Simon offered Damian a hand and hefted him up. Damian stared at him for a moment before silently turning and leading the way back to the house. He slipped up to his room without another word, leaving Simon to curl up in his office between Lord and Lady and stare at the ceiling, eyes unseeing.

--

Two days later, Damian knocked softly on the doorway.

Simon glanced up. “Damian, you’re early.” Life had gone back to normal, the two talking more than they had, but not digging deeper than the veneer of civility both held onto doggedly. There was no more talk of Damian’s past or problems, no more talking about either’s feelings. That had been surprising to Simon. Damian had not mentioned the kiss or Simon‘s inadvertent confession.

“I- Remember Jett’s retirement party?” When Simon nodded, he continued. “It’s tomorrow. I haven’t seen him for over a year and he’s- he’s like family. Please, can I go? He already reserved plane tickets for me and it‘ll ”

Simon hesitated. “How did you meet Jett?”

Damian froze, before setting his face back to neutral lines. “He picked me off the streets a few days after I ran away.”

Simon studied him for a moment. “I told you the day I picked you out of the alley that you are a bad liar. It’s still true.”

Damian crossed his arms. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Simon snorted. “What, you think it’s worse than what you’ve already told me? What your dad did to you, that you’ve slept with dozens of guys, that you kept Bob around because he was a violent, jealous bastard?”

Damian turned his face to the side. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Simon snorted. “Jett told Aden he picked you up a couple of months before he enrolled you here. When you were fourteen,” he said pointedly. “You told me you ran away when you were twelve. Mind you, Jett also said it was only a few days after you ran away, same as you. So one of you is lying. A lot of other things you’ve said as backed up when you ran away and I believe you on this not him because you really are a bad liar. But he has no reason to lie about what age he picked you up and Aden said it seems like he cares a lot for you. He put you back in school as soon as he could. What did you do for those two years?”

Damian hugged his arms tighter to himself. “Nothing.”

“Damian…”

“What’s with you and doing this?! I don’t want to talk about it!”

“You need to talk to someone about everything in your past. Come to terms with it. And there‘s obviously something there. You didn‘t even try to deny it.”

“We’ve already established I can’t lie for shit! About fucking anything! And I’ve already come to terms with it! I just don’t want to talk about it,” he repeated.

Simon sighed. “If you were comfortable-”

“I’m not comfortable with it! I’m fucking embarrassed about what I did for two years to get by, but I didn’t have a choice and I know that!”

Simon stared at him. “What you did to get by? Shit,” he mumbled. “Damian…”

The slender redhead hugged his arms closer to himself. “Just- Just stop. Can I please go visit Jett?”

Simon paused, trying to calm down before speaking. “No.”

“What?! Why?”

“How did you meet him?” Simon said quietly. “Was he a client? A satisfied customer that decided he needed a kept boy?”

Damian huddled into his loose t-shirt, hiding behind his hair. “No.” His voice was soft and faltering. “He- I approached him. It was February and- and it was snowing. I was shivering. He felt bad for me, him and Amber. They- they took me in.” He laughed, the sound broken. “You got him wrong. Me right, but you got him wrong. He never touched me, not even as much as you have.”

Blood rushed to his cheeks and shame stabbed at him like a dagger, but he stayed silent.

“You call me fucked up now… You have no idea. God, it took me months and him going to the audition here for me to stop trying to sleep with him, for me to- to trust him enough to stop. It had been- been three years since anyone was nice to me. I was used to being f-” He glanced up at Simon and changed what he had been about to say. “-to everything they did to me. It didn’t bother me anymore. But I- I couldn’t handle trusting someone and then- then for it all to be a trick or a joke or- or something. I couldn’t. I still don’t think I could. So- so you’re right. Were right. The other day. I have control issues.” He laughed again, the same broken laugh. “Big ones. But- but I had nothing for years. I- I need something to hold onto.”

“Oh.”

“So- So can I go visit Jett?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Thanks,” Damian muttered, taking a step backwards out the door and then stopping. “I’m going home with you.” He laughed nervously.

Simon nodded and gathered the last of his things. “We should probably get going.”

Damian nodded, eyes adverted.

A few hours later, Simon was waving goodbye to Damian through the security gate. The slender boy waved back, hefted his small duffel bag over his shoulder and disappeared into the crowd.

Simon sighed and ran a hand through his hair, watching Damian’s back retreat anxiously. He needed to tell Aden that his student was gone for a few days so he could get his work. That actually wasn’t much of a problem. If he was being honest with himself, he was a little worried. As annoying as the kid was and as distant as they had been with each other, Simon was honestly starting to care about him. He was worried. Damian got in so much trouble when he was around… Who knew what kind of trouble he would get into when Simon was no where near him…