Don't Tell My Brother

Chapter 30 - Out

Before Lucas could invite him to sit, Damien sat down anyway. It was quiet for a moment, though not an uncomfortable quiet. Damien seemed to be finding the right words before he spoke, which was unusual.

"You didn't leave because someone said something, did you?" He asked finally, and his words were slow, almost hesitant.

Lucas shook his head. "No, I just wanted a break. There's a lot of people there, and I needed to get out of the woods. Figuratively and literally." He liked how neatly that fit.

"Wow, figuratively and literally. That's crazy." Damien said, the sarcasm just playful enough that Lucas would let it slide. "C'mon, there's like ten people."

"Fifteen. I counted."

Damien laughed. "Of course you did." He paused. "But you'd tell me if someone said something, right? Because I don't mean to brag," he absolutely does, Lucas knows, he always does, "but I'm really good in a fight. Kind of an expert, actually. Just like..." He frowned, apparently deep in thought. "...fuck, can't think of a professional fighter. But whoever they are, I'm like them. But hotter, probably."

Despite himself, Lucas smiled. "You're not any smarter when you're drunk."

"Drunk? Me?" Damien feigned innocence, eyes wide, lips slightly parted as if they'd never touched a drop of alcohol. "Lucas, how could you? That'd be illegal, and I'd never do anything illegal."

"Right. You're a total saint, I forgot." Lucas said, with as much sarcasm as he could manage, but he couldn't muster any bite behind it.

"I am. Unless you'd prefer it if I wasn't?" Damien was watching him again, Lucas could practically feel it. He glanced his way, and god, he was giving him that smile. Teasing, promising. "Because trust me, Lucas, there are many areas where I'm not saintly at all. I'd be happy to show—hey!"

Lucas reached over to whack him, and Damien, in his drunken state, couldn't dodge in time. "Shut up, idiot."

But Damien was just laughing, leaning against the fence and laughing so hard that he didn't stop for a full minute or two, even though Lucas didn't think it was particularly funny. The way he'd felt his face heat at those words, far too easily affected, wasn't funny at all.

"Are you done?"

"Yep, yep. All done." Damien attempted to pull himself together. "I'm on my best behaviour. Promise."

Lucas groaned, letting his forehead rest against the cool metal of the fence's bars. He followed the veins of light below, trying to track individual cars in the darkness, but it was futile. "Somehow I have trouble believing that."

"Ah, you're too smart for me. So, so smart."

There was something in Damien's tone Lucas couldn't read, so he assumed it was mocking, like it always was. "Very funny."

"I mean it, though. And sometimes, when you're thinking really hard, you do this thing, it's like..." And then, before Lucas knew what was happening, Damien had reached over and taken his face in his hand. Despite how drunk he was, his hand was steady and firm as he tilted Lucas' chin upwards, leaning closer, eyes searching Lucas' face. His hand was warm against his cheek, slightly rough with callouses. "You sorta frown, and there's this little crease right here..." With his free hand, he pressed the pad of his thumb between Lucas' eyebrows, before letting his hand fall.

But he didn't let go, his other hand still cupping Lucas' jaw. Lucas swallowed. His heart was pounding, hard enough that if he pressed a hand to his own chest he was sure he'd feel it knocking furiously against his ribs. Last time, at the party, he hadn't known if he wanted Damien to kiss him or not. Now he knew. He really, really did. Under the night sky, Damien's eyes were darker than Lucas had ever seen them. His own eyes were drawn to the shadows under his jaw, down the taut line of his neck, the way the lights from the highway flickered across his face. Despite the cool night air, he felt very warm.