Closed Communication Breakdown

[Aine Thompson]

Aine was relieved that Valerius had agreed to speak with her after Herbology. It had taken every ounce of courage in her body (of which there was not a whole lot) to approach him to ask to talk. Regardless of what she thought about what Valerius and Cameron said, she'd been the one who'd actively chosen to avoid him and to refuse to explain herself. She'd been embarrassed, humiliated even, but the duelling tournament had shown her that she ought not get upset about being humiliated by other people. After all, she was perfectly capable of embarrassing herself.

That was besides the point. Gripping onto the strap of her bag, Aine looked down at her feet for a moment as she tried to put her words in order. Finally, she looked back up after a long enough awkward silence. She wasn't used to being in situations like this. If she had a falling out with someone, then that was that and there wasn't any point to going back to it. But she'd never had any real close friendships like this before. "I..." she started, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry." That felt ridiculously difficult to say. Her stubbornness and pride always seemed to get in the way. Not that she had very much to be proud of, especially now. "I...uh, I dunno why that all went down like that, it was really stupid. It should've been a fight with me, not you."

 

[Valerius Bianchi]

Valerius had been unbelievably upset with Aine- it felt like a betrayal the way she'd yelled at him over a confrontation he hadn't started. He'd been defending her (and quite valiantly, he'd thought) only for her to turn around and yell at him, in front of everyone. He'd been aware of her, of course, but he'd purposely done his best to ignore her since the fight. He refused to apologize, especially when he knew he wasn't wrong.

It didn't help that she was as proud and stubborn as he was. The fact that it had taken her so long to approach him stung almost as much as the fight. Still, she was his soft spot, and he couldn't just deny her the chance to apologize. He leaned against a tree, arms folded and staring at the lake. "You're right, it should have been." He replied, voice barely controlled past the bitter anger twisting his gut. "But it wasn't. I had to deal with that bratty, irritable barbarian acting jealous and instead of speaking to me or even trusting me you just stepped in to yell at me."

He shook his head, unable to even look at her. "Good to know I matter so much to you," He retorted sarcastically, unreasonably angry with the entire situation. He'd never cared for Cameron to begin with, and he was upset that his one friend had so little faith in him.

 

[Aine Thompson]

Aine ducked her head, feeling incredibly uncomfortable. Surprisingly, she'd had an easier time apologizing to Cameron, though they'd both been kind of awful and now it was in both of their best interests just to not talk about it and not bring it up to anyone as a rather fragile truce over the duelling incident. Valerius in his mind never thought he was wrong, Aine had learned. And sure, maybe he hadn't done anything actually wrong in this case but he didn't have to be so damn insufferable about it. Aine sighed. That was the horrible side of her talking, the one that kept showing up lately. He was within his rights to be angry.

"I...misunderstood," she admitted, gently even as embarrassment burned on her face. The past week had been like a funeral pyre burning for her pride. "I'm sorry...I thought you were saying...y'know." Aine looked down, steadily, heart sinking. She wasn't used to having friends close enough to her that their anger actually stung. "You can, uh, throw me in the lake or something if it'd make you feel better? Or punch me, I dunno. I've been s***, especially to you. I deserve it."

 

[Valerius Bianchi]

Valerius was upset, and hurt. He pushed off of the tree and turned to look at Aine, annoyance on his face. "I'm not going to retaliate, Aine." He snapped, shoving his hands into his pockets. He hated that tears had welled up in his eyes but he couldn't help it. "I'm hurt. You are literally the only friend I have, and you don't even trust me. I've done everything for you! I try to respect your boundaries while still helping you out, and I get confronted by some Neanderthal and immediately you just yell at me. Good to know that even the thought of being with me is enough to disgust you, thanks, that felt great,"

Valerius cursed softly, pulling a hand from his pocket to pinch the bridge of his nose, trying his best not to cry. "And ignoring me for weeks- that was great, thanks, if I matter that little then why are you even here?" He demanded, lifting his head to glare at her, tears slipping out despite his best efforts. "It's so easy to be without me, why bother?" He pushed past her, trying to make a quick exit before he broke down completely. He hadn't realized how badly he'd been hurt until she'd approached him, but he felt like he'd been hit hard in the gut.

 

[Aine Thompson]

Aine twisted the strap of her book bag in her hands, finding it very difficult to look at Valerius right now. "How am I the only friend you..." she mumbled, scuffing her shoe in the dirt as she tried to focus on that instead of making it worse. But her mouth often liked to cause problems. "Even I managed to be friendly with people." She screwed up her face, realizing that was 100% the wrong thing to say right now. "I mean...you don't have to do things for me. We can just...be friends. I don't want to feel like some kind of Pygmalion thing." She'd read the play recently, after all. She did know enough not to comment on the relationship thing. That wasn't him. Being with anybody sounded completely awful to the thirteen year old girl. Anybody that wasn't fictional or a rockstar, anyway.

He tried to leave, and Aine lifted her head, squeezing the bag strap tightly. "Please, wait," she said, loudly and clearly as opposed to her mumbling. She drew in a deep, slow breath. "What I mean is, um, I'm sorry. I got embarrassed and I was too ashamed to talk to you and apologize. I've, um, never been in this position before." Her face was likely burning. She had no idea what to do, or how to fix this, but she didn't want to destroy the friendship as much as she was doing an excellent job of it. She'd thrown herself into duelling and into the paper as a good distraction rather than facing up to an uncomfortable situation, and now she was paying the price.

 

[Valerius Bianchi]

Valerius stopped when Aine asked him too, trying not to shake. He let out a wavering sigh and turned, pulling her into his arms and holding her tightly, burying his face against her hair. "You aren't some kind of Pygmalion thing," He whispered, the tears spilling over. He was trembling, he couldn't help it anymore. "I- I'm not good with people, I'm not," He admitted gently, clinging to her. "I'm so stressed, all the time, it's- my life is-" He let out a shaky sigh. "I have these expectations, someone I have to be, I need- it's hard for me to- most people see me as a stuck up rich boy," He sighed, his fingers digging into the fabric of her shirt. "I need you on my side, Aine," He whispered, his voice cracking.

 

[Aine Thompson]

Aine's arms dropped awkwardly to her side, unsure of what she was supposed to do. Nobody in her family was especially affectionate or inclined to show too much emotion, unless Aoife having tantrums counted. Or everyone on Grand Final day. She very slowly lifted an arm to gently pat his back, hoping it was vaguely reassuring. "Valerius," Aine said, gently. "It's okay." She'd been doing a bit of research to write the advice column for the paper and was now turning her mind over to find the right things to say. "We're in second year. You don't have to be anything yet. You just gotta enjoy it, right?" She winced. "And maybe we'll find you some friends who are better at the emotional support thing and don't go all in on avoiding problems that they totally created themselves by misunderstanding things. That'd probably help."

 

[Valerius Bianchi]

Valerius sighed. "I wish it were that simple," He grumbled. He wished he could just forget his responsibilities, his debt to his dad, everything he knew he had to be. He took a shaky breath and pulled himself together, letting go of Aine and stepping away. He couldn't quite meet her eye. He felt vulnerable, and broken, but he didn't really feel safe enough with her anymore. She'd broken his trust, and he couldn't just immediately turn around and let her see him weak. He took a deep breath. "It's okay, Aine, we're alright," He reassured her gently, putting his hands in his pockets.

 

[Aine Thompson]

"Well of course it's not simple, but like, if you dedicate everything to that you'll get to being like 30 and go oh God, I've wasted my life," Aine explained, having seen that from her oldest sister over the Christmas break. She awkwardly dropped her hands when he pulled away, clasping them behind her back and wringing them about. "I mean, you're smart, you're nice, you're a good person. And I guess I can't really get it because nobody expects anything from me," she admitted, knowing she was probably talking too much. That hadn't stopped her before and wouldn't stop her now. "Besides, I bet your dad wants you to make lots of friends and find things you enjoy and become a," she put on a voice and did air quotes, "well-rounded individual...or something." Her brain finally caught up to her, and she looked away, realizing she was probably making it much worse. "You sure? I mean, you can still punch me or throw me in the lake, offer's still open. Just no jinxes."

 

[Valerius Bianchi]

Valerius rubbed the back of his neck, listening to Aine go on. He supposed she had a point. He raised a brow as she reiterated her offer to let him throw her in the lake. "You really want me to pay you back?" He asked her, before stepping closer. He raised his hand up, like he meant to strike her, and brought it forward quickly. He stopped it just before it could hit her, and pressed it gently to her cheek. He leaned in and kissed her other cheek gently, lingering a moment with his lips against her soft skin before stepping away. "There. We're even." He smirked, taking a step back.

 

[Aine Thompson]

Aine nodded, slowly. As long as it wasn't slugs, she'd be fine. If people were angry at her, then she'd let them have it out and get it out of their systems. So she balled her fists and closed her eyes, waiting for the strike. Only it didn't happen, and instead she opened her eyes in shock as she felt Valerius' lips on her cheek. For once, she was left speechless, bringing her hand to softly touch her cheek and looking over at him, stunned and confused. After spluttering a couple of times, she finally managed a quiet "...what was that?", her face burning. That was a strange means of payback. Was he trying to embarrass her? It certainly worked in that sense. Aine almost wished he'd just hit her, as that would've been far less confusing. Though not being hurt was a bonus.

 

[Valerius Bianchi]

Valerius chuckled, finding her reaction oddly cute. "You seemed insistent that I pay you back. I don't believe in violence," He winked playfully. He slid his hands into his pockets. "Why don't we head in? I need to get some studying done, and knowing you, you do too." He offered out his hand, though he didn't think she would take it.