#Damien and Jess RP | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

candy-corps · 7 years

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Waiting for a Breeze

Jess belongs to @mygardenofmuses

“Why isn’t it windy!” Damien complained after they waited for some time. Coming up here was supposed to be a good idea. Now they just had no shade at all to stay in.

He was so warm. And to make matters worse, he wore a shirt with no holes for his wings. How was he supposed to survive this school day …

“It must be the heat. Summer is about to start…” Jess mumbled, before giving a look to his shirt. Unlike him, Jess was already dressed for the upcoming season: a pink, sleeveless dress decorated with flowers. Despite her girly appearance, Jess still carried a few things in her bag which weren’t girly at all. Like a couple of scissors.

She took them out, showing them to him. “If you want, I can cut some holes for your wings…”

“Nooo, there’s classes” Damien denied, his tone strangely patient. He couldn’t ruin his clothes now. He’s never walked around school showing his wings. It wasn’t a step he was willing to take - it was enough they saw the ears and tail.

Jess though … saw before. “Um … you mind?” Damien asked, already tugging on his shirt.

“True, true…” Jess put them down and placed them back on her bag. She looked up at his next question. Realizing what he meant to say, she blushed a bit, but smiled anyway. It was nice to see he trusted her so much.

“No problem. Better to get comfy while we’re alone.” she said, picking up a water bottle to drink a little more.

“Yeah.” Well, it was fun to be alone … and in company. “Well, least the view is nice.”

It was. Not that Damien saw much of it as he pulled his shirt over his head - struggling a bit since his wings would move, too. Eventually, he did it through, ruining his hair in the progress, and revealing a dark undershirt. WITH holes for his wings.

“Indeed.” she agreed, putting down the bottle. A little grin stayed on her face. It made her feel special that Damien kept things from many people, but… not her. Jess giggled a bit when she saw his ruffled hair. What a cute bat.

“Feeling better now?” she asked, watching his wings free.

“Sweaty.” When she really had to know. His wings felt hot and yucky. It was a relief to get to stretch them, even with no breeze to cool them. Yet. Damien flapped them twice. The wind felt good against them. Cooling.

Jess blushed briefly. There was something incredibly beautiful about his wings, though she wasn’t sure how to put it into words. And she wasn’t sure how Damien would react to receiving praise about his wings… Maybe it would be better to lead the conversation to something else.

“So, Damien… do you have any plans for the summer?”

“The holidays?” he wondered, looking over to Jess again instead the city’s skyline. Something rare happened as he thought about these - he smiled.

“Actually.”

“Yes, the holidays.” she insisted, wanting to know. Noticing his smile, a soft pink peeked to her cheeks. “Because I have some ideas…”

“Oh?” Damiens ears perked up at that. He moved his wings a little, the motion cooling him a little down. Especially, as - finally - the smallest breeze was passing.

“I would like to help you in your hero trainings. Plus I was considering to bring my other friends, Bernie and Pal, into out hideout. I’m pretty sure all of us could help, especially Bernie, since she has magic powers…” Jess suggested, offering him her best puppy eyes.

Why was it every time he got them a hideout, she’d fill it with people… Damien broke the eye contact, already about to say yes just because it seemed important, when he reconsidered what else she’s said.

Help him with his training? He didn’t want help from someone else but Jess. But it was a weird thing to say. A weird thing to feel, even. What was up with him.

“It’s your hideout” he remembered. It was what he gave her for Christmas. “So it’s your decision.” Yeah. He shouldn’t let what he felt about it get in between.

“Damien…” Jess reached gently for his hand, squeezing it gently. “It’s OURS. You found it, and sure, you gave it to me as gift, but for me, our hideout belongs to both of us. I wouldn’t think to bring Bernie and Pal into it if they weren’t trustworthy…”

She leaned slightly against him. It just felt natural. “But before doing such thing, I need to know that you will be OK with it. If you aren’t, I won’t do it. Your feelings matter, too.”

Waiiit - No. No no no. Why would she say his feelings mattered? Here he tried ignoring them and she … was just not helping.

“That’s gonna feel gross in a second” he warned, yet grabbing her hand tightly, too. It was so warm. But it was nice. There was absolutely no reason to do this as there was no crowd around now to get lost in and the edges of the roof were too far away to fall from. Their hands would get sweaty and it would be all unpleasant. Still. If anything, it just made it feel nicer.

“And … I don’t know. I liked how it was our place.” As in, just the two of theirs. “But I can get used to it” he guessed and looked up again, back in her eyes. Jess’ friends were important and it was incredibly selfish to keep her to his own.

“It’s OK, I’ll stop if it gets too much.” Jess assured him, wanting to ensure his comfort. There was something… magical about being this close to him. She couldn’t quite put it into words yet. But it felt really nice. And then…

“Thank you, Damien…” She smiled softly at his words. “Don’t worry. It will be our place still. They’ll be just occasional guests, promise.”

Without thinking too much, Jess lifted her free hand and cupped his cheek, leaning for a kiss. She wasn’t sure why she did it. Maybe it was a way to thank him? Or were there deeper feelings she was afraid to admit?

She made it sound about alright, at least that was what he meant to reply before she dared touching his face. Did she want a fight? She didn’t look like she wanted a fight …

Out of sheer habit thanks to the mistletoe on her door during Christmas, Damien kissed her lightly back as she leaned in. He’d done better had she not surprised him like that, but that just by the way. Suddenly, he found himself all on her side.

“Okay.”

Jess lowered her hands, letting it rest of his. What a nice feeling, just holding hands, almost as if they were…

She stopped herself, not wanting to think of that word. Love was dangerous…

“Well, it’s been a year since the camping, and… thanks to you, I’m feeling stronger. Strong enough to see them again. Everything ended just like that and… I don’t know. Mom told me that there will be new camping places available this year. Would Blue and you go there with me, if I wanted to go?”

“Camping?” Damien asked, not ever expecting to hear her say these words again. His grip on her tightened as if she was about to wander off right this second.

“Yeah. All my nightmare started there. That should be the place to end it as well…” she leaned forward, resting her forehead on his hand. “I think I should do something. Otherwise, campings will keep a bad taste for me for the rest of my life… And I don’t want that.” she looked up, giving him a kind smile. “That’s why I think that, if I went there with you, I should be able to overcome that trigger. You are my strength, Damien.”

Damien leaned back, a blush forming around his nose. Why would she ay that! Why on Earth would she …

Though … Going back … It was kinda brave. Which for some reason, made the blushing thing worse. “I go with you” he promised, looking away. “I ask Blue, too.” Yeah. He … should do that. His shirt lay a couple of meters away, but to fetch that he had to let go of Jess. Which also, didn’t sound like a tempting option.

“You sure?” About the camping or about him, it was one thing of the two.

“Thank you, Damien!”

Was he… blushing? It was hard to tell with his black skin, but he used to look away in that kind of situations, so… it was even more adorable if possible. He seemed so nervous… Jess felt really touched.

“Yes. As long we’re together, I know I can do it. And… I can ask Bernie and Pal to come as well. That makes four friends looking for me. It should be alright.” she whispered, smiling.

“Yeah” Damien affirmed, though he’d most likely say yes to anything she said right now. He flapped his wing one last time and let one touch her side before pulling it back.

Another breeze was passing. “I think it’s the right thing to do. Should we go back?”

“You’re right. But, before we go… can we…”

Jess squeezed gently his hand and leaned in for another kiss. She wasn’t sure why. It just felt right.

Definitely, ‘thank you’ kisses were a thing and… she liked them. Or perhaps, she just liked to kiss him. The line was hard to draw in his company. Everything felt just really nice when he was there with her.

Again? Well, not that he minded. And this time, he got a warning ahead. Maybe it was just because they stood opposite each other. But well.

Damiens wings tensed at first, then lowered as the touch lingered.

“Happens a lot today” he had to remark; his blush gone. “You okay?” He had to ask. They grazed a couple quite touchy subjects, He leaned his chin on the bridge of her nose to keep her from looking at him. He didn’t know … Not looking at another just seemed to make it easier to talk.

It was one small kiss, maybe too short, but it was good. Yes, still good.

“Sorry… I just like kisses.” she confessed, a little embarrassed. Jess hoped he wouldn’t mind. His closeness let her know he was fine - or so it seemed. If he was annoyed, he’d pull back, right?

“I’m OK. I just… like being close to you, I guess.” she admitted, blushing even more.

Well, that was weird. But when she got to say weird things, he might as well.

“I like it, too.”

This wasn’t bad. He liked not having to look at her, but know her up that close, and safe. “Wanna hear about my plans?”

He was just buying time and he knew it. They should head downstairs at some point.

“Sure, you can tell me anything.” Jess nodded, mindful not too move too much, so they wouldn’t lose their contact.

This was a odd way of cuddling, if this could be called cuddling… But it really didn’t annoy her, and there was no need to rush, so…

“I want to find my mom this summer.” Jess was the first soul he told this to.

“Your mom?” Jess was actually surprised to hear this. “I thought you two still kept in touch somehow… Is there anything I can do to help you?”

“Um - “ Help? He didn’t intend that. “Sure. I want to figure something out once the holidays start. Dad wants to teach me how to better hear. That will be helpful.” He was looking forward to that, really.

Jess reached to squeeze gently his hand. “I’m not sure yet what I can do for you, but… I’m here for you.” she said, trying to give him some emotional support. “Could you tell me what’s she like? Knowing her looks should be a good start.”

He shouldn’t be that open. All his instincts seemed to yell that at him, but somehow, he couldn’t help it despite. Damien withdrew, but kept Jess’ hand in his still.

“She’s clever. And she hides, a lot. But just to teach me how to do things. Is why I think finding her is just kind of lesson.” Yeah, he had every reason to think so.

“I … gotta tell you.” It just fell so hard, for some reason. Maybe because all Jess was was good. He looked away for that part, again to the skyline. “She’s not what you’d call a good person.”

“Not a good person? Did she… hurt you?” The idea of a mother hurting their child wasn’t something new to Jess, she heard it in the news from time to time. But having to apply that condition to Damien… She felt a terrible urge to hug him and tell him everything would be alright. But she didn’t, knowing Damien wasn’t too much into physical affection as she was.

However… if that woman was that kind of person, Damien wouldn’t try to find her, right? Maybe his mom wasn’t completely evil…

“No.” Damien poked her head with his hand as if to shoo that thought away. She didhurt him when they practiced fighting, but it wasn’t what Jess thought.

“She’s a villain.”

A shudder ran down Jess’s spine. A villain? Memories of what happened some years ago made her clench her fist in worry.

“Are you sure you want to find her, if she’s a villain? I don’t want to see you getting hurt…” she whispered, concern clear in her voice. She cared so much for him.

“How would that make me get hurt” Damien asked, trying to keep her reasonable. He saw her expression shift - just like he had feared it would.

“I just…” Without thinking, Jess leaned forward and rested her forehead on his chest. What she was going to say wasn’t easy. But she couldn’t hide anything from him. “I just worry that she won’t treat you well, that she might hurt you… Or that she ends hurting me or my Mom because I’m your friend and she doesn’t want you to socialize with the daughter of a hero… I just worry…” She looked up and squeezed his hands into hers. “One time I was involved with the son of a villain, too. And he ended leaving me and treating me like trash. I don’t want that to happen to us, Damien… I don’t… I don’t want to lose you too…”

“No. I’m - “ What was she babbling about! It irritated him that she took it that much to heart. And then again, he couldn’t know she’s had history in that department. “I’m not treating you bad” he denied. Though true, he knew little what to do with a Jess leaning oh him. Should he like, pat her back?

“And dad’s a hero. Believe me when I say she couldn’t care less about me. Or you.” He tried touching Jess’ back with his wing. Just lightly, to not cause another emotional storm.

“I know. You’re always so good to me. I just… really appreciate your friendship and I don’t want to lose it. You are my best friend, Damien.”

‘Love’ was a strong word, but it was the one that almost slipped from her mouth. She blushed slightly at such thoughts. However, his words made her look up.

“Oh. I’m so sorry. I… hum.” she looked away, embarrassed. She wasn’t sure how to handle the situation. Maybe she’d have to pick up the things he said and go from there. “If she doesn’t care… Maybe she is no longer in the city… she could have left… Mmh…”

“Yeah. Cheerful thoughts” Damien replied. Good to cheer her up with something that would break his heart. He still petted her head like he’d do with a cat - the only way to show affection he was comfortable with and used to.

He had to laugh. Well, at least he wasn’t the only one who’s social skills sucked.”Feels good to have said it” he ended. Though he did feel sorry it was such a struggle for Jess.

She blushed with the pettings. Tom used to do that as well, but there was a difference. Tom always did it with that ‘brotherly’ aura. Damien’s movements seemed something different. As if he couldn’t move out of the box for now, but still giving the idea there was room for development. At least that was the feeling she got from his touch.

“Sorry I’m awkward. I’m just trying to help. But I’m clumsy.” she admitted, still embarrassed. “I might not be perfect, but… I really want to help you.”

“Hey. You do.” And yeah. That was enough heart-to heart for the week. “You wanna go back down? Classes start” he feared. They’d been up here for some time.He looked at the shirt that lay on the ground front them in the sun. Getting back in that wouldn’t be nice.

“Oh right!” She let go and looked back to the exit. “We don’t want to miss the last days of school, do we?” she added with a laugh. Deep down, Jess was really thankful. Damien made an effort to understand her - and for a girl like her, that was something big. It made her really happy.

“Let’s go!”

“Sure.” He’d just go and grab his shirt. But as he did and felt the warm fabric against his hand, Damien hesitated. Why again did he bother to cover his wings. He could beat up anybody who gave any crap and it wasn’t like he was shy about them. Right.

Noticing he had stopped, Jess looked back, confused. “Damien? You OK?”

“Yeah, s…ure.” he replied, still staring at the shirt … and pulling it over.

Urgh. 2 more classes to go.

“Let’s go” he agreed, following Jess.

“Yes.” she smiled and opened the door. Jess wondered he’d start to wear things which implied not keeping his wings in a furnace. Was that even healthy? What if she got sick? But she was no one to judge. She had no wings to know their weight.

“Classes will be over soon. It will be alright.”

#Damien RP #Damien and Jess RP #RP

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candy-corps · 7 years

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Valentines

Jess belongs to @mygardenofmuses

Damien didn’t think of Valentines as a big deal. It was a holiday for couples and he and Jess weren’t, so there was nothing big to celebrate. He knew it was a deal for her though, so he slipped the unsigned card - addressed to Jess - into the ‘Jones’ mailbox. It was a simple envelope and a simple card, just reading 'I DON’T DISLIKE YOU’ in capital letters. Because as he was thinking closely about it, he got cold feet, cut out some letters from newspaper headlines and stuck them on the card so she wouldn’t recognize his writing. Relieved with nothing leading back to him - not even finger prints cause he’d been careful - he was on his way home again, happy and content.

Jess was very surprised when she found the card on the mailbox some time later. Knowing Kerberous, she knew her mom’s boyfriend wasn’t the kind of guy to do Valentines cards. No, Kerberous was more of big parties in the underworld, really expensive gifts and generally ancient ways written all over his actions. And her mother hadn’t received more letters from fans for a while…

So that left open the possibility that the card wasn’t addressed at her mother at all. Plus the writing… Not disliking? Hiding writing under newspaper letters? It seemed like a thing certain bat would do…

She took out her cellphone and began to type a text. A new idea was taking shape in her mind.

[text] Hey Damien, are you busy today? I need your help to resolve a mystery!

He was about to enter the door to the house when Jess’ message arrived. Oh? That was sooner than expected …

[What kind of mystery?] he asked back, not telling yet if he was busy or not.

[ I found a mysteryous card in my mailbox. Do you want to help me to find out who sent it? I think I have some clues already… But I’d need the help of an expert, and you were the first coming to mind. ] Jess laughed a bit while typing that. This would be a fun way to enjoy the chessiest holiday of the year!

Damien didn’t keep going, but also didn’t head back, just yet. He just stood there in his thick jacket and stared at the screen.

[Is it so important who send it?]

That went through as a casual question, right? It would be hard to balance the line between suspiciously caring and suspiciously not caring at all. He had a free day though - aside from learning and training and helping his dad - and he planned for it to not go all that smooth. He was curious if she’s been happy about it…

[ Why yes, of course! Sending a card in this day is a BIG DEAL! I never received a Valentines card before… If someone likes me, I must know who is that person~ ]

His reaction already said it all, but Jess was having a lot of fun with this. She kinda wanted to give him a hug, maybe an extra kiss to thank him for the card, but that would have to wait. She wanted to hang out with him first. That wouldn’t be a date, right? Because they were best friends. Still… the idea of hanging out with him on this made her blush.

Oh, was that so. Damien scratched his head while he read the new message. ‘If someone likes me’ she said. He didn’t say that … ? Not like it wasn’t true, but it was nothing he did say per se.

[I'm on my way. Should I bring some ice cream?] It wasn’t quite the season for ice cream just yet, but it was a sunny day and he knew there was a stand near the building that Jess lived in.

[ Sure! Ice cream is always great! And maybe in the way you can already search for clues! ]

Jess got up and put her phone in her pocket. Elton rubbed itself against her legs and she smiled a little. “Don’t worry, Elton. We don’t need to go out to find out who sent it… I’m just going to play along a little, hehehe!”

Him searching for clues turned out to be checking the footprints near the mailbox - a thing he was more than okay with. Because once he was there and has been ‘checking’, there already was an excuse for his footprints to be nearby. Truly, there was no reason to worry, and he could just enjoy a free day with Jess.

About half an hour later, Damien sneaked through the front door and rang the bell to Jess’ place. He already ‘checked’ the ground as promised. Now all of the prints were smeared up and not to make out. Pity.

In his hands, he held two cups with ice cream, wrapped in thin paper. He didn’t have to ask Jess which kind she wanted - he had a feeling that once he picked the most embarassing combination imaginable, it would be all alright.

“I’m coming!” Jess went to open the door for him. She was wearing a nice white dress, with a heart brooch decorating it on one side. She wanted to look her prettiest in such special day. After all, it was the first time someone sent her something for Valentines day - better to reward his eyes, right?

“Hey Damien! So good to see you! Please come in! Did you find any footprints that could tell us who was the mysteryous person sending the Valentines card?”

‘Mysterious person’ is what they were gonna call him - Damien meant to ask, that was, when he wasn’t way too busy frowning at Jess at the time. It was Jess, but something was … OFF. She wasn’t wearing pink - Any pink or shade of it.

“I brought you this” he said instead and pushed the still wrapped ice cream in her hands to hold it for him. He guessed they’d inspect the card first of all things, therefore he’d rather loose his jacket; hence, needed his hands free.

She noticed his frown and chuckled a little. “Thought it would be nice to give you a break from all the pink I usually wear.” she giggled, giving him a playful nudge.

“And thanks! So nice of you.” she added, picking up the ice cream. “I left the card on the table of the living room. Mom went on a date with her boyfriend so it’s just us right now. You can check it, if you want. I trust you.”

Why was she saying that she trusted him now of all times? Was she implying that he couldn’t be trusted? Not trusting this yet, Damien stored the jacket and went ahead, letting her figure out which cup of ice cream was for her. Either the mint and vanilla … or the one with raspberry, cream and red sprinkles.

“To answer your question” he started, walking ahead and talking loud enough for her to hear since there was no one to be considerate for, “Um … Seems mystery guy knows how to hide his tracks. Have you considered he doesn’t want you to find out?” he asked, picking up the card he made not all that long ago. Now his finger prints were on it … a shame.

“If he didn’t want me to find out, he wouldn’t have sent me anything to begin with.” Jess walked after him and rested her chin on his shoulder, looking at the card again. It was really hard not to give up on the game now and tell him the truth, but if they finished it now it wouldn’t be half as fun.

“Notice how he was so careful to cut all those letters and arrange them. I think we should start looking for magazines and newspapers, not only in the building, but in the whole neighborhood. Maybe someone saw something, or perhaps we can find remains in the trash. Any clues could help.”

“He so badly wants you to know, he used at least three different kinds of newspapers to not give away his handwriting … ?” Damien mentioned, hopefully not giving something away she didn’t figure out by herself yet.

“Let’s have ice cream, and then play detectives” he suggested, putting the card down again. He knew what it said, after all.

“Really? Three different kinds? What a good observation! You’re so smart, Damien!” Jess leaned back and handed him his ice cream, while she was ninnling at her own.

“We can go downstairs and see if we can find the remains of those newspapers. Who knows, maybe he isn’t too far away, either!”

“You think he’d done it here? Or lives here?” Damien wondered, not intending to go down just yet. Instead, he sat down on one of the chairs, sinking the plastic spoon in the just slightly melted cream. He didn’t like sweet things all that much, but every now and then and in good company, it was something else entirely.

“You don’t already happen to have a spuspect… ” he wondered, all calm. She’d not believe he came back to the crime scene just like that in case it was him, did she.

“Suspects? What suspects?” That was the quickest way to avoid answering a question that would push her to lie if she wanted to continue the game.

“There isn’t any other kids living in this building except me, so… Either it was an old man with a creepy liking for young girls, or a kid of the neighborhood. There’s a few kids living in the buildings surrounding mine, so it could be anyone. We’ll just have to go downstairs and see if we can find remains of those newspapers.” she added, winking him an eye, and gave another lick to her ice cream. “C’mon! Adventure is out there~!”

Yeah, but he just arrived and has been walking the distance between here and his dad’s place … twice! Not that he could tell her about it, or show …

“Okay.” He shouldn’t be so mean and not do her the favor. He knew there were just that many opportunities for her to leave the house without someone someone to stick nearby. He pulled up the hood of his sweater to cover his ears and got up again; just wondering if he should store the card or not.

Jess picked up the card and placed it into the pocket of her brown coat, which had that pocket close to her heart. Brown over white, she almost seemed a walking chocolate figurine with rosy cheeks and the biggest smile.

“I’m ready! Let’s go!”

“Alright.” Hey, thinking of … maybe that non pink attitude was a good thing today. He didn’t want anyone fron their school to see them out together - especially on a day like this - but with her and him camouflaged, just maybe, it wouldn’t be that bad? It took Damien just a second to put his jacket back on; storing the ice cream on a low table meanwhile.

“Got your keys?” he asked, once ready to go. Not that they couldn’t break back in, but they could also easily avoid it.

“Yes, these are my keys!” she said, showing him the card that both her mother and her used to open the door of the apartment. She saved it in the pocket of her coat as well. It was then when she noticed a black hat on the coat rack. Probably her uncle had forgotten it there a few days ago.

“If we’re going to play detectives, we’ll have to look like some. Here, put this hat on, Damien Holmes. And I’ll be Jess Watson. Now we’re ready to go!”

When it made her happy … he didn’t really mind. Yet, Damien huffed as he turned the hat once in his hands. “Shouldn’t you be Sherlock?” he wondered out loud. After all I’m just a bystander who got dragged into this … “

He raised the hat, ready to put it on her head when she would allow him to.

“Well, if you want me to be Sherlock, I gladly accept~!”

Jess made a playful bow and lowered her head so Damien could put the hat on her head, giggling all the way. She was having so much fun with this! Even if she felt a bit guilty for dragging Damien around like this, she knew the reward she’d give him would make the walk worth it.

“Have a blast” he just asked from her, giving up on the hat. Well then. “Let’s go?” he guessed, smiling a little.

“Let’s go!” Jess took his hand and led the way. It wasn’t long until the two of them were in the street. The girl, with the hat nicely adjusted to the head, made her hair slightly poofy.

“Do you see any clues, Damien? A magazine, some footprints, a candy wrapper that shouldn’t be there… Every clue matters!”

#Damien RP #Damien and Jess RP #RP

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candy-corps · 7 years

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You like Candy?

Jess belongs to @mygardenofmuses

“Do you like candy?”

“I love candy! Especially pink marshmallows and chocolates. Oh, and those ones that look like strawberries, too!” she smiled. “Why do you ask?”

Lets just say … “I have a good source. How much do you like … ” he could barely say it without rolling his eyes, “ - pink marshmallows? Or the strawberry stuff? Enough to trade it for a sandwich? Or apple?” he wondered.

Jess could guess who was that source. She hadn’t forgotten about Bruce and his candies. She smirked a bit, leaning forward.

“Enough to trade for a sandwich would be nice. I don’t think I should trade my apples, though. I must keep my weight in check for the taekwondo classes, after all~!”

Did she have any idea how ‘healthy’ the candy she asked for was, exactly? But yeah, keeping at least some proper things to eat was quite alright with him. Blue should have more healthy things, too, so he’d start to split the candy against real food trading up between the two of them. For now. “Okay.”

#Damien RP #Damien and Jess RP #RP

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candy-corps · 7 years

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Somewhere only we know

Jess belongs to @mygardenofmuses

Christmas had been one interesting time for Jess. She had given Damien a nice sweater with holes carefully crafted for his wings, so he could spread them with ease. And Damien had given her a key. But keys weren’t just decorative, right? Keys were usually meant to open things, and she wasn’t sure what she could open with this one. Damien was very mysteryous about it too… What was he hiding?

That and many other questions ran through her mind today, as she waited for him in the door of her building. He should show up anytime now…

Well, that was just in time. Damien smiled as he spotted Jess already standing here, just looking in the wrong direction. Hands in his pockets, he approached, barely remembering to fix his expression before he spoke up. She shouldn’t know he was happy to see her, especially after all that Christmas drama at home.

“Hi” he greeted her, all casual, and waved his tail behind him.

“Oh, hey Damien! So good to see you!” Jess turned around and smiled, giving him a quick hug. Sure, it wasn’t so long since the last time they had seen each other, but… it just felt nice to be close to him. Releasing him, Jess took out the key of her pocket.

“How are you doing? I’m really excited. Can’t wait to find out what is this key for!”

Damiens hand was still raised as he got hugged. Typical Jess. Not even two seconds passed, and she already got ‘girl’ all over him. He sighed and kept his hands raised even for a while after the hug, acting like he’d been just jumped on by a dog that’s been rolling around in a pile of mud before.

There was a long, long way to go before he’d remotely find that comfortable … But he was still in training, right. Some patience. “You’ll see” he promised with a half smile, and lowered his arms again to store his hands in his jacket. “Sorry to be such a tease. It woudn’t really fit in a box” he excused himself. “It’s this way.” The good thing about winter was that it was cold enough to wear gloves outside, which meant that technically, he wasn’t touching Jess as he took her hand to lead the way. In such a big city, chances were slim that one of their classmates would see them, therefore he didn’t really mind.

She pulled back and smiled. It was nice to have a hand to hold. It wasn’t she didn’t do that with other people, but knowing how touchy Damien was with the things, the fact he didn’t seem angry for her giving him a hug was already something big. And talking about big things…

“Wow! What can be that big that it doesn’t fit inside a box? A giant teddy bear? I’ve always wanted one of those…” she giggled and blushed when he took her hand. Another little thing that, thanks to him, was becoming something wonderful to her. “They’re just too cute.”

“Not that” he ruled out, though he stored that information away for later use. It was good to know what made her happy. Keys usually opened placed, but he didn’t want to drop the hint - she shouldn’t get her hopes up and then get didappointed it was what it was.

They had to use the tram to get there, but with that one going every couple of minutes, it wouldn’t take them long. The factory was nearly on their way to school, which was one of the things that made him pick it.

“You got something on your face” he pointed out and touced his own cheek to show her where.

“Guessed so, since giant bears don’t have room for keys. Mmh… I also thought of a padlock, but that is more like… something a couple would wear.” she tried not to blush at the thought, but the idea of Damien wearing a padlock matching her key was… really adorable in her mind.

“Uh?” she looked up when he made that comment. Jess wiped her cheek, trying to get off whatever it was. “Is it clean now?”

He smirked. She didn’t get it, but it was okay. He had to tease her another day.. “Must be the cold … ” he mumbled as he lead her to the tram station.

“A padlock is a little bit cheesy, ain’t it? They’re easy to pick, too. Not that I’d know ~” he sang and looked away, pretending it was to check the time one the electronic sign where the departure times stood.

“The cold?” Jess cocked her head. She didn’t get it until she took a moment to think. “Oh wait…” Only then she realized what he meant, and she blushed even more. What a smooth teaser he could be!

She giggled at his words. “Just because it seems cheesy it doesn’t mean it’s bad. Cheesy things can be cute.” she answered, and arched one eyebrow. “You’ve got something definitely bigger in mind. Are we anywhere closer to whatever this surprise is? Should I cover my eyes?”

“Maybe not … just yet.” He smiled. The other people at the station and in the tram might get suspicious of them otherwise. He’d led them away from the crowd, aware where it was going to halt and picking a department that was a little less crowded. It didn’t take long until it arrived, They were lucky they could pick the first one right away, though there weren’t many directions it could go otherwise.

“There’s some time to pass. How were you doing the last couple of days?” he wondered. His hold got a bit stronger now that the tram arrived and some people were rushing outside. He’d lead them in as soon as the last one was out.

Jess blushed a bit when his hold tightened. She squeezed gently his hand in return, more to comfort him than anything. Definitely she wasn’t going anywhere, she trusted him to lead the way.

“Pretty well, actually! My Mom presented her last boyfriend to my uncles. They got along well, though uncle Bernard dicovered some bits of Kerberous’s past and he was really upset by this. Good thing Mom was there to calm him down and everything is well now.” she explained, rubbing the back of her head. Maybe Kerberous was ashamed of his past, but she felt that Those terrible events weren’t his fault, at all. “Oh, and I got some presents too! How about you? Did you have a good Christmas, too?”

That sounded chaotic in it’s own way…. but nice. They could find seats in their department and just as he sat and the door closed, Damien dared to let Jess go.

“Dad certainly made an effort. I guess so” he admit. he was a bit sad still that his mom didn’t even bother to show up at all.His dad had kept him busy so he couldn’t fret for long, but it was hard to hide his disappointment now that he was looking back.

Jess was a bit surprised that he let go, but didn’t say anything. Maybe because inside the train, nothing could happen to them, right?

His answered gave her food for questions, especially when she noticed the sadness in his face. If Bruce had made an effort, why was he sad? After a second of hesitation, Jess placed gently her hand over his.

“You look sad. Wanna talk about it?” she asked gently, wishing she could help him, somehow.

Oh? Uhh …. might not be the best place“ he excused himself and let his gaze wander a little. Not like anyone seemed particularly interested in them, except for a kid that found him interesting for some reason and wouldn’t stop staring.

“But I’m good, really” he promised, looking back at Jess while the name of the next station got announced. Just one more.

Jess squeezed gently his hand, if only just to make a point and prove she truly cared for him.

“Alright. You don’t have to tell me now. But if you ever need to talk or rant about anything, you can tell me. I’m here for you.” she said, giving him a soft smile.

Damien left that uncommented, but stored it in your memory for later use. He already saw them in highschool sometime, him taking her aside like ‘remember back in 6th grade when you said we could talk … ‘ and had to smile about that. He had a hard time to open up to people and knew there was a long way to go. Too good this whole thing wasn’t about him then.

“You like taking care of people, don’t you” he asked and raised his hand so hers would drop off his, hopefully. He didn’t mean to be rude, it just turned out to be … personal space time.

“Oh!” Realizing she might be invading his personal space for way too long, she let go of him and blushed a bit. “Well, I… I really can’t recall one sole time in my life when I wasn’t trying to take care of people. It just comes out naturally. Like some kind of instinct, you know?”

At that, his eyes fixed on hers for a moment. Like an instinct, huh. Couldn’t he relate.

“It’s our station” he said then, after a blink, and broke the eye-contact again. He got up before the name was even mentioned through the speakers. “Hush hush” he tried to get her going. His mood brightened, now they were near. he hoped she’d like it… Then again, he was pretty sure she would.

So they managed to not hold hands for what was it, a second? Two? Anyway. He lead her to the door again while the tram slowed down.

Jess wasn’t sure if there had ever been a time when someone stared at her so deeply. It got her to blush again, though she wasn’t sure why.

But his voice woke her up from her moment of awe. “Oh! Right!” she got up as well and followed him. This wasn’t a street she used to visit, despite she recognized it - it was close to their school.

Finally stepping out of the tram, Jess gave him a look full of curiosity. “Where to go now?”

“I guessed it must be boring for you to see the same places over and over again … ” he started, and just pulled on her hand to show where to go. “It’s not the friendliest part of the city, but you won’t have to worry long I’m here” he promised, walking ahead. He’d been here more often than he could count, more often during summer and autumn though.

“Not gonna lie, it gets kind of boring sometimes.” she agreed, thankful to have him guiding her through this area. His words made her smile.

“I know. As long as you’re there, I’ll be safe and sound.” she whispered, squeezing his hand a bit. She could see a supermarket, brick walls of old buildings… “Should I close my eyes now? In case you want to keep a bit of the surprise?”

“Oh, it’s fine. It’s less the building and more what’s inside … ” he started, looking up and thinking. The building was cool, too. “Well.” Using his other hand, he opened the first two buttons of his jacket to loosen his scarf he was wearing a little. It wasn’t too easy but letting go of Jess for even just a second was out of the option, really.

“I don’t really trust you not to peek. Would you mind to ge a blindfold?” he asked, pulling on his scarf. It was one that his dad had made, therefore still smelling of all kinds of sweets. He wondered when the scent would fade, but he had the feeling it would just vanish then mysteriously to come back to his possession a day after, smelling just like it did when he first got it.

“Oiii… Pfff….” Jess couldn’t help but laugh. Damien sure had one elaborate way to way for simple things. She closed her eyes and stood still. “Coming from you, it will be alright. I wouldn’t peek though. Bring it on.”

Great. he had to think when he wasn’t trustworthy, he’d really not like that situation that he put her in - blindfolded in a place she didn’t even know … so he felt a little honored that she trust him so much. He had to teach her sometime that it wouldn’t be good to let someone else do that, though.

Damien let Jess go, but just removed his scarf and got behind her then to put it on. it was pretty wide and thick; kinda perfect for this. “I could use this as leash” it came to his mind. His dad had overdone it - it really was pretty big. “Can you still see?” he asked a little more clearly and made an effort to get back to her side again and take her hand.

“Nope, I can’t see anything at all.” Jess’s hand twitched when she felt his hand. Recognizing his touch, her heart beats relaxed again. “Heh, this scarf smells like candy! What a curious scent. It reminds me of a parfume bottle that my Mom bought me when I was younger.”

The winter breeze was still noticeable, and she shivered a bit. “Will you be alright without your scarf? I don’t want you to catch a cold…”

“We’re nearly there. Guess I’ll survive” he promised; though it was really chilly, especially with his jacket still buttoned down. “And I’m sorry about that; it’s from dad” he admit. She should know by now he had a thing for sweets and everything that smelled like it. It was still warm and he, well somehow liked it, so he’s been wearing it today. “Here.”

He led the way again and held her hand, extra careful now to not let her bump in the next trash can. It was just around the corner here, but they’d have to make their way through a small green patch that led around the wall they’d seen.

“I guessed that much, since it smells like candy - just like him.” she said with a giggle. Jess was thankiful that the scarf was covering part of her cheeks as well - he wouldn’t see her blushing. Because one thing was the smell… and another very different was the warmth she could feel. Damien’s warmth.

Jess followed him, glad that he was guiding her. She couldn’t see anything. Hopefully they’d arrive soon…

“Careful, step - ” he spoke up quietly, after a while. Damien ended up closely next to her, if just to help coordinate both his and Jess’ movements. The sound of an old metal door open and him leading her throuh were the next on their path, once they left the uneven ground. A couple more steps, then …

“It’s really what’s on the inside. You got your key with you?” he asked her, hoping so. He didn’t want to damage the lock or any other entry.

“OK…” Jess trusted him, and lifted her legs a little higher to avoid that step. She noticed his proximity, and a little smile appeared on her lips. It was nice to feel his touch, trying to help her to walk so she didn’t get hurt by accident.

“Yes. I have it here.” Jess took the key out of her pocket.

“Okay good, in that case … ” And he pushed her some steps to the left, clearly adjusting. The empty factory (for whatever really, he still had to find out) was towering above them now in all its glory. Some windows were shattered and the roof was as well, showing a huge hole from what he could just guess, must have been a fight between a hero and villain from some time ago. Plants were growing uncontrollably and the electricy and water was long since turned off. It had something scary, but it was free and the location was great.

“As I say, it’s the inside matters” he warned her again. He couldn’t understand how someone could find the building anything but cool, but … Jess was a girl, after all. He couldn’t always follow her thoughts. “You can take it off when you want.”

“OK…” Jess took off the scarf. After these minutes without light her eyes needed a moment to adjust. But her eyes finally could recognize the shape of what it seemed an old factory.

“Ohhhh… Wow.” She gaped in surprise. Then she turned toward him. “Damien, you got us a secret lair ! This is AWESOME ! HURRAY ! THANK YOU !!!!!!” she began to jump in excitement. “You said the inside it’s what matters, so come on ! I want to explore it all !”

“You got the key” he just said, hands in his pockets. He didn’t even complain that she didn’t give his scarf back yet - she seemed so exited. He’d forgive that new attempt at stealing his clothing… Today. “Door’s that way” he explained, showing her which. The huge door on the side was what he meant, leading straight to the main hall.

“OK, we’ll explore, but first…” Jess took off his scarf and wrapped it gently around his neck. “Put this on first. I don’t want my batboy to get cold.” she giggled. Once the scarf was ready, she lifted the key and offered it to Damien. “Since you are the one who found this place… wanna make the honors and open the door yourself?”

He raised his hands in defense. “It’s your present” he reminded her, smiling.

“Besides, I did a couple times. Had to check if it worked, you know.” And make sure the building was stable enough for their purposes, too.

“Aw, that’s so nice. OK, I’ll do it!” she smiled widely. Placing the key in the door, it just took her a few turns until she heard the clinking sound that showed that the door was open.

She walked into the hall, her eyes widening at the size of the building. “My Lord… this is HUGE. I wonder what were they building in this place…”

“They took the machines and most plates … “ Damien commented, stepping in right after her, and, out of habit, just leaned the door closed instead to shut it. There was some light shining in from the windows and the hole in the roof, to which he pointed, “I guess that’s the reason they closed. But … “ He walked careful ahead, towards the end of the room, “There’s something they forgot” he announced. He didn’t mean to push though - Jess could explore in her own pace.

“My God. That is one big hole… as if one of Megamind’s robots had fallen through it. We’ll have to fix it somewhow if we want to spend more time here.” she commented, before his comment caught her attention.

“There’s more? Show me!” she exclaimed, walking after him.

“After you.” Damien never acted as a gentleman, but this time it was something else. The room had a plate above it, showing a red cross … It was located right next to the hall, so maybe for when a worker got injured from whatever they produced here.

“Dad mentioned something after he visited you, that got me thinking. Open up” he allowed her, stepping aside to let her take the lead and open the door.

“Thank you~” she appreciated his kindness. She couldn’t help but wonder what could be this big surprise. But once she opened the door, everything fell into place.

“It’s… it’s…”

Jess found herself speechless, something rare for a girl who always had answers for everything. This was a medical room! A perfect place to practice and learn more things about her dream job. She looked back to him, his eyes sparkling.

“Oh God Damien, you’re incredible!” Jess opened her arms to hug him, but stopped herself in the last minute, remembering he wasn’t really into hugs. So she settled for something smaller, reaching for his hands and giving them a tender squeeze. “Thank you, thank you so much!”

“Oh it’s … No - No problem” he gave back, smiling at her. He was glad that she liked it. “I happen to practice, too, so dad has enough extras to share in case we use these up. I can also teach you what I know so far - “ he offered.

“I’d love to learn. After all, someone will have to patch you up when heroing gets too rough, mmh?” she giggled, giving him a gentle bump on his arm. Jess looked around, thoughtful.

“In fact… this whole building could be our secret lair! A place where we can practice our best skills. We already have the medical room, we’d just have to work on fixing the ceiling and clean the other rooms. I already see so many things we could do with them!”

“Right?” he agreed, putting his hands back in his pockets and looking around. “We really gotta do something about that hole… but maybe it’s not that bad … “ he thought aloud. He went to the window that faced to the main hall and opened the blinds a little. It certainly added some light to scene, plus he could think of another reason an open roof may be nice …

“For spring and summer, it shouldn’t be a problem. But we still have to deal with January and February, and it’s highly likely that we’ll get more snow. Just look at that white patch right under the whole. As dun as it might be to have snow, it makes this place much colder than it should be. Mmmh.”

Jess looked up, studying the hole. “Blue could lend us a hand with this. He’s good at building things. Now… what could we do there? A big window? Or maybe just cover it up and leave one small entrance so we can have a tiny relaxing spot on the roof?” she suggested.

“ … or we could keep it open” Damien mumbled, thinking aloud to himself. Then, louder, “ - but yeah, maybe just something to keep rain and snow away. I ask him these days.” Maybe when school started again. The roof’s been open for a while, so a few more days won’t hurt, would they.

“This could be like a … training hall” he kept going. When Jess was going to study medicine here, he’d gotta do something too, and he found he needed more training.

“Leave it open in winter isn’t a good idea. The snow only will keep causing more damage to the whole structure, so finding a way to close it is the first step. Now….”

Jess arched an eyebrow at his suggestion. “A training hall? As in… a place to practice more heroic moves?” she inquired. “That’s… a really good idea.” Maybe she could practice her own moves there as well.

Damien’s ears leaned back at that and he felt himself get tense - just out of sheer habit. But they were alone… so it would be okay?

“You are aware that to beat people up is kinda contraproductive when you’re trying to help” he said in a calm tone - just repeating actually what his father had said. “But yeah.” Admittedly. He smiled at that and crossed the hall, picturing it. So maybe Jess was right about the roof, but he didn’t have to let her know. Just ask Blue quietly about a way to fix it.

“…says the batboy who usually punches things by default.” Jess giggled, teasing him a little. “Naaaw, just joking. But being serious now - I think we could train together. My taekwondo moves are pretty good. I could teach you a couple things that you could use to kick bad guys’s butts.” she offered with a smile.

“I know I already gave you that sweater for Christmas - but I’d like to give you more. I mean, you got us A SECRET LAIR! Now my gift feels too small. Is there anything you’d like me to give you? Just ask and I’ll see if I can get it for you!”

“Oh no, no” Damien denied. This was so not about beating the other one’s present. “It’s not that big of a deal. It has a hole” for crying out loud. “And I found it quite a while ago. I liked your present. Both …of them.” Yes, he was still wearing the bracelet she made, though he did it beneath the sleeve of his sweater. He rolled it up so she could see.

It was Jess’s turn to blush. She brought her hands to her mouth, though they couldn’t hide the big smile on her face.

“You… you kept it…” she whispered, feeling extremelly touched. Looking up, Jess closed her eyes, tubbing one of them. She almost cried of happiness. No one had made her felt so valued before. “I’m so happy… Thank you, Damien!”

“Sure i did” Damien gave back, a little confused. That’s what you did with them, didn’t you. Jess seemed to react on it in some way though, so he covered it up again. Maybe … change the topic …

Jess rubbed one of her eyes with one hand, and offered him her free one. “Thank you so much. It’s getting cold here… how about you come home and we get some stuff in our tummies? Mom baked apple pie!”

“Sure … let’s head back.” It wasn’t that early after all, and without any heating, it was just going to get more uncomfortable. Could they start a fire? There was a hole in the roof after all… But it was no pressing matter for today.

“Let’s go then.” Jess took his hand and led the way. “You’ll see, my house is all decorated for Christmas. And while I got you a gift, I wouldn’t be surprised if Mom got some gift for your Dad as well. So we can go home, pick it up, enjoy the pie… You’ll see, it will be so fun!”

She couldn’t stop smiling. A new lair, just for the two of them. A place where they could be whoever they wanted to be. These Christmas were the best!

He, pie? He thought she wanted to get home to grab some herself. it still surprised him when Jess planned for him, too, in situations like that.

It also didn’t make sense for him that Grace would get his dad a present, but that he could live with. he didn’t fully know who his father was affiliated with and who not. “Al…right” he guessed, letting Jess take the lead. It was okay she took his hand because had she not done it, he’d have anyway. He didn’t want her to get lost again and was lad she was considerate.

#Damien RP #Damien and Jess RP #RP

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candy-corps · 7 years

Text

Christmas Mistletoe

Jess belongs to @mygardenofmuses

As they arrived to her apartment after school, Jess was surprised to see a tiny mistletoe branch hanging from the ceiling, right in front of her door. She blushed a lot and looked down. Tradition said you should kiss the person standing under the mistletoe with you, but…

This was Damien!

Hm? Something was off with Jess’ face. Damien concluded that was the reason that she was looking down, but following the direction her gaze had went before that act, he soon found the true root of the problem.

Stupid plant, making her uncomfortable. This was not what they were going for. Damien looked back at Jess, hoping she’d look back at him soon, too. “I keep quiet about it when you do” he promised. “Or I tear it down” he offered, looking back up again for a second, gauging the distance.

“No, no! No need to tear it down!” Jess raised her hands. “I think my Mom probably put it there so she can make out with her boyfriend… We can keep quiet about it… or kiss…” she looked away, blushing even more.

“B-but I’m OK keeping quiet over it, really!” she bit her bottom lip.

“Ffff… ” She didn’t look like she wanted to kiss him. Facing away was one bad sign. He didn’t know much, but one should look towards another, right?

Maybe she was just bad at it, too. The thought amused him.

“I won’t mind when you don’t mind.” It was just one silly custom. Felt like something normal to do. And no matter how unappealing she might find his form, he returned the favor times two. She did wear pink a lot.

Jess blushed even more. Truth to be told, she had been avoiding the kiss because she thought he’d be mad at her if she dared to kiss him. But over the last months she could see that Damien wasn’t angry all the time. Maybe she worried for nothing. His looks didn’t matter to her - him being upset, yes. But if he was OK with this… There was nothing stopping her.

“Oh, in that case…” she smiled, not realizing she was smiling. “I don’t mind.” she bit her thumb, just realizing one thing.

“I… I just kissed a boy once, so I don’t have too much experience on these things. Just so you know…” she whispered, leaning forward a little.

Her heart was beating a little faster. He was her friend… There was no reason to be nervous, right? Then, why was she blushing so much?

Okay … Too much information for his taste, already. Should one care? He worried about growing up right now. Sounded stressful.

Long as she won’t bite, he thought, amused at that image. Before one could make any more fuss about that than any necessary he stepped forward. They were on somewhat the same height, so that was good, he guessed. Just her nose was in the way. All about this was somehow wrong.

Why did people do that?

But he tilted his head and see there, that might work.

It was awkward. He could still see her eyes, and they were brown and it was strange to see them from that up close. Plus, she was breathing on him. Again, how came people found something appealing in this? He frowned.

She shouldn’t be so nervous about this. It was just a kiss. Jess blinked, forcing herself not to think of that stolen kiss years ago. Thinking of it… This was different. There was consent in here. It was something both were doing. Maybe… maybe that stolen kiss shouldn’t count at all.

Which meant this could be her first, real kiss. Did kissing a friend counted? A shiver ran down her spine as she tilted her head, hoping the noses wouldn’t be a problem. Now he was so close, she could see his lips. They looked… actually very nice. Kind of kissable. She blushed even more at the thought. Maybe, if he could hold her hand, this would be a little easier…

She closed her eyes and leaned forward, hoping the mint candy she had been eating on her way home gave her a least a good breath.

Now he couldn’t see her eyes anymore. Oh right! Damien closed his, too. He saw it in a commercial.

He kissed her like he’d kiss a kitten on its head, just, well, on her lips. It was significantly less furry. Instead, more warm. Slightly moving. Nice?

“Hm.” That wasn’t all that terrible. In fact, his tail was waving a little as he leaned back again. He still didn’t know if it was bad, though. “We don’t have to do that each time I get you home, do we” he wondered instead, looking up again to the plant. It was placed right under her doorway and they found themselves standing there quite regularly, after all.

Here it comes. Here it comes. Here it co-

And then, warmth.

This was the very first time Jess kissed a non-human boy, yet… it felt completely right. Almost as if it was if it was meant to be. Less furry than expected, surprisingly gentle, really warm and… actually, very nice. She felt her heart melting in the process, and an inmense warmth filling her whole being.

Before she could collect her thoughts, the kiss was one. She stare at him in awe for a few seconds, completelly starry-eyed, until his voice made her come back to reality. She touched her own lips.

“I… I don’t know. We don’t have to… if you don’t want to. I’ll be alright with whatever you decide.”

Truth to be told, she wasn’t sure how to feel. This kiss had been… amazing. But kisses were something only couples did, right? And they were friends. However, this brief kiss had made her aware that Damien wasn’t only a friend. He was a boy as well. And he had some great things on him…

Damien kept looking up. The mistletoe would just hang there for some time around Christmas, right? That wasn’t long … and he didn’t bring Jess home every day.

A silly custom. Yet, something he liked for some reason. Smirking a little, he looked back at Jess again. Her face still looked funny, but it was way better than before. “See you tomorrow?” he asked, putting his hands in his pockets.

“Oh, yes! Sure!” Jess smiled widely. She wasn’t sure why, but she still felt warm and happy deep inside. Really, really happy. So much, that she failed to find the doorknob a few times. “I’ll be waiting. See you tomorrow, Damien.”

She bit her bottom lip. Somehow, the pain she had suffered during the last six months now seemed just a bad dream. Something very, very far away from her right now. It was amazing.

“See you tomorrow, Jess” he replied, and forgot that he should move. Instead he just kept standing there, gaze shifting from her to the doorknob and back as she finally managed to grab it. Wow. Thank goodness he brought her up here, today. She seemed slightly absent-minded.

Thinking of it. He chuckled, and then turned, going to go. He’d take the stairs today - some training would do him some good.

Jess smiled at him finally walked inside her apartment. The young teen didn’t even realize how weird it was that the door was open. She closed it after her, then leaned against it. She touched her lips again and blushed.

Definitely this counted as her first kiss. And it warmed her heart to see it was with someone who cared about her.

Suddenly she saw a pair of fuzzy slippers standing in front of her. Jess looked up, and realized her mother was there, smiling widely.

“M-mom! How long have you been there?!”

“Enough to see that smooch through the door, little Casanova~” Grace smirked, winking her an eye. “Soooooooo is he your boyfriend now?”

“WHAT?! MOM!!!!! Oh God, you’re terrible!” Jess laughed and shook her head. “You arrived home early… mmmh, do I smell chicken?”

“Yes, just finished cooking it. Why don’t we sit down and you tell me more about that kissy, mmh?”

“Moooooom!” Jess laughed and walked to her room. “Maybe later. I’ve got some stuff to do first…”

Like letting Bernie know. We need a Girls Afternoon ASAP!, she thought, as she picked up her cellphone. Good things had to be shared.

#Damien RP #Damien and Jess RP #RP

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candy-corps · 7 years

Text

Plans for the Future

Jess belongs to @mygardenofmuses

After meeting Paleta during the break, Jess felt a little more better. It was good to see that Bernadette wasn’t the only girl who understood her pain. She curled up a little. It wasn’t that cold yet and the room was still warm, so she felt a bit sleepy. But there was no time for naps, the end of the classes would arrive very soon…

Yeah, so that didn’t work out. Damien was in a bad mood. The one time he actually was in favor of teamwork … and then that. Since Tom didn’t want to see Jess alone, he could pretty much cross him out of the schedule for now. All of a sudden he felt like doing things alone. He didn’t even feel like asking Blue for help anymore. He’s not been very helpful to involve Tom and Lucy during the break, after all…

Changing plans, he just wrote a note on the side of his paper. ‘Wait up for me after classes were over’ was all it said, but he turned it after a second thought and added ‘Make it look unsuspicious’. Better. He made a ball out of it. Sitting in the very back, he was pretty safe to stay uncaught, throwing it across the room. He just waited for a moment the teacher faced away and then threw it straight at the back of Jess’ head. Because in case he was caught, he’d rather look like a bully than to let it get unfolded and read out aloud.

Jess woke up from her nap when something hit her head. She turned around, frowning, and noticed that Blue was pointing at Damien. So Damien had thrown it? His expression seemed to confirm it. She looked down and noticed the paper ball. It seemed something was written into it…

She picked it up and opened it to read it quickly. What could Damien want to tell her? She wrote an ‘OK, will do.’ in the back of the piece of paper. As soon as the teacher turned around to face the blackboard again, she threw the paper ball back at him.

Stupid girl, but at least the teacher didn’t notice. Two other classmates that weren’t just as into the tasks they were given themselves at the moment did though, and so Damien ignored the piece of paper that landed not far from his chair. He kept sitting, looking busy, until eventually his tail moved forward to pull the paper ball close.

Lets see. He picked it up and made a face. He didn’t need a confirmation! Now that it got personal, he made a plane to send it flying at her back, but the first students started packing their stuff back in their bags. Classes were going to be over. Well, it was her lucky day. He packed his things as well, including the half finished schedule for Jess.

“I’ll stay a while longer. See you tomorrow” he said his goodbyes to blue, just before the bell began ringing.

Jess noticed the paper plane and picked it up. The classes were pretty much over by now, so there was no point into sending one back - she just could talk with Damien now. So she started to pick up all her things and waited until the teacher left to go talk with him.

Noticing Jess was approaching, Blue threw his bag over his shoulders and smiled to Damien. “Good luck with Jess, buddy. Call me if you guys need anything. See you tomorrow!” He waved at Jess on his way out, and left the classroom along the other kids.

Jess finally reached Damien’s table. She hid her hands behind her back, a little nervous. Had she done something to annoy Damien?

“Hey… you wanted to talk with me?” she mumbled, biting her bottom lip.

“In a second” Damien said calm, taking his time with packing his things. He’d rather wait until all the others were gone before leaving with Jess himself, to be true. Thankfully, the other students didn’t exactly mean to stay in the room for much longer. School was over, after all. He also might have worried too much. Well.

“Did you have something to eat? I have an apple left when you’d like one.” He knew she spend the last break in the girls room, and he doubted she’d actually eaten in there.

“Just a lollipop…” Jess mumbled. She was about to tell him he didn’t need to worry, when her stomach let out a loud growl. Good thing everyone had left by now! She blushed and gave him an apologetic smile.

“An apple would be wonderful. I’m starving.” she confessed, rubbing her arm. Maybe Damien had noticed she had avoided the cafeteria. It would be the first guy doing that…

He knew it. “Treat yourself” Damien announced, putting it on his desk in front of her and getting up now finally to shoulder his backpack.

“Is someone going to pick you up?” he wondered. Not going by his still non existing schedule, no, but maybe Jess made other plans since the last time they spoke. He just wanted to make sure.

“No. Mom had a photo session today until three o’clock, so I was thinking to take the bus, buy something in the market and chomp on it until my hunger was sated. But I’d be more than happy to try new things. What do you have in mind?” she asked, taking the apple.

“Thank you for this, by the way.” she whispered before taking a good bite.

“Thank my dad. I stole - uh - “ It wasn’t stealing when you got it from your parents, right, “ - got it from him. Good then. Tag along” he instructed, walking ahead and out of the room. He wanted to show her something, but for that they had to get to the highest floor. The short break between classes was about to be over and some poor souls that had another class this afternoon were mostly headed to their rooms until now. They’d not even stick out, looking like pupils that just meant to get to their classrooms.

“Your dad gave you an apple? That’s new. I thought he only ate candy.” Jess whispered, walking by his side. She took another bite from the apple. Walking with Damien always gave her this comforting feeling. As if she had nothing to fear while he was present.

“May I ask where are we going? Or is it a surprise?”

“I show you my hideout” he revealed. “My old hideout - I don’t need it anymore, so you can have it.” He decided so right after lunch time. As usual, he took the stairs and not the elevator - it took too long and would look very suspicious when they ran into any teacher they knew.

“It’s free during lunchbreaks and safe during classes and before and after school. In the time in between you gotta be careful, but no one will expect you there, so don’t sweat it in case someone comes in” he explained, climbing up the stairs and looking out of a window he passed, distracted by a bird flying by.

Definitely he had noticed she wasn’t in the cafeteria earlier. Chances were Blue had told him… She silently thanked the blue alien. He had contributed to this. But all the merits belonged to Damien. Others would have forced her to return to the real world - but not him. He respected her need for privacy.

“T-thank you, Damien… I don’t know what to say… Just… thank you. Thank you, really.” she bit her bottom lip and hugged herself. Oh, how she wanted to give him a ‘thank you’ hug! But she respected his need for personal space. “Probably I’ll use it mostly during lunchbreaks. Thank you, really.”

“Don’t sweat it.” He didn’t want to get thanked. He took the last stair. “Hiding on the toilet is just fun a week or two and it’s too good of a hideout to let it get wasted.” … right.

Sure as he sounded as he explained Jess the safe times earlier - as he took the last step - making sure he walked ahead - he hesitated anyway and listened intently to check if anyone would be around. There wasn’t.

Their destination was a door with not even a sign next to it. It was basically just a storage, so there seemed no need to. Damien reached to his back to a small pocket on the side of his backpack, where he took out what must have been a plastic card long ago. It was a little worn out from the various uses and smoothed out on the sharp edges where he cut out a little piece out of the square.

“It’s not locked, but you can’t turn the doorknob, see" he began to explain, reaching for it and rattling on the door, provong his point. “I need your hand” he went on, reaching his out without making a fuss about it. Up here there was no one to would see, so.

Jess couldn’t help but blush. It seemed Damien had been keeping an eye on her… That thought was oddly flattering. And he needed her hand? Maybe it was to teach her to movements to unlock that door. Yes, that made sense.

“OK…. Yes, I can see it. OK. Yes.” she nodded, and offered him her hand. She looked up to the door, then back to him. “How did you know I was hiding in the bathrooms? Was I being that loud…?”

Well that was weirdly nostalgic. Damien put the card in Jess’ hand and made her fingers hold it, leading her to unlock the door. It was easy enough - all she had to do was remember that movement. The door opened a split the second they pulled the card back out between the door and its frame, but -

“Now you try” he instructed, pulling it closed again right away. There was no real use to it when she won’t be able to open the door up herself. “And Blue said so” he answered, just by the way. He forgot where he got it from or if he had mentioned, busy with Lucy at that time.

Jess felt a shiver running down her spine when he touched her. It was so, SO rare that Damien touched her. The last time he had done it, she wasn’t even conscious. But now he was doing it and… it seemed that it didn’t annoy him? Maybe the presence of other people was the problem, and not her…

She nodded and tried to save in her mind the movement Damien was teaching her. The second time, when she had to repeat it alone, she wasn’t so sure if the door would open, but it did.

“I did it.” she whispered, a big smile peeking to her lips. She looked back to him, still smiling, the detail about Blue now forgotten. “I did it~!”

Okay, he couldn’t help it - he smirked, amused. She was so happy about such an easy thing. Was this how he looked like back when his mom showed him how to do it?

“I’ll make myself a new one. Keep that card” he allowed, nodding towards it. He then pressed his palm against the door to push it open this time. The interior was less than amazing - just a couple of shelves with worn-out school books, two big windows at the opposite wall and stacked up chairs and tables in the corner, apparently spares or broken ones that no one bothered to repair or throw away either. Still, definitely an improvement compared to the girls room, or so he would guess.

“Thank you…” Jess felt touched for the gift. She saved it into her pocket and smiled to him. “Thank you so much.”

When she walked in, Jess’s mind began to work. Some of those chairs and tables couldn’t be saved, but the spares were just perfect. The books could be interesting, she’d have to take a look later. The windows were perfect - if she could open them, getting rid of the dust should be easy. And she’s have plenty of room to turn this place into a good hideour of her own.

“This has a lot of potential…” she whispered, and smiled to him. “If we arrange it a bit, it could become not only a hideout for me, but… our own secret cave! Like Superman’s fortress of solitude, but smaller. A perfect shelter for a hero in training and his potential sidekick. It could be awesome!”

Oh right. Girl. Damien raised his hand and shut the door right after them. He didn’t need anyone to overhear, slim as the chances were. “No rearranging anything” he broke the bad news. “ - or someone would notice that someone’s been here when something was off. There is though … ” he went on, walking to the stacked-up-tables with the chairs arranged around and over them, “ … some potential on places that no one would see. Was what I was thinking.”

On the other hand though, he hasn’t been up here in weeks. He looked under the table to check it, but the mat he stole from the gym was still there, and so, as it seemed, was the box with snacks and tools in it. That was a relief. Even the lamp he attached with tape on the table above was in place, the cable leading to a wall socket that was hidden in the corner. He used it to recharge his phone here on more occasions than he could count.

“Step ahead of you regarding cave” he guessed, giving Jess space to take a look herself.

“Aww. Oh well.” Jess appreciated his honesty. This was his place after all. It was like renting, just… not money involved. She followed him, observing with detail all the stuff that wasn’t easy to appreciate at first sight.

“This is really incredible. The mat, one good touch, and that thing with the socket, it’s brilliant. It’s… it’s almost as if you had been living here. Wait.” she stopped with his last words, and looked at him in awe. “So you were living here before?”

“Now and then” he admit and put his palm on her forehead to make her stop looking at him. He didn’t like her to right now, even when it was for no reason in particular. Letting go again, he looked over to the side where the windows were, pointing below them, to the heaters. “These work, but try not to overdo it and put the setting back when you leave - again, no one should notice that something is off.” It was getting colder, so it was better she knew.

“Questions?” That was kinda it about his secret hideout. The tour was short, but what to do.

She nodded and blinked when he put his hand on her face. The touch was enough to make her blush. She wondered what he was trying to do. Maybe it was one of those bat things. Or was he checking her temperature, to ensure there weere no medical reasons that made her hide in the bathrooms? Either way, she could ask, since he pulled back very soon.

Jess paid her whole attention to his next words. It was good to know her new hideout had a heater - the bathrooms could be rather cold sometimes.

And finally, the moment of questions arrived. Part of her wanted to ask “Why are you doing all of this for me?”, but given how he had stopped her from looking at him a moment ago, Jess guessed he wouldn’t like such a straightforward question about his feelings. So better not to ask something like that. And she didn’t have any inmediate questions about the place, so…

“Right now, no. But, can I ask you in case anything comes up later?”

He shrugged and walked up to the windows to take a look outside. The view had changed since the last time he got up here. “Sure. You have my number. Plus we’ll see another, will we. I didn’t intend to leave you up here, alone. When you’re like … cool with it” he added, peeking back at her.

I didn’t intend to leave you up here, alone.

His previous acts of kindness had impressed her already, but this was the cherry on top of the cake. She felt incredibly touched. A crimson blush filled her whole face, and a giddy giggle escaped her. Boy, it was really hard not to hug him right now.

“Of course we’ll see each other, we are in the same class, and… it would be great to have you around. In fact, I… I do feel better you’re around. You’re a really good person, Damien.” she finally looked up, smiling shyly. “Thank you, really.”

Oh. “No problem” he assured, smirking again, if a little lighter than the first time. “Let’s get you home then” he suggested, heading back to the exit. There was time today, yes, but as long as the schedule wasn’t set up, he should not waste all too much of it.

He was smiling too? Definitely today it was a day of firsts. Not a bad thing, though, she usually loved new things.

“Yes, that will be the best. Don’t want my Mom to worry.” she chuckled a bit. It was then when a thought hit her. “Damien, I was wondering… Are you alone when you arrive home? As in… I know your dad works at night, so I assume he’s asleep now… Or does he wake up to cook the lunch and so on?”

Sure, this was a bit of personal question, but there was a good reason behind it. If he was alone and so was she, nothing stopped her from inviting him to lunch with her. It was the least she could do to thank him for such generous gift.

“Uh … ” It wasn’t the fact that it was personal, really. He just had to think about it, which made him hesitate for a second before he opened the door again to get out. “I guess I’m abouttofindout” he mumbled, walking ahead.

Since when was this about him, though. “You?” Wait, since when did he act interested. He meant to kept the door open for Jess. Not out of kindness but just because it was easier.

He didn’t know? That was a little strange. It crashed a bit with her idea, but… perhaps it wasn’t too late to talk about it. They still had a long way to go to her apartment, after all.

She did notice those little bits of kindness, and felt her heart melting a little.

“Well… It depends. Being an actress, my mom’s schedule can change very fast. There will be days where she doesn’t have to work, so she’s home when I arrive from school. But there’s also days where she’s caught in photo sessions, interviews or recordings of new adds, and she might not come until the evening. In those days I’d eat with Bernie or alone, like today.”

She rubbed her arm and bit her bottom lip. “If you want, we could eat together today.”

“Nah, I had lunch with the others already. Maybe tomorrow?” he offered instead. They’d be up here during lunchbreak when all was going well.

He closed the door behind her again to be sure it was locked, and went back to the staircase again. “Lucy might show up as well, I told her to call you. Maybe Tom” but he wasn’t sure about that one. He seemed a lot like he had some issues to work through, and he’d rather have him do that away from Jess right now, to be true.

“Others? You mean Blue and Minion?” Jess asked, not suspecting what he would say next. She got along with those two, so eating with them shouldn’t be a problem…

But then he said that name, and she froze in fear. “NO. No no no no. I don’t want to talk to her. I’m not going to the cafeteria. Nope.” she frowned. “She already hurt me enough and didn’t even seems to regret it like Tom does. I don’t want to talk to her.”

Jess turned back to look at the door of the hideout Damien had shown her. “I prefer to eat in your hideout during lunch. It’s safer in there.”

“Well that was the plan?” Damien asked, turning around in confusion when Jess didn’t follow and also started to … something. “I think she meant to visit you. Isn’t that what you wanted?” Well now he was confused. Also what, Lucy hurt her? This was making less and less sense.

“Calm down. You don’t have to do anything. School just started again” after all. He took two steps further down, hoping she’d follow when he went ahead.

Jess put her hands over her head. Panicking wouldn’t do her any good, but the idea of Lucy getting close, while it was necessary, it terrified her too. Funny how just a person could hold so much power, that her name alone was enough to shake Jess’s mind.

“I was hoping she’d come home in private and maybe apologize, but she didn’t do it, and it’s been… months… since the camping…” she was breathing too fast, one would think she was about to hyperventilate. Fear had a tight grip on her and she couldn’t move.

“I meant… Her actions… and Tom’s… even if it wasn’t on purpose… their actions and choices… hurt my feelings. I’m… I’m afraid… it might happen again…” She shook her head and looked down. Feeling this vulnerable wasn’t something she liked, and she wished not to feel like this, but she couldn’t help it. “I’m scared, Damien… I… I don’t want to get hurt again…” she confessed.

Was that some girl stuff? It did sound suspiciously like some. And he could feel Jess’ anxiety affect him, which in return, was stretching his patience. “Okay. I mean, she meant to talk to you. I gave her your number during break earlier. Text then. Whatever … ” It was her thing. Damien kept going now, whether she followed or not. There was not much to go instead though, so he didn’t worry.

“You did what?! Oh my God… I… I can’t do this…” Knowing that extra bit of information just made her fear increase. She wasn’t ready to deal with her - and definitely not via text, not right now.

Even if the young teen knew that avoiding Lucy wouldn’t fix the situation, right now her fear was stronger than her will. She didn’t even move from her spot. It was almost as her feet were glued to the ground. And the worst was that she was beginning to feel overwhelmed - something that her psychologist had warned her about.

Avoid anything that will overwhelm or stress you if you can, Jess. Being exposed to stressing factors might cause you another episode, and we don’t want to give another scare to your family, right?

“I… I need to go home…” she whispered, fidgetting a little. She began to walk, though her steps were heavy and slow. She tried to focus her mind in her father’s garden. Her happy place. A place wherre she would be safe and sound. A place where no one would hurt her.

Damien clenched his teeth and waited, no idea Jess’ illness was giving her problems. Couldn’t he do one thing right here? She said she wanted to talk to Lucy, so sure he gave her Jess number to do so. He checked his phone, but there was no message from Lucy on it, so he didn’t have her number just yet to call er off. This was just so annoying …

“That’s the idea?” he called up once he heard what Jess said. Girl was making little sense today … wait. “You okay?” He looked up and finally went back to meet her half way.

“I’m sorry…” Jess covered her face. She didn’t want him to see her in this state, where she was such a mess. The girl could see he was doing an effort trying to help her, but her feelings weren’t that easy to control when there was so much guilt and fear in her mind. “I… I do want to talk with her and, at the same time, I don’t… I know it’s contradictory… I… I just… don’t know how to handle this…”

She rubbed her eyes, forcing herself not to cry. If she was alone, or with Bernadette, nothing would stop her from doing so. But this was Damien. She needed to keep it together. She had to be strong for him.

“I’ll… I’ll be fine… I just had a little moment of panic… but I’ll be fine…” she whispered, finally reaching him. “Thank you for taking all these efforts, Damien… I… I appreciate it…”

Sigh. “No problem” he assured, thinking about what to do. He didn’t make anything better yet, did he. He was still a failure at this whole being a hero thing. All he knew was how to be bad … and selfish.

So he went with that. As long as Jess was still some stairs above him, he took her at the middle and broke her balance to carry her over his shoulder instead to let her go alone. He felt it was safer.

“AAAHHHHH!” she squeaked, not expecting him to touch her and lift her like that. What was going on?!

In one hand, feeling blessed because Damien had decided to break his personal bubble to touch her. In the other hand, he was… holding her like a bag of potatoes?

Maybe it was another of those bat things…

“Huh… Wh-what are you doing?” she asked, a little confused.

“I carry you down. Maybe home, we see. Training” was his excuse. Once sure she was secure, he turned and took the first steps - unexpectedly bumpy with the additional weight. he had to get used to it, somehow.

He was determined, though. When he didn’t manage anything else yet today, he’d do at least this little thing - bring her home.

“Being carried sounds like a great idea… May I suggest an alternate way to carry me?” Jess had to stop herself from giggling. Boy, how could Damien be this adorable? Between carrying her like this, and how bumpy the road would become, she almost had forgotten what had made her so anxious in first place.

“I mean… You may not see them, but anyone seeing us might see my underwear from this angle… my jeans tend to slip a bit…”

“Urgh … ” he groaned. Sure she’d find a way to turn this turn bad, too. Though it wasn’t her fault, really. “And your suggestion would be - ?” he asked, letting her go as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

“I could push you in front of me too.” An option that seemed actually tempting.

“I was thinking that maybe, carrying me in your arms intead of just over the shoulder could help you to keep balance more easily, since my weight would be divided between both of your arms. Besides… most hero comics carry ladies like that…” she comment, a little smile peeking to her lips.

Yes, she could walk… but the idea of being carried sounded just as good. And she was curious. Would he actually do the thing?

He thought about it for a second. “I think pushing will be fun.” He stepped aside to let her walk in front of him and accept her fate today. Too late he remembered to pull his tail back too so Jess wouldn’t step on it on accident.

“Eeek!” Jess lost balance with the sudden shift and almost fell on his tail, but her instinct made her reach to grab the closest firm thing or person that could give her some support…

And that was Damien.

Suddenly he was too close. Like, too close. Just a few inches. She gasped, blushed and released him quickly. What the hell had happened?

“Huuuhhh I’m feeling much better I think I can walk on my own….!” she was talking very fast as she walked downstairs.

“Just … watch your step” he replied, the bridge of his nose feeling warmer than it should. Stupid girl with her stupid legs tripping over his stupid tail in this stupid school on this stupid day all of a sudden. He crossed his arms and followed her. The sooner they were out here, the better. He felt like washing himself. Too much contact with that girl. How was that supposed to continue? Looking after her for all week? How the hell… ?

“Y-yes… thank you…” she nodded, touching one of her cheeks. Jess was surprised to find it so warm. What was happening here? And why did she feel like his eyes actually… beautiful?

Overall, this strange feeling was more please than her previous moment of panic, but this was a emotion she didn’t understand yet. Maybe it was just gratitude. He had given her a place to hide, he was trying to help her, he even had been able to break his personal bubble in her presence… All these amazing, wonderful things that she didn’t think she’d live to see.

She looked back at him for a moment and smiled quietly. Despite his rough exterior, it seemed Damien was a really sweet person deep inside.

They walked a while like that, finally finding out the building. It was strange for students to leave at this time - before the last bell rang and so long after the last short break was over - but there was no one there to mind and so they stayed unnoticed. Encouraged by that, Damien walked up to actually stay at Jess’ side. Their classmates would be long gone by now.

“Remember I meant to put up a schedule?” he wondered, though he was sure she did. They had that talk not all that long ago, after all. “To pick you up and back to school. It kinda … didn’t went plain perfect” he admit with a side glance to her. “Blue and Lucy kept fighting … Tom gave himself all the blame … Kinda looking forward to spend lunch upstairs tomorrow” he admit. “ - I mean, in case you want to. We can go back to the cafeteria any time … ” he promised. Hiding forever wasn’t the goal here, after all.

She nodded. “Yes, you mentioned something like that. About Blue… Watching your old crush dating someone else is like putting salt on a open wound. Maybe it’s that… or perhaps he was just having a bad day. Remember how Mrs Fernzeuger critiqued his last paper in front of the class? I noticed he was rather grumpy after that hour.” she commented, and bit her bottom lip. “Knowing Blue, he’ll be better tomorrow. He never stays grumpy for too long.”

“I know about Tom doing that… I told him it wasn’t his fault but it seems he’s still stuck in that…” she sighed and bit her thumb. She wasn’t sure how to help him. “At least Tom is easier to deal with and we actually can have a conversation that doesn’t feel awkward. Maybe we could… I don’t know, maybe videogame afternoon, Tom, you and me?” she suggested. “I’m not ready to go back to the cafeteria yet… but eventually I’ll go there. Don’t know when. But I’ll go.”

“Okay.” He was actually positive he could scratch up that much patience. He frowned a little now that Jess mentioned it. He hadn’t thought Blue would bother himself about that. True, he’d turned to a wrong way that time, but he was smarter than the whole class put together. Maybe he was a little more delicate as he thought. As, as it turned out, happened to be a bunch of people in his close environment lately.

“Maybe … videogame afternoon” he agreed and ruffled his hair with a hand. He’d loose some advantage as it was. “I’ll talk to my dad.” Maybe he could count it off as some hero training, who knew. But he definitely had to have an eye on his own schedule, too.

Jess smiled to him gently. She could tell Damien was doing a big effort to help everyone. “Don’t feel forced to do it if you don’t want to, Damien. It’s just an idea to help Tom. But I’m open to listen other ideas.”

She bit her thumb. “You can also drag Tom to a ‘boys night’ with Blue and you. I’m not sure if boys have sleepovers like girls do… But I think it could do him some good spend time without girls. I’m not talking just about me… Girls, in general, can be complicated. So some ‘boys time’ could be a good chance for all of you to get to know each other better, maybe… I don’t know. What do you think?”

He thought that Tom hid behind Lucy when he felt pressured during lunch breaks and that he barely even knew the guy, but was sure he was alright without getting help from an 11 year old. “Why can’t we just … do things as we … did … before the camp?” he wondered. “Wasn’t that good?” He knew it was for him. He could tell because he didn’t have to wage how many days a week he necessarily needed a full night’s sleep to function.

“Because it’s complicated. Feelings were revealed. Truths are in the open. Emotional wounds need time to heal.” Jess explained, rubbing her arm. She could understand Damien’s point of view. Everything had become a whole lot more complicated because of her illness, her feelings… she was a problem. A nuisance, probably.

“If I lost my memories about loving Tom, it’s possible things would be different. Tom wouldn’t feel guilty, because I wouldn’t suffer. I’d be able to be friends with Lucy, because I wouldn’t remember I was rejected… Everything would be easier…” Jess bit her bottom lip. “Maybe I should ask Bernadette to erase my memories with her magic. Or just change them. That way, I’d stop being a problem to everyone.”

“Yeah … … ” He tried, really. “ … I don’t see how that helps Tom or … anybody else.” He looked at her like - no offense! - but … what … was that.

“His issues ain’t yours, just saying. In my opinion we all did our part to mess things up … but you, actually. Not your fault you’re sick?” he shrugged with one shoulder. “We should have kept an eye out. Not put all supervision on Bernadette alone. How’s she doing?” he wondered now. He didn’t talk to her before the camp, and also not after. But from what he heard she and Jess must be close.

Jess hugged herself, looking down with a sad smile. “I often feel like a problem. True, it isn’t my fault I have these mental issues… But they are still a problem…”

The girl blinked at the mention of her friend. “Bernie says she’s fine, but… I think she’s sacrificing herself a lot. She used to be close to Lucy, but after the camp things got so awkward between them and they aren’t talking at all… I don’t think Bernie is completelly alright. But see, this is part of her personality, she struggles to be the strongest because she knows the impact she has in everyone. She’s very brave… but it worries me she might get hurt and keep her mouth shut about it. It wouldn’t be the first time she suffers in silence.”

Damien just sighed and went on. Why couldn’t one person be okay? He looked up at the sky and continued their way, now finally off of the schoolground. It wasn’t that long since the camping had ended, but right now it did seem like an eternity away.

Jess caught that sigh and looked down. When she heard how everyone was suffering lately… how was she not going to feel like SHE was the problem?

Wait, no! Negative thoughts, go away! She shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing. Her stupid brain was messing with her again. At least this time she had managed to stop those thoughts in time.

“I’m so sorry for all of this, Damien.” she whispered, clutching handfuls of her clothes. At least she wasn’t alone. That was great. “How can I reward you for all the efforts you’re doing? Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Hm … ” He thought about it. “Actually … Try to stay away from trouble, maybe. Tom and his issues, and Blue’s with his, Bernadette, Lucy, everyone - just, just … They’ll live. I try to figure something out” he promised, rubbing his temples. “I’m sorry this has to happen now of all times… but leave it to me and it’s gonna be good.” He’d beat up every single one personally when they wouldn’t cut it out around Jess.

She rubbed one of her eyes, feeling incredibly touched. What a pure, dedicated, generous guy he was.

“OK. I can do that.” she whispered. “I know Bernie is careful and she’s very strong… Blue… we both know he can be grumpy one day and smile the next. And then… the lovebirds are the only ones who worry me. You don’t need to apologize… I’m not sure what will happen, but…”

Jess bit her bottom lip. It was bold to do this, it was incredibly bold, but she felt that touch was the only way to actually make a point. She placed carefully one of her hands on his shoulder.

“I believe in you, Damien. You are everyone’s hero. And I’m so thankful to have you here…” Oh boy, was she getting carried away by her feelings? She did want to give him a hug…

“O-uh….kay” he replied after a while, gaze fixed on her hand in his personal space. Well, that was brave. He couldn’t exactly hit her for it at the moment,, so it was also a little unfair. But … okay then.

“Blue and Bernadette get a pass. Tom or Lucy get near you - and I’m speaking of a 15 meter radius - … they’re done for. You can tell the others about the hideout too. But - just when you wanted” he added. No stress. He kept still while she was touching him, waiting for her to let go before they’d continue their walk. Damien headed for the subway, knowing Jess’ place was pretty far away from school.

Jess released him, noticing the way he looked at her hand. Probably she wouldn’t hug him today, but as soon as she got home she’s squeeze a plushie to deliver hugs in a safe way. She blushed a bit with his words.

“Thank you so much…” she whispered. “I might invite Bernie and Pal. And you can bring Blue as well. I feel comfortable around you guys.” A little smile tugged at her mouth.

She cocked her her when she noticed the subway. “Are we going to take the train?” she asked. “I’ve never taken the subway before…”

Not? “How do you get home usually?” he wondered then. He was still not entirely sure of bringing Blue along. Maybe a day after, when he was sure that Jess was okay with the company they got. He’d also have to check out that ‘Pal’ person she mentioned. Never heard of them before… Maybe a threat to Jess’ recovery … maybe not. He’d see. For now, he kept going. The station wasn’t too far.

“Walking, or via bus. When my Mom doesn’t work, she comes to pick me up with her car.” she answered, following him. Jess looked around, admiring the graffitis on some of the walls. It was fascinating.

“Good thing I still have some money… Is it the subway ticket expensive? How much does it costs?

Pff. “I have some spares” Damien just said, going to cover that. He knew the station close to Jess’ house, having used the subway before to visit her after the camp, and so he passed the map that was crowded by tourists anyway.

Damien got a couple strange looks, but it wasn’t out of the ordinary, really. This may be Metro City, but he still stuck out. Just that he was kind of okay with it now. No more pulled up hoodies or caps whereever he went and he long since gave up to keep his tail covered, too.

“Wow… You’ve really thought of everything.” Jess was actually impressed. She had met many boys in her life, but Damien was… different, and not only for his looks. He had a brain and actually used it. It wasn’t like Blue’s, which was more book-smart. Damien was more… active-smart, knowing how to move, where to go, how to do things. He could be easily a natural leader.

Noticing the strange looks some people aimed at him, Jess frowned at them in return, instinctively defending him. She didn’t even think of what she was doing - she simply acted following her heart, and her heart encouraged her to defend him.

She smiled at Damien. “This is my first time in the subway… it’s… actually exciting! Something new!”

For real? Damien frowned. How did this girl get anywhere? “It’s handy. Here.” It was a little more crowded down here, but one or two trains would arrive soon, at least going by the sign ahead of them. He worried a little that Jess would get lost, so he grabbed her pink sleeve to keep her close to him. He decided to wash that hand later.

The tickets had to get stamped first, but there was a machine for that right next to the stairs. “No wandering off” he told her, eventually letting go. He needed his arms free to get his backpack off, in which was his wallet, in which were the tickets.

Jess nodded, understanding. “Thank you…” she mumbled, before noticing the crowd surrounding them. Where did all these much people came from? It was then when she felt a tug on her sleeve. She opened her mouth, but nothing more than a little gasp came out. It was just Damien holding her…

Wait. Damien is holding my sleeve? As in… not wanting me to get lost??

She blushed deeply and looked down. That was so sweet from him. The girl followed him, making sure to stay close to him all the time, even when he let go. “Ok. can do it.”

Good. She better. Damien checked his backpack for the tickets, but glanced at Jess now and then, like she’d turn into thin air at any given moment. “Stamp these” he instructed, finally finding the little paper tickets and handing both over. They’d have two hours to get where they meant to, which was more than enough time.

Jess remained very still, watching him work. Once he told her what to do, she nodded and went to stamp them following the indications. It wasn’t too hard if one just followed the signals. The ‘beep’ of the automat surprised her, but she giggled. For a first time, this wasn’t so difficult.

The girl reunited with Damien, tickets in hand. “Did I do it right?” she asked, handing the tickets to him.

Instead of accepting them, Damien just picked one of the two. Because in case they were seperated, he’d prefer to have one herself. He turned it and then after inspection, stored it away. “Looks alright with me.”

Backpack shouldered again by now and squishing his wings beneath his jacket, they stood there now. Still a few minutes to wait, but at least another train arrived on the parallel gate and people rushed in. It would be less crowded soon. “How … about we go over there” he suggested, again grabbing her sleeve instead of her wrist to guide her to a better spot further down the gate.

“O-OK…” Jess blushed, accepting his touch. He avoided her skin, but at least it seemed he was warming up to the idea of touching her - would this mean he was more open to the idea of touching, or being touched in general? Perhaps it was too soon to make assumptions.

She followed him, and let out a soft sigh when she saw that area was less crowded. “Thank you. This place is much better.”

“That’s good.” Here, he could let her go again. Going to the less crowded spaces wasn’t what he did usually - quite the opposite was true. The subway was a perfect spot for pickpocketing people. Hence the many spare subway tickets.

He’d not do that while he was down here with Jess, of course. But with their train just arriving in a while, it mean all left to do … was wait. Which was new.

Jess looked around and bit her thumb. It seemed there was no place to sit here. Which was a pity, because in that case she would sit and start to check her homework - the sooner it got done, the more time she’d have to play with Elton later.

“How much we’ll have to wait?” she inquired, curious as she was.

“Two, three minutes” he guessed, still facing the wall and now, waving his tail a bit from side to side. He didn’t really like to keep still for long, but right now it was just something he did for fun.

“You got places to be today?” he wondered, rather not thinking so since Jess mentioned her mother wasn’t home. Then again, he didn’t really know what she did in her freetime, other than collect pink stuff.

“Hum, just home for some hours.” Jess shrugged. “Though I do have dance classes in Blue Haze at seven o’clock, and tomorrow too, at six o’clock. And I have taekwondo class right next.” Her smile faded.

“When the taekwondo master found out about my illness, he told me that he is considering taking me out of the competitions. I was hoping to kick butts on the next championship, in March. Mmh.”

“How does that line up” Damien wondered, frowning, as he heard the train come in. He’d been bad at guessing the time. “That’s stupid. Kick his ass and prove that you can do it.” It was his opinion on the matter. But their conversation was disrupted by a familiar sound coming out of one dark side of the tunnel. “Train’s there. Stay near - ” Um, well if that was any easy. Their small safe spot got crowded and people pushed another already before their department even came to a halt. It was one of those days, huh. “Okay, go first” he changed his mind, getting behind Jess so she had space to get in.

“He’s my teacher. I can’t kick him.” she laughed a bit and hugged herself. “I can beat my classmates though, and prove him I can beat anyone in the championship. I’ve won throphies for him during the last three years and…”

She couldn’t finish, as the train finally arrived. Jess wanted to cling to his arm, but he made things much simpler. With a nod, Jess walked inside and looked for a spot where they could sit. This wasn’t too different from a normal train…

“Do you have any favourite place to sit?” she asked.

“Just sit down!” In the subway it was sit or keep standing now that all seats are taken. He peeked over Jess briefly and found an unoccupied spot where he pushed her to, hand on her shoulders so there was no way for her to get lost.

“Ok, OK!” Jess was a little surprised for that shift, but she soon understood why. The crowd was filling the place, and if they didn’t sit any sooner, they’d be forced to stay up all the way!

Fortunatelly for them, no one claimed their seats. Jess sat and put her bag on her lap, bouncing her legs a little. “Heh, we made it!”

“Now, just a couple stations” he announced. He didn’t know how many for sure, but he knew which one they’d have to leave again, and the one before that.

“Doesn’t Blue have Lucy’s number?” he wondered out of the Blue. He didn’t knew where the sudden thought came from - probably his subconscious still brooding over the fact that he’d caused trouble for Jess by trying to help.

“Hum, I don’t know. Unless she changed numbers, probably yes? They were living together…” Jess shrugged. Truth to be told, all the talk about Lucy still made her feel umcomfortable. But she’d have to forgive her eventually if she wanted to stay friends with the others, right? She sighed and lifted her legs, hugging them. If only she could erase all the pain from her mind…

“Yeah, they fought about that during breaktime” Damien remembered, not really caring much, to be true. Seemed like it was an old thing and he had other trouble on his mind.

“You … don’t want her to visit?” he asked again, looking at Jess while he took out his phone.

“Blue… fought with her… for me…?” Jess felt oddly flattered. Blue always acted as if these things didn’t go with him, but it was nice to see he cared - even if it was in strange ways.

“I… I don’t know. I’d like to do things in my own pace… Talk to her when I feel ready to do so…” Jess rubbed the back of her head. “In one hand I’d appreciate her visiting, because it would mean she cares. In the other hand I’m afraid of having a panic attack when she comes, because she kinda intimidates me now…” she rubbed her arm. “Pfff…. I’m a contradiction personified. Do you understand what I mean?”

Strangely … ? But it wasn’t like he could tell. She was acting like a cat that was torn between whether it wanted someone to pet it or not.

“I tell you she cares. That enough?” he asked, frankly curious. She was down to help us bringing you to places. “She was offering to help with … bringing you to places.” Right. That schedule that didn’t quite work out just yet.

“Really?!” That sounded incredibly weird to her. It was so hard to believe! Maybe it was her bitterness what didn’t let her believe such thing, but this was Damien. He never would lie to her, right?

“Could you tell me exactly what she said? What places? What’s the context? Because I have the feeling I’m missing out lots of things here.”

“I didn’t write it down” Damien admit, leaning back in his seat and watching the window on the other side of their department and the objects behind it fly by. “Umm … I meant to … make a plan, to pick you up from school, bring you back, make sure you don’t go missing during school … or after … Basic” he shrugged. “And asked the others to help. And it … didn’t quite work out but I work on it” he mumbled, now tapping his fingers against his leg.

She blushed a lot. This was… amazingly sweet from him. Fighting the urges to give him a hug, Jess leaned slightly against him, enough so her arm touched his briefly. She was inmensely thankful, and it showed in her words.

“Damien Kent… Officially that is the sweetest thing a guy has ever done for me. Thank you.” she smiled happily, giving him a slight push. “Don’t worry, I won’t say a word. It will be our secret.”

She narrowed her eyes, her smiling weakening. “I really appreciate the effort, but I’m not sure if it will work out. Blue’s fight isn’t the real problem here, I think. I know Bernadette had a fight with Lucy right after the camp, and that was one bad one. Maybe… Maybe if Lucy, Bernie and me could talk, the three of us together, things could work out more easily. But I don’t know how, or when…”

“Remember what I asked of you?” Damien wondered, looking at Jess for a brief moment before he faced away again. When this was Amelia he’d taken that as invitation for a fight, but this was jess, and this was public … He’d had to get revenge soon for the contact, but not right now.

“These two are older, and they should act like it. It’s not your concern, it’s just to get better” he found. “I can ask Blue to call the meeting off, was what I was getting at.”

“Yeah, yeah, no touchy… and not mentioning family…” she nodded and rubbed her arm. “Sorry.”

Jess bit her thumb. “Talk with him before doing anything. Perhaps he’ll be doing better once he gets some time alone. And about the girls… Bernie is my best friend, the moment she’s in trouble, it’s my concern. She supported me when I needed it - it’s just fair I help her in return, don’t you think?”

“I think you should do so once you’re up to it but … it is your thing. So I shouldn’t message Blue and ask him to tell Lucy she and Tom shouldn’t show up tomorrow after school” he guessed, no real idea right now what Jess wanted and what not.

“Oh boy that is… a bit confusing…” Jess had to stop herself to think about the whole thing and its consequences for a couple minutes.

“Err… Talk to Blue. Everything is going a little too fast and… I kinda feel more comfortable when it’s just you walking me home. Though Blue and Bernie are OK too. Can we… start with less people at first? There’s no need to rush. I don’t even know if Tom feels up to see me. He began to act really weird after I told him about my illness. And with Lucy, well… let’s go slow. Maybe not this week yet. But eventually? One step at a time? Can we do that?”

“Sure do” Damien affirmed, finally feeling like he had all information he needed. He made sure to text Blue right away so he could go on and tell Lucy.

‘No visit from Tom and Lucy for now. Jess needs more time. Can you let Lucy know? Don’t have her number’ Damien typed, his ear twitching slightly as the voice gave the name of the current station through. They were close …

“Mmh.” Jess looked up, recognizing the name of the aforementioned station. “We’ll reach my building in no time…”

She looked back to Damien and blushed a little. She didn’t want to bother him, but she wished to return his kindness somehow. “You know… I’m really thankful you made all of this for me. I wish I could give you something in return… like a reward, or something. Mom always says it’s good to return people’s kindness, though I don’t know exactly what can I do for you. But if I ever can help you in anything - just tell me, and I’ll do it.”

“Just don’t stress about it” Damien replied then and hit the send button to send the message to Blue. “And don’t mention at school. I’ll deny any of this when asked by other people” he warned.

“I have my reasons.” With that, he got up. They should get to the door before the train came to a halt, so they won’t get squished again like before.

“I won’t tell a soul. I understand.” she smiled, getting up to follow him. For her first time using the subway, it had been really nice. Perhaps it was because Damien had been so honest, or due to the fact she was important enough to him so he had planned such a big schedule to ensure her safety, one thing was sure: she didn’t feel so alone anymore.

And if she thought of it… This wasn’t the first time Damien did nice things for her. He was willing to help her if she needed anything, he even had spent the last Valentines day with her to ensure she wouldn’t be alone.

What a good friend. She was very lucky to have him in her life.

The train slowed down already, and came to a halt shortly after they arrived on the door. He’d done well to go up in time instead to wait - as predicted, this station was quite popular and crowded with people.

“Head left” Damien warned, reaching for her sleeve again and by that, this time touching her hand. He pulled back like he got burned with acid, but the doors opened and he really didn’t like her to get lost for a split second -

Screw it. he grabbed her wrist and went first, leading the way.

Jess’s cheeks became rosy when he touched her. That was… actually the first time he touched her skin and… why was he so warm? Part of her almost wanted to reach for his hand again, but given the way he had pulled it out, maybe it wasn’t a good idea… Was he squicked out of humans? Girls? Or just her? Given he seemed to avoid direct contact with everyone, maybe it wasn’t just her and…

Her wrist. He was touching her again. Her blush became more intense. Sure, she could walk on her own, but… he was doing this not to lose her. He cared. It was something she already knew but it amazed her to see so much proof of it.

“Thank you…” she curled gently her hand, trying to hold onto him, though it wasn’t easy!

“Don’t mention it” Damien replied, making it sound much like an order as he kept to guide her to the stairs. They left the worst crowd behind them, but there was still little space to move. He sighed and kept going, dragging her along.

“You okay?” he wondered all of a sudden, looking over his shoulder, back to her.

“I’m… I’m OK…” Jess nodded with her head as well. She had to put herself together, for the love of God! This was just him him helping her out of the train, she had to keep calm.

“You OK…?” she asked him right next. Being in such crowded place didn’t seem something he’d enjoy much.

He just frowned at that. Didn’t he look okay? Huh. He kept pulling on her until the number of people decreased, then let her go.

He could swear her heart beat weird, but he really didn’t have enough experience to judge. It didn’t happen too often that he touched people at all.

He hadn’t answered… Maybe that frown was the quickest way to say ‘isn’t it obvious’. Or perhaps her question just confused him. At least they were out of the train now…

“Well, I think… just a few steps separate me from my apartment.” she looked back at him, and smiled. “Wil you take another train to go home?”

Home. He was about to ask ther to define ‘home’, but it might just confuse her, and he didn’t know if he wanted to talk about that now. “I don’t know just yet. Might visit … friends. Check my mom’s place, and get back to … ” How to explain. “My dad’s got a boyfriend and they … he … gave me a room, for myself.“ He really didn’t know yet. The plan was to bring Jess back home and then … there was just blank space. He should definitely go back to Roshan and Amelia so they wouldn’t worry - Not that he thought Roshan would, but it was a dick move to disappear in the middle of the night and not come back the next day. And he’d have to check on his mom’s cats, too, in case shedidn’t make it home to feed them. Didn’t look like he’d have much time for homework today …

“Ooh…” She didn’t know that his family was so broken. Until now, she had assumed it was just his father and him. But clearly there was more to Damien that one could see on the surface.

“Looks like you’ve got one full afternoon, between friends and family.” she smiled kindly, thankful that he had squeezed his own schedule to make some time for her. “Say hi to your Dad from me if you see him, yeah?”

“Sure.” Why not. She kept her mouth shut about him at school, for which he was grateful. Not that he’d show, or mention, though.

Damien checked his phone again to see if Blue had answered,

It was then Damien’s cellphone started to been with Blue’s response.

[text] Sure, I can let her know. Also… Sorry I was such an ass during lunch. I was still upset because of that paper. I shouldn’t have taken it out on everyone. I already sent Lucy an apology and she accepted it so I think we’re good now.

Finally reaching the end of the stairs, Jess turned to him. The sunlight touched her hair, and the warmth within her soul made her smile. She turned to him, leaving her hands behind her back to ignore her urges to give him a ‘thank you’ hug.

“I think I can make it home from here. Thanks a lot, Damien, really. Going home is much better when I’m not alone.”

“Mh. It better be” he thought out loud. He’d put effort into her being comfortable, after all. Though that came out kinda wrong. He looked up again, also enjoying the sun and nearly showing something close to a smile.

“Blue says he told Lucy not to show up. So you’re safe. You very sure I shouldn’t bring you to the door, though? I’m here already” he explained, shrugging slightly. He might as well when she felt just the slightest need to. He’d not when she didn’t want to, though. He’d respect when she thought she could handle herself.

“Thank you Damien. You two are really amazing.” she smiled, very thankful.

Him insisting so much got her to blush. Plus, was he… smiling? Was that a smile? Jess wasn’t sure, but… she couldn’t say no to that face!

“Okay~ if you insist.” she giggled, and finally walked outside. She took a deep breath. Funny how the subway had such effect on her. It was almost as if her anxiety had been left behind in the darkness, leaving her soul a little lighter.

He really didn’t … but it was alright with him. Hands in his pockets he trotted after her, in need to check himself where to go. Jess seemed to have an idea though, so he decided to give her the lead from here, just remembering faintly where to go without checking.

“Someone’s gonna bring you to school tomorrow?” he wondered.

Jess knew this street perfectly, like the back of her hand. She walked straight the Megamind Industries building, checking all the cars to see if her Mom was already home or not. She looked back when he asked such thing.

“My Mom, probably. Are you thinking to cover up the early hours of the morning, too?”

Obvious, wasn’t it. “Yup. At least till I got a working schedule with the others” he explained. He really had to talk to Bernadette… Maybe tomorrow since it seemed he got time.

“So … you can call me up when something doesn’t work out or your mom cannot bring you” he allowed. He kept looking around, trying to memorize the environment better this time. It might save him time in future. the big Megamind building though was kinda hard to miss, he had to admit.

He was too kind… Such amount of kindness never ceased to amaze her. Jess felt her heart softening. Not feeling alone… It was a warm, soothing feeling her chest.

“Will do. Thank you so much for your offer. It means a lot, really.” she whispered. This meant they were going to walk together more often… which meant she’d get to know him better. Maybe not now, but one day, maybe, she’s know enough to return his kindness.

“Least I can do” he found. There weren’t many people who put up with him. Sure, he could get along with most, but it was usually nothing that deserves friendship bracelet levels. He knew he was the distant type, and he knew normal kids didn’t beat others up for standing a few inches too close to them. It was a habit and nothing he was good at changing anytime soon. As small as his progress was though, Jess somehow ended up making him that bracelet and sticking close despite. That meant a lot, as well.

#Damien RP #Damien and Jess RP #RP

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candy-corps · 7 years

Text

Conversation at Dusk

Jess belongs to @mygardenofmuses

Curled up on her bed, Jess was listening to the radio. Listening to James Blunt’s song probably wasn’t the best thing to do given her state, but it was lovely to imagine someone whispering ‘You’re beautiful’ to her. However, her daydreaming was interrupted when someone knocked on the door.

“Knock knock… Hey sweetie, how are you? Feel up to get up?” Grace asked kindly, knocking on the door and peeking inside.

“Mmmh…” Jess rolled up lazily to look at her. “What’s up, Mom?”

“Damien sent me a text. He asks if he can come here. Wanna see him?”

A light blush covered her cheeks. Bernadette had told her that Damien had been the one saving her. She had wanted to see him for a while now, but never knew when it would be the right moment to do so. Now she’d have a chance to thank him.

“Sure! Lemme get dressed. He can come in anytime.”

Leaving Jess to dress up, Grace went to open the door. But she didn’t expect to see what she saw when she opened it.

“Wow, Damien, you are fast! Didn’t expect you to arrive so soon! Please, come in! Jess is dressing up… Do you want some cookies?”

“I brought … cake actually” he replied, lifting the box up he carried. They already made the cake - he sure won’t return with it and meant to leave it here in case Jess wasn’t up for a visit … but he didn’t expect her mom to open up this soon. He meant to make it look all casual that he arrives this fast - well damn.

“Dad insisted. he says thanks for driving me.” Awkward. He reached the box to Grace, not wanting to carry it any longer.

“Cake? Aww, aren’t ya the sweetest charmer. Thank you so much!” Grace stopped herself from pinching his cheek, she knew kids nowadays didn’t like those things. She picked up the cake instead, and beckoned him to come inside. “Could you close the door after us? And it’s all good. I’m always up to give a ride to Jess’s friends.”

Jess left her bedroom right then, stretching and yawning. She was wearing a pink T-shirt, shorts and sandals. “Mom, did Damien say when was going to - OH.” she just stopped when she saw him. “Damien…!!”

She ran to him and opened her arms for a hug, but stopped herself in the last second. “C-can I give you a hug?”

How was he supposed to - “No … ” Fuck. Gah. He was about to walk right away back out of there, but he got himself together. It was good to see Jess in one piece.

“Hi.” Hands still raised like she was about to shoot him instead to greet, Damien smirked nervously. Something was different though, wasn’t it. “You - Your hair looks … off.”

“Oh…” Jess’s arms dropped. She craved for hugs, but Damien just wasn’t into those things, now she remembered. She was about to say something more, when he mentioned her hair. She blushed a lot.

“Yeah… I got a haircut. Bernie told me I’d feel better… If anything, my head is a little lighter.” she steeped back, taking a welcoming approach. “Do you want to take a seat? Probably you’ve got a lot of questions…”

“Looks nice. I don’t know … ” he looked to the direction of the living room, but the tv was playing. Maybe her mother wanted some quiet. But he also didn’t really want to sit in her room. The pink hurt his eyes.

“Just one, actually … “

“Y-you think so? Thanks…” Jess blushed even more. He was the first boy his age complimenting her new hairdo. It made her feel pretty, even if it was just for a moment. “What’s the question?

“Mmmrow.”

Elton came behind Damien and began to rub his tail around his legs. Jess couldn’t help but giggle. “He likes you.”

Grace had carried the cake to the kitchen. She peeked from the kitchen’s door, with two dishes with slices of cake. “Jess, why don’t you take Damien to the rooftop garden? Today we’ve got such a lovely evening. Here.” she handed them the dishes. “I’m sure you two will be more comfy talking there. I think Damien hasn’t seen our rooftop harden yet, right?” She looked back at Damien, smiling. “You should see it, Damien. It’s beautiful!”

“OK; OK, we got it.” Jess chuckled briefly and looked at him. “Do you want to go talk there, Damien?”

“Oh, I’d like to see it.” One could see over the city for sure, and he liked being outside. “Can Elton come, too?” he wondered, already squatting down so he could pet him. He adopted Dae’s habit to take catnip with him when he was out, just for the case that he found a stray cat. His hands must smell like it now. That, or Elton was just that kind of cat.

“I’ll ask you outside” he decided, talking to Jess. In front of her mom it was a bit weird.

“Sure thing. Elton is happy going wherever I go as long as we don’t leave the building. He’s a housecat.” Jess smiled and beckoned him and Elton to follow her outside. “And sure, you can ask me anything once we’re there.”

Using the keys, Jess had no problems into leading him through the corrdors and stairs separating them from the rooftop garden. She pushed the door, which revealed a beautiful view of the city. She was no longer wearing her banadages, and some scars from her accident were still noticeable.

Leaving her dish on the table, she picked up a chair and took a seat. There were four chairs in total, Damien and the cat could sit anywhere. However, Elton preferred to jump on her lap and snuggle with her, giving Damien a curious look.

“So, would you like to know?” Jess asked, curious.

Yeah, in a second. Still carrying his plate with cake, Damien took in the view at first. Seeing a little patch of green wasn’t as common anymore, not since autumn arrived, it was. And it was cool to see the city from up here. The building was one of the highest there were.

“Oh just … “ Right, topic. Finally, he took seat opposite her, and put his plate on the table. It was raspberry cake with vanilla, nothing really over the top; additional marmalade layers and decoration not counted. His dad made him help, but seemed baking wasn’t one of his strength’s yet, so the cream on top wasn’t all even. It bugged him now that he was looking again.

“I just wonder, how you are doing. Can you go out yet?” he asked, glancing back up at her. She seemed to be able to walk alright and except from some scratches, she looked kinda okay. It would still be a relief to hear her say it out loud though.

Jess had been about to start eating, when that question made her leave the spoon on the table. She hugged herself, hoping she could find the right words for a question whose answer wasn′t easy.

“I can go out… But I’m afraid of doing it alone.” she confessed, a little nervous. “The doctors, the psychologist… all them agree in the fact that I have a illness called derealization. Under too much pressure, or stress, I lose connection with reality. This might seem weird but… it’s actually very dangerous. It’s the reason I ended at the bottom of that cliff that night.”

She looked up to him. “Last time I talked with my doctors, they told me that they see me well enough to go back to school when classes start. But I’m a little anxious. I’ll have to be there on my own… Do you know if the other kids are angry at me? They probably are…. aren’t they? I… I ended ruining the camp, even if I didn’t mean to…” she hugged her own legs and hid her face on her knees.

She knew neither Amil or Bernadette were angry at her. And she felt that Tom wasn’t angry either, but still… “I’m so embarrassed…”

“I made you cake” Damien pointed out. She wasn’t looking at him pointing at it, so he dropped his hand again, but … he didn’t know if he was angry, or amused. “That means … I’m not angry.” Matter of fact. Not for ending the camp, at least.

“And I can beat everyone up who’s angry” he found, leaning back in his chair. He didn’t know anyone who was, but when he found out, they were done for.

Jess beamed at his comments. Truly Damien had a gift to make her smile, no matter how ugly things seemed to be. “You’re right… lemme try the cake…” She petted Elton, encouraging him to jump out of her lap. The cat jumped over the table, then onto Damien’s lap - a sign of comfort and trust.

The girl put a big spoonful of cake of her mouth, and the sweetness of it made her eyes sparkly like stars for a moment. “Gosh this is SO good, you’ve outdone yourself…!” she swallowed it, just in time to process what he just had said. Her cheeks turned crimson red.

Damien would be willing to get into fights… for her? That was… something flattering. She never had met a boy willing to punch someone for her.

“Thank you, Damien… That means a lot to me, really.” she whispered, looking down for a moment. “To be honest… I don’t know what will happen to me when classes start. Bernie promised me she’ll try to stay close to me as much as possible so I’m not alone… But she can’t be taking care of me all the time. She’s in high school now, after all… I’m scared.”

“I see your problem” he admit. When she was too nervous, she’d wander off. True, chances were slim she’d fall in another cliff now that they were back to the city, but when she walked on a street in that state, ignoring traffic lights …

No. He cut a small piece of cake off with the fork, thinking.

“They all gotta know.” He didn’t see another way around it. He skipped classes at times, and Bernadette couldn’t stay with her all day long either.

“They… who?” Jess asked. “You mean… the teachers? Or all our classmates?” She looked down, biting her bottom lip, thinking about the possible consequences.

“In one hand, it would be good if everyone knew - people could take me and carry me to safety if another of those episodes hits me. But in the other hand… Everyone would think I’m a weirdo. It took me a long time to get rid of the attacks of the bullies… I don’t want to give them food to insult me… Ugh…” she rubbed her own forehead. She just had remembered something.

“I think there’s no way to avoid everyone knowing. My Mom and my psychologist already contacted the school staff. When classes start, the teachers probably will tell to our classmates…” she shook her head. “Guess being normal was never an option anyway. But at least…” she looked up to him, a little hope into her eyes. “Can I still talk to you and Blue? Having you two around would help me a lot…”

Damien tried the cake in the meantime. It actually wasn’t all that sweet; that was good. Baking had been fun, he had to admit. Maybe they could do that again. But Jess was panicking in front of him about something. He looked around, just waiting for her to be done before he elaborated.

“Not all. The others. Tom, Blue, Lucy … Just the ones we were at the camp with. It’s none of the others business“ he found. Seemed like it would just make Jess uncomfortable, too… and stressing her was not what they needed.

He kept explaining. “We can walk you to classes and take turns picking you up or bring back home. This way you will be safe, and no one will notice” he suggested; now resting an elbow on the table while he kept eating. “It’s what people do after spending time in a camp, right? Hang out.” They spend so much time at the camp, their classmates would find it natural they became a closer group of friends. And wasn’t it far from the truth, also. Damien looked up at Jess, a corner of his mouth lifting to the faintest, hopeful smirk.

Jess smiled briefly. How was she so lucky to have someone so smart as a friend? No wonder why he was a hero in training. He had the wits and the strength for such tough job.

“Heh, that is actually brilliant! What a good idea! It could work!” she whispered, before one of the names he mentioned crossed her mind. She let out a worried sigh.

“I don’t know if Lucy will be up for it, though. Many people of the camp contacted me to check if I was alright, either visiting me or sending me texts… But I haven’t heard anything from her since the camp. Though I can’t blame her. I was crazy for her boyfriend, after all…”

Uurgh … He had to talk with her then, did he. “We need her in. Let that be my problem.” He couldn’t just let him, Tom, or Blue walk Jess to the girls room, could he. It was a small miracle it crossed his mind, but … they needed girls.

Besides, he found it more likely that she blamed herself for the accident, like he did before. Or Bernadette, for that matter. He saw it on her face. There must have been a lot of ‘What if I’d been taking better care’ thoughts going on in their group now, but … he might have something for that up his sleeve, too. Nothing he couldn’t handle as long as he could imagine, right?

“…Are you sure?” Jess hugged herself, her nerves growing per second. “What if she hates me? What if she spills the beans to everyone in the school about what happened at the camp? I… I don’t know her well enough what to expect. I’m scared…” Jess covered her mouth with her hands, her body shaking slightly. “

“If only she had tried to contact me I’d know she cares, but… no texts, no calls, no visits - nothing at all. I don’t know what to expect…” Jess looked up to him, biting her bottom lip. “You said it was ‘your problem’… What are you going to do?”

“Talk to her, what did you think” Damien said with a sigh. He also didn’t know her all that good, but she seemed nice from what he’d seen, and he doubted she’d be so mean to do any of what Jess was thinking. “When she tells anyone, it’s because she worries. I think she means you well. It’s just not easy … showing, at times.”

He shifted in his seat and kept a hand on Elton, petting him. He was not all comfortable to talk this open, to be true. He looked aside, at the sun that was setting. Soon his dad could come out and check on them both. He didn’t know yet for his plans tonight, but he hoped he’d learn more about something. He needed more training to keep his calm in dire situations …

“Just call, a text if she doesn’t want to come here… It could have been helpful. It would help me to see things clearer.” Jess shook her head and looked down. “I don’t know anything… I’ve asked Bernadette, and she knows nothing either. Things are so tense… all this silence is awful…”

She curled up and hid her face on her knees again. Jess needed things to be talked openly, because it was the only thing that gave her some comfort right now. When the fear was eating at her like this, sometimes Jess wondered if it would have been better if she had died. She wouldn’t keep being a loose end in the tapestry of life.

“Mhmm … ” Damien hummed and kept eating his cake. Jess was panicking about nothing again. And again, he just waited till she was done, and added something at the end.

“If there way just a way to break the silence” he said, pulling his hand back to dig for his phone, stored in his sweater’s belt pocket. Not like he had Lucy’s number, but Jess might. He laid the phone on the table, right between the two of them.

“Yeah. I can see where are you going. But I don’t have her number. Otherwise, I would have called her long ago.” Jess mumbled, hugging herself. Since Damien wouldn’t hug her, she had to hug herself and imagine someone was holding her.

“My uncle had her number, but since she stopped working for him in the museum, he no longer has it. When people doesn’t talk to him for more than a year, he deletes contacts.” She wouldn’t say it, but her uncle was pretty dissappointed by everything that had happened in the camp, too.

Urgh. Okay then. Damien picked his phone up again, seeing it backfired. “Does she even have your number?” he wondered. “And why does it matter anyway. I didn’t call you. I cared a lo - … … ”

He crossed his arms and looked aside, sorry for Elton, but it couldn’t be helped. He nearly said he cared - obviously, he stayed for too long.

“I minded.” Good save.

He CARED. He cared a lot. Maybe he had stopped himself from saying it but Jess had heard enough to complete the phrase in her head. And to her, to listen Damien saying such thing meant the world to her. It was exactly what she needed right now.

A crimson blush spread on her cheeks, giving them the color they had missed during the season. Jess joined her hands before her chest. Caring, minding… It didn’t matter what word was used, knowing that her existence mattered to him made her heart swell. Maybe her existence wasn’t so useless. If he cared… Maybe other people really cared, too.

“I… I don’t know if her does… but… Thank you. Thank you for minding. It means a lot, really.”

She searched for something into her pockets. “Could you give me your hand a moment, please?”

What. If anything, Dae crossed his arms tighter, and gave her a look as if she’d bite him when he did like she asked.

Girls. He just said that he cared. It didn’t mean … It didn’t … -

His face felt unhealthy.

Was he… blushing? It was hard to tell given his skin color, but his expression was priceless. Enough to make her smile.

“OK, tough guy, hold on. I just wanted to give you a gift.” she whispered, and took out a small black and silver bracelet from her pocket. It was decorated with small bats and moons.

“It’s a friendship bracelet. I really would have liked to get you something more, since you saved my life… but I wasn’t sure what to get you. Still, I hope you like this. Thank you for everything, Damien.”

Damien opened his mouth, but it still took him a few seconds before he found a fitting reply.

“Um.”

Just that he somehow couldn’t do words. Alert. He looked from the bracelet to Jess, and back, and then again and then his face turned an even darker shade. He didn’t know what had happened to him to turn into an idiot, but he reached for the bracelet to take it on him. He’d wear it on his left wrist, in case he would wear it, and …

Sorry, Elton. Damien shifted back from the table, including his chair, and pulled the sweater he wore over his head. He wanted to have his wings free and, once the sweater lay ruffled up on his lap, curled them around his front and covered his hand holding the bracelet. With no further word, he got up from the table, and was on his way out.

Jess was a little surprised to see Damien reacting in such way. At least he had taken the bracelet… and by his reaction, he was either very thankful, or very embarrassed. Or both things at once. One thing was sure, now she knew for sure that Damien could blush - and it was really adorable.

“Ok, I can tell you need to go home.” she giggled, and followed him. “Are you going back to the apartment? Or going home already? If it’s the latter, you can take the elevator on Harrison’s floor. We don’t need to go back to my home.”

He did hear what Jess said, but he didn’t reply. Other than humming ‘Mhm’ he didn’t say anything until they reached the staircase. There he turned and looked at Jess. His tail hurt from not waving it, but he had to contain himself for now. He didn’t want to look like a dork.

“See you at school?”

“Sure.” Jess smiled, hugging herself. If she hugged him now Damien might just explode, and she didn’t want him to pass out from the shock. But at least she could offer him the same kindness he had offered her.

“I’ll be there. Promise.” she assured him. “Thank you for everything. Take care, Damien!”

“Yeah you - You … too” he muttered, completely ignoring the elevator to take the stairs instead. He didn’t feel like holding still for agonizing 15 seconds until he’d reach the first floor again.

“Cool.” He waved, and then, was on his way, the tap-tap-tap-tap of his feet on the stairs well to hear. He’d send her a message once he was home and maybe work on a plan then, too …

Watching him go, Jess leaned against the wall and let out a short sigh. This had been the most pleasing visit she had received so far, and it looked like Damien liked his bracelet. Smiling quietly to herself, she returned to her apartment and hugged her mother from behind.

“Hey sweetie…” Grace smiled and turned around to hug her back. “Where’s Damien?”

“I think he went home. But it’s all good. I think he liked his bracelet…”

“Heh, I knew he would! Told you so, that bracelet was the most beautiful of all! We still have some time until dinner, so feel free to do whatever you want.”

“OK… thank you Mom.”

Jess went to her bedroom and let herself flop on the bed, hugging her heart cushion. To think she had made Damien blush… She wasn’t sure why, but that made her feel very happy.

#Damien RP #Damien and Jess RP #RP

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