Chameleon Knights

Chapter 4

“Where,” her voice sounded strange in her ears, one was being blasted by a steady hammering… “Where am I?”
“You awake finally?”
“Jaz?” she whispered pushing against the firm, heat beneath her chest and cheek.
“You passed out in that creep’s office. We’re almost to mine and Treize’s apartment, we weren’t really sure where to drop you off,” he offered apologetically as he assisted her in sitting up. His breath caught as a hand landed near the juncture of groin and thigh. He nearly moaned when her thumb butted against his cock. It never took much to rev his engine, just her smell and the jut of her hipbone against his thigh had been incentive enough to stir his lust. His responsiveness was a selling point in his earlier profession and worth extra to the right john.
“You could drop me at Jerry’s… I could walk back from there.” It’s only about ten miles, I think; Rin finished knowing that Treize would definitely say ‘no’ if he heard that.
“It’s already two in the morning. You can sleep on the flipping couch in the living room. Borrow some of Jaz’s clothes in the morning,” the driver brooked no room for arguments. Treize was like that when he made a choice he would not be swayed no matter how foolish he was being.
“What did you call it?” the slender form beside her asked, mirth clear in his tone.
“The flipping couch,” Treize repeated, his brow furrowing as he cut off a slow moving station wagon to beat the turn signal. They were minutes from home and the privacy of a locking door.
“Maaaan, how many times do I have to tell you, it’s called a flip and fuck!”
He nearly rear ended another car as the crass Dummkopf fairly cheered.
“Can you say it?” The imp coaxed leaning between the slate bucket seats with an encouraging grin. His cheeks heated at the idea of saying that so casually. Other words didn’t bother him, but that was one he steered clear of—especially around women.
He was saved from answering by a comment from the back, “It’s also called a futon in polite society.”
“Who the hell in this car is polite or societal?” Jaz demanded flopping back into the bench as they took a turn, he could swear, on two wheels. The driveway was in sight and his fruity pebbles were not far away.
Treize, being both, ignored the comment and waited to apply the break to insure it would land der Balg in the floorboard. He was satisfied when he heard the indignant squawk and saw the passenger’s seat jolt forward with the impact. Got the little bastard every time. “You really should wear your seatbelt while in a moving auto.”
“You shit head! You think you’re so damned funny, huh?” Jerking the door open, Jaz tumbled out into a heap with Rin’s purse strap tangled around his ankles. “Dammmmmmnit! I skinned my knees, you prick!”
“You’re going to wake the neighbors,” Treize reminded him shutting the door firmly, but quietly. “Come on,” he offered Rin a hand out of the car, her heel slipping on the shifty pea gravel. She looked uncertain, but followed him any way not letting go of the grip on his hand until they reached the concrete pad at the base of the termite besieged porch steps. Their apartment was the last one on the bottom floor of the renovated brick building. “Are you coming,” he called back to the last of their group.
“Eventually, you—“
“He’s fine,” Rin smiled that tiny signal of humor she had found not long after they had met. He had asked her for directions after being lost for hours in downtown New Orleans and then run into her again a few days later near the campus at a coffee house talent night.
An answering smile ushered her into the living room. He was glad he had cleaned the place this morning between classes; it was usually a real sty. Flipping on the lights and leaving the door open for Jaz; he led her into the kitchenette. “Are you hungry?” He offered searching the cabinets for Jaz’s cereal, bread and a bowl. The guy was such a child, always with the cereal before bed, and loaded with sugar.
Rin shook her head, the sleek cap of her dark hair unmoving from the gel. Their apartment was large for as little money as they made between the diner and their gigs.
“You probably should eat, that’s part of why you passed out,” he was trying to be gentle, but firm. Rin was known not to eat anything besides a few crackers or a piece of fruit a day. Their boss, Jerry, was the one who had pointed it out to him and had taken it upon himself to start seeing that his people were fed before they left the diner at night.
“I’m not hungry, but thanks anyway,” she really didn’t want to get into this with him again. Treize had asked Jaz to spy on her at lunch she knew, she had concluded as much after she had skipped a few meals and he had nearly force fed her at work. She had never been so embarrassed, and then Jerry got involved… Sweet, endearing meddlers.
“You didn’t eat today at all,” he was not going to drop this, not while she was under his care, in his home. Not after her dropping dead away in front of that beast. Wolves smelling weakness would take advantage of it. “Just have some of my sandwich,” he bargained going to the fridge and taking out some ham and mayonnaise.
“If I do will you leave me alone?” It was no use trying to deny him when he was ‘duty bound’.
“Ja, I will.” He started stacking the sandwich, a thick, slavered double-decker. After this he was locking himself in the bath to have a soak.
“Thanks for leaving me tangled in your damned purse,” Jaz sniped as he stomped through the still opened door, banging it shut and dumping the huge canvas bag on the scarred coffee table.
“Be quiet and eat your cereal,” his roommate snapped, nearly nicking himself with the knife as he halved the sandwich.
“It’s late and you have to be at school early. You have morning detention again, remember?”
Jaz frowned darkly at her. Usually she wasn’t so vindictive but the boy had promised to quit reporting her every dietary lapse to Treize. Apparently he wasn’t keeping his end of the deal. Sniffing in irritation, he stalked around her and got his cereal.
“You have detention, again? That’s the fourth time this month. What are we going to do if the principal wants to meet your guardians?” Treize demanded plopping half the tower of meat and bread onto a plate and guiding it and Rin to the table. Returning to get his own food, he waited patiently for Jaz to offer some sort of solution.
“Geez, I’m eighteen, man. What are they gonna do if I tell them no? Not like they can call them, ma and pa are both dead. I’m too old for the state to care,” he wasn’t worried about it. Why did Treize hafta stick his nose in everyone’s business?
“They will kick you out if you keep causing trouble,” Rin interjected, staring at the enormous portion on her plate. Her stomach rebelled at the thought of eating all that in one sitting.
“If that happens you owe me a lot of back rent,” the blonde warned taking a bite of his food and licking the stripe of mayonnaise off his bottom lip after swallowing. “I let you live here free under the condition that you graduate. It’s an awful lot of money you’ll owe if you don’t. And I will be paid back.”
“I’m not gonna get kicked out, damnit!” the other boy snarled slamming the milk carton down hard enough to crumple the bottom of the cardboard. “Fuck it, I’m going to bed.” He stormed off, calling over his shoulder, “Enjoy yer dinner, Rii-chun.”
The slamming of a door ended the tantrum for his audience. Sighing, Treize dropped the last quarter of his sandwich back onto the plate and set it in the fridge. “You don’t have to eat that whole thing, just some of it, okay?” The room was tense after the scene that had just spieled out. “Sorry he’s being so difficult.”
“School’s hard on him. People pick on him because of his hair and he’s not very athletic. His grades are horrible too but all the girls like him.”
“Which means all the guys hate him, right?” the German man chuckled softly, his mouth twisted in a wry grin. He had never really had that problem.
“I’ve never seen a more reviled person,” she dead-panned only her eye giving away the laughter.
“Adversity is good for him.”
Rin nodded, finally spying a vantage point from which to tackle her meal.
“I’ll get some extra blankets and a pillow.” Pushing off of his perch on the counter, he disappeared through the kitchenette and out of sight.
Two bites later and he was back to make the futon up. Wishing her a “Guten Nacht” and free reign of his closet if Jaz was difficult in the morning. She watched him disappear again and figured it was safe to ditch the rest of the sandwich. Chewing was causing her to gag at the texture of the soggy bread. Sleep was what she wanted now. It would be nice to rest without having to worry about being forced out into the cold or having to curl up on the concrete porch steps while her friends ‘entertained’.
Cleaning up her mess, she hit the lights and went to nestle into the fresh sheets, cocooning the ratty maroon and navy quilt tightly around her. Sleep was quick coming despite the hovering memories that pelted her subconscious with their grubby, stained fists.
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