Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

 Walking with a bounce in each step, a little tingle of excitement stirred up within him. It had only been a few weeks but he had found himself already missing a certain someone. 

   knock knock knock

  Standing outside his apartment's door, he tries to see past the door hole into the apartment. A figure soon obstructs his view as a click is heard from the door. 

  Expecting them to open the door, he gleefully waits, only to be greeted by…a little white fuzzy thing that treaded its way before stopping a few steps away from the door. Beady black eyes momentarily eyeing him, the pomeranian then turns its attention to the yellow haired young man behind the door, wagging its tail and panting expectantly. As the man reaches to unlock the gate for Damian, it leaps up on its hind legs, pawing at his legs while softly whining. 

  He gives Damian an apologetic glance from behind the door’s gate, bending down to pick the dog up. In a surprisingly gentle voice, he comforted it, giving it a few pats from its head to its back. 

  “You usually aren't this needy, are you…”

  Quieting down, it settles with giving his face a few laps , satisfied.

  “Sorry for that…”

  He says, finally managing to open the gate without anything standing in his way.

  “...uh..is that a new dog, Nate?”

  “Oh no, it's just my grandparent’s, I've been taking care of it these past few wee- Snow why are you- that tickles-!”

  Mid-sentence, the dog, Snow, starts licking – why does it keep doing that – at Nate's face again. Rapidly wagging its tail, it barked a triumphant bark and looked at Damian. Though brief, he could have sworn that there was something more evil and scheming behind those innocent eyes it wore.

  Now, Damian did not particularly dislike dogs. In fact, there was a time he entertained the idea of getting a Komondor because of how funny they looked. He was on good terms with the occasional stray dogs he'd find and feed at the side of roads, and had never been faced with a dog that he truly despised. Really, what was there to hate about these animals that are regarded as a man's best friend? 

  Yet this dog.. Something about it inexplicably irritated him. He was not sure what, but he hated the dog from the moment he first laid eyes on it.  Call it an intuition.

  “C’mon Damian, head inside and close the door behind you. I have to feed Snow. Whenever she acts like that it must mean that she's hungry.”

    Walking back into the apartment, Damian notices Nate adjusting his hold on Snow to be closer to her for a – was that a peck on her head? It looks over Nate's shoulder, straight at Damian, maintaining eye contact and keeping its head high, seeming to be mocking him.

   See? Think you can achieve that? Hm? Hm?

  Without realising, he had clenched his fists. 

  Quickly wiping the slight frown that was forming on his face, he moves on into the apartment. Letting his legs guide him through the familiar space he had been to a thousand times and over, he found himself standing outside Nate's room. 

  Over the weeks away, he had found himself waking up multiple times expecting to see the room bathed in sunlight, with traces of a sleepover from the day before. Faint disappointment always washes over him afterwards when he realises that it was all in his dream, being a lingering reminder that he could not get back just yet. But now that he is finally back…

  Hands on the cool metal of the doorknob and holding his breath, barking noises coming from below him disrupts his little moment.

   Now what?!

  He finds that pomeranian again, this time managing to slip itself between him and the door without him noticing. It firmly stands its ground, growling at him, eyes trained on him.

  “Snow, you-!”

  Nate comes along trailing behind it, a dog food bowl in his hands. Setting it down for Snow, he chided, like a parent scolding their child,

  “This here is Damian, he isn't a stranger. He's someone who's welcomed here. Stop growling at him!”

  It pauses. Its head swivelled to Damian, Nate, then back to Damian again. Reluctantly, it backs down whilst softly whimpering, cowering behind Nate's legs. 

  “Sorry about that again… Snow here does get a little possessive at times…” 

   Possessive is an understatement! It keeps getting in our way!! It's not letting me enjoy my time with you at all!!!!!! He wanted to say. Oh, how he desired to find some way to kick the dog out of the house, out of his and Nate's life right then. Instead Damian finds himself saying,

  “Nah, It's fine! Let's head on into your room.”

  The next few hours were wondrously spent mainly on talking about what had been going on over at their respective sides. While Damian was busy overseas, Nate had been living his usual uneventful day to day life back at home, with the addition of a dog a few days after Damian had left. Secretly, he mourned about the missed time he could've spent with Nate, and regretted not holding back on leaving. Perhaps if he had left later, that dog would not have been so attached to Nate now.

  Now the dog in question was cradled in Nate's arms, as Nate leans against the foot of his bed. Meanwhile, Damian sat opposite Nate, against the wall, a usual place for him to sit at whenever he hung around Nate's room. Practically glaring at the dog, a sense of envy filled him. Thinking about it set something off in Damian.

   It's way too close to Nate.

  Sensing his dagger-like glare, its ears drop, all traces of the joy it previously bore gone, replaced with a snarl. Yet when Nate pets its head, it goes back to its nice act, wagging its tail and happily licking – again – at Nate's face.

   Oh, so it thinks it's better than me just because Nate seems to be so much more closer to it, huh?! I'll show it what close means! 

   Within a few seconds, he scooted an inch or two closer to Nate. The dog did not seem to notice, still wagging its tail and happily tucked in Nate's arms. He does it again. Neither the dog nor Nate seemed to be aware of his movements. One more time, and he was sitting snuggly beside Nate, leaning against him, feeling rather content. Until a low growling noise was heard from the dog in Nate's arms, trembling with all the rage its little body could hold. Damian suppressed his laughter.

   Heh…not so smug now, are you?

   It felt like ages since they sat so close together like that, and he was not letting a mere dog get in his way of that. 

  “Damian? You know, if you keep coming so close Snow might-”

  “I don't care.”

  Closing his eyes, he slowly nuzzles his head into Nate's shoulder, hands reaching out for him, but before he could do any more, a loud bark sounds. Sharp pain soon follows, shooting up his arm and snapping him out of the moment. Irritated, he hisses a curse under his breath and immediately pulls back. There was a large angry red spot upon his skin. The perpetrator in question now standing before him, incessantly barking with its hackles raised. 

  “SNOW! I've already told you, he is welcome here! Bad dog! Shoo!”

  With just a few words, Nate succeeded in chasing the dog out of his room, nearly slamming the door behind him as he came back. Noticing his presence, Damian perks up, enthusiastically gesturing to Nate to sit beside him. 

  “Not you too…aren't you usually comfortable with where you usually sit…?”

  Nate sighs, but still heads towards the spot beside Damian in acquiescence.

  “Snow’s been acting up since you arrived too, suddenly wanting to be so close to me and all that… it's almost like it's doing it on purpose to…”

  The cogs in Nate's head began to turn, as he spent a good few seconds in silence thinking. When the answer finally struck him, he jerked up. 

  “Don’t tell me that…You were just envious of Snow being close to me…?”

  It felt like a lightning bolt hit Damian. For it to be phrased like that…really surprised him. Yet it made sense…with how irritated he found himself everytime he saw Snow hang around Nate. In the beginning he had not thought too much about it, acting on what his mind was telling him to do. But now that it was pointed out…

   I really can't deny it, can I?

   Damian pouts a little, cheeks tinged red. He looks away.

  “...”

  “...”

  “I didn't like how the dog held so much of your attention…At first at the door when it demanded to be carried, then when it needed to be fed, then when it had you running after it and when you were holding it so close to you earlier…”

  “...Damian, come here.”

  Nate spoke softly all of a sudden, gently tugging on Damian's sleeve. Before Damian could process what was going on, a hand firmly grabbed his shoulder, pulling him into Nate's arms, which wrapped comfortably around his abdomen. Resting his hand atop Nate's, a warmth much appreciated radiating from his hand.

  “There's no need to be envious of Snow. You're definitely closer to me than Snow is.”

  While saying so, he intertwined his fingers with Damian’s, giving it a light squeeze. 

  “Really? So you'd…let me do this?”

  Further leaning into Nate's embrace, he slightly turns his head to briefly brush his lips against Nate's neck. Nate freezes, flustered. Leaning against him, it felt like he could almost hear the loud thumps of his heart. His hand lightly wanders up Nate's chest and neck, tracing along his chin and jaw, ending up cupping one side of his face. 

  He prompts him again.

  “So?”

  A smile soft as the glow of fireflies lit up Nate's face. He does not need to respond, for he welcomes the touch, gently nuzzling into it. Satisfied, Damian pushes himself up to lightly kiss him on the lips, a spark of joy lighting up in him as Nate returns it.

   This. I want Nate to spend his time on me. Just me. Just like this.

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made this for pride month so you see if you squint really closely there's a rainbow flag overlay over both of them

why rainbow and not the gay flag? cuz the rainbow flag overlay looked better!!

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