People Like Us: Part II [MxFxM]

Chapter Thirteen

While the kids were at school, Adrian found himself once again outside with Varian, the three rings hovering as they sat.

"Show me how many you can crumble." Varian said. "I promise not to startle you this time. I want it all on you."

"Gee, thanks. My heart rate sincerely appreciates it." Adrian replied with a quiet sigh, glancing to the rings.

He could already tell he wasn't getting through the day without a headache. And what was the point of all the ring-crumbling shit? Adrian figured Varian knew what he was doing with it, but he just didn't know what it was.

"Of course." Varian said back.

"So like, you want me to try and crumble all of them at once, or one at a time?"

"Whatever you can manage."

"I feel a headache coming and I haven't even done anything yet." Adrian muttered, narrowing his eyes a little.

What would be the easier approach? Probably trying to break them all down. At least then he could feel whatever amount of force Varian was putting behind it. And if it was too much for Adrian to overpower—which it inevitably would be—then he'd just try one at a time and see where that got him.

Manipulating more than one thing at a time had always been a little harder, but it wasn't anything Adrian wasn't used to. Of course then again, there'd never been another person trying to stop him from manipulating said things.

"If you can counteract my will on these rings, you can build control." Varian stated. "We'll add another three if you manage to do it, and then switch tactics."

"Remind me why I agreed to this." Adrian mumbled.

"Because you broke part of my house, and I don't feel like cleaning up after your messes, I'm not your mother."

Yeah, Varian was probably nicer than his mother under most circumstances. Granted the guy could be downright unpleasant, if he wanted to.

"That wasn't completely my fault you know. I was viciously maimed." Adrian commented, narrowing his eyes a little more.

Just that last one, he knew it wasn't going to break as good. It wasn't like this was easy as it was, why did the third ring have to keep fucking with him? It took Adrian a good minute or two before he could crumble the rings, but the last one still didn't break as well as he wanted it to. Well, it broke, sure, but it didn't crumble. Which was what he was going for, here.

"You've broken other parts of my house besides the living room." Varian commented as the rings reformed, three more rising up to join the first group. "Again. See how many you can do."

"I haven't broken that much." Adrian said with a snort, then paused and looked at Varian. "Have I?"

He was treated with a neutral expression, which kind of answered his question, and he nodded slowly.

"Okay," he mumbled, clearing his throat and focusing on the rings again.

He didn't think he'd broken that much. Then again Adrian liked to have selective memory over the shit he did. Adrian tried a different approach and instead broke the rings down one at a time, and he got to the fourth one that time before he started having problems. The fourth didn't break as easily as the rest, but he did get it down at least. The fifth, on the other hand, just...did not do what he wanted it to do. All he could manage for that one was cracking it before he sighed.

"So...four and a half? Technically?"

Varian didn't say anything, and just folded his hands in under his chin as he stared at the rings, narrowing his eyes for a moment. The silence was a little unnerving to Adrian as he glanced between Varian and the rings.