away from the monitor. They were no longer moving at warp speed but instead it seemed like there was a subtle tilt and circulation to the room. Lani’s mind was playing tricks and he found himself taking careful steps on the ground, doubting its existence. Finally he was forced to get to his hands and knees and crawled to where Odion was. Walking was not going to happen. “It’s a planetarium. It’s stars and stuff.” He said, and sat so he was next to but facing Odion. He laughed lightly, “Relax, relax, every things fine.” He reached out his hand and ended up patting Odion on the leg trying to reassure him.

Lani smiled and looked about letting the strange spinning motion match with his own spinning and it was really easy in the blackness to imagine that they were suspended in space. Flying in space. Lani blinked. Oh shit. Flying. He looked to Odion, barely able to make out his face, really only able to tell where he was based on his silhouette. Maybe this was a bad idea. What if Odion was afraid? Oh no. Lani’s heart jumped into his throat, what if he was scaring Odion? Admiring the stars was something they’d done together and seeing Odion stare at the sky tonight had brought this to mind, he moved back over to the monitor again feeling his way along until he found it. “I can change it,” he said, he wondered what he could make the floor do. He started haphazardly touching things again.

[Odion Martins]

“I’m okay,” Odion said with a small nod, “just... remembering.” And Lani knew how well that was going, so Odion didn’t feel like he needed to explain things further. He didn’t expect Lani to know exactly what he was thinking, but hopefully the reassurance would be enough to allow Lani to let the subject drop. Odion was having a difficult time remembering all that had happened, and it wasn’t just things after the fight, but the entire summer was lost to him as well. It was just another reason why he had to live through everything he had missed. Yes it would be painful, but it would also bring him back a lot of joy he hadn’t experienced. And to think this had all started out as a silly happening... He wouldn’t be knighting anyone for some time to come.

Another reason that prevented Odion from really telling Lani what was going on was that Odi didn’t really trust himself at the moment. He was being too vulnerable about someone he loved who potentially didn’t love him back. This wasn’t Lani’s fault, but if Lani was ready to move on, then Odion didn’t want to wear his heart on his sleeve if he could help it. There was no point in repeating the last few months if there was nothing to be gained from doing so. Right now they were drunk, and Odion was in no mood to discuss matters Lani deemed as serious, and he himself deemed as not a big deal in the long run. Odion watched Lani turn his back on him, and wondered if their night was over, assuming that Lani was ready to run. Odi glanced away for a moment, wondering what would happen to them in the long run, but the thought lasted only a millisecond. When he did look back at Lani’s turned figure, Odion realized that his... Lani, was probably just as scared as he was.

The truth was that Odion knew they would have to start small again if they were going to restart. He didn’t want to forget or be ignorant to everything that had happened between them, but he also knew they needed something new. And one other thing – he had to know what had happened between them. He had to know because, like he had shared earlier, he had to know why it had happened, and how. He had to know so he could apologize properly, and remove that shard of glass they both pressed into the closer they pressed into each other. If the past couldn’t be amended for, there would be no future, no matter how amazing their moments felt now. This wasn’t a small thing to apologize for, and just like it took a long time to build their relationship, this too would take time. But time was something Odion had, and for Lani, he would wait, as long as there was something worth waiting for. Odion’s hand gripped Lani’s loosely, comfortably, like he hadn’t a care in the world.

This wasn’t as crazy as Odion had thought it would be. It was exciting, and that was as far as Odion wanted to go tonight. Crazy was what he had been in Europe – he wasn’t interested in doing those things tonight. Crazy also meant letting their guards down too far when Odion still had strong feelings for Lani and wasn’t sure if the telekinetic felt the same. Everything began moving again and Odion didn’t find himself dizzy. He wasn’t sure why, but it just felt right. Perhaps that was due to the fact that he had always pictured space feeling like this. His next thought was something along the lines of actually being in space, and then being drunk. Now that would be too crazy. Odion hadn’t noticed Lani moving towards him until he was nearly right beside him, already on the ground. Odion grinned at Lani. “It’s magical.” And he wasn’t even being sarcastic. “And petrifying.”

This wasn’t anything like flying. He was simply suspended in a what would be space zone. He wasn’t in a huge metal contraption in the middle of the air where there was nothing he could do about the fall. He was already sitting on the ground. As Lani tried to remedy the situation, the floor began to return to normal, but quickly opened up again. Odion gulped hard, having a hard time choosing to be elated or terrified. “It’s fine it’s fine, just... don’t touch anything.” Odion said, his hands hovering over the moving floor, reminding himself that this wasn’t real. If Lani just stuck to one thing or the other, then Odion would eventually get used to it, or be too preoccupied with something else to even notice it was there anymore.

How long had they been here, or rather, how long had it been since they left the bar? Odion thought this and guessed about an hour, though his time management wasn’t exactly top of the line. He sighed, hesitating to put his hands back on the ground, but eventually he did. He just wanted to be comfortable while he sat. It didn’t really feel like the alcohol was wearing off, so Odion wasn’t going to complain. Intrigued by what was going on underneath him, he stared over his legs and watched as astral things moved about. In was awesome in the true sense of the word. “Why didn’t I know this was here?” He asked, more to himself than anyone else. He had no idea there had been a planetarium in Pilot Ridge.

[Lani Hunter]

Initially Lani thought Odion would just leave him with no explanation but then the redhead elaborated and Lani just watched him for a moment the flicker of something mixed in his eyes. Odion was good at reading Lani and his eyes, but Lani honestly wasn’t even sure how he felt. Sympathy, fear, his own pain at the thought that Odion might be remembering something painful and his mind called up a million painful memories. As much as Lani wanted to know more he also was shying away from the idea of knowing what Odion was remembering. So he let it drop and just let himself wonder. He was worried more about Odion than the redhead knew. He’d been worried about Odion exploring his power, partially selfishly because he was afraid it would lead Odion to leave again. And now that he knew Odion was staying at the school the part of his brain occupied with worry increased.

Serious discussions would have to wait, that was something they agreed on. Emotions were too tense and drunken minds were too easily trust one way or another and if one or both got stuck on anger and fear it could end very badly. Lani knew this from experience, he hadn’t had his first bar fight until after Odion disappeared and he’d gotten drunk angry and it had only amplified and when someone merely suggested he take it easy he’d started a fight. Lani was still horrified by the violence he’d allowed to let out at Odion when he’d first showed up. There were things that Lani was capable of that Lani wasn’t even aware of it and scared him beyond reason. It was like he couldn’t trust his hands anymore than he could trust his power.

Lani smiled in return and nodded. He didn’t answer but instead looked up at the ceiling at the endless vastness of space. He had sometimes wondered if it was flying that Odion was afraid of, or planes. Lani had been tempted while they were flying to tell Odion if anything happened Lani could stop it, but in all honestly Lani didn’t think he could telekinetically lift an entire plane if it was going down and gravity had it wrapped in its claws. So he hadn’t, because he was sure even if he could, he probably wouldn’t survive the action. With verification from Odion Lani rolled back and went to the controls. Lani chuckled a little bit and rose his hands and stepped away from the controls as if someone were pointing a gun at him. “Okay, okay,” he let the floor return back to nothingness and settled himself back on the floor and scooted his way toward Odion, feeling the ground with his hands before he trusted it with the rest of his weight.

Leaning back on his hands he tipped his head back and marveled at the fact that he couldn’t tell up from down as he looked about. Up could very well be down and down could very well be up. He could still see the little lights on the consol and he could determine that that was a stationary point, but otherwise he had no sense of where the door they came in was nor if that door still existed. Lani finally decided he didn’t care and laid back and looked up into the star speckled blackness. “Fireflies,” he muttered to himself with a giggle remembering the brilliant assessment of stars by the Lion King. It did look like fireflies right now, because they were moving in circles and occasionally twinkling in and out of existence. Fascinating. There were so many stars in this space that it was impossible to find one constellation among the trillions of little dots.

Lani didn’t raise his head at the question and shrugged. “Probably the same reason I didn’t. I think it’s technically University of Vermont’s. It’s not something they make public outside the Physics department, and even then I don’t think it’s super well know.” He now raised his head and looked toward Odion, propping himself up on his elbows. “I only just found it a month or so ago, and completely on accident.” He laughed a little at the memory. Sometimes thieves made mistakes and sometimes those mistakes led to hiding, and sometimes that closet he thought he was hiding in wasn’t a closet at all. “I think some technopath or something made it.” He shrugged and allowed himself to flop back. This research place was the coolest place to work, he figured, he would want to work here. “Happy birthday, Odion,” Lani said randomly with a little smile on his face.

[Odion Martins]

Predictable was something Odion was not. Some days it didn’t matter who you were you, you couldn’t get a word out of him, and other days he had his heart on his sleeve. In Odion’s right mind, it was important to reveal only that which would benefit yourself. But with Lani, Odion often handed out information because he longed to be known by the telekinetic. The more he said, the more connected he felt to Lani, and himself. He hadn’t said anything of relevance to anyone in so long, and now the he was drunk, it felt okay to let his guard down. Someone had to know what he was going through, and if they cared well, that was just a bonus.

It was hard to say where the fear had come from or when it had started. Odion blamed it on the fact that he over thought most things in life and there were too many possibilities for what could happen as soon as you set foot on a plane. Odion was perfectly happy here, so long as they didn’t talk about the fear of flying and the fact that it felt as though they were hovering through space right now. Glad that Lani left everything alone, Odion focused his attention back on the spinning galaxies below him. They were beautiful, and it was interesting to think that they were but a blip in the vast systems of the cosmos.

Feeling lost now was pleasant. There were so many things to focus on in this room that nothing else was bothering Odion’s mind. And once he got bored of looking at one thing, he could move on to the next. He could even look at the same things in rotation and still feel mesmerized. Odion saw Lani lie back from the corner of his eye and so he did the same, some two feet away. “I can see why you like it here,” he told Lani, the statement going far beyond what it implied. For the time being, Odion allowed himself to feel nothing and let his mind wander and focus on absolutely nothing. Moments where this happened were rare for him, as his mind seemed to always be thinking of something. He was only extremely aware of himself, and the rubbery touch everything seemed to have before, had been fine tuned. The floor under his hands felt rough in places, and he knew Lani was nearby. He didn’t ever want to leave.

“So what then? You just happened upon it during your travels?” Odion teased, still in a good mood. This didn’t feel real, it felt better than real. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe Lani, but there had to be more to the story than that. He knew Lani was highly interested in these sorts of things, but how exactly had he found it? As Lani explained how he found it, Odion just listened intently. “Maybe some things are just happy coincidence,” Odion said, willing to accept the explanation. The redhead closed his eyes, focusing on the humming noise the console was making. “Thanks Lani,” he replied softly, trying to forget that soon they would be sober, and they would have to leave, sober or not. And then, it was back to square one. But for now, this was the best birthday he had ever had.

[Lani Hunter]

Knowing that Odion was in pain and not being to do anything about it was killing Lani. He wanted to reach out and take Odion in his arms but instead he crossed his arms again. Guarding his heart was more important and anything that Odion found out about his memories was going to be a struggle for Odion, Lani knew. Lani wanted to be there for Odion, but he also knew there was nothing he could do. He hated feeling so helpless, and he hated feeling so terrible. He had claimed fault for their breakup and consequently everything after. It was his own fault, perhaps that was why he had accepted his fate and gone on without Odion. He knew he deserved what he was getting. But he also had friends he could lean on here and that had probably saved his sanity a good bit as well. Lani wanted to know what happened to Odion over those seven months, but he was also afraid to know because it was his fault all of this happened.

With all of the baggage between them and all of the history it felt nearly impossible to overcome and Lani wasn’t sure that they could. He had told himself over and over that Odion was off living his life, he told himself lies about Odion to protect himself. It had been easier to deal with thinking that Odion was off enjoying life than that he was just as much of an emotional wreck as Lani was. He told himself Odion was never coming back because that meant that he would have to start living his life again too. Being here with Odion was familiar and it was a challenge because they wanted that closeness but there was fear and pain there too. The thought that Odion was lying to him now had long since drifted away. Odion was a good actor, but Lani had gotten better at seeing through his masks and he couldn’t make himself believe that the redhead’s pain was a lie.

In the dim starlight it was easier to sense Odion than see him and Lani’s power stirred wanted to be closer to the familiar time feeling power. He allowed his eyes to drift shut for prolonged periods of time before he forced them to stay open, he was getting dangerously close to being tired drunk and just wanting to sleep wherever was comfortable. Problem was, right now everything was comfortable. He smiled and hummed a little tune to himself in response. He didn’t think it went any deeper than the surface because thinking wasn’t something Lani was doing well right now, or he was doing it overly well and filling his head with doubts and worries instead of paying attention to what was actually happening. Odion knew Lani liked the stars and Lani knew Odion liked stars as well, it was something that had finally brought them together that cold night in Boston. Lani wasn’t sure what he was thinking now that he was here. Maybe he thought the stars could fix it all.

Lani gave a little laugh. “Precisely.” He smiled at the ceiling and watched as the stars moved. He was starting to see shapes in the mess, much like seeing images in clouds. There was a constellation that looked like a fish. Another looked like a bird. They were there for a moment and then gone. “I can live with that,” Lani said with a smile this time he was implying more than was spoken. Maybe Odion would believe it was a happy coincidence that Lani had found Odion tonight, maybe not. Lani’s fingers stretched out in Odion’s direction without his say so and realized this part of the way through and laced his fingers together and pillowed them under his head. He didn’t want to leave, but he was starting to get tired and with weariness came a desire to be both near to Odion and as far away as possible. He wanted to be close to Odion, but he was also afraid and to be apart was both more painful and easier.

He sat up a little so he could see Odion, a sudden thought occurring to him. “Odion? When you remember, you’ll tell me about it, right?” It was a hard thing to ask of the redhead, but Lani wanted to know. It might be too painful for the redhead to live through once, much less to relive it again to tell Lani. Yet, Lani wanted to know, despite the fear and guilt in his heart, he wanted to know what he had done to Odion. Lani was going to have to have a discussion with the fates about their weaving. All he wanted to know was why, why would they disengage their threads only to bring them crashing together again? Why couldn’t the world be done with him yet? He wanted to cry out, he wanted to scream, he wanted to throw a tantrum like a child. Why did the world insist on throwing these thorns in his path? He did none of those things and looked calmly at Odion.

[Odion Martins]

Odion hadn’t been living anything resembling a life when he was left to his own devices. Without Lani or any common sense, Odion was having a rough time, and that was putting it lightly. He was about to learn from Jared that he didn’t sleep, didn’t eat, was addicted to everything known to man, and hadn’t stopped going. As soon as Lani was even mentioned Odion went catatonic. There was nothing to do but wait until he was ready to hear the cold hard truth from Caroline. If it hadn’t been for Jared, Odion would’ve been gone from the face of the earth a long time ago. Odion hadn’t lied about this. It was a story too grandiose for even him to make up.

Odion was also starting to feel himself nod off. He just wanted to let his muscles loose and sink into the floor. In any other circumstance, a floor wouldn’t be comfortable on the best of days. But as it stood, Odion would like nothing more than to just fall asleep. If he did, it would probably the most peaceful sleep he had had in months. Lani’s humming wasn’t helping the situation, and lulled Odion into a sense of security and peace. He was smiling happily to himself and kept dozing off. It was only his own limbs twitching that kept him reawakening. Stars couldn’t fix anything, but it did remind Odion of what was good in his life, and what was actually worth fighting for. It reminded him of why he was here to begin with, and not still in Europe pretending like everything was okay because he was too much of a coward to simply end it all already.

Time seemed indefinite in here, and Odion’s mind simply remained on this thought. To be here with Lani only made sense, and his mind wasn’t playing tricks on him. It hadn’t delved deeply into the truth, it hadn’t gone far enough to see just how torn up its own memories were. Everything was convoluted. Odion had been playing sleight of hand with himself, and now he was reaping the consequences.

Odion’s eyes flicked open, trying to see Lani, but there was only a silhouette, so Odion’s imagination filled in the details. On Lani’s face was worry, as per usual, and it was written in his tone of voice. “Of course,” Odion said, though he wasn’t promising anything. He could only tell Lani what he could remember if and when he remembered anything at all, and if he remembered to tell Lani. Odion didn’t hesitate in reaching out to Lani, linking their fingers lazily. “You’ll be the first to know.” It was the whole reason why Odion was here, and Lani deserved to know what was going on. He glanced down at their hands before letting go again. He was so tired of having to let go, but their touch didn’t feel permissible just yet.