Should he just move on?
It was an appealing thought, especially with Brink so close to him. After they had sat down, the man had pulled him into his lap, making Derrick turn red and get awfully shy. The need to pull away was there, but he knew that right now the ring master needed him, and he wasn't going to let him down. Perhaps he should just try and get over Julius, maybe Alynna and him would make a better pair. So far he had only seen Julius express feelings towards females, so why should he think he even had a chance? Thoughts of what it would be like with Brink filled his mind, and none of them were bad either. It seemed Brink and him were in the same situation, not that he wanted to be big-headed or anything, but he thought that Princey just might have had a crush on him. Just like how Derrick was, nice for Julius and mean to everyone else, was just like how Brink was, except with Derrick. It was crazy that he had never noticed it before.
Wrapping his arms around Brink, he allowed the man to cry- even if he was a bit upset about him getting Julius's shirt wet. No matter, right now his friend needed him, and he had no intentions of letting him down. "Shh, it's okay," he whispered, fingers trailing softly through the others hair. "Don't worry." He pulled back, a single digit resting under the others chin to tilt his face up and make him look up at Derrick. "You're okay Princey." The younger boy offered a small smile before pulling Brink back to him, again wrapping his small arms around the larger man and letting him cry into his shoulder.
It was about then when Derrick felt the cold air against his back, and lifted his face from where it was hidden in Brink's hair to see... Julius. The boy was too shocked to do anything, say anything, try and make some excuse for the position he had been found in. Not that he truly needed to, it wasn't like they were dating, it shouldn't matter. But Julius's reaction... it had to mean something. Still, he couldn't think that Julius may like him, he couldn't. The disappointment of finding out otherwise would be too much. Instead his thoughts immediately went towards Brink; did Julius like the ring master? That had to be it, there was no other reason for him to be acting this way. Surely Julius had seen Derrick snuggle up with enough guys before, so he certainly wasn't a homo-phob or anything.
Slowly, he disentangled himself from Brink. "B-Brink... I h-have... I'm sorry." Throwing an apologetic look at the ring master, he hugged him once more and kissed his cheek before running out of the tent in a hurry. Immediately he began towards the lions den, figuring Julius would have headed in that direction. When he saw the back of his friend his pace quickened, and he realized then that there was tears running down his cheeks. Reaching out when close enough, he grabbed onto Julius's wrist and pulled hard, wanting him to stop and turn around to face him.
"Why!" he demanded, hands in fists at his sides. "Why do you like Brink but you won't like me!" One fist was raised as if he wanted to hit Julius, but it fell back to his side as the young boy stomped his foot, like a child. Both hands were still clenched, and he raised his arm to swipe at both eyes, a pathetic attempt to clear his tears as he whispered yet another pathetic, "Why?"