Fighting Fire with Fire

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"Oh grow up, would 'ya? Would you change your appearance if I asked you, 'cos you really ain't my perfect man. You're cute and all, but I like my men to be a little rougher. A tattoo or two, preferably on the neck, a more casual fashion sense-- and I like blondes. Would you dye your hair? Nah, didn't think so. Don't be so unreasonable, babe. We're harmlessly flirting, we ain't fucking dating or anything," he reminded with a gentle nudge with his foot under the table, gesturing over the man he'd earlier waved at to place their orders-- predictably with a flirty grin and one of his signature winks, which at least earned him a laugh and a smile back in return.

"I like Alice, she seems sweet-- and hey, if she's into freaky stuff in the bedroom, stay with her, just so I get to hear you whine about it in the morning about how she, I dunno, whipped you with a fuckin' belt or something," shrugged Brandon. It was fair to say that relationship advice wasn't his forte. "She's cute, you're cute. I don't see the issue, pal. Do you know what I'd give to have a cute guy who was into experimenting in the bedroom? Hell, do you know what I'd give just to have sex? It's been ages. You're lucky, so quit whining~"
 
"Look, her and I aren't going to work out. Besides, you said, what? One word to her? I mean, you don't know her like I do, mate. She's... She's sweet, yeah, but she's far from stable. We've only been together for a month, we hooked up at a party. We went on a date, sure, but... I don't know. Look, I shouldn't be discussing my relationship with you. I don't know." He bitterly grumbled, the conversation growing irritating as he clenched his fists.

"Yeah, needless flirting. I mean, you clearly seem to be pretty infatuated with me, but it's needless," he sighed, before shooting a grin towards Brandon. "Maybe I should have went to class, this is just making me think of her more. The fact that you're glorifying her, even though you don't know what she's like, is so frustrating. Let's talk about something else."
 
"So what else do you wanna chat about then, pal? My amazingly good looks? Your unsubtle lust towards me? Your asthma? You were coughing a hell of a lot when I got in the dorm this morning, so I assumed you either had an infection or you were, like, asthmatic or somethin'-- my Mum's got asthma, so maybe I'm just quick to assume," shrugged Brandon, resting his head on his hand and, when the milkshake made an appearance, began to stir his straw around the sugary drink.

"Good thing you weren't downtown yesterday, ain't it? I read online this morning that some old guy living near the bank died because the smoke got in his lungs, and he wasn't even at the fucking place. Sad, ain't it? But hey, buddy, if any of those losers attack you for whatever reason, or if you get caught up in their drama, I'll come save 'ya. Maybe I'm a superhero ready to, y'know, wipe out that evil from the city~ Haven't done a great job so far, but maybe I'm just... a lazy superhero."
 
"Yeah, I've always had pisspoor lungs. Never good at sports, as a result, hence why I'm not the strongest bloke in the city," he admitted, while stirring his own drink curiously. Taking a careful sip, he decided to rest his eyes on the skaters outside.

"You? A superhero? I mean, if anything, you're more of an anti-hero. Like... Deadpool. I could see you being some assassin with a heart of gold. Like, you'd punch a corrupt fat cat, but save a puppy from a highway," he offered, while leaning back against the booth fully. "What about me? Could I be a good hero?"
 
Offering a wide grin at just how close to the truth Skyler was, given how many times he'd risked getting arrested just to save some animal from a burning building, Brandon delighted in the sudden memories of those rescues while continuing to sip at his milkshake, only sitting back again to messily wipe his mouth.

"You? Nah. No offence, but I could see you getting annoyed with having to take time out of your schedule to rescue some poor lass or somethin'. You don't strike me as a hero," he answered, honesty really not being that big of an issue, even if that meant he had the tendency to offend people. In his eyes, though, he was just being truthful, and it wasn't his fault if people got offended by hearing a good dose of the truth. "Don't matter though, does it? You ain't ever gonna be a hero, I'm never gonna be one. Who cares?"
 
"So... I'd be a better villain, then?" He offered curiously, unable to keep from smirking himself as he landed his gaze back on Brandon. "I don't know, I think I'm a nice person, nor do I intimidate people, you know? Hell, I can barely scare a baby properly. At my Aunt's wedding, my cousin was there and she barely flinched when I came up behind her. Granted, my family is notoriously strict, so I guess there's no surprise there. That's one of the reasons I'm glad to be in college, I can hang loose a bit. I know you think I'm some piece of plywood, but you should meet my family. They're like a steel pole. A bunch of lawyers and whatnot," he explained, thanking the waiter once given the plate of fries to properly munch on.

"I dunno, society is so fucked up, yeah? Like... With the way everything is, and the fact that there are no heroes to stop it, it wouldn't be surprising if an anti-hero came in. Like Robin Hood, but more violent and a lot less subtle."
 
"Yeah? I don't really care, I'll be honest. Those two guys are freaks, any hero that pops along is three fucking years too late. I mean, maybe if they have some awesome battle like in those Marvel movies, I'd be more receptive. That'd be awesome, actually. It'd fucking ruin the city and cost a tonne of cash, but... I'd get some real cool photographs," he shrugged to himself, licking the corner of his lips, slightly irritated by his decision to just order the milkshake and a slice of cake the moment he eyed Skyler's fries. It was why, without warning, he reached across to grab a handful with a cocky grin.

"You can share my cake with me, if 'ya want? Y'know, friends share. Sharing is caring, right? Besides, if we ever did date, I'd be stealing a bunch of your stuff without asking. I wouldn't care if you, like, took some of my stuff. I'm pretty chill about it," he continued, though admittedly, that was because he had nothing important back at the dorm. His money and all the things he'd stolen were safely tucked away uptown in some flashy apartment he was recklessly paying thousands each month for.
 
His smile twisted to a grimace the moment the other grabbed at his food, though he decided to simply sigh it off, and dipped the fry in his milkshake. "Yeah, well, I wouldn't want you touching my stuff. I'm sorry, but Iike to keep things mine, as mine. Clothes, maybe, but you wouldn't fit into my clothes. You wouldn't be using my razor, or my toothbrush, and you certainly wouldn't be using my card. You've made it pretty obvious that you wouldn't be using my skateboard, either. Look, I could have gotten you some if you asked, but you seemed pretty determined with that." He reminded, before teasingly poking the other man with a fry.

"I dunno, maybe I'll stay away from dating for awhile. It doesn't seem like I'm the best guy out there, apparently. Too stiff, not cool, what-have-you. I'll focus on my studies instead." He declared, while staring down at the fries in thought, his lips pursing. "Really unfortunate, too. You're rather handsome, Brandon, I can't lie."
 
"Who said we had to date, anyway? I'm not into dating, I've said that. We could fool around? I mean, it's all in up to you, ain't it? I've told you that I'd be up for it. I don't think I could ever date you, you're way too strict for me-- but that ain't nothin' personal. I don't like dating," he promised, if only to stop and prevent the other from pouting and throwing a pathetic little tantrum again. He didn't really know what the other was like, because he had so many different personality traits at this point that it was hard to fit him specifically into one box-- but that was one of the major reasons Brandon was bothering with him. He was entertained by Skyler.

"Come on, you wanna kiss me, don't you? No better time than the present, 'cos Martin over there is looking mighty handsome today and he's had his eye on me for a while. If you don't kiss me, he will," he pointed out, pushing the sleeves of his hoodie up purposely for the other man's attention behind the counter, knowing Martin had always been a fan of his tattoos. "Fuck Alice, you said she was crazy. I'm not crazy. I'm fun. There's a difference."
 
Skyler grew quiet for a moment, his eyes quickly analyzing Brandon's face. He wasn't a prude, and had plenty of people under his belt. With Brandon, though, there was something incredibly annoying at the thought of him getting what he wanted. Moving to lock eyes with the milkshake, he glanced up with a raised brow and a simple shrug.

"Unfortunate, really. I guess Martin is going to have a lovely night, then. I assume you aren't going to be at the dorm? Or are you going to do all that in the daytime? If so, you're far more ravenous than I thought." He replied simply, before taking another fry to dip. "I'm sure you'll have fun."
 
"Huh. Damn. A'ight, whatever. I'm probably not gonna be back at the dorm, then. I mean, I'm not gonna pass up an opportunity to have sex, it's been awhile and this'll probably land me feel milkshakes for, like, a month or somethin'," admitted Brandon with another casual, easy grin towards the worker, not at all seeming too bothered by Skyler's dismissal. Admittedly, it pissed him off, though for all of two seconds. He didn't spend his life worrying or mulling things over. The only real annoyance he clung onto was having to share his city with another villain - but he was planning various ways to outdo Skyler's alter and make himself someone to be feared. Right now, he realised he came across as some pathetic punk after yesterday's failure.

"You can go back to the dorm now, if 'ya want. I mean, not to sound cruel, dude, but I wanna share this cake with Martin over there, and three's a crowd, ain't it? Shit, that sounds nasty, but-- hey, we can hang out anytime, can't we? Besides, you ain't begrudging me a chance to chat to a handsome guy, are you? 'Cos that'd be cruel."
 
"I'm a pretty cruel guy, then, yeah?" He replied, seemingly calm as he climbed out of the booth. "You can pay for your food, then. I'm going to head to the dorm, apologize to my professors. You have fun with Martin over there." He grunted, before snatching his skateboard up. There was nothing else for Skyler to say, after all, and he probably would just end up exposing himself when his state of being seemed to change, so it was better to just leave, stiffly but calmly.

So, with his bag readjusted, he seemingly had no problem leaving. It would only be when he got to the dorm, after speaking with each of his professors, that he was at least going to try and let out some steam.
 
For the remainder of the week, it was fair to say that Brandon was distracted. He barely spent anytime in his dorm, and when he did, he was always on his phone or on his laptop, positioning himself at an angle that prevented Skyler from seeing what he was doing. The obvious assumption to make was that he had struck up a relationship with Martin. It would explain the amount of times he ran off suddenly, or the hours he spent tapping away on his phone, or just the general distraction that prevented him from really spending time out with Skyler like he promised.

After all, it was hardly like his distracted state coincided with a great increase in his alter's appearance around the town. In fact, strangely, Brandon hadn't really done anything in the last week with his mask on, and that in itself was odd. Usually, he did one or two things a week, however small, but for him to do nothing was... strange, and it led the newspapers and the news shows to discuss whether he'd left town or given up completely. Nobody for one moment believed his silence was a bad thing. After all, despite the dangerous antics he'd embarked on for the last three years, nobody really saw him as a dangerous, dark figure. They often characterised him as a young, bored, teenage punk with no idea of right and wrong; they didn't at all believe he was a force to really be reckoned with-- and that had slowly begun to piss him off.

As was evidenced a week later from the video clip being played out on most, if not, all news channels as breaking news. In it were five people tied to chairs in a deliberately empty and dark room. Of them, four were high-profiled, wealthy individuals, and the fifth just some worker in a diner: Martin. Brandon, in his mask of course, was seen to wander about the room casually, parading a gun and laughing whenever one of the women broke into tears.

Watching the news report play out on the TV from the comfort of his dorm was Brandon, silently forcing back smiles. He knew his acting had to be on point, given the fact Martin was one of the kidnapped people. If he was honest, it would have been easier to leave Martin alone, but... well, Martin had gotten clingy and this seemed like a good way to get rid of him, even if he had to pretend to be distraught and emotional in front of Skyler about it. In reality, of course he was delighted. This was by far the most serious thing he'd done, and the darkest, and if it all went smoothly, he'd get a million pounds and a brand new reputation to go along with it.
 
Skyler was quite the opposite. The media would mention his heist nearly every day, about a robbery, or a murder. He needed that money for his mother, and he didn't care if the media fussed. In fact, them keeping out of it was ideal as he finally collected the appropriate amount. Now, the man was pretty excellent at time management, and still was able to study for classes and get to know the other students better, and if he wasn't in his dorm, he could use Alice as an excuse, saying that their relationship was confusing.

Nonetheless, with his own laptop typing a genuine paper for his poly-psy class, he had spent the week pretty much exclusively doing that, or working on online classes. His life meant more than villainy, and doing things like Brandon did wouldn't help him in the long-run.

Now, despite Skyler's socially laid-back personality, he hadn't forgiven Brandon. Whenever the man was in the dorm, he said nothing. He wouldn't acknowledge him, only really making evidence that he noticed the other's existence when Brandon tossed trash on the floor. He would silently put it in the garbage, then continue on his day. His attention only drifted to the other upon hearing the concerned news reporter from his laptop, a brow slowly raised. This man was crazy, utterly bonkers. Sure, Skyler didn't want to seem like some pathetic thief, and he'd proven he was more than that through a few bombings and murder. Whatever this guy was doing, though, was obviously for attention. It took everything in him not to scoff in disgust.
 
"It's pretty fucking scary, ain't it? I mean... Martin's isn't my boyfriend or anything, but I was just round his apartment, like, two days ago. It could be me sat in that place with a gun pointed at my head, it's surreal, really. Martin's not rich or powerful or anything," sighed Brandon, not bursting into tears or getting overly emotional, but at least managing a concerned frown and faint sniffle here and there just to fit the narrative of a worried lover.

"You know, if you wanna ignore me, pal, just tell me. Tell me you're annoyed and you want to ignore me, and I'll at least know where I stand," he finally grumbled, slightly irritated he wasn't getting the attention he wanted. In all honesty, the less attention Skyler paid, the better, because Brandon wouldn't have to put on some performance... but he wanted Skyler to fuss and feel bad, and more than that, he wanted to see him feel scared and fearful over the news report. Obviously that wasn't going to happen, which led the irritated teenager to sit himself down on the other's bed. He had an urge to just set the thing on fire and feign innocence to firefighters later on... but that was far too time consuming.

"Hey, are you jealous, is that it? 'Cos Martin and I had sex a few times this week? I mean, a few times is only twice. I didn't hear from him after Wednesday, because he's been fucking kidnapped. Least you could do is show some damn sympathy, Sky."
 
Meeting eyes with Brandon for a moment, Brandon was met with the same silence, only with the added passionate glare. After the seemingly long moment, he simply returned his gaze to the computer, making note to save his progress in case Brandon decided to toss it across the room in anger. He had better things to do, clearly, and he wanted to get a good grade on his paper more than he cared about some hostages that he knew were just an attempt for attention. He had seen people get killed in much worse situations.

"Unfortunate." He finally murmured, though it was more out of sarcasm than anything. Growing more agitated with the other's childish attempts to pry any more out of him, he grabbed his earphones instead and tugged them on. He couldn't care less if Brandon failed at this point, but he did not enjoy being treated poorly.
 
"Yeah, it is pretty fucking unfortunate, isn't it? Really mighty unfortunate," he repeated, breathing out slowly through pursed lips. He didn't like getting angry, because it really didn't suit him to be, but it wasn't human of him if he never felt angry or irritated. Everyone did, it was natural... but not everyone had the powers he did. It was dangerous if he got angry, which was why he tried to limit feeling that way. Granted, he didn't feel particularly bad if he set a few people on fire, but at least he was in control when he did so. If he was angry, he lost that element of control, and he never felt comfortable that way.

"You're fucking pushing my buttons, dude, ain't gonna lie," he laughed under his breath, reaching to tug out the earphones as softly as he could manage. He didn't want to tug them out hard and rip the other's ears in the process. "What the fuck is this? You're acting like some damn kid who didn't get sweets, y'know? Do you want to have sex, is that it? Or is it the fact I didn't share a goddamn slice of cake with you last week, 'cos pal, that's real sad. So what do you want? My attention?"
 
"I don't want anything," he replied simply, after a moment of feigned contemplation. Internally, he smirked at the fact that Brandon was getting visibly upset, but that didn't keep him from holding his stone-faced expression, his eyes glued to the screen after the headphones were yanked off his head. Eventually, though, he sighed and carefully closed his laptop. He then climbed from his bed, before rummaging under the bed for his computer bag, deciding he probably wouldn't get anything done if he stayed in the room any longer.

"I'm going to Alice's. Sleep well." He spoke flatly, while shoving a pair of pants and underwear into a bag. During the week, he did genuinely start a friendship with the girl, though nothing more. Alice was a pretty well-known for preferring women, anyway, so there wasn't really any tension. He had spent nights there, genuinely enjoying her presence as she went on about her cosmetics major.
 
"Fuck that, you ain't going anywhere until you tell me what the fucking issue is. I've been pretty busy this week, I don't know if you noticed, so I was hardly gonna hang out with you. This is all because I chose to spend time with Martin, ain't it? You know, a guy who wanted to have sex with me and who wanted to be with me. I asked you, you weren't interested, so of course I was gonna choose to spend my time with him," he grumbled, rolling his eyes as though it was obvious while moving to stand in front of the door to prevent the other making an exit. Was it childish? Extremely so, but it seemed the one way of getting the truth out, because there was no way he was letting Skyler leave without some sort of explanation.

"Dude, I like you. Like, I thought we were kinda buddies now, but you're so fucking confusing," he groaned, resting his back against the door and folding his arms, just to give an impression of being sterner than he was. "I thought you and Alice were, like, over. I thought she was some crazy, freaky bitch you didn't wanna be with."
 
"There are these unique things called friendships, you must have never heard of them." He replied flatly, his gaze locked on the other as he stood stiffly. He could easily move through him, but that would seem more than just strange. So, despite it being of much reluctance, he stared up at Brandon in silence.

Shifting his weight, he eventually gave up and returned to his bed, his face pulled into a grimace. "You're acting very clingy. I don't deserve to be locked up in my dorm because you won't leave me alone."
 
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