The Mirror of Erised (Dare/Michael)

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare's book bag lay toppled beside one of the trees that straggled near the lake where the forest couldn't restrain itself. The water was still, but a cool breeze swept through now and then, bringing a hint of autumn to the sun-heated air. It was a beautiful day, and Dare was already shrugging out of his professor's robes, glad for the hour or so until his next class.

He tossed the robes over a low-hanging tree branch, then straightened his wrist warmers before sitting down in a warm patch of grass. It had been an incredible day already, if a surreal one, and he couldn't wait for Michael to show up so they could talk, eat, and share a long kiss like they used to.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael hoped Dare hadn't been waiting for too long when he made it down to where they had agreed to meet. His robes joined Dare's before he took a seat by Dare. It felt like it had been years since they had done this, when in reality it had only been a little over a year, and even then that wasn't entirely true, there was that time over the summer they had come. "How was your first....morning?" he asked after stealing a quick kiss.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare's lips curved into a crooked smile as he pulled back, tempted to steal another. "Pretty good," he said. He dragged his gaze back up to Michael's eyes and leaned back on his arms, palms pressed to the ground. "That guy Markise brought up at our party? He's in my class. He was hitting on Brin, but I told him to cut it out."

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

"Michael smiled at that thought, but his expression turned into something akin to worry. He remembered how that guy had acted during the party. "That's probably a good thing. You could always tell Markise, he probably wouldn't be too happy about that." He wondered if the guy would still go after Brindle if he had two protective guys pushing him away.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

"I'll keep an eye on him. Probably send Markise an owl or something, unless I see him today," Dare said, and after a pause, "He wasn't in Advanced Transfiguration." If he was taking it at all, he should have been there. Markise was as advanced as he was, as far as he knew. He'd usually won Laila's little competitions for her kids' favor, but that didn't mean much other than that he was a kid himself.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

"I think he's in my class," Michael said, thinking back on his class list. "I'm pretty sure he is. So are Brindle and Jory, it's going to be so strange having people I know as students." He hadn't had a class yet with them, so far he had only had some of the younger students that he barely recognized, assuming he recognized them at all.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare looked off into the grass. "Anna's in your class," he said. Michael would have had to notice if he'd looked at his roll sheet, but it needed said. "I talked to her after class. She was really nervous. Said she was over everything, that she'd moved on, but it was weird because she doesn't know how to act."

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

Michael had glanced over at Dare at the first mention of Anna, but pulled his eyes away to the lake as Dare continued. "Okay," he said. He didn't want to talk about her, he wanted to pretend that it was all just fine and get through having her in his class. Whether he had noticed her or not really didn't matter all that much, he was perfectly fine with forced civility.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

"She took an E on her project instead of an O because her mind wasn't on it." Dare looked aside at Michael now, and he could tell by the stubborn haze of his eyes that this wasn't going to do any good. "So you're not going to talk to her," he said. He hadn't forgotten the mood Michael had come home in after taking Anna to her shop last year, but it had been a completely different situation. He wasn't entirely sure that Michael could keep himself objective.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

"If she has a question then I'll answer it," Michael said. "I'll grade her papers fairly, like I will for the rest of them." He glanced over at Dare, only to look down at his hands. "I'm her professor." He wasn't a friend, he didn't particularly want to be her friend, it was too late for that even if he had wanted to fix things at one point. Being a teacher didn't mean making amends and talking to her.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare's jaw tightened slightly as he looked at Michael, then out over the water. He didn't know even half the story, and it really wasn't any of his business, anyway. All he could do was keep track of his own class and hope Michael was okay. He nodded, but didn't say anything. There wasn't really anything to say.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

"What, Dare?" Michael asked, bringing his eyes up and holding them on Dare. "Do you want me to be her friend and forget everything that happened?" Ok, so really what had happened? Anna disappeared for a whole term, and the second he decided that it was okay to finally move on she showed back up and acted like he should have hunted her down or something? It wasn't much, but he saw no reason to go up and talk to her or whatever Dare had been thinking.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare turned his head to look at Michael, brows drawing together. "I don't know what happened," he said. "I don't know, I can't decide for you. I just thought it'd be a less craptastic term for once if you didn't walk out of your afternoon class stressed from pretending it doesn't bother you she's there." He knew a skeleton of the story, from Anna disappearing to Michael kissing him, but he didn't understand. He'd never been in love before Michael, and couldn't imagine writing off someone you cared that much for.

[Michael Blackwood-Hardt]

"You know what happened," Michael said, ignoring, at least for now, the rest of what Dare said. "She disappeared, and I found you, and then she just showed up again. And I chose you." He looked away, out over the lake again. "Now, she's in my class, I can handle it." He would be okay somehow, there wasn't another choice. They had hurt each other and gone their separate ways, there was no point in trying to make anything of it now.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

"Okay!" Dare said. "I didn't argue, it's your class not mine." He sat up from his half-lounging position and turned to grab the lunch he'd brought from home, a habit he hadn't let himself give up for the new term. Knowing the two of them, they'd stop eating lunch entirely otherwise. "Did you get pumpkin juice or something?" he asked, attempting to change the subject.