I Come in Peace (Erik)

[Deleted]

As soon as Kodi sent the last text to his friend(?), he headed down the hall to Erik's room.  He didn't bother knocking at the dorm door (it was two in the morning anyway), but when he reached the snake shifter's door, he gave a quiet knock with his free hand; his other was carrying two water bottles of vodka, and he had a half-filled pack of cigarettes in his back pocket.  A peace offering.

"Erik~" he called out.  Assuming the temper-prone boy didn't answer, he turned the knob and popped his head inside, holding up the two bottles of clear liquid.  "I said I'd bring these," he announced.  Letting himself in, Kodi closed the door behind him and pulled the flat box out of his pocket, tossing it at the blue-eyed beauty.

Without much else said, he flopped down on the floor next to Erik's bed, twisting open the cap on one of the bottles and taking a sip.  "So... You don't like me, huh?" he asked after a bit of silence.

[Erik Stewart]

Erik didn’t want Kodi over. He had made that clear. It was his fault he’d ignored him, and Erik didn’t intend to be polite about it. He was buried under his blankets, the top of his head just showing – little more than a splash of dark hair against the pillow. He didn’t move when he heard the door open in the living room, nor did he move when the other boy knocked softly at his. If anything, he tucked his head underneath the blankets even further. Erik fumed.

The dorm room was black, dark as pitch, except for whatever light filtered through the windows, the blue blinking light of his laptop indicator, and, of course, the crack of his now-opened door. A glimmer of scales caught the light for a second before it sunk into the shadows underneath Erik’s bed. Whether Kodi flipped the switch or not, he would remain silent and covered up and unmoving; and when Kodi tossed the cardboard box at him it bounced comically off the lump his shoulder made.

There was a hiss. It sounded, at first, like steam rushing out of some vent, but it was undoubtedly serpentine in nature. It could have been DJ, but the rat snake rarely hissed, and it was under the bed besides.

Erik could feel the mattress shift from Kodi’s weight regardless. He didn’t want him here. It was two A.M. and he was in no mood to detangle differences, or compromise, or whatever he wanted to do.

“No,” he said, a hefty amount of venom in his tone, his voice still harsh, though muffled by the blankets.

[Deleted]

Kodi kept the lights off. It was, after all, very early in the morning, and the only reason he'd come over at all was because he knew Erik was awake. Hell, he'd been the one to text him back after one in the morning - what did he expect?

"Hey DJ," he greeted the snake, peeking under the boy's bed. He still found it ironic that the 'wild' animal was so much more docile than his owner. Fortunately, Kodi had seen enough snakes in his life (and had met DJ enough times) not to be intimidated by him, even in the dark. It was the human that was such a pain to deal with.

I'll make this worth it, he told himself. Kodi refused to leave without making some sort of progress.

"Well, you either must really hate me, or miss me too, 'cause it's two in the fuckin' mornin' an' you were still replyin' t'my texts," he drawled, taking another sip from his bottle. He didn't move to shift the covers, instead letting Erik simmer underneath for as long as he wanted.

"Am I gonna have t'repeat all that cheesy shit I said on the phone, or should I just keep apologizin' until I irritate you into reactin'?"

[Erik Stewart]

Kodi wouldn’t have to remove the covers. Erik would take care of that himself; he tossed them to the side in one motion, revealing his squinting eyes and his disheveled hair, the way his collarbones sunk and rose with each breath (not that any of that was clear, in this low light). Erik had told himself to be unresponsive until Kodi got bored and went away, but the temptation to snap at him was irresistible.

“I don’t want yer fuckin’ apologies ‘r nothin’!” he snarled, like a roll of thunder.

Before Kodi could respond to that, Erik sat up, pouncing on his own two feet. “Didn’t I tell you not t’come over here?” He was wearing a dark sleeveless shirt that hung over his shoulders, and a pair of boxers – normal sleeping attire. Both looked at least two sizes too big. “You come in here, you fuckin’ come through my door like y’own the place, an’ you think I’m gonna be fuckin’ happy about it? I don’t care if I text ya at five in th’ mornin’, it don’t mean I’m invitin’ you t’anythin’.”

“And it definitely - ” he raised a hand to enunciate, pressing his middle finger and his thumb together, “doesn’t mean I ‘miss’ you.”

His voice was definitely above indoor levels, but he didn’t have it in him to care if he was waking his roommates or not. Right now he was busy boring holes into Kodi with his eyes and venting a month’s worth of ill will. It might have been better for Kodi if he’d given him his space: now it was as if he’d stepped on his tail.

Erik gestured with his head, towards the open door. “Get out,” he said.

[Deleted]

Only Kodi's eyes moved as Erik suddenly and unexpectedly flung himself out of bed; he watched the freckled boy with a measured gaze, slowly lifting his bottle up to take another sip before he wiped his sleeve against his lips and sat up straighter. "Fine. I'll stop apologizin' then," he said quietly, his voice like a whisper in the trail of Erik's booming thunder.

He hardly managed to get it out, though, before the hick was rattling on. Kodi let him get it out, feeling his own anger bubble up inside his chest despite himself. Calm down, he told himself. Getting angry wasn't going to get this anywhere. Was it? He didn't know anymore. "Erik, please," he grunted, pressing his palm against his forehead. "I'm tryin', for once in my life, t'be a decent person. I wouldn't... I wouldn't just do this for fuckin' anyone...!"

The words Erik threw at him... Stung. Kodi had hoped some part of his former hookup/friend(?) would be lenient towards him, but he should have known better.

"I ain't leavin'," he drawled out, looking Erik in the eye as he took another sip. "So beat me up if you want to. Scream at me. I don't care, do whatever'd make you feel better. 'Cause obviously I've done some shit t'make you angry an' you need t'get it out somehow." He spread his arms out and held his palms up, an open target. "Let's just get it fuckin' over with."

[Erik Stewart]

“Oh, you’re tryin’, are ya?” he snapped. “Well, you can start by walkin’ out that door like I asked you to, ya stupid fuck.”

This didn’t work, of course. Erik was getting real frustrated that he had Kodi to entertain while it was so late, and even more frustrated that he didn’t want to seem to leave, and if a good bout of yelling and threatening didn’t do the trick then he wasn’t sure what would. It usually worked. Kodi might have been used to it, though, because all he did was come closer; Erik straightened up and lifted his jaw, a fire in his eyes.

Erik was not in the sort of mood to be reasoned with. All the signs had been there: withdrawal, then snapping, then rage. Kodi had chosen to ignore them all, and if you still stuck your foot near a hissing, blustering snake then you were likely to get some fangs. Not that he really packed a wallop in the form he was in now. Erik was too small and reedy to put as much force as he’d liked in that first punch; at the very least, it would whip Kodi’s head to the side. Maybe his cheekbones would bruise.

The sound was distinctive, a crack. The sight and sound wasn’t enough to deter Erik, not at first; when Kodi’s face was flung to the left he was still seeing red. Just as soon as he saw his old hookup’s eyes start to lift up again Erik swung a second time, from the opposite angle.

This one connected too, smacking his head the other way.

[Deleted]

Kodi knew that leaving now would get them nowhere but not talking to each other again. And he did't want that. He'd rather have some sort of interaction, even negative, over not talking at all. At least that way, there was at least a chance of making things better.

At least, that's what he told himself.

It was hard to think that when the person you were trying to get through was glaring at you with what seemed no less than hatred. Kodi held his ground; he didn't flinch, didn't indicate what he was feeling, just stared at those cold eyes with a determined expression stuck on his face.

It crumpled slightly at the first punch. Kodi might have been able to block it or dodge it if he tried, but he took it. He wasn't immune to the pain, though - it blossomed over his cheek and soaked into his jaw, making him cringe a little despite himself. Before he really had a chance to recover, he felt his head swing the other way, an equal pain ramming into the opposite cheek.

Kodi sat there for a moment, head drooping, until he finally moved. All he did was lift his hand to check his teeth, making sure none of them had been broken or fractured from the swings. "Did that make you feel better?" he said softly. "Or is there more where that came from?" His head ached, and he was sure he'd have bruises that he could tell Gryphon all about later. But he wasn't going to cower and run away just yet.

"Hit me all you want," he mumbled. "I won't hate you, too."

[Erik Stewart]

After the sound finished ricocheting off the walls, he waited. He waited for Kodi to pick his head up a second time. He waited for retaliation. Erik wasn’t consciously thinking it but he was ready for it; he’d tensed, his shoulders squared, looking for any movement in his adversary’s arm, his fist. But he could see nothing, and Kodi’s ascent was slow, gentle. Erik couldn’t recognize the complacency in Kodi’s eyes. When he had first seen them, they’d been full of chaotic anger, like wildfires.

He spoke and the defeat in his voice only made him want to hit him again. Erik’s fist curled, but he didn’t strike. “Why not?” he demanded, his voice mangled from behind clenched teeth.

He didn’t know what had happened to Kodi between the months he’d seen him, but the one he knew wouldn’t have sat pretty after taking two knocks to the face like that. Agitated, and somewhat confused, Erik backed off to peer at him. Now there was suspicion in his gaze, too. This wasn’t why he struck at people – to have his anger glance off their shoulders as though they wore armor.

And what exactly did Kodi want from him again? Healing? Closure? Forgiveness?...That was the one, but he should have known that Erik had nothing to give. He had not changed much in between months. He had stayed as Kodi had left him.

“Why?” he repeated. “’Cause I got you off a few times? We barely knew each other.”

[Deleted]

Kodi still had many demons to overcome in his life, namely revolving around his family and his beliefs about himself. He still wasn't a people person by a long shot, and still hurt those weaker than him when he had the opportunity, but he'd started feeling some guilt along with the usual satisfaction. He blamed Gryphon for a good portion of his slow transformation, but he thought another part of it was just... Growing up.

And that part of him that was more mature was desperate for forgiveness from the boy he didn't realize he'd seen so much as a friend until now. Maybe he was just getting soft. Kodi wondered what Erik thought about that.

"'Cause it'd be pointless an' I don't wanna hurt you," he replied simply. Erik hadn't done anything to deserve it. Well... Okay, sure, he'd just sent two solid whacks against Kodi's head, but as far as the dentokinetic was concerned, he deserved them.

He wasn't sure what he had been expecting. Maybe, since he'd been changing, he'd thought Erik had too. That obviously wasn't the case, and it saddened Kodi to think that he might have come over here for nothing. But what else could he do?

"I guess you're right," he admitted with a shallow nod. "But back then, I didn't have much else. Just Oriel, really. You guys were the only friends I had, an' I guess I'm selfish an' don't wanna think I drove you off for good." Kodi slowly stood, keeping his arms at his sides, and glanced at the door. "But... I'll go if y'want. I understand." Didn't mean it didn't sting.

[Erik Stewart]

Erik stared at his face as if he were waiting for bruises to blossom. His fists were still tight, but this time they stayed at his sides. He wouldn’t hit him again.

It wasn’t that he wanted Kodi to hit him back – not really. And he couldn’t say that this change wasn’t a good one, but knowing that he had changed at all, and for the better, still made him feel like he’d been left behind. It was a selfish realization. If he were less so, he knew, he should have been glad that Kodi’s first instinct was not to retaliate, not anymore. But he was not. He was bitter and angry and all gnarled up inside.

Erik was quiet for some time. He knew what his answer would be, but this time he considered it, mulled it over in his head, before delivering what he’d been saying all along. “Then leave,” he said, jerking his chin towards the door.

As Kodi would pass – if he would pass – Erik would tilt his eyes down towards his feet, still and silent, except to cross his arms.

[Deleted]

Kodi hadn't been expecting Erik to suddenly change his mind, to decide he wanted the dentokinetic to stay for some reason even after he'd hit him. Kodi's face already felt like it was starting to swell; he was sure he'd have some nice splotches of color to wake up to in the morning.

So when Erik finally, after an admittedly long period of time, asked Kodi to leave, the Chinese boy didn't fight it. He turned and slowly walked to the door, reaching for the handle and twisting to crack it open before he finally turned back to look at the southern boy over his shoulder.

"I ain't gonna give up that easy, just so ya know," he told him. "Please just... Think about what I said. An' if you ever feel like talkin', I got an open door. Even if it's two in the fuckin' mornin'."

That said, he turned his back on his old friend(?) and walked out the door, closing it softly behind him. Kodi sighed, lingering for a few moments, before he eventually meandered back to his own room.