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“Who’s this?” Tim asks, completely devoid of manners. He should introduce himself first, but he can’t wait that long.
“This is Jeremy Rheins,” Damian says, staring straight at Tim. “Jeremy, this is my brother, Tim.”
Brother. He never thought he’d hate that word.
“Adopted,” Tim says. Once again, no manners.
“Yes, adopted,” Damian rolls his eyes. “And this is?”
“Hi, I’m Ellie. Ellie Masters,” she says. “I’m Tim’s plus one.”
“Oh, that’s great,” Damian says. “I hope you last longer than the others. Timothy is always moving so quickly from one to the next.”
Ellie immediately shoots Tim a questioning glance, but his eyes are on Damian, wishing he could strangle him right then and there. And this Jeremy kid while he’s at it.
“I wish the same for Jessie. The last few didn’t work out when they found out about each other, but I’m sure he’s aware of your… non-monogamy?”
That definitely catches the kid’s attention, making his eyes go wide as he stares at Damian.
“It’s Jeremy,” Damian says. “And I think you must be confused, because I would never cheat on someone I committed myself to. I won’t stand for that kind of slander.”
“Ah, I’m sure it was just a miscommunication then. My bad.”
“Hmf,” Damian goes, dragging his date away from Tim.
“What was that?” Ellie asks.
“Sorry.” He’s still looking at Damian who is talking to the other boy, probably also coming up with an excuse. “We have some bad blood. The thing he said about me was a lie.”
“And what you said about him?”
“An exaggeration. I can’t just let him get away with that sort of stuff, it’ll only make it worse.”
“I’m sure feeding into it definitely makes it better.”
Tim finally tears his eyes away. Ellie’s arms are crossed and eyebrows narrowed.
“You’re right. Can we just forget that happened and ignore them? I really wanted to dance with you tonight.”
“Really?” she asks.
“Really.”
“Okay, I guess,” but she’s grinning now. If only Damian was ever even half that easy. “Let’s go dance.”
He leads her out to the dancefloor of the gala, where nearby, the orchestra is playing a soft and slow song. It’s easy to slip into position, one hand on her waist and the other holding her hand up.
It’s simple enough to sway, a few steps here, a few there, give her a little spin. The music is still slow, so it doesn’t take much effort or thought, which unfortunately gives Tim too much freedom. His eyes soon drift back to Damian, who’s now at one of the tables with the other boy.
They’re sitting too close. It’s a formal event, for goodness’ sake. Even Tim and his date aren’t that close, they’re at the appropriate distance for dancing. Why do Damian and this idiot need to sit practically on top of each other?
He’s still swaying, still moving his body to the flow of the music, but his eyes don’t leave their table. Damian’s eating a salad, because whoever threw this gala skimped out on getting more vegetarian options, and the boy’s got a napkin, leaning close and dabbing at Damian’s lip as if he’d gotten something there. Tim knows for a fact that Damian hadn’t. He’s never been a messy eater.
Tim once watched Damian eat an ice cream cone, licking over and over at the scoop of vanilla. He’d been entranced, staring at Damian who hadn’t really been paying attention to his presence at the time. He’d waited and waited, his eyes practically begging for even just a little bit of the ice cream to get on him. But Damian isn’t a messy eater, and there was never a drop of melted ice cream that escaped his lips.
It wasn’t until months later that Tim got what he wanted. When he fucked Damian’s mouth, the boy staring up at him, and Tim pulled out, spilling out onto Damian’s face. Finally sullying what used to be pristine and pure, always spotless.
And there that boy is. Wiping away at nothing, getting to touch Damian’s face, all while Tim is across the room.
“Tim?”
He looks down at his date. “Yeah?”
“The song ended.”
Now they’re just standing there, still in form, no music playing. “Oh, I thought they were going to play another one. You want some refreshments while we wait?”
“Sure,” she says with a frown.
He heads over to a table with champagne, conveniently close to Damian’s table. Of course, Damian sees him, glaring at him once before suddenly moving closer to the other boy, leaning into his space at the dinner table. Damian is clearly attempting flirting now, smiling and staring at his date. He’s even got his elbow on the table–which is worse manners than Tim–and his head on his hand, looking up at the boy through his eyelashes.
Tim can’t hear what they’re saying, but it’s enough to make his fists clench.
Then this boy–this stupid fucking asshole–leans in, closing the space between him and Damian. It’s a short kiss, but a kiss the same. When he pulls away, Damian’s eyes are wide, and they immediately flit over to meet Tim’s.
He can’t even stop himself. Tim lost whatever control he had when he saw someone else putting their lips on Damian. He’s stomping over, grabbing Damian’s wrist and harshly yanking him up out of his seat. “Family meeting,” he says icily to the boy, spitting the words out like venom.
He drags Damian away, through the nearest door and down the hallway until he’s at a bathroom that almost never gets used. Tim doesn’t care that Damian is stumbling behind him or that his grip is as hard as steel on his wrist.
He shoves Damian into the bathroom, locking the door shut behind them. He drops Damian’s wrist, who instantly starts rubbing at the bruising skin.
“I didn’t know he was going to kiss me,” Damian says glumly.
“Uh huh. You just let him touch your face and flirted with him all night.”
“You danced with that girl!”
“I didn’t fucking kiss her!”
“I didn’t kiss him! He kissed me!”
Tim needs to punch something. The mirror, that boy, something, anything. “I’m so fucking sick of your bullshit.”
Damian crosses his arms. “It’s not like it meant anything. Obviously.”
“Oh wow, that makes it all better. Why don’t I go kiss Ellie? It won’t mean anything.” He even starts to reach for the door handle, just to further prove his point.
“Stop it!” Damian instinctively shoves his arm away from the door. “No. You know what? Go kiss her. Have fun. I’m going home. It’s not like we’re actually a thing anyway.”
Damian starts to turn, but Tim slams a hand on the door, just above Damian, keeping it shut. “Not actually a thing? So what do you call it when I fuck you silly into your mattress? Or when you sneak into my room and wake me up with your mouth on my cock? Is that nothing?”
“I don’t know what it is! Not when the next thing I know, you’re telling Father about some girl you’re bringing to the next gala!”
“She asked me, okay. What was I supposed to say? Sorry, I can’t go with you, I’m fucking my little brother and he gets jealous when I bring girls home.”
“You didn’t have to tell her anything. You could have just said no.”
“And how long until the gossip rags start investigating? And they figure I must be secretly seeing someone, and if they just have the paparazzi stalk me long enough they’ll get a picture of who it is.”
“If we’re going to hide it forever, then let’s just break up now.”
Tim balks at that. “What?”
“This is over. Let’s just stop now.”
“It’s not over.”
“Yes, it is. It was fun while it lasted.”
Tim doesn’t know what to do, so he does the only thing he can. He leans down, hands on either side of Damian’s face, slamming his lips into Damian’s. Damian has nowhere to go, pressed against the door, Tim’s hands keeping him there. He struggles, pushing at Tim, who continues kissing him until Damian bites his lip hard and shoves him away.
“Stop it! I– You don’t want to be in a relationship with me. It’s over.”
“I never said that,” Tim says. “We both agreed to hide it.”
“Well, I don’t want to anymore. I don’t want to see you with other people when we’re…”
“Then let’s do it. Let’s tell everyone.”
“You want to go public? And be a real couple?”
“Yes.”
“But our family-”
“Screw them. Screw the public. I want to be with you.”
This time it’s Damian who kisses him, happily crossing his arms behind Tim’s neck. Tim grabs the back of his thighs, hauling Damian up and letting his legs also cross around Tim. He presses him back up against the bathroom door, kissing just as eagerly back.
If there’s any trace of that boy left on Damian’s lips, it’s gone by the time they leave over 30 minutes later, lips swollen and clothes ruffled.