Just Say Yes

***Quick note! I realize most of you don’t know when this fic is taking place, so I’ll tell you! It’s taking place in about 2038 and China has become the world power. In this chapter, Gage states that it’s rare to hear someone speak French. That’s because, in this time frame, people are more concerned about learning Chinese as it will be more useful to them. The Romance Languages are now considered to be something akin to a “luxury,” and it is also a sign of a cultured person. Anyway, just a quick note about the time frame and stuff! You’ll learn more about their living situations later in the fic ^^

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The sound of cars honking and lawns being mowed could be faintly heard outside the window. Sunrays lit up each of the rooms, the blinds unable to contain it all. Gage slowly turned around on the floor as he reluctantly opened his eyes. Taking a minute to realize where he was, his first thought was, "Mercredi."

He paused. Mercredi? What the he-- ah, that's right. Wednesday in French. He had been up late studying French.

Up...late....and it was so sunny out an-...

"Shit. Fuck. Shitfuck!" He had a habit of cursing when he was irritated. As smart as he was, he was not very eloquent.

Shoving his books and homework into his backpack, he quickly removed himself from his apartment as he stealthily locked the door and began running towards school.

"Since when the hell am I late?" He shouted at himself in a lecturing tone. "I'm always in class early, so I can review, do extra homework, and sometimes tutor morons! Goddammit!" he sighed.

As he ran to class, his mind kept itself preoccupied with numerous thoughts. It was only after a few minutes that he remembered the French boy; Claude. He remembered his plan to wake up early so that he could find him. There were only so many buildings on campus, and he willing to stalk them all of it meant another encounter with Claude.

Resigning himself to the fact that he would have to wait until lunch, after school, or the next day, he silently slipped into Calculus class. Sometimes sitting in the back had it's perks, he thought to himself.

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Finally, the lunch bell rang, and Gage could not have been happier. He had already thought of a plan of action in his head - first, he would start with the foreign language building. He had thought about and scrutinized Claude so much that he had already developed a pre-conceived image of him in his mind. Claude, to Gage, would spend most of his time hanging out in the foreign language building or the science building. Claude, presumably, didn't like English or art, but he loved science and history. He seemed quirky enough for it to be true, Gage had decided.

Although their school was highly funded and had enough money to shit it out their ass, the buildings weren't very big simply because the school was so exclusive. The scenery and architecture, however, was a different story. The campus was undeniably beautiful, and Gage often found himself admiring his campus.

After failing his attempts at checking the foreign language building, Gage entered the H. H. Richardson inspired science hall. Luckily it was made up of only one story, so he had an easy time checking every classroom for any trace of Claude. He peered into each classroom as discreetly as he could, surveying it's every corner for a sign of the blonde haired boy. After failing a second time, he grudgingly left the building.

There were only a few minutes left of his lunch break, and that did not leave him enough time to start on another building. If only he knew his real name, stalking him would be so much easier. Gage's face dripped with signs of defeat, and he opted on entering the fine arts building in order to get away from the vicious cold that the weather was pouring down on them lately.

Gage took a seat on a bench near one of the choir rooms, and delicately took out his brown paper bag full of delicious food. He internally grinned and began unwrapping his irresistible turkey and cheese sandwich when he stopped himself. There was a faint noise coming from one of the music rooms ahead of him, and he kept still in an attempt to be able to zone in on the music even more.

The sounds of a piano being played filled the air like thick liquid, and it seemed to engulf Gage. He listened intently, yearning for the sounds to continue and almost choking at the thought of it ending. His breath was caught within his throat, and he clung to every key being hit, every note being played. It was the most beautiful sound he had heard in a long time. Gage had heard numerous people play piano, but it was never like this. With other people, it had always been very technical - they had simply been concerned with perfection rather than the music.

This person was different. The air reeked of talent and a mesmerizing melody. Gage wasn't musically inclined, and he especially wasn't familiar with classical music. He didn't know what was being played, but to his ears, it sounded very feminine. He easily concluded that a girl was playing and decided this day may not be a waste after all. He could do a little casual flirting, and then return to his class in order to plot out more ways to find Claude.

Slowly, Gage cracked the door open in hopes of not making a sound so that the playing would not stop. He peered into the room trying to catch a glimpse of whoever was playing. Unfortunately, he realized a little too late that the playing had already stopped.

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Severin had been brushing up on a bit of piano, when he heard a slight noise behind him. Realizing someone had opened the door, his hands jerked away from the keys and he sat up straighter. Annoyed, his face contorted into an irritated expression and he waited for the intruder to speak.

“A...ah!” Came a flustered voice from behind him.

“......B....Bonjour! Je suis Gage.....e-....et toi?” The voice began to speak in awful, broken French.

Severin delicately grabbed the lid of the piano and closed it as he shifted his body into turning around. Severin’s eyes flicked up in order to meet Gage’s, just like their meeting before. He closed his eyes as if trying to gain control and then opened them once more.

“Severin Ciucivarra. Your French accent is horrible,” he stated as he stood up and grabbed his leather bag.

Quickly, he brushed past Gage in the doorway and entered the main part of the building, and began walking away.

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Gage had been dumbfounded when he noticed the person playing the piano wasn’t a girl, but in fact the French boy he had been seeking out. Flustered by the abrupt stop in piano playing, Gage had struggled to remember the French he had worked so hard on studying.

The French boy had seemed to be waiting for him to say something, anything, so he quickly blurted out the only French he could remember which came out in broken words and awkward pauses.

After asking “et toi?” he vaguely wondered if he should have asked “et vous?” instead, and swallowed as he worried about his level of politeness.

The boy responded almost immediately, with an annoyed look. His name was Severin. Well, that was much better than Claude, Gage thought. Severin Ciucivarra. He ran the name over and over in his head. It was fitting, and cute. Mainly, he was just glad he knew his real name now.

Severin had walked out the door so quickly that Gage almost forgot to run after him. He regained his composure and shuffled quickly towards Severin.

Gage’s eyebrows knit together as he replayed the conversation in his head. Severin had spoken English, and not just any kind of English. It was good English.

“Either you speak English very well, that’s the only English you know, or you were being an ass to me the day we met,” Gage said.

Severin shrugged, "I didn't feel like talking."

Gage tightened his jaw slightly. He had wasted money on French books, wasted time studying the language, and was even late to class simply because Severin didn’t feel like talking? What an ass.

Severin’s pace quickened, and it became obvious he still didn’t want to talk. Gage was too pissed off from the realization that he spoke English to bother backing off, and continued to follow Severin’s pace.

Gage noticed Severin’s pace slowed when he stopped to linger at a few photographs adorning the building walls. It was the fine arts building, so there were numerous photographs and paintings everywhere. Gage tilted his head and raised his eyebrow slightly.

“Do you like photography?” He asked. “These aren’t all photographs taken by students, they have a few architecture plans shown here as well. That’s because the architecture classes are held here, also.”

Severin simply shrugged his shoulders slightly and immediately began walking away again. Gage, however, stayed in place. He began to examine two pictures shown of two different city plans. Gage’s memory was very good, and he had little trouble memorizing pictures and names. Because of that, he clearly recognized the two pictures before him, as he had seen them many times.

“You know...” he blurted out without thinking, “everybody always loves Wright’s Broadacre City plan....but I’ve always liked Le Corbusier’s Plan Voisin better.”

Severin, unable to help himself, rushed back over to Gage. His eyes seemed to be smiling, but his face was still as straight as ever. His hands were interlocked within one another and he held them up to his chest, squeezing them.

“Really? You like Plan Voisin better? Why!?” Severin’s body language was screaming with excitement.

Looking back at Severin and then back at the two photographs, Gage pondered this for a moment.

He shrugged slightly, “I guess because it’s more of an ideal city to me. It’s clean but simple. Nothing is really overdone and extravagant - to me, it’s more of an ideal modern city than anything else.”

Severin’s expression became hard to see as he leaned forward in hopes of hiding it, but Gage was able to catch a slight glimpse of a smile.

“Everybody likes the Boadacre City plan better, because they think how lovely it would be to be surrounded by nature,” Severin began. “But they’re just blinding themselves to the beauty of architecture - and, really, I wouldn’t call what they would be living near “nature” in Wright’s proposal. It’s more like they’d be living on farms” he scoffed.

Blinking and clearing his throat, Severin seemed to have regained some composure. He glanced down the hall and paused a moment before continuing his walk.

Gage sighed and began chasing him again. “Why are you always walking away from me?”

“You don’t interest me, and your presence is bothersome,” Severin retorted.

Gage lifted an eyebrow at this statement, “Really? Because just a moment ago you seemed to be overwhelmingly excited by my presence”

Severin looked at him pointedly, “It wasn’t your presence I was excited about, I was merely shocked at the idea that you had actually said something of interest.”

“So, the boy who pretends to be French enjoys architecture, hm? Is that your weak spot? Your Achilles heel, perhaps?” Gage was having too much fun with this.

Severin’s jaw clenching could be visibly seen. “First of all, I don’t pretend to be French. I am half French, in case you weren't aware."

Gage pondered this for a moment, “If you're half French, why don't you have an accent? Or do your parents not speak it, Severin?” Hearing Severin’s name slip out of his mouth excited him, and he longed to say once more. He slowly pronounced the syllables again, silently, letting his breath linger on the very last one.

“When I was around three, my mom stopped speaking French around me. She does have an accent, but since my dad's voice overpowered hers, I guess I just never picked up on it,” he said.

Severin fingered the strap on his leather bag and suddenly appeared to remember something. He sighed, clearly annoyed. “Now then, if you are done with this interrogation I’ll be going now.”

“Ah- wait!” Gage rushed his speech, for fear that Severin would leave him. “Why are you avoiding me so much?”

“Why are you following so much?” Severin shot back.

Gage rolled his eyes, “I’m not following you. I’m just curious, that’s all. You interested me because you spoke French, and that has become rare. It’s not my fault you’re a big liar.”

“I’m not a liar! I told you, I’m half French and I speak it fluently. Quit coming to moronic conclusions about me, it’s annoying,” Severin said.

“Well, you lied about being a transfer student and not speaking English,” Gage pointed out.

“You were annoying and I didn’t feel like dealing with people at the moment. It’s not my fault you have bad timing and take things way too seriously. And you would think you would have gotten the hint after I’ve been trying to avoid you all this time....” he drawled

“Oh, I’m the one taking things too seriously? What an interesting observation, Mr-I-hate-when-people-suck-at-french-and-I’m-so-stone-faced Ciucivarra.” Gage hid a smile.

Severin glanced at him sidelong, “If I’m so serious, then, why don’t you leave me alone?”

Gage, completely ignoring the question, exclaimed an excited “oh!” as he seemed to remember something. “That’s right, what were you playing earlier? In the piano room.”

Severin flicked his wrist slightly as if not interested. “Fantasie Impromptu by Chopin.”

Gage had no idea why he asked the question, he knew nothing about classical music. But still, he had been curious.

“Fantasie Impromptu....” he repeated. “I originally thought it was a girl playing. Ah, sorry, it’s just that sounded as though a girl would play something similar.”

Severin shrugged, “I’m womanly enough to pull it off, I guess.”

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Thank you to all who reviewed! It’s so exciting to read them :D *floaty hearts*. Also, I updated this chapter so quickly because I felt bad about not introducing Severin yet and having so little interaction in the previous chapter. The chapters will start to get longer, I promise. Hope you enjoyed!

Peach - Haha stfu. Gage is just insane like that.

xVampyrx - Damn! Thanks for pointing out that mistake, that’s embarrassing! It’s even worse because I actually proof-read my chapters and look for mistakes. Also, yay for Lebanese people! My brother’s girlfriend is actually Lebanese, and they’re all so pretty! *happy sigh*

Angled - Thank you! This chapter came pretty quickly, I think :D

Sugar Goose - It seems cute because Gage, of course! He’s insane but adorable xD.

Ariesgirl - Ta-da! More about “Claude,” who is thankfully named Severin.

[EDIT] - Since it has seemed to become a slight concern with my wonderul readers, I have taken out/edited a line or two of the text concerning Severin's last name. I actually stol--borrowed his last name from a French man who is my friend's TA, so I did assume it was French (which was silly of me). But, before I posted the chapter, I actually did try to check to see if it was of French origin. The only thing I was able to gather was that "ciucivara" is of Latin origin (Severin's last name actually has two 'r's). Since many languages have stemmed from Latin, including French, I figured it wouldn't be a big deal. Plus I honestly didn't think people would care that much since a lot of people name their American characters totally Japanese things all the time just randomly ^^. However, Severin's last name will continue to remain Ciucivarra, simply because that's how he was created and he just...wouldn't..be Severin without it? I have, though, switched his French descent from his father to his mother, so problem solved! He is only half French, after all ^^. It was my mistake for not properly making absolute sure his last name was French, so sorry if I confused or pissed anyone off. Sorry again for the long rant, I'm not trying to get all defensive or anything, I just thought I should explain to people that yes I did check my references, no I did not just randomly choose a name assuming I would be correct, but yes his last name is going to stay the same. Hey I make mistakes too =P ^^. Anyway, now that that's taken care of, I hope you enjoy the rest of the fic and can read it guilty-free knowing I'm not tainting some poor little Italian's last name or something xDD