Damian followed Darren promptly into the other room, suddenly feeling nervous without Cameron beside him.
Darren smiled cheerfully at him, giving him slightly more confidence.
"Okay, you get the easy parts" Darren began, grinning at the Irish boy. "Cameron will have to sing an octave higher while you can just stay at the pitch you're comfortable with" Darren informed. Damian sighed happily. He was honestly relieved.
"Cam is crazy for choosin' me as a partner" Damian laughed, his rested his head on his hands. Darren looked down at the younger boy.
"What do you mean?" He asked nonchalantly. Damian looked up, clearly embarrassed that he said that aloud.
"Oh, just, it would have been so much easier vocally with a girl as his partner" Damian explained. Darren smiled softly.
"In my opinion duets are more about chemistry and the other person rather than your voices." Darren laughed.
"He has good chemistry with Hannah, they'd sound amazin' together" Damian pointed out.
"But he chose you." Darren remarked, Darren managed to catch the miniscule yet obviously ecstatic smile appearing on Damian's face at his words.
"Yeah, he did." Damian sounded distant, obviously in deep thought. Darren nudged him slightly, snapping the Irish boy out of his thoughts.
"Is everything alright?" Darren asked, he knew he was wasting session time but he just couldn't stand seeing kids unhappy, particularly if they didn't have anyone to talk to.
"Yeah, sorry, yeah just pretty distracted" Damian said quickly, shaking his head and turning to smile at the other man. Darren raised an eyebrow.
"Distracted is one word for it" Darren said, Damian blushed and looked at his feet, deliberating whether he could talk to Darren or not. He looked back up at Darren and saw the honesty, the complete sincerity in the man's eyes he just knew he could trust him.
"I just—I don't know" Damian struggled to find the right words, Darren listened patiently giving him encouraging looks as he tried to find the words to say.
"Have you ever liked someone you never thought you would?" Damian asked, Darren blinked in surprise for a moment. Damian waited expectantly for an answer, now it was Darren's turn to struggle to find something to say.
"I guess I have" Darren admitted after a minute or so.
"It's frustrating isn't it, like you want to tell them but you don't even know if you feel that way. And what if they freaked out." Damian carried on; he put his head in his hands as he began to feel more frustrated with himself, with his feelings.
Darren felt a jolt in his chest, what Damian was saying hit a little too close to home. He shook the feeling away and put a hand on the Irish boy's shoulder.
"Hey, hey, it's alright. You can't help who you fall for. With the way you're reacting I'm guessing you've fallen for a boy?" Darren asked, he felt Damian stiffen under his grasp. Bingo, Darren was right.
Damian nodded his body started shaking slightly, Darren heard a small sob and kneeled in front of the Irish boy suddenly feeling guilty for forcing him to confront his feelings.
"Damian, geez man I'm sorry I didn't mean to—you shouldn't feel confused because you've fallen for a boy you should embrace it." Darren caught Damian's eye, his heart broke seeing this struggling kid in front of him fall to pieces.
"Listen to me" Darren placed both his hands on Damian's shoulders and looked at him square in the eyes, holding his gaze for as long as possible. "People are a lot more accepting of the gay community, no-one will mind."
"It's just—I don't know if I like him in that way." Damian choked, his voice shaking. His accent was heavy, Darren could still manage to understand him though, just. "I'm so confused."
"Okay. Well I have an idea" Darren spoke up, excitedly. He stood up and walked across the room to get his guitar.
"You stay sat there, I'll sit opposite you and we can work this thing out together" Darren told the Irish boy as he took a seat opposite him. He held his guitar over his lap and caught Damian's eyes once more.
"What song comes into your mind when you think of this boy?" Darren asked, watching Damian's expression closely.
After a couple of minutes Damian spoke up again, his voice barely a whisper.
"Falling Slowly" Darren nodded.
"Glen Hansard?" Darren asked the Irish boy, making sure he was thinking of the right song.
"Yeah, yeah. I sang it once on the radio, now whenever I hear it I just think of him." Damian replied.
"Okay, I know the chords so that's good" Darren remarked. He looked back at Damian. "What I'm thinking is, when you sing I want you to picture him. To have a vivid image of him in your mind, as if you're singing to him. Do you think you can do that for me?" After a nod from Damian Darren smiled wide. "Let's do this then"
Darren started to play the chords, Damian swayed in time with the melody. He closed his eyes and suddenly Cameron was there, in the back of his mind. Cameron smiled warmly towards him, yet he looked shy and awkward. The music filled the Irish boy's head as he carried on picturing his blonde friend.
He began to sing, strong and confident. He pictured Cameron smiling at his voice, swaying along to the lyrics and encouraging him to carry on. His heart felt close to bursting as the vision of Cameron became clearer and clearer, he could almost feel his best friend watching him.
I don't know you
But I want you
All the more for that
Damian could feel his voice wavering, he stopped for a minute, afraid that he might cry again. He looked at Darren apologetically to find Darren's eyes filled with encouragement, for him to carry on going. Damian took a deep breath and carried on.
Words fall through me
And always fool me
And I can't react
And games that never amount
To more than they're meant
Will play themselves out
Damian's voice grew more confident, he pictured Cameron's hand reaching out to hold his own. He thought of the warmth of the other boys hand in his own. He pictured Cameron's eyes, his heart fluttered.
Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you have a choice
You've made it now
Falling slowly, eyes that know me
And I can't go back
Moods that take me and erase me
And I'm painted black
You have suffered enough
And warred with yourself
It's time that you won
Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you had a choice
You've made it now
Falling slowly sing your melody
I'll sing along
Damian finished off with a vision of Cameron wrapped in his arms, his head laying on Damian's chest as they both slept, content in each other's company. His heart was pounding, his face flushed from the intensity of the song, the emotions.
The Irish boy looked up at Darren to find Darren's attention was elsewhere, he followed Darren's gaze and saw Chris standing there, wait why was Chris there? And if Chris was there didn't that mean…
His eyes settled on Cameron, his breath hitched. He was still emotionally drained from the song; his eyes were filled with passion as he saw his friend standing there with an expression akin to realisation covering his features.
By staring into Cameron's eyes Damian knew it. He knew he couldn't deny his feelings, Darren was right the song definitely helped in finding his feelings. He liked Cameron, heck he loved Cameron. He loved the feelings he got whenever Cameron was around, whenever their eyes would meet. He loved how Cameron made him feel. He loved how close they were, how Cameron knew so much about it as if they'd been friends for years. He loved him.
Darren smiled as he looked at Damian's realisation. Just as he thought, it was Cameron. He looked once again at Chris. Damian's voice echoed in his head 'Have you ever liked someone you never thought you would?' while his eyes locked onto Chris he suddenly felt a pang of guilt. There he was telling Damian to get a hold of his feelings and to not care what others think when he was doing the complete opposite of his own advice. Not anymore, Darren thought determinedly.
