John 8:32

22 - Numbers 30:2

When a man makes a vow to the Lord or swears an oath to put himself under an obligation, he must not break his word; he must do whatever he has promised.

There weren't many things Damien hated quite as much as church. It was his least favorite part of Sunday's by far. There were so many people — at least during weekday services it was just the other sophomores. On Sunday the entire population of the school attended, and all the adults in the area.

Typically, he let time pass by chatting with his friends. Acquaintances, cute girls or guys he might've not particularly known.

There was this guy he was talking to next to him, one arm draped over the back of the bench.

In front of them sat the pastor's kid — Spencer Morris.

Damien didn't know much about him. Not much outside of the fact that he had a few favorite words — most of which were directed towards Damien as he passed by in the hallway.

Damien could tell Spencer was bothered by him talking to the guy. Thomas, he was pretty sure his name was. It didn't particularly matter.

It wasn't like Father Abraham was actively preaching, anyways. The congregation was filing up for the Eucharist.

That didn't stop Spencer's shoulders from visibly tensing.

"Do you have no respect?" Spencer finally turned around, bristling, "Shut up."

"Oh, you wish you could shut me up, Mr. Morris," Damien flashed a grin Spencer's way, and that was that. It shut him up real quick.

Damien was never particularly bothered by Spencer's remarks. He even found them funny, sometimes. Especially the way he'd react when Damien didn't give him the response he was expecting.

Finally, it was their turn to go up and wash down the cardboard wafers with shitty, cheap wine. Trying to ignore the sour taste in his mouth — Damien made his way back to his spot. Until he spotted Spencer rushing up the aisle towards the doors.

Damien couldn't help but follow him out of the sanctuary. Where could he have been going?

As he followed Spencer, Damien found out just how damn fast that guy could walk. Somehow, he never noticed Damien following him. Spencer just disappeared into a secluded bathroom, tucked away by Pastor Morris' office. Desolate during mass — Pastor Morris was out preaching.

Damien stopped for a few moments — maybe he just had to use the bathroom. But why the one so far away? There were closer ones. Maybe Damien would take an extra-long piss during mass to get out of it, but Spencer didn't strike him as the type to do that.

He decided to push open the door.

Damien wasn't sure there was anything that could have prepared him for what was behind that door.

Against the back wall off the bathroom sat Spencer — sobbing his eyes out. He clutched the rosary wrapped around his hands like it was tethering him to this Earth — and he looked fucked up.

"Hey dude, what's up?" Damien wasn't sure how Spencer hadn't noticed him yet — he felt like he was intruding. He was, but he felt less like he was watching if he announced his presence.

Spencer's head shot up — eyes wide and lower lip trembling.

"Oh, it's you," Spencer set his gaze into a scowl, looking away from Damien, "Fuck off, Yates."

Damien could. It would be really easy. He couldn't help but think back to every time Spencer had less than gently bumped into him in the halls, the words that accompanied. The faggot's and queer's.

No, even if Spencer was a dick, Damien wasn't.

"Do you mean that?" Damien raised an eyebrow.

Spencer stayed quiet. He refused to look Damien in the eye, sniffling and trying to stifle the sobs. Emphasis on trying.

"...No."

"What's wrong?" Damien sat down on the floor next to Spencer — a little closer than he meant to, his knee bumping Spencer's.

"I... I can't" Spencer wheezed, burying his face in his hands, "I fucking can't."

"Can't what?"

Damien couldn't help but think how... odd this was. Spencer was nothing short of a dick, yet somehow, Damien found himself drawn to comfort him. He had this sense of — he wasn't sure. This sense that he needed to be here, sitting on this bathroom floor with Spencer.

He looked over to Damien, and for a moment, they locked eyes. Damien had never noticed Spencer's eyes before. Now he couldn't do anything but notice them. There was a certain desperation behind his gaze — beyond the well of tears that clouded his eyes.

Damien recognized that desperation all too quickly.

As Spencer's lips met his own — Damien understood. Spencer breathed out a long, shaky breath as he relaxed into Damien. His lips tasted like tears and cheap wine — the memory of the body and blood still on his mouth.

Damien didn't pull away. All logic said that he should have — the last person in the world he should be kissing was Spencer.

He didn't move back.

It was Spencer who finally separated — almost in a panic.

"You can't tell anybody," he wheezed, and Damien understood.

"I won't."

☼ ☼ ☼

"Why the hell do you hang out with that Spencer kid?"

Damien was leaving lunch early to catch Spencer before their next class. He didn't specifically mention him — but his friends knew. They weren't happy about Damien being around him.

It made sense, obviously. They didn't know what Damien did. And they couldn't know. Damien didn't break promises.

"I help him with AP Bio," Damien shrugged, "And he's not that bad."

"Damien, he calls you slurs," Abigail insisted. She and Ezra had been making that argument since Damien first mentioned hanging out with Spencer. Of course they were — because Spencer did. He didn't anymore, though.

"He doesn't anymore," Damien pulled the other strap of his backpack on. His shoulder was starting to hurt.

"Not anymore is a flimsy justification," Ezra argued, "He's still a dick."

That's when Damien was done listening to it. He had to go find Spencer.

"Listen, I'll choose who I hang out with," he shook his head, turning his back on them and walking out of the cafeteria.

That was probably why Ezra and Abigail stopped texting him.

He didn't mind it so much. If they were going to make assumptions and refuse to take Damien's word for it that Spencer was more than what he used to say to Damien, then he didn't want to be around them. They were kind of judgmental, anyways. He was only friends with them because they were queer.

It was fine. He didn't care that much.

He had Spencer now anyways. That was enough to pass as companionship, right?
Well, it would have to be.