Scusare

[Fenris]

>> Dante Valerio and Aurelien Valter continued from Room 704: Liberate Me Ex Inferis

Dante was kinda regretting wearing his flip-flops to breakfast.

Luckily he wasn't dripping anymore, he figured whatever water was left on the bottoms had soaked into the carpet in their room, but it still squished between his toes uncomfortably with every step, making those slapping noises when he transitioned from carpet to tile. He felt like he was being stared at. Maybe he wasn't, really, but he felt self-conscious anyway, between the slapping sounds and his tangled wet hair and the lump in his throat that felt visible even though it obviously wasn't. He was just following his own footsteps from the day before, hoping he could remember the way to the breakfast area downstairs without getting lost without Aurelien leading the way.

This wasn't a big deal, right? It wasn't. It'd be fine. It was just the first time him and Aurelien hadn't been totally in agreement on something. All they had to do was talk about it.

Dante swallowed, but the lump in his throat didn't go down one bit.

Still, he'd made it, his entrance marked loudly by those stupid flip-flops. Didn't take a whole lot of effort to spot Aurelien, considering breakfast time was almost over and the room was almost empty. He looked... not particularly happy, considering how hard he was stabbing his toast and eggs. Hard enough it looked like he was gonna break the plate if he didn't calm down a little. Dante was starving, now that he thought about it, and the smell of frying bacon in the air immediately made his stomach grumble, but it could wait a few more minutes. His smile was nervous as he pulled up to the table.

"Hey, Lion." He considered his options and decided to sit next to Aurelien instead of across from him. Might've been awkward to have put his hand on Claude's shoulder, but that didn't feel like much of an issue here. He touched his shoulder briefly, his hand moving down his arm to settle on Aurelien's hand. He didn't pull away, so that was a good sign, at least?

"S'okay. Claude said he needed a nap. Are you alright?" Kinda felt like a dumb question, though Lion's expression had settled a little bit the moment he'd laid eyes on him. Still, his smile was strained. He put his fork down—Dante didn't literally sigh in relief, but he felt like he had the right to—but wasn't quite looking at him.

"I'm fine, I guess." Silence. The kinda silence where it felt like there was supposed to be something else, but there wasn't. Dante bit his lip.

"You don't, uh, sound fine, really. No offense." Didn't seem like he was gonna argue with that. He stabbed at his eggs again, taking a bite.

"I kinda... fucked up back there, huh?"

What was he supposed to say to that? His instincts told him to say no, tell him it was all good. Smooth it over. He was real good at smoothing shit over. Especially when the potential alternative could go so badly. But if he did that, he'd be betraying the trust Claude had put in him. Well, okay, he hadn't put a whole lot of trust in him, they hadn't actually talked about shit yet, but at the very least he'd been betraying his own words. He'd apologized for Aurelien; he couldn't just tell him he hadn't done anything wrong, cause he had.

"... A little, kinda, yeah." Okay, a little wishy-washy for his thoughts, but it was something. "I mean, I guess I know what you were worried about, but... kinda jumped to conclusions a little too fast maybe, huh?"

"Yeah cause I KNEW I was right! And I knew he was suddenly acting up just cause he was sharing a room with us, and-"

Aurelien stopped, suddenly, probably because he realized how loud he was getting. Lucky thing the room was almost empty; a hotel worker who was cleaning the table in front of them was staring, but turned away as soon as Dante caught his eye. No harm, no foul, Dante figured, but Aurelien's voice quieted.

"Sorry." He reached out for a sip of orange juice, put the cup down and rubbed his forehead. "Fuck. Goddamnit. Sorry."

Dante, at a loss for words for a moment, instinctively reached his arm around Aurelien's shoulders. "Hey. Hey, it's okay. Seriously." He opened his mouth to speak, closed it again. He thought over the words he'd been thinking of on his way downstairs and wondered if they were the right ones, if they'd just make Aurelien feel worse. But he wasn't great at keeping words inside him at the best in times. Hopefully it wasn't too much.

"I like... okay, this is gonna sound dumb as hell but like, bear with me, alright? I know you've had to deal with a lotta shit over the years. and i don't really know what that's like. So when I assume the best outta people that's cause mostly they've all been good to me. But it's not always like that for you. so you're allowed to like... be mad, or upset or whatever, about that. I dunno what my point is. I guess just... maybe things aren't always as bad as you think?"

There was a pause. Aurelien exhaled a breath Dante hadn't noticed he was holding. He was smiling, again, not strained like before, but... sad, which wasn't much better. He leaned closer into him, which was something, at least. Dante leaned into him, too.

"Yeah it's... it's not always been easy though, y'know? Turns out a lot of people who play sports really don't like me just for who I am. It's hard not to wanna lash out at them. Even when I know it's a bad idea, it's still just... way too tempting to let go." He laughed, softly. "I don't really think things 100% of the way through, sometimes."

"I know the feeling."

Dante squeezed his shoulder. It was hard, watching Aurelien struggle like this, when he never really seemed to struggle with anything.

"I'm always on your side, mia anima. whatever happens." He paused, again, trying to get his words straight, trying to stay on Aurelien's side without burying Claude. "Just... be careful, okay? Claude, I dunno what's up with him, but he seems really down about something. I know the room has been kind of a bummer, but whatever's up with him I wanna help if I can."

Aurelien laughed, a bit more honestly this time. The sound made Dante's mouth stretch into a wider smile.

"Remember when you said I was the smart one? Too smart for my own good, I guess, thought I knew the score before it even happened. But you've... you've always been the kind one, the caring one. It's something special, blummen. I know I mess up sometimes but... You never mind. And you make me try and... be better, every day."

Aurelien paused. Dante's face felt warm, but he hardly minded.

"D'you... think Claude would accept an apology at this point? Kinda stormed out on him and I... don't want it to be hollow."

"Yeah. Yeah, I think that's a good idea. like if you're serious about it, he'll accept it, I'm sure. He's a good guy." Dante didn't have to think too hard about that one; honestly he was just pretty damn happy Aurelien'd seen the light so quickly. He ruffled his hair playfully. "You're a good guy too, y'know. Doesn't matter if you make mistakes, 'cause you learn from them."

Aurelien kissed his cheek, then, and he felt like his face was probably bright red, but it wasn't like there was anyone here to be embarrassed about it for.

"Hah, yeah, trust me, uh, I'm not gonna start an argument with the people I've gotta share a room with for a week ever again. ...Thank you, blummen. I'll go talk to him after we're done eating, I'm sure you're right. He must just've had a lot of shit on his plate."

"It'll work out, I'm sure of it. I'll grab him something to eat when we go back, probably ain't good for him to not eat." ... Holy shit, food. He'd forgotten about food. He was starving.

"... You want some bacon?"

Aurelien's grin could have lit up a room.

"I want all of the bacon. This shit is so good, blummen."

Dante grinned back.

"On it. Gotta get our energy up for round two in the pool. See if you can break the pool raft balance record. Three seconds ain't bad but hey, worth a shot, right?"

"If I don't manage to get it to five seconds before we leave I'm gonna consider it a personal disappointment."

"I'm holding you to that!"

He stood, still grinning, backing away from his boyfriend toward the food for as long as he could before he had to turn around, not wanting to take his eyes off him. He piled a mountain of bacon on a plate, noticing a display of wrapped muffins and other pastries and picking out a poppyseed one to bring back to Claude and then after a moment of deliberation picking out two danishes for himself. He figured he deserved it, all things considered.

Breakfast was probably gonna weigh him down, but he felt a thousand pounds lighter.


>> DANTE VALERIO (AND AURELIEN VALTER): PREGAME END