Simon woke up and groaned, not sure what woke him up. His alarm clock was loud- loud enough that he usually jumped and sometimes fell out of bed. He always knew when that woke him up.

There was a soft knock at his door and the mystery was solved. Simon groaned, but said, “Yeah.”

“It’s nearly twelve. I just thought you might like to know,” Damian said softly through the door.

Simon’s head swiveled to his clock. “Shit!” He scrambled out of the bed and to his bedside phone. Aden picked up on the first ring. “What?”

“Hey, Aden, it’s Simon. I’m so sorry-”

“You better be! You’re entire first and second periods skipped out of class. It was Kat, from your lyrics class, that finally told me. Which is odd, considering he’s in you English class too…”

Simon shrugged, realized Aden couldn’t see it, and said, “It’s Kat,” like that explained everything. Which it did.

Aden just sighed. “Yeah, fine, whatever. This is your first time, you haven’t even missed a day yet this year, so I guess I’ll let you slide. I demand an explanation though.”

Simon argued with himself for a moment. “It was nothing,” he said finally. “I just stayed up late last night and forgot to set my alarm.”

Aden snorted. “Don’t do it again,” he warned before hanging up.

Simon set the phone down as the soft knock sounded again. He sighed. “What, Damian?”

“Can I come in?”

He really wanted to say no. He didn’t want to talk to Damian, especially after the day before. What came out was, “Sure.”

The door swung open and Damian stepped through, a mug clutched in his hands. The bittersweet smell of coffee hit him as the redhead held the mug out. Simon took it, surprised, and stared at him as the boy fidgeted.

“I’m sorry,” Damian finally blurted out. “I don’t exactly remember what happened last night, but I know I’m an annoying drunk. I’m really sorry,” he repeated, staring at the ground.

When Simon didn’t say anything, he blundered on. “And I’m sorry for going out and getting drunk in the first place. You’ve been really nice letting me stay here, and I’ve tried to be good. Well, mostly good anyways. Good about all the big stuff, I really have. I guess I just slipped…” He trailed off. “Sorry,” he mumbled again.

Simon blinked at him. “What exactly do you think you did last night?”

Damian turned red, his face heating up until it nearly matched his hair. “Nothing?”

Simon gaped at him. It was by far the reddest he had seen Damian. The boy had blushed a couple times from embarrassment, usually when he was feeling particularly slow when doing homework, but he had never seem him blush this hard. “What exactly do you usually do when drunk?”

Red ducked his head, still red. “I don’t drink that often. I don’t hold liquor well. The last couple times… I’ve, uh, woken up in some weird places with people I don’t know accusing me of some weird things.”

Simon blinked. “Like what?”

Red flushed. “Uh, I went streaking once, apparently. Another time, I, uh, woke up in a warehouse and some girl was calling me her little Mexican apple thief…”

“What?”

Damian looked up again, still bright red. “I told you, weird stuff. Which is why I’m apologizing.”

“You didn’t do anything. Well, nothing more than you do sober.”

“Oh.” Damian looked down for a moment. “Well, uh, then, I’m just going to… uh, go now.” He began edging to the door.

Simon couldn’t help it; he laughed.

Damian turned instantly hostile, back straightening, shoulders squaring, hands forming fists. “What?”

Simon grinned. “Sorry, sorry, but its sort of funny you’re more embarrassed about getting drunk than anything else.”

Damian glared. “I have some pride. When I’m sober I always know what I’m doing and have chosen to do it. When I’m drunk…” he trailed off, looking annoyed and more than a little harassed.

Simon’s laughter died abruptly. It was the first thing out of Damian’s mouth that he could actually relate to. “You value control,” he said slowly, marveling at it as his mind kicked into overdrive, looking at memories with this new bit of knowledge. “That’s why.” He said softly.

“Why, what?” snapped Damian.

“Why you’re such a manipulative brat,” Simon said, crossing his arms. “It explains why you’re okay with everyone lusting after you. If they want to bed you, you know how to deal with them. Damn, has anything you’ve said or done the last few months been real?”

Damian’s jaw sagged. “Wh- What?” he stuttered.

Simon looked at him silently, anger slowly smoldering in his stomach. Months of having to deal with the messed up teen and all his own confused feelings were pressing in on him. Memories of fury, exasperation, impatience, lust, confusion, hurt flew through his mind, one after the other, feeding the rage, making it swell.

Damian’s mouth snapped shut. “You’re an asshole!” He turned on his heel and took the first step out of the room.

Simon grabbed his shoulder and turned him back around. “Don’t just walk away! I want an answer.”

The smaller boy snarled and lashed out, catching Simon’s stomach with his fist and ripping away from his hold. He bolted.

Simon grunted and doubled over, robbed of breath. By the time he had recovered, Damian was gone, the sound of the door slamming shut echoing. Simon groaned, anger draining away. “Bad choice,” he muttered. He groaned. That was all he seemed to do around Damian- make bad choices. “Shit,” he mumbled.

He yanked on a shirt and bolted down the stairs, chasing after Damian. Mentally, he was sighing. His life would be so much easier- at least in the short term- if he could stay angry for any amount of time.

Lord and Lady stood at the bottom of the stairs.

Simon sighed. “Damian?” he asked hopefully. He didn’t even know what door the boy had left from. “Find Damian?”

Lord snuffled happily at his pajama pants and Lady put her paws on his stomach and barked.

Simon sighed and decided to check the front back. He didn’t see Damian’s retreating back and there was no way the kid could have gotten out of sight already, so he went to the back. His back gate was swinging open. He groaned and stepped out of his yard, surveying the surrounding area. It looked empty but nobody could move that fast. Which meant he was hiding.

Simon plucked at his pajama pants forlornly but began walking towards the first small cluster of bushes- the only thing in the area that wasn’t flat. Predictably, Damian was in the middle of it, curled into a hollow in the scraggly plants.

He glanced up when Simon began to push through the bushes. “Fuck off.”

Simon sighed and kept pushing through the bushes until he could squat next to Damian’s form. “Sorry for getting mad.”

Damian glanced at him and then away. A few minutes passed before he spoke. “Sorry for hitting you.” The words were grudging.

Simon sighed and sat down, running a hand through his hair. “And I’m sorry for calling you a manipulative brat. Even if you are.”

The words brought a small smile to the redheads lips. “I know.” The smile slipped. “But still.” He turned away, red hair swinging over his face like a curtain. “Even I’m not that manipulative.”

“So- so what you said… before, about-”

Damian turned a scathing glare on him, shoving his hair out of his bottle green eyes. “That was a joke.”

“Oh,” Simon said softly. “I- I figured it was something like that.”

Damian peeked out at him through his hair. Simon thought he caught a flash of surprise, but a moment later it was gone, so Simon chalked it up to his imagination.