Frenemies 5evah~ (Gryph)

[Gryphon Matsuoka]

Specifics were great. They meant you could delve right into the heart of a subject you adore. However, the conundrum it caused almost everyone involved was deciding what that subject was. Oriel would get there eventually, and he’d probably make up for it somehow if he made some kind of a bad decision. Gryph listened to Oriel’s insecurities about his decision (that’s what they sounded like) and he tilted his head, “It can get you somewhere with dancing. Like you said, it’s not guaranteed, and I have heard over a million times that dancing is an unstable job, but… when is anything guaranteed? The only things that are are the things you know you’ll do yourself.” This was beginning to sound like some dumb inspirational speech but this was stuff he learned himself. Life didn’t want to be stable.

Gryph raised an eyebrow at Oriel when he paused, and then started giggling at the harshness of his correction. Gryphon could be a complete dummy, but he already knew the other boy used to hate him. The winged man had felt the same; now, however, he just hoped they had a mutual feeling in friendship, and not some kind of distaste or trickery, but Gryph doubted that Oriel would lie like that. The giggles hardly died down as Oriel took his hands - he could barely look back at him - and he just grinned like a Cheshire Cat until the ink manip finished his little scene, breaking into giggles again and shaking his head, “We could be great.” He repeated, quietly, dumbly, hand to his heart, like the silly person he was.

At the reveal that Oriel liked raspberry, Gryph gave the campiest gasp he could manage, hand to his chest, “By golly, is it truly?” He said in a silly southern accent - thanks Kodi. Speaking of...yeah, the silly mucking around was gone now. He nodded slowly, drumming on the table with his fingertips. Of course Oriel wouldn’t tell him. Neither would Gryph. So he didn’t know, obviously. The barely coherent question had the older one lost for words for a short while, before he swallowed nervously, “...no.” Gryphon sighed, “I don’t know him perfectly, but… but I don’t think he hates you, just… the fear he’s got linked to you now. Damon….” He had to take a deep breath and let it out. This whole situation was more difficult that Gryph would ever like to admit. “...anything can remind him of Damon. I’ve said some stuff before that reminded him of that bastard, he’s struggled to trust me…” The avian man smiled awkwardly at the waiter as their ice cream arrived. He needed this, “...it’s not you. I don’t think it is. It’s him. Damon.” And if Gryphon ever met Damon… he would… hate him profusely from a distance. Ever since his violence against Oriel however long ago it had been, Gryph really didn’t want to attack anyone he didn’t like physically, even if they were scum like that abuser.

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Insecurities was an understatement. Oriel was just outright scared, though he’d never admit it. He thought he knew what he wanted to do, but even then he had no idea how he was going to accomplish it. He just figured he’d get there, somehow. It’d resolve itself eventually. Well….he was at the point of ‘eventually’ now, and realizing that what he wanted was a fucking tall order for someone like himself. Or maybe that was just his self-esteem talking? (Or rather lack of it) Finding out exactly what he had to do to get where he wanted seemed daunting, and, as his conversation indicated, his first instinct was to give up before he even started. But….he was trying to not do that anymore. Somehow. Ugh, trying. Oriel kept his face expressionless throughout Gryphon’s little ‘inspirational speech’. “….your words have completely absolved all of my fears and worries, thank you, oh wise one,” he said with a heavy dose of sarcasm. “I think I can take on the world now.” If only.

That feeling of mutual hate between the two boys had long since passed…at least, Oriel hoped it had. When did he stop hating Gryph? Honestly, he wasn’t exactly sure, but he was 99.5% sure it was somewhere around the time he found out that he and Kodi were an item. There were still a lot of things about Gryphon that Oriel disliked, passionately, but over time, those too eventually dissolved. Well…there were still a few of those opinions lingering within him, but Oriel….well, strange as it seemed, Oriel trusted Gryph. Which was weird, considering their past relationship, but it was true all the same. He grinned and joined Gryph in his giggling, eventually letting go of the boy’s hands. “Now…I know you want me, I can see it in your eyes,” he continued the joke with a point of his finger. “But remember, I got a fiancée and I don’t think he’d appreciate you making moves on his Squishy.” Because Gryphon was obviously the one lusting after Oriel. Who wouldn’t? Oriel was amazing and hot as hell, after all. Gorgeous even. He had pictures to prove it.

Oriel stifled a laugh at the sudden southern accent put on by Gryph. Who the hell was he trying to be? “Why yes, sugah-hun, it is truly and dearly~” he replied in his long unused southern belle voice. He put a hand on his hip. “There ain’t nothin’ bettah than a good ol’ splash of raspberry red upon a sundae on a hot summer’s day.” It wasn’t summer, what was Oriel talking about? He was being a dope.

At least he wasn’t being a (complete) asshole instead, something he had a reputation of doing without much effort. That’s how he landed himself on Kodi’s shit list. Gryphon’s words were…he wanted to think they were helpful, but truthfully, Oriel was going to need some hardcore proof that he and Kodi were going to be alright, not just a few lines of supposing and guesses, no matter how much sense they made. “Right…” he said glumly. When the ice cream arrived, Oriel moved himself from his splayed position on the table and sat back in his seat like a normal person. Ugh…normal. What was that even? “Fucking…if I ever meet that fucker….” Oriel growled from the back of his throat, just imagining the shit he’d do to this faceless person called ‘Damon’. He picked up a spoon and dug it into the ice cream. “….how deep is the lake, you think?” he asked. Because Oriel might need to sink a body in it.

[Gryphon Matsuoka]

Gryph rolled his eyes, “Look, I’m just trying to give you some more faith in your own decisions. If you don’t want my opinion and my painful optimism, you’re barking up the wrong tree.” The only way Oriel could reassure himself that things would turn out perfectly fine was if he made sure of it. And what happened to having fun with life? It was like passions weren’t encouraged unless they were ‘useful’, like science or math. So frustrating… sigh.

Gryphon’s feelings about Oriel were never steady. Always depended on time and place, the situation. One day, he could hate the boy’s guts, and another, he would be perfectly happy with him. Sorry Oriel, not a battle easily won – though that didn’t mean Gryph didn’t like him. He did… some aspects of him. He still disliked his relationship to Phoenix somewhat, disliked his attitude and his brashness, disliked how their personalities clashed on a pretty regular basis… but maybe he was also just a little put off by the fact that Oriel was so similar to Kodi. The idea that Oriel could be in Kodi’s position… nope nope nopeity nope, not thinking about that. Speaking of… yeah, this was definitely all a joke. “Such a shame.” He replied, sarcastically, “Well, anyway, I’ve got a kitty that might claw your eyes out if you try anything either, so…. yeah.” Wow, so threatening, Gryphon. He could feel the slight blush on his cheeks from the lame retaliation. Nyehh…. cue awkward smiling.

The birdman kept making a silly face – wide eyes, pursed lips – it was generally strange. “There truly ain’t, darlin’.” He had to talk like this more in front of his boyfriend. He’d have that dentokinetic in stitches over this dumb accent and attitude.

Gryph knew it was more difficult to believe than listening to some stumbled words of uncertainty coming from a worried boyfriend. Of course Kodi wasn’t fine, and of course there were issues here, but they would be resolved. They had to at some point, had to… the winged man took a breath and let it out, “You’d leave him alone, because he’s dangerous. But I get what you mean…” He would love to see that smug face fall… Gryphon began nomming quite enthusiastically – good ice cream – but he was still sour. “Deep enough.” He was only kidding. Besides, unless Oriel had looked him up on Facebook, he probably didn’t know what the guy looked like. Gryph only knew because Kodi showed him a picture (and told him to stay far away). He just wished Damon could understand what Kodi was going through, but from what it sounded like… he would relish in it, make it even worse. “If I could, I would do something about that bastard. I keep thinking I’ll see him one day in the street and he’ll know, for some reason… such a dick.”

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“Right,” he muttered. “It ain’t like that though….just wish someone could make the decision for me or something.” Oriel was the king of pessimism when it came to him doing things for himself. He had all the confidence in the world on the spur of the moment, but when it came to serious subject, to planning ahead and making decisions that actually mattered, suddenly his mind ran wild with thoughts of uncertainty, going over every single scenario that could possibly go wrong. In this case, no matter which direction he chose, he could see it blowing up in his face the exact same way with the ink manipulator finally concluding that trying to do anything progressive was just a waste of time because he was going to fail anyway. He was trying to not let those feelings overwhelm him this time. Just…he just needed to make a decision and plow forward head-first.

He still had time to think about it….maybe he’d hit up someone else for advice too? Maybe…

It was probably the reason why Oriel maintained such an attachment to the dentokinetic, the fact that the two of them were similar in many, many aspects of themselves. Oriel still didn’t know much about Kodi’s past, but then, Kodi didn’t know much about Oriel’s either. It was the same gist, though: adults sucked and imposed their authority over them one too many times just for the sake of a power trip. Because they could. So the boys acted out, claiming they were ‘taking control of their own life’. But then Kodi found himself falling right back into that situation, and giving that trust to someone who betrayed it, while Oriel put someone else in that situation, abusing the trust of someone else. Oriel understood this pattern on a very subconscious level, though asking him to put it in words would be futile. Though that was enough for Oriel to continue caring a great deal about his best friend.

“I think I can handle the kitty, don’t you worry ‘bout me, sweetie,” Oriel stuck out his tongue and followed up with another laugh. He wondered briefly how delighted Phoenix would be to see the two of them getting along enough to make dumb jokes like this? First they were star-crossed lovers, and now two southern belles. What was the world coming to? Oriel was glad for it though, that they could relax enough around one another to speak playfully. He returned the smile, bright and mischievous, as always.

But when the conversations turned serious…they turned serious. Oriel scowled, not happy with the assumption that he couldn’t take care of himself against that guy, Damon. “Right…” he grumbled. “Ain’t like I ain’t either though.” Though had Oriel ever really won a fight? That was debatable, he’d say, but the reality was that, no, he hadn’t. At least not against anyone who was a challenge. Kodi might’ve been the only one, actually… “Maybe we can tag team him…?” he suggested, only half serious. Gryph wasn’t in any shape to be holding anybody down, not even when he had his legs functioning.