Notes – Done for a kinkmeme request that wanted Dimitri/Layton. Set post-PL3, with heavy spoilers for the third game.
The Professor could compare his life to the sudden halt of a constant downpour. One of those days where the rain is coming down outside, hammering against your window, but you kind of get used to hearing the noise. Until it stops. And you hear the silence left by the absence of it more than you ever heard the noise in the first place.
He had so much happen to him in such a short space of time. He was thrust into a plot of political revenge, orchestrated by a boy who he'd met briefly many years ago, the mysteries surrounding the death of his former girlfriend that he'd long since buried were finally shoved into the light and drawn to a conclusion, and, to top it all off, he'd had to stop a giant robot from destroying London.
This was all a day in the life of Hershel Layton.
It was bizarre and stressful, but he was used to taking the strain. When it all stopped, that was when he heard the silence. Suddenly there was no danger; no mystery surrounding what had happened ten years ago, and the young companion who constantly went with him on his adventures had left him.
Which wasn't to say there was now nothing for him to do anymore. He was still kept busy by his job as an Archaeology lecturer, but now everything he did in life just seemed to be going about the motions for the sake of doing it.
During this quiet period, he visited Clive quite frequently in prison, because he felt responsible to do so. However, in all the times he had visited the prison he had never once checked on Dimitri. Perhaps he was avoiding the other man. There certainly was a very big reason why he felt awkward talking to him, but a lack of communication because of reasons that he just assumed stopped Dimitri from wanting to talk to him was negligent on Layton's part. He should at least have tried to talk to the man. Because that was what sort of person Layton was.
That thought ran through his head when he'd happened to see Dimitri in passing one day while talking to Clive. Once he was finished with that engagement, Layton asked one of the guards if it would be possible to see Dimitri himself.
The guard had reacted with surprise, in the same way they had when Layton first came to visit Clive, but complied and went to inform Dimitri of his visitor.
The odds were that Dimitri was as surprised to see Layton as the guard had been about the request in the first place, but when led through to his seat Dimitri showed no signs of this. He simply looked as tired and uninterested as he always had done.
After a moment of silence, Layton knew that it was going to be down to him to break the ice.
"Greetings, Dimitri," he started.
"Hershel." Dimitri nodded, but that was all. There was no point in making a false claim that he found it nice to see Layton after all this time. Since Layton could see through obvious lies easily.
"I thought that it was only fair for us to talk," Layton went on, determined not to be put off, "A lot has happened to affect us both due to… the incident, but I feel there is definitely more that remains unsaid. It's only fair to give us both a chance to get what we want to say to each other out in the op-"
"There is nothing that needs to be said, Hershel, only facts," Dimitri droned, "We both loved Claire, Claire loved you and now she is dead due to my mistakes. This is all that either of us needs to know about the other."
"You are hasty to say that the mistakes were yours alone. Bill Hawks was the one who pushed her into the experiment," Layton insisted.
"Don't think that I don't know that detail. Don't for a moment think that I didn't spend every waking moment after the explosion trying as hard as I could to bring her back. You might believe that kidnapping those scientists was wrong, but when Clive feigned that he could help me save Claire, nothing was going to stop me from trying. I never stopped thinking about what happened, Hershel." He spat out Layton's name, his knuckles going white from gripping at the surface of the table. Layton was thankful that there was a wall of glass between them.
"Of course not, forgive my error in judgement," Layton replied, remaining as calm as he always tried to be, "All that I meant was that there are so many presumptions about each other on both of our parts and I would like to have a chance to bury them."
"Or else prove them right," growled Dimitri.
"That is also a possibility," Layton agreed.
Shifting awkwardly in his chair, Dimitri said, "I don't honestly have much to say to you. Our connection was solely through Claire. She was my work colleague and you were her boyfriend, but I never begrudged you for her feelings."
"Even when you tried to defeat me in the Towering Pagoda?" Layton pressed.
"I was trying to reason with you," Dimitri corrected, "I thought that the man who loved Claire as a partner would want to save her at least as much as I did."
Layton replied, "My opinion on the matter has not changed at all from the answer I gave you back there. Do not think you are the only one who thought often of Claire. If there had been anything I could have done to change what happened at the time then I would have done anything to do it. But I would never be deluded to believe that the past can be changed or that people living in the present should be harmed to attempt to do that."
"Perhaps some of us are that deluded," Dimitri muttered.
"Your efforts proved to not be in vain," Layton agreed, "Because for a time Claire did see more of life then she ever should have done. And without her, a young man may have died. And I…"
"You would never had got to properly say goodbye to her," Dimitri finished.
"…Yes, that is true. I thank you for that," replied Layton.
"If that' all you want-"
"I'm sorry."
"What?"
"I'm sorry that you weren't able to say your own farewells to her."
"Oh, don't be," Dimitri dismissed, "I was never any good at telling her how I felt. Do you think I'd be in this situation if I had been?"
"Probably not," Layton answered, "But that doesn't change the fact that I feel sympathy for what you went through. And what you may still be going through. Do not think that you're the only one missing her."
"I don't think that starting a 'We Miss Claire' club with you and Don Paolo would be a good idea," commented Dimitri.
"No, but I do think that spending time together may well be. All I am offering you is friendship, Dimitri," Layton told him.
"I don't want your friendship," Dimitri muttered, getting up from the chair, "And if that's all, then I'll bid you goodbye."
He walked from the room, presumably to be led back to his cell by one of the guards. Layton made no attempt to stop him, simply watching the man leave with a mixture of pity and regret.
The next time Layton came to the prison to visit Clive; however, he made another attempt to speak with Dimitri when he was done. Just as before, Dimitri was led through to the same room they had previously spoken to one another in and looked upon Layton with the same disinterest that he had done the first time. As if he expected this to be a repeat of the same.
Layton also worried about this being a repeat of last time.
"Don't think I'm surprised to see you again, Hershel," Dimitri began, "You'd be amazed at how few visitors I get."
"I'm glad that you made the time to see me, regardless," said Layton, nodding.
Dimitri frowned, stating, "Was there something you didn't say last time? If so then get it off your chest quickly."
"There are many things that weren't said last time. I feel that we still have a lot to talk about," replied Layton.
"Not this again. Look, I don't have anything to discuss with you," Dimitri insisted.
"Regardless, I'm going to keep coming here until you refuse to see me anymore," said Layton.
"You're stubborn," sighed Dimitri, "And if that's the case then I'm refusing to see you right now."
And so, their second discussion ended the same way as the first, with Dimitri walking from the room without a backwards glance. Leaving Layton even more determined to talk with this man.
The third time he went, it appeared that Clive had got wind of Layton's attempts to speak with Dimitri somehow. He'd said that Layton probably shouldn't just try to talk with Dimitri after seeing him, because who wants to be left with the distinct impression that they were an afterthought?
When Layton had pressed that he wasn't sure how to talk with Dimitri, Clive had simply shrugged unhelpfully and said that they both shared an interest in Claire, didn't they?
Following Clive's advice, Layton did not try to speak with Dimitri that day, but instead came on another day to specifically see the man. As he had hoped, Dimitri hadn't refused to meet with him, regardless of the apparent disinterest, and came through to the room without complaint.
"You haven't been to see Clive," Dimitri observed.
"I'm not here for Clive today. Today I just want to talk to you," Layton replied.
"You're going to have a short visit then," snorted Dimitri.
"If you storm out again, then yes," Layton agreed.
"Stop giving me reasons to, if you want to keep me here," threatened Dimitri.
"I feel that it isn't so much that I give you reasons as it is that you look for them," Layton said. And he could see that Dimitri made to get up from the chair, but stopped himself. There was no way that he could walk out without proving Layton right.
"Forgive me for not wanting to talk with you," Dimitri said, trying to keep calm, "I may have said that I don't begrudge you for being the man Claire chose, but that doesn't mean I have to like you or want to spend time with you."
"Have I given you much call to dislike me?" Layton asked.
Dimitri stared across at him. He wanted to hurt this man so much. He wanted to punch him until he didn't have the strength to do so anymore. He wanted to make Layton feel what he felt. And yet… he couldn't. He couldn't look into that face and hate Layton. The man was just too nice, too genuine and… everything that Claire had ever wanted in a man. Looking into that face, he knew that it wasn't Layton that he hated – it was himself for not being Layton.
He broke the eye contact and looked down at the table, feeling himself shaking involuntarily.
"I dislike the concept of you," Dimitri whispered.
"Which brings me back to my original position," Layton said, leaning forwards, "Most of what we know about each other comes from presumptions. You dislike what you assume about me, but you don't really know me. And I don't know you either, but I would very much like to."
"Why?" Dimitri demanded, eyes snapping back up to look at Layton, "If we have nothing to do with each other then what possible cause could you have to want to know me?"
"Because you were Claire's friend. She didn't spend her time with people who weren't decent and if she regarded you as being worth her time then you are worth my time too. That's probably not the answer that you want to hear, but that is the one I'm presenting to you," Layton said, solemnly.
A hand was brought up to Dimitri's face. He was still shaking and it wasn't hard to tell that he was crying.
"Claire… wasn't right about everything…" he whimpered.
"But I don't feel that she was wrong about one of her closest friends," Layton murmured, finding himself reaching towards the glass without even meaning to do so, "Please, Dimitri, all that's left of her is the memories that we have. Don't let her fade away."
Voice cracking, Dimitri choked, "So you… want to start a fan club after all…"
"I want the company of someone who respected her as much as I did," Layton replied.
"Yes. Sure." Dimitri nodded, wiping his eyes, "If there's one thing I do have its respect for Claire… You've got me there."
"Then please, will you let me talk with you?" Layton asked.
"As best I can," Dimitri answered.
They looked at each other, with the same expression. They didn't even need to say it, because they knew what the other way thinking…
'Tell me about Claire.'
This became the basis of all of their discussions. They had each been parts of two very separate halves of Claire's life and coming together gave the full picture of Claire as an individual, at least as they had both known her. The two of them somehow felt better for these shared memories.
However, everything about Claire was in the past tense and not an ever-blossoming fountain of new information for them to discuss.
And so, one day came, when the topic of conversation changed. Instead of 'tell me about Claire', Dimitri started them off with; "Tell me about you."
"What?" Layton murmured, surprised.
"Tell me about your day. I want to know," Dimitri repeated.
So Layton did tell him about his day. And the next day after that. And the next one, too. Until his conversations with Dimitri became almost a mirror of those he was having with Clive and he pitied that the prison would not allow for the three of them to all have talks together. Finally, he felt that he was seeing Dimitri as a real person and not a reel of film about Claire's working life.
"Yeah, he really seems to like you," Clive commented, when Layton brought up the subject to him. "Of course you understand that him and I aren't exactly best friends after what happened, but he always seems more cheerful when you're due to visit."
"Then I'm glad to have helped one man feel better about himself," Layton replied.
"Mm, he's certainly feeling something," Clive hummed.
"What was that?" Layton pressed.
"Nevermind," Clive dismissed, "Look, I'm not going to keep you for today. So why don't you head off to have the same conversation with Dimitri minus the part where we talk about him?"
"As blunt as ever," Layton sighed, "But very well. It's always a pleasure to see you, Clive."
"Same to you, Professor," Clive agreed, "Tomorrow again?"
"Of course," concluded Layton, as Clive got up to leave.
The young man was led out and past Dimitri, who was being led to the room where Layton was. Though Dimitri did not make eye contact with him, Clive had no doubt that he was right about those other feelings he had for Layton.
He'd almost have a cause to feel jealous, if it wasn't for the fact that both Dimitri and Layton were so bad at understanding their own feelings.
Still, maybe one day, if he was feeling generous, he could point them out to them both.
That's what friends are for, right?