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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Oct 14, 2010 20:43:37 GMT -5
Dare had told him not to, but Michael hadn't been able to get the idea of meeting up with him out of his head. And he had a free period during one of Dare's classes, it was plenty of time to come down and have a nice little chat with Emilian about what had happened. He was glad to see that there wasn't anyone else in the shop when he opened the door, though he didn't see Emilian, either.
"Emilian!" he called, walking toward the register counter and absently smoothing his professor's robes as his mind moved through the many things he wanted to say. He had been practically fuming when he first considered what to say, but the walk down from the castle had cooled him down tremendously.
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Post by Emilian Sota on Oct 14, 2010 20:52:38 GMT -5
"Be right out," Emilian called back, barely registering the voice at first. It was only when he turned to open the door between the back stock room and the shop that it clicked in his mind. Michael. What was he doing here? Emilian paused for a few long seconds before he opened the door. His eyes traveled unbidden over Michael, tall in his dark professional robes. He hadn't so much as laid eyes on Michael since their fight, much less talked to him, and here Michael was, standing in the middle of his shop.
"Well, well," he said, pushing away any nostalgic feelings he might have been having. "I never thought I would see you walk through those doors again." He moved to the counter and crossed his arms on it to lean on his elbows. "You look good in your robes, Michael." The smile that spread his lips wasn't quite the same as it might have been a year or two ago.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Oct 14, 2010 21:15:35 GMT -5
If they had been in regular contact, Michael might have noticed certain slight differences in Emilian, but as it was he only realized just how little Emilian had changed. There was still the stifling cocky air that surrounded him and that smug smile that said he could do whatever he wanted, and that look in his eyes, like he could devour a person just by looking at them. It was unnerving, to say the least.
"Listen, we need to talk," he said. "I don't want to go upstairs and do it, I don't want to sit down and have a cup of wine. I want to do it down here, and I want you to just shut up and listen for once in your life." It was amazing how quickly he went back to how he had been feeling while counting down for class to be over.
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Post by Emilian Sota on Oct 14, 2010 21:23:20 GMT -5
Emilian gave a half-laugh. "So you're a man again, I see," he said, smirking. "What? Did you come down here to give me a lecture for picking on your partner? Defending his honor or something? Turning into a Gryffindor on me?" It wasn't really out of character. Michael had joined the Death Eaters with some stupid idea that he could save someone. It only made sense he would do something like this for the man he had...partnershipped.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Oct 14, 2010 21:37:45 GMT -5
"Shut up, you bastard," Michael shot, eyes narrowing at Emilian. "My husband came to my office fuming because of you. Because you're worse at letting things go than I am! After two years you still just ragged on him about us. What the hell is wrong with you? You've been with Adara longer than I've even known Dare, longer than Dare's been on this side of the pond and you still think you can tell us it isn't going to work out?
"I love him. And he loves me. And there is nothing, do you hear me? Nothing that you can do that will pull us apart. I told him about a time I used cruciatus on some girl because I wanted to, told him I wished she had screamed, and you know what? He told me he loved me, he told me it was okay and he doesn't hold anything I've done against me. He held me. I told him about you holding me, and he was okay with it! And you have the...the nerve to come up to him while he's minding his own business and say he's going to leave me?"
He took a deep, somewhat shaky breath, surprised at himself that all of that had come out at once, even surprised he hadn't been interrupted by an angry Emilian. His hands were clenched into fists at his sides and his lips were slightly parted. There was so much more to say, but he would let that try to sink in.
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Post by Emilian Sota on Oct 14, 2010 21:44:03 GMT -5
Emilian's eyes had gone icy as soon as Michael spoke, and had only become colder as the monologue had continued. His jaw clenched and his lips pressed into a thin line, his shoulders tightened along with his hands. He didn't like his own relationship being mentioned, didn't like knowing how much Michael had told Dare, didn't want to be pushed like this, not now, when things were going downhill for him anyway. He remained silent, cold eyes almost daring Michael to continue.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Oct 14, 2010 21:47:39 GMT -5
Emilian was actually being quiet, something Michael hadn't expected in all his mental imaginary runs of this conversation. He stared in silence for another few moments before continuing. "What don't you understand about this ring on my finger? You sold it to him! I don't care if you didn't expect us to get married any time soon, it was a ring, what the hell else could it be? Are you jealous? Really? After this long? You've known for years I would never do anything with you. If anything, your constant nagging and pushing made it all the worse for me, and Dare's the one that has to deal with it!" It was the closest he could go to telling Emilian what they had been through.
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Post by Emilian Sota on Oct 14, 2010 21:52:58 GMT -5
"Don't kid yourself," Emilian said, latching on to one thing he could argue. "I nearly had you more than once." He had come so close once or twice, only to be interrupted by something. "And a simple ring means nothing unless some meaning is attached to it." It could have been a gift, for all he knew, and nothing more. Or maybe he had just convinced himself that that was what he thought it was.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Oct 14, 2010 22:05:15 GMT -5
"Really? That's what you're going to go back on?" Michael asked, then threw his hands up and rolled his eyes. "When are you going to grow up? It doesn't change your life that I'm with Dare any more than it would have changed it if I were with someone else. Okay, okay, whatever, I almost let you kiss me, once, when I was what? fourteen? Do you really thing I would have let you get anywhere? It took five months before Dare and I ever saw each other without clothes, and I had been in love with him for what, three, four months already?
"And it's all because of you! Pushing and pushing and never letting it up. But you know what? You made us stronger, too, I bet it kills you to know that, doesn't it? You can make me so damned insecure that it's all Dare can do to keep me from closing off completely, and then he gets me to talk and we're so connected. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, about feeling so connected to someone, I really feel sorry for Adara."
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Post by Emilian Sota on Oct 14, 2010 22:10:26 GMT -5
Emilian straightened at that. He hated hearing details of Michael's life with Dare, but it was infinitely harder to dismiss it all when it was Michael saying it, Michael being so passionate about it and saying things Emilian had never heard him say before. "Do not talk to me about Adara. Of course, if you really want me to talk about her and use it as an argument for you and your little mudblood, then okay, fine. It's not what it used to be, okay? And you know as well as I do that there's always going to be something else that Dare doesn't know about you, and how the hell do you know it won't be the one thing to break it?"
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Oct 14, 2010 22:15:54 GMT -5
"He hasn't shied away from anything I've told him! He's even looked through my sketchbook from when I joined and he didn't think any worse of me! He told me it scared him half to death, but he didn't pull away from me, he got in bed and held me. I don't care if your relationship with Adara isn't what it used to be, they change, if they stayed the same all the time it would get boring. Or is that it? You're bored finally? You...whore that could never go a week without having sex with someone?
"Is that why you came after Dare? Your relationship is failing so you had to take it out on him? Man up, grow up. And to think I thought the three of us could be friends at one point." He shook his head and crossed his arms. He didn't want to deal with Emilian's insecurities, if that was what it was. "If he was going to leave me, he would have already left."
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Post by Emilian Sota on Oct 14, 2010 22:23:15 GMT -5
Did Michael really just call him a whore? "Don't talk about my relationship with Adara," he said. "You don't know what's happening or what we're going through, you can't see our feelings. If all you're going to do is fight with me, then get the hell out of my shop." He pushed himself up from the counter and stared hard at Michael. If there had been any bridges left to burn before Michael walked through the door, they were gone now.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Oct 14, 2010 22:26:04 GMT -5
"Can't you hear yourself?!" Michael asked, exasperated. "You're telling me not to talk about your relationship because I don't know it intimately and yet you keep on putting down mine! Whatever, I'm done with you. Stay the hell away from me. Stay the hell away from Dare. And if we ever have kids, stay the f~ away from them. To think I once thought of you as my best friend, now, I never want to so much as see you ever again." He was well aware that leaving now would be severing one of the only ties he had to who he used to be. Right now, that seemed more liberating than anything.
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Post by Emilian Sota on Oct 14, 2010 22:28:17 GMT -5
"Good riddance," Emilian said, then turned to head into the back room again. He didn't need to hear all of Michael's high and mighty bull. He wasn't going to stand there and let Michael try to beat him down, there was no point in trying to rebuild their old friendship, it was far too late for that. It had probably been too late the second Dare and Emilian had met.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Oct 14, 2010 22:31:03 GMT -5
Michael walked outside, realizing just then how beautiful the day was. It was one of those perfect autumn days, where the leaves were just turning their brightest colors and there was just the hint of crispness to the air. Perhaps he should have felt a weight on him for the fight, but in truth he felt light, somehow at peace with more than the final end of any relationship he had to Emilian.
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