Page 80 of Damian & Jun: Episodes 5-8
“Pain has a way of clarifying things, even ourselves. It washes the mess away for a moment as long as it’s controlled and doesn’t create more mess.”
“Feeling that, for real.” Jun laughed in a tired, shattered way.
Damian unbuckled him and helped him to his feet. “You’re probably going to get cold in a minute since you’re already tired. Let’s get under the covers and warm you up before that fully hits.”
“What about Bear and Téméraire?”
“Once you’re in the bed, I’ll go get them.”
“And Artemis?”
“Artemis has her own schedule, but I’ll leave the door cracked.”
Damian set the room back to rights and cracked both the exterior and interior doors. There was something so settling and weighty, in a grounding, comforting way, feeling Jun’s residual heat on the leather of the bondage table as he wiped it down and folded it away. Now all he wanted to do was wrap himself around his little wolfling and sleep. He didn’t even want sex. This wasn’t about getting off; this was so much more.
He crawled up on the bed. Jun turned toward him and went into his arms. They sorted out the covers and let the drapes fall shut around them, using the remote in the bed to turn off lights. Téméraire was at the foot of the bed, and Bear was smashed into the pillows with them.
Jun
The morning came with text messages flooding Damian’s phone. Jun rested against him as Damian scrolled through them. He didn’t talk about what he read. Instead, he rolled Jun onto his back, climbed on top of him, and kissed him senseless. This was how every morning should start from now on. Jun wrapped his arms and legs around him and clung back. They were both hard by the time they came up for air.
“I need to go back to Chicago today.” Damian kissed the end of Jun’s nose. “Émeric and Jaewoong have been talking. There’s music equipment coming up here so you can practice. If I can get away, I’ll take Collin and Émeric to the church complex today or tomorrow so they can see it, and then Collin may come up here with Richard, depending on what happens.”
Spending more time with Collin sounded good. He wanted to know Richard’s submissive partner better.
“It feels like I’m not getting to know Émeric like I’m getting to know Richard and Collin.”
Damian smiled, shaking his head. “You will. I promise. Right now, Émeric and I have to get a few things started if we want to start anything with the church and have it rolling for students to do summer work on it. We’re already behind to make it this summer. Émeric is the one with the connections to make that happen and also the professional background to get a project like this off the ground. I’m offering him an ownership stake because I can’t pay him. Collin, too.”
Damian rolled out of bed and offered Jun his hand. They went into the bathroom together. Damian started the shower. Jun’s unsettled feeling around Émeric eased a little. He’d felt good being around the dark Frenchman during the new year’s party and at the restaurant. There wasn’t anything wrong. He just hadn’t spoken to him as much as he had Richard.
Then again, the first time he’d seen Richard, he’d sat on his lap. They’d jumped a few significant meet and greet steps and gone straight for blatant honesty.
“Are there rules for how to behave if Richard and Collin are here and you’re not?”
Damian tested the water temperature with his hand. “Do you want rules?”
Jun thought that over as they got in under the water. It was a two-jet shower with a waterfall option overhead that Damian had left off.
“Can I be blunt?”
Damian chuckled. “Please.”
“I want to know that what I’m doing makes you happy. And when you’re not around, I don’t know how to know that. I know how to behave in a lot of situations, but all these relationships, poly, kink, I don’t know the rules.”
Damian put Jun’s shampoo in his palm and tugged Jun closer, washing him. Jun closed his eyes. Fingers on his scalp were better than ice cream, better than strawberry ice cream. Damian could do this to him all day, and he’d do whatever Damian wanted just to come back to this feeling.
“Respect whatever rules Collin and Richard express. Richard won’t be upset if you cross a line you don’t know about. You can be as expressive and physical as you and they both like. If you ask questions they don’t want to answer, they’ll tell you. And try to be communicative with them. They don’t know you and your boundaries either.”
Boundaries. It was a word he’d heard of but not often. Mostly from Damian.
“I don’t know what my boundaries are. I’m not sure I know what that word means, completely. I know countries have boundaries.”
“Personal boundaries.” Damian hummed thoughtfully, turning Jun into the spray and starting to rinse the shampoo out of his hair. “Think of them like lines of what other people can do and be near you or with you. Another way to talk about them is to say what your limits are.”
Limits made more sense. Like whether or not you could touch in a relationship or shake hands or let someone lock you in a room.
“I didn’t have any boundaries with Bak, did I?”
