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LOCATION — Hollywood, California
INTERACTIONS — With each other
TIME — One day before the start of camp |
Damian Black has never liked the sun. He didn’t hate it, but he has never liked it. The sun was too bright and it was too hot, which was odd because he could control hell fire, but Damian enjoyed the wintery months he’d spent at Camp Half-Blood. He liked those Long Island snow days because it meant he could, by understandable expectations, stay in his room. There was something uniquely marvelous about having the backdrop of the whistling, icy wind as he composed whatever song or instrumental for a song he was. Or if he was taking on a request for someone else.
But to be in Beverly Hills, the day before he would be expected back at camp? This was not his preferred use of what little true free time would remain, but Damian had offered to fetch the Bubbles-made-Demigoddess so she didn’t miss out on the start of camp, because nobody should ever do that. It’s not like Damian intentionally offered so he could skip out on Chiron’s overly-drawn out monologues and speech to the newcomers.
He, of course, did. It was the only way he could get out of it with an understandable expectation of what everyone knew Damian to be like. He felt guilty for a couple of people, though. The first being Jai. It was sprung on the poor guy last minute. As in just a mere three hours ago. He had gotten the go ahead to use this fetching of Tiffannie to be made into an official quest, but he needed to make sure he had the paperwork. Jai was the one in charge of said paperwork, but that meant he had to wake up the Son of Deimos at 5am. It was still dark out, so Damian was already up, but he needed to get it scored away. He informed Jaidyn of the nature of the quest and he would be going solo. He would be back before tomorrow’s events came along.
After a rather dramatic process because Jai was Jai and how busy he was (again with understandable expectations of Jai’s exhaustion), he got the necessary paperwork done and Damian was out of camp within the hour.
The second person that brought regret to Damian’s mind was his sister. He didn’t give her nor his hounds much heads up that he was heading out on a quest. The bright side, of course, was how all three of his hounds (Onyx, Rebus, and Aemor) were more than familiar with Erin and got along with her own hounds so, it wouldn’t cause
many issues.
And for the past five hours, as he clung to the shadows, thanks in majority to the cloak his Aunt Nyx gave, Damian was lurking through the overpopulated, luxurious metropolis of the famous and followed his target…well, not really ‘target’. The object of his quest.
Yeah, that sounded better.
He was following Tiffannie, using the cloak of the night to hide his presence but he rode on his bike that he could use to travel between Earth and the underworld, but because he could manipulate the shadows, he was simply hiding it from view. He also hid the sound the engine made so nobody would be alarmed of the unseen roar of an engine passing them by. It took an enormous amount of focus, but one that Damian possessed, having been motivated by Zeru so many times to achieve greater feats of strength. Much like that, he was dedicated to keeping himself hidden away from Tiffannie discovering his presence.
It was succeeding. He followed her everywhere she went. Whether it was to the hair stylist, her high school, a nice restaurant with her parents, or even to go get a pint of froyo with her friends. Anywhere she went, there were too many people. Way too many for Damian’s comfort, but more importantly and pertaining to the quest, he needed for them to be alone to talk. Plus, Tiffannie would doubtless explode in a wave of unnecessary excitement when she saw him. He had grown used to it, but if that were to happen, of which he was certain it would, it would be better to reveal himself to her when they were alone than in front of others.
As the day went on and the sun seemed less like something he wanted to blast out of the sky, Damian followed Tiffannie as she went home. He took in the neighborhood, seeing all of the houses that, per house, were the size of at least half of camp. Compared to the apartment he remembered spending half of his life in, Damian was, at the very least, disgusted by how greed made up this cursed town.
Damian parked his bike outside of Tiff’s home. The need to keep himself hidden was no longer paramount, so he would remove himself, as well as his cloak, which would retract into his necklace, and he’d summon five skeletons that each stood as tall as Damian did, to stand watch over his bike, but as well as Tiff’s jeep and home. They were protected from mortal vision because of the mist, but who knew who would be bold enough to attack Damian and Tiff. As Demigods, they faced threats every day.
Damian made quick work of scaling the two-story house that Tiffannie lived in. He deduced which room was hers by the sheer amount of pink in it. He mouthed, “I shouldn’t have expected anything else,” as blue eyes looked at it through the closed window. Damian had his jacket on, the black leather jacket that anyone who knew him would immediately recognize. He wrapped himself in shadows and clung to the one that her balcony cast until he watched Tiffannie come in. She closed her door and Damian watched her. She had always been so breathtakingly beautiful. A true goddess, demi or not. Seeing her brought him a peace that the Prince of the Underworld never knew existed. The feelings she made him experience were all brand new to him and he didn’t know how to make sense of them.
Yet, watching her made him feel calm.
And then he saw her having trouble with her dress.
Without missing a beat, he pushed the window open, unwrapped the shadows that hid him, and as he had one foot on the window seal, he said a slightly curved smirk,
“I can help with that.”On this perfect day
Nothing's standing in my way
On this perfect day
Where nothing can go wrong
It's the perfect day
Tomorrow's gonna come too soon
I could stay forever as I am
On this perfect day
On the lovely morning of the last day of May, the daughter of the Sun God completed her mortal schooling requirements by officially graduating high school and obtaining her diploma. The past thirteen years had been filled with many highs, its fair share of lows, and innumerable memories that she would undoubtedly cherish forever. She’d received loving, congratulatory messages from family and friends, including Vivian, Killian and even Apollo himself. Once the ceremony and celebratory events concluded, the next step would be to pack her bags and begin her new life as a full-time member of Camp Half-Blood.
But the day was only just beginning! Knowing that this would be her last day in California for a while, Tiffannie was determined to make the most of it. She had already eaten lunch with her family, treated herself to some fro-yo with her friends, and had plans to attend a graduation house party that another friend was hosting. Singing out loud to Hoku’s ‘Perfect Day’ and the bubblegum pop songs that followed, Tiff pranced around the room collecting the items she would need for the party and placing them inside a tote bag. Once that was done, she rummaged through many clothing items in her dresser drawers until she finally settled on the perfect outfit. It was only after she tried to undo the zipper of her dress that she realized this would be an impossible task without someone else's helping hand. Letting out a frustrated huff, the girl fought her hardest to reach the zipper in any way she could, until…
“I can help with that.”With a loud, piercing shriek, the wide-eyed Tiffannie spun around, snatched a wooden handle hair brush from the vanity and flung it in the direction of the voice in an attempt to defend herself from the intruder. She wasn’t a fighter like a lot of her half-blooded peers, but she had to do
something!
The hairbrush came in hot and fast like a fireball from Hecate herself (with the aim of a true Daughter of Hecate). Damian reacted almost on instinct, willing the shadows, a single tendril sprouting up from the edge of the window. It caught the brush, stopping all of its momentum. Damian made a note of the velocity that Tiffannie hurled it at him. Had it been anyone else, they’d be concussed. “And people say you don’t have a perfect aim like Vivian?” Damian chuckled, releasing the brush from the shadow as he held it in his hand, examining it curiously and smiling as he realized it, much like everything in Tiff’s room from the bed to her dresser to the Princess Peach figurines on her dresser, and the vanity mirror she was seated in front of, was as pink as cotton candy.
There was a moment of silence in which the blonde simply stood there, mouth slightly agape, staring at the man in front of her window. The shaggy blond hair, the piercing green eyes, the impossibly sharp jawline, the lanky frame dressed in shades of black with pops of silver accessories… All features that belonged to a very special someone that the Taccone girl held close to her heart: Damian Black.
With another loud shriek (this time from pure excitement), Tiffannie sprinted across the room with her arms outstretched and pulled Damian into a warm, tight hug as soon as he was within her grasp. At first glance, you wouldn't even imagine that the physical embodiment of Pink Sugar Princess would have anything in common with the Prince of Darkness. But in reality, out of all the people Tiff had missed the most, the son of Hades was certainly at the top of the list along with her siblings. The two demigods had bonded after the blonde volunteered her pet sitting services around camp and won the trust and affection of Damian's hounds in record time. The man's reasoning was that if his highly protective pets had given them their trust so quickly, then she must be quite extraordinary. Their initial conversations were very casual, with Tiff doing most of the talking. But the longer they interacted with one another, the more Damian opened up to the girl. By the time she had left camp the last time, the son of Hades and the daughter of Apollo had been nearly inseparable, and sparks of a budding romance were flying around them. Having to be away from one of her best friends (and crush) had been hard, but knowing she would see him again kept the nostalgic feelings at bay.
And now here he was! Yay!
“I missed you!” Tiffannie exclaimed, pulling away from the man just enough to plant a kiss on his cheek. S , leaving a glossy, sparkly pink imprint behind.
“I haven’t seen you in forever, D! How have you been?!”There was something weirdly comforting about Tiffannie’s brand of excitement. To others, their ears would be bleeding from hearing the pink-obsessed blonde’s voice go to levels that shouldn’t be humanly achievable, but they weren’t necessarily human, now were they? Her voice was mesmerizing. Even when out of pitch, it was like a siren singing. The chaotic harmony that blessed his ears. Almost as fitting as it was when she embraced him and kissed him on his cheek.
Damian had to admit that made his heart beatbeatbeat. And beat some more. His feelings that he's been fighting and fighting and
fighting for the chipper blonde has been something he’s been trying to make sense of. In the past few months, especially since he and Alina ended their benefitship, Tiff had been on his mind. And seeing her now only reaffirmed his struggles.
“Been alright. Can’t say the same for my ears,” he teased. Damian didn’t bother to wipe away the evidence of her kiss. Sometimes you just had to take pride in the unique reactions very unique friends had for you.
Tiffannie’s cheeks turned pink. She often forgot that her enthusiastic demeanor could sometimes be a little too much for other people, and that demigods’ hearing was more sensitive than regular folks.
“Sorry!” she replied sheepishly, pulling away from Damian and offering an apologetic smile.
“I'm just so excited to see you! I have so many stories to tell you! Life has just been really awe--” Tiff abruptly stopped speaking mid-sentence, a frown settling in between her eyebrows.
“Wait a minute… What are you doing here in LA?” she asked Damian, now visibly confused.
Damian had long accepted Tiffannie’s flaws as something that made her who she was. Who was he to judge when he had his own that made so many people wary of him and even flat out avoided his company due to his antisocial tendencies? Tiffannie was the exact opposite of this, of course. She was too forward for some. Her voice, at times, was like someone blowing a whistle in your ear or raking sharp claws on rusty metal or an old blackboard. But then there were moments that she surprised and impressed him with how compassionate she could be. She had something about the way her kindness was authentic and genuine, something that Damian had thought was lost in this world. He didn’t experience it from his father so he never thought to spot it, but Tiffannie showed him that it existed.
Between her and Erin, his view of life became less black and white and more 50 shades of gray and silver.
After a moment, Damian said,
“I noticed you were having troubles with the dress. I meant what I said. I can assist with that.” The son of Hades remarked with his typical tone that liked to tease. But seeing the way she looked at him in that all-too-familiar deer having been caught in headlights, he added.
“I’m also here to fetch you for the summer, but first the dress.”Tiffannie grew even more curious and confused with Damian’s answer.
“They gave you permission to leave camp to come all the way to California to get me?” she asked him, draping her blonde locks forward over her right shoulder in one swipe and turning her back towards the young man. As far as the girl knew, permission for campers to leave the premises was only given in cases of family emergencies or quests, and this didn’t qualify as either of those. How had her friend managed to get all the way here to get her, then?
Damian fell quiet as he focused on helping with the dress that the chipper blonde was struggling with. In the middle of it, he said, “I got special permission from Jai to treat this as a
quest,” he explained, though this being a quest
quest was a stretch.
“I assured him I--” he stopped himself, realizing the implication of it,
“I mean we would be back before the official start of summer began. As long as we beat that, I’m sure Chiron nor Mr. D will punish us…or me, too bad.” When he succeeded, he tapped her shoulder, resting it on her smooth skin. Damian lost his train of thought and got lost in the moment for a second.
“And done.” He had snapped himself out of it, but he wondered if Tiff noticed?
Having the god Apollo’s blood coursing through your veins came with a lot of perks, enhanced hearing being one of them. With every step he took towards her, Tiffannie could hear Damian’s heartbeat suddenly racing inside his chest, making her curious as to the reason why. A more important question arose when she remembered that Damian
also had enhanced hearing, and could probably tell that her own heart had started thumping hard against her chest. She tried to play it off as best as she could, and felt that her plan had worked… Up until she felt the warm touch of his soft hand on her shoulder. The heartbeat that she had painstakingly gotten under control went off in a frenzy again, and a shiver ran down her body from the point of contact. Instinctively, Tiffannie reached out her own hand towards Damian’s. And after interlocking her fingers with his, the girl felt that same spark she always did whenever they exchanged moments of affection. In moments like these, she always wondered:
did Damian feel it too?
At that moment, Damian wondered the same thing.
Is she hearing what I’m hearing?There wasn’t much time to dwell on that question before Damian softly pulled his hand away.
“Um… Thank you…” the blonde murmured, hastily turning away before her guest could realize she was blushing. The last thing she needed was for D to put two and two together and get some inkling of the way she truly felt about him. She grabbed what looked like a handful of clothes from the corner of her bed and disappeared inside the walk-in closet, leaving the door cracked just enough to allow the conversation between the two friends to continue.
“I was supposed to go to a pool party and meet up there with my friends, but since you’ve never been to California, how about we skip it and I show you around town instead?” she called out from the other room, emerging a short time later in a pair of low-rise shorts that showed off the matching bottom of the pink bikini she was wearing. She paused for a moment in front of Damian with a small smile, twirled in place to proudly display her outfit of choice before prancing to her vanity to pick out a pair of shades.
There was a moment before she came out that the Son of Hades, much to his nature, looked around the room. He stood mostly in place but he took in the details of Tiffannie’s room. The myriad of pink and peach colored knick knacks like the collection of Princess Peach figurines on her dresser, the pink palette bedding, the complimenting wallpaper, and how everything in her room looked like it came straight out of Barbie’s or Princess Peach’s personal penthouse. He smiled at that. Damian admired that about her. How she would be unapologetically herself despite how others might perceive it.
“Uh, if that’s what you want. I wouldn’t mind seeing your friends too,” Damian said, remembering that he was on her side of the world. Manners maketh man was something Erebus always told him and he tried to remember that. He was a visitor in her domain.
“Whatever you want…” The words coming out of his mouth came to a slow, gradual halt when she came out. It was simple. A pink top and jeans. Damian’s heart started to beat fast again. He was typically a great wall of obsidian, but the pink flames that Tiffannie represented melted that wall every time.
“I’ve been told I'm not supposed to look at the sun directly, but when it looks as beautiful as you do right now, how could I?” Damian spoke faster than his brain could stop him but when someone so breathtaking presents herself for you, one must always speak the truth no matter the consequences.
If Damian already thought she looked radiant, it was nothing compared to the blinding, beaming smile the blonde gave him when she heard his words. Her friend had given her compliments and kind words before, but this was the first time he had been so blunt about it. The warm, fuzzy feeling he gave her whenever they were together seemed to have multiplied tenfold, and she couldn't stop herself from squealing her thanks, kissing his cheek again and giving him a quick hug.
“Party it is!” Tiffannie declared brightly, sliding her feet into sparkly pink sandals before grabbing her packed tote bag and skipping her way to the bedroom door.
“You're going to have so much fun, D! There's gonna be music, beer pong, so many snacks… My friends are really awesome, too! It's going to be grea--” She swung the door open and was about to head out when a thought suddenly stopped both her body and her sentence in its tracks.
“Damian?”“Yeah?”“I think you're going to need a different outfit…” she commented, taking a hard look at the man's wardrobe choice. He looked as amazing as always of course but--
“It's a pool party, not a Hells Angels biker convention.”“What? You don’t think I’ll start a new trend?” Damian with the full confidence that only he could pull off looked down at the classic biker attire he fancied. He smiled and, as he was mirroring what Tiffannie had done for him just a few moments ago, did a full 360º turn. The sound of the heavy leather of his jacket swished slightly against the metal of his studded belt, his blond hair flowed in the air.
The blonde giggled and shook her head.
“I would just prefer that you not get heat stroke wearing all that leather,” she said earnestly, walking back to Damian to grab his hand and tug at it gently.
“Now come on! Let's get going! The party's going to start soon, and we have to stop to get you an outfit!”And before he could say anything else, Damian found herself being dragged out of the room, with a very excited Tiffannie leading the way.
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) .. but hyperfixations..? ..boy he was