Shake It Out (Oliver/Oriel)

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

Backdated to June, 2014

AJ had slipped through the doorway as soon as the session was over and Dr. Neville had released them. The first of many sessions probably. She'd gotten out ahead of Oliver as she wasn't sure she could talk to him right now right after sitting in that room with Dr. Neville to mediate...and all of that tension. The air outside of the office somehow felt easier to breathe in and AJ greedily took in breaths as she made her way down the hall.

Part of her felt bad for practically leaving Oliver in the dust and hadn't she been upset with him for doing his own version of running away from her ever since he got to Hammel? With that thought, the brunette slowed down, coming to a stand still in the middle of the hallway.

[Oliver Barnes]

Did Oliver feel any sense of relief? The short answer was no. He had watched AJ eagerly leave the room in a rush, and the introverted boy wondered if he looked the same way when he had been trying to avoid her for his entire first year at Hammel. She didn't look back, making her away down the hall as Oliver awkwardly trailed behind, fidgeting with his fingers. Should he call out for her? No, that would cause a scene.

He kept walking, not saying a word, until he almost bumped into AJ. Blinking, Oliver said "AJ... don't run, please." He paused once he was next to her, looking down to meet her eyes. "I... I know it's tough but it's going to get better... with time."

[Deleted]

Oriel had just gotten out of a quick check up at the infirmary. The fight he'd had with the concrete a couple of days ago had left a few bones in his hand shattered...or fractured...whichever, Oriel didn't care, he just knew the he was going to have a hell of a time learning how to be a lefty over the next however long it took for his right hand to heal. The rest of him was generally in tip-top shape. However tip-top you could consider a black eye and split lip. Toxic might be a better way to describe it. Oh, his beautiful face.

Didn't matter. He was annoyed. And needed a smoke, badly. Oriel closed his eyes and sighed as he walked down the hall. Alone. By himself. And alone.

He looked up as he heard running and a somewhat familiar voice just in time to see a familiar brunette speed past the three way intersection before him. Then soon after, another familiar person, what was his name? Barnes? Because he was raised in a barn. Curious to stick his bruised nose where it didn't belong, and with nothing better to do, Oriel clomped casually in step behind them, towering over both of them, until the line of ducklings came to a sudden halt. "Oy....you two fucking?" he asked with genuine curiosity, after overseeing their short, yet suggestive, interaction.

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

By the time AJ stopped and really thought about what she was doing, Oliver had caught up to her. She heard his familiar voice from behind her. "I know," she mumbled. "It's hypocritical for me to run away from you when I was so upset that you ran away from me for almost a year." He was so positive, or at least he sounded like it, saying that things were going to get better, but AJ briefly wondered if he fully believed that himself. She wasn't so sure what she thought. All she knew was that it had been ridiculously uncomfortable sitting in that small room with just Dr. Neville and Oliver and her bottle of water ot keep her company. Her throat hurt from all of the talking, all of the confessing and she felt like she needed to wind down with a book or something to help calm herself.

However, soon she heard another voice from behind them both and craned her head to see a familiar and gorgeous head of hair (no atter how much she tried to deny it). It had been a while since she'd seen Oriel, yet here he was and it dawned on AJ that she'd never said anything to him about Oliver, about what happened to her back in Minnesota and that suddenly made her incredibly nervous. She wanted to comment on the state of his face, on what happened to it. She mustered her best glare and sent it in Oriel's direction as his question was uncalled for and completely uncomfortable to answer. "Oriel..." was all she managed.

[Oliver Barnes]

Shrugging, Oliver wasn't a fair judge to say that AJ was being hypocritical, not to mention he didn't want to start something else between the two. This was suppose to be the start of healing, the start of a long process that hopefully would end with the two being friends again. Was it naive of him to wholeheartedly believe so? During the meeting with Dr. Neville, Oliver had stayed quiet, for the most part, listening to AJ and the wisdom Dr. Neville had to offer. Next time, he vowed to himself to participate more, but he considered it a success since it didn't end with him phasing through a wall.

He hoped that they were making the right choice, confronting their past demons.

Oliver jumped, startled by the sudden voice, and found himself looking up at a familiar long haired boy. The Dark... Evil... whatever Overlord. He frowned at his question, blushing in response. "No." Oliver answered, since AJ only adressed the boy as Oriel. Guess that was his name. "No... we're not." He repeated, giving her a confused look. Clearly, AJ knew him. His eyes landed on Oriel's face, with the cut lip and black eye. Oliver just stared, not saying anything about it.

[Deleted]

Oriel flashed a grin between the two, somewhat thankful that the first thing to come from their mouths was not about the bruises on his face. And the steaming look on AJ’s face was absolutely beautiful, exactly what he was going for. “You’re beautiful when you’re angry,” he said with a slightly painful smile and raise in his eyebrows.

He didn’t know that these two knew each other. But when he thought about it, it actually made some sort of sense, they were nearly identical. Not in looks, of course, but their mannerisms definitely.

Oriel looked to Oliver as he dared to take away Oriel’s fun with a concrete answer. “But,” he started, pointing between the other boy and AJ with an “eureka” spark in his eye. “You want to fuck, right? I mean, that’s the vibe I’m getting off you two, you guys kind of got the whole soap-opera dramatics going on here.” At least that’s what it sounded/looked like to Oriel. He could be completely wrong about it though!

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

It was even hard to look at Oliver as Oriel suggested such a thing. How could he be so insensitive?! Then again, he didn't exactly know about the history between Oliver and herself. AJ had never told him and then he showed up at Hammel and she was trying to deal with it, and now somehow Oriel had a split lip and a black eye and her mind was struggling to make sense of that in the moment because she was rather infuriated at his assumption.

Oliver had just said no and looked like he felt uncomfortable. "Really, because the look I'm giving you is an ugly one," AJ shot back, surprised at how quickly it came out of her mouth. It was probably from her high stress and anxiety level as of lately. She hated how Oriel did that, still complimented you when you were angry at him. How did Phoenix deal with that?

She was about to cut him off when he seemed to launch into something again, but she didn't get there. The vulgar way of saying it, combined with what it actually suggested made AJ highly uncomfortable as it made her think of the school dance back home and she shuddered. It was still hard to think of, even if she was trying to work on things with Oliver. "Oriel, stop." Her voice was softer now.

[Oliver Barnes]

You want to fuck though, right?

Oliver shifted his weight, visibly uncomfortable with the word choice and the situation as a whole. Because apparently, he did that night, when AJ's power unexpectedly came and manipulated the tiniest feeling of lust. He couldn't deny that it wasn't there to begin with, but it was innocent. And then, he was pushing her against the lockers, reaching up underneath her dress and telling her that she wanted it just as much as he did.

His throat felt constricted, almost like he couldn't breathe. Oliver tuned out the rest of Oriel's sentence, staring at the ground with a hard expression. It's not like he knew of the history between himself and AJ. The friendship, the possibility of romance, to him attacking her in the school hallway in the middle of a dance.

He stayed quiet, not uttering a word.

[Deleted]

Oriel liked this version of AJ. So much cuter than the meek one he first met when he…well, Oriel wasn’t going to think about that. He had enough problems in the present, he didn’t need to be thinking about the ones he’d had in the past. “Yeah, well you’d be surprised at what turns me on,” he shot back with a lecherous smile. Oriel licked his lips and growled.

Had Oriel known what had gone on between these two before, maybe he would have been more sensitive. Maybe. He looked between the two, noting the pure look of discomfort that Barnes here had on his face. And in his posture. He shifted his eyes back to AJ when she told him to stop.

He took a breath and released it sharply. “Fine,” he relented, turning his eyes away. “S’been a shit week and I took it out on you and I shouldn’t’ve.” He was just being a little playful, but…yeah, maybe that was a little too harsh. Besides, if a pheromone manip told you to stop, you did it before she got mad. Oriel didn’t want a repeat of last year.

And with Oriel shut up, now there was an awkwardness lingering in the air. It made him uncomfortable. “…what’re you….how you been?” he muttered, still looking away.

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

At some point, AJ remembered wanting to reach out and grab Oliver's hand as if to comfort him from how rash and insensitive Oriel was being, but that would probably make things worse for this current situation and it kind of made her uncomfortable and it would probably not be okay with Oliver either. "No, I'm really not surprised actually," she said back to him, knowing that Oriel had strange tastes, but also knowing that Phoenix was ultimately a gentle soul whom he'd ended up with.

The silence was suffocating for a moment between the three as Oliver looked visibly tense and so did Oriel for that matter until finally some of the tension was released with a sharp exhale of breath from Oriel. He'd finally given in. "Thank you," she told him when he apologized, in his own way of course. "Because I've had a pretty bad week as well and I don't think Oliver's doing much better." You never knew what someone was going through and clearly Oriel and AJ didn't know what was going on with each other.

The real question was, how had Ori been. She didn't want to comment on his face, but then again, he'd made a vulgar comment to her when he'd first seen her just a moment ago. "Okay," she mumbled. This wasn't a good scenario. She'd been trying to get away from the awkwardness of her and Oliver and now she was stuck with that and Oriel. "Been better."

She had no idea if Oliver knew who Oriel was, but she also knew how he came off and so she turned to Oliver slightly. "I swear, he can be decent."

[Oliver Barnes]

Oliver watched with a mix of amusement and confusion as Oriel apologized to AJ. He had been so self absorbed in his little bubble with AJ that it took him a second to realize that Oriel wasn't in the best shape. His eyebrows narrowed together, focusing in on the black eye and split lip. Now that he was aware of it, Oliver couldn't look away. His posture relaxed a little, not as fidgety or uncomfortable as before.

The silence continued, almost unbearable, until the two were making small talk, this time, not as hostile. Oliver watched them interact, wondering how they knew each other and seemed to be on alright terms. He just... couldn't see someone as sweet as AJ hanging around with someone who enjoyed going around in other people's personal spaces, thinking back to their one and only encounter in the school courtyard.

He raised an eyebrow, as if to question AJ's statement. "If you say so." Oliver finally spoke, his gaze flickering between hers and Oriel's faces.

[Deleted]

Oriel was in a shit mood. That much was obvious. And looking at both Barnes and AJ, it looked like they were in a pretty shit mood too. AJ even said so herself once the silence was broken. “Yeah, seems like it’s been shit for everyone these days.” He lowered his eyes, picking at his fingers with nails that had been pretty near bitten raw. Oriel sighed and held out an arm. “Need a hug? C’mere.” He took a step forward and draped his arm over her shoulder, pulling her into his chest.

Oriel held her there for a second before he eyed the other boy. “You want one too? C’mon, I got lots.” Oriel waved his other arm, inviting the farm boy to join.

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

"I say so. He just hides it," AJ told Oliver. She really did believe there was good in everybody. There was no question that at first AJ had been scared of Oriel at first, and angry at him after how he'd treated her the first time they met, but she knew he felt bad for it now, as did Phoenix and they'd moved past that. She'd found out that Oriel could be loyal to a friend. And yet, sometimes he slipped and he was rude for no reason, let his anger get the best of him, but she also knew he was working on that, and so slips were expected. She really tried to put it in perspective, but she also let him know when he'd crossed a line.

"Yeah, it really has." AJ wasn't even sure she wanted to be around Oliver, except for the sessions, in which she really didn't want to be there anyway, but she needed to try and work this out. After him telling everything to Tak, she felt betrayed, especially since she'd acted like she knew nothing about AJ when Oliver had told her the whole story. It was hurtful to be deceived like that.

She didn't respond yet to his asking for a hug, but he pulled her into one anyway and she savored it, because she really did need it. He probably did too. She really wanted to ask him about what happened to him, but was refraining from it. And then he asked Oliver to join the hug and AJ wanted to facepalm.

[Oliver Barnes]

Oliver didn't really know how to tell AJ about his first and only encounter with Oriel. Maybe that was a story for another day. But considering how the two barely spoke to one another, he didn't know if that was a tale to ever be told. He simply shrugged as a response, staying quiet.

They were both talking about life and Oriel was fidgeting. It was... weird, to observe, when not too long ago, the long haired boy had seemed so confident and all knowing. His gaze flickered between him and AJ and then the two were hugging. He shuffled his feet in place, wondering if he should just let Oriel and AJ talk since it'd be better if he wasn't around when Oriel asked if he wanted one. Oliver felt like it was more of a statement rather than a question. Since he felt obliged, Oliver mumbled something along the lines of "Okay." and joined in the awkward hug.

[Deleted]

Oriel definitely needed the hug. He wondered if it would be too invasive…or rude…or something…to ask AJ if she could use her pheromones to make him feel better. Like, make him happy, or at least a little more at ease. Calm. Where his nerves weren’t feeling like they were about to shake right out of his skin from anxiety.

He couldn’t ask her to do that….

Oriel was glad that Barnes decided to join them…and a little amused how little resistance he put up against his request…or rather none at all. It brought a smile to his face. Well, the physical contact between two people were willing to engage with him was what made him smile. And he felt his anxiety start to fade, if only a little.

Oriel took a breath. “….you’ve no idea how close I am to groping the two of you right now,” he said, completely ruining the moment.