Chapter Four- Invitations
"Why are we going to watch a soccer practice?" Anya asks, following Becky. They have been studying most afternoons after class, sparring and following Yor's routine the rest of the time. Today is a deviation from the norm.
It's been two weeks since Damian's "no", and Anya has been very closed off. She only sits with him in the two classes where she cannot avoid him. She even paired up with Theo in Language and Composition for a script reading.
"I need some cute boys for a party I'm throwing." Becky stops suddenly, looking in the distance. Anya doesn't stop in time and runs right into her. An "oof" escapes Anya's lips before she bounces back, sprawling on the path and landing hard on her behind. Becky helps her up, bending, and with their faces close she continues, "Prepare for kissing."
Anya flushes, finding her feet again as Becky starts walking, turning toward the field a little faster than before. "Kissing?" She exclaims, embarrassed as a few players run by, using the path to warm up. Damian, Ewen, and Emile are in the group. The three look over at her, two of them snickering at her. One thinks, -who would kiss her?- Another thinks she is easy and would stick her for the story. But Damian's mind whirls contrary to theirs, and he snaps at his rubber band, keeping the imagery at bay but frets that she is thinking about kissing someone.
He slows, his group outpacing him, and his coach shouts at him to pick it up. He does, thinking it's Anya's fault for fogging up his brain.
"We can study here while we wait." Becky declares as she climbs up the bleacher steps, not bothering to elaborate. After all, her plan is going perfectly so far. Anya slides beside her, bumping her butt against Becky's as she comes to a stop on the long bench seat.
"Wait for what?" She asks nervously, but her friend simply shrugs. Becky's mind is pairing her friends off with various soccer players to kiss, but no matter the combination, she always pairs Anya with Damian in her imaginings. Anya stands, gripping at her forearms.
"I've never kissed anyone before!" She shouts. A slew of snickers sounds behind her again, their shoes pounding on the dirt and their thoughts buzzing in the back of her scattered mind, but she ignores them.
"I don't mean now!" Becky shoos her off with little regard. "Focus, Anya. You have to stay on top of your schoolwork." She pulls out her first-period AP Geography textbook as if this was her intention the entire time and acts like she didn't just pull the rug out from under Anya.
"I won't kiss anyone until I want to!" She whispers angrily to her friend, sitting with a huff. Becky is in total agreement. She's going to need some girls at this party who know what to do, she realizes, as she thinks about her never-been-kissed status.
"What does that mean?" Anya is borderline mortified, gripping the textbook so tightly that her knuckles turn white. "Are we practicing kissing?" She startles and this time she is fed up with the snickers, upset that all her outbursts are when Damian and his stupid friends are near.
Damian's mind whirls with images of Becky and Anya practicing kissing. He doesn't like it but… he doesn't hate it either.
"As if that will help when no one wants to kiss you!" Emile laughs at his own insult. Ewen adds, "Uggos!" but mentally, he doesn't agree. Damian is irritated until he locks eyes with Anya, her face still and her eyes a little glassy. No one else notices, but he can see her.
"Shut the fuck up. We're here to train." He snaps at his friends. They follow him to the edge of the field and go out of range but Anya knows Damian is still scolding them.
"This is better than I ever expected," Becky mutters, pulling out a sketchbook to take some notes. Her mind whirls in her romance land again and Anya sighs, giving her a side-eye. Anya vows again that she won't be kissing anyone at her party but Becky is barely listening, giving her a distracted 'mm-hmm'. "I'm going to invite Jessica, Grace, and Lucy for sure. I know them well enough and all of them have kissed people before. Maybe Anna if I need to balance the numbers..."
Anya sighs as she starts on her work, glad when the coach ends lap running so the runners won't be skirting by as frequently. Theo waves at her from the field and she waves back distractedly. Math is far from her favorite– she takes much longer than others for it to make sense. She's given up on understanding Becky and eventually, her friend starts on their Geography homework as well, putting her strange party plans to rest.
After Becky explains the same type of equation four times, Anya finishes and has a little time to watch the soccer team practice. Almost right away, she notices that Theo is very good. Damian is faster, though, and she cheers when he makes a goal. The box is currently unmanned but it's still a solid kick. He's flushed red when he runs back with the rest of his team, doing drills.
They end soon after and while the boys are heading back to the lockers, Becky stands to get their attention. "I'm having a party next weekend." She tells them, beckoning a few of the boys to come closer. She gives them the details, pointedly telling Theo right in front of Damian that, "Anya will be there," then broadly announces to the rest of them, "and a bunch of other girls too."
She turns, walking away with a flip of her hair, and Anya is left wide-eyed, hurrying to follow her while avoiding all of their gazes. A few of the boys intend to go, and Anya is surprised that Damian angrily fits it into his mental schedule too, not wanting to leave Anya unguarded. He doesn't know what it is but he can tell Becky is up to something.
The girls go to Anya's dorm room and Becky sighs as she looks around, refusing to comment on the size, but thinking her closet is bigger than her entire room. They eat peanuts as Becky goes through Anya's common clothes. "Ugh, we'll have to go shopping, you don't have a cute enough outfit for my party. Daddy will buy it, so don't worry."
"I'll pick it out myself, don't worry about it," Anya declares, trying to refuse Becky's offer but Becky knows her clothing sizes. She's already making a plan in her head. "No, no! We'll go shopping." Anya tries to correct her mistake but the damage is done and Becky brushes her off. Anya walks Becky to her car, waving for too long before heading to the food hall.
The food hall is well lit with dark wood beams across the ceiling spanning the entire room. The rectangle tables each comfortably seat about eight but Anya frowns when there isn't a single empty seat to be found.
She gets her tray, finally finding a seat at a table with two students at the other end. Anya keeps to herself, eating while reading the newest manga of 'Ultra-spy'. Anya is engrossed, getting better at blocking out so many thoughts and focusing on something she wants to. She licks her fingers absently, cleaning them with slow pulls, shifting forward in her seat as the main spy, The Tuxedo, gets caught in a trap, his life and his love on the line.
Anya folds her leg under her, her uniform skirt riding up as she leans, flipping a page with urgency as Tuxedo faces off with his nemesis. She jumps, his rival's identity finally revealed. "His brother!?" She mutters, shocked. She startles again when a tray is dropped down beside her and Damian sits, his face a red angry scowl.
"Fix your uniform. Have you learned nothing about propriety? Sit like a lady." He snaps and Anya blinks at him, his mind circling like a drain around her little tongue and her bare thigh. -Forger will not take me down. I refuse.- He breaks their stare first, looking at his food.
Anya considers a few things, that perhaps he doesn't have anyone to sit with either, that maybe he misses her and she wants to fall back into their old relationship where he barks at her and she reads his mind for his truth. But, instead, she stands, taking her things and her tray with her. If he still will not be true to himself after all these years, she cannot expect things to change if she doesn't change either.
"If you want me around, you have to be nice." She tries to be firm, but her voice lowers as she continues. She keeps her shoulders back as she walks away, knowing he watches her go, his mind tensing and his rubber band snapping away.
Classes start to breeze by as the week progresses. She turns everything in on time, cheats very minimally on her exams and quizzes, and even gets the highest mark in her Language and Comp test on Tuesday where her extended response is so well thought out that it earns her a Stella star! Damian is happy for her, but most of the class is unimpressed and not very thrilled with the professor anyway.
Damian's week is a little different. His inner turmoil shifts at the first Imperial Scholar event the next day. He is allowed to invite a few friends along with his family to join him for a formal start-of-the-year dinner. Each Scholar has a table and Damian is reserved, expecting no one, but as the event is honoring him and the other scholars, he must show up.
The hall is decorated in the royal reds of the scholar robes and Damian gives a few greetings to the professors mingling. He chats with a few of his fellow Scholars. Jessica Clark approaches him to offer him a seat at her table but he declines, not feeling up to mindless small talk with her dim friends or her parents. The tables are spaced out, plates arranged fancily with a short centerpiece of flowers in the center.
Damian weaves around people, hoping the crowd and others having so many visitors would keep everyone too busy to notice that he is alone. He stares icily as he finds his table, close to the podium, not ideal for staying under the radar.
He sits, back to the crowd, and pushes his plate forward to place a book in its place. He figures he should soak in as much as he can about human physiology since their first test is this week. It's important to him anyway since he wants to be a bioengineer, which is not exactly like his father's work as he had gone into politics when he was a baby, but it's the vein that interests Damian.
Besides, he has to start somewhere and this area is where The Damian Group all started, with his grandfather.
For a moment, he wishes he had invited Anya and he imagines her telling him a fatuous story about her mangas, her eyes sparkling and her smile lighting up the room. He snaps at his rubber band, now on his other wrist as the welt is bruising on the first. He had not mentioned this to Ewen or Emile but they frustrated him at soccer practice last time with how they reacted to Becky's invitation.
It's more about them making Anya upset, but he refuses to even think about it, refocusing on his book.
His table stays empty when a waitress comes by to take his order and softly, she asks, "Is there anyone else?" He glares and she bows, backing away to the next table. The speaker starts, the standard 'Eden student Elite' speech going pretty typically and Damian only briefly looks up when his name is listed off.
When his food comes, he moves his book, looking over the buttery, juicy lobster tail with interest. The meals alone are worth appearing and just as he picks up his fork and takes his first delicious bite, the chair to his left pulls out and a dark-haired man in a finely tailored suit sits down. In shock, Damian looks over. Matching hazel eyes meet his, the piece of lobster falling from his mouth to his plate with a small slap.
Damian flushes, but Demetrius smiles, unused to the tug at his lips but easing into it. He catches a passing waitress and requests, "The same meal as my brother, please." His voice is deep but with a soft wisp to it. When they dip away, nodding to Demetrius, he turns back to his brother who is wiping at his face with a napkin, still embarrassed.
"Do you remember?" Demetrius asks. Slowly, his older brother pulls out a crinkling clear plastic bag, a swirling cinnamon roll inside with white icing drizzled over top, and puts the treat between them on the table. Damian stares, then slowly, his lips half twist up.
"I brought you one of these for your first high school scholar dinner," Damian speaks as he remembers. The two guys share a look before Demetrius raises a brow.
"Though, to make it fair, I should squish yours." The elder jokes. Damian chuckles, remembering he had carried it in his backpack and hadn't known it was squished when he retrieved it. The two had been alone for Demetrius' dinner as well.
His food comes last, after all the other tables are served, and they share pleasantries before they eat in silence for a time.
"The food has always been exceptional at these events. Worth it for this alone." Demetrius notes, unknowingly mirroring Damian's thoughts. He pushes his plate away very minimally, indicating that he is finished. Damian does the same. "You, uh, when you were in elementary, you were the only one to ever show up for me regularly. I want to return the favor, and uh," Demetrius stops and looks around the room before dipping closer to his brother. "I wanted to give you some unsolicited advice."
Damian's eyebrows rose.
"You said something that day, that you wanted to be just like me and follow the Desmond path." His brother sucks in a sharp breath as Damian nods, leaning in to listen as he expects his brother is a wealth of information since, in his opinion, he's been successful. "I finished top of my class in BioTechnology and Neurology, I earned a top spot in the Desmond group with my accomplishments and-"
"I know I have a lot to live up to. I've already begun taking BioTech and Human Physiology. I will join you in a few short years." Damian vows and he expects his brother to look proud but instead, he winces.
"What I'm trying to say is, my table is still empty." Demetrius waves his hand over the chairs where his father and his friends should be. "I have always been more reserved and closed off, rigid in my standards for myself and others." He chuckles, swallowing as if struggling to continue. "I fear it would take a mind reader for anyone to even know I'm interested in them and I fear it is the same for you."
The brothers stare and Damian is surprised. He wasn't expecting this. Their ears darken along the rims, a matching red.
"I wasted my youth." Demetrius continues. "I didn't realize until last year and I was asked if I was looking for a house and I... I had no reason to. I want a house! I want a wife and a child to spoil. I'm trying to meet more people but it's much harder now." He winces, "Dad never gets any more time and I spurned so many people for shallow reasons. I reached the finish line and it is just as lonely as the journey, all from my own doing."
Demetrius brushes invisible dust from his pants, takes a drink from his wine glass, and breathes deeply.
"I've turned into Father and I'm here... I'm here to tell you what this path truly is. I want you to think about what you want in your life and not to worry about anyone's expectations. Father has his own life and he's not who I thought. He got into some dark stuff during the war and-." His elder brother flushes, shaking his head, but Damian is curious.
"What did Father do?" He puzzles, but his brother waves it away. But the seed is planted and Damian makes plans to start digging into it. Demetrius, though, wishes he would have thought a little more before that slip because he doesn't want his brother to be burdened with this knowledge. Two horrible mistakes come to mind and the one involves Damian directly.
"This is your life, don't waste it." Demetrius continues, clearing his throat, thick with emotion. "You are surrounded by potential, by strong minds and skilled students. I missed out on so much. I just don't want you to watch life go by too. Make mistakes, break some rules and live." There is silence between them for a moment and then he says, "If you ever need to talk to anyone, you can call me at work or home. I want to be available to you, and uh, it's not like I have anything else going on outside of work hours now that I am putting my political aspirations to bed."
Damian is quite shaken. Moments go by as he absorbs it all before he shakes his head, latching on to his brother's offer to... be there for him.
"You don't have any friends? A girlfriend?" Damian asks, but he knows the answer before his brother shrugs it off. Silence spreads while the younger considers opening up to his elder brother, wondering what it would be like to have family in his corner. "There is a girl..." Damian mutters, his stomach fluttering, "but she's a commoner."
"Pretty?" Demetrius asks.
"I guess." Damian concedes minimally, thinking she is. "But she's immature and very distracting. Plus, her parents are nobodies."
"If she isn't right for you, there are plenty of others who will be." Demetrius looks around, "With the Scholars getting a hall, it will be full of like-minded people. Even just making a friend." He pats at his pockets, pulling out a picture and he passes it to his brother. He flushes as he looks, seeing his elementary school self with Ewen and Emile on one side with their arms around each other and Anya and him on the other, her arm around him, but he is standing tall. "You have time."
"I can keep this?" Damian asks.
His brother agrees, telling him, "May it remind you to make connections."
"You are still young too, Demetrius." Damian reminds him.
"Yes." His elder brother outlines the thinkers-and-drinkers club he joined, "I may even pick up going to volunteer lectures." Damian snickers, thinking that will suit his brother. Today is the first time he's heard his brother speak more than a few sentences that aren't about a theory or experiment.
The dinner ends with more congratulations and Demetrius smacks his brother's shoulder as they stand. There is a room of loud applause, a smile teasing on his face as he has his brother clapping for him this time. When it dies down, the two brothers share an understanding look.
"I'm proud of you."
It means a lot to have someone here and Damian is glad he was that person for his brother when he was young. When they part, he makes sure Demetrius has his dorm phone number, thinking that making friends with his dormmate first would be a good idea. He'd always liked him.
As he's heading back to the Imperial Scholar's hall, really considering his brother's words, he spots Jessica Clark up ahead. She's pretty enough and the Clark family is well known and well connected. She's dark-haired with not green eyes and a shrewd mind, an opposite to Anya. Damian calls out to her, catching up as she pauses.
He tries his hand at small talk and he is grateful that it seems Jessica is a talker. She fills in all the gaps in their conversation and although it's not that interesting or compelling, he doesn't have to make much effort. He thanks her for her consideration at the dinner, that he would have taken her up on it if his brother wasn't coming.
When she makes her excuses, he pauses. "You're going to Becky's party, right?"
"I wasn't sure if I was." Jessica shrugs, then her eyes narrow. "Unless… are you asking me?" It hadn't been his intention but he resists his slight discomfort, his nose only crinkling slightly in distaste, giving a noncommittal shrug. Jessica eats it up, eyeing Damian up and down before smirking, "Yeah, okay then."
He doesn't know she only agrees because of who his father is, that her parents have a very small list of who they think is acceptable as a husband. Jessica thinks having a busy and distant husband would be best with her own goals that she still wants to accomplish.
Damian goes his separate way, thinking that having more friends may be too much of a hassle, but he can see his brother's point about making a marriage alliance while he has this many options. He can gauge their intelligence and temperament fairly easily with the data points available. He does think about Anya, that she awakens something in him, but the thought of introducing Anya to his father makes him cringe.
He considers his brother's advice and thinks he can figure this out so he can have everything. To him, Demetrius is going through a crisis from whatever he found out about their father, but he does have some good points.
Damian dismisses the 'friend' problem as solved, having decided it is too much effort to maintain friendships, as long as he can find a suitable and understanding woman to make a life with. But his mind whirls with what his brother let slip. His father had done something, something that Demetrius found out about, and obviously, it shook him to the point of him joining clubs and opening up.
He makes other plans too, to go home this weekend and read through the notes in his father's study, even thinking of their summer island home where his dad has a personal lab. He'd have to wait for fall break to visit but he thinks about inviting Demetrius too, to maybe pick his brain about it. Plus, maybe by then he will have a girlfriend to bring along or at least have something to do.
Then Anya comes to mind, of her body against his and how she had said that stupid nickname she's always called him with such longing. When he gets back to his dorm apartment, his roommate cooking in their kitchenette, he waves to George. He had been known as a liar in elementary because of a stunt he pulled to get a bunch of gifts from everyone but Damian figures he is older now.
He had grown out of his awkwardness, or perhaps just grew into his head size. Either way, George gives a surprised partial wave back, then looks down at the pot he had simmering on the stovetop.
"I didn't know you'd be home or I'd offer." George hesitates but Damian gestures it away, telling him, "I already ate." This surprises him all the more as George usually gets snapped at when he talks to Damian. He never takes offense. After all, he does that to everyone.
When Damian hangs his cloak up, takes off his shoes, and strolls through their joint living room- all decorations provided by campus- George tries to think of something to say, but his roommate enters his bathroom on the right and he doesn't come out again.
Damian finishes washing his hands and uses the door connecting his bedroom to his bathroom. It's large with a full bed, a dark blue comforter, and a desk with his textbooks. He places his bag on its side so it is in its correct spot. He pulls out the cinnamon roll and although he will eat it, he puts it on the top of his texts for now. Everything is in its place, his clothes perfectly aligned in his closet and his bookshelf full of books in alphabetical order.
He removes his rubber band, a signal to his brain that it is free to roam, and it does. As soon as the little rubber piece is placed next to the others on his bedside table, vivid images of Anya erupt. Keeping them at bay takes work and it's always overwhelming in the beginning as if his mind is making up for the lost time.
Damian locks his doors before sitting on his bed, and at first, when he closes his eyes and Fantasy Anya appears, smiling shyly and asking him to take off his pants, he tries to make her any other girl. He tries to think about Jessica in particular but even with the small shift of Jessica's head on Anya's short little body, Damian frowns.
'Sy-on boy?' Jessica's face mutters, shifting back to Anya's in a fast heartbeat. Damian tries harder, but in the end, he figures it doesn't matter who he thinks about. He's always had a very keen mind, photographic and deep, a mind he can almost climb into and explore. It's useful for remembering nearly everything he's ever read and even memories he's committed but his fantasies are most impressive.
He could use this skill for theoretical practices or mental pre-experimentation but he logs the most hours in his mind palace with a very naked and very willing Fantasy Anya.
Damian likes how she moves towards him, how her little hands touch his, and as he takes his hard flesh in his fist to stroke, he thinks of her working him over. Of her lips on his skin, and her sounds when he touches her. He spends, cum spurting into his waiting towel, and he knows getting past this pesky infatuation he has is going to be his greatest challenge.