[PRP] A Bittersweet Reunion

[Juridian Soul]

The teen shook his head, and bit his lip in thought. HAD he hurt her? No. But he'd threatened to come back. That wasn't hurting though - he'd already said he'd threatened her. It would be redundant to say it again. He slid the stethoscope a little to his left, listening closer.

"Breathe in deep for me, okay?" he asked, his free hand on Aure's back. "And no - He didn't hurt her."

He gently, gently pushed and guided Aure down to lay on his back on the bed, still listening to his heartbeat.

"Should I still be concerned?"  

[shibrogane]

He did as told, almost reflexively. "About Avedis? I don't think so, he seemed like he would follow the orders of whoever his superior is-" Aure resisted laying down. He knew the instant he did so, the hair carefully combed in front of his scar would fall back to its natural parting, and it was bad enough to see the thing- that he couldn't remember getting when it was just his face in the mirror. He didn't want to freak out like he did when those at Valinor saw it. Aure could remember feeling that utter loss of control, like he had existed just to tell them not to look at him.

"No," he said, moving the hand that held his head steady to support him in sitting up. "Can't-"  

[Juridian Soul]

"Can't lie down? Why? Because of the scar? I really don't care about that."

He leaned forward, stethoscope still pressed over Aure's heart, listening to it beat. A smile, and then a very, very soft breath.

"You need to relax. I don't care about what you look like, and I couldn't care less that you're not wearing your hair over it. So.... lie down? Please?"

He smoothed back Aure's hair, and smiled at him again.

"I don't judge."  

[shibrogane]

Aure looked for a way out of this, thinking of and dismissing every possibility he considered. Only one solution seemed to make sense. "It's not that I thought you would- care, that is. It's not your reaction I don't want to see, it's mine..." He took a deep breath and continued. "Last time someone saw it... they didn't even mean any harm and I... can't. Lose control like that again."  

[Juridian Soul]

"Your heart is positively racing, Aure..." he said, concerned. "Calm down. You NEED to calm down."

Ean moved the stethoscope back over the apex of his friend's heart.

"Just relax. I didn't mean any harm by it, I swear. I was just trying to make you feel better about the whole thing. If you want me to shut up about it, I will."  

[shibrogane]

"Sorry," Aure mumbled, trying to take deeper breaths and to calm down. Normally he would have drugged himself into sleep by now, but this wasn't a normal occasion. And he doubted that it'd go over well if he asked to go home and get the anxiety pills he sometimes took. "I am sorry," he repeated, looking back at the toes of his shoes.  

[Juridian Soul]

"Don't be sorry, Aure. It wasn't my place to pry. I'm sorry for that. Can I get you to lie down, though? There's something I'm hearing that I'm not sure is because you're sitting up, or because there's actually something there."

He tried to push him gently back again, not forceful - just suggesting.

"I'm not going to leap on you and have wild mansex. I'm not THAT much of a deviant. You know that by now, though."

He slid the stethoscope over. He was SURE he heard something. Right above the apex, and a little to Aure's right.

"Trust me on this one, okay?"  

[shibrogane]

A shaky smile, then Aure allowed himself to be pushed down. "A-alright." He covered the scar with his hand and watched Ean nervously. It wasn't so much fear of deviant, wild mansex as just nervousness. Whatever his friend heard was just stress, he told himself. Had to be. He'd been in perfect health before.  

[Juridian Soul]

There. There it was. Just in the middle of the beat. A light swishing noise. It was probably stress-related, so he'd have to wait and check him again in a few days to see if he still heard it... If he were still a he, that is. He nodded to himself as he listened, and slid the stethoscope around some more as he spoke.

"So.... why don't you tell me how this happened? That is what you came over here for, isn't it? Unless you just need somewhere to stay. And in that case, I don't mind if you stay in my room. I just might have to stay WITH you if you don't want my dad, uncles, aunts, and cousins knowing you're here."  

[shibrogane]

"I don't know how it happened," Aure said miserably. "I couldn't think of anyone else who wouldn't ask too many questions about it." He started to sit up, but seemed to think better of it. "I need to ask Erik a question about that box he gave me, anyway," he muttered, clearly thinking aloud. Anything to ignore the fact that there were possibly a hundred others living here that he didn't even know, who would probably meet him as a man and never know that he'd ever been a girl, which was slightly disturbing to think of. Maybe he'd better just shut himself in his lab like Mother and Kieve had done.  

[Juridian Soul]

"Box? My uncle gave you a box? Do you have it with you? Or, I could always go get him. There's a communication center in the kitchen that lets us all keep track of each other. I could call him home if you wanted me to. Mind - he'd not been in the best mood as of late."

He continued to listen to Aure's heartbeat. It seemed to relax him. Now, though, he was just listening for pleasure, and not to find out anything. He didn't know if Aure would let him if he told him that - so he kept that part of it a secret.

"Things have been happening around here, Aure. Bad things. BAD things. My dad's been sick... hell - everyone in the HOUSE has been sick but me, and one of the other kids named Gray."

He sighed, closed his eyes to enjoy the sound of Aure's heart more fully. Smiled. Sighed again.

"If there were only one thing that was consistent about this family, I'd say it was the fact that there ARE no consistencies."

He laughed at that.  

[shibrogane]

"I don't have it with me, he told me not to open it." He sighed. "No, please don't bother him-" Aure fell silent and listening to Ean's explanation. "That might be because you're a different species," he suggested near immediately. "Else it's an exclusive bloodline thing, perhaps a genetic flaw..." This distracted him quite fully from everything as he considered this dilemma.  

[Juridian Soul]

The teen looked down for a moment, still listening, but also thinking hard about what to do. He looked into Aure's eyes - without completely meaning to. A blush crept up his cheeks, and he had to turn away quickly, withdrawing the stethoscope, and taking it off, setting it aside. He swallowed.

"Well, uh... that might be it... One of those. Maybe it's because I'm not of the bloodline or something like that. I never thought about it that way. It's not a bad disease right now... but uncle Dragon said it could get worse over time, and over the course of spreading from person to person. Ummm..."

He looked down again at the floor, and closed his eyes. He was nervous now. Why? He'd just been listening to the heart of someone he had a crush on. And now he was nervous as hell. Was it because he'd met Aure's eyes?  

[shibrogane]

Almost immediately, Aure sat up and placed the unbroken hand on Ean's shoulder. "Are you all right?" He pressed the other hand against his chest to turn his friend towards him. "I'm sure your family will be fine," he continued, misinterpreting the speeding heartbeat beneath his broken palm. "I mean, wasn't there a plague on their homeworld? Most of them survived that, didn't they?"  

[Juridian Soul]

"They DID survive that, but.... "

He paused when he felt Aure's hand over his heart. That caused it to start racing even more - fit to beat out of his chest. His breathing sped up too, to meet the new demand for oxygen. The blush spread and deepened. He figured, if there was any interest at all in his heart, Aure would bring it up himself. He continued to speak.

"But this isn't ON their homeworld... it's here. On THIS world. And that's what worries me. They're not really USED to this world yet... I'm barely used to it, and I 'grew up' here. I can't imagine what Gray must think. He's a baby."