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Damian would do anything for the Desmond family. Anything to make his parents proud and represent their name well.
So when rumors began about a new opportunity to get a Stella, Damian knew he’d do anything to get it. He needed that star. He’d spent nearly the whole school year with almost nothing to show for it. He had to catch up to his brother, and he was running out of time.
“We will be gone for one week’s time, and I expect you all on your best behavior,” Mr. Henderson explained. “We will be observing your communication and physical abilities. Please keep in mind, community service is elegant!”
Damian sighed to himself. He didn’t particularly want to go into the mountains for a week to help the impoverished rebuild after a recent landslide. He’d rather study to guarantee himself top spot in the finals.
“I wonder if this is the Stella opportunity everyone’s talking about,” he looked up at Ewen’s words.
“Yeah,” Emile agreed. “I heard one of the Imperial Scholars got in because of her community service work over the summer.”
“We have to do as much as we can for these people,” Damian told his friends. “We need to do as much as we possibly can.”
“Yeah! I agree!” Becky chimed in. “Charity’s a great way to build a good reputation, for ourselves and our school.”
“I wanna help people sy-on boy!” Anya added. Suddenly the whole class was agreeing, and their teacher was giving him a small nod of approval.
——
Two days later they piled into busses and headed south, into a rural mountain side town. The streets were covered in grime, and several buildings were on the verge of collapse.
“You’ll be helping clean up the streets as well as help residents of damaged buildings move out while we repair them,” the organizer explained.
“We shall be starting cleaning, then shall go from there,” Mr. Henderson informed them. “Now get to work!”
And get to work they did. For nearly three days the students worked solely on shoveling dirt from the streets, and helping push boulders outside of the city limits. At the center of it all, was Damian.
Maybe it was because of the respect most of his peers held of him, or the way he was always the first to work on the streets they were assigned to clean each morning. Or possibly it was because he was always trying to find the next thing that needed to he done that the rest of his classmates rallied around him.
Damian pushed the whole class do work harder. He didn’t really mean to push them, in fact he didn’t even see it, but he made it clear he wouldn’t let anyone hold him back. So his peers tried their best to keep up.
“I’m not doing enough,” Damian muttered to himself on the fourth day. His fingers tapped against his crossed arm, a foot tapping out an anxious beat with the rain. As they were wrapping up on the third day, dark clouds had rolled in, rain had soon followed. It rained throughout the night, and showed no sigh of letting up.
“I need to make myself stand out if I want that Stella Star.”
“Should we still go help? We can shovel the mud off the roads, or something,” Anya suggested, stepping up beside Damian to look out at the pouring rain.
“No,” he told her, glancing over his shoulder at the rest of the class, who sat eating in the dinning hall behind the pair. “You guys have worked really hard. You should rest up. We’ll have a lot of work again once the rain stops.”
“Okay,” Anya said softly, looking a little disappointed. Damian tried not to let that get to him. If he wanted to follow his plan, he’d need to sneak off to go help the town’s residents alone.
——
Damian’s boots squelched in the mud, and he pulled the poncho he’d borrowed tighter around himself as the rain picked up. He trudged his way through the streets. His plan was to clear more of the mud and large rocks from the city, and make himself out to he the hero.
He started with the rocks, lugging the huge stones to the piles he and his classmates had formed. He made his way farther and up the mountain side, and to the edge of town as the rain picked up and the wind howled.
He was carrying a particular large rock, when the mud began to move and shift underneath his feet. Damian’s eyes went wide and suddenly he was losing his balance, the heavy stone in his arms throwing him off kilter.
His boot stuck and suddenly Damian was falling, tumbling down the rocky hill. His ankle twisted painfully and the world spun and suddenly he landed with a crack on his leg. Pain shot through him and all he wanted to do was breathe, and lay there in the mud.
“Sy-on boy! Come on!” It was Anya, standing in front of him, her eyes wide. “We gotta get outta this storm!”
“I can’t walk!” He yelled over the howling wind. Anya hesitated. She was staring up the slope. Damian forced himself upright, and he saw ground where he’s been a few moments before carving a path down towards them.
“It’s okay, just hold on!” Anya said, searching the ground for something.
“I’m sorry! I lied to you because I didn’t want you to get any credit for the work! I sold my soul, broke my bones, and now I’m putting you in danger! You should just go!”
Anya was barely listening, busy tying her hankie around Damian’s injured leg, using some sticks she’d found. In response to his words, she yanked Damian to his feet, barely pulling him upright due to the mud that clung to him.
Then Anya was dragging the bigger boy back to their lodging. After a moment he was able to more of less keep stride with her on his own, their arms still around each other’s shoulders as he limped alongside her.
——
The next hour or so was a blur of adrenaline and pain. It took a long time for an ambulance to arrive to take Damian to the nearest hospital for his injured leg. Which meant he was forced to explain himself while he waited. He barely remembers what he said, but he does remember the headmaster’s reply as the ambulance finally arrives to take him away.
“I’m not sure I appreciate your selfish reasoning, Damian, but your passion is admirable. Have you not noticed the way your peers have rallied around you in order to help this community?”
“They-what?” He frowned, trying to comprehend the words through the cloud of pain.
“You’ve done an excellent job, so when we return, I’m awarding you a Stella,” he paused before adding, “and a tonitrus, for wandering off and endangered yourself.”
Damian wanted to fight that, but he was already being pushed off into the ambulance. Anya followed close behind, nursing a strained shoulder from when she’d pulled him out of the mud.
——
“Hello Damian, I thought you could use some company,” Damian looked up from his lap to see Loid Forger standing in the doorway.
“Mister Forger, what are you doing here? Anya’s next door-“
“I know. I got a call from the school, they said you and Anya were in an accident. Anya’s just fine on her own, however. I’m not even sure how she convinced everyone she needed to come to the hospital at all. So I thought I would check in on you. I know it will still be a while before anyone can will be here, and I thought you might like some company.”
“Thank you, sir,” Damian said softly. “I think I’d like some company until my butler arrives, if you don’t mind.”
“There’s no need to call me that, Loid is fine. There’s no need to thank me either, I’m happy to take care of you as long as you need. I’m sure it’s what your parents would do for Anya if the roles were reversed.”
Damian doubted they would. They wouldn’t even come to take care of him. But he was too occupied by the warmth in his chest and the sting at his eyes at the blond man’s words to correct him.
“For what it’s worth,” Loid added. “I don’t think it will be your butler who comes to bring you home.”