CHAPTER [9] Gay panic.

Darren.

Damsel staggered back at the blockage, he shut his eyes ready to fall on his back, he could see it a heartbeat before it happened- the force pushing him back and his body tilting in an unbalancable state, he looked crazy as he waved his arms in the air trying to somehow balance himself back onto 2 feet, but that was until an arm roughly tugged him back forward.

"Woah!"

Damsel yelled in relief, after finding balance again he looks up at his rival, Darren had his jaw clenched in annoyance as he tightened his grip on the boy's arm, forcing him to stand up properly again.

It was an awkward position, with Darren gripping Damsel's upper-arm, and them just staring at each other with the faint line of awkwardness lingering between the two.

Damsel stood there frozen as he watched in awe at his expression. He saw nothing short of disgust on Darren's face, almost hatred, as his face reddened with anger.

Damsel scoffed to the side.

"I didn't need your help," He sneered,

"Of course you didn't, I should've let you fucking fall, that would've cracked your head open," Darren retorted with a click of his tongue.

"Don't act like you wouldn't be happy if I actually did crack my head open,"

Only then, when damsel looked up he saw the devastating state that he had only heard in the call prior to the night, visually in front of his eyes. Damsel looked up to be met with puffed red eyes, from crying all night, places were flushed red like the tip of his nose and just under his eyes with tints, it wasn't clear if they were the remaints of tears from a short while ago or dating back to last night, but it was definitely clear that Darren was in a vulnerable spot at the moment.

Of course the same could be said for damsel, his hair was messy from all the nervous tugging and his voice was hoarse aswell, like there was spit blocking him off in his throat.

A sense of shame flooded into his nervous system as Darren's words from yesterday really set in,

He knew he'd done something pretty awful when he had to rack up every possible excuse to justify it.

his words held a knife to Damsel's throat, and the boy's scornful gaze held the same effect, stilling Damsel in place.

It was true, as shameful as it was to admit, the fact that Damsel still held Darren on a pedestal after his first love from kindergarten left him for Darren was the exact reason Damsel still held a grudge against him to this day, and it brought Damsel into such a toxic corner of his own mind that he had to really realize that, that was all there was to his so-thought deep hatred.

He really was privileged,

He really was ungrateful,

He really was self-centered,

He really did do everything to mend his own insecurities,

He really did think he was oppressed.

He really was blind to his own actions,

And the blind stayed blind.

So Damsel still stayed blind.

Darren's ears were turning red, he sent a glare at him then spat out, "The fuck did I expect from a Prince? You're entitled, you can't even say a thank you."

Damsel sneered at him, then proceeded to laugh, only to add fuel to the fire.

"Did I say something funny?" Darren snapped,

"You're getting heated up over absolutely nothing, calm the fuck down."

It's not my fault,

It's not my fault,

It's not my fault.

Damsel sounded so nonchalant, shrugging his shoulders and everything; but he could only keep that charade up with the thought of Vincent's plan in mind, he had sent over a detailed plan on how Damsel could get out of this marriage with his mate, and everything was pinpointed so precisely that he had no reason to fret.

now he just had to get Darren to go along with his nonsense.

"What..?" Darren's voice cracked from his ball of spit stuck in his throat, "The fuck do you mean I'm getting mad over nothing? I'm about to lose my-"

"Ahem," Carter coughed from the side, eyeing Darren with a disgustingly crooked smile, his eyes glared at the boy,

Damsel could've sworn Darren's eyes glossed again.

Darren bore his neck in submission, looking at the floor almost instantly with a lowered gaze, clenching his fists. To damsel, who saw the scene go down, the sight seemed so, unlike the Darren he knew. He didn't know whether he should've laughed or felt confused, I mean, he gave up so easily with just a few words from his father, it was like he was;

Scared?

Damsel's eyes widened.

His eyes darted from Darren's trembling fingers that he was trying to hide by placing them behind his back, and then they darted to his father, who was staring down at him with a clenched jaw but a fixed smile, suddenly those eyes of Carter sent an uneasy feeling down to Damsel's core, something wasn't right from the situation, he knew something was off, but he couldn't wait to question it.

Darren was the first to yank his arm away from him, quickly turning to look at his father with a fixed posture, "Sorry, father, should we head in?"

At that, Damsel panicked, he had planned on pulling Darren out in private to tell him what he was planning, maybe he could've convinced Darren into opposing the marriage as well, but now he couldn't possibly get a chance to get him away in private, and seeing the exchange from the father and son duo, Damsel felt as those plans of his weren't going to work as easily as he thought, it seemed like there was a whole new situation in front of the doors that could save him from losing his mate.

"Yes, the elders have been waiting for quite a while," Carter smiled, "After you, Nick."

"How kind of you." Nick returned with a scoff in his tone, he turned to fix Damsel a glare, signaling him to follow him as he walking in with his nose hung in the air.

Damsel fiddled with the ring on his finger, chewing his bottom lip in a daze, what was he going to do now?

"Prince," Darren whisper-threatened, cocking his head at Damsel,

But the prince shifted on one foot to the other uncomfortably.

"Prince, the fuck are you waiting for?" Darren whispered with a threatening tone, he was quick to pause in his tracks as he realized the younger hadn't taken a step forward.

Shit, shit, shit!

Damsel let out a noticeably fake cough.

The other four paused in their tracks,

Nick immediately knew something was weird and turned back towards Damsel who had stayed in his spot, lagging behind the others.

"I- uh, need to use the emergency room."

Nick and Matthew looked at each other, raising brows,

emergency room?

The fuck was that?

Matthew stifled back a snicker, And Nick wanted to crawl into a cave, of course the kid was up to something, he was an idiot for thinking Damsel would walk in there just like that; never in his 17 years had Damsel said 'emergency' room, ever, he'd just announce that he had to take a shit, and in formal appearances, he'd just say bathroom like a normal person.

Nick held back a sigh.

"...right now?" Carter said with an uncomfortable pause,

He gave a forced tight-lipped smile at Carter,

"Yes sir, I think Dar-" The name disgusted him, "Your eldest, could guide me, since we're familiar with each other and all!"

Damsel said with an overly enthusiastic voice that left Darren wanting to gag.

Darren let out a noticeably fake cough at the term, he turned and raised his brows at Damsel as though he were astonished, in which damsel merely got closer and elbowed him secretly without anyone noticing, He returned to smiling groggily at Carter, pinching Darren from the back.

Darren jumped

"FUCKING-" Damsel pinched harder at his skin, which left him to bite back the curses and beam a smile, he had to go along with him or else he was going to have a chunk of his flesh pinched off.

"Yes-! Uh- FUCK- I'd love love, love to show my good pal to the emergency room!" Darren desperately rushed out, putting an arm around Damsel's shoulder, but using it as an excuse to pinch the skin of his shoulder instead.

Carter squinted his eyes suspiciously, knowing something was up, he glanced over at Nick who was already glaring at Damsel with a steady gaze.

The two idiots were wearing faltering smiles as they pinched the shit out of each other, it was absolutely agonizing for Darren, he just wished his father would let them leave already, his back was for sure going to bleed at this point,

Carter broke the awkward silence with a forced laugh, "Why of course! You two will need to get familiar with each other soon anyways, how about a head start!" He laughed.

Barf, damsel internally gagged with a roll of his eyes.

"Isn't that right, Nick?"

Nick and Matthew held their breaths.

"Ahaha.. Of course."

Damsel rushed a nod in understanding as he practically yanked Darren's arm, pulling him away to start walking off into the hallway they had come from.

Damsel cursed Darren in his head for making his shoulder-blade hurt like a bitch. Though Darren on the other hand wad thanking the goddess Luna for her mercy as he had survived the trauma he just went through, his mood however was quickly replaced as he fixed his gaze at the back of Damsel's head,

"Prince- The fuck-"

He was pulling him through the horrid maze that was their villa, making sure to pull him hardly every now and then just to make the older's joints suffer so that Damsel could make himself somehow feel better in the situation.

"Prince!"

"Where the fuck is the exit?" Damsel didn't care to look back, picking up his pace to hurriedly find an exit whilst still pulling Darren along with him like a rag doll.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Darren yelled, shoving Damsel's grip on him, he flexed his arms to loosen up his sore bones that Damsel almost dislocated.

"Just tell me where the exit is!" This time, Damsel snapped, pushing Darren in his episode of frustration.

they didn't have much time and he needed them to get as far away from the people's range of ear-shot as possible, or else he couldn't make the plan work; but Darren was being obnoxiously paranoid.

Darren scoffed, narrowing his eyes at Damsel until a smirk grew,

"There's a door to the garden here, I'll lead the way, pal."

This time it was Darren's queue to drag Damsel roughly, to which damsel wanted to curse himself for pulling him so hard before because now he knew Darren was purposely using the same amount of force and aggression that damsel had used.

Soon they arrived at another large gate, decorated by its sculpted designs of flowers and roses, though it was only Damsel taking in the vintage design since Darren pushed the door open without a glance, and this time,

Damsel was shoved into the garden, falling on his butt,

"Fuck you!" Damsel hissed as his butt made contact with the ground, he winced as he guessed it was probably going to be sore later. "What the fuck, Knight? I didn't even push you that hard!"

Darren merely showed a triumphant grin as he crossed his arms with a proud smile.

"Cut the bullshit, Prince, what did you want?"

Damsel hissed again as he got up, his knees almost buckling but managing to get up successfully, he cast a glare at Darren, he had to wince quietly at the soreness coming from his thighs, he was sure a part of it was gonna bruise all purple later. He looked at Darren with an obvious glare before giving up and sighing, at least now he had the boy alone, to that,

Damsel cleared his throat and didn't hesitate to start.

"So I know that we're both not on the marriage idea-" Damsel started off rather smugly, he dusted himself off as he smirked,

"No shit."

"...As I was saying, You made that pretty clear last night,"

Darren's eyes widened as his proud smile wore off, he took a step threateningly, "Shut the fuck up, you think you're really hiding the fact that you look like a pufferfish?"

"Oi shut the fu--." Damsel pointed a finger, before retracting slowly as he took a deep breath, he kept chanting breath in, breath out, in his head before he finally shoved down his tide of feelings,

"Listen, as much as I hate it, I'm willing to put up with you for once, for my mate."

"Oh? You're putting up with me? Prince who the fuck is the one that has tantrums every 2 seconds?"

"Can you not start a fight every 2 seconds? I'm trying my hardest to keep my fist from meeting your jaw right now!" Damsel snapped, he shoved him back by the chest, almost growling.

Darren's eyes widened as his surprise drew to anger, he raised his hand but Damsel was quick to shield himself in a panic, "Wait! Wait! Don't start this again- Ack!"

"You shoved me first-" Darren's eyebrows furrowed,

"Fuck's sake, it was your fault for riling- ugh, nevermind! Shove me later, just listen to me for now!"

Darren rolled his eyes at him, "I'm holding you on that, you can't complain later."

Damsel merely scoffed.

"What if I told you.." Damsel dragged off as he dramatically turned on his heels, feeling up non existent chin beard with his thumb and index finger in a curious manner.

"Oh for fuck's sake, save me your acting, get on with it."

Damsel hummed gleefully, he turned to face Darren as he pointed at him suddenly in an animatic swoop, "What if I told you that there was a way that we could walk out of this marriage with our mates alive?"

"I'm not killing my dad."

"Shut up, I wouldn't go that far, even though that would most likely put an end to our problems," Damsel realized he had gone off topic, he turned back to Darren who had an unimpressed look. "What? I'm not lying, your dad is to blame!"

"Just elaborate on that idea of yours, I'm sure its stupid anyways." Darren took out his phone, tapping on the phone boredly as if Damsel's presence was nothing, Damsel huffed and stepped closer to Darren, pushing the hand that was holding the phone down ever so slowly, so Darren could hold his eyes,

"There are other ways to form an alliance, other than marriage." Damsel grinned, an inch away from his face.

Darren's face scrunched up for a second as he panicked slightly, seeing such a horrid face so close all of a sudden, that could've given him a heart attack! Yet the moment Damsel leaned in so close, it was like time had all but stopped in it's tracks, and suddenly Darren could browse every feature on his face, the face he had deemed as an ugly rat before became nonexistent, and Darren had to pull his jaw muscles back intact as to not visibly stare agape.

He had the kind of face that stopped you in your tracks. Darren guessed he must've gotten used to that, the sudden pause in a person's natural expression when they looked his way followed by overcompensating with a nonchalant gaze and a weak smile. It didn't help that he was so modest with it, it made the girls fall for him all the more. Darren didn't know if Damsel saw himself the way others saw him, his face was perfection, so no matter when damsel came in sweatpants and hoodies, even messy bed hair, he somehow always seemed to walk out looking like a vogue model.

His mop of brown hair, was combed back and he looked cleaned up for once, it was a conference meeting and all but Darren had never actually seen Damsel dress properly before, his gelled locks really showed how his face was naturally carefully structured. As if God had molded him just to spoil these eyes. Darren took one look into his eyes and he couldn't look away, the blue seemless ocean may have seemed cold and freezing to others, but he didn't know how such an icy shade could warm him to the core.

Darren thought;

Had Damsel always been so,

perfect?

"Friendship!" Damsel stated in an overly cringey way, making jazz hands as if to add sparkly effects to the word.

At that, Darren had to blink a couple of times to shake those thoughts off, he was brought back to reality with a silly grin on Damsel's face, what the fuck was he thinking? checking out another boy? Damsel of all people.

No, Darren slapped himself internally,

He was just good-looking, you can't argue with facts, so it was completely normal to admire a work of art-

What the fuck was going on with him? Holy shit.

"Hello? Earth to Shit-head?" Damsel waved his hand impatiently infront of the dazed-off Darren who was currently fighting his thoughts, "Knight, are you even listening to me?" Damsel was shaking him and all, but the dude was just staring at him with widened eyes, it kind of freaked Damsel out, he looked like he was seeing a ghost for fucks sake,

This time, Damsel leaned in even further, cupping both of Darren's cheeks as he brought his head down to his height, their noses were really an inch away now, and the oblivious prince fluttered those god-forsaken crystal eyes and stared into Darren's with no thoughts of anything else whatsoever.

Then, Darren subconsciously moved closer to those eyes that look so deeply into his own,

"Darren?"

He called out softly, just confused, his voice making just the right pitch of a cut; but for Darren the fact that Damsel had called his name directly, not knight, with that soft tone of his and his shameless pretty eyes, it was enough to seriously bring him back to reality, There was something about those eyes of his that left him mesmerized, as if in that moment their souls had made a bridge.

He panicked.

And so, Darren kneed him in the stomach.