Impulse

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael rubbed his eyes. The night before he hadn't slept very much thanks to his overactive mind. He had played over and over again the last time he had been with Dare in the room of requirement trying to convince himself he was perfectly alright with everything that had happened. It wasn't true. He couldn't be fine with it, not when that uncomfortable feeling had just festered in his chest in the absence of Dare's presence.

Normally, Michael never would have given the counselor a second thought, or a second glance, but he was stopped by the door. He wasn't the kind to go in asking for help, though he would accept it should it be offered. Then he was putting his hand back to his side after knocking, and wondering if he had the chance to run off before the door was opened.

[Kane Garrett]

Kane wasn't standing by the door when he heard the knock, but he knew enough about kids that he didn't waste any time answering. There had already been one girl who'd knocked and run, and though this knock was a bit louder, surer, that didn't mean anything in the scheme of things.

Kane gave a light, disarming smile as he pulled the door open to find a boy who looked as tired as he was lost. Kane gave no sign he'd noticed, but pulled the door wide, stepping aside and gesturing into the room. "Come on in, introduce yourself," he said.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael looked up, but turned his eyes away as he walked in, licking his lips and tugging gently on his shirt sleeve. It hadn't occurred to him that the counselor was a man, it hadn't clicked in his mind. He and Dare hadn't told any guys other than Emilian and Silver, and Michael knew how it could be taken, though logically he knew that the man wouldn't say anything about it. "I'm Michael Hardt," he said, flicking his eyes around the room.

[Kane Garrett]

The office had the same base as many of the other offices in the castle; gray stone walls, a window looking out over the grounds, and a heavy wooden desk. From there, the similarities ended. There was a Weird Sisters poster on the wall, a Puddlemere United pennant, and a stack of wadded up parchment pieces on the desk to match those in the wastebasket. Kane gave his wand a swish and flick, and all the papers smoothed, then arranged themselves in a neat stack on the desk.

"I'm Kane Garrett, but please, call me Kane," he said, pushing the door lightly closed again. Kane gestured to a cushiony chair facing the desk even as he headed around it, leaning comfortably back into his own seat. "So tell me a little about yourself, Michael--can I call you that?"

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael nodded absently and dropped his bag beside the chair before sitting in it, crossing one ankle over the other knee, all his muscles tense. Tell me a little about yourself. He paused for a second before answering, "I'm a Slytherin, seventh year." There was, of course, quite a bit more that he could have said, but he figured that starting out with I'm an ex Death Eater wasn't the best tactic.

[Kane Garrett]

Kane nodded, and let his smile sober just a bit, though he didn't let it fade. Tough case, he thought, looking at Michael a moment. There had to be something bothering him, and part of him wanted to talk, or he wouldn't be here. Kane needed to get him to open up, first. "Is that how you define yourself?" he asked, the question purposefully provocative, but distant enough to be inoffensive. He couldn't imagine that was all Michael thought of himself as; he was starting slow, and that was fine. Kane was in no hurry.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael opened his mouth to respond, but paused at the question, his eyes flicking up to the man, Kane, before focusing on some point on the desk. So he shrugged, "I'm a pureblood, I draw, play the piano..." I'm recently bisexual, I've hurt physically and emotionally, my father is a bastard, he continued in his mind, all things that were a part of him, but things that he didn't want out just yet.

[Kane Garrett]

Kane nodded, showing he was listening. When Michael stopped--or paused, rather, since it felt incomplete--Kane picked up the slack. "It's good to have things you're interested in, good to be able to branch out once in a while," he said. "For me it's sports, but it's got to be a hobby. My shoulder got knocked in 6th year and I had to drop out of quidditch. But I went on," he said, lips quirking. "Enough about me, though. Do you get much time for drawing, or piano?" Some seventh-years were constantly swamped getting ready for graduation, but just as many it seemed were laid back waiting for the last few classes to end.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael shook his head, "I'm always with Dare. Sometimes I'll draw when I'm with him, though." He rarely played the piano, only when drawing didn't work. And lately he hadn't felt the need for either one. His eyes warmed when he mentioned Dare, though at the same time he felt a shiver run through him as he remembered again what was bothering him.

[Kane Garrett]

Dare. The name triggered something in his mind, though nothing showed in his eyes but the same light encouragement that had been there a moment before. Michael was a common enough name, but Dare? Kane put those thoughts aside. His job wasn't to use one student's story to work with another. It was to keep each case entirely separate, and he was good at it. "So tell me about Dare," Kane suggested. "Are you two close?"

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael brought his eyes up to Kane's, pausing a moment before nodding. "Yes, we're very close. He's...an artist." What could he say about Dare? He felt bad for knowing that he was going to tell this man he had just met about them when they had just agreed to keep it the way they had been doing it. "I met him just after he had moved here from America." Michael's gaze fell as he remembered that day, though the memories that came from that thought brought a smile to his lips.

[Kane Garrett]

Again, Kane could sense that Michael was holding something back. He leaned forward in his chair to rest his arms casually against the desk. "Everything you tell me is confidential," Kane assured Michael, keeping his tone light, but sure. "This isn't gossip, and it won't get out." He paused, letting those words settle before moving back to what Michael had said. "So you two connected through art?" he asked, giving Michael the thread again.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael nodded again, "He drew me." He paused again, still hesitant about telling the man about the relationship. But that was why he had walked in the door, right? He swallowed and did some mental calculations, "About a month later we got together, it's been...something like two and a half months now." His eyes flicked up at Kane again before falling back down to stare determinedly at a pattern in the wood.

[Kane Garrett]

"Have you told anyone?" Kane asked, excluding himself from the count. He wouldn't act shocked or scandalized--he wasn't--but there were issues for same-sex couples that couldn't exist for traditional couples, and those issues couldn't be ignored.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

"Yes, his brother and his girlfriend know, my ex knows, and another couple we're close to." Michael thought back over everything, trying to think of anyone else, and his mind lit on Cleo and Dahlia, "There are a couple others, but no one important. We're keeping it down," he said, or as down as they could, considering how easily they tended to forget that they were in public places.