Impress Me Not: The Writer

Chapter 38

He already knew that it wasn't going to be. It was set up for failure from the moment that he opened his door. And yet, no matter how Damien prepared himself, there was always something that came up just to show him how much worse it could get.

"What a pleasant surprise," A familiar face put an arm around his father. "It's nice to see the sibling that's been in hiding for so long."

Oh, and he thought that seeing his father around Uncle Dieter was bad. That was nothing compared to the amount of steam that was coming out of his father's ears when he saw the eldest of the siblings finally come in. Uncle Manfred gave the man a smug smile, looking about ready to throw hands.

This wasn't what he wanted when he had looked for his uncles. It would have been nice for them to all have gotten along, but he knew his dad too well. The man never forgave no matter what. You could save his life tenfold and he'd never forgive the one time you stole his cookies from school when you were all little.

Manfred wasn't one to fight, but he would catch a fist and throw it back if he needed to. Damien had remembered that from one instance when they were all in the downtown late at night. It was not a pretty sight to see.

"I should have expected that you'd be here," his father shoved Manfred's arm off from his shoulders, wiping them off with his hand as he did. "And here I was hoping that you were dead in a ditch somewhere."

"Just because I have a different lifestyle than you, doesn't mean that either of us need to die," Manfred said, rolling the hateful comments off him like he was covered in butter. "It's good to see that you still have the same sense of humor, though, Jurgen."

"Manny!" Aunt Sabine ran over to him, just like she had done when Dieter came. "I'm so glad to see you again! It's been too long."

"I agree," Manfred smiled as they hugged. "I'm glad you all came actually. It would be nice to catch up. I'm sure a lot has happened."

"Oh, so much!" she started going off, ignoring the daggers that the brothers were shooting at each other. Instead, she managed to get them all to sit down as she blabbered on about the whole biography of her life. Of course, she had to talk about Opie, which eventually led to Damien.

He was really sick and tired of being at the front of all these conversations. It was tiring having to put on an act all the time. He didn't know how he handled it when he lived with his parents all the time. There was just something about their stares of criticism that brought him right back to the confused teen that was afraid to even hint at any of his interests. They would find some way to complain about each and every one, saying that it wasn't likely to work out or it would just distract him from his schooling. They had hated so much about him, he was honestly surprised that they had kept him in that house for so long. That was another reason why he studied so hard to get into a college far away.

Manfred was gay, and wore that proudly when he walked around. He was from a generation that had to keep it hidden, for the sake of their livelihoods. Now that things were a little more open when it came to sexuality, he happily walked around with Sam in his arms, showing the man off like a trophy when he could. It was a sweet story, when he had told Damien.

He wished he could be a part of something sweet like that. Even with being here, he found himself wanting to hide. The idea of staying unknown to the outside world was tempting, even when he desperately wanted to be done with it. That was why hiding behind this pseudonym online was perfect for him. Through it, he could be himself without telling anyone that he knew.

His friends knew, but that was just about it. Damien was always surprised when he wound up making friends. He was so used to being the wallflower that he had always been at home. For some weird reason, the people in this city were too talkative to let even the most quiet person walk by peacefully. And some of them had just decided to stick to him.