Society Elite
Dare
is Offline
|
148 posts
|
Visitor
|
Post by Eros d'Avonderre on Feb 27, 2016 17:18:57 GMT -5
"You have no real objections to mingling with them at this point, do you? Beyond Rhys, of course." A matter of a few years ago they'd both openly looked down on Michael's pet and the insanity of the man marrying, amongst other unsuitable things, a Mudblood. Eros knew how much of his own purism had been an act at the time, but he wouldn't have imagined that Mano was faking it. More recently they'd spent a summer part of an extremely mixed group. What Eros was considering was another level entirely and he wanted to be certain before he made any decisions.
|
|
Coffee Shop
Turtle
is Offline
|
116 posts
|
Shopkeeper
|
Post by Mano Berwyn on Feb 27, 2016 17:34:43 GMT -5
Mano looked at his husband again, wondering how this topic could ever have been brought up in conjunction with the previous one. "No objections," he said. "I assume you're building a plan in that brilliant brain of yours?" The two had to have something in common past their honeymoon and various other short holidays.
|
|
Society Elite
Dare
is Offline
|
148 posts
|
Visitor
|
Post by Eros d'Avonderre on Feb 27, 2016 17:54:31 GMT -5
"More like including you in existing plans." Eros slid his arm free of Mano's and turned his gaze over the water. "Once I turned seventeen I was given a bit more freedom and some of it I used to explore in places where there was no supervision. It was slumming then, seeing how the other half lived while secure in the knowledge that I could go home at any time. There was a touch of that when I moved to Diagon Alley and bought a shop on Father's Sickle.
"I'd thought it would be easy enough. Everyone else was opening shops, you even had Caro in on it for a bit. I really did hate the place, I was honest about that." He was nearly off topic.
"To shorten the tale, when books weren't enough to assuage my curiosity, I took matters into my own hands. The tour of Asia we had was to be the longest I'd been exploring on my own, but if certainly wouldn't have been the first time.
"I find myself hesitant to say more, but perhaps you see how this might tie into things? Exploring where we won't be known, I mean."
|
|
Coffee Shop
Turtle
is Offline
|
116 posts
|
Shopkeeper
|
Post by Mano Berwyn on Feb 27, 2016 18:09:49 GMT -5
"You told the receptionist at the first hotel on our honeymoon that we'd just married," Mano pointed out. And, of course, the was the marriage itself, but perhaps they'd simply been too giddy to internalize it. They had even danced with other men at a party or two at a club for Dare and Michael. "I think exploring is rarely a bad thing, and with fewer potential negative results..." You would be more willing. Of course, he kept that to himself.
|
|
Society Elite
Dare
is Offline
|
148 posts
|
Visitor
|
Post by Eros d'Avonderre on Feb 27, 2016 18:25:46 GMT -5
"If you recall, We were Narcisse and Albert Girard then," Eros replied smoothly. "Aside from the marriage license, everything is our word against someone else's. My word is golden." What interest would the employees of a Caribbean hotel have in the backgrounds of two guests who were the same as any two guests? Why should a priest and a witness recall one elopement over hundreds of others?
"I don't become another person when I go out alone, but I do make an effort to blend into things. It's something rather different than visiting a club to support a friend." And that was his loophole for the parties at Queerditch Marsh. Support. And alcohol, if need be, but he'd never needed an excuse at all.
|
|
Coffee Shop
Turtle
is Offline
|
116 posts
|
Shopkeeper
|
Post by Mano Berwyn on Feb 27, 2016 18:36:29 GMT -5
"I've forgotten, when does a mask become a wall?" Mano asked, the words slipping out before he had the chance to stem the flow. His eyes darted away. Apparently he had been more bothered than he'd intended, since his slips never even dipped the tips of their toenails into the waters of insult when turned toward Eros. "You're suggesting we go out and be married in front of muggles?" Wouldn't that just be hiding another facet of themselves, that they were wizards? He took a deep breath and stepped away from the window.
|
|
Society Elite
Dare
is Offline
|
148 posts
|
Visitor
|
Post by Eros d'Avonderre on Feb 27, 2016 18:47:57 GMT -5
Eros watched Mano a moment, then looked into the window, eying the edges of their reflections. When he spoke, his voice was a touch softer than usual. One more familiar with emotion might say there was a hint of vulnerability. Eros's face remained smooth all the while.
"At this point I don't believe it's a mask," he said. "Oh, I can put on a mask when necessary, but even that is reflex and done with little real effort. I simply don't express emotion the way others do. I feel, of course. Obviously I feel." Or at least he hoped it was obvious. At least to Mano. The rest of Mano's words could wait for this... accusation of sorts to be resolved.
|
|
Coffee Shop
Turtle
is Offline
|
116 posts
|
Shopkeeper
|
Post by Mano Berwyn on Feb 27, 2016 19:04:07 GMT -5
"Of course you feel, that isn't what I meant to imply," Mano said, sliding his hands deep into his pockets as he stepped away. "I don't know if...what I mean to say is that I can feel it, even when around friends. There are limits, and they don't have such limits." He felt as though he was choosing his words carefully and would still manage to say the wrong thing entirely. One hand lifted to rub at the back of his neck as he faced the wall opposite the window and thought of how to continue.
"I see one you when we're alone together, and when we aren't it's still you, but it's a you I can't touch the same way." He didn't mean simply in the physical way. At one point, he'd gotten off on the secret smiles and looks, on sliding his foot to the side just enough that it touched Eros in public. It didn't seem so enjoyable anymore.
|
|
Society Elite
Dare
is Offline
|
148 posts
|
Visitor
|
Post by Eros d'Avonderre on Feb 27, 2016 19:26:03 GMT -5
Eros was silent. He knew he loosened a bit when it was just him and Mano, but it felt so slight that there was hardly a difference. There were things he wouldn't talk about around others and of course he'd rarely done more than kiss a lady's hand outside private rooms. It just wasn't done! Michael and Dare were most decidedly not the norm. But perhaps he was taking this too far.
"What is it, precisely, that you wish to do, and in front of whom? I've never been asked for public displays beyond what's acceptable at a ball or dinner party." Eros turned into the room to look at Mano."Be patient, I really am ignorant in this area."
|
|
Coffee Shop
Turtle
is Offline
|
116 posts
|
Shopkeeper
|
Post by Mano Berwyn on Feb 27, 2016 19:34:27 GMT -5
"As am I," Mano said, withing turning. He needed the slight space looking away from Eros offered. "The closest I've come to being open is Mallory, and that was such a short amount of time..." He turned then as if to face his husband, but didn't look up. "It isn't anything in particular, Eros, it's only small things we do when alone together. A touch of the hand, a word, a short kiss on the cheek...things I'm not aware of until I want to do it when others are there and remember you likely wouldn't want it."
He shoved the hand that had ventured to the back of his neck into his pocket again, and he turned to walk to some as-yet undecided place. "You mean more than the wants, though. As I said, I can handle it, I only need time."
|
|
Society Elite
Dare
is Offline
|
148 posts
|
Visitor
|
Post by Eros d'Avonderre on Feb 27, 2016 20:12:19 GMT -5
"And when it does come up again? Mano, we've seen what poor communication looks like quite intimately thanks to the Blackwood-Hardts and I'd rather not play such games. Or have you forgotten?" Doubtful. The trip through Michael's memory had been scarring. Though Mano never knew he'd cried, he had made something of a fool of himself asking for Lani's hand.
"I am by nature a voyeur. Until today I believed your exhibitionist side, a rather large side," he teased gently, " to be satisfied by my watching you with other partners. If that does not satisfy, we must find something which does. I love you, Mano. I wish for compromise, not an easy win."
|
|
Coffee Shop
Turtle
is Offline
|
116 posts
|
Shopkeeper
|
Post by Mano Berwyn on Feb 27, 2016 20:22:15 GMT -5
"It isn't exhibitionism that makes me want...or perhaps...how far does exhibitionism extend?" Mano asked, finally turning again to look at Eros. "Isn't it normal to want to show that your partner is yours? Even if it's just a touch? It doesn't feel like exhibitionism; it feels like pride and showing love." It still wasn't a word that came easily to his lips.
|
|
Society Elite
Dare
is Offline
|
148 posts
|
Visitor
|
Post by Eros d'Avonderre on Feb 27, 2016 20:36:39 GMT -5
"And there is the issue in its entirety," Eros said. What Mano, and what most everyone outside the elite of Society, saw as natural, Eros saw as unnecessary acts of exhibitionism. "Don't laugh, Mano, but I dare say that I need to learn to relax." He'd been told as much by close friends, but as the rest of his world demanded control, he'd learned control.
|
|
Coffee Shop
Turtle
is Offline
|
116 posts
|
Shopkeeper
|
Post by Mano Berwyn on Feb 28, 2016 17:46:04 GMT -5
Mano almost chuckled anyway, and the urge to kiss his husband then was nearly too much to resist, but he kept his composure all the same, even if he couldn't keep all of the humor from his eyes. Of course Eros needed to learn to relax, and the way it was simply stated stretched the cracks of his own melancholy and dour mood. Eros had probably come from the womb entirely serious...or so some would think. Rather than let such thoughts escape his lips, he asked another question. "Then how do we decide where a new line is drawn?"
|
|
Society Elite
Dare
is Offline
|
148 posts
|
Visitor
|
Post by Eros d'Avonderre on Feb 28, 2016 18:07:52 GMT -5
"I haven't the faintest idea," Eros said honestly. "It might be simpler not to draw a line at all, but to work on shifting the one that exists." How in the world would they accomplish that? He didn't know. Eros gave a wry half smile. "Perhaps I ought to consult Michael for advice."
|
|