genesis.

1. Damien

     Damien Sorren didn't ask to be born into a family of wealthy fashion designers. He certainly didn't ask for it, and he wouldn't wish it on anyone, not in a million years. While he grew up extremely comfortable, with access to things that some kids wouldn't even dream of asking for, he grew up with emotionally absent parents. Rich people, he figured, weren't really made to have kids. They were made to be rich and do great things with their lives. Devoting half of that life to a snotty, filthy, dependent creation made from half of their genes wasn't on their agendas.

     No, shows in Milan with red carpets were on their agendas. Film premieres and awards shows were better than kindergarten registration. Damien grew up in a house four sizes too big for him, but it made great space for the staff his parents hired. His homeschool teachers made great pretend parents while his real ones were off in London, or Paris, or somewhere in Mexico drinking margaritas the size of their heads. He always found himself wishing he was a normal kid, playing in the dirt, or eating sand, or doing god knows what with other kids. Of course, he played with the girl down the street, but that was under strict supervision in the playroom upstairs, and that got boring when all you have in your imagination is fashion shows.

     Instead, Damien started learning French and German the second he could talk. He started getting ahead in all of his schooling. He was smart for his age, driven mostly by parental praise and promises of time together. His parents counted time together as their son messily coloring in sketches of fashion mockups or watching old shows they'd either designed or been a part of. Really, though, Damien was just glad to get any sort of time with his parents. They were sort of half-assedly present all through his elementary education, but once middle school hit, they drifted. Damien begged to go to a real middle school, somewhere with other kids and real life experiences and excitement.

     Of course, his parents were reluctant. They knew it would be rough, with Damien having been homeschooled his entire life. Damien was too smart for public school. He was too proper. He'd taken etiquette classes when he should've been in fifth grade and begging his parents for a phone. Damien, however, was absolutely relentless with his requests for public school. He asked every day, multiple times a day, whenever he got the chance to speak with his parents. Eventually, they gave in, and Damien was enrolled in East Mills Middle School. His first few days were an absolute trainwreck.

     That was until he became friends with Chiko. Chiko was strange, because during roll every day, their teacher always read out a different name than he said his name was. Along with that, he looked a little different than the other boys in their grade. But Damien didn't care, because Chiko treated him like a normal person, so Damien treated him like a normal person back. Chiko didn't care about the fact Damien had a funny way of talking sometimes, or that he had perfect posture for a sixth grader. In return, Damien didn't care that everyone else called Chiko "she", or that his hair was long.

     They were inseparable, even if Damien was a little standoffish. He pretended like he didn't care for the other boy's company, but he would do anything to defend him. When seventh grade hit, and people started getting meaner about Chiko being different, Damien fought back. His vocabulary made him good at insults that made bullies feel stupid and he was good at standing his ground. Chiko didn't like fighting, but Damien couldn't just stand around and watch his best friend get pushed around. So if he happened to start hitting back, then so be it. If he found himself in the counselor's office weekly, then so be it. At the end of the day, if he went home with a few more bruises, then so be it.

     If he was the one hurt defending his best friend, then so be it.

     Eventually, he got better at fighting. He hit his first growth spurt and the people who were picking on Chiko left them alone, because they didn't want to deal with Damien. The bruises faded, Damien kept getting taller, and Chiko didn't have to worry about people messing with him anymore. Or, at least, not at school. Damien knew Chiko had his own struggles at home, his own battles with his parents. In a way, Damien figured that's what brought them together. They both had less-than-great parents, even if Damien's were stupid rich, and they could bond over their inability to be loved in the way they needed to be. Through it all, Damien and Chiko stayed together. They made their way through the absolute trenches of middle school, and managed to get to where they were now.