Maybe Takeout? (Odion)

[Lani Hunter]

It was going to be a good night, Odion was going to be over soon and Adam was away for the weekend so there would be no interruptions like the last time Odion had come over. Lani had busied himself all day cleaning and cleared the laundry off of the couch and dumped it into the correct rooms. Now instead of a pile on the couch there was a pile on the chair in his room. The cats found it great fun when he cleaned with his power and were kept well out of his way by chasing random rags and the broom he had sweeping on its own. He still couldn’t figure out how he had become the owner of so many cats. He balanced bowls of food and put them in a neat row and all four cats rushed to eat their dinner. Lani took the fourth bowl and pushed LJ with his foot and placed the fourth bowl a little away from the others, LJ had a problem with eating his brother’s and sister’s food.

Luckily, Paco was away with Adam for the weekend and Lani didn’t have to deal with that yippy dog, if it could be called that. He finally was satisfied with a good enough for the living room. There wasn’t much he could do about the books all over the place but stack them out of the way. With that done the telekinetic set to cooking. He was going to do it this time, for sure and he wasn’t going to set off the fire alarm this time. He had noodles and he was going to make his mother’s meatballs. Everything was going well so far, he’d defrosted the meat with enough time and chopped half an onion into small chunks, now came the mixing. He put in the onions and breadcrumbs then looked at the remaining spices, onion powder, garlic powder. His mother had said ‘to taste’ well he wasn’t going to taste raw meat so he was going to have to do this by guestimation. He dumped in spice until the smell of garlic overpowered just about everything. Maybe that was too much garlic. So he added more onion then more garlic, and repeat. He winced a little, that was probably too much spice…

Lastly, with an egg he mixed and the smell filled the room, the cats quickly vacated the kitchen. It would be better once they were cooked, Lani told himself and finally put them into a pan. Washing his hands he grabbed a pot with his mental hands and filled it while he dried his own hands. Setting it to boil was probably the easiest thing he could do. Even he couldn’t mess up pasta. He dumped some in and set a time, because this time he was not going to get distracted and forget all about it. Lastly, he put sauce into another pot and let it heat up. Lani wanted everything to be perfect, he’d gone out and gotten wine, he hoped white wine was good. It was only belatedly that Lani realized he didn’t have a corkscrew. Oh well, that’s what telekinesis was for, he popped out the cork just as he heard a knock at the door. His heart jumped into his throat and he felt excited and nervous at the same time. He looked down at himself to double check how he looked. Dark jeans and a black long-sleeved shirt, with the sleeves pushed up hadn’t been ruined by the cooking process. With that momentary check over he opened the door and gave a bright smile.

[Odion Martins]

Odion was eager to spend some time with Lani that wasn’t so dramatic. It didn’t seem to matter what they were going through, it was always heart or nerve wrenching, and sometimes it was both. Between unravelling the past together, and meeting up with Alice, there had been no time devoted to actually just being together. The redhead thought it was a little strange, that this get together wouldn’t have any strings attached, no true elephants in the room. He was greatly looking forward to it, despite the fact that lately, time seemed to be playing tricks on him. To make sure he had the right day and time, Odion had texted Lani before leaving his apartment. Once he knew everything was good, he pulled the hood of his sweater over his head, covering his eyes as he made his way to the top of his apartment building via the side of it.

It wasn’t terribly late yet, but people hadn’t noticed him jumping over rooftops before and he doubted they were about to take note now. Knowing Lani, Odion decided that wearing simple jeans and a dark purple sweater for dinner wouldn’t be a big deal. Besides, getting to Lani’s place was quite a boring walk considering they lived nearly across the city from one another. Getting in a little exercise would spice things up, not to mention keep Odion focused on the present. If he wasn’t smoking or drinking or partaking in some other illicit activity, he had to be addicted to something. Running and jumping were at least good for the body and mind. And so, with his focus on holding onto buildings at just the right time, and making perfect jumps and landing them just as perfectly, Odion was able to keep other more unwelcome thoughts at bay. Just because the past had been uncovered didn’t mean it sat well with him. On the inside of his sweater pocket, Odion had a letter he wanted to share with Lani. It was a delicate thing he hadn’t even opened yet. He wouldn’t share it unless it seemed right to do so.

When he was a couple blocks away from Lani’s place, Odion had slipped off of the buildings in favour for walking on the sidewalk. He plucked his hood down and took a deep breath. Am I ever going to get over how nervous he makes me feel? It didn’t seem to matter how well Odion got to know Lani, it was still thrilling. He wasn’t sure what Lani had planned for tonight, other than that there would of course be a plan. Slipping into the apartment complex as another resident left, Odion made his way silently up the stairs and tapped on Lani’s door. It hadn’t taken more than twenty seconds before the door was opened – and yes, he had counted.

“Good evening,” Odion said, letting himself into Lani’s apartment, but not before he’d given Lani a peck on the cheek. He hadn’t overexerted himself, but there was sheen on his neck that suggested he had been up to more than simply walking over here. “Are you cooking?” Odion asked, a bit surprised as he caught sight of what was brewing on the stove. It smelled strongly of garlic and Odion smiled broadly without comment, only slight mischief in his eyes. “And you… tidied up a bit.” Odion commented, as ‘cleaning’ wouldn’t have been the appropriate word. Odion kept his sweater on despite being a little warm, and knelt down to address the chorus of meowing that had greeted him. “Hullo you little devils,” he said, making sure to scratch every one of them before finally picking up LJ, who was purring before he had even settled into Odion’s chest.

“That blasted dog isn’t here, is he?” Odion asked, listening and looking for any sign of Paco. God he hated that thing. Odion wasn’t just a cat person, he was pretty much a feline himself.

[Lani Hunter]

After so long apart it was nice to have a nice and calm evening together. So Lani prayed. No fighting, no tears. Especially no tears. They’d both done enough of that to last Lani a lifetime. Lani didn’t actually have a plan besides dinner, per say. He supposed they could talk or watch a movie or something. He had ideas of course, but he also wasn’t sure what Odion would be feeling up to so instead of a single plan, Lani had several. The first and most prominent concern he had was dinner, honestly that was the most challenging part of this whole deal. It wasn’t like he was completely inept, it was just that anything he’d tried to make before had been nearly deadly. Pasta was easy, he reasoned, after all, who could screw up pasta? Probably the same person who caught rice on fire, Lani reminded himself with a shake of his head.

He was glad that the knock came when it did, because he was starting to look around the apartment and wonder if it was going to be good enough for his meticulously clean Odion. Lani smiled broadly at Odion and felt a sense that was warm and fuzzy run through him as he stepped aside to let Odion in. Shutting the door behind him Lani wandered after Odion into the room. “Make yourself at home.” Lani nodded to the room, which, to his pride was about as clean as it had been since he’d moved in. At the very least there was only the clutter on the table and near the wall and the couch was clear, which was a sight rarely seen. Lani didn’t realize how nervous he was about Odion coming over until Odion was here and walking around the apartment.

“I am,” Lani confirmed with a confident smile, he totally had this under control. Hopefully things would taste good, despite the spice mishap. Lani followed Odion’s gaze and shrugged nonchalantly. “What? You’ve only seen it on bad days,” Lani said a sly smile on his face. They both knew what a colossal fib that was and the humor in Lani’s eyes clearly indicated he was well aware of that fact. Lani leaned against the wall and smiled warmly as he watched Odion with the cats. The cats had indeed been instrumental in their relationship. After all, Lani had not a care in the world until he found Odion looking stricken and desperate as he found the kittens. Lani’d seen Odion’s heart that day and since then he’d known that Odion was like a hard candy with a sweet and surprising middle. Or rather like a cat covered in porcupine quills.

Lani answered with a shake of his head. “Adam’s visiting home this weekend.” With a slight smirk he gave Odion a suggestive look. “It just so happened to coincide with when I told him you were coming over.” Adam had tried to keep up with Odion and Lani had only been too amused to watch. His paranoid roommate had thought for ages that Lani was up to something, which in his defense wasn’t wrong. Discovered with Odion, Lani had only been too happy to let it all play out as it would. End result being that while Adam got along better with Lani now that he ‘knew’ what Lani was up to, he was very well intent on avoiding Odion. Part of that may have been the ‘training sessions’ Odion had run Adam through. Lani had almost felt bad for his poor roommate. Everything was going well, the smell of smoke was for once not coming from his kitchen, unfortunately, the smell of smoke wasn't likely to make it past the overpowering scent of garlic.

[Odion Martins]

Odion hated that saying – make yourself at home. He wasn’t sure what it was supposed to mean, as he hardly felt truly comfortable anywhere. So he just smiled and gave a little nod. Unless there was a drink in his hand to aid in the process, he wasn’t going to feel comfortable. The company, however, was very comfortable. And the cat hair that seemed to permeate the air didn’t bother him as much as he thought it would.

“What are you making?” Odion asked, wondering if Lani would tell or if it was supposed to be a surprise. He was about to add that it smelled good, but Lani would be able to read that lie in a millisecond. Not that it didn’t smell good, but it was overpowering. But Odion decided he didn’t need to tell Lani something he already knew. Sharing in Lani’s humor, Odion smiled back, and it lingered as his thoughts drifted. The fact that Lani had tried to clean at all, said much more than either of them could muster up in words. Lani was trying to make Odion feel special, important...

“Oh good,” Odion said with relief. Not that he was being overly dramatic about it, but Adam’s presence would put a damper on things. Odi smirked and went to stand in front of Lani, keeping little space between them. “Being feared was my ultimate goal in life,” Odion said, and LJ meowed in what Odion believed was agreement. “My own roommate is quite pleased to have the place to himself tonight, who knows what he’s doing, but he did mention having guests over.” And with Jared being said roommate, ‘guests’ could mean any number of things.

Adjusting LJ in his arms, Odion made a concerned face as he glanced over Lani’s shoulder. “Is that... supposed to be doing that?” The bigger pot had started spilling water over and what looked like half cooked spaghetti was popping out of the top. He wanted to help, but at the same time he wasn’t sure what to do. Cooking was Jared’s forte.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani really was starting to wonder if he could even clean this apartment, he was afraid of the cleaning he would have to do if he ever moved out, who knew what the hell was growing in the banished food in the back of the fridge now. “Uh,” Lani looked over his shoulder as if he had forgotten, “Spaghetti and meatballs,” he said, hopefully. “Oh! That reminds me, I got wine, do you want some?” He asked realizing he hadn’t been polite enough to ask Odion if he wanted anything to snack on or drink. He was a terrible host. Lani watched Odion and smiled, there was no love lost on either side between Odion and Adam it seemed. Lani honestly liked Adam, he wasn’t someone he would have normally associated with but he made life… interesting at least.

A smirk crossed his face as he raised a brow skeptically. “Yeah you’re one white cat away from a super villain,” he teased, just because they all lived with Lani didn’t mean that Lani didn’t think of them as Odion’s cats as well. Lani laughed, “Oh dear.” God only knew what that meant when Jared was involved. Lani hesitated and looked off into space before peaking back at Odion. “Is he still mad?” Jared had been none too pleased the last time he’d seen Lani and well Lani shared the sentiment considering Jared had convinced Odion to attempt to take the cats. Lani hadn’t necessarily forgiven him for that either, Odion yes, but Jared was a whole different story. Lani loved Odion, but he only remotely tolerated Jared, and he was one hundred percent sure that Jared was the mastermind behind that plot.

“What?” Lani asked and turned his head to follow Odion’s gaze. “Shit!” He dashed into the kitchen and for a moment wasn’t sure what to do and ended up comically flapping his arms at the pot as if that would stop it from overflowing. Finally he decided to combat it with a lid. “It’s fine, everything’s fine,” Lani called back to Odion. The tips of the spaghetti stuck out between them and Lani wondered if it was supposed to. Well sure it was, everyone made spaghetti like this right? So it must soften and sink into the water after a while. Lani took a step back warily as the lid started to jiggle. It seemed to hold well enough, he might just have to… wait was that smoke? He sniffed and inspected the meatballs, they weren’t looking horrible but he was starting to wonder if he should have rolled them since the bottom looked pretty black. So he rolled them and it seemed like it was going okay. Alright, now that should fix the smoke smell.

He held his hands out to the pans as if imploring them to behave themselves as he walked away, there was still time on the timer so everything was fine. “It’s fine,” he repeated as he moved back to the living room. Lani reached out a hand and scratched LJ’s head, much to the cats annoyance, it really appeared the only person he liked was Odion. Well, he liked Caroline too and Avi but very much disliked Adrianna and tolerated Lani because he didn’t put up with the cats antics. Shadow slunk through discretely bumping his head against their legs as he passed and pretended to be aloof again. “So,” Lani started a little awkwardly unsure of what to say, “How are things going with you?” He finished lamely crossing his arms when he couldn't figure out what he wanted to do with his hands.

[Odion Martins]

If and when Lani was ready to move out, Odion could always offer his excellent cleaning services. For a price, naturally. The redhead grinned and gave a nod. “Sounds nice,” he said, wondering where Lani got the idea to cook spaghetti and meatballs from. They both knew he was a terrible cook. Not that Odion was any better. “Sure, what kind did you get?” Odion asked, a hint of a smirk on his face. He also knew Lani didn’t know anything about wine, and at this point he was only teasing. “Is that what you’re drinking?” He asked, trying not to laugh near the end of the question. He actually knew a lot more about Lani than he thought – the blond didn’t really drink wine.

“I’ll assume that’s a movie reference,” Odion said, looking down at LJ lovingly. The redhead stood straight and tall, looking back at Lani as Jared became the topic of conversation. “I think you know the answer to that,” Odion said with a shrug. Jared and Lani would probably never be chums, and Odion didn’t really give a damn. “It might be time to get my own place though, I love that man, but he’s right mad.” Really they all were, but that’s not what Odion was dwelling on now. Had he really just admitted he loved Jared? It was probably a good thing Jared and Lani weren’t close, that was the last thing Jared needed to hear.

Watching Lani run into the kitchen, Odion just kept petting LJ until the cat was practically asleep in his arms. “Uh, alright…” Odion said, not sure what he would have done if Lani had needed help. His nostrils flared as smoke filled the apartment. “Should I open a window?” He didn’t really want to put LJ down, but some things were more important than petting a cat. Odion smirked when Lani returned, much to LJ’s dismay. He was only grumpy because he had been asleep.

Odion stiffened slightly at the question. “Interestingly enough.” Lani should really know better by now. If he was going to ask a general question, he was going to get a general answer. Between trying to get his power under control again and dealing with a huge blow from the past, Odion was trying to figure out what was true in his life. So far, Lani was the only part Odion was sure about. “And what are you doing, other than practicing your culinary skills?” He smiled, wondering if Lani would catch the change of subject.

[Lani Hunter]

The smirk on Odion’s face was familiar and Lani hadn’t even realized how much he had missed seeing Odion’s cocky expression. “Uh…” he started and went into the kitchen and showed Odion the cheap bottle of Moscato, “This one,” he concluded with a foolish smile. He shrugged, he knew nothing about wine, and Odion knew it, but it had been cheap and it was only wine right? It went with everything, right? Lani shrugged and set the bottle back on the counter. “Why not?” He asked his tone indignant, but his expression amused. Honestly, if he didn’t have to, Lani would likely be drinking beer, but he knew Odion liked things classier and so Lani was trying to make things nice for him.

Lani laughed aloud and shook his head at Odion. “You need to get out from under your rock,” he teased. Lani nodded, it was as he figured, well, he wasn’t too crazy about Jared. Especially not after the catnapping incident. He was Odion’s friend and so Lani held his tongue. “Understandably,” Lani said, laughter bubbled from his throat. “Maybe he and Adam should live together,” he suggested. That would be fun. Lani could just see the craziness that would ensue with Adam and Jared living in close proximity. Lani scratched that idea quickly, Jared would be a terrible influence on Adam. Adam didn’t need much more help in the paranoia area. It would be entertaining to watch though, who knew maybe they would finally meet their match in crazy.

Fanning the air in front of him Lani nodded. “I’m sure it’s fine,” he said despite his agreement. Mostly Lani didn’t want to admit he couldn’t do this. He had already almost set the apartment on fire once. Okay twice, but the second wasn’t his fault, so he kept telling himself. The telekinetic watched Odion and nodded. Well good conversation starter, brilliant, he scolded himself. Lani caught onto it but luckily for the both of them Lani glanced into the kitchen at the word culinary. “Holy shit!” He exclaimed. The spaghetti sticking out of the pot ignited. He ran into the kitchen and grabbed for the pan without thinking. “Fuck!” He exclaimed pulling his fingers away, flapping his hands to cool them. His power grabbed the pan and without ceremony dumped it and its contents into the sink. The water came on filling the sink with hot steam as he quenched the fire.

With a sign of relief he checked his fingers for signs of burns but it seemed he had been fast enough to avoid them. He groaned and covered his face with a hand, barely believing his own ability to fail so epically at this. And in front of Odion, no less! “I guess dinner’s ready…” he said pathetically and decided this was done, the meatballs were done, even if they weren’t. But they looked dark enough to be okay. He poked them and they seemed okay, if a little bit black on one side. He shook his head at himself, he should have done the smart thing and taken Odion out. This was just a huge mess. His mood plummeted with the acknowledgement that he had failed so epically at something that seemed so easy.

[Odion Martins]

It was strange how the two showed affection, but teasing had always been part of the equation. Odion’s dark blue eyes followed Lani as he showed the bottle he got. It wasn’t something Odion had ever heard of before, not that he minded too much. “That one looks good,” Odion said, not complaining, but the teasing smile never left his face. Odion didn’t say whether Lani having any of the wine was a good idea or not, so he decided to let Lani find that out on his own. Hopefully he had some kind of backup plan.

Odion laughed and shook his head in return. “Yes, I thought you were helping me with that process.” Honestly, Odion didn’t mind watching movies with Lani, it was nice. They could do it again sometime, when the time felt right and they weren’t busy trying to keep spaghetti cooking and not burning. When Lani suggested that Jared and Adam live together, he let out a hearty laugh. “Please, I doubt that any building could contain those two in the same room.” He sighed. “But I suppose you’d also enjoy having your own space, maybe a new roommate.” Odion let his mind wander to who that might be, but didn’t entertain the thought for long as LJ looked up at him and meowed. “Or maybe these loves are enough to keep you busy.”

Carefully, Odion opened the window. They didn’t need to draw attention to themselves via a smoke alarm. And just when he thought Lani had things under control, something set on fire. Odion looked on with wide eyes and quickly dropped LJ as gently as possible so he could move into the kitchen and try to help. He winced when Lani instinctively went for the pan, became frustrated, and then dumped the entire thing into the sink. Odion watched in silence, not interfering unless he would have to. Otherwise, he’d just be in the way. “I guess so,” Odion said, looking from the steaming sink to where Lani was standing, defeated. How could they be such wonderful and amazing thieves, and such terrible cooks?

Odion grabbed a cloth from the sink area (since Lani apparently didn’t have any oven mitts), and moved the sauce onto the only element that wasn’t currently in use. Then he turned the spaghetti pot upright in the sink, on top of the ruined spaghetti. The redhead put his hands on his hips and glanced at the meatballs. “Well those look alright,” Odion said, wondering why Lani hadn’t taste tested them yet. Odion could tell Lani was beyond frustrated with this, so he decided he’d try one first. He plucked one gingerly off the pan and bit one in half. It was hot at least, and definitely cooked all the way through. And the taste… Well… Odion stifled a cough. There was no denying there was garlic in it. He covered his mouth and couldn’t look Lani in the eye as he looked around for some kind of saving grace.

“We can just throw these in the sauce and they’ll be alright.” He finally looked at Lani, not sure whether to laugh or have sympathy. It wasn’t anything serious after all, only food. “Do you have any more spaghetti?” The nice thing about life, was that you could always try again. Odion smiled a little and popped the other half of the meatball into his mouth. It actually wasn’t as strong as he initially thought, or maybe he was just getting used to it. “Come on love, this wasn’t for not.”

[Lani Hunter]

Lani suppressed the relief he felt when Odion approved the wine selection, enough so that it didn’t show on his face. His lips quirked up on one side and he dismissed Odion’s comment. He was going to assume that that was a good thing, although that expression on his face was telling him that he was missing something, potentially something important. Of course there was a backup plan, for Lani that backup plan was beer. Always beer. Well, he knew Odion liked wine and he wanted to do something nice for the redhead. Especially after all that they had been through. It would be nice to relax and just exist in each other’s company for a while.

The telekinetic smiled at the sound of Odion’s laugh. It felt like it had been so long since he’d heard it and it warmed his heart. “I am, and Odion once you start watching movies the world of pop culture is going to make a lot more sense to you.” He assured Odion, probably sooner or later Odion was going to regret this, Lani thought wickedly. He vastly underestimated Lani’s ability to be lazy and watch movies all day. “I was thinking though, do you still have the Back to the Future trilogy?” He asked, as he didn’t and he remembered they’d never gotten all the way through them. “It is 2015, and that, Odion, is a big year,” Lani grinned impishly implying that he was not going to tell Odion why. He didn’t want to ruin the punch line. He had to admit he was a little disappointed that they didn’t have hovercars.

Lani chuckled, “I kinda want to do that just for the fun of it.” Just seeing how the two would interact would be enough for Lani. They could even film it and make millions because a thief with boundary issues and a paranoid conspiracy theorist would have been just too perfect. Lani shrugged. “I don’t know, Adam and I get along pretty well. I mean he drives me nuts, but he’s kinda the devil I know now, you know?” Also Lani didn’t know a lot of people he wanted to live with. He had a few friends at the community college but he wasn’t sure he wanted to live with any of them. Besides, who knew if he would be able to keep his real job a secret from them.

The fire stopped all of his thoughts of conversation and he could have just dumped all of the spaghetti, pot and all out the window Odion had just opened. Lani’s mood dropped and he simply watched Odion move around and fix things. Lani only then looked around the room, a curious look on his face. Adam must have done something with the oven mitts. Lani perked up a little bit when Odion spoke. Everything hadn’t gone to hell? Lani watched Odion with a hopeful look on his face as he sampled one of the meatballs. He waited with bated breath to see if Odion would say anything. When he finally did, Lani brightened. “You mean they’re good?” He asked in disbelief. Imagine that, he’d made something that wasn’t going to kill the eater.

Taking Odion’s optimism to heart, Lani to the cabinet. He shifted things around a bit and shook his head. He started to look for anything remotely pasta like, but the best he was able to come up with was rice. And god knew he’d already failed at rice. “I don’t… but…” He moved to the other side and started digging again and shook his head again. “Nope, best thing Adam’s got is ramen. Can we use ramen?” He looked at Odion. If it wasn’t clear that he had no idea what he was doing before, it was certainly clear now. He sighed and leaned against the counter his shoulders slumped. “I’m sorry, Odion.”

[Odion Martins]

It seemed that Lani always had a backup plan, so Odion wasn’t too worried about his drink selection. It didn’t mean he would enjoy the sour look on Lani’s face any less when the time came for it. But enough of any drink and pretty soon it would taste exactly like how you wanted it to.

“The world of pop culture?” He grimaced, wondering what kind of person he was turning into. “I think I’d prefer just being… cultured.” And he had proven time and time again that he was. But after Lani was done showing him his favorite movies and things, perhaps Odion could teach Lani some things too. And in his opinion, they were more important. Art, history, important people… Things that weren’t always so nonsensical or time consuming for the sake of consuming time. Odion nodded – yes he did still have the trilogy. Or well… “Jared has it actually,” Odion pondered, his brow furrowing. “It’ll be somewhere in the apartment,” he added with some disdain. He was not a bloody house maid, though Jared seemed to capitalize on the thought. He sighed and a devilish smirk came to his face. “I guess I should watch them to find out why,” he said, taking the bait, “and I suppose you could join me?” He was, after all, always the gentleman.

A smile split Odion’s face as Lani put the idea of Jared and Adam living together in his head. It would certainly be entertaining at the very least. Giving a nod, Odion decided to let the subject drop. “There are other devils you could get to know,” he suggested, but he wasn’t going to say who. It was far too soon for something like that to be suggested. However, Odion’s thoughts were similar to Lani’s. How was he going to convince anyone that a single college man could afford any kind of rent on his own, without a job or visible funds?

Odion wouldn’t have argued with Lani’s actions had the pot with the spaghetti been defenestrated. And he also wasn’t trying to annoy Lani by buzzing around and tidying up. It was really just an automatic thing for him to do – and he hoped it was helpful. But even he had surprised himself by eating one of the meatballs. Even the way he had eaten it, with his fingers no less, was out of character. Did he really want to brighten Lani’s spirits that much? He would never go out of his way like this for anyone else. “They’re not bad at all,” Odion said with a nod. “Really.”

Odion went ahead and dumped the pan of meatballs into the pot of sauce and gave it a stir. He gave the sink spaghetti another look while Lani rummaged around in the kitchen. There was no saving it, it was burned to a crisp. How had Lani managed to do that? It was something Odion had never seen before. The redhead shook his head. “If you want ramen, it’s not going to come from a package.” He didn’t have the heart to say it wouldn’t really go well with meatballs and marinara sauce. Asian cuisine meets Italian – ick. Odion looked up from the stove to find Lani downtrodden and upset. He left the remaining food where it was, and approached Lani, lacing his arms around the blond’s waist. “You have nothing to be sorry for.” Lani was the sweetest man Odion had ever met. “It’s more than I’ve ever made anyways,” he laughed and cocked his head to the side, studying Lani for a moment.

“The way I see it, meatballs and wine aren’t going to be filling for either of us, so…” he reached into his back pocket, taking out his phone, scrolling through his contacts, pretending to be nonchalant while he was still very much so pressed against Lani. “What do you want? Nearly any kind of food can be delivered.” He flashed a smile and showed Lani his screen, which had every restaurant available within delivery range.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani laughed at the expression Odion wore. “Can you really be cultured unless you take in all aspects of culture?” Lani countered. There was no doubt that Odion was the more sophisticated of the two of them, but there were certain things in culture that changed. To be honest art and history bored Lani to tears. He was one of those people who could appreciate art but his reactions were usually along the line of ‘okay cool’ and then he moved on. Maybe if he hadn’t had dry and boring history teachers all his life he might find history interesting but as it was he could do very well without it, thank you. Should Odion suggest those things Lani might grumble but he’d do it because it was something Odion cared about. The same way Lani could force Odion to watch movies with him. It was all a matter of opinion, did things have to be stuck to canvas to be artistic?

Grinning, Lani wondered if the redhead had driven Jared nuts with his order yet. Nodding, Lani narrowed his eyes a bit meeting that devilish smirk with his own impish grin. If anyone had been watching them, one would think they were plotting some masterful scheme, not simply discussing movies. “I’d love to,” Lani said, he wasn’t going to miss Odion’s reaction either. Lani loved watching them, it had been a long time and he was sure there were things that he’d forgotten. He wondered how much the time machine traveling made sense to Odion, they’d talked about it briefly after the first one, Lani still didn’t understand it fully, to be honest. Lani raised a brow, “I suppose,” Lani said tiptoeing around the subject, “But there’s always the chance that they could be worse, rather than better. Besides after you ran him through the paces, Adam leaves me mostly alone.” Lani laughed.

The telekinetic smiled hesitantly then he didn’t care if Odion was lying to him or not, he was just happy that Odion hadn’t keeled over. “Thanks,” he said visibly relieved, he was sure he used far too much garlic, but at least Odion liked it. It just didn’t make sense to Lani, why would they make spaghetti that didn’t fit into a pan? It just seemed dangerous. Hell Lani didn’t even know spaghetti could catch fire! Well, he’d also thought that rice wouldn’t catch fire and well… He shook his head and shrugged. Maybe he should leave cooking pasta to the professionals. Lani had a package of ramen in hand and slowly replaced it and shut the cupboard nonchalantly. “Right…” He said, was ramen from a package wrong? He had a long way to go if he wanted to learn to be a cook.

Leaning with his hands against the counter Lani contemplated what had gone wrong. He looked up when Odion approached and he found himself smiling. He sighed and shrugged, being close to Odion made it hard to think and the telekinetic met those blue eyes and shrugged again. “They always say it’s going to be so easy,” he said sarcasm thick in his voice. Maybe that was why his mother always kept him out of the kitchen. As Odion dug for his phone, Lani’s arm looped loosely around Odion, very aware of the lack of space between them. As Odion searched his phone, Lani traced Odion’s face with his eyes and Lani could have looked at him forever. He smiled to himself and turned to the phone when Odion turned it to him. “You came prepared,” Lani teased flicking his eyes briefly to the redhead, honestly Lani wouldn’t fault Odion for expecting Lani’s cooking to be an utter disaster.

He hummed absently as he looked over the list and narrowed his eyes on a few. “Hmm, this place is pretty good, but its kinda generic,” he said of a Chinese takeout place, “Oh this place has really good fried rice. That Indian place is good. Or if you wanna stick with Italian, Reggie’s is pretty good,” he said, clearly he ate out pretty often. He looked back to Odion, “What are you feeling like?” He was okay with saving the meatballs for later, maybe he could retry pasta sometime and keep the meatballs and sauce for leftovers. He shifted slightly, his arms still around Odion.

[Odion Martins]

"Of course," Odion challenged, that look in his eye, "I simply pick and choose what I want to take in, as not everything needs to be." The redhead wasn't blind, he knew that cultures were formed by those living in the present. But that was why he viewed everything so differently and as non-linear, he could live in whatever time he wanted to, observe any number of things. Culture became that much more intriguing than he could've hoped for. Why waste that time by dying in front of a screen?

Things were as they had always been between Odion and Jared. They were the best of friends, though such words would never be uttered from either of them. They were more like sibling than anything else, and they drove the other crazy with their habits. The ginger nodded and made a mental note to stop by anything time with a brigade of movies to view. If he was going to die in front of a screen, it may as well be with Lani by his side. Odion laughed as they both recalled what had been done to Adam. "You're welcome." The two had made stealing much more complicated than it truly was, if only to scare the likes of Adam away. And if he would've honestly tried to become a thief, they would all probably be dead in a matter of days.

Really, what Lani had made wasn't Odion's favorite meal, but it wasn't as bad as the smell in the apartment would suggest. Apparently the overpowering garlic had somewhat subsided when thoroughly cooked. Odion felt just as relieved as Lani seemed to look. In hindsight, it would've been a good idea to snap the raw spaghetti in half before letting it boil, but Odion was not about to point that out right now. Judging by the look on Lani's face concerning the ill advised want to cook ramen, he probably wouldn't appreciate any more cooking tips at the moment.

Odion smiled, bemused. "As easy as picking a lock," Odion said, knowing that either one of them could make that task look easy. It was something any regular cook probably couldn't do, no matter how many times someone else had done it. They were terrific thieves because it was who they were, something they practiced all the time. They were terrible cooks for the exact same reason. One didn't simply become better at something by wishing it so. Odion was very aware of the lack of distance, of Lani's eyes on him while he searched through his phone. And if Lani was paying as much attention to him as Odion thought he was, he might just catch a hint of red at the top of his cheekbones. "Aren't you always telling me it's good to have a backup plan?" Odion teased right back, taking the time now to survey Lani while he was preoccupied with the restaurant list.

Lani was blathering on about the food selection, and Odion was completely zoned out on Lani's mouth. The way it smiled and shaped words, the shape of his upper lip... "What are you feeling like?" Odion stared into Lani's eyes blankly. It was like his ears had taken a small vacation. "Um, right. Reggie's then?" It was the last thing he had heard and he knew it was Italian. They didn't need to change the entire theme of the evening just because some pasta decided to go suicidal. "I'll make the call," Odion said, retrieving his phone and pacing towards the living room window as the call went through. Anything to get away from all that he was feeling for Lani right now. "Hello, yes. Delivery please," Odion said into the phone, smirking at Lani before turning his back on him and watched the people walking by on the sidewalk below. After ordering and offering a credit card number to pre-pay (the number of which Odion knew by heart), Odion swooped up LJ into his arms once more. "I almost couldn't hear that the food will be here within twenty minutes with all that meowing." Apparently, he had been missed.

[Lani Hunter]

Lani raised an interested brow at Odion. “Can you ever really experience a culture unless you fully immerse yourself?” Lani countered his lip twitching up into a smile. He’d missed these discussions, debates about nothing in particular. Odion had always challenged him and stretching his thinking. It wasn’t as if this was a serious topic, more of just an entertaining discussion. Lani’s life went in a straight line, that was how it was meant to be and that was how he liked it. If getting sick every time he skipped time was any indication that he was not supposed to be doing it, he was going to listen. He could control the world around him in the present and he could plan for the future but doing things out of order just didn’t agree with him, physically. He didn’t see why Odion thought watching movies was such a negative thing. They were entertaining escapes, one could really say the same thing about a book. They were both informative and interesting.

Laughter lit Lani’s eyes and he allowed himself to bask in the pleasantness of the moment. Things had been rough and of all of the things they had been through the thing broken was trust and to a man like Lani and to a man like Odion, such wounds did not heal so easily. The telekinetic hated it about himself but even now he was waiting for the other shoe to drop, for Odion to disappear again. He was pretty sure he could survive it a second time, but surviving might make him a very different person. He pushed the thoughts away. A small part of him wished he could talk to Adam or someone about all of this. He had pretty much accepted that he was a crazy person and he clung to things like a barnacle. It would be nice to talk to someone who could point that out from an objective standpoint. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk about things like this with Odion, but he knew it would hurt the redhead and they were both too heavily involved. Which also cut out Caroline. Brushed under the rug, it had still hurt Lani that his sister had taken Odion’s side. He knew it wasn’t fair to assume that, but despite the good outcome he still felt betrayed.

Lani smiled ruefully and sighed. “So not at all,” he concluded with a sigh. Maybe he should just stick to take out. It was safer than his last attempt at cooking. So far it was Lani: 0, cooking failures: a lot. For once Lani didn’t comment on the color coming to Odion’s cheeks, he just admired it. The telekinetic gave Odion an impish grin. “And it appears it’s finally starting to sink in.” Honestly, this failure was on Lani, he hadn’t thought that it could go this wrong. He was trying so hard. But it appeared the Cooking Gods had not blessed him this evening. He looked at the list and when his question was met with silence he looked up and met Odion’s eyes. A knowing smile flashed across Lani’s lips and he did his best to suppress a laugh at having caught Odion in a rare moment of speechlessness.

“Okay,” Lani agreed and watched Odion walk away. He quirked a brow at Odion’s smirk and pushed himself away from the counter. He pulled down two cups from the cupboard. He didn’t have wine glasses, so they were going to have to drink out of regular cups. Which ended up actually being two plain looking coffee mugs. He filled each half way and turned to follow Odion into the living room. Odion was occupying himself with the cats again. Lani held out one of the mugs. “We might as well drink while we wait,” he suggested and lifted his mug in ways of a toast. “You know, I’m starting to think I’m getting a reputation as the cat-man.” He laughed looking down at the collection of cats. When one orders from the same places they tend to see the same faces and Lani was very sure that there were more than a couple delivery people that knew his apartment as the one with the hoard of cats.

[Odion Martins]

Odion smiled shyly. "Well I suppose I could always broaden my horizons," he said, reaching for Lani's hand and letting his thumb pass over the rough knuckles of Lani's hand. "I did manage to keep down a cheeseburger once upon a time." He involuntarily winced before his lips faded into a smile. It felt both silly and all at once natural to be having this kind of conversation with Lani. Odion would never admit that he wasn't really interested in watching movies without Lani - why would he want to do a social thing all by myself? Yes he knew that plenty of people did that, but it wasn't something he wanted to do. "You're the expert in this field love," Odion shrugged, tilting his head to the side, "so culture me."

If Odion knew what Lani was thinking, it would have greatly put Odion at ease. They thought so much alike, and trust wasn't going to be an easy thing to regain. But hopefully one day, they could get there. As it was, Odion felt pretty at ease, and despite the culinary mishaps, he was having fun and enjoying Lani's company. Besides, he hadn't first fallen in love with Lani because of his cooking skills, but because he could keep up with Odion and his mind games. He fell in love with Lani for loving him, and helping him feel like he was a real human being, with legitimate feelings and dreams. He wasn't planning on leaving Lani ever again, and when he did leave, he hoped Lani would go with him, wherever and whenever that may be. But things also needed to change between them, become less of an obsession and more of a... relationship. Odion had no idea what that would look like, but he was willing to find out if Lani remained with him. Odion still spoke to Caroline on a regular basis, she had even invited him out with some of her girl friends the other day - apparently he had good taste in style.

Odion raised his eyebrows, daring Lani to argue. "You'll never get better if you don't keep trying, so if it's important to you, you will." He for one planned on continuing to order delicious food from wonderful restaurants prepared by people who were far more talented than he would ever be. He didn't have the patience for it, and he also claimed to not have the time. Besides, you didn't call an amateur to pry open a safe - a professional was always preferred. But Lani's meatballs weren't as bad as he seemed to think they were. Odion laughed and glanced at his phone. "There are lots of things you are right about." He smirked at Lani and hoped to earn some favor in the blond's eyes.

Once Odion was done placing their order, the redhead slipped the phone back into his pocket and gave his attention to LJ. "Might as well," Odion agreed, taking the mug of wine with one hand while the other clung to the cat. "You could be called a lot worse," Odion said lightly, thinking of all the things he had been named because he was a thief. It hadn't even occured to him that Lani might take the words the wrong way, thinking that Odion might be referring to their very ugly break up. The redhead grinned, pulling the mug away from his mouth after he had taken a sip. "You know, I think it tastes better this way."

The letter came to his mind and he bit his lip. Should he tell Lani? Well, it wasn't really a question whether he was going to tell Lani or not, the question was when. Steadying his gaze on Lani, Odion let LJ down gently, the cat quietly protesting as Odion reached into his pocket once more. "There's something else I'd like to show you while we wait..." He produced the envelope from his pocket, still open and already bearing his return address. He hadn't used his christened name. But he continued to hold onto the envelope, his fingers finding the familiar dents where they had been before. "It's a letter to my family." The last word fell from his mouth like a dead thing, as he wasn't sure how they would react, or even who they were. If anyone would understand the situation, it would be Lani. "More specifically, it's an apology." Because they deserved one just as much as Lani had.

[Lani Hunter]

A grin grew on Lani’s face and reached out to meet Odion’s. He couldn’t help it, Odion disarmed him and his head fell back as he let out a laugh at the memory. “Kicking and screaming the whole way,” he added giving Odion an impish grin, quirking a brow at the redhead. He remembered that day well, and cherished the memory close to his heart. Lani raised both brows now and looked at Odion with something of a cocky expression. “You,” he said, “Are going to regret that.” It wasn’t a secret that Lani loved stories, he read and watched movies and when he was younger he would make up stories for Caroline when she was sick in bed. He released Odion’s hand and crouched to give some love to the much put out cats banging their heads against his shins.

Lani knew that Odion hung out with Caroline, she had told him. After the secret they had kept together she had at first warily mentioned she was thinking of inviting Odion to something or other. When it was received, if not with enthusiasm but with apathy, Caroline had seemed encouraged. The siblings had had a rocky time but as siblings were wont to do, they patched and smoothed things over. Lani hadn’t told her the depth of his hurt but somehow she had known. It was mind blowing to see her, she had delivered her apology with grace and followed it with her assessment of the situation. Without that, well Odion and Lani might be having a very different night, very far from each other. When they had started the first time, Lani had thrown himself wholly into the relationship and having been hurt he was less enthusiastic about doing so again. It was hard, after being betrayed to trust again, but Lani was trying, because he knew that blame was his to share as well. Nevertheless, he shied away from that which they had been before.

Of course Lani argued. “I don’t know, I’m about oh-for-uh… a lot at this point.” He glanced back at the ruined pasta remains. Someone even remotely good at cooking would have to wonder what the poor pasta did to deserve such treatment. He shrugged. “I’m not too upset with takeout,” he added absently. Odion’s next statement caught Lani off guard and he gave Odion a skeptical look. “I’m going to remember that you said that,” he teased. If there was something they continually bickered about, it was their differences in preferences. Odion was spontaneous and Lani liked things to be set. He liked a working goal, a structure with which to set his life around. The pair of them were contradictions themselves. The order and spontaneity of Odion’s life and the chaos and structure of Lani’s. Lani smiled to himself as he mused this and found himself watching Odion as he snuggled with LJ. That cat had never taken to favoring anyone else. It was as if he remembered exactly who it was that held him when he opened his eyes.

Lani’s expression faltered for a millisecond and he caught it and pulled up a mask. He swallowed that statement, so carelessly tossed. Probably not with malicious intent, Lani reminded himself. But still, it made him wonder. What exactly did Odion mean by that? For a moment his every sharpened and pierced at Odion like daggers. He swallowed a little more wine than he intended and looked into his mug to take his thoughts away from that. Half paying attention Lani looked back up, his eyes softer but at the same time distracted by the thoughts playing around in his mind. “Yeah?” He hummed taking longer than he anticipated to recover. Finally, he drew encouragement from Odion’s smile and smirked, “Here I thought you would shun me for such…” he looked at the mug as he considered the right word, “disgrace.”

Lani turned away from Odion then, his mind not necessarily moving in the directions that he wanted it too. This was supposed to be a fun night, he reminded himself. No heavy talking. No sadness, no anger. He thought he’d gotten that all out of his system. Apparently not. Well, at least he was handling it well, maybe working it off with the hard run he’d done with Karalie had done him some good after all. He set his mug down on the table and sat down on the couch turning his attention back to Odion his expression curious. He rose again when Odion withdrew the envelope. He opened his mouth to ask but couldn’t find the words. Lani was honestly shocked, he hadn’t expected anything like this. Odion had been so adamant about not wanting to be with his family, not wanting anything to do with them that this made Lani feel rather like he’d been hit with a board. Lani stepped toward Odion and reached out, gently putting his hands on Odion’s arms.

“What are you going to do?” Lani asked, playing devil’s advocate now. He’d tried to force it upon Odion and now Odion was bringing this to him and Lani wanted to know if this was what Odion wanted. “If you send this,” he said pointing at the letter, but not touching it, “That isn’t going to be the end. You know that right? That’s not going to be enough for them. They’re going to want to meet you. Talk to you.” As he spoke his voice was level, unbiased. “Odion, you cannot send this letter and break clean.” He repeated as if he wasn’t sure Odion was going to understand. “If you send this letter, you’re offering more than just an apology.” He looked down at Odion, his gray eyes flickering over Odion’s face trying to find some sort of explanation.