Afternoon Lessons [Lars]

[Deleted]

It hadn't been too long after their first meeting before Lukas had received a call from Lars. He'd been lying on his bed reading a book when his phone had suddenly gone off, and he'd taken a quick glance at the caller ID before deciding to ignore it and go back to his reading. He never answered when he didn't know whose number it was on the screen; he was aware that the only people who bothered to call him were his mum, dad, Eirik, and salesmen. And he did have the former three saved on his phone.

It had only been during the last two rings that he'd suddenly remembered giving his number to the Dutch boy and quickly reached for his phone again, muttering a slightly awkward hello when it had indeed been Lars' voice on the other end of the line. They'd agreed to meet the following day out on the school grounds so the taller blonde could make good on his promise to try to teach him to better control his own powers.

Which is why Lukas was currently sitting under his favorite tree outside the history classroom, once more buried in his book and waiting for Lars to show up. The Dutch boy wasn't late yet but he would be if he didn't show up soon, and grateful as Lukas was for his offer he had no real desire to sit here waiting the whole day. Sighing, he leaned back against the tree and closed his eyes. He wasn't sure if this would work at all. He'd been told by his teachers it was likely his powers simply couldn't be turned off and he'd have to just learn to live with them. And he'd believed them without too much questioning, accepting his fate and focusing on controlling his abilities rather than trying to fight them. Up till now. If Lars felt positive he could learn, he was willing to give it his best effort. It was the thought of those effort turning out to be futile that worried him, however. He hated wasting time and energy and getting his hopes up for nothing.a

With another sigh, Lukas closed his book and placed it back in his bag. He was over thinking this. Either it would work or it wouldn't. Simple as that. And if it didn't, Lars might be able to teach him something else. Lukas had enjoyed talking to him earlier, whatever happened he wouldn't be spending time in the worst company anyway.

He ran a hand through his hair and squinted his eyes as the sun hit his eyes. It seemed he'd have to move to the other side of the tree if he wanted to keep in the shadow, but just as he got up he spotted a familiar looking figure in the distance. Staying where he was, Lukas simply leaned against the tree and raised his hand in a small wave.

[LARS ZUIDERDUIN]

Lars wasn't really sure how he'd gotten in this predicament. It wasn't often that he offered to help people do things, and it was even rarer for him to offer to help people he hardly even knew. But it was possible that there was some level of excitement that the Dutchman felt at the possibility of having another empath to help out. Especially an empath who was bombarded by people's emotions constantly. Lars was the opposite. He never learned how to read people's true emotions until he had established heartfelt relationships-- as corny as that sounded.

Hell, he thought his powers were pretty cheesy himself. Healing? Emotional healing? That sounded like something right out of some little girl's fairy tale love story. It didn't help that his power worked through kissing, either. Man. He might as well have carried around a sign that said, 'please call me a pansy'.

But as he approached the tree, he noticed the other boy wave at him. It seemed kind of strange for someone to show up so much earlier than him, but maybe he was more excited than he seemed, too. Maybe he was excited that someone noticed him. Lars knew people who were desperate for friends like that. It seemed like a pretty sad existance and Lars pitied them.

“Hey. You ready to try this out?”

He squatted in front of the other boy, and stared him dead in the eyes. To be honest, he wasn't exactly sure how to start helping the other boy, but his first guess was to take him into the local shopping center, where most of the townspeople seemed to gather. From there he was going to try and see if Lukas could focus on Lars' emotions.

That was a decent starting point, right? Lars hadn't ever been a teacher before.

“I think we're going to go into town and have you try reading some people there.”

[Deleted]

“Hey. You ready to try this out?” 

Lukas frowned a little as Lars crouched to talk to him; he wasn't that much shorter than the Dutch boy and he certainly wasn't a child, but he bit back the retort threatening on his tongue and met his eyes nonetheless, nodding silently in response. Even if his reasons were pretty selfish he wanted this to work out, and in order for that to happen he would need to maintain a good relationship with Lars. And if Lukas had found his company tolerable enough before to give the boy his phone number and agree to this whole tutoring thing, he figured it was worth it to actually try to act nice for once.

“I think we're going to go into town and have you try reading some people there.”

Lukas thought they could've done the exact same thing here on campus, but said nothing of that. This was probably Lars' first time teaching other student, and he could actually sense a hint of doubt and uncertainty coming from the other boy. It didn't really help him feel confident about this either, but he knew better than to let that bother him too much. Feelings were feelings, they had no real power over the future. Sharp mind and the will to hard work were the real key to success, and Lukas liked to think he had both.

”Whatever you say. You're the teacher here, after all.”

Shrugging, Lukas adjusted the bag on his shoulder and started towards the school gates. There was a trickle of other students headed that way as well, doubtlessly planning to spent the hours after classes enjoying the sun outside, their excitement lingering around the edges of his consciousness. Lukas did like the warmth to a certain degree himself, but outside it could get overpowering pretty fast. He hoped whatever location Lars had in mind would be somewhere inside with an AC. He wouldn't mind some iced coffee either.

Honestly he had no idea whatsoever how Lars was planning to go about this. The Dutch boy had seemed sincere enough when he'd offered to help him, but Lukas could only hope Lars would be as serious about this as he was. He didn't think Lars really understood how much it would mean to him if he learned to shut down his abilities completely. Sure, they were sometimes useful, but after sixteen years he was more than ready to have his mind only to himself. He didn't really want to get his hopes up for nothing.

”So, what exactly are you planning?” He asked as they stepped through the gate. ”It's not going to involve kissing strangers, is it?”

[LARS ZUIDERDUIN]

Lars couldn't say that he was exactly an expert on empathic powers, but he knew that being surrounded by people who were complete strangers was a much better start than going to the school. It would make it much easier for Lukas to focus upon the emotions of someone who he was familiar with, rather than the people who were just walking past them. Not that Lars could really consider himself someone familiar to the other boy, but he was at least more familiar than the people that passed by at the shopping center would've been.
Then he could try focusing on the others. People he did not know.

”So, what exactly are you planning? It's not going to involve kissing strangers, is it?”

Lars narrowed his eyes as he glanced back at the Norwegian.

"What kind of person do you take me for, anyway? Of course not. I'm just going to try and help you focus your powers.. So you aren't stuck being bombarded by other people's shitty emotions all the time."

The blonde sighed. His partner was so embarrassing sometimes! It was already humiliating enough that Lars got stuck with a power that clashed with his very being, let alone having Antonio blab about it to the world. Especially the whole kissing thing. Lars swore he never knew what that guy was thinking. Hell sometimes he wasn't even sure what Antonio was feeling. Other times he could read Antonio like an open book. The only person whose emotions baffled him more than Antonio's was his boyfriend, Mathias. 

But Lars supposed there was something to be said about people who wore their emotions on their sleeves. There wasn't much of anything to read. At least that was how it was in Lars' experience. He wasn't sure how different Lukas' powers were.

"I'm sure you've tried concentrating on one person's feelings before, haven't you? I think we can have you try to do that at the store, while you try to drown out anyone else's feelings that may be getting in the way with mine. How does that sound? Or do you have a better idea?"

Lars probably sounded kind of silly right now, but it was always best to start from the obvious and work from there, right?

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"What kind of person do you take me for, anyway? Of course not. I'm just going to try and help you focus your powers.. So you aren't stuck being bombarded by other people's shitty emotions all the time."

Lukas turned towards the Dutch boy, staring at him and giving him a slight shrug in response. He hadn't meant to offend, but apparently Lars' powers were kind of a sore spot for him. Or at least this particular aspect of them was. Lukas didn't really understand why it mattered that much; he'd seen his powers in action and it kind of made sense that the more intimate the contact, the more effective his abilities would be. Things usually worked that way with their abilities. Even if he had to admit this particular case was a little amusing.

”I meant no offense. I do appreciate your help.” And he really did, it hadn't been his intention to embarrass the older boy. The last thing he wanted was for Lars to get annoyed at him and decide he really wasn't worth the headache. That actually happened to Lukas quite a lot with relationships.

"I'm sure you've tried concentrating on one person's feelings before, haven't you? I think we can have you try to do that at the store, while you try to drown out anyone else's feelings that may be getting in the way with mine. How does that sound? Or do you have a better idea?"

Seemed like he hadn't managed to put Lars off yet, and that counted for something. He gave the taller boy a nod, deciding it was best to just listen to what he had to say. ”No, let's just do that.” He had tried something similar in the past, with varying success, though he had never had anyone there trying to help him. So far he had mostly concluded that the closer he was to the person, the better he could sense their feelings. It was pretty similar to hearing. The only exception to this was Eirik; Lukas had always seemed to be more sensitive to his brother's emotions, even from afar.

///  

Thankfully the shopping center wasn't packed full, just busy enough to cause the needed distraction for their training but not enough to make it highly uncomfortable. Too many people at once and Lukas could hardly focus on anything. That's why he usually tried to avoid the mall and the city in general on weekends. Still, he couldn't help but feel a little envious of Lars who seemed perfectly unaffected even when they had to push through a group of teenage girls fawning over a new collection in the window of a clothing store.

”So, where should we go exactly?” He turned to Lars, a slight frown on his face as he tried to block out the emotions around him. As usual, it only worked to some extent. ”Want to sit down somewhere or just stay here?”

[LARS ZUIDERDUIN]

”So, where should we go exactly?”

Lars glanced back at the other boy before turning to face him fully, so they could chat properly.

”Want to sit down somewhere or just stay here?”

Lars crossed his arms and tilted his head back in thought. The shopping center wasn't exactly a huge place, and in fact their school was probably bigger. But on weekends like today, many of the people who lived in the village came out to play, and the place could get pretty packed. It was the perfect place for an empath's emotions to get frazzled if they weren't careful.

"Here is fine. Come sit with me." He lead the other boy to a bench near a wall and sat down, before crossing his arms once again.

"When people start coming by over here, try to focus upon what I'm feeling rather than what they might be."

In fact, Lars wasn't really sure how this would considering he wasn't really feeling much of anything at the current moment. It was probably a bad thing. He knew it would really hard to focus on someone who's emotions could easily be drown out by someone feeling something extreme.

But he couldn't just force himself to feel strongly! This stuff took time!

...Maybe this would actually help. Thinking about it now, trying to focus on someone like him's emotions would prove to challenge Lukas. People seemed to learn better under pressure from his experiences.

"It might be a little hard, but if you have to, you can grab my hand, it should help you connect to me better."

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"Here is fine. Come sit with me.

Lukas nodded and followed Lars, sitting down as instructed even though the Dutch's chosen seat did lack the possibility to order coffee. But well, they were here to train, not to have a girly chit chat, so maybe this was a more appropriate choice.

"When people start coming by over here, try to focus upon what I'm feeling rather than what they might be."

Giving Lars another nod, Lukas shifted into a comfortable position, pulling his knees up onto the bench so he could face Lars. He had a feeling they might be here for a while. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and first tried to get an overall feeling of his surroundings. There weren't too many people close by right now so he could feel Lars right next to him, but the Dutch's presence was so weak he was sure that in a couple minutes he'd have a hard time being able to focus only on him.

"It might be a little hard, but if you have to, you can grab my hand, it should help you connect to me better."

It was as if Lars had read his thoughts, and Lukas opened his eyes to stare at the older boy. ”Or then you could just think of something that makes you angry.” He suggested, arching an eyebrow. ”Negative feelings are easier to focus on than neutral ones.” It would certainly make this easier for him and save them the awkwardness of public hand holding.

Lukas closed his eyes again, the intensity of the feelings around him immediately growing stronger when his other senses weren't providing him with distraction. There were also more people surrounding them now, excitement and exhaustion and a dozen other feelings floating in the air and making it harder and harder to focus on the boy sitting a feet away from him. He could still feel Lars, his presence calm and collected amongst the jumble of emotions. But he couldn't quite grasp a hold of that calmness, every time he tried some person walked past and distracted him just for one crucial second. It was extremely frustrating.

”This is not working.” He muttered after what felt like forever, eyes still closed and brows knitted together in frustrated concentration. The mixture of feelings was starting to make him restless and he could feel an incoming headache at the back of his skull.

Still, Lukas refused to give up just yet, once more locating Lars in the midst of the crowd and trying to hold onto him as he felt a stressed out mother and a child two seconds from throwing a tantrum walk past them. He brought up a hand to cover his left ear while another reached blindly for Lars' just as the kid started shrieking from the bottom of his lungs, his earlier reluctance forgotten in a desperate attempt not to lose the Dutch boy this time.

Of course, it didn't work.

Lukas sighed as his mind was suddenly filled with thoughts of ice cream. Ice cream. Something so simple could actually ruin his best attempt at controlling his powers. Kids were able to have such strong, raw, feelings over the most asinine things. Sighing, Lukas pulled away to pinch at the bridge of his nose, taking a moment before looking up at Lars. ”So... got any other ideas?”

[LARS ZUIDERDUIN]

"Or then you could just think of something that makes you angry. Negative feelings are easier to focus on than neutral ones.”

It wasn't a surprise to hear those words coming from another empath. In fact he was the exact same way. He found it harder to focus on people whose emotions weren't overbearing. It was also hard to focus on people whose emotions were so pure that one could only take them at face value.
At least that was how he felt.


The blond watched as the other boy tried to focus. It seemed hard for him, for reasons that he couldn't figure out. How could two people have such similar powers, but the usage of them be so different? Lars wasn't an idiot but he couldn't say he understood very well.

After a moment or so that seemed to stretch on forever, the Norwegian tossed in the towel.

”This is not working.”

Lars tilted his head. Maybe he should've thought about something that made him mad. Tons of things made him mad. In fact, thinking about it now, there was probably not much that didn't make him mad. He was known for his short temper. He had upset many people because of his temper and short fuse, his brother included. But... he couldn't just... think about things that made him mad and get mad!! That would be so forced..

While Lars had been thinking, the other boy seemed to have started concentrating again, only to give up much more quickly this time than last. 

Lars decided this time to change his route, and he was just about to do so, when a woman with a loud crying baby passed by him. Defensively he jumped upwards and started walking the other direction. He hated babies crying. Something about the sound made him completely uneasy. Uneasy enough to fly away from the direction of the child, covering his ears. 

It wasn't that he had some kind of strange past with babies, something that caused weird emotions to trigger whenever he heard their cries. It was more along the lines of the cries of babies being so powerful, their emotions so raw, that it made his powers go haywire. It was like how certain pitched frequencies could break glasses, crying could make his powers act up. 

And right now his powers were telling him to get away. 

In fact he got away so fast, he was outside by the time he realized that he had left his new friend in the dust. Slapping a hand to his face, he immediately pulled a cigarette out of his pocket, and slide backwards against the wall.

[Deleted]

Lukas blinked when he opened his eyes and instead of a reply he only got a glimpse of Lars’ retreating back as the older boy pushed through the crowds towards the exit. Even without the sharp pang of uneasiness and anxiety that rose above all the other emotions he would’ve been able to tell that he hadn’t been the only one affected by the child’s cry. It was clear which one had taken it worse, however.


The mother and the child were long gone, but Lukas stayed where he was, staring where Lars had disappeared and wondering what to do. Should he follow or let him be? He didn’t know the Dutch boy well enough to be able to know what the best thing to do was. But he did know that /he/ didn’t want to just sit here on his own in the middle of the crowd, so he finally stood up and started heading towards the exit. For all he knew, Lars might already be halfway to the dorms, but he was going to follow him nevertheless. He’d finally found someone who was going through the same thing as him, who understood his struggles and was willing to help him, who he might be able to call a friend one day. He wasn’t going to let him go just like that.


He was actually a little surprised when he stepped out and found Lars leaning against the wall, smoking a cigarette. The boy was still shaken, though it didn’t feel as bad as the initial reaction. Still, he approached him slowly and in silence, letting the other take in his presence before interrupting whatever was going on in his mind. “Kids are the worst.” He said after a moment as he leaned against the wall a couple feet away from Lars. ‘Are you alright’ might’ve been a more appropriate choice for some, but Lukas felt the question would’ve been superficial. It was obvious what the answer to that question was. What he wanted Lars to know was that he understood his reaction and didn't blame him for it.

“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, after all.” The mall, he meant. He would’ve never considered Lars’ offer of help or his accepting that help a bad thing. He hoped that Lars was still willing to train with him, just in a different way and in a different place. And maybe he could find a way to help Lars, in turn. It was becoming clearer and clearer that he wasn’t the only one struggling with his powers.