The Darkness in the Light

[King]

The voice made Leon jump a little, but he sighed out when he recognized his voice, "Yeah, that is why I like the light so much." He mused back before turning around to a quick kiss. Ah, the kisses. He loved them. He pecked back with a smile. Zaden wasn't exactly the biggest romantic, and all of their kisses had been cute and little so far, but Leon had dreamed about them having one of those movie-like kisses. Leon smiled, he was such a hopeless romantic.

"Yeah, that do sound good." He nodded, he Leon was pretty hungry too. When nudged, Leon huffed and began walking close to Zaden. The meek boy liked to stand next to Zaden, he had grown to adore his intimidating look. It made him feel safer scouring around at night.

"My day has been pretty good. We had a lecture on the wave-particle duality of light-" Leon began to talk about physics as he motioned with his hands. His eyes caught Zaden's and he decided to stop talking, "Yeah. How about you?" Leon kept forgetting not to bore Zaden with his science talk. He put his hands in front of him, fiddling with them a little.

The panic he caused in August made Damon smirk sadistically. He waited until his eyes were off the screen to play his next trick. He quickly created the image of Leon with his hands tied, crying for help. Damon frowned at his work, if only he could create sound too... Plus, Damon really wanted to mess with August using his parents, but last time Damon saw them, they must of been 10 years younger. So Damon played safe.

When August reacted, Damon decided to creep as close as he could. He was playing a dangerous game. If he got too close, August would be able to catch him if he tried. Plus, it was getting hard work for him to keep the images on the screen, along with hiding himself from view. He wanted to destroy August from the inside out, just like he felt August did to him.

"You've been a bad friend to that boy, haven't you?" He whispered before backing away a little. His sadistic side came out as he watched in pleasure as August panicked.​

 

[potassiumboron]

[ A u g u s t ]
​

And the instant image of his friend -his best friend- in such a state, crying out for help, made August begin to ultimately panic, darting over to the image with the glass in his hand now broken into pieces on the floor, having been dropped sharply in his spike of panic.

Until he realised that Leon couldn't possibly be there, and paused before trying to even lay hands on him. He had to be rational, not get ahead of himself, and so straightened with mutterings of calm leaving him to regain himself. And then, if that wasn't working that well, the words of his former best friend certainly did.

He had gone a month not realising any of this, and it was only when Damon spoke that it all fell into place; that the last piece of the jigsaw fitted. "Damon?" He spat, spinning around with wild anger in his usually serious eyes. "G-Get out and talk to me, you f-fucking coward-- honestly, y-you're sick in the head!"

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[ Z a d e n ]
​

"Yeah, uh... all that science stuff goes over my head, like. I ain't smart," he laughed, squeezing his hand reassuringly all the same. If this were anyone else, they would be subjected to a barrage of insults from Zaden, accusing them of pretentiousness and snobbery - but he couldn't even consider such thoughts to his boyfriend.

He didn't find it at all like that. On the contrary, it made him proud to see Leon work so hard and actually gain knowledge... even if it also made him feel a tad inadequate and inferior as a result. Not that he let him gain those impressions from him.

"Me? Just hangin' with Damon, met up with an old friend," he shrugged casually, lighting a cigarette automatically with a small smile. He had been deliberately vague about the 'old friend' - in truth, it was a girl he was currently chatting to. Surprisingly, it was all platonic, friendly and far from romantic, but he didn't want to really embark on having to hurry to explain that. It would smack of guilt, when nothing had truly happened. In the past, before Leon? Sure, they'd hung around in a sexual context, but not now. Amazingly, Zaden was being faithful... for now, anyway. "It was pretty fucking boring, actually."​

 

[King]

"Oh, that is cool." Leon smiled to Zaden as they walked. Hearing Damon's name made Leon huff inside, he hated that man. He looked at his amazing features. Leon was especially jealous of his styled hair, all gelled up. His hair was a blond floppy mess, which made him look annoyingly young. But still, Zaden seemed to like that part about him, the cute bit.

They reached the street light, and Leon pretended to slide his hand from Zaden's to smooth down his sweater, even though he was just trying not to be seen with a boy. It wasn't like he was ashamed of Zaden, hell, if he could show him off to the world he would. It was more so, if August saw or somebody from school. He already got enough provoking comments, if it was confirmed, it would make things harder. "Ah, is over there a good place?" He asked, pointing at the diner, lit with neon lights.

He usually picked places out with nice lighting, good lighting made Lux happy. He stuffed his hands into his pockets as they walked, wondering if Zaden had picked up on that yet.

Watching August get into a panic, Damon couldn't help but laugh out loud a little. August then realized who it was.

"Aww, I'm obviously not that good at my job anymore." He moaned, not revealing himself yet. Damon had become much more cocky recently. That aspect had rubbed off from spending so much time with Zaden. Damon strolled around the room, trying to keep his identity hidden as he walked around.

"Hey, I'm right here." He said, as he popped up an illusion of himself, standing in front of the TV in his outfit. "I'm really not that ill." The illusion shook it's head, a look of sadistic cockiness in his face, "Well, maybe I should of gone to get tested... Too late now!" He cackled a little, watching August from his real spot in the room.​

 

[potassiumboron]

[ A u g u s t ]

"Do you realise that... this is all... it's destroying me? I suppose that's your aim, but honestly, Damon? I'm-- I was your best friend! I'm sorry if... if I've upset you, in the past, but I had no idea, and to be subjected to all this because of something I did to you without realising it is farcical," he snapped, his patience itself snapping as he moved to flop against the couch, eye contact flicking towards the illusion obliviously. He knew Damon's power-- but was naive enough not to believe he was continuing with the illusory techniques right that second.

"I... don't know what you want from me. Apologies don't work; you've failed to kill me already, and I've stumbled on your plan on trying to mentally break me. What's next?" He bitterly retorted, rubbing his head with a small scowl on handsome features that really weren't used to such an expression. "I... I'd appreciate you leaving me along. Let's face it, you and your little scum of a friend aren't ever going to win against me; likewise, I won't have one over on you. This is pathetic, Damon!"

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​

[ Z a d e n ]
​

Zaden rarely paid attention to anything. Even Damon, his one and only friend (besides Leon) often went without any recognition of birthdays because Zaden seldom recalled the date. Hell, that had happened with his parents, and even his ow birthday too. He knew it was around June, either the second or third, but the specific date? He was at a loss.

But the one thing he did pride himself on having picked up was the very fact Leon held an affinity to these sorts of places, shooting him a small smile once hearing his suggestion. "You do love them, don't 'ya?" He smiled wider, even despite feeling just a tad... annoyed at their hands losing their tight contact. He understood, but he didn't have to like it.

Then again, if Damon saw them, he would have some explaining to do. He could use the excuse of getting information, but would Damon really believe Zaden would subject himself into a relationship purely for information? Zaden doubted that excuse would work, so it was important to keep him from finding out about his genuine feelings for Leon. Even if hiding this was starting to grow... irritating.​

 

[King]

He eyed the neon diner in the night light, the neon reflecting in his own eyes as he smiled. "Yeah..." He nodded, looking over to Zaden. He just wanted to be surrounded by it all constantly. Leon was complimented that Zaden picked up on these sorts of things. His new partner seemed so dismissive about everybody around him, it amazed Leon that he wasn't like that with himself.

When they entered the diner, Leon quickly found them a place to sit under the red lighting. He shuffled on the red cushion and looked outside. "Ahh, I just wanna absorb it all..." He mumbled, admiring it all before looking at Zaden. Leon picked up a laminated menu and looked down at it, thinking about what to eat.

"What are you eating?" He asked before his phone buzzed in his pocket. He thought it would be August and decided to check, just to make sure August wasn't getting too curious. But it was his father texting him something about a physics lecture. "Ahh, sorry. It is my father, he always is messaging me." He smiled, unaware of the danger his father was close to being in.

Damon shrugged, both him and his illusion moving at the same time. "Oh is it mentally breaking you? Oh I don't know what that feels like." He said bitterly, giving August a look of disgust. "Yeah, you were my best friend." He hated saying that. A long time ago it used to upset him, make him feel guilty even, but the indomitable will he had grown stopped him from feeling that bad at this point.

"I want you gone. You managed to ruin everything for me. Everything. And now I finally get my revenge." He said, voice balancing on cool. He figured August was hard to break, he always had been. But he definitely wasn't impossible. Damon was set on ruining life for August, since he had it so easy.

"You're going to regret everything." He said, waiting a moment before walking to the front door and leaving, almost forgetting to bring his illusionary twin with him. An unspectacular climax, but Damon felt himself getting angry externally, and didn't want to blow up. However, the meeting they had gave Damon quite the idea.​

 

[potassiumboron]

[ A u g u s t ]
​

The moment his former friend left the home with that ominous threat looming after him, August did flop against the couch in lacking enthusiasm to continue with what he had been doing beforehand. How was he supposed to just resort back to the normality of his actions after experiencing... well, that.

The fact Damon felt so strongly about vengeance was something August didn't quite understand. To want to ruin August completely, and torment the people he loved? It hardly seemed appropriate. August had hurt him, he understood that, but it had been completely unintentional, and if he had known about how his actions affected his friend? He would have instantly tried to right his wrongs.

Yet now? He was going to be the subject of Damon's anger - made worse and intensified by the fact they were natural enemies as a superhero and villain. It only tended to complicate matters.

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​

[ Z a d e n ]
​

Eyeing his boyfriend from across the table, the villain did have to hide conflicting feelings that had hit hard at the reference to the man. On one hand, he knew that he and Damon could target Leon's father at any time now, and as a villain who did admittedly take pleasure in seeing people in bad situations? It did delight him a little to the psychological misfortunes they could enforce on the man.

Yet, as Leon's father, and being his boyfriend, Zaden did feel guilty for it all. It was hardly ever going to be a conventional relationship, but harbouring prospective thoughts and plans such as this wasn't great. It would ruin his relationship instantly - but it was either let his boyfriend down, or his best friend. Neither of which Zaden wanted to hurt.

"Oh, what's he want?" He asked as casually as he could, eyeing the menu and opting simply for a hot chocolate and toasted bagel. "Anything important?"​

 

[King]

His people skills were still not good, so Leon didn't even notice the unrest in Zaden's actions. In fact, he practically had to be told when somebody was upset. When August comes in from work, he has to spell it out to Leon he is too tired to talk about physics and whatnot. But he was learning.

"Oh, no, just pestering me about physics lectures." He smiled, putting the phone firmly back in his pocket, "He is an old man now, does not see I am old enough to look after myself." He shrugged. As much as he loved his dad, he couldn't really see the reason why he was like this.

The young male waiter walked over to the pair and questioned their order, "Oh, may I have a hot chocolate and a cinnamon roll?" He asked, looking over to Zaden to wait for him to order.

Damon stormed down the stairs, deciding he really did need to sleep now. If he wasn't getting to August quickly enough, he was just going to go with the extreme, Leon's father. He didn't know much, but he relied on Zaden to do so.

As he got out into the lonely night, he opened his phone to text Zaden, "Info on the father please, make my life easier." He said bluntly before putting it back into his pocket. The villain decided he may as well cause some chaos whilst he was out here.

Ten minutes later, he appeared at the supermarket. People were going about their daily shop as he found a rather Zaden-like looking guy, with an open backpack. Just as nobody was looking, he created the illusion of many rifles pointing out of his backpack. "Look out he's got a gun!" Damon screeched before running away, trying to conceal his laughter as people followed. They all screeched as one citizen tackled the innocent boy. This was the highlight of his day.​

 

[potassiumboron]

[ A u g u s t ]
​

It would be a few minutes before August could even face taking a peek at his books and files again, and once he did, he felt the familiar wave of pressure. Not only because he had to somehow get a story together for publication on the weekend, but the story itself was... rather a difficult one.

He had been put in charge of documenting the now infamous arrival of the city's superheroes and villains, and to try and gather evidence for their identities. It was obviously a hard case: he could either save him and Leon by not giving in any evidence, but risk losing his job for it, or hand in some evidence, receive a huge bonus, but then be plagued by media and lose his privacy. It was evidently a hard decision... but one he opted not to carry out with. If he lost his job, he would find another. It wasn't worth risking his and Leon's privacy, really.

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[ Z a d e n ]

​

"Still. It must be nice having a parent who actually loves and supports 'ya. My mom is the best, trust me. I never knew my Dad. He went to prison just after I was born, so yeah, it ain't the best father-son relationship-- oh, a hot chocolate and... what's that? Smoked salmon?" He suddenly murmured to the waiter once eyeing the menu properly, forgetting about his rather emotional comment once becoming distracted by the ingredients. "Uh... I'll have that 'salmon' thing then. That's alright--"

"Speaking of parents, my Mom just texted," he lied easily, quietly grimacing to himself without meaning to at the message from Damon. It was hard not to grimace. "I dunno alright? I'll get info and tell you back at the flat so get off my case right now yeah?'

​

 

[King]

The waiter walked off as he looked through the orders. Leon waited til they were alone again before he nodded, "Well, it must be nice having a mother." He smiled. Not having a mother figure didn't effect him too greatly, Dr Joseph's served as both parents and grandparents. After all he heard, apparently he wasn't missing out on too much as a teenager.

He waited with his hands in his lap watching Zaden, "Is everything okay?" He noted the grimace. Being around Zaden had sort of got him more acquired to people's emotions. August had done it too, but he hadn't seen Augusts face the same way he saw Zaden's. But honestly, he wanted to see more of Zaden, not like he'd say that or anything.

As he ran away, Damon grabbed two bottles of vodka and got out the door, the store in a frenzy. His pretend screams turned into amused laughter as he got into the car park. People were so gullible. He split open his bottle and chugged the liquid before getting a buzz from his phone. The entire situation was getting to him enough for him to get drunk enough to try to forget.

The text was from Zaden, he just ignored it for now. He continued to chug and started to make his way back home.

After a tedious stumble home, Damon had finished the two entire bottles and had managed to pass out on the sofa. Thank god he wasn't going into work tomorrow, he was gonna regret it.​

 

[potassiumboron]

[ A u g u s t ]

Sighing as he basically hunched over the pile of research papers to work on the article, he did eventually do what he had vowed not to: give in. Pushing them all aside and taking solace in the glass of red (and typically expensive) wine, he did flick through channels on TV for a little while, though with nothing catching his interest whatsoever, he did eventually move to his phone.

He didn't have an extensive range of people to text. He had his parents, one girl from the office (who he frequently embarrassed himself in front so she wasn't an ideal choice to text) and Leon. As popular as he was, he didn't make friends all that well at work. So in the end, whenever boredom struck -or he needed to get the edge of things- Leon was the one to text.

'Hey, when will you be getting back? It's pretty late and I could do with you back...'

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[ Z a d e n ]
​

"Huh? Oh... Yeah, relax babe, s'all cool," he grinned lazily at his concern, waving it off easily enough as he leant forward just a tad, mostly in an attempt to get off the topic of him. Though did simply continue it once the topic of mothers seemed relevant.

"Yeah, Moms are cool-- not everybody has one, I get that," he said quickly, tapping his fingers urgently against the table once seeing the opportunity to try and get the subject of Dr Josephs up - it was who Damon wanted to target, and as horrible as the prospect was, he did have that loyalty with his friend. "You have the best Dad, I guess? When do I get to meet 'im, then?"​

 

[King]

Being called babe made Leon smile shyly a little. That was cute. He held both his hands between his knee's as he watched Zaden. "Yeah, well, he is my adoptive father but I am lucky to have him." Leon didn't actually feel like going into full depth about his childhood again, so he decided to leave it at that. "Oh, he is an old man, you would be quite a shock to him." He giggled a bit. August was smart, kind and clean, just the kind of man Dr. Joseph's wouldn't mind Leon hanging about. Zaden on the other hand, he wasn't exactly such a charmer in his dark clothes and cigarette stench.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, Leon gritted his teeth as he looked down, only to see it was August.

"What is up?" He texted back simply, thinking August had spilt water on his laptop or something. But if he did need his help, Leon would be down there quick enough.

"Sorry, it was just my father again." Leon lied. He didn't like talking about his friend to Zaden. As much as he fancied Zaden, he didn't trust anything he said about August would stay wit him. Damon would probably hear about it in no time.

 

[potassiumboron]

[ Z a d e n ]
​

"Nah, I wouldn't be fuckin' shocked, dude. I wanna meet the guy. I mean, you can meet my Mom whenever you want, she's pretty cool. She would like you," he answered honestly, tapping his fingers against the cool surface of the table as he reached for his drink when it arrived to take a much needed swig. He knew, without a doubt, his mother would immediately like the other. Zaden's mother wasn't exactly someone who enjoyed living downtown, or who wanted her son to be the way he was. She was respectable, always made sure that she dressed herself smartly and still held aspirations to get herself out of the area - though lack of money held her back.

She was never fond of the friends Zaden made, or the way he turned out. In fact, the only real person she had grown to like was Damon, in fact, after one or two meetings with him - she had no idea what he was like. To her, he was a respectable lawyer who she thought was helping Zaden out, not encouraging his behaviour.

"She'd adore you, actually," he snorted after a moment of inner contemplation. "You're a neat guy, Leon. Respectable, clean, innocent.... mm... let me meet your Dad, and you can meet my Mom," he determined with a smile, happy to let the other into his life like that, even if he did feel bad that the only reason he wanted to get into Leon's was to gain Dr Joseph's address and relay it onto Damon.​

 

[King]

The compliments made Leon smile with pink cheeks again. Well, he really would love to meet Zaden's mother. He couldn't imagine what either of Zaden's parents were like. Maybe his mother was like him, tattoos, cigarettes and dark hair. Or the opposite. Whoever she was, Leon was already set on impressing her.

"Ah, Okay. I deal with you." He smiled, rocking a little in his head, "You meet my father and I shall meet your mother." He grinned before his face went back to the pale, stony look he had usually. When their food arrived, Leon grabbed his roll and drink, pulling it closer to himself.

"So, what is your mother like? Is she like you?" He asked before biting into the roll. He enjoyed anything that was really sweet, including sticky cinnamon buns like so.

 

[potassiumboron]

[ Z a d e n ]
​

Instantly smirking, he did struggle to hide his initial delight at hearing that the other happily was willing to let him meet with the man. In his eyes, he had practically surpassed all of his expectations of himself, and he knew he held the right to act smug when he returned to the apartment to Damon later.

And while his happiness was easily for the succession of gaining that invitation, it could easily be mistaken for genuine delight to meet the man as nobody but Leon's boyfriend. And admittedly, there was a little bit of that at play too.

Eyeing the salmon on his plate curiously, it was clear just how far out of his usual life the foodstuff was - he immediately categorised it as "fuckin' posh" and proceeded nudging it around the plate until hearing the comment. "Like me? Nah, I wouldn't be speakin' of her in such high regard if she was anything like me," he laughed with brown eyes rolling in ridicule of the very concept. "She's a classy lady, my Ma. Always in full makeup, gets her hair done at the salon, always presents herself well..."​

 

[King]

Leon smiled at Zaden's smile. He saw that a lot more often and it was nice to think he was the one who created the smiles. Maybe his dad wouldn't be all that offended. Zaden could look respectable...

To hear that his mother was not like Zaden made him calm a little. She sounded slightly more like him. "She does sound wonderful." He said, swallowing a part of his cinnamon roll before going for his hot chocolate. "I think my father is like me." He shrugged. Dr. Joseph's taught him his own morals, so they were quite similar.

"He taught me to be like him, but I think he is more intelligent than I." He sighed. That was something that worried him. What if he ended up much dumber than Dr. Joseph's and gave him no real reason to have saved him in the first place. "He does know about my powers. How about you? Does your mother know yours?" He asked, sipping at his hot chocolate.

 

[potassiumboron]

[ Z a d e n ]
​

"You think he's more intelligent than you?" He snorted, setting the salmon aside and instead calling over the waitress to order something more his style. Like a bacon and sausage sandwich, immediately grinning at the simple order leaving his mouth. Yeah, it was hardly classy, but who was he supposed to be pleasing?

Leon knew him enough now to realise that Zaden wasn't someone who would enjoy the finer things in life. He was.... Well, unrefined, with a penchant for sadism and swearing. Though he would be on best behaviour should he get a chance to meet Dr Josephs alongside Leon - he wasn't going to disguise his personality, but he would just soften it a tad

"Oh, yeah. It was sorta obvious, apparently," he shrugged, albeit with that smile widening delightedly at the stories his mother often indulged in telling him. "My limbs used to' disappear a lot of the time, my invisibility couldn't be controlled as a kid. It was sorta cool!, I guess. Knowing I freaked her out without even knowing what I was doing at the time, psh...."​

 

[King]

Leon watched Zaden exchange his fish for meat as he nibbled of his soft bun, not really surprised he did so. Leon kinda liked the scruffy, unpolished boy he was seeing. It was a nice change from his polished-ish self, even though it intimidated him a little.

The idea of Zaden's posh mother being shocked by her baby missing limbs made Leon giggle. "That is funny." He smiled, it seemed much more innocent than when Leon's father saw Leon's potential. "That must of been a shock for her too." He mused, taking a sip of his chocolate, trying his best not to get a cream moustache.

"My father was the one who gave me these powers." He said, disregarding what his father said about not telling people. Leon trusted Zaden, probably much more than he should, considering he was a criminal. But still, he didn't see an immediate problem, "It was his job, not like he forced them upon me or anything." He shrugged, "He should be interested in how you got your power."

(This took embarrassingly long XD I'm posting during history class lmao, I'll code when I get home~)

 

[potassiumboron]

[ Z a d e n ]
​

"A shock, probably, but she didn't go handing me to the fuckin' authorities to get tested, so that's good. She managed to cope, and it ain't like I was a bad kid, at first. I used t' be pretty sweet, until my brothers took me out smoking an' shit," he shrugged, realising he was losing a handle on his language and general demeanour. He hadn't tried to change for Leon, because he wasn't the sort of person to change for someone, but he did, purely to try and be a better guy, play down his usual mannerisms and usually rough cusses. Evidently, he had given up on that momentarily with his words, and cringed somewhat - though in trying to apologise made it worse.

"I can't fucking help it-- sorry, shit-- ah, forget that. You said your Dad gave you powers?" He blurted, happy to get off the topic as he drenched the sandwich in tomato ketchup, before taking a relished bite. "That's... cool? I dunno, Le, like. Why did he? Did he have to, then? He didn't get a choice or--" He started, glad to have been off the topic of his cursing, though did immediately let out a torrent of them at the phone in his pocket buzzing, and noticing that he had five missed texts from his mother.

For anyone else, five texts in as many minutes from their mother was bound to cause some worry, but Zaden rolled his eyes. His mother had once texted him ten times just because she had lost the money for her weekly hair salon visit. This was probably another vanity-fuelled mishap. "Sorry, she's... a bloody pain sometimes, I swear. She bothers me 'cause I'm the youngest, says I'm her baby boy or some shit like that."

​

Hey don't worry about it! It's honestly fine, I take ages with these things far too often ^_^​

 

[King]

Leon listened carefully, polishing off his roll and moving on to finish his hot chocolate. August was on his mind, he was feeling a little guilty, leaving August alone all night. Especially for his worst enemies sidekick. but Zaden really was worth the time. He was really great. The idea of him being a sweet little kid was kind of funny, Leon imagined he came out of the womb kicking and screaming.

"Oh, it is okay." Leon nodded, getting completely used to the way Leon spoke. Leon thought about it, he wasn't actually sure. He did hadn't gave him the full story, Leon just knew he was doing his job saving him. "Hm, I think he was just doing his job. I was a science experiment and he was one of the doctors." He said, unsure how else to work it.

"Oh it is okay, my father can be the same." He nodded, his dad sent him links to science programs or sent him messages about career ideas. "Aww-" Leon couldn't help but coo, giggling a little, "Baby boy? That is real cute." He smiled before finishing the last bit of his drink.

He sat back, sighing as he looked out the window. "I should really get back to August, he shall begin asking questions soon." He said, not really wanting to run out on Zaden, but he didn't want to stay out the entire night.

 

[potassiumboron]

[ Z a d e n ]
​

"You can't just go now, that ain't fair. I'm sure August is a big boy who is used to coping on his own, yeah?" Zaden drawled casually, even though a small frown was curling on his dark features, one of complete displeasure at the other's concern. In truth, he knew what August was going through, currently or recently, with Damon's interference as the plan was, so if he had one shred of empathy in him, he would be happy to let Leon go and reassure August when he saw the hopefully awful state he was in.

Though he was disillusioned with sympathy, never entirely held it unless for those he truly did love and care for, so the idea of August stuck at home, doubting his own sanity was rather amusing, and he didn't want that to really be comforted. Likewise, the idea of having to bid goodbye to his boyfriend for it wasn't nice.

"Stay with me, yeah? I'm much more fun than 'im, aren't I?" He purred playfully, his typical smirk widening on his face. Having thought he'd successfully persuaded him, it was only when his mother texted once more, with the message explaining how she had now texted Damon to ask for Zaden's whereabouts considering 'he was ignoring her', that he did grimace and get to his feet. "...Maybe you oughta go see August, I 'ave places to be, apparently. I swear t' God, she'd better need me, and this better not be some pathetic vanity project-- call me when you get home, so I know you're safe, okay? There are bad people around-- considering you're dating one, I know how bad people can be~"​