Damien Carmichael leads a double life. By day he's a high school senior at an elite prep school, just trying to get through his last year without any trouble. He has a girlfriend and up until this year, he was the star player of the lacrosse team.
...
The queue moved slowly, but eventually, Damien got his food, a salad as per usual, and picked up his tray, sneaking out of the Dining Hall as fast as he could. The Seniors had always technically been allowed to eat outside, but the snowfall on the ground made that particular option difficult at present. Damien didn't care, however, the silence and the frigid mountain air was exactly what he needed. He leaned against the wall just outside, one snow boot on the wall as he ate his lunch standing up.
The wind whipped across his skin, bitter cold and yet comforting somehow. He had never been particularly bothered by chilly weather. Sighing, he ate his lunch in peace, closing his eyes and trying desperately not to think about Oliver or the fact that he would still have to spend the entirety of the winter hols with someone who no longer wished to be with him.
Give him time, Carrie had said. Easy for her to say.
The month dragged on.
Damien's mind wandered. Despite his better efforts, he couldn't stop thinking about Oliver, he could hardly believe how quickly things had gone off the rails between them.
The majority of his free time was spent in the library, as it had been almost every day up until that point, only this time, he wasn't writing. He felt as though all of his creative juices had completely vanished. No, this time he was studying for real. Whatever Oliver may have thought about it, Damien intended to do well on his own terms, to get into Oxford on his own terms, and to live his life on his own terms.
Midterms passed in a strange sort of blur. All the excitement and nervous anticipation leading up to them had led to Damien getting very little sleep the night before the start of his midterms as he went over in his mind for the umpteenth time all of the most important details he would need to know.
Theorems and formulas. Author names and historical dates, scientific principal, his mind was full to bursting. It didn't help that despite how things had ended between them, Damien couldn't' stop thinking about Oliver. He couldn't stop missing him and wishing that he could still see him, still talk to him.
Still, after his midterm with Mrs. Craft, Damien found himself half debating what to do. By the end of the week, he would have to face Oliver whether he liked it or not. They would be stuck in the car together for the better part of two hours on the drive up to the Manor. That particular thought nearly made Damien break out in tears again. Shaking his head, and willing the tears to stop, Damien sucked in a breath and made his way down the stairs, he was just about to take a walk in the forest when he saw him.
Damien blinked, half certain he must be imagining it, or something. But there he was, standing in the forest, just a few feet away from the Castle. It was all Damien could do not to run towards him, desperate to see him again.
The snow was thick beneath Damien's feet as he walked, steadily towards Oliver, his heart racing in his chest. He hadn't even realized how much he had missed Oliver until he finally saw him again.
Without a word, Damien wrapped his arms around Oliver's shoulders, holding the other boy tight. Oliver pulled him in close, squeezing Damien tight to his chest, as he whispered in his ear, "God, I missed you so much."
"I'm sorry," Damien said, hot tears already pooling in his eyes. "I should have been more considerate to what you were going through."
Oliver shook his head, burying his face in Damien's shoulder. "No, I'm sorry. I should never have... I shouldn't have said that my life was better off before I met you. Damien, I've never been happier since meeting you. You are easily the best thing to ever happen to me, he sighed. "I just... I was raised that nothing in life is free. My parents were always so proud, and the thought of letting someone like you just take care of me... I don't want to be that person. I want to help out, I need to help out."
Damien nodded. "Oliver I have never thought of you as a charity case, and neither do my parents."
"I know," Oliver replied. "And I shouldn't have thrown back at you what you said to me," he sighed. "I worked so hard to get here, my parent's life insurance covered maybe 3/4ths of my tuition here, and everything else I had to bust my ass working three jobs over the summer to cover. Because my father was insistent that I had to make a better life for myself. Get into a good college. Get the best grades you can, so that I could have the best life I could possibly hope for. And then when I got suspended it just felt like all this work was suddenly for nothing and I lashed out."
Damien swallowed, "I'm sorry," he said quietly.
"I don't need you to apologize," Oliver replied. "Look, I get it. You don't even think about what this school costs to attend because you don't have to. And you don't think about what University costs because you don't have to. But I think about all of that, and I think... if I let your parents cover things for me, how long will I have to work, and how much before I can even hope to pay them back."
Damien gave him a look then, "Oliver, you wouldn't have to..."
"Yes, I would," he said. "I told you. I'm not there to be charity. If I'm going to spend the Winter Holidays with you, I want to make sure I can pay back every cent I cost you."
Damien laughed a little at that, "Oliver have you any idea the budget for the Winter Ball? It's obscene. I don't say that to be showy, I'm saying my parents don't view things in terms of cents, and dollars. Besides, they've all but adopted you into the family now, so it's not as if sending you to University is even a question." Oliver eyed him then, but he kept silent. "They like you because I like you. Do you know how much my parents did for Maddie when we dated? Loads! She didn't need it. For her birthday one year, I got her a Tiffany diamond tennis bracelet. It wasn't anything she couldn't have afforded on her own. My parents bought her a car for Christmas, she could easily afford it. They just like giving gifts to the people they care about. The gift bags for the Winter Ball alone are like Oscar gift bags. The Winter Ball isn't even a charity event, that's not till the Spring. The Winter Ball is literally just because my mother loves to throw a party." Oliver nodded. "My point, in all of this is to say that I know you don't want to be seen as charity, or that my parents feel sorry for you and want to help you, but they don't know anything about your story like that. They know your parents are dead and that's it. Everything else is for you to decide to tell them or not tell them."
Oliver smiled at that, "Thank you."
Damien smiled, sucking in a deep breath. "You can't imagine how much I missed you," he said. "Feeling your arms around my waist, your lips on my neck, your voice in my ear."
Oliver chuckled, "About as much as I missed you I could imagine," Oliver said. "I tried calling like a hundred times. Is your phone broken?"
"I may have chucked it across the room," Damien admitted.
Oliver snorted, "Of course you did," he said, lifting Damien's chin with his hand and pressed their lips together. Damien sighed happily, it didn't erase the last month or all that had happened between them, and yet, he couldn't help but feel desperately happy. They had survived their first fight, he thought with a soft smile. That had to count for something.
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