A/N: My secret santa gift for codesecretsanta at tumblr for princess-kaulise! This is also cross-posted to ao3 as amorekay. Happy holidays everyone!
Odd's always there to help with his friends' problems. (And he's pretty good at it, if he does say so himself.)
Case one: Jeremie Belpois, a real Einstein but clueless about the most important things.
"You mean you've really never watched Hospital of Horrors? It's a true classic! An absolute favorite! An iconic piece of cinema of our generation!"
"Weren't you telling us last week about how a monster made of meat wrecked the cafeteria because it fell in love with a nurse? It sounded kind of lame."
"It wrecked it in an absolutely chilling display of emotion!" Odd says, with a huff. "Jeremie, we need to get you caught up on what all the really hip kids are watching."
"I don't have time, you know how busy I am with the supercomputer," Jeremie says. He pushes his glasses up and looks down his nose at Odd. "Besides, I think it's all kind of silly, anyway."
Odd clutches at his heart, moaning dramatically. "How could you say that, Jeremie!"
Jeremie regards him, clearly unimpressed, and then swivels on his chair, turning back to the string of code up on his computer screen. The floor is littered with chip bags and papers scribbled with half-dog half-man drawings — Odd's best handiwork, and discarded calculations — Jeremie's, of course. Odd had volunteered—of his own good will!—to keep Jeremie company while he worked out this latest program tweak for the supercomputer, despite Jeremie's adamant assurance that he was fine on his own.
Odd turns to a fresh sheet of notebook paper, his original science class notes long forgotten, leaning across Jeremie's bed to rescue his pen from the folds of the bedspread. He tucks his tongue between his teeth, writing quickly: Operation, Rescue Jeremie from himself: 1. Catch him up on Hospital of Horrors. Remember the limited time sequel movie! 2. Teach him the value of a lazy afternoon with junk food. 3. Introduce him to some new jams 4. Have Aelita introduce him to some new jams, yeah!
There's a lull in the sound of Jeremie's typing. "For some reason," he says, "seeing you concentrating so hard makes me nervous, Odd."
Odd flashes him a brilliant grin. "Don't worry Einstein, I'm about to rock your world!"
"That makes it worse," Jeremie says, dryly.
It takes a little finagling and maybe he had to enlist Sissi's help and her self-proclaimed ultra-fan of Hospital of Horrors status in order to get the principal on board, but Odd got a screening of the limited time sequel movie in the auditorium. XANA only mucked things up the first time —after the return to the past it was all smooth sailing, and if the monster of the week had any resemblance to XANA's havoc it was only an unfortunate coincidence.
Jeremie even seemed moved —to disgust or amazement, Odd isn't sure—by the reveal at the end.
And the best part? He looked more relaxed than Odd has seen him in a long time.
Case two: Aelita Stones, formerly Schaeffer, and in need of a (cover) family.
"What do you think you're doing on the boys' floor at this hour, young lady," Odd exclaims in his best imitation of Jim, fighting the urge to grin. "You've heard me! Boys upstairs, girls downstairs, no coming or going up the stairs or down the stairs or something like that-stairs! I'm sure I made myself clear!"
From the doorway of the dorm, dressed in her nightgown and socks, Aelita winks at him.
"You are lucky Jim didn't catch you," Odd says. "He said extra punishment for the next student he catches out of bounds of where they're supposed to be. He looked right at me as he said it, too."
"Then it's a good thing he's snoring in his room." Aelita shuts the door behind her and pads quietly across the floor, tucking herself onto the bed next to him and giving Kiwi a scratch behind the ears. "Where's Ulrich?"
"Getting study advice from Jeremie." Odd sighs. "Apparently my riveting performance of the second act of Paco, The King of Disco, was 'too distracting' and 'really getting annoying, Odd,' so he left. I think he might be staying the night there, he seemed pretty mad."
"You know Odd, it's not nice to bother your roommate, maybe you should give him a break."
She looks at Odd solemnly until he scratches the back of his head, looking sheepish—and then she giggles.
"Hey," he says, staring at her, and then breaks into a cheeky grin. "You really had me going there, I was starting to feel really bad. What happened to our polite Aelita who doesn't want to bother anyone?"
"Maybe my cousin is a bad influence on me," she replies.
"Yeah, you know, if we're really going to play up the fiction there, we need to get you acquainted with all the Della Robbia family traditions. Plus, if you're an honorary Della Robbia, you're going to need some flare-" Kiwi yips from his spot. "See, even Kiwi agrees."
Aelita goes quiet beside him, tracing a wrinkle in the bedspread. Odd frowns. "Hey, what's wrong?"
She smooths the wrinkle out with her hand, and then says softly, "I was thinking… I never really had a lot of family. It was me and Mother and Father, and then it was just Father and I, and then…" Her hand curls into a loose fist.
"Aelita..." Odd starts, but she continues, her voice firmer.
"You know what happened then. But even when I was really little, it was just the three of us. I didn't really think about siblings, because… my world seemed complete, but. Ever since I came back from Lyoko, even before I knew who I really was, it was nice to pretend I had a cousin. Even if you're not really my cousin, I'm glad that… I could pretend you were. It was nice not to feel so alone."
"Hey, you know," Odd says, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "I know we created it so we could get you into school and everything, but. I really like having you as a cousin. I have a lot of sisters, and it's not all that great, they just make me miserable —you're the best family that I've ever had."
Aelita leans into his side, and Odd isn't sure if he's supposed to notice her wiping away a tear. "So!" He says, forcefully cheerful. "What amazing family story do you want to know first? The one where I saved the family vacation with my ingenious idea, or the one where I talked to a dolphin while Adele and Pauline looked on in wonder. That one was pretty great…"
Aelita giggles, softly. "Are you sure that one wasn't a dream, Odd?"
"Hey! All of my stories are one-hundred percent true fact!"
She stifles another giggle and tucks her head against his shoulder, curling her feet underneath her and settling in as he begins to regale them both with the full tale.
Case three: Yumi Ishiyama, who's actually a big softie, but don't tell her he said that.
"Yumi! What's up?" Odd pauses, squinting at the number on his cell phone. "Hey wait, aren't you supposed to be at home doing family things all weekend?"
"Yeah, I am," she sounds frazzled on the other end of the line. Ulrich looks up from the comic he's reading and raises his eyebrows in question, and Odd shrugs back. "It's Hiroki's birthday tomorrow and I didn't have time to shop for him until today, and now I have no idea what he even wants."
Odd can hear her sigh in frustration, and then Yumi adds. "Look, could you come and help me out? You seem like you'd be into the kind of thing Hiroki would like, and I'm about ready to tear my hair out trying to find something."
"I was planning to get to the cafeteria early for dinner, it's my favorite tonight—and there's even mashed potatoes, but—"
"Odd, please." Yumi says, at the same time Ulrich replies, " Everything's your favorite, Odd."
"Don't worry, don't worry! I'll be there, where is it?" She tells him the shopping centre and he hangs up and looks at Ulrich. "I'm off to rescue Yumi from a little brother-related crisis. Can you make sure Kiwi gets out to the grounds before dinner? I think he got into the chips again, his stomach is so sensitive…"
"Aw Odd, do I have to?" Ulrich makes a face.
"Sorry Ulrich, duty calls!"
Yumi is standing in front of a row of animatronic circus animals near the shop's entrance, looking haggard. She looks up from her phone when Odd enters and greets him with a wince. "If I had to hear that monkey's cymbals one more time I would have gone crazy."
"Well, your knight in shining armor has arrived!"
"Thank you, Odd." She frowns at a mechanical elephant jerkily twirling a baton. "I really have no clue what Hiroki likes these days. All I know is that he figured out how to pick locks and his best friend apparently grew a crush on me in the past year…"
"I think you've broken poor Johnny's heart," Odd teases. He watches, impressed, as the little monkey starts up again, crashing tiny cymbals together with surprising force. "This is a good start, but maybe not the best gift if you want to keep your sanity."
"You're right, he'd probably just use it to drive me up the wall." Yumi sighs. She looks down at her hands. "I haven't really been a very good sister, lately, because of everything with-" she lowers her voice, "XANA. Hiroki's a little brat a lot of the time and it drives me nuts, but sometimes I think he's being extra annoying because he wants my attention, and I don't have any time to spend with him anymore. And now I don't even know what he'd want for his birthday. I feel awful about it."
Odd frowns. "My sisters would rather lock me in a closet for a good joke than get me a gift, and you've saved Hiroki's life more times than he'll ever know. I think that's a pretty great sister. Besides, you considered getting a creepy mechanical monkey for him; if that's not sisterly love I don't know what is."
She gives him a small smile. "Thanks, Odd. Sometimes it doesn't feel like enough."
Odd gives her an encouraging thumbs up —and then throws his hands in the air.
"Ah! I'm brilliant!" He exclaims. "Isn't Hiroki a video game junkie? What kind of games is he into?"
"I don't know, but you're right, he's always playing something!"
"Get him Mega-blaster Ultra Hits 4000! It just came out and it's supposed to be totally cool. I know just where we can find it, too-"
Case four: Ulrich Stern, who could probably use a few good pep talks.
Odd is just about to leave for a super cool new techno concert when the gloom emanating from Ulrich's side of the room gets overpowering. He looks back at Ulrich and finds him giving an impressive glare—if looks could kill!—to one of Kiwi's dog toys and hesitates at the door.
"What did that bone ever do to you?" Odd asks, going for the joke. It doesn't seem to land, because Ulrich just turns the same stare on him before his expression clears and he frowns.
"Weren't you about to leave for that concert because Anaïs Fiquet was supposed to be going? You'll miss your chance. Not that you had much of one to begin with."
Odd graciously ignores him, flopping down on the bed next to him and bumping a shoulder companionably against Ulrich's. "On second thought, I'm feeling kind of queasy. I think the shepherd's pie served at lunch was going bad, and I ate three helpings…" He clutches at his stomach for effect.
It's an excuse, of course. He's sure Ulrich knows it too, but he doesn't point it out. In fact, he suddenly loses all the tension in his shoulders, posture morphing into a defeated hunch next to Odd.
"Parent thing?" Odd asks.
"Parent thing." Ulrich agrees, darkly.
Odd watches Kiwi snuffle around his dresser, hacking a sneeze at a particularly large dust ball hiding in the corner. He doesn't understand Ulrich's parents or the way they're always getting on Ulrich's case. He's a great soccer player, and he tries harder at school than Odd would ever want to—what's the big deal if he's no Einstein or even Herve?
"I think my dad wishes he had a different son." Ulrich says. He's back to staring down at the floor with a singular intensity. "My mom probably does too, all though she wouldn't say it. It'd make them both happier."
"Hey," Odd says, uncomfortable. "I bet they don't mean that. Besides, they just don't know what you're up to all the time —I mean, saving the world is no small task!"
"If I told them I was saving the world, they'd still find a way to make it about my crappy grades and how much of a failure of a son I am."
Odd frowns. "That's their problem." He isn't sure how to put it into words. He doesn't spend a lot of time thinking about what he likes about his friends—it just is what it is, they're all his good buddies, and they're special, after all. They're Lyoko warriors.
"Remember how I said when we first met that by the end of the day, you wouldn't be able to live without me?"
Ulrich doesn't look up. "Yeah, what's your point?"
"Well," Odd scratches the side of his neck, hit by a sudden rush of self-consciousness. "I wouldn't be able to live without you, good buddy. And not just because of the times when you've saved my skin from our old friend XANA. And if your parents don't see how totally rad their son is, that's their loss."
Ulrich looks at him in surprise, his cheeks a little red.
"Besides," Odd continues, getting fired up now. "Isn't being a teenager supposed to be all about getting into fights with your parents? Pushing boundaries and establishing yourself as a true individual away from the influence of the family unit? Having adventures?! I bet you'd get an A-plus in the school of being a teenager, yeah!"
"What are you even…" Ulrich trails off, and then scrubs his face with his hands, hiding a smile. "My parents think you're a terrible influence."
Odd grins in satisfaction. "Aren't you glad you have me around, then?"
"You know, Odd." The expression on Ulrich's face softens so suddenly it takes Odd by surprise. "I really, really am."
(addendum:
Case five: William Dunbar, who seriously has no rhythm.
Try as he might, Odd can't teach William how to dance.)