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Post by Adrian Veidt on Sept 15, 2009 11:34:39 GMT -5
He said something, almost under his breath, along the line of a "thank you", but it was hard to hear.
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Sept 15, 2009 11:48:27 GMT -5
He didn't think joining arms was allowed and drifted a respectable few feet away from him while they walked. "D'you wanna take a cab or something?"
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Sept 15, 2009 11:49:46 GMT -5
"I leave it entirely to you," Adrian said, evenly and clearly uncomfortable to anyone who wasn't looking at him through the soft-focus lens of adoration.
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Sept 15, 2009 11:50:40 GMT -5
"Well, I generally walk," he said softly, "but I was asking for you."
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Sept 15, 2009 11:51:52 GMT -5
"I don't mind walking, then."
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Sept 15, 2009 11:58:16 GMT -5
"All right," said Adrien cheerily.
He wasn't generally that talkative, but, perhaps due to unacknowledged nervousness, he was then, talking for about two minutes about a hotel they passed, managing - barely - to cut out all of the details of his understanding of it that Adrian would dislike hearing. It was like an uneffective censoring done for the benefit of a younger relation and involved statements like, "And I went once with - well, nevermind - but they didn't complain about the sheets."
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Sept 15, 2009 12:00:58 GMT -5
Adrian was good at making people think he was listening when he was in fact just monitoring their movements and reading their reactions. From time to time he would nod, and brush a hand along Adrien's cheek.
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Sept 15, 2009 12:11:23 GMT -5
After about two minutes Adrien lapsed into silence. He had cut him out of the conversation - liberally - but he had brought up Marchetti multiple times, and now that was weighing on his mind, making his shoulders sag just slightly, eyes down. He remembered the first time he met Marchetti. He wasn't too keen on formal operational thought, but nonetheless he knew the symbolic meaning of taking Adrian Veidt to tea at Divine's. He didn't want it to mean he wanted another relationship like that one, but he didn't know any other way to go about having one of any kind.
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Sept 15, 2009 12:17:13 GMT -5
When they were beginning to pass into a less well-off area than the one in which the offices were located, Adrian looked sidelong at Adrien, waiting for a further cue, somewhat annoyed at having to.
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Sept 15, 2009 12:19:42 GMT -5
Adrien wasn't paying attention, still thinking, but he was going exactly the way he always went home, and it didn't occur to him that Veidt would but follow.
Occasionally he would glance at Adrian, but that was it.
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Sept 15, 2009 12:24:35 GMT -5
"Yes?" Adrian said sharply, after perhaps the third time this had happened.
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Sept 15, 2009 12:25:49 GMT -5
"Nothing," said Adrien, and then, realizing Adrian would hate that, the slightest crease of fear or discomfort finding itself folding in his chest, he cleared his throat and said, "I'm just thinking about the past."
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Sept 15, 2009 19:35:06 GMT -5
Adrian smiled grimly.
"Happens to us all."
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Sept 15, 2009 19:36:17 GMT -5
"Well," said Adrien, tugging his ascot a bit tighter, "everyone's got a past."
His voice was particularly grim. Not everyone's past was as dirty as Adrien's.
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Sept 15, 2009 19:44:30 GMT -5
"You would be surprised," Adrian said darkly.
He looked briefly over at Adrien, and noticed that there seemed to be an awful lot of moments of mutual furtiveness between them.
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