For the prompts, oh prompts thread on NGF, January 5th

secrets; frozen ; memory ; autumn leaves
albusdominique

standing in the shadows of our lies / to hide our imperfections / doing anything we can to hide - Delain, See Me In Shadow

We all have secrets, don't we? Some of them minor, things that you hide merely because you can, some of them huge, but a secret you long to spill. Some secrets are dark and dangerous, secrets that need to stay hidden within you for all eternity, for fear of losing something dear to you. Secrets that conceal things so wrong that you can hardly bare to think of them, but revel in, behind the mask of disguise you have woven so cleverly.

It's like that for you, Dominique, isn't it? That secret that is about something so wrongand so forbidden, that you daren't divulge it to anyone. Telling someone that you're in love with your cousin isn't an easy job. It was hard enough telling your parents you were bisexual, and now… well, now you have to deal with this. Life throws the worst obstacles at you, Dominique, doesn't it? Obstacles that sometimes you just can't deal with, because they're so big that you can't tell anyone about them. You'd rather die than tell anyone of this infatuation with Albus. That's all it is, right? Infatuation, not love, never love. How could you love your cousin, love your own flesh and blood? It's not right, and don't you know it, Dom?

There are memories that don't mean anything you flick through in your mind, like turning the pages of a photo album. You flick through them like you have no care in the world, like you have nothing better to do. Albus picking up a pile of autumn leaves in his arms and throwing them over you, all of them flying down onto you, the leaves getting stuck in your hair, but you didn't care, because it was Albus and you had a weird infatuation with him, and you think you might lov- no. No, you can't think like that because you don't love him, and you can't love him.

Sometimes you wish you could stay frozen in those moments, don't you Dominique? In those moments where you can hide your imperfections and pretend that you're not in love with your cousin. Why can't you just stay frozen there with Albus, and not worry about anything but laughing with him, and playing, and dancing underneath those autumn leaves for all eternity.

Thanks to Taters for beta'ing, you're a star, you really are :)

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