I'm A Loser

[Deleted]

Oriel always felt weird walking past the elementary school. He always had to, when he stayed the night over at Phoenix's dad's place and had class the next morning, but it always gave him a weird feeling in his gut. Probably from the crowds of kids playing on the that stupid spider-gym, or jumping off the swings, and just generally trying to do any sort of activity that could break their necks. Oriel was never like that when he was their age, nope! (He was worse.) And no, he was not feeling sorry for himself because his childhood was completely fucked up and he never got to enjoy it so carelessly and mindlessly like these little snot-producing urchins were.

Okay, so maybe Oriel did have issues, but that was half the reason why he often took the other route to the school, the one that didn't pass the playground and the broods of gnats swarming over it.

Today, something possessed him. What it was, he did not know, perhaps it was fate, or the position of the stars, or the will of the gods controlling them, but something possessed him to take the more direct route to Hammel that morning instead of the longer one. Oriel would argue that it was simply because he was late and planned to dash past the gated playground anyway, a piece of toast hanging from his mouth and looking very much like a typical high school (girl) student trying to make it to class on time, like a scene straight from one of those Japanese cartoons some people were obsessed with(he didn't see the appeal).

Oriel grunted in disdain watching all those cheery kids as he nibbled and munched on his toast. Whatever. He didn't need to care. Oriel pulled up his backpack to a more comfortable(and stable) position and started trotting down the sidewalk. He could probably still make it if he just kept at this pace and didn't stop(thank fuck for stamina, yaay!). Oriel had his head down, however, as he ran, watching the sidewalk directly in front of him more than what was going on further down, and so he didn't see the pair that had just turned the corner and started walking(rolling) towards him a good distance away.

He looked up by chance when they were no more than 15 feet away and skidded to a stop. His eyes went wide. Oriel recognized that pair of idiots, that wheelchair, those broken legs, those stupid wings, and that ugly tooth-brat pushing him from behind. It was the brat that was the problem though. Maybe he didn't see him!? Maybe? Hopefully? What should he do? Run? Good plan!

Oriel was paused for a whole of three seconds while he made that decision, and his kicks to the sidewalk left him running into the side of the chain-linked fence beside them. He instinctively started crawling up it like a hoodlum trying to escape the police.

[Deleted]

This was all… Very new to Kodi.

Apparently his mom trusted him (or Gryph… Probably Gryph) enough now to allow the both of them to take little Belle to school. Even though she was only four, the little thing was damn sharp already, and Kodi knew she was probably going to be at least almost as smart as he was by the time she was his age. Probably more talented, too… Whatever. Despite not knowing how to be an older brother, and being new to this whole thing, Kodi was really trying his best to at least not be horrible at his new and unexpected position. So while he didn’t really know how to converse with Belle on her level yet, and there were a lot of awkward times where he didn’t know what to do or say to her, he was at least making an effort.

Fuck. Look at that little twerp, making more friends than I have already, he mused idly to himself as he pushed Gryph along the sidewalk, watching his little sister talking excitedly beyond the chain-link fence to a couple other girls. Maybe I should ask her for advice… The idea amused him slightly, and a wry smile touched his lips. “Hey Gryph, you think she could teach me how t’make people not hate me?” he joked dryly. “How the hell are we even related?” Apart from the intelligence, the two siblings seemed completely different.

He was so caught up in watching his sister that Kodi wasn’t really paying attention to where he was going, assuming Gryph would let him know if he was about to bump into anything. He needed to take Gryphon back home before he went off to school himself; fortunately, he didn’t have a full schedule at the moment, so he wasn’t in too big of a rush (not that he would have been anyway). It wasn’t until he heard the sudden and sharp scuffing of shoes that his head snapped forward, and he was met with a strange and heart-stopping sight.

It’s him. Damon. No…. Oriel? No….!

Kodi came grinding to a halt as his mind went into overdrive, breath catching and fingers digging into the handles of the wheelchair as the panic hit him. It was all he could do not to bail and run, and it took him a couple moments to realize the boy wasn’t coming at him… On the contrary, he seemed to be trying to run away. In the stupidest way possible. What the hell was the monster doing!?

“G-G-Gryph,” he stammered, frozen to the spot. His wide eyes never left the retreating boy’s form “It’s him. He’s… Why is h-he running away?” Kodi’s breath was starting to come in short, quick pants, but so far he was managing to quell the instinct that was telling him to run. “Why…. Is h-he afraid?” He wasn’t aware of whether his words were reaching the ‘hoodlum’ or not; but his panic, though still there, was slowly leading to confusion.

[Gryphon Matsuoka]

Belle was a really sweet girl. Gryph liked being around her and helping Kodi's relationship with her strengthen and grow. He was hoping that was what what happening, at least - Belle did seem to have a strong liking for Gryphon himself, after all. Hopefully that wasn't getting in the way. And as well as all of this, it was a distraction from the madness going on in Kodi's head, and it was working. That, in itself, was useful.

He was brought out of his thought by Kodi's question, and he couldn't help giggling, "Maybe she could." And then he rolled his eyes. Being related didn't mean they would be exactly the same. "It boggles the mind." He said quietly, sarcastically, glancing in at Belle for a moment before looking forward again.

Which was when he spotted Oriel, but the wheelchaired man had no idea what to do in this situation. If he alerted Kodi, it would scare him shitless. If he tried to distract him, it would be obvious and Kodi would try and find out the problem. So... he fell silent instead. Which helped nothing, but he didn't know what else to do.

He jolted as the chair stopped, and looked back at Kodi. And then he looked at Oriel again and rolled his eyes. Okay, panicking was one thing but that was downright ridiculous, so his attention went back to his boyfriend. Before moving forward, Gryph steadied his own breaths. Then, he reached back to pry Kodi's hands off the chair before turning it himself to take Kodi's hands in his own as soon as he could. "Kodi, just breathe, come on. Nice steady breaths now, sweetie." Whether Kodi listened or not, Gryphon continued, trying to look him in the eye, "That is Oriel. Oriel is harmless, he's just an idiot. He does not want to hurt you."

It broke Gryph's heart to see Kodi like this. He put one of Kodi's hands to his lips and kissed it, "You're gonna be okay, baby, no one here wants to hurt you, I promise."

[Deleted]

It’d been several weeks since the ‘incident’ which left Oriel wondering(terrified) if he and Kodi would ever be able to be friends again. Well, they still were on Oriel’s end, but he was certain that Kodi didn’t want to see him ever after what he did. And reports from Gryphon had confirmed that it was probably the best idea for Oriel to avoid the dentokinetic for a while. How long a ‘while’ was was anybody’s guess.

Oriel was certain that it hadn’t come to pass yet, though, judging from the look of shock(and was that terror?) on Kodi’s face when he finally laid eyes upon Oriel. Could you blame Oriel for trying to run away? For overreacting? For being an overall idiot in his panic and not knowing what to do or which way was up or down, left or right?

He was rolling over the top of the fence when he heard Gryph trying to reassure Kodi with his coos and coddles….and Oriel just rolled his eyes. “I heard that, bird-brain!” he called back to the cripple, turning his head to growl at him.

Whoops, bad idea. Oriel was distracted from what he was doing and ended up getting the frayed cuffs of his jeans caught on the top ends of the chain links. So while he was glaring at the guy in the chair, he was hanging practically upside down(and slightly sideways) on the other side of the fence, unable to move either up or down. Oriel shook his leg in an attempt to free himself. “I’m stuuuck~” he whined, slowly trying to leverage himself upright again. “Ok maybe this was a bad idea…” he mumbled, shifting his eyes pathetically away from the pair.

[Deleted]

Kodi had tried his best to forget about the ‘incident’ (and hadn’t done the best of jobs, if he was being honest with himself). That entire situation, not just with Oriel, but previous to that too, was always lurking in the back of his mind, waiting to pounce when he least expected it.

Well… He really hadn’t expected to be met with the sight of the boy clambering up a chain-link fence into a kid’s schoolyard. If Kodi wasn’t so panicked, he would have guessed how long it was going to take for a teacher to come yell at him. Probably not too long.

But in the meantime… Kodi was oblivious to Gryph’s gaze until he felt his hands being moved, and though the dentokinetic still didn’t tear his eyes away from the younger boy, he allowed his hands to be clutched in his boyfriend’s own. “Breathe…” he repeated numbly, as though he forgot what the word meant. “Breathe…” he repeated again, and managed to gulp down a deeper breath. Slowly, slowly, he managed to even out his breathing, watching the other boy struggle to get himself over the fence. “Harmless… Idiot… Right…” Well… He did seem to be pretty idiotic with what he was doing, so…. So maybe he really wasn’t that dangerous… “Mm…. No hurting…” Kodi would kick himself later for sounding like a dumb parrot, repeating everything Gryph was saying, but it was all he could manage at the moment.

It was the kiss on his hand that managed to get Kodi to tear his eyes away for a moment, and he looked down at Gryphon for a few seconds before glancing up again, his panic ebbing away into something more manageable. “Wh… What is he doing?” he asked again, a touch of amusement in his tone. Not much, but it was there. “He’s… He looks stuck.” Kodi tilted his head. No… He wasn’t so scary now. Not tangled up and helpless like he was. A monster wouldn’t have that happen.

Oriel was voicing out louder now, but Kodi didn’t make a move to get closer. He couldn’t. It was still hard enough just being around him, let along touching him. “… G-Gryph… Maybe you should… Have Belle g-get a teacher…” he suggested meekly, still eyeing the boy. As nervous as he was, he couldn't do it himself.

[Gryphon Matsuoka]

Gryph wished there were just... less incidents. More time for relaxation and recovery and calm, not people being traumatised and smashing their legs and finding out about unknown siblings... how hard was it to just have a simple, nice day anymore, where everything was simple and fine? Simple was just too hard to come across nowadays, it seemed.

He remained... not oblivious, but uncaring towards Oriel's scramblings. Like he'd said, he was just being dumb. There were more important things right now. Like stabilising Kodi's emotions. He nodded as his boyfriend repeated his words, rubbing his thumbs over his hands as he held them firmly, "Yes, yes," Gryph started breathing in time with him, so Kodi had something to judge off of if he needed it. He almost forgot about Oriel at this time... until he yelled at him. Gryphon rolled his eyes and shrugged it off - now was not the time for this. He smiled gently at Kodi, "Yes, you're safe, you're okay," If Oriel even considered making a foul move on Kodi, though, he was gonna get it. Whatever it was. Something negative, definitely.

Gryphon blinked at the question, turning his chair a little again, keeping hold of one of Kodi's hands... and he giggled, "He's being an idiot, I already told you." He said softly, nuzzling Kodi's hand. And then Oriel yelled about being stuck and Gryph couldn't help laughing more at the ridiculousness of it.

He was just considering getting Belle's attention when Kodi gave his suggestion, and Gryph smirked a little, "I was just thinking that." He said quietly, hugging Kodi's legs with his one arm for a moment before getting closer to the fence to get Belle's attention and ask her, sweetly, to get an adult's attention. And then he looked up at Oriel and sighed,

"...moron."

...man, it felt good to say that.

[Deleted]

Oriel would have said a thing or two about the hypnotic “one of us” cult tone that Kodi was repeating the words that the crippled turkey was cooing at him, but the ‘hoodlum’ was too busy trying not to fall on his head. And have his pants ripped right off his legs in front of a playground full of school children. That would get him smacked with a rock-hard label of ‘pedophile’ real quick, no matter the circumstances, and even Oriel wasn’t that sick in the head.

“Mrrr…somebody’s hurting here, you bet your pointy teeth there is…” he muttered and grumbled as he tried to devise a way out of this predicament. Oriel rolled his eyes as Kodi pointed out the obvious. “Didn’t I just say that?” he grumbled again. “Maybe one of you can get off your lazy ass and help me out of this, ‘stead of just gawking there like a couple of tourists. This ain’t a sideshow.” No matter how ridiculous it looked. It was getting harder to keep himself up, especially with his backpack steadily sliding up his shoulders.

“Ahhh~” he growled, shuffling himself around to let the heavy book-bag finally fall to the ground. “Oh, how cruel you are to the helpless, what kind of cold heart must you have?” he said back to Gryph through the fence, his voice completely monotone and face unamused. Oriel shook his foot again. It remained stuck.

Oriel looked between Gryph and the little girl, though, with a curiously raised eyebrow. “……I didn’t know you guys had a kid,” he said. “So…which one of you’s the mother? Or did you adopt? Oh what am I saying, all this before I even congratulate you.” Oriel cleared his throat. “Congratula---waaahhh!” Oriel jumped and clung tighter to the side of the fence when a female teacher showed up menacingly behind him, her shadow looming over his pathetically prone form.

Pause the insulting session so that the boy could finally get free from his snare, and he was promptly rounded out the front gate with the good proper scolding he deserved. Oriel slung his bag over a shoulder and walked hesitantly back in the direction of Bird-Man on Wheels and his keeper. He kept his eyes averted and stuffed his free hand in his pocket. “So…………………hey………’sup?” was about all he managed this time.

[Deleted]

As dumb as Kodi would feel later, Gryph’s assurances and touches really were helping. Soothing. Maybe if he had stayed in the room when the… Incident… Had happened, it wouldn’t have been so bad. Something about the winged man just made everything easier for Kodi. Not that this was easy in any way, but… At least he hadn’t run yet. “Okay…” he breathed as his racing heart slowly started slowing down. Kodi looked away from Oriel again to meet Gryph’s eyes, which helped even more. It was okay. Nothing would happen here…

Not in public, for one thing, but also Oriel just didn’t seem at all capable of… Anything really, let alone hurting Kodi. He even managed a giggle when Gryph spoke. “He is,” he agreed, chuckling up at the boy. No… He wasn’t scary at all. What had he been scared of in the first place? Kodi let his boyfriend get his sister’s attention while he eyed the younger guy, feeling calmer by the moment. Yes…. This was alright. “Heh… Moron,” he repeated with another laugh, ignoring Oriel’s growls and grumbles. He’d gotten himself into the mess, now he had to deal with the consequences, yup.

Kodi smiled a little as Belle came near, teacher following close behind. “Oh… Shuddup,” he grumbled at Oriel, managing a small leer at the younger boy. “She’s my sister… And you better stay away from her!” Yup, he was doing alright. Alright enough to realize his little sis should not be within a hundred yards of the ‘hoodlum’. But it was alright, he supposed, since the teacher was there to take care of things. He let Gryph talk to her and try to explain, if asked, and waved at Belle when she went back to her playing. Kodi took a deep breath as he waited for Oriel to get down and come back over to them, telling himself that everything was just fine. Still, his hand found one of Gryph’s. Just in case.

His eyes lifted to look at Oriel, but the other boy wasn’t looking at him. Was he embarrassed? Well, he should be… “….. Hey,” he repeated, trying to keep his expression neutral. Kodi’s free hand was tapping nervously. “…. Nothin’. Just droppin’ Belle off at school.” Pause. “… What’re you doin’, walkin’ by a school? Phen’s kid-like body ain’t enough for you?”

…. Yup, Kodi would be fine. Thanks for making a fool out of yourself, Oriel, it helped a lot.

[Gryphon Matsuoka]

This was all pretty damn ridiculous... but by this point, Gryph found that that was a good thing. Life needed to be silly sometimes. As long as Kodi was alright, and he seemed to be slowly calming down, which was definitely a good thing... maybe Gryphon was getting better at dealing with Kodi's current condition. He couldn't tell. It just worked, that was all that was important.

"I'm only cruel to this helpless one because he did it to himself." Gryph said, looking up at him, "....yeah, I'm definitely not the moron today, am I?" Said the man in the wheelchair. But he wasn't hanging from a fence, so he could say that.

....this was a bad example for the kids.

Speaking of kids, Gryph let Kodi handle the conversation about Belle. She was his sibling after all. The whole situation, from Kodi's seeming protectiveness over his sister to Oriel freaking out over a teacher, made Gryphon smile. It all just boded well. He spoke to that teacher briefly, explaining that basically, Oriel was an idiot (this was very well gathered already, but it needed to be known) and smiled at Belle when she went away. He rolled back over to Kodi and looked up at him, still smiling quite genuinely, dimple poking in, "Someone's being a nice big brother." He teased softly. He looked at their hands as they were joined and squeezed Kodi's. Nothing would happen... but they could leave if something did. And they had witnesses! Little, toddling witnesses.

Gryph looked between the pair as they awkwardly spoke and rolled his eyes at Kodi's joke, "Delightful." He said, rubbing his neck with his spare hand. Man, looking up all the time hurt. Ow... still, he continued to look at them both, "So... friendship is magic? Kiss and make up?" Yes, he knew how crap that incident had been way back when, but he was in a funny mood, thanks to Fluffy up there. Maybe more weirdness would help?

[Deleted]

“The Incident”, as it seems they were calling it now, probably wouldn’t have happened had Gryphon stayed in the room with the two unpredictable boys. One, because Gryph would have been there to calm his boyfriend before he completely freaked out. Two, because Oriel had a higher tendency to hold himself back(and actually be serious, omg!) when the winged meta was around. Oriel wasn’t sure he realized that himself, but it was likely linked to the ‘hoodlum’ trying to alter his behavior around Gryph so there was at least some chance of them being on friendly terms. Especially considering how much Oriel had fucked up their (non?)relationship already. The boy acted like a chaperone of sorts, he supposed.

Though considering how much like a stupid kid he was acting, Oriel probably needed a chaperone 24/7. Every single insult that was being thrown his way was well-deserved…even if Oriel didn’t agree with a one of them.

“How many times’re you going to call me a moron-slash-idiot? Might be hurting my feelings.” Had they nothing more creative to call him? Like imbecile?

The news about Kodi’s sister…what? Since when!?!? And why was Oriel only finding out about this now!? Oriel would have had more time to react to it if the teacher hadn’t arrived to let him down. And now he was too awkward and nervous standing in front of Kodi and Gryph and feeling their stares on him.

At least….at least Kodi was talking to him. That made Oriel feel (a little) better. Kodi still looked like he was going to bolt if Oriel so much as went “boo!” at him. Which he was morbidly tempted to do. Fuck, why Oriel, why?

Oriel grunted, but kept his eyes to himself. As in, not on Kodi. He was too afraid too look the boy in the eye. Ashamed much? You bet! “Feh, even I’m not that sick in the head.” Pause. “You and your sister look shit alike. She’s ten times cuter than you ever were.” Oriel still had the proof that Kodi was cute at all in his phone, yup.

Oriel finally blinked his eyes towards the pair when Gryph spoke. Oh, no…he could feel it coming…and it wouldn’t stop…!!

He lifted his eyes to look at Kodi(finally), his eyebrows raised up to his hairline as he prepared to mock the turkey-boy. “I think we better do as he says, Kodi. C’mon, now, huuuuh?” Oriel held out his arms towards the dentokinetic, his smile widening to creepy proportions. He puckered up and sent two kisses his way. "Gimme some lovin' hunny~" he cooed with a bounce in his heels. Then Oriel risked a step forward….

[Deleted]

Kodi chuckled a little at Oriel’s complaint. “I’m sure I could come up with other names… I gotta good vocabulary, after all.” On a normal day, he might have rattled them off, but he still wasn’t comfortable with egging the boy on that much. What if he decided to get violent? Yep, nope, he was done with insults… for the moment. His eyes fell to Gryph. “Heh… You’re always a moron… But you’re my moron,” he replied with a smile.

His smile turned a little awkward and uncertain when his boyfriend complimented his ‘brotherly skills’. “Heh…. I dunno ‘bout that, we just used her t’get the hippie down,” he replied. Kodi did feel a small swell of pride, though. At least he wasn’t quite as awkward with Belle as he had been initially.

He rolled his eyes a little at Oriel’s response, but managed a tiny chuckle. “Still…. You ain’t goin’ anywhere near her again, got it?” Kodi replied more firmly than he knew he could manage. Maybe he was already becoming a protective older brother. Well, he knew how boys could be… He scoffed. “Yeah, she is, ain’t she?” he replied in a monotone. “Maybe my mom hooked up with someone other than my dad. I never asked directly.” Kodi highly doubted that, but then again, he never thought she was capable of escaping his father either….

He looked back at Gryph again when he spoke, and scoffed with a shake of his head. “Ain’t ready for that quite yet…” he mumbled, feeling a little uneasy. His uneasiness grew when Oriel reached forward and stepped towards him, and Kodi stumbled back, practically hiding himself from the younger boy behind Gryph’s wheelchair. “S-stop!” he pleaded, his earlier mocking tone all but gone. “Please… N-not too close…” So much for being over it. Those reaching arms had just unsettled him to his core. It’s just Oriel, he tried to remind himself. “Don’t hurt me.” His voice was barely a whisper.

[Gryphon Matsuoka]

Gryphon chuckled. It wasn't exactly in his nature to be really mean unless he was truly upset, so his own insults weren't going to escalate much more from what they were at this rate. Besides, there were children around. He couldn't say anything else in the presence of the little peoples. He looked up at Kodi with an eyeroll at first, but ended up smiling. "Dork." He said softly, headbutting Kodi's stomach. Kodi was the first one to call him a moron after all, but it had been so long ago, Gryph could barely remember when he'd been given the nickname.

"No, no, you care." Gryphon said, with a wider smile, "I can see it in your face. And I was the one who asked for her help anyway." He looked up at Kodi, eyes sparkling. Seeing him act like that was so attractive, so sweet. He could tell he was slowly getting along better with Belle, and he was very glad for that.

And when Kodi spoke again, it just proved his point. He definitely cared. It made Gryph keep smiling, softly. He silently stated that Kodi was capable of being just as adorable as Belle when he was comfortable, but it was something he kept to himself. He highly doubted, personally, that Kodi and Belle had different fathers, though. Just an opinion.

But... oh shit, maybe he shouldn't have phrased that the way he did. Why did I have to crash into that damn tree... If he hadn't, Gryph would be able to help in this situation a lot more than he was. All he could do in this state was just watch Kodi's confidence crumble as Oriel spoke and moved. His own expression became more serious, and he looked at Oriel sternly. This definitely felt like his own fault, but he was still annoyed that this had happened. He kept his eyes on Oriel for a few more moments, as if to silently say ‘That’s enough’, before swivelling around to face Kodi, putting a careful hand on his cheek. It was a bit of a reach, but hey, if it looked silly and made him laugh, that was one solution to the problem. He tilted his head, "It's okay, baby, no one wants to hurt you, I promise." He glanced back at Oriel momentarily before facing Kodi again, "I promise. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have suggested it in that way..." Blaming himself? At least a little, yes. His hand moved to Kodi's side, "You're safe." Constant reassurances seemed to help, usually, so it was what Gryph was sticking to. Even if people saw, even if they were given weird looks, it did not matter. Kodi mattered.

[Deleted]

Oriel rolled his eyes at Kodi. He spoke as if Oriel had gone near the little girl on purpose and not as a result of trying to get away from the dentokinetic so...so that Kodi didn't have to see him. Or confront him. Or talk to him. So much for that plan. Though...he supposed that they would've had to do this sometime, eventually. The two couldn't keep avoiding each other forever...well, actually, they could and that's what Oriel was afraid would have to happen. He didn't want to have his best friend so terrified of him that they couldn't even hang out together, or even talk, much less play-fight like they tended to do.

Oriel was hoping that a little bit of silly would dissolve the tenseness in Kodi, maybe allow him a moment to see that there was nothing for him to worry about.....but when Oriel took a step forward, arms outstretched...Kodi took a step back. Not just a step back, but a step back behind his wheelchair-bound boyfriend, as if Gryph was in any condition to protect him.

Well....it wasn't like Oriel was ignoring Gryph either, and he saw that stern look the bird-man gave him. Oriel's face dropped along with his arms, and he retracted the step he'd just taken. "Right," was all he said. Oriel put his hands back in his pockets, a reminder for him to keep those hands to himself. Oriel looked away again, unsure if he should stay or if he should just do everyone a favor and go already. Probably the latter was the best option. Besides, Oriel was late still...

Oriel cleared his throat. It was starting to tense up. "I...I think I better just go...." he said, keeping his eyes locked away from the pair. He took another tentative step, though this time to the side, attempting to round the two other boys with a very wide berth. He still had to get past them somehow to get to Hammel.

[Deleted]

Kodi didn’t want to be afraid of Oriel. He really didn’t. Even when he’d gotten terrified of him before, and suffered the consequences afterwards, he remembered some of the good things they shared. That just didn’t keep him from being afraid then and now, though. He couldn’t help that, as much as he wished and wanted to change it… Because he did like Oriel, and all of his stupid shit. Well, most of it, at least.

He didn’t blame Gryph for what he said. Under normal circumstances – if he and Oriel had just been angry at each other about something, for example – he would have accepted the gesture. Hell, he might have even let the boy land a smacker on him, and blame it on Oriel if Gryph complained. But that wasn’t the case now. Now, all he could see were those hands that had suddenly become claws reaching out for him, that toothy smile that said it was going to devour him whole. He became aware of Gryph’s hand on his face and looked at him with a weary expression. He was so tired of this happening… “I know…” he mumbled, feeling his panic die down quicker than last time. Thank god. “I’m fine… It’s okay. Really.” Well, not really, considering it had even happened in the first place, but at least he wasn’t running away entirely.

He appreciated his boyfriend’s words, though, and managed a small smile before slowly looking up at Oriel again. The younger boy seemed totally dejected, and it stunned Kodi for a moment. Did it… Had Kodi’s fear really upset him that much? “Oriel…” he said quietly, wracking his brain to think of what to do. “Please… Don’t go… Yet….” Kodi tentatively stepped out from behind the wheelchair, trembling as he got closer to the long-haired teen. “I… I think I should try something…” The dentokinetic took a deep breath. “Just… Please… Don’t move suddenly, okay…?”

Assuming Oriel agreed, Kodi took another baby step towards him, and another, until he was standing before the taller boy. He was shaking like a leaf, but managed to swallow his fear as he tentatively wrapped his arms around him. “Don’t move,” he begged again. This was fine. This was… He was okay. Nothing bad was going to happen. This was Oriel… His best friend. Oriel wouldn’t hurt him like… Like the other guy had. Sure, he might be a jerk sometimes, but Kodi was too. “… Okay… You can move… Slowly.” Slowly being the key word.

[Gryphon Matsuoka]

There had been ways for Oriel to avoid this confrontation, and none of them involved scaling the fence of a school, but everyone had their dumb moments, Gryph included, so the avian man couldn't really judge. And as much as he had moments of strong dislike for Oriel, Kodi needed more than one person in his life that he could truly confide in, and so far, unless Gryphon was forgetting someone, Kodi had no one else. If he and Oriel could heal the damage to their friendship... it would help them both a lot, really.

Gryph could too easily blame himself for the situation he now found himself in the middle of. Literally. He could only imagine the tainted thoughts running through Kodi's mind. He wished he could do more, even as Kodi assured him he was fine, because part of Gryph echoed back 'You're not.' But now wasn't the time to be saying that, so he just looked at those tired eyes for a couple more moments before nodding and gently taking his hand back.

Oriel didn't need to leave. Gryph could tell this needed to happen, and Kodi wasn't doing awfully, just not perfectly, which was to be expected in such a situation. Gryphon, however, remained quiet and let Kodi do the talking. If any should control this situation, it should be him anyway. He watched silently, lips pursed, keeping himself away from the pair of them so Kodi could do what he wanted. Gryphon could see the shaking. It killed him to do nothing.

He was... surprised to see an embrace. Pleasantly surprised. This was good, surely...? Even though Gryph could hear the fear in Kodi's voice, he stayed out of this. For now. The moment Oriel did something wrong, he was getting broken toes. He just hope Kodi's idea would go smoothly, sitting back in his chair and keeping an eye on them, as well as pulling out his phone to message a few people. He didn't want to invade on a personal moment unless he had to.