Experiments [PG-13]

[SV]

Drake looked at her intently, but did not speak. He just watched. He then decided he would do something. He sighed and took off her hat, and put his arm around her.

"It's alright, just let it out. It's better you let things out than hold them in. It can screw with you."

He sat silently, holding her. Drake knew what he was talking about. He had long since passed the stage of 'letting things out', so to speak. He hadn't cried since his guardian had died. He had not laughed in a long time either. As far as he was concerned, he was half dead inside. He, of course, knew it was better that way, but better for him, not for others to be like him.

 

[Fearless Love]

Aura let herself continue to cry, going on until her eyes and her throat hurt. After a few minutes of this, she felt the tears start to let up, and she began to quiet down, her breathing still heavy. She leaned against Drake, blinking the remainder of the tears away, finally calming her breathing enough to speak.

"Drake, I need to ask you something. Before we go on traveling together, I need you to answer a question, and I need you to be completely honest with me, okay?" she asked.

 

[SV]

Drake was silent for a while until she began to quiet down a bit and asked her question. He was a little nervous about it, the last time she asked a question like this made Drake have to say things he usually never felt like saying. However, he decided it was for the best.

"If you are prepared to hear what I would say, then I'll answer your question. What is it?"

 

[Fearless Love]

Aura took in a breath and turned her eyes to Drake. Then she closed them for a second, taking in more air to calm herself down. She opened them a moment later.

"Drake, are we friends?" she asked, "I mean, I want to be your friend, but. . ." she paused, shaking her head, "I don't know what you want."

It was actually a simple question, but she had no idea what he would say. In fact, she was a little scared. She truly wanted to be his friend, but if he didn't want to be friends, she let the thought sink in. It was possible he didn't want to be her friend. As she thought about it, she started chewing on her lip, waiting.

 

[SV]

Drake tensed up a little bit. He had a feeling it was a question like this. He didn't like going into subjects like these, but he had to address her. He looked at his tattoo for a moment as he thought over what he should say. He looked back at her.

"I suppose..." He seemed lost for words for a moment. "But I don't think I'll make a very good friend. But if you want to be..."

He stopped talking for a bit, waiting for her response.

 

[Fearless Love]

Aura smiled, wiping away any tears that were left over. "You're the first person in a long time to make me feel. . . like I'm not a complete loser, like I'm not useless, like I mean something."

She giggled a little. "I want you to know that you can trust me. That if you need me, I'll be here. If you ever want to talk, I'm ready to listen." she knew she was talking quietly, she didn't need to talk loud. "I'm going to be with you as long as I can."

 

[SV]

Drake nodded at her. He didn't know what he really did to make her feel this way, but it was comforting nonetheless. He sat there thinking about what has happened. It seemed through all this chasing and fighting and killing, he gained a friend, and he didn't mind so much. She was not bad to be around, and not bad to have around. But he didn't feel he had anything much he'd want to say to her, or more like he should say to her. His past was mostly how he got by on murder, arson, and robbery. His life was mostly about killing or someone getting killed. His thoughts now were mostly on the same subjects. However, right now, he was thinking about how he harnessed lightning. It was an exhilarating feeling, to come so close to death and yet not realize it. He had felt like he could do anything while he held it, for however short it was. But his remembrance of the lightning caused him to remember the pain he's feeling in his hands, so he stopped focusing on it.

He focused back on her. If she was willing to be his friend, he was willing to be hers. He looked at her intently. "You have very beautiful eyes. It is a shame you keep them hidden behind your hair or your hat."

He sighed and tried brushing her hair away a little. Then looked back at the rain. "I like the rain."

 

[Fearless Love]

Aura's face turned bright red at his first statement, and put her hand to her stomach, feeling it begin to fill with butterflies. She turned her attention to the rain, just as he had.

"A lot of people dread rain, thinking of it as an ending. Though, a lot of the time, it's more like a beginning. Rain cleans the Earth, washing away remains of scars. Whatever happened before the rain becomes a memory, something you keep, but it allows things to move on, to keep growing." she smiled as she spoke, then after she finished, she turned her head back to Drake.

"You know, sometimes, you surprise me." she said, smiling at him.

 

[SV]

Drake looked at her, "In what way? Although the same could be said about you."

Drake hadn't thought he was a very surprising person. Well, he was different in the sense that he was more without remorse of any kind, but once you get passed the lack of restraint or morals, Drake assumed what you see is what you get. Apparently Aura had a different idea.

 

[Fearless Love]

She smiled, playing with the hem of her shirt. "Well, sometimes it seems like you're a little different, when it's just the two of us. Like, when we're here, for example, you seem to be a little more open, like you have your guard down or something." she shook her head. "I don't know how to explain it."

"Sometimes, I don't know if you do it on purpose or not, but sometimes you just have a way of making me feel . . special." she looked down, avoiding his eyes.

 

[SV]

Drake looked at her. He knew what she was saying. It was partly true. He did have his guard down around her. He probably shouldn't, but he couldn't help it. He battled his mouth for the correct words to respond with.

"...Would it be too much to say that you are special?" Drake looked at her and smiled a bit.

 

[Fearless Love]

Aura blushed and continued looking down, knowing she probably wouldn't be able to say anything if she looked at him.

"I've never considered myself special, at least not in a good way." she said, "I mean, something always made me special, but it was never anything good. It was either because of my dyslexia, or because I was the kid who would be called to come beat up another kid, or because of this stupid scar." she put her hand on her chest instinctively, after mentioning the scar.

 

[SV]

Drake looked at her. She was quite upset about the scar issue. "You know, none of those are really bad things. So you have dyslexia, that's not really anything bad. Reading is overrated anyways. Being called upon for your strength is always a plus. I have had it done a few times in the past in a few gigs. I myself have a few scars as well...it means nothing. You shouldn't trouble yourself about it. I wasn't talking about anything like that anyways. I...well I actually am not quite sure what I mean. I'm not used to talking like this, I apologize."

He stopped for a second. "But you are special...to...er...me." He brushed her hair out of her eyes once more, then got his band that kept his hair in a ponytail. "...Here, you can you this if you wish..." Drake got out another one of his bands from his pocket and placed his hair back into his signature ponytail.

 

[Fearless Love]

Aura smiled, a thoughtful expression on her face. She took in a deep breath, biting down on her lip, before she leaned up and kissed him. She quickly pulled away, looking out the window, her face gone red again.

"I. . um. . " she twiddled with her fingers, not exactly what to say to justify her actions. "I was just trying to. . um. . . I mean. . . " she put her face in her hands, "I don't know what I'm trying to say."

 

[SV]

Drake tensed up as she kissed him. He wasn't expecting that, but he quite enjoyed it. He smiled a bit as she attempted to justify what she just did.

"It's alright. I rather...enjoyed it." He was silent for a minute. He then placed her hands out of her face, ignoring the burning of his hands as it made contact with hers, and kissed her again. After a bit, he pulled back and grinned at her.

 

[Fearless Love]

Aura's face was definitely red now, but she smiled anyway. She ignored the butterflies this time, focusing on leveling her breathing.

"I. . .I'm still at a loss for words." she said, giggling a little. She grabbed Drake's hand, then sent him a look, asking if this was alright. She smiled at him, then started biting on her lip again, it was a habit she did when she was nervous.

 

[SV]

Drake looked at her. He didn't like smiling, but didn't seem to mind much right now. He let her touch his hand, ignoring any possible pain he might have. He didn't care much at all for it right now.

"I guess you can say I am as well." He stroked his hand on her face and leaned in to kiss her again.

 

[Fearless Love]

Aura couldn't help but smile into the kiss. It felt good kissing Drake. It wasn't weird, like she always figured something like this would be. She pulled away, still blushing and smiling.

"I. . . um. ." she fumbled around for her words, "I really, really like you Drake." she said softly, sending her gaze to her lap, choosing, once again, not to look at him.

 

[SV]

Drake wasn't in his usual nature. He decided to forget about what he would usually be like right now, the unattached, heartless person he usually was. He didn't want this to end, or get ruined. He spoke:

"I...feel the same way." He lifted her face by her chin with his now not as much burning as tingling hands, looking into her eyes. He smiled at her. "I like you a lot."

 

[Fearless Love]

Aura smiled and gave him a quick kiss before wrapping her arms around him. She was genuinely happy, something she hadn't been in almost a year. She pulled away from him for a moment to smile at him, to actually smile happily.

She hugged him again and whispered, "I love you, Drake." she couldn't be absolutely certain she said it loud enough for him to hear, but she figured she did. It took her most of today to figure out that she truly loved him. They hadn't known each other that long, but all day she'd been wondering why she was feeling so funny, and she finally figured it out.