† DIP WEEK †

***

Phillip had done his deeds and tasks: he had done what he had to in order to become a gentleman and impress the woman he so desired and wished to marry. The next step of the plan was to go to the ball and hope to see the woman standing in the wings and hope that she would be kinder and realise just how much passion he withheld.

Yes it was true, even after years he harboured that genuine, fluttering love in his chest for Estella that was so unbearable as a younger child that she consistently pushed him away and spoke in vulgarity that was somehow just slightly charming enough to keep him coming back to her trances.

He brushed down the fabric of his white and gold ensemble. His hands covered with lace gloves that seemed to gently tatter against his skin as he walked towards the doors and found himself ignoring the looks of others trying to find Estella. That was his goal, to admit his reasoning and possibly get to become her partner, that was what everything was for in the first place.

That plan would soon become shattered though he did not realise it until he met eyes with a man that he had come to avoid due to whispers and rambles of him. It seemed as if time stopped, that the chandeliers and the beautiful glow of the palace they were hosted in was illuminated only by a single man who stared back at him upon a bit further of recognition.

Damien Thorn, he knew who this man was with his dark hair, his slender body and well dressed, royal figure. A high-class individual, he was very wealthy and even more to the point: he was a prince of darkness some would say, royal blood but the connection was hushed. He had dark eyes that shined quietly in fatigue but what helped even further was the fact he dotted such a black and gold ensemble it seemed to perfectly juxtapose Phillip.

“Ah… he is not someone you should hang around with, he has quite the image problem,” Pocket had mentioned when Phillip had seen him at a passing glance.

“Damien? What a disgusting man-thing, if he wasn’t decent looking he’d be crumbling on the street that damn lunatic of a boy.” Estella quipped at the mention of him the last time they had spoken.

That advice, Estella, all of it seemed to pass in a snap of his fingers and a single stare somehow managed to crumble a foundation so solid it had slathered into dominos piling at the marble floor.

Entranced, he stepped forward though a tad hesitant. He had come to this ball to find Estella, his love, the person he wanted to be with of course! However, how could the blonde refuse… a hello, just a hello—there was nothing further that had to be done. The two gently closed the space that was between them, Damien giving a slight bow of his head though not a full bow.

Clearly, nobody was worthy of respect like that to him. Phillip stared at those eyes, his pupils with an entire sea of worlds encapsulated before he felt himself talking with a complete surrender to his own morals and goals of this event.

“Phillip… it is nice to meet you here, I have seen you and heard about you,” he admitted with the same gentle and honest tone he usually held with everyone around him. Damien nodded slowly, taking in his words with a grain of salt before humming slightly as the orchestra continued a symphony.

“You as well.. charming, I am Damien, I have heard about you from others though I became interested in my own right,” he admitted as Phillip tilted his head in genuine surprise. The idea that he had known of his existence was quite the surprise. Curiosity was getting to the better of him though Damien finished the sentence.

“The others have heard about you as well, about you being some formidable suitor for Estella, the blonde noblewoman.”

Phillip nodded excitedly, the name brought a smile to his face though Damien only rolled his eyes and scoffed quietly. “She is quite the loudmouth and annoying child, you seem far too good for her.”

The back-handed compliment only made the blonde flush ever so slightly. Damien was a man who was known to be blunt and have a swagger of confidence to his movements, he was slightly awkward when he spoke and confronted his own words however he was so forward and narrow that he looked effortless.

“She.. she is not so bad,” Phillip defended with a slight frown. “You are being rude to the love of my life, that is not the way to behave yourself at a ball especially,” he bit back with a discouraged tone though Damien seemed more impressed by his stature. He smirked in response.

“Calm down, I was just saying my opinion, I never said it had to be yours.”

“You truly are an odd man, someone who cannot be trusted at first glance,” Phillip observed as Damien only held out a hand in resignation. Leaning down slightly to take it and almost bring the blonde closer to him.

“You were the one who saw me staring and decided to start a conversation. Would you like to dance?“

The change of topics and movements happened so fast that Phillip felt his head spinning and blood rushing. He wanted to find Estella though who was he, as a gentleman proper, to refuse a dance from a supposed royal who was above him in ego and in status.

“One dance.”

Phillip said it with confidence, confirming to himself and to the dark-haired man beside him that this was only to last a few minutes and then he could go back to how he was before; searching for his Estella.

“One dance,” Damien repeated.

They took to the floor, strings ablaze as Phillip felt himself seized by feelings of vanity and fear, these feelings beating in his chest were so intense, so strange yet so remote. The good from the bad felt inseparable as their feet began to pace to the beat of the slow waltz. Phillip had learned to dance at the lessons and schooling while Damien was shockingly good with his feet.

He seemed like the type who would not care for such a task but perhaps Phillip had been judging him too harshly. Now that there was a barrier between them, the rings in his ears felt shared and divine. Their fingertips laced and his waist held by the other man with a deep respect, the words he admitted earlier still strung on a wire.

“I have heard about you from others though I became interested in my own right…”

Interested? In who? Phillip? His goals? In his education? Did he help fund his gentleman status and lessons? His mind rushed as fast as his face seemed to slowly flush at the pure realisation that he was slowly dancing with someone not Estella. With Damien, a man who he had been sent away from of all people.

“You are enchanting,” the words slipped from the taller man’s mouth as Phillip felt his cheeks lighting up like a fire, there was a certain rosy colour in his cheeks that was growing hard to ignore especially with such pale skin and a white outfit.

And they danced, heartbeats in sync and feet in rhythm, Damien pressed his hand harder to Philips waist and described him as bewitching. That was something, certainly, and it did not help that every compliment there was a slight smile on the blonde's face that grew larger and larger.

They gazed into each other's eyes, music suddenly ceasing to exist as the only thing that mattered were their beating hearts and the images of each other. Phillip swallowed a breath, frightened eyes and a stomach churning from intense emotions he knew were not normal.

“You… look quite handsome if I may,” Damien admitted with a slight blush of his cheeks, biting his tongue to the fact he had even admitted something as kind as a compliment to someone not his father, however time seemed to be getting the better of them both.

There was such a confident tenderness sparking that Phillip could not say what he had to say. What started as one dance turned into many after many, each one with their footsteps becoming more and more harmonious with the next. This young man his age was becoming quite the headline of his brain.

How could he have such a raging intense emotion like this? He could not be thinking like this, he was to he betrothed and he loved another, he loved Estella. He had been so certain that he loved that woman with all his heart and yet… something… seemed to change in such a short queue.

“You seem upset,” Damien noted as he spun the other man gently. Phillip sighed and felt their fingers intertwine comfortably as he shook his head, trying not to psyche himself out. If he truly felt this way it had to mean something.

“You are making me question things.”

Damien laughed, pricking at the stems of his heart with another witty comment that made his entire brain flatten. “Is it my fault that you're enchanting? He asked with a slight sarcastic tone that only made the feelings worse, his laugh seemed to fill the room so delicately.

Phillip was frightened. He didn’t understand anything, not his feelings, not Estella, not anyone but he knew he wanted to understand Damien.

It was that feeling of resignation that terrified him so madly.

The idea that he could be in love.

He was not a child, he knew his feelings. How his heart beat, how their smiles seemed to twinge, and before he could even process what maddening feelings were consuming his soul he felt a hand to his cheek that seemed to lean in.

If Phillip had been a good man he would’ve pulled away.