Surprises

[Emilian Sota]

Emilian was listening, even if he was still trying to understand. He wanted to keep on, to say that Dare couldn't know that he wouldn't get tired in a year, that people changed. But he kept his mouth shut and looked up at Dare. "Have your forever," he said, "Nothing I can do to stop you." He could try, though he couldn't see it doing much good, not with how this had turned out.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare's eyes narrowed again. "I'm sure that's exactly what Michael wanted to hear when we came here to tell you. Nothing I can do to stop you. Y'know what? It's still better than that f~ing tantrum you threw when we came in. Michael thought you'd be happy for him. I guess he doesn't know you as well as he thought, either." Dare pushed to his feet again and grabbed his coat.

[Emilian Sota]

"Would you rather me lie?" Emilian asked, looking sharply at Dare. "I mean, you aren't a seer, you can't see the future, you don't know how either of you will change in a year. I'm not going to be happy for something that isn't certain." He wasn't about to lie and tell Michael that he was happy for him when he didn't think it was a good idea in the first place.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare threw one hand up in frustration as the other clutched at his coat. "We're certain. You're the one who's not. How can I prove to you that I'm, I don't know, good enough? How in hell am I supposed to prove to you that I mean it, that I know? How? By waiting another year? Would that really make you happy? What about five? Ten?" He just couldn't understand what Emilian's problem was. Why couldn't he believe they knew what they were doing? What would they have to do to prove it, and why in hell did he even care? Because Michael cares, he answered himself. For some unexplainable reason, Michael still somehow wanted Emilian's approval.

[Emilian Sota]

Emilian blinked and shook his head. "He's going to go through with it no matter what I say," he said, "So why are you still here? I would be perfectly happy to wait until something does happen." Not really, he wouldn't be happy, but if it ended like he said it would, then he had no reservations about a good, firm I told you so.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

"You know what? F~ you, Emilian. You're not worth wasting my breath." Dare turned sharply to the door, shrugging on his coat as he moved. He was scratching Emilian's name off the list when he got home. Michael would probably be upset, but he'd be upset as it was. What was one unsupportive bastard compared to the few who really mattered?

[Emilian Sota]

Emilian shifted in his seat again and he shrugged as he rested his head in his hand. "Don't let the doors hit you on your way out," he said, closing his eyes. He didn't want to deal with it any more. Dare hated him for being close to Michael and was exaggerating things to make it seem like it was his fault. Yes, Emilian could live with himself with that explanation.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare stopped at the open door to the staircase and turned, glaring at Emilian even as one corner of his lips rose into a maliciously suggestive smirk. "Don't think too much about what I'll be doing to Michael to cheer him up today." He turned back to the door then, grinning as he continued. "And tonight. And in the morning..."

[Emilian Sota]

Emilian opened his eyes and focused them again on Dare. "I'd give you something to help it move a little smoother, but I don't want to hurt Michael's mind any more," he said sarcastically, though he really did have something that would help them should they ask for it. "It's not even been opened," he added, though he tried to ignore the images that tried to force their way into his mind.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare paused in his tracks and shook his head, though he didn't look back to see Emilian. "It'd be a waste," he said, "considering I'm just going to hurt him anyway." Dare refused to let his mind examine Emilian's mocking beyond the chance to get one more shot out himself. He didn't know why Emilian was so positive that he was just going to turn and walk away from Michael.

[Emilian Sota]

"If you're so sure you won't hurt him, then it wouldn't be a waste, right?" Emilian shot back, picking his head up. "Why not take it anyway? It's not like I have any f~ing use for it." He raised his eyebrow in question and then rested his head again, bringing his other hand up to gently work his jaw from Michael's punches.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

One of Dare's hands speared into his hair and ran impatiently through it before he turned halfway to glare back at Emilian. "Why are you doing this?" he asked, the words almost an accusation. "Tell me a hundred different ways that I'm not good enough, I'm not going to last, then..." Dare's hand made an indecipherable gesture. "Just make up your damned mind."

[Emilian Sota]

"I didn't say you weren't good enough!" Emilian said, sitting straighter. "From what I know you're too good, if anything. You're making him believe this...fairy tale and they just don't work like that. The world doesn't work like that!" No, it didn't. The world worked to break up everything that meant anything to someone, even when the right choice was made. It was only proven to Emilian by how badly his and Adara's relationship had suffered because he had went to Germany.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare was silent for a minute after that, unsure what to say. Then he shook his head again at Emilian's skewed viewpoint. "I can't make Michael believe anything," he said. "We've worked for everything we have. We just... you know what? You wouldn't understand. You don't want to understand."

[Emilian Sota]

Emilian shook his head, "You don't understand," he said. "You're so caught up in being with Michael that you won't even consider the fact that most relationships don't work out! Someone will be hurt, that's just how it goes!" He wasn't just taking his ideas out of thin air, he was using what he had seen, and what he had seen didn't spell a happy ending for love.