"I am sorry… I shouldn't have…"
Sooha backed away from the cupboards.
"Why are you scared? I won't hurt you for finding that."
"It's… unexpected?" Said Sooha with an ache in his voice.
"Unexpected? Do you even know what my life was like once you were gone?"
Damien barked these words, first time having his emotions lash out.
"You were the only one keeping me sane.
I had no one to ask me how I was these ten years, Sooha. The last time my own mother even saw me was on my eighteenth birthday… it was all so lonely."
He stepped closer to Sooha.
"All I had going on for me was a memory of you."
He placed his hand on Sooha's cheek, twirling the longer bangs of his rose-colored hair. "When I heard about Syntrum falling, I thought I would never see you again."
He placed his hand behind Sooha's head and pulled him to his chest.
"That day, I almost gave up… I thought about ending it all. I walked to the lake, and while walking in a swan glided down into the water. Something about it… It felt like you, telling me to hold on and that you are watching over me from above."
Sooha's hands twitched at his sides. He didn't know what to say.
Seeing Damien like this. Broken, but still standing tall, made his chest ache.
"You… you survived," he whispered. "I… I'm here now. I'm not leaving."
His eyes watered as guilt and warmth seeped in. Earlier, he had judged Damien's need for him. Now… he couldn't deny the comfort in being needed so completely.
It was a chance for Sooha to protect someone, finally being of use.
He finally felt,
Needed.
Damien let out a shaky breath, resting his chin atop Sooha's forehead.
"Earlier, I didn't really think you were weak. It's not why I wanted to keep you away from the mission… It's just that I wanted to protect you."
He rested his hands on Sooha's shoulders and pushed him away so he could look him in the eyes.
"I blamed myself every day and still do for not being able to keep you close and safe."
"Damien… You were just a child, too." Sooha said while brushing away a tear from Damien's cheek.
"We both deserved better" was what he added before their embrace continued.
After seeing Damien on the day Luke died, he thought he was now just a puppet under his father's shadow.
It was shocking for Sooha to realise how quickly he opened up.
He still hated him for what he did to Luke.
So much.
But he also realized that he was using the blame he put on Damien to cope with his own guilt and fear.
Guilt of letting Luke die, knowing that Damien's ability can be ignored with enough will.
Fear of Luke dying, even though he was healing him.
Sooha never trusted in his abilities to begin with.
He never thought that they would work successfully back then.
He hated them and hated being special, especially since it was of no use to anyone, ever.
He held onto Damien for a while, and to Damien it felt like hours.
The chance to hold him so close,
to tell him everything.
It was so freeing.
First time in the last ten years did he felt relieved.
It was also the first time he got to live in the present and have something real, not just ghosts from the past.
He placed a soft peck on top of Sooha's head and slowly let go.
"We should sleep now, tomorrow will be a long day, and you are going with me to The Tower."
"What?"
"We are visiting my father."
"Are you out of your mind? I can't see that man." His eyes widened and hands stiffened around Damiens."
"Sooha, if you want to make a change in this city, you will have to get used to doing things you can't."
"But-…"
"I will be there, and he won't be able to hurt you."
Damien touched Sooha's hand that was on his arm as if to share the burden.
"Don't you want to know what grimace he will make when he sees you in front of him?"
It took Sooha by surprise that Damien never broke under his father all these years.
He didn't know that he was the reason for that.
But he was still happy that he had him and Yuna to rely on while taking on their fathers.
"I guess you are right… Thank you." Sooha added, before retreating to the guest room.
Damien watched him go, and even though it was just walls between them now he couldn't stop himself from wishing there was nothing in between them.
No hurt .
No misunderstanding.
No distance.
No clothes…