Hey, sorry for the delay, but here's the second chapter - beta'd by the glorious cazmalfoy! Believe me, this chapter would be very hard to understand without her. Enjoy.
"Jeez Harper, that sophomore really hates you, doesn't she?" Jack Harkness teased his roommate, giving him a playful shove before falling onto his own mattress.
Owen glared at the American when he grinned toothily. "Oh stuff it, Harkness. I bet she just fancies me," he replied arrogantly as he transferred some of the books in his luggage to the bookcase provided.
Cole entered the room just in time to hear Owen's response and laughed. "Right, yeah, it really shows."
Harper made a rude gesture with his hands, "Fuck you, Turner."
The other senior just smirked before looking over at Jack, who was sprawled out rather comfortably on his mattress, the pose reminding Cole somewhat of a model posing for a photo shoot.
"Find out about your roommate?" Jack asked, eyes closed now as he shifted position to a somewhat cat-like pose.
Owen and Cole glanced at each other before Cole shrugged. "Yeah, Andy Davidson; very chatty. I'll probably end up trading with Owen every few nights, simply to keep my sanity intact," he announced, smirking at Owen when he opened his mouth to protest. He then thought better of it as Cole raised an eyebrow daring Owen to challenge him and give him an excuse to shut him up.
It was the easiest way for Cole to stop people in their tracks. After all, nobody liked getting into a fight with someone who was 6'3, particularly Owen, who was only 5'9.
"You're right arses, the both of you," Owen growled, causing the targets of his insult to laugh at how easily they had forced their friend into a huff.
Cole patted him on the back condescendingly. "There, there." He turned to face Jack, "Here, Harkness, stop rolling around on your bed like a little kitty cat and come to the library with me."
Jack groaned, opening one eye to look at Cole. He did, in fact look like some kind of playful cat, curled around in an awkward position on his back so he ended up viewing his friend upside down. "The term hasn't even started yet. Why do you need to go to the library? And, more importantly, why do you need company?"
"I need to return this book I got last March."
"Last March?" Jack inquired. "A little late. Lofty'll kill you."
"Hence the reason why I need company," he insisted.
Jack rolled over so he could look at Cole properly. "Sorry Turner, you'll have to face the old angry bat on your own. Unless Harper goes with you," he shrugged with a smile.
The annoyed growl that came from Owen indicated that he was not planning on going anywhere; he was content sitting on his bed sifting through his luggage.
Cole looked between the pair of them. "You two are such lazy little bastards. Particularly you, Harkness!" He pointed accusingly at Jack, which earned him a rather proud smirk.
The Australian left their dorm and moved through the halls, wasting no time to entertain the girls who attempted to get his attention as he passed. "Lazy asses," Cole growled to himself, lightly shoving aside a sophomore.
"Oi Turner! Get your ass back here you stupid pig!"
Cole stopped mid-step, mouth falling slightly open as he shut his eyes before gritting his teeth. It figured that the sophomore he had just happened to push aside had been the Jones boy that Jack was always ranting on about.
It hadn't been him who had called Cole on it though – he was far too quiet for that. "What do you want Cooper?" he snapped when a hand violently grabbed his arm and turned him to look down at Gwen; she, like Owen and most other people, was shorter than Cole.
"Don't snap at me like that, you narcissistic prig! Apologise to Ianto!" Gwen demanded, pointing back at her cousin who had gone a bright shade of red, as per usual.
Cole narrowed his eyes, glaring at Gwen for a long moment, before he looked over the top of her head at Ianto, plastering a mocking smile on his face. "I'm very, very, sorry Ianto," he teased, putting emphasis on the boy's name. Even though it was a weird name Cole had never been able to remember it. He was about to continue mocking the boy, but then he smirked as an even better idea entered his head.
"I don't have anything against you personally, it's just that Harkness keeps blabbering on and on about you and honestly, Harper and I are starting to go insane because of it. I guess I shouldn't have taken it out on you."
"Bullshit!" Gwen exclaimed loudly. "Stop jibing Ianto like that!"
Cole looked at her with the most sincere and serious face he could muster. "I'm not bullshitting, Cooper. You should hear him. In fact, you have heard him; 'consider yourself lucky that there was a pretty Welshman there'? Come on! How stupid are you?"
He figured he wasn't technically lying; Jack had been flirting with Ianto, and he did bring him up every now and then in conversation. But then again, this was Jack Harkness; h e flirted with everything that moved!
Gwen looked as shocked as Ianto: Clearly Cole was starting to convince her. Her mouth opened and closed a couple of times before she managed to finally form words. "Well… well, if Harkness really does like Ianto, then…" Cole could tell she was trying to decide whether to tell him to tell Jack to fuck off or to go for it. "Tell Harkness to bloody well ask him out then! If he really does like him and he isn't just trying to get some…"
Cole could hardly hold back the laughter at her words. It was obvious from them that she wanted her cousin to be happy, but was making a crap attempt at threatening Cole. "Will do," he snorted, before turning and walking off with one hand clasped over his mouth in an attempt to stifle the noise.
It took him a while but he eventually calmed down. He'd had to: returning a book that was about 5 months late whilst giggling madly probably wouldn't impress Lofty very much.
On his way back to Jack and Owen's dorm to tell them of his encounter with Gwen, Cole rounded a corner and ended up walking right into someone.
"Ow! Watch where you're…" Phoebe stopped mid-speech as she realised who it was she had just bumped into. "Turner."
Cole felt like running the moment he saw who he had just walked into. He didn't want to deal with her yelling at him and trying to act all noble and majestic right now. "Watch where you're going yourself, Halliwell," he stated simply before walking away.
"Hey, wait up you!" she quickly called after him.
Reluctantly he stopped and turned around. "What?" he asked. "I don't want a lecture from you right now Halliwell, I already got one from Cooper about 10 minutes ago."
"I heard." Phoebe sighed, "Does Harkness actually like Ianto? Or is this just one of his little fancies? Or, even more likely, was that just you trying to wind them up?"
Cole hesitated a little; she wasn't yelling at him, she wasn't snapping and she wasn't being snarky. He wondered momentarily if she was drunk, high or maybe even both. "Why?"
"Because I care about Ianto. I don't want you idiots giving him false hope."
"False hope?" Cole repeated cynically. "What, is he in love with Jack or something?" He tried to sound mocking about it, but he had this daunting feeling that it was true. Jones seemed quiet and skittish in general so it was hard to tell, but around Jack his nerves seemed to multiply vastly.
"Maybe," she sighed again. "I don't know. But he does like him, and I think you all know that. Especially Harkness. That little flirt earlier: I know he did it just to get a reaction from Ianto. I imagine you're probably going off to follow him around like a puppy with Harper, like you always do."
Cole opened his mouth to speak but she quickly added, "Don't interrupt. You know you do. Anyway, when you see him and tell him about what you told Gwen – which I'm sure you will tell him that if he hurts Ianto, I'll knock every single one of those shiny white teeth out of his pretty little head."
"You make it sound like you fancy him too," he snorted once again, though it didn't seem to hit the beat and he sounded somewhat disappointed.
"Don't start, Turner. You know I don't."
Cole should have known her calm, almost friendly, attitude wouldn't last long. "Fine," he sighed. "Whatever. I'll deliver the message of the knocking of the teeth and all that jazz…" And with that, he turned around and continued on, leaving Phoebe standing alone in the corridor staring after him.