The next few days passed with a sense of normalcy for Barrett. Normalcy, in that, after work each day he took off to explore a new corner of town. Though soon he was sure he'd have discovered every nook and cranny. For now, he was trying to find the out of the way stores that no one ever visited, and visiting a few antique stores to see if he could find any interesting items to take home and decorate his still somewhat empty apartment with. Having moved in a space bigger than all the things he owned.

Through all of this thoughts of Elias, and their previous interaction, swirled through his head, like an itch he couldn't scratch. He knew there was something different, off, about the last interaction and the way Elias had reacted. Something that should probably be obvious to him. And yet he couldn't pinpoint on to what, no matter how much he knew he should be able to.

Maybe, he just wanted to believe that though, a sigh escaping his lip as he turned down a random alleyway. Maybe, he just wanted their interactions to mean as much to him as they did Elias. He shook his head, feeling silly, knowing developing whatever this crush was on the older man was probably stupid, but seemingly unable to stop it. There was something about Elias that just made him want to spend more time together and for him to see Elias always smiling. He wanted to be a source of joy in the older man's life.

Still, he swore something about those pictures, shook the other man. Knocked him so far out of his comfort zone, that Barrett hadn't been able to resist the urge to hug him, just wanting him to feel better. Could it be that they hit Elias the same way they did Barrett when he first saw them. Drawing him in, until he'd obsessively searched out every painting by them and spent hours studying them. Maybe that's why Elias had seemed so, emotional, it's how Barrett had felt himself, like looking at the painting had laid his soul bare

Or maybe Elias knew the artist and didn't want to tell Barrett, and so it had freaked him out, having to keep the secret for a friend, from another friend. He didn't know, but he'd work until he got the truth out of Elias, knowing if he didn't the mystery would be a constant bother to him.

As soon as Barrett left, Elias stumbled into his studio. With a lack of care he rarely showed his work, he tossed paintings aside, knocking brushes onto the floor in a rush to find and spread out dozens of watercolors on the floor. Sky and doves and lazy sunshine over shadowed mountain peaks and more doves. He clenched his fists against the wood floor, heart pounding over the rush of thoughts in his head.

How could this be happening?

Not quite touching a painting, he let his finger trace the pattern of some bird prints in the snow. It was funny that Barrett's mark was a dove as well. No, he chided himself. That was far more than funny. Fate mocked him didn't it? As his eyes slipped closed, a self-deprecating smile flickered over his lips. Leave it to fate to throw the one thing he wasn't looking for long after he stopped believing in it. Long after he stopped chasing.

'He's twenty-one and his mark still hasn't shown up?' Claira snickered to the son of someone who might well be a prince from another country, or the son of an international businessman. They all looked the same when rich. And everyone was rich at the function his family attended on behalf of their father's promotion. Elder, Claira thought she had everything even he knew her secret. Feeling self-conscious, Elias rubbed at his shoulder and turned toward the refreshment table he'd parked himself at for the last hour. It was all of the same stuff over and over again.

Did they think he wasn't aware? They didn't think he worried himself over this mark that never appeared long after all his friends got theirs? He was an anomaly. Did he even have a mate? He couldn't even say if that was possible.

'Don't talk to him. You might get his disease.'

'What if he ruins your chance to find your mate? Maybe he's just blank and he'll steal anyone. How horrid!'

Elias tuned out his sister's words because she meant for him to hear. Even when his mother stepped in, it wasn't for much, always busy as they were. 'Claira, don't bully your little brother.' But that was it. They told him well enough already, he didn't have a soulmate period.

Of course his mark appeared months after that when he turned his back on his family. Or was it his family that turned their back on him? His parents didn't have time and Claira, well, she never changed. When Tavis showed up on his doorstep, looking for a safe harbor from the life of a socialite, he knew the feeling poignantly.

But Barrett...?

Elias's finger paused over one of the paintings. The way he talked about the artist of these paintings, it was so obvious it surprised Elias that the boy hadn't figured it out. He longed after the painter like a soulmate. Elias was his soulmate. He was the dove marked out plainly on Barrett's face. It was why he painted it so frequently, never noticing a hint of significance in the tender and painful strokes of his brush and why he couldn't paint lately, so messed up from this one person getting under his skin. Only a soulmate could do that. Why else would Barrett care so much?

Hands pressed over his face, Elias let out a laugh. "What am I doing here?" He acted like the same youth that ran away to this small town to hide from the fact that his family believed him wrong somehow. Even after his mark appeared, the blight already formed on his life. Barrett couldn't fix that.

'Why don't you have a mate? I mean, you're an old fart!' Clay smudged hands accented the snort.

'Do I seem unhappy? Is it that you think I need my soulmate? I'm fine with how things are...'

Words that started a ripple through those who heard him though he never meant a word of it. How could he be fine, but how could he accept Barrett either?

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I can do it...."

He whispered the words to the darkening studio as the sun set and he still sat on the floor, surrounded by paintings that only told him one single thing. He'd found his soulmate, but it wasn't what he wanted anymore. Barrett was the sun and he was the shadows. No matter how hard they tried, fate or not, they could never dance together and that was just the fact of life. Barrett could never know the truth.

Barrett hummed to himself as he walked down the street, eyeing the varying businesses along the main road, considering each restaurant before looking toward the next option. His eyes flicked briefly towards the diner he ate at with Elias the other day before moving on, something in him not wanting to return without the older man.

Thinking of Elias, he frowned, having not run into him for over a week at this point, which given the size of the town, was perhaps a little strange. He'd even tried to visit the art class again, only to find a notification on the door saying class had been cancelled for the week.

Barrett's lips turned down at the memory, unable to deny the desire to push his way into Elias's life, but he'd avoided heading back out to Elias's house, not sure if he'd be welcome so soon after last time. And a little afraid to test that worry so soon. So really his only hope was to run in to Elias by chance, or wait until he couldn't stand not seeing the other anymore. Whichever happened first.

His humming has slowly trailed off as he thought, and his eyes had missed a few options down the road, seeing but not seeing. It was a different look than the one from his excited venturings just a couple weeks ago, though his eyes still glimmered, just subdued for the moment at the constant question of what had happened and how he could come back from it.

Shaking his head, Barrett turned back to the task at hand. Finding a place for lunch, he could worry about Elias later, though as the thought crossed his mind he looked up to see the exact man just down the road a little bit, coming from the opposite direction from him, walking towards Barrett. His face immediately brightened, big signature grin growing without heed to his early mood, "Hey!" he shouted, "Elias!!!" He started moving toward the other, pace quickening.

The days passed. Elias spent most of it in his home. Since Barrett left, he had not even stepped foot in his studio. The paintings he displaced still lay on the floor and other surfaces, forgotten like distant memories. Or at least, he tried to make them distant memories. During the day, it was easy. Only at night did those distant memories creep back toward the surface and become not the least bit distant at all.

As he walked down the street on his way to the grocery store, he thought he felt calmer than the entire week before. Time, he just needed a little more time and he could bury this incident inside him like every other. He could smile and talk like the same way he always did do these people who knew none of his secrets and he could even let Barrett inside his house. Knowing the truth didn't change anything. He both didn't want and wanted the other man there, or at least, he would never turn him away. Because that would be suspicious. He never did anything like that and allowing Barrett to become suspicious might be the worst he could do.

Just as he rounded the corner to the street that the grocer sat on, something drew his eye like a sweet fly trap. Barrett. The man waved, grinning that ridiculous large smile of his, obviously having seen Elias first. For a second, he froze on the street, panicked. It was too soon. He couldn't deal with Barrett right now, knowing that man was his mate and that it didn't change anything. Barrett loved an imaginary artist, so clueless. Elias shook himself free of the hesitation quick enough to hide it was hesitation. Like he was almost late for something, he glanced at his phone, then ducked into the hardware store that lay at the street corner, never mind that he almost never used his phone for anything. This was pathetic, but right now, it was all he could do.

Barrett's smile fell off his face as Elias froze and appeared to promptly run away from Barrett. He stopped his steps, standing in the sidewalk, looking after the man, suddenly feeling lost. Had Elias just fled at the sight of Barrett? Or had he not really seen him. And if he had fled, did that mean Barrett had somehow upset him so much that the other man couldn't even bear to face him?

Barrett frowned staring at the hardware store but really looking beyond it, trying to catch a glimpse of Elias within the building, or maybe to catch a glimpse as to what the older man was thinking. He sighed, and resumed walking down the street, sure that if he followed Elias now, he'd just made think works. Now, though, he moved down the street at a slower pace, eyes cast down, thoughts of lunch no longer in his head. His only thought was hoping that he was wrong and that Elias hadn't run away from him, but instead hadn't seen him.

Elias sighed, sagging against a shelf of light fixtures and parts, feeling suddenly more pathetic than he ever had in his life. What kind of child ran away like this? Still, he'd been consumed by the knowledge that he couldn't deal with this right now. After spending fifteen minutes talking to an employee about framing he didn't need, he finally poked his head out of the hardware store. The streets were bare of bubbly loud youth, so he resumed his original question, hoping fervently that Barrett hadn't noticed him duck away. Maybe, just maybe it looked natural.

For the rest of that day and the next, he avoided doing any work by reading poetry and answering emails that dealt with the business side of art. He almost never liked to do those things and now found himself entirely caught up on them. Leaning all the way against his desk chair's back, he wondered how long it would take to return to normal. Another day? Weeks? What if he never recovered from the knowledge that his mate was an untouchable ray of sunshine that had no idea who he really loved? "Tomorrow," he promised. "Tomorrow I will pretend I am normal."

Barrett went through the next week with the feeling that Elias was already around the corner from him, and that he was just missing him. He was certain he saw Elias duck in to another building to avoid him one day that week, which really just confirmed his theory the man was deliberately ducking away from him. Suddenly feeling paranoid that he was always just missing the person he wanted to see most. His steps were starting to drag anytime he walked passed places he associated with the man. And he caught himself staring off into the trees, longing.

He eventually got tired of constantly looking over his shoulder, and around him, hoping to spot the other man. And with a new sense of determination he walked into the trees. He'd given Elias more than enough time, now he was going to find out what the heck was going on. With this in mind, he wasted no time in getting to Elias's house, taking the most direct path he had yet. Today wasn't about wondering. It was about getting answers, even if he has to force them out. It was with that mindset that he quickly find himself knocking on the front door of Elias's house, making the noise as loud as he could.

Elias froze, half way toward the front door with a list of chores in hand. At least he could say that with his lack of artistic desire, he was getting so much else done he almost seemed like another person living in a foreign house. But maybe, this solitude started to get a little too cloying and he felt the need to go into town for something, anything really. This loud knocking could only belong to one person though. Biting back a groan, he turned away from the door and toward the back as quick as he could. If he took the stone stairs, he could reach the town the long way, even if it took him a good ten minutes of climbing and then a hike.

Barrett was persistent. Elias couldn't say much about this situation, but he could give the boy that.

Shaking his head, he slipped out the back door, forgetting that half way up the steps, he offered the front porch a full view of him. But he just climbed, list crumpled up in his hand. It was strange that he kept getting propelled away like this. Didn't he say he would face Barrett like normal this time? It just seemed that once he got in the habit of avoiding the other though, he just kept to it, not sure how to stop. Honestly, it was getting a little silly. Just when was he going to stop and face this?

Barrett sighed, feeling more and more defeated the longer his knocks went unanswered. Was it really possible for Elias to just not be home? He stopped knocking standing their for several long moments wondering if he should just camp out waiting to see if the other would return soon. As he thought this though, movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, a figure walking passed. As he turned to look, he saw someone who had to be Elias, who else knew about this house in the woods. He opened his mouth to call out, before he stopped the corners of his mouth turning downwards. Perhaps Elias really was deliberately ignoring him.

He slid down to sit on the front porch, frown deepening. What had he down to upset the other so bad? He thought they'd become friends; at least enough for Elias to tell him he did something wrong. He felt tears pricking at his eyes, but forced them back, refusing to cry. Standing to move away from the house aware that the longer he set there, the more likely it was that Elias would come back to him looking pathetic. And well he didn't want that. Not now.

As he left the house, he sniffed a couple of times, doing his best to fight the tears still pricking at his eyes. He barely saw his surroundings, just wanting to get home, but as he crashed through a couple of bushes, he heard a faint sound. Barrett slowed his footsteps slightly, making them quieter, so he could listen more carefully. He looked at the trees around him, the sound becoming clearer as he moved forward. He smiled slightly when he released it was a pathetic mewing. After a few more seconds of searching, he saw a small kitten sitting up in a tree, meowing with increasing frequency and urgency.

"Hey little guy," he cooed, as he walked up under the tree, staring up at the kitten. "How'd you get all the way up there? You need help down don't ya?" He considered the tree for a few minutes finding a foothold and handhold at the right level. He quickly scrambled up the tree he paid little mind as some of the smaller branches he used snapped off on his journey up, solely focused on the kitten, not worrying about what came after.

As he scrambled up, the kitten hopped down, hopping briefly on his shoulder, before quickly making it the rest of the way down the tree, coming to sit at the bottom, still meowing, but now up at him. As if curious to what the weird human was doing. Barrett sighed, moving to climb back down the tree, as the kitten was fine. Also, he really did intend to grab it and take it home if he could. But as he moved to step down, his foot swung wildly in the air, slipping slightly the branch he was on swaying wildly.

Screaming, he quickly scrambled back up and moved to cling to the trunk of the tree. Looking down at the ground that was definitely further away than he remembered it being, the kitten still sitting at the base. He frowned at it, "Look what you've gotten me into," he groaned. He really didn't know how he was going to get out of the tree, but he certainly didn't feel confident enough to try again at the moment, not particularly wanting to deal with another broken bone. "Great, just great," he murmured, mostly to himself but hoping someone maybe heard him, "This day just keeps getting better." He sniffled again slightly, the tears he'd been distracted from returning.

As Elias finished the last of the stairs, he already regretted his choice. Running away didn't solve anything. Barrett didn't do anything wrong after all and walking away just seemed...cruel. He turned over his shoulder, but trees marred his view of the house except for a corner of the roof. He shook himself. Even if he went back now, he doubted Barrett still stood there, waiting for him to open the door. Just how many minutes passed? Forcing himself to turn back to the path, he continued walking because at least for now, this was all he could do.

The path winded along the trees toward the edge of his property, at points crossing all the way into the wild woods, the path having been here long before much of the town built up. Only he maintained it to any degree, which wasn't much, so it took him time. However, he made it almost to the freshly mowed grass along the highway ditches when mewing caught his attention. He tilted his head, catching the end of human speech, too distant to understand. Figuring he had no choice, he altered his course and a few yards away, found a kitten sitting at the base of a tree.

The world had to be kidding.

Elias looked up, too baffled to show any kind of expression. He could barely comprehend this. Did he just find a lost puppy rather than a stray cat? Hands in his pockets, he regarded Barrett with that frank look still in his eyes. "What are you doing?"

"Elias!" Barrett exclaimed reaching out from the trunk again, before the branches swayed again reminding him of his unstable ground. Fear coloring his face, and for the moment burying the hurt, aware that Elias was his best hope for getting down, certain that he wouldn't be able to do so himself. He shrugged, sheepish, "Well, I was walking back from your house," as he said this, a pout filled his voice, eyes shining with the suppressed hurt, but he could wait until he was on the ground to confront Elias. "And I heard that little kitten mewing and he was stuck in the tree, but well I guess he wasn't as stuck as I thought..." he paused, "But well now I'm stuck. Do you think you could help me out? I think you owe me that much" he muttered at the end, not really meaning for Elias to hear him.

Glancing down at the kitten, Elias raised an eyebrow. He reached down to rub its chin and decided that kitten didn't act much like a stray. A second later, he had it climbing up his shoulder, its eyes still on Barrett. "Yes, I suppose that's true," Elias sighed as he turned his attention to the young man in the tree as well. He couldn't understand how Barrett got stuck up in there in the first place, but he couldn't very well leave him either. He did owe the boy that. Stepping closer, he made sure the kitten was steady in its place before steadying a hand against the trunk and reaching up with the other. "Here, I'll guide you down. If you slide down to that branch toward your right, I should be able to reach your hand. It's a little far, but its steady enough to hold your weight."

Barrett looked between the branch and Elias for a few long moments, his wide eyes clearly betraying how crazy he thought the older man was. He sighed, though, after a few moments, knowing that he had to try something or he wasn't getting out of the tree at all. "Fine, but if I fall, you better catch me," he grumbled, "I don't want to break my arm falling out of a tree again." He slowly started sliding down toward the branch, stretching out one half of his body until he was seated on it, still looking down at Elias, "Now what?" he asked, even though he was already reaching his hand out toward Elias, though not fully understanding how he could do this without Elias still having to catch him.

A faint smile quirked Elias' lips up. It was funny, even though he'd been avoiding Barrett, he so easily fell back into this teasing familiarity they had. Maybe....but he shook the thought away. Now wasn't the time for considering things like that. "I will, but you won't fall," he sighed, though he steadied his feet a little more anyway. Clearly Barrett wasn't the most graceful of beings if he'd fallen out of a tree before, but that was so like him. As the other man slipped down, he grasped his hand firmly, eyes meeting once again. "Good. Now turn toward me and get your left foot onto that branch just down from you. Then, let go. I'll pull you toward me."

Barrett looked back at Elias, grasping the other man's hands firmly as he did so, holding the eye contact asking for the other man to not just let him go. To not just leave him hanging, like he had the last several weeks. Once he was sure he was ready to jump slightly off the tree. "Ok, catch me." With that, he stepped off the branch and free fell for a second as Elias supported him before coming to a rest before the other man, hands still clasped, almost pressed against the other's chest. "Thanks," he murmured cheeks suddenly flushing a light pink. He turned to look at the kitten on Elias shoulder, and grinned slightly out it, "You're just a little trouble maker aren't ya?" he asked, scratching at it's head while which it butted against his hand, "First you get me stuck in that tree, and then you make it so this guy can't ignore me anymore." He chuckled, but it sounded slightly forced, the hurt shining through again.

As Barrett pushed off from the branch, Elias used their clasped hands to pull the other down and forward so he wouldn't bump against the trunk and instead landed supported against Elias, their hands still clasped. It took all of two seconds, but felt much longer. Startled by the movement, the kitten looked back at Barrett before letting itself get pet. It of course, didn't look the least bit perturbed by Barrett's words, but Elias winced slightly, knowing the last half was meant in part for him. He stepped back, though only let go of Barrett's hand after a second of hesitation. "Well, that wasn't so bad was it." He cleared his throat. "But I never particularly meant to ignore you. If I thought you would still be there, I would have turned back to the door earlier. Just..." he trailed off with a shake of his head. "I didn't expect this scene to happen either."

"I guess," Barrett said quietly focus still mostly on the kitten, who he'd lifted off Elias's shoulder before the Elias had fully stepped away from him. "I just feel like I've seen you turn and run from me a couple times now..." he lips were turned down, none of the normal brightness or excitement showing on his face, though it was still gentle as he stroked over the kittens body, both to calm himself and give him something to look at other than Elias. "I feel like I did something to upset you, and I really didn't mean to." He looked up as he said this, looking Elias in the eye, his own suspiciously bright, "If I did, I'm sorry, but please tell me so I don't do it again. And so I can go back to being your friend."

It would make this so much smoother if Elias could just lie and say he didn't avoid Barrett any of this time. It had been his imagination. But he couldn't say that. As soon as the thought occurred to him, he turned it down. "Hey, look at me," he murmured, gently touching Barrett's cheek to turn his gaze. He dropped his hand the second he turned to look at Elias with those bright eyes though. "It's not like that. You're not the one..." He trained off, finding himself unusually tongue-tied. And yet he'd been so ready to touch the other man with something again to tenderness. Clenching and un-clenching his fingers, he continued. "I won't lie and say it has nothing to do with you, but you made me realize something and I needed to think. And thinking, is something I do best alone..."

Barrett pushed into Elias's hand, before it was pulling away, his face flushing bright red again, embarrassed at how much he really wanted to cuddle up to Elias when he spoke like this. Really his developing crush was starting to become more than developing. He sighed, and shook his head at the other's word, "Well, I don't like it..." he sniffed slightly, mostly trying to get himself back together, now that Elias had apologized. He stared Elias's in the eyes as he smiled slightly, showing he forgave him and for now he wouldn't ask anymore questions, "Just please don't completely leave me hanging again. I like you Elias. You're one of the most interesting people I've ever met, and" he paused, before decided bold was always his style, so why hesitate now, "I want to be in your life. Good and bad, huh?" As he finished speaking, some exuberance filled back into his voice, fully showing he'd forgave the other, unable to stay upset, even though worry that something like this would happen again lingered in his mind.

Elias winced, but managed to hide it so well even with Barrett looking in his eyes, he probably didn't notice. Just being together like this, it was so painfully obvious that they were mates. Barrett liked him, huh? But how did he mean that statement? He must be reaching out naturally like a mate should, toward the one they would be with, but yet so unintentionally. Because Barrett didn't know he was doing it and Elias wasn't asking for it. He didn't really know what he was asking for now though. Turning slightly, he broke their gaze with an air that should seem casual. "I'm done thinking so you don't need to worry. You can stay around however you like. Like I said, nothing has really changed. Now come on. I was was heading out for some shopping so I think we should get something for that cat as well. It looks attached to you." He took a step before looking back. "Coming?"

"Oh yeah!" Barrett exclaimed, completely back to himself, as he looked at the kitten who had been nibbling softly on his fingers during the entire exchange. "We should get this little," he lifted the kitten up and looked between it's legs, "girl some stuff cuz there's no way I'm not taking her home with me." He followed after Elias, excited at the prospect of an afternoon with Elias. As they walked, his thoughts cirlced back through the conversation briefly, knowing that something had changed, even if Elias didn't want to acknowledge it, and Barrett didn't know what it was yet. But he'd figure it out. For now though, he had happier concerns. "She needs a name!" he exclaimed, having finally caught up and outpaced Elias a little, "You should help me name her!"

Elias found himself walking with ease even as Barrett followed after him. He supposed now that they had returned to normal ground, he needed to think so more about this soulmate thing. He certainly couldn't deny it after today. Sighing, he shook his head at the other man with a grin on his face. "Of course. Think you can keep up with a big responsibility like a cat though?" he teased, though not quite as easily as he had in the past. There was still a little too much awkwardness for that. Barrett might flip switches this easily, but he did not. "But I suppose if you insist on keeping her, how about naming her for the tree she was stuck in?" Or rather, hadn't been all that stuck in.

"Of course, and besides they're the perfect type of companion. Cuddly when you're at home, but won't miss me too bad if I'm gone for several hours exploring," Barrett said, the implication he couldn't care for the cat glance off him. He lifted the little kitten up, looking her in the face, "Hm, naming her after the tree is a good idea. I'm assuming you know what type of tree is. I don't. But I'm not a nature nerd like you, ya know?" He grinned, bold and bright at Elias. Holding the kitten out to him, even as she mewed slightly, not liking being moved around so much, "So what are we dubbing her, huh?" he asked, giving the moment over to Elias for some unexplainable reason.

Shaking his head, Elias tried to keep back his smile that wanted to rise. "Nature nerd?" he huffed, feinting insult. He supposed if anyone was, it was him. Not that he overly studied each plant and creature in the area, but he spent enough time in it to know more than the basic nature walker's information. "It was hardly a complicated tree to learn. In fact, that one was a type of willow. Not that grand sweeping figure of a weeping willow, but still, by the leaf pattern, you can always pick out a willow." He paused. "If you pay the least bit of attention." Shaking his head again, he glanced at Barrett and the cat. His eyes lingered on the other man before they moved to the cat which he gestured to as he matched steps with Barrett again, walking side by side. "Do you like the name Willow?"

Barrett studied the grey kitten's face, fingers tangling through her longish hair as they exited the trees into the the town proper. He finally nodded, grinning at Elias, "Willow is the perfect name." he said, "Isn't it baby girl? He asked the kitten, who just mewed again, as if responding to Barrett. He grinned as he cuddled Willow back to his chest. "You know, I've wanted a pet for awhile now, I've just never really gone and gotten one, something always getting in the way. Maybe it was fate for me to find little Willow. Are their soulmate pets?" he asked, voice teasing as his words burst out on a giggle, the idea absurd. "The world wanted me to find her."