Hidden and Silent (SpyxFamily)

Chapter Eleven

 It was a weekday.
It was a weekday and Demetrius had come to take Damian out to ice cream. On a weekday. Could he not wait for the weekend? Damian saw him only three days ago. The high school division wasn't all that far from Damian's dorms, but they had been hanging out on the weekends when they had more free time. Demetrius was here on a weekday.

Damian was happy.

He practically flew down the staircase of his dorm after changing out of his uniform and took a turn fast, swinging off the baluster. He skipped steps, jumped, and blew through the front doors where Demetrius waited just outside. He remained in his uniform.

Demetrius smirked. "You must really love ice cream." He said as he made to leave and Damian followed.

"Are you sure you can go out? Don't you get a lot of homework?" Damian had to walk twice as fast to keep up with his brother.

"I've got it managed. We won't be too long either." Demetrius glanced at Damian and slowed down for him. "You probably have your own to do, too."

"Some of it's done, we can be a little late." Damian offered magnanimously.

"Sure." Demetrius conceded, another smirk twitching his mouth up. He was in a good mood.

The afternoon was bright. The sun was warm, and the strong winds were blocked by tight-knit buildings, the roads well-encompassed as they left the busy area surrounding Eden Academy. The hour couldn't have been later than three, and the day already felt like it was escaping them. In their hurry to make the most of their time together, they spoke little on their way to find an ice cream vendor. They kept their heads on a swivel, on look-out for the vendors who often changed their location.

"Two vanillas please." Demetrius stepped up to a cart, ordering before Damian could speak up. "Here." Demetrius handed him a cone and paid the lady.

"Uh—how did you know this is what I wanted?" Damian said as they trailed away from the cart.

"Oh." Demetrius paused, looking at his own. "I was thinking about vanilla and ordered two without realizing." He licked his ice cream. "Guess it worked out."

"Why did you wanna come out for ice cream all of a sudden, anyway?" Damian said around his cone, deeply invested in his brother's answer. It might have been silly and childish to want to hear Demetrius say it out loud, but Damian didn't care.

"Hmm?" Demetrius said absent-mindedly, more focused on the ice cream. "Um. . . just 'cause I guess?"

"That's it?"

Demetrius shrugged. "Do I need a reason? I just thought we could hang out." He said. "Ya know, most siblings see each more than once a week." Demetrius added, fusing a lightness into Damian's step he hadn't felt in a while.

Eating at his ice cream, Damian directed his attention to the side-walk, kicking a pebble at his feet. It skittered a couple yards away, stone clacking against concrete. He kicked it again.

Damian had gotten used to their fairly quiet walks, even enjoying

their easy, silent companionship. Conversation could be scarce and it had never dampened their relationship. Though he wanted it now. The more Damian thought about it, the more he realized how little he knew about Demetrius. They may spend time together, they may feel closer than before, and yet Demetrius could be classified as scarcely more than a familiar stranger. Someone could ask Damian what Demetrius' favourite colour was and Damian wouldn't know.

Damian kicked the pebble again. "What's your favourite colour?"

"Um." Demetrius laughed. "Black."

"Mine's green—" Damian halted and nearly slipped when he missed the pebble. His favourite colour wasn't green, why did he say that?"

"Hmm." Demetrius poorly hid a laugh behind his thoughtful hum, licking his ice cream. Was he laughing at Damian for slipping?

Rude.

Damian decided to ignore it like the mature man that he was and clicked his tongue. Even the annoying aspects of having a brother was kind of comforting. The experiences and normalcies of having a sibling that he should have had before.

"If you could have any superpower, what would it be?" Damian kicked the pebble and kicked it again. He stopped when he heard only his own footsteps and looked back at Demetrius who eyed his ice cream with hateful pleasure. A wicked smirk twisted the corner of his mouth. "Fire." He chuckled darkly, his eyes half-lidded as if imagining what he would do with it.

Damian blinked and glanced down the side-walk and back to Demetrius. Did Damian miss something? "Um. . .ok?" He said. Demetrius was being weird again.

His brother blinked and the smirk was gone. He continued eating his ice cream and caught up with Damian. "How 'bout you?"

"Mm." Damian gave it appropriate consideration. "Flying. Or maybe super strength."

"Mm." Demetrius nodded sagely around his cone.

Damian kicked at the pebble and conversation stalled. The other's company was welcome and they easily spent time together, but talking still felt a little awkward.

Damian kicked the pebble again as he considered his next words. Talking to his brother shouldn't be so hard. Damian should have grown up with him, they should already be able to have normal conversations. Damian wanted to blame it all on their father but the boys held some responsibility. "How come you never came to see me after school before even though you were so close?" Damian put more power into his next kick than he meant and the rock bounced off onto the road.

If Demetrius was tripped up by the change in topic, he didn't falter. "I had my reasons." He said annoyingly, giving a stone a little kick with the side of his shoe towards Damian. "I hear you have two stellas, how'd you get 'em?" He redirected.

"I got a top grade for the first one, and the second was for being super calm when the bus was hijacked. Does it have to do with our family?" Damian prodded as if the answer didn't mean a lot to him. He hit the pebble at a diagonal so it fell into Demetrius' path.

"It's complicated." Demetrius kicked the stone.

"So un-complicate it." Damian grumbled, hitting the rock again.

"Our family isn't a good one. Let's leave it at that." Demetrius planted his foot over the pebble, and Damian stared at it, trying to ignore the emotions waking up and fluttering in his chest. Demetrius spoke of it so easily. With such certainty.

"Hey. Let's check this out."

Damian looked up at the store-front window Demetrius directed his attention to where beautiful kites laden with all sorts of colours in various shapes and sizes were displayed "You want to go kite flying?" Immediately, Damian's other emotions were squashed, replaced with surprise and a little anticipation.

"Sure. C'mon." Eyes stayed on the door, Demetrius reached for Damian's head and gently coaxed him along.