***

Mark was understandably skeptical when Damon told him he could go home for tonight. What if Jun went into a heat-fit and hurt Damon? They weren't in a heat-partner contract yet, which, at this point, didn't really matter. Not only were he and Jun in a courtship, but one-offs, like sleeping with Jun just the once, wouldn't be anything for anyone to bat an eyelash at. The contracts only came in when it became a regular thing. But without a contract, betas weren't obligated to come and check in on him. Not that that would stop Mark from checking in anyway – he was just being contrary.

He and Jun weren't going to sleep together. But after what the poor beta had heard earlier, he clearly thought he and Jun were going to continue what they'd started.

So of course, Damon had to break down and tell Mark that he was just going to spend the night so he and Jun could talk – which only made him more skeptical.

"Talk?" he said incredulously, leaning against the doorway to the kitchen. "How much talking do you think the poor man can take before his balls fall off? No way that's all that's happening."

Damon rolled his eyes. "Alright. And what if it's not? Are you going to stick around and listen while we have loud, nasty, hot sex – "

"Ahhh!" Mark shouted, covering his ears. "Stop! Fine, I'll leave. But you better call me if something goes wrong. And text me in the morning." He swerved around Damon to get his coat. Ava and Paul had left a few minutes earlier, needing much less persuasion – likely because they, too, had been an unwilling audience for what happened earlier.

Damon watched him go, but just before walking out the door, Mark paused, turned on his heel, and pointed sternly at Damon.

"Don't get pregnant."

With that stellar piece of advice given, Mark nodded to himself, spun back around, and finally left. Okay then.

Damon let out a breath. Now for the hard part. When he got back to Jun's room, Jun had a set of pajamas in a pile for him at the end of the bed. Jun, for his part, was leaving the room just as Damon was entering it. Damon paused, looking after him in bewilderment. He looked determined, like he was on a mission. Alright. So – Damon was good to just go and shower then? He heard a distant banging from the kitchen and determined that Jun was cooking, which meant Damon would only get in the way.

Jun was a surprisingly good cook, despite the fact that he was a mess in the kitchen. The fact that he hadn't chopped a finger off by now was surprising. He was still excellent at it, because apparently Jun was good at everything. And it apparently didn't matter that it was past midnight – Jun had made up his mind to cook, so he was cooking. Damon quietly scooped up the clothes and slipped into the bathroom down the hall.

After scrubbing himself clean and brushing his teeth, Damon unfolded the clothes Jun had given him.

Well. Alright, so no underwear. Great. Jun had his priorities straight.

What was left was Jun's smallest pair of sweatpants probably – because lord knows Damon wasn't going to fit into any of his regular ones – and a soft black t-shirt. The pants fit strangely well. Strange because Damon was relatively sure they would never have fit Jun, and when he brought them to his nose to take a sniff, they didn't smell as heavily of Jun as the shirt. In fact, they smelled practically new. The t-shirt, however, practically drowned him and smelled like Jun had just taken it off. It wasn't the one he was just wearing, Damon knew that, but he might have worn it recently. Whether or not it had been washed before Jun handed it to Damon was unclear.

Hm. Damon was going to blame heat-brain for this.

Damon emerged from the bathroom and found Jun still in the kitchen, just finishing whatever he'd been cooking – miraculously injury-free. He scooped it onto two plates and set them at the table, only noticing Damon in the doorway once he was done. He brightened up immediately and came towards Damon, leaning down without words to rub his cheek against Damon's – a hello and convenient scent marking.

They ate in companiable silence, whatever dish it was that Jun had made tasting like heaven, as always. And when they were done, Damon crossed his arms, leaned forward on the table and said "Ask away. I'll do my best to answer."

Damon had expected Jun to beat around the bush a little, but maybe because of heat hormones, or maybe because he was truly too curious, Jun jumped straight into it, leaning forward to mirror Damon. Their faces were now only a few inches apart, lending a kind of intimacy to their conversation.

"Malachi – your ex-boyfriend. What did he do to you?"

Damon blinked, startled and trying not to show it. "How do you know I didn't do something to him?"

Jun, surprisingly, rolled his eyes. "If you're not with someone anymore, it's because they did something wrong. Plus, your mother said you were 'mean' to him. When you got here, you said he was trying to 'rekindle' things which gives you just cause to be mean," Jun said evenly.

Now that Damon had to actually tell Jun what Malachi did all those years ago, he balked a bit. Jun was in heat. It had been established that Jun cared about Damon enough to get jealous just smelling Malachi on him, so talking about this might not be the best for his emotional state. But he had said he would answer Jun's questions...

So, in a halting voice, Damon told him, but allowed himself the comfort of looking at the surface of the table rather than at Jun as he did. "It was a long time ago. We weren't courting or anything, just dating. But I'm pretty sure he was just using me for sex. He cheated on me and that was that," he summarized, carefully keeping a neutral tone. It didn't affect Damon as much as it used to, obviously. He still got unbelievably mad when he thought about it, but all traces of heartache had long worn away.

Jun did not take it well. Damon could only bring himself to lift his eyes as high as Jun's jaw, but a muscle twitching there was enough to tell him all he needed to know. Perhaps because he knew he couldn't do anything about it now, Jun managed to calm himself down enough to ask what exactly happened at the gala.

Damon told him that too, in a much more exasperated manner. When he brought up the part about Malachi asking Damon to be his heat partner, Jun stiffened.

"Not allowed," he said lowly – almost sounding offended.

Damon smiled. "My thoughts exactly. But Malachi is the pack leader's son, and my parents are friends with the pack leaders – so making them mad isn't exactly the best thing to do," Damon explained wearily. Jun's fist clenched tightly on the tabletop, which Damon continued to attribute to his newfound hatred of Malachi. Damon shrugged. "But fuck 'em. No way I'm apologizing to anyone, especially not Malachi. I'll tell my parents what actually happened and it'll be fine. I'm an adult. My actions don't reflect on them."

Then it was quiet but for the humming of the refrigerator. Time to break the awkward tension.

"Well, that's my exes story," Damon said while letting out a long, tense breath. "You said you haven't been in a relationship before, but is there anything you want to vent about?" He was attempting to lift the mood a bit – and maybe learn a little bit more about Jun in the process. "It can't possibly be worse than my experience."

Jun was still tense, but hearing Damon's teasing tone, he let himself relax slightly. As he stared at Damon, something glimmered in his eyes, something playful and a little – what was it? Gentle? – there. As if he was remembering something very dear to him.

"I did have a persistent admirer when I was young," Jun began slowly. "Unfortunately, I didn't like them the same way, and pretended to be in a relationship with a random, older stranger I picked off the street to get away from them."

Damon burst out in surprised giggles. Jun? Sweet boy Jun had to resort to trickery to get away from a childhood admirer? He imagined a tiny Jun pointing off in the distance at something to make the admirer look before running away at top speed. It was as endearing as it was funny.

"Oh? And how did the stranger take being in a relationship with a kid all of a sudden?" Damon asked between giggles.

Jun gave a tiny smile and propped his chin on his hand to watch Damon lose it. Damon didn't really hear his quietly muttered response through his laughter.

"He handled it perfectly."