Nick sticks his hands in his pockets, then takes the one nearest Damian out again, leaving it hanging conspicuously between them. They're on their way back from Val's, the kids running laps around them as they walk through the twilit streets of Godwin. There's still flour streaked across the thighs of Nick's black jeans he notices, despite the well worn apron he wears in the store, and, sneaking a glance at Damian from the corner of his eye, he feels a just a little bit grubby.
The good thing about having worked on a farm for the past decade and have 4 kids under the age of 10 is that "grubby" has no meaning to Damian anymore. He takes Nick's hand, casting a smile his way. It's getting quiet now, people starting to lock up their stores for the night - they catch Yasmeena leaving her office, and pass by Rudrama, who naturally doesn't acknowledge them, heading on her what to wherever she's heading. The kids squeal in excitement at both, and Yasmeena is gracious enough to whirl Filly around in the air once. "The bread was good," Damian says, glancing towards him. "And you should buy some of their honey for your teas, it was wonderful."
Nick does a double take up at Damian, his thoughts having wandered away from their meeting with Val and towards the flight capacity of the triplets. "Yeah," he says. "Yeah. I read something once about how supermarket honey is like, 95% imitation and they for some reason don't have to tell you. Like the extra virgin olive oil that's not real, since the mafia controls the exports. A honey mafia. Actually that would probably just be Noah anyway, huh? What was Val talking about?" Nick asks suddenly. "A new abode. You're not. You'd tell me if you were leaving Godwin, right?"(edited)
Damian pays thorough enough attention to track this line of thought all the way down, though he does wonder about the extra virgin olive oil mafia and Nick's experience with them. "Noah is too kind to be part of organized crime," he said thoughtfully, then added, "Though, I'm sure that's exactly what he wants us to think. Then he glances over at Nick, an eyebrow raised. "Believe me, I have no plans to leave any time soon. I like it here," he continues, peering down the lane as they wander past the edge of town, out towards the farm. "It's quiet, but I'm not sure I could go back to anything else at this point. Plus it's a wonderful place to raise kids." He doesn't look at Nick, very pointedly. "How about you?"
Nick swings their hands a little, looking out over the fields, the sky orange darkening to deep blue overhead. The horizon seems to stretch forever out here, even though Nick knows that if he just turns around the familiar skyline--such as it is--of Godwin will be etched black against the sky.
"I miss the city," he admits. "But rent is better out here. No way I could afford to have a store anywhere with its own, like, exit on the interstate. Maybe someday." He shrugs. The thought sits uncomfortable with him though--much as he had complained about moving here with Skye and Thiren when he was a kid, he's happy in Godwin. Moving back to the city doesn't have the allure that it once did.
Not exactly the angle Damian was hoping for, but sure. "I'll have to take your word about the rent," he says, with a self-effacing smile. "But, I can see what you mean. Maybe someday, when the kids are older." This time he does glance at Nick. As always, he doesn't want to scare Nick off, but he does want Nick to get the picture, just so they can figure out where they stand.
Nick does another double take at Damian. Maybe when the kids are--. Maybe When The Kids Are Older.
Hmm. Nick knows how Damian is--he's all in, and quick. Well. It's not exactly quick at this point, Nick guesses. But he's been kind of--avoiding thinking about it, floating in this bubble of now-ness, where everything's going to stay like this, exactly like this, forever.
"Maybe someday," Nick says. "Can't picture you without some dirt to dig in, though."
With a shrug, Damian responds, "You can find dirt all over the world, albeit with different soil properties and water levels. I'm sure I could find something. Eden!" he called, raising his voice so his daughter, running past her siblings, could hear. "Slow down, please! Let us catch up!" She did so, but only to run backwards and run around Nick and Damian a few times, the triplets screaming in laughter as they followed her. "Nick!" she called at him, as she tagged her siblings on the head. "Are you gonna have a sleepover tonight? We can bake cookies again!!" She was off without waiting for a reply. Damian leaned over slightly. "I was wondering that myself," he muttered.
Nick twists to the left, then to the right, trying to follow Eden's trajectory. "What--yeah? Cookies--What kind--she's gone." Nick shakes his head, grinning.
"Yeah," he says, and he leans up to meet Damian, kissing the corner of his mouth. "I mean, if you're inviting me."
"Of course," replied Damian. "You're welcome anytime, Nick. Any day, whenever - you're ready." He returns the kiss, and immediately the triplets start screaming and pretending to vomit - meanwhile Eden screeches in delight, cheering them on.
Nick kisses Damian for a moment longer, ignoring the kids--just for like, a second, come on-- then flashes the triplets a thumbs down, and immediately starts making gross horrible wet kissing noises while kissing Damian on the cheek, grinning at the kids and watching out of the corner of his eye.April 14, 2020
Damian laughs and lets Nick continue, then pushes him away. "Shhh, kids, cut it out!" he calls to the kids. "You better be nice to Nick, or else he won't want to sleepover ever again!"
"That's true," Nick says gravely, wiping his own spit off his face. "And then you'll have to eat dad's cookies."
There was a very satisfying chorus of Ewwwwwws, and Damian grinned. "Perish the thought," he said. "We'll just have to have Nick stay and make cookies so none of you are ever subjected to such a punishment ever again."
Nick actually giggles, a quiet, unselfconscious sound. "I'll do what I have to do," he says. "to prevent child abuse."
They turn onto a country lane, the farmhouse before them. Damian is starting to think he's going to have to be real direct. "Such a saint," he sighs. "I'm sure the kids are very grateful." He nudges Nick in the ribs. "I'm grateful too."
Nick catches his arm and loops his through it. "For the cookies?" he says, laughing. "You're welcome. Not even Thiren gets my baking for free."
"For you, habibi. Coming home to you. With you," he corrects, catching himself. "Coming home with you. It's... well. It's something I looked for for a long time."
Nick's such a sucker for pet names he almost misses that really, really important preposition. But not quite. He hides his face against Damian's shoulder and kisses it. "Yeah?" he asks, smiling up at him. "I'm glad you found me."
"Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick!" shouts Eden, swinging the front door open. "I'm turning the oven on so we can make cookies!" She disappeared into the house. Damian grinned sidelong at Nick. "So are the kids."
Nick hangs back on the porch for a moment, hand in Damian's. "So am I," he says. He lingers for a moment, because it feels like there's something else one of them should say, but Nick's just on the edge of not believing what Damian seems to be implying.
Damian takes his other hand, leans down and presses a kiss on Nick's cheek. "You just said that," he said quietly, the corner of his lip quirked upwards in a smile. "But the point bears repeating, so I'll let it go." He hesitates, then continues, "There's...another point that bears repeating, though I'm not sure it's been explicitly spoken aloud first."
Nick sticks his tongue out. "I'll say it as many times as I want," he says. The smile melts off his face--Damian sounds Very Serious, so Nick takes his other hand too. The sun is setting behind him, making Nick squint up at him and obscuring some of his features in shadow. "What's up, D?"
Damian takes one of Nick's hands, brings it up to his lips and gently lays a kiss on his fingers. "You stay over plenty often as is," he says, quietly. "I - and the kids - would... be even more extraordinarily grateful, if you might consider... the idea of making it more permanent?"
Nick just. Lights up. He jumps up on his toes, head almost colliding with Damian's nose, and wraps his arms around his neck, kissing him a dozen times before Damian can even respond. He pulls back for a second, long enough to say "Okay," in an offhand voice, like he didn't just almost take Damian down in his happiness. "Sure." He goes back to kissing him for a moment then stops abruptly. "You're asking me to move in, right? Not marry me?"April 15, 2020
"Move in, yes," laughs Damian. "I'll refrain from speaking the other thing into existence until at least we've had a few more non-conversations about it. No need to worry," he adds, squeezing Nick's hands. "First thing's first. The kids will be overjoyed."
Nick dips his head and presses his forehead against their joined hands. "First thing's first," he says, relieved, mostly. "I'm gonna have to break my lease. And pack. And get a moving van. And sell my furniture." He looks up at Damian and his face softens. "First thing's first," he says again. "They started the cookie chant inside."
"They did," agrees Damian, nodding his head seriously. "You know what that means. We can't possibly keep them waiting any longer, Nick, or they will cast the cookie pox upon our house. Eden knows where all the Sharpies are. She won't hesitate."
Nick gasps. "The cookie pox! Why didn't you hide the Sharpies!" He giggles and lets go of Damian's hands, just to reach up and around Damian's neck to pull him down into another kiss. He's still absolutely glowing, and maybe a few of the tattoos on his hands are wiggling happily, but he doesn't notice that. "One more second won't hurt."
"She always finds them," sighs Damian. "Always. A little genius, and yet she uses her powers for evil." He returns the kiss. "But, yes," he adds lightly. "One more second." Then he pulls back slightly, and pointedly tells Nick, "But you'll be cleaning up the Sharpie'd walls."
It might get a snort from Nick, but it just gets a smirk and a nod from Cameron. But as soon as Damian stutters through asking about a “Talk,” Cameron’s noticeably uncomfortable.
A talk. A Talk. The Talk? He’s trying to think of times when he was sloppy and left a clue, but comes up empty. This honestly isn’t the worst thing that could happen, but it still sucks, because he respects Damian a lot and wanted to say something on his terms. But if it’s gonna come up anyway, he figures it’s best to come clean all at once.
“Uh, yeah, totally,” Cam says, but his voice is weirdly strained and he’s fidgeting with his fingers. He clears his throat. “I hope you’re not mad, ‘cause I was gonna tell you - there’s no reason to hide being gay from you, right, that’s silly, you probably could figure it out, but I was nervous anyway-” he catches his breath, pauses for a second. “But anyway, if you wanted to give me the Talk, that’s totally cool. Super cool. I’ll definitely listen. Will you just, um, tell me how you figured out about my boyfriend?”
Damian’s mouth gapes open. Then he closes it, because that’s impolite, and he rewinds, goes over his words, tries to pinpoint the miscommunication - ah, there it is - and then all of this short circuits and Damian says, “Oh, Cameron, of course not. Of course - well, I’m - Cameron, I’m honored that you would tell me this about yourself. I’m very glad you feel comfortable enough to share this, and I’m very, very proud of you.”
Is this the right time for a hug? Damian would hug his own child here, but Cam isn’t his child, the Big Brothers Training Program has a section on appropriate expression of affection and responding only to the youth’s needs, not your own, and on top of that, Damian wasn’t hugged enough as a child, so he refrains.
“The Talk to which I was referring...” began Damian, “was...more angled towards what Emery said about you making Tick-Tocks about petty theft. For the record, I think perhaps it would be more appropriate to ask your grandfather about the, ah... other Talk, though I am perfectly happy to jump in in the event he defers to me - in fairness to him, well, it is my area of expertise - but that’s beside the point. I didn’t know about any boyfriend,” says Damian, honestly. “How wonderful. I’d be honored to meet him, if you were alright with that.”
@thunderbirdgeoise Damian and Cam have a scheduled “Hang Out” today (as the Community Center Big Brothers Program calls it). Leaving the kids with Nick ( @walkerdreamer99 can describe that), he picks Cam up in his beautiful vintage truck (he’s a farmer OK!), and they head to the ice cream parlor, to pick up some treats before they - go hike the river, or maybe toss around a football (which Damian learned how to do the night before his first meeting with Cam, panicking and trying to think of things teenage boys enjoy), or maybe garden the patch by the school. Just something they can do together.
And talk. Damian definitely plans on having a talk with Cam. A Talk™. His own kids aren’t old enough for this particular kind of talk yet, so he’s never really done this before, but - it’ll be good practice. And maybe it’ll help Cam open up to him a little more.
Damian picks him up from school and he’s on the curb, waiting. He won’t admit it, but this is his favorite part of every other Tuesday. Cam orders the Shark Week Sundae (which doesn’t exist, he named it - it’s just a scoop of cotton candy ice cream, gummy sharks, and cherry syrup). He also accidentally throws a football into Damian’s stomach really really hard - and apologized! - but they decide to do something less dangerous, like gardening, after. They make small talk, like usual, talk a little about family, nothing too serious. Damian’s not pushing, but something is up. Cam does what he thinks is the smart thing: avoids beating around the bush. “What’s up with you, Mr Damian?”
It isn’t said enough, Damian thinks, but Cameron is a good kid. Thoughtful, playful, relaxed - Damian is so fond of the kid, thinking of him like a little brother, or the version of himself that never could’ve existed. To compliment Cam’s Shark Week Sundae Damian gets himself a scoop of vanilla, striped with strawberry syrup, and a slice of kiwi with a chocolate chip on top. Voila - a creepy bloodshot eye, like the one Nick has tattooed on the back of his hand.
Turns out Cam is much better than Damian at throwing a football, which is not surprising, given that Damian never played a god damn sport in his life (he prefers to get his exercise on his own, inside, at a gym).
He’s also more perceptive than Damian gives him credit for. “Hm?” he begins, with Cam asks. “Oh, I was - merely thinking. You know I get myself into trouble when I do too much of that.” He pauses for laughter, because that usually elicits at least a snort from Nick. “Anyway, Cameron, allow me to ask - do you think, perhaps, you might benefit, if we had...some kind of Talk?”
@thunderbirdgeoise Damian and Cam have a scheduled “Hang Out” today (as the Community Center Big Brothers Program calls it). Leaving the kids with Nick ( @walkerdreamer99 can describe that), he picks Cam up in his beautiful vintage truck (he’s a farmer OK!), and they head to the ice cream parlor, to pick up some treats before they - go hike the river, or maybe toss around a football (which Damian learned how to do the night before his first meeting with Cam, panicking and trying to think of things teenage boys enjoy), or maybe garden the patch by the school. Just something they can do together.
And talk. Damian definitely plans on having a talk with Cam. A Talk(TM). His own kids aren’t old enough for this particular kind of talk yet, so he’s never really done this before, but - it’ll be good practice. And maybe it’ll help Cam open up to him a little more.
[pic of damian and val playing catch with the kids in the field behind val and noah’s place - @noah-r you can decide if u want noah there as well! nick is presumably taking the picture. yes i know this is on damian’s account jay isn’t here]
What a beautiful spring evening. Delicious bread, honey, and a fascinating reading.
Just a reminder that we’ll be holding Tea Time at Baked Goods this evening. Bring the kids! Nick has kindly agreed to a Children’s Special Item discount.
Just a reminder that we’ll be holding Tea Time at Baked Goods this evening. Bring the kids! Nick has kindly agreed to a Children’s Special Item discount.
Friends: nick, thiren, hopefully noah, yasmeena i guess if she’s here?, kalli, carolyn, june & val
Acquaintances: anyone who wasn’t in wsc academy just due to the fact that i don’t really know them, so maybe ellie, una if she’s here??
Friendly rivals with/polite disdain for: i feel reagan thinks damian is a Nerd so reagan can be friendly rival lmfao
How long has your kid had their own shop?: i’m gonna say damian went out and started working on the farm ~10 years ago. he comes from a super rich family but he took a sabbatical from whatever super rich thing he was doing to work on a farm (probably due to overwhelming stress triggering bad ocd) and then really liked it so he bought it. then, he adopted 4 kids
Your kid’s favorite thing about their work?: waking up early and watching the sunrise. going out to the middle of a field while the cows are sleeping and looking up at the stars. cultivating plants and harvests, watching them grow, return to the soil, and grow again. as he used to say, CONstructive not DEstructive
Your kid’s favorite things to do around the small town?: i think damian is probably a little...idk, distant? not as integrated into the warm small town atmosphere as everyone else, but still friendly. he likes to drink herbal tea if anyone has a cafe/teashop, and he’ll sell his produce bulk to any establishment that needs it. he likes going to see plays at the local theater by himself when he can get a babysitter (tho he did recently take eden to a showing of annie), and bought out a big ad in their programs to help fund the theater. he also loves bringing his kids to the playground and hanging out with them there
How old do you want to be in this universe (no need to line up with the others!): Adult on the cusp of Approaching middle age
What’s your kid’s favorite food?: damian likes tea and savory cookies. i know that doesn’t make sense but you know those grain biscuits? maybe they have them in australia or canada cuz i think they’re a british thing? very bland, tastes like horse feed? he likes those
What’s your kid’s favorite weather?: i know he’s a vampire but sunshine babey, with beautiful blue sky dotted with fluffy clouds
If your kid had to have a booth at a farmer’s market, what would they sell?: produce! some animal product like eggs. he always thinks about selling milk then gets scared cuz it’s raw milk and he doesn’t have a processing plant so he doesn’t
What does your kid’s shop look like (if they have one)?: he doesn’t have a shop, he just drives his produce into town from his farm and sells it at the farmer’s market or based on orders
What does their home look like?: damian lives on a beautiful farmhouse with 2 stories and an attic. it’s old but absolutely beautifully maintained. i’m gonna say sometimes damian works on it, all hot shirtless carpenter like, because We Stan
Live with anyone?: damian lives with his FOUR ADOPTED CHILDREN!!!! eden is around 8, and the triplets (their nicknames are sandy (boy), octopus (girl), and filly (girl), don’t ask) are around 4. they are his whole life. thank god he doesn’t really sleep so he can keep up with them. due to the children, the house can get a little messy and chaotic, but he always managed to take care of them
What’s their Wholesome Small Town style?: wholesome single dad! loves his kids more than anything on earth. but also super rich. he will quietly donate to any business/people who are struggling, drop off produce at someone’s door even if they didn’t ask for it if they need it or he got a particularly good crop of something he knows they really love, he spends a lot of time in everyone’s shop inspecting the wares very carefully and spending money. his kids are sweethearts even if they’re constantly running around and crazy. he loves them so much
Any locations you want to ensure we have in the town?: playground, tea shop/cafe, theater
Any desired backstory?: not really??? you all know him pretty well and a shit ton is covered here
Welcome to GODWIN, the brightest, supernaturaliest town around! Answer these questions so we can get to know your kid in this universe.
Occupation:
Friends:
Acquaintances:
Friendly rivals with/polite disdain for:
How long has your kid had their own shop?:
Your kid’s favorite thing about their work?:
Your kid’s favorite things to do around the small town?:
How old do you want to be in this universe (no need to line up with the others!):
What’s your kid’s favorite food?:
What’s your kid’s favorite weather?:
If your kid had to have a booth at a farmer’s market, what would they sell?:
What does your kid’s shop look like (if they have one)?:
What does their home look like?:
Live with anyone?:
What’s their Wholesome Small Town style?:
Any locations you want to ensure we have in the town?
Any desired backstory?:
**AFTER READING EVERYONE ELSE’S**
What’s your kid’s favorite place to hang out, outside of their work/home?:
After reading everyone else’s, reach out to anyone you want your kid to have a relationship with.
dailybridgerton
dededos
areudirty
theartofmadeline
romaincrisis
discoholicmusic
origamiaround
germansingergirl
blakekathryn
kaledo-art
