i_speak_softly (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
i_speak_softly) wrote2011-02-27 10:09 am
i_speak_softly) wrote2011-02-27 10:09 am
Thirty-Ninth Theory [Action]
[The house is too quiet today. With April sent home, Derek hiding out who-knows-where, and Leo gone to battle, it's down to just Don and Raph again - and not in their little apartment now, but in a house that feels suddenly too big.]
[Fortunately, Don has some things to occupy himself with. After making sure Raph is all right to be left alone for a few hours, he heads out to visit some friends.]
[He goes first up the path to C7, to visit Frederic - to check on the man in his roommate's absence and to deliver a certain package.]
[After that he'll circle back to C3. He needs to see a certain resident that he's been visiting frequently of late. This time, however, he won't go around to the door of the apartment. Instead he'll knock on the window. There's something they need to talk about, and this seems like a more apt way to begin the conversation.]
[Fortunately, Don has some things to occupy himself with. After making sure Raph is all right to be left alone for a few hours, he heads out to visit some friends.]
[He goes first up the path to C7, to visit Frederic - to check on the man in his roommate's absence and to deliver a certain package.]
[After that he'll circle back to C3. He needs to see a certain resident that he's been visiting frequently of late. This time, however, he won't go around to the door of the apartment. Instead he'll knock on the window. There's something they need to talk about, and this seems like a more apt way to begin the conversation.]
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Dunno what to tell you about Raphael. Seems pretty determined to shut everyone out.
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Chasing your friends off and not having anyone at all are two different things. And he does have friends. As well as his brothers.
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[And a sudden subject change.] Derek, can I ask you a question?
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He'll pause at the question, though, then nod.]
Go ahead.
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[Very bluntly:] Have you ever been in love?
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[His expression is carefully neutral at the moment.]
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Derek stops for a minute, honestly surprised by the question. Whatever he'd been expecting, it hadn't been this, and it takes him a minute to get his head in the right place for this.]
...I know what it feels like for me.
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Yeah, all right. Sure you want it out here in the middle of the street, though?
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Now how to sum it up in a few sentences.]
...you know how you love your brothers, right?
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Take that emotion--the base one, where you'll do anything for them, where they're family even if they aren't, and you have trouble even thinking about them not being there. Then add wanting to be around the person, even if your brothers aren't sure about them. Put on top of that wanting them in ways you'd never want your family...and then pile on a lot of respect, worry, and devotion that you wouldn't want to spend on just anyone, and probably won't.
That's the best approximation I can give you.
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...is this a good thing or a bad thing?
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Derek will stop too, to process this. And think. And think some more.]
...that's going to be tough on you.
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Tell Leo first. Maybe between the two of you...
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...Do you need me to stick around for it?
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...Good luck.
I'm happy for you, though.
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