I Got My Eye On You [Prom - Oz]

Oz had been in quite the predicament. Having the recent issues arise with Alison, he had to find a way to keep her from having any intimate spaces to spill the information she had on him. As a result, as Prom rolled around his concern became even greater. He didn’t have the heart to tell her no she couldn’t go, but at the same time, he really didn’t want to take a chance in her giving him away. The result…he asked her to prom himself. In actuality it was probably more like demanding since she had little choice but to say yes in light of things. But it was a better option than staying home right? And she had decided to come anyways! Though there was still one major repercussion he was concerned with. Everyone was about to see the two of them together for Prom. Now from what he’d gathered of her role in things, this would confuse her siblings, the normal wouldn’t see anything out of the norm, Anti-RSOR would have a fit and hope she could get information from Oz and the biggest reaction would be from RSOR; namely the leader’s panel. They had her spying and having Oz of all people taking her to prom was a concern…especially for one Isabella Avadore.

Oz relished this thought as he meandered through the crowd and approached Alison. He had no games in the plan for tonight. He figured setting them aside was best and that way they could both try to enjoy themselves, even if circumstances were a bit unsavoury. To be honest, Oz had no bad feelings against Alison, he just regretted her finding out what she did and dragging herself into this as a result. In fact, he had quite liked her when they had first met for those brief moments before her catching him in the halls that night. So perhaps he did feel something already that he was unaware of, but even so, Oz’s motives may be a bit warped, and his views a bit distorted by the past but he was still not a bad guy and he did feel bad for Alison. She surely didn’t want to be here with a guy she despised for blackmailing her. And he wouldn’t and couldn’t blame her.

Oz made his way over to her, stopping off to grab two drinks in the process. Upon reaching Alison his charming smile popped up more genuine than normal as he offered her the drink. ”Seems I was running a bit late…sorry about that. I grabbed drinks on my way over though…”

Oz knew that he had pretty much turned Alison’s life upside down and for that he knew she would never trust him or be his friend. So to be honest, he expected that tonight would be difficult, despite his intended efforts to make the night as pleasant as it could be. It’s not like he intended to ruin her night, in fact, he wouldn’t have ruined her life so badly if she had not been in the wrong place at the wrong time. But she had, and now she was involved and Oz regretted that. He strongly regretted that. But now he was stuck. He was backed against a wall. He wouldn’t let her run her mouth and that meant he had to do this. He had no choice but to do this.

If he had known just how her bad her situation was, he wouldn’t have cared so much that she pinned the blame on him, but he did feel guilty about what he was doing. He didn’t know she was close with Oliver and he was being effected, mostly cause he didn’t know who she was. He didn’t know her other life name and that meant he was unaware of much of the problems she faced. Of course, if he knew, talking to Oliver wouldn’t be such a problem of course, but Oz didn’t know that. He didn’t even know that problem existed.

Oz expected the question that followed though…”No poison. It’s not my style and certainly not here if I were to ever poison someone. It’s too public.”

Oz didn’t know just how chaotic it was for Alison right now. If he did know he probably would have been more sympathetic. But he didn’t and he didn’t even know just who the hell he was dealing with. He hadn’t found a way to ask around yet as to who Alison was and he needed to be sure it was someone who actually knew she was in RSOR. He had a feeling Isa wouldn’t spill and right now that meant that the best person to ask was actually Nate. But he couldn’t do that either, without it coming back to Alison, even if he had nothing to worry about with regard to her reaction.

He pushed those thoughts from his head. Work was on hold for now…or at least his idea of work. He had considered the reaction when people saw that Alison was here with him of all people. In fact, he didn’t much care for the reactions. It was probably a good thing that he didn’t so much as notice Oliver’s reaction or he might have gotten suspicious of it. After all, he was unaware of her connection to Oliver. Now Nate he expected a reaction and he was just waiting for it. He had all his charms and his charming words to give to Nate when the time came, of how spontaneous it was for him to ask Alison of all people and on how thrilled he had been that she had said yes. He knew he would establish that it was a test date and may still be a one-time thing if either him or Alison found it didn’t work; All the right things to weasel out of explaining the real reason but keeping Alison out of trouble and away from too much association with him. As much as he knew he had brought her into this, he wanted to keep her as far out of the trouble it would eventually incur as possible.

”Of course not. The gossip would be all over the school and then blown out of proportion by that ass and made into something completely bogus.”

Oz didn’t know Alison much yet, and as a result, couldn’t help but feel he was dragging her into this far more than he actually was. He knew she was a double for RSOR against anti-RSOR, but by knowing about him he was compromising her manoeuvrability even more. He didn’t realize just how much as he didn’t know just who she had connections to. As far as he knew, Nate was aware of her position and he was the only one she needed to be aware, other than the leader’s panel of course. He didn’t know Nate was out of the loop and Oliver was even related. As such he saw more of it as his fault when actually, partial blame was on him, partially on herself and partially on the leader’s panel; two members in particular.

The real irony of it was that Oz and Alison were feeling very much the same way. Alison had no one to turn to, and neither did Oz. He knew Alison must feel somewhat alone because he was blackmailing her, but Oz also didn’t realize consciously just how alone he was. And occasionally when he did he shoved it away. He was still happy for the time being though and that was what mattered. When that realization did hit him, it would be devastating.

Oz noted the faltered smile and just assumed it was because it was him who made the joke. It was a game, he reminded himself. He also tried to tell himself to not think of her feelings. And that was something he had done successfully many times in manipulating people, so why did manipulating Alison feel so much more wrong as time passed? He bit back the feeling and tried to remain logical, tempered and completely detached. Part of what made it so hard was he had no one who knew as much about him as she did, which was kind of pathetic…but shh, don’t tell Oz. His denial was a shield for the time being. He almost commented on the falter, but left it alone.

Oz hadn’t danced in sometime and he was quite pleased to find his grace was still firmly in his grasp. He was acting like a gentleman, leading the dance like one, and despite the unsavoury circumstance was doing good so far at keeping her from being miserable…or so he hoped. In fact, he was almost enjoying himself…

Hearing her comment he raised an eyebrow at the remark of a kiss and the Ozzy nickname. His father called him Ozzy…so it really didn’t bother him. In fact, he was partially named after Ozzy Osborne. It was just strange coming from her. ”I wasn’t…and I assure you that it was far from my mind.”

Oz often wondered just what other’s thought of him. Part of his charming smile was his goals that he felt he had to manipulate people to reach. Part of it was that he was sure most people wouldn’t appreciate the real him even if they did know. And another part of him knew that this was partially the real him. He was manipulative, cunning, sly and a he cloaked his feelings and thoughts so that he may better portray what people needed him to be and needed to see in him. He melded to be what people wanted and sometimes that façade fell. Tonight, he was okay with that because there was no one to impress really. He would keep up the games as he must and maintain a semblance of control, but he didn’t need to stress it as strongly as he did on a regular basis. And that was both a relief and horrifying.

Oz’s charming smile was his safety blanket. He felt secure behind that smile and far from harm’s way. He used it to cope, to get through anger, sadness or any other emotion. It allowed him to appear cheerful and that was something that eventually even he believed. If you made someone believe you were happy long enough, you came to almost believe it yourself, and that had just happened to Oz. He wasn’t happy and subconsciously he was aware, consciously he had moments where he was but he didn’t want to be aware because that meant addressing it and for the time being he had other things he felt needed to be done.

Oz knew that some people saw through the façade with ease. Not many of them but there were some. Isa was aware of the hidden monster inside of Oz. But she was aware for no reason Oz could see. She just seemed to know something about Oz was off. He assumed it was something to do with her god. Aiden had the same initial reaction, taking none-to-kindly to Oz’s manner. But Aiden was also J.R.R Tolkien as Oz later learned. And he was a language expert so the games Oz played were easily seen through. And now that left Alison. She hadn’t seen through anything until she understood just what he had done. But it was amazing how one realization had changed things. It was almost disappointing.

Oz didn’t miss the surprise Alison had felt at his admission of not wanting things to have gone this way at all and on how he intended not to play any games today. He was also pleased with how fast her game face returned. It made her a worthy opponent in many ways. Oz was sure she wouldn’t fully believe him and that she would take it as part of the game. After all, what reason did she have to trust him?

”A game of chess? That is one way to look at it. Very actual to be honest…though I would say there are four sides of the chess board all playing for dominance. And then there are the players moving the pieces on a whim…”

The worst part about Oz’s position could be the fact that he was perfectly comfortable in it. He didn’t feel uncomfortable manipulating or playing with people. In fact, it felt like some semblance of power to him. He did regret people getting caught in the cross fire and he didn’t intend to hurt anyone so much as just trying to get a little control. He needed control! He had always had control and he needed it. That was his reasoning and if that meant underhanded tactics to get it, that was better than no control at all.

Of course, the reason it was happening was uncomfortable to him and some of the outcome but the actual process didn’t bother him. He needed this and for the time being it was serving his needs and desires. He had a hard time setting aside the process when he needed it so badly, despite the people he was hurting, upsetting or messing with in the process. Though, he really did regret Alison’s involvement.

”Exactly. Balance is precarious in any chess game, or even simply anything at all, not just a game. One person or one problem can upset the balance and change the outcome. Of course, some things are supposed to be set in stone, but then fate surprises us,”

Oz was far from aware of how precarious the situation was with Alison. He didn’t try to understand either as he was just getting to know the surface Alison, let alone what made her tick and operate the way she did. He could tell she was intelligent and had a lot going on, he just was unaware of the details and asking the wrong people could put him in a very bad spot. Hence, he had kept to himself and not searched for the answers to his numerous questions. He was sure that the person to ask was probably Nate or Isa, but Isa was already suspicious of him and Nate was her brother and unlikely to spill.

Sometimes it was better to feel like someone was the bad guy and Oz was fine with being that. At least for the time being. Everyone had moments where they disagreed with people and sometimes it was better to step back and view things as good guy, bad guy than how it was actually painted. He didn’t know why people did what they did and even though the Leader’s panel was his target, he didn’t see any of them as bad so much as seeing them as in his way. He preferred reality in the chess game, but at the same time kept to fantasy when it came to his own issues of faith and motivation. In other words, it was easier for Oz to view himself as the bad guy than to view him as he was—just a bit confused and trying to gain something emotionally from what he was doing.

”I have to agree. RSOR changes the playing field and puts into effect a whole new set of rules. Anyone who has something to lose will struggle much more keenly to keep it safe. Those who have nothing to lose and everything to gain take greater risks…”