idek i d e k /// canon is The Confessions of Dorian Gray

[forthedevil]

Then I suppose the question becomes, do you take me? Take him?

Or perhaps take us both?

Comments

NOPING OUT

[depicted]

[He was warned. He knew this was coming. He had meta knowledge.

And he has still gone BSOD.]

Spence? [That came out weak as a hatchling bird. Goddammit.] Uh—what's the . . . ah, what's the question being asked? Exactly?

[suave motherfucker dorian gray: can't get a word out]

[forthedevil]

[Oh dear. He's been bracing himself for this, ever since the first inkling that he might see the light of day again.]

Dorian. [He wants to reach out, but he can almost feel the bruising grip around his throat. He wants to reach out, but he's afraid.

The irony in his mun-directed queries withers.] I think - I know you know.

[depicted]

[Dorian can read the quiet fear; he has heard it so much louder. He can't quite look him in the eye.]

Yeah. I suppose—you know what they say about hope. And all that. [Dorian clears his throat and looks down.]

[forthedevil]

[Excuse him while he plays with a cigarette and lighter, clicking away without getting it to spark properly.]

What if it does come down to the both of us?

[depicted]

[Dorian's eyes flicker up and then they're looking down again.] I don't know.

I don't know what I could—perhaps there is someone here who could . . . take care of it. By another means.

[forthedevil]

By another means than strangulation.

[It's cruel, he knows it as he says it, but there's something almost infuriating in the way Dorian won't look at him, won't put real words to what they both remember.]

[depicted]

[Dorian flinches. And as he always does when he feels attacks, he gets angry. He looks up—

—and can't feel any anger at Spencer Price. He still remembers how it felt, and all that rage turns to pain.]

Yes, maybe I wouldn't have to throttle you for a second time.

[forthedevil]

[He can't easily stay angry with Dorian. He never has, except in the most extreme moments of disagreement. And they do both remember. Spencer remembers Dorian's voice breaking, the apology in the words I love you.]

Even if I give you just cause and aggravation? [It's faint, a weak joke made as an apology.]

[depicted]

[Dorian's isn't a very convincing laugh, but it's genuine, even where his breath staggers for more unpleasant emotions.]

Dumping you into a river seems a more suitable punishment for that. As well as a reward for me. [He tries to make it sound licentious. The tightness in his lower lip that weakens his smile also weakens that.]

[forthedevil]

I'll take you with me. [Softly, still, but with at least a little of his real humor.] See if I don't.

[depicted]

[Dorian can believe it. Spencer always held his own against Dorian. It was one of the things Dorian loved most about him. He smiles a little wider and rubs at his mouth.]

And when you did, you'd have to face me in a water fight, which I would most certainly win.

[forthedevil]

Please. [He eases along with Dorian, forcing himself not to touch his throat, not to think about that drowning feeling of being eaten up inside his own head. He wants to be here, simply Spencer Price in the company of Dorian Gray, without any knowledge of what's past or what might come.] You wear enough layers to drown a duck, and I would sooner lose to one.

[depicted]

A duck? [Dorian is now so offended that he has forgotten to be upset. He's squawking, too.] I could—I will beat you, Spencer Price, and you will recant.

[forthedevil]

[Spencer, for his part, is grinning.] Clucking like a chicken over being called a duck. It's almost like being back in the country.

[depicted]

[WOW WHY DID HE EVER LIKE YOU YOU ARE A JERK AND YOU DON'T FLATTER HIS EGO EVEN A LITTLE BIT] I am not cluckling like a chicken! How could you say that!

[No, he is.]

[forthedevil]

If you're saying chickens imitate you, Dorian, I think that's a bit much even for your ego.

[No he doesn't and you know you love it otherwise you wouldn't take it.]

[depicted]

[ok pretty sure you were more flattering to his ego when you were possessed you jackass] I'm saying there isn't a resemblance and you know it. [where is a river? HE WANTS TO SHOVE YOU INTO A RIVER]

[forthedevil]

No. You are much handsomer than a chicken. [ There's less wickedness in his expression now. He knows when a joke is spent.

This one isn't. Quite. ] A rooster might give you a bit of competition.

[ Before the barb of that little whip can sting, however, he'll be reaching out to brush his fingertips over Dorian's cheek. ]

[depicted]

[Dorian was going to rebuke him with how very not charming being a jerk is but he softens at the touch.

Still he keeps his hands at his side. He doesn't want to scare Spencer. Hurt him.]

That's what I get for taking up with a country boy, I suppose. All your poetry comes from farmlands.

[I missed you. I still love you. I'm sorry.]

[forthedevil]

All the best Romantics were enamored of the countryside.

[ He curves one hand around Dorian's fingertips, drawing their hands into the shelter of the hidden space between them. Yes, even after everything, he's still shy of very public affection. ]

[depicted]

[And there, that sweet shyness. Dorian is remembering all the reasons he was in love with Spencer Price.]

That's not a very high bar you've set.

[Carefully, not wanting to startle Spencer, he pulls Spencer's hand up, into the light, up to his lips. He puts a delicate kiss to Spencer's fingertips.]

When they wrote their best nature poetry, it wasn't about nature at all.

[forthedevil]

[He looks down, but doesn't pull away. Dorian Gray. The beautiful, mysterious, alarming Dorian Gray.]

Have you missed me?

[depicted]

[Dorian doesn't answer for a moment. He hates that question. The answer is never simple and never what the other person wants to hear. Yes isn't true. No isn't either. The truth is as ugly as his real face, he thinks.

I did everything I could to forget we ever met.]

I have.

[It's true. It's incomplete. He has. And then he didn't. But sometimes he still wakes up from dark dreams about dark alleys, and sometimes he hears a voice that sounds too much like him or a scent like that summer they met and it's all he can do to stay in the present. He has missed Spencer, and he has forgotten him, and he has been dragged back.]

his username makes me laugh in a terrible way

[monstrous]

If you're asking what I think you're asking, I'd put my money on both. These sort seem to like that type of thing. That way they get a little bit of nice, a little bit of naughty, and loads of suffering for everyone involved.

me too but this probably just means we are terrible people

[forthedevil]

Ah... Yes, I'm probably asking what you think I'm asking. I'd hoped for more mercy on the part of the management, but I less likely as her resolve strengthens.

but terrible for lulz at least? (or does that make it worse)

[monstrous]

Considering the management, I figure mercy is in short supply. Certain canons attract their merciful tendencies. I'm fairly confident ours isn't one of those.

[smiling reassuringly] Chin up though, you're in good company at least. [a pause and then a careless shrug] Well, apart from the company you'll probably be bringing with you, at least.