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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Mar 18, 2009 18:53:01 GMT -5
Michael dropped the book off at the counter and then turned to leave quickly, before the other animals could demand his attention. They could wait another hour. They didn't need to be walked, not with their specially made enclosures, and so he knew they wouldn't suffer too badly for the time it would take to walk Elouai. Besides, it wasn't like they stayed in the shop for long before they were bought and taken away. Once they were out in the street he took Dare's hand, uncaring if they got a look or two.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Mar 18, 2009 19:14:39 GMT -5
The looks might have lingered partly due to the rather goofy smile on Dare's face. His hand curled around Michael's, and he knew he probably looked like a besotted idiot about now, but so what if he was? Just the tastes of happiness he'd had since yesterday were like a ray of light breaking through the clouds. He clung to it and he focused entirely on the moment. Right now he was with Michael and both of them were happy. Right now Michael was taking the time to walk with him. Right now Elouai had stopped in front of the cafe. "Elouai!" Dare hissed, tugging at her leash. It was broad daylight! Not that she'd understand the difference.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Mar 18, 2009 19:24:06 GMT -5
Michael stopped and raised his eyebrow at Dare. Then he realized they were in front of the coffee shop. Mano's coffee shop. Not that he realized that it had become a routine for Dare and Elouai on their walks, but he couldn't imagine a confrontation with Mano would be much fun. "Does she really have to stop here?" he asked, glancing over at a perfectly good patch of grass a few feet over at a tree.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Mar 18, 2009 19:28:53 GMT -5
Dare turned his back to the shop, hunching his shoulders a bit and ducking his head down in the hopes he wouldn't be recognized. "She... likes it here?" he tried. Somehow he hoped that Michael wouldn't notice how yellowed some of the plants already were. This had become one of her favorite stops on their nighttime walk.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Mar 18, 2009 19:40:32 GMT -5
Michael glanced down at Elouai and then something clicked faintly in the back of his mind and he looked up at Dare suspiciously. He couldn't bring himself to say anything, though, not with his level of dislike for Mano. He couldn't really blame Dare, if he was really doing what Michael had the nagging feeling he was. "Of course she does."
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Mar 18, 2009 19:51:43 GMT -5
Dare looked up at Michael with a sheepish smile. "I love you," he said. Elouai was finished soon enough, and Dare breathed a sigh of relief. His cramped right hand was tucked into his pocket, Elouai's leash looped around his wrist. As he turned to continue on their way, his hand slipped out, and Elouai's muzzle poked into his palm. Then she paused, a momentary crunch ruining the sly move as Dare's hand disappeared again. Once Elouai was satisfied with her treat, she declared the moment over by trotting ahead.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Mar 18, 2009 19:59:04 GMT -5
Michael laughed lightly and shook his head, "I love you, too." He couldn't find it in himself to tell Dare not to encourage Elouai, so he let it pass without comment. He had no doubt that Mano would find out some time, but it wasn't like he could really do anything about it, or would do anything about it. "So that book has a ton of stuff that I hadn't even thought of," he said.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Mar 18, 2009 20:04:44 GMT -5
Dare blinked as he looked aside at Michael, but let the subject of Elouai's marking habits pass. He focused on that moment of laughter and those few words, then he turned himself to the new subject.
"The armbands?" he asked, referring to one of the pages Michael had showed him last night. The other had been about cake toppers, of all the little details that never would have occurred to Dare. Of course, he'd never intended to be involved in planning a wedding, or its closest equivalent. He'd always been of the mind that the bride did that, and the groom smiled and encouraged from the safety of the sidelines. Not really an option, here.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Mar 18, 2009 20:10:31 GMT -5
Michael nodded and ran his thumb over Dare's hand. "That, and there were alternative ways of walking down the aisle and what do to for the reception. Like apparently the people there are supposed to have favors and everything." It was going to cost much more money than he had thought, not that he didn't have it, but it was still unexpected.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Mar 18, 2009 20:18:31 GMT -5
"Oh," Dare said. His lips quirked wryly. "I guess it's a good thing the reception's going to be so... exclusive." Tiny, unpopulated, sparse, his mind filled in. Exclusive sounded much better. How many guests were there now? Dare let himself think out loud, though his voice was low as he did so. "The Headmistress, Grey, Silver, but he'll be my best man... Mar-" Dare cut off, frowning. "Brindle," he went on, a bit louder now, "Dru, Adara, Lucretia, my dad, your mom? Is that it?" he asked.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Mar 18, 2009 20:28:38 GMT -5
Michael nodded and chose to remain silent on the topic of Markise. It was a little depressing to be able to list off those they were going to invite like that. It would just make it more...intimate? "Yes, that's all right now," he said. He wished there were more. He had had older friends, there was Savannah and Pandora, but he hadn't seen either one of them in months. He sighed softly.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Mar 18, 2009 20:33:14 GMT -5
Dare gave Michael's hand a squeeze, and his head stayed dipped down as they walked. "I bet you were supposed to have some massive church wedding with a thousand guests, weren't you?" he asked softly. He wouldn't let himself picture it, wouldn't let himself see some faceless girl giving Michael a real wedding, but he wished so badly that he could.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Mar 18, 2009 20:37:59 GMT -5
Michael shrugged, though he knew that even if he said no then Dare would know it was a lie. "I would never agree on a girl. They threw me at them from the day I turned nine. They were all these little porcelain dolls and I was scared to death." His hand tightened around Dare's for a second. "I'm sure they would have found me one eventually, I mean...there's not much getting away from it once they set their mind to it."
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Mar 18, 2009 20:42:22 GMT -5
Dare pulled Michael's hand up to press a kiss to his knuckles. Maybe you weren't made for that at all, he thought. Maybe it was a selfish thought, but he had Michael, didn't he? "Did they really think you were going to pick like... a wife when you were nine?" he asked. "I still thought most girls had cooties then." It sounded so ridiculous saying it now, but it was true.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Mar 18, 2009 20:49:41 GMT -5
Michael was about to answer the question when something Dare said made him tilt his head. "Cooties?" he asked as his eyebrows came together. The purpose of meeting girls had always been to find one he liked enough to live with for the rest of his life, and he had always known that. He had wanted more when he had realized there was more, emotionally, but he had always known that it would be what he ended up doing.
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