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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Oct 12, 2008 15:27:52 GMT -5
With the focus of the book gone, Michael's eyes turned back up to Dare, his eyebrows creasing at the look he saw in his eyes. He couldn't place it, couldn't put his finger on what it was, it might not even have been there, but Michael was sure that there was something there. He looked up at Dare with the question in his eyes, though he didn't verbalize it, he hoped Dare would acknowledge it, but if he didn't, Michael wouldn't push.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Oct 12, 2008 16:02:41 GMT -5
Dare could feel Michael's gaze, and so he looked up again, bracing himself for what he knew was coming. "I'll show you in the next one," he said. A large part of him didn't want to, but the need to share with Michael, to return the confidence Michael had shown him, was strong.
Dare turned to set the sketchbook they'd closed on the low table in front of them, then looked down at the ones left in his hand. The one on top of the stack had photos stuck to it at odd angles, many overlapping others. The one beneath, which Dare pulled out, had been covered with strips of black tape in places, and where the original cover showed through, there were shades of vibrant red and deep violet marker scratching it out. "This one's from this spring," Dare said softly. "From when Mom got real bad to when we got to England."
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Oct 12, 2008 16:08:22 GMT -5
Michael stared at the book and then looked at Dare, his arm tightening gently as he shook his head slightly. "You don't have to show me this one," he said, his voice low, "Not if you don't want to." Michael would understand if Dare didn't want to, the things in that book were so recent, he knew they still hurt horribly. He didn't want Dare to hurt, there had been enough hurt for them both the last few days without bringing it up.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Oct 12, 2008 16:15:30 GMT -5
Dare looked down at the book, thinking, considering. Did he want to? He was torn. There was that desire to share, but would he be able to? Would he get a few pages in and be unable to go on? Would he get past the first page? He wasn't sure. This book was one where he'd drawn and gone on, he'd never gone back to look. It was always another picture, always getting more out. It was why the book had only lasted a couple months. "I don't know," Dare said, his voice only audible because Michael was sitting so close. "I want to explain some stuff, and I know...I can't do it with words." He didn't know if he could. But part of him wanted to.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Oct 12, 2008 16:26:13 GMT -5
"If it's going to be too much for you, I don't want you to do it," Michael said softly, "Don't push it." He knew it would be hard for Dare, and it would be hard for Michael to sit and see all of the pain that Dare had gone through. It didn't enter his mind that he had shared his darkest moments with Dare, the circumstances were so different, Michael's past had been his choice, and there was such a longer time period between the time he had drawn and shown Dare the drawings.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Oct 12, 2008 16:29:53 GMT -5
Dare kept looking at the book for some indeterminate time before sighing and setting it aside on the table. He slipped the other book over it, then sat back, still for one moment before slipping one arm around Michael and resting his head on Michael's shoulder. "We'll do it another time," he said. "Or you can look at it when I'm not around." Or sleeping, like when Dare had looked at Michael's sketchbook. "I don't think I'm ready." He wanted to be, though.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Oct 12, 2008 16:41:07 GMT -5
Michael couldn't imagine looking through the book without Dare there beside him, he didn't know that he wanted to see Dare's thoughts during that time of his life. He didn't want to think about Dare being hurt or depressed. He turned his head and pressed a kiss to Dare's hair, "It's okay," he said, "I'll wait." Perhaps he was being selfish, refusing to look without Dare and, in turn, making Dare relive it, but Michael liked to think that Dare's life had been amazing, without any horrible events, though he knew it wasn't true.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Oct 12, 2008 16:48:24 GMT -5
Dare sighed again, closing his eyes for a few minutes to soak Michael in. When he was ready to go on, he straightened a bit, but left his arm around Michael as he turned his attention to the picture-covered sketchbook. "This one is from the end of summer after 4th year up through late winter last year," he said softly, still gathering himself a bit. He looked at the pictures for a moment before pointing to a boy with a narrow chin, pale eyes, and soft blue hair. Dare didn't even notice the eyeliner or light dusting of eyeshadow. It was just part of him. "This is Markise," he said, tapping the bottom of the picture lightly. It was a Muggle photo, all the ones on the cover were, so it gave no response, but sat there, giving a smoky look toward the viewer.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Oct 12, 2008 16:59:12 GMT -5
Michael's eyebrows rose and he just stopped himself from asking if Dare was sure it was a boy in that picture. His next thought was that the person in the picture was good-looking, and his third was it's a guy. It was a strange mixture of thoughts and feelings as he tilted his head to look at it. He figured it would probably be safer to not speak, to refuse to say anything about Markise, because he didn't want to open his lips to speak and have the wrong thing come out.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Oct 12, 2008 18:07:29 GMT -5
Dare had glanced aside at Michael and saw the expression on his face. He decided not to comment, either. He wasn't entirely sure what Michael was thinking, so he went on, pointing to a picture of a pale girl with the same narrow chin,but with vivid blue eyes and dyed-black hair. "This is his sister, Brindle," he said. "You saw her in that picture from the winter dance. She's in like third or fourth year, I think?" He wasn't exactly sure.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Oct 12, 2008 18:14:53 GMT -5
Michael pulled his eyes away from the guy and looked at his sister, then nodded as he looked between the two pictures. "You can tell they're related," he said, which said more about the feminine attributes of Markise than anything else. After a few moments his eyes finally moved away from the pictures and up to Dare. "So does everyone over there dye their hair?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Oct 12, 2008 18:17:55 GMT -5
"Everyone," Dare said, keeping his face entirely straight. "If you don't, you're shunned from society, like Silver was. It was pretty bad." He broke into a grin then, unable to keep it up, then shook his head, glancing down at the pictures. "I hung out with the outsiders, I guess. A lot of the people around did, but not everyone. Just those of us with too much creativity to contain." That was how he thought of it, at least.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Oct 12, 2008 18:34:08 GMT -5
Michael smiled, and flicked his eyes up to where he could just see the edge of his own hair, the same color and style it was naturally. He then looked back over at Dare, "So am I not creative or am I just not cool enough to do it?" His eyes laughed lightly, he rather liked his hair just as it was and couldn't imagine changing it, it seemed like a lot to do when he already liked it.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Oct 12, 2008 18:43:52 GMT -5
Dare's smile grew slightly crooked. "With that color?" he asked. "It'd be a shame to cover it up." He lifted his hand from the sketchbook and brushed a lock of dark, fiery red back behind Michael's ear, then pressed a soft, slow kiss to his lips. When he pulled back, his gaze dropped to those lips, paused, then diverted back to his sketchbook. He gave a light sigh, then pointed out a couple other random people on the cover of his sketchbook, a guy whose face was barely visible behind a curtain of black, one with short, spiky brown, and an Asian girl whose hair was tied into knots on the sides of her head. When the only one left was Amber, Dare opened the cover, but damned if there wasn't a portrait of her there. Dare's brows lowered slightly.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Oct 12, 2008 18:53:03 GMT -5
Michael had felt a pleasant tingle with what Dare said about his hair which was only multiplied with the kiss, and had the end result that he couldn't have said the names of the next three people if his life depended on it. Even so, he couldn't help but notice the look on Dare's face when he opened the cover of the book. Michael forced his mind away from the kiss and looked down at the page. "Who is she?"
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