Auden moved just a bit closer to him as they walked to the ice cream store. He was truly glad that he didn't see them holding hands as being disgusting or how he was acting as disgusting. she valued the opportunity to be able to be seen as a normal teenage boy. It didn't come very often, but he supposed that it would be more frequent considering that he was this island now. "Thanks for not thinking that I was some weirdo." He stopped walking as he heard Valentine's other sentence. "You're... no." Auden's eyes glazed over him. "You're not disgusting"
I Only Followed You A Bit
- Thread starter Claire
- Start date
- auden verchetty valentine meier
Weirdo, he says. Valentine could have scoffed. Weird was a strange concept to him these days; it all just blurred together in his eyes so that everything was normal. All except for him. People always said his perception was a little warped. He didn't want to figure out why they thought that way.
Valentine felt the slight tug when Auden stopped in his tracks, immediately turning around to ask him his reasons but before he could ask, Auden had spoken already. Valentine had no words for it; he didn't even know Auden had heard it in the first place.
"Are you sure about that?" he asked quietly. He wouldn't have been hurt whatever the answer was; he'd grown into it that it didn't feel any more different from when people told him his eyes reminded them of trees. "Not a little bit freakish?"
"Not even the slightest bit, I promise you that." He smiled and just stared into his eyes for a few seconds, wanting to make him feel like he was worthy of something more. "I think you were so much more than what other people say about you. You're not some freak because of how you look, or some asshole because you don't like everyone." Auden put his other hand on his cheek, gently caressing it as if to make him feel safe. "People will think what they want about us, but you just have to not let it bother you and find what you truly want in this world. Because I'm sure that there are tons of people that would want to stop you from whatever goal that you have set for yourself." He paused. "So… I hope that helped?"
Valentine couldn't hold meet his gaze too long; probably too scared, feeling too vulnerable at that moment that he was the first to break eye contact. He could go by with words he told himself and move along with his head up high, but there are times that there were certain people that stood out and their thoughts mattered a little more and were hard to let sink. Valentine tensed when he'd felt the warmth reach his cheek; the contact would have been uncomfortable for him but he'd managed not to act out of reflex.
He kept quiet for a moment, as if letting his words sink before he spoke, rather plainly. "That was lame." For a moment Valentine's expression was unreadable. There was nothing on his face until a couple of second passed and he started into chuckles. "It helped. Sort of. I'm.... still working on the self-image part."
Of course it was lame. Of course everything that he thought was important was lame. he just looked at valentine and sides because of course everything was lame when he said it. He smiled weakly though, when he heard that that helped him just a little bit. "it takes a long time to perfect your image, trust me. I've known people and they've been in their late years and the stuff I figured out what they want to be who they want to look like." He just waved his hands above his face as he was just rambling now. "Sorry, I really don't know what I'm talking about."
"No, it's fine," Valentine said, his voice sounded a little tired. He cast down his eyes, thoughtful. "Rambling is fine." No one really talked to him much in the last few years--or so at least talked to him with conversations he actually liked or remotely felt like there was no prejudice. Unconsciously his hold on Auden's hand seem to tighted, holding on to it like there was no one else he could.
Valentine never told people but he was trying very hard. He was trying very hard to be the person his parents would have let him be, trying very hard to just be Valentine. Four years was very long to erase but he was working on it. "This is okay," he muttered under his breath.
Taking a deep breath, he wiped his eyes of tears that hadn't even fallen, before he looked back up to Auden, a small albeit genuine smile on his face. "Thanks for that. Sorry; I'm kind of a bit of a wreck."
He just listen to, taking in every word that he said is if it was the only thing that truly matter to him. Even though this had started off with a horrible mixup of emotions and mishaps, he was starting to really like Valentine. He didn't move away when the other grabbed onto his hand is a bit harder, wanting to know what was bothering this sweet person. it didn't seem right to have someone like them hurting so much on the inside.
There was something about hearing them say that they were a wreck that made him snap. "That's not what you are Valentine." He paused, stopping again. "Yeah, we might be on here because were all misfits and freaks and different than everyone else, but we don't have to listen to what they have to say. You don't have to listen to whatever someone says about you." He leaned into Valentines personal space, looking into his eyes.
There was something about hearing them say that they were a wreck that made him snap. "That's not what you are Valentine." He paused, stopping again. "Yeah, we might be on here because were all misfits and freaks and different than everyone else, but we don't have to listen to what they have to say. You don't have to listen to whatever someone says about you." He leaned into Valentines personal space, looking into his eyes.
Valentine was startled out of his thoughts with Auden speaking, a moment of weakness making him a little jumpy at the manner he spoke with. For just that moment, it was almost as if the younger version of him swapped places. At least that's how he would have explained the feeling he had at that time.
Auden stood too close for his preference, and the way he seemed to look for his gaze made Valentine only feel even less guarded. Valentine was at a loss for words for about a second or two until his present self seemed to come back to him, then falling a step back. He raised his free hand to his face, turning his head downwards; strands of hair loose from his braid fell after, curtaining half his face off from view.
"Sorry, sorry-- I'm not laughing," he said, his voice returning to his normal volume, a slight chuckle in his tone. "It's weird having other people to tell me those things." Valentine raised his head to face him, hand still covering his mouth but his eyes were laughing, oddly enough. "You're right, you're right. But my head really is a mess of things though. Sometimes gets in the way of thinking and makes me do a lot of stupid things. Are you okay with that?"
He just watched. He was close, wasn't he? He looked at him, moving his hand away when they turned their head down. Even if they were laughing, would it have mattered? Auden looked at him still, hearing the explaination he gave. He didn't say a word to Valentine, wanting to act. Auden leaned in and kissed his head, smiling to him. "Course."
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The gesture caught him completely off-guard. He was waiting for a verbal confirmation so he didn't do anything -- in the end he did get one but the one that came before it came as a shock. In times like these, Valentine would have reacted badly but the kiss hadn't been too unwelcome for him to act on anything else.
Valentine just stared, a blush across his cheeks as he slowly lowered his other hand, finding words to say that his mouth couldn't seem to utter. He stammered out, clearly flustered, with barely any words forming at all as the flush in his cheeks deepened. "Wh-what was that for??"