Power Struggle

[Vars]

Power Struggle
noun

a situation where two or more people or organizations compete for influence

Characters

Cole Badi
Age: 30
Appearance: Basically this but with this skin color
Short Bio:
Grew up in a roaming circus in Eastern Europe, decided to run off and do his own thing as a teenager. Got caught up with some New Age Travellers and Crustpunks for a while, but was arrested for stealing at 25 and went away for a few years. Now 30, he's had somewhat of a re-awakening and decided he wants to try and assimilate with normal society.
He's enrolled at the college for his first year with an undeclared major and is just trying to get his life on track.

---

Nathan Calloway
Age: 21
Appearance

Nathan is the only child to Janet Calloway and U.S. Senator Miles Calloway. He has lived a privileged life, having been born and raised in an upper-class home and family. Caring more about football than academics, his current major is to please his father. What Nathan himself wants has yet to be known. The young man seems to do what he can to be the type of person his parents and country want him to be, which leads to conflict on multiple levels.

Story

2 college men deal with stuff, and things.
Will hopefully make this better when I'm not braindead.

 

[Vars]

Cole had been out of prison for almost a year. In that time, he'd managed to get out of the halfway house and find his own apartment by, quite simply, working his ass off.

What he really wanted to do was go to college, but he needed some money before he could do that. He'd worked at several restaurants as a busboy, dishwasher, some odd jobs, really whoever would hire him, and worked them all. Most of his time was work, sleep, work, sleep... No free time. But after one had been in prison for five years, he didn't want any free time anyway.

The jobs came and went. He'd think he had a good one, but then they'd fire him for one reason or another. Some because they didn't like him working 2+ jobs at once, some because they didn't bother to do the background check until after they'd hired him, and others for what seemed like made up reasons.

But by the time the fall semester at the nearby college had begun, he was left with one dishwashing job and the goal of furthering his education. So he scheduled his classes, applied for some loans, and worked it all into his schedule.

If the transition from civilian life to prison wasn't hard enough, the reality of being an adult navigating the ever-younger crowd of the college scene was even more difficult. He hadn't minded it at first-- he looked young enough, despite being 30.
He mostly kept to himself, came to class early to be on time, wore some raggy secondhand khakis and a dress shirt to show he was serious.
But the classes were anything but. The professors who did seem to actually teach got interrupted frequently. Either by dumb questions or complaints, or by diverting Cole's attention by being distracting. There wasn't a single class without the presence of at least one student on their laptop or cellphone playing games or on Facebook. Couldn't they at least sit in the back?

And overhearing their conversations and troubles were just... Pathetic. Sally was nervous about her date with Bob? Most effective way to cheat on a test? Doesn't anyone care about actually learning anything?

The more time he spent in the classes, the more he had to convince himself he was doing the right thing for himself, and it wasn't all a joke. Almost everything around him was screaming this was a waste of time, but he knew that with this piece of paper on his record he could at least move on from being a dishwasher, move on from looking like a spec of dirt on his parole officer's shoe whenever they met, and maybe, just maybe, also move past the racial tension that he'd moved tot he USA to avoid.

Cole's green eyes peered from over the hand on his face, covering his mouth. His elbow was sat atop his open binder, it taking the weight of his head as he leaned to the side, watching the professor. His left hand stood ready to take notes, but his eyes kept darting to the nearby facebooker or the open door when people would noisily walk by. Even sitting in the very front row of the class, he was still unable to get away from the pointless distractions.

It was almost 20 minutes into the Creative Writing class when a football player entered the room and casually slipped into the one free empty seat beside Cole.
The 30 year old Roma dropped his pen on the empty paper and leaned back in his chair, running his right hand through his dark, medium-length hair.
Why bother showing up at all at that rate, he thought to himself, giving a brief glare to the jock who dared sit near him.

But the day had more opportunity to annoy the adult student further, as the professor had the gall to state there would be a group project. One starting at precisely that moment, with the student sitting next to you.
Which, in Cole's case, meant the jock. Of course.

He swallowed away his inner grumbling and took the initiative to turn his combination chair/desk toward the other man's and scooting forward.

"It's due next week, but you have the rest of class to work on it now, so take advantage of it."

What that really meant, however, was that people would exchange email addresses and then quickly leave. And that was precisely what began happening.
Cole wanted to take advantage of the class time, however, and while he severely doubted the jock had the same attitude, he would hope.

So the first words out of his mouth got right to the point. "I think we should stay here and see if we can finish this before class is over."

If his last few weeks of observation had taught him anything though, he was at least 80% sure he'd be doing the entire project himself.

@God

 

[God]

It was hard to believe Nathan was almost done with college, it seemed like yesterday that he started, but that was actually right after high school. His father was always a public servant in some capacity, including now as a member of the Senate, so everyone thought it right that Nathan study political science and international relations so he could follow in his father's footsteps, but was that really want the young man wanted for himself?

The Calloway family had a McMansion just outside the city however Nathan had his own apartment, courtesy of his parents, in a nice building downtown, which wasn't terribly far from the campus. Having come from a well-off family, the college football player cared more about his player statistics than academics, not to mention the idea of working never really crossed his mind.

There was enough stress with having to keep his parents happy, his coach impressed, and his girlfriend satisfied. Why would you want to add employment to that?

Around campus Nathan wouldn't really spend a lot of time observing the diversity of the students around him, especially in Cole's case, non-traditional students. If he wasn't on the field practicing or working out in the athletic center, Nathan would spend his time in one of the various lounges that dotted the campus buildings, hanging out with other football players or the girls that buzzed around them. He was engaged in the stereotypical college lifestyle.

Today he was running roughly twenty minutes late to his creative writing class, but really, creative writing? Being late really didn't matter for that now did it? Nathan casually walked into the room, quickly noting the lack of available seating, seeing only one right in the front row. Really? He'd drop his backpack next to the desk and slide into the chair, not even acknowledging the male next to him. The jock was wearing a maroon hooded sweatshirt given out to the football players, his jersey number plastered on the back.

Pulling out his cell phone, Nathan tapped away at screen as he looked over messages which caused him to mostly miss out on what was happening, until he heard the desk next to him scrape against the floor and other students getting up and leaving. A random girl walked by and smiled at Nathan with flirty eyes. He'd flash one back and nod his head upwards in greeting.

'I think we should stay here and see if we can finish this before class is over.'

What? Nathan's medium-gray eyes looked over to the man with dark hair, "You moved your... desk. Who does that? Did you notice I was late for class, I haven't even gotten a coffee yet." the jock glanced at the time displayed on his phone, "Besides didn't they say we had a week to work on whatever it is we're supposed to do? Look writing a lot really isn't my thing..." he paused to reach behind him to pull out the wallet from the back pocket of his jeans, making a clicking sound in his mouth as he started counting out twenty dollar bills, "Alright so all I have on me is two hundred, is that cool with you? Just make sure my name is on it." he finished his sentence as he set the money on the other guy's desk. "Nathan Calloway."

This meant he could leave now, right? Did this guy really expect him to sit around in this room and work on the project?

 

[Vars]

Cole glared at the child before him.
Is he seriously complaining about this shit?

And then he... He slapped down $200 for Cole to write the whole thing on his own, it seemed like. Maybe if Cole were not already annoyed, he would've just taken it and done the project. But now it was an insult to ego. Fuck this guy.

"What in the fuck is wrong with you?" the thirty year old spat from his chair.
He brought up his left hand to accentuate his point. "Why the hell are you even here if you don't care?" He continued.

"We've got 40 minutes left. You came to class so don't pretend you have somewhere better to be. You already allotted your precious fucking time to be here," he mocked, throwing his voice for the last few words to sound like the pretentious douche Nathan came off as to him, "so sit the fuck down and we can finish the assignment now, in the alloted time period where we're already here, instead of putting it off like a retarded jock with unlimited withdrawals from the bank of mommy and daddy."

Because, let's be real, this kid never had a job in his life.

Cole had pushed his index finger into the desk to emphasize certain points, such as the 'sit down' bit, and in the brief pressured silence, he decided he'd go ahead and take the money with that hand anyway, quickly shoving it in his pocket, and doing it all to the best of his ability without breaking his deathglare eye contact with Nathan.

 

[God]

Wow. Just wow. What the fuck was this? Nathan likely had a 'deer in headlights' look on his face as Cole engaged in some grade A verbal smackdown. The jock was speechless throughout the entire thing until he watched the dark haired man across from him pocket the cash. It was clearly something the young man was never subjected to. At this point they were the only two in the room as the other students left and the professor had apparently stepped out.

"How about what the fuck is wrong with you?" Nathan responded, still taken back by the onslaught of words against him, "Who the hell are you to lecture me about what I do with my time? You're like what forty? Chill out dude. There's lots of shit I could be doing right now but I came to class like I'm supposed to." the jock gestured to the room, which was painted a bland 'institution yellow' color.

Nathan went from his slouched position to sitting straight up in his chair, "You even took the fuckin' money so what do you care? If you're so damn eager to work on this project then fine, let's do it. Come on..." the younger man reached down into his tan backpack and pulled out some black reading glasses, which gave him a studious look, "And don't tell me what to do" he added, clearly not letting it go, "If I didn't care, I wouldn't be in my last year would I? I probably won't even stop at a bachelor's degree. But you know so much about me, huh? That I'm a star football player at the university. That my dad is Miles Calloway. Keep running your mouth though, it looks good on you." he'd huff out the last part with sarcasm as he looked over the stapled sheets that outlined what the project entailed.

 

[Vars]

You're like what, forty?
That stung more than Cole expected. But it also just made him angrier! What happened to people respecting their elders?! Sure, he hadn't been the nicest person, but this little fuck started it!

"Came to class like you're supposed to, yeah, so like I said you've got the next 40 minutes to work on this project, like you're supposed to."
Jesus, if this kid only cared about class because he was supposed to then he had some major priority issues. Cole's hope for his college life remaining somewhat sane and sense-making was abruptly falling down a cliff. Reality was dropping his soap, so to speak. The bulls were coming to the train.

Nathan did mention the money, but seemed to gloss by the issue. Cole didn't bring any more attention to it-- Nathan had put it down for Cole, there wasn't a contract, it's not like the 30 year old was stealing. Besides, obviously the kid didn't need it. Cole considered it the asshole tax. Or maybe restitution for some educational institution. Or something else that was catchy, had his brain had enough time to think about it.
But it didn't, instead it was focused on Nathan sitting back down and actually looking like he was legitimately going to work on this thing. Holy shit it worked.
I mean, of course it worked, he told himself. Why wouldn't it have? Cole was a threatening looking individual, with muscles, and a hard, give-'em-hell attitude.

Nah, more like he was just built kinda big, was kinda old, and not white. That was like a +10 to intimidation, right? But it wasn't like he couldn't back up his threats, had he made any... He just... Wouldn't... Because he had no desire to answer to his PO and screw up his parole.

Cole had so much more he could throw at this kid about his entitlement issues, but he held back, as the time had passed. He got what he wanted, the kid had.. An attitude... But he looked like he was willing to work. To keep spouting off shit at him would ruin this pristine moment of success. Plus, it was almost funny how "A+ Student" the kid looked with his glasses. Cole almost entertained the idea that he might have made an incorrect assumption about this Nathan Calloway, who threw out some status symbols and his dad's name as if that had any bearing on anything.
Cole subtly rolled his eyes and looked down to the rubric.

"If you're ready then, and I'm not allowed to tell you what to do," Cole sneered, leaning back in his own chair and crossing his arms over his chest, "Then how would you like to start the paper off?" You big manly man, you, he mockingly finished in his mind.





[[I realized Nathan never actually stood up from his seat but um... I didn't notice that until after so hope you forgive some stuff I mentioned here]]

 

[God]

To give credit to Cole, the man didn't look his age, but Nathan could tell he was older than him and so it was a quick, impulsive jab. The jock was a little crabby, having missed getting his morning coffee and now having a partner on this project that was giving him a hard time. Poor thing.

Nathan was used to either having someone do at least half of the work for him, or when he had no choice but to solo the coursework, skirting by on the minimum needed to succeed. Again, poor mentality in regards to athletics taking precedence over academics. It was still jarring that Nathan dropped that much money like it was nothing, but that was learned behavior.

When Cole asked how they should start the paper, Nathan glanced at the other's arms for a moment as they remained crossed over his chest. They were nice looking arms. Now granted Nathan was fit, his build was far more lean than that of Cole's build. The jock caught himself and glanced down to read the sheet again, "Alright so this is... this is really stupid. There has to be an option for a different project." he paused to look around for the professor, "Where the hell did he go?!" Nathan asked in confusion, only now realizing the professor had dipped out. "Incredible. Even the instructor left, and here we are. You know this really illustrates that you're a nerd of massive proportions."

He ran a hand through his hair, "Looks like part of this involves getting to know one another, okay well that's pretty gay..." he commented, shaking his head a little, "Something about taking our personalities and creating a character and story. Alright so let's focus on you." Nathan leaned back in his chair, tilting his head as he looked Cole over, "Our character is going to be in his thirties, he's what Bulgarian maybe? Probably sleeps on a futon and works at a pet store to help pay for college, where he shows up on time and thrives on getting everything done on the first day and forgoes any kind of social life, having never gone to a party because that'd be fun!" Nathan reached down into his backpack and pulled out a notebook, slapping it on the desk, "I should write this down so I don't forget. What do you think so far, partner?"

Did he even care what he sounded like right now, or how he was acting?


((No worries at all!))

 

[Vars]

Cole's eyes were half-lidded as he tapped the index finger of his left hand against his arm at the 'nerd' comment.
If wanting to get a project down and out of the way as quickly as possible was being a 'nerd', then, ok, fine. He'd be a nerd. If that was the definition we were going with, nerds were productive and he was ok with the label.

But Cole knew that's not what 'nerd' really meant. Or at least, it wasn't the meaning Nathan was projecting, which only annoyed the older man. However, self-control was instilled within him. He'd managed so far... He could hear the kid out... Maybe. Maybe he'd recognize the hole he was digging for himself and ask for help.

But alas! No, the poor sod just kept digging.

Cole kept silent, waited until the notebook slammed down, and then decided to add his own interpretation. "How about a productive adult who values what little free time he has, and recognizes that procrastination leads to failure. And also, maybe partying too much is the whole reason he's in college right now instead of when he was younger."

He tossed his hands up in a mock shrug. "One could say partying outside of college is much harder than any partying one could do within it, so it could even be that our character has a much more interesting life than he lets on."

He leaned into his desk, tapping the notebook on Nathan's. "You should probably take notes on the partner character, who's the stereotypical teenager who thinks he knows everything, when in fact, he's the most ignorant of them all."

Leaning back in his seat, he outstretched his legs, crossing them at the ankle and he crossed his arms over his chest again, watching Nathan. "But then again what do I know," he mocked. "I'm just a huge gay nerd."

 

[God]

This Cole guy was able to keep his cool in the face of rapid annoyance. He also was apparently trying to slip in a little advice based on life experience? Sure, captain buzzkill had good advice but come on, it could have bored the jock to death. Out of politeness, oddly enough, the younger male gave the other a chance to respond.

Nathan had opened his mouth to make a few comments about this stereotypical teenager, but a certain three-letter word would leave him in silence for a moment. "Wait and you're gay?" he sat back in his own chair, "Please, don't drop all the bombshells at once." he said sarcastically as he raised his eyebrows, studying the man across from him once again.

The jock's phone was buzzing in his front pocket so held his left arm out towards Cole, index finger straight up to let him know anything he had to say could wait. Nathan pulled the phone out, "Hey babe." he answered as he lowered his arm onto the desk, "Can't, I have practice at four. Later tonight works or-- " he paused, holding the phone away from his ear a little, "Come on I can't just skip practice, I told you about it. Why don't you go with a few of your friends?" he asked, "Hello? Nicole?" he'd look at the screen, "Wow, rude. She's needy as fuck." he shook his head.

Setting the phone on the desk, Nathan didn't skip a beat and was right back to where he left off, "Alright so you're gay? How long have you known? You're just all carefree about it?" This didn't really seem to completely tie in with the assignment did it? "And what did you mean about partying when you were younger? Did you get into some bad shit or something? What happened?" Nathan was sure curious now as he leaned forward to rest his forearms on the desk.

 

[Vars]

Cole rolled his eyes at Nathan's sarcasm, but then swore he could feel the steam coming out his own ears when Nathan did the one finger maneuver when he answered his phone.
Cole wanted nothing more in that moment than to take the kid's finger and break it in half. But sharper heads prevailed, and he grit his teeth instead, waiting. Luckily for him and his sanity, the call was short, and Nathan was quick to bring his attention back to the task at hand...

... Oooor he wasn't. No, instead he wanted to know Cole's life story apparently. A sudden interest in how Cole knew he was gay? With that partying question tacked on at the end as a shallow attempt to not be all about the gay questions? Cole shifted uncomfortably in his seat, the back of the plastic chair having been digging into his back.
This guy was a closet case, for sure.

He decided to be a smartass rather than helpful, just to fuck with the guy. "How did I know? Well it started in this college class, where I wanted to get an assignment done so I could enjoy my free time, but my partner insisted that was gay. And being as my partner is clearly the brains of our group, I decided it must be true." he rolled his head to the side and gave an over-exaggerated shrug and frown with eyebrows high.

He quickly recovered however and readjusted himself in his seat again, scooting forward in his chair and flipping his own paper in his binder to a blank page. Clearly he was going to have to do this himself, after all. "So the gay partier and the stereotypical teenager are going on a journey to? Where?" he gave an up and down assessment of the kid with his eyes. "Try and get into the NFL? Sure." He scribbled down some quick sentences.

"Let's say they bicker a lot about the importance of schoolwork, and in the end, everything works out as the gay guy said it would, both of them don't get anything done in time for the deadline because they're too busy bickering about their beliefs. Yeah. That sounds good." he gave his mechanical pencil a little shake near his ear after the lead broke from his last word, then shoved his binder shut.
"I'm gonna go to the library and type up this shit."

 

[God]

Here Nathan thought Cole was going to do a tell-all but boy was he mistaken. The answer was laden with sarcasm, the older guy clearly not interested in giving him an actual answer to the question. Nathan sat in silence with an unimpressed look on his face. The jock could only imagine what fun this guy must have with his precious free time he keeps going on about.

Then he had the gall to call him a stereotypical teenager again, unbelievable. "Whatever. I don't even want to play in the NFL, but good effort." Nathan responded, leaning against the backrest of the chair once again. When Cole shut his binder and made it clear he was going to leave, Nathan held out his hands, palms up.

"Seriously? You're gonna run off now after I stuck around to keep you happy? Screw that, sit your ass down so we can write this shit up." he said with mild-irritation as he wrote down his number and tearing off the corner of the page, dropping it into Cole's desk, "That's in case we need to meet up and work on it another time. We obviously aren't starting off great so let's just make an attempt alright? Tell me something interesting about yourself. Do you like football? Our first game is next Friday, you should come if you're not busy with a D and D game or something."

Nathan was making an attempt and yes, he had ulterior motives behind it. How Cole would react was unknown.

 

[Vars]

"Right, real nice. Try to win me over by making another nerd joke."

He shoved his binder over to the right side of his desk and pocketed the phone number without looking at it or taking out his own phone. Cole really didn't feel like being mocked for the retro dumbphone he owned just them.
He gave a loud, frustrated sigh once he'd finished dealing with his pockets and readjusting himself, his head facing God briefly before looking to the floor and finally back to Nathan.

"No, I'm not really fan of football. Or any sports. I mean, playing, fine, but watching it is boring." He consciously bit back a 'sorry', which would've been appended to the end of his statement normally, but this dick didn't deserve it.

And don't think Cole missed the change in demeanor. He was taking notes and stashing them away, filling his mental file entitled "Nathan the Closet Case - We'll see how that pans out later."

"Why don't You start, you know, outside the obvious." The obvious being privileged white dude. Clearly.

Cole was getting a little egotistical, and had to remind himself to back the fuck off a bit. He didn't care what Nathan's intentions really were as long as the project would actually be finished in short order.

 

[God]

In all likelihood Nathan probably couldn't help it with the remarks, it was just part of who he was. That and he thought the nerd joke was funny, unlike Cole. Looks like Cole wasn't going to give Nathan his number and that was fine, Nathan had put the ball in his court and that's all he had to do. "What? You kind of strike me as a nerdy type, take it as a compliment. I can only image you at a gay club," he smirked, crossing his arms, "Some guy comes up to and you drive him away just by giving him that salty glare."

It wasn't a complete surprise to hear Cole wasn't that interested in football, or any sports. There was at least an ounce of hope because it seemed Cole was potentially okay with the idea of playing them. Maybe that could open a door down the road, who knows.

"I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean, but fine I'll show you how it's done." Nathan responded, shifting to sit upright again. "You already know I like sports and working out. I have a German Shepherd named Bailey, she's the best. Um I like to play guitar and sing too, but you wouldn't have guessed that huh?" he'd lazily raise his left index finger to point at Cole. "You know because I'm just a dumb jock. There's lot of stuff I like to do... snowboarding, skydiving, rock climbing, traveling, that kind of thing."

Nathan raised his arms above his head to stretch, a yawn followed, "Now are you actually going to tell me anything about yourself or should I stop wasting my time? I know it's stressing you out that we only have seven days to finish this one project, but relax a little you'll be okay. Wait are you in the middle of a mid-life crisis or something?" he asked curiously.

 

[Vars]

Cole only continued with his so-called salty glare, his eyes narrowing. "You're a real..." He stopped himself, a noticeable pause as he prevented himself from saying "closet case." ".. Piece of work," he grumbled.

He hadn't even truly admitted he was gay, but already was getting nonstop shit for it. It only made him homesick for vagrancy.

While Nathan started explaining himself, Cole looked back down to the paper on the other man's desk. The paper which continued to be blank. He wanted to say "Must be nice to have money" or something equally stupid like that, but instead he simply motioned to the paper and replied quietly, "Then write it down so we can actually make progress on this."

While Cole was somewhat happy he'd become successful in getting the jock interested in the assignment. Time was precious and fleeting, and it was becoming immediately obvious they wouldn't be getting anywhere during class. In that way, he gave up the 'tough guy' attitude, only because he was tired and knew it wouldn't get him anywhere any longer. He also had a shift right after this he wasn't looking forward to. A thought which all those rich guy hobbies had made a bitter taste from.


He re-crossed his arms over his chest and took a deep breath. "Yeah, it is stressing me out, because unlike you, I gotta work for a living. I don't have any free time. I go to school, I work, homework and projects go into my sleep time, which is precious little. I'm poor as shit, from a line of people who are poor as shit, trying to not be fucking poor anymore. So fuck me, I guess, for thinking MY time shouldn't be wasted. I grew out of my party phase when I realized I was gonna be nothing in life if I kept doing it."

That was more of a vent, but, it was true. What could he even say about his personality anyway? Or to rebuke the 'mid-life crisis' joke, which was probably more true than anything? He certainly didn't want to tell this kid he was on parole. It might go in his favor for "cool" factor but it wasn't really something the man felt was ok to brag about. He wasn't proud of it, that was for sure.

"So, fine," he relented. "Mark it down as a mid-life crisis if you want. I just want to get the project done and over with so I don't have to schedule my sleep time around it."

He turned his head so his green eyes could meet Nathan's. "Or is that an unacceptable reason to be pissy to you?"

 

[God]

With an annoyed sigh, Nathan clicked his pen and started writing down the ideas that he was thinking of. On that note, he was probably the only one that could read his own handwriting. Good thing papers were typed up.

Nathan raised an eyebrow as Cole went off on a slight tangent, but it did help the jock understand the other a bit more. It was a vastly different life than his own. "Alright, fair enough, no need to give yourself an aneurysm there chief. You don't want your time wasted, I get it. I'm sorry life hasn't been so ideal for you." And yes, he was genuine about the last part.

Writing once again, Nathan wrote MID-LIFE CRISIS, LIKE HARDCORE on the paper and showed it to Cole, "Done! And you didn't think I'd help with the project." he teased before meeting the green eyes, "Honestly I think you're going to be pissy regardless of what I say or do, so let's just skip that." Nathan suggested, taking off his glasses and sliding them into his backpack, along with his notebook.

"Tell you what though, you have my number so text me the next time you're free and we'll keep working on the project, this way you can go home now and pluck your brows before work and I can go get my fucking coffee because I don't want to be lagging when I hit the gym later." he bit his lower lip, obviously fishing for a reaction from the other male. The jock stood up and flung the backpack over his shoulder.

After the exchange ended, Nathan went to his remaining classes, followed by the gym and practice. He wondered if Cole would actually text him or not before they met again for class. Oddly enough he was hoping so.

 

[Vars]

Had he misjudged Nathan? The kid actually seemed to understand not everybody was rich. But just when Cole was feeling a little hopeful, the insults came again. Cole only responded with a heavy sigh whereas Nathan continued right on with the gym brag. And the weird lower lip bite... Was.. Was he trying to flirt now? Cole's brows furrowed in some weird mix between contempt and confusion.

"Yeah, ok," was all he could muster up while an aggravated scream pierced his thoughts. He got his things together, shoved them all into his backpack and got up, moving his desk back to where it should have been and left, giving a half-wave.

Cole luckily lived within walking distance of the school, and immediately made his way to the complex which was about a mile away. He had a little more free time than he'd anticipated between the class and his job, so he took a shower, changed his clothes, and added Nathan's number into his dumbphone while waiting for his rice cooker to notify him of his next meal. After eating, he tied his hair back as best he could with what little there was to tie-- it being in that awkward length that was too long for professionalism and too short to do anything decent with - and grabbed his keys and backpack and left for another full evening of dishwashing.

After leaving quite a few hours of drudgery behind him, he was walking toward the school's library at 9pm.

I'll be at the school library in about 20 minutes if you want to work tonight.

was texted in T9 as he waited at an intersection for the pedestrian light to allow him to cross. Once he sent it, he put the phone away and continued his journey. And once he was inside the library some 15 minutes later, he found a table and gave himself and his backpack a seat. He pulled out his binder and went to starting the story he'd outlined before, fully predicting Nathan wouldn't show up.

Once upon a time, there were two brothers who hated eachother...

It was shit, he was pretty aware, but that was one of the reasons he was taking a class on how to write, afterall.

 

[God]

Nathan really missed football practice, not just because he enjoyed the sport, but it was important for him to have a routine, and it was a great way to relieve stress. Of course there was also hanging out with his "bros" and talking about girls and whatever stupid topics they'd get into. It also provided him with a weird sense of belonging. Once practice was over, he spent about another hour and a half in the gym, doing some cardio but largely hitting the weights.

He'd head home after the gym, a quick fifteen-minute drive downtown to where his apartment was, before grabbing a shower followed by sprawling out on the couch and finding something to watch on Netflix. Around 9pm his cell phone alerted him to a text message, Nathan not looking at it until another ten minutes passed. When he did check it, he'd see it was from Cole, letting him know he was on his way to the school library. Huh, so he actually texted Nathan.

[ Library? You really are a nerd. I'll think about it. ] the jock replied via text. He was comfortable! And feeling a little lazy. Nathan huffed, making his way into the bedroom to change into a pair of mesh shorts and a tank top, grabbing his backpack, and going out to his car, making the fifteen-minute drive back to campus. Arriving at the library, Nathan walked around until it found Cole sitting at a table near the back.

"Never thought I'd have to come here, this late at night, during the first week of classes." Nathan started right out the gate, dropping his backpack into an open chair and sitting across from Cole. "How much have you gotten done? Also, come on, you couldn't have picked a better place? What about a diner or something? Fuck, now I want pancakes." he crossed his arms, leaning back against his chair. "Does your hair ever get in the way of anything? Like do you ever wake up and you have some in your mouth? You probably just roll your eyes and make some smartass comment to yourself."

 

[Vars]

Once upon a time, the mother of two brothers died, and her final wish was for them to deliver a package to their father who was also dying.
The oldest brother wanted to do it right away, but the younger brother wanted to take his time. The mother wanted them to do it together, so the brothers would argue over how to deliver the package.

Cole looked back at his notes, trying to think of how to get the struggling into the story without college and the NFL being a part of it.

The younger brother wanted to party and look cool. The older brother had grown out of this and simply wanted to get the work done. Said the younger brother could party later. The young one had all sorts of questions for the older one, as they had been apart for many years. Eventually, they got lost.

Of course, eh had written tons of other things, had crossed them out, but this was what he wound up with before he was interrupted by Nathan actually showing up. Cole almost didn't believe it. But his surprise was overridden by his exaustion. He just, like the story, wanted to get it done. His hair was messy, as was his shirt, which was a plain white tee with several old stains. His jeans were also pretty ratty, but that was probably fashionable these days.

He put his pen down and looked up at Nathan's complaints. Too tired to come up with a witty response, he simply just said "Because this is easier to get work done," And I odn't have any money for the other stuff, he would've finished, except that the other man continued on with another stupid remark about his hair. Which... Didn't even make any sense. Why would he make a smartass comment to himself about hair in his face?
Rather than even glorifying the remark with a response, he simply gave Nathan a cold, half-lidded stare for a moment before pushing his notebook to Nathan's direction so he could read the story he had so far.

Cole's handwriting wasn't the best looking, but it was at least universally legible, all the letters having the proper spacing between them. However, he had the curious habit of making his a's look more like 2's with a loop at the bottom, more similar to a typeface than a handwritten letter.

After the man had pushed the notebook over, he sighed and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands. He had an early shift tomorrow and wanted nothing more to be sleeping right now, not dealing with Nathan's 20 questions and spontaneous insult game. But he was interrupted from his self-soothing ritual by his phone vibrating. He sighed through his mouth and reached into his pocket to take it out and look at it.

It was a text from his PO. "Seriously?" he grumbled aloud.
He started trying to type his message under the table, but the T9 was proving to be too difficult, and he was too tired, so he brought it up above so he could see better, tapping each key 2-3 times to get the right letters for the message he was trying to convey. His parole officer wasn't normally a hardass, but she could still be annoying sometimes. Right now being a key moment. He'd much rather call her but he really didn't want the exasperation to be so easily heard in his voice - much less give Nathan the opportunity to overhear the conversation.

 

[God]

At least Nathan didn't comment on the condition of Cole's clothes. Green eyes gave a half-lidded stare and Nathan smiled a little, "Guess that's true, it's quiet which is nice, though they don't serve pancakes, so that's still a problem." the jock looked around before glancing down to the notebook which was presented to him.

Reading over the story so far, Nathan shook his head, "Okay well this needs some adjusting but you're getting a good start on it. What it needs is a little bit of this..." he reached over to snag a pen from his backpack, before writing in Cole's notebook.

The younger brother wanted to party and look cool. The younger bother liked to party, because that's what people his age do. Those around him knew that he was cool, which was achievable by being outgoing and sociable, not spending all his time at home watching drag shows and HGTV. The older brother was quick to brush the other off, not giving himself the time to appreciate what the younger had to offer, instead focusing purely on adulting and grumbling about sleep and socialism.

Nathan glanced up when Cole grumbled, eventually catching glimpse of the other's cell phone, "Holy crap, how old is that thing?" he chuckled faintly to himself, shoving the notebook back towards Cole, "When you're done texting your boyfriend you can inspect my contribution. I fully expect you to roll your eyes and lecture me on trying harder."

Stretching his arms above his head, Nathan spoke again, "So when do you actually have a night off from work? I really need to get you out more dude, you got plenty of time for the nursing home lifestyle in the future. Hey did you know they opened a new sushi joint a few blocks from my apartment? That would be perfect. Wait, do you like sushi?" The jock really did feel the older guy needed to relax and get out more, in addition to his own motivations.

 

[Vars]

Cole continued to tap away at his phone, only briefly stopping to give Nathan a glare at "old" comment. He then quickly finished the text and set the phone down on the table to read over Nathan's write-ins, only to groan.

"OK first, we know we don't like eachother, but let's not make this paper a pissing contest. And also--" the phone vibrated, a response text having arrived already, killing Cole's thunder. He took in a breath and sighed. "I'm single." It was a bit of an exhasperated lament but also an aggrivated reply as he picked up the phone and quickly read the message, grumbling again.

He stood up. "I never have a night off," he said, pushing the chair underneath the table while glaring at his phone screen. "I'll be right back. I gotta make a call real quick."

And with that he walked out of the library and a few feet away from the door to call his PO back.

"Hi." he stated pointedly once she picked up.
The woman on the other end got right into, picking up where the text conversation had left off. "I'm sorry, Cole, but that's the way it has to be. I didn't want to bother you during work so I was giving you a head's up."
"So you were hoping I was asleep? C'mon, I got church tomorrow. Don't I get some religious rights or something?" He already knew he didn't hold any cards but he was really trying to get out of something any way he could.

"Only on sundays. Look, I don't make the rules. What do you have to worry about anyway? You don't do anything, right?"

"Well... No..." he paced, scratching the back of his neck. "But I've missed wednesday service so many times already because of work. I'd have to miss it again just to pee in a cup? Come on."

The officer audibly shrugged. "It's randomized. You know that. It was either this or have to take a day off work to go. Isn't this better? Do you need me to pick you up?"

Cole shook a free fist at his side, groaning loadly. "No. Thanks. I'll get there on my own. Later." He hung up the phone and pretended to throw it without letting it go. "Apparently nobody cares about Jesus," he muttered mostly to himself and came back inside the library, putting his phone on the table again and sitting down gruffly.

"Where were we? Right, yeah. I like sushi, but I can't eat out. I don't think you realize just how poor I am, Nathan," he said, matter-of-factly. No point in trying to ham it up anymore.

"Anyway, look. On a serious note, you're really being a dick about the whole gay thing. Do I really look like I give a crap about primping? Either you hate me or you want to hook up. Make up your mind over it, because I really don't want to spend the next 2 weeks at the end of some really dumb gay insults which clearly don't even apply to me. I don't deserve that, and clearly you're smart enough to come up with some original material. So let's move on. I'm tired. You don't want to be here. Let's write this stupid thing so we can get on with our lives."

He grabbed the notebook with a sigh, rubbing his face with his right hand before making his own edits with his left.

The younger bother liked to party, because that's what people his age do. Those around him knew that he was cool, which was achievable by being outgoing and sociable, not spending all his time at home watching drag shows and HGTV. The older brother was quick to brush the other off, not giving himself the time to appreciate what the younger had to offer, instead focusing purely on adulting and grumbling about sleep and socialism.

He pushed the notebook back to Nathan.

[[I'm going to say today's tuesday and tomorrow's wednesday if that's ok with you?]]