Real men wear pink. (Rivers)

[Zachary LaRousse]

“So when exactly does he plan on getting here?” Zac was frustrated, there’s no denying it. His impatient tapping of the table and crooked eyebrows only proved this further. He grabbed his coffee cup and swirled it on his hands, hoping to entertain himself. His face brightened momentarily when he heard his phone ring (yes, he finally got a new one; the old one was beyond repair), quickly grabbing it from his pocket. But his grin was immediately turned upside down when he read the message, unenthusiastically throwing his phone across the table. He sighed, hopeless and all, throwing his head backward as he slumped on his chair. “Gosh, of all the possible times to be early, why did I choose today?”

Today was Zac’s shopping day. Hammel’s new school year just started so Zac decided that he needed a wardrobe upgrade (despite having so many outfits already that he had to convert the spare room in their dorm suite as his personal closet). While normally his closet expansion involves the streets of New York, Paris, Tokyo or Hong Kong, a fight with his father just a few days ago changed his itinerary to Pilot Ridge’s homely mall. He was supposed to fly to Milan yesterday but he was grounded by his father (quite literally) as he got wind of Zac’s recent display of unruly behavior (particularly towards the freshmen) and frequent skipping of his classes. And to make matters worse, he was also banned from flying his personal stylists over (apparently it was an extension of the private jet privilege suspension). But Zac was not one to simply give up, especially when it comes to his wardrobe. He was going to have new outfits no matter what. Luckily, he had a timely ally by his side: Rivers Deveaux.

Rivers belongs to the select group of people whom Zac sees as an invaluable friend (meaning he sees Rivers as above his average pawns). He just arrived in Hammel, and their first meeting was all but friendly. Like Derrick, Zac got wind of a new ‘talk of the town’ that arrived in Hammel. He didn’t believe the stories about him at first (shrugging his supposed smoothness as mere exaggeration) so he sought him out, and boy was he stunned. Rivers had the loks, style and flair that rivals or even exceeds his own (though he wouldn’t admit it). He’s got a warm smile and was the son of a famous Japan-based fashion designer. Plus he’s welcoming and inviting. Zac was clearly outclassed.

But Zac was not one to give up easily. He tried his usual scare-shame-seduce tactics, hoping to break Rivers and show him his supposed place in the world, but it all backfired. Rivers was clearly too mature and stable for dear old Zachie. He did not know when or how it happened exactly but one day, Zac just woke up and he and Rivers were in good terms. Not close pals, but civil colleagues nonetheless.

Flashback aside, Zac asked Rivers just a day ago if he could accompany help him shop for clothes. Not really a manly thing to do (shopping as a medium of male bonding?) but he was desperate. He needed new clothes and he needed them fast. Luckily, Rivers was kind enough to say ok.

He took one more sip from his cup then checked his wrist watch again. It’s just 12:30, an hour away from their agreed 1:30pm meeting time. This is gonna take a while.

[Rivers Deveaux]

Rivers was still unsure of how his friendship with Zac really formed. It started out with a little rivalry on the training field. Now Rivers wasn't one to start fights, but at the time he felt like he should show off all he has learned the past three years since he was after all the favorites of all his teachers back home. After firing balls of fire from his finger tips he would blow the tip of his index finger like a gun, sort of mocking at teasing Zac. Somehow it soon turned to a friendly rivalry and he they were talking about clothes, shoes, and accessories like brands of watches and hats. It was probably the straightest thing he has ever done, giggling at the thought of it after wards. Yes, Rivers was completely straight, but he wasn't the type of guy who was afraid of male bonding.

He came to that conclusion since he didn't grow up with a father figure. In a way he wanted to do all the things he couldn't do with his father growing up. He liked his friendship with Zac though and he hoped that he would remain friends with his throughout their whole stay at Hammel. Whenever something pissed him off he would swear in french "baisez oh!" Being the in same room constantly with a fashion designer, he was able to practice french and japanese on a daily basis. French was his first language before english. The japanese came easily to him though since he had lived there most of his life anyways.

Rivers had agreed to help Zac pick out some new attire at the mall and he was dying to leave the place without the feeling of being lost. He walked around the campus one day nearly getting lost. He was fortunate to have Zac as his personal compass and guide for the remainder of the day at least. Still he had trouble figuring out which bus went which way to the mall. Finally he found the thirty one bus and sat in the empty vehicle for nearly twenty minutes before reaching the mall. The bus pulled into the front of the mall at the drop off area where a mass amount of people were waiting at the bus stop. He was relieved that he wasn't one of those people at the stop because he knew the bus couldn't fit that many people. There was just no way.

When he entered the mall he was wary of which way to go; Rivers had a bad sense of direction. He stopped the first person walking his way and asked which way the food court was, taking his directions clearly. Away he went, a two minute walk to the food court scanning the area for Zac's big head. He grinned and saw him immediately, tapping his head as he walked up behind him. "Hey sorry for being late...I almost got lost." he said, laughing a bit.

[Zachary LaRousse]

Physicality and personality aside, another thing that irked Zac was the nature of Rivers’ gift. He had an aversion to pyrokinetics since his early days in Hammel (he had quite a traumatic first year due to his talkative and destructive roommate, the bubbly pyro Justin) and was surprised when he found out that Rivers was one (given the name, he would’ve guessed his ability lies somewhere between water bending and telepathy to animals). And when Rivers decided to show off and amaze everyone around him with his fire manipulation mastery, Zac was infuriated. Sure he mastered his powers as well, but jumping high and doing somersaults mid-air was nothing compared to the awesome fire-show Rivers gave the bystanders. ‘If only I could tap into an electrical eel’s ability,’ he thought back then, angered by the fact that he was outshined. Rivers won the heart of the Hammel crowd, and he somehow had a hand in it. Nice.

Rivalry aside, he was actually pretty happy that Rivers became his friend despite the relatively short time they’ve spent together (he wants to use the word ‘pal’ but he still believes that calling someone pal entails seeing that person as your equal or even better, something Zac’s ego wouldn’t really permit). Despite his four years in Hammel, he only had a handful of people whom he could really see eye-to-eye. It was rare that a guy would care about what shade of red would go well with a green scarf so Rivers was really a prized jewel. Zac never really had a same-aged brother (as Cedric, his ‘nanny’, was more of a motherly big brother) so Zac really enjoys their not-so-straight male bonding.

-xxx-

1:15pm. Still a quarter of an hour before Rivers could be considered late. Zac had already finished his second cup of caramel cappuccino (he spilled almost half of his second cup due to a couple of kids playing tag) and was lazily staring at a distance, hoping to see at least Rivers’ silhouette approaching.

It goes without saying that patience is a virtue Zac has yet to develop, among others. Being a rich only child, he just needs to say what he wants and it comes to him in a blink of an eye (it does help having a teleporter in the household). Growing up in social gatherings and parties, he was accustomed to arriving ‘fashionably late’ so that he may have the spotlight. Arriving before the assigned time was so not him.

So why’d he arrive so early you asked? Well it was all because he misread his wristwatch. Zac trusts his wristwatch above all so despite his wall and phone clock saying otherwise, he still rushed to get ready when he woke up and read the time to be 4:30pm already (despite the watch displaying 10am; apparently the clock was upside-down). He only noticed his mistake until after he arrived at the foodcourt, but it was already too late.

Zac was about to stand up and grab another cup of coffee (yes, he is a bit of a coffee-freak) when he felt someone tapping on his head. A typical Rivers entrance, rubbing in your face that he’s taller than you. “Thank goodness you’ve arrived!” Zac exclaimed, unconsciously hugging Rivers in delight, “I was bored to death!” True enough Zac’s been waiting for almost an hour now, but seeing that it’s only 1:35, it was a bit weird.

He immediately let go of Rivers and ruffled the taller guy’s hair as his way of getting back to him. “You should’ve told me you didn’t know the way into the mall, I could’ve picked you up, you know. Driving back and forth was a whole lot better than staring at blank space for an hour,” he said, rolling his eyes to emphasize his boredom. Rivers wasn’t really at fault as it was Zac’s own doing that he got to the mall early, but it was just typical Zachary behavior to let others feel bad for his own shortcomings.


ooc:
I am so sorry for spelling Deveaux in my earlier post. >.<.

Woot! Thanks so much for liking my plot idea Valerie. Me likey Rivers and am thrilled to be with him right nao. *squeezes the life out of Rivers*. Lol. .

- Jam

[Rivers Deveaux]

Back home where fashion was a must, the malls were always packed with the youth and the typical weekend for him spent with his friends were always the same. He didn't mind repetition because in fact, the more one repeats something day after day, or however long that time could be, that person became damn good at it. It was just a fact though and he liked spending the weekend at the mall with his friends, picking out the best styles of clothes they could all find. From time to time out of his group of friends (that were all male) would see who picked out of the best outfit for the weekend and for the winner, the losers had to purchase a new outfit together for the winner.

Naturally Rivers won ten out of ten times, but he gave back to his friends by buying them delicious snacks or paying for the movies. His friends didn't mind and neither did he. It was a win win situation for him. Maybe in the states it would look weird if a group of guys enjoyed shopping together and going out for dinner constantly, maybe it wasn't. Whatever it was, Rivers grew cautious of his surroundings so he would "fit" in as much as he could. He was lucky though to befriend guys like Zac so he could make connections with another human being.

Despite the fact that he was a meta-human as were everyone else at Hammel, he was the typical teenager not too far from normal. he was like the regular American teenager but just with the ability to control fire. He made mistakes just like everyone else and he learned from those mistakes to make him a better person. He also made the mistake of not thinking through the plans for today with Zac. He could have picked up his phone to ask Zac for a ride, but he didn't even once think of asking him.

he simply lost his direction when he searched for the correct bus stop. The nintety-one stopped in front of him and he got on, asking the bus driver for the right bus to take to the mall. He was informed that he had to get on the other one which was coming in another fifteen minutes. Ahh, the waiting game.

"Well at least I'm here now. I didn't even think of asking for a ride, must've slipped my mind. but how long have you been here?" Rivers asked, checking his phone to see the time. He wasn't late or anything, but Zac was having the "poop" face as if he was anxious.

[Zachary LaRousse]

Unlike Rivers’ pleasant and enjoyable childhood/teenage experience, Zac had nothing similar to boast of. He had no weekend trips to the mall, no outfit-contests, no friendly ‘dates’, nothing. He was part of an elite meta-human family, so Hammel was probably keeping tabs on him already since the day he was born. And when he manifested his abilities, it didn’t take long before he was whisked away to the Institute. It was safe to say that his greatest childhood ‘friends’ were his parents, Cedric, and a handful of their house staff.

As for his Hammel friends, well, he didn’t have much. It wasn’t because he was unfriendly or anti-social, he just doesn’t see the need for them that much. He saw himself as a pretty self-sufficient individual who can get anything he wants, so why bother. And as stated earlier, he sees the word ‘friend’ as a bit too powerful, a word with too many attachments. Acknowledging a person as a ‘friend’ to him means admitting that he/she is at par or even better than you, that he/she is a great person, that he/she makes you happy whenever you spend time together, that you need him/her. To Zac’s ego, it was just too much. That’s why he doesn’t mind having enemies in Hammel (in some days, he does prefer them). At least with enemies (or drones), he feels superior, more powerful and he had no commitment to be nice to them.

But that doesn’t mean Zac didn’t have any friends. If it were the case, then he would’ve looked very pathetic. He did have a handful (Zara, Devin(?), etc.) and he did enjoy their moments together. Justin was one. He was his former roommate, who coincidentally is also a pyro. Zac was initially disgusted with the farm boy but being stuck together for around three years somehow softened his heart for the boy. It would be an understatement to say that he was devastated when Justin had to transfer to the Swiss institute just a year ago. And while he did spend some fun times with them, it wasn’t as exciting as Rivers’ weekly fashion show. (They did go to a European tour during their sophomore spring break, but that’s about as extravagant as it can get).

“I know right,” he said, giving Rivers such a big smile. It was really amazing how he softened up to Rivers, considering most people similar to him end up being quite a thorn on Zac’s side. Maybe it was his magnetic personality. Or his sincere smile. What it was exactly, I think we’ll never know.

“Didn’t you receive my message? I think I asked you if you needed a ride a while ago,” he continued, seemingly confused, “Bah. Maybe you were too confused. If I was using public transportation too, I know I will.” Zac would be caught dead using public vehicles (he did try when they went to the said Euro trip and he claimed it was traumatic). “But since you’d be my personal stylist for the day, I’ll let it pass,” he added, giving Rivers a smile that seemed like a cross between innocent and sly.

“Oh. Roughly an hour or so. It was the stupidest thing really,” and then Zac went on to tell his story. While normally Zac wouldn’t let anyone know his flaws (as he wanted to have an image of god-like perfection, physically and mentally), he readily told Rivers his clock misreading story. Just one more proof that Rivers was in fact above the norm in Zac’s eyes.

He ushered Rivers to sit as he told his story, saying it would be quite long. As he finished his story, he looked around the food court, saying, “It’s just a bit after lunch and you used the horrid bus, you must be tired. Or hungry at least. I think I should treat you to first.” He gave Rivers an assuring smile. “You’d need the energy if you’re gonna be shopping all day with me,” he winked.