Another Old Friend (Eros/Michael)

[Eros d'Avonderre]

"One would think he'd never seen a properly dressed wizard before," Eros mused. But then, he told himself, when would he have? He was beginning to think that he was a little insane for having come here, but he was determined to stick it out all the same. Buying a shop this quickly, furnishing it properly and then paying for the expense of a ride on the Hogwarts Express had been expensive. It would eat up far too many Galleons to admit defeat to his father.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Suddenly Elouai's head lifted and her ears perked up. The motion preceded a sound on the stairs that had her to her feet, letting out a huff of air as she moved past Michael. As she trotted toward the door, it opened and Dare stepped through, smiling as his eyes caught on her. He knelt to rub her ears, but looked up for Michael as he did so. His slight smile widened a bit, any awkwardness that had been left between them completely gone with his excitement at being home so early.

It took him a moment to even notice that Michael wasn't alone, and his brows rose behind his fringe. His mind jumped straight to the fancy clothes he and Michael had worn for Emilian's parents, and he wondered not only why the guy was here or who he was, but why he was sitting behind the counter.

He gave Elouai's ears one last rub, then pushed to his feet. He'd taken his sweatshirt off upstairs and switched it for arm warmers, since it wasn't that cool outside anymore. And he'd wanted to look good for Michael. "Hey," he said to Michael, then flicked a curious glance at the other guy, who was looking at him innocently, though he got the feeling that he was being evaluated.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael stood and smiled when he saw Dare. He wondered why Dare was home so early, but he wasn't going to ask just then, Dare looked happy, and so Michael wasn't going to interview him. He came up to Dare and turned to introduce the two. "Dare, this is Eros d'Avonderre, one of the group that I was on good terms with," he said, then turned his eyes to Eros. "And this is my famous fiance, Alasdair Blackwood."

[Eros d'Avonderre]

"A pleasure, Alasdair," Eros said with an incline of his head. He stood out of propriety, still evaluating the boy, and now Michael as well. It hadn't escaped him how Michael had lit up at the sight of his pet, nor that said pet's entire greeting had consisted of the word hey. Apparently the boy had put on quite a show for Justine and the Sotas. There were the colored hair and the lip ring that the Sotas hadn't mentioned. And what were those odd things on his arms? Eros didn't allow himself any more detailed looks. It was quite rude to ogle, most especially with Michael so near. The memories of those photographs, one in particular, suited him well. The fact that the boy's clothes fit him like a second skin helped.

"You are indeed quite the subject of speculation in the upper circles," Eros told Michael's pet. "Not that you aren't, Michael, I'd hate to exclude you, and thank you for that shining introduction, but I'm afraid most have come to expect the unexpected of Michael these days."

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare had flicked a glance and a smile at Michael for his introduction, and though it was strange realizing that there were more to the group, and that Michael had been on good terms with this one, he couldn't find fault. Not even when the guy▬was his name Eros?▬started talking. He seemed pretty damned pretentious, but that was about it. He hadn't sneered or said anything rude. Of course, neither had Mano, and somehow Michael had major issues with Mano.

Dare had reflexively checked his posture and straightened when he Michael brought up his old group. He was as determined as ever not to give them any reason to find fault in him. There was nothing he could do about his appearance, so he decided not to worry about it. He concentrated on pretending to behave himself.

"I think I'd rather not know what they're saying," he told Eros.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

"Apparently the big talk when they told him was that you had the lead in our dance," Michael said, obviously finding the idea amusing, and no more scandalous than when Eros had originally brought it up. If Dare had asked why Michael had differing views between Mano and Eros, he wouldn't have been able to say why, only that Eros didn't rub him the wrong way. Perhaps the fact that he had always been up on any and all news to be known was part of it. But now, all Michael was concentrating on how Dare was obviously trying for a good impression.

[Eros d'Avonderre]

Eros immediately noticed the difference when Michael's pet straightened, and at least part of the mystery was solved. Perhaps the boy knew how to play after all. He must clean up well to have fooled the Sotas. Speaking of which... "Until they start adding to the stories, yes," Eros said. "But I prefer truth to fiction, so I tend to hear things before they've been embellished." He tended to search out the truth as soon as he felt the slightest disturbance, actually, but it had the same result.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare was glad to hear he hadn't been physically mutated, or at least not yet. He was surprised at Michael's reaction to the news, even if it wasn't necessarily bad. Michael was even more protective of their privacy than he was. Still, Eros had just said he preferred truth, and Michael did know him, so Dare tried to unruffle his feathers. What he wanted to know was what Eros was doing here. Dare's first thought was that he was here for some exclusive gossip. He bit his tongue on saying so. "Thank God for small blessings," he said dryly. He still hadn't moved past his anger at God, but the saying fit.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael looked at Dare and shifted a little closer. He wanted to touch Dare, wanted to be touched, but as soon as he thought about Dare touching him his mind shot back to why there had been awkwardness the past few days and his eyes dropped. He didn't want Dare to just be reminded of how thin he was. He took a breath and pushed those thoughts out of his mind. "Eros came by to give me some pictures he found at Emilian's."

[Eros d'Avonderre]

One corner of Eros's lips quirked at that. Yes, he had, and Michael had been quite angry over it. Of course, he'd been correct in thinking that Eros had looked at them, but he'd gotten over that at some point. He wouldn't think that Michael had forgotten. He had a notoriously long memory.

"I thought it proper to confiscate them and return them to their proper owner," Eros said. He was sticking to his confiscation story. There was no proof against it, anyway.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Pictures at Emilian's. Dare's eyes widened briefly, then narrowed slightly. Considering the nature of some of their pictures, and considering what he knew of Michael's other friends, he jumped to the same conclusion that Michael had. Emilian had leafed through them so casually, and how could Eros have gotten to confiscate them unless he'd been with Emilian? How would he have known to confiscate them unless he'd known what they were? "Thanks," he said.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael's mind followed Dare's after he saw that reaction and he reached to lightly link his fingers with Dare's. It wasn't much, but he hoped it would be enough. "Why are you home so early?" he asked, moving away from the subject he had only brought up to explain why Eros was there. He didn't want to ignore Eros, but Dare was home hours early.

[Eros d'Avonderre]

That was a rather sudden change of subjects, and Eros couldn't help bristling a bit. He reminded himself of Michael's earlier implied apology in saying that he was out of practice, but decided that had been an understatement. He smoothed his hands down his torso, lightly straightening his clothes, then turned his gaze down to the canine, who had returned. She had flopped back down with that disgusting thing she was chewing on.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare's somewhat hard look rested on Eros for just a moment longer before he turned to answer Michael's question. "The club was dead, so Dru let me go." He slid his hand a bit farther against Michael's, since Michael had all but declared it was okay already. "I don't know if anything was up with her, but she decided to just close early, I guess."

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael nodded, satisfied with that answer, and then turned his eyes to Eros again. A small smile pulled at his lips and he leaned in to Dare slightly. "Apparently high society and German Shepherds don't mix," he said in a loud whisper. He found it rather amusing, but then, he found strange things amusing at times.