Moving Day

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

"An ex," Dare said, slight tension showing in his voice. "It could've ended better." Dare let himself look at her for a moment, that smile and those chocolate eyes that had made him weak framed by silky brown hair streaked with blonde. He'd been with her for six months. Six months and it hadn't gotten any farther than the second month. Dare didn't know if Michael wanted to hear, and he wouldn't volunteer anything, considering Michael's reservation to a backhand if he did. Dare glanced up from the drawing to Michael. Would he want to know what had gone wrong? Or would he want to move on.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael did want to ask, he wanted to know what the girl had done to make Dare react like he had, but he wasn't going to ask, not with the tension he could hear in Dare's voice. He fought back and forth with himself for a few moments before firmly deciding not to ask, he didn't need to know about Dare's exes anyway, right? He didn't need to think about Dare being with someone else.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare was looking at Michael, and he saw the battle in his eyes. It looked like he couldn't decide. Dare looked back down at the picture a moment, briefly considering saying something, just something small, but in the end, he didn't. "You can ask me anything," Dare reminded Michael, then turned the page. There were a couple more anime pictures, but they weren't as detailed as the previous ones. He'd been getting bored of anime at that point and moving on almost exclusively to landscapes, the next of which was a courtyard with a statue at the center, surrounded by various native Californian brush.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael shook his head, he had already decided not to ask, and he wasn't going to go back on it. It would be better for his own mind if he didn't ask, would be better to just forget. He remembered thinking that he knew Dare had been with others before and that it couldn't bother him, but when faced with the actual knowledge of it there, so obvious, he couldn't say his thoughts were the same.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare nodded lightly, then tightened his arm around Michael before flipping through the book again. There were more of Amber, but Dare skipped through those as soon as he recognized them, hoping Michael didn't see anything questionable. Though he was fairly sure he'd pulled them out, there was always the chance he'd missed one. The pictures of Amber cut out suddenly, leaving nothing but landscapes of the school for a while. Then people started featuring into the landscapes, then the occasional portrait of Markise. After the Amber incident, Dare hoped Michael didn't notice.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael did notice the appearance of Markise after a while, but he focused on the landscapes in between. It was just so strange to think that Dare had been with Markise, at least in some form. Perhaps it was because Dare was the only guy Michael had been with, but he found it hard to imagine Dare with Markise and, when he did imagine it, he wanted the image out. So he focused more on the landscapes, on the people inside, and told himself to stop thinking about it.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

It was a relief when he'd gotten to the end of his drawings and closed the cover again. By the end, it had been all landscapes, but for Dare, it was all things he'd seen, things he wouldn't see again. It was still too soon to reminisce. "That's it," Dare said, looking down at the pictures on the cover. He took a deep breath, then leaned forward, setting that sketchbook with the rest. He didn't know what to say now, so he didn't say anything. Rather, he watched his free hand as he settled it on Michael's knee, unsure where to go.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael tightened his arm around Dare and leaned in to kiss his cheek. He could only imagine looking at the images of places he had once called home so far away. He didn't want to bring up what hurt, or could hurt, Dare, so he didn't talk about the sketchbook once it was put away, but tried to think of something else. "Want me to tell you who Grey is?" he asked, tilting his head to look at Dare.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare was relieved at the change of subject, and at the tension that light kiss brought away with it. He looked at Michael and nodded a moment before he recalled the man in the potions shop. Had his name been Grey? Dare relaxed a bit, adjusting his arm around Michael and settling back into the couch, having completely forgotten his insecurities about the delicate furniture for now. His long legs sprawled on the floor in front of him, he let his eyes move over Michael's face, let himself move past the last however many minutes. "He's a professor, isn't he?" Dare asked when he was comfortable.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael nodded and settled in against Dare, tucking one leg underneath the other to get comfortable. "And an Order member. He and Dru know each other and I know he was at the attack. When I apparated into the school, he was the first person I met up with. So, he's the one I turned myself in to." He stopped then, pulling his eyes from the hand on his knee up to Dare's face.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare's brows lifted a little from light surprise at the detail. He knew about the attack, knew about Dru and that Michael had left the Death Eaters at some point in the not-very-distant past, but somehow he'd never thought of the details. Dare's eyes remained on Michael's a moment, then he leaned forward, his nose brushing lightly against Michael's as he stole a painfully brief kiss. As he straightened, his gaze fell to Michael's lips before rising to his eyes again. "I'm glad it worked out," he said. Dare's head inclined slightly as he looked at Michael. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael paused, and then nodded once before speaking again. "There were some girls that were supporters that came up to us that night and threatened me and Dru, they never did anything," he added, then looked back down at Dare's hand. "But it was...I don't want to say scary, but it made me worry. From my understanding he spoke for me in the Order, probably the reason nothing happened to me." People had done less than him and had had legal punishment for it. And that was it, it seemed like nothing, but it was so much to Michael.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare let his arm slip farther around Michael and leaned close, nuzzling lightly against him. "He must have seen what I see," he said softly. Whatever Michael had done, it was impossible to imagine the darkness being all that Michael had been. He'd seen that picture of Michael and Emilian, had seen the strange juxtaposition of darkness and light in him, and though there was no telling himself that the darkness hadn't been there, Dare had seen the light from the beginning. Why should he be the only one?

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael closed his eyes and leaned his head against Dare, taking whatever silent comfort he could. He knew that there should have been something, even the Prophet had acknowledged the fact that he had gotten off clean. He didn't know how he had gotten so lucky to get away clean. His other hand came around to rest on Dare's knee and the hand at Dare's side spread out over it. The day had been long and hard already, and it wasn't even finished yet, so he was going to take what he could.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare would have been perfectly content to stay like that with Michael, just enjoying the quiet companionship, but they were interrupted by the rumbling of his stomach, loud enough to pierce the silence. Dare blinked, then opened his eyes to look at Michael, so close he could make out individual eyelashes. "Want to help with dinner?" he asked. There was no pretending that Michael didn't hear that.