Hand Me Down
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Chapter Two
Home is where the Pot is
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"This was a bad idea." One of his ever present 'voices' muttered worriedly. He raised a questioning eyebrow. "What if he's home? Hawk doesn't like it when you bring people over."
Hawk being his uncle, the person he was currently living with. If you could call him a person. He was one of those steroid junkies, who spent most of his life at the gym and had all sorts of nasty looking veins sticking out when ever he got frustrated, which was quite often.
And when he was frustrated he liked to hit things… Usually the walls of whatever was breakable nearby and very rarely Damien. But he couldn't say it'd never happened.
It wasn't his fault though, he hadn't expected either boy to actually take him up on his offer. Who went off with some kid they barely knew to god knows where, because they didn't want a detention? It seemed stupid to him.
A bit late now though. Why hadn't somebody pointed that out before? He was a good twenty minutes from the school and halfway home; it might look strange if he decided to turn around.
"Fine, don't listen. Don't blame us when you get your ass kicked."
"I won't." Damien sighed, turning onto a side road and smiling at Kurt's muffled curse.
"Won't what?" Lance, who had gotten the front seat, asked.
"Won't take the really rough road." He said, even though not five seconds later they were on a rough dirt road and Kurt was looking green. Poor guy.
"Mein Gott, I thought you weren't taking the rough road!"
Damien chuckled darkly. "I'm not, which is besides the fact this hasn't even started to get rough."
"I feel sick."
"You'd think you could take a little shaking." Lance said, putting a little emphasis on the last word and smiling at Kurt none to nicely. Maybe a tiny earthquake when they got out of the car.
"Go to hell." Kurt muttered, sinking low in the seat. He wasn't in the mood for Lance.
Damien turned around a little, which worried Kurt greatly, and gave him a once over. "We'll be there soon, don't stress…or throw up, I've got to drive myself to school tomorrow."
"Watch the road please." Kurt squeaked. Damien looked confused then turned around and almost let go of the wheel.
That was a really ass tree!
Kurt went flying into the door as did Lance. Damien kind of giggled when he was back on what passed for a road, and then stopped seeing the looks he was getting.
"And people say I can't drive." Lance said, reaching for his seat belt.
"You can't." Kurt groaned.
"Don't whine." Damien scolded. "It's not like I crashed into that tree."
Kurt blanched. "What tree?"
"Uhh…no tree." Damien laughed. "Never mind."
"You almost crashed into a tree!"
"What's life without a little adventure Elf?" Lance taunted. Sure his heart was pounding against his ribcage, but he wasn't going to miss a chance to taunt the elf.
"Safe."
Damien grinned then frowned faintly. Home sweet home. He came to a screeching halt at the bottom of a gravel driveway.
"Welcome to the sticks boys."
They were in the middle of the woods, in front of a big yellow house with peeling paint and a wrap around porch with two sets of steps, one set was missing a few steps. Damien frowned a little and opened his door and dropped out.
There was a dark green Landcruiser in the driveway, which seemed out of place with its newly waxed paint and sparkling windows. At least his truck, one of those ones with a front, a back, and a bed, looked like it belonged here, with it's muddy tires, dirty blue paint and widows that hadn't been cleaned in forever.
He realized it seemed a little out of character for him. His sister Raven thought he should have something 'cute and sporty' but he'd dismissed that idea fairly quickly. He liked his truck, even if it broke down every other week.
He had gotten it third hand so he figured once a week wasn't so bad. Third hand meaning he was the third idiot to take it from the guy selling it. You'd think after hearing it had been brought back twice he would have declined.
"I guess we know where all the money went." Lance said, walking around to where Damien was.
"Yeah." He pushed a wisp of hair back. "Look, my cousin and his goons are home, so ignore the smoke that's sure to be wafting around and the drunken assholes. My room is up there." He pointed to a window at the very top of the house. "Three flights up, the only door. I'll see if they haven't eaten all of the food in the house."
Lance and Kurt glanced at each other, not sure if they wanted to be in the same room for any amount of time alone…or with anyone else around for that matter. Funny, the fact that they were about to go and hang out hadn't really registered until right now.
Damien glanced at them. "If you want to go say something. I can give you a ride."
"No, it's fine." Kurt said at the same time as Lance said. "Nah, last thing I need is Kelly on my case."
They glared at each other. Damien shrugged and walked up to the house. The other two followed, each on either side of Damien, glaring at each other. They were so wrapped up in that that they missed Dammy pausing then jumping over all of the steps onto the porch.
Lance stepped onto the bottom step then shouted as it collapsed under his weight. Kurt laughed and jumped over the bottom one only to have that fall in underneath him as well. He almost ported but decided against it. Damien laughed and shook his head.
"You should have jumped over them."
"Now you tell us." Lance grumbled. Damien shrugged.
"I thought it was fairly obvious when I jumped them." He wrinkled his nose. "This place is falling apart, and I would fix it up a little, but…I'm afraid to break my nails." He waggled the deep red tips then turned around and went inside.
Lance and Kurt managed to get to their feet and frowned. How the hell were they supposed to jump what was almost three feet off the ground?
"Isn't this your area?" Lance asked, raising an eyebrow. Kurt glowered at him then teleported with a bamf and the smell of brimstone. He landed on the porch and stuck out his tongue then went inside as well. Lance growled and backed up a little bit.
Kurt laughed at the sound of running and a loud thump. A few seconds later Lance walked in, nursing a scratched up arm, curtsey of the porch. He shot Kurt the umpteenth nasty look of the day. Some selfless hero he was.
They found the first set of stairs easily and, after checking to make sure they were solid, and walked up. On the first floor a half dressed girl ran past them and Kurt turned an interesting shade of maroon at the sight of…certain girl parts. She was wearing a small t-shirt…
And nothing else.
She either didn't see them or didn't care because she ran past them and into a room, slamming it behind her. Kurt tried to pretend he didn't here a groan from inside. Lance looked amused.
On the next floor a heavy, sweet smelling smoke filled the hallways and seemed to be coming from a room at the end of the hall, where they could hear loud laughing and shouting. Kurt started coughing and suddenly the sounds from the room stopped. A large man stepped out and stared at them. His eyes were bloodshot and kind of glazed over, but it was obvious he didn't like the idea of the two of them here.
"Who are you?"
Kurt edged back a little and hid behind Lance, who seemed to be at ease.
"No one."
The man blinked then nodded. "Alright." He started to turn around when another, smaller man, stumbled out and ran into him. The smaller man scowled.
"What are you doing here?"
"They ain't doing nothing." Damien said, hoping up onto the landing then glared at him. "Get bent Robin, they're my friends."
Kurt nodded eagerly; Lance just remained silent. The smaller man frowned.
"Daddy don't want you don't be bringing your little friends around."
Damien rolled his eyes. "And he told you don't bring your stoner boys around, so fuck off." He pointed to the door behind Kurt. "Up there."
The two boys left quickly with no real protest. Damien didn't blame them. Sigh, he was the poster child for the Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline wasn't he?
Robin glared then wandered off, leaving the bigger man behind. Damien decided he didn't like the way the guy was looking at him and retreated back down stairs to grab the stuff he had left on the landing then went up to his room, where Kurt and Lance were standing around awkwardly.
"You are allowed to sit down." He announced, crashing onto his couch.
The whole upstairs was his and it worked out pretty good that way. He actually had his own kitchen, he just didn't feel like raiding his own junk food stash, a bathroom, a bedroom, assorted other rooms and the room where he kept his TV, laptop, and radio.
Naturally he had A) brought this stuff with him from home or B) used the money for school clothes and crap to get it.
"Nice place." Kurt said, opting to sit in a chair, looking a little fearful like he thought it was going to crash down underneath him.
"It's a roach motel." Damien snorted. "My floor is the only one not about to cave in, so I wouldn't worry about it. I spent my first week here patching crap up and filling in holes."
Kurt didn't think Damien looked like the 'patching up and filling in holes' type of person but he kept that to himself.
"Do you even know those people down there?" Lance nodded to the stairs.
"Course not." Damien looked at him like he was stupid. "I try not to go downstairs, ever, and especially not when Robin is around. I know I don't look like I have a death wish or something."
Well, he did, but he didn't think he looked like he did. Something to ponder over later.
"Gah, enough of that." Damien made a face and reached for the remote. "Why be depressed when we can watch…Midgets proclaim their love for circus performers?"
Kurt sat back in the chair and resisted the urge to trip Lance as he walked over and sat next to Damien. Maybe later on.
Two hours later Damien was trying to explain the concept of Passions to Kurt, who just looked mystified by the whole show.
"Well Charity isn't evil, exactly, she's just…vastly complex. See, Kay here wants Miguel who loves Charity and has done everything to try and catch him."
"Isn't Miguel her cousin?"
"No, Charity is her cousin." Damien said, wincing a little bit. "And eww. Now Tabby is a witch and she tries to be bad but she's too cool to be bad and she's constantly trying to stir shit up. It's more amusing than evil though-"
"Shut up." Lance groaned. "You sound like a bunch of girls."
"So, you would rather we were acting like guys?" Damien raised an eyebrow. "Wonder what that says about you."
Lance didn't look amused so Damien turned the channel quickly and settled on…
"No!" Lance shouted. "Give me that."
"No." Damien scrambled off the couch and backed away. "Come on, it won't kill you-"
"I am not watching Pokemon-"
"It's educational. It teaches about-"
"It's a kiddy show!"
"Losing gracefully." Damien smiled winningly then bolted.
Kurt looked over his shoulder in time to see Lance following Damien through a door. He shrugged and turned back to the TV. He didn't think there was anything wrong with Pokemon.
It was after the house shook a little that he remembered he was sitting around with Lance, Avalanche, a member of the Brotherhood and had been doing so for the past two hours and acting like it was an everyday type of thing.
Then again it wasn't like Lance wasn't a person, an arrogant untrustworthy y, poor excuse for a person, but a person all the same. Just another kid from school when he wasn't trying to kill Kurt. And he wasn't so bad was he?
No, when he wasn't around the rest of the Brotherhood or Kitty, he was actually a pretty okay person. Other then the whole trying to kill Damien thing. He should really see someone about those homicidal tendencies of his.
So Lance was okay. Kurt wasn't going to start hanging out with him or anything like that, they were still enemies and stuff, but he was an okay person none the less.
"Got it."
Lance strode back in, looking confident. He waved the remote to get his point across, then sat back down and started flipping through the channels, settling on MTV. He and Kurt were content to sit and listen to Default until Damien slunk back in and pouted at Lance.
"I don't think I like you much."
"I'm crushed." Lance sneered. Damien glared at him, but didn't say anything else about it.
"Hey, have you got a phone up here?" Kurt asked. He should really call someone and let them know he was okay…wow; he was in the same place as Lance and okay.
"Uh, yeah." Damien blinked and looked around the room, frowning to himself. "I think it's in my bedroom. I don't use it much." He blinked again. "I must sound pitiful. Don't even know where my own phone is. I blame it on the fumes from downstairs."
Kurt decided not to comment. "So…are you going to get the phone?"
"You have legs." Damien said, shaking his head. "Third door on the left through that door."
Kurt frowned. "I don't want to get up."
"Then don't." Lance said easily. "The Geeks won't miss you."
"They aren't geeks." Kurt frowned then shrugged. He'd call later. "We're out of popcorn."
"Because you and Lance threw it all at each other." Damien said, arching an eyebrow. "I get that you're presently fighting over the scary valley girl, but that is no reason to make a mess on my floor."
"Oh…forgot about that." Lance looked at the popcorn littering the floor. "Sorry."
"You should be." Damien nodded a little then sighed. "Is anybody else thirsty?"
"You getting something to drink?" Lance asked.
"I think so." Damien looked at the ceiling then frowned. "How long has there been smoke up here?"
"Umm…"
"Thought so." Damien looked very interested in the ceiling. "Can you high off of pot smoke?"
"Umm…"
"Oh." Damien nodded then yawned. "Oreos, I need Oreos."
"You've got Oreos?" Kurt asked hopefully.
"No, only the generic kind." Damien pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Schools letting out soon right? Maybe we should get the two of you out of here. I've got to get rid of these bums, air out the house, do my homework and fix something resembling dinner before my uncle gets home."
"Think you can drive safely this time?" Lance asked.
"Can you?" Damien retorted. The subject was dropped after that.
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Kurt and Lance watched as Damien left to get back home then looked towards the school to see the first trickle of kids running for the buses. Lance frowned as he saw Kurt's friends walking towards them.
"I think it's time I left." Lance said then looked at him. "For the record, Elf, you aren't so bad when you aren't around the Geeks."
"I was going to say the same thing about you and the brotherhood." Kurt said, rolling his eyes a little. "You are actually a decent guy." He felt really strange saying that
"Well don't let it get around." Lance looked uncomfortable. "Later blue boy."
Scott didn't look happy when he got over there and Lance had vanished into the crowd. "What was that about?"
"What was what?" Kurt tried to look innocent.
"You were talking to Lance." Kitty said. "And you weren't fighting."
"So?" Kurt shrugged. "He wanted the English homework, no big deal." Then a little defensively. "I'm allowed to talk to other people."
"No one said you weren't." Jean frowned, picking up a little anger. "It's just…he's Lance."
"Maybe it's an loser outreach thing."Bobby suggested.
Kitty glared. "He isn't a loser."
And that was it. The subject was dropped and there was normal arguing and teasing amongst them.
Later on Kurt would look back and wonder where things had gotten so fucked up.
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Mechante: The voices in Damien's head aren't...bad things per se. They're annoying, yes, but they aren't bad. As long as they stay in his head...
