Page 56 of Damian & Jun: Episodes 5-8
Damian fetched an extra laptop from down the hall and got him set up. Collin joined Alice and Ash.
“I think Collin needs you,” Jun said quietly as Damian helped him connect to the internet.
“Collin?” Damian glanced over his shoulder at his kink brother. “What happened?”
Jun shrugged, shifting in his chair. “He got a call in the car on our way over. His university doesn’t want him to come back in person next week. They think the risk of having him on campus regularly is too high.”
Damian blinked slowly. “You’re okay if I’m physical with him in front of you?”
“He’s your family. I’ll never know how I’ll feel until I feel it, but he needs you. He’s doing that ‘I’m fine’ bullshit.”
Damian nodded and stood up, crossing the room and approaching Collin. He put an arm around Collin’s waist and pulled him close. “Jun says you got a phone call.”
Collin blinked hard and kept his eyes on Ash’s computer screen. “It’s fine. I’ll figure it out.”
“It’s not fine. I’m sorry.”
Collin rubbed his eyes. “We have bigger problems than whether or not I finish college. Honestly, I shouldn’t care so much.”
“You were practically killing yourself to finish college before we got you.” Damian tugged Collin closer. “This is important. Don’t belittle that.”
Collin blinked furiously but actually turned toward Damian. “I just want to finish. It feels like…” His voice caught, and he cut himself off.
Damian put his arms around Collin and pulled him into a hug. “You’re going to finish college. Have you talked to your professors? Did the university have any suggestions?”
“Not really. They hoped that maybe I would like to transfer to online classes. But I need to do labs. I can do some things online but…” Collin halted again, swallowing and blinking.
Damian rubbed his back. “If your university can’t work with you, Richard and Émeric will find you another one.”
Collin leaned into Damian’s hug. “I know. It hurts anyway.”
Damian kissed him on the forehead. “Have you told Richard and Émeric?”
“Not yet. It only happened a few minutes ago.”
“Take a moment and call them.”
Collin nodded. Damian pointed him at the empty conference room across the hall, making sure that Cedric, who had accompanied Jun and Collin over, knew where he was. Then he went back to work.
Collin came back ten minutes later, a little red around the eyes but mostly calm. He grabbed a seat and joined Ash and Alice again.
About thirty minutes after, Jun came over to Damian’s desk with what amounted to a dossier on Rei in Korean. “This is everything I could find quickly. Want me to translate it?”
“If you can, yes. Make sure to keep the original names and the translations of the names in the English file.”
Jun nodded and went back to work. Damian read over the copy of the Korean original. Jun had done a good job, and the situation was extremely suspect. He forwarded Jun’s write-up to Yun and decided to pass the English version on to Pearsen as soon as he had it back from Jun. Then he made a note to himself to get his hands on a list of every talent who had gone through BBB3. He didn’t just want to see who had been debuted but also anyone who had signed on as a trainee. Public eyes weren’t on trainees as often. It would be telling to see where they’d ended up or how many others had disappeared.
Richard knocked on the office door a little while later. Collin went to him at once and was immediately wrapped in his dom’s arms. They spoke quietly for a few moments, then Collin went back to Ash and Alice.
Richard caught Damian’s eyes and motioned toward the conference room. “Do you have time?”
“For you, always.”
Richard smiled but shook his head. “Genuine question. This can wait.”
“No, let’s talk. There’s nothing happening right now that won’t keep for an hour or two.”
They went into the conference room together and shut the door. Only glass stood between them and Damian’s office, but no one could hear them speaking.
