13Disclaimer: I do not own this maze of bone and flesh and word and wit. But I do swear, that if I dare, I'll make something of it.
A/N: Otherwise known as: I wrote a High School AU bromance for Gen and Costis. What.
Gen and Sophos are plotting again, and there's no way this can end well.
Actually, it's more like Gen is plotting, as usual, and Sophos is along for the ride for the same reason Costis is. The reason is:
It is very hard to say no to Gen.
Pol is on board because he follows Sophos everywhere. It is not, he declares, because he cares about Gen or anything like that. Because he doesn't.
Really.
Costis understands. Gen has that effect on people.
000
High school was both awful and boring before Gen showed up. Costis had been neither popular nor ostracized. He played sports but was not a jock. He did well in classes but was not a nerd. He was, essentially, ignored by everyone. He had no friends, save the superficial ones on his sports teams. His life was easy, but it was tedious and lonely.
And then Gen transferred to their valley town high school from somewhere up in the mountains and turned Costis' inconsequential, easy, boring life upside down.
He didn't know why Gen had chosen him of all people to latch onto, but he did know that there was something about the cheeky, cheerful, charming boy that drew him in and wouldn't let go. Gen was irritating and reckless and ridiculous and never thought through his plans carefully enough and usually managed to get Costis in trouble along with him and within a week he was the best friend Costis had ever had and the older boy couldn't imagine life without him.
000
Sophos is nervous and Pol is disapproving. Costis wants to be the voice of reason, the check on Gen's madcap schemes and impetuous curiosity. He wants this, but he has long since resigned himself to the reality of the situation. Gen is Gen, and nothing Costis can do is ever going to curb that wild enthusiasm for the outrageous, the dangerous, and the just plain old insane.
And honestly, Costis doesn't want Gen to change, not really. He likes the way Gen pokes and teases and plays. He just wishes that Gen would choose his playmates a little more carefully.
When Gen came down the mountain, he brought what seemed to be his entire extended family with him.
(That's how they always say it, too: Gen "came down the mountain." As though he's some wild creature, barely held by humanity and all its dull, dreary normality.
This is probably true, Costis thinks.)
Anyway, Gen's family is large and diverse, and though his cousins invade the school with less ostentation than Gen, that is not to say that it is not an invasion. Because it definitely is.
In particular, there is Helen, who is not pretty but is immeasurably kind, and so has people falling in love with her within only a few days. Costis rather suspects that this may be a family trait.
Helen is gentle and kind and sweet, and it is inexplicable to everyone (especially her admirers) that she chooses to make friends with Irene.
Irene is gorgeous. There are not even words to describe how gorgeous she is. Her beauty is unnatural for a teenage girl, and yet fits her perfectly. She is breathtaking.
Also, she is absolutely terrifying. Irene, for all her beauty, is cold and aloof. She is not friendly, and she does not offer her vulnerable side to anyone, and everyone who gets too close suffers the bite of her unfeeling wrath.
Except for Helen, it seems, who tempers Irene's steel with soft silk and ignores all who tell her that her friend isn't worth it. Irene never raises her voice to Helen.
Helen, Costis thinks, is like Sophos in that way. Gen will rage at everybody and anybody else, even Costis, who Gen freely admits to loving dearly (those are his words: "I love you dearly"), but not Sophos. And it is not because Pol scares Gen, which is what Gen likes to claim.
It is because Sophos is a puppy.
Gen is not the sort of person who kicks puppies. Gen is the sort of person who finds a couple of stray puppies and takes them home with them, gaining their loyalty through food and companionship, until he has created a pack of fiercely devoted, slightly rotund cohorts. This is, after all, what happened with Pol and Sophos.
000
What actually happened with Pol and Sophos was that Sophos' father was some sort of political leader and he had enemies that might try to get to him through Sophos, so he hired Pol, a professional bodyguard, to protect his son, because Sophos was getting really tired of home tutors. Pol was young, in his twenties, and was actually able to pass for a high school student. This had less to do with the youthfulness of Pol's face than it did his ability to completely blend into the background. Nobody thought to question his presence: nobody even registered his presence.
All of this, Costis learned in the first ten minutes of meeting the odd pair. That was Gen for you. He found the most lonely, the most unlikely people in the room and he just…
With Costis, it had been gradual. Gen sent him notes in class, stalked him through the halls, broke into the office and paged him over the intercom. It had been Costis who made the first overt move, after a week of this bewildering and frankly weird behavior.
Costis spent the morning in the principal's office, because the instant he'd seen Gen in the hallway, he had punched the other boy in the jaw.
And while he was berating himself over how impulsively stupid that had been, Gen was waltzing into the office, requesting that Costis be forgiven, and telling an outrageous lie. Costis, Gen said, had been trying to hug him, and had been a little too enthusiastic, was all. And Gen had moved in the wrong direction, leading to Costis' fist impacting with Gen's face. He was fine, really, of course there were no hard feelings, Costis was Gen's best friend.
And with that, Costis was free, and almost dazedly following Gen out of the office and down the hall. They made it all the way to Gen's next class before Costis snapped out of it.
He stopped Gen with a hand on his shoulder and said, "We are friends?"
Gen's face was genuinely surprised. "Of course we are! Aren't we?" he added then, looking slightly anxious.
And then Costis was somewhat startled to realize that they were. That between the notes and the stalking and the cheerful misuse of the school's intercom system, Gen had paid more attention to him than he'd ever received from any of his peers, in all of his school years. Even more startling: Costis liked it. Liked Gen.
"Of course," he answered finally, and Gen's face lit up.
That was Costis. With Sophos, Gen handled things much differently.
The day after Sophos arrived, he was sitting with Pol at an otherwise empty lunch table. Gen plunked down right across from them and said, "Hi, I'm Gen. Let's be friends."
Pol informed him that he sounded like a five-year old. Costis didn't bother telling him that this was not a deterrent for Gen. He had a feeling Pol would soon find that out for himself.
Costis had briefly considered being jealous of Gen's sudden attention for Sophos, but quickly decided that it was not worth the effort. Gen had spent considerable time and energy in coaxing Costis into friendship. He wasn't likely to abandon it now.
As if he'd known what Costis was thinking, Gen had introduced Costis as his BFF (seriously, Gen, what is even wrong with you?) and invited Sophos and Pol to hang out with them after school. He didn't ask Costis first, but that was only because he already knew what Costis would say.
Sophos agreed and Pol shrugged, and the next thing they knew, Gen had a willing partner in crime and Costis had someone to commiserate with over how insane their respective charges were.
Pol was only there for Sophos' sake in the first place, he claimed, and did not need to be included in activities or conversation, thanks very much.
He also did not like Gen, he insisted.
Costis, for one, did not believe him.
000
The scheme that Gen and Sophos are cooking is really little more than an elaborate matchmaking plan. In fact, that's exactly what it is.
"This," Gen explains to Costis and Pol, "is an elaborate matchmaking plan."
Costis and Pol exchange longsuffering glances and resign themselves to the disaster that is sure to follow.
They are sitting on beanbag chairs (that Pol pretends to hate but secretly loves) in an overcrowded loft in Gen's house, surrounded by books and what looks like a bed (buried under more books). It is Gen's bedroom, or his study or his council room, depending on which Gen he is being today. That sounds weird to Costis, but he knows that it's true so he doesn't let it bother him. It's just Gen.
Sometimes he is a strategist, plotting everything to the very last detail. Sometimes he is a king, directing his friends as one would direct chess pieces. Sometimes he is a thief, stealing their hearts and minds (and sometimes their wallets –Costis likes Gen, but that doesn't mean he doesn't acknowledge that Gen has a problem) and replacing them with naught but his friendship and hoping it's enough. And sometimes he's just Gen, who is tired and cranky and wants to read his books and snaps at Costis when Costis makes him go to bed. This happens fairly often.
Currently, the room is a council room, and Gen is king. Costis covers his face and moans in despair. This plan comes with diagrams. And flow charts.
Costis is apparently going to have to have another talk with Gen about "too much."
"And so," Gen finishes his description of this most daring and complicated of plans, "she shall be yours." He pauses dramatically. "Any questions?"
Sophos is beaming at Gen like he holds the secrets to life, the universe, and everything in the palm of his quick-fingered hand. Pol is very carefully not looking at Gen at all, and trying not to sink into the beanbag chair too far. Clearly, it is up to Costis to infuse some common sense into the proceedings. He sighs, but raises his hand.
"Yes!" Gen looks far too delighted to have a question. Costis can actually feel the other boy daring him to object. "Costis, you have a question?"
"Just one," he says, easily, because never let it be said that Costis is ignorant of how the game is played. Just because he isn't very good at it doesn't mean he doesn't know. "If Sophos likes Helen so much, why doesn't he just ask her out?"
Gen stares at Costis like the idea had never crossed his mind. "She's my cousin," he says, like that explains anything. "He can't just ask her out."
Costis feels Pol scowling and frowns a little himself. "Why not? You obviously don't have a problem with them dating, if you're making this plan to get them together. Why shouldn't he ask her out?"
"Of course I don't have a problem with it!" Gen huffs, turning to Sophos. "I don't," he says again, reassuringly. "You know that right, Sophos?"
"Of course," Sophos replies, looking surprised that this was even in question. "And Gen is right, Costis," he continues, "I can't just ask Helen to go out with me. That's what this whole plan is for. I have to woo her, to prove myself worthy of her. It was my idea."
Costis stares at him, then at Gen. Then at Pol, for good measure, though, to be fair, Pol is staring right back with the exact same look of confusion on his face as Costis.
"That," says Costis, "is the stupidest thing I have ever heard."
Gen huffs again, irritably. "Honestly, Costis, what have we been talking about for the past hour! Were you even listening?"
"No," Costis answers honestly, because he knows it will tick Gen off, and because it's true. Of course, he usually does listen to Gen's plans, but this time, there's a whiteboard, so Costis feels somewhat justified in drifting a little.
The exasperation in Gen's tone when he says, "You're helping, you know," makes it worth it.
000
There hadn't been a whiteboard the first time Gen explained something to Costis. There hadn't been anything at all except for Gen and Costis and a soccer ball. And also a goal and a field, but those weren't important.
See, Costis was playing soccer the year he met Gen, and he wasn't very good at it. He wasn't the worst player on the team, by any means, but he certainly wasn't first line material. Costis was lucky if he even got to play once a game.
Gen, naturally, was great at soccer. Also naturally, he had absolutely zero desire to join the team.
"Costis," he said, "I love soccer. I'll come to every game, whether you play or not. But I don't want to play for the team."
"Why not?" Costis asked, frustrated. Gen raised an eyebrow.
"Costis," he said. "Can you honestly see me on the team? Taking orders from the coach? From the captain?"
The captain's name was Teleus, and while he was a perfectly nice human being off the field, when he was playing soccer, he became a drill sergeant of the most brutal sort. Costis winced just thinking about Teleus crossing paths with Gen.
"Okay," he said, and left it at that. Costis continued to play soccer in mediocrity, and Gen continued to be awesome at it and not play at all.
That is, until the day Gen had finally had enough of watching Costis have the ball stolen from him and his feet kicked out from under him. Gen grabbed a soccer ball and dragged Costis out on the field after practice one day.
"Gen," Costis sighed, tired and irritable. "Why are you dragging me out on the field after practice?"
"Because I want to show you something," Gen said, pacing away from Costis and then turning to face him. "Look, you have to stop this whole, hesitating thing. Okay? You're not a bad soccer player, Costis, you're a hesitant soccer player. Every time you start to dribble or line up for a goal, you balk. We've got to train you out of that, because I don't know how much more of watching you get knocked down I can take."
Costis sort of wanted to be angry. Gen wasn't even on the team, what right did he have to tell Costis how to play? He wanted to be angry, but mostly he was too busy feeling warm and pleased. Gen cared enough to try to help Costis, cared if he was getting beat up on the field.
Possibly Gen just cared about soccer, but.
"Okay," he heard himself saying. "What do I do?"
Gen looked relieved. "Watch," he said, and then he was off. He dribbled slowly, allowing Costis to watch his every move, and then the ball arched into the air and Gen's foot was connecting with it in a solid smack! The net of the goal fluttered as the ball sailed into it.
"Now," said Gen, after retrieving the ball and jogging back to Costis' side. "Your turn."
Costis tried. He followed Gen's movements exactly, dribbling slowly and steadily. But when he drew his foot back to kick the ball into the air, he faltered, stumbling over the ball and his own feet and landing hard on one knee.
Gen winced. Costis muttered a curse under his breath and made his way back to Gen. He knew he was pouting, but for once, couldn't bring himself to care. Stopping in front of his friend, he crossed his arms over his chest and huffed an annoyed sigh. Gen studied him for a moment.
"You keep dropping your point in third," Gen said finally, smiling an odd half smile. The words made Costis pause, made him blink and wait. There was something in those words, something old and ancient. They made no sense at all, but somehow, Costis felt like he understood what they meant.
"You reach the final step," Gen continued, the moment passing by, "but then you stop. You pause too long at critical moments. You know what to do, Costis, but you don't do it. You –"
"Drop my point in third," Costis finished softly. Gen smirked at him.
"Exactly," he said.
So what do I do?" Costis asked, miserably. "I didn't even realize I was doing it, how am I going to fix it?"
And now Gen was really smirking. "Simply put," he said, "I train you out of it."
Training Costis out of hesitating apparently consisted of lobbing the soccer ball at him, over and over again, and forbidding him to use his hands to defend himself.
"You kick it away, or it hits you," Gen told him, entirely unsympathetic. Costis snarled at his best friend and motioned for the ball again. Gen dropped it, dribbled it, and then kicked it straight at Costis' stomach. Backing up slightly, Costis raised his leg…
The ball bounced off his knee. Frantically, Costis' foot shot out, catching the ball right before it hit the ground. Balancing the soccer ball on wobbly toes, he wavered for only an instant before launching it straight into the air. Spin, balance, straighten leg…
Smack!
The ball flew right at Gen's head, who dodged out of the way just in time. He rolled on the field, finally coming to rest on his elbows, grinning up into Costis' concerned face.
"Excellent," Gen said.
000
"Are you sure," Costis has to ask, "that this plan isn't more for you than for Sophos?"
"Hmm?" Gen hums, distracted and puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"I mean," Costis says carefully, "that a plan to woo a girl can have more than one intended recipient. And I don't want you to get your hopes up."
He knows this is the wrong thing to say the instant he says it, and not for the first time, he curses his impulsiveness.
"What are you saying?" Gen snarls. "That she wouldn't look twice at me? That she'd laugh? 'Why would she ever want me?'"
Costis flinches, but holds his ground. "That's not it at all and you know it, Gen," he says. "I just want you to be realistic. And to not be surprised if she tries to have you murdered by the soccer team. This is Irene, you know, and she's not exactly known for being stable."
"Neither am I," Gen retorts, anger dying as quickly as it had flared to life. He offers Costis a rueful smile of apology, appearing relieved by Costis' easy acceptance. Costis doesn't take it personally. It is sort of a sore spot.
Gen's massive crush on Irene is both the worst and the best kept secret in the entire school. The worst, because nearly everybody knows about it. The best because the one person who doesn't know about it… is Irene.
For obvious reasons, no one has told Irene yet. This is because nobody has hated Gen enough to wish to see him murdered in cold blood. Yet.
Costis is sure it is coming, though.
Here is the story of Gen and Irene's first meeting:
Gen met Irene because Helen was over at Irene's house for a sleepover and Gen needed to talk to Helen about something (really, really needed to talk to her, it was very important, he swore) and he didn't have his cell phone because he'd gotten in trouble with his father earlier in the week so he left his house in the middle of the night and made his way to Irene's.
Of course, Gen was aware of who Irene was. There wasn't a single person in all of school who didn't know who Irene was. But they had never spoken, even in passing. They had only one class together, and Gen didn't talk during that class because he didn't like the teacher and the teacher didn't like him, so what was the point?
The facts are thus:
Helen and Irene were up in Irene's second-floor bedroom, lying across Irene's bed and talking quietly in the way girls do when they are with friends. Instead of ringing the doorbell and asking to come in to speak with his cousin, Gen was climbing the tree right outside of Irene's window, fingers squirming into ridiculous handholds and feet scrambling at the bark. When he was finally eye-level with the window, he wrapped one hand tightly around the branch he was perched on and leaned over to rap gently on the window with his knuckles.
Irene's head shot up, her eyes gone wide, startled. For the first time ever, Gen saw Irene, unguarded and natural, capable of emotion and surprise.
He didn't quite fall out of the tree, but it was a close thing.
Helen was laughing, face buried in her arms and one fist pounding on the bed in hilarity. Irene turned around to glare at her, but Helen only looked up into her friend's face and started laughing harder.
Gen wanted to ask what was so funny, but Irene hadn't opened the window yet.
She never did. Instead, she pointed one finger at him and mouthed "Go home." He shook his head and pointed at Helen, pantomiming talking with one hand. Rolling her eyes, she jabbed Helen in the shoulder and jerked her head at Gen when the other girl looked up.
Helen rolled off the bed and came to stand next to the window. She didn't open it either, but that was alright, because Gen and Helen had always understood each other, and words were often completely superfluous between them.
Stenides has brought home a "friend," his eyes said, accompanied by furrowed brows, and though she is very nice, I don't want to be there while they are snogging. And Father told Sten that he was in charge while Father is gone for the weekend, but Sten won't mind if I go over to your house instead, so can I have your key?
Gen had his own key to Helen's house. It was, after all, adjacent to his own. And even if he didn't have a key, that really wouldn't be something that could stop him from getting inside if he wanted to. And nobody would mind if he did, either. Helen's father was out of town with his brother, and that was part of why Helen was at Irene's house in the first place. Gen didn't need Helen's keys.
But he was tired and lonely and his father had shouted at him before leaving and Sten had a lady friend and no time for Gen and all of this was making him melancholy and pathetic and he hated it so he went to sulk to Helen because she always understood.
Costis knows this story because Helen did understand, of course, but instead of giving Gen her key, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number, giving Gen a kind smile. Confused, he looked to Irene, who was watching Helen with a softened expression, one that said, "My friend is such a good person."
Gen agreed. Helen was a good person.
Helen pulled the phone away from her ear and smiled at Gen again. Only a few seconds later, the soft rumbling of a car coming down the street reached Gen's ears. He looks questioningly at Helen who mouthed, "Go on," and waved him away and down the tree.
Confused and a little bit hurt, Gen slowly made his way down the tree, stumbling exhaustedly out onto the front lawn of Irene's house. And then he looked up, towards the street.
Costis opened the passenger door of his car and said, "Get in, Gen, you're staying at my house tonight."
The story ends there, technically, but that's only because Costis has no desire to re-hash the way Gen told him every last detail of his meeting with Irene. The way her eyes shone when she laughed with his cousin in secret. How beautiful she looked when she smiled. The way she hadn't shouted at him or called him names, even when he showed up outside her window looking exceedingly pitiful.
The way she had stared at him while Helen talked on the phone, like she was trying to reach into his soul and discover all his secrets with her eyes.
Gen doesn't know how he fell so fast, but he is absolutely head-over-heels for her anyway.
"I just don't want you to get hurt," Costis says, because even though he's heard about it from Gen, he's never seen Irene's soft side for himself, and that's the sort of thing Costis needs to see to believe.
"I won't," says Gen, confident in this as in everything.
Costis isn't so sure, but he lets Gen rope him into the plan anyway.
000
Sophos fell in love with Helen the first time he saw her. (This is not really true, but it is very close.)
Sophos actually fell in love with Helen about ten minutes after the first time he saw her, when he ran straight into her in the hallway between classes.
Gen watched the whole thing from about three or four feet away. He watched his friend and his cousin collide, fall, drop all of their things, and stammer at each other.
Okay, so it was just Sophos who stammered. But anyway, Gen just stood there and was no help at all.
Instead, he laughed and laughed, and when Sophos stumbled out of the encounter blushing hot red and head-over-heels for Gen's favorite cousin, he began plotting.
Helen had had boys begging for her attention before, of course, though not as many as Gen thought she deserved. Truly, though, there hadn't been one yet who Gen would have believed deserved her.
Until Sophos. Gen was quite pleased with Sophos.
"She is… I mean –" Sophos sighed. Gen smirked.
"My cousin."
Sophos stuttered to a halt, sputtering and blushing.
"Oh! I didn't – I mean, I wasn't, uh –"
Gen was laughing again.
"It's fine, Sophos," he said. "It's fine."
Sophos' face was nearly purple. "I just," he said. "She is."
"Yes," Gen agreed. "She is."
And so it was. With Gen's enthusiastic blessing, Sophos began plans to woo Helen.
Pol shook his head over it.
"He'll get his heart broken," he said, disapprovingly.
Gen, with unusual tact and sensitivity, answered gently, "Sometimes that happens. You can't protect him from everything."
Pol grunted, unhappy with this pronouncement. Gen grinned and then said casually, "If it makes you feel better at all, he's not going to get his heart broken."
Pol eyed him skeptically. "Is that so?"
Gen's smile softened fondly as he watched Sophos and Costis kick a soccer ball at each other. Sophos was even worse at following through than Costis was.
"It is," he said. "Helen's going to love him."
000
Gen's plan is working, and Costis is not as surprised by this as he would like to be. Gen's plans do tend to work more often than they don't, even when they are terrible plans. Costis is sure that this isn't quite fair, but he's also half-convinced that the laws of nature don't really apply to Gen anyway, so he doesn't really mind.
Helen does, in fact, love Sophos. They are so adorable that it's sort of sickening. Pol is simultaneously pleased that Sophos is so happy and annoyed because Gen was right again.
Gen is just smug.
Here is the story of Sophos and Helen:
Helen knew that Gen was up to something, knew it just like she knew the sun would rise in the east tomorrow morning and that fire was hot and water was wet. Knowing that Gen was up to something was no big accomplishment.
Gen is always up to something.
But this time, Helen was beginning to feel that whatever Gen was plotting had something to do with her. He kept smiling at her like he had a secret and he just couldn't wait to share it with her. She'd seen this look before. Usually right before something slimy is plopped into her lap for her to pretend to enthuse over.
It had been a strange week for Helen. It seemed like every time she turned around, she was tripping, nearly falling down stairs, dropping her books, losing her lunch money, and just generally having a bad day. Every day. For an entire week.
Except.
Sophos.
The boy had been popping up wherever she was all week. Every time she tripped, he was there to catch her. Every time she dropped her books, he was picking them up for her. He bought her lunch one day and sat with her and Irene in silence, occasionally shooting her shy smiles that she returned… to her own surprise. And he was polite and kind, and he always had a stammered, blushing compliment for her, even when he had just run into her in the library. Helen just knew that Gen had something to do with this. In light of this fact, it is understandable why Helen was at first confused when Sophos approached her in the hallway.
Sophos opened his mouth and stuttered his way through an invitation to a movie. Helen was so surprised by this that she almost didn't have a chance to respond. Sophos, taking her stunned silence as rejection, began backpedaling, only to have Helen hastily accept.
Sophos came away from the experience with a dazed look on his face. In spite of that, his smile had never been brighter.
Gen took one look at his face and turned a smug grin on Pol and Costis.
"I told you," he said.
"You did," Costis admitted. Pol growled.
"What did you even actually do?" he said. "It's not like her streak of bad luck actually had anything to do with you."
A pause.
"Did it?"
Gen preened.
Costis thinks privately that it shouldn't have worked, not really. And yet, it does.
000
There were two ways to talk to Gen about Irene. Either don't do it, or settle in for the long haul. Costis sometimes thought that Gen could talk about Irene forever.
Magnus, Sophos' math tutor, had once made the mistake of asking Gen why he was so enamored by such an unfeeling creature. Costis wanted to take a picture of Gen's face and give it to Irene, shove it at her and yell, "Look at him! Someone asked him why he loved you and this was the look on his face!"
Surprise. Honest confusion. A certain dreaminess. Every line, every angle screaming, "Why on earth would I not?"
Irene wasn't especially unkind to Gen, but she certainly wasn't warm, or even generally amicable. She very obviously tolerated his presence for Helen's sake only. Gen, for his part, spent most of the time he was allowed in Irene's company in trying to infuriate her. He was very good at it. Gen had a small collection of things that Irene had thrown at him in a fit of temper. Costis had tried telling Gen that keeping them was a little creepy, but apparently his friend didn't care.
"So why do you like her?" Costis asked Gen after Magnus had given up and left. Costis, being somewhat more deserving than Magnus, was gifted with more than just the incredulous expression from before.
"Why wouldn't I?" Gen asked simply, and Costis rolled his eyes because he suspected that because she is the devil was probably not a good answer here and wasn't Costis the one asking the questions a moment ago?
"She doesn't like you," he pointed out instead, knowing that Gen wouldn't be offended. He wasn't.
"Neither did you, at first," he just said, and it's weird, because that wasn't quite true. Costis had never disliked Gen. He had been irritated, annoyed, oddly endeared, annoyed at being oddly endeared, and, twice, genuinely, truly angry, but he had never despised Gen the way Irene seemed to. He said as much to Gen, and Gen smiled at him, that special smile that seemed reserved only for Costis that said, "You are a good friend. I knew I made a good choice."
"I think, Costis," he said, "that you are underestimating my capability to charm."
000
Costis knows that Irene knows that Gen is the one who brought Sophos and Helen together and this is how he knows this:
"Costis," Irene says, "I know that Eugenides is the one who brought Sophos and Helen together."
Once Costis remembers that "Eugenides" is Gen's real name, he swallows hard and nods slowly, not quite daring to meet Irene's dark, confidant eyes and fixating carefully on a space right below her eye line. This, unfortunately, means that he is staring at her nose, which seems terribly rude to him for some reason. It can't be helped though. The only other place to look is her lips and Costis is not going there because he values his kneecaps, thanks very much.
Irene is watching him like a very beautiful, very terrifying bird of prey and he does his best not to look like a scared rabbit but suspects that his best is not quite good enough.
"Your friend is very strange," Irene tells Costis. He nods automatically.
"Yes, he is," he mutters, silently cursing Gen for getting himself –and thus, Costis– on Irene's radar.
She studies him, crossing her arms and cocking one hip. She looks like a queen surveying a subject with whom she is not particularly impressed.
This, Costis admits, is probably an accurate description.
"Look," he says, somewhat desperately, "I don't know what you want me to say here. I mean, they like each other, right? So what's the harm? So Gen set them up. So what? You know Sophos wouldn't have said anything on his own, and Helen wouldn't even know he existed if Gen hadn't done something. And now they're both happy, so what's the problem?"
Irene stares at him and Costis experiences a singular moment of shock wherein he realizes that he has raised his voice to her. For a moment, they stand frozen in a tableau of shock (Costis) and stone (Irene), and Costis fully expects to die. Possibly by lightning strike –he isn't entirely convinced that she isn't a goddess of some sort with the exact capability and temperament to strike someone dead by lightning.
Irene finally raises one eyebrow, arching high and perfect over eyes framed in dark kohl, and allows the tiniest hint of a smile to touch her red, red lips.
"I don't believe," she says, "that there is a problem." She smirks at him then, and, "Well done, Costis."
While he's still puzzling over that cryptic comment, she is sashaying away, and he doesn't know what possesses him, he really doesn't, but something makes him call out, "Wait!"
She pauses.
"Gen," Costis begins, licking his lips and wondering where on earth he is going with this, "he's… he's good, you know? He is, truly."
Irene is silent.
"And," Costis continues, compelled to finish, even though he barely knows what he's even saying, "he's clever, and, and he's not always kind, but he is always loyal, and good and, and he's… he's so… Gen," he finishes lamely, face flushing hotly, certain that he's done more harm to his friend's suit than good.
But then Irene turns back to him and flashes him an amused look that could almost, on someone else, be called a smile.
"Yes," she says, "he certainly is."
000
Costis once beat someone up for Gen. Broke his nose. Laecdomon had needed plastic surgery.
In retrospect, Costis wasn't sure that Gen had actually needed his help. He had just seen Gen pinned against the wall of the hallway and then the next few minutes were lost in a haze of furious red.
Costis was suspended for three weeks. Gen was angry and he proved this by coming over to Costis' house every day to remind him of it while teaching Costis what he'd missed in geometry.
(Costis didn't find this out until later, but Laecdomon had received a visit from Helen, Sophos and Pol while in the hospital, bearing with them sweet smiles and a note scribed in Irene's perfect, perfect handwriting that detailed exactly what fate would befall him if he ever laid a finger on Gen ever again.)
000
Costis catches them kissing on the stairs after fourth period, on his way to lunch. Gen is hanging off the railing of the staircase, straining on tiptoe to reach Irene, who is taller than him, even with the boost.
"What," says Costis.
They pull away and Costis has the singular pleasure of watching Gen flush bright scarlet from neck to hairline. Irene is unperturbed.
"Costis," she greets, straightening up and offering a hand to Gen, who takes it and clambers over the railing while clinging to it as though he expects it to be torn away. Irene doesn't seem to notice, only adjusts her grip so that their fingers are intertwined instead of simply clasped.
"Are you on your way to lunch?" Irene asks Costis, who nods, still staring at their hands.
"I was just walking Eugenides there," Irene says, straight-faced, as though Gen isn't wearing a smear of her lipstick on his bottom lip. Gen is carefully not looking at Costis.
"Right," says Costis, finally, finally getting it. "Yeah, I'll walk with you."
They descend the stairs and Costis falls into step beside Gen, whose blush has faded and been replaced by a helplessly adoring gaze that he darts toward Irene with every step.
It's sickening and Costis does not find it adorable. At all.
"So," he says, "you two." He doesn't elaborate.
"Yes," is all Irene says.
"How long?"
"Oh," Irene says, "when did Sophos and Helen get together?"
Costis stares. "A month ago."
"Well," Irene says, "it's been longer than that."
Costis glares down accusingly at Gen. Gen stubbornly looks at his shoes.
"Well," Irene announces as they arrive at the lunchroom. "I need to get to class. Enjoy your lunch, boys." She turns to leave and Gen pulls her back suddenly, arching onto his toes to kiss her. She sighs in exasperation, but kisses him back before pulling away once more. "Go," she tells him. "Go," she pushes him toward Costis and then sweeps majestically away. (Costis would never imply that Irene hurries anywhere, but he notes that it is nearly the bell, and if Irene wants to make it to her next class on time, she's probably going to have to run at some point.)
Gen peeks up at Costis through his eyelashes, looking shy and slightly shamefaced.
"Oh, stop," Costis says. "You're not embarrassed in the slightest."
Gen grins. His whole face is transformed from sheepish to entirely self-satisfied.
"No," he says, "I'm really, really not."
Costis nudges Gen's shoulder with his own. "So, go on," he says, long-sufferingly. "I know you want to."
Gen's smile grows wider. "I told you she –" he begins.
"Yeah, alright," Costis cuts him off abruptly, shoving him into the lunchroom.
("Did it work?" Sophos asks later, anxiously. He's biting his lip and holding Helen's hand.
"Of course," Gen says back, impossibly smug.
Pol meets Costis' glance and rolls his eyes over Gen's head.)
000
"Costis," asked Gen, "did you really try to talk me up to Irene?"
"No," Costis lied.
"How sweet," Gen snickered.
Costis groaned.
000
"I really love her," Gen sighs.
Costis looks over at Gen, who is currently staring at Irene, who is currently sitting not five feet away, engaged in conversation with Helen and most certainly aware of her boyfriend's gaze.
"Yeah," Costis answers. "I can tell."
"Shut up," Gen sighs.
"Did you know," Costis drawls, "that you still have her lipstick on your bottom lip?"
He listens to Gen curse and try to wipe the makeup off, sits back, and grins.
A/N: Otherwise known as: I wrote a High School AU bromance for Gen and Costis, and Gen still managed to make it all about Irene.
I don't fence. Or play soccer. Gen's soccer/fencing analogies are completely inaccurate, unless they aren't, in which case, that isn't by any grand design of mine, but rather a complete and total accident. Cheers.
Magnus is exactly who you think he is.