Once Upon a Misunderstanding [Sammy]

[Evan Brackett]

Evan was having a pretty good day so far, except he could swear that Sammy Rixon--who was doing a terrible job of hiding behind a girl who was standing in lunch line a little ways down--was stalking him. The older boy had appeared shortly after Evan had arrived at the cafeteria from his last class, and it quickly became apparent that he was trying to avoid detection.

It was just a little bit creepy.

Even more creepy than the birthday present the pyro had gotten him. Evan had found the box and it’s accompanying hand written card on his bed earlier that week, with no explanation as to why the boy had given him a gift in the first place. They’d never really met other than one unfortunate experience, and after that, Evan only saw him a few times when Levi had invited Sam over. Moreover, the phaser had no idea what to make of the present. He would have returned it to Sammy if he wasn’t too embarrassed to do so, but how was he suppose to return a box of condoms? Instead, he had stashed it in the back of his dresser drawer.

Evan tried not to think about that as he walked up to the serving station and retrieved his lunch. Of course, as he walked away with a plate and drink in hand, he couldn’t help but glance back at the failure of a ninja. Sammy was still following him, still trying to hide that fact, and still doing a terrible job of it. With a sigh and a roll of his eyes, the brunette sat down at an empty table, hoping Sam would keep his distance.

Nope.

[Samuel Rixon]

Sammy was having a good day too. A very good day.

Why?

Because today, he was a ninja. Better yet, a ninja spy. All because his little buddy Levi wanted him to find out the answer to one very simple question. He could do this. It would be easy. He just had to track the guy down, and ask him. But that was no fun. The fun came from the game of ninja, which the pyro was, sadly, woefully bad at.

Ninjas are quiet. Unless they are named Samuel. So far, Sam had failed that requirement. He was far from quiet as he bounced down the hallway, darting between students. Ninjas were also graceful. Another nail in Sam’s coffin. He’d tripped over his own feet, he’d smacked into a wall after rounding a corner too fast.

And now he was in the cafeteria, pretending that Evan couldn’t see him through the girl in front of him. No. He was a ninja. Ninjas were invisible. He ignored the dirty looks she shot him as he bounced on the spot, tracking Evan to his destination. He wasn’t sorry about the present he’d left for Evan. He’d just figured that if he really did like boys, then he would date Levi, and dammit, he didn’t want his little buddy getting diseased or pregnant. And if he liked girls, well... then they’d come in handy too.

Plus, they TINGLED. Therefore, they were awesome.

Once it was his turn, he just grabbed a can of Red Bull and marched his way over to Evan’s table. (Marching behind yet another unsuspecting student, who also gave him a dirty look, the jerk.) Deciding that the burning question he just had to ask wasn’t going to wait any more, he slid in beside Evan with a little grin. “Hiiiiiiiiiiiii Evan.”

Evan, just move away. Fast.

[Evan Brackett]

Evan had hoped that this was just a weird thing Sammy did to kill time in the lunch line, that once he had his food he’d be left alone. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. Even as he sat down, he could feel the eyes of his peer looking at him. He did his best to ignore it and eat his meal in peace, but he couldn’t help keeping an eye on the other boy just in case this wasn’t just a lunch line thing. The phaser dreaded that it wasn’t.

He noticed right away when Sam popped out of line and started marching towards his table, and Van quickly looked down at his food to pretend he hadn’t seen the other boy. Maybe if he stopped looking, maybe if he stopped giving the other boy attention, Sammy would get bored and leave him alone.

That, however, was not the solution to his problem.

When Sammy invited himself to the table, move away was exactly what Evan did. He continued to ignored the pyro, grabbed his plate, and slid several seats over. Unfortunately, the distance could just as easily be closed by Sammy. With a sigh, Evan shot a warning glare at the other boy and moved again, but the distance still wasn’t enough to make him comfortable. He tried to scoot as far away as possible, but this time, as he moved to sit on the chair at the end of the table, he managed to slip off the edge and fall on the floor.

Plus, Evan had managed to bring his lunch down with his clumsy self. With a sad frown, he brushed his food off the floor and back on to his plate. By the time he had pulled himself up, his stalker was already sitting in the next seat over.

Figures.

“Hello, Sam,” Evan muttered as he got back on the chair and dropped his plate on the table. Samuel was acting like a total creep, but maybe it couldn’t do any harm to find out what he wanted. Not more than what Van had already done to himself in trying to escape, and it wasn’t like the other boy was out to hurt him. This was just some kind of game. Evan had given up on running away because, apparently, the older boy wasn’t getting the hint that he didn't want to play his game. “What’s up?”

[Samuel Rixon]

Knowing Sam, it could have been some ridiculous game he’d invented to keep himself entertained long enough so as not to get bored in the lunch line. Sadly, that wasn’t true. It was a ridiculous game he’d invented to pry information out of Evan for Levi. Levi was his buddy, and he loved his buddy. He’d do this for him. Even if it was risking public humilat –

... Yeah, we all know Sam doesn’t care if it leads to public humiliation. At least not on his part.

There were a few ways it was easy to tell that this was about to spell disaster for the phaser. While it’s never a good idea when Samuel Rixon takes a special, stalker-ish interest in you, having him march to your table with a massive can of Red Bull is just... scary. He didn’t need energy drinks. And he certainly didn’t need to be energized while interrogating Evan. He’d promised to be nice. He didn’t need anything to make him forget that promise.

He hadn’t banked on Evan being smart enough to move. As soon as he’d crashed landed at the table, the younger boy was sliding away. Sammy pouted, but it only lasted a moment. Until he realized that he could slide down too. Every time Evan slid, so did Sam, until –

Yeah. Oops.

“Slide much?” Sam asked the question with a little grin, peeking over the edge of the table at the phaser. “Or didja phase your butt outta the chair?” Regardless of the answer, he was amused as he slid into the seat right beside Evan. Personal space was obviously a non-issue for him, as he slung his arm around the boy. “SO. I got a really important question for you.” He made a bit of a show clearing his throat as he thought about what he wanted to say. Levi had said nice. And to be subtle about it. And not to say anything about Evan being Spiderman. “D’ you like booooooys?”

Sam. This is not subtle.

[Evan Brackett]

It was too bad that Sam didn't care about public humiliation, because Evan did and he had certainly suffered enough of it since his Junior year had started. Considering that most of that humiliation was at the hands of Sammy’s friends (and not so friends), it wasn’t surprising that he was terrified at the thought of sitting down to lunch with the pyro. The stalking, the Red Bull, and the marching only added to that fear.

So of course Evan had ran away. Unfortunately he hadn’t succeeded.

Unlike his peer, he did not find his clumsiness amusing. It rarely did more than embarrass him, and at that moment he was down a lunch. In this case, he had simply been too hasty in his escape and fell off the chair, but Sammy was right. Evan did accidentally phase through things all the time, and while he had long since gotten use to it, he didn’t appreciate his peer’s snide remark. “That’s not funny,” he stated as he removed the other boy’s arm from his shoulders. The last thing he wanted right now was for Sam to get all friendly with him, and the close contact was only adding to the creeper effect.

With a huff Van said, “Fine. What is it?” Mentally, he was preparing for the worse. (No, he didn’t have high expectations.) Nothing could prepare him for that question, however.

There was nothing he could do about his face flushing, but that was out of irritation as much as it was out of embarrassment. And it didn’t help that, at that moment, his mind brought up a good point. He brushed it aside at first, but the more he thought about it--the condoms, the stalking, the question--the more likely it seemed that his stray thought was true.

Samuel Rixon has a crush on me.

“No,” he shot out, “And it’s none of your business anyway.” That wasn’t the truth, but Evan wasn’t about to tell someone he barely knew about his sexuality. Very few people knew, and he hadn’t even told his best friend yet. Besides, he was very very adverse to Sammy knowing that tidbit of information, if not for the fact that he did not want the boy pursuing him, then for the fact that Sam didn’t seem to have an off button.

[Samuel Rixon]

Sam had suffered humiliation many times since he’d arrived at Hammel. So far, everything had been easy enough to brush off. There was only one thing that he knew would make him meet his social doom. Vincent spilling what had happened over a year ago now, in his apartment. There was a reason he paid him off to keep his mouth shut. Evan’s fear wasn’t entirely unjustified, but Sam had never done anything to the other boy himself.

... At least, not until now.

But he wasn’t trying to humiliate him. Honestly. He was just doing a favour for a friend.

Calling him out on phasing accidentally didn’t seem like such an insult. Then again, it was coming from a student that routinely got the blame for the scorch marks in the hallways. (Because, no, it couldn’t be any of the other pyrokinetics. Nooooo.) He hadn’t meant it to be mean. “Aww dude, I’m sorry. ... But it kinda was funny.” He pouted a bit when his arm was removed, but it didn’t last long. He just leaned into the boy’s side instead.

Hey, he liked cuddling.

Logical as Evan’s conclusion was, it was so far from true. Which was why he looked absolutely crestfallen at the idea that Evan was, in fact, straight. He wanted to make Levi happy. This was not the way to go about it, apparently. He gave Evan a pouty look. “I don’t care if you do or don’t! I just wanna knoooooow!” He squirmed in the seat. He wasn’t supposed to say anything about Spiderman. But he couldn’t help it. Levi had said to keep quiet.

So, he was quiet as he leaned over to murmur into Evan’s ear. He was keeping his promise! “An’ even if you’re not gay... can you make me a wicked ass web?” He pulled away, looking innocent, and kept bouncing on his seat. He wanted that spider web hammock in his dorm, and there was no way Ema could make one big enough. But Spiderman could.

Right?

[Evan Brackett]

Even though Evan was also frequently subject to humiliation, he didn’t have the self confidence to easily brush it off. It also didn’t help that, in the most recent cases, such humiliation involved loss of pants and circulating photos. So regardless of Sam's good intent, Evan was insulted, he didn’t think it was funny, and he wasn’t going to accept Sammy’s apology. As the older boy leaned on him, he leaned away and stiff armed him out of his personal bubble.

With how sad the pyro looked, Evan almost felt bad for turning him down. Almost. The pouting and the whining did nothing to alleviate his irritation, however. “It’s none of your business, Sam.” Although that sounded like it could be misinterpreted as a yes, so he reiterated, “Besides, I already told you that I don’t.”

As if Evan didn’t already think Sam was creepy enough, the other boy had to lean over, whisper in his ear, and make chills ran up and down his spine. Spider-man was probably every bit capable of building a web hammock, but unfortunately Evan wasn’t. Make a wicked ass what? He didn’t even have the vaguest idea what that was even suppose to mean. Unless it was some kind of euphemism. The phaser wasn’t entirely sure what for, but with all the attention Sam was giving him, Van wouldn’t put it past him to come up with a weird euphemism like that to ask for sex...which actually made sense in the context he was perceiving it in.

...

WHAT?

His expression quickly changed from irritated to horrified. “No! No no no no no no. Absolutely not!” Apologies, he kind of panicked and wasn’t in the mood to be gently rejecting the other boy. Evan jumped out of his seat and put a good amount of distance between himself and Sam. “I don’t know who you think you are, or who you think I am,” he shouted, “But that is not going to happen. Ever!”

So he might have been jumping to conclusions, but Evan wasn’t about to stick around to find out if they were true or not. He wasted no time in stomping away, abandoning his ruined meal on the table along with the pyro.

Way to make a scene, Evan.