Nothing could have prepared him for having to relive the worst night of his life in the public eye.
And not for lack of trying.
Jay, mercifully, had a full team of supporters around him. Friends, family, colleagues, a lawyer with the right advice. He didn’t have to go about this by himself. Not anymore. All tried to encourage him, get him in the best mental state for these awful thirty minutes. They helped him get his story ready, helped him get the emotions out beforehand. One friend even took him along to a boxing gym to see if punching out his anger helped. It kinda did. But also bruised his hands…
He might even have felt somewhat ready the day before the court date. In a vague hopeful way that, yeah, you know what, maybe he could actually do this.
But as soon as he stepped into the court room, every bit of preparation just… evaporated. And left him hollow. It felt like he had to rip open the gashes on his back again, this time by his own hand. One by one. Word by word.
All eyes were on him. From the moment he stepped out of the car with interviewers hounding him for early answers, even up to the quiet moments before court, in an adjacent supposed to be quiet room where everyone present, from his lawyer to his dear friend Dennis, kept a close watch on him to make sure he wouldn’t collapse from stress, or hurl, or try to get away at the last moment.
Silly, really. Jay knew perfectly well by now how to handle stress. Whether it was a healthy way was an entirely different question.
This afternoon, it would be over, he kept reminding himself.
The clock struck ten.
Opening statements were made, reminding them all why they were there. Like Jay needed any reminders. He tuned out a little, focused instead on trying to get his bouncing leg back under his control. The call of his name broke through that. He froze for a second. Well, at least the bouncing stopped…
Pens clicked. Keyboards clacked. Attendees were at the ready to turn his testimony into a story about the big bad CEO. His whispered quotes would make shouting headlines.
The people next to him with his best interests in mind gave a few final whispered encouragements, like coaches pepping him up before he stepped into the ring.
Somehow the best advice came from Dennis, who just looked him deep in the eyes and said: “Go get this over with.”
Jay couldn’t agree more. He scrambled together something not quite unlike the feeble courage he gathered before opening his own front door to face whatever horrors would be thrown at him every night Zayne would visit.
And he stepped towards the witness stand.
At the defence’s side, he spotted Zayne whose dark eyes were, as always, fixed on him. This time in a good way. Somewhat. At least not in that predatory way that picked apart Jay’s courage as soon as he had opened that front door. But it did pick apart his insecurities; Zayne knew how to read him quite well and could clearly see how tense he was.
Two tables down was Emery. Good of the court to realise not to put these two to sit together…
The man’s face was a blank. He looked almost bored, disengaged, as if this trial wasn’t all about him and he was forced to attend just for the hell of it. But when he looked up and caught Jay’s eye, his expression changed. His eyes narrowed and turned piercing cold.
Jay froze up on the inside.
“I suggest you do not lie to me, Mr. Fawcett.”
The words echoed in his mind. For a second, Jay was back in that dark warehouse, where those cold eyes and cold words promised terrible things.
He blinked and he was back. Back in a room where Emery couldn’t hurt him. Still, his stomach churned with the same fear of that night. His breath hitched. His shoulder blades tensed up. And the skin across his back stretched against the scars that would never make him forget what happened that night.
His focus wavered. And his mind just went… blank for a second. Like it had reset. And not in a zen way.
He made it to the witness stand, but almost like he was completely in trance. The story he had sorted out, the memories he’d scrambled together and had turned into emotionally distant words, everything now swirled in snippets all over the place. Out of reach.
Calm down. Deep breaths! He reached into the inside pocket of his blazer. Took out his paper with his story written out, his hand trembling, shaky fingers picking at edges of the paper to unfold it. But the words on the paper didn’t make sense. The letters all blurred together.
Jay glanced up. Looked around the room, desperate for a little support. All he got were all eyes looking at him, expecting him to start talking. They saw his distress, of course, but attributed it to nerves. The room stayed silent, waiting, unhelpfully thinking that they should give him time, not spur him on.
The pity was almost tangible.
He searched for Dennis, Laura—
Instead, he caught Zayne’s eye, who was silently vying for his attention.
Zayne winked at him. Gave a quick nod up, that cocky gesture where he jutted his chin up in a come-get-some relic from a distant past.
Then he leered sideways at Emery, nudged his head a little, and rolled his eyes in an overexaggerated way.
Prick, he mouthed. Asshole, again in case the wording was unclear. And he gave a small dismissive wave in Emery’s direction, flicked his palm up and pressed two fingers together in the tiniest ‘up yours’ gesture that would have severely pushed his luck if all eyes hadn’t been on Jay.
Jay pressed his lips together to stifle a smile. Failed. Pressed a finger against his mouth to hide his trembling lips. From the outside, it probably looked more like he was going to burst into tears. On the inside, something heavy just disappeared.
He glanced down, a little flustered. But the knot in his stomach and in his mind uncoiled. And when he opened his eyes, the letters on his paper had neatly rearranged back into readable words.
He took a deep breath. His shoulders relaxed, muscles untensed. He looked at Zayne again, who now pointed those two fingers at himself, at his eyes, and Jay nodded.
And he started his story.
-
Tag list: You know I'm not sure if I got it all right because the last update has been a while. If I forgot you or if you want off, shoot me a message.
When I saw that in Home is Where the Heart is (@glasswinggames) has a Felix and I have a Felix from Death is a Guest (@honeybunnyvns) I HAD TO DRAW THEM TOGETHER!!
besides both having the same name, they both trespass on a property! and that is just amazing!! X'D
Your captor may be a complete mystery for now, but when you uncover both of your secrets, will your relationship get a whole new spark of life? Or will you burn it down?
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Every Mother Has Her Reasons
“I need a favor.”
Both Stretch and Red reacted in surprise, brow bones shooting up to make their sockets look larger than usual. Red was the quickest to recover, socking you in the shoulder with a grin. “that wasn’t so hard now, was it, sweetheart?”
On the other hand, Stretch took the opportunity to tease you. “woah, is the world ending? tibia honest i never thought i’d hear you ask for help. ever. not without hearing trumpets, at least.”
Instead of focusing on the matter at hand, you cocked your head to the side. “Trumpets? Do monsters have a concept of the rapture or is that a reference I don't get?”
“what the hell’s the rapture,” Red asked.
Before you could respond, Stretch chimed in with a shrug, “some human religious event where everyone flies away into the sky or something.”
The two skeletons turned to you for confirmation, and you stood still, wondering if now was the right time to really get into the stranger intricacies of human religion. Not only was your mom waiting on you, but you didn’t really know what exactly the rapture entailed outside of what Stretch already covered.
Home is Where The Heart is - A Damiano David Story || Chapter Thirty Two || END
Description: Learning how to love again, how to heal and that it’s okay to move on and rebuild yourself after dealing with so much pain.
Words: 2k
A/N: I am crying as I write this (😭). Thank you for believing in this story that started out as a daydream on a walk and that ended up changing my life. Thank you for believing in me and supporting me. Thank you for loving the characters I created and for sticking with me and with them. Thank you.
PS. There is a time-jump between the previous chapter and this one.
THE HIWTHI MASTERLIST
THE MAIN MASTERLIST
kofi || taglist || come chat
The David household was full of music. Beautiful, lively music. He couldn’t keep the smile off his face as he worked on the dinner menu that he was preparing for the little gathering. Eli was on a call in the space the two of them had adapted as an office, Dante alternating between dancing along with the music and helping his papa (read: causing chaos) in the kitchen.
His soul felt lighter. It was like seeing light at the end of the tunnel - a very long tunnel that had really put his mental health through things that he never thought he’d experience. But as each day passed, he felt lighter, he felt closer and closer to being able to enjoy life again, the fears that had chased him awake for so many nights, slowly fading into shadows.
Lost in thought, he got startled when Eli wrapped their arms around his middle and pressed a kiss to his shoulder.
“I am all yours now, how can I help?” Eli spoke quietly.
He leaned back and pressed a kiss to their temple.
“Just keep me company, I’ve got this.” He reassured them, Eli sitting down immediately on one of the chairs next to the kitchen island.
“Is everyone truly coming?” Eli asked, trying to do the math of how many people would show up.
“Yes, they promised.”
“How will we fit fifteen people here?” Eli asked.
“It will be cosy, don’t worry.” Damiano winked at them, earning a faint blush from them.
“How much exactly did I miss while I was working?” Eli raised their brow.
“Not much, but it will be a nice surprise, I guess.” Damiano chuckled and went to give them a kiss.
The doorbell rang and interrupted their moment.
“Who is it this early?” Eli looked at the clock, realising that there was still more than an hour until the official gathering time.
“I got it, don’t worry.” Damiano rushed to open the door and greeted Thomas and Tom who were carrying a big box together.
“Listen, the only reason we agreed to this free labour is because you promised pasta.” Thomas said as a way of greeting.
“I am holding up my end of the bargain, don’t worry.” Damiano laughed.
“If you don’t, I am leaving him here until you make him the pasta you promised.” Tom promised.
“You can’t leave me behind!” Thomas protested.
“Fine, we’ll both stay here and make their lives miserable until we are fed pasta.” Tom grinned.
“Ethan is behind us with your brother, bringing the chairs.” Tom announced.
“This is going to be so much fun, I need to go cook!” Damiano clapped his hands and rushed back to the kitchen, seeing that Eli stepped up to stir the sauce.
“Ciao, we bring more things.” Ethan shouted from the door.
“I think Vic said she is bringing booze.” Thomas mentioned as he and Tom started unpacking the table and setting it right with Tom and Ethan.
“He invited all of us and we still have to pull our weight around here, can you imagine!” Damiano heard his brother joke from the other room.
“Go and see your brother, I know you miss him. I got this.” Damiano kissed Eli, who looked a bit sad to be asked out of the kitchen yet happy to be able to steal some time with Tom.
**
Eli did as they were bid, even though they wanted to help around with the preparations. They had seen Damiano be excited about this event, he hadn’t shared much about the reason for gathering all of them and Eli had decided not to push, knowing that he would come around when he was ready.
“Hi.” Tom pulled them in a bone crushing hug and spun them around.
“Hi.” Eli held him tightly.
“I think it’s time for a smoke break for me.” Tom announced, looking if anyone would dare to challenge his words but they only laughed, Ethan taking over what Tom had been doing around the table.
“Are you okay?” Eli held their brother’s hand tightly as the two went to the balcony.
“More than okay.” Tom reassured them.
“I miss you.” Eli admitted.
“I miss you too but you said it yourself - things change.” Tom hugged them again after lighting a cigarette.
“I can’t believe that all my favourite people live within the same city limits yet I can’t spend as much time as I’d like with them.” Eli admitted quietly, voicing the words that had been haunting them for a little while.
“Your work requires you to, though. I know the feeling, I know the pain. Don’t think that I like that I don’t see you as often.” Tom rested his head on their shoulder and kept holding them.
“Which is why I sometimes hate my job.” Eli grumbled.
“A light goes out in your eyes when you are not being creative. Maybe in time we will find a way where you can spend more time with us without sacrificing that light to get to it.”
“I feel like I miss so much.”
“I know, but seeing your joy and pride in your creative accomplishments is unmatched.”
“They won’t keep my son happy when he grows up. They won’t be here for him as he develops into a human.” Eli argued.
“Eli, you were gone for two weeks, and you still have a little bit more work to do before settling here for a longer period of time. Did you offer Damiano and Dante join you?”
“No, because even if they did, I’d still barely see them.”
“Offer it, it will give you a bit of peace of mind.”
“I’ll consider it.”
“If you don’t, I’ll ship them off to you.”
Eli chuckled and held onto their brother.
“Your family loves you and we are patiently and excitedly waiting for you.” Tom reassured them.
“I love all of you more than anything.” It was all Eli managed to say.
**
“Now, the party has arrived.” Vic announced as soon as Thomas opened the door for her. She was carrying two bags with various drinks and was trailed by Auri and Angie who brought various snacks and soft drinks with them.
“Good, you can help with setting up the chairs and organising everything.” Thomas suggested helpfully.
“I will help with other things, thank you very much.” Victoria grinned and walked straight to the kitchen where Damiano was still cooking.
“Ciao! The party has arrived.” Vic put the bags on the kitchen island and went to hug Damiano. He chuckled and held her for a moment.
“I am glad you came.”
“It’s not like I was given much choice.” Vic teased.
“It’s a big evening.” Damiano said ominously.
“I am not wearing waterproof makeup, don’t even think of proposing to Eli.”
“I am not proposing.” Damiano insisted and went back to cooking.
“Is everything good between you two?” Vic asked quietly. Damiano looked at his friend surprised.
“Of course it’s good. I love Eli dearly, we are just not at the proposal yet. And even if we were, I would not put them on the spot like that. Tonight is about something else entirely. Don’t be so nosy, you’ll find out in a bit.”
Vic grinned.
“You’ve grown up so much lately.” She observed.
Damiano didn’t react to her words, just started taking out the plates from the shelf and started piling them on.
“And not only have you grown but you are settling in yourself, you are much calmer now than you were before. Much calmer than when everything began.” Vic kept going on.
“Thank you.” He responded after a moment.
“You’re welcome.” She kissed his cheek before going to see Dante.
**
It took him a bit longer than he would have liked to finish preparing the food but while he did, his friends set up the table and chairs and eventually, they came around to get table covers, glasses, and they all set the table and then both sets of parents arrived and he started serving the food.
Eli put Dante in the high chair, placing him next to Vic per his own demand which everyone found adorable.
Damiano was bursting with joy and was struggling to hide it.
“What’s going on?” Different people tried to inquire but he brushed them off, waiting for everyone to be sitting around the table so he could say the words that have been begging to be let out for a while now. Perhaps longer than he realised.
“Get around the table and you’ll find out.” Damiano only replied, patiently waiting for all fourteen of them to get around the table and sit down.
“Are any of my children getting proposed to tonight?” Eli and Tom’s mom asked.
Damiano looked at her and shook his head smiling, Thomas following suit.
“Okay, what is going on?” Eli looked from their place next to Damiano once everyone was settled. He stood up and took his glass, raising it in the air.
“Thank you all for coming here.” He started, nerves catching up to him a little bit.
“You called.” Ethan smiled at him.
Damiano returned the smile.
“The recent years have been very hectic and especially the last few were not only hectic but also busy and chaotic and full of the whole spectrum of emotions. Life showed me all its colours and did not wait for my decision to dive into it. That is not to say that I am complaining about any of it, because I am not.”
There were smiles all around, and he spotted tears in his mother’s eyes.
“I might not be the smoothest person when it comes to expressing how I feel but I am working on it. I lost too long not being with the person I love.” He smiled at Eli.
“I wasted too long chasing perfectionism and not recognizing that what I have is more than perfect on its own.”
Eli reached to hold his hand and Damiano leaned down to kiss their hand.
“I gathered you all here because I wanted to celebrate all of you. To celebrate my love for you. To celebrate life. I sat in darkness for a long time not realising that there is more to life. You helped me chase my dreams, you helped me when I was broken, you sat by my side while I learned how to be a man and a father. You loved me, you took care of me. You opened your hearts for Dante and made sure that we both felt loved and cherished. You gave us family. I am grateful for that, I am grateful for you.” There was a smile on his face that no one had seen in a while - sincere, carefree, joyful smile.
“We love you, Dami. Of course we support you and of course we will be there for you as long as you need us.” His mom spoke up.
“I’d like to start with forever. I wouldn’t be the person I am today without all of you. I love you and I see you. I see your joys, I see your struggles, I am here for you just as you are for me. You are the most important people in my life and I will not stop saying thank you for everything you’ve done for me, for us.”
There were tears and smiles on his favourite people’s faces. There were tears on his own face. He went around and gave them all hugs and whispered his thanks again and again.
When he got back to Eli and he kissed them gently, taking his sweet time, Tom interrupted them with the words.
“Time for a picture. We need to capture this moment.” He insisted.
Thomas chuckled and went with his boyfriend to set up the camera to take pictures.
They all gathered, Dante in Damiano’s arms, Eli leaning their head on Damiano’s shoulder. Ethan with his arms wrapped around Aurora. Thomas and Tom together, holding hands, Vic pressing a kiss to Angie’s cheek and Damiano’s brother and Leo standing between both sets of teary-eyed parents.
**
Hours later, Damiano shared one of the pictures that Tom had taken. He put a heart emoji over Dante’s face to protect his privacy but he wanted the moment on his feed. He wanted to scream it from the top of the world. These are the people that kept him sane, these are the people that he loved most in the world.
Nate blushing and giggling from behind a gag because a sexy biker boy named Zayne just tied him up, it was because said biker boy was annoyed with him… but that’s besides the point. They’re sitting on the couch and a restrained Nate leans against an increasingly angry Zayne
Meanwhile, Ethan gives poor little Jay fighting lessons
Akskkfjgksksjakfjfkkdkk don’t get me wrong, Nate is a masochist, but he’s ace as FUCK and would be so triggered 😭
He would do the lean tho. That’s funny
Ethan would
Do his best
He would teach Jay how to take a punch but that’s about all he’s good for XD
