Page 41 of Damian & Jun: Episodes 5-8
Now all Jun had to do was look at him, and Damian was probably going to be on his knees to make his boy happy.
Not that Jun seemed to realize it. Collin though, Collin knew Damian. And he didn’t have the blinders Jun did. Collin had seen Damian pining and worrying when he didn’t think even seeing Jun was a given. And for all Collin’s submissiveness and gentle, pleasing nature, the man was an absolute strategist.
Damian might be screwed in the best way.
A few legal emails later, there was a shadow from the hallway. Jun was hovering just outside of the living room proper. It felt like he was watching. Damian gave him time, pretending his full focus was on his laptop. A few moments later, Jun sauntered quietly into the room and asked Collin if he could sit on the floor by the couch. Collin welcomed him.
Jun settled and set the papers he’d borrowed from Damian on the coffee table where Collin could see them. “Damian says you design spaces.”
“It’s what I’m studying. I’ve never had anything built yet.”
“What about renovated?”
“You mean redesign inside an existing space or building?”
“I—I think so. DaSu took me to see his church. It would make a great concert space, but like, what if he made it really weird and special.”
Jun spread paper out on the table. Collin scooted forward on the couch. “Are those sketches?”
“Yeah. I’m not good.”
“Jun! These are good. Like seriously.”
“They’re just sketches.”
“I get it. Is the roof really open that way?” Collin slid down on the rug, shoulder to shoulder with Jun.
Jun launched into a full description of the space and the thoughts he’d had before, this time with more detail than he’d had the day previously. Collin ran off to grab his laptop and returned with not only that but his phone and a digital artist tablet as well.
“Here, use the internet.” Collin pushed his laptop into Jun’s hands. “Find me a picture of this museum you’re talking about. You mean like glass people could walk on over the whole floor or just sections?”
“Maybe sections? But make the whole floor higher?” Jun was already typing into Collin’s laptop.
Damian let them have at it, giving himself over to being completely engrossed in Yun’s email. The church complex still felt too big and, after last night, even more raw, but seeing and hearing Jun and Collin pick it apart with the eyes of outsiders moved something in him. Collin and Jun didn’t have the “stuckness” he carried with him. They weren’t tied to any vision of the past or weighed down by the people he remembered and their expectations. They were unlimited, and through their eyes, he could see something different—almost. It still felt hard to grasp, but he wanted to stay with pain and the pull just to feel the warmth of seeing Jun and Collin working together. If the idea of turning the old ruined church into a concert venue made both of these men in his life happy, he’d happily give them the keys…and find a way to fund it. The church was a wound he hadn’t been able to heal, but perhaps he wasn’t the one who had to heal it. Maybe in giving up on finding solutions, the solution could be found. A path forward through surrender.
How often life was like that.
A few emails deeper and his ears perked up again at the word dungeon. He looked over at Collin and Jun again. Collin was sketching, and Jun was pointing.
“I’m just saying, if you’re thinking twenty-four seven use, you have a few options, housing, overnight stores, storage units, hospitals, police stations, city vehicle parking…but when it comes to revenue-generating evening-slash-night use, dungeon, totally dungeon, at least part of it.”
Jun was giggling, so Damian was going to assume Collin had already explained to Jun what a dungeon was or that Jun already knew.
“You could run pretty far.” Jun’s interest was sparked.
“Run?”
“For when you play. There’s lots of room to run. All the aisles, and the hallways, and basement area, and the area up top.”
Collin blinked at Jun. “Um…I don’t think a dungeon needs that much space.”
“Richard doesn’t chase you?”
“Uh, no. I mean, I never run away from him. Do you run from Damian?”
“Yeah.”
Collin smiled. “I think that’s…um…primal play? Or are you a dog? Like puppy play?”
