It's Not So Bad Out

The square was unusually busy that day. Edward found it quite odd, given that throughout the times that he had been there, not many people were around him. Maybe it was the sudden weather change.

The past few times that Edward had visited the square, it had been unusually hot, but today, today it was by far cooler, but just perfect for anyone who wanted to take a walk.

Edward shrugged his shoulders, as though letting it go, not letting the facts bother him, as he strolled around, taking in the nice day. He was glad he had decided to leave his house for a while, his parents once again arguing over what seemed like nothing, at least to the Angelique.

There wasn't much he could do about his parents arguing, unless he wanted to get the shit beaten of him. When he was younger his parents had always told him that if he meddled in things that weren't his buisness, he would be punished.

Shuddering a little at the thought of getting hit again, Edward shook his head and tried to focus on the world around him as it was now. However, the problem with Edward when he got too focused, was that he tended to not pay attention to his surroundings.

As Edward came back down to earth from his thoughts, he stopped abruptly, nearly pushing someone over. "Sorry..." he said, a little awkwardly to the boy he had nearly trampled.

When he looked up, he was sure he recognized him. He had to have been someone from Beauxbatons, he was sure of it. The boy stared at Edward a little as Eddie observed him, trying to figure out who he was.

Alec could not stand it, seeing his father and that little whore snogging on the couch. Now, it seemed, he had another girlfriend. Younger, about twenty six years old, or something. His 'co-worker' had been dumped the previous week, for the fourth time, and he'd already moved on. Not that he felt bad about the old hag, she had always been a real bitch to him, and his father's new girlfriend was much better. At least this one was free-spirited, fun, and seemed to enjoy Alec's presence, unlike his father. Actually, she seemed to enjoy Alec's presence a lot. So much she'd almost kissed him the night before - like she'd done with many other men around town. She seemed to have a bit of a. . . reputation.

He rolled his eyes at his thoughts as he kept on walking through the square. His father had been switching girls like they were toys, and that bothered Alec more than he could show. Yes, he often went out to snog random girls at clubs, but that was different. He was sixteen, his father was nearly fifty. He didn't bring them home, his father did. Plus, his father had a family, as fucked up as it currently was. He had a daughter in the house. He had a wife. They were getting divorced, but they were still husband and wife. He needed to show some respect, he needed to stop, before Alec got sick of it and decided to do something.

Too lost in his thoughts, he was nearly knocked over. "Watch it, dude," he exclaimed, not looking to see who it was. He was already frustrated enough as it was, he did not need anyone else getting on his nerves. He glanced at the boy when he apologized and frowned, "Do I know you?"

Edward raised an eyebrow briefly at the boy's snappy reply, though he couldn't get mad at him, he would have said the same thing if their roles had been reversed. "Sorry, man." he said again, this time bringing out the more...male, intimidating side of him.

It had been a while since he had talked to an actualy guy, seeing as he spent a lot of his time, either alone, or when he talked to anyone, it somehow seemed to be girls. So for Edward had to bring out the more dominant side of him out now.

"Not by name, I'm sure." he replied shrugging. "I go to Beauxbatons, and if I'm correct, so do you. I just can't seem to remember your name." Edward explained, still trying hard to remember the boy's name.

Was it, Alex, maybe? The soon to be sixteen year old was sure it was somewhere along those lines, but could have been wrong. "I'm Edward, by the way." he said holding his hand out. He knew that some people might not have held their hands out when they met someone, but Edward had done it out of politeness, it was the way he was raised.

No thanks to my stupid ass parents... he thought to himself. He was still mad at them for arguing, though it was none of his buisness. He felt like he couldn't even go home without the risk of being thrown into some fight that they had.

Alec raised an eyebrow at the boy's repeated apology, though made no further comments. It was weird to think that the last time he socialized with another male had been quite a while before. Did he really hang around that many girls? He didn't think so. But then again, he had no actual male friends. Not that he missed having any, but there were just some things that you couldn't talk about with girls.

"I do, aren't you in my year?" he asked, trying to match the face with any name. Rack, Raccoon, Requeet. . . he gave up. If he was in his year, which he was almost sure he was, they hadn't had many classes together.

Edward. Edward something-that-started-with-an-R. He shook his hand, "Alec Blanchard." He wondered if he should start using Ducruet as his last name, seeing as it's his mother's name. What's the use of having Blanchard if he didn't feel like part of that family?

"Yes, about to go into my sixth year." he said with a nod. Edward raised an eyebrow at the boy in front of him, clearly trying to figure out what his last name was. How he knew, the expression on his face while he thought.

Edward shook Alec's hand in return and nodded a little again. "Nice to meet you, finally, I guess." he said with a chuckle. "It's Raquin, if you were wondering." Edward said laughing slightly,

"So, how's your summer been?" he asked casually, actually interested in making a new friend, a guy at that. He spent too much time aroud girls, Edward decided that he really needed a guy friend that he could just hang out with and talk to.

"Raquin!" Alec exclaimed, sounding a bit odd to those passing them by, and snapped his fingers, "Right. Knew it was something with an R and a q in the middle." He nodded, "Nice to meet you, I guess. Wonder how I didn't have your name memorized, I usually do with people in my year. We must not have had that many classes together."

He shrugged, unsure of how to answer the question. "I've had better summers," he finally decided after a while, "but then again, I have had worst." He supposed the summer would be better than the previous school year, however. That one had been full of nothing but absolute bullshit and tedium to him. "What about yours?"

"Yeah, it's a hard name to remember for most." Edward said chuckling at Alec's sudden realization of his name. Giving him a shrug Edward stuck his hands into his pockets and shook his head. "Yeah, I don't think I have seen you in many of my classes, but, maybe next year." he said.

Edward nodded, knowing in a way what Alec meant by having either a better summer or a worse. In Edward's own way, he had had better. He couldn't remember having such a terrible summer vacation, and for the first time in his life, he was actually looking forward to going back to school.

"It's been alright...definitely not the best one I've had, like ever." he replied, chuckling as though maybe treating his situation lightly, would make it less horrible.

"I think for the first time ever, I actually want to go back to school." Edward said with a smile. "Which isn't normal for me."

"I find last names easier to remember than first names," Alec told him, repeating what he had once told Destini, "especially with people I've only talked to one or twice." He echoed with a small nod, "Maybe next year." Though, maybe the the next school year he would not be attending classes all that much, with OWL's having just passed and NEWT's being only in seventh.

"Why?" he asked, not being able to keep his mouth shut. He was naturally curious, there was nothing wrong with it. Plus, if he didn't want to tell him, he would just say no. No big deal.

Alec nodded, a humorless grin making it's way to his face. Oh, how he could relate to that. "I get it, totally," he told him, memories two summers before coming back, "Yeah, that was me in the summer before my fourth year. It was a pretty awful summer, couldn't wait to go back to school. Like I said, I've had better summers and worse."

"Hmm, usually it's the other way around for me." Edward said. It was true, however, he did tend to memorize people's first names rather than their last, except occasionally he would mix up certain people with someone else, and that caused chaos for him. "Yeah," he said shrugging. "I guess we'll see."

Alec's sudden interest in why his summer was shit, took him slightly by surprise. Not that he minded the question, it was just, no one usually actually cared about his reasons for certain things, except for Kat of course, but even then...

"Er...well, it's just my parents they've been getting into a lot of horrible fights lately, and the past few times I've hung around, I usually get thrown into it, verbally or physically..." he explained, hanging his head, and staring at his feet, which were subconsciously kicking at the ground.

Edward wanted to ask Alec the same thing, 'why?' but wasn't sure if it was the best idea, especially if his reason was worse and far more personal.

"Yeah, I can understand that. Though more with winter holidays rather than summers." he replied.

"I dunno," Alec shrugged, "I've just always found that you can have three or four Edwards in a place, but mostly just one Raquin. For me, I guess it makes it easier to connect faces with names."

Hearing his explanation made him feel better and worse, at the same time. Better, because it was nice having someone who understood. Worse, because the whole thing was just shit.

Divorce was something so common now in the muggle world, but in the wizarding one? There were, really, not that many. And since most of his time was spent in the latter, it was hard to find someone who knew what it was like.

"That's absolute shit," he murmured and noted, before he could stop himself, "Though, I must say, you look like you're dealing with it better than I did. And I know everyone will tell you this, but, after a while, it gets better, in a way." He said, "Well, not better. I guess you just. . . learn to cope."

Or you find out who your parents truly are.

"Well, that makes enough sense, and it works for you, so." Edward replied with a small shrug. He really did find it better using first names rather than last, to put with faces, but maybe one day he would try Alec's method.

Edward looked around briefly for a moment, mostly because he was thinking of something to say, but also because he felt a little awkward. "It is, yeah, but there isn't a hell of a lot I can do." he said still kicking at the ground.

"Yeah, I know it will, but I just sort of...decided to stand up for myself now, got a new sort attitude that I didn't know I had in me." he chuckled.

Finding that there was a sudden awkward silence, Edward finally decided to ask Alec a question. "So, what about you? What's making your summer so shitty? Though, you don't have to tell me, if you don't want to." he said looking into the boy's eyes.

He didn't want Alec to feel like he had to tell Edward his life story, he would never ask someone to do that.

Alec shook his head, agreeing with the boy. No, there really wasn't anything any of them could do, which was maybe another reason he had hated the situation so much. He despised feeling helpless, not in control of things.

"Happens," he said with a small chuckle. Those things, really, were the good things about it all. Maybe not everyone enjoyed it, but Alec certainly did. He continued being the same person he'd always been - but without that small touch of innocence. He didn't complain, ignorance was not bliss.

He shrugged, after hearing the boys' reasons he felt less ashamed of his own. For once, he didn't hesitate to explain. "Just fighting with my dad all the time. We've been going through a . . . rocky path, I guess, since my mom moved out. He's an asshole."

Frowning, Edward noticed something in Alec that he had seen in himself before. A slight note of helplessness. Edward knew what that was like, and hated the feeling of it, and that was what fueled his need to become a...not different, but more mature, more outgoing version of himself.

"Yeah, I guess." he replied with a shrug and kicking at the ground, scuffing his shoes a little.

Edward tilted his head to the side as he listened to Alec explain his reason for hating summer this year, and when he finished, Edward clapped a hand on his shoulder and said, "I'm sorry about that, but take your own advice, it will...we will learn to cope." he smiled a little, hoping it might reassure the boy.

"Ahh, I know a thing or two about having assholes for parents...maybe not in the same way, but..." he said chuckling at the very truth of it. His parents were going a little far with arguing, at least he thought so. And throughout the whole thing, they treated him like shit and not just him but their friends too.

"Already have," Alec said with a small shrug, "I mean, with the whole divorce thing." He looked at the ground and kicked a small pebble, "Now, coping with my dad being an asshole. . . I don't that'll ever happen."

"When my parents started fighting, it was in the middle of third year," he started, before he could stop himself. Maybe talking about it to someone that wasn't Grayson, someone who understood, maybe that would actually help him. "They'd been having these small arguments before, but that was when things started getting serious. Until one day, early in the summer, they had this huge fight. They both walked out, and my mother came home later with another guy; my father came a few hours later, drunk out of his mind, and caught my mom. They fought again and I made the stupid mistake of trying to stop them," he flinched, remembering that day, "got a stupid scar instead."

He shrugged, "Honestly, I think you're doing better than I was. I usually left my little sister alone at home when the fights started, and took to the streets, began smoking and all that crap." Still haven't been able to stop. "Beauxbatons was like a safe haven for me, where I could forget about everything going on at home."

"My mom moved out and ever since then, I've been living with my father. We get into fights daily and he's just a fucking idiot, but she says I'll have a better lifestyle with him. Whatever," he rolled his eyes, "I don't care about their divorce anymore - it's what I said about coping. But actually, I think this was for the better - I wouldn't stand seeing my mother go back to that man."

Edward nodded, taking in everything that Alec said. He understood, to some extent, about the fighting anyways, and he was hoping that his own parents wouldn't go through such a row that would cause them to break up.

He knew they loved each other, they just seemed to fight over the littlest things, which would eventually turn out to be an even bigger fight.

"That's awful." Edward said, a serious yet sympathetic expression on his face as he spoke. "Yeah, I guess...I just feel like, since they aren't paying much attention to me, why not just do whatever the hell I want?" he said with a shrug.

Edward gave Alec a small smile, and said, "I'm really sorry about all that, man. I know I can't understand everything you went through, but I can say I understand and I'm sorry. No one should ever have to go through that."

He knew he sounded sappy, and probably not even that manly, but, he had to say something meaningful, and though Edward had changed a little, he still had some parts of his old self inside of him. The part that was sympathetic and comforting of others, no matter what the people thought of him. And despite what some people believed, everyone needs a little comfort.

Alec shrugged, "It's alright. Doesn't even bother me that much anymore, though, of course, I'm not completely over it. Or else my father's girlfriends wouldn't annoy me as much." Though it was, mainly, just the man that made Alec lose his patience. Which, to be honest, was never much to being with.

"So," he spoke up after a while, "let's change the subject cause I don't think either of us are comfortable with this one. What do you like doing?" he asked. It was not just a crappy question, it the crappy question. Everyone asked that whenever they had nothing to say, and Alec had always hated it. No creativity, he used to think, can't they be a little different from the whole world? This time, however, he had a reason for wanting to know. There was a way he would always cheer up whenever his parents were fighting, and maybe that could also help the other boy.

But first, he had to know if he was into that sort of thing.

Edward continued to nod, not saying much, but showing that he was at least listening.

"Yeah, lets." he replied shortly. He did, in truth not mind all that much talking about his family problems, though he was still a tad uncomfortable about rambling about it for ages, and he had a feeling Alec felt the same. Though, then again he might not have asked a different question if he didn't.

It was a question Edward had heard before, and didn't mind answering, because he was the one who usually asked it to others.

"Well, I guess like all guys, I like to eat," he began with a light chuckle. "But I'm into things like dueling, swimming for excercise, and I have an odd obsession with Dragons. I was even planning on getting a tattoo of one at some point." he explained with a decisive nod.

"What about you?" he asked in return, surprisingly curious to know more about this boy in front of him.

Alec chuckled and ruffled his hair, more out of pure habit than trying to look good. Whenever girls were around, he needed to be a tad vain, but it got to a point where there could be all men in the room and he'd still feel the need to fix his hair from time to time. "Well, don't we all?" Food. Food was like, the world's tenth wonder. He still hadn't made up his mind about what came in eighth or ninth - but he knew food was tenth, definitely.

"Oh, I like dueling and swimming as well," he told him with a small nod, "And all sorts of sport, really. From wizard ones to muggle ones - they're fun and they keep me in shape. I do enjoy pranking people a hell of a lot too, and I'm pretty into action movies - muggle stuff - and like, playing drums and music and stuff."

"What helped me get through those days the most, however, other than smoking," he continued, a smirk creeping on his face, "was clubbing. You wouldn't believe how easy it is to forget about your problems when someone's else's mouth is on yours." He jerked his head towards the end of the street and glanced back at the blonde, "And there's one right there. If you don't feel like it, it's all good - but it does one hell of a clearing in your head for a while."

Edward laughed in agreement. Food was definitely one of the only things that just about everybody loved and had in common with each other. Even those who didn't like food, or didn't like to eat, they at one point had to have enjoyed it at one point in their lives.

"Neat! Pranking people isn't my forte, but I try to when I can, though the pranks themselves generally fail." he said laughing at the thought of the times where he had tried to prank his friends, and then the prank just fell in on itself and had failed the Angelique.

Raising an eyebrow as a smile appeard on his lips, Edward started to laugh a little. Not at the idea, and not at the fact that Alec did that, but because he had never thought of doing that. "Well, I have never even considered that." He said voicing his thoughts.

"But I couldn't even if I wanted to, since I have a girlfriend. And despite my new changed, self, I don't want to cheat on her. She's too important." he said, being loyal to Kat. It was true, despite Edward's new look, new attitude, Kat meant just about everything to him, and he wasn't about to let her go.