Uru'baen had found that his classes weren't as frequent and his workload was less than usual. Finals were around the corner, so it left a lot of free time - that should be used for studying. Instead, he used his free time thinking a lot, and spending it with his boilfriend. While he spent most nights at his own dorm, he spent most of the days, and some nights, at the monster's dorm with the monster hellhound and the pack. It was comfortable there, almost like a routine - a habit actually. He would come in, toe off his shoes, a wide grin slipped across his face as he spied the green-eyed boil moving around the living space with such ease. He would come to him, nuzzle him, say his 'hello's' before settling in comfortably, making himself at home. For all intents and purposes, it was their home. The pair would move like a well placed clog. Uru was perfectly content to sit at the kitchen island and watch as the monster hellhound move about the food prep area, cooking his concoctions and fill the apartment of savory aroma. He was happy, at ease, with cleaning the dishes, loading them into the dishwasher to hear the low hum of its inner mechanics whir to life. Unwind in the livingroom after wrestling with the foxfire pack, feeding and bathing them. Uru with a book, glasses resting on the bridge of his nose, Damien with his own, nestled up or laying on his lap. It was comfortable, a comfort he didn't expect to have in his life. At first it was difficult, being guarded, but over time his lack of modesty showed when he was comfortable. Shortly after being boilfriends, his sense of boundaries were apparently out the window when he shameless pulled on a pair of Damien's sweatpants. He enjoyed sitting on the couch and watching a good film, banter with the monster hound over semantics of plot and actor behavior or how the script was written and the way lines were delivered. It seemed that Damien had plans for his future, a career path he had planned to pursue. He had a bright future ahead of him, and Uru encouraged it. As long as Damien was happy, he was good with it - no matter what it was.
But what about himself?
Uru had no plans after graduating. He had came to the academy to escape his mother and to be free of constantly feeling threatened, tensed, stressed, and, frankly, afraid. He had grown so much since leaving the Cocytus estate, but with his mother's exile, his sister's ascension, he was uncertain what would be there for him after he left Amityville. He had no home to return to, he had associated his room and Damien's as 'home'. It smelt like it. It felt like it. But when they graduated and they would have to leave to make room for other students coming it, their 'home' will likely be gone. However, he associated Damien with 'home', it was what made all these places feel as such. Perhaps thinking that these apartments and places as 'home' wasn't correct, but rather what made them home was the presence of the other. Still, what got him down, causing his mind to become a maelstrom of thoughts - doubts, fear, uncertainty, was that after graduating... what becomes of them? Would Damien remain his boilfriend? Would the monster hellhound return to his pack? Why would he take a packless hellhound, and a demon no less, also a male, to a pack? Pack dynamics probably differed too.
That would be a true sense of losing his home for the second time.
Over the past couple of weeks, Uru was beginning to become distant like their initial times together. He had stuck around the monster's dorm but would disappear into the woods while his dorm was being renovated. Now, he was just looking for reasons to not be there; the gym, a club, going into town, the Maul (for sakes, everyone knows he doesn't go there regularly without purpose), or just back to his room. Surely Damien had caught on, he was not stupid. He was the wittiest creep he knew. Uru appreciated that Damien didn't press him about it. He liked that. Damien could read him like a book, like the script from memory of his favorite film. There were days where Uru would simply shift to his natural state - forgoing the ability to speak - and staying in bed, nestled somewhere unseen and unbothered. Damien would spend the day with him, moving his plans around. It was times like those that he felt safe and loved, understood and at peace. The nights they woke up each other due to nightmares, nestled into each other's arms to just talk about it until they passed out again. Damien wasn't stupid, nor was he unsympathetic. Which made his doubting thoughts that more confusing.
There were heavy implications with their current relationship that may have escaped the monster. Perhaps their traditions, instincts, differed. However, he knew that when his feeling began to bloom for the boil, that he was in far too deep. For his kind, there isn't a slow ease into it, it was more like falling down into the nine rings head first with no cushion waiting for you at the bottom. His feelings were intense and he knew that they are not required to be reciprocated, but he was in for the boil 'til the end. Unlike most, he stayed with his intended for life. However, he wasn't going to put that on the monster. That choice would always remain with the older hound.
It was one night like any other, Damien was putting away the take-out boxes after deciding that neither of them felt like cooking. He came to the living room to find the larger demon hunched over the coffee table, chin on his clasped fists. "Alright, what is it? You've been so distant lately, it's like you're not even here anymore."
Uru winced briefly, his face scrunching up. He glanced up at the boil. "It's... not something I want to talk about just yet."
"You're gonna have to talk about it at some point, Urubutt. I ain't going anywhere until you do, just you know, I'm gonna be around to talk to. So 'yet' is gonna be 'now'." Damien countered as he plotted down next to him. His tone became more serious and concerned as he leaned over to the stubbled boil. "Uru, talk to me." There wasn't a lot the demon would tell the monster 'no' to. The demon hound sighed as he reached over the side of the couch into his pack, pulling free a dark folder with the school's logo on it - specifically the demon's emblem. It wasn't a special folder, anyone could buy it from the campus store. However, Uru looked at it forlornly in his hands before turning it over to the monster. He watched as the monster's green eyes looked at the writing, scanning from left to right, moving down line by line to take the information in. "This is-"
"My graduation dungeon exam application." Uru finished with a low voice, his eyes downcasted. The page flipped a couple of times. "Documents of the necessary pre-requisites to graduate; the classes, the exams, the spars, it's all there. In triplicate." He counted off his fingers. Damien was a great deal of progress ahead of him in terms of academics when they had first met. But Uru had became determined to catch up, to meet the boil as an equal. He studied hard and spent as much time as possible to reach the level Damien had at Amityville. However, the momentum of his own progress had pushed him to the point that he had unknowingly met the requirements to graduate. He was given the letter by gnome. Upon receiving it, he had nearly thrown it away in fear of... well, this. He could sense, feel, smell the scent that was coming from the monster. He could not tell if it was excitement, happiness, concern, or whatever else. Uru clasped his hands together again, his knuckles white. "I just... I don't want to turn it in. Not yet." I am not ready to leave this - us. Uru could be as stoic as possible, but he was still a being of emotions. He had emotional spurts from time to time. One of those was when he was in a low, dark place which Damien had reached out for. He had taken the bottled emotions that Uru had stored away and popped the cork, letting it flood out until he was a whimpering pup in the older student's arms.
The sounds of flipping page continued, back and forth, Uru knew he was looking at something. It was the soft sounds of contemplation that drew his attention from the sudden fascination of the coffee table had taken on, up to the handsome face he had grown to feel warm for, his brows shooting up. Damien was looking down at a page and he was curious himself, he sat upright to look as well. It was the last page of the application after the long lines of texts of 'Terms of Agreement', at the bottom of the page was a line.
The monster hound had his chin in his hand with a soft hum. "You should turn this in, y'know." the way Damien spoke was so nonchalant as if the situation - graduating - wasn't that big of an issue. Uru stared at him in bewilderment, uncertain if this was really Damien. His eyes were the same vibrant green that he loved to stare at, the tone of voice was the same without notable changes. This was the individual that had watched him fall apart, the one who put him back together again, the one who kept him together. This was the individual that he desperately cherished telling that he should end a chapter in his life. A chapter in his life when it was finally gotten good. "I mean, you're qualified to graduate. Everything is so jacking organized, but I expect nothing less of a little neat freak you can be. Almost immaculate, actually-"
"You want me to leave?" The sound that escaped him was a mixture of anger and absolute hurt. He wasn't even sure where the voice came from because it did not sound like him. "You want me to graduate and leave? What about you? I'm not going to jus-"
"Woah, woah, calm down, Uru." Damien's eyebrows shot up in concern, his hands reaching out to grasp at the larger boil's wrist to settle him. Together, their hands rested on the demon's knee. "Where is this even coming from? What does graduating have anything to do with you leaving me - you're my boilfriend."
"I have nothing..." He muttered, looking at where his hands touched his own. How well their skin tones seemed to match even though they were different. How delicate Damien's hands were and obscenely long that it should be considered illegal, compared to his own larger, slightly hairy knuckled hands. The demon shook his head with a growl as he got up, turning to go somewhere - anywhere else. "Just drop it, Damien. Forget I said anything."
"OH NO YOU DON'T!" The elder canine cried as he hooked an arm over the muscular elbow of the other, pulling them both back down on the couch. If Uru hadn't caught himself on reflex, he would definitely have smashed his face against the monster's. He could feel the death grip on him and the pinning stare like a venomous green that paralyzed him. There wasn't much he would tell Damien 'no' to, especially when he was serious. He learned that trying to hide anything from the monster would only be uncovered later and it would be worse off than being forthcoming. Initially, Uru had figured he was the only one with a Death-Is-Coming stare, but, he had to hand it to him, Damien had one of equal intensity.
Uru swallowed hard as his eyes diverted to stare at the boil's collar instead. "I graduate and I will have nowhere to go. I can't go back to the estate, the laws are firm. I've already decided that I won't go back...
"That's fine." Damien interjected with a grin. "You can come back with me, then." He says it with such simplicity as if it was that simple. Uru stared at him, his eyebrows meeting at the center of his forehead. Uru attempted to object before a hand was quickly slapped over his mouth with a pointed look. "No, you don't get to self-deprecate anymore. You should give yourself a lot of credit and came a long way to go back now." Tentatively taking his hand away, the monster boil poked the bigger hound. "Now smile."
It took a moment. His blue eyes searching but found nothing but sincere seriousness and the usual playful innocence. He let out a breathe through his nose, cracked a smile, before burying his head into the junction of Damien's neck, letting his weight fall onto him. Sometimes, he couldn't help but feel embarrassed. There was an audible 'ooph' that made his body rumble with a chuckle.
"You're heavy..." he huffed, his hand trapped between them, the other on his back.
Uru wound himself tighter around the boil. There was some head scratching - those comforting circles one does with their fingers. He wondered how he managed to get as lucky as he had. He had been wrought with torment from his mother growing up, known to be treated with respect because that was how the servants were told to do, how does one make friends when they are all paid - see: forced - to pretend to be? The exile of his father, to being mistreated when expectations weren't met, the first solace he had since then was being allowed to come to Amityville just to escape. As much good as that did when he was forced to go back home again, leading to his own exile. If Damien hadn't found him on that rainy day, had not dragged him back to his place - and he wasn't sleep deprived and starving, where would he be? Would he have gone and stayed at the Haunted House, lost within himself? Perhaps. He wasn't sure why he had stuck around the monster who continued to chip his way through his mental barriers, but he had managed. The monster didn't chip away at those walls, he wrecked them. Mentally, he imagined Damien striking a silly victorious pose on the rubble that once was the proverbial wall in his heart.
"But in all seriousness, I should take you to see my pack.... an' g' off!" He muffled into his neck.
Uru grumbled something indecipherable but rolled off him obligingly, looking at him from the corner of his eye. He wasn't frowning at least. "But I'm a lone hound."
"More reason to come meet them."
"I'm a demon." Uru turned to look up at the ceiling.
"Don't think it really matters." Damien joined him at the fixated point of their gaze, their hands clasped across their chests, well, as comfortably as one could side-by-side on a couch.
"You're in a relationship with a male - with me."
"Again, don't really think it matters." His speech dragging slowly to punctuate that it really didn't.
"I have nothing to offer; skills or funds or-"
"They'll love you anyway."
"You have an answer for everything, don't you?"
"Nah, you're just making this really easy." Damien turned his head to look at the demon's profile, grinning to himself. "You tell yourself these things all the time, I'd expect to have answers to these by now. I'm proud of you, y'know. You've done a lot, came a long way from being a grump jack."
"I'm still a 'grumpy jack'."
"But less of one. You smile more, which I thought was impossible. Plus, you bake, who grumpy jack bakes? And you whine when you're in bed, you become a total brat when you want to sleep in. I wouldn't have gotten to know that much of you if you didn't let me."
"What's your point, Damien?"
Damien returned his gaze to the ceiling when Uru's head turned his way. He shrugged. "I figured you'd want to get to know more about me, then. So I'd like to take you to see my pack."
"Is that... an invitation?"
"With a stipulation, of course." There was that grin again.
Uru narrowed his eyes, colors slowly bleeding solid. "And that is what?"
Damien swung his legs around, sitting up right towards the table. He looked over his shoulder at the demon hound who looked up at him expectantly. The monster hound leaned forward and picked up the dark folder, dropping it with a thin splat on the demon's chest. "Sign it." Uru scowled to which Damien rolled his eyes. "It's not a Faustian Contract. I just want to know that you'll at least attempt to graduate, Uru. Take the steps forward to your future."
Uru sat himself up beside the monster, holding the folder in hand. Signing it would mean he could turn it in, not necessary that he had to. There wasn't really any sort of deadline. He justified that if he did sign it, he could still turn it in with Damien and they could do the exam together, graduate together, and move on from this place together. Perhaps it was a pipedream but it was a nice thought. There was also that he could graduate and he wouldn't be bound by the student rules of not spending every night in Damien's bed. He did bring the better of himself out. He was getting better. He was smiling more, usually involuntarily. His facial expressions changed with each thought, nodding to himself. He probably looked ridiculous from the outside. He placed the folder down on the table, flipping through the pages to assure that everything was in place before taking the pen to the line.