The Morning After (Anna/Markise)

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna’s eyes widened. “Oh! I didn’t mean it like that!” She realized her voice was louder than it should be, and lowered it again. She shifted on the couch, bringing one leg up on the couch and hugging it against her chest for comfort. “I’m just usually not that comfortable around guys. I dated one that was a little touchy-feely and he didn’t like the word no.” She rested her chin on her knee with a shrug of her shoulders. “I’m getting better now, but most guys still scare me initially.”

[Markise Sterling]

"Well, guys are dogs," Markise said, including himself whether Anna realized it or not. "Just some of us are better-behaved than others." His thoughts flickered over the poorly-behaved dogs he'd known, and he sighed inwardly. "Personally I've decided that dating's a crock of sh~... Sorry," he added, correcting his language. But really, he'd had nothing but horrible luck in that department, and though he still couldn't bring himself to seek out or accept casual sex, he told himself he'd be better off if he did.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

“I don’t know if I’d go that far, but I haven’t had much luck with dating either.” Regardless of her problems in actually dating, she couldn’t give up her romantic nature. Although she thought things were going well with Chase, she knew that it wasn’t a real relationship with the commitments or boyfriend/girlfriend status, and it probably would never be. She wasn’t the type to pressure, and Chase didn’t seem like he’d be willing to volunteer. A thought suddenly came to mind, and she cocked her head to the side. “So you don’t really have a girlfriend back home right?” He had said gay, not bi, so he had to have been lying to protect his secret.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise bit at his lower lip and glanced out into what he could see of the library, though he didn't bother attempting to move his head. He couldn't hear anyone though, and it wasn't like that question alone was enough to out him on. "No, I don't. I really was seeing someone though," he added even softer. "So I wasn't really lying." Just altering the truth into something safer. Markise wasn't at all sure that Anna wanted to know about any of that, but she was just as easy to talk to now as she'd been the first time they'd met, and he desperately needed someone to talk to. It was hard to keep quiet.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

“It was more protecting yourself than lying.” Anna understood, and could see herself doing something similar if the roles were reversed. She couldn’t blame him for deceiving her when he’d made it a goal to keep everyone there in the dark about his secret lifestyle. She noticed his use of past tense when talking about the person he was seeing. Along with his bitter comment about relationships, she deducted that it hadn’t ended on good terms. She wondered so much about who he could have been seeing, but didn’t want to be rude and intrude on his privacy. She opened her mouth a few times, but stopped her questions before they left her tongue. Instead she settled on commenting on herself, “I guess I’m seeing someone now, but it’s not a relationship in the normal sense.”

[Markise Sterling]

Markise grimaced, far too familiar with that particular situation. "In my experience, that doesn't work out," he said. No, in his experience, that only led to heartache. "If you both have different expectations, one of you is going to get hurt." Markise looked at Anna pointedly, having completely forgotten the large sunglasses shading a good portion of his face. "Of course, if you both know where you stand..." The end of that sentence trailed off as his mind went back to Ariel, for about the thousandth time in the past months. Even knowing where they stood with each other hadn't helped them, because it turned out one of them had been lying.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"You just know that you'll get hurt in advance. I know." Anna finished his thought for him when Markise didn't. A frown came on her face as she thought about the circumstances she usually tried to ignore. She knew it looked bad from the outside, but Chase was different. And worth it, she couldn't help but think. "I'm sure in the end I will, but I'm okay with it." Anna gave a light chuckle before continuing quietly. "I even practically begged him to stop worrying about it. He's different somehow. He managed to break past my fears and barriers. I don't know how to explain it; when I'm with him I just feel different.....alive......worthy?"

[Markise Sterling]

Markise started to shake his head in opposition to Anna's statement, but grimaced when the motion sent shards of pain spearing through his brain. His neck and shoulders tensed a moment, then he rested his head against the couch again. Still, even the pain wasn't enough to totally divert his attention from what Anna had just said. "That's not enough, you know," he said softly. But did she know?

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna sighed, pulling up her other leg onto the couch and resettling against it. "I know, I should have some self respect and not settle for a guy that doesn't like exclusive relationships." She'd told herself that a million times when they'd started things, but she couldn't give him up for just that one little reason. She just tried to forget that they weren't anything official, and NEVER let herself even consider that he might be with other girls as well as herself.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise gave a low sigh, the whole subject hitting far too close to home. "You should never settle," he said softly. It was advice he knew he could use as well, but it seemed like all it took was one dizzying kiss and he forgot everything. "Easier said than done, isn't it?" An understatement, to be sure. Well, he'd stopped settling for Ariel, that was a definite. He supposed that was a step forward, if a small one, considering what the bastard had done.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"It doesn't feel like settling. I don't know." Anna offered a smile, confused with all the thought about her and Chase. She didn't like thinking that she was wrong to want Chase, she really cared for him. "He's good for me, he just doesn't really believe that relationships can work. What was yours like? Did you have the same problems or was it something else?" She was quick to add, "Never mind, you don't have to answer that if you don't want to."

[Markise Sterling]

"No, no it's okay, as long as you don't mind hearing it," Markise said. He glanced off into the library again, then returned his gaze to Annabelle, debating, though he already knew what he was going to do. He wanted to talk about it, wanted someone else to know who wouldn't just disappear on him or push him away. He had no clue if that person was Anna, but she already knew something he hadn't intended to tell anyone, so why not tell her something more?

"I've settled a couple times," he started, thinking back on Kwami and Ariel. He let his gaze drop to his hands, though Anna probably wouldn't see the difference. "The first time, it... I'd never been with anyone, I didn't even know there was anyone I could be with, and I held on as tightly as I could." He looked back up at Anna then. "And I got dumped at one of the hardest times of my life." He'd go on if she wanted him to, but he didn't want to dominate the conversation by spilling his life story, so he stopped at that, wondering how or if Anna would respond.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna sorted through all of the cryptic parts as he spoke. By the time he stopped, she was pretty sure that she understood most of it, only wondering what exactly I'd never been with anyone, meant. But as Markise continued his monologue, she forgot about it as she focused on the other information. She extended her hand out towards him, placing it on his leg in an effort to show empathy by offering some comfort. She would have preferred his shoulder, but they weren't sitting where that would be even possible. "That must have been really rough."

[Markise Sterling]

That small show of comfort was strange, but not unwelcome. Just... unusual. The last person who had coaxed him into talking had had ulterior motives. Maybe he ought to include Mano too, since apparently they'd slept together that one night. Thank God he hadn't gotten drunk enough to try that again. But he wasn't talking about Mano now, he was talking about Kwami.

"It was," he said, answering her question. "It turned out... they didn't want to deal with my problems, and they didn't want dragged into them. I ended up transferring out here."

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna chewed on her lower lip habitually as she listened and thought about all he was trying to reveal without really saying much. If that was the first then there must have been more since he'd come to Hogwarts, but she couldn't figure out who else might be gay. Dare and Michael had been together several months before he'd arrived, and she didn't know of anyone else. His wording hit her, combined with his mention of transferring from the night before.

She was about to ask about it, but turned to the side as she heard books being shuffled on a shelf not too far away. "Err...do you want to go somewhere where we won't be overheard? I know of this room that'd be perfect as long as it's empty." She motioned to the shelf with her head to indicate that they weren't completely alone anymore. She didn't feel comfortable airing his laundry around an unknown person, and doubted he'd talk knowing there were others around.