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Smoke Rings

Chapter 16: Damien Interlude 3

Summary:

Damien seeks out cuddles, Knox isn't sulking, and Cory and Jack are having a great night.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Damien walked down the hallway far enough that Knox wouldn’t hear him stop, lean against the wall, and take a breath. He pressed his hands against the wall to prevent them from shaking. Damien didn’t enjoy leaving after play in general, but he knew this was the actual punishment. Knox had to learn. Damien kept his house in order, and while he adored the wild spirit, it had to be tempered… Especially if he was to take Knox to social functions.

Still, he had a feeling it wasn’t entirely Knox’s fault. Sighing, Damien pushed up and headed down the hallway, knocking on Jack’s door. He heard scuffling and scrambling, and Damien had crossed his arms by the time the door opened. 

“Damien! Uh, hi, um. Sorry for that wait,” Jack said, rubbing the back of his neck. Damien saw Cory peek out from behind Jack, and he sighed. 

“Do you want to watch a movie?” he asked. That took both of them by surprise.
“Right now?” 

“Yeah.” 

 

The movie den was Damien’s favorite room in the house. Draped in cool colored fabrics with only the comfiest of low couches, it was usually also the quietest room in the house. Along one wall were shelves upon shelves of movies, as many as Damien could get his hands on. They were sorted alphabetically and by genre, and Jack was not allowed to touch most of them, except for his shelf of movies on the bottom. Jack loved big, flashy, loud movies like superhero blockbusters and off-the-wall comedies, and Damien’s collection had grown around that shelf. Damien thought the system was fair since Jack didn’t want him touching any of his game systems. They kept their own hobbies neat. 

Damien picked one of his favorite movies, a classic comedy-mystery, something that wouldn’t bore Jack or Cory, and Damien could enjoy as well. Jack flung himself onto the couch, immediately snuggling up with his favorite fuzzy blanket and pulling Cory onto him. Damien rounded the couch, smiling slightly at the two of them before he settled next to  Cory, tugging gently at the boy’s arm to nestle him neatly between them. Better. Damien wrapped one arm around Cory and settled himself in. Cory let out a small squeak of surprise, but he soon relaxed. Jack pressed closer on his side, and once everyone was in their place, Damien started the movie. 

“Hey Damien?” Jack asked. It was a little past the second act. Cory’s head was sleepily tucked up into the crook of Jack’s neck, and Damien had shifted to partially spoon the slave. 

“Mm? Yeah?” He stretched, readjusting slightly, and Cory stirred before nuzzling back in. 

“I… I’ve been meaning to tell you somethin’. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, lots of it, and um, let’s see, how do I…” Damien had never seen Jack so nervous, or choosing his words so carefully before. 

“Take your time,” he said with gentle encouragement, but that seemed to only make Jack more nervous.  

“I’m…” Then, Jack shook his head, sighing. “I want to switch my major.” 

“Then go ahead! You don’t need my permission.” 

“I know , but… I want you to… like it and support me! You know! Like you always do? I’m just… nervous I’ll say somethin’ that will make you not .” Jack bit his lip, and Damien got the distinct feeling this wasn’t what Jack had wanted to tell him. Damien wasn’t going to push him if Jack didn’t want to talk. He reached over to ruffle his brother’s hair. 

“You know I always support you. I might be hard on you sometimes, but you can get… distracted easily. If you’ve found something that really strikes your passion in a way that physics doesn’t, I’m happy. What’re you thinking?” 

“Fashion! Um, fashion design, specifically,” Jack said, and the way he perked up brought a smile to Damien’s face. 

“...I suppose that’s where Cory’s been getting all his outfits from?” Damien asked, running his hand over the soft blue-striped pj pants Cory was wearing (which paired well with his pastel shirt with sleepy chickens stitched on it). Only Jack and Cory would be in pajamas at 4 pm. Jack flushed, and Damien laughed, sitting up. “I’m glad to hear you’re being productive.” He paused before adding, “You can tell me anything, Jack. We’re family.” Jack nodded, snuggling close to Cory. “Now, do you want me to skip back to see what we missed in the movie?”

“Yeah! Sure,” Jack said. He pressed a kiss to Cory’s cheek. “What about you?”  

“S’fun movie,” said Cory. He looked to be quite happy with where he was. Damien was feeling much better as well, more grounded and less… well, like a domineering asshole who didn’t do aftercare. He skipped back a few minutes in the movie and let it play on.

 

Afterwards, they settled down for dinner. Damien had already decided he’d bring Knox up his portion after. A couple hours of inattention would be enough. It was a light punishment after all, and Damien wanted to be fair. Jack sat next to him today, Cory on a pillow to his left, and Damien in his usual place at the head of the table. Before Kinsley could serve the dinner, Jack’s eyes went wide, grinning like the cat that ate the canary. Damien raised an eyebrow, and then Jack couldn’t keep his mouth shut. 

“You have a hicky ! Ha! I didn’t see it in the dark of the move-room. Daaaaamn , is that from Knox? He got you goooooooood ,” he said gleefully. Damien’s face turned beet red, and it took most of his self control not to bolt to the nearest mirror. He rose carefully and walked over to a mirror hanging between the two china hutches. The bite Knox had given him was dark , with fairly noticeable teeth marks as well. Fuck . He tried not to think about the hot flash of arousal he felt at that, and instead focused on how he had a work event tomorrow and how the fuck he was going to cover that. Turning back, he sat down at the table without another word, doing his best to focus on the food (a pork roast with herb vegetables and potatoes). Jack continued to tease him, and he worked out his feelings by how hard he stuck the meat with his fork. 

Knox did get him good. Damien hoped it wouldn’t make the slave too insufferable when he saw it. 

After dinner, Damien reminded Jack to let Cory have some evening freetime since he did a good job during the movie. He took Knox’s plate from the kitchen, kept warm in the oven, up on a tray. On the way, he stopped suddenly as the grandfather clock in the hall, having been silent and broken for months now, chimed the hour and nearly scared the tray out of his hands. Ava must’ve gotten around to fixing it. Good! Well… he certainly hadn’t missed how loud it was. 

He stopped outside his bedroom door, pausing to listen in case Knox was up to anything before he entered. “Alright then pet, punishment is over!~” 

 

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Knox was not sulking. If he was sulking, then he’d have to acknowledge that Damien had gotten to him. He didn’t move from his position for a while, curled up on the bed. He had no idea how long Damien was going to be gone, if there was going to be more, or if he was even going to get dinner tonight. His ass and thighs stung, but his shoulders ached twice over. Knox didn’t feel like moving, not after realizing how he was trapped without being physically trapped. Instead, he sat up, pulling a blanket over and wrapping himself into a little cocoon, staring off at the door. He had the privilege of blankets here, and he might as well use them. 

It wasn’t what he needed, but as he pulled them tighter around him, they brought some comfort. Untethered, he was left to grapple with his thoughts, despite how desperately he wanted to avoid them. He’d had much worse punishments than this. Hell, living day to day before George had drugged him was a nightmare of isolation and silence. Damien’s… His new master seemed to be good at reading people, which was unfortunate for Knox. He knew it was futile to try and come out on top, and whatever victories he got were, in the end, worthless. At the end of the day, he was a pet, a slave, still in a gilded cage. 

Despite all this, and he didn’t know why , but when Damien praised him, part of him perked up. Not like when Rosie used to, which always felt patronizing. He’d filled some… pseudo-son role for her alongside his other duties, so it always felt like she wasn’t actually praising him but some imaginary boy in her head. Fuck, he didn’t want to feel like he owed his master anything, even if Damien gave him the bare minimum (like food), and hadn’t drugged him (yet). As soon as he became… well… like Cory (his thoughts supplied), he’d lost. Maybe George had planted these feelings in him while he was drugged. Could he do that? 

As the minutes stretched, he noticed there was no clock in the room. But he could tell by the light from the window that it was starting to get later in the evening, and he was starting to get antsy. He wanted to throw on some soft pj pants and sleep. He also wanted to sneak out, climb out the window, and sit on the roof. He wanted to talk to somebody. He… wanted to cry a little. He couldn’t do any of those things. Fear of the tracking collar and that Damien could be back at any moment kept him where he was. The boredom and anxiety wrestling around made him fidget, pulling at loose threads on the blanket. 

He jumped to attention when he heard his master’s voice. “Alright then pet, punishment is over!” Damien said, sweeping into the room with a tray of food. Knox shook his head slightly to free it from the blanket cocoon. He hesitated, watching Damien cross to the table. “Come on then. We still gotta get some weight on you.” 

He didn’t understand .  

“...I’m sorry, sir,” Knox said quietly. Damien raised his eyebrows in surprise. “I shouldn’t have jumped t’ conclusions. I know that I won’t ever—” Be free. “Work it off. Not with how much was there in the first place, and how much you’ve already paid to care for me.”

“...Well! I’m glad you’ve come to that conclusion. But , you’re mistaken once again. Come here, sweet,” Damien ordered, beckoning. Knox sank into his cocoon, but… he wasn’t about to get another punishment. He slid off the bed, still swaddled in his blanket (Damien would have to rip that off him if he wanted that gone), and slowly walked over to the table. Damien reached out to grip his chin, before more gently running his fingers down to the collar, and to Knox’s chest. “I’m not nickel an’ diming you. That would be ridiculous.” 

“Bullshi—” Knox swallowed before choosing his words more carefully. “If ya don’t mind me sayin’ so, Sir, that’s not how it works.” 

“It’s how it works here. Mostly because I can’t be bothered to itemize like that, and nobody can do math around here. Well, Jack can, I suppose, but he doesn’t have the focus to be an accountant.”  Knox blinked. 

“Wait you… seriously don’t… have an accountant? Sir?” He made an obvious gesture at the wealth around him.

“I just hire somebody around tax season, and the company’s got its own accountant. Quin does a good enough job doing the budget,” Damien said, waving dismissively. “Eat your dinner; it’s getting cold.” Knox was almost speechless, even more so when Damien pulled the chair out for him to sit in before he moved to the wardrobe. He was nervous about eating—he always was these days—but Damien was watching him, and he’d said Knox had taken his punishment well and that it was over — Before he knew it, he’d devoured the absolutely delicious casserole. 

“...I could do it, Sir.” 

Damien looked over from examining two different colored shirts. “What?” 

“...Math. It’ll give me somethin’ to do while you’re away at least, since you don’t want me doin’ chores. Sir.” 

Damien looked guilty at that, then a bit skeptical. “ You do math? You said you weren’t trained.” Knox hadn’t expected that Damien would be interested enough to ask. That was more interest than anyone else who’d owned him had ever shown. This might be his chance to raise his value beyond just a damaged sex slave. 

“....I went to school for a while. Before I was a slave.” He’d had a life. He’d thrown it away. But his master didn’t need to know about that. “Math was my best subject. I covered some foremen for extra food when they fucked up their quotas.” 

“Really. I’ll think about it. If you’re good. Something to work towards!” Oh boy, he’ll have to ‘work towards’ a new chore. Never mind that he wanted to do something more in the house than meaningless sex. Damien just had to say it in such a way to get under his skin . But Knox was… somewhat shocked he’d gotten away with bringing it up at all, and that Damien said he’d consider it. It might be a lie to get him to behave, but it was a chance. 

His master laid out an outfit on a chair, stepping back. “Mm, that looks nice enough. I’m bringing you out tomorrow. I want you looking nice, so you're going to take a shower tonight and clean up.” 

“...Understood, sir. May I ask what we’re doing?” 

“I’m heading to a little private event, hopefully the last before my vacation, so I thought I’d show you off.” He ran his fingers through Knox’s curls. “I want to do your makeup too, so no sleeping in!” Knox didn’t really notice himself leaning into the touch; he was already dreading tomorrow. Shown off. At least by now he was pretty sure that Damien wouldn’t drug him to make a public appearance like George would. 

But he wasn’t sure that Damien wouldn’t be looking for a chance to catch him fucking up to hand out another punishment.

Notes:

Thank you all so much for 10k views!!! I'm so happy that people are enjoying this little story I've started. It was a bit of a leap for me to publish this, so I'm super grateful for all the support it's gotten! ^u^ There's so many twists, turns, and dramas ahead for y'all to enjoy, and I can't wait to share.