Simon avoided him for the rest of the night. The ride to school the next morning was silent until Simon pulled into a parking space in front of Silver Dragon and turned off the car. "Never do that again."

Red scowled at him. "Never do what?" he asked, deliberately not understanding.

"Force yourself on me."

Red stiffened at the word choice, the meaning slowly sinking in. Oh shit, he had. Not violently or anything, and he hadn't gone far, but Simon hadn't been willing... "Shit," he mumbled. "Sorry."

Simon nodded. "You're a nice kid, you just have a few things mixed up. You'll get them straightened out with time." Simon sat up. He seemed to be reciting some inner monologue. "Just know that you will never have to use your body to get things you want again. Just ask and give me some time to think it over. Offering reasoned arguments is more likely to win me over to your side than sexual overtures. I was about to say yes yesterday, you know."

Red flushed. "Getting you to say yes wasn't the point. Or not the whole point anyways." He slipped out of the car and fled across the parking lot.

He stumbled into the hall and glanced at the clock. Fifteen minutes before school started. He needed to do something.

"Hey Red."

Damian spun on his heel. Johnny Opus stood smiling a little dopily at him. "Johnny!"

"Hey."

Damian grinned and pulled the boy into a quick hug. "How's the boyfriend?" he asked, smiling.

Johnny's smile slipped. "Not that good. He dumped me. Found a cuter guy."

Damian frowned and tilted his head. "Not possible," he finally announced. "You have got to be the most adorable guy I have ever met."

Johnny smiled slightly. "Thanks, I guess. I suppose I meant he found someone hotter."

"Well definitely not someone sweeter," Damian muttered. He smiled slowly at Johnny. "So that means your single again, right?"

Johnny blushed but nodded.

Damian grinned at him and grabbed his hand. "The video teacher doesn't get here until eight thirty," he whispered conspiratorially. "His classroom will be empty and we have ten minutes before class starts..."

Johnny flushed but smiled. "Lead the way."

Ten minutes later, a giggling Damian led a tousled Johnny out of the empty video room. "I'll see you later, 'kay Johnny?"

Johnny beamed and nodded.

Damian grinned and slipped off to the office, happy to see Johnny happier. The boy was sweet and was definitely one of his favorite people to be around.

Inside the office he sat on the secretary's desk. "Hi Mari. I want to see Dr. Rune," he said.

The secretary stared at him. "Whatever for, dear?"

Damian smirked at her, putting all of his sensual charm into it. “Haven’t you ever seen The Breakfast Club?”

There was a moment of silence while the secretary tried to figure out what that had to do with anything. Then she laughed. “Oh yes, of course,” she said, not taking him seriously. “He’s out at the moment, but will be back in a few minutes. You can wait in his office.”

“Thank you,” he said, before slipping into the office and settling onto one of the plush chairs. He had no intention of fucking the man, of course, as Mari had guessed, but it was a fun excuse. In all actuality, he had every intention of completely ignoring the man; he just wanted to avoid Simon.

However, sitting in the office ended up having a downside. All alone, there was little to think about besides his words to Simon earlier. Thinking about it, he swore very softly. “Stupid,” he muttered to himself. “Even he’s not that dense.” Of course, he added mentally, maybe he is.

But if he wasn’t, well, then Damian had all but confessed to crushing on him. And the guy was a teacher and seemed unwaveringly moral. Which meant no doing Damian across the kitchen table. He swore again and bumped his head against his knees.

--

Simon tried to keep his mind on the class, stubbornly ignoring the empty desk in the corner. Damian’s desk. It was hard to do though. His words this morning were offsetting. Simon had gotten the impression from their few conversations that Red didn’t really like people- as friends or as lovers. Certainly his time living with him hadn’t convinced him otherwise; Damian didn’t talk to anyone on the phone except Jett and never had anyone over. But this morning… There was only one thing Simon could think of that Damian’s words could mean: Damian had wanted to kiss him. And possibly do more.

Simon sighed, realizing his students were staring at him and that he was looking blankly ahead. “Not enough coffee,” he grumbled. “Work day. Stay in the classroom, keep the noise level down, no dancing on the desk.”

There were cheers and most students dived for their bags to get ipods or cards out. In a matter of moments there was a game of Texas Hold ‘Em going and another of BS.

He settled into his desk chair, feet propped up on his desk, fingers laced together and resting on his stomach, to think. Damian was attracted to him, or something of that nature. Simon was definitely attracted back and long hours of introspection last night had revealed it wasn’t just a matter of loneliness.

But he could do nothing. Damian had already been fucked over enough in his life. He didn’t need the first stability in his life in awhile to be rocked because Simon was a pervert.

Despite his conviction, Simon could not get images of Damian writhing on his bed out of his head. He groaned softly and thought hard about his great aunt Mildred in a bikini.

--

“Where were you during class?”

Damian gave Simon large, innocent eyes. “Talking to Dr. Rune.”

The car jerked and Damian grinned and twisted his hands around his seat as Simon swung the car back into his lane.

“Why were you talking to him?”

Damian shrugged. “Nothing. Just wanted to talk.”

“Okay.”

“I’m supposed to get counseling, remember?”

“You talked to James about the rape?!”

“James?”

“Er… Dr. Rune, sorry,” Simon mumbled, flushing.

Damian smirked, making a mental note to never talk to Rune about anything. If Simon had a reaction like that…

“Actually no. I was going to remind you take me down to the clinic.”

“Oh, right.” Simon swung the car around. “I forgot.”

Damian curled into his seat, tucking his legs underneath him, managing the move despite the cramped quarters and seatbelt. “Hey, Simon,” he said, raising his green eyes to stare at him through his lashes.

Simon glanced at him, quickly looking away again. “Yeah?”

“I’m not really… comfortable talking in group. I tried it once before.” He looked down, letting his long hair fall into his face. “Um… can- can I just talk to you?” He looked up hopefully.

Simon choked. Damian could nearly see the thoughts flying across his mind. He figured there was about a fifty-fifty chance Simon would say yes. He wasn’t a licensed therapist, but if Damian was comfortable…. Damian figured it would come down to his sense of obligation versus his trepidation about what might happen.

“Sure, I guess.”

And obligation wins! Damian nearly cheered. He managed to sustain it, instead just smirking slightly. There were all kinds of things he could do while ‘sharing'…