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Post by Adrien Baillon on Nov 24, 2019 18:27:40 GMT -5
Adrien Baillon, nineteen, but known to Mr. Veidt as twenty-three pushing twenty-four - he had given the birthdate as sometime very soon, but he couldn't really remember, so he was looking forward to his imaginary birthday, where he thought Mr. Veidt would probably give him a gift - sat sideways in the chair in Mr. Veidt's office with the big padded cushion, with a book on his knee.
That would be the guest seating arrangement. It wasn't Mr. Veidt's own chair, the one behind his desk, because Mr. Veidt was boring like that. And boring like this, having Adrien practice his English, which, speaking-wise, he was great at, and writing-wise awful, in this office, when they could be doing other things.
Adrien had not pushed the matter of other things, because he rather liked having a job and thought Mr. Veidt had probably rejected him on the grounds of heterosexuality. But sometimes he thought Mr. Veidt looked at him a little too long, which, who could blame him, and most recently, the visit from Dan Dreiberg had put the notion into Adrien's mind that that man was a former lover of his. In fact he planned on asking him today. As a matter of fact, he thought the specifics of his plan were ingenious.
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Nov 25, 2019 1:19:04 GMT -5
Adrian Veidt was himself at this point in time a few months beyond his forty-sixth birthday, not that this had been of much interest to anyone but the celebrity gossip industry, though by all appearances he could have passed for some ten years younger in the right lighting.
When he entered his office after a long series of meetings, his assistant kindly dismissed to take a couple of hours to herself, he gave Adrien a little smile in passing before sliding into the chair on his side of the desk.
"I'm sorry, I think that ran a bit overtime. How are your studies coming along?"
The first impression one got of Adrian Veidt was of either mass or blondness, and whichever didn't occur immediately still followed right after. He was relatively tall, though not extraordinarily so, broad-shouldered and triangular and solid. None of this quite matched his rather more raw-boned face, which was comprised of a number of features- large, light, heavy-lidded gray-green eyes, a full-lipped mouth inclined to be sullen when left to its own devices, a prominent and evidently broken nose, a long square-edged jaw and a thrusting chin- that, on their own, were quite plain, but when joined together with each other and the general ease of his manner somehow made him look like a bronze someone had dug up after a few centuries under the ruins of a Greek temple. His hair was a sandy sort of golden-blond with a few emerging silver threads, wavy, and cut to fall loosely along one temple.
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Nov 25, 2019 1:31:01 GMT -5
Adrien patted his knee, or rather, the book on his knee, cover bent backwards no matter how many times he had been advised to do otherwise. The gesture had an inherent sensuality to it, but as time had told, that was not deliberate flirtation. Then the young man shrugged, smiling faintly.
"Boring, without you around."
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Nov 25, 2019 1:32:47 GMT -5
"You would be more bored if I brought you with me," Veidt said with a wry smile.
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Nov 25, 2019 1:34:05 GMT -5
"Oh, yeah, maybe," said Adrien with a compliant laugh. He brushed his fingers over the little letter he'd been working on, frowning and leaning in with a squint when he saw he'd smudged the pencil slightly.
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Nov 25, 2019 8:27:23 GMT -5
"What’s that you’re working on? Keeping busy, I hope."
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Nov 25, 2019 12:14:56 GMT -5
"Would you like to read it?" asked Adrien, innocent and studious. He'd given some vague answer about how long he'd been in the States the night Veidt had amusedly caught him posing as press to eat dinner for free at one of his events, but his fluid grasp of English did not soften the enunciations and rhythm of his native country. "So happens to be addressed to you."
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Dec 2, 2019 1:05:34 GMT -5
"Oh?"
There was something inherently warm and friendly about Veidt's face when he smiled like that. A face you could trust. "I certainly can't refuse, then," he said, and he crossed back from behind his desk to lean on the chair beside where Adrien sat.
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Dec 2, 2019 14:08:22 GMT -5
Adrien primly gave him the letter on which he'd been laboring. Trying to improve his written English - spelling, and handwriting, while not without its natural graces very much in need of exercise, and grammar, of course - as Veidt desired.
Dear M. Veidt,
Here I am, very well behaving, practicing my anglais. This I do because you ask. Now I ask you something. You and Mr. Dreiberg, who visited us yesterday, are you fucking, or did you fuck before? This seems obvious, but I can not tell the which.
Your friend, Adrien
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Dec 2, 2019 16:52:17 GMT -5
Veidt's expression began as mild interest, turned to fond amusement, then struck such a note of confusion and mild exasperation that he had to set the note aside for a moment to rub the bridge of his nose.
"Your grammar is improving," he sighed.
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Dec 2, 2019 16:54:28 GMT -5
"And not my behavior?" he asked with a grin. He failed to pronounce the 'h'. "Your face tells me so."
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Dec 2, 2019 16:58:35 GMT -5
Veidt smiled, though he did not appear to do so entirely of his own volition.
"Dan and I- well, no. We've never been intimate."
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Dec 2, 2019 17:02:38 GMT -5
"What?" The shock was palpable. "I am not ever wrong about these things."
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Post by Adrian Veidt on Dec 2, 2019 18:16:18 GMT -5
"There's a first time for everything," Veidt teased. "What on earth brought this on, anyway-"
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Post by Adrien Baillon on Dec 2, 2019 18:17:54 GMT -5
"I said in the letter. I saw you together yesterday." Adrien was frowning, a stubborn line between his eyebrows. "You touch him too long to be innocent. So you never have, but you want to, right?"
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