nowhere left to run [stefan/otto]

[hyperia, palaemon and stefan]

Just the thought of her hurt. Though he couldn't bring himself to use her name, her face was still burned into the depths of his mind and nothing he did could shake her out. Even when he'd managed to occupy himself long enough to forget about her, something would make him smile and he'd move for his phone to text her before remembering he couldn't do that anymore. Everything he'd grown to love over the past few years had been torn away from him. What had she said again? "You just don't interest me like you used to." He'd thought himself quite a fun person until now but he'd been so boring that his girlfriend had split up with him. What else in his life had been a false conclusion?

He'd tried speaking to Palaemon about it but nothing helpful had come out of it. His damned kindness only resulted in suggestions of talking about it to try and resolve their issues or else letting her continue with her life and wait for the next chapter in his own. Hyperia's assistance had been even less helpful but then what had he expected her to say other than "Shut up and get over it"? She had, however, given him one of her gossip magazines to help him distract himself and within this had been an article about a celebrity 'on the rebound'. He'd had to ask his colleague in order to understand exactly what the term meant in this context.

After it had been explained to him, Stefan started to wonder if maybe such a technique would work in his situation. Was there a better way to forget someone than replace them with someone else to think about? The sub-stylist grabbed his phone from the coffee table in front of him and scrolled through the contacts until he found the first person that could possibly help him. A text to Otto Allardyce told him to expect him there soon and then Stefan was out the door and hailing a taxi.

What if this didn't work? Their relationship had hardly been a short fling and he imagined it would take a while to get over her, even if he used every trick in the book he wished was on his shelf. After what seemed like an hour yet no time at all, Stefan was paying his fare and stepping out to look at the entrance to Otto's place. He could see no reason for him not to be home, seeing as the afternoon would soon be turning into evening, and the lack of reply would seem to indicate he had no objection to him coming. Then again, it could have meant that he didn't want him there but Palaemon had told him to think positively and so he had someone to blame if he wasn't welcome at the particular time.

A sharp knock on the door announced his arrival to the stylist within. They hadn't spoken as much recently as they usually did but Stefan assumed he had heard about his split. Palaemon always seemed to know when somebody needed to be told something and when it would just make things more difficult. If his understanding of his friend and colleague was correct, Pal would already have let Otto know to save Stefan needing to do so and breaking down in the process. He waited patiently for the familiar face to appear in place of the door, tracing the lines on his palm in the process.

[otto leonis allardyce]

Nothing exciting had happened at Otto's house all day until Stefan's name appeared on his phone. It was a text from him saying to expect him. They hadn't spoken much in a while. He thought it would be nice for them to talk. Otto only nodded to himself, and set the phone down. He figured he knew what this was about. He'd heard about Stefan's girlfriend breaking up with him from Palaemon. He thought it was a rather unfortunate situation, since he had always been afraid of getting hurt. He couldn't even fathom what it would be like to be in a relationship with someone for years, only to have them tell you they are no longer interested. Luckily, he didn't have to worry about girls breaking his heart. He had never really been interested in girls. Most of Otto's past relationships were merely flings anyway. He wasn't having much luck of finding "the one", if such a thing even existed.

Evening was nearly coming on, and he thought that perhaps Stefan had changed his mind about coming. Surely he had other things to do than come to him for help. Otto was gay, for crying out loud, what would he possibly be able to do with a situation that involved a girl? Then he heard a knock at his door, and knew that he was there. Otto got up and walked to the door, unlocking it, and slowly opening it, to reveal Stefan standing in front of him. "Hey," Otto said. "Come on in." He stepped aside to allow Stefan to come inside. "So um, I heard about...yeah. I'm sorry," Otto said sympathetically. He wasn't quite sure what to say exactly, but he figured that he shouldn't use her name, at least. "And I suppose that's why you're here, isn't it? Anything I can do to help?" Otto had always liked to think of himself as a comforting person. If he knew that someone was having a hard time, he'd try his best to help them out if he could. He was afraid that he had already said too much already, though, so he figured that he would just shut up before he started rambling on and allow Stefan to talk. He didn't want to make the situation worse than it already was.

[hyperia, palaemon and stefan]

After just a few moments in front of Otto's door, the friend he had come to see appeared before him. The fact that he deemed him as handsome as ever only went to confirm that he was perhaps the right person to be seeking help from. He could take out two birds with one stone and hopefully enjoy himself in the process. There had always been a small part of Stefan begging to get it on with another guy but he'd never given in to this, both for having someone else to satisfy his impulses and for not wanting to admit that he might like it more than as experimentation. Now he could go about his curiosities without being a cheater and could blame the need to be satisfied if such justifications became necessary. If things didn't work out as he hoped, Stefan trusted Otto to keep it between them, at least until he was in a better position mentally to cope with it.

Stefan smiled as he was welcomed inside and crossed the threshold into the warmth of the house. It faltered a little as Otto mentioned his ex but just about carried through. So Palaemon had let him know. He'd have to thank him when he got home for sparing him the awkward conversation. "Don't worry about it, Ria says it'll blow over and she's smarter than she looks," he replied, omitting the fact that everything else Hyperia had said had been somewhat insensitive. Stefan assumed she hadn't meant to be so cold but that was just her way. She wasn't accustomed to being sentimental or sympathetic but had tried all the same.

"Yeah, I was hoping you might be able to," Stefan told him, bringing his sentence to a close rather than rushing into his request. Was there a right way to go about making such a proposition to one of your closest friends. It certainly went beyond the normal expectations of being a friend and a rejection would definitely make their next meeting awkward, in addition to the current one. What would Stefan expect from someone before he accepted something like what he was about to ask? They'd known each other for a fair while, they trusted each other and, though he didn't want to sound big-headed, Stefan knew he was attractive. Would Otto be able to look at him in that way? If he was to change his mind, he had about five seconds to come up with another reason for having come to him and "I just needed someone to talk to" wouldn't cut it.

"So Ria gave me one of her magazines to try and take my mind off it and there was this thing about... rebounds. I thought maybe that might help me get over her but obviously I need someone else to help." Was he being too cryptic? If Stefan had just split up with a boy, it might have been a little more obvious as to what he was getting at but that wasn't the case. As far as everybody else was concerned, he had no sexual interest in males whatsoever and any suggestion of such was just him mucking around, even if it wasn't necessarily a subject that should be joked about. If Otto assumed he was asking for help finding a girl, which he suspected he might, then he would make himself better understood but to save a little of his dignity rather than sound like he was begging for it, he'd give the other man a chance to figure it out for himself first.

[otto leonis allardyce]

"Well she's right, it'll all blow over soon," Otto said. There was a very little chance that someone who could throw away years of a relationship for not being interested anymore, would want to rekindle the relationship. Of course what he meant by it blowing over, was that Stefan would eventually get over it and be all right without her. It seemed to Otto that Stefan hadn't came here to simply talk about his ex after all. He probably just wanted a favor of some kind, though this didn't make sense to Otto. The only logical thing he could think of was that Stefan would ask him to help him find someone else. Obviously Otto wasn't very good at picking up girls, since he wasn't even interested in them. In that case, Stefan came to the wrong person.

He became interested as Stefan said he hoped Otto could help him. Whatever it was, he would be ready to do it, unless of course it WAS having to go find him a girl; in that case, he was out of luck here. Stefan mentioned a magazine about rebounds, and Otto was almost certain that what he'd thought was correct. But then it occured to Otto that if Stefan really wanted another girl, he could simply go find one. Otto thought that Stefan was very attractive, although he'd never really told him so. A guy like Stefan wouldn't need any help finding a girl. Otto wasn't stupid, he was usually able to put two and two together. But surely Stefan couldn't have been referring to him. Otto was sure that Stefan was completely straight. Otto thought of himself as stupid for even thinking for a second that Stefan would want to use him as a rebound. Then again, he seemed like he really just needed someone right now. But Otto thought that what Stefan wanted was a girl.

"Well, you know that I'm going to be no help in finding you a girl," Otto said, a smirk curling to his lips. "And surely...you don't mean...me." He almost thought it was funny to even say that out loud. He knew that a straight guy wouldn't be too fond of someone suggesting that. "So...how exactly am I supposed to help?"

[/size][/justify]

[hyperia, palaemon and stefan]

"I hope so. Everything in that house reminds me of her and makes me feel like shit," Stefan replied, not wanting to burden Otto with lengths of emotional rambling that he'd probably already figured out was going through his head. Besides, talking wouldn't make it any better, not even with her. She'd made it quite clear that they were over for good and Stefan wasn't going to be the one that bent over backwards to try and make her happy. That's all he'd seemed to do over the past few years and while it had seemed perfectly fine at the time, Palaemon had raised the question of what had she ever given him in return? Naturally, Hyperia had taken it upon herself to make an inappropriate comment regarding their sex life.

Apparently Otto was more familiar with the term than Stefan had initially been, which was fortunate. While he had convinced himself that it was perfectly fine, with some assistance from Ria, he'd rather not outright say that he wanted sex with somebody else to get over his now ex-girlfriend. Would she not be doing exactly the same? In her case, it would probably be a case of needing someone to constantly feed her attention rather than to avoid the pain of them breaking up but did motives really matter? She'd torn out his heart and run over it with a lorry, surely he was entitled to a distraction?

"I'm sure you could get a girl if you wanted to," he told him, though knowing full well that he wouldn't want to. The fact remained that Otto was a nice guy inside and out that any girl with a brain would at least give a chance. A small smirk crossed his lips as the man before him assumed that he was not the 'someone else' he was referring to. He let him finish before replying, "Actually, I was hoping you'd be the one to help me." It seemed strange to speak of his request as if he were simply asking him to assist him in moving a particularly heavy table. "If you don't want to, I can go find somebody else, I just figured the first person I ask should be someone I trust."

[otto leonis allardyce]

"Maybe you should get out of the house more often," Otto responded. He didn't see why someone would stay in a place that reminded them of someone they don't want to be reminded of. He was honestly kind of glad that Stefan wasn't going to go on and on about his ex. He didn't mind listening to someone talk about their problems, but there came a certain point where he just wouldn't know what he was supposed to say anymore. Although Otto was a caring guy when it came to his friends, he'd often feel awkward when he'd be listening to their problems and have no idea what he can say, because usually, words don't help a situation at all.

Otto thought it was funny that Stefan had told him he could get a girl if he wanted to. Of course he wouldn't want to. "Girls aren't exactly my thing," Otto said with a smirk. Most people knew about his sexuality, and yet still some people insisted that he go date a girl just to make sure. Otto was already sure, however. He didn't need to date a girl for it to be verified; he was just sure. Otto knew exactly what Stefan was suggesting, but it was still surprising to him. He wasn't even really sure how to respond to him. "Well...I guess I could help you?" he said as if he were asking a question. Even for Otto, this conversation was a bit awkward to talk about. It wasn't every day that your straight friend of the same sex asks if you'll hook up with them so he can get over his ex. "I mean, I don't mind but..I wouldn't want to turn you gay or anything," Otto said, chuckling. He really didn't mind it, but he couldn't help but feel like he was just going to be used for Stefan's benefit. He was tired of everyone using him. Maybe that was what would happen at first, but not for long. Otto was going to do more than just help Stefan get over his ex...but he'd get over her all right.

[/justify]

[hyperia, palaemon and stefan]

"I'll take that to be an invitation to come here whenever I feel like it," Stefan responded, knowing that hadn't been exactly what Otto was saying but assuming he'd be welcome all the same. Wasn't he here now because he'd invited himself? Either their friendship was as close as he believed it to be or Otto was cutting him slack because of recent events. He knew Hyperia had suggested giving him some time off work, as surprised as it was for her to demonstrate existence of a nicer side to her personality, but Palaemon had decided against it so as to give him plenty to do to keep him mind off it.

Stefan smirked as Otto agreed to help him, though he was obviously a little uncertain about the whole situation. Of course, this was perfectly understandable. To put it into his own perspective, it would be like a lesbian asking him for sex. He'd likely be just as confused as Otto seemed to be if she didn't reveal that she believed she might also have an interest in males. "I figured if you think you might like something, you shouldn't say you don't like it before you've tried it." It was an indirect way of saying that he wanted to try playing with someone else's penis but it was said all the same. "I don't think you'll turn me gay but if there's going to be any change of attitude towards such activities then I'd rather it was you that initiated it."

[otto leonis allardyce]

"You could take it that way," Otto said. "I think you'll want to come around more often anyway..." He was, of course, implying the matter of this rebound thing. He really wouldn't mind having Stefan around more often. He was usually alone, and he thought it would be nice to have someone around. Lately they hadn't talked very much, and Otto kind of missed him. He knew that he was just going to be played with if he agreed to this, but he didn't really mind, since he'd gotten used to it over the years. Maybe Otto would be able to change Stefan's attitude toward guys, and that was what he intended to do.

"It's always good to explore your options," Otto said. "And maybe you will like it once you've tried it..I mean come on, it's me." Of course he was kidding; Otto really didn't think of himself as anything spectacular. He was just an average guy, if even that. Figuring that he should just cut to the chase before starting to ramble, he asked, "So did you come over here with the intention to have sex with me, or what?" That's what it had seemed like to him, anyway. He usually wasn't so blunt, but he wasn't sure how else to go about this situation without making it awkward. It wasn't like he had ever been with a guy who wasn't sure of his sexuality before.

[/size]

[hyperia, palaemon and stefan]

"Then take it that way I shall," Stefan replied, before stepping closer to whisper in his ear (despite there not being anyone else around to hear) "and I intend to be taking plenty on those visits." His movement broke a little of the awkwardness of just standing around discussing the matter but there was still a little uncomfortability to the scenario. "I'm sure you'll be more than satisfactory," he replied, not doubting for a second that he was competent in the bedroom. "Why do you think I came to you instead of Pal? Besides him already having a boyfriend and most likely against the idea of distracting myself in that way." If he'd known Hyperia had given him the idea, he'd probably have passed out. As far as he was concerned, his suggestion was the best way to go and any other approach would just make things worse. Perhaps it would but if things could possibly get any worse, why not have some fun first?

"Well I was intending to suggest watching a film and having a sleepover and then popping the question somewhere in the duration of that but as you offered to help, it made sense to just get straight to the point," Stefan began, reaching up slightly to press a kiss to his neck. "But yes, sex was what I hoped would be the end result." It felt extremely weird to be acting in such a fashion with another guy but it was by no means unpleasant. Where his ex had been smooth and curved, Otto was composed of hard angles that felt safer, both in his own security and that he wouldn't have to worry about breaking him if he wasn't gentle enough. As this was his first experience with such behaviour, it would probably be better to let Otto do the potential breaking until he had a better idea of what to do.

[otto leonis allardyce]

Otto smirked as Stefan whispered in his ear. It was funny to him how nobody was around yet he was whispering to him. But it did seem to help the situation a bit, since it wasn't like they were just standing around talking about this. He smirked even more as Stefan said he was sure he'd be more than satisfactory. "Well, you'll see." Otto really wasn't sure how well his perfomance actually was, but he thought he did all right. Stefan was going to learn soon how exactly Otto measured up, anyhow. He knew that he would have to perform better than usual if he was going to change Stefan's views on guys, more specifically Otto.

"We could still do that now..unless you just want to jump ahead and get right to the point, which I figure you do," Otto said. Stefan kissing him on the neck seemed to be a change of pace. Otto had always loved it when someone kissed his neck. In this situation, he really wasn't sure what exactly he could do. He was never exactly shy when it came to situations like this, but when it came to this one, he wasn't sure. Any other guy he'd been with had been sure that they were attracted to guys. For him, this would be almost the equivalence of having sex with a girl. "It's the end result if you want it to be," Otto said, "and maybe..there'll be a next time. You know, if you're lucky." He smiled to himself as he said the last thing. He liked to joke around in this manner in such situations, just so it wasn't awkward. The situation made him a bit nervous, because Otto was used to just messing around with people, but he figured that he actually liked Stefan. He knew that this was going to be nothing more than just a distraction to Stefan, though. For now, he supposed he was all right with that. Moving closer to Stefan, Otto this time was the one to whisper in Stefan's ear, "So are we just gonna stand around or are we gonna get this thing started?"

[/size]

[hyperia, palaemon and stefan]

If he were to be honest, the only reason Stefan had whispered was to get physically closer to Otto. As he had been standing there asking for sex, the simple discussion of the subject had seemed far too peculiar for him to comprehend and so he had taken it upon himself to make it a little more intimate. Besides, if he was going to be getting naked with this guy then he needed to get used to the idea of being with another male and what better way than to practice? "Well it's your house, you call the shots. I don't mind if we watch a movie first so long as you treat me afterwards," he replied, gripping Otto by the waist and pulling them together to kiss his neck again. "I can be patient if I need to be, perhaps it'll build up some sexual tension."

As strange as it was, Stefan found that he particularly enjoyed their current position. There was security in Otto's stature that his ex-girlfriend had never been able to offer him with her small build. "Oh yes, I definitely want that to be the end result and a next time sounds very appealing." Of course, that was all dependent on whether or not this interaction satisfied what he wanted it to. If all he could think of for the duration was his ex and he didn't enjoy himself, trying again would surely be pointless. He smiled as Otto whispered back to him and replied to him with another whisper of his own. "I'm ready when you are."

To emphasise his intentions, Stefan slipped his hands under the fabric of Otto's shirt with a forced confidence. He usually had no problems with this but the situation he'd placed himself in was very new and naturally made him a little nervous. He was sure that his friend would stop if he asked him to, though he hoped that this wouldn't be necessary, so what did he really have to worry about? Even if it didn't work out and Otto told someone, the only opinions Stefan cared for belonged to those that would understand what he was going through. He pressed another kiss to his neck before following his jawline to his lips.